Prosecution Insights
Last updated: April 19, 2026
Application No. 18/575,841

PILOT TONES OF DISTRIBUTED RESOURCE UNIT (DRU)

Non-Final OA §102
Filed
Dec 30, 2023
Examiner
BELETE, BERHANU D
Art Unit
2418
Tech Center
2400 — Computer Networks
Assignee
Intel Corporation
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
75%
Grant Probability
Favorable
1-2
OA Rounds
3y 4m
To Grant
99%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 75% — above average
75%
Career Allow Rate
326 granted / 436 resolved
+16.8% vs TC avg
Strong +34% interview lift
Without
With
+33.8%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
3y 4m
Avg Prosecution
47 currently pending
Career history
483
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
4.2%
-35.8% vs TC avg
§103
75.6%
+35.6% vs TC avg
§102
9.6%
-30.4% vs TC avg
§112
7.5%
-32.5% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 436 resolved cases

Office Action

§102
DETAILED ACTION This office action response to the communication filed on 12/30/2023. Claims 12-14 cancelled. Claims 1-11 are presented for examination. Notice of AIA Status The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA . Information Disclosure Statement The information disclosure statements (lDSs) submitted on December 30, 2023 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statements are being considered by the examiner. Priority Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers submitted under 35 U.S.C. 119(a)-(d), which papers have been placed of record in the file. Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102 In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status. The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action: A person shall be entitled to a patent unless – (a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention. Claim(s) 1-11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102 (a)(1) as being anticipated by Yang et al. (U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 20170034829 A1), (“D1”, hereinafter), As per Claim 1, D1 discloses a device, the device ([see, [0008], a wireless device (e.g., an access point) for wireless communication]) comprising processing circuitry coupled to storage ([see, [0169], and Fig. 11, include a processor 1104 with Memory 1106]), the processing circuitry configured to: determine a plurality of pilot tones across a first frequency resource ([see, [0009, 0015], determining a number of usable tones per resource unit based on the determined communication bandwidth of the frequency resource]); adjust the plurality of pilot tones with a first pilot offset adjustment parameter ([see, [0009-0010, 0083], the first plurality of pilot tone location sets may be based on an initial plurality of pilot tone location sets adjusted by a first offset of −512]); and cause to send a frame to a first station (STA) device using the adjusted plurality of pilot tones ([see, [0055, 0058, 0140], and Fig. 2, wherein the STA 206, for example, may transmit packets to the AP 202 in the form of a frame 252 and vice versa, the STA 206) may receive a frame via a 20 MHz wireless channel, and the AP may allocate one or more resource units to other STAs]). As per Claim 6, is the non-transitory computer readable medium (CRM) claim corresponding to the apparatus claim 1 that has been rejected above. Applicant attention is directed to the rejection of claim 1. Claim 6 is anticipated by CRM being performed by the apparatus above and therefore is rejected under the same rational as claim 1. As per Claims 2, 7, D1 further discloses wherein the first pilot offset adjustment parameter is defined as an extra pilot index shifting associated with a distributed resource unit (dRU) ([see, [0057-0058], remaining tones, guard tones, DC tones that may be considered “unusable “ as extra pilot index disclosed]). As per Claims 3, 8, D1 further discloses wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to change the first pilot offset adjustment parameter as a first interval associated with resource units (RUs) ([see, [0069], the STA 210 may be allocated the middle 26-tone RU, and the STA 212 may be allocated the second 106-tone RU in the third row. In another aspect, the entire 20 MHz bandwidth need not be allocated. Gaps in RU allocation may be acceptable, and on [0083], the first plurality of pilot tone location sets may be based on an initial plurality of pilot tone location sets adjusted by a first offset of −512]). As per Claim 4, D1 discloses the device of claim 1, and D1 further discloses further comprising a transceiver configured to transmit and receive wireless signals ([see, [0147], transmitter 810 is configured to transmit signals generated by other components of the device]). As per Claim 5, D1 discloses the device of claim 4, and D1 further discloses further comprising an antenna coupled to the transceiver to cause to send the frame ([see, [149], transmitter 810 is configured to transmit signals generated by other components of the device, and wherein the transmitter 812 may utilize a single antenna 816 or a set of antennas to send the frame]). As per Claim 9, D1 discloses a method comprising: determining, by one of more processors, a plurality of pilot tones across a first frequency resource ([see, [0009, 0015], determining a number of usable tones per resource unit based on the determined communication bandwidth of the frequency resource]); adjusting the plurality of pilot tones with a first pilot offset adjustment parameter ([see, [0009-0010, 0083], the first plurality of pilot tone location sets may be based on an initial plurality of pilot tone location sets adjusted by a first offset of −512]); and causing to send a frame to a first station device using the adjusted plurality of pilot tones ([see, [0055, 0058, 0140], and Fig. 2, wherein the STA 206, for example, may transmit packets to the AP 202 in the form of a frame 252 and vice versa, the STA 206) may receive a frame via a 20 MHz wireless channel, and the AP may allocate one or more resource units to other STAs]). As per Claim 10, D1 discloses method of claim 9, and D1 further discloses wherein the first pilot offset adjustment parameter is defined as an extra pilot index shifting associated with a distributed resource unit (dRU) ([see, [0057-0058], remaining tones, guard tones, DC tones that may be considered “unusable “ as extra pilot index disclosed]). As per Claim 11, D1 discloses method of claim 9, and D1 further discloses further comprising changing the first pilot offset adjustment parameter at a first interval associated with resource units (RUs) ([see, [0069], the STA 210 may be allocated the middle 26-tone RU, and the STA 212 may be allocated the second 106-tone RU in the third row. In another aspect, the entire 20 MHz bandwidth need not be allocated. Gaps in RU allocation may be acceptable, and on [0083], the first plurality of pilot tone location sets may be based on an initial plurality of pilot tone location sets adjusted by a first offset of −512]). Conclusion Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to BERHANU BELETE whose telephone number is (571)272-3478. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Friday 7:30am-5pm, Alt. Friday, and EDT. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, JEONG, MOO R. can be reached on (571) 272-9617. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative or access to the automated information system, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000. /BERHANU D BELETE/ Examiner, Art Unit 2468 /WUTCHUNG CHU/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2418
Read full office action

Prosecution Timeline

Dec 30, 2023
Application Filed
Jan 08, 2026
Non-Final Rejection — §102 (current)

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Study what changed to get past this examiner. Based on 5 most recent grants.

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Prosecution Projections

1-2
Expected OA Rounds
75%
Grant Probability
99%
With Interview (+33.8%)
3y 4m
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 436 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allow rate.

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