Prosecution Insights
Last updated: April 19, 2026
Application No. 18/579,053

INFORMATION PROCESSING APPARATUS, INSTALLATION ARRANGEMENT CALCULATION METHOD AND PROGRAM

Non-Final OA §103
Filed
Jan 12, 2024
Examiner
ABELSON, RONALD B
Art Unit
2476
Tech Center
2400 — Computer Networks
Assignee
NTT, Inc.
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
90%
Grant Probability
Favorable
1-2
OA Rounds
2y 7m
To Grant
89%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 90% — above average
90%
Career Allow Rate
1179 granted / 1307 resolved
+32.2% vs TC avg
Minimal -1% lift
Without
With
+-1.0%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
2y 7m
Avg Prosecution
31 currently pending
Career history
1338
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
1.5%
-38.5% vs TC avg
§103
58.1%
+18.1% vs TC avg
§102
25.3%
-14.7% vs TC avg
§112
7.2%
-32.8% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 1307 resolved cases

Office Action

§103
Notice of Pre-AIA or 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 . Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103 The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action: A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made. Claim(s) 1, 4, and 5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ku US 20090074156 in view of Chatfield US 20030227478. Regarding claims 1, 4, 5, Ku teaches acquiring network information indicating a delay time of data transmission in a network including a data measurement device and a plurality of server devices (After receiving the overall path delays from the ECs 280, the ES 275 selects an appropriate media server 235 for monitoring the call between the target user device 205 and the far-end user device 210, [0033]); calculating a deployment configuration of functions of an application of an application (For example, the ES 275 may be configured to select the media server 235 having the lowest overall path delay, or having the first reported overall path delay which is acceptable according to some specified criteria, such as a predetermined threshold, parameter, etc, [0033]) for processing data transmitted from the data measurement device to each of the plurality of server devices based on the network information (For example, the LIF 250 of the illustrated example will establish a SIP dialog with the media server 235 (or MRF 235) to insert the media server 235 in the media streams associated with the target user device 205 undergoing surveillance ([0027]). Although Ku teaches a media server (fig. 2 box 235), the reference is silent on the media server comprising a database. Chatfield teaches a media server comprising a database ([0019]). Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify the system of Ku by the media server comprising a database, as shown by Chatfield. This modification would benefit the system by enabling the media server to store information relevant to the network. Allowable Subject Matter Claims 2, 3, and 6-12 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims. Conclusion Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to RONALD B ABELSON whose telephone number is (571)272-3165. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8:00-4:30. Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Ayaz Sheikh can be reached at 571-272-3795. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000. /RONALD B ABELSON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2476
Read full office action

Prosecution Timeline

Jan 12, 2024
Application Filed
Mar 23, 2026
Non-Final Rejection — §103 (current)

Precedent Cases

Applications granted by this same examiner with similar technology

Patent 12604303
SIGNAL TRANSMISSION METHOD AND APPARATUS
2y 5m to grant Granted Apr 14, 2026
Patent 12598623
COMMUNICATION METHOD AND RELATED DEVICE
2y 5m to grant Granted Apr 07, 2026
Patent 12598499
INTERFERENCE MEASUREMENT METHOD AND APPARATUS, TERMINAL, AND NETWORK SIDE DEVICE
2y 5m to grant Granted Apr 07, 2026
Patent 12598532
Session Management Function Entity Selection Method, Apparatus, and System
2y 5m to grant Granted Apr 07, 2026
Patent 12587309
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2y 5m to grant Granted Mar 24, 2026
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
90%
Grant Probability
89%
With Interview (-1.0%)
2y 7m
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 1307 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allow rate.

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