Prosecution Insights
Last updated: July 17, 2026
Application No. 18/579,442

METHODS AND APPARATUSES FOR RESOURCE MULTIPLEXING

Non-Final OA §102§103
Filed
Jan 15, 2024
Priority
Jul 16, 2021 — nonprovisional of PCTCN2021106786
Examiner
VIDAL CARPIO, MARIELA
Art Unit
2476
Tech Center
2400 — Computer Networks
Assignee
Lenovo (United States) Inc.
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
77%
Grant Probability
Favorable
1-2
OA Rounds
8m
Est. Remaining
77%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 77% — above average
77%
Career Allowance Rate
219 granted / 285 resolved
+18.8% vs TC avg
Minimal +0% lift
Without
With
+0.1%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
3y 2m
Avg Prosecution
16 currently pending
Career history
305
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
1.0%
-39.0% vs TC avg
§103
85.7%
+45.7% vs TC avg
§102
4.3%
-35.7% vs TC avg
§112
7.7%
-32.3% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 285 resolved cases

Office Action

§102 §103
CTNF 18/579,442 CTNF 89866 DETAILED ACTION Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status 07-03-aia AIA 15-10-aia The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA. Response to Restriction 2. Applicant’s election without traverse of Group I (claims 1-12 and 16-18) in the reply filed 05/06/2026 is acknowledged. Accordingly, claims 13-15 have been withdrawn from consideration. Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102 07-06 AIA 15-10-15 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 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. 07-07-aia AIA 07-07 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 – 07-08-aia AIA (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. 07-15 AIA Claim s 1, 5, 7-8, 12 and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102( a)(1 ) as being anticipated by Zhang (US 2021/0160875 A1, hereinafter “Zhang”) . As to claim 1: Zhang discloses an apparatus (Parent Node (PN); see Abstract; Figs. 5-6; [0059]; [0063]) , comprising: a processor (“processor 504”; Fig. 5; [0044]) ; and a memory (“memory 506”; Fig. 5; [0044]) coupled with the processor (“processor 504”; Fig. 5; [0044]) , the processor (“processor 504”; Fig. 5; [0044]) configured to cause the apparatus to (Parent Node (PN); see Abstract; Figs. 5-6; [0059]; [0063]) : receive a first signaling (“the PN 500 in FIG. 5, for receiving indication information”; [0059]; [0061]) via a first link (“Link RN2_RN6”; [0059]; [0061]) , wherein the first signaling indicates a first time domain resource configuration (“the PN 500 in FIG. 5, for receiving indication information for determining a transmission resource configuration in a wireless communication, in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure”; [0059]; [0024]; [0004]; [0055]; [0063]) of at least one multiplexing mode for the first link and a second link (“The expected multiplexing mode indication indicates the resource multiplexing mode the RN6 expects the Link RN2_RN6 and the other one or more links to adopt, for example, one or a combination of TDM, FDM, and SDM is expected”; [0063]; [0055] For examination purposes, the examiner has selected one multiplexing mode in time domain (i.e., TDM)) , and wherein the at least one multiplexing mode includes at least one of the following multiplexing modes (“one or a combination of TDM, FDM, and SDM”; [0063]; [0031]) : downlink transmission on the first link and uplink transmission on the second link via a frequency-division multiplexing mode (FDM) (for examination purposes, this limitation has not been selected by the examiner as it is optional/alternative) ; downlink transmission on the first link and uplink transmission on the second link via a space division multiplexing mode (SDM) (for examination purposes, this limitation has not been selected by the examiner as it is optional/alternative) ; downlink reception on the first link and uplink reception on the second link via the FDM (for examination purposes, this limitation has not been selected by the examiner as it is optional/alternative) ; downlink reception on the first link and uplink reception on the second link via the SDM (for examination purposes, this limitation has not been selected by the examiner as it is optional/alternative) ; uplink transmission on the first link and uplink reception on the second link via the FDM (for examination purposes, this limitation has not been selected by the examiner as it is optional/alternative) ; uplink transmission on the first link and uplink reception on the second link via the SDM (for examination purposes, this limitation has not been selected by the examiner as it is optional/alternative) ; downlink reception on the first link and downlink transmission on the second link via the FDM (for examination purposes, this limitation has not been selected by the examiner as it is optional/alternative) ; downlink reception on the first link and downlink transmission on the second link via the SDM (for examination purposes, this limitation has not been selected by the examiner as it is optional/alternative) ; a time-division multiplexing mode (TDM) (“one or a combination of TDM , FDM, and SDM”; [0063]) ; and a flexible multiplexing mode (for examination purposes, this limitation has not been selected by the examiner as it is optional/alternative) ; and determine time domain resources associated with each multiplexing mode of the at least one multiplexing mode based on the first time domain resource configuration (“the PN determines a transmission resource desired by the PN”; see Figs. 5-6; [0059]; [0063] “RN6 216 and RN2 212 can exchange information to determine multiplexing mode and transmission resource to be used on the new link without conflicting with the multiplexing modes and transmission resources being used on the subordinate links of the RN6 216”; [0024]; [0004]; [0055] For examination purposes, the examiner has selected one multiplexing mode in time domain (i.e., TDM)) . As to claim 5: Zhang further discloses wherein a group of time domain resources for each multiplexing mode is predefined or configured by a high layer signaling (“The time domain resource indication may indicate, based on an available time domain resource set, one or more consecutive or non-continuous time domain resource units that include at least one of the following: a radio frame, a half-frame, a sub-frame, a time slot, a mini-slot, an orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) symbol and an OFDM symbol cluster. The available time domain resource set is determined based on at least one of: a semi-static configuration by an upper node of the CN 300 and a system pre-definition”; [0031]) . As to claim 7: Zhang further discloses wherein the processor is further configured to cause the apparatus to: receive a third signaling (“the PN 500 in FIG. 5, for receiving indication information”; [0059]; [0061]) indicating a second time domain resource configuration of the flexible multiplexing mode (“the PN 500 in FIG. 5, for receiving indication information for determining a transmission resource configuration in a wireless communication, in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure”; [0059]; [0024]; [0004]; [0055]; [0063] “The expected multiplexing mode indication indicates the resource multiplexing mode the RN6 expects the Link RN2_RN6 and the other one or more links to adopt, for example, one or a combination of TDM, FDM, and SDM is expected”; [0063]; [0055] TDM, FDM and SDM = flexible multiplexing mode) , wherein the flexible multiplexing mode is associated with a default multiplexing mode, and the default multiplexing mode is the TDM (“The expected multiplexing mode indication indicates the resource multiplexing mode the RN6 expects the Link RN2_RN6 and the other one or more links to adopt, for example, one or a combination of TDM, FDM, and SDM is expected”; [0063]; [0055] For examination purposes, the examiner has selected TDM) ; and wherein the flexible multiplexing mode is indicated to be at least one of the following multiplexing modes: transmission on both the first link and the second link via the FDM; transmission on both the first link and the second link via the SDM; reception on both the first link and the second link via the FDM; reception on both the first link and the second link via the SDM; transmission on the first link and reception on the second link via the FDM; transmission on the first link and reception on the second link via the SDM; reception on the first link and transmission on the second link via the FDM; reception on the first link and transmission on the second link via the SDM; or a TDM mode (“The expected multiplexing mode indication indicates the resource multiplexing mode the RN6 expects the Link RN2_RN6 and the other one or more links to adopt, for example, one or a combination of TDM, FDM, and SDM is expected”; [0063]; [0055] For examination purposes, the examiner has selected TDM) . As to claim 8: Zhang further discloses wherein time domain resources for the flexible multiplexing mode are associated with one or more multiplexing modes (“the PN determines a transmission resource desired by the PN”; see Figs. 5-6; [0059]; [0063] “RN6 216 and RN2 212 can exchange information to determine multiplexing mode and transmission resource to be used on the new link without conflicting with the multiplexing modes and transmission resources being used on the subordinate links of the RN6 216”; [0024]; [0004]; [0055] For examination purposes, the examiner has selected one multiplexing mode in time domain (i.e., TDM)) . As to claim 12: Zhang further discloses wherein the first signaling is applied to at least one of downlink and uplink time domain resources (“At operation 610, the PN generates and transmits feedback information based on the indication information and/or the transmission resource desired by the PN”; [0059]) . As to claim 16: Zhang discloses a processor for wireless communication (“processor 504”; Figs. 5-6; Abstract; [0044]; [0059]; [0063]) , comprising: at least one controller (“power module 508”; Fig. 5; [0044]) coupled with at least one memory (“memory 506”; Fig. 5; [0044]) and configured to cause the processor (“processor 504”; Fig. 5; [0044]) to: receive a first signaling (“the PN 500 in FIG. 5, for receiving indication information”; [0059]; [0061]) via a first link (“Link RN2_RN6”; [0059]; [0061]) , wherein the first signaling indicates a first time domain resource configuration (“the PN 500 in FIG. 5, for receiving indication information for determining a transmission resource configuration in a wireless communication, in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure”; [0059]; [0024]; [0004]; [0055]; [0063]) of at least one multiplexing mode for the first link and a second link (“The expected multiplexing mode indication indicates the resource multiplexing mode the RN6 expects the Link RN2_RN6 and the other one or more links to adopt, for example, one or a combination of TDM, FDM, and SDM is expected”; [0063]; [0055] For examination purposes, the examiner has selected one multiplexing mode in time domain (i.e., TDM)) , and wherein the at least one multiplexing mode includes at least one of the following multiplexing modes (“one or a combination of TDM, FDM, and SDM”; [0063]; [0031]) : downlink transmission on the first link and uplink transmission on the second link via a frequency-division multiplexing mode (FDM) (for examination purposes, this limitation has not been selected by the examiner as it is optional/alternative) ; downlink transmission on the first link and uplink transmission on the second link via a space division multiplexing mode (SDM) (for examination purposes, this limitation has not been selected by the examiner as it is optional/alternative) ; downlink reception on the first link and uplink reception on the second link via the FDM (for examination purposes, this limitation has not been selected by the examiner as it is optional/alternative) ; downlink reception on the first link and uplink reception on the second link via the SDM (for examination purposes, this limitation has not been selected by the examiner as it is optional/alternative) ; uplink transmission on the first link and uplink reception on the second link via the FDM (for examination purposes, this limitation has not been selected by the examiner as it is optional/alternative) ; uplink transmission on the first link and uplink reception on the second link via the SDM (for examination purposes, this limitation has not been selected by the examiner as it is optional/alternative) ; downlink reception on the first link and downlink transmission on the second link via the FDM (for examination purposes, this limitation has not been selected by the examiner as it is optional/alternative) ; downlink reception on the first link and downlink transmission on the second link via the SDM (for examination purposes, this limitation has not been selected by the examiner as it is optional/alternative) ; a time-division multiplexing mode (TDM) (“one or a combination of TDM , FDM, and SDM”; [0063]) ; and a flexible multiplexing mode (for examination purposes, this limitation has not been selected by the examiner as it is optional/alternative) ; and determine time domain resources associated with each multiplexing mode of the at least one multiplexing mode based on the first time domain resource configuration (“the PN determines a transmission resource desired by the PN”; see Figs. 5-6; [0059]; [0063] “RN6 216 and RN2 212 can exchange information to determine multiplexing mode and transmission resource to be used on the new link without conflicting with the multiplexing modes and transmission resources being used on the subordinate links of the RN6 216”; [0024]; [0004]; [0055] For examination purposes, the examiner has selected one multiplexing mode in time domain (i.e., TDM)) . Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103 07-20-aia AIA 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 of this title, 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. 07-21-aia AIA Claim s 2-4, 11 and 17-18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhang (US 2021/0160875 A1) in view of Liu et al. (US 2022/0061006 A1, hereinafter “Liu”) . As to claim 2: Zhang discloses the invention set forth above, but does not explicitly disclose wherein the first signaling comprises a periodicity and an offset of the first time domain resource configuration. Liu discloses wherein the first signaling comprises a periodicity and an offset of the first time domain resource configuration (“time-frequency configuration information of the SS/PBCH block to a second node, where the time-frequency configuration information of the SS/PBCH block includes the sending periodicity and the offset of the SS/PBCH block. The first node is the IAB node, the third node is the donor node, and the second node is the parent node of the IAB node”; [0167]; [0219]) . It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teaching of Liu into Zhang’s system/method as it would allow the first signaling to comprise a periodicity and an offset of the first time domain resource configuration. Such combination would have been obvious as the references are from analogous art, where a motivation would have been to avoid resource conflicts (Liu; Abstract; [0010]-[0011]) . As to claim 3: The combined system/method of Zhang and Liu discloses the invention set forth above. Liu further discloses wherein the first signaling comprises a number of slots or symbols for each multiplexing mode within the periodicity (“time-frequency configuration information of the SS/PBCH block to a second node, where the time-frequency configuration information of the SS/PBCH block includes the sending periodicity and the offset of the SS/PBCH block. The first node is the IAB node, the third node is the donor node, and the second node is the parent node of the IAB node”; [0167]; [0219] “the configuration information further includes a slot occupied by the PDCCH of the SIB1 of the DU of the first node”; [0029] “Both the PDCCH and PDSCH of the SIB1 are time division multiplexed with the SS/PBCH block”; [0176]) . It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teaching of Liu into the combined system/method as it would allow the first signaling to comprise a number of slots or symbols for each multiplexing mode within the periodicity. Such combination would have been obvious as the references are from analogous art, where a motivation would have been to avoid resource conflicts (Liu; Abstract; [0010]-[0011]) . As to claim 4: The combined system/method of Zhang and Liu discloses the invention set forth above. Liu further discloses wherein multiple patterns within the periodicity are predefined or configured by a high layer signaling (“time-frequency configuration information of the SS/PBCH block to a second node, where the time-frequency configuration information of the SS/PBCH block includes the sending periodicity and the offset of the SS/PBCH block. The first node is the IAB node, the third node is the donor node, and the second node is the parent node of the IAB node”; [0167]; [0219] “In NR, the SIB1 and the SS/PBCH block have three multiplexing patterns: a pattern 1, a pattern 2, and a pattern 3”; [0175]; [0018] “the configuration information is received by using radio resource control RRC signaling”; [0031]) . It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teaching of Liu into the combined system/method as it would allow multiple patterns within the periodicity to be predefined or configured by a high layer signaling. Such combination would have been obvious as the references are from analogous art, where a motivation would have been to avoid resource conflicts (Liu; Abstract; [0010]-[0011]) . As to claim 11: Zhang discloses the invention set forth above, but does not explicitly disclose wherein a symbol or slot length of the time domain resources is determined by a subcarrier spacing (SCS), and the SCS is explicitly configured or implicitly determined by at least one of SCS for downlink control information (DCI) 2_0, DCI 2_5, frequency band, Synchronization Signal Block (SSB) SCS, or Control Resource Set (corset) SCS. However, Liu discloses wherein a symbol or slot length of the time domain resources is determined by a subcarrier spacing (SCS), and the SCS is explicitly configured or implicitly determined by at least one of SCS for downlink control information (DCI) 2_0, DCI 2_5, frequency band, Synchronization Signal Block (SSB) SCS, or Control Resource Set (corset) SCS (“when the subcarrier spacing of the SS/PBCH block is 15 kHz, the subcarrier spacing of the CORESET is 15 kHz, and the minimum channel bandwidth is 5 MHz or 10 MHz, corresponding to Table 13-1, when an index is 0, the second node may obtain that a multiplexing pattern between the SS/PBCH block and the SIB1 is 1, and the frequency domain information of the SIB1 includes a quantity 24 of RBs, a quantity 2 of symbols, and a frequency domain offset of 2 RBs. Because the multiplexing pattern between the SS/PBCH block and the SIB1 is 1, the PDCCH and a PDSCH of the SIB1 are time division multiplexed with the SS/PBCH block. In this case, the second node may determine a time domain position of the SIB1 based on a time domain position of the SS/PBCH block and an offset of the SIB1 relative to the SS/PBCH block. For obtaining of information about the time domain position of the SS/PBCH block, refer to the foregoing descriptions. Details are not described herein again”; see Table 13-1; [0236]) . It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teaching of Liu into Zhang’s system/method as it would allow a symbol or slot length of the time domain resources to be determined by a subcarrier spacing (SCS), and the SCS is explicitly configured or implicitly determined by at least one of SCS for downlink control information (DCI) 2_0, DCI 2_5, frequency band, Synchronization Signal Block (SSB) SCS, or Control Resource Set (corset) SCS. Such combination would have been obvious as the references are from analogous art, where a motivation would have been to avoid resource conflicts (Liu; Abstract; [0010]-[0011]) . As to claim 17: Zhang discloses the invention set forth above, but does not explicitly disclose wherein the first signaling comprises a periodicity and an offset of the first time domain resource configuration. Liu discloses wherein the first signaling comprises a periodicity and an offset of the first time domain resource configuration (“time-frequency configuration information of the SS/PBCH block to a second node, where the time-frequency configuration information of the SS/PBCH block includes the sending periodicity and the offset of the SS/PBCH block. The first node is the IAB node, the third node is the donor node, and the second node is the parent node of the IAB node”; [0167]; [0219]) . It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teaching of Liu into Zhang’s system/method as it would allow the first signaling to comprise a periodicity and an offset of the first time domain resource configuration. Such combination would have been obvious as the references are from analogous art, where a motivation would have been to avoid resource conflicts (Liu; Abstract; [0010]-[0011]) . As to claim 18: The combined system/method of Zhang and Liu discloses the invention set forth above. Liu further discloses wherein the first signaling comprises a number of slots or symbols for each multiplexing mode within the periodicity (“time-frequency configuration information of the SS/PBCH block to a second node, where the time-frequency configuration information of the SS/PBCH block includes the sending periodicity and the offset of the SS/PBCH block. The first node is the IAB node, the third node is the donor node, and the second node is the parent node of the IAB node”; [0167]; [0219] “the configuration information further includes a slot occupied by the PDCCH of the SIB1 of the DU of the first node”; [0029] “Both the PDCCH and PDSCH of the SIB1 are time division multiplexed with the SS/PBCH block”; [0176]) . It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teaching of Liu into the combined system/method as it would allow the first signaling to comprise a number of slots or symbols for each multiplexing mode within the periodicity. Such combination would have been obvious as the references are from analogous art, where a motivation would have been to avoid resource conflicts (Liu; Abstract; [0010]-[0011]) . 07-21-aia AIA Claim s 6 and 9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhang (US 2021/0160875 A1) in view of You et al. (US 2023/0126621 A1, hereinafter “You”) . As to claim 6: Zhang discloses the invention set forth above, but does not explicitly disclose to receive a second signaling indicating a first gap between two multiplexing modes of the at least one multiplexing modes. However, You discloses receiving a second signaling indicating a first gap between two multiplexing modes of the at least one multiplexing modes (“the IAB node reports information related to the number of guard symbols required for the IAB node to at least one of the first parent node and the second parent node (S3820)”; [0515]-[0516] “a guard time may be required when switching transmission/reception with two parent nodes due to switching of transmission/reception operations and misalignment between transmission/reception timings with the two parent nodes”; [0501]; [0289]-[0293] note: transmitting to parent node number of guard symbols = receive a first gap ) . It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teaching of You into Zhang’s system/method as it would allow the processor to be further configured to cause the apparatus to: receive a second signaling indicating a first gap between two multiplexing modes of the at least one multiplexing modes. Such combination would have been obvious as the references are from analogous art, where a motivation would have been to prevent collision of transmission/reception resources (You; [0517]; [0507]) . As to claim 9: Zhang discloses the invention set forth above, but does not explicitly disclose to receive a fourth signaling indicating at least one of a second gap between reception of the third signaling and application of the third signaling, a third gap between two different multiplexing modes within the time domain resources associated with the flexible multiplexing mode, and a duration for each multiplexing mode within the time domain resource associated with the flexible multiplexing mode. However, You discloses receiving a fourth signaling indicating at least one of a second gap between reception of the third signaling and application of the third signaling, a third gap between two different multiplexing modes within the time domain resources associated with the flexible multiplexing mode, and a duration for each multiplexing mode within the time domain resource associated with the flexible multiplexing mode (“the IAB node reports information related to the number of guard symbols required for the IAB node to at least one of the first parent node and the second parent node (S3820)”; [0515]-[0516] “a guard time may be required when switching transmission/reception with two parent nodes due to switching of transmission/reception operations and misalignment between transmission/reception timings with the two parent nodes”; [0501]; [0289]-[0293] note 1: transmitting to parent node number of guard symbols = receive a first gap; note2: for examination purposes, the examiner has selected to examine “a third gap between two different multiplexing modes within the time domain resources associated with the flexible multiplexing mode” from the group of alternatives/options) . It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teaching of You into Zhang’s system/method as it would allow the processor to be further configured to cause the apparatus to: receive a fourth signaling indicating at least one of a second gap between reception of the third signaling and application of the third signaling, a third gap between two different multiplexing modes within the time domain resources associated with the flexible multiplexing mode, and a duration for each multiplexing mode within the time domain resource associated with the flexible multiplexing mode. Such combination would have been obvious as the references are from analogous art, where a motivation would have been to prevent collision of transmission/reception resources (You; [0517]; [0507]) . Allowable Subject Matter 12-151-08 AIA 07-43 12-51-08 Claim 10 is 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. Pertinent Prior Art 07-96 The prior art made of record below, but not relied upon, is considered pertinent to applicant’s disclosure: Astrom et al. US 2024/0259084 A1 teaches the IAB-DU signals operational configurations to child IAB-nodes and/or UEs in the cell. For example, by providing its own semi-static resource configuration to a child IAB-node, the IAB-DU can prepare the child IAB-node for a smooth switch between different multiplexing operation modes. At the same time, the IAB-node can also provide the child IAB-node with suitable operational configurations for different multiplexing modes, such as timing, power-control configurations, etc. (see at least paragraph [0168]; [0164]) . Zhang et al. US 2021/0266128 A1 teaches where one multiplexing mode includes a multiplexing mode of the B links, and a multiplexing mode set of the B links in one resource belongs to one of the Q multiplexing mode sets corresponding to the one resource (see at least paragraph [0223]). Zhang further teaches one multiplexing mode set includes at least one of the following multiplexing modes: time-division multiplexing, frequency-division multiplexing, or space-division multiplexing (see at least paragraph [0250]). Venugopal et al. US 2021/0194658 A1 teaches that the UE may be configured to select beams and/or other resources depending upon whether the operational mode includes a time-division multiplexing (TDM) mode, a frequency-division multiplexing (FDM) mode, a spatial-division multiplexing (SDM) mod (see at least paragraph [0094]). Conclusion Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MARIELA VIDAL CARPIO whose telephone number is (571)272-1250. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8:00AM to 5:00PM. 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. /MARIELA VIDAL CARPIO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2476 Application/Control Number: 18/579,442 Page 2 Art Unit: 2476 Application/Control Number: 18/579,442 Page 3 Art Unit: 2476 Application/Control Number: 18/579,442 Page 4 Art Unit: 2476 Application/Control Number: 18/579,442 Page 5 Art Unit: 2476 Application/Control Number: 18/579,442 Page 6 Art Unit: 2476 Application/Control Number: 18/579,442 Page 7 Art Unit: 2476 Application/Control Number: 18/579,442 Page 8 Art Unit: 2476 Application/Control Number: 18/579,442 Page 9 Art Unit: 2476 Application/Control Number: 18/579,442 Page 10 Art Unit: 2476 Application/Control Number: 18/579,442 Page 11 Art Unit: 2476 Application/Control Number: 18/579,442 Page 12 Art Unit: 2476 Application/Control Number: 18/579,442 Page 13 Art Unit: 2476 Application/Control Number: 18/579,442 Page 14 Art Unit: 2476 Application/Control Number: 18/579,442 Page 15 Art Unit: 2476 Application/Control Number: 18/579,442 Page 16 Art Unit: 2476 Application/Control Number: 18/579,442 Page 17 Art Unit: 2476 Application/Control Number: 18/579,442 Page 18 Art Unit: 2476 Application/Control Number: 18/579,442 Page 19 Art Unit: 2476
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Prosecution Timeline

Jan 15, 2024
Application Filed
Jun 17, 2026
Non-Final Rejection mailed — §102, §103 (current)

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1-2
Expected OA Rounds
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Grant Probability
77%
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