Prosecution Insights
Last updated: May 29, 2026
Application No. 18/601,630

Transmission Power Adjustment

Non-Final OA §102
Filed
Mar 11, 2024
Priority
Oct 14, 2016 — provisional 62/408,338 +3 more
Examiner
LOUIS-FILS, NICOLE M
Art Unit
2641
Tech Center
2600 — Communications
Assignee
Comcast Cable Communications LLC
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
73%
Grant Probability
Favorable
1-2
OA Rounds
6m
Est. Remaining
99%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 73% — above average
73%
Career Allowance Rate
188 granted / 257 resolved
+11.2% vs TC avg
Strong +34% interview lift
Without
With
+33.5%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
2y 8m
Avg Prosecution
30 currently pending
Career history
307
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
0.1%
-39.9% vs TC avg
§103
97.0%
+57.0% vs TC avg
§102
1.9%
-38.1% vs TC avg
§112
0.4%
-39.6% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 257 resolved cases

Office Action

§102
DETAILED ACTION 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 § 102 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. Claims 1-21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Pelletier et al. (US 20170013565 A1). Regarding claim 1, Pelletier teaches a method (power scaling of transmissions of Fig. 18) comprising: receiving, by a base station, a message indicating a minimum amount of time for a wireless device to perform a power adjustment (The threshold may be pre-defined and may correspond, for instance, to an allowable reduction of the available processing time for the WTRU to determine the required pre-scaled transmission powers of subset B. The threshold, or whether proactive scaling is possible at all, may be dependent on a WTRU capability signaled to the network, [0445]; WTRU may detect that at least one of its capabilities are exceeded, and may initiate a procedure to signal such condition to the network e.g. signaling towards either the MeNB, the SeNB or both. Such capabilities may include… a threshold related to processing capabilities, [0989]), wherein the wireless device is configured to support communication via at least two cell groups (WTRU may receive explicit signaling from the network that indicates synchronous uplink operation between Cell Groups; where configured for dual connectivity, [0791]); and based on the message, transmitting a configuration message indicating a threshold timing difference (NW-controlled adjustment: The WTRU may adjust the applicable power allocation ratio when it receives control signaling from the network, [0483]; The WTRU may apply the adjustment only for the applicable transmission e.g. if received together with a DCI that allocated resources for an uplink transmission; the WTRU may apply the adjustment after a certain processing time e.g. X subframes after the subframe in which the WTRU could first determine that an adjustment was required (for example, in case of network-controlled adjustment, in subframe n+x for control signaling received in subframe n, [0484]), between a first time duration of a first cell group, of the at least two cell groups, and an overlapping second time duration of a second cell group, of the at least two cell groups, for performing the power adjustment (WTRU configured with multiple TAGs and more than 2 serving cells may typically drop the SRS transmission if it overlaps with the SRS transmission of a different serving cell in the same subframe and if it overlaps with the PUCCH/PUSCH transmission for another serving cell in the same subframe or in the next subframe, if the WTRU's total transmit power would otherwise exceed the maximum available transmission power (e.g. Pcmax) on any overlapped portion of the symbol, [0843], cell overlapping example of Fig. 18). Regarding claim 2, Pelletier teaches the method of claim 1, further comprising: determining, based on the received message, one or more capabilities of the wireless device (The threshold may be pre-defined and may correspond, for instance, to an allowable reduction of the available processing time for the WTRU to determine the required pre-scaled transmission powers of subset B. The threshold, or whether proactive scaling is possible at all, may be dependent on a WTRU capability signaled to the network. Alternatively, the threshold may correspond to half of a subframe, or to one slot, [0445]); and determining, based on the one or more capabilities of the wireless device, the threshold timing difference (WTRU may determine the difference in timing according to any of the methods described herein regarding processing a time budget, such as based on WTRU processing time, [0439]). Regarding claim 3, Pelletier teaches the method of claim 1, wherein the configuration message is a radio resource control (RRC) message (WTRU may be configured to use one of a possible set of guaranteed available powers for at least one MAC instance. The set may be provided from higher layer signaling (e.g., RRC), [0468]). Regarding claim 4, Pelletier teaches the method of claim 1, wherein the at least two cell groups comprise at least one of a licensed assisted access (LAA) cell, an unlicensed cell, or combinations thereof (For example, in some embodiments a “primary MAC instance” or a “MeNB CG-MCG” may correspond to a first radio access technology such as LTE while a “secondary MAC instance” or a “Secondary CG-SCG” may correspond to a second radio access technology such as HSPA or Wifi, [0141]). Regarding claim 5, Pelletier teaches the method of claim 1, wherein the configuration message comprises a value of the threshold timing difference (WTRU may start a prohibit timer (which usage and/or value may possibly be configurable by the network) when it performs such adjustment, such that no further WTRU-autonomous adjustment may be made while the timer is running, [0481]). Regarding claim 6, Pelletier teaches the method of claim 1, wherein the configuration message comprises an indication of a minimum power scaling factor processing time value (WTRU may apply proactive scaling for subset A (and reactive scaling for subset B immediately after) if the time difference between the start of subframe i and the start of subframe j+1 is less than a threshold… effectively a pairing of subframes is performed such that the time interval between the starts of paired subframes is minimized, [0445]). Regarding claim 7, Pelletier teaches the method of claim 1, wherein the received message comprises an indication of a time duration value for processing a power scaling factor (The threshold may be pre-defined and may correspond, for instance, to an allowable reduction of the available processing time for the WTRU to determine the required pre-scaled transmission powers of subset B, [0445]). Regarding claim 8, Pelletier teaches a base station (e.g. base station 114a of Fig. 1) comprising: one or more processors (processor 118); and memory storing instructions (memory 132) that, when executed, configure the base station to: receive a message indicating a minimum amount of time for a wireless device to perform a power adjustment (The threshold may be pre-defined and may correspond, for instance, to an allowable reduction of the available processing time for the WTRU to determine the required pre-scaled transmission powers of subset B. The threshold, or whether proactive scaling is possible at all, may be dependent on a WTRU capability signaled to the network, [0445]; WTRU may detect that at least one of its capabilities are exceeded, and may initiate a procedure to signal such condition to the network e.g. signaling towards either the MeNB, the SeNB or both. Such capabilities may include… a threshold related to processing capabilities, [0989]), wherein the wireless device is configured to support communication via at least two cell groups (WTRU may receive explicit signaling from the network that indicates synchronous uplink operation between Cell Groups; where configured for dual connectivity, [0791]); and based on the received message, transmit a configuration message indicating a threshold timing difference (NW-controlled adjustment: The WTRU may adjust the applicable power allocation ratio when it receives control signaling from the network, [0483]; The WTRU may apply the adjustment only for the applicable transmission e.g. if received together with a DCI that allocated resources for an uplink transmission; the WTRU may apply the adjustment after a certain processing time e.g. X subframes after the subframe in which the WTRU could first determine that an adjustment was required (for example, in case of network-controlled adjustment, in subframe n+x for control signaling received in subframe n, [0484]), between a first time duration of a first cell group, of the at least two cell groups, and an overlapping second time duration of a second cell group, of the at least two cell groups, for performing the power adjustment (WTRU configured with multiple TAGs and more than 2 serving cells may typically drop the SRS transmission if it overlaps with the SRS transmission of a different serving cell in the same subframe and if it overlaps with the PUCCH/PUSCH transmission for another serving cell in the same subframe or in the next subframe, if the WTRU's total transmit power would otherwise exceed the maximum available transmission power (e.g. Pcmax) on any overlapped portion of the symbol, [0843], cell overlapping example of Fig. 18). Regarding claim 9, Pelletier teaches the station of claim 8, wherein the instructions, when executed, further cause the base station to: determine, based on the received message, one or more capabilities of the wireless device (The threshold may be pre-defined and may correspond, for instance, to an allowable reduction of the available processing time for the WTRU to determine the required pre-scaled transmission powers of subset B. The threshold, or whether proactive scaling is possible at all, may be dependent on a WTRU capability signaled to the network. Alternatively, the threshold may correspond to half of a subframe, or to one slot, [0445]); and determine, based on the one or more capabilities of the wireless device, the threshold timing difference (WTRU may determine the difference in timing according to any of the methods described herein regarding processing a time budget, such as based on WTRU processing time, [0439]).. Regarding claim 10, Pelletier teaches the base station of claim 8, wherein the configuration message is a radio resource control (RRC) message (WTRU may be configured to use one of a possible set of guaranteed available powers for at least one MAC instance. The set may be provided from higher layer signaling (e.g., RRC), [0468]). Regarding claim 11, Pelletier teaches the base station of claim 8, wherein the at least two cell groups comprise at least one of a licensed assisted access (LAA) cell, an unlicensed cell, or combinations thereof (For example, in some embodiments a “primary MAC instance” or a “MeNB CG-MCG” may correspond to a first radio access technology such as LTE while a “secondary MAC instance” or a “Secondary CG-SCG” may correspond to a second radio access technology such as HSPA or Wifi, [0141]). Regarding claim 12, Pelletier teaches the base station of claim 8, wherein the configuration message comprises a value of the threshold timing difference (WTRU may start a prohibit timer (which usage and/or value may possibly be configurable by the network) when it performs such adjustment, such that no further WTRU-autonomous adjustment may be made while the timer is running, [0481]). Regarding claim 13, Pelletier teaches the base station of claim 8, wherein the configuration message comprises an indication of a minimum power scaling factor processing time value (WTRU may apply proactive scaling for subset A (and reactive scaling for subset B immediately after) if the time difference between the start of subframe i and the start of subframe j+1 is less than a threshold… effectively a pairing of subframes is performed such that the time interval between the starts of paired subframes is minimized, [0445]).. Regarding claim 14, Pelletier teaches the base station of claim 8, wherein the received message comprises an indication of a time duration value for processing a power scaling factor (WTRU may apply proactive scaling for subset A (and reactive scaling for subset B immediately after) if the time difference between the start of subframe i and the start of subframe j+1 is less than a threshold… effectively a pairing of subframes is performed such that the time interval between the starts of paired subframes is minimized, [0445]).. Regarding claim 15, Pelletier teaches a system (System of Fig. 1a) comprising: a base station (base station 114a); and a wireless device (device 102a) configured to support communication via at least two cell groups (transmissions i and j may be considered as directed toward different MAC entities, or different cell groups (CGs) rather than toward different eNBs, [024]); wherein the wireless devices is configured to transmit a message indicating a minimum amount of time for the wireless device to perform a power adjustment (The threshold may be pre-defined and may correspond, for instance, to an allowable reduction of the available processing time for the WTRU to determine the required pre-scaled transmission powers of subset B. The threshold, or whether proactive scaling is possible at all, may be dependent on a WTRU capability signaled to the network, [0445]; WTRU may detect that at least one of its capabilities are exceeded, and may initiate a procedure to signal such condition to the network e.g. signaling towards either the MeNB, the SeNB or both. Such capabilities may include… a threshold related to processing capabilities, [0989]); and wherein the base station is configured to, based on the received message, transmit a configuration message indicating a threshold timing difference (NW-controlled adjustment: The WTRU may adjust the applicable power allocation ratio when it receives control signaling from the network, [0483]; The WTRU may apply the adjustment only for the applicable transmission e.g. if received together with a DCI that allocated resources for an uplink transmission; the WTRU may apply the adjustment after a certain processing time e.g. X subframes after the subframe in which the WTRU could first determine that an adjustment was required (for example, in case of network-controlled adjustment, in subframe n+x for control signaling received in subframe n, [0484]), between a first time duration of a first cell group, of the at least two cell groups, and an overlapping second time duration of a second cell group, of the at least two cell groups, for performing the power adjustment (WTRU configured with multiple TAGs and more than 2 serving cells may typically drop the SRS transmission if it overlaps with the SRS transmission of a different serving cell in the same subframe and if it overlaps with the PUCCH/PUSCH transmission for another serving cell in the same subframe or in the next subframe, if the WTRU's total transmit power would otherwise exceed the maximum available transmission power (e.g. Pcmax) on any overlapped portion of the symbol, [0843], cell overlapping example of Fig. 18). Regarding claim 16, Pelletier teaches the system of claim 15, wherein the base station is further configured to: determine, based on the received message, one or more capabilities of the wireless device The threshold may be pre-defined and may correspond, for instance, to an allowable reduction of the available processing time for the WTRU to determine the required pre-scaled transmission powers of subset B. The threshold, or whether proactive scaling is possible at all, may be dependent on a WTRU capability signaled to the network. Alternatively, the threshold may correspond to half of a subframe, or to one slot, [0445]); and determine, based on the one or more capabilities of the wireless device, the threshold timing difference (WTRU may determine the difference in timing according to any of the methods described herein regarding processing a time budget, such as based on WTRU processing time, [0439]). Regarding claim 17, Pelletier teaches the system of claim 15, wherein the configuration message is a radio resource control (RRC) message (WTRU may be configured to use one of a possible set of guaranteed available powers for at least one MAC instance. The set may be provided from higher layer signaling (e.g., RRC), [0468]). Regarding claim 18, Pelletier teaches the system of claim 15, wherein the at least two cell groups comprise at least one of a licensed assisted access (LAA) cell, an unlicensed cell, or combinations thereof (For example, in some embodiments a “primary MAC instance” or a “MeNB CG-MCG” may correspond to a first radio access technology such as LTE while a “secondary MAC instance” or a “Secondary CG-SCG” may correspond to a second radio access technology such as HSPA or Wifi, [0141]). Regarding claim 19, Pelletier teaches the system of claim 15, wherein the configuration message comprises a value of the threshold timing difference (WTRU may start a prohibit timer (which usage and/or value may possibly be configurable by the network) when it performs such adjustment, such that no further WTRU-autonomous adjustment may be made while the timer is running, [0481]). Regarding claim 20, Pelletier teaches the system of claim 15, wherein the configuration message comprises an indication of a minimum power scaling factor processing time value (WTRU may apply proactive scaling for subset A (and reactive scaling for subset B immediately after) if the time difference between the start of subframe i and the start of subframe j+1 is less than a threshold… effectively a pairing of subframes is performed such that the time interval between the starts of paired subframes is minimized, [0445]). Regarding claim 21, Pelletier teaches the system of claim 15, wherein the received message comprises an indication of a time duration value for processing a power scaling factor (The threshold may be pre-defined and may correspond, for instance, to an allowable reduction of the available processing time for the WTRU to determine the required pre-scaled transmission powers of subset B, [0445]). Conclusion The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Park et al. (US 20180110057 A1): Disclosed are an uplink data transmission method in a wireless communication system and a device therefor. Particularly, a method for transmitting uplink data in an unlicensed band by a user equipment (UE) in a wireless communication system may comprise the steps of: receiving, from a base station, uplink scheduling information within a cell operating in an unlicensed band; sensing a channel of the cell; transmitting a reservation signal when the channel is sensed to be in an idle state; and transmitting, to the base station, uplink data in a wireless resource allocated on the basis of the uplink scheduling information, wherein the channel is sensed to be in the idle state when energy detected, except for the reservation signal transmitted from another UE that is co-scheduled along with the UE for uplink multi-user multiple input multiple output (UL MU-MIMO) transmission, is smaller than a predetermined threshold value. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to NICOLE M LOUIS-FILS whose telephone number is (571)270-0671. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday. 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, Charles Appiah can be reached at 571-272-7904. 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. /NICOLE M LOUIS-FILS/Examiner, Art Unit 2641 /CHARLES N APPIAH/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2641
Read full office action

Prosecution Timeline

Mar 11, 2024
Application Filed
Apr 09, 2026
Non-Final Rejection mailed — §102 (current)

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Prosecution Projections

1-2
Expected OA Rounds
73%
Grant Probability
99%
With Interview (+33.5%)
2y 8m (~6m remaining)
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 257 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allowance rate.

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