Prosecution Insights
Last updated: April 19, 2026
Application No. 18/602,507

CARRIER ACTIVATION/DEACTIVATION AND CARRIER FREQUENCY ACTIVATION/DEACTIVATION

Non-Final OA §103
Filed
Mar 12, 2024
Examiner
TON, DANG T
Art Unit
2476
Tech Center
2400 — Computer Networks
Assignee
ZTE CORPORATION
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
89%
Grant Probability
Favorable
1-2
OA Rounds
2y 4m
To Grant
89%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 89% — above average
89%
Career Allow Rate
526 granted / 593 resolved
+30.7% vs TC avg
Minimal +1% lift
Without
With
+0.7%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
2y 4m
Avg Prosecution
33 currently pending
Career history
626
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
2.4%
-37.6% vs TC avg
§103
50.8%
+10.8% vs TC avg
§102
10.6%
-29.4% vs TC avg
§112
6.2%
-33.8% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 593 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 . The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows: 1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art. 2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue. 3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art. 4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness. 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. Claims 19 and 24 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over . Liu et al. (2020/0280987) in view of Yi et al. ( 2021/0274477). For independent claims 19 and 24 , Liu et al. (2020/0280987) discloses receiving, by a wireless device, a configuration information from a network device, wherein the configuration information includes correspondences between carriers and carrier frequencies ( See a method/apparatus for carrier frequency controlling, (see the description, paragraphs [0039]-[0234], claims 1-16), and the method/apparatus involves receiving channel quality indication (CQI) information of a carrier frequency reported by a terminal: deactivation or activation determination is made to the carrier frequency based on the CQI information; the terminal is indicated to deactivate or activate the carrier frequency according to the determined result. In an embodiment, the present disclosure provides a method for controlling a carrier frequency in a multi-carrier/cell system, which includes the following steps. Channel Quality Indicator (CQI) information of the carrier frequency reported by a terminal is received. Determine whether to deactivate or activate the carrier frequency according to the CQI information); receiving, after the configuration information is received, an indication for activation or deactivation of the correspondences between carriers and carrier frequencies (See the terminal is instructed to deactivate or activate the carrier frequency according to a result of the determining. Liu et al. (2020/0280987) discloses an information receiving module, a carrier frequency determining module, and an instruction sending module); and performing the activation or deactivation according to the indication (See the information receiving module is adapted to receive CQI information sent by a terminal. The carrier frequency determining module is adapted to compare the CQI information received by the information receiving module with a deactivation threshold or an activation threshold received by the threshold receiving module, so as to determine whether to deactivate or activate the carrier frequency. The instruction sending module is adapted to send a result of the carrier frequency determining module to the terminal. For independent claim 1, Liu et al. (2020/0280987) discloses all the subject matter of the claimed invention with the exception of wherein the indication comprises log2(M) bits indicating a carrier index and N bits each corresponding to a carrier frequency, wherein M is a number of configured carriers and N is a number of the correspondences between the carriers and the carrier frequencies configured in the configuration information, thereby instructing the wireless device to cause the activation or deactivation according to the indication in a communication network. Yi et al. from the same or similar fields of endeavor teaches a provision of wherein the indication comprises log2(M) bits indicating a carrier index and N bits each corresponding to a carrier frequency, wherein M is a number of configured carriers and N is a number of the correspondences between the carriers and the carrier frequencies configured in the configuration information, thereby instructing the wireless device to cause the activation or deactivation according to the indication in a communication network( See paragraphs 0355 lines 1-9, 0242 lines 1-15, 0157 lines 1-10, and 0179 lines 1-5). Thus, it would have been obvious to the person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use wherein the indication comprises log2(M) bits indicating a carrier index and N bits each corresponding to a carrier frequency, wherein M is a number of configured carriers and N is a number of the correspondences between the carriers and the carrier frequencies configured in the configuration information, thereby instructing the wireless device to cause the activation or deactivation according to the indication in a communication network as taught by Yi et al. in the communications of Liu et al. (2020/0280987) for the purpose of indicating the carrier index and N-bits each corresponding to a carrier frequency. The independent claim 24 is rejected for the same reason as claim 1. 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. Claims 34 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Liu et al. (2020/0280987) in view of Yi et al. ( 2021/0274477) and further in view of Nam(2016/0157218). For claim 34, Liu et al. (2020/0280987) in view of Yi et al. ( 2021/274427) discloses all the subject matter of the claimed invention with the exception of memory and processor having executable codes in a communications network. Nam et al. from the same or similar fields of endeavor teaches a provision of the memory and processor ( See paragraphs 0014 and 0052). Thus, it would have been obvious to the person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to use memory, processor and a non-transitory computer readable medium having executable codes as taught by Nam et al. in the communication network of Liu et al. (2020/0280987) in view of Yi et al. ( 2021/274427) for the purpose of storing codes in the memory to execute the process by the processor. Claims 20-23,25-33 ,35-38 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. The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Yi et al. (2022/0346104) is cited to show a system which is considered pertinent to the claimed invention. . Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DANG T TON whose telephone number is (571)272-3171. The examiner can normally be reached Monday to Friday 5:30 AM to 3:00 PM. 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. /DANG T TON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2476 /D.T.T/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2476
Read full office action

Prosecution Timeline

Mar 12, 2024
Application Filed
Mar 11, 2026
Non-Final Rejection — §103 (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
89%
Grant Probability
89%
With Interview (+0.7%)
2y 4m
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 593 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allow rate.

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