Prosecution Insights
Last updated: October 02, 2026
Application No. 18/606,528

METHOD AND SYSTEM TO SUPPORT CELL DISCONTINUOUS TRANSMISSION AND RECEPTION AT USER EQUIPMENT

Final Rejection §102
Filed
Mar 15, 2024
Priority
Apr 21, 2023 — provisional 63/461,094
Examiner
SHAHEED, KHALID W
Art Unit
2643
Tech Center
2600 — Communications
Assignee
Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
OA Round
2 (Final)
83%
Grant Probability
Favorable
3-4
OA Rounds
1m
Est. Remaining
98%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 83% — above average
83%
Career Allowance Rate
725 granted / 872 resolved
+21.1% vs TC avg
Moderate +15% lift
Without
With
+14.9%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
2y 7m
Avg Prosecution
26 currently pending
Career history
906
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
6.7%
-33.3% vs TC avg
§103
53.6%
+13.6% vs TC avg
§102
27.8%
-12.2% vs TC avg
§112
9.2%
-30.8% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 872 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 . Priority Should applicant desire to obtain the benefit of foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119(a)-(d) prior to declaration of an interference, a certified English translation of the foreign application must be submitted in reply to this action. 37 CFR 41.154(b) and 41.202(e). Failure to provide a certified translation may result in no benefit being accorded for the non-English application. Applicant cannot rely upon the certified copy of the foreign priority application to overcome this rejection because a translation of said application has not been made of record in accordance with 37 CFR 1.55. When an English language translation of a non-English language foreign application is required, the translation must be that of the certified copy (of the foreign application as filed) submitted together with a statement that the translation of the certified copy is accurate. See MPEP §§ 215 and 216. Response to Arguments Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1-20 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument. 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)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention. Claim(s) 1-6, 9-14, 17-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Abedini (US 2024/0324063 A1). Regarding claim 1, Abedini discloses a method comprising: configuring, by a base station (BS), a user equipment (UE) (see configured regarding UE [0010], Network node [0013], inter alia) with a cell discontinuous transmission (DTX)/discontinuous reception (DRX) configuration (see DRX or DTX) defined by including a DTX/DRX periodicity, a DTX/DRX starting slot or offset (see [0101], “the offset may correspond to a time period that is between the end of the inactive period of the DRX/DTX cycle of the network node 110 and the start of the next active period of the connected mode DRX/DTX cycle of the UE ”), and a DTX/DRX active period, the configuration defining repeating active and inactive periods of the cell (see [0109] active period 610 and an inactive period 615 that repeat), wherein a subset of PDCCH occasions is defined within at least one of the inactive periods (see [0109] “A subset of the resources used for monitoring the RAR may be within the cell DRX/DTX inactive period”); and enabling or disabling, by the BS, the cell DTX/DRX configuration at the UE (see enable [0097]). Regarding 9 and 17, Abedini discloses a method and a user equipment (UE) comprising: a processor (see [0266], processor); and a non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing instructions that, when executed (see non-transitory CRM [0295]), cause the processor to: receive a cell discontinuous transmission (DTX)/discontinuous reception (DRX) configuration from a base station (BS) (see DRX/DTX fig. 5 from Network Node 110), wherein the cell DTX/DRX configuration is defined by includes a DTX/DRX periodicity (see [0042], “periodicity associated with the DRX or DTX cycle of the network node”), a DTX/DRX starting slot or offset, and a DTX/DRX active period (see [0101], “the offset may correspond to a time period that is between the end of the inactive period of the DRX/DTX cycle of the network node 110 and the start of the next active period of the connected mode DRX/DTX cycle of the UE ”), the configuration defining repeating active and inactive periods of the cell (see [0109] active period 610 and an inactive period 615 that repeat), wherein a subset of PDCCH occasions is defined within at least one of the inactive periods (see [0109] “A subset of the resources used for monitoring the RAR may be within the cell DRX/DTX inactive period”); receive, from the BS, a signal to enable or disable the cell DTX/DRX configuration at the UE (see enable [0097]); and enable or disable the cell DTX/DRX configuration at the UE based on the signal (see enable [0097]). PNG media_image1.png 748 597 media_image1.png Greyscale Regarding claim 2, Abedini discloses the method of claim 1, wherein enabling or disabling the cell DTX/DRX configuration comprises enabling a cell DTX configuration, wherein in an inactive period of the cell DTX configuration, the UE is configured to suspend monitoring of a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) (see PDDCH [0092] regarding DRX/DTX config). Regarding claims 3 & 11, Abedini discloses the methods of 1 and 9, wherein enabling or disabling the cell DTX/DRX configuration comprises enabling a cell DRX configuration, wherein in an inactive period of the cell DRX configuration, the UE is configured to suspend configured grant (CG)-physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) (see configured grant PUSCH signals [0105] and scheduled request signals [0105]) transmissions and suspend scheduling request (SR) transmissions (see configured grant PUSCH signals [0105] and scheduled request signals [0105]). Regarding claims 4 & 12, Abedini discloses the methods of 1 and 9, wherein, in an inactive period of the cell DTX/DRX configuration, the UE is configured to suspend (see [0105], “restrictions may be applied ”) at least one of periodic and semi-persistent channel state information (CSI) measurements, beam management procedures, and periodic and semi- persistent CSI reports (see simi-persistent scheduling and channel state information [0105]). Regarding claims 5 & 13, Abedini discloses the methods of 1 and 9, wherein a message exchange between the UE and the BS for a random access channel (RACH) procedure continues through an inactive period of the cell DTX/DRX configuration (see RACK [0108]). Regarding claims 6 & 14, Abedini discloses the methods of 5 and 13, wherein, in the inactive period of the cell DTX/DRX configuration, the UE monitors a PDCCH for a random access response (RAR) or a contention resolution message of the RACH procedure (see RAR and RACH in [0109]). Regarding claim 10, Abedini discloses the method of claim 9, wherein enabling or disabling the cell DTX/DRX configuration comprises enabling a cell DTX configuration at the UE, and further comprising: suspending monitoring of a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) in an inactive period of the cell DTX configuration (see PDDCH [0092] regarding DRX/DTX config). Regarding claim 18, Abedini discloses the UE of claim 17, wherein: in enabling or disabling the cell DTX/DRX configuration, the instructions cause the processor to enable a cell DTX configuration at the UE, and the instructions further cause the processor to suspend monitoring of a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) in an inactive period of the cell DTX configuration (see PDCCH [0093] and inactive); or in enabling or disabling the cell DTX/DRX configuration, the instructions cause the processor to enable a cell DRX configuration at the UE, and the instructions further cause the processor to suspend configured grant (CG)-physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) (see configured grant PUSCH signals [0105] and scheduled request signals [0105]) transmissions and scheduling request (SR) transmissions (see configured grant PUSCH signals [0105] and scheduled request signals [0105]) in an inactive period of the cell DRX configuration; or the instructions further cause the processor to suspend at least one of periodic and semi- persistent channel state information (CSI) measurements, beam management procedures, and periodic and semi-persistent CSI reports in an inactive period of the cell DTX/DRX configuration (see Channel state information and semi-persistent [0105]). Regarding claim 19, Abedini discloses the UE of claim 17, wherein: a message exchange between the UE and the BS for a random access channel (RACH) procedure continues through an inactive period of the cell DTX/DRX configuration (see RACH regarding DRX/DTX inactive period [0109]); or the instructions further cause the processor to monitor periodic occasions in an inactive period of the cell DTX/DRX configuration for data with low latency requirements, wherein the periodic occasions comprise PDCCH occasions or uplink (UL) wake-up signal occasions. Allowable Subject Matter Claims 7-8, 15-16 & 20 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 Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a). A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to K. WILFORD SHAHEED whose telephone number is (469) 295-9175. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Friday 9 am-6pm; CST; ALT Friday. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. The examiner’s Supervisor, Jinsong Hu, can be reached at (571)272-3965, where attempts to reach the examiner are unsuccessful. 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. /KHALID W SHAHEED/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2643
Read full office action

Prosecution Timeline

Mar 15, 2024
Application Filed
Feb 27, 2026
Non-Final Rejection mailed — §102
Apr 28, 2026
Applicant Interview (Telephonic)
Apr 28, 2026
Examiner Interview Summary
Jun 29, 2026
Response Filed
Sep 04, 2026
Final Rejection mailed — §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

3-4
Expected OA Rounds
83%
Grant Probability
98%
With Interview (+14.9%)
2y 7m (~1m remaining)
Median Time to Grant
Moderate
PTA Risk
Based on 872 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allowance rate.

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