Prosecution Insights
Last updated: August 17, 2026
Application No. 18/621,363

Network Energy Saving for Wireless Communications Management

Non-Final OA §103
Filed
Mar 29, 2024
Priority
Mar 30, 2023 — provisional 63/455,864
Examiner
OVEISSI, MANSOUR
Art Unit
2415
Tech Center
2400 — Computer Networks
Assignee
Comcast Cable Communications LLC
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
83%
Grant Probability
Favorable
1-2
OA Rounds
8m
Est. Remaining
95%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 83% — above average
83%
Career Allowance Rate
753 granted / 908 resolved
+24.9% vs TC avg
Moderate +12% lift
Without
With
+11.8%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
3y 0m
Avg Prosecution
32 currently pending
Career history
943
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
5.7%
-34.3% vs TC avg
§103
54.8%
+14.8% vs TC avg
§102
9.0%
-31.0% vs TC avg
§112
22.6%
-17.4% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 908 resolved cases

Office Action

§103
DETAILED ACTION Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status 1. The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA . Status of Claims 2. This Office Action is in response to the application filed on 05/26/2026. Claims 1 and through 20 are presently pending and are presented for examination. 3. 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. Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103 4. 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 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kim (US 2024/03146652 A1) in view of Kim (US 2024/0023195 A1-hereafter Kim-195). For claim 1 Kim teaches a method comprising: receiving, by a wireless device, a first message comprising a request associated with a wireless device capability (claim 1 “transmitting, to a base station, capability information associated with the user device”); sending a second message indicating a capability of the wireless device (claim 1 “transmitting, to a base station, capability information associated with the user device”), wherein the second message comprises: a first parameter indicating whether the wireless device supports a cell discontinuous transmission (DTX) configuration by radio resource control (RRC) messaging (claim 1 “receiving, from the base station, a first radio resource control (RRC) message, wherein the first RRC message comprises: parameters”); and a second parameter indicating whether the wireless device supports an activation of the cell DTX configuration by downlink control information (DCI) (claim 1 “receiving, DCI”); receiving an RRC message comprising configuration parameters of the cell DTX configuration (paragraph 7 “RRC message comprise at least one configuration parameter associated with a serving cell”); and Kim does explicitly teach receiving the DCI indicating activation of the cell DTX configuration. However, Kim-195 teaches RRC message includes DTX configuration and DCI include information on DTX activation/operation (Kim-195: paragraphs 11-15 and 173-174). In addition, Kim-195 teaches transmitting a message including camping restriction information, wherein the camping restriction information indicates whether the base station supports a network energy saving (NES) function, and when the base station supports the NES function, the base station may perform at least one of the DTX operation or the DRX operation (Kim-195: paragraph 19). Thus, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of claimed invention to use the teachings of Kim-195 in the mobility based system of Kim in order to support network energy saving (Kim-195: paragraphs 19 and 177). For claim 2 Kim in view Kim-195 teaches the method, further comprising: receiving, by the wireless device, at least one third message (paragraph 7 “a received”) message comprising: third parameters of a first cell and a second cell associated with a layer 1/2 triggered mobility (LTM) procedure, wherein the first cell is a serving primary cell (PCell) and the second cell is a candidate Pcell (paragraph 7 “the received message comprise layer-1/layer-2 LTM and a DCI message comprise a value associated with the serving cell and another value associated with a LTM candidate cell”); and fourth parameters of a cell DTX operation (pargraph 392 “parameter associated with DRX cell” and paragraph 941 “terminal performs DRX operation based on DRX-Cong” and Kim-195: paragraph 7 “transmitting discontinuous transmission (DTX) configuration information for a DTX operation to a terminal; transmitting discontinuous reception (DRX) configuration information for a DRX operation to the terminal; and transmitting information indicating activation of at least one of the DTX operation and the DRX operation to the terminal, wherein the DTX operation and the DRX operation are configured separately”); triggering, based on receiving the at least one third message, the LTM procedure (Kim: paragraph 1257 “LTM procedure…indicate by an RRC message as an example”); receiving a command indicating to enable the cell DTX operation (Kim: paragraph 1257 “LTM procedure…indicate by an RRC message as an example” paragraph 1262 “LTM may comprise an RRC reconfiguration (RRCReconfiguration) message for an LTM candidate cell”)associated with at least one of: the first cell (Kim: paragraph 1257 “LTM procedure…indicate by an RRC message as an example” paragraph 1262 “LTM may comprise an RRC reconfiguration (RRCReconfiguration) message for an LTM candidate cell”); or the second cell (Kim: paragraph 1257 “LTM procedure…indicate by an RRC message as an example” paragraph 1262 “LTM may comprise an RRC reconfiguration (RRCReconfiguration) message for an LTM candidate cell”); and cancelling, based on the enabling the cell DTX operation, the LTM procedure (Kim: paragraph 327 “If at least one MOBILITY_GROUP_SWITCH RESPONSE MAC CE is triggered, UE cancel the already triggered MOBILITY GROUP SWITCH_RESPONSE MAC CE message, if any, and triggers new MOBILITY_GROUP SWITCH_RESPONSE MAC CE message”). For claim 3 Kim in view Kim-195 teaches the method, comprising: triggering, by the wireless device, a channel state information (CSI) report procedure based on measurements of at least one reference signal of a first cell and at least one reference signal of a second cell, wherein the first cell is a source cell and the second cell is a candidate cell (Kim-195: paragraph 82 “CSI-RS and DM-RS”, paragraph 113 “the result of the measurement operation (e.g., beam monitoring operation) for the beam may be reported”, paragraphs 126-127 “the result of the measurement operation (e.g., beam monitoring operation) for the beam may be reported… transmit a control message for instructing the terminal to execute the specific operation to the terminal”-this limitation is a design choice); and cancelling, in a non-active time of a cell DTX period and based on the cell DTX period being enabled, the triggered CSI report procedure (Kim-195: paragraph 82 “CSI-RS and DM-RS”, paragraph 113 “the result of the measurement operation (e.g., beam monitoring operation) for the beam may be reported”, paragraphs 126-127 “the result of the measurement operation (e.g., beam monitoring operation) for the beam may be reported… transmit a control message for instructing the terminal to execute the specific operation to the terminal”-this limitation is a design choice). For claim 4 Kim in view Kim-195 teaches the method, further comprising: based on the DCI indicating activation of the cell DTX configuration, initiating a network energy saving (NES) operation (Kim-195: paragraph 19 “base station supports a network energy saving (NES) function, and when the base station supports the NES function, the base station may perform at least one of the DTX operation or the DRX operation”, paragraphs 33-34 “exemplary operation of NES”). For claim 5 Kim in view Kim-195 teaches the method, wherein the second message further comprises: an indication of a second capability of the wireless device, wherein the second capability is associated with a power saving operation of the wireless device (Kim-195: paragraph 62 “power saving capability”); and a third parameter indicating whether the wireless device supports a wireless device- specific discontinuous reception (DRX) configuration for a plurality of cells (Kim-195: paragraph 101 configuration information and parameters applied to a specific terminal” and paragraph 167 “NES and DRX”). For claim 6 Kim in view Kim-195 teaches the method, wherein: the RRC message further comprises a wireless device-specific discontinuous reception (DRX) configuration for the plurality of cells (Kim-195: paragraph 167-168 “NES and DRX configuration for DRX operation”). For claim 7 Kim in view Kim-195 teaches the method, wherein: the configuration parameters of the cell DTX configuration comprise at least one parameter indicating that the cell DTX configuration is at least one of: activated by DCI (Kim-195: paragraph 175 “activating/deactivating DTX by DCI”); or deactivated by DCI (Kim-195: paragraph 175 “activating/deactivating DTX by DCI”). For claim 8 Kim in view Kim-195 teaches the method, wherein: the RRC message further comprises an index of a search space for the DCI associated with the activation of the cell DTX configuration (Kim-195: paragraph 175 “activating/deactivating DTX by DCI” and paragraph 1102 “terminal monitors PDCCH (DCI) in a specific search space for specific RNTI”). For claim 9 Kim in view Kim-195 teaches the method, wherein the RRC message further comprises a radio network temporary identifier (RNTI) for the DCI associated with the activation of the cell DTX configuration (Kim-195: paragraph 175 “activating/deactivating DTX by DCI” and paragraph 1102 “terminal monitors PDCCH (DCI) in a specific search space for specific RNTI”). For claim 10 Kim in view Kim-195 teaches the method, wherein the configuration parameters of the cell DTX configuration comprise at least one of: a length of the cell DTX active time period of a cell DTX cycle (Kim-195: paragraphs 8-9 “the DTX configuration information may include at least one of information on a cycle of the DTX operation, configuration information of an on-duration of the DTX operation, information indicating a time at which the DTX operation starts, information on a timer for performing the DTX operation”); a value of a periodicity of the cell DTX cycle (Kim-195: paragraphs 8-9 “the DTX configuration information may include at least one of information on a cycle of the DTX operation, configuration information of an on-duration of the DTX operation, information indicating a time at which the DTX operation starts, information on a timer for performing the DTX operation”); or a starting offset of the cell DTX cycle (Kim-195: paragraphs 8-9 “the DTX configuration information may include at least one of information on a cycle of the DTX operation, configuration information of an on-duration of the DTX operation, information indicating a time at which the DTX operation starts, information on a timer for performing the DTX operation”). For claim 11 Kim in view Kim-195 teaches a method comprising: receiving, by a wireless device (as discussed in claims 1-2), at least one message comprising: first parameters of a first cell and a second cell associated with a layer 1/2 triggered mobility (LTM) procedure, wherein the first cell is a serving primary cell (PCell) and the second cell is a candidate Pcell (as discussed in claim 2); and second parameters of a cell discontinuous transmission (DTX) operation (as discussed in claim 2); triggering, based on receiving the at least one message, the LTM procedure (as discussed in claim 2); receiving a command indicating to enable the cell DTX operation (as discussed in claim 2) associated with at least one of: the first cell; or the second cell(as discussed in claim 2); and cancelling, based on the enabling the cell DTX operation, the LTM procedure (as discussed in claim 2). For claim 12 Kim in view Kim-195 teaches the method, further comprising: receiving, by the wireless device, a first message comprising a request associated with a wireless device capability (as discussed in claim 1); sending a second message indicating a capability of the wireless device (as discussed in claim 1), wherein the second message comprises: a third parameter indicating whether the wireless device supports a cell DTX configuration by radio resource control (RRC) messaging (as discussed in claim 1); and a fourth parameter indicating whether the wireless device supports an activation of the cell DTX configuration by downlink control information (DCI) (as discussed in claim 1); receiving an RRC message comprising configuration parameters of the cell DTX configuration (as discussed in claim 1); and receiving the DCI indicating activation of the cell DTX configuration (as discussed in claim 1). For claim 13 Kim in view Kim-195 teaches the method, wherein cancelling the LTM procedure further comprises at least one of: stopping one or more timers associated with the LTM procedure (Kim: paragraph 320 “UE cancel the pending SR and stop the corresponding sr-ProhibitTimer”); or For claim 14 Kim in view Kim-195 teaches the method, further comprising stopping sending uplink signals in a cell DTX off duration of the cell DTX operation (Kim: paragraph 344 “UE shall uplink transmission”). For claim 15 Kim in view Kim-195 teaches the method, wherein: the at least one message comprises configuration parameters of a search space for sending downlink control information (DCI) indicating to enable the cell DTX operation (Kim: paragraph 1244 “common search space identifier type 2 PDCCH (DCI)-type0 is a design option”); the search space is a type 0 common search space (Kim: paragraph 1244 “common search space identifier type 2 PDCCH (DCI)-type0 is a design option”); the configuration parameters is comprised in a master information block (MIB) message (Kim: paragraphs 63-64 “MIB”); and the method further comprises receiving the MIB message via a physical broadcast channel (PBCH), wherein the MIB indicates system information of a base station (Kim: paragraphs 257, 260 “PBCH of PCell” and Kim-195 “PBCH and base station”). For claim 16 Kim in view Kim-195 teaches the method, wherein: the at least one message comprises configuration parameters of a search space for sending downlink control information (DCI) indicating to enable the cell DTX operation (Kim-195: paragraphs 8-9 “the DTX configuration information may include at least one of information on a cycle of the DTX operation, configuration information of an on-duration of the DTX operation, information indicating a time at which the DTX operation starts, information on a timer for performing the DTX operation” the configuration of DTX through DCI is a design case); the search space is a type 0 common search space (Kim: paragraph 965”); the configuration parameters is comprised in a system information block 1 (SIB1) message (Kim-195 paragraph 264 “SIB 1”); and the method further comprises receiving the SIB1 message, wherein the SIB 1 message is scheduled by a physical downlink control channel and indicates (Kim-195 paragraph 264 “SIB 1”) at least one of: information for evaluating whether the wireless device is allowed to access a cell of a base station (Kim-195 paragraph 264 “SIB 1 determines access to a cell”); or For claim 17 Kim in view Kim-195 teaches a method comprising: triggering, by a wireless device, a channel state information (CSI) report procedure based on measurements of at least one reference signal of a first cell and at least one reference signal of a second cell, wherein the first cell is a source cell and the second cell is a candidate cell (as discussed in claim 3); and cancelling, in a non-active time of a cell discontinuous transmission (DTX) period and based on the cell DTX period being enabled, the triggered CSI report procedure (as discussed in claim 3). For claim 18 Kim in view Kim-195 teaches the method (as discussed in claim 1), further comprising: receiving, by the wireless device, a first message comprising a request associated with a wireless device capability (as discussed in claim 1); sending a second message indicating a capability of the wireless device (as discussed in claim 1), wherein the second message comprises: a first parameter indicating whether the wireless device supports a cell DTX configuration by radio resource control (RRC) messaging (as discussed in claim 1); and a second parameter indicating whether the wireless device supports an activation of the cell DTX configuration by downlink control information (DCI) (as discussed in claim 1); receiving an RRC message comprising configuration parameters of the cell DTX configuration (as discussed in claim 1); and receiving the DCI indicating activation of the cell DTX configuration (as discussed in claim 1). For claim 19 Kim in view Kim-195 teaches the method, wherein the cancelling comprises at least one of: stopping, based on the second cell being in the cell DTX period, measurement of reference signals of the second cell (Kim: paragraph 944 “If a first MAC CE is received, the terminal stops DRX operation based on the DRX-Config in the second RRC-Reconfiguration”); or stopping, based on the second cell being in the cell DTX period, transmission to the first cell the CSI report of the second cell (Kim: paragraph 944 “If a first MAC CE is received, the terminal stops DRX operation based on the DRX-Config in the second RRC-Reconfiguration”). For claim 20 Kim in view Kim-195 teaches the method, wherein the non-active time of the cell DTX period is an off duration of the cell DTX period (Kim-195: paragraph 169 “on-duration or DTX active time”). Conclusion 4. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to David M OVEISSI whose telephone number is (571)270-3127. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 8Am-5PM. 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, Jeffrey Rutkowski can be reached at (571) 270-1215. 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. /MANSOUR OVEISSI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2415
Read full office action

Prosecution Timeline

Mar 29, 2024
Application Filed
Jul 14, 2026
Non-Final Rejection mailed — §103 (current)

Precedent Cases

Applications granted by this same examiner with similar technology

Patent 12707493
COVERAGE ENHANCEMENT FOR CONTENTION FREE RANDOM ACCESS
3y 6m to grant Granted Aug 11, 2026
Patent 12695708
METHODS FOR SWITCHING NETWORK PACKETS BASED ON PACKET DATA AND DEVICES THEREOF
2y 3m to grant Granted Jul 28, 2026
Patent 12689484
SOUNDING REFERENCE SIGNAL REPETITION WITH CANCELED OR BLOCKED SYMBOL
2y 10m to grant Granted Jul 21, 2026
Patent 12683722
RELIABLE GROUPCASTING IN WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
2y 10m to grant Granted Jul 14, 2026
Patent 12659361
Registration Method and Electronic Device
3y 9m to grant Granted Jun 16, 2026
Study what changed to get past this examiner. Based on 5 most recent grants.

Strategy Recommendation AI-generated — please review before filing

Get a prosecution strategy drawn from examiner precedents, rejection analysis, and claim mapping.
Typically takes 5-10 seconds — AI-generated, attorney review required before filing

Prosecution Projections

1-2
Expected OA Rounds
83%
Grant Probability
95%
With Interview (+11.8%)
3y 0m (~8m remaining)
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 908 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allowance rate.

Sign in with your work email

Enter your email to receive a magic link. No password needed.

Personal email addresses (Gmail, Yahoo, etc.) are not accepted.

Free tier: 3 strategy analyses per month