Prosecution Insights
Last updated: October 01, 2026
Application No. 18/642,063

UPLINK SYNCHRONIZATION ADJUSTMENT METHOD, RELATED DEVICE, AND SYSTEM

Final Rejection §102§103
Filed
Apr 22, 2024
Priority
Oct 21, 2021 — CN 202111230898.8 +1 more
Examiner
OHRI, ROMANI
Art Unit
2413
Tech Center
2400 — Computer Networks
Assignee
Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd.
OA Round
2 (Final)
85%
Grant Probability
Favorable
3-4
OA Rounds
4m
Est. Remaining
99%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 85% — above average
85%
Career Allowance Rate
404 granted / 473 resolved
+27.4% vs TC avg
Strong +17% interview lift
Without
With
+16.6%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
2y 9m
Avg Prosecution
23 currently pending
Career history
494
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
5.9%
-34.1% vs TC avg
§103
60.2%
+20.2% vs TC avg
§102
11.5%
-28.5% vs TC avg
§112
16.7%
-23.3% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 473 resolved cases

Office Action

§102 §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 . DETAILED ACTION Response to Amendment Applicant’s amendment, filed 07/08/2026, has been entered and carefully considered. Claims 1, 3-10, 12-17, 19 and 20 are pending. Claims 1, 10, 17, 19 and 20 are amended and claims 2, 11 and 18 are canceled. Claim 1 is amended to incorporate claim 2, claim 10 is amended to incorporate claim 11, claim 17 is amended to incorporate claim 18, and claims 19 and 20 are amended to correct informalities. Information Disclosure Statement The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 05/05/2026 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner. Response to Arguments Applicant's arguments filed 07/08/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. Regarding claim 1, applicant argued that Hosseini fails to disclose "in response to a difference between the first TA and a second TA being greater than or equal to a preset threshold, sending, by the terminal device, the first message to the access network device, wherein the second TA is a TA that is last reported between the terminal device and the access network device or a TA that is last used by the terminal device, specifically: Hosseini does not disclose comparing a difference between two TA values against a threshold. Hosseini does not disclose a "second TA" defined as a last-reported or last-used TA. Hosseini's TA reporting (paragraph [0070]) is structurally different. Examiner respectfully disagrees. Hosseini discloses in Fig. 5b, [0063], the total time difference, Tdiff 560, may simply be the largest TA value which in this case is TA-2 565 when TA-2 565 is greater than TA-1 560 plus the maximum misalignment value 570. Thus, when multiple TAGs are allowed, the total time difference, Tdiff, depends on the downlink timings and the uplink timings for different CCs, in relation to a maximum time misalignment between the TAGs. In some cases, a base station may not be aware of the exact time misalignment between cells, and may thus assume a worst-case alignment and compare the maximum time difference, Tmax, to a maximum TA value across cells plus the maximum time misalignment. In some cases, a UE may be configured to report TAs to a base station. In such cases, TA reporting may be provided as the maximum TA value for each carrier group, which a base station may use to identify various timing parameters. In some examples, a base station and a UE may be configured to use a first set of timing parameters for uplink and downlink transmissions when Tdiff is less than or equal to Tmax, and may be configured to use a second set of more relaxed timing parameters when Tdiff exceeds Tmax. In other examples, a base station may make scheduling decisions to provide that Tdiff does not exceed Tmax, and may use one or more assumptions for TA values and time misalignment values. Further [0070] The base station 105-b may, at block 710, configure transmission parameters for different TA values and a TA threshold value. Such a configuration may be determined based on enabled TTI durations, such as two-symbol sTTI, slot sTTI, or 1 ms TTI. In some examples, a TA threshold value may be configured for two-symbol sTTI transmissions. The base station 105-b may transmit the parameters 715 to the UE 115-b. In some examples, the base station 105-b may configure the UE 115-b with the parameters as part of a connection establishment, or the parameters may be standardized and the UE115-b may determine the parameters based on, for example, sTTI durations. [0087] Timing manager 915 may be an example of aspects of the timing manager 1115 described with reference to FIG. 11. Timing manager 915 may also include TA determination component 925, TA threshold component 930, and transmission parameter module 935. [0088] TA determination component 925 may identify two or more CCs for the wireless transmission, and a TA value common across each of the two or more CCs and is that is based on one or more of an individual TA for each CC, an uplink time misalignment value for the two or more CCs, or a downlink time misalignment value for the two or more CCs. In some cases, a TA threshold value is identified for each of two or more uplink control channel groups of CCs for the wireless transmission. So Hosseini does disclose comparing a difference between two TA values against a threshold as disclosed above and in office action. Applicant’s claim language does not disclose that second TA is a historical TA and under broadest reasonable interpretation of second TA, is that there is no other TA reporting after second TA, thus second TA is the last TA reporting used by UE. Applicant does not specify TA structure in claims. Thus, TA reporting can be used in any communicaitoin between the UE and network device. Applicant’s claim language does not reflect such language in claims the present application addresses the problem of uplink synchronization in fast-moving scenarios (e.g., Non-Terrestrial Networks, high-speed railways) where the transmission delay between a terminal device and an access network device changes rapidly, causing the access network device to be unable to learn the transmission delay in real time and resulting in scheduling failures. The present application operates in the temporal dimension: it compares a current TA against a historical TA to detect change over time. Examiner noted that claim language discloses first message comprises TA, further discloses first message comprises in response to a difference between the first TA and a second TA being greater than or equal to a preset threshold, sending, by the terminal device, the first message to the access network device. As first message is already defined as first TA. Further terminal device reports according to determined TA’s. Examiner recommends to clarify claim 1 as disclosed in specification paragraph 0082. The terminal device reports the determined TA to the access network device when a preset condition is met. For example, a threshold (namely, a preset threshold) may be preset. If a variation between the TA (namely, the first timing advance TA) currently determined by the terminal device and a TA that is last exchanged between the terminal device and the access network device or a TA that is last used by the terminal device (namely, a second TA) reaches the preset threshold, the terminal device is triggered to report the currently determined TA (namely, the first timing advance TA) to the access network device, to prevent the access network device from still scheduling the terminal device based on the TA that is last exchanged or used (namely, the second TA). Similar arguments are applied to claim 17. Regarding claims 3 and 10, applicant argued that Hosseini does not disclose receiving, by the terminal device, a second message sent by the access network device, wherein the second message indicates the terminal device to enable a function of sending the first message to the access network device. Examiner respectfully disagrees. Hosseini Paragraph 0071 discloses At block 725, base station 105-b may allocate uplink resources for sTTI(s), which may be provided to UE 115-b in downlink control information (DCI) 730. In some cases, the allocated resources may be identified to provide uplink scheduling allocations that accommodate UE processing timelines. In some cases, if a TA value for allocated CCs to the UE exceeds a TA threshold value, the base station 105-b may include an indication to set one or more parameters associated with the resource allocation to provide additional processing time at the UE prior to an associated uplink transmission. In other cases, one or more parameters may be identified at the base station 105-b and the UE 115-b based on the allocated uplink resources [0068] In some cases, the TA threshold, Tmax, may be defined to reflect the per-CC operation. If multi-TAG is configured within a given PUCCH group, then the threshold can be added by the maximum timing mismatch between CCs, such as 31 μs. When the actual across-CC TA is greater than the across-CC TA threshold, then the UE may, if TA reporting is enabled, report the per-CC and/or across-CC TA values, or it could be based on the UE implementation. A PUCCH group may be part of CA/DC configuration, for example, and the CCs may include LTE CCs and/or NR CCs. [0070] The base station 105-b may, at block 710, configure transmission parameters for different TA values and a TA threshold value. Such a configuration may be determined based on enabled TTI durations, such as two-symbol sTTI, slot sTTI, or 1 ms TTI. In some examples, a TA threshold value may be configured for two-symbol sTTI transmissions. The base station 105-b may transmit the parameters 715 to the UE 115-b. In some examples, the base station 105-b may configure the UE 115-b with the parameters as part of a connection establishment, or the parameters may be standardized and the UE115-b may determine the parameters based on, for example, sTTI durations. In some cases, the parameters may be selected to provide sufficient processing time at UE 115-b to perform processing within timeframes, such as for timeframes for transmitting ACK/NACK feedback. The UE 115-b may, optionally, transmit a TA report 720 that may include TA values for one or more cells or CCs. As disclosed above Hosseini discloses the argued limitations of claims 3 and 10. Thus rejection of claims 1, 10 and 17 is maintained. 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. Claims 1-5, 10-12 and 17-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Hosseini et al. (US 2018/0160440 A1). Regarding claims 1 and 17, Hosseini discloses a method/an apparatus, comprising: a processor; and a memory having instructions stored thereon that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to (Fig. 11, paragraph 0100-0101 disclose a device 1100 comprises a processor 1120 and a memory 1125): determining, by a terminal device, a first timing advance (TA), wherein the first TA is used to perform uplink synchronization between the terminal device and an access network device (Fig. 7, paragraph 0070 discloses the base station 105-b may configure the UE 115-b with the parameters as part of a connection establishment, or the parameters may be standardized and the UE115-b may determine the parameters based on, for example, sTTI durations. The UE 115-b may, optionally, transmit a TA report 720 that may include TA values for one or more cells or CCs. In some examples, the TA report 720 may include across-CC values for a TA group, across-CC values based on an one or more of an individual TA for each CC, an uplink time misalignment value for the two or more CCs, a downlink time misalignment value for the two or more CCs, or any combination thereof. UEs operating in a network may use timing advance (TA) values to adjust uplink transmission times so as to provide synchronized uplink receptions at a base station that compensate for a propagation delay of the uplink transmissions); and sending, by the terminal device, a first message to the access network device, wherein the first message comprises the first TA (Fig. 7, step 720, paragraph 0070 discloses UE 115-b may, optionally, transmit a TA report 720 that may include TA values for one or more cells or CCs. In some examples, the TA report 720 may include across-CC values for a TA group, across-CC values based on an one or more of an individual TA for each CC, an uplink time misalignment value for the two or more CCs, a downlink time misalignment value for the two or more CCs); wherein the sending, by the terminal device, the first message to the access network device comprises: in response to a difference between the first TA and a second TA being greater than or equal to a preset threshold (Paragraphs 0006, 0036, 0038, 0050 discloses provide for identifying a timing advance (TA) value associated with one or more component carriers (CCs) for a wireless transmission, identifying a TA threshold value, and setting one or more parameters associated with the wireless transmission at a first value when the TA value is below the TA threshold value and at a second value with the TA value is above the TA threshold value. Paragraph 0062 discloses FIG. 5A, each CC 505-a and 510-a may have a different TA value, namely TA-1 535 for CC1 505-a and TA-2 540 for CC2 510-a, and may have a time misalignment 545 that corresponds to a maximum time misalignment between CCs. In this example, it is assumed that TA-2 540 is greater than TA-1 535, and as a result, the total time difference, Tdiff, corresponds to the maximum TA value across cells (TA2) plus the maximum time misalignment (e.g., 31 μs) 545. This single value for Tdiff may be used for all CCs within a CG), sending, by the terminal device, the first message to the access network device, wherein the second TA is a TA that is last reported between the terminal device and the access network device or a TA that is last used by the terminal device (Paragraphs 0006, 0036, 0038, 0050, 0058-0062 disclose a TA value may be based on a time gap between an earliest UL carrier and a latest DL carrier of a CC. Paragraph 0063 discloses a UE may be configured to report TAs to a base station. a UE may be configured to report TAs to a base station. In such cases, TA reporting may be provided as the maximum TA value for each carrier group, which a base station may use to identify various timing parameters. In some examples, a base station and a UE may be configured to use a first set of timing parameters for uplink and downlink transmissions when Tdiff is less than or equal to Tmax, and may be configured to use a second set of more relaxed timing parameters when Tdiff exceeds Tmax. There is no TA used afterwards (last TA used by terminal) In order to that further clarifying, Figs. 9-10 and 13 discloses At block 1305 the UE 115 identify a TA value associated with a wireless transmission. In certain examples, aspects of the operations of block 1305 may be performed by a TA determination component as described with reference to FIGS. 8 through 10. At least in part on a TTI of the wireless transmission. At block 1315 the UE 115 may set one or more parameters associated with the wireless transmission based at least in part on the TA value and the TA threshold value). Regarding claim 10, Hosseini discloses a method comprising: receiving, by an access network device, a first message sent by a terminal device, wherein the first message comprises a first timing advance (TA), and the first TA is used to perform uplink synchronization between the terminal device and the access network device (Fig. 7, paragraph 0070 discloses the base station 105-b may configure the UE 115-b with the parameters as part of a connection establishment, or the parameters may be standardized and the UE115-b may determine the parameters based on, for example, sTTI durations. The UE 115-b may, optionally, transmit a TA report 720 that may include TA values for one or more cells or CCs. In some examples, the TA report 720 may include across-CC values for a TA group, across-CC values based on an one or more of an individual TA for each CC, an uplink time misalignment value for the two or more CCs, a downlink time misalignment value for the two or more CCs, or any combination thereof. UEs operating in a network may use timing advance (TA) values to adjust uplink transmission times so as to provide synchronized uplink receptions at a base station that compensate for a propagation delay of the uplink transmissions); sending, by the access network device, a second message to the terminal device, wherein the second message indicates the terminal device to enable a function of sending the first message to the access network device (Paragraph 0071 discloses At block 725, base station 105-b may allocate uplink resources for sTTI(s), which may be provided to UE 115-b in downlink control information (DCI) 730. In some cases, the allocated resources may be identified to provide uplink scheduling allocations that accommodate UE processing timelines. In some cases, if a TA value for allocated CCs to the UE exceeds a TA threshold value, the base station 105-b may include an indication to set one or more parameters associated with the resource allocation to provide additional processing time at the UE prior to an associated uplink transmission. In other cases, one or more parameters may be identified at the base station 105-b and the UE 115-b based on the allocated uplink resources); and communicating with, by the access network device, the terminal device based on the first TA (Fig. 7, step 725-765, paragraph 0071 discloses base station 105-b may allocate uplink resources for sTTI(s), which may be provided to UE 115-b in downlink control information (DCI) 730. In some cases, the allocated resources may be identified to provide uplink scheduling allocations that accommodate UE processing timelines. In some cases, if a TA value for allocated CCs to the UE exceeds a TA threshold value, the base station 105-b may include an indication to set one or more parameters associated with the resource allocation to provide additional processing time at the UE prior to an associated uplink transmission. [0073] The base station 105-b, at block 740, may identify TA values for the identified CCs). Regarding claim 3, Hosseini discloses receiving, by the terminal device, a second message sent by the access network device, wherein the second message indicates the terminal device to enable a function of sending the first message to the access network device (Paragraph 0071 discloses At block 725, base station 105-b may allocate uplink resources for sTTI(s), which may be provided to UE 115-b in downlink control information (DCI) 730. In some cases, the allocated resources may be identified to provide uplink scheduling allocations that accommodate UE processing timelines. In some cases, if a TA value for allocated CCs to the UE exceeds a TA threshold value, the base station 105-b may include an indication to set one or more parameters associated with the resource allocation to provide additional processing time at the UE prior to an associated uplink transmission. In other cases, one or more parameters may be identified at the base station 105-b and the UE 115-b based on the allocated uplink resources). Regarding claim 19, Hosseini discloses wherein the apparatus is further caused to: receive a second message sent by the access network device, wherein the second message indicates the apparatus to enable a function of sending the first message to the access network device (Paragraph 0071 discloses At block 725, base station 105-b may allocate uplink resources for sTTI(s), which may be provided to UE 115-b in downlink control information (DCI) 730. In some cases, the allocated resources may be identified to provide uplink scheduling allocations that accommodate UE processing timelines. In some cases, if a TA value for allocated CCs to the UE exceeds a TA threshold value, the base station 105-b may include an indication to set one or more parameters associated with the resource allocation to provide additional processing time at the UE prior to an associated uplink transmission. In other cases, one or more parameters may be identified at the base station 105-b and the UE 115-b based on the allocated uplink resources). Regarding claim 4, Hosseini discloses wherein the sending, by the terminal device, the first message to the access network device comprises: in response to first physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) resource being available for the terminal device, sending, by the terminal device, the first message to the access network device by using the first PUSCH resource (Paragraph 0078 discloses The UE 115-b and the base station 105-b may transmit uplink and downlink transmissions 765 using the allocated resources on the allocated CCs. The timing for transmissions may be determined, in some cases, based on the TA values and TA threshold values as discussed above. For example, at block 770, the UE 115-b may perform received signal processing. Such processing may be, for example, determination of HARQ ACK/NACK feedback or generation of an uplink PUSCH transmission following an uplink grant. The UE 115-b may then transmit the associated uplink transmissions, such as a ACK/NACK feedback transmission 775 to the base station 105-b); or in response to the first PUSCH resource being unavailable for the terminal device, triggering, by the terminal device, a scheduling request (SR), and sending the SR to request, from the access network device, a second PUSCH resource used to send the first message to the access network device (Paragraph 0071 discloses At block 725, base station 105-b may allocate uplink resources for sTTI(s), which may be provided to UE 115-b in downlink control information (DCI) 730. In some cases, the allocated resources may be identified to provide uplink scheduling allocations that accommodate UE processing timelines. In some cases, if a TA value for allocated CCs to the UE exceeds a TA threshold value, the base station 105-b may include an indication to set one or more parameters associated with the resource allocation to provide additional processing time at the UE prior to an associated uplink transmission. In other cases, one or more parameters may be identified at the base station 105-b and the UE 115-b based on the allocated uplink resources). Regarding claim 20, Hosseini discloses wherein the apparatus is caused to send the first message to the access network device in response to first physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) resource being available for the apparatus, and the apparatus sends the first message to the access network device by using the first PUSCH resource (Paragraph 0078 discloses The UE 115-b and the base station 105-b may transmit uplink and downlink transmissions 765 using the allocated resources on the allocated CCs. The timing for transmissions may be determined, in some cases, based on the TA values and TA threshold values as discussed above. For example, at block 770, the UE 115-b may perform received signal processing. Such processing may be, for example, determination of HARQ ACK/NACK feedback or generation of an uplink PUSCH transmission following an uplink grant. The UE 115-b may then transmit the associated uplink transmissions, such as a ACK/NACK feedback transmission 775 to the base station 105-b); or in response to the PUSCH resource being un available, the apparatus is caused to trigger a scheduling request (SR) and send the SR to request, from the access network device, a second PUSCH resource used to send the first message to the access network device (Paragraph 0071 discloses At block 725, base station 105-b may allocate uplink resources for sTTI(s), which may be provided to UE 115-b in downlink control information (DCI) 730. In some cases, the allocated resources may be identified to provide uplink scheduling allocations that accommodate UE processing timelines. In some cases, if a TA value for allocated CCs to the UE exceeds a TA threshold value, the base station 105-b may include an indication to set one or more parameters associated with the resource allocation to provide additional processing time at the UE prior to an associated uplink transmission. In other cases, one or more parameters may be identified at the base station 105-b and the UE 115-b based on the allocated uplink resources). Regarding claim 12, Hosseini discloses wherein the receiving, by the access network device, the first message sent by the terminal device comprises: in response to first physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) resource being available for the terminal device, receiving, by the access network device, the first message sent by the terminal device by using the first PUSCH resource (Paragraph 0078 discloses The UE 115-b and the base station 105-b may transmit uplink and downlink transmissions 765 using the allocated resources on the allocated CCs. The timing for transmissions may be determined, in some cases, based on the TA values and TA threshold values as discussed above. For example, at block 770, the UE 115-b may perform received signal processing. Such processing may be, for example, determination of HARQ ACK/NACK feedback or generation of an uplink PUSCH transmission following an uplink grant. The UE 115-b may then transmit the associated uplink transmissions, such as a ACK/NACK feedback transmission 775 to the base station 105-b); or in response to the first PUSCH resource being unavailable for the terminal device, receiving, by the access network device, a scheduling request (SR) sent by the terminal device, allocating a second PUSCH resource to the terminal device, and receiving the first message sent by the terminal device by using the second PUSCH resource (Paragraph 0071 discloses At block 725, base station 105-b may allocate uplink resources for sTTI(s), which may be provided to UE 115-b in downlink control information (DCI) 730. In some cases, the allocated resources may be identified to provide uplink scheduling allocations that accommodate UE processing timelines. In some cases, if a TA value for allocated CCs to the UE exceeds a TA threshold value, the base station 105-b may include an indication to set one or more parameters associated with the resource allocation to provide additional processing time at the UE prior to an associated uplink transmission. In other cases, one or more parameters may be identified at the base station 105-b and the UE 115-b based on the allocated uplink resources). Regarding claim 5, Hosseini discloses wherein an SR resource used by the SR is a universal SR resource (Paragraph 0071 discloses at block 725, base station 105-b may allocate uplink resources for sTTI(s), which may be provided to UE 115-b in downlink control information (DCI) 730. In some cases, the allocated resources may be identified to provide uplink scheduling allocations that accommodate UE processing timelines. In some cases, if a TA value for allocated CCs to the UE exceeds a TA threshold value, the base station 105-b may include an indication to set one or more parameters associated with the resource allocation to provide additional processing time at the UE prior to an associated uplink transmission. In other cases, one or more parameters may be identified at the base station 105-b and the UE 115-b based on the allocated uplink resources). Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103 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. This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention. Claims 6 and 13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hosseini et al. (US 2018/0160440 A1) in view of Lei et al. (US 2025/0133561 A1). Regarding claim 6, Hosseini does not explicitly disclose wherein the sending, by the terminal device, the first message to the access network device comprises: in response to an uplink synchronous timer of the terminal device being in a timeout state, sending, by the terminal device, the first message to the access network device by using the first PUSCH resource or the second PUSCH resource. In an analogous art, Lei discloses wherein the sending, by the terminal device, the first message to the access network device comprises: in response to an uplink synchronous timer of the terminal device being in a timeout state, sending, by the terminal device, the first message to the access network device by using the first PUSCH resource or the second PUSCH resource (Fig. 6, paragraphs 0182-0185 disclose the UE 115-d, the base station 105-d, or both, may perform TA validation. In other words, the UE 115-d and/or the base station 105-d may determine whether a TA for the UE 115-d is valid or invalid. In some aspects, the UE 115-d and/or the base station 105-d may perform the TA validation at 520 based on transmitting/receiving the control signaling at 605, entering the inactive or idle state at 610, or both. The control signaling may indicate a set of PUSCH resources which are to be used for UCI transmission when the UE 115-d is in the inactive or idle state. In such cases, the control signaling may indicate that UCI messages are to be multiplexed with CG-PUSCH resources configured for the CG-SDT procedure). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide the technique of Lei to the system of Hosseini to provide methods, systems, and devices for wireless communications are described. A user equipment (UE) may be configured to receive, from a base station, control signaling identifying a first set of resources for data transmissions and a second set of resources for uplink control information (UCI) transmission by the UE when the UE is in an inactive state or an idle state (Abstract, Lei). Regarding claim 13, Hosseini does not explicitly disclose wherein the receiving, by the access network device, the first message sent by the terminal device comprises: in response to an uplink synchronous timer of the access network device is in a timeout state, receiving, by the access network device, the first message sent by the terminal device by using the first PUSCH resource or the second PUSCH resource. In an analogous art, Lei discloses wherein the receiving, by the access network device, the first message sent by the terminal device comprises: in response to an uplink synchronous timer of the access network device is in a timeout state, receiving, by the access network device, the first message sent by the terminal device by using the first PUSCH resource or the second PUSCH resource (Fig. 6, paragraphs 0182-0185 disclose the UE 115-d, the base station 105-d, or both, may perform TA validation. In other words, the UE 115-d and/or the base station 105-d may determine whether a TA for the UE 115-d is valid or invalid. In some aspects, the UE 115-d and/or the base station 105-d may perform the TA validation at 520 based on transmitting/receiving the control signaling at 605, entering the inactive or idle state at 610, or both. The control signaling may indicate a set of PUSCH resources which are to be used for UCI transmission when the UE 115-d is in the inactive or idle state. In such cases, the control signaling may indicate that UCI messages are to be multiplexed with CG-PUSCH resources configured for the CG-SDT procedure). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide the technique of Lei to the system of Hosseini to provide methods, systems, and devices for wireless communications are described. A user equipment (UE) may be configured to receive, from a base station, control signaling identifying a first set of resources for data transmissions and a second set of resources for uplink control information (UCI) transmission by the UE when the UE is in an inactive state or an idle state (Abstract, Lei). Claim 7 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hosseini et al. (US 2018/0160440 A1) in view of Lei et al. (US 2025/0133561 A1) and further in view of Hong (US 2021/0410015 A1). Regarding claim 7, the combination of Hosseini and Lei don’t explicitly disclose in response to the terminal device not receiving an acknowledgment message for the first message from the access network device in a first preset time after the terminal device sends the first message, resending, by the terminal device, the first message or setting the uplink synchronous timer to the timeout state. In an analogous art, Hong discloses in response to the terminal device not receiving an acknowledgment message for the first message from the access network device in a first preset time after the terminal device sends the first message, resending, by the terminal device, the first message or setting the uplink synchronous timer to the timeout state (Paragraph 0079 discloses the UE may start the timer, so as to avoid unrestrictedly waiting for the response message and reduce the error processing. The case where the response message sent by the base station is not received when the timer expires may be attributed to that the network is delayed, or the base station does not send the response message. No matter which condition is, the present transmission rate may be retained unchanged. The UE may resend the request message, or resend the request message after a certain period of time.). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide the technique of Hong to the modified system of Hosseini and Lei to provide solves a problem of buffer overflow by reducing the transmission rate and is particularly suitable for the buffer overflow condition caused by the unmatched transmission rate (Abstract, Hong). Claim 14 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hosseini et al. (US 2018/0160440 A1) in view of TAHERZADEH BOROUJEN (US 2022/0070940 A1, hereinafter referred as Taher). Regarding claim 14, Hosseini does not explicitly disclose sending, by the access network device, an acknowledgment message for the first message to the terminal device. In an analogous art, Taher discloses sending, by the access network device, an acknowledgment message for the first message to the terminal device (paragraph 0072, 0103 disclose the PDCCH carries downlink control information (DCI) including but not limited to power control commands (e.g., one or more open loop power control parameters and/or one or more closed loop power control parameters), scheduling information, a grant, and/or an assignment of REs for DL and UL transmissions. The PDCCH may further carry HARQ feedback transmissions such as an acknowledgment (ACK) or negative acknowledgment (NACK). HARQ is a technique well-known to those of ordinary skill in the art, wherein the integrity of packet transmissions may be checked at the receiving side for accuracy). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide the technique of Taher to the system of Hosseini to provide methods, systems, devices, and apparatuses that support coverage enhancement techniques in a random-access procedure and base station respond using a random access procedure (Abstract). Allowable Subject Matter Claims 8-9 and 15-16 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten the limitations of claim 8/claim 15 in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims. Conclusion The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure: Ji et al. (US 12,289,719 B2) discloses UE determines a group identifier based at least in part on a timing advance (TA) associated with the UE, the group identifier associated with at least the UE and a second UE and receives a sidelink resource allocation associated with the group identifier. The UE transmits sidelink communication using the sidelink resource allocation. A network node associates a UE with a group identifier based on a timing advance (TA) associated with the UE and transmits a sidelink resource allocation associated with the group identifier, the group identifier associated with at least the UE and a second UE. (Abstract). 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 ROMANI OHRI whose telephone number is (571)272-5420. The examiner can normally be reached 8:00am-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, UN C CHO can be reached at 5712727919. 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. /ROMANI OHRI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2413
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Prosecution Timeline

Apr 22, 2024
Application Filed
Apr 10, 2026
Non-Final Rejection mailed — §102, §103
Jul 08, 2026
Response Filed
Sep 16, 2026
Final Rejection mailed — §102, §103 (current)

Precedent Cases

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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
85%
Grant Probability
99%
With Interview (+16.6%)
2y 9m (~4m remaining)
Median Time to Grant
Moderate
PTA Risk
Based on 473 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allowance rate.

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