Prosecution Insights
Last updated: July 17, 2026
Application No. 18/650,266

TERMINAL, BASE STATION, AND WIRELESS COMMUNICATION METHOD

Non-Final OA §112
Filed
Apr 30, 2024
Priority
Nov 02, 2021 — JP 2021-179764 +1 more
Examiner
VO, DON NGUYEN
Art Unit
2634
Tech Center
2600 — Communications
Assignee
Toyota Motor Corporation
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
90%
Grant Probability
Favorable
1-2
OA Rounds
0m
Est. Remaining
91%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 90% — above average
90%
Career Allowance Rate
864 granted / 956 resolved
+28.4% vs TC avg
Minimal +1% lift
Without
With
+0.6%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Fast prosecutor
2y 0m
Avg Prosecution
20 currently pending
Career history
969
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
5.3%
-34.7% vs TC avg
§103
46.6%
+6.6% vs TC avg
§102
23.7%
-16.3% vs TC avg
§112
11.1%
-28.9% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 956 resolved cases

Office Action

§112
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 . Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114 A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after allowance or after an Office action under Ex Parte Quayle, 25 USPQ 74, 453 O.G. 213 (Comm'r Pat. 1935). Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, prosecution in this application has been reopened pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 06/16/2026 has been entered. Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112 The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b): (b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention. The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph: The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention. Claims 16-27 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor, or for pre-AIA the applicant regards as the invention. The recitation of “a PDCCH” recited in claim 16, line 9 is confusing because it is unclear whether it is the same “PDCCH” recited at line 7. Similar problem exists for the same recitation recited at line 14. The recitation of “the PDCCH” recited at line 13 lacks antecedent basis because it is unclear of which PDCCH it is referring to. Similar problem exists for the same “PDCCH” recited in claim 20, lines 9, 12 and 19 and claim 24, lines 6 and 10. The recitation of “CRC” recited in claim 19, line 1 is suggested to change to -- Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) -- and “Paging RNTI” at lines 1-2 is suggested to change to – Paging Radio Network Temporary Identifier (P-RNTI) --. The recitation of “CRC” recited in claim 23, line 1 is suggested to change to -- Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) -- and “Paging RNTI” at line 2 is suggested to change to – Paging Radio Network Temporary Identifier (P-RNTI) --. The recitation of “CRC” recited in claim 27, line 1 is suggested to change to -- Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) -- and “Paging RNTI” at line 2 is suggested to change to – Paging Radio Network Temporary Identifier (P-RNTI) --. Dependent claims 17-19, 21-23 and 25-27 are also rejected because of its dependency (directly or indirectly) from claims 16, 20 and 24. Conclusion The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. References Lee et al (US 2018/0317198), Islam et al (US 2023/0037852), Hwang et al (US 2023/0043139), Tsai et al (US 2023/0051117), Zhou et al (US 2024/0049182) and Kim et al (US 2024/0163970) are cited because they are pertinent to the method and apparatus for configuring network communications. However, none of the cited references teaches or suggests the arrangements of a terminal comprising, in combination with other elements, the further arrangements of in a Radio Resource Control (RRC) idle state, in a case where the configuration information of the PDCCH includes an identifier of a first search space set for first Downlink Control Information (DCI) including a Paging Early Indication (PEI), monitor a PDCCH for the first DCI only on a primary cell based on the identifier of the first search space set for the first DCI and information indicating a number of PDCCH candidates per Control Channel Element (CCE) aggregation level for the first search space set included in the configuration information of the PDCCH; and monitor a PDCCH for second DCI, the second DCI including information used for scheduling of a Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH) for a paging message and information indicating a short message, based on an identifier of a second search space set for the second DCI and a number of PDCCH candidates per CCE aggregation level for the second search space set, in accordance with a value of the PEI included in the first DCI; and in an RRC connected state, monitor the PDCCH for the second DCI based on the identifier of the second search space set for the second DCI and the number of the PDCCH candidates per CCE aggregation level for the second search space set as recited in claim 16 and similar limitations as recited in claims 20 and 24 and further limitations of the dependent claims 17-19, 21-23 and 25-27. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DON NGUYEN VO whose telephone number is (571) . The examiner can normally be reached on Monday to Friday from 9:00 to 6:30PM. 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) Form at https://www.uspto.gov/patents/uspto-automated-interview-request-air-form. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Kenneth N Vanderpuye, can be reached on 571-272-3078. 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. /DON N VO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2634
Read full office action

Prosecution Timeline

Apr 30, 2024
Application Filed
Jun 16, 2026
Request for Continued Examination
Jun 18, 2026
Response after Non-Final Action
Jun 26, 2026
Non-Final Rejection mailed — §112 (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

1-2
Expected OA Rounds
90%
Grant Probability
91%
With Interview (+0.6%)
2y 0m (~0m remaining)
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 956 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allowance rate.

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