Prosecution Insights
Last updated: April 19, 2026
Application No. 18/683,411

TERMINAL AND COMMUNICATION METHOD

Non-Final OA §102
Filed
Feb 13, 2024
Examiner
CHOWDHURY, HARUN UR R
Art Unit
2473
Tech Center
2400 — Computer Networks
Assignee
NTT Docomo Inc.
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
76%
Grant Probability
Favorable
1-2
OA Rounds
2y 11m
To Grant
99%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 76% — above average
76%
Career Allow Rate
439 granted / 581 resolved
+17.6% vs TC avg
Strong +27% interview lift
Without
With
+26.6%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
2y 11m
Avg Prosecution
55 currently pending
Career history
636
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
3.4%
-36.6% vs TC avg
§103
46.1%
+6.1% vs TC avg
§102
25.3%
-14.7% vs TC avg
§112
17.7%
-22.3% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 581 resolved cases

Office Action

§102
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 . Priority 2. Acknowledgment is made of applicant’s claim for foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119 (a)-(d). Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102 3. 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. 4. Claims 7-14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2)as being anticipated by Mohammad Soleymani et al (US 20240015845, hereinafter referred to as Soleymani). Re claim 7, Soleymani teaches a terminal (UE, Fig. 6) comprising: (i) a reception unit (Antenna, Fig. 6) configured to receive control information from another terminal (SCIs from other UEs) by executing sensing in a resource pool (executing sensing to identify available resources) (Fig. 4-6, Par 0029-0035, Par 0041-0044, Par 0062-0069, Par 0115); (ii) a control unit (processor, Fig. 6, Fig. 8) configured to execute DRX (Discontinuous reception) in the resource pool (Operating in a DRX mode) and control execution of an operation related to the sensing during a DRX inactive time (performing sensing during DRX off time) based on a sensing method, the operation being determined to be an execution of full sensing (continuous sensing) regardless of a DRX active time or a DRX inactive time (performing continuous sensing before transmission) in a case where the sensing method is full sensing (continuous sensing) (Fig. 4-6, Par 0013, Par 0016, Par 0029-0035, Par 0096, Par 0196-0201, Par 0210-0211, Par 0225-0226, Par 0259-0265, Par 0293-0298, Par 0304); and (iii) a transmission unit (Transceiver, Fig. 6) configured to transmit at least one of a shared channel or a control channel (control or data transmission) for a device-to-device communication (sidelink communication) by using a resource that is determined according to the sensing (performing sidelink transmission based on the resources selected by sensing process) (Par 0013, Par 0016, Par 0036, Par 0044, Par 0070, Par 0072, Par 0115, Par 0295-0298). Claim 14 recites a method performing the functions recited in claim 7 and thereby, is rejected for the reasons discussed above with respect to claim 7. Re claim 8, Soleymani teaches that in a case where the sensing method is a partial sensing, the control unit controls whether or not to execute the partial sensing during the DRX inactive time based on an upper layer parameter (performing contiguous partial sensing during DRX inactive/off duration) (Par 0055, Par 0096, Par 0196-0210, Par 0295-0298). Re claim 9, Soleymani teaches that the upper layer parameter is a pre-configured parameter or a parameter received from a base station (performing contiguous partial sensing during DRX inactive/off duration) (Par 0055, Par 0096, Par 0196-0210, Par 0295-0298). Re claim 10, Soleymani teaches that in a case where the upper layer parameter is configured, the operation is determined to be an execution of sensing a part of monitoring slots that are determined according to the partial sensing (performing contiguous partial sensing during DRX inactive/off duration) (Fig. 5, Par 0055, Par 0096, Par 0196-0201, Par 0210-0211, Par 0226, Par 0259-0268, Par 0295-0298). Re claims 11-13, Soleymani teaches that the partial sensing includes a periodic partial sensing (Fig. 4-5, Par 0029, Par 0033, Par 0096, Par 0226). Conclusion Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to HARUN UR R CHOWDHURY whose telephone number is (571)270-3895. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 9AM-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, Kwang B Yao can be reached at 5712723182. 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. /HARUN CHOWDHURY/Examiner, Art Unit 2473
Read full office action

Prosecution Timeline

Feb 13, 2024
Application Filed
Feb 01, 2026
Non-Final Rejection — §102 (current)

Precedent Cases

Applications granted by this same examiner with similar technology

Patent 12598570
WIRELESS COMMUNICATION DEVICE FOR CORRECTING OFFSET BETWEEN BASE STATION AND WIRELESS COMMUNICATION DEVICE AND METHOD OF OPERATING THE SAME
2y 5m to grant Granted Apr 07, 2026
Patent 12587900
ERROR HANDLING IN DUAL ACTIVE LINK HANDOVER
2y 5m to grant Granted Mar 24, 2026
Patent 12581531
APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR LISTEN-BEFORE-TALK IN A FREQUENCY BAND
2y 5m to grant Granted Mar 17, 2026
Patent 12556316
CONFIGURABLE MINI-SLOT RETRANSMISSIONS IN SIDELINK COMMUNICATIONS
2y 5m to grant Granted Feb 17, 2026
Patent 12549428
DATA PROCESSING METHOD AND RELATED DEVICE
2y 5m to grant Granted Feb 10, 2026
Study what changed to get past this examiner. Based on 5 most recent grants.

AI Strategy Recommendation

Get an AI-powered prosecution strategy using examiner precedents, rejection analysis, and claim mapping.
Powered by AI — typically takes 5-10 seconds

Prosecution Projections

1-2
Expected OA Rounds
76%
Grant Probability
99%
With Interview (+26.6%)
2y 11m
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 581 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allow 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