Prosecution Insights
Last updated: May 29, 2026
Application No. 18/686,953

METHOD AND BASE STATION FOR DYNAMIC SS_ PBCH PROCESSING TO MITIGATE HIGH POWER NARROW-BAND INTERFERERS

Non-Final OA §103
Filed
Feb 27, 2024
Priority
Aug 28, 2021 — provisional 63/238,150 +2 more
Examiner
YUN, EUGENE
Art Unit
2648
Tech Center
2600 — Communications
Assignee
InterDigital Patent Holdings, Inc.
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
85%
Grant Probability
Favorable
1-2
OA Rounds
2m
Est. Remaining
90%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 85% — above average
85%
Career Allowance Rate
849 granted / 994 resolved
+23.4% vs TC avg
Minimal +4% lift
Without
With
+4.1%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
2y 5m
Avg Prosecution
28 currently pending
Career history
1027
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
2.6%
-37.4% vs TC avg
§103
62.4%
+22.4% vs TC avg
§102
13.1%
-26.9% vs TC avg
§112
1.7%
-38.3% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 994 resolved cases

Office Action

§103
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 . 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, 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. Claim(s) 1, 3-8, 11, and 13-18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Damnjanovic et al. (US 2021/0119748) in view of Li et al. (US 11,496,976) and Nagarajan et al. (US 2022/0191869). Referring to Claim 1, Damnjanovic teaches a method performed by a base station, the method comprising: detecting interference based on a presence of an interferer (see paragraph 101 which shows the base station detecting interference); and determining a power spectral density (PSD) level from the interference (see paragraph 101 which shows the adjusting of the PSD based on the interference). Damnjanovic does not teach determining a synchronization signal burst (SSB) frequency location that mitigates the interference; and transmitting a signal in the determined SSB frequency location to at least one wireless transmit receive unit (WTRU) being served by the base station. Li teaches determining a synchronization signal burst (SSB) frequency location that mitigates the interference (see col. 6, lines 30-44 which shows the determination of the SSB frequency location and col. 6, line 45 to col. 7, line 4 which shows the determination based on not exceeding the PSD requirement); and transmitting a signal in the determined SSB frequency location to at least one wireless transmit receive unit (WTRU) being served by the base station (see fig. 1 which shows a base station 101 transmitting to a UE 102 and fig. 2 which shows transmitting SSBs). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to provide the teachings of Li to the device of Damnjanovic in order to more efficiently mitigate interference. The combination of Damnjanovic and Li does not teach determining a frequency location based on the PSD exceeding a threshold. Nagarajan teaches determining a frequency location based on the PSD exceeding a threshold (see paragraph 129 which shows the selecting of a different resource at a different frequency when the PSD threshold is exceeded). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to provide the teachings of Nagarajan to the modified device of Damnjanovic and Li in order to more efficiently communicate using multiple protocols. Claim 11 has similar limitations as claim 1 other than the processor and transceiver which is known in the art to be part of a base station. Referring to Claims 3 and 13, Damnjanovic also teaches determining interference characteristics of the interferer (see paragraph 21 which shows how a UE collects interference characteristics from other networks and sends a report to the base station). Referring to Claims 4 and 14, Li also teaches comparing determined interference characteristics of the interferer and a bandwidth of an existing SSB block frequency location (see col. 6, line 62 to col. 7, line 4 which shows SS transmission bandwidth and less interference which implies that the interference characteristics and bandwidth were compared). Referring to Claims 5 and 15, Damnjanovic also teaches the detecting comprising measuring channel conditions including at least one of a carrier frequency, a bandwidth, a periodicity, a dwell time, and an angle of arrival (AoA) (see paragraph 119 which shows detecting the carrier frequencies of both networks). Referring to Claims 6 and 16, Damnjanovic also teaches receiving a channel condition measurement from at least one of a WTRU and a gNB within a network (see paragraph 21 which shows how the UE sends the channel condition report to the base station). Referring to Claims 7 and 17, Li also teaches the threshold based on a level beyond which interference affects operation of the base station (see col. 6, lines 45-61 which shows the possible suffering of large interference based on the PSD max requirements). Referring to Claims 8 and 18, Li also teaches the determined SSB frequency a lower frequency than a previous SSB frequency (see figs. 3 and 4 which shows the second or Nth SSB frequency as lower than the first SSB frequency). Claim(s) 2 and 12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Damnjanovic, Li, and Nagarajan, and further in view of Thomas et al. (US 2024/0373435). Referring to Claims 2 and 12, the combination of Damnjanovic, Li, and Nagarajan does not teach RADAR as the interferer. Thomas teaches RADAR as the interferer (see paragraph 146 which shows RADAR interference being detected). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to provide the teachings of Thomas to the modified device of Damnjanovic, Li, and Nagarajan in order to more efficiently detect interference from a wider variety of sources. Claim(s) 9-10 and 19-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Damnjanovic, Li (‘976), and Nagarajan, and further in view of Li et al. (US 2020/0337004). Referring to Claims 9 and 19, the combination of Damnjanovic, Li (‘976), and Nagarajan does not teach after a preset period of time, reverting the determined SSB frequency location back to an original SSB frequency location. Li (‘004) teaches after a preset period of time, reverting the determined SSB frequency location back to an original SSB frequency location (see paragraph 127 which shows the switching of the frequency after a timer expires). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to provide the teachings of Li (‘004) to the modified device of Damnjanovic, Li (‘976), and Nagarajan in order to better regulate power of the device by not operating the device at high frequency when not needed. Referring to Claims 10 and 20, Li (‘004) also teaches when the detected interference dissipates, reverting the determined SSB frequency location back to an original SSB frequency location (see paragreaph 120 which shows the SSB frequency back to the first frequency after the interference becomes not a factor). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to provide the teachings of Li (‘004) to the modified device of Damnjanovic, Li (‘976), and Nagarajan in order to better regulate power of the device by not operating the device at high frequency when not needed. Conclusion Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to EUGENE YUN whose telephone number is (571)272-7860. The examiner can normally be reached 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, Wesley Kim can be reached at 5712727867. 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. /EUGENE YUN/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2648
Read full office action

Prosecution Timeline

Feb 27, 2024
Application Filed
May 21, 2025
Response after Non-Final Action
Aug 22, 2025
Response after Non-Final Action
Feb 12, 2026
Non-Final Rejection mailed — §103 (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

1-2
Expected OA Rounds
85%
Grant Probability
90%
With Interview (+4.1%)
2y 5m (~2m remaining)
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 994 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allowance rate.

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