Prosecution Insights
Last updated: April 19, 2026
Application No. 18/695,452

PEI OCCASION DETERMINATION METHOD PERFORMED BY USER EQUIPMENT, AND USER EQUIPMENT

Non-Final OA §103
Filed
Mar 26, 2024
Examiner
HUANG, WEN WU
Art Unit
2648
Tech Center
2600 — Communications
Assignee
Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
73%
Grant Probability
Favorable
1-2
OA Rounds
3y 2m
To Grant
88%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 73% — above average
73%
Career Allow Rate
591 granted / 812 resolved
+10.8% vs TC avg
Strong +16% interview lift
Without
With
+15.5%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
3y 2m
Avg Prosecution
26 currently pending
Career history
838
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
2.1%
-37.9% vs TC avg
§103
68.1%
+28.1% vs TC avg
§102
19.5%
-20.5% vs TC avg
§112
4.4%
-35.6% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 812 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 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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) 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. 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. The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows: 1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art. 2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue. 3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art. 4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness. Claim(s) 11-13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Li (US. Pub. No. 2025/0008485 A1, hereinafter “LI”) in view of Xue et al. (US. Pub. No. 2023/0319778 A1; hereinafter “XUE”) Regarding claim 11, LI teaches a User Equipment (UE) (see LI, fig. 1, UE 110), comprising: a processor; and a memory, wherein the memory stores instructions (see LI, para. [0006]) that cause the processor to: receive a parameter D and a parameter Ns from a base station (see LI, fig. 3, step a, eDRX parameter, cell DRX parameter), determine and monitor the one PEI occasion for the UE from at least one PEI occasions associated with a PEI frame (see LI, para. [0084]), the UE being in RRC_IDLE or RRC_INACTIVE state (see LI, para. [0048], RRC inactive state), wherein in response to determining that the parameter D is larger than the parameter Ns, the one PEI occasion is the first occasion in the at least one PEI occasions (see LI, para. [0066-67], network configured paging cycle), in response to determining that the parameter D is smaller than the parameter Ns, the index of the one PEI occasion in the at least one PEI occasions is calculated by the parameter D and a parameter i_s (see LI, para. [0068,69] default paging cycle). LI is silent to teaching that the parameter D being a number of paging occasions (POs) associated with one Paging Early Indication (PEI) occasion, the parameter Ns being a number of POs for a Paging Frame (PF); and the parameter i_s is the index of the PO for the UE. In the same field of endeavor, XUE teaches a device wherein the parameter D being a number of paging occasions (POs) associated with one Paging Early Indication (PEI) occasion (see XUE, para. [0095-97], paging indication, R, PO), the parameter Ns being a number of POs for a Paging Frame (PF); and the parameter i_s is the index of the PO for the UE (see XUE, para. [0090]). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to combine the teaching of LI with the teaching of XUE in order to improve energy consumption efficiency of mobile terminals (see XUE, para. [0004-5]). Regarding claim 12, LI teaches a base station (see LI, fig. 1, BS 120), comprising: a processor; and a memory, wherein the memory stores instructions (see LI, para. [0006]) that cause the processor to: transmit a parameter D and a parameter Ns (see LI, fig. 3, step a, eDRX parameter, cell DRX parameter), transmit, to a User Equipment (UE), a PEI on the one PEI occasion for the UE from at least one PEI occasions associated with a PEI frame (see LI, para. [0084]), the UE being in RRC_IDLE or RRCINACTIVE state (see LI, para. [0048], RRC inactive state), wherein in response to determining that the parameter D is larger than the parameter Ns, the one PEI occasion is the first occasion in the at least one PEI occasions (see LI, para. [0066-67], network configured paging cycle), in response to determining that the parameter D is smaller than the parameter Ns, the index of the one PEI occasion in the at least one PEI occasions is calculated by the parameter D and a parameter i_s (see LI, para. [0068,69] default paging cycle). LI is silent to teaching that the parameter D being a number of paging occasions (POs) associated with one Paging Early Indication (PEI) occasion, the parameter Ns being a number of POs for a Paging Frame (PF); and the parameter i_s is the index of the PO for the UE. In the same field of endeavor, XUE teaches a device wherein the parameter D being a number of paging occasions (POs) associated with one Paging Early Indication (PEI) occasion (see XUE, para. [0095-97], paging indication, R, PO), the parameter Ns being a number of POs for a Paging Frame (PF); and the parameter i_s is the index of the PO for the UE (see XUE, para. [0090]). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to combine the teaching of LI with the teaching of XUE in order to improve energy consumption efficiency of mobile terminals (see XUE, para. [0004-5]). Regarding claim 13, LI teaches A control method in a User Equipment (UE) (see LI, fig. 1, UE 110), comprising: receiving a parameter D and a parameter Ns from a base station (see LI, fig. 3, step a, eDRX parameter, cell DRX parameter), determining and monitoring the one PEI occasion for the UE from at least one PEI occasions associated with a PEI frame (see LI, para. [0084]), the UE being in RRC_IDLE or RRC_INACTIVE state (see LI, para. [0048], RRC inactive state), wherein in response to determining that the parameter D is larger than the parameter Ns, the one PEI occasion is the first occasion in the at least one PEI occasions (see LI, para. [0066-67], network configured paging cycle), in response to determining that the parameter D is smaller than the parameter Ns, the index of the one PEI occasion in the at least one PEI occasions is calculated by the parameter D and a parameter i_s (see LI, para. [0068,69] default paging cycle). LI is silent to teaching that the parameter D being a number of paging occasions (POs) associated with one Paging Early Indication (PEI) occasion, the parameter Ns being a number of POs for a Paging Frame (PF); and the parameter i_s is the index of the PO for the UE. In the same field of endeavor, XUE teaches a device wherein the parameter D being a number of paging occasions (POs) associated with one Paging Early Indication (PEI) occasion (see XUE, para. [0095-97], paging indication, R, PO), the parameter Ns being a number of POs for a Paging Frame (PF); and the parameter i_s is the index of the PO for the UE (see XUE, para. [0090]). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to combine the teaching of LI with the teaching of XUE in order to improve energy consumption efficiency of mobile terminals (see XUE, para. [0004-5]). Conclusion The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. KIM (2006/0056339), Schliwa (9,398,634), FU (2020/0022105), Yang (2022/0330151) teaches paging signal monitoring systems. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to WEN WU HUANG whose telephone number is (571)272-7852. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri 10-6. 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 (571) 272-7867. 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. /WEN W HUANG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2648
Read full office action

Prosecution Timeline

Mar 26, 2024
Application Filed
Feb 21, 2026
Non-Final Rejection — §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
73%
Grant Probability
88%
With Interview (+15.5%)
3y 2m
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 812 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allow rate.

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