Prosecution Insights
Last updated: July 17, 2026
Application No. 18/697,942

UPLINK LOSSLESS TRANSMISSION

Non-Final OA §102§103
Filed
Apr 02, 2024
Priority
Dec 10, 2021 — nonprovisional of PCTCN2021137007
Examiner
ABELSON, RONALD B
Art Unit
2476
Tech Center
2400 — Computer Networks
Assignee
Qualcomm Incorporated
OA Round
2 (Non-Final)
90%
Grant Probability
Favorable
2-3
OA Rounds
2m
Est. Remaining
90%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 90% — above average
90%
Career Allowance Rate
1192 granted / 1320 resolved
+32.3% vs TC avg
Minimal -0% lift
Without
With
+-0.5%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
2y 5m
Avg Prosecution
36 currently pending
Career history
1353
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
1.0%
-39.0% vs TC avg
§103
77.8%
+37.8% vs TC avg
§102
10.8%
-29.2% vs TC avg
§112
3.2%
-36.8% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 1320 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 . 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)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention. Claim(s) 1, 7, 13, 22 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Phuyal US 20200245334. Regarding claims 1, 22, Phuyal teaches an apparatus for wireless communication at a user equipment (UE), comprising: a memory; and one or more processors, coupled to the memory, configured to: receive an indication to transmit a packet based at least in part on receiving a packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) status report during an active state of a timer, or based at least in part on an expiration of the timer (the acknowledgment manager 1635 may retransmit the first uplink data transmission responsive to the retransmission timer expiring prior to receiving the acknowledgment from the base station, the acknowledgment from the base station is a layer one HARQ acknowledgment, a layer two acknowledgment, or layer three acknowledgment from the base station provided via one or more of a MAC-CE, a RLC status report, a PDCP status report, [0186]); and transmit the packet during the active state of the timer, if the PDCP status report is received during the active state of the timer, or transmitting the packet based at least in part on the expiration of the timer, if the PDCP status report is not received during the active state of the timer based at least in part on the indication (the acknowledgment manager 1635 may retransmit the first uplink data transmission responsive to the retransmission timer expiring prior to receiving the acknowledgment from the base station, the acknowledgment from the base station is a layer one HARQ acknowledgment, a layer two acknowledgment, or layer three acknowledgment from the base station provided via one or more of a MAC-CE, a RLC status report, a PDCP status report, [0186]). Regarding claim 7, the one or more processors are further configured to stop the timer based at least in part on receiving the PDCP status report (the acknowledgment manager 1635 may receive the acknowledgment from the base station and may discontinue the retransmission timer, [0186]). Regarding claim 13, the indication to transmit the packet is an indication to retransmit the packet, and wherein transmitting the packet comprises retransmitting the packet (retransmit, [0186]). 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) 9, 10, 25, is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Phuyal as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Wilhelmsson US 20100202416. Phuyal is silent on determine that the indication includes one or more errors; and transmit the packet based at least in part on receiving a lower layer acknowledgement message / NACK indicating that the packet was not received from a prior transmission of the packet. Wilhelmsson teaches the limitation determine that the indication includes one or more errors; and transmit the packet based at least in part on receiving a lower layer acknowledgement message indicating that the packet was not received from a prior transmission of the packet given Wilhelmsson teaches (status report, In case a NACK is received (possibly implicit), the already-transmitted packet is retransmitted since the timer has not expired, [0063]). Note, Kadiri US 20200029260 teaches errors detection using a NACK, [0053]). Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify the system of Phuyal by determine that the indication includes one or more errors; and transmit the packet based at least in part on receiving a lower layer acknowledgement message indicating that the packet was not received from a prior transmission of the packet given Wilhelmsson teaches, as suggested by Wilhelmsson. This modification would benefit the system by retransmitting packets that were received in error. Regarding claim 10, 25, wherein the PDCP status report indicates one or more packets, of a plurality of packets, that have been received, by a base station, from a prior transmission of the plurality of packets (Wilhelmsson: status report, In case a NACK is received (possibly implicit), the already-transmitted packet is retransmitted since the timer has not expired, [0063]). Claim(s) 11 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over the combination of Phuyal and Wilhelmsson as applied to claim 10 above, and further in view of Sambhwani US 20090201871. The combination is silent on the one or more processors are configured to transmit a remainder of the plurality of packets. Sambhwani teaches one or more processors are configured to transmit a remainder of the plurality of packets ( Upon receiving the RLC ACKs, STATUS PDUs, or CQI/ACK information, the wireless network access point 402 can send the remaining traffic data packets efficiently based on the feedback provided by the AT 404, [0077]). Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify the system of the combination by one or more processors are configured to transmit a remainder of the plurality of packets, as shown by Sambhwani. This modification would benefit the system by providing a proven, reliable method for transmitting packets. Claim(s) 12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over the combination Phuyal as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Wu US 20090316664. Although Phuyal teaches an indication to transmit the packet / PDCP status report, the reference is silent on the indication is received via a RRC message. Wu teaches transmitting a PDCP status report via RRC message (PDCP entity 320 transmits a PDCP status report configured by RRC, [0032]). Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify the system of Phuyal by an indication to transmit the packet / PDCP status report, the reference is silent on the indication is received via a RRC message, as shown by Wu. This modification would benefit the system by providing a proven, reliable method for transmitting the PDCP status report. Claim(s) 5, 31 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Phuyal as applied to claims 1, 22 above, and further in view of KANAMARLAPUDI US 20150304838. Phuyal is silent on initiating the timer based at least in part on receiving the indication. KANAMARLAPUDI teaches initiating a timer based at least in part on receiving the indication / ACK (the network configured timer 62 may be initiated in response to receiving the last ACK, [0049]). Note, the PDCP status report can be seen as an ACK. Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify the system of Phuyal by initiating the timer based at least in part on receiving the indication, as suggested by KANAMARLAPUDI. This modification would benefit the system by ensuring a confirmation message is received before the timer expires (KANAMARLAPUDI: [0049]). Allowable Subject Matter Claims 3-4,6,8,24 and 32-34 objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims. Conclusion Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to RONALD B ABELSON whose telephone number is (571)272-3165. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8:00-4:30. 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, Ayaz Sheikh can be reached at 571-272-3795. 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. /RONALD B ABELSON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2476
Read full office action

Prosecution Timeline

Apr 02, 2024
Application Filed
Feb 26, 2026
Non-Final Rejection mailed — §102, §103
Apr 16, 2026
Interview Requested
May 26, 2026
Response Filed
Jun 10, 2026
Non-Final Rejection mailed — §102, §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

2-3
Expected OA Rounds
90%
Grant Probability
90%
With Interview (-0.5%)
2y 5m (~2m remaining)
Median Time to Grant
Moderate
PTA Risk
Based on 1320 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allowance rate.

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