Prosecution Insights
Last updated: August 30, 2026
Application No. 18/699,474

MULTICAST-BROADCAST TRAFFIC DELIVERY FOR DISTRIBUTED TERMINALS

Non-Final OA §103
Filed
Apr 08, 2024
Priority
Oct 08, 2021 — provisional 63/253,873 +1 more
Examiner
MEJIA, ANTHONY
Art Unit
2451
Tech Center
2400 — Computer Networks
Assignee
InterDigital Inc.
OA Round
2 (Non-Final)
84%
Grant Probability
Favorable
2-3
OA Rounds
6m
Est. Remaining
99%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 84% — above average
84%
Career Allowance Rate
610 granted / 730 resolved
+25.6% vs TC avg
Strong +18% interview lift
Without
With
+18.4%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
2y 11m
Avg Prosecution
16 currently pending
Career history
741
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
15.3%
-24.7% vs TC avg
§103
48.3%
+8.3% vs TC avg
§102
17.2%
-22.8% vs TC avg
§112
10.4%
-29.6% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 730 resolved cases

Office Action

§103
CTNF 18/699,474 CTNF 84303 DETAILED ACTION Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status 07-03-aia AIA 15-10-aia The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA. Response to Amendment Acknowledgement is made in that claims 8-10 have been pre-liminary amended in the instant application presented herein. Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103 07-06 AIA 15-10-15 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. 07-20-aia AIA 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. 07-21-aia AIA Claim s 1-12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over 3GPP1 ("3rd Generation Partnership Project; Technical Specification Group Services and System Aspects; Study on system enhancement for Proximity based Services (ProSe) in the 5G System (5GS) (Release 17) ", and in further view of 3GPP3 (3GPP STANDARD; TECHNICAL REPORT; 3GPP TR 23.752, 3RD GENERATION PARTNERSHIP PROJECT (3GPP), MOBILE COMPETENCE CENTRE; 650, ROUTE DES LUCIOLES ; F-06921 SOPHIA-ANTIPOLIS CEDEX ; FRANCE vol. SA WG2, no. V17.0.0 31 March 2021 (2021-03-31), pages 1-183, XP052000261, Retrieved from the Internet: URL: https://ftp.3gpp.org/Specs/archive/23_series/23.752/23752-h00.zip 23752-h00.docx) and in further view of 3GPP2 (5G; Procedures for the 5G System (5GS) (3GPP TS 23.502 version 16.10.0 Release 16)", ETSI TECHNICAL SPECIFICATION, EUROPEAN TELECOMMUNICATIONS STANDARDS INSTITUTE (ETSI), 650, ROUTE DES LUCIOLES ; F-06921 SOPHIA-ANTIPOLIS ; FRANCE, vol. 3GPP SA, no. V16.10.0 29 September 2021 (2021-09-29), pages 1-617, XP014417208, Retrieved from the Internet: URL:http://www.etsi.org/deliver/etsi_ts/ 123500_123599/123502/16.10.00_60/ts_123502v161000p.pdf [retrieved on 2021-09-29) (3GPP1/3GPP3 were filed by applicants and listed in IDS filed by applicants on 08 April 2024) Regarding Claim 1, 3GPP1 teaches a method implemented by a primary wireless transmit receive unit WTRU (page 130, fig. 6.40.1-1, UE-to-Network Relay), the method comprising: sending a PDU session establishment request (Fig. 6.40.2.1-1, step C. PDU Session Establishment) to establish a single, shared PDU session for the primary WTRU and one or more other WTRUs (Fig. 6.40.2.1-1, Remote UE), wherein the indicated multicast flow and the indicated unicast flow are associated with the single, shared PDU session (only PDU is created for the group communication, all the UEs necessarily use the same PDU, called "Shared Relay PDU", see fig. 6.40.1-1); and receiving a PDU session establishment response establishing the single, shared PDU session with the one or more other WTRUs (Fig. 6.40.2.1-1, step 8. Remote UE Authorization Accept). 3GPP1 further teaches a multicast flow session PDU types, see page 36, Editor's note: "Support of non-unicast mode communication (i.e. one-to-many communication/broadcast or multicast) between network and UE-to-Network Relay UE and between UE-to-Network Relay and Remote UE(s) depends on the result of FS_5MBS work" The unicast type of flow sessions is the default type of session). 3GPP1 does not teach wherein the PDU establishment request includes at least one indication of a multicast flow and at least one indication of a unicast flow. However, 3GPP3 discloses wherein the PDU establishment request includes at least one indication of a multicast flow and at least one indication of a unicast flow (see page 92, 4th paragraph, that different PDU session/flow types can be defined in a PDU Session Establishment Request). 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 teachings of 3GPP1 with 3GPP3 include different types of PDU sessions including multicast in the PDU session. One of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have been motivated to combine the teachings of 3GPP1/3GPP3 to improve serviceability. Regarding Claim 2. The combined teachings of 3GPP1/3GPP3 teach the method of claim 1 further comprising receiving an indication of the one or more other WTRUs from a discovery function (pages 31-32 of 3GPP1 discloses that the UEs that are interested in performing group communication for the requested application respond to the request by sending a Discovery Response message which includes an Application ID and Application Layer User ID). Regarding Claim 3. The combined teachings of 3GPP1/3GPP3 teach the method of claim 1, further comprising receiving information for a plurality of WTRUs, and selecting the one or more other WTRUs from the plurality of WTRUs based on the information (3GPP1: section 6.18.2.2 “Procedure for ProSe Discovery”). Regarding Claim 4. The combined teachings of 3GPP1/3GPP3 teach the method of claim 1, further comprising receiving data from one or more delivery networks, wherein the delivery network is an edge system, a cloud system, or a local access system source of data (3GPP1: fig. 6.4.2.1-1 “Application Server” of 3GPP1). Regarding Claim 5. The combined teachings of 3GPP1/3GPP3 teach the method of claim 1, wherein the one or more other WTRUs and the primary WTRU have a common PDU session ID (3GPP3: pars [0163-166]). 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 teachings of 3GPP1 with 3GPP3 include different types of PDU sessions including multicast in the PDU session. One of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have been motivated to combine the teachings of 3GPP1/3GPP3 to improve serviceability. Regarding Claim 6. The combined teachings of 3GPP1/3GPP3 teach the method of claim 1, wherein a multi-broadcast announcement precedes the PDU session establishment request (3GPP1: fig. 6.4.2.1-1, “discovery request”). Regarding Claims 7-12, these device claims comprise limitations substantially the same, as those discussed in claims 1-6 above, same rationale of rejection is applicable. 3GPP1/3GPP3 further teach and/or discuss a processor operatively coupled to a transceiver (UEs in both 3GPP1/3GPP3). Conclusion Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ANTHONY MEJIA whose telephone number is (571)270-3630. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 10:30 AM-6:30 PM EST. 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, CHRISTOPHER PARRY can be reached at (571)272-8328. 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. /ANTHONY MEJIA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2451 Application/Control Number: 18/699,474 Page 2 Art Unit: 2451 Application/Control Number: 18/699,474 Page 3 Art Unit: 2451 Application/Control Number: 18/699,474 Page 4 Art Unit: 2451 Application/Control Number: 18/699,474 Page 5 Art Unit: 2451 Application/Control Number: 18/699,474 Page 6 Art Unit: 2451 Application/Control Number: 18/699,474 Page 7 Art Unit: 2451
Read full office action

Prosecution Timeline

Apr 08, 2024
Application Filed
Mar 18, 2026
Non-Final Rejection mailed — §103
Jun 18, 2026
Response Filed
Jul 01, 2026
Examiner Interview (Telephonic)
Jul 10, 2026
Examiner Interview Summary
Aug 27, 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

2-3
Expected OA Rounds
84%
Grant Probability
99%
With Interview (+18.4%)
2y 11m (~6m remaining)
Median Time to Grant
Moderate
PTA Risk
Based on 730 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allowance rate.

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