Prosecution Insights
Last updated: August 17, 2026
Application No. 18/718,902

METHOD, DEVICE AND COMPUTER READABLE MEDIUM FOR COMMUNICATION

Non-Final OA §103
Filed
Jun 12, 2024
Priority
Dec 14, 2021 — nonprovisional of PCTCN2021138049
Examiner
KASSIM, KHALED M
Art Unit
2475
Tech Center
2400 — Computer Networks
Assignee
NEC Corporation
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
70%
Grant Probability
Favorable
1-2
OA Rounds
2y 5m
Est. Remaining
99%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 70% — above average
70%
Career Allowance Rate
379 granted / 539 resolved
+12.3% vs TC avg
Strong +38% interview lift
Without
With
+38.3%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
4y 7m
Avg Prosecution
9 currently pending
Career history
554
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
8.1%
-31.9% vs TC avg
§103
61.0%
+21.0% vs TC avg
§102
16.1%
-23.9% vs TC avg
§112
8.8%
-31.2% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 539 resolved cases

Office Action

§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 . DETAILED ACTION Election of Species In response to the election restriction, the applicant filed response to the election 06/22/2026. The response included canceling claims 1-22 and claims 23-33 were added. Claims 23-33 are pending and presented for examination. 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. The factual inquiries set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 148 USPQ 459 (1966), that are applied 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. Claims 23 - 33 are rejected under 35 USC 103 as being unpatentable over Kim et al (US Pub. No. 2015/0117287 A1) in view of Tseng et al (US Pub. No. 2018/0110085 A1) and further in view of Shrivastava et al (US pub. 2024/0187823 A1). Regarding claim 23, Kim discloses “A communication method performed by a terminal device” (See Kim Figs 1 and 2. and abstract); comprising “receiving, from a network device, a radio resource control (RRC) message” (see Kim figure 10, step 1005 and ¶ 0114, ¶ 0115; receiving a connection RRC message), “indicating at least one discontinuous reception (DRX) configuration for a serving cell” (see Kim figure 10, step 1005 and ¶ 0114, ¶ 0115; the RRC message include DRX configuration informations including on duration timer and Drx inactivity Timer and others), “and stopping a DRX on-duration timer of a first DRX configuration in the at least one DRX configuration”( see Kim ¶ 0009, ¶ 0206; when the MAC CE received, stops the onDuration Timer and the DRX-inactivity Duration); “in a case where a DRX Command medium access control (MAC) control element (CE when the MAC CE received, stops the onDuration Timer and the DRX-inactivity Duration). Kim does not appear to explicitly disclose “DRX Command medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) indicated by a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) associated with a first communication service is received” and “wherein each DRX configuration of the at least one DRX configuration is associated with a communication service, and the first DRX configuration is associated with the first communication service”. However, Tseng discloses “DRX Command medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) indicated by a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) associated with a first communication service is received”( See Tseng ¶ 0113 - ¶ 0115; when the PDCCH indicates transmission, the On Duration timer will be stopped, and disclosed that the MAC CE ). Kim and Tseng are analogous art because they both are related to “Communication System”. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, having the teachings of Kim and Tseng before him or her, to modify the invention of Kim to perform stopping DRX on Duration Timer in response to indication of the PDCCH. The suggestion for doing so would have been to improve handling DRX operation in a wireless communication system (¶ 0002). Neither Kim nor Tseng appear to explicitly disclose “wherein each DRX configuration of the at least one DRX configuration is associated with a communication service, and the first DRX configuration is associated with the first communication service”. However, Shrivastava discloses “wherein each DRX configuration of the at least one DRX configuration is associated with a communication service, and the first DRX configuration is associated with the first communication service”( See Shrivastava ¶ 0035; receiving DRX configuration for MBS (multicast broadcast service); ¶ 0070; for MBS broadcast service, the active time can include the time while at least one of the drx-onDurationTimerMBS timer or the drx-InactivityTimerMBS the configured for the MBS and ¶ 0227 ; Based on the applicable MBS multicast service(s) that the UE 10 is actively receiving, the UE 10 may be configured with the unicast DRX configurations ). Kim and Tseng are analogous art because they both are related to “Communication System”. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, having the teachings of Kim, Tseng and Shrivastava before him or her, to modify the invention of Kim and Tseng to provide different DRX configurations for different services. The suggestion for doing so would have been for efficient and reliable reception for Service by providing service discontinuous reception (DRX) in a wireless communication (¶ 0008). Regarding claim 24, claim 23 is incorporated as stated above. In addition, the combination of Kim, Tseng and Shrivastava further discloses “receiving, from the network device, configuration information of a list of DRX configurations, wherein the RRC message indicates the at least one DRX configuration from the list of DRX configurations”; (see Kim figure 10, step 1005 and ¶ 0114, ¶ 0115; the RRC message include DRX configuration information including on duration timer and Drx inactivity Timer and others). Regarding claim 25, claim 23 is incorporated as stated above. In addition, the combination of Kim, Tseng and Shrivastava further discloses “stopping a DRX inactivity timer of the first DRX configuration in a case where the DRX Command MAC CE indicated by the PDCCH associated with the first communication service is received”; ((see Kim ¶ 0009, ¶ 0206; when the MAC CE received, stops the onDuration Timer and the DRX-inactivity Duration; See Tseng ¶ 0113 - ¶ 0115; when the PDCCH indicates transmission, the On Duration timer will be stopped, and disclosed that the MAC CE). Regarding claim 26, claim 23 is incorporated as stated above. In addition, the combination of Kim, Tseng and Shrivastava further discloses “wherein DRX operation for each DRX configuration of the at least one DRX configuration is performed independently”; (see Kim fig 10 and ¶ 0031, ¶ 0113). Regarding claim 27, Kim discloses “A communication method performed by a network device” (See Kim Figs 1 and 2. and abstract); comprising “transmitting, to a terminal device, a radio resource control (RRC) message” (see Kim figure 10, step 1005 and ¶ 0114, ¶ 0115; receiving a connection RRC message), “indicating at least one discontinuous reception (DRX) configuration for a serving cell” (see Kim figure 10, step 1005 and ¶ 0114, ¶ 0115; the RRC message include DRX configuration informations including on duration timer and Drx inactivity Timer and others), “transmitting, to the terminal device, DRX Command medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) when the MAC CE received, stops the onDuration Timer and the DRX-inactivity Duration); “wherein the DRX Command MAC CE is used for the terminal device to stop a DRX on-duration timer of the first DRX configuration”( see Kim ¶ 0009, ¶ 0206; when the MAC CE received, stops the onDuration Timer and the DRX-inactivity Duration). Kim does not appear to explicitly disclose “DRX Command medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) indicated by a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) associated with a first communication service is received” and “wherein each DRX configuration of the at least one DRX configuration is associated with a communication service, and the first DRX configuration is associated with the first communication service”. However, Tseng discloses “DRX Command medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) indicated by a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) associated with a first communication service is received”( See Tseng ¶ 0113 - ¶ 0115; when the PDCCH indicates transmission, the On Duration timer will be stopped, and disclosed that the MAC CE ). Kim and Tseng are analogous art because they both are related to “Communication System”. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, having the teachings of Kim and Tseng before him or her, to modify the invention of Kim to perform stopping DRX on Duration Timer in response to indication of the PDCCH. The suggestion for doing so would have been to improve handling DRX operation in a wireless communication system (¶ 0002). Neither Kim nor Tseng appear to explicitly disclose “wherein each DRX configuration of the at least one DRX configuration is associated with a communication service, and the first DRX configuration is associated with the first communication service”. However, Shrivastava discloses “wherein each DRX configuration of the at least one DRX configuration is associated with a communication service, and the first DRX configuration is associated with the first communication service”( See Shrivastava ¶ 0035; receiving DRX configuration for MBS (multicast broadcast service); ¶ 0070; for MBS broadcast service, the active time can include the time while at least one of the drx-onDurationTimerMBS timer or the drx-InactivityTimerMBS the configured for the MBS and ¶ 0227 ; Based on the applicable MBS multicast service(s) that the UE 10 is actively receiving, the UE 10 may be configured with the unicast DRX configurations ). Kim and Tseng are analogous art because they both are related to “Communication System”. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, having the teachings of Kim, Tseng and Shrivastava before him or her, to modify the invention of Kim and Tseng to provide different DRX configurations for different services. The suggestion for doing so would have been for efficient and reliable reception for Service by providing service discontinuous reception (DRX) in a wireless communication (¶ 0008). Regarding claim 28, claim 27 is incorporated as stated above. In addition, the combination of Kim, Tseng and Shrivastava further discloses “transmitting, to the terminal device, configuration information of a list of DRX configurations, wherein the RRC message indicates the at least one DRX configuration from the list of DRX configurations.”; (see Kim figure 10, step 1005 and ¶ 0114, ¶ 0115; the RRC message include DRX configuration information including on duration timer and Drx inactivity Timer and others). Regarding claim 29, claim 27 is incorporated as stated above. In addition, the combination of Kim, Tseng and Shrivastava further discloses “wherein DRX operation for each DRX configuration of the at least one DRX configuration is performed independently”; (see Kim fig 10 and ¶ 0031, ¶ 0113). Claims 30 - 33 are the Terminal device claims corresponding to the method claims 23 - 26 that have been rejected above. Applicant attention is directed to the rejection of claims 23 - 26. Claims 30 – 33 are rejected under the same rational as claims 23 - 26. IN addition, the combination of Kim, Tseng and Shrivastava further discloses A terminal device, comprising: a processor (see Kim Figs. 1 and 2). Conclusion Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KHALED M KASSIM whose telephone number is (571)270-3770. The examiner can normally be reached 9:00 am - 5:00 PM. 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. 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. /KHALED M KASSIM/supervisory patent examiner, Art Unit 2475
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Prosecution Timeline

Jun 12, 2024
Application Filed
Jul 30, 2026
Non-Final Rejection mailed — §103 (current)

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Prosecution Projections

1-2
Expected OA Rounds
70%
Grant Probability
99%
With Interview (+38.3%)
4y 7m (~2y 5m remaining)
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 539 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allowance rate.

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