Prosecution Insights
Last updated: August 30, 2026
Application No. 18/723,600

Supervision Timers for Successful Handover Reporting

Non-Final OA §102§103
Filed
Jun 24, 2024
Priority
Jan 10, 2022 — provisional 63/297,982 +1 more
Examiner
SHAH, TANMAY K
Art Unit
Tech Center
Assignee
Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
89%
Grant Probability
Favorable
1-2
OA Rounds
1m
Est. Remaining
98%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 89% — above average
89%
Career Allowance Rate
915 granted / 1027 resolved
+29.1% vs TC avg
Moderate +9% lift
Without
With
+9.3%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
2y 4m
Avg Prosecution
35 currently pending
Career history
1044
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
3.0%
-37.0% vs TC avg
§103
53.6%
+13.6% vs TC avg
§102
31.5%
-8.5% vs TC avg
§112
5.7%
-34.3% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 1027 resolved cases

Office Action

§102 §103
CTNF 18/723,600 CTNF 84323 Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status 07-03-aia AIA 15-10-aia 1. The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA. 2. This communication is in response to the Application No. 18/723,600 filed on 6/24/24. Claims 28 – 43 has been examined. Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102 07-06 AIA 15-10-15 3. 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. 07-07-aia AIA 07-07 4. 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 – 07-08-aia AIA (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. 07-15-aia AIA 5. Claim(s) 35, 37 - 38 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102 (a)(1) as being anticipated by Ericsson ( ERICSSON: "Running 38.331 for introducing R17 SON", 3GPP DRAFT; R2-2200004, 3RD GENERATION PARTNERSHIP PROJECT (3GPP), MOBILE COMPETENCE CENTRE ; 650, ROUTE DES LUCIOLES ; F-06921 SOPHIA-ANTIPOLIS CEDEX ; FRANCE vol. RAN WG2, no. Electronic; 20220117 - 20220125 5 January 2022 (2022-01-05), XP052089781, Ericsson hereafter; According to 3GPP website, the document was modified on 12/17/24 ) . Regarding claim 35, Ericsson teaches A method for receiving successful handover reports from a user equipment (UE), the method performed by one or more nodes of a radio access network (RAN) and comprising ( section 5.1 SON ): sending, to the UE, a configuration for successful handover reporting (SHR) by the UE, wherein the SHR configuration includes a single supervision timer threshold that is associated with all measurement objects configured for the UE ( section 6.3, SHR, For the thresholds of T31 0/T312 in the source cell, the source cell configures the values. FFS source cell or target cell can configure the threshold for T304, page 112, agreement 2 ). subsequently receiving a successful handover report from the UE when time elapsed on a UE supervision timer exceeds the supervision timer threshold included in the SHR configuration ( section 5.1 SON, The UE generates Successful HO report upon exceeding thresholds on T310, T312 and T304 exceed also for CHO case (in addition to regular HO), page 107, 32 ). Regarding claim 37, The method of claim 35, wherein the supervision timer is T312 and the supervision timer threshold is thresholdPercentageT312 ( 1 : Define separate thresholds for T31 0/T312/T304, and the percentage values are 40%, 60%, 80%. The percentage is to indicate the ratio of the threshold value (unit: ms) over the signalled T31 0/T312/T304 value (unit: ms). 1 a: For threshold for T312, the percentage value also includes 20%. 2: For the thresholds of T31 0/T312 in the source cell, the source cell configures the values. FFS source cell or target cell can configure the threshold for T304, page 112 ). Regarding claim 38, The method of claim 35, further comprising configuring the UE with a plurality of measurement objects, wherein each measurement object identifies or is associated with the following: one or more frequencies of signals to be measured ( This field is used to indicate the PCell in which RLF is detected or the target PCell of the failed handover. For intra-NR handover nrFailedPCellld is included and for the handover from NR to EUTRA eutraFailedPCellld is included. The UE sets the ARFCN according to the frequency band used for transmission/ reception when the failure occurred, page 76 ), and an initial time value for the supervision timer ( T31 0/T312 in target cell is started after a short time of successful HO, page 114 ) . Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103 07-06 AIA 15-10-15 3. 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 4. 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. 07-23-aia AIA 5. 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. 07-21-aia AIA 6. Claim (s) 28, 30 – 31, 43, 46 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ericsson ( ERICSSON: "Running 38.331 for introducing R17 SON", 3GPP DRAFT; R2-2200004, 3RD GENERATION PARTNERSHIP PROJECT (3GPP), MOBILE COMPETENCE CENTRE ; 650, ROUTE DES LUCIOLES ; F-06921 SOPHIA-ANTIPOLIS CEDEX ; FRANCE vol. RAN WG2, no. Electronic; 20220117 - 20220125 5 January 2022 (2022-01-05), XP052089781, Ericsson hereafter ) in further view of 3GPP ( "3rd Generation Partnership Project; Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; NR; Radio Resource Control (RRC) protocol specification (Release 16)", 3GPP STANDARD; TECHNICAL SPECIFICATION; 3GPP TS 38.331, 3RD GENERATION PARTNERSHIP PROJECT (3GPP), MOBILE COMPETENCE CENTRE ; 650, ROUTE DES LUCIOLES ; F-06921 SOPHIA-ANTIPOLIS CEDEX ; FRANCE vol. RAN WG2, no. V16.7.0 23 December 2021 (2021-12-23), pages 1-963, XP052083424, 3GPP hereafter ) Regarding claim 28, A method for providing successful handover reports to a radio access network (RAN), the method performed by a user equipment (UE) and comprising ( section 5.1 SON ): receiving, from the RAN, a configuration for successful handover reporting (SHR) by the UE, wherein the SHR configuration includes a single supervision timer threshold that is associated with all measurement objects configured for the UE ( section 6.3, SHR, For the thresholds of T31 0/T312 in the source cell, the source cell configures the values. FFS source cell or target cell can configure the threshold for T304, page 112, agreement 2 ); transmitting a successful handover report to the RAN based on determining that the time elapsed exceeds the supervision timer threshold ( section 5.1 SON, The UE generates Successful HO report upon exceeding thresholds on T310, T312 and T304 exceed also for CHO case (in addition to regular HO), page 107, 32 ); however, does not specifically teach and/or disclose upon transmitting to the RAN a measurement report associated with a first one of the measurement objects, initiating a supervision timer based on an initial time value associated with the first measurement object; and based on receiving from the RAN a handover command to a target cell, determining whether time elapsed from the supervision timer exceeds the supervision timer threshold included in the SHR configuration. 3GPP teaches upon transmitting to the RAN a measurement report associated with a first one of the measurement objects, initiating a supervision timer based on an initial time value associated with the first measurement object ( section 5.5.4; start timer T312 for the corresponding SpCell with the value of T312 configured in the corresponding measObjectNR , page 147; also see pages 145 - 147 ); and based on receiving from the RAN a handover command to a target cell, determining whether time elapsed from the supervision timer exceeds the supervision timer threshold included in the SHR configuration ( possibly in response to a MeasurementReport or an MCGFailureInformation message, by sending a MobilityFromNRCommand message. The network applies the procedure as follows: the procedure is initiated only when AS security has been activated, and SRB2 with at least one DRB are setup and not suspended; the procedure is not initiated if any DAPS bearer is configured, page 126 - 127 ). It would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skilled in the art at the time of the filing to combine the teachings of 3GPP’s timer threshold with the sytem of Ericsson. One would be motivated to combine these teachings because in doing so it can put a threshold on a timer; so the system does not waste unnecessary time trying to connect in SHR configuration. Regarding claim 30, Ericsson with 3GPP teaches claim 28, Ericsson further teaches wherein the supervision timer is T312 and the supervision timer threshold is thresholdPercentageT312 ( 1 : Define separate thresholds for T31 0/T312/T304, and the percentage values are 40%, 60%, 80%. The percentage is to indicate the ratio of the threshold value (unit: ms) over the signalled T31 0/T312/T304 value (unit: ms). 1 a: For threshold for T312, the percentage value also includes 20%. 2: For the thresholds of T31 0/T312 in the source cell, the source cell configures the values. FFS source cell or target cell can configure the threshold for T304, page 112 ). Regarding claim 31, Ericsson with 3GPP teaches claim 30, Ericsson further teaches wherein the UE is configured with plurality of measurement objects, and each measurement object identifies or is associated with the following: one or more frequencies of signals to be measured ( This field is used to indicate the PCell in which RLF is detected or the target PCell of the failed handover. For intra-NR handover nrFailedPCellld is included and for the handover from NR to EUTRA eutraFailedPCellld is included. The UE sets the ARFCN according to the frequency band used for transmission/ reception when the failure occurred, page 76 ); and an initial time value for the supervision timer ( T31 0/T312 in target cell is started after a short time of successful HO, page 114 ). Regarding claim 43, the method substantially has same limitations as claim 28, thus the same rejection is applicable. Regarding claim 46, the method substantially has same limitations as claim 28, thus the same rejection is applicable . Allowable Subject Matter 12-151-08 AIA 07-43 12-51-08 7. Claim s 29, 32 – 34, 36, 39 – 42, 44 – 45, 47 are 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 8. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to TANMAY K SHAH whose telephone number is (571)270-3624. The examiner can normally be reached Mon - Fri - 8:00 - 5:00. 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, Chieh Fan can be reached at 571-272-3042. 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. /TANMAY K SHAH/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2632 TANMAY K. SHAH Primary Examiner Art Unit 2632 Application/Control Number: 18/723,600 Page 2 Art Unit: 2632 Application/Control Number: 18/723,600 Page 3 Art Unit: 2632 Application/Control Number: 18/723,600 Page 4 Art Unit: 2632 Application/Control Number: 18/723,600 Page 5 Art Unit: 2632 Application/Control Number: 18/723,600 Page 6 Art Unit: 2632 Application/Control Number: 18/723,600 Page 7 Art Unit: 2632 Application/Control Number: 18/723,600 Page 8 Art Unit: 2632 Application/Control Number: 18/723,600 Page 9 Art Unit: 2632 Application/Control Number: 18/723,600 Page 10 Art Unit: 2632 Application/Control Number: 18/723,600 Page 11 Art Unit: 2632 Application/Control Number: 18/723,600 Page 12 Art Unit: 2632
Read full office action

Prosecution Timeline

Jun 24, 2024
Application Filed
May 27, 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

1-2
Expected OA Rounds
89%
Grant Probability
98%
With Interview (+9.3%)
2y 4m (~1m remaining)
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 1027 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allowance rate.

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