Prosecution Insights
Last updated: October 22, 2026
Application No. 18/729,162

INFORMATION PROCESSING METHOD AND APPARATUS, AND READABLE STORAGE MEDIUM

Final Rejection §102§103
Filed
Jul 15, 2024
Priority
Feb 21, 2022 — CN 202210155736.0 +1 more
Examiner
ACOLATSE, KODZOVI
Art Unit
Tech Center
Assignee
Datang Mobile Communications Equipment Co., Ltd.
OA Round
2 (Final)
84%
Grant Probability
Favorable
3-4
OA Rounds
3m
Est. Remaining
99%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 84% — above average
84%
Career Allowance Rate
799 granted / 952 resolved
+23.9% vs TC avg
Strong +21% interview lift
Without
With
+20.6%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
2y 6m
Avg Prosecution
43 currently pending
Career history
1013
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
5.5%
-34.5% vs TC avg
§103
54.9%
+14.9% vs TC avg
§102
22.5%
-17.5% vs TC avg
§112
9.0%
-31.0% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 952 resolved cases

Office Action

§102 §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 . Claims 1-15, 25, 26, 28,38 and 39 are pending in this office action. Allowable Subject Matter Claims 9 and 13 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. Response to Arguments Applicant's arguments filed in the amendment of 8/24/26 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. The reasons are set forth below. Applicant Argues: On pages 9-11 of the remarks, applicant argues the second DCI taught by Fakoorian fails to indicate the user equipment to determine resources for performing remaining repetitions of the first PUSCH in accordance with the second DCI. Fakoorian also fails to hint about receiving or transmitting, by the network device, the first PUSCH through the resources for performing the remaining repetitions determined in accordance with the second DCI. Thus, it is clear and definite, as Applicant observes, that Fakoorian fails to teach or suggest the above emphasized limitations "indication information in the second DCI or a format of the second DCI indicates the user equipment to determine resources for remaining repetitions of the target TB in accordance with the second DCI; and receiving or transmitting, by the network device, the target TB through the resources for the remaining repetitions determined in accordance with the second DCI". In response, the Examiner respectfully submits: First, the Examiner notes that the claim recites “wherein the indication information in the second DCI or a format of the second DCI indicates the user equipment to determine resources for remaining repetitions…” In order words, the second DCI does not schedule the resources for the remaining repetitions, instead the second DCI indicates the user to determine the resource for the remaining repetitions. In [0029], Fakoorian teaches the modification at 320 includes dropping repetitions of the first PUSCH that overlap with the second PUSCH (the second DCI overrides the first DCI in the overlapping instances) and the non-overlapping repetitions are not dropped. In some embodiments, the dropped repetitions may be deferred to later U slots. Therefore the second DCI indicates the user to determine when to transmit the remaining repetitions. 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)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention. Claims 1-5, 14, 15, 25, 26, 28,38 and 39 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Fakoorian et al (US 2023/0171784 A1). Regarding claim 1, Fakoorian teaches an information processing method, comprising: transmitting, by a network device, first Downlink Control Information (DCI) to a user equipment to schedule repetitions of a target Transport Block (TB) (Fakoorian: Fig. 3:305; [025], UE receives first DCI scheduling PUSCH and repetitions); transmitting, by the network device, second DCI to the user equipment, wherein indication information in the second DCI or a format of the second DCI indicates the user equipment to determine resources for remaining repetitions of the target TB in accordance with the second DCI (Fakoorian: Fig. 3:315; [0025]-[0026], [0029] UE receives second DCI indicating to the UE how to transmit remaining PUSCH repetitions; [0029] the modification at 320 includes dropping repetitions of the first PUSCH that overlap with the second PUSCH (the second DCI overrides the first DCI in the overlapping instances) and the non-overlapping repetitions are not dropped. In some embodiments, the dropped repetitions may be deferred to later U slots); and receiving or transmitting, by the network device, the target TB through the resources for the remaining repetitions determined in accordance with the second DCI (Fakoorian: Fig. 3; [0025]-[0026]). Regarding claims 14 and 38, Fakoorian teaches an information processing method, comprising: performing, by a user equipment, repetitions of a target Transport Block (TB) in accordance with first Downlink Control Information (DCI) (Fakoorian: Fig. 3:310; [0025]-[0026], PUSCH repetition transmission); receiving, by the user equipment, second DCI (Fakoorian: Fig. 3:315; [0025]-[0026]); wherein indication information in the second DCI or a format of the second DCI indicates the user equipment to determine resources for remaining repetitions of the target TB in accordance with the second DCI (Fakoorian: Figs. 3-4; [0029] the modification at 320 includes dropping repetitions of the first PUSCH that overlap with the second PUSCH (the second DCI overrides the first DCI in the overlapping instances) and the non-overlapping repetitions are not dropped. In some embodiments, the dropped repetitions may be deferred to later U slots); determining in accordance with the second DCI, by the user equipment, resources for remaining repetitions of the target TB, based on the indication information in the second DCI or a format of the second DCI; and performing, by the user equipment, the remaining repetitions of the target TB in accordance with the resources for the remaining repetitions of the target TB (Fakoorian: Fig. 3:320; [0025]-[0026], UE receives second DCI scheduling PUSCH repetitions that were transmitted before the second DCI and UE performs PUSCH repetition transmission based on second DCI scheduling). Regarding claim 25, Fakoorian teaches an information processing apparatus, applied to a network device (Fakoorian: Fig. 3:120A, claim 18, gNB), comprising a memory, a transceiver and a processor, wherein the memory is configured to store therein a computer program, and the transceiver is configured to transmit and receive data under control of the processor, wherein the processor is configured to read the computer program in the memory to perform following operation: transmitting, by a network device, first Downlink Control Information (DCI) to a user equipment to schedule repetitions of a target Transport Block (TB) (Fakoorian: Fig. 3:305; [025], UE receives first DCI scheduling PUSCH and repetitions); transmitting, by the network device, second DCI to the user equipment, wherein indication information in the second DCI or a format of the second DCI is used to indicate the user equipment to determine resources for remaining repetitions of the target TB in accordance with the second DCI (Fakoorian: Fig. 3:315; [0025]-[0026], UE receives second DCI scheduling PUSCH repetitions that were transmitted before the second DCI); and receiving or transmitting, by the network device, the target TB through the resources for the remaining repetitions determined in accordance with the second DCI (Fakoorian: Fig. 3; [0025]-[0026]). Regarding claims 2, 15, 26 and 39, Fakoorian teaches wherein the second DCI comprises a first indication field, and the indication information in the second DCI is indicated through the first indication field (Fakoorian: Fig. 3; [0026], NDI field in the second DCI). Regarding claim 3, Fakoorian teaches wherein the second DCI comprises a second indication field, and the indication information is indicated through a target state of the second indication field (Fakoorian: Fig. 3; [0026], bits of MCS in the DCI). Regarding claims 4 and 28, Fakoorian teaches wherein the second indication field comprises a field for indicating a Modulation and Coding Scheme (MCS) (Fakoorian: Fig. 3; [0026], bits of MCS in the DCI). Regarding claim 5 and 28, Fakoorian teaches wherein the second DCI comprises a third indication field, and the indication information is indicated through a target bit of the third indication field (Fakoorian: [0028], extra bit in the second DCI). 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. Claims 6-8 and 10-12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Fakoorian et al (US 2023/0171784 A1) in view of Wang et al (US 2021/0282137 A1). Regarding claim 6, Fakoorian does not explicitly disclose wherein the format of the second DCI is a DCI format for configuring time domain and frequency domain resources, or a DCI format for configuring frequency domain resources. Wang teaches wherein the format of the second DCI is a DCI format for configuring time domain and frequency domain resources, or a DCI format for configuring frequency domain resources (Wang: Figs. 18-20; [0120], [0221], DCI format with TDRA/FDRA). It would have been obvious to a person having an ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Fakoorian wherein the format of the second DCI is a DCI format for configuring time domain and frequency domain resources, or a DCI format for configuring frequency domain resources as disclosed by Wang to provide a system for determining transmission occasion for PUSCH repetition transmission (Wang: Abstract). Regarding claim 7, Fakoorian in view of Wang teaches wherein the format of the second DCI is DCI 2_0 (Fakoorian: [0028]), the second DCI comprises a frequency domain resource assignment field; and through the format of the second DCI being DCI 2_0, the user equipment is indicated to determine the resources for the remaining repetitions of the target TB in accordance with the second DCI (Wang: Figs. 18-20; [0120], [0221]). Regarding claim 8, Fakoorian in view of Wang teaches wherein in a case that the user equipment operates in a Time Division Duplex (TDD) mode (Fakoorian: [0026]-[0028]), the second DCI further comprises a slot format indication field, the slot format indication field is used to indicate a time domain resource corresponding to the resources for transmission, and the frequency domain resource assignment field is used to indicate a frequency domain resource corresponding to the resources for transmission (Wang: Figs. 18-20; [0120], [0221]). Regarding claim 10, Fakoorian in view of Wang teaches wherein the second DCI comprises a time domain resource assignment field and a frequency domain resource assignment field, or the second DCI comprises a frequency domain resource assignment field; wherein the time domain resource assignment field is used to indicate a time domain resource corresponding to the resources for transmission, and the frequency domain resource assignment field is used to indicate a frequency domain resource corresponding to the resources for transmission (Wang: Figs. 18-20; [0120], [0221]). Regarding claim 11, Fakoorian in view of Wang teaches wherein the second DCI comprises a fourth indication field, and the fourth indication field is used to indicate a Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARQ) process corresponding to the second DCI (Fakoorian: [0026]). Regarding claim 12, Fakoorian in view of Wang teaches wherein in a case that the second DCI indicates time domain resources and frequency domain resources for a user equipment group, time domain resources and/or frequency domain resources for user equipments in the user equipment group do not overlap each other, or, time domain resources or frequency domain resources for user equipments in the user equipment group completely overlap each other or are the same; or in a case that the second DCI indicates frequency domain resources for a user equipment group, the frequency domain resources for user equipments in the user equipment group completely overlap each other or are the same (Wang: Fig. 18; [0120], [0221]). Conclusion THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a). A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KODZOVI ACOLATSE whose telephone number is (571)270-1999. The examiner can normally be reached Monday to Friday 10 am to 6pm. 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, Avellino Joseph can be reached at (571) 272-3905. 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. /KODZOVI ACOLATSE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2478
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Prosecution Timeline

Jul 15, 2024
Application Filed
May 29, 2026
Non-Final Rejection mailed — §102, §103
Aug 24, 2026
Response Filed
Oct 06, 2026
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

3-4
Expected OA Rounds
84%
Grant Probability
99%
With Interview (+20.6%)
2y 6m (~3m remaining)
Median Time to Grant
Moderate
PTA Risk
Based on 952 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allowance rate.

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