Prosecution Insights
Last updated: October 02, 2026
Application No. 18/732,454

LOW-TIER USER EQUIPMENT POSITIONING WITH PREMIUM USER EQUIPMENT ASSISTANCE

Non-Final OA §102
Filed
Jun 03, 2024
Priority
Oct 01, 2019 — provisional 62/908,648 +1 more
Examiner
HAMMONDS, MARCUS C
Art Unit
2647
Tech Center
2600 — Communications
Assignee
Qualcomm Incorporated
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
72%
Grant Probability
Favorable
1-2
OA Rounds
11m
Est. Remaining
99%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 72% — above average
72%
Career Allowance Rate
363 granted / 508 resolved
+9.5% vs TC avg
Strong +29% interview lift
Without
With
+29.1%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
3y 3m
Avg Prosecution
23 currently pending
Career history
531
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
4.2%
-35.8% vs TC avg
§103
48.6%
+8.6% vs TC avg
§102
28.9%
-11.1% vs TC avg
§112
11.5%
-28.5% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 508 resolved cases

Office Action

§102
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 Response to Amendment Acknowledgement is made of the Response to Election/Restriction filed on August 26, 2026, in which: The applicant elected the invention of Group I, claims 1-5, without traverse. Group II, claims 6-13, and Group III, claims 14-20, are withdrawn herein. Claims 1-5 are currently pending and an Office action on the merits follows. 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) 1-5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Pub No.: US-20160360354-A1 (herein “Rhee”). Consider claim 1, Rhee teaches A premium user equipment (UE) (see Rhee Fig. 1, Fig. 6, note companion device 106), comprising: one or more memories (see Rhee Fig. 6, [0066] note memory 650); one or more transceivers (see Rhee Fig. 6, [0059] note wireless communication subsystem 624); and one or more processors (see Rhee Fig. 6, [0056] note processor(s) 604) communicatively coupled to the one or more memories and the one or more transceivers, the one or more processors, either alone or in combination, configured to: establish a sidelink connection with a reduced-capability UE based on the reduced-capability UE being within communication range of the premium UE (see Rhee Fig. 1, Fig. 2, [0019] note companion device 106 located in vicinity of the mobile device 102 and paired with the mobile device 102 via short-range communication technology); and transmit, via the one or more transceivers, to the reduced-capability UE, one or more parameters indicating a quality of a location estimate of the premium UE (see Rhee Fig. 2, [0030]-[0033] note mobile device 102 requesting location of the companion device 106 to meet the accuracy specification required and the companion device providing assisted location as response to the location request). Consider claim 2, Rhee teaches wherein the one or more parameters are transmitted over the sidelink connection (see Rhee Fig. 1, [0022] note the mobile device 102 can submit the location request to companion device 106 through communication channel 108). Consider claim 3, Rhee teaches wherein the one or more processors, either alone or in combination, are further configured to: receive, via the one or more transceivers, from the reduced-capability UE, a request to transmit the location estimate of the premium UE to a location server (see Rhee [0021], [0048] note the companion device may request location data from location server 112). Consider claim 4, Rhee teaches wherein the one or more processors, either alone or in combination, are further configured to: transmit, via the one or more transceivers, the location estimate of the premium UE to the reduced-capability UE (see Rhee Fig. 2, [0030]-[0033] not providing assisted location as response to the location request). Consider claim 5, Rhee teaches wherein the one or more processors, either alone or in combination, are further configured to: transmit, via the one or more transceivers, the location estimate of the premium UE to a location server (see Rhee [0021], [0047], [0048] note the companion device may request location data from location server 112 and the location server receiving crowd-sourced data from mobile devices including the identifiers of signal sources associated with their location). Contact Information Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MARCUS C HAMMONDS whose telephone number is (571) 270-3193. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 10:00AM-6:00PM. 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, ALISON T. SLATER can be reached at (571)270-0375. 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. /MARCUS HAMMONDS/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2647
Read full office action

Prosecution Timeline

Jun 03, 2024
Application Filed
Sep 23, 2026
Non-Final Rejection mailed — §102 (current)

Precedent Cases

Applications granted by this same examiner with similar technology

Patent 12739605
Autonomous Vehicle Communication Gateway Architecture
3y 9m to grant Granted Sep 15, 2026
Patent 12739770
NETWORK SELECTION METHOD, ELECTRONIC DEVICE, AND STORAGE MEDIUM
3y 8m to grant Granted Sep 15, 2026
Patent 12739738
NETWORK SELECTION METHOD AND APPARATUS, DEVICE AND STORAGE MEDIUM
3y 8m to grant Granted Sep 15, 2026
Patent 12732903
SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR NETWORK SLICE AND SUBSCRIBER PROFILE MANAGEMENT FOR FLIGHT PATHS ACROSS MULTIPLE NETWORKS
3y 8m to grant Granted Sep 08, 2026
Patent 12726944
PAGING METHOD, TERMINAL DEVICE, AND NETWORK DEVICE
3y 2m to grant Granted Sep 01, 2026
Study what changed to get past this examiner. Based on 5 most recent grants.

Strategy Recommendation AI-generated — please review before filing

Get a prosecution strategy drawn from examiner precedents, rejection analysis, and claim mapping.
Typically takes 5-10 seconds — AI-generated, attorney review required before filing

Prosecution Projections

1-2
Expected OA Rounds
72%
Grant Probability
99%
With Interview (+29.1%)
3y 3m (~11m remaining)
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 508 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allowance rate.

Sign in with your work email

Enter your email to receive a magic link. No password needed.

Personal email addresses (Gmail, Yahoo, etc.) are not accepted.

Free tier: 3 strategy analyses per month