Prosecution Insights
Last updated: July 17, 2026
Application No. 18/779,192

SYSTEMS, METHODS, AND DEVICES FOR SECONDARY CELL ACTIVATION WITH UE-SPECIFIC REFERENCE SIGNAL

Non-Final OA §102
Filed
Jul 22, 2024
Priority
Jan 14, 2021 — nonprovisional of PCTCN2021071807 +1 more
Examiner
GHAFOERKHAN, FAIYAZKHAN
Art Unit
Tech Center
Assignee
Apple Inc.
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
87%
Grant Probability
Favorable
1-2
OA Rounds
8m
Est. Remaining
96%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 87% — above average
87%
Career Allowance Rate
498 granted / 572 resolved
+27.1% vs TC avg
Moderate +8% lift
Without
With
+8.4%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
2y 8m
Avg Prosecution
16 currently pending
Career history
587
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
0.8%
-39.2% vs TC avg
§103
68.1%
+28.1% vs TC avg
§102
19.4%
-20.6% vs TC avg
§112
6.8%
-33.2% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 572 resolved cases

Office Action

§102
DETAILED ACTION Claims 1-20 have been examined. 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 . Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102 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. 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. Claim(s) 1-4, 7, 11-12, and 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by US 20210329546 A1 to Wang et al. (hereinafter “Wang”). As per claim 1, Wang discloses a baseband processor (Wang Fig. 13 and [0278]), comprising: a memory configured to store instructions (Wang Fig. 13 and [0278]); and a processing circuitry coupled to the memory and, when executing the instructions (Wang Fig. 13 and [0278]), configured to: receive a secondary cell activation command (Wang Fig. 4 and [0185] The network device sends the activation signaling including the first quasi co-location indication information to the terminal device. The activation signaling may be implemented by the network device by sending the MAC CE to the terminal device by using a primary cell. [0186] Optionally, before the terminal device receives the activation signaling of the secondary cell generated by the network device, the terminal device receives first indication information sent by the network device, where the first indication information is used to indicate that downlink timing of the primary cell is the same as that of the secondary cell, or that a timing advance group TAG of the primary cell is the same as that of the secondary cell. [0127] It should be noted that the cell may be an area within coverage of a wireless network of a network device. In the embodiments of this application, different cells may correspond to different network devices. For example, a network device in a cell #1 and a network device in a cell #2 may be different network devices such as base stations. That is, the cell #1 and the cell #2 may be managed by different base stations. In this case, in other words, the cell #1 and the cell #2 are co-sited or co-sited. The network device in the cell #1 and the network device in the cell #2 may alternatively be different radio frequency processing units, for example, radio remote units (RRU), of a same base station. In other words, the cell #1 and the cell #2 may be managed by a same base station that has a same baseband processing unit and a same intermediate frequency processing unit, but has different radio frequency processing units. This is not specifically limited in this application. [0205] S830: The network device generates activation signaling of the secondary cell, where the activation signaling includes at least one piece of first quasi co-location indication information.); and activate, in response to the secondary cell activation command, a secondary cell with a time delay based on timing of an aperiodic user equipment (UE) specific reference signal (Wang [0154] When data transmission needs to be performed at the high frequency, the base station delivers activation signaling of a secondary cell by using MAC CE signaling. After receiving the activation signaling, the base station configures an SSB machine type communication (MT) configuration based on a radio resource RRC, and detects an SSB signal in a corresponding time detection window. FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a format of activation signaling of a MAC CE secondary cell in a current technology. As shown in the figure, an octet (Oct) in the figure represents a byte (byte) including eight bits (bits). R is a reserved bit. C.sub.i is activation indication information, and corresponds to a component carrier (CC) index in the RRC configuration. When a value of C.sub.i is 1, it indicates that a corresponding CC is activated; when a value of C.sub.i is 0, it indicates that a corresponding CC is deactivated, where i=0, 2, . . . 7. [0197-0198]). As per claim 2, Wang discloses the baseband processor of claim 1, wherein the aperiodic UE specific reference signal is an aperiodic tracking reference signal (ATRS) (Wang [0102,0206] and [0198] In the current technology, initial access of a terminal device is mainly performed by detecting and receiving an SSB signal. To reduce overheads of the terminal device, an SSB signal periodicity is usually set to be relatively long. During beam scanning, if a periodicity is not over, a next time of beam scanning can be performed only when the second period starts. As a result, beam scanning takes excessively long time. Therefore, during activation of the secondary cell, another reference signal may be detected and received instead of detecting and receiving the SSB signal with a relatively long detection periodicity, to complete activation of the secondary cell, thereby reducing the activation delay of the secondary cell, reducing detection power consumption of the terminal device, and improving communication quality and reliability.). As per claim 3, Wang discloses the baseband processor of claim 1, the processing circuitry further configured to receive a reference signal configuration configuring the aperiodic UE specific reference signal (Wang [0102,0206] and [0198] In the current technology, initial access of a terminal device is mainly performed by detecting and receiving an SSB signal. To reduce overheads of the terminal device, an SSB signal periodicity is usually set to be relatively long. During beam scanning, if a periodicity is not over, a next time of beam scanning can be performed only when the second period starts. As a result, beam scanning takes excessively long time. Therefore, during activation of the secondary cell, another reference signal may be detected and received instead of detecting and receiving the SSB signal with a relatively long detection periodicity, to complete activation of the secondary cell, thereby reducing the activation delay of the secondary cell, reducing detection power consumption of the terminal device, and improving communication quality and reliability.). As per claim 4, Wang discloses the baseband processor of claim 3, the processing circuitry further configured to: receive the reference signal configuration from a primary cell during a radio resource control (RRC) procedure (Wang [0024,0028,0154,0230]). As per claim 7, Wang discloses the baseband processor of claim 1, wherein the aperiodic UE specific reference signal is used to perform a fine time tracking (Wang [0070,0102,0149,0206]). As per claim 11, Wang discloses the baseband processor of claim 1, wherein the activation of the secondary cell is based on the aperiodic UE specific reference signal when a reference signal configuration indicating the aperiodic UE specific reference signal is received (Wang [0102,0198,0206]), and is based on a cell-specific reference signal when the reference signal configuration is not received. As per claim 12, Wang discloses a User Equipment (UE) (Wang Fig. 13 and [0278]) comprising: radio frequency (RF) circuitry configured to communicate with a wireless communication network (Wang Fig. 13 and [0278]); a memory device configured to store instructions (Wang Fig. 13 and [0278]); and one or more processors, connected to the RF circuitry and the memory device (Wang Fig. 13 and [0278]), and configured to execute the instructions to: receive, via the RF circuitry, a secondary cell activation command (Wang Fig. 4 and [0185] The network device sends the activation signaling including the first quasi co-location indication information to the terminal device. The activation signaling may be implemented by the network device by sending the MAC CE to the terminal device by using a primary cell. [0186] Optionally, before the terminal device receives the activation signaling of the secondary cell generated by the network device, the terminal device receives first indication information sent by the network device, where the first indication information is used to indicate that downlink timing of the primary cell is the same as that of the secondary cell, or that a timing advance group TAG of the primary cell is the same as that of the secondary cell. [0127] It should be noted that the cell may be an area within coverage of a wireless network of a network device. In the embodiments of this application, different cells may correspond to different network devices. For example, a network device in a cell #1 and a network device in a cell #2 may be different network devices such as base stations. That is, the cell #1 and the cell #2 may be managed by different base stations. In this case, in other words, the cell #1 and the cell #2 are co-sited or co-sited. The network device in the cell #1 and the network device in the cell #2 may alternatively be different radio frequency processing units, for example, radio remote units (RRU), of a same base station. In other words, the cell #1 and the cell #2 may be managed by a same base station that has a same baseband processing unit and a same intermediate frequency processing unit, but has different radio frequency processing units. This is not specifically limited in this application. [0205] S830: The network device generates activation signaling of the secondary cell, where the activation signaling includes at least one piece of first quasi co-location indication information.); and activate, in response to receiving the secondary cell activation command (Wang [0154] When data transmission needs to be performed at the high frequency, the base station delivers activation signaling of a secondary cell by using MAC CE signaling. After receiving the activation signaling, the base station configures an SSB machine type communication (MT) configuration based on a radio resource RRC, and detects an SSB signal in a corresponding time detection window. FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a format of activation signaling of a MAC CE secondary cell in a current technology. As shown in the figure, an octet (Oct) in the figure represents a byte (byte) including eight bits (bits). R is a reserved bit. C.sub.i is activation indication information, and corresponds to a component carrier (CC) index in the RRC configuration. When a value of C.sub.i is 1, it indicates that a corresponding CC is activated; when a value of C.sub.i is 0, it indicates that a corresponding CC is deactivated, where i=0, 2, . . . 7. [0197-0198]), a secondary cell based on an aperiodic tracking reference signal (ATRS) (Wang [0102,0206] and [0198] In the current technology, initial access of a terminal device is mainly performed by detecting and receiving an SSB signal. To reduce overheads of the terminal device, an SSB signal periodicity is usually set to be relatively long. During beam scanning, if a periodicity is not over, a next time of beam scanning can be performed only when the second period starts. As a result, beam scanning takes excessively long time. Therefore, during activation of the secondary cell, another reference signal may be detected and received instead of detecting and receiving the SSB signal with a relatively long detection periodicity, to complete activation of the secondary cell, thereby reducing the activation delay of the secondary cell, reducing detection power consumption of the terminal device, and improving communication quality and reliability.). As per claim 20, Wang discloses a method, performed by a User Equipment (UE) (Wang Fig. 13 and [0278]), comprising: receiving, from a primary cell, a secondary cell activation command (Wang Fig. 4 and [0185] The network device sends the activation signaling including the first quasi co-location indication information to the terminal device. The activation signaling may be implemented by the network device by sending the MAC CE to the terminal device by using a primary cell. [0186] Optionally, before the terminal device receives the activation signaling of the secondary cell generated by the network device, the terminal device receives first indication information sent by the network device, where the first indication information is used to indicate that downlink timing of the primary cell is the same as that of the secondary cell, or that a timing advance group TAG of the primary cell is the same as that of the secondary cell. [0127] It should be noted that the cell may be an area within coverage of a wireless network of a network device. In the embodiments of this application, different cells may correspond to different network devices. For example, a network device in a cell #1 and a network device in a cell #2 may be different network devices such as base stations. That is, the cell #1 and the cell #2 may be managed by different base stations. In this case, in other words, the cell #1 and the cell #2 are co-sited or co-sited. The network device in the cell #1 and the network device in the cell #2 may alternatively be different radio frequency processing units, for example, radio remote units (RRU), of a same base station. In other words, the cell #1 and the cell #2 may be managed by a same base station that has a same baseband processing unit and a same intermediate frequency processing unit, but has different radio frequency processing units. This is not specifically limited in this application. [0205] S830: The network device generates activation signaling of the secondary cell, where the activation signaling includes at least one piece of first quasi co-location indication information.); and activating, in response to the secondary cell activation command (Wang [0154] When data transmission needs to be performed at the high frequency, the base station delivers activation signaling of a secondary cell by using MAC CE signaling. After receiving the activation signaling, the base station configures an SSB machine type communication (MT) configuration based on a radio resource RRC, and detects an SSB signal in a corresponding time detection window. FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a format of activation signaling of a MAC CE secondary cell in a current technology. As shown in the figure, an octet (Oct) in the figure represents a byte (byte) including eight bits (bits). R is a reserved bit. C.sub.i is activation indication information, and corresponds to a component carrier (CC) index in the RRC configuration. When a value of C.sub.i is 1, it indicates that a corresponding CC is activated; when a value of C.sub.i is 0, it indicates that a corresponding CC is deactivated, where i=0, 2, . . . 7. [0197-0198]), a secondary cell based on a UE-specific reference signal when a reference signal configuration indicating the UE-specific reference signal is received (Wang [0102,0198,0206]), and based on a cell-specific reference signal when the reference signal configuration is not received. Allowable Subject Matter Claims 5-6, 8-10, and 13-19 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 Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to FAIYAZKHAN GHAFOERKHAN whose telephone number is (571)270-7161. The examiner can normally be reached Flex. 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, Ayaz R Sheikh can be reached at (571) 272-3795. 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. FAIYAZKHAN GHAFOERKHAN Primary Examiner Art Unit 2476 /FAIYAZKHAN GHAFOERKHAN/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2476
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Prosecution Timeline

Jul 22, 2024
Application Filed
Jul 01, 2026
Non-Final Rejection mailed — §102 (current)

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Prosecution Projections

1-2
Expected OA Rounds
87%
Grant Probability
96%
With Interview (+8.4%)
2y 8m (~8m remaining)
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 572 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allowance rate.

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