Prosecution Insights
Last updated: July 17, 2026
Application No. 18/781,608

POWER CLASS SWITCHING MODES

Non-Final OA §103
Filed
Jul 23, 2024
Priority
Aug 11, 2023 — provisional 63/519,122
Examiner
SHERIF, FATUMA G
Art Unit
Tech Center
Assignee
Qualcomm Incorporated
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
58%
Grant Probability
Moderate
1-2
OA Rounds
1y 1m
Est. Remaining
74%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 58% of resolved cases
58%
Career Allowance Rate
221 granted / 380 resolved
-1.8% vs TC avg
Strong +16% interview lift
Without
With
+15.8%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
3y 1m
Avg Prosecution
13 currently pending
Career history
397
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
0.2%
-39.8% vs TC avg
§103
95.5%
+55.5% vs TC avg
§102
0.9%
-39.1% vs TC avg
§112
0.8%
-39.2% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 380 resolved cases

Office Action

§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 . 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 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. 1. Claim(s) 1-3, 5-8 and 10-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Popp et al (U.S. Patent Pub. # US 2023/0345446 A1) in view of Saha et al (U.S. Patent # US 11,096,100 B1). Regarding claim 1, Popp et al discloses a user equipment (UE) for wireless communication (figure2, a user equipment 10), comprising: one or more memories; and one or more processors coupled to the one or more memories (figure 2, a memory 14 and processor 12; paragraph 0030), the one or more processors individually or collectively configured to: transmit, to a network node (figure 5, step 130; paragraph 0051, “…the user equipment 10 transmits an indication of its capabilities, including whether it is capable of performing transmission diversity, to the base station 104”), capability information indicating a set of uplink transmission capabilities (paragraph 0051); transmit, to the network node, an indication of a power class switch from a first power class associated with a first uplink transmission power to a second power class associated with a second uplink transmission power (figure 5, step 132; paragraph 0052); transmit, to the network node, an indication of a power class switching mode associated with the power class switch (figure 5, step 136; paragraph 0053), transmit, to the network node, an uplink transmission based at least in part on one or more revised uplink transmission capabilities, from the set of uplink transmission capabilities, associated with the power class switching mode (paragraphs 0052-0053).. Popp et al does not disclose an uplink transmission based at least in part on one or more revised uplink transmission capabilities. Saha et al discloses transmit, to the network node, a transmission based at least in part on one or more revised transmission capabilities (column 18, lines 32-39). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the teachings of Saha et al in to the apparatus of Popp et al, such that ), the UE could be transmitted to the network node, an uplink transmission based at least in part on one or more revised uplink transmission capabilities, from the set of uplink transmission capabilities, associated with the power class switching mode in order to provide the UE with increased peak data rate and improved quality of communications as taught by Saha et al (column 4, lines 53-58). Regarding claim 2, Popp et al in view of Saha et al discloses the apparatus of claim 1. Popp et al discloses wherein the indication of the power class switching mode indicates whether a maximum transmission power is reduced across all of a set of power amplifiers of the UE(paragraph 0041). Regarding claim 3, Popp et al in view of Saha et al discloses the apparatus of claim 1. Popp et al discloses wherein the power class switching mode is one of: a first power class fallback mode associated with reducing a maximum transmission power across all of a set of power amplifiers of the UE, a second power class fallback mode associated with deactivating a subset of the set of power amplifiers of the UE, or a third power class fallback mode associated with applying a reduced sum-power constraint across the set of power amplifiers of the UE (paragraphs 0041-0043 and 0048, “… the user equipment 10 to indicate that, when falling back to the lower power class, it may perform single transmission instead of transmission diversity.”). Regarding claim 5, Popp et al in view of Saha et al discloses the apparatus of claim 1. Popp et al discloses wherein the indication of the power class switching mode is included in a same transmission as the indication of the power class switch (paragraph 0053). Regarding claim 6, Popp et al in view of Saha et al discloses the apparatus of claim 1. Popp et al discloses wherein the indication of the power class switch and the indication of the power class switching mode are included in a power headroom report (PHR) (paragraph 0058). Regarding claim 7, Popp et al in view of Saha et al discloses the apparatus of claim 1. As indicated above, Popp et al discloses wherein the one or more uplink transmission capabilities associated with the power class switching mode are indicated in the capability information (paragraphs 0052-0053), except for revised uplink transmission. Saha et al discloses revised transmission (column 18, lines 32-39). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the teachings of Saha et al in to the apparatus of Popp et al, such that ), the one or more revised uplink transmission capabilities associated with the power class switching mode could be indicated in the capability information in order to provide the UE with increased peak data rate and improved quality of communications as taught by Saha et al (column 4, lines 53-58). Regarding claim 8, Popp et al in view of Saha et al discloses the apparatus of claim 1. As indicated above, Popp et al discloses wherein an indication of the one or more uplink transmission capabilities is included in a same communication as the indication of the power class switch (paragraph 0053) except for revised uplink transmission. Saha et al discloses revised transmission (column 18, lines 32-39). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the teachings of Saha et al in to the apparatus of Popp et al, such that an indication of the one or more uplink revised transmission capabilities could be included in a same communication as the indication of the power class switch in order to provide the UE with increased peak data rate and improved quality of communications as taught by Saha et al (column 4, lines 53-58). Regarding claim10, Popp et al in view of Saha et al discloses the apparatus of claim 1. Popp et al discloses wherein the second uplink transmission power is lower than the first uplink transmission power, and wherein the power class switch is a power class fallback from the first power class to the second power class (paragraphs 0052-0053). Regarding claim 11, Popp et al in view of Saha et al discloses the apparatus of claim 1. Popp et al disclose Popp et al discloses wherein the first power class is a power class 2 (PC2) and the second power class is a power class 3 (PC3) (paragraph 0040). Regarding claim 12, Popp et al discloses a network node for wireless communication (figures 4-5, a base station 104), comprising: one or more memories; and one or more processors coupled to the one or more memories (paragraph 0035), the one or more processors individually or collectively configured to: receive, from a user equipment (UE), capability information indicating a set of uplink transmission capabilities (figure 5, step 134; paragraph 0052); receive, from the UE, an indication of a power class switch from a first power class associated with a first uplink transmission power to a second power class associated with a second uplink transmission power (figure 5, steps 134 and 138; paragraphs 0052-0053); receive, from the UE, an indication of a power class switching mode associated with the power class switch (paragraphs 0052-0053); and receive, from the UE, an uplink transmission based at least in part on one or more uplink transmission capabilities, from the set of uplink transmission capabilities, associated with the power class switching mode (paragraphs 0052-0053).. Popp et al does not disclose an uplink transmission based at least in part on one or more revised uplink transmission capabilities. Saha et al discloses transmit, to the network node, a transmission based at least in part on one or more revised transmission capabilities (column 18, lines 32-39). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the teachings of Saha et al in to the apparatus of Popp et al, such that , the base station could be received from the UE, an uplink transmission based at least in part on one or more revised uplink transmission capabilities, from the set of uplink transmission capabilities, associated with the power class switching mode in order to provide the UE with increased peak data rate and improved quality of communications as taught by Saha et al (column 4, lines 53-58). Regarding claim 13, and as applied to the claim 12, claim 13 is similar in scope to the claim 2 and thus the rejection to claim 2 hereinabove is also applicable to claim 13. Regarding claim 14, and as applied to the claim 12, claim 14 is similar in scope to the claim 3 and thus the rejection to claim 3 hereinabove is also applicable to claim 14. Regarding claim 15, and as applied to the claim 12, claim 15 is similar in scope to the claim 5 and thus the rejection to claim 5 hereinabove is also applicable to claim 15. Regarding claim 16, and as applied to the claim 12, claim 16 is similar in scope to the claim 6 and thus the rejection to claim 6 hereinabove is also applicable to claim 16. Regarding claim 17, claim 17 is similar in scope to the claim 1 except in method form and thus the rejection to claim 1 hereinabove is also applicable to claim 17. Regarding claim 18, and as applied to the claim 17, claim 18 is similar in scope to the claim 2 except in method form and thus the rejection to claim 2 hereinabove is also applicable to claim 18. Regarding claim 19, and as applied to the claim 17, claim 19 is similar in scope to the claim 3 except in method form and thus the rejection to claim 3 hereinabove is also applicable to claim 19. Regarding claim 20, and as applied to the claim 17, claim 20 is similar in scope to the claim 5 except in method form and thus the rejection to claim 5 hereinabove is also applicable to claim 20. 2. Claim(s) 4 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Popp et al (U.S. Patent Pub. # US 2023/0345446 A1) in view of Saha et al (U.S. Patent # US 11,096,100 B1) further in view of Kim et al (U.S. Patent Pub. # US 2018/0098234 A1) Regarding claim 4, Popp et al in view of Saha et al discloses the apparatus of claim 1. Popp et al in view of Saha et al does not disclose wherein the one or more revised uplink transmission capabilities include at least one of: a full power transmission capability, a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) coherence capability, a supported number of MIMO layers in codebook-based uplink transmission, or a supported number of MIMO layers in non-codebook-based uplink transmission. Kim et al discloses a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) coherence capability (paragraph 0122), a revised uplink transmission capabilities include a supported number of MIMO layers in codebook-based uplink transmission (paragraphs 0170 and 0177.) Therefore, it would have been obvious to one ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the teachings of Kim et al in to the apparatus of Popp et al in view of Saha et al, such that the revised uplink transmission capabilities could be included a supported number of MIMO layers in codebook-based uplink transmission in order to eliminate an interference with other UEs as taught by Kim et al (paragraph 0122). Allowable Subject Matter 3. Claim 9 is 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 FATUMA G SHERIF whose telephone number is (571)270-7189. The examiner can normally be reached 10am - 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, PAN YUWEN can be reached at 571-272-7855. 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. /FATUMA G SHERIF/Examiner, Art Unit 2649 /YUWEN PAN/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2649
Read full office action

Prosecution Timeline

Jul 23, 2024
Application Filed
Jul 02, 2026
Non-Final Rejection mailed — §103 (current)

Precedent Cases

Applications granted by this same examiner with similar technology

Patent 12658964
CASE FOR ELECTRONIC DEVICE AND MAGNETIC ASSEMBLY
2y 0m to grant Granted Jun 16, 2026
Patent 12658965
CASE FOR ELECTRONIC DEVICE AND MAGNETIC ASSEMBLY
1y 6m to grant Granted Jun 16, 2026
Patent 12640765
Smart Phone Case Assembly
3y 10m to grant Granted May 26, 2026
Patent 12634663
METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR DYNAMIC GROUP MANAGEMENT
3y 10m to grant Granted May 19, 2026
Patent 12633954
CASE FOR ELECTRONIC DEVICE AND MAGNETIC ASSEMBLY
1y 4m to grant Granted May 19, 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
58%
Grant Probability
74%
With Interview (+15.8%)
3y 1m (~1y 1m remaining)
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 380 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