Prosecution Insights
Last updated: May 04, 2026
Application No. 18/789,296

CLOCK SYNCHRONIZATION FOR NETWORK END STATIONS

Non-Final OA §112
Filed
Jul 30, 2024
Priority
Jul 18, 2024 — provisional 63/672,942
Examiner
FOTAKIS, ARISTOCRATIS
Art Unit
2633
Tech Center
2600 — Communications
Assignee
Texas Instruments Incorporated
OA Round
2 (Non-Final)
71%
Grant Probability
Favorable
2-3
OA Rounds
1y 2m
Est. Remaining
99%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 71% — above average
71%
Career Allowance Rate
534 granted / 748 resolved
+9.4% vs TC avg
Strong +31% interview lift
Without
With
+30.8%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
2y 11m
Avg Prosecution
35 currently pending
Career history
783
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
4.3%
-35.7% vs TC avg
§103
53.7%
+13.7% vs TC avg
§102
19.2%
-20.8% vs TC avg
§112
16.5%
-23.5% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 748 resolved cases

Office Action

§112
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 . Specification The disclosure is objected to because of the following informalities: In Paragraph 0085 of the printed publication “nominal or course frequency setting” should be corrected to “nominal or coarse frequency setting”. Appropriate correction is required. Claim Objections Claims 17 and 20 are objected to because of the following informalities: In claim 17, “a course adjustment…” in line 9 should be corrected to “a coarse adjustment…”. Appropriate correction is required. In claim 20, “a course frequency setting…” in line 3 should be corrected to “a coarse frequency setting …”. Appropriate correction is required. Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112 The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a): (a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention. The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112: The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention. Claims 16 – 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention. Claim 16 was amended to recite of “wherein said receiving, decoding, adjusting, and generating is performed within one media clock cycle.” In reviewing Applicants disclosure, the specification recites of computing the phase offset or phase difference within one media clock cycle (Paragraph 0079 of the printed publication and #804, Fig.8), where the phase adjustment is applied on the immediate next media clock signal edge (Paragraph 0079 of the printed publication and #806, Fig.8). However, there is no disclosure of the receiving, decoding, adjusting, and generating steps are all performed within one media clock cycle. Therefore, the amendment to claim 16 after the filing of the original disclosure constitutes new matter. Allowable Subject Matter Claims 1 – 15 are allowed. Conclusion Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). 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 ARISTOCRATIS FOTAKIS whose telephone number is (571)270-1206. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8:30am-5:00pm. 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, Sam K Ahn can be reached at (571) 272-3044. 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. /ARISTOCRATIS FOTAKIS/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2633
Read full office action

Prosecution Timeline

Jul 30, 2024
Application Filed
Dec 19, 2025
Non-Final Rejection — §112
Mar 27, 2026
Response Filed
Apr 15, 2026
Final Rejection — §112 (current)

Precedent Cases

Applications granted by this same examiner with similar technology

Patent 12603807
DATA PROCESSING METHOD AND DEVICE FOR FRAME SYNCHRONIZATION, AND COMMUNICATION SYSTEM AND COMMUNICATION DEVICE
2y 4m to grant Granted Apr 14, 2026
Patent 12592707
CIRCUITS FOR ONLINE ADAPTIVE DC OFFSET CORRECTION AND RECEIVERS
2y 3m to grant Granted Mar 31, 2026
Patent 12587260
BEAM WEIGHT ADAPTATION TO REALIZE ENHANCED BEAM PROPERTIES
2y 7m to grant Granted Mar 24, 2026
Patent 12587417
APPARATUS AND METHOD OF PERFORMING CHANNEL SOUNDING
2y 0m to grant Granted Mar 24, 2026
Patent 12574271
FREQUENCY SHIFT KEYING (FSK)-MODULATED SIGNAL DISCRIMINATION
4y 2m to grant Granted Mar 10, 2026
Study what changed to get past this examiner. Based on 5 most recent grants.

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Prosecution Projections

2-3
Expected OA Rounds
71%
Grant Probability
99%
With Interview (+30.8%)
2y 11m (~1y 2m remaining)
Median Time to Grant
Moderate
PTA Risk
Based on 748 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allowance rate.

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