Prosecution Insights
Last updated: August 17, 2026
Application No. 18/822,881

SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR L1 CONNECTION SETUP AND L1 RECONFIGURATION

Non-Final OA §103
Filed
Sep 03, 2024
Priority
Mar 03, 2022 — continuation of PCTCN2022078990
Examiner
WYLLIE, CHRISTOPHER T
Art Unit
Tech Center
Assignee
Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd.
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
58%
Grant Probability
Moderate
1-2
OA Rounds
2y 1m
Est. Remaining
95%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 58% of resolved cases
58%
Career Allowance Rate
374 granted / 639 resolved
-1.5% vs TC avg
Strong +36% interview lift
Without
With
+36.1%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
4y 0m
Avg Prosecution
21 currently pending
Career history
671
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
5.4%
-34.6% vs TC avg
§103
63.6%
+23.6% vs TC avg
§102
13.3%
-26.7% vs TC avg
§112
13.1%
-26.9% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 639 resolved cases

Office Action

§103
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 OFFICE ACTION This action is responsive to the communication received September 3rd, 2024. Claims 1-20 have been entered and are presented for examination. Application 18/822,881 is Continuation of PCT/CN2022/078990 03/03/2022. 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. This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention. Claim(s) 1, 8, 14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ouchi et al. (US 2018/0041857) in view of KR 102297199 in view of Tsuda et al. (US 2019/0159053) Regarding claim 1, 8, 14, Ouchi et al. discloses a method, comprising: transmitting a setup request only in layer 1 (L1) (paragraph 0184 [ L1 to transmit an RRC connection request]); and transmitting a setup complete message only in the L1 (paragraph 0184 [ L1 transmits, to the base station device, the RRC connection setup complete]). Ouchi et al. does not explicitly disclose receiving a connection setup message only in L1. However, KR 102297199 discloses receiving a connection setup message only in L1 (page 9 [an RRC message (RRC Connection reconfiguration, RRC Connection Setup), transmitted as a PHY message]). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the invention, to recognize an RRC Connection Setup message could be sent via a PHY message to send a configuration change. The references as combined above do not explicitly disclose the connection setup message comprising parameters for at least one of radio bearer configuration, master cell group configuration, cell selection configuration, cell reselection configuration, or measurement configuration. However, Tsuda et al. discloses the connection setup message comprising parameters for at least one of radio bearer configuration, master cell group configuration, cell selection configuration, cell reselection configuration, or measurement configuration (paragraph 0085 [connection setup message comprising “Reporting Configurations” 120 defines criteria that are used by a UE to trigger the transmission of a measurement report]). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the invention, to recognize the connection setup message could include reporting configurations that trigger a measurement report. The motivation for this is to setup when the UE should measure and send a report. Allowable Subject Matter Claims 2-7, 9-13, 15-20 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. The references as combined above do not disclose or make obvious: Claims 2, 9, 15 wherein receiving the connection setup message comprises: receiving a first stage downlink control information (DCI) on a physical downlink control channel that schedules a first resource in a physical downlink shared channel; receiving a second stage DCI in the first resource that schedules a second resource in the physical downlink shared channel; and receiving L1 data for connection setup in the second resource. Claims 3, 10, 16 transmitting a physical random access channel (PRACH) transmission on a random access channel (RACH) resource associated with L1 setup; and receiving with a random access response; and wherein transmitting the setup request only in L1 uses resources scheduled in the random access response. Claims 4, 11, 17 wherein: a first set of RACH resources is associated with L1 setup, and a second set of RACH resources is associated with radio resource control (RRC) setup; and the RACH resource associated with L1 setup belongs to the first set of RACH resources associated with L1 setup. Claims 5, 18 receiving signaling indicating the first set of RACH resources and the second set of RACH resources. Claims 6, 12, 19 receiving L1 data for reconfiguration only in L1, the L1 data for reconfiguration comprising at least one updated parameter. Claims 7, 13, 20 wherein receiving the L1 data for reconfiguration only in L1 comprises: receiving another first stage DCI on a physical downlink control channel that schedules a third resource in a physical downlink shared channel; receiving another second stage DCI in the third resource that schedules a fourth resource in the physical downlink shared channel, wherein another second stage DCI indicates that the fourth resource contains the L1 data for reconfiguration; and receiving the L1 data for reconfiguration in the fourth resource in the physical downlink shared channel. Closest Relevant Prior Art. Lee et al. (US 2016/0323916) discloses the UE PDCP/RLC/MAC/L1 layer transmits an RRC connection request message including a UE ID (identifier) to the eNB based on the initial UL grant information. The eNB can transmit an RRC connection setup message to the UE PDCP/RLC/MAC/L1 layer. The UE PDCP/RLC/MAC/L1 layer delivers the RRC connection setup message to a UE RRC layer and the UE RRC layer performs SRB1 setup. Subsequently, the UE RRC layer transmits an RRC connection setup complete message to the UE PDCP/RLC/MAC/L1 layer and the UE PDCP/RLC/MAC/L1 layer delivers the RRC connection setup complete message to the eNB (paragraph 0091). Conclusion Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CHRISTOPHER T WYLLIE whose telephone number is (571)270-3937. The examiner can normally be reached 4pm-11:30pm. 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, Ayman Abaza can be reached at (571)270-0422. 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. /CHRISTOPHER T WYLLIE/Examiner, Art Unit 2465
Read full office action

Prosecution Timeline

Sep 03, 2024
Application Filed
Jul 28, 2026
Non-Final Rejection mailed — §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

1-2
Expected OA Rounds
58%
Grant Probability
95%
With Interview (+36.1%)
4y 0m (~2y 1m remaining)
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 639 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allowance rate.

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