Prosecution Insights
Last updated: July 17, 2026
Application No. 18/840,398

UE-SIDE BEAM SELECTION PROCEDURE

Non-Final OA §103
Filed
Aug 21, 2024
Priority
Feb 22, 2022 — nonprovisional of PCTEP2022054297
Examiner
TRAN, PHUC H
Art Unit
Tech Center
Assignee
Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
92%
Grant Probability
Favorable
1-2
OA Rounds
10m
Est. Remaining
94%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 92% — above average
92%
Career Allowance Rate
959 granted / 1046 resolved
+31.7% vs TC avg
Minimal +2% lift
Without
With
+2.3%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
2y 9m
Avg Prosecution
33 currently pending
Career history
1083
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
1.7%
-38.3% vs TC avg
§103
51.7%
+11.7% vs TC avg
§102
24.1%
-15.9% vs TC avg
§112
11.8%
-28.2% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 1046 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 . Information Disclosure Statement The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted is being considered by the examiner. Claim Objections Claim 18 objected to because of the following informalities: the claim 18 should be rewritten as “a non-transitory storage medium of computer program for performing” to avoid 101 rejection. Appropriate correction is required. 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. Claim(s) 1, 3-5, 8, 15-16, 18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhang et al. (Pub. No. 20200366340) in view of Fu et al. (Pub. No. 20190349898). - With respect to claims 1, 16 and 18, Zhang teaches a method for performing a user equipment (UE) side (UE-side) beam selection procedure, the method being performed by a UE, the UE-side beam selection procedure (see par. 7 discloses “finding the mismatch of the beam pair as early as possible, and reducing the probability of the link interruption by predicting and reselecting the optimal beam in time”) comprising: for each candidate beam k, where k = 1, ..., K, in a candidate set of K beams (e.g. step S110 in Fig. 1): receiving, in candidate beam k, a downlink reference signal from a network node (e.g. par. 62 discloses “the UE receives reference signals transmitted by a transmitting beam by using at least two receiving beams”), wherein the downlink reference signal is composed of orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing, (OFDM) symbols; associating the downlink reference signal with a reliability value (see par. 67 discloses “The analysis result includes at least one of the following: predicted value of the state of each receiving beam of the UE; evaluation value of each receiving beam of the UE; beam ranking corresponding to each receiving beam of the UE; a candidate set of optimal receiving beams”); determining, as a function of the reliability value and movement of the user equipment (see par. 66 discloses “when the UE detects that its rotation speed exceeds a threshold, measuring the reference signal for N2 times by the first receiving beam and the second receiving beam alternately”, par. 100) when receiving the downlink reference signal, filter settings of a filter to be applied to the received downlink reference signal (see par. 100 discloses “That is, when the UE detects its rotational speed exceeds a threshold, the UE measures the reference signals for N2 times by using the first receiving beams and the second receiving beam alternatively, wherein the first receiving beam includes multiple predefined receiving beams, and N2 is a positive integer”); filtering the received downlink reference signal according to the determined filter settings (see par. 66 discloses “measuring the reference signal for N2 times by the first receiving beam and the second receiving beam alternately”); and performing reference signal received power measurements on the filtered downlink reference signal (par. 68 discloses “before analyzing each RSRP by the predefined machine learning model, the method further includes: arranging the multiple RSRPs according to a predefined format; and performing data preprocessing on the multiple RSRPs, respectively”); and selecting, for communication with the network node, the candidate beam in the candidate set of K beams for which the reference signal received power measurements are highest (par. 5, 109, 118, 120 and 123). Zhang explicitly fails teach the downlink reference signal is composed of orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing, (OFDM) symbols, FU teaches downlink reference signal in OFDM symbol (see par. 82, 225, 227, 234) for efficiently, high data rates, and maintains strong performance even in tough radio conditions. - With respect to claim 3, Fu teaches the filter settings pertain to what type of at least one reference signal is received and/or on what part of the at least one reference signal the reference signal received power measurements are to be performed (e.g. various reference signal in par. 225-227). - With respect to claims 4, 8, Fu teaches wherein the at least one downlink reference signal the downlink reference signal is part of a synchronization signal block, SSB, (SSB) or a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) (see par. 225), and wherein all the OFDM symbols received per candidate beam k belong to one and the same SSB or CSI-RS. * Because of optional language in claim 4, then claim 5 is not selected. - With respect to claim 15, Zhang teaches the reliability value depends on what type of at least one reference signal is received and/or on what part of the at least one reference signal the reference signal received power measurements are performed (e.g. RSRP measurement discloses in par. 11, 19, 29-30). Allowable Subject Matter Claims 2, 6-7, 9-14, 17 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 The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. See PTO-892. . Examiner's Note: Examiner has cited particular paragraphs or columns and line numbers in the references applied to the claims above for the convenience of the applicant. Although the specified citations are representative of the teachings of the art and are applied to specific limitations within the individual claim, other passages and figures may apply as well. It is respectfully requested from the applicant in preparing responses, to fully consider the references in entirety as potentially teaching all or part of the claimed invention, as well as the context of the passage as taught by the prior art or disclosed by the Examiner.Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to PHUC H TRAN whose telephone number is (571)272-3172. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8-5 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, Sujoy K. Kundu can be reached at 571-272-8586. 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. /PHUC H TRAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2471
Read full office action

Prosecution Timeline

Aug 21, 2024
Application Filed
Jun 23, 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
92%
Grant Probability
94%
With Interview (+2.3%)
2y 9m (~10m remaining)
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 1046 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allowance rate.

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