Prosecution Insights
Last updated: August 16, 2026
Application No. 18/846,489

TERMINAL, RADIO COMMUNICATION METHOD, AND BASE STATION

Non-Final OA §102
Filed
Sep 12, 2024
Priority
Mar 25, 2022 — nonprovisional of PCTJP2022014689
Examiner
MORLAN, ROBERT M
Art Unit
Tech Center
Assignee
Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
74%
Grant Probability
Favorable
1-2
OA Rounds
1y 1m
Est. Remaining
90%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 74% — above average
74%
Career Allowance Rate
365 granted / 493 resolved
+14.0% vs TC avg
Strong +16% interview lift
Without
With
+15.8%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
3y 0m
Avg Prosecution
17 currently pending
Career history
511
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
6.9%
-33.1% vs TC avg
§103
57.2%
+17.2% vs TC avg
§102
18.8%
-21.2% vs TC avg
§112
11.1%
-28.9% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 493 resolved cases

Office Action

§102
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 . 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. Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102 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) 7 and 12-14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Lee (US 2024/0405833). Regarding Claim 7, 12, 13 and 14, Lee teaches a terminal (figure 7, #705) comprising: a processor that determines a precoder (¶ [0102], see specifically precoder and codebook), based on a codebook for transmission with a certain number of layers (¶ [0103], see specifically layers and codebook), the transmission using more than four antenna ports (¶ [0106] – [0108], see specifically signal transmitted from eight (or more) transmission antennas). transmitter that performs uplink (UL) transmission, based on the precoder (¶ [0112], see specifically uplink based precoding). Allowable Subject Matter Claims 8-11 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 ROBERT M MORLAN whose telephone number is (571)270-5674. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday, 10 AM - 4PM. 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, Hadi Armouche can be reached at 571-270-3618. 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. /ROBERT M MORLAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2409 ROBERT M. MORLAN Primary Examiner Art Unit 2409
Read full office action

Prosecution Timeline

Sep 12, 2024
Application Filed
Mar 13, 2025
Response after Non-Final Action
Jul 28, 2026
Non-Final Rejection mailed — §102 (current)

Precedent Cases

Applications granted by this same examiner with similar technology

Patent 12707233
MANAGING POINT-TO-POINT AND POINT-TO-MULTIPOINT TRANSMISSION
3y 1m to grant Granted Aug 11, 2026
Patent 12684545
TECHNIQUES FOR CONFIGURING USER EQUIPMENT SUPPORTED CARRIER AGGREGATION BAND COMBINATIONS
3y 4m to grant Granted Jul 14, 2026
Patent 12684478
METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR OPERATING LOW-POWER WAKE-UP RECEIVER (LP-WUR)
2y 3m to grant Granted Jul 14, 2026
Patent 12677132
CAPABILITY REPORTING METHOD FOR TERMINAL, TERMINAL CONFIGURATION METHOD, TERMINAL DEVICE, AND NETWORK DEVICE
3y 6m to grant Granted Jul 07, 2026
Patent 12676654
DETERMINING SPATIAL DIRECTION FOR TRANSMISSION AND/OR RECEPTION
2y 3m to grant Granted Jul 07, 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
74%
Grant Probability
90%
With Interview (+15.8%)
3y 0m (~1y 1m remaining)
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 493 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