Prosecution Insights
Last updated: October 02, 2026
Application No. 18/848,154

METHOD, DEVICE AND COMPUTER STORAGE MEDIUM OF COMMUNICATION

Non-Final OA §103
Filed
Sep 18, 2024
Priority
Mar 21, 2022 — nonprovisional of PCTCN2022082029
Examiner
QIN, ZHIREN
Art Unit
Tech Center
Assignee
NEC Corporation
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
86%
Grant Probability
Favorable
1-2
OA Rounds
6m
Est. Remaining
96%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 86% — above average
86%
Career Allowance Rate
442 granted / 515 resolved
+25.8% vs TC avg
Moderate +10% lift
Without
With
+9.8%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
2y 6m
Avg Prosecution
16 currently pending
Career history
533
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
4.4%
-35.6% vs TC avg
§103
55.7%
+15.7% vs TC avg
§102
12.3%
-27.7% vs TC avg
§112
15.0%
-25.0% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 515 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 . 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) 37-48 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Liu (US 20230353305) in view of Luo (US 20190305923). With respect to independent claims: Regarding claim(s) 37/40/43/46, Liu teaches A method performed by a repeater ([Fig.1], relay device), comprising: ... receiving ([0116], “The host device sends the first information to the relay device.”), from the network device ([0116], host device), control information ([0116], “first information”) used for a link ([0112], “the first information may indicate the relay device to turn on the amplify-and-forward function on the first time domain resource unit.”) between the repeater and a terminal device ([Fig.1], Access link between the relay device and a UE.); and determining, a resource indicated by the control information, based on the ... time resource for the control information ([0109], “The first information is used to determine whether a relay device turns on an amplify-and-forward function on a first time domain resource unit in a first time domain resource set, the first time domain resource set includes one or more time domain resource units.” And [0119], “The relay device performs relay forwarding based on the first information.”). However, Liu does not specifically disclose transmitting, to a network device, a capability information of the repeater, wherein the capability information indicates a number of slots, and determining, a resource indicated by the control information, based on the number of slots ... for the control information. In an analogous art, Luo discloses transmitting, to a network device, a capability information of the repeater, wherein the capability information indicates a number of slots ([0163], “Relay node 610 may transmit an indication of the set of free flexible symbols to parent network node 605.”), and determining, a resource ... based on the number of slots ([0163], “relay node 610 may schedule communications in the slot of the second subset of resources based at least in part on the first and second resource configurations.”) Therefore, it would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art at the time before the effective filing date of the claim invention to have modified the method of Liu to specify flexible symbols as taught by Luo. The motivation/suggestion would have been because there is a need to indicate set of free flexible symbols for data transmission. With respect to dependent claims: Regarding claim(s) 38/41/44/47, Liu teaches receiving, from the network device, a time division duplexing (TDD) configuration, wherein the TDD configuration indicates uplink symbols and downlink symbols used for transmission and reception of the repeater ([0127], “the relay device may obtain the TDD configuration ... based on the TDD configuration, the time domain resource used for uplink forwarding and the time domain resource used for downlink forwarding in the first time domain resource set.”). Regarding claim(s) 39/42/45/48, Liu teaches the number of slots is associated with a subcarrier spacing (SCS) of reception of the control information ([0138], “The relay device may determine a period of time corresponding to an uplink transmission resource in the first periodicity based on the SCS. For example, the SCS may be an SCS corresponding to the first time unit indicated by the first information.”). Conclusion Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ZHIREN QIN whose telephone number is (571)272-5444. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F 9-6 PM. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Derrick Ferris can be reached on 571-272-3123. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative or access to the automated information system, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000. /ZHIREN QIN/Examiner, Art Unit 2411
Read full office action

Prosecution Timeline

Sep 18, 2024
Application Filed
Sep 10, 2026
Non-Final Rejection mailed — §103 (current)

Precedent Cases

Applications granted by this same examiner with similar technology

Patent 12750683
SYSTEMS, DEVICES, AND METHODS FOR SCHEDULING SPECTRUM FOR SPECTRUM SHARING
3y 5m to grant Granted Sep 29, 2026
Patent 12745136
TRAFFIC-BASED ACTIVATION OF CARRIER AGGREGATION
2y 9m to grant Granted Sep 22, 2026
Patent 12739684
USER EQUIPMENT, BASE STATION, AND COMMUNICATION CONTROL METHOD
3y 0m to grant Granted Sep 15, 2026
Patent 12739020
SIGNAL RELAY AND INDICATION METHOD AND APPARATUS, RELAY NODE, FIRST NETWORK ELEMENT, AND MEDIUM
2y 8m to grant Granted Sep 15, 2026
Patent 12726552
FRAMING FOR PROTOCOL DATA UNITS (PDUs) UTILIZING TRANSMISSION CONTROL PROTOCOL (TCP)
3y 1m to grant Granted Sep 01, 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
86%
Grant Probability
96%
With Interview (+9.8%)
2y 6m (~6m remaining)
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 515 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