Prosecution Insights
Last updated: August 17, 2026
Application No. 18/853,960

COMMUNICATION METHOD AND COMMUNICATION APPARATUS FOR SENSING AND MEASUREMENT REPORTING

Non-Final OA §103
Filed
Oct 03, 2024
Priority
Apr 07, 2022 — nonprovisional of PCTCN2022085631
Examiner
ZHANG, ZHENSHENG
Art Unit
Tech Center
Assignee
Beijing Xiaomi Mobile Software Co., Ltd.
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
76%
Grant Probability
Favorable
1-2
OA Rounds
10m
Est. Remaining
88%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 76% — above average
76%
Career Allowance Rate
304 granted / 399 resolved
+16.2% vs TC avg
Moderate +11% lift
Without
With
+11.4%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
2y 8m
Avg Prosecution
28 currently pending
Career history
430
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
2.3%
-37.7% vs TC avg
§103
76.2%
+36.2% vs TC avg
§102
7.3%
-32.7% vs TC avg
§112
10.6%
-29.4% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 399 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) 1-16, 19-22 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Liu (EP 3986018) in view of Miao (CN 114145047, machine translation is used). Regarding claim 1, Liu discloses a communication method for sensing measurement report, applied to a sensing receiver, comprising: determining a sensing measurement report frame, wherein the sensing measurement report frame comprises timestamp information, wherein the timestamp information identifies a receiving time or a sending time of a sensing measurement frame ([0150], to generate a second location measurement report based on the sensing measurement signal omnidirectionally sent by the initiator station. The second location measurement report includes at least information about one or more incident directions in which the sensing measurement signal arrives at a responder station and a corresponding time of arrival, fig. 13), and the timestamp information corresponds one-to-one with a sensing measurement report result; and sending the sensing measurement report frame to an access point device ([0151], fig. 13, send the first location measurement report or the second location measurement report to the initiator station; s306, s307). Since a timestamp corresponding to time of arrival of a packet is normally unique, and there is a one-to-one mapping with the sensing measurement report. To further clarify this feature, Miao discloses the timestamp information corresponds one-to-one with a sensing measurement report result (Miao, [0057], the measurement result of the report one-to-one mapping with the reference signal, the mapping may be indicated by an explicit manner by indicating the transmission time point of the reference signal). It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the time of effective filing to combine the teachings as given by Liu with the teachings given by Miao. The motivation for doing so would have been to obtain more effective and efficient measurement report (Miao, abstract). Claims 8, 15, 16 are rejected similarly with claim 1 noting that Liu and Miao disclose processors, memory (Liu, figs. 17-19). Regarding claim 2, 9, 19, Liu and Miao disclose the communication method according to claim 1, wherein the sensing measurement report frame further comprises: a sensing measurement report control field, wherein the sensing measurement report control field comprises a first subfield to identify that the sensing measurement report frame comprises the timestamp information (Liu, [0109-111], the measurement report format consisting of time of arrival or timestamp information). Regarding claim 3, 10, 20, Liu and Miao disclose the communication method according to claim 2, wherein the first subfield has at least one bit to identify a number of pieces of the timestamp information (Liu, [0109-111], the measurement report format consisting of time of arrival or timestamp information in multiple fields or multiple bits, TOA, TOD). Regarding claim 4, 11, 21, Liu and Miao disclose the communication method according to claim 3, wherein the sensing measurement report frame further comprises a sensing measurement report field, wherein the timestamp information is comprised in the sensing measurement report field, and wherein a number of pieces of the timestamp information in the sensing measurement report field corresponds to the number identified by the first subfield (Liu, [0109-111], the measurement report format consisting of time of arrival or timestamp information in multiple fields, here the first subfield consists of TOA, TOD). Regarding claim 5, 12, 22, Liu and Miao disclose the communication method according to claim 2, wherein the sensing measurement report control field further comprises a second subfield to identify a measurement setup identifier, wherein the measurement setup identifier corresponds to the first subfield (Liu, [0109-111], the measurement report format consisting of multiple fields including a setup identifier and multiple subfields). Regarding claim 6, 13, Liu and Miao disclose the communication method according to claim 1, wherein in a case of non-trigger-based sensing measurement, the sensing measurement report frame further comprises an address of the sensing receiver (Liu, [0073-75], specific formats of the NDPA frame (non-TB mode) and the STA info field in the NDPA frame include receiver address or RA). Regarding claim 7, 14, Liu and Miao disclose the communication method according to claim 1, wherein in a case of trigger-based sensing measurement, the sensing measurement report frame further includes an identifier of the sensing receiver (Liu, [0038-39], in TB mode, an associated ID of the station is used, the message of the measurement report comprises identifier of the receiver). Conclusion Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ZHENSHENG ZHANG whose telephone number is (571)270-1985. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Thursday 8:00am-6:00pm. 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, Michael Thier can be reached at 571-272-2832. 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. /ZHENSHENG ZHANG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2474
Read full office action

Prosecution Timeline

Oct 03, 2024
Application Filed
Jul 13, 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
76%
Grant Probability
88%
With Interview (+11.4%)
2y 8m (~10m remaining)
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 399 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allowance rate.

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