Prosecution Insights
Last updated: July 17, 2026
Application No. 18/855,200

POWER CONFIGURATION SHARING BETWEEN SIDELINK USER EQUIPMENT (SL UES)

Non-Final OA §102§103
Filed
Oct 08, 2024
Priority
Jun 22, 2022 — GR 20220100507 +1 more
Examiner
TALUKDER, MD K
Art Unit
Tech Center
Assignee
Qualcomm Incorporated
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
80%
Grant Probability
Favorable
1-2
OA Rounds
7m
Est. Remaining
94%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 80% — above average
80%
Career Allowance Rate
664 granted / 830 resolved
+20.0% vs TC avg
Moderate +14% lift
Without
With
+14.1%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
2y 5m
Avg Prosecution
31 currently pending
Career history
857
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
1.2%
-38.8% vs TC avg
§103
91.8%
+51.8% vs TC avg
§102
3.9%
-36.1% vs TC avg
§112
0.5%
-39.5% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 830 resolved cases

Office Action

§102 §103
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status 1. The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA . 2. It would be of great assistance to the office if all incoming papers pertaining to a filed application carried the following items: i. Application number (checked for accuracy, including series code and serial no.). ii. Group art unit number (copied from most recent Office communication). iii. Filing date. iv. Name of the examiner who prepared the most recent Office action. v. Title of invention. vi. Confirmation number (See MPEP § 503). 3. The Examiner has pointed out particular references contained in the prior art of record within the body of this action for the convenience of the Applicant. Although the specified citations are representative of the teachings in the art and are applied to the specific limitations within the individual claim, other passages, paragraph and figures may apply. Applicant, in preparing the response, should consider fully the entire reference 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. 4. Claim interpretation: When multiple limitations are connected with “OR”, one of the limitations doesn’t have any patentable weight since both of the limitations are optional. Claim Rejection- 35 USC § 102 5. 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)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention. Claims 1-5, 9-10, 12-15, 17-21, 25, 26 & 29 are rejected under 35 USC 102 as being clearly anticipated by Bai et al (Pub No. US 2021/0051602). Regarding claim 1, Bai discloses a method of wireless communication performed by a first user equipment (UE), the method comprising: retrieving, by the first UE, first information regarding power control for a sidelink transmission (Fig. 5: UE 155-o receive and determine power control parameter info for side-link) & (Para. Para. 98-101 & 132); and transmitting, by the first UE to a second UE, at least one indicator based on the first information (Fig. 5 & Para. 98-101 & 132-133: UE 115-o transmit message regarding power configuration- indicator/ parameter to a 2nd UE) & (Para. 127-130). Regarding claim 2 & 18, Bai remains as applied above and continue to discloses receiving, by the first UE from the second UE, a transmission from the second UE, wherein transmitting the at least one indicator is based on receiving the transmission (Fig. 5: Power control configuration indication & Para. 98-101 & 132-133). Regarding claim 3 & 19, Bai remains as applied above and continue to discloses the transmission comprises a request for the at least one indicator (Fig. 5 & Para. 127-133). Regarding claim 4 & 14 & 20 & 29, Bai discloses determining, by the first UE in response to receiving the transmission, that the second UE is in a first cluster along with the first UE, wherein transmitting the at least one indicator is based on determining that the second UE is in the first cluster along with the first UE (Fig. 2 & 5: power configuration and transmit indicator) & (Para. 67 & 110 & 125: Group & coverage area corresponds to the cluster). Regarding claim 5 & 15 & 21, Bai discloses determining, by the first UE in response to receiving the transmission, that the second UE is in a first zone along with the first UE, wherein transmitting the at least one indicator is based on determining that the second UE is in the first zone along with the first UE (Fig. 2: UE group & 5: power configuration and transmit indicator) & (Para. 67 & 110 & 125 & 137: Group corresponds to the cluster & coverage area corresponds to the). . Regarding claim 9 & 25, Bai discloses receiving, by the first UE from a third UE, a second power control configuration; and transmitting, by the first UE to the second UE, a second indicator based on the second power control configuration (Fig. 5) & (Abstract & Para. 57: power control parameter includes- DL pathloss, compensation factor, target receives power). Regarding claim 10, Bai discloses a method of wireless communication, the method comprising: receiving, from a first UE at a second UE, first information regarding power control for a sidelink transmission (Fig. 5: UE receives power control information for a sidelink) & (Para. 128-130); and transmitting, by the second UE, on the sidelink transmission according to the first information regarding power control for the sidelink transmission (Fig. 5: power control configuration shared by multiple UEs & Para. Para. 98-101 & 128-133). Regarding claim 12, Bai discloses transmitting, by the second UE, a notification of a presence of the second UE (Fig. 5 & Abstract). Regarding claim 13, Bai discloses transmitting, by the second UE, a request for the first information (Fig. 5 & Abstract). Regarding claim 17, Bai discloses first user equipment (UE) comprising: a memory storing processor-readable code (Fig. 9: Device-905 with code-930); and at least one processor coupled to the memory (Fig. 9: Processor-935 & memory-925), the at least one processor configured to execute the processor-readable code to cause the at least one processor to perform operations including: retrieving, by the first UE, first information regarding power control for a sidelink transmission (Fig. 5: UE 155-o receive and determine power control parameter info for side-link) & (Para. Para. 98-101 & 132); and transmitting, by the first UE to a second UE, at least one indicator based on the first information (Fig. 5 & Para. 98-101 & 132-133: UE 115-o transmit message regarding power configuration/ parameter to a 2nd UE) & (Para. 127-130). Regarding claim 26, Bai discloses a user equipment (UE) comprising: a memory storing processor-readable code; and at least one processor coupled to the memory, the at least one processor configured to execute the processor-readable code to cause the at least one processor to perform operations (Fig. 9: Processor-935 & memory-925 & code-930) including: receiving, from a first UE at a second UE, first information regarding power control for a sidelink transmission (Fig. 5: UE receives power control information for a sidelink) & (Para. 128-130); and transmitting, by the second UE, on the sidelink transmission according to the first information regarding power control for the sidelink transmission (Fig. 5: power control configuration shared by multiple UEs & Para. Para. 98-101 & 128-133). Regarding claim 28, Bai discloses transmitting, by the second UE, a request for the first information (Fig. 5 & Abstract). Claim Rejection- 35 USC § 103 6. 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 of this title, 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. Claims 1, 6, 7, 10, 16, 17, 22, 23, 26 & 30 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over RYU et al (Pub No. 2022/0039021) and further in view of Wang et al (Pub No. 2022/0159588). Regarding claim 1, RYU et al discloses a method of wireless communication performed by a first user equipment (UE), the method comprising: retrieving, by the first UE, first information regarding power control for a sidelink transmission (Fig. 4-5: Sidelink pathloss measurement and power setting) & (Para. 83 & 40-41 & 28: TPC command between 1st & 2nd UEs); transmitting, by the first UE to a second UE, based on the first information (Fig. 4-5: Sidelink transmission) & (Para. 83 & 89-90). RYU does not explicitly elaborate about transmitting at least one indicator based on the first information. In a similar field of endeavor, Wang discloses transmitting at least one indicator based on the first information (Para. 37 & Para. 42. Ttransmit power of the sidelink and uplink are predefined or indicated by using indication information, so that the actual transmit power of the sidelink and uplink can be quickly determined) & (Fig. 7). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to use the sidelink power control system of Wang’s disclosure with the transmission power control system, as taught by RYU. Doing so would have resulted in improved signal receiving system in the sidelink communication while lowering interference in the system. Regarding claim 6 & 22, RYU et al discloses a power control parameter stored by the first UE (Para. 179 & 182: power value/ power control- CLPC stored). Regarding claim 7 & 16 & 23 & 30, RYU et al discloses the power control parameter comprises at least one of a sidelink transmit power, a downlink pathloss value, an uplink pathloss value an indicator of a transmit power strategy, or a default power behavior (Para. 35 & 72: Path loss information). Regarding claim 10, RYU discloses a method of wireless communication, the method comprising: receiving, from a first UE at a second UE, first information regarding power control for a sidelink transmission (Fig. 4-5: Sidelink pathloss measurement and power setting) & (Para. 83 & 40-41 & 28: TPC command between 1st & 2nd UEs) and transmitting, by the second UE, on the sidelink transmission according to the first information regarding power control for the sidelink transmission (Fig. 4: Sidelink transmission based on TPC command) & (Para. 83 & 89-90). RYU does not explicitly elaborate about transmitting at least one indicator based on the first information. In a similar field of endeavor, Wang discloses transmitting at least one indicator based on the first information (Para. 37 & Para. 42. Ttransmit power of the sidelink and uplink are predefined or indicated by using indication information, so that the actual transmit power of the sidelink and uplink can be quickly determined) & (Fig. 7). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to use the sidelink power control system of Wang’s disclosure with the transmission power control system, as taught by RYU. Doing so would have resulted in improved signal receiving system in the sidelink communication while lowering interference in the system. Regarding claim 17, Claim 1 corresponds to claim 1 and is analyzed accordingly. Regarding claim 26, Claim 26 corresponds to claim 1 and is analyzed accordingly. Claims 8 & 24 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over RYU et al (Pub No. 2022/0039021), in view of Wang et al (Pub No. 2022/0159588) and further in view of Hwang et al (Pub No. 2020/0322897). Regarding claim 8 & 24, RYU et al is silent regarding the first UE comprises a roadside unit (RSU)-type UE, and wherein transmitting the at least one indicator comprises transmitting, by the RSU-type UE, a beacon comprising the at least one indicator. Hwang et al discloses the first UE comprises a roadside unit (RSU)-type UE (Para. 42: roadside unit), and wherein transmitting the at least one indicator comprises transmitting, by the RSU-type UE, a beacon comprising the at least one indicator (Para. 76-78: Power control groupcast pilot) & (Para. 9). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to use the power control beacon information to adjust power in the communication system for robust wireless system. Claims 11 & 27 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over RYU et al (Pub No. 2022/0039021), in view of Wang et al (Pub No. 2022/0159588) and further in view of Baek et al (Pub No. 2023/0101824). Regarding claim 11 & 27, RYU et al is silent regarding the sidelink transmission comprises transmitting a positioning reference signal. Baek discloses the sidelink transmission comprises transmitting a positioning reference signal (Para. 19-20: position reference signals on sidelink channel). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to use the position reference signals to determine the device position in the power control configuration. Conclusion Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MD K TALUKDER whose telephone number is (571)270-3222. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Thur from 10 am to 6 pm. 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, Wesley Kim can be reached on 571-272-7867. 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. /MD K TALUKDER/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2648
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Prosecution Timeline

Oct 08, 2024
Application Filed
Jun 23, 2026
Non-Final Rejection mailed — §102, §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
80%
Grant Probability
94%
With Interview (+14.1%)
2y 5m (~7m remaining)
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 830 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allowance rate.

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