Prosecution Insights
Last updated: October 22, 2026
Application No. 18/861,933

METHOD PERFORMED BY USER EQUIPMENT AND USER EQUIPMENT

Non-Final OA §103
Filed
Oct 31, 2024
Priority
May 06, 2022 — CN 202210489396.5 +1 more
Examiner
LIN, KENNY S
Art Unit
2416
Tech Center
2400 — Computer Networks
Assignee
Sharp Corporation
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
70%
Grant Probability
Favorable
1-2
OA Rounds
11m
Est. Remaining
82%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 70% — above average
70%
Career Allowance Rate
623 granted / 885 resolved
+12.4% vs TC avg
Moderate +12% lift
Without
With
+11.9%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
2y 11m
Avg Prosecution
27 currently pending
Career history
914
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
7.3%
-32.7% vs TC avg
§103
42.7%
+2.7% vs TC avg
§102
25.9%
-14.1% vs TC avg
§112
13.7%
-26.3% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 885 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 . DETAILED ACTION Claims 11-13 are presented for examination. Claims 1-10 are canceled in the 10/31/2024 preliminary amendment. Information Disclosure Statement The IDS filed on 10/31/2024 and 3/20/2026 are considered. 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 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 § 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) 11-13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kuo, US 2021/0410215, in view of Wang, US 2023/0403626. Kuo is cited by the applicant in the IDS. As per claim 11, Kuo teaches the invention including a User Equipment (UE), comprising a processor configured to: In case the UE is a layer 2 (L2) UE-to-UE (U2U) relay UE, initiate a ID configuration for a L2 U2U Remote UE and a peer L2 U2U Remote UE via an RRC message which includes a source L2 ID of the L2 U2U Remote UE, a destination L2 ID of the peer L2 U2U Remote UE (pp. 0135-0136, 0225, 0399-0400, 0404-0408, 0456, 0459), Wherein the L2 U2U Remote UE is a UE connects with and communicates with the peer L2 U2U Remote UE via the L2 U2U relay UE (figure 18: Data transfer). Kuo does not teach wherein the configuration is a local ID configuration and the RRC message also includes a local ID of the L2 U2U Remote UE and a local ID of the peer L2 U2U Remote UE. Wang teaches to initiate a local ID configuration for the Remote UE via an RRC message that includes a local ID of the L2 U2U Remote UE and a local ID of the peer L2 U2U Remote UE (pp. 0010-0011, 0141-0149, 0159, 0162-0165, 0167, 0169). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed to combine the teachings of Kuo and Wang and configure and reconfigure the Remote UE with a new Remote UE ID. As per claim 12, Kuo and Wang teach the invention as claimed in claim 1. Wang further teaches the processor is further configured to: Upon a PC5-RRC connection establishment between the UE and a L2 U2U Remote UE, the UE initiates the local ID configuration (pp. 0141-0149, 0163-0164). As per claim 13, Kuo teaches the invention including a method performed by a User Equipment (UE), wherein the UE is a layer 2 (L2) UE-to-UE (U2U) relay UE, the method comprising: initiating a ID configuration for a L2 U2U Remote UE and a peer L2 U2U Remote UE via an RRC message which includes a source L2 ID of the L2 U2U Remote UE, a destination L2 ID of the peer L2 U2U Remote UE (pp. 0135-0136, 0225, 0399-0400, 0404-0408, 0456, 0459), Wherein the L2 U2U Remote UE is a UE connects with and communicates with the peer L2 U2U Remote UE via the L2 U2U relay UE (figure 18: Data transfer). Kuo does not teach wherein the configuration is a local ID configuration and the RRC message also includes a local ID of the L2 U2U Remote UE and a local ID of the peer L2 U2U Remote UE. Wang teaches to initiate a local ID configuration for the Remote UE via an RRC message that includes a local ID of the L2 U2U Remote UE and a local ID of the peer L2 U2U Remote UE (pp. 0010-0011, 0141-0149, 0159, 0162-0165, 0167, 0169). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed to combine the teachings of Kuo and Wang and configure and reconfigure the Remote UE with a new Remote UE ID. Conclusion The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Orsino et al, US 2023/0328526 Cheng et al, US 2024/0413936 Lee et al, US 2018/0287689 Liu et al, CN116367262A Li et al, EP4513959A1 A shortened statutory period for reply to this Office action is set to expire Three MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KENNY S LIN whose telephone number is (571) 272-3968. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Noel Beharry can be reached on 571-270-5630. 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). KENNY S. LIN Examiner Art Unit 2416 /Kenny S Lin/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2416 August 14, 2026
Read full office action

Prosecution Timeline

Oct 31, 2024
Application Filed
Aug 18, 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
70%
Grant Probability
82%
With Interview (+11.9%)
2y 11m (~11m remaining)
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 885 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allowance rate.

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