Prosecution Insights
Last updated: October 01, 2026
Application No. 18/868,055

MODIFICATION OF MODULATION AND CODING SCHEME

Non-Final OA §102§103
Filed
Nov 21, 2024
Priority
Aug 01, 2022 — nonprovisional of PCTCN2022109368
Examiner
CHOUDHURY, FAISAL
Art Unit
Tech Center
Assignee
Qualcomm Incorporated
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
85%
Grant Probability
Favorable
1-2
OA Rounds
9m
Est. Remaining
99%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 85% — above average
85%
Career Allowance Rate
696 granted / 818 resolved
+25.1% vs TC avg
Strong +15% interview lift
Without
With
+15.4%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
2y 7m
Avg Prosecution
23 currently pending
Career history
837
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
4.9%
-35.1% vs TC avg
§103
55.0%
+15.0% vs TC avg
§102
18.6%
-21.4% vs TC avg
§112
12.8%
-27.2% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 818 resolved cases

Office Action

§102 §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 § 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. Claims 1, 3, 14, 16-18, 23, 25 and 28-29 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by U.S. Pre-Grant Publication No US 2022/0394765 to Xu et al. (hereinafter Xu) As to claims 1, 17, 23 and 28, Xu discloses a user equipment (UE) for wireless communication, comprising: a memory (Xu; Fig.11:1120); and one or more processors (Xu; Fig.11:1110), coupled to the memory (Xu; [0141]), configured to: receive a grant indicating a first modulation and coding scheme (MCS) for an uplink communication including a number of resource blocks (Xu; [0100] discloses the terminal device determines the first transmission manner based on the configured grant scheduling information, the first transmission resources, and the second transmission resources. For example, the terminal device determines the first MCS according to the MCS field in the DCI (the DCI is used for activating the Type 2 configured grant); and transmit, without having received signaling modifying the first MCS, the uplink communication in accordance with the grant using a second MCS, different than the first MCS, the uplink communication including the number of resource blocks (Xu; [0100] discloses the terminal device determines the first transmission manner based on the configured grant scheduling information, the first transmission resources, and the second transmission resources. For example, the terminal device determines the first MCS according to the MCS field in the DCI (the DCI is used for activating the Type 2 configured grant) and determines the second MCS according to the first MCS, the first transmission resources, and the second transmission resources. The terminal device transmits uplink data on the second transmission resources by adopting the second MCS) As to claims 3, 18, 25 and 29, the rejection of claim 1 as listed above is incorporated herein. In addition, Xu discloses wherein the first MCS is associated with a first modulation scheme and a first code rate, wherein the second MCS is associated with a second modulation scheme and a second code rate (Xu; [0100]), and wherein: the first modulation scheme is higher than the second modulation scheme (Xu; [0100], or the first code rate is higher than the second code rate (Xu; [0100]) As to claim 14, the rejection of claim 1 as listed above is incorporated herein. In addition, Xu discloses wherein the grant is configured by a configured grant (CG) configuration (Xu; [0100]) As to claim 16, the rejection of claim 1 as listed above is incorporated herein. In addition, Xu discloses wherein the uplink communication is a first uplink communication, and wherein the method further comprises transmitting, without having received signaling modifying the first MCS or the second MCS, a second uplink communication in accordance with the grant using a third MCS (Xu; [0100] Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103 1. 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. 2. 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 2, 12, 20 and 24 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over U.S. Pre-Grant Publication No US 2022/0394765 to Xu et al. (hereinafter Xu) in view of U.S. Publication No US 2020/0076657 to Joseph et al. (hereinafter Joseph) As to claims 2 and 24, Xu discloses of determining second MCS based on a first MCS. Xu fails to disclose autonomously adjust the second MCS. However, joseph discloses wherein the one or more processors are further configured to autonomously adjust the first MCS to the second MCS prior to transmitting the uplink communication (Joseph; Abstract; [0005] discloses a trigger may be detected that changes the MCS or resources to be used for the autonomous transmissions. The trigger may include the presence or absence of retransmission or the value of a channel measurement falling below or exceeding a threshold value. Accordingly, the base station and UE may adjust the MCS or resources to be used for the autonomous transmissions based on detecting the trigger and then communicate using the adjusted MCS or resources) It is obvious for a person of ordinary skilled in the art to combine the teachings before the effective filing date of the invention. One would be motivated to combine the teachings in order to use the limited resources in an effective way. As to claims 12 and 20, Xu discloses first MCS and second MCS. Xu fails to disclose set of MCS. However, joseph discloses wherein the first MCS and the second MCS are selected from a set of MCSs (Joseph; Abstract; discloses Autonomous transmissions between a user equipment (UE) and a base station may be configured that include at least one of a modulation and coding scheme (MCS) means the user equipment (UE) and the base station can be configured more than one MCS (=a set of MCSs)). It is obvious for a person of ordinary skilled in the art to combine the teachings before the effective filing date of the invention. One would be motivated to combine the teachings in order to use the limited resources in an effective way. Claims 4 and 26 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over U.S. Pre-Grant Publication No US 2022/0394765 to Xu et al. (hereinafter Xu) in view of U.S. Publication No US 2019/0149289 to Abedini et al. (hereinafter Abedini) As to claims 4 and 26, Xu discloses first MCS and second MCS. Xu fails to disclose transmission power of the first MCS and the second MCS. However, Abedini discloses wherein the uplink communication is transmitted with a first transmit power per resource block, wherein the first transmit power per resource block is lower than a second transmit power per resource block associated with the first MCS (Abedini; [0008]; [0065]) It is obvious for a person of ordinary skilled in the art to combine the teachings before the effective filing date of the invention. One would be motivated to combine the teachings in order to use the limited resources in an effective way. Claims 5-10, 19, 27 and 30 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over U.S. Pre-Grant Publication No US 2022/0394765 to Xu et al. (hereinafter Xu) in view of U.S. Publication No US 2020/0084602 to Kim et al. (hereinafter Kim) As to claims 5, 19, 27 and 30, Xu discloses of determining second MCS. Xu fails to disclose transmission an indication of the second MCS. However, Kim discloses wherein the one or more processors are further configured to: transmit an indication of the second MCS (Kim; [0252] discloses a UE transmits an MCS change request to the BS) It is obvious for a person of ordinary skilled in the art to combine the teachings before the effective filing date of the invention. One would be motivated to combine the teachings so that the base station can decide based on the request. As to claim 6, the rejection of claim 5 as listed above is incorporated herein. In addition, Xu-Kim discloses wherein the indication is transmitted on an uplink control channel resource in a same slot as the uplink communication (Xu; [0100]-[0107]) As to claim 7, the rejection of claim 5 as listed above is incorporated herein. In addition, Xu-Kim discloses wherein the indication is transmitted on one or more resource elements of an uplink shared channel on which the uplink communication is transmitted (Xu; [0100]-[0107]) As to claim 8, the rejection of claim 5 as listed above is incorporated herein. In addition, Xu-Kim discloses wherein the indication indicates a modification to a number of layers of the uplink communication (Xu; [0100]-[0107]) As to claim 9, the rejection of claim 5 as listed above is incorporated herein. In addition, Xu-Kim discloses wherein the indication is transmitted on a resource granted by a configured grant (Xu; [0100]-[0107]) As to claim 10, the rejection of claim 5 as listed above is incorporated herein. In addition, Xu-Kim discloses wherein the indication indicates a power control parameter associated with a transmit power of the uplink communication (Xu; [0100]-[0107]) Claim 11 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over U.S. Pre-Grant Publication No US 2022/0394765 to Xu et al. (hereinafter Xu) in view of U.S. Publication No US 2020/0413420 to Nm et al. (hereinafter Nam) As to claim 11, Xu discloses receiving first MCS. Xu fails to disclose receiving second MCS. However, Nam discloses wherein the grant indicates the first MCS and the second MCS (Nam; [0066] discloses of receiving an MCS and new MCS from a base station) It is obvious for a person of ordinary skilled in the art to combine the teachings before the effective filing date of the invention. One would be motivated to combine the teachings so that the UE can transmit uplink data with new MCS. Claim 15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over U.S. Pre-Grant Publication No US 2022/0394765 to Xu et al. (hereinafter Xu) in view of U.S. Publication No US 2024/0380563 to Shim et al. (hereinafter Shim) As to claim 15, Xu discloses uplink transmission. Xu fails to disclose extended reality uplink communication. However, Shim discloses wherein the uplink communication is associated with an extended reality (XR) application (Shim; [0122] discloses extended reality uplink transmission). It is obvious for a person of ordinary skilled in the art to combine the teachings before the effective filing date of the invention. One would be motivated to combine the teachings in order use a new type of service. Claim 22 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over U.S. Pre-Grant Publication No US 2022/0394765 to Xu et al. (hereinafter Xu) in view of U.S. Publication No US 2021/0195629 to Chauvin et al. (hereinafter Chauvin) As to claim 22, Xu discloses uplink transmission. Xu fails to disclose blind decoding. However, Chauvin discloses wherein the one or more processors, to obtain the uplink communication, are configured to perform blind decoding based on at least the second MCS (Chauvin; [0111] discloses blind decoding) It is obvious for a person of ordinary skilled in the art to combine the teachings before the effective filing date of the invention. One would be motivated to combine the teachings in order detect information in the uplink Allowable Subject Matter Claims 13 and 21 are objected, 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 FAISAL CHOUDHURY whose telephone number is (571)270-3001. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8AM-6P.M. 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, Joseph Avellino can be reached at 5712723905. 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. /FAISAL CHOUDHURY/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2478
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Prosecution Timeline

Nov 21, 2024
Application Filed
Sep 15, 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
85%
Grant Probability
99%
With Interview (+15.4%)
2y 7m (~9m remaining)
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 818 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allowance rate.

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