Prosecution Insights
Last updated: October 02, 2026
Application No. 18/877,561

USER EQUIPMENTS AND METHODS FOR DETERMINING TIME-FREQUENCY RESOURCE SET FOR ENHANCED DUPLEX OPERATION

Non-Final OA §102§112
Filed
Dec 20, 2024
Priority
Jun 30, 2022 — provisional 63/367,465 +1 more
Examiner
BLAIR, DOUGLAS B
Art Unit
Tech Center
Assignee
Sharp Corporation
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
72%
Grant Probability
Favorable
1-2
OA Rounds
2y 1m
Est. Remaining
80%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 72% — above average
72%
Career Allowance Rate
469 granted / 647 resolved
+12.5% vs TC avg
Moderate +8% lift
Without
With
+7.9%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
3y 11m
Avg Prosecution
38 currently pending
Career history
694
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
10.4%
-29.6% vs TC avg
§103
34.7%
-5.3% vs TC avg
§102
21.3%
-18.7% vs TC avg
§112
27.6%
-12.4% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 647 resolved cases

Office Action

§102 §112
DETAILED ACTION 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 § 112 The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b): (b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention. The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph: The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention. Claim 5 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention. Claim 5 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being incomplete for omitting essential elements, such omission amounting to a gap between the elements. See MPEP § 2172.01. The omitted elements are: The applicant has disclosed in paragraph 70 that the claimed determination in the “wherein” clause is performed by the user terminal, which is not claimed in claim 5. It is therefore unclear how the determination is to limit the subject matter of claim 5, which is the base station. 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. Claim(s) 4-6 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by U.S. Patent Application Publication Number 2023/0254829 by Xiong et al. As to claim 6, Xiong teaches a method of operating a wireless terminal of a cellular telecommunication system, the method comprising: determining a frequency offset value for frequency hopping of a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) based on a size of an uplink (UL) subband, and transmitting the PUSCH (paragraph 148 and Table 8.3-1 which find support on page 16 of provisional application 63/331,536). As to claims 4 and 5, Xiong shows the claimed hardware in Figure 11 and Figure YY on page 27 of provisional application 63/331,536. Conclusion Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DOUGLAS B BLAIR whose telephone number is (571)272-3893. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 9am-5pm. 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, Glenton Burgess can be reached at 571-272-3949. 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. /DOUGLAS B BLAIR/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2454
Read full office action

Prosecution Timeline

Dec 20, 2024
Application Filed
Oct 14, 2025
Response after Non-Final Action
Sep 23, 2026
Non-Final Rejection mailed — §102, §112 (current)

Precedent Cases

Applications granted by this same examiner with similar technology

Patent 12744713
METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR SUPPORTING ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND MACHINE LEARNING IN WIRELESS COMMUNICATION SYSTEM
2y 7m to grant Granted Sep 22, 2026
Patent 12672204
METHOD AND DEVICE FOR SUPPORTING VOICE HANDOVER IN WIRELESS COMMUNICATION SYSTEM
3y 8m to grant Granted Jun 30, 2026
Patent 12672035
NETWORK-INITIATED SLICE-BASED SESSION HANDOVER
3y 3m to grant Granted Jun 30, 2026
Patent 12664226
SELF-DIAGNOSING LINK STABILIZER
2y 8m to grant Granted Jun 23, 2026
Patent 12659262
SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR SELECTIVE DATA ROUTING IN A DISTRIBUTED NETWORK VIA DATA THROUGHPUT ANALYSIS
2y 2m to grant Granted Jun 16, 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
72%
Grant Probability
80%
With Interview (+7.9%)
3y 11m (~2y 1m remaining)
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 647 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