Prosecution Insights
Last updated: October 02, 2026
Application No. 18/878,616

UE-AIDED RSB MITIGATION

Non-Final OA §102§103
Filed
Dec 23, 2024
Priority
Sep 08, 2022 — IL 296320 +1 more
Examiner
JOSEPH, JAISON
Art Unit
2633
Tech Center
2600 — Communications
Assignee
Qualcomm Incorporated
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
83%
Grant Probability
Favorable
1-2
OA Rounds
9m
Est. Remaining
95%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 83% — above average
83%
Career Allowance Rate
552 granted / 667 resolved
+20.8% vs TC avg
Moderate +12% lift
Without
With
+12.4%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
2y 6m
Avg Prosecution
8 currently pending
Career history
678
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
6.5%
-33.5% vs TC avg
§103
49.4%
+9.4% vs TC avg
§102
29.3%
-10.7% vs TC avg
§112
10.9%
-29.1% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 667 resolved cases

Office Action

§102 §103
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 § 102 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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) 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. 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. Claim(s) 1, 4 – 11, 14 – 21, and 24 – 30 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Pick et al (WO 2021/212004 A1). Regarding claim 1, Pick et al teach an apparatus for wireless communication at a user equipment (UE) (see figure 5, component 115-C US), comprising: a memory (see figure 9, component 930 “memory”); and at least one processor coupled to the memory and, based at least in part on information stored in the memory (see figure 9, component 940 “processor”), the at least one processor is configured to: obtain an indication of a quantity associated with a set of residual sidebands (RSBs) to be estimated by the UE (see figure 5, component 515 “configuration signaling” and “paragraph 0011 “the configuration signaling includes a period associated with the pilot signaling” paragraph 0133 “the pilot signaling period 410 based on a number antennas of the base station 105 for which IQ mismatch estimation is to be performed”), wherein each RSB in the set of RSBs is associated with a respective transmission chain associated with an in-phase quadrature (IQ) modulator at a network entity in a set of transmission chains (see figure 5 and paragraph 0133 – 0141 “the pilot signaling period 410 based on a number antennas of the base station 105 for which IQ mismatch estimation is to be performed”); estimate a set of estimated parameters associated with the set of RSBs based on the quantity (see figure 5 and paragraph 0144 – 0145); and transmit, for the network entity, the set of estimated parameters associated with the set of RSBs (see figure 5, component 545, paragraph 0146, “a report including an indication of the estimation of the IQ mismatch for one or more antennas of the base station”). Regarding claim 4, which inherits the limitations of claim 1, Pick et al further teach wherein each RSB in the set of RSBs is associated with a respective correction filter associated with the respective transmission chain (see paragraph 0113, “The base station 105-a may receive the reports 215 from a number of UEs 115 and may perform an IQ mismatch correction for each antenna 205 of the set of antennas 205 based on the reports 215”). Regarding claim 5, which inherits the limitations of claim 1, Pick et al further teach wherein the set of transmission chains is associated with at least one precoder at the network entity (see paragraph 0103, “precoding”). Regarding claim 6, which inherits the limitations of claim 1, Pick et al further teach wherein each transmission chain of the set of transmission chains is associated with a respective antenna at the network entity (see paragraph 0113, 0144 – 0146). Regarding claim 7, which inherits the limitations of claim 1, Pick et al further teach wherein each transmission chain of the set of transmission chains is associated with a respective remote radio head (RRH) unit at the network entity (see figure 1, component 145 and paragraph 0094). Regarding claim 8, which inherits the limitations of claim 1, Pick et al further teach wherein to obtain the indication of the quantity associated with the set of RSBs, the at least one processor is configured to: receive, from the network entity, the quantity associated with the set of RSBs (see figure 5 and paragraph 0133 – 0141 “the pilot signaling period 410 based on a number antennas of the base station 105 for which IQ mismatch estimation is to be performed”). Regarding claim 9, which inherits the limitations of claim 1, Pick et al further teach wherein the set of RSBs is associated with a set of full duplex (FD) RSBs (FDRSBs) (see paragraph 0077, 0089). Regarding claim 10, which inherits the limitations of claim 1, Pick et al further teach further comprising a transceiver or an antenna coupled to the at least one processor, wherein the at least one processor is configured to receive the indication via the transceiver or the antenna (see figure 9, antenna 925). Regarding claim 11, Pick et al teach an apparatus for wireless communication at a network entity (see figure 13), comprising: a memory (see figure 13, component 1330 “memory”); and at least one processor coupled to the memory and, based at least in part on information stored in the memory, the at least one processor is configured to: transmit, for a user equipment (UE), an indication of a quantity associated with a set of residual sidebands (RSBs) (see figure 5, component 515 “configuration signaling” and “paragraph 0011 “the configuration signaling includes a period associated with the pilot signaling” paragraph 0133 “the pilot signaling period 410 based on a number antennas of the base station 105 for which IQ mismatch estimation is to be performed”), wherein each RSB in the set of RSBs is associated with a respective transmission chain associated with an in-phase quadrature (IQ) modulator at the network entity in a set of transmission chains (see figure 5 and paragraph 0133 – 0141 “the pilot signaling period 410 based on a number antennas of the base station 105 for which IQ mismatch estimation is to be performed”); and obtain a set of estimated parameters associated with the set of RSBs (see figure 5, component 545, paragraph 0146, “a report including an indication of the estimation of the IQ mismatch for one or more antennas of the base station”). Regarding claims 14, which inherits the limitations of claim 11, Pick et al further teach wherein each RSB in the set of RSBs is associated with a respective correction filter associated with the respective transmission chain (see paragraph 0113, “The base station 105-a may receive the reports 215 from a number of UEs 115 and may perform an IQ mismatch correction for each antenna 205 of the set of antennas 205 based on the reports 215”). Regarding claims 15, which inherits the limitations of claim 11, Pick et al further teach wherein the set of transmission chains is associated with at least one precoder at the network entity (see paragraph 0103, “precoding”). Regarding claims 16, which inherits the limitations of claim 11, Pick et al further teach wherein each transmission chain of the set of transmission chains is associated with a respective antenna at the network entity (see paragraph 0113, 0144 – 0146). Regarding claims 17, which inherits the limitations of claim 11, Pick et al further teach wherein each transmission chain of the set of transmission chains is associated with a respective remote radio head (RRH) unit at the network entity (see figure 1, component 145 and paragraph 0094). Regarding claims 18, which inherits the limitations of claim 11, Pick et al further teach wherein to obtain the set of estimated parameters associated with the set of RSBs, the at least one processor is configured to: receive, from the UE, the set of estimated parameters associated with the set of RSBs (see figure 5 and paragraph 0133 – 0141 “the pilot signaling period 410 based on a number antennas of the base station 105 for which IQ mismatch estimation is to be performed”). Regarding claims 19, which inherits the limitations of claim 11, Pick et al further teach wherein the set of RSBs is associated with a set of full duplex (FD) RSBs (FDRSBs) (see paragraph 0077, 0089). Regarding claims 20, which inherits the limitations of claim 11, Pick et al further teach further comprising a transceiver or an antenna coupled to the at least one processor, wherein the at least one processor is configured to obtain the indication via the transceiver or the antenna (see figure 9, antenna 925). Regarding claim 21, the claimed method including the features corresponds to subject matter mentioned above in the rejection of claim 1 is applicable hereto. Regarding claims 24, which inherits the limitations of claim 21, the claimed method including the features corresponds to subject matter mentioned above in the rejection of claim 4 is applicable hereto. Regarding claims 25, which inherits the limitations of claim 21, the claimed method including the features corresponds to subject matter mentioned above in the rejection of claim 5 is applicable hereto. Regarding claims 26, which inherits the limitations of claim 21, the claimed method including the features corresponds to subject matter mentioned above in the rejection of claim 6 is applicable hereto. Regarding claims 27, which inherits the limitations of claim 21, the claimed method including the features corresponds to subject matter mentioned above in the rejection of claim 7 is applicable hereto. Regarding claims 28, which inherits the limitations of claim 21, the claimed method including the features corresponds to subject matter mentioned above in the rejection of claim 8 is applicable hereto. Regarding claims 29, which inherits the limitations of claim 21, the claimed method including the features corresponds to subject matter mentioned above in the rejection of claim 9 is applicable hereto. Regarding claims 30, the claimed method including the features corresponds to subject matter mentioned above in the rejection of claim 11 is applicable hereto. 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) 2, 12, and 22 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Pick et al (WO 2021/212004 A1) in view of Furrer et al (US 2009/0323510). Regarding claim 2, which inherits the limitations of claim 1, Pick et al doers not expressly disclose using an intermediate frequency modulator. However, using intermediate frequency modulators is well known in the art. Further, in analogous art, Furrer et al teach using intermediate frequency modulators to transmit IQ signals (see figure 1, and paragraph 0035). Therefore it would have been obvious to an ordinary skilled in the art at the time the invention was filed to use IF modulator. The motivation or suggestion to do so is to reduce the hardware and computational complexity at the transmitter. Regarding claim 12, which inherits the limitations of claim 11, Pick et al doers not expressly disclose using an intermediate frequency modulator. However, using intermediate frequency modulators is well known in the art. Further, in analogous art, Furrer et al teach using intermediate frequency modulators to transmit IQ signals (see figure 1, and paragraph 0035). Therefore it would have been obvious to an ordinary skilled in the art at the time the invention was filed to use IF modulator. The motivation or suggestion to do so is to reduce the hardware and computational complexity at the transmitter. Regarding claims 22, which inherits the limitations of claim 21, the claimed method including the features corresponds to subject matter mentioned above in the rejection of claim 2 is applicable hereto. Allowable Subject Matter Claims 3, 13, and 23 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, 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 JAISON JOSEPH whose telephone number is (571)272-6041. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8 - 4. 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, Sam K Ahn can be reached at 571 272 3044. 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. JAISON . JOSEPH Primary Examiner Art Unit 2633 /JAISON JOSEPH/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2633
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Prosecution Timeline

Dec 23, 2024
Application Filed
Jul 10, 2026
Non-Final Rejection mailed — §102, §103
Aug 31, 2026
Interview Requested
Sep 10, 2026
Applicant Interview (Telephonic)
Sep 10, 2026
Examiner Interview Summary

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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
83%
Grant Probability
95%
With Interview (+12.4%)
2y 6m (~9m remaining)
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 667 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allowance rate.

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