Prosecution Insights
Last updated: October 16, 2026
Application No. 18/879,983

POWER CONTROL OVER MULTI-PANEL SIMULTANEOUS TRANSMISSIONS IN WIRELESS SYSTEMS

Non-Final OA §102§103
Filed
Dec 30, 2024
Priority
Sep 29, 2022 — provisional 63/411,282 +1 more
Examiner
AKINYEMI, AJIBOLA A
Art Unit
2649
Tech Center
2600 — Communications
Assignee
InterDigital Inc.
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
80%
Grant Probability
Favorable
1-2
OA Rounds
11m
Est. Remaining
99%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 80% — above average
80%
Career Allowance Rate
773 granted / 960 resolved
+18.5% vs TC avg
Strong +18% interview lift
Without
With
+18.2%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
2y 9m
Avg Prosecution
25 currently pending
Career history
997
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
2.1%
-37.9% vs TC avg
§103
71.3%
+31.3% vs TC avg
§102
20.0%
-20.0% vs TC avg
§112
2.3%
-37.7% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 960 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 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 21-23, 31-33 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by YUAN (WO 2021/184301 A1). With respect to claims 21, 31: YUAN discloses a wireless transmit/receive unit (WTRU) (see par.0074-0080), "UE") comprising a processor configured to: receive a first set of simultaneous uplink (UL) grants for transmitting first simultaneous transmissions using a first set of two or more beams; (par.0074), 0080); transmit a first power headroom report (PHR) (see par.0080); comprising a first power sharing indication indicating a first power sharing status for the first simultaneous transmissions; (see par.0079-0080); fig.6-8, par.(0082, 0086, 0090), note that the format of the PHR is indicative of the fact that the two beams do not share a power budget); receive a second set of simultaneous UL grants for transmitting second simultaneous transmissions using a second set of two or more beams; (see par. (0074); par.(0078), (0079); determine a second power sharing status for the second simultaneous transmissions; (see par.(0078), "two beams that share a power budget") and transmit a second PHR when the determined second power sharing status is different than the first power sharing status. (see par. (0078), (0079). With respect to claims 22, 32: YUAN discloses the WTRU of claim 21, wherein the second PHR comprises a second power sharing indication indicating the second power sharing status for the second simultaneous transmissions (parag. 0078, the format of the PHR including a single PH is indicative of the power sharing status, i.e. of the fact that the two beams share the same power budget). With respect to claims 23, 33: YUAN discloses the WTRU of claim 21, wherein the first PHR comprises a first maximum power associated with a first beam and a second maximum power associated with a second beam, and wherein the first beam and the second beam are comprised in the first set of two or more beams (fig. 7, 8, parag. 0085-0090). 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. The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows: 1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art. 2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue. 3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art. 4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness. Claims 24, 34 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over YUAN (WO 2021/184301 A1). With respect to claims 24, 34: YUAN discloses the WTRU of claim 23, wherein the second PHR comprises a third maximum power associated with a third beam and a fourth maximum power associated with a fourth beam and wherein the third beam and the fourth beam are comprised in the second set of two or more beams (YUAN discloses solution for a PHR transmitted in case of no power sharing (see fig. 7 and 8). Adding an indication of the maximum power in a PHR is a solution well known in the context of 3GPP network. It would have been obvious for one of the skilled person implementing the system of YUAN to adopt the same design option for the PHR transmitted in case of power sharing parag. 0078-0079) which is equated to the second power headroom of the claims (see analysis of claim 21 above)). Claims 25-40 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over YUAN (WO 2021/184301 A1) as applied to claim 21 above and further in view of Zhou (Pub. No.: US 2024/0171207 A1) With respect to claims 25, 35: The rejection of claim 21 is incorporated; YUAN does not explicitly disclose wherein a value of the first power sharing status and the second power sharing status comprises true or a value of the first power sharing status and the second power sharing status comprises false. Zhou discloses wherein a value of the first power sharing status and the second power sharing status comprises true or a value of the first power sharing status and the second power sharing status comprises false (parag. 0425 discloses true while 0466 discloses false). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to utilize the teaching of Zhou into the teaching of YUAN in order to prevent exposure to radio frequency electromagnetic fields. With respect to claims 26, 36: Zhou discloses the WTRU of claim 21, wherein the first beam and the third beam are the same beam (parag. 0161). With respect to claims 27, 3:7 Zhou discloses the WTRU of claim 21, wherein the first set of two or more beams are comprised in a first panel group (fig. 53). With respect to claims 28, 38: Zhou discloses the WTRU of claim 27, wherein a value of a first power sharing status is based on the first set of two or more beams being comprised in a first panel group (fig. 54, parag. 0492). With respect to claims 29, 39: Zhou discloses the WTRU of claim 28, wherein the value of the first power sharing status is further based on an angle between the two or more beams (parag. 0114). With respect to claims 30, 40: Zhou discloses the WTRU of claim 21, wherein the processor is configured to periodically transmit the first PHR report based on a timer (parag. 0145, 0233). Conclusion Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to AJIBOLA A AKINYEMI whose telephone number is (571)270-1846. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 8:00am-5:00pm, EST. 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, YUWEN PAN can be reached at (571)-272-7855. 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. /AJIBOLA A AKINYEMI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2649
Read full office action

Prosecution Timeline

Dec 30, 2024
Application Filed
Aug 17, 2026
Non-Final Rejection mailed — §102, §103 (current)

Precedent Cases

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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
99%
With Interview (+18.2%)
2y 9m (~11m remaining)
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 960 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allowance rate.

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