Prosecution Insights
Last updated: October 02, 2026
Application No. 18/881,719

ENHANCED QUALITY OF SERVICE-LEVEL SECURITY FOR WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS

Final Rejection §103
Filed
Jan 06, 2025
Priority
Aug 05, 2022 — provisional 63/395,679 +1 more
Examiner
SCOTT, RANDY A
Art Unit
2439
Tech Center
2400 — Computer Networks
Assignee
Intel Corporation
OA Round
2 (Final)
85%
Grant Probability
Favorable
3-4
OA Rounds
1y 1m
Est. Remaining
83%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 85% — above average
85%
Career Allowance Rate
814 granted / 961 resolved
+26.7% vs TC avg
Minimal -1% lift
Without
With
+-1.4%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
2y 10m
Avg Prosecution
19 currently pending
Career history
982
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
12.7%
-27.3% vs TC avg
§103
59.1%
+19.1% vs TC avg
§102
11.6%
-28.4% vs TC avg
§112
9.5%
-30.5% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 961 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 1. This action is responsive to the communication filed on 7/21/2026. Claim Status 2. Claims 1, 9, and 17 have currently been amended. Claims 3 and 11 have currently been cancelled. Response to Arguments 3. The applicant’s arguments filed 7/21/2026 have been taken into consideration, but are moot in view of new grounds of rejection. A. The rejection under 35 USC 101 has been withdrawn in light of the amended claim limitations. B. In response to the applicant’s argument (disclosed on pg. 2-4 of the remarks segment) that the cited prior art doesn’t teach or suggest wherein the first security configuration activates at least one of a cipher or an integrity protocol for a first radio bearer corresponding to the first QoS flow; and wherein the second security configuration deactivates the at least one of the cipher or the integrity protocol for a second radio bearer corresponding to the second QoS flow: In light of the claimed amendments see newly cited prior art reference Kim (US 2020/0137820), which discloses (fig. 3A-3P, par [0426-0427], and par [0430], lines 8-13 of Kim) activating integrity protection for a data bearer, in which a QOS flow is mapped (e.g., wherein the first security configuration activates at least one of a cipher or an integrity protocol for a first radio bearer corresponding to the first QoS flow); and implementing configuration for deactivating integrity protection for a data bearer, one a plurality of bearers, in which a QOS flow is also mapped (e.g., wherein the second security configuration deactivates the at least one of the cipher or the integrity protocol for a second radio bearer corresponding to the second QoS flow). Claim Rejections – 35 USC 103 4. 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. 5. Claims 1-2, 4-10, and 12-20 are rejected under 35 USC 103 as being unpatentable over Sun et al (US 2021/0168151) in view of Cheng et al (CN 112970217 A), further in view of Kim (US 2020/0137820). Regarding claim 1, Sun et al teaches an apparatus of a network device for quality of service (QOS)-level security configuration in a packet data unit (PDU) session (par [0049], lines 1-10, “QoS flow in one PDU session”), the apparatus comprising processing circuitry coupled to storage for storing information associated with the QoS-level security configuration (par [0026], “QoS flow binding based on the user plane security attribute requirement”), the processing circuitry configured to: identify a first user plane security indication received from an application function of a wireless network (par [0010], lines 1-5, “user plane security indication information of the application”); identify a second user plane security indication received from the application function (par [0086], lines 1-5, “user plane security indication is added in this embodiment of this application”); generate, based on the first user plane security indication, a first security configuration for a first QoS flow of a PDU session between a user equipment device (UE) and the wireless network (fig. 1-2, par [0012], par [0028-0029], and par [0068], which disclose a user plane security parameter being determined based on the user plane security indication and performing QoS binding, during a wireless PDU session establishment request issued by a terminal); and generate, based on the second user plane security indication, a second security configuration for a second QoS flow of the PDU session (par [0028], lines 7-8 & par [0125], which disclose establishing a second QoS flow I the same PDU session corresponding to separate user plane security parameters), the first security configuration different than the second security configuration (par [0125], “different user plane security parameters”). Sun et al does not explicitly teach decoding a first packet received, from the UE, in the first QoS flow using the first security configuration; and decoding a second packet received, from the UE, in the second QoS flow using the second security configuration. However, Cheng et al teaches decoding a first packet received, from the UE, in the first QoS flow using the first security configuration (pg. 40, lines 23-36 & pg. 42, lines 24-42, which disclose decoding a received first message based on a first QoS requirement and a first configuration indicator); and decoding a second packet received, from the UE, in the second QoS flow using the second security configuration (pg. 40, lines 23-36 & pg. 43, lines 1-20, which disclose decoding a received second message based on a second QoS requirement and a second configuration indicator). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective date of the claimed invention to be motivated to combine the teachings of Cheng et al within the disclosure of Sun et al in order to provide the predictive result of improve quality of service in a message transmission environment by appending QoS and reliability requirements for each message using a preset transmission scheme (as disclosed in pg. 17, lines 10-25 of Cheng et al) because this feature would provide Sun et al with improved individual session management when ensuring that each transmitted message satisfies each QoS requirement appended to each message. Sun et al and Cheng et al do not explicitly teach wherein the first security configuration activates at least one of a cipher or an integrity protocol for a first radio bearer corresponding to the first QoS flow; and wherein the second security configuration deactivates the at least one of the cipher or the integrity protocol for a second radio bearer corresponding to the second QoS flow. However, Kim teaches wherein the first security configuration activates at least one of a cipher or an integrity protocol for a first radio bearer corresponding to the first QoS flow (fig. 3P, par [0427], and par [0430], lines 8-13, which disclose activating integrity protection for a data bearer, in which a QOS flow is mapped); and wherein the second security configuration deactivates the at least one of the cipher or the integrity protocol for a second radio bearer corresponding to the second QoS flow (fig. 3A, par [0426], lines 1-9, and par [0430], lines 8-13, which disclose implementing configuration for deactivating integrity protection for a data bearer, one a plurality of bearers, in which a QOS flow is also mapped). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective date of the claimed invention to be motivated to combine the teachings of Kim within the disclosure of Sun et al and Cheng et al in order to provide the predictive result of improving security & convenience for data transmission by implementing header compression while ciphering user data compression for message transmission between terminals (as disclosed in par [0396] of Kim) because this feature allows for transmitting packets in a terminal data transmission environment even when packet header data isn’t present. Regarding claim 2, Sun et al and Cheng et al teach the limitations of claim 1. Sun et al further teaches wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to: generate, by a policy control function (PCF) of the wireless network (Abstract, “a PCF adds an obtained user plane security attribute”), a first rule comprising an indication of the first user plane security indication (Abstract, “PCF adds an obtained user plane security attribute requirement of the application to a PCC rule”); and generate, by the PCF, a second rule comprising an indication of the second user plane security indication (par [0085], “URSP rules”), wherein the first security configuration is generated by a session management function (SMF) of the wireless network based on the first rule (Abstract & par [0024], lines 1-6, “PCF adds an obtained user plane security attribute requirement of the application to a PCC rule and sends the PCC rule to an SMF, so that the SMF performs QoS flow binding” & “session registration information sent by the SMF includes the user plane security parameter”), and wherein the second security configuration is generated by the SMF based on the second rule (par [0125] & par [0173], “different user plane security parameters”). Regarding claim 4, Sun et al and Cheng et al teach the limitations of claim 1. Sun et al further teaches wherein the first user plane security indication comprises a first description of the first QoS flow (par [0028], lines 1-3, “SMF binds the SDF of the application to the first QoS flow”), and wherein the second user plane security indication comprises a second description of the second QoS flow (par [0028], lines 4-8, “the second QoS flow conforms to the user plane security parameter”). Regarding claim 5, Sun et al and Cheng et al teach the limitations of claim 1. Sun et al further teaches wherein the first user plane security indication and the second user plane security indication are received, from the application function, by a network exposure function (NEF) of the wireless network (par [0075], which disclose an application function interacting with a NEF), and wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to: identify, by a PCF of the wireless network, the first user plane security indication and the second user plane security indication received from the NEF (par [0075-0076], which disclose NEF being used for disclose services and capabilities). Regarding claim 6, Sun et al and Cheng et al teach the limitations of claim 1. Sun et al further teaches wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to: determine, by a SMF of the wireless network, based on the first user plane security indication, that the first QoS flow is to be generated (par [0028], lines 1-3, “first QoS flow that conforms to the user plane security parameter”); and determine, by the SMF, based on the second user plane security indication, the second QoS flow is to be generated (par [0028], “establish a second QoS flow”). Regarding claim 7, Sun et al and Cheng et al teach the limitations of claim 1. Sun et al further teaches wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to: identify, by a radio access network (RAN) of the wireless network (par [0049], lines 6-8), a first QoS flow setup request received from the SMF via an application management function (AMF) of the wireless network (par [0049-0053]), the first QoS flow setup request comprising the first user plane security indication (par [0049-0054], “information includes a user plane security policy”); and identify, by the RAN, a second QoS flow setup request received from the SMF via the AMF (par [0049-0055], “one or more QoS flows”), the second QoS flow setup request comprising the second user plane security indication (par [0194], lines 8-9, “establish a second QoS flow”). Regarding claim 8, Sun et al and Cheng et al teach the limitations of claim 1. Sun et al further teaches wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to: establish, by the RAN, a first radio bearer for the first QoS flow based on the first QoS flow setup request (par [0049], lines 6-8, “one or more data radio bearers”); and establish, by the RAN, a second radio bearer for the second QoS flow based on the second QoS flow setup request (par [0049], lines 6-8, “one DRB includes one ore more QoS flows”). Regarding claim 9, Sun et al teaches a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium (par [0037]) comprising instructions to cause processing circuitry of a network device for quality of service (QOS)-level security configuration in a packet data unit (PDU) session (Abstract, “establish a PDU session…QoS flow”), upon execution of the instructions by the processing circuitry, to: identify a first user plane security indication received from an application function of a wireless network (par [0010], lines 1-5, “user plane security indication information of the application”); identify a second user plane security indication received from the application function (par [0086], lines 1-5, “user plane security indication is added in this embodiment of this application”); generate, based on the first user plane security indication, a first security configuration for a first QoS flow of a PDU session between a user equipment device (UE) and the wireless network (fig. 1-2, par [0012], par [0028-0029], and par [0068], which disclose a user plane security parameter being determined based on the user plane security indication and performing QoS binding, during a wireless PDU session establishment request issued by a terminal); and generate, based on the second user plane security indication, a second security configuration for a second QoS flow of the PDU session (par [0028], lines 7-8 & par [0125], which disclose establishing a second QoS flow I the same PDU session corresponding to separate user plane security parameters), the first security configuration different than the second security configuration (par [0125], “different user plane security parameters”). Sun et al does not explicitly teach decoding a first packet received, from the UE, in the first QoS flow using the first security configuration; and decoding a second packet received, from the UE, in the second QoS flow using the second security configuration. However, Cheng et al teaches decoding a first packet received, from the UE, in the first QoS flow using the first security configuration (pg. 40, lines 23-36 & pg. 42, lines 24-42, which disclose decoding a received first message based on a first QoS requirement and a first configuration indicator); and decoding a second packet received, from the UE, in the second QoS flow using the second security configuration (pg. 40, lines 23-36 & pg. 43, lines 1-20, which disclose decoding a received second message based on a second QoS requirement and a second configuration indicator). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective date of the claimed invention to be motivated to combine the teachings of Cheng et al within the disclosure of Sun et al in order to provide the predictive result of improving quality of service in a message transmission environment by appending QoS and reliability requirements for each message using a preset transmission scheme (as disclosed in pg. 17, lines 10-25 of Cheng et al) because this feature would provide Sun et al with improved individual session management when ensuring that each transmitted message satisfies each QoS requirement appended to each message. Sun et al and Cheng et al do not explicitly teach wherein the first security configuration activates at least one of a cipher or an integrity protocol for a first radio bearer corresponding to the first QoS flow; and wherein the second security configuration deactivates the at least one of the cipher or the integrity protocol for a second radio bearer corresponding to the second QoS flow. However, Kim teaches wherein the first security configuration activates at least one of a cipher or an integrity protocol for a first radio bearer corresponding to the first QoS flow (fig. 3P, par [0427], and par [0430], lines 8-13, which disclose activating integrity protection for a data bearer, in which a QOS flow is mapped); and wherein the second security configuration deactivates the at least one of the cipher or the integrity protocol for a second radio bearer corresponding to the second QoS flow (fig. 3A, par [0426], lines 1-9, and par [0430], lines 8-13, which disclose implementing configuration for deactivating integrity protection for a data bearer, one a plurality of bearers, in which a QOS flow is also mapped). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective date of the claimed invention to be motivated to combine the teachings of Kim within the disclosure of Sun et al and Cheng et al in order to provide the predictive result of improving security & convenience for data transmission by implementing header compression while ciphering user data compression for message transmission between terminals (as disclosed in par [0396] of Kim) because this feature allows for transmitting packets in a terminal data transmission environment even when packet header data isn’t present. Sun et al and Cheng et al do not explicitly teach wherein the first security configuration activates at least one of a cipher or an integrity protocol for a first radio bearer corresponding to the first QoS flow; and wherein the second security configuration deactivates the at least one of the cipher or the integrity protocol for a second radio bearer corresponding to the second QoS flow. However, Kim teaches wherein the first security configuration activates at least one of a cipher or an integrity protocol for a first radio bearer corresponding to the first QoS flow (fig. 3P, par [0427], and par [0430], lines 8-13, which disclose activating integrity protection for a data bearer, in which a QOS flow is mapped); and wherein the second security configuration deactivates the at least one of the cipher or the integrity protocol for a second radio bearer corresponding to the second QoS flow (fig. 3A, par [0426], lines 1-9, and par [0430], lines 8-13, which disclose implementing configuration for deactivating integrity protection for a data bearer, one a plurality of bearers, in which a QOS flow is also mapped). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective date of the claimed invention to be motivated to combine the teachings of Kim within the disclosure of Sun et al and Cheng et al in order to provide the predictive result of improving security & convenience for data transmission by implementing header compression while ciphering user data compression for message transmission between terminals (as disclosed in par [0396] of Kim) because this feature allows for transmitting packets in a terminal data transmission environment even when packet header data isn’t present. Regarding claim 10, Sun et al and Cheng et al teach the limitations of claim 9. Sun et al further teaches wherein execution of the instructions further causes the processing circuitry to: generate, by a policy control function (PCF) of the wireless network (Abstract, “a PCF adds an obtained user plane security attribute”), a first rule comprising an indication of the first user plane security indication (Abstract, “PCF adds an obtained user plane security attribute requirement of the application to a PCC rule”); and generate, by the PCF, a second rule comprising an indication of the second user plane security indication (par [0085], “URSP rules”), wherein the first security configuration is generated by a session management function (SMF) of the wireless network based on the first rule (Abstract & par [0024], lines 1-6, “PCF adds an obtained user plane security attribute requirement of the application to a PCC rule and sends the PCC rule to an SMF, so that the SMF performs QoS flow binding” & “session registration information sent by the SMF includes the user plane security parameter”), and wherein the second security configuration is generated by the SMF based on the second rule (par [0125] & par [0173], “different user plane security parameters”). Regarding claim 12, Sun et al and Cheng et al teach the limitations of claim 9. Sun et al further teaches wherein the first user plane security indication comprises a first description of the first QoS flow (par [0028], lines 1-3, “SMF binds the SDF of the application to the first QoS flow”), and wherein the second user plane security indication comprises a second description of the second QoS flow (par [0028], lines 4-8, “the second QoS flow conforms to the user plane security parameter”). Regarding claim 13, Sun et al and Cheng et al teach the limitations of claim 9. Sun et al further teaches wherein the first user plane security indication and the second user plane security indication are received, from the application function, by a network exposure function (NEF) of the wireless network (par [0075], which disclose an application function interacting with a NEF), and wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to: identify, by a PCF of the wireless network, the first user plane security indication and the second user plane security indication received from the NEF (par [0075-0076], which disclose NEF being used for disclose services and capabilities). Regarding claim 14, Sun et al and Cheng et al teach the limitations of claim 9. Sun et al further teaches wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to: determine, by a SMF of the wireless network, based on the first user plane security indication, that the first QoS flow is to be generated (par [0028], lines 1-3, “first QoS flow that conforms to the user plane security parameter”); and determine, by the SMF, based on the second user plane security indication, the second QoS flow is to be generated (par [0028], “establish a second QoS flow”). Regarding claim 15, Sun et al and Cheng et al teach the limitations of claim 9. Sun et al further teaches wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to: identify, by a radio access network (RAN) of the wireless network (par [0049], lines 6-8), a first QoS flow setup request received from the SMF via an application management function (AMF) of the wireless network (par [0049-0053]), the first QoS flow setup request comprising the first user plane security indication (par [0049-0054], “information includes a user plane security policy”); and identify, by the RAN, a second QoS flow setup request received from the SMF via the AMF (par [0049-0055], “one or more QoS flows”), the second QoS flow setup request comprising the second user plane security indication (par [0194], lines 8-9, “establish a second QoS flow”). Regarding claim 16, Sun et al and Cheng et al teach the limitations of claim 9. Sun et al further teaches wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to: establish, by the RAN, a first radio bearer for the first QoS flow based on the first QoS flow setup request (par [0049], lines 6-8, “one or more data radio bearers”); and establish, by the RAN, a second radio bearer for the second QoS flow based on the second QoS flow setup request (par [0049], lines 6-8, “one DRB includes one ore more QoS flows”). Regarding claim 17, Sun et al teaches a method for quality of service (QOS)-level security configuration in a packet data unit (PDU) session (Abstract, “establish a PDU session…QoS flow”), the method comprising: identify a first user plane security indication received from an application function of a wireless network (par [0010], lines 1-5, “user plane security indication information of the application”); identify a second user plane security indication received from the application function (par [0086], lines 1-5, “user plane security indication is added in this embodiment of this application”); generate, based on the first user plane security indication, a first security configuration for a first QoS flow of a PDU session between a user equipment device (UE) and the wireless network (fig. 1-2, par [0012], par [0028-0029], and par [0068], which disclose a user plane security parameter being determined based on the user plane security indication and performing QoS binding, during a wireless PDU session establishment request issued by a terminal); and generate, based on the second user plane security indication, a second security configuration for a second QoS flow of the PDU session (par [0028], lines 7-8 & par [0125], which disclose establishing a second QoS flow I the same PDU session corresponding to separate user plane security parameters), the first security configuration different than the second security configuration (par [0125], “different user plane security parameters”). Sun et al does not explicitly teach decoding a first packet received, from the UE, in the first QoS flow using the first security configuration; and decoding a second packet received, from the UE, in the second QoS flow using the second security configuration. However, Cheng et al teaches decoding a first packet received, from the UE, in the first QoS flow using the first security configuration (pg. 40, lines 23-36 & pg. 42, lines 24-42, which disclose decoding a received first message based on a first QoS requirement and a first configuration indicator); and decoding a second packet received, from the UE, in the second QoS flow using the second security configuration (pg. 40, lines 23-36 & pg. 43, lines 1-20, which disclose decoding a received second message based on a second QoS requirement and a second configuration indicator). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective date of the claimed invention to be motivated to combine the teachings of Cheng et al within the disclosure of Sun et al in order to provide the predictive result of improving quality of service in a message transmission environment by appending QoS and reliability requirements for each message using a preset transmission scheme (as disclosed in pg. 17, lines 10-25 of Cheng et al) because this feature would provide Sun et al with improved individual session management when ensuring that each transmitted message satisfies each QoS requirement appended to each message. Sun et al and Cheng et al do not explicitly teach wherein the first security configuration activates at least one of a cipher or an integrity protocol for a first radio bearer corresponding to the first QoS flow; and wherein the second security configuration deactivates the at least one of the cipher or the integrity protocol for a second radio bearer corresponding to the second QoS flow. However, Kim teaches wherein the first security configuration activates at least one of a cipher or an integrity protocol for a first radio bearer corresponding to the first QoS flow (fig. 3P, par [0427], and par [0430], lines 8-13, which disclose activating integrity protection for a data bearer, in which a QOS flow is mapped); and wherein the second security configuration deactivates the at least one of the cipher or the integrity protocol for a second radio bearer corresponding to the second QoS flow (fig. 3A, par [0426], lines 1-9, and par [0430], lines 8-13, which disclose implementing configuration for deactivating integrity protection for a data bearer, one a plurality of bearers, in which a QOS flow is also mapped). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective date of the claimed invention to be motivated to combine the teachings of Kim within the disclosure of Sun et al and Cheng et al in order to provide the predictive result of improving security & convenience for data transmission by implementing header compression while ciphering user data compression for message transmission between terminals (as disclosed in par [0396] of Kim) because this feature allows for transmitting packets in a terminal data transmission environment even when packet header data isn’t present. Sun et al and Cheng et al do not explicitly teach wherein the first security configuration activates at least one of a cipher or an integrity protocol for a first radio bearer corresponding to the first QoS flow; and wherein the second security configuration deactivates the at least one of the cipher or the integrity protocol for a second radio bearer corresponding to the second QoS flow. However, Kim teaches wherein the first security configuration activates at least one of a cipher or an integrity protocol for a first radio bearer corresponding to the first QoS flow (fig. 3P, par [0427], and par [0430], lines 8-13, which disclose activating integrity protection for a data bearer, in which a QOS flow is mapped); and wherein the second security configuration deactivates the at least one of the cipher or the integrity protocol for a second radio bearer corresponding to the second QoS flow (fig. 3A, par [0426], lines 1-9, and par [0430], lines 8-13, which disclose implementing configuration for deactivating integrity protection for a data bearer, one a plurality of bearers, in which a QOS flow is also mapped). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective date of the claimed invention to be motivated to combine the teachings of Kim within the disclosure of Sun et al and Cheng et al in order to provide the predictive result of improving security & convenience for data transmission by implementing header compression while ciphering user data compression for message transmission between terminals (as disclosed in par [0396] of Kim) because this feature allows for transmitting packets in a terminal data transmission environment even when packet header data isn’t present. Regarding claim 18, Sun et al and Cheng et al teach the limitations of claim 17. Sun et al further teaches wherein execution of the instructions further causes the processing circuitry to: generate, by a policy control function (PCF) of the wireless network (Abstract, “a PCF adds an obtained user plane security attribute”), a first rule comprising an indication of the first user plane security indication (Abstract, “PCF adds an obtained user plane security attribute requirement of the application to a PCC rule”); and generate, by the PCF, a second rule comprising an indication of the second user plane security indication (par [0085], “URSP rules”), wherein the first security configuration is generated by a session management function (SMF) of the wireless network based on the first rule (Abstract & par [0024], lines 1-6, “PCF adds an obtained user plane security attribute requirement of the application to a PCC rule and sends the PCC rule to an SMF, so that the SMF performs QoS flow binding” & “session registration information sent by the SMF includes the user plane security parameter”), and wherein the second security configuration is generated by the SMF based on the second rule (par [0125] & par [0173], “different user plane security parameters”). Regarding claim 19, Sun et al and Cheng et al teach the limitations of claim 17. Sun et al further teaches a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions to perform the method of claim 17 (par [0037], “computer-readable storage medium”). Regarding claim 20, Sun et al and Cheng et al teach the limitations of claim 17. Sun et al further teaches apparatus comprising means for performing the method of claim 17 (Abstract). Conclusion Applicant's amendment necessitated the new grounds of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a). A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Randy A. Scott whose telephone number is (571) 272-3797. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Thursday 7:30 am-5:00 pm, second Fridays 7:30 am-4pm. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner's supervisor, Luu Pham can be reached on (571) 270-5002. 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). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative or access to the automated information system, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000. /RANDY A SCOTT/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2439 20260728
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Prosecution Timeline

Jan 06, 2025
Application Filed
Apr 22, 2026
Non-Final Rejection mailed — §103
Jul 21, 2026
Response Filed
Jul 30, 2026
Final Rejection mailed — §103 (current)

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Prosecution Projections

3-4
Expected OA Rounds
85%
Grant Probability
83%
With Interview (-1.4%)
2y 10m (~1y 1m remaining)
Median Time to Grant
Moderate
PTA Risk
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