Prosecution Insights
Last updated: July 17, 2026
Application No. 18/888,011

CONFIGURATION OF ACTIVE GROUPS OF ANTENNA PORTS

Non-Final OA §103
Filed
Sep 17, 2024
Priority
Apr 22, 2022 — continuation of 12/119,912
Examiner
KASSA, ZEWDU A
Art Unit
2635
Tech Center
2600 — Communications
Assignee
Qualcomm Incorporated
OA Round
2 (Non-Final)
89%
Grant Probability
Favorable
2-3
OA Rounds
6m
Est. Remaining
94%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 89% — above average
89%
Career Allowance Rate
726 granted / 819 resolved
+26.6% vs TC avg
Moderate +5% lift
Without
With
+5.1%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
2y 4m
Avg Prosecution
12 currently pending
Career history
831
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
1.6%
-38.4% vs TC avg
§103
89.0%
+49.0% vs TC avg
§102
4.4%
-35.6% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 819 resolved cases

Office Action

§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 . Remarks 1. This office action is in response to communication filled on 04/10/2026. Claims 2-19 are pending on this application. 2. Applicant's arguments with respect to claims 2-19 have been fully considered but are moot in view of the new ground(s) of rejection. 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. 3. Claims 2-4, 9-12 and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hakola (US 2020/0106168) in view of Rom (US 2024/0008031) and Huang (US 2021/0351884). 4. As per claim 2, Hakola teaches an apparatus for communication, comprising: an interface (Hakola, ¶0059 “interface); and a processing system that includes one or more processors and one or more memories coupled with the one or more processors (Hakola, ¶0059 “processor … memory …” . Furthermore, it’s well-known in the art to communicate the active antenna panel and/or when an active antenna panel switching will be performed so that to reduce overhead or improve communication performance - see Rom US 2024/0008031 for example ¶0007- 0010), While Hokola teaches the processing system configured to cause the apparatus to: obtain, via the interface, information indicative of at least one active group of a plurality of groups of antenna ports (Hakola, ¶0042 0044 “UE to provide a currently active antenna”), and output, via the interface, signals associated with at least one antenna port of the at least one active group (Hakola, ¶0045), Huang teaches performing at least one transmit precoding matrix indicator as indicative (Huang, ¶0003 0392) . Therefore, taking the combined teaching of Hakola Rom and Huang as a whole, it’s well-known and would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to implement the instant limitation for the benefit of flexibility and/or improving performance of the communication system. 5. Claims 10 & 11 are similarly analyzed as claim 2 for obviousness reasons discussed above. 6. As per claim 3, Hakola in view of Rom and Huang teaches the apparatus of claim 2, wherein the at least one transmit precoding matrix indicator is associated with a mapping of transmit precoding matrix indicators (Huang, ¶0003 0392) to active antenna groups (Hakola, ¶0033 0042 0044). 7. Claims 9 & 19 are similarly analyzed as claim 3 for obviousness reasons discussed above. 8. As per claim 4, Hakola in view of Rom and Huang teaches the apparatus of claim 2, wherein the at least one transmit precoding matrix indicator comprises at least one of: a first transmit precoding matrix indicator (Huang, ¶0405-0406) for a first active group of the at least one active group (Hakola, ¶0042 0044); or a second transmit precoding matrix indicator (Huang, ¶0405-0406) for a second active group of the at least one active group, wherein the second transmit precoding matrix indicator is different from the first transmit precoding matrix indicator (Huang, ¶0405-0406) and the second active group is different from the first active group (Hakola, ¶0042 0044). Allowable Subject Matter 9. Claims 5-8 and 13-18 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 ZEWDU A KASSA whose telephone number is (571)270-5253. The examiner can normally be reached 9-5:30. 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, David Payne can be reached at 5712723024. 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. ZEWDU A. KASSA Examiner Art Unit 2637 /ZEWDU A KASSA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2635
Read full office action

Prosecution Timeline

Sep 17, 2024
Application Filed
Feb 26, 2025
Response after Non-Final Action
Jan 13, 2026
Non-Final Rejection mailed — §103
Apr 10, 2026
Response Filed
Jul 06, 2026
Non-Final Rejection mailed — §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

2-3
Expected OA Rounds
89%
Grant Probability
94%
With Interview (+5.1%)
2y 4m (~6m remaining)
Median Time to Grant
Moderate
PTA Risk
Based on 819 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allowance rate.

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