Prosecution Insights
Last updated: August 17, 2026
Application No. 18/902,717

METHODS, ARCHITECTURES, APPARATUSES AND SYSTEMS FOR ESTIMATION OF DOPPLER FREQUENCIES

Non-Final OA §102§112
Filed
Sep 30, 2024
Examiner
SIDDIQUI, KASHIF
Art Unit
2415
Tech Center
2400 — Computer Networks
Assignee
InterDigital Inc.
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
88%
Grant Probability
Favorable
1-2
OA Rounds
3m
Est. Remaining
96%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 88% — above average
88%
Career Allowance Rate
1133 granted / 1287 resolved
+30.0% vs TC avg
Moderate +8% lift
Without
With
+8.5%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
2y 2m
Avg Prosecution
27 currently pending
Career history
1306
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
7.2%
-32.8% vs TC avg
§103
48.6%
+8.6% vs TC avg
§102
22.6%
-17.4% vs TC avg
§112
9.2%
-30.8% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 1287 resolved cases

Office Action

§102 §112
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 Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112 The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a): (a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention. The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112: The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention. Claims 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the enablement requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to enable one skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and/or use the invention. With reference to claim 1, the claim requires that a request is made for consistency. However, neither the claims nor the specification provide any detail with respect to what the intended meaning of consistency is or what it represents. The specification merely provides a general reference to the term “consistency” and annexes conditions to “consistency” but does not appear to define the term. Similar rationale applies to claims 2-20. 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. Claims 1-20 are 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. With reference to claim 1, the claim requires that a request is made for consistency. However, no detail is provided within the claim language to define the meaning of “consistency” or its intended scope. For the purposes of examination, “a request for consistency” shall be interpreted as “a request” and “a consistency window” shall be interpreted as “a window.” Similar rational applies to claims 2-20 (whereby instances of “consistency” shall not be considered). Allowable Subject Matter Upon addressing the 35 USC § 112 rejections noted above, claim(s) 5-7, 9, 10, 15-17, 19, and 20 would be 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. 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. (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) 1-4, 8, 11-14, 18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by US 20250321323 A1 to Hirzallah; Mohammed Ali Mohammed et al. Re: Claim(s) 1, 11 Hirzallah discloses a method performed by a wireless transmit/receive unit (WTRU) in communication with a wireless network, the method comprising: (Figs. 6 and 9) receiving, from the wireless network, a request session, a sensing configuration indicating one or more Doppler modality assumptions of a target object) and information indicating a time period associated with a determining an expected Doppler frequency of a sensing target during the time period (0155 - At stage 910, the processing device and/or the receiver device (e.g., entity 908) may receive, from the sensing server (e.g., entity 902) for a sensing session, a sensing configuration indicating one or more Doppler modality assumptions of a target object. In some aspects, the one or more Doppler modality assumptions may correspond to one or more candidate Doppler modalities (e.g., monomodal, bimodal, multimodal, a number of modes, and/or speed difference(s) of modes), one or more detection methods applicable to at least one of the one or more candidate Doppler modalities, one or more center frequencies for one or more sensing operations applicable to at least one of the one or more candidate Doppler modalities, one or more Doppler processing or filtering methods applicable to at least one of the one or more candidate Doppler modalities, one or more Doppler slow time occasions applicable to at least one of the one or more candidate Doppler modalities, or any combination thereof.); performing, during the time period, sensing measurements on a plurality of downlink reference signals (DL-RSs) (Fig. 6 and 0135 - At stage 630, the sensing server 670 sends a request for sensing information to the UE 604. The UE 604 then measures the transmitted reference signals. Fig. 9 – 920 and 0156 - At stage 920, the processing device (e.g., entity 908) may receive a set of measurement samples associated with the sensing session based on the one or more Doppler modality assumptions. In some aspects, at stage 920, the receiver device (e.g., as part of the entity 908) may configure one or more sensing operations associated with the sensing session based on the one or more Doppler modality assumptions in order to detect from the sensed signals the set of measurement samples), each DL-RS of the plurality of DL-RSs associated with a respective subcarrier spacing (SCS) (0114 - The transmission of a PRS resource within a given PRB has a particular comb size (also referred to as the “comb density”). A comb size ‘N’ represents the subcarrier spacing (or frequency/tone spacing) within each symbol of a PRS resource configuration.), based on the expected Doppler frequency (0156 - At stage 920, the processing device (e.g., entity 908) may receive a set of measurement samples associated with the sensing session based on the one or more Doppler modality assumptions.); generating a measurement report based on the sensing measurements; and transmitting the measurement report to the wireless network (Fig. 6 – 635. Fig. 9 – 940. 0135 - At stage 630, the sensing server 670 sends a request for sensing information to the UE 604. The UE 604 then measures the transmitted reference signals and, at stage 635, sends the measurements, or any sensing results determined from the measurements, to the sensing server 670. 0158 - At stage 940, the processing device (e.g., entity 908) may report, to the sensing server (e.g., entity 902), one or more parameters indicative of the determined Doppler modality of the target object.). Hirzallah further discloses a wireless transmit/receive unit (WTRU) in communication with a wireless network, the WTRU comprising: a processor; and a transceiver (see at least Fig. 3A – UE 302 comprises processor 342 and memory 340) as required by claim 11. Re: Claim(s) 2, 12 Hirzallah discloses wherein the information indicating the time period comprises a time duration Re: Claim(s) 3, 13 Hirzallah discloses receiving, from the wireless network, a request to report information about a location of the WTRU; and transmitting, to the wireless network, information indicative of the location of the WTRU (0135 - At stage 630, the sensing server 670 sends a request for sensing information to the UE 604. The UE 604 then measures the transmitted reference signals and, at stage 635, sends the measurements, or any sensing results determined from the measurements, to the sensing server 670. 0123 - Possible use cases of RF sensing include health monitoring use cases, such as heartbeat detection, respiration rate monitoring, and the like, gesture recognition use cases, such as human activity recognition, keystroke detection, sign language recognition, and the like, contextual information acquisition use cases, such as location detection/tracking, direction finding, range estimation, and the like, and automotive sensing use cases, such as smart cruise control, collision avoidance, and the like.). Re: Claim(s) 4, 14 Hirzallah discloses wherein determining the expected Doppler frequency of the sensing target during the time period comprises at least one of receiving, from the wireless network, the expected Doppler frequency, or estimating the expected Doppler frequency (0155 - At stage 910, the processing device and/or the receiver device (e.g., entity 908) may receive, from the sensing server (e.g., entity 902) for a sensing session, a sensing configuration indicating one or more Doppler modality assumptions of a target object. In some aspects, the one or more Doppler modality assumptions may correspond to one or more candidate Doppler modalities (e.g., monomodal, bimodal, multimodal, a number of modes, and/or speed difference(s) of modes), one or more detection methods applicable to at least one of the one or more candidate Doppler modalities, one or more center frequencies for one or more sensing operations applicable to at least one of the one or more candidate Doppler modalities, one or more Doppler processing or filtering methods applicable to at least one of the one or more candidate Doppler modalities, one or more Doppler slow time occasions applicable to at least one of the one or more candidate Doppler modalities, or any combination thereof.). Re: Claim(s) 8, 18 Hirzallah discloses wherein the wireless network uses the measurement report to determine a velocity of the sensing target (0131 - wireless communication-based sensing signals can be used to estimate the range (distance), velocity (Doppler), and angle (AoA) of a target object. However, the performance (e.g., resolution and maximum values of range, velocity, and angle) may depend on the design of the reference signal.). Conclusion Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KASHIF SIDDIQUI whose telephone number is (571)270-3188. The examiner can normally be reached on M-R 6:00 EST to 16:00 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, Jeffrey Rutkowski can be reached on 571-270-1215. 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. /KASHIF SIDDIQUI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2415
Read full office action

Prosecution Timeline

Sep 30, 2024
Application Filed
Jul 21, 2026
Non-Final Rejection mailed — §102, §112 (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

1-2
Expected OA Rounds
88%
Grant Probability
96%
With Interview (+8.5%)
2y 2m (~3m remaining)
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 1287 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allowance rate.

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