Prosecution Insights
Last updated: August 17, 2026
Application No. 18/907,342

FREQUENCY DIVISION DUPLEXING IN PAIRED UPLINK AND DOWNLINK BANDS

Non-Final OA §102§103
Filed
Oct 04, 2024
Examiner
ABELSON, RONALD B
Art Unit
2476
Tech Center
2400 — Computer Networks
Assignee
Qualcomm Incorporated
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
90%
Grant Probability
Favorable
1-2
OA Rounds
7m
Est. Remaining
90%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 90% — above average
90%
Career Allowance Rate
1197 granted / 1325 resolved
+32.3% vs TC avg
Minimal -0% lift
Without
With
+-0.4%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
2y 5m
Avg Prosecution
40 currently pending
Career history
1355
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
1.8%
-38.2% vs TC avg
§103
59.5%
+19.5% vs TC avg
§102
22.1%
-17.9% vs TC avg
§112
7.3%
-32.7% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 1325 resolved cases

Office Action

§102 §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 . 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. Claim(s) 1, 8, 11, 12, 19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Hosseini WO 2024026190. Regarding claim 1, 12, 19, Hosseini discloses a user equipment (UE), comprising: one or more memories storing processor-executable code; and one or more processors coupled with the one or more memories and individually or collectively operable to execute the code to cause the UE to (see Claim 25 "An apparatus for wireless communication at a user equipment (UE), comprising: a processor; memory coupled with the processor; and instructions stored in the memory' and executable by the processor to cause the apparatus to"): receive a first downlink reference signal in a first frequency band to determine one or more first channel conditions associated with the first frequency band, the first downlink reference signal associated with downlink communications (see Claim 25 "receive first configuration information for a first downlink carrier for downlink communications to the UE", the first downlink carrier is in a first frequency band, see e.g. Fig. 3, and par. [0086], and the UE receives downlink reference signals on the downlink carrier to estimate channel conditions, see e.g. par. [0088] the UE 115-a may use [...] reference signals provided on the first downlink carrier 205 for other purposes (e.g., for path loss estimation)") ; receive a second downlink reference signal in a second frequency band to determine one or more second channel conditions associated with the second frequency band, the second downlink reference signal associated with uplink communications (see Claim 25 "receive an indication of a reference resource of a measurement downlink carrier that is associated with the second uplink carrier, wherein the measurement downlink carrier is different than the first downlink carrier; measure one or more signals received via the reference resource of the measurement downlink carrier to determine one or more measured channel parameters associated with the second uplink carrier", wherein the second uplink carrier is on a different frequency band than the first downlink carrier, see also e.g. Fig. 3 and par. [0086]); and transmit one or more uplink signals in the second frequency band in accordance with one or more transmission parameters that are based at least in part on the one or more second channel conditions determined using the second downlink reference signal (see Claim 25: "transmit one or more uplink communications using the second uplink carrier, wherein one or more transmission parameters of the one or more uplink communications are based at least in part on the one or more measured channel parameters."). Regarding claim 8, (same serving cell, [0036]). Regarding claim 11, given the second frequency is separated from the first frequency, by definition it is separated by at least a threshold frequency separation. 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, 3, 13, 14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hosseini as applied to claims 1, 12 above, and further in view of Lee WO 2024025166. Hosseini is silent on receive, during an access procedure to a serving cell, a system information block (SIB) message that indicates a first set of parameters for the first frequency band and a second set of parameters for the second frequency band. Lee teaches on receive, during an access procedure to a serving cell, a system information block (SIB) message that indicates a first set of parameters for the first frequency band and a second set of parameters for the second frequency band (In each frequency information, the downlink carrier frequency may be indicated as an ARFCN (dl-CarrierFreq) value. When containing multiple bands, SIB 4 includes a band list (frequencyBandList), a parameter for measuring the signal strength of the average value of the signal strength of several SSBs (nrofSS-BlocksToaverage), and a threshold value of the SSB signal strength (absThreshSS- BlocksConsolidation), SMTC, SSB subcarrier spacing (ssbSubcarrierSpacing)). Regarding claims 3, 14, the first set of parameters and the second set of parameters comprise different subcarrier spacings, absolute radio frequency channel numbers (ARFCNs), cyclic prefixes, or any combination thereof (see Lee above). Claim(s) 4, 15, 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hosseini as applied to claims 1, 12, 19 above, and further in view of GANESAN WO 2024028704. Hosseini is silent on receive an indication of a first set of beam management resources associated with the first frequency band; and receive an indication of a second set of beam management resources associated with the second frequency band, wherein the second set of beam management resources are different than the first set of beam management resources. GANESAN teaches receive an indication of a second set of beam management resources associated with the second frequency band, wherein the second set of beam management resources are different than the first set of beam management resources (processor 904 may be configured as or otherwise support to transmit, to a UE,configuration information identifying multiple PRS sub-bands and a frequency hopping pattern; and receive, from the UE, a wideband PRS measurement based on combining PRS signals on the multiple PRS sub-bands based on the frequency hopping pattern, [0141], Additionally or alternatively, the processor 904 may be configured to or otherwise support: where the frequency hopping pattern comprises an intra-slot frequency hopping pattern; where the frequency hopping pattern comprises both an inter-slot frequency hopping pattern and an intra-slot frequency hopping pattern; where the configuration information includes beam information identifying one or more beams; where the configuration information includes a muting pattern indicating to mute at least one of a PRS hopping occasion, PRS sub-bands within each PRS hopping occasion, and repetition of the PRS frequency hopping; where the processor is further configured to: transmit, to the UE after transmitting the configuration information, PRS signals on the multiple PRS sub-bands, [0142]). Allowable Subject Matter Claims 5-7, 9, 10, 16-18 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 RONALD B ABELSON whose telephone number is (571)272-3165. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8:00-4:30. 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, Ayaz Sheikh can be reached at 571-272-3795. 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. /RONALD B ABELSON/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2476
Read full office action

Prosecution Timeline

Oct 04, 2024
Application Filed
Jul 14, 2026
Non-Final Rejection mailed — §102, §103 (current)

Precedent Cases

Applications granted by this same examiner with similar technology

Patent 12706659
Uplink TCI State Update After a Beam Recovery Process
3y 1m to grant Granted Aug 11, 2026
Patent 12695548
METHODS FOR COMMUNICATION, TERMINAL DEVICE, AND COMPUTER READABLE MEDIA
3y 7m to grant Granted Jul 28, 2026
Patent 12695492
Enhancement of Data Map of Objects Via Object Specific Radio Frequency Parameters
2y 9m to grant Granted Jul 28, 2026
Patent 12684412
Method and Apparatus for Processing Frame Synchronization Data
2y 8m to grant Granted Jul 14, 2026
Patent 12684482
Method for Waking Up an Implantable Medical Device From a Dormant State
2y 8m to grant Granted Jul 14, 2026
Study what changed to get past this examiner. Based on 5 most recent grants.

Strategy Recommendation AI-generated — please review before filing

Get a prosecution strategy drawn from examiner precedents, rejection analysis, and claim mapping.
Typically takes 5-10 seconds — AI-generated, attorney review required before filing

Prosecution Projections

1-2
Expected OA Rounds
90%
Grant Probability
90%
With Interview (-0.4%)
2y 5m (~7m remaining)
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 1325 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allowance rate.

Sign in with your work email

Enter your email to receive a magic link. No password needed.

Personal email addresses (Gmail, Yahoo, etc.) are not accepted.

Free tier: 3 strategy analyses per month