Prosecution Insights
Last updated: October 02, 2026
Application No. 18/911,756

WIRELESS COMMUNICATION TERMINAL AND WIRELESS COMMUNICATION METHOD FOR MULTI-USER CONCURRENT TRANSMISSION

Non-Final OA §103
Filed
Oct 10, 2024
Priority
Mar 04, 2015 — RE 10-2015-0030369 +7 more
Examiner
SHARMA, GAUTAM
Art Unit
2467
Tech Center
2400 — Computer Networks
Assignee
Wilus Institute of Standards and Technology Inc.
OA Round
2 (Non-Final)
88%
Grant Probability
Favorable
2-3
OA Rounds
6m
Est. Remaining
99%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 88% — above average
88%
Career Allowance Rate
573 granted / 654 resolved
+29.6% vs TC avg
Moderate +12% lift
Without
With
+12.1%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
2y 6m
Avg Prosecution
28 currently pending
Career history
675
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
7.6%
-32.4% vs TC avg
§103
60.5%
+20.5% vs TC avg
§102
16.6%
-23.4% vs TC avg
§112
3.7%
-36.3% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 654 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 . Claims 1-13 are pending. 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 1-13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chu et al, application no. 2015/0131517, hereinafter known as Chu in view of Choi et al, application no. 2015/0230244, hereinafter known as Choi. As to claim 1, Chu discloses wireless communication terminal, the wireless communication terminal comprising: a transceiver; and a processor (Chu, figure 1, part 25-1, [0047], terminal with transceiver and processor, figure 1, part 14, [0045], access point AP with transceiver and processor ), wherein the processor is configured to: receive a trigger frame including i) an association identifier (AID) field for assigning an AID, and ii) a frame check sequence (FCS) field (Chu, [0090], figure 9A. Access Point AP sending to plural terminal a trigger frame with AID; [0076], [0079], AID field used by a terminal to receive scheduled message for that particular terminal; figure 13b, [0118], FCS in control frame of the art, sent by terminal; [0003], use IEEE 802.11 communication standard for trigger frames disclosed in Chu, where FCS field are part of 802.11 standard communication standard). Chu does not expressly disclose however Choi discloses and decode the trigger frame, wherein the AID field indicates a start of a padding of the trigger frame when all of a plurality of bits constituting the AID field are set to '1' (Choi, figure 22 and 23, [0213]-[0217], AID field with padding setting plurality of bits to ‘1’). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings of Chu to include the limitations of and decode the trigger frame, wherein the AID field indicates a start of a padding of the trigger frame when all of a plurality of bits constituting the AID field are set to '1' as taught by Choi. Using of padding of bits set to 1 for example helps terminal determine where and what part of message to decode without incurring extra overhead. As to claim 2, Chu discloses wherein the AID field is contained before the FCS field included in the trigger frame (Chu, figure 7b, figure 13b, fcs frame after AID at the end of the trigger frame). As to claim 3, Chu and Choi disclose the wireless communication terminal of claim 1. Chu does not disclose however Choi discloses wherein all fields located between the AID field and the FCS field are padded when the AID field indicates the start of the padding (Choi, [0184], [0214], adding filler padding as needed after AID and before FCS). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings of Chu to include the limitations of wherein all fields located between the AID field and the FCS field are padded when the AID field indicates the start of the padding as taught by Choi. Adding padding bits allows a terminal to determine boundary of the frame without extra overhead. As to claim 4 Chu discloses wherein the padding of the trigger frame is used to provide a processing time for preparing a frame based on the trigger frame (Chu, [0090]-[0093], adding sufficient padding to allow for processing time of the frame). As to claim 5, Chu discloses wherein the padding of the trigger frame is used to adjust a length of the trigger frame (Chu, [0093], [0184], padding to adjust length of trigger frames). As to claim 6, Chu and Choi disclose the wireless communication terminal of claim 1. Chu does not disclose however Choi discloses wherein a value of the AID field for indicating the start of the padding is not allocated for any wireless communication terminal (Choi, [0211], [0222] ,[0223], AID field with value such 11, 00, 01, 10, that are not used to indicate terminal allocation). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings of Chu to include the limitations of wherein a value of the AID field for indicating the start of the padding is not allocated for any wireless communication terminal as taught by Choi. Use of explicit value for AID eliminates ambiguity of which value is to be decoded and which value not to be decoded by the terminal. As to claim 7-12, the claims are rejected as applied to claim 1-6 above by in view of Chu in view of Choi. As to claim 13, the claim is rejected as applied to claim 1 above by in view of Chu in view of Choi. Conclusion Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to GAUTAM SHARMA whose telephone number is (571)270-7182. The examiner can normally be reached 11am-8pm. 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, Hassan Phillips can be reached at 571-272-3940. 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. /GAUTAM SHARMA/ Examiner, Art Unit 2467 /MOHAMMED S CHOWDHURY/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2467
Read full office action

Prosecution Timeline

Oct 10, 2024
Application Filed
Apr 09, 2026
Non-Final Rejection mailed — §103
Jul 09, 2026
Response Filed
Aug 11, 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
88%
Grant Probability
99%
With Interview (+12.1%)
2y 6m (~6m remaining)
Median Time to Grant
Moderate
PTA Risk
Based on 654 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allowance rate.

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