Prosecution Insights
Last updated: August 17, 2026
Application No. 18/923,040

UPLINK TRANSMISSION METHOD AND APPARATUS, TERMINAL DEVICE, AND NETWORK DEVICE

Non-Final OA §103
Filed
Oct 22, 2024
Priority
Apr 29, 2022 — continuation of PCTCN2022090257
Examiner
NGUYEN, KHAI MINH
Art Unit
Tech Center
Assignee
Guangdong OPPO Mobile Telecommunications Corp., Ltd.
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
87%
Grant Probability
Favorable
1-2
OA Rounds
6m
Est. Remaining
92%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 87% — above average
87%
Career Allowance Rate
1128 granted / 1295 resolved
+27.1% vs TC avg
Minimal +4% lift
Without
With
+4.5%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
2y 4m
Avg Prosecution
26 currently pending
Career history
1315
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
7.8%
-32.2% vs TC avg
§103
50.0%
+10.0% vs TC avg
§102
20.4%
-19.6% vs TC avg
§112
7.2%
-32.8% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 1295 resolved cases

Office Action

§103
DETAILED ACTION 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. Claims 1-7, 11-17, and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Liu et al. (US 20210144728 A1) in view of Shin et al. (US 20250234386 A1). Considering claim 1, Liu teaches an uplink transmission method, wherein the method comprises: receiving, by a terminal device, first configuration information sent by a network device ([0059] terminal device receives configuration information of the network device, [0064]), wherein the first configuration information is used to determine at least one uplink transmission format (multiple transmission formats), [0084]), the at least one uplink transmission format comprises a first uplink transmission format ([]0084]), and the first uplink transmission format (first transmission format may include the first modulation manner and the first code rate, and further include at least one of the first TBS, the first modulation coding level or the first PRB size) ([0042] a terminal device determines a first transmission format for sending data to be sent, [0046], [0084], [0107]-[0111]); and determining, by the terminal device, a target uplink transmission format from the at least one uplink transmission format, and sending uplink transmission based on the target uplink transmission format ([0112]-[0113] terminal device determines the first transmission format for sending the data.). Liu do not clearly teach the uplink transmission format is different from a basic transmission format. Shin teaches the uplink transmission format is different from a basic transmission format (tables 1, 5, [0080]-[0081], [0106]-[0113] DCI includes control information such as resource allocation information for a terminal and a format varies depending on its purpose of use…terminal may transmit control information of the above-described CQI/PMI/RI, etc. through a PUSCH, [0281] UE may generate the beam/CSI report based on SSB/CSI-RS and transmit the generated beam/CSI report to the base station). Therefore, It would have been obvious before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to one of ordinary skill in the art to provide above teaching of Shin to Liu, in order to lower peak power, save phone or device battery, and manage unique interference issues when sending data from a user device to a base station. Considering claims 2, 12, Liu teaches a terminal device/network device, comprising a processor configured to perform operations of: receiving/sending first configuration information sent by a network device ([0059] terminal device receives configuration information of the network device, [0064]), wherein the first configuration information is used to determine at least one uplink transmission format (multiple transmission formats), [0084]), the at least one uplink transmission format comprises a first uplink transmission format ([0084]), and the first uplink transmission format (first transmission format may include the first modulation manner and the first code rate, and further include at least one of the first TBS, the first modulation coding level or the first PRB size) ([0042] a terminal device determines a first transmission format for sending data to be sent, [0046], [0084], [0107]-[0111]); and determining a target uplink transmission format from the at least one uplink transmission format, and sending/receiving uplink transmission based on the target uplink transmission format ([0112]-[0113] terminal device determines the first transmission format for sending the data.). Liu do not clearly teach the uplink transmission format is different from a basic transmission format. Shin teaches the uplink transmission format is different from a basic transmission format (tables 1, 5, [0080]-[0081], [0106]-[0113] DCI includes control information such as resource allocation information for a terminal and a format varies depending on its purpose of use…terminal may transmit control information of the above-described CQI/PMI/RI, etc. through a PUSCH, [0281] UE may generate the beam/CSI report based on SSB/CSI-RS and transmit the generated beam/CSI report to the base station). Therefore, It would have been obvious before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to one of ordinary skill in the art to provide above teaching of Shin to Liu, in order to lower peak power, save phone or device battery, and manage unique interference issues when sending data from a user device to a base station. Considering claims 3, 13, Liu and Shin further teach wherein the first configuration information is used to determine a configuration parameter of the at least one uplink transmission format (Liu: [0059]), and the processor is further configured to perform an operation of: determining the configuration parameter of the at least one uplink transmission format based on the first configuration information (Liu: [0042] a terminal device determines a first transmission format for sending data to be sent, [0046], [0059], [0084], [0107]-[0111]). Considering claims 4, 14, Liu and Shin further teach wherein a quantity of configuration parameters is configured in the first configuration information (Shin: [0192]), or is predefined. Considering claims 5, 15, Liu and Shin further teach wherein a configuration parameter of at least a part of the at least one uplink transmission format is used to determine a first random access channel transmission occasion (RO) set; and in the first RO set (Shin: [0185]-[0186]), an association rule among a preamble, an RO, and a synchronization signal and physical broadcast channel block (SSB) ([0186]) comprises at least one of the following: each RO is associated with N SSBs, each SSB corresponds to R preambles used for contention access, N is a positive integer or 1/N is a positive integer, and R is a positive integer; and an arrangement order of preambles, ROs, and SSBs ([0185]-[0190], [0273] association between the PRACH resource (and/or the RACH preamble) and the SSB index) is as follows: first, preambles are arranged in an ascending order of preamble indexes within each RO ([0185]-[0190], [0273]), second, ROs for frequency division multiplexing are arranged in an ascending order of frequency domain resource indexes ([0036]), and finally, ROs for time division multiplexing are arranged in an ascending order of time domain resource indexes (Fig.4-5, 11a-b, [0036], [0180]-[0190]); or first, ROs for frequency division multiplexing are arranged in an ascending order of frequency domain resource indexes, and second, ROs for time division multiplexing are arranged in an ascending order of time domain resource indexes. Considering claims 6, 16, Liu and Shin further teach wherein the at least one uplink transmission format further comprises a second uplink transmission format, and the second uplink transmission format is the same as the basic transmission format or the second uplink transmission format is different from the basic transmission format (Liu: [0059], [0064], [0042], Shin: [0106]-[0107] DCI includes control information such as resource allocation information for a terminal and a format varies depending on its purpose of use… transmitted by a terminal to a base station through an uplink, [0126]-[0127], [0281]). Considering claims 7, 17, Liu and Shin further teach wherein the uplink transmission is physical random access channel (PRACH) transmission or message A (MsgA) transmission (Shin: [0149]); and a random access response RAR format corresponding to the first uplink transmission format is the same as an RAR format corresponding to the second uplink transmission format (Liu: [0059], [0064], [0042], Shin: [0125]-[0126], [0135], [0147]) . Considering claim 11, Liu and Shin further teach wherein the processor is further configured to perform an operation of: determining the target uplink transmission format from the at least one uplink transmission format independently; or determining the target uplink transmission format from the at least one uplink transmission format based on an indication from the network device (Liu: [0059], [0064], [0042], Shin: [0106]-[0107]). Considering claim 20, Liu and Shin further teach wherein the processor is further configured to perform an operation of: indicating the target uplink transmission format to the terminal device (Liu: [0059], [0064], [0042], Shin: [0106]-[0107]). Allowable Subject Matter Claims 8-10 and 18-19 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 KHAI MINH NGUYEN whose telephone number is (571)272-7923. The examiner can normally be reached 6-3. 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, Charles Appiah can be reached at 571-272-7904. 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. /KHAI M NGUYEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2641
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Prosecution Timeline

Oct 22, 2024
Application Filed
Aug 05, 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

1-2
Expected OA Rounds
87%
Grant Probability
92%
With Interview (+4.5%)
2y 4m (~6m remaining)
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 1295 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allowance rate.

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