Prosecution Insights
Last updated: October 02, 2026
Application No. 18/936,535

METHOD, DEVICE, AND SYSTEM FOR AWARENESS BASED DATA TRANSMISSION AND RECEPTION IN WIRELESS NETWORKS

Non-Final OA §102
Filed
Nov 04, 2024
Priority
Aug 10, 2022 — continuation of PCTCN2022111334
Examiner
KHAN, MEHMOOD B
Art Unit
Tech Center
Assignee
ZTE Corporation
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
69%
Grant Probability
Favorable
1-2
OA Rounds
1y 3m
Est. Remaining
92%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 69% — above average
69%
Career Allowance Rate
414 granted / 600 resolved
+9.0% vs TC avg
Strong +22% interview lift
Without
With
+22.5%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
3y 2m
Avg Prosecution
52 currently pending
Career history
648
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
5.8%
-34.2% vs TC avg
§103
50.3%
+10.3% vs TC avg
§102
22.2%
-17.8% vs TC avg
§112
14.7%
-25.3% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 600 resolved cases

Office Action

§102
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 . Allowable Subject Matter Claims 9, 10, 11, 12 and 14 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. Claim(s) 1-8, 16-18, and 20-23 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by EP 2208301 B1 herein Sammour. Claim 1, D1 discloses a method for wireless communication, performed by a first network element (Title), the method comprising one of: providing, to a second network element, a first discard indication indicating a list of discarded Protocol Data Units, PDUs, or a list of discarded PDU sets, each discarded PDU set in the list of discarded PDU sets comprising a list of PDUs, wherein the first discard indication triggers the second network element to discard the list of discarded PDUs or the list of discarded PDU sets (0087, "When the transmitting PDCP entity discards a PDCP SDU/PDU (based on one or more of the previously described triggers, or based on some other PDCP SDU discard trigger), the transmitting PDCP entity may or may not utilize explicit signaling (e.g. a PDCP move receiving window (MRW) mechanism) to notify the peer (i.e. the receiving) PDCP entity of the discarded SDU(s)/PDU(s). Such an explicit signal/message is used to convey the information (enable identification, etc.) on PDCP SDUs or PO Us that were discarded and/or cannot be (re)transmitted by the transmitting PDCP entity. Upon receiving the message, the receiving PDCP entity will not wait for the packet(s) indicated/identified in the message, and can submit the earlier packets it has buffered to upper layers. A PDCP Control PDU may be used to carry such signal/ message" and therefore the discard message triggers the receiving PDCP entity to discard the PDU or PDU set by not awaiting for their reception); or providing, to the second network element, a second discard indication indicating that a PDU is discarded or a PDU set is discarded, wherein the second discard indication triggers the second network element to discard the PDU or the PDU set (this is an alternative step of the claim, D1 already discloses “providing… discard the list of discarded PDUs or the list of discarded PDU sets” in the previous clause). Claim 2, D1 discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the list of the discarded PDUs or the list of discarded PDU sets is associated with a PDU session of the first network element (0004-0005, PDU packets, whether kept or discarded are part of a PDU session/connection). Claim 3, D1 discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the first discard indication or the second discard indication is initiated from a layer in a protocol stack comprising at least one layers (Layer 2 is divided into three sublayers). Claim 4, D1 discloses the method of claim 1, wherein providing, to the second network element, the first discard indication comprises: providing, to the second network element, the first discard indication via a control PDU, the first discard indication indicating the list of discarded PDUs or the list of discarded PDU sets (0077, SDUs to be discarded). Claim 5, D1 discloses the method of claim 4, wherein the control PDU comprises at least one of: a PDU type field indicating the control PDU being used for PDU discard indication; a size of the list of discarded PDUs; a list of PDU Sequence Numbers (SNs) indicating the list of discarded PDUs; a size of the list of discarded PDU sets; or a list of SNs indicating the list of discarded PDU sets (0018, discarding of SDUs coordinated; 0093). Claim 6, D1 discloses the method of claim 4, wherein the control PDU comprises at least one of: a PDU type field indicating the control PDU being used for PDU discard indication; a size of the list of discarded PDUs; an SN of a start PDU in the list of discarded PDUs, SNs of elements in the list of discarded PDUs being continuous; a size of the list of discarded PDU sets; or an SN of a first PDU set in the list of discarded PDU sets, SNs of elements in the list of discarded PDU sets being continuous (0018, discarding of SDUs coordinated; 0093). Claim 7. D1 discloses the method of claim 4, wherein: the first discard indication is initiated in a Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) layer, by a PDCP entity hosted by the first network element; and providing, to the second network element, the first discard indication comprises: providing, to a PDCP entity hosted by the second network element, the first discard indication indicating the list of discarded PDUs or the list of discarded PDU sets; and the control PDU comprises a PDCP control PDU (0025, PDCP entity initiates the PSCP SDI discard operation). Claim 8, D1 discloses the method of claim 4, wherein: the first discard indication is initiated in a Radio Link Control (RLC) layer, by an RLC entity hosted by the first network element (Fig. 9: 920, transmission of timer information by RLC); and providing, to the second network element, the first discard indication comprises: providing, to an RLC entity hosted by the second network element, the first discard indication indicating the list of discarded PDUs or the list of discarded PDU sets; and the control PDU comprises an RLC control PDU (0015, discard of RLC SDU includes SDU discard timer expiration). Claim 16, D1 discloses the method of claim 1, wherein a combination of the first network element and the second network element comprises at least one of: the first network element comprises a first User Equipment (UE), and the second network element comprises a base station; the first network element comprises the base station, and the second network element comprises the first UE; or the first network element comprises the first UE, and the second network element comprises a second UE (0008-0009, discard/retransmission in uplink and downlink). Claim 17, as analyzed with respect to the limitations as discussed in claim 1. Claim 18, as analyzed with respect to the limitations as discussed in claims 2 and 3. Claim 20, as analyzed with respect to the limitations as discussed in claim 8. Claim 21, as analyzed with respect to the limitations as discussed in claim 7. Claim 22, as analyzed with respect to the limitations as discussed in claim 4. Claim 23, as analyzed with respect to the limitations as discussed in claim 16. The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. US 20160345198 A1 – The present invention relates to a wireless communication system. More specifically, the present invention relates to a method and a device for processing a PDCP SDU in a dual connectivity system, the method comprising: receiving a PDCP SDU (Packet Data Convergence Protocol Service Data Unit) from a upper layer; starting a timer associated with the PDCP SDU; checking whether a certain condition related to the PDCP SDU process is satisfied or not if the timer expires; and discarding the PDCP SDU if the certain condition related to the PDCP SDU process is satisfied. Conclusion Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Mehmood B. Khan whose telephone number is (571)272-9277. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9:30 am-6:30 pm. 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, Asad Nawaz can be reached at (571) 272-3988. 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. /Mehmood B. Khan/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2463 MEHMOOD B. KHAN Primary Examiner Art Unit 2463
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Prosecution Timeline

Nov 04, 2024
Application Filed
Aug 17, 2026
Non-Final Rejection mailed — §102 (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
69%
Grant Probability
92%
With Interview (+22.5%)
3y 2m (~1y 3m remaining)
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 600 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allowance rate.

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