Prosecution Insights
Last updated: October 01, 2026
Application No. 18/944,802

DEVICES AND METHODS FOR COMMUNICATION IN A WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORK

Non-Final OA §103
Filed
Nov 12, 2024
Priority
Sep 20, 2018 — EU PCT/EP2018/075525 +2 more
Examiner
LINDENBAUM, ALAN LOUIS
Art Unit
Tech Center
Assignee
Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd.
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
48%
Grant Probability
Moderate
1-2
OA Rounds
1y 9m
Est. Remaining
64%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 48% of resolved cases
48%
Career Allowance Rate
210 granted / 434 resolved
-11.6% vs TC avg
Strong +16% interview lift
Without
With
+15.9%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
3y 8m
Avg Prosecution
22 currently pending
Career history
492
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
3.0%
-37.0% vs TC avg
§103
58.6%
+18.6% vs TC avg
§102
17.5%
-22.5% vs TC avg
§112
17.8%
-22.2% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 434 resolved cases

Office Action

§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 . Priority Acknowledgment is made of applicant’s claim for foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119 (a)-(d). The certified copy has been filed in parent Application No. 17/207.367, filed on 3/19/2021. Information Disclosure Statement The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 11/12/2024 has been considered by the examiner. 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. This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention. Claim(s) 1-19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kim et al. (US 2019/0394827) in view of Yu et al. (US 2015/0365994), and further in view of Zhou et al. (US 2019/0110281), and further in view of Huawei, HiSilicon, "Discussion on BFR for SCell;" 3GPP TSG RAN WG1 Meeting #94, Gothenburg, Sweden, August 20-24, 2018, R1-1809120, 6 pages. (cited in Applicant’s IDS filed on November, 12, 2024 (Hereafter, R1-1809120). Regarding claim 1, Kim discloses a user equipment (Kim Fig. 11, UE; paragraph [0009], first terminal), comprising: at least one processor; and a non-transitory memory storing instructions, which when executed by the at least one processor (Kim Fig. 11, UE processor and memory; ), cause the user equipment to perform operations including: measuring a first signal or channel in a first resource for a beam or link failure detection (Kim, paragraph [0010], determining the radio link failure when received power for a reference signal received from the second terminal is less than or equal to a predetermined threshold; paragraph [0013], when received power for reference signal for transmission channel measurement transmitted from the terminal is less than or equal to a threshold, terminal determines that links between terminal have failed), wherein the user equipment is configured to communicate using the first signal or channel via the first resource with a first user equipment and using a second signal or channel via a second resource with a second user equipment (Kim, Fig. 5; paragraph [0104], terminal may establish V2V links with a plurality of surrounding terminals; Fig. 6; paragraph [0111]-[0114], terminal and terminal are communicatively connected to base station and each other; paragraph [0139], through V2V link, terminal 705 may consider resources that can transmit and receive with terminal 715) and in response to a detected failure in the first resource (Kim, paragraph [0010], determining the radio link failure when received power for a reference signal received from the second terminal is less than or equal to a predetermined threshold; paragraph [0013], when received power for reference signal for transmission channel measurement transmitted from the terminal is less than or equal to a threshold, terminal determines that links between terminal have failed; Fig. 5; paragraph [0106], a disconnection of a V2V link may occur; paragraph [0124], when a RSRP value for the reference signal transmitted from the terminal is less than or equal to a specific threshold, the terminal may determine that the link between the terminals is disconnected): selecting another resource for another signal or channel based on the first resource for the first signal or channel and a correspondence between the first resource and the second resource (Kim, paragraph [0195], terminals may identify a channel and/or beam suitable for recovering the V2V link; paragraph [0197], if measurement report indicates that received power measurement for the reference signal is greater than a threshold, the terminal may recover the link using the corresponding channel or beam); transmitting the another signal or channel via the another resource for a failure recovery request or a failure indication (Kim, Fig. 5; paragraph [0106], a disconnection of a V2V link may occur; Fig. 7; paragraph [0137], terminal may request a recovery of a V2V link through a request message; paragraph [0148], terminal can recover link by performing a beam search procedure; paragraph [0195], terminals may identify a channel and/or beam suitable for recovering the V2V link; paragraph [0197], if measurement report indicates that received power measurement for the reference signal is greater than a threshold, the terminal may use the beam to recover the link), wherein the failure recovery request is configured to trigger to transmit the failure recovery request to a base station via a third resource (Kim, paragraph [0137], terminal may request a recovery of a V2V link through a request message transmitted to the base station; paragraph [0148], terminal can recover link by performing a beam search procedure; paragraph [0195], terminals may identify a channel and/or beam suitable for recovering the V2V link; paragraph [0197], if measurement report indicates that received power measurement for the reference signal is greater than a threshold, the terminal may use the beam to recover the link) the first resource, the second resource, and the third resource being different from one another, and wherein the user equipment, the first user equipment, and the second user equipment are different from one another (Kim, Fig. 5; paragraph [0010], determining the radio link failure when received power for a reference signal received from the second terminal is less than or equal to a predetermined threshold; paragraph [0013], when received power for reference signal for transmission channel measurement transmitted from the terminal is less than or equal to a threshold, terminal determines that links between terminal have failed; paragraph [0104], terminal may establish V2V links with a plurality of surrounding terminals; paragraph [0196], terminals transmit a reference signal for a channel and/or beam measurement; paragraph [0197], if measurement report indicates that received power measurement for the reference signal is greater than a threshold, the terminal may use the beam to recover the link). Kim does not explicitly disclose transmitting the second signal or channel via the second resource to the second user equipment for a failure recovery request or a failure indication, wherein the failure recovery request is configured to trigger the second user equipment to transmit the failure recovery request to a base station via a third resource the first resource, the second resource, and the third resource being different from one another, and wherein the user equipment, the first user equipment, and the second user equipment are different from one another, and monitoring a failure recovery response in a different search space or a different control resource set (CORESET) based on same antenna port quasi-collocation parameters respectively with more than one reference signal (RS) or synchronization signal (SS) indicated by the second signal or channel via the second resource. Yu discloses transmitting the second signal or channel via the second resource to the user equipment for a failure recovery request or a failure indication, wherein the failure recovery request is configured to trigger the user equipment to transmit the failure recovery request to a base station via a third resource the first resource, the second resource, and the third resource being different from one another, and wherein the user equipment, the first user equipment, and the second user equipment are different from one another (Yu, Fig. 4, step 404 & 406; paragraph [0045], in response to the first UE detecting RLF, an indication may be transmitted on the detection of the RL problem from the first UE to the second UE over the D2D link and then the second UE transmits to the network apparatus a report on the radio link problem detection). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to add the features taught by Yu into the system of Kim in order to reduce the impact of radio link problems of a user terminal (Yu; [0008]). The combination of Kim and Yu does not explicitly disclose wherein the failure recovery request is configured to trigger the second user equipment to transmit the failure recovery request to a base station, wherein the failure recovery request is configured to trigger the second user equipment to transmit the failure recovery request to a base station via a third resource, the first resource, the second resource and the third resource being different from one another, and monitoring a failure recovery response in a different search space or a different control resource set (CORESET) based on same antenna port quasi-collocation parameters respectively with more than one reference signal (RS) or synchronization signal (SS) indicated by the second signal or channel via the second resource. Zhou discloses wherein the failure recovery request is configured to trigger the second user equipment to transmit the failure recovery request to a base station, wherein the failure recovery request is configured to trigger the second user equipment to transmit the failure recovery request to a base station via a third resource, the first resource, the second resource and the third resource being different from one another (Zhou, Figs. 1, 8; paragraph [0030], relay station may be a UE; paragraph [0089], the first UE 805 may transmit the BFRR to the first base station 815 via the second link, the first base station 815 may relay the BFRR to the second base station 820). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to add the features taught by Zhou into the system of the combination of Kim and Yu in order to conserve resources and reduce transmission delays (Zhou; [0065]). The combination of Kim and Yu and Zhou does not explicitly disclose monitoring a failure recovery response in a different search space or a different control resource set (CORESET) based on same antenna port quasi-collocation parameters respectively with more than one reference signal (RS) or synchronization signal (SS) indicated by the second signal or channel via the second resource. R1-1809120 discloses monitoring a failure recovery response in a different search space or a different control resource set (CORESET) based on same antenna port quasi-collocation parameters respectively with more than one reference signal (RS) or synchronization signal (SS) indicated by the second signal or channel via the second resource (R1-1809120, page 3, section 2.2.1, beam failure detection periodic reference resource are configured which are QCLed with PDCCH; page 5, section 2.2.4, UE will monitor the response on the configured dedicated CORESET carrying beam failure recovery response). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to add the features taught by R1-1809120 into the system of the combination of Kim and Yu and Zhou in order to increase system reliability and robustness for high frequency scenarios (R1-1809120; [0001]). Regarding claim 2, the combination of Kim, Yu, Zhou and R1-1809120, particularly Kim discloses wherein the first resource is a first sidelink resource between the user equipment and the first user equipment, and wherein the second resource is a second sidelink resource between the user equipment and the second user equipment (Kim, Fig. 5; paragraph [0104], terminal may establish V2V links with a plurality of surrounding terminals; Fig. 6; paragraph [0111]-[0114], terminal and terminal are communicatively connected to base station and each other; paragraph [0139], through V2V link, terminal 705 may consider resources that can transmit and receive with terminal 715). Regarding claim 3, the combination of Kim, Yu, Zhou and R1-1809120, particularly Kim discloses the operations further comprising: detecting a beam failure or a link failure that has occurred based on a radio link quality being smaller than a first threshold value or based on one or more errors having occurred for a channel detection (Kim, paragraph [0010], determining the radio link failure when received power for a reference signal received from the second terminal is less than or equal to a predetermined threshold; paragraph [0013], when received power for reference signal for transmission channel measurement transmitted from the terminal is less than or equal to a threshold, terminal determines that links between terminal have failed). Regarding claim 4, the combination of Kim, Yu, Zhou and R1-1809120, particularly Kim discloses wherein the radio link quality is a signal strength of one or more RSs or an SS/Physical Broadcast Channel (PBCH) block (SSB) (Kim, paragraph [0010], determining the radio link failure when received power for a reference signal received from the second terminal is less than or equal to a predetermined threshold; paragraph [0013], when received power for reference signal for transmission channel measurement transmitted from the terminal is less than or equal to a threshold, terminal determines that links between terminal have failed). Regarding claim 5, the combination of Kim, Yu, Zhou and R1-1809120, particularly Kim the operations further comprising: in response to the detected failure in the first resource, determining a new signal resource or a new beam for communicating with the first user equipment based on one or more RSs or an SSB in a first set or in a second set received from the first user equipment (Kim, paragraph [0195], terminals may identify a channel and/or beam suitable for recovering the V2V link; paragraph [0196], terminals transmit a reference signal for a channel and/or beam measurement). Regarding claim 6, the combination of Kim, Yu, Zhou and R1-1809120, particularly Kim discloses wherein the second signal or channel provides an indication that no new beam or no new signal resource for communicating with the first user equipment has been determined, or an indication that the new signal resource is required, or an indication that a beam sweeping is required based on the user equipment being unable to determine the new beam or the new signal resource for communicating with the first user equipment (Kim, paragraph [0148], terminal can recover link by performing a beam search procedure; paragraph [0195], terminals may identify a channel and/or beam suitable for recovering the V2V link). Regarding claim 7, the combination of Kim, Yu, Zhou and R1-1809120, particularly Kim discloses the operations further comprising: receiving, in response to transmission of the failure recovery request based on the second signal or channel, the failure recovery response, wherein the failure recovery request comprises a beam failure recovery request (BFRQ), and wherein the failure recovery response comprises a beam failure recovery response (BFRR) (Kim, Fig. 7; paragraph [0106], disconnection when beam is blocked; paragraph [0137], terminal may request a recovery of a V2V link through a request message transmitted to the base station; paragraph [0161], terminal receives allocation information in response to the SR). Regarding claim 8, the combination of Kim, Yu, Zhou and R1-1809120, particularly Kim discloses wherein the beam or link failure is of a sidelink resource in a first direction, the operations further comprising: transmitting failure recovery request in a second direction (Kim, Figs. 5, 7; paragraph [0137], terminal may request a recovery of a V2V link through a request message transmitted to the base station). Kim does not explicitly disclose the operations further comprising: transmitting a second failure recovery request via the sidelink resource in a second direction to the second user equipment. Yu discloses the operations further comprising: transmitting a second failure recovery request via the sidelink resource in a second direction to the user equipment (Yu, Fig. 4, step 404 & 406; paragraph [0045], in response to the first UE detecting RLF, an indication may be transmitted on the detection of the RL problem from the first UE to the second UE over the D2D link and then the second UE transmits to the network apparatus a report on the radio link problem detection). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to add the features taught by Yu into the system of Kim in order to reduce the impact of radio link problems of a user terminal (Yu; [0008]). Regarding claim 9, Kim does not explicitly disclose wherein the second failure recovery request indicates to the second user equipment to transmit or forward the second failure recovery request to the base station via a third resource in a third communication link between the second user equipment and the base station. Yu discloses wherein the second failure recovery request indicates to the second user equipment to transmit or forward the second failure recovery request to the base station (Yu, Fig. 4, step 404 & 406; paragraph [0045], in response to the first UE detecting cellular RLF with the base station, an indication may be transmitted on the detection of the RL problem from the first UE to the second UE over the D2D link & the second UE transmits to the network apparatus a report on the radio link problem detection) via a third resource in a third communication link between the second user equipment and the base station (Yu, Fig. 4, step 404 & 406; paragraph [0045], in response to the first UE detecting cellular RLF with the base station, an indication may be transmitted on the detection of the RL problem from the first UE to the second UE over the D2D link & the second UE transmits to the network apparatus a report on the radio link problem detection). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to add the features taught by Yu into the system of Kim in order to reduce the impact of radio link problems of a user terminal (Yu; [0008]). Claim 10 is rejected under substantially the same rationale as claim 1. Claim 11 is rejected under substantially the same rationale as claim 2. Claim 12 is rejected under substantially the same rationale as claim 3. Claim 13 is rejected under substantially the same rationale as claim 4. Claim 14 is rejected under substantially the same rationale as claim 5. Claim 15 is rejected under substantially the same rationale as claim 6. Claim 16 is rejected under substantially the same rationale as claim 7. Claim 17 is rejected under substantially the same rationale as claim 8. Claim 18 is rejected under substantially the same rationale as claim 9. Claim 19 is rejected under substantially the same rationale as claim 1. Conclusion The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Osawa et al. (US 20210235471) discloses the communication apparatus 20B transmits a signal by SL, and the communication apparatus 20A (representative) attempts to receive the signal, but CRC check becomes NG, and it is determined that the SL reception failed (S302). In S303, the communication apparatus 20A (representative) transmits a SL retransmission request to the communication apparatus 20B. The SL retransmission request may be transmitted by PSBCH, transmitted by PSCCH as a SCI, or transmitted by other channels or signals. Lee et al. (US 20210336688) discloses performing radio link monitoring by a UE in a wireless communication system supporting a sidelink comprises the steps of configuring a beam failure recovery (BFR) parameter for each of a plurality of services on the basis of service attributes, and independently detecting a beam failure for at least one beam corresponding to each service on the basis of a block error ratio (BLER) threshold value and beam failure instance (BFI) times included in the BFR parameter. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ALAN LOUIS LINDENBAUM whose telephone number is (571)270-3858. The examiner can normally be reached Monday through Friday 11:00 AM to 7:00 PM 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, Un Cho can be reached on (571) 272-7919. 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. /A.L.L/Examiner, Art Unit 2413 /UN C CHO/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2413
Read full office action

Prosecution Timeline

Nov 12, 2024
Application Filed
Sep 23, 2026
Non-Final Rejection mailed — §103 (current)

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Prosecution Projections

1-2
Expected OA Rounds
48%
Grant Probability
64%
With Interview (+15.9%)
3y 8m (~1y 9m remaining)
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 434 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allowance rate.

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