Prosecution Insights
Last updated: April 19, 2026
Application No. 18/952,275

Short-Distance Communication Method, Apparatus, and System

Non-Final OA §102§112
Filed
Nov 19, 2024
Examiner
KERVEROS, DEMETRIOS C
Art Unit
2111
Tech Center
2100 — Computer Architecture & Software
Assignee
Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd.
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
87%
Grant Probability
Favorable
1-2
OA Rounds
2y 7m
To Grant
90%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 87% — above average
87%
Career Allow Rate
933 granted / 1069 resolved
+32.3% vs TC avg
Minimal +3% lift
Without
With
+2.6%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
2y 7m
Avg Prosecution
30 currently pending
Career history
1099
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
3.9%
-36.1% vs TC avg
§103
8.4%
-31.6% vs TC avg
§102
50.1%
+10.1% vs TC avg
§112
27.6%
-12.4% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 1069 resolved cases

Office Action

§102 §112
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 . This is a NON-FINAL OFFICE ACTION in response to the present Application filed 11/19/2024 and Preliminary Amendment filed 01/24/2025. Claims 1-20 are pending in the Application, of which Claims 1, 6, 11 and 16 are independent. Continuity/ Priority information The present Application 18952275 filed 11/19/2024 is a Continuation of 18164322, filed 02/03/2023, now U.S. Patent No. 12,177,013, which is a Continuation of PCT/CN2021/076947, filed 02/19/2021, and claims foreign priority to PCT/CN2020/106669, filed 08/03/2020. 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.18164322, filed on 02/03/2023. Information Disclosure Statement The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 11/19/2024 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the IDS has been considered by the examiner. Claim Objections Claims 1-20 are objected to because of the following informalities: Claims 1, 6, 11, 16, 2, 7, 12, 17, recite the term “transmission manner”. Replace “manner” with “type”, where applicable, as to comply with the US practice. For example, “transmission type” is more presentative of different type of transmissions between devices. Any claim not specifically mentioned above is also objected because of its dependency on an objected claim. Appropriate correction is required. Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112 The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b): (b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention. The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph: The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention. Claims 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention. Claims 1, 6, 11 and 16, there is insufficient antecedent basis for the limitation “one of the following transmission manners” in the claims. Change the limitation to recite “one of a following transmission manners”. Any claim not specifically mentioned above is also rejected because of its dependency on a rejected claim. Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102 In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status. 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. Claims 1, 3-6, 8-11, 13-16 and 18-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by SUN et al. (Pub. No. US 20180278379) Date Pub: 2018-09-27. Regarding independent Claims 1, 13 and 20, SUN discloses a method for downlink retransmission of Code Block Groups (CBGs) when CBG level ACK and NACK feedback is unreliable, comprising: a memory configured to store instructions; and one or more processors coupled to the memory and configured to execute the instructions to cause the apparatus to: [0172] Thus, certain aspects may comprise a computer program product for performing the operations presented herein. For example, such a computer program product may comprise a computer-readable medium having instructions stored (and/or encoded) thereon, the instructions being executable by one or more processors to perform the operations described herein. For example, instructions for perform the operations described herein and illustrated in FIGS. 8 and 9. processors configured to execute the instructions to cause the apparatus to: obtain/ receive at least one piece of code data; para. [0078] FIG. 4 shows a block diagram of a design of a BS 110 and a UE 120, which may be one of the BSs and one of the UEs in FIG. 1. [0079] At the base station 110, a transmit processor 420 may receive data from a data source 412 and control information from a controller/processor 440. The processor 420 may process (e.g., encode and symbol map) the data and control information to obtain data symbols and control symbols, respectively. sending a scheduling type indication comprising L bits, and wherein the L bits indicate transmission types of code data; A transmit (TX) multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) processor 430 may perform spatial processing (e.g., precoding) on the data symbols, the control symbols, and/or the reference symbols, if applicable, and may provide output symbol streams to the modulators (MODs) 432a through 432t. scheduling type indication [0051] As illustrated in FIG. 1, the wireless network 100 may include a number of BSs 110 and other network entities. [0064] In some examples, access to the air interface may be scheduled, wherein a scheduling entity (e.g., a base station) allocates resources for communication among some or all devices and equipment within its service area or cell. Within the present disclosure, as discussed further below, the scheduling entity may be responsible for scheduling, assigning, reconfiguring, and releasing resources for one or more subordinate entities. [0082] FIG. 4. A scheduler 444 may schedule UEs for data transmission on the downlink and/or uplink. [0087] FIG. 6a is a diagram 6a showing an example of a downlink (DL)-centric subframe. The DL-centric subframe may include a control portion 602. The control portion 602 may exist in the initial or beginning portion of the DL-centric subframe. The control portion 602 may include various scheduling information and/or control information corresponding to various portions of the DL-centric subframe. transport block-based retransmission and determining a channel bit sequence; and sending the code data using coding modes 1, 2, 3. [0104] FIG. 9 illustrates example operations 900, performed by a Base Station, BS (e.g., gNB), for managing retransmission of CBGs when CBG ACK/NACK feedback is unreliable. [0105] Operations 900 begin, at 902, by receiving, from a UE, feedback indicating an ACK or a NACK corresponding to each of received set of CBGs transmitted by the BS. In certain aspects, the CBG ACK/NACK feedback from the UE includes information regarding a first bitmap of ACKs and NACKs corresponding to the CBGs received from the gNB. [0107] At 906, the BS retransmits one or more of the CBGs based on the transmitted indication. For example, the gNB re-transmits CBGs corresponding to each NACK decoded by the gNB. Regarding Claims 3-5, 8-10, 13-15,18-20, SUN discloses wherein the data type indication indicates one or more of first location information of at least a first part of the at least one piece of code data or an amount of the at least the first part, and wherein the data type indication is a bitmap that comprises N bits and indicates the one or more of the location or the quantity. [0096] FIG. 7a illustrates CBG ACK/NACK feedback (e.g., ACK/NACK bitmap) from a UE that is correctly received and decoded by the gNB. UE TX (Transmission) 702 is the ACK/NACK feedback transmitted by a UE corresponding to a set of CBGs received from the gNB. Thus, the ACK/NACK bitmap feedback indicates that the UE did not receive correctly a total of four CBGs at positions 5, 6, 7, and 9. As shown, the gNB correctly receives (RX) and decodes the feedback as “111100010111” and retransmits CBGs at positions 5, 6, 7, and 9 as part of gNB TX 704 in FIG. 7a. Allowable Subject Matter Claims 2, 7, 12 and 17 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. The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: The prior art of record fails to anticipate or render obvious, wherein the L bits are 3 bits, and wherein a correspondence between a bit status of the 3 bits and a transmission type of the at least one piece of code data is: the bit status is 000 indicates the transport block-based initial transmission; the bit status is 001 indicates the transport block-based retransmission and determining the channel bit sequence using the coding mode 1 or the coding mode 2; the bit status is 010 indicates the transport block-based retransmission and determining the channel bit sequence using the coding mode 3; the bit status is 011 indicates the code block group-based retransmission and determining the channel bit sequence using the coding mode 3; the bit status is 100 indicates the code block group-based retransmission and determining the channel bit sequence using the coding mode 1 or the coding mode 2;the bit status is 101 indicates the code block group-based retransmission and a redundancy version 2; the bit status is 110 indicates the code block group-based retransmission and a redundancy version 3; and the bit status is 111 indicates the code block group-based hybrid transmission of initial transmission and retransmission and determining the channel bit sequence using the coding mode 3. Prior Art References Cited The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. See References Cited on PTO-892 form. Lei et al. (US 20200052825) [0003] Some wireless communications systems may implement grant-free uplink transmissions. Grant-free uplink transmissions may be transmitted without requiring a corresponding grant message in a downlink transmission (e.g., a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) message scheduling the uplink transmission over specified resources). Sarkis et al. (US 20110317637) See, Abstract, A method for processing and transmitting data packet is disclosed. The method includes receiving a data packet with a first Redundancy Version (RV) from a serving cell, receiving a data packet with a second RV different from the first RV from a collaborative cell, and combining and decoding the data packets received from the serving cell and the collaborative cell. Hwang et al. (US 10582531) a method and apparatus for transmitting downlink control information having a dynamic variable size in a wireless communication system, comprising detecting first downlink control information from a base station; and, on the basis of the first downlink control information, receiving from the base station second downlink control information comprising scheduling information for uplink data transmission or downlink data reception, see, Abstract. Conclusion Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JAMES C KERVEROS whose telephone number is (571)272-3824. The examiner can normally be reached 9-5. 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, MARK FEATHERSTONE can be reached on (571) 270-3750. 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. /JAMES C KERVEROS/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2111 Date: March 20, 2026 Non-Final Rejection 20260313 JAMES C. KERVEROS Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2111 James.Kerveros@USPTO.GOV
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Prosecution Timeline

Nov 19, 2024
Application Filed
Mar 16, 2026
Non-Final Rejection — §102, §112 (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
90%
With Interview (+2.6%)
2y 7m
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 1069 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allow rate.

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