Prosecution Insights
Last updated: October 01, 2026
Application No. 18/962,791

MECHANISM FOR TB PROCESSING OVER MULTI-SLOT SCHEME

Non-Final OA §DP
Filed
Nov 27, 2024
Priority
May 11, 2021 — nonprovisional of PCTCN2021093075 +1 more
Examiner
FIGUEROA, MARISOL
Art Unit
Tech Center
Assignee
Apple Inc.
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
80%
Grant Probability
Favorable
1-2
OA Rounds
11m
Est. Remaining
82%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 80% — above average
80%
Career Allowance Rate
580 granted / 729 resolved
+19.6% vs TC avg
Minimal +3% lift
Without
With
+2.6%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
2y 9m
Avg Prosecution
23 currently pending
Career history
747
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
7.3%
-32.7% vs TC avg
§103
55.5%
+15.5% vs TC avg
§102
20.0%
-20.0% vs TC avg
§112
9.0%
-31.0% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 729 resolved cases

Office Action

§DP
18-19DETAILED 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 . Non-Statutory Double Patenting The nonstatutory double patenting rejection is based on a judicially created doctrine grounded in public policy (a policy reflected in the statute) so as to prevent the unjustified or improper timewise extension of the “right to exclude” granted by a patent and to prevent possible harassment by multiple assignees. A nonstatutory double patenting rejection is appropriate where the conflicting claims are not identical, but at least one examined application claim is not patentably distinct from the reference claim(s) because the examined application claim is either anticipated by, or would have been obvious over, the reference claim(s). See, e.g., In re Berg, 140 F.3d 1428, 46 USPQ2d 1226 (Fed. Cir. 1998); In re Goodman, 11 F.3d 1046, 29 USPQ2d 2010 (Fed. Cir. 1993); In re Longi, 759 F.2d 887, 225 USPQ 645 (Fed. Cir. 1985); In re Van Ornum, 686 F.2d 937, 214 USPQ 761 (CCPA 1982); In re Vogel, 422 F.2d 438, 164 USPQ 619 (CCPA 1970); In re Thorington, 418 F.2d 528, 163 USPQ 644 (CCPA 1969). A timely filed terminal disclaimer in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(c) or 1.321(d) may be used to overcome an actual or provisional rejection based on nonstatutory double patenting provided the reference application or patent either is shown to be commonly owned with the examined application, or claims an invention made as a result of activities undertaken within the scope of a joint research agreement. See MPEP § 717.02 for applications subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA as explained in MPEP § 2159. See MPEP § 2146 et seq. for applications not subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA . A terminal disclaimer must be signed in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(b). The filing of a terminal disclaimer by itself is not a complete reply to a nonstatutory double patenting (NSDP) rejection. A complete reply requires that the terminal disclaimer be accompanied by a reply requesting reconsideration of the prior Office action. Even where the NSDP rejection is provisional the reply must be complete. See MPEP § 804, subsection I.B.1. For a reply to a non-final Office action, see 37 CFR 1.111(a). For a reply to final Office action, see 37 CFR 1.113(c). A request for reconsideration while not provided for in 37 CFR 1.113(c) may be filed after final for consideration. See MPEP §§ 706.07(e) and 714.13. The USPTO Internet website contains terminal disclaimer forms which may be used. Please visit www.uspto.gov/patent/patents-forms. The actual filing date of the application in which the form is filed determines what form (e.g., PTO/SB/25, PTO/SB/26, PTO/AIA /25, or PTO/AIA /26) should be used. A web-based eTerminal Disclaimer may be filled out completely online using web-screens. An eTerminal Disclaimer that meets all requirements is auto-processed and approved immediately upon submission. For more information about eTerminal Disclaimers, refer to www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/applying-online/eterminal-disclaimer. Claims 1-7, 10-17, and 20 are rejected on the ground of nonstatutory double patenting as being unpatentable over claims 1-14 of U.S. Patent No. 12,200,685. The claims of continuation Application No. 18/962,791 are directed to the same invention of patented claims of U.S. Patent No. 12,200,685, i.e., “determining a transmission block size (TBS) based on a number of slots for Transmission Block over Multiple Slot (TBoMS)…” (see claims 1 below). However, the claims of U.S. Patent No. 12,200,685 are from the perspective of a wireless device and the claims of Application No. 18, 962,791 are from the perspective of a network-side device. Thus, while U.S. Patent No. 12,200,685 recites the limitations of the wireless device configured to: acquire a configuration information about TBoMR and perform TBoMR transmission, Application No. 18/962,791 recites the limitation of the network-side device configured to: provide configuration information about Transmission Block over Multiple time-domain Resources (TBoMR) and receive a TBoMR transmission over time domain resources based on the configuration information. It cellular networks, bi-directional communication between a network-side device and a wireless device are well-established. Consequently, the configuration information provided by a network-side device will be received by a wireless device and a transmission by a wireless device will be received by a network-side device, and would be obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, to modify U.S. Patent No. 12,200,685 in include the perspective of the network-side device in communication with the wireless device. Application No. 18/962,791 U.S. Patent No. 12,200,685 1. A network-side device, comprising: at least one antenna; at least one radio coupled to the at least one antenna; and a processor coupled to the at least one radio; wherein the network-side device is configured to: determine a transmission block size (TBS) based on a number of slots for Transmission Block over Multiple Slot (TBoMS) transmission from a plurality of timing occasions (TOs), wherein the number of slots comprises both consecutive uplink (UL) slots and non-consecutive UL slots; based on the TBS, provide configuration information about Transmission Block over Multiple time-domain Resources (TBoMR); and receive a TBoMR transmission over time domain resources based on the configuration information. 1. A wireless device, comprising: at least one antenna; at least one radio coupled to the at least one antenna; and a processor coupled to the at least one radio; wherein the wireless device is configured to: acquire configuration information about Transmission Block over Multiple time-domain Resources (TBoMR); determine a transmission block size (TBS) based on a number of slots for Transmission Block over Multiple Slot (TBoMS) transmission from a plurality of transmission occasions (TOs), wherein the number of slots comprises both consecutive uplink (UL) slots and non-consecutive UL slots; and perform at least TBoMR transmission over time-domain resources based on the configuration information, wherein the time-domain resources are allocated based on the determined TBS. 2. The network-side device of claim 1, wherein the configuration information further includes information about a repetition type of a Time Domain Resource Allocation (TDRA) for the TBoMR transmission, and the network-side device is configured to: receive the TBoMR transmission according to the repetition type. 2. The wireless device of claim 1, wherein the configuration information further includes repetition type information about Time Domain Resource Allocation (TDRA) for the TBoMR transmission, and the wireless device is configured to: perform the TBoMR transmission over the time-domain resources allocated according to the repetition type information. 3. The network-side device of claim 2, wherein when the information about the repetition type indicates a first repetition type, and the TDRA is based on at least one of the following: a same number of allocated symbols in each slot of a time-domain resource; all consecutive slots serve as the time-domain resource for the TBoMR transmission; and all available slots serve as the time-domain resource for repetition in the TBoMR transmission. 3. The wireless device of claim 2, wherein when the repetition type information indicates a first repetition type, and the time-domain resource allocation is based on at least one of the following: a number of allocated symbols is the same in each slot as the time-domain resource, all consecutive slots serve as the time-domain resources for the TBoMR transmission; and all available slots serve as the time-domain resources for repetition in the TBoMR transmission. 4. The network-side device of claim 2, wherein when the information about the repetition type indicates a second repetition type, and the TDRA is based on at least one of the following: a different number of allocated symbols in each slot of a time-domain resource; all consecutive slots serve as the time-domain resource for the TBoMR transmission; and all available symbols serve as the time-domain resource for repetition in the TBoMR transmission. 4. The wireless device of claim 3, wherein when the repetition type information indicates a second repetition type, and the time-domain resource allocation is based on at least one of the following: the number of allocated symbols is different in each slot as the time-domain resource, all consecutive slots serve as the time-domain resources for the TBoMR transmission; and all available symbols serve as the time-domain resources for repetition in the TBoMR transmission. 5. The network-side device of claim 1, wherein the configuration information further includes information indicating whether a special time-domain resource is available for the TBoMR transmission, and the network-side device is configured to: receive the TBoMR transmission over the special time-domain resource when the information indicates the special time-domain resource is available. 5. The wireless device of claim 1, wherein the configuration information further include information indicating whether a special time-domain resource is available for the TBoMR transmission, and the wireless device is configured to: perform the TBoMR transmission over the special time-domain resource when the information indicates the special time-domain resource is available. 6. The network-side device of claim 1, wherein the configuration information includes transmission mode information indicating a transmission mode of a first TBoMS transmission, and wherein the network-side device is further configured to: perform the first TBoMS transmission according to the transmission mode indicated by the transmission mode information. 6. The wireless device of claim 1, wherein the configuration information includes transmission mode information indicating the transmission mode of first TBoMS transmission, and wherein the wireless device is further configured to: perform the first TBoMS transmission according to the transmission mode indicated by the transmission mode information. 7. The network-side device of claim 1, wherein the configuration information includes information indicating whether a re-transmission is enabled for the TBoMS transmission or not, and wherein the network-side device is further configured to: when the re-transmission is enabled, perform the re-transmission of the TBoMS transmission. 7. The wireless device of claim 1, wherein the configuration information includes information indicating whether re-transmission is enabled for TBoMS transmission or not implicitly or explicitly, and wherein the wireless device is further configured to: when the re-transmission is enabled, perform a re-transmission of a first TBoMS transmission. 10. The network-side device of claim 1, wherein the configuration information includes re-transmission mode information indicating a retransmission mode of a subsequent TBoMS transmission, and wherein the network-side device is further configured to: perform the subsequent TBoMS transmission according to the re-transmission mode indicated by the re-transmission mode information. 6. The wireless device of claim 1, wherein the configuration information includes transmission mode information indicating the transmission mode of first TBoMS transmission, and wherein the wireless device is further configured to: perform the first TBoMS transmission according to the transmission mode indicated by the transmission mode information. 11. A method for a network-side device, comprising: determining a transmission block size (TBS) based on a number of slots for Transmission Block over Multiple Slot (TBoMS) transmission from a plurality of timing occasions (TOs), wherein the number of slots comprises both consecutive uplink (UL) slots and non-consecutive UL slots; based on the TBS, providing configuration information about Transmission Block over Multiple time-domain Resources (TBoMR); and receiving a TBoMR transmission over time domain resources based on the configuration information. 8. A method for a user equipment (UE), comprising: acquiring configuration information about Transmission Block over Multiple time-domain Resources (TBoMR); determining a transmission block size (TBS) based on a number of slots for Transmission Block over Multiple Slot (TBoMS) transmission from a plurality of transmission occasions (TOs), wherein the number of slots comprises both consecutive uplink (UL) slots and non-consecutive UL slots; and performing at least TBoMR transmission over time-domain resources based on the configuration information, wherein the time-domain resources are allocated based on the determined TBS. 12. The method of claim 11, wherein the configuration information further includes information about a repetition type of a Time Domain Resource Allocation (TDRA) for the TBoMR transmission, and the method further comprises: receiving the TBoMR transmission according to the repetition type. 9. The method of claim 8, wherein the configuration information further includes repetition type information about Time Domain Resource Allocation (TDRA) for the TBoMR transmission, and the method further comprising: performing the TBoMR transmission over the time-domain resources allocated according to the repetition type information. 13. The method of claim 12, wherein when the information about the repetition type indicates a first repetition type, and the TDRA is based on at least one of the following: a same number of allocated symbols in each slot of a time-domain resource; all consecutive slots serve as the time-domain resource for the TBoMR transmission; and all available slots serve as the time-domain resource for repetition in the TBoMR transmission. 10. The method of claim 9, wherein when the repetition type information indicates a first repetition type, and the time-domain resource allocation is based on at least one of the following: a number of allocated symbols is the same in each slot as the time-domain resource, all consecutive slots serve as the time-domain resources for the TBoMR transmission; and all available slots serve as the time-domain resources for repetition in the TBoMR transmission. 14. The method of claim 12, wherein when the information about the repetition type indicates a second repetition type, and the TDRA is based on at least one of the following: a different number of allocated symbols in each slot of a time-domain resource; all consecutive slots serve as the time-domain resource for the TBoMR transmission; and all available symbols serve as the time-domain resource for repetition in the TBoMR transmission. 11. The method of claim 10, wherein when the repetition type information indicates a second repetition type, and the time-domain resource allocation is based on at least one of the following: the number of allocated symbols is different in each slot as the time-domain resource, all consecutive slots serve as the time-domain resources for the TBoMR transmission; and all available symbols serve as the time-domain resources for repetition in the TBoMR transmission. 15. The method of claim 11, wherein the configuration information further includes information indicating whether a special time-domain resource is available for the TBoMR transmission, and the method further comprises: receiving the TBoMR transmission over the special time-domain resource when the information indicates the special time-domain resource is available. 12. The method of claim 8, wherein the configuration information further includes information indicating whether a special time-domain resource is available for the TBoMR transmission, and the method further comprising: performing the TBoMR transmission over the special time-domain resource when the information indicates the special time-domain resource is available. 16. The method of claim 11, wherein the configuration information includes transmission mode information indicating a transmission mode of a first TBoMS transmission, and wherein the method further comprises: performing the first TBoMS transmission according to the transmission mode indicated by the transmission mode information. 13. The method of claim 8, wherein the configuration information includes transmission mode information indicating the transmission mode of first TBoMS transmission, and wherein the method further comprises: performing the first TBoMS transmission according to the transmission mode indicated by the transmission mode information. 17. The method of claim 11, wherein the configuration information includes information indicating whether a re-transmission is enabled for the TBoMS transmission or not, and wherein the method further comprises: when the re-transmission is enabled, performing the re-transmission of the TBoMS transmission. 14. The method of claim 8, wherein the configuration information includes information indicating whether re-transmission is enabled for TBoMS transmission or not implicitly or explicitly, and wherein the method further comprises: when the re-transmission is enabled, performing a re-transmission of a first TBoMS transmission. 20. The method of claim 11, wherein the configuration information includes re-transmission mode information indicating a retransmission mode of a subsequent TBoMS transmission, and wherein the method further comprises: performing the subsequent TBoMS transmission according to the re-transmission mode indicated by the re-transmission mode information. 14. The method of claim 8, wherein the configuration information includes information indicating whether re-transmission is enabled for TBoMS transmission or not implicitly or explicitly, and wherein the method further comprises: when the re-transmission is enabled, performing a re-transmission of a first TBoMS transmission. Allowable Subject Matter Claims 8-9 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, and if the double patenting rejection is overcome. Prior Art of Record The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. (a)Xiong et al. (US 2024/0179692) – Time-domain resource allocation for transport block over multiple slot (TBOMS) transmissions. (b)Su et al. (US 2025/0286673)-A method in a network device that includes determining a configuration for a terminal device to transmit a Transmission Block, TB, the configuration indicating at least a transmission mode. Conclusion Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MARISOL FIGUEROA whose telephone number is (571)272-7840. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Thurs 8:00am-4:30pm. 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, Jinsong Hu can be reached at 571-272-3965. 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. /MARISOL FIGUEROA/ Primary Examiner Art Unit 2643
Read full office action

Prosecution Timeline

Nov 27, 2024
Application Filed
Aug 11, 2026
Non-Final Rejection mailed — §DP (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
80%
Grant Probability
82%
With Interview (+2.6%)
2y 9m (~11m remaining)
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 729 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allowance rate.

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