Prosecution Insights
Last updated: October 02, 2026
Application No. 19/045,175

Beam Activation and Determination in Wireless Networks

Non-Final OA §103
Filed
Feb 04, 2025
Priority
Mar 11, 2021 — provisional 63/159,872 +2 more
Examiner
KASSA, ZEWDU A
Art Unit
2635
Tech Center
2600 — Communications
Assignee
Comcast Cable Communications LLC
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
89%
Grant Probability
Favorable
1-2
OA Rounds
9m
Est. Remaining
94%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 89% — above average
89%
Career Allowance Rate
732 granted / 825 resolved
+26.7% vs TC avg
Moderate +5% lift
Without
With
+5.1%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
2y 4m
Avg Prosecution
14 currently pending
Career history
838
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
6.1%
-33.9% vs TC avg
§103
76.0%
+36.0% vs TC avg
§102
9.9%
-30.1% vs TC avg
§112
1.4%
-38.6% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 825 resolved cases

Office Action

§103
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 . 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. 1. Claims 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yi (US 20200351892) in view of Matsumura (US 2023/0171611). 2. As per claim 1, Yi teaches a method comprising: determining, by a wireless device, a default transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state list from a plurality of TCI state lists for a cell of a plurality of cells based on configuration parameters of the plurality of TCI state lists (Yi, ¶0173 “… default TCI …”); and receiving, based on the default TCI state list, at least one downlink signal via the cell (Yi, ¶0173 “… receive … based on a default TCI state …”. Furthermore, it’s well-known in the art to determine default TCI state list and receive based on the default TCI state list to improve the performance of the communication system see Matsumura US 2023/0171611 for example ¶0009). Therefore, taking the combined teaching of Yi and Matsumura as a whole, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to implement the instant limitation for the benefit of improve the performance of the communication system. 3. Claims 9 and 15 are similarly analyzed as claim 1 for obviousness reason discussed above. 4. As per claim 2, Yi in view of Matsumura teaches the method of claim 1, further comprising: receiving configuration parameters of the plurality of TCI state lists, wherein each of the plurality of TCI state lists comprises one or more TCI states (Matsumura, Fig. 14 and related text). 5. Claims 10 and 16 are similarly analyzed as claim 2 for obviousness reason discussed above. 6. As per claim 3, Yi in view of Matsumura teaches the method of claim 2, wherein the configuration parameters indicate a priority value for at least one of the plurality of TCI state lists (Yi, ¶0195), and wherein the determining the default TCI state list comprises: determining the default TCI state list, from the plurality of TCI state lists, based on the priority value of the default TCI state list (Yi, ¶0195). 7. Claims 11 and 17 are similarly analyzed as claim 3 for obviousness reason discussed above. 8. As per claim 4, Yi in view of Matsumura teaches the method of claim 1, wherein the at least one downlink signal comprises downlink control information (DCI) (Matsumura, ¶0034-0035), and wherein the DCI indicates a TCI codepoint indicating a TCI state pair comprising a downlink TCI state of the one or more TCI states and an uplink TCI state of the one or more TCI states, wherein the method further comprises: sending, based on the uplink TCI state, at least one uplink signal (Matsumura, ¶0158-0159). 9. Claims 12 and 18 are similarly analyzed as claim 4 for obviousness reason discussed above. 10. As per claim 5, Yi in view of Matsumura teaches the method of claim 1, further comprising: sending one or more uplink signals based on the default TCI state list (Yi, ¶0172). 11. Claims 13 and 19 are similarly analyzed as claim 5 for obviousness reason discussed above. 12. As per claim 6, Yi in view of Matsumura teaches the method of claim 1, wherein the determining the default TCI state list comprises a determination that the configuration parameters indicate a first TCI state list, of the plurality of TCI state lists, as the default TCI state list of the cell of the plurality of cells (Yi, ¶0173). 13. Claims 14 and 20 are similarly analyzed as claim 6 for obviousness reason discussed above. 14. As per claim 7, Yi in view of Matsumura teaches the method of claim 1, wherein the at least one downlink signal comprises at least one of: a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH); a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH); a synchronization signal block (SSB); or a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) (Yi, ¶0173). 15. As per claim 8, Yi in view of Matsumura teaches the method of claim 1, further comprising: determining that the default TCI state list is applied before a time point of any TCI state indicated by downlink control information or a medium access control control element (Yi, ¶0173 0174). Conclusion Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ZEWDU A KASSA whose telephone number is (571)270-5253. The examiner can normally be reached 9-5:30. 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, David Payne can be reached at 5712723024. 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. ZEWDU A. KASSA Examiner Art Unit 2637 /ZEWDU A KASSA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2635
Read full office action

Prosecution Timeline

Feb 04, 2025
Application Filed
Aug 10, 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
89%
Grant Probability
94%
With Interview (+5.1%)
2y 4m (~9m remaining)
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 825 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allowance rate.

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