Prosecution Insights
Last updated: October 02, 2026
Application No. 19/105,549

BASE STATION APPARATUS, COMMUNICATION SYSTEM, BEAM SEARCHING METHOD AND PROGRAM

Non-Final OA §112
Filed
Feb 21, 2025
Priority
Aug 26, 2022 — nonprovisional of PCTJP2022032247
Examiner
HAILEGIORGIS, FITWI Y
Art Unit
2632
Tech Center
2600 — Communications
Assignee
Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
91%
Grant Probability
Favorable
1-2
OA Rounds
5m
Est. Remaining
75%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 91% — above average
91%
Career Allowance Rate
446 granted / 492 resolved
+28.7% vs TC avg
Minimal -16% lift
Without
With
+-15.7%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Fast prosecutor
2y 1m
Avg Prosecution
11 currently pending
Career history
505
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
4.7%
-35.3% vs TC avg
§103
64.7%
+24.7% vs TC avg
§102
13.4%
-26.6% vs TC avg
§112
8.8%
-31.2% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 492 resolved cases

Office Action

§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 . Information Disclosure Statement The information disclosure statements (IDS) submitted on 02/21/2025 and 06/05/2026 has been considered and placed on record. 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, 2, 5 and 6 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. Claim 1 recites the limitation "a beam ID assigner configured to assign different beam IDs to the candidate beams of the same terminal device and assign beam IDs to candidate beams among different terminal devices so that the number of combinations of the candidate beams to which the same beam ID is assigned is maximized” lines 5-8 (emphases added). There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim since the underlined phrases were not mentioned previously. Claim 2 recites the limitation "wherein, when the candidate beam is duplicated between the terminal devices, the beam ID assigner assigns the same beam ID to the duplicated candidate beam" in line 2 (emphasis added). There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim since the underlined phrase was not mentioned previously. Claim 5 recites the limitation "a usage candidate beam selector that selects a candidate beam to be used based on the reception quality and a correspondence relation between a pilot signal and a beam ID of a candidate beam" (emphases added) in lines 7-9. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim since it is not clear which “candidate beam” and ‘pilot signal” are referred. Claim 6 recites the limitation " assigning a different beam ID to the candidate beam of the same terminal device and assigning beam IDs to candidate beams among different terminal devices so that the number of combinations of the candidate beams to which the same beam ID is assigned is maximized" in lines 5-9 (emphasis added). There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim since the underlined phrases were not mentioned previously. Claims 3, 4 and 7 are objected since they dependent on 35 USC 112(b) rejected claims. Conclusion The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. US 2014/0073337 A1 teaches a communication device using a millimeter-wave frequency band and a communication method using the millimeter-wave frequency band. US 2021/0289487 A1 relates to methods for operating a wireless communication system, in particular to methods for operating an access node of a wireless communication system according to multiple input and multiple output (MIMO) technologies. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to FITWI Y HAILEGIORGIS whose telephone number is (571)270-1881. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 10AM-6PM. 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, Chieh Fan can be reached at 571-272-3042. 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. FITWI Y. HAILEGIORGIS Primary Examiner Art Unit 2632 /FITWI Y HAILEGIORGIS/Examiner, Art Unit 2632
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Prosecution Timeline

Feb 21, 2025
Application Filed
Aug 26, 2026
Non-Final Rejection mailed — §112 (current)

Precedent Cases

Applications granted by this same examiner with similar technology

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3y 3m to grant Granted Sep 29, 2026
Patent 12750087
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2y 12m to grant Granted Sep 29, 2026
Patent 12750124
GROUP-BASED BEAM MANAGEMENT
1y 11m to grant Granted Sep 29, 2026
Patent 12744569
REINFORCEMENT LEARNING OF BEAM CODEBOOKS FOR MILLIMETER WAVE AND TERAHERTZ MIMO SYSTEMS
2y 8m to grant Granted Sep 22, 2026
Patent 12744607
BEAM DOMAIN CHANNEL MODELING METHOD FOR ORBITAL ANGULAR MOMENTUM WIRELESS COMMUNICATION
2y 2m to grant Granted Sep 22, 2026
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
91%
Grant Probability
75%
With Interview (-15.7%)
2y 1m (~5m remaining)
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 492 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allowance rate.

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