Prosecution Insights
Last updated: August 18, 2026
Application No. 19/135,115

MODULATION-ENHANCED AUTHENTICATION

Non-Final OA §102
Filed
Jun 03, 2025
Priority
Dec 12, 2022 — FI 20226097 +1 more
Examiner
SONG, HOSUK
Art Unit
2435
Tech Center
2400 — Computer Networks
Assignee
Nokia Corporation
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
95%
Grant Probability
Favorable
1-2
OA Rounds
12m
Est. Remaining
98%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 95% — above average
95%
Career Allowance Rate
1460 granted / 1542 resolved
+36.7% vs TC avg
Minimal +3% lift
Without
With
+2.9%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
2y 2m
Avg Prosecution
22 currently pending
Career history
1560
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
16.5%
-23.5% vs TC avg
§103
7.2%
-32.8% vs TC avg
§102
39.2%
-0.8% vs TC avg
§112
11.0%
-29.0% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 1542 resolved cases

Office Action

§102
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 . Status of Claims Claims 1-18 canceled. Claims 19-38 are pending in this application. Information Disclosure Statement The Information Disclosure Statement(s) submitted by applicant on 6/3/2025 and 9/4/2025 has/have been considered. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Form PTO-1449 signed and attached hereto. 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. Claim(s) 19-24,26-29,31-38 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Rahbari et al (Secrecy beyond Encryption: obfuscating transmission signatures in wireless communications: IEEE Communications Magazine). Claim 19: Rahbari disclose generate a modulation symbol based on at least two bit sequences or at least two symbol sequences, wherein at least one sequence of the at least two bit sequences or the at least two symbol sequences is associated with a reference bit sequence or a reference symbol sequence, and at least one other sequence of the at least two bit sequences or the at least two symbol sequences is associated with a pre-defined key; and transmit the modulation symbol in (fig.6; page 59, first paragraph: The robustness of FJ against the aforementioned attacks can be significantly improved if the FJ signal is transmit ted from the same antenna as the information signal and is intermixed cryptographically with it (i.e., via stream ciphering). Friendly CryptoJam (FCJ) [14] does that by using a secret modulated FJ signal to encrypt the modulated headers of the frame. In contrast to classic FJ, this signal is known to the Rx and is not a function of the Tx-Rx channel. Furthermore, FCJ obfuscates the payload’s modulation scheme (and hence packet size and data rate) by hiding it in the highest-or der modulation scheme. FCJ combines the jamming signal with the modulated data signal before transmission. Instead of nullifying the FJ signal at the Rx, in FCJ a secret sequence of modulated symbols is generated at both the Tx and Rx, based on a shared secret key. This signal is used for two purposes. First, it encrypts the modulated symbols by securely relocating each modulated symbol within the same constellation map (Fig. 6). Rx uses the same sequence to recover the original modulated symbols from the received encrypted symbols). Claim 20: Rahbari disclose reference bit sequence or the reference symbol sequence is associated with at least one of the following: a Zadoff-Chu sequence, a positioning reference signal, or a sounding reference signal in (page 55; first paragraph). Claim 21: Rahbari disclose pre-defined key is associated with authentication information in (page 57; transmitter authentication). Claim 22: Rahbari disclose pre-defined key is known by an intended receiver of the modulation symbol in (page 57; transmitter authentication). Claim 23: Rahbari disclose modulation symbol is generated by providing the at least two bit sequences to at least one modulator, and applying a labelling for associating the modulation symbol with the at least two bit sequences in (fig.6). Claim 24: Rahbari disclose change, based on an indication received from a network node, the labelling for at least one of the following: the at least one modulator, or at least one other transmitted modulation symbol, wherein the labelling is changed in a manner known by an intended receiver in (fig.6). Claim 26: Rahbari disclose modulation pattern is modified by moving one or more modulation symbols ofthe modulation pattern in an in-phase direction, or in a quadrature direction, or in both the in-phase direction and the quadrature direction based on the pre-defined key in (page 59: Friendly CryptoJam). Claim 27: Rahbari disclose the first modulation comprises quadrature phase shift keying, QPSK, and the second modulation comprises 16 quadrature amplitude modulation, 16QAM in (page 59: Friendly CryptoJam). Claim 28: Rahbari disclose receive a modulation symbol from a transmitter; compare the modulation symbol at least with an expected modulation symbol, wherein the expected modulation symbol is based on a pre-defined key; and authenticate the transmitter based at least partly on the comparison in (page 57, Transmitter authentication; page 59, Friendly CryptoJam: FCJ a secret sequence of modulated symbols is generated at both the Tx and Rx, based on a shared secret key. This signal is used for two purposes. First, it encrypts the modulated symbols by securely relocating each modulated symbol within the same constellation map (Fig. 6). Rx uses the same sequence to recover the original modulated symbols from the received encrypted symbols. Encryption is based on a shared secret key. In a network of nodes, different pairs of nodes establish distinct keys for different sessions during the association process at the MAC layer. Session participants are identified by globally unique MAC addresses). Claim 29: Rahbari disclose the comparison is based on an error vector magnitude between the received modulation symbol and the expected modulation symbol in (fig.6). Claim 31: Rahbari disclose read the reference signal, while the reference signal is coded into the second modulation in (fig.6). Claim 32: Rahbari disclose convert the second modulation to a first modulation, wherein the second modulation comprises a higher modulation order than the first modulation; and process the reference signal based on the first modulation in (page 59; second paragraph). Claim 33: Rahbari disclose generating a modulation symbol based on at least two bit sequences or at least two symbol sequences, wherein at least one sequence of the at least two bit sequences or the at least two symbol sequences is associated with a reference bit sequence or a reference symbol sequence, and at least one other sequence of the at least two bit sequences or the at least two symbol sequences is associated with a pre-defined key; and means for transmitting the modulation symbol in (page 57, Transmitter authentication; page 59, Friendly CryptoJam: FCJ a secret sequence of modulated symbols is generated at both the Tx and Rx, based on a shared secret key. This signal is used for two purposes. First, it encrypts the modulated symbols by securely relocating each modulated symbol within the same constellation map (Fig. 6). Rx uses the same sequence to recover the original modulated symbols from the received encrypted symbols. Encryption is based on a shared secret key. In a network of nodes, different pairs of nodes establish distinct keys for different sessions during the association process at the MAC layer. Session participants are identified by globally unique MAC addresses). Claim 34: Rahbari disclose reference bit sequence or the reference symbol sequence is associated with at least one of the following: a Zadoff-Chu sequence, a positioning reference signal, or a sounding reference signal in (page 55; first paragraph). Claim 35: Rahbari disclose pre-defined key is associated with authentication information in (page 57; transmitter authentication). Claim 36: Rahbari disclose pre-defined key is known by an intended receiver of the modulation symbol in (page 57; transmitter authentication). Claim 37: Rahbari disclose modulation symbol is generated by providing the at least two bit sequences to at least one modulator, and applying a labelling for associating the modulation symbol with the at least two bit sequences in (fig.6). Claim 38: Rahbari disclose change, based on an indication received from a network node, the labelling for at least one of the following: the at least one modulator, or at least one other transmitted modulation symbol, wherein the labelling is changed in a manner known by an intended receiver in (fig.6). Allowable Subject Matter Claims 25,30 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. USPTO Contact Information Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to HOSUK SONG whose telephone number is (571)272-3857. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri: 7:30AM-5:00PM. 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, Amir Mehrmanesh can be reached 571-270-3351. 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. /HOSUK SONG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2435
Read full office action

Prosecution Timeline

Jun 03, 2025
Application Filed
Jul 21, 2026
Non-Final Rejection mailed — §102 (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
95%
Grant Probability
98%
With Interview (+2.9%)
2y 2m (~12m remaining)
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 1542 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allowance rate.

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