Prosecution Insights
Last updated: April 19, 2026
Application No. 19/233,681

MULTICAST AND BROADCAST CONFIGURATION SIGNALING

Non-Final OA §103
Filed
Jun 10, 2025
Examiner
BLANTON, JOHN D
Art Unit
2466
Tech Center
2400 — Computer Networks
Assignee
Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha
OA Round
3 (Non-Final)
77%
Grant Probability
Favorable
3-4
OA Rounds
3y 0m
To Grant
85%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 77% — above average
77%
Career Allow Rate
784 granted / 1014 resolved
+19.3% vs TC avg
Moderate +8% lift
Without
With
+8.1%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
3y 0m
Avg Prosecution
48 currently pending
Career history
1062
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
5.2%
-34.8% vs TC avg
§103
52.8%
+12.8% vs TC avg
§102
19.6%
-20.4% vs TC avg
§112
11.5%
-28.5% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 1014 resolved cases

Office Action

§103
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 . Response to Arguments Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 49, 50, 60, 71, and 72 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument. 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. The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows: 1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art. 2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue. 3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art. 4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness. Claim(s) 49, 60, 71, and 72 is/are rejected rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Li (US 2023/0189243) in view of Chai (US 2024/0129785). For claims 49, 60, 71, and 72; Li discloses: receiving one or more configuration parameters of semi-persistent scheduling (SPS), the one or more configuration parameters of the SPS being associated with one or more multicast broadcast services and being configured per bandwidth part (BWP) by Radio Resource Control (RRC) (paragraph 3, 118: For transmission of a semi-persistent scheduling (SPS) physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH), some parameters of downlink (DL) SPS are configured by a higher layer…the determining the type of the SPS PDSCH according to configuration signaling of the SPS PDSCH includes: if the configuration signaling of the SPS PDSCH is used to configure the SPS PDSCH on a first target resource, determining that the SPS PDSCH is a multicast SPS PDSCH, where the first target resource is a resource corresponding to multicast downlink transmission, for example, a BWP corresponding to the multicast downlink transmission); receiving downlink control information that indicates activation for an assignment based on the SPS (paragraph 3, 15, 75, 97, 99: transmission is activated by using downlink control information (DCI). After downlink SPS transmission is activated, PDSCH transmission is periodically initiated, and these PDSCH transmissions have no corresponding DCI indication…the indication module indicates the type of the SPS PDSCH to the terminal includes: activating the SPS PDSCH by using target DCI, and indicating, by using the target DCI, the type configured for the activated SPS PDSCH); and receiving, based on the assignment activated by the downlink control information, data associated with the one or more multicast broadcast services (paragraph 3, 99, 100: the target DCI is multicast DCI, and indicates that the activated SPS PDSCH is a multicast SPS PDSCH, where the multicast DCI is scrambled by using a specific RNTI…the determining the type of the SPS PDSCH according to configuration signaling of the SPS PDSCH includes: if the configuration signaling of the SPS PDSCH is used to configure the SPS PDSCH on a first target resource, determining that the SPS PDSCH is a multicast SPS PDSCH, where the first target resource is a resource corresponding to multicast downlink transmission, for example, a BWP corresponding to the multicast downlink transmission), wherein multiple assignments can be active simultaneously (paragraph 4: terminal may configure one or more DL SPSs on one or more serving cells…A plurality of simultaneously activated DL SPS configurations help reduce a latency and provide a possibility for support of a plurality of different service types by UE). Li expressly discloses “wherein multiple assignments can be active simultaneously” (paragraph 4), but Li does not expressly disclose, but Chai from similar fields of endeavor teaches: wherein multiple assignments can be active simultaneously in the BWP (paragraph 1215: there may be one or more broadcast or multicast services. The second BWP may be one BWP associated with all broadcast or multicast services, or may include multiple BWPs associated with multiple broadcast or multicast services. That is, an associated BWP may be configured for one or more broadcast/multicast services, or all broadcast/multicast services may be configured in one associated BWP). Thus it would have been obvious to the person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to implement the multicast BWP as described by Chai in the MBS scheduling as described by Li. The motivation is to improve resource usage in a BWP. Claim(s) 50 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Li in view of Chai as applied to claim 49 above, and further in view of Liu et al. (US 2021/0282114) (“Liu”). For claim 50; Li discloses the subject matter in claim 49 as described above in the office action. Li does not expressly disclose, but Liu from similar fields of endeavor teaches: receiving a downlink control signal that indicates deactivation of the assignment based on the SPS; and stopping reception of the data associated with the one or more multicast broadcast services based on the downlink control signal that indicates the deactivation of the assignment (paragraph 163: The base station 602 may indicate activation (or “triggering”) of SPS signaling transmission over a set of SPS occasions using DCI on a downlink control channel (e.g., PDCCH). Similarly, the base station 602 may release (or deactivate) the SPS signaling transmission using DCI on the downlink control channel (e.g., PDCCH). Accordingly, SPS signaling is dependent upon DCI on the downlink control channel for activation and release). Thus it would have been obvious to the person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to implement the signaling as described by Liu in the MBS as described by Li. The motivation is to improve configuration of multiple services. Conclusion The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Park et al. (US 2022/0322169); Park discloses the MBS interest service list comprises at least one of: an MBS frequency; an MBS session identifier; a group-radio network temporary identifier (G-RNTI) of an MBS service or a vehicle-to-everything (V2X) service; a destination layer-2 identifier for the MBS service or the V2X service; an MBS service priority; or a V2X service priority. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JOHN D BLANTON whose telephone number is (571)270-3933. The examiner can normally be reached 7am-6pm EST, Mon-Thu. 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, Faruk Hamza can be reached at 571-272-7969. 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. /JOHN D BLANTON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2466
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Prosecution Timeline

Jun 10, 2025
Application Filed
Jul 16, 2025
Non-Final Rejection — §103
Sep 29, 2025
Response Filed
Nov 03, 2025
Final Rejection — §103
Jan 05, 2026
Response after Non-Final Action
Feb 02, 2026
Request for Continued Examination
Feb 13, 2026
Response after Non-Final Action
Mar 10, 2026
Non-Final Rejection — §103 (current)

Precedent Cases

Applications granted by this same examiner with similar technology

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Study what changed to get past this examiner. Based on 5 most recent grants.

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Prosecution Projections

3-4
Expected OA Rounds
77%
Grant Probability
85%
With Interview (+8.1%)
3y 0m
Median Time to Grant
High
PTA Risk
Based on 1014 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allow rate.

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