Prosecution Insights
Last updated: April 19, 2026
Application No. 18/163,898

COMMUNICATION METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR SWITCHING BANDWIDTH PARTS

Non-Final OA §103
Filed
Feb 03, 2023
Examiner
TOWFIGHI, AFSHAWN M
Art Unit
2469
Tech Center
2400 — Computer Networks
Assignee
Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd.
OA Round
3 (Non-Final)
88%
Grant Probability
Favorable
3-4
OA Rounds
2y 8m
To Grant
97%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 88% — above average
88%
Career Allow Rate
828 granted / 946 resolved
+29.5% vs TC avg
Moderate +9% lift
Without
With
+9.1%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
2y 8m
Avg Prosecution
28 currently pending
Career history
974
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
5.6%
-34.4% vs TC avg
§103
39.4%
-0.6% vs TC avg
§102
34.3%
-5.7% vs TC avg
§112
10.6%
-29.4% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 946 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 . Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114 A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 2/9/26 has been entered. Response to Arguments Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1, 2-8, 9, 10-14, 15, 16-20 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 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 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. Claims 1, 4-10, 13-16, 19, 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Huawei (CN 111436082), as disclosed in the IDS, and further in view of Park et al (Pub No: 2020/0288474). As to claim 1, Huawei teaches an apparatus, wherein the apparatus is a terminal device or is applied to the terminal device, and the apparatus comprising: one or more processors; and a memory having instructions stored thereon that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to (Huawei, Pg. 44 Paragraphs 3-4, a terminal device with processor and memory): camp on a first bandwidth part (BWP) in response to being in a radio resource control (RRC)-non-connected state (Huawei, Pg. 3 Paragraphs 1-2, a terminal device is on a first BWP (camping) for the corresponding state); wherein the RRC-non-connected state is an idle state (Huawei, Pg. 11 Para 1, the state of terminal is in an idle state). receive a first message from a network device, wherein the first message is for indicating a second BWP (Huawei, Pg. 3 Paragraphs 1-2, receiving switching indication information indicating to go to a second (different) BWP)); and switch from the first BWP to the second BWP (Huawei, Pg. 3 Paragraphs 1-2, switching to a second BWP upon receiving switching indication information). Huawei does not explicitly teach a message from a network device includes a configuration parameter of the second BWP, the configuration parameter includes first bits for indicating an identifier (ID) of the second BWP. However, Park teaches a message from a network device includes a configuration parameter of the second BWP, the configuration parameter includes first bits for indicating an identifier (ID) of the second BWP (Park, [0045], receiving a configuration message with information (parameters) from the network device that includes an identifier (ID) of the added/second BWP. Information in a message of a computer system is conveyed in bits). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing data of the claimed invention to provide additional BWP configuration identifier as taught by Park in the system of Huawei, so that it would provide information configuration and accuracy for beam failure detection and recovery (Park [0007]). As to claim 4, Huawei teaches wherein the first message is useable for indicating at least one of following content: an identifier of the second BWP, information about a terminal device that uses BWP switching, a type of the terminal device that uses BWP switching, a BWP switch period (Huawei, Pg. 3 Paragraph 6- Pg. 4 Paragraph 1, the indication message with a time period for BWP switching). As to claim 5, Huawei teaches wherein the one or more processors are further configured to: receive a second message from the network device, wherein the second message is useable for configuring one or more BWPs, and the one or more BWPs include the second BWP (Huawei, Pg. 25 Paragraph 6 – Pg. 26 Paragraph 1, a second DCI message from the network device with the same content and useable for configuring BWP2) . As to claim 6, Huawei teaches wherein the second message includes system information (Huawei, Pg. 8 Paragraph 7, the message includes DCI and SI). As to claim 7, Huawei teaches wherein the second message is useable for indicating at least one of following content in each of the one or more BWPs: a BWP switch period (Huawei, Pg. 25 Paragraph 6 – Pg. 26 Paragraph 2, a BWP switch period). As to claim 8, Huawei teaches wherein the first message is further useable for indicating at least one of following content in the second BWP: a BWP switch period (Huawei, Pg. 3 Paragraph 6- Pg. 4 Paragraph 1, the indication message with a time period for BWP switching). As to claim 9, Huawei teaches an apparatus, comprising: one or more processors; and a memory having instructions stored thereon that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to (Huawei, Pg. 49 Paragraphs 8, a network device with processor and memory): send a first message to a terminal device, wherein the first message is useable for indicating to the terminal device in a radio resource control (RRC)-non-connected state to switch from a first BWP to a second BWP (Huawei, Pg. 3 Paragraphs 1-2, sending switching indication information indicating to go to a second (different) BWP) from a first BWP when a device is in an out of network state (off/outside)). wherein the RRC-non-connected state is an idle state (Huawei, Pg. 11 Para 1, the state of terminal is in an idle state). Huawei does not explicitly teach a message from a network device includes a configuration parameter of the second BWP, the configuration parameter includes first bits for indicating an identifier (ID) of the second BWP. However, Park teaches a message from a network device includes a configuration parameter of the second BWP, the configuration parameter includes first bits for indicating an identifier (ID) of the second BWP (Park, [0045], receiving a configuration message with information (parameters) from the network device that includes an identifier (ID) of the added/second BWP. Information in a message of a computer system is conveyed in bits). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing data of the claimed invention to provide additional BWP configuration identifier as taught by Park in the system of Huawei, so that it would provide information configuration and accuracy for beam failure detection and recovery (Park [0007]). As to claim 10, Huawei teaches wherein the is one or more processors execute the instructions to further caused the one or more processors to: receive small data or a reference signal from the terminal device on the second BWP. As to claim 13, Huawei teaches wherein the first message is useable for indicating at least one of following content: an identifier of the second BWP, information about a terminal device that uses BWP switching, a type of the terminal device that uses BWP switching, a BWP switch period, a cell corresponding to the second BWP, or a resource for small data communication in the second BWP (Huawei, Pg. 3 Paragraph 6- Pg. 4 Paragraph 1, the indication message with a time period for BWP switching).. As to claim 14, Huawei teaches wherein the is one or more processors are further caused to: send a second message to the terminal device, wherein the second message is useable for configuring one or more BWPs for the terminal device, and the one or more BWPs include the second BWP (Huawei, Pg. 25 Paragraph 6 – Pg. 26 Paragraph 1, a second DCI message from the network device with the same content and useable for configuring BWP2) .. As to claim 15, Huawei teaches a method (Huawei, Pg. 3 Paragraphs 1-2, a method), comprising: sending a first message to a terminal device, wherein the first message is useable for indicating to the terminal device in a radio resource control (RRC)-non-connected state to switch from a first BWP to a second BWP (Huawei, Pg. 3 Paragraphs 1-2, sending switching indication information indicating to go to a second (different) BWP) from a first BWP when a device is in an out of network state (off/outside)). wherein the RRC-non-connected state is an idle state (Huawei, Pg. 11 Para 1, the state of terminal is in an idle state). Huawei does not explicitly teach a message from a network device includes a configuration parameter of the second BWP, the configuration parameter includes first bits for indicating an identifier (ID) of the second BWP. However, Park teaches a message from a network device includes a configuration parameter of the second BWP, the configuration parameter includes first bits for indicating an identifier (ID) of the second BWP (Park, [0045], receiving a configuration message with information (parameters) from the network device that includes an identifier (ID) of the added/second BWP. Information in a message of a computer system is conveyed in bits). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing data of the claimed invention to provide additional BWP configuration identifier as taught by Park in the system of Huawei, so that it would provide information configuration and accuracy for beam failure detection and recovery (Park [0007]). As to claim 16, Huawei teaches further comprising: receiving small data or a reference signal from the terminal device on the second BWP (Huawei, Pg 99-101 Figures, the terminal sends to the network device data using the BWP2 that was switched 2 for communication Page 2 Paragraph 7). As to claim 19, Huawei teaches wherein the first message is useable for indicating at least one of following content: an identifier of the second BWP, information about a terminal device that uses BWP switching, a type of the terminal device that uses BWP switching, a BWP switch period, a cell corresponding to the second BWP, or a resource for small data communication in the second BWP (Huawei, Pg. 3 Paragraph 6- Pg. 4 Paragraph 1, the indication message with a time period for BWP switching). As to claim 20, Huawei teaches further comprising: sending a second message to the terminal device, wherein the second message is useable for configuring one or more BWPs for the terminal device, and the one or more BWPs include the second BWP (Huawei, Pg. 25 Paragraph 6 – Pg. 26 Paragraph 1, a second DCI message from the network device with the same content and useable for configuring BWP2) Claims 2, 3, 11, 12, 17, 18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over the combination of Huawei and Park as applied to claims above, and further in view of Agiwal et al (Pub No: 12,369,138) As to claim 2, Huawei teaches wherein the first message is carried in downlink control information (DCI), and the DCI is first-type DCI (Huawei, Pg. 8 Paragraph 7, the message is carried in a type of DCI) Huawei does not explicitly teach wherein the DCI is scrambled by a paging radio network temporary identifier (P-RNTI) or is scrambled by a system information radio network temporary identifier (SI-RNTI); or the DCI is second-type DCI, including a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) order, wherein the DCI is useable for scheduling a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH), for scheduling a random access response, or for scheduling an acknowledgment (ACK)/negative acknowledgment (NACK) feedback for a configured grant (CG). However, Agiwal teaches the DCI is scrambled by a paging radio network temporary identifier (P-RNTI) (Agiwal, Col 9 L55-65 Col 10 L63-67). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing data of the claimed invention to provide “use DCI with P-RNTI” as taught by Agiwal in the system of Park and Huawei, so that it would enhance the method of updating SI (Agiwal, Col 4 L53-60). As to claim 3, Huawei teaches the limitations of claim 1. Huawei does not explicitly teach wherein the first message is carried in a PDSCH, and the PDSCH is useable for carrying at least one of following information: information for paging, system information, a random access response, an ACK/NACK feedback for a CG, or downlink small data. However, Agiwal teaches wherein the first message is carried in a PDSCH, and the PDSCH is useable for carrying at least one of following information: system information(Agiwal, Col 8 L 34-45, system information is transmitted over PDSCH and use for carrying system information). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing data of the claimed invention to provide “use DCI with P-RNTI” as taught by Agiwal in the system of Park and Huawei, so that it would enhance the method of updating SI (Agiwal, Col 4 L53-60). As to claim 11, Huawei teaches wherein the first message is carried in downlink control information (DCI), and the DCI is first-type DCI (Huawei, Pg. 8 Paragraph 7, the message is carried in a type of DCI) Huawei does not explicitly teach wherein the DCI is scrambled by a paging radio network temporary identifier (P-RNTI) or is scrambled by a system information radio network temporary identifier (SI-RNTI); or the DCI is second-type DCI, including a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) order, wherein the DCI is useable for scheduling a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH), for scheduling a random access response, or for scheduling an acknowledgment (ACK)/negative acknowledgment (NACK) feedback for a configured grant (CG). However, Agiwal teaches the DCI is scrambled by a paging radio network temporary identifier (P-RNTI) (Agiwal, Col 9 L55-65 Col 10 L63-67). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing data of the claimed invention to provide “use DCI with P-RNTI” as taught by Agiwal in the system of Park and Huawei, so that it would enhance the method of updating SI (Agiwal, Col 4 L53-60). As to claim 12, Huawei teaches the limitations of claim 9. Huawei does not explicitly teach wherein the first message is carried in a PDSCH, and the PDSCH is useable for carrying at least one of following information: information for paging, system information, a random access response, an ACK/NACK feedback for a CG, or downlink small data. However, Agiwal teaches wherein the first message is carried in a PDSCH, and the PDSCH is useable for carrying at least one of following information: system information(Agiwal, Col 8 L 34-45, system information is transmitted over PDSCH and use for carrying system information). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing data of the claimed invention to provide “use DCI with P-RNTI” as taught by Agiwal in the system of Park and Huawei, so that it would enhance the method of updating SI (Agiwal, Col 4 L53-60). As to claim 17, Huawei teaches wherein the first message is carried in downlink control information (DCI), and the DCI is first-type DCI (Huawei, Pg. 8 Paragraph 7, the message is carried in a type of DCI) Huawei does not explicitly teach wherein the DCI is scrambled by a paging radio network temporary identifier (P-RNTI) or is scrambled by a system information radio network temporary identifier (SI-RNTI); or the DCI is second-type DCI, including a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) order, wherein the DCI is useable for scheduling a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH), for scheduling a random access response, or for scheduling an acknowledgment (ACK)/negative acknowledgment (NACK) feedback for a configured grant (CG). However, Agiwal teaches the DCI is scrambled by a paging radio network temporary identifier (P-RNTI) (Agiwal, Col 9 L55-65 Col 10 L63-67). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing data of the claimed invention to provide “use DCI with P-RNTI” as taught by Agiwal in the system of Park and Huawei, so that it would enhance the method of updating SI (Agiwal, Col 4 L53-60). As to claim 18, Huawei teaches the limitations of claim 15. Huawei does not explicitly teach wherein the first message is carried in a PDSCH, and the PDSCH is useable for carrying at least one of following information: information for paging, system information, a random access response, an ACK/NACK feedback for a CG, or downlink small data. However, Agiwal teaches wherein the first message is carried in a PDSCH, and the PDSCH is useable for carrying at least one of following information: system information(Agiwal, Col 8 L 34-45, system information is transmitted over PDSCH and use for carrying system information). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing data of the claimed invention to provide “use DCI with P-RNTI” as taught by Agiwal in the system of Park and Huawei, so that it would enhance the method of updating SI (Agiwal, Col 4 L53-60). Conclusion Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to AFSHAWN M TOWFIGHI whose telephone number is (571)270-7296. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8:00 AM -5:00 PM. 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, Ian N Moore can be reached at 571-272-3085. 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. /AFSHAWN M TOWFIGHI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2469
Read full office action

Prosecution Timeline

Feb 03, 2023
Application Filed
Feb 16, 2023
Response after Non-Final Action
Jul 28, 2025
Non-Final Rejection — §103
Oct 24, 2025
Response Filed
Nov 06, 2025
Final Rejection — §103
Jan 06, 2026
Response after Non-Final Action
Feb 09, 2026
Request for Continued Examination
Feb 22, 2026
Response after Non-Final Action
Feb 23, 2026
Non-Final Rejection — §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

3-4
Expected OA Rounds
88%
Grant Probability
97%
With Interview (+9.1%)
2y 8m
Median Time to Grant
High
PTA Risk
Based on 946 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allow rate.

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