Prosecution Insights
Last updated: April 19, 2026
Application No. 18/408,669

COMMUNICATION METHOD AND APPARATUS

Non-Final OA §112
Filed
Jan 10, 2024
Examiner
DUONG, THAO DUC
Art Unit
2446
Tech Center
2400 — Computer Networks
Assignee
Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd.
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
87%
Grant Probability
Favorable
1-2
OA Rounds
2y 8m
To Grant
99%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 87% — above average
87%
Career Allow Rate
237 granted / 273 resolved
+28.8% vs TC avg
Strong +18% interview lift
Without
With
+18.3%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
2y 8m
Avg Prosecution
15 currently pending
Career history
288
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
9.1%
-30.9% vs TC avg
§103
58.9%
+18.9% vs TC avg
§102
9.8%
-30.2% vs TC avg
§112
10.3%
-29.7% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 273 resolved cases

Office Action

§112
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 . The claims filed on 1/30/2024 are entered and acknowledge. Claims 1-14, and 17-19 are amended. Claims 1, 7, 13 and 17 are allowed. Claims 1-20 are currently pending in the instant application. Drawings The drawings filed on 1/10/2024 have been considered. Information Disclosure Statement The information disclosure statement (IDS) was submitted on 10/15/2024, 12/5/2024 and 5/23/2025. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner. Allowable Subject Matter Claims 1-20 would be allowable provided that all objections and rejections under 35 USC 101/112 are obviated upon upcoming amendments/arguments without raising new issue that necessitate further consideration/searches. Claim Objections Claim 15 is objected to because of the following informalities: Claim 15, recites “The apparatus according to claim 13, wherein…”, however, it appears the dependency should be of claim 14. Otherwise, a 112 antecedent basis would be invoked for “the DNS detection information”. Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112 Claims 2, 8, 14 and 18 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. The term "EDNS" in claims 2, 8, 14 and 18 is a relative term which renders the claim indefinite. The term "EDNS" is not defined by the claim, the specification does not provide a standard for ascertaining the requisite degree, and one of ordinary skill in the art would not be reasonably able to associate the true meaning of the acronyms. Applicant is suggested to spell out the term prior to the first instance of each acronym. Claims 3-6, 7-12, 15-16 and 19-20 being dependent upon a rejected base claim are rejected for the same reasons as set forth above. Conclusion The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant’s disclosure. Xiong et al. Pub. No.: (US 2023/0086304 A1). The subject matter disclosed therein is pertinent to that of claims 1-20 (e.g., Method and apparatus for transmitting address information, method and apparatus for obtaining address information, device and medium). Tang et al. Pub. No.: (US 2024/0187374 A1). The subject matter disclosed therein is pertinent to that of claims 1-20 (e.g., Method and apparatus for improving a server discovery handling procedure). Thiebuat et al. Pub. No.: (US 20220321475 A1). The subject matter disclosed therein is pertinent to that of claims 1-20 (e.g., Method and apparatus for enforcing packet detection rules). Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to THAO DUC DUONG whose telephone number is (571)272-2350. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F 9-5. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Brian Gillis can be reached on (571)272-7952. 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. /T. D./ Examiner, Art Unit 2446 /MICHAEL A KELLER/Primary Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2446
Read full office action

Prosecution Timeline

Jan 10, 2024
Application Filed
Jan 30, 2024
Response after Non-Final Action
Jan 10, 2026
Non-Final Rejection — §112 (current)

Precedent Cases

Applications granted by this same examiner with similar technology

Patent 12598450
METHOD AND DEVICE FOR AUGMENTING DATA IN M2M SYSTEM
2y 5m to grant Granted Apr 07, 2026
Patent 12593266
Method and Apparatus for Media Application Function Exposure Functionality
2y 5m to grant Granted Mar 31, 2026
Patent 12580828
SUPPORTING SLICES ON A CELL LEVEL IN A TELECOMMUNICATION NETWORK
2y 5m to grant Granted Mar 17, 2026
Patent 12549770
AUTOMATIC GENERATION OF VIDEO CONTENT IN RESPONSE TO NETWORK INTERRUPTION
2y 5m to grant Granted Feb 10, 2026
Patent 12549497
ACTIVITY BASED ELECTRICAL COMPUTER SYSTEM REQUEST PROCESSING ARCHITECTURE
2y 5m to grant Granted Feb 10, 2026
Study what changed to get past this examiner. Based on 5 most recent grants.

AI Strategy Recommendation

Get an AI-powered prosecution strategy using examiner precedents, rejection analysis, and claim mapping.
Powered by AI — typically takes 5-10 seconds

Prosecution Projections

1-2
Expected OA Rounds
87%
Grant Probability
99%
With Interview (+18.3%)
2y 8m
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 273 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allow rate.

Sign in with your work email

Enter your email to receive a magic link. No password needed.

Personal email addresses (Gmail, Yahoo, etc.) are not accepted.

Free tier: 3 strategy analyses per month