Prosecution Insights
Last updated: April 19, 2026
Application No. 18/476,684

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR DETERMINING COMMUNICATION MODE, AND RELATED DEVICE

Non-Final OA §102
Filed
Sep 28, 2023
Examiner
HO, DUC CHI
Art Unit
2465
Tech Center
2400 — Computer Networks
Assignee
Vivo Mobile Communication Co., Ltd.
OA Round
2 (Non-Final)
93%
Grant Probability
Favorable
2-3
OA Rounds
2y 7m
To Grant
99%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 93% — above average
93%
Career Allow Rate
1101 granted / 1184 resolved
+35.0% vs TC avg
Moderate +7% lift
Without
With
+7.4%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
2y 7m
Avg Prosecution
29 currently pending
Career history
1213
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
9.5%
-30.5% vs TC avg
§103
32.1%
-7.9% vs TC avg
§102
9.3%
-30.7% vs TC avg
§112
30.9%
-9.1% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 1184 resolved cases

Office Action

§102
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 . 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)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention. Claims 1-2, 4-6, 8, 10, 12, 17, 18 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Zhang, Hui-ying (CN-110098858 A - IDS), hereinafter Zhang. Regarding claim 1, Zhang discloses: (1) a relay terminal receives a relay request message sent by remote terminal; based on the relay request message, the relay terminal determines the relay working mode provided to the remote terminal, and send information indicating the relay working mode to the remote terminal, see 0011-0013 (equivalent to obtaining, by a terminal, first information); (2) [0026] when the relay request message carries service information (first object) that the remote terminal needs to relay, the steps for determining the relay working mode provided to the remote terminal based on the relay request message include: [0027] Based on the priority of the services that the remote terminal needs to relay, the first relay working mode is determined for the remote terminal, where the first relay working mode is the relay working mode required by the high-priority services (a service type), (equivalent to the first information comprising at least one of: a mapping relationship between a first object and a relay communication mode; the first object comprises a service type; and determining, by the terminal, a first relay communication mode corresponding to the first information based on the first information, wherein the first relay communication mode is used for terminal communication of the terminal). Regarding claim 2, Zhang also discloses the following features (see supra): wherein the above-mentioned relay operation modes include, but are not limited to: at least one of L2 terminal-to-UE Relay, L3 terminal-to-UE Relay, L2 terminal-to-Network Relay, and L3 terminal-to-Network Relay; if the relay operation mode selection policy is preconfigured, the relay terminal, upon receiving the relay request message, determines a relay operation mode to provide for the remote terminal in accordance with the relay operation mode selection policy; assuming that L2 relays are preconfigured to take precedence over L3 relays, when the relay terminal selects the relay operation mode, L2 relays are preferentially selected (equivalent to an L2-preferred relay communication mode). Regarding claim 4, the relay terminal, upon receiving the relay request message transmitted by the remote terminal, selecting and determining a suitable relay operating mode for the remote terminal in accordance with the relay requirements characterized by the relay request message to meet the relay requirements of the remote terminal, the relay request message carrying at least one of the following information: traffic information that the remote terminal (Remote UE) needs to relay; identification information of the remote terminal (equivalent to the granularity at which the application layer indicates the way of relaying communication includes one of the following: terminal). Regarding claim 5, please see the rejection of claim 1. The terminal receives the first information from the relay terminal (first core network device). Regarding claim 6, as shown in FIG. 2, the D2D communication is as follows: UE1 (first core network) and UE2 close to each other, by directly establishing a link between the two UEs, so the communication link originally transmitted through the network device into the direct communication link local, saves a lot of bandwidth and network efficiency. Regarding claim 8, please see the rejection of claim 1. The rejection of claim 1 is for a method for determining a communication mode by a terminal which receives first information from a BS, e.g., the BS-fig.3, and it should be noted that a method for determining a communication mode by a first core network device (BS) which transmits first information to the terminal can be performed in a similar manner. Regarding claim 10, this claim has similar limitations as those of claim 6. Therefore, it is rejected under Zhang for the same reasons as set forth in the rejection of claim 6. Regarding claim 12, based on the priority of the services that the remote terminal needs to relay, the first relay working mode is determined for the remote terminal, where the first relay working mode is the relay working mode required by the high-priority services, see 0027 (second information); and the relay terminal (first core network device) based on the high-priority service generate the first relay working mode for the remote terminal, where the first relay working mode is the relay working mode required by the high-priority services. Regarding claim 17, this claim has similar limitations as those of claim 1. Therefore, it is rejected under Zhang for the same reasons as set forth in the rejection of claim 1. The relay terminal includes a memory (not shown) storing instructions, when executed by a processor (not shown) causes the relay terminal to perform the claimed steps. Regarding claim 18, this claim has similar limitations as those of claim 8. Therefore, it is rejected under Zhang for the same reasons as set forth in the rejection of claim 1. The BS-fig.3 includes a memory (not shown) storing instructions, when executed by a processor (not shown) causes the BS or a core network device to perform the claimed steps. Regarding claim 20, this claim has similar limitations as those of claim 1. Therefore, it is rejected under Zhang for the same reasons as set forth in the rejection of claim 1. The relay terminal includes a non-transitory readable storage medium (not shown) storing instructions, when executed by a processor (not shown) causes the relay terminal to perform the claimed steps. Claim 14 and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Yokohama (US 2012/0122391 A1). Regarding claim 14, Yokohama teaches: (1) a base station 12-fig.1 (first core network device) performs communications with a mobile terminal 16 via a relay station 14 (second core network device). For example, the relay station 14 transmits data received from the base station 12 to the mobile terminal 16. The communication mode according to this cooperation method will be hereinafter referred to as the "relayed communication mode.", see 0047; (2) A transmitting unit 34 transmits the notification information and the information (second information) from the OAM device 18 to the relay station 14 and a mobile terminal 16, wherein the information as traffic information is collected from the base station 12 and the relay station 14 in order to determine on which base station the relay station 14 is to depend (equivalent to second information is used for assisting in relay communication mode selection), see 0055-0057 . Regarding claim 19, this claim has similar limitations as those of claim 14. Therefore, it is rejected under Yokohama for the same reasons as set forth in the rejection of claim 14. The base station 12-fig.1 includes a memory (not shown) storing instructions, when executed by a processor (not shown) causes the base station to perform the claimed steps. Allowable subject matter 7. Claims 3, 7, 9, 11, 13 and 15-16 are rejected based on its dependency, would be allowable if rewritten or amended to include all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims. Conclusion 8. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DUC C HO whose telephone number is (571)272-3147. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F 8am-4pm. 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, Gary Mui can be reached on 571-270-1420 (Gary.mui@uspto.gov). The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see https://ppair-my.uspto.gov/pair/PrivatePair. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative or access to the automated information system, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000. /DUC C HO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2465
Read full office action

Prosecution Timeline

Sep 28, 2023
Application Filed
Nov 01, 2025
Non-Final Rejection — §102
Jan 15, 2026
Response Filed
Mar 24, 2026
Non-Final Rejection — §102 (current)

Precedent Cases

Applications granted by this same examiner with similar technology

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METHOD AND DEVICE FOR WIRELESS COMMUNICATION IN UE AND BASE STATION
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2y 5m to grant Granted Mar 31, 2026
Patent 12588104
METHOD, DEVICE AND COMPUTER READABLE MEDIUM FOR COMMUNICATIONS
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2y 5m to grant Granted Mar 24, 2026
Study what changed to get past this examiner. Based on 5 most recent grants.

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Prosecution Projections

2-3
Expected OA Rounds
93%
Grant Probability
99%
With Interview (+7.4%)
2y 7m
Median Time to Grant
Moderate
PTA Risk
Based on 1184 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allow rate.

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