Prosecution Insights
Last updated: July 17, 2026
Application No. 18/743,433

METHOD FOR SWITCHING BANDWIDTH PARTS, AND TERMINAL AND NETWORK DEVICE

Non-Final OA §103
Filed
Jun 14, 2024
Priority
Dec 21, 2021 — continuation of PCTCN2021140182
Examiner
DAYA, TEJIS A
Art Unit
2471
Tech Center
2400 — Computer Networks
Assignee
Guangdong OPPO Mobile Telecommunications Corp., Ltd.
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
85%
Grant Probability
Favorable
1-2
OA Rounds
3m
Est. Remaining
87%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 85% — above average
85%
Career Allowance Rate
497 granted / 583 resolved
+27.2% vs TC avg
Minimal +2% lift
Without
With
+1.8%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
2y 4m
Avg Prosecution
19 currently pending
Career history
611
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
1.5%
-38.5% vs TC avg
§103
86.5%
+46.5% vs TC avg
§102
1.6%
-38.4% vs TC avg
§112
7.7%
-32.3% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 583 resolved cases

Office Action

§103
DETAILED ACTION Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status 1. The instant application No. 18743433 has claims 1-20 are pending. 2 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 § 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. 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) 1-6, 13, 16-18 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Xu (Pub. No. 20210368578 A1) in view of Weng et al. (Pub. No. 20160007292 A1; hereinafter Weng). Regarding claims 1 and 16, Xu discloses a terminal, comprising: a processor; (see 0017, a terminal device is provided, which includes a processor and a memory) wherein the processor is operable to determine a target BWP in an activated serving cell as an activated BWP in the activated serving cell in response to switching from a first receiving state to a second receiving state, (2021/0368578- See 0085, if the first terminal device monitors the downlink control channel out in the i-th DRX cycle and determines its own DRX information according to the downlink control channel, the DRX information may indicate the first terminal device to switch to the target BWP before the on-duration of the (i+1)-th DRX cycle, so that the first terminal device may transmit data on the target BWP; See 0068, when the each piece of DRX information is used for indicating each terminal device to switch to the target BWP after the DRX information of each terminal device, indicating each terminal device to wake up or sleep in the on-duration of the DRX cycle after the DRX information of each terminal device; interpreted determined the activated BWP from the dci information and in response to switching to on-duration switch bwp to the activated bwp) Xu fails to disclose the first receiving state and the second receiving state have different transmission parameters, the transmission parameters comprising at least one of a receiver, a waveform, a modulation mode, an encoding mode, or a multiple access mode. Weng discloses the first receiving state and the second receiving state have different transmission parameters, the transmission parameters comprising at least one of a receiver, a waveform, a modulation mode, an encoding mode, or a multiple access mode. (2016/0007292 A1-See 0026, if the UE is in a connected mode, the DL transmission may use a higher order modulation and coding scheme. Therefore, the channel estimation time may be longer because the UE may obtain a channel estimation of higher quality to decode the DL transmission. On the other hand, if the UE is in an idle mode, the DL transmission may use a lower order modulation and coding scheme and therefore the channel estimation time may be shorter.) It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify receiving drx information with bwp to activate for on duration switching to include idle mode and connected mode have different modulation. The motivation to combine is, the channel estimation time may be longer because the UE may obtain a channel estimation of higher quality to decode the DL transmission. On the other hand, if the UE is in an idle mode, the DL transmission may use a lower order modulation and coding scheme and therefore the channel estimation time may be shorter (See 0026). Regarding claims 2 and 17, Xu disclose the target BWP comprises one of: a first BWP configured by a network device; (See 0068, when the each piece of DRX information is used for indicating each terminal device to switch to the target BWP after the DRX information of each terminal device, indicating each terminal device to wake up or sleep in the on-duration of the DRX cycle after the DRX information of each terminal device; interpreted that the target bwp is a first bwp) an initial activated BWP; or a second BWP activated by the terminal prior to entering the first receiving state. Regarding claim 3, Xu discloses the target BWP comprises the first BWP, and the method further comprises: receiving, by the terminal, a configuration parameter of the first BWP configured by the network device. (See 0048, each piece of DRX information in the m pieces of DRX information is used for indicating at least one of the following: a target BWP, a target DRX configuration, a target DRX parameter, and a time length for monitoring a PDCCH in an on-duration of a DRX cycle.) Regarding claim 4, Xu discloses the first BWP indicates the activated BWP of the terminal in the activated serving cell in response to the terminal switching from the first receiving state to the second receiving state. (2021/0368578- See 0085, if the first terminal device monitors the downlink control channel out in the i-th DRX cycle and determines its own DRX information according to the downlink control channel, the DRX information may indicate the first terminal device to switch to the target BWP before the on-duration of the (i+1)-th DRX cycle, so that the first terminal device may transmit data on the target BWP; See 0068, when the each piece of DRX information is used for indicating each terminal device to switch to the target BWP after the DRX information of each terminal device, indicating each terminal device to wake up or sleep in the on-duration of the DRX cycle after the DRX information of each terminal device; interpreted determined the activated BWP from the dci information and in response to switching to on-duration switch bwp to the activated bwp) Regarding claim 5, Xu disclose the configuration parameter of the first BWP is configured over a system message or a terminal-specific signaling. (See 0049, each piece of DRX information is used for indicating the target BWP, each piece of DRX information is specifically used for indicating that a working BWP of each terminal device after DRX information of the each terminal device is the target BWP) Regarding claim 6, Xu discloses the terminal-specific signaling comprises one of: a radio resource control (RRC) signaling; a medium access control-control element (MAC-CE); a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH); (See 0048 and see 0051, the bwp information is send on the pdcch) or a low-power wake-up (LPW) signal. Regarding Claim 13, Xu fails to disclose the terminal is in a radio resource control (RRC) connected state. Weng disclose the terminal is in a radio resource control (RRC) connected state. (See 0003, The DRX cycle may be configured for a UE in either a connected mode or an idle mode; interpreted the terminal is in DRX connected mode is in RRC connected state) It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify receiving drx information with bwp to activate for on duration switching to include idle mode and connected mode have different modulation. The motivation to combine is, the channel estimation time may be longer because the UE may obtain a channel estimation of higher quality to decode the DL transmission. On the other hand, if the UE is in an idle mode, the DL transmission may use a lower order modulation and coding scheme and therefore the channel estimation time may be shorter (See 0026). Regarding claim 18, Xu disclose a network device, comprising: a processor; wherein the processor is operable to configure a configuration parameter of a first BWP for a terminal; (See 0048, each piece of DRX information in the m pieces of DRX information is used for indicating at least one of the following: a target BWP, a target DRX configuration, a target DRX parameter, and a time length for monitoring a PDCCH in an on-duration of a DRX cycle.) wherein the first BWP is an activated BWP in an activated serving cell determined by the terminal in response to switching from a first receiving state to a second receiving state, (2021/0368578- See 0085, if the first terminal device monitors the downlink control channel out in the i-th DRX cycle and determines its own DRX information according to the downlink control channel, the DRX information may indicate the first terminal device to switch to the target BWP before the on-duration of the (i+1)-th DRX cycle, so that the first terminal device may transmit data on the target BWP; See 0068, when the each piece of DRX information is used for indicating each terminal device to switch to the target BWP after the DRX information of each terminal device, indicating each terminal device to wake up or sleep in the on-duration of the DRX cycle after the DRX information of each terminal device; interpreted determined the activated BWP from the dci information and in response to switching to on-duration switch bwp to the activated bwp) However, Xu fails to disclose the first receiving state and the second receiving state have different transmission parameters, the transmission parameter comprising at least one of a receiver, a waveform, a modulation mode, an encoding mode, or a multiple access mode. Weng disclose the first receiving state and the second receiving state have different transmission parameters, the transmission parameters comprising at least one of a receiver, a waveform, a modulation mode, an encoding mode, or a multiple access mode. (2016/0007292 A1-See 0026, if the UE is in a connected mode, the DL transmission may use a higher order modulation and coding scheme. Therefore, the channel estimation time may be longer because the UE may obtain a channel estimation of higher quality to decode the DL transmission. On the other hand, if the UE is in an idle mode, the DL transmission may use a lower order modulation and coding scheme and therefore the channel estimation time may be shorter.) It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify receiving drx information with bwp to activate for on duration switching to include idle mode and connected mode have different modulation. The motivation to combine is, the channel estimation time may be longer because the UE may obtain a channel estimation of higher quality to decode the DL transmission. On the other hand, if the UE is in an idle mode, the DL transmission may use a lower order modulation and coding scheme and therefore the channel estimation time may be shorter (See 0026). Regarding claim 20, Xu discloses the processor is operable to: configure the configuration parameter of the first BWP for the terminal over a system message; or configure the configuration parameter of the first BWP for the terminal over a terminal-specific signaling, wherein the terminal-specific signaling comprises one of: a radio resource control (RRC) signaling; a medium access control-control element (MAC-CE); a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH); (See 0048 and see 0051, the bwp information is send on the pdcch) or a low-power wake-up (LPW) signal. Claim(s) 14-15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Xu in view of Weng and further in view of Ang et al. (Pub. No. US 2016/0128128 A1; hereinafter Ang). Regarding claim 14, Xu in view of Weng fails to disclose monitoring, by the terminal, a wake-up signal by a first receiver in a case that the terminal is in the first receiving state, wherein the first receiver of the terminal is in an operating state, a second receiver of the terminal is in an off state or a deep sleep state, the first receiver is used in the first receiving state, and the second receiver is used in the second receiving state. Ang discloses monitoring, by the terminal, a wake-up signal by a first receiver in a case that the terminal is in the first receiving state, (20160128128-See 0086, a UE may place a full-power (e.g., primary) receiver of the UE in a low power state (e.g., “deep sleep”) during I-DRX operations, wherein the full-power receiver consumes less than 100 mW (for example, 10 mW) of power, and turn on a companion low-power low-complexity receiver to monitor for paging indicators, “wake-up,” and other signals from a serving base station.) wherein the first receiver of the terminal is in an operating state, a second receiver of the terminal is in an off state or a deep sleep state, (See 0086, , a UE may place a full-power (e.g., primary) receiver of the UE in a low power state (e.g., “deep sleep”) during I-DRX operations, wherein the full-power receiver consumes less than 100 mW (for example, 10 mW) of power, and turn on a companion low-power low-complexity receiver to monitor for paging indicators, “wake-up,” and other signals from a serving base station.) the first receiver is used in the first receiving state, and the second receiver is used in the second receiving state. (See 0086, , a UE may place a full-power (e.g., primary) receiver of the UE in a low power state (e.g., “deep sleep”) during I-DRX operations, wherein the full-power receiver consumes less than 100 mW (for example, 10 mW) of power, and turn on a companion low-power low-complexity receiver to monitor for paging indicators, “wake-up,” and other signals from a serving base station.) It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify discloses switching bwp in drx mode to include one receiver is in deep sleep while another receiver is monitoring signals. The motivation to combine is enable and provide power efficient wireless communication as well as aiding in enabling latency capable of supporting latency for critical applications for enhanced user experience (See 0003). Regarding claim 15, Xu in view of Weng fails to disclose waking up, by the terminal, the second receiver in response to receiving the wake-up signal. Ang discloses waking up, by the terminal, the second receiver in response to receiving the wake-up signal. (See 0097, The UE detects the “wake-up” signal when the secondary receiver of the UE is active at 756d, and starts activation of the primary receiver or full modem of the UE.) It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify discloses switching bwp in drx mode to include one receiver is in deep sleep while another receiver is monitoring signals. The motivation to combine is enable and provide power efficient wireless communication as well as aiding in enabling latency capable of supporting latency for critical applications for enhanced user experience (See 0003). Claim(s) 19 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Xu in view of Weng and, further in view of He et al. (Pub. No. US 2019/0254110 A1; hereinafter He). Regarding claim 19, Xu in view of Weng fails to disclose the first BWP indicates the activated BWP of the terminal in the activated serving cell in response to the terminal switching from the first receiving state to the second receiving state. He discloses the first BWP indicates the activated BWP of the terminal in the activated serving cell in response to the terminal switching from the first receiving state to the second receiving state. (20190254110-see 0182, Information fields of WUS can include a BWP indicator field to indicate a BWP for the UE to switch to, when needed, before the next DRX cycle starts. Then, same slot scheduling at the start of next DRX cycle is possible for the UE.) It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the activation of bwp based on duration of drx to include the indicating the activated BWP to the terminal when to switch when needed. The motivation to combine is improve UE power efficiency in scenarios of multiple active BWPs and CA, including WUS, DCI format activation signal and MAC CE activation signaling used as wake-up signal for inactive mode of DRX cycle of serving cells and activation signal for activating SCells (See 0227). Allowable Subject Matter Claims 7-12 are 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. Conclusion The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Wei et al. (Pub. No. US 2019/0158229 A1)-See 0117, the base station may apply a specific DCI to indicate to the UE to restart, pause, disable, and/or modify the initial value or modify the unit (but keep the configured value) of the configured BWP switching timer without containing any data scheduling information. The indication may be determined by the base station based on a predefined or preconfigured lookup table. If the UE is indicated to disable the BWP Inactivity timer, or if the UE has not been configured with a BWP Inactivity timer, the UE may not switch its active BWP back to the default BWP until the UE transitions to RRC_IDLE state. For example, when the UE transitions to RRC_IDLE state in a non-default BWP, the UE should not re-enter the non-default BWP when it needs to transition back to RRC_CONNECTED state. Within the DCI indicating BWP switching, the base station may also indicate, to the UE, as to whether to trigger the BWP Inactivity timer or not. If not, the UE may not switch its active BWP until the UE transitions to RRC_IDLE or RRC_INACTIVE state when the BWP switching indication is received. Jeon et al. (Pub. No. US 2019/0289513 A1)-See 0259, BWP switching and cell activation and/or deactivation may not interfere with the operation of the counter and timer. The wireless device may or may not stop using configured downlink assignments and/or configured uplink grants using resources of the BWP, for example, if a BWP may be deactivated. The wireless device may suspend the configured grants of the or clear it. The wireless device may not suspend and/or clear the configured grants. A new timer (e.g., a BWP inactivity timer) may be used to switch from an active BWP to a default BWP after a certain inactive time. The BWP inactivity timer may be independent from the DRX timers. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to TEJIS DAYA whose telephone number is (571)270-7817. The examiner can normally be reached 6:30-4:30. 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, Nicholas Jensen can be reached at 571-270-5443. 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. /Tejis Daya/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2472
Read full office action

Prosecution Timeline

Jun 14, 2024
Application Filed
Jun 17, 2026
Non-Final Rejection mailed — §103 (current)

Precedent Cases

Applications granted by this same examiner with similar technology

Patent 12683710
MULTI-STAGE ERROR CHECKING FOR POLAR-ENCODED CODE BLOCKS
2y 6m to grant Granted Jul 14, 2026
Patent 12676688
TRANSMISSION MODE ADAPTATION IN NEW RADIO WITH AI/ML ASSISTANCE
2y 11m to grant Granted Jul 07, 2026
Patent 12676822
COMMUNICATION SYSTEM, INTERMEDIATE APPARATUS, COMMUNICATION METHOD, AND PROGRAM
2y 3m to grant Granted Jul 07, 2026
Patent 12671482
APPARATUS FOR ANTENNA SWITCHING IN WIRELESS COMMUNICATION SYSTEM AND OPERATING METHOD THEREOF
3y 3m to grant Granted Jun 30, 2026
Patent 12671512
RADIO UNIT TIME ALIGNMENT AND DELAY CHARACTERIZATION
3y 1m to grant Granted Jun 30, 2026
Study what changed to get past this examiner. Based on 5 most recent grants.

Strategy Recommendation AI-generated — please review before filing

Get a prosecution strategy drawn from examiner precedents, rejection analysis, and claim mapping.
Typically takes 5-10 seconds — AI-generated, attorney review required before filing

Prosecution Projections

1-2
Expected OA Rounds
85%
Grant Probability
87%
With Interview (+1.8%)
2y 4m (~3m remaining)
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 583 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allowance 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