Prosecution Insights
Last updated: July 17, 2026
Application No. 18/743,471

COMMUNICATION METHOD AND APPARATUS

Non-Final OA §102§103
Filed
Jun 14, 2024
Priority
Dec 16, 2021 — CN 202111541846.2 +1 more
Examiner
LAMONT, BENJAMIN S
Art Unit
2461
Tech Center
2400 — Computer Networks
Assignee
Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd.
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
73%
Grant Probability
Favorable
1-2
OA Rounds
1y 2m
Est. Remaining
88%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 73% — above average
73%
Career Allowance Rate
343 granted / 469 resolved
+15.1% vs TC avg
Strong +15% interview lift
Without
With
+15.1%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
3y 3m
Avg Prosecution
40 currently pending
Career history
514
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
0.4%
-39.6% vs TC avg
§103
91.7%
+51.7% vs TC avg
§102
4.3%
-35.7% vs TC avg
§112
2.2%
-37.8% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 469 resolved cases

Office Action

§102 §103
CTNF 18/743,471 CTNF 86071 DETAILED ACTION Notice of AIA Status 07-03-aia AIA 15-10-aia The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA. 07-06 AIA 15-10-15 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. Priority Applicant’s claim for the benefit of a prior-filed application under 35 U.S.C. 119(e) or under 35 U.S.C. 120, 121, 365(c), or 386(c) is acknowledged. In particular, this Application is the bypass application of an international application that claims foreign priority to a Chinese application filed on 16 Dec 2021. 02-26 AIA Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55. Information Disclosure Statements The information disclosure statements, submitted on 21 Aug 2024 and 9 Apr 2025, are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statements are being considered by the examiner. Election/Restrictions Applicant's election with traverse of Invention I in the reply filed on 4 Jun 2026 is acknowledged. The Reply traverses the requirement for restriction, dated 23 Apr 2026. In particular, the Reply notes that “Inventions I and II have significant overlapped limitations.” Reply, 6. The Reply then provides examples of allegedly overlapping limitations, including “generating a first signal based on the OFDM signal and N bits.” Ibid . (emphasis omitted). It is unclear which limitation of Invention II the Reply is alleged to generate a first signal. Because it is unclear, the Examiner is unpersuaded that both Inventions generate a first signal. Additionally, the Reply does not address the Requirement for Restriction’s other cited difference between Inventions I and II. In particular, the Requirement for Restriction found Invention II “does not require OFDM, but only an ASK signal.” Restriction, 2. The requirement is still deemed proper and is therefore made FINAL. Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102 07-07-aia AIA 07-07 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 – 07-12-aia AIA (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. 07-15-03-aia AIA Claim s 1-4, 7, 8, 11-14, 17, and 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Lee (US 20190036754) . Regarding claims 1 and 11, Lee teaches a method and an apparatus, comprising: a processor; and a memory coupled to the processor to store instructions, which when executed by the processor, cause the apparatus to execute the communication method, comprising: determining an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) signal carrying a first amplitude shift keying symbol that is an amplitude shift keying symbol ON (Lee, ¶195 – WRU signal is a series of OFDM symbols, where each symbol represents an OOK bit; Lee, ¶10 – OOK is a simple form of ASK modulation); generating a first signal based on the OFDM signal and N bits (Lee, ¶194 – all OFDM symbols in the WUR signal 2108), wherein the first signal carries N second amplitude shift keying symbols in time domain (Lee, figure 21 and ¶196 – multiple symbols 2110, each 4 microseconds in length, are a part of the WU packet 2100) , and N is a positive integer greater than or equal to 2 (Lee, figure 21 and ¶196 – more than 2 symbols are transmitted in WUR signal 2108); and sending the first signal. Lee, figure 1 and ¶78 (wake up transmission sent from AP 102 to STA 104). Regarding claims 2 and 12, Lee also teaches wherein the OFDM signal comprises N first-interval signals in time domain. Lee, figures 21 and 23 (WUR 2108 includes at least 9 intervals of 4 microseconds). Regarding claims 3 and 13, Lee also teaches wherein the N first-interval signals are the same, or the N first-interval signals have same energy. Lee, figures 21 (each of the at least 9 symbols are 4 microseconds in length) or alternatively Lee, figure 23 (each transmitted symbols has the same transmission power). Regarding claims 4 and 14, Lee also teaches wherein the N first-interval signals do not overlap with each other in time domain, and the N second amplitude shift keying symbols do not overlap with each other in time domain. Lee, ¶12 (each symbol has a duration of 4 microseconds) and Lee, figures 21 and 23 (no symbol overlaps with another). Regarding claims 7 and 17, Lee also teaches wherein duration of the second amplitude shift keying symbol is a second interval equal to a first interval, or the second interval is less than the first interval. Lee, figure 21 and 23 (each symbol is 4 microseconds). Regarding claims 8 and 18, Lee also teaches wherein duration of the first amplitude shift keying symbol is equal to duration of the OFDM signal (Lee, ¶10 and figure 21 and 23 – OOK, which is ASK modulation, provides a bit over one OFDM symbol’s duration [4 microseconds]), and duration of the first signal is equal to the duration of the OFDM signal (Lee, figure 21 – duration of 2108 is the duration of all OFDM symbols in the packet; the first interval is equal to 1/N times the duration of the OFDM signal (Lee, figure 21 – 4 microsections is equal to length of WUR 2108 divided by the total number of symbols); and the second interval is less than or equal to 1/N times the duration of the OFDM signal. Lee, figure 21 and 23 (each symbol is 4 microseconds) . Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103 07-20-aia AIA 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. 07-21-aia AIA Claim s 5, 6, 15, and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lee (of record) in view of Iwai (US 20200127756) . Regarding claims 5 and 15, Lee teaches the method according to claim 2, the apparatus of claim 12, and Manchester encoding, in which each symbol corresponds to a bit using OOK (Lee, ¶30), but does not explicitly teach “multiplying an i.sup.th first-interval signal in the N first-interval signals in the OFDM signal by a window function corresponding to an i.sup.th bit in the N bits, to obtain an i.sup.th second amplitude shift keying symbol in the N second amplitude shift keying symbols.” However, Iwai teaches a Manchester coder that generates either an OOK symbol of either 0 or 1 by multiplying a signal by a window function. Iwai, ¶¶137, 140. At the time of the effective filing date of the invention, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art to use the window function, taught by Iwai, when generating the OFDM signal, taught by Lee, in order to maintain the waveform of the signal and reduce interference outside of the frequency band. Iwai, ¶141. Regarding claims 6 and 16, the combination of Lee and Iwai also teaches wherein when the i.sup.th bit is 1 (Lee, ¶196 – symbol 2110-1 has a value of 1 for the first bit), the window function corresponding to the i.sup.th bit is one or more of a rectangular window function, a Hamming window function, a Hamming window function, or a Blackman window function (Iwai, ¶47, 64 – all coefficients have the same amplitude of 1.0, where half of the OOK signal is masked out when encoding either a 0 or 1 bit [i.e. a rectangular window function]), wherein the rectangular window function is a function with an all-one function value; and/or when the i.sup.th bit is 0, the window function corresponding to the i.sup.th bit is a function with an all-zero function value. Iwai, figure 2 (OOK bit of either 1 or 0 is encoded by masking out half of the 3.2 microsecond time interval [see figure 3 for 4 microsecond embodiment]); Iwai, figure 7(a) (either the first half or the second half of the time interval has a value of 0 after masking [i.e. the Off signal is masked with “0” and the On signal is masked with “1”]) . Conclusion 07-96 AIA The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure is cited on attached PTO-892 . Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to BENJAMIN S LAMONT whose telephone number is (571)270-7514 and email address is benjamin.lamont@uspto.gov (see MPEP 502.03 for using EFS or mail, but not email to authorize electronic communications). The examiner can normally be reached M-F 7am to 3pm EST. 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, Huy Vu can be reached at 571-272-3155. 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. /Benjamin Lamont/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2461 Application/Control Number: 18/743,471 Page 2 Art Unit: 2461 Application/Control Number: 18/743,471 Page 3 Art Unit: 2461 Application/Control Number: 18/743,471 Page 4 Art Unit: 2461 Application/Control Number: 18/743,471 Page 5 Art Unit: 2461 Application/Control Number: 18/743,471 Page 6 Art Unit: 2461 Application/Control Number: 18/743,471 Page 7 Art Unit: 2461 Application/Control Number: 18/743,471 Page 8 Art Unit: 2461 Application/Control Number: 18/743,471 Page 9 Art Unit: 2461
Read full office action

Prosecution Timeline

Jun 14, 2024
Application Filed
Jun 27, 2024
Response after Non-Final Action
Jun 18, 2026
Non-Final Rejection mailed — §102, §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

1-2
Expected OA Rounds
73%
Grant Probability
88%
With Interview (+15.1%)
3y 3m (~1y 2m remaining)
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 469 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allowance rate.

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