Prosecution Insights
Last updated: October 02, 2026
Application No. 18/904,806

COMMUNICATION METHOD AND SYSTEM, AND APPARATUS

Non-Final OA §102§103
Filed
Oct 02, 2024
Priority
Apr 08, 2022 — CN 202210366508.8 +1 more
Examiner
HAN, CLEMENCE S
Art Unit
Tech Center
Assignee
Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd.
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
91%
Grant Probability
Favorable
1-2
OA Rounds
4m
Est. Remaining
96%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 91% — above average
91%
Career Allowance Rate
1032 granted / 1136 resolved
+30.8% vs TC avg
Moderate +5% lift
Without
With
+5.2%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
2y 4m
Avg Prosecution
31 currently pending
Career history
1158
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
6.0%
-34.0% vs TC avg
§103
34.6%
-5.4% vs TC avg
§102
28.0%
-12.0% vs TC avg
§112
20.2%
-19.8% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 1136 resolved cases

Office Action

§102 §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 . Specification The disclosure is objected to because of the following informalities: “megabyte” in [0024] should be replaced with “megahertz”. Appropriate correction is required. The disclosure is objected to because of the following informalities: “megabyte” in [0118] should be replaced with “megahertz”. Appropriate correction is required. 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)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention. Claims 1, 9 and 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Hu et al. (US Pub. 2018/0152276). Regarding claims 1, 9 and 18, Hu teaches a communication method, applied to a transmit device, wherein the method comprises: obtaining a first carrier spacing, wherein the first carrier spacing is N times a second carrier spacing corresponding to a first low-frequency channel, and N>1 (“A subcarrier frequency spacing of each first sub-signal is M times as large as a subcarrier frequency spacing of each second sub-signal included in a second signal, M being a positive integer greater than 1” in [0006]); modulating a to-be-sent high-frequency physical layer signal based on the first carrier spacing to generate a first physical layer protocol data unit (PPDU) (“generating a first signal to be sent” in [0006]); and sending the first PPDU to a receive device through a first high-frequency channel (“sending the first sub-signal carried on a subcarrier corresponding to a subcarrier frequency of the first sub-signal” in [0006]). Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103 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 2, 3, 10, 11, 19 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hu et al. in view of Tam et al. (US Pub. 2020/0169444). Regarding claims 2, 10 and 19, Hu teaches the limitations in claims 1, 9 and 18 as shown above. Hu, however, does not teach a value range of the first carrier spacing comprises one of the following: [3.55 MHz, 4.03 MHz], [7.11 MHz, 8.05 MHz], [3.46 MHz, 3.92 MHz], [6.92 MHz, 7.85 MHz], [3.31 MHz, 3.75 MHz], [6.61 MHz, 7.5 MHz], [3.23 MHz, 3.67 MHz], [3.313 MHz, 3.755 MHz], [7.19 MHz, 7.98 MHz], [7.36 MHz, 8.18 MHz], [3.6 MHz, 4 MHz], [7.79 MHz, 8.59 MHz], or [3.85 MHz, 4.25 MHz], wherein MHz represents megahertz, and is a unit of the first carrier spacing. Tam teaches a value range of the first carrier spacing comprises one of the following: [3.55 MHz, 4.03 MHz], [7.11 MHz, 8.05 MHz], [3.46 MHz, 3.92 MHz], [6.92 MHz, 7.85 MHz], [3.31 MHz, 3.75 MHz], [6.61 MHz, 7.5 MHz], [3.23 MHz, 3.67 MHz], [3.313 MHz, 3.755 MHz], [7.19 MHz, 7.98 MHz], [7.36 MHz, 8.18 MHz], [3.6 MHz, 4 MHz], [7.79 MHz, 8.59 MHz], or [3.85 MHz, 4.25 MHz], wherein MHz represents megahertz, and is a unit of the first carrier spacing (“a sub-carrier spacing of 7.8125 MHz” in [0037]). It would have been obvious to one skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Hu to have a value range of the first carrier spacing comprises one of the following: [3.55 MHz, 4.03 MHz], [7.11 MHz, 8.05 MHz], [3.46 MHz, 3.92 MHz], [6.92 MHz, 7.85 MHz], [3.31 MHz, 3.75 MHz], [6.61 MHz, 7.5 MHz], [3.23 MHz, 3.67 MHz], [3.313 MHz, 3.755 MHz], [7.19 MHz, 7.98 MHz], [7.36 MHz, 8.18 MHz], [3.6 MHz, 4 MHz], [7.79 MHz, 8.59 MHz], or [3.85 MHz, 4.25 MHz], wherein MHz represents megahertz, and is a unit of the first carrier spacing as taught by Tam in order to use OFDM symbol duration of 128 nSec [0037]. Regarding claims 3, 11 and 20, Tam teaches a value of the first carrier spacing comprises one of the following: 3.75 MHz, 7.8125 MHz, 3.5156 MHz, 7.03125 MHz, 7.93 MHz, 3.91 MHz, 8.2 MHz, or 4.05 MHz (“a sub-carrier spacing of 7.8125 MHz” in [0037]). Allowable Subject Matter Claims 4-8 and 12-17 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 Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CLEMENCE S HAN whose telephone number is (571)272-3158. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 8AM-5PM 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, Edan Orgad can be reached at (571)272-7884. 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. /CLEMENCE S HAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2414
Read full office action

Prosecution Timeline

Oct 02, 2024
Application Filed
Nov 13, 2024
Response after Non-Final Action
Aug 11, 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
91%
Grant Probability
96%
With Interview (+5.2%)
2y 4m (~4m remaining)
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 1136 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allowance rate.

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