Prosecution Insights
Last updated: April 18, 2026
Application No. 18/928,986

COMMUNICATION METHOD AND APPARATUS

Non-Final OA §102
Filed
Oct 28, 2024
Examiner
SERRAO, RANODHI N
Art Unit
2444
Tech Center
2400 — Computer Networks
Assignee
Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd.
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
88%
Grant Probability
Favorable
1-2
OA Rounds
3y 6m
To Grant
99%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 88% — above average
88%
Career Allow Rate
475 granted / 543 resolved
+29.5% vs TC avg
Strong +16% interview lift
Without
With
+16.4%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
3y 6m
Avg Prosecution
25 currently pending
Career history
568
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
16.0%
-24.0% vs TC avg
§103
30.2%
-9.8% vs TC avg
§102
25.6%
-14.4% vs TC avg
§112
11.7%
-28.3% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 543 resolved cases

Office Action

§102
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 . Priority The Instant Application, filed 10/28/2024, is a continuation of PCT/CN2023/090114, filed 04/23/2023 and claims foreign priority to 202210475137.7, filed 04/29/2022. Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55. 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. Claim(s) 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Dao (2019/0253917). As per claim 1, Dao teaches a communication method, wherein the method comprises: receiving a first request message from an application function network element, wherein the first request message comprises type information of a service flow, information about a target terminal group, and quality of service information of the service flow [paragraphs 0106-0107]; when the type information indicates that the service flow is an end-to-end service flow, obtaining quality of service decomposition information based on the information about the target terminal group, wherein the quality of service decomposition information comprises access information of an ingress terminal and access information of an egress terminal [paragraphs 0157-0158 and 0329-0331]; decomposing the quality of service information of the service flow based on the quality of service decomposition information to obtain uplink quality of service information and downlink quality of service information [paragraphs 0186-0188]; and triggering a network to configure a session of the ingress terminal based on the uplink quality of service information and to configure a session of the egress terminal based on the downlink quality of service information, wherein the session of the ingress terminal comprises a first quality of service flow for transmission of the service flow, and the session of the egress terminal comprises a second quality of service flow for transmission of the service flow [paragraphs 0437-0439]. As per claim 2, Dao teaches the method according to claim 1, wherein the triggering a network to configure a session of the ingress terminal based on the uplink quality of service information and to configure a session of the egress terminal based on the downlink quality of service information comprises: sending a second request message, wherein the second request message comprises an address of the ingress terminal and the uplink quality of service information; and sending a third request message, wherein the third request message comprises an address of the egress terminal and the downlink quality of service information [paragraphs 0155-0156]. As per claim 3, Dao teaches the method according to claim 2, wherein the second request message and the third request message further comprise local switching indication information, and the local switching indication information indicates that the service flow is transmitted through local switching or cross-user plane function network element switching [paragraph 0164]. As per claim 4, Dao teaches the method according to claim 1, wherein the access information of the ingress terminal comprises location information of the ingress terminal, and wherein the access information of the egress terminal comprises location information of the egress terminal [paragraph 0172]. As per claim 5, Dao teaches the method according to claim 1, wherein; the quality of service information of the service flow comprises a latency requirement of the service flow; the uplink quality of service information comprises latency of the service flow in an uplink direction; the downlink quality of service information comprises latency of the service flow in a downlink direction; and a sum of the latency of the service flow in the uplink direction and the latency of the service flow in the downlink direction is less than or equal to the latency requirement of the service flow [paragraphs 0193-0194]. As per claim 6, Dao teaches the method according to claim 4, wherein the access information of the ingress terminal comprises further comprises an identifier of an anchor user plane function network element corresponding to the session of the ingress terminal, the access information of the egress terminal further comprises an identifier of an anchor user plane function network element corresponding to the session of the egress terminal, the quality of service decomposition information further comprises a packet transmission period between the anchor user plane function network element corresponding to the session of the ingress terminal and the anchor user plane function network element corresponding to the session of the egress terminal [paragraphs 0029-0034]. As per claim 7, Dao teaches the method according to claim 6, wherein; the quality of service information of the service flow comprises a latency requirement of the service flow; the uplink quality of service information comprises latency of the service flow in an uplink direction; the downlink quality of service information comprises latency of the service flow in a downlink direction; and a sum of the latency of the service flow in the uplink direction, the latency of the service flow in the downlink direction, and the packet transmission period is less than or equal to the latency requirement of the service flow [paragraphs 0085-0086]. As per claim 8, Dao teaches the method according to claim 2, wherein: the first request message further comprises first event indication information, wherein the first event indication information indicates at least one of the following: monitoring for average latency, quality of service notification monitoring for a packet delay budget, quality of service notification monitoring for a guaranteed bit rate, or quality of service notification monitoring for a packet error rate; the second request message further comprises the first event indication information; and the third request message further comprises the first event indication information [paragraphs 0092-0094]. As per claim 9, Dao teaches the method according to claim 8, wherein the method further comprises: receiving first notification information for the second request message, wherein the first notification information comprises at least one of the following: average latency of the service flow in an uplink direction, indication information indicating that a packet delay budget of the service flow in the uplink direction is no longer met, indication information indicating that a guaranteed bit rate of the service flow in the uplink direction is no longer met, or indication information indicating that a packet error rate of the service flow in the uplink direction is no longer met; receiving second notification information for the third request message, wherein the second notification information comprises at least one of the following: average latency of the service flow in a downlink direction, indication information indicating that a packet delay budget of the service flow in the downlink direction is no longer met, indication information indicating that a guaranteed bit rate of the service flow in the downlink direction is no longer met, or indication information indicating that a packet error rate of the service flow in the downlink direction is no longer met; and adjusting the uplink quality of service information based on the first notification information, adjusting the downlink quality of service information based on the second notification information, or adjusting the uplink quality of service information and the downlink quality of service information based on the first notification information and the second notification information [paragraphs 0127-0138]. As per claim 10, Dao teaches the method according to claim 1, wherein the first request message further comprises flow information of the service flow, and the flow information of the service flow comprises an IP 5-tuple or an Ethernet header information address [paragraph 0100]. Claims 11-20 have similar limitations as to the rejected claims above therefore they are being rejected under the same rationale. There are prior art made of record not relied upon but is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. See attached. Conclusion Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to RANODHI N SERRAO whose telephone number is (571)272-7967. The examiner can normally be reached Monday to Friday 8:00 am to 4:00 pm. 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, John Follansbee can be reached on (571) 272-3964. 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. Ranodhi N. Serrao /RANODHI SERRAO/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2444
Read full office action

Prosecution Timeline

Oct 28, 2024
Application Filed
Nov 15, 2024
Response after Non-Final Action
Apr 06, 2026
Non-Final Rejection — §102 (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
88%
Grant Probability
99%
With Interview (+16.4%)
3y 6m
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 543 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allow rate.

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