Prosecution Insights
Last updated: October 25, 2026
Application No. 18/979,153

COMMUNICATION METHOD AND APPARATUS

Non-Final OA §103
Filed
Dec 12, 2024
Priority
Jun 14, 2022 — CN 202210667481.6 +1 more
Examiner
PHUNKULH, BOB A
Art Unit
2412
Tech Center
2400 — Computer Networks
Assignee
Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd.
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
89%
Grant Probability
Favorable
1-2
OA Rounds
10m
Est. Remaining
99%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 89% — above average
89%
Career Allowance Rate
861 granted / 963 resolved
+31.4% vs TC avg
Moderate +9% lift
Without
With
+9.4%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
2y 8m
Avg Prosecution
29 currently pending
Career history
998
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
6.3%
-33.7% vs TC avg
§103
41.0%
+1.0% vs TC avg
§102
31.9%
-8.1% vs TC avg
§112
8.8%
-31.2% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 963 resolved cases

Office Action

§103
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 . DETAILED ACTION Specification The title of the invention is not descriptive. A new title is required that is clearly indicative of the invention to which the claims are directed. 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. Claim(s) 1-9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over PRAKASH et al. (US 2020/0322908 A1), hereinafter PRAKASH in view of YUAN et al. (US 2025/0048284 A1), hereinafter YUAN. Regarding claim 1, PRAKASH discloses a communication method, comprising: receiving an absolute timing advance command from a network device (a base station can provide a UE TA commands, see ¶ 0082 and figures 7A-7B), wherein the absolute timing advance command comprises: a first field useable to indicate information about an uplink sending timing advance (timing advance command 702, see figure 7A, see ¶ 0082); and a second field useable to indicate a timing advance group identifier, wherein the timing advance group identifier is associated with one of two uplink sending timing advances (TAG ID 704, see figure 7A); and PRAKASH fails to explicitly determining the one of the two uplink sending timing advances according to the absolute timing advance command. In the same field of endeavor, YUAN discloses the network may configure the UE 115-a to transmit the uplink communications using different timing advance values, in which the UE 115-a may adjust the timing in which the UE 115-a sends uplink communications so that the uplink transmissions are synchronized when received by the network. In some examples, two or more timing advance values may be configured for a component carrier 210-a or 210-b. For example, a timing advance configuration may include a TAG ID and each component carrier may be configured with two or more TAG IDs, and the timing advance value may be associated with a TAG which may be updated by timing advance commands for the TAG. The UE 115-a may determine the timing advance to use for an uplink message 235-a or 235-b from the two or more timing advances configured for the component carrier 210-a or 210-b (see ¶ 0096). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement YUAN’s teaching in the network taught by PRAKASH to perform allocation of resources to the user devices by the network device. Regarding claim 2, YUAN discloses the two uplink sending timing advances comprises: a first uplink sending timing advance; and a second uplink sending timing advance; wherein the second field is 0, and the first field is useable to indicate a first uplink sending timing advance; or the second field is 1, and the first field is useable to indicate the second uplink sending timing advance (the UE 115-a may determine the timing advance from the set of timing advances for the component carrier 210-a based on the indicated TCI state for the uplink message 235-a in the second control message 230, see ¶ 0100). Regarding claim 3, PRAKASH discloses wherein the first field comprises a size, and the size is 12 bits (the number of bits (e.g., (e.g., maximum number of bits) shown for the timing advance commands in FIGS. 7A and 7B are illustrative, and other numbers besides 6 or 12 bits for the TA commands may be used, see ¶ 0082). Regarding claim 4, PRAKASH discloses a communication apparatus, comprising: a transceiver configured to receive an absolute timing advance command from a network device (a base station can provide a UE TA commands, see ¶ 0082 and figures 7A-7B), wherein the absolute timing advance command comprises: a first field useable to indicate information about an uplink sending timing advance (timing advance command 702, see figure 7A, see ¶ 0082); and a second field useable to indicate a timing advance group identifier, wherein the timing advance group identifier is associated with one of two uplink sending timing advances (TAG ID 704, see figure 7A); and PRAKASH fails to explicitly determining the one of the two uplink sending timing advances according to the absolute timing advance command. In the same field of endeavor, YUAN discloses the network may configure the UE 115-a to transmit the uplink communications using different timing advance values, in which the UE 115-a may adjust the timing in which the UE 115-a sends uplink communications so that the uplink transmissions are synchronized when received by the network. In some examples, two or more timing advance values may be configured for a component carrier 210-a or 210-b. For example, a timing advance configuration may include a TAG ID and each component carrier may be configured with two or more TAG IDs, and the timing advance value may be associated with a TAG which may be updated by timing advance commands for the TAG. The UE 115-a may determine the timing advance to use for an uplink message 235-a or 235-b from the two or more timing advances configured for the component carrier 210-a or 210-b (see ¶ 0096). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement YUAN’s teaching in the network taught by PRAKASH to perform allocation of resources to the user devices by the network device. Regarding claim 5, YUAN discloses the two uplink sending timing advances comprises: a first uplink sending timing advance; and a second uplink sending timing advance; wherein the second field is 0, and the first field is useable to indicate a first uplink sending timing advance; or the second field is 1, and the first field is useable to indicate the second uplink sending timing advance (the UE 115-a may determine the timing advance from the set of timing advances for the component carrier 210-a based on the indicated TCI state for the uplink message 235-a in the second control message 230, see ¶ 0100). Regarding claim 6, PRAKASH discloses wherein the first field comprises a size, and the size is 12 bits (the number of bits (e.g., (e.g., maximum number of bits) shown for the timing advance commands in FIGS. 7A and 7B are illustrative, and other numbers besides 6 or 12 bits for the TA commands may be used, see ¶ 0082). Regarding claim 7, PRAKASH discloses a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, wherein the non-transitory computer-readable storage medium is configured to store computer instructions, and in response to the computer instructions being executed by a processor, thereby causes the processor to perform operations comprising: receiving an absolute timing advance command from a network device (a base station can provide a UE TA commands, see ¶ 0082 and figures 7A-7B), wherein the absolute timing advance command comprises: a first field useable to indicate information about an uplink sending timing advance (timing advance command 702, see figure 7A, see ¶ 0082); and a second field useable to indicate a timing advance group identifier, wherein the timing advance group identifier is associated with one of two uplink sending timing advances (TAG ID 704, see figure 7A); and PRAKASH fails to explicitly determining the one of the two uplink sending timing advances according to the absolute timing advance command. In the same field of endeavor, YUAN discloses the network may configure the UE 115-a to transmit the uplink communications using different timing advance values, in which the UE 115-a may adjust the timing in which the UE 115-a sends uplink communications so that the uplink transmissions are synchronized when received by the network. In some examples, two or more timing advance values may be configured for a component carrier 210-a or 210-b. For example, a timing advance configuration may include a TAG ID and each component carrier may be configured with two or more TAG IDs, and the timing advance value may be associated with a TAG which may be updated by timing advance commands for the TAG. The UE 115-a may determine the timing advance to use for an uplink message 235-a or 235-b from the two or more timing advances configured for the component carrier 210-a or 210-b (see ¶ 0096). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement YUAN’s teaching in the network taught by PRAKASH to perform allocation of resources to the user devices by the network device. Regarding claim 8, YUAN discloses the two uplink sending timing advances comprises: a first uplink sending timing advance; and a second uplink sending timing advance; wherein the second field is 0, and the first field is useable to indicate a first uplink sending timing advance; or the second field is 1, and the first field is useable to indicate the second uplink sending timing advance (the UE 115-a may determine the timing advance from the set of timing advances for the component carrier 210-a based on the indicated TCI state for the uplink message 235-a in the second control message 230, see ¶ 0100). Regarding claim 9, PRAKASH discloses wherein the first field comprises a size, and the size is 12 bits (the number of bits (e.g., (e.g., maximum number of bits) shown for the timing advance commands in FIGS. 7A and 7B are illustrative, and other numbers besides 6 or 12 bits for the TA commands may be used, see ¶ 0082). Conclusion Any response to this action should be mailed to: The following address mail to be delivered by the United States Postal Service (USPS) only: Mail Stop _____________ Commissioner for Patents P. O. Box 1450 Alexandria, VA 22313-1450 or faxed to: (571) 273-8300, (for formal communications intended for entry) Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Bob A. Phunkulh whose telephone number is (571) 272-3083. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Thursday from 8:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M. (first week of the bi-week) and Monday-Friday (for second week of the bi-week). If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor CHARLES C. JIANG can be reach on (571) 270-7191. 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 http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). /BOB A PHUNKULH/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2412
Read full office action

Prosecution Timeline

Dec 12, 2024
Application Filed
Jan 13, 2025
Response after Non-Final Action
Oct 15, 2026
Non-Final Rejection mailed — §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
89%
Grant Probability
99%
With Interview (+9.4%)
2y 8m (~10m remaining)
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 963 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allowance rate.

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