1 natural termination without paying annual fee:
If the patentee fails to pay or fails to pay the annual fee and late fee for this year after the patent office has issued a notice of payment, the patent office shall issue a notice of patent termination within two months, not earlier than one month, informing the patentee that if the patentee fails to start the recovery procedure or the recovery is not approved, it shall register and announce it in the patent register and patent bulletin respectively four months after the termination notice is issued. After that, the patent application file is stored in the invalid file database. The patent termination date shall be the last year's deadline.
2. Go through the waiver procedures:
This is a voluntary waiver of the patent right. The patentee voluntarily contributes his invention to the whole society (hehe, giving up because you feel worthless is also one of the reasons), and can make a statement to voluntarily give up the patent right. Where the patentee voluntarily renounces the patent right, it shall make a written statement in the format uniformly formulated by the Patent Office. After the declaration of giving up the patent right that meets the requirements is approved, the Patent Office will register and announce relevant matters in the patent register and patent bulletin. This statement shall take effect as of the date of registration and announcement.
It can be seen that in terms of the effective time of termination, it may (may) be earlier than natural termination without paying the annual fee. It depends on the time to pay the annual fee and the time to go through the exemption formalities.