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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 12/22/2025 has been entered.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed on 12/01/2025 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Regarding claim 20, Applicant argued the amendment in accordance with the interview dated 12/01/2025, would overcome the art rejection, however claim 20 is not amended.
Claim Objections
Claim 22 is objected to because of the following informalities: it depends on the canceled claim 21. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
5. The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
6. Claims 8-9, 11, 15-19, 27-29, 31-32 and 35-41 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claim 8, last line recites “at least in part on the geographic information”.
Claim 9, line 3 recites “at least in part on the RF signature”.
Claim 11, line 8 recites “based at least in part on the radio frequency”.
Claim 27, line 3 recites “based at least in part on”.
Claim 28, line 3 recites “based at least in part”.
Claim 29, line 4 recites “based at least in part on the RF signature”.
Claim 31, line 11 recites “based at least in part on”.
However the term “in part” is not clearly defined in relation with other claim limitations.
Claims 15-19, 32 and 35-41 are rejected for depend from claim 11 or 31.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
7. 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.
8. 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.
9. The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
10. This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
11. Claim(s) 20, 22 and 25-30 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over LI (US 20240353523 A1) in view of ENDO (US 20230135955 A1).
For claim 20. LI discloses An apparatus, comprising: a memory; at least one transceiver; at least one processor communicatively coupled to the memory and the at least one transceiver, and configured to: receive radio frequency sensing assistance data from a server (figure 9 step 901, [0221]-[0234], [0281]); perform radio frequency sensing operations based at least in part on the radio frequency sensing assistance data (figure 9 steps 902, 903, [0284]-[0300]); determining at least one environmental characteristic of a plurality of objects based on the radio frequency sensing operations, the at least one environmental characteristic of the plurality of objects including a direction of motion for the plurality of objects ([0090]-[0092], figure 8); and report radio frequency sensing results to the server, the radio frequency sensing results including the at least one environmental characteristic of the plurality of objects ([0349]-[0354], [0358], [0372], [0401]).
LI fails to explicitly disclose the at least one environmental characteristic of the plurality of objects including a rate of change of a quantity of the plurality of objects, an average speed of the plurality of objects, or a direction of motion of the plurality of objects.
In the same field of endeavor, ENDO discloses (Abstract, [0038], [0049]) an information processing apparatus includes a crowd characteristic estimator and a plan controller. The crowd characteristic estimator estimates information regarding a characteristic of a crowd on the basis of a sensing result of an external environment, and including at least one environmental characteristic of the plurality of objects including a rate of change of a quantity of the plurality of objects, an average speed of the plurality of objects, or a direction of motion of the plurality of objects ([0055]: the crowd characteristic estimator 103 may regard the average of the moving directions and the average of the moving speeds of the respective individuals 20 included in the crowd 30 as the moving direction and the moving speed of the crowd 30; [0056]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the selection techniques taught by ENDO into the art of LI as to track a crowd for route planning and navigation and providing services by at least using average direction and average speed of tracked targets/objects.
For claim 22. LI in combination with ENDO substantially teaches the apparatus of claim 21 (treated as depend on claim 20), LI discloses wherein the radio frequency sensing results are aggregated with a plurality of radio frequency sensing results received from a plurality of wireless devices, and the one or more environmental characteristics are determined based on an aggregation of the radio frequency sensing results (figure 8, [0397]).
For claim 25. LI in combination with ENDO substantially teaches the apparatus of claim 20 LI discloses wherein the radio frequency sensing assistance data includes information related to at least one of a movement, a location a target object, or any combinations thereof ([0133], [0174], [0192], [0203]-[0204], [0284]-[0300]).
For claim 26. LI in combination with ENDO substantially teaches the apparatus of claim 20 LI discloses wherein the radio frequency sensing assistance data includes information related to one or more attributes of a target object ([0133], [0174], [0192], [0203]-[0204], [0284]-[0300]).
For claim 27. LI in combination with ENDO substantially teaches the apparatus of claim 20 LI discloses wherein the radio frequency sensing assistance data includes geographic information, and the at least one processor is further configured to perform the radio frequency sensing operations based at least in part on the geographic information ([0133], [0174], [0192], [0203]-[0204], [0284]-[0300]).
For claim 28. LI in combination with ENDO substantially teaches the apparatus of claim 20 LI discloses wherein the radio frequency sensing assistance data includes transmitter configuration information, and the at least one processor is further configured to perform the radio frequency sensing operations based at least in part on the transmitter configuration information ([0221]-[0234], [0281]).
For claim 29. LI in combination with ENDO substantially teaches the apparatus of claim 20 LI discloses wherein the radio frequency sensing assistance data includes RF signature or attribute information associated with one or more potential target objects, and the at least one processor is further configured to performing the radio frequency sensing operations is based at least in part on the RF signature or attribute information ([0133], [0174], [0192], [0203]-[0204], [0284]-[0300]).
For claim 30. LI in combination with ENDO substantially teaches the apparatus of claim 20 LI discloses wherein the radio frequency sensing assistance data is received via one or more Radio Resource Control (RRC) messages or one or more IP messages or TCP/IP messages ([0049]).
Allowable Subject Matter
12. Claims 1, 3, 6-7 and 10 are allowed, because none of the references, either alone or in combination, discloses or renders obvious the invention as a whole.
Conclusion
Any response to this Office Action should be faxed to (571) 273-8300, submitted online via the USPTO's Electronic Filing System-Web (EFS-Web) (Registered eFilers only, Registered users of the USPTO's EFS-Web system may submit a response electronically through EFS-Web at https://efs.uspto.gov/TruePassSample/AuthenticateUserLocalEPF.html), or mailed to:
Commissioner for Patents
P.O. Box 1450
Alexandria, VA 22313-1450
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Rui Meng Hu whose telephone number is 571-270-1105, email is ruimeng.hu@uspto.gov. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday - Friday, 8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m., 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, Jinsong Hu can be reached on (571)272-3965. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/Rui Meng Hu/
R.H./rh
January 14, 2026
/JINSONG HU/ Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2643