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 .
Drawings
The drawings are objected to because of the following minor informality: On block 1022 and block 1072 in figure 10, replace “RF Tranceiver Circuitry” with --RF Transceiver
Circuitry--.
Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office Action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended”. If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. The replacement sheet(s) should be labeled “Replacement Sheet” in the page header (as per 37 CFR 1.84(c)) so as not to obstruct any portion of the drawing figures. If the changes are not accepted by the Examiner, the Applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office Action. If a response to the present Office Action fails to include proper drawing corrections, corrected drawings or arguments therefor, the response can be held NON-RESPONSIVE and/or the application could be ABANDONED since the objections/corrections to the drawings are no longer held in abeyance.
Specification
The disclosure is objected to because of the following informalities:
On line 5 of paragraph 0045, insert --node-- after “network”;
On line 1 of paragraph 0061, insert --and-- after “node”;
On line 4 of paragraph 0084 and on line 2 of paragraph 0089, replace “e.g.” with --
e.g.,--;
On line 5 of paragraph 0084, replace “watches” with --watches,--;
On line 3 of paragraph 00132, replace “node” with --node.--;
On line 7 of paragraph 00140, replace “to e.g.” with --to, e.g.,--;
On line 1 of paragraph 00179, on line 8 of paragraph 00195, on lines 5 and 6 of
paragraph 00233, on line 29 of paragraph 00251, and on line 4 of paragraph 00281, replace “(e.g.” with --(e.g.,--;
On line 3 of paragraph 00196, insert --a-- after “to”;
On line 6 of paragraph 00197, replace “These” with --This--;
On line 1 of paragraph 00200, insert --a-- after “in”;
On line 4 of paragraph 00203 and on lines 2 and 3 of paragraph 00215, replace
“that a terminal device plans” with --a terminal device that plans--;
On line 6 of paragraph 00203 and on line 5 of paragraph 00215, insert --to-- after
“indicating”;
On line 1 of paragraph 00205, replace “6B” with --6A--;
On line 1 of paragraph 00207, insert --300-- after “device”;
On line 1 of paragraph 00226, replace “commutation” with --communication--;
On line 5 of paragraph 00227, delete “is”;
On line 13 of paragraph 00251, replace “cameras” with --camera--; and
On line 3 of paragraph 00254, replace “1014” with --1012--.
Appropriate correction is required.
The lengthy specification has not been checked to the extent necessary to determine the presence of all possible minor errors. Applicant’s cooperation is requested in correcting any errors of which Applicant may become aware in the specification.
Claim Objections
Claims 1 and 16 are objected to because of the following informalities:
On line 2 of claim 1, replace “that a terminal device plans” with --a terminal device
that plans--;
On line 4 of claim 16, replace “the terminal” with --a terminal-- in order to provide
proper antecedent basis to “terminal”.
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 16, 17, and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Shoshan et al. (US 2019/0297506 A1).
Consider claim 16, Shoshan et al. disclose a method performed by a second network node (any one of the moving relays (MRs)/enhanced moving relays (EMRs) – see paragraph 0059 lines 1-11 and paragraph 0066 lines 65-67), the method comprising:
receiving, from a first network node (which could be EMR 115 in figure 1b – see paragraph 0061 lines 1-13), an indication to move to a deployment point (EMR 115 instructs at least one of the MRs/EMRs to change their location to a new calculated location (i.e., deployment point) – see figure 6 steps 650 and 660 and paragraph 0066 lines 42-67);
wherein the second network node is indicated to provide a relay of a communication between a terminal device at a location out of a coverage of a network and the network (see figure 6 and paragraph 0066 lines 4-16 and 42-67 - MRs/EMRs move to a location where mobile stations (MSs)/enhanced mobile stations (EMSs) (i.e., terminal device) are not covered by stationary base stations/ground MRs (i.e., MSs/EMSs are located out of coverage of the network) to relay their communication).
Consider claim 17, and as applied to claim 16 above, Shoshan et al. further disclose wherein the second network node is further indicated to provide a wireless signal coverage for the location (see paragraph 0066 lines 11-16 - MRs/EMRs move to the location to serve (i.e., provide wireless signal coverage) to the mobile stations (MSs)/enhanced mobile stations (EMSs) that are not covered by stationary base stations/ground MRs (i.e., MSs/EMSs are located out of coverage of the network)).
Consider claim 19, and as applied to claim 16 above, Shoshan et al. also disclose
wherein the second network node is further indicated to provide a computing function for serving the terminal device (MRs/EMRs are selected to serve the MSs/EMSs depending on their application and diverse needs such as broadband data and video (i.e., to provide the needed computing function for the MSs/EMSs) – see paragraph 0064 lines 5-16 and paragraph 0066 lines 16-25).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 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.
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.
Claims 1-4, 6-11, 13-15, and 22 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Shoshan et al. (US 2019/0297506 A1) in view of Dowlatkhah et al. (US 10,104,548 B1).
Consider claim 1, Shoshan et al. disclose a method performed by a first network node (which could be EMR 115 in figure 1b – see paragraph 0061 lines 1-13) comprising:
obtaining information about a terminal device located at a location out of a coverage of a network (enhanced mobile relay (EMR) 115 obtains information about mobile stations (MSs)/enhanced mobile stations (EMSs) (i.e., terminal device) that are not covered by stationary base stations/ground mobile relays (MRs) of a cellular communication system – see figures 1b and 6 and paragraph 0066 lines 4-16 and 42-46); and
transmitting at least one indication to at least one second network node, indicating the at least one second network node to move to at least one deployment point, respectively (EMR 115 instructs at least one of the of the moving relays (MRs)/enhanced moving relays (EMRs) (i.e., at least one second network node) to change their location to a new calculated location (i.e., deployment point) – see figure 6 steps 650 and 660 and paragraph 0066 lines 42-67);
wherein the at least one second network node is indicated to provide a relay of a communication between the terminal device at the location and the network (see figure 6 and paragraph 0066 lines 4-16 and 42-67 - MRs/EMRs move to a location where MSs/EMSs are not covered by stationary base stations/ground MRs to relay their communication).
However, Shoshan et al. do not specifically disclose that the terminal device plans to stay at the location out of coverage of the network.
In the same field of endeavor, Dowlatkhah et al. disclose a first cellular-capable apparatus (i.e., terminal device) that operates on a first area outside of coverage of a cellular network sending an authentication request to connect to a non-stationary cellular host in order to obtain services (i.e., network obtains information about the first cellular-capable apparatus - see abstract and column 3 lines 16-21. Since the first cellular-capable apparatus could be farm machinery 194A, 194B, and 196A (see figure 1) or even be connected to farm animals it is clear that the machinery and the animals plan to stay at the farm which is at a location out of coverage of the network and hence it is the reason they are requesting services (see column 3 line 35 – column 4 line 48)).
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 provide information about terminals that are staying out of coverage of the network as disclosed by Dowlatkhah et al. in the method disclosed by Shoshan et al. in order to obtain services (see, for example, the abstract and column 4 lines 43-48 of Dowlatkhah et al.).
Consider claim 2, and as applied to claim 1 above, Shoshan et al. do not disclose wherein obtaining the information comprises receiving the information from the terminal device.
In the same field of endeavor, Dowlatkhah et al. disclose that the authentication request (i.e., information) is received from the first cellular-capable apparatus (i.e., terminal device) (see abstract and column 3 lines 16-21).
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 receive the information from terminals that are staying out of coverage of the network as disclosed by Dowlatkhah et al. in the method disclosed by Shoshan et al. in order to obtain services (see, for example, the abstract and column 4 lines
43-48 of Dowlatkhah et al.).
Consider claim 3, and as applied to claim 1 above, Shoshan et al. do not disclose wherein obtaining the information comprises analyzing a conversation and/or a message transmitted from the terminal device, to get the information.
In the same field of endeavor, Dowlatkhah et al. disclose that the authentication request (i.e., information on a message) is received from the first-cellular capable apparatus (i.e., terminal device) and analyzed to determine that first cellular-capable apparatus is subscribed to a service from a plurality of services - (see abstract and column 3 lines 16-25).
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 analyzed messages from terminals that are staying out of coverage of the network as disclosed by Dowlatkhah et al. in the method disclosed by Shoshan et al. in order to obtain services (see, for example, the abstract and column 4 lines 43-48 of Dowlatkhah et al.).
Consider claim 4, and as applied to claim 1 above, Shoshan et al., as modified by Dowlatkhah et al., further disclose wherein a second network node of the at least one the second network node provides a wireless signal coverage for the location (see paragraph 0066 lines 11-16 - MRs/EMRs move to the location to serve (i.e., provide wireless signal coverage) to the mobile stations (MSs)/enhanced mobile stations (EMSs) that are not covered by stationary base stations/ground MRs (i.e., MSs/EMSs are located out of coverage of the network)).
Consider claim 6, and as applied to claim 1 above, Shoshan et al., as modified by Dowlatkhah et al., also disclose wherein the at least one deployment point is selected to reduce a quantity of the at least one second network node while providing the relay of the communication (the system calculates the new position (i.e., deployment point) of the MRs so that it can better serve the overall needs of all the MSs/EMSs (e.g., according to priorities or as proportionally fair or as per any appropriate criteria). MR5 is selected to better serve the overall requirements (i.e., only one MR is chosen) – see paragraph 0064 lines 11-19)).
Consider claim 7, and as applied to claim 6 above, Shoshan et al., as modified by Dowlatkhah et al., further disclose wherein the terminal device is used under a consumer circumstance (MSs/EMSs could be cellular phones (i.e., with subscribers as the consumers) as shown in figures 8-9c and they use different applications and have different needs – see paragraph 0064 lines 8-11 and paragraph 0066 lines 16-25).
Consider claim 8, and as applied to claim 1 above, Shoshan et al., as modified by Dowlatkhah et al., also disclose wherein the at least one deployment point is selected to provide at least one redundant second network node in the at least one second network node (system calculates the new position (i.e., deployment point) of the MRs/EMRs and instructs multiple MRs/EMRs to change the location to the new position to provide coverage (i.e., since multiple MRs/EMRs could be deployed, redundancy is achieved) – see paragraph 0066 lines 46-67).
Consider claim 9, and as applied to claim 8 above, Shoshan et al. do not specifically disclose wherein the terminal device is used under a critical circumstance.
In the same field of endeavor, Dowlatkhah et al. also disclose wherein the first cellular-capable apparatus (i.e., terminal device) that operates on a first area outside of coverage of a cellular network could be farm machinery 194A, 194B, and 196A (see figure 1), oil rigs, or even be connected to farm or ocean animals thus the apparatus is used under a critical circumstance (see column 3 line 35 – column 4 line 48)).
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 use the apparatus under a critical circumstance as disclosed by Dowlatkhah et al. in the method disclosed by Shoshan et al. in order to be able to provide services and support these smart applications (see, for example, column 4 lines 43-48 of Dowlatkhah et al.).
Consider claim 10, and as applied to claim 1 above, Shoshan et al., as modified by Dowlatkhah et al., further disclose wherein the at least one deployment point is selected, considering at least one of safety, communication efficiency, and/or communication quality of the at least one second network node (the system calculates the new position (i.e., deployment point) of the MRs so that it can better serve the overall needs of all the MSs/EMSs (e.g., according to priorities or as proportionally fair or as per any appropriate criteria). MR5 is selected based on its ability to better serve the overall requirements (i.e., through either its communication efficiency and/or communication quality capable of supporting the needed requirements) – see paragraph 0064 lines 11-19)).
Consider claim 11, and as applied to claim 1 above, Shoshan et al., as modified by Dowlatkhah et al., also disclose storing at least one of the following data:
the information (rRM 118 stores the estimated location of the MSs/EMSs – see paragraph 0066 lines 42-46);
an arrangement pattern of the at least one second network node and the at least one deployment point (this arrangement must inherently be stored also at rRM 118 as tests and computations are performed to calculate the new location/position of MRs/EMRs – see paragraph 0066 lines 46-67);
a service performance for the terminal device at the location (quality of service and MS characteristics are also considered for making a determination of the new position to deploy the MRs/EMRs thus it must also be inherently stored – see figure 6 step 625 paragraph 0066 lines
16-25); and
a status record about the at least one second network node during providing the relay of the communication.
Consider claim 13, and as applied to claim 1 above, Shoshan et al., as modified by Dowlatkhah et al., further disclose wherein the at least one second network node is further indicated to provide a computing function for serving the terminal device (MRs/EMRs are selected to serve the MSs/EMSs depending on their application and diverse needs such as broadband data and video (i.e., to provide the needed computing function for the MSs/EMSs) – see paragraph 0064 lines 5-16 and paragraph 0066 lines 16-25).
Consider claim 14, and as applied to claim 1 above, Shoshan et al., as modified by Dowlatkhah et al., also disclose wherein the at least one second network node is further indicated to provide a relay of a communication between another terminal device and the network (see figure 6 and paragraph 0066 lines 4-16 and 42-67 - MRs/EMRs move to a location where MSs/EMSs are not covered by stationary base stations/ground MRs to relay their communication (i.e., multiple MSs/EMSs are served)).
Consider claim 15, and as applied to claim 1 above, Shoshan et al., as modified by Dowlatkhah et al., further disclose wherein the at least one second network node comprises an intelligent moveable device (MRs/EMRs can be part of unmanned vehicles/platforms such as, among others, a ground robot (i.e., an intelligent movable device) that could be autonomously or remotely controlled – see paragraph 0064 lines 23-28).
Consider claim 22, Shoshan et al. disclose a method performed by a terminal device (mobile stations (MSs)/enhanced mobile stations (EMSs) – see figures 1a-6) comprising:
communicating with at least one second network node, when the terminal device stays at
a location (mobile stations (MSs)/enhanced mobile stations (EMSs) (i.e., terminal device) are at a location not covered by stationary base stations/ground mobile relays (MRs) of a cellular communication system and they communicate with moving relays (MRs)/enhanced moving relays (EMRs) (i.e., at least one second network node) – see figures 1b and 6 and paragraph 0066 lines 4-16 and 42-47);
wherein the at least one second network node is indicated to provide a relay of a communication between the terminal device at the location and the network (see figure 6 and paragraph 0066 lines 4-16 and 42-67 - MRs/EMRs move to a location where MSs/EMSs are not covered by stationary base stations/ground MRs to relay their communication).
However, Shoshan et al. do not specifically disclose that the terminal device is planning to stay at the location out of coverage of the network.
In the same field of endeavor, Dowlatkhah et al. disclose a first cellular-capable apparatus (i.e., terminal device) that operates on a first area outside of coverage of a cellular network sending an authentication request to connect to a non-stationary cellular host in order to obtain services (i.e., network obtains information about the first cellular-capable apparatus - see abstract and column 3 lines 16-21. Since the first cellular-capable apparatus could be farm machinery 194A, 194B, and 196A (see figure 1) or even be connected to farm animals it is clear that the machinery and the animals plan to stay at the farm which is at a location out of coverage of the network and hence it is the reason they are requesting services (see column 3 line 35 – column 4 line 48)).
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 provide information about terminals that are staying out of coverage of the network as disclosed by Dowlatkhah et al. in the method disclosed by Shoshan et al. in order to obtain services (see, for example, the abstract and column 4 lines 43-48 of Dowlatkhah et al.).
Claims 5, 12, and 18 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Shoshan et al. (US 2019/0297506 A1) in view of Dowlatkhah et al. (US 10,104,548 B1) as applied to claims 1 and 16 above, and further in view of Jelavic et al. (US 2016/0363457 A1).
Consider claim 5, and as applied to claim 1 above, Shoshan et al., as modified by Dowlatkhah et al., fail to disclose
wherein the information is further about that the terminal device plans to move along a path to the location;
wherein at least a part of the path is out of the coverage of the network node; and
wherein the at least one second network node is further indicated to provide a wireless signal coverage for at least the part of the path.
In the same field of endeavor, Jelavic et al. disclose a method for dispatching network equipment (see abstract)
wherein the information is further about that the terminal device plans to move along a path to the location (information is about a route to be taken by emergency vehicles (i.e., terminal device) to an incident location that lacks coverage from the network - see abstract, figures 2 and 3, and paragraphs 0003, 0011, 0017, and 0020-0022);
wherein at least a part of the path is out of the coverage of the network node (route could experience poor network conditions or have no coverage – see abstract, figure 5, and paragraphs 0014, 0015, 0031, 0037, 0040, and 0044); and
wherein the at least one second network node is further indicated to provide a wireless signal coverage for at least the part of the path (a mobile platform/base station (i.e., second
network node) is dispatched to provide coverage to the determined route – see abstract, figures 2, 3, and 5, and paragraphs 0013 and 0045).
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 dispatch the mobile platform/base station along the route of terminals devices as disclosed by Jelavic et al. in the method disclosed by Shoshan et al., as modified by Dowlatkhah et al., in order to alleviate poor network coverage along a route to and from an incident scene (see, for example, paragraph 0003 of Jelavic et al.).
Consider claim 12, and as applied to claim 11 above, Shoshan et al., as modified by Dowlatkhah et al., fail to disclose wherein the stored data is used as a reference for determining whether to set up a stationary network node for covering the location.
In the same field of endeavor, Jelavic et al. disclose a method for dispatching network equipment (see abstract) in which stored data is used as a reference for determining whether to set up a stationary network node for covering the location (in one embodiment a drone may simply drop off a base station at the coordinates identified for the deployment location thereby using the data as a reference to set up a stationary base station (i.e., the dropped off base station has become stationary at the location – see paragraphs 0041 and 0042).
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 drop off the base station as disclosed by Jelavic et al. in the method disclosed by Shoshan et al., as modified by Dowlatkhah et al., in order to alleviate poor network coverage along a route to and from an incident scene (see, for example, paragraph 0003 of Jelavic et al.).
Consider claim 18, and as applied to claim 16 above, Shoshan et al., as modified by Dowlatkhah et al., fail to disclose
wherein the terminal device plans to move along a path to the location;
wherein at least a part of the path is out of the coverage of the network node; and
wherein the second network node is further indicated to provide a wireless signal coverage for at least the part of the path.
In the same field of endeavor, Jelavic et al. disclose a method for dispatching network equipment (see abstract)
wherein the terminal device plans to move along a path to the location (information is about a route to be taken by emergency vehicles (i.e., terminal device) to an incident location that lacks coverage from the network - see abstract, figures 2 and 3, and paragraphs 0003, 0011, 0017, and 0020-0022);
wherein at least a part of the path is out of the coverage of the network node (route could experience poor network conditions or have no coverage – see abstract, figure 5, and paragraphs 0014, 0015, 0031, 0037, 0040, and 0044); and
wherein the second network node is further indicated to provide a wireless signal coverage for at least the part of the path (a mobile platform/base station (i.e., second
network node) is dispatched to provide coverage to the determined route – see abstract, figures 2, 3, and 5, and paragraphs 0013 and 0045).
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 dispatch the mobile platform/base station along the route of terminals devices as disclosed by Jelavic et al. in the method disclosed by Shoshan et al., as modified by Dowlatkhah et al., in order to alleviate poor network coverage along a route
to and from an incident scene (see, for example, paragraph 0003 of Jelavic et al.).
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see pages 1 and 2 of the remarks, filed on August 28, 2025, with respect to the rejections of claims 1, 16, and 22 under 35 USC 102 and 35 USC 103 have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the rejections have been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, new grounds of rejection are made in view of newly found prior art references.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to Applicant’s disclosure.
Vesuna (U.S. Patent Application Publication # 2006/0002326 A1) discloses reconfigurable arrays of wireless access points.
Stephenson et al. (U.S. Patent Application Publication # 2008/0032727 A1) disclose enhanced coverage hole detection in wireless networks.
Ho et al. (U.S. Patent # 9,549,358 B1) disclose a coverage hole detection apparatus and method.
Obaidi et al. (U.S. Patent Application Publication # 2017/0111228 A1) disclose a dynamic wireless communications network with a plurality of aerial drones.
Sinha et al. (U.S. Patent Application Publication # 2020/0107201 A1) disclose a mechanism to determine cellular signal reputation of a location and intelligently manage lack of
connectivity.
Matsunaga (U.S. Patent Application Publication # 2022/0014288 A1) discloses a control device, control method, and computer-readable storage medium.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the Supervisory Patent Examiner (SPE) should be directed to Rafael Pérez-Gutiérrez whose telephone number is (571)272-7915. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Thursday from 6:15 am to 4:15 pm EST.
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Rafael Pérez-Gutiérrez
R.P.G./rpg
/Rafael Pérez-Gutiérrez/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2642
February 20, 2026