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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 04/01/2026 has been entered.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1-28 and 31-32 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
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) 1-2, 6-9, 13-14, 16-26 and 31-32 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over D0 US 11709251 B1 in view of D1 US 20140349582 A1 further in view of D01 US 20140015705 A1.
Regarding claims 1, 8, 13, 25 and claims bellow D0 teaches
one or more memories (Col 2, line 12-15); and one or more processors, coupled to the one or more memories , configured to(implicit)
transmit a sensing signal, using the resource for the monostatic sensing operation, toward a target object;(implicit radar data are transmitted toward target and received by sensor)
estimate a velocity of a target object based on transmission of a sensing signal toward the target object and reception of a return signal that reflects off the target object;(col 10 line 40-60)
nodes initiating communication (col 13 line 63- col 14 line 15)
receive one or more of distributed estimation data(claim 1 second relative speed) ;(col 10 line 40-60)
wherein the distributed estimation data is collected by a plurality of anchor nodes based on performance, at each of the plurality of anchor nodes, of a monostatic sensing operation, ;(col 10 line 40-60)
but does not teach while D1 teaches
receive a velocity estimation request from the UE for the target object;(114)
output a velocity estimation request for the target object; (115 fig. 11)
It would be obvious to one of ordinary skills in the art at the time of the filing to modify invention by D0 with invention by D1 in order to initiate communication for specific data transfer as required in D0.
D0 does not teach but D01 teaches
receive, from a network node[0059](user interface), a velocity distributed sensing mode configuration,
wherein the velocity distributed sensing mode configuration comprises an allocation of a resource for a monostatic sensing operation;[0059](various parameters for generating radar signal)
transmit a sensing signal, using the resource for the monostatic sensing operation, toward a target object;[0060]
It would be obvious to one of ordinary skills in the art at the time of the filing to modify invention by D0 with invention by D01 in order initiate by user radar operation with specific configuration .
22. The network node of claim 13, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to configure the anchor nodes to perform a monostatic sensing operation.(D0: col 3 line 32-40)
31. (New) The UE of The UE of wherein messages associated with the distributed estimation data are synchronized in time or frequency.(D0: col 13 line 60- col 14 line 15 a synchronous serial communication )
32. (New) The UE of The UE of
wherein the second estimated velocity is a transversal velocity.(no patentable weight as it is alternative.) (D0: col 10 line 40-60 second component of the velocity)
D1 teaches
6, 16. The UE of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to receive a configuration for a velocity distributed sensing mode.(D1 -1007 fig. 10 for example)
7. The UE of claim 6, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to transmit a request to initiate the velocity distributed sensing mode.(D1 implicit velocity estimate is obtained and transmitted to esmlc)
17. The network node of claim 13, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to select the one or more anchor nodes based, at least in part, on one or more feasibility factors, each of the one or more feasibility factors being associated with one or more of the one or more anchor nodes. (D1 1007)
18. The network node of claim 13, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to receive input information from the one or more anchor nodes.(D1 1007 )
19. The network node of claim 13, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to receive one or more of a location(obvious configuration of enb which is then used to triangulate and obtain geographical position D1 [0168]) or mobility pattern associated with each of the anchor nodes.
20. The network node of claim 13, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to receive an availability metric associated with each of the one or more anchor nodes.(obvious due to the fact that triangulation can be done by using other devices wherein other device has to be available and therefore receiving in configuration availability of the device is obvious. )
21. The network node of claim 13, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to select the one or more anchor nodes based, at least in part, on target information and input information from the one or more anchor nodes. (Choosing closest available nodes or nodes with better signal to noise ratio also is well known)
23. The network node of claim 13, wherein the one or more anchor nodes include one or more static objects.(D1 fig. 13)
24. The network node of claim 13, wherein the one or more anchor nodes include one or more dynamic objects.(D1 fig. 13)
It would be obvious to one of ordinary skills in the art at the time of the filing to modify invention by D0 with invention by D1 in order to optimize the communication for required data transfer and accurate velocity determination.
Although D0/D1 does not explicitly teach
2, 9, 14, 26 The UE of claim 1, wherein the velocity estimation request includes a coarse location of the target object.
Providing the coarse location is just matter of design choice in order to notify the esmlc about its approximate position so esmlc can find closest available nodes enb.
Claim(s) 3-5, 10-12, 15, 27-28 and claims below is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over D0 in view of D1 and further in view of D3 WO 2022056242 A1 (US 20230280454 A1 is used for purpose of mapping)
Regarding claim bellow D0/D1 does not teach but D3 teaches
3, 10, 15. including a performance error metric.[0099-0100]
It would be obvious to one of ordinary skills in the art at the time of the filing to modify invention by D0/D1 with invention by D3 in order to increase the likelihood that data is received correctly over a communication link.
4, 11 The UE of claim 3, wherein the performance error metric includes one or more of a velocity estimation resolution or a predicted covariance.(obvious matter of choice in order to take into account / report reliability of the data)
5, 12, 28 The UE of claim 3, wherein the performance error metric includes a velocity estimation accuracy value. (obvious matter of choice in order to take into account / report reliability of the data)
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to HELENA SERAYDARYAN whose telephone number is (571)270-0706. The examiner can normally be reached on M-T, 7:30-5pm.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Resha Desai can be reached on (571) 270-7792. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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 Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative or access to the automated information system, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/HELENA H SERAYDARYAN/ Examiner, Art Unit 3645
/TIMOTHY A BRAINARD/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3648
Prosecution Insights