DETAILED ACTION
This office action is responsive to communications filed on May 21, 2026. Claims 1, 2, 6, and 19 have been amended. Claims 12-18 and 20 have been canceled. New claims 21-28 have been added. Claims 1-11, 19, and 21-28 are pending in the application.
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 .
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.
Claims 1-10, 19, and 21-28 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ianev et al. (US 2022/0039046) in view of Bayesteh et al. (US 2022/0155435).
Regarding Claim 1, Ianev teaches a method, comprising:
receiving, by a network side node, a first message from a terminal, wherein the first message is used to request to register the terminal (“1. UE 30 sends Registration Request message to the AMF 71. The UE analytics report capability can be included by the UE 30 in the Registration Request message. The UE analytics report capability can also be relayed by the UE 30 to the AMF 71 in any other NAS message, e.g. in the Service Request message” – See [0037]; The AMF (network side node) receives a service request (first message) from the UE (terminal), which is used to request registration of the UE as a UE having a particular capability); and
responding, by the network side node, with a second message to the terminal based on the first message (“4. The AMF 71 sends Registration Accept message to the UE 30” – See [0045]; The AMF sends a registration accept (second message) to the UE based on the service request); wherein
before the responding with the second message to the terminal based on the first message, the method further comprises: obtaining, by the network side node, a subscription information of the terminal, and determining whether the subscription information of the terminal comprises a subscription indication related to a function of the terminal (“2. The AMF 71 invokes Nudm_SDM_Get service (or any other notation for a service request or a message for the purpose of UE subscription information retrieval) to the UDM/UDR 75 (Unified Data Management/User Data Repository) with the user identity (or referred as “UE_Id”). The AMF 71 may include the UE analytics report capability information element to the Nudm_SDM_Get message. The UDM/UDR 75 takes the UE analytics report capability information element into account when the UDM/UDR 75 generates the UE analytics report subscription information element in step 3 below” – See [0038]; “3. The UDM/UDR 75 sends the UE analytics report subscription, the analytics information to be collected, the reporting method and NWDAF name information elements to the AMF 71 as a part of subscriber data in the Nudm_SDM_Get response (or any other notation for a service response or a message for the purpose of UE subscription information retrieval). The UE analytics report subscription is referred by the AMF 71 in order to verify: whether the UE 30 is allowed to perform analytics information collection and delivery and optionally what type of analytics information can be collected and delivered by the UE 30” – See [0039]-[0040]; Before responding with the second message at step 4, the AMF obtains subscription information of the UE from the UDM using the Nudm_SDM_Get message. The AMF determines/verifies whether the UE is allowed to perform the functions indicated by its capabilities).
Ianev does not explicitly teach that the capability information of the terminal indicates that the terminal requests to register as a sensing assistance node.
However, Bayesteh teaches that the capability information of the terminal indicates that the terminal requests to register as a sensing assistance node (“the UE 110 transmits (step 502), to the BS 170, a sensing capability report indicating the sensing capability of the UE 110. The sensing capability report may include an indication of supported sensing types (including RF, imaging, LIDAR and camera) and the details of capability for each of supported sensing types. For example, for RF sensing, the sensing capability report may indicate a supported frequency bands and bandwidth, supported sensing signals and supported duplexing mode (full duplex or half duplex). The sensing capability report can be transmitted together with a known UE capability report. The known UE capability report is usually transmitted, to the BS 170 and by the UE 110, upon connecting to the BS 170” – See [0062]; The UE requests to register as a sensing assistance node by indicating its sensing assistance capability).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Ianev such that the capability information of the terminal indicates that the terminal requests to register as a sensing assistance node, and wherein network side node determines whether the subscription information is related to the sensing assistance function. Motivation for doing so would be to further extended the type of information collected by the terminal to include information about the environment in which the UEs operate, wherein the sensing is configured based on the sensing capabilities of the terminal (See Bayesteh, [0006], [0008], [0055], and [0097]).
Regarding Claim 2, Ianev in view of Bayesteh teaches the method of Claim 1. As shown above with respect to claim 1, Bayesteh teaches that the terminal function/capability relates to sensing assistance. Ianev further teaches that that the responding, by the network side node, the second message to the terminal based on the first message comprises: when determining that subscription information of the terminal comprises the subscription indication related to the terminal function, responding, by the network side node, the second message to the terminal based on the first message (“2. The AMF 71 invokes Nudm_SDM_Get service (or any other notation for a service request or a message for the purpose of UE subscription information retrieval) to the UDM/UDR 75 (Unified Data Management/User Data Repository) with the user identity (or referred as “UE_Id”). The AMF 71 may include the UE analytics report capability information element to the Nudm_SDM_Get message. The UDM/UDR 75 takes the UE analytics report capability information element into account when the UDM/UDR 75 generates the UE analytics report subscription information element in step 3 below” – See [0038]; “3. The UDM/UDR 75 sends the UE analytics report subscription, the analytics information to be collected, the reporting method and NWDAF name information elements to the AMF 71 as a part of subscriber data in the Nudm_SDM_Get response (or any other notation for a service response or a message for the purpose of UE subscription information retrieval). The UE analytics report subscription is referred by the AMF 71 in order to verify: whether the UE 30 is allowed to perform analytics information collection and delivery and optionally what type of analytics information can be collected and delivered by the UE 30” – See [0039]-[0040]; “4. The AMF 71 sends Registration Accept message to the UE 30” – See [0045]; Based on determining that the subscription information of the UE indicates that the UE is allowed to performed the function, the AMF responds to the terminal with the Registration Accept message (second message)).
Regarding Claim 3, Ianev in view of Bayesteh teaches the method of Claim 1. Bayesteh further teaches that the first message is an initial registration message or a registration update message (“Initially, the UE 110 transmits (step 502), to the BS 170, a sensing capability report indicating the sensing capability of the UE 110. The sensing capability report may include an indication of supported sensing types (including RF, imaging, LIDAR and camera) and the details of capability for each of supported sensing types. For example, for RF sensing, the sensing capability report may indicate a supported frequency bands and bandwidth, supported sensing signals and supported duplexing mode (full duplex or half duplex). The sensing capability report can be transmitted together with a known UE capability report. The known UE capability report is usually transmitted, to the BS 170 and by the UE 110, upon connecting to the BS 170” – See [0062]; The first message is an initial registration message transmitted when the terminal initially connects to the base station).
Regarding Claim 4, Ianev in view of Bayesteh teaches the method of Claim 1. Bayesteh further teaches that the first message comprises at least one of the following: an identifier of the terminal; an indication indicating that the terminal supports a sensing assistance function; an indication indicating a sensing service type supported by the terminal; an indication indicating a sensing function type supported by the terminal; or synchronization information (“Initially, the UE 110 transmits (step 502), to the BS 170, a sensing capability report indicating the sensing capability of the UE 110. The sensing capability report may include an indication of supported sensing types (including RF, imaging, LIDAR and camera) and the details of capability for each of supported sensing types. For example, for RF sensing, the sensing capability report may indicate a supported frequency bands and bandwidth, supported sensing signals and supported duplexing mode (full duplex or half duplex). The sensing capability report can be transmitted together with a known UE capability report. The known UE capability report is usually transmitted, to the BS 170 and by the UE 110, upon connecting to the BS 170” – See [0062]; The first message includes an indication of a sensing service/function type that the terminal supports).
Regarding Claim 5, Ianev in view of Bayesteh teaches the method of Claim 4. Bayesteh further teaches that the second message comprises at least one of the following: an indication indicating a network sensing capability of a network side; an indication indicating a sensing service type supported by the network side; configuration information of the sensing service type supported by the network side; an indication indicating a sensing function type supported by the network side; configuration information of the sensing function type supported by the network side; related information of a first node, wherein the first node is a node configured to implement a sensing control function; synchronization information related to the sensing assistance function; or configuration information of a protocol data unit session used for sensing (“Subsequent to receiving (step 504) the sensing capability report, the BS 170 may transmit (step 506), to the UE 110, a sensing configuration. Upon receiving (step 508) the sensing configuration, the UE 110 may implement the sensing configuration” – See [0063]; “The details of the sensing signal may be communicated to the UE 110 through sensing configuration signaling that is sent to the UE 110” – See [0074]; “The details of the sensing signal may include a “tight synchronization request” (TSR) for the UE 110 in case of bi-static sensing” – See [0076]; The second message includes configuration information of the sensing service that the base station supports/configures. The second message may also include synchronization information related to the sensing assistance).
Regarding Claim 6, Ianev in view of Bayesteh teaches the method of Claim 1. Bayesteh further teaches that before the responding a second message to the terminal based on the first message, the method further comprises: storing a sensing assistance context of the terminal (“The BS memory 358 stores instructions and data used, generated, or collected by the base station 170” – See [0052]; “the BS 170 and the UE both store at least some configuration information to, thereby, allow the UE 110 to reconnect to the BS 170, by way of a resume procedure, more rapidly than the UE 110 would be able to reconnect, by way of the connection establishment procedure, in the case wherein the UE 110 is in the RRC_IDLE state 802. The storage of at least some configuration information when the UE 110 is in the RRC_INACTIVE state 806 is one aspect that distinguishes the RRC_INACTIVE state 806 from the RRC_IDLE state 802” – See [0104]; The base station stores generated and collected data, such as the sensing configuration and sensing assistance capability of the UE, which is considered a sensing context. Further regarding the context of the terminal, the base station stores information to allow the UE to perform a connection re-establishment procedure).
Regarding Claim 7, Ianev in view of Bayesteh teaches the method of Claim 1. Bayesteh further teaches that the first message and the second message are at least one of the following message types: a non-access stratum message; or a sensing control layer message (“FIG. 5 illustrates, in a signal flow diagram, interaction between a UE 110 and a BS 170 for arranging sensing assisted by the UE 110” – See [0061]; The first and second messages are part of a sensing control layer between the base station and the UE).
Regarding Claim 8, Ianev in view of Bayesteh teaches the method of Claim 7. Bayesteh further teaches that when the first message and the second message are non-access stratum messages, the network side node is a second node configured to implement an access and mobility management function; or when the first message and the second message are sensing control layer messages, the network side node is a first node that implements a sensing control function (“FIG. 5 illustrates, in a signal flow diagram, interaction between a UE 110 and a BS 170 for arranging sensing assisted by the UE 110” – See [0061]; The first and second messages are part of a sensing control layer between the base station and the UE. Furthermore, the base station (network side node) is a first node that implements a sensing control function, as shown in Fig. 5).
Regarding Claim 9, Ianev in view of Bayesteh teaches the method of Claim 7. Ianev further teaches that when the first message and the second message are non-access stratum messages, before the responding a second message to the terminal based on the first message, the method further comprises: performing, by a second node, at least one of the following: sending a third message to a first node; or obtaining a sensing assistance context of the terminal from the first node, wherein the third message comprises at least one of the following: an identifier of the terminal; an indication indicating that the terminal supports a sensing assistance function; an indication indicating a sensing service type supported by the terminal; an indication indicating a sensing function type supported by the terminal; or synchronization information (“2. The AMF 71 invokes Nudm_SDM_Get service (or any other notation for a service request or a message for the purpose of UE subscription information retrieval) to the UDM/UDR 75 (Unified Data Management/User Data Repository) with the user identity (or referred as “UE_Id”). The AMF 71 may include the UE analytics report capability information element to the Nudm_SDM_Get message. The UDM/UDR 75 takes the UE analytics report capability information element into account when the UDM/UDR 75 generates the UE analytics report subscription information element in step 3 below” – See [0038]; Before sending the Registration Accept message (second message), the AMF sends Nudm_SDM_Get (third message) to the UDM (first node), wherein the Nudm_SDM_Get message comprises a UE ID (identifier of the terminal)).
Regarding Claim 10, Ianev in view of Bayesteh teaches the method of Claim 6. Bayesteh further teaches that the sensing assistance context of the terminal comprises at least one of the following: an indication indicating a sensing service type supported by a network side; configuration information of the sensing service type supported by the network side; an indication indicating a sensing function type supported by the network side; configuration information of the sensing function type supported by the network side; related information of a first node, wherein the first node is a node configured to implement a sensing control function; synchronization information related to the sensing assistance function; or configuration information of a protocol data unit session used for sensing (“the BS 170 may transmit (step 506), to the UE 110, a sensing configuration” – See [0063]; “The BS memory 358 stores instructions and data used, generated, or collected by the base station 170” – See [0052]; The base station stores generated data as the sensing assistance context, such as the sensing configuration (configuration information of the sensing service/function supported by the network side)).
Claim 19 is rejected based on reasoning similar to Claim 1.
Claim 21 is rejected based on reasoning similar to Claim 2.
Claim 22 is rejected based on reasoning similar to Claim 3.
Claim 23 is rejected based on reasoning similar to Claim 4.
Claim 24 is rejected based on reasoning similar to Claim 6.
Claim 25 is rejected based on reasoning similar to Claim 7.
Claim 26 is rejected based on reasoning similar to Claim 8.
Claim 27 is rejected based on reasoning similar to Claim 9.
Claim 28 is rejected based on reasoning similar to Claim 10.
Claim 11 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ianev et al. (US 2022/0039046) in view of Bayesteh et al. (US 2022/0155435) and further in view of Shan (US 2022/0095260).
Regarding Claim 11, Ianev in view of Bayesteh teaches the method of Claim 5. Ianev and Bayesteh do not explicitly teach that the configuration information of the protocol data unit session used for sensing comprises at least one of the following: a data network name; or a slice identifier.
However, Shan teaches that the configuration information of the protocol data unit session used for sensing comprises at least one of the following: a data network name; or a slice identifier (“a PDU session or “session” may refer to a PDU connectivity service that provides or enables the exchange of PDUs between a UE 301 and a data network (DN) 303 identified by a Data Network Name (DNN)” – See [0377]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Ianev such that the configuration information of the protocol data unit session used for sensing comprises at least one of the following: a data network name; or a slice identifier. Motivation for doing so would be to enable the data network that exchanges PDUs with the terminal to be identified (See Shan, [0377]).
Response to Arguments
On pages 10-12 of the remarks, Applicant argues in substance that Bayesteh does not teach “before the responding with the second message to the terminal based on the first message, the method further comprises: obtaining, by the network side node, a subscription information of the terminal, and determining whether the subscription information of the terminal comprises a subscription indication related to a sensing assistance function,” as recited in independent claims 1 and 19. Applicant’s arguments have been considered but are moot based on the new grounds of rejection. In response to the amended limitations, the Examiner relies upon the newly-cited Ianev reference.
Conclusion
Applicant’s amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Scott M Sciacca whose telephone number is (571)270-1919. The examiner can normally be reached Monday thru Friday, 7:30 A.M. - 5:00 P.M. EST.
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/SCOTT M SCIACCA/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2478
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