DETAILED ACTION
Status of Case
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
This Office Action is in response to the amendment filed on 5/26/2026.
Claims 1-30 are pending, with claims 10-30 being withdrawn.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments filed on 5/26/2026 with respect to the pending claims have been considered but are moot because the arguments do not apply to any of the references being used in the current rejection.
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 1-5, 8-9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chang (USPAN 2021/0409088) in view of Yi (WO 2015/012654 A1) and Stachnik (EP 4075164 A1).
Consider claim 1, Chang discloses a method of operating a sensing management component, comprising: transmitting an on-demand request for a power boost (see paragraph 128: “a dynamic [on-demand] transmit power boost using an antenna front end module”; said dynamic power boost would require one or more requests) to one or more sensing nodes associated with one or more radio frequency for sensing (RF-S) operations (see paragraph 120: proximity sensing subsystem 1000 provides integration of a sensing channel into RF module 1001).
Chang does not specifically disclose receiving measurement information associated with the one or more RF-S operations in accordance with the power boost.
Yi discloses receiving measurement information associated with one or more operations in accordance with the power boost (see paragraph 109: “…when power boosting is used for RS transmission, it may impact the power control and/or RRM measurement”; thus, the RRM measurement information that is received will be impacted in accordance with the power boost), and further discloses power boosting (see paragraphs 109: when power boosting is used; see paragraph 110: boost the power on RS over a narrow-band).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Chang and combine it with the noted teachings of Yi. The motivation to combine these references is to provide an improved method that determines whether user equipment needs coverage enhancement and/or whether network supports coverage enhancement efficiently (see paragraph 6 of Yi).
Although Chang discloses receiving the measurement information (see above), Chang does not specifically disclose information that is based on one or more radar reflections of one or more sensing reference signals off or one or more target objects that are remote from the one or more sensing nodes.
Stachnik disclose information that is based on one or more radar reflections of one or more sensing reference signals off or one or more target objects that are remote from the one or more sensing nodes (see paragraph 37: The device 11 is provided for detecting objects in the environment of the vehicle 10 such as a target object 23 shown in Fig. 1. That is, the radar sensor 13 detects radar reflections from the target object 23 which may also be regarded as raw detections.).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Chang and combine it with the noted teachings of Stachnik. The motivation to combine these references is to provide a method for estimating a velocity of a target object located in the environment of a vehicle (see paragraph 1 of Stachnik).
Consider claim 2, Chang discloses that the one or more sensing nodes comprise one or more transmission reception points (TRPs), one or more user equipments (UEs), or a combination thereof (see figure 2: the one or more sending nodes can a TRP and/or a UE).
Consider claim 3, Chang discloses that the on-demand request requests the one or more sensing nodes to implement the power boost (see above), but does not specifically disclose implementing it within a time-domain window.
Yi discloses implementing a process within a time-domain window (see paragraph 99: the UE may detect the coverage enhancement degree by detecting the number of redundant PBCHs within 40 msec).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Chang and combine it with the noted teachings of Yi. The motivation to combine these references is to provide an improved method that determines whether user equipment needs coverage enhancement and/or whether network supports coverage enhancement efficiently (see paragraph 6 of Yi).
Consider claim 4, Chang discloses that the on-demand request requests each of the one or more sensing nodes to perform the power boost (see above), but does not specifically disclose performing to achieve a sensing coverage target.
Yi discloses performing to achieve a sensing coverage target (see paragraph 99: the MIB may contain the target coverage enhancement degree).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Chang and combine it with the noted teachings of Yi. The motivation to combine these references is to provide an improved method that determines whether user equipment needs coverage enhancement and/or whether network supports coverage enhancement efficiently (see paragraph 6 of Yi).
Consider claim 5, Chang discloses that a power boost amount is determined independently at each of the one or more sensing nodes; or wherein the power boost amount at each of the one or more sensing nodes is based on one or more respective sensing environments associated with the one or more sending nodes, or a combination thereof (see paragraph 128: “a dynamic [on-demand] transmit power boost using an antenna front end module”; said dynamic power boost would require one or more requests; see paragraph 120: proximity sensing subsystem 1000 provides integration of a sensing channel into RF module 1001; thus, the power boost amount is determined either independently at each of Chang’s disclosed sensing nodes or based on the sensing environment such as sensing subsystem 1000)
Chang does not specifically disclose performing to achieve a sensing coverage target.
Yi discloses performing to achieve a sensing coverage target (see paragraph 99: the MIB may contain the target coverage enhancement degree).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Chang and combine it with the noted teachings of Yi. The motivation to combine these references is to provide an improved method that determines whether user equipment needs coverage enhancement and/or whether network supports coverage enhancement efficiently (see paragraph 6 of Yi).
Consider claim 8, Chang discloses receiving RF-S power boost capability information from the one or more sensing nodes, wherein the on-demand request is based on the RF-S power boost capability information (see figure 21 and paragraph 142: “a power boost capability”).
Consider claim 9, Chang discloses that at least one reference signal (RS) associated with the one or more RF-S operations is also associated with communications (see paragraphs 109-110: reference signal (RS) detection and boosting the power on the RS).
Claims 6 and 7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chang (USPAN 2021/0409088) in view of Yi (WO 2015/012654 A1), Stachnik (EP 4075164 A1), and Clark (USPAN 2016/0269132).
Consider claim 6, Chang discloses that the on-demand request requests the one or more sensing nodes to implement the power boost with respect to RF-S operations associated with the one or more sensing nodes (see above), but does not specifically disclose with respect to all operations.
Clark discloses performing all operations (see paragraph 70: signal power boosting and the device is configured to perform all of the operations performed by the control unit 600)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Chang and combine it with the noted teachings of Clark. The motivation to combine these references is to provide an efficient signal power booster for uplink and/or downlink communications (see paragraphs 2-5 of Clark).
Consider claim 7, Chang discloses that the on-demand request requests the one or more sensing nodes to implement the power boost with respect to RF-S operations associated with the one or more sensing nodes (see above), but does not specifically disclose with respect to a designated subset of operations.
Clark discloses performing a designated subset of operations (see paragraph 70: signal power boosting and the device is configured to perform some of the operations performed by the control unit 600)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Chang and combine it with the noted teachings of Clark. The motivation to combine these references is to provide an efficient signal power booster for uplink and/or downlink communications (see paragraphs 2-5 of Clark).
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 extension fee 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 date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Jamal Javaid whose telephone number is 571-270-5137 and email address is Jamal.Javaid@uspto.gov.
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/JAMAL JAVAID/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2412
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