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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) was submitted on 02/28/2025. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statements are being considered by the examiner.
Election/Restrictions
Applicant's election of a group linked to claims 1-10 and 17-25 in the reply filed on 01/13/2025 is acknowledged. Claims 11-16 and 26-30 have been withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b), as being drawn to a nonelected invention group II, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Applicant timely traversed the restriction (election) requirement in the reply filed on 01/13/2026.
Claim Objections
Claims 1-10 and 17-25 are objected to because of the following informality:
Claim 1 recites, “receiving, at the configuring device from the sensing node set the cluster Doppler . . .” (lines 9-10). It is suggested to replace it with “receiving, at the configuring device from the sensing node set, the cluster Doppler . . .” for more clarity. Claim 17 is objected to at least based on a similar rationale applied to claim 1.
Claim 3 recites, “further comprising including, in the sensing configuration, an indication . . .” (lines 1-2). It is suggested to replace it with “wherein the sensing configuration includes an indication . . .” for more clarity. Claims 4 and 6 are objected to at least based on a similar rationale applied to claim 3.
Claims 2-10 and 18-25 are also objected to since they are directly or indirectly dependent upon the objected claims, as set forth above.
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
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.
Claims 5 and 21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
Claim 5 recites, “wherein the one or more event-based triggers . . .” (lines 1-2). It is noted that the “one or more event-based triggers” is an optional limitation to be included in the one or more reporting triggers in claim 4. Thus, it is unclear whether “the one or more event-based triggers spatial filter” is even used for the reporting triggers, since the essential feature regarding “one or more event-based triggers “ does not exist in claim 4. Claim 21 is rejected at least based on a similar rationale applied to claim 4. For the sake of examination purpose only, it is interpreted as best understood.
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 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 set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 148 USPQ 459 (1966), that are applied 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, 3-8, 17 and 19-23 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zorgul et al (WO 2022/081624 A1)1 in view of Motlagh et al (US Publication No. 2025/0374235 A1)2.
Regarding claim 1, Zorgul discloses, a method of profiling . . . Doppler characteristics of a geographical area for radio frequency (RF) sensing by sensing nodes communicatively coupled with a wireless network [FIG. 8; its related descriptions; ¶0108, a method for an environment map of a region (e.g., room, outdoor area) including target objects for RF sensing by sensing nodes (e.g., BSs, UEs) communicatively coupled with a wireless network; further see, “Doppler measurements”], the method comprising:
sending, from a configuring device to a sensing node set comprising one or more sensing nodes communicatively coupled with the wireless network, a sensing configuration [FIG. 8; its related descriptions; ¶0114, sensing, from the combination of AD 600 and SnMF 700/RF sensing coordination unit 750 to transmitter 805 and receiver 806 communicatively coupled with the wireless network, RS configuration messages (steps 822 and 824)], wherein the sensing configuration is configured to enable the sensing node set to perform an RF sensing procedure and obtain clutter Doppler measurement information of the geographical area based at least in part on the RF sensing procedure [FIG. 8; its related descriptions; ¶0115-0116, the RF configuration message is configured to enable the transmitter(s) 805 to send the configured RS (step 832) and the receiver(s) 806 to receive the RS reflected by target object/environment (step S834) and obtain RF sensing results (step 842); further see, ¶0116, “the RF sensing results message 842 may include one or more measurements and/or information derived from one or more measurements (e.g., one or more ranges, one or more position estimates, etc.). The RF sensing results message 842 may include one or more channel characteristics (e.g., path loss, fading, interference, Doppler, etc.). and further see ¶0110, “report all objects in the region with non-zero Doppler measurements” for clutter Doppler measurement information].
receiving, at the configuring device from the sensing node set the clutter Doppler measurement information [FIG. 8; its related descriptions; ¶0117, receiving, at the combination of AD and SnMF 700 from the receiver(s) 806, the RF sensing results/RF sensing report]; and
determining, with the configuring device, a profile of the . . . Doppler characteristics of the geographical area based at least in part on the clutter Doppler measurement information [FIG. 8; its related descriptions; ¶0118, analyzing, with the AD 600 via the SnMF 700, RF sensing reports 825 on a region based on the RF sensing results 842].
Although Zorgul discloses, “a method of profiling . . . Doppler characteristics of a geographical area for radio frequency (RF) sensing by sensing nodes communicatively coupled with a wireless network” and “determining, with the configuring device, a profile of the . . . Doppler characteristics of the geographical area based at least in part on the clutter Doppler measurement information” as set forth above, Zorgul does not explicitly disclose (see, italicized and bold limitations), “profiling Doppler characteristics of a geographical area” is modified to be “profiling “clutter” Doppler characteristics of a geographical area”.
However, Motlagh discloses, profiling “clutter” Doppler characteristics of a geographical area [¶0284-0285 and 087-0288, estimating clutter effect of a background environment (see e.g., 206 of FIG. 2); further see ¶0287 for clutter Doppler characteristics, the clutter effects includes measurement of CSI values based on the received sensing reference signal at the sensing Rx node in the delay doppler domain and removing the components with doppler frequency of smaller than 10 Hz and/or delay of more than 20 ns from the measured CSI within the delay doppler domain].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide the above-mentioned feature(s) as taught by Motlagh in the system of Zorgul in order to cause the system to be able to increase precision for radio sensing of target objects in different environments and reduce power consumption [e.g., ¶0006 of Motlagh].
Regarding claim 3, Zorgul in view of Motlagh discloses, the method of claim 1 as set forth above.
Zorgul does not explicitly disclose (see, italicized limitations), but Motlagh discloses, including, in the sensing configuration, an indication of one or more triggers to initiate the performing of the RF sensing procedure by the sensing node set, wherein the one or more triggers comprise: a schedule [¶0135, a radio sensing controller entity configures a sensing Rx node with one or multiple of” (1) a first configuration . . .; further see ¶0141, the first configuration . . . may include at least one or multiple of . . . (d) Sensing reference signal resources according to the used waveform for sensing reference signal transmission, e.g., CP-OFDM time/frequency resources over which the sensing reference signal is transmitted].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide the above-mentioned feature(s) as taught by Motlagh in the system of Zorgul for similar rationales set forth above in claim 1.
Regarding claim 4, Zorgul in view of Motlagh discloses, the method of claim 1 as set forth above.
Zorgul does not explicitly disclose (see, italicized limitations), but Motlagh discloses, including, in the sensing configuration, an indication of one or more reporting triggers to cause the sensing node set to report the clutter Doppler measurement information to the configuring device, the one or more reporting triggers comprising: one or more event-based triggers [¶0176, a fourth configuration for the transmission of a report from sensing measurements and signal processing of the received signals, such as according to the configurations described above; further see ¶0196, e) configures one or multiple sensing Tx nodes with a sensing signal transmission, e.g., including configurations of the time-frequency, beam resources].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide the above-mentioned feature(s) as taught by Motlagh in the system of Zorgul for similar rationales set forth above in claim 1.
Regarding claim 5, Zorgul in view of Motlagh discloses, the method of claim 4 as set forth above.
Zorgul does not explicitly disclose (see, italicized limitations), but Motlagh discloses, wherein the one or more event-based triggers comprises reporting the clutter Doppler measurement information when a power of one or more measurements of the clutter Doppler measurement information exceeds a threshold [¶0176, a fourth configuration for the transmission of a report from sensing measurements and signal processing of the received signals, such as according to the configurations described above; further see ¶0274, b) one or multiple criteria for the transmission of the report, e.g., a time pattern for sensing reporting, or criterion based on the generated processing outcomes. This can include one or multiple of: . . . ii. when a generated measurement information output according to a measurement information output type, or multiple of the generated measurement outputs satisfy a condition. Examples of the condition include a measured received reference signal power is above a threshold].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide the above-mentioned feature(s) as taught by Motlagh in the system of Zorgul for similar rationales set forth above in claim 1.
Regarding claim 6, Zorgul in view of Motlagh discloses, the method of claim 1 as set forth above.
Zorgul discloses, in the sensing configuration, an indication of one or more RF signals to be used for the RF sensing procedure [¶0114, the RS configuration message contain at least the parameters of the RS and further see ¶0119, 0127], the one or more RF signals comprising: a positioning reference signal (PRS) [¶0080 and 0091, PRS],
a sounding reference signal (SRS) [¶0091 and 0097, SRS],
a channel start information reference signal (CSI-RS) [¶0091, CRI-RS], or
any combination thereof.
Regarding claim 7, Zorgul in view of Motlagh discloses, the method of claim 1 as set forth above.
Zorgul discloses, wherein the sensing node set comprises a single sensing node [¶0103, a co-located transmitter and receiver (transceiver) is called a monostatic radar], and wherein the sensing configuration enables the single sensing node to perform the RF sensing procedure in a monostatic configuration [¶0103, a co-located transmitter and receiver (transceiver) is called a monostatic radar. . . . the transceiver 521 provides a monostatic radar, with a transmitted signal 531 being reflected as a reflected signal 532 that is received by the transceiver 521].
Regarding claim 8, Zorgul in view of Motlagh discloses, the method of claim 1 as set forth above.
Zorgul discloses, wherein the wireless network comprises a cellular network [¶0034, 3G RAN, 4G LTE RAN, or NG-RAN] and wherein:
the configuring device comprises a sensing management function (SnMF) of the cellular network [FIG. 8; its related descriptions; ¶0109, SnMF 700]; and
the one or more sensing nodes comprise one or more user equipments (UEs) [FIGS. 1 and 8; their related descriptions; ¶0116, for a UE receiver, the receiver 806 …], one or more base stations [FIGS. 1 and 8; their related descriptions; ¶0115, base stations and ¶0116, TRP].
Regarding claim 17, Zorgul discloses, a configuring device [FIG. 8; its related descriptions; ¶0109, the combination of AD 600 and SnMF 700] . . , the configuring device [FIG. 8; its related descriptions; ¶0109, the combination of AD 600 and SnMF 700] comprising:
one or more transceivers [FIGS. 6-7; their related descriptions; interfaces 620 and 720; note that every network device has at least one transceiver];
one or more memories [FIGS. 6-7; their related descriptions; memories 630 and 730; note that every network device has at least one memory]; and
one or more processors communicatively coupled with the one or more transceivers and the one or more memories, wherein the one or more processors are configured to [FIGS. 6-7; their related descriptions; processors 610 and 710; note that every network device has at least one processor coupled with the transceiver and the memory].
Since claim 17 recites similar features to claim 1 without additional features, claim 17 is rejected at least based on a similar rationale applied to claim 1.
Regarding claim 19, claim 19 is rejected at least based on a similar rationale applied to claim 3.
Regarding claim 20, claim 20 is rejected at least based on a similar rationale applied to claim 4.
Regarding claim 21, claim 21 is rejected at least based on a similar rationale applied to claim 5.
Regarding claim 22, claim 22 is rejected at least based on a similar rationale applied to claim 6.
Regarding claim 23, claim 23 is rejected at least based on a similar rationale applied to claim 8.
Claims 2 and 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zorgul et al (WO 2022/081624 A1) in view of Motlagh et al (US Publication No. 2025/0374235 A1) and further in view of Stefan et al (US Publication No. 2023/0156429 A1).
Regarding claim 2, Zorgul in view of Motlagh discloses, the method of claim 1 as set forth above.
Zorgul in view of Motlagh does not explicitly disclose (see, italicized limitations), but Stefan discloses, wherein the clutter Doppler measurement information comprises: a Doppler-range map [¶0050, the sensing result is the result of processing the sensing measurement at the processor (e.g., compressed CSI or range-Doppler map)].
It is noted that the above-mentioned feature is a known technique in the field Applicant's endeavor, e.g., telecommunication art.
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to combine the system of Zorgul in view of Motlagh with "the above-mentioned known feature(s)" taught by Stefan to reach the claimed invention as set forth above. Since one having ordinary skill in the art could have recognized that applying the known technique taught by Stefan into the system of Zorgul in view of Motlagh would have yield predictable results and/or resulted in the improved system, such as enabling more accurate sensing and characterizing environmental motion, such a modification (or application) would have involved the mere application of a known technique to a piece of prior art ready for improvement," the claim is unpatentable under 35 U.S.C. 103(a). Ex Parte Smith, 83 USPQ.2d 1509, 1518-19 (BPAI, 2007) (citing KSR v. Teleflex, 127 S.Ct. 1727, 1740, 82 USPQ2d 1385, 1396 (2007)).
Regarding claim 18, claim 18 is rejected at least based on a similar rationale applied to claim 2.
Claims 9 and 24 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zorgul et al (WO 2022/081624 A1) in view of Motlagh et al (US Publication No. 2025/0374235 A1) and further in view of Phuyal et al (US Publication No. 2021/0258741 A1).
Regarding claim 9, Zorgul in view of Motlagh discloses, the method of claim 1 as set forth above.
Although Zorgul in view of Motlagh discloses, . . . sending the sensing configuration, determining the sensing configuration based at least in part on capability information . . . the sensing node set [see ¶0196 of Motlagh, a radio sensing controller entity performs . . . a) collects capability information of radio sensing capable node . . . e) configures one or more multiple sensing Tx nodes], Zorgul in view of Motlagh does not explicitly disclose (see, italicized limitations), but Phuyal discloses, prior to sending the . . . configuration, determining the . . . configuration based at least in part on capability information received from the . . . node [¶0096, the legacy UE 115l or the new UE 115n may transmit capability information of the respective UE 115 to BS 105. The UE 115 may transmit the capability information in the unicast or directed groupcast transmissions. Based on the capability of the UE 115, BS 105 may determine the legacy or new signaling configuration and transmit the RRC signaling that includes the legacy or the new signaling configuration to UE 115].
It is noted that the above-mentioned feature is a known technique in the field Applicant's endeavor, e.g., telecommunication art.
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to combine the system of Zorgul in view of Motlagh with "the above-mentioned known feature(s)" taught by Phuyal to reach the claimed invention as set forth above. Since one having ordinary skill in the art could have recognized that applying the known technique taught by Phuyal into the system of Zorgul in view of Motlagh would have yield predictable results and/or resulted in the improved system, such as e.g., enable to minimize signaling overhead and latency while overall system robustness, such a modification (or application) would have involved the mere application of a known technique to a piece of prior art ready for improvement," the claim is unpatentable under 35 U.S.C. 103(a). Ex Parte Smith, 83 USPQ.2d 1509, 1518-19 (BPAI, 2007) (citing KSR v. Teleflex, 127 S.Ct. 1727, 1740, 82 USPQ2d 1385, 1396 (2007)).
Regarding claim 24, claim 24 is rejected at least based on a similar rationale applied to claim 9.
Claims 10 and 25 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zorgul et al (WO 2022/081624 A1) in view of Motlagh et al (US Publication No. 2025/0374235 A1) and further in view of Hahn et al (US Publication No. 2024/0215005 A1).
Regarding claim 10, Zorgul in view of Motlagh discloses, the method of claim 1 as set forth above.
Zorgul in view of Motlagh does not explicitly disclose (see, italicized limitations), but Hahn discloses, wherein the clutter Doppler measurement information comprises: an indication of a frequency band with which the RF sensing procedure was performed [¶0010, identifying a first frequency corresponding to a best measurement result among the measurement results for the first sensing signal; and identifying the first frequency band correspodning to the first frequency; note that the measurement results included in the first feedback signal comprises an indication of a first frequency band (corresponding to the first frequency); further note that the first frequency is the one with the sensing procedure was performed].
It is noted that the above-mentioned feature is a known technique in the field Applicant's endeavor, e.g., telecommunication art.
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to combine the system of Zorgul in view of Motlagh with "the above-mentioned known feature(s)" taught by Hahn to reach the claimed invention as set forth above. Since one having ordinary skill in the art could have recognized that applying the known technique taught by Hahn into the system of Zorgul in view of Motlagh would have yield predictable results and/or resulted in the improved system, such as e.g., improving robustness and accuracy of RF sensing, such a modification (or application) would have involved the mere application of a known technique to a piece of prior art ready for improvement," the claim is unpatentable under 35 U.S.C. 103(a). Ex Parte Smith, 83 USPQ.2d 1509, 1518-19 (BPAI, 2007) (citing KSR v. Teleflex, 127 S.Ct. 1727, 1740, 82 USPQ2d 1385, 1396 (2007)).
Regarding claim 25, claim 25 is rejected at least based on a similar rationale applied to claim 10.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon are considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Zhu et al (US Publication No. 2023/0309144 A1) [¶00479]
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/SUN JONG KIM/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2469
1 Zorgul is cited in an IDS by the applicant.
2 Since Motlagh is relying on PCT publication (WO 2024/047514 A1) (see attached) to claim a priority date 08/28/2023, Motlagh is qualified as a prior art under 102(a)(2) for the instant application with the effective filing date 12/05/2023.