DETAILED ACTION
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 April 17, 2026 has been entered.
Claim 1-4, 8-12, 15-16, and 19 are amended.
Claims 1-20 are pending this application.
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 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wanuga et al (WO 2021/030685 A1) in view of Bayesteh et al (US 2021/0076367 A1).
Regarding Claim 1, Wanuga teaches network equipment (NE) for wireless communication, comprising [0031-0032 for wireless devices]:
at least one memory [0031 for computers and networks];
and at least one processor coupled with the at least one memory and configured to cause the NE to [0031-0032, 0037]:
receives a first configuration comprising an indication of at least one set of time-frequency resources for performing sensing jointly with wireless communications [0040 for using WRTUs and 0107 for WRTU transmitting reference signals for sensing at specific times];
receives a second configuration comprising an indication of a computational strategy that identifies an expected type of sensing measurement output to be produced from the at least one set of time-frequency resources [0040, 0107-0108 for an activation indication];
and transmit a report that indicates one or more sensing measurements based on the performed sensing [0040, 0107-0108].
Wanuga fails to explicitly teach perform sensing according to the first configuration and the second configuration and without suspending wireless communication, wherein the sensing is performed jointly with at least one of reception or transmission of a wireless communication signal on at least one set of time frequency resources and wherein the wireless communication signal is used for both communication and sensing.
Bayesteh has methods for the generation of sensing signals and sensing signal configurations for a wireless communication network (abstract) and teaches perform sensing according to the first configuration and the second configuration and without suspending wireless communication, wherein the sensing is performed jointly with at least one of reception or transmission of a wireless communication signal on at least one set of time frequency resources [0052 for doing the sensing operations in parallel with communication transmissions]
and wherein the wireless communication signal is used for both communication and sensing [Claim 7 for transmitting, using at least some of the set of physical resources].
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the applicant’s invention for modifying the beam steering techniques, as disclosed by Wanuga, further including the reflections calculations as taught by Bayesteh for the purpose to ensure that the distance between the TRP and a target is approximately the same as the distance between the sensing agent (Bayesteh, 0052).
Regarding Claim 9, Wanuga teaches a method performed by a network equipment (NE), the method comprising [0031-0032 for wireless devices]:
receiving a first configuration comprising an indication of at least one set of time-frequency resources for performing sensing jointly with wireless communication [0040 for using WRTUs and 0107 for WRTU transmitting reference signals for sensing at specific times];
receiving a second configuration comprising an indication of a computational strategy that identifies an expected type of sensing measurement output to be produced from the at least one set of time-frequency resources [0040, 0107-0108 for an activation indication];
and transmitting a report the conducted that indicates one or more sensing measurements based on the performed sensing [0040, 0107-0108].
Wanuga fails to explicitly teach perform sensing according to the first configuration and the second configuration and without suspending wireless communication, wherein the sensing is performed jointly with at least one of reception or transmission of a wireless communication signal on at least one set of time frequency resources and wherein the wireless communication signal is used for both communication and sensing.
Bayesteh has methods for the generation of sensing signals and sensing signal configurations for a wireless communication network (abstract) and teaches perform sensing according to the first configuration and the second configuration and without suspending wireless communication, wherein the sensing is performed jointly with at least one of reception or transmission of a wireless communication signal on at least one set of time frequency resources [0052 for doing the sensing operations in parallel with communication transmissions]
and wherein the wireless communication signal is used for both communication and sensing [Claim 7 for transmitting, using at least some of the set of physical resources].
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the applicant’s invention for modifying the beam steering techniques, as disclosed by Wanuga, further including the reflections calculations as taught by Bayesteh for the purpose to ensure that the distance between the TRP and a target is approximately the same as the distance between the sensing agent (Bayesteh, 0052).
Regarding Claim 15, Wanuga teaches a network equipment (NE) for wireless communication, comprising [0031-0032 for wireless devices]:
at least one memory [0032-0032];
and at least one processor coupled with the at least one memory and configured to cause the NE to [0032-0032 and 0037];
transmits a first configuration comprising an indication of at least one set of time-frequency resources for performing sensing jointly with wireless communication [0040 for using WRTUs and 0107 for WRTU transmitting reference signals for sensing at specific times];
transmits a second configuration comprising an indication of a type of sensing measurement output to be produced from the at least one set of time-frequency resources [0040, 0107-0108 for an activation indication];
and receives a report that indicates one or more sensing measurements based on sensing performed jointly with at least one of reception or transmission of a wireless communication signal on the at least one set of time-frequency resources [0040, 0107-0108].
Wanuga fails to explicitly teach and wherein the wireless communication signal is used for both communication and sensing.
Bayesteh has methods for the generation of sensing signals and sensing signal configurations for a wireless communication network (abstract) and teaches and wherein the wireless communication signal is used for both communication and sensing [Claim 7 for transmitting, using at least some of the set of physical resources].
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the applicant’s invention for modifying the beam steering techniques, as disclosed by Wanuga, further including the reflections calculations as taught by Bayesteh for the purpose to ensure that the distance between the TRP and a target is approximately the same as the distance between the sensing agent (Bayesteh, 0052).
Regarding Claim 16, Wanuga teaches a method performed by network equipment (NE) the method comprising [0031-0032 for wireless devices]:
transmitting a first configuration comprising an indication of at least one set of time-frequency resources for performing sensing jointly with wireless communication [0040 for using WRTUs and 0107 for WRTU transmitting reference signals for sensing at specific times];
transmitting a second configuration comprising an indication of a computational strategy that identifies an expected type of sensing measurement output to be produced from the at least one set of time-frequency resources [0040, 0107-0108 for an activation indication];
and receiving a report that indicates one or more sensing measurements based on sensing performed jointly with at least one of reception or transmission of a wireless communication signal on the at least one set of time-frequency resources, [0040, 0107-0108].
Wanuga fails to explicitly teach and wherein the wireless communication signal is used for both communication and sensing.
Bayesteh has methods for the generation of sensing signals and sensing signal configurations for a wireless communication network (abstract) and teaches and wherein the wireless communication signal is used for both communication and sensing [Claim 7 for transmitting, using at least some of the set of physical resources].
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the applicant’s invention for modifying the beam steering techniques, as disclosed by Wanuga, further including the reflections calculations as taught by Bayesteh for the purpose to ensure that the distance between the TRP and a target is approximately the same as the distance between the sensing agent (Bayesteh, 0052).
Regarding Claim 2, and 10, Wanuga teaches the second configuration further comprises an indication of a waveform type for sensing [0091 for multiple architecture types].
Regarding Claim 3, Wanuga discloses the at least one processor is configured to cause the NE [0034, 0107],
decode the wireless communication signal received on the at least one set of time-frequency resources and use a sequence decoded from the received wireless communication signal as a reference signal for part of the sensing [0037].
Regarding Claim 4, and 12, Wanuga teaches the at least one processor is configured to cause the NE to [0034, 0110]:
perform a sensing task on the at least one set of time-frequency resources that coexist with transmissions from a and transmit a third configuration to the network node for adjusting transmission parameters of the network node to assist the sensing by the NE [0108, 0119].
Regarding Claim 5, and 13, Wanuga teaches the at least one processor is configured to cause the NE to configure sensing modes on the at least one set of time-frequency resources together with an indication of a time domain behavior, including a one-time configuration, a periodic configuration, or a semi-persistent configuration [0034, 0107, 0113 for semi-persistent, aperiodic reporting].
Regarding Claim 6 and 14, Wanuga teaches the at least one processor is configured to cause the NE to receive a third configuration for performing beam measurements for communication with or sensing from one or more network nodes [0034, 0108 also 0152-0153 for blockage statistics and backscatter measurements].
Regarding Claim 7, Wanuga teaches the at least one processor is configured to cause the NE to receive a configuration from a network node with one or more of a first beam for sensing and information reception, a second beam for information reception, a third beam for information transmission where the transmission is used for sensing at the network node, a fourth beam for sensing, and a fifth beam for information transmission [0098 for pair of beams, with 0108, 0152].
Regarding Claim 8, Wanuga teaches the at least one processor is configured to cause the NE to receive a configuration from a network node with one or more of a first waveform for sensing and information reception, a second waveform for information reception, a third waveform for information transmission where the transmission is used for sensing at the network node, a fourth waveform for sensing, a fifth waveform for information transmission, and a sixth waveform for information transmission and reception [0107-0108].
Regarding Claim 17, Wanuga teaches first configuration, the second configuration, or both, are transmitted as at least one of a periodic configuration, a semi-persistent configuration, or an aperiodic configuration [0034, 0107, 0113 for semi-persistent, aperiodic reporting].
Regarding Claim 18, Wanuga teaches at least one set of time-frequency resources comprises one or more time-domain symbols configured as joint communication-and-sensing symbols [0056].
Regarding Claim 19, Wanuga teaches sensing measurements are based on at least a portion of a wireless communication signal transmitted by the NE on the at least one set of time-frequency resources [0113-0114 for time frequency resources].
Regarding Claim 20, Wanuga teaches at least one set of time-frequency resources for sensing is outside a set of time-frequency resources configured for reception of data or control signaling other than the communication performed jointly with the sensing [0113-0114].
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 1-20 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection, necessitated by amendments, does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
In applicant’s arguments page 9, first paragraph of applicant’s arguments, the applicant states that the applied references fail to teach using the wireless communication signal for both communication and sensing. The examiner appreciates the clarifying amendments, reference Bayesteh teaches using wireless signals for both communication and sensing [Bayesteh, claim 7 and 0053 for sensing signals and communication signals could be implemented using the same hardware].
In applicant’s arguments page 11, second paragraph of applicant’s arguments, the applicant states that the applied references do not teach joint sensing with a wireless communication signal on configured time frequency resources. The examiner respectfully disagrees, Wanuga teaches a WTRU may be configured to transmit reference signals and the reference signals are JCR [Wanuga, 0107].
In applicant’s arguments page 12, second paragraph of applicant’s arguments, the applicant states that Wanuga does not teach joint configuring the network node that designates configured time frequency resources for JCR and providing a computational strategy. The examiner respectfully disagrees, Wanuga teaches steps 400a, 400b, 402, 403, and 406 for calculating beam blockage rate reporting according to a computational strategy [Wanuga, 0121-0123 and figure 4].
Conclusion
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/SAMARINA MAKHDOOM/
Examiner, Art Unit 3648
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