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 .
TITLE
The title of the invention is not descriptive. A new title is required that is clearly indicative of the invention to which the claims are directed. See MPEP 606.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDS) submitted on 07/08/2024, 07/12/2024, 11/18/2024 and 05/21/2025 are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statements are being considered by the examiner.
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, 4-7, 9-12, 14 and 15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Phuyal et al. (“Phu”) (U.S. PG Publication No. 2022/0386208) in view of Kim et al. (“Kim”) (U.S. PG Publication No. 2019/0306768).
In regards to claim 1, Phu teaches a communication apparatus comprising:
a memory storing a program (See ¶0010-0011, 0099-0103 and FIG. 8); and
one or more processors configured to execute the program (See ¶0099-0103 and FIG. 8) to:
obtain path information including information fields for indicating each of a plurality of waypoints (See ¶0050 and 0054 wherein a UE may be taught as a UAV which has received flight path information that defines waypoints and associated ETAs of the UAV at those waypoints, some of which may change over time and is expected to update or handover to new BSs);
transmit, to a base station, a first radio resource control, RRC, message including information for indicating an availability of the path information (See ¶0052 wherein during a handover from BS 105a to BS 105b the UE may transmit flight path information to BS 105b, of which as also described, context information and/or flight path information may be communicated as a radio resource control [RRC], of which as described above and also in ¶0087-0088 there may be a change in the flight path information and thus the UE may then send available and updated flight path information [which includes checks for validity --- thus availability]; also see ¶0073, 0094, 0104 and 0112 for more information on availability and updates to flight path information);
receive, from the base station, a second RRC message including information for requesting transmission of the path information (See ¶0032 wherein, in response to updated flight information being available, a target BS may request the updated flight path information, and as discussed above, the UE being in a RRC connected state); and
transmit in response to the reception of the second RRC message including the information for requesting transmission of the path information, to the base station, a third RRC message including the path information which includes the information fields for indicating the each of the plurality of waypoints (See ¶0050-0054 and 0087-0088 in view of 0032 as described above wherein then, after a request from a target BS, updates to flight path information may continuously occur).
Phu, however, fails to teach wherein the information fields for indicating the each of the plurality of waypoints include any of a value corresponding to the each of the plurality of waypoints and null.
In a similar endeavor Kim teaches wherein the information fields for indicating the each of the plurality of waypoints include any of a value corresponding to the each of the plurality of waypoints and null (See ¶0513-0521 wherein as an example of travel path information that may be taken by a drone, various eNBs are represented along a path, including identification information along a path 1 and path 2, of which may be considered as indexes indicating travel paths as understood by one of ordinary skill in the art [eNB1, eNB2, etc.]).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, and before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to incorporate the teaching of Kim into Phu because it allows for proper identifications of waypoints along path information for drones, thus making it clear as to which exact waypoints the drone is set to along the path as described in ¶0513-0521 and thus may properly adapt to changes or modifications along changed movement paths as specified in 0521.
In regards to claim 2, Phu teaches the communication apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are configured to execute the program to transmit, to the base station, the first RRC message including the information for indicating the availability of the path information in a case where at least one of the plurality of waypoints indicated by the information fields included in the path information previously transmitted to the base station is changed (See ¶0050-0054 and 0088-0089 wherein there may be updates and changes to the flight path information).
In regards to claim 4, Phu teaches the communication apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the path information includes information fields for indicating each of a plurality of timestamps (See at least ¶0050-0054 which defines waypoints and associated expected time of arrival [timestamps]), the each of the plurality of timestamps indicating a time to arrive at the each of the plurality of waypoints (See ¶0050-0054 as described above).
In regards to claim 5, Phu teaches the communication apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the path information includes information of a flight path or a moving path (See at least ¶0050-0054).
In regards to claim 6, Phu teaches a base station comprising:
a memory storing a program (See ¶0010-0011, 0099-0103 and FIG. 8); and
one or more processors configured to execute the program (See ¶0099-0103 and FIG. 8) to:
receive, from a communication apparatus (200), a first radio resource control, RRC, message including information for indicating an availability of path information (See ¶0052, 0087-0088; also see 0073, 0094, 0104 and 0112), the path information including information fields for indicating each of a plurality of waypoints (See ¶0050 and 0054 wherein a UE may be taught as a UAV which has received flight path information that defines waypoints and associated ETAs of the UAV at those waypoints, some of which may change over time and is expected to update or handover to new BSs);
obtain the information for indicating the availability of the path information included in the first RRC message (See ¶0050-0054);
transmit, to the communication apparatus, a second RRC message including information for requesting transmission of the path information (See ¶0032 wherein, in response to updated flight information being available, a target BS may request the updated flight path information, and as discussed above, the UE being in a RRC connected state); and
receive in response to the transmission of the second RRC message including the information for requesting transmission of the path information, from the communication apparatus, a third RRC message including the path information which includes the information fields for indicating the each of the plurality of waypoints (See ¶0050-0054 and 0087-0088 in view of 0032 as described above wherein then, after a request from a target BS, updates to flight path information may continuously occur).
Phu, however, fails to teach wherein the information fields for indicating the each of the plurality of waypoints include any of a value corresponding to the each of the plurality of waypoints and null.
In a similar endeavor Kim teaches wherein the information fields for indicating the each of the plurality of waypoints include any of a value corresponding to the each of the plurality of waypoints and null (See ¶0513-0521 wherein as an example of travel path information that may be taken by a drone, various eNBs are represented along a path, including identification information along a path 1 and path 2, of which may be considered as indexes indicating travel paths as understood by one of ordinary skill in the art [eNB1, eNB2, etc.]).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, and before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to incorporate the teaching of Kim into Phu because it allows for proper identifications of waypoints along path information for drones, thus making it clear as to which exact waypoints the drone is set to along the path as described in ¶0513-0521 and thus may properly adapt to changes or modifications along changed movement paths as specified in 0521.
In regards to claim 7, Phu teaches the base station according to claim 6, wherein the one or more processors are configured to execute the program to receive, from the communication apparatus, the first RRC message including the information for indicating the availability of the path information in a case where at least one of the plurality of waypoints indicated by the information fields included in the path information previously transmitted to the base station is changed (See ¶0050-0054 and 0088-0089 wherein there may be updates and changes to the flight path information).
In regards to claim 9, Phu teaches the base station according to claim 6, wherein the path information includes information fields for indicating each of a plurality of timestamps (See at least ¶0050-0054 which defines waypoints and associated expected time of arrival [timestamps]), the each of the plurality of timestamps indicating a time to arrive at the each of the plurality of waypoints (See ¶0050-0054).
In regards to claim 10, Phu teaches the base station according to claim 6, wherein the path information includes information of a flight path or a moving path (See at least ¶0050-0054).
In regards to claims 11, 12, 14 and 15, the claims are rejected under the same basis as claims 1, 2, 4 and 5, respectively, by Phu in view of Kim.
Claim(s) 3, 8 and 13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Phuyal et al. (“Phu”) (U.S. PG Publication No. 2022/0386208) in view of Kim et al. (“Kim”) (U.S. PG Publication No. 2019/0306768) and Sha et al. (“Sha”) (U.S. PG Publication No. 2021/0219163).
In regards to claim 3, Phu teaches the communication apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the first RRC message includes a message of the completion of an RRC connection establishment (See ¶0071, 0083 and 0093), a message of the completion of an RRC connection re-establishment (See ¶0093, 0103 and 0114), and a message of the completion of an RRC connection reconfiguration (See ¶0071 and 0093), the second RRC message includes a UEInformationRequest message (See ¶0053, 0062 and 0120).
Phu, however, fails to teach the third RRC message includes a UEInformationResponse message.
That is, Phu does indeed teach the UE responding to the request as seen in ¶0053 wherein the UE responds to the UEInformationRequest to the target BS using RRC signaling.
In a similar endeavor Sha teaches the third RRC message includes a UEInformationResponse message (See ¶0028 and 0117).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, and before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to incorporate the teaching of Sha into Phu because it allows for sending reports and information on the UE to the BS/eNB via specific RRC dedicated signaling in the form of UEInformationResponse as described in at least ¶0028 and 0117, wherein the network maintenance related measurement results are carried, thus enabling proper transmission and communication between devices.
In regards to claim 8, Phu teaches the base station according to claim 6, wherein the first RRC message includes a message of the completion of an RRC connection establishment (See ¶0071, 0083 and 0093), a message of the completion of an RRC connection re-establishment (See ¶0093, 0103 and 0114), and a message of the completion of an RRC connection reconfiguration (See ¶0071 and 0093), the second RRC message includes a UEInformationRequest message (See ¶0053, 0062 and 0120).
Phu, however, fails to teach the third RRC message includes a UEInformationResponse message.
That is, Phu does indeed teach the UE responding to the request as seen in ¶0053 wherein the UE responds to the UEInformationRequest to the target BS using RRC signaling.
In a similar endeavor Sha teaches the third RRC message includes a UEInformationResponse message (See ¶0028 and 0117).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, and before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to incorporate the teaching of Sha into Phu because it allows for sending reports and information on the UE to the BS/eNB via specific RRC dedicated signaling in the form of UEInformationResponse as described in at least ¶0028 and 0117, wherein the network maintenance related measurement results are carried, thus enabling proper transmission and communication between devices.
In regards to claim 13, the claim is rejected under the same basis as claim 3 by Phu in view of Kim and Sha.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to EDEMIO NAVAS JR whose telephone number is (571)270-1067. The examiner can normally be reached M-F, ~ 9 AM -6 PM.
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EDEMIO NAVAS JR
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2483
/EDEMIO NAVAS JR/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2483