CTNF 18/661,846 CTNF 86636 DETAILED ACTION Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status 07-03-aia AIA 15-10-aia 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 This office acknowledges receipt of the following item(s) from the applicant: Information Disclosure Statement(s) (IDS) filed on 20 June 2024, 28 February 2025, 22 July 2025, 13 August 2025, 11 September 2025 and 01 June 2026. The references have been considered. Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103 07-20-aia AIA 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. 07-21-aia AIA Claim (s) 1-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Rico Alvarino et al. (Rico, US PGPub 2017/0064685) in view of Fan et al. (Fan, Integrated Sensing and Communications: Towards Dual-Functional Wireless Networks for 6G and Beyond) . Referring to Claim 1, Rico teaches transmitting a signal ([0005-0006] and Fig. 3-7 and associated text), wherein a signal comprises a wideband signal and at least one single-tone signal (Fig. 4 and [0086], [0099] and [0107]), wherein the number of the at least one single-tone signal is less than 10 (Fig. 5 [0101]), and wherein a bandwidth of the wideband signal is greater than 1 MHz; Fig. 7 and [0086-0087], but does not explicitly disclose nor limit the signal is an integrated sensing and communication (ISAC) signal. However, Fan teaches the use of an integrated sensing and communication (ISAC) signal in wireless communications; See abstract. Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify Rico with the ISAC signal as taught by Fan so as to predictably provide high accuracy and robust sensing capabilities for location/environment aware scenarios. Referring to Claims 2, 11, 18 and 20, Rico as modified by Fan teach wherein the wideband signal is one of a Frequency-Modulated Continuous Wave (FMCW) signal, a pulse signal or a low-correlation sequence signal; See Waveform Design for ISAC section of Fan pages 1743-1744. Referring to Claims 3, 4, 11 and 20, Rico as modified by Fan teaches wherein the bandwidth of the wideband signal covers more than 90% of sub-carriers of the ISAC signal and wherein a time duration of the wideband signal is less than 10% of a time duration of the ISAC signal; See Fig. 4, 5 and 6 as well as associated text of Rico as well as Fig. 7 and associated text of Fan. Referring to Claims 5 and 12, Rico as modified by Fan teaches wherein a time spacing between the first time-domain position and the last time-domain position of the single- tone signal is greater than 90% of a time duration of the ISAC signal, and wherein a duty cycle of the single-tone signal is within 0% to 100%, time-domain positions of the single-tone signal are periodic or non-periodic, and a phase of the single-tone signal is continuous or discontinuous; See Fig. 3-7 of Rico and associated text. Referring to Claims 6 and 13, Rico as modified by Fan teaches wherein the ISAC signal further comprises at least one guard band between the single-tone signal and a communication signal of the ISAC signal; Fig. 3-5 and [0086] of Rico. Referring to Claims 7 and 14, Rico as modified by Fan teaches wherein: the single-tone signal is on a subcarrier with the highest frequency or the lowest frequency in the ISAC signal, and each guard band covers at least one subcarrier of the ISAC signal, and the at least one single-tone signal is a reference signal of a communication signal in the ISAC signal; [0086] of Rico. Referring to Claims 8, 15 and 16, Rico as modified by Fan teaches wherein transmitting the ISAC signal comprises: transmitting at least one signal component of the sensing signal via a plurality of antennas and/or a plurality of beams, and further comprising: receiving an echo signal corresponding to the sensing signal of the ISAC signal, and determining sensing information based on the echo signal; [0123-0124] of Rico and Section VI.C of Fan. Referring to Claim 9, Rico as modified by Fan teaches wherein a total time duration of the wideband signal is less than a total time duration of the at least one single-tone signal; see disclosure of Rico. Referring to Claim 10, Rico as modified by Fan teach receiving an integrated sensing and communication (ISAC) signal, and determining communication information and sensing information based on the ISAC signal, wherein a sensing signal in the ISAC signal comprises a wideband signal and at least one single-tone signal, wherein the number of the at least one single-tone signal is less than 10, and wherein a bandwidth of the wideband signal is greater than 1 MHz; See the citations and rationale of Claim 1 as this is variant of that claim. Referring to Claim 17, Rico as modified by Fan teaches a communication unit, configured to transmit an integrated sensing and communication, ISAC, signal, wherein a sensing signal in the ISAC signal comprises a wideband signal and at least one single-tone signal, wherein the number of the at least one single-tone signal is less than 10, and wherein a bandwidth of the wideband signal is greater than 1 MHz; see citations and rationale of Claim 1 as claim is a variation of that independent. Referring to Claim 19, Rico as modified by Fan teaches a communication unit, configured to transmit an integrated sensing and communication (ISAC) signal, and a processor, configured to determine communication information and sensing information based on the ISAC signal, wherein a sensing signal in the ISAC signal comprises a wideband signal and at least one single-tone signal, wherein the number of the at least one single-tone signal is less than 10, and wherein a bandwidth of the wideband signal is greater than 1 MHz; see citations and rationale of Claim 1 as claim is a variation of that independent . Conclusion 07-96 AIA The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. US PGPub 2023/0412442 ([0254] and [0257]) and US PGPub 2021/0286045 ([0178] and [0286]) teach the use of ISAC signals in wireless communication networks to provide add efficiency in the systems . Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to WHITNEY T MOORE whose telephone number is (571)270-3338. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday from 7am-4pm. Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Jack Keith can be reached at (571) 272-6878. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000. /WHITNEY MOORE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3646 Application/Control Number: 18/661,846 Page 2 Art Unit: 3646 Application/Control Number: 18/661,846 Page 3 Art Unit: 3646 Application/Control Number: 18/661,846 Page 4 Art Unit: 3646 Application/Control Number: 18/661,846 Page 5 Art Unit: 3646
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