DETAILED ACTION
This action is responsive to the communication filed on 05/28/2024.
Claims 1-20 are pending.
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 .
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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) 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.
Claim(s) 1-4, 14-16, 18 and 19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Du et al (EP 4043917 A1 herein “Du”) and further in view of Xiaowei Jiang (US Pub. No. 2024/0430067 herein after “Jiang”).
As per claim 1, and similarly claims 15, 18 and 19, Jiang discloses a weather sensing method, comprising:
in a case that a first condition is met, performing, by a first communication device, sensing to obtain sensing and measurement data or a sensing result (Du, para[0025] perform sensing based on the reference signal and the echo signal); and
reporting, by the first communication device, the sensing and measurement data or the sensing result to a second communication device (Du, para[0032] transmit sensing information to the first node),
wherein the first condition comprises at least one of the following that:
sensing requirement information is received from the second communication device, wherein the sensing requirement information is used to request the weather sensing; or a periodic sensing time arrives (Jiang, para[0138] sending the sensing signal configuration information to at least one of a sensing signal sending end or a sensing signal receiving end)(Du, para[0018] the first node generate one or more pieces of first information and respectively transmits the one or more pieces of first information to one or more second nodes).
Du does not disclose performing weather sensing to obtain sensing and measurement data or a sensing result, wherein the sensing requirement information is used to request weather sensing.
However, Jiang discloses performing, by a first communication device, sensing to obtain sensing and measurement data or a sensing result (Jiang, para[0242] after receiving a sensing signal…a sensing signal receiving end may sense the sensing signal to determine related information; related information of the reflector may include at least…weather information); and sensing requirement information is received from the second communication device, wherein the sensing requirement information is used to request the weather sensing (Jiang, para[0138] sending the sensing signal configuration information to at least one of a sensing signal sending end or a sensing signal receiving end).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Jiang’s teaching of weather sensing into Du’s teaching of a Sensing method and device because one of the ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to perform weather sensing using the sensing signal.
As per claim 2, Jiang discloses the weather sensing method according to claim 1, wherein the sensing requirement information comprises at least one of the following: sensing area location information, used to indicate a location of a sensing area; a spatial resolution, used to indicate a spatial granularity of the weather sensing; a temporal resolution, used to indicate a temporal granularity of the weather sensing; or sensing repetition configuration information, indicating configuration information for repeating the weather sensing; wherein the sensing repetition configuration information comprises at least one of the following: no repetition; repetition within a first time range; or repetition based on a first cycle until a termination condition is met (Du, para[0095])(Jiang, para[0115]).
As per claim 3, Du discloses the weather sensing method according to claim 1, wherein the performing, by a first communication device, weather sensing to obtain sensing and measurement data or a sensing result comprises: transmitting, by the first communication device, a first signal, and receiving an echo signal; and processing, by the first communication device, the echo signal to obtain the sensing and measurement data or the sensing result (Du, para[0008,0025]).
As per claim 4, Jiang discloses the weather sensing method according to claim 1, wherein the weather sensing comprises rainfall sensing, and the rainfall sensing comprises at least one of the following: detecting rain or no rain in an area; detecting rain or no-rain distribution; or detecting rainfall rate distribution (Jiang, para[0126]).
As per claim 14, neither Jiang nor Du discloses, however, Leeds discloses the weather sensing method according to claim 4, wherein the method further comprises: obtaining, by the first communication device, reference information about rainfall, wherein the reference information is used to determine a rainfall sensing error of the first communication device; wherein the obtaining, by the first communication device, reference information about rainfall comprises: sending a first request message to the second communication device, wherein the first request message is used to request to obtain rainfall measurement data of a third-party station; and receiving the rainfall measurement data returned by the second communication device, and using the rainfall measurement data as the reference information; or obtaining rainfall measurement data by using a rainfall measurement device configured for the first communication device, and using the rainfall measurement data as the reference information (Leeds, para[0165, 0180-0185]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Leeds teaching of Estimating Confidence Bounds for Rainfall into the combination of Du and Jiang’s teaching because one of the ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to determine a confidence of sensing results.
As per claim 16, Jiang discloses the weather sensing method according to claim 15, wherein the weather sensing comprises rainfall sensing, and the rainfall sensing comprises at least one of the following: detecting rain or no rain in an area; detecting rain or no-rain distribution; or detecting rainfall rate distribution; wherein the method further comprises: performing fusion processing on sensing results reported by each first communication device, to obtain rainfall in the sensing area or a target area; and sending the rainfall in the sensing area or the target area to the third communication device through a server connected to a first application on the third communication device; or, the method further comprises: obtaining, by the second communication device, reference information about rainfall; determining, by the second communication device, a rainfall sensing error of the first communication device based on the sensing result and the reference information; and sending, by the second communication device, the rainfall sensing error of the first communication device to other sensing nodes within an area around the first communication device (Jiang, para[0126]).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) 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 the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 17 and 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Ding et al (US Pub. No. 2024/0292194 herein after “Ding”) .
The applied reference has a common assignee with the instant application. Based upon the earlier effectively filed date of the reference, it constitutes prior art under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2). This rejection under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) might be overcome by: (1) a showing under 37 CFR 1.130(a) that the subject matter disclosed in the reference was obtained directly or indirectly from the inventor or a joint inventor of this application and is thus not prior art in accordance with 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(A); (2) a showing under 37 CFR 1.130(b) of a prior public disclosure under 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(B) if the same invention is not being claimed; or (3) a statement pursuant to 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) establishing that, not later than the effective filing date of the claimed invention, the subject matter disclosed in the reference and the claimed invention were either owned by the same person or subject to an obligation of assignment to the same person or subject to a joint research agreement.
As per claims 17 and 20, Ding discloses a weather sensing method, comprising: receiving, by a third communication device, a first input performed by a user on a first application; and sending, by the third communication device in response to the first input, sensing requirement information to a second communication device through a server connected to the first application, wherein the sensing requirement information is used to request weather sensing (Ding, para[0071]).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 5-13 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant’s disclosure. See form 892.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Natisha Cox whose telephone number is (571)270-7167. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday to Friday, 10:00 am - 6:00pm EST.
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/NATISHA D COX/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2458