DETAILED ACTION
This action is responsive to the communication filed on 06/23/2026.
Claims 1, 15 and 17 have been amended.
No claims have been added and/or canceled.
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 .
Response to Arguments
Applicants’ arguments filed 06/23/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. In response to applicants’ argument that neither Du nor Jiang teach and/or suggest the features described below the examiner respectfully disagrees.
In response to applicants’ argument that Jiang does not disclose that the sending device can be a request to perform sensing through spatial resolution, a temporal resolution or sensing repetition configuration information, the examiner disagrees. Jiang discloses a sensing signal configuration method which includes determining sensing signal configuration information, wherein the sensing signal configuration information includes at least one of: type of sensing signal, resource configuration information of the sensing signal, or service information corresponding to the sensing signal and sending the sensing signal configuration information to at least one of a sensing signal sending end. Jiang further discloses the service information corresponding to the sensing signal may include at least one of: information of a sensed target…or a sensing requirement of the service corresponding to the sensing signal (para[0108]) wherein the sensing requirement of the service corresponding to the sensing signal may include at least one of: sensing distance between the sensing signal receiving end and the sensed target; sensing range of angles between the sensing signal receiving end and the sensed target (para[0132]). Jiang further discloses the region position information of the sensed target may be a sensed region determined according to at least one of longitude range, a latitude range or an altitude range.
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 (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, wherein the sensing requirement information comprises at least one of the following: a spatial resolution, used to indicate a special 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 (Jiang, para[0108,0138] sending the sensing signal configuration information to at least one of a sensing signal sending end or a sensing signal receiving end; the service information corresponding to the sensing signal may include at least one of:…or a sensing requirement of the service corresponding to the sensing signal, wherein the sensing requirement of the service corresponding to the sensing signal may include at least one of: sensing distance between the sensing signal receiving end and the sensed target; sensing range of angles between the sensing signal receiving end and the sensed target; the region position information of the sensed target may be a sensed region determined according to at least one of longitude range, a latitude range or an altitude range).
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 further comprises: sensing area location information, used to indicate a location of a sensing area (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(s) 17 and 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ding et al (US Pub. No. 2024/0292194 herein after “Ding”) and further in view of .
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]).
Ding does not disclose, however, Jiang discloses wherein the sensing requirement information comprises at least one of the following: a spatial resolution, used to indicate a special 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 (Jiang, para[0108,0138] sending the sensing signal configuration information to at least one of a sensing signal sending end or a sensing signal receiving end; the service information corresponding to the sensing signal may include at least one of:…or a sensing requirement of the service corresponding to the sensing signal, wherein the sensing requirement of the service corresponding to the sensing signal may include at least one of: sensing distance between the sensing signal receiving end and the sensed target; sensing range of angles between the sensing signal receiving end and the sensed target; the region position information of the sensed target may be a sensed region determined according to at least one of longitude range, a latitude range or an altitude range).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Jiang’s teaching of weather sensing into Ding’s teaching of weather sensing because one of the ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to perform weather sensing using spatial or temporal resolution to determine when and/or where it rained.
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
Applicants’ amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any extension fee pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the date of this final action.
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, 10am - 6:00pm EST.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Umar Cheema can be reached on (571)270-3037. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is (571) 273-8000.
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/NATISHA D COX/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2458
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