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 .
Information Disclosure Statement (IDS)
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 30 May 2024 is being considered by the examiner.
Claims 1-30 are pending.
Figure 11 of the application illustrates the claimed invention.
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Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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) 1-2, 8-9, 13, 14-15, 21-22, 26-28 and 30 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Stauffer et al. (US 2020/0107249 A1).
Regarding claims 1, 14, 27 and 30, Stauffer et al. discloses a method of environment sensing performed by a user equipment (UE), comprising:
receiving a first resource configuration indicating a first set of resources for a first radar reference signal (RRS), the first set of resources comprising first time resource, first frequency resources, first spatial resources, or any combination thereof,
wherein the first set of resources is selected for a first type of environment sensing based on the first RRS; and
receiving a second resource configuration indicating a second set of resources for a second RRS, the second set of resources comprising second time resources, second frequency resources, second spatial resources, or any combination thereof, wherein the second set of resources is selected for a second type of environment sensing based on the second RRS, wherein the second set of resources is different from the first set of resources, and wherein the second type of environment sensing is different from the first type of environment sensing. (Figure 5 includes Trx preference field 506 which specify a radar type for environment sensing include (e.g., a predicted position of the object, a predicted velocity of the object, and estimated quantity of objects), environmental conditions (e.g., detected clutter), or based on the radar-based application (e.g., gesture recognition, presence detections, or collision avoidance).
([0047]: “An example radar request message 504 is depicted at the top of FIG. 5, and includes a transmission (Trx) preference field 506, a grant preference field 508, and a UE information field 510. Within the transmission preference field 506, the radar request module 316 can provide one or more transmission preferences of the radar system 202. Example types of transmission preferences can include a frequency or a range of frequencies (e.g., a center frequency and a bandwidth), a pulse shape (e.g., a pulse width), a modulation type, a transmission power level, a duty cycle, a scan angle, and so forth. These transmission preferences may be determined by the control circuitry 412 based on object characteristics (e.g., a predicted position of the object, a predicted velocity of the object, and estimated quantity of objects), environmental conditions (e.g., detected clutter), or based on the radar-based application (e.g., gesture recognition, presence detections, or collision avoidance).”
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Para. [0065]-[0070] teach the UE 110 moves to different geographic locations that vary in terms of network coverage. The radar grant module 366 sends a radar grant message 524 to the UE 110 indicates a specific geographic region for which the authorization is granted, conditions for which future radar request are to be sent, a time slot (e.g., time resources available for radar transmission), a timing pattern of multiple radar transmissions, frequency resources available for radar transmission, and so forth.”
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It is inherently included in Stauffer et al. the UE receives a first resource configuration for a first type of environment sensing and a second resource configuration for a second type of environment sensing when the UE moves to different geographical location, such as shows in figure 6.
Regarding claims 2, 15 and 28, Stauffer et al. teaches:
receiving the first RRS on the first set of resources during a first time period;
performing the first type of environment sensing based on the first RRS;
receiving the second RRS on the second set of resources during a second time period; and
performing the second type of environment sensing based on the second RRS. Figure 6 shows receiving the first RRS on the first set of resources during a first time period 602. The UE moves to different geographical location to receive the second RRS on the second set of resources during the second time period 604.
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Regarding claims 8 and 21, Stauffer et al. teaches transmitting a first request to a first base station (base station 124) for the first resource configuration; and
transmitting a second request to a second base station (base station 121or 122) for the second resource configuration.
([0046]: “At 502, the radar request module 316 of the UE 110 causes the LTE or 5G NR transceiver 306 or 308 to send a radar request message 504 to the base station 120.”). See figure 6.
Regarding claims 9 and 22, Stauffer et al. teaches the first and second frequency resources comprise a first set of subcarriers, a first set of resource blocks, a first set of resource elements, or a first set of bandwidth parts. ([0041]: “the frequency spectrum can be divided into multiple sub-spectrums that have similar or different bandwidths. Example bandwidths can be on the order of 500 megahertz (MHz), one gigahertz (GHz), two gigahertz, and so forth.”)
Regarding claims 13 and 26, Stauffer et al. teaches wherein the first type of environment sensing is one of gesture recognition, vibration detection, or location detection, and
the second type of environment sensing is a different one of gesture recognition, vibration detection, or location detection. (see figure 2).
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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 3 and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Stauffer et al. (US 2020/0107249 A1) in view of Chrmiel (US 2019/0104542 A1).
Regarding claims 3 and 16, Stauffer et al. fails to teach wherein the second time period at least partially overlaps the first time period.
Chmiel et al. in the same field of invention, teaches ([0038]: “Two or more user equipment allocated overlapping sets of physical resource blocks can be spatially separated as well as their dedicated reference signal can be transmitted in overlapping resource elements that are quasi-orthogonal due to the use of different UE IDs.”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to those having ordinary skills in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Chmiel et al. with Stauffer et al. so to assign physical resource block elements to a user equipment.
Claims 4, 17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Stauffer et al. (US 2020/0107249 A1) in view of Papasakellariou et al. (US 2008/0039098 A1).
Regarding claim 4 and 17, it is inherently included in Stauffer et al. wherein the second time period does not overlap the first time period.
In an alternative, Papasakellariou et al. teaches ([0022]: “To obviate the limitations of traditional uplink scheduling methods, the example resource assigner 120 of FIG. 1 partitions the operating bandwidth of the example wireless cell 105 into two or more non-overlapping portions, referred to herein as reference signal multiplexing blocks (RSMBs).”
Therefore, it would have been obvious to those having ordinary skills in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Papasakellariou et al. with Stauffer et al. so to schedule non-overlap resource to the UE.
Claims 10 and 23 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Stauffer et al. (US 2020/0107249 A1) in view of Wang et al. (US 2019/0254054 A1).
Regarding claims 10 and 23, Stauffer et al. teaches wherein the first set of resources have a first time domain density, a first frequency domain density, or both, and the second set of resources have a second time domain density, a second frequency domain density, or both.
Wang et al. in the same field of invention, ([0029]: “The user device 102 may request one or more of particular resources, time or frequency ranges of resources, spatial layers, a time-domain density, or a frequency-domain density for transmitting the downlink pilots.”)
It would have been obvious to those having ordinary skills in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to allocate resource in time domain density or frequency domain density.
Claims 11, 12, 24 and 25 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Stauffer et al. (US 2020/0107249 A1) in view of Wilson (3,886,460).
Regarding claim 11, 12, 24 and 25, Stauffer et al. fails to teach wherein the first set of resource have a first periodicity, and the second set of resources have a second periodicity.
Wilson, in the same field of invention, teaches (“In different types of electronic systems and particularly in pulse radar systems it is advantageous to analyze periodically the time relationship between two given signals. In automatic radar target tracking systems, for example, the comparison of repetitive radar target echo signals with signals produced by a reference source provides a correction signal which enables the radar system to track certain selected targets.”
Therefore, it would have been obvious to those having ordinary skills in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to configure periodicity the first set of resources and the second set of resources.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 5-7, 18-20 and 29 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
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to BRENDA H PHAM whose telephone number is (571)272-3135. The examiner can normally be reached 571-272-3135.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Charles Jiang can be reached at 571-270-7191. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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BRENDA H. PHAM
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2412
/BRENDA H PHAM/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2412