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 .
This office action is in response to applicant’s arguments/remarks and amendments filed on 12/08/2025. Claims 30, and 35 have been amended. Claims 31, 36-37, and 40-49 have been cancelled. Claims 50-58 have been newly added. Accordingly, claims 30, 32-35, 38-39, and 50-58 are currently pending.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112:
The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention.
Claims 30, 32-35, 38-39, and 50-58 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention. With respect to claims 30 and 50, the applicant claims “an area characteristic of a reduced rate of change in terminal device speed and/or location“. Said limitation is not supported in the specification. The specification discloses “the specific area may be a pre-defined area, for example a high-speed way, or a street which may be congested” as recited in at least Paragraph 0063. However, that is not the same as “a reduced rate of change in terminal device speed and/or location”.
Claims 32-35, 38-39, and 51-58 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as being dependent on rejected independent claims 30 and 50 and for failing to cure the deficiencies recited above.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 30, 32-35, 38-39, and 50-58 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
With respect to claims 30 and 50, the applicant claims ““an area characteristic of a reduced rate of change in terminal device speed and/or location“. It is not clear to the examiner what the applicant is trying to convey with said limitation. It is not clear to the examiner what information comprises an area characteristic of a reduced rate of change in terminal device speed and/or location. Is it an identifier, or is it a parameter collected in real time or is it a speed sign or a location marker. The metes and bounds of the claimed limitation are vague and ill-defined rendering the claim indefinite.
Claims 32-35, 38-39, and 51-58 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being dependent on rejected independent claims 30 and 50 and for failing to cure the deficiencies recited above.
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)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 30, 32-35, 38-39, and 50-58 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Naffati DE102018214224B3 (The examiner has provided an English Translation on 09/08/2025 and relying upon, hence Naffati).
In re claims 30 and 50, Naffati discloses an adaptation of data collection according to predetermined criteria (Paragraphs 0001 and 0007) and teaches the following:
receiving, at the control entity, location information of a terminal device from a service entity, wherein the location information indicates the terminal device moves into or out of a target area (Paragraphs 0023, 0027, and 0030) that comprises an area characteristic of a reduced rate of change in terminal device speed and/or location (Fig.3, #12, and Paragraphs 0043-0044 “ if the respective measurement data of the at least one of the detection devices fall below or exceed a predetermined variance”, Paragraph 0046 “same local area”, and Paragraphs 0072-0073 “data rarely changes or differs”);
determining, by the control entity, an upload interval parameter for the terminal device based on whether the terminal device is inside or outside the target area according to the location information, wherein the upload interval parameter indicates a period according to which the terminal device is to periodically upload, to a server entity, terminal device related information that indicates a speed and/or location of the terminal device (Paragraphs 0046, 0051, 0061, and 0069-0070);
and configuring, by the control entity, the terminal device to periodically upload the terminal device related information to the server entity according to the period, by sending the upload interval parameter from the control entity to the terminal device (Paragraphs 0051, and 0069-0070)
In re claims 32 and 51, Naffati teaches the following:
sending a first request message for the location information of the terminal device to the service entity, wherein the first request message includes an identifier of the terminal device and information of the target area (Paragraphs 0020-0021 and 0070)
In re claims 33 and 52, Naffati teaches the following:
wherein the first request message is an edge service subscription message to subscribe to the location information from the service entity (Paragraph 0021)
In re claims 34 and 53, Naffati teaches the following:
determining when to send the edge service subscription message (Paragraph 0024)
In re claims 35 and 55, Naffati teaches the following:
setting the upload interval parameter to have a value or a second value, depending on whether the location information indicates that the terminal device moves into or out of the target area, respectively, wherein: the first value indicates a first period according to which the terminal device is to periodically upload the terminal device related information to the server entity while the terminal device is located inside of the target area; and the second value indicates a second period according to which the terminal device is to periodically upload the terminal device related information to the server entity while the terminal device is located outside of the target area (Paragraphs 0023, 0028, Fig.3, and Paragraph 0070);
wherein the first period is longer in time than the second period (Paragraphs 0042, 0070, the more data collected, the deviation becomes smaller, and the need for data decreases)
In re claims 38 and 54, Naffati teaches the following:
wherein the information of the target area is geographical area information which comprises at least one of the following: geographical information of a high-speed way; or geographical information of a congested street (Paragraph 0070, “traffic flow”)
In re claims 39 and 56, Naffati teaches the following:
wherein the terminal device comprises a vehicle, a mobile phone, or a drone (Fig.3, #2A)
In re claims 57 and 58, Naffati teaches the following:
wherein the target area is an area within which a high-speed way is located or an area within which a congested street is located (Fig.3, #15, #16, and Paragraph 0070)
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed on 12/08/2025 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
With respect to applicant’s arguments/remarks with respect to the rejection of claims 30-49 under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Naffati and that the limitation “an area characteristic of a reduced rate of change in terminal device speed and/or location“ is not disclosed by Naffati, the examiner respectfully disagrees with that statement. As discussed above, the limitation of inherent characteristic of reduced rate of change in device speed and/or location is not supported in the specification. Furthermore, Naffati discloses the BRI of said limitation in at least Fig.3, #12, Paragraphs 0043-0044 “ if the respective measurement data of the at least one of the detection devices fall below or exceed a predetermined variance” and that reads on the speed not changing a lot since it falls under a predetermined variance, and Paragraph 0046 “same local area” and that reads on location not changing a lot since it is the same local area.
With respect to applicant’s arguments/remarks that Naffati does not disclose the terminal device related information that indicates a speed and/or location of the terminal device, the examiner respectfully disagrees with that statement. Naffati discloses in Paragraphs 0022, 0026, 0030, and 0070 that the data is concerning traffic flow and Paragraphs 0023-0025 describe the collected data as geographical recording location of the respective recording device. Furthermore, Paragraphs 0074-0075 disclose speed ranges and predetermined locations. Accordingly, Naffati discloses the terminal device related information that indicates a speed and/or location of the terminal device.
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. 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 nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) 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 mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to RAMI KHATIB whose telephone number is (571)270-1165. The examiner can normally be reached M-F: 9:00am-5:30pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Erin M Piateski can be reached at 571-270 7429. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/RAMI KHATIB/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3669