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 .
DETAILED ACTION
Per Applicant’s Request for Continued Examination 7/21/26
Claims 1-74 has been canceled.
Claims 75-78, 80, 82-85 and 88-91 have been amended.
Claims 75-91 are pending.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to pending claims have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
CLAIM REJECTIONS - 35 USC § 102
I. 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.
(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.
II. CLAIMS 75-91 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1)/(2) as being anticipated by VAN DUREN et al (US 2021/0336797).
Per claim 75, VAN DUREN et al teach a method, performed by an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), for enabling identification of the UAV, the UAV operating in a wireless communications network, the method comprising:
receiving, from a first node operating in the wireless communication network, a request for identification of the UAV (paras 0079-80, 0144, 0240—receiving query for drone ID or UAS ID);
obtaining i) an identifier of the UAV and ii) information known to the first node (paras 0064, 0070, 0079, 0140, 0200—obtaining drone identifier, authentication data and tracking information);
determining, based on the obtained identifier and the obtained information, a first indication, the first indication lacking a capability to enable identification of the UAV on its own (paras 0013, 0070, 0135-136, 0184, 0204, 0216, 0223-230, 0281—determining associated security capabilities and authentication of the drone identification for verification, blacklisting decommissioned and de-registered drones when the certificate ID and serial number are no longer associated with the owner, discarding beacon messages with certificates that are not valid), and
providing, to the first node over a sidelink, the determined first indication thereby enabling identification of the UAV by the first node based on the information known to the first node (paras, 0098—communicating over a sidelink channel; para 0099—certificate authority server provides certificate and managed keys to the drone/UAS).
Claims 82, 88 and 90 contain limitations that are substantially equivalent to the limitations of claim 75 and are therefore rejected under the same basis.
Per claim 76, VAN DUREN et al teach the method according to claim 75, wherein the information known to the first node comprises at least one of: a. a function and one of a salt value or a random value, b. a key enabling encryption and decryption of the first indication, and c. a correspondence or map between the first indication and the second indication (paras 0011, 0054-57, 0121, 0136, 0172—encryption and decryption using public key and corresponding private key).
Claims 83, 89 and 91 contain limitations that are substantially equivalent to the limitations of claim 76 and are therefore rejected under the same basis.
Per claim 77, VAN DUREN et al teach the method according to claim 76, wherein the method further comprises: receiving at least one of the first indication and the information known to the first node, the information known to the first node comprising at least one of: the function, the salt value, the random value, and the correspondence, from one of: the first node, a radio network node serving the UAV, a second node belonging to a party external to the wireless communications network, and a third node operating in the wireless communications network (paras 0011, 0047-48, 0081-83, 0097, 0117, 0120, 0128-129—hash value, radio service, radio node and module, radio base station, radio controlled UAS, radio network and wireless network).
Claim 84 contains limitations that are substantially equivalent to the limitations of claim 77 and are therefore rejected under the same basis.
Per claim 78, VAN DUREN et al teach the method according to claim 77, wherein an identifier of the UAV is assigned by one of the second node, and the wireless communications network, and wherein the method further comprises: providing the identifier to one of: i. the second node, with the proviso the identifier is assigned by the wireless communications network, wherein the identifier is the second indication, ii. the first node, with the proviso the identifier is assigned by the second node, iii. the radio network node, with the proviso the identifier is assigned by the second node, and iv. the third node with the proviso the identifier is assigned by the wireless communications network wherein the identifier is the second indication (paras 0011, 0069-71, 0083, 0117, 0143-144, 0211, 0273—UAS identifiers assigned by the wireless network, an embedded certificate identifier may be a cryptographic binding of both a UAS identifier and an operator identifier, node identification assignment and installation of UAS serial number, radio navigation receivers for receiving navigation beacons or other signals from radio nodes).
Claim 85 contains limitations that are substantially equivalent to the limitations of claim 78 and are therefore rejected under the same basis.
Per claim 79, VAN DUREN et al teach the method according to claim 78, wherein the first indication is: a) not linked to any cellular system and b) registered with the party external to the wireless communications network, and wherein the first indication is the identifier (paras 0071, 0209-210, 0212-213, 0215-216—registering UAS with an external party, UAS Supplier or FAA, via the wireless network where the indicator is the identifier or serial number).
Claim 86 contains limitations that are substantially equivalent to the limitations of claim 79 and are therefore rejected under the same basis.
Per claim 80, VAN DUREN et al teach the method according to claim 76 wherein the one of the salt value and the random value are configured to be one of: a. common to all devices in an area, b. device-specific, c. common to all the devices in an area, and the function is device-specific, and d. device-specific and the function is common to all UAV in an area (paras 0011-12, 0065-66, 0068-69, 0137, 0144, 0212-213—a device-specific serial number, universally unique identifier (UUID) or session identifier (session ID) assigned to the UAS or its operator; embedded certificate identifier may be a cryptographic binding of both a UAS identifier and operator identifier, for example the full or partial hash value of a secret operator-identifying key in conjunction with the UAS identifier and a counter or other non-repeating or unique parameter, or an embedded certificate identifier may be a keyed message authentication code using the same inputs, an identifier (ID) defined by a cryptographic binding of a given UAS to a given UAS operator).
Claim 87 contains limitations that are substantially equivalent to the limitations of claim 80 and are therefore rejected under the same basis.
Per claim 81, VAN DUREN et al teach the method according to claim 75, wherein the first indication is valid for at least one of: a period of time and for a number of transmissions (paras 0081, 0149-151, 0154, 0163, 0172, 0216—checking of message lifetime and whether the lifetime has expired, expiration of certificates, sending period of time and number of broadcast transmissions).
Conclusion
III. The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to Applicant's disclosure: US 2023/0337213; US 2019/0363843; US 2020/0229206; US 2019/0364472.
IV. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KRISTIE D SHINGLES whose telephone number is (571)272-3888. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Thursday 10am-7pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Kamal Divecha can be reached on 571-272-5863. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/KRISTIE D SHINGLES/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2453
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