CTNF 18/712,721 CTNF 79468 Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status 07-03-aia AIA 15-10-aia The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA. Double Patenting 08-35 Claim s 1-20 of instant application are provisionally rejected on the ground of nonstatutory double patenting as being unpatentable over claim 1-20 respectively of copending Application No. 18712808 (reference application). Although the claims at issue are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other because there is a relationship between the “a sensing channel number storage circuitry that calculates and stores the number of sensing channels for each of the wireless terminals on the basis of sensing information” as claimed in claim 1 of the instant application to “a sensing time storage circuity that calculates and stores a sensing time for each of the wireless terminals on the basis of sensing information” as claimed in copending Application No. 18712808. Claim 1 of the instant application is not patentably distinct from claim 1 of the copending application because both claims are directed to a wireless communication system comprising: - A plurality of wireless terminals, each with multiple wireless interfaces for different frequency bands; - A wireless base station device that establishes wireless communication with the terminals; - Each terminal includes sensing circuitry to perform sensing on the channels and a transmitter to send sensing information (including a channel identifier, sensing result, and terminal identifier) to the base station; - The base station includes a receiver for the sensing information and allocation circuitry for allocating a reward to each terminal based on information derived from the sensing information. The only distinction between the claims is that the copending application recites a "sensing time storage circuitry that calculates and stores a sensing time for each of the wireless terminals on a basis of the sensing information, the sensing time being an accumulated value of time required for sensing by the wireless terminal," and allocates a reward according to the sensing time. The instant application instead recites a "sensing channel number storage circuitry that calculates and stores the number of sensing channels for each of the wireless terminals on a basis of the sensing information," and allocates a reward according to the number of sensing channels. The difference between allocating a reward based on the accumulated sensing time (copending application) versus the number of sensing channels (instant application) is an obvious variation, as both are conventional metrics for measuring contribution or participation in cooperative sensing systems. One of ordinary skill in the art would have found it obvious to substitute one metric for the other, or to use either metric as a basis for reward allocation, as both serve the same purpose of incentivizing sensing activity by the terminals. Therefore, the claims are not patentably distinct. To resolve this a terminal disclaimer, in accordance with 37 CFR 1.321, may be filed to overcome the provisional double patenting rejection, or the claims may be amended to eliminate the non-distinct subject matter . This is a provisional nonstatutory double patenting rejection because the patentably indistinct claims have not in fact been patented. Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103 07-20-aia AIA 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. 07-23-aia AIA The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows: 1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art. 2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue. 3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art. 4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness. 07-21-aia AIA Claim (s) 1, 3, and 7-8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Aygul et al (US20250142413), herein after referred as Aygul in view of Sadeghi et al (US20220394818), herein after referred as Sadeghi . Regarding claims 1 (system) and 7 (method), Aygul teaches a wireless communication system [see Aygul fig. 6a, 6b, 7a, 7b and 9] comprising: a plurality of wireless terminals [see Aygul, STA stations 7a, 7b, 9] each including a plurality of wireless interfaces [see figs. 7a, 7b, 9, 21 STAs include interfaces] corresponding to a plurality of channels in different frequency bands [see paragraph 0067-0068, numerous communicating devices in all frequency bands] ; and a wireless base station device [see Aygul fig. 6a, 6b, 7a, 7b and 9, AP 910] that establishes wireless communication with the wireless terminals [see Aygul, STA stations 7a, 7b, 9] each of the wireless terminals [see Aygul, STA stations 7a, 7b, 9, 21a] including: a sensing circuitry [wireless transceiver in a STA, see fig. 21a, 0204-0205] that performs sensing on the channels [ STAs configured to receive wireless sensing signals in all frequency band, see paragraph 0067-0068, 0159, 0199-0205] ; and a sensing information transmitter [wireless transceiver performs wireless reception, transmission or sensing, see 0202] that transmits sensing information including an identifier of a channel on which sensing has been performed, a sensing result of the channel, and an identifier of the wireless terminal [see fig. 9, 12 see 0048-0057, 0155-0165, the wireless station shares information about the sensing application, share feedback, updated sharing application and characteristics, i.e. CSI, channel sensing, identification of wireless devices and technology etc..] the wireless base station device [see Aygul, AP 910, see fig. 9] including: a sensing information reception unit receiver [see Signal identification/feature extraction unit 941 in fig. 9, paragraph 0119-0122] that receives the sensing information [see figs. 9, 12, paragraphs 0119-0122 where the unit receives sensing signal] ; a sensing channel number storage circuitry [ Sensing Transmission Control (STC) Unit, see fig. 12] that calculates and stores the number of sensing channels for each of the wireless terminals on a basis of the sensing information, the number of sensing channels being the number of channels sensed by the wireless terminal [see fig. 12, paragraphs 0164-0176, STC unit includes network sensing application registry and device sensing capability registry that is a database on the sensing capabilities of all devices in the network mapping to calculating/storing the number of sensing channels for each of the wireless terminals] ; and While Aygul teaches of resources allocation, reoptimization, resource allocation may be changed if multiple STAs leave the environment or multiple sensing session are terminated or when a new AP may enter an environment. Aygul fails to explicitly disclose of an allocation circuitry that allocates a reward according to the number of sensing channels to each of the plurality of wireless terminals. Sadeghi in the same field of endeavor teaches of WLAN sensing using high efficiency trigger based PPDUs. Sadeghi teaches in the abstract and claim 1 of an access point having a processing circuitry (functioning as a allocation circuitry) that obtains sensing measurements for channels between stations (STAs) bases on trigger based sensing. Thereafter, the processing circuitry encodes a second trigger frame for transmission to solicit transmission from two or more stations that have responded to the first trigger frame, the second trigger frame allocates (rewards/uplink resources)for transmissions to the two or more stations covering a full channel bandwidth. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skills in the art before the effective filing date to modify the teachings of Aygul to include processing circuitry of Sadeghi in order to optimize bandwidth allocation based on channel sensing. Regarding claim 8, A wireless base station device [see Aygul, AP 910, see fig. 9] that establishes wireless communication with a plurality of wireless terminals [see Aygul, STA stations 7a, 7b, 9, 21a] each including a plurality of wireless interfaces [see figs. 7a, 7b, 9, 21 STAs include interfaces] corresponding to a plurality of channels in different frequency bands [see paragraph 0067-0068, numerous communicating devices in all frequency bands] ;, the wireless base station device [see Aygul, AP 910, see fig. 9] comprising: a sensing information receiver [see Signal identification/feature extraction unit 941 in fig. 9, paragraph 0119-0122] that receives sensing information transmitted by each of the wireless terminals [see figs. 9, 12, paragraphs 0119-0122 where the unit receives sensing signal] ;, the sensing information including an identifier of a channel on which sensing has been performed, a sensing result of the channel, and an identifier of the wireless terminal [see fig. 9, 12 see 0048-0057, 0155-0165, the wireless station shares information about the sensing application, share feedback, updated sharing application and characteristics, i.e. CSI, channel sensing, identification of wireless devices and technology etc..] ; a sensing channel number storage circuitry [ Sensing Transmission Control (STC) Unit, see fig. 12] that calculates and stores the number of sensing channels for each of the wireless terminals on a basis of the sensing information, the number of sensing channels being the number of channels sensed by the wireless terminal [see fig. 12, paragraphs 0164-0176, STC unit includes network sensing application registry and device sensing capability registry that is a database on the sensing capabilities of all devices in the network mapping to calculating/storing the number of sensing channels for each of the wireless terminals] ; and While Aygul teaches of resources allocation, reoptimization, resource allocation may be changed if multiple STAs leave the environment or multiple sensing session are terminated or when a new AP may enter an environment. Aygul fails to explicitly disclose of an allocation circuitry that allocates a reward according to the number of sensing channels to each of the plurality of wireless terminals. Sadeghi in the same field of endeavor teaches of WLAN sensing using high efficiency trigger based PPDUs. Sadeghi teaches in the abstract and claim 1 of an access point having a processing circuitry (functioning as an allocation circuitry) that obtains sensing measurements for channels between stations (STAs) bases on trigger based sensing. Thereafter, the processing circuitry encodes a second trigger frame for transmission to solicit transmission from two or more stations that have responded to the first trigger frame, the second trigger frame allocates (rewards/uplink resources)for transmissions to the two or more stations covering a full channel bandwidth. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skills in the art before the effective filing date to modify the teachings of Aygul to include processing circuitry of Sadeghi in order to optimize bandwidth allocation based on channel sensing. Regarding claims 3, Aygul teaches of resources allocation, reoptimization, resource allocation may be changed if multiple STAs leave the environment or multiple sensing session are terminated or when a new AP may enter an environment. Aygul fails to explicitly teach wherein the reward is communication resources having an amount determined according to the number of sensing channels. Sadeghi in the same field of endeavor teaches of WLAN sensing using high efficiency trigger based PPDUs. Sadeghi teaches in the abstract and claim 1 of an access point having a processing circuitry (functioning as an allocation circuitry) that obtains sensing measurements for channels between stations (STAs) bases on trigger based sensing. Thereafter, the processing circuitry encodes a second trigger frame for transmission to solicit transmission from two or more stations that have responded to the first trigger frame, the second trigger frame allocates (rewards/uplink resources)for transmissions to the two or more stations covering a full channel bandwidth. This clearly establishes that the uplink communications resources are determined based on obtaining sensing measurement based on the responder to initiator transmission received from the two or mor stations. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skills in the art before the effective filing date to modify the teachings of Aygul to include processing circuitry of Sadeghi in order to optimize bandwidth allocation based on channel sensing. Conclusion Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CHIRAG G SHAH whose telephone number is (571)272-3144. 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For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000. /CHIRAG G SHAH/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2477 Application/Control Number: 18/712,721 Page 2 Art Unit: 2477 Application/Control Number: 18/712,721 Page 3 Art Unit: 2477 Application/Control Number: 18/712,721 Page 4 Art Unit: 2477 Application/Control Number: 18/712,721 Page 5 Art Unit: 2477 Application/Control Number: 18/712,721 Page 6 Art Unit: 2477 Application/Control Number: 18/712,721 Page 7 Art Unit: 2477 Application/Control Number: 18/712,721 Page 8 Art Unit: 2477
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