CTNF 18/713,928 CTNF 94456 DETAILED ACTION 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. Priority 02-27 AIA Acknowledgment is made of applicant’s claim for foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119 (a)-(d). The certified copy has been filed in parent Application No. GR 20220100181 , filed on February 28, 2022 . Information Disclosure Statement The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner. Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112 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. 07-34-01 Claims 9 – 10 and 22 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. Claims 9 and claim 22 require that the second period occur as the same time as the gap which contradicts their respective base claims 1 and 16 that require the second period follow the gap. As such, the meets and bounds of the claims cannot be fully determined thus the claims are indefinite. Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102 07-06 AIA 15-10-15 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. 07-07-aia AIA 07-07 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 – 07-08-aia AIA (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. 07-15 AIA Claim s 1 – 2, 4, 6 – 8, 11 – 12, 14 – 21, 23 – 24 and 26 – 30 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102( a)(1 ) as being anticipated by Huang (US 20200014523 A1) . As to claims 1, 16, 28 and 30, Huang discloses a device for enabling frequency stitching in either or both of ultra-wideband (UWB) ranging or sensing, the device comprising: a transceiver (Para. 83 Fig. 2 transceiver 218); a memory; and one or more processors communicatively coupled with the transceiver and the memory (Para. 83 Fig. 2 memory 203 and processor 213. Fig. 1 shows several UE’s and base stations. Each having a transceiver e.g., items 218 and/or 208.), wherein the one or more processors are configured to : determine capabilities of a UWB initiator device and a UWB responder device related to at least one UWB session (Para. 75 “the UE-3 may transmit a frame that includes an indication of the capabilities of the UE-3 and may receive a synchronization signal for a wideband component carrier from the base station 101. In many embodiments, the UE-3 may indicate in an RRC layer capabilities information element that the UE-3 may require measurement gaps to retune RF chains.”), wherein : the capabilities comprise information indicative of a capability of each of the UWB initiator device and the UWB responder device for performing radio frequency (RF) retuning during the at least one UWB session (Para. 204 “an initial communication to a base station, wherein the initial communication comprises capabilities for a user device, wherein the capabilities indicate a requirement to implement measurement gaps by the user device; receiving, by baseband logic circuitry, a subsequent communication from the base station, the subsequent communication comprising information about a gap pattern, wherein the gap pattern comprises a set of measurement gaps;” see also Para. 142 OFDM), and the UWB responder device is configured to take measurements of UWB RF signals transmitted by the UWB initiator device during the at least one UWB session (Para. 196 “measuring inter-frequency cells”); determine a gap duration based at least in part on the capability of each of the UWB initiator device and the UWB responder device for performing RF retuning during the at least one UWB session (Para. 93 “the UE may request measurement gaps and may measure and retune based on the gaps 410 and 430.”); and send a configuration, via the transceiver, to the UWB initiator device, the UWB responder device, or both, wherein the configuration is indicative of: a first period of time in the at least one UWB session during which a first portion of the UWB RF signals is transmitted using a first carrier frequency, a gap following the first period of time and having a duration of at least the determined gap duration, and a second period of time in the at least one UWB session, following the gap, during which a second portion of the UWB RF signals is transmitted using a second carrier frequency (Fig. 4 and Para. 52 OFDM see also Para. 46 “switching to a wide band component carrier from a narrow band component carrier, tuning or retuning one or more RF chains that have bandwidths far from a synchronization signal at a central frequency of a wide or very wide bandwidth channel, …”). As to claims 2, 17 and 29 Huang discloses the method of claim 1, 16 and 28 wherein the configuration is further indicative of one or more additional periods of time in the at least one UWB session subsequent to the second period of time, in addition to the first period of time and the second period of time, during which a one or more respective additional portions of the UWB RF signals is transmitted, wherein: each of the one or more additional periods of time is preceded by an additional gap having at least the determined gap duration, and each of the one or more respective additional portions of the UWB RF signals is transmitted using a different carrier frequency (Figs. 3 – 6 Para. 142 “The OFDM signals can comprise a plurality of orthogonal subcarriers.”). As to claims 4 and 18, Huang discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the capability of each of the UWB initiator device and the UWB responder device for performing RF retuning during the at least one UWB session comprises: an RF tuning resolution, a time required for performing the RF retuning, or both (Para. 39 “the UE may retune infrequently enough and/or during opportune time periods such that interruptions that result from the retuning fall within bounds or limits of one or more criteria of the interruption requirement (Para. 0039).” Note that Applicant simply claims a resolution exists, but the resolution would be whatever it is going to be thus making it inherent.). As to claims 6 and 19, Huang discloses the method of claim 1 & 16, wherein the method is performed by the UWB initiator device, and wherein: determining the capabilities of the UWB responder device comprises receiving, at the UWB initiator device, capability information via a control message from the UWB responder device, and sending the configuration comprises sending the configuration in a configuration message from the UWB initiator device to the UWB responder device (Fig. 7B). As to claims 7 and 20, Huang discloses the method of claim 1 & 16, wherein the method is performed by the UWB responder device, and wherein: determining the capabilities of the UWB initiator device comprises receiving, at the UWB responder device, capability information via a control message from the UWB initiator device, and sending the configuration comprises sending the configuration in a configuration message from the UWB responder device to the UWB initiator device (Fig. 7A). As to claims 8 and 21, Huang discloses the method of claims 1 and 16, wherein the method is performed by a server communicatively coupled with the UWB responder device and the UWB initiator device (Fig. 2 wherein processor 213 and 203 are each communicatively coupled to items 211 and 201. Also, Fig. 1 shows a network of base stations and user equipment including at least one base station with backhaul coupled to one other base station and one user equipment.). As to claim 11, Huang discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the first period of time occurs within a first slot of a single UWB session of the at least one UWB session, and the second period of time occurs in a second slot of the single UWB session immediately following the first slot (Fig. 4). As to claims 12 and 24, Huang discloses the method of claim 11 and 23, wherein the gap occurs during the first slot or during a Tx offset of the second slot (Fig. 4). As to claims 14 and 26, Huang discloses the method of claims 1 and 16, wherein: a combination of at least two UWB sessions comprise a first UWB session and at least a second UWB session substantially aligned in time with the first UWB session; transmission at the first carrier frequency occurs within a slot of the first UWB session having a first slot index; transmission at the second carrier frequency occurs within a slot of the second UWB session having a second slot index different than the first slot index; and the second slot index is such that the slot of the second UWB session occurs after the slot of the first UWB session (Para. 61 “require measurement gaps to retune the RF chains” Fig. 6B shows first frame of item 6110 before gap and seventh frame after gap meaning, in view of Para. 61, the seventh frame may be retuned as well as the seventh frame of item 6120.) As to claims 15 and 27, Huang discloses the method of claim 1 and 16, wherein: a combination of at least two UWB sessions comprise a first UWB session and a second UWB session substantially aligned in time with the first UWB session; transmission at the first carrier frequency occurs within a slot of a first round the first UWB session, the slot having a particular slot index; and transmission at the second carrier frequency occurs within a slot of a second round of the second UWB session, the slot having the particular slot index (Para. 61 “require measurement gaps to retune the RF chains” Fig. 6B shows first frame of item 6110 before gap and seventh frame after gap meaning, in view of Para. 61, the seventh frame may be retuned as well as the seventh frame of item 6120.). As to claim 23, Huang teaches the device of claim 16, wherein the one or more processors are configured to include, in the configuration, and indication that the first period of time is to occur within a first slot of a single UWB session of the at least one UWB session, and the second period of time is to occur in a second slot of the single UWB session immediately following the first slot (Fig. 4) . 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. Claim 3 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being obvious over Huang in view of Hanevich (US 20140105256 A1) . As to claim 3, Huang does not teach the method of claim 2, wherein the one or more respective additional portions of the UWB RF signals comprises a third portion of the UWB RF signals transmitted using a third carrier frequency, and wherein: a bandwidth of the first portion of the UWB RF signals overlaps with a bandwidth of the second portion of the UWB RF signals by a first amount, and a bandwidth of the second portion of the UWB RF signals overlaps with a bandwidth of the third portion of the UWB RF signals by a second amount different than the first amount . In the same field of endeavor, Hanevich teaches “different stitching overlap regions are possible, including stitching overlap regions at different frequencies and with different amounts of overlap, including zero overlap (Para. 74).” In view of the teachings of Hanevich, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before filing to use overlapping bands to be packed in a limited spectrum thereby improving efficiency of a crowded spectrum thereby reducing interference. Claims 4 – 5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being obvious over Huang in view of Edmonson (US 2002/0053953 A1) . As to claims 4 – 5 (claim 5 encompasses all of claim 4), Huang does not teach the method of claim 4, wherein the RF tuning resolution, the time required for performing the RF retuning, or both, are negotiated and agreed upon between the UWB initiator device and the UWB responder device before the at least one UWB session starts . In the same field of endeavor, Edmonson teaches “timing of the tuning operation would be negotiated between the base station and the device, to avoid errors due to communication signal interruptions and delays caused by such tuning during communication. (Para. 74).” In view of the teachings of Edmonson, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before filing to negotiate timing of tuning in order “to avoid errors due to communication signal interruptions and delays caused by such tuning during communication. (Para. 74).” Claims 13 and 25 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being obvious over Huang in view of Rowe (US 20090111482 A1) . As to claims 13 and 25, Huang teaches the method of claim 1 and 16, wherein : a combination of at least two UWB sessions comprise a first UWB session and at least a second UWB session following the first UWB session (Fig. 4) by a time offset ; transmission at the first carrier frequency occurs within a slot of the first UWB session having a particular slot index (retuning as cited multiple times. Figs. 6B – 6C show indexes); transmission at the second carrier frequency occurs within a slot of the second UWB session having the particular slot index ( Id. ); transmissions at each of the next carrier frequencies occur within associated slots of the next UWB sessions having the particular slot index ( Id. ); and the duration of the time offsets between UWB sessions are such that the slot of the second UWB session occurs after the slot of the first UWB session (Fig. 4). In the same field of endeavor, Rowe teaches “The change or changes, between the first and second times, in transmission time offsets of the signals transmitted by at least one transmitter of the network relative to a reference or to another transmitter of the network is obtained (Para. 74).” In view of the teachings of Rowe, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before filing to apply time offsets between slots (transmissions) in order to improve measurement resolution; e.g., ranging, thereby improving accuracy. Conclusion Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MICHAEL W JUSTICE whose telephone number is (571)270-7029. The examiner can normally be reached 7:30 - 5:30 M-F. Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. 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If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000. /MICHAEL W JUSTICE/Examiner, Art Unit 3648 Application/Control Number: 18/713,928 Page 2 Art Unit: 3648 Application/Control Number: 18/713,928 Page 3 Art Unit: 3648 Application/Control Number: 18/713,928 Page 4 Art Unit: 3648 Application/Control Number: 18/713,928 Page 5 Art Unit: 3648 Application/Control Number: 18/713,928 Page 6 Art Unit: 3648 Application/Control Number: 18/713,928 Page 7 Art Unit: 3648 Application/Control Number: 18/713,928 Page 8 Art Unit: 3648 Application/Control Number: 18/713,928 Page 9 Art Unit: 3648 Application/Control Number: 18/713,928 Page 10 Art Unit: 3648 Application/Control Number: 18/713,928 Page 11 Art Unit: 3648