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 .
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.
(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) 1-4 and 10-13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)1) as being anticipated by Ledvina (EP3834064).
As per claims 1 and 10, Ledvina disclosed an apparatus comprising processing circuitry configured to initiate an operation to locate a target device (see at least fig. 1, 0014, Mobile device 110) can initiate a ranging measurement (see fig. 1, operation by transmitting a ranging request 101 to a mobile device 120, target device); generate, for transmission to the target device, Bluetooth discovery signals for detecting a proximity of the target device (see at least 0034, 0047-0050); generate, for transmission to the target device at substantially a same time as the Bluetooth discovery signals, a discovery message via a network connection (see at least 0034, 0047-0050); detect a Bluetooth discovery response or a response to the discovery message from the target device (see at least fig. 4, steps 401-409, 0047-0059); and trigger an ultra-wideband (UWB) ranging operation based on detection of the Bluetooth discovery response or response to the discovery message (see at least fig. 4, steps 401-409, 0047-0059) .
As per claims 2 and 11, Ledvina disclosed the processing circuitry is further configured to: prior to transmitting the discovery message, determine a GPS location of the target device.
As per claims 3 and 12, Ledvina disclosed the processing circuitry is further configured to: determine, based on the GPS location, the target device is within a predefined range of the UE or was within a predefined range of the UE at a most recently available GPS location (see at least 0005, 0250, and 0254).
As per claims 4 and 13, Ledvina disclosed the discovery message is delivered to the target device via the Internet (see at least 0218, 0231, 0244, and 0253).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 5-9 and 14-18 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 Pablo Tran whose telephone number is (571)272-7898. The examiner normal hours are 9:30 -5:00 (Monday-Friday). If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner's supervisor, Jinsong Hu, can be reached at (571)272-3965. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is (571)273-8300.
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September 18, 2026
/PABLO N TRAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2643
