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 .
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim(s) 13-17 is/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.
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.
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.
Claim(s) 4, 6, and 19 is/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 pre-AIA the applicant regards as the invention.
Claims 4, 6, and 19 recite the limitation "the sensing continuity information." There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 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 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(s) 1, 3, 8, 9, and 21 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Huang et al. (US 2025/0212079 A1) in view of Liu et al. (WO 2024/031288 A1).
Regarding claims 1 and 8, Huang discloses A source radio access network (RAN) node comprising: at least one processor; and at least one memory storing instructions which, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the source RAN node at least to perform and A method comprising (Fig. 3, [0068], [0075]: base station includes a controller/processor 375 can be associated with a memory 376 that stores program codes and data):
operating, by the source radio access network (RAN) node while serving a user equipment (UE), in a bistatic mode for a sensing service (Fig. 12, [0099]: a bi-static sensing transmitter node switching scheme … base station 1210, UE 1211, base station 1212, UE 1213, base station 1214, UE 1215, UAV 1220, sensing signal 1230, sensing signal 1232, sensing signal 1234, sensing signal 1236, cell 1240, and cell 1242. Diagram 1200 also depicts a fly route for UAV 1220, which causes the bi-static sensing scheme to switch transmitter nodes as the UAV 1220 moves along the fly route … the transmitter is switched from base station 1210/UE 1211 to base station 1214/UE 1215 as the UAV 1220 moves along the fly route. FIG. 12 depicts that as a UAV moves along a route/path, one bi-static sensing Rx base station/UE (base station 1212/UE 1213) may receive sensing signals from multiple sensing Tx base stations/UEs (base station 1210/UE 1211 or base station 1214/UE 1215) in sequence);
Huang does not disclose, but Liu discloses a sensing service provided by one or more components of a core network ([0161]: Based on service parameter information, the core network and other systems can determine whether to accept the UE's perception service request, and/or determine the resources required to perform the perception service based on the service parameter information, and allocate and configure the resources); and
based on a handover decision that switches the UE to a target RAN node, transmitting, by the source RAN node, sensing service information to one of the following ([0093]: the target base station receives a handover request from the source base station to request the user equipment (UE) to be handed over to the target base station, wherein the handover request includes at least: perception parameter information … Thus, by carrying sensing parameter information in the handover request, the source base station can transmit the sensing parameter information of the sensing service associated with the UE to the target base station. Note: perfection parameter information and sensing parameter information are used interchangeably):
the target RAN node ([0093]: the target base station receives a handover request),
([0093]: perception parameter information / sensing parameter information in the handover request):
a sensing resource configuration for the sensing service ([0147]: The perception parameter information can indicate the configuration parameters of the perception services associated with the UE. The configuration of the sensing services associated with the UE can include the resource configuration parameters and sensing service parameters),
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to program the base station, as taught by Huang, to send a handover request to the target base station to request the UE to be handed over to the target base station, and include sensing parameter information in the handover request, as taught by Liu.
Doing so provides the necessary information for the handover of the sensing service and realizes the interaction of the sensing parameter information of the sensing service between the two ends of the handover base station (Liu: [0093]).
Regarding claim(s) 3, Huang in view of Liu discloses all features of claim(s) 1 as outlined above.
Huang discloses wherein the transmitting the sensing service information comprises transmitting the sensing service information in a handover request message ([0093]: perception parameter information / sensing parameter information in the handover request).
Regarding claims 9 and 21, Huang discloses A target radio access network (RAN) node comprising: at least one processor; and at least one memory storing instructions which, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the target RAN node at least to perform and A method comprising (Fig. 3, [0068], [0075]: base station includes a controller/processor 375 can be associated with a memory 376 that stores program codes and data):
operating, by the target RAN node, in a bistatic mode for the sensing service (Fig. 12, [0099]: a bi-static sensing transmitter node switching scheme … base station 1210, UE 1211, base station 1212, UE 1213, base station 1214, UE 1215, UAV 1220, sensing signal 1230, sensing signal 1232, sensing signal 1234, sensing signal 1236, cell 1240, and cell 1242. Diagram 1200 also depicts a fly route for UAV 1220, which causes the bi-static sensing scheme to switch transmitter nodes as the UAV 1220 moves along the fly route … the transmitter is switched from base station 1210/UE 1211 to base station 1214/UE 1215 as the UAV 1220 moves along the fly route. FIG. 12 depicts that as a UAV moves along a route/path, one bi-static sensing Rx base station/UE (base station 1212/UE 1213) may receive sensing signals from multiple sensing Tx base stations/UEs (base station 1210/UE 1211 or base station 1214/UE 1215) in sequence).
Huang does not disclose, but Liu discloses receiving, by the target radio access network (RAN) node of a handover decision, sensing service information for a sensing service, the sensing service provided by one or more components of a core network, the sensing service information comprising at least one of the following ([0093]: the target base station receives a handover request from the source base station to request the user equipment (UE) to be handed over to the target base station, wherein the handover request includes at least: perception parameter information … Thus, by carrying sensing parameter information in the handover request, the source base station can transmit the sensing parameter information of the sensing service associated with the UE to the target base station. Note: perfection parameter information and sensing parameter information are used interchangeably. [0161]: Based on service parameter information, the core network and other systems can determine whether to accept the UE's perception service request, and/or determine the resources required to perform the perception service based on the service parameter information, and allocate and configure the resources):
a sensing resource configuration ([0147]: The perception parameter information can indicate the configuration parameters of the perception services associated with the UE. The configuration of the sensing services associated with the UE can include the resource configuration parameters and sensing service parameters),
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to program the base station, as taught by Huang, to send a handover request to the target base station to request the UE to be handed over to the target base station, and include sensing parameter information in the handover request, as taught by Liu.
Doing so provides the necessary information for the handover of the sensing service and realizes the interaction of the sensing parameter information of the sensing service between the two ends of the handover base station (Liu: [0093]).
Claim(s) 2 and 10-11 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Huang et al. (US 2025/0212079 A1) in view of Liu et al. (WO 2024/031288 A1) and Zorgui et al. (US 2024/0357492 A1).
Regarding claim(s) 2, Huang in view of Liu discloses all features of claim(s) 1 as outlined above.
Huang does not disclose, but Zorgui discloses wherein the instructions when executed by the at least one processor, further cause the source RAN node at least to perform:
receiving, by the source RAN node, sensing continuity information comprising at least one of the following (Fig. 14, [0121]: At 1424, the network entity 1402 may transmit, based on the update request, an updated configuration for an RF sensing session, a set of sensing measurements, and/or a set of sensing signal transmissions [to the network node 1404]):
an indication of whether each of the at least one sensing session was accepted or not accepted by a sensing admission control procedure,
an update for the sensing resource configuration,
an update for the sensing session configuration ([0121]: updated configuration for an RF sensing session), or
an update for the sensing data reporting configuration.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to program the base station, as taught by Huang, to receive updated configuration for an RF sensing session, as taught by Zorgui.
Doing so allows the network node to perform the set of sensing signal measurements and/or the set of sensing signal transmission based on the updated configuration (Zorgui: Fig. 14).
Regarding claim(s) 10, Huang in view of Liu discloses all features of claim(s) 9 as outlined above.
Huang does not disclose, but Zorgui discloses wherein the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, further cause the target RAN node at least to perform:
performing, by the target RAN node, sensing admission control procedure based on the sensing service information (Fig. 14, [0119]: At 1406, the network entity 1402 may obtain an indication of an NES mode and/or an RF sensing mode supported by the network node 1404 and/or a UE. [0121]: at 1420, the network node 1404 may transmit an update request associated with the configuration to the network entity 1402. [0119]: configuration for an RF sensing session).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to program the target base station, as taught by Huang in view of Liu, to obtain RF sensing mode supported by the network node and update request for configuration for an RF sensing session, as taught by Zorgui.
Doing so allows the network node to perform the set of sensing signal measurements and/or the set of sensing signal transmission based on the updated configuration (Zorgui: Fig. 14).
Regarding claim(s) 11, Huang in view of Liu and Zorgui discloses all features of claim(s) 10 as outlined above.
Huang discloses wherein the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, further cause the target RAN node at least to perform:
generating, by the target RAN node, based on the sensing admission control procedure, sensing continuity information comprising at least one of the following (Fig. 14, [0121]: At 1422, the network entity 1402 may obtain the update request. At 1424, the network entity 1402 may transmit, based on the update request, an updated configuration for an RF sensing session, a set of sensing measurements, and/or a set of sensing signal transmissions):
an indication of whether each of the at least one sensing session was accepted or not accepted by the sensing admission control procedure,
an update for the sensing resource configuration,
an update for the sensing session configuration ([0121]: an updated configuration for an RF sensing session), or
an update for the sensing data reporting configuration; and
transmitting, by the target RAN node, the sensing continuity information ([0121]: At 1424, the network entity 1402 may transmit, based on the update request, an updated configuration for an RF sensing session, a set of sensing measurements, and/or a set of sensing signal transmissions).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to program the target base station, as taught by Huang in view of Liu, to generate the updated configuration for an RF sensing session, as taught by Zorgui.
Doing so allows the network node to perform the set of sensing signal measurements and/or the set of sensing signal transmission based on the updated configuration (Zorgui: Fig. 14).
Claim(s) 4 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Huang et al. (US 2025/0212079 A1) in view of Liu et al. (WO 2024/031288 A1) and Hwang et al. (US 2019/0357025 A1).
Regarding claim(s) 4, Huang in view of Liu discloses all features of claim(s) 3 as outlined above.
Huang does not disclose, but Hwang discloses wherein the receiving the sensing continuity information comprises receiving the sensing continuity information in a handover request acknowledgment message from the target RAN node (Fig. 16, [0144]: Each target eNB makes a handover decision based on a result of the Admission Control and transmits a handover request acknowledgement (ACK) message to the source eNB at step S1650… the handover request ACK message including information on the exception resources for use by the V2X UE in handover. The exceptional resource information may include exceptional resources frequency information and pool information, …, sensing configuration information for use with the corresponding pool).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to program the target base station, as taught by Huang in view of Liu, to transmit, to the source eNB, handover request ACK message including sensing configuration information for use with the corresponding pool, as taught by Hwang.
Doing so allows the source eNB to determine a target eNB and transmit a handover command to the UE so that the UE can transmit/receive V2X service data on preconfigured resources assuming that it is located out of coverage without any separate V2X resource information from the target eNB (Hwang: Fig. 14, [0148]).
Claim(s) 5-6 and 18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Huang et al. (US 2025/0212079 A1) in view of Liu et al. (WO 2024/031288 A1) and Wu et al. (WO 2024/253803 A1).
Regarding claim(s) 5, Huang in view of Liu discloses all features of claim(s) 1 as outlined above.
Huang does not disclose, but Wu discloses wherein the transmitting the sensing service information comprises transmitting the sensing service information in a message indicating that handover is required ([0115]: the source network entity 105-a may indicate the sensing information to the AMF 205 via a handover required message).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to program the base station, as taught by Huang, to transmit the sensing information to the AMF via a handover required message.
Doing so allows the AMF to provide additional sensing information to the target network entity, such as sensing service requirements, resource configuration) (Wu: [0115]).
Regarding claim(s) 6, Huang in view of Liu discloses all features of claim(s) 5 as outlined above.
Huang does not disclose, but Wu discloses wherein the receiving the sensing continuity information comprises receiving the sensing continuity information in a handover command message from the AMF ([0128]: the source network entity 105-c may receive, from an AMF, a handover command indicating the sensing scheme. The sensing scheme indicated by the response message may indicate a first resource allocation for performing the sensing operation during the handover that is the same as or is different from a second resource allocation used by the UE 115-c for performing the sensing operation prior to the handover. Additionally, or alternatively, the sensing scheme may include an instruction that instructs the UE 115-c to initiate a random access procedure with the target network entity 105-d, including transmission of one or more sensing RS via a requested resource allocation during the handover).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to program the base station, as taught by Huang, to receive, from the AMF, a handover command indicating sensing scheme, as taught by Wu.
Doing so allows provides an instruction that the UE is to initiate a random access procedure with the target network entity (Wu: [0128]).
Regarding claim(s) 18, Huang in view of Liu discloses all features of claim(s) 9 as outlined above.
Huang does not disclose, but Wu discloses wherein the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, further cause the target RAN node at least to perform:
transmitting, by the target RAN node, to an access and mobility management function (AMF) of the core network, a handover execution notification message comprising the sensing service information ([0116]: the target network entity 105-b may transmit the response message to the AMF 205 via a handover request acknowledge message. [0117]: the response message may indicate a sensing scheme (e.g., a resource allocation) for transmitting the sensing RS 220 during handover.).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to program the target base station, as taught by Huang in view of Liu, to transmit a response message indicating sensing scheme via a handover request acknowledge message to the AMF, as taught by Wu.
Doing so allows the UE to communicate with the sensing RS during handover (Wu: [0117]).
Claim(s) 12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Huang et al. (US 2025/0212079 A1) in view of Liu et al. (WO 2024/031288 A1), Zorgui et al. (US 2024/0357492 A1), and Hwang et al. (US 2019/0357025 A1).
Regarding claim(s) 12, Huang in view of Liu discloses all features of claim(s) 11 as outlined above.
Huang discloses wherein the receiving the sensing service information comprises receiving, from the source RAN node, the sensing service information in a handover request message ([0093]: perception parameter information / sensing parameter information in the handover request), and
Huang does not disclose, but Hwang discloses wherein the transmitting the sensing continuity information comprises transmitting, to the source RAN node, the sensing continuity information in a handover request acknowledgment message (Fig. 16, [0144]: Each target eNB makes a handover decision based on a result of the Admission Control and transmits a handover request acknowledgement (ACK) message to the source eNB at step S1650… the handover request ACK message including information on the exception resources for use by the V2X UE in handover. The exceptional resource information may include exceptional resources frequency information and pool information, …, sensing configuration information for use with the corresponding pool).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to program the target base station, as taught by Huang in view of Liu, to transmit, to the source eNB, handover request ACK message including sensing configuration information for use with the corresponding pool, as taught by Hwang.
Doing so allows the source eNB to determine a target eNB and transmit a handover command to the UE so that the UE can transmit/receive V2X service data on preconfigured resources assuming that it is located out of coverage without any separate V2X resource information from the target eNB (Hwang: Fig. 14, [0148]).
Claim(s) 7 and 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Huang et al. (US 2025/0212079 A1) in view of Liu et al. (WO 2024/031288 A1), Wang et al. (CN 113891276 A).
Regarding claim(s) 7, Huang in view of Liu discloses all features of claim(s) 1 as outlined above.
Huang discloses wherein the instructions when executed by the at least one processor, further cause the source RAN node at least to perform:
(Fig. 12, [0099]: a bi-static sensing transmitter node switching scheme … base station 1210, UE 1211, base station 1212, UE 1213, base station 1214, UE 1215, UAV 1220, sensing signal 1230, sensing signal 1232, sensing signal 1234, sensing signal 1236, cell 1240, and cell 1242); and
Huang does not disclose, but Wang discloses buffering sensed data from the operating ([n0013]: the source nodes of the set periodically collect sensor data … After collecting data packets during the production process, the source node caches the undelivered data packets in its respective first-in-first-out queue. [n0015]: data packet was generated until its last delivery to the target node. [n0023]: the source node successfully delivers a data packet to the target node); and
transmitting the sensed data to the target RAN node ([n0013]: the source nodes of the set periodically collect sensor data … After collecting data packets during the production process, the source node caches the undelivered data packets in its respective first-in-first-out queue. [n0015]: data packet was generated until its last delivery to the target node. [n0023]: the source node successfully delivers a data packet to the target node).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to program the source base station, as taught by Huang in view of Liu, to transmit to the target node cached sensor data, as taught by Wang.
Doing so provides a hybrid update scheduling method for industrial wireless sensor networks which effectively optimizes the timeliness of network data delivery, reduces the average information age of the system, and improves the system throughput (Wang: [n0004]).
Regarding claim(s) 20, Huang in view of Liu discloses all features of claim(s) 9 as outlined above.
Huang does not disclose, but Wang discloses wherein the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, further cause the target RAN node at least to perform:
receiving, from the source RAN node, sensed data buffered by the source RAN node ([n0013]: the source nodes of the set periodically collect sensor data … After collecting data packets during the production process, the source node caches the undelivered data packets in its respective first-in-first-out queue. [n0015]: data packet was generated until its last delivery to the target node. [n0023]: the source node successfully delivers a data packet to the target node).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to program the target base station, as taught by Huang in view of Liu, to receive from the source node cached sensor data, as taught by Wang.
Doing so provides a hybrid update scheduling method for industrial wireless sensor networks which effectively optimizes the timeliness of network data delivery, reduces the average information age of the system, and improves the system throughput (Wang: [n0004]).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to THE HY NGUYEN whose telephone number is (571)270-3813. The examiner can normally be reached on Mo-Fr: 8am-4pm.
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/THE HY NGUYEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2478
TheHy.Nguyen@USPTO.gov
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