DETAILED ACTION
This office action is in response to the application filed on 11/22/2024. Claims 1-11, 20, 23-27 and 30-32 have been examined.
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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 11/22/2024 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Specification
The lengthy specification has not been checked to the extent necessary to determine the presence of all possible minor errors. Applicant's cooperation is requested in correcting any errors of which applicant may become aware in the specification.
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 (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.
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.
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.
Claim(s) 1-11, 20, 23-27 and 30-32 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ying (US 2024/0205817) in view of Zhu (US 2024/0259765).
Regarding claim 1, Ying discloses the following claim limitations: a method for providing sensing service, comprising: sending, by a first core network device, a terminal request message to a second core network device, wherein location information of a sensing service is carried by the terminal request message; (Ying, paragraph 8 discloses an NEF network element receives a first sensing service request message from an application function network element, where the first sensing service request message is used to request a first sensing service… network element discovery request message includes network element type information and area information… the area information indicates a sensing area (i.e. location information of a sensing service)),
receiving, by the first core network device a terminal response message from the second core network device, wherein terminal information of a first terminal is carried by the terminal response message, and the first terminal is associated with the location information, or wherein terminal information of a third terminal is carried by the terminal response message, and the third terminal is associated with the location information and has a sensing capability that supports the sensing service; area determining, by the first core network device, a sensing terminal according to at least the terminal information of the first terminal or the third terminal (Ying, paragraphs 138, 289 and 427 discloses terminal device may also be referred to as user equipment (UE)… network element discovery request message further includes location information of the UE and/or an identifier of a serving AMF of the UE (for example, sensing for the UE), or the network element discovery request message may further include the area information (for example, sensing for an area)).
Ying does not explicitly disclose the following claim limitation: and sending, by the first core network device, a sensing request message to the sensing terminal, wherein the sensing request message is used to request the sensing terminal to perform sensing processing corresponding to the sensing service.
However, in the same field of endeavor Zhu discloses more explicitly the following:
and sending, by the first core network device, a sensing request message to the sensing terminal, wherein the sensing request message is used to request the sensing terminal to perform sensing processing corresponding to the sensing service (Zhu, paragraphs 188 and 198 discloses access network device sends the broadcast message based on the sensing request message to trigger the terminal device to perform the sensing operation to generate the first sensing data… the second sensing request message may trigger the target terminal device to execute a sensing process to generate the first sensing data).
It would have been obvious to one the ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention to modify the teachings of Ying with Zhu to create a terminal network device with a sensing operation.
The reasoning being is to reduce signaling overheads (Zhu, paragraph 5).
Regarding claim 2, Ying and Zhu discloses the method according to claim 1, wherein the first core network device determining the sensing terminal according to at least the terminal information of the first terminal or the third terminal, comprising: obtaining, by the first core network device, terminal information of a second terminal, wherein the second terminal is a terminal registered to the first core network device; and determining, by the first core network device, the sensing terminal according to the terminal information of the first terminal or the third terminal and the terminal information of the second terminal (Ying, paragraphs 138, 289 and 427 discloses terminal device may also be referred to as user equipment (UE)… network element discovery request message further includes location information of the UE and/or an identifier of a serving AMF of the UE (for example, sensing for the UE), or the network element discovery request message may further include the area information (for example, sensing for an area); in addition Zhu, paragraphs 188 and 198 discloses access network device sends the broadcast message based on the sensing request message to trigger the terminal device to perform the sensing operation to generate the first sensing data… the second sensing request message may trigger the target terminal device to execute a sensing process to generate the first sensing data). The same motivation that was utilized in claim 1 applies equally as well to claim 2.
Regarding claim 3, Ying and Zhu discloses the method according to claim 2, wherein the terminal information of the second terminal comprises sensing capability information of the second terminal, and the sensing capability information is used to indicate a sensing capability of the second terminal (Ying, paragraphs 3, 42 discloses a terminal device has a sensing capability, sensing and identification may be performed on a specific area, a specific object, a specific event, or the like… SF network element sends a sensing capability registration request message to the NRF network element, where the sensing capability registration request message is used to request to register a sensing capability of the SF network element with the NRF network element).
Regarding claim 4, Ying and Zhu discloses the method according to claim 2, further comprising: receiving, by the first core network device, a registration request message from the second terminal, wherein the registration request message is used to request registering the second terminal to the first core network device; registering, by the first core network device, the second terminal; and sending, by the first core network device, a registration response message to the second terminal, wherein the registration response message is used to indicate that registration of the second terminal is completed (Ying, paragraph 90 discloses an NRF network element receives a sensing capability registration request message from a third network element, where the sensing capability registration request message is used to request to register a sensing capability of the third network element with the NRF network element. The third network element is one or more of a RAN network element, an AMF network element, and an SF network element).
Regarding claim 5, Ying and Zhu discloses the method according to claim 4, wherein a sensing capability information of the second terminal is carried by the registration request message, and the sensing capability information is used to indicate the sensing capability of the second terminal (Ying, paragraph 90 discloses an NRF network element receives a sensing capability registration request message from a third network element, where the sensing capability registration request message is used to request to register a sensing capability of the third network element with the NRF network element. The third network element is one or more of a RAN network element, an AMF network element, and an SF network element).
Regarding claim 6, Ying and Zhu discloses the method according to claim 4, further comprising: receiving, by the first core network device, a sensing capability notification message from the second terminal, wherein a sensing capability information of the second terminal is carried by the sensing capability notification message, and the sensing capability information is used to indicate the sensing capability of the second terminal (Ying, paragraph 90 discloses an NRF network element receives a sensing capability registration request message from a third network element, where the sensing capability registration request message is used to request to register a sensing capability of the third network element with the NRF network element. The third network element is one or more of a RAN network element, an AMF network element, and an SF network element).
Regarding claim 7, Ying and Zhu discloses the method according to claim 1, further comprising: receiving, by the first core network device, a sensing response message from the sensing terminal, wherein sensing information obtained by the sensing terminal through the sensing processing is carried by the sensing response message (Ying, paragraph 96 discloses NRF network element returns a response message of the network element discovery request message to the fourth network element based on the stored sensing capability of the third network element and the network element discovery request message, where the response message indicates an identifier of one or more third network elements that support the first sensing service).
Regarding claim 8, Ying and Zhu discloses the method according to claim 1,wherein the location information comprises cell identification information or tracking area identification information (Ying, paragraph 351 discloses the first sensing control request message includes information about the RAN network element, for example, a RAN ID and a cell identifier. The cell identifier may be a new radio cell global identifier (NCGI), an E-UTRAN cell global identifier (ECGI), or the like).
Regarding claim 9, Ying and Zhu discloses the method according to claim 1,wherein the first core network device is a sensing application function entity SAF, and the second core network device is an access and mobility management function entity AMF (Ying, paragraph 181 discloses an AMF registers a sensing capability with the NRF. The sensing capability of the AMF may be a service scope, a supported sensing requirement, and a supported sensing service type of the AMF. The service scope may be obtained based on a network topology or network connectivity: The service scope, the supported sensing requirement, and the supported sensing service type may alternatively be obtained based on a network configuration. A RAN that can be connected to the AMF may include a RAN that supports a sensing feature (or has a sensing capability) and/or a RAN that does not support a sensing feature).
Regarding claims 10-11, 20 and 23-27, claims 10-11, 20 and 23-27 list all the same features and elements as outlined above in claims 1-9. Therefore, the same rationale that was utilized in claims 1-9 applies equally as well to claims 10-11, 20 and 23-27.
Regarding claim 30, Ying and Zhu discloses an apparatus for providing sensing service, comprising: a memory, configured to store computer executable instructions; and a processor, connected to the memory and configured to execute the computer executable instructions stored on the memory to implement the method according to claim 1 (Ying, paragraphs 110-112 discloses a communication apparatus is provided, including a processor and a memory. Optionally: the communication apparatus may further include a transceiver. The memory is configured to store a computer program, and the processor is configured to invoke and run the computer program stored in the memory, and control the transceiver to receive and send a signal… where the computer-readable storage medium stores computer instructions, and when the computer instructions are run on a computer, the method in any one of the first aspect to the sixth aspect is performed).
Regarding claim 31, Ying and Zhu discloses an apparatus for providing sensing service, comprising: a memory, configured to store computer executable instructions; and a processor, connected to the memory and configured to execute the computer executable instructions stored on the memory to implement the method according to claim 10 (Ying, paragraphs 110-112 discloses a communication apparatus is provided, including a processor and a memory. Optionally: the communication apparatus may further include a transceiver. The memory is configured to store a computer program, and the processor is configured to invoke and run the computer program stored in the memory, and control the transceiver to receive and send a signal… where the computer-readable storage medium stores computer instructions, and when the computer instructions are run on a computer, the method in any one of the first aspect to the sixth aspect is performed).
Regarding claim 32, Ying and Zhu discloses an apparatus for providing sensing service, comprising: a memory, configured to store computer executable instructions; anda processor, connected to the memory and configured to execute the computer executable instructions stored on the memory to implement the method according to claim 23 (Ying, paragraphs 110-112 discloses a communication apparatus is provided, including a processor and a memory. Optionally: the communication apparatus may further include a transceiver. The memory is configured to store a computer program, and the processor is configured to invoke and run the computer program stored in the memory, and control the transceiver to receive and send a signal… where the computer-readable storage medium stores computer instructions, and when the computer instructions are run on a computer, the method in any one of the first aspect to the sixth aspect is performed).
Conclusion
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/JERRY T JEAN BAPTISTE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2481
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