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 .
Status of Claims
This action is in reply to the application filed on 10/14/2024. Claims 1-20 are currently pending and have been examined.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDS) submitted on 01/14/2025 and 04/23/2026 have been considered by the examiner and initialed copies of the IDS are hereby attached.
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.
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 –
(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.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1, 4-6, 9, 12 and 14-18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Duan (US20230400549).
Regarding claim 1 Duan discloses: A device for wireless communication (Para 0001: “Subject matter disclosed herein relates generally to wireless communication, and more specifically, to radio frequency sensing in a wireless communication system.”), comprising: at least one memory (Figure 2:211); and at least one processor coupled with the at least one memory and configured to cause the device to (Figure 2:230): receive first signaling comprising at least one configuration parameter corresponding to a plurality of doppler measurements associated with sensing one or more targets (Para 0007: “In one implementation, a sensing node in a wireless network configured for supporting radio frequency (RF) sensing in the wireless network, includes at least one transceiver; at least one memory; and at least one processor coupled to the at least one transceiver, and the at least one memory, wherein the at least one processor is configured to: receive, via the at least one transceiver, sensing assistance data from a network node comprising information for Doppler estimation from RF signals; receive, via the at least one transceiver, the RF signals; and perform a Doppler estimation using the RF signals and the sensing assistance data.”); receive second signaling comprising one or more reference signals associated with sensing the one or more targets (Figure 10, reference signal 1020); and transmit, based at least in part on the at least one configuration parameter and the one or more reference signals, third signaling comprising sensing information of the one or more targets (Para 0064: “While FIG. 1 illustrates a 5G-based network, similar network implementations and configurations may be used for other communication technologies, such as 3G, Long Term Evolution (LTE), etc. Implementations described herein (be they for 5G technology and/or for one or more other communication technologies and/or protocols) may be used to transmit (or broadcast) directional synchronization signals, receive and measure directional signals at UEs (e.g., the UE 105) and/or provide location assistance to the UE 105 (via the GMLC 125 or other location server) and/or compute a location for the UE 105 at a location-capable device such as the UE 105, the gNB 110a, 110b, or the LMF 120 based on measurement quantities received at the UE 105 for such directionally-transmitted signals. “), wherein the sensing information is based at least in part on the plurality of doppler measurements (Para 0146: “One of the important measurements for RF sensing is Doppler estimation. Doppler estimation, however, is not supported by current positioning procedures, e.g., in NR or LTE. Accordingly, for RF sensing in a wireless network, such as system 100, support for Doppler estimation must be provided. In one implementation, to support RF sensing, assistance data may be provided to the sensing node, e.g., the UE 105 or base station 110, with information that may be used for Doppler estimation from the RF signals. For example, due to the large bandwidth of positioning reference signals (PRS) that are used for positioning, PRS may be suitable for use for RF sensing, e.g., for the pulses 712 shown in FIG. 7. Doppler measurement is not supported by the current PRS used in NR or LTE. For example, phase coherency is not guaranteed for PRS, e.g. in either NR or LTE. Phase coherency, however, is critical for Doppler estimation (e.g., discussed in equation 4) and Doppler estimation is a critical RF sensing measurement. Accordingly, where PRS is used for RF sensing, the information for Doppler estimation that may be provided in assistance data to the sensing node may include an indication of phase coherency of PRS.”).
Claims 15-17 recites limitations that are similar to those of claim 1, therefore claims 15-17 is rejected under the same rationale.
Regarding claim 4 Duan discloses all the limitations claim 1. Duan further teaches: wherein the at least one processor is further configured to cause the device to: receive fourth signaling comprising a request for the sensing information, wherein the request for the sensing information indicates one or more of a respective numerical quantity of measurement paths per scattering point corresponding to the one or more targets, a type of doppler measurement to be performed, or a type of doppler measurement to be reported (Para 0011: “In one implementation, a network node in a wireless network configured for supporting radio frequency (RF) sensing in the wireless network, includes at least one transceiver; at least one memory; and at least one processor coupled to the at least one transceiver, and the at least one memory, wherein the at least one processor is configured to: obtain sensing assistance data for a sensing node in the wireless network, the sensing assistance data comprising information for Doppler estimation from RF signals; and send, via the at least one transceiver, to the sensing node the sensing assistance data comprising the information for Doppler estimation from the RF signals.”); and perform, based at least in part on the request, one or more measurements associated with the sensing information across a spread of reflected signal received paths associated with the one or more reference signals (Para 0015: “ In one implementation, a sensing node in a wireless network configured for supporting radio frequency (RF) sensing in the wireless network, includes at least one transceiver; at least one memory; and at least one processor coupled to the at least one transceiver, and the at least one memory, wherein the at least one processor is configured to: receive, via the at least one transceiver, sensing assistance data from a network node comprising an association of at least one positioning reference signal (PRS) resource and at least one reference point object (RPO); receive, via the at least one transceiver, PRS resources; and perform sensing based on the PRS resources and the association of the at least one PRS resource and the at least one RPO.”).
Regarding claim 5 Duan discloses all the limitations claim 1. Duan further teaches: wherein the at least one processor is further configured to cause the device to: receive fourth signaling comprising a request for one or more capabilities of the device (Para 0169: “As illustrated, a Request Capability message 1010 may be sent by the network entity 600 (e.g., by the sensing procedure unit 650 via the transceiver 620 shown in FIG. 6) to the sensing entity 500 (e.g., via the transceiver 520 to the sensing procedure unit 550 shown in FIG. 5), e.g., to request the sensing capabilities from the sensing entity 500.”), wherein the one or more capabilities of the device are associated with one or more measurements associated with the sensing information (Para 0176: “A Request Sensing Information message 1018 is sent by the network entity (e.g., by the sensing procedure unit 650 via the transceiver 620) to the sensing entity 500 (e.g., via the transceiver 520 to the sensing procedure unit 550) to request measurement of reference signal transmissions for RF sensing. The network entity 600 may also indicate whether sensing node based RF sensing is requested, whereby the sensing entity 500 determines sensing measurements, or sensing node assisted RF sensing is requested whereby the sensing entity 500 measures the reference signals and sends the measurements to the network entity 600 to determine the sensing measurements.”); and transmit, responsive to the request, fifth signaling comprising the one or more capabilities of the device (Para 0064: “While FIG. 1 illustrates a 5G-based network, similar network implementations and configurations may be used for other communication technologies, such as 3G, Long Term Evolution (LTE), etc. Implementations described herein (be they for 5G technology and/or for one or more other communication technologies and/or protocols) may be used to transmit (or broadcast) directional synchronization signals, receive and measure directional signals at UEs (e.g., the UE 105) and/or provide location assistance to the UE 105 (via the GMLC 125 or other location server) and/or compute a location for the UE 105 at a location-capable device such as the UE 105, the gNB 110a, 110b, or the LMF 120 based on measurement quantities received at the UE 105 for such directionally-transmitted signals. The gateway mobile location center (GMLC) 125, the location management function (LMF) 120, the access and mobility management function (AMF) 115, the SMF 117, the ng-eNB (eNodeB) 114 and the gNBs (gNodeBs) 110a, 110b are examples and may, in various embodiments, be replaced by or include various other location server functionality and/or base station functionality respectively.”).
Regarding claim 6 Duan discloses all the limitations claim 5. Duan further teaches: wherein the one or more capabilities comprise at least one of a capability of the device to measure macro-doppler, a capability of the device to measure micro-doppler, a capability of the device to measure time varying doppler measurements, one or more angle characteristics supported by the device, one or more range characteristics supported by the device (Para 0170: “A Provide Capabilities message 1012 to the network entity 600 may be returned the sensing entity 500 (e.g., by the sensing procedure unit 550 via the transceiver 520) to the network entity 600 (e.g., via the transceiver 620 to the sensing procedure unit 650) to provide the capabilities of the sensing entity 500. The sensing entity 500, for example, may indicate its capabilities to perform RF sensing measurements. In some implementations, the Provide Capabilities message 1012 may include information that may be used to generate sensing assistance data specifically for the sensing entity 500, such as a current location of the sensing entity 500.”), one or more delay characteristics associated with the one or more reference signals supported by the device, one or more sensing characteristics of the one or more targets, one or more numerologies supported by the device, one or more bandwidths supported by the device, one or more reference signal processing times supported by the device, one or more buffering capabilities supported by the device, one or more operating bands supported by the device, or a maximum number of paths per scattering point supported by the device.
Regarding claim 9 Duan discloses all the limitations claim 1. Duan further teaches: wherein the at least one processor is further configured to cause the device to determine respective range profiles associated with the one or more targets based at least in part on a range resolution and timing information corresponding to a transmission of the one or more reference signals and a reception of the one or more reference signals (Para 0112: “One or more of many different positioning techniques (also called positioning methods) may be used to determine position of an entity such as one of the UEs 105, 106. For example, known position-determination techniques include RTT, multi-RTT, OTDOA (also called TDOA and including UL-TDOA and DL-TDOA), Enhanced Cell Identification (E-CID), DL-AoD, UL-AoA, etc. RTT uses a time for a signal to travel from one entity to another and back to determine a range between the two entities. The range, plus a known location of a first one of the entities and an angle between the two entities (e.g., an azimuth angle) can be used to determine a location of the second of the entities. In multi-RTT (also called multi-cell RTT), multiple ranges from one entity (e.g., a UE) to other entities (e.g., TRPs) and known locations of the other entities may be used to determine the location of the one entity.”), wherein the range resolution is based at least in part on the at least one configuration parameter, and wherein the sensing information comprises the respective range profiles associated with the one or more targets in relation to a transmitting device associated with the one or more reference signals or a receiving device associated with the one or more reference signals.
Regarding claim 12 Duan discloses all the limitations claim 1. Duan further teaches: wherein the sensing information comprises one or more of an angular direction associated with the one or more targets, velocity information associated with the one or more targets (Para 0139: “The transmitter 710 is configured to transmit pulses 712 in a number of directions. Each of the pulses 712 may be a beamformed RF signal having a particular width and directionality. Objects or surfaces along the trajectory of any of the pulses 712 may cause the pulses 712 to reflect or scatter. Reflected pulses may be referred to as “echoes” of the pulses from which they originate. In the example of FIG. 7, a target object 701 is located along the path of one of the pulses 712. The pulse 712(i) incident on the target object 701 is reflected as an echo 722. As shown in FIG. 7, the echo 722 is reflected in the direction of the receiver 720. The receiver 720 may determine ranging information about the target object 701 based, at least in part, on the timing of the echo 722. Example ranging information may include, but is not limited to, a distance, direction, or velocity of the target object 701.”), a presence of the one or more targets within a threshold distance from the device, respective characteristics associated with the one or more targets, a doppler variation rate associated with the one or more targets, a reception and transmission time difference associated with the one or more reference signals, the plurality of doppler measurements, or a range between a transmitting device associated with the one or more reference signals and a receiving device associated with the one or more reference signals, and wherein the device is at least one of the transmitting device or the receiving device (Para 0138: “ FIG. 7 shows an example bi-static RF sensing system 700. The bi-static system 700 includes a transmitter (TX) 710 and a receiver (RX) 720. The transmitter 710 and the receiver 720 are spatially separated by a baseline (L). In some implementations, the transmitter 710 may be one example of a base station 110 (or UE 105 or 106) and the receiver 720 may be an example of one of a different base station 102 (or UE 105 or 106) of FIG. 1.”).
Regarding claim 14 Duan discloses all the limitations claim 1. Duan further teaches: wherein the device comprises at least one of a transmission-reception point (TRP), a user equipment (UE) (Figure 1:105), a network equipment (NE), a sensing management component (SMC), or a positioning reference unit (PRU), and wherein the one or more targets comprise at least one of a passive target or an active target (Figure 8).
Regarding claim 18 Duan discloses all the limitations claim 17. Duan further teaches: wherein the at least one processor is further configured to cause the device to transmit third signaling comprising a request for the sensing information (Figure10, step 1018), wherein the request for the sensing information indicates one or more of a respective numerical quantity of measurement paths per scattering point corresponding to the one or more targets, a type of doppler measurement to be performed (Figure 10 step 1022), or a type of doppler measurement to be reported.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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.
Claims 2-3 and 10-11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C 103 as being unpatentable over Duan (US20230400549) in view of Manolakos (US20230141785A1).
Regarding claim 2 Duan discloses all of claim 1. Duan further teaches: wherein the at least one processor is further configured to cause the device to: transmit the one or more reference signals associated with sensing the one or more targets (Para 0040: “FIG. 9 illustrates a sensing environment that includes a transmitter node transmitting reference signals for sensing with beam patterns.”). Duan does not teach “and determine the plurality of doppler measurements or a plurality of normalized doppler measurements associated with the plurality of doppler measurements based at least in part on a phase rotation change across a pair of consecutive symbols or multiple pairs of non-consecutive symbols associated with the one or more reference signals, wherein the phase rotation change across the pair of consecutive symbols or the multiple pairs of non-consecutive symbols is based at least in part on the at least one configuration parameter“.
However, Manolakos in the analogous arts teaches: and determine the plurality of doppler measurements or a plurality of normalized doppler measurements associated with the plurality of doppler measurements based at least in part on a phase rotation change across a pair of consecutive symbols or multiple pairs of non-consecutive symbols associated with the one or more reference signals (Para 0135: “In a first set of examples, a reference signal structure may include 16 reference signal observations (e.g., A=16). For a reference signal structure having a duration of 8 ms and 14 symbols spacing per one reference signal (e.g., (A, B)=(16, 14)), the Doppler resolution may be 125 Hz and the maximum resolvable Doppler may be 2000 Hz. For a reference signal structure having a duration of 4 ms and 7 symbols spacing per one reference signal (e.g., (A, B)=(16, 7)), the Doppler resolution may be 250 Hz and the maximum resolvable Doppler may be 4000 Hz. For a reference signal structure having a duration of 1.1 ms and 2 symbols spacing per one reference signal (e.g., (16, 2)), the Doppler resolution may be 875 Hz and the maximum resolvable Doppler may be 14000 Hz.”), wherein the phase rotation change across the pair of consecutive symbols or the multiple pairs of non-consecutive symbols is based at least in part on the at least one configuration parameter (Para 0138: “The ability of the UE to measure Doppler shift associated with the transmitted reference signals may be affected by the reference signal configuration in frequency and time. For example, increasing the number of reference signals in a given time period may increase processing gain, but may also increase pull-in range (e.g., the maximum/minimum resolvable Doppler range). The time-frequency tracking and Doppler delay and spread estimation performance for various parameters (given in the left-most column of Table 1) are impacted by the reference configuration parameters (given in the top column of Table 1). Table 1 displays the impact of reference signal configuration on various tracking performance parameters.”).
It would have been obvious to someone in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Duan with Manolakos to incorporate the feature of: and determine the plurality of doppler measurements or a plurality of normalized doppler measurements associated with the plurality of doppler measurements based at least in part on a phase rotation change across a pair of consecutive symbols or multiple pairs of non-consecutive symbols associated with the one or more reference signals, wherein the phase rotation change across the pair of consecutive symbols or the multiple pairs of non-consecutive symbols is based at least in part on the at least one configuration parameter. Duan and Manolakos are all considered analogous arts as they as disclose methods for wireless sensing. However, Duan fails to disclose a feature of doppler measurements. This feature is disclosed by Manolakos. It would have been obvious to someone in the art prior to the effective filling date of the claimed invention to modify Duan with Manolakos to incorporate the feature of: and determine the plurality of doppler measurements or a plurality of normalized doppler measurements associated with the plurality of doppler measurements based at least in part on a phase rotation change across a pair of consecutive symbols or multiple pairs of non-consecutive symbols associated with the one or more reference signals, wherein the phase rotation change across the pair of consecutive symbols or the multiple pairs of non-consecutive symbols is based at least in part on the at least one configuration parameter as such a feature would increase the efficiency of the system.
Regarding claim 3 Duan discloses all the limitation of claim 1. Duan does not teach “wherein the at least one processor is further configured to cause the device to determine the plurality of doppler measurements over a period of time based at least in part on a doppler measurement window associated with at least one of consecutive symbols or reference signal symbols corresponding to a comb transmission structure associated with the one or more reference signals, wherein the first signaling indicates a size of the doppler measurement window. “.
However, Manolakos in the analogous arts teaches: wherein the at least one processor is further configured to cause the device to determine the plurality of doppler measurements over a period of time based at least in part on a doppler measurement window associated with at least one of consecutive symbols or reference signal symbols corresponding to a comb transmission structure associated with the one or more reference signals (Para 0132: “FIG. 3A shows a tracking reference signal configuration 300-a, which may be used by a UE for time-frequency tracking, and may in some cases indicate a reference signal configuration that the UE may use to measure one or more Doppler shift parameters. In some examples, a UE may be configured with a CSI-RS which may indicate a configuration for the TRS, including a reference signal structure for measuring Doppler shift. The TRS configuration 300-a may be a TRS burst, which may consist of two TRS symbols 305 in two adjacent slots (e.g., slot 1 and slot 2). In some examples, a TRP or a base station may transmit reference signals to a UE using the TRS burst. The TRS burst may be repeated in accordance with a time period 310 (e.g., 10 ms, 20 ms, 40 ms, or 80 ms TRS burst periodicity). Each slot may include a number of configurable symbol locations 320 for the TRS. Each symbol location 320 may be separated by an inter-symbol distance 315 of four OFDM symbols. In addition, each subcarrier location for the TRS may be separated by an inter-subcarrier distance of 4 subcarriers. In some implementations, the capability of a UE to measure and report Doppler shift parameters may be based on time-frequency tracking and the reference signal structure of the TRS.”), wherein the first signaling indicates a size of the doppler measurement window (Para 0132: “The TRS configuration 300-a may be a TRS burst, which may consist of two TRS symbols 305 in two adjacent slots (e.g., slot 1 and slot 2). In some examples, a TRP or a base station may transmit reference signals to a UE using the TRS burst. The TRS burst may be repeated in accordance with a time period 310 (e.g., 10 ms, 20 ms, 40 ms, or 80 ms TRS burst periodicity). Each slot may include a number of configurable symbol locations 320 for the TRS. Each symbol location 320 may be separated by an inter-symbol distance 315 of four OFDM symbols”) .
The reason to combine Duan with Manolakos is similar to the one given in claim 2 above.
Regarding claim 10 Duan discloses all the limitation of claim 1. Duan does not teach “wherein the at least one processor is further configured to cause the device to determine, based at least in part on the at least one configuration parameter, one or more of a doppler resolution associated with the plurality of doppler measurements or a range resolution associated with a plurality of time-based measurements “.
However, Manolakos in the analogous arts teaches: wherein the at least one processor is further configured to cause the device to determine, based at least in part on the at least one configuration parameter, one or more of a doppler resolution associated with the plurality of doppler measurements or a range resolution associated with a plurality of time-based measurements (Para 0134: “The reference signal structure 300-b may be configured based on a number of observations of reference signals for time duration 335, and based on a number of symbols allocated per one reference signal. In some cases, the reference signal structure may be indicated by a pair representation (A, B), where A is the number of reference signal observations over the time duration 335, and B represents the number of symbols per one reference signal observation. Each reference signal configuration may be associated with different Doppler parameters, such as Doppler resolution and maximum resolvable Doppler. In some examples, the UE may receive a measurement configuration 210 from one or more TRPs in the wireless communications network, which may indicate a number of reference signal durations that the UE may use to measure Doppler shift parameters. In some cases, a single time duration may be a group of reference signals indicated by the reference signal configuration 300-b. In addition, each reference signal configuration may represent a single time duration or a “shot,” and the UE may measure a single reference signal configuration or multiple reference signal configurations in order to determine a measurement for Doppler shift associated with the reference signals.”).
The reason to combine Duan with Manolakos is similar to the one given in claim 2 above.
Regarding claim 11 Duan discloses all the limitation of claim 1. Duan does not teach “wherein the at least one configuration parameter comprises an antenna port, a subcarrier spacing configuration, a subcarrier spacing, a numerical quantity of resource blocks, a complex symbol value of a resource element, a numerical quantity of subcarriers per resource block, a dimensionless quantity, one or more time units, one or more frequency units, a subcarrier index relative to a reference value, a maximum subcarrier spacing configuration, a signal direction associated with the one or more reference signals, a starting resource block index, a target range resolution, a target doppler resolution associated with the plurality of doppler measurements, a comb transmission structure associated with the one or more reference signals, a size of a measurement window, one or more symbol phase changes associated with the one or more reference signals, respective characteristics of the one or more targets, respective bistatic elevation angles associated with the one or more targets, respective bistatic azimuth angles associated with the one or more targets, respective azimuth angles between the respective bistatic azimuth angles and respective velocity vectors associated with the one or more targets, respective elevation angles between the respective bistatic elevation angles and the respective velocity vectors, a symbol separation, respective distances to the one or more targets from the device, respective distances to the one or more targets from a transmitting device associated with the one or more reference signals, or any combination thereof. “.
However, Manolakos in the analogous arts teaches: wherein the at least one configuration parameter comprises an antenna port, a subcarrier spacing configuration, a subcarrier spacing (Para 0078: “Signal waveforms transmitted over a carrier may be made up of multiple subcarriers (e.g., using multi-carrier modulation (MCM) techniques such as orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) or discrete Fourier transform spread OFDM (DFT-S-OFDM)). In a system employing MCM techniques, a resource element may consist of one symbol period (e.g., a duration of one modulation symbol) and one subcarrier, where the symbol period and subcarrier spacing are inversely related. The number of bits carried by each resource element may depend on the modulation scheme (e.g., the order of the modulation scheme, the coding rate of the modulation scheme, or both). Thus, the more resource elements that a UE 115 receives and the higher the order of the modulation scheme, the higher the data rate may be for the UE 115. A wireless communications resource may refer to a combination of a radio frequency spectrum resource, a time resource, and a spatial resource (e.g., spatial layers or beams), and the use of multiple spatial layers may further increase the data rate or data integrity for communications with a UE 115.”), a numerical quantity of resource blocks, a complex symbol value of a resource element, a numerical quantity of subcarriers per resource block, a dimensionless quantity, one or more time units, one or more frequency units, a subcarrier index relative to a reference value, a maximum subcarrier spacing configuration, a signal direction associated with the one or more reference signals, a starting resource block index, a target range resolution, a target doppler resolution associated with the plurality of doppler measurements, a comb transmission structure associated with the one or more reference signals, a size of a measurement window, one or more symbol phase changes associated with the one or more reference signals, respective characteristics of the one or more targets, respective bistatic elevation angles associated with the one or more targets, respective bistatic azimuth angles associated with the one or more targets, respective azimuth angles between the respective bistatic azimuth angles and respective velocity vectors associated with the one or more targets, respective elevation angles between the respective bistatic elevation angles and the respective velocity vectors, a symbol separation, respective distances to the one or more targets from the device, respective distances to the one or more targets from a transmitting device associated with the one or more reference signals, or any combination thereof.
The reason to combine Duan with Manolakos is similar to the one given in claim 2 above.
Claims 7, 13 and 19-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C 103 as being unpatentable over Duan (US20230400549) in view of Duan004 (WO2023141004A1).
Regarding claim 7 Duan discloses all the limitations of claim 1. Duan does not teach “wherein the plurality of doppler measurements comprise macro-doppler measurements and micro-doppler measurements, and wherein the at least one processor is further configured to cause the device to determine at least one of: a common sensing measurement window associated with the macro-doppler measurements and the micro-doppler measurements; or a first measurement window associated with the macro-doppler measurements, a second measurement window associated with the micro-doppler measurements, or both “.
However, Duan004 in the analogous arts teaches: wherein the plurality of doppler measurements comprise macro-doppler measurements and micro-doppler measurements (Para 00138: “At stage 1530, the method 1500 includes measuring, at the sensing apparatus, the positioning reference signal to determine one or more radio frequency sensing measurements based on the measurement indication indicating that the positioning reference signal is for radio frequency sensing. For example, the RF sensing unit 550 of the processor 510 (e.g., a filter, a low-noise amplifier, an analog-to-digital converter, and a DSP) measures the PRS to determine one or more RF sensing measurements (e.g., angle of arrival, received power, time of arrival, Doppler, Micro-Doppler, etc.). The processor 510, possibly in combination with the memory 530, in combination with the transceiver 520 (e.g., the wireless receiver 244 and the antenna 246, or the wireless receiver 344 and the antenna 346) may comprise means for measuring the PRS to determine one or more radio frequency sensing measurements.”), and wherein the at least one processor is further configured to cause the device to determine at least one of: a common sensing measurement window associated with the macro-doppler measurements and the micro-doppler measurements; or a first measurement window associated with the macro-doppler measurements, a second measurement window associated with the micro-doppler measurements, or both (Para 0118: “Sensing-measurement-based parameters may include object size and/or object shape if there are sufficient measurements (e.g., sufficiently-dense signaling) to yield a cloud of measurements from which object size and/or object shape may be determined. RF sensing measurement may include MicroDoppler shift, e.g., for detecting motion of an object such as respiration of a person. Artificial intelligence may be applied (e.g., by the network entity 600 and/or the sensing server 802 and/or the sensing apparatus 500 and/or another entity) to one or more RF sensing measurements to determine one or more sensing-measurement-based parameters.”).
It would have been obvious to someone in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Duan with Duan004 to incorporate the feature of: wherein the plurality of doppler measurements comprise macro-doppler measurements and micro-doppler measurements, and wherein the at least one processor is further configured to cause the device to determine at least one of: a common sensing measurement window associated with the macro-doppler measurements and the micro-doppler measurements; or a first measurement window associated with the macro-doppler measurements, a second measurement window associated with the micro-doppler measurements, or both. Duan and Duan004 are all considered analogous arts as they all disclose methods for wireless sensing. However, Duan fails to disclose a feature of micro-doppler measurement. This feature is disclosed by Duan004. It would have been obvious to someone in the art prior to the effective filling date of the claimed invention to Duan with Duan004 to incorporate the feature of: wherein the plurality of doppler measurements comprise macro-doppler measurements and micro-doppler measurements, and wherein the at least one processor is further configured to cause the device to determine at least one of: a common sensing measurement window associated with the macro-doppler measurements and the micro-doppler measurements; or a first measurement window associated with the macro-doppler measurements, a second measurement window associated with the micro-doppler measurements, or both as such a feature would increase the efficiency of the system.
Claim 19 recites limitations that are similar to those of claim 7, therefore claim 19 is rejected under the same rationale.
Regarding claim 13 Duan discloses all the limitations of claim 1. Duan does not teach ‘wherein the plurality of doppler measurements comprise one or more of a one-way macro-doppler measurement associated with the one or more targets, a one-way time varying macro-doppler measurement associated with the one or more targets, a two-way macro-doppler measurement associated with the one or more targets ‘.
However, Duan004 in the analogous arts teaches : wherein the plurality of doppler measurements comprise one or more of a one-way macro-doppler measurement associated with the one or more targets, a one-way time varying macro-doppler measurement associated with the one or more targets, a two-way macro-doppler measurement associated with the one or more targets (Para 00138: “At stage 1530, the method 1500 includes measuring, at the sensing apparatus, the positioning reference signal to determine one or more radio frequency sensing measurements based on the measurement indication indicating that the positioning reference signal is for radio frequency sensing. For example, the RF sensing unit 550 of the processor 510 (e.g., a filter, a low-noise amplifier, an analog-to-digital converter, and a DSP) measures the PRS to determine one or more RF sensing measurements (e.g., angle of arrival, received power, time of arrival, Doppler, Micro-Doppler, etc.). The processor 510, possibly in combination with the memory 530, in combination with the transceiver 520 (e.g., the wireless receiver 244 and the antenna 246, or the wireless receiver 344 and the antenna 346) may comprise means for measuring the PRS to determine one or more radio frequency sensing measurements.”), a two-way time varying macro-doppler measurement associated with the one or more targets, a one-way micro-doppler measurement associated with the one or more targets, or a two-way micro doppler measurement associated with the one or more targets.
The reason to combine Duan with Duan004 is similar to the one given in claim 7 above.
Claim 20 recites limitations that are similar to those of claim 13, therefore claim 20 is rejected under the same rationale.
Claim 8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C 103 as being unpatentable over Duan (US20230400549) in view of Duan004 (WO2023141004A1) and further in view of
Si (WO2022007746A1).
Regarding claim 8 the combination of Duan and Duan004 discloses all the limitations of claim 7. Duan does not teach “wherein the first signaling indicates one or more parameters associated with the common sensing measurement window, the first measurement window, or the second measurement window, and wherein the one or more parameters comprise a window start time in a time domain, a window size in the time domain, a window end time in the time domain, a periodicity associated with periodic doppler measurements, or a minimum window duration based at least in part on a numerology of the one or more reference signals.“.
However, Si in the analogous arts teaches: wherein the first signaling indicates one or more parameters associated with the common sensing measurement window (Summary of Invention: “A sixth aspect provides a measurement apparatus, the apparatus includes: a fourth receiving module configured to receive preset signaling sent by a location server, where the preset signaling includes at least one of the current downlink positioning reference signal configuration information part of the information; a third sending module sends a measurement interval request to the base station according to the preset signaling, wherein the measurement interval request is used to instruct the base station to configure a measurement interval for downlink positioning reference signal measurement; the measurement module , for performing downlink positioning reference signal measurement according to whether the measurement interval is configured and/or the preset signaling.”) , the first measurement window, or the second measurement window, and wherein the one or more parameters comprise a window start time in a time domain, a window size in the time domain (Summary of Invention: “In a third aspect, a measurement method is provided, applied to a terminal, the method includes: receiving preset signaling sent by a location server, where the preset signaling includes at least part of the current downlink positioning reference signal configuration information; According to the preset signaling, a measurement interval request is sent to the base station, where the measurement interval request is used to instruct the base station to configure a measurement interval for downlink positioning reference signal measurement; according to whether the measurement interval is configured and/or the measurement interval Preset signaling to perform downlink positioning reference signal measurement.”), a window end time in the time domain, a periodicity associated with periodic doppler measurements, or a minimum window duration based at least in part on a numerology of the one or more reference signals.
It would have been obvious to someone in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Duan with Si to incorporate the feature of: wherein the first signaling indicates one or more parameters associated with the common sensing measurement window, the first measurement window, or the second measurement window, and wherein the one or more parameters comprise a window start time in a time domain, a window size in the time domain, a window end time in the time domain, a periodicity associated with periodic doppler measurements, or a minimum window duration based at least in part on a numerology of the one or more reference signals. Duan and Si are all considered analogous arts as they all disclose methods for wireless sensing. However, Duan fails to disclose a feature of signaling with measurement window parameters. This feature is disclosed by Si. It would have been obvious to someone in the art prior to the effective filling date of the claimed invention to modify Duan with Si to incorporate the feature of: wherein the first signaling indicates one or more parameters associated with the common sensing measurement window, the first measurement window, or the second measurement window, and wherein the one or more parameters comprise a window start time in a time domain, a window size in the time domain, a window end time in the time domain, a periodicity associated with periodic doppler measurements, or a minimum window duration based at least in part on a numerology of the one or more reference signals as such a feature would increase the efficiency of the system.
Conclusion
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/BONGANI JABULANI MASHELE/Examiner, Art Unit 3648
/TIMOTHY A BRAINARD/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3648
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