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 Status
Claims 1-20 have been amended. Thus, claims 1-20 are presented for examination.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112 – Second Paragraph
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.
Claims 1-20 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.
For claim 1:
At line 7, it is unclear how the terminal will respond to the inventory operation based on two identifiers.
For claim 13:
At line 6, it is unclear how a fifth message is being introduced without including previous messages. It would appear that a missing clarification is needed.
For claim 19:
This claim is rejected as applied to claim 1.
For claims 2-12, 14-18, 20:
These claims are also rejected as they depend upon a rejected claim.
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 of this title, 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.
Claims 1-2 and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Abeygunasekara et al. (US Patent Application Publication No. 2023/0188936) in view of Wang (US Patent Application Publication No. 2017/0364964).
Regarding claim 1, Abeygunasekara teaches a communication method (Fig. 1B), comprising:
receiving, by a terminal, a first message, wherein the first message comprises a first status identifier of a data storage area (UE receives status IDs of data storage [Paragraphs 2, 32-33, 38]);
storing, by the terminal, a [(UE stores status IDs [Paragraphs 2, 32-33, 38]); and
determining, by the terminal, whether to respond to an inventory operation based on the first status identifier (based on the status ID, the UE determines whether to respond to inventory operation [Paragraphs 2, 32-33, 38]) [.
However, Abeygunasekara does not explicitly mention: second status identifier.
Wang teaches, in a similar field of endeavor of communication systems, the following:
second status identifier (UE receives and stores several (i.e. first, second identifiers) status indicators for the UE to determine inventory operations [Paragraphs 5, 7, 9]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the communication system (as taught by Abeygunasekara) by storing second status ID (as taught by Wang) for the purpose of determining relative values of the inventory (Wang – Paragraph 6).
Regarding claim 2, Abeygunasekara further teaches the method according to claim 1, wherein the first status identifier or the second status identifier comprises at least one of:
an identifier useable to indicate location information, a read identifier corresponding to data in the data storage area, or an abnormality record identifier corresponding to the data in the data storage area ([Paragraph 38]).
Regarding claim 19, this claim is rejected as applied to claim 1.
Claims 16 and 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Abeygunasekara et al. (US Patent Application Publication No. 2023/0188936) in view of Eadala et al. (US Patent Application Publication No. 2022/0393969).
Regarding claim 16, Abeygunasekara teaches all the limitations recited in claim 15.
However, Abeygunasekara does not explicitly mention: receiving, by the management network element, a first response message; and sending, by the management network element, a second message based on the first response message, wherein the second message includes write operation indication information and the to-be-written first location information.
Eadala teaches, in a similar field of endeavor of communication systems, the following:
receiving, by the management network element, a first response message ([Paragraph 12]); and sending, by the management network element, a second message based on the first response message ([Paragraphs 20, 120-121]), wherein the second message includes write operation indication information and the to-be-written first location information ([Paragraphs 80, 85, 93]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the communication system (as taught by Abeygunasekara) by indicating writing operation (as taught by Eadala) for the purpose of properly processing information (Eadala – Paragraph 12).
Regarding claim 18, Abeygunasekara teaches all the limitations recited in claim 17.
However, Abeygunasekara does not explicitly mention: receiving, by the management network element, a second response message; and sending, by the management network element, a third message based on the second response message, wherein the third message includes read operation indication information, and the read operation indication information is useable to indicate to read data in the first area.
Eadala teaches, in a similar field of endeavor of communication systems, the following:
receiving, by the management network element, a second response message ([Paragraph 12]); and sending, by the management network element, a third message based on the second response message ([Paragraphs 20, 120-121]), wherein the third message includes read operation indication information, and the read operation indication information is useable to indicate to read data in the first area ([Paragraphs 80, 85, 93]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the communication system (as taught by Abeygunasekara) by indicating reading operation (as taught by Eadala) for the purpose of properly processing information (Eadala – Paragraph 12).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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.
Claims 13-15 and 17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1)-(a)(2) as being anticipated by Abeygunasekara et al. (US Patent Application Publication No. 2023/0188936).
Regarding claim 13, Abeygunasekara teaches a communication method (Fig. 1B), comprising:
obtaining, by a management network element, capability information of a terminal, wherein the capability information of the terminal is useable to indicate an inventory operation supported by the terminal (capability of UE is obtained to indicate inventory operations [Paragraphs 2, 32-33, 38]); and
sending, by the management network element, a fifth message based on the capability information of the terminal, wherein the fifth message comprises a first status identifier of a data storage area (messages are sent based on the capability info comprising status ID of storage [Paragraphs 2, 32-33, 38]).
Regarding claim 14, Abeygunasekara further teaches the method according to claim 13, wherein the first status identifier or the second status identifier comprises at least one of:
an identifier indicating location information, a read identifier corresponding to data in the data storage area, or an abnormality record identifier corresponding to the data in the data storage area ([Paragraph 38]).
Regarding claim 15, Abeygunasekara further teaches the method according to claim 13, wherein the capability information of the terminal is useable to indicate that the terminal has a location information writing capability ([Paragraph 20]), the inventory operation comprises a location information write operation ([Paragraph 38]), and the first status identifier is useable to indicate first location information ([Paragraph 39]).
Regarding claim 17, Abeygunasekara further teaches the method according to claim 13, wherein the capability information of the terminal is useable to indicate that the terminal has an identifier reading capability ([Paragraph 4]), the inventory operation comprises a data read operation ([Paragraph 15]), the first status identifier comprises a first read identifier corresponding to data in a first area ([Paragraph 16]), and the first area is a data storage area of to-be-read data ([Paragraph 31]).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to FABRICIO R MURILLO GARCIA whose telephone number is (571)270-5708. The examiner can normally be reached 9-5pm.
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September 25, 2026
/FABRICIO R MURILLO GARCIA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2633
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