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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The references listed in the Information Disclosure Statement(s) filed on 5/22/2025 have been considered by the examiner (see attached PTO-1449 form or PTO/SB/08A and 08B forms).
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)(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, 5-6, 10-11, 15-16, and 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Niu et al. (US 2026/0039716, hereinafter “Niu”).
Regarding claims 1 and 11, Niu discloses a device in a wireless communication system (Fig. 5), the device (terminal, Fig. 5, implemented as communication apparatus 300, Fig. 27, memory and processor to execute instructions, para. 0005) comprising:
a transceiver (communication interface 303, Fig. 27); and
a controller coupled with the transceiver (processor 302 connected to communication interface 303 via bus 304, Fig. 27) and configured to:
receive, from a reader, first information for a device to reader (D2R) transmission (S202, base station sends system information to the terminal, the information including time domain resource info, and frequency domain resource info, para. 0100, Fig. 5); and
transmit, to the reader, the D2R transmission based on the first information (S203, terminal sends response information for the system information to the base station, para. 0104, Fig. 5),
wherein the first information includes at least one of information on a frequency domain resource, information on a time domain resource, or a chip duration (the information including time domain resource info and frequency domain resource info, para. 0100-0101).
Regarding claims 6 and 16, Niu discloses a reader in a wireless communication system (base station in the system of Fig. 5, implemented as communication apparatus 300, Fig. 27, memory and processor to execute instructions, para. 0005), the reader comprising:
a transceiver (communication interface 303, Fig. 27); and
a controller coupled with the transceiver (processor 302 connected to communication interface 303 via bus 304, Fig. 27) and configured to:
transmit, to a device, first information for a device to reader (D2R) transmission (S202, base station sends system information to the terminal, the information including time domain resource info, and frequency domain resource info, para. 0100, Fig. 5);
and receive, from the device, the D2R transmission based on the first information (S203, terminal sends response information for the system information to the base station, para. 0104, Fig. 5),
wherein the first information includes at least one of information on a frequency domain resource, information on a time domain resource, or a chip duration (the information including time domain resource info and frequency domain resource info, para. 0100-0101).
Regarding claims 5, 10, 15, and 20, Niu further discloses receiving, from the reader, a paging message including at least one identifier of the device or an identifier of a group for multiple devices (auxiliary info also includes information related to a terminal that is paged or receives the auxiliary information including terminal identification, para. 0086, 0089-0090),
Wherein the device includes an ambient-internet of things (A-IoT) device (AIoT Layer, of the terminal, Fig. 4).
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.
Claim(s) 3, 8, 13, and 18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Niu et al. (US 2026/0039716, hereinafter “Niu”) in view of Cheng et al. (US 2025/0150507, hereinafter “Cheng”).
Regarding claims 3, 8, 13, and 18, Niu discloses everything applied to claim 1 above, but does not expressly disclose performing a modulation for the D2R transmission based on a modulation scheme, and wherein the modulation scheme includes an on-off keying (OOK) modulation scheme.
Cheng also discloses an A-IoT system in which the Device to Reader (D2R) link employs on-off keying (OOK) for baseband modulation (para. 0150).
Because both Niu and Cheng disclose A-IoT systems, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, at the time the application was filed, to substitute one data processing scheme for another, for the predictable result of implementing OOK modulation for the D2R transmission, as suggested by Cheng.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2, 4, 7, 9, 12, 14, 17, 19 objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DAVID S HUANG whose telephone number is (571)270-1798. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday, 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m., EST.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Hannah Wang can be reached at (571) 272-9018. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/David S Huang/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2631 6/27/2026
Prosecution Insights