TAILED 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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 2/12/2026 has been entered.
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.
Claim(s) 1-60 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yu et al. (hereinafter Yu) (US 2023/0079536) in view of Si et al. (hereinafter Si) (US 2023/0047727) and Park et al. (hereinafter Park)(US 2017/0201960).
Regarding claim 1, Yu teaches a method performed by a user equipment (UE) in a wireless network for position determination of the UE, comprising:
receiving positioning assistance data per positioning method, the positioning assistance data comprising information for one or more Positioning Reference Signal (PRS) resource sets, and one or more PRS resources (P [0145], receive configuration information; P [0146], The PRS resource information includes a plurality of resource sets and a plurality of resources);
determining PRS measurements of PRS signals at least based on a prioritization order for the PRS signals within each of at least one transmission point (TRP); wherein a position fix for the UE is determined based on the PRS measurements(P[0150], measure based on the PRS resource information and a predetermined rule; P[0112], location estimation of the terminal device; P[0162], resource is selected in a sequence; the sequence includes, frequency layer-TRP-resource set-resource).
Yu did not teach specifically wherein the prioritization order for the PRS signals is based at least on an indication in the positioning assistance data of the prioritization order for the PRS signals that is indicative of one or more priority orderings of the information for the PRS resource sets in the positioning assistance data. However, Si teaches in an analogous art wherein the prioritization order for the PRS signals is based at least on an indication in the positioning assistance data of the prioritization order for the PRS signals that is indicative of one or more priority orderings of the information for the PRS resource sets in the positioning assistance data (Fig. 1,item 101, obtain priority information of positioning; P[0079], priority order of positioning frequency layers indicated by the network side; P[0128-0134], priorities of plurality of TRPs; Priorities of plurality of resource sets; priorities of plurality of positioning signal resources). Therefore, it would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to have the prioritization order for the PRS signals is based at least on an indication in the positioning assistance data of the prioritization order for the PRS signals that is indicative of one or more priority orderings of the information for the PRS resource sets in the positioning assistance data in order to have improved efficiency.
Yu further teaches determining PRS measurements of PRS signals at least based on a prioritization order for the PRS signals within each of at least one transmission point (TRP)(in P[0078-0079], also P[0173], sorting based on the TRP and for a specific positioning mode…measurement result of the TRP with a high priority…. Selection of TRP with good measurement quality. …For each positioning mode UE preferentially measures and reports a measurement result of the positioning frequency layer with a high priority).
Note: if there is only one TRP (claim requires at least one; only one is not excluded) then Si teaches the prioritization order.
Yu in view of SI did not teach specifically prioritization order for the PRS signals respectively within each of the TRP. However, Park teaches in an analogous art prioritization order for the PRS signals respectively within each of the TRP(P[0141], method of assigning higher priority to a band of better interference environment and based on the fact that the co-located cells are distinguished from each other by a frequency band; P[0137-0139], priority according to a frequency layer and it is able to configure a most precedent neighbor cell in a list to have a higher priority in the same frequency layer; P[0138], list may contain all cells belonging to the same frequency layer with the first cell being the highest priority for measurement). Therefore, it would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to have the prioritization order for the PRS signals respectively within each of the TRP in order to have improved variability.
Regarding claim 2, Yu in view of Si teaches the method of claim 1, further comprising reporting measurement information based on the PRS measurements to an entity in the wireless network, wherein the position fix for the UE is determined by the entity in the wireless network (Yu: P [0112], location estimation of the terminal device by the LMF).
Regarding claim 3, Yu in view of Si teaches the method of claim 1, wherein the position fix for the UE is determined by the UE (Yu: P [0140], providing location information).
Regarding claim 4, Yu in view of Si teaches the method of claim 1, wherein the positioning assistance data is per Radio Access Technology (RAT) dependent positioning method (Yu: P [0142], communication technologies).
Regarding claim 5, Yu in view of Si teaches the method of claim 1, wherein the positioning assistance data per positioning method comprises separate positioning assistance data for Angle of Departure (AOD), Time Difference of Arrival (TDOA), and Multi Cell Round Trip Time (M-RTT) (Yu: P [0126], TDOA, OTDOA, AoD, RTT; also, P [0108]).
Regarding claim 6, Yu in view of Si teaches the method of claim 1, wherein the positioning assistance data per positioning method comprises indices to a set of common PRS assistance data (P [0143], PRS index list).
Regarding claim 7, Yu in view of Si teaches the method of claim 1, wherein for each positioning method, the information for the one or more PRS resource sets of the at least one TREP in the positioning assistance data lists the PRS resource sets in a priority order of measurement to be performed by the UE (Yu: P [0162], resource is selected in a sequence; the sequence includes, frequency layer-TRP-resource set-resources).
Regarding claim 8, Yu teaches the method of claim 7, wherein the positioning assistance data further comprises information for one or more frequency layers each of the at least one TRP, and wherein for each positioning method, the information further lists the frequency layers in the priority order of measurement to be performed by the UE, or lists each of the at least one TRP within each frequency layer in the priority order of measurement to be performed by the UE, or lists a combination thereof(Yu: P[0162], resource is selected in a sequence; the sequence includes, frequency layer-TRP-resource set-resources; also P[0164], The terminal device then selects, based on the supported total quantity of TRPs, a quantity of TRPs corresponding to all frequency layers from the PRS resource information configured by the network device; SI: P[0128-0134], priorities of plurality of TRPs; Priorities of plurality of resource sets; priorities of plurality of positioning signal resources).
Regarding claim 9, Yu in view of Si teaches the method of claim 1, wherein for each positioning method, the information for the one or more PRS resources of a PRS resource set in the positioning assistance data lists the PRS resources in a priority order of measurement to be performed by the UE (Yu: P [0162], resource is selected in a sequence; the sequence includes, frequency layer-TRP-resource set-resources).
Regarding claim 10, Yu in view of Si teaches the method of claim 1, wherein the positioning assistance data further comprises information for one or more frequency layers and the at least one TRP, the method further comprising: reporting one or more measurement capabilities per positioning method to an entity in the wireless network(Fig. 2, S2); wherein the information for the frequency layers, each of the at least one TRP, the PRS resource sets, and the PRS resources in the positioning assistance data is configured based on the one or more measurement capabilities per positioning method(Yu: P[0059]; P[0152-0160], frequency layers, TRPs, resource sets; also Table 2; SI: P[0128-0133], priorities of plurality of TRPs; Priorities of plurality of resource sets; priorities of plurality of positioning signal resources).
Regarding claim 11, Yu in view of Si teaches the method of claim 10, wherein the one or more measurement capabilities per positioning method indicates a maximum number of PRS resource sets per TRP per frequency layer, and wherein determining the prioritization order for the PRS measurements comprises prioritizing a first PRS resource set listed in the information for the PRS resource sets (Yu: Table 2, P [0188]).
Regarding claim 12, Yu in view of Si teaches the method of claim 10, wherein the one or more measurement capabilities per positioning method indicates a maximum number of PRS resources per PRS resource set, and wherein determining the prioritization order for the PRS measurements comprises prioritizing a first PRS resource listed in the information for the PRS resources(Yu: P[0188]maximum value allowed by the downlink PRS measurement capability; also Table 2).
Regarding claim 13, Yu in view of Si teaches the method of claim 10, wherein the one or more measurement capabilities per positioning method indicates a maximum number of PRS resources across all frequency layers, TRPs, and PRS resource sets, and wherein determining the prioritization for the PRS measurements comprises one of prioritizing based on frequency layers, then TRPs, then PRS resource sets, then PRS resources; or prioritizing a first PRS resource set from each TRP, then a second PRS resource set from each of the at least one TRP (Yu: Fig. 10a; P[0189], terminal selects from each resource set from each TRP; also Table 2).
Regarding claim 14, Yu in view of Si teaches the method of claim 10, wherein the one or more measurement capabilities per positioning method indicates a maximum number of TRPs across all frequency layers, and wherein determining the prioritization order for the PRS measurements comprises prioritizing a first frequency layer and all TRPs in the first frequency layer before a second frequency layer and all TRPs in the second frequency layer; or prioritizing a first TRP from each frequency layer, then a second TRP from each frequency layer(Yu: Fig. 10a; P[0189], terminal selects from each TRP at each frequency layer; also Table 2).
Regarding claim 15, Yu in view of Si teaches the method of claim 10, wherein the one or more measurement capabilities per positioning method indicates a maximum number of PRS resources per frequency layer, and wherein determining the prioritization order for the PRS measurements comprises one of prioritizing based on TRP, then PRS resource sets, then PRS resources; or prioritizing a first PRS resource set from each TRP, then a second PRS resource set from each TRP (Yu: Fig. 10a; P[0189], terminal selects from each resource set from each TRP; also Table 2; SI: P[0128-0133], priorities of plurality of TRPs; Priorities of plurality of resource sets; priorities of plurality of positioning signal resources ).
Claims 16-30 are rejected for the same reason as set forth in claims 1-15 respectively.
Claims 31-45 are rejected for the same reason as set forth in claims 1-15 respectively.
Claims 46-60 are rejected for the same reason as set forth in claims 1-15 respectively.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) have been considered but they are not persuasive.
Applicant argues that Park discloses signal priority in and between frequency layers, but not a priority order between signals in a given TRP (i.e., a prioritization order for the PRS signals respectively within each of at least one TRP), as in the above claim recitation.
Examiner respectfully disagrees. Park further teaches in P[0141], method of assigning higher priority to a band of better interference environment and based on the fact that the co-located cells are distinguished from each other by a frequency band. In view of this, Park teaches the claimed invention.
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MUTHUSWAMY GANAPATHY MANOHARAN whose telephone number is (571)272-5515. The examiner can normally be reached 6:30am-3:00pm.
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, Alison T Slater can be reached on 571-270-0375. 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.
/MUTHUSWAMY G MANOHARAN/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2647
Prosecution Insights