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 .
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 1/28/2026 has been entered.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 101
35 U.S.C. 101 reads as follows:
Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.
Claims 1 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to an abstract idea under the broadest reasonable interpretation without significantly more.
Independent claims 1 and 20 are directed to transmitting or receiving information and are regarded as process that is a mental process and not directed towards ptent eligible subject matter under 35 U.S.C. 101.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
Claims 1-30 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the enablement requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to enable one skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and/or use the invention.
Claims 1, 12, 20 and 30 recites phase measurement error which is based on true value and true value is unknown and therefore error is unknown and transmitting error is not enabling The claim(s) contains subject matter “receiving/transmitting phase measurement error” which was not described in the specification in such a way as to enable one skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and/or use the invention.
Dependent claims also rejected since they depend on rejected respective independent claims.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
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 1-30 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 applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claims 1, 12, 20 and 30 recites phase measurement error which is vague and indefinite. Error is based on true value and true value is unknown and therefore error is unknown and transmitting error is vague and indefinite. The transmitting device must know the value of the error before transmitting and it is not known how the device knows the error. If the true value is known then there is no need to find the error. Since no measurement device is perfect, and therefore, it is also not clear how the phase measurement information is different from phase measurement error.
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) 1-30 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhang et al. (hereinafter Zhang)(US 2023/0180172) in view of ). Ren (hereinafter Ren)(US 2022/0381922).
Regarding claim 1, Zhang teaches a method of wireless communication performed by a positioning node in a cellular positioning system(P[0167], the positioning server performs UE positioning), comprising:
receiving, from one or more assisting nodes, phase measurement information and a phase measurement error(P[0166], receiving end reports the positioning measurement values to the positioning serve; TDOA (phase measurement information) and a single difference carrier phase measurement value(phase measurement error)).
Zhang did not teach specifically receiving, from more assisting nodes comprising an uncertainty value, associated with one or more carrier phase measurements obtained by the one or more assisting nodes. However, Ren teaches in an analogous art receiving, from more assisting nodes (Fig. 1-5) measurement error comprising an uncertainty value, associated with one or more carrier phase measurements obtained by the more assisting nodes(target terminal obtain clock offset from plurality of first terminals; second clock offset is determined based on the first clock offset and the predefined criterion; P[0185], arithmetic mean; weighted mean(uncertainty)). Therefore, it would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to use the method of receiving, from more assisting nodes comprising an uncertainty value, associated with one or more carrier phase measurements obtained by the one or more assisting nodes in order to have improved precision in phase measurement error.
Note: phase measurement process of a UE based carrier phase positioning solution there are non-ideal factor such as clock offset causes an error in carrier phase measurement thereby altering the positioning accuracy.
Regarding claim 2, Zhang in view of Ren teaches the method of claim 1, further comprising: resolving integer cycle information associated with the one or more carrier phase measurements based at least in part on the phase measurement error; and estimating a location associated with a target user equipment (UE) based at least in part on the integer cycle information associated with the one or more carrier phase measurements(Ren: P[0109], ambiguity of whole cycles; also P[0113], P[0131], P[0135]; also location estimation in P[0042-0043], P[0053], P[0061]).
Regarding claim 3, Zhang in view of Ren teaches the method of claim 2, wherein the phase measurement error is associated with two or more carriers(Ren: P[0011], clock offset notified by plurality of terminals).
Regarding claim 4, Zhang in view of Ren teaches the method of claim 3, wherein the phase measurement error includes a value, a range, or a distribution associated with an uncertainty or estimation error of the one or more carrier phase measurements(Ren: P[0007], mean, clock offset with optimal claimed condition).
Regrading claim 5, Ren teaches the method of claim 3, wherein the phase measurement error includes one or more uncertainties or one or more estimation errors that are caused by one or more of a phase noise, a phase center variation, or a signal measurement error(Ren: P[0114, 0131, 0140], signal to noise ratio).
Regarding claim 6, Zhang teaches wherein the phase measurement error related information is associated with one or more of a positioning frequency layer, a component carrier, a bandwidth part, or a frequency sub-band (Ren: P[0181], single difference phase measurement error; first and second carrier frequency).
Regarding claim 7, Zhang in view of Ren teaches the method, wherein the phase measurement error related information is received from the one or more assisting nodes in one or more measurement reports that include the one or more carrier phase measurements for the two or more carriers(Ren: Figs. 1-2; P[0052], P[0067], P[0077], P[0090], carrier phase measurements; P[0134], carrier phase measurement errors).
Regarding claim 8, Zhang in view of Ren teaches the method of claim, wherein the one or more assisting nodes include the target UE and a reference node, and wherein the method further comprises(Fig. 2; assisting node, sending end; receiving end is target UE): receiving, from the target UE and the reference node, the one or more carrier phase measurements in the one or more measurement reports; and refining a coarse estimate of the location associated with the target UE based at least in part on a carrier phase combination using the one or more carrier phase measurements and the integer cycle information associated with the one or more carrier phase measurements(Zhang: step 5 and 6 in Fig. 2; also P[0166-0173]; Ren: P[0184], clock offset from plurality of terminals; P[0185], arithmetic mean, weighted mean).
Regarding claim 9, Zhang in view of Ren in view of Zhang teaches the method of claim 3, wherein the positioning node is a location management function and the one or more assisting nodes include one or more of the target UE or a transmit receive point (Zhang: Positioning server; Ren: P[0044, 0088], LMF, reference UE, target UE; reference base adj station, non-reference base adj station ).
Regarding claim 10, Zhang in view of Ren teaches the method, further comprising: configuring at least a carrier for a positioning reference signal based at least in part on the phase measurement error related information associated with the one or more carrier phase measurements(Zhang: P[0011], phase measurement errors of a first carrier and a second carrier; P[0155, 0162], selection of C-PRS based on measurement errors; P[0020-002121], configuration information for C-PRS; Ren: P[0184], clock offset from different positioning reference signals).
Regarding claim 11, Zhang in view of Ren teaches the method of claim 10, wherein the positioning node is the target UE and the one or more assisting nodes include one or more of a transmit receive point or a reference UE (Ren: Fig. 2).
Claims 12-19 are rejected for the same reason as set forth in claims 1, 3-7, 9 and 11 respectively.
Claims 20-29 and 30 are rejected for the same reason as set forth in claims 1-10 and 1 respectively.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 1/28/2026 have been fully considered but they are moot in view of new grounds of rejection.
Conclusion
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.
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/MUTHUSWAMY G MANOHARAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2647
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