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
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 October 29, 2025 has been entered.
This Office Action is in response to RCE application filed on October 29, 2025 and wherein claims 1, 11-13 and 26 being currently amended, and new claims 27-29 are added.
In virtue of this communication, claims 1,3,5-17, 26-29 are currently pending in this Office Action.
The Office appreciates the explanation of the amendment and analyses of the prior arts, and however, although the claims are interpreted in light of the specification, limitations from the specification are not read into the claims. See In re Van Geuns, 988 F.2d 1181, 26 USPQ2d 1057 (Fed. Cir. 1993) and MPEP 2145.
Response to Arguments
With respect to the rejection of claims 1, 3, 5-17 and 26 under 35 USC §112(b), as set forth in the previous Office Action, the claim amendment, and argument (Remarks, Page 1) filed on October 29, 2025, have been fully considered and the argument is persuasive. Therefore, the rejection of claims 1,3, 5-17 and 21 under 35 USC § 112(b), as set forth in the previous Office Action, has been withdrawn.
Applicant’s arguments, see Remarks, Pages 7-9, filed on October 29, 2025, with respect to the rejection(s) of claim(s) 1 under 35 USC §103 have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground(s) of rejection is made in view of Kwak.
Claim Objections
Regarding Claim 3, it is suggested that applicant remove “the” before positioning reference signals in line 3.
Regarding Claim 5, it is suggested that applicant remove “the” before positioning reference signals in line 1.
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.
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.
5. Claims 1, 3, 5-13, 26-29 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chen et al. (US 20210306895 A1, hereinafter Chen) in view of Kwak et al. (US 20200228282 A1, hereinafter Kwak).
Claim 1: Chen teaches a method of communications (abstract), comprising:
receiving, by a user equipment, a continuous positioning configuration (Fig. 3, element S301, [0145], “S301: Network nodes send a positioning measurement configuration to a terminal”),
performing, by a user equipment, assistance measurements based at least on the continuous positioning configuration (Fig. 2, element 202, Fig. 3, element S304, [0156], “the network nodes may indicate and inform, by using the positioning parameter
measurement indication, the terminal to perform positioning parameter measurement, and group and report the measurement results”);
and transmitting, by the user equipment, a measurement report to a network entity, the measurement report based at least on the assistance measurements (Fig. 2, element S203, Fig. 3, element S305, [0097], “S203: The terminal sends the measurement result report” ).
However, Chen does not explicitly teach wherein the continuous positioning configuration comprises a periodic reporting configuration and/or an event-based reporting configuration,
wherein the periodic reporting configuration indicates to the user equipment to perform assistance measurements and report the assistance measurements according to a first reporting periodicity, and wherein the periodic reporting configuration comprises a reporting periodicity switching condition that indicates a condition to cause the user equipment to switch reporting periodicities from the first reporting periodicity to a second reporting periodicity to report the assistance measurements;
wherein the event-based reporting configuration indicates to the user equipment to perform assistance measurements in response to an event and report the assistance measurements.
Kwak, from the same or similar field of endeavor, teaches
wherein the continuous positioning configuration comprises a periodic reporting configuration ([0169], “The UE may assume that a CSI process is configured for each configured BWP, and a CSI-RS transmission parameter, a CSI reporting period, and a CSI-RS configuration may be configured on a CSI process basis”, [0166], “A BS may transmit CSI-RSs in BWP A and BWP B periodically/semi-persistently/aperiodically (CSI-RS configurations such as periodicities, bandwidths, and frequency positions may be configured separately for the two CSI-RS transmissions), and the UE may
periodically/semi-persistently/aperiodically measure wideband CSI and/or subband CSI in BWP A and BWP B and report the measured wideband CSI and/or subband CSI (measurement periodicities, subband sizes, and configurations may be configured separately for the two BWPs)”, [0091-0092], disclose reference signals include a positioning reference signal, which is used to estimate geographic position information of a UE ) and/or an event-based reporting configuration ([0196], “In BWP adaptation or switching, the UE may feedback a periodically performed CSI measurement,
upon triggering or at a predefined timing”, [0005], “receiving a configuration related to channel state reporting for a plurality of bandwidth parts (BWPs) for which the UE performs BWP adaptation or switching, and reporting channel state information (CSI) for the plurality of BWPs according to the received configuration”, wherein “BWP adaptation or switching” is reading as event-based reporting configuration );
wherein the periodic reporting configuration indicates to the user equipment to perform assistance measurements and report the assistance measurements according to a first reporting periodicity ([0185-0190], disclose UE Periodic CSI reporting for a current active BWP, wherein CSI reporting period of current active BWP is reading as a first reporting periodicity), and wherein the periodic reporting configuration comprises a reporting periodicity switching condition that indicates a condition to cause the user equipment to switch reporting periodicities from the first reporting periodicity to a second reporting periodicity to report the assistance measurements ([0005], “receiving a configuration related to channel state reporting for a plurality of bandwidth parts (BWPs) for which the UE performs BWP adaptation or switching, and reporting channel state information (CSI) for the plurality of BWPs according to the received configuration”, [0169], disclose CSI process is configured for each configured BWP with CSI reporting period. Thus, UE switch reporting periodicity to a second reporting periodicity after BWP switching or adaption, [0182], disclose UE switch current active BWP from BWP A to BWP B after receiving a DL grant including a CSI configuration, [0185], “The UE may perform reporting for each CSI process periodically/semi-persistently”, [0195], “In periodic/semi-persistent CSI reporting, the UE may report CSI for a different subband position with the best channel quality in each period, based on the periodic measurement result of each BWP”, [0197], “a BWP to be adapted or switched to may be activated for the UE by a DL grant.”, [0203], “the BS may indicate a BWP for which a wideband and/or subband CQI/PMI is to be fed back before and after dynamic BWP adaptation or switching … when each of the BWPs before and after dynamic BWP adaptation or switching is set to a best-M subband CQI feedback mode, M may also be set to be different for each BWP”);
wherein the event-based reporting configuration indicates to the user equipment to perform assistance measurements in response to an event and report the assistance measurements ([0182], disclose UE switch current active BWP from BWP A to BWP B after receiving a DL grant including a CSI configuration, wherein BWP switching is reading as event-based reporting configuration, [0197], “a BWP to be adapted or switched to may be activated for the UE by a DL grant.”);
Chen and Kwak are both considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because they are in the same field of wireless communication. Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the system of Chen, for the feature of positioning configuration comprises a periodic reporting configuration and event-based reporting configuration as taught by Kwak, for the benefit for allowing a channel state be efficiently measured and reported (paragraph [0026]).
Claim 26 is analyzed and rejected according to Claim 1 and Chen further teaches at least one processor (Fig.6, element 602, [0196], “The terminal includes a processor 602”);
and at least one memory including computer program code (Fig.6, element 601, [0196], “the memory 601 is configured to store program code and data of the terminal”);
the at least one memory and the computer program code configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to perform the method of any of claim1(Fig.6, elements 601,602, [0196], “The processor 602 invokes the code stored in the memory 601 to perform control and management”).
Claim 3: Chen teaches the method of claim 1, wherein the performing the assistance measurements further comprises performing the assistance measurements based at least on measuring of the received positioning reference signals (Fig.4, elements S408, S407, [0176], “the reference signal configuration and the positioning measurement indication that
are used for positioning measurement and that are configured by the serving network node for the terminal may be sent to the terminal by using same signaling, ……. The transmission signaling includes RRC signaling, a MAC CE, or a PDCCH”).
Claim 5: Chen teaches the method of claim 3, wherein the positioning reference signals are received via one or more beams (Fig. 4, [0178], “If the terminal simultaneously receives the k.sup.th group by using a plurality of beams in S403, the terminal should receive the associated downlink reference signal by using the plurality of beams”, [0176], “the reference signal configuration and the positioning measurement indication that
are used for positioning measurement and that are configured by the serving network node for the terminal may be sent to the terminal by using same signaling”).
Claim 6: Chen teaches the method of claim 5, further comprising receiving the positioning reference signals via the one or more beams ([0187], “The terminal receives, in a configured time window, reference signals by using a receive beam corresponding to a wide beam in the foregoing measurement result report”, [0176], “the reference signal configuration and the positioning measurement indication that are used for positioning measurement and that are configured by the serving network node for the terminal may be sent to the terminal by using same signaling” ) with updated positioning references signals based at least on the measurement report transmitted from the user equipment ([0167], “After obtaining the measurement result, the neighboring cell network node learns of an SSB range in which the terminal is located, so that a more accurate reference signal can be configured for the terminal for positioning measurement.”).
Claim 7: Chen teaches the method of claim 3, wherein the assistance measurements comprise one or more of: layer-1 reference signal received power (L1-RSRP) measurements; layer-1 signal-to-interference-plus-noise-ratio (L 1-SINR); time of flight ([0061], “The beam quality may include a layer 1 (layer 1, L1) reference signal received power (reference signal received power, RSRP), a L1 reference signal received quality (reference signal received quality, RSRQ), and the like. The beam management resource may include an SS, a PBCH, a downlink channel measurement reference signal (reference signal, RS)”);
and resource/resource set indices associated with the downlink reference signals ([0061], “a beam management resource includes a resource used for beam management, or may be embodied as a resource used for calculating and measuring a beam quality…… The beam management resource may include an SS, a PBCH, a downlink channel measurement reference signal (reference signal, RS)”).
Claim 8: Chen teaches the method of claim 7, wherein resource/resource set comprises one or more of: a non-zero power channel state information-reference signal (NZP CSI-RS); a synchronization signal block (SSB); a channel state information-reference signal (CSI-RS); and a positioning reference signal (PRS) ([0062], “the network node uses a TCI state (state) to notify the terminal of an association relationship between receive beams when the terminal receives an RS, for example, a relationship between a beam for receiving a CSI-RS or a synchronization signal block (synchronization signal block, SSB) and a beam for receiving a DMRS of a PDSCH”).
Claim 9: The combination of Chen and Kwak teaches the method of claim 1, Kwak additionally teaches configuring the user equipment with the periodic reporting configuration or the event- based reporting configuration based at least on the continuous positioning configuration ([0169], “The UE may assume that a CSI process is configured for each configured BWP, and a CSI-RS transmission parameter, a CSI reporting period, and a CSI-RS configuration may be configured on a CSI process basis”, [0166], “A BS may transmit CSI-RSs in BWP A and BWP B periodically/semi-persistently/aperiodically (CSI-RS configurations such as periodicities, bandwidths, and frequency positions may be configured separately for the two CSI-RS transmissions), and the UE may periodically/semi-persistently/aperiodically measure wideband CSI and/or subband CSI in BWP A and BWP B and report the measured wideband CSI and/or subband CSI (measurement periodicities, subband sizes, and configurations may be configured separately for the two BWPs)”).
The motivation for combining Chen and Kwak regarding to claim 1 is also applied to claim 9.
Claim 10: The combination of Chen and Kwak teaches the method of claim 1, Kwak additionally teaches wherein the measurement report is transmitted to the network entity based at least on the periodic reporting configuration (alternative) or the event-based reporting configuration ([0169], “The UE may assume that a CSI process is configured for each configured BWP, and a CSI-RS transmission parameter, a CSI reporting period, and a CSI-RS configuration may be configured on a CSI process basis”, [0005], “receiving a configuration related to channel state reporting for a plurality of bandwidth parts (BWPs) for which the UE performs BWP adaptation or switching, and reporting channel state information (CSI) for the plurality of BWPs according to the received configuration”).
The motivation for combining Chen and Kwak regarding to claim 1 is also applied to claim 10.
Claim 11: The combination of Chen and Kwak teaches the method of claim 1, Kwak additionally teaches wherein the periodic reporting configuration comprises a plurality of reporting periodicities (([0169], “The UE may assume that a CSI process is configured for each configured BWP, and a CSI-RS transmission parameter, a CSI reporting period, and a CSI-RS configuration may be configured on a CSI process basis”, [0005], “receiving a configuration related to channel state reporting for a plurality of bandwidth parts (BWPs) for which the UE performs BWP adaptation or switching, and reporting channel state information (CSI) for the plurality of BWPs according to the received configuration”).
The motivation for combining Chen and Kwak regarding to claim 1 is also applied to claim 11.
Claim 12: The combination of Chen and Kwak teaches the method of claim 1, Kwak additionally teaches further comprising:
determining, based on the periodic reporting configuration, whether to switch from the first reporting periodicity to the second reporting periodicity based on whether the reporting periodicity switching condition is satisfied ([0182], disclose UE switch current active BWP from BWP A to BWP B after receiving a DL grant including a CSI configuration for BWP B and/or an activation field for BWP B); and switching from the first reporting periodicity to the second reporting periodicity in response to determining that the reporting periodicity switching condition is satisfied ([0169], disclose CSI process is configured for each configured BWP with CSI reporting period. Thus, UE switch reporting periodicity to the second reporting periodicity after current active BWP switching to BWP B, [0195], “In periodic/semi-persistent CSI reporting, the UE may report CSI for a different subband position with the best channel quality in each period, based on the periodic measurement result of each BWP”, [0197], “a BWP to be adapted or switched to may be activated for the UE by a DL grant.”, [0203], “the BS may indicate a BWP for which a wideband and/or subband CQI/PMI is to be fed back before and after dynamic BWP adaptation or switching … when each of the BWPs before and after dynamic BWP adaptation or switching is set to a best-M subband CQI feedback mode, M may also be set to be different for each BWP”).
The motivation for combining Chen and Kwak regarding to claim 1 is also applied to claim 12.
Claim 28 is analyzed and rejected according to claim 26 and claim 12.
Claim 13: The combination of Chen and Kwak teaches the method of claim 12, Kwak additionally teaches wherein the measurement report includes an indication that reporting periodicity switched from the first reporting periodicity to the second reporting periodicity ([0189], “a different P-CSI feedback periodicity may be set for each BWP … a feedback is transmitted more often for an active BWP, whereas a long feedback periodicity is set for an inactive BWP”, [0232], “when a subband size needs to be changed dynamically due to BWP adaptation or switching, the UE may determine a subband size parameter and indicate the subband size parameter to the BS”, [0105], “The UE in Mode 2-0 may transmit, to a BS, information about the positions of the M selected subbands, one CQI value for the M selected subbands and a CQI value generated for the whole band or designated band (set S)”, [0209], “the UE and the BS may assume that when an active BWP is changed, that is, BWP adaptation or switching occurs, a subband size is changed”).
The motivation for combining Chen and Kwak regarding to claim 1 is also applied to claim 13.
Claim 29 is analyzed and rejected according to claim 26 and claim 13.
Claim 27: Chen teaches the method of claim 1, wherein the continuous positioning configuration is received by the user equipment in response to a request initiated by the user equipment or by the network entity ([0018], “a network node sends a reference signal configuration request to a neighboring cell network node, where the reference signal configuration request includes a measurement result related to the neighboring cell network node in the measurement results of the terminal, and request the neighboring cell network node to configure a reference signal for the terminal for positioning”).
Claims 14-17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chen et al. (US 20210306895 A1, hereinafter Chen) in view of Kwak et al. (US 20200228282 A1, hereinafter Kwak) and further in view of Wong et al. (US 20220163614 A1, hereinafter Wong).
Claim 14: Chen does not explicitly teach the method of claim 1, further comprising suspending the transmitting of the measurement report to the network entity.
Wong, from the same or similar field of endeavor, teaches further comprising suspending the transmitting of the measurement report to the network entity ([0006], “the communications device may determine that the relative rate of movement measured corresponds to a stationary communications device and so suspends determining the observed time differences and/or transmitting the observed time differences to the wireless communications network”).
Chen and Wong are both considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because they are in the same field of wireless communication. Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the system of Chen, for the feature of suspending the transmitting of the measurement report to the network entity as taught by Wong, for the benefit for only performing the position measurement if a trigger is activated, which the UE can save on the battery resources (paragraph [0070]), or switching to periodically reporting for better tracking UE mobility (paragraph [0082-0091]).
Claim 15: The combination of Chen, Kwak and Wong teaches the method of claim 14, Wong additionally teaches wherein the suspending is in response to a periodic reporting suspension condition being satisfied, and further comprising: switching from the periodic reporting configuration to the event-based reporting configuration in response to determining that the configuration type switching condition is satisfied ([0006], “communications devices which are configured to measure their relative rate of movement and to adapt a rate of determining observed time differences of receiving positioning reference signals from a plurality of infrastructure equipment in proportion to the relative rate of movement and/or to adapt a rate of transmitting the observed time differences to a wireless communications network in accordance with the relative rate of movement” ).
The motivation for combining Chen and Wong regarding to claim 14 is also applied to claim 15.
Claim 16: Chen does not explicitly teach determining whether to switch from the periodic reporting configuration to the event- based reporting configuration based on whether a configuration type switching condition is satisfied; and switching from the periodic reporting configuration to the event-based reporting configuration in response to determining that the configuration type switching condition is satisfied.
Wong, from the same or similar field of endeavor, teaches determining whether to switch from the periodic reporting configuration to the event- based reporting configuration based on whether a configuration type switching condition is satisfied; and switching from the periodic reporting configuration to the event-based reporting configuration in response to determining that the configuration type switching condition is satisfied (Fig. 9, [0082-0089], disclose switching from periodic reporting to event-based reporting when UE switch from MOV_state (element 934) to STA_state (element 932) when UE stops moving).
The motivation for combining Chen and Wong regarding to claim 14 is also applied to claim 16.
Claim 17: The combination of Chen and Wong and Kwak teaches the method of claim 16, Wong additionally teaches wherein the determining whether the configuration type switching condition is satisfied comprises: determining that a signal quality of a non-zero power channel state information-reference signal (NZP CSI-RS), a channel state information-reference signal (CSI-RS) ([0091], “the UE switches from trigger based positioning measurements to periodic based positioning measurements, if the rate of change of the trigger event (e.g. changes to RSRP) is higher than a threshold”), or a synchronization signal block (SSB) is below a threshold.
The motivation for combining Chen and Wong regarding to claim 14 is also applied to claim 17.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to YONGHONG ZHAO whose telephone number is (571)272-4089. The examiner can normally be reached Monday -Friday 9:00 am - 5:00pm.
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/Y.Z./Examiner, Art Unit 2472
/ANH VU H LY/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2472