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. All claims have priority date of 10/09/2020.
Election/Restrictions
Unelected claims 24-39 corresponding to Group 2 and claims 40-57 corresponding to Group 3 remain withdrawn.
Response to Amendment
Office action in response to amendment entered 11/5/2025. Claims 1-5, 7-17, and 19-23 are amended, no claims are canceled or added; claims 1-57 remain pending in this application. Claims 24-57 withdrawn. Claims 1-23 remain rejected herein.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments filed 11/05/2025 with respect to all pending claims have been considered but are moot because the arguments do not apply to any of the references being used in the current rejection.
Applicant submits remarks regarding Raith and the amended limitations. However, these remarks were filed prior to the current rejection which outlines examiner’s specific grounds for rejecting the amended limitations. Examiner directs applicant to the rejection below.
Examiner notes for compact prosecution purposes below in response to applicant’s argument that “[Raith] does not teach or suggest that the mobile terminal 20 can indicate there is no change in specific positioning measurements such as the RSTD, Rx-Tx time difference, AOA, RTT, AOD, RSSI, RSRP, and/or RSRQ measurements,” applicant here argues features that are not specifically recited in the amended claim.
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.
Claim(s) 1-4, 7-16, and 19-23 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as anticipated by US 6611688 B1 Raith; Alex Krister.
Consider Claim(s) 1 and 13
Raith teaches A user equipment (UE) comprising: at least one wireless transceiver configured to wirelessly communicate with at least one wireless network; at least one memory; and at least one processor coupled to the at least one wireless transceiver and the at least one memory (Raith Fig. 2, Col. 4 L40-50 “..mobile terminal 20 includes a main control unit 22 for controlling the operation of the mobile terminal 20 and memory 24 for storing control programs and data used by the mobile terminal 20 during operation. Input/output circuits 26 interface the control unit 22 with a keypad 28, display 30, audio processing circuits 32, receiver 38, transmitter 40, and positioning receiver 50…”)
and a method performed by a user equipment (UE) in a wireless network (Raith column 5, lines 1-3: "The present invention provides a position reporting method implemented in a mobile terminal 20 for reporting its position to the mobile communication network 10") for supporting location services for the UE (Raith column 4, lines 64-67: " the mobile terminal 20 be able to determine its location from a signal received by the positioning receiver 50"); comprising:
generating a first set of location measurements comprising at least one location measurement (Raith column 5, lines 3-7: Position reports transmitted by the mobile terminal 20 may include processed position data, or alternatively, may include raw position data requiring additional processing once received by the mobile communication network 10"; Fig. 4 Col. 8 Lines 40-55 “..When the timer indicates that a position report should be sent, position-related data is acquired from the position reporting task (block 104) and channel quality data is acquired from the channel quality task (block 106). The position-related data and channel quality data are then combined and formatted into a combined report (block 108)..”);
wherein the at least one location measurement corresponds includes at least one of a reference signal time difference (RSTD) measurement, a receive-transmit (Rx-Tx) time difference measurement, an angle of arrival (AOA) measurement, a round trip time (RTT) measurement, an angle of departure (AOD) measurement, a reference signal strength indication (RSSI) measurement, a reference signal received power (RSRP) measurement, or a reference signal received quality (RSROQ) measurement (Raith Col. 2 L 68-Col 3 L5 “…CQM reports may include signal strength and channel quality measurements, such as BER, for channels in neighboring cells that are being monitored by the mobile terminal…” and Col. 3 line 55-53 “..One example of implied position is to transmit channel quality measurements in order of distance. The order of the measurements would then give some indication of the relative location of the mobile terminal…”);
sending a location information report to a location server in the wireless network for location determination of the UE (Fig. 4 Col. 8 Lines 40-55 “..The format of the combined report may depend on the type of position information transmitted as previously described. After formatting the report, the report is transmitted to the base station 12 (block 110)”, wherein the location information report comprises the first set of location measurements (Raith column 5, lines 25-35: "The position reports transmitted by the mobile terminal 20 … The four basic types of position information are referred to herein as absolute position, relative position, no change of position, and implied position...” and See CQM Reports as cited supra);
generating a second set of location measurements comprising the at least one location measurement (Raith Col. 5 L-20-25 “..position reports are sent by the mobile terminal 20 to the mobile communication network 10 on a regular and unsolicited basis…” and also Col. 5 L50-65 relative positioning measurements contain in part or are based on previous measurements; and See CQM Reports as cited supra); and
providing an indication to an entity in the wireless network that there is no update for the at least one location measurement (Raith column 5, line 64 to column 6, line 6:"…No change of position means that the mobile terminal 20 has not moved beyond a predetermined threshold from a previously reported position. The threshold may be expressed as a range (e.g. distance from the last reported position) or an area. As long as the mobile terminal 20 has not traveled beyond the specified range or area, the mobile terminal 20 may send a no change indication, which may be a single bit. A no change indication can also be given by omitting position information that would otherwise be present within a given message or message set..").
Consider Claim(s) 2 and 14
Raith teaches The method of claim 1, wherein the location information further comprises a position estimate determined based on the first set of location measurements (Raith column 5, lines 3-7:""Position reports transmitted by the mobile terminal 20 may include processed position data, or alternatively, may include raw position data requiring additional processing once received by the mobile communication network 10".).
Consider Claim(s) 3 and 15
Raith teaches The method of claim 1, further comprising determining that a change in location of the UE between generating the first set of location measurements and generating the second set of location measurements is below a threshold, wherein providing the indication that there is no update for the at least one location measurement is in response to the change in location being less than the threshold (Raith column 5, line 64 to column 6, line 6: "No change of position means that the mobile terminal 20 has not moved beyond a predetermined threshold from a previously reported position. The threshold may be expressed as a range (e.g. distance from the last reported position) or an area. As long as the mobile terminal 20 has not traveled beyond the specified range or area, the mobile terminal 20 may send a no change indication, which may be a single bit. A no change indication can also be given by omitting position information that would otherwise be present within a given message or message set").
Consider Claim(s) 4 and 16
Raith teaches The method of claim 1, further comprising determining a change in the at least one location measurement in the first set of location measurements and the at least one location measurement in the second set of location measurements is below a threshold, wherein providing the indication that there is no update for the at least one location measurement is in response to the change being less than the threshold (Raith column 5, line 64 to column 6, line 6: "No change of position means that the mobile terminal 20 has not moved beyond a predetermined threshold from a previously reported position. The threshold may be expressed as a range (e.g. distance from the last reported position) or an area. As long as the mobile terminal 20 has not traveled beyond the specified range or area, the mobile terminal 20 may send a no change indication, which may be a single bit. A no change indication can also be given by omitting position information that would otherwise be present within a given message or message set").
Consider Claim(s) 7 and 19
Raith teaches The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving a location request for periodic or triggered location measurements (Raith Col. 10 L 15-35 “..The reporting interval may be determined by either the mobile terminal 20 or by the mobile communication network 10…the mobile communication network 10 would then send a command to the mobile terminal 20 to change the frequency of its reporting or implied in the protocol…”,
wherein the sending the location information report and providing the indication that there is no update for the at least one location measurement is in response to the location request for periodic or triggered location measurements (Raith Col. 6 L45-60 “..If position data is required with a similar reporting frequency, or some integer multiple thereof, the position information and channel quality measurements can be combined into a single message or set of messages to piggyback onto existing message overhead. If position reporting is not done regularly, but instead is event triggered, multiplexing with channel quality measurements is still possible due to the frequency of the channel quality measurement reports. In the case of event triggered position reporting, the mobile terminal 20 can combine the position information with channel quality measurements in the next reporting period…”).
Consider Claim(s) 8 and 20
Raith teaches The method of claim 1, wherein the indication that there is no update for the at least one location measurement comprises a bit that indicates there is no update for the at least one location measurement (Raith column 5, line 64 to column 6, line 6: ", the mobile terminal 20 may send a no change indication, which may be a single bit.").
Consider Claim(s) 9 and 21
Raith teaches The method of claim 1, wherein the indication that there is no update for the at least one location measurement comprises a bit that indicates there is no update for all location information in the location information report (Raith column 5, line 64 to column 6, line 6: ", the mobile terminal 20 may send a no change indication, which may be a single bit.").
Consider Claim(s) 10 and 22
Raith teaches The method of claim 1, wherein the indication that there is no update for the at least one location measurement comprises not sending a second location information report to the location server by an end of a configured report expiration time (Raith Col. 7 L 50-60; Col. 6 L 4-18 “..A no change indication can also be given by omitting position information that would otherwise be present within a given message or message set. In one embodiment of the invention, the position information is multiplexed with other information that is sent to the mobile communication network 10 on a regular and unsolicited basis, such as channel quality measurements that are made periodically by the mobile terminal 20. In this case, the absence of position information in the message containing channel quality measurements provides a means to reliably indicate to the mobile communication network 10 that there is no change in position of the mobile terminal 20 without sending an explicit indication to the mobile communication network 10. …”).
Consider Claim(s) 11 and 23
Raith teaches The method of claim 1, wherein the entity in the wireless network is a serving base station (Col. 6 L 40-45 ‘..the mobile terminal 20 periodically sends channel quality measurement reports to the base station 12..’), and the indication that there is no update for the at least one location measurement comprises a Physical layer waveform sent to the serving base station (Raith Col. 9 30-40 “..During the packet data session, there are numerous tasks that need to be performed that require the mobile terminal 20 to transmit control messages to the base station 12. One such task is authentication. Additionally, the mobile terminal 20 transmits when it sends user data to the base station 12. The position report can be piggybacked to any of these transmission events…”where taught control messages comprise a physical layer waveform as claimed).
Consider Claim 12
Raith teaches The method of claim 1, wherein the entity in the wireless network is the location server (Col. 6 L 40-45 ‘..the mobile terminal 20 periodically sends channel quality measurement reports to the base station 12..’),
and the indication that there is no update for the at least one location measurement comprises a bit in the location information report to the location server that indicates there is no update for the at least one location measurement (Raith column 5, line 64 to column 6, line 6: ", the mobile terminal 20 may send a no change indication, which may be a single bit.").
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) 5 and 17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 6611688 B1 Raith; Alex Krister in view of US 20190394746 A1 EDGE; Stephen William et al.
Consider Claim(s) 5 and 17
Raith teaches The method of claim 1 Raith does not teach receiving an accuracy quality of service requirement and determining the accuracy quality of service requirement is satisfied without updating the the at least one location measurement, wherein providing the indication that there is no update for at least the portion of the location information that is related to the at least one location measurement is in response to the determination that the accuracy quality of service requirement is satisfied.
Edge teaches receiving an accuracy quality of service requirement (Edge [0152] “..or periodic location, the request may include the time interval between successive location reports, the total number of reports and a location QoS. For triggered reporting for an area event, the request may include details of a target area, whether the trigger event to be reported is the UE 105 being inside, entering or leaving the target area, whether event reporting shall include UE location estimates and if so a location QoS and the duration of reporting…” and [0168] “..he LMF 152 sends a Periodic-Triggered Location Request to the UE 105 via the serving AMF 154 by invoking an amf_Communication_N1N2MessageTransfer service operation. The message carries the location request information received from the AMF 154 at stage 13..”); and
determining the accuracy quality of service requirement is satisfied without updating the the at least one location measurement, wherein providing the indication that there is no update for at least the portion of the location information (Edge [0034] “..Trigger events can include a target UE moving into, moving out of, or remaining within a defined geographic area, or a target UE moving by more than some minimum threshold straight line distance from a previous location of the target UE..”)that is related to the at least one location measurement is in response to the determination that the accuracy quality of service requirement is satisfied (Edge [0182] “..the UE 105 also includes the HGMLC 155H contact address, the LDR reference number, whether location estimates are to be reported and if so the location QoS in the event report…” [0094] “..and where transfer of location events reports can be prioritized according to Quality of Service (QoS) requirements…”).
Claim(s) 6 and 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 6611688 B1 Raith; Alex Krister in view of US 20180199160 A1 Edge; Stephen William
Consider Claim(s) 6 and 18
Raith teaches The method of claim 1 Raith does not teach receiving a configuration for a number of consecutive location information reports for which the indication of no update may be sent.
Edge teaches receiving a configuration for a number of consecutive location information reports for which the indication of no update may be sent (Edge “..[0261] The periodic or triggered event detection unit 2130 when implemented by the one or more processors 2104 configures the one or more processors 2104 to receive and monitor trigger parameters, e.g., provided in the request for location information from the location server. The trigger parameters may include, e.g., a trigger evaluation interval, a periodic maximum reporting interval, and one or more location triggers, such as a change of location, an entry into, an exit from or a remaining within a defined geographic area, a movement by more than a threshold linear distance from a previous location, etc. When a trigger event is detected, the location information measurement unit 2124 may cause the one or more processors 2104 to obtain the requested location information and the location information response unit 2126 causes the location information to be sent…” emphasis added)
It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art, to modify the invention of Raith to include the noted teachings of Edge in order to supporting location services for user equipments (UEs) served by a Fifth Generation (5G) wireless network (Edge [0002])
Pertinent Prior Art(s)
The prior art made of record though not relied upon in the current rejection is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
WO 2012142890 A1 ZHANG, BAOHUA
“The service server receives location information reported by the mobile terminal; the location information is self location information obtained by the mobile terminal after parsing the label from the received page information. The tag includes a Uniform Resource Locator URL that reports the location information, and is used to instruct the mobile terminal to report the obtained location information to the URL specified in the tag. The tag includes a threshold for re-reporting the location change, to indicate that the mobile terminal re-reports its location information to the service server when detecting that the location change of the mobile terminal exceeds the threshold.”
US 20210329443 A1 SI; Ye et al.
[0053] First indication information indicating that no movement of the terminal occurs: Optionally, the first indication information includes one indication bit. If the terminal detects that a location, location estimation, or a location measurement amount of the terminal does not change compared with the previous positioning report, the terminal reports 1-bit information to indicate that the terminal does not move.
[0054] Second indication information indicating location difference information of the terminal: Optionally, the second indication information includes N indication bits, and N is an integer greater than 1. The terminal detects that a location, location estimation, or location measurement information of the terminal changes but being no more than a threshold. If the terminal has the location of the terminal, the terminal may report N-bit location difference information to indicate a change range of the location…
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). 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 extension fee 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 date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to UMAIR AHSAN whose telephone number is (571)272-1323. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 10-5 PM EST or by emailing UMAIR.AHSAN@USPTO.GOV.
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 Slater can be reached at (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.
UMAIR AHSAN
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2647
/UMAIR AHSAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2647
Prosecution Insights