DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
1. The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Request for Continued Examination (RCE) Under 37 CFR 1.114
2. 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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 06/05/2026 has been entered.
Information Disclosure Statement
3. The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 06/05/2026 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Response to Arguments
4. This office action is in response to the amendment filed on 05/06/2026. Claims 1-34 are pending in this application and have been considered below.
5. Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 1, 14, 18 and 31 have been considered but are moot in view of new ground(s) of rejection because of the amendments.
6. 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.
Please note: Examiner has cited particular columns, line numbers, and figures in the references as applied to the claims below for the convenience of the applicant. Although the specified citations are representative of the teaching of the art and are applied to the specific limitations within the individual claim, other passages and figures may apply as well.
Applicants are reminded that MPEP 2141.02 states:
A prior art reference must be considered in its entirety, i.e., as a whole, including portions that would lead away from the claimed invention. W.L. Gore & Associates, Inc. v. Garlock, Inc., 721 F.2d 1540, 220 USPQ 303 (Fed. Cir. 1983), cert. denied, 469 U.S. 851 (1984).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
7. 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.
8. 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.
9. Claims 1-3, 5-20 and 22-34 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zheng et al. (US 20220330229) (hereinafter Zheng) in view of HWANG et al. (US 20220210802) (hereinafter HWANG).
Regarding claims 1 and 18:
As shown in figures 1-12, Zheng discloses a serving Transmission and Reception Point (TRP) (see serving node figures 2-3) for providing aperiodic Position Reference Signal (AP-PRS) information to at least one User Equipment (UE) (see serving node figures 1 and 3) via group common Downlink Control Information (DCI) (figure 4, par 0113) for the at least one UE, the serving TRP comprising (abstract):
a transceiver (220 in figure 2);
a memory (210 in figure 2); and
one or more processors (200 in figure 2) communicatively coupled with the transceiver (220 in figure 2) and the memory (210 in figure 2), wherein the one or more processors (200 in figure 2) are configured to:
determine information regarding transmission of an AP-PRS by the serving TRP or a separate TRP (figure 3, abstract, par 0017-0019, 0119-0124);
wherein each information block of the one or more information blocks comprises one or more bits that map to (see figures 4-7, par 0113, 0114-0126):
a trigger command related to the AP-PRS (see figure 4, abstract, par 0008, 0011, 0116-0018),
a positioning measurement request command related to the AP-PRS (par 0148), or
a location report request command related to the AP-PRS, or
a combination thereof, and
transmit the group common DCI via the transceiver (par 0103-0104).
Zheng discloses all of the subject matter as described above except for specifically teaching send, in the group common DCI provided in a search space corresponding to a group comprising the at least one UE.
However, HWANG in the same field of endeavor teaches send, in the group common DCI provided in a search space corresponding to a group comprising the at least one UE (par 0103-0110). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use search space as taught by HWANG to modify the system and method of Zheng in order to acquire more specific system information (par 0123) (See KSR Rationale: Combining prior art elements according to known methods to yield predictable results).
Regarding claims 14 and 31:
As shown in figures 1-12, Zheng discloses a user equipment (UE) (see serving node figures 1 and 3) for using aperiodic Position Reference Signal (AP-PRS) information in group common Downlink Control Information (DCI), the UE (see serving node figures 1 and 3) (abstract) comprising:
a transceiver (120 in figure 1);
a memory (110 in figure 1); and
one or more processors (100 in figure 1) communicatively coupled with the transceiver (120 in figure 1) and the memory (110 in figure 1), wherein the one or more processors (100 in figure 1) are configured to:
receive from a serving Transmission Reception Point (TRP) (see serving node figures 2-3) via the transceiver (120 in figure 1), in the group common DCI, a one or more information blocks, wherein each information block of the one or more information blocks comprises one or more bits that map to (see figures 4-7, par 0113, 0114-0126):
a trigger command related to an AP-PRS, wherein the AP- PRS is transmitted from the serving TRP or a neighboring TRP (see figure 3-4, abstract, par 0008, 0011, 0116-0018),
a positioning measurement request command related to the AP-PRS (par 0148),
a location report request command related to the AP-PRS (par 0148), or
a combination thereof, and
measure the AP-PRS based on the trigger command, the positioning measurement request command, or the location report request command (par 0135-0137), or the combination thereof, corresponding to the one or more information blocks of the group common DCI (par 0103-0104).
Zheng discloses all of the subject matter as described above except for specifically teaching send, in the group common DCI provided in a search space corresponding to a group comprising the UE.
However, HWANG in the same field of endeavor teaches send, in the group common DCI provided in a search space corresponding to a group comprising the UE (par 0103-0110). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use search space as taught by HWANG to modify the system and method of Zheng in order to acquire more specific system information (par 0123) (See KSR Rationale: Combining prior art elements according to known methods to yield predictable results).
Regarding claims 2, 15, 19 and 32:
Zheng further discloses wherein the one or more bits of each information block of the one or more information blocks map to:
a respective one or more Positioning Frequency Layers (PFLs) with which the AP-PRS is to be obtained (see figure 5);
a respective one or more PRS identifiers (PRS-IDs) with which the AP- PRS is to be obtained;
a respective one or more resource sets with which the AP-PRS is to be obtained;
a respective one or more resources with which the AP-PRS is to be obtained; or
a unique combination of two or more of a PFL, PRS-ID, resource set, and resource with which the AP-PRS is to be obtained; or
a combination thereof.
Regarding claims 3 and 20:
Zheng further discloses providing the at least one UE with an indication of how the one or more bits map to:
the trigger command (see figure 4),
the positioning measurement request command, or
the location report request command related to the AP-PRS, or
a combination thereof.
Regarding claims 5 and 22:
Zheng further discloses obtaining capability information of the at least one UE; and determining how the one or more bits map to the trigger command based at least in part on the capability information (see figure 4, par 0022, 0114-0016, 0139-0141).
Regarding claims 6 and 23:
Zheng further discloses obtaining capability information of the at least one UE, wherein sending the one or more information blocks in the group common DCI for the at least one UE is responsive to a determination, based on the capability information, that the at least one UE is capable of receiving the AP-PRS information via the group common DCI (par 0022, 0139-0141, 0159).
Regarding claims 7 and 24:
Zheng further discloses configuring the at least one UE to use two or more information blocks of the group common DCI (par 0147-0149, 0173).
Regarding claims 8 and 25:
Zheng further discloses wherein the one or more bits of each information block of the one or more information blocks map to a Quality Of Service (QOS) requirement to be used for a positioning measurement report of the AP-PRS from the at least one UE (par 0017-0022. Time of receiving APRS interpreted to be Quality Of Service (QOS) requirement).
Regarding claims 9 and 26:
Zheng further discloses wherein the QOS requirement comprises: accuracy, response time (par 0017-0022), velocity request, or horizontal vs. vertical location request, or a combination thereof.
Regarding claims 10 and 27:
Zheng further discloses wherein the one or more bits of each information block of the one or more information blocks map to a positioning method to be used for a positioning measurement report of the AP-PRS from the at least one UE (see figure 4, par 0022, 0114-0016, 0139-0141).
Regarding claims 11 and 28:
Zheng further discloses wherein the at least one UE comprises a plurality of UEs, and the method further includes receiving a first positioning measurement report from a first UE at a first time, and a second positioning measurement report from a second UE at a second time (par 0135-0137).
Regarding claims 12 and 29:
Zheng further discloses wherein the first time and the second time are based on one or more capabilities of the first UE and one or more capabilities of the second UE, respectively (par 0159).
Regarding claims 13 and 30:
Zheng further discloses wherein the one or more capabilities of the first UE and the one or more capabilities of the second UE comprise: a number of PRS resources the first UE, the second UE, or both, can process per time unit, a number of PRS symbols the first UE, the second UE, or both, can process per time unit, or number of PFLs the first UE (see number of PFLs the first UE in figure 5), the second UE, or both, can process per time unit, or a combination thereof.
Regarding claim 16 and 33:
Zheng further discloses providing capability information to the serving TRP (abstract).
Regarding claims 17 and 34:
Zheng further discloses providing a positioning measurement report of the AP-PRS based on a mapping of the one or more bits of each information block of the one or more information blocks to a positioning method (see figure 4, par 0022, 0114-0016, 0139-0141).
Allowable Subject Matter
10. Claims 4 and 21 are 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.
11. The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
The prior art of record, Zheng does not teach or suggest wherein providing the at least one UE with the indication of how the one or more bits map comprises providing a first UE with a first mapping of the one or more bits, and providing a second UE with a second mapping of the one or more bits, wherein the second mapping is different than the first mapping.
Conclusion
12. The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Tsai et al. (US 10524244) disclose a method for decoding a physical slot format indicator channel to obtain structure information of a current slot, and decoding a physical control format indicator channel to obtain a size of a downlink control region, the structure information of the current slot comprising at least one of length of the current slot, number of symbols for a downlink transmission region, and number of symbols for an uplink transmission region; determining, according to the slot structure and the size of the downlink control region, a first tier search space; blindly decoding multiple physical downlink control channel candidates within the first tier search space; checking each of the physical downlink control channel candidates within the first tier search space for a first match with an identifier associated with the apparatus; and determining, from a matching physical downlink control channel candidate of the first tier search space, a second tier search space.
13. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KABIR A TIMORY whose telephone number is (571)270-1674. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri 7:00 AM-3:00 PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Hannah S 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.
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/KABIR A TIMORY/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2631
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