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 .
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, 3, 4, 6, 8, 9, 21, 23, 24, 26, 28, 29 and 31-38 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as failing to set forth 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.
Regarding claims 1, 4, 6, 9, 21, 24, 26, and 29, the phrase “which, if any” renders the scope of the claimed reporting determination indefinite. Although the specification describes selective reporting of positioning related measurements based on measurement accuracy and available payload size, the recited phrase does not clearly delineate the rule by which the user equipment selects measurements for reporting. In particular, it is unclear whether the user equipment must report one or more measurements, may report no measurements, or must apply some other undefined selection criterion. Accordingly, the claims fail to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter regarded as the invention.
Claims 21, 24 and 37 and dependent claims recite “means for” limitations and therefore invoke 35 U.S.C. 112(f). As noted in Non-Final rejection on 11/8/2025, the specification provides corresponding structure for the recited sending, receiving, selecting, measuring, and reporting functions, including the hierarchical reporting unit and hierarchical scheduling unit.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1, 3, 4, 6, 8, 9, 21, 23, 24, 26, 28, 29 and 31-38 would be allowed once 35 USC 112(b) rejection is corrected and accepted.
The following is an examiner’s statement of reasons for allowance: Independent claims 1, 6, 21, and 26 are considered allowable because the cited references fail to teach or suggest the claimed combination of hierarchical beam selection and, most importantly, the UE-side determination of which, if any, of the measured time difference of arrival or angle of departure values to report based on a payload limit of a positioning report. Newly discovered prior art Faxer et al (US 2021/0083743) discloses the payload limitation but only in the context of truncating CSI bits based on container size, it is directed to CSI reporting, not positioning report content. Similarly, Priyanto et al (US 2022/0099785) discloses beam related positioning measurements and selection based on measurement quality, but does not teach the claimed payload-limit-based selection of positioning measurements for reporting. And Zhang et al (US 2019/0123864) teaches configurable reference signals and beamforming/beam selection, but does not teach the claimed UE-side selective reporting of TDOA/AoD based on a positioning report payload limit. Accordingly, the cited references do not disclose the particular determining step that governs which positioning measurements are included in the report.
Other pertinent prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
US 2023/0127908- Berggren discloses A network node supports wireless-device positioning by sending positioning requests with different positioning requirements, obtaining a first estimated position from measurements associated with one set of radio nodes, and instructing a subset of a second set of radio nodes to participate in a second measurement with a different positioning requirement.
US 2023/0308240- Cha discloses a wireless positioning invention in which a UE receives PRS resources and reports positioning measurements along with reception-beam information, including beam index and QCL or spatial relation data, so the network can improve positioning accuracy and beam utilization.
US 2023/0319764- Shreevastav discloses The invention relates to configuring and managing wireless positioning measurements by having an access node signal positioning-related configuration and a measurement request to a wireless device, which then performs the measurements and returns a response including measurement quality information and, in some cases, the measurements themselves. It also covers using that feedback to adjust the positioning configuration, such as changing reference signals, bandwidth parts, resource allocation, spatial relation, or transmission/reception points.
US 2024/0063859- Grieco discloses a UE measures downlink reference signals to select a corresponding uplink beam for transmitting uplink data or control information, determines PMIs from a predetermined codebook, and signals beam switching via a MAC control element such as a power headroom report.
US 2023/0388959- Hasegawa discloses A WTRU performs positioning by receiving PRS over multiple beam-associated paths, reporting the corresponding Rx/Tx time differences, and transmitting associated SRSs to obtain network correction information.
Conclusion
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/EDAN ORGAD/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2414
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