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 .
The Examiner thanks the Applicant for the well-prepared amendment. The Examiner appreciates the Applicant’s effort to carefully analyze the Office action, and make appropriate arguments and amendments.
Status of Claims
Claims 1-18 responded on June 15, 2026 are pending, claims 1 and 8-9 are amended.
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 July 01 2026 has been entered.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
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.
Claims 1-6, 8-13, 15-16 and 18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Khoryaev et al. (US 2022/0110085 A1, hereinafter "Khoryaev") in view of Duan et al. (US 2021/0321387 A1, Provisional application No. 63/007,493, filed on Apr.09, 2020, hereinafter "Duan").
Regarding claim 1, Khoryaev discloses a wireless communication method by a user equipment (UE), comprising:
being configured, by a base station, with a configuration of one or more downlink (DL) positioning reference signal (PRS) resource sets, wherein the configuration of one or more DL PRS resource sets is transmitted by the base station upon a request of the UE (Khoryaev, [0053, 0061] the gNB can respond to UE 2-step PRACH request and configure or indicate/activate DL reference signals (e.g., DL PRS/CSI-RS) to be used for estimation of time-stamps of signals arrival on each DL PRS resource and signal this information in PDCCH/PDSCH (Message B-msgB)), and each DL PRS resource set comprises one or more DL PRS resources (Khoryaev, [0064] The positioning response can contain at least one of the following fields: Configuration of DL PRS/CSI-RS resources for UE requested positioning procedure (e.g., DL PRS transmission resources and the ID (Resource set for DL positioning)); and for each DL PRS resource set or each DL PRS resource, being provided with at least one of configuration parameters (Khoryaev, [0064] and/or DL PRS sequence initialization parameters (sequence IDs)); DL PRS/CSI-RS measurement data (e.g., Information on timestamps of UL SRS/PRS signal reception as well as other SLP measured by each TRP/gNB and/or Information on geolocation coordinates of TRPs/gNBs that measured SLPs); and Timestamp of MsgB transmission or any associated with MsgB DL PRS or CSI-RS signal).
Khoryae discloses configuration parameters in [0054, 61, 69] but does not explicitly disclose wherein the UE requests the at least one of configuration parameters:
a parameter to indicate a time gap between two adjacent repetitions of a same DL PRS resource;
a parameter to indicate a number of slots for between a slot in which triggering information is received and a slot in which triggered DL PRS resource is transmitted (not given patentable weight due to not selected option).
Duan from the same field of endeavor discloses wherein the UE requests the at least one of configuration parameters: a parameter to indicate a time gap between two adjacent repetitions of a same DL PRS resource (Duan, [0070, 0077] A first DL-PRS resource set 702 includes 4 resources and a repetition factor of 4, with a time-gap equal to 1 slot; The repetition factor indicates the number of times each PRS resource is repeated in each single instance of the PRS resource set; a UE may be configured to process DL PRS resources based on the capabilities of the UE).
It would have been obvious for one with ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified positioning reference signal disclosed by Khoryaev and repetition time gap disclosed by Duan with a motivation to make this modification in order to avoid obscuring the configurations (Duan, [0114]).
Regarding claim 2, Khoryaev discloses wherein the UE further requests the at least one of configuration parameters:
a DL PRS resource set identifier (ID) that defines an identity of the PRS resource set configuration (Khoryaev, [0069] Configuration of DL and UL resources and resource types used for positioning measurements as well as reference signals IDs; Association of DL and UL resources and reference);
a DL PRS resource transmission type that is used to indicate a time domain behavior of DL PRS resource transmission (Khoryaev, [0061] The positioning response can contain at least one of the following fields: UL SRS/PRS resource set configuration for a UE requested positioning procedure (e.g., Information on UL SRS/PRS transmission resources (resource ID), their type (periodic/semi-persistent/aperiodic));
parameters to indicate a DL PRS resource periodicity and a slot offset (not given patentable weight due to not selected option);
a parameter to indicate a number of repetitions of one DL PRS resource (not given patentable weight due to not selected option);
a parameter to indicate a number of periodicities that the DL PRS resource is transmitted when a base station activates a transmission of the DL PRS resource (Khoryaev, [0053,61] the gNB can respond to UE 2-step PRACH request and configure or indicate/activate DL reference signals (e.g., DL PRS/CSI-RS) to be used for estimation of time-stamps of signals arrival on each DL PRS resource and signal this information in PDCCH/PDSCH (Message B-msgB));
a time domain resource allocation for the DL PRS resource within one slot (not given patentable weight due to not selected option);
a frequency domain resource allocation for the DL PRS resource (not given patentable weight due to not selected option); or
a quasi-colocation information configured to the DL PRS resource (Khoryaev, [0060] Time stamps t 3,i of DL reference signal transmission (SSB/DL PRS/DL CSI-RS) and corresponding Resource IDs and QCL information if any).
Regarding claim 3, Khoryaev discloses wherein the DL PRS resource transmission type indicates that the DL PRS resource is transmitted by the base station upon a request from the UE (Khoryaev, [0058, 61] The payload can contain a type of requested positioning procedure (e.g., UL only—UTDOA, DL&UL −RTT with serving cell, RTT with serving+neighboring cells, DL only—D-TDOA, etc.) The positioning response can contain at least one of the following fields:... their type (periodic/semi-persistent/aperiodic)).
Regarding Claim 4, Khoryaev does not explicitly disclose wherein the parameter to indicate the time gap between two adjacent repetitions of the DL PRS resource is in terms of one or more slots or one or more symbols.
Duan from the same field of endeavor discloses wherein the parameter to indicate the time gap between two adjacent repetitions of the DL PRS resource is in terms of one or more slots or one or more symbols (Duan, [0070, 0077] A first DL-PRS resource set 702 includes 4 resources and a repetition factor of 4, with a time-gap equal to 1 slot; The repetition factor indicates the number of times each PRS resource is repeated in each single instance of the PRS resource set; a UE may be configured to process DL PRS resources based on the capabilities of the UE).
It would have been obvious for one with ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified positioning reference signal disclosed by Khoryaev and repetition time gap disclosed by Duan with a motivation to make this modification in order to avoid obscuring the configurations (Duan, [0114]).
Claim 5 depends on the limitation that does not give patentable weight.
Claim 6 depends on the limitation that does not give patentable weight.
Regarding claim 8, these claims recite "a user equipment (UE)" (Khoryaev, Fig. 12) that disclose similar steps as recited by the method of claim 1, thus are rejected with the same rationale applied against claim 1 as presented above.
Regarding claim 9, Khoryaev discloses a base station (Khoryaev, Fig. 11 1100), comprising:
a memory (Khoryaev, Fig. 11 1120);
a transceiver (Khoryaev, Fig. 11 1115); and
a processor coupled to the memory and the transceiver (Khoryaev, Fig. 11 1135); wherein the processor is configured to perform:
configuring, to a user equipment (UE), a configuration of one or more downlink (DL) positioning reference signal (PRS) resource sets, wherein the configuration of one or more DL PRS resource sets is transmitted by the base station upon a request of the UE (Khoryaev, [0053, 0061] the gNB can respond to UE 2-step PRACH request and configure or indicate/activate DL reference signals (e.g., DL PRS/CSI-RS) to be used for estimation of time-stamps of signals arrival on each DL PRS resource and signal this information in PDCCH/PDSCH), and each DL PRS resource set comprises one or more DL PRS resources (Khoryaev, [0064] The positioning response can contain at least one of the following fields: Configuration of DL PRS/CSI-RS resources for UE requested positioning procedure (e.g., DL PRS transmission resources and the ID (Resource set for DL positioning)); and
for each DL PRS resource set or each DL PRS resource, providing, to the UE, at least one of configuration parameters (Khoryaev, [0064] and/or DL PRS sequence initialization parameters (sequence IDs)); DL PRS/CSI-RS measurement data (e.g., Information on timestamps of UL SRS/PRS signal reception as well as other SLP measured by each TRP/gNB and/or Information on geolocation coordinates of TRPs/gNBs that measured SLPs); and Timestamp of MsgB transmission or any associated with MsgB DL PRS or CSI-RS signal).
Khoryae discloses configuration parameters in [0054, 61, 69] but does not explicitly disclose wherein the UE requests the at least one of configuration parameters:
a parameter to indicate a time gap between two adjacent repetitions of a same DL PRS resource;
a parameter to indicate a number of slots for between a slot in which triggering information is received and a slot in which triggered DL PRS resource is transmitted (not given patentable weight due to not selected option).
Duan from the same field of endeavor discloses wherein the UE requests the at least one of configuration parameters: a parameter to indicate a time gap between two adjacent repetitions of a same DL PRS resource (Duan, [0070, 0077] A first DL-PRS resource set 702 includes 4 resources and a repetition factor of 4, with a time-gap equal to 1 slot; The repetition factor indicates the number of times each PRS resource is repeated in each single instance of the PRS resource set; a UE may be configured to process DL PRS resources based on the capabilities of the UE).
It would have been obvious for one with ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified positioning reference signal disclosed by Khoryaev and repetition time gap disclosed by Duan with a motivation to make this modification in order to avoid obscuring the configurations (Duan, [0114]).
Regarding claim 10, Khoryaev discloses wherein the UE further requests the at least one of configuration parameters:
a DL PRS resource set identifier (ID) that defines an identity of the PRS resource set configuration (Khoryaev, [0069] Configuration of DL and UL resources and resource types used for positioning measurements as well as reference signals IDs; Association of DL and UL resources and reference);
a DL PRS resource transmission type that is used to indicate a time domain behavior of DL PRS resource transmission (Khoryaev, [0061] The positioning response can contain at least one of the following fields: UL SRS/PRS resource set configuration for a UE requested positioning procedure (e.g., Information on UL SRS/PRS transmission resources (resource ID), their type (periodic/semi-persistent/aperiodic));
parameters to indicate a DL PRS resource periodicity and a slot offset (not given patentable weight due to not selected option);
a parameter to indicate a number of repetitions of one DL PRS resource (not given patentable weight due to not selected option);
a parameter to indicate a number of periodicities that the DL PRS resource is transmitted when a base station activates a transmission of the DL PRS resource (Khoryaev, [0053,61] the gNB can respond to UE 2-step PRACH request and configure or indicate/activate DL reference signals (e.g., DL PRS/CSI-RS) to be used for estimation of time-stamps of signals arrival on each DL PRS resource and signal this information in PDCCH/PDSCH (Message B-msgB));
a time domain resource allocation for the DL PRS resource within one slot (not given patentable weight due to not selected option);
a frequency domain resource allocation for the DL PRS resource (not given patentable weight due to not selected option); or
a quasi-colocation information configured to the DL PRS resource (Khoryaev, [0060] Time stamps t 3,i of DL reference signal transmission (SSB/DL PRS/DL CSI-RS) and corresponding Resource IDs and QCL information if any).
Regarding Claim 11, Khoryaev does not explicitly disclose wherein the parameter to indicate the time gap between two adjacent repetitions of the DL PRS resource is in terms of one or more slots or one or more symbols.
Duan from the same field of endeavor discloses wherein the parameter to indicate the time gap between two adjacent repetitions of the DL PRS resource is in terms of one or more slots or one or more symbols (Duan, [0070, 0077] A first DL-PRS resource set 702 includes 4 resources and a repetition factor of 4, with a time-gap equal to 1 slot; The repetition factor indicates the number of times each PRS resource is repeated in each single instance of the PRS resource set; a UE may be configured to process DL PRS resources based on the capabilities of the UE).
It would have been obvious for one with ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified positioning reference signal disclosed by Khoryaev and repetition time gap disclosed by Duan with a motivation to make this modification in order to avoid obscuring the configurations (Duan, [0114]).
Claim 12 depends on the limitation that does not give patentable weight.
Claim 13 depends on the limitation that does not give patentable weight.
Regarding claim 15, Khoryaev discloses wherein the UE sends a message to request a system to transmit one or more DL PRS resources with a particular configuration (Khoryaev, [0053, 0061] the gNB can respond to UE 2-step PRACH request (i.e. message) and configure or indicate/activate DL reference signals (e.g., DL PRS/CSI-RS)).
Regarding claim 16, Khoryaev discloses wherein the UE sends one or more of following parameters for a requested DL PRS resource transmission:
a TRP ID that is used to identify one TRP that the UE requests to transmit the DL PRS resource (Khoryaev, [0053] The UE can also provide additional information on DL CSI-RS Resource IDs or DL PRS resource ID);
a frequency domain resource allocation for the DL PRS resource (not given patentable weight due to not selected option);
a size of a time domain resource allocation for one DL PRS resource (Khoryaev, [0052] The estimated values of t 2,i and t 3,i or their differences can be directly reported to the network and/or to the UE through a serving gNB. DL PRS transmissions from gNBs/TRPs are used by UE to estimate time-stamps t 4,i. The combination of t 4,i timestamps jointly with information on t 1,i and t 2,i and t 3,i can be used to estimate RTTi);
a transmission periodicity in terms of a slot for a DL PRS resource transmission (not given patentable weight due to not selected option);
a number of repetitions of one DL PRS resource (not given patentable weight due to not selected option);
a number of periodicities that DLPRS resource is transmitted (not given patentable weight due to not selected option);
a time length of the DL PRS resource being transmitted (not given patentable weight due to not selected option); or
a QCL information that the UE requests for a transmission of one DL PRS resource (Khoryaev, [0060] a UE can provide a MsgA to a serving gNB… DL reference signal transmission (SSB/DL PRS/DL CSI-RS) and corresponding Resource IDs and QCL information).
Regarding claim 18, Khoryaev discloses wherein the UE is configured with one or more DL PRS resource set configurations through higher layer parameters, and to request the transmission of the DL PRS resource (Khoryaev, [0048] reference resource refers to the resource where PRS is transmitted characterized by stamp/ID, that can be configured by higher layer signaling and may be configured to UE for measurement and reporting), the UE sends a request command with one or more of the following information to the system:
a TRP ID (not given patentable weight due to not selected option);
a PRS resource set ID that provides an identity of one DL PRS resource set (Khoryaev, [0053] The UE can also provide additional information on DL CSI-RS Resource IDs or DL PRS resource ID);
a list of PRS resource IDs that determine the DL PRS resource in an indicated DL PRS resource set (Khoryaev, [0064] The positioning response can contain at least one of the following fields: Configuration of DL PRS/CSI-RS resources for UE requested positioning procedure (e.g., DL PRS transmission resources and the ID (Resource set for DL positioning) and/or DL PRS sequence initialization parameters (sequence IDs)));
a number of repetitions of one DL PRS resource (not given patentable weight due to not selected option);
a number of periodicities that DL PRS resource (not given patentable weight due to not selected option);
a time length of the DL PRS resource transmission that the UE requests (Khoryaev, [0060] The positioning response can contain at least one of the following fields: Estimated UE coordinate based on serving/neighboring cell measurements).
Claim(s) 7, 14 and 17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Khoryaev et al. (US 2022/0110085 A1, hereinafter "Khoryaev") in view of Duan et al. (US 2021/0321387 A1, Provisional application No. 63/007,493, filed on Apr.09, 2020, hereinafter "Duan") as applied to claim above, and further in view of Yerramalli et al. (US 2021/0088623 A1, Provisional application No. 62/905,840, filed on Sep.25, 2019, hereinafter "Yerramalli").
Regarding claim 7, Khoryaev discloses QCL for DL PRS but does not explicitly disclose wherein a DL PRS is configured to be QCL-Type-D with the DL PRS or synchronization signal/physical broadcast channel (SS/PBCH) block from a serving cell or a non-serving cell, and/or the DL PRS is configured to be QCL-Type-C with the SS/PBCH block from the serving cell or the non-serving cell (not given patentable weight due to not selected option).
Yerramalli from the same field of endeavor discloses wherein a DL PRS is configured to be QCL-Type-D with the DL PRS or synchronization signal/physical broadcast channel (SS/PBCH) block from a serving cell or a non-serving cell (Yerramalli, [0041, 0043] If the source reference RF signal is QCL Type D, the receiver can use the source reference RF signal to estimate the spatial receive parameter of a second reference RF signal transmitted on the same channel; A spatial relation means that parameters for a transmit beam for a second reference signal can be derived from information about a receive beam for a first reference signal. For example, a UE may use a particular receive beam to receive one or more reference downlink reference signals (e.g., positioning reference signals (PRS), tracking reference signals (TRS), phase tracking reference signal (PTRS), cell-specific reference signals (CRS), channel state information reference signals (CSI-RS), primary synchronization signals (PSS), secondary synchronization signals (SSS), synchronization signal blocks (SSBs), etc.)).
It would have been obvious for one with ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified positioning reference signal disclosed by Khoryaev with Duan and gap set disclosed by Yerramalli with a motivation to make this modification in order to enables higher data transfer speeds, greater numbers of connections, and better coverage (Yerramalli, [0004]).
Regarding claim 14, Khoryaev discloses QCL for DL PRS but does not explicitly disclose wherein a DL PRS is configured to be QCL-Type-D with the DL PRS or synchronization signal/physical broadcast channel (SS/PBCH) block from a serving cell or a non-serving cell, and/or the DL PRS is configured to be QCL-Type-C with the SS/PBCH block from the serving cell or the non-serving cell (not given patentable weight due to not selected option).
Yerramalli from the same field of endeavor discloses wherein a DL PRS is configured to be QCL-Type-D with the DL PRS or synchronization signal/physical broadcast channel (SS/PBCH) block from a serving cell or a non-serving cell (Yerramalli, [0041, 0043] If the source reference RF signal is QCL Type D, the receiver can use the source reference RF signal to estimate the spatial receive parameter of a second reference RF signal transmitted on the same channel; A spatial relation means that parameters for a transmit beam for a second reference signal can be derived from information about a receive beam for a first reference signal. For example, a UE may use a particular receive beam to receive one or more reference downlink reference signals (e.g., positioning reference signals (PRS), tracking reference signals (TRS), phase tracking reference signal (PTRS), cell-specific reference signals (CRS), channel state information reference signals (CSI-RS), primary synchronization signals (PSS), secondary synchronization signals (SSS), synchronization signal blocks (SSBs), etc.) ).
It would have been obvious for one with ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified positioning reference signal disclosed by Khoryaev with Duan and gap set disclosed by Yerramalli with a motivation to make this modification in order to enables higher data transfer speeds, greater numbers of connections, and better coverage (Yerramalli, [0004]).
Regarding claim 17, Khoryaev discloses QCL for DL PRS but does not explicitly disclose wherein the UE requests a TRP to use one SSB or DL PRS resource as a QCL source for the transmission of one DL PRS resource; the UE indicates a type of QCL that is requested by the UE; the UE requests the TRP to transmit one PRS resource with a SSB or a DL PRS resource as a source for QCL-typeD for transmission; or the UE requests the TRP to transmit one PRS resource with a SSB or a DL PRS resource as a source for QCL-TypeC for transmission (not given patentable weight due to not selected option).
Yerramalli from the same field of endeavor discloses wherein the UE requests a TRP to use one SSB or DL PRS resource as a QCL source for the transmission of one DL PRS resource; the UE indicates a type of QCL that is requested by the UE; the UE requests the TRP to transmit one PRS resource with a SSB or a DL PRS resource as a source for QCL-typeD for transmission (Yerramalli, [0041, 0043] If the source reference RF signal is QCL Type D, the receiver can use the source reference RF signal to estimate the spatial receive parameter of a second reference RF signal transmitted on the same channel; A spatial relation means that parameters for a transmit beam for a second reference signal can be derived from information about a receive beam for a first reference signal. For example, a UE may use a particular receive beam to receive one or more reference downlink reference signals (e.g., positioning reference signals (PRS), tracking reference signals (TRS), phase tracking reference signal (PTRS), cell-specific reference signals (CRS), channel state information reference signals (CSI-RS), primary synchronization signals (PSS), secondary synchronization signals (SSS), synchronization signal blocks (SSBs), etc.) ).
It would have been obvious for one with ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified positioning reference signal disclosed by Khoryaev with Duan and gap set disclosed by Yerramalli with a motivation to make this modification in order to enables higher data transfer speeds, greater numbers of connections, and better coverage (Yerramalli, [0004]).
Conclusion
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/LUNA WEISSBERGER/Examiner, Art Unit 2415
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