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 .
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.
Claims 1-45 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Shreevastav et al. (US 2022/0209927) in view of Wu (US 2021/0014644).
Regarding claims 1, 15, 29 and 43, Shreevastav discloses an apparatus for reporting location measurements, the apparatus comprising: at least one transceiver; at least one memory or computer-readable medium comprising at least one instruction for causing a computer or at least one processor to implement the method for reporting location measurements; and the at least one processor coupled to the at least one transceiver and the at least one memory (paragraph 135, lines 1-7: “The wireless device 14 includes communication circuitry 30, which is configured for transceiver operations … the wireless device 14 includes storage 42, which may store one or more computer programs (CP) 44 that comprise computer program instructions for execution by one or more processors that may be included in or comprise the processing circuitry 40 to perform the methods described herein”) and configured to:
transmit, via the at least one transceiver, a first set of location measurements to a server (FIG. 3, Block 302: receive indication of first reference signal configuration for positioning of a device);
receive, via the at least one transceiver, a feedback message from the server based on the first set of location measurements (Block 304: transmit feedback information relating to use of the first configuration); and
transmit, via the at least one transceiver, a second set of location measurements to the server based on the feedback message (Block 306: obtain a third reference signal based on the feedback).
Shreevastav fails to disclose that the feedback message comprises information indicating a number of requested location measurements from a particular transmission-reception point (TRP).
However, in an analogous art, Wu discloses that a feedback message comprises information indicating a number of requested location measurements from a particular TRP (paragraph 3, lines 4-6: “The UE is requested to these measurements from one or more base stations. Upon collecting these measurements, the UE generates a measurement feedback to the network for determining UE's position.”). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the apparatus in Shreevastav by incorporating this feature taught in Wu for the purpose of reducing unnecessary measurements and lowering power consumption and radio overhead.
Regarding claims 2, 16, 30 and 44, Shreevastav discloses that the second set of location measurements comprises one or more measurements computed based on one or more of: a Positioning Reference Signal (PRS), or a Sounding Reference Signal (SRS), or a combination thereof (paragraph 59, lines 1-4: “The feedback information may comprise any one or more of: Positioning Reference signal (PRS) measurements based on the first reference signal configuration … Sounding Reference Signal (SRS) measurements based on the first reference signal configuration”).
Regarding claims 3, 17, 31 and 45, Shreevastav discloses that the feedback message comprises identifier data identifying one or more resources associated with the PRS or the SRS for which reporting is to be suppressed, or a combination thereof (paragraph 62, lines 7-8: “identification of a pre-defined configuration for the third reference signal configuration”).
Regarding claims 4, 18 and 32, Shreevastav discloses that the feedback message comprises information requesting a reduced transmission of one or more location measurements for a predetermined time (paragraph 143, lines 1-2: “send the timing recommendation to the serving base station 16, as a request to the serving base station 16 to trigger activation of the aperiodic or semipersistent SRS configuration by the wireless device 14”).
Regarding claims 5, 19 and 33, Shreevastav discloses that the feedback message comprises information requesting a reduced transmission of a predetermined number of measurements in the second set of location measurements (paragraph 76, lines 1-4: “The feedback information may also comprise an indication of a preferred reference signal configuration or signal availability (e.g., PRS and/or SRS density, periodicity, bandwidth part, consecutive subframes, number of ports, with or without hopping, with or without carrier/port/beam switching, preferred beams or SSBs quasi-located or associated with PRS and/or SRS)”).
Regarding claims 6, 20 and 34, Shreevastav discloses that the feedback message comprises information requesting a change to a periodicity of location measurement reporting (paragraph 76, lines 1-4: “The feedback information may also comprise an indication of a preferred reference signal configuration or signal availability (e.g., PRS and/or SRS density, periodicity, bandwidth part, consecutive subframes, number of ports, with or without hopping, with or without carrier/port/beam switching, preferred beams or SSBs quasi-located or associated with PRS and/or SRS)”).
Regarding claims 7, 21 and 35, Shreevastav discloses that the feedback message further comprises information indicating how to transmit one or more additional location measurements (paragraph 78, lines 1-2: “As for an example UL reference signal configuration, an UL signal/channel related reference signal configuration may comprise one or more of: [0079] trigger to start or stop using a configuration”).
Regarding claims 8, 22 and 36, Shreevastav discloses that the feedback message is based on a number of the first set of location measurements exceeding a predetermined threshold (paragraph 77, lines 1-2: “The feedback information may also comprise an indication that some PRS and/or SRS are not needed any longer, e.g., because the positioning measurements have been completed.”).
Regarding claims 9, 23 and 37, Shreevastav discloses that the feedback message is based on one or more of: a Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR) metric, a Non-line of Sight (NLOS) metric for the first set of location measurements, a distance traveled metric, or an in-view status of a Transmission Receive Point, or a combination thereof (paragraph 41, lines 2-4: “Examples of positioning measurements comprise received signal power based on PRS and/or SRS, received signal quality (e.g., similar to Reference Signal Received Quality (RSRQ) or Signal to Interference plus Noise Ratio (SINR))”).
Regarding claims 10, 24 and 38, Shreevastav discloses that the first set of location measurements (“first reference signal”) is different from the second set of location measurements (“third reference signal”).
Regarding claims 11, 25 and 39, Shreevastav discloses that the first set of location measurements is transmitted to the server via a low-layer protocol (paragraph 213, lines 5-8: “network QQ243a may comprise a Wi-Fi network. Network connection interface QQ211 may be configured to include a receiver and a transmitter interface used to communicate with one or more other devices over a communication network according to one or more communication protocols, such as Ethernet, TCP/IP, SONET, ATM, or the like”).
Regarding claims 12, 26 and 40, Shreevastav discloses that a prioritization of the first set of location measurements is different from a prioritization of the second set of location measurements (paragraph 148, lines 9-10: “the arrangement leaves the serving base station 16 in control of the final decision regarding the activation time, meaning that it can adjust for scheduling priorities”).
Regarding claims 13, 27 and 41, Shreevastav discloses that the feedback message comprises information requesting additional information for one or more specified measurements selected from among the second set of location measurements (paragraph 61, lines 3-5: “the location server may update the first reference signal configuration based on the feedback information, to generate the third reference signal configuration.”).
Regarding claims 14, 28 and 42, Shreevastav discloses that the additional information comprises one or more of: path information, an angle of arrival (AoA), an angle of departure (AoD), a Round Trip Time (RTT), a time delay calibration value, a Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR), a Signal-to-interference-plus Noise Ratio (SINR), a line-of-sight (LOS) probability, or a combination thereof (paragraph 41, lines 2-5: “Examples of positioning measurements comprise received signal power based on PRS and/or SRS, received signal quality (e.g., similar to Reference Signal Received Quality (RSRQ) or Signal to Interference plus Noise Ratio (SINR)), a timing measurement, Round Trip Time (RTT), Rx-Tx, Time of Arrival (ToA), Time Difference of Arrival (TDOA), etc.”).
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection is applied to the claims.
Wu is introduced as the new ground of rejection. One skilled in the art would have been motivated to combine Shreevastav and Wu for the reasons discussed in the rejection above.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SAM BHATTACHARYA whose telephone number is (571)272-7917. The examiner can normally be reached weekdays, 9-5:30.
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, Matthew D. Anderson can be reached at (571) 272-4177. 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.
/SAM BHATTACHARYA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2646