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
Claims have priority date of 01/14/2021.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 7/14/2023 is being considered by the examiner.
Election/Restrictions
Claim 30-38 and 44-48 withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b), as being drawn to a nonelected invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Applicant timely traversed the restriction (election) requirement in the reply filed on 10/23/2025.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC Section 102 / 103
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.
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) 39-40 and 42-43 and 49 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by or in the alternative as under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 20180035251 A1 Bitra; Suresh Kumar.
Regarding Claims 39 and 49, Bitra teaches A User Equipment (UE) configured to handle positioning of the UE in a wireless communications network, wherein the UE comprises processing circuitry configured to:
A method performed by a User Equipment (UE) for handling positioning of the UE in a wireless communications network, the method comprising:
performing respective positioning measurements of positioning signals transmitted by multiple TRPs according to a configuration (¶23 “A mobile device may measure PRS transmitted by a reference wireless transmitter and a nearby wireless transmitter and may obtain, for example, a time of arrival (TOA) and/or a reference signal time difference (RSTD) measurement” ¶33 “one or more wireless transmitters capable of transmitting and/or receiving wireless signals, such as a base station transceiver 108 over a wireless communication link 110, for example. Similarly, mobile device 102 may transmit wireless signals to, or receive wireless signals from a local transceiver 112 over a wireless communication link 114. Base station transceiver 108, local transceiver 112, etc. may be of the same or similar type, for example, or may represent different types of devices, such as access points, radio beacons, cellular base stations, femtocells, or the like, depending on an implementation. “; ¶58 “Positioning assistance data may comprise one or more parameters to facilitate and/or support OTDOA, AFLT, or like positioning, for example, and may identify a reference wireless transmitter (e.g., via a PRS/CRS sequence, PRS configuration, etc.)”));
determining information about an uncertainty associated with the respective positioning measurements of the multiple TRPs (¶24 “may provide to a mobile device of interest OTDOA assistance data … expected RSTD uncertainty,” ¶45, ¶58;
calculating a position of the UE based on results of the respective positioning measurements (¶30 “At times, a mobile device may, for example, be capable of estimating its rough or so-called “a-priori” location, such as via a serving Cell-ID, Enhanced Cell-ID, or like positioning techniques. “;
calculating errors based on uncertainty associated with the results of the respective positioning measurements (¶30, ¶27, ¶59 “RSTD measurement errors” infra);
calculating a Geometric Dilution of Precision (GDOP) (¶30 “mobile device may, . . . via computing and/or considering GDOP”) for the multiple TRPs based on the obtained errors and the position of the UE (¶27 “As used herein, “GDOP” refers to a measure of how much a positioning error that results from RSTD measurement errors depends on a mobile device/wireless transmitter relative geometry”; ¶59 “on GDOP computed using a rough location of the mobile device and locations of the wireless transmitters, such as obtained via one or more positioning tiles, as one possible example.”); and
transmitting the GDOP to a network node to be used for managing transmission of the positioning signals of the multiple TRPs (Fig. 2, 220 ¶54 “mobile device 202 may, for example, utilize, at least in part, OTDOA assistance data, RSRP and/or RSRQ values, GDOP values, and/or a QoS parameter, such as a maximum response time for performing and/or replying with RSTD measurements to server 204, referenced generally at 218…”; ¶56 “Message 220 may also include, for example, identities of measured neighbor wireless transmitters (e.g. a PCI, Global Cell ID, cell carrier frequency, etc.), quality of applicable measurements (e.g. an expected error in an RSTD measurement, etc.), etc”).
Here, Bitra ¶54 disclosure of utilizing GDOP values for transmitting RSTD measurements to server and the ¶56 disclosure of transmitting quality or error associated with RSTD measurements either anticipates or renders obvious the claim limitation of transmitting the GDOP to a network node to be used for managing transmission of the positioning signals of the multiple TRPs. Here GDOP values may be considered a species of the disclosed genus of “quality of applicable measurements or expected error in an RSTD measurement.” See MPEP 2144.08. Considering that GDOP is a measurement of error in RSTD measurements as known in the art and expressly stated by Bitra ( See Bitra (¶27 “As used herein, “GDOP” refers to a measure of how much a positioning error that results from RSTD measurement errors depends on a mobile device/wireless transmitter relative geometry”). Alternatively stated, GDOP is structurally similar to and shares similar properties of defining a quality or error related to positioning measurements as the disclosed genus.
Therefore, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art, to select the claimed species or subgenus of GDOP from the prior art Bitra’s disclosed genus of quality of applicable measurements (e.g. an expected error in an RSTD measurement, etc. and utilization of GDOP in the reply (Bitra, ¶54-56) based on the size, express teachings, structural similarity, similar properties, predictability and totality of evidence as discussed supra. See MPEP 2144.08
Regarding Claim 40, B teaches The method according to claim 39, wherein the calculating of the GDOP further comprises logging the GDOP (¶30 computing a value and subsequent use of the value inherently comprises logging in to memory), wherein logging the GDOP comprises any one or more out of:
logging the GDOP and identifying a group of multiple TRPs based upon the GDOP, to provide high quality location accuracy (¶30 “mobile device may, for example, select for acquisition of PRS candidate wireless transmitters with good measurement geometry first, such as via computing and/or considering GDOP, among other aspects”) ; and
logging the GDOP and identifying a group of TRPs based upon the GDOP to provide low quality location accuracy ( ¶30 and ¶59 “a mobile device may utilize, at least in part, locations of wireless transmitters, such as obtained in connection with one or more positioning tiles as well as its own rough location to select a particular group of wireless transmitters.” Where selection based on measurement geometry obvious to use to select high or unselect low quality).
Regarding Claim 42, Bitra teaches The method according to claim 39, wherein the transmitting the GDOP to the network node further comprises transmitting a cell Identity (ID) list of corresponding TRPs that was used for the GDOP (¶56 “Message 220 may also include, for example, identities of measured neighbor wireless transmitters (e.g. a PCI, Global Cell ID, cell carrier frequency, etc.), quality of applicable measurements (e.g. an expected error in an RSTD measurement, etc.), etc”). ).
Regarding Claim 43, Bitra teaches The method according to claim 39, wherein the GDOP is transmitted to the network node as part of a Minimization of Drive Test (MDT) and/or Self-Organizing Networks (SON) logged result (Fig. 2, 220 ¶54 “mobile device 202 may, for example, utilize, at least in part, OTDOA assistance data, RSRP and/or RSRQ values, GDOP values, and/or a QoS parameter, such as a maximum response time for performing and/or replying with RSTD measurements to server 204, referenced generally at 218…”; ¶56 “Message 220 may also include, for example, identities of measured neighbor wireless transmitters (e.g. a PCI, Global Cell ID, cell carrier frequency, etc.), quality of applicable measurements (e.g. an expected error in an RSTD measurement, etc.), etc”), where the taught structure meets function and environment of MDT or SON results.
Allowable Subject Matter
Regarding Claim 41 recites wherein transmitting the GDOP to the network node further comprises transmitting a report of whether the GDOP is based upon assistance data received in broadcast.
These steps, in combination of the independent claim steps, are neither taught nor suggested by the prior art. Applicant's independent claims comprise a particular combination of elements which is neither taught nor suggested by the prior art.
Conclusion
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/UMAIR AHSAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2647