DETAILED ACTION
1. The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
2. 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 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.
Status of Claims
1. The following is a final office action in response to the applicant’s arguments/remarks received 12/09/2025.
2. Claims 1 – 20 are currently pending and have been examined.
3. Claims 1, 3, 5, 9 - 11, 13, 15 and 19 - 20 have been amended.
4. No claim(s) has/have been cancelled.
Claim interpretation
1. Limitations appearing in the specification but not recited in the claim should not be read into the claim. E-Pass Techs., Inc. v. 3Com Corp., 343 F.3d 1364, 1369, 67 USPQ2d 1947, 1950 (Fed. Cir. 2003) (claims must be interpreted "in view of the specification" without importing limitations from the specification into the claims unnecessarily) [MPEP 2106 Sec I, C]. “Though understanding the claim language may be aided by explanations contained in the written description, it is important not to import into a claim limitations that are not part of the claim. For example, a particular embodiment appearing in the written description may not be read into a claim when the claim language is broader than the embodiment.” Superguide Corp. v. DirecTV Enterprises, Inc., 358 F.3d 870, 875, 69 USPQ2d 1865, 1868 (Fed. Cir. 2004). [MPEP 2111.01 Sec II]. Thus, the Examiner interprets Applicant’s claims "in view of the specification" and does not “import into a claim limitation that are not part of the claim”.
2. When multiple limitations are connected with “OR”, one of the limitations does not have any patentable weight since both of the limitations are optional.
Response to Arguments
The arguments/remarks presented by the applicant/applicant ‘s representative on 12/09/2025 were reviewed thoroughly. The following observations have been made:
Claims 9 and 19 were objected to in the last non-final as being allowable if incorporated into the independent claims including the intervening claims. In the applicant’s response submitted on 12/09/2025, it was accepted for the allowable subject matter of claims 9 and 19 to be incorporated into the independent claims. Claim 9 and Claim 5 (intervening claim) in the previous claim set are recited below:
5. (Currently Amended) The communication method according to claim 1, wherein the first information comprises first assistance information, and the first assistance information comprises one or more of the following information:
one or more pieces of frequency layer information, one or more pieces of sending-receiving node information, one or more pieces of reference signal resource set information, and one or one or more pieces of reference signal resource information.
9. (Currently Amended) The communication method according to claim 5, wherein the reference signal resource set information comprises one or more of the following information: reference signal resource set identification information, periodicity information, interval information, density information, a symbol quantity, information indicating that simultaneous sending is not supported, information indicating that simultaneous receiving is not supported, power information, and or the reference signal resource information; the information indicating that simultaneous sending is not supported means indicates that during sending of the reference signal by the terminal, sending of other information or a reference signal other than the reference signal is not supported; and the information indicating that simultaneous receiving is not supported means indicates that during receiving of the reference signal, receiving of other information or a reference signal other than the reference signal is not supported.
In rejecting claim 5 pertaining to the last non-final office action the examiner chooses to examine the last option (the limitations of claim 5 were written in alternate form) which states: “…or one or more pieces of reference signal resource information.”, however the independent claims were amended to select a different option of claim 5, that is: “...one or more pieces of reference signal resource set information….”.
Claim 9 also has multiple options, of which the applicant consider the first half to be incorporated into the independent claims, that is: “…wherein the reference signal resource set information comprises one or more of the following information: reference signal resource set identification information, periodicity information, interval information, density information, a symbol quantity, information indicating that simultaneous sending is not supported, information indicating that simultaneous receiving is not supported, power information, and or the reference signal resource information…”, the examiner does not believe the above excerpt of claim 9 would have been the allowable subject matter since one of the multiple option, that is, PRS periodicity was consider and rejected in the last non-final office action (see rejected claim 5). The remaining limitations of claim 9 would have been more relevant to be the allowable subject matter, that is the details on the simultaneous sending and simultaneous receiving.
From the above two observations, the newly amended limitations to the independent claims, changed the scope of the claims and are persuasive. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground(s) of rejection is being made. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
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.
Claim(s) 1 – 8, 10 – 18 and 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Xiaomi (R2-2009574, “Discussion on PRS enhancements”, November 2nd – 13th, this document was provided in the last office action) in view of JP 2023522780 (translated copy of this document is included for the applicant’s consideration and was provided in the last office action) and Yerramalli et al. (US 2023/0224738 A1, the foreign priority date is relied on for support).
Claim 1, Xiaomi discloses: A communication method, (the method is seen in proposal 2 on page 2/3) comprising:
obtaining first information, wherein the first information comprises a first reference signal configuration information set, the first reference signal configuration information set comprises one or more first pieces of reference signal configuration information, and the one or more first pieces of reference signal configuration information are reference signal configuration information requested by a terminal device on-demand; and [See last three lines on page 2/3: “Therefore, the network could provide some sets of PRS configuration for on-demand PRS, for instance, the gNB provide the some sets of PRS configuration to UE…”. In the last paragraph on page 2/3, PRS configurations contains parameters such as PRS patterns, ON/OFF, Periodicity and BW. These parameters are interpreted as pieces of reference signal configurations and forms a set. The on demand PRS clause signifies the request by the terminal. Also see steps 1 and 2 on pages 3/3]
sending second information to a first network device, wherein the second information comprises a second reference signal configuration information set requested by the terminal device, and the second reference signal configuration information set comprises one or more second pieces of reference signal configuration information [See last three lines on page 2/3: “…UE selects the recommended PRS configuration from the PRS configuration sets provided by gNB when UE sends the on-demand PRS request to gNB.”. In other words, the UE selects the recommended PRS configuration (this signifies a second configuration information set (a set can contain at least one element)) from the first set of configuration information. The second configuration information must contain at least one piece of information which is equated to one or more second pieces of information, this recommended information is then transmitted to the gNB (interpreted as the first network). See also step 3 on page 3/3]
wherein the first information comprises first assistance information,
the first assistance information comprises one or more pieces of reference signal resource [see page 2/3: “…. One is using LPP message, LMF provides the PRS configuration to UE by LPP message. The other is positioning system information, LMF provides the assistance information including PRS configuration to gNB and then gNB broadcasts the positioning SIB to UE”.]
the reference signal resource periodicity information, interval information, density information, a symbol quantity, information indicating that simultaneous sending is not supported, information indicating that simultaneous receiving is not supported, power information, or reference signal resource information. [see the last paragraph on page 2/3 accounts for the underlines portion in the above limitation, that is periodicity, PRS pattern/BW = “…reference signal resource information…” which are considered: “…the reference signal resource set information…”]
Xiaomi discloses every aspect of claim 1, however to better account for a particular reference signal configuration information set comprises one or more second pieces of reference signal configuration information, see the last three paragraphs on the 14th page to the first paragraph on the 15th page. That is, a configuration identifier is sent to the UE that identifies multiple PRS configurations, an example is shown if the identifier is 1 then it corresponds to a set of PRS configuration that has pieces of information such as PRS period 1, PRS bandwidth 1 and so on. Next the UE upon receiving the configurations and the identifiers of each set of candidates PRS configurations a recommended configuration from the set or sets of candidates PRS is selected and transmitted. Based on the identifier being selected by the UE for transmission (“…or can only send the configuration identifier of the recommended PRS configuration…”) there is a period, bandwidth etc. being associated with that particular identifier and is refer to as the second pieces of PRS information.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Xiaomi’s system in view of JP 2023522780. The motivation for making the above modification would have been to reduce the amount of data to be transmitted and reduce overhead [see the second paragraph on page 15 of JP 2023522780].
Xiaomi in view of JP 2023522780 discloses every aspect of claim 1, except the term “resource set” being a part of the assistance information, such difference is seen in the reference of Yerramalli, ¶ 0076 and Figure 7: positioning assistance data is sent to the UE (posSIBs which is broadcast on demand), that involves PRS resource sets pertaining to the TRP which include PRS information elements such as PRS resource identifier (ID)…. number of symbols per PRS resource (i.e., the duration of the PRS resource) etc. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Xiaomi’s system in view of JP 2023522780 and Yerramalli. The motivation for making the above modification would have been determining real time difference information for a plurality of network stations [¶ 0096].
Note to applicant/applicant’s representative:
Interdigital (R2-2100375, “Discussion on On-demand reference signals for positioning”, January 25 – February 5, 2021) discloses on page 3 / 4 (lines 5 – 7): “The indication sent by gNB can indicate either an identifier of PRS configuration parameter to be changed (e.g. resource set ID) or the ID of a preconfigured PRS configuration” which also covers the amended portions of the independent claims, that is, the gNB indication is considered the assistance information (assist in changing the configuration) which carries a configuration parameter such as the resource set, that possesses a resource set ID.
Priyanto et al. (US 12, 323, 946 B2) also discloses the amended portion of the independent claims, see column 10, lines 1 – 10, see figure 1D.
Claim 11 recites similar features using respective language and are also rejected by the applied references for similar reasons as claim 1. Such elements as a processor and memory having instructions are disclosed by JP 2023522780, see the first two paragraphs on page 23.
Claim 2, JP 2023522780 further discloses: The communication method according to claim 1, wherein one or more second pieces all or partial reference signal configuration information in the second reference signal configuration information set is comprised included in the first reference signal configuration information set, [page 14, last three paragraphs – first paragraph on page 15, that is, after the base station sends sets of configuration information to the UE, the UE then selects a recommended PRS configuration from the set that was initially sent by the base station for transmission. The pieces of information in the set is determined to be the PRS period, PRS bandwidth etc]. or wherein the one or more second pieces of reference signal configuration information comprised included in the second reference signal configuration information set comprise an identifier or identifiers of the one or more first pieces of reference signal configuration information. [see the first paragraph on page 15, the second set of configuration information is identified by an identifier, the pieces of information in the set are determined to be the PRS period, PRS bandwidth etc.]
Claim 12 recites similar features using respective language and are also rejected by the applied references for similar reasons as claim 2.
Claim 3, JP 2023522780 further discloses: The communication method according to claim 1, wherein one or more second pieces of frequency layer information in the second reference signal configuration information set are completely or partially included in one or more first pieces of frequency layer information in the first reference signal configuration information set; and/or
one or more second pieces of sending-receiving node information in the second reference signal configuration information set are completely or partially included in one or more first pieces of sending-receiving node information in the first reference signal configuration information set; and/or
one or more pieces of second reference signal resource set information in the second reference signal configuration information set are completely or partially comprised included in one or more first pieces of reference signal resource set information in the first reference signal configuration information set; and/or
one or more second pieces of the reference signal resource information in the second reference signal configuration information set are completely or partially comprised included in one or more first pieces of the reference signal resource information in the first reference signal configuration information set. [see the first paragraph on page 15, the second set of configuration information is identified by an identifier and is refer to as the recommended PRS configuration, the pieces of information in the set is determined to be the PRS period, PRS bandwidth etc.. which was initially one of the sets signaled from the base station and further selected by the UE].
Claim 13 recites similar features using respective language and are also rejected by the applied references for similar reasons as claim 3.
Claim 4, Xiaomi further discloses: The communication method according to claim 1, wherein the first information is carried by a first long-term evolution (LTE) positioning protocol (LTE) (LPP) message from a positioning management device, or wherein the first information is carried by a first positioning system information block (posSIB) from an access network device. [see page 2/3: “…. One is using LPP message, LMF provides the PRS configuration to UE by LPP message. The other is positioning system information, LMF provides the assistance information including PRS configuration to gNB and then gNB broadcasts the positioning SIB to UE”.]
Claim 14 recites similar features using respective language and are also rejected by the applied references for similar reasons as claim 4.
Claim 5, Xiaomi further discloses: The communication method according to claim 1, wherein the first assistance information further comprises one or more of one or more pieces of frequency layer information, one or more pieces of sending-receiving node information, or one or more pieces of reference signal resource information. [for the last option see page 2/3: “…LMF provides the assistance information including PRS configuration to gNB and then gNB broadcasts the positioning SIB to UE…”. And these resources can be PRS pattern, ON/OFF, periodicity and BW = reference signal resource information. Also see JP 2023522780, page 15 which involves resources such as periodicity and bandwidth = reference signal resource information].
Claim 15 recites similar features using respective language and are also rejected by the applied references for similar reasons as claim 5.
Claim 7, Xiaomi further discloses: The communication method according to claim 5, wherein the frequency layer information comprises one or more of: frequency layer identification information, subcarrier spacing information, bandwidth information, a start physical resource block location, frequency information, spacing information, cyclic prefix information, or the sending-receiving node information. [Art is not necessary for this limitation since claim 7 depends on claim 5 (claim 7 inherits claim 5 limitations) and for claim 5 the option selected by the examiner is or one or more pieces of reference signal resource information.].
Claim 17 recites similar features using respective language and are also rejected by the applied references for similar reasons as claim 7.
Claim 8, Xiaomi further discloses: The communication method according to claim 5, wherein the sending-receiving node information comprises one or more of: reference signal identification information, cell identification information, frequency information, reference signal sending start time information, reference signal time difference RSTD (RSTD) information, reference signal time difference uncertainty RSTD-uncertainty information or the reference signal resource set information. [Art is not necessary for this limitation since claim 7 depends on claim 5 (claim 7 inherits claim 5 limitations) and for claim 5 the option selected by the examiner is or one or more pieces of reference signal resource information.].
Claim 18 recites similar features using respective language and are also rejected by the applied references for similar reasons as claim 8.
Claim(s) 6, 10, 16, 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Xiaomi (R2-2009574, “Discussion on PRS enhancements”, November 2nd – 13th, 2020, provided by the applicant’s IDS) in view of JP 2023522780 (translated copy of this document is included for the applicant’s consideration), Yerramalli et al. (US 2023/0224738 A1, the foreign priority date is relied on for support) and Cui et al. (US 2019/0373573 A1).
Claim 10, Xiaomi in view of JP 2023522780 and Yerramalli : The communication method according to claim 1 (see rejected claim 1).
Xiaomi in view of JP 2023522780 and Yerramalli does not disclose: wherein the reference signal resource information comprises one or more of the following information: a reference signal resource identifier, reference signal sequence identification information, interval information, and or reference signal resource sending/receiving start time information. In the same field of endeavor Cui discloses the above missing feature, see ¶ 0045 (the assistance information carries the PRS timing or sequence).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Xiaomi’s system in view of JP 2023522780, Yerramalli and Cui. The motivation for making the above modification would have been to allow for mobile positioning [see ¶ 0018 of Cui].
Claim 20 recites similar features using respective language and are also rejected by the applied references for similar reasons as claim 10.
Claim 6, Cui further discloses: further discloses: The communication method according to claim 5, wherein the first assistance information is included in provide assistance information signaling for a specific positioning method,[¶ 0018] or wherein the provide assistance information signaling for the specific positioning method comprises signaling NR-DL-TDOA-ProvideAssistanceData or signaling NR-DL-AoD-ProvideAssistanceData. [¶ 0124].
Claim 16 recites similar features using respective language and are also rejected by the applied references for similar reasons as claim 6.
Allowable Subject Matter
1. Claims 9 and 19 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 as well as overcoming all rejection(s)/objection(s) set forth in this office action.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MAHARISHI V KHIRODHAR whose telephone number is (571)270-7909. The examiner can normally be reached 6:00 AM - 3:00 PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Nawaz M Asad can be reached at 571-272-3988. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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MAHARISHI V. KHIRODHAR
Examiner
Art Unit 2463
/MAHARISHI V KHIRODHAR/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2463