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 § 102
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 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.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Rao et al. (US 20250151012 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Rao discloses
An apparatus for wireless communication at a user equipment (UE) (see Fig. 1A, example communications system; Fig. 1B, example wireless transmit/receive unit (WTRU) that may be used within the communications system of Fig. 1A; pg. 1, paragraph 0014, “By way of example, the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d, any of which may be referred to as a “station” and/or a “STA”, may be configured to transmit and/or receive wireless signals and may include a user equipment (UE)”), comprising:
at least one memory (see Fig. 1B, memory 130 and memory 132); and
at least one processor coupled to the at least one memory and, based at least in part on information stored in the at least one memory, the at least one processor, individually or in any combination, is configured to (see Fig. 1B, processor 118):
receive a set of positioning signals from a set of positioning signal transmission devices (see pg. 9, paragraph 0086, “a WTRU may receive one or more PRSs [positioning reference signal] from one or more TRPs [transmission reception points]”; pg. 7, paragraph 0076, “The WTRU may receive indication(s)/information on positioning via an MT-SDT [mobile terminated small data transmission]”);
calculate a set of positioning attributes of the UE using a positioning device based on the received set of positioning signals (see pg. 7, paragraph 0076, “The WTRU may determine and send an indication to the network on attribute(s) of expected DL positioning information based on a configured MT-SDT”; pg. 12, paragraph 0118, “The information sent by WTRU to the network, …may include one or more of the following: … device attributes and/or parameters”);
calculate an initial state of the positioning device based on the calculated set of positioning attributes and a set of environmental inputs associated with the UE (see pg. 7, paragraph 0076, “The WTRU may send indication(s)/information on an RRC state and/or MO-SDT/MT-SDT configuration(s) to location management function (LMF) for supporting associated positioning procedure(s).”; pg. 11, paragraph 0111, “The prediction and/or smoothing techniques that may be used to estimate the position of the WTRU may be based on using one or more of the following: RAT dependent techniques (e.g., PRS measurements and/or SRSp transmissions), RAT independent techniques (e.g., GNSS measurements or sensor measurements), information on the mobility state of the WTRU (e.g., stop, mobile with first velocity, mobile with second velocity), or information of the trajectory of the WTRU (e.g., expected WTRU location at different time occasions)”; pg. 13, paragraph 0133, “The WTRU may request to change the periodicity for receiving assistance data based on detection of one or more events, such as a change in the mobility state of the WTRU (e.g., change from stop state to mobile state), or a change in trajectory.”; pg. 15, paragraph 0144, “The WTRU may send a report on positioning measurements, estimation, prediction, and/or uncertainty if one or more of the following are detected: a change in radio condition(s) (e.g., RSRP above/below a threshold), a change in mobility state, or a change in WTRU trajectory (e.g., a WTRU deviates from a straight path).”; pg. 16, paragraph 0154, “ For the WTRU detecting the change in trajectory and/or mobility state, the WTRU may switch between modes if (e.g., any of) the mobility states of the WTRU changes (e.g., stationary, speed levels in different speed ranges with different upper and low bounds). The WTRU may switch between modes if the trajectory of the WTRU changes”);
calculate an expected reward value for each of a set of potential positioning actions for the positioning device based on the calculated initial state (see pg. 15, paragraph 0144, “If performing extrapolation/interpolation of the WTRU location, the WTRU may send information on the uncertainty of the prediction/smoothing, confidence value, and/or weight values associated with different instances of the extrapolated/interpolated location values”); and
perform a positioning action of the set of potential positioning actions on the positioning device based on the calculated expected reward value for each of the set of potential positioning actions (see pg. 23, paragraph 0210, “If the prediction error is less than a first threshold value, the WTRU may determine the WTRU location information in the intermediate instances and/or locations… If the prediction error is greater than a first threshold value and/or less than a second threshold value, the WTRU may apply certain adjustments…and/or may perform corrections… If the prediction error is greater than the second threshold value, the WTRU may send the actual position information determined at second time occasion via measurements of DL-PRS. The WTRU may (e.g., may also) send an indication to request for an updated configuration and/or assistance data”; pg. 24, paragraph 0217, “The WTRU may, if the prediction error is less than the threshold value, skip transmission… The WTRU may, if the prediction error is greater than the threshold value, transmit a positioning report”).
Regarding claim 2, Rao further discloses
The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor, individually or in any combination, is further configured to:
receive a second set of positioning signals from a second set of positioning signal transmission devices (see pg. 9, paragraph 0086, “a WTRU may receive one or more PRSs from one or more TRPs”; pg. 21, paragraph 0200, “the different PRS configurations associated with a positioning area, received by the WTRU (e.g., in association/assistance information), may include at least two subsets of resources and/or parameters”);
calculate a second set of positioning attributes of the UE using the positioning device based on the second set of positioning signals after the performance of the positioning action (see pg. 21, paragraph 0201, the WTRU may perform measurements on the second subset after determining the quality of radio conditions is satisfactory);
calculate a resultant state of the positioning device based on the calculated second set of positioning attributes and a second set of environmental inputs associated with the UE (see pg. 22, paragraph 0202, “the WTRU may perform measurements using resources in the second subset for determining the positioning information.”; pg. 24, paragraph 0218, “The WTRU may receive from higher layers, a second set of mobility attributes of the WTRU (e.g., the WTRU speed and/or direction of movement). The WTRU may perform a second PRS measurement at a second time occasion (T2) and determine the WTRU location at T2.”); and
revise the expected reward value for the positioning action of the set of potential positioning actions for the positioning device based on the calculated resultant state of the UE (see pg. 15, paragraph 0144, the PRS signal measurements and sensor measurements can be including in a reporting configuration and used to help determine WTRU location, which the uncertainty/confidence/weight values come from).
Regarding claim 3, Rao further discloses
The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the set of environmental inputs comprises at least one of:
live traffic information associated with an estimated location of the UE;
path history of an on-board unit (OBU) device;
map information associated with the estimated location of the UE;
a central processing unit (CPU) usage metric associated with the UE;
a wireless traffic metric usage metric associated with the UE;
a sensor calibration state metric associated with the UE;
a set of sensor data associated with the UE (see pg. 11, paragraph 0110, “The WTRU operation in estimation mode may refer to the prediction and/or smoothing techniques used to estimate the position of the WTRU. The WTRU operation in estimation mode may refer to the WTRU using internal sensors (e.g., accelerometers, gyroscopes, magnetometers) for measuring WTRU speed, direction, orientation and motion rate.”; pg. 11, paragraph 0111, “The prediction and/or smoothing techniques that may be used to estimate the position of the WTRU may be based on using one or more of the following: … RAT independent techniques (e.g., GNSS measurements or sensor measurements)”; pg. 12, paragraph 0116, “The WTRU may (e.g., may then) estimate the position of the WTRU at different time instances based on at least one of the assistance information, measurements, or sensor tracking information”; see pg. 4, paragraph 0035, list of various sensors/peripherals that may be part of the WTRU; Fig. 1B, peripherals 138); or
a power metric associated with the UE.
Regarding claims 4-6, the limitations recited are not required to be part of the claimed invention. Parent claim 3 teaches alternative limitations, i.e., “The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the set of environmental inputs comprises at least one of: live traffic information associated with an estimated location of the UE; path history of an on-board unit (OBU) device; map information associated with the estimated location of the UE; a central processing unit (CPU) usage metric associated with the UE; a wireless traffic metric usage metric associated with the UE; a sensor calibration state metric associated with the UE; a set of sensor data associated with the UE; or a power metric associated with the UE.” (emphasis added). If a parent claim includes alternative limitations, and the references teaches one of them, further limitations to the other alternative(s) in the dependent claims are not required limitations. See Ex parte Werner, Appeal 2019-001448, Application No. 15/109,888, March 23, 2020, 15 pages. Here, Rao teaches “a set of sensor data associated with the UE”, as detailed in the rejection of claim 3. Claims 4-6 are based on another alternative/other alternatives, i.e., live traffic information, path history, and map information.
Regarding claim 7, Rao further discloses
The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the at least one processor, individually or in any combination, is further configured to:
collect the set of sensor data from a set of sensors at the UE (see pg. 11, paragraph 0111, “The prediction and/or smoothing techniques that may be used to estimate the position of the WTRU may be based on using one or more of the following…RAT independent techniques (e.g., GNSS measurements or sensor measurements)”; see Fig. 1B, processor 118 connected to peripherals 138).
Regarding claim 8, Rao further discloses
The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the set of sensors comprises at least one of:
an accelerometer (see pg. 4, paragraph 0035, “For example, the peripherals 138 may include an accelerometer”);
a camera;
an inertial measurement unit (IMU); or
an odometer.
Regarding claim 9, Rao further discloses
The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the set of potential positioning actions comprises at least one of:
refraining from performing the positioning action until an event is detected by the UE;
switching to a low-power mode of the UE (see pg. 39, paragraph 0334, “If the RSRP measurements of a PRS are above the threshold value, the WTRU may transmit an SRSp using an SRSp configuration (e.g., low Tx power, low repetition, low periodicity) that may result in improving power savings at the WTRU.”; pg. 39, paragraph 0339, “A WTRU may be configured to perform DL and UL positioning if in a low power operation (e.g., an INACTIVE/IDLE state) based on triggering events… Such positioning triggering events may include one or more of: a time event (e.g., expiration of a timer, a periodic event); an area event (e.g., an event triggered when entering into a new area/cell); or a mobility event (e.g., a change in speed, trajectory).”);
resetting the positioning device (paragraph 0081, “If detecting an interruption event (e.g., a change in mobility state, reception of DL indication), the WTRU may reset a SRSp transmission procedure based on the type of event (e.g., which may help positioning accuracy and power savings)”);
selecting a first subset of the set of positioning signal transmission devices for the calculation of the set of positioning attributes; or
selecting a second subset of the set of positioning signal transmission devices for the calculation of the set of positioning attributes.
Regarding claim 10, Rao further discloses
The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the positioning device comprises a global navigation satellite system (GNSS) device (see pg. 13, paragraph 0130, “The WTRU may perform any procedures, functions, and operations associated with LPHAP [low power high accuracy positioning] if receiving assistance data associated with LPHAP and/or other positioning examples/schemes (e.g., DL-based, UL-based, DL+UL based, GNSS, etc.).”).
Regarding claim 11, Rao further discloses
The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the set of positioning signal transmission devices comprises a set of global positioning satellites (GPSs) (see pg. 3, paragraph 0034, “The processor 118 may also be coupled to the GPS chipset 136, which may be configured to provide location information (e.g., longitude and latitude) regarding the current location of the WTRU”).
Regarding claims 12-19, the same cited sections and rationale for claims 1-4, 6-7, and 9-10 are applied. The only difference between claims 1-10 and claims 12-19 is that claims 1-10 refer to an apparatus while claims 12-19 refer to a method. The examiner considers Rao pg. 1, paragraph 0003 (“Systems, methods, and instrumentalities are described herein that may be associated with supporting…positioning”) to show that the positioning apparatus performs the positioning method of claims 12-19.
Regarding claim 20, the same cited sections and rationale from claim 1 are applied. Rao further discloses
A computer-readable medium storing computer executable code at a user equipment (UE) (see Fig. 1B, memories 130 and 132), the code when executed by at least one processor causes the at least one processor to (see pg. 40, paragraph 0352, “The processes described above may be implemented in a computer program, software, and/or firmware incorporated in a computer-readable medium for execution by a computer and/or processor.”):
Conclusion
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/ISABELLA AMEYALI EDRADA/Examiner, Art Unit 3648
/William Kelleher/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3648