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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 09 May 2024 and 28 August 2024 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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)(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.
Claim 1 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by US Patent Application Publication No. 20220110088 (Bao et al).
Regarding claim 1, Bao et al. discloses: “a first terminal device (FIG. 7: UE 700; [0104]: “a target UE 700”) comprising: at least one processor (FIG. 7: processor 710); and at least one memory (FIG. 7: memory 730) storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor ([0105]: “the processor 710 executes software (stored in the memory 730) and/or firmware”), cause the first terminal device (FIG. 7: UE 700) at least to: detect a positioning reference signal (PRS) from a second terminal device ([ABSTRACT]: “determining, at a UE based on at least one signal received by the UE, an indication of a spatial relationship between the UE and a first candidate anchor device that is configured to transmit a positioning reference signal (PRS) wirelessly”); determine that the PRS was transmitted without location information of the second terminal device (FIG. 9: Anchor 905, Location information 927, Location information 928; [0113]: “The location information message(s) 927, 928 may explicitly indicate one or more differences in location (distances) between the target UE 700 and one or more of the anchor(s) 905”); and transmit, to a network device (FIG. 9: Network entity 800), indication information (FIG. 9: UE 700, Network entity 800, Anchor 905, Location information 928; [0113]: “The target UE 700 may send location information from the anchor(s) 905 to the network entity 800 in one or more location information messages 929”) for indicating that the PRS transmitted without the location information of the second terminal device” ([0113]: “The target UE 700 may send one or more location information requests 926 to one or more of the anchor(s) 905. For example, with the target UE 700 and one or more of the anchor(s) 905 having respective sidelink(s) established, the target UE 700 may send the location information request(s) 926 to the respective anchor(s) 905 requesting location information indicative of the location(s) of the anchor(s) 905”).
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 8 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Bao et al. in view of US Patent Application Publication No. 20230224848 (Dong).
Claim 8 is dependent upon claim 1. As discussed above, claim 1 is disclosed by Bao et al. Thus, those limitations of claim 1 that are recited in claim 8 are also disclosed by Bao et al.
However, Bao et al. does not clearly disclose the remaining limitations of the claim. To that end, with respect to claim 8, Dong discloses: “the indication information comprises at least one of the following: an identifier (ID) of the PRS, an ID of the second terminal device, a received quality of the PRS ([0062]: “The positioning precision is determined by a signal quality of the PRS, and the positioning accuracy may include the followings. The accuracy of a received power or a received quality of the PRS”), a number of anchor terminal devices available for absolute positioning of the first terminal device, a positioning accuracy requirement of the positioning of the first terminal device, an achieved accuracy performance of the positioning of the first terminal device, or an ID of each anchor terminal device used in the absolute positioning of the first terminal device”. It is respectfully submitted that it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to combine Bao et al. with the invention of Dong in order to provide a received quality of PRS (e.g., see Dong @ [0062]).
Claim 9 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Bao et al. in view of US Patent Application Publication No. 20230125160 (Sirotkin et al).
Claim 9 is dependent upon claim 1. As discussed above, claim 1 is disclosed by Bao et al. Thus, those limitations of claim 1 that are recited in claim 9 are also disclosed by Bao et al.
However, Bao et al. does not clearly disclose the remaining limitations of the claim. To that end, regarding claim 9, Sirotkin et al. discloses: “the indication information is transmitted based on a long term evolution (LTE) positioning protocol (LPP) protocol” ([0280]: “UE 106, may transmit first information indicative of a sidelink positioning reference signal (PRS) capability of the UE. In some instances, the UE may transmit the first information in a Long Term Evolution (LTE) positioning protocol (LPP) communication”). It is respectfully submitted that it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to combine Bao et al. with the invention of Sirotkin et al. in order to provide transmission by a Long Term Evolution (LTE) positioning protocol (LPP) communication (e.g., see Sirotkin et al.@ [0280]).
Claims 10 and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Bao et al. in view of US Patent Application Publication No. 20230208580 (Li).
With respect to claim 10, Bao et al. discloses: “a network device (FIG. 8: Network entity 800; [0125]: “the network entity 800”) comprising: at least one processor (FIG. 8: processor 810); and at least one memory (FIG. 8: memory 830) storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the network device ([0107]: “the processor 810 executes software (stored in the memory 830) and/or firmware. The description herein may refer to the network entity 800 performing a function”) at least to: receive, from a first terminal device, indication information for indicating a positioning reference signal (PRS) transmitted by a second terminal device ([ABSTRACT]: “determining, at a UE based on at least one signal received by the UE, an indication of a spatial relationship between the UE and a first candidate anchor device that is configured to transmit a positioning reference signal (PRS) wirelessly”) without location information of the second terminal device (FIG. 9: Anchor 905, Location information 927, Location information 928; [0113]: “The location information message(s) 927, 928 may explicitly indicate one or more differences in location (distances) between the target UE 700 and one or more of the anchor(s) 905”);
However, Bao et al. does not clearly disclose the remaining limitations of the claim. To that end, Li discloses: “determine whether to trigger the second terminal device to transmit the location information of the second terminal device along with a subsequent PRS ([0007]: “trigger information is configured to indicate a wireless resource position used by a specified number of transmissions of the downlink PRS”); and based on determining to trigger the second terminal device, transmit, to the second terminal device, trigger information for triggering the second terminal device to transmit the location information along with the subsequent PRS” ([0021]:”configure trigger information of a downlink PRS for a terminal, in which the trigger information is configured to indicate a wireless resource position used by a specified number of transmissions of the downlink PRS”; and [0022]: “send the trigger information to the terminal”). It is respectfully submitted that it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to combine Bao et al. with the invention of Li in order to provide trigger information for PRS (e.g., see Li @ [0021]).
With respect to claim 19, Bao et al. discloses: “a second terminal device comprising”:
at least one processor; and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the second terminal device at least to: transmit a positioning reference signal (PRS) without location information of the second terminal device (FIG. 9: 905, 927, 928; [0113]: “The location information message(s) 927, 928 may explicitly indicate one or more differences in location (distances) between the target UE 700 and one or more of the anchor(s) 905”);
In addition, Li discloses: “receive, from a network device, trigger information for triggering the second terminal device to transmit the location information of the second terminal device along with a subsequent PRS ([0055]: “receives the trigger information of the downlink PRS sent by the first network device via a dynamic configuration signaling”); and based on receiving the trigger information, transmit the subsequent PRS along with the location information of the second terminal device” ([0083]: “the terminal receives the specified number of transmissions of the downlink PRS at the wireless resource position indicated by the trigger information”).
Claim 18 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Bao et al. in view of Li and Dong.
Claim 18 is dependent upon claim 10. As discussed above, claim 10 is disclosed by the combination of Bao et al. and Li. Thus, those limitations of claim 10 that are recited in claim 18 are also disclosed by the combination of Bao et al. and Li.
However, the combination of Bao et al. and Li does not clearly disclose the remaining limitations of the claim. To that end, with respect to claim 18, Dong discloses: “the indication information comprises at least one of the following: an identifier (ID) of the PRS, an ID of the second terminal device, a received quality of the PRS ([0062]: “The positioning precision is determined by a signal quality of the PRS, and the positioning accuracy may include the followings. The accuracy of a received power or a received quality of the PRS”), a number of anchor terminal devices available for absolute positioning of the first terminal device, a positioning accuracy requirement of the positioning of the first terminal device, an achieved accuracy performance of the positioning of the first terminal device, or an ID of each anchor terminal device used in the absolute positioning of the first terminal device”. It is respectfully submitted that it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to further modify the combination of Bao et al. and Li with the invention of Dong in order to provide a received quality of PRS (e.g., see Dong @ [0062]).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-7, 11-17 and 20 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.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MYRON K WYCHE whose telephone number is (571)272-3390. The examiner can normally be reached 7:30 am - 3:30 pm.
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/Myron Wyche/ 05 March 2026
Primary Examiner AU2644