Detailed Action
1. The Office Action is in response to the Applicant’s communication filed on 02/09/2024. In virtue of this communication, claims 1-20 are currently pending in this Office Action.
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
2. 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
3. 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.
4. The factual inquiries set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 148 USPQ 459 (1966), that are applied for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
5. Claims 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Cui Pub. No.: US 2022/0046748 A1 in view of Quan et al. Pub. No.: US 2023/0300942 A1.
Claim 1
Cui discloses a method (fig. 1-6 depict for positioning SRS transmission during DRX) performed by a location management function (LMF) entity (network in fig. 1-6 could be LMF in par. 0023) in a wireless communication system, the method comprising:
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transmitting, to a first base station (serving cell in fig. 5-6), a first message including information (505 in fig. 5 for conjuring UE with a positioning SRS); and
receiving, from the first base station, a second message including the SRS configuration information (515 in fig. 5).
Although Cui does not disclose: “identifying a validity area associated with requested sounding reference signal (SRS) configuration information for a user equipment (UE); the validity area and the validity area”, the claim limitations are considered obvious by the following rationales.
Initially, Cui discloses the service base station for configuring UE for SRS (fig. 3 & 5-6). Herein, it’s to note that claim does not specifically define what are involved in identifying and what are required to be the valid area. In particular, Quan teaches SRS resource configuration information including a physical resource of an SRS, a cycle, offset, a valid duration and the valid positioning area configured for SRS with a cell or a cell list, a tracking area TA or a TA list (par. 0256 and fig. 5) and the LMF entity for transmitting the SRS resource configuration to the selected one or more base station for UE (par. 0253 and fig. 5).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify positioning SRS transmission of Cui by providing uplink signal location as taught in Quan. Such a modification would have provided a user equipment UE in an idle state to use an uplink signal location so that the UE location accuracy would not be jeopardized and measurement time could have been saved too as suggested in par. 0002-0009 of Quan.
Claim 2
Cui, in view of Quan, discloses the method of claim 1, further comprising:
transmitting, to at least one second base station, at least one of the information on the validity area or the SRS configuration information (Cui, positioning gNBs in step 525 in fig. 5 and see fig. 4),
wherein the first base station is a serving base station for the UE (Cui, serving cell in fig. 5 and see fig. 4),
wherein the at least one second base station excludes the first base station (Cui, in addition to serving cell in fig. 5, positioning gNBs could be more than one as depicted in fig. 4), and
wherein the first base station and the at least one second base station are located in the validity area (Cui, positioning gNBs in fig. 5 and fig. 4; Quan, par. 0232-0235, the valid positioning area for cell or cell list or TA or TA list; accordingly, the combined prior art renders the claim obvious).
Claim 3
Cui, in view of Quan, discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the second message further includes information on a validity area configured to the UE (Quan, SRS configuration information including valid positioning area with cell or cell list or TA or TA list or RNA in par. 0256 and fig. 5; and thus, the combined prior art reads on the claim).
Claim 4
Cui, in view of Quan, discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the information on the validity area includes a cell list (Quan, SRS configuration information including valid positioning area with cell or cell list or TA or TA list or RNA in par. 0232-0235 & 0256 and fig. 5; and hence, the combined prior art anticipates the claim).
Claim 5
Cui, in view of Quan, discloses the method of claim 4, wherein the cell list is for at least one cell included in the validity area (Quan, fig. 5 for SRS resource configuration information for cell or cell list in par. 0232-0235 & 0256), and wherein the SRS configuration information is applied to the UE in the validity area (Cui, SRS to positioning gNBs in 525 of fig. 5 as depicted in fig. 4; Quan, SRS configuration information including valid position area as described in par. 0232-0235 & 0256; for these reasons, the combined prior art meets the claim requirement).
Claim 6
Chi discloses a method (fig. 1-6 for depicting positioning SRS transmission during DRX) performed by a first base station (serving cell in fig. 4-6) in a wireless communication system, the method comprising:
receiving, from a location management function (LMF) entity (network in fig. 1-6 includes LMF in par. 0023), a first message (505 in fig. 5) including information associated with requested sounding reference signal (SRS) configuration information for a user equipment (UE) (serving gNB configures UE with positioning SRS in 510 of fig. 5);
transmitting, to the UE, a second message including the SRS configuration information (510 in fig. 5); and
transmitting, to the LMF entity, a third message including the SRS configuration information (515 in fig. 5 for providing UE configuration information to network from serving gNB).
Although Cui does not disclose: “a validity area associated with requested SRS configuration information; transmitting, to the UE, a second message including the SRS configuration information associated with the validity area; and the validity area”, the claim limitations are considered obvious by the following rationales.
Initially, Cui discloses the service base station for configuring UE for SRS (fig. 3 & 5-6). Herein, it’s to note that claim does not specifically define what are involved in identifying and what are required to be the valid area. In particular, Quan teaches SRS resource configuration information including a physical resource of an SRS, a cycle, offset, a valid duration and the valid positioning area configured for SRS with a cell or a cell list, a tracking area TA or a TA list (par. 0256 and fig. 5) and the base station for transmitting, to the UE, the SRS configuration information associated with the validity area (par. 0253 and fig. 5).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify positioning SRS transmission of Cui by providing uplink signal location as taught in Quan. Such a modification would have provided a user equipment UE in an idle state to use an uplink signal location so that the UE location accuracy would not be jeopardized and measurement time could have been saved too as suggested in par. 0002-0009 of Quan.
Claim 7
Cui, in view of Quan, discloses the method of claim 6, wherein the first base station is a serving base station for the UE (Cui, serving cell in fig. 5 and see fig. 4),
wherein at least one second base station excludes the first base station (Cui, in addition to serving cell in fig. 5, positioning gNBs could be more than one as depicted in fig. 4),
wherein at least one second base station receives at least one of the information on the validity area or the SRS configuration information from the first base station (Cui, positioning gNBs in step 525 in fig. 5 and see fig. 4), and
wherein the first base station and the at least one second base station are located in the validity area (Cui, positioning gNBs in fig. 5 and fig. 4; Quan, par. 0232-0235, the valid positioning area for cell or cell list or TA or TA list; accordingly, the combined prior art renders the claim obvious).
Claim 8
Cui, in view of Quan, discloses The method of claim 6, wherein the third message further includes information on a validity area configured to the UE (Quan, SRS configuration information including valid positioning area with cell or cell list or TA or TA list or RNA in par. 0256 and fig. 5; and thus, the combined prior art reads on the claim).
Claim 9
Cui, in view of Quan, discloses the method of claim 6, wherein the information on the validity area includes a cell list (Quan, SRS configuration information including valid positioning area with cell or cell list or TA or TA list or RNA in par. 0232-0235 & 0256 and fig. 5; and hence, the combined prior art anticipates the claim).
Claim 10
Cui, in view of Quan, discloses the method of claim 9, wherein the cell list is for at least one cell included in the validity area (Quan, fig. 5 for SRS resource configuration information for cell or cell list in par. 0232-0235 & 0256), and wherein the SRS configuration information is applied to the UE in the validity area (Cui, SRS to positioning gNBs in 525 of fig. 5 as depicted in fig. 4; Quan, SRS configuration information including valid position area as described in par. 0232-0235 & 0256; for these reasons, the combined prior art meets the claim requirement).
Claim 11-15
Claims 11-15 are structure claims for LMF corresponding the method claims 1-5 performed by LMF. All of the limitations in claims 11-15 are found reciting the structures of the same scopes of the respective limitations of claims 1-5. Accordingly, claims 11-15 can be considered obvious by the same rationales applied in the claim rejection of claims 1-5 respectively set forth above.
Accordingly, Cui teaches a location management function (LMF) entity (core network 130 in fig. 1 would include LMF as explained in par. 0039-0041) in a wireless communication system (wireless communication in fig. 1), the LMF entity comprising: a transceiver (LMF would include at least 5G and LTE transceiver as depicted in fig. 1 to transmit and receive the steps in fig. 5-6); and at least one controller coupled with the transceiver (LMF in core network 130 of fig. 1 would include a controller and transceiver to perform the steps in fig. 4-6).
Claim 16-20
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Claims 16-20 are structure claims for LMF corresponding the method claims 6-10 performed by LMF. All of the limitations in claims 16-20 are found reciting the structures of the same scopes of the respective limitations of claims 6-10. Accordingly, claims 16-20 can be considered obvious by the same rationales applied in the claim rejection of claims 6-10 respectively set forth above.
Additionally, Cui discloses a first base station (serving cell in fig. 5-6 as gNB in fig. 1 & 3-4) in a wireless communication system (wireless communication system in fig. 1), the first base station comprising: a transceiver (transceiver 325 in fig. 3); and at least one controller (processor 305 in fig. 3) coupled with the transceiver (processor 305 in fig. 3 could perform the steps in fig. 4-6 by transmitting and receiving via transceiver).
Contact Information
6. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SAN HTUN whose telephone number is (571)270-3190.
The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Thursday 7 AM - 5 PM.
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, Jinsong Hu can be reached on 5712723965. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/SAN HTUN/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2643