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 .
DETAILED ACTION
This Office Action is in response to the applicants' communication filed on February 12, 2024. In virtue of this communication, claims 1-17 are currently presented in the instant application.
Drawings
The drawings submitted on February 12, 2024 have been reviewed and accepted 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)(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.
Claim(s) 1-17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Pub No.: US-20220110088-A1 (herein “Bao”).
Claims 1, 15, and 17
Consider claim 1, Bao teaches an apparatus (see Bao Fig. 2, note user equipment 200) comprising at least one processor (see Bao Fig. 2, note processor 230), and at least one memory (see Bao Fig. 2, note memory 211) storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to:
receive information indicating at least one active positioning anchor configured to support positioning of one or more other apparatuses, wherein the information is received from at least one of: the at least one active positioning anchor, the one or more other apparatuses, a location management entity, or a network node (see Bao Fig. 9, [0109], [0111]-[0113], note positioning trigger 910 from Network Entity 800, measurements 922 from Anchor 905, reference signals 924 from Anchor 905, and location information 927 from Anchor 905);
determine, based on the information and one or more conditions, at least one candidate positioning anchor from one or more discovered candidate positioning anchors for supporting positioning of the apparatus, wherein the at least one candidate positioning anchor comprises the at least one active positioning anchor or at least one inactive positioning anchor (see Bao Fig. 9, [0114]-[0115] note the UE selects one or more anchors to be used as one or more anchors for positioning of the UE using the one or more measurements 922, reference signals 924, and location information messages 927 to determine the one or more anchors 905 to use and based on one or more criteria, i.e. the being the furthest of the anchors from the UE); and
indicate, to the location management entity, a discovery of the at least one candidate positioning anchor (see Bao Fig. 4, Fig. 9, [0075], [0124] note the UE sends the PRS configuration request message to the network entity 800 where the network entity is location management server 400 to configure PRS for transfer between the UE and the selected anchors 905 to use in positioning of the UE).
Claim(s) 15 and 17 is/are rejected for at least the same reason(s) set forth in claim 1.
Claim 2
Consider claim 2, Bao teaches wherein the information indicates a remaining activity time or a positioning reference signal broadcast duration of the at least one active positioning anchor, wherein the at least one candidate positioning anchor is determined based at least partly on the remaining activity time or the positioning reference signal broadcast duration of the at least one active positioning anchor (see Bao Fig. 9, [0084], [0109], [0111]-[0115] note selection of one or more anchors to be used as one or more anchors for positioning of the UE using the one or more measurements 922, reference signals 924, and location information messages 927 to determine the one or more anchors 905 to use and based on one or more criteria, i.e. the being the furthest of the anchors from the UE).
Claim 3
Consider claim 3, Bao teaches wherein the information indicates a priority of the at least one active positioning anchor relative to the at least one inactive positioning anchor, wherein the at least one candidate positioning anchor is determined based at least partly on the priority (see Bao [0114]-[0123] note criteria may include, for example, being furthest of the anchor(s) 905 from the target UE 700, being a minimum distance from the target UE 700, being within a range of distances of the target UE 700, being disposed such that the anchors are distributed about a center of a GDOP pattern of anchors, etc).
Claim 4
Consider claim 4, Bao teaches further being caused to:
receive, from the at least one active positioning anchor, a message indicating a status of the at least one active positioning anchor with respect to at least one condition of the one or more conditions, wherein the at least one candidate positioning anchor is determined based at least partly on the status of the at least one active positioning anchor (see Bao [0114]-[0123] note using measurements 922, and/or reference signals 924, and/or location information 927 to select the anchor(s) with criteria that may include, for example, being furthest of the anchor(s) 905 from the target UE 700, being a minimum distance from the target UE 700, being within a range of distances of the target UE 700, being disposed such that the anchors are distributed about a center of a GDOP pattern of anchors, etc).
Claim 5
Consider claim 5, Bao teaches wherein the at least one candidate positioning anchor comprises the at least one active positioning anchor based on the one or more conditions not being fulfilled (see Bao [0115], [0117] note criteria may include, for example, being at least a threshold distance away from the target UE 700 where when an anchor that is not more than the threshold distance away will not be selected for use).
Claim 6
Consider claim 6, Bao teaches wherein the at least one candidate positioning anchor comprises the at least one inactive positioning anchor based on the one or more conditions being fulfilled (see Bao [0115], [0117] note criteria may include, for example, being at least a threshold distance away from the target UE 700 where when an anchor that is more than the threshold distance away will be selected for use).
Claim 7
Consider claim 7, Bao teaches wherein the one or more conditions comprise at least one of:
an estimated positioning accuracy improvement associated with the at least one active positioning anchor being below a threshold, or an estimated positioning error reduction associated with the at least one active positioning anchor being below a threshold (see Bao [0025], [0103] note the anchor device(s) may be selected based on a contribution to acceptable GDOP and/or based on an ability to improve GDOP relative to a presently-used anchor device or set of anchor devices).
Claim 8
Consider claim 8, Bao teaches wherein the one or more conditions comprise at least one of:
one or more performance parameters required from the at least one active positioning anchor not being available, one or more performance guarantees required from the at least one active positioning anchor not being available, one or more performance requirements required from the at least one active positioning anchor not being available, or a performance class required from the at least one active positioning anchor not being available (see Bao [0025], [0103], [0120] note the anchor device(s) may be selected based on a contribution to acceptable GDOP and/or based on an ability to improve GDOP relative to a presently-used anchor device or set of anchor devices).
Claim 9
Consider claim 9, Bao teaches wherein the one or more conditions comprise at least one of:
a type of a positioning-related application related to the apparatus, a type of a positioning session related to the apparatus, a type of the apparatus, a priority of the positioning-related application, a priority of the positioning session, a priority of the apparatus, a purpose of the positioning-related application, a purpose of the positioning session, or a purpose of the apparatus (see Bao [0115]-[0123] note anchor selected based on a criteria which may include contribution to acceptable GDOP and/or based on an ability to improve GDOP relative to a presently-used anchor device or set of anchor devices, LOS between the UE and anchor unit, etc).
Claim 10
Consider claim 10, Bao teaches wherein the one or more conditions comprise at least one of:
the at least one active positioning anchor not being detected, or the at least one inactive positioning anchor being detected (see Bao Fig. 6, [0115]-[0123] note anchor selected based on a criteria which may include anchors that are at least a threshold distance away and no more than a second threshold distance away, where anchors 621, 622, and 624 are not detected within the range).
Claim 11
Consider claim 11, Bao teaches wherein the one or more conditions comprise at least one of: channel usage being below a threshold, or interference being below a threshold (see Bao [0116] note UE 700 may be configured to select the anchor(s) 905 that is(are) furthest from the target UE 700, e.g., the anchor(s) 905 with the longest reference signal travel time (e.g., the latest ToA with synchronized ToD of reference signals from the anchor(s) 905), the lowest RSRP, the highest pathloss, the lowest SINR, and/or the lowest SNR).
Claim 12
Consider claim 12, Bao teaches wherein the one or more conditions comprise at least one of:
availability of a positioning reference signal at the at least one inactive positioning anchor, usage of the positioning reference signal at the at least one inactive positioning anchor, a strength of the positioning reference signal of the at least one inactive positioning anchor being above a threshold, a signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio of the positioning reference signal of the at least one inactive positioning anchor being above a threshold, or a type of the positioning reference signal of the at least one inactive positioning and/or corresponding to a desired type (see Bao [0115]-[0123] note selection of one or more anchors to be used as one or more anchors for positioning of the UE using reference signals 924 to determine the one or more anchors 905 to use and based on one or more criteria, i.e. the anchors with the longest reference signal time travel (the latest ToA with synchronized ToD of reference signals from the anchor(s) 905), the lowest RSRP, the highest pathloss, the lowest SINR, and/or the lowest SNR) or the anchor that is at least a threshold distance away from the UE (ToA later than a ToA threshold, an RSRP below an RSRP threshold, a pathloss above a pathloss threshold, a SINR below a SINR threshold, or an SNR below an SNR threshold).
Claim 13
Consider claim 13, Bao teaches wherein the one or more conditions comprise at least one of:
a resource pool type used by the apparatus, a resource configuration of the apparatus, or one or more resource parameters of the apparatus (see Bao [0115]-[0123] note using measurements 922, and/or reference signals 924, and/or location information 927 to select the anchor(s) with criteria that may include, for example, being furthest of the anchor(s) 905 from the target UE 700, being a minimum distance from the target UE 700, being within a range of distances of the target UE 700, being disposed such that the anchors are distributed about a center of a GDOP pattern of anchors, etc).
Claim 14
Consider claim 14, Bao teaches wherein the one or more conditions comprise at least one of:
participation of the apparatus in session-based positioning, participation of the apparatus in positioning with one or more performance guarantees, or the apparatus not participating in session-less positioning (see Bao [0115]-[0123] note selection of one or more anchors to be used as one or more anchors for positioning of the UE using reference signals 924 to determine the one or more anchors 905 to use and based on one or more criteria, i.e. the anchors with the longest reference signal time travel (the latest ToA with synchronized ToD of reference signals from the anchor(s) 905), the lowest RSRP, the highest pathloss, the lowest SINR, and/or the lowest SNR) or the anchor that is at least a threshold distance away from the UE (ToA later than a ToA threshold, an RSRP below an RSRP threshold, a pathloss above a pathloss threshold, a SINR below a SINR threshold, or an SNR below an SNR threshold).
Claim 16
Consider claim 16, Bao teaches wherein the information indicating the at least one active positioning anchor is based on information received from the one or more other user devices, or based on operating conditions of the apparatus (see Bao Fig. 9, [0103], [0109], [0111]-[0113], note positioning trigger 910 from Network Entity 800 in response to a request for position of the target UE, and/or measurements 922 from Anchor 905 in response to reference signals 921 sent from the target UE, and/or location information 927 from Anchor 905 in response to location information request 926).
Contact Information
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MARCUS C HAMMONDS whose telephone number is (571)270-3193. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 10:00AM-6:00PM.
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, ALISON T. SLATER can be reached at (571)270-0375. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/MARCUS HAMMONDS/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2647
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