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 .
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 –
Claim(s) 1-2, 4, 6-9, 11, 13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by ZHENG et al. (US Pub No. 2025/0203565).
Claim 1, ZHENG discloses first terminal device (See Fig. 6a; UE1) comprising: at least one processor (See Fig. 11; item processor 1100”); and at least one memory (Fig. 11; item memory 1120”) storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the first terminal device at least to: transmit capability information of the first terminal device along with a positioning reference signal (PRS) (par [0121] “ disclosed in specifically of information of the first device along with a positioning reference signal and the second positioning reference signals”), wherein the capability information indicates a capability to provide the location information of the first terminal device (par [0121] “the first device can perform positioning calculation according to the first positioning measurement value and the second positioning measurement values”); receive, from a second terminal device (See Fig. 6a; UE2), a request for the location information of the first terminal device (par [0121] “where the second information can carry information or assistance information related to positioning calculation for the first device to perform positioning measurement, or the second information can carry coordinate information and location information of the second devices for performing positioning calculation by the first device in an absolute positioning scenario”); and based on receiving the request, transmit the location information along with a subsequent PRS (par 0121]).
Claim 2, 9, ZHENG further discloses the first terminal device of claim 1, wherein the capability information comprises at least one of following: one-bit indicator indicating whether the first terminal device has the capability to provide the location information; or an uncertainty of the location information (par [0107] “positioning reference signal request signaling or a positioning request flag bit and further discloses in par [0121] wherein the first device has provided the location information ”).
Claim 4, ZHENG further discloses the first terminal device of claim 1, wherein the first terminal device is further caused to transmit the location information by: determining whether to provide the location information along with the subsequent PRS; and based on determining to provide the location information along with the subsequent PRS, transmitting the location information along with the subsequent PRS (par [0519] “ The first device transmits the PRS measurement value to the second device through the fourth information, and the second device performs the location calculation, and then transmits the result of the location calculation to the first device through the fifth information”).
Claim 6, 13, ZHENG further discloses the first terminal device of claim 1, wherein at least one of the following: the capability information is transmitted via sidelink control information, SCI, associated with the PRS; the capability information is broadcasted to the second terminal device; or the capability information is groupcasted to the second terminal device (par [0086] “sidelink control information and data are carried by SCI is carried by PSCCH and is used to indicate information such as a position in par [0097] with first device transmits first information to one or more second devices, where the first information includes a positioning request signaling).
Claim 7, 14, ZHENG further discloses the first terminal device of claim 1, wherein at least one of the following: the request is broadcasted from the second terminal device; the request is unicasted from the second terminal device; or the request is groupcasted from the second terminal device (par [0098] “the first device can transmit the first information to one or more second devices, that is, the first device can request one or more second devices to assist the first device in positioning (or ranging)”).
Claim 8, ZHENG discloses a second terminal device (See Fig. 6a; UE2) comprising: at least one processor (See Fig. 11; item processor 1100”); and at least one memory (Fig. 11; item memory 1120”) storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the second terminal device at least to: receive, from a first terminal device, a positioning reference signal (PRS) along with capability information indicating a capability of the first terminal device to provide location information of the first terminal device(par [0121] “ disclosed in specifically of information of the first device along with a positioning reference signal and the second positioning reference signals”); determine, based on the capability information(par [0121] “the first device can perform positioning calculation according to the first positioning measurement value and the second positioning measurement values”), that the first terminal device transmits the PRS without the location information and has the capability to provide the location information (par [0121] “where the second information can carry information to perform positioning measurement, or the second information can carry coordinate information and location information of the second devices for performing positioning calculation by the first device in an absolute positioning scenario”); and transmit, to the first terminal device, a request for the location information of the first terminal device (par 0121]).
Claim 11, ZHENG further discloses the second terminal device wherein the second terminal device is further caused to transmit the request by: determining whether the PRS has a potential to improve a positioning performance at the second terminal device (par [0121]); and based on determining the PRS has the potential to improve the positioning performance at the second terminal device, transmitting the request for the location information of the first terminal device. device (par [0121] “where the second information can carry information or assistance information related to positioning calculation for the first device to perform positioning measurement”).
Claim 15, ZHENG further discloses the second terminal device of claim 8, wherein the second terminal device further is caused to: receive, from the first terminal device, the location information of the first terminal device along with a subsequent PRS (par [0098] “the first device can transmit the first information to one or more second devices, that is, the first device can request one or more second devices to assist the first device in positioning”).
Claim 16, is rejected for the same reasons as set forth in claim 1.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3, 5, 10, 12 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.
Claim 3, the first terminal device of claim 1, wherein the request comprises at least one of the following: a list of at least one terminal device from which the second terminal device needs location information; a reference signal received power (RSRP) measurement by the second terminal device of a PRS transmitted by the first terminal device; an achieved accuracy performance of the positioning of the second terminal device; a requirement of accuracy performance of the positioning of the second terminal device; a line of sight (LOS) - non-line of sight (NLOS) - indicator measured for the at least one terminal device, wherein the LOS-NLOS-indicator comprises at least one of a hard-valued LOS-NLOS-indicator or a soft-valued LOS-NLOS-indicator; a number of the at least one terminal device that is available for absolute positioning of the second terminal device; an indication of at least one terminal device and the location information of the at least one terminal device, wherein the location information of the least one terminal device is used by the second terminal device; a request information for requesting the uncertainty of the location information; or a range for an accepted uncertainty of the location information.
Claim 5, the first terminal device of claim 4, wherein the first terminal device is caused to determining whether to provide the location information along with the subsequent PRS based on at least one of the following conditions: the request is received from the second terminal device; an identifier (ID) of the first terminal device is comprised in the list; an RSRP of the first terminal device measured at the second terminal device is above a first threshold; the first terminal device has a potential to improve a positioning performance at the second terminal device, and the potential is evaluated based on at least one terminal device and location information of the at least one terminal device, wherein the location information of the least one terminal device is used by the second terminal device; the achieved accuracy performance of the positioning of the second terminal device is below an accuracy requirement of the second terminal device; the uncertainty of the location information lies within the range of the accepted uncertainty; the hard-valued LOS-NLOS-indicator indicates a LOS link between the first terminal device and the second terminal device; or a value of the soft-valued LOS-NLOS-indicator is above a second threshold.
Claim 10, the second terminal device of claim 8, wherein the request comprises at least one of the following: a list of at least one terminal device from which the second terminal device needs location information; a reference signal received power (RSRP) measurement by the second terminal device of a PRS transmitted by the first terminal device; an achieved accuracy performance of the positioning of the second terminal device; a requirement of accuracy performance of the positioning of the second terminal device; a line of sight (LOS) - non-line of sight (NLOS) - indicator measured for the at least one terminal device, wherein the LOS-NLOS-indicator comprises at least one of a hard-valued LOS-NLOS-indicator or a soft-valued LOS-NLOS-indicator; a number of the at least one terminal device that is available for absolute positioning of the second terminal device; an indication of at least one terminal device and the location information of the at least one terminal device, wherein the location information of the least one terminal device is used by the second terminal device; a request information for requesting the uncertainty of the location information; or a range for an accepted uncertainty of the location information.
Claim 12, the second terminal device of claim 11, wherein the second terminal device is caused to determining whether the PRS has the potential to improve the positioning performance at the second terminal device based on at least one of the following conditions: a RSRP of the PRS of the first terminal device measured at the second terminal device is above a first threshold; a relative angle of arrival of the PRS at the second terminal device lies within an azimuth or a vertical angular range; a hard-valued LOS-NLOS-indicator of the PRS indicates a LOS link between the first terminal device and the second terminal device; or a value of the soft-valued LOS/NLOS indicator of the PRS is above a second threshold.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
DONG et al. (US Pub No. 2025/0193925) discloses method for sending or receiving signal and apparatus.
KO et al. (US Pub No. 2022/0236365) discloses side-link positioning based on PRS transmission of single user equipment in NR V2X.
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/PHUOC H DOAN/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2646