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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDS) submitted on 1/13/2025 and 9/27/2024 are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statements are being considered by the Examiner.
Preliminary Amendment
The present Office Action is based upon the original patent application filed on 9/29/2023 as modified by the preliminary amendment filed on 11/7/2023.
Claims 1-20 are pending in the present application.
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 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.
Claims 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Ghimire et al. (WO 2021/032367), as provided by Applicant.
Referring to Claim 1, Ghimire et al. disclose a method for configuring an uplink positioning reference signal resource (page 9 lines 24-30, uplink resources, positioning signal), comprising:
receiving, by a first network device, first information sent by a location management function network element (LMF), wherein the first information indicates that a first uplink positioning reference signal resource is available or the first uplink positioning reference signal resource is unavailable (page 9 lines 24-30, page 10 lines 21-26, and page 12 lines 19-20, LMF informs network node/gNB on uplink resources constrained or unscheduled to avoid interference); and
configuring, by the first network device, an uplink positioning reference signal resource for a first terminal device based on the first information (page 11 lines 4-6 and page 12 lines 19-20, gNB configures UE to transmit uplink positioning reference signal).
Referring to Claim 2 as applied to Claim 1 above, Ghimire et al. disclose the method, wherein when the first information indicates that a plurality of uplink positioning reference signal resources are available or unavailable, the first uplink positioning reference signal resource is any one of the plurality of uplink positioning reference signal resources (page 9 lines 24-30, page 10 lines 21-26, and page 12 lines 19-20, LMF informs network node/gNB on uplink resources constrained or unscheduled to avoid interference).
Referring to Claim 3 as applied to Claim 1 above, Ghimire et al. disclose the method, wherein the receiving, by a first network device, first information sent by a location management function network element (LMF) comprises: receiving, by the first network device, a first message from the LMF, wherein the first message indicates a request to the first network device to configure an uplink positioning reference signal resource for the first terminal device, and the first message carries the first information (page 9 lines 24-30, page 10 lines 21-26, and page 12 lines 19-20, LMF requests network node/gNB on uplink resources constrained or unscheduled to avoid interference).
Referring to Claim 4 as applied to Claim 1 above, Ghimire et al. disclose the method, wherein before the receiving, by a first network device, first information sent by a location management function network element (LMF), the method further comprises: sending, by the first network device, second information to the LMF, wherein the second information indicates a second uplink positioning reference signal resource, the second uplink positioning reference signal resource is an uplink positioning reference signal resource that the first network device expects has determined to configure for the first terminal device, and the second uplink positioning reference signal resource comprises the first uplink positioning reference signal resource (page 9 lines 17-20, LMF acquires resources from network node/gNB).
Referring to Claim 5 as applied to Claim 1 above, Ghimire et al. disclose the method, wherein the first information comprises configuration information of the first uplink positioning reference signal resource and a first identifier associated with the configuration information; and when a value of the first identifier is a first value, the first information indicates that the first uplink positioning reference signal resource is available; or when a value of the first identifier is a second value, the first information indicates that the first uplink positioning reference signal resource is unavailable (page 30 lines 8-13, page 9 lines 24-30, page 10 lines 21-26, and page 12 lines 19-20, LMF identifies/requests network node/gNB on uplink resources constrained or unscheduled to avoid interference).
Referring to Claim 6 as applied to Claim 1 above, Ghimire et al. disclose the method, wherein the first information comprises configuration information of the first uplink positioning reference signal resource, and the first information indicates that the first uplink positioning reference signal resource is unavailable (Figs. 7A-7F and page 9 lines 24-30, page 10 lines 21-26, and page 12 lines 19-20, uplink resources constrained or unscheduled to avoid interference).
Referring to Claim 7 as applied to Claim 1 above, Ghimire et al. disclose the method, wherein when the first information comprises an available identifier of the first uplink positioning reference signal resource, the first information indicates that the first uplink positioning reference signal resource is available; or when the first information does not comprise an available identifier of the first uplink positioning reference signal resource, the first information indicates that the first uplink positioning reference signal resource is unavailable (Figs. 7A-7F and page 9 lines 24-30, page 10 lines 21-26, and page 12 lines 19-20, uplink resources constrained or unscheduled to avoid interference).
Referring to Claim 8, Ghimire et al. disclose a method for configuring an uplink positioning reference signal resource (page 9 lines 24-30, uplink resources, positioning
signal), comprising:
sending, by a location management function network element (LMF), first information to a first network device, wherein the first information indicates that a first uplink positioning reference signal resource is available or the first uplink positioning reference signal resource is unavailable (page 9 lines 24-30, page 10 lines 21-26, and page 12 lines 19-20, LMF informs network node/gNB on uplink resources constrained or unscheduled to avoid interference), and the first information enables determining an uplink positioning reference signal resource occupied by a first terminal device (page 11 lines 4-6 and page 12 lines 19-20, gNB configures UE to transmit uplink positioning reference signal).
Referring to Claim 9 as applied to Claim 8 above, Ghimire et al. disclose the method, wherein when the first information indicates that a plurality of uplink positioning reference signal resources are available or unavailable, the first uplink positioning reference signal resource is any one of the plurality of uplink positioning reference signal resources (page 9 lines 24-30, page 10 lines 21-26, and page 12 lines 19-20, LMF informs network node/gNB on uplink resources constrained or unscheduled to avoid interference).
Referring to Claim 10 as applied to Claim 8 above, Ghimire et al. disclose the method, wherein the sending, by a location management function network element (LMF}, first information to a first network device comprises: sending, by the LMF, a first message to the first network device, wherein the first message indicates a request to the first network device to configure an uplink positioning reference signal resource for the first terminal device, and the first message carries the first information (page 9 lines 24-30, page 10 lines 21-26, and page 12 lines 19-20, LMF requests network node/gNB on uplink resources constrained or unscheduled to avoid interference).
Referring to Claim 11 as applied to Claim 8 above, Ghimire et al. disclose the method, wherein before the sending, by a location management function network element (LMF), first information to a first network device, the method further comprises: receiving, by the LMF, second information from the first network device, wherein the second information indicates a second uplink positioning reference signal resource, the second uplink positioning reference signal resource is an uplink positioning reference signal resource that the first network device has determined to configure for the first terminal device, and the second uplink positioning reference signal resource comprises the first uplink positioning reference signal resource (page 9 lines 17-20, LMF acquires resources from network node/gNB).
Referring to Claim 12 as applied to Claim 8 above, Ghimire et al. disclose the method, wherein if the first uplink positioning reference signal resource is an uplink positioning reference signal resource configured by a second network device for a second terminal device, the first information indicates that the first uplink positioning reference signal resource is unavailable; or if the first uplink positioning reference signal resource is not occupied, the first information indicates that the first uplink positioning reference signal resource is available (Figs. 7A-7F and page 30 lines 8-13, page 9 lines 24-30, page 10 lines 21-30, and page 12 lines 19-20, LMF constrained or unscheduled to avoid interference).
Referring to Claim 13 as applied to Claim 8 above, Ghimire et al. disclose the method, wherein the first information comprises configuration information of the first uplink positioning reference signal resource and a first identifier associated with the configuration information; and when a value of the first identifier is a first value, the first information indicates that the first uplink positioning reference signal resource is available; or when a value of the first identifier is a second value, the first information indicates that the first uplink positioning reference signal resource is unavailable (Figs. 7A-7F and page 9 lines 24-30, page 10 lines 21-26, and page 12 lines 19-20, uplink resources constrained or unscheduled to avoid interference).
Referring to Claim 14 as applied to Claim 8 above, Ghimire et al. disclose the method, wherein the first information comprises configuration information of the first uplink positioning reference signal resource, and the first information indicates that the first uplink positioning reference signal resource is unavailable (Figs. 7A-7F and page 9 lines 24-30, page 10 lines 21-26, and page 12 lines 19-20, uplink resources constrained or unscheduled to avoid interference).
Referring to Claim 15 as applied to Claim 8 above, Ghimire et al. disclose the method, wherein when the first information comprises an available identifier of the first uplink positioning reference signal resource, the first information indicates that the first uplink positioning reference signal resource is available; or when the first information does not comprise an available identifier of the first uplink positioning reference signal resource, the first information indicates that the first uplink positioning reference signal resource is unavailable (Figs. 7A-7F and page 9 lines 24-30, page 10 lines 21-26, and page 12 lines 19-20, uplink resources constrained or unscheduled to avoid interference).
Referring to Claim 16, Ghimire et al. disclose a device (page 9 lines 24-30, page
10 lines 21-26, and page 12 lines 19-20, network node/gNB), comprising:
a processor; and a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a program to be executed by the processor, the program including instructions to (page 9 lines 24-30, page 10 lines 21-26, and page 12 lines 19-20, processor/such medium is inherent in network node/gNB to perform its functionality):
receive first information sent by a location management function network element (LMF), wherein the first information indicates that a first uplink positioning reference signal resource is available or the first uplink positioning reference signal resource is unavailable (page 9 lines 24-30, page 10 lines 21-26, and page 12 lines 19-20, LMF informs network node/gNB on uplink resources constrained or unscheduled to avoid interference); and
configure an uplink positioning reference signal resource for a first terminal device based on the first information (page 11 lines 4-6 and page 12 lines 19-20, gNB configures UE to transmit uplink positioning reference signal).
Referring to Claim 17 as applied to Claim 16 above, Ghimire et al. disclose the device, wherein when the first information indicates that a plurality of uplink positioning reference signal resources are available or unavailable, the first uplink positioning reference signal resource is any one of the plurality of uplink positioning reference signal resources (page 9 lines 24-30, page 10 lines 21-26, and page 12 lines 19-20, LMF informs network node/gNB on uplink resources constrained or unscheduled to avoid interference).
Referring to Claim 18 as applied to Claim 16 above, Ghimire et al. disclose the device, wherein program including instructions to: receive a first message from the LMF, wherein the first message is used to request the first network device to configure an uplink positioning reference signal resource for the first terminal device, and the first message carries the first information (page 9 lines 24-30, page 10 lines 21-26, and page 12 lines 19-20, LMF requests network node/gNB on uplink resources constrained or unscheduled to avoid interference).
Referring to Claim 19 as applied to Claim 16 above, Ghimire et al. disclose the device, wherein program including instructions to: send second information to the LMF, wherein the second information indicates a second uplink positioning reference signal resource, the second uplink positioning reference signal resource is an uplink positioning reference signal resource that the first network device expects to configure for the first terminal device, and the second uplink positioning reference signal resource comprises the first uplink positioning reference signal resource (page 9 lines 17-20, LMF acquires resources from network node/gNB).
Referring to Claim 20 as applied to Claim 16 above, Ghimire et al. disclose the method, the first information comprises configuration information of the first uplink positioning reference signal resource and a first identifier associated with the configuration information; and when a value of the first identifier is a first value, the first information indicates that the first uplink positioning reference signal resource is available; or when a value of the first identifier is a second value, the first information indicates that the first uplink positioning reference signal resource is unavailable (page 30 lines 8-13, page 9 lines 24-30, page 10 lines 21-26, and page 12 lines 19-20, LMF identifies/requests network node/gNB on uplink resources constrained or unscheduled to avoid interference).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to Applicant's disclosure.
The following patents/patent application publications are cited to further show the state of the art with respect to uplink resources: U.S. Pat. Application Pub. No. 2019/0254061 to Manolakos et al.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SUHAIL KHAN whose telephone number is (571)270-7187. The examiner can normally be reached on M-TH 8:30am-6:30pm. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Rafael Perez-Gutierrez can be reached on 5712727915. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. 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. Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative or access to the automated information system, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/Suhail Khan/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2642