DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
1. 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 § 112
2. The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
3. Claims 3, 10, 17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claim 3 recites the limitation "the first detected path" in line 3. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 3 further recites to provide the set of RSRP measurements report to the base station. Claim 1 also recites to an RSRP measurements report. It is not clear whether the RSRP measurements report in claim 3 is same or different than the RSRP measurements report in claim 1.
Claims 10 and 17 recite limitations similar to claim 3 above and thereby, are rejected for the reasons discussed above with respect to claim 3.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
4. 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.
5. Claims 1-2, 5, 7-9, 12, 14-16, and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by El Hamss et al (US 20240422716, hereinafter referred to as El Hamss).
Re claim 1, El Hamss teaches a method (Fig. 4, Fig. 11), comprising:
(i) determining that bandwidth aggregation is enabled (aggregation of frequency layers/bandwidths/CCs) for a plurality of positioning reference signal (PRS) resources across a plurality of positioning frequency layers (PFLs) (Prs resources included within the plurality of frequency layers) (Fig. 2-4, Fig. 11, Par 0082-0083, Par 0088, Par 0091-0092, Par 0098-0102, Par 0111, Par 0119-0124, Par 0123-0124, Par 0126-0130);
(ii) receiving, from a base station, the plurality of PRS resources (gNB configures plurality of frequency layers including a plurality of PRS resources) (Fig. 2-4, Fig. 11, Par 0082, Par 0091-0092, Par 0102, Par 0110-0111, Par 0119-0124, Par 0126-0130, Par 0134, Par 0169);
(iii) determining a first set of reference signal receive power (RSRP) measurements of at least a first subset of the plurality of PRS resources (measuring PRS within a plurality of frequency layer), the first subset including PRS resources from more than one PFL of the plurality of PFLs (measured PRS resources are included within a plurality of frequency layers) (Fig. 2-4, Fig. 11, Par 0082, Par 0091-0092, Par 0102, Par 0110-0111, Par 0119-0124, Par 0126-0130, Par 0134, Par 0169);
(iv) providing, to the base station, on each component carrier (CC) of a plurality of CCs (each frequency layer is associated with a CC), a report of the first set of RSRP measurements (the measurement report is sent via the plurality of frequency layers (Fig. 4, Par 0124) and each frequency layer is associated with a CC) (Fig. 4, Fig. 11, Par 0006, Par 0124-0130, Par 0133, Par 0153, Par 0161, Par 0169).
Claim 8 recites an apparatus performing the steps recited in claim 1 and thereby, is rejected for the reasons discussed above with respect to claim 1. Li further teaches that the apparatus comprises processing circuitry (Processor) (Fig. 1B, Par 0041-0042).
Claim 15 recites a non-transitory computer-readable memory medium storing instructions to be executed by a processor to perform steps recited in claim 1 and thereby, is rejected for the reasons discussed above with respect to claim 1. Li further teaches a non-transitory computer-readable memory medium (Memory) storing instructions executable by a processor of a user equipment (UE) (Fig. 1B, Par 0041-0050).
Re claims 2, 9, 16, El Hamss teaches to determining a second set of RSRP measurements of a second subset of the plurality of PRS resources, the PRS resources of the second subset belonging to a single PRS resource set (performing per CC/frequency layer RSRP measurements); provide, to the base station, on a single CC of the plurality of CCs, a report of second set of RSRP measurements (sending per CC/frequency layer RSRP measurement report) (Fig. 3-4, Par 0124, Par 0129-0131).
Re claims 5, 12, 19, El Hamss teaches that each CC of the plurality of CCs contains a subset of the plurality of PRS resources (each CC includes one or more frequency layers, and each frequency layer includes PRS resource sets) (Fig. 2-4, Fig. 11, Par 0082, Par 0093-0100, Par 0111, Par 0123-0124, Par 0169).
Re claims 7, 14, El Hamss teaches that the PRS resources are non-contiguous (PRS resources included within non-contiguous Frequency layers, Fig. 3-4, Fig. 11, PRS resources included within non-contiguous Frequency hops) (Fig. 3-4, Fig. 6, Fig. 11, Par 0093-0095, Par 0124, Par 0148-0149, Par 0169).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
6. 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.
7. Claims 3-4, 10-11, and 17-18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over El Hamss as applied to claim 1 above and further in view of Li et al (US 20250151019, hereinafter referred to as Li).
Re claims 3, 10, 17, El Hamss does not explicitly disclose to determine a set of reference signal received path power (RSRPP) measurements for the first detected path of at least a third subset of the plurality of PRS resources, the third subset including PRS resources from more than one PFL of the plurality of PFLs; provide, to the base station, a report of the set of RSRP measurements.
Li teaches to determine a set of reference signal received path power (RSRPP) measurements for the first detected path of at least a third subset of the plurality of PRS resources (performing path RSRP (RSRPP) measurements for a plurality of frequency layers), the third subset including PRS resources from more than one PFL of the plurality of PFLs ((PRS related to a plurality of frequency layers); provide, to the base station, a report of the set of RSRP measurements (providing a measurement report to the network device) (Fig. 10-12, Fig. 16, Abstract, Par 0078, Par 0178-0184, Par 0187-0192).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the filing date of the invention to modify El Hamss by including the step to determine a set of reference signal received path power (RSRPP) measurements for the first detected path of at least a third subset of the plurality of PRS resources, the third subset including PRS resources from more than one PFL of the plurality of PFLs; provide, to the base station, a report of the set of RSRP measurements, as taught by Li for the purpose of providing a positioning configuration in the carrier aggregation (CA) scenario to increase the accuracy and efficiency of positioning procedures in wireless communication networks, as taught by Li (Par 0031).
Re claims 4, 11, 18, El Hamss does not explicitly disclose to determine a set of receive-transmit time difference measurements of at least a third subset of the plurality of PRS resources, the third subset including PRS resources from more than one PFL of the plurality of PFLs; provide, to the base station, a report of the set of receive-transmit time difference measurements.
Li teaches to determine a set of receive-transmit time difference measurements of at least a third subset of the plurality of PRS resources (UERX-TX time difference measurement), the third subset including PRS resources from more than one PFL of the plurality of PFLs (PRS related to a plurality of frequency layers); provide, to the base station, a report of the set of receive-transmit time difference measurements (providing a measurement report to the network device) (Fig. 10-12, Fig. 16, Abstract, Par 0078, Par 0173, Par 0178-0184, Par 0187-0192, Par 0202-0204, Par 0215).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the filing date of the invention to modify El Hamss by including the step to determine a set of receive-transmit time difference measurements of at least a third subset of the plurality of PRS resources, the third subset including PRS resources from more than one PFL of the plurality of PFLs; provide, to the base station, a report of the set of receive-transmit time difference measurements, as taught by Li for the purpose of providing a positioning configuration in the carrier aggregation (CA) scenario to increase the accuracy and efficiency of positioning procedures in wireless communication networks, as taught by Li (Par 0031).
8. Claims 6, 13, and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over El Hamss as applied to claim 1 above and further in view of Li (US 20250023689, hereinafter referred to as Li’ 689).
Re claims 6, 13, 20, El Hamss does not explicitly disclose that the PRS resources have a higher priority level than a synchronization signal block (SSB).
Li’ 689 teaches that the PRS resources have a higher priority level than a synchronization signal block (SSB) (Fig. 3-4, Par 0005, Par 0036-0037, Par 0041-0053, Par 0095-0099, Par 0168).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the filing date of the invention to modify El Hamss by including the step that the PRS resources have a higher priority level than a synchronization signal block (SSB), as taught by Li’ 689 for the purpose of transmitting a reference signal for positioning to enhance the positioning accuracy, as taught by Li’ 689 (Par 0028-0029).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to HARUN UR R CHOWDHURY whose telephone number is (571)270-3895. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 9AM-5PM.
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/HARUN CHOWDHURY/Examiner, Art Unit 2473
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