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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of papers submitted under 35 U.S.C. 119(a)-(d), which papers have been placed of record in the file.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDS) submitted on 10/12/2023, 4/9/2024, 1/8/2025. are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the Examiner.
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)(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.
Claims 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Qiao
et al. (U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2021/0360371)
Referring to Claim 1, Qiao et al. disclose a method of communication performed by a location management function (LMF) (pars 400 and 401, LMF; par 426, LMF), comprising: receiving one or more positioning capability reports from a user equipment (UE), the one or more positioning capability reports including a set of values for a set of positioning capability parameters of the UE (pars 400 and 401, LMF receives UE capability notification; pars 426, LMF receives UE positioning capability information from UE); and transmitting the set of values to an access and mobility management function (AMF) via one or more capability transfer messages to enable the AMF to store the set of values for subsequent positioning sessions involving the UE (pars 400 and 401, LMF sends UE capability notification to AMF; pars 427-434, LMF sends capability to AMF; par 436, positioning).
Referring to Claim 2 as applied to Claim 1 above, Qiao et al. disclose the method, further comprising: receiving, from the AMF, a location services request for a location of the UE (par 425, positioning capability request including service level/area, etc.).
Referring to Claim 3 as applied to Claim 2 above, Qiao et al. disclose the method, further comprising: performing at least one positioning procedure with the UE to determine the location of the UE (par 436, positioning).
Referring to Claim 4 as applied to Claim 3 above, Qiao et al. disclose the method, wherein the one or more positioning capability reports are obtained from the UE during the at least one positioning procedure (pars 400, 401, and 436, positioning, capability).
Referring to Claim 5 as applied to Claim 3 above, Qiao et al. disclose the method, wherein the at least one positioning procedure comprises: at least one downlink-based positioning procedure, at least one uplink-based positioning procedure, at least one downlink-and-uplink-based positioning procedure, or any combination thereof (par 380. DL-TDOA).
Referring to Claim 6 as applied to Claim 5 above, Qiao et al. disclose the method, wherein: the at least one downlink-based positioning procedure is at least one downlink time difference of arrival (DL-TDOA) procedure, at least one downlink angle of departure (DL-AoD) procedure, or any combination thereof, the at least one uplink-based positioning procedure is at least one uplink time difference of arrival (UL-TDOA) procedure, and the at least one downlink-and-uplink-based positioning procedure is at least one round-trip-time (RTT)-based procedure (par 380, DL-TDOA).
Referring to Claim 7 as applied to Claim 1 above, Qiao et al. disclose the method, wherein the set of values is non-variable for subsequent positioning sessions involving the UE (par 36, capability information used in position, equal, level/area).
Referring to Claim 8, Qiao et al. disclose a method of communication performed by an access and mobility management function (AMF) (pars 400 and 401, AMF; par 426, AMF), comprising: transmitting, to a location management function (LMF), a location services request for a location of a user equipment (UE) (par 425, positioning capability request including service level/area); and receiving a set of values for a set of positioning capability parameters of the UE from the LMF via one or more capability transfer messages (pars 400 and 401, LMF sends UE capability notification to AMF; pars 427-434, LMF sends capability to AMF).
Referring to Claim 9 as applied to Claim 8 above, Qiao et al. disclose the method, further comprising: storing the set of values for subsequent positioning sessions involving the UE (pars 400, 401, and 427-436, positioning).
Referring to Claim 10 as applied to Claim 8 above, Qiao et al. disclose the method, wherein the set of values is non-variable for subsequent positioning sessions involving the UE (par 36, capability information used in position, equal, level/area).
Referring to Claim 11, Qiao et al. disclose a location management function (LMF) (pars 400 and 401, LMF; par 426, LMF), comprising: one or more memories (pars 400 and 401, LMF; par 426, LMF; Also Fig. 14 and pars 352 and 353, memory); one or more transceivers (pars 400 and 401, LMF; par 426, LMF; Also Fig. 14); and one or more processors (pars 400 and 401, LMF; par 426, LMF; Also Fig. 14 and pars 352 and 353, Processing System) communicatively coupled to the one or more memories and the one or more transceivers, (pars 400 and 401, LMF; par 426, LMF) the one or more processors, either alone or in combination, configured to: receive, via the one or more transceivers one or more positioning capability reports from a user equipment (UE), the one or more positioning capability reports including a set of values for a set of positioning capability parameters of the UE (pars 400 and 401, LMF receives UE capability notification; pars 426, LMF receives UE positioning capability information from UE); and transmit, via the one or more transceivers the set of values to an access and mobility management function (AMF) via one or more capability transfer messages to enable the AMF to store the set of values for subsequent positioning sessions involving the UE (pars 400 and 401, LMF sends UE capability notification to AMF; pars 427-434, LMF sends capability to AMF; par 436, positioning).
Referring to Claim 12 as applied to Claim 11 above, Qiao et al. disclose the LMF, wherein the one or more processors, either alone or in combination, are further configured to: receive, via the one or more transceivers from the AMF, a location services request for a location of the UE (par 425, positioning capability request including service level/area, etc.).
Referring to Claim 13 as applied to Claim 12 above, Qiao et al. disclose the LMF, wherein the one or more processors, either alone or in combination, are further configured to: perform at least one positioning procedure with the UE to determine the location of the UE (par 436, positioning).
Referring to Claim 14 as applied to Claim 13 above, Qiao et al. disclose the LMF, wherein the one or more positioning capability reports are obtained from the UE during the at least one positioning procedure (pars 400, 401, and 436, positioning, capability).
Referring to Claim 15 as applied to Claim 13 above, Qiao et al. disclose the LMF, wherein the at least one positioning procedure comprises: at least one downlink-based positioning procedure, at least one uplink-based positioning procedure, at least one downlink-and-uplink-based positioning procedure, or any combination thereof (par 380. DL-TDOA).
Referring to Claim 16 as applied to Claim 15 above, Qiao et al. disclose the LMF, wherein: the at least one downlink-based positioning procedure is at least one downlink time difference of arrival (DL-TDOA) procedure, at least one downlink angle of departure (DL-AoD) procedure, or any combination thereof, the at least one uplink-based positioning procedure is at least one uplink time difference of arrival (UL-TDOA) procedure, and the at least one downlink-and-uplink-based positioning procedure is at least one round-trip-time (RTT)-based procedure (par 380, DL-TDOA).
Referring to Claim 17 as applied to Claim 11 above, Qiao et al. disclose the LMF, wherein the set of values is non-variable for subsequent positioning sessions involving the UE (par 36, capability information used in position, equal, level/area).
Referring to Claim 18, Qiao et al. disclose an access and mobility management function (AMF) (pars 400 and 401, AMF; Fig. 14 and par 426, AMF), comprising: one or more memories (pars 400 and 401, AMF; par 426, AMF; Fig. 14 and par 352, memory); one or more transceivers (pars 400 and 401, AMF; par 426, AMF; Fig. 14); and one or more processors (pars 400 and 401, AMF; par 426, AMF; Fig. 14 and par 352, Processing System) communicatively coupled to the one or more memories and the one or more transceivers, the one or more processors, either alone or in combination, configured to: transmit, via the one or more transceivers to a location management function (LMF), a location services request for a location of a user equipment (UE) (par 425, positioning capability request including service level/area); and receive, via the one or more transceivers a set of values for a set of positioning capability parameters of the UE from the LMF via one or more capability transfer messages (pars 400 and 401, LMF sends UE capability notification to AMF; pars 427-434, LMF sends capability to AMF).
Referring to Claim 19 as applied to Claim 18 above, Qiao et al. disclose the LMF, wherein the one or more processors, either alone or in combination, are further configured to: store, in the one or more memories, the set of values for subsequent positioning sessions involving the UE (pars 400, 401, and 427-436, positioning).
Referring to Claim 20 as applied to Claim 18 above, Qiao et al. disclose the LMF, wherein the set of values is non-variable for subsequent positioning sessions involving the UE (par 36, capability information used in position, equal, level/area).
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 Positioning: U.S. Pat. Application Pub. No. 2023/0388958 to Shreevastav 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