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 statement(s) (IDS) submitted on 2023-11-29 is being considered by the examiner.
Claim Objections
Claim 14 objected to because of the following informalities: claim limitation reads "based on estimated a distance measurement variance distance, a distance …" for examination purposes, the examiner interpreted the claim as "based on estimated distance measurement variance, a distance …". Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claim(s) 1-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chiang et al. (CA2325644A1), hereinafter Chiang, in view of Bao et al. (WO2023056152A1), hereinafter Bao.
Regarding Claim 1, Chiang discloses a method to a first network entity for operating multiple carriers, the first network entity comprising: a processor configured to: identify a plurality of carrier frequencies for measuring carrier phases from a set of predefined carrier frequencies estimate, based on the measured carrier phases, a distance between the first network entity and a second network entity using a carrier ranging operation that is performed between the first network entity and the second network entity (Chiang, fig. 9; In general, the information is gathered from two sources: the mobile and the base stations. In a typical wireless system, the mobile reports back to the serving base station the round trip delay measurements in the downlink. The; RTD measurement is used to calculate the distance between the mobile and the serving base station. Directly coupled to MSC 801 is PDE 803 which computes the location of a mobile), select, based on the estimated distance, historical information, a variation of measured distance, and channel status information, (Chiang, fig. 9; PDE 803 may derive geolocation information from a plurality of sources. Also directly coupled to MSC 801 and PDE 803 i.s application module 901. Application module 901 is configured to receive general information from MSC 801 and to receive geolocation information from PDE 803) at least one carrier frequency from the plurality of carrier frequencies to refine distance measurement (Chiang, figs. 8-9; network enhancement module 905 receives the geographical position of the mobile from PDE 803 to assist in beam steering/selection of intelligent antennas.); and a transceiver operably coupled to the processor, the transceiver configured to transmit to and receive from, the second network entity, signals over the selected at least one carrier frequency entity (Chiang, Detailed Description; A mobile transceiver (i.e., a mobile) communicating with one or more base station transceivers has multiple sources of information from which its geographical position may be estimated. For example, location information can be derived from (i) signal strength (ii) angle of arrival (AOA) of the signal; and (iii) time difference of arrival
PNG
media_image1.png
470
723
media_image1.png
Greyscale
(TDOA) of the signal.).
Chiang does not explicitly teach a processor configured to make a selection of at least one carrier based on channel status information. However, Bao discloses a method and apparatus which provide a positioning node with assistance data for position estimation using carrier phase combination in a cellular positioning system using channel quality indicators (Bao, par.53; At the base station 110, a transmit processor 220 may receive data, from a data source 212, intended for the UE 120 (or a set of UEs 120). The transmit processor 220 may select one or more modulation and coding schemes (MCSs) for the UE 120 based at least in part on one or more channel quality indicators (CQIs) received from that UE 120).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Chiang’s network enhancement method using geolocation and distance estimation with Bao’s device and techniques for carrier selection based on channel quality indicators to improve ranging accuracy and handoff via geolocation on cellular networks using error based carrier configuration.
Regarding Claim 2, the combination of Chiang and Bao discloses the network entity of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to: determine the plurality of carrier frequencies for measuring carrier phases based on an availability of channels, interference of the channels (Chiang, Detailed description; In the case of fixed-beam antennas, geolocation information is used to assign a mobile to one of the available antennas based on the alignment of the beam directivity and the mobile's position. The assignment is made after considering a plurality of factors including availability of antennas, number of mobiles, and the geolocation information), and existing channel selection results based on a channel selection algorithm (Bao, par. 30; in a cellular positioning system, carrier phase measurements associated with multiple carriers may be combined to reduce a search overhead associated with the IAR algorithm and/or to improve positioning accuracy)
Regarding Claim 3, the combination of Chiang and Bao discloses the network entity of Claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to: determine one or two carrier frequencies for measuring carrier phases from the plurality of carrier frequencies based on initial estimation of distance, a variance of distance, historic estimation results, and use cases; select one carrier frequency (Chiang, Detailed Description; Geolocation information is used to enhance load-balancing capabilities in a wireless system. Currently, in a wireless system, load balancing is accomplished by monitoring the number of mobiles trying to access a particular base station and, if the base station seems overloaded, by transferring the mobiles having relatively weak signal strength to other base station … The dynamic load-balancing scheme of the present invention incorporates geolocation information in the decision-making of load balancing. In addition to measuring radio signal strength, the geographical location and the velocity of the moving mobiles are considered in the decision of which mobiles should be transferred) for measuring carrier phase when a carrier wavelength is more than a predefined threshold that multiplies a variance of distance error (Bao, Detailed Description, par. 99; the LMF may resolve integer cycle information associated with the carrier phase measurements based on the phase error related information reported by the reference node); and select two carrier frequencies for measuring carrier phases when the carrier wavelength of a beat frequency is more than a predefined threshold that multiplies the variance of distance error (Bao, Detailed Description, par. 99; the IAR algorithm may be performed using a carrier phase combination (e.g., a combination of carriers used to transmit the reference signals) to minimize a combined error in the combined carrier phase measurements. Accordingly, based on the variance of the measurement errors for the combined carriers, σ2φL1 and σ2φL the LMF may select a carrier phase combination associated with carrier phase combination coefficients, a and a2, that minimizes the combined measurement error)
Regarding Claim 4, Bao further discloses the network entity of Claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to: estimate, based on the measured carrier phase or carrier phases, a fractional number of cycles of a carrier wavelength or a beat carrier wavelength estimate, based on a previously estimated distance, a carrier wavelength of the selected carrier phase or phases (Bao, fig. 6, par 84; using carrier phase measurements to estimate a position may generally depend on using an IAR algorithm to solve for the variable N, which represents an integer number of full cycles associated with a carrier wave during transmit from a transmitter to a receiver), and the estimated fractional number of cycles of the carrier wavelength or a beat carrier wavelength, an integer number of cycles of the carrier wavelength or beat carrier wavelength; and determine the updated distance measurement between the first network entity and the second network entity based on at least one of the estimated fractional number of cycles, an integer number of cycles, the carrier wavelength, or beat carrier wavelength (Bao, par. 99; the LMF may be able to refine the coarse position estimate for the target node (e.g., by multiplying the carrier wavelength(s) by the integer number of cycles and the fractional phase measured at the receiver to determine distances or ranges between the target node and one or more anchors)).
Regarding Claim 5, the combination of Chiang and Bao discloses the network entity of Claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to: determine a distance measurement variance based on at least one of a variance of system phase measurement (Chiang, fig. 9; In general, the information is gathered from two sources: the mobile and the base stations. In a typical wireless system, the mobile reports back to the serving base station the round trip delay measurements in the downlink. The; RTD measurement is used to calculate the distance between the mobile and the serving base station. Directly coupled to MSC 801 is PDE 803 which computes the location of a mobile), a carrier wavelength, or a beat carrier wavelength (Bao, par. 99; the LMF may be able to refine the coarse position estimate for the target node (e.g., by multiplying the carrier wavelength(s) by the integer number of cycles and the fractional phase measured at the receiver to determine distances or ranges between the target node and one or more anchors)); select, another carrier frequency from the plurality of carrier frequencies based on the determined distance measurement variance and previously used carrier frequencies (Bao, par. 99; the LMF may select a carrier phase combination associated with carrier phase combination coefficients, a and a2, that minimizes the combined measurement error)); estimate, based on the measured carrier phase, a fractional number of cycles of the beat carrier wavelength (Bao, par. 71; carrier phase measurements are based on the general principle that any range or distance (e.g., from a receiver to a transmitter) may be calculated by multiplying a wavelength of a carrier wave by an integer number of full cycles between the transmitter and the receiver and adding a fractional carrier phase); estimate, based on a previously estimated distance, the carrier wavelength of the selected carrier phase, and the estimated fractional number of cycles of the beat carrier wavelength, an integer number of cycles of the beat carrier wavelength (Bao, par 73; A receiver may directly measure the carrier wavelength A and the fractional carrier phase 9. and may further resolve the distance p to the transmitter by eliminating or mitigating errors from the carrier phase measurement and solving for the integer number of full cycles using the IAR algorithm); and determine, the updated distance measurement between the first network entity and the second network entity based on the estimated fractional number of cycles, the integer number of cycles, and the beat carrier wavelength (Bao, par 73; a resolution of the carrier phase measurement may be determined by the carrier wavelength and the fractional carrier phase measurement, which results in a much finer resolution than a pseudo-range)
Regarding Claim 6, Bao further discloses the network entity of Claim 5, wherein the variance of estimated distance is calculated by multiplying the variance of system carrier phase with the carrier wavelength or the beat carrier wavelength (Bao, par. 71; carrier phase measurements are based on the general principle that any range or distance (e.g., from a receiver to a transmitter) may be calculated by multiplying a wavelength of a carrier wave by an integer number of full cycles between the transmitter and the receiver and adding a fractional carrier phase)
Regarding Claim 7, the combination of Chiang and Bao discloses the network entity of Claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to: determine, based on estimated distance measurement variance, a distance estimation frequency, and a distance measurement accuracy requirement, a stop condition for a carrier frequency selection (Chiang, Detailed Description; Geolocation information is used to enhance load-balancing capabilities in a wireless system. Currently, in a wireless system, load balancing is accomplished by monitoring the number of mobiles trying to access a particular base station and, if the base station seems overloaded, by transferring the mobiles having relatively weak signal strength to other base station … The dynamic load-balancing scheme of the present invention incorporates geolocation information in the decision-making of load balancing. In addition to measuring radio signal strength, the geographical location and the velocity of the moving mobiles are considered in the decision of which mobiles should be transferred); and output the estimated distance measurement and the estimated measurement variance (Bao, par. 65; carrier phase measurements may use a carrier wave as a signal without regard to information contained within the carrier wave, whereby a range or distance to a transmitter may be calculated by multiplying the wavelength of the carrier wave by an integer number of full cycles between the transmitter and the target node and adding a fractional phase difference. Accordingly, positioning based on carrier phase measurements may be associated with a measurement error based on the carrier phase wavelength)
Regarding Claim 8, Chiang discloses a method of a first network entity for operating multiple carriers, the method comprising: identifying a plurality of carrier frequencies for measuring carrier phases from a set of predefined carrier frequencies; estimating, based on the measured carrier phase, a distance between the first network entity and a second network entity using a carrier ranging operation that is performed between the first network entity and the second network entity (Chiang, fig. 9; In general, the information is gathered from two sources: the mobile and the base stations. In a typical wireless system, the mobile reports back to the serving base station the round trip delay measurements in the downlink. The; RTD measurement is used to calculate the distance between the mobile and the serving base station. Directly coupled to MSC 801 is PDE 803 which computes the location of a mobile; selecting, based on the estimated distance, historical information, a variation of measured distance, and channel status information (Chiang, fig. 9; PDE 803 may derive geolocation information from a plurality of sources. Also directly coupled to MSC 801 and PDE 803 i.s application module 901. Application module 901 is configured to receive general information from MSC 801 and to receive geolocation information from PDE 803), at least one carrier frequency from the plurality of carrier frequencies to refine distance measurement (Chiang, figs. 8-9; network enhancement module 905 receives the geographical position of the mobile from PDE 803 to assist in beam steering/selection of intelligent antennas); and transmitting, to and receive from the second network entity, signals over the selected at least one carrier frequency Chiang, Detailed Description; A mobile transceiver (i.e., a mobile) communicating with one or more base station transceivers has multiple sources of information from which its geographical position may be estimated. For example, location information can be derived from (i) signal strength (ii) angle of arrival (AOA) of the signal; and (iii) time difference of arrival (TDOA) of the signal).
Bao further discloses a method and apparatus which provide a positioning node with assistance data for position estimation using carrier phase combination in a cellular positioning system using channel quality indicators (Bao, par.53; At the base station 110, a transmit processor 220 may receive data, from a data source 212, intended for the UE 120 (or a set of UEs 120). The transmit processor 220 may select one or more modulation and coding schemes (MCSs) for the UE 120 based at least in part on one or more channel quality indicators (CQIs) received from that UE 120).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Chiang’s network enhancement method using geolocation and distance estimation with Bao’s device and techniques for carrier selection based on channel quality indicators to improve ranging accuracy and handoff via geolocation on cellular networks using error based carrier configuration.
Regarding Claim 9, the combination of Chiang and Bao discloses the method of claim 8, further comprising: determining the plurality of carrier frequencies for measuring carrier phases based on an availability of channels, interference of the channels (Chiang, Detailed description; In the case of fixed-beam antennas, geolocation information is used to assign a mobile to one of the available antennas based on the alignment of the beam directivity and the mobile's position. The assignment is made after considering a plurality of factors including availability of antennas, number of mobiles, and the geolocation information), and existing channel selection results based on a channel selection algorithm (Bao, par. 30; in a cellular positioning system, carrier phase measurements associated with multiple carriers may be combined to reduce a search overhead associated with the IAR algorithm and/or to improve positioning accuracy)
Regarding Claim 10, the combination of Chiang and Bao discloses the method of claim 8, further comprising: determining one or two carrier frequencies for measuring carrier phases from the plurality of carrier frequencies based on initial estimation of distance, a variance of distance, historic estimation results, and use cases; selecting one carrier frequency (Chiang, Detailed Description; Geolocation information is used to enhance load-balancing capabilities in a wireless system. Currently, in a wireless system, load balancing is accomplished by monitoring the number of mobiles trying to access a particular base station and, if the base station seems overloaded, by transferring the mobiles having relatively weak signal strength to other base station … The dynamic load-balancing scheme of the present invention incorporates geolocation information in the decision-making of load balancing. In addition to measuring radio signal strength, the geographical location and the velocity of the moving mobiles are considered in the decision of which mobiles should be transferred)for measuring carrier phase when a carrier wavelength is more than a predefined threshold that multiplies a variance of distance error (Bao, Detailed Description, par. 99; the LMF may resolve integer cycle information associated with the carrier phase measurements based on the phase error related information reported by the reference node); and selecting two carrier frequencies for measuring carrier phases when the carrier wavelength of a beat frequency is more than a predefined threshold that multiplies the variance of distance error (Bao, Detailed Description, par. 99; the IAR algorithm may be performed using a carrier phase combination (e.g., a combination of carriers used to transmit the reference signals) to minimize a combined error in the combined carrier phase measurements. Accordingly, based on the variance of the measurement errors for the combined carriers, σ2φL1 and σ2φL the LMF may select a carrier phase combination associated with carrier phase combination coefficients, a and a2, that minimizes the combined measurement error).
Regarding Claim 11, , Bao further discloses the method of claim 8 comprising: estimating, based on the measured carrier phase or carrier phases, a fractional number of cycles of a carrier wavelength or a beat carrier wavelength; estimating, based on a previously estimated distance, a carrier wavelength of the selected carrier phase or phases (Bao fig. 6, par 84; using carrier phase measurements to estimate a position may generally depend on using an IAR algorithm to solve for the variable N, which represents an integer number of full cycles associated with a carrier wave during transmit from a transmitter to a receiver), and the estimated fractional number of cycles of the carrier wavelength or a beat carrier wavelength, an integer number of cycles of the carrier wavelength or beat carrier wavelength; and determining, the updated distance measurement between the first network entity and the second network entity, based on the estimated fractional number of cycles and integer number of cycles and the carrier wavelength or beat carrier wavelength (Bao, par. 99; the LMF may be able to refine the coarse position estimate for the target node (e.g., by multiplying the carrier wavelength(s) by the integer number of cycles and the fractional phase measured at the receiver to determine distances or ranges between the target node and one or more anchors)).
Regarding Claim 12, the combination of Chiang and Bao discloses the method of claim 8 comprising: determining a distance measurement variance based on at least one of a variance of system phase measurement (Chiang, fig. 9; In general, the information is gathered from two sources: the mobile and the base stations. In a typical wireless system, the mobile reports back to the serving base station the round trip delay measurements in the downlink. The; RTD measurement is used to calculate the distance between the mobile and the serving base station. Directly coupled to MSC 801 is PDE 803 which computes the location of a mobile), a carrier wavelength, or a beat carrier wavelength (Bao, par. 99; the LMF may be able to refine the coarse position estimate for the target node (e.g., by multiplying the carrier wavelength(s) by the integer number of cycles and the fractional phase measured at the receiver to determine distances or ranges between the target node and one or more anchors)); selecting, another carrier frequency from the plurality of carrier frequencies based on the determined distance measurement variance and previously used carrier frequencies (Bao, par. 99; the LMF may select a carrier phase combination associated with carrier phase combination coefficients, a and a2, that minimizes the combined measurement error)); estimating, based on the measured carrier phase, a fractional number of cycles of the beat carrier wavelength (Bao, par 73; A receiver may directly measure the carrier wavelength A and the fractional carrier phase 9. and may further resolve the distance p to the transmitter by eliminating or mitigating errors from the carrier phase measurement and solving for the integer number of full cycles using the IAR algorithm); estimating, based on a previously estimated distance, the carrier wavelength of the selected carrier phase, and the estimated fractional number of cycles of the beat carrier wavelength, an integer number of cycles of the beat carrier wavelength; and determining, the updated distance measurement between the first network entity and the second network entity based on the estimated fractional number of cycles, an integer number of cycles, and the beat carrier wavelength (Bao, par 73; a resolution of the carrier phase measurement may be determined by the carrier wavelength and the fractional carrier phase measurement, which results in a much finer resolution than a pseudo-range).
Regarding Claim 13, bao further discloses the method of claim 12, wherein the variance of estimated distance is calculated by multiplying the variance of system carrier phase with the carrier wavelength or the beat carrier wavelength (Bao, par. 71; carrier phase measurements are based on the general principle that any range or distance (e.g., from a receiver to a transmitter) may be calculated by multiplying a wavelength of a carrier wave by an integer number of full cycles between the transmitter and the receiver and adding a fractional carrier phase).
Regarding Claim 14, the combination of Chiang and Bao discloses the method of claim 8 comprising: determining, based on estimated a distance measurement variance distance, a distance estimation frequency, and a distance measurement accuracy requirement, a stop condition for carrier frequency selection (Chiang, Detailed Description; Geolocation information is used to enhance load-balancing capabilities in a wireless system. Currently, in a wireless system, load balancing is accomplished by monitoring the number of mobiles trying to access a particular base station and, if the base station seems overloaded, by transferring the mobiles having relatively weak signal strength to other base station … The dynamic load-balancing scheme of the present invention incorporates geolocation information in the decision-making of load balancing. In addition to measuring radio signal strength, the geographical location and the velocity of the moving mobiles are considered in the decision of which mobiles should be transferred); and outputting the estimated distance measurement and the estimated measurement variance (Bao, par. 65; carrier phase measurements may use a carrier wave as a signal without regard to information contained within the carrier wave, whereby a range or distance to a transmitter may be calculated by multiplying the wavelength of the carrier wave by an integer number of full cycles between the transmitter and the target node and adding a fractional phase difference. Accordingly, positioning based on carrier phase measurements may be associated with a measurement error based on the carrier phase wavelength).
Regarding Claim 15, Chiang discloses a computer-readable medium comprising program code, that when executed by at least one processor, causes an electronic device to: identify a plurality of carrier frequencies for measuring carrier phases from a set of predefined carrier frequencies estimate, based on the measured carrier phases, a distance between the first network entity and a second network entity using a carrier ranging operation that is performed between the first network entity and the second network entity (Chiang, fig. 9; In general, the information is gathered from two sources: the mobile and the base stations. In a typical wireless system, the mobile reports back to the serving base station the round trip delay measurements in the downlink. The; RTD measurement is used to calculate the distance between the mobile and the serving base station. Directly coupled to MSC 801 is PDE 803 which computes the location of a mobile), select, based on the estimated distance, historical information, a variation of measured distance, and channel status information, (Chiang, fig. 9; PDE 803 may derive geolocation information from a plurality of sources. Also directly coupled to MSC 801 and PDE 803 i.s application module 901. Application module 901 is configured to receive general information from MSC 801 and to receive geolocation information from PDE 803) at least one carrier frequency from the plurality of carrier frequencies to refine distance measurement (Chiang, figs. 8-9; network enhancement module 905 receives the geographical position of the mobile from PDE 803 to assist in beam steering/selection of intelligent antennas.); and a transceiver operably coupled to the processor, the transceiver configured to transmit to and receive from, the second network entity, signals over the selected at least one carrier frequency entity (Chiang, Detailed Description; A mobile transceiver (i.e., a mobile) communicating with one or more base station transceivers has multiple sources of information from which its geographical position may be estimated. For example, location information can be derived from (i) signal strength (ii) angle of arrival (AOA) of the signal; and (iii) time difference of arrival (TDOA) of the signal).
Chiang. does not explicitly teach a non-transitory computer-readable medium making the selection of at least one carrier based on channel status information. However, Bao discloses a method and apparatus which provide a positioning node with assistance data for position estimation using carrier phase combination in a cellular positioning system using channel quality indicators (Bao, par.53; At the base station 110, a transmit processor 220 may receive data, from a data source 212, intended for the UE 120 (or a set of UEs 120). The transmit processor 220 may select one or more modulation and coding schemes (MCSs) for the UE 120 based at least in part on one or more channel quality indicators (CQIs) received from that UE 120).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Chiang’s network enhancement method using geolocation and distance estimation with Bao’s device and techniques for carrier selection based on channel quality indicators to improve ranging accuracy and handoff via geolocation on cellular networks using error based carrier configuration.
Regarding Claim 16, the combination of Chiang and Bao discloses the non-transitory computer-readable medium of Claim 15, further comprising program code, that when executed by at least one processor, causes an electronic device to: determine the plurality of carrier frequencies for measuring carrier phases based on an availability of channels, interference of the channels (Chiang, Detailed description; In the case of fixed-beam antennas, geolocation information is used to assign a mobile to one of the available antennas based on the alignment of the beam directivity and the mobile's position. The assignment is made after considering a plurality of factors including availability of antennas, number of mobiles, and the geolocation information), and existing channel selection results based on a channel selection algorithm (Bao, par. 30; in a cellular positioning system, carrier phase measurements associated with multiple carriers may be combined to reduce a search overhead associated with the IAR algorithm and/or to improve positioning accuracy)
Regarding Claim 17, the combination of Chiang and Bao discloses the non-transitory computer-readable medium of Claim 15, further comprising program code, that when executed by at least one processor, causes an electronic device to: determine one or two carrier frequencies for measuring carrier phases from the plurality of carrier frequencies based on initial estimation of distance, a variance of distance, historic estimation results, and use cases; select one carrier frequency (Chiang, Detailed Description; Geolocation information is used to enhance load-balancing capabilities in a wireless system. Currently, in a wireless system, load balancing is accomplished by monitoring the number of mobiles trying to access a particular base station and, if the base station seems overloaded, by transferring the mobiles having relatively weak signal strength to other base station … The dynamic load-balancing scheme of the present invention incorporates geolocation information in the decision-making of load balancing. In addition to measuring radio signal strength, the geographical location and the velocity of the moving mobiles are considered in the decision of which mobiles should be transferred) for measuring carrier phase when a carrier wavelength is more than a predefined threshold that multiplies a variance of distance error (Bao, Detailed Description, par. 99; the LMF may resolve integer cycle information associated with the carrier phase measurements based on the phase error related information reported by the reference node); and select two carrier frequencies for measuring carrier phases when the carrier wavelength of a beat frequency is more than a predefined threshold that multiplies the variance of distance error (Bao, Detailed Description, par. 99; the IAR algorithm may be performed using a carrier phase combination (e.g., a combination of carriers used to transmit the reference signals) to minimize a combined error in the combined carrier phase measurements. Accordingly, based on the variance of the measurement errors for the combined carriers, σ2φL1 and σ2φL the LMF may select a carrier phase combination associated with carrier phase combination coefficients, a and a2, that minimizes the combined measurement error)
Regarding Claim 18, Bao further discloses the non-transitory computer-readable medium of Claim 15, further comprising program code, that when executed by at least one processor, causes an electronic device to: estimate, based on the measured carrier phase or carrier phases, a fractional number of cycles of a carrier wavelength or a beat carrier wavelength estimate, based on a previously estimated distance, a carrier wavelength of the selected carrier phase or phases (Bao, fig. 6, par 84; using carrier phase measurements to estimate a position may generally depend on using an IAR algorithm to solve for the variable N, which represents an integer number of full cycles associated with a carrier wave during transmit from a transmitter to a receiver), and the estimated fractional number of cycles of the carrier wavelength or a beat carrier wavelength, an integer number of cycles of the carrier wavelength or beat carrier wavelength; and determine the updated distance measurement between the first network entity and the second network entity based on at least one of the estimated fractional number of cycles, an integer number of cycles, the carrier wavelength, or beat carrier wavelength (Bao, par. 99; the LMF may be able to refine the coarse position estimate for the target node (e.g., by multiplying the carrier wavelength(s) by the integer number of cycles and the fractional phase measured at the receiver to determine distances or ranges between the target node and one or more anchors)).
Regarding Claim 19, Bao further discloses the non-transitory computer-readable medium of Claim 15, further comprising program code, that when executed by at least one processor, causes an electronic device to: determine a distance measurement variance based on at least one of a variance of system phase measurement (Chiang, fig. 9; In general, the information is gathered from two sources: the mobile and the base stations. In a typical wireless system, the mobile reports back to the serving base station the round trip delay measurements in the downlink. The; RTD measurement is used to calculate the distance between the mobile and the serving base station. Directly coupled to MSC 801 is PDE 803 which computes the location of a mobile), a carrier wavelength, or a beat carrier wavelength (Bao, par. 99; the LMF may be able to refine the coarse position estimate for the target node (e.g., by multiplying the carrier wavelength(s) by the integer number of cycles and the fractional phase measured at the receiver to determine distances or ranges between the target node and one or more anchors)); select, another carrier frequency from the plurality of carrier frequencies based on the determined distance measurement variance and previously used carrier frequencies (Bao, par. 99; the LMF may select a carrier phase combination associated with carrier phase combination coefficients, a and a2, that minimizes the combined measurement error)); estimate, based on the measured carrier phase, a fractional number of cycles of the beat carrier wavelength (Bao, par. 71; carrier phase measurements are based on the general principle that any range or distance (e.g., from a receiver to a transmitter) may be calculated by multiplying a wavelength of a carrier wave by an integer number of full cycles between the transmitter and the receiver and adding a fractional carrier phase); estimate, based on a previously estimated distance, the carrier wavelength of the selected carrier phase, and the estimated fractional number of cycles of the beat carrier wavelength, an integer number of cycles of the beat carrier wavelength (Bao, par 73; A receiver may directly measure the carrier wavelength A and the fractional carrier phase 9. and may further resolve the distance p to the transmitter by eliminating or mitigating errors from the carrier phase measurement and solving for the integer number of full cycles using the IAR algorithm); and determine, the updated distance measurement between the first network entity and the second network entity based on the estimated fractional number of cycles, the integer number of cycles, and the beat carrier wavelength (Bao, par 73; a resolution of the carrier phase measurement may be determined by the carrier wavelength and the fractional carrier phase measurement, which results in a much finer resolution than a pseudo-range)
Regarding Claim 20, Bao further discloses the non-transitory computer-readable medium of Claim 15, further comprising program code, that when executed by at least one processor, causes an electronic device to: determine, based on estimated distance measurement variance, a distance estimation frequency, and a distance measurement accuracy requirement, a stop condition for a carrier frequency selection (Chiang, Detailed Description; Geolocation information is used to enhance load-balancing capabilities in a wireless system. Currently, in a wireless system, load balancing is accomplished by monitoring the number of mobiles trying to access a particular base station and, if the base station seems overloaded, by transferring the mobiles having relatively weak signal strength to other base station … The dynamic load-balancing scheme of the present invention incorporates geolocation information in the decision-making of load balancing. In addition to measuring radio signal strength, the geographical location and the velocity of the moving mobiles are considered in the decision of which mobiles should be transferred); and output the estimated distance measurement and the estimated measurement variance (Bao, par. 65; carrier phase measurements may use a carrier wave as a signal without regard to information contained within the carrier wave, whereby a range or distance to a transmitter may be calculated by multiplying the wavelength of the carrier wave by an integer number of full cycles between the transmitter and the target node and adding a fractional phase difference. Accordingly, positioning based on carrier phase measurements may be associated with a measurement error based on the carrier phase wavelength)
It is noted that any citations to specific pages, columns, lines or figures in the prior art references and any interpretation of the reference should not be considered limiting in any way. A reference is relevant for all it contains and may be relied upon for all that it would have reasonably suggested to a person of ordinary skill in the art. See MPEP 2123
Conclusion
The following prior art is made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to the applicant’s disclosure.
Markhovsky; Felix (US-10863313-B2) Network architecture and methods for location services, 2020-12-08.
Dupray; Dennis J (US-8994591-B2) Locating a mobile station and applications therefor, 2015-03-31.
Ryan; Daniel James (US-20220171047-A1) Radio frequency distance determination, 2022-06-02.
Duan: Jianghai (EP-2894913-B1) METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR POSITIONING MOBILE TERMINAL, 2019-06-19
Waheed; Khurram (US-11422250-B2) Method and technique of power-efficient two-way phase based distance estimation using packet synchronized data capture, 2022-08-23
MACDONALD A D (CN-100367819-C) Method and apparatus for mobile station position estimation, 2008-02-06
CHIU PI-CHEN (EP-3483621-A1) CHANNEL-BASED POSITIONING DEVICE AND CHANNEL-BASED POSITIONING METHOD, 2019-05-15
YUAN; FANG (US-20210126679-A1) METHODS AND DEVICES FOR CHANNEL STATE INFORMATION TRANSMISSION, 2021-04-29
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MARIO R CAMPERO MIRAMONTES whose telephone number is (571)272-5792. The examiner can normally be reached Monday -Thursday 0730 - 1730.
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, Yuwen Pan can be reached at (571) 272-7855. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/MRCM/ Examiner, Art Unit 2649
/YUWEN PAN/ Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2649