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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 07/16/2026 has been entered.
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) 34-40, 42-49, 51-53 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Yu et al. (US Pub No. 2021/0266859).
Claim 34, Yu discloses a method performed by a first network node comprising: transmitting, to a second network node (See Fig 3 “disclosed a first, and second network node”), a message comprising search window (search window is defined for dynamic search window for angle of arrival estimation) information (See par [0159] “parameters carried in the NRPPA message are shown in the following TABLE 1 with periodicity Search Window Parameters Optional Used to measure a relative uplink arrival time Measurement Quantities Optional Indicating the base station to measure “), the search window information comprising: information associated with an expected angle wherein the expected angle comprises an expected Zenith of Arrival, ZoA, and information associated with an uncertainty level of the expected angle (par [0166] included angle between the propagation path of the reference signal and a zenith direction. The pitch angle of the reference signal is ZAOA∈[0°, 180°]), and receiving, a response message from the second network node (par [0163] “an uncertainty level of the expected angle performed by measuring an incident angle of a strongest path of the reference signal, or the UAOA may be obtained by measuring an incident angle of a line-of-sight path of the reference signal; the UAOA obtained by measuring an incident angle of a second strongest path of the reference signal may be used as an alternative option”, wherein the response message indicates that the second network node used a search window that is different from the search window information (par [0159-0160] the response message indicates that the second network node used a search window that is different from the search window information based on the perform of terminal device UAOA Measurement Configuration Mandatory Indicating a network element to (UAOA measurement request) measure the reference signal sent by the terminal device, to obtain the UAOA Angle range (the angle range is the Mandatory Plane angle AOA ϵ [−180°, 180°] measurement parameter in this First plane angle AAOA ϵ [−180° wherein SRS Configuration Mandatory Indicating the uplink resource for sending the SRS Number of Transmissions Mandatory Quantity of SRSs in a transmission periodicity Search Window Parameters Optional used to measure a relative uplink arrival time Measurement Quantities Optional Indicating the base station to measure (signal quality measurement request) the reference signal sent by the terminal device, to obtain reference signal quality).
Claim 35, 43, Yu further discloses the method of Claim 34, further comprising: receiving, based at least partially on the search window information, at least one measurement from the second network node; and refining and/or adapting the search window information based on the at least one measurement (par [0159] “used by signal quality measurement which mandatory quality of SRS in a transmission periodicity Search Window Parameters, and further disclosed in par [0193] for example measurement from the second network node by the serving base station, or neighboring base station ”).
Claim 36, 44, Yu further discloses the method of Claims 34, wherein: the message comprises a New Radio Positioning Protocol A, NRPPA (par [0138]), measurement request message, the response message comprises NRPPA measurement response message, the first network node comprises a location server, and the second network node comprises a Central Unit, CU (par [0026] “for example, a 5G system, a base station may include a centralized unit (CU) and a distributed unit (DU). The F1 application protocol is a protocol for transmission between the CU and the DU”).
Claim 37, 45, Yu further discloses the method of Claim 34, wherein: the message comprises a F1 Positioning Measurement Request message, and the first network node comprises a Central Unit, CU, and the second network node comprises a Distributed Unit, DU (par [0026] “The F1 application protocol is a protocol for transmission between the CU and the DU”).
Claim 38, 46, Yu further discloses the method of Claim 34, wherein the information associated with the uncertainty level of the expected angle indicates: a value representing a level of uncertainty of the expected angle, or that the first network node has no knowledge of the level of uncertainty of the expected angle. (par [0163] “an uncertainty level of the expected angle performed by measuring an incident angle of a strongest path of the reference signal, or the UAOA may be obtained by measuring an incident angle of a line-of-sight path of the reference signal; the UAOA obtained by measuring an incident angle of a second strongest path of the reference signal may be used as an alternative option”).
Claim 39, 49, Yu further discloses the method of Claim 34, wherein the message comprises Sounding Reference Signal, SRS, configuration information for performance of at least one measurement by the second network node, and wherein at least one measurement comprises at least one of: an Uplink Relative Time of Arrival, UL-RTOA, measurement, an Uplink Round-Trip-Time, UL RTT, measurement, an Enhanced Cell-ID, e-CID, measurement, an AoA measurement, and an ZoA measurement (See par [0159] TABLE 1); an uplink AoA; an Uplink Sounding Reference Signal-Reference Signal Received Power; a time stamp associated with at least one measurement; and a quality level associated with at least one measurement (par [0163] “applied the UAOA obtained by measuring an incident angle of a second strongest path of the reference signal may be used as an alternative option”).
Claim 40, 51, Yu further discloses the method of Claim 34, further comprising: receiving a request for the search window information from the second network node, and wherein the search window information is included in the message based on the request for the search window information (See par [0159] “parameters carried in the NRPPA message are shown in the following TABLE 1 with periodicity Search Window Parameters Optional Used to measure a relative uplink arrival time Measurement Quantities Optional Indicating the base station to measure “).
Claim 42, the claim is rejected for the same reasons as set forth in claim 34.
Claim 52, the claim is rejected for the same reasons as set forth in claim 34.
Claim 53, the claim is rejected for the same reasons as set forth in claim 34.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure
JAIN et al. (US Pub No. 2019/0327628) discloses method and apparatus for measuring signal on a plurality of frequencies at a mobile device.
Bhamri et al. (US Pub No. 2023/0396307) discloses apparatus and method of communicating on different beams.
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/PHUOC H DOAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2646
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