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 29-35 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 29 recites the limitation "the UE" in line 4. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
4. 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.
5. Claims 22-24, 28-31, and 35 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sundararajan et al. (US 2024/0007988) in view of Segev et al. (US 2020/0107282).
Regarding claim 22, Sundararajan et al. discloses an apparatus (see Fig. 2) comprising:
memory (see block 211 to store user equipment (UE) measurement report information (sees section 0060, stored measurements of SPS signals); and
processing circuitry (blocks 210 and 219), coupled with the memory, to:
receive a request for location (location services requests as disclosed in section 0040) next-generation NodeB (gNB);
retrieve (by position device (PD) 219 as disclosed in section 0062) the UE measurement report information from the memory;
determine, using a positioning artificial intelligence (AI) or machine learning (ML) model, the location information (location estimate as disclosed in section 0109, wherein the functions of the server 400 are included in the UE 200 as disclosed in section 0070) for the UE based on the UE measurement report information (measurement report) and the request for location information (as disclosed in section 0040), wherein the location information for the UE includes an indication (location estimate as disclosed in of a predicted location for the UE; and
generate a message (see reported location determination as disclosed in section 0055 and UE’s self-reported location as disclosed in section 0062), for transmission to the gNB, that includes an indication of the determined location information for the UE.
Sundararajan et al. does not specifically disclose the request for location information is decoded or the message that includes the indication of determined location is encoded.
However, Segev et al. also discloses determining location of a device based on a request (service requests) for location information (see section 0079). Segev et al. further discloses the request for location information is decoded (see section 0157) and a message (downlink LMRs as disclosed in section 0147) that includes an indication of determined location (location measurements) is encoded (as disclosed in section 0147). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the present invention to modify the method/apparatus of Sundararajan et al. to implement both the encoding and decoding as taught by Segev et al. in order to increase data security.
Regarding claim 23, Sundararajan et al. discloses the UE measurement report information includes historical (stored measurements of SPS signals as disclosed in section 0060) and current information (current measurements from accelerometer/gyroscope used for present location as disclosed in section 0056) for the UE.
Regarding claim 24, Sundararajan et al. discloses the historical and current information for the UE includes: location information, speed information (see section 0056), or trajectory information.
Regarding claim 28, Sundararajan et al. discloses the processing circuitry is to implement a network data analytics function (NWDAF), operation administration and maintenance (OAM) function, or location management function (LMF) as disclosed in section 0040.
Regarding claims 29-31 and 35, Sundararajan et al. discloses a non-transitory computer readable media (see section 0021) which includes limitations corresponding to the above rejection of claims 22-24 and 28, the rejection of which is applicable hereto.
Allowable Subject Matter
6. Claims 25-27 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
7. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CURTIS B ODOM whose telephone number is (571)272-3046. The examiner can normally be reached 8-5.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Hannah S Wang can be reached at (571)-272-9018. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/CURTIS B ODOM/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2631 February 26, 2026