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 .
Status of the Claims
This FINAL action is in response to Applicant’s amendment of 10 April 2026. Claims 18-34 are pending and have been considered as follows.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s amendment and/or arguments with respect to the rejection of Claims 18-34 under 35 USC 103 as set forth in the office action of 25 March 2026 have been considered and are NOT persuasive. Applicant argues that Davydov fails to disclose or suggest "receiving, from a network element, a set of carrier frequencies for a positioning reference signal transmission from a network node." Applicant argues that paragraph [0036] of Davydov merely discloses PRS configuration including a carrier index, and does not specifically disclose receiving a set of carrier frequencies. Examiner has carefully considered Applicant's arguments and respectfully disagrees. Davydov paragraph [0036] explicitly teaches that "PRS are configured to the UE via higher layer signaling by providing these characteristics: the carrier index where PRS is transmitted, the PRS bandwidth, the number of consecutive subframes for PRS transmissions, PRS transmission periodicity/subframe offset, and the PRS muting sequence." Under the broadest reasonable interpretation, the carrier index and associated PRS characteristics collectively constitute a set of carrier frequencies for PRS transmission. A person of ordinary skill in the art would have understood that configuring PRS with carrier-specific parameters necessarily includes receiving a set of carrier frequencies from a network element.
Applicant further argues that Davydov fails to disclose or suggest "receiving a request for a beam count per carrier frequency in the set of carrier frequencies." Applicant argues that Silva's reporting-configuration parameter does not correspond to receiving a request for a beam count per carrier frequency. Examiner respectfully disagrees. Examiner points to at least [Page 14, col 3, lines 49-65] of Silva which teaches that "the event that has triggered the measurement report indicated an X1 number of beams per cell to be reported" and in [Page 14, col 4, lines 14-20] "one or more measurement reporting parameters indicating a maximum number of beams to be reported per cell," and further teaches in [Page 19, col 13, lines 23-35] that "the method further includes maintaining beam measurements for each of the one or more serving frequencies according to the corresponding determined number of beam measurements to be maintained, for reporting in a measurement report." These explicitly disclose receiving a request (via measurement reporting parameters) for a beam count (maximum number of beams to report) per carrier frequency (serving frequencies). A person of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized that measurement reporting parameters indicating a maximum number of beams per cell/serving frequency is a request for a beam count per carrier frequency.
Applicant argues that Silva does not explicitly teach associating the maximum number of beams with carrier frequencies. Examiner point to at least [Page 14, col 4, lines 15-25] of Silva which teaches maintaining beam measurements "for each of the one or more serving frequencies" and determining a number of beam measurements to be maintained "for each of one or more serving frequencies corresponding to a serving cell or a neighboring cell in the serving frequency." This directly associates the beam count with carrier frequencies (serving frequencies).
Applicant argues that Chen fails to disclose or suggest "a table or indexed list comprising a mapping between a total number of beams and a carrier frequency." Applicant argues that Chen's mapping is between BPL identifiers and CRIs/receiving beams, not between a total number of beams and carrier frequency. Examiner respectfully disagrees. Examiner points to at least [0093-0095] of Chen which teaches that "the base station building mapping relationships between beam pair link (BPL) identifiers and the CRIs" and that "the CRIs to which the BPL identifiers are mapped can be determined by the base station through the measurement reported by the terminal, and the base station establishes a mapping table according to measurement results reported by the terminal." Chen further teaches in [0024] that the first mapping relationship "comprises a mapping relationship among the BPL identifiers, Channel State Information-Reference Signal Resource Indicators (CRIs), and the transmitting beams." A person of ordinary skill in the art would have understood that a mapping table associating beam identifiers (which correspond to beams) with CRIs (which are resource indicators associated with carrier frequencies) includes a mapping between beams and carrier frequency information. The claimed "table or indexed list comprising a mapping between a total number of beams and a carrier frequency" is directly taught by Chen's mapping table between BPL identifiers and CRIs, where the CRIs correspond to carrier frequency resources.
Applicant argues that Chen's mapping is not a mapping between a total number of beams and carrier frequency, but rather a mapping between BPL identifiers and CRIs. Examiner point to at least [0093-0095] of Chen which explicitly teaches that the number of BPL identifiers "may be a preset value, or may be determined by the BS itself" and that "if the number of the BPL identifiers is determined by the BS, the BS needs to notify the terminal of the number through signaling." This teaches reporting a number of beams (BPL identifiers) associated with carrier frequency resources (CRIs), which directly corresponds to the mapping between a total number of beams and a carrier frequency.
Applicant argues that Davydov does not disclose or suggest "selecting a subset of carrier frequencies to measure the PRS transmission on" and "applying the report and a cross-carrier beam mapping to select a network node transmission beam" as recited in claim 28. Applicant argues that Davydov merely discloses PRS configuration and is silent as to making any type of selection of a subset of carrier frequencies. Examiner respectfully disagrees. Examiner points to at least [0036] Davydov teaches that "PRS are defined by bandwidth, offset, duration (the number of consecutive subframes), and periodicity" and that "PRS are configured to the UE via higher layer signaling by providing these characteristics: the carrier index where PRS is transmitted, the PRS bandwidth, the number of consecutive subframes for PRS transmissions, PRS transmission periodicity/subframe offset, and the PRS muting sequence." A person of ordinary skill in the art would have understood that configuring PRS with specific carrier characteristics inherently involves selecting carrier frequencies for PRS transmission. Furthermore, Davydov teaches in [0103] establishing "one or more communication links, wherein each link is associated with a pair of beams at the UE and the eNB" and "receiving beamformed positioning reference signals (PRS)." This inherently involves selecting beams for transmission, which would require applying beam-related information to select transmission beams.
Applicant argues that Mo, Su, Zhang, and Xi do not cure the deficiencies in Davydov, Silva, and Chen as to claims 23, 27, 29, 31, and 33 Examiner respectfully disagrees. Examiner points out to at least [Page 28, col 1, lines 60-62] of Mo that teaches "a beam codebook comprises a set of codewords, where a codeword is a set of analog phase shift values, or a set of amplitude plus phase shift values, applied to the antenna elements, in order to form an analog beam" and [Page 26, col 16, lines 26-29] which teaches "a set of codewords including a first and second upper bounds, the set of codewords corresponding to candidate beams of each of the antennas." This teaches that the number of distinct beams is a fixed number via a predefined codebook, as recited in claims 23 and 27.
Examiner points to at least [0063] of Su which teaches that "the frame 620 may be transmitted over a radio frequency spectrum band, which may include a plurality of sub-bands" and "the radio frequency spectrum band may have a bandwidth of 80 MHz, and each of the sub-bands may have a bandwidth of 20 MHz,"which teaches selecting carrier frequencies from different carrier sets that span diverse frequency ranges, as recited in claim 29.
Zhang teaches in [0240] that "a downlink control information (DCI) in a DCI format 0_1 or 1_1, wherein the DCI includes a sounding reference signal (SRS) request field to jointly trigger a SRS and a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS)" and in [0253] that "the CSI-RS is a first CSI-RS, wherein the DCI is in the DCI format 0_1, wherein the DCI further includes a CSI request field to trigger a second CSI-RS." This teaches instructing the user equipment and the network node to initiate channel sounding for a current positioning session, as recited in claim 31.
Examiner points to at least [0212] of Xi which teaches that "a WTRU may receive unified BM configurations for beam measurement and reporting from the network" and [0211] which teaches "after the beam measurement and reporting procedure is performed and determined, the WTRU may report joint or independent L1-RSRP reporting on a SS block and/or CSI-RS via the unified beam reporting format," and further teaches "combine reports of positioning reference signal measurements from a plurality of other user equipment" and "jointly select relevant positioning reference signal transmissions based on the combined reports."
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Davydov, Silva, Chen, Mo, Su, Zhang, and Xi. Davydov teaches receiving and configuring a set of carrier frequencies for positioning reference signals (PRS), including carrier-specific PRS parameters. Silva teaches beam management, receiving a number of beams per carrier frequency, and mapping between number of beams associated with carrier frequency information. Chen teaches mapping between beam identifiers and carrier frequency information, receiving information relevant to a selected beam, and reporting measurement results. Mo teaches a beam codebook set comprising a number of distinct beams. Su teaches selecting carrier frequencies from different carrier sets that span diverse frequency ranges. Zhang teaches instructing the user equipment and the network node to initiate channel sounding. Xi teaches combining measurement reports from a plurality of user equipment and jointly selecting relevant transmissions. A person of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to combine these teachings to improve positioning accuracy, reliability, and use of appropriate beams for PRS transmissions across different carrier frequencies.
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 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) 18-22, 24-26, 28, 30, 32, 34 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Davydov (WO 2017164925 A1); hereinafter Davydov in view of Silva (US 11736965B2
); hereinafter Silva, and further in view of Chen (US 20200177262 A1); hereinafter Chen.
Regarding claim 18, Davydov teaches an apparatus, comprising: at least one processor; and at least one memory comprising computer program code, the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured, with the at least one processor, to cause the apparatus ([00103] In summary, the positioning method 100 of Figure 7 may be implemented in a first example by a computer-readable medium comprising instructions to cause a User Equipment (UE), upon execution of instructions by one or more processors of the UE, to establish, between the UE and an enhanced Node B (eNB), one or more communication links, wherein each link is associated with a pair of beams at the UE and the eNB, receive beamformed positioning reference signals (PRS)) at least to receive, from a network element, a set of carrier frequencies for a positioning reference signal transmission from a network node ([0036] PRS are defined by bandwidth, offset, duration (the number of consecutive subframes), and periodicity. The PRS are configured to the UE via higher layer signaling by providing these characteristics: the carrier index where PRS is transmitted, the PRS bandwidth, the number of consecutive subframes for PRS transmissions, PRS transmission periodicity/subframe offset, and the PRS muting sequence. The PRS bandwidth is smaller than the system bandwidth, and PRS are mapped around the carrier frequency); but does not explicitly teach receive a request for a beam count per carrier frequency in the set of carrier frequencies; report, in response to the request, a table or indexed list comprising a mapping between a total number of beams and a carrier frequency of the set of carrier frequencies; and receive information about a selected transmission beam for one of the set of carrier frequencies.
Silva, in the same field of wireless communications, teaches receive a request for a beam count per carrier frequency in the set of carrier frequencies ([Page 14, col 3, lines 49-65] For example, the event that has triggered the measurement report indicated an X1 number of beams per cell to be reported. The event that has triggered the measurement report indicated an X2 number of beams to be reported. [Page 14, col 4, lines 14-20] One or more measurement reporting parameters indicating a maximum number of beams to be reported per cell. The method further includes maintaining beam measurements for each of the one or more serving frequencies according to the corresponding determined number of beam measurements to be maintained, for reporting in a measurement report); report, in response to the request, a table or indexed list comprising a mapping between a total number of beams and a carrier frequency of the set of carrier frequencies ([Page 14, col 4, lines 15-20] The method further includes maintaining beam measurements for each of the one or more serving frequencies according to the corresponding determined number of beam measurements to be maintained, for reporting in a measurement report. [Page 16, col 8, lines 18-21] In yet another variant of the second embodiment, the parameter determining the maximum number of beams to report per cell (e.g., maxNrofRsIndexesToReport). [Page 19, col 13, lines 23-30] The method 400 includes determining, for each of one or more serving frequencies corresponding to a serving cell or a neighboring cell in the serving frequency, a number of beam measurements to be maintained, where the determining is based on one or more measurement reporting parameters indicating a maximum number of beams to be reported per cell (block 404)).
It would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to combine the teachings of Davydov and Silva. Davydov teaches receiving and configuring a set of carrier frequencies for a positioning reference signals (PRS), including carriers-specific PRS parameters and Silva teaches beam management, receiving a number of beams per carrier frequency, mapping between number of beams associated with carrier frequency information. A person of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to combine the beam management and techniques of Silva to the multi-carrier and PRS framework of Davydov in order to improve the positioning accuracy, reliability, and use of appropriate beams for PRS transmissions across different carrier frequencies.
Further, Davydov and Silva do not teach reporting table or indexed list comprising a mapping of the beams and carrier frequency; and receive information about a selected transmission beam for one of the set of carrier frequencies.
Chen, in the same field of wireless communications, teaches report, in response to the request, a table or indexed list comprising a mapping between beams and carrier frequency ([0055] Receiving a reference signal transmitted by the transmitting end within the reference signal resources, determining a receiving beam corresponding to each reference signal resource, and determining a mapping relationship between CRIs and receiving beams; [0093-0095] the base station building mapping relationships between beam pair link (BPL) identifiers and the CRIs. The mapping relationships between the BPL identifiers and the CRIs define the mapping relationships between the BPL identifiers and the CRIs The CRIs to which the BPL identifiers are mapped can be determined by the base station through the measurement reported by the terminal, and the base station establishes a mapping table according to measurement results reported by the terminal); and receive information about a selected transmission beam for one of the set of carrier frequencies ([0063] a processor for calling program instructions stored in the memory and executing any one of the above-mentioned methods for determining beam information according to an obtained program. [0073-0074] Transmitting end needs to notify the receiving end of information relevant to a transmitting beam of a data channel or control channel (a demodulation reference signal (DMRS) of the data or control channel).For example, a base station (a transmitting end) configures N CSI-RS resources for a terminal (a receiving end), and a signal of each CSI-RS resource is transmitted through one beam).
It would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to combine the teachings of Davydov, Silva and Chen. Davydov and Chen teach receiving and configuring a set of carrier frequencies for a positioning reference signals (PRS), including carriers-specific PRS parameters, beam management, receiving beam count per carrier frequency, and Chen teaches mapping between beam identifiers and carrier frequency information, and receiving information relevant to a selected beam. A person of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to combine the beam management and techniques with the multi-carrier and PRS framework of Davydov and Silva to the mapping framework and beam selection of Chen in order to improve the positioning accuracy, reliability, and use of appropriate beams for PRS transmissions across different carrier frequencies.
Regarding claim 19, Davydov and Silva teach he apparatus according to claim 18, wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are further configured, with the at least one processor, to cause the apparatus at least to ([00103] In summary, the positioning method 100 of Figure 7 may be implemented in a first example by a computer-readable medium comprising instructions to cause a User Equipment (UE), upon execution of instructions by one or more processors of the UE, to establish, between the UE and an enhanced Node B (eNB), one or more communication links, wherein each link is associated with a pair of beams at the UE and the eNB, receive beamformed positioning reference signals (PRS); Davydov): apply a cross-carrier beam mapping to select a reception beam to be used for the positioning reference signal transmission ([0036] PRS are defined by bandwidth, offset, duration (the number of consecutive subframes), and periodicity. The PRS are configured to the UE via higher layer signaling by providing these characteristics: the carrier index where PRS is transmitted, the PRS bandwidth, the number of consecutive subframes for PRS transmissions, PRS transmission periodicity/subframe offset, and the PRS muting sequence. The PRS bandwidth is smaller than the system bandwidth, and PRS are mapped around the carrier frequency; Davydov), but does not explicitly teach to select a reception beam for mapping.
Chen, in the same field of wireless communications, teaches selecting a reception beam for mapping ([0063] a processor for calling program instructions stored in the memory and executing any one of the above-mentioned methods for determining beam information according to an obtained program. [0073-0074] Transmitting end needs to notify the receiving end of information relevant to a transmitting beam of a data channel or control channel (a demodulation reference signal (DMRS) of the data or control channel).For example, a base station (a transmitting end) configures N CSI-RS resources for a terminal (a receiving end), and a signal of each CSI-RS resource is transmitted through one beam. [0082] For example, when the base station has 256 downlink transmitting beams, the base station configures 256 reference signal resources, and the reference signal of each beam is mapped to one reference signal resource to be transmitted).
It would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to combine the teachings of Davydov, Silva and Chen. Davydov and Silva teach receiving and configuring a set of carrier frequencies for a positioning reference signals (PRS), including carriers-specific PRS parameters and Chen teaches beam management, selecting a reception beam, mapping between beam identifiers and carrier frequency information, and receiving information relevant to a selected beam. A person of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to combine the beam management/selection and techniques of Chen to the multi-carrier and PRS framework of Davydov and Silva in order to improve the positioning accuracy, reliability, and use of appropriate beams for PRS transmissions across different carrier frequencies.
Regarding claim 20, Davydov and Silva teaches the apparatus according to claim 18 ,wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are further configured, with the at least one processor, to cause the apparatus at least to ([00103] In summary, the positioning method 100 of Figure 7 may be implemented in a first example by a computer-readable medium comprising instructions to cause a User Equipment (UE), upon execution of instructions by one or more processors of the UE, to establish, between the UE and an enhanced Node B (eNB), one or more communication links, wherein each link is associated with a pair of beams at the UE and the eNB, receive beamformed positioning reference signals (PRS); Davydov): measure at least one of a delay of a relevant channel tap, an angle of arrival or an angle of departure of the relevant channel tap, a time of arrival, a signal-to-noise ratio, or a reference signal received power for the positioning reference signal transmission ([0045] The measurements help to find the location of the UE within the cell with more precision. The measurements may consist of a Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP), a Time Difference of Arrival (TDOA) and the measurement of the Timing Advance (TA), or a Round Trip Time (RTT), from the serving eNB; Davydov).
It would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to combine the teachings of Davydov, Silva and Chen. Davydov and Silva teaches receiving and configuring a set of carrier frequencies for a positioning reference signals (PRS), including carriers-specific PRS parameters, and measure at least a reference signal received power and Chen teaches beam management, selecting a reception beam, mapping between beam identifiers and carrier frequency information, and receiving information relevant to a selected beam. A person of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to combine the beam management and techniques of Chen to the multi-carrier and PRS framework of Davydov and Silva in order to improve signal quality, positioning accuracy, and use of appropriate beams for PRS transmissions across different carrier frequencies.
Regarding claim 21, Davydov and Silva he apparatus according to claim 20, wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are further configured, with the at least one processor, to cause the apparatus at least to ([00103] In summary, the positioning method 100 of Figure 7 may be implemented in a first example by a computer-readable medium comprising instructions to cause a User Equipment (UE), upon execution of instructions by one or more processors of the UE, to establish, between the UE and an enhanced Node B (eNB), one or more communication links, wherein each link is associated with a pair of beams at the UE and the eNB, receive beamformed positioning reference signals (PRS); Davydov): but does not explicitly teach transmit, to the network element, a report of the measurement made in response to the instruction.
Chen, in the same field of wireless communications, teaches transmit, to the network element, a report of the measurement made in response to the instruction ([0039-0042] Optionally, for the above-mentioned device provided by the embodiments of the present application, the second unit determines the first mapping relationship by following method: transmitting a reference signal within the reference signal resources to the receiving end, so that the receiving end performs measurement and reporting for the reference signal; and determining the first mapping relationship from measurement reporting results reported by the receiving end. [0095] The CRIs to which the BPL identifiers are mapped can be determined by the base station through the measurement reported by the terminal, and the base station establishes a mapping table according to measurement results reported by the terminal).
It would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to combine the teachings of Davydov, Silva and Chen. Davydov and Silva teaches receiving and configuring a set of carrier frequencies for a positioning reference signals (PRS), and measure at least a reference signal received power and Chen teaches beam management, selecting a reception beam, mapping between beam identifiers and carrier frequency information, and transmit report of the measurement made in response to the instruction. A person of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to combine the measurement report and techniques of Chen to the multi-carrier and PRS framework of Davydov and Silva in order to improve positioning accuracy, reliability, and use of appropriate beams for PRS transmissions across different carrier frequencies.
Regarding claim 22, Davydov and Silva teaches the apparatus according to claim 18, wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are further configured, with the at least one processor, to cause the apparatus at least to ([00103] In summary, the positioning method 100 of Figure 7 may be implemented in a first example by a computer-readable medium comprising instructions to cause a User Equipment (UE), upon execution of instructions by one or more processors of the UE, to establish, between the UE and an enhanced Node B (eNB), one or more communication links, wherein each link is associated with a pair of beams at the UE and the eNB, receive beamformed positioning reference signals (PRS); Davydov): a set of carrier frequencies ([0036] The PRS are configured to the UE via higher layer signaling by providing these characteristics: the carrier index where PRS is transmitted; Davydov), but does not explicitly teach in response to the request for the beam count, report a number of distinct beams that can be generated per carrier frequency of the set of carrier frequencies.
Chen, in the same field of wireless communications, teaches in response to the request for the beam count, report a number of distinct beams that can be generated per carrier frequency of the set of carrier frequencies. ([0005] A transmitting end indicates beam information so that a receiving end can adjust a receiving beam to achieve a best receiving effect. However, in a system using a large-scale antenna array, the number of beams may reach 256, 1024 or more, and the indication of beam information requires 8 bits, 10 bits, or even more at a time. [0024] Optionally, for the above-mentioned method for determining beam information provided by the embodiments of the present application, the first mapping relationship specifically comprises a mapping relationship among the BPL identifiers, Channel State Information-Reference Signal Resource Indicators (CRIs), and the transmitting beams.[0056] determining, on the basis of the mapping relationship between the CRIs and the receiving beams and the mapping relationship between the BPL identifiers and the CRIs, the second mapping relationship).
It would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to combine the teachings of Davydov, Silva and Chen. Davydov and Silva teaches receiving and configuring a set of carrier frequencies for a positioning reference signals (PRS), and measure at least a reference signal received power and Chen teaches beam management, selecting a reception beam, mapping between beam identifiers and carrier frequency information, and a report a number of distinct beams. A person of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to combine the beam measurement and techniques of Chen to the multi-carrier and PRS framework of Davydov and Silva in order to improve positioning accuracy, reliability, and use of appropriate beams for PRS transmissions across different carrier frequencies.
Regarding claim 24, Davydov teaches an apparatus, comprising: at least one processor; and at least one memory comprising computer program code, the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured, with the at least one processor, to cause the apparatus ([00103] In summary, the positioning method 100 of Figure 7 may be implemented in a first example by a computer-readable medium comprising instructions to cause a User Equipment (UE), upon execution of instructions by one or more processors of the UE, to establish, between the UE and an enhanced Node B (eNB), one or more communication links, wherein each link is associated with a pair of beams at the UE and the eNB, receive beamformed positioning reference signals (PRS)) at least to receive, from a network element, a set of carrier frequencies for a positioning reference signal transmission to a user equipment([0036] PRS are defined by bandwidth, offset, duration (the number of consecutive subframes), and periodicity. The PRS are configured to the UE via higher layer signaling by providing these characteristics: the carrier index where PRS is transmitted, the PRS bandwidth, the number of consecutive subframes for PRS transmissions, PRS transmission periodicity/subframe offset, and the PRS muting sequence. The PRS bandwidth is smaller than the system bandwidth, and PRS are mapped around the carrier frequency); but does not explicitly teach receive a request for a beam count per carrier frequency in the set of carrier frequencies; report, in response to the request, a table or indexed list comprising a mapping between a total number of beams and a carrier frequency of the set of carrier frequencies; and receive information about a selected transmission beam for one of the set of carrier frequencies.
Silva, in the same field of wireless communications, teaches receive a request for a beam count per carrier frequency in the set of carrier frequencies ([Page 14, col 3, lines 49-65] For example, the event that has triggered the measurement report indicated an X1 number of beams per cell to be reported. The event that has triggered the measurement report indicated an X2 number of beams to be reported. [Page 14, col 4, lines 14-20] One or more measurement reporting parameters indicating a maximum number of beams to be reported per cell. The method further includes maintaining beam measurements for each of the one or more serving frequencies according to the corresponding determined number of beam measurements to be maintained, for reporting in a measurement report); report, in response to the request, a table or indexed list comprising a mapping between a total number of beams and a carrier frequency of the set of carrier frequencies ([Page 14, col 4, lines 15-20] The method further includes maintaining beam measurements for each of the one or more serving frequencies according to the corresponding determined number of beam measurements to be maintained, for reporting in a measurement report. [Page 16, col 8, lines 18-21] In yet another variant of the second embodiment, the parameter determining the maximum number of beams to report per cell (e.g., maxNrofRsIndexesToReport). [Page 19, col 13, lines 23-30] The method 400 includes determining, for each of one or more serving frequencies corresponding to a serving cell or a neighboring cell in the serving frequency, a number of beam measurements to be maintained, where the determining is based on one or more measurement reporting parameters indicating a maximum number of beams to be reported per cell (block 404)).
It would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to combine the teachings of Davydov and Silva. Davydov teaches receiving and configuring a set of carrier frequencies for a positioning reference signals (PRS), including carriers-specific PRS parameters and Silva teaches beam management, receiving a number of beams per carrier frequency, mapping between number of beams associated with carrier frequency information. A person of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to combine the beam management and techniques of Silva to the multi-carrier and PRS framework of Davydov in order to improve the positioning accuracy, reliability, and use of appropriate beams for PRS transmissions across different carrier frequencies.
Further, Davydov and Silva do not teach reporting table or indexed list comprising a mapping of the beams and carrier frequency; and receive information about a selected transmission beam for one of the set of carrier frequencies.
Chen, in the same field of wireless communications, teaches report, in response to the request, a table or indexed list comprising a mapping between beams and carrier frequency ([0055] Receiving a reference signal transmitted by the transmitting end within the reference signal resources, determining a receiving beam corresponding to each reference signal resource, and determining a mapping relationship between CRIs and receiving beams; [0093-0095] the base station building mapping relationships between beam pair link (BPL) identifiers and the CRIs. The mapping relationships between the BPL identifiers and the CRIs define the mapping relationships between the BPL identifiers and the CRIs The CRIs to which the BPL identifiers are mapped can be determined by the base station through the measurement reported by the terminal, and the base station establishes a mapping table according to measurement results reported by the terminal); and receive information about a selected transmission beam for one of the set of carrier frequencies ([0063] a processor for calling program instructions stored in the memory and executing any one of the above-mentioned methods for determining beam information according to an obtained program. [0073-0074] Transmitting end needs to notify the receiving end of information relevant to a transmitting beam of a data channel or control channel (a demodulation reference signal (DMRS) of the data or control channel).For example, a base station (a transmitting end) configures N CSI-RS resources for a terminal (a receiving end), and a signal of each CSI-RS resource is transmitted through one beam).
It would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to combine the teachings of Davydov, Silva and Chen. Davydov and Chen teach receiving and configuring a set of carrier frequencies for a positioning reference signals (PRS), including carriers-specific PRS parameters, beam management, receiving beam count per carrier frequency, and Chen teaches mapping between beam identifiers and carrier frequency information, and receiving information relevant to a selected beam. A person of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to combine the beam management and techniques with the multi-carrier and PRS framework of Davydov and Silva to the mapping framework and beam selection of Chen in order to improve the positioning accuracy, reliability, and use of appropriate beams for PRS transmissions across different carrier frequencies.
Regarding claim 25, Davydov and Silva teaches the apparatus according to claim 24, wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are further configured, with the at least one processor, to cause the apparatus at least to ([00103] In summary, the positioning method 100 of Figure 7 may be implemented in a first example by a computer-readable medium comprising instructions to cause a User Equipment (UE), upon execution of instructions by one or more processors of the UE, to establish, between the UE and an enhanced Node B (eNB), one or more communication links, wherein each link is associated with a pair of beams at the UE and the eNB, receive beamformed positioning reference signals (PRS); Davydov): transmit the positioning reference signal transmission to the user equipment on a first frequency range ([0036] PRS are defined by bandwidth, offset, duration (the number of consecutive subframes), and periodicity. The PRS are configured to the UE via higher layer signaling by providing these characteristics: the carrier index where PRS is transmitted, the PRS bandwidth, the number of consecutive subframes for PRS transmissions, PRS transmission periodicity/subframe offset, and the PRS muting sequence. The PRS bandwidth is smaller than the system bandwidth, and PRS are mapped around the carrier frequency; Davydov).
It would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to combine the teachings of Davydov, Silva and Chen. Davydov and Silva teaches receiving and configuring a set of carrier frequencies for a positioning reference signals (PRS), including carriers-specific PRS parameters, and PRS are transmitted on a carrier identified by a carrier index and are defined by bandwidth and frequency related parameters and Chen teaches beam management, receiving beam count per carrier frequency, mapping between beam identifiers and carrier frequency information, and receiving information relevant to a selected beam. A person of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to combine the beam management and techniques of Chen to the multi-carrier and PRS framework of Davydov and Silva in order to improve the positioning accuracy, reliability, and use of appropriate beams for PRS transmissions across different carrier frequencies.
Regarding claim 26, Davydov and Silva teaches the apparatus according to claim 24, wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are further configured, with the at least one processor, to cause the apparatus at least to: ([00103] In summary, the positioning method 100 of Figure 7 may be implemented in a first example by a computer-readable medium comprising instructions to cause a User Equipment (UE), upon execution of instructions by one or more processors of the UE, to establish, between the UE and an enhanced Node B (eNB), one or more communication links, wherein each link is associated with a pair of beams at the UE and the eNB, receive beamformed positioning reference signals (PRS); Davydov): a set of carrier frequencies ([0036] The PRS are configured to the UE via higher layer signaling by providing these characteristics: the carrier index where PRS is transmitted; Davydov), but does not explicitly teach in response to the request for the beam count, report a number of distinct beams that can be generated per carrier frequency of the set of carrier frequencies.
Chen, in the same field of wireless communications, teaches in response to the request for the beam count, report a number of distinct beams that can be generated per carrier frequency of the set of carrier frequencies ([0005] A transmitting end indicates beam information so that a receiving end can adjust a receiving beam to achieve a best receiving effect. However, in a system using a large-scale antenna array, the number of beams may reach 256, 1024 or more, and the indication of beam information requires 8 bits, 10 bits, or even more at a time. [0024] Optionally, for the above-mentioned method for determining beam information provided by the embodiments of the present application, the first mapping relationship specifically comprises a mapping relationship among the BPL identifiers, Channel State Information-Reference Signal Resource Indicators (CRIs), and the transmitting beams.[0056] determining, on the basis of the mapping relationship between the CRIs and the receiving beams and the mapping relationship between the BPL identifiers and the CRIs, the second mapping relationship).
It would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to combine the teachings of Davydov, Silva and Chen. Davydov teaches receiving and configuring a set of carrier frequencies for a positioning reference signals (PRS), and measure at least a reference signal received power and Chen teaches beam management, selecting a reception beam, mapping between beam identifiers and carrier frequency information, and a report a number of distinct beams. A person of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to combine the beam measurement and techniques of Chen to the multi-carrier and PRS framework of Davydov and Silva in order to improve positioning accuracy, reliability, and use of appropriate beams for PRS transmissions across different carrier frequencies.
Regarding claim 28, Davydov teaches an apparatus, comprising: at least one processor; and at least one memory comprising computer program code, the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured, with the at least one processor, to cause the apparatus at least to ([00103] In summary, the positioning method 100 of Figure 7 may be implemented in a first example by a computer-readable medium comprising instructions to cause a User Equipment (UE), upon execution of instructions by one or more processors of the UE, to establish, between the UE and an enhanced Node B (eNB), one or more communication links, wherein each link is associated with a pair of beams at the UE and the eNB, receive beamformed positioning reference signals (PRS)) select a set of carrier frequencies for a positioning reference signal transmission from a network node to a user equipment; select a subset of carrier frequencies to measure the positioning reference signal transmission on ([0036] PRS are defined by bandwidth, offset, duration (the number of consecutive subframes), and periodicity. The PRS are configured to the UE via higher layer signaling by providing these characteristics: the carrier index where PRS is transmitted, the PRS bandwidth, the number of consecutive subframes for PRS transmissions, PRS transmission periodicity/subframe offset, and the PRS muting sequence. The PRS bandwidth is smaller than the system bandwidth, and PRS are mapped around the carrier frequency); apply the report and a cross-carrier beam mapping to select a network node transmission beam ([0036] PRS are defined by bandwidth, offset, duration (the number of consecutive subframes), and periodicity. The PRS are configured to the UE via higher layer signaling by providing these characteristics: the carrier index where PRS is transmitted, the PRS bandwidth, the number of consecutive subframes for PRS transmissions, PRS transmission periodicity/subframe offset, and the PRS muting sequence. The PRS bandwidth is smaller than the system bandwidth, and PRS are mapped around the carrier frequency); but does not explicitly teach request a beam count per carrier frequency in the set of carrier frequencies from the network node and the user equipment; receive a report of positioning reference signal measurements from the user equipment; apply the report and a cross-carrier beam mapping to select a network node transmission beam; and transmit to the network node and the user equipment information about a selected transmission beam for the set of carrier frequencies.
Silva, in the same field of wireless communication teaches request a beam count per carrier frequency in the set of carrier frequencies from the network node and the user equipment ([Page 14, col 3, lines 49-65] For example, the event that has triggered the measurement report indicated an X1 number of beams per cell to be reported. The event that has triggered the measurement report indicated an X2 number of beams to be reported. [Page 14, col 4, lines 14-20] One or more measurement reporting parameters indicating a maximum number of beams to be reported per cell. The method further includes maintaining beam measurements for each of the one or more serving frequencies according to the corresponding determined number of beam measurements to be maintained, for reporting in a measurement report); receive a report of positioning reference signal measurements from the user equipment ([Page 14, col 4, lines 15-20] The method further includes maintaining beam measurements for each of the one or more serving frequencies according to the corresponding determined number of beam measurements to be maintained, for reporting in a measurement report. [Page 16, col 8, lines 18-21] In yet another variant of the second embodiment, the parameter determining the maximum number of beams to report per cell (e.g., maxNrofRsIndexesToReport). [Page 19, col 13, lines 23-30] The method 400 includes determining, for each of one or more serving frequencies corresponding to a serving cell or a neighboring cell in the serving frequency, a number of beam measurements to be maintained, where the determining is based on one or more measurement reporting parameters indicating a maximum number of beams to be reported per cell (block 404));
It would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to combine the teachings of Davydov and Silva. Davydov teaches receiving and configuring a set of carrier frequencies for a positioning reference signals (PRS), including carriers-specific PRS parameters and Silva teaches beam management, receiving a number of beams per carrier frequency, mapping between number of beams associated with carrier frequency information. A person of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to combine the beam management and techniques of Silva to the multi-carrier and PRS framework of Davydov in order to improve the positioning accuracy, reliability, and use of appropriate beams for PRS transmissions across different carrier frequencies.
Further, Davydov and Silva don’t teach reporting table or indexed list comprising a mapping of the beams and carrier frequency; and transmit to the network node and the user equipment information about a selected transmission beam for the set of carrier frequencies.
Chen, in the same field of wireless communications, teaches request a beam count per carrier frequency in the set of carrier frequencies from the network node and the user equipment ([0005] A transmitting end indicates beam information so that a receiving end can adjust a receiving beam to achieve a best receiving effect. However, in a system using a large-scale antenna array, the number of beams may reach 256, 1024 or more, and the indication of beam information requires 8 bits, 10 bits, or even more at a time. [0024] Optionally, for the above-mentioned method for determining beam information provided by the embodiments of the present application, the first mapping relationship specifically comprises a mapping relationship among the BPL identifiers, Channel State Information-Reference Signal Resource Indicators (CRIs), and the transmitting beams); and transmit to the network node and the user equipment information about a selected transmission beam for the set of carrier frequencies ([0063] a processor for calling program instructions stored in the memory and executing any one of the above-mentioned methods for determining beam information according to an obtained program. [0073-0074] Transmitting end needs to notify the receiving end of information relevant to a transmitting beam of a data channel or control channel (a demodulation reference signal (DMRS) of the data or control channel).For example, a base station (a transmitting end) configures N CSI-RS resources for a terminal (a receiving end), and a signal of each CSI-RS resource is transmitted through one beam).
It would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to combine the teachings of Davydov, Silva and Chen. Davydov and Silva teaches receiving and configuring a set of carrier frequencies for a positioning reference signals (PRS), including carriers-specific PRS parameters and Chen teaches beam management, receiving beam count per carrier frequency, mapping between beam identifiers and carrier frequency information, and receiving information relevant to a selected beam. A person of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to combine the beam management and techniques of Chen to the multi-carrier and PRS framework of Davydov and Silva in order to improve the positioning accuracy, reliability, and use of appropriate beams for PRS transmissions across different carrier frequencies.
Regarding claim 30, Davydov and Silva teach the apparatus according to claim 30, wherein the beam count represents a number of beams to cover an entire angular space when operating at a carrier frequency ([0074] In some embodiments, the position of each effective base station (eNB 40A and eNB 40B) is obtained from the time arrival measurements and angular information of the beams; Davydov).
Chen, in the same field of wireless communications, teaches the beam count ([0005] A transmitting end indicates beam information so that a receiving end can adjust a receiving beam to achieve a best receiving effect. However, in a system using a large-scale antenna array, the number of beams may reach 256, 1024 or more, and the indication of beam information requires 8 bits, 10 bits, or even more at a time. [0024] Optionally, for the above-mentioned method for determining beam information provided by the embodiments of the present application, the first mapping relationship specifically comprises a mapping relationship among the BPL identifiers, Channel State Information-Reference Signal Resource Indicators (CRIs), and the transmitting beams).
It would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to combine the teachings of Davydov, Silva and Chen. Davydov and Silva teaches receiving and configuring a set of carrier frequencies for a positioning reference signals (PRS), and the beam count represents a number of beams to cover an entire angular space and Chen teaches beam management, receiving beam count per carrier frequency, mapping between beam identifiers and carrier frequency information, and receiving information relevant to a selected beam. A person of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to combine the beam management and techniques of Chen to the multi-carrier and PRS framework of Davydov and Silva in order to improve the positioning accuracy, reliability, and use of appropriate beams for PRS transmissions across different carrier frequencies.
Regarding claim 32, Davydov and Silva teaches the apparatus according to any of claim 28, but does not explicitly teach selection of the network node transmission beam to be used is performed on a per user equipment basis using the report of positioning reference signal measurements.
Chen, in the same field of wireless communications, teaches selection of the network node transmission beam to be used is performed on a per user equipment basis using the report of positioning reference signal measurements ([0039-0042] Optionally, for the above-mentioned device provided by the embodiments of the present application, the second unit determines the first mapping relationship by following method: transmitting a reference signal within the reference signal resources to the receiving end, so that the receiving end performs measurement and reporting for the reference signal; and determining the first mapping relationship from measurement reporting results reported by the receiving end. [0095] The CRIs to which the BPL identifiers are mapped can be determined by the base station through the measurement reported by the terminal, and the base station establishes a mapping table according to measurement results reported by the terminal).
It would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to combine the teachings of Davydov, Silva and Chen. Davydov and Silva teaches receiving and configuring a set of carrier frequencies for a positioning reference signals (PRS), and measure at least a reference signal received power and Chen teaches beam management, selecting a reception beam, mapping between beam identifiers and carrier frequency information, and transmit report of the measurement made in response to the instruction. A person of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to combine the UE independent measurement report and techniques of Chen to the multi-carrier and PRS framework of Davydov and Silva in order to improve positioning accuracy, reliability, and use of appropriate beams for PRS transmissions across different carrier frequencies.
Regarding claim 34, Davydov and Silva teaches the apparatus according claim 28, wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are further configured, with the at least one processor, to cause the apparatus at least to and the positioning reference signal transmission ([00103] In summary, the positioning method 100 of Figure 7 may be implemented in a first example by a computer-readable medium comprising instructions to cause a User Equipment (UE), upon execution of instructions by one or more processors of the UE, to establish, between the UE and an enhanced Node B (eNB), one or more communication links, wherein each link is associated with a pair of beams at the UE and the eNB, receive beamformed positioning reference signals (PRS); Davydov): but does not explicitly teach determine a quasi-colocation type; inform, based on the quasi-colocation type, the user equipment that a positioning reference signal transmission of one carrier frequency is nested in a second carrier frequency.
Chen, in the same field of wireless communications, determine a quasi-colocation type; inform, based on the quasi-colocation type, the user equipment that a positioning reference signal transmission of one carrier frequency is nested in a second carrier frequency ([0073] One notification method is to transfer Quasi-co-located (QCL) assumption to the receiving end, i.e., indicating the receiving end which reference signal ports are QCL with a DMRS port of the data or control channel of the receiving end with respect to spatial parameters (mean value of space arrival angles, expansion of space arrival angles, mean value of space start angle, or expansion of space start angle, etc.) If the transmitting end notifies the receiving end which reference signal port(s) is (are) QCL with the DMRS of the data or control channel of the receiving end with respect to the spatial parameters, the receiving end can estimate the spatial parameters based on the reference signal port(s), determine receiving beams, and receive data or control signals by using the receiving beams).
It would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to combine the teachings of Davydov, Silva and Chen. Davydov and Silva teaches receiving and configuring a set of carrier frequencies for a positioning reference signals (PRS), and measure at least a reference signal received power and Chen teaches beam management, selecting a reception beam, mapping between beam identifiers and carrier frequency information, determine a quasi-colocation type, and transmit report of the measurement made in response to the instruction. A person of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to combine the UE independent measurement report and techniques of Chen to the multi-carrier and PRS framework of Davydov and Silva in order to improve positioning accuracy, reliability, and use of appropriate beams for PRS transmissions across different carrier frequencies.
Claim(s) 23, 27 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Davydov (WO 2017164925 A1); hereinafter Davydov in view of Silva (US 11736965B2); hereinafter Silva, and further in view of Chen (US 20200177262 A1); hereinafter Chen, and further in view of Mo (US 10735066 B2); hereinafter Mo .
Regarding claim 23, Davydov, Silva and Chen teach the apparatus according to claim 22, but does not explicitly teach wherein the number of distinct beams is a fixed number via a predefined codebook.
Mo, in the same field of wireless communications, teaches wherein the number of distinct beams is a fixed number via a predefined codebook ([Page 28, col 1, lines 60-62] A set of codewords including a first and second upper bounds, the set of codewords corresponding to candidate beams of each of the antennas. [Page 26, col 16, lines 26-29] A beam codebook comprises a set of codewords, where a codeword is a set of analog phase shift values, or a set of amplitude plus phase shift values, applied to the antenna elements, in order to form an analog beam. [Page 41, col 25, lines 21-23] In one example, a beam codebook (CB) set is included, comprising multiple beam codebooks, stored in the internal memory of the device).
It would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to combine the teachings of Davydov, Silva, Chen, and Mo. Davydov, Silva and Chen teach receiving and configuring a set of carrier frequencies for a positioning reference signals (PRS), and measure at least a reference signal received power and selecting a reception beam, mapping between beam identifiers and carrier frequency information, and a report a number of distinct beams, and Mo teaches beam codebook set comprising a number of distinct beams. A person of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to combine the beam measurement and techniques, and multi-carrier and PRS framework of Davydov, Silva and Chen with the finite predefined beam codebook set of Mo in order to improve efficient beam selection, reliability, and use of appropriate beams for PRS transmissions across different carrier frequencies.
Regarding claim 27, Davydov, Silva and Chen teach the apparatus according to claim 26, but does not explicitly teach wherein the number of distinct beams is a fixed number via a predefined codebook.
Mo, in the same field of wireless communications, teaches wherein the number of distinct beams is a fixed number via a predefined codebook ([Page 28, col 1, lines 60-62] A set of codewords including a first and second upper bounds, the set of codewords corresponding to candidate beams of each of the antennas. [Page 26, col 16, lines 26-29] A beam codebook comprises a set of codewords, where a codeword is a set of analog phase shift values, or a set of amplitude plus phase shift values, applied to the antenna elements, in order to form an analog beam. [Page 41, col 25, lines 21-23] In one example, a beam codebook (CB) set is included, comprising multiple beam codebooks, stored in the internal memory of the device).
It would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to combine the teachings of Davydov, Silva, Chen, and Mo. Davydov, Silva and Chen teach receiving and configuring a set of carrier frequencies for a positioning reference signals (PRS), and measure at least a reference signal received power and selecting a reception beam, mapping between beam identifiers and carrier frequency information, and a report a number of distinct beams, and Mo teaches beam codebook set comprising a number of distinct beams. A person of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to combine the beam measurement and techniques, and multi-carrier and PRS framework of Davydov, Silva and Chen with the finite predefined beam codebook set of Mo in order to improve efficient beam selection, reliability, and use of appropriate beams for PRS transmissions across different carrier frequencies.
Claim(s) 29 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Davydov (WO 2017164925 A1); hereinafter Davydov in view of Silva (US 11736965B2); hereinafter Silva, and further in view of Chen (US 20200177262 A1); hereinafter Chen, and further in view of Su (US20180351620A1); hereinafter Su.
Regarding claim 29, Davydov, Silva and Chen teaches the apparatus according to claim 28, but does not explicitly teach wherein the set of carrier frequencies is selected from different carrier sets that span diverse frequency ranges.
Su, in the same field of wireless communications, teaches wherein the set of carrier frequencies is selected from different carrier sets that span diverse frequency ranges ([0063] The frame 620 may be transmitted over a radio frequency spectrum band, which may include a plurality of sub-bands. For example, the radio frequency spectrum band may have a bandwidth of 80 MHz, and each of the sub-bands may have a bandwidth of 20 MHz).
It would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to combine the teachings of Davydov, Silva, Chen, and Su. Davydov, Silva and Chen teach receiving and configuring a set of carrier frequencies for a positioning reference signals (PRS), and measure at least a reference signal received power and selecting a reception beam, mapping between beam identifiers and carrier frequency information, and a report a number of distinct beams, and Su teaches set of carrier frequencies is selected from different carrier sets that span diverse frequency ranges. A person of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to combine the beam measurement and techniques, and multi-carrier and PRS framework of Davydov, Silva and Chen with various frequency ranges of Su in order to improve position accuracy, reliability, and use of appropriate beams for PRS transmissions across different carrier frequencies.
Claim(s) 31 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Davydov (WO 2017164925 A1); hereinafter Davydov in view of Silva (US 11736965B2); hereinafter Silva, and further in view of Chen (US 20200177262 A1); hereinafter Chen, and further in view of Zhang (US 20190327115 A1); hereinafter Zhang.
Regarding claim 31, Davydov, Silva and Chen teach the apparatus according to any of claim 28, wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are further configured, with the at least one processor, to cause the apparatus at least to: and a positioning session ([00103] In summary, the positioning method 100 of Figure 7 may be implemented in a first example by a computer-readable medium comprising instructions to cause a User Equipment (UE), upon execution of instructions by one or more processors of the UE, to establish, between the UE and an enhanced Node B (eNB), one or more communication links, wherein each link is associated with a pair of beams at the UE and the eNB, receive beamformed positioning reference signals (PRS); Davydov), but does not explicitly teach instruct the user equipment and the network node to initiate channel sounding for a current positioning session.
Zhang, in the same field of wireless communications, teaches instruct the user equipment and the network node to initiate channel sounding for a current positioning session ([0240] When executed cause a user equipment (UE) to: receive, in a new radio (NR) wireless cellular network, a downlink control information (DCI) in a DCI format 0_1 or 1_1, wherein the DCI includes a sounding reference signal (SRS) request field to jointly trigger a SRS and a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS). [0253] Example 14 is the one or more media of Example 11, wherein the CSI-RS is a first CSI-RS, wherein the DCI is in the DCI format 0_1, wherein the DCI further includes a CSI request field to trigger a second CSI-RS).
It would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to combine the teachings of Davydov, Silva, Chen, and Zhang. Davydov, Silva, and Chen teach receiving and configuring a set of carrier frequencies for a positioning reference signals (PRS), and measure at least a reference signal received power and selecting a reception beam, mapping between beam identifiers and carrier frequency information, and a report a number of distinct beams, and Zhang teaches to instruct the user equipment and the network node to initiate channel sounding for a current positioning session. A person of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to combine the beam measurement and techniques, and multi-carrier and PRS framework of Davydov, Silva, and Chen with the channel sounding of Zhang in order to improve position accuracy, reliability, and use of appropriate beams for PRS transmissions across different carrier frequencies.
Claim(s) 33 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Davydov (WO 2017164925 A1); hereinafter Davydov in view of Silva (US 11736965B2); hereinafter Silva, and further in view of Chen (US 20200177262 A1); hereinafter Chen., and further in view of Xi (WO 2018232090 A1); hereinafter Xi.
Regarding claim 33, Davydov and Silva teach the apparatus according to claim 28, wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are further configured, with the at least one processor, to cause the apparatus at least to configured, with the at least one processor, to cause the apparatus at least to: and a positioning session ([00103] In summary, the positioning method 100 of Figure 7 may be implemented in a first example by a computer-readable medium comprising instructions to cause a User Equipment (UE), upon execution of instructions by one or more processors of the UE, to establish, between the UE and an enhanced Node B (eNB), one or more communication links, wherein each link is associated with a pair of beams at the UE and the eNB, receive beamformed positioning reference signals (PRS); Davydov): but does not explicitly teach combine reports of positioning reference signal measurements from a plurality of other user equipment; and jointly select relevant positioning reference signal transmissions based on the combined reports.
Chen, in the same field of wireless communications, teaches reports of positioning reference signal measurements ([0039-0042] Optionally, for the above-mentioned device provided by the embodiments of the present application, the second unit determines the first mapping relationship by following method: transmitting a reference signal within the reference signal resources to the receiving end, so that the receiving end performs measurement and reporting for the reference signal; and determining the first mapping relationship from measurement reporting results reported by the receiving end. [0095] The CRIs to which the BPL identifiers are mapped can be determined by the base station through the measurement reported by the terminal, and the base station establishes a mapping table according to measurement results reported by the terminal).
It would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to combine the teachings of Davydov, Silva and Chen. Davydov and Silva teaches receiving and configuring a set of carrier frequencies for a positioning reference signals (PRS), including carriers-specific PRS parameters and Chen teaches beam management, receiving beam count per carrier frequency, mapping between beam identifiers and carrier frequency information, and receiving information relevant to a selected beam. A person of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to combine the beam management and techniques of Chen to the multi-carrier and PRS framework of Davydov in order to improve the positioning accuracy, reliability, and use of appropriate beams for PRS transmissions across different carrier frequencies.
However, Davydov, Silva and Chen do not explicitly teach combine reports of positioning reference signal measurements from a plurality of other user equipment; and jointly select relevant positioning reference signal transmissions based on the combined reports.
Xi, in the same field of wireless communications, teaches combine reports of positioning reference signal measurements from a plurality of other user equipment ([0084] For multi-antenna, MIMO, or other configurations beam reporting, beam failure detection, or new candidate beam identification is desirable when multiple RSs are utilized for beam management (BM). [00212] In the examples given herein, a WTRU may receive unified BM configurations for beam measurement and reporting from the network. [00211] After the beam measurement and reporting procedure is performed and determined, the WTRU may report joint or independent L1-RSRP reporting on a SS block and/or CSI-RS via the unified beam reporting format.); and jointly select relevant positioning reference signal transmissions based on the combined reports ([0003] Configuring unified BM for beam discovery, beam tracking and refinement, beam recovery, or the like to utilize multiple Reference Signals is desirable. [0097] Signals E may be inputted with RRC parameters to beam selection for reporting component 408 to produce output signals F of X beams).
It would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to combine the teachings of Davydov, Silva, Chen, and Xi. Davydov, Silva and Chen teach receiving and configuring a set of carrier frequencies for a positioning reference signals (PRS), and measure at least a reference signal received power and selecting a reception beam, mapping between beam identifiers and carrier frequency information, and a report a number of distinct beams, and Xi teaches utilizing measurement reports including joint measurement results in beam management procedures and jointly select relevant positioning reference signal transmissions. A person of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to combine the beam measurement and techniques, and multi-carrier and PRS framework of Davydov, Silva and Chen with the combining of measurement results of Xi in order to improve position accuracy, reliability, and use of appropriate beams selection for PRS transmissions across different carrier frequencies.
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
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/LABIBAH ILMA ALI/Examiner, Art Unit 3667
/SAHAR MOTAZEDI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3667
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