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 .
DETAILED ACTION
Information Disclosure Statement
1. The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 01/13/2026 has been considered by Examiner and made of record in the application file.
2. Claims 1-20 canceled.
Election/Restrictions
3. Applicant's election with traverse of claims 21-28 and 39-40 in the reply filed on 02/02/2026 is acknowledged. The traversal is on the ground(s) that Species 1 included claims 21-28 and 39-40 directed to “An apparatus for a 5th generation NodeB (gNB), the apparatus comprising memory and processing circuitry to configure the gNB to: receive, from a Location Management Function (LMF), a user equipment (UE) coordinates information element (IE) that includes an uplink (UL) Antenna Reference Point (ARP) identifier (ID) and a UL ARP location that is relative to geographical coordinates of a Transmission- Reception Point (TRP);receive, from a user equipment (UE), a reference signal that includes the UL ARP ID; and provide a characteristic of the reference signal to the LMF to determine a location of the UE; and wherein the memory is configured to store the UE coordinates IE.” and Species 2 included claims 29-38 directed to “An apparatus for a Location Management Function (LMF), the apparatus comprising memory and processing circuitry to configure the LMF to: transmit, to a user equipment (UE), a request for additional path reporting for UE positioning based on at least one of downlink Time Difference of Arrival (DL-TDOA), UL-TDOA, or multi-round trip time (RTT) reporting; receive, from the UE for each additional path, signal characteristics that include relative time difference and path quality indicator values of a reference signal; and determine a location of the UE based on the signal characteristics; and wherein the memory is configured to store the signal characteristics.”.
The Applicant argues that both FIGS. 1A and 3 are generic to all of the claims. FIGS. 1A-1C show the interconnections between the UE, gNB, and core network, which is generic to both species. FIG. 3 shows a measurement procedure that may include the interactions in all of the claims (i.e., generic to all of the claims). It is further noted that FIG. 3 shows all of the LMF, gNB, and UE and the descriptions of the interactions include the actions from both sets of claims. This is not found persuasive because in the Species 1 of inventions, claims 21-28 and 39-40 drawn to “…receive, from a Location Management Function (LMF), a user equipment (UE) coordinates information element (IE) that includes an uplink (UL) Antenna Reference Point (ARP) identifier (ID) and a UL ARP location that is relative to geographical coordinates of a Transmission- Reception Point (TRP);receive, from a user equipment (UE), a reference signal that includes the UL ARP ID; and provide a characteristic of the reference signal to the LMF to determine a location of the UE; and wherein the memory is configured to store the UE coordinates IE.”. Such a concept involving this solution is not present in the Species 2 of inventions, claims 29-38 drawn to “…transmit, to a user equipment (UE), a request for additional path reporting for UE positioning based on at least one of downlink Time Difference of Arrival (DL-TDOA), UL-TDOA, or multi-round trip time (RTT) reporting; receive, from the UE for each additional path, signal characteristics that include relative time difference and path quality indicator values of a reference signal; and determine a location of the UE based on the signal characteristics; and wherein the memory is configured to store the signal characteristics.”. Such a concept involving said Species 2 is not present in Species 1.
The requirement is still deemed proper and is therefore made FINAL.
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 21-28 and 39-40 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Edge et al. (U.S PUB. 2020/0162849 hereinafter, “Edge”) in view of Yerraamalli et al. (U.S PUB. 2023/0087450 hereinafter, “Yerraamalli”).
Consider claim 21, Edge teaches an apparatus for a 5th generation NodeB (gNB) (page 7 [0036]), the apparatus comprising memory and processing circuitry to configure the gNB to: receive, from a Location Management Function (LMF), a user equipment (UE) coordinates information element (IE) (page 10 [0052]); and provide a characteristic of the reference signal to the LMF to determine a location of the UE (page 7 [0039]); and wherein the memory is configured to store the UE coordinates IE (pages 19-20 [0137]).
Edge does not explicitly show that an uplink (UL) Antenna Reference Point (ARP) identifier (ID) and a UL ARP location that is relative to geographical coordinates of a Transmission- Reception Point (TRP); receive, from a user equipment (UE), a reference signal that includes the UL ARP ID.
In the same field of endeavor, Yerraamalli teaches an uplink (UL) Antenna Reference Point (ARP) identifier (ID) and a UL ARP location that is relative to geographical coordinates of a Transmission- Reception Point (TRP) (page 10 [0080] i.e., The system 100 may include only macro TRPs or the system 100 may have TRPs of different types, e.g., macro, pico, and/or femto TRPs, etc. A macro TRP may cover a relatively large geographic area (e.g., several kilometers in radius) and may allow unrestricted access by terminals with service subscription. A pico TRP may cover a relatively small geographic area (e.g., a pico cell) and may allow unrestricted access by terminals with service subscription); receive, from a user equipment (UE), a reference signal that includes the UL ARP ID (page 11 [0086] i.e., he report parameter (which may include a report quantity) for each PRS resource may include one or more of a time of arrival (TOA), a reference signal time difference (RSTD), a reference signal receive power (RSRP), an angle, a PRS identification number, a reception to transmission difference (UE Rx−Tx), a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), or a reference signal receive quality (RSRQ)).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made to use, an uplink (UL) Antenna Reference Point (ARP) identifier (ID) and a UL ARP location that is relative to geographical coordinates of a Transmission- Reception Point (TRP); receive, from a user equipment (UE), a reference signal that includes the UL ARP ID, as taught by Yerraamalli, in order for positioning improvements implemented to assist in positioning of when distributed units are employed.
Consider claim 22, Yerraamalli further teaches wherein the UE coordinates IE further comprises a list of ARPs, each ARP having a different UL ARP ID and UL ARP location (page 6 [0049]).
Consider claim 23, Yerraamalli further teaches wherein the UL ARP location comprises a TRP Position Relative Geodetic that indicates a location of the UL ARP relative to a location of the TRP in a relative geodetic coordinate system and a TRP Position Relative Cartesian that indicates the location of the UL ARP relative to the location of the TRP in a relative Cartesian coordinate system (page 8 [0064] i.e., The relative location may be expressed as relative coordinates (e.g., X, Y (and Z) coordinates) defined relative to some origin at a known location which may be defined. Coordinate systems disclosed is a Geodetic vs cartesian).
Consider claim 24, Edge further teaches wherein the characteristic is an angle of arrival (AoA) (page 9 [0048]).
Consider claim 25, Edge further teaches wherein the characteristic is a UL relative time of arrival (UL-RTOA) (page 10 [0052]).
Consider claim 26, Yerraamalli further teaches wherein the reference signal is an UL sounding reference signal (SRS), and the characteristic is JL SRS reference signal received power (SRS-RSRP) (page 15 [0122]).
Consider claim 27, Yerraamalli further teaches wherein a tuple of angle of arrival (AoA), UL relative time of arrival (UL-RTOA), and UL sounding reference signal (SRS) reference signal received power (SRS-RSRP) measurements is associated with the UL ARP ID (page 15 [0122]).
Consider claim 28, Yerraamalli further teaches wherein the UL ARP location represents a coordinate of a TRP antenna panel relative to the geographical coordinates of the TRP (page 8 [0064]).
Consider claim 39, the subject-matter of independent claim 39 relates to a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium that stores instructions for execution by one or more processors of a 5th generation NodeB (gNB) with features fully corresponding to the characteristics of claim 21. Therefore, the same argumentation presented in relation to claim 1 is, mutatis mutandis, of application to claim 39.
Consider claim 40, Yerraamalli further teaches wherein:the UL ARP location comprises a TRP Position Relative Geodetic that indicates a location of the UL ARP relative to a location of the TRP in a relative geodetic coordinate system and a TRP Position Relative Cartesian that indicates the location of the UL ARP relative to the location of the TRP in a relative Cartesian coordinate system (page 8 [0064] i.e., The relative location may be expressed as relative coordinates (e.g., X, Y (and Z) coordinates) defined relative to some origin at a known location which may be defined. Coordinate systems disclosed is a Geodetic vs cartesian), and the characteristic is at least one of an angle of arrival (AoA) (page 9 [0048]), UL relative time of arrival (UL-RTOA), or UL sounding reference signal (SRS) reference signal received power (SRS-RSRP) (page 15 [0122]).
Conclusion
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/TUAN H NGUYEN/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2649