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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of Invention I, claims 1 – 18, in the reply filed on 05/06/2026 is acknowledged.
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 –
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1, 6, 10, and 15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Si et al. (Pub. No.: US 2023/0262649; hereinafter Si).
Regarding claim 1, Si discloses a user equipment comprising: a transceiver; a memory; and a processor, communicatively coupled to the transceiver and the memory, configured (see Fig. 8, Fig. 9, para. 0444 – 0446, a terminal 900 includes a radio frequency unit 901, memory 909 and a processor 910) to: transmit, via the transceiver to a network entity, a positioning measurement gap indication corresponding to a positioning measurement gap supported by the user equipment for measurement of a positioning reference signal (see para. 0198, 0200, 0210, the terminal may further report the terminal capability to at least one of the location server or the serving base station…the terminal capability may include at least one of the following:… whether to support performing PRS measurement in a measurement gap, also see para. 0275 – 0276, 0278); receive, via the transceiver from the network entity, an indication of a scheduled positioning measurement gap (see para. 0145, 0261, Configuration information of the recommended measurement gap…the serving gNB recommends the UE to perform PRS measurement in the measurement gap); receive, via the transceiver, the positioning reference signal (see para. 0314, the terminal receives the PRSs from the plurality of cells); and measure the positioning reference signal (see para. 0215, 0316, the terminal may perform PRS measurement in the measurement gap).
Regarding claim 6, Si discloses wherein the positioning measurement gap indication is a request for the positioning measurement gap to be a per-user-equipment measurement gap (see para. 0310, transmitting measurement gap request information to the serving gNB, where the request information is used for indicating that the UE performs PRS measurement in the measurement gap).
Regarding claim 10, Si discloses a positioning signal measurement method comprising: transmitting, from a user equipment to a network entity, a positioning measurement gap indication corresponding to a positioning measurement gap supported by the user equipment for measurement of a positioning reference signal (see para. 0198, 0200, 0210, the terminal may further report the terminal capability to at least one of the location server or the serving base station…the terminal capability may include at least one of the following:… whether to support performing PRS measurement in a measurement gap, also see para. 0275 – 0276, 0278); receiving, at the user equipment from the network entity, an indication of a scheduled positioning measurement gap (see para. 0145, 0261, Configuration information of the recommended measurement gap…the serving gNB recommends the UE to perform PRS measurement in the measurement gap); receiving, at the user equipment, the positioning reference signal (see para. 0314, the terminal receives the PRSs from the plurality of cells); and measuring, at the user equipment, the positioning reference signal (see para. 0215, 0316, the terminal may perform PRS measurement in the measurement gap).
Regarding claim 15, Si discloses wherein the positioning measurement gap indication is a request for the positioning measurement gap to be a per-user-equipment measurement gap (see para. 0310, transmitting measurement gap request information to the serving gNB, where the request information is used for indicating that the UE performs PRS measurement in the measurement gap).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claims 7 and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Si et al. (Pub. No.: US 2023/0262649; hereinafter Si) in view of Guo (Pub. No.: US 2024/0007990; hereinafter Guo).
Si does not disclose the claimed features as recited in claims 7 and 16.
Regarding claim 7, Guo discloses wherein the positioning measurement gap indication is a portion of a measurement gap request message that includes indications of measurement gap length, measurement gap periodicity, and measurement gap offset (see para. 0049, the terminal device 120 can use the measurement gap request 382 to indicate details regarding the requested measurement gap. Some examples of the indicated details may include measurement gap length, slot offset of measurement gap, measurement gap repetition period, number of measurement gap repetitions).
Regarding claim 16, Guo discloses wherein the positioning measurement gap indication is a portion of a measurement gap request message that includes indications of measurement gap length, measurement gap periodicity, and measurement gap offset (see para. 0049, the terminal device 120 can use the measurement gap request 382 to indicate details regarding the requested measurement gap. Some examples of the indicated details may include measurement gap length, slot offset of measurement gap, measurement gap repetition period, number of measurement gap repetitions).
It would have been obvious to one ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Si, and have the features, as taught by Guo, in order to provide improvements over the conventional approach, such as by reducing the processing latency for positioning measurement at the physical layer, by increasing the processing efficiency, and/or by increasing the granularity/accuracy of the current location, as discussed by Guo (para. 0034).
Claims 8, 9, 17 and 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Si et al. (Pub. No.: US 2023/0262649; hereinafter Si) in view of Cui et al. (Pub. No.: US 2022/0182867; hereinafter Cui).
Si does not disclose the claimed features as recited in claims 8, 9, 17 and 18.
Regarding claim 8, Cui discloses wherein the positioning measurement gap indication is a supported gap pattern indication indicating that the user equipment supports at least one of two measurement gap lengths (see para. 0135, a UE indicates support for any measurement for any measurement pattern (e.g., patterns 0-11, subsequently described) with a measurement gap length (MGL) of less than 6 milliseconds (ms)).
Regarding claim 9, Cui discloses wherein the supported gap pattern indication indicates a combination of supported measurement gap length and supported measurement gap type, the supported measurement gap type being either per user equipment or per frequency range (see para. 0135, measurement gap length supported, see para. 0137, 0139, Table 2, per-UE measurement gap and per FR measurement gap supports).
Regarding claim 17, Cui discloses wherein the positioning measurement gap indication is a supported gap pattern indication indicating that the user equipment supports at least one of two measurement gap lengths (see para. 0135, a UE indicates support for any measurement for any measurement pattern (e.g., patterns 0-11, subsequently described) with a measurement gap length (MGL) of less than 6 milliseconds (ms)).
Regarding claim 18, Cui discloses wherein the supported gap pattern indication indicates a combination of supported measurement gap length and supported measurement gap type, the supported measurement gap type being either per user equipment or per frequency range (see para. 0135, measurement gap length supported, see para. 0137, 0139, Table 2, per-UE measurement gap and per FR measurement gap supports).
It would have been obvious to one ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Si, and have the features, as taught by Cui, to use the MG pattern for FR1 and/or FR2 measurement in order to provide improvements for MG applicability mechanisms, as discussed by Cui (para. 0135).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2 – 5 and 11 – 14 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
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Anh Ngoc M Nguyen whose telephone number is (571) 270-5139. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday to Friday, from 7:30 am to 4:00 pm.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Kwang Bin Yao can be reached on ((571) 272-3182. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/ANH NGOC M NGUYEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2473
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