DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
1. The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
2. 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)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
3. Claims 1-17 and 20-29 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Sahai et al. (US 2019/0052996).
Regarding claim 1, Sahai et al. discloses a method of wireless positioning performed by a user equipment (UE), comprising:
obtaining one or more positioning measurements of one or more positioning reference signal (PRS) resources (PRS measurements as disclosed in sections 0030-0031) during one or more autonomous gaps (as disclosed in sections 0030-0031) scheduled within an autonomous gap window (time window for autonomous gaps as disclosed in section 0106), the autonomous gap window, the one or more autonomous gaps, or both defined by one or more autonomous gap configuration parameters (dedicated gap configuration as disclosed in sections 0030-0032), wherein each of the one or more autonomous gaps comprises a period of time (see sections 0030-0032) during which the UE at least prioritizes PRS reception and processing (by suspending or not scheduling reception and transmission with the base station as disclosed in sections 0030 and 0102, see also section 0110) over reception, processing, or both of other downlink signals and channels; and
reporting (as disclosed in section 0111) the one or more positioning measurements to a positioning entity (LS 150 as disclosed in section 0111) to enable the positioning entity to determine a location of the UE.
Regarding claim 2, Sahai et al. discloses wherein the one or more autonomous gap configuration parameters include:
a maximum length (gap length as disclosed in section 0030) of each of the one or more autonomous gaps,
a maximum number of the one or more autonomous gaps (number of dedicated gap instances as disclosed in section 0030),
an indication of one or more frequency bands, one or more frequency ranges, one or more component carriers, one or more radio access technologies (RATs), or any combination thereof for which the one or more autonomous gaps can be used,
an indication (as discloses in sections 0100-0102, see also section 0106) of whether the one or more autonomous gaps are applicable to downlink data receptions, downlink reference signal measurements, physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) monitoring, uplink data transmission, uplink reference signal transmission, sidelink data transmission, sidelink data reception, or any combination thereof,
one or more slot offsets for the one or more autonomous gaps, or
any combination thereof.
Regarding claim 3, Sahai et al. discloses wherein the one or more autonomous gap configuration parameters include: a maximum offset from reception of an indication that the UE is permitted to use autonomous gaps to a start of the autonomous gap window, a length of the autonomous gap window (time window as disclosed in section 0106), a periodicity of the autonomous gap window (gap frequency as disclosed in section 0030), or any combination thereof.
Regarding claim 4, Sahai et al. discloses wherein values of the one or more autonomous gap configuration parameters are different for different frequency bands, latency requirements, quality of service (QoS) requirements (as disclosed in section 0107), response times, or any combination thereof.
Regarding claim 5, Sahai et al. discloses receiving the one or more autonomous gap configuration parameters (dedicated gap configuration as disclosed in section 0106) from a network entity (eNB140).
Regarding claim 6, Sahai et al. discloses the network entity is a serving base station of the UE (eNB140 as disclosed in section 0106), and the one or more autonomous gap configuration parameters are received in one or more radio resource control (RRC) messages, one or more medium access control control elements (MAC-CEs), or downlink control information using a Physical Downlink Control Channel as disclosed in sections 0078 and 0085.
Regarding claim 7, Sahai et al. discloses the network entity is a location server (LS150 as disclosed in section 0034), and the one or more autonomous gap configuration parameters are received in assistance data (as disclosed in sections 0096-0097) provided in one or more Long-Term Evolution (LTE) positioning protocol (LPP) messages (as disclosed in section 0034).
Regarding claim 8, Sahai et al. discloses the one or more LPP messages comprise one or more provide assistance data messages (as disclosed in section 0034, see also section 0095), one or more requestion location information messages, or any combination thereof.
Regarding claim 9, Sahai et al. discloses transmitting a capabilities message (as disclosed in sections 0090-0092) to a network entity (LS 150), the capabilities message including an indication that the UE supports autonomous gaps (positioning capabilities as disclosed in sections 0090-0092) and capabilities related to values for the one or more autonomous gap configuration parameters (see sections 0133 and 0150-0151).
Regarding claim 10, Sahai et al. discloses transmitting, to a network entity (E-SMLC 155 as disclosed in section 0055), a request to be configured with the one or more autonomous gaps (requested dedicated measurement gaps as disclosed in section 0055), the request transmitted with a request (location services request as disclosed in section 0055) for a mobile-originated location request (MO-LR) positioning procedure.
Regarding claim 11, Sahai et al. discloses the positioning entity comprises: a positioning component of the UE, a location management function of a base station serving the UE, or a location server (LS 150 as disclosed in section 0111).
Regarding claim 12, Sahai et al. discloses a method of positioning performed by a location server (LS 150 or E-SMLC as disclosed in section 0040), comprising:
transmitting, to a user equipment (UE), one or more autonomous gap configuration parameters (from E-SMLC 155 as disclosed in sections 0054-0055) defining an autonomous gap window (dedicated gap configuration as disclosed in sections 0030-0032), one or more autonomous gaps scheduled within the autonomous gap window (time window for autonomous gaps as disclosed in section 0106), or both, wherein each of the one or more autonomous gaps comprises a period of time (see sections 0030-0032) during which the UE is expected to at least prioritize (by suspending or not scheduling reception and transmission with the base station as disclosed in sections 0030 and 0102, see also section 0110) positioning reference signal (PRS) reception and processing over reception, processing, or both of other downlink signals and channels;
receiving (as disclosed in section 0111), from the UE, a measurement report including one or more positioning measurements (RSTD measurements as disclosed in section 0111) of one or more PRS resources performed during the one or more autonomous gaps; and
determining a location (as disclosed in section 0111) of the UE based on the one or more positioning measurements.
Regarding claim 13, Sahai et al. discloses wherein the one or more autonomous gap configuration parameters include:
a maximum length (gap length as disclosed in section 0030) of each of the one or more autonomous gaps,
a maximum number of the one or more autonomous gaps (number of dedicated gap instances as disclosed in section 0030),
an indication of one or more frequency bands, one or more frequency ranges, one or more component carriers, one or more radio access technologies (RATs), or any combination thereof for which the one or more autonomous gaps can be used,
an indication (as discloses in sections 0100-0102, see also section 0106) of whether the one or more autonomous gaps are applicable to downlink data receptions, downlink reference signal measurements, physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) monitoring, uplink data transmission, uplink reference signal transmission, sidelink data transmission, sidelink data reception, or any combination thereof,
one or more slot offsets for the one or more autonomous gaps, or
any combination thereof.
Regarding claim 14, Sahai et al. discloses wherein the one or more autonomous gap configuration parameters include: a maximum offset from reception of an indication that the UE is permitted to use autonomous gaps to a start of the autonomous gap window, a length of the autonomous gap window (time window as disclosed in section 0106), a periodicity of the autonomous gap window (gap frequency as disclosed in section 0030), or any combination thereof.
Regarding claim 15, Sahai et al. discloses wherein values of the one or more autonomous gap configuration parameters are different for different frequency bands, latency requirements, quality of service (QoS) requirements (as disclosed in section 0107), response times, or any combination thereof.
Regarding claim 16, Sahai et al. discloses transmitting the one or more autonomous gap configuration parameters to the UE in assistance data (as disclosed in sections 0096-0097) provided in one or more Long-Term Evolution (LTE) positioning protocol (LPP) messages (as disclosed in section 0034).
Regarding claim 17, Sahai et al. discloses the one or more LPP messages comprise one or more provide assistance data messages (as disclosed in section 0034, see also section 0095), one or more requestion location information messages, or any combination thereof.
Regarding claim 20, Sahai et al. discloses receiving a capabilities message (as disclosed in sections 0090-0092), the capabilities message including an indication that the UE supports autonomous gaps (positioning capabilities as disclosed in sections 0090-0092) and capabilities related to values for the one or more autonomous gap configuration parameters (see sections 0133 and 0150-0151).
Regarding claims 21-25, Sahai et al. discloses (see Fig. 9) a user equipment (UE), comprising: a memory (block 904); at least one transceiver (block 910); and at least one processor (block 902) communicatively coupled to the memory and the at least one transceiver, the at least one processor configured to perform the method of claims 1-4 and 9, the rejection of which is applicable hereto.
Regarding claims 26-29, Sahai et al. discloses a location server (Fig. 11), comprising: a memory (block 1154); at least one transceiver (block 1110); and at least one processor (block 1152) communicatively coupled to the memory and the at least one transceiver, the at least one processor configured to perform the method of claims 12-15, the rejection of which is applicable hereto.
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 18 and 30 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sahai et al. (US 2019/00052996) in view of Tao (US 2024/0288570).
Regarding claims 18 and 30, Sahai et al. does not specifically disclose transmitting recommended values of the one or more autonomous gap configuration parameters to a base station serving the UE in one or more New Radio positioning protocol type A (NRPPa) messages. However, Tao also discloses obtaining one or more positioning measurements of one or more positioning reference signal (PRS) resources during one or more autonomous (measurement) gaps (as disclosed in sections 0132-0133). Tao further discloses (see sections 0134-0135) transmitting recommended values (such as start time point and end time point) of one or more autonomous (measurement) gap configuration parameters to a base station (serving base station) serving a UE in one or more New Radio positioning protocol type A (NRPPa) messages (see sections 0134-0135). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the present invention to modify the method/device of Sahai et al. with the use of NRPPa messages as taught by Tao since Tao discloses the NRPPa message carries measurement assistance data (see section 0134) which enables a terminal to perform positioning measurements.
Allowable Subject Matter
4. Claim 19 is 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
5. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CURTIS B ODOM whose telephone number is (571)272-3046. The examiner can normally be reached 8-5.
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/CURTIS B ODOM/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2631 January 22, 2026