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
Claim Status
1. This is in response to application filed on 1/2/2024 in which claims 1-62 are presented for examination.
Priority
2. Receipt is acknowledged of papers submitted under 35 U.S.C. 119(a)-(d), which papers have been placed of record in the file.
Information Disclosure Statement
3. The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
4. 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.
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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claims 1-18, 31-48 and 61-62 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over Saur et al., (US 2019/0230618), (hereinafter, Saur) in view of Keating et al., (WO 2021/092813), (hereinafter, Keating).
Regarding claims 1, 31, 61, Saur discloses a method/apparatus/means of determining a time difference of arrival value (= using both PRS and S-PRS to perform an improved set of OTDOA, see [0035]) comprising:
receiving a first reference signal at a first time, wherein the first reference signal is transmitted from a first wireless node (= BSs 111-13) using a first radio access link
(= BSs 111-113 may periodically transmits one or more PRS signal in downlink direction to T-UE1 and T-UE2, see [0035-36]);
receiving a second reference signal at a second time wherein the second reference signal is transmitted from a second wireless node using a second radio access link (= T-UE1 and T-UE2 may also receive S-PRS signals from S-UE 121-23, see [0035-36] ).
Saur explicitly fails to disclose the claimed limitations of:
“receiving assistance data including at least a transmit delay time value based on a time the first reference signal is received by the second wireless node, and a time the second reference signal is transmitted by the second wireless node; and determining the time difference of arrival value based at least in part on the first time, the second time and the transmit delay time value.”
However, Keating, which is an analogous art equivalently discloses the claimed limitations of:
“receiving assistance data including at least a transmit delay time value based on a time the first reference signal is received by the second wireless node, and a time the second reference signal is transmitted by the second wireless node (= second device 120 transmits 2015 the configuration for transmitting the sidelink PRS to fourth device 110-2, see [0052 and 0087]; second device receives an indication of the time difference measured by the first device 110-1…the indication of time difference measured by device 110-1 may be received from the fourth device 110-2; second device 120 may receive the indication of the RSTD measured by device 110-1 using the DL PRS and the indication of RSTD may be received together with the indication of the time difference or separately, see [0088, 0081-82 and 0060-64); and
determining the time difference of arrival value based at least in part on the first time, the second time and the transmit delay time value.” (= device 120 determines the position of the fourth device base on the time difference from device 110-1 and the RSTD from the fourth device 110-2, see [0090]; and Tx-Rx time difference together with Rx-Tx time difference received to obtain the propagation delay between device 110-1 and third device 130, see [0091]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have combined the teaching of Keating with Saur for the benefit of achieving a communication system that provides how to solve synchronization issues between devices for transmitting PRS in sidelink assisted positioning thereby improving positioning performance of sidelink assisted positioning.
Regarding claims 2 and 32, as mentioned in claims 1 and 31, Saur further discloses the method/apparatus wherein the first wireless node is a base station and the first reference signal is a downlink positioning reference signal(= BSs 111-113 may periodically transmits one or more PRS signal in downlink direction to T-UE1 and T-UE2, see [0035-36]; and T-UE1 and T-UE2 may also receive S-PRS signals from S-UE 121-23, see [0035-36]).
Regarding claims 3 and 33 as mentioned in claims 1 and 31, Saur further discloses the method/apparatus wherein the second wireless node is a user equipment (UE) and the second reference signal is sidelink reference signal (= BSs 111-113 may periodically transmits one or more PRS signal in downlink direction to T-UE1 and T-UE2, see [0035-36]; and T-UE1 and T-UE2 may also receive S-PRS signals from S-UE 121-23, see [0035-36]).
Regarding claims 4 and 34 as mentioned in claims 1 and 31, Saur further discloses the method/apparatus wherein the first radio access link utilizes a cellular wide area network technology, and the second radio access link is based on a sidelink protocol (= BSs 111-113 may periodically transmits one or more PRS signal in downlink direction to T-UE1 and T-UE2, see [0035-36]; and T-UE1 and T-UE2 may also receive S-PRS signals from S-UE 121-23, see [0035-36]).
Regarding claims 5 and 35 as mentioned in claims 4 and 34, Saur further discloses the method/apparatus wherein the first radio access link utilizes a cellular wide area network technology, and the second radio access link is based on a sidelink protocol (see [0035-36 and 0070]).
Regarding claims 6 and 36 as mentioned in claims 1 and 31, Saur explicitly fails to discloses the method/apparatus wherein receiving the assistance data includes receiving one or more sidelink messages including the assistance data from the second wireless node.
However, Keating, which is an analogous art equivalently discloses the claimed the method/apparatus wherein receiving the assistance data includes receiving one or more sidelink messages including the assistance data from the second wireless node (see, [0052 and 0072]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have combined the teaching of Keating with Saur for the benefit of achieving a communication system that provides how to solve synchronization issues between devices for transmitting PRS in sidelink assisted positioning thereby improving positioning performance of sidelink assisted positioning.
Regarding claims 7 and 37 as mentioned in claims 1 and 31, Saur explicitly fails to discloses the method/apparatus wherein receiving the assistance data includes receiving one or more messages including the assistance data from the first wireless node.
However, Keating, which is an analogous art equivalently discloses the claimed the method/ wherein receiving the assistance data includes receiving one or more messages including the assistance data from the first wireless node (see, [0052 and 0072]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have combined the teaching of Keating with Saur for the benefit of achieving a communication system that provides how to solve synchronization issues between devices for transmitting PRS in sidelink assisted positioning thereby improving positioning performance of sidelink assisted positioning.
Regarding claims 8 and 38 as mentioned in claims 1 and 31, Saur explicitly fails to discloses the method/apparatus wherein the assistance data includes an estimated propagation time based on a distance between the first wireless node and the second wireless node, and determining the time difference of arrival value is based at least in part on the estimated propagation time.
However, Keating, which is an analogous art equivalently discloses the claimed the method/ wherein the assistance data includes an estimated propagation time based on a distance between the first wireless node and the second wireless node, and determining the time difference of arrival value is based at least in part on the estimated propagation time (see, [0090 and 0091]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have combined the teaching of Keating with Saur for the benefit of achieving a communication system that provides how to solve synchronization issues between devices for transmitting PRS in sidelink assisted positioning thereby improving positioning performance of sidelink assisted positioning.
Regarding claims 9 and 39 as mentioned in claims 1 and 31, Saur further discloses the method/apparatus further comprising determining a location based at least in part on the time difference of arrival value (see, [0014]).
Regarding claims 10, 40, 62, Saur discloses a method/apparatus/means of providing sidelink assistance data (= using both PRS and S-PRS to perform an improved set of OTDOA, see [0035]), comprising:
receiving a first reference signal at a first time, wherein the first reference signal is transmitted from a first wireless node using a first radio access link (= BSs 111-113 may periodically transmits one or more PRS signal in downlink direction to T-UE1 and T-UE2, see [0035-36]);
transmitting a second reference signal at a second time using a second radio access link (= T-UE1 and T-UE2 may also receive S-PRS signals from S-UE 121-23, see [0035-36]).
Saur explicitly fails to disclose the claimed limitations of: “determining a transmit delay time value based on the first time and the second time and transmitting an indication of the transmit delay time value”
However, Keating, which is an analogous art equivalently discloses the claimed limitations of:
“determining a transmit delay time value based on the first time and the second time and transmitting an indication of the transmit delay time value”(= device 120 determines the position of the fourth device base on the time difference from device 110-1 and the RSTD from the fourth device 110-2, see [0090]; and Tx-Rx time difference together with Rx-Tx time difference received to obtain the propagation delay between device 110-1 and third device 130, see [0091]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have combined the teaching of Keating with Saur for the benefit of achieving a communication system that provides how to solve synchronization issues between devices for transmitting PRS in sidelink assisted positioning thereby improving positioning performance of sidelink assisted positioning.
Regarding claims 11 and 41, as mentioned in claims 10 and 40, Saur further discloses the method/apparatus wherein the first wireless node is a base station and the first reference signal is a downlink positioning reference signal (= BSs 111-113 may periodically transmits one or more PRS signal in downlink direction to T-UE1 and T-UE2, see [0035-36]; and T-UE1 and T-UE2 may also receive S-PRS signals from S-UE 121-23, see [0035-36]).
Regarding claims 12 and 42 as mentioned in claims 10 and 40, Saur further discloses the method/apparatus wherein the second reference signal is sidelink reference signal.
(see, [0035-36]).
Regarding claims 13 and 43 as mentioned in claims 10 and 40, Saur further discloses the method/apparatus wherein the first wireless node is a user equipment and the first reference signal is a sidelink reference signal (see, [0035-36]).
Regarding claims 14 and 44 as mentioned in claims 10 and 40, Saur further discloses the method/apparatus wherein the second reference signal is an uplink sounding reference signal (see, [0051 and 0067]).
Regarding claims 15 and 45 as mentioned in claims 10 and 40, Saur further discloses the method/apparatus wherein the first radio access link utilizes a cellular wide area network technology, and the second radio access link is based on a sidelink protocol (see, [0035-36]).
Regarding claims 16 and 46 as mentioned in claims 15 and 45, Saur further discloses the method/apparatus wherein the cellular wide area network technology includes fifth generation new radio(see, [0059]).
Regarding claims 17 and 47 as mentioned in claims 10 and 40, Saur further discloses the method/apparatus wherein transmitting the indication of the transmit delay time value includes transmitting one or more sidelink messages including the transmit delay time value to a proximate user equipment, determining the time difference of arrival value based at least in part on the first time, the second time and the transmit delay time value.” (see, [0090-91]).
Regarding claims 18 and 48 as mentioned in claims 10 and 40, Saur further discloses the method/apparatus wherein transmitting the indication of the transmit delay time value includes transmitting one or more uplink messages including the transmit delay time value to a base station (see, [0090-91]).
Allowable Subject Matter
5. Claims 19-30 and 49-60 are allowable
CONCLUSION
6. The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
a. Blankenship et al., (US 2019/0007923) teaches facilitated positioning of wireless communication device.
b. Rao et al., (US 2020/0163005) teaches methods and arrangements to offload scans of a large scan list.
c. Khoryaev et al., (US 2016/0095080) teaches methods device-to-device assisted positioning in wireless cellular technologies.
7. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KWASI KARIKARI whose telephone number is (571)272-8566. The examiner can normally be reached M-Sat: 6am-10pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Charles Appiah can be reached on 571-272-7904. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/Kwasi Karikari/
Primary Examiner: Art Unit 2641.