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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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.
Claim(s) 1, 5-6, 8-9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sun et al. (hereinafter Sun)(US 2020/0036492) in view of Applicant admitted prior art (hereinafter AAP)(US 2024/0201310).
Regarding claim 1, Sun teaches a user apparatus comprising: a communicator configured to wirelessly communicate with a base station(fig. 1); and a controller configured to, based on a positioning Radio Resource Control (RRC) parameter related to a positioning Sounding Reference Signal (SRS) received from the base station, configure the positioning SRS(item 101 in Fig. 2; determine based on the configuration parameter; SRS ; P[0067], RRC signaling; also claim 1; P[0040], determine based on the configuration parameter(time frequency location identifier) of the SRS the time resource occupied by the SRS), wherein the communicator transmits the positioning SRS in uplink(item 103 in Fig. 2).
Sun did not teach explicitly SRS used for positioning of the user apparatus. However, AAP teaches in an analogous art SRS used for positioning of the user apparatus (P[0006-0007], SRS signal used in uplink used to estimate the location). Therefore, it would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at time of the invention SRS used for positioning of the user apparatus in order to have wider applicability.
Regarding claim 5, Sun in view of AAP teaches the user apparatus according to Claim 1, wherein the communicator receives, from the base station, relation information indicating relation between the positioning SRS in the uplink and a control signal in downlink(Sun: item 202 in Fig. 3; determine based on the configuration parameter, time frequency resource by the SRS).
Regarding claim 6, Sun teaches the user apparatus according to Claim 5, wherein the relation information is spatial information related to spatial relationship between the positioning SRS and the control signal(item 202 in Fig. 3; determine based on the configuration parameter, time frequency resource by the SRS; also claim 1, period parameter time-frequency resource location).
Claims 8-9 are rejected for the same reason as set forth in claim 1.
Claim(s) 2-3 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sun et al. (hereinafter Sun)(US 2020/0036492) in view of Applicant admitted prior art (hereinafter AAP)(US 2024/0201310) and Lee et al. (hereinafter Lee)(US 2018/0167895).
Regarding claim 2, AAP teaches, wherein the communicator transmits the positioning SRS that is received by the base station and measured by the base station., and positioning measurement information related to the positioning SRS is reported from the base station to an LMF(Fig. 3; P[0162]; P[0108], RSRP, report measurement).
Sun in view of AAP did not teach received power is measured by the base station and the received power of the positioning SRS is reported from the base station to an LMF. However, Lee teaches in an analogous art wherein the received power is measured by the base station and the received power of the positioning SRS is reported from the base station to an LMF (P[0079], UE transmits the SRS and eNB or LMU measures RSRP of a reception signal; P[0103],eNB to perform measurement RSRP or RSRQ on an RS and report location measurement to a location server). Therefore, it would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at time of the invention wherein received power is measured by the base station and the received power of the positioning SRS is reported from the base station to an in order to perform location.
Regarding claim 3, Lee teaches the user apparatus, wherein the received power of the positioning SRS is a Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP) of the positioning SRS(P[0103], RSRP).
Claim(s) 4, 7 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sun et al. (hereinafter Sun)(US 2020/0036492) in view of Applicant admitted prior art (hereinafter AAP)(US 2024/0201310) and Ly et al. (hereinafter Ly)(US 2019/0044677).
Regarding claim 4, Sun in view of AAP teaches all the particulars of the claim except, wherein a Quasi Co- Location (QCL) condition of a Positioning Reference Signal (PRS) and an SS/PBCH Block (SSB) is configured. However, Le teaches in an analogous art wherein a Quasi Co- Location (QCL) condition of a Positioning Reference Signal (PRS) and an SS/PBCH Block (SSB) is configured(claim 1, uplink positioning reference signal based on received SS and the identified beam correspondence; also items 1415 in Fig. 14). Therefore, it would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at time of the invention wherein a Quasi Co- Location (QCL) condition of a Positioning Reference Signal (PRS) and an SS/PBCH Block (SSB) is configured in order to perform location.
Regarding claim 7, Sun in view of AAP teaches all the particulars of the claim except, wherein the communicator receives, from the base station functioning as a Transmission Reception Point (TRP), TRP information related to a location of the TRP and/or a beam of the TRP. However, Ly teaches in an analogous art wherein the communicator receives, from the base station functioning as a Transmission Reception Point (TRP), TRP information related to a location of the TRP and/or a beam of the TRP(P[0055, 0064], TRP; claim 1). Therefore, it would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at time of the invention wherein the communicator receives, from the base station functioning as a Transmission Reception Point (TRP), TRP information related to a location of the TRP and/or a beam of the TRP in order to perform location.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 2/18/2026 have been considered but athey are not persuasive.
Applicant's arguments filed 2/18/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Applicant argues that Sun does not teach SRS specifically used for positioning of the user apparatus.
Examiner respectfully disagrees.. Claim recites SRS is configured to be used for positioning the user apparatus.
AAP teaches measurement of uplink time difference of arrival which is used for positioning.
It is to be noted that the other references used for the rejection of dependence claims also teach the above limitation(Ly : US 2019/0044677 in P[0004], SRS in the uplink signal to support positioning procedures; also reference by Lee et al.(US 2019/004467) in P[0021], sounding reference signal for positioning).
Applicant argues that these references are unrelated and would not have been combined as alleged by the examiner.
Examiner respectfully disagrees. It is well known in the art that PRS measurements (downlink) and SRS measurements (uplink from UE) used for measurement of signal for positioning.
Lee et al. (hereinafter Lee)(US 2018/0167895) teaches in an analogous art wherein the received power is measured by the base station and the received power of the positioning SRS is reported from the base station to an LMF (P[0079], UE transmits the SRS and eNB or LMU measures RSRP of a reception signal; P[0103],eNB to perform measurement RSRP or RSRQ on an RS and report location measurement to a location server).
It is to be noted that close to 5000 prior art references (PE2E search) teach SRS used for positioning of the user apparatus.
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.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MUTHUSWAMY GANAPATHY MANOHARAN whose telephone number is (571)272-5515. The examiner can normally be reached 6:30am-3:00pm.
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/MUTHUSWAMY G MANOHARAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2647