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 .
Application, submitted on 03/05/2024, has been received, entered, and made of record. Currently, claims 1-30 remain pending in the application.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 07/29/2025 was filed in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97 and 1.98. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner. However, Applicant has not provided an explanation of relevance of cited document(s).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 1-30 are rejected under 35 U.S.C.102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Kumar et al. US 2023/0296718 A1 (hereinafter referred to as Kumar).
The applied reference has a common Applicant with the instant application. Based upon the earlier effectively filed date of the reference, it constitutes prior art under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2). This rejection under 35 U.S.C.102(a)(2) might be overcome by: (1) a showing under 37 CFR 1.130(a) that the subject matter disclosed in the reference was obtained directly or indirectly from the inventor or a joint inventor of this application and is thus not prior art in accordance with 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(A);
(2) a showing under 37 CFR 1.130(b) of a prior public disclosure under 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(B) if the same invention is not being claimed; or
(3) a statement pursuant to 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) establishing that, not later than the effective filing date of the claimed invention, the subject matter disclosed in the reference and the claimed invention were either owned by the same person or subject to an obligation of assignment to the same person or subject to a joint research agreement.
Referring to claim 1, Kumar discloses a method of operating a device (fig.7, UE 700), comprising:
selecting a position estimation scheme for a position estimation session of a user equipment (UE) (fig.7, UE 700) from a plurality of available position estimation schemes based on a set of selection criteria ([0047], [0101] and [0151]), the plurality of available position estimation schemes comprising two or more of:
a second position estimation scheme that provides a second position estimate based only on positioning reference signal (PRS) measurement information associated with one or more PRSs that are transmitted or measured by the UE ([0043]-[0044], and [0102]-[0104]) (Note: the reference discloses a position estimate based only on positioning reference signal (PRS) measurement information associated with one or more PRSs that are transmitted (uplink (UL) RS based positioning) or measured (downlink (DL) reference signal (RS) based positioning) by the UE for a criteria that may be evaluated by the UE), or
a third position estimation scheme that provides a third position estimate based on a combination of two or more of the first RF-S measurement information, the PRS measurement information, and second RF-S measurement information associated with at least one RF-S signal that is transmitted, measured, or both, by the UE ([0045], [0100], and [0112]) (Note: the reference further discloses another position estimate based on a combination of the PRS measurement information (DL RS and UL RS), and RF-S measurements information associated with at least one RF-S signal (round-trip time (RTT) measurement for one base station or RTT measurements for multiple base stations (multi-cell RTT) measured by the UE),
Referring to claim 2, Kumar discloses the method of claim 1, further comprising: transmitting a request to a position estimation entity (fig.5, Location Management Function (LMF) 152) for the position estimation of the UE in accordance with the selected position estimation scheme, wherein the location information is received in response to the request (fig.5, S14-S16 and [0135]-[0137]) (Note: the UE requests position estimation of the UE in accordance with the selected position estimation scheme by providing an LPP Provide Location Information message to the LMF 152; wherein the location information is transmitted in response to the request).
Referring to claim 3, Kumar discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the device corresponds to a position estimation entity (fig.5, LMF 152), further comprising: receiving measurement information associated with the selected position estimation scheme, wherein the location information is derived at the device based on the measurement information (fig.5, S14-S15 and [0135]-[0136]) (Note: the UE 105 sends an LPP Provide Location Information message to the LMF 152, which may include position measurements obtained at stage 12, if the prioritized positioning method performed in stage 12 was DL RS based positioning method or a combined DL and UL RS based positioning method; the LMF 152 computes the UE location using the received location information).
Referring to claim 4, Kumar discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the device corresponds to the UE (fig.5, UE 105) or another UE, or the device corresponds to a network component, wherein the network component corresponds to a location management function (LMF) (fig.5, Location Management Function (LMF) 152),
Referring to claim 5, Kumar discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the set of selection criteria comprises: quality of service (QOS) information, or load information, or a position estimation scheme preference associated with an external device, or position estimation scheme confidence information, or a location region associated with the UE, or a device type of the UE, or a device category of the UE, or line of sight (LOS) or non-LOS (NLOS) information associated with the UE and one or more wireless nodes, or position estimation scheme expected accuracy information, or position estimation scheme priority information, or any combination thereof ([0047] and [0101]) (Note: wherein the set of selection criteria comprises: position estimation scheme priority information).
Referring to claim 6, Kumar discloses the method of claim 1, further comprising: selecting an initial position estimation scheme that is different from the selected position estimation scheme, wherein the selection of the selected position estimation scheme transitions the position estimation session from the initial position estimation scheme to the selected position estimation scheme ([0115]-[0117]) (Note: UE changes from an initial position estimation scheme selection to a selected position estimation scheme based on the selected criteria and the scheme prioritization).
Referring to claim 7, Kumar discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the selected position estimation scheme is associated with at least one triggering event that triggers a transition from the selected position estimation scheme to another position estimation scheme ([0108]-[0109]) (Note: an amount of the battery power triggers a transition from the selected position estimation scheme to another position estimation scheme if the available battery power is not adequate).
Referring to claim 8, Kumar discloses the method of claim 7, wherein the at least one triggering event comprises termination of a position estimation scheme time window or signaling that requests a transition to the another position estimation scheme ([0120], [0132]) (Note: the location server 152 or base station 110, may reject the prioritized positioning method and specify the positioning method to be used, and the UE 105 may then use the specified positioning method).
Referring to claim 9, Kumar discloses the method of claim 7, wherein the at least one triggering event is signaled via long term evolution positioning protocol (LPP), or configuration information, or assistance data, or any combination thereof ([0120]) (Note: The acceptance or rejection of the prioritized positioning method may be provided to the UE 105 by the location server 152 in an LPP Request Location Information message, in which the positioning method to be used is specified, and the UE 105 will perform the required measurements according to the negotiated positioning method).
Referring to claim 10, Kumar discloses a method of operating a device (fig.8, location server 800), comprising:
receiving an indication of a selected position estimation scheme for position estimation of a user equipment (UE) (fig.5, S10 and [0131]), the selected position estimation scheme corresponding to one of:
a second position estimation scheme that provides a second position estimate based only on positioning reference signal (PRS) measurement information associated with one or more PRSs that are transmitted or measured by the UE ([0043]-[0044], and [0102]-[0104]) (Note: the reference discloses a position estimate based only on positioning reference signal (PRS) measurement information associated with one or more PRSs that are transmitted (uplink (UL) RS based positioning) or measured (downlink (DL) reference signal (RS) based positioning) by the UE for a criteria that may be evaluated by the UE), or
a third position estimation scheme that provides a third position estimate based on a combination of two or more of the first RF-S measurement information, the PRS measurement information, and second RF-S measurement information associated with at least one RF-S signal that is transmitted, measured, or both, by the UE ([0045], [0100], and [0112]) (Note: the reference further discloses another position estimate based on a combination of the PRS measurement information (DL RS and UL RS), and RF-S measurements information associated with at least one RF-S signal (round-trip time (RTT) measurement for one base station or RTT measurements for multiple base stations (multi-cell RTT) measured by the UE), or
performing a position estimation session of the UE in accordance with the selected position estimation scheme (fig.5, S14-S15 and [0135]-[0136]) (Note: the UE 105 sends an LPP Provide Location Information message to the LMF 152, which may include position measurements obtained at stage 12, if the prioritized positioning method performed in stage 12 was DL RS based positioning method or a combined DL and UL RS based positioning method; the LMF 152 computes the UE location using the received location information),
wherein the device corresponds to a location management function (LMF) (fig.5, Location Management Function (LMF) 152) and the selected position estimation scheme corresponds to ([0133]) (Note: the prioritized positioning measurements are performed, by the UE 105 based on the position estimation scheme; wherein for combined DL and UL RS based positioning methods, both the gNBs 110 and the UE 105 may respectively transmit DL RS, such as PRS, and UL RS, such as SRS, which is received and measured by the UE 105 and gNBs 110, respectively, e.g., Rx-Tx, etc., for RTT or multi-cell RTT, or any other desired combined DL and UL RS based positioning method),
Referring to claim 11, Kumar discloses the method of claim 10, wherein the device corresponds to a position estimation entity, or wherein the device corresponds to the UE, or wherein the device corresponds to the LMF (fig.5, Location Management Function (LMF) 152), or wherein the device corresponds to the SnMF.
Referring to claim 12, Kumar discloses the method of claim 10, further comprising: receiving an initial indication of an initial position estimation scheme that is different from the selected position estimation scheme, wherein the indication of the selected position estimation scheme transitions the position estimation session from the initial position estimation scheme to the selected position estimation scheme ([0120]) (Note: a rejection of the prioritized positioning method may be provided to the UE 105 by the location server 152 in an LPP Request Location Information message, in which the positioning method to be used is specified, and the UE 105 will perform the required measurements according to the negotiated positioning method)..
Referring to claim 13, Kumar discloses the method of claim 10, wherein the selected position estimation scheme is associated with at least one triggering event that another position estimation scheme triggers a transition from the selected position estimation scheme to another position estimation scheme ([0108]-[0109]) (Note: an amount of the battery power triggers a transition from the selected position estimation scheme to another position estimation scheme if the available battery power is not adequate).
Referring to claim 14, Kumar discloses the method of claim 13, wherein the at least one triggering event comprises termination of a position estimation scheme time window or signaling that requests a transition to the another position estimation scheme ([0120], [0132]) (Note: the location server 152 may reject the prioritized positioning method and specify the positioning method to be used, and the UE 105 may then use the specified positioning method).
Referring to claim 15, Kumar discloses the method of claim 10, wherein the at least one triggering event is signaled via long term evolution positioning protocol (LPP), or configuration information, or assistance data, or any combination thereof ([0120]) (Note: The acceptance or rejection of the prioritized positioning method may be provided to the UE 105 by the location server 152 in an LPP Request Location Information message, in which the positioning method to be used is specified, and the UE 105 will perform the required measurements according to the negotiated positioning method).
Referring to claim 16, the same ground of rejection provided for claim 1 is applicable herein. Kumar further discloses a device (fig.7, UE 700), comprising:
one or more memories (fig.7, memory 704);
one or more transceivers (fig.7, transceiver 710); and
one or more processors (fig.7, processor 702) communicatively coupled to the one or more memories and the one or more transceivers (fig.7).
Referring to claim 17, the same ground of rejection provided for claim 2 is applicable herein
Referring to claim 18, the same ground of rejection provided for claim 3 is applicable herein
Referring to claim 19, the same ground of rejection provided for claim 4 is applicable herein
Referring to claim 20, the same ground of rejection provided for claim 5 is applicable herein
Referring to claim 21, the same ground of rejection provided for claim 6 is applicable herein
Referring to claim 22, the same ground of rejection provided for claim 7 is applicable herein
Referring to claim 23, the same ground of rejection provided for claim 8 is applicable herein
Referring to claim 24, the same ground of rejection provided for claim 9 is applicable herein
Referring to claim 25, the same ground of rejection provided for claim 10 is applicable herein. Kumar further discloses a device (fig.8, location server 800), comprising:
one or more memories (fig.8, memory 804);
one or more transceivers (fig.8, transceiver 810); and
one or more processors (fig.8, processor 802) communicatively coupled to the one or more memories and the one or more transceivers (fig.8).
Referring to claim 26, the same ground of rejection provided for claim 11 is applicable herein
Referring to claim 27, the same ground of rejection provided for claim 12 is applicable herein
Referring to claim 28, the same ground of rejection provided for claim 13 is applicable herein
Referring to claim 29, the same ground of rejection provided for claim 14 is applicable herein
Referring to claim 30, the same ground of rejection provided for claim 15 is applicable herein.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MOUSTAPHA DIABY whose telephone number is (571)270-1669. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday: 9AM-6PM.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, ABDERRAHIM MEROUAN can be reached at (571) 270-5254. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/MOUSTAPHA DIABY/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2683