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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 4/29/2026 has been entered.
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) 10-15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lee et al. (hereinafter Lee) (US 2016/0165561) in view of Bao et al. (hereinafter Bao) (US 2022/0248366) and Chuang et al. (hereinafter Chuang)(US 2023/0262645)
Regarding claim 10, Lee teaches a method of wireless communication, comprising: communicating, by a first communication device, a first timing information indicating at least one of time difference, or a timing synchronization information between a third communication device and a fourth communication device and wherein the third and fourth communication devices are UEs(Third UE and first UE are the third and fourth communication device; item S240 timing difference between third UE and first UE; Fig. 11).
Lee did not teach specifically communicating, by a first communication device, with a second communication device wherein each of the first and second communication devices is a user equipment (UE) or a location management function (LMF) and wherein the third and fourth communication devices are UEs that are different from any UE among the first and second communication devices. However, Bao teaches in an analogous art communicating, by a first communication device, with a second communication device wherein each of the first and second communication devices is a user equipment (UE) or a location management function (LMF) and wherein the third and fourth communication devices are UEs that are different from any UE among the first and second communication devices (Fig. 5, stage 10 target UE provides measurement reports to Location server (item 120) and also stage 7, SL reference signal transmission and target UE performs measurements; P[0052], report parameter include or more reference signal time difference etc). Therefore, it would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to use the method of communicating, by a first communication device, with a second communication device wherein each of the first and second communication devices is a user equipment (UE) or a location management function (LMF) and wherein the third and fourth communication devices are UEs that are different from any UE among the first and second communication devices in order to have improved efficiency.
Bao further teaches positioning of the first communication device is calculated based on the timing information(item 11 in fig. 5).
Lee and Bao did not teach specifically communicating, by a first communication device, a first timing information indicating a timing synchronization information between a third communication device and a fourth communication device wherein positioning of the first communication device is calculated based on the timing synchronization information. However, Chuang teaches in an analogous art communicating, by a first communication device, a first timing information indicating a timing synchronization information between a third communication device and a fourth communication device wherein positioning of the first communication device is calculated based on the timing synchronization information(P{0085], LMF can send the synchronization error between the TRPs to other UEs; P[0095], UE can measure the propagation delay time using the synchronization error between the TRPs; claim 3, location server positions the target device using the relative tine difference indicating the synchronization error). Therefore, it would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to use the method of communicating, by a first communication device, a first timing information indicating a timing synchronization information between a third communication device and a fourth communication device wherein positioning of the first communication device is calculated based on the timing synchronization information in order to have improved accuracy.
Regarding claim 11, Lee teaches the method of claim 10, wherein the communicating includes at least one of transmitting or reporting(P[0193], reporting to server; RSTD difference).
Claims 12-15 are rejected for the same reason as set forth in claims 10-11, 10-11 respectively.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Conclusion
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/MUTHUSWAMY G MANOHARAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2647
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