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 .
Priority
This application claims priority to HELLENIC REPUBLIC Patent Application No. GR20210100661 filed October 01, 2021.
This application claims priority to PCT Patent Application No. PCT/US2022/042552 filed September 02, 2022.
The claims have been given priority to October 01, 2021.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDS) submitted on 02/02/2024, 05/05/2025, and 04/07/2026 were filed 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
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.
Claims 1-3, 6, 10-13, 16, and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Cha (US 20230020648 A1 and Cha hereinafter) in view of Hu (US 20230362872 A1 and Hu hereinafter).
Regarding Claim 1, Cha suggests
an apparatus for wireless communication at a user equipment (UE), comprising: a memory; a transceiver; and at least one processor communicatively connected to the memory and the transceiver (“wireless device 100 may include one or more processors 102 and one or more memories 104 and additionally further include one or more transceivers 106 and/or one or more antennas 108.”[0516] and FIGs 19 &20), the at least one processor configured to:
measure a first PRS resource set in the plurality of PRS resource sets from each of the plurality of TRPs before measuring a second PRS resource set in the plurality of PRS resource sets (“giving a high priority to something may mean including the thing (with the high priority) in target(s) to be measured and/or processed by the UE. For example, it may be assumed that PRS resources #0, #1, #2, #3, #4, and #5 are configured and information for configuring PRS resource #2 as a reference is received. if the DL PRS processing capability of the UE related to PRS resources is 2, the UE may preferentially include PRS resource #2 with the highest priority in the processing/measurement target. Then, the UE may determine/select other PRS resources to be processed/measured by considering that the remaining PRS resources: PRS resources #0, #1, #3, #4, #5 are sorted in decreasing order of priority. Although the above example has been described based on PRS resources, the present disclosure may be similarly applied to PRS resource sets and/or cells/BSs/TRPs.”[0417]).
Cha doesn’t explicitly teach
receive, from each of a plurality of transmission and reception points (TRPs), a plurality of positioning reference signal (PRS) resource sets in a positioning frequency layer (PFL).
However in a similar field of endeavor Hu teaches
receive, from each of a plurality of transmission and reception points (TRPs), a plurality of positioning reference signal (PRS) resource sets in a positioning frequency layer (PFL) (“A first level is PRS frequency layer (also known as positioning frequency layer, referred to as PFL), which contains PRS resources of multiple Transmission Reception Points (TRP). A second level is TRP, which contains multiple PRS resource sets. A third level is PRS resource set information, which contains multiple PRS resources. A fourth level is PRS resource information.”[0044-47] and FIGs 1 & 2)
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the method of Cha with the method suggested by Hu. The motivation would be to improve the PRS utilization efficiency, see Hu at [0005].
Regarding Claim 11, Cha in view of Hu, Cha-Hu hereinafter, suggests all the limitations of claim 1 in method form rather than device form. Cha also suggests a device (“wireless device 100 may include one or more processors 102 and one or more memories 104 and additionally further include one or more transceivers 106 and/or one or more antennas 108.”[0516] and FIGs 19 &20). Therefore, the rejection of claim 1 applies equally as well to the limitations of claim 11.
Regarding Claim 2 and Claim 12, Cha-Hu suggests all the limitations of claim 1 and 11 respectively, as described above. Further Cha suggests
wherein the first PRS resource set corresponds to a PRS resource set including a highest priority in the plurality of PRS resource sets (“if the DL PRS processing capability of the UE related to PRS resources is 2, the UE may preferentially include PRS resource #2 with the highest priority (i.e. the first resource set) in the processing/measurement target. Then, the UE may determine/select other PRS resources to be processed/measured by considering that the remaining PRS resources: PRS resources #0, #1, #3, #4, #5 are sorted in decreasing order of priority. Although the above example has been described based on PRS resources, the present disclosure may be similarly applied to PRS resource sets and/or cells/BSs/TRPs.”[0417]).
Regarding Claim 3 and Claim 13, Cha-Hu suggests all the limitations of claim 1 as described above. Further Hu suggests
wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:
measure the second PRS resource set in the plurality of PRS resource sets from each of the plurality of TRPs before measuring a third PRS resource set in the plurality of PRS resource sets, wherein the second PRS resource set corresponds to a PRS resource set including a second highest priority in the plurality of PRS resource sets (“the first PRS parameter range corresponds to the highest measurement priority, the second PRS parameter range corresponds to the medium measurement priority, and the third PRS parameter range corresponds to the lowest measurement priority.”[0204]).
Regarding Claim 6 and Claim 16, Cha-Hu suggests all the limitations of claim 1 and 11 respectively, as described above. Further Cha suggests
wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:
measure the second PRS resource set in the plurality of PRS resource sets from each of the plurality of TRPs after measuring the first PRS resource set in the plurality of PRS resource sets (“Then (i.e. after resource #2 is measured to be the first PRS resource set), the UE may determine/select other PRS resources to be processed/measured by considering that the remaining PRS resources: PRS resources #0, #1, #3, #4, #5 are sorted in decreasing order of priority. Although the above example has been described based on PRS resources, the present disclosure may be similarly applied to PRS resource sets and/or cells/BSs/TRPs.”[0417]).
Regarding Claim 10 and Claim 20, Cha-Hu suggests all the limitations of claim 1 as described above. Further Cha suggests
wherein the first PRS resource set from each of the plurality of TRPs is measured based on a priority associated with the plurality of TRPs (“Unless stated otherwise, giving a high priority to a cell/BS/TRP, PRS resource, and/or PRS resource set may mean the priority given to the corresponding cell/BS/TRP, PRS resource, and/or PRS resource set is higher than priorities given to other cells/BSs/TRPs, PRS resources, and/or PRS resource sets.”[0418]).
Claims 4 and 14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Cha (US 20230020648 A1 and Cha hereinafter) in view of Hu (US 20230362872 A1 and Hu hereinafter) and further in view of Huang (US 20200267684 A1 and Huang hereinafter).
Regarding Claim 4 and Claim 14, Cha-Hu suggests all the limitations of claim 1 as described above.
Cha-Hu doesn’t explicitly teach
wherein the first PRS resource set corresponds to a PRS resource set including a least amount of PRS resources in the plurality of PRS resource sets
However in a similar field of endeavor Huang teaches
wherein the first PRS resource set corresponds to a PRS resource set including a least amount of PRS resources in the plurality of PRS resource sets (“PRS resource set is a set of PRS resources. The PRS resources in a PRS resource set are associated with the same TRP. In the example of FIG. 4, TRP 1 is associated with a PRS resource set, which consists of 3 PRS resources, each PRS resource has a PRS resource ID, and each PRS resource ID is associated with a beam. Similarly, TRP 2 is associated with another PRS resource set (i.e. ), which consists of 2 PRS resources, each PRS resource has a PRS resource ID, and each PRS resource ID is associated with a beam.”[0026]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the method of Cha-Hu with the method suggested by Huang. The motivation would to measure the arrival time and/or signal power of the transmitted PRS in order to estimate the location of UE 401, see Huang at [0026].
Claims 5 and 15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Cha (US 20230020648 A1 and Cha hereinafter) in view of Hu (US 20230362872 A1 and Hu hereinafter) and further in view of Rao (US 20230283424 A1 and Rao hereinafter).
Regarding Claim 5 and Claim 15, Cha-Hu suggests all the limitations of claim 1 and 11 respectively, as described above.
Cha-Hu doesn’t explicitly teach
wherein the first PRS resource set corresponds to a PRS resource set being closest in time to a transmission of a corresponding sounding reference signal (SRS) in the plurality of PRS resource sets
However in a similar field of endeavor Rao teaches
wherein the first PRS resource set corresponds to a PRS resource set being closest in time to a transmission of a corresponding sounding reference signal (SRS) in the plurality of PRS resource sets (“The WTRU may be configured with one or more PRS and/or SRSp resource pool configurations for each priority level. The WTRU may select (e.g., based on configured criteria) a configuration for performing measurement of a PRS and/or transmission of an SRSp based on a received indication of a priority level associated with the PRS/SRSp configuration.”[0108] and FIGs 6 & 7 which suggest the time difference between a PRS and SRS transmission).
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the method of Cha-Hu with the method suggested by Rao. The motivation would be to select an SRSp configuration (e.g., from a set of configurations) with an associated priority level that matches the priority level received by the WTRU from the network, see Rao at [0109].
Claims 7-8 and 17-18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Cha (US 20230020648 A1 and Cha hereinafter) in view of Hu (US 20230362872 A1 and Hu hereinafter) and further in view of Tao (US 20220283259 A1 and Tao hereinafter).
Regarding Claim 7 and Claim 17, Cha-Hu suggests all the limitations of claim 1 and 11 respectively, as described above.
Cha-Hu doesn’t explicitly teach
wherein the first PRS resource set corresponds to one of the plurality of PRS resource sets transmitted from each of the plurality of TRPs via a first beam and the second PRS resource set corresponds to another one of the plurality of PRS resource sets transmitted from each of the plurality of TRPs via a second beam.
However in a similar field of endeavor Tao teaches
wherein the first PRS resource set corresponds to one of the plurality of PRS resource sets transmitted from each of the plurality of TRPs via a first beam and the second PRS resource set corresponds to another one of the plurality of PRS resource sets transmitted from each of the plurality of TRPs via a second beam (FIGs 2 & 3).
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the method of Cha-Hu with the method suggested by Tao. The motivation would be to reduce signaling overhead, conserve network bandwidth, reduce latency, see Tao at [0049].
Regarding Claim 8 and Claim 18, Cha-Hu in view of Tao, Cha-Hu-Tao hereinafter, suggests all the limitations of claim 7 and 17 respectively, as described above. Further Tao suggests
wherein the first beam is a narrow beam and the second beam is a wide beam, such that the first beam is narrower than the second beam (“the UE 206 may receive, the set of second PRSs according to a set of second configurations associated with the set of second PRSs (e.g., using the time frequency resources configured by the set of second configurations). In some embodiments, a second PRS may be a narrow-beam PRS (e.g., narrower than a first PRS(s) that was transmitted). For example, the second PRS may be associated with a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS). In some embodiments, the neighboring network node 204 may transmit, and the UE 206 may receive, multiple second PRSs.”[0050], FIGs 2, 3 & 4, also see [0047] which suggests the narrow beam is associated with the preferred/priority PRS).
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the method of Cha-Hu with the method suggested by Tao. The motivation would be to reduce signaling overhead, conserve network bandwidth, reduce latency, see Tao at [0049].
Regarding Claim 9 and Claim 19, Cha-Hu-Tao suggests all the limitations of claims 8and 18 respectively, as described above. Further Cha suggests
wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:
prioritize measuring the first PRS resource set over measuring the second PRS resource set (“Then (i.e. after resource #2 is measured to be the first PRS resource set), the UE may determine/select other PRS resources to be processed/measured by considering that the remaining PRS resources: PRS resources #0, #1, #3, #4, #5 are sorted in decreasing order of priority. Although the above example has been described based on PRS resources, the present disclosure may be similarly applied to PRS resource sets and/or cells/BSs/TRPs.”[0417]).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Ren (US 20230199696 A1)
Li (US 20230362867 A1)
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/IYONDA L LEWIS/Examiner, Art Unit 2647
/Alison Slater/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2647
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