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 Objections
Claims 3 and 15 are objected to because of the following informalities: missing a period at end of claim. Appropriate correction is required.
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) 1-9, 13-21, 23-32, 34-40 and 42-47 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over IWABUCHI (US-20230171624-A1) in view of Geng (US-20220179036-A1).
Regarding claims 1, 13, IWABUCHI discloses an apparatus comprising:
a processor circuit (processor 131, see Fig. 6, paragraph 0089) and a memory circuit, wherein the memory is arranged to store instructions for the processor circuit (memory 132, Fig. 6, paragraph 0089),
wherein the processor circuit is arranged to receive a plurality of coded beams at a receiver via a plurality of non-line-of-sight paths (reflector modulates the incident measurement signal during reflection to add information about a reflection direction ID being different for each of the multiple reflection directions to each of the multiple reflected measurement signals, Abstract)(reflectors are designed to receive and reflect coded beams) from a plurality of reflectors,
wherein a first code of the plurality of coded beams identifies a first reflector (see Fig. 2, reflectors 200-A and 200-B receives signals from BS 100, retransmit the signals with beam ID and reflector ID)(paragraph 0041-0044);
wherein the processor circuit is arranged to measure at least one propagation parameter for a portion of the plurality of coded beams (reflection direction ID may include both identification information for identifying the reflector 200 and identification information for identifying the reflection direction in the reflector 200, paragraph 0044),
IWABUCHI does not specifically disclose the processor circuit is arranged to determine the location of the receiver based on the at least one propagation parameter and a location of identified reflectors. Geng teaches a positioning system using LOS and NLOS signals (reflected from reflector, Abstract) in determining position of a terminal.
It would have been obvious to modify IWABUCHI by Gen by taking advantage of coded beams direction ID system and modify the system to do the positioning function which is a very common application.
Regarding claims 2-3, 14-15, IWABUCHI as modified with Geng discloses all claim limitations in the rejection of claims 1 and 13 and further discloses performing beamforming (by Geng, paragraph 0015, claims 3), multilateration (triangulation, Abstract, claims 2 and 14) and a mapping database (use of reflection direction ID associating reflector, reflection path and signal originated is a mapping database, for claim 15).
Regarding claims 4, 16, 23, 27, 35 and 43, IWABUCHI discloses wherein the reflector comprises a static surface (reflector is static object) or a hardware circuit, wherein the static surface is arranged for reflecting at least one of the plurality of coded beams, wherein the hardware circuit is arranged to retransmit the at least one of the plurality of coded beams (the reflector modulates the incident measurement signal during reflection to add information about a reflection direction ID being different for each of the multiple reflection directions to each of the multiple reflected measurement signals, Abstract)(reflector retransmit with modulated signals).
Regarding claims 5, 17, 24, 28, 36 and 44, IWABUCHI discloses wherein the code of at least one of the plurality of coded beams is signaled by a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) resource indicator or a pre-coded channel state information reference signal measurement signal MS may be a reference signal (measurement signal MS may be a reference signal, paragraph 0041, Fig. 2)(CSI-RS is a term used in 5G to describe channel condition).
Regarding claims 6, 18, 25, 29, 37 and 45, IWABUCHI discloses wherein the processor circuit is arranged to distinguish line-of-sight and at least one of a plurality of non-line-of-sight components based on a time of arrival or signal strength or a combination of multiple receipts of a portion of the plurality of coded beams with the same code (determining one LOS path between the reflector and the terminal device may be based on at least one of a power of the second radio signal on each of the two or more paths, paragraph 0010, Geng).
Regarding claims 7, 19, 26, 30, 38 and 46, IWABUCHI discloses determining a path length of a second coded beam of the plurality of coded beams based on at least one of a time of flight of the second coded beam or a time of arrival of the second coded beam (using RSSI to process communication quality evaluation with ranking, paragraph 0104-0105)(ranking determines communication path to use for positioning).
Regarding claims 8, 20, 31 and 39, Geng discloses wherein the location of the receiver is determined by a localization algorithm (network device can get the terminal device's position with two LOS paths by using triangulation, paragraph 0090)(triangulation is a localization algorithm).
Regarding claims 9, 21, 32 and 40, Geng discloses determining the location of the receiver by measuring an angle of arrival for a portion of the plurality of coded beams arriving from two or more of the identified reflectors and using triangulation (refer to rejection of claim 8 above, positioning using triangulation is use of angle of arrival).
Regarding claims 34, 42 and 47, IWABUCHI discloses computer program stored on a non-transitory medium, wherein the computer program when executed on a processor performs the method as claimed in claims 13-15 (control program are stored in the memory device 132, the memory device 132 include a volatile memory and a non-volatile memory, paragraph 0089).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 10, 22, 33 and 41 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to HARRY K LIU whose telephone number is (571)270-1338. The examiner can normally be reached on every M-F 10 AM to 6:30 PM.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, please leave a voice message with application serial number and nature of call, a response within 24 hours can be expected during regular business days. Also, the Examiner’s supervisor Hodge, Robert W. can be reached at (571) 272-6496. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-270-2338.
Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative or access to the automated information system, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/HARRY K LIU/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3645 Tel: (571) 270-1338
Fax: (571) 270-2338
Email: harry.liu@uspto.gov