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 § 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 1-2. 8-9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Cha (2022/0271888).
Regarding claim 1, Cha discloses a method at an entity for locating a UE (para 189, positioning using PRS signals may be used” within a configured time window (para 197, the PRS included in each positioning opportunity/occasion). Cha further discloses receiving the configured time window to obtain positioning measurements for the UE (para 374, "the LMF/location server/base station may set zero- power to two OFDM symbols. [...] it is possible to set/instruct the UE whether muting (zero-power) is applied at a specific period/time at which the PRS resource is transmitted, and the time occupied by the PRS resource at the time/period at which muting is applied." Attempting to obtain the positioning measurements for the UE based on positioning signals from one or more entities within the configured time window, para 211-216, the UE may measure the location by using downlink references signals transmitted by the NG-RAN or E-UTRAN. Downlink reference signals may include SS/PBCH, CSI-RS and/or PRS signals. Cha discloses wherein the entity failed to obtain at least one positioning measurement within the configured time window (para 393, there may be a case in which the UE does not properly receive the PRS transmitted by the specific cell/TP/BS) and sending an error message to a positioning entity indicating unable to obtain the at least one positioning measurement within the configured time window (para 395, the UE may report to the LMF/network that it cannot properly receive the PRS transmitted. For example, a specific threshold based on the SNR/BLER which means that the PRS cannot be properly received. When a prs is received below the value, the UE may declare PRS detection failure and report it.
Regarding claim 8, Cha discloses an entity (Figure 29, specific cell/TP/BS) configured for locating a UE within a configured time window (para 189, positioning using PRS signals may be used” within a configured time window (para 197, the PRS included in each positioning opportunity/occasion). Cha disclose an external interface (transceiver, Fig 29, 106) configured to communicate with other entities (para 528) at least one memory (Fig 29, 104) and at least one processor (Fig 29, 102) coupled to the memory and external interface, and configured to: receive the configured time window to obtain positioning measurements for the UE (para 374, "the LMF/location server/base station may set zero- power to two OFDM symbols. [...] it is possible to set/instruct the UE whether muting (zero-power) is applied at a specific period/time at which the PRS resource is transmitted, and the time occupied by the PRS resource at the time/period at which muting is applied." Attempt to obtain the positioning measurements for the UE based on positioning signals from one or more entities within the configured time window, para 211-216, the UE may measure the location by using downlink references signals transmitted by the NG-RAN or E-UTRAN. Downlink reference signals may include SS/PBCH, CSI-RS and/or PRS signals. Cha discloses wherein the entity failed to obtain at least one positioning measurement within the configured time window (para 393, there may be a case in which the UE does not properly receive the PRS transmitted by the specific cell/TP/BS) and send an error message to a positioning entity indicating unable to obtain the at least one positioning measurement within the configured time window (para 395, the UE may report to the LMF/network that it cannot properly receive the PRS transmitted. For example, a specific threshold based on the SNR/BLER which means that the PRS cannot be properly received. When a prs is received below the value, the UE may declare PRS detection failure and report it.
Regarding claim 15, Cha discloses a method at a positioning entity for locating a UE within a configured time window (para 189, positioning using PRS signals may be used within a configured time window (para 197, the PRS included in each positioning opportunity/occasion) comprising: sending a configuration of a configured time window to at least one of a UE and a serving base station of the UE(para 374, "the LMF/location server/base station may set zero- power to two OFDM symbols. [...] it is possible to set/instruct the UE whether muting (zero-power) is applied at a specific period/time at which the PRS resource is transmitted, and the time occupied by the PRS resource at the time/period at which muting is applied." ; and receiving an error message from an entity that attempted to obtain positioning measurements for the UE based on the positioning signals from one or more other entities within the configured time window (para 393, there may be a case in which the UE does not properly receive the PRS transmitted by the specific cell/TP/BS), wherein the entity failed to obtain at least one measurement within the time window, the error message indicating the entity was unable to obtain the positioning measurement within the configured time window (para 395, the UE may report to the LMF/network that it cannot properly receive the PRS transmitted. For example, a specific threshold based on the SNR/BLER which means that the PRS cannot be properly received. When a prs is received below the value, the UE may declare PRS detection failure and report it).
Regarding claim 23, Cha discloses a positioning entity in a wireless network (Figure 29, NG-RAN, U-Tran, base station, etc.) configured to locate a UE within a configured time window. Cha disclose an external interface (transceiver, Fig 29, 106) configured to communicate with other entities (para 528) at least one memory (Fig 29, 104) and at least one processor (Fig 29, 102) coupled to the memory and external interface, and configured to send a configuration of a configured time window to at least one of a UE and a serving base station of the UE(para 374, "the LMF/location server/base station may set zero- power to two OFDM symbols. [...] it is possible to set/instruct the UE whether muting (zero-power) is applied at a specific period/time at which the PRS resource is transmitted, and the time occupied by the PRS resource at the time/period at which muting is applied." ; and receive an error message from an entity that attempted to obtain positioning measurements for the UE based on the positioning signals from one or more other entities within the configured time window (para 393, there may be a case in which the UE does not properly receive the PRS transmitted by the specific cell/TP/BS), wherein the entity failed to obtain at least one measurement within the time window, the error message indicating the entity was unable to obtain the positioning measurement within the configured time window (para 395, the UE may report to the LMF/network that it cannot properly receive the PRS transmitted. For example, a specific threshold based on the SNR/BLER which means that the PRS cannot be properly received. When a prs is received below the value, the UE may declare PRS detection failure and report it).
.
Regarding claims 2, 9, 15, 24, Cha discloses where the configured time window is a positioning reference signal (PRS) processing window (para 196-197, PRS signals are in a subframe).
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) 3, 5, 10, 12, 17-18, 20, 25-26, 28 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Cha in view of Ko (2023/0127945).
Regarding claims 3, 10, 18, and 26, Cha discloses all the particulars of the claim except for the error message indicating the entity attempted to obtain positioning measurements but was unable to until an end of a configured time window. However, Ko teaches a positioning system in which an error in positioning happens when positioning is unable to be before until the end of a configured time window (para 151, a failure timer indicates that a configured time window for positioning has ended without a measurement). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to include an error after a configured time window to indicate that a problem occurs in the network.
Regarding claims 5, 12, 20, and 28, Ko further teaches wherein the configured time window comprises at least a measurement time window (Figure 15, step 1530-1540, use of PRS window 150) and the error message indicates the entity attempted to obtain positioning measurements but did not receiving a PRS processing window (para 151, when the waiting time for PRS reception does not satisfy a positioning delay requirement, the positioning group is released). Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to include an error after a configured time window to indicate that a problem occurs in the network.
Regarding claims 17 and 25, Cha fails to disclose the sending of the measurement time window to the entity before attempting to obtain positioning measurements. However, Ko teaches a positioning system in which the sending of measurement time windows (Figure 15, step 1510 – sending request to other UE’s by the target UE for positioning before forming a positioning group and reporting results, para 145 to request participating in positioning before actual calculations para 149). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to include the sending of measurement windows before the actual positioning request in order reduce the time to get a positioning result.
Claim(s) 4. 6-7, 11, 13-14, 19, 21-22, 27, 29-30 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Cha in view of Si (2023/0156656).
Regarding claims 4, 11, 19, 27, Cha discloses all the particulars of the claim except for the positioning measurements not being performed at the start of a configured time window. However, Si teaches in an analogous art, a positioning method in a wireless system in which the start time of a configured time window is designated in the location signaling (para 68, start time of measurement gap with respect to on-demand PRS configuration). Si also teaches the use of feedback of this information to indicate failure of a positioning (para 81, feedback to indicate whether the base station can configure the measurement gap and para 92, if feedback indicates non-support, i.e. -failure of the configuration). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to include start information in order to reduce the amount of wasted control signaling in the network.
Regarding claims 6, 13, 21, and 29, Cha discloses the use of PRS windows for positioning and error notification but fails to disclose the use of priority level in PRS measurements. However, Si teaches that a PRS positioning window can include priority information (para 74, importance/priority for measurement of PRS signals) and that the feedback of configuration information (including priority information) can be utilized to determine non-support (para 91-92, non-support causes rejection (i.e.-failure) of the measurement). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to include priority information in order to allow high priority users to get measurements quickly.
Regarding claims 7, 14, 22, and 30, Cha discloses the use of error messages to denote problems in positioning estimates. However, Cha does not disclose the use of start or end times for a measured window, it is implied since the system knows when to search for PRS signals. Si teaches that start and end times of a positioning interval (para 68 and 69, the use of start and end times of a measurement gap for positioning, including PRS, para 72). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to include start and end times in order to provide accurate timing to the positioning process.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure
Manolakos (2022/0065978) discloses PRS positioning with error reporting (Tables 6-10).
Kim (2020/0204317) discloses PRS positioning using phase timing.
Jain (2017/0280280) discloses PRS positioning using phase differences.
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WILLIAM GEORGE TROST IV
Primary Patent Examiner
Art Unit 2641
/WILLIAM G TROST IV/Primary Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2641