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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 03/18/2024 has been fully considered by examiner and made of record.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 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)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
(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, 8, 14, and 21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) & 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Gangakhedkar et al (US 2013/0239181).
Regarding Claim 1, Gangakhedkar teaches a method of wireless communication performed by a user equipment (UE) ([0068], Fig. 3, The transmitter (205) suitably transmits the CP request over a type of link that is dependent on the type of CP support being requested. For example, the CP request may be transmitted on the sidelink (distributed CP), on the uplink interface (centralized CP) or over both interfaces (hybrid CP). The transmitter is likely to broadcast the CP request if the node wants distributed CP or hybrid CP (i.e. where the CP request is transmitted via the sidelink)), comprising:
receiving an announcement message from each sidelink anchor device of one or more sidelink anchor devices([0070], Fig. 3, In the target node, the trigger for performing the selection step is the receipt of a CP response from an anchor node),
wherein the announcement message includes a sidelink anchor device identifier and an indication that the sidelink anchor device is available for positioning services ([0055] “CP response”: This message is used by the target nodes (204) to obtain information about the anchor nodes (208). The CP response is broadcast by anchor nodes on the sidelink. The CP response includes the anchor node identity, the anchor node position coordinates (absolute or relative to the positions of a mutually known landmark), the anchor node position precision, and the CP radio resource configuration and transmission configuration for the positioning reference signal. The target node can use this information for anchor node selection and/or for receiving a position reference signal);
measuring the announcement message from each sidelink anchor device to determine a signal strength measurement associated with each sidelink anchor device ([0060] “Anchor selection”: This logical function selects a set of anchor nodes (208) from the set of candidate anchor nodes and is performed at either the network node (201) or the target node (204), depending on the scenario. The anchor selection criteria include one or more of the following: geometrical distribution of the anchor nodes, precision of the anchor nodes, link quality etc. (Link quality might be determined, for example, by the SINR of a transmission received from the anchor node, which might be based on the receipt of the CP response by the target node), ; and
reporting, to a network node, one or more preferred sidelink anchor devices from the one or more sidelink anchor devices ([0075], In step S303 an instruction is transmitted to the selected anchor nodes asking them to provide the target node with positioning support. In some scenarios this instruction will be transmitted by the transmitter (205) of the target node (204). The transmitter will send a “CP confirmation” message. This message is used to trigger the transmission of a positioning reference signal by the selected anchor nodes. It is typically broadcast on the sidelink by the target node and identifies the selected anchor nodes, [0130] The target node transmits the result of the anchor selection function in the CP confirmation message, which it transmits on the uplink (unicast) and the sidelink (broadcast) to the BS and the out-of-coverage anchor nodes respectively),
wherein the one or more preferred sidelink anchor devices are determined based on the signal strength measurement respectively associated with each sidelink anchor device of the one or more sidelink anchor devices ([0072], Fig. 3, There are also a number of ways in which this set of anchor nodes for providing positioning support to the target node might be chosen. The selection units (203, 206) are preferably configured to apply one or more selection criteria to the available anchor nodes to select a subset of those nodes that are perceived as being the most capable of providing the target node with positioning support. At least some of those criteria will typically be more selective than the criteria that determined the candidate set of anchor nodes. The anchor selection criteria might include one or more of the following: geometrical distribution of the anchor nodes, precision of the anchor nodes, link quality with the anchor nodes etc. In one embodiment the selection units (203, 206) select the set of anchor nodes for providing positioning support to the target node by implementing the anchor selection logical function, [0069] Following the transmission of the request for positioning support, a set of anchor nodes is selected to meet that request (step S302). This selection can take place in the target node (204) or in the network node (201), depending on what type of positioning support has been requested. Both the network node and the target node include a selection unit (203, 206) for performing this step).
Regarding Claim 8, Gangakhedkar teaches the method of claim 1, further comprising: receiving, from the network node, a request for the UE to transmit one or more positioning reference signals (PRS); and transmitting, by the UE, the one or more PRS ([0077], Fig. 3, message issued by the network node (201) to cause the transmission of the anchor node instructions is termed the “CP assignment”. This message is broadcast by the relevant node in the radio access network (e.g. the serving base station) in the downlink in order to configure and initiate transmission of the position reference signal by the selected anchor nodes. This message is decoded by both the target node (204) and the anchor nodes (208) since it carries information for communication of the position reference signal. The CP assignment includes the identifiers for the selected anchor nodes, the resource allocation for the positioning reference signal of each selected anchor node, and the schedule and duration of the transmission of the positioning reference signal for each selected anchor node).
Regarding Claim 14, Gangakhedkar teaches a user equipment (UE), comprising: a memory; at least one transceiver; and at least one processor communicatively coupled to the memory and the at least one transceiver ([0048-0049]), the at least one processor ([0068], Fig. 3, The transmitter (205) suitably transmits the CP request over a type of link that is dependent on the type of CP support being requested. For example, the CP request may be transmitted on the sidelink (distributed CP), on the uplink interface (centralized CP) or over both interfaces (hybrid CP). The transmitter is likely to broadcast the CP request if the node wants distributed CP or hybrid CP (i.e. where the CP request is transmitted via the sidelink)) configured to:
receive, via the at least one transceiver , an announcement message from each sidelink anchor device of one or more sidelink anchor devices ([0070], Fig. 3, In the target node, the trigger for performing the selection step is the receipt of a CP response from an anchor node),
wherein the announcement message includes a sidelink anchor device identifier and an indication that the sidelink anchor device is available for positioning services ([0055] “CP response”: This message is used by the target nodes (204) to obtain information about the anchor nodes (208). The CP response is broadcast by anchor nodes on the sidelink. The CP response includes the anchor node identity, the anchor node position coordinates (absolute or relative to the positions of a mutually known landmark), the anchor node position precision, and the CP radio resource configuration and transmission configuration for the positioning reference signal. The target node can use this information for anchor node selection and/or for receiving a position reference signal);
measure the announcement message from each sidelink anchor device to determine a signal strength measurement associated with each sidelink anchor device ([0060] “Anchor selection”: This logical function selects a set of anchor nodes (208) from the set of candidate anchor nodes and is performed at either the network node (201) or the target node (204), depending on the scenario. The anchor selection criteria include one or more of the following: geometrical distribution of the anchor nodes, precision of the anchor nodes, link quality etc. (Link quality might be determined, for example, by the SINR of a transmission received from the anchor node, which might be based on the receipt of the CP response by the target node); and
report, to a network node, one or more preferred sidelink anchor devices from the one or more sidelink anchor devices ([0075], In step S303 an instruction is transmitted to the selected anchor nodes asking them to provide the target node with positioning support. In some scenarios this instruction will be transmitted by the transmitter (205) of the target node (204). The transmitter will send a “CP confirmation” message. This message is used to trigger the transmission of a positioning reference signal by the selected anchor nodes. It is typically broadcast on the sidelink by the target node and identifies the selected anchor nodes, [0130] The target node transmits the result of the anchor selection function in the CP confirmation message, which it transmits on the uplink (unicast) and the sidelink (broadcast) to the BS and the out-of-coverage anchor nodes respectively),
wherein the one or more preferred sidelink anchor devices are determined based on the signal strength measurement respectively associated with each sidelink anchor device of the one or more sidelink anchor devices ([0072], Fig. 3, There are also a number of ways in which this set of anchor nodes for providing positioning support to the target node might be chosen. The selection units (203, 206) are preferably configured to apply one or more selection criteria to the available anchor nodes to select a subset of those nodes that are perceived as being the most capable of providing the target node with positioning support. At least some of those criteria will typically be more selective than the criteria that determined the candidate set of anchor nodes. The anchor selection criteria might include one or more of the following: geometrical distribution of the anchor nodes, precision of the anchor nodes, link quality with the anchor nodes etc. In one embodiment the selection units (203, 206) select the set of anchor nodes for providing positioning support to the target node by implementing the anchor selection logical function, [0069] Following the transmission of the request for positioning support, a set of anchor nodes is selected to meet that request (step S302). This selection can take place in the target node (204) or in the network node (201), depending on what type of positioning support has been requested. Both the network node and the target node include a selection unit (203, 206) for performing this step).
Regarding Claim 21, Gangakhedkar teaches the UE of claim 14, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: receive, via the at least one transceiver, from the network node, a request for the UE to transmit one or more positioning reference signals (PRS); and transmit, via the at least one transceiver, the one or more PRS ([0077], Fig. 3, message issued by the network node (201) to cause the transmission of the anchor node instructions is termed the “CP assignment”. This message is broadcast by the relevant node in the radio access network (e.g. the serving base station) in the downlink in order to configure and initiate transmission of the position reference signal by the selected anchor nodes. This message is decoded by both the target node (204) and the anchor nodes (208) since it carries information for communication of the position reference signal. The CP assignment includes the identifiers for the selected anchor nodes, the resource allocation for the positioning reference signal of each selected anchor node, and the schedule and duration of the transmission of the positioning reference signal for each selected anchor node).
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.
Claims 2-4 and 15-17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Gangakhedkar et al (US 2013/0239181), in view of Baek et al (US 2023/0062805).
Regarding Claim 2 and 15, Gangakhedkar teaches all aspects of the invention according to Claim 1 and 14 above, except the following, which in the same field of endeavor, Baek teaches wherein measuring the announcement message from each sidelink anchor device to determine the signal strength measurement comprises: measuring a demodulation reference signal (DMRS) associated with the announcement message from each sidelink anchor device of the one or more sidelink anchor devices ([0132-0133], when specific resources are indicated by the SCI received from UE1 by the second UE and an L1 SL reference signal received power (RSRP) measurement of the specific resources exceeds an SL RSRP threshold in the step of identifying candidate resources in the resource selection window by UE2, UE2 may not determine the specific resources as candidate resources. For example, the SL RSRP threshold may be determined based on the priority of SL transmission indicated by the SCI received from UE1 by UE2 and the priority of SL transmission in the resources selected by UE2, the L1 SL RSRP may be measured based on an SL demodulation reference signal (DMRS)).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate demodulated reference signal measurements and reference signal power measurements, as taught in Baek, in the system of Gangakhedkar, in order to more accurately identify the most suitable and available candidate connections and sidelink anchors.
Regarding Claim 3 and 16, Gangakhedkar teaches all aspects of the invention according to Claim 1 and 14 above, except the following, which in the same field of endeavor, Baek teaches wherein: the signal strength measurement includes a sidelink reference signal received power (S-RSRP) measurement ([0132-0133], when specific resources are indicated by the SCI received from UE1 by the second UE and an L1 SL reference signal received power (RSRP) measurement of the specific resources exceeds an SL RSRP threshold in the step of identifying candidate resources in the resource selection window by UE2, UE2 may not determine the specific resources as candidate resources. the SL RSRP threshold may be determined based on the priority of SL transmission indicated by the SCI, For example, the SL RSRP threshold may be determined based on the priority of SL transmission indicated by the SCI received from UE1 by UE2 and the priority of SL transmission in the resources selected by UE2, the L1 SL RSRP may be measured based on an SL demodulation reference signal (DMRS)).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate demodulated reference signal measurements and reference signal power measurements, as taught in Baek, in the system of Gangakhedkar, in order to more accurately identify the most suitable and available candidate connections and sidelink anchors.
Regarding Claim 4 and 17, Gangakhedkar, modified by Baek, teaches all aspects of the invention according to Claim 3 and 16 above, Gangakhedkar further teaches wherein: only sidelink anchor devices having an S-RSRP measurement exceeding a threshold are reported as the one or more preferred sidelink anchor devices ([0072], The selection units (203, 206) are preferably configured to apply one or more selection criteria to the available anchor nodes to select a subset of those nodes that are perceived as being the most capable of providing the target node with positioning support. At least some of those criteria will typically be more selective than the criteria that determined the candidate set of anchor nodes. The anchor selection criteria might include one or more of the following: geometrical distribution of the anchor nodes, precision of the anchor nodes, link quality with the anchor nodes etc. In one embodiment the selection units (203, 206) select the set of anchor nodes for providing positioning support to the target node by implementing the anchor selection logical function (most capable indicates exceeding some sort of threshold)).
Claims 5-6 and 18-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Gangakhedkar et al (US 2013/0239181), in view of Baek et al (US 2023/0062805), and further in view of Lee et al (US 2022/0337349).
Regarding Claim 5 and 18, Gangakhedkar, modified by Baek, teaches all aspects of the invention according to Claim 3 and 16 above, except the following, which in the same field of endeavor, Lee teaches wherein reporting, to the network node, the sidelink anchor device identifiers of the one or more preferred sidelink anchor devices further comprises: reporting, to the network node, the S-RSRP measurement associated with each preferred sidelink anchor device of the one or more preferred sidelink anchor devices ([0164], the base station may select a groupcast option according to the CBR reported from the UE, and the base station may transmit information related to the groupcast option to the UE through control signaling. since the UE in resource allocation mode 1 receives scheduling of initial/retransmission resources from the base station, the base station may select the groupcast option. Herein, for example, in order to help the base station select a groupcast option, the UE may report group information received from a higher layer to the base station, [0157], CBR may be a ratio of how much a sidelink-received signal strength indication (S-RSSI) value measured for each sub-channel in the resource pool for 100 ms exceeds a pre-configured threshold value).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate reporting sidelink measurement results to the network node, as taught in Lee, in the system of Gangakhedkar, modified by Baek, in order to more effectively and efficiently perform sidelink positioning. (See Lee [0016])
Regarding Claim 6 and 19, Gangakhedkar, modified by Baek and Lee, teaches all aspects of the invention according to Claim 5 and 18 above, where Lee further teaches wherein: the S-RSRP measurement is reported to the network node as a differential value with respect to an absolute value, wherein the absolute value corresponds to an S-RSRP measurement associated with a reference sidelink anchor device ([0157], CBR may be a ratio of how much a sidelink-received signal strength indication (S-RSSI) value measured for each sub-channel in the resource pool for 100 ms exceeds a pre-configured threshold value, [0158], an independent feedback resource needs to be allocated to all or some UEs in the group, so the UE may select the groupcast option based on the CBR value. That is, for example, allocating feedback resources to a plurality of UEs may result in an increase in CBR values of a set of feedback resources and an total data channel. Accordingly, by allowing the UE to select a specific group cast option (e.g., group cast option 1) based on the CBR measured by the UE).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate reporting sidelink measurement results to the network node, as taught in Lee, in the system of Gangakhedkar, modified by Baek, in order to more effectively and efficiently perform sidelink positioning. (See Lee [0016])
Claims 9-13 and 22-26 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Gangakhedkar et al (US 2013/0239181), in view of Lee et al (US 2022/0337349).
Regarding Claim 9 and 22, Gangakhedkar teaches all aspects of the invention according to Claim 1 and 14 above, except the following, which in the same field of endeavor Lee teaches wherein: announcement messages received from the one or more sidelink anchor devices are received in a NACK only groupcast (Table 9, The UE provides HARQ-ACK information that includes ACK or NACK, or only NACK [0158], an independent feedback resource needs to be allocated to all or some UEs in the group, so the UE may select the groupcast option based on the CBR value. That is, for example, allocating feedback resources to a plurality of UEs may result in an increase in CBR values of a set of feedback resources and an total data channel. Accordingly, by allowing the UE to select a specific group cast option (e.g., group cast option 1) based on the CBR measured by the UE).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate reporting sidelink measurement results to the network node through group cast option 1, as taught in Lee, in the system of Gangakhedkar, in order to more effectively and efficiently perform sidelink positioning. (See Lee [0016])
Regarding Claim 10 and 23, Gangakhedkar teaches all aspects of the invention according to Claim 9 and 22 above, Lee further teaches wherein: the NACK only groupcast is enabled for distance-based or RSRP-based, hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback (Table 9, The UE provides HARQ-ACK information that includes ACK or NACK, or only NACK [0158], an independent feedback resource needs to be allocated to all or some UEs in the group, so the UE may select the groupcast option based on the CBR value. That is, for example, allocating feedback resources to a plurality of UEs may result in an increase in CBR values of a set of feedback resources and an total data channel. Accordingly, by allowing the UE to select a specific group cast option (e.g., group cast option 1) based on the CBR measured by the UE).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate reporting sidelink measurement results to the network node through group cast option 1, as taught in Lee, in the system of Gangakhedkar, in order to more effectively and efficiently perform sidelink positioning. (See Lee [0016])
Regarding Claim 11, Gangakhedkar teaches a method of wireless communication performed by a sidelink anchor device (Fig. 3), comprising: receiving a solicitation message from each target user equipment (UE) of one or more target UEs ([0068], Fig. 3, The transmitter (205) suitably transmits the CP request over a type of link that is dependent on the type of CP support being requested. For example, the CP request may be transmitted on the sidelink (distributed CP), on the uplink interface (centralized CP) or over both interfaces (hybrid CP). The transmitter is likely to broadcast the CP request if the node wants distributed CP or hybrid CP (i.e. where the CP request is transmitted via the sidelink)), wherein the solicitation message received from each target UE includes a UE identifier ([0054] “CP request”: This message is transmitted by the target node (204) to request cooperative positioning (CP) support. It contains an identifier for the target node and specifies a “CP mode”. The “CP mode” allows the target node to specify one of multiple different types of cooperative positioning support);
measuring the solicitation message received from each target UE to determine a signal strength measurement associated with each target UE ([0059] “Anchor decision”: This is a logical function that selects a set of candidate anchor nodes (208) to support a target node's (204) request for cooperative positioning. This function is performed either by the network node (201) or by the anchor nodes. The decision criteria for candidate anchor node selection include one or more of the following: resource availability, power consumption or battery status of the anchor nodes, number of target nodes requesting CP support, availability of other anchor nodes based on prior discovery of surrounding anchor nodes etc., [0060] “Anchor selection”: This logical function selects a set of anchor nodes (208) from the set of candidate anchor nodes and is performed at either the network node (201) or the target node (204), depending on the scenario. The anchor selection criteria include one or more of the following: geometrical distribution of the anchor nodes, precision of the anchor nodes, link quality etc. (Link quality might be determined, for example, by the SINR of a transmission received from the anchor node, which might be based on the receipt of the CP response by the target node, [0078], In step S304 the decision unit (210) of the anchor node (208) optionally decides whether or not to provide positioning support to the target node (204). It can thus be within the anchor node's power to reject instructions to provide positioning support. One option is for the decision unit to perform the anchor decision function. This is a logical function that selects a set of candidate anchor nodes to support a target node's request for cooperative positioning. The decision criteria for the anchor decision function include one or more of the following: resource availability, power consumption or battery status of the anchor node, number of target nodes requesting CP, availability of other anchor nodes based on prior discovery of surrounding anchor nodes etc).
Gangakhedkar fails to teach the following, which in the same field of endeavor, Lee teaches reporting, to a network node, one or more UE identifiers of the one or more target UEs and the signal strength measurement associated with each target UE identified by the one or more UE identifiers ([0157], CBR may be a ratio of how much a sidelink-received signal strength indication (S-RSSI) value measured for each sub-channel in the resource pool for 100 ms exceeds a pre-configured threshold value, [0158], an independent feedback resource needs to be allocated to all or some UEs in the group, so the UE may select the groupcast option based on the CBR value. That is, for example, allocating feedback resources to a plurality of UEs may result in an increase in CBR values of a set of feedback resources and an total data channel. Accordingly, by allowing the UE to select a specific group cast option (e.g., group cast option 1) based on the CBR measured by the UE).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate reporting sidelink measurement results to the network node through group cast option 1, as taught in Lee, in the system of Gangakhedkar, in order to more effectively and efficiently perform sidelink positioning. (See Lee [0016])
Regarding Claim 24, Gangakhedkar teaches a sidelink anchor device, comprising: a memory; at least one transceiver; and at least one processor communicatively coupled to the memory and the at least one transceiver, the at least one processor ([0048-0049]) configured to: receive, via the at least one transceiver, a solicitation message from each target user equipment (UE) of one or more target UEs, wherein the solicitation message received from each target UE includes a UE identifier ([0068], Fig. 3, The transmitter (205) suitably transmits the CP request over a type of link that is dependent on the type of CP support being requested. For example, the CP request may be transmitted on the sidelink (distributed CP), on the uplink interface (centralized CP) or over both interfaces (hybrid CP). The transmitter is likely to broadcast the CP request if the node wants distributed CP or hybrid CP (i.e. where the CP request is transmitted via the sidelink)), wherein the solicitation message received from each target UE includes a UE identifier ([0054] “CP request”: This message is transmitted by the target node (204) to request cooperative positioning (CP) support. It contains an identifier for the target node and specifies a “CP mode”. The “CP mode” allows the target node to specify one of multiple different types of cooperative positioning support);
measure the solicitation message received from each target UE to determine a signal strength measurement associated with each target UE ([0059] “Anchor decision”: This is a logical function that selects a set of candidate anchor nodes (208) to support a target node's (204) request for cooperative positioning. This function is performed either by the network node (201) or by the anchor nodes. The decision criteria for candidate anchor node selection include one or more of the following: resource availability, power consumption or battery status of the anchor nodes, number of target nodes requesting CP support, availability of other anchor nodes based on prior discovery of surrounding anchor nodes etc., [0060] “Anchor selection”: This logical function selects a set of anchor nodes (208) from the set of candidate anchor nodes and is performed at either the network node (201) or the target node (204), depending on the scenario. The anchor selection criteria include one or more of the following: geometrical distribution of the anchor nodes, precision of the anchor nodes, link quality etc. (Link quality might be determined, for example, by the SINR of a transmission received from the anchor node, which might be based on the receipt of the CP response by the target node, [0078], In step S304 the decision unit (210) of the anchor node (208) optionally decides whether or not to provide positioning support to the target node (204). It can thus be within the anchor node's power to reject instructions to provide positioning support. One option is for the decision unit to perform the anchor decision function. This is a logical function that selects a set of candidate anchor nodes to support a target node's request for cooperative positioning. The decision criteria for the anchor decision function include one or more of the following: resource availability, power consumption or battery status of the anchor node, number of target nodes requesting CP, availability of other anchor nodes based on prior discovery of surrounding anchor nodes etc).
Gangakhedkar fails to teach the following, which in the same field of endeavor, Lee teaches report, to a network node, one or more UE identifiers of the one or more target UEs and the signal strength measurement associated with each target UE identified by the one or more UE identifiers ([0157], CBR may be a ratio of how much a sidelink-received signal strength indication (S-RSSI) value measured for each sub-channel in the resource pool for 100 ms exceeds a pre-configured threshold value, [0158], an independent feedback resource needs to be allocated to all or some UEs in the group, so the UE may select the groupcast option based on the CBR value. That is, for example, allocating feedback resources to a plurality of UEs may result in an increase in CBR values of a set of feedback resources and an total data channel. Accordingly, by allowing the UE to select a specific group cast option (e.g., group cast option 1) based on the CBR measured by the UE).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate reporting sidelink measurement results to the network node through group cast option 1, as taught in Lee, in the system of Gangakhedkar, in order to more effectively and efficiently perform sidelink positioning. (See Lee [0016])
Regarding Claims 12 and 25, Gangakhedkar, modified by Lee, teach all aspects of the invention according to Claims 11 and 24 above, Lee further teaches wherein: the solicitation message received from each target UE of the one or more target UEs is received in a NACK only groupcast (Table 9, The UE provides HARQ-ACK information that includes ACK or NACK, or only NACK [0158], an independent feedback resource needs to be allocated to all or some UEs in the group, so the UE may select the groupcast option based on the CBR value. That is, for example, allocating feedback resources to a plurality of UEs may result in an increase in CBR values of a set of feedback resources and an total data channel. Accordingly, by allowing the UE to select a specific group cast option (e.g., group cast option 1) based on the CBR measured by the UE).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate reporting sidelink measurement results to the network node through group cast option 1, as taught in Lee, in the system of Gangakhedkar, in order to more effectively and efficiently perform sidelink positioning. (See Lee [0016])
Regarding Claims 13 and 26, Gangakhedkar, modified by Lee, teach all aspects of the invention according to Claims 12 and 25 above, Lee further teaches wherein: the NACK only groupcast is enabled for distance-based or RSRP-based, hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback (Table 9, The UE provides HARQ-ACK information that includes ACK or NACK, or only NACK [0158], an independent feedback resource needs to be allocated to all or some UEs in the group, so the UE may select the groupcast option based on the CBR value. That is, for example, allocating feedback resources to a plurality of UEs may result in an increase in CBR values of a set of feedback resources and an total data channel. Accordingly, by allowing the UE to select a specific group cast option (e.g., group cast option 1) based on the CBR measured by the UE).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate reporting sidelink measurement results to the network node through group cast option 1, as taught in Lee, in the system of Gangakhedkar, in order to more effectively and efficiently perform sidelink positioning. (See Lee [0016])
Claims 7 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Gangakhedkar et al (US 2013/0239181), in view of Rybalko et al (US 2022/0014875).
Regarding Claim 7 and 20, Gangakhedkar teaches all aspects of the invention according to Claims 1 and 14 above, further comprising: receiving, from the network node, a request to measure one or more positioning reference signals (PRS) transmitted by the one or more preferred sidelink anchor devices ([0077], Fig. 3, message issued by the network node (201) to cause the transmission of the anchor node instructions is termed the “CP assignment”. This message is broadcast by the relevant node in the radio access network (e.g. the serving base station) in the downlink in order to configure and initiate transmission of the position reference signal by the selected anchor nodes. This message is decoded by both the target node (204) and the anchor nodes (208) since it carries information for communication of the position reference signal. The CP assignment includes the identifiers for the selected anchor nodes, the resource allocation for the positioning reference signal of each selected anchor node, and the schedule and duration of the transmission of the positioning reference signal for each selected anchor node).
Gangakhedkar fails to teach the following, which in the same field of endeavor, Rybalko teaches reporting measurements of the one or more PRS transmitted by the one or more preferred sidelink anchor devices to the network node ([0053] Once a mobile tag 201 calculates location information via TDOA or TW-TOA measurement techniques, the mobile tag 201 can in turn report at step 308 the location information to other devices such as other mobile tags 201, the anchors 204 in its coverage area, and/or the server by communicating directly to one or more gateway anchors 208 or indirectly via one or more intermediate anchors 204 that can communicate with the one or more gateway anchors 208. The location information can include without limitation, x-y coordinates of the mobile tag 201 within the demarcated area 200, a speed of travel of the mobile tag 201 determined from multiple location measurements over a time period, a trajectory of the mobile tag 201, angular orientation of the mobile tag 201 relative to other anchors 204 and/or other mobile tags 201, or any combinations thereof).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include reporting the PRS measurements taken to the network node, and any other relevant devices such as anchors and other mobile devices, as taught in Rybalko, in the system of Gangakhedkar, in order to enhance the accuracy of position determinations by sharing information.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure: Fehrenbach et al (US 2020/0092685) discloses decoding one or more V2V messages detecting that there is a relay group and/or UE Group 17 in its proximity which Member UEs are moving with the same direction and/or speed. Said detecting may be done, for instance, by evaluating the sidelink signal strength (e.g. Reference Symbol Receive Power or Reference Symbol Receive Quality) against a threshold detecting that the signal strength of the sidelink is sufficiently good to connect to the group relay and/or Group Manager UE 11. Additionally or alternatively, said detecting may be done, for instance, by considering its battery status and/or its connection to power, detecting that it is advantageous to connect to group relay and/or a Group manager UE 11 for power saving ([0322]);
Panzner et al (US 2024/0313906) discloses The groupcast, and thereby the HARQ feedback, may be configured based on control information, SL control information (SCI), transmitted by the TX-UE to the RX-UE. SCI format 2-B may configure the group members to transmit NACK-only as HARQ feedback information using a common PSFCH resource. It should be noted that a groupcast group may comprise one or more group members. In this example, the group members of the group cast group comprise more than two RX-UE, i.e. UE2, UE3 and UE-n. In the example illustrated in FIG. 5, UE-n may determine at least one trigger for requesting a peer UE to modify HARQ feedback information. In an example, a trigger for requesting a peer UE to modify HARQ feedback information comprises that that UE-n fails to decode a 2nd stage SCI transmitted by the UE1, which causes that the UE-n cannot send a HARQ feedback, e.g. a NACK, to a groupcast message from UE1. ([0116]).
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MARGARET G WEBB whose telephone number is (571)270-7803. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9:00-6:00 PM.
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/MARGARET G WEBB/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2641