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 .
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.
Claim(s) 13 and 18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Dwivedi (U.S. PG-PUB NO. 2022/0229143).
-Regarding claim 13, Dwivedi discloses a terminal (UE 700, FIG. 7) comprising: a transmitting unit that transmits, to a network, capability information on a capability of reporting an indicator concerning a line of sight of a reference signal (transceiver circuitry 701, FIG. 7; LOS detection measurements, paragraph 87); and a control unit that performs a position measurement based on the reference signal (perform LOS detection measurements associated with the plurality of base stations, paragraph 88), wherein the transmitting unit transmits, to the network, a report including a result of the position measurement and an indicator concerning a line of sight of the reference signal (results of the LOS detection measurements towards the network node, paragraph 89).
-Regarding claim 18, Dwivedi discloses a radio communication method comprising: a step of transmitting, to a network, capability information on a capability of reporting an indicator concerning a line of sight of a reference signal (transceiver circuitry 701, FIG. 7; LOS detection measurements, paragraph 87); a step of performing a position measurement based on the reference signal (perform LOS detection measurements associated with the plurality of base stations, paragraph 88); and a step of transmitting, to the network, a report including a result of the position measurement and an indicator concerning a line of sight of the reference signal (results of the LOS detection measurements towards the network node, paragraph 89).
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) 14-17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Dwivedi (U.S. PG-PUB NO. 2022/0229143) in view of Zhou (U.S. PG-PUB NO. 2022/0113364).
-Regarding claim 14, Dwivedi is silent to teaching that the capability information includes information indicating at least one of whether the reporting format of the indicator supports a binary value, a soft value, or both the binary value and the soft value. However, the claimed limitation is well known in the art as evidenced by Zhou.
In the same field of endeavor, Zhou teaches the capability information includes information indicating at least one of whether the reporting format of the indicator supports a binary value, a soft value, or both the binary value and the soft value (the indicator is a binary value, paragraph 43).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skills in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teaching of Dwivedi with the teaching of Zhou in order to provide positioning capable of adapting to line-of-sight and non-line-of sight environments.
-Regarding claim 15, the combination further discloses a value of the indicator indicates that a small value is a poor line of sight and a large value is a good line of sight (Zhou, paragraph 43).
-Regarding claim 16, the combination further discloses the report includes a plurality of indicators (Zhou, paragraph 44).
-Regarding claim 17, the combination further discloses a receiving unit that receives information specifying a format for reporting the indicator from the network (Zhou, abstract).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to PING Y HSIEH whose telephone number is (571)270-3011. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday, 9am-4pm.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Jennifer Mehmood can be reached at (571) 272-2976. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/PING Y HSIEH/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2664