Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
1. The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
2. It would be of great assistance to the office if all incoming papers pertaining to a filed application carried the following items:
i. Application number (checked for accuracy, including series code and serial no.).
ii. Group art unit number (copied from most recent Office communication).
iii. Filing date.
iv. Name of the examiner who prepared the most recent Office action.
v. Title of invention.
vi. Confirmation number (See MPEP § 503).
Response to Arguments
3. Applicant's arguments with respect to claims have been considered but are moot in view of the new ground(s) of rejection.
4. The Examiner has pointed out particular references contained in the prior art of record within the body of this action for the convenience of the Applicant. Although the specified citations are representative of the teachings in the art and are applied to the specific limitations within the individual claim, other passages, paragraph and figures may apply. Applicant, in preparing the response, should consider fully the entire reference as potentially teaching all or part of the claimed invention, as well as the context of the passage as taught by the prior art or disclosed by the Examiner.
5. Claim interpretation: When multiple limitations are connected with “OR”, one of the limitations doesn’t have any patentable weight since both of the limitations are optional.
Claim Rejection- 35 USC § 103
6. 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 of this title, 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 1, 2, 10, 11, 12, 14, 15, 16 & 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Maattanen et al (Pub No. US. 2022/0086713) and further in view of Nuggehalli et al (Pub No. 2023/0044346).
Regarding claim 1, Maattanen et al discloses a method performed by a network entity, comprising: configuring a plurality of location services for a user equipment over a non-terrestrial network next generation-radio access network (Fig. 1A & 4A & Para. 30 & 7: non-terrestrial network), the NTN NG-RAN comprising at least one satellite and at least one NTN gateway (Fig. 1: satellite and NTN gateway & Para. 30); determining an architecture type of the NTN NG-RAN (Para. 30: architecture type & Table 3-4); and determining a target-UE position estimate based on the determined architecture type (Table 3-4 & Para. 45 & 49-50 & 53: UE position estimate based on communication protocol-architecture).
Maattanen et al is silent regarding transmitting a request for an architecture type of the NTN NG-RAN: determining the architecture type of the NTN NG-RAN based on a received response indicating the architecture type.
In a similar field of endeavor, Nuggehalli discloses transmitting a request for an architecture type of the NTN NG-RAN (Para. 51 & 57: ephemeris information requested & satellite system identity and type) & (Para. 125); determining the architecture type of the NTN NG-RAN based on a received response indicating the architecture type (Para. 125 & 127 & 146 & 51 & 57: satellite system identity and type).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to use the satellite system identification process of Nuggehalli’s disclosure with the non-terrestrial network positioning system, as taught by Maattanen. Doing so would have resulted in properly identifying satellite devices and configure satellite to provide service for remote areas by using non-terrestrial networks.
Regarding claim 2 & 16, Maattanen et al discloses the architecture type of the NTN NG-RAN comprises either a transparent NTN system or a regenerative NTN system (Para. 46-47 & Table 3-4).
Regarding claim 10 & 20, Maattanen et al discloses the network entity is embedded within at least one of the satellite, the NTN gateway, a base station unit, and a roadside unit (Fig. 1A & 4A).
Regarding claim 11, Maattanen et al discloses the network entity has a functional interface with at least one of the satellite, the NTN gateway, a base station unit, and a roadside unit (Fig. 1A & 4A).
Regarding claim 12, Maattanen et al discloses the network entity is communicatively coupled to the UE via multiple satellites and at least one NTN gateway (Fig. 1A & 4A).
Regarding claim 14, Maattanen et al discloses a system comprising: a user equipment ("UE") configured with a plurality of location services (Fig. 1A & 4A Para. 30 & 6-7: non-terrestrial network & Location reporting); a non-terrestrial network ("NTN") next generation-radio access network ("NG- RAN") configured to serve the UE (Fig. 1A & 4A Para. 30 & 6-7), wherein the NTN NG-RAN comprises at least one satellite and at least one NTN gateway (Fig. 1: satellite and NTN gateway & Para. 30); and a location management entity communicatively coupled to the UE and NTN NG- RAN (Fig. 1: satellite and NTN gateway & Para. 30), the location management entity configured to: determine an architecture type of the NTN NG-RAN (Para. 30: architecture type & Table 3-4); and determine a target-UE position estimate based on the determined architecture type (Table 3-4 & Para. 45 & 49-50 & 53: UE position estimate based on communication protocol-architecture).
Maattanen et al is silent regarding transmitting a request for an architecture type of the NTN NG-RAN: determining the architecture type of the NTN NG-RAN based on a received response indicating the architecture type.
In a similar field of endeavor, Nuggehalli discloses transmitting a request for an architecture type of the NTN NG-RAN (Para. 51 & 57: ephemeris information requested & satellite system identity and type) & (Para. 125); determining the architecture type of the NTN NG-RAN based on a received response indicating the architecture type (Para. 125 & 127 & 146 & 51 & 57: satellite system identity and type).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to use the satellite system identification process of Nuggehalli’s disclosure with the non-terrestrial network positioning system, as taught by Maattanen. Doing so would have resulted in properly identifying satellite devices and configure satellite to provide service for remote areas by using non-terrestrial networks.
Regarding claim 15, Maattanen et al discloses a network entity comprising: a processor; and a memory coupled to the processor (Fig. 12: Processor 1202 & Memory-1211), the processor configured to cause the network entity to: configure a plurality of location services to a user equipment ("UE") over a non- terrestrial network ("NTN") next generation-radio access network ("NG- RAN") (Fig. 1A & 4A Para. 30 & 6-7: non-terrestrial network & Location reporting), the NTN NG-RAN comprising at least one satellite and at least one NTN gateway (Fig. 1A & 4A); determine an architecture type of the NTN NG-RAN (Para. 30: architecture type & Table 3-4); select at least one positioning method to be employed based on the determined architecture type (Para. 7: Position reporting & Para. 30-31: architecture type and Position detection); select a measurement associated with each positioning method to be employed (Para. 34 & 50: measurement associated with each positioning); configure at least one network node with the at least one positioning method to be employed and the respective measurement associated with each positioning method to be employed (Para. 34 & 50-51& 58: measurement associated with each positioning), the network node being one of a UE or an NTN NG-RAN node; and determine a target-UE position estimate based on the determined architecture type (Table 3-4 & Para. 45 & 49-50 & 53: UE position estimate based on communication protocol-architecture).
Maattanen et al is silent regarding transmitting a request for an architecture type of the NTN NG-RAN: determining the architecture type of the NTN NG-RAN based on a received response indicating the architecture type.
In a similar field of endeavor, Nuggehalli discloses transmitting a request for an architecture type of the NTN NG-RAN (Para. 51 & 57: ephemeris information requested & satellite system identity and type) & (Para. 125); determining the architecture type of the NTN NG-RAN based on a received response indicating the architecture type (Para. 125 & 127 & 146 & 51 & 57: satellite system identity and type).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to use the satellite system identification process of Nuggehalli’s disclosure with the non-terrestrial network positioning system, as taught by Maattanen. Doing so would have resulted in properly identifying satellite devices and configure satellite to provide service for remote areas by using non-terrestrial networks.
Claims 3-9 & 13 & 17-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Maattanen et al (Pub No. US. 2022/0086713), in view of Nuggehalli et al (Pub No. 2023/0044346) and further in view of Edge et al (Pub No. 2021/0144539).
Regarding claim 3 & 17, Maattanen et al is silent regarding the network entity comprises a location management function ("LMC") for the NTN NG-RAN, wherein the LMC configures and provides at least one of the plurality of location services.
Edge et al discloses the network entity comprises a location management function ("LMC") for the NTN NG-RAN, wherein the LMC configures and provides at least one of the plurality of location services (Para. 34 & 37: Location management function and service).
At the time of filling, it would have been obvious to use location management function and service to determine device location properly.
Regarding claim 4, Maattanen et al discloses the LMC comprises a Location Measurement Unit ("LMU") configured to: acquire positioning measurements, process the positioning measurements, compute the target-UE position estimate (Para. 7), request applicable positioning measurements based on supported positioning methods, report applicable positioning measurements based on the supported positioning methods, or perform a combination thereof (Para. 39-42: Position detection for the UE).
Regarding claim 5, Maattanen et al discloses comprising receiving an indication of: a number of satellites associated with a positioning protocol session (Fig. 1-2), a number of NTN gateways associated with the positioning protocol session (Fig. 1-2), and a number of satellites per NTN gateway associated with the positioning protocol session, selecting at least one positioning method to be employed during the positioning protocol session (Table 3-4 & Para. 45 & 49-50 & 53: UE position estimate based on communication protocol-architecture).
Maattanen et al is silent regarding selecting a respective measurement associated with each positioning method to be employed during the positioning protocol session.
Edge et al discloses selecting a respective measurement associated with each positioning method to be employed during the positioning protocol session (Para. 34 & 37: Location management function and service).
At the time of filling, it would have been obvious to use location management function and service to determine device location properly.
Regarding claim 6, Maattanen et al discloses comprising configuring the UE with the at least one positioning method to be employed and the respective measurement associated with each positioning method to be employed (Fig. 1A & 4A & Table 3-4 & Para. 45 & 49-50 & 53: UE position estimate based on communication protocol-architecture).
Regarding claim 7, Maattanen et al discloses comprising configuring the NTN NG-RAN with the at least one positioning method to be employed and a measurement associated with each positioning method to be employed (Fig. 1A & 4A & Table 3-4 & Para. 45 & 49-50 & 53: UE position estimate based on communication protocol-architecture).
Regarding claim 8 & 9 & 18 & 19, Maattanen et al is silent regarding the network entity comprises a serving Location Management Function ("LMF") in a mobile communication network, wherein the mobile communication network further comprises a secondary LMF communicatively coupled to the UE via the NTN NG-RAN, the method further comprising receiving assistance from the secondary LMF to determine a position of the UE.
Edge et al discloses the network entity comprises a serving Location Management Function ("LMF") in a mobile communication network, wherein the mobile communication network further comprises a secondary LMF communicatively coupled to the UE via the NTN NG-RAN, the method further comprising receiving assistance from the secondary LMF to determine a position of the UE (Para. 34 & 37: Location management function and service).
At the time of filling, it would have been obvious to use location management function and service to determine device location properly.
Regarding claim 13, Maattanen et al discloses configured plurality of location services comprises a set of location requests supported by an NTN portion of the NTN NG-RAN (Fig. 4A & 1), wherein the set of location requests comprises: a network-induced location request (Para. 42), a mobile-terminated location request, a mobile-originated location request, an immediate location request, a deferred location request, or a combination thereof (Para. 50-51: Location data).
Edge et al discloses a mobile-originated location request, an immediate location request, a deferred location request, or a combination thereof (Para. 150-151: Location request).
At the time of filling, it would have been obvious to use location management function and service to determine device location properly.
Another Prior Art
7. The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant’s disclosure. Another prior art, SIROTKIN (US 2022/0103973) discloses fifth generation (5G) wireless communication or a new radio (NR) system that request for location information of a user equipment (UE). Transmitting the request to an access and mobility function (AMF). Rreceiving a response from the AMF, wherein the response comprises the location information of the UE.
CONCLUSION
Applicant’s amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any extension fee pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication from the examiner should be directed to Patent Examiner Md Talukder whose telephone number is (571) 270-3222. The examiner can normally be reached on Mon-Th 8:00 am to 4:30 pm.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisors, Wesley Kim can be reached on 571-272-7867.
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/MD K TALUKDER/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2648
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