Detailed Action
1. The Office Action is in response to the Applicant’s communication filed on 07/30/2026. In virtue of this communication, claims 1-30 are currently pending in this Office Action.
Response to Arguments
2. In Remarks, applicant presents the arguments mainly for the amended claim limitations “each of a plurality of transmission / reception points (TRPs), the plurality of TRPs including a serving TRP and at least one neighboring TRP”.
Applicant’s arguments in the Remarks will be addressed as a whole in responding to the amended claim limitation. In accordance with MPEP 2111, TRP could be reasonably interpreted as “cell”, “a base station”, “network node”, “control unit”, “distribution unit”, eNodeB, eNR, gNB, gNR, antenna with element. See par. 0157-0158 of Lee. See further evidence for TRP in fig. 2-5 of Chen Pub. No.: US 2018/0115966 A1. In addition, Manolakos teaches UE for receiving information from serving TRP and neighboring TRP1 (see fig. 14 and for positioning, UE’s beam-sweeping to serving and neighboring cells in par. 0097, it means that UE would receive the response from serving and neighboring cells, i.e., serving and neighboring TRP). Therefore, the combination of Tooher, Manolakos and Lee would have rendered the amended claim as explained in the claim rejection section set forth below.
Moreover, it’s to note that the test for obviousness is not whether the features of a secondary reference may be bodily incorporated into the structure of the primary reference; nor is it that the claimed invention must be expressly suggested in any one or all of the references. Rather, the test is what the combined teachings of the references would have suggested to those of ordinary skill in the art. See In re Keller, 642 F.2d 413, 208 USPQ 871 (CCPA 1981).
Lastly, the examiner recognizes that obviousness may be established by combining or modifying the teachings of the prior art to produce the claimed invention where there is some teaching, suggestion, or motivation to do so found either in the references themselves or in the knowledge generally available to one of ordinary skill in the art. See In re Fine, 837 F.2d 1071, 5 USPQ2d 1596 (Fed. Cir. 1988), In re Jones, 958 F.2d 347, 21 USPQ2d 1941 (Fed. Cir. 1992), and KSR International Co. v. Teleflex, Inc., 550 U.S. 398, 82 USPQ2d 1385 (2007).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
3. 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.
4. The factual inquiries set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 148 USPQ 459 (1966), that are applied for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
5. Claims 1-3, 5-19 and 21-30 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tooher et al. Pub. No.: US 2022/0407663 A1 in view of Manolakos et al. Pub. No.: US 2022/0373634 A1 and Lee et al. Pub. No.: US 2024/0275548 A1.
Claim 1
Tooher discloses a method (fig. 1-5 for using in-carrier guard bands) of wireless communication performed by a network entity (RAN 106 or core network in fig. 1A, RAN with eNBs, MME or serving gateway in fig. 1C, RAN with gNBs, AMF, UPF, SMF, DN in fig. 1D), the method comprising:
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receiving guard band information from each of a plurality of transmission/reception points (TRPs) (indication for activated or deactivated guard bands in fig. 3-4 and see par. 0118 for indicating by a base station or eNB, i.e., TRPs), wherein the guard band information describes guard bands used by that TRP (fig. 3-4, activated guard band means being used by eNB or WTRU);
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wherein the guard band information defines at least one guard band (414 in fig. 4) between resource block (RB) sets (see PRB, as to RB, for 410, 420, 430 in fig. 4 and see par. 0104-0111) within a bandwidth part (BWP in par. 0104 & 0106 and see BWP in 502 of fig. 5A), and wherein each guard band occupies zero or more contiguous RBs of the BWP (fig. 3 depicts for indicating deactivated guard bands, i.e., zero, and see activated guard bands 1-3 in fig. 3-4).
Although Tooher does not disclose: “generating assistance data, the assistance data comprising the guard band information for each of the plurality TRPs, the plurality of TRPs including a serving TRP and at least one neighboring TRP, and sending the assistance data to at least one user equipment (UE)”, the claim limitations are considered obvious by the following rationales.
Firstly, to consider the obviousness of the claim limitation “generating assistance data, the assistance data comprising the guard band information for each of the plurality TRPs”, recall that Tooher depicts the guard band information in bitmap (fig. 3-5) and location information such as longitude and latitude, as to assistance data (par. 0069). In particular, Manolakos teaches TRPs (105s & 105a-c in fig. 14) and location server for generating assistance data (step 3 in fig. 14).
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Secondly, to address the obviousness of the claim limitation “sending the assistance data to at least one user equipment (UE)”, recall that Tooher sends WTRC guard band information in bitmap (see fig. 2-5). In particular, Manolakos teaches TRP for transmitting assistance data to UE (see step 3 in fig. 14).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify using in-carrier guard bands of Tooher by providing positioning reference signal PRS as taught in Manolakos to obtain the claimed invention as specified in the claim. Such a modification would have provided a user equipment to receive an indicator for positioning reference signal PRS so that the carrier aggregation and the use of new spectrum could have lowered the cost and obtained higher spectral efficiency as suggested in par. 0005-0006 of Manolakos.
Lastly, to address the amended claim limitation “the plurality of TRPs including a serving TRP and at least one neighboring TRP”, initially, it’s important to note that claim does not specifically define what are required to be TRP. In other words, claim does not exclude any device with transmission and receiving capability. See MPEP 2111. In fact, Manolakos depicts UE for receiving information from serving TRP and neighbor TRP 1 in fig. 14. Hence, one of ordinary skill in the art would have expected the teaching from Tooher and Manolakos to obtain the amended claim limitation. See MPEP 2143, KSR Exemplary Rationale G. The evidence for eNB, gNB, gNR, cell, base station being TRP could be seen in Lee. In particular, Lee teaches TRP for including in one base station or in multiple base station, for replacing a base station, macro cell, small cell, an antenna array (par. 0157-0158).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify using in-carrier guard bands of Tooher in view of Manolakos by providing TRP and positioning frequency layer as taught in Lee to obtain the claimed invention. Such a modification would have provided a user equipment UE to measure a positioning reference signal over PDCCH so that the report from UE could be reflected the resource rescheduling for designating a user with higher-data rate as suggested in par. 0003-0006 of Lee.
Claim 2
Tooher, in view of Manolakos and Lee, discloses the method of claim 1, wherein receiving the guard band information comprises receiving uplink guard band information (Tooher, guard bands assumed by WTRU to be activated in fig. 3, WTRU’s transmission is uplink), (Tooher, guard band information in fig. 3-5; downlink guard band information Manolakos, PRS information in downlink radio frame), or both, and wherein generating the assistance data comprises generating uplink guard band information (Tooher, guard bands for WTRU in fig. 3 is uplink; Manolakos, PRS in formation in fig. 14; accordingly, one of ordinary skill in the art would have expected the combined prior art to perform equally well to the claim, see MPEP 2143, KSR Exemplary Rationale F-G), downlink guard band information, or both (accordingly, the combined prior art meets the claim condition as it recites the alternative limitations, See MPEP 2117 for Markush group in the claim).
Claim 3
Tooher, in view of Manolakos and Lee, discloses the method of claim 1, wherein generating the assistance data comprises:
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grouping the plurality of TRPs into one or more groups (Tooher, a group having 1-3 cells or 1-5 cells refers to cells 1-5 in par. 0184; Manolakos, see fig. 12 for grouping TRPs in groups 1-4); and
generating the guard band information for each of the one or more groups (Tooher, a group common PDCCH provide an indication for the set of guards that are activated or deactivated in par. 0119 and see par. 0184 for explaining a grouping having 1-3 cells or a group having 1-5 cells, herein cells are TRPs, Manolakos, fig. 12-14; for these reasons, one of ordinary skill in the art would have expected the combined prior art to perform equally well to the claim).
Claim 5
Tooher, in view of Manolakos and Lee, discloses the method of claim 1, further comprising sending, to each of the plurality of TRPs (Tooher, in fig. 1C-D, eNBs and gNBs communicate with core network via S1, N2, N3 respectively; Manolakos, fig. 8-14, Location server or TRPs may communicate each other), the guard band information for each of the at least one UE (Tooher, sending guard band information to UE in fig. 3-5 in view of fig. 14 of Manolakos for communicating between UE, TRPs and Core Network or Location Server; and thus, the combined prior art would have rendered the claim obvious).
Claim 6
Tooher, in view of Manolakos and Lee, discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the assistance data further comprises an indication that positioning signals within each RB set should be processed separately from positioning signals within other RB sets (Manolakos, fig. 10-11 depict resources sets for corresponding PRS referring to the respective group of TRPs), or an indication that positioning signals within each RB set should be processed jointly with positioning signals within other RB sets (Tooher, Guard bands in 410, 420, 430 in fig. 4 and consider 410-430 as RB sets in view of fig. 2-5; for these reasons, the combined prior art meets the claim requirement).
Claim 7
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Tooher, in view of Manolakos and Lee, discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the assistance data further divides the plurality of TRPs into one or more groups (Manolakos, as depicted in fig. 10-12, TRPs are divided into groups) and indicates that, for each group, the TRPs in that group perform joint channel access per RB set (Tooher, a group common PDCCH for indicating an indication for the set of guard bands in par. 0119; Manolakos, see fig. 10-16, in fig. 10, for PRS occasion 1 on PDCCH, TRP1-4 will share or jointly access PRS resources 1-2, as to a set, for transmitting PRS, i.e., assistance data; therefore, the combined prior art reads on the claim).
Claim 8
Tooher, in view of Manolakos and Lee, discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the assistance data further indicates that RB sets can be treated as sub positioning frequency layers (sub-PFLs) (Manolakos, PRS resources in fig. 10 and PRS transmission in fig. 15-16; Lee, the position frequency layer consisting of PRS resource set in Table 6 in par. 0219 on pg. 9, Table 7 in par. 0220 on pg. 10), and comprises information that indicates an order in which the UE should process the sub-PFLs (Lee, the position frequency layer consisting of PRS resource set in Table 6 in par. 0219 on pg. 9, Table 7 in par. 0220 on pg. 10; for these reasons, the combined prior art renders the claim obvious).
Claim 9
Tooher discloses a method (fig. 1-5 for using in-carrier guard bands) of wireless communication performed by a user equipment (UE) (WTRU in fig. 1-5), the method comprising:
receiving assistance data (502 in fig. 5A) from a network entity (RAN 106 or core network in fig. 1A, RAN with eNBs, MME or serving gateway in fig. 1C, RAN with gNBs, AMF, UPF, SMF, DN in fig. 1D), the assistance data comprising guard band (guard bands in 502 in fig. 5A, see guard band in fig. 2-4) information for each of a plurality of TRPs (eNBs in fig. 1C and gNB in fig. 1D), wherein the guard band (414 in fig. 4) information defines at least one guard band between resource block (RB) sets (see PRB, as to RB, for 410, 420, 430 in fig. 4 and see par. 0104-0111) within a bandwidth part (BWP) (BWP in par. 0104 & 0106 and see guard band in BWP in 502 of fig. 5A), and wherein each guard band occupies zero or more contiguous RBs of the BWP (fig. 3 depicts for indicating deactivated guard bands, i.e., zero, and see activated guard bands 1-3 in fig. 3-4).
Although Tooher does not explicitly disclose: “the plurality of TRPs including a serving TRP and at least one neighboring TRP, processing positioning reference signals (PRSs) received from each of the plurality of TRPs according to the guard band information for that TRP”, the claim limitations are considered obvious by the following rationales.
Firstly, to consider the obviousness of the claim limitation “processing positioning reference signals (PRSs) received from each of the plurality of TRPs according to the guard band information for that TRP”, recall that Tooher depicts the guard band information in bitmap (fig. 3-5), sending WTRC guard band information in bitmap (see fig. 2-5) and location information such as longitude and latitude, as to assistance data (par. 0069). In particular, Manolakos teaches TRPs (105s & 105a-c in fig. 14) for transmitting assistance data to UE (see step 3 in fig. 14) and location server for generating assistance data (step 3 in fig. 14).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify using in-carrier guard bands of Tooher by providing positioning reference signal PRS as taught in Manolakos to obtain the claimed invention as specified in the claim. Such a modification would have provided a user equipment to receive an indicator for positioning reference signal PRS so that the carrier aggregation and the use of new spectrum could have lowered the cost and obtained higher spectral efficiency as suggested in par. 0005-0006 of Manolakos.
Secondly, to address the obviousness of the amended claim limitation “the plurality of TRPs including a serving TRP and at least one neighboring TRP”, initially, it’s important to note that claim does not specifically define what are required to be TRP. In other words, claim does not exclude any device with transmission and receiving capability. See MPEP 2111. In fact, Manolakos depicts UE for receiving information from serving TRP and neighbor TRP 1 in fig. 14. Hence, one of ordinary skill in the art would have expected the teaching from Tooher and Manolakos to obtain the amended claim limitation. See MPEP 2143, KSR Exemplary Rationale G. The evidence for eNB, gNB, gNR, cell, base station being TRP could be seen in Lee. In particular, Lee teaches TRP for including in one base station or in multiple base station, and for replacing a base station, macro cell, small cell, an antenna array (par. 0157-0158).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify using in-carrier guard bands of Tooher in view of Manolakos by providing TRP and positioning frequency layer as taught in Lee to obtain the claimed invention. Such a modification would have provided a user equipment UE to measure a positioning reference signal over PDCCH so that the report from UE could be reflected the resource rescheduling for designating a user with higher-data rate as suggested in par. 0003-0006 of Lee.
Claim 10
Tooher, in view of Manolakos and Lee, discloses the method of claim 9, wherein receiving the assistance data comprises receiving uplink guard band information (Tooher, guard bands for WTRU in fig. 3 is uplink; Manolakos, PRS in formation in fig. 14; accordingly, one of ordinary skill in the art would have expected the combined prior art to perform equally well to the claim, see MPEP 2143, KSR Exemplary Rationale F-G), downlink guard band information, or both (accordingly, the combined prior art meets the claim condition as it recites the alternative limitations, See MPEP 2117 for Markush group in the claim).
Claim 11
Tooher, in view of Manolakos and Lee, discloses the method of claim 9, wherein receiving the assistance data comprises receiving information that identifies one or more groups of TRPs (Tooher, a group having 1-3 cells or 1-5 cells refers to cells 1-5 in par. 0184; Manolakos, see fig. 12 for grouping TRPs in groups 1-4) and that comprises the guard band information for each of the one or more groups of TRPs (Tooher, a group common PDCCH provide an indication for the set of guards that are activated or deactivated in par. 0119 and see par. 0184 for explaining a grouping having 1-3 cells or a group having 1-5 cells, herein cells are TRPs, Manolakos, fig. 12-14; for these reasons, one of ordinary skill in the art would have expected the combined prior art to perform equally well to the claim).
Claim 12
Tooher, in view of Manolakos and Lee, discloses the method of claim 9, wherein receiving the assistance data comprises receiving information that identifies the plurality of TRPs (Tooher, in fig. 1C-D, eNBs and gNBs communicate with core network via S1, N2, N3 respectively; Manolakos, fig. 8-14, Location server or TRPs may communicate each other), that identifies a plurality of RBs (fig. 2-4 of Tooher), and that indicates that the plurality of RBs (PRS resources in fig. 10-16 and see 1506-1508 in fig. 15 of Manolakos) comprises the guard band information for each of the plurality of TRPs (Tooher, sending guard band information to UE in fig. 3-5 in view of fig. 14 of Manolakos for communicating between UE, TRPs and Core Network or Location Server; and thus, the combined prior art would have rendered the claim obvious).
Claim 13
Tooher, in view of Manolakos and Lee, discloses the method of claim 9, wherein receiving the assistance data comprises receiving an indication that positioning signals within each RB set should be processed separately from positioning signals within other RB sets (Manolakos, fig. 10-11 depict resources sets for corresponding PRS referring to the respective group of TRPs) or an indication that positioning signals within each RB set should be processed jointly with positioning signals within other RB sets (Tooher, Guard bands in 410, 420, 430 in fig. 4 and consider 410-430 as RB sets in view of fig. 2-5;, and wherein the method further comprises processing positioning signals within each RB according to the assistance data (Tooher, fig. 5A for processing guard band information to be activated or deactivated; Manolakos, fig. 15 for processing and performing PRS from TRPs; for these reasons, the combined prior art meets the claim requirement).
Claim 14
Tooher, in view of Manolakos and Lee, discloses the method of claim 9, wherein the assistance data further divides the plurality of TRPs into one or more groups (Tooher, a group having 1-3 cells or 1-5 cells refers to cells 1-5 in par. 0184; Manolakos, see fig. 12 for grouping TRPs in groups 1-4) and indicates that, for each group, the TRPs in that group perform joint channel access per RB set (Tooher, Guard bands in 410, 420, 430 in fig. 4 and consider 410-430 as RB sets in view of fig. 2-5, a group common PDCCH provide an indication for the set of guards that are activated or deactivated in par. 0119 and see par. 0184 for explaining a grouping having 1-3 cells or a group having 1-5 cells, herein cells are TRPs, Manolakos, fig. 12-14; for these reasons, the combined prior art would have rendered the claim obvious).
Claim 15
Tooher, in view of Manolakos and Lee, discloses the method of claim 9, wherein processing PRSs received from each of the plurality of TRPs comprises:
receiving, from a base station, information identifying RB sets in which PRSs have been transmitted (Tooher, fig. 15; Manolakos, steps 6-7 in fig. 14 for PRS from TRPs); and
processing PRS signals within the RB sets in which PRSs have been transmitted (Tooher, processing guard band in fig. 5A; Manolakos, processing PRS in fig. 14-16 would involve using resource set as depicted in fig. 10-12; accordingly, the combined prior art renders the claim obvious).
Claim 16
Tooher, in view of Manolakos and Lee, discloses the method of claim 9,
wherein receiving the assistance data comprises receiving an indication that RB sets can be treated as sub positioning frequency layers (sub-PFLs) (Manolakos, PRS resources in fig. 10 and PRS transmission in fig. 15-16; Lee, the position frequency layer consisting of PRS resource set in Table 6 in par. 0219 on pg. 9, Table 7 in par. 0220 on pg. 10), and information that indicates an order in which the UE should process the sub-PFLs (Lee, the position frequency layer consisting of PRS resource set in Table 6 in par. 0219 on pg. 9, Table 7 in par. 0220 on pg. 10), and
wherein the method further comprises:
receiving PRS transmissions on a subset less than all of the RB sets within the BWP (Manolakos, PRS resources in fig. 10 and PRS transmission in fig. 15-16; Lee, the position frequency layer consisting of PRS resource set in Table 6 in par. 0219 on pg. 9, Table 7 in par. 0220 on pg. 10; see discovering an optimum value, a change in size involves only routing skill in the art and the level of ordinary skill in the art); and
processing the PRS transmissions according to the order in which the UE should process the sub-PFLs (Manolakos, PRS resources in fig. 10 and PRS transmission in fig. 15-16; Lee, the position frequency layer consisting of PRS resource set in Table 6 in par. 0219 on pg. 9, Table 7 in par. 0220 on pg. 10; accordingly, one of ordinary skill in the art would have expected the PRS of Manolakos with sub-band and guard band of Tooher to combine with Positioning frequency layer of Lee to perform equally well to the claim. See MPEP 2143, KSR Exemplary Rationales F-G).
Claim 17-19 and 21-23
Claims 17-19 and 21-23 are entity (device) claims corresponding to method claims 1-3, 5-6 and 8. All of the limitations of claims 17-19 and 21-23 are found reciting for the structures for the same scopes of the respective limitations in claims 1-3, 5-6 and 8. Accordingly, claims 17-19 and 21-23 can be considered obvious by the same rationales applied in the rejection of claims 1-3, 5-6 and 8 respectively set forth above.
Additionally, Tooher discloses a network entity (RAN 106 or core network in fig. 1A, RAN with eNBs, MME or serving gateway in fig. 1C, RAN with gNBs, AMF, UPF, SMF, DN in fig. 1D), comprising: a memory (RAN or AMF or UPF or DN or core network in fig. 1A, C & D would include at least a typical memory to perform the steps depicted in fig. 2-5); at least one transceiver (RAN or AMF or UPF or DN or core network in fig. 1A, C & D would include at least a typical transceiver to perform the steps depicted in fig. 2-5); and at least one processor communicatively coupled to the memory and the at least one transceiver (RAN or AMF or UPF or DN or core network in fig. 1A, C & D would include at least a typical bus or communication line between processor, memory and transceiver to perform the steps depicted in fig. 2-5).
Claim 24-30
Claims 24-30 are equipment claims corresponding to method claims 9-13 and 15-16. All of the limitations of claims 24-30 are found reciting for the structures for the same scopes of the respective limitations in claims 9-13 and 15-16. Accordingly, claims 24-30 can be considered obvious by the same rationales applied in the rejection of claims 9-13 and 15-16 respectively set forth above.
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Additionally, Tooher discloses a user equipment (UE) (WTRU in fig. 1-5 and see details of WTRU in fig. 1B), comprising: a memory (130 & 132 memory in fig. 1B); at least one transceiver (transceiver 120 in fig. 1B); and at least one processor communicatively coupled to the memory and the at least one transceiver (as depicted in fig. 1B, there is a communicatively connected between a processor 118, memory and transceiver).
Allowable Subject Matter
6. Claims 4 and 20 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.
7. The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
The prior art of record fails to anticipate or render the claim limitations as a whole, particularly “receiving guard band information from each of a plurality of transmission / reception points (TRPs), the plurality of TRPs including a serving TRP and at least one neighboring TRP, wherein the guard band information describes guard bands used by that TRP; generating assistance data, the assistance data comprising the guard band information for each of the plurality TRPs, wherein the guard band information defines at least one guard band between resource block (RB) sets within a bandwidth part (BWP), and wherein each guard band occupies zero or more contiguous RBs of the BWP; and sending the assistance data to at least one user equipment (UE)wherein generating the assistance data comprises: determining a plurality of RBs, the plurality of RBs comprising every RB included in a guard band of any TRP; instructing each of the plurality of TRPs to not transmit positioning reference signals in any RB within the plurality of RBs; and generating information identifying the plurality of RBs and indicating that the plurality of RBs comprises the guard band information for each of the plurality of TRPs”, as detailed in the light of fig. 1-10.
Conclusion
8. 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 nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) 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 mailing date of this final action.
Contact Information
9. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SAN HTUN whose telephone number is (571)270-3190. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Thursday 7 AM - 5 PM.
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/SAN HTUN/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2643
