DETAILED ACTION
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
In response to the amendment, claim rejections - 35 USC § 112 and claim objections are withdrawn.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 52-53, 55, 62, and 65-66 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.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments have been considered but are moot in view of the new ground(s) of rejection.
Response to Amendment
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 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 46, 54, 67, and 69-70 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Min (US20230370991), in view of Zhu (US20250247879).
Regarding claim 46, the cited reference Min discloses a method for a centralized unit (CU) of a radio access network (RAN) node (¶0044 discloses that the gNB 100 may comprise a central unit 110 (CU 110)), the method comprising: sending, to a distributed unit (DU) of the RAN node, a request (¶0120 discloses that the CU 110 transmits a POSITIONING MEASUREMENT REQUEST to the DU 120) for one or more timing advance (TA) measurements for a user equipment (UE) with respect to one or more cells served by the DU (¶0120 discloses that the POSITIONING MEASUREMENT REQUEST may be specified in the Positioning Measurement procedure for exchanging the positioning information of a node. ¶0044 discloses that the gNB 100(i.e, base station) may comprise a distributed unit 120 where ¶0195 discloses that The base station may also be referred to with the terms such as a macro cell, a small cell, a femtocell, or a pico cell); receiving, from the DU, one or more responses that include the respective one or more TA measurements (¶0121-¶0122 discloses that the DU 120 measures the gNB Rx−Tx time difference in response to receipt of the POSITIONING MEASUREMENT REQUEST…The DU 120 returns a POSITIONING MEASUREMENT RESPONSE containing the measured gNB Rx−Tx time difference to the CU 110); and for each received TA measurement, determining a corresponding downlink (DL) propagation delay (PD) between the DU and the UE (¶0123 discloses the CU 110 calculates a propagation delay (UE specific propagation delay) between the UE 200 and the DU 120 based on the gNB Rx−Tx time difference received from the DU 120). However, Min does not explicitly teach the request includes an identifier associated with the requested TA measurements and each response also includes the identifier.
In an analogous art Zhu teaches the request includes an identifier associated with the requested TA measurements and each response also includes the identifier (¶0327 discloses that the measurement report request message may include an identifier of a measured cell or a TA to be measured and ¶331 discloses that the measurement report (i.e. response) may include … identification information of …the measured TA).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to incorporate the method of Zhu to reduce signaling overheads and improve communication efficiency of a radio access network.
Regarding claim 54 and 67, the cited reference Min discloses all limitations of claims 46 and 56 respectively. Min further discloses the requested TA measurements are for TADV=TgNB-RX-TgNB-Tx; TgNB-RXis an uplink receive timing, at a transmission reception point, TRP, associated with the DU, of subframe i containing a physical random access channel, PRACH, transmitted by the UE; and TgNB-TX is a DL transmit timing at the TRP of subframe j that is closest in time to subframe i received from the UE (¶0109-¶0111 discloses that the DU 120 measures the gNB Rx−Tx time difference…the gNB Rx−Tx time difference may be defined as (TgNB-Rx−TgNB-TX). Here, TgNB-RX is the reception timing of the positioning node (DU 120) of the uplink subframe #i…TgNB-TX is the transmission timing of the positioning node of the downlink subframe #j that is temporally closest to the subframe #i).
Regarding claim 56, the claim is drawn to a method performing substantially the same features of the method of claim 46. Therefore, the claim is subject to the same rejection as claim 46.
Regarding claim 69, the claim is drawn to a centralized unit (CU) of a radio access network (RAN) node performing substantially the same features of the method of claim 46. Therefore, the claim is subject to the same rejection as claim 46.
Regarding claim 70, the claim is drawn to a distributed unit (DU) of a radio access network (RAN) node performing substantially the same features of the method of claim 46. Therefore, the claim is subject to the same rejection as claim 46.
Claims 46, 56, and 69-70 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tan et al (US20230262635), in view of Park et al (US20200413363), in further view of Zhu (US20250247879).
Regarding claim 46, the cited reference Tan discloses a method for a centralized unit (CU) of a radio access network (RAN) node (¶0039 discloses propagation delay compensation (PDC) in the radio access network (RAN) and ¶0017 discloses a method transmitting a request for PDC from gNB-CU (central unit)), the method comprising: sending, to a distributed unit (DU) of the RAN node, a request (¶0052 discloses a method transmitting a request for PDC from gNB-CU (central unit) to gNB-DU (distribution unit)) for one or more timing advance (TA) measurements for a user equipment (UE) (¶0055 discloses that gNB-CU requests that gNB-DU provide accurate time information ... For example, gNB-CU requests information associated with…a valid TA value); receiving, from the DU, one or more responses that include the respective one or more TA measurements (¶0061 discloses that gNB-DU transmits … a valid TA value to gNB-CU); and for each received TA measurement, determining a corresponding downlink (DL) propagation delay (PD) between the DU and the UE (¶0061 discloses the gNB-CU uses the TA value to compensate for the propagation delay). Tan further discloses in ¶0039 variation of the propagation delay of transmissions from different UEs in a cell. However, Tan does not explicitly teach the timing advance (TA) measurements for a user equipment (UE) with respect to one or more cells served by the DU; the request includes an identifier associated with the requested TA measurements and each response also includes the identifier .
In an analogous art Park teaches the timing advance (TA) measurements for a user equipment (UE) with respect to one or more cells served by the DU (See Fig. 15 below which discloses the timing advance (TA) measurements is associated with gNB-DU, cell, and the user device UE).
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It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to incorporate the method of Park where the Distributed Unit (DU) handles timing advance (TA) to synchronize User Equipment (UE) uplink transmissions, to
mitigate propagation delay and maintain low latency.
However, Park does not explicitly teach the request includes an identifier associated with the requested TA measurements and each response also includes the identifier.
In an analogous art Zhu teaches the request includes an identifier associated with the requested TA measurements and each response also includes the identifier (¶0327 discloses that the measurement report request message may include an identifier of a measured cell or a TA to be measured and ¶331 discloses that the measurement report (i.e. response) may include … identification information of …the measured TA).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to incorporate the method of Zhu to reduce signaling overheads and improve communication efficiency of a radio access network.
Regarding claim 69, the claim is drawn to a centralized unit (CU) of a radio access network (RAN) node performing substantially the same features of the method of claim 46. Therefore, the claim is subject to the same rejection as claim 46.
Regarding claim 70, the claim is drawn to a distributed unit (DU) of a radio access network (RAN) node performing substantially the same features of the method of claim 46. Therefore, the claim is subject to the same rejection as claim 46.
Claims 47-48 and 57-58 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Min (US20230370991), in view of Zhu (US20250247879), in further view of 3GPP1 (R2-2107314).
Regarding claims 47 and 57, the combination of Min and Zhu discloses all limitations of claims 46 and 56 respectively. However, the combination does not explicitly teach the request
indicates whether on-demand or periodic reporting of TA measurements is requested.
In an analogous art 3GPP1 teaches the request indicates whether on-demand or periodic reporting of TA measurements is requested (Section 2 and page 1 discloses:
Option 1: the UE-specific TA Report requested by network;
Option 2: periodically triggering the UE-specific TA report).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to incorporate the method of 3GPP1 to timely TA tracking and saving the request signaling.
Regarding claims 48 and 58, the combination of Min, Zhu, and 3GPP1 discloses all limitations of claims 47 and 57 respectively. 3GPP1 further discloses when the request indicates on-demand reporting, a single response including a single TA measurement is received from the DU (Section 2 and page 1 discloses the UE-specific TA Report where the network can request the UE to report the calculated TA when the network detects the scheduling problem or there is a requirement to schedule UE. Meanwhile, the system information can include an indicator to enable/disable the initial TA reporting); and when the request indicates periodic reporting, the request also includes a requested periodicity of the TA measurements and a plurality of responses including a respective plurality of periodic TA measurements are received from the DU spaced in time according to the requested periodicity (Section 2 and page 1 discloses periodically triggering UE-specific TA reporting is beneficial for timely TA tracking, the network can configure the
period in system information).
Claims 50 and 60 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Min (US20230370991), in view of Zhu (US20250247879), in further view of Shijin (CN103916919A).
Regarding claims 50 and 60, the combination of Min and Zhu discloses all limitations of claims 46 and 56 respectively. However, the combination does not explicitly teach after sending the request, receiving from a positioning node a further request for a further TA measurement for the UE in relation to an enhanced cell ID (E-CID) positioning procedure; and in response to the further request from the positioning node, sending to the DU a second request to stop or abort the TA measurements, wherein the second request includes the identifier.
In an analogous art Shijin after sending the request, receiving from a positioning node a further request for a further TA measurement for the UE in relation to an enhanced cell ID (E-CID) positioning procedure; and in response to the further request from the positioning node, sending to the DU a second request to stop or abort the TA measurements, wherein the second request includes the identifier (Page 2 discloses If the measurement in the locating initial request message is configured as "OnDemand", the base station immediately performs the TA+AOA measurement and reports the measurement result to the E-SLMC through the E-CID MEASUREMENT INITIATION RESPONSE message. If the measurement configuration in the positioning initial request message is configured as "Periodic", the base station does not include the measurement result in the E-CID MEASUREMENT INITIATION RESPONSE message; the base station performs the TA+AOA measurement according to the configured period, and passes the measurement result through the E-CID measurement report (E-CID MEASUREMENT REPORT) The message period is reported until the E-CID MEASUREMENT TERMINATION COMMAND signaling sent by the E-SMLC is received, and the measurement report is terminated).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to incorporate the method of Shijin because E-CID positioning exploit the advantage of low-complexity and fast positioning with CID which exploits the network knowledge of geographical areas associated with cell IDs.
Claims 51 and 61 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Min (US20230370991), in view of Zhu (US20250247879), in further view of Hu et al (US20240340830).
Regarding claims 51 and 61, the combination of Min and Zhu discloses all limitations of claims 46and 56 respectively. However, the combination does not explicitly teach one of the following applies: the request also includes identifiers associated with the one or more cells for which TA measurements are requested and are received in the respective responses; or the request does not include identifiers associated with the one or more cells and the respective responses include TA measurements on one of the following: the UE's primary cell (PCell); or the primary timing advance group (TAG) in the UE's master cell group (MCG).
In an analogous art Hu teaches one of the following applies: the request also includes identifiers associated with the one or more cells for which TA measurements are requested and are received in the respective responses; or the request does not include identifiers associated with the one or more cells and the respective responses include TA measurements on one of the following: the UE's primary cell (PCell); or the primary timing advance group (TAG) in the UE's master cell group (MCG) (¶0234-¶0235 discloses receives a first message… the first message includes the TA of the terminal device in the target cell and an identifier of the target cell. ¶00238-¶0239 discloses sends a second message to the first access network device… The second message indicates that the terminal device has
completed configuration of the target cell).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to incorporate the method of Hu to complete synchronization which can reduce a cell handover delay.
Claim 63 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Min (US20230370991), in view of Zhu (US20250247879), in further view of Cui et al (US20240389133).
Regarding claim 63, combination of Min and Zhu discloses all limitations of claim 56. However, the combination does not explicitly teach obtaining one or more TA measurements for the UE in accordance with the request comprises: transmitting a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) order in the UE's primary cell (PCell); and responsive to the PDCCH order, performing a random access (RA) procedure with the UE to obtain a TA measurement.
In an analogous art Cui teaches obtaining one or more TA measurements for the UE in accordance with the request comprises: transmitting a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) order in the UE's primary cell (PCell); and responsive to the PDCCH order, performing a random access (RA) procedure with the UE to obtain a TA measurement (¶0104 discloses transmitting a PDCCH order to the UE from the PCell or PSCell, the UE can proceed to a RA procedure to obtain the valid TA).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to incorporate the method of Cui to facilitating the PUCCH SCell activation.
Claim 64 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Min (US20230370991), in view of Zhu (US20250247879), in further view of Cui et al (US20240389133), in further view of Qiu et al (US20240298282).
Regarding claim 64, the combination of Min, Zhu, and Cui discloses all limitations of claim 63. However, the combination does not explicitly teach the PDCCH order is transmitted and the RA procedure is performed when the request indicates that on-demand reporting of TA measurements is requested.
In an analogous art Qiu teaches the PDCCH order is transmitted and the RA procedure is performed when the request indicates that on-demand reporting of TA measurements is requested (¶0077 discloses NW can initiate TA report by PDCCH ordering… NW uses PDCCH order to trigger UE to initiate RACH… a preamble can be reserved for NW to initiate TA report via RACH).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to incorporate the method of Qui to prevent interference and improves uplink synchronization by enhancing network reliability during the random access process.
Claim 68 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Min (US20230370991), in view of Zhu (US20250247879), in further of Koziol et al (EP3897048A1).
Regarding claim 68, combination of Min and Zhu discloses all limitations of claim 56. However, the combination does not explicitly teach forwarding, to the UE, a message from the CU that includes a relation between a CU-compensated reference time and a radio interface event for the cell served by the DU, wherein: the radio interface event is a boundary of a system frame number (SFN);the reference time is compensated by the CU based on one or more of the TA measurements sent by the DU; and the compensated reference time is the system clock time for the SFN boundary at the UE receiver.
In an analogous art Koziol teaches forwarding, to the UE, a message from the CU that includes a relation between a CU-compensated reference time and a radio interface event for the cell served by the DU, wherein: the radio interface event is a boundary of a system frame number (SFN); the reference time is compensated by the CU based on one or more of the TA measurements sent by the DU; and the compensated reference time is the system clock time for the SFN boundary at the UE receiver (¶0019 discloses the distributed unit comprises means for receiving reference time information transferred from the centralized unit to the distributed unit within a F1 interface application protocol (F1AP) message, wherein the F1 interface application protocol (F1AP) message comprises information for assisting the distributed unit in estimating a UE-specific propagation delay for the first UE, for example, information indicating a reference system frame number (SFN) used for the reference time information. ¶0047 discloses that The Reference Time Information (RTI) can, for example, be determined as a time at or offset in a predetermined or identified manner from
a radio frame boundary defined by the SFN).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to incorporate the method of Koziol to avoid synchronization error.
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. 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 mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ABDELILLAH ELMEJJARMI whose telephone number is (571)270-1656. The examiner can normally be reached on Mon-Fri: 8AM-5PM EST.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Yemane Mesfin can be reached on (571)272-3927. The fax phone number for theorganization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative or access to the automated information system, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
Respectfully submitted,
/ABDELILLAH ELMEJJARMI/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2462
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