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 .
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1-30 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
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.
The factual inquiries 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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claim(s) 1-5, 7, 9 and 22-26 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over WO 2020/092715 A1 herein Edge in view of US 2022/0196780 A1 herein Dwivedi.
Claim 1, Edge discloses a method for providing passive positioning information (Title, Method), the method comprising:
transmitting, with a first wireless node, assistance data associated with at least a first reference signal and a second reference signal (0092, gNB provides an indication of the new PRS configurations for itself and one or more nearby gNBs in SI messages);
transmitting, with the first wireless node, the first reference signal at a first time via one or more over-the-air signals (0092, gNB changes to the new PRS configuration at the start time indicated in stage 6; 0130, wireless node transmits PRS directed to all UEs within radio range);
providing, via a wired network connection (0155, network elements communicate via wired or wireless backhaul communication), instructions to enable a second wireless node to transmit the second reference signal at a second time (0089, serving gNB sends an XnAP PRS Reconfiguration Request to each nearby gNB including the new PRS configuration and a start time);
Edge may not explicitly disclose transmitting, with the first wireless node, turnaround time information based on time between the first time and the second time.
Dwivedi discloses transmitting, with the first wireless node, turnaround time information based on time between the first time and the second time (0094, time difference information indicating the time difference of the transmission of the first PRS and the transmission of the second PRS, sent to the wireless device for observed time difference of arrival positioning measurement). 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 Edge to include time difference information indicating the time difference between the transmission of the first reference signal and the transmission of the second reference signal, as taught by Dwivedi, so as to compensate for the time error between pairs of base stations that results in significant loss of precision in position estimation (0016).
Claim 2, Edge in view of Dwivedi discloses the method of claim 1.
Edge discloses the first reference signal and the second reference signal are downlink positioning reference signals (0027, references to PRS and PRS transmission refer to DL PRS unless otherwise qualified).
Claim 3, Edge in view of Dwivedi discloses the method of claim 1.
Edge discloses the assistance data is transmitted via one or more radio resource control messages (0093, UE determines the new PRS configurations from an RRC message sent by the serving gNB).
Claim 4, Edge in view of Dwivedi discloses the method of claim 1.
Edge discloses the assistance data is included in one or more system information blocks (0092, new PRS configurations indicated in positioning SI messages; 0049, PRS information broadcast in a positioning related SIB).
Claim 5, Edge in view of Dwivedi discloses the method of claim 1.
Edge may not explicitly disclose the turnaround time information is included in the assistance data.
Dwivedi discloses the turnaround time information is included in the assistance data (0085, assistance data comprises the time differences in transmissions of positioning reference signals). 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 Edge to include time difference information indicating the time difference between the transmission of the first reference signal and the transmission of the second reference signal, as taught by Dwivedi, so as to compensate for the time error between pairs of base stations that results in significant loss of precision in position estimation (0016).
Claim 7, Edge in view of Dwivedi discloses the method of claim 1.
Edge discloses the second wireless node is a transmission/reception point and the instructions are provided to the transmission/reception point via a location management function (0062, LMF sends an NRPPa message to affected gNBs to request a change to PRS transmission and controls PRS transmission from TPs and TRPs, with gNBs replaceable by a TP or a TRP).
Claim 9, Edge in view of Dwivedi discloses the method of claim 1.
Edge discloses the first reference signal utilizes a first radio access technology and the second reference signal utilizes a second radio access technology that is different from the first radio access technology (0049, PRS transmitted for some cells using a different frequency and different RAT to those for the serving cell).
Claim 22, as analyzed with respect to the limitations as discussed in claim 1. Edge discloses an apparatus (0155, base station).
memory (0157, base station includes memory);
at least one transceiver (0155, communication modules each including a transmitter and a receiver, referred to as a transceiver);
at least one processor communicatively coupled to the memory and the at least one transceiver, and configured to (0157, one or more processors and memory coupled together with a bus).
Claim 23, as analyzed with respect to the limitations as discussed in claim 3.
Claim 24, as analyzed with respect to the limitations as discussed in claim 4.
Claim 25, as analyzed with respect to the limitations as discussed in claim 5.
Claim 26, as analyzed with respect to the limitations as discussed in claim 9.
Claim(s) 6 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Edge in view of Dwivedi and further in view of US 2020/0028648 A1 herein Akkarakaran.
Claim 6, Edge in view of Dwivedi discloses the method of claim 1.
Edge discloses the second wireless node is a transmission/reception point and the instructions are provided directly to the transmission/reception point (0081, gNBs replaceable by a TP or a TRP; 0089, serving gNB sends an XnAP PRS Reconfiguration Request directly to each nearby gNB).
Edge may not explicitly disclose the instructions are provided via an X2 interface.
Akkarakaran discloses the instructions are provided via an X2 interface (0088, a gNB may communicate with its neighbors over an X2 or Xn interface and trigger PRS). 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 Edge to include providing the instructions to the neighboring node over an X2 interface, as taught by Akkarakaran, so as to trigger PRS without the need to communicate with any higher layer or deeper network entity (0088).
Claim(s) 8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Edge in view of Dwivedi and further in view of US 2024/0188153 A1 herein Hoang.
Claim 8, Edge in view of Dwivedi discloses the method of claim 1.
Edge may not explicitly disclose the second wireless node is a roadside unit and the instructions are configured to enable the roadside unit to transmit the second reference signal via a sidelink.
Hoang discloses the second wireless node is a roadside unit and the instructions are configured to enable the roadside unit to transmit the second reference signal via a sidelink (0091, anchor WTRUs such as RSUs deployed along the road, each pre-configured one or multiple SL-PRS patterns in the SL-PRS resource pool; 0100, a target WTRU may request other nodes such as an anchor WTRU or RSU to transmit SL-PRS). 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 Edge to include a roadside unit transmitting a sidelink positioning reference signal on request, as taught by Hoang, so as to support positioning of a target device using an anchor node in an out of coverage scenario (0085).
Claim(s) 10, 13-20, 27, 29 and 30 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Edge in view of Dwivedi and further in view of US 2023/0299917 A1 herein Ren.
Claim 10, Edge discloses a method of providing on-demand reference signals (Title, Method), the method comprising:
receiving, from a first wireless node, instructions to transmit a reference signal at a first time (0089, neighboring gNB receives an XnAP PRS Reconfiguration Request from the serving gNB including the new PRS configuration and a start time);
transmitting, to a second wireless node, the reference signal at the first time (0092, gNB changes to the new PRS configuration at the start time indicated in stage 6; 0093, UE acquires and measures the PRS transmitted by the gNB);
Edge may not explicitly disclose wherein the instructions include turnaround time information based on time between the first time and a second time; and providing, to the first wireless node, an indication of the first time.
Dwivedi discloses wherein the instructions include turnaround time information based on time between the first time and a second time (0094, time difference information indicating the time difference of the transmission of the first PRS and the transmission of the second PRS; 0090). 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 Edge to include time difference information indicating the time difference between the transmission of the first reference signal and the transmission of the second reference signal, as taught by Dwivedi, so as to compensate for the time error between pairs of base stations that results in significant loss of precision in position estimation (0016).
Edge may not explicitly disclose providing, to the first wireless node, an indication of the first time.
Ren discloses providing, to the first wireless node, an indication of the first time (0307. non-serving base station sends the SPS DL-PRS activation information to the serving base station through the LMF or an Xn interface between base stations; 0317, non-serving base station sends an SPS DL-PRS to the UE according to a downlink slot determined from the SPS DL-PRS activation information). 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 Edge to include the transmitting node sending to the instructing node activation information from which the downlink slot for the reference signal transmission is determined, as taught by Ren, so as to reduce the positioning delay and the overhead of the downlink positioning reference signal (0010).
Claim 13, Edge in view of Dwivedi and further in view of Ren discloses the method of claim 10.
Edge discloses the instructions are received via a wired network connection (0089, XnAP PRS Reconfiguration Request sent between gNBs; 0155, network elements communicate via wired or wireless backhaul communication).
Claim 14, Edge in view of Dwivedi and further in view of Ren discloses the method of claim 10.
Edge discloses the reference signal is a sounding reference signal for positioning (0027, transmission of PRS in an uplink, UE to gNB, thus a sounding reference signal for positioning).
Claim 15, Edge in view of Dwivedi and further in view of Ren discloses the method of claim 10.
Edge discloses the reference signal is a downlink positioning reference signal (0027, references to PRS and PRS transmission refer to DL PRS unless otherwise qualified).
Claim 16, Edge in view of Dwivedi and further in view of Ren discloses the method of claim 10.
Edge discloses the reference signal is a sidelink positioning reference signal (0027, transmission of PRS on a sidelink, UE to UE).
Claim 17, Edge in view of Dwivedi and further in view of Ren discloses the method of claim 10.
Edge discloses the one or more messages are over-the-air messages (0155, network elements communicate via wired or wireless backhaul communication).
Edge may not explicitly disclose providing the indication of the first time includes providing one or more messages to the first wireless node.
Ren discloses providing the indication of the first time includes providing one or more messages to the first wireless node (0307, non-serving base station sends the SPS DL-PRS activation information to the serving base station through the LMF or an Xn interface between base stations). 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 Edge to include the transmitting node sending to the instructing node activation information from which the downlink slot for the reference signal transmission is determined, as taught by Ren, so as to reduce the positioning delay and the overhead of the downlink positioning reference signal (0010).
Claim 18, Edge in view of Dwivedi and further in view of Ren discloses the method of claim 10.
Edge discloses providing the one or more messages via a wired network connection (0155, network elements communicate via wired or wireless backhaul communication).
Edge may explicitly disclose Ren discloses providing the indication of the first time includes providing one or more messages to the first wireless node.
Ren discloses providing the indication of the first time includes providing one or more messages to the first wireless node (0307, non-serving base station sends the SPS DL-PRS activation information to the serving base station through the LMF or an Xn interface between base stations). 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 Edge to include the transmitting node sending to the instructing node activation information from which the downlink slot for the reference signal transmission is determined, as taught by Ren, so as to reduce the positioning delay and the overhead of the downlink positioning reference signal (0010).
Claim 19, Edge in view of Dwivedi and further in view of Ren discloses the method of claim 10.
Edge discloses the reference signal is transmitted by a gNB (0092, each gNB changes to the new PRS configuration and transmits PRS).
Claim 20, Edge in view of Dwivedi and further in view of Ren discloses the method of claim 10.
Edge discloses the reference signal is transmitted by a user equipment (0027, transmission of PRS on a sidelink, UE to UE, or in an uplink, UE to gNB).
Claim 27, as analyzed with respect to the limitations as discussed in claim 10.
Edge discloses an apparatus (0155, base station):
memory (0157, base station includes memory);
at least one transceiver (0155, communication modules each including a transmitter and a receiver, referred to as a transceiver);
at least one processor communicatively coupled to the memory and the at least one transceiver, configured to (0157, one or more processors and memory coupled together with a bus).
Claim 29, as analyzed with respect to the limitations as discussed in claim 13.
Claim 30, Edge in view of Dwivedi and further in view of Ren discloses the apparatus of claim 27.
Edge discloses the reference signal is at least one of a sounding reference signal for positioning, a downlink positioning reference signal (0027, references to PRS and PRS transmission refer to DL PRS unless otherwise qualified), and a sidelink positioning reference signal (0027, transmission of PRS on a sidelink, UE to UE).
Claim(s) 11, 12 and 28 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Edge in view of Dwivedi and further in view of Ren and further in view of Hoang.
Claim 11, Edge in view of Dwivedi and further in view of Ren discloses the method of claim 10.
Edge may not explicitly disclose the instructions are received from the first wireless node via one or more over-the-air messages.
Hoang discloses the instructions are received from the first wireless node via one or more over-the-air messages (0131, the WTRU may use PCS RRC, MAC CE and/or SCI to convey the parameters associated with the SL-PRS transmission/reception; 0176, the WTRU may receive a DCI scheduling a SL-PRS resource, with a bitfield indicating whether the resource is used for transmission or reception). 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 Edge to include conveying the parameters for the reference signal transmission over the air, as taught by Hoang, so as to support positioning of a target device using an anchor node in an out of coverage scenario (0085).
Claim 12, Edge in view of Dwivedi and further in view of Ren and further in view of Hoang discloses the method of claim 11.
Edge may not explicitly disclose the one or more over-the-air messages include radio resource control messages.
Hoang discloses the one or more over-the-air messages include radio resource control messages (0131. the WTRU may use PC5 RRC, MAC CE and/or SCI to convey tho parameters associated with the SL-PRS transmission/reception; 0166, SCI, MAC CE, RRC and NAS message used to indicate the QoS parameters of the SL-PRS resource/transmission). 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 Edge to include conveying the parameters for the reference signal transmission over the air, as taught by Hoang, so as to support positioning of a target device using an anchor node in an out of coverage scenario (0085).
Claim 28, as analyzed with respect to the limitations as discussed in claim 11.
Claim(s) 21 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Edge in view of Dwivedi and further in view of Ren and further in view of US 2025/0142291 A1 herein Thomas.
Claim 21, Edge in view of Dwivedi and further in view of Ren discloses the method of claim 10.
Edge may not explicitly disclose the reference signal is transmitted by an integrated access-backhaul node.
Thomas discloses the reference signal is transmitted by an integrated access-backhaul node (0029, a base station may be or be referred to as a NodeB, an eNodeB, a next-generation NodeB, a Radio Head, a relay node, or an integrated access and backhaul (IAB) node; 0047, PRS transmitted by different base stations, serving and neighboring, using narrow beams over FR1 and FR2). 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 Edge to include an integrated access-backhaul node as the node transmitting the reference signal, as taught by Thomas, since the substitution of one known base station type for another in a next generation radio access network yields no more than the predictable result of the substituted node transmitting the reference signal in the same manner (MPEP 2143(1)(8)).
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. US 20200137607 A1 - Disclosed are techniques for handling of radio frequency (RF) front-end group delays for round trip time (RTT) estimation. In an aspect, a network entity determines a network total group delay (GD) and a user equipment (UE) determines a UE total GD. The network entity transmits one or more RTT measurement (RTTM) signals to the UE. Each RTTM signal includes a RTTM waveform. The UE determines one or more one or more RTT response (RTTR) payloads for one or more RTTR signals. Each RTTR signal also includes a RTTR waveform. The UE transmits the RTTR signal(s) to the network entity. For each RTTR signal, a transmission time of the RTTR waveform and/or the RTTR payload is/are determined based on the UE total GD. The network entity determines a RTT between the UE and the network entity based on the RTTM signal(s), the RTTR signal(s), and the network total GD.
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 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.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Mehmood B. Khan whose telephone number is (571)272-9277. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9:30 am-6:30 pm.
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, Asad Nawaz can be reached at (571) 272-3988. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/Mehmood B. Khan/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2463
