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 Amendment
This office action is in response to the arguments filed on 7/23/2026.
No amendments were made to the claims.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 7/23/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
In response to the Applicant’s argument that “Yu does not indicate that multiple uplink AOA measurements should be taken for each additional path” (Page 7), the Examiner respectfully disagrees because it is not clear that this limitation is required by the Applicant’s claim language.
The broadest reasonable interpretation of “whether additional path measurements between the base station and the UE are to be reported” is interpreted as yes because the claim continues by stating “performing measurements on paths”. The broadest reasonable interpretation of “whether multiple UL, Angle of Arrival, AoA, measurements are to be reported for each additional path” is no because it is not clear that it is required by the claim language.
The claim would need to state something along the lines of “performing multiple measurements on multiple paths” and “comprising results of the multiple measurements for each additional path measurement” to include both limitations concurrently and to overcome the cited art.
Additionally, the Examiner would highly suggest the Applicant review US-2023/0093234 to Hao et al. (Page 9 [0129 & 0132], Page 10 [0138] and Page 11 [0156]) prior to filing a claim 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, 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 1-6, 9, 11-16 and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kuo et al. (US-2023/0194647 hereinafter, Kuo) in view of Yu et al. (US-11,997,638 hereinafter, Yu).
Regarding claim 1, Kuo teaches a method performed by a base station (Fig. 2 [204]) for exchange of messages related to a location of a User Equipment (UE) (Abstract and Fig. 2 [202]) with a Location Management Function (LMF) (Fig. 2 [208]), the method comprising:
receiving, a measurement request from the LMF (Fig. 2 [214]), the measurement request comprising information that indicates whether additional path measurements between the base station and the UE are to be reported; (Pages 3-4 [0092] “the location server could further instruct the UE/gNB to report measurements relating to additional propagation paths.”)
performing measurements on paths between the base station and the UE; (Fig. 2 [230])
generating a measurement response message comprising results of the measurements for the additional path measurements; (Page 5 [0126] and Fig. 2 [236]) and
transmitting the measurement response message to the LMF. (Fig. 2 [238] and Page 5 [0127])
Kuo differs from the claimed invention by not explicitly reciting whether multiple uplink (UL) Angle of Arrival (AoA) measurements are to be reported for each additional path.
In an analogous art, Yu teaches a positioning method and device (Abstract) that includes a base station (Fig. 11 [Serving base station]) that exchanges messages with a UE (Fig. 11 [Terminal device]) and an LMF (Fig. 11 [Location management function network element]) that includes receiving a measurement request from the LMF (Fig. 11 [S104]) comprising information that indicates whether additional path measurements between the base station and the UE are to be reported and whether multiple uplink (UL) Angle of Arrival (AoA) measurements are to be reported for each additional path. (Col. 17 lines 46-54 “For example, the positioning measurement parameter set includes two UAOAs. The LMF network element first sends the measurement request message to a first network element, to indicate the first network element to measure a reference signal sent by the terminal device by using a first uplink resource, to obtain a first UAOA, and indicates, by using the measurement request message, the first network element to measure a reference signal sent by the terminal device by using a second uplink resource, to obtain a second UAOA”)
Before the effective filing date of the invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to be motivated to implement the invention of Kuo after modifying it to incorporate the ability to have an LMF send a request to measure and report multiple uplink AOA values for additional paths of Yu since a 5G NR communication system enables positioning based on measuring at least two uplink angles of arrival. (Yu Col. 1 line 61 through Col. 2 line 4)
Regarding claim 2, Kuo in view of Yu teaches wherein the information that indicates the additional path measurements is comprised in an information element within the measurement request. (Yu Col. 17 lines 46-54 “For example, the positioning measurement parameter set includes two UAOAs. The LMF network element first sends the measurement request message to a first network element, to indicate the first network element to measure a reference signal sent by the terminal device by using a first uplink resource, to obtain a first UAOA, and indicates, by using the measurement request message, the first network element to measure a reference signal sent by the terminal device by using a second uplink resource, to obtain a second UAOA”, Col. 22 lines 27-41 and Col. 21 lines 29-31 “NRPPa message”)
Regarding claim 3, Kuo in view of Yu teaches wherein the additional path measurements is indicated for a particular measurement type. (Yu Col. 17 lines 46-54)
Regarding claim 4, Kuo in view of Yu teaches wherein the additional path measurements comprises at least one of (a) a desired number of reported additional paths (Yu Col. 22 lines 32-41) and (b) a desired number of UL AoA values per additional path. (Yu Col. 24 lines 47-50 “Number of transmissions” and lines 53-55 “Measurement Quantities”)
Regarding claim 5, Kuo in view of Yu teaches wherein the measurements comprise one or more of (a) UL-AoA measurements (Col. 24 lines 38-40 “UAOA Measurement configuration”), (b) Uplink Related Time of Arrival (UL-RTOA) measurements Yu Col. 24 lines 51-52 “Search Window Parameters”) and (c) Reception-Transmission (Rx-Tx) measurements between the base station and the UE. (note: Rx-Tx is admitted prior art, see Page 10 [0055] of Applicant’s submitted specification)
Regarding claim 6, Kuo in view of Yu teaches wherein the base station comprises a distributed unit (gNB-DU) (Kuo Fig. 1 [195]) and a central unit (gNB-CU) (Kuo Fig. 1 [196] and Page 2 [0077]), wherein receiving the measurement request message comprises receiving the measurement request message from the LMF at the gNB-CU, wherein the gNB-CU sends the measurement request message to the gNB-DU. (Kuo the interface Fig. 1 [131] to the network elements Fig. 1 [190] is a part of the CU Fig. 1 [196], which then sends the commands to the DU Fig. 1 [195] via interface Fig. 1 [198], see Page 2 [0077-0081])
Regarding claim 9, the limitations of claim 9 are rejected as being the same reasons set forth above in claim 1. See additionally Kuo Fig. 1 [152, 153 and 155]
Regarding claim 11, the limitations of claim 11 are rejected as being the same reasons set forth above in claim 1 and below in claim 19. With respect to the commonality to claim 1, the LMF is mapped in claim 1 as being in communication with the base station and performing the equivalent steps.
Regarding claims 12-16, the limitations of claims 12-16 are rejected as being the same reasons set forth above in claims 2-6.
Regarding claim 19, Kuo teaches a network node that implements a Location Management Function (Fig. 2 [208]), the network node comprises processing circuitry (Fig. 1 [175]) configured to cause the network node to:
transmit a measurement request to a base station (Fig. 2 [204 & 214]), the measurement request (Fig. 2 [214]) comprising information that indicates whether additional path measurements between the base station and the UE are to be reported; (Pages 3-4 [0092] “the location server could further instruct the UE/gNB to report measurements relating to additional propagation paths.”) and
receive, a measurement response message comprising measurement results for the additional path measurements from the base station. (Fig. 2 [238] and Page 5 [0127])
Kuo differs from the claimed invention by not explicitly reciting whether multiple uplink (UL) Angle of Arrival (AoA) measurements are to be reported for each additional path.
In an analogous art, Yu teaches a positioning method and device (Abstract) that includes a base station (Fig. 11 [Serving base station]) that exchanges messages with a UE (Fig. 11 [Terminal device]) and an LMF (Fig. 11 [Location management function network element]) that includes receiving a measurement request from the LMF (Fig. 11 [S104]) comprising information that indicates whether additional path measurements between the base station and the UE are to be reported and whether multiple uplink (UL) Angle of Arrival (AoA) measurements are to be reported for each additional path. (Col. 17 lines 46-54 “For example, the positioning measurement parameter set includes two UAOAs. The LMF network element first sends the measurement request message to a first network element, to indicate the first network element to measure a reference signal sent by the terminal device by using a first uplink resource, to obtain a first UAOA, and indicates, by using the measurement request message, the first network element to measure a reference signal sent by the terminal device by using a second uplink resource, to obtain a second UAOA”)
Before the effective filing date of the invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to be motivated to implement the invention of Kuo after modifying it to incorporate the ability to have an LMF send a request to measure and report multiple uplink AOA values for additional paths of Yu since a 5G NR communication system enables positioning based on measuring at least two uplink angles of arrival. (Yu Col. 1 line 61 through Col. 2 line 4)
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 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 MATTHEW C SAMS whose telephone number is (571)272-8099. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8:30-5 EST.
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/Matthew C Sams/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2646
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