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 .
Status of Claims
The following is a non-final, first action on the merits, in response to application filed July 17, 2024. The preliminary amended claims 59-78, are currently pending. Claims 1-58, have been canceled by the applicant.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDSs) submitted on 7/17/2024, is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 59-61, 67-69, 71-74, 77, 78, is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Thomas et al (hereinafter Thomas) (WO-2022/009160, per IDS).
Regarding claims 59, 67, 71, 73, 77, 78, Thomas discloses a method for a user equipment (UE, node) configured for positioning in a radio access network (RAN) (measurement and positioning report transmission (para. 0058), the method comprising:
receiving, from a positioning node, a plurality of configurations for positioning reference signals (PRS) transmitted by a RAN node and a mapping between the plurality of PRS configurations and one or more of the following: a plurality of sets of one or more UE discontinuous reception (DRX) cycles, and a plurality of sets of one or more positioning quality of service (pQoS) targets (The LMF may configure and provide the UE with assistance data containing the PRS resource configurations according to the DRX configuration of the UE and/or group of UEs to perform energy efficient PRS transmission and/or measurement and positioning report transmission, para. 0059. Wherein a LMF in coordination with a base station may configure a single positioning method and/or multiple positioning method via multiple carriers based on different DRX groups associated with each carrier. In such embodiments, the LMF may configure
assistance data for a single positioning method and/or multiple positioning method using a carrier in frequency range 1 ("FRI") based on a primary DRX configuration and on another carrier in frequency range 2 ("FR2") using a secondary DRX configuration, para. 0063);
obtaining one of the following based on the mapping:
a PRS configuration based on a DRX cycle configured for the UE by the RAN node; or a second DRX cycle, based on a first pQoS target or on a PRS configuration to be used for positioning measurements (a gNB may provide an exhaustive list of available carriers and bandwidth availability to an LMF for the LMF to determine a closest achievable accuracy with respect to a positioning application and/or service.
In such embodiments, the LMF may semi-statically configure each UE and/or group of UEs or broadcast the list of carriers to all UEs for receiving PRS ….. a gNB may semi-statically configure each UE with a subset of carriers and with information to receive PRS (e.g., a subset from LMF configured carriers) along with an aligned DRX configuration depending on a needed positioning accuracy of a UE, paras. 0065-0066), performing positioning measurements on PRS transmitted by the RAN node, according to the first PRS configuration and either the first DRX cycle or the second DRX cycle (limitation implied implicitly). Thomas further discloses communication interface to communicate with radio access network (RAN) nodes, see fig. 1, 2, 3. Remote units 102 may be used for position reference signal resource configuration, para. 0038.
Regarding claims 60, 68, Thomas discloses PRS configuration parametrizes of one or more characteristics (see para. 0059). The processor 202, may include any known controller capable of executing computer-readable instructions and/or capable of performing logical operations, for instance, the processor 202 may be a microcontroller, a microprocessor, a central processing unit ("CPU"), a graphics processing unit ("GPU"), an auxiliary processing unit, a field programmable gate array ("FPGA"), or similar programmable controller, para. 0041. The network units 104 may be distributed over a geographic region. In certain embodiments, a network unit 104 may also be referred to and/or may include one or more of an access point, an access terminal, a base, a base station, a location server, a core network ("CN"), a radio network entity, a Node-B, an evolved node-B ("eNB"), a 5G node-B ("gNB"), a Home Node-B, a relay node, a device, a core network, an aerial server, a radio access node, an access point ("AP"), new radio ("NR"), a network entity, etc., paras. 0035, 0050, 0058, 0059.
Regarding claims 61, 69, 72, 74, the limitations indicates explicit or implicit mapping disclosed in claim 59, 67 wherein the mapping includes: an explicit mapping between the plurality of PRS configurations and the respective plurality of sets of DRX cycles, and an implicit mapping between the plurality of PRS configurations and a corresponding plurality of pQoS targets, based on the DRX cycles included in the respective sets.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 62-66, 70, 75 and 76, 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.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to QUTBUDDIN GHULAMALI whose telephone number is (571) 272-3014. The examiner can normally be reached 7:30am to 4:00pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Chieh Fan can be reached at 571 272 3042. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/QUTBUDDIN GHULAMALI/
Primary Examiner,
Art Unit 2632.
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