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 .
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) 1-19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a1) as being anticipated by Manolakos et al. (US20210297206) (hereinafter Manolakos, see us-provisional-application US 62991895).
Per claim 1, Manolakos discloses a method for sidelink positioning in a wireless communication system, the method comprising (Fig 11): receiving, by a first wireless user device from a base station, first allocation information associated with sidelink positioning reference signal of the first wireless user device (paragraph 0127: The assisting UE(s) receive thelocation requests and forward them to the network (e.g., a serving base station or a location server). In response, the network assigns time/ frequency resources (e.g., resource allocation 904) to each of the assisting UEs over the Uu interface for the ranging signals (e.g., SL-PRS) to be used for the respective positioning procedures) receiving, by the first wireless user device, second allocation information associated with sidelink positioning reference signaling of at least one second wireless user device (paragraph 0127, i.e. the assisting UEs send sidelink transmissions to the target UE that include the ranging signal configuration in the chosen subchannel, Specifically, the assisting UEs transmit SCI-2 that includes the ranging signal configurations received from the network. However, the assisting UEs first transmit SCI-1 that enables the target UE to decode the subsequent SCI-2, as discussed above with reference to FIG. 9; transmitting, by the first wireless user device to a target wireless user device, information associated with the first allocation information (Fig 11 and paragraph 0127 : the assisting UEs send sidelink transmissions to the target UE that include the ranging signal configuration in the chosen subchannel. Specifically, the assisting UEs transmit SCI-2 that includes the ranging signal configurations received from the network. However, the assisting UEs first transmit SCI-1 that enables the target UE to decode the subsequent SCI-2) based on the first allocation information, transmitting, by the first wireless user device to the target wireless user device, a first sidelink positioning reference signal, SL PRS (paragraph 0120: the first assisting UE 1102 transmits a
ranging signal (e.g., SL-PRS) that is received at the target UE 1104 after some propagation time) receiving, by the first wireless user device from the target wireless user device, measurement information associated with sidelink positioning reference signaling, wherein the measurement information is based on: a first SL PRS measurement associated with the first SL PRS; and at least one second SL PRS measurement associated with at least one second SL PRS, wherein the at least one second SL PRS is transmitted from at least one second wireless user device to the target wireless user device (Fig 11 and
paragraphs 0120-0121, i.e. the first assisting UE 1102 transmits a ranging signal (e.g., SL-PRS) that is received at the target UE 1104 after some propagation time T.sub.prop,UE1-UE2. The ranging signal is also received/measured at the second assisting UE 1106 after some propagation time T.sub.prop,UE1-UE3 and after some UE processing time at the target UE 1104, referred to as T.sub.UE2,Rx-Tx, the target UE 1104 transmits a response ranging signal, which, after a propagation delay T.sub.prop,UE2-UE1, is received/measured at the first assisting UE 1102. The second assisting UE 1106 also receives/measures the response ranging signal after some propagation delay T.sub.prop,UE2-UE3 ).
Per claim 2, Manolakos discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the measurement information comprises an indication of the first SL PRS measurement and an indication of the at least one second SL PRS measurement(paragraph 0120 and 0121, refer to claim 1 rationale).
Per claim 3, Manolakos discloses the method of claim 1, further comprising: based on the measurement information, determining, by the first wireless user device, an estimated location of the target wireless user device(paragraph 0124, i.e. Based on these distances, the positioning entity can estimate the relative location of the target UE 1104 with respect to the assisting UEs 1102 and 1106. If the assisting UEs 1102 and 1106 have known locations (e.g., GPS coordinates received from the assisting UEs 1102 and 1106)).
Per claim 4, Manolakos discloses the method of claim 3, wherein the determining the estimated location of the target wireless user device is further based on at least one of: a time of arrival (TOA); a time difference of arrival (TDOA); an angle of arrival (AoA); or a round trip time [RTT], paragraph 0122, i.e. TOA) .
Per claim 5, Manolakos discloses the method of claim 3, wherein the determining the estimated location of the target wireless user device is further based on: location information of the first wireless user device; and location information of the at least one second wireless user device( paragraph 0124, i.e. Based on these distances, the positioning entity can estimate the relative location of the target UE 1104 with respect to the assisting UEs 1102 and 1106. If the assisting UEs 1102 and 1106 have known locations (e.g., GPS coordinates received from the assisting UEs 1102 and 1106)
. Per claim 6, Manolakos discloses the method of claim 1, further comprising transmitting, by the first wireless user device to the base station, the measurement information (paragraph 0036,i.e. the non-co-located physical TRPs may be the serving base station receiving the measurement report from the UE and a neighbor base station whose reference radio frequency (RF) signals the UE is measuring).
Per claim 7, Manolakos discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the measurement information comprises an indication associated with an estimated location of the target wireless user device(paragraph 0122 and 0124, i.e. The second assisting UE 1106 sends a measurement report to the positioning entity (e.g., target UE 1104) reporting the T.sub.UE-RX-UE-RX measurement and Based on these distances, the positioning entity can estimate the relative location of the target UE 1104 with respect to the assisting UEs 1102 and 1106).
Per claim 8, refer to the same rationale as explained in claim 1, similar claim language (paragraph 0127).
Per claim 9, refer to the same rationale as explained in claim 1, similar claim language (paragraph 0127).
Per claim10, refer to the same rationale as explained in claim 1, similar claim language (paragraph 0127).
Per claim 11, refer to the same rationale as explained in claim 1, similar claim language (paragraph 0127).
Per claim 12, Manolakos discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the second allocation information comprises at least one sidelink resource for transmission of the at least one second SL PRS by the at least one second wireless user device (paragraph 0128, i.e. In this case, the target UE transmits the location request to the assisting UEs over sidelinks established with the respective assisting UEs, and the assisting UEs can select ranging signal (e.g., SL-PRS) time/frequency resources without coordinating with the network. The assisting UEs then send sidelink transmissions to the target UE that include the selected ranging signal configuration in the chosen subchannel. Specifically, unlike the first option, the assisting UEs transmit SCI-2 that includes the ranging signal configurations selected without network involvement. In addition, the assisting UEs first transmit SCI-1 that enables the target UE to decode the subsequent SCI-2).
Per claim 13, Manolakos discloses the method of claim 1, further comprising: receiving, by the first wireless user device from the target wireless user device, a request for SL PRS transmission (paragraph 0129, i.e. hen an assisting UE that does not have coverage responds to a location request from a target UE, the assisting UE has to select the time/frequency resources (e.g., REs) on which to transmit SL-PRS back to the target UE).
Per claim 14, refer to the same rationale as explained in claim 1 (however in the perspective of two wireless devices signaling each other excluding a base station).
Per claim 15, refer to the same rationale as explained in claim 2.
Per claim 16, refer to the same rationale as explained in claim 3.
Per claim 17, refer to the same rationale as explained in claim 4.
Per claim 18, refer to the same rationale as explained in claim 5.
Per claim 19, refer to the same rationale as explained in claim 13.
Conclusion
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/JOSEPH E DEAN, JR/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2647
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