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 .
Claims 1-20 are pending in the instant application.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 07/08/2024 was filed before the mailing of a First Office Action on the Merits. The information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Double Patenting
The nonstatutory double patenting rejection is based on a judicially created doctrine grounded in public policy (a policy reflected in the statute) so as to prevent the unjustified or improper timewise extension of the “right to exclude” granted by a patent and to prevent possible harassment by multiple assignees. A nonstatutory double patenting rejection is appropriate where the conflicting claims are not identical, but at least one examined application claim is not patentably distinct from the reference claim(s) because the examined application claim is either anticipated by, or would have been obvious over, the reference claim(s). See, e.g., In re Berg, 140 F.3d 1428, 46 USPQ2d 1226 (Fed. Cir. 1998); In re Goodman, 11 F.3d 1046, 29 USPQ2d 2010 (Fed. Cir. 1993); In re Longi, 759 F.2d 887, 225 USPQ 645 (Fed. Cir. 1985); In re Van Ornum, 686 F.2d 937, 214 USPQ 761 (CCPA 1982); In re Vogel, 422 F.2d 438, 164 USPQ 619 (CCPA 1970); In re Thorington, 418 F.2d 528, 163 USPQ 644 (CCPA 1969).
A timely filed terminal disclaimer in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(c) or 1.321(d) may be used to overcome an actual or provisional rejection based on nonstatutory double patenting provided the reference application or patent either is shown to be commonly owned with the examined application, or claims an invention made as a result of activities undertaken within the scope of a joint research agreement. See MPEP § 717.02 for applications subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA as explained in MPEP § 2159. See MPEP § 2146 et seq. for applications not subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA . A terminal disclaimer must be signed in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(b).
The filing of a terminal disclaimer by itself is not a complete reply to a nonstatutory double patenting (NSDP) rejection. A complete reply requires that the terminal disclaimer be accompanied by a reply requesting reconsideration of the prior Office action. Even where the NSDP rejection is provisional the reply must be complete. See MPEP § 804, subsection I.B.1. For a reply to a non-final Office action, see 37 CFR 1.111(a). For a reply to final Office action, see 37 CFR 1.113(c). A request for reconsideration while not provided for in 37 CFR 1.113(c) may be filed after final for consideration. See MPEP §§ 706.07(e) and 714.13.
The USPTO Internet website contains terminal disclaimer forms which may be used. Please visit www.uspto.gov/patent/patents-forms. The actual filing date of the application in which the form is filed determines what form (e.g., PTO/SB/25, PTO/SB/26, PTO/AIA /25, or PTO/AIA /26) should be used. A web-based eTerminal Disclaimer may be filled out completely online using web-screens. An eTerminal Disclaimer that meets all requirements is auto-processed and approved immediately upon submission. For more information about eTerminal Disclaimers, refer to www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/applying-online/eterminal-disclaimer.
Claims 1, 6-10, 13, 15, 16 and 18-20 are provisionally rejected on the ground of nonstatutory double patenting as being unpatentable over claims 1, 5-8, 12-15 and 17-20 of co-pending Application No. 18/661,417 (reference application). Although the claims at issue are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other because the entire scope of the reference claim(s) falls within the scope of the examined claim(s). “The claim under examination is not patentably distinct from the reference claim(s) if the claim under examination is anticipated by the reference claim(s). See, e.g., In re Berg, 140 F.3d 1428, 46 USPQ2d 1226 (Fed. Cir. 1998); In re Goodman, 11 F.3d 1046, 1052, 29 USPQ2d 2010, 2015-16 (Fed. Cir. 1993).” MPEP § 804.
This is a provisional nonstatutory double patenting rejection because the patentably indistinct claims have not in fact been patented.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 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 non-obviousness.
Claims 1, 6-13 and 18-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over DUAN et al. [Duan] (US 2022/0077988 A1), in view of Cha et al. [Cha] (US 2023/0142084 A1).
Regarding claim 1,
Duan teaches a method performed by a user equipment (UE) in a non-terrestrial network (NTN), the method comprising: receiving, from a base station, a positioning reference signal (PRS) in a downlink (DL) subframe (¶ 0171, a method of wireless positioning performed by a user equipment (UE), comprising: receiving, from one or more transmission-reception points (TRPs), one or more on demand downlink positioning reference signals (DL-PRS) (i.e., receiving, from a base station, a positioning reference signal (PRS)));
determining, based on the timestamps or the subframe indices, a UE time difference from receiving the PRS to a transmission of a sounding reference signal (SRS) (¶ 0125, each entity measures the time difference between the time of arrival (ToA) of the received RTT-related signal (PRS) and the transmission time of the transmitted RTT-related signal (SRS). This time difference is referred to as a reception-to-transmission (Rx-Tx) time difference. The Rx-Tx time difference measurement may be made, or may be adjusted, to include only a time difference between nearest subframe boundaries for the received and transmitted signals. Both entities may then send their Rx-Tx time difference measurement to a location server (e.g., an LMF 270), which calculates the round-trip propagation time (i.e., RTT) between the two entities from the two Rx-Tx time difference measurements (e.g., as the sum of the two Rx- Tx time difference measurements));
generating an auxiliary report including adjustment information for a location management function (LMF) to calculate the UE time difference (¶ 0132, each RTT measurement signal relative to the UE's 504 current downlink timing (e.g., as derived by the UE 504 from a downlink signal received from its serving base station), and transmits a common or individual RTT response signal (e.g., SRS) to the involved network nodes 502 on resources allocated by its serving base station…Each involved network node 502 also reports, to the positioning entity, a transmission-to-reception (Tx-Rx) time difference measurement, which indicates the difference between the transmission time of the RTT measurement signal and the reception time of the RTT response signal);
providing the auxiliary report to the LMF (¶ 0132, Each involved network node 502 also reports, to the positioning entity (i.e. LMF), a transmission-to-reception (Tx-Rx) time difference measurement, which indicates the difference between the transmission time of the RTT measurement signal and the reception time of the RTT response signal (i.e., reporting, by a base station to the IMF));
and reporting, to the LMF, the SRS based on the UE time difference (¶ 0122, in an OTDOA or DL-TDOA positioning procedure, a UE measures the differences between the times of arrival (ToAs) of reference signals (e.g., positioning reference signals (PRS)) received from pairs of base stations, referred to as reference signal time difference (RSTD) or time difference of arrival (TDOA) measurements, and reports them to a positioning entity. ¶ 0063, (and Fig. 2B callout 270) the functionality of the AMF 264 also includes location services management for regulatory services, transport for location services messages between the UE 204 and a location management function (LMF) 270 (which acts as a location server 230) (i.e., reporting, to a location management function (IMF))).
Duan does not explicitly teach determining a timestamp or subframe indices of the PRS in the DL subframe and a timestamp or subframe indices of a UE uplink (UL) subframe that is closest in time to the DL subframe.
However, in the analogous field of endeavor, Cha teaches determining a timestamp or subframe indices of the PRS in the DL subframe (¶ 0187, e.g. ¶ 0203, time stamp: For example, the UE may be configured/instructed to report time stamp information defining the UE measurement associated with the time stamp to the LMF/location server/gNB. For example, the UE may be configured/instructed to report the time stamp information regarding the time difference between the time when the measurement is acquired with a first DL RS and the time when the measurement is acquired with a second DL RS to the LMF/location server/gNB (i.e., Determining a timestamp or subframe indices of the PRS in DL))) and a timestamp or subframe indices of a UE uplink (UL) subframe that is closest in time to the DL subframe (¶ 0196, T.sub.UE-RX may a UE transmit timing of UL subframe (and/or frame/slot/symbol, etc.) #j nearest the subframe (and/or frame/slot/symbol, etc.) #i received from the positioning node (wherein #i and #j are indexes, each of which may have an integer value greater than or equal to 0 (i.e., subframe indices of the UE uplink (UL) PRS's closest subframe)).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings of Duan by the teaching of Cha, since doing so would have achieved the desirable result of providing a positioning method based on timing measurements. Further, since data or signals that all UEs in the cell transmit should be received within every valid time boundary in order to prevent interference in terms of the BS, the BS needs to appropriately adjust transmission timings of the signals transmitted by the UEs according to situations of the UEs and this adjustment is referred to as timing advance management [Cha: ¶¶ 0004, 1071].
Regarding claim 6, Duan in view Cha teaches the method of claim 1.
Duan further teaches wherein the adjustment information includes an aggregate value of timing advance (TA) adjustments applied by the UE from a time point before receiving the PRS to a time point of the transmission of the SRS (Duan: ¶ 0126, the E-CID positioning method is based on radio resource management (RRM) measurements. In E-CID, the UE reports the serving cell ID, the timing advance (TA), and the identifiers, estimated timing, and signal strength of detected neighbor base stations. The location of the UE is then estimated based on this information and the known locations of the base station(s). ¶ 0155, the on-demand SRS-for-positioning may be configured with the same QCL-Type C as the on-demand DLPRS, which indicates that the on-demand SRS-for-positioning experience a similar average delay and Doppler shift as the on-demand DL-PRS. That is, the UE can use the DL-PRS to estimate the Doppler shift and average delay of SRS-for-positioning (i.e., transmitting an aggregate value of timing advance (TA) adjusted by PRS and SRS data, applied by the UE)).
Regarding claim 7, Duan in view Cha teaches claim 6.
Duan does not explicitly teach wherein the aggregate value of the TA adjustments includes autonomous adjustments or network-triggered adjustments.
Cha teaches wherein the aggregate value of the TA adjustments includes autonomous adjustments or network-triggered adjustments (Cha: ¶ 0114, UE may be provided with a value N.sub.TA,offset of a timing advance (TA) offset for a serving cell by nTimingAdvanceOffset for the serving cell. When the UE is not provided with nTimingAdvanceOffset for the serving cell, the UE may determine a default value N.sub.TA,offset of the TA offset for the serving cell. ¶ 0116, a TA command, T.sub.A for a TAG indicates adjustment of a current N.sub.TA value, N.sub.TA_old to a new N.sub.TA value, N.sub.TA_new by index values of T.sub.A (=0, 1, 2, ... , 63), where for a SCS of 2. sup.μ* 15 kHz, N.sub. TA_ new=N. sub. TA_ old+(T. sub.A-31)*16*64/2. sup.μ (Examiner interprets: The aggregate value of TA adjustments includes autonomous adjustments)).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use these above-mentioned features disclosed by Duan with the system disclosed by Cha, since doing so would have achieved the desirable result of providing a next generation wireless communication system for supporting a data transmission rate higher than that of a 4.sup.th generation (4G) wireless communication system [Cha: Abstract, ¶ 0002].
Regarding claim 8, Duan in view Cha teaches the method of claim 1.
Duan further teaches wherein the adjustment information includes an aggregate value of timing advance (TA) adjustments applied by the UE from a time point at of receiving the PRS to a time point of the transmission of the SRS (Duan: ¶ 0126, The E-CID positioning method is based on radio resource management (RRM) measurements. In E-CID, the UE reports the serving cell ID, the timing advance (TA), and the identifiers, estimated timing, and signal strength of detected neighbor base stations. The location of the UE is then estimated based on this information and the known locations of the base station(s). ¶ 0155, the on-demand SRS-for-positioning may be configured with the same QCL-Type C as the on-demand DLPRS, which indicates that the on-demand SRS-for-positioning experience a similar average delay and Doppler shift as the on-demand DL-PRS. That is, the UE can use the DL-PRS to estimate the Doppler shift and average delay of SRS-for-positioning (i.e., transmitting an aggregate value of timing advance (TA) adjusted by P RS and SRS data, applied by the UE)).
Regarding claim 9, Duan in view of Cha teaches the method of claim 8.
Duan does not explicitly teach wherein the aggregate value of the TA adjustments includes autonomous adjustments or network-triggered adjustments.
Cha teaches wherein the aggregate value of the TA adjustments includes autonomous adjustments or network-triggered adjustments (Cha: ¶ 0114, UE may be provided with a value N.sub.TA,offset of a timing advance (TA) offset for a serving cell by nTimingAdvanceOffset for the serving cell. When the UE is not provided with nTimingAdvanceOffset for the serving cell, the UE may determine a default value N.sub.TA,offset of the TA offset for the serving cell. ¶ 0116, a TA command, T.sub.A for a TAG indicates adjustment of a current N.sub.TA value, N.sub.TA_old to a new N.sub.TA value, N.sub.TA_new by index values of T.sub.A (=0, 1, 2, ... , 63), where for a SCS of 2. sup.μ* 15 kHz, N.sub. TA_ new=N. sub. TA_ old+(T. sub.A-31)*16*64/2. sup.μ (Examiner interprets: The aggregate value of TA adjustments includes autonomous adjustments)).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use these above-mentioned features disclosed by Duan with the system disclosed by Cha, since doing so would have achieved the desirable result of providing a next generation wireless communication system for supporting a data transmission rate higher than that of a 4.sup.th generation (4G) wireless communication system [Cha: Abstract, ¶ 0002].
Regarding claim 10, Duan in view Cha teaches the method of claim 1.
Duan teaches further comprising reporting the UE time difference to the LMF (Duan: ¶ 0122, in an OTDOA or DL-TDOA positioning procedure, a UE measures the differences between the times of arrival (ToAs) of reference signals (e.g., positioning reference signals (PRS)) received from pairs of base stations, referred to as reference signal time difference (RSTD) or time difference of arrival (TDOA) measurements, and reports them to a positioning entity. ¶ 0063, (and Fig. 2B callout 270) the functionality of the AMF 264 also includes location services management for regulatory services, transport for location services messages between the UE 204 and a location management function (LMF) 270 (which acts as a location server 230) (i.e., reporting, to a location management function (IMF))).
Regarding claim 11, Duan in view Cha teaches the method of claim 10.
Duan does not explicitly teach further comprising reporting, to the LMF, at least one of the subframe indices of the UE UL subframe that is closest in time to the DL subframe and subframe indices of a subframe in which the UE transmits the SRS, or an offset value indicating a time offset between a UE transmit timing of the UE UL subframe that is closest in time to the DL subframe and a UE transmit timing of the subframe in which the UE transmits the SRS.
Cha teaches further comprising reporting, to the LMF, at least one of the subframe indices of the UE UL subframe that is closest in time to the DL subframe and subframe indices of a subframe in which the UE transmits the SRS, or an offset value indicating a time offset between a UE transmit timing of the UE UL subframe that is closest in time to the DL subframe and a UE transmit timing of the subframe in which the UE transmits the SRS (Cha: ¶0203, time stamp: For example, the UE may be configured/instructed to report time stamp information defining the UE measurement associated with the time stamp to the LMF/location server/gNB. For example, the UE may be configured/instructed to report the time stamp information regarding the time difference between the time when the measurement is acquired with a first DL RS and the time when the measurement is acquired with a second DL RS to the LMF/location server/gNB (i.e., Determining a timestamp or subframe indices of the PRS in DL)). ¶0196, T.sub.UE-RX may a UE transmit timing of UL subframe (and/or frame/slot/symbol, etc.) #j nearest the subframe (and/or frame/slot/symbol, etc.) #i received from the positioning node (wherein #i and #j are indexes, each of which may have an integer value greater than or equal to 0 (i.e., subframe indices of the UE uplink (UL) PRS's closest subframe)).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings of Duan by further including, reporting, to the LMF [...] the subframe indices of the UE UL subframe that is closest in time to the DL subframe and subframe indices of a subframe in which the UE transmits the SRS, as taught by Cha, since doing so would have achieved the desirable result of providing a positioning method based on timing measurements. Further, since data or signals that all UEs in the cell transmit should be received within every valid time boundary in order to prevent interference in terms of the BS, the BS needs to appropriately adjust transmission timings of the signals transmitted by the UEs according to situations of the UEs and this adjustment is referred to as timing advance management [Cha: ¶¶ 0004, 1071].
Regarding claim 12, Duan in view Cha teaches the method of claim 1.
Duan further teaches wherein providing the auxiliary report to the LMF comprise one of: providing an individual auxiliary report for each SRS transmission; providing a selective auxiliary report for one SRS, which is valid for all individual SRS transmissions; or proving an average auxiliary report including an average value of the adjustment information for all SRS transmissions (Duan: ¶ 0132, each RTT measurement signal relative to the UE's 504 current downlink timing (e.g., as derived by the UE 504 from a downlink signal received from its serving base station), and transmits a common or individual RTT response signal (e.g., SRS) to the involved network nodes 502 on resources allocated by its serving base station…Each involved network node 502 also reports, to the positioning entity, a transmission-to-reception (Tx-Rx) time difference measurement, which indicates the difference between the transmission time of the RTT measurement signal and the reception time of the RTT response signal).
Regarding claim 13,
Duan discloses a user equipment (UE) for use in a non-terrestrial network (NTN), the UE comprising: at least one processor; and memory that stores instructions, which when executed by the at least one processor, controls the UE to (¶ 0008, user equipment (UE) includes a memory; at least one transceiver; and at least one processor communicatively coupled to the memory):
receive, from a base station, a positioning reference signal (PRS) in a downlink (DL) subframe (¶ 0171, a method of wireless positioning performed by a user equipment (UE), comprising: receiving, from one or more transmission-reception points (TRPs), one or more on demand downlink positioning reference signals (DL-PRS) (i.e., receiving, from a base station, a positioning reference signal (PRS))),
determine, based on the timestamps or the subframe indices, a UE time difference from receiving the PRS to a transmission of a sounding reference signal (SRS) ((¶ 0125, each entity measures the time difference between the time of arrival (ToA) of the received RTT-related signal (PRS) and the transmission time of the transmitted RTT-related signal (SRS). This time difference is referred to as a reception-to-transmission (Rx-Tx) time difference. The Rx-Tx time difference measurement may be made, or may be adjusted, to include only a time difference between nearest subframe boundaries for the received and transmitted signals. Both entities may then send their Rx-Tx time difference measurement to a location server (e.g., an LMF 270), which calculates the round-trip propagation time (i.e., RTT) between the two entities from the two Rx-Tx time difference measurements (e.g., as the sum of the two Rx- Tx time difference measurements)),
generate an auxiliary report including adjustment information for a location management function (LMF) to calculate the UE time difference (¶ 0132, each RTT measurement signal relative to the UE's 504 current downlink timing (e.g., as derived by the UE 504 from a downlink signal received from its serving base station), and transmits a common or individual RTT response signal (e.g., SRS) to the involved network nodes 502 on resources allocated by its serving base station…Each involved network node 502 also reports, to the positioning entity, a transmission-to-reception (Tx-Rx) time difference measurement, which indicates the difference between the transmission time of the RTT measurement signal and the reception time of the RTT response signal),
provide the auxiliary report to the LMF (¶ 0132, Each involved network node 502 also reports, to the positioning entity (i.e. LMF), a transmission-to-reception (Tx-Rx) time difference measurement, which indicates the difference between the transmission time of the RTT measurement signal and the reception time of the RTT response signal (i.e., reporting, by a base station to the IMF)),
and report, to the LMF, the SRS based on the UE time difference (¶ 0122, in an OTDOA or DL-TDOA positioning procedure, a UE measures the differences between the times of arrival (ToAs) of reference signals (e.g., positioning reference signals (PRS)) received from pairs of base stations, referred to as reference signal time difference (RSTD) or time difference of arrival (TDOA) measurements, and reports them to a positioning entity. ¶ 0063 (and Fig. 2B callout 270), the functionality of the AMF 264 also includes location services management for regulatory services, transport for location services messages between the UE 204 and a location management function (LMF) 270 (which acts as a location server 230) (i.e., reporting, to a location management function (IMF))).
Duan does not explicitly teach determining a timestamp or subframe indices of the PRS in the DL subframe and a timestamp or subframe indices of a UE uplink (UL) subframe that is closest in time to the DL subframe.
However, in the analogous field of endeavor, Cha teaches determining a timestamp or subframe indices of the PRS in the DL subframe (¶ 0187, e.g. ¶ 0203, time stamp: For example, the UE may be configured/instructed to report time stamp information defining the UE measurement associated with the time stamp to the LMF/location server/gNB. For example, the UE may be configured/instructed to report the time stamp information regarding the time difference between the time when the measurement is acquired with a first DL RS and the time when the measurement is acquired with a second DL RS to the LMF/location server/gNB (i.e., Determining a timestamp or subframe indices of the PRS in DL))) and a timestamp or subframe indices of a UE uplink (UL) subframe that is closest in time to the DL subframe (¶ 0196, T.sub.UE-RX may a UE transmit timing of UL subframe (and/or frame/slot/symbol, etc.) #j nearest the subframe (and/or frame/slot/symbol, etc.) #i received from the positioning node (wherein #i and #j are indexes, each of which may have an integer value greater than or equal to 0 (i.e., subframe indices of the UE uplink (UL) PRS's closest subframe)).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings of Duan by the teaching of Cha, since doing so would have achieved the desirable result of providing a positioning method based on timing measurements. Further, since data or signals that all UEs in the cell transmit should be received within every valid time boundary in order to prevent interference in terms of the BS, the BS needs to appropriately adjust transmission timings of the signals transmitted by the UEs according to situations of the UEs and this adjustment is referred to as timing advance management [Cha: ¶¶ 0004, 1071].
Regarding claim 18, Duan in view Cha teaches the UE of claim 13.
Duan further teaches wherein the adjustment information includes an aggregate value of timing advance (TA) adjustments applied by the UE from a time point before receiving the PRS to a time point of the transmission of the SRS (Duan: ¶ 0126, the E-CID positioning method is based on radio resource management (RRM) measurements. In E-CID, the UE reports the serving cell ID, the timing advance (TA), and the identifiers, estimated timing, and signal strength of detected neighbor base stations. The location of the UE is then estimated based on this information and the known locations of the base station(s). ¶ 0155, the on-demand SRS-for-positioning may be configured with the same QCL-Type C as the on-demand DLPRS, which indicates that the on-demand SRS-for-positioning experience a similar average delay and Doppler shift as the on-demand DL-PRS. That is, the UE can use the DL-PRS to estimate the Doppler shift and average delay of SRS-for-positioning (i.e., transmitting an aggregate value of timing advance (TA) adjusted by PRS and SRS data, applied by the UE)).
Regarding claim 19, Duan in view Cha teaches the UE of claim 18.
Duan does not explicitly teach wherein the aggregate value of the TA adjustments includes autonomous adjustments or network-triggered adjustments.
Cha teaches wherein the aggregate value of the TA adjustments includes autonomous adjustments or network-triggered adjustments (Cha: ¶ 0114, UE may be provided with a value N.sub.TA,offset of a timing advance (TA) offset for a serving cell by nTimingAdvanceOffset for the serving cell. When the UE is not provided with nTimingAdvanceOffset for the serving cell, the UE may determine a default value N.sub.TA,offset of the TA offset for the serving cell. ¶ 0116, a TA command, T.sub.A for a TAG indicates adjustment of a current N.sub.TA value, N.sub.TA_old to a new N.sub.TA value, N.sub.TA_new by index values of T.sub.A (=0, 1, 2, ... , 63), where for a SCS of 2. sup.μ* 15 kHz, N.sub. TA_ new=N. sub. TA_ old+(T. sub.A-31)*16*64/2. sup.μ (Examiner interprets: The aggregate value of TA adjustments includes autonomous adjustments)).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use these above-mentioned features disclosed by Duan with the system disclosed by Cha, since doing so would have achieved the desirable result of providing a next generation wireless communication system for supporting a data transmission rate higher than that of a 4.sup.th generation (4G) wireless communication system [Cha: Abstract, ¶ 0002].
Regarding claim 20, Duan in view Cha teaches the UE of claim 13.
Duan further teaches wherein the adjustment information includes an aggregate value of timing advance (TA) adjustments applied by the UE from a time point at of receiving the PRS to a time point of the transmission of the SRS (Duan: ¶ 0126, The E-CID positioning method is based on radio resource management (RRM) measurements. In E-CID, the UE reports the serving cell ID, the timing advance (TA), and the identifiers, estimated timing, and signal strength of detected neighbor base stations. The location of the UE is then estimated based on this information and the known locations of the base station(s). ¶ 0155, the on-demand SRS-for-positioning may be configured with the same QCL-Type C as the on-demand DLPRS, which indicates that the on-demand SRS-for-positioning experience a similar average delay and Doppler shift as the on-demand DL-PRS. That is, the UE can use the DL-PRS to estimate the Doppler shift and average delay of SRS-for-positioning (i.e., transmitting an aggregate value of timing advance (TA) adjusted by P RS and SRS data, applied by the UE)).
Claims 2-5 and 14-17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Duan in view of Cha, and in further view of Duan et al. [Duan2] (US 2025/0226896 A1).
Regarding claim 14, Duan and Cha teach the UE of claim 13.
Duan and Cha do not teach wherein the adjustment information includes a Doppler frequency measured when receiving the PRS and a Doppler frequency measured when transmitting the SRS.
Duan2 in the same field of endeavor as the claimed invention, Duan2 discloses: wherein the adjustment information includes a Doppler frequency measured when receiving the PRS and a Doppler frequency measured when transmitting the SRS (¶ 0095, doppler measurement may include the frequency shift of the RS between transmission and reception, a transmit-receive time difference that may be used in a sequence of such measurements to determine the frequency shift.).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use these above-mentioned features disclosed by modified Duan with the system disclosed by Duan2, since doing so would have achieved the desirable result of improving communication coverage for a respective geographic coverage area. [Duan2: ¶ 0029]. Furthermore, to successfully provide navigation instructions for the UE through the coverage area of the wireless network [Duan2: ¶ 0104].
Regarding claim 15, Duan and Cha teach the UE of claim 13.
Duan and Cha do not explicitly teach wherein the adjustment information includes a differential value of Doppler frequency based on a difference between a Doppler frequency measured when receiving the PRS and a Doppler frequency measured when transmitting the SRS.
Duan2 in the same field of endeavor as the claimed invention, Duan2 discloses: wherein the adjustment information includes a differential value of Doppler frequency based on a difference between a Doppler frequency measured when receiving the PRS and a Doppler frequency measured when transmitting the SRS (¶ 0095, doppler measurement may include the frequency shift of the RS between transmission and reception, a transmit-receive time difference that may be used in a sequence of such measurements to determine the frequency shift. ¶ 0096, transmit-receive time difference measurement. ¶ 0105, a doppler measurement may be based on multiple instances of RS resources received by the device. For example, a frequency shift may be measured over multiple instances of a PRS or SRS resource or over different resources of a PRS or SRS received over time. If separate RF sensing measurement reports are generated, the doppler measurements may be reported in any suitable manner (such as once for the batch of RS resources associated with the doppler measurement)).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use these above-mentioned features disclosed by modified Duan with the system disclosed by Duan2, since doing so would have achieved the desirable result of improving communication coverage for a respective geographic coverage area. [Duan2: ¶0029]. Furthermore, to successfully provide navigation instructions for the UE through the coverage area of the wireless network [Duan2: ¶0104].
Regarding claim 16, Duan and Cha teach the UE of claim 13.
Duan and Cha do not explicitly teach wherein the adjustment information includes a differential value of Doppler frequency based on a difference between a Doppler frequency measured a time point before receiving the PRS and a Doppler frequency measured when transmitting the SRS.
Duan2 in the same field of endeavor as the claimed invention, Duan2 discloses: wherein the adjustment information includes a differential value of Doppler frequency based on a difference between a Doppler frequency measured a time point before receiving the PRS and a Doppler frequency measured when transmitting the SRS (¶0095, doppler measurement may include the frequency shift of the RS between transmission and reception, a transmit-receive time difference that may be used in a sequence of such measurements to determine the frequency shift. ¶ 0096, transmit-receive time difference measurement. ¶ 0105, a doppler measurement may be based on multiple instances of RS resources received by the device. For example, a frequency shift may be measured over multiple instances of a PRS or SRS resource or over different resources of a PRS or SRS received over time. If separate RF sensing measurement reports are generated, the doppler measurements may be reported in any suitable manner (such as once for the batch of RS resources associated with the doppler measurement)).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use these above-mentioned features disclosed by modified Duan with the system disclosed by Duan2, since doing so would have achieved the desirable result of improving communication coverage for a respective geographic coverage area. [Duan2: ¶ 0029]. Furthermore, to successfully provide navigation instructions for the UE through the coverage area of the wireless network [Duan2: ¶ 0104].
Regarding claim 17, Duan and Cha teach the UE of claim 13.
Duan and Cha do not explicitly teach wherein a Doppler frequency measured a time point before receiving the PRS and a Doppler frequency measured when transmitting the SRS.
Duan2 in the same field of endeavor as the claimed invention, Duan2 discloses: wherein a Doppler frequency measured a time point before receiving the PRS and a Doppler frequency measured when transmitting the SRS (¶ 0095, doppler measurement may include the frequency shift of the RS between transmission and reception, a transmit-receive time difference that may be used in a sequence of such measurements to determine the frequency shift. ¶ 0096, transmit-receive time difference measurement. ¶ 0105, a doppler measurement may be based on multiple instances of RS resources received by the device. For example, a frequency shift may be measured over multiple instances of a PRS or SRS resource or over different resources of a PRS or SRS received over time. If separate RF sensing measurement reports are generated, the doppler measurements may be reported in any suitable manner (such as once for the batch of RS resources associated with the doppler measurement)).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use these above-mentioned features disclosed by modified Duan with the system disclosed by Duan2, since doing so would have achieved the desirable result of improving communication coverage for a respective geographic coverage area. [Duan2: ¶ 0029]. Furthermore, to successfully provide navigation instructions for the UE through the coverage area of the wireless network [Duan2: ¶ 0104].
Features of claims 2-5 correspond to features of claims 14-17, respectively, and are therefore rejected using the same rationale(s) and same prior art(s) applied to claims 14-17, above.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Farmer (US 7,747,258 B2); Method and apparatus for performing position determination with pre-session action.
Zhou (US 12,066,560 B2); NR positioning enhancement for timing and angle-based methods and resource aggregation.
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/M.A./Examiner, Art Unit 2465
/AYMAN A ABAZA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2465
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