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 Objections
Claim 15 is objected to because of the following informalities: the claim recites “The fourth apparatus 14”. This should be corrected to —The fourth apparatus of claim 14--.. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1, 3, 4, 6-18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Ramachandran et al. (US 20250168808 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Ramacahndran et al. teach A first apparatus ([0006] a target mobile device) comprising:
at least one processor ([0214] processor unit); and
at least one memory storing instructions ([0215] a memory coupled to the processor including instructions ) that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the first apparatus at least to:
transmit a discovery request for device discovery via sidelink communication ([0061] device-to-device (e.g., sidelink) communication/discovery, [0175] a Target UE (or Anchor UE) may discover an Anchor UE (A1), [0220] a Device UE 10 may specifically provide a request /filter in it's discovery request messages over 701 to only discover Anchor UEs that are able to act as a proxy for a location/ranging service);
receive, from at least one candidate device, at least one respective discovery response comprising a location information status of a corresponding one of the at least one candidate device ([0199]-[0202] a ranging capable UE can determine and/or provide its (desired) role or at least its capability to perform a certain role (e.g. Anchor UE) already during discovery... Possible criteria/conditions to consider for a ranging capable UE to switch on/off its role as an Anchor UE and/or switch on/off indicating that its position is known or can be determined and/or switch on/off its ability/feature to provide a location service proxy include: Whether or not the UE has a position fix (e.g. through GNSS), how long the location is expected to remain valid..., Whether or not the UE's position is stable (e.g. UE is stationary or moving, [0207] an Anchor UE may indicate to a target UE, location service proxy, LMF and/or one or more other Anchor UEs an accuracy measure of its location estimate (e.g. maximum deviation)); and
transmit a candidate device list with the location information status to a second apparatus ([0175] an Anchor UE (A1), which may in its discovery response message ... provide to the Target UE (or Anchor UE) a list of identities ... of other Anchor UEs in vicinity) for localizing the first apparatus ([0177] Anchor UEs of a ranging constellation are configured/invited to participate in the ranging and/or location estimation of a Target UE, [0179] The LMF can use this information in the calculations to determine the Target UE's position).
Regarding claim 3, Ramacahndran et al. teach the first apparatus of claim 1, wherein the localizing is initiated by the second apparatus, and the second apparatus comprises a network device implementing location management function ([0176] ) the LMF (or other managing entity) instructs each invited Anchor UE to use the same session identifier or constellation identifier by including such identifier when setting up a connection or send a message to initiate ranging with the Target UE 10.
Regarding claim 4, Ramacahndran et al. teach A third apparatus ([0124] anchor UE 14) comprising:
at least one processor ([0214] processor unit); and
at least one memory storing instructions ([0215] a memory coupled to the processor including instructions ) that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the third apparatus at least to:
receive, from a first apparatus, a discovery request for device discovery via sidelink communication ([0220] a Device UE 10 may specifically provide a request /filter in it's discovery request messages over 701 to only discover Anchor UEs that are able to act as a proxy for a location/ranging service);
transmit, to the first apparatus, a discovery response comprising an invalid location information status of the third apparatus ([0207] an Anchor UE may provide more details related to the stability and accuracy of the location of the Anchor UE in a message exchange with Target UE) ;
upon receipt of an indication of additional device discovery from a second apparatus for location management ([0115] the set of other UEs of a ranging constellation may only be known by the LMF or other managing entity, [0154]-[0162] an LMF is used for the configuration of ranging capable UEs... Possible dynamically configurable parameters of a ranging-capable UE to consider are: ... identities (e.g. L2 identities or User Info IDs or PRUK IDs) of Anchor UEs working together to provide ranging/sidelink position service), perform the additional device discovery ([0174] if a request to initiate a ranging session is received by one of multiple anchor UEs in a ranging constellation, the anchor UE that receives the request may forward the request or issue a request to other anchor UEs in the ranging constellation), the indication comprising reference information about an additional device to be discovered ([0162] identities (e.g. L2 identities or User Info IDs or PRUK IDs) of Anchor UEs) ;
determine at least one additional device conforming the reference information ([0174] the anchor UE that receives the request may forward the request or issue a request to other anchor UEs in the ranging constellation); and
transmit an additional device list comprising the at least one additional device to the second apparatus ([0174] or may forward the request or issue a request to a ranging service or location service, [0175] an Anchor UE (A1), which may in its discovery response message ... provide to the Target UE (or Anchor UE) a list of identities ... of other Anchor UEs in vicinity) for localizing the first apparatus ([0177] Anchor UEs of a ranging constellation are configured/invited to participate in the ranging and/or location estimation of a Target UE, [0179] The LMF can use this information in the calculations to determine the Target UE's position)).
Regarding claim 6, Ramacahndran et al. teach the third apparatus of claim 4, wherein the reference information about the additional device to be discovered comprises at least one of the following:
a first indicator of a device to be excluded from the additional device to be discovered ([0179] the LMF or location service proxy (also known as positioning service proxy) uses information from Target UE and/or Anchor UEs about not being able to discover or connect to an Anchor UE of a constellation to exclude the Target UE (or Anchor UE) to be at a location close to that Anchor UE that it cannot discover or connect to), or
a second indicator of a device to be included as the additional device to be discovered.
Regarding claim 7, Ramacahndran et al. teach the third apparatus of claim 4, wherein the third apparatus is further caused to:
receive, from the second apparatus ([0154] an LMF is used for the configuration of ranging capable UEs), an indication of updating the location information status to be valid ([0337] the CN may indicate (cf. step S707b) a need for more accurate ranging measurements between anchor UE(s) and the device UE, e.g., PRS based ranging estimates in subsequent steps ).
Regarding claim 8, Ramacahndran et al. teach the third apparatus of claim 4, wherein the third apparatus acts as a server terminal device , and wherein the third apparatus is further caused to:
determine, based on a plurality of sidelink positioning reference signals during the sidelink positioning, a location of the third apparatus([0339]-[0341] the anchor UE can (re-)configure the ranging procedure, e.g., the transmission of PRS signals for ranging-based location estimation ... if there are multiple anchor UEs that had responded to the device UE in step 707a, and some or all of the response messages contain location coordinate information of the respective anchor UEs, then the device UE can estimate its location based on these messages received in step S707a by triangulation/trilateration); and
update the location information status of the third apparatus from invalid to valid ([0342] the estimate of step S710 may improve the accuracy of the initial estimate.).
Regarding claim 9, Ramacahndran et al. teach the third apparatus of claim 4, wherein the at least one additional device comprises at least one network device or at least one terminal device with valid location status [0207] an Anchor UE may indicate to a target UE, location service proxy, LMF and/or one or more other Anchor UEs an accuracy measure of its location estimate (e.g. maximum deviation)) .
Regarding claim 10, Ramacahndran et al. teach the third apparatus of claim 4, wherein the first apparatus is a first terminal device ([0006] a target mobile device), the second apparatus is a network device implementing a location management function ([0125] a location management function (LMF) 34 configured to manage positioning services), and the third apparatus is a second terminal device ([0124] anchor UE 14).
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 2 and 5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ramacahndran et al. in view of Goss et al. (US 20110231623 A1)
Regarding claim 2, Ramacahndran et al. teach the first apparatus of claim 1, but do not teach
wherein the location information status is indicated by an indicator, a first value of the indicator indicates the location information status of the corresponding candidate device is valid, and a second different value of the indicator indicates the location information status of the corresponding candidate device is invalid.
In a similar endeavor, Goss et al. teach
wherein the location information status is indicated by an indicator, a first value of the indicator indicates the location information status of the corresponding candidate device is valid ([0045] a validity bit 192 is set to an appropriate value such as one, indicated that the LA at that PA is the most current version), and a second different value of the indicator indicates the location information status of the corresponding candidate device is invalid (Goss [0045] the previous physical location that contains a stale version of the LA has a corresponding validity bit programmed to an appropriate value such as logical zero to indicate that LA version is now out of date).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the examined application to have modified Ramacahndran et al. by incorporating Goss et al. validity bit to arrive at the invention
The motivation of doing so would have used a short indicator for efficient signaling.
Regarding claim 5, Ramacahndran et al. teach the third apparatus of claim 4, but do not teach
wherein the location information status is indicated by an indicator, a first value of the indicator indicates the location information status is valid, and a second different value of the indicator indicates the location information status is invalid.
In a similar endeavor, Goss et al. teach
wherein the location information status is indicated by an indicator, a first value of the indicator indicates the location information status is valid, ([0045] a validity bit 192 is set to an appropriate value such as one, indicated that the LA at that PA is the most current version), and a second different value of the indicator indicates the location information status is invalid (Goss [0045] the previous physical location that contains a stale version of the LA has a corresponding validity bit programmed to an appropriate value such as logical zero to indicate that LA version is now out of date).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the examined application to have modified Ramacahndran et al. by incorporating Goss et al. validity bit to arrive at the invention
The motivation of doing so would have used a short indicator for efficient signaling.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 11-18 are allowed.
The following is an examiner’s statement of reasons for allowance: the closest prior art to the claims is Ramachandran et al. (US 20250168808 A1).
Regarding claim 11, Ramachandran et al. teach A fourth apparatus ([0125] a location management function (LMF) 34 configured to manage positioning services) comprising:
at least one processor ([0214] processor unit); and
at least one memory storing instructions ([0215] a memory coupled to the processor including instructions ) that,, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the fourth apparatus at least to:
obtain at least one location information status of at least one candidate device via sidelink communication ([0207] an Anchor UE may indicate to a target UE, location service proxy, LMF and/or one or more other Anchor UEs an accuracy measure of its location estimate (e.g. maximum deviation));
determine, from the at least one candidate device ([0175] an Anchor UE (A1)), a plurality of terminal devices for localizing the fourth apparatus ([0175] multiple Anchor UEs 14 can work together to perform sidelink positioning of a Target UE 10... an Anchor UE (A1), which may in its discovery response message ... provide to the Target UE (or Anchor UE) a list of identities ... of other Anchor UEs in vicinity,;
transmit an indication of additional device discovery ([0154]-[0162] an LMF is used for the configuration of ranging capable UEs... Possible dynamically configurable parameters of a ranging-capable UE to consider are: ... identities (e.g. L2 identities or User Info IDs or PRUK IDs) of Anchor UEs working together to provide ranging/sidelink position service) with reference information about an additional device to be discovered ([0162] identities (e.g. L2 identities or User Info IDs or PRUK IDs) of Anchor UEs);
receive an additional device list comprising at least one additional device conforming the reference information ([0175] an Anchor UE (A1), which may in its discovery response message ... provide to the Target UE (or Anchor UE) a list of identities ... of other Anchor UEs in vicinity); and
localize, with an assistance of at least a part of the terminal devices with valid location information statuses and the at least one additional device, the fourth apparatus ([0177] Anchor UEs of a ranging constellation are configured/invited to participate in the ranging and/or location estimation of a Target UE, [0179] The LMF can use this information in the calculations to determine the Target UE's position)).
However, Ramachandran et al. fail to teach
at least one of the plurality of terminal devices being with invalid location information status;
receive the additional device list, from the at least one terminal device with the invalid location information status
transmit the indication, to the at least one terminal device with the invalid location information status.
Therefore, claim 11 is allowed
Claims 12-18 are allowed for depending from claim 11.
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Conclusion
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/SAID M ELNOUBI/ Examiner, Art Unit 2644
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