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 .
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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.
Claim(s) 21-22, 25-26, 28-29, 32-33, 35-36 and 39-40 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over El Soussi et al. (US 2020/0264297, “El Soussi”) in view of Manolakos et al. (US 2020/0228271, “Manolakos”).
Examiner’s note: in what follows, references are drawn to El Soussi unless otherwise mentioned.
El Soussi comprises the following features:
With respect to independent claims:
Regarding claim 21, a method performed by a first communication apparatus, the method comprising:
sending M first signals on N frequency resources ([0071 and Fig. 2] “At 204, the verifier node 104 transmits on frequency f.sub.i a verifier packet comprising a verifier frame delimiter and a verifier carrier signal. The verifier packet is received by the prover node 102.” Note that the cited verifier node and prover node are equivalent to the claimed first communication apparatus and second communication apparatus, respectively.);
receiving, on the N frequency resources, P second signals sent by a second communication apparatus ([0072 and Fig. 2] “At 206, the prover node 102 transmits on frequency f.sub.i a prover packet comprising a prover frame delimiter and a prover carrier signal.”, and [0073 and Fig. 2] “At 208, if the measurement procedure is to be performed on further frequencies out of the total of N frequencies, at 210, the verifier node 104 and the prover node 102 may switch to the next frequency f.sub.i+1 and repeat the measurement procedure 204, 206.”), wherein the P second signals respond to the M first signals (See Fig. 2, and aforesaid step of 206.); and
receiving second information sent by the second communication apparatus ([0074 and Fig. 2] “At 212, the prover node 102 may encrypt its measurement results, including the time-of arrival measurements for each frequency f.sub.i … This transmission is received by the verifier node 104.”),
wherein the second information comprises one or more pieces of carrier phase measurement information of the M first signals ([0072 and Fig. 2] “The verifier node 104 performs a phase measurement of the prover carrier signal and a time-of arrival measurement of the prover frame delimiter.”, and [0074] “the phase measurement”), the one or more pieces of carrier phase measurement information of the M first signals is used for positioning ([0075 and Fig. 2] “At 214, the verifier node 104 may calculate the distance d between the verifier node 104 and the prover node 102 based on the measurements results, which involve the two-way phase measurements and the round-trip time measurements for the plurality of frequencies f.sub.i.”. Note that positioning will be discussed in view of Manolakos.), N, M, and P are positive integers, M is greater than or equal to N, and P is greater than or equal to N (Aforesaid N frequencies repeated for all N, that is, M=N=P.).
It is noted that while disclosing phase measurements, El Soussi does not specifically teach about positioning. It, however, had been known in the art before the effective date of the instant application as shown by Manolakos as follows;
positioning ([Manolakos, 0121] “the positioning entity (be it the UE, the serving gNB, or the external LCS) determines the position of the UE.”)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of instant application to modify El Soussi by using the features of Manolakos in order to eliminate measurement errors arising from oscillator offsets such that “The method comprises gathering a plurality of transmission-reception point (TRP) round trip time (RTT) related measurements, the plurality of TRP RTT-related measurements being one-to-one associated with a plurality of TRPs” [Manolakos, 0010].
Regarding claim 28, it is a first communication apparatus claim corresponding to the method claim 1, except the limitations, “a transmitter” ([Manolakos, 0038] “An “RF signal” comprises an electromagnetic wave of a given frequency that transports information through the space between a transmitter and a receiver.”) and “at least one processor configured with processor-executable instructions” ([Manolakos, 0034] “various actions described herein can be performed by specific circuits (e.g., application specific integrated circuits (ASICs)), by program instructions being executed by one or more processor”), and is therefore rejected for the similar reasons set forth in the rejection of claim 1.
Regarding claim 35, it is a CRM claim corresponding to the method claim 28, except the limitations, “non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing computer instructions” ([Manolakos, 0034] “non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing computer instructions”), and is therefore rejected for the similar reasons set forth in the rejection of claim 28.
With respect to dependent claims:
Regarding claims 22, 29 and 36, the method according to claim 21, the first communication apparatus according to claim 28 and the non-transitory CRM according to claim 35, respectively, further comprising:
performing positioning based on the one or more pieces of carrier phase measurement information of the M first signals ([0075 and Fig. 2] “At 214, the verifier node 104 may calculate the distance d between the verifier node 104 and the prover node 102 based on the measurements results,”).
Regarding claims 25, 32 and 39, the method according to claim 21, the first communication apparatus according to claim 28 and the non-transitory CRM according to claim 35, respectively, wherein the one or more pieces of carrier phase measurement information of the M first signals comprises at least:
a measured carrier phase value or an estimated carrier phase value of one or more first signals in the M first signals received by the second communication apparatus on the N frequency resources (See aforesaid [0074 and Fig. 2] for “measurement results”), or a difference between measured carrier phase values or estimated carrier phase values of one or more first signals in the M first signals received by the second communication apparatus on any two frequency resources in the N frequency resources when N is greater than 1 (This alternative is not examined.).
Regarding claims 26, 33 and 40, the method according to claim 21, the first communication apparatus according to claim 28 and the non-transitory CRM according to claim 35, respectively, wherein N is greater than 1 (See Fig. 1 and aforesaid [0071-0074]), and at least two frequency resources in the N frequency resources are distributed on K carriers, wherein K is a positive integer greater than 1 (See Fig. 7 for two carriers, and step 704 for “Per carrier”).
Claim(s) 23-24, 30-31 and 37-38 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over El Soussi et al. (US 2020/0264297, “El Soussi”) in view of Manolakos et al. (US 2020/0228271, “Manolakos”) and further in view of Hiscock et al. (US 2021/0124061, “Hiscock”).
Examiner’s note: in what follows, references are drawn to El Soussi unless otherwise mentioned.
Regarding claims 23, 30 and 37, it is noted that while disclosing phase measurements, El Soussi does not specifically teach about sending back information. It, however, had been known in the art before the effective date of the instant application as shown by Hiscock as follows;
the method according to claim 21, the first communication apparatus according to claim 28 and the non-transitory CRM according to claim 35, respectively, further comprising:
sending first information, wherein the first information comprises one or more pieces of carrier phase measurement information of the P second signals ([Hiscock, 0021] “The first carrier phase measurement is the phase of an IQ sample (i.e., one or more samples) captured at a known time, in the first radio receiver, tuned to receive a carrier tone signal transmitted by the second radio transmitter. The second carrier phase measurement is the phase of an IQ sample captured at a known time, in the second radio receiver, tuned to receive a carrier tone signal transmitted by the first radio transmitter.”), and the one or more pieces of carrier phase measurement information of the P second signals is used for positioning (See aforesaid [0075].).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of instant application to modify El Soussi by using the features of Hiscock in order to effectively obtain estimates of positions of mobile devices such that “determining a first set of relative carrier measurements between a first device and a second device at a first set of frequencies; determining a second set of frequencies from the first set of relative carrier measurements” [Hiscock, 0009].
Regarding claims 24, 31 and 38, the method according to claim 23, the first communication apparatus according to claim 30 and the non-transitory CRM according to claim 37, respectively, further comprising:
sending third information, wherein the third information comprises a part of the second information or the entire second information, or the third information comprises a part of processed second information or entire processed second information ([Manolakos, 0111] “the designated cell forwards measurements to the LCS”).
Claim(s) 27 and 34 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over El Soussi et al. (US 2020/0264297, “El Soussi”) in view of Manolakos et al. (US 2020/0228271, “Manolakos”) and further in view of Sesia et al. (US 2014/0293818, “Sesia”).
Examiner’s note: in what follows, references are drawn to El Soussi unless otherwise mentioned.
Regarding claims 27 and 34, it is noted that while disclosing phase measurements, El Soussi does not specifically teach about two non-contiguous carriers. It, however, had been known in the art before the effective date of the instant application as shown by Sesia as follows;
the method according to claim 26 and the first communication apparatus according to claim 28, respectively, wherein at least two carriers in the K carriers are non-contiguous in frequency domain ([Sesia, 0203] “The UE with such capability may further comprise measuring several carriers”, and [Sesia, 0204] “The above disclosed UE capability is explained below with several examples. Consider a scenario where an operator has more than two carriers, which are non-contiguous”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of instant application to modify El Soussi by using the features of Seisa in order to effectively measure multi-carriers such that “changing a position of a local oscillator to be in the middle of the non-contiguous carriers” [Sesia, 0047].
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Harry H. Kim whose telephone number and email address are as follows; 571-272-5009, harry.kim2@uspto.gov.
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/HARRY H KIM/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2411
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