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)(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.
Claims 1-7, 9-11, 13, 14, and 16-18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Manolakos et al US 20260067052 (hereinafter Manolakos).
Regarding claim 1, Manolakos discloses a positioning method applied to a first communication device (410, see fig. 4, [0094]), the method comprising:
receiving one or more reference signals (subcarrier signals 420, 425, see [0037], [0094]) sent by a second communication device (405, see fig. 4, [0094]); and
sending N pieces of phase information, wherein the N pieces of phase information are obtained based on the one or more reference signals sent by the second communication device (determining carrier phase measurement, transmit the carrier phase measurements to an LMF, see [0094]),
the N pieces of phase information are used to determine a distance between the first communication device and the second communication device (see [0094]), and
N is a positive integer (420, 425, see [0094]).
Regarding claim 2 as applied to claim 1, Manolakos further discloses wherein the one or more reference signals are sent by the second communication device on M frequency resources, and M is a positive integer (subcarrier signals, see [0037], [0094]-[0095]).
Regarding claim 3 as applied to claim 2, Manolakos further discloses wherein the N pieces of phase information are N carrier phase values of the one or more reference signals (see [0094]),
the N carrier phase values have a one-to-one correspondence to N frequencies of the one or more reference signals (see [0037], [0094]-[0096]), and
the N frequencies, of the one or more reference signals, are comprised in the M frequency resources (resource elements, see [0035]-[0036], [0075]-[0076], [0101]).
Regarding claim 4 as applied to claim 2, Manolakos further discloses wherein each of the N pieces of phase information is obtained by linearly combining K carrier phase values of the one or more reference signals (see [0107]),
the K carrier phase values have a one-to-one correspondence to K frequencies of the one or more reference signals (see [0107]),
the K frequencies, of the one or more reference signals, are comprised in the M frequency resources (see [0100]-[0101], [0107]-[0108]), and
K is a positive integer (see [0107]-[0108]).
Regarding claim 5 as applied to claim 1, Manolakos further discloses sending N pieces of frequency information, wherein the N pieces of frequency information have a one-to-one correspondence to the N pieces of phase information (determining carrier phase measurement, transmit the carrier phase measurements to an LMF, see [0094], [0145]).
Regarding claim 6, Manolakos discloses a positioning method, comprising:
receiving N pieces of phase information from a first communication device (receiving device 410 determining carrier phase measurement, transmitting the carrier phase measurements to an LMF, see [0094]),
wherein the N pieces of phase information are obtained based on one or more reference signals sent by a second communication device (receiving device 410, receiving subcarrier signals 420, 425, from transmitting device 405, see [0037], [0094]), and
N is a positive integer (420, 425, see [0094]); and
determining the distance between the first communication device and the second communication device based on the N pieces of phase information (see [0094]).
Regarding claim 7 as applied to claim 6, Manolakos further discloses wherein determining the distance between the first communication device and the second communication device based on the N pieces of phase information comprises:
determining the distance between the first communication device and the second communication device based on a first frequency, a first phase (see [0094]), and a first mapping relationship (see [0037]), wherein
the first frequency is a frequency value having a first linear relationship with N pieces of frequency information (see [0146]),
the N pieces of frequency information have a one-to-one correspondence to the N pieces of phase information (see [0037], [0094]),
the first phase is a phase value having the first linear relationship with the N pieces of phase information (see [0037], [0094]), and
the first mapping relationship comprises a mapping relationship between a distance between communication devices, a phase, and a frequency (see [0037], [0094]-[0095]).
Regarding claim 9 as applied to claim 6, Manolakos further discloses:
receiving a first linear combination coefficient and/or a frequency set, wherein the first linear combination coefficient indicates the first linear relationship, and the frequency set comprises the N pieces of frequency information (subcarriers, see [0007], [0009]-[0011]).
Regarding claim 10, Manolakos discloses a positioning method applied to a first communication device (410, see fig. 4, [0094]), the method comprising:
receiving one or more reference signals (subcarrier signals 420, 425, see [0037], [0094]) sent by a second communication device (405, see fig. 4, [0094]);
determining a distance between the first communication device and the second communication device based on N pieces of phase information (see [0094]), wherein
the N pieces of phase information are obtained based on the one or more reference signals (determining carrier phase measurement, transmit the carrier phase measurements to an LMF, see [0094]), and
N is a positive integer (420, 425, see [0094]); and
sending first information indicating the distance between the first communication device and the second communication device (determining carrier phase measurement, transmit the carrier phase measurements to an LMF, see [0094]).
Regarding claim 11 as applied to claim 10, Manolakos further discloses wherein determining the distance between the first communication device and the second communication device based on the N pieces of phase information comprises:
determining the distance between the first communication device and the second communication device based on a first frequency, a first phase (see [0094]), and a first mapping relationship (see [0037]), wherein
the first frequency is a frequency value having a first linear relationship with N pieces of frequency information (see [0146]),
the N pieces of frequency information have a one-to-one correspondence to the N pieces of phase information (see [0037], [0094]),
the first phase is a phase value having the first linear relationship with the N pieces of phase information (see [0037], [0094]), and
the first mapping relationship comprises a mapping relationship between a distance between communication devices, a phase, and a frequency (see [0037], [0094]-[0095]).
Regarding claim 13 as applied to claim 11, Manolakos further discloses:
receiving a first linear combination coefficient and/or a frequency set, wherein the first linear combination coefficient indicates the first linear relationship, and the frequency set comprises the N pieces of frequency information (subcarriers, see [0007], [0009]-[0011]).
Regarding claim 14 as applied to claim 10, Manolakos further discloses
wherein the first information includes the distance between the first communication device and the second communication device (determining carrier phase measurement, transmit the carrier phase measurements to an LMF, see [0094]).
Regarding claim 16 as applied to claim 7, Manolakos further discloses wherein the first mapping relationship meets the following expression:
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wherein ƿ represents a distance between communication devices, N represents an integer ambiguity, f represents a frequency, φ represents a phase, and c represents a speed of light (see [0112]-[0113]).
Regarding claim 17 as applied to claim 1, Manolakos further discloses wherein at least one reference signal, of the one or more reference signals, comprises one or more of: a positioning reference signal (PRS), a sounding reference signal (SRS), a positioning sounding reference signal (POS-SRS), a tracking reference signal (TRS), a channel state information-reference signal (CSI-RS), a demodulation reference signal (DMRS), a phase tracking reference signal (PTRS), and a sidelink reference signal (see [0036]).
Regarding claim 18 as applied to claim 1, Manolakos further discloses
wherein N is a positive integer greater than or equal to 2 (420, 425, see [0094]).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 8, 12, and 15 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
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Cho US 20160011297 discloses a positioning method of a terminal using a wireless signal. The positioning method may include: receiving carrier signals with start point information indicated thereon from three or more base stations (BSs) including a serving BS; calculating a difference in phase angles between carrier signals of two BSs, while changing the two BSs, by using the start point information of the carrier signals of the two BSs among the three or more BSs; calculating differences in distances of arrival from the corresponding two BSs to the terminal by using the calculated differences in phase angles; and calculating coordinates of the terminal by using the calculated differences in distances of arrival.
Manolakos et al US 20250048157 discloses one or more processors are configured to and can: receive, from a user equipment (UE), a phase measurement capability of the UE for subcarrier set pairs of different resources received by the UE, the different resources be associated with a reference signal; transmit, to the UE, a phase measurement request from a network entity for configure phase measurements of the subcarrier set pairs of the different resources; and receive, from the UE, a phase measurement report to the network entity based on the phase measurement request, the phase measurement report including information associated with a measured phase difference of at least one subcarrier set pair associated with the different resources.
Bao et al US 11,812,404 discloses a method of providing positioning reference signal information includes: transmitting wirelessly, from an apparatus, a positioning reference signal comprising a carrier signal with a carrier phase; and transmitting, from the apparatus, an indication of a reference carrier phase of the positioning reference signal, comprising a phase of the carrier signal of the positioning reference signal at a reference time of transmission of the positioning reference signal.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to OLUMIDE T AJIBADE AKONAI whose telephone number is (571)272-6496. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 8AM-4PM.
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/OLUMIDE AJIBADE AKONAI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3648