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
2. Claim 8 objected to because of the following informalities: Applicant should amend claim 8, removing all language related the formula and speed light, potential 101 issues, or cancel claim 8 because claim 1 relates to calculating distance. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. Claim(s) 1-3and 6-15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a1) as being anticipated by Baek et al. (WO2021133104) (hereinafter Baek)..
Per claim 1, A method implemented by a first user equipment (UE), comprising: transmitting a first sidelink position reference signal (SL Pos-RS) to a second UE at a first time (t1) (paragraph 0224, Fig 13 ref. s1320, i.e. first time is implicit); receiving a physical sidelink feedback channel (PSFCH) sequence transmitted from the second UE on a PSFCH channel at a fourth time (t4) (paragraph 0225, i.e. the PSFCH-PRS resource reservation process and the PRS ID reservation process in the positioning terminal may be performed sequentially or simultaneousl, and in figure 12, shows a sequence of PSFCHs and
paragraph 0241, Here, an Rx-Tx Time Difference (RTTD) is time information used for distance measurement in a terminal, and indicates a time spent until a positioning terminal transmits a request PRS to a neighboring terminal and then receives a response PRS in response and Fig 13, ref. s1330, fourth time is implicit); receiving a timing measurement report from the second UE( paragraph 0230, fig 13, ref. s1340, i.e. receive a response PRS from at least one neighboring terminal in response to the transmitted request PRS (S1330), wherein the timing measurement report includes information regarding a difference between a second time (t2) when the first SL Pos-RS was received by the second UE and regarding a third time (t3) when the second UE transmitted a second SL Pos-RS to the first UE (paragraph 0233 -0235 i.e. the peripheral terminal may determine a transmission time point of the response PRS based on a request PRS-response PRS time gap defined/configured in advance after receiving the request PRS, the positioning terminal may receive a measurement result corresponding to the transmitted request PRS from at least one neighboring terminal (S1340). Here, the peripheral terminal may transmit a measurement result to the positioning terminal and the measurement result may include at least one of Tx-Rx Time Difference (TRTD) information, Received Signal Received Power (RSRP) information, Angle of Arrival (AoA) information) and calculating a distance between the first UE and the second UE based on the first time, the fourth time, and the timing measurement report (paragraph 0236 and 0237, i.e. The TRTD information is time information used for inter-UE distance measurement, and indicates a time required for the neighboring UE to transmit a response PRS as a response after receiving a request PRS from the positioning terminal. For example, the TRTD information may be processing time information used for PRS transmission and reception in a peripheral terminal. The positioning terminal may calculate a round trip time (RTT) based on the time information at which the request PRS is transmitted, the time information at which the response PRS corresponding to the transmitted request PRS is received, and the TRTD information to measure the distance between the positioning terminal and the peripheral terminal).
Per claim 2, The method of claim 1, wherein the PSFCH sequence includes a plurality of PSFCHs in a single physical resource block (PRB) set (paragraph 0203, i.e. . Referring to FIG. 12, the pre-configured PRS transmission method may be largely divided into a request PRS and a response PRS transmission structure ((a) of FIG. 12) using the same PSFCH-PRS resource).
Per claim 3, The method of claim 1, wherein a hybrid automatic repeat request acknowledgement (HARQ-ACK) is excluded from a single physical resource block (PRB) set( paragraph 0194, when the PRS and the HARQ-ACK feedback information are transmitted to the PSFCH, the PSFCH-PRS resource may refer to all or some resources other than a PSFCH-feedback resource for HARQ-ACK feedback information transmission).
Per claim 6, refer to the same rationale as explained in claim 3.
Per claim 7, refer to the same rationale as explained in claim 1.
Per claim 8, The method of claim 7, wherein the distance is calculated using the following formula: D1,2=c⋅t4-t1-t3-t22, where D1,2 represents the distance and where c represents a speed of light (refer to claim 1 rationale for calculating distance only, see claim objection).
Pere claim 9, The method of claim 7, wherein the first UE comprises a target UE, the second UE comprises an anchor UE(paragraph 0191.i.e. the terminal may include a mobile device, a V2X module, an IoT device, and the like, and an anchor node (AN) may be a base station and/or a terminal) and wherein the timing measurement report includes a time value that represents a difference between the third time and the second time (paragraphs 0233-0235, i.e. the peripheral terminal may determine a transmission time point of the response PRS based on a request PRS-response PRS time gap defined/configured in advance after receiving the request PRS, the positioning terminal may receive a measurement result corresponding to the transmitted request PRS from at least one neighboring terminal (S1340). Here, the peripheral terminal may transmit a measurement result to the positioning terminal and the measurement result may include at least one of Tx-Rx Time Difference (TRTD) information, Received Signal Received Power (RSRP) information, Angle of Arrival (AoA) information).
.Per claim 10, The method of claim 7, wherein the first UE transmits one or more first SL Pos-RS in accordance with a first semi-persistent configuration, where the first semi-persistent configuration comprises a period, a number of first SL Pos-RS transmissions, and parameters to generate the one or more first SL Pos-RS; and wherein the first UE receives one or more second SL Pos-RS in accordance to a second semi-persistent configuration, where the second semi-persistent configuration comprises a period, a number of second SL Pos-RS transmissions, and parameters to generate the one or more second SL Pos-RS(paragraph 0284, i.e. The processor 102 May transmit a request PRS through a
Application/Control Number: 18/816,146 Page 5 Art Unit: 2647
sidelink channel, receive a response PRS corresponding to the request PRS from a neighboring terminal through a sidelink channel, receive a measurement result corresponding to the request PRS from the neighboring terminal, and perform positioning based on the response PRS and the measurement result. In this case, the processor 102 May transmit resource allocation information for transmission of a response PRS corresponding to the request PRS to the neighboring terminal, and the measurement result may be received from the neighboring terminal through a resource for V2X data transmission, examiner interprets that measurement results are more precise when verified through neighboring nodes in the area of a target device).
Per claim 11, The method of claim 7, wherein the timing measurement report includes a value for each of the second time and the third time.(paragraph 0235 and 0236,i.e. For example, the measurement result may include at least one of Tx-Rx Time Difference (TRTD) information, Received Signal Received Power (RSRP) information, Angle of Arrival (AoA) information, and Doppler information).
Per claim 12, The method of claim 7, wherein the timing measurement report includes a value representing a difference between the second time and the third time(paragraph 0233-0235, same rationale as in claim 1), and wherein the difference represents fractions of a subframe or slot.(paragraph 0240 and 0241, i.e. the peripheral terminal based on Rx-Tx Time Difference (RTTD) information measured after receiving the response PRS and the received measurement result (S1350)and an Rx-Tx Time Difference (RTTD) is time information used for distance measurement in a terminal, and indicates a time spent until a positioning terminal transmits a request PRS to a neighboring terminal and then receives a response PRS in response).
Per claim 13, The method of claim 7, wherein the first time, the second time, the third time, and the fourth time each correspond to a reference orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) symbol.(paragraph 0084-0086, Fig 4, i.e. when a normal CP is used, each slot may include 14 symbols. When the extended CP is used, each slot may include 12 symbols. Here, the symbol may include an OFDM symbol (or a CP-OFDM symbol), a single carrier-FDMA (SC-FDMA) symbol (or a discrete Fourier transform-spread-OFDM (DFT-s-OFDM symbol)).
Per claim 14, refer to the same rationale as explained in claim 13, see paragraphs 0233-0235, for the timing offset or Tx-Rx Time Difference (TRTD) information).
Application/Control Number: 18/816,146 Page 6 Art Unit: 2647
Per claim 15, The method of claim 7, wherein a difference between the second time and the third time is included in the second SL Pos-RS (paragraph 0235 and 0236, i.e. The TRTD information is time information used for inter-UE distance measurement, and indicates a time required for the neighboring UE to transmit a response PRS as a response after receiving a request PRS from the positioning terminal For example, the TRTD information may be processing time information used for PRS transmission and reception in a peripheral terminal. The positioning terminal may calculate a round trip time (RTT) based on the time information at which the request PRS is transmitted, the time information at which the response PRS corresponding to the transmitted request PRS is received, and the TRTD information to measure the distance between the positioning terminal and the peripheral terminal.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
6. 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.
7. Claim(s) 16-25 and 29 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a1) as being anticipated by MANOLAKOS et al ( US20210297206) (hereinafter MANOLAKOS)
Per claim 16, A method implemented by a target user equipment (UE), comprising: selecting one or more first anchor UEs for positioning (paragraph 0115, i.e. In FIG. 10, the target UE 1004 is attempting to estimate its location, and the assisting UEs 1002 and 1006 have known locations [e.g., from GPS]) ; transmitting a positioning request to the one or more first anchor UEs (paragraph 0128, i.e. 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) ; receiving an acknowledgement from one or more second anchor UEs in response to the positioning request (paragraph 0128, i.e. The assisting UEs then send sidelink transmissions to the target UE that include the selected ranging signal configuration in the chosen subchannel.) , the one or more second anchor UEs being at least part of the one or more first anchor UEs (paragraph 0115 fig 10, i.e. two assisting UEs 1002 [labeled “UE1”] and 1006 [labeled “UE3”]) ;
Application/Control Number: 18/816,146 Page 7 Art Unit: 2647
transmitting a first sidelink position reference signal (SL Pos-RS) to the one or more second anchor UEs (paragraph 0116 and 0117, I.e. the response ranging signal from the target UE 1004 may also be received by a second assisting UE 1006 after some propagation time, referred to as T.sub.prop,UE2-UE3); receiving a timing measurement report from each of the one or more second anchor UEs (paragraph 0117, i.e. Alternatively, this may be a different ranging signal transmitted by the target UE 1004 around the same time (in the example of FIG. 10) as the response ranging signal to assisting UE 1002. After some delay at the second assisting UE 1006, referred to as “T.sub.UE3,Rx-Tx,” or “UE3 Rx-Tx,” the second assisting UE 1006 transmits a response ranging signal to the target UE 1004. The response ranging signal may include a measurement report including the value of T.sub.UE3,Rx-Tx, and has some propagation time between the assisting UE 1006 and the target UE 1004) ; and calculating a distance between the target UE and the one or more first anchor UEs based on the timing measurement report received from each of the one or more second anchor UEs (paragraph 0118, Based on the transmission and reception times of the ranging signals and the values of T.sub.UE2,Rx-Tx and T.sub.UE3,Rx-Tx, a positioning entity (e.g., the target UE 1004) can calculate the times of flight between the target UE 1004 and the assisting UEs 1002 and 1006 (i.e., T.sub.prop,UE1-UE2 and/or T.sub.prop,UE2-UE1 and T.sub.prop,UE2-UE3 and/or T.sub.prop,UE3-UE2 in the example of FIG. 10).
Per claim 17, The method of claim 16, further comprising discovering one or more available candidate anchor UEs and selecting the one or more first anchor UEs from the one or more available candidate anchor UEs.(paragraph 0115, examiner interprets that assisting UE’s know their position such that a target UE can determine it’s own position by selecting assisted or anchored UE’s ).
Per claim 18, refer to the same rationale as explained in claim 17( anchor feature).
Per claim 19, The method of claim 16, further comprising receiving a second SL Pos-RS from the one or more second anchor UEs before transmitting the first SL Pos-RS to the one or more second anchor UEs(paragraph 0116, i.e. the target UE 1004 receives a ranging signal (e.g., SL-PRS) from the assisting UE 1002 and responds with its own ranging signal (e.g., SL-PRS) and this enables the receiver UE(s) to know on what frequency and at what time to measure the ranging signals. In the example of FIG. 10, the received ranging signal has some propagation time between the assisting UE 1002 and the target UE 1004, referred to as T.sub.prop,UE1-UE2).
Application/Control Number: 18/816,146 Page 8 Art Unit: 2647
Per claim 20, The method of claim 16, further comprising receiving a second SL Pos-RS from the one or more second anchor UEs, wherein the timing measurement report is encoded in the second SL Pos-RS or multiplexed with the second SL Pos-RS (paragraph 0117, I.e. measurement report is included in the response ranging signal).
Per claim 21, refer to the same rationale as explained in claim 16, except for selecting first anchor.
Per claim 22, .The method of claim 21, wherein the second SL Pos-RS is received in a first part of the slot and the third SL Pos-RS is received in a second part of the slot, and wherein the first part of the slot is a first set of symbols and the second part of the slot is a second set of symbols separated in time (paragraph 0131, smallest or largest index value to derive the time domain resources for the SL Pos RS, in order to avoid collision, examiner interprets to use the first and last symbols of a slot.,
Per claim 23,. The method of claim 21, wherein the second SL Pos-RS is separated from the third SL Pos-RS by one or more guard symbols (examiner interprets the use of guard symbols is known to avoid interference.
Per claim 24, The method of claim 21, wherein a number of orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) symbols for each of the second SL Pos-RS and the third SL Pos-RS is four (paragraph 0097 and 0098, four slot per subframe).
Per claim 25, The method of claim 21, wherein the timing measurement report is based on a measured receiver-transmitter (Rx-Tx) time difference, or are based on a Release-16 or Release-17 definition for gnodeB (gNB) Rx-Tx time difference measurement or UE Rx-Tx time difference in Uu. (paragraph 0117“T.sub.UE3, Rx-Tx teaches a receiver -transmitter time difference).
Per claim 29, The method of claim 21, wherein the timing measurement report comprises a measurement including a line-of-sight (LOS) path or all non-line-of-sight (NLOS) paths (paragraph 0129, i.e. Specifically, a responding UE may need to transmit SL-PRS resources that are tailored to the specific target UE. For example, the transmit beam and/or pathloss may be specific to the target UE, also see paragraph 0117. The response ranging signal may include a measurement report including the value of
Application/Control Number: 18/816,146 Page 9 Art Unit: 2647
T.sub.UE3,Rx-Tx, and has some propagation time between the assisting UE 1006 and the target UE 1004).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
8. 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.
9. Claim(s) 26-28 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over MANOLAKOS in view of Ko et al. (WO2022045798)(hereinafter Ko)
Per claim 26, MANOLAKOS discloses the method of claim 21, but fails to disclose wherein transmissions of comb-based SL Pos-RS are multiplexed from one or more UEs in a slot in a sidelink resource pool.
In an analogo8us field of endeavor, Ko discloses wherein transmissions of comb-based SL Pos-RS are multiplexed from one or more UEs in a slot in a sidelink resource pool( paragraph 0176 and 0177, i.e. use of combs of different patterns depending on the number of participating UE’s multiplexing SL pos RS and in paragraph 0176 teaches a number of symbols and in paragraph 0177 teaches interval in the frequency domain, no specific comb size was determined such as two or four, Applicant fails to show how two or four comb size effects the overall inventive concept.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing
date of the claimed invention to have incorporated the teachings of Ko into the invention MANOLAKOS, MANOLAKOS provides In an aspect, an assisting user equipment (UE) receives a request to perform a positioning procedure from a target UE over a sidelink between the assisting UE and the target UE, wherein the assisting UE and the target UE are both out of network coverage, determines, based at least on the request, a set of time and/or frequency resources on which to transmit one or more positioning reference signals for the positioning procedure and Ko teaches the method may comprise the steps of: transmitting, to a base station, information related to a sidelink (SL) positioning group; receiving,
from the base station, information related to an SL positioning reference signal (PRS) resource; and transmitting or receiving an SLPRS on the basis of the SL PRS resource in order to provide a better quality of service by having better positioning accuracy via SL positioning group.
Per claim 27, refer to the same rationale as explained in claim 26.
Per claim 28, refer to the same rationale as explained in claim 26.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
10. 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.
11. Claim(s) 30 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over MANOLAKOS in view of Zhu et al. WO2022/016335) (hereinafter Zhu).
Per claim 30, MANOLAKOS discloses the method of claim 21, but fails to explicitly disclose wherein a configuration of a side link positioning reference signal (SL PRS) comprises an: SL PRS resource identifier (ID), SL PRS comb offset and associated SL-PRS comb size (N), SL PRS starting symbol and number of SL-PRS symbols (M), and SL PRS frequency domain allocation.
In an analogous field of endeavor, Zhu discloses wherein a configuration of a side link positioning reference signal (SL PRS) comprises an: SL PRS resource identifier (ID), SL PRS comb offset and associated SL-PRS comb size (N), SL PRS starting symbol and number of SL-PRS symbols (M), and SL PRS frequency domain allocation., examiner interprets that such parameters to define the SL Pos-RS).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing
date of the claimed invention to have incorporated the teachings of Zhu into the invention MANOLAKOS, where Zhu provides techniques for wireless positioning. In an aspect, a first user equipment (UE) transmits a request to perform a UE-UE positioning procedure with a second UE, receives a radio re-
source configuration for the UE-UE positioning procedure in order to provide a better quality of service for higher data transfers, greater number of connections and better coverage for 5G and NR in by improving signaling efficiencies and latency should be substantially reduced.
Allowable Subject Matter
12. Claims 4 and 5 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.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: It’s interpreted, the prior art of record either singularly or in proper combination fails to teach wherein a hybrid automatic repeat request acknowledgement (HARQ-ACK) is included in a single physical resource block (PRB) set and used for calculating the distance.
Claim 5 is dependent on claim 4.
Conclusion
13. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JOSEPH E DEAN, JR whose telephone number is (571)270-7116. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri 7:30-3:30.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Alison Slater can be reached at 571-270-0375. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance
Application/Control Number: 18/816,146 Page 12 Art Unit: 2647
from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/JOSEPH E DEAN, JR/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2647
Prosecution Insights