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 § 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 of this title, 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 1-7, 9-15, 18-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ramachandran et al. (US Patent Application Publication No. 2025/0168808) in view of Liu (US Patent Application Publication No. 2024/0372591).
Regarding claim 1, Ramachandran teaches an encoding system based on a positioning resource sequence that supports continuous hybrid positioning (Fig. 5), the encoding system comprising:
an input interface device configured to collect positioning resources in a positioning target space (anchored UE 14 collects positioning data from other devices for a GNSS target space [Paragraphs 167, 175, 177, 180-182, 193-194, 198, 251, 285, 300, 309]);
memory in which a program that performs encoding on the positioning resources has been stored ([Paragraphs 40, 215]); and
a processor configured to execute the program ([Paragraphs 40, 215]),
wherein the processor allocates [(the positioning resources are filtered based on the type of signal received for determining the location of the other devices by way of encoded sequences [Paragraphs 309, 325-327, 385, 432]).
However, Ramachandran does not explicitly mention: an index to the positioning resource by considering a type of each positioning resource.
Liu teaches, in a similar field of endeavor of communication systems, the following:
an index to the positioning resource by considering a type of each positioning resource (as in Fig. 3, indexes are allocated to resources when encoding the transmitting stream according to a type of resource [Paragraph 192]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the communication system (as taught by Ramachandran) by allocating indexes to the resources (as taught by Liu) for the purpose of improving performance of encoding (Liu – Paragraph 3).
Regarding claim 2, Ramachandran further teaches the encoding system of claim 1, wherein the processor performs the encoding in the form of the sequence including a string or numbers ([Paragraphs 309, 325]).
Regarding claim 3, Ramachandran further teaches the encoding system of claim 1, wherein the processor performs the encoding by specifying a measured value ([Paragraphs 28-29]) and descriptive data of a corresponding positioning resource at a location at which the index is designated ([Paragraphs 8, 23]).
Regarding claim 4, Ramachandran further teaches the encoding system of claim 1, wherein the processor maps an equipment identifier ([Paragraphs 464-465]) by applying a hash value of an algorithm to an attribute information value of the positioning resource ([Paragraphs 39, 430, 435, 466]).
Regarding claim 5, Ramachandran in view of Liu further teaches the encoding system of claim 1, wherein the processor maps an equipment identifier (Ramachandran: [Paragraphs 464-465]) based on an index value of an array in which attribute information values of the positioning resources are stored and managed (Liu: [Paragraphs 183-184]).
Regarding claim 6, Ramachandran further teaches the encoding system of claim 1, wherein the processor includes an expressive phrase “empty” with respect to an unallocated area within the sequence (each sequence comprises a corresponding value for each area, thus when no allocation is assigned, an empty phrase would be added [Paragraphs 330, 332]).
Regarding claim 7, Ramachandran further teaches the encoding system of claim 1, wherein the processor allocates a preset special value to an unallocated area within the sequence (each sequence comprises a corresponding value for each area, thus when no allocation is assigned, an empty phrase would be added [Paragraphs 330, 332]).
Regarding claim 9, Ramachandran further teaches the encoding system of claim 1, wherein the processor determines a location of a terminal in the positioning target space by performing similarity search on a set of the sequences ([Paragraphs 167, 175, 177, 180-182, 193-194, 198, 251, 285, 300, 309]).
Regarding claim 10, this claim is rejected as applied to claim 1.
Regarding claim 11, Ramachandran further teaches the encoding method of claim 10, wherein in the step (a), the positioning resources comprising a wireless communication signal and a sensing signal that are used for a positioning of a mobile terminal are collected ([Paragraphs 167, 175, 177, 180-182, 193-194, 198, 251, 285, 300, 309]).
Regarding claim 12, Ramachandran further teaches the encoding method of claim 10, wherein in the step (b), the encoding is performed by specifying at least any one of a measured value ([Paragraphs 28-29]) and descriptive data of a corresponding positioning resource by considering an index that is allocated depending on the type of each positioning resource ([Paragraphs 8, 23]).
Regarding claim 13, Ramachandran further teaches the encoding method of claim 10, wherein in the step (b), the encoding is performed on the positioning resource in the form of the sequence comprising a string or numbers ([Paragraphs 309, 325]).
Regarding claim 14, Ramachandran further teaches the encoding method of claim 10, wherein in the step (b), the encoding is performed by including a phrase that expresses information on an area that is not allocated to any positioning resource within the sequence (each sequence comprises a corresponding value for each area, thus when no allocation is assigned, an empty phrase would be added [Paragraphs 330, 332]).
Regarding claim 15, Ramachandran further teaches the encoding method of claim 14, wherein in the step (b), a specific value is expressed as the phrase (each sequence comprises a corresponding value for each area, thus when no allocation is assigned, an empty phrase would be added [Paragraphs 330, 332]).
Regarding claims 17-18, these claims are rejected as applied to claims 1, 3.
Regarding claims 19-20, these claims are rejected as applied to claims 1, 9.
Claims 8 and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ramachandran et al. (US Patent Application Publication No. 2025/0168808) in view of Liu (US Patent Application Publication No. 2024/0372591) and further in view of Mouradian et al. (US Patent Application Publication No. 2024/0283705).
Regarding claim 8, the combination of Ramachandran and Liu teaches all the limitations recited in claim 7.
However, the combination of Ramachandran and Liu does not explicitly mention: wherein the processor uses a certain value as a value that expresses the unallocated area by considering a range of values that are expressed in an area within the sequence and converts and expresses an attribute information value of the positioning resource by considering the range.
Mouradian teaches, in a similar field of endeavor of communication systems, the following:
wherein the processor uses a certain value as a value that expresses the unallocated area by considering a range of values that are expressed in an area within the sequence and converts and expresses an attribute information value of the positioning resource by considering the range ([Paragraphs 15, 18-21, 25-26, 56-58]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the communication system (as taught by Ramachandran) by allocating indexes to the resources (as taught by Liu) by considering the range (as taught by Mouradian) for the purpose of maximizing layers allocation (Mouradian – Paragraph 4).
Regarding claim 16, the combination of Ramachandran and Liu teaches all the limitations recited in claim 15.
However, the combination of Ramachandran and Liu does not explicitly mention: wherein in the step (b), an attribute information value of the positioning resource other than an area in which the specific value is allocated is converted and expressed by considering a range of values that are expressed in the sequence.
Mouradian teaches, in a similar field of endeavor of communication systems, the following:
wherein in the step (b), an attribute information value of the positioning resource other than an area in which the specific value is allocated is converted and expressed by considering a range of values that are expressed in the sequence ([Paragraphs 15, 18-21, 25-26, 56-58]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the communication system (as taught by Ramachandran) by allocating indexes to the resources (as taught by Liu) by considering the range (as taught by Mouradian) for the purpose of maximizing layers allocation (Mouradian – Paragraph 4).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to FABRICIO R MURILLO GARCIA whose telephone number is (571)270-5708. The examiner can normally be reached 9-5pm.
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August 31, 2026
/FABRICIO R MURILLO GARCIA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2633
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