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, 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 1-5, 8 and 11-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jeon (US 2024/0155544, hereinafter Jeon, claiming priority date of provisional application 63/422,089), in view of Dean et al (US 2019/0049968, hereinafter Dean) and in view of Zou et al (US 2025/0168718, hereinafter Zou).
Regarding claim 16, Jeon discloses a method of a user equipment (UE), comprising: generating, using a reference signal time difference (RSTD) prediction model, one or more predicted RSTD-based measurements based on first reference signals received at the UE from one or more target cells of a network (UE can predict RSTD, Para [0092], DL-TDOA prediction model, Para [0098], UE detects DL-PRS from each of the multiple TRPs that are in the same or different cells, Para [0086], AWL model can predict RSTD measurements, Para [0087]); generating one or more actual RSTD-based measurements corresponding to the one or more predicted RSTD-based measurements by measuring second reference signals received at the UE from the one or more target cells (UE detects DL-PRS from each of the multiple TRPs that are in the same or different cells, Para [0086], UE calculates RSTD by calculating the ToF difference from two TRPs and RSTD measurements are obtained, Para [0086]); and reporting the confidence level to the network (UE can send confidence on predicted RTSD values to the network, Para [0153]. Also see pages 16, 20, 29 of the provisional application); but does not explicitly disclose calculating a confidence level using the one or more predicted RSTD-based TA measurements and the one or more actual RSTD-based TA measurements. Dean discloses confidence levels are determined by rules based on measurements received and compared against model predictions, Para [0322]. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to utilize the techniques taught by Dean in the system of Jeon in order to improve reliability and accuracy of models predicting measurements; and does not disclose the TA measurements based on RSTD. Zou discloses the timing advance of the target cell is based on DL-RSTD, which is the timing offset between the source and target reference signals, Para [0248, 0249], therefore only 1 additional equation is needed to calculate TA based on RSTD. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to utilize the techniques taught by Zou in the system of Jeon and Dean in order to prevent fast moving UE’s from experiencing significant data drop.
Regarding claim 17, Jeon discloses the method of claim 16, wherein the calculating the confidence level comprises determining a mean squared error (MSE) between the one or more predicted RSTD-based TA measurements and the one or more actual RSTD-based TA measurements (using MSE is a well-known in the art mathematical technique that would be obvious to one of ordinary skill).
Regarding claim 18, Jeon discloses the method of claim 16, further comprising receiving, from the network, an instructions to stop using the RSTD-based TA prediction model (indicating to UE to perform model switching or fallback to common methods, Para [0094], stop command would be obvious to one of ordinary skill).
Regarding claim 19, Jeon discloses the method of claim 16, further comprising reporting, to the network, a first timestamp at which the one or more predicted RSTD-based TA measurements were generated and a second timestamp at which the one or more actual RSTD-based TA measurements were generated (UE reports RTSD where each instance can be reported with a timestamp, Para [0150]).
Regarding claim 20, Jeon discloses the method of claim 16, further comprising reporting, to the network, a position of the UE and a moving orientation of the UE (UE can provide location coordination and moving direction, Para [0159-161]).
Regarding claim 11, Jeon discloses a method of a radio access network (RAN), comprising: receiving, from a user equipment (UE), a reference signal time difference (RSTD) timing advance (TA) prediction model (UE provides set of models supported by the UE, Para [0116]); sending, to the UE, one or more reference signals from one or more target cells (UE detects DL-PRS from each of the multiple TRPs that are in the same or different cells, Para [0086]); receiving, from the UE, one or more actual RSTD-based TA measurements of the one or more reference signals (UE reports for a given instance includes multiple RSTD values for multiple pairs of TRPs, the UE sends to the serving cell the RSTD value for the first pair of TRPs, Para [0149]); and generating, using the RSTD-based prediction model, one or more predicted RSTD-based measurements for a first target cell based on the one or more actual RSTD- based TA measurements for the one or more target cells (model can be deployed at the network, Para [0090], hyperbolic multi-lateration performed at LMF, Para [0086], UE can send intermediate metrics to the network and the AWL assisted can be performed at network based on UE measurement report, Para [0108], obvious the model is deployed at the network, the network can make the predictions); and does not disclose the TA measurements based on RSTD. Zou discloses the timing advance of the target cell is based on DL-RSTD, which is the timing offset between the source and target reference signals, Para [0248, 0249], therefore only 1 additional equation is needed to calculate TA based on RSTD. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to utilize the techniques taught by Zou in the system of Jeon and Dean in order to prevent fast moving UE’s from experiencing significant data drop.
Regarding claim 12, Jeon discloses the method of claim 11, further comprising sending, to the UE, configuration information to be used by the UE to re-train the measurement prediction model (receiving configuration information to adjust the prediction model would be an obvious variation to one of ordinary skill in the art).
Regarding claim 13, Jeon discloses the method of claim 11, further comprising receiving, from the UE, a timestamp at which the one or more actual RSTD-based TA measurements were generated (UE reports RTSD where each instance can be reported with a timestamp, Para [0150]).
Regarding claim 14, Jeon discloses the method of claim 11, further comprising receiving, from the UE, a position of the UE and a moving orientation of the UE. (UE can provide location coordination and moving direction, Para [0159-161]).
Regarding claim 15, Jeon discloses the method of claim 11, further comprising receiving, from the UE, a change to a moving orientation of the UE (UE can provide mobility related information such as trajectory, moving direction and speed, etc, Para [0159-161]).
Regarding claim 1, Jeon discloses a method of a user equipment (UE), comprising: sending, to a network, a notification message identifying one or more reference signal time difference (RSTD)-based timing advance (TA) prediction models at the UE (UE provides to the network the set of models supported by the UE, Para [0116]); receiving, from the network, an activation message identifying a first RSTD-based TA prediction model for use from the one or more RSTD-based TA prediction models at the UE (the network can indicate to the UE what model to use via model ID, Para [0116]); generating one or more actual RSTD-based measurements based on one or more reference signals received at the UE from one or more target cells of the network (UE detects DL-PRS from each of the multiple TRPs that are in the same or different cells, Para [0086], UE calculates RSTD by calculating the ToF difference from two TRPs and RSTD measurements are obtained, Para [0086]); generating, using the first RSTD-based prediction model, one or more predicted RSTD-based measurements for a first target cell based on the one or more actual RSTD- based measurements for the one or more target cells (UE can predict RSTD, Para [0092], DL-TDOA prediction model, Para [0098], UE detects DL-PRS from each of the multiple TRPs that are in the same or different cells, Para [0086], AWL model can predict RSTD measurements, Para [0087]); and sending, to the network, an RSTD-based TA prediction report comprising the one or more predicted RSTD-based TA measurements (UE reports for a given instance includes multiple RSTD values for multiple pairs of TRPs, the UE sends to the serving cell the RSTD value for the first pair of TRPs, Para [0149], UE sends report on predicted DL-RSTD, Para [0146]); and does not disclose the TA measurements based on RSTD and a TA value for a serving cell of the network. Zou discloses source TA is the TA used by the UE for the source cell, Para [0170], the timing advance of the target cell is based on DL-RSTD, which is the timing offset between the source and target reference signals, Para [0248, 0249], therefore only 1 additional equation is needed to calculate TA based on RSTD. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to utilize the techniques taught by Zou in the system of Jeon and Dean in order to prevent fast moving UE’s from experiencing significant data drop.
Regarding claim 2, Jeon discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the one or more reference signals are reference signals of the first target cell (UE detects DL-PRS from each of the multiple TRPs that are in the same or different cells, Para [0086]).
Regarding claim 3, Jeon discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the one or more reference signals are reference signals that were not transmitted by the first target cell (UE detects DL-PRS from each of the multiple TRPs that are in the same or different cells, Para [0086]).
Regarding claim 4, Jeon discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the RSTD-based TA prediction report further includes a validity time for the one or more predicted RSTD-based TA measurements for the first target cell (predicting the DL-PRS from each TRPs, is only valid for a certain time duration, Para [0131], obvious the UE can include valid time for the predicted measurements).
Regarding claim 5, Jeon discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the RSTD-based TA prediction report further includes a confidence level for the one or more predicted RSTD-based TA measurements for the first target cell (UE can send confidence on predicted RTSD values to the network, Para [0153]).
Regarding claim 8, Jeon discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the RSTD-based TA prediction report further comprises an indication that the one or more predicted RSTD-based TA measurements are predictive RSTD-based TA measurements (UE sends DL-PRS measurement report to the network, Para [0134], obvious the predicted measurements would be identified as predicted measurements).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 6, 7 and 10 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
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KEVIN CUNNINGHAM whose telephone number is (571) 272-1765. The examiner can normally be reached Monday through Thursday 7:30-18:00 (EST).
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Huy Vu can be reached on (571) 272-3155. The fax number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/KEVIN M CUNNINGHAM/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2461
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