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
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.
(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 1-2 and 14-15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by U.S. Pub. 2016/0248563 to Behravan.
Regarding claims 1 and 14, (as described in the written opinion) Behravan teaches a method performed by a first node in a communication system, the method comprising:
obtaining configuration information related to a positioning-related first-type method (see step 801 in Fig. 8 as described in section [0081], where the UE receives PRS configuration information from a positioning node or base station); and
performing a positioning-related operation based on the configuration information related to the positioning-related first-type method (see step 805 in Fig. 8 as described in section [0085], where the UE performs positioning related measurements based on the previously received PRS configuration information. See also sections [0087] to [0096], which also describe a similar method of figure 8, where a UE receives positioning information and then subsequently performs a positioning method).
Regarding claims 2 and 15 which recite “wherein the first node is a user equipment or a network side device”, as described above, the recited “first node” in Behravan is the UE.
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 3-5 and 7-12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Behravan in view of U.S. Pub. 2025/0142516 to Hasegawa.
Regarding claim 3 which recites “wherein the positioning-related operation is triggered based on one or more of the following items: a measured first signal is a multi-path signal; the measured first signal is a non-line-of-sight signal; a reference signal received power (RSRP) value of the measured first signal is greater than a threshold value; a transmission timing error (TE) or a transmission timing error group (TEG) of the first signal is greater than a threshold value; a reception TE or a reception TEG of the first signal is greater than a threshold value; a transmission-reception TE or TEG of the first signal is greater than a threshold value; the transmission-reception TE or TEG of the first signal belongs to a specific range; an uncertain region in positioning assist information is greater than a threshold value; or an indication of using or activating the first-type method is received”, although Behravan has a trigger and activates the recited positioning, Hasegawa is added to more explicitly teach the UE receiving a trigger.
In an analogous art, Hasegawa teaches using PRS. As described in section [0119], Hasegawa teaches that the UE receives a trigger from the network to instigate a PRS report.
Therefore, as both Behravan and Hasegawa teach PRS reporting and as Hasegawa explicitly teaches receiving a trigger from the network, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to include the activation trigger of Hasegawa into Behravan, as the PRS is generally and/or conventionally triggered by some mechanism or reason.
Regarding claim 4 which recites “wherein in case that the at least one triggering item occurs no smaller than N times and N is a positive integer which is not smaller than 1, the positioning-related operation is triggered”, it is first noted that the language “in a case that…” may not be given patentable weight, as the case may not happen and/or the case Is not positively recited as occurring. It is also noted that if a trigger in Hasegawa is received once, this would trigger the positioning related operation, as recited.
Regarding claim 5 which recites “wherein the indication of using or activating the first-type method is received through one or more of: a long-term evolution (LTE) positioning protocol (LPP) message, a radio resource control (RRC) configuration message, a media access control control element (MAC CE), or downlink control information (DCI)”, see section [0041] of Behravan, which teaches using LLP, and see section [0119] of Hasegawa which teaches using DCI, as recited. Therefore, the combination of references would teach and/or render obvious this feature.
Regarding claim 7 which recites “wherein the configuration information related to the positioning-related first-type method includes one or more of the followings :input information related to the first-type method and/or output information corresponding to the input information; a type of the first-type method; hyper-parameter configuration information; a data set related parameter; a weight parameter; an offset parameter configuration; configuration information related to a positioning reference signal; a measurement gap of measurement; or a related configuration of a positioning reference signal processing window”, see section [0104] of Hasegawa, which teaches that the PRS configuration includes time gaps and offsets, as recited.
Regarding claim 8 which recites “wherein at least one of the weight parameter or the offset parameter configuration includes at least one of an initial value or an update value”, section [0104] of Hasegawa teaches that the PRS offset is an initial value.
Regarding claim 9 which recites “wherein the positioning-related operation includes at least one of training, testing, operating, updating, recovering or terminating, and wherein the training includes one or more of the following operations: determination of a third node; or carrying out training of the first-type method according to the determined third node”, see Behravan which teaches “operating” and “updating” a PRS method and see sections [0080] to [0086] of Hasegawa which teach training a neural network with the PRS location process and see the positioning node (recited “third node”) in Behravan.
Regarding claim 10 which recites “wherein a device that satisfies one or more of the following conditions is determined as the third node: the device has known position information; the device reports a case of having the capability of providing the input information related to the first-type method and/or the output information; a state capable of providing the input information and/or the output in-formation related to the first-type method is indicated as an activated state; the measured first signal is a single-path signal; the measured first signal is a line-of-sight signal; the RSRP value of the measured first signal is greater than a threshold value; the transmission TE or the transmission TEG of the first signal is smaller than a threshold value; the reception TE or the reception TEG of the first signal is smaller than a threshold value; the transmission-reception TE or TEG of the first signal is smaller than a threshold value; and the transmission-reception TE/TEG of the first signal belongs to a specific range”, as described in sections [0041] to [0043], the third node (“positioning node”) in Behravan reports the PRS configuration information to the UE, as recited.
Regarding claim 11 which recites “wherein the input information related to the first-type method is fed back through the third node”, as described above, the “third node” is the positioning node in Behravan, which is used to feedback the information which relates to the PRS positioning method, as recited.
Regarding claim 12 which recites “wherein the testing includes one or more of the followings: obtaining testing data; carrying out testing of the first-type method based on the testing data, obtaining output information, and determining validity of the first-type method; or determining whether the testing is successfully completed based on the validity of the first-type method”, see for example, sections [0072] to [0074] of Hasegawa, which teach testing, which would “obtain testing data”, as recited.
Claim 6 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Behravan and Hasegawa as applied to claim 3, and further in view of U.S. 2023/0152412 to Wang.
Regarding claim 6 which recites “wherein the first node is a user equipment, and the indication of using or activating the first-type method is a feedback message of a request message of using or activating the first-type method, and wherein the request message of using or activating the first-type method is transmitted through one or more of: a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH), a MAC CE, a physical random access channel (PRACH), or an LPP message”, although Behravan and Hasegawa teach the UE and activation, Wang is added to teach the PRACH.
In an analogous art, Wang teaches a UE activating a PRS process. As described in sections [0108] to [0109], Wang teaches that the UE sends an activation message on the PRACH to trigger aperiodic or on-demand PRS.
Therefore, as both Behravan/Hasegawa and Wang teach PRS reporting and as Wang explicitly teaches using the PRACH to activate the PRS, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify the triggers of Behravan/Hasegawa to use the PRACH of Wang, as the PRACH is a conventionally used channel for this activation.
Claim 13 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Behravan and Hasegawa as applied to claim 12, and further in view of U.S. 2013/0267242 to Curticapean.
Regarding claim 13 which recites “wherein the validity of the first-type method is determined based on the following condition that: a difference value between the output information and output information in the testing data is smaller than a first threshold value”, although Hasegawa teaches testing, Curticapean is added to show using a difference and a threshold.
In an analogous art, Curticapean teaches a UE activating a location process. As described in sections [0047] to [0048] (relating to Fig. 4A), Curticapean teaches that the difference in location is compared to a threshold, and the measurement process is determined as unreliable (step 426) or reliable if smaller than the threshold (step 424), as recited.
Therefore, as both Behravan/Hasegawa and Curticapean teach testing and as measuring location, and as Curticapean explicitly teaches comparing a position difference to a threshold to determine if the measurement process is valid, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify the testing of Behravan and Hasegawa to use the difference and threshold of Curticapean, for the reasons as discussed in Curticapean as is conventionally done.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to STEVEN SHAUN KELLEY whose telephone number is (571)272-5652. The examiner can normally be reached Mondays to Fridays.
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/STEVEN S KELLEY/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2646
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