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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement(s) (IDS) submitted on 09/26/2024, 10/02/2025 and 02/09/2026 have been considered by the examiner.
Specification
The title of the invention is not descriptive. A new title is required that is clearly indicative of the invention to which the claims are directed.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claim 4 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Regarding claim 4, the dependent claim recites “…based on a specific condition” and therefore creating a deficiency of language. It is unclear what the “specific condition” should be. More specifically, the application switching described based on a condition is a known and well defined concept in the art. However, not specifying what said “specific condition” should be makes this known and well defined concept in the art indefinite. In other words, the dependent claim should recite “…based on a specific condition, wherein the condition is one of: a rotation of the terminal, a movement of the terminal, whether or not the position of the terminal is available, the terminal capabilities, or the inaccuracy of the angle of arrival or angle of departure” or alike. Appropriate correction is required.
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)(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 1-6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by LEI et al. (US 2024/0012084 A1, hereinafter Lei).
Regarding claim 1, Lei teaches a terminal (FIG. 7 depicts UE 500, UE 500 read as terminal) comprising: a transmitting section that transmits position information of the terminal (depicted in FIG. 7 and described in [0112] "as part of the positioning resource request 714, the UE 500 may report information (e.g., RAT-dependent information and/or independent information) that may help the server 600 allocate resources for positioning the UE 500 (i.e., determining position information (e.g., one or more reference signal measurements, one or more ranges, one or more position estimates, etc.) for the UE 500)," i.e. the UE 500 is capable of transmitting position information. Furthermore, [0066] describes FIG. 2, which may be UE 500, including transceiver 215 capable of transmitting said positioning information described above); a receiving section that receives at least one of first information related to an angle of arrival of a signal in the terminal based on the position information and second information related to an angle of departure of a signal in the terminal based on the position information (FIG. 7 depicts RS 736 and 738, i.e. a first information and a second information to be received by the UE 500, wherein said information signals may include "an angle of arrival or an angle of departure of a signal combined with a range between devices (determined using signal, e.g., a travel time of the signal, a received power of the signal, etc.) and a known location of one of the devices may be used to determine a location of the other device" according to [0085], i.e. the RS 736 or 738 may include an angle of arrival and an angle of departure, based on positioning information); and a control section that judges at least one of a receive beam of a downlink signal based on the first information and a transmit beam of an uplink signal based on the second information ([0116] depicted in FIG. 7, "at stage 740, the UE 500 measures the RS 736, 738 (and any other RS from any other TRP 300 selected at stage 720 and configured at stage 730 to send RS to the UE 500). The hierarchical reporting unit 550 measures the received DL-RS and selects which corresponding beam(s) to report to the server 600" i.e. the reporting unit 550, which is included within the processor 510, processor 510 read as control section, measures/judges the received information described above).
Regarding claim 2, Lei teaches the receiving section receives a plurality of pieces of information related to a time offset associated with at least one of the first information and the second information, and the control section judges, based on a piece of the information related to the time offset, an application timing of the first information corresponding to the piece of the information related to the time offset and the second information corresponding to the piece of the information related to the time offset ([0116] describes the received information (RS 736 and 738, see FIG. 7) described above may be received and then measured/judged, wherein "the hierarchical reporting unit 550 may select the received DL-RS that are best suited for positioning accuracy and/or confidence (e.g., that best meet one or more criteria (e.g., have highest values of a formula of a combination of criteria) for TDOA and/or AoD accuracy and/or confidence) and report the corresponding beams. The criteria may include measurement qualities such as RSRP, SINR, SNR, LOS/NLOS (line of sight/non-line of sight), etc." That is, the UE 500 is capable of receiving and judging the signals TDOA (Time Difference of Arrival), which is obtained from timing offset measurements, i.e. capable of receiving a plurality of pieces of information related to time offset from a plurality of RSs and using said pieces of information in an application timing such as TDOA to be measured/judged).
Regarding claim 3, Lei teaches the control section controls transmission of feedback information for at least one of the first information and the second information ([0118] and depicted in FIG. 7, "the hierarchical reporting unit 550 sends indications of the determined beams in a beam report 742 to the server 600," i.e. report 742, read as feedback information, comprises the first and the second information from RS 736 and RS 738 respectively).
Regarding claim 4, Lei teaches the control section judges switching between application of a beam based on at least one of the first information and the second information ([0124] and [0125] describe the processor 510, processor 510 read as control section, is capable of sending and receiving RS, as well as making selections/switches as described in [0131] further explained below, wherein said first information and second information (RS 736 and RS 738) may be used measured/judged as described above in claim 1 and 2) and application of a beam based on at least one of a transmission configuration indication (TCT) state and quasi-co- location (QCL) information ([0094] describes "a PRS resource may also be defined by quasi-co-location and start PRB parameters. A quasi-co-location (QCL) parameter may define any quasi-co-location information of the DL PRS resource with other reference signals," i.e. additional PRS may be provided, wherein said PRS may include QCL information, used to make determinations/measurements/judgements for UE 500), based on a specific condition ([0131] and referring to FIG. 9, describes "in an example implementation, the method comprises (1) and further comprises receiving at least one capability indication of at least one capability of the UE, and selecting the second plurality of beams of the second plurality of TRPs comprises selecting the second plurality of beams of the second plurality of TRPs based further on the at least one capability indication…" i.e. selecting/switching may be based specifically on UE capabilities, UE read as terminal, or a plurality of other conditions as further described in [0131]).
Regarding claim 5, the claimed limitations of claim are rejected as the same reasons as set forth in claim 1.
Regarding claim 6, the claimed limitations of claim are rejected as the same reasons as set forth in claim 1, further in view of Lei teaches a base station comprising: a receiving section that receives position information of a terminal- ([0110] "referring also to FIG. 7, the UE 500 and the server 600, in conjunction with multiple TRPs 300-1, 300-2, are configured to cooperate to provide hierarchical positioning for the UE 500," i.e. TRPs (Transmission Reception Point) read as base station, wherein said BSs may include receiving sections as shown in FIG. 3 transceiver 315, which is capable of performing the receiving functions opposite of the functions described in claim 1, depicted in FIG. 7).
References Cited
Lei, Jing et al. (2024). Hierarchical ue positioning (US 2024/0012084 A1). Filed 2021-10-12. Priority (2020-10-14).
Other Pertinent References
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Zhang, Di et al. (2020). Signal transmission method, related device, and system (US 2020/0280483 A1). Filed 2020-05-15. Discloses a signal transmission method including transmitting information such as QCL information. (abstract)
Yerramalli, Srinivas et al. (2023). Bandwidth part configuration for communication of multiple reference signals for positioning (US 2023/0216638 A1). Filed 2021-07-28. Discloses a method wherein the UE and BS communicate with a plurality of reference signals for positioning, at least the plurality of reference signals for positioning in accordance with the second BWP configuration. (abstract)
Tao, Tao et al. (2022). Multi-stage positioning reference signal (prs) mechanism for downlink angle of departure (dl-aod) positioning (US 2022/0283259 A1). Filed 2019-10-01. Discloses a method for a multi-stage positioning reference signal (PRS) mechanism for downlink angle of departure (DL-AoD) positioning. (abstract)
Rudolf, Marian et al. (2012). Method for enhanced mobile assisted positioning (US 8280412 B2). Filed 2002-12-31. Discloses a UE positioning method, which includes Observed time differences of arrival, which are determined using time markings. (abstract)
Keating, Ryan et al. (2022). Uplink beam configuration (US 2022/0011396 A1). Filed 2021-07-06. Discloses a positioning method, which includes determining an angle of arrival and/or a time of arrival for each of the received downlink positioning signals, and determining an uplink positioning signal beam configuration based, at least in part, on the determined angle of arrival and/or the determined time of arrival for said received downlink positioning signals. (abstract)
Li, Hui et al. (2023). Terminal positioning method and device (US 2023/0309056 A1). Filed 2021-05-13. Discloses a terminal positioning method, which includes acquiring downlink-positioning reference signal angle information corresponding to downlink-positioning reference signal resource information. (abstract)
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MATTHEW JAMES DWYER whose telephone number is (571)272-5121. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 6 a.m. - 3 p.m. EST.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Yuwen Pan can be reached at (571) 272-7855. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/MATTHEW JAMES DWYER/Examiner, Art Unit 2649
/YUWEN PAN/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2649
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