CTNF 18/851,630 CTNF 86017 DETAILED ACTION Status of Application: Claims 1-19, and 22 are present for examination at this time. Claims 1-3, 10, 14-18, and 22 are rejected. Please refer to Forms 892 of record in this application and/or submitted IDSes to resolve any possible discrepancies in the listed reference numbers, titles, and/or author or inventor names. Applicant is reminded that claim mapping is provided as a courtesy to the applicant, but applicant should consider a reference as a whole, as the entire reference gives context to mapped sections. Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status 07-03-aia AIA 15-10-aia 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) submitted on 9/6/2024, 4/9/2025 has/have been considered by the Examiner and made of record in the application file. Allowable Subject Matter 12-151-08 AIA 07-43 12-51-08 Claim s 4-9, 11-13 and 19 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. Claim Objections Claims 11 and 17 recite New Ratio (NR) which should be New Radio (NR). Appropriate correction is required. Claim Rejections 35 U.S.C. 102 07-06 AIA 15-10-15 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 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. 07-15-03-aia AIA Claim s 1-5, 8, 18, and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a) (2) as being anticipated by “Enabling Fifth-Generation Proximity Services In Fifth-Generation Systems” by Shan US2022/0330138A1 (“Shan”) 07-07-aia AIA 07-07 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 – 07-08-aia AIA (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. 07-12-aia AIA (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. With respect to Claim 1, Shan discloses: a method for determining a ranging/sidelink positioning policy, performed by a policy control function (PCF) network element, the method comprising: determining a ranging/sidelink positioning policy for a user equipment (UE) according to policy-related information (Shan at ¶¶27, 41, 43 and 57 where the AMF sends out Policy Control Function Parameters related to sidelink communications. Also see ¶ 77-81 where this information includes ProSe which is a type of D2D communication which is a sidelink communication) and , wherein the ranging/sidelink positioning policy comprises a parameter required to perform a ranging/sidelink positioning service (¶¶80-91, Note that this limitation has no patentable weight in the method as this information is not used as part of the determination of a policy itself which is the active step in the method); wherein the policy-related information comprises at least one of: capability information received from an access and mobility management function (AMF) network element corresponding to the UE, wherein the capability information indicates that the UE at least supports ranging/sidelink positioning (¶¶80-91, Note that this limitation has no patentable weight in the method as this information is not used as part of the determination of a policy itself which is the active step in the method), or a policy provision request comprised in a UE policy container received from the UE, wherein the policy provision request at least comprises a ranging/sidelink positioning policy provision request for requesting the ranging/sidelink positioning policy. With respect to Claim 2, Shan discloses the method according to claim 1, wherein determining the ranging/sidelink positioning policy for the UE comprises: determining, based on a local policy of the PCF network element or information obtained from a unified data repository (UDR) network element, the parameter and a corresponding parameter value comprised in the ranging/sidelink positioning policy (Shan at ¶30 and 165). With respect to Claim 3, Shan discloses the method method according to claim 1, wherein the ranging/sidelink positioning policy comprises a dedicated parameter for the ranging/sidelink positioning service and a common parameter for both the ranging/sidelink positioning service and at least one of a proximity service (ProSe) and a vehicle to everything (V2X) service (Shan at ¶41 and ¶¶7-87. Note that this limitation is not part of the determining step and thus has no patentable weight.) With respect to Claim `0 , Shan discloses the method method according to claim 1, further comprising: sending the ranging/sidelink positioning policy to the UE through the AMF network element (Shan at ¶155 “AMF 5221 may act as SEAF, which may include interaction with the AUSF 5222 and the UE 5201” and ¶156 “AMF 5221 may also support NAS signaling with a UE 5201 over an N3 IWF interface.”) With respect to Claim 14, Shan discloses a method for determining a ranging/sidelink positioning policy, performed by a user equipment (UE), the method comprising: determining a ranging/sidelink positioning policy sent by an access and mobility management function (AMF) network element corresponding to the UE as the ranging/sidelink positioning policy for the UE (Shan at ¶¶27, 41, 43 and 57 where the AMF sends out Policy Control Function Parameters related to sidelink communications. Also see ¶ 77-81 where this information includes ProSe which is a type of D2D communication which is a sidelink communication. ), wherein the ranging/sidelink positioning policy comprises a parameter required to perform a ranging/sidelink positioning service (¶¶80-91, where various ProSe parameters are listed)). With respect to Claim 15, Shan discloses a method according to claim 14, further comprising: performing the ranging/sidelink positioning service according to the ranging/sidelink positioning policy after receiving a ranging/sidelink positioning service request (Shan at Fig 1, elements 110 and 115). With respect to Claim 16, Shan discloses a method according to claim 14, the ranging/sidelink positioning policy comprises a dedicated parameter for the ranging/sidelink positioning service and a common parameter for both the ranging/sidelink positioning service and at least one of a proximity service (ProSe) and a vehicle to everything (V2X) service (Shan at ¶30 and 165). With respect to Claim 17, Shan discloses a method method according to claim 16, wherein the dedicated parameter comprises: a destination layer-2 identifier, a parameter for proximity communication 5 (PC5) radio access technology (RAT) selection and PC5 transmission configuration selection, a parameter related to privacy, a parameter about when long term evolution (LTE) PC5 is selected, a parameter about when new ratio (NR) PC5 is selected, and a dedicated authorization policy parameter; the common parameter comprises: a common authorization policy parameter, a radio parameter, a restricted ProSe discovery UE identifier parameter, a group member discovery parameter, a validity timing parameter, a groupcast mode ProSe direct communication parameter. (Shan at ¶¶40, 50, and 57). With respect to Claim 18, Shan discloses a method according to claim 17, wherein in a case that the UE is served by a next generation radio access network (NG-RAN) (Shan ¶57) or by an evolved universal mobile telecommunication system terrestrial radio access network (E-UTRAN), the dedicated authorization policy parameter comprises at least one of: for the UE that supports the ranging/sidelink positioning, at least one public land mobile network (PLMN) in which the UE is authorized as a reference UE or a target UE to perform the ranging/sidelink positioning service (Shan at ¶50); for the UE that supports the ranging/sidelink positioning, at least one PLMN in which the UE is authorized to perform a regular ranging/sidelink positioning service to obtain a relevant distance; for the UE that supports the ranging/sidelink positioning, at least one PLMN in which the UE is authorized to perform a regular ranging/sidelink positioning service to obtain a relevant direction; for the UE that supports the ranging/sidelink positioning, at least one PLMN in which the UE is authorized to perform a high-accuracy ranging/sidelink positioning service to obtain a relevant distance; or for the UE that supports the ranging/sidelink positioning, at least one PLMN in which the UE is authorized to perform a high-accuracy ranging/sidelink positioning service to obtain a relevant direction. With respect to Claim 22, Shan discloses a communication device, comprising: a memory; and a processor configured to execute computer-executable instructions stored on the memory ; determining a ranging/sidelink positioning policy for a user equipment (UE) according to policy-related information, wherein the ranging/sidelink positioning policy comprises a parameter required to perform a ranging/sidelink positioning service (Shan at ¶¶27, 41, 43 and 57 where the AMF sends out Policy Control Function Parameters related to sidelink communications. Also see ¶ 77-81 where this information includes ProSe which is a type of D2D communication which is a sidelink communication); wherein the policy-related information comprises at least one of: capability information received from an access and mobility management function (AMF) network element corresponding to the UE, wherein the capability information indicates that the UE at least supports ranging/sidelink positioning (¶¶80-91 where various ProSe parameters are listed), or a policy provision request comprised in a UE policy container received from the UE, wherein the policy provision request at least comprises a ranging/sidelink positioning policy provision request for requesting the ranging/sidelink positioning policy. Documents Considered but not Relied Upon The documents below were considered. “Sidelink Resource Allocation For Enhanced Mobility” by Belleschi et al., US2022/0039082 (“Belleschi”). “Apparatus And Method For Session Initiated Protocol (SIP) Registration Procedure For Access Network Bitrate Recommendation (ANBR) Capability Signaling” by Oyman et al., US11,539,763B2 (“Oyman”). Both references are from a similar field of endeavor to the claimed invention and read on Claim 1. Conclusion Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JOSHUA L SCHWARTZ whose telephone number is (571)270-7494. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F 10a-6p. 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 supervisory colleague, Alexander Sofocleous can be reached at 571-272-0635. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative or access to the automated information system, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000. /JOSHUA L SCHWARTZ/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 4100 Application/Control Number: 18/851,630 Page 2 Art Unit: 4100 Application/Control Number: 18/851,630 Page 3 Art Unit: 4100 Application/Control Number: 18/851,630 Page 4 Art Unit: 4100 Application/Control Number: 18/851,630 Page 5 Art Unit: 4100 Application/Control Number: 18/851,630 Page 6 Art Unit: 4100 Application/Control Number: 18/851,630 Page 7 Art Unit: 4100
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