DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
1. The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Priority
2. Acknowledgment is made of applicant’s claim for foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119 (a)-(d). The certified copy has been filed in parent Application No. (CN 202210314289.9) filed on 03/28/2022.
Information Disclosure Statement
3. The information disclosure statements (IDSs) submitted on 03/18/2025 and 09/12/2025 are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Claim Objections
4. Claims 1, 3-5, 7-19, 22, 34 and 39 are objected to because of the following informalities:
(1) In claim 1, line 2, please define the acronym “LMF” in the claim.
(2) In claim 2, line 3, please define the acronym “AMF” in the claim.
(3) Claim 8 recites the limitation "a third request message". There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim unless a first request message and a second request message are described in the preceding text of the claim.
(4) Claim 10 recites the limitation "a fourth request message". There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim unless a first request message, a second request message, and a third request message are described in the preceding text of the claim.
(5) Claim 11 recites the limitation "a fifth request message". There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim unless a first request message, a second request message, a third request message, and a fourth request message are described in the preceding text of the claim.
(6) In claim 14, please define the acronym “LMF” and “AMF” in the claim.
(7) In claim 13, line 1, replace “An method” with --A method-- in the beginning of the claim.
(8) Claim 15 recites the limitation "a second request message". There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim unless a first request message is described in the preceding text of the claim.
(9) Claim 16 recites the limitation "a third request message". There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim unless a first request message and a second request message are described in the preceding text of the claim.
(10) Claim 17 recites the limitation "a fifth request message". There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim unless a first request message, a second request message, a third request message, and a fourth request message are described in the preceding text of the claim.
(11) In claim 19, line 5, please define the acronym “LMF” in the claim.
Appropriate correction is required.
5. 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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) 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.
Please note: Examiner has cited particular columns, line numbers, and figures in the references as applied to the claims below for the convenience of the applicant. Although the specified citations are representative of the teaching of the art and are applied to the specific limitations within the individual claim, other passages and figures may apply as well.
Applicants are reminded that MPEP 2141.02 states:
A prior art reference must be considered in its entirety, i.e., as a whole, including portions that would lead away from the claimed invention. W.L. Gore & Associates, Inc. v. Garlock, Inc., 721 F.2d 1540, 220 USPQ 303 (Fed. Cir. 1983), cert. denied, 469 U.S. 851 (1984).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
6. 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.
7. Claims 1, 3-5 and 7-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by (Signalling and Procedures for supporting Positioning Reference Units," 3GPP TSG-RAN WG3 Meeting #113-e, R3-213399, Qualcomm Incorporated, August 16th–27th, 2021 (August 5, 2021)) (hereinafter Qualcomm) (Qualcomm is disclosed in the IDS filed on 09/12/2025).
Regarding claim 1:
As shown in figures 1-8, Qualcomm discloses a method for obtain information of a positioning reference unit (see page 5, line 1, PRU registration procedure), comprising:
obtaining, by a first LMF, positioning reference unit (PRU) information (on page 7, last three lines, Qualcomm teaches "Positioning Reference Unit Registration: It provides Positioning Reference Unit Information to an LMF, including - LCS Correlation ID", see also page 6, Fig. 4, in particular items 4 and 5); and
performing, by the first LMF, first processing according to the PRU information (on page 7, lines 7-8, Qualcomm teaches "the AMF invokes a "PRU Registration Request" service operation towards the selected LMF to register the PRU at the LMF"), wherein the first processing comprises at least one of the following:
storing the PRU information;
transmitting the PRU information to a first network function;
determining location information of a UE according to the PRU information ((on page 1, lines 29-32, Qualcomm teaches "PRU may support, at least, some of the Rel-16 positioning functionalities of UE, if agreed, which is up to RAN2. The positioning functionalities may include, but not limited to, the following: 1. Provide the positioning measurements (e.g. RSTD. RSRP. Rx-Tx time differences)").
The above claimed limitation recites “at least one of the following” without reciting “and” or “or” clause after the last semicolon. However, for the purpose of examination, the examiner interprets the claimed limitation with an “or” clause.
Regarding claim 13:
As shown in figures 1-8, Qualcomm discloses a method for obtaining information of a positioning reference unit (PRU) (see page 5, line 1, PRU registration procedure), comprising:
obtaining, by a first network function, PRU information (see figure 4-5, page 5, line 1, PRU registration procedure. Also, on page 7, lines 11-13, Qualcomm teaches "If the LMF can handle the PRU Registration Request, the LMF returns an acknowledgement to the AMF in a PRU Registration Response service operation towards the AMF including the LCS Correlation identifier received at Step 4"); and
storing, by the first network function, the PRU information (see Qualcomm page 12, item 8, also see page 7, lines 7-8, "the AMF invokes a "PRU Registration Request" service operation towards the selected LMF to register the PRU at the LMF").
Regarding claim 19:
As shown in figures 1-8, Qualcomm discloses a method for registering information of a positioning reference unit (PRU) (see page 5, line 1, PRU registration procedure), comprising:
transmitting, by the PRU, PRU information;
wherein the transmitting, by the PRU, the PRU information (on page 7, lines 11-13, Qualcomm teaches "If the LMF can handle the PRU Registration Request, the LMF returns an acknowledgement to the AMF in a PRU Registration Response service operation towards the AMF including the LCS Correlation identifier received at Step 4") comprises at least one of the following:
transmitting the PRU information to a first LMF (figure 5, step 8a shows PRU transmit information to LMF); and
transmitting the PRU information to a first network function (see page 5, line 1, PRU registration procedure).
Regarding claims 3 and 14:
Qualcomm further discloses wherein the obtaining the PRU information comprises at least one of the following:
receiving first PRU information transmitted by an AMF (see step 6 in figure 5, page 7, lines 32-36);
performing positioning on the PRU to obtain second PRU information;
receiving third PRU information transmitted by a second LMF;
receiving fourth PRU information transmitted by the PRU.
The above claimed limitation recites “at least one of the following” without reciting “and” or “or” clause after the last semicolon. However, for the purpose of examination, the examiner interprets the claimed limitation with an “or” clause.
Regarding claims 4 and 15:
Qualcomm further discloses wherein the performing positioning on the PRU to obtain the second PRU information (see Qualcomm page 7, lines 11-13) comprises:
receiving a first request message transmitted by the AMF (see step 6 in figure 5), wherein the first request message comprises PRU indication information (see Qualcomm page 7, steps 3-6); and
performing positioning on the PRU based on the PRU indication information to obtain the second PRU information (see Qualcomm page 7, steps 3-6).
Regarding claim 5:
Qualcomm further discloses wherein the transmitting the PRU information to the first network function comprises at least one of the following:
transmitting the PRU information to a target network function (see step 2 in figure 5, AMF interpreted to be a target network function);
transmitting the PRU information to a second LMF.
The above claimed limitation recites “at least one of the following” without reciting “and” or “or” clause after the last semicolon. However, for the purpose of examination, the examiner interprets the claimed limitation with an “or” clause.
Regarding claim 7:
Qualcomm further discloses wherein the determining the location information of the UE according to the PRU information comprises:
determining measurement information and/or location information of the PRU according to the PRU information (see step 7 in figure 5, page 7, lines 26-34); and
determining the location information of the UE based on the measurement information and/or the location information of the PRU (see step 7 in figure 5, page 7, lines 26-34).
Regarding claims 8 and 16:
Qualcomm further discloses wherein before determining the measurement information and/or the location information of the PRU, the method also comprises:
transmitting a third request message to the first network function (see Qualcomm page 7, lines 35-36); and
receiving a first response message transmitted by the first network function, wherein the first response message comprises the PRU information (see Qualcomm page 7, lines 35-36).
Regarding claim 9:
Qualcomm further discloses wherein the determining the measurement information and/or the location information of the PRU according to the PRU information comprises one of the following:
performing positioning on the PRU according to the PRU information to determine the measurement information (see steps 2-7 in figure 5) and/or the location information of the PRU;
determining the measurement information and/or the location information of the PRU through a second LMF;
determining the measurement and/or the location information of the PRU through the first network function.
The above claimed limitation recites “at least one of the following” without reciting “and” or “or” clause after the last semicolon. However, for the purpose of examination, the examiner interprets the claimed limitation with an “or” clause.
Regarding claim 10:
Qualcomm further discloses wherein the determining the measurement information and/or the location information of the PRU through the second LMF comprises:
transmitting a fourth request message to the second LMF; and
receiving a second response message transmitted by the second LMF,
wherein the second response message comprises the measurement information and/or the location information of the PRU.
The method of claim 10 depends on the apparatus of claim 9. The method of claim 9, clearly recites “wherein the determining the measurement information and/or the location information of the PRU according to the PRU information comprises one of the following: performing positioning on the PRU according to the PRU information to determine the measurement information and/or the location information of the PRU; determining the measurement information and/or the location information of the PRU through a second LMF; determining the measurement and/or the location information of the PRU through the first network function”. Due to the “OR” clause in claim 9, under broadest reasonable interpretation of the claim, the “second LMF” is not considered for examination. As shown above, the claimed limitations of claim 10 is relate to the “second LMF” of claim 9. Therefore, under broadest reasonable interpretation, the claimed limitations of claim 10 is not considered by examiner.
Regarding claim 11:
Qualcomm further discloses wherein the determining the measurement information (see steps 2-7 in figure 5) and/or the location information of the PRU through the first network function comprises:
transmitting a fifth request message to the first network function (messages interpreted to be a fifth request message. see page 8); and
receiving a third response message transmitted by the first network function (messages interpreted to be a fifth request message. see page 8),
wherein the third response message comprises the measurement information and/or the location information of the PRU (see Qualcomm, page 8, under Location Information Transfer).
Regarding claims 12 and 18:
Qualcomm further discloses wherein the PRU information comprises at least one of the following:
an identity of the PRU, a serving area of the PRU, information of a serving AMF of the PRU, a serving cell of the PRU, a power of the PRU, a load of the PRU, a status of the PRU, LCS correlation identity (see Qualcomm, page 3, under section 3), information of a serving LMF of the PRU, location information of the PRU, measurement information of the PRU.
The above claimed limitation recites “at least one of the following” without reciting “and” or “or” clause after the last comma. However, for the purpose of examination, the examiner interprets the claimed limitation with an “or” clause.
Regarding claim 17:
Qualcomm further discloses
receiving a fifth request message transmitted by a first LMF (see step 5 in figure 4);
transmitting a sixth request message to a second LMF (see Qualcomm, page 7, the last two paragraphs);
receiving a fourth response message transmitted by the second LMF (see Qualcomm, page 7, steps 2-14 and the last two paragraphs), wherein the fourth response message comprises measurement information (see Qualcomm, page 7, steps 2-14 and the last two paragraphs) and/or location information of the PRU; and
transmitting a third response message to the first LMF according to the fourth response message, wherein the third response message comprises the measurement information (see Qualcomm, page 7, steps 2-14 and the last two paragraphs) and/or the location information of the PRU.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
8. 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.
9. The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
10. Claims 22, 34 and 39 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Qualcomm in view of HWANG et al. (US 20240410971) (hereinafter HWANG).
Regarding claim 22, 34 and 39:
Qualcomm discloses all of the subject matter as described above except for specifically teaching a memory, a transceiver and a processor, wherein: the memory is configured to store a computer program; the transceiver is configured to transmit and receive data under the control of the processor; the processor is configured to read the computer program from the memory and implement steps of the method for obtaining information of the PRU.
However, HWANG in the same field of endeavor teaches a memory (5-30 in figure 5), a transceiver (5-10 in figure 5) and a processor (5-42 in figure 5), wherein: the memory (5-30 in figure 5) is configured to store a computer program (par 0132-0138); the transceiver (5-10 in figure 5) is configured to transmit and receive data under the control of the processor (5-42 in figure 5) (par 0133-0134); the processor (5-42 in figure 5) is configured to read the computer program from the memory (5-30 in figure 5) and implement steps of the method for obtaining information of the PRU program (par 0132-0138). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use the system as taught by HWANG to modify the system and method of Qualcomm in order to carry out the method of the invention (par 0132-0138) (See KSR Rationale: Combining prior art elements according to known methods to yield predictable results).
Conclusion
11. The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
MICHALOPOULOS et al. (US 20250184945) disclose a method for assisted positioning of a terminal device that is performed by the terminal device includes transmitting, to a network element of a radio access network, a first message requesting activation of at least one positioning reference unit for positioning of the terminal device; receiving, from the network element, a second message causing an uplink reference signal transmission for the positioning of the terminal device; and performing the uplink reference signal transmission based on the second message.
12. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KABIR A TIMORY whose telephone number is (571)270-1674. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri 7:00 AM-3:00 PM.
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 supervisor, Hannah S Wang can be reached at 571-272-9018. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/KABIR A TIMORY/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2631
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