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 § 102
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.
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, 5-8, 10, 13-14, 17-19, 51-52, 54 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by
Wang et al. (US 2024/0172167 A1 with priority of CN 202110846337.4 on 7/26/2021)
(1) Regarding claim 1:
Wang discloses an information determining method, performed by a first device, and comprising:
receiving a service request sent by a second device, wherein the service request carries a service type of a ranging/SL positioning (Step 201b: The first device transmits a location service request at a higher layer. The location service request is used for requesting to trigger the first terminal to perform positioning. Optionally, in this embodiment of this application, the location service request includes at least one of the following: a positioning service type (for example, SL UE spontaneous positioning) of the first terminal, para. 0055-0058), and
determining a policy/parameter used to perform the ranging/SL positioning function according to the service type (Step 301: The first device transmits or obtains a first parameter and/or a second parameter provided by a higher layer. The first parameter is used for transmitting the first SL-PRS; and the second parameter is used for selecting the target first resource, para. 0069-0070; the service type is for positioning).
(2) Regarding claim 10:
Wang discloses an information sending method, performed by a second device, and comprising:
sending a service request to a first device, wherein the service request carries a service type of a ranging/SL positioning (Step 201b: The first device transmits a location service request at a higher layer. The location service request is used for requesting to trigger the first terminal to perform positioning. Optionally, in this embodiment of this application, the location service request includes at least one of the following: a positioning service type (for example, SL UE spontaneous positioning) of the first terminal, para. 0055-0058), and the service type is used by the first device to determine a policy/parameter used to perform the ranging/SL positioning (Step 301: The first device transmits or obtains a first parameter and/or a second parameter provided by a higher layer. The first parameter is used for transmitting the first SL-PRS; and the second parameter is used for selecting the target first resource, para. 0069-0070).
(3) Regarding claim 51:
Wang discloses the method of claim 1 above, and further discloses a first terminal, comprising a transceiver and a processor; wherein the transceiver and the processor are configured to perform the method according to claim 1 (as shown in FIG. 18, an embodiment of this application further provides a communication device 500, including a processor 501, a memory 502, and a program or instructions stored in the memory 502 and executable on the processor 501. For example, the communication device 500 is a terminal. The program or the instructions, when executed by the processor 501, implement the processes of the embodiments of the positioning method, and can achieve the same technical effects, para. 0588; the radio frequency unit 101 includes, but not limited to, an antenna, at least one amplifier, a transceiver, a coupler, a low noise amplifier, a duplexer, and the like, para. 0593).
(4) Regarding claim 52:
Wang discloses the method of claim 1 above, and further discloses a second terminal comprising a transceiver and a processor; wherein the transceiver and the processor are configured to perform the method according to claim 10 (as shown in FIG. 18, an embodiment of this application further provides a communication device 500, including a processor 501, a memory 502, and a program or instructions stored in the memory 502 and executable on the processor 501. For example, the communication device 500 is a terminal. The program or the instructions, when executed by the processor 501, implement the processes of the embodiments of the positioning method, and can achieve the same technical effects, para. 0588; the radio frequency unit 101 includes, but not limited to, an antenna, at least one amplifier, a transceiver, a coupler, a low noise amplifier, a duplexer, and the like, para. 0593).
(5) Regarding claim 54:
Wang discloses the method of claim 1 above, and further discloses a non-transitory computer readable storage medium, having computer programs stored thereon, wherein the computer programs are executed by a processor to implement the method according to claim 1 (as shown in FIG. 18, an embodiment of this application further provides a communication device 500, including a processor 501, a memory 502, and a program or instructions stored in the memory 502 and executable on the processor 501. For example, the communication device 500 is a terminal. The program or the instructions, when executed by the processor 501, implement the processes of the embodiments of the positioning method, and can achieve the same technical effects, para. 0588; the radio frequency unit 101 includes, but not limited to, an antenna, at least one amplifier, a transceiver, a coupler, a low noise amplifier, a duplexer, and the like, para. 0593).
(6) Regarding claims 5 and 13:
Wang discloses all subject matter of claims 1 and 10, and further discloses the service is a ranging/SL positioning service request (Step 201b: The first device transmits a location service request at a higher layer. The location service request is used for requesting to trigger the first terminal to perform positioning, para. 0055-0056; the examiner interprets the SL-PRS positioning as the claimed ranging/SL positioning service request).
(7) Regarding claims 6 and 14:
Wang discloses all subject matter of claims 1 and 10, and further discloses the ranging/SL positioning request is sent in a ranging/SL positioning service process initiated by the second device (the target message is sent by target device as shown in figure 4).
(8) Regarding claim 7:
Wang discloses all subject matter of claim 1, and further discloses performing a ranging/SL positioning according to the policy/parameter determined; feeding back a ranging/SL positioning result to the second device (Optionally, in this embodiment of this application, the location service request includes at least one of the following: a positioning service type (for example, SL UE spontaneous positioning) of the first terminal; location notification indication information; event reporting information; periodic reporting indication information, para. 0057-0061).
(9) Regarding claims 8 and 19:
Wang discloses all subject matter of claims 1 and 10, and further discloses wherein the first device comprises a first terminal; the second device comprises one of a second terminal, an application server and a core network function (as shown in figure 7, it further discloses the method is between terminal 1 and terminal 2, para. 0485).
(10) Regarding claim 17:
Wang discloses all subject matter of claim 10, and further discloses receiving a ranging/SL positioning result fed back by the first device (Optionally, in this embodiment of this application, the location service request includes at least one of the following: a positioning service type (for example, SL UE spontaneous positioning) of the first terminal; location notification indication information; event reporting information; periodic reporting indication information, para. 0057-0061).
(11) Regarding claim 18:
Wang discloses all subject matter of claim 17, and further discloses the ranging/SL positioning result is determined by the first device performing a ranging/SL positioning according to the policy/parameter determined (Optionally, in this embodiment of this application, the location service request includes at least one of the following: a positioning service type (for example, SL UE spontaneous positioning) of the first terminal; location notification indication information; event reporting information; periodic reporting indication information, para. 0057-0061).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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.
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.
Claim 15 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wang et al. (US 2024/0172167 A1) in view of Hu et al. (US 2025/0133577 A1).
Wang discloses all subject matter of claim 10, but fails to disclose wherein the second device comprises a second terminal, and sending the service request to the first device comprises: sending the service request to the first device via an access and mobility management function (AMF).
However, Hu discloses in other embodiment, the first UE may not transmit the first assistance information to the network. Instead, in response to a mobile originated (MO) location service request received from the first UE or a mobile terminated (MT) location request received from the AMF (para. 0138, 0078).
It is desirable to send the service request to the first device comprises: sending the service request to the first device via an access and mobility management function (AMF) because it extends transmission distance of the service request. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effect filing date of the claimed invention to employ the teaching of Hu in the method of Wang for the benefit of extending the transmission distance of the service request.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 21 is allowed.
Claims 2-3, 11, 16 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.
Regarding claim 21:
The present invention describes a communication system, comprising a first device, a second device and a third device; wherein the first device is configured to receive a service request sent by the second device, the service request carrying a service type of a ranging/SL positioning; and determine a policy/parameter used to perform the ranging/SL positioning according to the service type; and send the service request to the third device; the second device is configured to send the service request to the first device; the third device is configured to receive the service request sent by the first device; determine the policy/parameter used to perform the ranging/SL positioning according to the service type. The closest prior art, Wang et al. (US 2024/0172167 A1) discloses a similar communication system as shown in figure 9, but fails to disclose a first device, a second device and a third device; wherein the first device is configured to receive a service request sent by the second device, the service request carrying a service type of a ranging/SL positioning; and determine a policy/parameter used to perform the ranging/SL positioning according to the service type; and send the service request to the third device; the third device is configured to receive the service request sent by the first device; determine the policy/parameter used to perform the ranging/SL positioning according to the service type.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Li (US 2025/0016731 A1) discloses positioning method and apparatus and terminal.
Shen (US 2025/0203320 A1) discloses method for parameter configuration, and terminal.
Gune et al. (US 12,317,198 B2) discloses sidelink transmission reception reliability.
Blasco Serrano et al. (US 2024/0276595 A1) discloses support for transmitter (TX) profile based device-to-device (D2D) communication.
Karampatsis et al. (US 2026/0164479 A1) discloses establishing a multipath unicast link.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SIU M LEE whose telephone number is (571)270-1083. The examiner can normally be reached M-T 8:30-7:00.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Chieh M Fan can be reached at 571-272-3042. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/SIU M LEE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2632 9/5/2026
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