DETAILED ACTION
This is in response to applicant's communication filed on 11/13/2024, wherein:
Claim 1-5, 8-11, 13-15, 17-21, 24-25, and 31 are pending.
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.
Claim 1-2, 4, 9-10, 13, 17-18, and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Shreevastav et al. (US 20230328525 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Shreevastav discloses a method for determining positioning integrity, performed by a terminal (Fig. 6 and ¶0114-0124-), comprising:
obtaining positioning integrity assistance information transmitted from a positioning server (Fig. 6 step 220, and ¶0118-0119 disclose obtaining positioning integrity assistance information from positioning server as indicated in ¶0106 and ¶0128-0133); and
determining a positioning integrity calculation result based on the positioning integrity assistance information (Fig. 6 step 250 and ¶0122 – “Step 250: The wireless device can estimate the integrity level of the positioning estimation in accordance with the received assistance data”).
Regarding claim 2, Shreevastav discloses the method of claim 1, wherein before obtaining the positioning integrity assistance information transmitted from the positioning server, the method further comprises: transmitting a first request message to the positioning server, wherein the first request message comprises indication information for requesting the positioning integrity assistance information (Fig. 7 step 300 and ¶0129-0133).
Regarding claim 4, Shreevastav discloses the method of claim 1, wherein obtaining the positioning integrity assistance information transmitted from the positioning server comprises: receiving a specific long-term evolution (LTE) positioning protocol (LPP) message transmitted from the positioning server, wherein the specific LPP message comprises the positioning integrity assistance information (¶0070 – “The network node transmits the CRC to the wireless device, and transmits the positioning integrity assistance information to the wireless device via an LTE Positioning Protocol (LPP) message”); or, receiving a positioning broadcast system message transmitted from the positioning server, wherein the positioning broadcast system message comprises the positioning integrity assistance information.
Regarding claim 9, Shreevastav discloses a method for determining positioning integrity, performed by a positioning server (Fig. 7 and ¶0128-0137), comprising:
transmitting positioning integrity assistance information to a terminal (Fig. 7 step 330 and ¶0133 – “Step 330: The node transmits positioning integrity assistance information, at least a part of which can be encrypted. In some embodiments, the network node can transmit the assistance information to an access node such as gNB 120. In some embodiments, the network node can encrypt the positioning integrity assistance information prior to transmission”), wherein the positioning integrity assistance information is used to determine a positioning integrity calculation result (Fig. 6 step 250 and ¶0122 – “Step 250: The wireless device can estimate the integrity level of the positioning estimation in accordance with the received assistance data”).
Regarding claim 10, Shreevastav discloses the method of claim 9, wherein before transmitting the positioning integrity assistance information to the terminal, the method further comprises: receiving a first request message transmitted from the terminal, wherein the first request message comprises indication information for requesting the positioning integrity assistance information (Fig. 7 step 300 and ¶0129-0133).
Regarding claim 13, Shreevastav discloses the method of claim 9, wherein transmitting the positioning integrity assistance information to the terminal comprises: transmitting a specific long-term evolution (LTE) positioning protocol (LPP) message to the terminal, wherein the specific LPP message comprises the positioning integrity assistance information (¶0070 – “The network node transmits the CRC to the wireless device, and transmits the positioning integrity assistance information to the wireless device via an LTE Positioning Protocol (LPP) message”); or, transmitting a positioning broadcast system message to the terminal, wherein the positioning broadcast system message comprises the positioning integrity assistance information.
Regarding claim 17, the scope and content of the claim recites a terminal a terminal for performing the method of claim 1, therefore, being addressed as in claim 1. Further details of claim 17 are also being anticipated by Shreevastav comprising a memory, a transceiver, and a processor, wherein the memory is used for storing a computer program, the transceiver is used for receiving and transmitting data under control of the processor, and the processor is used for reading the computer program in the memory (¶0091, Fig. 6, Fig. 9 and ¶0193-0198 disclose UE comprising processor and memory component for performing the procedure presented in Fig. 6).
Regarding claim 18, Shreevastav discloses the terminal of claim 17, wherein before obtaining the positioning integrity assistance information transmitted from the positioning server, the operations further comprise: transmitting a first request message to the positioning server, wherein the first request message comprises indication information for requesting the positioning integrity assistance information (Fig. 7 step 300 and ¶0129-0133).
Regarding claim 20, the scope and content of the claim recites a terminal for performing the method of claim 4, therefore, being addressed as presented in claim 4.
Claim 15 and 31 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Liu et al. (US 20230080149 A1).
Regarding claim 15, Liu discloses a method for determining positioning integrity, performed by a base station, comprising: transmitting a NewRadioPositioningProtocolAnnex (NRPPa) message to a positioning server, wherein the NRPPa message comprises positioning integrity assistance information, and the positioning integrity assistance information is used to determine a positioning integrity calculation result (Fig. 8 step 806 and ¶0241-0247 disclose gNB transmitting NRPPA message containing assistance information for position integrity to location management device – i.e. positioning server).
Regarding claim 31, the scope and content of the claim recites a base station for performing the method of claim 15, therefore, being addressed as presented in claim 15. Further details of the base station comprising a memory, a transceiver, and a processor are well known component of base station.
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.
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.
Claim 3, 5, 14, 19, and 21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Shreevastav et al. (US 20230224849 A1) in view of Hao et al. (US 20230284176 A1).
Regarding claim 3, Shreevastav discloses the method of claim 2, however, silent on further detail of claim 3.
Hao discloses wherein a content indicated by the indication information comprises at least one of the following: a request to obtain positioning integrity assistance information associated with transmission timing error; a request to obtain positioning integrity assistance information associated with positioning reference signal (PRS) beam direction error; a request to obtain positioning integrity assistance information associated with PRS beam angle association information error; a request to obtain positioning integrity assistance information associated with time synchronization information error between a reference transmission and reception point (TRP) and neighboring TRPs; a request to obtain positioning integrity assistance information associated with TRP position association information error; a request to obtain positioning integrity assistance information associated with address resolution protocol (ARP) position association information error; a request to obtain positioning integrity assistance information associated with line of sight (LOS) indication information error; a request to obtain positioning integrity assistance information associated with non-line of sight (NLOS) indication information error; a request to obtain positioning integrity assistance information associated with expected arrival angle error; a request to obtain positioning integrity assistance information associated with expected departure angle error; a request to obtain correlation time of any two pieces of positioning integrity assistance information being independent to each other; or a request to obtain an integrity risk (IR) value (Fig. 5 step 501 and ¶0162-0171 disclose LMF receiving request message including integrity information including integrity risk requirement).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art, before effective filing date of the claimed the invention, to modify the invention of Shreevastav to incorporate integrity risk information indicator from Hao because doing so would make use of known technique to improve similar devices (methods, or products) in the same way (MPEP §2141 -III) to indicate QoS requirement of positioning procedure.
Regarding claim 5, Shreevastav discloses the method of claim 1, wherein after determining the positioning integrity calculation result, the method further comprises: transmitting the positioning integrity calculation result to the positioning server (Fig. 6 step 260 and ¶0123). However, the reference is silent on further details of claim 5
Hao discloses wherein the positioning integrity calculation result comprises at least one of the following: a positioning integrity protection level, wherein the positioning integrity protection level comprises a horizontal positioning integrity protection level and/or a vertical positioning integrity protection level; an integrity risk (IR) value for calculating positioning integrity, wherein the IR value for calculating positioning integrity comprises an IR value for calculating horizontal positioning integrity and/or an IR value for calculating vertical positioning integrity; or an indication identifier of whether a positioning result is reliable (Fig. 5E step 5024 and ¶0207-0211 disclose UE transmitting alert message indicating whether positioning error within an alert interval).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art, before effective filing date of the claimed the invention, to modify the invention of Shreevastav to incorporate position error alert from Hao because doing so would apply a known technique to a known device (method, or product) ready for improvement to yield predictable results (MPEP §2141 -III) to provide details information about reliability of location result.
Regarding claim 14, Shreevastav discloses the method of claim 9, wherein after transmitting the positioning integrity assistance information to the terminal, the method further comprises: receiving a positioning integrity calculation result transmitted from the terminal (Fig. 6 step 260 and ¶0123). However, the reference is silent on further details of claim 14.
Hao discloses wherein the positioning integrity calculation result comprises at least one of the following: a positioning integrity protection level, wherein the positioning integrity protection level comprises a horizontal positioning integrity protection level and/or a vertical positioning integrity protection level; an integrity risk (IR) value for calculating positioning integrity, wherein the IR value for calculating positioning integrity comprises an IR value for calculating horizontal positioning integrity and/or an IR value for calculating vertical positioning integrity; or an indication identifier of whether a positioning result is reliable (Fig. 5E step 5024 and ¶0207-0211 disclose UE transmitting alert message indicating whether positioning error within an alert interval).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art, before effective filing date of the claimed the invention, to modify the invention of Shreevastav to incorporate position error alert from Hao because doing so would apply a known technique to a known device (method, or product) ready for improvement to yield predictable results (MPEP §2141 -III) to provide details information about reliability of location result.
Regarding claim 19, the scope and content of the claim recites a terminal for performing the method of claim 3, therefore, being addressed as presented in claim 3.
Regarding claim 21, the scope and content of the claim recites a terminal for performing the method of claim 5, therefore, being address as presented in claim 5.
Claim 8 and 24 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Shreevastav et al. (US 20230224849 A1) in view of Hu et al. (US 20250324385 A1).
Regarding claim 8, Shreevastav discloses the method of any of claims claim 1, however, silent on further details of claim 8.
Hu discloses wherein the positioning integrity assistance information comprises at least one of the following: a transmission timing error do not use (DNU) identifier; a transmission timing error mean value for calculating transmission timing error bound and a transmission timing error standard deviation for calculating transmission timing error bound; a transmission timing error occurrence probability per unit of time for calculating transmission timing error residual risk and an expected failure duration for calculating transmission timing error residual risk; a positioning reference signal (PRS) beam direction error DNU identifier; a mean value for calculating PRS beam direction error bound and a standard deviation for calculating PRS beam direction error bound; an error occurrence probability per unit of time for calculating PRS beam direction error residual risk and an expected failure duration for calculating PRS beam direction error residual risk; a PRS beam angle association information error DNU identifier; a mean value for calculating PRS beam angle association information error bound and a standard deviation for calculating PRS beam angle association information error bound; an error occurrence probability per unit of time for calculating PRS beam angle association information error residual risk and an expected failure duration for calculating PRS beam angle association information error residual risk; a time synchronization information error DNU identifier between a reference transmission and reception point (TRP) and neighboring TRPs; a mean value for calculating time synchronization information error bound between a reference TRP and neighboring TRPs and a standard deviation for calculating time synchronization information error bound between the reference TRP and neighboring TRPs; an error occurrence probability per unit of time for calculating residual risk of time synchronization information error between a reference TRP and neighboring TRPs and an expected failure duration for calculating residual risk of time synchronization information error between the reference TRP and neighboring TRPs; a TRP position association information error DNU identifier; a mean value for calculating TRP position association information error bound and a standard deviation for calculating TRP position association information error bound; an error occurrence probability per unit of time for calculating TRP position association information error residual risk and an expected failure duration for calculating TRP position association information error residual risk; an address resolution protocol (ARP) position association information error DNU identifier; a mean value for calculating ARP position association information error bound and a standard deviation for calculating ARP position association information error bound; an error occurrence probability per unit of time for calculating ARP position association information error residual risk and an expected failure duration for calculating ARP position association information error residual risk; a line of sight (LOS) indication information error DNU identifier; a mean value for calculating LOS indication information error bound and a standard deviation for calculating LOS indication information error bound; an error occurrence probability per unit of time for calculating LOS indication information error residual risk and an expected failure duration for calculating LOS indication information error residual risk; a non-line of sight (NLOS) indication information error DNU identifier; a mean value for calculating NLOS indication information error bound and a standard deviation for calculating NLOS indication information error bound; an error occurrence probability per unit of time for calculating NLOS indication information error residual risk and an expected failure duration for calculating NLOS indication information error residual risk; an expected arrival angle error DNU identifier; a mean value for calculating expected arrival angle error bound and a standard deviation for calculating expected arrival angle error bound; an error occurrence probability per unit of time for calculating expected arrival angle error residual risk and an expected failure duration for calculating expected arrival angle error residual risk; an expected departure angle error DNU identifier; a mean value for calculating expected departure angle error bound and a standard deviation for calculating expected departure angle error bound; an error occurrence probability per unit of time for calculating expected departure angle error residual risk and an expected failure duration for calculating expected departure angle error residual risk; correlation time of any two pieces of positioning integrity assistance information being independent to each other; a maximum value of integrity risk (IR) and a minimum value of IR; or, an expected IR value for calculating positioning integrity calculation result (¶0040 – “In some embodiments of the present application, the transmitter is further configured to transmit, to the UE, RAT-dependent positioning integrity assistance information including least one of: RAT-dependent positioning assistance data with a quality indicator; an integrity service parameter indicating a range of IRs for which the RAT-dependent positioning assistance data is valid; or SRS measurement result(s) with a quality indicator”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art, before effective filing date of the claimed the invention, to modify the invention of Shreevastav to incorporate integrity risk information in assistance information from Hu because doing so would make use of known technique to improve similar devices (methods, or products) in the same way (MPEP §2141 -III) to provide details integrity information.
Regarding claim 24, the scope and content of the claim recites a terminal for performing the method of claim 8, therefore, being address as presented in claim 8.
Claim 11 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Shreevastav et al. (US 20230224849 A1) in view of Liu et al. (US 20230080149 A1).
Regarding claim 11, Shreevastav discloses the method of claim 9, however, silent on further details of claim 11.
Liu discloses wherein before transmitting the positioning integrity assistance information to the terminal, the method further comprises: transmitting a second request message to a base station, wherein the second request message comprises indication information for requesting the positioning integrity assistance information; and receiving a NewRadioPositioningProtocolAnnex (NRPPa) message transmitted from a base station, wherein the NRPPa message comprises the positioning integrity assistance information (Fig. 8 step 805 and ¶0241-0247 disclose transmitting NRPPA request message to gNB for assistance information related to position integrity).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art, before effective filing date of the claimed the invention, to modify the invention of Shreevastav to incorporate the step of obtaining assistance data from base station from Liu because doing so would apply a known technique to a known device (method, or product) ready for improvement to yield predictable results (MPEP §2141 -III) to utilize known protocol for obtaining necessary information.
Contact Information
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DUNG HONG whose telephone number is (571)270-7928. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Friday from 8:00 am to 5:00 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, JINSONG HU, can be reached on (571) 272-3965. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/DUNG HONG/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2643
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