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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
2. 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.
A) Claims 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over WANG (EP 3783974 A1) in view of QI (WO 2020/067848 A1).
As per claim 1, WANG teaches a first device (Fig.7, terminal 700/106 (i.e. first device)), comprising: at least one processor (Fig.7, processor); and at least one memory storing instructions that (Fig.7, memory storing instructions), when executed by the at least one processor, cause the first device at least to: receive a signal from a second device on a first resource and positioning reference signal, PRS, from at least one third device on a second resource (Fig.1 and ¶0019-21, receiving signal from network device 102 (i.e. second device) on first resource and PRS from network device 104 (i.e. third device) on a second resource).
However, WANG does not explicitly teach the first resource overlapping the second resource in time domain and partially overlapping the second resource in frequency domain; determine at least one of the following: quality of the received signal, quality of the received PRS, or configuration information about positioning measurement for the first device; and select, based on the determination, one of positioning measurement operations for the first device; and perform the selected positioning measurement operation.
In the same field of endeavor, QI teaches the first resource overlapping the second resource in time domain and partially overlapping the second resource in frequency domain (¶0071, and ¶0080-82, BWP1 and BWP2 use time/frequency resources are overlapping in time and partially overlapping in frequency); determine at least one of the following: quality of the received signal, quality of the received PRS, or configuration information about positioning measurement for the first device (¶0076, and ¶0079, configuration information related to positioning measurement of the individual UE); and select, based on the determination, one of positioning measurement operations for the first device; and perform the selected positioning measurement operation (¶0080-86, UE is configured to puncture one of the PRS patterns or to allow collision but apply further interference mitigate schemes for positioning measurements based on PRS).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify WANG’s invention in order to improve positioning services in a telecommunication network by providing a Positioning Reference Signal (PRS) in a wireless communication system.
As per claim 2 as applied to claim 1 above, WANG does not explicitly teach wherein the positioning measurement operations comprise at least one of the following: a first positioning measurement operation over whole resource elements of the second resource, or a second positioning measurement operation over partial resource elements of the second resource, wherein the partial resource elements do not overlap the first resource.
In the same field of endeavor, QI teaches wherein the positioning measurement operations comprise at least one of the following: a first positioning measurement operation over whole resource elements of the second resource, or a second positioning measurement operation over partial resource elements of the second resource, wherein the partial resource elements do not overlap the first resource (Fig.2C and ¶0080-86, second positioning method over partial RE of the second resource and in the partial RE do not overlap the other resources).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify WANG’s invention in order to improve positioning services in a telecommunication network by providing a Positioning Reference Signal (PRS) in a wireless communication system.
As per claim 3 as applied to claim 2 above, QI further teaches wherein the first positioning measurement operation comprises a successive interference cancellation operation (¶0080-86 and ¶0003, reception-end interference cancellation and the like).
As per claim 4 as applied to claim 1 above, the combination teaches wherein the first device is caused to determine the quality of the received PRS by: determining a first ratio of a received power of the PRS to noise power (please note that claim 4, recites the quality of the received PRS and depends on claim 1 which is optional (e.g. at least one of the following) but does not require the steps to be performed, therefore, this limitation is disregarded as it’s belong to optional steps in the previous claim, language that suggests or makes a feature or step optional but does not require that feature or step does not limit the scope of a claim under the broadest reasonable claim interpretation (MPEP 2103 (C)).
As per claim 5 as applied to claim 1 above, the combination teaches, wherein the first device is caused to determine the quality of the received signal and the quality of the received PRS by: determining a second ratio of a received power of the PRS to a received power of the signal (please note that claim 5, recites the quality of the received signal and the quality of the received PRS and depends on claim 1 which is optional (e.g. at least one of the following) but does not require the steps to be performed, therefore, this limitation is disregarded as it’s belong to optional steps in the previous claim).
As per claim 6 as applied to claim 5 above, the combination teaches, wherein the first device is caused to determine the second ratio based on one of the following: a third ratio of a received power of a first reference signal previously measured from the second device and a received power of a second reference signal previously measured from the third device, a distance between the second device and the third device, or an angle between the second device and the third device (please note that claim 6, recites determine the second ratio and depends on claim 5 that depends on claim 1 which is optional (e.g. at least one of the following) but does not require the steps to be performed, therefore, this limitation is disregarded as it’s belong to optional steps in the previous claim).
As per claim 7 as applied to claim 6 above, the combination teaches, wherein each of the first reference signal and the second reference signal comprises one of the following: a synchronization signal and physical broadcast channel block, SSB, or a channel state information reference signal (please note that claim 7, recites the first reference signal and the second reference signal and depends on claim 6 that depends on claim 5 that depends on claim 1 which is optional (e.g. at least one of the following) but does not require the steps to be performed, therefore, this limitation is disregarded as it’s belong to optional steps in the previous claim).
As per claim 8 as applied to claim 1 above, QI further teaches, wherein the configuration information about the positioning measurement for the first device comprises at least one of the following: a first bandwidth of the PRS, a ratio of the first bandwidth to a second bandwidth of the signal, capability of the first device, an operation mode of the first device, or positioning Quality of Service, QoS, requirements (¶0076, bandwidth of PRS and capability of the UE).
As per claim 9 as applied to claim 1 above, WANG further teaches, wherein the first device comprises a terminal device, the second device comprises a terminal device or a network device, and the at least one third device comprises a terminal device or a network device (Fig.1, terminal 106 or first device, network device 102 or second device, network device 104 or third device).
As per claim 10 as applied to claim 1 above, QI further teaches, wherein the signal comprises at least one of the following: a synchronization signal and physical broadcast channel block, SSB, or data associated with ultra-reliable and low latency communications, URLLC, traffic transmission (¶0093, synchronization signal block (SSB)).
As per claim 11, WANG teaches a method, comprising: receiving, at a first device from a second device, signal on a first resource and positioning reference signal, PRS, from at least one third device on a second resource (Fig.1 and ¶0019-21, receiving signal by terminal 106 (i.e. first device) from network device 102 (i.e. second device) on first resource and PRS from network device 104 (i.e. third device) on a second resource).
However, WANG does not explicitly teach the first resource overlapping the second resource in time domain and partially overlapping the second resource in frequency domain; determining at least one of the following: quality of the received signal, quality of the received PRS, or configuration information about positioning measurement for the first device; and selecting, based on the determination, one of positioning measurement operations for the first device; and performing the selected positioning measurement operation.
In the same field of endeavor, QI teaches the first resource overlapping the second resource in time domain and partially overlapping the second resource in frequency domain (¶0071, and ¶0080-82, BWP1 and BWP2 use time/frequency resources are overlapping in time and partially overlapping in frequency); determining at least one of the following: quality of the received signal, quality of the received PRS, or configuration information about positioning measurement for the first device (¶0076, and ¶0079, configuration information related to positioning measurement of the individual UE); and selecting, based on the determination, one of positioning measurement operations for the first device; and performing the selected positioning measurement operation (¶0080-86, UE is configured to puncture one of the PRS patterns or to allow collision but apply further interference mitigate schemes for positioning measurements based on PRS).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify WANG’s invention in order to improve positioning services in a telecommunication network by providing a Positioning Reference Signal (PRS) in a wireless communication system.
As per claim 12 as applied to claim 11 above, WANG does not explicitly teach wherein the positioning measurement operations comprise at least one of the following: a first positioning measurement operation over whole resource elements of the second resource, or a second positioning measurement operation over partial resource elements of the second resource, wherein the partial resource elements do not overlap the first resource.
In the same field of endeavor, QI teaches wherein the positioning measurement operations comprise at least one of the following: a first positioning measurement operation over whole resource elements of the second resource, or a second positioning measurement operation over partial resource elements of the second resource, wherein the partial resource elements do not overlap the first resource (Fig.2C and ¶0080-86, second positioning method over partial RE of the second resource and in the partial RE do not overlap the other resources).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify WANG’s invention in order to improve positioning services in a telecommunication network by providing a Positioning Reference Signal (PRS) in a wireless communication system.
As per claim 13 as applied to claim 12 above, QI further teaches wherein the first positioning measurement operation comprises a successive interference cancellation operation (¶0080-86 and ¶0003, reception-end interference cancellation and the like).
As per claim 14 as applied to claim 11 above, the combination teaches wherein the first device is caused to determine the quality of the received PRS by: determining a first ratio of a received power of the PRS to noise power (please note that claim 14, recites the quality of the received PRS and depends on claim 11 which is optional (e.g. at least one of the following) but does not require the steps to be performed, therefore, this limitation is disregarded as it’s belong to optional steps in the previous claim).
As per claim 15 as applied to claim 11 above, the combination teaches, wherein the first device is caused to determine the quality of the received signal and the quality of the received PRS by: determining a second ratio of a received power of the PRS to a received power of the signal (please note that claim 15, recites the quality of the received signal and the quality of the received PRS and depends on claim 11 which is optional (e.g. at least one of the following) but does not require the steps to be performed, therefore, this limitation is disregarded as it’s belong to optional steps in the previous claim).
As per claim 16 as applied to claim 15 above, the combination teaches, wherein the first device is caused to determine the second ratio based on one of the following: a third ratio of a received power of a first reference signal previously measured from the second device and a received power of a second reference signal previously measured from the third device, a distance between the second device and the third device, or an angle between the second device and the third device (please note that claim 16, recites determine the second ratio and depends on claim 15 that depends on claim 11 which is optional (e.g. at least one of the following) but does not require the steps to be performed, therefore, this limitation is disregarded as it’s belong to optional steps in the previous claim).
As per claim 17 as applied to claim 16 above, the combination teaches, wherein each of the first reference signal and the second reference signal comprises one of the following: a synchronization signal and physical broadcast channel block, SSB, or a channel state information reference signal (please note that claim 17, recites the first reference signal and the second reference signal and depends on claim 16 that depends on claim 15 that depends on claim 11 which is optional (e.g. at least one of the following) but does not require the steps to be performed, therefore, this limitation is disregarded as it’s belong to optional steps in the previous claim).
As per claim 18 as applied to claim 11 above, QI further teaches, wherein the configuration information about the positioning measurement for the first device comprises at least one of the following: a first bandwidth of the PRS, a ratio of the first bandwidth to a second bandwidth of the signal, capability of the first device, an operation mode of the first device, or positioning Quality of Service, QoS, requirements (¶0076, bandwidth of PRS and capability of the UE).
As per claim 19 as applied to claim 11 above, WANG further teaches, wherein the first device comprises a terminal device, the second device comprises a terminal device or a network device, and the at least one third device comprises a terminal device or a network device (Fig.1, terminal 106 or first device, network device 102 or second device, network device 104 or third device).
As per claim 20 as applied to claim 11 above, QI further teaches, wherein the signal comprises at least one of the following: a synchronization signal and physical broadcast channel block, SSB, or data associated with ultra-reliable and low latency communications, URLLC, traffic transmission (¶0093, synchronization signal block (SSB)).
Conclusion
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/FARIDEH MADANI/Examiner, Art Unit 2643
/JINSONG HU/ Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2643
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