DETAILED ACTION
This is in response to applicant's communication filed on 09/23/2024, wherein:
Claim 1-20 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, 5, 8-9, 11-12, 16-17, 19, and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Manolakos et al. (US 20250039718 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Manolakos discloses a user equipment (UE) for wireless communication, comprising: at least one memory; and at least one processor coupled with the at least one memory and configured to cause the UE to (Fig. 4 and Fig. 6 disclose UE 410/602 which is known to comprise memory and processor component for performing the procedure indicated in Fig. 4 and Fig. 6):
receive signaling comprising one or more reference symbols of one or more transmission-reception points (TRPs) (Fig. 3-4, Fig. 6 disclose UE receiving signal from TRPs); and
transmit signaling comprising a carrier phase measurement generated based at least in part on a carrier phase of the one or more reference symbols relative to a carrier phase of a reference cell of the UE at a reference frequency and a reference time within a measurement time window (Fig. 4, Fig. 6 step 620-622 and ¶0143 – “The UE 602 generates phase measurements at block 620 based on the subcarrier measurements of the downlink reference signals 616 and 618 (e.g., PRS signals) and based on the phase measurement request from the LMF 606. In some cases, the UE may report which subcarriers pair(s) (or lane(s)) it used for reporting”, ¶0139 – “The UE 602 can use the subcarrier difference (or distance) to select pairs of subcarriers to measure during a symbol. In some aspects, the UE 602 measures each subcarrier of the subcarrier set pair in the symbol to reduce any doppler effects that may be present at different symbols (e.g., at different times). The measurement type can identify any suitable operation that the UE 602 can perform, such as a mean, median, average, standard deviation, floor, maximum, etc. According to some aspects, the measurement count can be frequency-based (e.g., different subcarrier set pairs), time-based (e.g., different symbols of the same subcarrier set pair), or frequency-and-time-based (e.g., different symbols of different subcarrier set pairs)”).
Regarding claim 5, Manolakos discloses the UE of claim 1, wherein the one or more reference symbols comprise one or more downlink positioning reference signals (PRS) (¶0143 – “The UE 602 generates phase measurements at block 620 based on the subcarrier measurements of the downlink reference signals 616 and 618 (e.g., PRS signals) and based on the phase measurement request from the LMF 606”).
Regarding claim 8, Manolakos discloses the UE of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is configured to cause the UE to generate the carrier phase measurement based at least in part on a carrier phase difference of a first carrier phase of a first TRP and a second carrier phase of a second TRP of the one or more TRPs (Fig. 3 and ¶0090 disclose UE performing carrier phase measurements on multiple TRPs 320/310/315 – i.e. first carrier phase of a first TRP and second carrier phase of a second TRP).
Regarding claim 9, Manolakos discloses the UE of claim 8, wherein the at least one processor is configured to cause the UE to determine the first carrier phase and the second carrier phase relative to the carrier phase of the reference cell (Fig. 3 and ¶0090 disclose UE performing carrier phase measurements on multiple TRPs 320/310/315 – i.e. first carrier phase of a first TRP and second carrier phase of a second TRP; Fig. 4 and ¶0092 disclose determining carrier phase relative to the carrier phase of reference cell 405).
Regarding claim 11, Manolakos discloses the UE of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is configured to cause the UE to receive third signaling comprising one or more of the reference frequency or the reference time (Fig. 4 discloses UE receiving another signal λ.sub.2 – i.e. different reference frequency).
Regarding claim 12, the scope and content of the claim recites a processor for UE of claim 1, therefore, being addressed as in claim 1.
Regarding claim 16, the scope and content of the claim recites a processor for UE of claim 8, therefore, being addressed as in claim 8.
Regarding claim 17, Manolakos discloses a network equipment for wireless communication, comprising: at least one memory; and at least one processor coupled with the at least one memory and configured to cause the network equipment to (Fig. 6, ¶0143, ¶0148 – TRP 604 is configured for transmitting reference signal in step 616/618 which indicated that the device is comprising processor and memory component for controlling its operation) transmit signaling comprising configuration for generating carrier phase measurement at a user equipment (UE) based at least in part on a carrier phase of one or more reference symbols relative to a carrier phase of a reference cell of the UE at a reference frequency and a reference time within a measurement time window (Fig. 4, Fig. 6 step 620-622 and ¶0143 – “The UE 602 generates phase measurements at block 620 based on the subcarrier measurements of the downlink reference signals 616 and 618 (e.g., PRS signals) and based on the phase measurement request from the LMF 606. In some cases, the UE may report which subcarriers pair(s) (or lane(s)) it used for reporting”, ¶0139 – “The UE 602 can use the subcarrier difference (or distance) to select pairs of subcarriers to measure during a symbol. In some aspects, the UE 602 measures each subcarrier of the subcarrier set pair in the symbol to reduce any doppler effects that may be present at different symbols (e.g., at different times). The measurement type can identify any suitable operation that the UE 602 can perform, such as a mean, median, average, standard deviation, floor, maximum, etc. According to some aspects, the measurement count can be frequency-based (e.g., different subcarrier set pairs), time-based (e.g., different symbols of the same subcarrier set pair), or frequency-and-time-based (e.g., different symbols of different subcarrier set pairs)”).
Regarding claim 19, Manolakos discloses the network equipment of claim 17, wherein the at least one processor is configured to cause the network equipment to: receive, from the UE, signaling comprising a carrier phase measurement; and estimate a position of the UE based at least in part on the carrier phase measurement (Fig. 4, Fig. 6 step 620-622 and ¶0143 – “The UE 602 generates phase measurements at block 620 based on the subcarrier measurements of the downlink reference signals 616 and 618 (e.g., PRS signals) and based on the phase measurement request from the LMF 606. In some cases, the UE may report which subcarriers pair(s) (or lane(s)) it used for reporting”, ¶0139 – “The UE 602 can use the subcarrier difference (or distance) to select pairs of subcarriers to measure during a symbol. In some aspects, the UE 602 measures each subcarrier of the subcarrier set pair in the symbol to reduce any doppler effects that may be present at different symbols (e.g., at different times). The measurement type can identify any suitable operation that the UE 602 can perform, such as a mean, median, average, standard deviation, floor, maximum, etc. According to some aspects, the measurement count can be frequency-based (e.g., different subcarrier set pairs), time-based (e.g., different symbols of the same subcarrier set pair), or frequency-and-time-based (e.g., different symbols of different subcarrier set pairs)”).
Regarding claim 20, the scope and content of the claim recites a method performed by a user equipment (UE) of claim 1, therefore, being addressed as in claim 1.
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 10 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Manolakos et al. (US 20250039718 A1) in view of Bao et al. (WO 2024238170 A1).
Regarding claim 10, Manolakos discloses the UE of claim 1, however, silent on further details of claim 10.
Bao discloses wherein the UE is associated with a positioning reference unit (PRU) (abstract – “a set of position reference units (PRUs) associated with a user equipment (UE)-based position estimation session of a UE”).
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 Manolakos to incorporate position reference unit associated with UE from Bao 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 improve location estimation.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 2-4, 6-7, 13-15, and 18 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.
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.
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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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