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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
2. The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 01/27/2025 and 10/17/2024 are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Drawings
3. The drawings were received on 10/17/2024. These drawings are considered by examiner.
Claim Objections
4. Claims 12-18 are objected to because of the following informalities:
For example: Claim 12 “The method of claim 19, wherein the method further comprises: receiving a reference signal form the reference WTRU….”.
Furthermore, the Examiner assumed that claims 12-18 are depending on the independent claim 10. Appropriate correction is required as needed.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 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.
6. 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.
7. Claims 1-5, 8-14, 17-18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhou et al (US 9,955,295), hereinafter “Zhou“, in view of Huang et al (US 2020/0267684), hereinafter “Huang“.
Regarding claim 1, Zhou teaches a measuring wireless transmit/receive unit (WTRU) comprising: a processor configured to:
receive positioning configuration information associated with a reference WTRU (col. 1, line 58 to col. 2, line 67);
determine a first slot timing associated with a base station (col. 6, lines 4-17);
determine a second slot timing associated with the reference WTRU (col. 6, lines 4-17, and col. 8, lines 31-48);
determine a reference signal time difference based on the first slot timing and the second slot timing (col. 8, lines 31-48); and
Zhou does not explicitly teach report the reference signal time difference to a positioning server via the base station.
Huang, in the same field of endeavor, teaches report the reference signal time difference to a positioning server via the base station (pars [0020] [0026]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to one of ordinary skill in the art to provide the above teaching of Zhou to Huang, in order to provide the wireless communications system, and more particularly, to measurement and reporting for downlink positioning in NR mobile communication networks by measures positioning reference signal (PRS) resource sets to reduce reporting overhead (as suggested by Huang in paragraphs [0004-0005]).
Regarding claims 2 and 11, the combination of Zhou and Huang teach the measuring WTRU of claims 1, 10, Zhou further teaches wherein the processor is further configured to: receive a synchronization signal from the base station, wherein the first slot timing associated with the base station is determined based on the synchronization signal (col. 5, line 58 to col. 6, line 54).
Regarding claims 3 and 12, the combination of Zhou and Huang teach the measuring WTRU of claims 1, 10, Zhou further teaches wherein the processor is further configured to: receive a reference signal from the reference WTRU, wherein the second slot timing associated with the reference WTRU is determined based on the received reference signal (col. 6, lines 4-17).
Regarding claims 4 and 13, the combination of Zhou and Huang teach the measuring WTRU of claims 3, 12, Zhou further teaches wherein the reference signal is a positioning reference signal (PRS) (col. 6, line 61 to col. 7, line 46), and wherein the processor is further configured to: receive PRS configuration information, wherein the PRS is received based on the PRS configuration information (col. 6, line 61 to col. 7, line 46).
Regarding claims 5 and 14, the combination of Zhou and Huang teach the measuring WTRU of claims 4, 13, Zhou further teaches wherein the PRS configuration information indicates one or more of scheduled resources associated with the PRS (col. 5, line 58 to col. 6, line 54), guard resources (col. 1-2 teach the interface resources and other resources), or a beam associated with receiving the PRS.
Regarding claims 8 and 17, the combination of Zhou and Huang teach the measuring WTRU of claim 1, Zhou further teaches wherein the reference signal time difference is determined based on a calculation performed by the measuring WTRU (col. 1, line 58 col. 2, line 5).
Regarding claims 9 and 18, the combination of Zhou and Huang teach the measuring WTRU of claim 1, Zhou does not clearly teach wherein the positioning configuration information is received via dedicated radio resource control (RRC) signaling.
Huang, in the same field of endeavor, teaches wherein the positioning configuration information is received via dedicated radio resource control (RRC) signaling (par [0026]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to one of ordinary skill in the art to provide the above teaching of Zhou to Huang, in order to provide the wireless communications system, and more particularly, to measurement and reporting for downlink positioning in NR mobile communication networks by measures positioning reference signal (PRS) resource sets to reduce reporting overhead (as suggested by Huang in paragraphs [0004-0005]).
Regarding claim 10, Zhou teaches a method comprising:
receive positioning configuration information associated with a reference wireless transmit/receive unit (WTRU) (col. 1, line 58 to col. 2, line 67);
determining a first slot timing associated with a base station (col. 6, lines 4-17);
determining a second slot timing associated with the reference WTRU (col. 6, lines 4-17, and col. 8, lines 31-48);
determining a reference signal time difference based on the first slot timing and the second slot timing (col. 8, lines 31-48); and
Zhou does not explicitly teach reporting the reference signal time difference to a positioning server via the base station.
Huang, in the same field of endeavor, teaches reporting the reference signal time difference to a positioning server via the base station (pars [0020] [0026]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to one of ordinary skill in the art to provide the above teaching of Zhou to Huang, in order to provide the wireless communications system, and more particularly, to measurement and reporting for downlink positioning in NR mobile communication networks by measures positioning reference signal (PRS) resource sets to reduce reporting overhead (as suggested by Huang in paragraphs [0004-0005]).
8. Claims 6, 15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhou et al (US 9,955,295), hereinafter “Zhou“, in view of Huang et al (US 2020/0267684), hereinafter “Huang“, further in view of Choi et al (US 2020/0280421), hereinafter “Choi”.
Regarding claims 6 and 15, the combination of Zhou and Huang teach the measuring WTRU of claim 1, Zhou and Huang do not clearly teach wherein the positioning configuration information comprises one or more of a sounding reference signal (SRS) pattern, an SRS resource, or a timing advance (TA) value.
Choi, in the same field of endeavor, teaches wherein the positioning configuration information comprises one or more of a sounding reference signal (SRS) pattern (pars [0170] [0175-0179]), an SRS resource (pars [0175-0179]), or a timing advance (TA) value
Therefore, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to one of ordinary skill in the art to provide the above teaching of Zhou and Huang to Choi, in order to provide a method of transmitting and receiving a sounding reference signal (SRS), in which improved the mobile broadband communication (as suggested by Choi in paragraphs [0001-0002]).
Allowable Subject Matter
9. Claims 7, 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.
As to claims 7, 16, the prior art of record fails to disclose wherein on a condition that the positioning configuration information comprises the TA value, the processor is further configured to: determine an adjusted second slot timing based on the second slot timing and the TA value, wherein the reference signal time difference is further determined based on the adjusted second slot timing as specified in the claim.
Conclusion
10. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MICHAEL T VU whose telephone number is (571)272-8131. The examiner can normally be reached on 8:00AM to 6:00PM.
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, Charles Appiah can be reached on (571-272-7904. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/MICHAEL T VU/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2641
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