DETAILED ACTION
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 .
Status of Claims
2. This Office Action is in response to the application filed on 12/05/2024. Claims 1 and through 20 are presently pending and are presented for examination.
3. 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.
Double Patenting
4. The nonstatutory double patenting rejection is based on a judicially created doctrine grounded in public policy (a policy reflected in the statute) so as to prevent the unjustified or improper timewise extension of the “right to exclude” granted by a patent and to prevent possible harassment by multiple assignees. A nonstatutory double patenting rejection is appropriate where the conflicting claims are not identical, but at least one examined application claim is not patentably distinct from the reference claim(s) because the examined application claim is either anticipated by, or would have been obvious over, the reference claim(s). See, e.g., In re Berg, 140 F.3d 1428, 46 USPQ2d 1226 (Fed. Cir. 1998); In re Goodman, 11 F.3d 1046, 29 USPQ2d 2010 (Fed. Cir. 1993); In re Longi, 759 F.2d 887, 225 USPQ 645 (Fed. Cir. 1985); In re Van Ornum, 686 F.2d 937, 214 USPQ 761 (CCPA 1982); In re Vogel, 422 F.2d 438, 164 USPQ 619 (CCPA 1970); In re Thorington, 418 F.2d 528, 163 USPQ 644 (CCPA 1969).
A timely filed terminal disclaimer in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(c) or 1.321(d) may be used to overcome an actual or provisional rejection based on nonstatutory double patenting provided the reference application or patent either is shown to be commonly owned with the examined application, or claims an invention made as a result of activities undertaken within the scope of a joint research agreement. See MPEP § 717.02 for applications subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA as explained in MPEP § 2159. See MPEP § 2146 et seq. for applications not subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA . A terminal disclaimer must be signed in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(b).
The filing of a terminal disclaimer by itself is not a complete reply to a nonstatutory double patenting (NSDP) rejection. A complete reply requires that the terminal disclaimer be accompanied by a reply requesting reconsideration of the prior Office action. Even where the NSDP rejection is provisional the reply must be complete. See MPEP § 804, subsection I.B.1. For a reply to a non-final Office action, see 37 CFR 1.111(a). For a reply to final Office action, see 37 CFR 1.113(c). A request for reconsideration while not provided for in 37 CFR 1.113(c) may be filed after final for consideration. See MPEP §§ 706.07(e) and 714.13.
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Claims 1-20 are rejected on the ground of nonstatutory double patenting as being unpatentable over claims 1-20 of U.S. Patent No.[12,177,145 B2-hereafter Duan]. Although the claims at issue are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other because claims 1-20 are respectively the same scope of claims 1-20 of Duan with exception of being broadened by replacing on-demand reference signal with on-demand positioning reference signal (PRS).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
5. 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.
Claims 1-10 and 12-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Thomas (US 2023/0053304 A1) in view of Michalopoulos et al. (US 2022/0173857 A1-herreafter Micha).
For claim 1 Thomas teaches a method of wireless positioning performed by a user equipment (UE) (paragraph 117 “UE may include an independent positioning
function such as a global positioning system (GPS), and may report the location of the UE independent of NG-RAN transmission”), comprising:
receiving, from one or more transmission-reception points (TRPs), one or more on-demand downlink (DL) reference signals (RSs), the one or more on-demand downlink reference signals having one or more downlink transmission parameters (paragraph 14 “receiving configuration related to downlink (DL) positioning reference signal (PRS), wherein the DL PRS is related to the configuration of UL PRS”, paragraph 167 “additional configuration parameters that may be available as per the assistance data configuration request”, and paragraph 173 "UL-PRS and DL-PRS being signaled from a serving gNB (TRP) via RRC");
transmitting a request for allocation of one or more on-demand uplink reference signals, the request including an indication that values of one or more uplink transmission parameters of the one or more on-demand uplink reference signals are expected to be within a threshold of values of the one or more downlink transmission parameters (paragraph 14 “receiving configuration related to downlink (DL) positioning reference signal (PRS), wherein the DL PRS is related to the configuration of UL PRS”, paragraph 167 “additional configuration parameters that may be available as per the assistance data configuration request”, paragraph 173 "UL-PRS and DL-PRS being signaled from a serving gNB (TRP) via RRC", paragraph 174 "TABLE 5 DL-PRS parameters and UL-PRS parameters", and "the PRSCommonSSBConfig is the same for both DL-PRS and UL-PRS configuration. This PRSCommonSSBConfig can be signaled via RRC or LPP in order to avoid duplication”); and
transmitting, to the one or more TRPs, the one or more uplink reference signals, the one or more on-demand uplink reference signals having the one or more uplink transmission parameters, wherein the values of the one or more uplink transmission parameters are the same as or within the threshold of the values of the one or more downlink transmission parameters (paragraph 14 “receiving configuration related to downlink (DL) positioning reference signal (PRS), wherein the DL PRS is related to the configuration of UL PRS”, paragraph 167 “additional configuration parameters that may be available as per the assistance data configuration request”, paragraph 173 "UL-PRS and DL-PRS being signaled from a serving gNB (TRP) via RRC", paragraph 174 "TABLE 5 DL-PRS parameters and UL-PRS parameters", and "the PRSCommonSSBConfig is the same for both DL-PRS and UL-PRS configuration. This PRSCommonSSBConfig can be signaled via RRC or LPP in order to avoid duplication”).
Thomas does not explicitly teach on-demand DL-PRS.
However, Micha teaches an embodiment provides a method for positioning measurements and related signaling to enable on-demand transmission of PRS signals.
PRS signals are associated with a positioning service related to a given UE (Mica:
paragraph 55 and paragraph 89 "on-demand triggering of PRS"). In addition, Micha
teaches in an embodiment, the method may further include configuring the UE with one
or more measurement reporting thresholds. In some variants, the measurement
reporting threshold(s) may be based on RSRP, SINR, and/or RSRQ (Micha:
paragraph 10 and paragraph 17). In addition, Micha teaches The request capabilities
message may include an otdoa-RequestCapabilities parameter may include the
parameters required for the beam measurement configuration (threshold, N, etc.)
(Micha: paragraph 72).
Thus, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before
the effective filing date of claimed invention to use the teachings of Micha in positioning
method of Thomas in order to enable on-demand transmission of PRS signals for
positioning measurement.
For claims 2 and 14 Thomas in view of Micha teaches the method, further comprising:
receiving a downlink reference signal configuration for the one or more on-demand downlink reference signals, the downlink reference signal configuration indicating the one or more downlink transmission parameters (Thomas: paragraph 14 "method of receiving configuration related to DL-PRS" and paragraph 174 DL-PRS parameters" and Micha: paragraph 55 "enabling on-demand transmission of PRS signals"); and
receiving an uplink reference signal configuration for the one or more on-demand uplink reference signals, the uplink reference signal configuration indicating the one or more uplink transmission parameters signal configuration indicating the one or more downlink transmission parameters (Thomas: paragraph 14 "method of receiving configuration related to DL-PRS" and paragraph 174 DL-PRS parameters" and Micha: paragraph 55 "enabling on-demand transmission of PRS signals").
For claim 3 Thomas in view of Micha teaches the method of claim 2, wherein the downlink reference signal configuration and the uplink reference signal configuration are received from a location server or a serving base station (Thomas: Fig. 18 "UL-PRS received from serving gNB-TRPs and receiving from LMF DL-PRS configuration").
For claims 4 and 15 Thomas in view of Micha teaches the method, wherein the one or more downlink transmission parameters include:
a periodicity of the one or more on-demand downlink reference signals (Thomas: paragraph 174 “Table 5 “DL-PRS periodicity"),
a number of the one or more TRPs (Thomas: paragraph 161 “asset of candidates TRPs may be provided"), or
For claims 5 and 16 Thomas in view of Micha teaches the method of claim 4, wherein the one or more uplink transmission parameters include:
a periodicity of the one or more on-demand uplink reference signals (Thomas: paragraph 174 “Table 5 “DL-PRS periodicity"),
or
For claims 6 and 17 Thomas in view of Micha teaches the method of claim 5, wherein:
a value of the periodicity of the one or more on-demand uplink reference signals is the same as within a periodicity threshold of a value of the periodicity of the one or more on-demand downlink reference signals (Thomas: paragraph 174 “Table 5 “DL-PRS periodicity"),
or
For claim 7 Thomas in view of Micha teaches the method of claim 5, wherein the periodicity of the one or more on-demand downlink reference signals and the periodicity of the one or more on-demand uplink reference signals is periodic, semi-periodic, or aperiodic (Thomas: paragraph 174 “Table 5 “DL-PRS periodicity" and paragraph 161 “periodic/aperiodic).
For claims 8 and 18 Thomas in view of Micha teaches the method of claim 5, wherein:
the periodicity of the one or more on-demand downlink reference signals and the periodicity of the one or more on-demand uplink reference signals is semi-periodic or aperiodic (Thomas: paragraph 174 “Table 5 “DL-PRS periodicity" and paragraph 161 “periodic/aperiodic”),
a first medium access control control element (MAC-CE) or a first downlink control information (DCI) triggers the one or more on-demand downlink reference signals (Micha: paragraph 76 “on-demand triggering PRS and Thomas: paragraph 169 “DCI or MAC CE"),
a second MAC-CE or a second DCI triggers the one or more on-demand uplink reference signals, and the first MAC-CE and the second MAC-CE or the first DCI and the second DCI are received together (Micha: paragraph 76 “on-demand triggering PRS” and Thomas: paragraph 169 “DCI or MAC CE").
For claim 9 Thomas in view of Micha teaches the method of claim 5, wherein the QCL relation is a QCL-Type C relation (Micha: paragraph 63 “QCL” and paragraph 66 “QCL-Type C").
For claims 10 and 19 Thomas in view of Micha teaches the method, wherein:
at least one of the one or more on-demand downlink reference signals are canceled, and the method further comprises refraining from transmitting a corresponding at least one of the one or more on-demand uplink reference signals (Micha: paragraph 55 "enabling transmission of PRS signals-cancelling (not enabling PRS) and refraining (not enabling) wherein both cancelling and refraining are configuration choices").
For claim 12 Thomas in view of Micha teaches the method, wherein the UE is engaged in a round-trip-time (RTT) positioning session with the one or more TRPs (Thomas: paragraph 14 "RTT" and paragraph 153 "Multi-RRT positioning technique").
For claim 13 Thomas in view of Micha teaches a user equipment (UE), comprising:
one or more memories (Thomas: Fig. 26 “processor(s), memory(s) 112, and transceiver (s) 114”);
one or more transceivers (Thomas: Fig. 26 “processor(s), memory(s) 112, and transceiver (s) 114”); and
one or more processors communicatively coupled to the one or more memories and the one or more transceivers (Thomas: Fig. 26 “processor(s), memory(s) 112, and transceiver (s) 114”), the one or more processors, either alone or in combination, configured to:
receive, via the one or more transceivers, from one or more transmission-reception points (TRPs), one or more on-demand downlink reference signals, the one or more on-demand downlink reference signals having one or more downlink transmission parameters (as discussed in claim 1);
transmit, via the one or more transceivers, a request for allocation of one or more on-demand uplink reference signals, the request including an indication that values of one or more uplink transmission parameters of the one or more on-demand uplink reference signals are expected to be within a threshold of values of the one or more downlink transmission parameters (as discussed in claim 1); and
transmit, via the at least one transceiver, to the one or more TRPs, the one or more on-demand uplink reference signals, the one or more on-demand uplink reference signals having the one or more uplink transmission parameters, wherein the values of the one or more uplink transmission parameters are the same as or within the threshold of the values of the one or more downlink transmission parameters (as discussed in claim 1).
For claim 20 Thomas in view of Micha teaches a user equipment (UE), comprising:
means for receiving, from one or more transmission-reception points (TRPs), one or more on-demand downlink reference signals, the one or more on-demand downlink reference signals having one or more downlink transmission parameters (as discussed in claim 1);
means for transmitting a request for allocation of one or more on-demand uplink reference signals, the request including an indication that values of one or more uplink transmission parameters of the one or more on-demand uplink reference signals are expected to be within a threshold of values of the one or more downlink transmission parameters (as discussed in claim 1); and
means for transmitting, to the one or more TRPs, the one or more uplink reference signals, the one or more on-demand uplink reference signals having the one or more uplink transmission parameters, wherein the values of the one or more uplink transmission parameters are the same as or within the threshold of the values of the one or more downlink transmission parameters (as discussed in claim 1).
6. Claim 11 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Thomas (US 2023/0053304 A1) in view of Michalopoulos et al. (US 2022/0173857 A1-herreafter Micha) further in view of Chen et al. (US 2019/0306784 A1).
For claim 11 Thomas in view of Michalopoulos does not explicitly teach
the method, wherein: the request is transmitted in uplink control information (UCI), and the indication comprises a one-bit flag in the UCI.
However, Chen teaches the concept of on-demand System Information (SI)
request has been introduced in the next generation wireless network (e.g., a 5th
generation (5G) new radio (NR) network). When a UE finds that a required SI
message(s) is not broadcasted, based on information in the System Information Block
Type 1 (SIB1) (e.g., a one-bit indicator that shows whether the corresponding SI
message is currently broadcasted or not) and the mapping of the SIBs to SI messages,
the UE may perform an on-demand SI request procedure to ask the network (also
referred to as NW) to broadcast the required SIB(s) and/or SI message(s). However,
the next generation wireless network lacks an efficient mechanism for error handling
associated with the on-demand SI request procedure (Chen: at least paragraph 3).
Thus, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before
the effective filing date of claimed invention to use the teachings of Chen in combined positioning method of Micha and Thomas in order to apply the concept of on-demand System Information (SI) request in the next generation wireless network (Chen: at least paragraph 3).
Conclusion
7. The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure: Kuo et al. (US 2023/0188290 A1).
8. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to David M OVEISSI whose telephone number is (571)270-3127. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 8Am-5PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Jeffrey Rutkowski can be reached at (571) 270-1215. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/MANSOUR OVEISSI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2415
