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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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.
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)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-20 are rejected under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by US 20230224121 A1 (Ganesan et al.) (hereinafter Ganesan).
In re claims 1 and 15, Ganesan discloses a method for wireless communication (Fig. 6, [0004], “methods for requesting a sidelink positioning reference signal resource are disclosed”) and a non-transitory computer program product comprising a computer-readable program medium comprising code stored thereupon, the code ([0018], “In the context of this document, a computer readable storage medium may be any tangible medium that can contain, or store a program for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device”. [0022], “The code may be provided to a processor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, such that the instructions, which execute via the processor of the computer”. [0025], “The schematic flowchart diagrams and/or schematic block diagrams in the Figures illustrate the architecture, functionality, and operation of possible implementations of apparatuses, systems, methods and program products according to various embodiments”), when executed by a processor, causes the processor to execute the following operations: determining, with a user device, a sidelink positioning reference signal (SL-PRS) configuration ([0044], “In some embodiments, there may be a method of configuring a resource pool structure for reference signals for SL positioning, a method for resource allocation and transmitting reference signals with mode 1, and/or interworking between UE to network interface (“Uu”) and SL positioning to achieve high accuracy positioning”. [0052], “In such an embodiment, an on-demand SL PRS transmission may be configured by a gNB and/or location management function (“LMF”) or may be requested by a TX UE to dynamically allocate SL PRS resources or update a PRS resource configuration with respect to a positioning method and dynamically update a SL transmission configuration information (“TCI”) and/or quasi-co-location (“QCL”) assumption for SL PRS”. [0053], “In various embodiments of the first embodiment, a positioning error estimate is calculated by a LMF and may be provided to a TX UE or by a UE based on network based or UE based positioning”); and transmitting, with the user device, a periodic SL-PRS according to the SL-PRS configuration ([0053], “In some embodiments, resource allocation for SL PRS may be done with mode 1 based scheduling. In some embodiments of the first embodiment, a UE that is configured for DL positioning techniques may determine that a positioning error estimate is beyond a certain threshold and may trigger a SL positioning technique to calculate a relative positioning between UEs, thereby correcting positioning estimates and reporting the positioning estimates to a LMF. In such embodiments, SL positioning may be used to complement Uu positioning (e.g., DL-based positioning) to provide a better location estimate. In various embodiments of the first embodiment, a positioning error estimate is calculated by a LMF and may be provided to a TX UE or by a UE based on network based or UE based positioning”. [0061], “In a third communication 416 transmitted from the location server LMF 408 to the SL UE A 404, the location server LMF 408 transmits a request for positioning (e.g., using an LPP protocol) to the SL UE A 404”. [0062], “The SL UE A 404 determines 418 that an accuracy cannot be met and initiates SL positioning”. [0069], “In a second embodiment, mode 1 on demand SL PRS may be used. In certain embodiments, uplink control signaling may be configured for an in-coverage UE to request resources from a gNB or LMF for SL PRS transmission”. [0074], “3) a number of subchannels used for SL PRS transmission; 4) a time slot for the initial SL PRS transmission and reservation resources for the future SL PRS transmission; 5) a reservation interval in terms of time periodicity...”. [0085], “In one embodiment, the report comprises information indicating a source identifier, a destination identifier, a group destination identifier, or a combination thereof. In certain embodiments, the report is transmitted using unicast or groupcast transmission” (A LMF may signal a SL PRS configuration to a TX UE via unicast or broadcast SL assistance data. A transmit ("TX") UE may determine subchannels for SL PRS transmission using mode 1 resource allocation or mode 2 resource allocation. A SL PRS periodicity for SL PRS transmission may be configured. Based on a UE based positioning technique, a measurement from DL PRS may be used as a common reference timing for SL PRS transmission and/or reception)).
In re claims 2 and 16, Ganesan discloses the method of claim 1 and the non-transitory computer program product according to claim 15, wherein the SL-PRS configuration comprises at least one of: a SL-PRS resource, a SL-PRS resource set, or a SL-PRS resource set list comprising a plurality of SL-PRS resource sets ([0004], “One embodiment of a method includes transmitting a request for at least one resource for a sidelink positioning reference signal”. [0070], “In various embodiments, a SL grant from a gNB or RRC signaling may activate a SL PRS resource from a configured resource set”. [0072], “In some embodiments, a resource pool configuration includes a first SCI format and/or a first SCI size”).
In re claim 3, Ganesan discloses the method of claim 1, further comprising: broadcasting, with the user device, at least one of: a user device identification, a positioning session identification, a specific service type identification, a sidelink positioning method, or the SL-PRS configuration ([0051], “In certain embodiments, PC5 RRC signaling may carry information about a SL PRS resource configuration for unicast transmission. In some embodiments, a destination identifier (“ID”) may mean a UE ID”. [0077], “In certain embodiments, multiple PRS triggers with overlapping PRS report windows may be configured by a TX UE. Moreover, in such embodiments, an RX UE may transmit a PRS ID, a session ID, a trigger ID, a request ID, or a positioning technique along with the PRS report to associate a PRS trigger with a PRS report. Further, in such embodiments, each PRS trigger may have different SL positioning techniques”).
In re claim 4, Ganesan discloses the method of claim 3, wherein the user device broadcasts at least one of: the user device identification, the positioning session identification, the specific service type identification, the sidelink positioning method, or the SL-PRS configuration before transmitting the periodic SL-PRS ([0075], “The request for SL PRS transmission for receive (“RX”) UEs may be transmitted by any SCI transmission scheduling SL data. The request message may include: 1) one bit indicating a SL PRS request and/or trigger (e.g., TX-UE request SL PRS from RX UEs, transmission of current SCI for a transport block (“TB”) to reserve future PRS resources); 2) a SL PRS time occasion from an RX UE to a transmit (“TX”) UE; and/or 3) a determination of a SL PRS offset for each UE based on a member ID, and/or a cast type (e.g., many-to-one, one-to-one). In such embodiments, signaling of a SL PRS configuration for transmission from a LMF to UEs may be with common RRC signaling”).
In re claim 5, Ganesan discloses the method of claim 3, wherein the user device broadcasts at least one of the user device identification, the positioning session identification, the specific service type identification, the sidelink positioning method, the SL-PRS configuration, or a SL-PRS time stamp after transmitting the periodic SL-PRS ([0074], “The model A SCI 502 includes, in one embodiment, first SCI content that includes one or more parameters for SL PRS transmission...10) a source ID (e.g., destination is transmitted either in a first stage or higher layer signaling); 11) QCL and/or TCI related information for SL PRS reception; 12) a positioning technique to be used by an RX UE; and/or 12) a time slot offset indicating time slot offset for the report transmission” (broadcast identification after periodic SL-PRS)).
In re claim 6, Ganesan discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the user device is configured with a time period, and wherein transmitting the periodic SL-PRS according to the SL-PRS configuration comprises transmitting the periodic SL-PRS within the time period ([0074], “The model A SCI 502 includes, in one embodiment, first SCI content that includes one or more parameters for SL PRS transmission. The first SCI content and SL PRS may be transmitted in the same slot, and first SCI symbol and/or SL PRS may be multiplexed in different time domain symbols. The one or more parameters for SL PRS transmission may include: 1) one bit to indicate that SL PRS instead of SL data (e.g., for RPs allowing multiplexing of SL data and/or SL PRS) or a new radio network temporary identifier (“RNTI”) such as PRS-RNTI may be used to scramble the SCI and implicitly enable the UE to identify the SL PRS related signaling; 2) a priority of a SL PRS transmission in SCI (e.g., defined as a priority based on accuracy and latency, time to first fix or delay budget according to a positioning service); 3) a number of subchannels used for SL PRS transmission; 4) a time slot for the initial SL PRS transmission and reservation resources for the future SL PRS transmission; 5) a reservation interval in terms of time periodicity” (time period configured for transmitting periodic SL-PRS)).
In re claim 7, Ganesan discloses the method of claim 6, wherein the time period is configured per SL-PRS configuration ([0050], “In certain embodiments, resource pool and/or SL PRS bandwidth for each carrier may be provided and multiple sidelink carriers may be configured per UE for SL PRS transmissions. In such embodiments, the following may also be configured: a SL PRS frequency offset with respect to each member in a group, a SL PRS comb pattern, a SL PRS periodicity, a repetition pattern, a repetition factor, SL PRS transmit power related parameters, and/or a muting pattern”. [0074], “The one or more parameters for SL PRS transmission may include: 1) one bit to indicate that SL PRS instead of SL data (e.g., for RPs allowing multiplexing of SL data and/or SL PRS) or a new radio network temporary identifier (“RNTI”) such as PRS-RNTI may be used to scramble the SCI and implicitly enable the UE to identify the SL PRS related signaling...4) a time slot for the initial SL PRS transmission and reservation resources for the future SL PRS transmission; 5) a reservation interval in terms of time periodicity”).
In re claim 8, Ganesan discloses the method of claim 6, wherein the time period is configured among a plurality of SL-PRS configurations ([0088], “In one embodiment, the sidelink control information comprises: a request bit indicating the request for the at least one resource for the sidelink positioning reference signal from at least one receiver user equipment; time-frequency resource reservation information; a sidelink positioning reference signal offset at each receiver user equipment based on an internal group member identifier; a cast type of the sidelink positioning reference signal; reception of the sidelink positioning reference signal; or some combination thereof. In certain embodiments, the method 600 further comprises transmitting a plurality of presence indicators indicating the sidelink positioning reference signal or a request for the transmission of the sidelink positioning reference signal, wherein each presence indicator of the plurality of present indicators or the request is associated with a positioning technique for a plurality of receiver user equipment’s” (plurality of configurations for plurality of UE’s)).
In re claim 9, Ganesan discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the user device is configured with a time bitmap, and wherein transmitting the periodic SL-PRS according to the SL-PRS configuration comprises transmitting the periodic SL-PRS according to an available time indicated by the time bitmap ([0074], “The one or more parameters for SL PRS transmission may include: 1) one bit to indicate that SL PRS instead of SL data (e.g., for RPs allowing multiplexing of SL data and/or SL PRS) or a new radio network temporary identifier (“RNTI”) such as PRS-RNTI may be used to scramble the SCI and implicitly enable the UE to identify the SL PRS related signaling”).
In re claim 10, Ganesan discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the user device is configured with a time bitmap, the method further comprising: receiving, with the user device, a SL-PRS within an available time indicated by the time bitmap ([0087], “In certain embodiments, the sidelink control information comprises: one bit indicating presence of the sidelink positioning reference signal transmission or sidelink data; a priority of the sidelink positioning reference signal transmission in the sidelink control information is defined based on accuracy, latency, or a combination thereof; an indicator indicating a time and frequency resource for transmission of the sidelink positioning reference signal, wherein the time and frequency resource comprises a resource for an initial sidelink positioning reference signal transmission and a future reservation; or some combination thereof. In some embodiments, the sidelink control information further comprises: a field sidelink positioning reference signal comb pattern indication; a sidelink positioning reference signal offset; quasi-co-location information; a positioning technique indicating a time difference of arrival, an angle of departure, an angle of arrival, a multi-round trip time, or a combination thereof” (discloses receiving SL-PRS withing the time bitmap for transmission and future reservation for colocation and time difference of arrival calculations)).
In re claim 11, Ganesan discloses the method of claims 9, wherein the time bitmap is configured based on a sidelink slot pattern ([0086], “In various embodiments, the sidelink control information and the sidelink positioning reference signal transmission are transmitted in the same slot”. [0074], “...12) a positioning technique to be used by an RX UE; and/or 12) a time slot offset indicating time slot offset for the report transmission”).
In re claim 12, Ganesan discloses a method for wireless communication (Fig. 6, [0004], “methods for requesting a sidelink positioning reference signal resource are disclosed”), the method comprising: receiving, with a user device, a periodic sidelink positioning reference signal (SL-PRS) ([0044], “In some embodiments, there may be a method of configuring a resource pool structure for reference signals for SL positioning, a method for resource allocation and transmitting reference signals with mode 1, and/or interworking between UE to network interface (“Uu”) and SL positioning to achieve high accuracy positioning”. [0052], “In such an embodiment, an on-demand SL PRS transmission may be configured by a gNB and/or location management function (“LMF”) or may be requested by a TX UE to dynamically allocate SL PRS resources or update a PRS resource configuration with respect to a positioning method and dynamically update a SL transmission configuration information (“TCI”) and/or quasi-co-location (“QCL”) assumption for SL PRS”. [0053], “In various embodiments of the first embodiment, a positioning error estimate is calculated by a LMF and may be provided to a TX UE or by a UE based on network based or UE based positioning”. [0061], “In a third communication 416 transmitted from the location server LMF 408 to the SL UE A 404, the location server LMF 408 transmits a request for positioning (e.g., using an LPP protocol) to the SL UE A 404”. [0062], “The SL UE A 404 determines 418 that an accuracy cannot be met and initiates SL positioning”. [0069], “In a second embodiment, mode 1 on demand SL PRS may be used. In certain embodiments, uplink control signaling may be configured for an in-coverage UE to request resources from a gNB or LMF for SL PRS transmission”. [0074], “3) a number of subchannels used for SL PRS transmission; 4) a time slot for the initial SL PRS transmission and reservation resources for the future SL PRS transmission; 5) a reservation interval in terms of time periodicity...”. [0077], “In various embodiments, multiple SL positioning techniques may be applied for each repetition in multiple repetitions”. [0085], “In one embodiment, the report comprises information indicating a source identifier, a destination identifier, a group destination identifier, or a combination thereof. In certain embodiments, the report is transmitted using unicast or groupcast transmission”); and performing, with the user device, at least one measurement based on the periodic SL-PRS ([0044], “In some embodiments, a sidelink positioning method may be used to help with precise positioning measurement for an indoor factory environment and/or for vehicle positioning”. [0053], “In some embodiments, resource allocation for SL PRS may be done with mode 1 based scheduling. In some embodiments of the first embodiment, a UE that is configured for DL positioning techniques may determine that a positioning error estimate is beyond a certain threshold and may trigger a SL positioning technique to calculate a relative positioning between UEs, thereby correcting positioning estimates and reporting the positioning estimates to an LMF”. [0087], “In some embodiments, the sidelink control information further comprises: a field sidelink positioning reference signal comb pattern indication; a sidelink positioning reference signal offset; quasi-co-location information; a positioning technique indicating a time difference of arrival, an angle of departure, an angle of arrival, a multi-round trip time, or a combination thereof” (Measurements. A LMF may signal a SL PRS configuration to a TX UE via unicast or broadcast SL assistance data. A transmit ("TX") UE may determine subchannels for SL PRS transmission using mode 1 resource allocation or mode 2 resource allocation. A SL PRS periodicity for SL PRS transmission may be configured. Based on a UE based positioning technique, a measurement from DL PRS may be used as a common reference timing for SL PRS transmission and/or reception)).
In re claim 13, Ganesan discloses the method of claim 12, wherein receiving the periodic SL-PRS comprises blindly detecting the periodic SL-PRS using at least one of: a user device identification or a PRS sequence identification ([0051], “SL PRS transmission occasions per resource pool, a number of subchannels of SL PRS transmission per resource pool, a SL positioning technique (e.g., time difference of arrival (“TDOA”), angle of departure (“AoD”), and so forth), a SL positioning type (e.g., model A, model B, or model C), a report configuration, source-destination ID information for SL PRS transmission, a source-destination group ID, a minimum communication range (“MCR”), an anchor UE's positioning information (e.g., depends on network or UE based positioning or relative positioning) and so forth. In certain embodiments, PC5 RRC signaling may carry information about a SL PRS resource configuration for unicast transmission. In some embodiments, a destination identifier (“ID”) may mean a UE ID”. [0084], “In some embodiments, the method 600 further comprises receiving a sidelink grant, wherein the sidelink grant comprises a sidelink positioning reference signal comb pattern, a time occasion, a sidelink positioning reference signal offset, a destination identifier, a sidelink transmission configuration indicator, quasi-co-location information, a reporting configuration, or some combination thereof”).
In re claim 14, Ganesan discloses a wireless communications apparatus comprising a processor (Fig. 3:302) and a memory (Fig. 3:304), wherein the processor is configured to read code from the memory to implement a method of claims 1 ([0043], “FIG. 3 depicts one embodiment of an apparatus 300 that may be used for indicating a sidelink positioning reference signal resource. The apparatus 300 includes one embodiment of the network unit 104. Furthermore, the network unit 104 may include a processor 302, a memory 304...”. [0081], “In some embodiments, the method 600 is performed by an apparatus, such as the remote unit 102. In certain embodiments, the method 600 may be performed by a processor executing program code”).
In re claim 17, Ganesan discloses the method according to claim 1, wherein the SL-PRS configuration comprises at least one of: a SL-PRS resource set and a corresponding SL-PRS resource set ID, a SL-PRS resource and a corresponding SL-PRS resource ID, a SL-PRS configuration set and a corresponding PRS configuration set ID ([0051], “In various embodiments, SL assistance data may include a mapping of positioning accuracy and latency to priority and remaining packet delay budget (“PDB”), SL PRS transmission occasions per resource pool, a number of subchannels of SL PRS transmission per resource pool, a SL positioning technique (e.g., time difference of arrival (“TDOA”), angle of departure (“AoD”), and so forth), a SL positioning type (e.g., model A, model B, or model C), a report configuration, source-destination ID information for SL PRS transmission, a source-destination group ID, a minimum communication range (“MCR”), an anchor UE's positioning information (e.g., depends on network or UE based positioning or relative positioning) and so forth”).
In re claim 18, Ganesan discloses the method according to claim 1, further comprising: when the user device transmits periodic SL-PRS, receiving, with the user device, a signaling from a wireless access node or from one or more other user devices to stop transmitting the periodic SL-PRS (See “In re claim 1” and “In re claim 6”. All features are disclosed in claim 1. It is implicit if a periodic SL-PRS transmission is configured by the network to be transmitted within a time period then transmissions will stop after the period ends)).
In re claim 19, Ganesan discloses the method according to claim 12, wherein the at least one measurement comprises at least one of: reference signal time difference (RSTD), time of arrival (TOA), a Rx-Tx time difference measurement, SL-PRS reference signal received power (SL-PRS-RSRP), SL-PRS reference signal received power per path (SL-PRS-RSRPP), or the receiving angle of the periodic SL-PRS ([0087], “In some embodiments, the sidelink control information further comprises: a field sidelink positioning reference signal comb pattern indication; a sidelink positioning reference signal offset; quasi-co-location information; a positioning technique indicating a time difference of arrival, an angle of departure, an angle of arrival, a multi-round trip time, or a combination thereof; a report transmission slot offset; or some combination thereof. In various embodiments, the method 600 further comprises transmitting a plurality of presence indicators indicating the sidelink positioning reference signal or a request for the transmission of the sidelink positioning reference signal, wherein each presence indicator of the plurality of present indicators or the request is associated with a positioning technique for a plurality of receiver user equipment’s”).
In re claim 20, Ganesan discloses the method according to claim 12, further comprising: sending, with the user device, a confirm message to a second user device, wherein the confirm message comprises at least one of: a user device identification of the user device, a user device identification of the second user device, a positioning service type identification, a positioning session identification (Fig. 4, [0057], “In certain embodiments, Uu positioning information of a first UE (UEA) may be transmitted from UEA to a second UE (UEB) in SCI, a medium access control (“MAC”) control element (“CE”), or RRC signaling to help UEB to calculate a precise relative positioning or an absolute position by further transmitting SL PRS”. [0051], “...a report configuration, source-destination ID information for SL PRS transmission, a source-destination group ID, a minimum communication range (“MCR”), an anchor UE’s positioning information (e.g., depends on network or UE based positioning or relative positioning) and so forth. In certain embodiments, PC5 RRC signaling may carry information about a SL PRS resource configuration for unicast transmission. In some embodiments, a destination identifier (“ID”) may mean a UE ID”. [0044], “In such embodiments, a number of anchor nodes transmitting reference signals on sidelink (“SL”) for positioning (e.g., SL positioning reference signals (“PRS”)) may play an important role for high accuracy positioning...”. [0049], “In various embodiments, model information in signaling may means SL PRS transmission from one-to-one (e.g., TX UE to RX UE), one-to-many..”. [0053], “In some embodiments of the first embodiment, a UE that is configured for DL positioning techniques may determine that a positioning error estimate is beyond a certain threshold and may trigger a SL positioning technique to calculate a relative positioning between UEs, thereby correcting positioning estimates and reporting the positioning estimates to an LMF”. [0080], “In such embodiments, the SL positioning report may contain relative positioning information for each source-destination ID or link ID from a TX UE to any RX UE calculated in a group, and a report may be tagged with a corresponding source-destination ID” (discloses a positioning process involving multiple UEs for higher accuracy and involves sharing information such as UE ID for anchor and non-anchor UE’s)).
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/SWATI JAIN/Examiner, Art Unit 2649
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