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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) 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 1-9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Manolakos et al. (11,808,871) [Manolakos].
Regarding claims 1, 7, and 8, Manolakos discloses a method of operating a wireless communication node the method comprising:
obtaining a configuration of a repetitive transmission of one or more reference signals for positioning of a wireless terminal connectable to a communications network via an access node using a wireless carrier (col. 8 lines 47-56), the configuration comprising a frequency-hop pattern for the repetitive transmission, the frequency-hop pattern comprising multiple sub-bands of a carrier band of the wireless carrier, the multiple sub-bands being pairwise partly overlapping in frequency domain (col. 25 lines 7-28), wherein multiple repetitions of the repetitive transmission are interleaved in time domain with multiple repetitions of a further repetitive transmission of the one or more reference signals, the further repetitive transmission being on a wideband that has a larger bandwidth than each one of the multiple sub-bands (col. 25 line 51 – col. 26 line 3).
Regarding claim 2, Manolakos discloses the method of claim 1 wherein the configuration specifies whether one or more of the multiple repetitions of the repetitive transmission are muted (col. 25 lines 7-28).
Regarding claim 3, Manolakos discloses the method of claim 2 wherein the configuration comprises a repetitive muting pattern that specifies a periodicity of said muting of the repetitions of the repetitive transmission (col. 25 lines 7-28).
Regarding claim 4, Manolakos discloses the method of claim 2 wherein the configuration comprises an aperiodic muting command that specifies individual ones of the repetitions of the repetitive transmission to be muted (col. 29 lines 39-55).
Regarding claim 5, Manolakos discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the configuration specifies one or more time gaps in-between parts of the repetitive transmission on neighboring ones of the multiple sub-bands (col. 24 lines 13-35).
Regarding claim 6, Manolakos discloses the method of claim 1, further comprising: obtaining a further configuration of the further repetitive transmission (col. 23 lines 22-35).
Regarding claim 9, Manolakos discloses the method of wherein the bandlimited fraction of the wideband overlaps with one or more of the at least one of the multiple sub-bands (sub-bands lie within the wideband, fig. 6).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. See also U.S. Patent No. 9,203,583 to Siomina et al.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DOMINIC D SALTARELLI whose telephone number is (571)272-7302. The examiner can normally be reached 9:00 am - 5:00 pm EST.
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/DOMINIC D SALTARELLI/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2421