CTNF 17/822,324 CTNF 84807 Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status 07-03-aia AIA 15-10-aia The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA. Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114 07-42-04 AIA A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 05/14/2026 has been entered. Response to Arguments Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1-11, 21-26, 31-43 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument. Statements Regarding 35 U.S.C. § 112 6 th Paragraph Compliance For claim 43, the claim limitation “means for identifying a plurality of beams that are configured for transmitting one or more sidelink communications via one or more sidelink resources” has been interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, because it uses a non-structural term “means for” coupled with functional language “identifying a plurality of beams that are configured for transmitting one or more sidelink communications via one or more sidelink resources” without reciting sufficient structure to achieve the function. Furthermore, the non-structural term is not preceded by a structural modifier. A review of the specification shows that the Transmitter UE 605 disclosed in figure 6 and par. 87 or the identification component 1008 disclosed in fig. 10 and par. 132 appears to be the corresponding structure described in the specification for the 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph limitation. For claim 43, the claim limitation “means for transmitting sidelink control information that indicates to reserve the one or more sidelink resources and that includes an explicit beam indication or a beam hopping indication associated with the plurality of beams” has been interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, because it uses a non-structural term “means for” coupled with functional language “transmitting sidelink control information that indicates to reserve the one or more sidelink resources and that includes an explicit beam indication or a beam hopping indication associated with the plurality of beams” without reciting sufficient structure to achieve the function. Furthermore, the non-structural term is not preceded by a structural modifier. A review of the specification shows that the transmitter UE 605 disclosed in figure 6 and par. 87 or the transmission component 1004 and par. 132 appears to be the corresponding structure described in the specification for the 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph limitation. Since this claim limitation invokes 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, claim 43 is interpreted to cover the corresponding structure described in the specification that achieves the claimed function, and equivalents thereof. A review of the specification shows that the following appears to be the corresponding structure described in the specification for the 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph limitation. If applicant wishes to provide further explanation or dispute the examiner’s interpretation of the corresponding structure, applicant must identify the corresponding structure with reference to the specification by page and line number, and to the drawing, if any, by reference characters in response to this Office action. If applicant does not wish to have the claim limitation treated under 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, applicant may amend the claim so that it will clearly not invoke 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, or present a sufficient showing that the claim recites sufficient structure, material, or acts for performing the claimed function to preclude application of 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph. For more information, see Supplementary Examination Guidelines for Determining Compliance with 35 U.S.C. § 112 and for Treatment of Related Issues in Patent Applications , 76 FR 7162, 7167 (Feb. 9, 2011). Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103 07-20-aia AIA 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. 07-23-aia AIA 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. 07-21-aia AIA Claim (s) 1, 4, 5, 21, 24, 25, 36, 39, 40, 43 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over FOUAD et al. (US 20230199819 as supported by provisional app. 63290252 filed on 12/16/2021, herein as FOUAD ‘819) in view of JUNG et al. (US 20230072427) . Regarding claims 1, 21, 36, 43 , FOUAD et al. (US 20230199819) teaches an apparatus for wireless communication at a transmitter user equipment (UE) (par. 55, UE) , comprising: a memory (par. 55, UE) ; and one or more processors, coupled to the memory (par. 55, UE) , configured to: identify a plurality of beams that are configured for transmitting one or more sidelink communications via one or more sidelink resources (par. 7, 10, 11, 77, 79, 88, select beams which are more directional and have higher gain) , wherein the plurality of beams are identified based at least on a predicted location of the UE (par. 55, a Tx UE can indicate that its location is zone X and that it is transmitting at an angle of 90 degrees for the current and future resource reservation…the direction of transmission can be obtained by the Rx UE by estimating the angle of arrival or the target UE location for the transmission; par. 86, the request can indicate the Tx UE location and a specific range within which UEs are expected to provide their location information. In this case, the range field in the 2.sup.nd stage SCI format 2-B can be reused. The request can also carry additional information to reduce the overhead or to increase the validity of the location information, such as by requesting a future projected location. For example, an update to one or both of the zone ID and the subzone ID or a projected location rather than the current location may be requested; par. 78, 79, 80, The selection of the first beam direction by the Tx UE can depend on the relative location of its Rx UE…) ; and transmit, to a receiver UE, sidelink control information that indicates to reserve the one or more sidelink resources and that includes an explicit beam indication or a beam hopping indication associated with the plurality of beams (claim 3, par. 22, 70, decoded first stage SCI on the PSCCH to obtain reservation and beam information (beam indication)) . However, FOUAD does not teach beam hopping indication associated with the plurality of beams, wherein the beam hopping indication indicates which beam hopping pattern of the plurality of beam hopping patterns to use for receiving the one or more sidelink communications. But, JUNG et al. (US 20230072427) in a similar or same field of endeavor teaches beam hopping indication associated with the plurality of beams (par. 90, 115, where the scheduling information includes information related to a number of repetitions applied to the physical channel and one or more transmit beams used for transmitting the physical channel…where the scheduling information includes information having a value that defines a particular number of repetitions in a plurality of repetitions of a communication to be conveyed via the physical channel and information identifying a plurality of transmit beams to be used for transmitting the physical channel) , wherein the beam hopping indication indicates which beam hopping pattern of the plurality of beam hopping patterns to use for receiving the one or more sidelink communications (fig. 3, 4, 5, 6, par. 90, 92, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 115, a transmit beam and a frequency resource are determined per actual repetition. The first three actual repetitions are transmitted with a transmit beam 1 (or equivalently, TCI state 1, spatialRelationInfo value 1), and the last three actual repetitions are transmitted with a transmit beam 2 (or equivalently, TCI state 2, spatialRelationInfo value 2); par. 89, The frequency hopping methods disclosed herein are also applicable to sidelink channels and other physical channels of backhaul and access links) . Thus, it would have been obvious to the person of ordinary skill in the art before the effectively filing date of the claimed invention to implement the system or method as taught by JUNG in the system of FOUAD to use beam hopping pattern for transmission. The motivation would have been to provide better insure that the resources selected for use relative to any particular beam can be more uniformly utilized. Regarding claims 4, 24, 39 , FOUAD et al. (US 20230199819) teaches the apparatus of claim 1, wherein the sidelink control information includes an explicit beam indication that indicates to use a select one or more beams of the plurality of beams for transmitting the one or more sidelink communications (par. 66, 78, A beam (B.sub.1) is constructed between the locations of the neighboring Tx and Rx UEs. The beam width used for B.sub.1 is based on either the indication provided by the neighboring Tx UE or the resource pool pre-configuration dependent on the priority of the transmission (p.sub.j). Similarly, a beam (B.sub.2) is constructed between the Tx UE location and the target Rx UE location… selects a candidate resource for PRS/CSI-RS for the SL positioning) . Regarding claims 5, 25, 40 , JUNG et al. (US 20230072427) teaches the apparatus of claim 1, wherein the beam hopping indication further indicates to use a select beam hopping pattern associated with the plurality of beams for transmitting the one or more sidelink communications (fig. 3, 4, 5, 6, par. 90, 92, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 115, where the scheduling information includes information related to a number of repetitions applied to the physical channel and one or more transmit beams used for transmitting the physical channel…a transmit beam and a frequency resource are determined per actual repetition. The first three actual repetitions are transmitted with a transmit beam 1 (or equivalently, TCI state 1, spatialRelationInfo value 1), and the last three actual repetitions are transmitted with a transmit beam 2 (or equivalently, TCI state 2, spatialRelationInfo value 2); par. 89, The frequency hopping methods disclosed herein are also applicable to sidelink channels and other physical channels of backhaul and access links) . 07-22-aia AIA Claim (s) 2, 3, 22, 23, 37, 38 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over FOUAD et al. (US 20230199819 as supported by provisional app. 63290252 filed on 12/16/2021, herein as FOUAD ‘819) and JUNG et al. (US 20230072427) as applied to claim s 1, 21, 36 above, and further in view of LI et al. (US 20210219268) . Regarding claims 2, 22, 37 , FOUAD et al. (US 20230199819) teaches the apparatus of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to perform one or more measurements associated with the plurality of beams (fig. 1, par. 71, the UE performs Mode 2 resource selection including beam information from UE 2 to estimate the expected interference on a slot where UE 2 has reserved resources) , wherein transmitting the sidelink control information comprises transmitting the sidelink control information (par. 71, 72, 77) . However, FOUAD does not explicitly teach transmitting the sidelink control information based at least in part on the one or more measurements. But, LI et al. (US 20210219268) in a similar or same field of endeavor teaches wherein transmitting the sidelink control information comprises transmitting the sidelink control information based at least in part on the one or more measurements (par. 136, 137, selecting one or more resources based on…the measurement of interference or congestion; and selecting one or more resources for at least one of scheduling or reserving SCI,) . Thus, it would have been obvious to the person of ordinary skill in the art before the effectively filing date of the claimed invention to implement the system or method as taught by LI in the system of FOUAD and JUNG to select resource for transmitting SCI. The motivation would have been to prevent collision when transmitting SCI. Regarding claims 3, 23, 38 , FOUAD et al. (US 20230199819) teaches the apparatus of claim 2, wherein the one or more measurements include at least one of a reference signal received power measurement, a movement-based measurement associated with a movement by the transmitter UE or a receiver UE, or an environment-based measurement associated with an environment that includes the transmitter UE or the receiver UE (par. 64, measuring RSRP) . 07-22-aia AIA Claim (s) 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 26, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 41, 42 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over FOUAD et al. (US 20230199819 as supported by provisional app. 63290252 filed on 12/16/2021, herein as FOUAD ‘819) and JUNG et al. (US 20230072427) as applied to claim s 1, 21, 36 above, and further in view of FOUAD et al. (US 20240057043 as supported by provisional app. 63397486 filed on 08/12/2022, herein as FOUAD ‘043) . Regarding claims 6, 26, 41 , FOUAD ‘819 does not explicitly teach the apparatus of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors, to transmit the sidelink control information that indicates to reserve the one or more sidelink resources, are configured to transmit sidelink control information that indicates to reserve a first sidelink resource for transmitting a first sidelink communication and to reserve a second sidelink resource for transmitting a second sidelink communication. But, FOUAD ‘043 in a similar or same field of endeavor teaches wherein the one or more processors, to transmit the sidelink control information that indicates to reserve the one or more sidelink resources (par. 72, 141, 148, 149) , are configured to transmit sidelink control information that indicates to reserve a first sidelink resource for transmitting a first sidelink communication and to reserve a second sidelink resource for transmitting a second sidelink communication (par. 72, 141, 148, 149, a UE may apply either a hash function or a modular operation on its PHY ID to obtain a member ID and accordingly identify the PSFCH resources that it may use for feedback) . Thus, it would have been obvious to the person of ordinary skill in the art before the effectively filing date of the claimed invention to implement the system or method as taught by FOUAD ‘043 in the system of FOUAD ‘819 and JUNG to reserve sidelink resource. The motivation would have been to optimize resource reservation as to prevent conflict with future resource reserved. Regarding claims 7, 31, 42 , FOUAD ‘819 does not explicitly teach the apparatus of claim 6, wherein the sidelink control information includes an explicit beam indication that indicates to use a first beam for transmitting the first sidelink communication via the first sidelink resource and to use a second beam for transmitting the second sidelink communication via the second sidelink resource. But, FOUAD ‘043 in a similar or same field of endeavor teaches wherein the sidelink control information includes an explicit beam indication that indicates to use a first beam for transmitting the first sidelink communication via the first sidelink resource and to use a second beam for transmitting the second sidelink communication via the second sidelink resource (par. 88, 139, 149-151, the number of available PSFCH resources that are associated with the PSCCH/PSSCH transmission may be divided into subsets whereby the cardinality of the subset is either (i) equal to the (pre)-configured number of beam indexes that may be swept within one slot when the PSFCH exists in every slot or (ii) the product of (a) the total number of beam indexes that may be swept by one slot and (b) the PSFCH periodicity) . Thus, it would have been obvious to the person of ordinary skill in the art before the effectively filing date of the claimed invention to implement the system or method as taught by FOUAD ‘043 in the system of FOUAD ‘819 and JUNG to select beam for transmitting/receiving. The motivation would have been to prevent collision and optimized beam for transmitting/receiving. Regarding claims 8, 32 , FOUAD ‘819 does not explicitly teach the apparatus of claim 6, wherein the beam hopping indication further indicates to use a select beam hopping pattern for switching between a first beam and a second beam for transmitting the first sidelink communication and the second sidelink communication. But, FOUAD ‘043 in a similar or same field of endeavor teaches wherein the beam hopping indication further indicates to use a select beam hopping pattern for switching between a first beam and a second beam for transmitting the first sidelink communication and the second sidelink communication (par. 190, 193, 198, an NR UE may share with its neighbors its sensing pattern in which it indicates one or more of the following fields: The active beam index pattern (e.g., 1st beam, 3rd beam, 2nd beam, etc.). Multiple beams may be active simultaneously if a UE is capable of doing so) . Thus, it would have been obvious to the person of ordinary skill in the art before the effectively filing date of the claimed invention to implement the system or method as taught by FOUAD ‘043 in the system of FOUAD ‘819 and JUNG to select beam for transmitting/receiving. The motivation would have been to prevent collision and optimized beam for transmitting/receiving. Regarding claims 9, 33 , FOUAD ‘819 does not explicitly teach the apparatus of claim 6, wherein the second sidelink communication is a retransmission of the first sidelink communication. But, FOUAD ‘043 in a similar or same field of endeavor teaches wherein the second sidelink communication is a retransmission of the first sidelink communication (par. 139, each UE may use a different beam index in each of the blind retransmissions and accordingly rely on the PSFCH (e.g., on the ACK/NACK) feedback to obtain the beam index that may be used to reach the Rx UE ) . Thus, it would have been obvious to the person of ordinary skill in the art before the effectively filing date of the claimed invention to implement the system or method as taught by FOUAD ‘043 in the system of FOUAD ‘819 to retransmitting. The motivation would have been to provide reliable transmission. Regarding claims 10, 34 , FOUAD ‘819 does not explicitly teach the apparatus of claim 1, wherein the sidelink control information includes an explicit beam indication for the receiver UE to use a select one or more beams for receiving the one or more sidelink communications. But, FOUAD ‘043 in a similar or same field of endeavor teaches wherein the sidelink control information includes an explicit beam indication for the receiver UE to use a select one or more beams for receiving the one or more sidelink communications (par. 139, each UE may use a different beam index in each of the blind retransmissions and accordingly rely on the PSFCH (e.g., on the ACK/NACK) feedback to obtain the beam index that may be used to reach the Rx UE) . Thus, it would have been obvious to the person of ordinary skill in the art before the effectively filing date of the claimed invention to implement the system or method as taught by FOUAD ‘043 in the system of FOUAD ‘819 and JUNG to select beam for transmitting/receiving. The motivation would have been to prevent collision and optimized beam for transmitting/receiving. Regarding claims 11, 35 , JUNG teaches the apparatus of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors, to transmit the beam hopping indication (fig. 3, 4, 5, 6, par. 90, 92, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 115) . However, FOUAD ‘819 and JUNG do not explicitly teach the apparatus of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors, to transmit the sidelink control information, are configured to transmit first sidelink control information that indicates to reserve the one or more sidelink resources and transmit second sidelink control information that includes the explicit beam indication. But, FOUAD ‘043 in a similar or same field of endeavor teaches wherein the one or more processors, to transmit the sidelink control information, are configured to transmit first sidelink control information that indicates to reserve the one or more sidelink resources (par. 88, 139, 198, there may be a one-to-one mapping between the time-frequency resource index and the beam index…a new field may be added to either the 1st or 2nd stage SCI to indicate the beam index) and transmit second sidelink control information that includes the explicit beam indication (par. 149-151, the number of available PSFCH resources that are associated with the PSCCH/PSSCH transmission may be divided into subsets whereby the cardinality of the subset is either (i) equal to the (pre)-configured number of beam indexes that may be swept within one slot when the PSFCH exists in every slot or (ii) the product of (a) the total number of beam indexes that may be swept by one slot and (b) the PSFCH periodicity; par. 139, a new field may be added to either the 1st or 2nd stage SCI to indicate the beam index; par. 198) . Thus, it would have been obvious to the person of ordinary skill in the art before the effectively filing date of the claimed invention to implement the system or method as taught by FOUAD ‘043 in the system of FOUAD ‘819 and JUNG to transmit SCI that indicates to reserve the one or more sidelink resources and transmit second sidelink control information that includes the beam hopping indication as in JUNG. The motivation would have been to optimize resource reservation as to prevent conflict with future resource reserved . Conclusion 07-96 AIA The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. KHOSHNEVISAN et al. (US 20230134803) teaches the BS 110 may transmit, and the UE 120 may receive, an RRC configuration that indicates the pattern that the UE 120 is to use. The pattern may be beam and frequency hopping pattern 605 or beam and frequency hopping pattern 610 (fig. 6, par. 80) . Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to THINH D TRAN whose telephone number is (571)270-3934. The examiner can normally be reached mon-fri 9-6. 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, FARUK HAMZA can be reached at 5712727969. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. 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If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000. /THINH D TRAN/for /Thinh Tran/, Patent Examiner of Art Unit 2466 05/30/2026 Application/Control Number: 17/822,324 Page 2 Art Unit: 2466 Application/Control Number: 17/822,324 Page 3 Art Unit: 2466 Application/Control Number: 17/822,324 Page 4 Art Unit: 2466 Application/Control Number: 17/822,324 Page 5 Art Unit: 2466 Application/Control Number: 17/822,324 Page 6 Art Unit: 2466 Application/Control Number: 17/822,324 Page 7 Art Unit: 2466 Application/Control Number: 17/822,324 Page 8 Art Unit: 2466 Application/Control Number: 17/822,324 Page 9 Art Unit: 2466 Application/Control Number: 17/822,324 Page 10 Art Unit: 2466 Application/Control Number: 17/822,324 Page 11 Art Unit: 2466 Application/Control Number: 17/822,324 Page 12 Art Unit: 2466 Application/Control Number: 17/822,324 Page 13 Art Unit: 2466 Application/Control Number: 17/822,324 Page 14 Art Unit: 2466 Application/Control Number: 17/822,324 Page 15 Art Unit: 2466 Application/Control Number: 17/822,324 Page 16 Art Unit: 2466
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