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 .
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 12/05/2025 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
In response to applicant’s argument in pages 12-13, the applicant asserts that “FOUAD does not teach "identify a plurality of beams that are configured for transmitting one or more sidelink communications via one or more sidelink resources, wherein the plurality of beams are identified based at least in part on a predicted location of the UE," as recited in amended claim 1. For at least the foregoing reasons, Applicant submits that amended claim 1 is patentable over FOUAD.” Examiner respectively disagrees.
As indicated in par. 56, 78, 80, 81 of FOUAD, “…Using this information, along with its own location, a UE can identify the relative location of neighboring UEs and perform the initial beam selection…”, the identify beams are determined with the relative location of transmitting UE and receiving UE. And as further indicated in par. 86, 88 of FOUAD, “…For example, 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….”, the future projected location of transmitting UE and receiving UE, which would indicating the location is predicted. Therefore, the identify beams are determined with the relative location of transmitting UE and receiving UE and the relative location including the future projected location or predicted location. Therefore, the identify beams are determined with the predicted location of transmitting UE and receiving UE. Therefore, FOUAD teaches "identify a plurality of beams that are configured for transmitting one or more sidelink communications via one or more sidelink resources, wherein the plurality of beams are identified based at least in part on a predicted location of the UE," and the claims.
The rejection is maintained.
Statements Regarding 35 U.S.C. § 112 6th 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 § 102
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)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1, 4, 21, 24, 36, 39, 43 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a) as being anticipated by FOUAD et al. (US 20230199819 as supported by provisional app. 63290252 filed on 12/16/2021, herein as FOUAD ‘819).
Regarding claims 1, 21, 36, 43, FOUAD et al. (US 20230199819) teaches an apparatus for wireless communication at a transmitter user equipment (UE), comprising:
a memory; and
one or more processors, coupled to the memory, 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 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)).
Regarding claims 4, 24, 39, FOUAD et al. (US 20230199819) teaches the apparatus of claim 1, wherein the explicit beam indication 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).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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.
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.
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) 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 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).
Claim(s) 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 25, 26, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 40, 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) 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 5, 25, 40, FOUAD ‘819 does not teach the apparatus of claim 1, wherein the beam hopping indication indicates to use a select beam hopping pattern associated with the plurality of beams for transmitting the one or more sidelink communications.
But, FOUAD ‘043 in a similar or same field of endeavor teaches wherein the beam hopping indication indicates to use a select beam hopping pattern associated with the plurality of beams for transmitting the one or more sidelink communications (par. 193, 198, 200, 201, 202, 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 to select beam for transmitting/receiving.
The motivation would have been to prevent collision and optimized beam for transmitting/receiving.
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 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 explicit beam indication 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 explicit beam indication 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, 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 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 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 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 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 that includes the explicit beam indication or the beam hopping indication indicates for a receiver UE to use a select one or more beams or a select beam hopping pattern 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 that includes the explicit beam indication or the beam hopping indication indicates for a receiver UE to use a select one or more beams or a select beam hopping pattern 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 to select beam for transmitting/receiving.
The motivation would have been to prevent collision and optimized beam for transmitting/receiving.
Regarding claims 11, 35, FOUAD ‘819 does 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 or the beam hopping 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 or the beam hopping 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 to reserve sidelink resource.
The motivation would have been to optimize resource reservation as to prevent conflict with future resource reserved.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
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/THINH D TRAN/for /Thinh Tran/, Patent Examiner of Art Unit 2466 03/09/2026