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 .
Response to Amendment
Amendment filed on 08/28/2025 has been entered. Claims 1, 3, 6-8, 10, 13, 16, 18, and 19 are pending.
Claim Objections
Claim 1 is objected to because of the following informalities: “zone time” in line 14 appears to be a typo and should be changed to “zone type”. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
Claims 1, 3, 6-8, 10, 13, 16, 18, and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Adachi et al. (US 2019/0174503 A1), hereinafter “Adachi”, in view of Mok et al. (US 2018/0124771 A1), hereinafter “Mok”.
Regarding claim 1:
Adachi discloses aa user equipment (UE) (Fig. 5, 100), comprising: a processor (Fig. 5, 130), wherein the processor causes the UE to:
receive a message that includes a speed threshold, zone configuration information, and resource pool configuration information (Para [0063], [0106]-[0110], [0137]-[0139], “configuration information” (information of zones and transmission resource pools), [0142], “threshold value” (for comparison with a movement speed)) from a base station (Fig. 6, 200);
select a zone type among a plurality of zone types indicated by the zone configuration information based on a comparison result of the speed threshold and a speed of the UE (Para. [0142], “select configuration information according to a movement state (movement speed) of the UE”, “configuration information for which the zone is calculated to be small”, “configuration information for which the zone is calculated to be large”);
determine a zone identifier based on the selected zone type (Para. [0145]-[0149], “the UE 100-1 identifies the zone in which the UE 100-1 is located based on the selected configuration information”); and
perform sidelink (SL) communication using a resource pool mapped to the determined zone identifier among one or more resource pools indicated by the resource pool configuration information (Para. [0150], “the UE 100-1 selects a transmission resource pool associated with the identified zone”, Fig. 10, S120-140), wherein the plurality of zone types have different zone-sizes, and a zone-size of the selected zone type is different from a zone-size of other zone type except for the selected zone type among the plurality of zone types (Para. [0142], “configuration information for which the zone is calculated to be small” and “configuration information for which the zone is calculated to be large”).
Adachi does not disclose the processor causes the UE to receive a request for information regarding a position of the UE from a base station; transmit the information regarding the position of the UE to the base station; transmit at least one of the selected zone type or the determined zone identifier to the base station.
Mok teaches a UE receives a request for information regarding a position of the UE from a base station (Para [0067], “the serving BS 110 may include information for causing the terminal 100 to measure the distance in the terminal configuration information to be transmitted”, [0107], “the serving BS 110 may request distance information (measurement) from the terminal 100,”), transmits the information regarding the position of the UE to the base station (Para [0107], “the terminal 100 may measure the distance information to perform a measurement report operation … and may periodically transmit the measurement report”); and the UE transmit a zone identifier to the base station (Para [0148], “the terminal 100 may provide information for determining whether the service area of the target BS 620 is the same as the service area of the serving BS 610 by including location information (e.g., absolute coordinates or zone ID) of the terminal 100 in the measurement report message and explicitly transmitting the corresponding location to the BS,” [0226], “The resource request information of the terminal may include at least one of a zone ID of the terminal,” and [0246]-[0248]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the system of Adachi in view of Mok to include the features that the processor causes the UE to receive a request for information regarding a position of the UE from a base station; transmit the information regarding the position of the UE to the base station, and transmit at least one of the selected zone type or the determined zone identifier to the base station, in order to enhance service reliability of the network.
Regarding claim 3:
Adachi further discloses wherein the resource pool configuration information includes configuration information of resource pools for a high-zone and configuration information of resource pools for a low-zone (Para. [0106]-[0110], [0137]-[0139], [0145], and [0149]).
Regarding claim 6:
Adachi further discloses the message is a system information block (SIB) (Para. [0107]).
Regarding claim 7:
Adachi does not disclose wherein the processor further causes the UE to: before receiving the message, transmit the speed of the UE to the base station.
Mok teaches before receiving zone configuration information or resource pool configuration information, transmitting the speed of the UE to the base station (Fig. 1A, 103, “Distance information” (before receiving zone configuration information 106, Para. [0084], Fig. 2F, 1506 “UE location” (before receiving a resource pool information 1508)).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the system of Adachi in view of Mok to include the feature that wherein the processor further causes the UE to: before receiving the message, transmit the speed of the UE to the base station, in order to enhance resource configuration information selection for user equipment.
Regarding claim 8:
Adachi discloses a base station (Fig.6, 200), comprising: a processor (Fig. 6, 230), wherein the processor causes the base station to:
determine a speed threshold, a first sidelink (SL) resource, and a second SL resource; and transmit a message including the speed threshold, information of the first SL resource, and information of the second SL resource (Para [0063], [0106]-[0110], [0137]-[0139], “configuration information” (information of zones and transmission resource pools), [0142], “threshold value” (for comparison with a movement speed)) to a user equipment (UE) (Fig. 5, 100); transmit a message including the speed threshold, zone configuration information, and resource pool configuration information (Para [0063], [0106]-[0110], [0137]-[0139], “configuration information” (information of zones and transmission resource pools), [0142], “threshold value” (for comparison with a movement speed)) to the UE (Fig. 6, 200); the UE determines a zone identifier based on a selected zone type among a plurality of zone types indicated by the zone configuration information (Para. [0145]-[0149], “the UE 100-1 identifies the zone in which the UE 100-1 is located based on the selected configuration information”); and wherein the plurality of zone types have different zone-sizes, and a zone-size of the selected zone type is different from a zone-size of other zone type except for the selected zone type among the plurality of zone types (Para. [0142], “configuration information for which the zone is calculated to be small” and “configuration information for which the zone is calculated to be large”).
Adachi does not disclose the processor causes the base station to transmit a request for information regarding a position of a user equipment (UE) to the UE; receive the information regarding the position of the UE from the UE; receive at least one of a zone type selected by the UE among a plurality of zone types indicated by the zone configuration information or a zone identifier determined by the UE based on the selected zone type from the UE.
Mok teaches a UE receives a request for information regarding a position of the UE from a base station (Para [0067], “the serving BS 110 may include information for causing the terminal 100 to measure the distance in the terminal configuration information to be transmitted”, [0107], “the serving BS 110 may request distance information (measurement) from the terminal 100,”), transmits the information regarding the position of the UE to the base station (Para [0107], “the terminal 100 may measure the distance information to perform a measurement report operation … and may periodically transmit the measurement report”); and the UE transmit a zone identifier to the base station (Para [0148], “the terminal 100 may provide information for determining whether the service area of the target BS 620 is the same as the service area of the serving BS 610 by including location information (e.g., absolute coordinates or zone ID) of the terminal 100 in the measurement report message and explicitly transmitting the corresponding location to the BS,” [0226], “The resource request information of the terminal may include at least one of a zone ID of the terminal,” and [0246]-[0248]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the system of Adachi in view of Mok to include the features that the processor causes the base station to transmit a request for information regarding a position of a user equipment (UE) to the UE; receive the information regarding the position of the UE from the UE; receive at least one of a zone type selected by the UE among a plurality of zone types indicated by the zone configuration information or a zone identifier determined by the UE based on the selected zone type from the UE, in order to enhance service reliability of the network.
Regarding claim 10:
Adachi further discloses wherein the resource pool configuration information includes configuration information of resource pools for a high-zone and configuration information of resource pools for a low-zone (Para. [0106]-[0110], [0137]-[0139], [0145], and [0149]).
Regarding claims 13, 16, 18 and 19:
See rejections of claims 1, 3, 6, and 7 regarding similar features.
Response to Arguments
Rejection under 35 U.S.C. 103 over Adachi, Mok, and Zhang
Applicants’ arguments with respect to independent claims 1, 8 and 13 as amended have been considered and are moot in view of the new ground of rejection under 35 U.S.C. 103 based on Adachi and Mok.
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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/BO HUI A ZHU/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2465