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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 5/21/2026 has been entered.
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)(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, 6, 8-10, 15-16, 21, 23-25, 31, and 46 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by GANESAN et al (US 2023/0217268).
Regarding claim 1, 16, 31, 46, GANESAN (US 2023/0217268) discloses method for wireless communications at a user equipment (UE), comprising:
receiving, at a second protocol layer of the UE and from a first protocol layer of the UE, the second protocol layer being lower than the first protocol layer, an indication of one or more quality of service parameters associated with a data packet to be transmitted by the UE (GANESAN: ¶100-101, ¶104-105, ¶74, receiving, from the application (upper) layer of a UE-A, at a lower layer (e.g. MAC or PHY/physical) of the UE-A, at least one or more quality parameters (e.g. range parameter) associated with the sidelink service data packets (including at least one packet interpreted as the data packet) to be transmitted from UE-A to UE-B), wherein the one or more quality of service parameters are based at least in part on data information in the data packet having a higher relevance to one or more transmission directions for transmitting the data packet than to one or more other directions (GANESAN: ¶107-108, ¶75, ¶100 directionality information for the data packets transmitted to UE-B include information regarding which panel of antenna to be used to transmit; this is based on an Application ID for the UE-B and thus, directionality, included in the rand parameter, is more relevant to the data with Application ID for the UE-B as the destination/target user), and wherein the one or more quality of service parameters are indicative of the higher relevance level to the one or more transmission directions (GANESAN: ¶104-105, ¶107, range (a QoS parameter) includes “directionality” information and indicates a direction with respect to a current position and a boresight angle which indicates the relevance to that direction (in the direction of the boresight angle) for a data packet (V2X message) to be transmitted)
identifying, from the one or more quality of service parameters, directional coverage information associated with the data packet (GANESAN: ¶100-101, ¶102-103, ¶105, ¶107, directional coverage information (panel and beam selection information) is identified based on QoS parameters including the directionality (part of the service requirement); the identified panel and beam selection (equivalent to directional coverage information)) are provided from the application layer information by the physical (lower) layer), the directional coverage information indicative of the one or more transmission directions in which the data packet is to be transmitted (GANESAN: ¶101, Fig. 5, the determined panel and beam selected for transmission is indicative or at least one transmission direction); and
transmitting, to a wireless communication device, the data packet in accordance with at least the information of the one or more quality of service parameters (GANESAN: ¶101, ¶104, transmitting the V2X data via the sidelink channel based on the one or more QoS parameters indicating the direction information; this transmission is performed by the antenna panels for the “field of view” or direction implemented by access/physical layer by using the information of panel and beam selection).
Regarding claim 6, 21, GANESAN discloses method/apparatus of claim 1/16, wherein identifying the directional coverage information comprises: identifying the directional coverage information on a per data flow basis (GANESAN: ¶105, directional information (field of view information) associated with the data packet is identified by the physical (lower) layer on a per flow basis)
Regarding claim 8, 23, GANESAN discloses method/apparatus of claim 1/16, wherein transmitting the data packet comprises: identifying one or more transmit antennas, a transmit precoder, or both based at least in part on the directional coverage information; and transmitting the data packet using the identified one or more transmit antennas, the transmit precoder, or both (GANESAN: ¶112, ¶114, identify antenna panel, transmit precoding matrix, and transmitting data using the identified, optimum, antenna panel).
Regarding claim 9, 24, GANESAN discloses method/apparatus of claim 8/23, wherein the transmit precoder is associated with a power allocation to the one or more transmit antennas (GANESAN: ¶112, ¶114, ¶101, precoder controls the power used for the transmission which is through the antenna panel).
Regarding claim 10, 25, GANESAN discloses method/apparatus of claim 1/16,, further comprising: selecting one or more transmission reception points of the UE in accordance with the directional coverage information, wherein transmitting the data packet is based at least in part on selecting the one or more transmission reception points (GANESAN: ¶107-108, selecting transmission/reception panel (TRP) based on the direction information).
Regarding claim 15, GANESAN discloses method of claim 1, wherein the UE comprises a vehicle, the first protocol layer comprises an application layer, the second protocol layer comprises an access layer, or any combination thereof (GANESAN: ¶115-116, UE is a vehicle or mounted on a vehicle; ¶109, application layer conveys to the access stratum (AS) layer of the UE, the parameters).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
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.
Claim(s) 3-4, 18-19, 33, 49 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over GANESAN (US 2023/0217268) in view of MARINIER et al (US 2020/0145079)
Regarding claim 3, 18, 33, GANESAN discloses a method/apparatus of claim 1/16/31, wherein identifying the directional coverage information comprises: identifying a direction for transmitting the data packet (GANESAN: ¶100, Fig. 6A, Fig. 7, ¶124, the Fig. 7, the direction is identified in terms of the angle and antenna panel to be used to transmit the transmission data including at least one data packet)
GANESAN remains silent regarding the direction being relative to one or more reference directions.
However, MARINIER et al (US 2020/0145079) discloses the direction being relative to one or more reference directions (MARINIER: ¶40, beam direction is relative to a reference direction/plane).
A person of ordinary skill in the art working with the invention of GANESAN would have been motivated to use the teachings of MARINIER as it provides a way to have precise instructions for the antenna panel for the direction of the beam regardless of the position of the apparatus. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify invention of GANESAN with teachings of MARINIER in order to improve directional precision of the beam/transmission.
Regarding claim 4, 19, 49 GANESAN discloses method/apparatus of claim 1/16/46, wherein identifying the directional coverage information comprises: identifying a set of directions (GANESAN: ¶93-94, plurality of transmission directions identified by the UE-A for the antennal panel to implement)
GANESAN remains silent regarding a direction for transmitting the data packet, and one or more weighting factors corresponding to each direction of the set of directions.
However, MARINIER et al (US 2020/0145079) discloses a direction for transmitting the data packet, and one or more weighting factors corresponding to each direction of the set of directions (MARINIER: ¶42-46, a set of beams with arbitrary weighting factors).
A person of ordinary skill in the art working with the invention of GANESAN would have been motivated to use the teachings of MARINIER as it provides a way to have precise instructions for the antenna panel for the direction of the beam regardless of the position of the apparatus (¶40). Also, the weighting factors increase the power efficiency and signal coverage. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify invention of GANESAN with teachings of MARINIER in order to improve directional precision of the beam/transmission.
Claim(s) 2, 5, 7, 11-14, 17, 20-22, 26-29, 32, is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over GANESAN (US 2023/0217268) in view of FREDA et al (US 2024/0349321)
Regarding claim 2, 17, 32, GANESAN (US 2023/0217268) discloses method of claim 1/16/31, wherein identifying the directional coverage information comprises: identifying a direction for transmitting the data packet (GANESAN: ¶100, Fig. 6A, Fig. 7, ¶124, the Fig. 7, the direction is identified in terms of the angle and antenna panel to be used to transmit the transmission data including at least one data packet)
GANESAN remains silent regarding the direction being relative to a direction of motion of the UE.
However, FREDA et al (US2024/0349321) discloses the direction being relative to a direction of motion of the UE (FREDA: ¶15, ¶146, direction for spatial beam selected in reference to the direction movement of WTRU).
A person of ordinary skill in the art working with the invention of GANESAN would have been motivated to use the teachings of FREDA as it allows accounting for a more dynamic user equipment scenario considering the degree of mobility of the UE. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify invention of GANESAN with teachings of FREDA in order to improve quality management on a real-time basis and relative to the apparatus being communicated with (¶146).
Regarding claim 5, 20, GANESAN discloses method/apparatus of claim 1/16, wherein identifying the directional coverage information comprises: identifying the directional coverage information (GANESAN: ¶100-101, ¶105, ¶80, directional information (field of view information) associated with the data packet is identified by the physical (lower) layer)
GANESAN remains silent regarding coverage information being on a per packet basis.
However, FREDA et al (US 2024/0349321) discloses coverage information being on a per packet basis (FREDA: ¶183, per packet basis QoS parameters).
A person of ordinary skill in the art working with the invention of GANESAN would have been motivated to use the teachings of FREDA as it allows high granularity of control over QoS with deeper quality management. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify invention of GANESAN with teachings of FREDA in order to improve quality management.
Regarding claim 7, 22, GANESAN discloses method/apparatus of claim 1/16, further comprising: assigning the data packet to a quality of service flow based at least in part on a mapping between the one or more quality of service parameters and a set of quality of service flows including the quality of service flow, the set of quality of service flows corresponding to different quality of service parameters (GANESAN: ¶84, ¶109-110, ¶79, QoS based on a mapping between the parameters and a set of QoS flows);
GANESAN remains silent regarding selecting a radio bearer for transmitting the data packet based at least in part on assigning the data packet to the quality-of-service flow.
However, FREDA et al (US 2024/0349321) discloses selecting a radio bearer for transmitting the data packet based at least in part on assigning the data packet to the quality-of-service flow. (FREDA: ¶119, per flow/bearer basis QoS parameters are assigned and a radio bearer is selected for the specific QoS identity, e.g. VQI and other QoS parameters).
A person of ordinary skill in the art working with the invention of GANESAN would have been motivated to use the teachings of FREDA as it allows maintaining high reliability based on flow-based quality management (¶119). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify invention of GANESAN with teachings of FREDA in order to improve quality management for critical services.
Regarding claim 11, 26, GANESAN discloses method/apparatus of claim 1/16, wherein transmitting the data packet comprises: transmitting a data packet (GANESAN: ¶100-101, ¶105, ¶80, directional information (field of view information) associated with the data packet is identified by the physical (lower) layer).
GANESAN remains silent regarding a plurality of transmissions of the data packet.
However, FREDA discloses a plurality of transmissions of the data packet (FREDA: ¶112, ¶232, ¶236, retransmission of a packet is performed).
A person of ordinary skill in the art working with the invention of GANESAN would have been motivated to use the teachings of FREDA as it allows maintaining high reliability based on closed loop quality control (¶235). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify invention of GANESAN with teachings of FREDA in order to improve quality management.
Regarding claim 12, 27 GANESAN modified by FREDA discloses method/apparatus of claim 11/26, further comprising: identifying a quantity of the plurality of transmissions based at least in part on the one or more quality of service parameters (FREDA: ¶112, ¶232, ¶236, retransmission of a packet is performed based on quality of service parameter e.g. CQI/NACK).
Regarding claim 13, 28, GANESAN modified by FREDA discloses method/apparatus of claim 11/26, further comprising: identifying one or more antennas, a transmit precoder, or both for each transmission of the plurality of transmissions based at least in part on the directional coverage information (GANESAN: ¶112, ¶114, identify antenna panel, transmit precoding matrix, and transmitting data using the identified, optimum, antenna panel based on the directional parameters desired and determined).
Regarding claim 14, 29, GANESAN modified by FREDA discloses method/apparatus of claim 13/28, further comprising: transmitting a first transmission of the plurality of transmissions of the data packet in accordance with a first set of the one or more antennas, a first transmit precoder, or both; and transmitting a second transmission of the plurality of transmissions of the data packet in accordance with a second set of the one or more antennas, a second transmit precoder, or both (FREDA: ¶112, ¶232, ¶236, retransmission of a packet is performed based on quality of service parameter e.g. CQI/NACK; retransmission resources are changed/updated compared to the previous/original transmission; GANESAN: ¶112, ¶114, identify antenna panel, transmit precoding matrix, and transmitting data using the identified, optimum, antenna panel based on the directional parameters desired and determined).
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 5/21/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Applicants argue,
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Examiner respectfully disagrees with the above argument. GANESAN, in ¶74 states:
[0074] At Step 2, the V2X application layer in UE-A 301 provides application information for PC5 unicast communication (see block 313). The application information includes the service type(s) (e.g., Provider Service Identifier (“PSID”) or Intelligent Transportation Systems Application Identifier (“ITS-AID”)) of the V2X application and the initiating UE's Application Layer ID. The target UE's Application Layer ID may be included in the application information. In certain embodiments, the V2X application layer in UE-A 301 may provide service requirements for this unicast communication. UE-A 301 determines the PC5 Quality-of-Service (“QoS”) parameters and PC5 QoS Flow Indicator (“PFI”). If UE-A 301 decides to reuse the existing PC5 unicast link, the UE triggers Layer-2 link modification procedure.
…
[0104] In one embodiment for NR PC5 functionality for groupcast and unicast transmission, the UE AS layer (i.e., RRC/SDAP, PDCP, RLC and MAC sublayers) may be provided with an additional information such as directionality of V2X message transmission as part of service requirement which may be appropriately used to select the corresponding panel for transmission/reception. This directionality information may be directly or indirectly provided to the UE AS layer.
[0105] This information may be conveyed to the UE AS layer in many possible ways: 1) V2X application or V2X layer in the UE informs the UE AS layer, part of the QoS flow/range (PQI+range+directionality/position) or context information; 2) V2X application server or V2X control function in the core network may inform the UE either provisioning this information or as part of service type mapping or by positioning; 3) gNB may inform the UE in the L1/L2 or L3 signaling; or combinations thereof.
[0107] In one example, directionality may be defined with respect to current position (e.g., navigation system (e.g., GPS, GNSS) coordinates or positioning system parameters (e.g., based on positioning techniques such as DL RSs (e.g., DL Observed Time Difference Of Arrival (“OTDOA”)), based on UL RSs (e.g., UL OTDOA), or combination of the range and angular measurements)) and/or speed/direction of travel of the UE. The directionality may determine the desired boresight angle (azimuth, elevation, or both), and the axis of maximum gain (maximum radiated power) for a (e.g., reference) transmission beam. The range may be conditioned on the indicated directionality, e.g., indicating the minimum distance in the angular direction (e.g., direction of the boresight angle with a certain (e.g., reference) beam width for a (e.g., reference) transmission) beam that the QoS parameters need to be fulfilled.
In the above sections, GANESAN discloses that at least an “indication” of a QoS parameter is received by a protocol layer, lower than another protocol layer, from the other protocol layer. Here, GANESAN teaches that V2X application layer (equivalent to the claimed first protocol layer) sends to/informs Access Stratum Layers including the MAC layer (equivalent to the claimed second protocol layer), the “indication” in terms of the “directionality information”. This directionality information is “part of service requirement” (see ¶104 above). A person of ordinary skill in the art would understand that a parameter which is a “service requirement” for a QoS flow is a QoS of service parameter for the packets of that QoS flow. In particular, when, as shown in ¶107, the directionality requirement needs to be met for a beam’s QoS parameters need to be fulfilled. The claim remains silent regarding which quality of service parameter is being “indicated” and only requires an “indication” that has to “indicate” such a parameter to a lower layer such as, Access Stratum layer (e.g. MAC layer).
Given above, an indication indicating a directionality information as “part of the service requirement” of a quality of service (QoS) flow, is disclosed in ¶104 as being used to “select the corresponding panel” for transmission/reception of the data packets of the QoS flow.
[0104] In one embodiment for NR PC5 functionality for groupcast and unicast transmission, the UE AS layer (i.e., RRC/SDAP, PDCP, RLC and MAC sublayers) may be provided with an additional information such as directionality of V2X message transmission as part of service requirement which may be appropriately used to select the corresponding panel for transmission/reception. This directionality information may be directly or indirectly provided to the UE AS layer.
This selection of panel includes information of the selected directional antenna by the lower layers that provide coverage to specific region in a particular direction. See ¶101 and Fig. 5 below:
[0101] In a final step, having determined the required “field of view” or direction of UE-B 303, the UE-A 301 then instructs the physical layer and the radio frequency (“RF”) layer to use only the corresponding Panel and/or transmit beam for the said transmission. In order to do so, the MAC entity (i.e., at MAC sublayer 360) performs TB formation keeping in mind the L2 destination ID of the UE-B 303. So, the Logical Channel Prioritization (“LCP”) procedure only takes the Logical Channel (“LCH”) of destination ID of UE-B 303 into account for the said transmission. In one implementation the Antenna Panel and/or transmit beam used for transmission is informed to MAC entity by the upper layers, and MAC entity further informs the Physical layer 355 and RF layer, subsequently. In another implementation, the UE maintains a mapping of L2/L1 destination IDs and the corresponding Antenna Panel and/or transmit beam to used—this mapping table is updated by the UE as and when the relative position of UE-A 301 and UE-B 303 has changed.
[0110] The directionality information is used by the RAN to map a particular SL MAC TB and/or PSCCH to a certain active TX antenna panel id(s) for transmission which is particularly beneficial for FR2/FR4 mmWave frequencies where multiple antenna panels are mounted. In one example, based on the input on the directionality of the message transmission, one or more V2X UE antenna panel(s) may be activated, and SL control & data transmitted over the activated panels. This method is helpful for partial beam sweeping around active antenna panels for SL control and data channel transmission.
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From the above sections, the selected antenna panel and beam indexes by the MAC layer used for packet transmission would be reasonably interpreted as “directional coverage information” associated with data packet. Based on the above sections of GANESAN, a person of ordinary skill in the art would reasonably interpret it as teaching “…one or more quality of service parameters” being used to identify “directional coverage information associated with a data packet”.
Applicants continue to contend that GANESAN does not disclose “…the one or more quality of service parameter being based at least in part on data information in the data packet having a higher relevance level to one or more transmission directions for transmitting the data packet than to one or more other directions…”
As an initial note, the claims are silent regarding how the one or more quality of service parameter is based on the “higher relevance level to one or more transmission directions” and only requires the QoS service parameter to be somehow based on the relevance. (emphasis added)
For Example, the disclosure of the application explains how this is done:
[0069] The parameters may include an indication of directional coverage information. For example, one or more per-flow parameters, one or more per-packet parameters, or a combination thereof may include directional coverage information for the data packet, the data flow including the data packet, or both. In some examples, the parameters may indicate a direction to transmit the data packet with respect to the direction of motion of the device 205-e (e.g., in the direction of motion, perpendicular to the direction of motion, opposite the direction of motion, or a combination thereof). For example, the parameters may indicate to transmit to the front of the vehicle (e.g., in the direction of motion), the left or right side of the vehicle, behind the vehicle, or a combination thereof. In some examples, the parameters may indicate a direction to transmit the data packet with respect to a frame of reference (e.g., a global frame of reference). For example, the parameters may indicate reference directions for transmission of the data such as north, east, west, south, or a combination thereof. In some examples, the directional coverage information may include a combination of directions, one or more weighting factors (e.g., each weighting factor indicating a relative importance of a respective direction), or both (e.g., the parameters may indicate a direction and a relative magnitude of the transmission of a signal in that direction). As an illustrative example, the coverage information (e.g., QoS parameters including the coverage information) may indicate to transmit a data packet or data flow in a forward direction with a relative magnitude of 1.0, a backward direction with a relative magnitude of 0.2, a left side direction with a relative magnitude of 0.1, a right side direction with a relative magnitude of 0.2, among other examples of direction indications and weighting factors.
However, the above explained feature is not claimed.
Examiner submits that GANESAN discloses:
[0074] At Step 2, the V2X application layer in UE-A 301 provides application information for PC5 unicast communication (see block 313). The application information includes the service type(s) (e.g., Provider Service Identifier (“PSID”) or Intelligent Transportation Systems Application Identifier (“ITS-AID”)) of the V2X application and the initiating UE's Application Layer ID. The target UE's Application Layer ID may be included in the application information. In certain embodiments, the V2X application layer in UE-A 301 may provide service requirements for this unicast communication. UE-A 301 determines the PC5 Quality-of-Service (“QoS”) parameters and PC5 QoS Flow Indicator (“PFI”). If UE-A 301 decides to reuse the existing PC5 unicast link, the UE triggers Layer-2 link modification procedure.
[0075] At Step 3, the UE-A 301 sends a Direct Communication Request message to initiate the unicast layer-2 link establishment procedure (see messaging 315). The Direct Communication Request message includes: a) Source User Info: the initiating UE's Application Layer ID (i.e., UE-A 301's Application Layer ID); b) V2X Service Info: the information about V2X Service(s) requesting Layer-2 link establishment (e.g., PSID(s) or ITS-AID(s)); c) Indication whether Internet Protocol (“IP”) communication is used; d) IP Address Configuration: For IP communication, IP address configuration is required for this link; and e) QoS Info: the information about PC5 QoS Flow(s). For each PC5 QoS Flow, the PFI and the corresponding PC5 QoS parameters (i.e., PC5 QoS Indicator (“PQI”) and conditionally other parameters such as Maximum Flow Bit Rate (“MFBR”) and/or Guaranteed Flow Bit Rate (“GFBR”), etc.). Note that if the V2X application layer provided the target UE's Application Layer ID in step 2, then is included in the Direct Communication Request message. Target User Info indicates the target UE's Application Layer ID (i.e., UE-B 303's Application Layer ID).
[0076] As discussed in further detail below, the Direct Communication Request message may also include Beam and/or Antenna Panel information used to select an optimal Beam and/or Antenna Panel. The UE-A 301 sends the Direct Communication Request message via PC5 broadcast using the source Layer-2 ID and the destination Layer-2 ID.
[0101] In a final step, having determined the required “field of view” or direction of UE-B 303, the UE-A 301 then instructs the physical layer and the radio frequency (“RF”) layer to use only the corresponding Panel and/or transmit beam for the said transmission. In order to do so, the MAC entity (i.e., at MAC sublayer 360) performs TB formation keeping in mind the L2 destination ID of the UE-B 303. So, the Logical Channel Prioritization (“LCP”) procedure only takes the Logical Channel (“LCH”) of destination ID of UE-B 303 into account for the said transmission. In one implementation the Antenna Panel and/or transmit beam used for transmission is informed to MAC entity by the upper layers, and MAC entity further informs the Physical layer 355 and RF layer, subsequently. In another implementation, the UE maintains a mapping of L2/L1 destination IDs and the corresponding Antenna Panel and/or transmit beam to used—this mapping table is updated by the UE as and when the relative position of UE-A 301 and UE-B 303 has changed.
In the above sections, the Antenna Panel and the destination ID (e.g. of the UE-B, the other wireless device) are mapped to each other. This panel information for transmitted data packets to UE-B has a corresponding direction that has more relevance to the communication with UE-B than any other panel available on the UE-A.
GANESAN also states:
[0074] At Step 2, the V2X application layer in UE-A 301 provides application information for PC5 unicast communication (see block 313). The application information includes the service type(s) (e.g., Provider Service Identifier (“PSID”) or Intelligent Transportation Systems Application Identifier (“ITS-AID”)) of the V2X application and the initiating UE's Application Layer ID. The target UE's Application Layer ID may be included in the application information. In certain embodiments, the V2X application layer in UE-A 301 may provide service requirements for this unicast communication. UE-A 301 determines the PC5 Quality-of-Service (“QoS”) parameters and PC5 QoS Flow Indicator (“PFI”). If UE-A 301 decides to reuse the existing PC5 unicast link, the UE triggers Layer-2 link modification procedure
[0104] In one embodiment for NR PC5 functionality for groupcast and unicast transmission, the UE AS layer (i.e., RRC/SDAP, PDCP, RLC and MAC sublayers) may be provided with an additional information such as directionality of V2X message transmission as part of service requirement which may be appropriately used to select the corresponding panel for transmission/reception. This directionality information may be directly or indirectly provided to the UE AS layer.
[0105] This information may be conveyed to the UE AS layer in many possible ways: 1) V2X application or V2X layer in the UE informs the UE AS layer, part of the QoS flow/range (PQI+range+directionality/position) or context information; 2) V2X application server or V2X control function in the core network may inform the UE either provisioning this information or as part of service type mapping or by positioning; 3) gNB may inform the UE in the L1/L2 or L3 signaling; or combinations thereof.
[0107] In one example, directionality may be defined with respect to current position (e.g., navigation system (e.g., GPS, GNSS) coordinates or positioning system parameters (e.g., based on positioning techniques such as DL RSs (e.g., DL Observed Time Difference Of Arrival (“OTDOA”)), based on UL RSs (e.g., UL OTDOA), or combination of the range and angular measurements)) and/or speed/direction of travel of the UE. The directionality may determine the desired boresight angle (azimuth, elevation, or both), and the axis of maximum gain (maximum radiated power) for a (e.g., reference) transmission beam. The range may be conditioned on the indicated directionality, e.g., indicating the minimum distance in the angular direction (e.g., direction of the boresight angle with a certain (e.g., reference) beam width for a (e.g., reference) transmission) beam that the QoS parameters need to be fulfilled.
From the above sections, it is evident that the service requirement which is the QoS requirements, is based on the directionality and includes indication of the direction. In other word, the QoS parameters including the PC5 QoS parameters are always based on, conditional on, and tied to the directionality. This directionality, as explained above, includes that transmission in one of the plurality of directions is more relevant to the data packets sent to the destination UE-B.
In a further position, as indicated in the arguments of 5/21/2026, the applicants argue that GANESAN does not discloses, “wherein the one or more quality of service parameters are indicative of the higher relevance level to the one or more transmission directions…”
Firstly, Examiner points out to a definition of one or more QoS parameters from the disclosure of the application (in ¶18 of PreGrant Publication US 2023/0262510):
… As an illustrative example, an application layer may indicate quality of service (QoS) parameters associated with a data packet (e.g., a range parameter for V2X groupcast), QoS parameters associated with a data flow (e.g., a resource type, a priority level, a packet delay budget, a packet error rate, etc.), or a combination thereof, among other examples of parameters….
Secondly, GANESAN discloses, in ¶105, that “range” parameter includes “directionality” information
[0105] This information may be conveyed to the UE AS layer in many possible ways: 1) V2X application or V2X layer in the UE informs the UE AS layer, part of the QoS flow/range (PQI+range+directionality/position) or context information; 2) V2X application server or V2X control function in the core network may inform the UE either provisioning this information or as part of service type mapping or by positioning; 3) gNB may inform the UE in the L1/L2 or L3 signaling; or combinations thereof.
[0107] In one example, directionality may be defined with respect to current position (e.g., navigation system (e.g., GPS, GNSS) coordinates or positioning system parameters (e.g., based on positioning techniques such as DL RSs (e.g., DL Observed Time Difference Of Arrival (“OTDOA”)), based on UL RSs (e.g., UL OTDOA), or combination of the range and angular measurements)) and/or speed/direction of travel of the UE. The directionality may determine the desired boresight angle (azimuth, elevation, or both), and the axis of maximum gain (maximum radiated power) for a (e.g., reference) transmission beam. The range may be conditioned on the indicated directionality, e.g., indicating the minimum distance in the angular direction (e.g., direction of the boresight angle with a certain (e.g., reference) beam width for a (e.g., reference) transmission) beam that the QoS parameters need to be fulfilled.
The above range QoS parameter, includes “one or more transmission direction” and is therefore indicating the most relevant direction for that transmission.
A person of ordinary skill in the art would reasonably interpret above as teaching, “wherein the one or more quality of service parameters are indicative of the higher relevance level to the one or more transmission directions…”
Conclusion
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OMER S. MIAN
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2461
/OMER S MIAN/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2461
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