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 .
Status of Claims
This office action is responsive to the amendment filed on 9/24/25. Claims 1 – 44 and 63 have been canceled and claims 45 – 62 and 64 are pending.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 9/24/25 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. Applicant argues Li does not disclose broadcast a scheduling indication comprising a serving range; receive a scheduling request from a second UE within the serving range; and provide resource information to the second UE for performing sidelink transmission. However, Examiner respectfully disagrees and points to the rejection below.
“Broadcast a scheduling indication comprising a serving range” is taught in paragraph 248: At step 2A, the sensing assistant may periodically broadcast or beam sweep the resource pool status, such as the time resource pool and frequency resource pool. For example, the bitmap of symbol pools or mini-slot pools, and the bitmap for RB pools or RBG pools may be broadcasted. The resource pool or resource status with other information such as interference, congestion, location or location zone, communication range, etc., may be carried on a NR-PSCCH or NR-PSSCH pointed by NR-PSBCH (e.g. SL-CORESET) or associated or QCLed with each NR-PSSS/NR-SSSS/NR-PSBCH block, or on an SA SCI carried on a NR-PSCCH, or on a broadcast NR-PSSCH…The periodicity configurations may be specified, and a specific broadcasting period configuration index may be indicated in NR-PSBCH.
“Receive a scheduling request from a second UE within the serving range” is taught in paragraph 251: At step 2A, the vehicle UE may send a request for a resource pool or resource status. The request may be sent on the Sidelink resource default or reserved for emergency request.
“Provide resource information to the second UE for performing sidelink transmission” is disclosed in paragraph 252: At step 2B, the sensing assistant may send a response with resource pool or resource status on the resource pools... indicated in the vehicle UE's request, which may contain a sidelink group ID or location zone ID of the Sensing Assistant.
Therefore, it is the Examiner’s position that the claim limitations as written have been met and the rejection has been maintained.
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.
Claims 45 – 53 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Li et al. (US 2021/0219268 A1).
Regarding claim 45, Li teaches a first user equipment (UE) (Fig. 9A: Other UE/Sensing Assistant) for wireless communication, comprising: at least one memory (inherent in UEs; paragraph 115); and at least one processor (inherent in UEs; paragraph 115) coupled with the at least one memory and configured to cause the first UE to: broadcast a scheduling indication comprising a serving range (paragraph 248: At step 2A, the sensing assistant may periodically broadcast or beam sweep the resource pool status, such as the time resource pool and frequency resource pool. For example, the bitmap of symbol pools or mini-slot pools, and the bitmap for RB pools or RBG pools may be broadcasted. The resource pool or resource status with other information such as interference, congestion, location or location zone, communication range, etc., may be carried on a NR-PSCCH or NR-PSSCH pointed by NR-PSBCH); receive a scheduling request from a second UE within the serving range (paragraph 251: At step 2A, the vehicle UE may send a request for a resource pool or resource status. The request may be sent on the Sidelink resource default or reserved for emergency request); and provide resource information to the second UE for performing sidelink transmission (paragraph 252: At step 2B, the sensing assistant may send a response with resource pool or resource status on the resource pools… indicated in the vehicle UE's request, which may contain a sidelink group ID or location zone ID of the Sensing Assistant).
Regarding claim 46, Li teaches the first UE of claim 45, wherein the scheduling indication further comprises one or more of: a UE identifier, geographical information, or resource pool information (paragraph 248: resource pool).
Regarding claim 47, Li teaches the first UE of claim 45, wherein the serving range is associated with one of a zone configuration, a validity area configuration, a UE group, a resource pool configuration, or a distance range centered on the first UE (paragraph 248: symbol pools or mini-slot pools, and the bitmap for RB pools or RBG pools may be broadcasted. The resource pool or resource status with other information such as interference, congestion, location or location zone, communication range, etc.).
Regarding claim 48, Li teaches the first UE of claim 45, wherein the scheduling request comprises one or more of: at least one quality of service (QoS) parameter, at least one traffic characteristic, or a sidelink buffer status report for an incoming traffic of the second UE (paragraph 244: traffic patterns (e.g., resource scheduled or reserved), …QoS information).
Regarding claim 49, Li teaches the first UE of claim 45, wherein the resource information indicates an individual resource from a dedicated scheduling resource subset or dedicated scheduling resource pool of the first UE (paragraph 202: the vehicle UE may select the resource pool candidates in the response… based on the dedicated resources).
Regarding claim 50, Li teaches the first UE of claim 45, wherein the resource information indicates an individual resource from a mode 2 resource pool or an available resource subset from a mode 2 resource pool (paragraph 347: sidelink resource allocation based on sidelink sensing and resource selection (e.g., Mode 2(a)).
Regarding claim 51, Li teaches the first UE of claim 45, wherein the scheduling request indicates a preferred resource of the second UE for performing sidelink transmission (paragraph 251: At step 2A, the vehicle UE may send a request for a resource pool or resource status. The request may be sent on the Sidelink resource default or reserved for emergency request indicated in Sensing Assistant's NR-PSBCH or NR-PSDCH or broadcast NR-PSSCH associated or QCLed with the selected NR-PSSS/NR-SSSS/NR-PSBCH block. The request may contain a sidelink group ID SL-G-RNTI a sidelink group member ID SL-G-CRNTI for group based sensing assistance if needed or the vehicle UE's sidelink ID SL-CRNTI or location zone ID for proximity or range based sensing assistance if needed).
Regarding claim 52, Li teaches the first UE of claim 45, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to cause the first UE to receive assistance information from the second UE within the serving range (paragraph 251: The request may be sent on the Sidelink resource default or reserved for emergency request indicated in Sensing Assistant's NR-PSBCH or NR-PSDCH or broadcast NR-PSSCH associated or QCLed with the selected NR-PSSS/NR-SSSS/NR-PSBCH block. The request may contain a sidelink group ID SL-G-RNTI a sidelink group member ID SL-G-CRNTI for group based sensing assistance if needed or the vehicle UE's sidelink ID SL-CRNTI or location zone ID for proximity or range based sensing assistance if needed).
Regarding claim 53, Li teaches the same limitations described above in the rejection of claim 45.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 54 – 62 and 64 are allowed.
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. 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.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to RHONDA L MURPHY whose telephone number is (571)272-3185. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 9:00-5:00pm.
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, Yemane Mesfin can be reached at (571) 272-3927. 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. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/RHONDA L MURPHY/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2462
Prosecution Insights