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 .
DETAILED ACTION
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 1/13/2026 has been entered.
Status of Application/Amendments/claims
Applicant’s amendment filed on 1/13/2026 is acknowledged. Claims 16, 26, 27 are amended.
Claims 16-27 are pending and have been examined, of which claims 16, 26 and 27 are independent.
Claim Rejections/Objections Maintained and New grounds of rejections
In view of the amendment filed, the following prior arts are maintained for the reasons as described in the response to argument section and the amendments are further addressed.
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 set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 148 USPQ 459 (1966), that are applied 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.
Claims 16-27 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Choi et al. (US 20200045664) in view of Jiang et al. (US 20220166571)
Regarding claim 16, Choi teaches a method of performing sidelink communication by a first terminal in a wireless communication system (fig 11, para 91: a beamforming-based sidelink communication method, including UE #1 and UE #2), the method comprising:
obtaining sidelink communication configuration information (para 88: configuration information for the beamforming-based sidelink communication is configured by higher layer signaling);
determining one or more resource pools, wherein the one or more resource pools are configured by a base station based on that sidelink resource allocation mode 1 (para 78: when the sidelink TM 3 is supported, the resource pool used for transmission of the sidelink control information may be configured by a dedicated RRC signaling procedure, the sidelink control information may be transmitted via resources scheduled by the base station 210 within the resource pool configured by the dedicated RRC signaling procedure), or the one or more resource pools are determined by the first terminal based on that sidelink resource allocation mode 2 (para 80: when the sidelink TM 4 is supported, the resource pool for transmitting and receiving sidelink data may be configured by a dedicated RRC signaling procedure or a broadcast RRC signaling procedure, the sidelink data may be transmitted and received via resources selected autonomously by the UE (e.g., UE 235 or 236) within the resource pool configured by the dedicated RRC signaling procedure or the broadcast RRC signaling procedure),
transmitting at least one or more signals based on the sidelink configuration information and transmitting it to a second terminal (fig 11, para 92- the UE #1 may be configured to transmit a sidelink synchronization signal block (SL-SSB) according to the beamforming level #0 (S1100); further, steps 1120, 1140, 1160 show UE#1 transmitting with different beamforming levels, number of beams); and
receiving detected signal information from the second terminal (para 93-94: the UE #2 may be configured to transmit a response message for the SL-SSB to the UE #1, the UE #1 may be configured to identify whether the response message for the SL-SSB is received by performing a monitoring operation on the resource configured by the base station or the resource indicated by the SL-SSB (S1110)),
wherein beam widths and number of the at least one or more signals configured based on the sidelink configuration information are determined based on a target region (fig 7-11; para 82: a beamforming level may be determined based on the distance between the UEs performing the sidelink communication, and the number of beams may be different based on the beamforming level), and
wherein the target region is determined based on a distance from the first terminal in a direction of a lane where the first terminal is located (fig 8-10; para 85-87: as shown in FIG. 8, the UE #1 may be configured to perform sidelink communication using 4 beams, one beam among beams #0 to #3 may be determined as a beam (e.g., beam #0) for the sidelink communication between the UE #1 and the UE #2, and the sidelink communication may be performed using the determined beam; here, fig 8-10 clearly shows the UE#1 located at the center and the UE#2 is located at a certain distance and in certain direction (in a lane) from UE#1. The term “lane” is given broadest reasonable interpretation in light of specification as a path, where the line between locations of UE#1 and UE#2 is considered a path or lane).
Choi reference teaches the beamforming in sidelink including different beamforming level based on distance between UE and the number of beams for the signal that correspond to the beamforming level. The reference teaches the different transmission modes for resource pool determination, but does not specify what is comprised in the resource pool. Jiang is directed to sidelink feedback transmission in the multi-TRP network.
Jiang further teaches wherein a resource pool includes a plurality of contiguous frequency resources in a frequency domain, and a set of slots in a time domain (para 118-123: the first radio resource pool and the second radio resource pool are maintained by a same serving cell, the first radio resource pool comprises K1 radio resource set(s), while the second radio resource pool comprises K2 radio resource set(s), where K1 and K2 are positive integers, any of the K1 radio resource set(s) occupies M3 multicarrier symbol(s) in time domain, and frequency-domain resources corresponding to M4 RB(s) in frequency domain, where M3 and M4 are both positive integers, any of the K2 radio resource set(s) occupies M5 multicarrier symbol(s) in time domain, and frequency-domain resources corresponding to M6 RB(s) in frequency domain, where M5 and M6 are both positive integers; fig 7-10). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine sidelink beamforming based on distance between UEs as taught by Choi with radio resource configuration for multi-TRP as taught by Jiang for the benefit of improving the spectrum efficiency of sidelink transmission as taught by Jiang in abstract.
Regarding claim 26, Choi teaches a terminal (communication node 300, fig 3 as UE (para 60-61); UE #1 in fig 11) for performing sidelink communication in a wireless communication system (fig 11, para 91: a beamforming-based sidelink communication method, including UE #1 and UE #2), the terminal comprising:
a transceiver (transceiver 330, fig 3); and
a processor (processor 310, fig 3) connected to the transceiver (fig 3), wherein the processor is configured (para 63) to:
obtain sidelink configuration information (para 88: configuration information for the beamforming-based sidelink communication is configured by higher layer signaling);
determine one or more resource pools, wherein the one or more resource pools are configured by a base station based on that sidelink resource allocation mode 1 (para 78: when the sidelink TM 3 is supported, the resource pool used for transmission of the sidelink control information may be configured by a dedicated RRC signaling procedure, the sidelink control information may be transmitted via resources scheduled by the base station 210 within the resource pool configured by the dedicated RRC signaling procedure), or the one or more resource pools are determined by the terminal based on that sidelink resource allocation mode 2 (para 80: when the sidelink TM 4 is supported, the resource pool for transmitting and receiving sidelink data may be configured by a dedicated RRC signaling procedure or a broadcast RRC signaling procedure, the sidelink data may be transmitted and received via resources selected autonomously by the UE (e.g., UE 235 or 236) within the resource pool configured by the dedicated RRC signaling procedure or the broadcast RRC signaling procedure);
transmit at least one or more signals based on the sidelink configuration information and transmit it to another terminal (fig 11, para 92- the UE #1 may be configured to transmit a sidelink synchronization signal block (SL-SSB) according to the beamforming level #0 (S1100); further, steps 1120, 1140, 1160 show UE#1 transmitting with different beamforming levels, number of beams); and
receive detected signal information from the another terminal through the transceiver (para 93-94: the UE #2 may be configured to transmit a response message for the SL-SSB to the UE #1, the UE #1 may be configured to identify whether the response message for the SL-SSB is received by performing a monitoring operation on the resource configured by the base station or the resource indicated by the SL-SSB (S1110)),
wherein beam widths and number of the at least one or more signals configured based on the sidelink configuration information are determined based on a target region (fig 7-11; para 82: a beamforming level may be determined based on the distance between the UEs performing the sidelink communication, and the number of beams may be different based on the beamforming level), and
wherein the target region is determined based on a distance from the first terminal in a direction of a lane where the first terminal is located (fig 8-10; para 85-87: as shown in FIG. 8, the UE #1 may be configured to perform sidelink communication using 4 beams, one beam among beams #0 to #3 may be determined as a beam (e.g., beam #0) for the sidelink communication between the UE #1 and the UE #2, and the sidelink communication may be performed using the determined beam; here, fig 8-10 clearly shows the UE#1 located at the center and the UE#2 is located at a certain distance and in certain direction (in a lane) from UE#1. The term “lane” is given broadest reasonable interpretation in light of specification as a path, where the line between locations of UE#1 and UE#2 is considered a path or lane).
Choi reference teaches the beamforming in sidelink including different beamforming level based on distance between UE and the number of beams for the signal that correspond to the beamforming level. The reference teaches the different transmission modes for resource pool determination, but does not specify what is comprised in the resource pool. Jiang is directed to sidelink feedback transmission in the multi-TRP network.
Jiang further teaches wherein a resource pool includes a plurality of contiguous frequency resources in a frequency domain, and a set of slots in a time domain (para 118-123: the first radio resource pool and the second radio resource pool are maintained by a same serving cell, the first radio resource pool comprises K1 radio resource set(s), while the second radio resource pool comprises K2 radio resource set(s), where K1 and K2 are positive integers, any of the K1 radio resource set(s) occupies M3 multicarrier symbol(s) in time domain, and frequency-domain resources corresponding to M4 RB(s) in frequency domain, where M3 and M4 are both positive integers, any of the K2 radio resource set(s) occupies M5 multicarrier symbol(s) in time domain, and frequency-domain resources corresponding to M6 RB(s) in frequency domain, where M5 and M6 are both positive integers; fig 7-10). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine sidelink beamforming based on distance between UEs as taught by Choi with radio resource configuration for multi-TRP as taught by Jiang for the benefit of improving the spectrum efficiency of sidelink transmission as taught by Jiang in abstract.
Regarding claim 27, Choi teaches a terminal (communication node 300, fig 3 as UE (para 60-61); UE #2 in fig 11) for performing sidelink communication in a wireless communication system (fig 11, para 91: a beamforming-based sidelink communication method, including UE #1 and UE #2), the terminal comprising:
a transceiver (transceiver 330, fig 3); and
a processor (processor 310, fig 3) connected to the transceiver (fig 3), wherein the processor is configured (para 63) to:
obtain sidelink configuration information (para 88: configuration information for the beamforming-based sidelink communication is configured by higher layer signaling);
determine one or more resource pools, wherein the one or more resource pools are configured by a base station based on that sidelink resource allocation mode 1 (para 78: when the sidelink TM 3 is supported, the resource pool used for transmission of the sidelink control information may be configured by a dedicated RRC signaling procedure, the sidelink control information may be transmitted via resources scheduled by the base station 210 within the resource pool configured by the dedicated RRC signaling procedure), or the one or more resource pools are determined by the terminal based on that sidelink resource allocation mode 2 (para 80: when the sidelink TM 4 is supported, the resource pool for transmitting and receiving sidelink data may be configured by a dedicated RRC signaling procedure or a broadcast RRC signaling procedure, the sidelink data may be transmitted and received via resources selected autonomously by the UE (e.g., UE 235 or 236) within the resource pool configured by the dedicated RRC signaling procedure or the broadcast RRC signaling procedure);
receive at least one or more signals based on the sidelink configuration information from another terminal through the transceiver (fig 11, para 93- the UE #2 may be configured to perform a monitoring operation to receive the SL-SSB, when the SL-SSB is received from the UE #1 and the signal strength of the received SL-SSB is equal to or greater than a preconfigured threshold value, the UE #2 may be configured to determine that the sidelink communication between the UE #1 and the UE #2 is possible); and
detect the at least one or more signals (para 93- the UE #2 may be configured to perform a monitoring operation to receive the SL-SSB) and transmit detected signal information to the another terminal through the transceiver (para 93-94: the UE #2 may be configured to transmit a response message for the SL-SSB to the UE #1, the UE #1 may be configured to identify whether the response message for the SL-SSB is received by performing a monitoring operation on the resource configured by the base station or the resource indicated by the SL-SSB (S1110)),
wherein beam widths and number of the at least one or more signals configured based on the sidelink configuration information are determined based on a target region (fig 7-11; para 82: a beamforming level may be determined based on the distance between the UEs performing the sidelink communication, and the number of beams may be different based on the beamforming level), and
wherein the target region is determined based on a distance from the first terminal in a direction of a lane where the first terminal is located (fig 8-10; para 85-87: as shown in FIG. 8, the UE #1 may be configured to perform sidelink communication using 4 beams, one beam among beams #0 to #3 may be determined as a beam (e.g., beam #0) for the sidelink communication between the UE #1 and the UE #2, and the sidelink communication may be performed using the determined beam; here, fig 8-10 clearly shows the UE#1 located at the center and the UE#2 is located at a certain distance and in certain direction (in a lane) from UE#1. The term “lane” is given broadest reasonable interpretation in light of specification as a path, where the line between locations of UE#1 and UE#2 is considered a path or lane).
Choi reference teaches the beamforming in sidelink including different beamforming level based on distance between UE and the number of beams for the signal that correspond to the beamforming level. The reference teaches the different transmission modes for resource pool determination, but does not specify what is comprised in the resource pool. Jiang is directed to sidelink feedback transmission in the multi-TRP network.
Jiang further teaches wherein a resource pool includes a plurality of contiguous frequency resources in a frequency domain, and a set of slots in a time domain (para 118-123: the first radio resource pool and the second radio resource pool are maintained by a same serving cell, the first radio resource pool comprises K1 radio resource set(s), while the second radio resource pool comprises K2 radio resource set(s), where K1 and K2 are positive integers, any of the K1 radio resource set(s) occupies M3 multicarrier symbol(s) in time domain, and frequency-domain resources corresponding to M4 RB(s) in frequency domain, where M3 and M4 are both positive integers, any of the K2 radio resource set(s) occupies M5 multicarrier symbol(s) in time domain, and frequency-domain resources corresponding to M6 RB(s) in frequency domain, where M5 and M6 are both positive integers; fig 7-10). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine sidelink beamforming based on distance between UEs as taught by Choi with radio resource configuration for multi-TRP as taught by Jiang for the benefit of improving the spectrum efficiency of sidelink transmission as taught by Jiang in abstract.
Regarding claim 17, Choi further teaches wherein the target region is divided into a plurality of regions based on a distance from the first terminal (table 3, fig 7-10 show the beamforming level that increases coverage with higher level, and the regions are divided into 1, 4, 6 or 8 based on level), and the beam widths and number of beams are determined according to the plurality of regions (para 82: a beamforming level may be determined based on the distance between the UEs performing the sidelink communication, and the number of beams may be different based on the beamforming level; as shown in table 3, the beam width decreases as the level increases).
Regarding claim 18, Choi further teaches wherein a beam width of a first region among the plurality of regions is determined to be a first value and a beam width of a second region is determined to be a second value (fig 8-10; para 83: the width of each of the beams according to a beamforming level #1 may be wider than the width of each of the beams according to a beamforming level #2 or #3), and wherein, when the first region is closer to the first terminal than the second region, the first value is set to a value greater than the second value (fig 8-10; para 83: the coverage of each of the beams according to the beamforming level #1 may be shorter than the coverage of each of the beams according to the beam forming level #2 or #3, among the beamforming levels #1 to #3, the beam width according to the beamforming level #1 may be the widest, and the coverage of the beam according to the beamforming level #3 may be the longest).
Regarding claim 19, Choi further teaches wherein a discovery beam set used by the first terminal and the second terminal for initial beam configuration (fig 11, steps 1100, 1120, 1140, 1160; UE#1 transmits SL-SSB according to beamforming level 0, 1, 2, 3 to receive response from UE#2; configuration is shown in table 3 and fig 7-10; para 105: the UE #1 may be configured to transmit an SL-SSB using a beam #0 in an interval #0, an SL-SSB using a beam #1 in an interval #1, and an SL-SSB using a beam #2 in an interval #2, an SL-SSB using a beam #3 in an interval #3, an SL-SSB using a beam #4 in an interval #4, and an SL-SSB using a beam #5 in an interval #5) and a tracking beam set used for beam refinement and beam tracking after the first terminal and the second terminal are connected are configured differently (para 109: the sidelink communication between the UE #1 and the UE #2 may be performed preferentially using the operation beam. The sidelink communication between the UE #1 and the UE #2 may be performed using a candidate beam instead of the operation beam when the quality of the communication using the operation beam is degraded based on a channel state between the UE #1 and the UE #2 (e.g., when a failure of the operation beam occurs); here, the SL-SSB and beams set used for discovery are different than operational beam and candidate beams used during the sidelink communication while tracking quality/degradation).
Regarding claim 20, Choi further teaches wherein beam widths and number of beams of each of the discovery beam set and the tracking beam set are determined differently according to a plurality of regions in the target region (as shown in fig 7-11 and described with respect to fig 11, the beam width and number of beams for discovery beam set is based on the beamforming level number; further as described with respect to step 1180 in fig 11 with multiple levels in para 100, 102, 109, 111, when the response message includes indices of a plurality of beams, the UE #1 may configure one (e.g., the beam through which the SL-SSB is received with the largest received signal strength) of the plurality of beams as an operation beam (e.g., optimal beam), and may configure the remaining beams excluding the operation beam among the plurality of beams as candidate beams; thus, discovery beam set is considered in all directions and the coverage is based on the beamforming level, while the tracking beam set is considered limited in the beam directions that have SL-SSB received with received signal strength higher than threshold).
Regarding claim 21, Choi further teaches wherein, when the beam width of the discovery beam set for a first region among the plurality of regions is determined to be a first value (table 3; beam width and number of beams for each of beamforming level 1, fig 8) and the beam width of the discovery beam set for a second region which is a next region of the first region is determined to be a second value based on a distance from the first terminal (table 3; beam width and number of beams for each of beamforming level 0, fig 7; the coverage distance of level 1 is more than level 0), the beam width of the tracking beam set for the first region is determined to be a second value (fig 11, based on the response received from the UE#2 of the corresponding beam direction, level and indices of beam, the operation beam and candidate beams are determined as described in para 100).
Regarding claim 22, Choi further teaches wherein the number of beams of the tracking beam set for the first region is set greater than the number of beams of the discovery beam set for the second region (as shown in fig 7, the number of beam for level 0 for discovery in step 1100 of fig 11 is one (number of beams in second region), while plurality of beams can be indicated as operation and candidate beam as described in para 100 (number of beams in first region)).
Regarding claim 23, Choi further teaches wherein, when the second terminal detects the at least one or more signals transmitted by the first terminal (para 98: the UE #2 may be configured to perform a monitoring operation to receive the SL-SSB) based on initial beam configuration or beam failure recovery (para 96: when the response message for the SL-SSB is not received through the resource configured by the base station or the UE #1 (failure), the UE #1 may be configured to transmit the SL-SSB according to the beamforming level #1, which is the next level of the beamforming level #0 (S1120), the second terminal performs measurement on each of the at least one or more signals transmitted by the first terminal through sweeping to obtain measurement value information (para 96: the UE #1 may be configured to transmit an SL-SSB using a beam #0 in an interval #0, an SL-SSB using a beam #1 in an interval #1, an SL-SSB using a beam #2 in an interval #2, and an SL-SSB using a beam #3 in an interval #3; para 100: when the SL-SSB having the received signal strength equal to or greater than Tsignal is received through a plurality of beams, the UE #2 may configure a beam through which the SL-SSB is received with the largest received signal strength as an operation beam (i.e., a beam used for the sidelink communication between the UE #1 and the UE #2)) and transmits measurement value information of each of the at least one or more signals to the first terminal as the detected signal information (para 102: when the response message includes indices of a plurality of beams, the UE #1 may configure one (e.g., the beam through which the SL-SSB is received with the largest received signal strength) of the plurality of beams as an operation beam (e.g., optimal beam), and may configure the remaining beams excluding the operation beam among the plurality of beams as candidate beams).
Regarding claim 24, Choi further teaches wherein the second terminal obtains the measurement value information of each of the at least one or more signals based on a beam sweeping period (para 96: the UE #1 may be configured to transmit an SL-SSB using a beam #0 in an interval #0, an SL-SSB using a beam #1 in an interval #1, an SL-SSB using a beam #2 in an interval #2, and an SL-SSB using a beam #3 in an interval #3; para 100: the SL-SSB having the received signal strength equal to or greater than Tsignal is received through a plurality of beams, the UE #2 may configure a beam through which the SL-SSB is received with the largest received signal strength as an operation beam (i.e., a beam used for the sidelink communication between the UE #1 and the UE #2), and may configure the remaining beams excluding the operation beam among the plurality of beams as candidate beams) and transmits all the measurement value information to the first terminal as the detected signal information (para 102: when the response message includes indices of a plurality of beams, the UE #1 may configure one (e.g., the beam through which the SL-SSB is received with the largest received signal strength) of the plurality of beams as an operation beam (e.g., optimal beam), and may configure the remaining beams excluding the operation beam among the plurality of beams as candidate beams).
Regarding claim 25, Choi further teaches wherein the first terminal determines a distance and location of the second terminal based on the received measurement value information of each of the at least one or more signals (para 82: a beamforming level may be determined based on the distance between the UEs performing the sidelink communication, and the number of beams may be different based on the beamforming level; as described in fig 11, and shown in fig 7-10, the response message from UE#2 indicates the beam index based on beamforming level, where the beam index is indicative of location, and beamforming level is indicative of UE#2 location, as shown in fig 7-10).
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed with respect to Choi reference not teaching the claim limitation of “the target region is determined based on a distance from the first terminal in a direction of a lane where the first terminal is located” in claim 16 (page 7), have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
The applicant argues that the Choi reference teaches the parameter used for determining the number of beams and the beam width is only the distance between the UEs, and it is silent to distances limited to a traveling lane. The examiner respectfully disagrees. It is noted that although the claims are interpreted in light of the specification, limitations from the specification are not read into the claims. The term “lane” is given broadest reasonable interpretation in light of specification. The term is considered any path or direction and not only limited to traveling lane as shown in fig 11 of the instant application. Further, the claim does not recite any limitations related to traveling. The Choi reference teaches with respect to fig 8-10 and para 85-87, that the UE #1 determines as a beam (e.g., beam #0) to perform the sidelink communication between the UE #1 and the UE #2. As shown in fig 8-10, the UE#1 is located at the center and the UE#2 is located at a certain distance and in certain direction (in a lane) from UE#1. The locations of UE#1 and UE#2 indicate distance of UE2 from UE1 and direction from UE1 to UE2, which is considered as a lane. The locations of UE 1 and UE 2 shown in fig 8-10 indicates distance and direction and is used to determine the target area. Thus, Choi reference teaches the argued limitation.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to RINA C PANCHOLI whose telephone number is (571)272-2679. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 7:30am-4pm.
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/RINA C PANCHOLI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2477 2/5/2026