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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 12/24/2025 has been entered.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 11/24/2025 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. With respect to the rejection under 35 U.S.C. 103 based on Dai as modified by BALASUBRAMANIAN, the Applicant the applicant states that the prior art does not disclose or suggest, “receive, from a sidelink (SL) configuration source, a request to provide capability information related to a capability of the UE to perform SL angle of arrival (AoA) positioning techniques or SL angle of departure (AoD) techniques, wherein the sidelink configuration source comprises at least one of a location management function (LMF), a base station, or a roadside unit (RSU)” and “receive from the SL configuration source a plurality of SL positioning reference signal (PRS) assistance data associated with a plurality of SL signal transmissions that serve as reference signal transmissions and are selected from transmissions from one or more SL signal transmitting devices separate from the sidelink configuration source” as recited by amended claim 1. The Examiner respectfully disagrees and maintains the art rejection.
The Applicant states on page 13 of their arguments filled 11/24/2025, “The Office Action concedes that Dai does not teach or suggest, "receive, from a sidelink (SL) configuration source, a request to provide capability information related to a capability of the UE to perform SL angle of arrival (AoA) positioning techniques or SL angle of departure (AoD) techniques." This is not a correct assessment of the final rejection filled 09/24/2025. With respect to the above limitation the final rejection states “Dai discloses receiving a configuration message [0124], but does not explicitly disclose nor limit wherein the configuration message includes capability information.” As previously stated by final rejection Dia does disclose wherein the UE receives configuration information from a sidelink configuration source [0051]. The rejection only acquiesce that Dai is silent on “capability information,” relying upon BALASUBRAMANIAN for this information. Dai further discloses “a premium UE may be a roadside unit (RSU) “on paragraph [0109] and “ The UE 800-1 may receive positioning signal muting information from an RSU such as the TRP 300” on paragraph [0124]. Dai discloses receiving configuration information from a sidelink configuration source wherein the sidelink configuration source comprises at least a roadside unit (RSU). As the Applicant does not contest BALASUBRAMANIAN’s disclosure relating to “capability information” the Examiner maintains that Dai as modified by BALASUBRAMANIAN disclose “receive, from a sidelink (SL) configuration source, a request to provide capability information related to a capability of the UE to perform SL angle of arrival (AoA) positioning techniques or SL angle of departure (AoD) techniques, wherein the sidelink configuration source comprises at least one of a location management function (LMF), a base station, or a roadside unit (RSU).”
Further, Applicant's arguments with respect to the limitation, “receive from the SL configuration source a plurality of SL positioning reference signal (PRS) assistance data associated with a plurality of SL signal transmissions that serve as reference signal transmissions and are selected from transmissions from one or more SL signal transmitting devices separate from the sidelink configuration source” as recited by claim 1 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely solely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
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.
Claims 1-3, 5-8, 14-15 and 17-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Dai et al (WO 2021/232228) which is equivalent to (US20230209494) cited herein in view of BALASUBRAMANIAN (US20220039054A1), and further in view of Khoryaev(US20160095092A1).
Regarding claim 1, Dai discloses
A user equipment (UE) comprising: at least one memory (FIG.4 Part 411); and at least one processor (“comprises a computing platform including a processor 410“ [0070]) coupled with the at least one memory (FIG.4 Part 420) and configured to cause the UE to: receive, from a sidelink (SL) configuration source (FIG.9, Part.912) […] wherein the sidelink configuration source comprises at least one of a location management function (LMF), a base station, or a roadside unit (RSU) (“a premium UE may be a roadside unit (RSU) “ [0109]); receive from the SL configuration source a plurality of SL positioning reference signal (PRS)assistance data associated with a plurality of SL signal transmissions that serve as reference signal transmissions (“UEs used as reference points may […] transmit and/or receive PRS to/from other UEs “ [0109]) and are selected from transmissions (“ As shown, RF beams 706-1, 706-2 may be sent by the base stations 702-1, 702-2 in straight lines to the UE” [0107]), one or more SL signal transmitting devices (“devices (“a premium UE may transmit a sidelink positioning reference signal” [0025]) […]; receive the SL reference signal transmissions from the one or more SL signal transmitting devices (“another premium UE may receive and measure the sidelink positioning reference signal.” [0025]); and perform SL AoA measurements of the received SL reference signal transmissions or perform SL reference signal received power (RSRP)measurements (“While the system 700 illustrates AoD position determination , angle of arrival (AoA) may also be used to determine UE position” [0107]) for deriving SL AoD calculations mapped to the SL RSRP measurements for determining an estimated location of the UE(“Referring to FIG. 7, a wireless communications system 700 for determining UE position using angle of departure (AoD) information includes base stations 702-1, 702-2, and a UE 704” [0107]), SL AoA positioning techniques, or a combination thereof (“In the case of E-CID, the LPP or NPP message may instruct the UE 105 to obtain one or more measurement quantities” [0052]).
Dai discloses receiving a configuration message [0124], but does not explicitly disclose nor limit wherein the configuration message includes capability information. BALASUBRAMANIAN discloses the user equipment comprising, a request to provide capability information related to a capability of the UE to perform SL angle of arrival (AoA) positioning techniques or SL angle of departure (AoD) techniques (“the entity that requires LMC capability requests from one or more VUEs in the region their positioning capabilities” [0094]); in response to receiving the request, transmit the requested capability information to the SL configuration source (“the PUE/VUE that requires the LMC capability may request this information (and exchange their own capabilities)” [0094]).
BALASUBRAMANIAN teaches in the same field of endeavor of sidelink positioning. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Dai with the teachings of BALASUBRAMANIAN to incorporate the features of exchanging capability information related to a capability of the UE to perform SL angle of arrival (AoA) positioning techniques or SL angle of departure (AoD) techniques so as to gain the advantage of improving accuracy [0102, BALASUBRAMANIAN]. Also, since it has been held that if a technique has been used to improve one device, and a person of ordinary skill in the art would recognize that it would improve similar devices in the same way, using the technique is obvious unless its actual application is beyond his or her skill (MPEP 2143).
Dai as modified by BALASUBRAMANIAN disclose receiving from the SL configuration source, a plurality of SL PRS data associated with a plurality of SL signal transmissions and are selected from one or more SL signal transmitting devices. Dai as modified by BALASUBRAMANIAN does not explicitly disclose nor limit wherein the SL signal transmitting devices are separate from the sidelink configuration source. Khoryaev discloses wherein the SL signal transmitting devices are separate from the sidelink configuration source (“Wireless network 120, such as via eNB 125, may activate some of UEs 110-114 (e.g. anchor UEs/terminals with fixed positions and known coordinates) to transmit Sidelink positioning reference signals using predefined resources” [0081]).
Khoryaev teaches in the same field of endeavor of sidelink positioning. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Dai as modified by BALASUBRAMANIAN with the teachings of Khoryaev to incorporate the features of the SL signal transmitting devices being separate from the sidelink configuration source so as to gain the advantage of improving positioning accuracy [0012, Khoryaev]. Also, since it has been held that if a technique has been used to improve one device, and a person of ordinary skill in the art would recognize that it would improve similar devices in the same way, using the technique is obvious unless its actual application is beyond his or her skill (MPEP 2143).
Regarding claim 2, Dai as modified by BALASUBRAMANIAN and further modified by Khoryaev teach all of the limitations of claim 1. Dia discloses the user equipment wherein; the one or more SLtransmitting devices are selected from RSUs and UEs other than the UE (“a premium UE may be a roadside unit (RSU) (also known as a roadside equipment (RSE)) that is part of a C-V2X infrastructure […] and may transmit and/or receive PRS to/from other UEs” [0109]),wherein: in response to being configured for UE-based SL angular-based positioning, the at least one processor is configured to cause the UE to determine its estimated location based on the SL AoA measurements and/or the SL AoD calculations mapped to the SL RSRP measurements (“One or more of many different positioning techniques (also called positioning methods) may be used to determine position of an entity such as one of the UEs 112-11 4. For example, known position-determination techniques include […] DL-AoD, UL-AoA, ” [0078]); and in response to being configured for UE-assisted SL angular-based positioning, the at least one processor is configured to cause the UE to report the SL AoA measurements and/or the SL RSRP measurements to an LMF (“ The LMF 120 may support positioning of the UE 105 when the UE 105 accesses the NG-RAN 135 and may support position procedures / methods such as […] angle of arrival (AOA), angle of departure (AOD), and/or other position methods” [0045] & “ the UE 105 may obtain location measurements and send the measurements to a location server (e.g., the LMF 120) […] Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP) “ [0048] )
Regarding claim 3, Dai as modified by BALASUBRAMANIAN and further modified by Khoryaev teach all of the limitations of claim 1. Dia discloses the user equipment wherein, the received SL signal transmissions comprise SL signals selected from SL synchronization signals(SLSS) , SL channel-state information reference signals (CSI-RS), SLPRS, or a combination thereof (“the SL-PRS may be an SL signal repurposed for positioning, such as SL-PSS (SL primary synchronization signal), SL-SSS (SL secondary synchronization signal), SL-CSI-RS (SL channel state information reference signal)” [0112]).
Regarding claim 5, Dai as modified by BALASUBRAMANIAN and further modified by Khoryaev teach all of the limitations of claim 2. Dia discloses the user equipment wherein, the estimated location of the UE is based on the derived AoD calculations using further spatial direction information selected from azimuth, elevation, zenith, or a combination thereof, corresponding to the received SL signal transmissions (“The UE 504 may correspond to any of the UEs described herein, and is configured to calculate an estimated position of the UE 504, and/or assist another entity (e.g., a base station or core network component, another UE, a location server, a third party application, etc.) to calculate an estimate the position of the UE 504.“ [0092] & “Referring to FIG. 7, a wireless communications system 700 for determining UE position using angle of departure (AoD) information includes base stations 702-1, 702-2,” [0107]).
Regarding claim 6, Dai as modified by BALASUBRAMANIAN and further modified by Khoryaev teach all of the limitations of claim 1. Dia discloses the user equipment wherein, the estimated location of the UE is determined for a configured SL AoA based positioning technique (‘angle of arrival (AoA) may also be used to determine UE position” [0107]) using measured phase differences of the SL signal transmissions received at a plurality of receive antenna elements of the UE (“the angle of arrival of beams from the UE 704 at the base stations 702-1, 702-2 may be found, and this information along with the locations of the base stations 702-1, 702-2 may be used to determine the location of the UE 704.”[0107]).
Regarding claim 7, Dai as modified by BALASUBRAMANIAN and further modified by Khoryaev teach all of the limitations of claim 1. Dia discloses the user equipment wherein, the SL signal transmissions received by the UE are measured at a plurality of time instances corresponding to points along a trajectory of the UE (“ The instantaneous direction of motion and the displacement may be integrated to track a location of the UE 200. “ [0060]).
Regarding claim 8, Dai as modified by BALASUBRAMANIAN and further modified by Khoryaev teach all of the limitations of claim 1. Dia discloses the user equipment wherein, in response to being configured for ULE-assisted angular-based positioning, the at least one processor is configured to cause the UE to report to a location management function (LMF) (“The sensor(s) 213 may be useful to determine whether the UE 200 is fixed (stationary) or mobile and/or whether to report certain useful information to the LMF 120 “ [0059]), an index corresponding to a plurality of SL-PRS resource sets (“Each frequency layer has a DL-PRS cyclic prefix (CP) for the DL-PRS resource sets” [0085] & “TRP may be configured to send one or more PRS resource sets” )
Regarding claim 14, Dai discloses
A method for sidelink SLbased positioning of a target user equipment(UE) in a communication network, the method selected from a first setoff SL angular-based positioning techniques selected from SL angle of arrival(AoA) positioning(“Referring to FIG. 7, a wireless communications system 700 for determining UE position using angle of departure (AoD) information includes base stations 702-1, 702-2, and a UE 704” [0107]), SL angle of departure(AoD) positioning, or combinations thereof (“Referring to FIG. 7, a wireless communications system 700 for determining UE position using angle of departure (AoD) information includes base stations 702-1, 702-2, and a UE 704” [0107]), and a second set of SLpositioning techniques based on one or more SL radio resource management (RRM) measurements, wherein: the first SL angular-based positioning technique comprises: receiving a request from a SL configuration source (FIG.9, Part.912) […] wherein the sidelink configuration source comprises at least one of a location management function (LMF), a base station, or a roadside unit (RSU) (“a premium UE may be a roadside unit (RSU) “ [0109]); receiving a plurality of SL positioning reference signals(PRS) assistance data associated with a plurality of SL signal transmissions that serve as reference signal transmissions (“ the UE 800-1 may send a configuration request message 1016 to the UE 800-2 and/or the UE 800-2 may send a configuration message 1018 to the UE 800-1.“ [0124]) and are selected from transmissions (“ As shown, RF beams 706-1, 706-2 may be sent by the base stations 702-1, 702-2 in straight lines to the UE” [0107]), from one or more SL signal transmitting devices(“UEs used as reference points may […] transmit and/or receive PRS to/from other UEs “ [0109]) […]; receiving the SL reference signal transmissions from the one or more SL signal transmitting devices (“a premium UE may transmit a sidelink positioning reference signal and another premium UE may receive and measure the sidelink positioning reference signal.” [0025]); performing configured measurements selected from: SL AoA measurements of the received SL reference signal transmissions for determining an estimated location of the target UE using SL AoA positioning techniques(“In the case of E-CID, the LPP or NPP message may instruct the UE 105 to obtain one or more measurement quantities” [0052]); SL reference signal received power (RSRP) measurements for deriving AoD calculations mapped to the received SL reference signal transmissions for determining the estimated location of the target UE using SL AoD positioning techniques; (“Referring to FIG. 7, a wireless communications system 700 for determining UE position using angle of departure (AoD) information includes base stations 702-1, 702-2, and a UE 704” [0107] & “ the UE 105 may obtain location measurements and send the measurements to a location server (e.g., the LMF 120) […] Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP) “ [0048]); or a combination thereof (“In the case of E-CID, the LPP or NPP message may instruct the UE 105 to obtain one or more measurement quantities” [0052]).
Dai discloses receiving a configuration message [0124], but does not explicitly disclose nor limit wherein the configuration message includes capability information. BALASUBRAMANIAN discloses the method comprising, receiving a request from a SL configuration source to provide capability information related to a capability of the UE to perform SL AoA positioning techniques or SL AoD techniques, or SL AoD techniques (“the entity that requires LMC capability requests from one or more VUEs in the region their positioning capabilities” [0094]); in response to receiving the request, transmitting the requested capability information to the SL configuration source (“the PUE/VUE that requires the LMC capability may request this information (and exchange their own capabilities)” [0094]).
BALASUBRAMANIAN teaches in the same field of endeavor of sidelink positioning. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Dai with the teachings of BALASUBRAMANIAN to incorporate the features of exchanging capability information related to a capability of the UE to perform SL angle of arrival (AoA) positioning techniques or SL angle of departure (AoD) techniques so as to gain the advantage of improving accuracy [0102, BALASUBRAMANIAN]. Also, since it has been held that if a technique has been used to improve one device, and a person of ordinary skill in the art would recognize that it would improve similar devices in the same way, using the technique is obvious unless its actual application is beyond his or her skill (MPEP 2143).
Dai as modified by BALASUBRAMANIAN disclose receiving from the SL configuration source, a plurality of SL PRS data associated with a plurality of SL signal transmissions and are selected from one or more SL signal transmitting devices. Dai as modified by BALASUBRAMANIAN does not explicitly disclose nor limit wherein the SL signal transmitting devices are separate from the sidelink configuration source. Khoryaev discloses wherein the SL signal transmitting devices are separate from the sidelink configuration source (“Wireless network 120, such as via eNB 125, may activate some of UEs 110-114 (e.g. anchor UEs/terminals with fixed positions and known coordinates) to transmit Sidelink positioning reference signals using predefined resources” [0081]).
Khoryaev teaches in the same field of endeavor of sidelink positioning. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Dai as modified by BALASUBRAMANIAN with the teachings of Khoryaev to incorporate the features of the SL signal transmitting devices being separate from the sidelink configuration source so as to gain the advantage of improving positioning accuracy [0012, Khoryaev]. Also, since it has been held that if a technique has been used to improve one device, and a person of ordinary skill in the art would recognize that it would improve similar devices in the same way, using the technique is obvious unless its actual application is beyond his or her skill (MPEP 2143).
Regarding claim 15, Dai as modified by BALASUBRAMANIAN and further modified by Khoryaev teach all of the limitations of claim 14. Dia discloses the method wherein, the second set of SL positioning techniques based on SL RRM comprises: performing one or SLRRM measurements selected from measurements of (“In the case of E-CID, the LPP or NPP message may instruct the UE 105 to obtain one or more measurement quantities” [0052]): physical SL broadcast channel PSBCH (“physical sidelink broadcast channel” [0112]) reference signal received power(RSRP) (“Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP)” [0048]) , physical SL shared channel (PSSCH) RSPR (“physical sidelink shared channel)”[0110]), physical SLcontrol channel (PSCCH) RSRP (“physical sidelink control channel” [0112]), SL channel-state information reference signals (CSI-RS) ")(“SL-CSI-RS,”[0113]), SL synchronization signals(SLSS) (“the SL-PRS may be an SL signal repurposed for positioning, such as SL-PSS (SL primary synchronization signal)”[0112]), or a combination thereof; and determining the estimated location of the target UE based on the selected SL RRM measurements (“The sensor(s) 213 may be useful to determine whether the UE 200 is fixed (stationary) or mobile and/or whether to report certain useful information to the LMF 120 “ [0059]).
Regarding claim 17, Dai as modified by BALASUBRAMANIAN and further modified by Khoryaev teach all of the limitations of claim 14. Dia discloses the method wherein, the received SL signal transmissions comprise SL signals selected from (“In the case of E-CID, the LPP or NPP message may instruct the UE 105 to obtain one or more measurement quantities” [0052]) SL synchronization signals (SLSS) (“the SL-PRS may be an SL signal repurposed for positioning, such as SL-PSS (SL primary synchronization signal)”[0112]), SL channel-state information reference signals (SL CSI-RS) (“SL-CSI-RS,”[0113]), SL PRS, or a combination thereof (“the SL-PRS may be an SL signal repurposed for positioning, such as SL-PSS (SL primary synchronization signal)”[0112]).
Regarding claim 18, Dai as modified by BALASUBRAMANIAN and further modified by Khoryaev teach all of the limitations of claim 14. Dia discloses the method wherein, the estimated location of the target UE is based on the derived AoD calculations using further spatial direction information selected from azimuth, elevation, zenith, or a combination thereof, corresponding to the received SL signal transmissions (“The UE 504 may correspond to any of the UEs described herein, and is configured to calculate an estimated position of the UE 504, and/or assist another entity (e.g., a base station or core network component, another UE, a location server, a third party application, etc.) to calculate an estimate the position of the UE 504.“ [0092] & “Referring to FIG. 7, a wireless communications system 700 for determining UE position using angle of departure (AoD) information includes base stations 702-1, 702-2,” [0107]); and wherein the estimated location of the target UE is determined for a configured SL AoA based positioning technique (‘angle of arrival (AoA) may also be used to determine UE position” [0107]) using measured phase differences of the SL signal transmissions received at a plurality of receive antenna elements of the target UE (“the angle of arrival of beams from the UE 704 at the base stations 702-1, 702-2 may be found, and this information along with the locations of the base stations 702-1, 702-2 may be used to determine the location of the UE 704.”[0107]).
Regarding claim 19, Dai as modified by BALASUBRAMANIAN and further modified by Khoryaev teach all of the limitations of claim 14. Dia discloses the method wherein, the SL signal transmissions received by the target UE are configured and measured at a plurality of time instances corresponding to points along a trajectory of the target UE (“The instantaneous direction of motion and the displacement may be integrated to track a location of the UE 200. “ [0060]).
Regarding claim 20, Dai as modified by BALASUBRAMANIAN and further modified by Khoryaev teach all of the limitations of claim 14. Dia discloses the method wherein, in response to being configured for UE-assisted angular-based positioning, the target UE reports to a location management function (LMF) (“The sensor(s) 213 may be useful to determine whether the UE 200 is fixed (stationary) or mobile and/or whether to report certain useful information to the LMF 120 “ [0059]), an index corresponding to a plurality of SL-PRS resource sets (“Each frequency layer has a DL-PRS cyclic prefix (CP) for the DL-PRS resource sets” [0085] & “TRP may be configured to send one or more PRS resource sets” ).
Claims 4 and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Dai et al (WO 2021/232228) which is equivalent to (US20230209494) cited herein as modified by BALASUBRAMANIAN (US20220039054A1) and further modified by Khoryaev(US20160095092A1) as applied to claims 1 and 14 above, and further in view of RYU(US20210014831A1).
Regarding claim 4, Dai modified by BALASUBRAMANIAN and further modified by Khoryaev
discloses all of the limitations of claim 2. Dai modified by BALASUBRAMANIAN and further modified by Khoryaev fails to set forth the UE of claim 4. Ryu discloses the UE wherein, the UE is configured with a set of identifiers (IDs selected from: RSU identifier (ID, a source UE-ID, a destination UE-ID; Zone ID; SL transmission reception point (TRP ID; SL PRS ID; or a combination thereof configured to uniquely identify SL reference signal resources to be measured by the UE and/or reported by the UE (“ The SCI may include at least one of resource allocation information used for sidelink data transmission […] group destination ID information, transmitter ID (source ID) information, unicast destination ID information” [0166] & “The location information may be an ID of a zone” [0269]).
RYU teaches in the same field of endeavor of Sidelink communication. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Dai as modified by BALASUBRAMANIAN and Khoryaev with the teachings of Ryu to incorporate the feature of a set of data Identifiers so as to gain the advantage of improving reception reliability of sidelink control information [0016, Ryu]. Also, since it has been held that if a technique has been used to improve one device, and a person of ordinary skill in the art would recognize that it would improve similar devices in the same way, using the technique is obvious unless its actual application is beyond his or her skill (MPEP 2143).
Regarding claim 16, Dai modified by BALASUBRAMANIAN and further modified by Khoryaev discloses all of the limitations of claim 14. Dai modified by BALASUBRAMANIAN and further modified by Khoryaev fails to set forth the method of claim 16. Ryu discloses the method wherein, the selected SL RRM measurements are differentiated based on a roadside unit (RSU) identifier (ID), a source UE ID, a destination UE ID, or a combination thereof (“ The SCI may include at least one of resource allocation information used for sidelink data transmission […] group destination ID information, transmitter ID (source ID) information, unicast destination ID information” [0166] & “The location information may be an ID of a zone” [0269]).
RYU teaches in the same field of endeavor of Sidelink communication. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Dai as modified by BALASUBRAMANIAN and Khoryaev with the teachings of Ryu to incorporate the feature of a set of data Identifiers so as to gain the advantage of improving reception reliability of sidelink control information [0016, Ryu]. Also, since it has been held that if a technique has been used to improve one device, and a person of ordinary skill in the art would recognize that it would improve similar devices in the same way, using the technique is obvious unless its actual application is beyond his or her skill (MPEP 2143).
Claims 9, and 12-13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Dai et al (WO 2021/232228) which is equivalent to (US20230209494) cited herein in view of BALASUBRAMANIAN (US20220039054A1).
Regarding claim 9, Dai discloses
A user equipment(UE) comprising: at least one memory(FIG.4 Part 411); and at least one processor (“comprises a computing platform including a processor 410“ [0070]) coupled with the at least one memory (FIG.4 Part 420) and configured to cause the UE to: receive, from a sidelink (SL) configuration source (FIG.9, Part.912) […] wherein the sidelink configuration source comprises at least one of a location management function (LMF), a base station, or a roadside unit (RSU) (“a premium UE may be a roadside unit (RSU) “ [0109]); receive one or more reference signals from at least one transmitting device separate from the SL configuration source (“ Groups of UEs communicating via D2D communications may utilize a one-to-many (1:M) system in which each UE may transmit to other UEs in the group” [0040] & “the UEs may send SRS (Sounding Reference Signal) signals that are received by multiple TRPs” [0089]); perform one or more SLRRM measurements based on the one or more reference signal (“In the case of E-CID, the LPP or NPP message may instruct the UE 105 to obtain one or more measurement quantities” [0052]) selected from measurements of: physical SL broadcast channel PSBCH(“ (e.g. PSBCH (physical sidelink broadcast channel),” [0112]) reference signal received power(RSRP) (“Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP)” [0048]), physical SL shared channel (PSSCH) RSRP (“physical sidelink shared channel)”[0110]), physical SLcontrol channel (PSCCH) RSRP(“physical sidelink control channel” [0112]), SL channel-state information reference signals (CSI-RS) (“SL-CSI-RS,”[0113]) , SL synchronization signals(SLSS) (“the SL-PRS may be an SL signal repurposed for positioning, such as SL-PSS (SL primary synchronization signal)”[0112]), or a combination thereof; and in response to being configured for UE-based SL range-based positioning, determine its estimated location based on the selected RRM measurements (“The UE 504 may correspond to any of the UEs described herein, and is configured to calculate an estimated position of the UE 504” [0092]); and in response to being configured for UE-assisted SL range-based positioning, report the selected RRM measurements to a location management function(LMF) configured to estimate the location of the UE based on the reported RRM measurements (“The sensor(s) 213 may be useful to determine whether the UE 200 is fixed (stationary) or mobile and/or whether to report certain useful information to the LMF 120 “ [0059]).
Dai discloses receiving a configuration message [0124], but does not explicitly disclose nor limit wherein the configuration message includes capability information. BALASUBRAMANIAN discloses the user equipment comprising, receive, from a sidelink (SL) configuration source, a request to provide capability information related to a capability of the UE to perform SL angle of arrival (AoA) positioning techniques or SL angle of departure (AoD) techniques (“the entity that requires LMC capability requests from one or more VUEs in the region their positioning capabilities” [0094]); in response to receiving the request, transmit the requested capability information to the SL configuration source (“the PUE/VUE that requires the LMC capability may request this information (and exchange their own capabilities)” [0094]).
BALASUBRAMANIAN teaches in the same field of endeavor of sidelink positioning. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Dai with the teachings of BALASUBRAMANIAN to incorporate the features of exchanging capability information related to a capability of the UE to perform SL angle of arrival (AoA) positioning techniques or SL angle of departure (AoD) techniques so as to gain the advantage of improving accuracy [0102, BALASUBRAMANIAN]. Also, since it has been held that if a technique has been used to improve one device, and a person of ordinary skill in the art would recognize that it would improve similar devices in the same way, using the technique is obvious unless its actual application is beyond his or her skill (MPEP 2143).
Regarding claim 12, Dai as modified by BALASUBRAMANIAN teach all of the limitations of claim 9. Dia discloses the user equipment wherein, the at least one processor is configured to cause the UE to perform one or more of the following actions: receive a request from a Sl configuration source to provide capability information related to the SL angle of departure (AoD and/or SL angle of arrival (AoA) positioning (“ the UE 800-1 may send a configuration request message 1016 to the UE 800-2 and/or the UE 800-2 may send a configuration message 1018 to the UE 800-1.“ [0124]) and in response, transmitting the requested capability information related to the SL AoD, and or SL AoA, angular-based positioning to the SL configuration source (“a premium UE may be a roadside unit (RSU) (also known as a roadside equipment (RSE)) that is part of a C-V2X infrastructure […] and may transmit and/or receive PRS to/from other UEs” [0109]); and transmit to the SL configuration source a request (“The LMF 120 may process location services requests for the UE“ [0045]) for assistance data information related to the SL AoD and/or SL AoA positioning and receiving the requested assistance data information related to the SL AoD, and or SL AoA, angular-based positioning from the SL configuration source (“At stage 920, the TRP 300 obtains assistance data. The TRP 300 may obtain assistance data from the LMF 120 that may determine assistance data to help the UE 800 measure PRS from the UE “ [0117]).
Regarding claim 13, Dai as modified by BALASUBRAMANIAN teach all of the limitations of claim 9. Dia discloses the user equipment wherein, The at least one processor is further configured to perform one or more of the following actions: cause the UE to transmit to the SL configuration source a request for assistance data information related to the SL RRM range-based positioning and receive the requested assistance data information related to the SL RRM range- based positioning from the SL configuration source (“At stage 920, the TRP 300 obtains assistance data. The TRP 300 may obtain assistance data from the LMF 120 that may determine assistance data to help the UE 800 measure PRS from the UE “ [0117]).
Claims 10 and 11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Dai et al (WO 2021/232228) which is equivalent to (US20230209494) cited herein as modified by BALASUBRAMANIAN (US20220039054A1) as applied to claim 9 above, and further in view of RYU(US20210014831A1).
Regarding claim 10, Dai modified by BALASUBRAMANIAN discloses all of the limitations of claim 9. Dai modified by BALASUBRAMANIAN fails to set forth the UE of claim 10. Ryu discloses the UE wherein, the at least one processor is configured to cause the UE to differentiate the selected RRM measurements based on a roadside unit (RSU) identifier (ID), a source UE ID,a destination UE ID, or a combination thereof (“ The SCI may include at least one of resource allocation information used for sidelink data transmission […] group destination ID information, transmitter ID (source ID) information, unicast destination ID information” [0166] & “The location information may be an ID of a zone” [0269]).
RYU teaches in the same field of endeavor of Sidelink communication. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Dai as modified by BALASUBRAMANIAN with the teachings of Ryu to incorporate the feature of a set of data Identifiers so as to gain the advantage of improving reception reliability of sidelink control information [0016, Ryu]. Also, since it has been held that if a technique has been used to improve one device, and a person of ordinary skill in the art would recognize that it would improve similar devices in the same way, using the technique is obvious unless its actual application is beyond his or her skill (MPEP 2143).
Regarding claim 11, Dai modified by BALASUBRAMANIAN discloses all of the limitations of claim 10. Dai modified by BALASUBRAMANIAN fails to set forth the UE of claim 11. Ryu discloses the UE wherein, further granularity of the estimated location calculation of the UE is added by using a zone ID corresponding to the UE at receipt of the SL reference signal transmissions (“FIG. 20 illustrates an example of a method using a zone identifier (ID) in a wireless communication system according to an embodiment of the disclosure.” [0286])
RYU teaches in the same field of endeavor of Sidelink communication. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Dai as modified by BALASUBRAMANIAN with the teachings of Ryu to incorporate the feature of using a zone ID to enhance the granularity of estimated location calculation so as to gain the advantage of improving location estimation and resolution. Also, since it has been held that if a technique has been used to improve one device, and a person of ordinary skill in the art would recognize that it would improve similar devices in the same way, using the technique is obvious unless its actual application is beyond his or her skill (MPEP 2143).
For applicant’s benefit portions of the cited reference(s) have been cited to aid in the review of the rejection(s). While every attempt has been made to be thorough and consistent within the rejection it is noted that the PRIOR ART MUST BE CONSIDERED IN ITS ENTIRETY, INCLUDING DISCLOSURES THAT TEACH AWAY FROM THE CLAIMS. See MPEP 2141.02 VI.
Documents Considered but not Relied Upon
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to the applicant’s Disclosure.
SAUR (US20190230618A1) is considered analogous art to the instant application as it discloses [0006] “The method may also include receiving at the target user equipment supporting positioning reference signals via sidelink transmission from the plurality of supporting user equipment and positioning reference signals”
SHRESTHA (US20230296722A1) is considered analogous art to the instant application as it discloses [0041] “The backscattering measurements obtained at step 303 may for example be obtained using a different set of at least one antenna element or antenna panel than used for the transmission of the one or more uplink transmissions at step 302.”
Conclusion
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/C.P.R./Examiner, Art Unit 3646
/JACK W KEITH/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3646