DETAILED ACTION
The instant application having application No 18/182,816 filed on 08/28/2025 is presented for examination by the examiner.
Examiner Notice
Claim 1 would be allowable if (i) claims 5 or 12 or 14 are incorporated into the independent claim 1.
Claim 18 would be allowable if (i) claims 19 or 22 are incorporated into the independent claim 18.
Claim 25 would be allowable if (i) claims 26 or 27 are incorporated into the independent claim 25.
Claim 28 would be allowable if (i) claims 29 or 30 are incorporated into the independent claim 28.
Response to Argument
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 1-30 have been considered. However, Examiner respectfully disagrees with Applicant’s arguments and would like to provide a further clarification regarding the interpretation of the cited references.
In response to the argument on page 10 of Applicant’s Remark, “first reference signal using a first beam over a first symbol of a sidelink slot, and a second reference signal using a second beam over a second symbol of the sidelink slot”.
In fact, Examiner interprets the “the second UE measure the quality of a sidelink signal or reference signal received from the first UE using the beam pair, the measurement value indicating the measured quality a value of at least one of RSRQ (Reference Signal Received Quality), for the sidelink signal or reference signal, the second UE transmit report the measured value to the first UE”. according to Kim’s disclosure.
As stated in Kim’s – (page 15, par (0213), line 1-10, the second UE measure the quality of a sidelink signal or reference signal received from the first UE using the beam pair, the measurement value indicating the measured quality a value of at least one of RSRQ (Reference Signal Received Quality), for the sidelink signal or reference signal, the second UE transmit report the measured value to the first UE.
Thus, Kim’s disclosure still covers the limitations of claim 1-30.
whereas the Examiner wants to provide further clarification of the cited claim limitation, whereas the Kim’s is directed to “page 13, par (0196-0197), line 1-10, a first UE form a predetermined beam pair with a second UE to transmit a sidelink signal to a second UE through the predetermined beam pair, so that a measurement value obtained when the second UE measures the quality of a beam pair through which the sidelink signal is transmitted can be obtained or reported, the above measurement value measurement value of at least one of a Reference Signal Received Quality (RSRQ)(wherein at least one RSRQ which could be more than one or two), a Signal to Interference Noise Ratio (SINR), a Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR), and a Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP) measured for the sidelink signal a reference signal used for transmission and reception of the sidelink signal.
Therefore, Examiner respectfully disagrees with Applicant's arguments.
In response to the argument on page 12 of Applicant’s Remark, “transmitting one or more signals using a third beam over one or more third symbols of the sidelink slot”.
In fact, Examiner interprets the “the second UE measure the quality of a sidelink signal or reference signal received from the first UE using the beam pair, the measurement value indicating the measured quality a value of at least one of RSRQ (Reference Signal Received Quality), for the sidelink signal”. according to Kim’s disclosure.
As stated in Kim’s – (page 15, par (0213), line 1-10, the second UE measure the quality of a sidelink signal or reference signal received from the first UE using the beam pair, the measurement value indicating the measured quality a value of at least one of RSRQ (Reference Signal Received Quality), for the sidelink signal.
Thus, Kim’s disclosure still covers the limitations of claim 1-30.
whereas the Examiner wants to provide further clarification of the cited claim limitation, whereas the Kim’s is directed to “page 13, par (0185), line 1-10, See Fig 13 shows a UE include a distributed antenna, the UE operate by performing panel/beam-group(wherein beam group also has third beam) antenna port group selection, and operate by performing beam sweeping between candidate beams configurable in the panel/beam-group antenna port group selected, beam measurement report, the UE feedback the CSI-RS/S-SSB resource index having a good quality (RSRP, SNR, RSRQ and/or SINR, etc.) and/or the quality (RSRP, SNR, RSRQ and/or SINR, etc.) measured in the corresponding resources, to the counterpart UE or BS, the measured/calculated quality (RSRP, SNR, RSRQ and/or SINR, etc.) in the CSI-RS/SSSB transmitted using the selected panel/beam-group antenna port group index (or ID) and/or the selected panel/beam-group antenna port group.
Thus, Kim’s disclosure still covers the limitations of claim 1-30.
Therefore, Examiner respectfully disagrees with Applicant's arguments.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
(a) A patent may not be obtained though the invention is not identically disclosed or described as set forth in section 102 of this title, if the differences between the subject matter sought to be patented and the prior art are such that the subject matter as a whole would have been obvious at the time the invention was made to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which said subject matter pertains. Patentability shall not be negatived by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claims 1-4, 11, 14, 16-18, 25, and 28 are rejected under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over Kim et al. (U.S 20220394697, Dec. 8, 2022) in view of Guo et al. (US 20230140393, May 4, 2023).
Regarding Claim 1, Kim discloses a first reference signal using a first beam over a first symbol of a sidelink slot, and a second reference signal using a second beam over a second symbol of the sidelink slot(page 15, par (0213), line 1-10, the second UE measure the quality of a sidelink signal or reference signal received from the first UE using the beam pair, the measurement value indicating the measured quality a value of at least one of RSRQ (Reference Signal Received Quality), for the sidelink signal or reference signal, the second UE transmit report the measured value to the first UE);
and communicating with the second UE using one of the first beam or the second beam in accordance with transmitting the first reference signal and the second reference signal as part of the beam management procedure(page 15, par (0213), line 1-10, the second UE measure the quality of a sidelink signal or reference signal received from the first UE using the beam pair(first beam or the second beam), the measurement value indicating the measured quality a value of at least one of RSRQ (Reference Signal Received Quality(first reference signal)), and RSRP (Reference Signal Received Power(second reference signal)) for the sidelink signal or reference signal, the second UE transmit report the measured value to the first UE).
Kim discloses all aspects of the claimed invention, except wireless communication at a first user equipment (UE), comprising transmitting, to a second UE via a sidelink communication link as part of a beam management procedure.
Guo is the same field of invention teaches wireless communication at a first user equipment (UE), comprising transmitting, to a second UE via a sidelink communication link as part of a beam management procedure (page 1, par (0003), line 1-5, a UE and another UE are relatively close to each other, a sidelink established to provide Device-to-Device (D2D) communication. The term "sidelink" refers to a direct radio link for communication among devices).
Kim and Guo l analogous art because they are from the same field of endeavor of access to a service device.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to modify the second UE via a sidelink communication link as part of a beam management procedure the teaching of Kim to include a UE and another UE are relatively close to each other, a sidelink established to provide Device-to-Device (D2D) communication the teaching of Guo because it is providing high capacity and support connections of high data rate as well as delay-sensitive data exchange.
Regarding Claim 2, Kim discloses the beam management procedure is associated with a first set of one or more beams having a first beam width and a second set of one or more beams having a second beam width less than the first beam width, wherein the second set of one or more beams comprises the first beam and the second beam (page 2, par (0026), line 1-10, first candidate beam used in the first beam management operation have a beam width smaller than a width of at least one second candidate beam used in the second beam management operation(first beam width less than the second beam width), the number of the at least one first candidate beam used in the first beam management operation smaller than the number of the at least one second candidate beams).
Regarding Claim 3, Kim discloses the beam management procedure is associated with a first set of one or more beams having a first beam width and a second set of one or more beams having a second beam width less than the first beam width, wherein the second set of one or more beams comprises the first beam, and wherein the first set of one or more beams comprises the second beam(page 2, par (0026), line 1-10, first candidate beam used in the first beam management operation have a beam width smaller than a width of at least one second candidate beam used in the second beam management operation(first beam width less than the second beam width), the number of the at least one first candidate beam used in the first beam management operation smaller than the number of the at least one second candidate beams).
Regarding Claim 4, Kim discloses as part of the beam management procedure, the method further comprises receiving, from the second UE via the sidelink communication link in accordance with transmitting the first reference signal and the second reference signal, a signal indicating one or more parameters associated with one or both of the first beam or the second beam; and selecting one of the first beam or the second beam for communicating with the second UE in accordance with the one or more parameters(page 15, par (0213), line 1-10, the second UE measure the quality of a sidelink signal or reference signal received from the first UE using the beam pair(first beam or the second beam), the measurement value indicating the measured quality a value of at least one of RSRQ (Reference Signal Received Quality(first reference signal)), and RSRP (Reference Signal Received Power(second reference signal)) for the sidelink signal or reference signal, the second UE transmit report the measured value to the first UE).
Regarding Claim 11, Kim discloses transmitting one or more signals using a third beam over one or more third symbols of the sidelink slot (page 15, par (0213), line 1-10, the second UE measure the quality of a sidelink signal or reference signal received from the first UE using the beam pair, the measurement value indicating the measured quality a value of at least one of RSRQ (Reference Signal Received Quality), for the sidelink signal).
Regarding Claim 16, Kim discloses the first symbol and the second symbol are the last-in-time two symbols of the sidelink slot (page 15, par (0213), line 1-10, the second UE measure the quality of a sidelink signal or reference signal received from the first UE using the beam pair, the measurement value indicating the measured quality a value of at least one of RSRQ (Reference Signal Received Quality), for the sidelink signal).
Regarding Claim 17, Kim discloses one or more first resources of the first reference signal occupy each resource element of the first symbol, or wherein one or more second resources of the second reference signal occupy each resource element of the second symbol, or both(page 15, par (0213), line 1-10, the second UE measure the quality of a sidelink signal or reference signal received from the first UE using the beam pair(first beam or the second beam), the measurement value indicating the measured quality a value of at least one of RSRQ (Reference Signal Received Quality(first reference signal)), and RSRP (Reference Signal Received Power(second reference signal)) for the sidelink signal or reference signal, the second UE transmit report the measured value to the first UE).
Regarding Claim 18, Kim discloses a first reference signal associated with a first beam over a first symbol of a sidelink slot, and a second reference signal associated with a second beam over a second symbol of the sidelink slot(page 15, par (0213), line 1-10, the second UE measure the quality of a sidelink signal or reference signal received from the first UE using the beam pair, the measurement value indicating the measured quality a value of at least one of RSRQ (Reference Signal Received Quality), for the sidelink signal or reference signal, the second UE transmit report the measured value to the first UE);
and communicating with the first UE using one of the first beam or the second beam in accordance with receiving the first reference signal and the second reference signal as part of the beam management procedure(page 15, par (0213), line 1-10, the second UE measure the quality of a sidelink signal or reference signal received from the first UE using the beam pair(first beam or the second beam), the measurement value indicating the measured quality a value of at least one of RSRQ (Reference Signal Received Quality(first reference signal)), and RSRP (Reference Signal Received Power(second reference signal)) for the sidelink signal or reference signal, the second UE transmit report the measured value to the first UE).
Kim discloses all aspects of the claimed invention, except wireless communication at a second user equipment (UE), comprising receiving, from a first UE via a sidelink communication link as part of a beam management procedure.
Guo is the same field of invention teaches wireless communication at a second user equipment (UE), comprising receiving, from a first UE via a sidelink communication link as part of a beam management procedure (page 1, par (0003), line 1-5, a UE and another UE are relatively close to each other, a sidelink established to provide Device-to-Device (D2D) communication. The term "sidelink" refers to a direct radio link for communication among devices).
Kim and Guo l analogous art because they are from the same field of endeavor of access to a service device.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to modify the second UE via a sidelink communication link as part of a beam management procedure the teaching of Kim to include a UE and another UE are relatively close to each other, a sidelink established to provide Device-to-Device (D2D) communication the teaching of Guo because it is providing high capacity and support connections of high data rate as well as delay-sensitive data exchange.
Regarding Claim 25, Kim discloses a first reference signal using a first beam over a first symbol of a sidelink slot, and a second reference signal using a second beam over a second symbol of the sidelink slot(page 15, par (0213), line 1-10, the second UE measure the quality of a sidelink signal or reference signal received from the first UE using the beam pair, the measurement value indicating the measured quality a value of at least one of RSRQ (Reference Signal Received Quality), for the sidelink signal or reference signal, the second UE transmit report the measured value to the first UE); and communicate with the second UE using one of the first beam or the second beam in accordance with transmitting the first reference signal and the second reference signal as part of the beam management procedure(page 15, par (0213), line 1-10, the second UE measure the quality of a sidelink signal or reference signal received from the first UE using the beam pair(first beam or the second beam), the measurement value indicating the measured quality a value of at least one of RSRQ (Reference Signal Received Quality(first reference signal)), and RSRP (Reference Signal Received Power(second reference signal)) for the sidelink signal or reference signal, the second UE transmit report the measured value to the first UE).
Kim discloses all aspects of the claimed invention, except wireless communication at a first user equipment (UE), comprising a processor; and memory coupled with the processor and storing instructions executable by the processor to cause the apparatus to transmit, to a second UE via a sidelink communication link as part of a beam management procedure.
Guo is the same field of invention teaches wireless communication at a first user equipment (UE), comprising a processor; and memory coupled with the processor and storing instructions executable by the processor to cause the apparatus to transmit, to a second UE via a sidelink communication link as part of a beam management procedure (page 1, par (0003), line 1-5, a UE and another UE are relatively close to each other, a sidelink established to provide Device-to-Device (D2D) communication. The term "sidelink" refers to a direct radio link for communication among devices).
Kim and Guo l analogous art because they are from the same field of endeavor of access to a service device.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to modify the second UE via a sidelink communication link as part of a beam management procedure the teaching of Kim to include a UE and another UE are relatively close to each other, a sidelink established to provide Device-to-Device (D2D) communication the teaching of Guo because it is providing high capacity and support connections of high data rate as well as delay-sensitive data exchange.
Regarding Claim 28, Kim discloses a first reference signal associated with a first beam over a first symbol of a sidelink slot, and a second reference signal associated with a second beam over a second symbol of the sidelink slot(page 15, par (0213), line 1-10, the second UE measure the quality of a sidelink signal or reference signal received from the first UE using the beam pair, the measurement value indicating the measured quality a value of at least one of RSRQ (Reference Signal Received Quality), for the sidelink signal or reference signal, the second UE transmit report the measured value to the first UE); and communicate with the first UE using one of the first beam or the second beam in accordance with receiving the first reference signal and the second reference signal as part of the beam management procedure(page 15, par (0213), line 1-10, the second UE measure the quality of a sidelink signal or reference signal received from the first UE using the beam pair(first beam or the second beam), the measurement value indicating the measured quality a value of at least one of RSRQ (Reference Signal Received Quality(first reference signal)), and RSRP (Reference Signal Received Power(second reference signal)) for the sidelink signal or reference signal, the second UE transmit report the measured value to the first UE).
Kim discloses all aspects of the claimed invention, except wireless communication at a second user equipment (UE), comprising a processor; and memory coupled with the processor and storing instructions executable by the processor to cause the apparatus to receive, from a first UE via a sidelink communication link as part of a beam management procedure.
Guo is the same field of invention teaches wireless communication at a second user equipment (UE), comprising a processor; and memory coupled with the processor and storing instructions executable by the processor to cause the apparatus to receive, from a first UE via a sidelink communication link as part of a beam management procedure (page 1, par (0003), line 1-5, a UE and another UE are relatively close to each other, a sidelink established to provide Device-to-Device (D2D) communication. The term "sidelink" refers to a direct radio link for communication among devices).
Kim and Guo l analogous art because they are from the same field of endeavor of access to a service device.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to modify the second UE via a sidelink communication link as part of a beam management procedure the teaching of Kim to include a UE and another UE are relatively close to each other, a sidelink established to provide Device-to-Device (D2D) communication the teaching of Guo because it is providing high capacity and support connections of high data rate as well as delay-sensitive data exchange.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any extension fee 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 date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to IQBAL ZAIDI whose telephone number is (571)270-3943. The examiner can normally be reached on Mon to Thu 8.a.m to 6.p.m..
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Ricky Q Ngo can be reached on 57-272-3139. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/IQBAL ZAIDI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2464