DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
1. The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Priority
2. Acknowledgment is made of applicant’s claim for foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119 (a)-(d). The certified copy has been filed in parent Application No. 202110815288.8, filed on 07/19/2021.
Response to Arguments
3. This office action is in response to the amendment filed on 04/28/2026. Claims 1-6, 8-17 and 19-20 are pending in this application and have been considered below. Claims 7 and 18 are cancelled by the applicant.
4. The objections of claims 2 and 19 are corrected by the amendment. Therefore, the objections are withdrawn.
5. The rejection under 35 USC 101 is corrected by the amendment. Therefore, the rejection is withdrawn.
6. The rejection under 35 USC 112(b) of claims 1-20 is corrected by the amendment. Therefore, the rejection is withdrawn.
7. Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 1, 15 and 20 have been considered but are moot in view of new ground(s) of rejection because of the amendments.
Claim Objections
8. Claim 5 is objected to because of the following informalities:
In claim 5, line 5, define acronym “FDM” and “CDM” in the claim.
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
9. The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
10. Claims 1-6, 8-17 and 19-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
(1) Claim 1 recite an alternative limitation “comprises one or more of the following”. However, the proceeding limitations under the alternative limitation, are not separated by alternative clause such as “or”. Thus, it is unclear in the claim, which one of the alternative clauses, the claimed “first position” comprises. Therefore, the examiner requests clarifying this issue in the claim. However, for the purpose of the examination, the examiner interprets that the “or” clause at the end of line 16.
Same issue exists in claims 15 and 20.
11. In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
Please note: Examiner has cited particular columns, line numbers, and figures in the references as applied to the claims below for the convenience of the applicant. Although the specified citations are representative of the teaching of the art and are applied to the specific limitations within the individual claim, other passages and figures may apply as well.
Applicants are reminded that MPEP 2141.02 states:
A prior art reference must be considered in its entirety, i.e., as a whole, including portions that would lead away from the claimed invention. W.L. Gore & Associates, Inc. v. Garlock, Inc., 721 F.2d 1540, 220 USPQ 303 (Fed. Cir. 1983), cert. denied, 469 U.S. 851 (1984).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
12. 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.
13. 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.
14. Claims 1-3, 8-10, 15-17 and 19-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over LIU et al. (US 20220053289) (hereinafter Liu) in view of BAEK et al. (US 20250184953) (hereinafter BAEK).
Regarding claim 1:
As shown in figures 1-12, Liu discloses a positioning method (abstract), comprising:
transmitting (see S15 A in figure 5A), by a first terminal (410 in figure 4, U1A in figure 5, also see UE in figures 2-7) based on a preset rule, a sidelink (SL) positioning reference signal (see figures 6B, 7B, 8A-B, abstract, par 0065, 0914-0915, 1011-1028, 1059-1079, 1217) (in par abstract, Liu teaches “A first node receives first configuration information; transmits a first positioning reference signal on a first time-frequency resource block”. Time-frequency resource block interpreted to be a preset rule) and/or calculating a transport block size (TBS), wherein
the preset rule is used to determine a time-frequency mapping method for the SL positioning reference signal (see figures 6B, 7B, 8A-B, abstract, par 0065, 0914-0915, 1011-1028, 1059-1079, 1217) and/or a calculation method for calculating the TBS, the SL positioning reference signal is used to determine position information of the first terminal (abstract) and/or a second terminal, and the second terminal is a peer terminal that performs SL communication or SL positioning with the first terminal;
wherein the preset rule is used to determine the time-frequency mapping method for the SL positioning reference signal (see figures 6B, 7B, 8A-B, abstract, par 0065, 0914-0915, 1011-1028, 1059-1079, 1217), and the time-frequency mapping method comprises:
or a resource element (RE) after the first position;
the first position comprises one or more of the following:
a time domain position of a second-level sidelink control information (SCI), or
time- frequency positions of the PSCCH and/or the second-level SCI;
time domain positions of a demodulation reference signal (DMRS);
wherein the preset rule is used to determine a first calculation method for the TBS;
the first calculation method comprises:
when the first terminal calculates an RE of an available resource, subtracting an overhead of the SL positioning reference signal;
the overhead of the SL positioning reference signal comprises the following:
the overhead of the SL positioning reference signal is an overhead of the SL positioning reference signal indicated by SCI.
Note: due to numerous alternative clauses in the claim, such as “or” and “and/or”, under broadest reasonable interpretation (BRI), the examiner considers one the alternative for examination, which is “the preset rule is used to determine a time-frequency mapping method for the SL positioning reference signal”.
Liu discloses all of the subject matter as described above except for specifically teaching sending the SL positioning reference signal on an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbol.
However, BAEK in the same field of endeavor teaches sending the SL positioning reference signal on an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbol (in par 0181 BAEK teaches “PRS of each AN may be transmitted using one or more OFDM symbols, and PRSs of the plurality of ANs may be simultaneously transmitted through PRS multiplexing using different PRS pattern”). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use OFDM symbols as taught by BAEK to modify the system and method of Liu in order to provide transmission of PRS signals (par 0181) (See KSR Rationale: Combining prior art elements according to known methods to yield predictable results).
Regarding claims 15 and 20:
As shown in figures 1-12, Liu discloses a terminal (410 in figure 4, U1A in figure 5, also see UE in figures 2-7), wherein the terminal is a first terminal (410 in figure 4, U1A in figure 5), comprising:
a processor (475 in figure 4), a memory (476 in figure 4), and a program that is stored in the memory (476 in figure 4) and that can run on the processor (475 in figure 4), wherein the program, when executed by the processor (475 in figure 4) (par 0638-0640), causes the terminal (410 in figure 4, U1A in figure 5) to perform:
transmitting (see S15 A in figure 5A), based on a preset rule, a sidelink (SL) positioning reference signal see figures 6B, 7B, 8A-B, abstract, par 0065, 0914-0915, 1011-1028, 1059-1079, 1217) (in par abstract, Liu teaches “A first node receives first configuration information; transmits a first positioning reference signal on a first time-frequency resource block”. Time-frequency resource block interpreted to be a preset rule) and/or calculating a transport block size (TBS), wherein
the preset rule is used to determine a time-frequency mapping method for the SL positioning reference signal (see figures 6B, 7B, 8A-B, abstract, par 0065, 0914-0915, 1011-1028, 1059-1079, 1217) and/or a calculation method for calculating the TBS, the SL positioning reference signal is used to determine position information of the first terminal (see figures 6B, 7B, 8A-B, abstract, par 0065, 0914-0915, 1011-1028, 1059-1079, 1217) and/or a second terminal (see second node U2A in figure 5A), and the second terminal is a peer terminal that performs SL communication (figure 5A shows the second node U2A is a peer terminal that performs SL communication. Also see figures 6A, 7A, par 0444-0445) or SL positioning with the first terminal;
wherein the preset rule is used to determine the time-frequency mapping method for the SL positioning reference signal, and the time-frequency mapping (see figures 6B, 7B, 8A-B, abstract, par 0065, 0914-0915, 1011-1028, 1059-1079, 1217) method comprises:
or a resource element (RE) after the first position;
the first position comprises one or more of the following:
a time domain position of a second-level sidelink control information (SCI), or time- frequency positions of the PSCCH and/or the second-level SCI;
time domain positions of a demodulation reference signal (DMRS);
wherein the preset rule is used to determine a first calculation method for the TBS;
the first calculation method comprises:
when the first terminal calculates an RE of an available resource, subtracting an overhead of the SL positioning reference signal;
the overhead of the SL positioning reference signal comprises the following:
the overhead of the SL positioning reference signal is an overhead of the SL positioning reference signal indicated by SCI.
Note: due to numerous alternative clauses in the claim, such as “or” and “and/or”, under broadest reasonable interpretation (BRI), the examiner considers one the alternative for examination, which is “the preset rule is used to determine a time-frequency mapping method for the SL positioning reference signal”.
Liu discloses all of the subject matter as described above except for specifically teaching sending the SL positioning reference signal on an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbol.
However, BAEK in the same field of endeavor teaches sending the SL positioning reference signal on an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbol (in par 0181 BAEK teaches “PRS of each AN may be transmitted using one or more OFDM symbols, and PRSs of the plurality of ANs may be simultaneously transmitted through PRS multiplexing using different PRS pattern”). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use OFDM symbols as taught by BAEK to modify the system and method of Liu in order to provide transmission of PRS signals (par 0181) (See KSR Rationale: Combining prior art elements according to known methods to yield predictable results).
Regarding claims 2 and 16:
Liu further discloses wherein the preset rule is used to determine the time-frequency mapping method for the SL positioning reference signal, and the time-frequency mapping (abstract, par 0065-0065) method further comprises one or more of the following:
sending the SL positioning reference signal on an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbol or a resource element (RE) other than a first position;
or an RE other than the first position;
skipping sending the SL positioning reference signal on an OFDM symbol or an RE corresponding to the first position; and
multiplexing the SL positioning reference signal at a second position, or performing, by the SL positioning reference signal, punching at the second position, wherein
the second position comprises one or more of the following:
a position of a physical sidelink control channel (PSSCH) (par 0200);
a position of SL data;
a position of uplink (UL) data; and
a position of a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH).
Note: due to numerous alternative clauses in the claim, such as “or” and “and/or”, under broadest reasonable interpretation (BRI), the examiner considers one the alternative for examination, which is “sending the SL positioning reference signal on an OFDM symbol”.
Liu discloses all of the subject matter as described above except for specifically teaching sending the SL positioning reference signal on an OFDM symbol.
However, BAEK in the same field of endeavor teaches sending the SL positioning reference signal on an OFDM symbol (in par 0181 BAEK teaches “PRS of each AN may be transmitted using one or more OFDM symbols, and PRSs of the plurality of ANs may be simultaneously transmitted through PRS multiplexing using different PRS pattern”). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use OFDM symbols as taught by BAEK to modify the system and method of Liu in order to provide transmission of PRS signals (par 0181) (See KSR Rationale: Combining prior art elements according to known methods to yield predictable results).
Regarding claims 3 and 17:
Liu further discloses wherein SL positioning reference signal symbols are sent as consecutive symbols (par 0505-0506).
Regarding claim 8:
Claim 8 depends on claim 1. Due to the plurality of alternative clauses (and/or) in claim 1, the examiner considers only one of the clauses “a sidelink (SL) positioning reference signal” in claims 1. Thus, the TBS limitations of claim 8 shown below are not considered by the examiner.
wherein the preset rule is used to determine a second calculation method for a transport block size (TBS); the second calculation method comprises any one or more of the following:
when the first terminal calculates an RE of an available resource on a PRB, subtracting an overhead of the SL positioning reference signal and being multiplied by a scaling (scaling) factor, wherein a calculation formula is as follows:
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alpha, wherein alpha is the scaling factor of
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, wherein the overhead of the SL positioning reference signal comprises any one or more of the following:
the overhead of the SL positioning reference signal is 0 or a preset value;
the overhead of the SL positioning reference signal is an actual overhead on the symbol;
the overhead of the SL positioning reference signal is an average overhead on the symbol;
the overhead of the SL positioning reference signal is a quantized value of the actual overhead on the symbol;
the overhead of the SL positioning reference signal is related to configuration information of the SL positioning reference signal or a pattern of the SL positioning reference signal;
the overhead of the SL positioning reference signal is an overhead of the SL positioning reference signal configured by a higher layer;
the overhead of the SL positioning reference signal is an overhead of the SL positioning reference signal indicated by SCI;
the overhead of the SL positioning reference signal is to subtract the overhead of the SL positioning reference signal when determining, based on first indication information, that the first terminal calculates an RE of an available resource, or to keep the overhead of the SL positioning reference signal when determining that the first terminal calculates the RE of the available resource; and
the overhead of the SL positioning reference signal is to subtract the overhead of the SL positioning reference signal when determining, based on condition information, that the first terminal calculates an RE of an available resource of a resource, or to keep the overhead of the SL positioning reference signal when determining that the first terminal calculates the RE of the available resource, wherein the condition information is a configuration and/or the number of the SL positioning reference signals;
performing, by the first terminal, scaling on a scheduled PRB, and calculating the total number of REs, wherein a calculation formula is as follows: NRE=min(A,N'RE)-alpha, wherein A is a preset parameter; and alpha is a scaling factor of the scheduled PRB; and
performing, by the first terminal, scaling on intermediate information of the TBS obtained through calculation, wherein a calculation formula is as follows: Ninfo=NRE-R-Qm .v.alpha, wherein R is a code rate, Q1 is a modulation order, v is the number of transport layers; and alpha is a scaling factor of the intermediate information of the TBS.
Regarding claims 9 and 19:
Claim 9 depends on claim 1 and claim 19 depends on claims 15. Due to the plurality of conditional clauses (and/or) in claims 1 and 15, the examiner considers only one of the clauses “a sidelink (SL) positioning reference signal” in claims 1 and 15. Thus, the TBS limitations of claims 9 and 19 “wherein the preset rule comprises a third calculation rule of the TBS of the SL positioning reference signal; and the third calculation rule comprises: the first terminal calculates an overhead of a resource and subtracts the overhead of the SL positioning reference signal” are not considered by the examiner.
Regarding claim 10:
Liu further discloses wherein in a case that a number of transport layers is greater than 1, the preset rule comprises any one of the following: the first terminal repeatedly sends or maps the SL positioning reference signal on a plurality of transport layers; and the first terminal sends or maps the SL positioning reference signal of a plurality of code division or orthogonal cover codes (OCC) on the plurality of transport layers (Claim 10 recites a contingent limitation. Claim 10 drafted as a method (process), a "wherein in a case that a number of transport layers is greater than 1..." clause acts as a strict condition precedent. This limitation is contingent because they recite steps that are only required to be performed if their condition precedent is met. If the condition never occurs, the steps do not need to be performed for the method to infringe or be anticipated. Therefore, the BRI of claim 10 requires the steps to be performed only if the condition is met. However, if the condition never occurs, the steps do not need to be performed for the method to infringe or be anticipated).
Allowable Subject Matter
15. Claims 4-6 and 11-14 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims and also overcome the above 35 USC 112(b) rejection.
Conclusion
16. The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Ko et al. (US 11960021) disclose a method for first user equipment transmitting a positioning reference signal (PRS) to a plurality of second user equipments; receiving, from the plurality of second user equipments, location information of the plurality of second user equipments and time of arrival (TOA) values of the plurality of second user equipments; and determining a location of the first user equipment on the basis of the location information of the plurality of second user equipments and the TOA values of the plurality of second user equipments. For example, the TOA values may be determined on the basis of a time when the plurality of second user equipments receive the PRS.
17. 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 nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
18. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KABIR A TIMORY whose telephone number is (571)270-1674. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri 7:00 AM-3:00 PM.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Hannah S Wang can be reached at 571-272-9018. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/KABIR A TIMORY/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2631
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