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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
2. The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 05/22/2025 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Priority
3. 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.
Claim Objections
4. Claims are objected to because of the following informalities:
(1) In claim 2, line 19, define the term “SL-TPRS” in the claim.
(2) In claim 6, define the term “S-SS, S-PSS, S-SSS” in the claim.
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 101
5. 35 U.S.C. 101 reads as follows:
Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.
6. Claims 1-14 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to a judicial exception (i.e., a law of nature, a natural phenomenon, or an abstract idea) without significantly more.
Regarding claim 1:
Claim 1 is directed to mathematical calculations (abstract idea). The claim(s) does/do not include additional elements that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception for the following reason(s):
Step 1: Claim 1 recites series of acts for transmitting and/or calculating. Thus, the claim is directed to a process, which is one of the statutory categories of the invention.
Step 2A, the claimed transmitting, by a first terminal based on a preset rule, a sidelink (SL) positioning reference signal and/or calculating a transport block size (TBS). Due to the “and/or” clause, under broadest reasonable interpretation (BIR), the examiner consider only one of the limitation (calculating step) in the claim for examination. Accordingly, the calculating step is directed to abstract idea for the reason that these steps are processes found by the courts (e.g. mathematical formula or calculation) to be abstract ideas using mathematical formula obtained that can be performed mentally abstract such as using mathematical calculations (Prong One). This judicial exception is not integrated into a practical application. In particular, the claim only recites “calculating transport block size”. Accordingly, this additional element does not integrate the abstract idea into a practical application because it does not impose any meaningful limits on practicing the abstract idea (Prong Two). Thus, the claim is directed to an abstract idea.
Step 2B, the additional limitations left in the claim is “first and second terminals”. The claimed first and second terminals are merely device that the judicial exception being applied to. Treating claim 1 as a whole, the additional limitations do not show inventive concept in applying the judicial exception (e.g. improvements to the first and second terminals) or do not provide other meaningful limitations beyond generally linking the use of the judicial exception to a particular technological environment. The claim does not include additional elements that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception. Therefore, claim 1 as a whole, is not significantly more than the abstract idea itself and is ineligible.
Regarding claims 2-10:
Claims 2-10, respectively, depend on claim 1 and are without significantly more than the judicial exception itself as explained in claim 1. Thus, claims 2-10 are rejected for the same reason as in claim 1.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
7. 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.
8. Claims 1-20 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, line 4, the claim recites a limitation “the preset rule is used to…… a calculation method for the TBS”. However, in lines 2-3, the claim recites that “transmitting, by a first terminal based on a preset rule,….. calculating a transport block size (TBS)”. Thus, it is unclear in the claim if “the calculating a transport block size (TB)” that is based on “the preset rule” in line 2-3, is the same as “a calculation method for the TBS” in line 5. However, for the purpose of the examination, the examiner suggests correcting the issue in line 5 of the claim as “a calculation method for calculating the TBS”. The same issue exists in claims 15 and 20. Please make the same correction in claims 15 and 20.
(2) Claim 2, lines 15, 16, 18, and 22, the claim recites a limitation “time domain positions/a time domain position”. Due to multiple “and”, “or” and “and/or” clauses in the claim, it is unclear in the claim whether the “/” refers to “and” or “or”. Please clarify the “/” in the claim. Also, the same issue exists in claims 6, 11, 13 and 16. Please make the same correction in claims 6, 11, 13 and 16.
(3) Claim 4 recites the limitation "the second-level SCI" in lines 3 and 4. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. However, for the purpose of examination, the examiner interprets to be “a second-level sidelink control information (SCI)”.
(4) Claim 10 recites the limitation "the number" in line 1. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. However, for the purpose of examination, the examiner interprets to be “a number”.
(5) Claim 12 recites the limitation "the number" in line 2. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. However, for the purpose of examination, the examiner interprets to be “a number”.
(6) Claim 13 recites the limitation "the number" in line 1. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. However, for the purpose of examination, the examiner interprets to be “a number”.
(7) Claim 14 recites the limitation "the higher" in line 2. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. However, for the purpose of examination, the examiner interprets to be “a higher”.
(8) Claim 14 recites the limitation "the indication" in line 3. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. However, for the purpose of examination, the examiner interprets to be “an indication”.
(9) Claim 14 recites the limitation "the condition" in line 3. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. However, for the purpose of examination, the examiner interprets to be “a condition”.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
9. The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
10. Claims 1-4, 6-10 and 15-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by LIU et al. (US 20220053289) (hereinafter Liu).
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 (abstract, par 0065-0065) (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 and/or a calculation method for the TBS, the SL positioning reference signal is used to determine position information of the first terminal 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.
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 (abstract, par 0065-0065) (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) (par 0740-0741), wherein
the preset rule is used to determine a time-frequency mapping method for the SL positioning reference signal and/or a calculation method for the TBS, the SL positioning reference signal is used to determine position information of the first terminal 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.
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 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;
sending the SL positioning reference signal on an OFDM symbol or an RE after the first position;
sending the SL positioning reference signal on an OFDM symbol 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 (par 0280), or performing, by the SL positioning reference signal, punching at the second position, wherein the first position comprises one or more of the following:
time domain positions/a time domain position of a physical sidelink control channel (PSCCH) and/or
second-level sidelink control information (SCI), or time-frequency positions/a time-frequency position of the PSCCH and/or the second-level SCI;
time domain positions/a time domain position of a sidelink channel-state information reference signal (SL-CSI-RS) and/or an SL-TPRS, or time-frequency positions/a time-frequency position of the SL-CSJ-RS and/or the SL-TPRS;
time domain positions/a time domain position of a CSI-RS and/or a demodulation reference signal (DMRS), or time-frequency positions/a time-frequency position of the CSJ-RS and/or the DMRS; and
time domain positions of automatic gain control (AGC), a guard period (GP), and/or a physical sidelink feedback channel (PSFCH), or time-frequency positions of the AGC, the GP, and/or the PSFCH; and
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 (par 0934);
a position of uplink (UL) data (par 0330); and
a position of a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) (par 0202-0203, 0330).
Regarding claims 3 and 17:
Liu further discloses wherein SL positioning reference signal symbols are sent as consecutive symbols (par 0505-0506).
Regarding claim 7 and 18:
Claim 7 depends on claim 1 and claim 18 depends on claim 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 limitation “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 any one or more of the following: the overhead of the SL positioning reference signal is 0; the overhead of the SL positioning reference signal is an overhead of the SL positioning reference signal indicated by SCI” of claim 7 and 18 are not considered by the examiner.
Regarding claim 8:
Claim 8 depends on claim 1. Due to the plurality of conditional 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:
PNG
media_image1.png
74
546
media_image1.png
Greyscale
alpha, wherein alpha is the scaling factor of
PNG
media_image2.png
38
66
media_image2.png
Greyscale
, 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 the 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.
Conclusion
11. The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
BALASUBRAMANIAN et al. (US 20220014872) disclose a network node may receive a first set of ranging measurements based at least in part on a first one or more positioning reference signals communicated over a sidelink between a pedestrian user equipment (P-UE) and a vehicle UE (V-UE). The network node may receive a second set of ranging measurements based at least in part on a second one or more positioning reference signals communicated over an access link between the P-UE and one or more base stations. The network node may transmit, to the P-UE, an estimated position of the P-UE. For example, in some aspects, the estimated position of the P-UE may be based at least in part on the first set of ranging measurements and the second set of ranging measurements. Numerous other aspects are provided.
12. 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.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/KABIR A TIMORY/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2631