DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
This action is in response to the amendment filing of 12/29/2025. Claims 1-15 are pending and have been considered below.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1-3 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection necessitated by the amendment. The amendment has changed the scope of the claims. For instance, the method claim 1, now only has one contingent/conditional limitation that will be performed when the condition is true/met. Otherwise [i.e. in case/when condition is not met] the remaining/last two elements of claim 1 will not be performed. The contingent limitation(s) not positively recited in the claim, thus not required to be taught by prior art for anticipation/obviousness.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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.
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.
Claim(s) 1-4 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Yoon (US 2024/0357543).
Regarding claim 1:
Yoon discloses a system and method performed by a first terminal in wireless communication system supporting sidelink (SL) (abstract; see figures), the method comprising:
identifying whether an SL positioning reference signal (PRS) sequence identifier (ID) for generation of an SL-PRS is obtained from a higher layer of the first terminal (para 11-18; para 346, partially reproduced herein with emphasis {…as a sequence ID for SL PRS generation … PRS ID having n.sub.ID,seq.sup.PRS∈{0,1, . . . , 4095} transmitted to the UE through upper layer signaling (e.g., RRC)}; para 349 {sequence ID information may be provided from a base station to a UE through upper layer signaling (e.g., RRC). Therefore, in FIGS. 15 to 22, the UE may acquire sequence ID information. However, as shown in FIGS. 23 to 26, the UE that performs sidelink communication without control of the base station may not acquire PRS ID information. Therefore, in FIGS. 23 to 26, the UE needs to determine a PRS ID by itself…});
(NOTE: this is a Method claim reciting contingent limitation(s),
Claim recites contingent limitation
"in case that the SL-PRS sequence ID is not obtained from the higher layer of the first terminal, generating the SL-PRS sequence ID based on a 12 least significant bits (LSBs) of a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) for a physical sidelink control channel (PSCCH) associated with the SL-PRS and generating the S-PRS based on the generated SL-PRS sequence ID”.
Since claim 1 is a method claim:
In a case/when the condition precedent (e.g. "in case that the SL-PRS sequence ID is not obtained from the higher layer of the first terminal") is met, only then the step of ("generating the SL-PRS sequence ID based on a 12 least significant bits (LSBs) of a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) for a physical sidelink control channel (PSCCH) associated with the SL-PRS and generating the S-PRS based on the generated SL-PRS sequence ID") will be performed.
In a case/when the condition precedent (e.g. "in case that the SL-PRS sequence ID is not obtained from the higher layer of the first terminal") is NOT met, then the step of ("generating the SL-PRS sequence ID based on a 12 least significant bits (LSBs) of a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) for a physical sidelink control channel (PSCCH) associated with the SL-PRS and generating the SL-PRS based on the generated SL-PRS sequence ID") are NOT required to be performed (see MPEP 2111.04).). Further, (“transmitting the generated S-PRS to a second terminal”) also not required to be performed. Therefore, the claim is still anticipated.
in case that the SL-PRS sequence ID is not obtained from the higher layer of the first terminal is NOT met, then the step of ("generating the SL-PRS sequence ID based on a 12 least significant bits (LSBs) of a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) for a physical sidelink control channel (PSCCH) associated with the SL-PRS and generating the SL-PRS based on the generated SL-PRS sequence ID; and
transmitting the generated S-PRS to a second terminal (para 224,261,273,341; figures; para 372 {...first UE may transmit an SL PRS to the second UE}; and see throughout the disclosure).
Regarding claim 2:
Yoon discloses all of the subject matter as described above and receiving positioning configuration information from a location server via a positioning protocol (figs 7-10; para 353 [SL PRS ID configured]; fig 15; para 355-364; and throughout).
Regarding claim 3:
Yoon discloses all of the subject matter as described above and transmitting the positioning configuration information to the second terminal via a positioning protocol (figs 1-4; para 226 [transmit allocation information]; figures 15-29; and throughout).
Regarding claim 4:
Yoon discloses all of the subject matter as described above and wherein the SL-PRS sequence ID is set in a range of 0 to 4095 (see para 346; and throughout).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 5-15 are allowable over the prior art of record.
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 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.
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Ren et al. (US 2023/0048608) discloses a system and method for transmitting and receiving sidelink positioning reference signals.
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/HIRDEPAL SINGH/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2631