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 .
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed on 01/13/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Applicant argued on page 7 of Remarks that the Office Action considers WANG’s HARQ or RLC sequence numbers to be a “temporal assignment.” However, those numbers are protocol identifiers that do not identify a broadcast signal’s position within a broadcast sequence.”
Examiner disagrees. In response to applicant's argument that the references fail to show certain features of the invention, it is noted that the features upon which applicant relies (i.e., a broadcast signal’s position ) are not recited in the rejected claim(s). Although the claims are interpreted in light of the specification, limitations from the specification are not read into the claims. See In re Van Geuns, 988 F.2d 1181, 26 USPQ2d 1057 (Fed. Cir. 1993).
Applicant also argued on page 7 of Remarks that WANG does not disclose or suggest receiving a response signal … representing at least the temporal assignment of the radio signal that was faulty or not received.
Examiner disagrees. Fig. 6 and pars. 0171-0173 of WANG show and teach: “the UE2 may feed back whether to receive corresponding data by using the HARQ feedback resource indicated by the UE1; or acquire a sidelink HARQ feedback resource corresponding to the currently received data of the UE1 according to the sidelink communication transmission/retransmission resource and the pairing relationship of resources for sidelink HARQ feedback. The UE2 may also feedback the ACK/NACK by using a specially designed sidelink feedback channel. After the UE2 feeds back the NACK, the technical solution of this embodiment performs S607: the UE1 retransmits a lost data packet through the HARQ after monitoring the NACK. Since HARQ feedback is involved, assuming that there are multiple parallel HARQ processes, data packets received by the UE2 may be out of order. In S608, the RLC layer of the UE2 detects a data packet lost, and triggers a status report to feed back the NACK.”
It is clear that WANG teaches receiving a response signal … representing at least the temporal assignment of the radio signal that was faulty or not received as claimed in claims 22-42.
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)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 22-42 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by WANG et. al (US 20200092692 A1).
Regarding claims 22 and 32-33, WANG et al. disclose a method/a non-transitory computer-readable medium on which is stored a computer program including instructions/a system for supporting vehicles, comprising a roadside radio unit, wherein the roadside radio unit is configured to:/for securing communication between a roadside radio unit and vehicles in surroundings of the roadside radio unit (see figure 1, [0081], wherein the term "RSU" constitutes
a road-side radio unit, which can also be implemented as a UE), the method comprising the
following steps: broadcasting a sequence of radio signals to the surroundings using the roadside radio unit, wherein each of the radio signals has a temporal assignment (see figure 6 (S605); [0166] and [0169], wherein the term "sequence number" is a temporal assignment of the radio signals); receiving a response signal from a vehicle or a stationary monitoring unit, wherein the
response signal represents at least the temporal assignment of a radio signal of the radio signals
that was faulty or not received by the vehicle or by the monitoring (figure 6 (S606, S608); [0171]
and [0173]); and broadcasting a repeated signal using the roadside radio unit as a function of the received response signal, wherein the repeated signal represents the faulty or not- received radio signal and is marked as a repeated signal (see figure 6 (S607, S609); [0172] and [0175]).
Regarding claim 34, WANG et al. also disclose the vehicle and/or the monitoring unit,
wherein the vehicle and/or the monitoring unit (see fig. 1) is configured to:
receive the broadcast radio signals of the roadside radio unit using a
receiving device (see figure 6 (S605); [0166] and [0169]), and
send, based on a radio signal expected in the specified time sequence not
being received, the response signal, at least comprising the temporal assignment of the not-received radio signal, to the roadside radio unit using a radio-based or
cable-based transmission interface, or using a mobile radio connection to a server
unit (see figure 6 (S607, S609); [0172] and [0175]).
Regarding claims 41-42, WANG et al. disclose a method for monitoring a roadside radio
unit (see figure 1, [0081], wherein the term "RSU" constitutes a road-side radio unit, which can
also be implemented as a UE)/a monitoring unit, the method/ the monitoring unit, comprising
the following steps:
receiving a sequence of radio signals from a roadside radio unit, wherein each of the
received radio signals has at least one temporal assignment (see figure 6 (S605); [0166] and
[0169], wherein the term "sequence number" is a temporal assignment of the radio signals);
recognizing a faulty or not-received radio signal at least based on a temporal assignment
of the radio signals (see figure 6 (S606, S608); [0171] and [0173]); and generating a response signal, wherein the response signal represents at least the temporal assignment of the recognized, faulty or not-received radio signal (see figure 6 (S607, S609); [0172] and [0175]).
Regarding claims 23 and 35, WANG et al. also disclose wherein the reception of the
response signal is checked for plausibility based on a time of the reception of the response signal
and/or the temporal assignment of the faulty or not-received radio signal (see pars. [0172]-
[0175]).
Regarding claims 24 and 36, WANG et al. also disclose wherein the repeated signal is
loaded from a memory of the roadside radio unit as a function of the response signal (see claim
3: hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) continuous retransmission; automatic repeat request
(ARQ) continuous retransmission; HARQ feedback and an HARQ retransmission; a combination
of the HARQ retransmission, ARQ feedback and ARQ retransmission; or a combination of the
HARQ feedback, the HARQ retransmission, the ARQ feedback and the ARQ retransmission).
Regarding claim 25, WANG et al. also disclose wherein a last broadcast radio signal is
sent as the repeated signal (see pars. [0172]-[0175]).
Regarding claims 26 and 37, WANG et al. also disclose wherein the repeated signal is
broadcast with an increased transmit power in comparison to the broadcast of the sequence of
radio signals (see [0128] and [0194]).
Regarding claims 27 and 38, WANG et al. also disclose wherein the transmit power for
broadcasting the sequence of radio signals to the surroundings is adjusted as a function of the
received response signal (see [0128] and [0194]).
Regarding claims 28-31, WANG et al. also disclose wherein the repeated signal is
broadcast with a different modulation method or a different resource block in semi-persistent
scheduling (see fig. 8 (S804-805) and pars. 0187-0188); wherein the repeated signal is broadcast
at a different radio frequency or using a mobile radio connection to a server unit (see fig. 8
(S804-805) and pars. 0187-0188); wherein a radio frequency for broadcasting the sequence of
radio signals to the surroundings is adjusted as a function of the received response signal or the
sequence of radio signals are broadcast using a mobile radio connection to a server unit (see fig.
8 (S804-805) and pars. 0187-0188); wherein the roadside radio unit is restarted, or switched off,
or problem information is automatically sent to a server unit, as a function of the response signal
or of a sequence of response signals of the monitoring unit or of the vehicle (see fig. 8 (S804 -
805) and pars. 0187-0188).
Regarding claim 39, WANG et al. also disclose wherein the transmitting device of the
roadside radio unit is configured to broadcast the repeated signal at a different radio frequency in
comparison to the broadcast of the radio signals or to send the repeated signal to a server unit
using a mobile radio connection (see fig. 8 (S804-805) and pars. 0187-0188).
Regarding claim 40, WANG et al. also disclose wherein the transmitting device of the
roadside radio unit is configured to adjust a radio frequency for broadcasting the sequence of
radio signals to surroundings as a function of the received response signal or to send the
sequence of radio signals using a mobile radio connection to a server unit as a function of the
received response signal.
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. 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.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DAVID Q NGUYEN whose telephone number is (571)272-7844. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 7:00 AM - 3:00 PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Jinsong Hu can be reached at 5712723965. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/DAVID Q NGUYEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2643