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 .
Election/Restrictions
Claims 109-102 (identical to the pervious claims 10-25) are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected Species/Group II-IV, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 06/04/2026.
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of papers submitted under 35 U.S.C. 119(a)-(d), which papers have been placed of record in the file.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements submitted on 12/18/2023 and 04/21/2026 have been considered by the Examiner and made of record in the application file.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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, 102-106 and 108 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Hoang et al. US 20240188153 A1 (hereinafter Hoang)
Regarding claim 1, Hoang discloses a user equipment (UE), comprising:
a memory; at least one transceiver; and at least one processor communicatively coupled to the memory and the at least one transceiver, the at least one processor configured to (FIG. 1B, par. 0031, for a transceiver 120, a transmit/receive element 122, non-removable memory 130, removable memory 132, and processor 118):
determine a sidelink zone identifier associated with a sidelink zone in which the UE is located, the sidelink zone corresponding to one of a plurality of sidelink zones (FIG. 3, par. 0091, “in the sidelink resource pool, each zone ID may be (pre-)configured a set of SL-PRS resources. The anchor WTRU (e.g., RSU) may determine which set of resources to use based on its zone ID”);
identify one of a plurality of positioning reference signal (PRS) sequences associated with the determined sidelink zone (par. 0004, and 0072, “a target WTRU performs sidelink positioning measurement and reporting by the WTRU being (pre-)configured with DL-PRS and SL-PRS reception from LMF/gNB, the WTRU performing SL-PRS measurement in a (pre-)configured sidelink resource pool, the WTRU determining the anchor WTRU IDs associated to the detected SL-PRS based on the characteristics of the detected SL-PRS (resource, signals/sequence index), the zone ID associated with the detected SL-PRS resource, and the SL-PRS resource pool configuration. The WTRU reports SL-PRS measurements and associated anchor WTRU IDs.”); and
transmit, via the at least one transceiver, sidelink PRS in accordance with the identified PRS sequence (FIG. 4, par. 0093, “At 430, the WTRU may transmit an SL-PRS transmission/reception request using the destination ID to at least one other WTRU requesting the at least one WTRU to transmit SL-PRS”; par. 0143, “The target WTRU may determine which anchor WTRU transmitting SL-PRS in a (pre-)configured resource based on the detected signal/sequence, zone ID associated with the detected SL-PRS resource and/or the SL-PRS resource pool configuration.”).
Regarding claim 101, as applied to claim 1 above, Hoang discloses wherein the sidelink PRS is transmitted on a common sidelink frequency layer (FIG. 3, par. 0088, “A WTRU may use one or more of the following reference signals as a SL-PRS. Such reference signals include DMRS of PSSCH…”; par. 0167, “resource allocation for SL-PRS transmissio”).
Regarding claim 102, as applied to claim 1 above, Hoang discloses wherein a plurality of reserved PRS resource pools are associated with a sidelink-assisted position estimation procedure, and wherein the at least one processor is further configured to determine one of the one or more reserved PRS resource pools for transmission of the sidelink PRS (par. 0076, “Sidelink control information (SCI) is divided into two parts which are the first stage SCI and the second stage SCI. The first stage SCIs indicate the resource used for sidelink transmission, the QoS of the transmission (e.g., priority), DMRS, PTRS used for the sidelink transmission and the second SCI format. The second stage SCI indicate the remaining control information. SCI can be used to reserve the resource for future transmission within a resource pool.”; par. 0183-0184, “the WTRU may be (pre-) configured whether to request SL-PRS transmission based on the CBR of the SL-PRS resource pool… the mapping between each reserved SL-PRS resources may be (pre-)determined based on the WTRU ID in the group (e.g., member ID in the group), (pre-)defined during the positioning service establishment procedure”).
Regarding claim 103, as applied to claim 102 above, Hoang discloses wherein the determined reserved PRS resource pool is network-configured, randomly selected by the UE, or selected based on the sidelink zone identifier associated with the sidelink zone in which the UE is located (par. 0091, “The WTRU may determine the sidelink resource to transmit SL-PRS. In one solution, a WTRU, including an anchor WTRU, may be (pre-)configured a sidelink resource pool to transmit SL-PRS. The WTRU may be (pre-)configured a mapping between the SL-PRS resource and the location of the WTRU, WTRU ID. The WTRU may determine its SL-PRS transmission resource based on its location (e.g., zone ID, which was defined in NR and LTE V2X) and/or its ID”).
Regarding claim 104, as applied to claim 1 above, Hoang discloses wherein the identified PRS sequence is identified based on the sidelink zone identifier, a sidelink UE identifier of the UE, a slot number on which the sidelink PRS is transmitted, a symbol number on which the sidelink PRS is transmitted, or a combination thereof (par. 0143, “The target WTRU may determine which anchor WTRU transmitting SL-PRS in a (pre-)configured resource based on the detected signal/sequence, zone ID associated with the detected SL-PRS resource and/or the SL-PRS resource pool configuration”).
Regarding claim 105, as applied to claim 1 above, Hoang discloses wherein the sidelink zone identifier is determined based on: an initial PRS sequence identifier provided from a network component, or an initial location estimate provided from the network component, or one or more sidelink zone identifiers associated with one or more other UEs, or one or more measurements by one or more sensors of the UE, or a combination thereof (par. 0204, “The target WTRU may determine which anchor WTRU transmitting SL-PRS in a (pre-)configured resource based on the detected signal/sequence, zone ID associated with the detected SL-PRS resource and/or the SL-PRS resource pool configuration”; par. 0038, “The processor 118 may also be coupled to the GPS chipset 136, which may be configured to provide location information (e.g., longitude and latitude) regarding the current location of the WTRU 102. In addition to, or in lieu of, the information from the GPS chipset 136, the WTRU 102 may receive location information over the air interface 116 from a base station (e.g., base stations 114a, 114b) and/or determine its location based on the timing of the signals being received from two or more nearby base stations”).
Regarding claim 106, as applied to claim 1 above, Hoang discloses wherein, to identify one of the plurality of PRS sequences, the at least one processor is further configured to: monitor for one or more sidelink PRSs associated with one or more PRS sequences from one or more other UEs, and select, as the identified PRS sequence, a respective PRS sequence that is not used by the one or more other UEs based on the monitoring (par. 0077, “From the sidelink scheduling perspective, the sidelink resource may be scheduled by the network (i.e., Mode 1) and autonomously selected by the WTRU (i.e., Mode 2). If the WTRU perform Mode 2, it may perform sensing by decoding SCI from other WTRUs before selecting the sidelink resources to avoid selecting the resources reserved by other WTRUs.”).
Regarding claim 108, as applied to claim 1 above, Hoang discloses wherein the identified PRS sequence is assigned to the UE by an external component (FIG. 2, par. 0083 for Network 210, “An initial offset period 212 may occur where the network 210 sends DL PRS configuration information 222 and measurement report confirmation 232. After the initial offset period 212 a plurality of PRS periods 214 may occur. The plurality of PRS periods 214 may include individual PRS periods illustrated as individual PRS periods 214.1, 214.2, 214.3, 214.4, 214.5, 214.6, 214.7.”; par. 0164, “For implicit/explicit indication from another WTRU or from gNB, in one example, a WTRU (e.g., P-WTRU) may request the WTRU (e.g., A-WTRU) to transmit SL-PRS. The QoS parameters of the SL-PRS resource/transmission may be indicated in the request message. For example, the WTRU may indicate the expected SL-PRS reception window to other WTRUs. The other WTRU, upon receiving the request, may perform SL-PRS resource allocation and transmission within the requested window”; par. 0072).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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.
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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claim(s) 107 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hoang as applied to claim(s) 1 above, and further in view of SHEN et al. US 20220278797 A1 (hereinafter Shen).
Regarding claim 107, as applied to claim 1 above, Hoang discloses the claimed invention except detect a PRS sequence collision associated with the transmitted sidelink PRS; and select a different PRS sequence for PRS retransmission in response to the detected PRS sequence collision.
In the same field of endeavor, Shen discloses detect a PRS sequence collision associated with the transmitted sidelink PRS; and select a different PRS sequence for PRS retransmission in response to the detected PRS sequence collision (par. 0060, “Upon detecting such a collision condition, reassign time slot(s), i.e. deselect the time slot(s) and re-select different time slot(s) to avoid transmission collision…”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the method re-selecting different resources/slots based on detecting a collision as taught by Shen to the selecting resource for sidelink PRS as disclosed by Hoang for purpose of selecting different resources for sidelink PRS based on detecting for a transmission collision condition.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ALLAHYAR KASRAIA N whose telephone number is (571)270-1772. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday, 8:00 am - 5: 00 pm.
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/ALLAHYAR KASRAIA N/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2642
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