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 .
Status of Claims
2. This communication is responsive to Application No. 18/726,089 filed on July 01, 2024. Claims 16-20 have been canceled. Claims 21-25 have been added. Accordingly, claims 1-15 and 21-25 are subject to examination.
Claim Objections/Suggestions
3. Following claims are objected to because of the following informalities:
in claim 1, “(RS), including” (line 3) should be replaced with “(RS), the information including”; similar objection applies to claims 14-15;
in claim 2, “that can be used” (line 2) should be replaced with “that is utilized”; similar objection applies to claim 22;
in claim 4, “further comprising” (line 3) should be replaced with “the method further comprising”;
in claim 7, “channel” (line 5) should be replaced with “channel.” and the term “used” in lines 3-4 should be replaced with “utilized”;
in claim 10, “claim 1, The method wherein” (lines 1-2) should be replaced with “claim 1, wherein”;
in claim 12, the term “used” in lines 2-3 should be replaced with “utilized”; and
in claim 14, “one or more transceivers” (line 4) should be replaced with “one or more transceivers connected to the one or more processors”.
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
4. 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.
5. Claims 1-15 and 21-25 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 pre-AIA the Applicant regards as the invention.
Claim 1 recites limitations "the difference", "the first resource element offset" and "the second resource element offset" in lines 7-8. There is insufficient antecedent basis for these limitations in the claim. Hence, renders 1 and its dependent claims indefinite. Similar rejection applies to claims 14-15.
Claim 3 recites a limitation “RS” (line 3). It is not clear whether said “RS” is different from or the same “a reference signal (RS)” as recited in line 3 of claim 1. Similar rejection applies to claim 22.
Claim 4 recites a limitation "the second frequency domain" in line 5. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. Similar rejection applies to claim 23.
Claim 5 recites limitations "the frequency domain", "the transmission" and "the physical control channel" in lines 3-4. There is insufficient antecedent basis for these limitations in the claim. Similar rejection applies to claim 24.
Claim 6 recites a limitation "the physical control channel" in line 2. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. Similar rejection applies to claim 25.
Claim 7 recites limitations "the number", "the resource pool", "the transmission", "the transmission" and "the physical control channel" in lines 1-5. There is insufficient antecedent basis for these limitations in the claim.
Claim 12 recites limitations "the location", "the second frequency domain", "the physical control channel", "the first subchannel", "the subchannel" and "the first frequency domain" in lines 1-3. There is insufficient antecedent basis for these limitations in the claim. In addition, claim 12 recites a limitation “RS” (line 4). It is not clear whether said “RS” is different from or the same “a reference signal (RS)” as recited in line 3 of claim 1.
Claim 13 recites a limitation "the number", in line 1. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. In addition, claim 13 recites limitations “one slot” and “a threshold” (line 2). It is not clear whether said “one slot” and “threshold” are different from or the same “a threshold” and “one slot” as recited in lines 8-9 of claim 1.
Reason for Allowance
6. Elshafie (US 2026/0172169 A1) teaches in Figure 9 positioning reference signal (PRS) transmissions; in Figures 10A & 10B a comb size supported for the PRS within a resource element offset; and in Figures 11 PRS resource set configurations with slots. Park (US 2023/0300822 A1) in Figure 9 transmitting a first PRS in a first set of symbols of a first slot of a first bandwidth part (BWP) and a second PRS in a second bandwidth BWP. Baek (US 2022/0416976 A1) teaches in Figure 18 transmitting a multiplexed PRS. However, the prior art of record when implemented, would not produce said method as claimed in claim 1 and said device as claimed in claims 14 and 15.
Conclusion
7. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the Examiner should be directed to SHAWKAT M. ALI whose telephone number is (571) 270-1639. The Examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Thursday 8:30AM-3:30PM ET.
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 AIR at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the Examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the Examiner’s Supervisor, SAM K. AHN can be reached on (571) 272-3044. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/SHAWKAT M ALI/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2633
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