DETAILED ACTION
In response to communication filed on 7/1/2024.
Claims 1-15 and 21-25 are pending.
Claims 1-15 and 21-25 are rejected.
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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 9/5/2024 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 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 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent may not be obtained though the invention is not identically disclosed or described as set forth in section 102 of this title, if the differences between the subject matter sought to be patented and the prior art are such that the subject matter as a whole would have been obvious at the time the invention was made to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which said subject matter pertains. Patentability shall not be negatived by the manner in which the invention was made.
The factual inquiries set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 148 USPQ 459 (1966), that are applied 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.
Claims 1-3,7,8,11,14,15,21, and 22 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Dai et al. (US Pub. 2025/0048316)(D1 hereafter) in view of Bao et al. (WO 2022/126088)(B1 hereafter).
Regarding claims 1,14 and 15, D1 teaches a method for performing wireless communication by a first device (i.e. UE)[paragraph 0118], the method comprising:
obtaining information related to SL (sidelink) PRS (positioning reference signal) [paragraph 0118], including at least one of information regarding number of SL PRS symbols (i.e. symbol patterns from slot configurations for SL-PRS)[paragraph 0160];
receiving a first SL PRS based on a first SL PRS resource [paragraph 0118]; and
transmitting a second SL PRS (i.e. another SL-PRS occurrence)[paragraph 0159], based on time gap from a starting resource of the first SL PRS resource to time the first SL PRS is received [paragraph 0160].
However, D1 fails to disclose transmitting the second SL PRS with a phase shift applied, based on time gap from a starting resource of the first SL PRS resource to time the first SL PRS is received.
B1 discloses that a phase shift can occur on a PRS and can be caused by the architecture of both the transmitter and receiver [paragraph 0121], a phase shift report about phase information can be provided in assistance information for configuration of the PRS between nodes that includes time and frequency resources on which PRS’s are transmitted [paragraph 0126].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings of D1 for transmitting sidelink PRS’s [refer D1; Abstract] to incorporate the identification and compensation of phase shift to transmitted PRS’s, which can be a sidelink PRS [refer B1; paragraph 0004], as taught by B1. One would be motivated to do so to provide improvement for positioning accuracy [refer B1; paragraph 0123].
Regarding claims 2 and 21, D1 fails to disclose the phase shift includes a phase shift regarding a subcarrier in frequency domain on a symbol of a second SL PRS resource based on the time gap.
B1 discloses that a phase shift can occur on a PRS and can be caused by the architecture of both the transmitter and receiver [paragraph 0121], a phase shift report about phase information can be provided in assistance information for configuration of the PRS between nodes that includes time and frequency resources on which PRS’s are transmitted [paragraph 0126].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings of D1 for transmitting sidelink PRS’s [refer D1; Abstract] to incorporate the identification and compensation of phase shift to transmitted PRS’s, which can be a sidelink PRS [refer B1; paragraph 0004], as taught by B1. One would be motivated to do so to provide improvement for positioning accuracy [refer B1; paragraph 0123].
Regarding claims 3 and 22, D1 teaches triggering resource selection regarding a second SL PRS resource (UE’s select their SL resources from a resource pool [paragraph 0109], the UE reserves sidelink resources for transmitting SL-PRS’s [paragraph 0118]); and
based on sensing (i.e. sensing procedure), selecting the second SL PRS resource among candidate resources within a selection window [paragraph 0111].
However D1 fails to disclose a resource within a threshold value from the time the first SL PRS is received is excluded from the candidate resources.
B1 discloses ignoring measurement reports (i.e. excluded from candidate resources) from receivers in which a phase shift is greater than a threshold [paragraph 0133].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings of D1 for transmitting sidelink PRS’s [refer D1; Abstract] to incorporate the identification and compensation of phase shift to transmitted PRS’s, which can be a sidelink PRS [refer B1; paragraph 0004], as taught by B1. One would be motivated to do so to provide improvement for positioning accuracy [refer B1; paragraph 0123].
Regarding claim 7, D1 teaches obtaining information related to a location of the first device, based on the first SL PRS and the second SL PRS (sidelink positioning reference signals (S-PRS) are used to conduct positioning operations to determine the absolute position of a sidelink device)[paragraph 0102].
Regarding claim 8, D1 teaches the second SL PRS is transmitted, based on time difference from the time the first SL PRS is received to time the second PRS is transmitted [paragraph 0160].
However, D1 fails to disclose the second SL PRS with the phase shift applied.
B1 discloses that a phase shift can occur on a PRS and can be caused by the architecture of both the transmitter and receiver [paragraph 0121], a phase shift report about phase information can be provided in assistance information for configuration of the PRS between nodes that includes time and frequency resources on which PRS’s are transmitted [paragraph 0126].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings of D1 for transmitting sidelink PRS’s [refer D1; Abstract] to incorporate the identification and compensation of phase shift to transmitted PRS’s, which can be a sidelink PRS [refer B1; paragraph 0004], as taught by B1. One would be motivated to do so to provide improvement for positioning accuracy [refer B1; paragraph 0123].
Regarding claim 11, D1 teaches receiving sidelink control information (SCI) related to the first SL PRS, including information related to a reserved resource regarding the second SL PRS [paragraph 0115].
Claims 4-6,9,10, and 23-25 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over D1 in view of B1, as applied to claims 1 and 15, in further view of Manolakos et al. (US Pub. 2024/0314724)(M1 hereafter).
Regarding claims 4 and 23, D1 fails to disclose obtaining information related to timing advance (TA) for adjusting timing of transmission of the second SL PRS; and based on the information related to the TA, generating a sequence regarding the second SL PRS.
M1 discloses the use of a timing advance configuration that can specify a timing advance offset for a node to use when transmitting an SL-PRS to advance the transmission to a particular transmission time, the node may add the timing advance offset to the SL-PRS transmission (i.e. generating a sequence regarding the second SL PRS)[paragraph 0119].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings of D1 for transmitting sidelink PRS’s [refer D1; Abstract] to incorporate the use of a timing advance offset to apply timing to SL PRS transmissions as taught by M1. One would be motivated to do so to align PRS transmissions [refer M1; Abstract].
Regarding claims 5 and 24, D1 fails to disclose obtaining information regarding an offset between a first resource on which the first SL PRS is received and a second resource on which the second SL PRS is transmitted.
M1 discloses the use of a timing advance configuration that can specify a timing advance offset (i.e. the offset) for a node to use when transmitting an SL-PRS to advance the transmission to a particular transmission time, the node may add the timing advance offset to the SL-PRS transmission [paragraph 0119].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings of D1 for transmitting sidelink PRS’s [refer D1; Abstract] to incorporate the use of a timing advance offset to apply timing to SL PRS transmissions as taught by M1. One would be motivated to do so to align PRS transmissions [refer M1; Abstract].
Regarding claims 6 and 25, D1 fails to disclose transmitting control information related to the second SL PRS, including the information regarding the offset.
M1 discloses the use of a timing advance configuration (i.e. control information related to the second SL PRS) that can specify a timing advance offset for a node to use when transmitting an SL-PRS to advance the transmission to a particular transmission time, the node may add the timing advance offset to the SL-PRS transmission [paragraph 0119].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings of D1 for transmitting sidelink PRS’s [refer D1; Abstract] to incorporate the use of a timing advance offset to apply timing to SL PRS transmissions as taught by M1. One would be motivated to do so to align PRS transmissions [refer M1; Abstract].
Regarding claim 9, D1 fails to disclose the information related to the SL PRS further includes information about an offset between a first resource on which the first SL PRS is received and a second resource on which the second SL PRS is transmitted.
M1 discloses the use of a timing advance configuration that can specify a timing advance offset for a node to use when transmitting an SL-PRS to advance the transmission to a particular transmission time, the node may add the timing advance offset to the SL-PRS transmission [paragraph 0119].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings of D1 for transmitting sidelink PRS’s [refer D1; Abstract] to incorporate the use of a timing advance offset to apply timing to SL PRS transmissions as taught by M1. One would be motivated to do so to align PRS transmissions [refer M1; Abstract].
Regarding claim 10, D1 fails to disclose the information regarding the offset includes information regarding a number of a logical resource (i.e. time).
M1 discloses the use of a timing advance configuration that can specify a timing advance offset for a node to use when transmitting an SL-PRS to advance the transmission to a particular transmission time, the node may add the timing advance offset to the SL-PRS transmission [paragraph 0119], the timing advance value includes a time period [paragraph 0130].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings of D1 for transmitting sidelink PRS’s [refer D1; Abstract] to incorporate the use of a timing advance offset to apply timing to SL PRS transmissions as taught by M1. One would be motivated to do so to align PRS transmissions [refer M1; Abstract].
Claims 12 and 13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over D1 in view of B1, as applied to claims 1 and 15, in further view of Yang et al. (US Pub. 2024/0414742)(Y1 hereafter).
Regarding claim 12, D1 fails to disclose transmitting information regarding a symbol offset between a symbol on which the first SL PRS is received and a symbol on which the second SL PRS is transmitted.
Y1 discloses RRC signaling that provides information [paragraph 0082], which includes a symbol offset list of SL-PRS [paragraph 0085], the information further including a symbol number list of SL-PRS that include multiple symbols number, each symbols number indicates a number of symbols of SL-PRS in a slot [paragraph 0088].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings of D1 for transmitting sidelink PRS’s [refer D1; Abstract] to incorporate the use of symbol offset information for SL PRS transmissions as taught by Y1. One would be motivated to do so to help configure resources for multiple transmissions of SL-PRS [refer Y1; paragraph 0060].
Regarding claim 13, D1 fails to disclose the information regarding the symbol offset is represented based on a number of slot and a number of symbol.
Y1 discloses RRC signaling that provides information [paragraph 0082], which includes a symbol offset list of SL-PRS [paragraph 0085], the information further including a symbol number list of SL-PRS that include multiple symbols number, each symbols number indicates a number of symbols of SL-PRS in a slot [paragraph 0088].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings of D1 for transmitting sidelink PRS’s [refer D1; Abstract] to incorporate the use of symbol offset information for SL PRS transmissions as taught by Y1. One would be motivated to do so to help configure resources for multiple transmissions of SL-PRS [refer Y1; paragraph 0060].
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to RYAN C KAVLESKI whose telephone number is (571)270-3619. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 6:30am-3pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Charles C Jiang can be reached on 571-270-7191. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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Ryan Kavleski
/R. K./
Examiner, Art Unit 2412
/CHARLES C JIANG/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2412
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