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 .
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, 2, 6, 7, 11, 12, 16, and 17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Gao JP 2026506660.
Regarding claims 1, 6, 11, 16, Gao teaches method performed by a first user equipment (UE) in a wireless communication system, the method comprising:
receiving, from a second UE, first sidelink (SL) control information (SCI) on a physical SL control channel (PSCCH), the first SCI including an SCI format field for a second SCI (transmitting a second SCI (sidelink control information) and a first SCI for scheduling a physical sidelink shared channel (PSSCH) via a physical sidelink control channel (PSCCH), The first SCI includes second SCI format information indicating that the second SCI is for scheduling a sidelink (SL) positioning reference signal (PRS), claim 11);
in case that the SCI format field includes a first value corresponding to an SCI format for an SL positioning reference signal (PRS) for a shared SL PRS resource pool, receiving, from the second UE, the second SCI corresponding to the SCI format on a physical SL shared channel (PSSCH) (claim 13); and
receiving, from the second UE, the SL PRS on the PSSCH based on the second SCI (This disclosure proposes methods and operations for transmitting resource reservation information related to SL PRS transmission and information regarding SL PRS configuration, as well as devices that support this).
Regarding claims 2, 7, 12, and 17, receiving, from a base station, configuration information for an SL PRS resource in the shared SL PRS resource pool,
wherein the configuration information includes at least one of information on a SL PRS resource identity (ID), information on a number of symbols for the SL PRS resource, information on a starting symbol for the SL PRS resource, or information on a comb offset and a comb size for the SL PRS resource.
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.
Claim(s) 3, 8, 13, and 18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Gao as applied to claims 2, 7, 12, and 17 above, and further in view of MANOLAKOS WO 2025034244.
Gao is silent on SL PRS resource IDs configured based on the configuration information are associated with a slot in the shared SL PRS resource pool.
MANOLAKOS teaches SL PRS resource IDs configured based on the configuration information are associated with a slot in the shared SL PRS resource pool (Characteristics associated with a SL-PRS resource in a slot of a shared resource pool may include at least SL-PRS resource ID, [0115]).
Therefore 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 system of Gao by SL PRS resource IDs configured based on the configuration information are associated with a slot in the shared SL PRS resource pool, as shown by MANOLAKOS. This modification would benefit the system by providing a proven, reliable method configuring SL PRS resource IDs.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4, 5, 9, 10, 14, 15, 19, and 20 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to RONALD B ABELSON whose telephone number is (571)272-3165. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8:00-4:30.
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/RONALD B ABELSON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2476
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