DETAILED ACTION
1. Claims 1-10 have been examined and are pending.
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
2. The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Priority
3. Acknowledgment is made of applicant’s claim for foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119 (a)-(d). The certified copy has been filed in parent Application No. 17/419,167, filed on June 28/2021.
Information Disclosure Statement
4. The information disclosure statements (IDS) submitted on 8/09/2024, 3/04/2025, 3/11/2026, and 6/17/2026 have been found to be in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statements have been considered by the examiner.
Drawings
5. The drawings were received on 8/09/2024. These drawings are accepted.
Specification
5. The lengthy specification has not been checked to the extent necessary to determine the presence of all possible minor errors. Applicant’s cooperation is requested in correcting any errors of which applicant may become aware in the specification.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
6. 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.
7. Claims 1-9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being incomplete for omitting essential structural cooperative relationships of elements, such omission amounting to a gap between the necessary structural connections. See MPEP § 2172.01. The omitted structural cooperative relationships are: at least a processor, at least a memory, and at least a transceiving component as a means for operating the user equipment.
Claims 2-8, dependent upon claim 1, do not satisfy the deficiencies of the base claim and are therefore also rejected.
Claim 9 recites similar deficiencies as claim 1 above and is similarly rejected as claim 1.
8. Claim 6 is 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 applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
a) Claim 6 recites “wherein a preconfigured range on the SLBWP is configured, and the preconfigured range is used when the user equipment is outside a coverage of the base station”. However, “a preconfigured range” has no context as to what the range is referring. Although the claim includes a coverage of a base station, the range has no metric to tie it to said coverage, as this limitation is interpreted as an intended use and not required to be disclosed by the art of record. The limitation(s) require clarifying amendments.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
9. 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.
10. 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.
11. Claims 1-7 and 9-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by United States Patent Application Publication 2021/0168766 A1 to Su et al. (hereinafter “Su”).
Regarding Claim 1, Su discloses a user equipment in a communication system (Su: Figure 1 and Figure 9 with [0180], [0320-0324]), the communication system including:
a plurality of user equipments configured to communicate with each other in a sidelink (Su: Figure 1 with [0214-0217] – corresponds to a plurality of terminals communicating in the sidelink.); and
a base station configured to perform radio communication with each of the user equipments (Su: Figure 1 with [0214-0217] – corresponds to a core network device or network device operable to communicate with a plurality of terminals.), wherein a SLBWP that is a Bandwidth Part (BWP) for the sidelink is configured separately from an ULBWP that is a Bandwidth Part for uplink (Su: [0027-0030], [0065-0067], [0243-0244], [0249-0251], [0327-0329] – the network device configures different resources for UL-BWP and SL-BWP.).
Regarding Claim 2, Su discloses the user equipment according to claim 1,
wherein the user equipment receives configuration information from the base station in a system information block (SIB) or via RRC signaling (Su: [0278] – resource configuration is received by the network device in SIB or RRC, either cell-specific or user-specific.), the configuration information indicating a configuration on the SLBWP (Su: [0026-0032], [0052-0055] – the network device provides resource configuration.).
Regarding Claim 3, Su discloses the user equipment according to claim 2, wherein the SLBWP includes one or more sidelink resource pools (Su: Figures 6 and 8 with at least [0197], [0272-0273], [0279-0283] – the network device configures for the terminal(s) one or more sidelink resource pools.).
Regarding Claim 4, Su discloses the user equipment according to claim 3,
wherein the configuration information includes identifiers corresponding to the one or more sidelink resource pools (Su: Figure 8 illustrates resource pools identified as common or dedicated resource pools. See also [0280-0282].).
Regarding Claim 5, Su discloses the user equipment according to claim 3,
wherein the configuration information includes information on a numerology of the SLBWP (Su: [0037-0038], [0041-0042], [0146] – corresponds to including one or more numerologies in a configuration.), and a numerology of each of the one or more sidelink resource pools is identical to the numerology of the SLBWP (Su: [0037-0038], [0041-0042], [0146] – interpreted as a dedicated sidelink resource pool including a numerology.).
Regarding Claim 6, Su discloses the user equipment according to claim 1, wherein a preconfigured range on the SLBWP is configured (Su: [0007-0009], [0047-0049] – corresponds to providing resources in the sidelink within coverage of the network device.), and the preconfigured range is used when the user equipment is outside a coverage of the base station (interpreted to correspond to an intended use of a preconfigured range that does not impose any limitation on the range itself and not required to be disclosed by the prior art of record.).
Regarding Claim 7, Su discloses the user equipment according to claim 1, wherein the user equipment transmits, to the base station, user equipment (UE) capability information including information on a frequency range in which the user equipment can perform sidelink communication (Su: [0303], [0437] – a network device would be required to receive terminal device capabilities in order to configure a set of resources, within a range based on the capabilities, for sidelink communication.).
Regarding Claim 9, Su discloses a base station in a communication system, the communication system including:
a plurality of user equipments configured to communicate with each other in a sidelink (Su: Figure 1 with [0214-0217] – corresponds to a plurality of terminals communicating in the sidelink.); and
the base station configured to perform radio communication with each of the user equipments (Su: Figure 1 with [0214-0217] – corresponds to a core network device or network device operable to communicate with a plurality of terminals.), wherein a SLBWP that is a Bandwidth Part (BWP) for the sidelink is configured separately from an ULBWP that is a Bandwidth Part for uplink (Su: [0027-0030], [0065-0067], [0243-0244], [0249-0251], [0327-0329] – the network device configures different resources for UL-BWP and SL-BWP.).
Regarding Claim 10, Su discloses a communication system, comprising:
a plurality of user equipments configured to communicate with each other in a sidelink (Su: Figure 1 with [0214-0217] – corresponds to a plurality of terminals communicating in the sidelink.); and
a base station configured to perform radio communication with each of the user equipments (Su: Figure 1 with [0214-0217] – corresponds to a core network device or network device operable to communicate with a plurality of terminals.), wherein a SLBWP that is a Bandwidth Part (BWP) for the sidelink is configured separately from an ULBWP that is a Bandwidth Part for uplink (Su: [0027-0030], [0065-0067], [0243-0244], [0249-0251], [0327-0329] – the network device configures different resources for UL-BWP and SL-BWP.).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
12. 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.
13. 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.
14. 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.
15. 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.
16. Claim 6 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Su in view of United States Patent Application Publication 2020/0245311 A1 to Uchiyama et al. (hereinafter “Uchiyama”).
Regarding Claim 8, Su discloses the user equipment according to claim 1,
wherein the user equipment transmits and receives UE capability information
indicating capability of the user equipment (Su: [0303], [0437] – a network device would be required to receive terminal device capabilities in order to configure a set of resources, within a range based on the capabilities, for sidelink communication.), but does not expressly disclose this capability information is transmitted/received between user equipments.
However, this feature cannot be considered new or novel in the presence of Uchiyama. Uchiyama is similarly concerned with sidelink communications (Uchiyama: [0005]). Uchiyama discloses exchanging user capabilities between user equipment/terminals (Uchiyama: [0169]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention (AIA ) to modify the capability information exchanged as disclosed by Su in view of the capability information exchanged as disclosed by Uchiyama to transmit/receive user capability information between users for the reasons of reducing conflicts between wireless communication devices, resulting in higher quality communications (Uchiyama: [0005]).
Conclusion
17. Applicant is encouraged to submit a written authorization for Internet communications (PTO/SB/439, http://www.uspto.gov/sites/default/files/documents/sb0439.pdf) in the instant patent application to authorize the examiner to communicate with the applicant via email. The authorization will allow the examiner to better practice compact prosecution. The written authorization can be submitted via one of the following methods only: (1) Central Fax which can be found in the Conclusion section of this Office action; (2) regular postal mail; (3) EFS WEB; or (4) the service window on the Alexandria campus. EFS web is the recommended way to submit the form since this allows the form to be entered into the file wrapper within the same day (system dependent). Written authorization submitted via other methods, such as direct fax to the examiner or email, will not be accepted. See MPEP § 502.03.
18. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to BENJAMIN H ELLIOTT IV whose telephone number is (571)270-7163. The examiner can normally be reached M, T, R, F 5:00 AM-5:00 PM, W 5:00 AM-3:00 PM (EDT).
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 Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Michael Thier can be reached at (571) 272-2832. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
BENJAMIN H. ELLIOTT IV
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2474
/BENJAMIN H ELLIOTT IV/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2474 July 14, 2026
Prosecution Insights