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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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.
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.
Claims 1-7, 9-12, 15-21, 23, and 26-30 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Sabouri-Sichani et al (US 2024/0188012 A1).
Regarding claims 1, 17, 28, and 30, Sabouri-Sichani discloses an apparatus for wireless communication at a user equipment (UE) (Fig. 6, UE-1), comprising:
a memory (Fig. 6, memory M1); and
at least one processor coupled to the memory (Fig. 6, processor P1) and, based at least in part on information stored in the memory (Fig. 6, M1 includes computer program code), the at least one processor is configured to:
receive an indication associated with enabling or disabling a sidelink synchronization procedure of the UE, wherein the sidelink synchronization procedure of the UE is enabled or disabled based on the indication (Fig. 1 and 41st paragraph, gNB can configure UE to transmit SLSS. In that case, the configuration information c includes network Controlled Sync Tx set to “on” or “off” indicating UE to transmit SLSS or not); and
communicate with a wireless device via a sidelink communication based on whether the sidelink synchronization procedure of the UE is enabled or disabled (Fig. 6, UE-1 transmits SLSS to UE-2 according to configuration information c).
Regarding claims 2 and 18, Sabouri-Sichani discloses that wherein the at least one processor is further configured to enable the sidelink synchronization procedure at the UE or disable the sidelink synchronization procedure at the UE based on the indication (Fig. 1 and 41st paragraph, gNB can configure UE to transmit SLSS. In that case, the configuration information c includes network Controlled Sync Tx set to “on” or “off” indicating UE to transmit SLSS or not).
Regarding claims 3, 19, and 29, Sabouri-Sichani discloses that wherein the sidelink synchronization procedure corresponds to transmission of at least one of a sidelink synchronization signal (SLSS) (Fig. 1 and 41st paragraph, gNB can configure UE to transmit SLSS) or a sidelink synchronization signal block (S-SSB) from the UE (68th paragraph, SL-SyncConfig includes sidelink SSB configuration).
Regarding claim 4, Sabouri-Sichani discloses that wherein to enable the sidelink synchronization procedure the at least one processor is further configured to switch the sidelink synchronization procedure from disabled to enabled based on the indication, wherein to disable the sidelink synchronization procedure the at least one processor is further configured to switch the sidelink synchronization procedure from enabled to disabled based on the indication (Fig. 1 and 41st paragraph, gNB can configure UE to transmit SLSS. In that case, the configuration information c includes network Controlled Sync Tx set to “on” or “off” indicating UE to transmit SLSS or not. This implies that the “on” SLSS transmission will be switched from “off” SLSS transmission and the “off” SLSS transmission will be switched from the “on” SLSS transmission).
Regarding claim 5, Sabouri-Sichani discloses that wherein the indication is received from the wireless device (92nd paragraph, UE-1 and UE-2 coordinate the transmission of SLSS. Herein, information must be exchanged between the UEs), and wherein the sidelink synchronization procedure is enabled or disabled based on enabling or disabling at least one of a sidelink synchronization signal (SLSS) or a sidelink synchronization signal block (S-SSB) of the UE (Fig. 1 and 41st paragraph, gNB can configure UE to transmit SLSS. In that case, the configuration information c includes network Controlled Sync Tx set to “on” or “off” indicating UE to transmit SLSS or not).
Regarding claims 6 and 20, Sabouri-Sichani discloses that wherein the indication corresponds to an upper layer signal (41st paragraph, configuration information included in RRC or SIB) that includes a field to enable or disable the sidelink synchronization procedure of the UE (Fig. 1 and 41st paragraph, gNB can configure UE to transmit SLSS. In that case, the configuration information c includes network Controlled Sync Tx set to “on” or “off” indicating UE to transmit SLSS or not. Herein, network Controlled Sync Tx is a field in the configuration information).
Regarding claims 7 and 21, Sabouri-Sichani discloses that wherein the sidelink synchronization procedure is enabled or disabled based on at least of a timing source (68th paragraph, SL-SyncConfig includes GNSS Sync) or a pre-configuration associated with the wireless device.
Regarding claims 9 and 23, Sabouri-Sichani discloses that wherein the indication received from the wireless device corresponds to at least one of the SLSS or the S-SSB device (92nd paragraph, UE-1 and UE-2 coordinate the transmission of SLSS. Herein, information must be exchanged between the UEs), and wherein the sidelink synchronization procedure is enabled or disabled based on at least one of a sidelink synchronization transmission resource or one or more reserved bits in a sidelink master information block (SL-MIB) (41st paragraph, configuration information included in RRC or SIB).
Regarding claim 10, Sabouri-Sichani discloses that wherein the indication associated with enabling or disabling the sidelink synchronization procedure is based on a location of the UE (Fig. 3).
Regarding claim 11, Sabouri-Sichani discloses that wherein the at least one processor is further configured to receive a pre-configuration (Fig. 10 associated with the location of the UE (Fig. 3), wherein the pre-configuration is indicative of whether the sidelink synchronization procedure is enabled or disabled based on the location of the UE (Fig. 1).
Regarding claim 12, Sabouri-Sichani discloses that wherein the location of the UE corresponds to at least one of a zone or a zone identifier (ID) indicative of whether the sidelink synchronization procedure is enabled or disabled (Fig. 3).
Regarding claim 15, Sabouri-Sichani discloses that wherein the UE is a vehicular UE associated with vehicle to everything (V2X) communication (2nd paragraph, V2X communications).
Regarding claims 16 and 27, Sabouri-Sichani discloses at least one of a transceiver or an antenna coupled wo the at least one processor (Fig. 6, antenna A1).
Regarding claim 26, Sabouri-Sichani discloses that wherein the wireless device is a roadside unit (RSU) (2nd paragraph, sidelink supported in V2X communications. UEs illustrated in Fig. 3 are RSUs).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 8, 13-14, 22, 24, and 25 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
Liu et al (US 2024/0040615 A1), same assignee, discloses sidelink SSB transmission in COT (Figs. 2-7).
Wang et al (US 2023/0413089 A1), same assignee, discloses sidelink reference signals measurement (Figs. 15-20).
Ko et al (US 2023/0171719 A1), same field of endeavor, discloses sidelink synchronization transmission (Figs. 11-13).
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ANH VU H LY whose telephone number is (571)272-3175. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8am-5pm.
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ANH VU H. LY
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2472
/ANH VU H LY/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2472
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