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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
2. The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 08/22/2025, and 10/11/2024 are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Drawings
3. The drawings were received on 10/11/2024. These drawings are considered by examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. Claims 1-15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wu et al (US 2023/0096178), hereinafter “Wu“, in view of Saily et al (US 2024/0163840), hereinafter “Saily“.
Regarding claim 1, Wu teaches a method performed by a first node in a communication system (par [0027] teaches a base transceiver station (BTS), a radio base station, a radio transceiver, a transceiver function, a basic service set (BSS), an extended service set (ESS), an access point (AP), a Node B (NB), an eNode B (eNB), a gNodeB (gNB), the method comprising:
determining resources for transmitting a sidelink positioning signal (pars [0085] [0092], and [0098]); and
Wu does not explicitly teach transmitting the sidelink positioning signal on the determined resources.
Saily, in the same field of endeavor, teaches transmitting the sidelink positioning signal on the determined resources (pars [0067-0070], and [0086]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to one of ordinary skill in the art to provide the above teaching of Wu to Saily, in order to enhance a sidelink control information interconnection between the respective base stations that support the radio access network such as a vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) network, a vehicle-to-everything (V2X) network, a mesh network, or other suitable direct link network (as suggested by Saily in paragraph [0038]).
Regarding claims 2 and 9, the combination of Wu and Saily teach the method of claims 1, 8, Wu further teaches wherein the sidelink positioning signal includes at least one of: a positioning reference signal (PRS) (par [0063]), a sounding reference signal (SRS) (par [0063]), a positioning reference signal for sidelink (par [0063]), or configuration signaling related to positioning.
Regarding claims 3 and 10, the combination of Wu and Saily teach the method of claims 1, 8, Wu does not clearly teach wherein at least one of determination of the resources for transmitting the sidelink positioning signal or transmission of the sidelink positioning signal is performed in case that the first node satisfies at least one of the following conditions: being configured to transmit the sidelink positioning signal; an identity of a node receiving the sidelink positioning signal satisfies preset conditions; a geographical position of a node receiving the sidelink positioning signal satisfies the preset conditions; a measurement result of at least one of a specific signal or a channel satisfies a first threshold range; a measurement result of the at least one of the specific signal or the channel is invalid; fails to detect at least one of the specific signal or the channel; a specific pathloss satisfies a second threshold range; triggered by a higher layer to perform at least one of transmitting the sidelink positioning signal, or receiving a first signaling for triggering the first node to transmit the sidelink positioning signal; or obtains information of resources, indicated by the higher layer or other nodes, for the first node to transmit the sidelink positioning signal.
Saily, in the same field of endeavor, teaches wherein at least one of determination of the resources for transmitting the sidelink positioning signal or transmission of the sidelink positioning signal is performed in case that the first node satisfies at least one of the following conditions: being configured to transmit the sidelink positioning signal (pars [0027] [0070], and [0077]); an identity of a node receiving the sidelink positioning signal satisfies preset conditions; a geographical position of a node receiving the sidelink positioning signal satisfies the preset conditions; a measurement result of at least one of a specific signal or a channel satisfies a first threshold range; a measurement result of the at least one of the specific signal or the channel is invalid; fails to detect at least one of the specific signal or the channel; a specific pathloss satisfies a second threshold range; triggered by a higher layer to perform at least one of transmitting the sidelink positioning signal, or receiving a first signaling for triggering the first node to transmit the sidelink positioning signal; or obtains information of resources, indicated by the higher layer or other nodes, for the first node to transmit the sidelink positioning signal.
Therefore, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to one of ordinary skill in the art to provide the above teaching of Wu to Saily, in order to enhance a sidelink control information interconnection between the respective base stations that support the radio access network such as a vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) network, a vehicle-to-everything (V2X) network, a mesh network, or other suitable direct link network (as suggested by Saily in paragraph [0038]).
Regarding claims 4 and 11, the combination of Wu and Saily teach the method of claims 3, 10, Wu further teaches wherein at least one of the specific signal or the channel includes at least one of: a downlink synchronization signal, a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) (par [0058]), a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) (par 0092]), a sidelink synchronization signal, a physical sidelink control channel (PSCCH) (pars [0062-0063]), a physical sidelink shared channel (PSSCH), a physical sidelink feedback channel (PSFCH), or a positioning signal transmitted by other nodes.
Regarding claim 5, the combination of Wu and Saily teach the method of claim 3, Wu does not clearly teach wherein in the case that the first signaling is received, the sidelink positioning signal is transmitted in case that the first node further satisfies at least one of the following conditions: the node transmitting the first signaling is a base station or a location management function (LMF);the identity of the node transmitting the first signaling satisfies the preset conditions; the geographical location indicated by the first signaling or the geographical location of the node transmitting the first signaling satisfies the preset conditions; the range of parameters corresponding to the first signaling satisfies the third threshold range; the range of parameters corresponding to the node transmitting the first signaling satisfies the fourth threshold range; the node transmitting the first signaling has established a connection with the first node or communicated with the first node; the node transmitting the first signaling has the capability to assist other nodes in positioning is indicated in the first signaling; the identity of the first node is indicated in the first signaling; or a condition for transmitting the sidelink positioning signal is indicated in the first signaling, and the first node satisfies the indicated condition.
Saily, in the same field of endeavor, teaches wherein in the case that the first signaling is received, the sidelink positioning signal is transmitted in case that the first node further satisfies at least one of the following conditions: the node transmitting the first signaling is a base station or a location management function (LMF) (par [0044] teaches a location management function (LMF); the identity of the node transmitting the first signaling satisfies the preset conditions; the geographical location indicated by the first signaling or the geographical location of the node transmitting the first signaling satisfies the preset conditions; the range of parameters corresponding to the first signaling satisfies the third threshold range; the range of parameters corresponding to the node transmitting the first signaling satisfies the fourth threshold range; the node transmitting the first signaling has established a connection with the first node or communicated with the first node; the node transmitting the first signaling has the capability to assist other nodes in positioning is indicated in the first signaling; the identity of the first node is indicated in the first signaling; or a condition for transmitting the sidelink positioning signal is indicated in the first signaling, and the first node satisfies the indicated condition.
Therefore, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to one of ordinary skill in the art to provide the above teaching of Wu to Saily, in order to enhance a sidelink control information interconnection between the respective base stations that support the radio access network such as a vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) network, a vehicle-to-everything (V2X) network, a mesh network, or other suitable direct link network (as suggested by Saily in paragraph [0038]).
Regarding claims 6 and 12, the combination of Wu and Saily teach the method of claims 1, 8, Wu does not clearly teach wherein determining the resources for transmitting the sidelink positioning signal comprises: obtaining resources which are scheduled or configured by other nodes, wherein at least one of the following is obtained from a higher layer or the other nodes in case of obtaining the resources which are scheduled or configured by other nodes: information of a resource pool for transmitting the sidelink positioning signal; information of a resource set for transmitting the sidelink positioning signal; or information of resources for transmitting the sidelink positioning signal, wherein determining the resources for transmitting the sidelink positioning signal further comprises at least one of: determining at least one of resources or the resource set for transmitting the sidelink positioning signal in the resource pool based on at least one of specific parameters or configurations; determining at least one of resources or the resource set for transmitting the sidelink positioning signal in the resource pool based on the channel monitoring result; determining resources for transmitting the sidelink positioning signal in the resource set based on at least one of specific parameters or configurations; or determining resources for transmitting the sidelink positioning signal in the resource set based on the channel monitoring result.
Saily, in the same field of endeavor, teaches wherein determining the resources for transmitting the sidelink positioning signal comprises: obtaining resources which are scheduled or configured by other nodes (pars [0027] [0043-0044]), wherein at least one of the following is obtained from a higher layer (pars [0050] [0070]) or the other nodes in case of obtaining the resources which are scheduled or configured by other nodes: information of a resource pool for transmitting the sidelink positioning signal; information of a resource set for transmitting the sidelink positioning signal; or information of resources for transmitting the sidelink positioning signal, wherein determining the resources for transmitting the sidelink positioning signal further comprises at least one of: determining at least one of resources or the resource set for transmitting the sidelink positioning signal in the resource pool based on at least one of specific parameters or configurations; determining at least one of resources or the resource set for transmitting the sidelink positioning signal in the resource pool based on the channel monitoring result; determining resources for transmitting the sidelink positioning signal in the resource set based on at least one of specific parameters or configurations; or determining resources for transmitting the sidelink positioning signal in the resource set based on the channel monitoring result.
Therefore, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to one of ordinary skill in the art to provide the above teaching of Wu to Saily, in order to enhance a sidelink control information interconnection between the respective base stations that support the radio access network such as a vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) network, a vehicle-to-everything (V2X) network, a mesh network, or other suitable direct link network (as suggested by Saily in paragraph [0038]).
Regarding claims 7 and 13, the combination of Wu and Saily teach the method of claims 1, 8, Wu does not clearly tach comprising: obtaining a measurement result of the sidelink positioning signal; and determining, based on the measurement result, position information for at least one of the first node or a second node, wherein the second node is a node configured to measure the sidelink positioning signal.
Saily, in the same field of endeavor, teaches comprising: obtaining a measurement result of the sidelink positioning signal (pars [0034] [0044]); and determining, based on the measurement result, position information for at least one of the first node or a second node, wherein the second node is a node configured to measure the sidelink positioning signal (pars [0034] [0044], and [0061]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to one of ordinary skill in the art to provide the above teaching of Wu to Saily, in order to enhance a sidelink control information interconnection between the respective base stations that support the radio access network such as a vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) network, a vehicle-to-everything (V2X) network, a mesh network, or other suitable direct link network (as suggested by Saily in paragraph [0038]).
Regarding claims 8 and 15, Wu teaches a method performed by a first node in a communication system (par [0027] teaches a base transceiver station (BTS), a radio base station, a radio transceiver, a transceiver function, a basic service set (BSS), an extended service set (ESS), an access point (AP), a Node B (NB), an eNode B (eNB), a gNodeB (gNB), the method comprising: determining resources for receiving a sidelink positioning signal (pars [0085] [0092], and [0098]);
Wu does not explicitly teach receiving the sidelink positioning signal on the determined resources; and measuring the sidelink positioning signal.
Saily, in the same field of endeavor, teaches receiving the sidelink positioning signal on the determined resources (pars [0067-0070], and [0086]); and measuring the sidelink positioning signal (pars [0034] [0044])).
Therefore, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to one of ordinary skill in the art to provide the above teaching of Wu to Saily, in order to enhance a sidelink control information interconnection between the respective base stations that support the radio access network such as a vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) network, a vehicle-to-everything (V2X) network, a mesh network, or other suitable direct link network (as suggested by Saily in paragraph [0038]).
Regarding claim 14, Wu teaches a node (par [0027] teaches a base transceiver station (BTS), a radio base station, a radio transceiver, a transceiver function, a basic service set (BSS), an extended service set (ESS), an access point (AP), a Node B (NB), an eNode B (eNB), a gNodeB (gNB) comprising:
a transceiver (pars [0141-0142]); and
a processor coupled to the transceiver and configured to determine resources for transmitting a sidelink positioning signal (pars [0141-0142]); and
Wu does not explicitly teach transmit the sidelink positioning signal on the determined resources.
Saily, in the same field of endeavor, teaches transmit the sidelink positioning signal on the determined resources (pars [0067-0070], and [0086]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to one of ordinary skill in the art to provide the above teaching of Wu to Saily, in order to enhance a sidelink control information interconnection between the respective base stations that support the radio access network such as a vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) network, a vehicle-to-everything (V2X) network, a mesh network, or other suitable direct link network (as suggested by Saily in paragraph [0038]).
Conclusion
7. The prior arts made of record and not relied upon are considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Si et al (2022/0163647) teaches a resource pool preconfigured or a resource pool broadcast by the control node. Because the positioning resources are randomly selected, the positioning resources selected by the plurality of UEs may be the same. To avoid a case that a receiving UE cannot differentiate between the same positioning resources selected by the plurality of UEs, a sending UE may map, when sending a sidelink positioning signal, a unique ID of the UE into a data block carried in the positioning signal. The unique ID of the UE may be a globally unique ID, a unique ID within a specific range, an ID predefined by a vendor, or an ID preconfigured by the control node (paragraph [0165]).
Bao et al (2024/0172168) teaches the PRS measurement; and transmitting, from the first UE to the network entity, second position information based on the second PRS measurement and the group ID may be obtained by the recipient UE by being received from another UE or from the server, or by being produced by the recipient UE (acting as a positioning entity/virtual UE controller). The processor, possibly in combination with the memory, in combination with the transceiver (e.g., the antenna and the wireless transmitter) may comprise means for transmitting the first position information with a group indication (paragraph [0133]).
8. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MICHAEL T VU whose telephone number is (571)272-8131. The examiner can normally be reached on 8:00AM to 6:00PM.
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/MICHAEL T VU/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2641
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