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 .
This action is in response to the application filed on 10/25/2024.
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)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-2, 8, 10-13 and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Ganesan et al. (WIPO. Pub. WO2021240478).
Regarding claim 1 Ganesan disclose, a method for configuring resources, comprising:
receiving configuration signaling, wherein the configuration signaling comprises at least one of a configuration of frequency domain resources or a configuration of time domain resources of a sidelink positioning reference signal (SL PRS) resource pool para. 44, “a network unit 104 may receive configuration information including a configuration for a sidelink resource pool for a positioning reference signal”.
Regarding claim 2 Ganesan disclose, wherein frequency domain resources for SL PRS transmission in each time domain unit in the SL PRS resource pool are the same para. 42, “the remote units 102 transmit on the uplink (“UL”) using a single-carrier frequency division multiple access (“SC-FDMA”) scheme”.
Regarding claim 8 Ganesan disclose, wherein transmission bandwidth of an SL PRS is all PRBs comprised in the SL PRS resource pool para. 64, “a resource pool bandwidth for SL PRS transmission or SL PRS bandwidth may be configured across SL bandwidth parts (“BWPs”) and/or SL carriers for wideband SL PRS transmission”.
Claim 10 recites an apparatus corresponding to the method of claim 1 and thus is rejected under the same reason set forth in the rejection of claim 1.
Regarding claims 11 and 13 the limitations of claims 11 and 13 are rejected in the same manner as analyzed above with respect to claim 2.
Claim 12 recites an apparatus corresponding to the method of claim 1 and thus is rejected under the same reason set forth in the rejection of claim 1.
Regarding claim 19 the limitations of claim 19 are rejected in the same manner as analyzed above with respect to claim 8.
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 of this title, 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) 3-7, 9, 14-18 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ganesan et al. (WIPO. Pub. WO2021240478) in view of Zheng et al. (U.S. Pub. 20240179667).
Regarding claim 3 Ganesan does not specifically disclose, wherein the frequency domain resources for SL PRS transmission in each time domain unit are determined in a first frequency domain configuration mode, or determined in a second frequency domain configuration mode, or determined in a third frequency domain configuration mode. However, Gand teach, wherein the frequency domain resources for SL PRS transmission in each time domain unit are determined in a first frequency domain configuration mode, or determined in a second frequency domain configuration mode, or determined in a third frequency domain configuration mode para. 52-57, “according to the foregoing method for transmitting a sidelink positioning reference signal SL PRS, the time-frequency resource configuration parameter includes at least one of the following: first frequency domain starting PRB configuration information of the SL PRS. In certain embodiments, sidelink resource pools may be used for transmitting only SL data, and mode 2 resource allocation (e.g., UE autonomous resource allocation) and mode 1 resource allocation (e.g., gNB resource allocation) may be used for SL data transmission.”.
Ganesan and Zheng are analogous because they pertain to the field of wireless communication and, more specifically, to sidelink resource configuration.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Zheng in the system of Ganesan so the system can dynamically adjust the bandwidth to adapt to channel bandwidth variation. The motivation for doing so would have been to ensure the system can be modify and improve while performing over interference environments.
Regarding claim 4 Ganesan does not specifically disclose, wherein the second frequency domain configuration mode is a configuration mode based on one frequency domain resource group, wherein the frequency domain resource group comprises a plurality of contiguous frequency domain units, and frequency domain resources in the frequency domain resource group are frequency domain resources for SL PRS transmission. However, Gand teach, wherein the second frequency domain configuration mode is a configuration mode based on one frequency domain resource group para. 198-200, “a configuration parameter of the first preset dedicated resource set includes: a symbol location occupied by the first preset dedicated resource set in each slot; a second frequency domain starting PRB of the first preset dedicated resource set”,
wherein the frequency domain resource group comprises a plurality of contiguous frequency domain units, and frequency domain resources in the frequency domain resource group are frequency domain resources for SL PRS transmission para. 108-113, “the first frequency domain bandwidth of the SL PRS meets at least one of the following conditions: the first frequency domain bandwidth fully occupies an entire BWP; and the first frequency domain bandwidth fully occupies an entire carrier”.
Ganesan and Zheng are analogous because they pertain to the field of wireless communication and, more specifically, to sidelink resource configuration.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Zheng in the system of Ganesan so the system can dynamically adjust the bandwidth to adapt to channel bandwidth variation. The motivation for doing so would have been to ensure the system can change and improve while performing over interference environments.
Regarding claim 5 Ganesan does not specifically disclose, wherein the plurality of frequency domain units are part of frequency domain units in a second sidelink bandwidth part (SL BWP), wherein the second SL BWP is a BWP for SL communication. However, Gand teach, wherein the plurality of frequency domain units are part of frequency domain units in a second sidelink bandwidth part (SL BWP) para. 96, “An occupying manner of the second frequency domain bandwidth includes at least one of fully occupying a current resource pool, spanning a plurality of resource pools, fully occupying an entire bandwidth part BWP, fully occupying an entire carrier, and occupying a preset quantity of PRBs”, wherein the second SL BWP is a BWP for SL communication para. 98, “the second frequency domain bandwidth may be determined based on an actual occupied bandwidth of the SL PRS”.
Ganesan and Zheng are analogous because they pertain to the field of wireless communication and, more specifically, to sidelink resource configuration.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Zheng in the system of Ganesan so the system can reduce the energy consumption on specially on devices that are battery constrained. The motivation for doing so would have been to significantly lowering power consumption.
Regarding claim 6 Ganesan does not specifically disclose, wherein different types of time domain units are determined in a first logical time domain unit set based on a bitmap, wherein the first logical time domain unit set is acquired by excluding time domain units unavailable for SL transmission within one time domain period. However, Gand teach, wherein different types of time domain units are determined in a first logical time domain unit set based on a bitmap para. 89-95, “according to the foregoing method for transmitting a sidelink positioning reference signal SL PRS, when the first resource is determined from the first preset dedicated resource set, a configuration parameter of the first preset dedicated resource set includes a second period of the first preset dedicated resource set; a quantity of transmissions of the SL PRS in each period; and a quantity of time domain resources between two adjacent SL PRSs in each period”; wherein the first logical time domain unit set is acquired by excluding time domain units unavailable for SL transmission within one time domain period para. 97, “a quantity of time domain resources between two adjacent SL PRSs in each period corresponding to the first preset dedicated resource set are first acquired by means of RRC signaling configuration or preconfiguration”.
Ganesan and Zheng are analogous because they pertain to the field of wireless communication and, more specifically, to sidelink resource configuration.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Zheng in the system of Ganesan to be able to reduce overhead. The motivation for doing so would have been to reduce scheduling conflicts with cellular traffic.
Regarding claim 7 Ganesan does not specifically disclose, wherein the SL PRS resource pool is the same as an SL communication resource pool. However, Gand teach, wherein the SL PRS resource pool is the same as an SL communication resource pool para. 108-110, “the first frequency domain bandwidth of the SL PRS meets at least one of the following conditions: the first frequency domain bandwidth fully occupies a current resource pool”.
Ganesan and Zheng are analogous because they pertain to the field of wireless communication and, more specifically, to sidelink resource configuration.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Zheng in the system of Ganesan to allow legacy user equipments to coexist with the current technologies operating sidelink communications. The motivation for doing so would have been to improve the usage and efficiency of the available resources.
Regarding claim 9 Ganesan does not specifically disclose, wherein a start point of frequency domain resources for SL PRS transmission is a start point of one subchannel of SL communication resource pool, and an end point of the frequency domain resources for SL PRS transmission is an end point of one subchannel of the SL communication resource pool. However, Gand teach, wherein a start point of frequency domain resources for SL PRS transmission is a start point of one subchannel of SL communication resource pool, and an end point of the frequency domain resources for SL PRS transmission is an end point of one subchannel of the SL communication resource pool para. 114, “when the first resource is determined from the PSSCH resource set, the first frequency domain bandwidth of the SL PRS is defined. The first frequency domain bandwidth may be the same as a third frequency domain bandwidth of the PSSCH resource set, fully occupy a current resource pool, span a plurality of resource pools, fully occupy an entire BWP, or occupy an entire carrier as required, which helps reduce resource waste while ensuring a transmission requirement”.
Ganesan and Zheng are analogous because they pertain to the field of wireless communication and, more specifically, to sidelink resource configuration.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Zheng in the system of Ganesan to be able to minimize channel interference and collisions. The motivation for doing so would have been maximizing the bandwidth utilization.
Regarding claims 14-18 and 20 the limitations of claims 14-18 and 20, respectively, are rejected in the same manner as analyzed above with respect to claims 3-7 and 9, respectively.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure: Zhang et al. (U.S. Pub. 20240348392) which disclose(s) method for sidelink communication and communication device.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to RAUL RIVAS whose telephone number is (571)270–5590. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday – Friday, from 8:30am to 5:00pm.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Sujoy K. Kundu, can be reached on (571) 272 - 8586. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571–272–8300.
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/R.R/ Examiner, Art Unit 2471
/SUJOY K KUNDU/ Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2471
