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 .
DETAILED ACTION
2. This action is in response to the Application and Preliminary Amendment filed March 4, 2025.
3. Claims 1-15 have been cancelled and new claims 16-30 have been added.
4. Claims 16-30 have been examined and are pending with this action.
5. The Information Disclosure Statement filed March 4, 2025, has been considered.
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)(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.
(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.
6. Claims 16-30 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) and 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Liu et al. (US 2024/0267187 A1).
INDEPENDENT:
As per claim 16, Liu teaches a first user equipment (UE) in a wireless communication system, the first UE comprising:
a transceiver (see Liu, [0073]: “The communication interface 212 may include one or more transceivers. The transceivers may be wireless transceivers that include modulation/demodulation circuitry, digital to analog converters (DACs), shaping tables, analog to digital converters (ADCs), filters, waveform shapers, filters, pre-amplifiers, power amplifiers and/or other logic for transmitting and receiving through one or more antennas, or (for some devices) through a physical (e.g., wireline) medium”);
a memory storing one or more computer programs (see Liu, [0163]: “The system and process described above may be encoded in a signal bearing medium, a computer readable medium such as a memory, programmed within a device such as one or more integrated circuits, one or more processors or processed by a controller or a computer”); and
one or more processors communicatively coupled to the transceiver and the memory, wherein the one or more programs include computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors individually or collectively, cause the first UE (see Liu, [0163]: “The system and process described above may be encoded in a signal bearing medium, a computer readable medium such as a memory, programmed within a device such as one or more integrated circuits, one or more processors or processed by a controller or a computer”) to:
transmit, to a second UE, a first sidelink (SL) positioning reference signal (PRS) on a first resource in a first resource pool (see Liu, Abstract: “The sidelink communications may include certain sidelink information from a communication device that includes UE information, positioning/location information, or other capabilities that are used for the sidelink communications. Sidelink information that is communicated through sidelink communications may be modified based on priority determinations or position reference signals (PRS)”; and [0139]: “At least one of the type resource pools may be included: Rx pools, Tx pools for mode1, Tx pools for mode2, and Tx pool for Exception. The mapping maybe configured by a high layer parameter, control signaling, or be by default.”), and
transmit, to the second UE, a second SL PRS and a physical sidelink shared channel (PSSCH) on a second resource in a second resource pool (see Liu, [0097]: “The sidelink channel includes at least one of a physical sidelink shared channel (PSSCH), a physical sidelink shared channel (PSSCH), a Physical Sidelink Feedback Channel (PSFCH), or a Physical Sidelink Broadcast Channel (PSBCH).”; and [0117]: “Alternatively, for a periodic, semi-persistent or aperiodic zero power positioning PRS configuration, there may be rate matching with at least one of the PSSCH, PSCCH, PSFCH. At least one of the PSSCH, PSCCH, PSFCH may not transmit in the located/configured PRS RE, PRS slot(s)/symbol(s), or PRS transmitted/configured unit in time domain.”),
wherein a priority value for the first SL PRS is provided by first sidelink control information (SCI) or a first high layer signaling (see Liu, [0008]: “The sidelink information, the positioning information, or a sidelink positioning reference signal (SL-PRS) configuration is configured by at least one of: a high layer parameter, a sidelink control information (SCI), or a NAS parameter.”; and [0104]: “A priority for the SL-PRS is configured by at least one of a high layer parameter, a parameter in Radio Resource Control (RRC), a parameter in sidelink control information (SCI), a parameter in downlink control information (DCI), a parameter in Medium Access Control Elements (MAC CE), a Non Access Stratum (NAS) layer parameter, or a parameter in system information blocks x (SIBx) where x is an integer. The SL-PRS is used for calculating a location.”), and
wherein a priority value for the second SL PRS is same with a priority value for the PSSCH (see Liu, [0117]: “Alternatively, for a periodic, semi-persistent or aperiodic zero power positioning PRS configuration, there may be rate matching with at least one of the PSSCH, PSCCH, PSFCH.”).
As per claim 20, Liu teaches a second user equipment (UE) in a wireless communication system, the second UE comprising:
a transceiver;
a memory storing one or more computer programs; and
one or more processors communicatively coupled to the transceiver and the memory, wherein the one or more programs include computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors individually or collectively, cause the second UE to:
receive, from a first UE, a first sidelink (SL) positioning reference signal (PRS) on a first resource in a first resource pool (see Claim 1 rejection above), and
receive, from the first UE, a second SL PRS and a physical sidelink shared channel (PSSCH) on a second resource in a second resource pool, (see Claim 1 rejection above)
wherein a priority value for the first SL PRS is provided by first sidelink control information (SCI) or a first high layer signaling (see Claim 1 rejection above), and
wherein a priority value for the second SL PRS is same with a priority value for the PSSCH (see Claim 1 rejection above).
As per claim 24, Liu teaches a method performed by a first user equipment (UE) in a wireless communication system, the method comprising:
transmitting, to a second UE, a first sidelink (SL) positioning reference signal (PRS) on a first resource in a first resource pool (see Claim 1 rejection above); and
transmitting, to the second UE, a second SL PRS and a physical sidelink shared channel (PSSCH) on a second resource in a second resource pool (see Claim 1 rejection above),
wherein a priority value for the first SL PRS is provided by first sidelink control information (SCI) or a first high layer signaling (see Claim 1 rejection above), and
wherein a priority value for the second SL PRS is same with a priority value for the PSSCH (see Claim 1 rejection above).
As per claim 28, Liu teaches a method performed by a second user equipment (UE) in a wireless communication system, the method comprising:
receiving, from a first UE, a first sidelink (SL) positioning reference signal (PRS) on a first resource in a first resource pool (see Claim 1 rejection above); and
receiving, from the first UE, a second SL PRS and a physical sidelink shared channel (PSSCH) on a second resource in a second resource pool (see Claim 1 rejection above),
wherein a priority value for the first SL PRS is provided by first sidelink control information (SCI) or a first high layer signaling (see Claim 1 rejection above), and
wherein a priority value for the second SL PRS is same with a priority value for the PSSCH (see Claim 1 rejection above).
DEPENDENT:
As per claims 17, 21, 25, and 29, which respectively depend on claims 16, 20, 24, and 28, Liu further teaches wherein the first resource pool is a dedicated SL PRS resource pool, and wherein the second resource pool is a shared SL PRS resource pool (see Liu, [0132]: “In some embodiments, the resource may be sub-channel or resource pool”; and [0139]: “At least one of the type resource pools may be included: Rx pools, Tx pools for mode1, Tx pools for mode2, and Tx pool for Exception.”).
As per claims 18, 22, 26, and 30, which respectively depend on claims 16, 20, 24, and 28, Liu further teaches wherein the first resource for an SL PRS is reserved based on a second SCI or a second high layer signaling (see Liu, [0008]: “The sidelink information, the positioning information, or a sidelink positioning reference signal (SL-PRS) configuration is configured by at least one of: a high layer parameter, a sidelink control information (SCI), or a NAS parameter.”; and [0104]: “A priority for the SL-PRS is configured by at least one of a high layer parameter, a parameter in Radio Resource Control (RRC), a parameter in sidelink control information (SCI), a parameter in downlink control information (DCI), a parameter in Medium Access Control Elements (MAC CE), a Non Access Stratum (NAS) layer parameter, or a parameter in system information blocks x (SIBx) where x is an integer. The SL-PRS is used for calculating a location.”).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 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.
7. Claims 19, 23, and 27 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Liu et al. (US 2024/0267187 A1) in view of Baek et al. (US 2023/0337171 A1).
As per claims 19, 23, and 27, which respectively depend on claims 16, 20, and 24, Liu does not explicitly teach wherein the first resource for an SL PRS reservation is based on a channel busy ratio (CBR).
Baek teach wherein the first resource for an SL PRS reservation is based on a channel busy ratio (CBR) (see Baek, [0002]: “The present disclosure relates to a method of transmitting and receiving a signal related to positioning by a user equipment (UE) based on a measured channel busy ratio (CBR) in a wireless communication system supporting sidelink and an apparatus therefor.”).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the system of Liu in view of Baek so that the first resource for an SL PRS reservation is based on a channel busy ratio (CBR). One would be motivated to do so because it is well-known, routine, and conventional, that CBR, which measures how congested or occupied the sidelink channel is, helps the user equipment avoid reserving positioning resources when the channel is already too busy (i.e., enables congestion control, interference reduction, resource efficiency, priority protection, and distributed resource selection for starters).
Conclusion
8. For the reasons above, claims 16-30 have been rejected and remain pending.
9. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MICHAEL Y WON whose telephone number is (571)272-3993. The examiner can normally be reached on Wk.1: M-F: 8-5 PST & Wk.2: M-Th: 8-7 PST.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Nicholas R Taylor can be reached on 571-272-3889. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/Michael Won/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2443
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