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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114.
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 04/22/2026 has been entered.
A)
The amendment filed on 04/22/2026 has been acknowledged.
Amendment Summary
Claims 1, 6, 8, 13, 17 are amended.
Claims 5, 12, 20 are canceled.
Response to Arguments/Amendments
Applicant has amended the independent claims 1, 8 and 17. The following OA examination reflect the new amended claims submitted herein. The arguments regarding previous claim submittal are moot since the amended claim has modified the scope of the previous claim. The amended claims are examined below.
Note: [0040]; [0042] described one UE transmitting configuration to another UE in order to activate or deactivate configured Grant through indication. But the another UE can only perform such activities if the another UE was configured by the base stations to implement various aspects of configuring sidelink positioning reference signals transmission.
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 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.
Claim(s) 1-4, 6-11, 13-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Ben (US 2025/0184946 A1)
Regarding Claim 1, 8, 17
Ben discloses an apparatus (Fig.1(104)) comprising:
at least one processor (Fig.11(1106)); and
at least one memory (Fig.11(1108)) storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor (Fig.11(1106)), cause the apparatus (Fig.1(104)) at least to:
receive, from a resource scheduling entity (See [0007]; network node), via high-layer signaling (See [0007]; [0062-0066]; configuration is performed at higher signaling), at least one configured grant for sidelink transmission (See [0005]; [0007]; A network entity, such as a base station, generates the SL PRS configuration and signals the SL PRS configuration to the initiator UE) among a plurality of user equipment (Fig1(104x));
receive, from another user equipment (See [0039-0042]; each UE that received the base station configuration can communicate with other UE through the received PRS SL configuration), via low-layer signaling (See [0039-0042]; sidelink control information, medium access control (MAC) control element (CE), HARQ (e.g., SL HARQ) is used), at least one indication (See [0039-0041]; The initiator UE 118 can transmit ( e.g., using a PC5 vehicle-to-everything (V2X) interface) the SL PRS configuration 116 to another UE 104 that is referred to as a responder UE; [0128-0129]; PC5 RRC signaling may be used by the initiator UE 104 to signal the periodic SL PRS configuration, activation, or deactivation to the responder UE 104), originating from the another user equipment (See [0039-0042]; each UE that received the base station configuration can communicate with other UE through the received PRS SL configuration), which indicates activating or deactivating at least one resource within the at least one configured grant (See [0039-0041]; [0122-0123]; UE can be configured to activate or deactivate configured grant resource when communicate with another UE));
and
utilize the least one resource for sidelink transmission (See Fig.14(1402)(1406); [0026-0027]; [0039-0042]; [0186]; [0188]; activate transmission of SL PRS by the apparatus in the semi-persistent manner; deactivate transmission of SL PRS by the apparatus in the semi-persistent manner) based on the received one indication (See [0039-0042]; [0122-0123]; resource is activate semi-persistent manner depending on transmission of another apparatus).
Regarding Claim 2, 9, 18
Ben teaches all the features with respect to Claim 1, 8, 17 and Ben further teaches
wherein the at least one configured grant is configured for the
plurality of user equipment in a sidelink positioning session (See [0005]; [0007]; [0026-0027]; grant is allocated to UE initiator and responder).
Regarding Claim 3, 10
Ben teaches all the features with respect to Claim 1, 9 and Ben further teaches
wherein the at least one configured grant comprises at least one resource related to a plurality of orthogonal sidelink positioning reference signal sequences (See Table 5; [0058]; OFDM).
Regarding Claim 4, 11
Ben teaches all the features with respect to Claim 3, 10 and Ben further teaches
wherein the plurality of orthogonal sidelink positioning reference signal sequences are orthogonal (See Table 5; [0058]; OFDM) in at least one of the following:
time domain,
frequency domain (See Table 5; [0058]; OFDM), or
code domain.
(The term “or’ translate into at least one limitation for complete examination)
Regarding Claim 6, 13
Ben teaches all the features with respect to Claim 1, 8 and Ben further teaches
wherein the low-layer signaling comprises sidelink control information (See [0042]; sidelink control information).
Regarding claim 7, 14
Ben teaches all the features with respect to Claim 1, 8 and Ben further teaches
wherein the high-layer signaling comprises at least one of the
following:
radio resource control signaling (See [0039]; [0042]),
medium access control element signaling (See [0042]),
long-term evolution positioning protocol signaling (See [0050]; [0053]; [0145]) or
sidelink positioning protocol signaling (See [0005]; [0026]; [0049])
Regarding Claim 15, 19
Ben teaches all the features with respect to Claim 8, 17 and Ben further teaches
transmit, to the resource scheduling entity, a first list of the plurality of user equipment suitable for sidelink configured grant (See [0126-0127]; target of UEs that the base station or network entity needs to know there positions); and
transmit to the resource scheduling entity a first trigger to request resource allocation for the plurality of user equipment (See [0127-0128]; Semistatic
signaling, e.g., received from a base station 102, configures a PRS resource set to SL UEs when requested for positioning resources. There can be any number 'N' of PRS resources in each PRS resource set.) .
Regarding Claim 16,
Ben teaches all the features with respect to Claim 8 and Ben further teaches
transmit, to the resource scheduling entity, the at least one indication indicating activation or deactivation of the at least one resource within the at least one configured grant for sidelink transmission (See [0005]; [0121]; [0148]; indicating successful activation and deactivation of resource to network node after Configuration Grant)).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to GARY LAFONTANT whose telephone number is (571)272-3037. The examiner can normally be reached 10:00AM -6:00PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Jeanette Parker can be reached at 571-2703647. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/GARY LAFONTANT/Examiner, Art Unit 2646
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