DETAILED ACTION
This Action is in response to Applicant’s amendment filed on 3/16/2026. Claims 1-22 are still pending in the present application. This Action is made FINAL.
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.
The factual inquiries set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 148 USPQ 459 (1966), that are applied for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claims 1-22 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wang et al. (WO 2022/184240, Huawei) in view of Ye et al. (WO 2024/096978, Apple)
Referring to Claim 1, Wang et al. discloses a user equipment (UE) for a sidelink positioning, the UE comprising: a memory storing an instruction; and a processor configured to execute the instruction stored in the memory (page 15 lines 16-21 and page 17 lines 31-37, UE, SL, PRS) to: determine one or more sidelink-positioning reference signal (SL-PRS) resource sets in a slot, the one or more SL-PRS resource sets being configured or pre-configured for one or more SL-PRS transmissions for one or more UEs including the UE (page 15 lines 16-21 and page 17 lines 31-37, SL-PRS resource set, slot, configured); select at least one SL-PRS resource set from the one or more SL-PRS resource sets based on at least a random selection and one or more SL-PRS control information received from at least one second UE that differs from the UE (page 15 lines 16-21 and page 17 lines 31-37, SL-PRS resource set, select, random); and transmit, based on the selected at least one SL-PRS resource set, at least one of: one or more SL-PRS signals or SL-PRS control information (page 15 lines 16-21 and page 17 lines 31-37, transmission).
However, Wang et al. do not explicitly disclose one or more SL-PRS control information including information indicating radio resource for the at least one second UE to transmit SL-PRS.
In the same field of endeavor, Ye et al. disclose one or more SL-PRS control information including information indicating radio resource for the at least one second UE to transmit SL-PRS (par 94, control information indicating time frequency resources for receiving the transmitted SL-PRS).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate one or more SL-PRS control information including information indicating radio resource for the at least one second UE to transmit SL-PRS, as taught by Ye et al., in the UE of Wang et al., for the purpose of allocating SL-PRS/indicating SL-PRS resources (Ye et al., Abstract).
Referring to Claim 2 as applied to Claim 1 above, Wang et al. disclose the UE, wherein the one or more SL-PRS resource sets are one or more active SL-PRS resource sets that are configured or pre-configured to be available for at least one slot (page 15 lines 16-21 and page 17 lines 31-37, SL-PRS resource to be used; Also, in coverage, state).
Referring to Claim 3 as applied to Claim 1 above, Wang et al. disclose the UE, wherein the one or more SL-PRS resource sets are configured or pre-configured such that each of the one or more SL-PRS resource sets has a corresponding SL-PRS resource identifier (ID) (page 21 lines 4-5, Resource ID).
Referring to Claim 4 as applied to Claim 1 above, Wang et al. disclose the UE, wherein the one or more SL-PRS resource sets are configured or pre-configured based on at least one of: one or more priorities of the one or more SL- PRS signals, or one or more congestion metrics associated with the one or more SL- PRS signals (page 8 lines 1-6, priority).
Referring to Claim 5 as applied to Claim 1 above, Wang et al. disclose the UE, wherein the one or more SL-PRS resource sets are configured or pre-configured such that, in the at least one slot, a separation between two resource elements for any two SL-PRS resource sets in the one or more SL-PRS resource sets is equal to or greater than an integer (Fig. 3 and page 20 lines 18-24, resource repletion in slot).
Referring to Claim 6 as applied to Claim 1 above, Wang et al. disclose the UE, wherein the one or more SL-PRS resource sets are configured or pre-configured such that a wider separation between two resource elements for any two SL-PRS resource sets in the one or more SL-PRS resource sets is used for a SL-PRS signal having at least one of: a lower congestion level or a higher priority, and a narrower separation between two resource elements for any two SL-PRS resource sets in the one or more SL-PRS resource sets is used for a SL-PRS signal having at least one of: a higher congestion level or a lower priority (Fig. 4 and page 22 lines 22-23 and page 20 lines 18-24, priority, spacing/repetition).
Referring to Claim 7 as applied to Claim 1 above, Wang et al. disclose the UE, wherein the one or more UEs including the UE are a plurality of UEs including the UE and the one or more SL-PRS resource sets are a plurality of SL-PRS resource sets configured or pre-configured for the plurality of UEs including the UE, each of the plurality of UEs being associated with a corresponding SL-PRS resource set of the plurality of SL-PRS resource sets (page 15 lines 16-21, page 17 lines 31-37, and page 27 lines 25-30, UEs, SL-PRS resource set).
Referring to Claim 8 as applied to Claim 1 above, Wang et al. disclose the UE, wherein the processor is configured to execute the instruction stored in the memory to: use, for each SL-PRS transmission, a different SL-PRS resource set from among the one or more SL-PRS resource sets, based on one or more rotation patterns of selection, the one or more rotation patterns being configured by a network node or pre-configured at the UE (page 18 lines 25-30, pattern).
Referring to Claim 9 as applied to Claim 1 above, Wang et al. disclose the UE, wherein the processor is configured to execute the instruction stored in the memory to: select, from the one or more SL-PRS resource sets, based on obtained channel sensing information, at least one specific SL-PRS resource set corresponding to the UE, for one or more SL-PRS signal transmissions (page 15 lines 16-21 and page 17 lines 31-37, sensing based).
Referring to Claim 10 as applied to Claim 1 above, Wang et al. disclose the UE, wherein the processor is configured to execute the instruction stored in the memory to: select, from among one or more available radio resources with granularity of at least one of: one or more time resources or one or more frequency resources, based on obtained channel sensing information, one or more radio resources with granularity of at least one of: one or more slots or one or more sub-channels; and select, from among the selected one or more radio resources, based on the obtained channel sensing information, the one or more SL-PRS resource sets, with a granularity of a SL-PRS resource set (page 15 lines 16-21, page 17 lines 20-37 and page 22 line 10, sensing based, time, frequency).
Referring to Claim 11 as applied to Claim 1 above, Wang et al. disclose the UE, wherein the UE is a first transmitter UE, and the processor is configured to execute the instruction stored in the memory to: transmit, to one or more second transmitter UEs via unicast, groupcast, or broadcast, at least one of: the one or more SL-PRS signals or the SL-PRS control information, via a direct communication or via a network node (page 15 lines 16-21, page 17 lines 20-37 and page 18 lines 10-11, SL, PRS).
Referring to Claim 12 as applied to Claim 1 above, Wang et al. disclose the UE, wherein the UE is a first transmitter UE, and the processor is configured to execute the instruction stored in the memory to: receive, from a second transmitter UE, SL-PRS control information generated by the second transmitter UE, the received SL-PRS control information including SL-PRS resource set information for the second transmitter UE for at least one of: one or more current SL-PRS transmissions, or one or more subsequent transmissions (page 15 lines 16-21, page 17 lines 20-37 and page 20 lines 20-25, SL, PRS, also, repeat).
Referring to Claim 13 as applied to Claim 1 above, Wang et al. disclose the UE, wherein the selected at least one SL-PRS resource set is dynamically activated or deactivated based on a determination of an accuracy in positioning (page 15 lines 23-26, high accuracy, resource allocation presented).
Referring to Claim 14 as applied to Claim 1 above, Wang et al. disclose the UE, wherein the UE is a first transmitter UE, and the processor is configured to execute the instruction stored in the memory to: obtain, from a second transmitter UE, information regarding one or more SL-PRS resource sets reserved by the second transmitter UE; and determine, based on the information regarding the one or more SL-PRS resource sets reserved by the second transmitter UE, whether to select or re-select one or more SL-PRS resource sets (page 15 lines 16-21 and page 17 lines 20-37, SL, resource set).
Referring to Claim 15 as applied to Claim 1 above, Wang et al. disclose the UE, wherein the UE is a transmitter UE, and the processor is configured to execute the instruction stored in the memory to: receive, from a receiver UE, at least one of: one or more signal metrics measured by the receiver UE on one or more SL-PRS signals received by the receiver UE, or one or more coordination indications (page 31 lines 1-9 and page 32 lines 31-37, report/deliver).
Referring to Claim 16 as applied to Claim 1 above, Wang et al. disclose the UE, wherein the UE is a transmitter UE, and the processor is configured to execute the instruction stored in the memory to: receive, from a receiver UE, one or more conflict indications, the one or more conflict indications indicating existence of at least one SL-PRS transmission that affects reception of the one or more SL-PRS signals by the receiver UE (page 5 lines 25-32, pattern, index).
Referring to Claim 17 as applied to Claim 1 above, Wang et al. disclose the UE, wherein the one or more SL-PRS control information comprise at least one of: (1) SL-PRS resource set information for one or more initial transmissions in a current semi-persistent scheduling (SPS) period, (2) SL-PRS resource set information for one or more retransmissions in the current SPS period, (3) SL-PRS resource set information for one or more initial transmissions in at least one subsequent SPS period, or (4) SL-PRS resource set information for one or more retransmissions in at least one subsequent SPS period (page 15 lines 16-21, page 17 lines 20-37 and page 20 lines 20-25, SL, PRS, also, repeat).
Referring to Claim 18 as applied to Claim 1 above, Wang et al. disclose the UE, wherein the slot is a slot of a dedicated SL-PRS resource pool or a slot of a shared SL-PRS resource pool (page 15 lines 16-21 and page 17 lines 31-37, SL-PRS resource pool, slot, also other UEs).
Referring to Claim 19 as applied to Claim 1 above, Wang et al. disclose the UE, wherein one or more of the one or more SL-PRS resource sets is at least one of: one or more time resources, or one or more frequency resources (page 15 lines 16-21, page 17 lines 20-37 and page 22 line 10, time, frequency).
Referring to Claim 20 as applied to Claim 1 above, Wang et al. disclose the UE, wherein each of the one or more SL-PRS resource sets is associated with at least one of: a SL-PRS resource ID, a SL-PRS comb size, a SL-PRS comb offset, a starting symbol of the slot, or a number of SL-PRS symbols within the slot (page 21 lines 4-5, Resource ID).
Referring to Claim 21, Wang et al. disclose a method for a user equipment (UE) in a sidelink positioning, the method comprising (page 15 lines 16-21 and page 17 lines 31-37, UE, SL, PRS): determining one or more sidelink-positioning reference signal (SL-PRS) resource sets in a slot, the one or more SL-PRS resource sets being configured or pre-configured for one or more SL-PRS transmissions for one or more UEs including the UE (page 15 lines 16-21 and page 17 lines 31-37, SL-PRS resource set, slot, configured); selecting at least one SL-PRS resource set from the one or more SL-PRS resource sets based on at least a random selection and one or more SL-PRS control information received from at least one second UE that differs from the UE (page 15 lines 16-21 and page 17 lines 31-37, SL-PRS resource set, select, random); and transmitting, based on the selected at least one SL-PRS resource set, at least one of: one or more SL-PRS signals or SL-PRS control information (page 15 lines 16-21 and page 17 lines 31-37, transmission).
However, Wang et al. do not explicitly disclose one or more SL-PRS control information including information indicating radio resource for the at least one second UE to transmit SL-PRS.
In the same field of endeavor, Ye et al. disclose one or more SL-PRS control information including information indicating radio resource for the at least one second UE to transmit SL-PRS (par 94, control information indicating time frequency resources for receiving the transmitted SL-PRS).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate one or more SL-PRS control information including information indicating radio resource for the at least one second UE to transmit SL-PRS, as taught by Ye et al., in the method of Wang et al., for the purpose of allocating SL-PRS/indicating SL-PRS resources (Ye et al., Abstract).
Referring to Claim 22, Wang et al. disclose a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions that are executable by one or more processors of a user equipment (UE) in a sidelink positioning, to perform a method, the method comprising (page 15 lines 16-21 and page 17 lines 31-37, UE, SL, PRS): determining one or more sidelink-positioning reference signal (SL-PRS) resource sets in a slot, the one or more SL-PRS resource sets being configured or pre-configured for one or more SL-PRS transmissions for one or more UEs including the UE (page 15 lines 16-21 and page 17 lines 31-37, SL-PRS resource set, slot, configured); selecting at least one SL-PRS resource set from the one or more SL-PRS resource sets based on at least a random selection and one or more SL-PRS control information received from at least one second UE that differs from the UE (page 15 lines 16-21 and page 17 lines 31-37, SL-PRS resource set, select, random); and transmitting, based on the selected at least one SL-PRS resource set, at least one of: one or more SL-PRS signals or SL-PRS control information (page 15 lines 16-21 and page 17 lines 31-37, transmission).
However, Wang et al. do not explicitly disclose one or more SL-PRS control information including information indicating radio resource for the at least one second UE to transmit SL-PRS.
In the same field of endeavor, Ye et al. disclose one or more SL-PRS control information including information indicating radio resource for the at least one second UE to transmit SL-PRS (par 94, control information indicating time frequency resources for receiving the transmitted SL-PRS).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate one or more SL-PRS control information including information indicating radio resource for the at least one second UE to transmit SL-PRS, as taught by Ye et al., in the medium of Wang et al., for the purpose of allocating SL-PRS/indicating SL-PRS resources (Ye et al., Abstract).
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 3/16/2026 have been fully considered but are moot in view of new grounds of rejection necessitated by amendment. See the above rejection for the relevant citations found in the cited prior art disclosing the amended limitations.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any extension fee pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SUHAIL KHAN whose telephone number is (571)270-7187. The examiner can normally be reached on M-TH 8:30am-6:30pm. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Rafael Perez-Gutierrez can be reached on 5712727915. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, Applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
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/Suhail Khan/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2642
Prosecution Insights