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 .
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 3/4/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
On page 9 of the Applicant’s Response, Applicant: “The Applicant acknowledges that the Zhao's paragraph 0051 says that a carrier for transmitting a synchronization signal may be selected "based on" a "mapping between service and carrier." This does not explicitly refer to an identity of a service, as the claim specifies, but the phrasing in Zhao's paragraph 0051 arguably could be understood to encompass a mapping of an "identity of a service" to carriers. The problem with the rejection, however, is that because Zhao and the PCT application from which it originates were both filed after the effective filing date of the present application, subject matter disclosed in Zhao is prior art to the present claims only to the extent that the very same subject matter appears in Zhao's provisional application (US 62/591,373). This provisional application, which is very short, does not appear to support the phrasing of Zhao's paragraph 0051. Instead, it teaches that the mapping is between a "kind of service" a data packet to be transmitted belongs to“.
Examiner respectfully disagrees with Applicant’s argument. Zhao discloses a UE may select a subset of carriers in V2X Carrier Aggregation for SLSS transmission. One factor, i.e. criteria, for carrier selection is based on the carriers onto which a kind of service is transmitted. A kind of service is any service that is provided; this is synonymous with type. In other words, each kind or type of service, e.g. CAM service, DENM service, Sensor sharing service is transmitted on a subset of CA carriers, respectively, and the UE selects the same subset of CA carriers for the SLSS’s based on the kind of service being transmitted at that transmission time. The mapping of carriers to kind of service is how the UE is able to determine which carriers are associated with which kinds of services. Zhao’s disclosure is expressly disclosed in embodiment 3 of the provisional application 62/591,373 and paragraphs 51-55 in the PGPub US 2020/0288416. Thus Zhao expressly discloses the limitation “the transmitting of the synchronization signal on a carrier in accordance with the received message comprises transmitting the synchronization signals on one or more carriers out of the aggregated carriers in which the one or more criteria are fulfilled; and wherein the one or more criteria relate to one or more out of…an identity of a service to be provided to the second wireless device”.
Furthermore, Applicant’s Representative did not provide any arguments regarding the criteria “whether or not the first wireless device is operating in a Carrier Aggregation (CA)” which is taught by the primary reference Lee as disclosed in the non-final office action. Therefore, Lee alone satisfies the claimed invention since the criteria is broadly limited to “one or more criteria are fulfilled”.
On page 10 of the Applicant’s Response, Applicant: “For example, claim 28 does not include the alternative of "an identity of a service to be provided to the second wireless device," which means that the rejection of parent claim 21 is no longer applicable. For this reason, the Office Action suddenly determines that Lee discloses one of the alternatives, i.e., the "whether or not the first wireless device is operating in a Carrier Aggregation (CA) transmission mode." Leaving aside the inconsistency of this finding with the admission made for parent claim 21, this alternative has been removed from claim 28, SO this analysis no longer applies. The rejection of claim 28, as well as the rejection of counterpart claim 33,¹ should be withdrawn for this additional reason. “.
Examiner respectfully disagrees with Applicant’s argument. Zhao discloses “an identity of a service to be provided to the second wireless device” as discussed above. Secondly there is no inconsistency in the limitation “whether or not the first wireless device is operating in a Carrier Aggregation (CA) transmission mode”. The non-final office action clearly discloses that Lee teaches the limitation “whether or not the first wireless device is operating in a Carrier Aggregation (CA) transmission mode”; specifically paragraph 7 : “When the carrier aggregation is used in vehicle to everything (V2X) communication, there is a need to define how to configure a transmission resource of a synchronization signal in each carrier. Further, according to the related art, if a transmission resource of the synchronization signal is configured in a certain carrier, UE is simply operated in such a way that a corresponding resource transmits the synchronization signal. However, when the carrier aggregation is used in V2X communication, such a simple operation may not be preferred. There is a need for a method and an apparatus for transmitting a sidelink synchronization signal by taking into consideration the above point”.
On page 10 of the Applicant’s Response, Applicant: “Claims 30 and 34 narrow the alternative criteria to a single one: "an identity of the second wireless device." The Office Action's analysis turns to Zhao's paragraphs 0040 and 0054, noting that these disclose that "the number of selected carriers may depend on the UE capabilities, i.e., limitation of UE transmission chains." This teaching does not relate to "an identity of the second wireless device." Indeed, it does not relate to any identity at all, and actually relates to capabilities (i.e., the number of transmission chains) of the first wireless device, i.e., the one performing the transmission of sidelink synchronization signals. Still further, the subject matter described in Zhao's paragraph 0040 and 0054 does not appear in Zhao's provisional application, and thus is not available as prior art at all. The rejections of claims 30 and 34 are clearly in error, and should be withdrawn. “.
Examiner respectfully disagrees with Applicant’s argument. Zhao discloses that if the second UE is identified as a REL-14 legacy UE, then the first UE will limit the SLSS to the first two carriers that the REL-14 UE can receive signals even though the first UE (REL-15) is capable of transmitting SLSS on four carriers. This ensures backward compatibility with the REL-14 UEs. Thus Zhao teaches the criteria of “an identity of the second wireless device”. Zhao discloses this concept in embodiment 4 of the provisional application 62/591,373 and paragraphs 57-59 of the PGPub US 2020/0288416.
In view of the above discussions the rejection of claims 15, 18, 21, 24, and 27, 28, 30-35 still stands.
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, 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.
Claims 15, 18, 21, 24, and 27, 28, 30-35 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lee et al. (US 2019/0045465) (“Lee”) in view of Zhao et al. (US 2020/0288416) (“Zhao”).
For claims 15 and 21; Lee discloses: a first wireless device for transmitting a synchronization signal to a second wireless device (paragraph 112: The UE may transmit a synchronization signal (e.g., PSSS/SSSS) by using the SLSS resources indicated by the SLSS resource configuration information in the non-synchronization reference carrier based on the SLSS transmission configuration information), wherein the first and second wireless devices operate in a wireless communications network (paragraph 111: a network may indicate whether the UE perform an SLSS transmission operation), and wherein the method comprises: receiving, from a network node operating in the wireless communications network, a message indicating, for each of one or more of a plurality of aggregated carriers (paragraph 116: The network transmits the SLSS transmission configuration information to UE #1 (step, S320). In this case, the SLSS transmission configuration information may indicate or notify that an SLSS is not actually transmitted for carrier #2 and 3. That is, the UE may be configured with the location of SLSS resources for carrier #2 and 3, which are non-synchronization reference carriers, but configured not to transmit an SLSS), whether or not the carrier is to be used for transmitting a synchronization signal to the second wireless device (paragraph 116: The network transmits the SLSS transmission configuration information to UE #1 (step, S320). In this case, the SLSS transmission configuration information may indicate or notify that an SLSS is not actually transmitted for carrier #2 and 3. That is, the UE may be configured with the location of SLSS resources for carrier #2 and 3, which are non-synchronization reference carriers, but configured not to transmit an SLSS); and transmitting, to the second wireless device, a synchronization signal on a carrier in accordance with the received message (paragraph 117: the UE may transmit an SLSS in carrier #2 actually, but may not transmit an SLSS in carrier #3 actually); wherein: the message indicates multiple carriers out of the aggregated carriers are to be used for transmitting synchronization signals to the second wireless device (paragraph 16, 113-118: The SLSS resource configuration information and the SLSS transmission configuration information may be received by being included in the same message, or received by being included in separate messages…the SLSS transmission configuration information may include the information indicating whether to transmit an SLSS actually even for carrier #1, which is the synchronization reference carrier); the method further comprises determining whether or not one or more criteria for transmission of synchronization signals are fulfilled (paragraph 119-139: it is configured that the maximum number of resources that may be selected on the same TTI throughout multiple carriers may not be greater than a transmission capability (TX CAPABILITY) of a UE, for example, the number of supported transmission chains and/or may be limited to the number that does not induce a POWER-LIMITED CASE…As another example, in the case that the location and/or number of a synchronization signal (transmission (and/or reception)) resource is (partially) differently configured (/signaled) between different carriers that are configured (/signaled) by the CA, through application of the following rules, logical indexes (/DFNs) (in relation to V2X communication) may be synchronized between multiple carriers…In the case that there are only UEs operating by LTE-Rel-15, for the power efficiency, the SLSS/PSBCH may be transmitted only on the sidelink synchronization anchor carrier. There may be a plurality of sidelink synchronization anchor carriers in different services or local boundaries); and the transmitting of the synchronization signal on a carrier in accordance with the received message comprises transmitting the synchronization signals on one or more carriers out of the aggregated carriers in which the one or more criteria are fulfilled (paragraph 117-139: the UE may transmit an SLSS in carrier #2 actually, but may not transmit an SLSS in carrier #3 actually…an SLSS may be transmitted on carrier #1 always when the synchronization resource is setup); the one or more criteria relate to one or more out of: whether or not the first wireless device is operating in a Carrier Aggregation (CA) transmission mode (paragraph 7: When the carrier aggregation is used in vehicle to everything (V2X) communication, there is a need to define how to configure a transmission resource of a synchronization signal in each carrier. Further, according to the related art, if a transmission resource of the synchronization signal is configured in a certain carrier, UE is simply operated in such a way that a corresponding resource transmits the synchronization signal. However, when the carrier aggregation is used in V2X communication, such a simple operation may not be preferred. There is a need for a method and an apparatus for transmitting a sidelink synchronization signal by taking into consideration the above point).
Lee does not expressly disclose, but Zhao from similar fields of endeavor teaches: the one or more criteria relate to one or more out of: a requirement of a service to be provided to the second wireless device; a value of a Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP) in relation to a threshold value; an identity of a service to be provided to the second wireless device is associated to the one or more carriers; and an identity of the second wireless device (paragraph 51-52: the selection unit of UE for transmitting synchronization signals, like SLSS, may select the at least one carrier for transmitting the synchronization signal based on a mapping between service and carrier, i.e. a carrier-service mapping table…UE determines a service of the data signal to be transmitted to another, receiving UE and the carrier-service mapping table then maps the determined service of the data signal to corresponding carriers). Thus it would have been obvious to the person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to implement the criteria as described by Zhao in the SLSS CA as described by Lee. The motivation is to improve SLSS assignment.
For claims 18 and 24; Lee discloses: the first wireless device is preconfigured with one or more carriers that may be used for transmitting synchronization signals to the second wireless device (paragraph 142: the UE may select a specific carrier (e.g., anchor carrier, synchronization reference carrier, the highest priority carrier, etc.) which is preconfigured (/signaled) for use of the synchronization signal transmission).
For claim 27; Lee discloses the subject matter in claim 21 as described above in the office action.
Lee does not expressly disclose, but Zhao from similar fields of endeavor teaches: wherein the one or more criteria relate to one or more out of: a requirement of a service to be provided to the second wireless device; an identity of a service to be provided to the second wireless device is associated to the one or more carriers; and an identity of the second wireless device (paragraph 51: the selection unit of UE for transmitting synchronization signals, like SLSS, may select the at least one carrier for transmitting the synchronization signal based on a mapping between service and carrier, i.e. a carrier-service mapping table). Thus it would have been obvious to the person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to implement the criteria as described by Zhao in the SLSS CA as described by Lee. The motivation is to improve SLSS assignment.
For claim 28 and 32; Lee discloses the subject matter in claim 21 as described above in the office action.
Lee does not expressly disclose, but Zhao from similar fields of endeavor teaches: wherein the one or more criteria relate to one or more out of: a requirement of a service to be provided to the second wireless device; an identity of the second wireless device (paragraph 51, 54, 56: the selection unit of UE for transmitting synchronization signals, like SLSS, may select the at least one carrier for transmitting the synchronization signal based on a mapping between service and carrier, i.e. a carrier-service mapping table… For example, up to eight carriers may be supported in eV2X, wherein CAM service may be mapped onto carriers 1 and 2, DENM service may be mapped onto carriers 3 and 4, and sensor sharing service may be mapped onto carriers 5 and 6. If the data packet to be transmitted is a CAM message, then the UE will only select carriers 1 and 2 for SLSS/PSBCH transmission). Thus it would have been obvious to the person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to implement the criteria as described by Zhao in the SLSS CA as described by Lee. The motivation is to improve SLSS assignment.
For claim 30 and 34; Lee discloses the subject matter in claim 21 as described above in the office action.
Lee does not expressly disclose, but Zhao from similar fields of endeavor teaches: wherein the one or more criteria relate to: an identity of the second wireless device (paragraph 40, 54, 57-59: the selection unit of UE for transmitting synchronization signals, like SLSS, may select the at least one carrier for transmitting the synchronization signal based on a mapping between service and carrier, i.e. a carrier-service mapping table… For example, up to eight carriers may be supported in eV2X, wherein CAM service may be mapped onto carriers 1 and 2, DENM service may be mapped onto carriers 3 and 4, and sensor sharing service may be mapped onto carriers 5 and 6. If the data packet to be transmitted is a CAM message, then the UE will only select carriers 1 and 2 for SLSS/PSBCH transmission). Thus it would have been obvious to the person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to implement the criteria as described by Zhao in the SLSS CA as described by Lee. The motivation is to improve SLSS assignment.
For claim 31 and 35; Lee discloses the subject matter in claim 21 as described above in the office action.
Lee does not expressly disclose, but Zhao from similar fields of endeavor teaches: wherein the one or more criteria relate to a combination of carriers that may be used for a certain service (paragraph 51-52: the selection unit of UE for transmitting synchronization signals, like SLSS, may select the at least one carrier for transmitting the synchronization signal based on a mapping between service and carrier, i.e. a carrier-service mapping table…UE determines a service of the data signal to be transmitted to another, receiving UE and the carrier-service mapping table then maps the determined service of the data signal to corresponding carriers). Thus it would have been obvious to the person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to implement the criteria as described by Zhao in the SLSS CA as described by Lee. The motivation is to improve SLSS assignment.
For claim 33; Lee discloses the subject matter in claim 15 as described above in the office action.
Lee does not expressly disclose, but Zhao from similar fields of endeavor teaches: a requirement of a service to be provided to the second wireless device; and an identity of the second wireless device. (paragraph 40, 54, 57-59: if the second UE is identified as a REL-14 legacy UE, then the first UE will limit the SLSS to the first two carriers that the REL-14 UE can receive signals even though the first UE (REL-15) is capable of transmitting SLSS on four carriers). Thus it would have been obvious to the person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to implement the criteria as described by Zhao in the SLSS CA as described by Lee. The motivation is to improve SLSS assignment.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Shilov (US 2019/0239178); Shilov discloses carrier aggregation using sidelink configurations.
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. 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 nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) 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 JOHN D BLANTON whose telephone number is (571)270-3933. The examiner can normally be reached 7am-6pm EST, Mon-Thu.
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/JOHN D BLANTON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2466
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