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
Claims 1-5, 8-30, 32, 33 are pending.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to amended independent claim(s) 13, 28 have been considered but are not persuasive. Specifically, while the amendments substantially change the scope of the claimed subject matter and necessitate new grounds of rejection, Examiner respectfully maintains the prior art cited reasonably teaches/suggests the amended limitations of the claim(s).
Regarding remarks on page 12-13, applicants state “…KANG, YOSHIOKA, and YE do not disclose each and every feature recited in amended claim 13… the cited portions of KANG recite "a procedure for selecting a scheduling UE (playing a role in grating a sidelink transmission resource to another UE)." See id., paragraph 169. KANG further states "UE supporting a sidelink resource sensing function (UE capable of granting a resource of P-UE having no sidelink resource sensing function." See id., paragraph 172. KANG also states "[t]he assistant UE may sense a transmission resource pool for a UE having no sensing function despite needing resource grant, and provide a transmission resource pool to be used for the UE having no sensing function." See id., paragraph 186. Thus, KAMG describes a method for selecting a scheduling UE, where the scheduling UE can grant resources for a UE having no sensing function. However, KANG does not disclose or suggest "select, in accordance with a sensing mode of the UE, and during a resource selection window, one or more available resources for sidelink shared channel communication by another UE to the UE," as recited in amended independent claim 13.” However, referring to the prior art, Kang was cited for (see at least 0179, “…for unicast-based V2X packet transmission/reception, negotiation may be performed such that one of two UEs functions as the scheduling UE”, thus scheduling UE may be a receiver; 0151, fig. 7, 8 further disclose a granting UE may be a receiver UE), thus a given sensing UE may receive sidelink data from another e.g. non-sensing UE, as any given sidelink UE may be capable of sidelink communications. Further, Yoshioka is cited for (see at least 0046, 0041, SL data may be carried on PSSCH) and Ye is cited for (see at least 0070-0071, reserved sidelink resources for transmission may be determined within resource selection window). Therefore Examiner submits the prior art cited reasonably teaches/suggests the amended limitations of the claim(s), including “select, in accordance with a sensing mode of the UE, and during a resource selection window, one or more available resources for sidelink shared channel communication by another UE to the UE”.
Rejections for similar independent and/or dependent claims are revised and/or maintained accordingly.
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.
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.
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 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.
Claim 13, 14, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 28, 29, 30, 32, 33 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kang et al. (US 2020/0229145) in view of Yoshioka et al. (US 2022/0078839) in view of Ye et al. (US 2021/0250136).
For claim 13, Kang teaches: A user equipment (UE) for wireless communication, comprising: one or more memories storing processor-readable code; and one or more processors coupled with the one or more memories (see at least 0079, fig. 2-3, UE and BS may comprise controller/memory for communications), the at least one of the one or more processors operable to cause the UE to:
select, in accordance with a sensing mode of the UE, one or more available resources for a sidelink communication (see at least 0169-0172, fig. 9b, in V2X resource allocation mode 2d or 2b, a UE may grant a sidelink transmission resource to another UE; 0172, 0186, scheduling UE may support sidelink resource sensing function. See at least 0172, 0186, UE with sensing function may sense/grant resources to UEs having no sensing function despite needing resources, thus resources for grant may be determined/selected by a sensing UE) by another UE to the UE (see at least 0179, “…for unicast-based V2X packet transmission/reception, negotiation may be performed such that one of two UEs functions as the scheduling UE”, thus scheduling UE may be the receiver; 0151, fig. 7, 8 further disclose a granting UE may be a receiver UE);
transmit, to the other UE, an indication of the one or more available resources for the other UE to use for a sidelink communication to the UE (see at least 0169-0172, 0180-0181, fig. 9b, UE may grant the sidelink transmission resource to another UE); and
receive the sidelink communication from the other UE in at least one resource of the one or more available resources (see at least 0180-0181, fig. 9b, UEs may transmit on granted resources accordingly. See at least 0179, “…for unicast-based V2X packet transmission/reception, negotiation may be performed such that one of two UEs functions as the scheduling UE”, thus scheduling UE may be the receiver; 0151, fig. 7, 8 further disclose a granting UE may be a receiver UE).
Kang does not explicitly teach: …based at least in part on a resource selection trigger, or: …a sidelink control information communication comprising, or: …sidelink shared channel. Yoshioka from an analogous art teaches (see at least 0046, 0041, SL grants may be carried on PSCCH, and SL data may be carried on PSSCH according to PSCCH scheduling. See at least 0067-0069, scheduling request may be sent to a scheduling UE e.g. in V2X mode 2d, to execute (trigger) resource scheduling). Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to incorporate Yoshioka to the system of Kang, so the SL grant is carried in PSCCH SCI, SL data is carried on PSSCH, and the scheduling UE may perform resource selection/scheduling in response to a scheduling request (trigger), as suggested by Yoshioka. The motivation would have been to enhance communication by using well known control and data channels for sidelink, and using request messaging to execute SL scheduling (Yoshioka, 0046, 0041, 0067-0069).
Kang, Yoshioka does not explicitly teach: …and during a resource selection window. Ye from an analogous art teaches (see at least 0070-0071, a resource selection window lower bound may be based on factors including packet delay budget, etc.; reserved sidelink resources for transmission may be determined within the window). Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to incorporate Ye to the system of Kang, Yoshioka, so the granted resources are within a resource selection window, as suggested by YeHe. The motivation would have been to enhance communication by reserving sidelink resources in an appropriate window based on requirements (Ye 0070-0071).
For claim 14, Kang, Yoshioka, Ye teaches claim 13, Kang further teaches: wherein at least one processor of the one or more processors is further configured to: reserve the one or more available resources, wherein the sidelink control information communication identifies the one or more available resources reserved by the UE (see at least 0169, 0180-0181, in V2X resource allocation mode 2d or 2b, a UE may grant (reserve) a sidelink transmission resource to another UE (also see 0186)).
For claim 17, Kang, Yoshioka, Ye teaches claim 14, Kang further teaches: wherein the one or more available resources are not to be used by the UE (see at least 0169, 0180-0181, in V2X resource allocation mode 2d or 2b, a UE may grant (reserve) a sidelink transmission resource to another UE; the resource is not disclosed to be used by any other UEs e.g. scheduling UE).
For claim 18, Kang, Yoshioka, Ye teaches claim 14, Kang further teaches: wherein a message that includes the sidelink control information communication indicates that the one or more available resources are reserved for one or more other UEs that are operating in a no-sensing mode (see at least 0169, 0180-0181, in V2X resource allocation mode 2d or 2b, a UE may grant (reserve) a sidelink transmission resource to another UE; see at least 0172, 0186, UE with sensing function may sense/grant resources to UEs having no sensing function despite needing resources).
For claim 19, Kang, Yoshioka, Ye teaches claim 13, Kang further teaches: wherein the sidelink control information communication is to be used by the other UE to select the at least one resource from the one or more available resources (see at least 0180-0181, fig. 9b, UEs may transmit on granted resources accordingly, thus may select/use granted resources).
For claim 20, Kang, Yoshioka, Ye teaches claim 13, Kang further teaches: wherein at least one processor of the one or more processors is further configured to: transmit a message indicating at least one resource that is assigned to the other UE (see at least 0169, 0180-0181, in V2X resource allocation mode 2d or 2b, a UE may grant (assign) a sidelink transmission resource to another UE).
For claim 21, Kang, Yoshioka, Ye teaches claim 13, Kang further teaches: wherein at least one processor of the one or more processors is further configured to: perform a sensing procedure in accordance with the sensing mode, wherein the sidelink control information communication includes sensing information that is in accordance with performing the sensing procedure (see at least 0172, 0186, UE with sensing function may sense/grant resources to UEs having no sensing function despite needing resources, thus resource grant comprises sensed resource information).
For claim 22, Kang, Yoshioka, Ye teaches claim 21, Kang further teaches: wherein the sidelink control information communication is to be used by the other UE to determine at least one resource in accordance with the sensing information and without using another sensing procedure (see at least 0172, 0186, UE with sensing function may sense/grant resources to UEs having no sensing function despite needing resources, thus the granted UE determines resources without performing sensing itself).
Claim 28 recites a method substantially similar to the apparatus of claim 13 and is rejected under similar reasoning.
Claim 29 recites a method substantially similar to the apparatus of claim 14 and is rejected under similar reasoning.
Claim 30 recites a method substantially similar to the apparatus of claim 21 and is rejected under similar reasoning.
For claim 32, Kang, Yoshioka, Ye teaches claim 13, Ye further teaches: wherein the resource selection window is based at least in part on a packet delay budget (PDB) (see at least 0070-0071, a resource selection window lower bound may be based on factors including packet delay budget, etc.; reserved sidelink resources for transmission may be determined within the window). Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to incorporate Ye to the system of claim 13, so the resource selection window is determined based on factors including packet delay budget, as suggested by YeHe. The motivation would have been to enhance communication by reserving sidelink resources in an appropriate window based on requirements including remaining packet delay budget (Ye 0070-0071).
Claim 33 recites a method substantially similar to the apparatus of claim 32 and is rejected under similar reasoning.
Claim 15 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kang et al. (US 2020/0229145) in view of Yoshioka et al. (US 2022/0078839) in view of Ye et al. (US 2021/0250136) in view of He et al. (US 2020/0029340).
For claim 15, Kang, Yoshioka, Ye teaches claim 14, but not explicitly: wherein at least one processor of the one or more processors is further configured to: transmit a sidelink data communication or coordination information in a slot in which the one or more available resources are reserved. He from an analogous art teaches (see at least Abstract, 0491, fig. 14-15, a UE transmitting SCI to a second UE may reserve/use sidelink resources in a same selection window (slot) as resources used by the second UE). Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to incorporate He to the system of claim 14, so the scheduling UE uses resources in a same window/slot as the UE being scheduled, as suggested by He. The motivation would have been to enhance communication by providing resources for multiple UEs in a resource window (He fig. 14-15).
Claim 23 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kang et al. (US 2020/0229145) in view of Yoshioka et al. (US 2022/0078839) in view of Ye et al. (US 2021/0250136) in view of Park et al. (US 2020/0314940).
For claim 23, Kang, Yoshioka, Ye teaches claim 13, Kang further teaches messages comprise sensing information (see at least 0172, 0186, UE with sensing function may sense/grant resources to UEs having no sensing function despite needing resources, thus resource grant comprises sensed resource information) but not explicitly: wherein a message that includes the sidelink control information communication also includes information that identifies a resource allocation for another message with sensing information. Park from an analogous art teaches (see at least 0188, a first SCI may carry scheduling information for second SCI (0175, SCI may carry PSSCH and/or PSCCH resource allocation, periodicity, etc.)). Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to incorporate Park to the system of claim 13, so the SCI comprises scheduling/allocation for a second SCI with 2d scheduling (sensing information), as suggested by Park. The motivation would have been to enhance communication by scheduling subsequent SCI transmissions via sidelink control channel (Park 0174-0188).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim(s) 1-5, 8-12, 24-27 are allowed.
The following is a statement of reasons for allowance: the prior art fails to teach/suggest the amended limitations of independent claim(s) 1, 24. See applicant’s remarks dated 11/24/25.
Claim 16 objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
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 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 SIREN WEI whose telephone number is (571)272-0687. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday - Thursday 7-4. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Hassan Phillips can be reached on 571-272-3940. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/Siren Wei/
Patent Examiner
Art Unit 2467
Prosecution Insights