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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 02/24/2026 has been entered.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments filed on 02/24/2026 have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground of rejection is made in view of Yoshioka, SHIN and Khoryaev which better addresses the claims as amended.
Claim Objections
Claims 50-51 are objected to because of the following informalities:
The claims have a typographical error in line 3 reciting “a physical later” instead of “a physical layer”.
Appropriate correction is required.
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.
Claims 16-17, 21, 24-25, 29, 38-41 and 44-47 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being
unpatentable over Yoshioka et al. (US 2022/0287006 A1) in view of SHIN et al. (US
20220201528 A1) and further in view of Khoryaev et al. (US 20200229171 A1).
Regarding claim 16,
Yoshioka discloses “A method for use in a first wireless transmit/receive unit (WTRU), the
method comprising” (See ¶ [0008] According to the disclosed technique, there is provided a
terminal, receives the channel state information report with at least one of following
conditions: in a specific duration, in a predetermined resource): “receiving, from a second
WTRU, a message indicating a latency bound for sending a sidelink- channel state
information (SL-CSI) report” (See ¶ [0035] As embodiment A of the present invention, if
transmission timings/resources of the SL-CSI report is “option 2”, it is considered that an SL-
CSI report window is defined, configured in a PC5-RRC. ¶ [0036] The SL-CSI report window
may be configured as a duration/period from the trigger timing of the CSI report (for
example, time X) to the time X+Z or a duration/period from completion of CSI
calculation/preparation time (for example, the time X+Y) to the time X+Y+Z, as illustrated in FIG. 3); “receiving, from the second WTRU, an indication to transmit the SL-CSI report to
the second WTRU” (See [0029] the terminal 20A (UE #A) transmits a reference signal for
measuring an SL-CSI (SL-CSI-RS) and a CSI request to the terminal 20B (UE #B). [0026] Also, a
CSI request may be replaced with an SL-CSI request); “and performing a resource selection
for transmitting the SL-CSI report” (See ¶ [0033] For transmission timings/resources of the
SL-CSI report, as option 2, it is considered that they are up to a terminal transmitting a CSI
report (the terminal 20B in the example in FIG. 2) (referred to as “option 2” hereinafter). In
other words, the terminal transmitting a CSI report may select a resource for the CSI report
similar to data (SL-SCH) transmission timing).
Yoshioka discloses performing a resource selection for transmitting the SL-CSI report, but
does not explicitly disclose that the resource occurs within a time period defined by the
latency bound.
However, SHIN discloses “performing a resource selection for transmitting the SL-CSI
report from among available resources that occur within a time period defined by the
latency bound” (See [0097] The transmission UE may make a request for SL-CSI to the
reception UE. Further, SL CSI feedback request includes a channel selection method
according to a transmission channel configuration of the SL CSI and a transmission resource
allocation mode (mode 1/2). [0147] the reception UE may select the channel through which
the SL CSI is reported to the transmission UE, the UE reporting the SL CSI may use a method
of selecting and transmitting a channel for more rapid transmission among valid PSSCH and
PSFCH resources. [0159] the UE performing the SL CSI report should perform the SL CSI
report to satisfy the latency bound by using the value configured through PC5-RRC. Note: Since the receiving UE performs resource selection for transmitting SL CSI report, and also
has to perform the SL CSI report to satisfy the latency bound, it means that it has to perform
the resource selection within the latency bound).
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 have modified the teachings of Yoshioka
with the teachings of SHIN, and the motivation to do so would have been to improve
transmission efficiency of the sidelink (SHIN [0012]).
Yoshioka in view of SHIN does not explicitly disclose determining a remaining PDB corresponding to remaining latency, determining a subset of resources satisfying the PDB, and selecting at least one resource from the subset of resources.
However, Khoryaev discloses “wherein the resource selection comprises: (i) determining a remaining packet delay budget (PDB) corresponding to a remaining latency from a time of receiving the indication to transmit the SL-CSI report until expiration of the time period defined by the latency bound” (See [0129] The resource selection window interval may be bounded by packet delay budget (PDB) requirement. [0131] if the PDB is less than the RSW, then the RSW should be bounded by the PDB. [0132] The resource selection window is defined as a time interval during which the UE selects sidelink resources for transmission. The resource selection window starts after (e.g., right after) resource (re)-selection trigger and may be bounded by min (T.sub.PDB, T.sub.RSW), where [0133] T.sub.PDB—remaining packet delay budget. Note: The resource (re)-selection is bounded by the remaining PDB, and the resource (re)-selection starts right after (re)-selection trigger, corresponding to a time at which SL transmission is to be performed, thus the remaining PDB corresponds to the remaining latency from the trigger time until expiration of the latency bound); “(ii) determining a subset of the available resources that satisfy the remaining PDB” (See [0131] if the PDB is less than the RSW, then the RSW should be bounded by the PDB. [0132] The resource selection window starts after (e.g., right after) resource (re)-selection trigger and may be bounded by min (T.sub.PDB, T.sub.RSW), where [0133] T.sub.PDB—remaining packet delay budget. [0139] Once resource (re)selection is triggered, UE is expected to form candidate resource set composed from at least M candidate resources. Note: [0131]- [0132] disclose constraining the resource selection window based on the remaining PDB, such that only resources that satisfy the remaining PDB are eligible. [0139] discloses forming a candidate resource set from the eligible resources, thus the candidate resource set corresponds to the subset of resources satisfying the remaining PDB); “and (iii) selecting at least one resource from among the subset of available resources for transmitting the SL-CSI report” (See [0139] Once resource (re)selection is triggered, UE is expected to form candidate resource set composed from at least M candidate resources and selects R tentative candidate resources for sidelink transmission).
Note: Yoshioka in view of SHIN discloses transmitting a SL-CSI report using the selected resource, and an SL-CSI report is a type of sidelink transmission.
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 have modified the teachings of Yoshioka and SHIN, with the teachings of Khoryaev by applying the PDB-based resource selection to the SL CSI report transmission, and the motivation to do so would have been to ensure that selected resources enable timely transmission, thereby improving QoS performance for sidelink communication.
Regarding claim 17,
Yoshioka in view of SHIN and Khoryaev discloses “The method of claim 16, wherein the message indicating the latency bound is received via PC5- radio resource control (PC5-RRC)
signaling” (See Yoshioka ¶ [0035] As embodiment A of the present invention, if
transmission timings/resources of the SL-CSI report is “option 2”, it is considered that an SL-
CSI report window is defined, configured in a PC5-RRC).
Regarding claim 21,
Yoshioka in view of SHIN and Khoryaev discloses “The method of claim 16, further comprising transmitting, to the second WTRU, a computed latency for the SL-CSI report” (See Yoshioka ¶[0036] The SL-CSI report window may be configured as a duration/period from the trigger timing of the CSI report (for example, time X) to the time X+Z or a duration/period from completion of CSI calculation/preparation time (for example, the time X+Y) to the time X+Y+Z, as illustrated in FIG. 3. The time Z may be defined in the specification, (pre)configured, configured in a PC5- RRC, indicated in a MAC-CE (Media Access Control- Control Element), DCI or SCI. Note: According to spec. [0178] The computed latency maybe the same as CSI reporting latency).
Regarding claim 24,
Yoshioka discloses “A first wireless transmit/receive unit comprising: a processor; and a
transceiver; wherein the processor and transceiver are configured to” (See Fig. 8-9):
“receive, from a second WTRU, a message indicating a latency bound for sending a
sidelink-channel state information (SL-CSI) report” (See ¶ [0035] As embodiment A of the
present invention, if transmission timings/resources of the SL-CSI report is “option 2”, it is
considered that an SL- CSI report window is defined, configured in a PC5-RRC. ¶ [0036] The
SL- CSI report window may be configured as a duration/period from the trigger timing of the
CSI report (for example, time X) to the time X+Z or a duration/period from completion of CSI
calculation/preparation time (for example, the time X+Y) to the time X+Y+Z, as illustrated in
FIG. 3); “receive, from the second WTRU, an indication to transmit the SL-CSI to the second
WTRU” (See ¶[0029] the terminal 20A (UE #A) transmits a reference signal for measuring an
SL-CSI (SL-CSI-RS) and a CSI request to the terminal 20B (UE #B). ¶ [0026] Also, a CSI request
may be replaced with an SL-CSI request); “and perform a resource selection for
transmitting the SL-CSI report” (See ¶ [0033] For transmission timings/resources of the SL-
CSI report, as option 2, it is considered that they are up to a terminal transmitting a CSI
report (the terminal 20B in the example in FIG. 2) (referred to as “option 2” hereinafter). In
other words, the terminal transmitting a CSI report may select a resource for the CSI report
similar to data (SL-SCH) transmission timing).
Yoshioka discloses performing a resource selection for transmitting the SL-CSI report, but does not explicitly disclose that the resource occurs within a time period defined by the
latency bound.
However, SHIN discloses “perform a resource selection for transmitting the SL-CSI report
from among available resources that occur within a time period defined by the latency
bound” (See [0097] The transmission UE may make a request for SL-CSI to the reception UE.
Further, SL CSI feedback request includes a channel selection method according to a
transmission channel configuration of the SL CSI and a transmission resource allocation
mode (mode 1/2). [0147] the reception UE may select the channel through which the SL CSI
is reported to the transmission UE, the UE reporting the SL CSI may use a method of
selecting and transmitting a channel for more rapid transmission among valid PSSCH and
PSFCH resources. [0159] the UE performing the SL CSI report should perform the SL CSI
report to satisfy the latency bound by using the value configured through PC5-RRC. Note:
Since the receiving UE performs resource selection for transmitting SL CSI report, and also
has to perform the SL CSI report to satisfy the latency bound, it means that it has to perform
the resource selection within the latency bound).
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 have modified the teachings of Yoshioka
with the teachings of SHIN, and the motivation to do so would have been to improve
transmission efficiency of the sidelink (SHIN [0012]).
Yoshioka in view of SHIN does not explicitly disclose determining a remaining PDB corresponding to remaining latency, determining a subset of resources satisfying the PDB, and selecting at least one resource from the subset of resources.
However, Khoryaev discloses “wherein the resource selection comprises: (i) determining a remaining packet delay budget (PDB) corresponding to a remaining latency from a time of receiving the indication to transmit the SL-CSI report until expiration of the time period defined by the latency bound” (See [0129] The resource selection window interval may be bounded by packet delay budget (PDB) requirement. [0131] if the PDB is less than the RSW, then the RSW should be bounded by the PDB. [0132] The resource selection window is defined as a time interval during which the UE selects sidelink resources for transmission. The resource selection window starts after (e.g., right after) resource (re)-selection trigger and may be bounded by min (T.sub.PDB, T.sub.RSW), where [0133] T.sub.PDB—remaining packet delay budget. Note: The resource (re)-selection is bounded by the remaining PDB, and the resource (re)-selection starts right after (re)-selection trigger, corresponding to a time at which SL transmission is to be performed, thus the remaining PDB corresponds to the remaining latency from the trigger time until expiration of the latency bound); “(ii) determining a subset of the available resources that satisfy the remaining PDB” (See [0131] if the PDB is less than the RSW, then the RSW should be bounded by the PDB. [0132] The resource selection window starts after (e.g., right after) resource (re)-selection trigger and may be bounded by min (T.sub.PDB, T.sub.RSW), where [0133] T.sub.PDB—remaining packet delay budget. [0139] Once resource (re)selection is triggered, UE is expected to form candidate resource set composed from at least M candidate resources. Note: [0131]- [0132] disclose constraining the resource selection window based on the remaining PDB, such that only resources that satisfy the remaining PDB are eligible. [0139] discloses forming a candidate resource set from the eligible resources, thus the candidate resource set corresponds to the subset of resources satisfying the remaining PDB); “and (iii) selecting at least one resource from among the subset of available resources for transmitting the SL-CSI report” (See [0139] Once resource (re)selection is triggered, UE is expected to form candidate resource set composed from at least M candidate resources and selects R tentative candidate resources for sidelink transmission).
Note: Yoshioka in view of SHIN discloses transmitting a SL-CSI report using the selected resource, and an SL-CSI report is a type of sidelink transmission.
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 have modified the teachings of Yoshioka and SHIN, with the teachings of Khoryaev by applying the PDB-based resource selection to the SL CSI report transmission, and the motivation to do so would have been to ensure that selected resources enable timely transmission, thereby improving QoS performance for sidelink communication.
Regarding claim 25,
Yoshioka in view of SHIN and Khoryaev discloses “The first WTRU claim 24, wherein the message indicating the latency bound is received via PC5-radio resource control (PC5-RRC)” (See Yoshioka ¶[0035] As embodiment A of the present invention, if transmission
timings/resources of the SL-CSI report is “option 2”, it is considered that an SL- CSI report
window is defined, configured in a PC5-RRC).
Regarding claim 29,
Yoshioka in view of SHIN and Khoryaev discloses “The first WTRU of claim 24, wherein the transceiver is further configured to: transmit, to the second WTRU, a computed latency for the SL-CSI report” (See Yoshioka ¶[0036] The SL-CSI report window may be configured as a
duration/period from the trigger timing of the CSI report (for example, time X) to the time
X+Z or a duration/period from completion of CSI calculation/preparation time (for example,
the time X+Y) to the time X+Y+Z, as illustrated in FIG. 3. The time Z may be defined in the
specification, (pre)configured, configured in a PC5-RRC, indicated in a MAC-CE (Media
Access Control- Control Element), DCI or SCI. Note: According to spec. [0178] The computed
latency maybe the same as CSI reporting latency).
Regarding claim 38,
Yoshioka in view of SHIN and Khoryaev discloses “The method of claim 16, further comprising: transmitting, to the second WTRU, the SL-CSI report” (See Yoshioka Fig. 2, ¶ [0029] Upon receiving the CSI request, the terminal 20B transmits the SL-CSI report to the terminal 20A by means of the PSSCH).
Regarding claim 39,
Yoshioka in view of SHIN and Khoryaev discloses “The method of claim 16, further comprising: on a condition that no resources are available to transmit the SL-CSI report within the latency bound, canceling the SL-CSI report transmission” (See SHIN ¶ [0146] When PSSCH resources selected to transmit the SL CSI through sensing and resource selection in Mode 2 exceeds the SL CSI window on the basis of the valid SL CSI window and thus the feedback delay is not satisfied, the reception UE may not report the SL CSI to the transmission UE. [0161] when the UE reporting the SL CSI does not receive allocation of resources satisfying the latency bound X after receiving an indication of triggering the CSI report, the UE may not expect an operation of performing the SL CSI report).
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 have modified the teachings of Yoshioka
with the teachings of SHIN, and the motivation to do so would have been to improve
transmission efficiency of the sidelink (SHIN [0012]).
Regarding claim 40,
Yoshioka in view of SHIN and Khoryaev discloses “The method of claim 16, wherein performing the resource selection is based on the first WTRU having no available resources” (See SHIN ¶ [0302] A condition for triggering resource (re-)selection may correspond to the case in which one of the following conditions is satisfied. ¶ [0303] When there is no configured sidelink grant).
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 have modified the teachings of Yoshioka
with the teachings of SHIN, and the motivation to do so would have been to improve transmission efficiency of the sidelink (SHIN [0012]).
Regarding claim 41,
Yoshioka in view of SHIN and Khoryaev discloses “The method of claim 16, wherein performing the resource selection is based on the first WTRU having no available resources within the time period defined by the latency bound” (See SHIN [0302] A condition for triggering resource (re-)selection may correspond to the case in which one of the following conditions is satisfied. ¶ [0303] When there is no configured sidelink grant. ¶ [0305] When the current configured sidelink grant does not satisfy a latency requirement for data in a logical channel).
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 have modified the teachings of Yoshioka
with the teachings of SHIN, and the motivation to do so would have been to improve
transmission efficiency of the sidelink (SHIN [0012]).
Regarding claim 44, these limitations are rejected on the same ground as claim 38.
Regarding claim 45, these limitations are rejected on the same ground as claim 39.
Regarding claim 46, these limitations are rejected on the same ground as claim 40.
Regarding claim 47, these limitations are rejected on the same ground as claim 41.
Claims 19 and 27 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yoshioka et
al. (US 2022/0287006 A1) in view of SHIN et al. (US 20220201528 A1) and further in view of Khoryaev et al. (US 20200229171 A1) and further in view of Cheng et al. (US 20190394758 A1).
Regarding claims 19 and 27,
Yoshioka in view of SHIN and Khoryaev discloses claim 19 of “The method of claim 16”, and claim 27 of “The first WTRU of claim 24”, but does not explicitly disclose a mapping between SR configurations and CSI latency values.
However, Cheng discloses “wherein the first WTRU is configured with a mapping between
scheduling request (SR) configurations and corresponding CSI reporting latency values”
(See ¶ [0099] Even though UE is configured with PUCCH resources of PUCCH format 2,
PUCCH format 3 and PUCCH format 4, UE may only select PUCCH format 2 to fulfill the
latency requirement if the CSI report is for high reliability service. Note: This means there is
a mapping/ correspondence between PUCCH resources and CSI reporting latency values.
According to applicant’s spec. [0196], the SR configurations are PUCCH resources.
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 have modified the teachings of Yoshioka,
SHIN and Khoryaev with the teachings of Cheng, and the motivation to do so would have been to enhance dynamic adaptation to network conditions.
Claims 42 and 48 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over
Yoshioka et al. (US 2022/0287006 A1) in view of SHIN et al. (US 20220201528 A1) and further in view of Khoryaev et al. (US 20200229171 A1) and further in view of LEE et al. (US 2022/0007388 A1).
Regarding claims 42 and 48,
Yoshioka in view of SHIN and Khoryaev discloses claim 42 of “The method of claim 16”, and claim 48 of “The first WTRU of claim 24”, but does not explicitly disclose that the SL-CSI report is transmitted in a MAC CE.
However, LEE discloses “wherein the SL-CSI report is transmitted using a sidelink medium
access control element (SL MAC CE)” (See ¶ [0140] the UE may use the container based on
PHY signaling (or the container of the MAC CE format) when reporting the SL A- CSI to
another UE (which has triggered the SL A-CSI reporting)).
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 have modified the teachings of Yoshioka,
SHIN and Khoryaev with the teachings of LEE, and the motivation to do so would have been to have efficient resource utilization.
Claims 50-51 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yoshioka et al. (US 2022/0287006 A1) in view of SHIN et al. (US 20220201528 A1) and further in view of Khoryaev et al. (US 20200229171 A1) and further in view of LIU et al. (US 20200137738 A1).
Regarding claims 50 and 51,
Yoshioka in view of SHIN and Khoryaev discloses claim 50 of “The method of claim 16”, and claim 51 of “The WTRU of claim 24”, but does not explicitly disclose providing the remaining PDB to a physical layer, and receiving a subset of the available resources that satisfy the remaining PDB.
However, LIU discloses “wherein the determining the subset of available resources that satisfy the remaining PDB comprises: providing the remaining PDB to a physical later of the first WTRU” (See [0135] a media access control layer (Media Access Control, MAC) of the terminal 1 may deliver the service latency information, and the service reliability information of the first data to a physical layer (PHY). The latency information may be, but is not limited to, the latency requirement information); “and receiving, from the physical layer, a subset of the available resources that satisfy the remaining PDB” (See [0135] The physical layer selects a candidate resource set from the first subpool, and then delivers the candidate resource set to the MAC layer. Then the MAC layer selects the first time-frequency resource from the candidate resource set. Note: The physical layer receives latency requirement information, which corresponds to remaining PDB/ latency constraint, and selects and sends a subset of resources/ candidate resource set that is based on/ satisfies this latency constraint).
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 have modified the teachings of Yoshioka, SHIN and Khoryaev, with the teachings of LIU, by incorporating cross-layer resource selection, and the motivation to do so would have been to improve coordination across protocol layers and ensure that selected resources satisfy latency constraints, thereby enabling timely transmission.
Conclusion
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/SALMA AYAD/Examiner, Art Unit 2462
/YEMANE MESFIN/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2462