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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 1/21/2026 has been entered.
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 1-6, 8-9, 11 and 24-30 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lei [WO 2023/137755] in view of Lee [US 2022/0201781].
As claims 1, 24, 28 and 30, Lei [WO 2023/137755] discloses a wireless node for wireless communication, comprising: one or more memories; and one or more processors, coupled to the one or more memories, configured to cause the wireless node to: configure, for a sidelink unicast link and based at least in part on communication with another wireless node, a plurality of feedback occasions within a feedback response window, wherein the plurality of feedback occasions correspond to a sidelink control information (SCI) communication, associated with a communication channel [Par. 0029-29 discloses RX and TX establishes unicast communication channel for conveying data and feedback which is configured with occasions within window “window includes TOs” via SCI]; transmit a communication on the communication channel [Fig 1, Ref 110a and 110c exchanges data via channel]. However, Lei fails to disclose monitor for feedback on the plurality of feedback occasions based at least in part on a discontinuous transmission counter, wherein the discontinuous transmission counter is incremented or reset based at least in part on whether the feedback is within the plurality of feedback occasions within the feedback response window. In the same field of endeavor, Lee discloses monitor for feedback on the plurality of feedback occasions based at least in part on a discontinuous transmission counter [Fig 12-13, Par. 0212-0256 discloses UE monitor PFSCH occasions within interval “feedback window”, Par. 0235, increase counter value if no ack for PFSCH occasion, Par. 0229-0230, and re-initialize the counter to zero if UE receives ACK in PFSCH occasion, Par. 0231-0232, the counter is increased or re-initialize based on monitoring of PSFCH occasions within interval, Par. 0229-240, Par. 0244-0255, 0352-0388], wherein the discontinuous transmission counter is incremented or reset based at least in part on whether the feedback is within the plurality of feedback occasions within the feedback response window [Fig 12-13, Par. 0212-0256 discloses UE monitor PFSCH occasions within interval “feedback window”, Par. 0235, increase counter value if no ack for PFSCH occasion, Par. 0229-0230, and re-initialize the counter to zero if UE receives ACK in PFSCH occasion, Par. 0231-0232, the counter is increased or re-initialize based on monitoring of PSFCH occasions within interval, Par. 0229-240, Par. 0244-0255, 0352-0388].
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of claimed invention to apply a method and system comprising monitor for feedback on the plurality of feedback occasions based at least in part on a discontinuous transmission counter, wherein the discontinuous transmission counter is incremented or reset based at least in part on whether the feedback is within the plurality of feedback occasions within the feedback response window as disclosed by Lee into the teaching of Lei. The motivation would have been to prevent data loss.
As claims 2, 25 and 29, Lei/Lee discloses the feedback response window is configured based at least in part on the sidelink unicast link being associated with a decentralized channel access mechanism [Lei discloses Par. 0040, UE configured with TOs via SCI, Lee discloses interval for receiving/transmitting PSFCHs, Par. 0235].
As claims 3 and 26, Lei discloses the configuration of the feedback response window is associated with establishing the sidelink unicast link with the other wireless node, and wherein the configuration of the feedback response window is based at least in part on signaling between the wireless node and the another wireless node [Par. 0040, UE configured with TOs].
As claims 4 and 27, Lee discloses perform radio link failure (RLF) detection based at least in part on monitoring for the feedback [Fig 12, Ref 1205, TX UE declares an RLF for SL communication with the RX UE based on the DTX-related counter reaching a maximum threshold value]
As claim 5, Lei/Lee discloses the plurality of feedback occasions are distributed in at least one of a frequency domain or a time domain [Fig 8, Lee discloses time and frequency domain and Lei discloses at Fig 3].
As claim 6, Lei discloses the plurality of feedback occasions are pre-configured for the wireless node [Par. 0040, UE configured with TOs].
As claim 8, Lee discloses wherein, to monitor for feedback on the plurality of feedback occasions based at least in part on the discontinuous transmission counter, the one or more processors are configured to cause the wireless node to: increment the discontinuous transmission counter if no feedback is detected on any feedback occasion of the plurality of feedback occasions; or reset the discontinuous transmission counter if the feedback is detected on any feedback occasion of the plurality of feedback occasions [Fig 12, Ref 1204, the DTX counter may be incremented by 1 based on not detecting the HARQ feedback is due to a channel state or a PSSCH decoding failure of a receiving UE or reinitializing counter, Par. 0212-0256, 0352-0388].
As claim 9, Lee discloses wherein, to monitor for feedback on the plurality of feedback occasions based at least in part on the discontinuous transmission counter, the one or more processors are configured to cause the wireless node to: increment the discontinuous transmission counter if no feedback is detected on an earliest feedback occasion of the plurality of feedback occasions [Par. 0212-0256, 0352-0388 and Fig 12, Ref 1204 discloses the DTX counter may be incremented by 1 based on not detecting the HARQ feedback is due to a channel state or a PSSCH decoding failure of a receiving UE.]; or reset the discontinuous transmission counter if the feedback is detected on any feedback occasion of the plurality of feedback occasions [Fig 12, Ref 1204, the DTX counter may be incremented by 1 based on not detecting the HARQ feedback is due to a channel state or a PSSCH decoding failure of a receiving UE or reinitializing counter, Par. 0212-0256, 0352-0388].
As claim 10, Lee discloses wherein, to monitor for feedback on the plurality of feedback occasions based at least in part on the discontinuous transmission counter, the one or more processors are configured to cause the wireless node to: increment, based at least in part on the configuring, the discontinuous transmission counter each time no feedback is detected on a feedback occasion of the plurality of feedback occasions; [Par. 0212-0256, 0352-0388 and Fig 12, Ref 1204 discloses the DTX counter may be incremented by 1 based on not detecting the HARQ feedback is due to a channel state or a PSSCH decoding failure of a receiving UE.] and reset the discontinuous transmission counter if the feedback is detected on any feedback occasion of the plurality of feedback occasions [Fig 12, Ref 1204, the DTX counter may be incremented by 1 based on not detecting the HARQ feedback is due to a channel state or a PSSCH decoding failure of a receiving UE or reinitializing counter, Par. 0212-0256, 0352-0388].
Claim 7 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lee (US-20230080600-A1) and Lei [WO 2023/137755] and further in view of Di Girolamo [WO 2023/091959] or Park [USP 2024/0381390].
Regarding claim 7, Lee and Lei teach the wireless node of claim 1 but fails to disclose what DI GIROLAMO/Park discloses the plurality of feedback occasions are based at least in part on dynamic triggering [DI GIROLAMO discloses Par. 0262 discloses occasions is redefined based on transmission success or Park ’90 discloses Par. 0196, 0211 discloses occasion resources are selection based on dynamic triggering in order to prevent collision].
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the teaching of DI GIROLAMO/Park into the teaching of Lee and Lei. The motivation would have been to improve the quality of signal.
Claim 11 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lee [US 2022/0201781] and Lei [WO 2023/137755] as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Lee [US-20230080600].
As claim 11, Lee [US 2022/0201781] and Lei [WO 2023/137755] fail to disclose what Lee [US-20230080600] discloses wherein the one or more processors are further configured to cause the wireless node to: skip monitoring on a particular feedback occasion of the plurality of feedback occasions. (Lee teaches [0173] “In step S1220, the TX UE may transmit a PSSCH to the RX UE based on the PSCCH. In step S1230, unlike S1130 of FIG. 11, the TX UE may not perform monitoring for HARQ feedback in a PSFCH resource.”) By teaching “the TX UE may not perform monitoring for HARQ feedback”, Lee teaches “skip monitoring on a particular feedback occasion”.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the teaching of Lee [US-20230080600] into the teaching of Lee [US 2022/0201781], Lei [WO 2023/137755]. The motivation would have been to improve the quality of signal.
Claims 12-15 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lee [US 2022/0201781], Lee [US-20230080600] and Lei [WO 2023/137755] as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Wang [WO 2023173437 A1].
As claim 12, Lee [US 2022/0201781], Lee [US-20230080600] and Lei [WO 2023/137755] fail what Wang teaches wherein, to monitor for feedback on the plurality of feedback occasions based at least in part on the discontinuous transmission counter, the one or more processors are configured to cause the wireless node to: monitor for the feedback as if the particular feedback occasion is not configured. (Wang teaches [0134] “If no HARQ feedback information is detected on one of the K HARQ feedback occasions or each HARQ feedback occasion, the first terminal device 210 may increment a value of a consecutive DTX counter associated with the sidelink channel, for example, the numConsecutiveDTX is incremented by 1”) “Not configured” means the “particular feedback occasion” was not detected because it was “not configured” and Wang speaks on this claim limitation above.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the teaching as taught by Wang in the system of Lee [US 2022/0201781], Lei [WO 2023/137755] and Lee [US-20230080600], so that the one or more processors are configured to cause the wireless node to: monitor for the feedback as if the particular feedback occasion is not configured. The modification would have allowed the system to enable improvement of the service continuity and reduce communication interruption and delay. (Wang, para. [0037]).
As claim 13, Lee [US 2022/0201781], Lei [WO 2023/137755] and Lee [US-20230080600] fail what Wang teaches wherein, to monitor for feedback on the plurality of feedback occasions based at least in part on the discontinuous transmission counter, the one or more processors are configured to cause the wireless node to: monitor for the feedback assuming a non-discontinuous transmission result on the particular feedback occasion. (Wang teaches [0134] “Otherwise, if HARQ feedback information is detected on any of the K HARQ feedback occasions or each HARQ feedback occasion, the first terminal device 210 may determine that the RLF criterion is not met.”) Discontinuous transmission result means that feedback information was not detected, so “nondiscontinuous transmission result” means the feedback was detected.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the teaching as taught by Wang in the system of Lee and Lei, so that the one or more processors are configured to cause the wireless node to: monitor for the feedback assuming a non-discontinuous transmission result on the particular feedback occasion. The modification would have allowed the system to enable improvement of the service continuity and reduce communication interruption and delay. (Wang, para. [0037]).
As claim 14, Lee [US 2022/0201781], Lei [WO 2023/137755] and Lee [US-20230080600] fail what Wang teaches wherein, wherein, to monitor for feedback on the plurality of feedback occasions based at least in part on the discontinuous transmission counter, the one or more processors are configured to cause the wireless node to: monitor for the feedback assuming a discontinuous transmission result on the particular feedback occasion. (Wang teaches [0134] “If no HARQ feedback information is detected on one of the K HARQ feedback occasions or each HARQ feedback occasion, the first terminal device 210 may increment a value of a consecutive DTX counter associated with the sidelink channel, for example, the numConsecutiveDTX is incremented by 1”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the teaching as taught by Wang in the system of Lee [US 2022/0201781], Lei [WO 2023/137755] and Lee [US-20230080600]so that the one or more processors are configured to cause the wireless node to: monitor for the feedback assuming a discontinuous transmission result on the particular feedback occasion. The modification would have allowed the system to enable improvement of the service continuity and reduce communication interruption and delay. (Wang, para. [0037]).
As claim 15, Lee [US 2022/0201781], Lei [WO 2023/137755] and Lee [US-20230080600] fail what Wang teaches wherein, wherein, to monitor for feedback on the plurality of feedback occasions based at least in part on the discontinuous transmission counter, the one or more processors are configured to cause the wireless node to: monitor for the feedback based at least in part on a priority of the communication. (Wang teaches [0062]; Table 3 “By way of still another example, the predefined or preconfigured list of candidate values of the scaling factor M may be associated with a priority of PSSCH or a priority of service or packet transmitted via PSSCH. Table 3 shows an example relationship between the list of candidate values of scaling factor M with the priority of PSSCH. [0063] When multiple candidate values of scaling factor M is defined or (pre-)configured, Tx UE of sidelink communication is able to flexibly adjust the value of scaling factor M to adapt to the current channel state or the service requirement in time.”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the teaching as taught by Wang in the system of Lee [US 2022/0201781], Lei [WO 2023/137755] and Lee [US-20230080600], so that the one or more processors are configured to cause the wireless node to: monitor for the feedback based at least in part on a priority of the communication. The modification would have allowed the system to enable improvement of the service continuity and reduce communication interruption and delay. (Wang, para. [0037]).
Claim 16 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lei [WO 2023/137755] and Lee [US 2022/0201781] as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Wu (US 20210099269 A1).
Regarding claim 16, Lee and Lei teach the wireless node of claim 1, however, the references do not teach wherein the configuration indicates to monitor only for a non-discontinuous transmission result on a first feedback occasion of the plurality of feedback occasions, and to monitor for a discontinuous transmission result and a non-discontinuous transmission result on a second feedback occasion of the plurality of feedback occasions. Wu teaches wherein the configuration indicates to monitor only for a non-discontinuous transmission result on a first feedback occasion of the plurality of feedback occasions, and to monitor for a discontinuous transmission result and a non-discontinuous transmission result on a second feedback occasion of the plurality of feedback occasions. (Wu teaches [0083] “Returning to FIG. 2, in some examples, there may not be explicit configuration of multiple feedback resource sets (e.g., as in some examples, different feedback resource set for different feedback modes or feedback types), however, the determination of a feedback resource for a data transmission may take into account the feedback mode or feedback type, such that for a different feedback mode (e.g., NACK-only mode or ACK/NACK mode) or different feedback type (positive acknowledgement or negative acknowledgement), the determined feedback resource would be different.”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the teaching as taught by Wu in the system of Lee and Lei, so that the configuration indicates to monitor only for a non-discontinuous transmission result on a first feedback occasion of the plurality of feedback occasions, and to monitor for a discontinuous transmission result and a non-discontinuous transmission result on a second feedback occasion of the plurality of feedback occasions. The modification would promote enhanced efficiency for high reliability and low latency operations (Wu, para. [0017]).
Claims 17-18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lei [WO 2023/137755] and Lee [US 2022/0201781] as applied to claim 1 above and further in view of Lei (US 20220052790 A1).
As claim 17, Lei ’755 fail to disclose what Lee discloses to monitor for feedback on the plurality of feedback occasions based at least in part on the discontinuous transmission counter, the one or more processors are configured to cause the wireless node to: reset the discontinuous transmission counter upon reception of the feedback including a response corresponding to any hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) process for which the wireless node is monitoring for feedback [Fig 12, Ref 1204, the DTX counter may be incremented by 1 based on not detecting the HARQ feedback is due to a channel state or a PSSCH decoding failure of a receiving UE or reinitializing counter, Par. 0212-0256, 0352-0388]. However, Lee and Lei fail to disclose feedback includes a valid codebook. However, Lei teaches feedback including a valid codebook. Lei teaches [0099] (“According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, one HARQ process may be indicated by tri-state TB-level HARQ-ACK information. In other words, three states may be used to indicate one HARQ process. The three states may be “ACK,” “NACK,” and “DTX.” All the HARQ processes may be firstly indicated by tri-state TB-level HARQ-ACK information in the first sub-codebook, and then the first x HARQ processes indicated by “NACK” in the first sub-codebook may be indicated by CBG-level HARQ-ACK information bits in the second sub-codebook.”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the teaching as taught by Lei in the system of Lee, Lei’ 755 and Wang, so that including a valid codebook. The modification provides a technical solution for HARQ-ACK codebook reduction, which can avoid extra blind detection effort at UE side and ensure both UE side and BS side have the same understanding on the reduced HARQ-ACK codebook. (Lei, para. [0012]).
As claim 18, Lei ‘755 fails to disclose what Lee teaches the wireless node of claim 1, and further, the references teach wherein, to monitor for feedback on the plurality of feedback occasions based at least in part on the discontinuous transmission counter, the one or more processors are configured to cause the wireless node to: receive the feedback; and increment the discontinuous transmission counter [Fig 12, Ref 1204, the DTX counter may be incremented by 1 based on not detecting the HARQ feedback is due to a channel state or a PSSCH decoding failure of a receiving UE or reinitializing counter, Par. 0212-0256, 0352-0388]. However, Lee, Lei ’755 teach weighted number of negative acknowledgments indicated by a codebook of the feedback. However, Lei teaches in accordance with a weighted number of negative acknowledgments indicated by a codebook of the feedback. Lei teaches [0099] (“According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, one HARQ process may be indicated by tri-state TB-level HARQ-ACK information. In other words, three states may be used to indicate one HARQ process. The three states may be “ACK,” “NACK,” and “DTX.” All the HARQ processes may be firstly indicated by tri-state TB-level HARQ-ACK information in the first sub-codebook, and then the first x HARQ processes indicated by “NACK” in the first sub-codebook may be indicated by CBG-level HARQ-ACK information bits in the second sub-codebook. A decimal feedback value can be generated from the tri-state value for each HARQ process, where h(t) is a numeric value representing one of the three states (e.g. 0="ACK,” 1="NACK,” 2="DTX”) and N is the number of all the HARQ processes.”)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the teaching as taught by Lei in the system of Lee and Lei ‘755, in accordance with a weighted number of negative acknowledgments indicated by a codebook of the feedback. The modification provides a technical solution for HARQ-ACK codebook reduction, which can avoid extra blind detection effort at UE side and ensure both UE side and BS side have the same understanding on the reduced HARQ-ACK codebook. (Lei, para. [0012]).
Claims 19 and 21-22 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lei [WO 2023/137755] and Lee [US 2022/0201781] as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Wang [WO 2023173437 A1].
As claim 19, Lee [US 2022/0201781] and Lei [WO 2023/137755] fail what Wang teaches wherein, teach wherein the configuration of the feedback response window is based at least in part on an indication associated with a selected mode for the feedback response window. (Wang teaches [0035] “As shown in Fig. 1, a PSSCH transmission is transmitted on slot #n, and candidate PSFCH resources on transmission opportunities, e.g., slots #n+2, #n+4, and #n+6 are allocated for the PSSCH transmission, where the number of transmission opportunities is 3, and a PSFCH period is 2 slots. The transmission opportunities are to be used by Rx UE for reporting the HARQ feedback information, thus hereinafter, the transmission opportunities may be also referred to as HARQ feedback occasions. From the perspective of Tx UE, the transmission opportunities correspond to PSFCH reception occasions or PSFCH occasions. That is, Tx UE is likely to receive the HARQ feedback information on the PSFCH reception occasions.”) Wang teaches on the claim limitation “selected mode for the feedback response window” by teaching that the number of transmission opportunities and PSFCH period are selected and configured (i.e., mode) for the feedback response window.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the teaching as taught by Wang in the system of Lee and Lei, so that the configuration of the feedback response window is based at least in part on an indication associated with a selected mode for the feedback response window. The modification would have allowed the system to enable improvement of the service continuity and reduce communication interruption and delay. (Wang, para. [0037]).
As claim 21, Lee and Lei fail what Wang teaches wherein, teach wherein the selected mode indicates at least one of: a number of the plurality of feedback occasions, whether to duplicate feedback on two or more feedback occasions, whether to provide the feedback via sidelink control information, or whether to provide a feedback codebook indicating three possible states or two possible states. (Wang teaches [0055] “A scaling factor M may be associated with the number of HARQ feedback occasions, K. For example, a value of the scaling factor M may be equal to the value of K.”; [0035] “As shown in Fig. 1, a PSSCH transmission is transmitted on slot #n, and candidate PSFCH resources on transmission opportunities, e.g., slots #n+2, #n+4, and #n+6 are allocated for the PSSCH transmission, where the number of transmission opportunities is 3, and a PSFCH period is 2 slots.) and Lei discloses Par. 0040.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the teaching as taught by Wang in the system of Lee and Lei, so that the selected mode indicates at least one of: a number of the plurality of feedback occasions. The modification would have allowed the system to enable improvement of the service continuity and reduce communication interruption and delay (Wang, para. [0037]).
As claim 22, Lei discloses wherein the indication is provided in the SCI communication, transmitted by the wireless node, wherein the SCI communication requests a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) response from a second wireless node [Par. 0036 discloses receiving a request for sending feedback via TO].
Claim 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lei [WO 2023/137755], Lee [US 2022/0201781] and Wang [WO 2023173437 A1] as applied to claim 19 above and further in view of Li (US 20130017825 A1).
Regarding claim 20, Lee, Lei and Wang teach the wireless node of claim 19, however, the references do not teach wherein the selected mode is based at least in part on a likelihood of a radio link failure of the sidelink unicast link. Li teaches wherein the selected mode is based at least in part on a likelihood of a radio link failure of the sidelink unicast link. (Li teaches [0029] “On the other hand, a size of a feedback set of the transmission points TP1-TP7 determined by a UE is preferably related to the signal quality, i.e., related to the quality region in which the signal quality locates. For example, the UE with a better signal quality only needs a feedback set with a small size (i.e. a small number of transmission points) for the COMP scheme, and the UE with a worse signal quality may need a feedback set with a large size (i.e. a large number of transmission points). In other words, the size of the feedback set increases when the signal quality decreases, and the size of the feedback set decreases when the signal quality increases. Besides, amount of channel information is related to the signal quality.”) The “signal quality decreases” results in radio link failure, thus, disclosure of “signal quality decreases” is interpreted as “likelihood of a radio link failure”.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the teaching as taught by Li in the system of Lee, Lei and Wang so that the selected mode is based at least in part on a likelihood of a radio link failure of the sidelink unicast link. The modification would exploit the channel information for performing transmissions and receptions of signals according to the COMP scheme (e.g. the JP or the CS/CB) efficiently to obtain a better performance after receiving the channel information. (Li, para. [0029]).
Claim 23 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lei [WO 2023/137755], Lee [US 2022/0201781] as applied to claim 19 above and further in view of Li (US 20130017825 A1).
Regarding claim 23, Lee and Lei teach the wireless node of claim 1, however, the references do not teach wherein the one or more processors are further configured to cause the wireless node to: transmit, to a network entity, an indication of a likelihood of a radio link failure of the sidelink unicast link, wherein sidelink resources associated with the plurality of feedback occasions are allocated based at least in part on the likelihood of the radio link failure of the sidelink unicast link. Li teaches wherein the one or more processors are further configured to cause the wireless node to: transmit, to a network entity, an indication of a likelihood of a radio link failure of the sidelink unicast link (Li teaches [0010] “the method comprises measuring signal quality between the mobile device and the plurality of transmission points...feeding back the channel information to the set of the plurality of transmission points, wherein the channel information is related to a plurality of channels between the mobile device and the set of the plurality of transmission points.”), wherein sidelink resources associated with the plurality of feedback occasions are allocated based at least in part on the likelihood of the radio link failure of the sidelink unicast link. (Li teaches [0029] “On the other hand, a size of a feedback set of the transmission points TP1-TP7 determined by a UE is preferably related to the signal quality, i.e., related to the quality region in which the signal quality locates. For example, the UE with a better signal quality only needs a feedback set with a small size (i.e. a small number of transmission points) for the COMP scheme, and the UE with a worse signal quality may need a feedback set with a large size (i.e. a large number of transmission points). In other words, the size of the feedback set increases when the signal quality decreases, and the size of the feedback set decreases when the signal quality increases. Besides, amount of channel information is related to the signal quality.”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the teaching as taught by Li in the system of Lee and Lei, so to transmit, to a network entity, an indication of a likelihood of a radio link failure of the sidelink unicast link, wherein sidelink resources associated with the plurality of feedback occasions are allocated based at least in part on the likelihood of the radio link failure of the sidelink unicast link. The modification would exploit the channel information for performing transmissions and receptions of signals according to the COMP scheme (e.g. the JP or the CS/CB) efficiently to obtain a better performance after receiving the channel information. (Li, para. [0029]).
Claims 1-6, 8-15, 19, 21, 22, 24-30 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Cozzo [US 2023/0319787] in view of in view of Lee [US 2022/0201781].
Regarding claims 1, 28 and 30, Cozzo [US 2023/0319787] discloses a wireless node for wireless communication, comprising: one or more memories; and one or more processors, coupled to the one or more memories, configured to cause the wireless node to: configure, for a sidelink unicast link and based at least in part on communication with another wireless node, a plurality of feedback occasions within a feedback response window [Par. 0197-0200 discloses UE configures a plurality of feedback occasions within a feedback response window with another UE via sidelink unicast], wherein the plurality of feedback occasions correspond to a sidelink control information (SCI) communication, associated with a communication channel [Par. 0197-0200 discloses SCI used to configure the UEs]; transmit a communication on the communication channel [Par. 0197-0200 discloses the UEs exchanges data via sidelink channel, Fig 1]. However, Cozzo fails to disclose monitor for feedback on the plurality of feedback occasions based at least in part on a discontinuous transmission counter, wherein the discontinuous transmission counter is incremented or reset based at least in part on whether the feedback is within the plurality of feedback occasions within the feedback response window. In the same field of endeavor, Lee discloses monitor for feedback on the plurality of feedback occasions based at least in part on a discontinuous transmission counter [Fig 12-13, Par. 0212-0256 discloses UE monitor PFSCH occasions within interval “feedback window”, Par. 0235, increase counter value if no ack for PFSCH occasion, Par. 0229-0230, and re-initialize the counter to zero if UE receives ACK in PFSCH occasion, Par. 0231-0232, the counter is increased or re-initialize based on monitoring of PSFCH occasions within interval, Par. 0229-240, Par. 0244-0255, 0352-0388], wherein the discontinuous transmission counter is incremented or reset based at least in part on whether the feedback is within the plurality of feedback occasions within the feedback response window [Fig 12-13, Par. 0212-0256 discloses UE monitor PFSCH occasions within interval “feedback window”, Par. 0235, increase counter value if no ack for PFSCH occasion, Par. 0229-0230, and re-initialize the counter to zero if UE receives ACK in PFSCH occasion, Par. 0231-0232, the counter is increased or re-initialize based on monitoring of PSFCH occasions within interval, Par. 0229-240, Par. 0244-0255, 0352-0388].
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of claimed invention to apply a method and system comprising monitor for feedback on the plurality of feedback occasions based at least in part on a discontinuous transmission counter, wherein the discontinuous transmission counter is incremented or reset based at least in part on whether the feedback is within the plurality of feedback occasions within the feedback response window as disclosed by Lee into the teaching of Cozzo. The motivation would have been to prevent data loss.
Regarding claims 2, 25 and 30, Cozzo discloses wherein the feedback response window is configured based at least in part on the sidelink unicast link being associated with a decentralized channel access mechanism [Par. 0197-0200 discloses window is configured based at least in part on the sidelink unicast link being associated with a decentralized channel access mechanism].
Regarding claims 3 and 26, Cozzo discloses the configuration of the feedback response window is associated with establishing the sidelink unicast link with the other wireless node, and wherein the configuration of the feedback response window is based at least in part on signaling between the wireless node and the another wireless node [Par. 0194-0208 discloses a UE is configured with occasions via SCI].
Regarding claims 4 and 27, Lee discloses perform radio link failure (RLF) detection based at least in part on monitoring for the feedback [Fig 12, Ref 1205, TX UE declares an RLF for SL communication with the RX UE based on the DTX-related counter reaching a maximum threshold value]
Regarding claim 5, Cozzo discloses the plurality of feedback occasions are distributed in at least one of a frequency domain or a time domain [Par. 0105].
Regarding claim 6, Cozzo discloses the plurality of feedback occasions are pre-configured for the wireless node [Par. 0105].
Regarding claim 8, Lee discloses wherein, to monitor for feedback on the plurality of feedback occasions based at least in part on the discontinuous transmission counter, the one or more processors are configured to cause the wireless node to: increment the discontinuous transmission counter if no feedback is detected on any feedback occasion of the plurality of feedback occasions; or reset the discontinuous transmission counter if the feedback is detected on any feedback occasion of the plurality of feedback occasions [Fig 12, Ref 1204, the DTX counter may be incremented by 1 based on not detecting the HARQ feedback is due to a channel state or a PSSCH decoding failure of a receiving UE or reinitializing counter, Par. 0212-0256, 0352-0388].
Regarding claim 9, Lee discloses wherein, to monitor for feedback on the plurality of feedback occasions based at least in part on the discontinuous transmission counter, the one or more processors are configured to cause the wireless node to: increment the discontinuous transmission counter if no feedback is detected on an earliest feedback occasion of the plurality of feedback occasions [Par. 0212-0256, 0352-0388 and Fig 12, Ref 1204 discloses the DTX counter may be incremented by 1 based on not detecting the HARQ feedback is due to a channel state or a PSSCH decoding failure of a receiving UE.]; or reset the discontinuous transmission counter if the feedback is detected on any feedback occasion of the plurality of feedback occasions [Fig 12, Ref 1204, the DTX counter may be incremented by 1 based on not detecting the HARQ feedback is due to a channel state or a PSSCH decoding failure of a receiving UE or reinitializing counter, Par. 0212-0256, 0352-0388].
Regarding claim 10, Lee discloses wherein, to monitor for feedback on the plurality of feedback occasions based at least in part on the discontinuous transmission counter, the one or more processors are configured to cause the wireless node to: increment, based at least in part on the configuring, the discontinuous transmission counter each time no feedback is detected on a feedback occasion of the plurality of feedback occasions; [Par. 0212-0256, 0352-0388 and Fig 12, Ref 1204 discloses the DTX counter may be incremented by 1 based on not detecting the HARQ feedback is due to a channel state or a PSSCH decoding failure of a receiving UE.] and reset the discontinuous transmission counter if the feedback is detected on any feedback occasion of the plurality of feedback occasions [Fig 12, Ref 1204, the DTX counter may be incremented by 1 based on not detecting the HARQ feedback is due to a channel state or a PSSCH decoding failure of a receiving UE or reinitializing counter, Par. 0212-0256, 0352-0388].
Claim 7 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lee [US 2022/0201781] and Cozzo [US 2023/0319787] as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Di Girolamo [WO 2023/091959] or Park [USP 2024/0381390].
Regarding claim 7, Lee, Lei and Wang teach the wireless node of claim 1 but fails to disclose what DI GIROLAMO/Park discloses the plurality of feedback occasions are based at least in part on dynamic triggering [DI GIROLAMO discloses Par. 0262 discloses occasions is redefined based on transmission success or Park ’90 discloses Par. 0196, 0211 discloses occasion resources are selection based on dynamic triggering in order to prevent collision].
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the teaching of DI GIROLAMO/Park into the teaching of Lee, Cozzo and Wang. The motivation would have been to improve the quality of signal.
Claims 11 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lee [US 2022/0201781] and Cozzo [US 2023/0319787] as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Lee [US-20230080600].
As claim 11, Lee [US 2022/0201781] and Cozzo [US 2023/0319787] fail to disclose what Lee [US-20230080600] discloses wherein the one or more processors are further configured to cause the wireless node to: skip monitoring on a particular feedback occasion of the plurality of feedback occasions. (Lee teaches [0173] “In step S1220, the TX UE may transmit a PSSCH to the RX UE based on the PSCCH. In step S1230, unlike S1130 of FIG. 11, the TX UE may not perform monitoring for HARQ feedback in a PSFCH resource.”) By teaching “the TX UE may not perform monitoring for HARQ feedback”, Lee teaches “skip monitoring on a particular feedback occasion”.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the teaching of Lee [US-20230080600] into the teaching of Lee [US 2022/0201781] and Cozzo [US 2023/0319787]. The motivation would have been to improve the quality of signal.
Claims 12-15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lee [US 2022/0201781] and Cozzo [US 2023/0319787], Lee [US-20230080600] as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Wang [WO 2023173437 A1].
As claim 12, Lee [US 2022/0201781], Lee [US-20230080600] and Cozzo [US 2023/0319787] fail what Wang teaches wherein, to monitor for feedback on the plurality of feedback occasions based at least in part on the discontinuous transmission counter, the one or more processors are configured to cause the wireless node to: monitor for the feedback as if the particular feedback occasion is not configured. (Wang teaches [0134] “If no HARQ feedback information is detected on one of the K HARQ feedback occasions or each HARQ feedback occasion, the first terminal device 210 may increment a value of a consecutive DTX counter associated with the sidelink channel, for example, the numConsecutiveDTX is incremented by 1”) “Not configured” means the “particular feedback occasion” was not detected because it was “not configured” and Wang speaks on this claim limitation above.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the teaching as taught by Wang in the system of Lee [US 2022/0201781], Cozzo [US 2023/0319787] and Lee [US-20230080600], so that the one or more processors are configured to cause the wireless node to: monitor for the feedback as if the particular feedback occasion is not configured. The modification would have allowed the system to enable improvement of the service continuity and reduce communication interruption and delay. (Wang, para. [0037]).
As claim 13, Lee [US 2022/0201781], Cozzo [US 2023/0319787] and Lee [US-20230080600] fail what Wang teaches wherein, to monitor for feedback on the plurality of feedback occasions based at least in part on the discontinuous transmission counter, the one or more processors are configured to cause the wireless node to: monitor for the feedback assuming a non-discontinuous transmission result on the particular feedback occasion. (Wang teaches [0134] “Otherwise, if HARQ feedback information is detected on any of the K HARQ feedback occasions or each HARQ feedback occasion, the first terminal device 210 may determine that the RLF criterion is not met.”) Discontinuous transmission result means that feedback information was not detected, so “nondiscontinuous transmission result” means the feedback was detected.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the teaching as taught by Wang in the system of Lee [US 2022/0201781], Cozzo [US 2023/0319787] and Lee [US-20230080600], so that the one or more processors are configured to cause the wireless node to: monitor for the feedback assuming a non-discontinuous transmission result on the particular feedback occasion. The modification would have allowed the system to enable improvement of the service continuity and reduce communication interruption and delay. (Wang, para. [0037]).
As claim 14, Lee [US 2022/0201781], Cozzo [US 2023/0319787] and Lee [US-20230080600] fail what Wang teaches wherein, wherein, to monitor for feedback on the plurality of feedback occasions based at least in part on the discontinuous transmission counter, the one or more processors are configured to cause the wireless node to: monitor for the feedback assuming a discontinuous transmission result on the particular feedback occasion. (Wang teaches [0134] “If no HARQ feedback information is detected on one of the K HARQ feedback occasions or each HARQ feedback occasion, the first terminal device 210 may increment a value of a consecutive DTX counter associated with the sidelink channel, for example, the numConsecutiveDTX is incremented by 1”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the teaching as taught by Wang in the system of Lee [US 2022/0201781], Cozzo [US 2023/0319787] and Lee [US-20230080600] so that the one or more processors are configured to cause the wireless node to: monitor for the feedback assuming a discontinuous transmission result on the particular feedback occasion. The modification would have allowed the system to enable improvement of the service continuity and reduce communication interruption and delay. (Wang, para. [0037]).
As claim 15, Lee [US 2022/0201781], Cozzo [US 2023/0319787] and Lee [US-20230080600] fail what Wang teaches wherein, wherein, to monitor for feedback on the plurality of feedback occasions based at least in part on the discontinuous transmission counter, the one or more processors are configured to cause the wireless node to: monitor for the feedback based at least in part on a priority of the communication. (Wang teaches [0062]; Table 3 “By way of still another example, the predefined or preconfigured list of candidate values of the scaling factor M may be associated with a priority of PSSCH or a priority of service or packet transmitted via PSSCH. Table 3 shows an example relationship between the list of candidate values of scaling factor M with the priority of PSSCH. [0063] When multiple candidate values of scaling factor M is defined or (pre-)configured, Tx UE of sidelink communication is able to flexibly adjust the value of scaling factor M to adapt to the current channel state or the service requirement in time.”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the teaching as taught by Wang in the system of Lee [US 2022/0201781], Cozzo [US 2023/0319787] and Lee [US-20230080600] so that the one or more processors are configured to cause the wireless node to: monitor for the feedback based at least in part on a priority of the communication. The modification would have allowed the system to enable improvement of the service continuity and reduce communication interruption and delay. (Wang, para. [0037]).
Claim 16 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Cozzo [US 2023/0319787] and Lee [US 2022/0201781] as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Wu (US 20210099269 A1).
Regarding claim 16, Cozzo [US 2023/0319787] and Lee [US 2022/0201781] teach the wireless node of claim 1, however, the references do not teach wherein the configuration indicates to monitor only for a non-discontinuous transmission result on a first feedback occasion of the plurality of feedback occasions, and to monitor for a discontinuous transmission result and a non-discontinuous transmission result on a second feedback occasion of the plurality of feedback occasions. Wu teaches wherein the configuration indicates to monitor only for a non-discontinuous transmission result on a first feedback occasion of the plurality of feedback occasions, and to monitor for a discontinuous transmission result and a non-discontinuous transmission result on a second feedback occasion of the plurality of feedback occasions. (Wu teaches [0083] “Returning to FIG. 2, in some examples, there may not be explicit configuration of multiple feedback resource sets (e.g., as in some examples, different feedback resource set for different feedback modes or feedback types), however, the determination of a feedback resource for a data transmission may take into account the feedback mode or feedback type, such that for a different feedback mode (e.g., NACK-only mode or ACK/NACK mode) or different feedback type (positive acknowledgement or negative acknowledgement), the determined feedback resource would be different.”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the teaching as taught by Wu in the system of Cozzo [US 2023/0319787] and Lee [US 2022/0201781] so that the configuration indicates to monitor only for a non-discontinuous transmission result on a first feedback occasion of the plurality of feedback occasions, and to monitor for a discontinuous transmission result and a non-discontinuous transmission result on a second feedback occasion of the plurality of feedback occasions. The modification would promote enhanced efficiency for high reliability and low latency operations (Wu, para. [0017]).
Claims 17-18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Cozzo [US 2023/0319787] and Lee [US 2022/0201781] as applied to claim 1 above and further in view of Lei (US 20220052790 A1).
As claim 17, Cozzo fail to disclose what Lee discloses to monitor for feedback on the plurality of feedback occasions based at least in part on the discontinuous transmission counter, the one or more processors are configured to cause the wireless node to: reset the discontinuous transmission counter upon reception of the feedback including a response corresponding to any hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) process for which the wireless node is monitoring for feedback [Fig 12, Ref 1204, the DTX counter may be incremented by 1 based on not detecting the HARQ feedback is due to a channel state or a PSSCH decoding failure of a receiving UE or reinitializing counter, Par. 0212-0256, 0352-0388]. However, Lee and Cozzo fail to disclose feedback includes a valid codebook. However, Lei teaches feedback including a valid codebook. Lei teaches [0099] (“According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, one HARQ process may be indicated by tri-state TB-level HARQ-ACK information. In other words, three states may be used to indicate one HARQ process. The three states may be “ACK,” “NACK,” and “DTX.” All the HARQ processes may be firstly indicated by tri-state TB-level HARQ-ACK information in the first sub-codebook, and then the first x HARQ processes indicated by “NACK” in the first sub-codebook may be indicated by CBG-level HARQ-ACK information bits in the second sub-codebook.”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the teaching as taught by Lei in the system of Lee and Cozzo, so that including a valid codebook. The modification provides a technical solution for HARQ-ACK codebook reduction, which can avoid extra blind detection effort at UE side and ensure both UE side and BS side have the same understanding on the reduced HARQ-ACK codebook. (Lei, para. [0012]).
As claim 18, Cozzo fails to disclose what Lee teaches the wireless node of claim 1, and further, the references teach wherein, to monitor for feedback on the plurality of feedback occasions based at least in part on the discontinuous transmission counter, the one or more processors are configured to cause the wireless node to: receive the feedback; and increment the discontinuous transmission counter [Fig 12, Ref 1204, the DTX counter may be incremented by 1 based on not detecting the HARQ feedback is due to a channel state or a PSSCH decoding failure of a receiving UE or reinitializing counter, Par. 0212-0256, 0352-0388]. However, Lee, Cozzo fail to teach weighted number of negative acknowledgments indicated by a codebook of the feedback. However, Lei teaches in accordance with a weighted number of negative acknowledgments indicated by a codebook of the feedback. Lei teaches [0099] (“According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, one HARQ process may be indicated by tri-state TB-level HARQ-ACK information. In other words, three states may be used to indicate one HARQ process. The three states may be “ACK,” “NACK,” and “DTX.” All the HARQ processes may be firstly indicated by tri-state TB-level HARQ-ACK information in the first sub-codebook, and then the first x HARQ processes indicated by “NACK” in the first sub-codebook may be indicated by CBG-level HARQ-ACK information bits in the second sub-codebook. A decimal feedback value can be generated from the tri-state value for each HARQ process, where h(t) is a numeric value representing one of the three states (e.g. 0="ACK,” 1="NACK,” 2="DTX”) and N is the number of all the HARQ processes.”)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the teaching as taught by Lei in the system of Lee and Lei ‘755, in accordance with a weighted number of negative acknowledgments indicated by a codebook of the feedback. The modification provides a technical solution for HARQ-ACK codebook reduction, which can avoid extra blind detection effort at UE side and ensure both UE side and BS side have the same understanding on the reduced HARQ-ACK codebook. (Lei, para. [0012]).
Claims 19 and 21-22 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Cozzo and Lee [US 2022/0201781] as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Wang [WO 2023173437 A1].
As claim 19, Lee [US 2022/0201781] and Cozzo fail what Wang teaches wherein, teach wherein the configuration of the feedback response window is based at least in part on an indication associated with a selected mode for the feedback response window. (Wang teaches [0035] “As shown in Fig. 1, a PSSCH transmission is transmitted on slot #n, and candidate PSFCH resources on transmission opportunities, e.g., slots #n+2, #n+4, and #n+6 are allocated for the PSSCH transmission, where the number of transmission opportunities is 3, and a PSFCH period is 2 slots. The transmission opportunities are to be used by Rx UE for reporting the HARQ feedback information, thus hereinafter, the transmission opportunities may be also referred to as HARQ feedback occasions. From the perspective of Tx UE, the transmission opportunities correspond to PSFCH reception occasions or PSFCH occasions. That is, Tx UE is likely to receive the HARQ feedback information on the PSFCH reception occasions.”) Wang teaches on the claim limitation “selected mode for the feedback response window” by teaching that the number of transmission opportunities and PSFCH period are selected and configured (i.e., mode) for the feedback response window.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the teaching as taught by Wang in the system of Lee and Lei, so that the configuration of the feedback response window is based at least in part on an indication associated with a selected mode for the feedback response window. The modification would have allowed the system to enable improvement of the service continuity and reduce communication interruption and delay. (Wang, para. [0037]).
As claim 21, Lee and Cozzo fail what Wang teaches wherein, teach wherein the selected mode indicates at least one of: a number of the plurality of feedback occasions, whether to duplicate feedback on two or more feedback occasions, whether to provide the feedback via sidelink control information, or whether to provide a feedback codebook indicating three possible states or two possible states. (Wang teaches [0055] “A scaling factor M may be associated with the number of HARQ feedback occasions, K. For example, a value of the scaling factor M may be equal to the value of K.”; [0035] “As shown in Fig. 1, a PSSCH transmission is transmitted on slot #n, and candidate PSFCH resources on transmission opportunities, e.g., slots #n+2, #n+4, and #n+6 are allocated for the PSSCH transmission, where the number of transmission opportunities is 3, and a PSFCH period is 2 slots.) and Lei discloses Par. 0040.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the teaching as taught by Wang in the system of Lee and Cozzo, so that the selected mode indicates at least one of: a number of the plurality of feedback occasions. The modification would have allowed the system to enable improvement of the service continuity and reduce communication interruption and delay (Wang, para. [0037]).
As claim 22, Cozzo discloses wherein the indication is provided in the SCI communication, transmitted by the wireless node, wherein the SCI communication requests a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) response from a second wireless node [Par. 0197-0200 discloses receiving a request for sending feedback via PFSCH].
Claim 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Cozzo, Lee [US 2022/0201781] and Wang [WO 2023173437 A1] as applied to claim 19 above and further in view of Li (US 20130017825 A1).
Regarding claim 20, Lee, Cozzo and Wang teach the wireless node of claim 19, however, the references do not teach wherein the selected mode is based at least in part on a likelihood of a radio link failure of the sidelink unicast link. Li teaches wherein the selected mode is based at least in part on a likelihood of a radio link failure of the sidelink unicast link. (Li teaches [0029] “On the other hand, a size of a feedback set of the transmission points TP1-TP7 determined by a UE is preferably related to the signal quality, i.e., related to the quality region in which the signal quality locates. For example, the UE with a better signal quality only needs a feedback set with a small size (i.e. a small number of transmission points) for the COMP scheme, and the UE with a worse signal quality may need a feedback set with a large size (i.e. a large number of transmission points). In other words, the size of the feedback set increases when the signal quality decreases, and the size of the feedback set decreases when the signal quality increases. Besides, amount of channel information is related to the signal quality.”) The “signal quality decreases” results in radio link failure, thus, disclosure of “signal quality decreases” is interpreted as “likelihood of a radio link failure”.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the teaching as taught by Li in the system of Lee, Lei and Wang so that the selected mode is based at least in part on a likelihood of a radio link failure of the sidelink unicast link. The modification would exploit the channel information for performing transmissions and receptions of signals according to the COMP scheme (e.g. the JP or the CS/CB) efficiently to obtain a better performance after receiving the channel information. (Li, para. [0029]).
Claim 23 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Cozzo, Lee [US 2022/0201781] as applied to claim 19 above and further in view of Li (US 20130017825 A1).
Regarding claim 23, Lee and Cozzo teach the wireless node of claim 1, however, the references do not teach wherein the one or more processors are further configured to cause the wireless node to: transmit, to a network entity, an indication of a likelihood of a radio link failure of the sidelink unicast link, wherein sidelink resources associated with the plurality of feedback occasions are allocated based at least in part on the likelihood of the radio link failure of the sidelink unicast link. Li teaches wherein the one or more processors are further configured to cause the wireless node to: transmit, to a network entity, an indication of a likelihood of a radio link failure of the sidelink unicast link (Li teaches [0010] “the method comprises measuring signal quality between the mobile device and the plurality of transmission points...feeding back the channel information to the set of the plurality of transmission points, wherein the channel information is related to a plurality of channels between the mobile device and the set of the plurality of transmission points.”), wherein sidelink resources associated with the plurality of feedback occasions are allocated based at least in part on the likelihood of the radio link failure of the sidelink unicast link. (Li teaches [0029] “On the other hand, a size of a feedback set of the transmission points TP1-TP7 determined by a UE is preferably related to the signal quality, i.e., related to the quality region in which the signal quality locates. For example, the UE with a better signal quality only needs a feedback set with a small size (i.e. a small number of transmission points) for the COMP scheme, and the UE with a worse signal quality may need a feedback set with a large size (i.e. a large number of transmission points). In other words, the size of the feedback set increases when the signal quality decreases, and the size of the feedback set decreases when the signal quality increases. Besides, amount of channel information is related to the signal quality.”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the teaching as taught by Li in the system of Lee and Lei, so to transmit, to a network entity, an indication of a likelihood of a radio link failure of the sidelink unicast link, wherein sidelink resources associated with the plurality of feedback occasions are allocated based at least in part on the likelihood of the radio link failure of the sidelink unicast link. The modification would exploit the channel information for performing transmissions and receptions of signals according to the COMP scheme (e.g. the JP or the CS/CB) efficiently to obtain a better performance after receiving the channel information. (Li, para. [0029]).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Si [US 2023/0269056] discloses a Ue configured with a feedback window includes occasions with the window.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to STEVEN HIEU D NGUYEN whose telephone number is (571)272-3159. The examiner can normally be reached 9-5.
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.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Edan Orgad can be reached at 571-272-7884. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/STEVEN HIEU D NGUYEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2414