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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 03/03/2026 has been entered.
Response to Arguments
In view of Applicant’s amendment filed 02/13/2026, the Examiner provides a new rejection under 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Agiwal et al. (US 2021/0112584 A1).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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.
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Agiwal et al. (US 2021/0112584 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Agiwal discloses A user equipment (UE) (Fig. 15: UE 1500), comprising:
a memory that stores a plurality of instructions (Fig. 15, [0452]: storage unit 1517 stores a program and various data necessary for the operation of the UE 1500); and
processor circuitry coupled to the memory and configured to execute the instructions to (Fig. 15, [0449]: controller 1513 controls the overall operation of the UE 1500):
transmit, to another UE, sidelink control information (SCI) carried by physical sidelink channel ([0087], [0089], [0094]: In D2D communication systems, scheduling assignment information may be transmitted by a UE. [0113]: the UE receives the scheduling assignment and determines whether the scheduling assignment is destined for the UE. [0080]: D2D communication transport channel which is mapped to a D2D communication physical channel), wherein the SCI comprises ([0087], [0089], [0094], [0096]-[0098]: scheduling assignment information includes):
identification information of the UE ([0087], [0094], [0096]-[0098]: source UE ID (i.e., remaining part of the UE ID) is included in the scheduling assignment information, or may be included in a CRC mask of the scheduling assignment information),
destination ID for one of broadcast, unicast and groupcast ([0089], [0094], [0096]-[0098]: destination ID (i.e., remaining part of the destination ID) is included in the scheduling assignment information, or may be included in a CRC mask of the scheduling assignment information. [0084], [0088]: destination ID can be at least one of a broadcast ID or a group ID or a unicast ID), and
indication information of 2 bits used for explicitly indicating a message cast type ([0102]: control indicator may be included in a CRC mask instead of MAC header. [0087], [0089], [0096], [0098]: CRC mask of the scheduling assignment information. [0099]: control indicator is implemented with c bits (i.e., 2 bits) and indicates whether a MAC PDU is broadcasted, unicasted, or group casted), the 2 bits being separate from bits used for indicating the destination ID ([0099]: control indicator is implemented with c bits (i.e., 2 bits). [0088]: size of destination ID is m bits and the part of the destination ID may be n bits among the m bits), the cast type indicated by the indication information including one of broadcast, unicast and groupcast ([0099]: control indicator indicates whether a MAC PDU is broadcasted, unicasted, or group casted), wherein at least two values in bit values of the indication information are used to indicate different message cast types ([0099]: control indicator is implemented with c bits (i.e., 2 bits) and indicates whether a MAC PDU is broadcasted, unicasted, or group casted), and wherein the 2 bits explicitly indicating a message cast type are included in the SCI carried by the physical sidelink channel ([0099]: control indicator is implemented with c bits (i.e., 2 bits) and indicates whether a MAC PDU is broadcasted, unicasted, or group casted. [0102]: control indicator may be included in a CRC mask instead of MAC header. [0087], [0089], [0096], [0098]: CRC mask of the scheduling assignment information. [0080]: D2D communication transport channel which is mapped to a D2D communication physical channel); and
transmit data information associated with the SCI to the another UE ([0080]: UE transmits data to one or more UEs. [0087], [0089], [0094]: scheduling assignment information may be transmitted by the UE before a MAC PDU which carries the data, and the scheduling assignment information includes part of information (i.e., part of source UE ID and part of destination ID) not included in the MAC PDU).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to THE HY NGUYEN whose telephone number is (571)270-3813. The examiner can normally be reached on Mo-Fr: 8am-4pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Joseph Avellino, can be reached on (571) 272-3905. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/THE HY NGUYEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2478
TheHy.Nguyen@USPTO.gov
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