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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 04/23/2026 has been entered.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 04/23/2026 have been fully considered but they are moot based on new grounds of rejections.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claim(s) 1-6, 8-13, 16-17 and 19-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lee et al. (US 2022/0167192; hereinafter Lee) in view of Salim et al. (US 2022/0272727; hereinafter Salim). Note: Subject matter relied upon in the rejections are fully-supported in the provisional applications 62/901,765 of Lee and 62/883422 of Salim.
Regarding claim 1, Lee shows a method (Figure 15 shows a method performed in part by a TX UE (per Par. 0135) for radio link monitoring of a sidelink between the TX UE and an RX UE (per Par. 0136).) performed by a first wireless communication device for radio link monitoring for a sidelink between the first wireless communication device and a second wireless communication device, the method comprising:
transmitting a first part of sidelink control information, (SCI) to the second wireless communication device (Figure 15; Par. 0119; transmitting a 2-stage SCI/consecutive SCIs which includes at least a first SCI.), the first part of the SCI comprising information regarding one or more reference signals that are present on the sidelink for radio link monitoring measurements (Figure 15; Par. 0120, 0131-0133, 135-136; first SCI includes at least SL CSI-RS transmission indicator or information on the number of (to-be-transmitted) SL CSI-RS antenna ports. The TX UE transmits channel(s) (e.g., PSCCH and/or PSSCH) to be used for sidelink radio link monitoring (RLM) operation (of (target) RX UE(s)) and/or a UE which transmits reference signal(s) (e.g., DM-RS(s) and/or CSI-RS(s)) (on the corresponding channel(s)).),
wherein the first part of the SCI is transmitted on a physical sidelink control channel that has a dedicated set of demodulation reference signals (Par. 0149; the TX UE may indicate the transmission order of the channel(s) and/or the reference signal(s) among the number of transmissions in a pre-configured unit through a pre-defined field (for the purpose) included in a SCI related to the channel(s). For example, the field may be limitedly present only in the case of a specific cast type (e.g., unicast). The TX UE may inform the RX UE that channel(s) and/or reference signal(s) is the first transmitted channel(s) and/or reference signal(s) through a SCI related to the channel(s) transmitted in step S1310.).
Lee shows all of the elements except wherein the first wireless communication device dynamically indicates, in the first part of the SCI, layer mapping information indicating a number of layers used for transmission of a second part of the SCI.
However, the above-mentioned claim limitations are well-established in the art as evidenced by Salim. Specifically, Salim shows wherein the first wireless communication device dynamically indicates, in the first part of the SCI, layer mapping information indicating a number of layers used for transmission of a second part of the SCI (Par. 0032, 0057, 0061; the mapping of SCI may be started from the front-loaded DMRS, over the unused resource elements. The DMRS pattern and the number of layers (if used) may be sent to the receiver UE in the first stage SCI for the receiver UE to decode the second stage SCI.).
In view of the above, having the system of Lee, then given the well-established teaching of Salim, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Lee as taught by Salim, in order to provide motivation to ensure interoperability of UEs in different modes, for example, out-of-coverage UEs in the neighborhood of in-coverage UEs and movement of UEs between these coverage scenarios (Par. 0033 of Salim).
Regarding claim 2, modified Lee shows transmitting the second part of the SCI to the second wireless communication device (Lee: Figure 15; Par. 0119; transmitting a 2-stage SCI/consecutive SCIs which also includes a second SCI.);
transmitting data on a physical sidelink shared channel (Lee: Par. 0109; the UE 1 which has autonomously selected the resource within the resource pool may transmit the SCI to the UE 2 through a PSCCH, and thereafter may transmit data based on the SCI to the UE 2 through a PSSCH.); and
transmitting the one or more reference signals on the sidelink (Lee: Par. 0135; the TX UE may include a UE which transmits channel(s) (e.g., PSCCH and/or PSSCH) to be used for sidelink radio link failure (RLF) operation (of (target) RX UE(s)) and/or a UE which transmits reference signal(s) (e.g., DM-RS(s) and/or CSI-RS(s)) (on the corresponding channel(s)).);
wherein the second part of the SCI comprises information related to decoding the data transmitted on the physical sidelink shared channel (Lee: Par. 0120, 0124-0130; second SCI may include at least one of: Modulation coding scheme (MCS) information, and/or SL HARQ process ID information, and/or Redundancy version (RV) information.).
Regarding claim 3, modified Lee shows wherein the information related to decoding the data transmitted on the physical sidelink shared channel comprises:
a) information about a modulation a coding scheme used for the data transmitted on the physical sidelink shared channel (Lee: Par. 0124; Modulation coding scheme (MCS) information.),
b) a hybrid automatic repeat request, (HARQ) identity of a HARQ process associated to the data transmitted on the physical sidelink shared channel (Lee: Par. 0127; SL HARQ process ID information.),
c) a redundancy version of the data transmitted on the physical sidelink shared channel (Lee: Par. 0129; Redundancy version (RV) information.), or
d) a combination of any two or more of (a)-(c) (Lee: Par. 0120-0133; noted any combination of the cited paragraphs.).
Regarding claim 4, modified Lee shows wherein the second part of the SCI shares demodulation reference signals with a physical data channel on the sidelink (Lee: Figure 15; Par. 0120, 0135-0136; the TX UE may include a UE which transmits channel(s) (e.g., PSCCH and/or PSSCH) to be used for sidelink radio link monitoring (RLM) operation (of (target) RX UE(s)) and/or a UE which transmits reference signal(s) (e.g., DM-RS(s) and/or CSI-RS(s)) (on the corresponding channel(s))).
Regarding claim 5, Lee shows receiving information that indicates a radio link failure from the second wireless communication device (Lee: Figure 14; Par. 0175, 0178, 0183; if the RX UE predicts/estimates that the error rate for the channel(s) exceeds a threshold, in step S1430, the RX UE may transmit a message informing/indicating the status to the TX UE. For example, the message informing/indicating the status may be an RLF ready indication.); and
performing a radio link failure recovery procedure in response to receiving the information that indicates a radio link failure from the second wireless communication device (Lee: Figure 14; Par. 0175, 0178, 0183; in step S1440, the TX UE receiving the message may perform adaptation for physical parameter(s) and/or power control, etc., and through this, an RLF between the TX UE and the RX UE can be avoided (as much as possible).).
Regarding claim 6, modified Lee shows wherein performing the radio link recovery procedure comprises reconfiguring one or more transmission parameters for a second part of the SCI (Lee: Figure 14; Par. 0183; the physical parameter(s) used for adaptation may include at least one of a MCS, a transmission scheme, a resource size, and/or a coding rate. These parameters are transmitted through the second SCI per Par. 0120+.).
Regarding claim 8, modified Lee shows wherein the first part of the SCI further comprises resource allocation related information (Lee: Par. 0120-0121; the transmitting UE may transmit the entirety or part of the information to the receiving UE through the first SCI and/or the second SCI. The information includes at least PSSCH and/or PSCCH related resource allocation information, e.g., the number/positions of time/frequency resources, resource reservation information (e.g., period).).
Regarding claim 9, modified Lee shows wherein the information regarding the one or more reference signals that are present on the sidelink for radio link monitoring measurements comprises information needed by the second wireless communication device to receive the one or more reference signals on the sidelink (Lee: Par. 0120, 0133; the transmitting UE may transmit the entirety or part of the information to the receiving UE through the first SCI and/or the second SCI. The information includes at least reference signal (e.g., DMRS, etc.) related to channel estimation and/or decoding of data to be transmitted through a PSSCH, e.g., information related to a pattern of a (time-frequency) mapping resource of DMRS, rank information, antenna port index information, information related to the number of antenna ports.).
Regarding claim 10, modified Lee shows information that implicitly or explicitly indicates a time, frequency, or code resource allocation for the one or more reference signals (Lee: Par. 0121, 0133-0134; the transmitting UE may transmit the entirety or part of the information to the receiving UE through the first SCI and/or the second SCI. The information includes at least reference signal (e.g., DMRS, etc.) related to channel estimation and/or decoding of data to be transmitted through a PSSCH, e.g., information related to a pattern of a (time-frequency) mapping resource of DMRS, rank information, antenna port index information, information related to the number of antenna ports. For example, the first SCI may include information related to channel sensing. After decoding the first SCI, the receiving UE does not have to perform blind decoding of the second SCI. For example, the first SCI may include scheduling information of the second SCI.).
Regarding claim 11, modified Lee shows wherein the information that implicitly or explicitly indicates a time, frequency, or code resource allocation for the one or more reference signals comprises:
one or more bit fields that provide the time, frequency, and/or code resource allocation for the one or more reference signals (Lee: Par. 0119, 0120-121, 0134; the first SCI may include information related to channel sensing. After decoding the first SCI, the receiving UE does not have to perform blind decoding of the second SCI. For example, the first SCI may include scheduling information of the second SCI. Second SCI may include PSSCH and/or PSCCH related resource allocation information, e.g., the number/positions of time/frequency resources, resource reservation information (e.g., period). Second SCI and second SCI configuration field are used interchangeably per Par. 0119.),
a single bit that indicates the presence of the one or more reference signals on predefined or preconfigured time, frequency, and/or code resources, or
a cyclic redundancy check, CRC, (CRC) that implicitly indicates the time, frequency, and/or code resources used for the one or more reference signals.
Regarding claim 12, modified Lee shows wherein the one or more reference signals comprise: one or more demodulation reference signals (Lee: Par. 0135; the TX UE may include a UE which transmits channel(s) (e.g., PSCCH and/or PSSCH) to be used for sidelink radio link monitoring (RLM) operation (of (target) RX UE(s)) and/or a UE which transmits reference signal(s) (e.g., DM-RS(s) and/or CSI-RS(s)) (on the corresponding channel(s)).), two or more demodulation reference signals for two or more different physical channels (Lee: Figure 13; Par. 0149), one or more channel state information reference signals (Lee: Par. 0135; the TX UE may include a UE which transmits channel(s) (e.g., PSCCH and/or PSSCH) to be used for sidelink radio link monitoring (RLM) operation (of (target) RX UE(s)) and/or a UE which transmits reference signal(s) (e.g., DM-RS(s) and/or CSI-RS(s)) (on the corresponding channel(s)).), or one or more phase tracking reference signals.
Regarding claim 13, modified Lee shows wherein the one or more reference signals comprise two or more different types of reference signals (Lee: Par. 0135; the TX UE may include a UE which transmits channel(s) (e.g., PSCCH and/or PSSCH) to be used for sidelink radio link monitoring (RLM) operation (of (target) RX UE(s)) and/or a UE which transmits reference signal(s) (e.g., DM-RS(s) and/or CSI-RS(s)) (on the corresponding channel(s)).).
Regarding claim 16, Lee shows a first wireless communication device (Figure 15 shows a TX UE (per Par. 0135) performing in part a method for radio link monitoring of a sidelink between the TX UE and an RX UE (per Par. 0136).) for radio link monitoring for a sidelink between the first wireless communication device and a second wireless communication device, the first wireless communication device comprising:
one or more transmitters; one or more receivers; and processing circuitry associated with the one or more transmitters and the one or more receivers (Figure 21, 23 and 24), the processing circuitry configured to cause the first wireless communication device to:
transmit a first part of sidelink control information (SCI) to the second wireless communication device (Figure 15; Par. 0119; transmitting a 2-stage SCI/consecutive SCIs which includes at least a first SCI.), the first part of the SCI comprising information regarding one or more reference signals that are present on the sidelink for radio link monitoring measurements (Figure 15; Par. 0120, 0131-0133, 135-136; first SCI includes at least SL CSI-RS transmission indicator or information on the number of (to-be-transmitted) SL CSI-RS antenna ports. The TX UE transmits channel(s) (e.g., PSCCH and/or PSSCH) to be used for sidelink radio link monitoring (RLM) operation (of (target) RX UE(s)) and/or a UE which transmits reference signal(s) (e.g., DM-RS(s) and/or CSI-RS(s)) (on the corresponding channel(s)).),
wherein the first part of the SCI is transmitted on a physical sidelink control channel that has a dedicated set of demodulation reference signals (Par. 0149; the TX UE may indicate the transmission order of the channel(s) and/or the reference signal(s) among the number of transmissions in a pre-configured unit through a pre-defined field (for the purpose) included in a SCI related to the channel(s). For example, the field may be limitedly present only in the case of a specific cast type (e.g., unicast). The TX UE may inform the RX UE that channel(s) and/or reference signal(s) is the first transmitted channel(s) and/or reference signal(s) through a SCI related to the channel(s) transmitted in step S1310.).
Lee shows all of the elements except wherein the first wireless communication device dynamically indicates, in the first part of the SCI, layer mapping information indicating a number of layers used for transmission of a second part of the SCI.
However, the above-mentioned claim limitations are well-established in the art as evidenced by Salim. Specifically, Salim shows wherein the first wireless communication device dynamically indicates, in the first part of the SCI, layer mapping information indicating a number of layers used for transmission of a second part of the SCI (Par. 0032, 0057, 0061; the mapping of SCI may be started from the front-loaded DMRS, over the unused resource elements. The DMRS pattern and the number of layers (if used) may be sent to the receiver UE in the first stage SCI for the receiver UE to decode the second stage SCI.).
In view of the above, having the system of Lee, then given the well-established teaching of Salim, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Lee as taught by Salim, in order to provide motivation to ensure interoperability of UEs in different modes, for example, out-of-coverage UEs in the neighborhood of in-coverage UEs and movement of UEs between these coverage scenarios (Par. 0033 of Salim).
Regarding claim 17, Lee shows a method (Figure 15 shows a method performed in part by an RX UE (per Par. 0136) for radio link monitoring of a sidelink between the RX UE and a TX UE (per Par. 0135).) performed by a second wireless communication device for radio link monitoring for a sidelink between a first wireless communication device and the second wireless communication device, the method comprising:
receiving a first part of sidelink control information (SCI) from the first wireless communication device (Figure 15; Par. 0119; receiving a 2-stage SCI/consecutive SCIs which includes at least a first SCI.), the first part of the SCI comprising information regarding one or more reference signals that are present on the sidelink for radio link monitoring measurements (Figure 15; Par. 0120, 0131-0133, 135-136; first SCI includes at least SL CSI-RS transmission indicator or information on the number of (to-be-transmitted) SL CSI-RS antenna ports. The TX UE transmits channel(s) (e.g., PSCCH and/or PSSCH) to be used for sidelink radio link monitoring (RLM) operation (of (target) RX UE(s)) and/or a UE which transmits reference signal(s) (e.g., DM-RS(s) and/or CSI-RS(s)) (on the corresponding channel(s)).);
determining a presence of the one or more reference signals on the sidelink based on the first part of the SCI (Par. 0134; the first SCI may include information related to channel sensing. For example, the receiving UE may decode the second SCI by using a PSSCH DMRS. A polar code used in a PDCCH may be applied to the second SCI. For example, in a resource pool, a payload size of the first SCI may be identical for unicast, groupcast, and broadcast. After decoding the first SCI, the receiving UE does not have to perform blind decoding of the second SCI. For example, the first SCI may include scheduling information of the second SCI.);
performing one or more radio link monitoring, RLM, (RLM) measurements on the one or more reference signals (Par. 0135, 0143; the RX UE performs RLM operation(s) and/or RLF operation(s) based on (pre-configured) channel(s) (e.g., PSCCH and/or PSSCH) and/or reference signal(s) (e.g., DM-RS(s) and/or CSI-RS(s)) (on the corresponding channel(s)) received from the TX UE.); and
determining a RLM metric based on the one or more RLM measurements (Par. 0142-0144; parameter(s) and/or information used by the UE to determine OOS(s) and/or IS(s) may be configured differently or independently based on at least a channel busy ratio (CBR), channel congestion level, etc.), wherein the first part of the SCI is transmitted on a physical sidelink control channel that has a dedicated set of demodulation reference signals (Par. 0149; the TX UE may indicate the transmission order of the channel(s) and/or the reference signal(s) among the number of transmissions in a pre-configured unit through a pre-defined field (for the purpose) included in a SCI related to the channel(s). For example, the field may be limitedly present only in the case of a specific cast type (e.g., unicast). The TX UE may inform the RX UE that channel(s) and/or reference signal(s) is the first transmitted channel(s) and/or reference signal(s) through a SCI related to the channel(s) transmitted in step S1310.).
Lee shows all of the elements except wherein the second wireless communication device receives, in the first part of the SCI, layer mapping information indicating a number of layers used for transmission of a second part of the SCI.
However, the above-mentioned claim limitations are well-established in the art as evidenced by Salim. Specifically, Salim shows wherein the first wireless communication device dynamically indicates, in the first part of the SCI, layer mapping information indicating a number of layers used for transmission of a second part of the SCI (Par. 0032, 0057, 0061; the mapping of SCI may be started from the front-loaded DMRS, over the unused resource elements. The DMRS pattern and the number of layers (if used) may be sent to the receiver UE in the first stage SCI for the receiver UE to decode the second stage SCI.).
In view of the above, having the system of Lee, then given the well-established teaching of Salim, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Lee as taught by Salim, in order to provide motivation to ensure interoperability of UEs in different modes, for example, out-of-coverage UEs in the neighborhood of in-coverage UEs and movement of UEs between these coverage scenarios (Par. 0033 of Salim).
Regarding claim 19, modified Lee shows wherein the first part of the SCI further comprises resource allocation related information (Lee: Par. 0120-0121; the transmitting UE may transmit the entirety or part of the information to the receiving UE through the first SCI and/or the second SCI. The information includes at least PSSCH and/or PSCCH related resource allocation information, e.g., the number/positions of time/frequency resources, resource reservation information (e.g., period).).
Regarding claim 20, modified Lee shows wherein a second part of the SCI comprises information related to decoding data transmitted from the first wireless communication device to the second wireless communication device on a physical sidelink shared channel (Lee: Par. 0134; the first SCI may include information related to channel sensing. For example, the receiving UE may decode the second SCI by using a PSSCH DMRS. A polar code used in a PDCCH may be applied to the second SCI. For example, in a resource pool, a payload size of the first SCI may be identical for unicast, groupcast, and broadcast. After decoding the first SCI, the receiving UE does not have to perform blind decoding of the second SCI. For example, the first SCI may include scheduling information of the second SCI.).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
US 20220159674 A1 - A method for SL communication performed by a Wireless Transmit/Receive Unit (WTRU) may comprise determining to transmit Sidelink Control Information (SCI) over a Physical Sidelink Control Channel (PSCCH).
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/REDENTOR PASIA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2413
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