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 .
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 1-6 and 11-16 have been considered but are moot because the arguments do not apply to any of the references being used in the current rejection.
Applicant (page 6) contends that Xue’s U.S. Provisional 63/082,159 (filed 9/23/2020) “is not prior art” because it is not itself published. To the contrary, Xue published as US 2022/0095369 A1 on 3/24/2022, and thus is prior art under 35 U.S.C. §102(a)(2) as of its earliest effective non-provisional filing date (Aug. 17, 2021). The fact that the non-published provisional provides continuity to that published document does not deprive the later A1 publication of its status as prior art. See AIA §102(a)(2); MPEP § 2152. Accordingly, the provisional’s publication status is not material to the Examiner’s rejection.
Claim 1 requires that, “when the channel access fails, [the UE] randomly select a resource for the SL transmission.” Applicant argues (page 7) that Xue’s ¶ [0032[ merely discloses random backoff timing, not random resource selection. The Examiner finds otherwise. Xue expressly teaches in ¶¶ [0031]-[0032] and ¶ [0096] that, upon a CAT4 LBT failure, the UE (e.g., transmitting SL UE) “draw[s] a random number and backoff[s] for a duration” and then “occupies the channel immediately when the LBT procedure is successful,” selecting the next transmission “starting point” within the same reserved slot. In Xue’s terminology, each “starting point” (e.g., transmission starting points 308a-308n, 310 in Fig. 3) is a distinct time-domain resource for the PSSCH. Thus, drawing the random backoff counter and then transmitting at the next starting point is identical to “randomly selecting a resource” (the next available starting-symbol resource) when the prior access attempt fails. This mapping is confirmed by Xue’s description of multiple starting points for NR sidelink transmission over unlicensed bands (¶¶ [0077]-[0079]) and its explicit teaching that a later starting point is used after a failed LBT at an earlier starting point. Applicant’s asserted semantic distinction between “backoff timing” and “resource selection” is not supported by Xue or Applicant’s specification; a POSITA would understand from Xue that the backoff counter determines which reserved starting-symbol resource is next used for the SL transmission.
Claim 1 further requires the UE to “identify a first slot without a physical SL feedback channel (PSFCH) symbol that includes a first starting symbol and a second starting symbol for the SL transmission.” Applicant’s traverse (page 8) argues that “silence is not disclosure” and that Xue’s Fig. 3 omission of a PSFCH symbol in slot 302b cannot anticipate the claim’s negative limitation. This is incorrect. Xue explicitly teaches that slot 302b in Fig. 3 “is reserved for PSSCH without PSFCH” (¶¶ [0079], [0096]) and repeatedly refers to such PSFCH-absent slots as the resource from which the SL UE transmits. A skilled artisan necessarily “identifies” a slot when UCI and DMRS are arranged as shown in Fig. 3 and described in the text; the disclosure is anything but silent. Accordingly, Xue expressly discloses the claimed slot that lacks a PSFCH symbol yet contains two transmission starting symbols.
Regarding Applicant’s §103 traverse (pages 10-11), the obviousness rejections of claims 2-6 and 12-16 present a prima facie case with specific element-by-element mappings, articulated reasons to combine, and supporting citations. See MPEP §§ 2141, 2143; KSR Int’l v. Teleflex, 550 U.S. 398 (2007). On the other hand, Applicant’s response is conclusory and does not address the specific findings or mappings; conclusory statements do not rebut a prima facie case. See 37 CFR 1.111(b); In re Jung, 637 F.3d 1356, 1363 (Fed. Cir. 2011).
Regarding claims 2 and 12 “wherein a first number of starting symbols in the first slot without the PSFCH symbol is different from a second number of starting symbols in a second slot with the PSFCH symbol,” Shin expressly teaches that only the last slot among a set (e.g., 12-24 among 12-21…12-24) is configured for PSFCH, while earlier slots are used for PSSCH (¶ [0212]; FIG. 12). This inherently yields different symbol budgets/starting opportunities between slots with PSFCH and those without, because the PSFCH occupies symbols in the last slot and feedback timing is tied to that slot. It would have been obvious to combine Shin’s PSFCH-timing arrangement with Xue’s multiple starting points in a reserved PSSCH to support HARQ feedback timing and efficient resource alignment (Xue ¶¶ [0077]-[0079]; Shin ¶¶ [0212], [0065]-[0069]). The motivation is to “perform resource selection considering initial transmission and retransmission effectively” (Shin ¶0064) and to allow a later feedback slot while using earlier starting points for PSSCH as taught by Xue.
Regarding claims 3 and 13 “wherein the first number and the second number are configured via a radio resource control (RRC) signaling,” Shin indicates configuration of PSFCH periodicity/slots relative to PSSCH transmissions (¶ [0212]), which implies configuration of which slots include PSFCH vs. not, and therefore how many starting symbols remain in each case. Moon teaches configuring timing offsets and PSFCH resources via higher layer (RRC) signaling: e.g., “the base station may inform the terminal of … a time offset … between the resource through which the PDCCH … is transmitted and the PSSCH resource through a signaling procedure (e.g., RRC signaling and/or DCI signaling)” (Moon ¶ [0083]), and “The PSFCH resource may be configured to the terminal through RRC signaling” (Moon ¶ [0105)). It would have been obvious to a POSITA to apply Moon’s higher-layer configuration mechanisms to set the slot relationships (and hence the different available starting symbols) disclosed by Xue in view of Shin to ensure interoperable and flexible deployment.
Regarding claims 4 and 14 “transmit SL control information (SCI) including information on a duration for a remaining channel occupancy,” Ganesan teaches including remaining channel occupancy (“CO”) duration information in control signaling (NR-DCI or SCI). See ¶ [0058] (“… an information field … provides COT sharing information to provide information related to SL transmission, such as … a SL-CO duration in the remaining CO …”), and ¶ [0075] (“… a UE may use first stage sidelink control information (SCI) … to indicate … a remaining CO duration…”). It would have been obvious to include, in Xue’s sidelink control, SCI indicating remaining channel occupancy duration to coordinate multiple starting points and prevent interference (Ganesan ¶0002–0003). The modification is a straightforward application of known SCI fields to the Xue system.
Regarding claims 5 and 15 “wherein the information indicates one or more consecutive slots for the remaining channel occupancy,” Kim teaches that the channel occupancy duration may include M consecutive slots (¶ [0143]: “The channel occupancy duration may include M consecutive slots, wherein M may be an integer greater than or equal to 1”). Kim teaches efficient wireless transmission/reception process and supports using slot-based durations to improve efficiency (¶ [0004]), providing the motivation to adapt Kim’s consecutive-slot indication in SCI/DCI to Xue in view of Ganesan’s sidelink to efficiently align SL transmissions with remaining occupancy.
Regarding claims 6 and 16 “wherein the SCI corresponds an SCI format 2,” Yeo expressly teaches using different SCI formats for first and second control information, e.g., “SCI format 1 … for the first control information, and SCI format 2 … for the second control information” (¶ [0166]; also ¶ [0156]). It would have been obvious to implement the remaining CO duration indication (from Ganesan) in the second stage SCI (SCI format 2 per Yeo) to separate common reservation information from targeted information, as is standard in NR sidelink two stage SCI designs. Motivation would have been to facilitate transmission of different control information types (Yeo ¶ [0166]).
The §103 rejections do not rely on Xue alone. Each dependent claim’s additional limitation is supplied by Shin, Moon, Ganesan, Kim, and/or Yeo with articulated reasons to combine. Applicant has not identified any specific element that is not taught or any teaching away. For the forgoing reasons, the rejections are maintained.
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)(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.
Claims 1 and 11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Xue et al. (US 2022/0095369; Provisional application 63/082,159 filed on 9/23/2020 is cited for claim mapping).
Regarding claim 1, Xue discloses
A user equipment (UE) in a wireless communication system, the UE comprising: a processor configured to (¶ [0091] (corresponding to [0094] of US PG-Pub): UE 700 may include a processor 702, a memory 704, a multiple starting points (MSP) module 708, a transceiver 710 including a modem subsystem 712 and a radio frequency (RF) unit 714, and one or more antennas 716):
perform a channel access for a sidelink (SL) transmission, when the channel access fails, randomly select a resource for the SL transmission (¶ [0031] (corresponding to [0032] of US PG-Pub): transmitting node (e.g., a transmitting BS or UE) may draw a random number and backoff for a duration based on the drawn random number in a certain time unit; ¶ [0077] (corresponding to [0080] of US PG-Pub): the LBT procedure can be based on energy detection- or signal detection-based LBT procedure configured to determine whether the PS SCH is available for use by the first SLUE to transmit the TB to the second SLUE; ¶ [0096] (corresponding to [0099] of US PG-Pub): The RF unit 714 may be configured to process (e.g., perform analog to digital conversion or digital to analog conversion, etc.) modulated/encoded data (e.g., PSCCH, PSSCH, PSFCH; In this case, slot 302b in Fig. 3 is reserved for PSSCH without PSFCH) and
identify a first slot without a physical SL feedback channel (PSFCH) symbol that includes a first starting symbol and a second starting symbol for the SL transmission; and a transceiver operably coupled to the processor, the transceiver is configured to perform the SL transmission based on the second starting symbol in the first slot when the channel access fails for the first starting symbol (¶ [0079] (corresponding to [0082] of US PG-Pub): the TB transmitted to the second SLUE via the PSSCH in the data region 312b starting at the latter transmission starting point 310 includes a portion of the data included in the TB that the first SL UE attempted to transmit at the initial transmission starting point 308a (but failed to transmit because of the failed LBT at that initial transmission starting point 308a). In other words, for example, the PSSCH time-frequency resource blocks available for the first SLUE to transmit data starting at the latter transmission starting point 310 (e.g., where the LBT procedure was successful) may be less than the PSSCH time-frequency resource blocks available starting at any prior transmission starting point in the same slot 302b (e.g., where the LBT procedures were unsuccessful); ¶ [0096] (corresponding to [0099] of US PG-Pub): The RF unit 714 may be configured to process (e.g., perform analog to digital conversion or digital to analog conversion, etc.) modulated/encoded data (e.g., PSCCH, PSSCH, PSFCH; In this case, initial transmission starting point 302a is failed, then SL transmission is performed at latter starting point at 310 in the same slot 302b being reserved for PSSCH without PSFCH).
Regarding claim 11 referring to claim 1, Xue discloses A method of operating a user equipment (UE) in a wireless communication system, the method comprising: … (See the rejection for claim 1; Note: The claim includes contingent limitations, e.g., performing SL transmission steps “when the channel access fails” or “when the channel access fails for the first starting symbol.” Such limitations are given patentable weight only if the condition is met. “The broadest reasonable interpretation of a method (or process) claim having contingent limitations requires only those steps that must be performed and does not include steps that are not required to be performed because the condition(s) precedent are not met” (MPEP 2111.04). Accordingly, in the absence of a channel access failure, the contingent steps (e.g., selecting a resource, transmitting based on a second starting symbol) need not be performed, and therefore do not further distinguish the claim over the prior art).
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 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 of this title, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claims 2 and 12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Xue in view of Shin et al. (US 2021/0007081).
Regarding claims 2 and 12, Xue discloses all the subject matter of the claimed invention with the exception of wherein a first number of starting symbols in the first slot without the PSFCH symbol is different from a second number of starting symbols in a second slot with the PSFCH symbol. Shin from the same or similar fields of endeavor discloses wherein a first number of starting symbols in the first slot without the PSFCH symbol is different from a second number of starting symbols in a second slot with the PSFCH symbol (¶ [0212]: Referring to FIG. 12, only a last slot 12-24 among four slots 12-21 through 12-24 may be configured to transmit and receive PSFCH 12-29 … HARQ feedback information of a PSSCH transmitted from the slots 12-21 through 12-23 may be transmitted and received by being included in a PSFCH that may be transmitted from the slot 12-24). Therefore, it would have been obvious to the person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made to modify the teaching of Xue such that HARQ feedback information of a PSSCH transmitted from the slots 12-25 through 12-27 is transmitted and received by being included in a PSFCH that is transmitted from the slot 12-28 of Shin. The motivation would have been to perform resource selection considering initial transmission and retransmission effectively by providing a method of selecting a transmission resource in SL communication (Shin ¶ [0064]).
Claims 3 and 13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Xue in view of Shin as applied to claims 2 and 12, and further in view of Moon et al (US 2022/0255680).
Regarding claim 3 and 13, Xue discloses all the subject matter of the claimed invention with the exception of wherein the first number and the second number are configured. Shin from the same or similar fields of endeavor discloses wherein the first number and the second number are configured (¶ [0212]: Referring to FIG. 12, only a last slot 12-24 among four slots 12-21 through 12-24 may be configured to transmit and receive PSFCH 12-29 … HARQ feedback information of a PSSCH transmitted from the slots 12-21 through 12-23 may be transmitted and received by being included in a PSFCH that may be transmitted from the slot 12-24). Therefore, it would have been obvious to the person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made to modify the teaching of Xue such that HARQ feedback information of a PSSCH transmitted from the slots 12-25 through 12-27 is transmitted and received by being included in a PSFCH that is transmitted from the slot 12-28 of Shin. The motivation would have been to perform resource selection considering initial transmission and retransmission effectively by providing a method of selecting a transmission resource in SL communication (Shin ¶ [0064]).
Xue in view of Shin discloses all the subject matter of the claimed invention with the exception of wherein the first number and the second number are configured via a radio resource control (RRC) signaling. Moon from the same or similar fields of endeavor discloses wherein the first number and the second number are configured via a radio resource control (RRC) signaling (¶ [0083]: the base station may inform the terminal of information on a time offset (e.g., symbol offset, slot offset) between the resource through which the PDCCH (or, DCI, DCI format, etc.) is transmitted and the PSSCH resource through a signaling procedure (e.g., RRC signaling and/or DCI signaling) … the time offset may be a time distance (e.g., symbol offset) between an ending time of receiving the PDCCH (or DCI, DCI format) (e.g., the last symbol or an ending time of the last symbol of the PDCCH) and a starting time of the allocated PSSCH resource (e.g., the first symbol or a starting time of the first symbol of the PSSCH); ¶ [0105]: The PSFCH resource may be configured to the terminal through RRC signaling). Therefore, it would have been obvious to the person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made to modify the teaching of Xue in view of Shin by determining a starting time of the allocated PSSCH resource (e.g., the first symbol or a starting time of the first symbol of the PSSCH) and PSFCH resource via RRC signaling of Shin. The motivation would have been to effectively support PSFCH transmission between terminals and a sensing operation on the PSFCH (Moon ¶ [0105]).
Claims 4 and 14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Xue in view of Ganesan et al. (US 2023/0269769).
Regarding claims 4 and 14, Xue discloses all the subject matter of the claimed invention with the exception of wherein the transceiver is further configured to transmit SL control information (SCI) including information on a duration for a remaining channel occupancy. Ganesan from the same or similar fields of endeavor discloses wherein the transceiver is further configured to transmit SL control information (SCI) including information on a duration for a remaining channel occupancy (¶ [0058]: In various embodiments, such as for DL-COT sharing between UL and/or SL, an information field may be used in NR-DCI format 2_0 that provides COT sharing information to provide information related to SL transmission, such as: a COT sharing interface indicator to share COT with SL and/or UL, a slot timing offset, a symbol timing offset for starting SL transmission in a remaining channel occupancy (“CO”) duration, a SL-CO duration in the remaining CO; ¶ [0075]: a UE may use first stage sidelink control information (“SCI”), second stage SCI, or a combination of both to indicate: … a remaining CO duration … In such embodiments, SCI formats may be broadcast, groupcast, or unicast depending on whether the UE would like to share the COT on a one to one basis or one to many basis with SL UEs). Therefore, it would have been obvious to the person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made to modify the teaching of Xue by using first stage sidelink control information (“SCI”), second stage SCI, or a combination of both including SCI formats to indicate a remaining channel occupancy (“CO”) duration of Ganesan. The motivation would have been to prevent interference (Ganesan ¶¶ [0002] and [0003]).
Claims 5 and 15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Xue in view of Ganesan as applied to claims 4 and 15, and further in view of Kim et al. (US 2023/0024992).
Regarding claims 5 and 15, Xue in view of Ganesan discloses all the subject matter of the claimed invention with the exception of wherein the information indicates one or more consecutive slots for the remaining channel occupancy. Kim from the same or similar fields of endeavor discloses wherein the information indicates one or more consecutive slots for the remaining channel occupancy (¶ [0143]: The channel occupancy duration may include M consecutive slots, wherein M may be an integer greater than or equal to 1). Therefore, it would have been obvious to the person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made to modify the teaching of Xue in view of Ganesan by including M consecutive slots in the channel occupancy duration of Kim. The motivation would have been to efficiently perform a wireless signal transmission and reception process (Kim ¶ [0004]).
Claims 6 and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Xue in view of Ganesan and Kim as applied to claims 5 and 15, and further in view of Yeo et al. (US 2021/0400687).
Regarding claim 6, Xue in view of Kim discloses all the subject matter of the claimed invention with the exception of wherein the SCI. Ganesan from the same or similar fields of endeavor discloses wherein the SCI (¶ [0058]: In various embodiments, such as for DL-COT sharing between UL and/or SL, an information field may be used in NR-DCI format 2_0 that provides COT sharing information to provide information related to SL transmission, such as: a COT sharing interface indicator to share COT with SL and/or UL, a slot timing offset, a symbol timing offset for starting SL transmission in a remaining channel occupancy (“CO”) duration, a SL-CO duration in the remaining CO; ¶ [0075]: a UE may use first stage sidelink control information (“SCI”), second stage SCI, or a combination of both to indicate: … a remaining CO duration … In such embodiments, SCI formats may be broadcast, groupcast, or unicast depending on whether the UE would like to share the COT on a one to one basis or one to many basis with SL UEs). Therefore, it would have been obvious to the person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made to modify the teaching of Xue in view of Ganesan by including M consecutive slots in the channel occupancy duration of Kim. The motivation would have been to efficiently perform a wireless signal transmission and reception process (Kim ¶ [0004]).
Xue in view of Ganesan and Kim discloses all the subject matter of the claimed invention with the exception of wherein the SCI corresponds an SCI format 2 while Ganesan discloses “using first stage sidelink control information (“SCI”), second stage SCI, or a combination of both including SCI formats to indicate a remaining channel occupancy (“CO”) duration” (emphasis added). Yeo from the same or similar fields of endeavor discloses wherein the SCI corresponds an SCI format 2 (¶ [0156]: Referring to FIG. 15, in operation 1510, a transmitting UE may determine a resource for transmitting a physical SL shared channel (PSSCH) by using the above-described channel occupancy and channel reservation methods; ¶ [0166]: SCI formats used for transmission of the first control information and the second control information may be different from each other. For example, SCI format 1 or the like may be used for the first control information, and SCI format 2 or the like may be used for the second control information). Therefore, it would have been obvious to the person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made to modify the teaching, e.g., using first stage sidelink control information (“SCI”), second stage SCI, or a combination of both including SCI formats to indicate a remaining channel occupancy (“CO”) duration, of Xue in view of Ganesan and Kim by using SCI format 2 of Yeo. The motivation would have been to facilitate the transmission of the first control information and the second control information, where the two types information may be different from each other (Yeo ¶ [0166]).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Lin (US 2022/0232529) discloses “FIG. 12 shows an exemplary PSSCH and PSFCH setup where a plurality of RBs in the PSFCH slot is divided into a plurality of regions of RBs according to an implementation. In FIG. 12, N=4, i.e. the HRW (305) comprises four PSSCH slots, wherein one PSFCH slot carrys HARQ reports for up to four PSSCH slots. Thus, the plurality of RBs in the sub-channel, here the plurality of RBs configured for PSFCH transmission in the sub-channel, are split or divided into four regions of RBs, see 1st region (301), 2nd region (302), 3rd region (303), and 4th region (304). Thus, the split or division of regions in this implementation is based on the number of PSSCH slots within the HRW (305). If, as another example, N=1, i.e. one PSSCH slot is within the HRW, i.e. one PSFCH slots carries a HARQ report for one PSSCH slot, only 1 region is needed” (¶ [0069]).
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
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/JAE Y LEE/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2479