DETAILED ACTION
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office Action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 02/24/2026 and 01/20/2026 has been entered and made of record.
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 .
Claim Status
Claims 1, 15, 23 and 27 are amended.
No claim is/are added.
Claims 1-3, 5-16 and 18-32 are pending for examination.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments (remark pages 12-14), filed on 01/20/2026, with respect to claims 1-3, 5-16 and 18-32 have been considered but are moot in view of the new ground of rejection below which better address the claimed invention as amended.
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
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.
Claims 1-3, 5, 7-16 and 18-32 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ye et al. (US 20210321403 A1), hereinafter “Ye”, in view of Cheng et al. (US 20240007237 A1), hereinafter “Cheng”, in view of Liu et al. (US 20230389021 A1), hereinafter “Liu”, and in view of TS38.214 (“Physical layer procedures for data”), hereinafter “TS38.214”.
Per claim 1, 15 and 23:
Regarding claim 1, Ye teaches ‘An apparatus for wireless communication at a user equipment (UE)’ (Ye: [0013]: “a user equipment (UE)”); ‘one or more memories; and one or more processors’ (Ye: [FIG.8]: “Memory”, “Processor(s)”); ‘coupled to the one or more memories’ (this is implied);
‘configured to:
‘obtain a nominal resource block value based on a number of interlace resource blocks within a resource block set associated with one or more allocated subchannels for a sidelink communication and a number of interlaces in a resource block set’ (Ye: [0006]: “procedure for sidelink Transport Block Size (TBS) calculation”; [0048]: parameter “the number of resource blocks per sub-channel”, the number of resource block value per subchannel, which is a nominal resource block value, used in the formula in [0046] to calculate the total number of resource elements allocated for PSSCH). However, Ye fails to expressly teach ‘a number of interlace resource blocks within a resource block set associated with one or more allocated subchannels’ and ‘a number of interlaces in a resource block set’;
‘obtain a total number of allocated physical resource blocks for a physical sidelink shared channel (PSSCH) based at least in part on a product of the nominal resource block value and a number of subchannels of the one or more allocated subchannels’ (Ye: [0006]: “procedure for sidelink Transport Block Size (TBS) calculation”; [0046]-[0050]: the total number of allocated PRBs for the PSSCH is calculated as the number of subchannels allocated for PSSCH multiplied by the number of resource blocks per subchannel, which is a nominal resource block value, in the formula);
‘identify a number of PSSCH resource elements to be used for a transport block size calculation based at least in part on a product of the total number of allocated physical resource blocks and a number of resource elements allocated for PSSCH within a physical resource block’ (Ye: [0046]-[0050]: the total number of allocated PSSCH resource elements is calculated at least in part as a product of the total number of allocated physical resource blocks, which is a product of the number of subchannels allocated for PSSCH and the number of resource blocks per subchannel, and a number of resource elements allocated for PSSCH within a physical resource block (
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) in the formula);
‘transmit the sidelink communication based at least in part on the number of PSSCH resource elements’ (Ye: [0131]: “sidelink TBS determination … data transmitted on PSSCH”, transmit the sidelink communication based at least in part on the number of PSSCH resource elements).
‘reserve, based on an interlace indication indicating one or more scheduled interlaces and a resource block set indication indicating one or more scheduled resource block sets, one or more resources for one or more retransmissions of the sidelink communication across different resource block sets’
However, Cheng in the same field of endeavor teaches ‘a number of interlace resource blocks within a resource block set associated with one or more allocated subchannels’ (Cheng: [FIG.1]: “SUB-CHANNEL 109”, “INTERLACE 108”, “RB SET 105A”; [0020]: “one sub-channel can be defined as K interlaces within one RB set … The number of RBs within different interlaces and/or sub-channels can be pre-configured to be the same between the sub-channels”; the number of interlace resource blocks within a resource block set associated with a sub-channel would be the sum of the number of RBs for each interlace over all K interlaces associated with a sub-channel, for example, with the same number of RBs for interlaces in a sub-channel of K interlaces within a resource block set, the number of interlace resource blocks within a resource block set associated with a sub-channel = K * (the number of RBs per-interlace));
‘a number of interlaces in a resource block set’ (Cheng: [0020]: “one sub-channel can be defined as K interlaces within one RB set”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Cheng’s teaching with that of Ye to obtain a nominal resource block value based on a number of interlace resource blocks within a resource block set associated with one or more allocated subchannels for a sidelink communication and a number of interlaces in a resource block set in order to support sidelink unlicensed frequency grid based on an interlace structure (Cheng: [0011]: “a sidelink-unlicensed (SL-U) frequency grid 100 based on an interlace structure”).
Combination of Ye and Cheng teaches ‘reserve, based on an interlace indication indicating one or more scheduled interlaces and a resource block set indication indicating one or more scheduled resource block sets, one or more resources for one or more retransmissions of the sidelink communication across different resource block sets’ (Ye: [0159]: “the resource reservation information is contained in first stage SCI”; [0021]: “In some embodiments, a UE is not expected to receive a retransmission with a TBS that is different from the last valid TBS signaled for the TB. For example, the design may be such that the TBS is the same between a transmission and its re-transmission(s)”; [0036]: “the same parameters are used for both initial transmission and retransmission(s)”; [0038]: “In some embodiments, the time density of PT-RS depends the scheduled MCS as indicated in first stage SCI, if the MCS is not allowed to change between initial transmission and retransmission(s)”; [0041]: “To align the TBS calculation between initial transmission and retransmission(s)”; resources for retransmission would depend on the resources allocated for initial transmission. Cheng: [0033]: “The RB set indicator/index can be configured to include the information of the allocated RB sets”; [0030]: “The resources allocated for PSSCH can also be configured to occupy multiple sub-channels across multiple RB sets”; [0020]: “one sub-channel can be defined as K interlaces within one RB set … The relation between sub-channel and interlace and/or RB can be indicated through a bitmap and/or a start and length indicator value (SLIV)”). However, combination of Ye and Cheng fails to expressly teach reserve resources for retransmissions of the sidelink communication.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Cheng’s teaching of interlace for sub-channel and transmission over multiple resource block sets with that of Ye to perform retransmission over resources across different resource block sets in order to support sidelink unlicensed frequency grid based on an interlace structure (Cheng: [0011]: “a sidelink-unlicensed (SL-U) frequency grid 100 based on an interlace structure”).
Liu in the same field of endeavor teaches reserve resources for retransmissions of the sidelink communication (Liu: [0096]: “In some cases, an out-of-COT reservation may allow a first UE to reserve future COT resources for retransmission … Using this reservation framework, if different sidelink transmitters perform FDM in different interlaces and start the COT at the same time using coordinated channel access, the reserved COT resources may be able to be better utilized”; [0099]: “a first UE may reserve a future COT resource using frequency domain resource assignment (FDRA) and LBT parameters for retransmission … the later reserving node may need to avoid the earlier chosen interlaces and may need to align a counter value, a defer duration, and a starting position”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Liu’s teaching with that of combination of Ye and Cheng to reserve, based on an interlace indication indicating one or more scheduled interlaces and a resource block set indication indicating one or more scheduled resource block sets, one or more resources for one or more retransmissions of the sidelink communication across different resource block sets in order to align the initial transmission and retransmission (Ye: [0021]: “the design may be such that the TBS is the same between a transmission and its re-transmission(s)”; [0041]: “To align the TBS calculation between initial transmission and retransmission(s)”).
Although it is known in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention that a parameter for resource block in 3GPP specification is called nominal parameter, Ye does not expressly teach a nominal resource block value.
Nevertheless, TS38.214 in the same field of endeavor teaches nominal resource block group size (TS38.214: [Page 20: Table 5.1.2.2.1-1]: “Nominal RBG size P”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine TS38.214’s teaching with that of combination of Ye and Cheng in order to conform to 3GPP specification for promotion of corroboration and inter-operation.
Regarding claim 15, claim 15 recites the method implemented by the apparatus of claim 1 (see rejection of claim 1 above).
Regarding claim 23, claim 23 recites the memory and the method implemented by the apparatus of claim 1 (see rejection of claim 1).
Per claim 2, 16 and 24:
Regarding claim 2, combination of Ye, Cheng, Liu and TS38.214 teaches the apparatus of claim 1 (discussed above).
Combination of Ye and Cheng teaches ‘wherein the one or more allocated subchannels comprises a plurality of subchannels’ (Ye: [0041]: parameter “the number of sub-channels per PSSCH”);
‘wherein the number of interlace resource blocks is defined per subchannel of the plurality of subchannels’ (Ye: [0048]: parameter “the number of resource blocks per sub-channel”, the number of resource blocks is per subchannel. Cheng: [0020]: “one sub-channel can be defined as K interlaces within one RB set … The number of RBs within different interlaces and/or sub-channels can be pre-configured to be the same between the sub-channels”; the number of interlace resource blocks within a resource block set associated with a sub-channel would be the sum of the number of RBs for each interlace over all K interlaces associated with a sub-channel, for example, with the same number of RBs for interlaces in a sub-channel of K interlaces within a resource block set, the number of interlace resource blocks associated with a sub-channel = K * (the number of RBs per-interlace)).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Cheng’s teaching of interlace structure with that of Ye in order to support sidelink unlicensed frequency grid based on an interlace structure (Cheng: [0011]: “a sidelink-unlicensed (SL-U) frequency grid 100 based on an interlace structure”).
Regarding claim 16, claim 16 recites the method implemented by the apparatus of claim 2 (see rejection of claim 2 above).
Regarding claim 24, claim 24 recites the memory and the method implemented by the apparatus of claim 2 (see rejection of claim 2).
Per claim 3 and 31:
Regarding claim 3, combination of Ye, Cheng, Liu and TS38.214 teaches the apparatus of claim 2 (discussed above).
Ye does not expressly teach, but Cheng teaches ‘wherein a selected subchannel of the plurality of subchannels corresponds to one or more interlaces in a resource block set’ (Cheng: [0020]: “one sub-channel can be defined as K interlaces within one RB set … K can be defined as a value chosen from the set or a sub-set of {1,2,3, . . . ,9,10}”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Cheng’s teaching with that of Ye in order to support sidelink unlicensed frequency grid based on an interlace structure (Cheng: [0011]: “a sidelink-unlicensed (SL-U) frequency grid 100 based on an interlace structure”).
Regarding claim 31, claim 31 recites the method implemented by the apparatus of claim 3 (see rejection of claim 3 above).
Regarding claim 5, combination of Ye, Cheng, Liu and TS38.214 teaches the apparatus of claim 2 (discussed above).
Combination of Ye and Cheng teaches ‘wherein the total number of allocated physical resource blocks for the PSSCH is the number of subchannels multiplied by the number of interlace resource blocks’ (discussed in claim 4 above).
Per claim 7, 18 and 25:
Regarding claim 7, combination of Ye, Cheng, Liu and TS38.214 teaches the apparatus of claim 1 (discussed above).
Ye teaches ‘obtain a plurality of nominal resource block values’ (Ye: [0048]: parameter “the number of resource blocks per sub-channel” (a nominal resource block value); [0049]: parameter “the number of sub-channels”; a plurality of nominal resource block values associated with sub-channels).
Ye does not expressly teach, but Cheng teaches ‘obtain the number of interlace resource blocks’ (discussed in claim 1 above);
‘wherein each nominal resource block value of the plurality of nominal resource block values corresponds to a different subchannel allocation size within a resource block set’ (Cheng: [0020]: “one sub-channel can be defined as K interlaces within one RB set”; [0025]: “Each sub-channel 109 can be configured to include one interlace 108. Each sub-channel 109 can also be configured to include multiple interlaces”; [FIG.1] “Interlace 108”; each nominal resource block value (subchannel size) would correspond to the different subchannel allocation size based on the different number of interlaces).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Cheng’s teaching with that of Ye in order to support subchannels with different sizes within one RB set (see reference quotes in element above).
Regarding claim 18, claim 18 recites the method implemented by the apparatus of claim 7 (see rejection of claim 7 above).
Regarding claim 25, claim 25 recites the memory and the method implemented by the apparatus of claim 7 (see rejection of claim 7).
Per claim 8 and 19:
Regarding claim 8, combination of Ye, Cheng, Liu and TS38.214 teaches the apparatus of claim 7 (discussed above).
Combination of Ye and Cheng teaches ‘wherein each nominal resource block value of the plurality of nominal resource block values corresponds to a respective subchannel allocation size of a plurality of subchannel allocation sizes within the resource block set’ (Ye: [0041]: parameter “the number of sub-channels per PSSCH”, PSSCH can be allocated with multiple of sub-channel. Cheng: [0020]: “one sub-channel can be defined as K interlaces within one RB set”; [0025]: “Each sub-channel 109 can be configured to include one interlace 108. Each sub-channel 109 can also be configured to include multiple interlaces”; [FIG.1] “Interlace 108”; each nominal resource block value (subchannel size) would correspond to the different subchannel allocation size based on the different number of interlaces within the RB set).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Cheng’s teaching with that of Ye in order to support subchannels with different sizes within one RB set (see reference quotes in element above).
Regarding claim 19, claim 19 recites the method implemented by the apparatus of claim 8 (see rejection of claim 8 above).
Per claim 9 and 20:
Regarding claim 9, combination of Ye, Cheng, Liu and TS38.214 teaches the apparatus of claim 7 (discussed above).
Combination of Ye and Cheng teaches ‘are configured to identify the number of PSSCH resource elements based at least in part on an actual number of resource blocks to be used for a scheduled subchannel of the one or more allocated subchannels’ (Ye: [0046]-[0050]: the total number of allocated resource elements (REs) for the PSSCH is calculated as the number of subchannels allocated for PSSCH multiplied by the number of resource blocks per subchannel (the nominal resource block value) and multiplied by the number of resource elements per resource block in the formula. Cheng: [0020]: “one sub-channel can be defined as K interlaces within one RB set”; [0025]: “Each sub-channel 109 can be configured to include one interlace 108. Each sub-channel 109 can also be configured to include multiple interlaces”; [0027]: “one sub-channel can be defined as N consecutive RBs within one RB set. The value of N can be configured to include or not include the number of RBs within the intra-cell GB”, where GB is guard band; each nominal resource block value (subchannel size) would correspond to the actual number of resource blocks of the allocated subchannel).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Cheng’s teaching with that of Ye by using the actual number of subchannel size to calculate the total number of allocated PRBs for the PSSCH in order to support intra-cell guard band to avoid interference between multiple UEs sharing the same SL-U spectrum (Cheng: [0026]: “avoid interference between multiple UEs sharing the same SL-U spectrum”).
Regarding claim 20, claim 20 recites the method implemented by the apparatus of claim 9 (see rejection of claim 9 above).
Per claim 10, 21 and 26:
Regarding claim 10, combination of Ye, Cheng, Liu and TS38.214 teaches the apparatus of claim 1 (discussed above).
Combination of Ye and Cheng teaches ‘obtain the number of interlace resource blocks’ (discussed in claim 1 above);
‘are configured to select the nominal resource block value associated with a subchannel, from a plurality of nominal resource block values associated with a respective plurality of allocated subchannels, having a smallest number of interlace resource blocks’. Combination of Ye and Cheng teaches that the subchannel size (the nominal resource block value) is used to calculate TBS of PSSCH transmission (Ye: [0046]-[0050]: the total number of allocated PRBs for the PSSCH is calculated as the number of subchannels allocated for PSSCH multiplied by the number of resource blocks per subchannel (the nominal resource block value) in the formula; the smaller the sub-channel size, the smaller the TBS size), subchannels may be configured with a range of different number of interlace resource blocks (Cheng: [0019]: “one sub-channel can be defined as K interlaces … K can be defined as a value chosen from the set or a sub-set of {1,2,3, . . . ,9,10}”, the nominal resource block value would depends on the number of interlace resource block for the sub-channel, the smaller the number of interlace resource blocks, the smaller the sub-channel size and the smaller the TBS size), it is sometime desirable to align the TBS size for initial transmission and retransmission when MCS is not allowed to change between initial transmission and retransmission for ultra-reliable transmission (Ye: [0038]: “the MCS is not allowed to change between initial transmission and retransmission(s)”; [0183]: “For ultra-reliable transmissions, the low-spectral efficiency 64QAM MCS table is used”; [0138]: “To align the TBS calculation between initial transmission and retransmission(s)”), and PSSCH can be configured to occupy multiple sub-channel across multiple RB sets (Cheng: [0030]: “PSSCH can also be configured to occupy multiple sub-channels across multiple RB sets”). The smaller a TBS size, the more reliable to transmit it. Therefore, in an environment where the possibility of retransmission is high, it would be desirable to choose smallest TBS for initial transmission across all possible resource block sets, in another word, select the number of interlace resource blocks associated with the subchannel having the smallest number of interlace resource blocks across all possible resource block sets, such that there is always possible to have the respective retransmission(s) with no smaller TBS than the initial transmission.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Cheng’s teaching of interlace structure with that of Ye in order to support sidelink unlicensed frequency grid based on an interlace structure (Cheng: [0011]: “a sidelink-unlicensed (SL-U) frequency grid 100 based on an interlace structure”).
Regarding claim 21, claim 21 recites the method implemented by the apparatus of claim 10 (see rejection of claim 10 above).
Regarding claim 26, claim 26 recites the memory and the method implemented by the apparatus of claim 10 (see rejection of claim 10).
Regarding claim 11, combination of Ye, Cheng, Liu and TS38.214 teaches the apparatus of claim 10 (discussed above).
Ye does not expressly teach, but Cheng teaches ‘wherein at least two subchannels of the plurality of allocated subchannels have a different number of interlace resource blocks’ (Cheng: [FIG.1]; [0025]: “Each sub-channel 109 can be configured to include one interlace 108. Each sub-channel 109 can also be configured to include multiple interlaces”; [0030]: “The resources allocated for PSSCH can also be configured to occupy multiple sub-channels”; multiple sub-channels may have different number of interlace resource blocks).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Cheng’s teaching with that of Ye in order to support subchannels with different number of interlace resource blocks (see reference quotes in element above).
Regarding claim 12, combination of Ye, Cheng, Liu and TS38.214 teaches the apparatus of claim 10 (discussed above).
Combination of Ye and Cheng teaches ‘wherein the one or more processors, to select the nominal resource block value associated with the subchannel having the smallest number of interlace resource blocks, are configured to select the nominal resource block value associated with the subchannel having the smallest number of interlace resource blocks across all possible resource block sets’ (discussed in claim 10 above).
Regarding claim 13, combination of Ye, Cheng, Liu and TS38.214 teaches the apparatus of claim 10 (discussed above).
Combination of Ye and Change teaches ‘wherein the transport block size calculation is based at least in part on a smallest subchannel of the plurality of allocated subchannels’. This would be concluded from claim 10 and claim 5 (discussed in claim 10 and claim 5 above).
Regarding claim 14, combination of Ye, Cheng, Liu and TS38.214 teaches the apparatus of claim 10 (discussed above).
Combination of Ye and Cheng teaches ‘wherein the one or more processors, to select the nominal resource block value associated with the subchannel having the smallest number of interlace resource blocks, are configured to select the nominal resource block value associated with the subchannel having the smallest number of interlace resource blocks for each subchannel size of a plurality of subchannel sizes’. This would be concluded from claim 10 and claim 2 (discussed in claim 10 and claim 2 above).
Regarding claim 22, claim 22 recites the method implemented by the apparatus of claim 12 or claim 14 (see rejection of claim 12 or claim 14 above).
Regarding claim 27, Ye teaches ‘An apparatus for wireless communication’ (Ye: [0013]: “a user equipment (UE)”),
‘comprising:
means for obtaining a nominal resource block value based on a number of interlace resource blocks within a resource block set associated with one or more allocated subchannels for a sidelink communication and a number of interlaces in a resource block set’ (Ye: [0006]: “procedure for sidelink Transport Block Size (TBS) calculation”; [0048]: parameter “the number of resource blocks per sub-channel”, the number of resource block value per subchannel, which is a nominal resource block value, used in the formula in [0046] to calculate the total number of resource elements allocated for PSSCH). However, Ye fails to expressly teach ‘a number of interlace resource blocks within a resource block set associated with one or more allocated subchannels’ and ‘a number of interlaces in a resource block set’;
‘means for obtaining a total number of allocated physical resource blocks for a physical sidelink shared channel (PSSCH) based at least in part on a product of the nominal resource block value and a number of subchannels of the one or more allocated subchannels’ (Ye: [0006]: “procedure for sidelink Transport Block Size (TBS) calculation”; [0046]-[0050]: the total number of allocated PRBs for the PSSCH is calculated as the number of subchannels allocated for PSSCH multiplied by the number of resource blocks per subchannel, which is a nominal resource block value, in the formula);
‘means for identifying a number of PSSCH resource elements to be used for a transport block size calculation based at least in part on a product of the total number of allocated physical resource blocks and a number of resource elements allocated for PSSCH within a physical resource block’ (Ye: [0046]-[0050]: the total number of allocated PSSCH resource elements is calculated at least in part as a product of the total number of allocated physical resource blocks, which is a product of the number of subchannels allocated for PSSCH and the number of resource blocks per subchannel, and a number of resource elements allocated for PSSCH within a physical resource block (
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) in the formula);
‘means for transmitting the sidelink communication based at least in part on the number of PSSCH resource elements’ (Ye: [0131]: “sidelink TBS determination … data transmitted on PSSCH”, transmit the sidelink communication based at least in part on the number of PSSCH resource elements).
However, Cheng in the same field of endeavor teaches ‘a number of interlace resource blocks within a resource block set associated with one or more allocated subchannels’ (Cheng: [FIG.1]: “SUB-CHANNEL 109”, “INTERLACE 108”, “RB SET 105A”; [0020]: “one sub-channel can be defined as K interlaces within one RB set … The number of RBs within different interlaces and/or sub-channels can be pre-configured to be the same between the sub-channels”; the number of interlace resource blocks within a resource block set associated with a sub-channel would be the sum of the number of RBs for each interlace over all K interlaces associated with a sub-channel, for example, with the same number of RBs for interlaces in a sub-channel of K interlaces within a resource block set, the number of interlace resource blocks within a resource block set associated with a sub-channel = K * (the number of RBs per-interlace));
‘a number of interlaces in a resource block set’ (Cheng: [0020]: “one sub-channel can be defined as K interlaces within one RB set”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Cheng’s teaching with that of Ye to have means for obtaining a nominal resource block value based on a number of interlace resource blocks within a resource block set associated with one or more allocated subchannels for a sidelink communication and a number of interlaces in a resource block setin order to support sidelink unlicensed frequency grid based on an interlace structure (Cheng: [0011]: “a sidelink-unlicensed (SL-U) frequency grid 100 based on an interlace structure”).
Combination of Ye and Cheng teaches ‘means for reserving, based on an interlace indication indicating one or more scheduled interlaces and a resource block set indication indicating one or more scheduled resource block sets, one or more resources for one or more retransmissions of the sidelink communication across different resource block sets’ (Ye: [0159]: “the resource reservation information is contained in first stage SCI”; [0021]: “In some embodiments, a UE is not expected to receive a retransmission with a TBS that is different from the last valid TBS signaled for the TB. For example, the design may be such that the TBS is the same between a transmission and its re-transmission(s)”; [0036]: “the same parameters are used for both initial transmission and retransmission(s)”; [0038]: “In some embodiments, the time density of PT-RS depends the scheduled MCS as indicated in first stage SCI, if the MCS is not allowed to change between initial transmission and retransmission(s)”; [0041]: “To align the TBS calculation between initial transmission and retransmission(s)”; resources for retransmission would depend on the resources allocated for initial transmission. Cheng: [0033]: “The RB set indicator/index can be configured to include the information of the allocated RB sets”; [0030]: “The resources allocated for PSSCH can also be configured to occupy multiple sub-channels across multiple RB sets”; [0020]: “one sub-channel can be defined as K interlaces within one RB set … The relation between sub-channel and interlace and/or RB can be indicated through a bitmap and/or a start and length indicator value (SLIV)”). However, combination of Ye and Cheng fails to expressly teach reserve resources for retransmissions of the sidelink communication.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Cheng’s teaching of interlace for sub-channel and transmission over multiple resource block sets with that of Ye to perform retransmission over resources across different resource block sets in order to support sidelink unlicensed frequency grid based on an interlace structure (Cheng: [0011]: “a sidelink-unlicensed (SL-U) frequency grid 100 based on an interlace structure”).
Liu in the same field of endeavor teaches reserve resources for retransmissions of the sidelink communication (Liu: [0096]: “In some cases, an out-of-COT reservation may allow a first UE to reserve future COT resources for retransmission … Using this reservation framework, if different sidelink transmitters perform FDM in different interlaces and start the COT at the same time using coordinated channel access, the reserved COT resources may be able to be better utilized”; [0099]: “a first UE may reserve a future COT resource using frequency domain resource assignment (FDRA) and LBT parameters for retransmission … the later reserving node may need to avoid the earlier chosen interlaces and may need to align a counter value, a defer duration, and a starting position”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Liu’s teaching with that of combination of Ye and Cheng to have means for reserving, based on an interlace indication indicating one or more scheduled interlaces and a resource block set indication indicating one or more scheduled resource block sets, one or more resources for one or more retransmissions of the sidelink communication across different resource block sets in order to align the initial transmission and retransmission (Ye: [0021]: “the design may be such that the TBS is the same between a transmission and its re-transmission(s)”; [0041]: “To align the TBS calculation between initial transmission and retransmission(s)”).
Although it is known in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention that a parameter for resource block in 3GPP specification is called nominal parameter, Ye does not expressly teach a nominal resource block value.
Nevertheless, TS38.214 in the same field of endeavor teaches nominal resource block group size (TS38.214: [Page 20: Table 5.1.2.2.1-1]: “Nominal RBG size P”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine TS38.214’s teaching with that of combination of Ye and Cheng in order to conform to 3GPP specification for promotion of corroboration and inter-operation.
Regarding claim 28, combination of Ye, Cheng, Liu and TS38.214 teaches the apparatus of claim 27 (discussed above)
Combination of Ye and Cheng teaches ‘wherein the one or more allocated subchannels comprises a plurality of subchannels’ (Ye: [0041]: parameter “the number of sub-channels per PSSCH”);
‘wherein the number of interlace resource blocks is defined per subchannel of the plurality of subchannels’ (Ye: [0048]: parameter “the number of resource blocks per sub-channel”, the number of resource blocks is per subchannel. Cheng: [0020]: “one sub-channel can be defined as K interlaces within one RB set … The number of RBs within different interlaces and/or sub-channels can be pre-configured to be the same between the sub-channels”; the number of interlace resource blocks within a resource block set associated with a sub-channel would be the sum of the number of RBs for each interlace over all K interlaces associated with a sub-channel, for example, with the same number of RBs for interlaces in a sub-channel of K interlaces within a resource block set, the number of interlace resource blocks associated with a sub-channel = K * (the number of RBs per-interlace)).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Cheng’s teaching of interlace structure with that of Ye in order to support sidelink unlicensed frequency grid based on an interlace structure (Cheng: [0011]: “a sidelink-unlicensed (SL-U) frequency grid 100 based on an interlace structure”).
Regarding claim 29, combination of Ye, Cheng, Liu and TS38.214 teaches the apparatus of claim 27 (discussed above).
Combination of Ye and Cheng teaches ‘obtaining a plurality of nominal resource block values, wherein each nominal resource block value of the plurality of nominal resource block values corresponds to a different subchannel allocation size within a resource block set’ (Ye: [0048]: parameter “the number of resource blocks per sub-channel”; [0049]: parameter “the number of sub-channels”; a plurality of nominal resource block values associated with sub-channels. Cheng: [0020]: “one sub-channel can be defined as K interlaces within one RB set”; [0025]: “Each sub-channel 109 can be configured to include one interlace 108. Each sub-channel 109 can also be configured to include multiple interlaces”; [FIG.1] “Interlace 108”; each nominal resource block value (subchannel size) would correspond to the different subchannel allocation size based on the different number of interlaces).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Cheng’s teaching of different number of interlaces per sub-channel with that of Ye in order to support subchannels with different sizes within one RB set (see reference quotes in element above).
Regarding claim 30, combination of Ye, Cheng, Liu and TS38.214 teaches the apparatus of claim 27 (discussed above)
combination of Ye and Cheng teaches ‘means for selecting the number of interlace resource blocks associated with a subchannel, from a plurality of nominal resource block values associated with a respective plurality of allocated subchannels, having a smallest number of interlace resource blocks’, Combination of Ye and Cheng teaches that the subchannel size (the nominal resource block value) is used to calculate TBS of PSSCH transmission (Ye: [0046]-[0050]: the total number of allocated PRBs for the PSSCH is calculated as the number of subchannels allocated for PSSCH multiplied by the number of resource blocks per subchannel (the nominal resource block value) in the formula; the smaller the sub-channel size, the smaller the TBS size), subchannels may be configured with a range of different number of interlace resource blocks (Cheng: [0019]: “one sub-channel can be defined as K interlaces … K can be defined as a value chosen from the set or a sub-set of {1,2,3, . . . ,9,10}”, the nominal resource block value would depends on the number of interlace resource block for the sub-channel, the smaller the number of interlace resource blocks, the smaller the sub-channel size and the smaller the TBS size), it is sometime desirable to align the TBS size for initial transmission and retransmission when MCS is not allowed to change between initial transmission and retransmission for ultra-reliable transmission (Ye: [0038]: “the MCS is not allowed to change between initial transmission and retransmission(s)”; [0183]: “For ultra-reliable transmissions, the low-spectral efficiency 64QAM MCS table is used”; [0138]: “To align the TBS calculation between initial transmission and retransmission(s)”), and PSSCH can be configured to occupy multiple sub-channel across multiple RB sets (Cheng: [0030]: “PSSCH can also be configured to occupy multiple sub-channels across multiple RB sets”). The smaller a TBS size, the more reliable to transmit it. Therefore, in an environment where the possibility of retransmission is high, it would be desirable to choose smallest TBS for initial transmission across all possible resource block sets, in another word, select the number of interlace resource blocks associated with the subchannel having the smallest number of interlace resource blocks across all possible resource block sets, such that there is always possible to have the respective retransmission(s) with no smaller TBS than the initial transmission.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Cheng’s teaching of interlace structure with that of Ye in order to support sidelink unlicensed frequency grid based on an interlace structure (Cheng: [0011]: “a sidelink-unlicensed (SL-U) frequency grid 100 based on an interlace structure”).
Regarding claim 32, combination of Ye, Cheng, Liu and TS38.214 teaches the apparatus of claim 28 (discussed above)
Ye does not expressly teach, but Cheng teaches ‘wherein a selected subchannel of the plurality of subchannels corresponds to one or more interlaces in a resource block set’ (Cheng: [0020]: “one sub-channel can be defined as K interlaces within one RB set … K can be defined as a value chosen from the set or a sub-set of {1,2,3, . . . ,9,10}”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Cheng’s teaching with that of Ye in order to support sidelink unlicensed frequency grid based on an interlace structure (Cheng: [0011]: “a sidelink-unlicensed (SL-U) frequency grid 100 based on an interlace structure”).
Claim 6 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over combination of Ye, Cheng, Liu and TS38.214 as applied to claim 2 above, further in view of Hu et.al (US 20230199770 A1), hereinafter “Hu”.
Regarding claim 6, combination of Ye, Cheng, Liu and TS38.214 teaches the apparatus of claim 2 (discussed above).
Ye does not expressly teach, but combination of Cheng and Hu teaches ‘wherein the plurality of subchannels comprises a plurality of subchannels within a resource block set that are contiguous in frequency’ (Cheng: [0020]: “one sub-channel can be defined as K interlaces within one RB set”. Hu: [FIG.3]: “One subchannel” is contiguous in frequency; [0025[: “if a UE is using multiple consecutive subchannels for an SL transmission within a slot, the PSCCH will only exist in the first subchannel”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teaching of Hu with that of combination of Ye, Cheng, Liu and TS38.214 in order to reduce PSCCH (see quotes of Hu in element above).
Conclusion
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/G.F./Examiner, Art Unit 2462
/YEMANE MESFIN/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2462
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