DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
1. 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
2. Applicant's arguments, filed on February 10, 2026, with respect to objections to claims 21, 24, and 40 have been considered and are persuasive. Objections to claims 21, 34, and 40 have been withdrawn, with the exceptions noted below.
3. Applicant’s arguments regarding rejection of claims 21, 24, and 40, as amended, under 35 U.S.C. 103 have been considered but are moot because the arguments do not apply to any combination of the references being used in the current rejection. Examiner has applied Gurney ‘291 (US 2011/0124291) to clearly teach the amended limitations in claims 21, 24, and 40.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
4. 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.
5. Claims 21-23, 25-28, 34-36, 38, 40-41, and 43-46 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lin ‘098 (US 2023/0028098, “Lin ‘098”), in view of Peng ‘669 (US 2023/0007669, “Peng ‘669”), further in view of Freda ‘694 (US 2021/0385694, “Freda ‘694”), and further in view of Gurney ‘291 (US 2011/0124291, “Gurney ‘291”).
Regarding claims 21, 34, and 40, Lin ‘098 discloses a first device (FIG. 1; user equipment (UE) 10) comprising:
at least one transceiver (FIG. 6, para 68-69 and 74; RF circuitry 710); and
at least one processor (FIG. 6, para 68-69 and 74; application circuitry processor 730); and
at least one memory connected to the at least one processor and storing instructions that, based on being executed, cause the first device to perform operations (FIG. 6, para 68-69 and 74; application circuitry processor 730 is connected to memory 740 storing instructions; the processor executes the instructions to enable applications) comprising:
transmitting sidelink control information including resource assignment information (FIGS. 3 and 4, para 40 and 57-62, para 58; SCI indicates a reserved resource);
performing re-evaluation for at least one resource of a sidelink grant; removing the at least one resource from the sidelink grant based on the re-evaluation; and reselecting a pre-selected but not reserved resource other than the at least one resource (FIG. 4, para 57-62; TX-UE selects SL resources from a candidate resource set, to be reserved via a transmission of a SCI; before the transmission of the SCI that is to reserve the selected SL resources, TX-UE re-evaluates whether all of the selected SL resources to be reserved are still available, and detects a SCI transmission from another UE, the SCI from the other UE pre-empting one of the resources that TX-UE is to reserve; TX-UE removes from the set of resources the TX-UE is to reserve, the resource pre-emptied by the other UE; TX-UE performs re-selection of a resource from the candidate resource set to replace the pre-emptied resource and add the new resource to the resources to be reserved; the candidate resource set reads on a pre-selected resource set that is not reserved; the pre-empted resource reads on at least one resource; the SCI transmission by the TX-UE that reserves resources reads on a sidelink grant).
Although Lin ‘098 discloses transmitting sidelink control information including resource assignment information, Lin ‘098 does not specifically disclose transmitting sidelink control information including resource reservation period information.
Peng ‘669 teaches transmitting sidelink control information including resource reservation period information (para 56; resource reservation period is indicated in SCI).
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Lin ‘098’s device that re-evaluates and reselects a sidelink resource, to include Peng ‘669’s resource reservation period that is indicated in SCI. The motivation for doing so would have been to address a problem of large power consumption, low energy efficiency, and short battery life (Peng ‘669, para 4).
However, Lin ‘098 in combination with Peng ‘669 does not specifically wherein re-evaluation check is not applied to a resource in a subsequent period that has already been signaled by the sidelink control information.
Freda ‘694 teaches wherein re-evaluation check is not applied to a resource in a subsequent period that has already been signaled by the sidelink control information (para 82; a WTRU reserves future resources for periodic transmission via SCI, and indicates that the same resources reserved for the current transmission period are also reserved for the subsequent period; thus, the WTRU signals the resources for the current and subsequent period, and does not apply a re-evaluation check to the signaled resources for the subsequent period - i.e., the same resources that are signaled for the current period).
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to add features to the combined device of Lin ‘098 and Peng ‘669, to include Freda ‘694’s SCI that indicates that the same resources used for the current transmission are reserved for the transmission in the subsequent period. The motivation for doing so would have been to address a problem that V2X for LTE does not support dynamic resource pool reconfiguration (Freda ‘694, para 8).
Although Lin ‘098 in combination with Peng ‘669 and Freda ‘694 disclose wherein re-evaluation check is not applied to a resource in a subsequent period that has already been signaled by the sidelink control information, Lin ‘098 in combination with Peng ‘669 and Freda ‘694 does not specifically disclose wherein re-evaluation check is not applied to a resource in a single subsequent period, and re-evaluation check is applied to resources in periods after the single subsequent period.
Gurney ‘291 teaches wherein re-evaluation check is not applied to a resource in a single subsequent period, and re-evaluation check is applied to resources in periods after the single subsequent period (FIGS. 1, 4, and 6, para 4, 16-17, 29-30, and 47; a network includes a base station and a group 115 of subscribers 110; normal uplink (UL) and downlink (DL) communication is performed without any of the subscribers performing sensing time and frequency domain resources for incumbent signals; the base station determines the time schedule for quiet periods that occur between periods of normal communication; subscribers perform DL or UL communication in a frequency-domain channel while performing sensing in the other frequency-domain channel, during time-domain phases of a quiet period, where the quiet period consists of four time-domain phases; thus, re-evaluation performed by sensing time and frequency domain resources for incumbent signals is not performed during a single period of normal communication between two quiet periods, and re-evaluation by sensing resources is applied during the quiet period subsequent to the single period of normal communication).
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to add features to the combined device of Lin ‘098, Peng ‘669, and Freda ‘694, to include Gurney ‘291’s re-evaluation by sensing resources that is applied during the quiet period subsequent to the period of normal communication. The motivation for doing so would have been to address a problem of inefficient determination of a system that may use a channel in an urban environment (Gurney ‘291, para 4-5).
Regarding claims 22, 35, and 43, Lin ‘098 in combination with Peng ‘669, Freda ‘694, and Gurney ‘291 discloses all the limitations with respect to claims 21, 34, and 40, respectively, as outlined above.
Further, Lin ‘098 discloses wherein the pre-selected but not reserved resource is a resource that has not been signaled by the sidelink control information (FIG. 4, para 57-62; the resource pre-empted by the other UE has not been signaled by the TX-UE via the SCI, to indicate it as a reserved resource).
Regarding claims 23, 36, and 44, Lin ‘098 in combination with Peng ‘669, Freda ‘694, and Gurney ‘291 discloses all the limitations with respect to claims 21, 34, and 40, respectively, as outlined above.
Further, Lin ‘098 teaches wherein the pre-selected but not reserved resource is replaced by a reselected resource (FIG. 4, para 57-62; the pre-emptied resource is replaced by the reselected resource that is added to the resources to be reserved), and
wherein the reselected resource is located within a time range (FIG. 4, para 57-62; reselected sidelink resource R2 falls within a time range between a lower time bound for reselected resource R3 and upper time bound for reselected resource R1, where the time range is equal to 32 slots; the time range that is equal to 32 slots reads on the time range).
Regarding claims 25, 38, and 45, Lin ‘098 in combination with Peng ‘669, Freda ‘694, and Gurney ‘291 discloses all the limitations with respect to claims 23, 36, and 44, respectively, as outlined above.
Further, Lin ‘098 teaches wherein the time range is a maximum time gap between transmission resources that can be signaled by one sidelink control information (para 59; the newly selected resource should be in a slot within a maximum time gap that is smaller than or equal to 32 slots, which is the maximum time length supported by the time resource assignment parameter in the SCI; thus, the time gap is a maximum time gap between transmission resources that can be signaled by one SCI).
Regarding claim 26, Lin ‘098 in combination with Peng ‘669, Freda ‘694, and Gurney ‘291 discloses all the limitations with respect to claim 25, as outlined above.
Further, Lin ‘098 teaches wherein the maximum time gap between transmission resources that can be signaled by the one sidelink control information is 32 slots (para 59; the newly selected resource should be in a slot within a maximum time gap that is smaller than or equal to 32 slots, which is the maximum time length supported by the time resource assignment parameter in the SCI; thus, the time gap is a maximum time gap between transmission resources that can be signaled by one SCI, where the time gap is 32 slots).
Regarding claim 27, Lin ‘098 in combination with Peng ‘669, Freda ‘694, and Gurney ‘291 discloses all the limitations with respect to claim 23, as outlined above.
Further, Lin ‘098 teaches wherein, based on that no candidate resource for reselecting the pre-selected but not reserved resource is within the time range, all resources of the sidelink grant are reselected (para 33; when there is no available candidate resource within the time range, all resources are reselected).
Regarding claims 28, 41, and 46, Lin ‘098 in combination with Peng ‘669, Freda ‘694, and Gurney ‘291 discloses all the limitations with respect to claim 21, 34, and 40, respectively, as outlined above.
Further, Lin ‘098 discloses wherein the at least one resource is at least one resource that has not been signaled by the sidelink control information (FIG. 4, para 57-62; the resource pre-empted by the other UE has not been signaled by the TX-UE via the SCI, to indicate it as a reserved resource).
6. Claims 30, 42, and 47 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lin ‘098, in view of Peng ‘669, further in view of Freda ‘694, further in view of Gurney ‘291, and further in view of Shin ‘401 (US 2023/0087401, “Shin ‘401”).
Regarding claims 30, 42, and 47, Lin ‘098 in combination with Peng ‘669, Freda ‘694, and Gurney ‘291 discloses all the limitations with respect to claims 21, 34, and 40, respectively, as outlined above.
However, Lin ‘098 in combination with Peng ‘669, Freda ‘694, and Gurney ‘291 does not specifically disclose wherein the resource in the single subsequent period is a periodic resource reserved by the resource assignment information and the resource reservation period information included in the sidelink control information.
Shin ‘401 teaches wherein the resource in the single subsequent period is a periodic resource reserved by the resource assignment information and the resource reservation period information included in the sidelink control information (para 37 and 148; resources for an initial transmission and retransmission of a transport block are reserved based on the indicated resource location of one occurrence of the TB and the indicated resource reservation period).
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to add features to the combined device of Lin ‘098, Peng ‘669, Freda ‘694, and Gurney ‘291, to include Shin ‘401’s reserved resources for an initial transmission and retransmission of a transport block. The motivation for doing so would have been to provide a method for selecting transmission resources through cooperation between vehicle terminals in a V2X system (Shin ‘401, para 6).
Conclusion
Internet Communication
Applicant is encouraged to submit a written authorization for Internet communications (PTO/SB/439, https://www.uspto.gov/sites/default/files/documents/sb0439.pdf) in the instant patent application to authorize the examiner to communicate with the applicant via email. The authorization will allow the examiner to better practice compact prosecution. The written authorization can be submitted via one of the following methods only. (1) Central Fax which can be found in the Conclusion section of this Office action; (2) regular postal mail; (3) EFS WEB; or (4) the service window on the Alexandria campus. EFS web is the recommended way to submit the form since this allows the form to be entered into the file wrapper within the same day (system dependent). Written authorization submitted via other methods, such as direct fax to the examiner or email, will not be accepted. See MPEP § 502.0.
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). 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 extension fee 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 date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to NEVENA SANDHU whose telephone number is (571) 272-0679. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Thursday 9AM-5PM EST, Friday variable.
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/NEVENA ZECEVIC SANDHU/Examiner, Art Unit 2474
/BENJAMIN H ELLIOTT IV/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2474