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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 04/06/2026 has been entered.
Response to Arguments
Claims 1-6, 8-14, and 16-22 are presently pending.
1. Applicant's arguments with respect to the claim(s) have been considered but are moot in view of the new ground(s) of rejection.
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.
Claims 1-3, 5-6, 8-11, 13-14, 16, and 18-22 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over in view of Farag et al. (US 20210337519, hereinafter, “Farag”) in view of ZHAO et al. (US 20220361232, hereinafter, “ZHAO”), and further in view of Panteleev et al. (US 20210306828, hereinafter, “Panteleev”).
Claim 1. Farag teaches: A sidelink resource determining method, performed by a first terminal device or a chip for the first terminal device, the sidelink resource determining method comprising: - See Fig. 14, ¶ [0235], (“The UE receiving the RSAI transmission can be a controlled UE.”)
determining a first sidelink candidate resource – in ¶ [0119], (“a user senses the sidelink during a sensing window to avoid sidelink resources used by other users when selecting its own sidelink resources for transmission.”); ¶ [0219], (“…UE-B (e.g., the controlled UE) can perform sidelink resource selection based RSAI from UE-A(s) as well as its own sensing information”) through monitoring; - See Fig. 11, ¶ [0098], (“The first step identifies the candidate resources within a resource selection window…¶ [0099] During this step, a UE can monitor slots in a sensing window…”)
receiving at least one piece of resource indication information from a second terminal device, - in ¶ [0120], (“a UE can receive information related to sidelink sensing from other UEs in its vicinity, the information received assists the UE in selecting sidelink resources for its sidelink transmission”); ¶ [0219], (“controlled UE selecting and reserving one or more a resources from a set of resources provided in the RSAI from a controlling UE…”, controlling UE is equated to second terminal device; Resource Selection Assistance Information (RSAI) is equated to resource indication information)
wherein the at least one piece of resource indication information indicates at least one second sidelink candidate resource - See Fig. 11, ¶ [0200], (“a UE receives RSAI from more than one UE, where each RSAI includes candidate resources for SL resource selection”) obtained by the second terminal device - See Fig. 14, ¶ [0219], (“UE-A, also referred to as the controlling UE (or UEs) provides a set of resources and possibly other RSAI, to a second UE or UEs, e.g. UE-B, also referred to as controlled UE (or UEs).”) through monitoring, - See Fig. 15, ¶ [0224], (“the RSAI is determined based on sidelink transmissions monitored during a “sensing window for RSAI” and candidate resources can be determined in a “candidate window of RSAI”)
determining a sidelink sending resource based on the first sidelink candidate resource and based on the at least one second sidelink candidate resource; - in ¶ [0120], (“the information received assists the UE in selecting sidelink resources for its sidelink transmission”); ¶ [0200], (“a UE receives RSAI from more than one UE, where each RSAI includes candidate resources for SL resource selection”); ¶ [0219], (“controlled UE selecting and reserving one or more a resources from a set of resources provided in the RSAI from a controlling UE…UE-B (e.g., the controlled UE) can perform sidelink resource selection based RSAI from UE-A(s) as well as its own sensing information”) and
sending sidelink control information and data on the sidelink sending resource. - See Fig. 11, ¶ [0007], (“selecting a second SL resource based on the first information…and transmitting a second SL channel on the second SL resource.”); ¶ [0076], (“SL channels include…(PSCCHs) conveying SL control information (SCI) for scheduling transmissions/receptions of PSSCHs…second SCI format is multiplexed along with SL data on a PSSCH that is transmitted in physical resources indicated by the first SCI format.”, This indicates SCI and SL data are transmitted on the selected second SL resource (eq. sidelink sending resource).)
Farag does not explicitly teach:
wherein the at least one piece of resource indication information comprises a start location of the second sidelink candidate resource in frequency domain and a reservation periodicity of the second sidelink candidate resource;
However, ZHAO teaches:
wherein the at least one piece of resource indication information – in ¶ [0076], (“each of the groups of the bit fields includes at least one of: a time-frequency-domain-resource indication field, a resource-reservation-period indication field…”) comprises a start location of the second sidelink candidate resource in frequency domain – in ¶ [0078], (“first terminal device can transmit the shared resource set to the second terminal device through the SCI format 0-2…¶[0079] Each of the time-frequency-domain-resource indication fields includes…bits indicating a start location of a frequency-domain resource in each of the n slots and the number of sub-channels…”) and a reservation periodicity of the second sidelink candidate resource; – in ¶ [0076], (“the SCI format 0-2 includes…a resource-reservation-period-number indication field indicating the number of reservation periods for time-frequency-domain resources indicated by the time-frequency-domain-resource indication field…”)
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Farag with ZHAO to further specify resource indication information includes both a start location and reservation periodicity, as taught by ZHAO. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification to improve resource allocation, as suggested by ZHAO, lower latency, higher reliability, a larger coverage range, a more flexible resource allocation. - ¶ [0022]
Combination of Farag and ZHAO does not explicitly teach:
determining a sidelink sending resource based on the first sidelink candidate resource and based on the at least one second sidelink candidate resource;
However, Panteleev teaches:
determining a sidelink sending resource based on the first sidelink candidate resource and based on the at least one second sidelink candidate resource; - See Fig. 5, ("Transmit SR, by the first UE, in a resource from the set of candidate resources R1 identified based on channel sensing procedure" 'Receive SG, by the first UE, and extract information including information about candidate resources set R2" "Transmit, by the first UE, PSSCH resources derived as a function of the sets of candidate resources R1, R2", a sidelink sending resource is the PSSCH resource determined by the first UE as a function of both R1 (its own candidate resource) and R2 (indicated by the second terminal device))
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Farag and ZHAO with Panteleev to specify the selection of a sidelink sending resource based on both resource sets, as taught by Panteleev. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification to avoid resource collision, as suggested by Panteleev, Such an approach does not directly ensure receiver channel quality due to multiple challenges, such as hidden node interference, in-band emission, and near-far problems. - ¶ [0032]
Claim 2. Combination of Farag, ZHAO, and Panteleev teaches The sidelink resource determining method according to claim 1, - refer to the indicated claim for reference(s).
Farag teaches:
wherein the sidelink sending resource is in the at least one second sidelink candidate resource and overlaps the first sidelink candidate resource. – See Fig. 11, ¶ [0201], (“the candidate resources for sidelink resource selection is the intersection of the resources indicated from a first UE and a second UE…the candidate resources for sidelink resource selection is the union of the resources indicated from a first UE and a second UE”)
Claim 3. Combination of Farag, ZHAO, and Panteleev teaches The sidelink resource determining method according to claim 1, - refer to the indicated claim for reference(s).
Farag teaches:
wherein the at least one piece of resource indication information – in ¶ [0167], (“the RSAI can include some or all of the following information types or fields, such as (i) candidate resources”) further comprises one or more of an index of a slot corresponding to the at least one second sidelink candidate resource, - in ¶ [0170], (“a candidate resource available for sidelink resource selection is a single-slot resource for sidelink transmission R.sub.x,y. Where, y is a slot index.”) an offset of the slot corresponding to the at least one second sidelink candidate resource with respect to a time reference point, or a reservation time interval of the at least one second sidelink candidate resource. – This does not require teaching since it’s stated as optional.
Claim 5. Combination of Farag, ZHAO, and Panteleev teaches The sidelink resource determining method according to claim 1, - refer to the indicated claim for reference(s).
Farag teaches:
wherein the sending sidelink control information and the data on the sidelink sending resource comprises: sending the sidelink control information and the data - in ¶ [0076], (“SL channels include…(PSCCHs) conveying SL control information (SCI) for scheduling transmissions/receptions of PSSCHs…second SCI format is multiplexed along with SL data on a PSSCH that is transmitted in physical resources indicated by the first SCI format.”); ¶ [0135], (“The second UE selects a SL resource to transmit a SL channel to the first UE.”) to the second terminal device on the sidelink sending resource. - in ¶ [0135], (“The second UE selects a SL resource to transmit a SL channel to the first UE.”, first UE (eq. second terminal device))
Claim 6. Farag teaches: A sidelink resource determining method, performed by a second terminal device or a chip for the second terminal device, the sidelink resource determining method comprising: - See Fig. 1, 7, ¶ [0135], (“a first UE transmits RSAI to a second UE”, first UE is equated to the second terminal device)
determining at least one second sidelink candidate resource through monitoring; - See Fig. 15, ¶ [0224], (“the RSAI is determined based on sidelink transmissions monitored during a “sensing window for RSAI” and candidate resources can be determined in a “candidate window of RSAI”)
sending resource indication information to a first terminal device, - See Fig. 7, ¶ [0135], (“a first UE transmits RSAI to a second UE”, first UE is equated to the second terminal device; resource indication information is equated to RSAI); ¶ [0018], (“Resource Selection Assistance Information (RSAI)”) wherein the resource indication information indicates the at least one second sidelink candidate resource, - in ¶ [0200], (“a UE receives RSAI from more than one UE, where each RSAI includes candidate resources for SL resource selection”) and
receiving sidelink control information and data - in ¶ [0076], (“SL channels include…(PSCCHs) conveying SL control information (SCI) for scheduling transmissions/receptions of PSSCHs…second SCI format is multiplexed along with SL data on a PSSCH that is transmitted in physical resources indicated by the first SCI format.”); ¶ [0135], (“The second UE selects a SL resource to transmit a SL channel to the first UE.”) from the first terminal device on a sidelink sending resource, - in ¶ [0135], (“The second UE selects a SL resource to transmit a SL channel to the first UE.”)
Farag does not explicitly teach:
the resource indication information comprises a start location information of the second sidelink candidate resource in frequency domain and a reservation periodicity of the second sidelink candidate resource; and
However, ZHAO teaches:
the resource indication information – in ¶ [0076], (“each of the groups of the bit fields includes at least one of: a time-frequency-domain-resource indication field, a resource-reservation-period indication field…”) comprises a start location information of the second sidelink candidate resource in frequency domain – in ¶ [0078], (“first terminal device can transmit the shared resource set to the second terminal device through the SCI format 0-2…¶[0079] Each of the time-frequency-domain-resource indication fields includes…bits indicating a start location of a frequency-domain resource in each of the n slots and the number of sub-channels…”) and a reservation periodicity of the second sidelink candidate resource; – in ¶ [0076], (“the SCI format 0-2 includes…a resource-reservation-period-number indication field indicating the number of reservation periods for time-frequency-domain resources indicated by the time-frequency-domain-resource indication field…”) and
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Farag with ZHAO to further specify resource indication information includes both a start location and reservation periodicity, as taught by ZHAO. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification to improve resource allocation, as suggested by ZHAO, lower latency, higher reliability, a larger coverage range, a more flexible resource allocation. - ¶ [0022]
Combination of Farag and ZHAO does not explicitly teach:
wherein the sidelink sending resource is determined by the first terminal device based on the second sidelink candidate resource.
However, Panteleev teaches:
wherein the sidelink sending resource is determined by the first terminal device based on the second sidelink candidate resource. - in ¶ [0048], (“If information about the set R.sub.1 is provided in the SR, the second UE may select PSCCH resources for SG transmission as a function of both sets R.sub.1 and R.sub.2. Such a function may be based on intersection of these sets, i.e., R.sub.1∩R.sub.2.”)
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Farag and ZHAO with Panteleev to specify the selection of a sidelink sending resource, as taught by Panteleev. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification to avoid resource collision, as suggested by Panteleev, Such an approach does not directly ensure receiver channel quality due to multiple challenges, such as hidden node interference, in-band emission, and near-far problems. - ¶ [0032]
Claim 13. Combination of Farag, ZHAO, and Panteleev teaches The communication apparatus according to claim 9, - refer to the indicated claim for reference(s).
Farag teaches:
wherein the communication apparatus is caused to: send the sidelink control information and the data to the terminal device on the sidelink sending resource. - See Fig. 11, ¶ [0007], (“selecting a second SL resource based on the first information…and transmitting a second SL channel on the second SL resource.”); ¶ [0076], (“SL channels include…(PSCCHs) conveying SL control information (SCI) for scheduling transmissions/receptions of PSSCHs…second SCI format is multiplexed along with SL data on a PSSCH that is transmitted in physical resources indicated by the first SCI format.”, This indicates SCI and SL data are transmitted on the selected second SL resource (eq. sidelink sending resource).)
Claim 18. Combination of Farag, ZHAO, and Panteleev teaches The sidelink resource determining method according to claim 1, - refer to the indicated claim for reference(s).
Farag teaches:
wherein the at least one piece of resource indication information is resource indication information that is most recently received by the first terminal device - in ¶ [0263], (“the controlling UE (UE-A) determines the RSAI for the initial HARQ transmission…the UE updates the RSAI based on the most recent sensing information available, and the UE transmits the updated RSAI.”) for one or more times prior to a first time point, - in ¶ [0287], (“the RSAI is determined or updated in a slot n, the corresponding “sensing window for RSAI” extends between [T′.sub.0, T′.sub.proc0] before slot n′”); See Fig. 8, ¶ [0131], (“Steps 702, 704, and 706, can be repeated every time period as illustrated in FIG. 8. For example, a first RSAI 807, which includes a first corresponding sensing window, slot/subframe for transmitting RSAI and candidate resource window, can overlap a second RSAI 808’) and
the first time point is a time point at which the first terminal device determines the first sidelink candidate resource. - in ¶ [0266], (“the following parameters can be (pre-)configured, updated through higher layer signaling, and/or L1 control signaling… (ii) the duration T′3 between the slot for determination of RSAI (i.e. slot n) and the slot for transmission of RSAI (i.e. slot m)…(iv) the candidate window of RSAI relative to slot n, i.e. T′.sub.1 and T′.sub.2. In this example (Example 5.2.3) slot n is (pre-)configured”, slot n is the time point of determining RSAI (including candidate resources). Slot n = the first time point at which candidate resources are determined.)
Claim 19. Combination of Farag, ZHAO, and Panteleev teaches The sidelink resource determining method according to claim 1, - refer to the indicated claim for reference(s).
Farag teaches:
wherein the at least one piece of resource indication information is resource indication information that is most recently received by the first terminal device - in ¶ [0263], (“the controlling UE (UE-A) determines the RSAI for the initial HARQ transmission. In case of a re-transmission, due to a NACK or due to not receiving an ACK, the UE updates the RSAI based on the most recent sensing information available, and the UE transmits the updated RSAI.”) for one or more times prior to a first time point, - in ¶ [0287], (“the RSAI is determined or updated in a slot n, the corresponding “sensing window for RSAI” extends between [T′.sub.0, T′.sub.proc0] before slot n′”); See Fig. 8, ¶ [0131], (“Steps 702, 704, and 706, can be repeated every time period as illustrated in FIG. 8. For example, a first RSAI 807, which includes a first corresponding sensing window, slot/subframe for transmitting RSAI and candidate resource window, can overlap a second RSAI 808’) and
the first time point is a time point at which the first terminal device determines the sidelink sending resource. - in ¶ [0266], (“the following parameters can be (pre-)configured, updated through higher layer signaling, and/or L1 control signaling… (ii) the duration T′3 between the slot for determination of RSAI (i.e. slot n) and the slot for transmission of RSAI (i.e. slot m)…(iv) the candidate window of RSAI relative to slot n, i.e. T′.sub.1 and T′.sub.2. In this example (Example 5.2.3) slot n is (pre-)configured”, slot n is the time point of determining RSAI (including candidate resources). Slot n = the first time point at which candidate resources are determined. Determination of RSAI = determination of sidelink sending resource)
Claim 21. Combination of Farag, ZHAO, and Panteleev teaches The sidelink resource determining method according to claim 1, - refer to the indicated claim for reference(s).
Farag teaches:
wherein the at least one piece of resource indication information is carried in sidelink control information on a physical sidelink control channel or a physical sidelink shared channel. – in ¶ [0167], (“RSAI can be included in a first part/stage Sidelink Control Information (SCI)”)
Claim 22. Combination of Farag, ZHAO, and Panteleev teaches The sidelink resource determining method according to claim 1, - refer to the indicated claim for reference(s).
Farag teaches:
wherein in response to the first sidelink candidate resource and the at least one second sidelink candidate resource being non-overlapping, - See Fig. 12, ¶ 0203], (“the candidate resources for sidelink resource selection can include candidate resources from UE_A in the part of the UE_A candidate resource window that does not intersect with the candidate resource window of UE_B”) the sidelink sending resource is determined from the first sidelink candidate resource or the at least one second sidelink candidate resource. - See Fig. 12, ¶ 0203], (“the candidate resources for sidelink resource selection can include candidate resources from UE_A in the part of the UE_A candidate resource window that does not intersect with the candidate resource window of UE_B”)
Claims 8, 11, 16 are rejected under the same rationale as Claim 3 since they recite nearly identical limitations.
Claim 9 is the apparatus claim corresponding to the method claim of Claim 1 and is rejected under the same rationale as Claim 1 since they recite nearly identical limitations.
Claim 10 is rejected under the same rationale as Claim 2 since they recite nearly identical limitations.
Claim 14 is the apparatus claim corresponding to the method claim of Claim 6 and is rejected under the same rationale as Claim 6 since they recite nearly identical limitations.
Claim 20 is rejected under the same rationale as Claim 18 and/or Claim 19 since they recite nearly identical limitations.
Claims 4, 12, 17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over in view of Farag et al. (US 20210337519, hereinafter, “Farag”) in view of ZHAO et al. (US 20220361232, hereinafter, “ZHAO”), and further in view of Panteleev et al. (US 20210306828, hereinafter, “Panteleev”) and Huang et al. (US 20210314821, hereinafter, “Huang”).
Claim 4. Combination of Farag, ZHAO, and Panteleev teaches The sidelink resource determining method according to claim 1, - refer to the indicated claim for reference(s).
Farag teaches:
wherein an interval between a time point at which the at least one piece of resource indication information and a first time point is less than a preset time interval, - in ¶ [0266], (“the following parameters can be (pre-)configured…(i) a slot within a period for transmission of RSAI, i.e. Tm, (ii) the duration T′3 between the slot for determination of RSAI (i.e. slot n) and the slot for transmission of RSAI (i.e. slot m), (iii) the sensing window for RSAI relative to slot n, i.e. T′proc0 and T′0, and (iv) the candidate window of RSAI relative to slot n, i.e. T′.sub.1 and T′.sub.2.”, receiving RSAI (resource indication information) is at slot m; first time point = slot n; T′3 = duration between slot n and slot m) and the first time point is a time point at which the first sidelink candidate resource is determined. - in ¶ [0266], (“the following parameters can be (pre-)configured… (ii) the duration T′3 between the slot for determination of RSAI (i.e. slot n) and the slot for transmission of RSAI (i.e. slot m)…(iv) the candidate window of RSAI relative to slot n, i.e. T′.sub.1 and T′.sub.2”, slot n is used for determining RSAI (and thus candidate resources)); ¶ [0125], (“A HEUE can provide Resource Selection Assistance Information (RSAI) to other UEs…based on its sensing of the sidelink channel…An LEUE performs resource selection based on the RSAI (e.g. sensing information from other UEs) it receives.”)
Combination of Farag, ZHAO, and Panteleev does not explicitly teach:
wherein an interval between a time point at which the at least one piece of resource indication information and a first time point is less than a preset time interval, and the first time point is a time point at which the first sidelink candidate resource is determined.
However, Huang teaches:
wherein an interval between a time point at which the at least one piece of resource indication information and a first time point is less than a preset time interval, and the first time point is a time point at which the first sidelink candidate resource is determined. – See Fig. 17, ¶ [0550], (“the first device receives a first SCI indicating a first reserved period in slot m…¶ [0551], The first reserved period could be P.sub.RX. The condition could be n−m−Tproc, 0≤P.sub.RX, or n−m≤P.sub.RX±Tproc,0…¶ [0552] the condition could be an interval or distance between slot m plus a processing time and slot n (in unit of slot or milliseconds) is smaller than or equal to the first reserved period.”, m corresponds to receipt of the resource indication information; n corresponds to the resource identification/selection event; n-m is less than P.sub.RX (eq. preset time interval)); ¶ [0504], (“The specific reserved period(s) may be specified in standard or (pre-)configured”)
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Farag, ZHAO, and Panteleev with Huang to include the temporal relationship, as taught by Huang. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification to avoid resource collisions, as suggested by Huang, avoid potential resource collision associated with reserved resources of the received SCI. - ¶ [0505]
Claims 12, 17 are rejected under the same rationale as Claim 4 since they recite nearly identical limitations.
Conclusion
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/SHIMA WASEL/Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2475
/KHALED M KASSIM/supervisory patent examiner, Art Unit 2475
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