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 .
Claim Status
This office action is in response to the communication(s) filed on 08/21/2026.
Claim(s) 1-5, 7-15, and 17-20 is/are currently presenting for examination.
Claim(s) 1, 11, and 17 is/are independent claim(s).
Claim(s) 1-5, 7-15, and 17-20 is/are rejected.
This action has been made NON-FINAL.
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 07/21/2026 has been entered.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed on 07/21/2026 have been considered but are moot in view of the new ground(s) of rejection.
The Terminal Disclaimer filed on 07/21/2026 is acknowledged and is approved. Therefore, the double patenting rejection is withdrawn.
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 teachd 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 set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 148 USPQ 459 (1966), that are applied 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.
Claim(s) 1-3, 5, 7, 9-13, 15, and 17-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US_20210212023_A1_Zeng in view of US_20220070847_A1_Yoshioka and US_20230038246_A1_Dong.
Regarding claim 1, Zeng teaches an information sending method, applied to a first device and comprising (Zeng figure 2): sending first information to at least one second device (Zeng figure 2, step 203), wherein the first information is used to assist the second device in selecting or reserving a resource for data-transmission transmission (Zeng paragraphs 86-88); wherein the first information is carried in target information (Zeng paragraph 88, “….The first control information may be sent in two manners: by using a MIB-SL or SCI”), the target information comprises sidelink control information (Zeng paragraph 88, SCI), and the sidelink control information comprises second-stage sidelink control information (Zeng paragraph 88, “…the first control information… may include both the first configuration information and configuration information that is used to indicate a time-frequency resource, where the time-frequency resource is a time-frequency resource allocated by the first device for group communication.…”, the configuration information that is used to indicate a time-frequency resource is corresponding to the claimed “second-stage sidelink control information”);
but does not teach wherein the first information comprises the following information: identification information of a first-information transmit end; identification information of a first-information receive end; and type indication information of the first information; wherein the type indication information of the first information is used to indicate at least one of the following: indicating that the first information is non-assistance information; or indicating that the first information is assistance information.
Yoshioka from the same or similar fields of endeavor teaches: wherein the first information comprises at least one of the following information: identification information of a first-information transmit end (Yoshioka paragraph 94, “…the user equipment 20A transmits a SCI containing information on the time and frequency resource of PSFCH along with the transmit ID at S101”); identification information of a first-information receive end (Yoshioka paragraph 163, “…The SCI contains a reception ID and information of time and frequency resources of the PSFCH to transmit HARQ-ACK.”).
Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement the teachings of Yoshioka into Zeng, since Zeng suggests a technique for a first device may send sidelink control information SCI for sidelink resource allocation, and Yoshioka suggests the beneficial way of the SCI contains the transmission ID and reception ID so that/thus facilitate targeted communication, reliable feedback, and interference management in the analogous art of communication.
Zeng and Yoshioka do not teach the first information comprises the following information: type indication information of the first information; wherein the type indication information of the first information is used to indicate at least one of the following: indicating that the first information is non-assistance information; or indicating that the first information is assistance information.
Dong from the same or similar fields of endeavor teaches: the first information comprises the following information: type indication information of the first information (Dong paragraph 218, “…a resource reservation field in the 1st-stage SCI is reused for the first field, to indicate the assistance information…”); wherein the type indication information of the first information is used to indicate at least one of the following: indicating that the first information is non-assistance information; or indicating that the first information is assistance information (Dong paragraph 218, “…a resource reservation field in the 1st-stage SCI is reused for the first field, to indicate the assistance information…”).
Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement the teachings of Dong into Zeng and Yoshioka, since Zeng and Yoshioka suggests a technique for a first device may send sidelink control information SCI for sidelink resource allocation, and Dong suggests the beneficial way of a resource reservation field in the 1st-stage SCI is reused for the first field, to indicate the assistance information so that/thus reduces the overhead signalling (Dong paragraphs 208, 242) in the analogous art of communication.
Regarding claim 2, Zeng, Yoshioka and Dong teach the method according to claim 1, and Zeng further teaches wherein the first information comprises at least one of the following information: time domain resource indication information (Zeng paragraph 88, “…may include both the first configuration information and configuration information that is used to indicate a time-frequency resource, where the time-frequency resource is a time-frequency resource allocated by the first device for group communication.…”); frequency domain resource indication information (Zeng paragraph 88, “…the first control information… may include both the first configuration information and configuration information that is used to indicate a time-frequency resource, where the time-frequency resource is a time-frequency resource allocated by the first device for group communication.…”); time domain resource position offset information; frequency domain resource position offset information; function indication information of the first information; and applicable range indication information of the first information (Zeng paragraph 88, for group communication, and paragraph 137).
Regarding claim 3, Zeng, Yoshioka and Dong teach the method according to claim 1, and Zeng further teaches wherein the sidelink control information further comprises: first-stage sidelink control information (Zeng paragraph 88, “…the first control information… may include both the first configuration information and configuration information that is used to indicate a time-frequency resource, where the time-frequency resource is a time-frequency resource allocated by the first device for group communication.…”, wherein the first configuration information is corresponding to the claimed “first-stage sidelink control information”), and Yoshioka further teaches wherein the target information further comprises at least one of the following: downlink control information; radio resource control information; direct communication link radio resource control information; and sidelink feedback control information (Yoshioka paragraph 94, “…the user equipment 20A transmits a SCI containing information on the time and frequency resource of PSFCH along with the transmit ID at S101”);
Regarding claim 5, Zeng, Yoshioka and Dong teach the method according to claim 2, and Zeng further teaches wherein the applicable range indication information of the first information is used to indicate at least one of the following: indicating that the first information is applicable to a unicast transmission mode; indicating that the first information is applicable to a groupcast transmission mode (Zeng paragraph 88, for group communication, and paragraph 137).; and indicating that the first information is applicable to a broadcast transmission mode.
Regarding claim 7, Zeng, Yoshioka and Dong teach the method according to claim 2, and Dong further teaches in a case that the first device adds the first information to the second-stage sidelink control information, or, to first-stage sidelink control information-and/or and the second-stage sidelink control information: the type indication information is indicated by a first indication field in the second-stage sidelink control information, or, in the first-stage sidelink control information and the second-stage sidelink control information (Dong paragraph 218, “Therefore, in an optional implementation of sending the assistance information, the third terminal apparatus sends the assistance information to the first terminal apparatus via 1st-stage SCI. For example, the third terminal apparatus sends first control information to the first terminal apparatus, and the first terminal apparatus receives the first control information from the third terminal apparatus. The first control information includes first SCI and second SCI. The first SCI is 1st-stage SCI, and the second SCI is 2nd-stage SCI. The first SCI includes the assistance information. For example, the first SCI includes a first field. The first field indicates the assistance information, and is a resource reservation field.…”); or, the type indication information is indicated through joint coding with a second indication field in the second-stage sidelink control information, or, in the first-stage sidelink control information and the second-stage sidelink control information; or, the type indication information is indicated by a codepoint in a third indication field of the second-stage sidelink control information, or, of the first-stage sidelink control information and/or and the second-stage sidelink control information.
Regarding claim 9, Zeng, Yoshioka and Dong teach the method according to claim 1, and Zeng further teaches further comprising: indicating, by using a transmission resource of the first information, whether the first information is assistance information (Zeng paragraph 88, the first control information may include the first configuration information, the second configuration information, or configuration information that is used to indicate a time-frequency resource, where the time-frequency resource is a time-frequency resource allocated by the first device for group communication, which assist other device in the group to select the resources); wherein if the first information is assistance information, the transmission resource of the first information comprises at least one of the following: a physical sidelink feedback channel; a physical sidelink data channel; a resource in a dedicated resource pool; a resource indicated in a trigger message for triggering transmission of assistance information; a resource on a specific sub-band in a resource pool; and a resource on a specific symbol or specific subframe in a resource pool (Zeng paragraph 120, “For example, FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of allocating resources to a "joining request" message and a "joining response" message according to an embodiment of the application. The vehicle-mounted device of the header vehicle may allocate different subframes to the 'joining request" message and the "joining response" message in a time period in a time division multiplexing manner”, paragraph 187, “…the vehicle-mounted device of the header vehicle allocates a plurality of different subframes as the second time-frequency resource of the vehicle-mounted device that has joined the group (for example, a first subframe to a fifth subframe are allocated in a first period, an eighth subframe to a thirteenth subframe are allocated in a second period, and a tenth subframe to a fifteenth subframe are allocated in a third period)…”).
Regarding claim 10, Zeng, Yoshioka and Dong teach the method according to claim 2, and Zeng further teaches further teaches at least one piece of time domain resource indication information is indicated by a bitmap, wherein the time domain resource indication information comprises at least one of a time domain resource start position, a time domain resource end position, and a time domain resource length (Zeng paragraph 34, “ The first device may first indicate time domain resource information of the time-frequency resource by using a time resource pattern TRP, and then may indicate the time domain resource information of the first time-frequency resource by using a time offset parameter. The time offset parameter may be an offset of a start time location of the first time-frequency resource relative to a start time location of the time-frequency resource…”, paragraph 127, “…by indicating the time domain resource information of the first time-frequency resource by using a time resource pattern (TRP, which may also be referred to as a bitmap)…”, paragraph 128),
And Dong further teaches wherein in a case that the first device adds the time domain resource indication information of the first information to the second-stage sidelink control information, or to first-stage sidelink control information and the second-stage sidelink control information (Dong paragraph 144, “(4) A resource reservation field is a field other than a reserved (reserved) field in 1st-stage SCI in an existing release. For example, the resource reservation field is a frequency resource assignment (frequency resource assignment) field in the 1st-stage SCI in the existing release, is a time resource assignment (time resource assignment) field in the 1st-stage SCI in the existing release, or is a frequency domain resource assignment field and a time domain resource assignment field in the 1st-stage SCI in the existing release”, paragraph 218):
the time domain resource indication information is indicated by a fifth indication field in the second-stage sidelink control information, or in the first-stage sidelink control information and the second-stage sidelink control information, wherein each codepoint of the fifth indication field corresponds to at least one piece of time domain resource indication information, wherein the time domain resource indication information comprises at least one of a time domain resource start position, a time domain resource end position, and a time domain resource length; wherein the fifth indication field is an independent indication field, or the fifth indication field is a jointly coded indication field;
or, at least one piece of time domain resource indication information is indicated by a bitmap in the second-stage sidelink control information, or in the first-stage sidelink control information and the second-stage sidelink control information (Dong paragraph 144, “(4) A resource reservation field is a field other than a reserved (reserved) field in 1st-stage SCI in an existing release. For example, the resource reservation field is a frequency resource assignment (frequency resource assignment) field in the 1st-stage SCI in the existing release, is a time resource assignment (time resource assignment) field in the 1st-stage SCI in the existing release, or is a frequency domain resource assignment field and a time domain resource assignment field in the 1st-stage SCI in the existing release”, paragraph 218); ,
wherein the time domain resource indication information comprises at least one of a time domain resource start position, a time domain resource end position, and a time domain resource length; or, wherein in a case that the first device has time domain resource indication information of the first information carried in the first-stage sidelink control information and the second-stage sidelink control information: the time domain resource indication information is indicated by a sixth indication field in the second-stage sidelink control information, or in the first-stage sidelink control information and the second-stage sidelink control information, wherein each codepoint of the sixth indication field corresponds to one time domain resource length; wherein the sixth indication field is an independent indication field, or the sixth indication field is a jointly coded indication field; or, wherein in a case that the first device adds the frequency domain resource indication information of the first information to the second-stage sidelink control information, or in the first-stage sidelink control information and the second-stage sidelink control information: the frequency domain resource indication information is indicated by a seventh indication field in the second-stage sidelink control information, or in the first-stage sidelink control information and the second-stage sidelink control information, wherein each codepoint of the seventh indication field corresponds to position information of at least one frequency domain resource, and the position information of the frequency domain resource comprises at least one of a frequency domain resource start position, a frequency domain resource end position, and a frequency domain resource length; wherein the seventh indication field is an independent indication field, or the seventh indication field is a jointly coded indication field; or, wherein in a case that the first device adds the time domain resource position offset information of the first information to the second-stage sidelink control information, or in the first-stage sidelink control information and the second-stage sidelink control information: the time domain resource position offset information is indicated by an eighth indication field in the second-stage sidelink control information, or in the first-stage sidelink control information and the second-stage sidelink control information, wherein each codepoint of the eighth indication field corresponds to one time domain offset length, and the eighth indication field is an independent indication field, or the eighth indication field is a jointly coded indication field; or, wherein in a case that the first device adds the frequency domain resource position offset information of the first information to the second-stage sidelink control information, or in the first-stage sidelink control information and the second-stage sidelink control information: the frequency domain resource position offset information is indicated by a ninth indication field in the second-stage sidelink control information, or in the first-stage sidelink control information and the second-stage sidelink control information, wherein each codepoint of the ninth indication field corresponds to one frequency domain offset length, and the ninth indication field is an independent indication field, or the ninth indication field is a jointly coded indication field; or, wherein in a case that the first device adds the function indication information of the first information in the first information to the second-stage sidelink control information, or in the first-stage sidelink control information and the second-stage sidelink control information: the function indication information is indicated by a tenth indication field in the first-stage sidelink control information and/or the second-stage sidelink control information, wherein each codepoint of the tenth indication field corresponds to one function of the first information, and the tenth indication field is an independent indication field, or the tenth indication field is a jointly coded indication field; or, wherein in a case that the first device adds the applicable range indication information of the first information in the first information to the first-stage sidelink control information and/or the second-stage sidelink control information: the applicable range indication information is indicated by an eleventh indication field in the second-stage sidelink control information, or in the first-stage sidelink control information and the second-stage sidelink control information, wherein each codepoint of the eleventh indication field corresponds to one application scope of the first information, and the eleventh indication field is an independent indication field, or the eleventh indication field is a jointly coded indication field.
Regarding claim 11, Zeng, Yoshioka and Dong teach the limitations as set forth in claim 1.
Regarding claim 12, Zeng, Yoshioka and Dong teach the limitations as set forth in claim 2.
Regarding claim 13, Zeng, Yoshioka and Dong teach the limitations as set forth in claim 3.
Regarding claim 15, Zeng, Yoshioka and Dong teach the limitations as set forth in claim 5.
Regarding claim 17, Zeng, Yoshioka and Dong teach the limitations as set forth in claim 1, and Zeng further teaches an electronic device, comprising a processor, a memory, and a program or instructions stored in the memory and capable of running on the processor, wherein when the program or instructions are executed by the processor (Zeng paragraph 234).
Regarding claim 18, Zeng, Yoshioka and Dong teach the limitations as set forth in claim 2.
Regarding claim 19, Zeng, Yoshioka and Dong teach the limitations as set forth in claim 3.
Regarding claim 20, Zeng, Yoshioka and Dong teach a electronic device, and Zeng further teaches comprising a processor, a memory, and a program or instructions stored in the memory and capable of running on the processor, wherein when the program or instructions are executed by the processor, the steps of the resource processing method according to claim 11 are implemented (Zeng paragraph 234).
Claim(s) 4 and 14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US_20210212023_A1_Zeng in view of US_20220070847_A1_Yoshioka, US_20230038246_A1_Dong and US_20220030647_A1_Lee.
Regarding claim 4, Zeng, Yoshioka and Dong teach the method according to claim 2, but do not teach wherein the function indication information of the first information is used to indicate at least one of the following: indicating that the second device preferentially selects or preferentially reserves a resource indicated by the first information; indicating that the second device non-preferentially selects or non-preferentially reserves a resource indicated by the first information; indicating that the second device is allowed to select or reserve only a resource indicated by the first information; and indicating that the second device is not allowed to select or reserve a resource indicated by the first information.
Lee teaches wherein the function indication information of the first information is used to indicate at least one of the following: indicating that the second device preferentially selects or preferentially reserves a resource indicated by the first information (Lee paragraph 199, “For example, the assistance information may include at least one of information related to transmission resource(s) preferred by the target UE, information related to reception resource(s) preferred by the target UE … For example, the assistance information may include at least one of information related to transmission resource(s) preferred by the MODE 3 UE, information related to reception resource(s) preferred by the MODE 3 UE…”); indicating that the second device non-preferentially selects or non-preferentially reserves a resource indicated by the first information (Lee paragraph 199, “For example, the assistance information may include… information related to transmission resource(s) not preferred by the target UE, and/or information related to reception resource(s) not preferred by the target UE. For example, the assistance information may include… information related to transmission resource(s) not preferred by the MODE 3 UE, and/or information related to reception resource(s) not preferred by the MODE 3 UE”); indicating that the second device is allowed to select or reserve only a resource indicated by the first information; and indicating that the second device is not allowed to select or reserve a resource indicated by the first information.
Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement the teachings of Lee’s the assistance information may include information related to transmission/reception resource(s) preferred and/or not preferred by the UEs in Zeng, Yoshioka and Dong’s system to better allocating the sidelink resources according to UEs’ preferences. This method for improving the system of Zeng, Yoshioka and Dong was within the ordinary ability of one of ordinary skill in the art based on the teachings of Lee. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to combine the teachings of Zeng, Yoshioka, Dong and Lee to obtain the invention as specified in claim 4.
Regarding claim 14, Zeng, Yoshioka, Dong and Lee teach the limitations as set forth in claim 4.
Claim(s) 8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US_20210212023_A1_Zeng in view of US_20220070847_A1_Yoshioka, US_20230038246_A1_Dong and US_20210204250_A1_Ashraf.
Regarding claim 8, Zeng, Yoshioka and Dong teach the method according to claim 3, but do not teach wherein in a case that the target information is the second-stage sidelink control information, or the second-stage sidelink control information and at least one of the first-stage sidelink control information, and the downlink control information, the method further comprises: indicating, by using a format of the target information, whether the first information is assistance information; or, indicating, by using a scrambling radio network temporary identifier (RNTI) of the target information, whether the first information is assistance information.
Ashraf teaches wherein in a case that the target information is the second-stage sidelink control information, or the second-stage sidelink control information and at least one of the first-stage sidelink control information, and the downlink control information (Ashraf paragraph 50, first and second stage SCI), the method further comprises: indicating, by using a format of the target information, whether the first information is assistance information (Ashraf paragraph 49, “The sending UE 20 uses the stored assistance information to determine the first stage SCI which is related to the selected configuration…”paragraph 50, “Having received the first stage SCI, the receiving UE 30 uses the assistance information to identify the configuration related to the first stage SCI…”); or, indicating, by using a scrambling radio network temporary identifier (RNTI) of the target information, whether the first information is assistance information.
Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement the teachings of Ashraf’s the first stage SCI in combination with the assistance information in Zeng, Yoshioka and Dong’s system to identify a search space and a set of candidate SCI formats for transmission of the second stage SCI (Ashraf paragraph 50). This method for improving the system of Zeng, Yoshioka and Dong was within the ordinary ability of one of ordinary skill in the art based on the teachings of Ashraf. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to combine the teachings of Zeng, Yoshioka, Dong and Ashraf to obtain the invention as specified in claim 8.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to WEIBIN HUANG whose telephone number is (571)270-3695. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 9:30AM - 6:00PM.
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/W.H/Examiner, Art Unit 2471
/SUJOY K KUNDU/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2471
