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 .
Response to Amendment
The amendment to the claims filed on 03/03/2026 complies with the requirements of 37 CFR 1.121(c) and has been entered.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's Arguments/Remarks filed 03/03/2026 (hereinafter Resp.) have been fully considered hereinafter.
Applicant’s main argument is that “the Office Action has not demonstrated that a cast type indicator in a second stage SCI format that identifies the second stage SCI format as unicast or broadcast/groupcast, as described in He in view of 3GPP TS 38.212, teaches or suggests ‘the sidelink control information transmission comprising a bit that indicates whether the sidelink control information transmission reserves resources for the first TCI state or a second TCI state,’ as recited in independent claim 1”.
First, under the broadest reasonable interpretation of the claim language, no person of ordinary skills in the art (POSITA) would understand that the claimed “1 bit” of a SCI “reserves resources.” Because POSITA interprets the claim in light of the Specification, it is made clear in the Specification that the one bit required by independent Claim 1 is an indication of a TCI state, e.g., in a sidelink resource pool with a certain TCI state for PSCCH/PSSCH, not of the reserved resources, as emphasized in the argument – See, e.g., Spec.:[¶0104] (stating that “the multi-TRP UE 115-d may indicate TCI-state identifier in the sidelink control information 315” whereby “the TCI state identifier in the sidelink control information 315 may indicate that the sidelink control information 315 is reserving resources for a different TRP ( e.g., second TRP 305-b)”; further stating that, in another embodiment, “the multi-TRP UE 115-d may set a bit in the sidelink control information 315 to indicate that the future reservation is for a different TRP,” i.e., to indicate that the resources reserved by the SCI in other fields are associated with a different TCI-state; there is no disclosure as to how the 1 bit would be an indication of “reserved resources” rather than of a different TCI-state). That is because the reserved resources for future transmissions, when specifically indicated in the SCI (as opposed to pre-configured) use specific fields indicating those time-frequency resource allocations – See § 8.3, 3GPP TS 38.212 V16.2.0 (2020-06), “Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; NR; Multiplexing and channel coding (Release 16)” (hereinafter 3GPP TS 38.212), specifying, e.g., at page 145, the “Frequency resource assignment” and the “Time resource assignment” for a 1st stage SCI as two fields in a SCI, each taking a number of bits significantly higher than 1; see also Fig. 29, He et al., U.S. Patent Application No. 2024/0007230 (hereinafter He) showing in Table 10 an example of 4 bits used to indicate resources reserved in a SCI.
Second, when determining whether a computer-implemented functional claim limitation is patentable over prior art, if the functional claim language is not limited to a specific structure, it covers all devices that are capable of performing the recited function. See In re Schreiber, 128 F.3d 1473, 1478 (Fed. Cir. 1997). Therefore, if the prior art discloses a device that can inherently perform the claimed function, a rejection under 35 U.S.C. 102 and/or 35 U.S.C. 103 may be appropriate. MPEP §2114. Here, the claimed bit in the SCI is not structurally defined as to where exactly the bit is positioned in the standard specified 1st stage SCI format or 2nd stage SCI format as defined in § 8.3, 3GPP TS 38.212. Therefore, the most significant bit of the Cast type indicator of the 2nd stage SCI transmitted by He’s transmitter UE capable of multi-beam transmissions, as a second device, whose embodiments provide “mechanisms for a beam indication for a PSCCH reception that includes a second stage SCI format or for a PSSCH reception” inherently performs the same function as the claimed bit in the present application as follows: when the bit is “1,” i.e., the future transmission is a unicast transmission (on the reserved resources indicated in a 2nd stage SCI) is as an indication that the transmitter UE will use (a first) TCI-state, the same as that of “the PSCCH that provides the first stage SCI format” as the “transmission/reception beam for the PSCCH that provides the second stage SCI format and of the associated PSSCH” – See [¶0238]; and when the bit is “0”, i.e., the future transmission is a broadcast/groupcast transmission (also on reserved resources indicated in a 2nd stage SCI), the 1st stage SCI itself “can indicate a beam (TCI state) for the transmission/reception of the PSCCH with the second stage SCI format and of the associated PSSCH” – See id., i.e., a second TCI-state, further indicated by the 1st stage SCI, is associated with the resources reserved by the 2nd SCI, in accord with the present Specification – See [¶0104] (stating that “a multi-TRP UE 115-d may configure a sidelink control information transmission associated with a first TCI state to reserve time and frequency resources for a sidelink data transmission associated with a second TCI state” and “the multi-TRP UE 115-d may indicate TCI-state identifier in the sidelink control information 315”). In an alternative, under In re Schreiber, even the 1 bit indicating the number of DMRS ports in a 1st stage SCI, as taught in 3GPP TS 38.212:145-146, could be used to distinguish between a first TCI-state and a second TCI-state because a DMRS port is associated with a TCI-state, as known in the art. Furthermore, using these bits functioning as the bit disclosed in the present application would be within the purview of POSITA because POSITA “is also a person of ordinary creativity, not an automaton.” KSR, 550 U.S. at 421, 82 USPQ2d at 1397. “[I]n many cases a person of ordinary skill will be able to fit the teachings of multiple patents together like pieces of a puzzle.” Id. at 420, 82 USPQ2d at 1397. Office personnel may also take into account “the inferences and creative steps that a person of ordinary skill in the art would employ.” Id. at 418, 82 USPQ2d at 1396. MPEP § 2141 (II) (C). Here, there is also a motivation to align SCI indication of TCI-state for receiving future transmission with the same capability present in the DCI – See, e.g., §7.3.1.2.3, 3GPP TS 38.212, at page 137, describing DCI format 1_2 used for the scheduling of PDSCH in one cell, indicating the “Transmission configuration indication” field in the DCI, which may be 1 bit or more (up to 3) to indicate an activated TCI-state to be used by the UE to receive PDSCH and may also be 0 bit to indicate the default beam, in accord with Spec. [¶0104] (“the bit may be unset ( or set to zero) if the future reservation is for a different TCI-state or vice versa. That is, absence of this bit in the SCI may imply that the reservations are for the same or quasi co-located TRPs”).
Therefore, Applicant’s argument that “[t]he Office Action has failed to show how a cast type indicator in an SCI format 2A that provides parameters for decoding of PSSCH teaches or suggests ‘the side/ink control information transmission comprising a bit that indicates whether the side/ink control information transmission reserves resources for the first TCI state or a second TCI state’ as recited in independent claim 1” is unpersuasive. Furthermore, in the argument that the references fail to show certain features of the invention, the feature upon which applicant relies (i.e., “a bit that indicates whether the side/ink control information transmission reserves resources”) is not disclosed anywhere in the Specification and would raise a §112(a) rejection. To be sure, the main reference He, teaching the SCI and the resource reservation made therein, was used in all previous Office actions and no argument was made in response regarding specifically that teaching.
For these reasons, the rejections in the previous Office Action are maintained.
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.
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, 28, 41-49, as amended, are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over He et al., U.S. Patent Application No. 2024/0007230 (hereinafter He), and further in view of Choi et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication 2020/0304253 (hereinafter Choi).
Regarding Claim 1, He teaches a method for wireless communication at a first user equipment (UE) (“the present disclosure relates to symbol-based resource sensing, configuration for slot-based resource sensing, resource reservation,. . . in the sidelink and the uplink of a communication system” – See [¶0002], including using beams “to improve received signal energy by a transmitter UE via beamforming in a specific direction to the receiver UE”, and “a beam management procedure for NR sidelink” whereby “the term beam is used for brevity to refer to a transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state that corresponds to a set of quasi-collocation properties for a transmission” – See [¶0218] and further “provide mechanisms for a beam indication for a PSCCH reception that includes a second stage SCI format or for a PSSCH reception” – See [¶0238]), comprising:
receiving, from a second UE, a sidelink control information transmission associated with a first transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state over a sidelink channel (a “UE transmits a PSCCH with a SCI format within the resource pool” shared among the UEs in the sidelink1 and “UEs can scan a resource pool to receive PSCCH and detect a SCI format that includes a group identifier for the UEs” – See [¶0103] whereby the SCI format may comprise a “first stage SCI format [] for a sensing purpose and [] broadcasted by a transmitter UE to all other UEs . . . or to a group of UEs within the range of the transmitter UE . . . by PSCCHs that are transmitted in multiple beam directions (beam sweeping using different TCI states for the PSCCH transmissions)” – See [¶0220], e.g., “transmitted using three beams 2210, 2220, and 2230” – See [¶0231] and Figs. 21-22, i.e., a 1st stage SCI is associated with first TCI state(s) corresponding to one or more antenna ports for the PSCCHs at the receiving UEs2)
the sidelink control information transmission comprising a bit that indicates whether the sidelink control information transmission reserves resources for the first TCI state or a second TCI state (“the resource reservation information can be conveyed by a PSSCH transmission scheduled by a SCI format in a PSCCH transmission” – See [¶0165], e.g., the 1st stage SCI, whereby “a number of resource reservation information bits is between 3 and 11, Reed Muller coding can be used and when the resource reservation information are more than 11, polar coding can be used” – See [¶0167] and Table 10, showing a resource reservation field of 4 bits in a SCI; furthermore, “The reservation signal can indicate a transmission beam that is used by the transmitter UE 116 to transmit an associated PSCCH/PSSCH” – See [¶0238], i.e., the 2nd stage SCI carrying the indicator of the type of transmission on the reserved resources, whereby the 2nd stage SCI and PSSCH transmission beam has the first TCI state(s) when the reserved resources are used for unicast transmission, because “[w]hen the PSCCH that provides the first stage SCI format is transmitted/ received using multiple beams and the PSCCH that provides the second stage SCI format and the associated PSSCH is of unicast type, the transmission/reception beam for each PSCCH that provides the first stage SCI format is same as the transmission/reception beam for the PSCCH that provides the second stage SCI format and of the associated PSSCH” – See [¶0238] and Fig. 26 wherein, if 1st stage SCI was received on beam 2610, the 2nd stage SCI and reserves resources for the unicast transmission are on the same beam as the 1st stage SCI; and whereby the 2nd stage SCI and PSSCH transmission beam have a second TCI state(s) when the reserved resources are used for broadcast/groupcast transmission, because when “the PSCCH that provides the second stage SCI format and the associated PSSCH is not of unicast type ( e.g., it is of broadcast type or groupcast type), the first stage SCI format can indicate a beam (TCI state) for the transmission/reception of the PSCCH with the second stage SCI format and of the associated PSSCH” – See [¶0238] and Fig. 25 wherein “[t]he first stage SCI format indicates one beam 2540 of the PSCCH transmission that provides the second stage SCI format and of the associated PSSCH transmission” wherein the beam is different from at least one of the 1st stage SCI beams – See [¶0239]; therefore, the MSB of the Cast type indicator3 in the second stage SCI format determines whether the sidelink control information transmission reserves resources for the first TCI state, associated with the PSCCH for the first stage SCI, or for a second TCI state, indicated by the first stage SCI)
wherein the first TCI state is indicative of a first transmission and receive point (TRP) at the second UE, the first TRP configured for sidelink communications (“the transmitter structure 401 and receiver structure 431 can be implemented as the antenna elements in FIG. 4C” using “[a] number of sub-arrays (equal to the number of RF chains)” – See [¶0082] whereby the antenna arrays may correspond to different TRPs as further explained in Choi infra)
determining, based at least in part on the bit, that the sidelink control information transmission reserves time and frequency resources for a sidelink data transmission associated with the second TCI state the second TCI state being different from the first TCI state (in case of future broadcast/groupcast transmission, “UE uses the TCI-State according to the value of the TCI state field in the detected reservation signal,” i.e., the 1st stage SCI, “to determine a PSCCH/PSSCH antenna port quasi co-location if a time between the reception of the reservation signal and the corresponding PSCCH/PSSCH reception is equal to or greater than a threshold provided by higher layer parameter Threshold-Sched-Offset” – See [¶0233], i.e., the time it takes to switch beams/TCI-states for the 2nd stage SCI and PSSCH/data transmission on the reserved resources indicated in the 1st stage SCI; see also § 8.3.1.1, 3GPP TS 38.212:145 specifying “Frequency resource assignment,” “Time resource assignment,” and “Resource reservation period” fields in 1st stage SCI)
and indicative of a second TRP at the second UE, the second TRP configured for sidelink communications (the multi-array/multiple radio chains transmitting UE may be a mTRP UE at taught in Choi infra); and
selectively enabling or disabling a resource protection procedure for the reserved time and frequency resources based at least in part on the determination and one or more of: a signal strength associated with the first TCI state or the second TCI state, a network congestion parameter, or a data priority associated with the sidelink data transmission (“when a UE performs a sidelink measurement for excluding resources, the UE applies a beam for a reception of a sidelink signal used to measure a sidelink RSRP” on the PSSCH/PSCCH associated with the respective beam/TCI-state, and “[w]hen performing sidelink measurement for selecting resources, the UE applies the beam for the reception of the sidelink signal to measure a sidelink RSSI” in a subchannel4 – See [¶0257] and Fig. 29, showing selectively enabling, i.e., marking as available, or disabling, i.e., marking as reserved, a resource protection based on PSCCH/PSSCH reception using two beams/TCI states; furthermore, a “preemption indication can be used by a UE with higher-priority transmission to pre-empt resources used by a UE with a lower-priority transmission” whereby “[a] field in the SCI format in the PSCCH transmission,” i.e., the 1st stage SCI reserving resources for higher priority SL data transmission, “can indicate whether or not the PSSCH provides preemption information” – See [¶0162]).
Though He discloses “communication with multiple transmission reception points” – See [¶0003] and “V2X networks” wherein “[m]ultiple types of communication links can be used” – See [¶0084], e.g., each UE has a “number of sub-arrays (equal to the number of RF chains)” – See [¶0082], and “V2V is predominantly broadcast-based” – See [¶0086], i.e., uses multi-beam transmissions, He does not explicitly teach that the first TCI state and the second TCI state, which is different from the first TCI state, as explained supra, are indicative of a first and a second TRP, respectively, at the second UE, each TRP being configured for sidelink communications.
Choi teaches method and apparatus for transmitting feedback information between moving objects equipped with multiple antennae using sidelink sounding reference signals (SRS) – See [¶0009] as applied to “transmission and reception links of individual distributed antennas in vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication” – See [¶0013]. Choi further teaches that one moving object such as a vehicle may have one or more “transceiver unit (TXRU) to enable adjustment of transmit power and phase per antenna element,” so that “each antenna element can perform independent beamforming per frequency resource” – See [¶0063], or virtualized across arrays of antennae – See [¶0065] and Figs. 2a and 2b, and “the mapping relationship between CSI-RS antenna ports and TXRUs may be 1-to-1 or 1-to-many” – See [¶0066].
Choi further teaches a first TCI state/beam and a second TCI state/beam indicative of a first and a second TRP, respectively, at the second UE, each TRP being configured for sidelink communications (“the space division communication [SDD] is easily applicable to high-frequency communication between vehicles with distributed antennas” – See [¶0103], e.g., “[a] radio unit (RU) shown in FIG. 7 is an antenna module that includes a plurality of antennas” and when “a UE includes four RUs which are distributed. Two of four RUs are used to form link 1, and the other two RUs are used to form link 2” each link having its “amount of Tx resources and Rx resources” and “Tx timing point and Rx timing point” – See [¶0105] and Fig. 7, i.e., forming two TRPs; furthermore, when SDD is used as shown in Fig. 8 right side, “transmission signals of the respective UEs are spatially divided” – See [¶0108], i.e., each link/TRP at a vehicle side is associated with a different beams/TCI state, whereby the TCI states are for the best beams, e.g., “Each TRP has Directional Beam” – See [¶0113], determined, e.g., “using SRSs for the sidelink beam management transmitted on individual RUs” whereby “[i]f the Tx vehicle transmits the sidelink SRS by applying a cyclic shift to a Tx antenna port, the information on the beams of each RU of the Tx vehicle may be represented as an identifier (ID)” – See [¶0133], whereby the multi-TRP perform the methods of sidelink communication as shown in Fig. 9).
Thus, He and Choi each discloses each V2V sidelink communications using multi-beam multi-antennae transmissions. A person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have understood that the steps performed by a multi-TRP vehicle using SDD for V2V sidelink communication, including using SRS in the sidelink resource pool for beamforming between a Rx vehicle and a Tx vehicle, as taught by Choi, could have been combined with the method of transmitting multi-stage SCI between the UEs in He because the operations in Choi are performed in preparation for the operations in He. Furthermore, a person of ordinary skill in the art would have been able to carry out the combination through techniques known in the art. Finally, the combination achieves the predictable result of beamforming in consideration of different Doppler channel characteristics between transmission and reception links of individual distributed antennas in vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication, thereby improving communication performance, as taught by Choi.
Therefore, Claim 1 is obvious over He in view of Choi.
Regarding Claim 28, He teaches an apparatus for wireless communication at a first user equipment (UE), comprising: one or more processors, one or more memories coupled with the one or more processors; and instructions stored in the one or more memories and executable by the one or more processors (“UE 116 includes one or more transceivers 210, a microphone 220, a speaker 230, a processor 240, an input/output (I/O) interface 245, an input 250, a display 255, and a memory 260. The memory 260 includes an operating system (OS) program 261 and one or more applications 262” – See [¶0056] and Fig. 2; whereby “the SL interface 500 may be implemented among UEs in a wireless network” – See [¶0087] and Fig. 5). Choi further teaches that a UE capable of sidelink can be a vehicle equipped with four distributed multi-antennae RUs, as shown in Fig. 7. Furthermore, because both He and Choi teach V2V sidelink communication, the apparatus taught in each reference is combinable/substitutable with each other performs the procedures of sidelink communications as explained in regards to the method of Claim 1.
Because He in view of Choi teaches both the apparatus of Claim 28 and the method of Claim 1, Claim 28 is obvious over He in view of Choi.
Regarding Claim 41, dependent from Claim 28, He further teaches the UE caused to identify the data priority associated with the sidelink data transmission (“preemption indication can be used by a UE with higher-priority transmission to pre-empt resources used by a UE with a lower-priority transmission” and “can be conveyed by a PSSCH transmission scheduled by a SCI format in a PSCCH transmission” – See [¶0162]; e.g., “UE 116 can transmit a preemption indication over the sidelink to inform other UEs 111-115 that the sidelink resource is preempted by the UE 116” – See [¶0214])
wherein the instructions for selectively enabling or disabling the resource protection procedure are executable by the one or more processors to cause the apparatus to enable the resource protection procedure for the reserved time and frequency resources based at least in part on the identified data priority (preemption by data priority from UE 116 results in “preemption/cancellation of scheduled transmissions on sidelink” when “the sidelink resource is reserved (partly or fully) by another UE from UEs 111-115 with a lower priority” – See id; i.e., the protection by preemption procedure is enabled at the receiving UEs).
Therefore, Claim 41 is obvious over He in view of Choi.
Regarding Claim 42, dependent from Claim 28, He further teaches the first UE caused to identify the data priority associated with the sidelink data transmission, as explained in Regarding Claim 41, supra. He further teaches wherein the instructions for selectively enabling or disabling the resource protection procedure are executable by the one or more processors to cause the apparatus to disable the resource protection procedure for the reserved time and frequency resources based at least in part on determining that the identified data priority fails to satisfy a threshold (“[w]hen the UE 116 is configured according to Table 8, the UE 116 with access class 0 has the highest priority where sensing is not required to be performed” – See [¶0146] and Table 8; therefore the resource protection procedure for the reserved time and frequency resources is disabled and a class 0 UE can choose a one slot resource without being preempted by a transmitting UE with a higher priority indication in the SCI, i.e., the identified data priority fails to satisfy a threshold).
Therefore, Claim 42 is obvious over He in view of Choi.
Regarding Amended Claim 43, dependent from Claim 28, He further teaches the first UE caused to determine that reception of the sidelink data transmission associated with the second TCI state is unsuccessful (“physical sidelink feedback channel (PSFCH) is used to provide sidelink feedback control information (SFCI), such as HARQ-ACK information, for unicast or groupcast PSSCH receptions” – See [¶0125]; whereby “[f]or a PSSCH transmission from a first UE to a second UE, the second UE can report in a PSFCH HAR-QACK information for a decoding outcome of TB provided by the PSSCH reception” as “a NACK value when the second UE does not correctly decode the TB” – See [¶0090]; and the “PSFCHs are transmitted from the UE(s) that received the PSCCH/PSSCHs,” e.g., PSCCH/PSSCHs associated with the second TCI state – See [¶0269]; in addition, “a UE may transmit PSFCH providing HARQ-ACK information for PSSCH transmissions/receptions in a resource pool only in the resource pool” where resource sensing is also performed – See [¶0129]);
determine a first threshold for the resource protection procedure for an upcoming reservation of time and frequency resources associated with the second TCI state based at least in part on the unsuccessful reception of the sidelink data transmission (“A resource (re)-selection procedure can use results of a sensing procedure to determine resource(s) for sidelink transmission” – See [¶0125], e.g., “[f]or an adaptation of a counter for sensing symbols and sensing slots, a number of symbols N indicates a number of symbols the UE uses to perform sensing,” e.g., “N can be within a range of Nmin and Nmax”– See [¶0157]; e.g., Nmin is a first threshold, and “[t]he adaptation can be based on HARQ-ACK information values. If x percent of HARQ-ACK information values that the UE receives within a slot window [t1, t2] are NACK, the UE increases N for every access class to a next higher allowed value, such as N=N+Nstep if N+Nstep <=Nmax otherwise, N=Nmax” for the next sidelink transmissions – See id and Table 8; wherein threshold N, the number of slots used for sensing as a resource protection procedure5 is increased for the next/upcoming reservation)
the first threshold for the resource protection procedure for the upcoming reservation of time and frequency resources being greater than a second threshold for the resource protection procedure for the reserved time and frequency resources (“The UE 116 can use a number of back-off slots B to determine each slot where the UE 116 performs sensing after a sensing failure in a current slot. The number of back-off slots can be within a range of Bmin and Bmax” and “[a]n initial value of B can be Bmin” – See [¶0158], i.e., B is a second threshold and Bmin is smaller than Nmin at least because B is counted in slots and N in symbols).
Therefore, Amended Claim 43 is obvious over He6 in view of Choi.
Regarding Amended Claim 44, dependent from Claim 28, He also teaches the first UE caused to receive from the second UE the sidelink data transmission associated with the second TCI state, as explained in the determination addressed in Regarding Amended Claim 43, supra, however wherein the HARQ-ACK is ACK; and
determine a threshold for the resource protection procedure for an upcoming reservation of time and frequency resources associated with the second TCI state based at least in part on successful reception of the sidelink data transmission (e.g., the first UE maintains the number of sensing symbols at the “initial value of N, Nmin” as provided by the access class in case of successful transmission – See [¶0157] and Table 8, in order to perform the resource protection procedure for an upcoming reservation of time and frequency resources associated with the second TCI state).
Therefore, Amended Claim 44 is obvious over He in view of Choi.
Regarding Claim 45, dependent from Claim 28, He further teaches the UE caused to disable the resource protection procedure for the reserved time and frequency resources (e.g., in resource pool reservation “a UE . . . selects all or some of the candidate resources at one slot and then performs sensing on each selected candidate time-frequency resource” – See [¶0135]; but “[w]hen the UE is configured according to Table 8, the UE with access class 0 has the highest priority where sensing is not required to be performed” – See [¶0146]); and
communicate over the reserved time and frequency resources based at least in part on disabling the resource protection procedure (the UE can communicate over the reserved time and frequency resources on condition that “the UE cannot occupy more than one slot for transmissions” – See id).
Therefore, Claim 45 is obvious over He in view of Choi.
Regarding Amended Claim 46, dependent from Claim 45, the receiving UE in He is able to determine a first threshold for the resource protection procedure for an upcoming reservation of time and frequency resources associated with the second TCI state based at least in part on disabling the resource protection procedure for the reserved time and frequency resources (e.g., “[w]hen a UE transmits a reservation signal that is received by other UEs, the reservation signal can be used by other UEs to determine whether or not to exclude from transmissions resources that are reserved by the UE” – See [¶0223]; i.e, a class 0 UE may disable the back-off mechanism for the resource protection procedure for an upcoming reservation with the second TCI state, i.e., for broadcast transmission, by setting B=0 as shown in Table 2, and use N=1 slots as the first threshold)
the first threshold for the resource protection procedure for the upcoming reservation of time and frequency resources being greater than a second threshold for the resource protection procedure for the reserved time and frequency resources (obviously the first threshold, N=1 is greater than the second threshold, B=0).
Therefore, Amended Claim 46 is obvious over He7 in view of Choi.
Regarding Claim 47, dependent from Claim 28, He further teaches the first UE caused to identify one or more TCI state identifiers included in the sidelink control information transmission (“The transmission beam that the first SCI format indicates can be in the form of TCI-state that contains parameters for configuring a quasi co-location relationship between the sidelink reference signals and the DM-RS ports of the PSCCH with the second stage SCI format and of the associated/scheduled PSSCH” – See [¶0241]) and
determine that the sidelink control information transmission reserves time and frequency resources for the sidelink data transmission associated with the second TCI state based at least in part on the one or more TCI state identifiers (“The TCI state field . . . indicates the TCI state for the PSCCH/PSSCH reception. A UE uses the TCI-State according to the value of the TCI state field in the detected reservation signal to determine a PSCCH/PSSCH antenna port quasi co-location” – See [¶0233]; e.g., “[t]he first stage SCI format indicates one beam 2540 [i.e., the second TCI state] of the PSCCH transmission that provides the second stage SCI format and of the associated PSSCH transmission [i.e., the reserved resources]” – See [¶0240] and Fig. 25).
Therefore, Claim 47 is obvious over He in view of Choi.
Regarding Claim 48, dependent from Claim 28, the UE in He in view of Choi can identify a second TCI state in the 1st stage SCI received from a transmitting UE, as explained in Regarding Claims 1 and 28, supra, when the 1st SCI received by the UE points to a 2nd SCI of type broadcast/groupcast, as further explained in Claims 28 and 1 supra, to determine that the reserved resources for PSSCH data transmission are associated with the second TCI state indicated in the 1st stage SCI. Because Claims 1 and 28 are obvious over He in view of Choi, Claim 48 is obvious over He in view of Choi.
In sum, Claims 1, 28, 41-49, as amended, are rejected under 35 U.S.C. §103 as obvious over He in view of Choi.
Claims 2-3 and 29-30 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over He in view of Choi as applied to Claim 1 and 28 above, and further in view of Shilov et al., US Patent Application Publication No. 20240205738 (hereinafter Shilov).
Regarding Claim 2, dependent from Claim 1, He in view of Choi further teaches identifying the signal strength associated with the second TCI state, the signal strength comprising a reference signal received power associated with the reserved time and frequency resources (“The transmission beam that the first SCI format indicates can be in the form of TCI-state that contains parameters for configuring a quasi co-location relationship between the sidelink reference signals and the DM-RS ports of the PSCCH with the second stage SCI format and of the associated/scheduled PSSCH,” i.e., QCL for the second TCI state – See He:[¶0241]; and “[t]he resource allocation for a PSCCH/PSSCH transmission using multiple beams can be performed separately for each beam” whereby “when a UE performs a sidelink measurement for excluding resources, the UE applies a beam for a reception of a sidelink signal used to measure a sidelink RSRP” – See He:[¶0257] and Fig. 29).
He further teaches RSRP measurement on received beams for resource exclusion, and a person of ordinary skills in the art would understand that the decision is made based on a threshold for the measured signal strengths. Choi also teaches that “when grouping ports or resources, the Tx vehicle may implicitly exclude the ports or resources corresponding to links which are less than the specific threshold” based on RS measurements – See [¶0198]. However, He in view of Choi does not explicitly teach determining that the reference signal received power satisfying a threshold is used for disabling the resource protection procedure for the reserved time and frequency resources based at least in part on determining that the reference signal received power is greater than the threshold.
Shilov teaches NR V2X QoS and congestion control, including a method for “Low Priority UE RX Side Enhancements” whereby “if low and high priority UEs transmissions overlap in both time and frequency dimensions . . . UE is allowed to select another frequency resource in the same time resource where high priority transmission occurs” and “low priority UE will transmit simultaneously with the high priority UE in different frequency resources,” i.e., disabling the resource protection procedure that would otherwise exclude that time resource from the selected resources– See [¶0051].
Shilov also teaches determining that the reference signal received power satisfies a threshold, wherein selectively enabling or disabling the resource protection procedure comprises disabling the resource protection procedure for the reserved time and frequency resources based at least in part on determining that the reference signal received power is greater than the threshold (“low priority UE is allowed to perform frequency multiplexing with high priority transmission if . . . RSRP measured at the resources occupied by high transmission UE is above certain preconfigured threshold” – See [¶¶0054-56]).
Thus, He in view of Choi and Shilov each discloses sidelink resources selection and signaling methods available to UEs sharing the sidelink to reserve frequency resources based at least in part on sensing and measuring RSRP in a resource selection window. A person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have understood that the method of allowing low and high priority UE traffic multiplexed in frequency on the same time resource reserved for the high priority UE, as taught in Shilov, could have been substituted in for the step of disabling a resource protection procedure for the reserved time and frequency resources in He in view of Choi, whereby the first/receiving UE is the low priority traffic UE, because both methods are based at least in part on the determination of a sidelink transmission RSRP measurement. Furthermore, a person of ordinary skill in the art would have been able to carry out the substitution through techniques known in the art. Finally, the substitution achieves the predictable result of better utilization of time resources for sidelink transmissions.
Therefore, Claim 2 is obvious over He in view of Choi and further in view of Shilov.
Regarding Claim 3, dependent from Claim 1, the method in He in view of Choi does not teach determining that the network congestion parameter associated with the sidelink channel satisfies a threshold.
Shilov further teaches congestion control in sidelink communications “wherein resource selection procedure uses congestion control metrics (e.g., CBR and/or CR)” – See [¶0284].
Shilov teaches a method8, at a receiving UE, of determining that the network congestion parameter associated with the sidelink channel satisfies a threshold (“the CBR metric should be evaluated by each node over resources in a CBR measurement window” – See [¶0078]; whereby “the specified in LTE 100 ms CBR window could be a good starting point” – See [¶0082]; and “a CBR measurement window is configured according to numerology (e.g., scale)” in NR – See [¶0083]).
Shilov further teaches wherein selectively enabling or disabling the resource protection procedure (“Resource selection procedure enables flexible resource selection and resource signaling, where resources may be continuously selected and signaled after initial resource (re)selection trigger. According to the proposed resource selection procedure, if resource was selected, but not indicated in any SCI, it could be further reselected” – See [¶0085]) comprises disabling the resource protection procedure for the reserved time and frequency resources based at least in part on determining that the network congestion parameter associated with the sidelink channel satisfies the threshold (“when CBR is high the backoff of transmission is larger” and “transmitter is able to postpone its transmission in case of high medium loading while medium congestion will not decrease” – See [¶0085], i.e., the resource (re)selection mechanism is disabled during the backoff period).
Thus, He in view of Choi and Shilov each discloses sidelink resources selection and signaling methods available to UEs sharing the sidelink to reserve frequency resources based at least in part on sensing and measuring resource parameters in a selection window. A person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have understood that the step of backing off from resource selection procedure in case the measured CBR in the CBR window is at a threshold, as taught in Shilov, could have been added or substituted in for the step of selectively enabling or disabling a resource protection procedure for the reserved time and frequency resources in He in view of Choi, because both steps are based at least in part on the determination of a sidelink transmission parameter. Furthermore, a person of ordinary skill in the art would have been able to carry out the addition/substitution through techniques known in the art. Finally, the addition/substitution achieves the predictable result of relieving congestion by backing off from transmitting for a while.
Therefore, Claim 3 is obvious over He in view of Choi and further in view of Shilov.
Regarding Claim s29-30, dependent from Claim 28, the claims merely recite the UE in He in view of Choi executing the steps of Claims 2-3, respectively, without any additional limitations. Therefore, Claims 29-30 are obvious over He in view of Choi and further in view of Shilov.
In sum, Claims 2-3, and 29-30 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. §103 as obvious over He in view of Choi and further in view of Shilov.
Claims 4-13, and 31-40 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. §103 as being unpatentable over He in view of Choi as applied to Claim 1 and 28 above, and further in view of Farag, US Patent Application Publication No. 20210250772 (hereinafter Farag).
Regarding Claim 4, dependent from Claim 1, He in view of Choi further teaches identifying a reference signal received power associated with the reserved time and frequency resources (“When performing sidelink measurement for selecting resources, the UE applies the beam for the reception of the sidelink signal to measure a sidelink RSSI” – See He:[¶0257] and Fig. 27 wherein “RSRP/RSSI can be calculated based on each corresponding beam for the sidelink signal reception”). He also teaches sidelink resource pool (“SL transmission and reception by a UE occur within resources assigned to one or more UEs in a group of UEs” e.g., “[a] resource pool (RP) is a set of resources assigned for sidelink operation” – See [¶0095])
However, He in view of Choi does not teach a reference signal received power threshold and wherein selectively enabling or disabling the resource protection procedure comprises enabling the resource protection procedure for the reserved time and frequency resources based at least in part on the reference signal received power threshold.
Farag teaches sidelink resource selection in a resource pool as a mechanism of resource protection (“[a] sidelink resource pool includes a set/pool of slots and a set/pool of RBs used for sidelink transmission and sidelink reception” wherein “[f]or resource (re-) selection or reevaluation in slot n, a UE can determine a set of available single-slot resources for transmission within a resource selection window”– See [¶0252]).
Farag further teaches wherein selectively enabling or disabling the resource protection procedure comprises enabling the resource protection procedure for the reserved time and frequency resources based at least in part on the reference signal received power threshold (“Candidate resources are resources that belong to a resource pool, but exclude resources that were previously reserved, or potentially reserved by other UEs. The resources excluded are based on SCIs decoded in a sensing window and for which the UE measures an SL RSRP that exceeds a threshold” – See [¶0254].
Thus, He in view of Choi and Farad each discloses sidelink resource sensing and selection procedure in shared pools as a resource protection procedure available to UEs. A person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have understood that the step of excluding resources from the sidelink resource reservation pool based at least in part on determining that the RSRP that the UE measures is greater than a threshold could have been substituted in for the selectively disabling the resource protection procedure in He in view of Choi because both serve the purpose of providing a mechanism to enable resource protection through sensing and selection in reserved resource pools. Furthermore, a person of ordinary skill in the art would have been able to carry out the substitution through techniques known in the art. Finally, the substitution achieves the predictable result of avoid collisions with a transmitter in the excluded resources.
Therefore Claim 4 is obvious over He in view of Choi and further in view of Farag.
Regarding Claim 5, dependent from Claim 1, the method in He in view of Choi teaches that “[t]he first stage SCI format is provided by PSCCHs that are transmitted in multiple beam directions (beam sweeping using different TCI states for the PSCCH transmissions)” – See He:[¶0220] whereby the best beams may be determined by “beam measurement and reporting” based on “multi-beam CSI-RS . . . configured and transmitted by a transmitter UE, such as UE 116, to a receiver UE” and “the receiver UE reports N selected CSI-RS resource indicators (CRIs) and corresponding Ll-RSRP from a set of CSI-RS resources” – See [¶0221]. However, the method in He in view of Choi does not explicitly comprise performing one or more measurements on the sidelink control information (SCI) transmission associated with the first TCI state but only the beam(s) used for transmitting the 1st stage SCI.
Farag further teaches performing one or more measurements on the sidelink control information transmission associated with the SCI (“for any received SCI within the sensing window” measure the “associated L1-RSRP measurement” – See [¶¶0258-59]).
Farag further teaches wherein selectively enabling or disabling the resource protection procedure comprises enabling the resource protection procedure for the reserved time and frequency resources based at least in part on performing the one or more measurements on the sidelink control information transmission (“[t]o determine a candidate single slot resource set to report to higher layers, a UE excludes from the set of available single-slot resources for SL transmission within a resource and within a resource selection window,” i.e., where the resource protection procedure is enabled – See [¶0256], resources “such that for any received SCI within the sensing window [t]he associated L1-RSRP measurement is above a (pre-)configured SL-RSRP threshold, where the SL-RSRP threshold depends on the priority indicated in the received SCI and that of the SL transmission for which resources are being selected” – See [¶¶0258-59]).
Therefore, Claim 5 is obvious over He in view of Choi and further in view of Farag.
Regarding Claim 6, dependent from Claim 5, He in view of Choi further teaches wherein the one or more measurements comprise a reference signal received power measurement for the first TCI state (“Resource exclusion can be performed separately for different beam used for receptions and RSRP/RSSI is calculated based upon each corresponding receiver beam in sensing and resource selection procedures” – See He:[¶0222]; wherein the first TCI state is the reception beam for the SCI; in addition “[t]he receiver UE performs beam measurement and reports the beam measurement result to the transmitter UE. For example, the receiver UE reports N selected CSI-RS resource indicators (CRIs) and corresponding L1-RSRP from a set of CSI-RS resources” – See He:[¶0221]).
Therefore, Claim 6 is obvious over He in view of Choi and further in view of Farag.
Regarding Claim 7, dependent from Claim 1, He in view of Choi already teaches determining that the first TCI state is associated with the first TRP at the second UE and the second TCI state is associated with the second TRP at the second UE.
He further teaches determining a reference signal received power (RSRP) associated with the first and second TCI state (beam), based at least in part on one or more prior transmissions received from the transmitting UE (“The transmission beam that the first SCI format indicates can be in the form of TCI-state that contains parameters for configuring a quasi co-location relationship between the sidelink reference signals and the DM-RS ports of the PSCCH with the second stage SCI format and of the associated/scheduled PSSCH” wherein “sidelink reference signals can be determined . . . by a CSI-RS resource ID for a CSI-RS”9– See [¶0241]; and “The receiver UE performs beam measurement, using the received CSI-RS” and “can select N CRIs and corresponding L1-RSRP values to report from a set of CSI-RS resources” – See [¶0245]).
He further teaches “[t]he resource allocation for a PSCCH/PSSCH transmission using multiple beams can be performed separately for each beam,” in a resource pool where “SL transmission and reception by a UE occur within resources assigned to one or more UEs in a group of UEs,” and resource allocation/protection procedure uses a sensing and selection window, as shown in Fig. 29, wherein “[r]esource exclusion can be performed separately for different beam used for receptions and RSRP/RSSI is calculated based upon each corresponding receiver beam in sensing and resource selection procedures” – See [¶0222] and “for sidelink measurements, when a UE performs a sidelink measurement for excluding resources, the UE applies a beam for a reception of a sidelink signal used to measure a sidelink RSRP” – See [¶0257]).
Choi also teaches that a “Tx vehicle may transmit an SRS for sidelink beam management to provide information on beams of each RU unit thereof,” i.e., of each transmitting TRP, using a frequency/time “resource [that] may be fixed to a symbol in a sidelink time interval ( e.g., a sidelink subframe) in advance” or “a specific frequency/time region within a resource pool” and “[t]hus, an Rx vehicle may obtain information on the beams of each RU of the Tx vehicle by performing measurement on the sidelink SRS resource” – See [¶0133]. Therefore, He in view of Choi teaches determining a reference signal received power offset between the first TRP and the second TRP based at least in part on one or more prior transmissions received from the first TRP or the second TRP or both. Thus, it would be obvious for a person of ordinary skills in the art that a (first/receiving) UE may consider resources(ports) based on differences in beam quality (i.e., for stationary UEs, provided that the UE does not know the reference power of the transmitted signal at the transmission point, it can infer the best path from the RSRP offset, and when a “reservation signal is transmitted using three beams 2210, 2220, and 2230 . . . indicates multiple transmission beams 2240, 2250, and 2260 for associated PSCCH/PSSCH transmissions” – See He:[¶0231], select the PSCCH/PSSCH resources/ports with the strongest beams), or as Doppler effect (i.e., change the beamwidths for moving vehicles at different speeds and directions, as shown in Fig. 10 of Choi), hence enabling the resource protection procedure for the reserved time and frequency resources is based at least in part on the reference signal received power offset between the first TRP and the second TRP – See also He:[¶0260] and Fig. 29 (as shown in Fig. 29, resource selection for a PSCCH/PSSCH transmission using multiple beams wherein a UE may select resources for transmission on two (or more) beams (e.g., with a multi-TRP device) based on the resources sensed in a window; e.g., “resource 1 is not excluded for reception using a first beam but the resource 1 is not selected for transmission with a first beam. Therefore, resource 1 can be used for transmission with a second beam”; hence in a resource allocation framework shown in Fig. 29, the UE may select free resources for the next transmission on the beam with the highest latest RSRP because of its higher probability of having a lower path loss).
To be sure, the above teaching can be applied to Farag’s selectively enabling or disabling the resource protection procedure which is aligned with existing standards (i.e., resource reevaluation before signaling it in a SCI) (“UE checks the availability of pre-selected SL resources before the resources are first signaled in an SCI Format, and if needed re-selects new SL resources. For a pre-selected resource to be first-time signaled in slot m, the UE performs a reevaluation check at least in slot m-T” – See [¶0270], including “[p]erforming the first step of the SL resource selection procedure [38.214 section 8.1.4], which involves identifying a candidate (available) sidelink resource set in a resource selection window as previously described”– See [¶0271], i.e., which involves measuring SL-RSRP in prior transmissions on that resource/port– See § 8.1.4 and § 8.4.2, 3GPP TS 38.214, disclosing, at page 152, the resource selection procedure for determining the subset of resources to be reported to higher layers in PSSCH resource selection in sidelink resource allocation mode 2, whereby the “higher layer parameters [that] affect this procedure” comprise “RSforSensing selects if the UE uses the PSSCH-RSRP or PSCCH-RSRP measurement, as defined in clause 8.4.2.1” ).
Therefore, Claim 7 is obvious over He in view of Choi and further in view of Farag.
Regarding Claim 8, dependent from Claim 7, Farag further teaches the UE procedure for determining the subset of resources to be reported to higher layers in PSSCH resource selection in sidelink resource allocation mode 2 as explained in Regarding Claim 7, supra, and § 8.1.4 of 3GPP TS 38.214. That procedure excludes resources for which the SCI “associated L1-RSRP measurement is above a (pre-)configured SL-RSRP threshold, where the SL-RSRP threshold depends on the priority indicated in the received SCI and that of the SL transmission for which resources are being selected” – See [¶0259]. Taking the measured SCI as the SCI associated with the first TCI state (beam) in He, a person of ordinary skills in the art would appreciate that if the RSRP offset is strongly positive in favor of the second TCI state (beam), the receiving UE would adjust (increase) the L1-RSRP measurement in deciding resource selection or exclusion of the aforementioned procedure – See, e.g., § 8.1.4 of TS 38.214, at page 154 (“If the number of candidate single-slot resources remaining in the set S_A is smaller than X⋅M_"total" , then Th(p_i) is increased by 3 dB for each priority value Th(p_i)” wherein Th(p_i) is set to the corresponding value from higher layer parameter SL-ThresRSRP_pi_pj)
Therefore, Claim 8 is obvious over He in view of Choi and further in view of Farag.
Regarding Claim 9, dependent from Claim 7, Farag further teaches wherein the one or more prior transmissions are received within a threshold time period prior to receiving the sidelink control information transmission associated with the first TCI state (“NR sidelink introduced two new procedures for mode 2 resource allocation; reevaluation and preemption” and “reevaluation check occurs when a UE checks the availability of pre-selected SL resources before the resources are first signaled in an SCI Format, and if needed re-selects new SL resources. For a pre-selected resource to be first-time signaled in slot m, the UE performs a reevaluation check at least in slot m-T,” where T is a predefined threshold time period – See [¶¶0269-70]).
Therefore, Claim 9 is obvious over He in view of Choi and further in view of Farag.
Regarding Claim 10, dependent from Claim 7, He in view of Choi further teaches determining whether a destination identifier for the sidelink control information transmission is same as a destination identifier for the one or more prior transmissions (“The SCI format can include . . . destination ID to identify a UE or a group of UEs for a corresponding PSSCH reception” – See He:[¶0113-14]; therefore the receiving UE can determine whether the destination in the SCI is the same as in one or more prior transmissions, as in periodic traffic or broadcast/groupcast transmissions, e.g., a “reservation signal is used for sensing purposes and is broadcast from a transmitter UE to all other UEs in a system, such as the wireless network 100, or to a group of UEs within the range of the transmitter UE” – See He:[¶0219]).
He further teaches determining the reference signal received power offset is based at least in part on the destination identifier for the sidelink control information transmission being the same as the destination identifier for the one or more prior transmissions (“When the PSCCH/PSSCH transmission is unicast, the UE allocates resources for PSCCH/PSSCH transmission using one beam” but “[b]efore a beam is aligned between the transmitter UE and the receiver UE for unicast, the transmitter UE can allocate resources for PSCCH/PSSCH transmission using multiple beams”– See [¶0255]; therefore, the multi-TRP UE would use both TCI states for beam alignment based on determining the reference signal received power offset when previously transmitting to the same destination)
Therefore, Claim 10 is obvious over He in view of Choi and further in view of Farag.
Regarding Claim 11, dependent from Claim 7, Farag further teaches wherein the one or more prior transmissions comprise at least one of broadcast transmissions, multicast transmissions, unicast transmissions, or a combination thereof (the “SL channel can operate in different cast modes. In a unicast mode, a PSCCH/PSSCH conveys SL information from one UE to only one other UE. In a groupcast mode, a PSCCH/PSSCH conveys SL information from one UE to a group of UEs within a (pre-)configured set. In a broadcast mode, a PSCCH/PSSCH conveys SL information from one UE to all surrounding UEs” – See [¶0142]). Furthermore, He teaches beam usage for resource allocation in unicast and broadcast/groupcast transmissions (“When the PSCCH/PSSCH transmission is unicast, the UE allocates resources for PSCCH/PSSCH transmission using one beam. When the PSCCH/PSSCH transmission is a broadcast/groupcast, the UE allocates resources for PSCCH/PSSCH transmission using multiple beams. Before a beam is aligned between the transmitter UE and the receiver UE for unicast, the transmitter UE can allocate resources for PSCCH/PSSCH transmission using multiple beams” – See [¶0255]).
Therefore, Claim 11 is obvious over He in view of Choi and further in view of Farag.
Regarding Claim 12, dependent from Claim 1, the method in He provides for an upcoming reservation of time and frequency resources associated with the second TCI state (e.g., in Fig. 11 of He, “a first SCI format field in slot 1 indicates that 4 consecutive time slots are reserved for the one-time type resource and a second SCI format field in the slot 1 indicates a periodic resource in slot n” – See He:[¶0155]).
Farag also teaches that “[a] sidelink transmission can include resources for a current transmission, as well reservation for future transmissions” and “for mode 2, the maximum number of SL resources N MAX reserved by one transmission including current transmission is [2 or 3 or 4]” wherein “SCI signaling is designed to allow to indicate 1 or 2 or 3 resources at least of the same number of sub-channels with full flexibility in time and frequency position in a window W of a resource pool” – See [¶¶0148-78], parlaying various 3GPP RAN1 agreements).
Farag further teaches performing a reference signal received power measurement on the sidelink control information transmission to determine the exclusion of a resource from a resource pool and determining a threshold for the resource protection procedure for an upcoming reservation of time and frequency resources associated with the second TCI state based at least in part on the reference signal received power measurement on the sidelink control information transmission (“Candidate resources are resources that belong to a resource pool, but exclude resources that were previously reserved, or potentially reserved by other UEs. The resources excluded are based on SCIs decoded in a sensing window and for which the UE measures an SL RSRP that exceeds a threshold. The threshold depends on the priority indicated in a SCI format and on the priority of the SL transmission. The resources excluded are based on reserved transmissions or semi-persistent transmissions that can collide with the excluded resources or any of reserved or semi-persistent transmissions” – See [¶0254]; the SL-RSRP of the received SCI is compared with a preconfigured RSRP threshold for resource exclusion in the selection window which includes upcoming reservation of time and frequency resources associated with the second TCI state; see also the procedure described in § 8.1.4, 3GPP 38.214).
Therefore Claim 12 is obvious over He in view of Choi and further in view of Farag.
Regarding Claim 13, dependent from Claim 12, Farag further teaches wherein the threshold comprises a second reference signal received power greater than the measured reference signal received power (the exclusion applies to resources with “associated L1-RSRP measurement above a (pre-)configured SL-RSRP threshold, where the SL-RSRP threshold depends on the priority indicated in the received SCI and that of the SL transmission for which resources are being selected” – See [¶0259]; wherein the preconfigured SL-RSRP threshold is the second reference signal received power and constitutes the upper limit for a candidate resource not to be excluded by the resource protection procedure; see also the procedure described in § 8.1.4, 3GPP 38.214).
Therefore Claim 13 is obvious over He in view of Choi and further in view of Farag.
Regarding Claims 31-38, dependent from Claim 28, the claims only recite limitations of Claims 4-11, respectively, as applied to the apparatus of Claim 28, obvious over He in view of Choi, with no other limitations. Because Claims 4-11 are obvious over He in view of Choi and further in view of Farag, Claims 31-38 are also obvious over He in view of Choi and further in view of Farag.
Regarding Claims 39-40, dependent from Claim 28, the claims only recite limitations of Claims 12-13, respectively, as applied to the apparatus of Claim 28, with no other limitations. Because Claims 12-13 are obvious over He in view of Choi and further in view of Farag, and the apparatus of Claim 28 is obvious over He in view of Choi, Claims 39-40 are also obvious over He in view of Kuang and further in view of Farag.
In sum, Claims 4-13, and 31-40 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. §103 as obvious over He in view of Choi and further in view of Farag.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
Kuang et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2020/0163103 disclosing sidelink relay UE;
Hassan et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2022/0060929 disclosing congestion control methods;
Wang et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2019/0289445 disclosing UE as mTRP local manager in sidelink communications;
Ganesan et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2023/0217268 discloses methods for beamforming with multiple antennae panels in sidelink;
Guo et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2023/0066041 disclosing power savings on sidelink;
Abedini et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2022/0053486, discloses TCI state structure for Rx/Tx relay devices;
Yi et al., US Patent Application Publication No. 20220386355, discloses that UE may be capable of simultaneous transmission associated with multiple TCI states using one or more RF chains, antenna arrays, antenna subarrays, and/or antenna panels and multiple TRPs;
Li et al., US Patent Application Publication No. 2025/0133377, discloses mechanisms for broadcast, multicast, or unicast on sidelink for Vehicle to everything (V2X);
Li et al., US Patent Application Publication No. 20210219268, discloses congestion control in sidelink V2X and methods for resource configuration, including assisted information and platoon forming;
Maaref et al., US Patent Application Publication No. 20200367221, discloses resource protection procedures;
Cao et al, US Patent Application Publication No. 20210051525, discloses resource protection procedures in sidelink communications;
3GPP TS 38.306 V16.1.0 (2020-07), “Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; NR; User Equipment (UE) radio access capabilities (Release 16)”;
3GPP TR 38.836 V0.1.0 (2020-09), “Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; Study on NR sidelink relay; (Release 17)”;
3GPP TS 38.211 V16.2.0 (2020-06), “Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; NR; Physical channels and modulation (Release 16)”;
3GPP TS 38.212 V16.2.0 (2020-06), “Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; NR; Multiplexing and channel coding (Release 16)”;
3GPP TS 38.215 V16.2.0 (2020-06), “Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; NR; Physical layer measurements (Release 16)”;
3GPP TS 36.214 V16.1.0 (2020-06) “Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA); Physical layer; Measurements (Release 16)”;
3GPP TS 38.214 V16.2.0 (2020-06), “Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; NR; Physical layer procedures for data (Release 16)”;
3GPP TS 38.331 V16.2.0 (2020-09), “Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; NR; Radio Resource Control (RRC) protocol specification (Release 16)”;
3GPP TSG-RAN WG2 Meeting #109 electronic, R2-2002323, Title: “Correction of TS 37.340 on the support of MR-DC for IAB,” Source: Huawei, HiSilicon, March 2020 (hereinafter R2-2002323), disclosing multiple Rx/Tx capable UEs;
3GPP TSG-RAN WG2 Meeting #111-e, R2-2007092, CR 0799 to 3GPP TS 38.321, Title: “Correction on Sidelink resource selection procedures,” Source: Apple, August 2020;
3GPP TSG-RAN WG2 Meeting #111-e, R2-2008630, CR 0773 to 3GPP TS 38.321, Title: “Correction to 5G V2X with NR Sidelink,” Source: LG Electronics Inc, August 2020;
3GPP TSG-RAN Meeting #89, RP-201927, Title: “RAN2 CRs to Closed REL-16 NR or NR+LTE WIs, set 1,” Source: RAN2; September 2020; including references to approved changes to 3GPP specifications for V2X with NR sidelink;
3GPP TSG-RAN WG2 Meeting #111 electronic, R2-2xxxxxx, Skeleton Notes, Source: RAN2 Chairman (Mediatek), published September 01, 2020, and documents cited therein for sidelink enhancements, specifically in § 6.4 NR V2X and § 8.7 NR Sidelink relay SI;
S. -Y. Lien et al., "3GPP NR Sidelink Transmissions Toward 5G V2X," in IEEE Access, vol. 8, pp. 35368-35382, 2020, doi: 10.1109/ACCESS.2020.2973706.
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/L.G.G./ Examiner, Art Unit 2478
/JOSEPH E AVELLINO/ Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2478
1 See 3GPP TS 38.331 V16.2.0 (2020-09), “Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; NR; Radio Resource Control (RRC) protocol specification (Release 16)” (hereinafter 3GPP TS 38.331), describing, at page 778-785, the SL-ResourcePool Information Element configured to UEs, , and specifying “the configuration information for NR sidelink communication resource pool” indicating SL-PSCCH field descriptions containing values for time-frequency resources for PSCCH in the resource pool, initialization value for PSCCH DMRS scrambling, and the number of reserved bits in first stage SCI, and whereby the SL-ResourcePool is one of the maxNrofRXPool-r16 and/or maxNrofTXPool-r16 pools configured to the NR sidelink capable UE by RRC or SIB12.
2 “The receiver UE performs beam measurement and reports the beam measurement result to the transmitter UE” – See [¶0221], e.g., to indicate the best beams for first stage SCI/PSCCH transmission; see also § 8, 3GPP TS 38.211 V16.2.0 (2020-06), “Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; NR; Physical channels and modulation (Release 16)” (hereinafter 3GPP TS 38.211) disclosing, at page 117-118, sidelink physical channels and the range of antenna ports per type of physical channel, e.g., PSCCH, PSSCH, PSFCH each have different port ranges.
3 See § 8.4, 3GPP TS 38.212 V16.2.0 (2020-06), “Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; NR;
Multiplexing and channel coding (Release 16)” (hereinafter 3GPP TS 38.212), disclosing, at page 146-47, the SCI 2-A format, containing a cast type indicator, and showing, in Table 8.4.1.1-1, that a first bit of the cast type indicator discriminates between unicast (“1”) and broadcast/groupcast (“0”) PSSCH.
4 See §§ 5.1.23-25, 3GPP TS 38.215 V16.2.0 (2020-06), “Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; NR; Physical layer measurements (Release 16)” (hereinafter 3GPP 38.215).
5 Even though He hints to the transmitting UE as the UE performing sensing for the upcoming transmission, discussions in 3GPP RAN WG1 clearly point to the receiving UE performing sensing with the same parameters/threshold, e.g., 3GPP TSG RAN WG1 #102, R1- 2005645, Title: “Discussion on Mode 2 enhancements”; Source: MediaTek Inc., August 17th – 28th, 2020, states that “Rx UE can perform sensing similar to the behavior at Tx UE on the reserved resource indicated in SCI from Tx UE” – See § 2.1, at page 1.
6 A person of ordinary skills in the art would appreciate that the threshold can be a number of back-off slots B to determine each slot where the UE performs sensing after a sensing failure in a current slot (the UE will increase B for the upcoming reservation of time and frequency resources from the transmitting UE) – See [¶0158].
7 A person of ordinary skills in the art would also propose the standard procedure in 3GPP: if the number of selected resources in the resource pool after sensing and exclusion based on the currently reserved time and frequency resources is less than 20%, the receiving UE will increase the RSRP threshold with 3dB for sensing in windows comprising upcoming reserved time and frequency resources.
8 Shilov includes by reference 3GPP TS 36.214 which defines all PHY measurements at a UE – See, e.g., 3GPP TS 36.214 V16.1.0 (2020-06) “Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA); Physical layer; Measurements (Release 16)” (hereinafter 3GPP TS 36.214); see also § 8.1.6, 3GPP TS 38.214 V16.2.0 (2020-06), “Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; NR; Physical layer procedures for data (Release 16)” (hereinafter 3GPP TS 38.214) describing sidelink congestion control in sidelink resource allocation mode 2 based on CR.
9 He also teaches that when “TCI state field in the first state SCI format indicates the TCI state for the transmission of the PSCCH with the second stage SCI format and of the scheduled PSSCH [the] UE uses the TCI-State value indicated by the value of the TCI state field in the detected first stage SCI format for determining an antenna port quasi co-location for the reception of the PSCCH with the second stage SCI format or of the PS SCH, if a time between the reception of the PSCCH with the first stage SCI format and the reception of the PSCCH with the second stage SCI format or of the PSSCH is equal to or greater than a threshold” otherwise “the UE can assume that the DM-RS ports of the PSCCH with the second stage SCI format or of the PSSCH are quasi co-located with the RS(s) in the TCI state with respect to the QCL parameter(s) used for the first stage SCI quasi co-location indication” – See [¶0242].
Prosecution Insights