DETAILED ACTION
Claims 10-29 are pending.
Notice of 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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of Group II in the reply filed on 6 May 2025 is acknowledged.
The Requirement for Restriction identified two inventions – one directed to a network node and one directed to a user equipment. Restriction, 3. In response, the Applicant elected the invention directed to a user equipment, but also added a new independent claim, claim 28, which is a directed to a “processor.” Presumably, the claimed processor could be in either a network node or a user equipment. Therefore, claim 28 is essentially a broader genus claim to the two inventions identified in the Requirement for Restriction. The presence of claim 28 opens up the possibility of a double patenting rejection in a future divisional application.
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 4 Nov 2025 has been entered.
Priority
Applicant’s claim for the benefit of a prior-filed application under 35 U.S.C. 119(e) or under 35 U.S.C. 120, 121, 365(c), or 386(c) is acknowledged. In particular, this Application is the national stage application of an international application that claims a domestic benefit to a US provisional application filed on 17 Jun 2020.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement, submitted on 15 Dec 2022, is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Response to Arguments
As provided below, the combination of Zhang and Lin fails to teach a “table indicator” in its control signaling. However, Wang is now cited for teaching this concept.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claims 10-15, 17-24, and 26-29 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable by Zhang (US 20230189304) in view of Lin (US 20230232447), and further in view of Wang (US 20220304058).
Regarding claims 10, 19, and 28, Zhang teaches a method, a user equipment (UE), and a processor comprising at least one memory; and at least one processor/controller coupled with the at least one memory and configured to cause the UE to perform the following method:
performing a listen-before-talk (LBT) procedure (Zhang, ¶122 – UE performs CCA);
initiating channel occupancy time (COT) sharing for the UE based on the LBT procedure (Zhang, ¶122 – when CCA is successfully performed, the wireless device is given the COT, where the wireless device may share the COT with another wireless device),
wherein the COT sharing indicates sharing information for one or more of at least one uplink communication or at least one sidelink communication to be transmitted from the UE (Zhang, ¶169 – UE 115-d transmits an indication of the sharing conditions of the COT, where the indication includes one or more COT sharing parameters; or alternatively, Zhang, ¶162 – UE 115-c transmits COT sharing parameters via SCI); and
transmitting the one or more of the at least one uplink communication or the at least one sidelink communication based on the COT sharing. Zhang, figure 3 and ¶¶133, 153 (COT used by two UE to transmit sidelink communications).
Zhang does not explicitly teach “transmitting sidelink control information (SCI) comprising a COT sharing indicator and information indicating a table identifier indicating a table and a row indicator that indicates a row of the table comprising an indication of a start of sidelink transmission associated with the COT sharing.” However, Lin teaches an SCI transmitted in a PSSCH. Lin, ¶47. The COT sharing information in the SCI indicates a row index of a table that corresponds to an offset where the second UE channel occupancy starts. Lin, ¶71. At the time of the invention (pre-AIA ) or at the effective filing date of the invention (AIA ), it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art to use the SCI, taught by Lin, to indicate COT sharing, taught by Zhang, in order to inform the other UE of a starting location for which the other UE can share the channel. Lin, ¶70.
The combination of Zhang and Lin does not explicitly teach “a table identifier indicating a table.” However, Wang teaches channel access parameters that are structured in the form of multiple tables. Wang, ¶101. A control message in Wang can use two bits to carry a “shortened table index.” Wang, ¶109. At the time of the effective filing date of the invention, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art to include a table index, as taught by Wang, within the SCI when indicating COT sharing access parameters, as taught by the combination of Zhang and Lin, in order to enable the UE to identify which set of channel access parameters to apply when multiple tables are used. Id. at ¶134.
Regarding claims 11, 20, and 29, the combination of Zhang, Lin, and Wang also teaches wherein the at least one processor is configured to cause the UE to transmit one or more of a first stage sidelink control information (SCI) or a second stage SCI indicating one or more of a remaining duration, or a channel access priority. Zhang, ¶128 (first and second stage SCIs, where first stage SCI includes priority) or Zhang, ¶148 (SCI includes one or more COT sharing parameters) and ¶146, last sentence (COT sharing parameters includes duration of COT sharing and types of transmissions that are allowed); see also Wang, pg. 6 (table 2 – “channel access priority class”).
Regarding claims 12 and 21, the combination of Zhang, Lin, and Wang also teaches wherein the one or more of the first stage SCI or the second stage SCI is transmitted using a broadcast transmission, a groupcast transmission, or a unicast transmission. Zhang, figure 4 (the message sent at 415 is received by only UE 115-d [unicast], while the message sent at 440 is received by both UE 115-c and base station 105-b [groupcast or broadcast]).
Regarding claims 13 and 22, the combination of Zhang, Lin, and Wang also teaches wherein the one or more of the first stage SCI or the second stage SCI comprises an indicator that indicates a restriction of UEs that are to use the COT sharing. Zhang, ¶¶143-144 (SCI includes ED threshold, which is used to determine which types of transmissions can be transmitted during the COT [e.g. may restrict unicast transmissions to other nodes because UE 115-a]).
Regarding claims 14 and 23, the combination of Zhang, Lin, and Wang also teaches wherein the COT sharing applies to UEs that share one or more of a destination group identifier (ID) or a destination ID. Zhang, ¶¶142, 165-166 (zone ID is used to define the location of a UE, and based on how far a UE is from another UE, COT sharing may or may not be allowed).
Regarding claims 15 and 24, the combination of Zhang, Lin, and Wang also teaches wherein the sharing information comprises information indicating whether nested COT sharing is enabled. Zhang, ¶166 (UE can share its COT with multiple devices); Zhang, ¶¶148-149 (COT sharing parameters includes the lowest ED threshold when sharing among multiple nodes).
Regarding claims 17 and 26, the combination of Zhang, Lin, and Wang also teaches wherein the at least one processor is configured to cause the UE to transmit one or more of a physical sidelink control channel (PSCCH) transmission or a physical sidelink shared channel transmission (PSSCH) in a remaining channel occupancy only to a device that initiated the channel occupancy sharing. Zhang, ¶144 (UE 115-b can only transmit during the COT to UE 115-a, which is the device that acquired the COT and offered to share it); Zhang, ¶128 (when operating in the sidelink, a UE transmits either over a PSSCH or PSCCH).
Regarding claims 18 and 27, the combination of Zhang, Lin, and Wang also teaches wherein the at least one processor is configured to cause the UE to transmit one or more of a physical sidelink control channel (PSCCH) transmission or a physical sidelink shared channel transmission (PSSCH) in a remaining channel occupancy to any device within a destination identifier (ID). Zhang, ¶¶142, 165-166 (zone ID used to define the distance between two UEs, which dictates the sharing conditions for a sidelink transmission during a COT); Zhang, ¶128 (sidelink transmission may be either PSSCH or PSCCH).
Claims 16 and 25 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhang in view of Lin and Wang (all of record) in view of Wang ‘827 (US 20220210827).
Regarding claims 16 and 25, the combination of Zhang, Lin, and Wang teaches the method of claim 15 and UE of claim 24 and a first and second stage SCI, where an SCI includes COT sharing information. Infra. (see rejection of claims 11 and 20). The combination of Zhang and Lin does not explicitly teach its COT sharing information “indicat[ing] a number of nested COT sharing devices.” However, Wang ‘827 teaches COT information that includes UE identifiers of UEs that are allowed to share the COT. Wang ‘827, ¶¶98, 104. At the time of the invention (pre-AIA ) or at the effective filing date of the invention (AIA ), it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art to include the COT information, taught by Wang ‘827, in the SCI, taught by the combination of Zhang, Lin, and Wang, in order to reduce or avoid LBT operations for the UEs that are sharing the same COT. Id. at ¶109.
Conclusion
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/Benjamin Lamont/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2461