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 Arguments
Applicant’s arguments filed on 02/11/2026 have been fully considered. Applicant’s arguments and Examiner’s response are provided below.
Rejections under 35 U.S.C. 102:
Applicant argues (in page 12): Awadin does not disclose or suggest specifically detecting that the data to be transmitted is less than a total occupancy of the channel occupancy time before determining to share a COT.
Examiner’s response: Awadin discloses in [0190] that the UE, which starts its COT early, terminates the transmission and releases the channel early (even before the end of its COT) to give a chance for other UEs to initiate their transmissions, and discloses in [0195-0198] that the initiating device sends an indication that it successfully acquires the channel, and the indication carries information about the length of the COT, and the duration of the actual transmission period. [0198] The initiating FBE device may not occupy the whole COT. In fact, it may occupy a small portion of COT, which as described above may be labeled as Tx window, especially if the initiating FBE device is a UE.
Such early termination and partial use of the COT necessarily implies that the UE determines that the data transmitted/ to be transmitted does not require the full duration of the COT. In other words, the initiating UE recognizes that the data to be transmitted is less than the total capacity of the COT, and based on this determination, releases the unused portion of the COT.
It would be understood by a person of ordinary skill in the art that early termination of transmission within a granted COT is based on the transmitting device’s evaluation of the remaining data to be transmitted relative to the remaining COT duration. Thus, early termination necessarily implies that the transmitting device has determined that the remaining data does not require the remaining portion of the COT duration. This determination must occur prior to releasing or sharing the COT. Therefore, the claimed “detecting” step is inherent in the operation described in Awadin.
Further, Awadin discloses in [0099] “Also, it is not expected that the UE may occupy the whole COT. Therefore, procedures to enable the UE initiated COT to be shared with its gNB and possibly other UEs served by the same gNB are described herein to allow better utilization of the unused parts of the COT”. Since the UE terminates the transmission early (before the end of the COT), it necessarily recognizes that a portion of the COT remains unused, i.e., that the data to be transmitted does not occupy the entire COT duration. Accordingly, early termination implies that the UE detects that the data to be transmitted is less than the total capacity of the COT.
Claim Objections
Claims 1 and 53 are objected to because of the following informalities:
The claims recite “the data to be transmitted”. There is no sufficient antecedent basis for “the data to be transmitted”.
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-2, 14-16 and 53 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102 (a) (2) as being anticipated by AWADIN et al. (US 20230035989 A1).
Regarding claim 1,
AWADIN discloses “A method of operating a communications device, the method
comprising” (See [0005] Methods and apparatuses are described herein for transmission
priority, collisions, and sharing in the COT by frame-based equipment (FBE)) “determining
that the communications device can transmit data via one or more communications
resources of an unlicensed channel of a wireless access interface” (See [0092] In mmWave,
there is wide range of unlicensed spectrum that can be further utilized to attain higher data
rate than attained by operating in sub 6 GHz frequency band. [0093] An FBE may comprise
equipment where the transmit/receive structure has a periodic timing with a periodicity
equal to the Fixed Frame Period (FFP). Initiating device comprises a device that initiates a
sequence of one or more transmissions. Otherwise, the device is called Responding device.
[0094] The initiating device may implement channel access mechanism as follows: [0095] A
device may perform a Clear Channel Assessment (CCA) 53 check during a single observation
slot. If the initiating device finds the operating channel(s) to be clear, it may transmit
immediately), “the communications resources of the unlicensed channel being shared in
time with at least one of an infrastructure equipment of a wireless communications network and one or more other communications devices which can also transmit in the
communications resources of the unlicensed channel” (See [0099] procedures to enable the
UE initiated COT to be shared with its gNB and possibly other UEs served by the same gNB
are described herein to allow better utilization of the unused parts of the COT), “the
transmission of the data by the communications device on the unlicensed channel being
arranged in time according to a fixed frame period including a channel occupancy time for
transmitting the data and an idle period” (See [0093] An FBE may comprise equipment
where the transmit/receive structure has a periodic timing with a periodicity equal to the
Fixed Frame Period (FFP). See Fig. 1, [0096] The COT 54 may not be greater than 95% of the
Fixed Frame Period 51 and may be followed by an Idle period 55 until the start of the next
Fixed Frame Period 51 such that the Idle Period 55 is at least 5% of the COT 54, with a
minimum of 100 μs), “the determining that the communications device can transmit the
data on the communications resources of the unlicensed channel including detecting that
none of the infrastructure equipment and the one or more other communications devices
are transmitting according to a clear channel assessment, CCA, phase associated with a
channel occupancy time of a fixed frame period” (See [0094] The initiating device may
implement channel access mechanism as follows: [0095] A device may perform a Clear
Channel Assessment (CCA) 53 check during a single observation slot. If the initiating device
finds the operating channel(s) to be clear, it may transmit immediately), “transmitting
at least part of the data by the communications device in one or more of the
communications resources of the channel occupancy time of the fixed frame period in the
unlicensed channel” (See [0095] If the initiating device finds the operating channel(s) to be
clear, it may transmit immediately. [0198] The initiating FBE device may not occupy the
whole COT. In fact, it may occupy a small portion of COT, which as described above may be labeled as Tx window, especially if the initiating FBE device is a UE. Note: The device starts
transmitting after determining the channel is clear, and it occupies a portion of the COT of
the FFP to transmit at least part of its data), “and the method includes determining that
one or more portions of the channel occupancy time of the fixed frame period are unused
by the communications device by detecting that the date to be transmitted is less than a total capacity of the channel occupancy time; and releasing the one or more portions of the channel occupancy time unused by the communications device as a release device to at least one of the infrastructure equipment and the one or more other communications devices as a recipient device” (See [0096] An initiating device is allowed to grant an authorization to one or more associated responding devices to transmit on the current operating channel within the current COT 54. [0190] it may be beneficial that the UE, which starts its COT early to terminate the transmission and release the channel early (even before the end of its COT) to give a chance for other UEs to initiate their transmissions. For example, a UE may only use a particular portion of the COT which may be indicated by high layer signaling such as RRC or MAC-CE. Alternatively, the UE may only transmit in the first few UL occasions and then release the channel. [0195] Channel sharing and COT indication are described herein. It is beneficial that initiating device, e.g., either the gNB or UE, indicate that it successfully acquires the channel by transmitting an indicator, which it may be denoted by a CAI, such that other responding devices become aware of which nodes occupied the COT. The indication may carry information including: [0198] The duration of the actual transmission period: The initiating FBE device may not occupy the whole COT. In fact, it may occupy a small portion of COT, which as described above may be labeled as Tx window, especially if the initiating FBE device is a UE. Therefore, such information may allow other nodes to exploit the remaining portion of the COT. Note: The initiating device is the release device that releases the unused portion of the COT to the responding/ recipient devices to utilize. The initiating device only uses a portion of the COT to transmit at least part of its data and terminates the COT early, which implies that the initiating UE recognizes/ detects that the data to be transmitted is less than the total capacity of the COT, and accordingly releases the COT early).
Regarding claim 2,
AWADIN discloses “The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more portions of the channel occupancy time of the fixed frame period unused comprises a remaining portion of the channel occupancy time after the communications device has transmitted at least part of the data” (See [0198] The initiating FBE device may not occupy the whole COT. In fact, it may occupy a small portion of COT, which as described above may be labeled as Tx window, especially if the initiating FBE device is a UE. Therefore, such information may allow other nodes to exploit the remaining portion of the COT), “and the method comprises
transmitting, by the communications device, to one of the infrastructure equipment and
one of the one or more other communications devices an indication that the infrastructure
equipment or the other one of the one or more communications devices can transmit in
the remaining portion of the channel occupancy time of the fixed frame period unused by
the communications device” (See [0096] An initiating device is allowed to grant an
authorization to one or more associated responding devices to transmit on the current
operating channel within the current COT 54. The Responding Device may perform
transmissions on the current operating channel for the remaining COT 54 of the current
Fixed Frame Period 51. [0190] it may be beneficial that the UE, which starts its COT early to
terminate the transmission and release the channel early (even before the end of its COT) to give a chance for other UEs to initiate their transmissions. For example, a UE may only use a
particular portion of the COT which may be indicated by high layer signaling such as RRC or
MAC-CE. Alternatively, the UE may only transmit in the first few UL occasions and
then release the channel. Note: The initiating device decides to release the remaining/
unused portion of the COT, and grants an authorization/ indication to the other devices to
use the remaining portion for transmissions).
Regarding claim 14,
AWADIN discloses “A method of operating a communications device to communicate using
a wireless communications network, the method comprising” (See [0005] Methods and
apparatuses are described herein for transmission priority, collisions, and sharing in the COT
by frame-based equipment (FBE)) “determining that the communications device can
transmit data via one or more communications resources of an unlicensed channel of a
wireless access interface” (See [0092] In mmWave, there is wide range of unlicensed
spectrum that can be further utilized to attain higher data rate than attained by operating in
sub 6 GHz frequency band. [0096] An initiating device is allowed to grant an authorization to
one or more associated responding devices to transmit on the current operating channel
within the current COT 54), “the communications resources of the unlicensed channel being
shared in time with at least one of an infrastructure equipment of a wireless
communications network and one or more other communications devices which can also
transmit in the communications resources of the unlicensed channel” (See [0099]
procedures to enable the UE initiated COT to be shared with its gNB and possibly other UEs
served by the same gNB are described herein to allow better utilization of the unused parts
of the COT), “the transmission of the data by the communications device on the unlicensed channel being arranged in time according to a fixed frame period including a channel
occupancy time for transmitting the data and an idle period” (See [0093] An FBE may
comprise equipment where the transmit/receive structure has a periodic timing with a
periodicity equal to the Fixed Frame Period (FFP). See Fig. 1, [0096] The COT 54 may not be
greater than 95% of the Fixed Frame Period 51 and may be followed by an Idle period 55
until the start of the next Fixed Frame Period 51 such that the Idle Period 55 is at least 5% of
the COT 54, with a minimum of 100 μs), “and the determining that the communications
device can transmit the data on the communications resources of the unlicensed channel
comprises detecting that one of the infrastructure equipment and one of the one or more
other communications devices, which has transmitted signals on the unlicensed channel in
a channel occupancy time of a fixed frame period of the infrastructure equipment or the
one other communications device has released one or more portions of the channel
occupancy time of the fixed frame period which are unused by the infrastructure
equipment or the one other communications device upon determination that the transmitted signals of the infrastructure equipment or the one other communications device is less than a total capacity of the channel occupancy time” (See [0096] An initiating device is allowed to grant an authorization to one or more associated responding devices to transmit on the current operating channel within the current COT 54. [0190] it may be beneficial that the UE, which starts its COT early to terminate the transmission and release the channel early (even before the end of its COT) to give a chance for other UEs to initiate their transmissions. For example, a UE may only use a particular portion of the COT which may be indicated by high layer signaling such as RRC or MAC-CE. Alternatively, the UE may only transmit in the first few UL occasions and then release the channel. [0195] Channel sharing and COT indication are described herein. It is beneficial that initiating device, e.g., either the gNB or UE, indicate that it successfully acquires the channel by transmitting an indicator, which it may be denoted by a CAI, such that other responding devices become aware of which nodes occupied the COT. The indication may carry information including: [0196] Parameters associated with frame periodicity (FFP), the length of the COT, the length of the idle window. [0198] The duration of the actual transmission period: The initiating FBE device may not occupy the whole COT. In fact, it may occupy a small portion of COT, which as described above may be labeled as Tx window, especially if the initiating FBE device is a UE. Therefore, such information may allow other nodes to exploit the remaining portion of the COT. Note: The receiving device has information about the actual transmission period and the length of the COT, which helps determine that the transmitted signals are less than a total capacity of the COT), “the infrastructure equipment or the one other communications device being a release device, and the communications device being a recipient device, and transmitting, by the communications device as the recipient device, at least part of the data in one or more of the released portions of the unlicensed channel from the channel occupancy time of the fixed frame period of the release device” (See [0096] An initiating device is allowed to grant an authorization to one or more associated responding devices to transmit on the current operating channel within the current COT 54. The Responding Device may perform transmissions on the current operating channel for the remaining COT 54 of the current Fixed Frame Period 51. Note: The initiating device is the release device that releases the unused portion of the COT to the responding/ recipient devices to utilize)).
Regarding claim 15,
AWADIN discloses “The method of claim 14, wherein the transmitting, by the
communications device as the recipient device, at least part of the data in the one or more
released portions of the unlicensed channel from the channel occupancy time of the fixed
frame period of the release device comprises transmitting at least part of the data by the
communications device as the recipient device in the one or more communications
resources of the unlicensed channel from a channel occupancy time of a fixed frame period
of the communications device as the recipient device” (See [0096] An initiating device is allowed to grant an authorization to one or more associated responding devices to transmit
on the current operating channel within the current COT 54. The Responding Device may
perform transmissions on the current operating channel for the remaining COT 54 of the
current Fixed Frame Period 51. [0198] The initiating FBE device may not occupy the whole
COT. In fact, it may occupy a small portion of COT, which as described above may be labeled
as Tx window, especially if the initiating FBE device is a UE. Therefore, such information may
allow other nodes to exploit the remaining portion of the COT. Note: The responding/
recipient device uses the remaining/ unused portion of the COT to transmit at least part of
its data).
Regarding claim 16,
AWADIN discloses “The method of claim 14, wherein the transmitting, by the communications device as the recipient device, at least part of the data in the one or more
released portions of the unlicensed channel comprises transmitting at least part of the
data by the communications device as the recipient device in the one or more of the
released portions according to the channel occupancy time of the fixed frame period of the
release device” (See [0096] An initiating device is allowed to grant an authorization to one
or more associated responding devices to transmit on the current operating channel within
the current COT 54. The Responding Device may perform transmissions on the current
operating channel for the remaining COT 54 of the current Fixed Frame Period 51. [0198]
The initiating FBE device may not occupy the whole COT. In fact, it may occupy a
small portion of COT, which as described above may be labeled as Tx window, especially if
the initiating FBE device is a UE. Therefore, such information may allow other nodes to
exploit the remaining portion of the COT), “the fixed frame period of the release device including the channel occupancy time and an idle period” (See [0093] An FBE may comprise
equipment where the transmit/receive structure has a periodic timing with a periodicity
equal to the Fixed Frame Period (FFP). See Fig. 1, [0096] The COT 54 may not be greater
than 95% of the Fixed Frame Period 51 and may be followed by an Idle period 55 until the
start of the next Fixed Frame Period 51 such that the Idle Period 55 is at least 5% of the COT
54, with a minimum of 100 μs).
Regarding claim 53,
AWADIN discloses “A communications device comprising transmitter circuitry configured
to transmit signals via communications resources of an unlicensed channel of a wireless
access interface, receiver circuitry configured to receive signals transmitted via the
communications resources of the unlicensed channel, and controller circuitry configured to
control the transmitter circuitry and the receiver circuitry” (See Fig. 36B, [0005] Methods
and apparatuses are described herein for transmission priority, collisions, and sharing in the
COT by frame-based equipment (FBE)). [0092] In mmWave, there is wide range of
unlicensed spectrum that can be further utilized to attain higher data rate than attained by
operating in sub 6 GHz frequency band) “the communications resources of the unlicensed
channel being shared in time with at least one of an infrastructure equipment of a wireless
communications network and one or more other communications devices which can also
transmit in the communications resources of the unlicensed channel at different times” (See [0099] procedures to enable the UE initiated COT to be shared with its gNB and
possibly other UEs served by the same gNB are described herein to allow better utilization
of the unused parts of the COT), “the controller circuitry being configured with the receiver
circuitry to determine that the transmitter circuitry can transmit data via one or more of the communications resources of the unlicensed channel according to a fixed frame
period” (See [0093] An FBE may comprise equipment where the transmit/receive structure has a periodic timing with a periodicity equal to the Fixed Frame Period (FFP). Initiating device comprises a device that initiates a sequence of one or more transmissions. Otherwise, the device is called Responding device. [0094] The initiating device may implement channel access mechanism as follows: [0095] A device may perform a Clear Channel Assessment (CCA) 53 check during a single observation slot. If the initiating device finds the operating channel(s) to be clear, it may transmit immediately), “including a channel occupancy time for transmitting the data and an idle period” (See Fig. 1, [0096] The COT 54 may not be greater than 95% of the Fixed Frame Period 51 and may be followed by an Idle period 55 until the start of the next Fixed Frame Period 51 such that the Idle Period 55 is at least 5% of the COT 54, with a minimum of 100 μs), “by detecting that none of the infrastructure equipment and the one or more other communications devices are transmitting according to a clear channel assessment, CCA, phase associated with a channel occupancy time of a fixed frame period” (See [0094] The initiating device may implement channel access mechanism as follows: [0095] A device may perform a Clear Channel Assessment (CCA) 53 check during a single observation slot. If the initiating device finds the operating channel(s) to be clear, it may transmit immediately), “and to control the transmitter circuitry to transmit at least part of the data in one or more of the communications resources of the channel occupancy time of the fixed frame period in the unlicensed channel” (See [0095] If the initiating device finds the operating channel(s) to be clear, it may transmit immediately. [0198] The initiating FBE device may not occupy the whole COT. In fact, it may occupy a small portion of COT, which as described above may be labeled as Tx window, especially if the initiating FBE device is a UE. Note: The device starts transmitting after determining the channel is clear, and it occupies a portion of the COT of the FFP to transmit at least part of its data), “wherein the controller circuitry is configured to determine that one or more portions of the channel occupancy time of the fixed frame
period are unused by the communications device by detecting that the data to be transmitted is less than a total capacity of the channel occupancy time, and to release the one or more portions of the channel occupancy time unused by the communications device as a release device, the one or more portions being released to at least one of the infrastructure equipment and the one or more other communications devices as a recipient device” (See [0096] An initiating device is allowed to grant an authorization to one or more associated responding devices to transmit on the current operating channel within the current COT 54. [0190] it may be beneficial that the UE, which starts its COT early to terminate the transmission and release the channel early (even before the end of its COT) to give a chance for other UEs to initiate their transmissions. For example, a UE may only use a particular portion of the COT which may be indicated by high layer signaling such as RRC or MAC-CE. Alternatively, the UE may only transmit in the first few UL occasions and then release the channel. [0195] Channel sharing and COT indication are described herein. It is beneficial that initiating device, e.g., either the gNB or UE, indicate that it successfully acquires the channel by transmitting an indicator, which it may be denoted by a CAI, such that other responding devices become aware of which nodes occupied the COT. The indication may carry information including: [0198] The duration of the actual transmission period: The initiating FBE device may not occupy the whole COT. In fact, it may occupy a small portion of COT, which as described above may be labeled as Tx window, especially if the initiating FBE device is a UE. Therefore, such information may allow other nodes to exploit the remaining portion of the COT. Note: The initiating device is the release device that releases the unused portion of the COT to the responding/ recipient devices to utilize. The initiating device only uses a portion of the COT to transmit at least part of its data and terminates the COT early, which implies that the initiating UE recognizes/ detects that the data to be transmitted is less than the total capacity of the COT, and accordingly releases the COT early).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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 3, 5 and 7-8 and 11-13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over AWADIN et al. (US 20230035989 A1) in view of Fakoorian et al. (US 20210176669 A1).
Regarding claim 3,
AWADIN discloses “The method of claim 1, wherein the releasing the one or more portions of the channel occupancy time unused by the communications device as a release device,
releasing a portion of the channel occupancy time of the fixed frame period that unused by the communications device to the infrastructure equipment or the one of the other
communications devices as the recipient device, the communications device transmitting
at least part of the data before or after the portion released” (See [0190] it may be
beneficial that the UE, which starts its COT early to terminate the transmission and release
the channel early (even before the end of its COT) to give a chance for other UEs to initiate
their transmissions. For example, a UE may only use a particular portion of the COT which
may be indicated by high layer signaling such as RRC or MAC-CE. Alternatively, the UE may
only transmit in the first few UL occasions and then release the channel. [0198] The
initiating FBE device may not occupy the whole COT. In fact, it may occupy a small portion of
COT, which as described above may be labeled as Tx window, especially if the initiating FBE
device is a UE. Therefore, such information may allow other nodes to exploit the
remaining portion of the COT).
AWADIN discloses that the release/ initiating device transmits at least part of its data before
releasing the COT for the recipient/ responding devices to utilize the remaining portion, but
does not explicitly disclose transmitting a release indication to the recipient devices.
However, Fakoorian discloses “comprises transmitting by the communications device as
the release device an indication that the communications device is releasing a portion of
the channel occupancy time” (See [0064] the network 100 may operate over a shared
channel, which may include shared frequency bands and/or unlicensed frequency bands. To
avoid collisions, the BSs and the UEs may employ a listen-before-talk (LBT) procedure to
monitor for transmission opportunities (TXOPs) in the shared channel. A TXOP may also be
referred to as channel occupancy time (COT). [0067] a UE 115 may release an unused reserved resource to allow another sidelink UE 115 to reclaim the unused resources for
sidelink transmissions. [0046] the inclusion of a resource release indication in SCI allows a
sidelink UE to release an unused reserved sidelink resource and allows another sidelink UE
to transmit in the resource that may otherwise by wasted). Note: AWADIN discloses that the
unused resource is the remaining portion of the COT.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the
effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the teachings of AWADIN
with the teachings of Fakoorian to include a release indication of unused resources/ portion
of the COT, and the motivation to do so would have been to improve resource utilization
efficiency (Fakoorian [0046]).
Regarding claim 5,
AWADIN in view of Fakoorian discloses “The method of claim 3, wherein the portion of the
channel occupancy time released is pre-configured using radio resource control signalling
before the communications device transmits the data” (See AWADIN [0190] a UE may only
use a particular portion of the COT which may be indicated by high layer signaling such as
RRC or MAC-CE). Note: Since the used portion of the COT is indicated via RRC, it inherently
the remaining portion of the COT, since the duration of the COT is known.
Regarding claim 7,
AWADIN discloses “The method of claim 1”, “releasing of the one or more portions of the
channel occupancy time unused by the communications device as the release device to the
recipient device” (See [0190] it may be beneficial that the UE, which starts its COT early to terminate the transmission and release the channel early (even before the end of its COT) to
give a chance for other UEs to initiate their transmissions. For example, a UE may only use a
particular portion of the COT which may be indicated by high layer signaling such as RRC or
MAC-CE. Alternatively, the UE may only transmit in the first few UL occasions and then
release the channel. [0198] The initiating FBE device may not occupy the whole COT. In fact,
it may occupy a small portion of COT, which as described above may be labeled as Tx
window, especially if the initiating FBE device is a UE. Therefore, such information may allow
other nodes to exploit the remaining portion of the COT).
releasing the COT for the recipient/ responding devices to utilize the remaining portion, but
does not explicitly disclose transmitting a release signal indicating the releasing of unused
portions of the COT.
However, Fakoorian discloses “transmitting a release signal indicating the releasing of the
one or more portions of the channel occupancy time unused by the communications device
as the release device to the recipient device” (See [0064] the network 100 may operate
over a shared channel, which may include shared frequency bands and/or unlicensed
frequency bands. To avoid collisions, the BSs and the UEs may employ a listen-before-talk
(LBT) procedure to monitor for transmission opportunities (TXOPs) in the shared channel. A
TXOP may also be referred to as channel occupancy time (COT). [0067] a UE 115 may
release an unused reserved resource to allow another sidelink UE 115 to reclaim the unused
resources for sidelink transmissions. [0046] the inclusion of a resource release indication in
SCI allows a sidelink UE to release an unused reserved sidelink resource and allows another sidelink UE to transmit in the resource that may otherwise by wasted). Note: AWADIN
discloses that the unused resource is the remaining portion of the COT.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the
effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the teachings of AWADIN
with the teachings of Fakoorian to include a release indication of unused resources/ portion
of the COT, and the motivation to do so would have been to improve resource utilization
efficiency (Fakoorian [0046]).
Regarding claim 8,
AWADIN discloses “The method of claim 1”, but does not explicitly disclose transmitting a
release signal indicating releasing the unused portion of the COT after transmitting the
release signal.
However, Fakoorian discloses “comprising transmitting a release signal indicating that the
communications device as the release device is releasing the portion of the channel
occupancy time unused by the communications device after the transmission of the
release signal” (See [0064] the network 100 may operate over a shared channel, which may
include shared frequency bands and/or unlicensed frequency bands. To avoid collisions, the
BSs and the UEs may employ a listen-before-talk (LBT) procedure to monitor for
transmission opportunities (TXOPs) in the shared channel. A TXOP may also be referred to
as channel occupancy time (COT). [0067] a UE 115 may release an unused reserved resource
to allow another sidelink UE 115 to reclaim the unused resources for sidelink transmissions.
[0046] the inclusion of a resource release indication in SCI allows a sidelink UE to release an unused reserved sidelink resource and allows another sidelink UE to transmit
in the resource that may otherwise by wasted). Note: AWADIN discloses that the unused
resource is the remaining portion of the COT.
Note: It is implied that the release device releases the unused resource/ unused portion of
the COT, after transmitting the release signal since the release signal serves as an explicit
indication the release device has relinquished its reservation and will no longer occupy the
resource, allowing other devices to utilize the resource.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the
effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the teachings of AWADIN
with the teachings of Fakoorian to include a release indication of unused resources/ portion
of the COT, and the motivation to do so would have been to improve resource utilization
efficiency (Fakoorian [0046]).
Regarding claim 11,
AWADIN in view of Fakoorian discloses “The method of claim 7, wherein the release signal
identifies one of the infrastructure equipment or one of the one or more other
communications devices to which the one or more remaining shared communications
resources are being released” (See Fakoorian, Fig. 7B, [0109] the SCI A 712 may indicate
reserved resources per sidelink. For instance, the SCI A may indicate that the
resource 706a is reserved for transmission by the UE 715a to the UE 715b, the
resource 706b is reserved for transmission by the UE 715b to the UE 715a, and the
resource 706c is reserved for transmission by the UE 715b to the UE 715c). Note: the SCI A transmitted by UE 715 a identifies for each reserved resource, the transmitting and
receiving UEs, thereby indicating to which UE a resource is released.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the
effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the teachings of AWADIN
with the teachings of Fakoorian to include a release indication of unused resources/ portion
of the COT, and the motivation to do so would have been to improve resource utilization
efficiency (Fakoorian [0046]).
Regarding claim 12,
AWADIN in view of Fakoorian discloses “The method of claim 7, wherein the recipient device is one of the one or more other communications devices and the release signal is
transmitted via a sidelink channel” (See Fakoorian [0067] a UE 115 may release an unused
reserved resource to allow another sidelink UE 115 to reclaim the unused resources for
sidelink transmissions. [0046] the inclusion of a resource release indication in SCI allows a
sidelink UE to release an unused reserved sidelink resource and allows another sidelink UE
to transmit in the resource that may otherwise by wasted).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the
effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the teachings of AWADIN
with the teachings of Fakoorian to include a release indication of unused resources/ portion
of the COT, and the motivation to do so would have been to improve resource utilization
efficiency (Fakoorian [0046]).
Regarding claim 13,
AWADIN discloses “The method of claim 1”, but does not explicitly disclose that the recipient device is defined as a default for the communications device acting as a release device.
However, Fakoorian discloses “wherein the recipient device is defined as a default for the communications device acting as a release device” (See Fakoorian, Fig. 7B, [0109] the SCI A 712 may indicate reserved resources per sidelink. For instance, the SCI A may indicate that the resource 706a is reserved for transmission by the UE 715a to the UE 715b, the resource 706b is reserved for transmission by the UE 715b to the UE 715a, and the resource 706c is reserved for transmission by the UE 715b to the UE 715c). Note: The SCI A transmission implies that UE 715 b serves as the default or primary receiving device, since it the device receiving the SCI indicating resource release.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the
effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the teachings of AWADIN
with the teachings of Fakoorian to include a release indication of unused resources/ portion
of the COT, and the motivation to do so would have been to improve resource utilization
efficiency (Fakoorian [0046]).
Claim 4 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over AWADIN et al. (US
20230035989 A1) in view of Fakoorian et al. (US 20210176669 A1), and further in view of
STEFANTOS et al. (US 20230309141 A1).
Regarding claim 4,
AWADIN in view of Fakoorian discloses “The method of claim 3”, and discloses transmitting a release signal, See Fakoorian [0067] a UE 115 may release an unused reserved resource to
allow another sidelink UE 115 to reclaim the unused resources for sidelink transmissions. [0046] the inclusion of a resource release indication in SCI allows a sidelink UE
to release an unused reserved sidelink resource and allows another sidelink UE to transmit
in the resource that may otherwise by wasted.
AWADIN in view of Fakoorian discloses transmitting a release signal for releasing unused
resources via SCI, but does not explicitly disclose determining the portion of the COT
dynamically and indicating it in a release signal.
However, STEFANTOS discloses “wherein the portion of the channel occupancy time
released is determined dynamically and indicated by transmitting a release signal” (See
[0068] The UE may transmit information regarding the COT (e.g., in SCI), including
the remaining COT duration). Note: AWADIN in view of Fakoorian disclose transmitting a
release signal through SCI.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a POSITA before the effective filing date of the
claimed invention to have included the dynamically determined remaining COT duration as
taught by STEFANTOS, in the SCI release signaling as taught by AWADIN in view of
Fakoorian, since both convey COT-related information dynamically through SCI, and the
motivation to do so would have been in order to provide better control of COT release and
improve channel reuse efficiency.
Claim 6 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over AWADIN et al. (US
20230035989 A1) in view of LIANG et al. (US 20230363002 A1), and further in view of JIA et
al. (US 20210068154 A1).
Regarding claim 6,
AWADIN discloses “The method of claim 1”, but does not explicitly disclose receiving a force
release signal.
However, LIANG discloses “comprising receiving a force release signal from one of the
infrastructure equipment and one of the other communications devices, and the
transmitting at least part of the data by the communications device in one or more of the
communications resources of the channel occupancy time comprises transmitting the at
least part of the data by the communications device in the one or more communications
resources of the channel occupancy time until the force release signal is received” (See FIG.
2 [0078] As seen in FIG. 2, the gNB 5 of this example is configured to be able to cancel the
uplink transmissions of a transmitting UE 3-1 when another UE 3-2 has higher priority uplink
data to transmit (e.g. a higher priority URLLC transmission). In this example, this is achieved
by sending an indication that transmission should be stopped (e.g. in the form of
a COT ‘cancellation’ or ‘release’ indication), to the transmitting UE, using appropriate
signalling during a downlink period of that UE's FFP. Note: In Fig. 2, the UE transmits at least
part of its data until the force release signal is received), “the one or more portions of the
channel occupancy time of the fixed frame period remaining unused by the
communications device after the force release signal is received” (See Fig. 2, After receiving
the force release signal, the remaining portion of the COT remains unused. [0083] The
lower priority transmission is then cancelled, and the higher priority transmission(s) can
continue, if needed, in one or more subsequent FFPs without interference from an ongoing
lower priority transmission from the other UE 3-1. Note: Higher priority transmissions start in subsequent FFPs, which also means that the remaining portion of the COT remains
unused).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the
effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the teachings of AWADIN
with the teachings of LIANG, and the motivation to do so would have been to provide
improvements to a UE initiated access to unlicensed spectrum using a Listen-Before-Talk
(LBT) approach (LIANG [0001]).
AWADIN in view of LIANG does not explicitly disclose transmitting an acknowledgment in
response to the force release signal.
However, JIA discloses “and transmitting an acknowledgement in response to the force
release signal” (See [0015] the receiving device further receives a channel
release signal from the sending device, and the channel release signal is used to indicate the
one or more other receiving devices to release the to-be-protected channel occupancy
time indicated by the first channel occupancy signal; and the receiving device sends
a release acknowledgement signal in response to the release signal).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the
effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the teachings of AWADIN and
LIANG, with the teachings of JIA, and the motivation to do so would have been to avoid
collision between devices that need to perform transmission, thereby improving
communication efficiency (JIA [0005]).
Claims 9 and 10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over AWADIN et al.
(US 20230035989 A1) in view of Fakoorian et al. (US 20210176669 A1), and further in view
of Bhattad et al. (US 20220377795 A1).
Regarding claim 9,
AWADIN in view of Fakoorian discloses “The method of claim 8”, but does not explicitly an
indication of the potion of the unused COT as an offset from a start of the FFP and a
duration.
However, Bhattad discloses “wherein the release signal provides an indication of the
portion of the channel occupancy time unused by the communications device as an offset
from a start of the fixed frame period and a duration of the portion of the remaining one
or more communications resources” (See [0027] A UE, sharing a COT may indicate in the
uplink control indicator (UCI) the remaining COT duration, an offset indication identifying
where the uplink transmission is expected to end). Note: It is implied that the offset is from
a start of the transmission, which is the start of the FFP/ COT.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person od ordinary skill in the art before the
effective filing date of the claimed invention to have included this information about the
portion of the COT to be shared/ unused as taught by Bhattad in the release signal taught by
AWADIN in view of Fakoorian, and the motivation to so do would have been in order to
provide better control of COT release and improve channel reuse efficiency.
Regarding claim 10,
AWADIN in view of Fakoorian discloses “The method of claim 8”, but does not explicitly
disclose a pre-configured index of a look-up table indicating a different offset from a start of
the FFP and a duration.
However, Bhattad discloses “wherein the release signal provides an indication of a pre-
configured index of a look-up table each index indicating a different offset from a start of
the fixed frame period and a different duration of the portion of the channel occupancy
time released by the communications device” (See (See [0027] A UE, sharing a COT may
indicate in the uplink control indicator (UCI) the remaining COT duration,
an offset indication identifying where the uplink transmission is expected to end). Note: It is
implied that the offset is from a start of the transmission, which is the start of the FFP/ COT.
[0111] wherein the COT sharing information includes an index to a table shared by the UE
and the serving base station, wherein the table includes a plurality of entries each
identifying one or more of the remaining COT duration, the offset indication indicated as
a remaining transmission time).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person od ordinary skill in the art before the
effective filing date of the claimed invention to have included this information about the
portion of the COT to be shared/ unused as taught by Bhattad in the release signal taught by
AWADIN in view of Fakoorian, and the motivation to so do would have been in order to
provide better control of COT release and improve channel reuse efficiency.
Claims 17-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over AWADIN et al. (US
20230035989 A1) in view of Singh et al. (US 20230189338 A1).
Regarding claim 17,
AWADIN discloses “The method of claim 14, wherein the transmitting, by the
communications device as the recipient device, at least part of the data in the one or more
released portions of the unlicensed channel from the channel occupancy time of the fixed
frame period of the release device, comprises transmitting the data by the
communications device as the recipient device in the one or more released portions of the
unlicensed channel from the channel occupancy time of the fixed frame period of the
recipient device as one or more communications resources of a first fixed frame period of
the recipient device” (See [0096] An initiating device is allowed to grant an authorization to
one or more associated responding devices to transmit on the current operating channel
within the current COT 54. The Responding Device may perform transmissions on the
current operating channel for the remaining COT 54 of the current Fixed Frame Period 51.
[0198] The initiating FBE device may not occupy the whole COT. In fact, it may occupy a
small portion of COT, which as described above may be labeled as Tx window, especially if
the initiating FBE device is a UE. Therefore, such information may allow other nodes to
exploit the remaining portion of the COT. Note: The responding/ recipient device uses the
remaining/ unused portion of the COT to transmit at least part of its data).
AWADIN does not disclose transmitting data on a COT of a second FFP that occurs after the
first FFP.
However, Singh discloses “and one or more communications resources of a channel
occupancy time of a second fixed frame period of the recipient device, which second fixed
frame period of the recipient device occurs as a next fixed frame period after the first fixed
frame period” (See [0019] transmitting uplink data comprises segmenting the uplink data
into two or more segments and one segment of the two or more segments includes an
indication that the wireless device will transmit the next segment of the two or more
segments using wireless device initiated COT in a next FFP of the first plurality of FFPs).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the
effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the teachings of AWADIN
with the teachings of Singh, and the motivation to do so would have been to facilitate
reliable and low latency transmissions (Singh [0032]).
Regarding claim 18,
AWADIN in view of Singh discloses “The method of claim 17, wherein the transmitting the
data includes not transmitting the data in an idle period of the first or the second fixed
frame period of the recipient device” (See AWADIN [0120] Typically, transmissions during
the idle window of the FFP are prohibited. See Singh [0094] a transmission may fall over the
idle period of FFP, then following solutions can be considered. In some embodiments, the
UE skips the transmission if a part of the transmission intersects the idle period. In some
embodiments, the UE can transmit the transmission in the resource only that is not part of
an idle period in an FFP (i.e., on COT only)).
Regarding claim 19,
AWADIN in view of Singh discloses “The method of claim 17, wherein the transmitting the
data includes transmitting the data without detecting whether one of the infrastructure
equipment or one or more others of the communications devices as the release device
transmits signals according to a clear channel assessment, CCA, phase of the unlicensed
channel” (See AWADIN [0096] An initiating device is allowed to grant an authorization to
one or more associated responding devices to transmit on the current operating channel
within the current COT 54. If the gap between the responding device transmission and the
last transmission by the initiating device that issued the grant is less than 16 us, the
responding device transmit without performing a CCA 53. The Responding Device may
perform transmissions on the current operating channel for the remaining COT 54 of the
current Fixed Frame Period 51).
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
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/SALMA AYAD/Examiner, Art Unit 2462 /YEMANE MESFIN/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2462