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
Acknowledgement is made of amendment filed on 09/19/2025. The amendments of Applicant are entered and have been considered by Examiner. Claims 27-46 were previously pending. Claims 27-31, 35, 37-41, 45 have been amended. Claim 47 is added. Claims 32-34 and 42-44 are cancelled. Claims 27-31, 35-41, 45-47 are pending.
Information Disclosure Statement
An initialed and dated copy of Applicant’s IDS form 1449 submitted 08/21/2025is attached to the instant office action. The submission 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
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 27-31, 35-41, 45-47 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection relies on new prior art not applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
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.
Claim(s) 27-31, 35-41, 45-47 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 2023/0309134 A1 (provisional application no. 63/050,317, filed on July 10, 2020) to Leon Calvo et al. (hereinafter “Calvo”) in view of US 2023/0371051 A1 to Yoshioka et al. (hereinafter “Yoshioka”)
Regarding Claim 27, 37, and 47, Calvo teaches An electronic apparatus for a user equipment side in a wireless communication system, method, and non-transitory computer product, comprising: (Figure 2 and [0123], discloses wireless device)
processing circuitry, configured to: (Figure 2 and [0124], discloses wireless device including processing circuitry)
the non-transitory computer product containing instructions (Figure 2 and [0124], discloses wireless device including memory) to perform the method comprising:
perform resource awareness and obtain a resource awareness result; ([0014]-[0017], discloses sensing based resource selection, where a wireless device senses the transmission medium during an interval and based on the sensing results, the wireless device predicts the future utilization of the transmission medium at a future time interval. The wireless device selects one or more time-frequency resources among the resources in the selection window [n+T1, n+T2] that are predicted/determined to be selectable (e.g., idle, usable, available, etc.))
receive information about a candidate resource set of a first electronic apparatus from the first electronic apparatus, ([0072], discloses According to one or more embodiments, a wireless device receives a resource coordination message (with or without previously sending an enquiry message) to boost/improve its own resource selection. Moreover, the coordination message may include one of a set of resources (e.g., a resource map indicating suitable/unsuitable resources) (i.e. receiving a candidate resource set) and a flag (e.g., one-bit signal) indicating the wireless device to perform a re-selection of the resources selected for transmission.
wherein the candidate resource set comprises one or more candidate resources of the first electronic apparatus and one or more candidate resources of a second electronic apparatus, ([0217], discloses the resource coordination message includes information received from another wireless device 22. For example, wireless device 22a builds its resource coordination message (i.e. including candidate resources of the first electronic apparatus) using information that is in turn received in a resource coordination message received from wireless device 22c (i.e. candidate resources of second electronic apparatus).
the received candidate resource set excluding resources whose reference signal received power (RSRP) strength is greater than a threshold. ([0206]-[0207], further discloses the map-based resource coordination message can have any of the following information: Bitmap of resources indicating busy/idle resources. The resources are determined to be idle/available or busy/not-available by wireless device 22a by comparing the received signal power (e.g., SL RSRP, SL received signal strength indicator (RSSI)) with a threshold)
based on both the resource awareness result and distances between the electronic apparatus and the first electronic apparatus, select a resource for sidelink transmission from the candidate resources set provided by the first electronic apparatus, wherein the resource for sidelink transmission is selected by at least one of including or excluding, based on the resource awareness result and the distance between the electronic apparatus and the first electronic apparatus, reserved resources perceived by the electronic apparatus from the candidate resource set provided by the first electronic apparatus. ([0080], discloses the processing circuitry is further configured to trigger the transmission of the resource coordination information based at least on a distance between the first wireless device and the wireless device. ([0227], discloses a wireless device 22b performs resource selection considering the information in the received map-based resource coordination message as defined in Step 2. For example, wireless device 22b may merge the results from sensing (obtained by itself) (i.e. resource awareness result) with the information in the resource coordination message (i.e. received based on distance between the electronic apparatus and the first apparatus). For example, a resource may be deemed as unavailable (i.e. determining to include or exclude) if the resource is deemed as unavailable by either sensing or the resource coordination message. Similarly, the RSRP value associated with a resource may be a function (e.g., max, average, weighted average, etc.) of the different contributions (sensing and resource coordination message))
Calvo teaches performing resource selection based on a resource awareness result and based on the distance between a pair of an electronic apparatus and the first electronic apparatus, but does not explicitly teach teaches performing resource selection based on a resource awareness result and based on the distances between the electronic apparatus, the first electronic apparatus and the second electronic apparatus
However, Yoshioka discloses in [0146], the TX-UE 20A selects a resource for the sidelink transmission on the basis of position information of the RX-UE 20B (referred to as “Position Information 1”) and position information (referred to as “Position Information 2”) of a UE (referred to as “third UE 20C”) that is a UE other than the RX-UE 20B and reserves a resource. [0173], discloses In Example 2-1, in resource identification processing (processing of determining a set S.sub.A of candidates of a transmission resource which is reported to a higher layer) performed in a lower layer of the TX-UE 20A, the TX-UE 20A performs exclusion (removal) of a resource on the basis of Position Information 1 and Position Information 2. [0179], further discloses In Example 2-1, in the resource identification processing, the TX-UE 20A (i.e. electronic apparatus) excludes a resource reserved by a third UE 20C (i.e. second electronic apparatus) located at a position indicated by Position Information 2 within a specific range from a position (position of the RX-UE 20B) (i.e. first electronic apparatus) indicated by Position Information 1 from S.sub.A by a specific method.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings of Calvo to include the above limitations as suggested by Yoshioka, thus enabling a reception terminal to select a transmission resource in order to receive a signal with good quality in a sidelink as indicated in [0014] of Yoshioka.
Regarding Claim 28, Calvo/Yoshioka teaches The electronic apparatus according to claim 27, wherein
Calvo further teaches the processing circuitry is further configured to set an assistance field in first sidelink control information (SCI) to a corresponding value, control a transmitter to transmit a first assistance request for information about the candidate resource set to the first electronic apparatus. ([0167], discloses a resource enquiry message is transmitted by wireless device 22b, where the enquiry message is configured to request a resource coordination message (i.e. assistance request) from another wireless device 22 (i.e., wireless device 22a). [0180]-[0181], discloses the enquiry message may be sent in any of the following: As part of the sidelink control information (SCI) transmitted in PSCCH (i.e., the 1st stage SCI). For this purpose, a reserved bit in the 1st stage SCI (as may be defined in 3GPP Rel-16) may be used (i.e. set an assistance field to corresponding value))
Regarding Claim 29, Calvo/Yoshioka teaches The electronic apparatus according to claim 28, wherein
Calvo further teaches the assistance field is carried by a reserved bit in the first SCI. ([0180]-[0181], discloses the enquiry message may be sent in any of the following: As part of the sidelink control information (SCI) transmitted in PSCCH (i.e., the 1st stage SCI). For this purpose, a reserved bit in the 1st stage SCI (as may be defined in 3GPP Rel-16) may be used (i.e. set an assistance field to corresponding value))
Regarding Claim 30, Calvo/Yoshioka teaches The electronic apparatus according to claim 28, wherein
Calvo further teaches the first SCI is a first- stage SCI as control information transmitted on a control channel. ([0180]-[0181], discloses the enquiry message may be sent in any of the following: As part of the sidelink control information (SCI) transmitted in PSCCH (i.e., the 1st stage SCI). For this purpose, a reserved bit in the 1st stage SCI (as may be defined in 3GPP Rel-16) may be used (i.e. set an assistance field to corresponding value))
Regarding Claim 31, Calvo/Yoshioka teaches The electronic apparatus according to claim 28, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to:
Calvo further teaches control a receiver to receive second SCI from the first electronic apparatus, and determine, based on a second assistance field comprised in the second SCI, whether the first electronic apparatus provides candidate resource set information for assistance. ([0072], discloses a wireless device receives a resource coordination message (with or without previously sending an enquiry message) to boost/improve its own resource selection. [0200], discloses the resource coordination message can be sent/transmitted using physical layer signaling such as SCI on PSCCH. Moreover, the coordination message may include one of a set of resources (e.g., a resource map indicating suitable/unsuitable resources) and a flag (e.g., one-bit signal) (i.e. assistance infield) indicating the wireless device to perform a re-selection of the resources selected for transmission)
Regarding Claim 35, Calvo/Yoshioka teaches The electronic apparatus according to claim 27, wherein
Calvo further teaches the processing circuitry is further configured to perform sidelink communication with another electronic apparatus by utilizing the selected resource. ([0157], discloses Step 4. Wireless device 22b transmits using the selected resources from Step 3. For example, Step 4 may be performed by selection unit 26 of wireless device 22b)
Regarding Claim 36, Calvo/Yoshika teaches The electronic apparatus according to claim 27, wherein
Calvo further teaches the first electronic apparatus corresponds to another user equipment, or the electronic apparatus corresponds to a vehicle. (Figure 1 illustrates wireless device 22a and 22b (i.e. first electronic apparatus corresponds to another UE))
Claims 38-41, 45, 46 are rejected for having the same limitations as claims 28-31, 35, 36, respectively, except the claims are in method format.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). 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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/JENKEY VAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2477