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 .
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.
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 12/17/2025 has been entered.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
Claims 1-5 and 10-14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 2020/0367221 (hereinafter Maaref) in view of US 2024/0171340 (hereinafter Vogedes) and US 2011/0128948 (hereinafter Jeon).
Regarding claims 1 and 10, Maaref teaches a UE / method, comprising: identifying, for a transmission between a user equipment (UE) and one or more neighboring UEs, one or more interfering UEs of the one or more neighboring UEs by determining potential collisions between candidate resources identified by the UE and resources selected by the one or more neighboring UEs (FIG. 3, 302-312; [0081]: details decode other UE’s SCI and/or measure corresponding PSSCH power) based on location information, measured signal strength, and resource reservation information (FIG. 3, 304; [0074]: details collect sensing information for the current sending window location… PSSCH DMRS blind detection, PSSCH DMRS RSRP, or SL RSSI measurements… location); and excluding resources reserved by the one or more interfering UEs from a resource selection window (FIG. 3, 306, 310: details exclude candidate resource; transmit using selected resources from trimmed down candidate resource set).
Maaref does not explicitly teach based on beam information, wherein determining the potential collisions includes evaluating an overlap between a beam direction of the UE and a beam direction of the one or more neighboring UEs.
However, Vogedes teaches based on beam information (APPENDIX ITEM 4: details 2. Associated with a serving cell/beam/area).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Maaref to incorporate the teachings of Vogedes and include based on beam information of Vogedes with Maaref. Doing so would improve efficiency of radio network operations (Vogedes, at [0003]).
Moreover, Jeon teaches wherein determining the potential collisions includes evaluating an overlap between a beam direction of the UE and a beam direction of the one or more neighboring UEs (FIG. 3; [0074]: details a collision problem possibly caused by a random access in case of overlapped directional antenna beams linking pairs of stations can be solved and by which communication between those stations can be reliably performed).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Maaref to incorporate the teachings of Jeon and include wherein determining the potential collisions includes evaluating an overlap between a beam direction of the UE and a beam direction of the one or more neighboring UEs of Jeon with Maaref. Doing so would reliably perform communications (Jeon, at [0023]).
Regarding claims 2 and 11, Maaref teaches excluding the resources reserved by the one or more interfering UEs by determining whether a reservation power is above a priority-based threshold information (FIG. 3, 306: details PSSCH power > TH and number of UE’s using candidate resource > L), and selecting a resource from candidate resources remaining after the exclusion (FIG. 3, 306, 310: details exclude candidate resource; transmit using selected resources from trimmed down candidate resource set).
Regarding claims 3 and 12, Maaref teaches wherein resource reservation information are obtained from sidelink control information (SCI) on a physical sidelink control channel (PSCCH) or from a basic safety message ([0070]: details Explicit reservation in SCI or implicit indication via PSCCH/PSSCH DMRS by a transmitting (Tx) UE for a receiving (Rx) UE can indicate the next TB or TBs which can also be used by other UEs for resource selection and exclusion).
Maaref does not explicitly teach the beam information, location information of the UE.
However, Vogedes teaches the beam information, location information of the UE (APPENDIX ITEM 4: details 2. Associated with a serving cell/beam/area… 3. an associated granularity (gNB/TRP, beam, TA, RNA, PLMN, S-NSSAI, etc.)… i. QoS, positioning accuracy, positioning latency, inter-cell interference, measurements and associated thresholds or levels consisting of criteria to trigger a PRS transmission reconfiguration request(s)… 2. d. The UE determining that the criteria for a PRS transmission/resource request has been met, and as a result, the UE generates and transmits a PRS transmission request, including one or more of the following: i. coarse location, ii. UE capabilities and current configuration, iii. PRS measurement set, PRS transmission configuration parameters and/or PRS resource identifiers, iv. other positioning measurements such as LOS/NLOS, SSB, multipath detection, cell-edge, and mobility measures).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Maaref to incorporate the teachings of Vogedes and include the beam information, location information of the UE of Vogedes with Maaref. Doing so would improve efficiency of radio network operations (Vogedes, at [0003]).
Regarding claims 4 and 13, Maaref does not explicitly teach indicating, in the transmission, a transmission direction, the beam information, and the location information, to the one or more neighboring UEs receiving the transmission.
However, Vogedes teaches indicating, in the transmission, a transmission direction, the beam information, and the location information, to the one or more neighboring UEs receiving the transmission (APPENDIX ITEM 4: details 2. Associated with a serving cell/beam/area… 3. an associated granularity (gNB/TRP, beam, TA, RNA, PLMN, S-NSSAI, etc.)… i. QoS, positioning accuracy, positioning latency, inter-cell interference, measurements and associated thresholds or levels consisting of criteria to trigger a PRS transmission reconfiguration request(s)… 2. d. The UE determining that the criteria for a PRS transmission/resource request has been met, and as a result, the UE generates and transmits a PRS transmission request, including one or more of the following: i. coarse location, ii. UE capabilities and current configuration, iii. PRS measurement set, PRS transmission configuration parameters and/or PRS resource identifiers, iv. other positioning measurements such as LOS/NLOS, SSB, multipath detection, cell-edge, and mobility measures…e. The UE (and optionally nearby UEs in serving/neighbor cells) receiving from the serving network, notification for reconfigurations…).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Maaref to incorporate the teachings of Vogedes and include indicating, in the transmission, a transmission direction, the beam information, and the location information, to the one or more neighboring UEs receiving the transmission of Vogedes with Maaref. Doing so would improve efficiency of radio network operations (Vogedes, at [0003]).
Regarding claims 5 and 14, Maaref teaches wherein the potential collisions are avoided by performing a mode 2 resource selection procedure exclusion (FIG. 3, 306, 310: details mode 2 grant free transmission scheme) and exclude the resources reserved by the one or more interfering UEs from the set of candidate resources exclusion (FIG. 3, 306, 310: details exclude candidate resource; transmit using selected resources from trimmed down candidate resource set).
Maaref does not explicitly teach including the location and beam information from the one or more neighboring UEs to estimate the interference on subchannels and slots within the resource selection window.
However, Vogedes teaches including the location and beam information from the one or more neighboring UEs to estimate the interference on subchannels and slots within the resource selection window (APPENDIX ITEM 4: details 3. an associated granularity (gNB/TRP, beam, TA, RNA, PLMN, S-NSSAI, etc.)… c. The UE performing measurement and evaluation of a first PRS resource and configuration versus a positioning quality parameter set for KPIs including one or more of the following: i. QoS, positioning accuracy, positioning latency, inter-cell interference, measurements and associated thresholds or levels consisting of criteria to trigger a PRS transmission reconfiguration request(s)).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Maaref to incorporate the teachings of Vogedes and include including the location and beam information from the one or more neighboring UEs to estimate the interference on subchannels and slots within the resource selection window of Vogedes with Maaref. Doing so would improve efficiency of radio network operations (Vogedes, at [0003]).
Claims 6-9 and 15-18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Maaref in view of Vogedes and Jeon, further in view of US 2023/0068083 (hereinafter Dutta).
Regarding claims 6 and 15, Maaref does not explicitly teach wherein the transmission is sent to the one or more neighboring UEs on non-excluded resources by the mode 2 resource selection procedure while resources reserved by the one or more interfering UEs are excluded from the transmission, and wherein the one or more interfering UEs are identified by considering areas around UEs as zones.
However, Dutta teaches wherein the transmission is sent to the one or more neighboring UEs on non-excluded resources by the mode 2 resource selection procedure while resources reserved by the one or more interfering UEs are excluded from the transmission, and wherein the one or more interfering UEs are identified by considering areas around UEs as zones ([0094]-[0098]: details a UE 215 may operate in a sidelink Mode 2, where time and frequency resources for sidelink communications may be reserved by UEs 215… a UE 215 may perform channel measurements to sense a channel for reservations (e.g., a sidelink channel) and exclude resources it senses to be reserved based on an RSRP of a received SCI (e.g., SCI 230)… the RSRP may be above the threshold RSRP and UE 215-d may determine not to use time and frequency resources associated with SCI 230, which may reduce or eliminate interference associated with future sidelink communications; zone identifier).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Maaref to incorporate the teachings of Dutta and include wherein the transmission is sent to the one or more neighboring UEs on non-excluded resources by the mode 2 resource selection procedure while resources reserved by the one or more interfering UEs are excluded from the transmission, and wherein the one or more interfering UEs are identified by considering areas around UEs as zones of Dutta with Maaref. Doing so would improve coordination between devices (Dutta, at [0200]).
Regarding claims 7 and 16, Maaref does not explicitly teach wherein an exclusion zone is defined in at least one of the areas of the zones, and wherein the one or more interfering UEs are further identified by being within the exclusion zone or having at least one target UE within the exclusion zone.
However, Dutta teaches wherein an exclusion zone is defined in at least one of the areas of the zones, and wherein the one or more interfering UEs are further identified by being within the exclusion zone or having at least one target UE within the exclusion zone ([0098]: details a transmitting UE 215 (e.g., UE 215-b) may determine a set of group members (e.g., UEs 215) with poor links and indicate zone identifiers for the group members, as exclusion zone).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Maaref to incorporate the teachings of Dutta and include wherein an exclusion zone is defined in at least one of the areas of the zones, and wherein the one or more interfering UEs are further identified by being within the exclusion zone or having at least one target UE within the exclusion zone of Dutta with Maaref. Doing so would improve coordination between devices (Dutta, at [0200]).
Regarding claims 8 and 17, Maaref does not explicitly teach wherein, within the exclusion zone, the resources reserved by the one or more interfering UEs are excluded from the resource selection window when selecting the resources from the candidate resources.
However, Dutta teaches wherein, within the exclusion zone, the resources reserved by the one or more interfering UEs are excluded from the resource selection window when selecting the resources from the candidate resources ([0094]-[0099]: details zone identifiers for group members; a UE 215 may perform channel measurements to sense a channel for reservations (e.g., a sidelink channel) and exclude resources it senses to be reserved based on an RSRP of a received SCI (e.g., SCI 230)… the RSRP may be above the threshold RSRP and UE 215-d may determine not to use time and frequency resources associated with SCI 230, which may reduce or eliminate interference associated with future sidelink communications; conditional limitation so may not have patentable weight).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Maaref to incorporate the teachings of Dutta and include wherein, within the exclusion zone, the resources reserved by the one or more interfering UEs are excluded from the resource selection window when selecting the resources from the candidate resources of Dutta with Maaref. Doing so would improve coordination between devices (Dutta, at [0200]).
Regarding claims 9 and 18, Maaref does not explicitly teach wherein each of the zones is divided into a number of subzones that are configured per resource pool and are indicated in the SCI.
However, Dutta teaches wherein each of the zones is divided into a number of subzones that are configured per resource pool and are indicated in the SCI ([0094]-[0099]: details enhanced SCI… zone identifiers for group members, as subzones; a UE 215 may perform channel measurements to sense a channel for reservations (e.g., a sidelink channel) and exclude resources it senses to be reserved based on an RSRP of a received SCI (e.g., SCI 230). For example, UE 215-d may sense a channel and measure an RSRP associated with SCI 230. UE 215-d may determine that time and frequency resources associated with SCI 230 are reserved (e.g., unavailable) if the RSRP is above a threshold RSRP. In some examples, the RSRP may be above the threshold RSRP and UE 215-d may determine not to use time and frequency resources associated with SCI 230, which may reduce or eliminate interference associated with future sidelink communications).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Maaref to incorporate the teachings of Dutta and include wherein each of the zones is divided into a number of subzones that are configured per resource pool and are indicated in the SCI of Dutta with Maaref. Doing so would improve coordination between devices (Dutta, at [0200]).
Response to Arguments
Regarding the objection to the Specification, Applicant amended the abstract in the Specification. The amended abstract has overcome the objection to the Specification.
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 1-18 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Chen (US 2023/0370864) details directional channel occupancy monitoring for spectrum sharing.
Ryu (US 2022/0247477) details grouping of beams by user equipment.
Wang (US 2022/0038919) details downlink control channel transmission and reception.
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/JASPER KWOH/Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2415