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 .
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.
Claim(s) 1,2,14-17,29, and 30 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ciochina (WO 2024070033) in view of Freda (US 20210105789).
Re claim 1:
Ciochina discloses an apparatus for wireless communication at a first user equipment (UE), comprising: memory; and at least one processor coupled to the memory and, based at least in part on information stored in the memory, the at least one processor is configured to (Fig.5 ref. 504 MEM, ref. 502 CPU processor):
transmit, for a first network entity, an indication (Para.[0074] The UEs may be further configured to report information on the V2X application layer group to their attachment gNB upon receiving such indication and Fig.2 ref. 116 UE-A and ref. 118 UE-B are a group of UEs and ref. 108 NG-RAN#A and ref. 114 NG-RAN#B are a first network entity and a second network entity and Para.[0079] In embodiments, the same kind of information relating to group members may be reported by UEs to their attachment gNB via Uu link and RAN level coordination may further be implemented); and
communicate, based on the group ID, with the at least one second UE through a UEPLMN connection via the first network entity and the second network entity (Para.[0072] The message may further include an indication of one or more regions concerned by the inter-PLMN support. The message may further include V2X application layer group identification of one or more groups of UEs and Para.[0105] This inter-PLMN application support implies either the establishment of direct communication between UEs attached to different PLMNs and/or the establishment of direct communication between a UE attached to one PLMN and a node (gNB) of another PLMN and Para.[0058] provisioning identified application group members with specific quality of service and access configuration parameters for the establishment and the maintenance of actual direct links between group members).
As shown above, Ciochina discloses a UE receiving group identifier information from a V2X-AS and then the UE sending group information to the gNB. Ciochina also discloses PLMN, which UMTS operates within. However, Ciochina does not explicitly disclose the UE transmits an indication of a group identifier (ID); and communicate through a UE-Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS).
Freda discloses transmit an indication of a group identifier (ID) (Para.[0179] For example, upon indication from upper layers that a WTRU has joined, should join, or should form a group, a WTRU may request a group RNTI from the gNB using a sidelink WTRU Information or similar RRC message…The request for a group RNTI may further contain the WTRU's group identification (as configured by application layer) for the gNB to identify the WTRU group); and
communicate through a UE-Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) (Para.[0018] For example, the base station 114a in the RAN 104 and the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may implement a radio technology such as Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) Terrestrial Radio Access (UTRA)).
Ciochina and Freda are analogous because they both pertain to data communications.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Ciochina to include transmitting a group ID to a network entity and using UMTS as taught by Freda in order to provide resource usage efficiency (Freda Para.[0195]).
Re claim 2:
As discussed above, Ciochina in view of Freda meets all the limitations of the parent claim.
Ciochina does not explicitly disclose the apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a transceiver coupled to the at least one processor, wherein, to transmit the indication of the group ID, the at least one processor is configured to transmit, via the transceiver, the indication of the group ID to the first network entity via a medium access control (MAC)-control element (MAC-CE) or a radio resource control (RRC) message.
Freda discloses the apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a transceiver coupled to the at least one processor, wherein, to transmit the indication of the group ID, the at least one processor is configured to transmit, via the transceiver, the indication of the group ID to the first network entity via a medium access control (MAC)-control element (MAC-CE) or a radio resource control (RRC) message (Para.[0179] a WTRU may request a group RNTI from the gNB using a sidelink WTRU Information or similar RRC message…The request for a group RNTI may further contain the WTRU's group identification (as configured by application layer) for the gNB to identify the WTRU group and Fig.1B ref. 120 Transceiver and ref. 118 Processor).
Ciochina and Freda are analogous because they both pertain to data communications.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Ciochina to include transmitting a group ID using RRC as taught by Freda in order to provide resource usage efficiency (Freda Para.[0195]).
Re claim 14: Claim 14 is rejected on the same grounds of rejection set forth in claim 1 from the perspective of the network entity.
Re claim 15:
As discussed above, Ciochina in view of Freda and Belleschi meets all the limitations of the parent claims.
Ciochina discloses the apparatus of claim 14, further comprising a transceiver coupled to the at least one processor, wherein, to receive the first indication of the group ID, the at least one processor is configured to receive the first indication of the group ID via the transceiver, and wherein the first indication of the group ID is identical to the second indication of the group ID (Para.[0058] provisioning identified application group members with specific quality of service and access configuration parameters for the establishment and the maintenance of actual direct links between group members and Freda Para.[0179] a WTRU may request a group RNTI from the gNB using a sidelink WTRU Information or similar RRC message).
Re claim 16:
As discussed above, Ciochina in view of Freda and Belleschi meets all the limitations of the parent claims.
Ciochina does not explicitly disclose the apparatus of claim 14, wherein the first indication of the group ID is different from the second indication of the group ID.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention for the group IDs to be the same or different depending on the communication path used. Zhang (US 20210153063) is further evidence relied upon to explicitly show a group ID being different (Zhang Para.[0185] Uu based group ID can also or instead be different from, or not used as, a sidelink-based group ID).
Re claim 17: Claim 17 is rejected on the same grounds of rejection set forth in claim 2.
Re claim 29: Claim 29 is rejected on the same grounds of rejection set forth in claim 1.
Re claim 30: Claim 30 is rejected on the same grounds of rejection set forth in claim 1 from the perspective of the network entity.
Claim(s) 3-5,7,11-13,18-20,22, and 26-28 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ciochina (WO 2024070033) in view of Freda (US 20210105789) as applied to claims 2 and 14 above, and further in view of Belleschi (US 20220110105).
Re claim 3:
As discussed above, Ciochina in view of Freda meets all the limitations of the parent claims.
Ciochina discloses the apparatus of claim 2, wherein, (Para.[0072] Once one or more groups of UEs are determined, the V2X application layer (V2X-AS) may generate a message containing information to assist the establishment of inter-PLMN direct communications between UEs of the same group of UEs…In the example of Figure 1 , the message from the V2X application layer may comprise information assisting the establishment of inter-PLMN direct communications between UE-A and UE-B, such information comprising for instance an indication of a region where both UE-A and UE-B are located).
Ciochina does not explicitly disclose prior to the group ID being associated with the identification of the at least one second UE.
Belleschi discloses the apparatus of claim 2, wherein, prior to the group ID being associated with the identification of the at least one second UE, the first network entity is associated with the identification of the second network entity (Fig. 7 and Para.[0008] The radio configuration for the SL communications may be received from at least one of the one or more base stations and Para.[0010] For example, the at least one message may be further indicative of a geographical area Examiner Note – the base station has information about the neighboring base stations before a group ID is assigned).
Ciochina and Belleschi are analogous because they both pertain to data communications.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Ciochina to include a first network entity associated with identifying a second network entity before a group ID being assigned as taught by Belleschi in order to reduce or avoid interference caused by sidelink communications (Belleschi Para.[0005]).
Re claim 4:
Ciochina does discloses the apparatus of claim 3, wherein the identification of the second network entity is associated with: a first determination of a current location of the first UE, a second determination of, based on the current location of the first UE and a sidelink range of the first UE, a region for the at least one second UE, and the identification of, based on the region, the second network entity (Para.[0094] The minimum range requirement of a service may be provided together with the associated QoS parameters from service layers and Para.[0028] an indication of a physical location and Para.[0070] Further, as described in nplcit8, information relating to UE location and to initial UE groupings in the different PLMNs may be separately obtained from a service enabler layer for verticals and Para.[0071] From the determined and/or predicted UE location and/or UE performance, groups of UEs that can benefit from direct communications may be determined and Para.[0072] Once one or more groups of UEs are determined, the V2X application layer (V2X-AS) may generate a message containing information to assist the establishment of inter-PLMN direct communications between UEs of the same group of UEs…In the example of Figure 1 , the message from the V2X application layer may comprise information assisting the establishment of inter-PLMN direct communications between UE-A and UE-B, such information comprising for instance an indication of a region where both UE-A and UE-B are located – Examiner Note: the location of the UEs are determined and then based on the location, inter PLMN is coordinated where needed).
Re claim 5:
Ciochina discloses the apparatus of claim 3, wherein the identification of the second network entity is associated with: the identification of the second network entity from a set of preconfigured network entities (Para.[0063] For instance, when knowledge on neighboring gNBs in partnered PLMNs is available as e.g. described in the previous section, information on configuration or reconfiguration may be transmitted through specific signalling via Xn links between neighboring gNBs. In this example, information on configuration or reconfiguration is transmitted through RAN level coordination).
Re claim 7:
As discussed above, Ciochina in view of Freda and Belleschi meets all the limitations of the parent claims.
Ciochina does discloses the apparatus of claim 3, wherein the identification of the at least one second UE by the first network entity via the second network entity is associated with: (Para.[0105] This inter-PLMN application support implies either the establishment of direct communication between UEs attached to different PLMNs and/or the establishment of direct communication between a UE attached to one PLMN and a node (gNB) of another PLMN).
Ciochina does not explicitly disclose a transmission of the indication of the group ID to the second network entity to cause the second network entity to transmit the group ID to the at least one second UE.
Freda discloses a transmission of the indication of the group ID to the second network entity to cause the second network entity to transmit the group ID to the at least one second UE (Para.[0085] More specifically, a destination address may have the following structure: service ID+group ID+member ID – Examiner’s Note a destination ID is used to send a packet to the destination so when a packet is sent from a UE via a second network entity (as shown by Ciochina), the destination address would include the group ID (as shown by Freda)).
Ciochina and Freda are analogous because they both pertain to data communications.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Ciochina to include a group ID in a destination address as taught by Freda in order to provide resource usage efficiency (Freda Para.[0195]).
Re claim 11:
As discussed above, Ciochina in view of Freda and Belleschi meets all the limitations of the parent claims.
Ciochina does not explicitly disclose the apparatus of claim 3, wherein, to communicate with the at least one second UE via the first network entity and the second network entity, the at least one processor is configured to: communicate, in response to a change of a serving entity of the at least one second UE from the second network entity to a third network entity, with the at least one second UE via the first network entity and the third network entity.
Belleschi discloses the apparatus of claim 3, wherein, to communicate with the at least one second UE via the first network entity and the second network entity, the at least one processor is configured to: communicate, in response to a change of a serving entity of the at least one second UE from the second network entity to a third network entity, with the at least one second UE via the first network entity and the third network entity (Fig. 7 shows a first second and third entity and Para.[0008] The radio configuration for the SL communications may be received from at least one of the one or more base stations and Para.[0010] For example, the at least one message may be further indicative of a geographical area).
Ciochina and Belleschi are analogous because they both pertain to data communications.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Ciochina to include communicating via a third network entity as taught by Belleschi in order to reduce or avoid interference caused by sidelink communications (Belleschi Para.[0005]).
Re claim 12:
Ciochina discloses the apparatus of claim 3, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: transmit, to the first network entity, an update indication that indicates an addition of a third UE to the group of UEs, wherein the update indication is associated with a transmission of the indication of the group ID from the first network entity to a third network entity associated with the third UE within a set of preconfigured network entities (Para.[0133] As a prerequisite, gNB-X may each keep an updated list of the attached UEs involved in inter-PLMN PC5 sidelink, and UE-X may regularly report their status towards inter-PLMN PC5 sidelink to their respective gNB and Para.[0109] In addition, the UEs in PLMN-A having received the message from V2X-AS in block 202, may inform their respective gNBs. This information may be relayed to CN-A which may then prepare a list of UEs in PLMN-A authorized to access the V2X service, which may be equated to a list of UEs in PLMN-A that need application support from other PLMNs and Para.[0010] UE-A announces its L2 transmission identifier to its neighboring UEs and Para.[0133] gNB-A may request from UE-A a report containing a list of neighboring gNBs (collectively noted gNB-X), each having at least one attached UEs configured to communicate with UE-A using an inter-PLMN PC5 sidelink with a specific authorization set by CN-A – Examiner Note: the list of neighboring gNBs is a set of preconfigured network entities).
Re claim 13:
As discussed above, Ciochina in view of Freda and Belleschi meets all the limitations of the parent claims.
Ciochina does not explicitly disclose the apparatus of claim 12, wherein the third network entity is a serving entity of the third UE.
Belleschi discloses the apparatus of claim 12, wherein the third network entity is a serving entity of the third UE (Para.[0212] Its hardware 1135 may include a radio interface 1137 configured to set up and maintain a wireless connection 1170 with a base station serving a coverage area in which the UE 1130 is currently located).
Ciochina and Belleschi are analogous because they both pertain to data communications.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Ciochina to explicitly show a serving base station as taught by Belleschi in order to reduce or avoid interference caused by sidelink communications (Belleschi Para.[0005]).
Re claim 18: Claim 18 is rejected on the same grounds of rejection set forth in claim 3.
Re claim 19: Claim 19 is rejected on the same grounds of rejection set forth in claim 4.
Re claim 20: Claim 20 is rejected on the same grounds of rejection set forth in claim 5.
Re claim 22: Claim 22 is rejected on the same grounds of rejection set forth in claim 7.
Re claim 26: Claim 26 is rejected on the same grounds of rejection set forth in claim 11 from the perspective of the network entity.
Re claim 27: Claim 27 is rejected on the same grounds of rejection set forth in claim 12 from the perspective of the network entity.
Re claim 28: Claim 28 is rejected on the same grounds of rejection set forth in claim 13.
Claim(s) 6 and 21 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ciochina (WO 2024070033) in view of Freda (US 20210105789) and Belleschi as applied to claims 5 and 20 above, and further in view of Chen (US 20240121659).
Re claim 6:
As discussed above, Ciochina in view of Freda and Belleschi meet all the limitations of the parent claims.
Ciochina does not explicitly disclose the apparatus of claim 5, wherein the identification of the second network entity from the set of preconfigured network entities is based on a maximum range of the first UE.
Chen discloses the apparatus of claim 5, wherein the identification of the second network entity from the set of preconfigured network entities is based on a maximum range of the first UE (Para.[0134] It is assumed that there is data transmission between the UE 1 and the UE 2. In addition to using device-to-device communication for transmission, when the UE 1 and the UE 2 are far away from each other or when device-to-device communication resources are congested, a base station may be used to forward the data for the UE 1 and the UE 2).
Ciochina and Chen are analogous because they both pertain to data communications.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Ciochina to include using a range to identify a second entity as taught by Chen in order to improve data transmission efficiency and reduce data transmission latency (Chen Para.[0006]).
Re claim 21: Claim 21 is rejected on the same grounds of rejection set forth in claim 6.
Claim(s) 8-10 and 23-25 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ciochina (WO 2024070033) in view of Freda (US 20210105789) and Belleschi as applied to claims 3,7,18, and 22 and above, and further in view of Hui (US 20220322329).
Re claim 8:
As discussed above, Ciochina in view of Freda and Belleschi meets all the limitations of the parent claims.
Ciochina does not explicitly disclose the apparatus of claim 7, wherein the group ID is configured to be transmitted to the at least one second UE via downlink control information (DCI).
Hui discloses the apparatus of claim 7, wherein the group ID is configured to be transmitted to the at least one second UE via downlink control information (DCI) (Para.[0203] DCI in order to facilitate detection of transmission errors. When the DCI is intended for a UE (or a group of the UEs), the base station may scramble the CRC parity bits with an identifier of the UE (or an identifier of the group of the UEs)).
Ciochina and Hui are analogous because they both pertain to data communications.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Ciochina to include DCI with a group ID as taught by Hui in order to improve decoding performance and radio resource efficiency (Hui Para.[0248,0251]).
Re claim 9:
As discussed above, Ciochina in view of Freda and Belleschi meets all the limitations of the parent claims.
Ciochina does not explicitly disclose the apparatus of claim 8, wherein the DCI is scrambled with one or more of: a cell radio network temporary identifier (C-RNTI), a temporary C-RNTI (TC-RNTI), or a paging RNTI.
Hui discloses the apparatus of claim 8, wherein the DCI is scrambled with one or more of: a cell radio network temporary identifier (C-RNTI), a temporary C-RNTI (TC-RNTI), or a paging RNTI (Para.[0204] A DCI having CRC parity bits scrambled with a cell RNTI (C-RNTI)).
Ciochina and Hui are analogous because they both pertain to data communications.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Ciochina to include DCI scrambled with a C-RNTI as taught by Hui in order to improve decoding performance and radio resource efficiency (Hui Para.[0248,0251]).
Re claim 10:
As discussed above, Ciochina in view of Freda and Belleschi meets all the limitations of the parent claims.
Ciochina does not explicitly disclose the apparatus of claim 3, wherein a scrambling sequence for a physical data shared channel (PDSCH) between the first UE and the at least one second UE is based on at least one of: the group ID or a combination of the group ID and a source ID associated with the first UE, or a common sequence known to the first UE and the at least one second UE.
Hui discloses the apparatus of claim 3, wherein a scrambling sequence for a physical data shared channel (PDSCH) between the first UE and the at least one second UE is based on at least one of: the group ID or a combination of the group ID and a source ID associated with the first UE, or a common sequence known to the first UE and the at least one second UE (Para.[0160] A radio network may support (e.g., at least for CP-OFDM) a common DMRS structure for downlink and uplink, wherein a DMRS location, a DMRS pattern, and/or a scrambling sequence may be the same or different. The base station may transmit a downlink DMRS and a corresponding PDSCH using the same precoding matrix and Para.[0203] When the DCI is intended for a UE (or a group of the UEs), the base station may scramble the CRC parity bits with an identifier of the UE (or an identifier of the group of the UEs)).
Ciochina and Hui are analogous because they both pertain to data communications.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Ciochina to include a scrambling sequence for a PDSCH based on a group ID as taught by Hui in order to improve decoding performance and radio resource efficiency (Hui Para.[0248,0251]).
Re claim 23: Claim 23 is rejected on the same grounds of rejection set forth in claim 8.
Re claim 24: Claim 24 is rejected on the same grounds of rejection set forth in claim 9.
Re claim 25: Claim 25 is rejected on the same grounds of rejection set forth in claim 10.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Di Girolamo (US 20230014303) teaches groupcasting to UEs in different cells.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MOHAMMAD SAJID ADHAMI whose telephone number is (571)272-8615. The examiner can normally be reached 8:30-5:00 PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Sujoy Kundu can be reached at (571) 272-8586. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/MOHAMMAD S ADHAMI/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2471
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