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
The Amendment to the claims filed on 02/23/2026 complies with the requirements of 37 CFR 1.121(c) and has been entered. Claims 1 and 12 are amended.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's Arguments/Remarks filed 02/23/2026 (hereinafter Resp.) have been fully considered but they are not persuasive for the reasons explained below.
Applicant’s main argument is that Liu et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2023/0156784 (hereinafter Liu) does not teach, alone or in combination with Xue et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2023/0239920 (hereinafter Xue) “evaluating, by the NR UE a high-layer parameter, a number of subchannels, and a transport block (TB) priority corresponding to the plurality of reservation slots to select a plurality of multi-slot resources” with emphasis on the evaluation mechanism in view of selection. Examiner respectfully disagrees because Liu teaches a mechanism of selecting the plurality of multi-slot resources based on the priority of the TB(s) to be transmitted, specifically by selecting the earliest COT start slot – See [¶0064] (“The subset of COT starting positions 324 of the COT resources 314 in the unlicensed frequency band may be based on a priority level associated with a transport block (TB) that the UE intends to transmit. The UE may prioritize the transmission of a TB based on controlling the COT starting position 324 . . . based on a packet delay budget associated with the TB that the UE intends to transmit,” e.g., selecting an “earlier COT starting position 324(a) in slot (i) may allow the UE 115(a) to perform a successful LBT 329(a) and transmit a TB via PSSCH 336(a) in slot (i+1) earlier (e.g., higher priority),” i.e., the “earliest COT starting positions 324 (e.g., the earliest two starting positions) may be associated with the highest priority level”) (emphasis added); cf. Spec. [¶0012](“selecting the plurality of multi-slot resources comprises selecting a single candidate resource slot”). Therefore, Liu discloses evaluating, by the NR UE, a high-layer parameter, a number of subchannels, and a transport block (TB) priority to select a plurality of multi-slot resources specifically by associating the TB priority with the earliest slot available in the COT after a successful LBT, in addition to evaluating other parameters such a priority associated with the UE itself, the number of subchannels, or the required RSRP threshold for the selected resources.
Finally, Applicant does not clearly describe the patentable novelty which he or she thinks the claims present in view of the state of the art disclosed by the references cited in previous Office Actions or the IDS filed on 05/31/2023 (including technical contributions on Agenda Item 9.4.1 regarding channel access mechanisms and physical channel designs for sidelink on Unlicensed Spectrum as disclosed during the 3GPP TSG RAN WG1 Meeting #109-e, May 20221 and published before the effective filing date of the present application). Further, they do not show how the amendment avoids such references. In addition, Deng et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2025/0142595 (Provisional application No. 63/308,341, filed on Feb. 9, 2022 and Provisional application No. 63/327,206, filed on Apr. 4, 2022) (hereinafter Deng) discloses a plurality of methods for evaluating a plurality of reservation slots to select a plurality of multi-slot resources in sidelink resource pools in unlicensed frequency band (SL U) mooting Applicant’s 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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claims 1-9, and 11-20, as amended, are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as obvious over Liu et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2023/0156784 (hereinafter Liu ‘784) in view of Deng et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2025/0142595 (Provisional application No. 63/308,341, filed on Feb. 9, 2022 and Provisional application No. 63/327,206, filed on Apr. 4, 2022) (hereinafter Deng).
Regarding Amended Claims 1 and 12, Liu ‘784 teaches a UE, e.g., any of the UEs 115 in Figs. 1 and 6, and method comprising:
determining, by a new radio (NR) user equipment (UE), a multi-slot reservation configuration (“The UE 115a may . . . determine the COT resources the UE 115c will attempt to use in the unlicensed frequency band” – See [¶0066] and Fig. 3 showing a multi-slot COT duration and COT Resources 314)
wherein the multi-slot reservation configuration comprises a plurality of reservation slots corresponding to a time domain and a frequency domain (a “UE 115c may receive a resource pool (RP) configuration from the BS 105 that indicates resources in a licensed frequency band reserved for sidelink control information (SCI)” and “may transmit the SCI in the reserved resources to the UE 115d” and “the SCI may include a starting position of channel occupancy time (COT) resources in an unlicensed frequency band” so that “[t]he UE 115c may transmit a physical sidelink shared channel (PSSCH) to the UE 115d via the COT resources in the unlicensed frequency band” – See [¶0044]; furthermore, “[t]he SCI may be conveyed in one or more stages” and other “sidelink UE 115 may decode the first stage SCI-1 to determine where the reserved resources 225 are located (e.g., to refrain from using resources that are reserved for another sidelink transmission and/or to reduce resource collision within the wireless communications network 200)” – See [¶0046], e.g., as shown in Fig. 3, “the SCI-1328 and/or the SCI-2 326 may include one or more fields to indicate the COT starting position 324 of the COT resources 314 in the unlicensed frequency band . . . allocated to a specific UE intended to receive the PSSCH” whereby “the SCI-1 328 may include, without limitation, one or more fields to convey a frequency domain resource allocation (FDRA), a time domain resource allocation (TDRA), a resource reservation period (e.g., a period for repeating the SCI transmission and the corresponding COT resources 314)” and “the FDRA may be a number of bits in the SCI-1 328 that indicate a number of subchannels and/or a frequency interlace 312 reserved for the COT resources 314” and “TDRA may be a number of bits in the SCI-1 328 (e.g., 5 bits, 9 bits, or some other number of bits) that may indicate a number of slots 238 and/or sub-slots 310 reserved for the COT resources 314”– See ¶0055]);
performing, by the NR UE, a listen-before-talk (LBT) operation (“The transmitting UE may perform an LBT procedure at the starting position 324 to gain the COT resources 314 and transmit a PSSCH based on a successful LBT procedure” – See [¶0054] and Fig. 3);
evaluating, by the NR UE, a high-layer parameter, a number of subchannels, and a transport block (TB) priority corresponding to the plurality of reservation slots to select a plurality of multi-slot resources (“the SCI-1 328 may include . . . one or more fields to convey a frequency domain resource allocation (FDRA), a time domain resource allocation (TDRA) . . a priority level associated with . . . a transport block the UE intends to transmit in the COT resources 314” wherein “the FDRA may be a number of bits in the SCI-1 328 that indicate a number of subchannels and/or a frequency interlace 312 reserved for the COT resources 314” – See [¶0056]; furthermore, “[t]he UE may select a frequency interlace 312 that includes every second, third, fourth, or other increment of subchannels over the entire unlicensed frequency band” – See [¶0056] and “a COT duration 330 in the time domain that includes slot (i), slot (i+1), slot (i+2), and slot (i+3)” – See [¶0057] and Fig. 3; and “the UE may transmit the SCI-1 328 and/or the SCI-2 326 indicating a starting slot (i) and an ending slot (i+3) of the COT resources 314 in the unlicensed frequency band” or “a starting slot (i) and a number of contiguous slots (e.g., 3) following the starting slot (i)” – See [¶0061] comprising the plurality of multi-slot resources selected where “[t]he UE may begin to transmit a communication (e.g., a transport block (TB)) to another UE after the UE performs a listen-before-talk (LBT) procedure that passes in the unlicensed frequency band” – See [¶0028], e.g., “[t]he UE 115a may transmit one or more TBs via the PSSCH based on the LBT procedure at action 514 being successful” – See [¶0070] whereby “[t]he selected starting time may be based on a priority associated with the TB(s)” – See [¶0071] because “the SCI-1 328 and/or the SCI-2 326 may include a subset of available COT starting positions 324 of the COT resources 314. The subset of COT starting positions 324 of the COT resources 314 in the unlicensed frequency band may be based on a priority level associated with a transport block (TB) that the UE intends to transmit. The UE may prioritize the transmission of a TB based on controlling the COT starting position 324 . . . based on a packet delay budget associated with the TB that the UE intends to transmit,” e.g., an “earlier COT starting position 324(a) in slot (i) may allow the UE 115(a) to perform a successful LBT 329(a) and transmit a TB via PSSCH 336(a) in slot (i+1) earlier (e.g., higher priority),” i.e., the “earliest COT starting positions 324 (e.g., the earliest two starting positions) may be associated with the highest priority level” – See [¶0064]); and
in response to the LBT operation, indicating, by the NR UE, a selection of the plurality of multi-slot resources based on the evaluation in the time domain and the frequency domain on which to transmit one or more signals, the plurality of multi-slot resources corresponding to the plurality of reservation slots of the multi-slot reservation configuration (“The UE 115( a) may perform an LBT procedure 329(a) to gain the COT and transmit a PSSCH 336(a) based on a successful LBT procedure 329(a)” whereby “the UE may select a symbol ( e.g., a symbol having an index between 0 and 13) of the starting slot (e.g., slot (i)) as a starting position 324 of the COT resources 314” whereby “the COT resources 314 may include a sequence of slots (e.g., slots (i), (i+1), (i+2), (i+3))” – See [¶0062]; and “[t]he UE 115a may transmit one or more TBs via the PSSCH based on the LBT procedure at action 514 being successful” – See [¶0070] whereby “[t]he selected starting time may be based on a priority associated with the TB(s)” – See [¶0071]).
In the alternative that Liu ‘784 does not explicitly teach the evaluation procedure at the NR UE based on a high-layer parameter, a number of subchannels, and a transport block (TB) priority corresponding to the plurality of reservation slots to end up with a selection of a plurality of multi-slot resources, Deng teaches “a WTRU may be in a particular mode (e.g., Mode 2), and there may be one or more procedures for determining a SL U channel access and resource selection” – See [¶0113] when the NR UE/WRTU is “configured with one or more SL U resource pool(s) . . . may allocate and reserve one or more such SL resource(s) belonging to a resource pool for a SL U transmission” – See [¶0092].
The NR UE in Deng, like the UE in Liu ‘784, has “[a] minimum SL U frequency domain allocation unit for a PSSCH/PSCCH transmission” to “meet Occupied Channel Bandwidth (OCB) requirements of the unlicensed spectrum” – See [¶0089] and the “WTRU may determine SL U resources that belong to a resource pool” that “comprises a RB interlace within a time period” – See [¶0090] and Fig. 2A wherein “there may be more than one slot/mini-slot (e.g., one or more sets) in a resource pool” – See [¶0091] and “[i]n the time domain, a WTRU may determine a set(s) of slots that may belong to a SL resource pool based on a (pre )configured bitmap associated with the resource pool and the S-SSB transmission (pre )configuration” and the set of slots are indexed “within a SFN or DFN cycle in an increasing order as (t0 , t1 , ... , tmax) where max” depends on the subcarrier spacing used for SL transmissions, and “[t]he slots indexed within such a set may be denoted as physical slots, and the physical slots of the set may be consecutive in the time domain” – See [¶0094] wherein “[t]he WTRU may determine a resource pool that may include a subset of all available physical slots when one or more of the . . . physical slots are excluded from the resource pool” – See [¶0108].
Like in Liu ‘784, “the SL U channel access and/or resource selection may be based on LBT and/or SCI sensing” – See [¶0114] and the “WTRU may perform SL U channel access and resource selection procedure to determine whether or not the WTRU may transmit in the sensed SL U channel, and which resource(s) to select and/or reserve for SL transmission(s)” and “in order to reserve something for SL transmission, a WTRU may send a reservation signal, transmission, and/or message for the purposes of indicating to other devices that this WTRU is attempting to reserve the channel for use, . . . e.g., SCI, control information, reservation message, reservation signal, channel occupancy information, window information, etc.” and the “WTRU may perform one or more SL transmissions within a Channel Occupancy Time (COT) upon success of a SL U channel access and resource selection procedure” – See [¶0114], e.g., “may perform one or more SL contiguous transmissions from the beginning of an initiated COT” – See [¶0115].
Finally, Deng summarizes the evaluation procedure at the NR UE based on a high-layer parameter, a number of subchannels, and a transport block (TB) priority corresponding to the plurality of reservation slots to end up with selecting a plurality of multi-slot resources (“WTRU may be provided with one or more of the following information by higher layers for the SCI sensing: the resource pool and/or RB set(s) applicable to the SL channel and resource selection determination, such as an index indicating the resource pool and/or RB set; the priority of the TB(s) (PriorityTX), where a WTRU may determine this priority to be the highest priority of TBs (e.g., the lowest L1 priority value) when the SCI sensing may be triggered for transmissions of different TBs; a number of RB interlaces to be used for the PSSCH/PSCCH transmission carrying the TB in one slot (LRB_interlace); a remaining packet delay budget (PDB), where a WTRU may determine the value of this remaining PDB to be the smallest remaining PDB of TBs when the SCI sensing may be triggered for transmissions of different TBs; and/or, a COT and/or resource reservation interval (Prsvp_rx) when the traffic type of the TB(s) is periodic and the COT and/or resource reservation for another TB is enabled in the (pre )configuration of the indicated resource pool and/or RB set” – See [¶0149]).
Thus, Liu ‘784 and Deng each discloses steps performed by a NR UE to determine a multi-slots reservation configuration, a channel access mode, and a multi-parameter evaluation of a plurality of multi-slot resources to be selected and reserved for TB(s) transmission. A person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have understood that the resource selection of multiple slots among those slots indexed as available in a SL resource pool configured to the UE, whereby the selection is based on information provided by higher layers to decode other UE’s SCI or to transmit its own SCI, as taught in Deng, could have been added to the selection of a plurality of multi-slot resources based on the multiple factors evaluation, as taught in Liu ‘784, because both methods use COT reservation and LBT channel access for multi-slot sidelink transmissions in unlicensed spectrum, both including a case where the UE/WTRU may perform one or more SL contiguous transmissions from the beginning of an initiated COT upon success of a SL U channel access and resource selection procedure. Furthermore, a person of ordinary skill in the art would have been able to carry out the combination through techniques known in the art. Finally, the combination achieves the predictable result of evaluating resources available in a SL multi-slot resource pool based on multiple parameters to select a plurality of multi-slot resources for contiguous TB(s) transmission as taught in Deng.
Because Liu ‘784 and Deng disclose both the method of Amended Claim 1 and a UE executing that method, as recited in Amended Claim 12, these amended claims are obvious over Liu ‘784 in view of Deng.
Regarding Claims 2 and 13, dependent from Amended Claims 1 and 12, respectively, Deng further teaches wherein the higher-layer parameter corresponds to a number of consecutive reservation slots in the plurality of reservation slots (when evaluating multi-slot resources for selection, “a WTRU may re-index consecutively the determined slots of the resource pool in an increasing order” – See [¶0104] and “may determine time consecutiveness of logical slots in a resource pool” – See [¶0104]; furthermore, “the WTRU may determine the available candidate resource( s) within the current COT to use for transmission of the TB(s) based on one or more factors, such as: the determined total number of resource(s) for the transmission of the TB(s) (Nr_total); the determined available candidate resource(s) in the shared current COT (Nr_COT); L1 priority (Priorx) of the TB(s) to transmit,” – See [¶0182] whereby “WTRU may index the Nr_COT determined available candidate resource(s) for COT sharing in an ascending order in terms of RB interlace index and slot index” and “may denote each available candidate resource(s) with such an index as rj where the index j may be an integer in (0,1, Nr_COT-1),” i.e., consecutive indices – See [¶0186] and when the “WTRU may be (pre)configured with a set of available candidate resource patterns. For example, a WTRU may select the first group of consecutive Nr_share available candidate resources whose indexes are denoted by (r0, r1, rNr_sharing). When Nr_share=Nr_total, a WTRU may perform all transmissions of the TB(s) within the first consecutive available candidate resources within the shared current COT” – See [¶0190]; similarly, “a WTRU may perform LBT sensing in physical slots to ensure time consecutiveness of all sensing slots. Upon success of LBT channel access, a WTRU may determine to initiate a COT including a set of physical slots with consecutive physical slot index (ti). A WTRU may determine the logical slot index (Ti) of each of the included physical slots based on the mapping between the physical slots and logical slots belonging to the resource pool used for the PSSCH/PSCCH transmission(s) to be sent within the initiated COT,” e.g., if higher level preconfigured Nr_total consecutive slots are available in the COT – See [¶0278]). Because it would be obvious to a person of ordinary skills in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention that the higher level parameter Nr_total representing the number of slot necessary to transmit a burst of SL U TBs could imply consecutiveness in time, Claims 2 and 13 are obvious over Liu ‘784 in view of Deng.
Regarding Claims 3 and 14, dependent from Amended Claims 1 and 12, respectively, Liu ‘784 inherently teaches wherein selecting the plurality of multi-slot resources comprises:
selecting a single-candidate resource slot based at least in part on determining that a number of consecutive slots subsequent to the single-candidate resource slot, corresponding to the plurality of reservation slots, are not reserved (first, “the subset of resources satisfying the RSRP threshold [must be] below a threshold level (e.g., less than 10%, less than 20%, or other suitable threshold level” – See [¶0058], i.e., there must be enough resources depending on the higher level parameter, and “[t]he UE may select resources in the COT resources 314 that the other UEs have not reserved and transmit the SCI-1 328 and/or the SCI-2 326 to another UE indicating COT resources 314 that are not reserved by the other UEs” – See [¶0060], i.e., the UE selects only unreserved resources, e.g., a first slot (i) with a number of consecutive slots subsequent to it non-reserved, so that “the UE may transmit the SCI-1 328 and/or the SCI-2 326 indicating a starting slot (i) and a number of contiguous slots (e.g., 3) following the starting slot (i)” – See [¶0060]).
In addition, Deng also teaches selecting a single-candidate resource slot based at least in part on determining that a number of consecutive slots subsequent to the single-candidate resource slot, corresponding to the plurality of reservation slots, are not reserved (“to ensure time consecutiveness of all sensing slots . . . [a] WTRU may determine to stop the on-going LBT sensing when the LBT sensing performed over logical slots (e.g., with consecutive logical slot indexes) that may not be consecutive (e.g., have a gap in time domain)” – See [¶0278] and “may determine that the logical slots to be included in the COT may not be consecutive in time domain based on the mapping between the physical slots and logical slots belonging to the resource pool used for the PSSCH/PSCCH transmission(s) to perform within the initiated COT,” i.e., after the first slot available there isn’t a sufficient number of consecutive slots available and “may then determine to not initiate a COT following the performed LBT sensing channel access and start another LBT sensing channel access for COT initiation” – See [¶0285]; “Alternatively, a WTRU may continue an on-going LBT sensing and add a number of deferral periods in the LBT sensing corresponding to the length of the gap in the time domain” and “thus initiate a COT including a set of logical slots with consecutive logical slot index (Ti)” – See [¶0279] i.e., select a single-candidate resource slot to transmit PSSCH on during the initiated COT based at least in part on determining that a number of consecutive slots subsequent to the single-candidate resource slot).
Therefore, Claims 3 and 14 are obvious over Liu ‘784 in view of Deng.
Regarding Claims 4 and 15, dependent from Claims 3 and 14, respectively, Liu ‘784 further teaches wherein the selection of the single-candidate resource slot is performed randomly (“the UE may randomly select the COT starting position 324 from a subset of the COT resources 314” – See [¶0062], i.e., where the first single-candidate resource slot in the COT window starts). Deng teaches the same (“WTRU may determine which Nr_init available candidate resource(s) to use for transmission(s) of the TB(s) based on one or more of the following: random selection;” – See [¶0301], whereby there may be only one TB to be transmitted in one slot).
Therefore, Claims 4 and 15 are obvious over Liu ‘784 in view of Deng.
Regarding Claims 5 and 16, dependent from Amended Claims 1 and 12, Liu ‘784 further teaches wherein each slot of the multi-slot reservation configuration comprises separate physical sidelink control channel (PSCCH) data (“The first stage SCI may be carried on the PSCCH while the second stage SCI may be carried on the corresponding PSSCH” whereby “[t]he PSCCH/first stage SCI-1 235 may indicate resources that are reserved by UE 115c for retransmissions (e.g., the SCI-1 may indicate the reserved resources 225 for retransmissions)” – See [¶0046] and Fig. 2; then “[t]he transmitting UE may perform an LBT procedure at the starting position 324 to gain the COT resources 314 and transmit a PSSCH based on a successful LBT procedure” – See [¶0054] and Fig. 4; see also Fig. 2A of Deng).
Therefore, Claims 5 and 16 are obvious over Liu ‘784 in view of Deng.
Regarding Claims 6 and 17, dependent from Amended Claims 1 and 12, respectively, Liu ‘784 further teaches wherein only a first slot of the multi-slot reservation configuration comprises PSCCH data (“UE 115c may transmit a PSCCH/first stage SCI 235 (e.g., SCI-1)” to “indicate resources that are reserved by UE 115c for retransmissions (e.g., the SCI-1 may indicate the reserved resources 225 for retransmissions,” i.e., the PSCCH is sent in the first slot/transmission time interval, “while the second stage SCI may be carried on the corresponding PSSCH” – See [¶0046] and Figs. 2 and 3, whereby the PSSCH may start in the same slot or in a different slot, as indicated in SCI-1). Liu ‘784 further teaches that “the PSCCH 235 may be configured to occupy a number of physical resource blocks (PRBs) within a selected frequency. The frequency may include a single subchannel 250 (e.g., 10, 12, 15, 20, 25, or some other number of RBs within the subchannel 250)” so that “the first stage SCI-1 may include an explicit indication such that the UEs 115 may refrain from blindly decoding each channel” – See [¶0046]. However, Liu’784 does not explicitly teach2 the PSCCH data being transmitted at a lowest sub-channel index of a channel on which a multi-slot reservation signal is transmitted
Deng further teaches the PSCCH data being transmitted at a lowest sub-channel index of a channel on which a multi-slot reservation signal is transmitted (“WTRU may perform blind decoding in the (pre )configured PSCCH resources, such as the lowest RBs of each RB interlace (pre )configured for the resource pool and/or RB set in each monitored slot” – See [¶0122] whereby a “RB set may comprise of a number of contiguous RBs and the (pre )configuration of a RB set may include the index of the start RB and the number of RBs within the RB set. RB sets may be indexed in increasing order” and “WTRU may determine the frequency resource allocation of a RB set based on the RB set index” – See [¶0088] therefore, PSCCH resources occupy RBs with lowest index of the channel in the resource pool, as shown in Fig. 2A).
Therefore, Claims 6 and 17 are obvious over Liu ‘784 in view of Deng.
Regarding Claims 7 and 18, dependent from Claims 6 and 17, respectively, Liu ‘784 further teaches the PSCCH data further comprises a channel occupancy time (COT) sharing indication (“the SCI-1 328 and/or the SCI-2 326 transmitted by the UE may include a COT starting position 324 of COT resources 314 in an unlicensed frequency band,” whereby “the UE may transmit the SCI-1 328 and/or the SCI-2 326 via a physical sidelink control channel (PSCCH)” – See [¶0054]); and
the multi-slot reservation configuration further comprises one or more slots subsequent to the plurality of reservation slots comprising transmission data from a separate NR UE (“the UE 115(a) may have a TB to transmit with a higher priority than a TB the UE 115(b) intends to transmit. The UE 115(a) may select a COT starting position 324(a) in slot (i) earlier than the COT starting position 324(b) in slot (i+1) selected by the UE 115(b). The earlier COT starting position 324(a) in slot (i) may allow the UE 115(a) to perform a successful LBT 329(a) and transmit a TB via PSSCH 336(a) in slot (i+1) earlier (e.g., higher priority) than the UE 115(b) transmitting a TB via the PSSCH 336(b) in slot (i+2) after performing a successful LBT 329(b). In this manner, the COT resources 314 may be overprovisioned (e.g., overlapping COT resources 314 for different UEs) resulting in a higher throughput for the wireless network ( e.g., the wireless network 100 or 200) as compared to provisioning the COT resources 314 without overlapping resources” – See [¶0064]). Furthermore, Liu ’784 teaches COT sharing through frequency interlacing (“the COT resources 314 may be frequency division multiplexed (e.g., frequency interlaced) with COT resources 314 associated with one or more other UEs” – See [¶0056] and Fig. 3).
Deng also teaches PSCCH data further comprises a channel occupancy time (COT) sharing indication (“SCI information associated with the COT in which the decoded SCI is transmitted ( e.g., a current COT), such as remaining COT duration, MCOT duration, COT starting slot index, COT initiation/sharing indication, COT sharing for PSSCH/PSCCH indication, COT sharing for PFSCH indication, and/or channel congestion indication” – See [¶0125] ) and
the multi-slot reservation configuration further comprises one or more slots subsequent to the plurality of reservation slots comprising transmission data from a separate NR UE (e.g., “a remaining COT duration of 5 slots indicated in the SCI received in slot (t) may indicate the current COT may include contiguous slots from slot (t+1) to slot (t+5). In one example, the unit of the remaining COT duration may be a logical slot of the resource pool used for the PSSCH/PSCCH transmission carrying the decoded SCI,” – See [¶0126] i.e., comprising transmission data from a separate NR UE because “COT sharing for PSSCH/PSCCH indication may indicate whether the current COT may be sharable, for example, and may be shared by another WTRU to perform PSSCH/PSCCH transmission(s) within the COT” – See [¶0130])
Therefore, Claims 7 and 18 are obvious over Liu ‘784 in view of Deng.
Regarding Claims 8 and 19, dependent from Claims 6 and 17, Liu ‘784 further teaches wherein the multi-slot reservation configuration comprises sidelink control information (SCI), the SCI comprising one or more time resource indicator values (TRIV) and/or frequency resource indicator values (FRIV) (“the first stage SCI-1 may include, without limitation, one or more fields to convey a frequency domain resource allocation (FDRA), a time domain resource allocation (TDRA), a resource reservation period 245 (e.g., a period for repeating the SCI transmission and the corresponding reserved resources 225” wherein “the FDRA may be a number of bits in the first stage SCI-1 that may indicate a number of slots 238 and a number of subchannels reserved for the reserved resources 225 ( e.g., a receiving UE 115 may determine a location of the reserved resources 225 based on the FDRA by using the subchannel 250 including the PSCCH 235 and first stage SCI-1 as a reference),” i.e., the SCI contains a FRIV, and wherein “[t]he TDRA may be a number of bits in the first stage SCI-1 (e.g., 5 bits, 9 bits, or some other number of bits) that may indicate a number of time resources reserved for the reserved resources 225,” i.e., a TRIV – See [¶0047]).
Deng also teaches SCI comprising one or more time resource indicator values (TRIV) and/or frequency resource indicator values (FRIV) (“WTRU may decode and receive one or more of the following SCI information associated with the resource allocation of the PSSCH/PSCCH transmission(s) performed within the current COT” – See [¶0134] whereby “TRIV of x in the SCI received in slot (t) may indicate the WTRU transmitting the decoded SCI may continue PSCCH/PSSCH transmissions in the next x contiguous slots from slot (t+1) to slot (t+x)” – See [¶0135] and a “WTRU may indicate a Frequency Resource Indication Value (FRIV) value based on the frequency resource assignment, such as the index of an assigned starting RB interlace and a number of RB interlace(s) and/or RB set assigned for a PSSCH transmission, in the SCI associated with each PSSCH transmission scheduled within the COT” therefore “the FRIV value may be computed based on the starting RB interlace and the number of RB interlace(s) used for the PS SCH transmission in each slot within the COT” – See [¶0136]).
Therefore, Claims 8 and 19 are obvious over Liu ‘784 in view of Deng. Regarding Claim 9, dependent from Amended Claim 1, Liu ‘784 further teaches wherein each slot of the selected plurality of multi-slot resources carries a different data transport block (TB) (“The UE may prioritize the transmission of a TB based on controlling the COT starting position 324” whereby “multiple COT starting positions 324 may be associated with different priority levels,” e.g., “[t]he UE 115(a) may select a COT starting position 324(a) in slot (i)” when “the UE 115(a) may have a TB to transmit with a higher priority” – See [¶0064] and Fig. 4, i.e., different slots in the COT multi-slot resources carry different TBs based on priority).
Therefore, Claim 9 is obvious over Liu ‘784 in view of Deng.
Regarding Claims 11 and 20, dependent from Amended Claims 1 and 12, Liu ‘784 teaches a resource pool (the UE “may receive a resource pool (RP) configuration from a BS” – See [¶0059]) but the resource pool is only used for SCI transmission indicating the number of slots selected/reserved and COT parameters, as explained in Regarding Amended Claims 1 and 12, supra.
However, Deng further teaches wherein a number of slots within the multi-slot reservation configuration is configured or preconfigured according to a resource pool configuration (“A WTRU may be (pre )configured with one or more SL U resource pool(s). A WTRU may allocate and reserve one or more such SL resource(s) belonging to a resource pool for a SL U transmission” – See [¶0092] wherein “[i]n the time domain, a WTRU may determine a set(s) of slots that may belong to a SL resource pool based on a (pre )configured bitmap associated with the resource pool and the S-SSB transmission (pre )configuration” – See [¶0094] or “a WTRU may be (pre)configured with a resource pool including all available physical slots. When a resource pool includes all available physical slots, a logical slot may correspond to a physical slot denoted with the same index, such as ti=Ti (i from 0 to tmax). The logical slots of such a resource pool may be consecutive in the time domain” – See [¶0106]). Because the UE and methods in Liu ‘784 and Deng are combinable, as explained in Regarding Amended Claims 1 and 12, supra, a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have understood that the UE and method in Liu ‘784 can be improved, through techniques known in the art, so that number of slots within the multi-slot reservation configuration is configured or preconfigured according to a resource pool configuration as taught in Deng.
Therefore, Claims 11 and 20 are obvious over Liu ‘784 in view of Deng.
In sum, Claims 1-9, and 11-20, as amended, are rejected under 35 U.S.C. §103 as obvious over Liu ‘784 in view of Deng.
Claim 10 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Liu ‘784 in view of Deng as applied to Amended Claim 1 above, and further in view of 3GPP TSG-RAN WG1 Meeting #109-e, R1-2204742, Title: “PHY channel design framework for SL-U,” Source: Ericsson, May 9-20, 2022, https://www.3gpp.org/ftp/tsg_ran/WG1_RL1/TSGR1_109e/Docs/R1-2204742.zip R1-2204742.docx (hereinafter Ericsson).
Regarding Claim 10, dependent from Amended Claim 1, Liu ‘785 in view of Deng does not teach blind repetition of a single TB.
Ericsson teaches multi-slot resources selection whereby “the same TB is transmitted using a blind retransmission scheme in consecutive slots to reduce the likelihood of having LBT failure for that particular transmission” – See § 3.2, at page 3-4.
Thus, Liu ‘785 in view of Deng and Ericsson each teaches multi-slot resources selection and multi-slot transmissions in unlicensed spectrum whereby the UEs must perform LBT/channel access procedures before transmission. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to improve Liu’ 784 in view of Deng method of selecting a plurality of multi-slot resources in the time domain and the frequency domain on which to transmit one or more signals, using techniques known in the arts, with Ericsson’s scheme of blindly retransmitting same TB in consecutive slots, and predictably arrive at the claimed invention. Doing so would reduce the likelihood of having LBT failure for that particular transmission, as taught by Ericsson.
Thus, Claim 10 is obvious over Liu ‘784 in view of Deng, and further in view of Ericsson.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
Xue et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2023/0239920 as referenced in the previous Office Action;
Liu et al., US Patent No. 12,069,725 B2 discloses new radio (NR) user equipment (UE), a multi-slot reservation configuration wherein the multi-slot reservation configuration comprises a plurality of reservation slots corresponding to a time domain and a frequency domain;
Liu et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2024/0205974 teaches a method in SL transmitting a first transport block (TB) via a first sub-PSSCH associated with a first sub-slot, and transmitting, to at least one of the first UE or a second UE, a second TB via a PSSCH associated with a slot;
Wang, U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 20220217737 discloses method and apparatus for scheduling information for transmission in at least one of a plurality of time periods allocated for a transmission occasion of a channel, aiming at avoiding that LBT failures occur during transmission intervals of a multi-TTI period carrying critical UL data;
Calcev et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2025/0016826 teaches methods and apparatus for sidelink (SL) unlicensed priorities for channel access and resource reservation with resource selection in a resource pool, wherein if the available resource ratio is greater than a threshold X %, then UE selects a resource randomly among the candidate resources;
Wang Hua et al., U. S. Patent Application No. 2022/0338168 discloses method and apparatus for multiple slot SCI in a first slot of a group of multiple slots for reserving resources for the group of multiple slots and transmitting one or more sidelink transmissions in the reserved resources;
3GPP TS 38.321 V16.0.0 (2020-03), “Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; NR; Medium Access Control (MAC) protocol specification (Release 16); March 2022;
3GPP TS 37.213 V17.1.0 (2022-03), “Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; Physical layer procedures for shared spectrum channel access (Release 17)”;
3GPP TS 38.214 V17.1.0 (2022-03), “Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; NR; Physical layer procedures for data (Release 17)”;
Draft Report of 3GPP TSG RAN WG1 #109-e v0.2.0 (Online meeting, 9th – 20th May 2022), published June 7, 2022, and references included in § 9.4.1;
3GPP TSG RAN WGL Meeting #109-e, Rl-2205033, Title:” Channel access mechanism for Sidelink on Unlicensed Spectrum,” Source Qualcomm, May 2022; teaches, among others, that in NR SL a UE performs resource selection and reservation of a single TB at a time;
3GPP TSG RAN WGL Meeting #109-e, Rl-2205034, Title: “Physical Channel Design for Sidelink on Unlicensed Spectrum,” Source Qualcomm, May 2022; teaches Optimization for contiguous data burst.
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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/L.G.G./ Examiner, Art Unit 2478
/JOSEPH E AVELLINO/ Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2478
1 See, e.g., summary of contributions and agreements in § 9.4.1, Draft Report of 3GPP TSG RAN WG1 #109-e v0.2.0 (Online meeting, 9th – 20th May 2022), published June 7, 2022.
2A person of ordinary skills in the art would know that the sidelink control channel starts is first data transmitted after or with DM-RS, hence at the lowest sub-channel index.
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