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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of papers submitted under 35 U.S.C. 119(a)-(d), which papers have been placed of record in the file.
Applicant’s claim for domestic priority under 35 U.S.C. 119(e), 120, 121, 365(c), or 386(c) or indicate National Stage entry from a PCT application is acknowledged.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements submitted on 07/06/2023 and 12/27/2024 have been considered by the Examiner and made of record in the application file.
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of Species III in the reply filed on 12/24/2025 is acknowledged.
Remarks
The present Office Action is based upon the Applicant’s amendment filed on 12/24/2025. Claims 1-8 and 21-26 are now pending in the present application.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1, 3-8, 21, and 23-26 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by SHIN et al. -US 20230087401 A1- (hereinafter Shin).
Regarding claim 1, Shin discloses a method for operating a first user equipment (UE), the method comprising:
transmitting, to a second UE, a request for inter-UE coordination (IUC) information using second-stage sidelink control information (SCI) (FIG. 7 and FIG. 9 , par. 0128 and 0131, “UE-B requests resource allocation from UE-A in case of performing inter-UE coordination in the sidelink as shown in FIG. 7”; and/or par. 0158, “903 in FIG. 9 indicates an operation that UE-B requests resource allocation from UE-A as proposed in the second embodiment… Method 3: Request through 2nd stage SCI”; claim 17, “wherein the first information requesting the inter UE coordination information is received via 2nd-stage sidelink control information (SCI) or a medium access control control element (MAC CE)”);
receiving, from the second UE, the IUC information including information on a result of a first resource set determined based on a result of a first sensing operation performed by the second UE (par. 0133, “in case that UE-B requests the SR from UE-A, UE-A may receive it and request resource allocation of UE-B to the base station to which UE-A belongs, or directly select a resource for UE-B through sensing, and then provide resource allocation information to UE-B.”; par. 0091, “UE-A may be allocated transmission resources by the base station or may directly allocate transmission resources through sensing and resource selection. To enable this, UE-A should be provided with information related to resource allocation to UE-B”; par. 0149, 0150 and 0158);
selecting a transmission resource based on at least one of the IUC information or a result of a second resource sensing operation performed by the first UE (FIG. 9, par. 0159, “When UE-A provides resource allocation information to UE-B, UE-B may operate to only refer to the information and determine whether to select it as a sidelink transmission resource.”); and
performing a sidelink communication using the transmission resource (par. 0159, “when UE-A provides resource allocation information to UE-B, UE-B may operate to perform sidelink transmission using the corresponding information.”; par. 0155),
wherein the IUC information is transmitted using the second-stage SCI (claims 16 and 17, par. 0106, “A method of indicating a resource pool index to be shared through 2nd stage SCI after information on a plurality of resource pools is shared through PC5-RRC” and par. 0109, “A method of indicating a resource pool index to be shared through 2nd stage SCI after information on a plurality of resource pools is shared through SL MAC CE”),
wherein the second-stage SCI includes indicator that indicates the IUC information is requested (par. 0105, “Method 3 is a method of sharing resource pool information through 2nd stage SCI. It is assumed that UE-A and UE-B of FIG. 7 share resource pools A, B, and C through the above method… In other words, resource pools A, B, and C may be resource pools allocated to UE-B (Case-1), may be resource pools allocated to UE-A (Case-2), or may be resource pools shared for inter-UE coordination independently of the resource pools allocated to UE-A and UE-B (Case-3).”; claims 16 and 17, “wherein the first information requesting the inter UE coordination information is received via 2nd-stage sidelink control information (SCI) or a medium access control control element (MAC CE).”), and
wherein the IUC information includes at least one of information related to resource pool or an indicator indicates whether the first resource set is preferred or non-preferred (par. 0157, “When one or more resource pools used for inter-UE coordination are configured, UE-A may indicate preferred resource pool information to UE-B as in step 902. In an embodiment, the step 902 may be omitted in case that separate signaling is not required, such as a case where only one resource pool used for inter-UE coordination is configured, or a case where a plurality of resource pools are configured but preferred resource pool information may be determined according to a predetermined rule.”).
Regarding claim 3, as applied to claim 1 above, Shin discloses wherein the request includes at least one of an indicator requesting the resource allocation, an identifier of the first UE, information on resources allocated to the first UE, a threshold used for the first resource sensing operation, or information requesting reporting of whether the first resource set is preferred resource(s), or non-preferred resource(s) (par. 0145, “UE-A needs to additionally indicate the location information (a location in time domain and a sub-channel start location in frequency domain) of the initial resource to UE-B.” 0148).
Regarding claim 4, as applied to claim 1 above, Shin discloses wherein the request is transmitted to a base station through the second UE, and the first resource sensing operation is triggered by first resource sensing information generated by the base station based on the request (par. 0158, “When UE-A receives the SR from UE-B, UE-A may provide resource allocation information to UE-B by requesting resource allocation of UE-B from the base station or directly selecting a resource for UE-B through sensing.”; par. 0137).
Regarding claim 5, as applied to claim 4 above, Shin discloses wherein the first resource sensing information is transmitted from the base station to the second UE, and the first resource sensing information includes at least one of an indicator indicating whether to perform the first resource sensing operation, information on resources on which the first resource sensing operation is performed, a first threshold used to determine preferred resource(s), or a second threshold used to determine non-preferred resource(s) (par. 0112, “CBR may be defined as a ratio of sub-channels in which a sidelink received signal strength indicator (RSSI) measured by the UE in the resource pool exceeds a (pre)determined threshold.”).
Regarding claim 6, as applied to claim 1 above, Shin discloses wherein the information on the first resource set includes at least one of resource pool (RP) resource information indicating a resource pool in which the first resource sensing operation has been performed, time-frequency resource information indicating time-frequency resources on which the first resource sensing operation has been performed within the resource pool indicated by the RP resource information, a preference indicator indicating that the time-frequency resources indicated by the time-frequency resource information are preferred resource(s), a non-preference indicator indicating that the time-frequency resources indicated by the time-frequency resource information are non-preferred resource(s), a first threshold used to determine the preferred resource(s), or a second threshold used to determine the non-preferred resource(s) (par. 0083, “In case of the resource pool candidate information, UE-B may perform sidelink transmission by allocating a resource from one of the resource pools provided by UE-A. As described above, the resource pool indicates time and frequency domains from which a resource can be selected in the sidelink, and the UE may be allocated a transmission resource in the resource pool by the base station, or may allocate a transmission resource by directly performing sensing and resource selection”).
Regarding claim 7, as applied to claim 6 above, Shin discloses wherein a first mapping relationship between the preference indicator and the first threshold and a second mapping relationship between the non-preference indicator and the second threshold are configured, and the first threshold is set to be distinguished from the second threshold (par. 0083, “In case of the resource pool candidate information, UE-B may perform sidelink transmission by allocating a resource from one of the resource pools provided by UE-A. As described above, the resource pool indicates time and frequency domains from which a resource can be selected in the sidelink, and the UE may be allocated a transmission resource in the resource pool by the base station, or may allocate a transmission resource by directly performing sensing and resource selection”).
Regarding claim 8, as applied to claim 6 above, Shin discloses wherein when the information on the first resource set not including the preference indicator and the non- preference indicator includes the first threshold, the time-frequency resources indicated by the first information on the first resource set are determined as the preferred resource(s), and when the information on the first resource set not including the preference indicator and the non-preference indicator includes the second threshold, the time-frequency resources indicated by the information on the first resource set are determined as the non-preferred resource(s) (par. 0083, “In case of the resource pool candidate information, UE-B may perform sidelink transmission by allocating a resource from one of the resource pools provided by UE-A. As described above, the resource pool indicates time and frequency domains from which a resource can be selected in the sidelink, and the UE may be allocated a transmission resource in the resource pool by the base station, or may allocate a transmission resource by directly performing sensing and resource selection”).
Regarding claim 21, Shin discloses a first user equipment (UE) in a wireless communication system, the first UE comprising:
at least one transceiver; at least one processor; and at least one memory operably coupled to the at least one processor and storing instructions that, based on being executed by the at least one processor, controls the UE to perform operations comprising (FIG. 10, par. 0162 for a UE receiver 1000, a UE transmitter 1004, and a UE processor 1002):
transmitting, to a second UE, a request for inter-UE coordination (IUC) information using second-stage sidelink control information (SCI) (FIG. 7 and FIG. 9 , par. 0128 and 0131, “UE-B requests resource allocation from UE-A in case of performing inter-UE coordination in the sidelink as shown in FIG. 7”; and/or par. 0158, “903 in FIG. 9 indicates an operation that UE-B requests resource allocation from UE-A as proposed in the second embodiment… Method 3: Request through 2nd stage SCI”; claim 17, “wherein the first information requesting the inter UE coordination information is received via 2nd-stage sidelink control information (SCI) or a medium access control control element (MAC CE)”);
receiving, from the second UE, the UC information includes information on a first resource set determined based on a result of a first resource sensing operation performed by the second UE (par. 0133, “in case that UE-B requests the SR from UE-A, UE-A may receive it and request resource allocation of UE-B to the base station to which UE-A belongs, or directly select a resource for UE-B through sensing, and then provide resource allocation information to UE-B.”; par. 0091, “UE-A may be allocated transmission resources by the base station or may directly allocate transmission resources through sensing and resource selection. To enable this, UE-A should be provided with information related to resource allocation to UE-B”; par. 0149, 0150 and 0158);
selecting a transmission resource based on at least one of the IUC information or a result of a second resource sensing operation performed by the first UE (FIG. 9, par. 0159, “When UE-A provides resource allocation information to UE-B, UE-B may operate to only refer to the information and determine whether to select it as a sidelink transmission resource.”); and
performing a sidelink communication using the transmission resource, wherein the IUC information is transmitted using the second-stage SCI (par. 0159, “when UE-A provides resource allocation information to UE-B, UE-B may operate to perform sidelink transmission using the corresponding information.”; par. 0155),
wherein the second-stage SCI includes indicator that indicates the IUC information is requested (claims 16 and 17, par. 0106, “A method of indicating a resource pool index to be shared through 2nd stage SCI after information on a plurality of resource pools is shared through PC5-RRC” and par. 0109, “A method of indicating a resource pool index to be shared through 2nd stage SCI after information on a plurality of resource pools is shared through SL MAC CE”), and
wherein the IUC information includes at least one of information related to resource pool or an indicator indicates whether the first resource set is preferred or non-preferred (par. 0157, “When one or more resource pools used for inter-UE coordination are configured, UE-A may indicate preferred resource pool information to UE-B as in step 902. In an embodiment, the step 902 may be omitted in case that separate signaling is not required, such as a case where only one resource pool used for inter-UE coordination is configured, or a case where a plurality of resource pools are configured but preferred resource pool information may be determined according to a predetermined rule.”).
Regarding claims 23-26, as applied to claim 21 above, the claim is rejected for the same reason(s) as set forth claims 3-6 above.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim(s) 2 and 22 is/are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to Applicant’s disclosure.
Panteleev et al. -US 11601789 B2- disclose UE Configured To Determine Slots And Resource Blocks For V2X Sidelink Communication Based On SCI Format.
HONG et al. -US 20230141004 A1- disclose METHOD AND DEVICE FOR TRANSMITTING AND RECEIVING AUXILIARY INFORMATION IN NR V2X.
Lee et al. -US 20220103320 A1- disclose METHOD AND TERMINAL FOR MEASURING CHANNEL IN WIRELESS COMMUNICATION SYSTEM.
Li et al. -US 20220086803 A1- disclose METHOD AND APPARATUS OF HANDLING INTER-DEVICE COORDINATION FOR SIDELINK COMMUNICATION IN A WIRELESS COMMUNICATION SYSTEM.
YANG et al. -US 20220046663 A1- disclose COMMUNICATING ABOUT SIDELINK RESOURCE AVAILABILITY WITHOUT LEGACY USER EQUIPMENT INTERFERENCE.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ALLAHYAR KASRAIA N whose telephone number is (571)270-1772. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday, 8:00 am - 5: 00 pm.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, RAFAEL PEREZ-GUTIERREZ can be reached at (571)272-7915. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/ALLAHYAR KASRAIA N/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2642