DETAILED ACTION
The instant application having application No 18/236621 filed on 11/28/2025 is presented for examination by the examiner.
Response to Argument
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 1, 2,7,15,17, and 19-20 have been considered. However, Examiner respectfully disagrees with Applicant’s arguments and would like to provide a further clarification regarding the interpretation of the cited references.
In response to the argument on page 8-9 of Applicant’s Remark, “send a duplicate sidelink transmission to a user equipment on each carrier of a group of carriers”. In fact, Examiner interprets the “the network node determines a sidelink component carrier list and duplication is enabled for the sidelink communication based on indications received from one or more UEs for the L2 destination ID associated with a groupcast or broadcast based on the sidelink UE information message(s) or sidelink buffer status report message(s) received by the network node”. according to Li’s disclosure.
As stated in Li’s – page 16, par (0120), line 1-20, the network node determines a sidelink component carrier list and duplication is enabled for the sidelink communication based on indications received from one or more UEs for the L2 destination ID associated with a groupcast or broadcast based on the sidelink UE information message(s) or sidelink buffer status report message(s) received by the network node.
whereas the Examiner wants to provide further clarification of the cited claim limitation, whereas the Park’s is directed to “page 18, par (0134), line 10-20, “the first UE transmit the transport block at MAC layer or the PDCP packet at PDCP layer on each of the plurality of component carriers, the duplicated transmissions of the sidelink transmission based at least in part on duplicated MAC PDUs. The duplicated MAC PDUs associated with the plurality of component carriers, which associated with the L2
destination identifier. The duplication indication associated with the duplicated transmissions included in a MAC header or subheader of the duplicated transmissions. MAC layer duplication is described below in more detail in connection, the duplicated
transmissions of the sidelink transmission based at least in part on duplicated PDCP packets. The duplicated PDCP for a plurality of logical channels mapped with the plurality of component carriers associated with the L2 destination identifier. The duplication indication associated with the duplicated transmissions included in a PDCP header of the duplicated transmissions”
In response to the argument on page 9 of Applicant’s Remark, determine
a sidelink carrier aggregation capability of the user equipment on the group of carriers based on the feedback. In fact, Examiner interprets the UE needs to base on min Sidelink Pathloss, and the path loss of the service cell measured by the transmission UE, the UE uses, in multi-carrier (group of carriers) data transmission, in addition to factors such as carrier aggregation should be considered during bidirectional transmission. according to Dengs disclosure.
As stated in Deng’s – (page 7, par (0087-0088), line 1-10, UE needs to base on min Sidelink Pathloss, and the path loss of the service cell measured by the transmission UE, the UE uses, in multi-carrier (group of carriers) data transmission, in addition to factors such as carrier aggregation should be considered during bidirectional transmission.
whereas the Examiner wants to provide further clarification of the cited claim limitation, whereas the Deng’s is directed to “page 4, par (0064-0065), line 1-20, second carrier for performing multicarrier data transmission is determined based on the feedback result of the second UE, a main basis for determining the second carrier for performing multi-carrier data transmission is that the first UE acquires the candidate carriers that perform multi-carrier data transmission first, and then notifies the second UE of the candidate carriers available for selection; the second UE select, based on the received notification, a carrier that matches its own status from the at least one candidate carrier, and use it as the medium for multi-carrier data transmission.
Therefore, Examiner respectfully disagrees with Applicant's arguments.
Thus, Li’s and Deng’s disclosure still covers the limitations of claims 1-20. Therefore, Examiner respectfully disagrees with Applicant's arguments.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
(a) A patent may not be obtained though the invention is not identically disclosed or described as set forth in section 102 of this title, if the differences between the subject matter sought to be patented and the prior art are such that the subject matter as a whole would have been obvious at the time the invention was made to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which said subject matter pertains. Patentability shall not be negatived by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claims 1-2, 7, 15, 17 and 19-21 are rejected under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over LI et al. (US 20240015558, Jan. 11, 2024) in view of Deng (U.S 20220150893, May 12, 2022).
Regarding Claim 1, LI discloses an apparatus comprising at least one processor
and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one
processor, cause the apparatus at least to send a duplicate sidelink transmission to a user equipment on each carrier of a group of carriers (page 16, par (0120), line 1-20, the network node determines a sidelink component carrier list and duplication is enabled for the sidelink communication based on indications received from one or more UEs for the L2 destination ID associated with a groupcast or broadcast based on the sidelink UE information message(s) or sidelink buffer status report message(s) received by the network node);
receive feedback from the user equipment for each carrier of the group of carriers (page 19, par (0138), line 1-10, each Rx UE of a group responds with feedback received, an Rx UE responds only for the duplicated transmissions).
LI discloses all aspects of the claimed invention, except determine a sidelink carrier aggregation capability of the user equipment on the group of carriers based on the feedback.
Deng is the same field of invention teaches determine a sidelink carrier aggregation capability of the user equipment on the group of carriers based on the feedback (page 7, par (0087-0088), line 1-10, UE needs to base on min Sidelink Pathloss, and the path loss of the service cell measured by the transmission UE, the UE uses, in multi-carrier (group of carriers) data transmission, in addition to factors such as carrier aggregation should be considered during bidirectional transmission).
LI and Deng analogous art because they are from the same field of endeavor of access to a service device.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to modify the determine a sidelink carrier aggregation capability of the user equipment on the group of carriers based on the feedback teaching of LI to include the the UE uses, in multi-carrier data transmission, in addition to factors such as carrier aggregation should be considered during bidirectional transmission teaching of Deng because it is providing a resource pool for direct communication for the UE via system messages or RRC signaling, and the UE selects the resource for direct communication from the resource pool.
Regarding Claim 2, LI discloses wherein the at least one processor and at
least one memory store instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to send a duplicate sidelink transmission to a group of user equipment on each carrier of a group of carriers (page 18, par (0135), line 1-10, UE insert a duplication indication in a MAC header, the duplicated transport block on the plurality of carriers correspond to a duplicated sidelink transmission);
receive feedback from each user equipment of the group of user equipment for each carrier of the group of carriers(page 10, par (0079), line 1-10, sidelink channels include a physical sidelink feedback channel used to communicate control information with a network node via an access link or an access channel); and determine a sidelink carrier aggregation capability of each user equipment of the group of user equipment on the group of carriers based on the feedback (page 12, par (0098), line 1-10, backward compatibility for a sidelink carrier aggregation feature supported by some UEs, a sidelink communication duplicated on multiple component carriers. Knowledge of a UE's capability for sidelink carrier aggregation component carriers supported by the UE for a sidelink communication enable a network node).
Regarding Claim 7, LI discloses the duplicate sidelink transmission comprises sidelink carrier aggregation capability detection information; and/or data payload (page 12, par (0098), line 1-10, Knowledge of a UE's capability for sidelink carrier aggregation component carriers supported by the UE for a sidelink communication enable a network node).
Regarding Claim 15, LI discloses sending a duplicate sidelink transmission to a user equipment on each carrier of a group of carriers (page 16, par (0120), line 1-20, the network node determines a sidelink component carrier list and duplication is enabled for the sidelink communication based on indications received from one or more UEs for the L2 destination ID associated with a groupcast or broadcast based on the sidelink UE information message(s) or sidelink buffer status report message(s) received by the network node);
receiving feedback from the user equipment for each carrier (page 19, par (0138), line 1-10, each Rx UE of a group responds with feedback received, an Rx UE responds only for the duplicated transmissions).
LI discloses all aspects of the claimed invention, except determining a sidelink carrier aggregation capability of the user equipment on the group of carriers based on the feedback.
Deng is the same field of invention teaches determining a sidelink carrier aggregation capability of the user equipment on the group of carriers based on the feedback (page 7, par (0087-0088), line 1-10, UE needs to base on min Sidelink Pathloss, and the path loss of the service cell measured by the transmission UE, the UE uses, in multi-carrier (group of carriers) data transmission, in addition to factors such as carrier aggregation should be considered during bidirectional transmission).
LI and Deng analogous art because they are from the same field of endeavor of access to a service device.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to modify the determine a sidelink carrier aggregation capability of the user equipment on the group of carriers based on the feedback teaching of LI to include the the UE uses, in multi-carrier data transmission, in addition to factors such as carrier aggregation should be considered during bidirectional transmission teaching of Deng because it is providing a resource pool for direct communication for the UE via system messages or RRC signaling, and the UE selects the resource for direct communication from the resource pool.
Regarding Claim 17, LI discloses the group of carriers comprises all carriers supported by the apparatus; or part of the carriers supported by the apparatus and selected for carrier aggregation (page 12, par (0098), line 1-10, Knowledge of a UE's capability for sidelink carrier aggregation component carriers supported by the UE for a sidelink communication enable a network node).
Regarding Claim 19, LI discloses sending a duplicate sidelink transmission to a group of user equipment on each carrier of a group of carriers (page 18, par (0135), line 1-10, UE insert a duplication indication in a MAC header, the duplicated transport block on the plurality of carriers correspond to a duplicated sidelink transmission);
receiving feedback from each user equipment of the group of user equipment for each carrier of the group of carriers (page 10, par (0079), line 1-10, sidelink channels include a physical sidelink feedback channel used to communicate control information with a network node via an access link or an access channel);
and determining a sidelink carrier aggregation capability of each user equipment of the group of user equipment on the group of carriers based on the feedback (page 12, par (0098), line 1-10, backward compatibility for a sidelink carrier aggregation feature supported by some UEs, a sidelink communication duplicated on multiple component carriers. Knowledge of a UE's capability for sidelink carrier aggregation component carriers supported by the UE for a sidelink communication enable a network node).
Regarding Claim 20, LI discloses a computer program comprising program instructions stored thereon for performing sending a duplicate sidelink transmission to a user equipment on each carrier of a group of carriers(page 16, par (0120), line 1-20, the network node determines a sidelink component carrier list and duplication is enabled for the sidelink communication based on indications received from one or more UEs for the L2 destination ID associated with a groupcast or broadcast based on the sidelink UE information message(s) or sidelink buffer status report message(s) received by the network node);
receiving feedback from the user equipment for each carrier (page 19, par (0138), line 1-10, each Rx UE of a group responds with feedback received, an Rx UE responds only for the duplicated transmissions).
LI discloses all aspects of the claimed invention, except determining a sidelink carrier aggregation capability of the user equipment on the group of carriers based on the feedback.
Deng is the same field of invention teaches determining a sidelink carrier aggregation capability of the user equipment on the group of carriers based on the feedback (page 7, par (0087-0088), line 1-10, UE needs to base on min Sidelink Pathloss, and the path loss of the service cell measured by the transmission UE, the UE uses, in multi-carrier (group of carriers) data transmission, in addition to factors such as carrier aggregation should be considered during bidirectional transmission).
LI and Deng analogous art because they are from the same field of endeavor of access to a service device.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to modify the determine a sidelink carrier aggregation capability of the user equipment on the group of carriers based on the feedback teaching of LI to include the the UE uses, in multi-carrier data transmission, in addition to factors such as carrier aggregation should be considered during bidirectional transmission teaching of Deng because it is providing a resource pool for direct communication for the UE via system messages or RRC signaling, and the UE selects the resource for direct communication from the resource pool.
Regarding Claim 21, LI discloses the apparatus is a transmitting user equipment(page 18, par (0135), line 1-10, UE insert a duplication indication in a MAC header, the duplicated transport block on the plurality of carriers correspond to a duplicated sidelink transmission).
Examiner Notice
Claim 1 would be allowable if (i) claims 3 or 5 or 8 or 9 or 10 or 11 or 13 or 18 are incorporated into the independent claim 1.
Claim 15 would be allowable if (i) claims 3 or 5 or 8 or 9 or 10 or 11 or 13 or 18 are incorporated into the independent claim 15.
Claim 20 would be allowable if (i) claims 3 or 5 or 8 or 9 or 10 or 11 or 13 or 18 are incorporated into the independent claim 20.
The claim 7 has the conditional limitation “and/or”, please clarify the claim language of the claim.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any extension fee 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 date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to IQBAL ZAIDI whose telephone number is (571)270-3943. The examiner can normally be reached on Mon to Thu 8.a.m to 6.p.m..
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Ricky Q Ngo can be reached on 57-272-3139. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/IQBAL ZAIDI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2464