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 §102(a)2
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 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 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) 1-3,10-12,19 and 22 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being clearly anticipated by Kim et al (US 20220150937 A1) hereinafter as Kim.
Regarding claim(s) 1, 10 and 19, Kim discloses a method for sidelink transmission over an unlicensed spectrum (See Fig(s). 11, See ¶ 98, a frequency band of 6 GHz (or 5850, 5900, 5925 MHz, and so on) and higher being included in FR1 may include an unlicensed band. The unlicensed band may be used for various purposes, e.g., the unlicensed band for vehicle-specific communication (e.g., autonomous driving). , comprising:
determining a mappable position for second sidelink control information (SCI) on a sidelink resource (See ¶ 156, UE determines a position of time/frequency resource which is mapped to the second SCI to be transmitted by the UE), wherein the sidelink resource is allocated in an interlace manner (See ¶ 101, interlace manner is resource block groups or plurality of consecutive subcarriers in the frequency domain which is mapped to the resource element);
mapping the second SCI to the mappable position in a manner of interlace first and/or a manner of frequency domain first (again See ¶ 101, A Bandwidth Part (BWP) may be defined as a plurality of consecutive (Physical) Resource Blocks ((P)RBs) in the frequency domain, and the BWP may correspond to one numerology (e.g., SCS, CP length, and so on). A carrier may include a maximum of N number BWPs (e.g., 5 BWPs). Data communication may be performed via an activated BWP. Each element may be referred to as a Resource Element (RE) within a resource grid and one complex symbol may be mapped to each element, see also See ¶ 108, 156, the transmission UE may transmit some or all of the following information to the reception UE through the first SCI and/or the second SCI. [0157] PSSCH and/or PSCCH related resource allocation information, e.g., position/number of time/frequency resource, resource reservation information); and
transmitting the second SCI by using the sidelink resource (See ¶ 155-156 the transmission UE may transmit some or all of the following information to the reception UE through the first SCI and/or the second SCI. [0157] PSSCH and/or PSCCH related resource allocation information, e.g., position/number of time/frequency resource, resource reservation information.).
Further with regards to claims 10 and 19, Kim discloses a processor and storage memory for performing the method of claim 1 (See ¶ 29, See Fig(s). 23).
Regarding claim(s) 2,11,22, Kim discloses wherein determining the mappable position for the second SCI on the sidelink resource comprises: determining a resource element to which no demodulation reference signal (DMRS) is mapped in a symbol of the sidelink resource to which a first DMRS of a physical sidelink shared channel (PSSCH) is mapped as the mappable position (See ¶ 148,169, reference signal (e.g., DMRS, etc.) information related to decoding and/or channel estimation of data transmitted through the PSSCH, for example, information related to a pattern of (time-frequency) mapping resource of a DMRS, rank information or antenna port index information).
Regarding claim(s) 3,12, Kim discloses wherein mapping the second SCI to the mappable position in the manner of interlace first and the manner of frequency domain first comprises: performing mapping for first n-1 symbols in n symbols in the manner of frequency domain first and performing mapping for an nth symbol in the n symbols in the manner of interlace first, on condition that each of the n symbols comprises a mappable position, wherein n>2 (See ¶ 93, Table 1, A Bandwidth Part (BWP) may be defined as a plurality of consecutive (Physical) Resource Blocks ((P)RBs) in the frequency domain, and the BWP may correspond to one numerology (e.g., SCS, CP length, and so on). A carrier may include a maximum of N number BWPs (e.g., 5 BWPs). Data communication may be performed via an activated BWP. Each element may be referred to as a Resource Element (RE) within a resource grid and one complex symbol may be mapped to each element, see also See ¶ 108, 156).
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 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) 4-8, 13-17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kim et al (US 20220150937 A1) hereinafter as Kim in view of Lei et al (US 20230379939 A1) hereinafter as Lei.
Regarding claim(s) 4,13 Lei discloses wherein mapping the second SCI to the mappable position in the manner of interlace first comprises: mapping the second SCI to the mappable position in descending order of interlace indexes or ascending order of the interlace indexes, wherein in a single interlace, mapping is performed in ascending order of frequencies in a frequency domain or descending order of the frequencies in the frequency domain (See Fig(s). 2, See ¶ 6, 38,82, the starting interlace of the one or more contiguous interlaces may be an interlace next to the SCI interlace in the ascending order of an interlace index.).
Interlace mapping determines a set of resources that are allocated between sidelink resources for purpose of data transmission that is submitted via the SCI.
Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to incorporate the teachings of Lei within Kim, so as to enhance sidelink communications by reserving resources prior to data transmission between devices of interest.
Regarding claim(s) 5,14, Lei discloses wherein mapping the second SCI to the mappable position in the manner of frequency domain first comprises: mapping the second SCI to the mappable position in ascending order of frequencies in a frequency domain or descending order of the frequencies in the frequency domain (See ¶ 6, 9, receiving sidelink control information (SCI) on a first interlace of a first set of interlaces on a carrier, wherein the SCI may schedule a second set of interlaces on the carrier for transmitting data; and receiving, based on the SCI, the data on the second set of interlaces, wherein each interlace of the first set of interlaces and the second set of interlaces may include evenly-spaced resource blocks (RBs) in frequency domain.). Reasons for combining same as claim 4.
Regarding claim(s) 6,15, Lei discloses wherein the sidelink resource being allocated in the interlace manner comprises: a lowest interlace index of a sidelink resource to which a physical sidelink control channel (PSCCH) is mapped is consistent with a lowest interlace index of a sidelink resource to which a PSSCH is mapped (See ¶ 9, starting interlace index is interpreted as lowest index…. See ¶ 70 in the case of FDM-based PSCCH/PSSCH multiplexing. For example, according to table 2, interlace 0 may be used for SCI transmission). Reasons for combining same as claim 4.
Regarding claim(s) 7,16, Lei discloses further comprising: transmitting reserved resource indication information, wherein a resource allocation result contained in the reserved resource indication information is calculated based on the following formula:
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wherein X represents the resource allocation result, and Ninterlace represents a total number of interlaces (See ¶ 39) Reasons for combining same as claim 4.
Regarding claim(s) 8,17 Lei discloses wherein the reserved resource indication information is carried through downlink control information (DCI) or SCI (See ¶ abstract, 50, a Tx UE which transmits an SCI, the Tx UE may determine the interlace(s) for transmitting the SCI and the interlace(s) for associated data transmission. The Tx UE may also determine how to inform an Rx UE about the resource allocations regarding the above sidelink communication. From the perspective of an Rx UE which is expected to receive an SCI, the Rx UE may monitor interlaces distributed within the bandwidth of a carrier to detect interested SCI and associated data transmission.). Reasons for combining same as claim 4.
Claim(s) 9,18, is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kim et al (US 20220150937 A1) hereinafter as Kim in view of Lei et al (US 20230379939 A1) hereinafter as Lei, further Kim in view of Wang et al (US 20220201557 A1) hereinafter as Wang.
Regarding claim(s) 9,18, Wang discloses wherein the reserved resource indication information is transmitted through broadcasting (See Fig(s). 1, See ¶ abstract, 106, UE 115-c may periodically transmit the resource reservation reassurance information. UE 115-c may transmit a broadcast or unicast message including the indication of the reserved resources to one or more other UEs 115-c according to a configured resource reservation reassurance periodicity.)
Resource reservation ensures enough bandwidth is available for communications amongst UEs of interest without interruption.
Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to incorporate the teachings of Wang within Kim, to have resource reservation so as to ensure enough bandwidth is available for communications amongst UEs of interest without interruption.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Raj Jain whose telephone number is (571) 272-3145. The examiner can normally be reached on M-Th ~8 ~6.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Derrick Ferris can be reached on 571-272-3123. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/RAJ JAIN/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2411