DETAILED ACTION
This office action is responsive to communications filed on January 21, 2024. Claims 1-19 are pending in the application.
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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
This Information Disclosure Statements filed on 1/21/2024 and 6/26/2025 have been considered.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 18 and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claim 18 is drawn to “A wireless device for enabling coordination with a receiving wireless device, the wireless device being configured to: …” Claim 19 is drawn to “A wireless device for enabling coordination with a transmitting wireless device, the wireless device being configured to: …” Thus, claims 18 and 19 are drawn to a machine (i.e., “device”).
According to MPEP 2106, a machine must comprise a combination of parts. However, claims 18 and 19 do not recite any components/parts that the claimed machine/apparatus is comprised of. Accordingly, these claims are indefinite for reciting insufficient structure. In order to overcome this rejection, the Examiner recommends amending the claims to recite a combination of physical parts/elements which are part of the claimed “wireless device” that enable it to perform the associated functions.
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.
Claims 1-13 and 17-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Pan et al. (US 2024/0015755).
Regarding Claim 1, Pan teaches a method performed by a transmitting wireless device for enabling coordination with a receiving wireless device, the method comprising:
transmitting, to the receiving wireless device, a coordination message that indicates whether coordination information is expected (“UE B may request assistance information from UE A, e.g., using bitmap. This is shown in Table 7 below” – See [0234]; “In bitmap, if b_i is “1”, then this may indicate that the type of information is requested and should be included in assistance information. Otherwise, if b_i is “0”, then this may indicate that the type of information is not requested and should not be included in assistance information” – See [0235]; UE B (transmitting wireless device) transmits, to UE A (receiving wireless device), a request message (coordination message) indicating whether coordination information is requested/expected); and
receiving, in response to the coordination message indicating that coordination information is expected, the coordination information from the receiving wireless device in accordance with a format indicated in the coordination message (“UE B may schedule UE A to send assistance information. UE B may include scheduling information in request signal or channel, and/or UE A may perform sensing and autonomously select resource to send assistance information” – See [0237]; UE B receives, in response to the request message, the coordination information from UE A, wherein the coordination information in the response is formatted in accordance with a format indicated in the request message. For example, the contents of the coordination information in the response are formatted such that the response includes specific types of coordination information that is requested/expected by UE B).
Regarding Claim 2, Pan teaches the method of Claim 1. Pan further teaches that the coordination message comprises a Sidelink Control Information, SCI, that indicates whether the coordination information is expected (“UE B may send request signal or channel in SCI, the first stage SCI, the second stage SCI, MAC CE, PSCCH, PSSCH, SL-SCH, RRC, or the like” – See [0236]; The coordination message comprises SCI).
Regarding Claim 3, Pan teaches the method of Claim 2. Pan further teaches that the SCI comprises one or more reserved bits encoded as one of: 00 or 0000 to indicate that the coordination information is not expected; 01 or 0001 to indicate that 1-bit coordination information is expected to be sent in accordance with an Inter-User Equipment, UE, Coordination Scheme 2 format; 10 or 0010 to indicate that map-based coordination information is expected to be sent in accordance with an Inter-UE Coordination Scheme 1 format independently of whether a collision is expected; and 11 or 0011 to indicate that map-based coordination information is expected to be sent in accordance with the Inter-UE Coordination Scheme 1 format in case the collision is expected (“In bitmap, if b_i is “1”, then this may indicate that the type of information is requested and should be included in assistance information. Otherwise, if b_i is “0”, then this may indicate that the type of information is not requested and should not be included in assistance information” – See [0235]; See also Table 7; When b0-b3 are all set to zero, the reserved bits in the SCI are encoded as “0000” and the result is an indication that none of the coordination information is requested/expected).
Regarding Claim 4, Pan teaches the method of Claim 2. Pan further teaches that the SCI comprises a field configured to indicate that the coordination information is expected (“In bitmap, if b_i is “1”, then this may indicate that the type of information is requested and should be included in assistance information. Otherwise, if b_i is “0”, then this may indicate that the type of information is not requested and should not be included in assistance information” – See [0235]; When any of the bits in the bitmap is set to “1”, it indicates that the coordination information corresponding to that position in the bitmap is requested/expected).
Regarding Claim 5, Pan teaches the method of Claim 2. Pan further teaches determining that the receiving wireless device is within a distance where it is able to decode the SCI (“Sidelink HARQ feedback may be in the form of conventional ACK/NACK, or NACK-only with nothing transmitted in case of successful decoding” – See [0132]; The receiving wireless device is within communication range of the transmitting wireless device and is thus able to successfully decode SCI).
Regarding Claim 6, Pan teaches the method of Claim 2. Pan further teaches that the coordination message indicates, based on one or more reserved bits in the SCI, that the coordination information is expected (“In bitmap, if b_i is “1”, then this may indicate that the type of information is requested and should be included in assistance information. Otherwise, if b_i is “0”, then this may indicate that the type of information is not requested and should not be included in assistance information” – See [0235]; When any of the bits in the bitmap is set to “1”, it indicates that the coordination information corresponding to that position in the bitmap is requested/expected).
Regarding Claim 7, Pan teaches the method of Claim 1. Pan further teaches that receiving the coordination information further comprises, in response to the coordination message indicating that 1-bit coordination information is expected while Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request, HARQ, is enabled and a collision is expected, receiving the coordination information in accordance with an Inter-UE Coordination Scheme 2 format (“Also 1-bit control field may be carried in the sidelink control information SCI” – See [0162]; “The transmission(s) may be subject to the sidelink HARQ procedure, if that operation is enabled” – See [0134]; “UE may request different types of assistance information, e.g., collision type” – See [0183]; “Mode 2 may be for UE autonomous resource selection. Its basic structure is of a UE sensing, within a (pre-)configured resource pool, where resources are not in use by other UEs with higher-priority traffic and may choose an appropriate amount of such resources for its own transmissions. Having selected such resources, the UE may transmit and re-transmit in them a certain number of times, or until a cause of resource reselection is triggered” – See [0137]; The coordination message indicates 1-bit control information, wherein HARQ is enabled and collisions are expected, wherein coordination information is received in accordance with the mode 2/scheme 2 format).
Claims 8, 18, and 19 are rejected based on reasoning similar to Claim 1.
Claim 9 is rejected based on reasoning similar to Claim 2.
Claim 10 is rejected based on reasoning similar to Claim 3.
Claim 11 is rejected based on reasoning similar to Claim 4.
Claim 12 is rejected based on reasoning similar to Claim 6.
Regarding Claim 13, Pan teaches the method of Claim 12. Pan further teaches that transmitting the coordination information comprises one of: transmitting 1-bit coordination information in accordance with the Inter-UE Coordination Scheme 2 format when the one or more reserved bits are encoded as 01 or 0001 and Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request, HARQ, is enabled; and not transmitting the coordination information when the one or more reserved bits are encoded as 01 or 0001 or the HARQ feedback is disabled (“In bitmap, if b_i is “1”, then this may indicate that the type of information is requested and should be included in assistance information. Otherwise, if b_i is “0”, then this may indicate that the type of information is not requested and should not be included in assistance information” – See [0235]; See also Table 7; If bits b0-b3 are encoded as “0001”, then coordination information 1, 2, and 3 are not transmitted).
Claim 17 is rejected based on reasoning similar to Claim 7.
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.
Claims 14-16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Pan et al. (US 2024/0015755) in view of Miao et al. (US 2024/0314819).
Regarding Claim 14, Pan teaches the method of Claim 12. Pan further teaches that the one or more reserved bits are encoded as 11 or 0011 (“In bitmap, if b_i is “1”, then this may indicate that the type of information is requested and should be included in assistance information. Otherwise, if b_i is “0”, then this may indicate that the type of information is not requested and should not be included in assistance information” – See [0235]; See also Table 7; wherein bits b0-b3 of the SCI may be encoded as 0011).
Pan does not explicitly teach that transmitting the coordination information further comprises determining, based on a time/frequency field in the SCI, whether the collision is expected.
However, Miao teaches that transmitting the coordination information further comprises determining, based on a time/frequency field in the SCI, whether the collision is expected (“if a UE detects potential/expected resource conflict on the resources indicated by UE-B's SCI and the inter-UE coordination scheme 2 is requested/indicated by UE-B/higher layer, the UE provides the conflict information in a CI transmission in the resource pool” – See [0061]; UE A determines, based on the time/frequency resources indicated in the SCI, whether a conflict/collision is expected).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Pan such that transmitting the coordination information further comprises determining, based on a time/frequency field in the SCI, whether the collision is expected. Motivation for doing so would be to allow resource conflicts/collisions to be fully detected and reported (See Miao, [0032]).
Regarding Claim 15, Pan in view of Miao teaches the method of Claim 14. Miao further teaches that the collision is not expected (“if a UE detects potential/expected resource conflict on the resources indicated by UE-B's SCI and the inter-UE coordination scheme 2 is requested/indicated by UE-B/higher layer, the UE provides the conflict information in a CI transmission in the resource pool” – See [0061]; When the resources do not conflict, collision is not expected).
Pan further teaches not transmitting the coordination information when the one or more reserved bits are encoded as 10, 0010, 11, or 0011 (“In bitmap, if b_i is “1”, then this may indicate that the type of information is requested and should be included in assistance information. Otherwise, if b_i is “0”, then this may indicate that the type of information is not requested and should not be included in assistance information” – See [0235]; See also Table 7; When bits b0-b3 of the SCI are 0011, coordination information 1 and 2 are not requested/expected and coordination information 3 and N are requested/expected, wherein coordination information N corresponds to the collision status. Thus, coordination information 1 and 2 are not transmitted when the reserved bits are encoded as 0011 and collision is not expected).
Regarding Claim 16, Pan in view of Miao teaches the method of Claim 14. Miao further teaches that the collision is expected (“if a UE detects potential/expected resource conflict on the resources indicated by UE-B's SCI and the inter-UE coordination scheme 2 is requested/indicated by UE-B/higher layer, the UE provides the conflict information in a CI transmission in the resource pool” – See [0061]; When the resources conflict, collision is expected).
Pan further teaches transmitting the coordination information in accordance with the Inter-UE Coordination Scheme 1 format when the one or more reserved bits are encoded as 10, 0010, 11, or 0011 (“Mode 1 may be for resource allocation by a gNB. The use cases intended for NR V2X may generate a diverse array of periodic and aperiodic message types. Therefore, resource allocation mode 1 provides dynamic grants of sidelink resources from a gNB, as well as grants of periodic sidelink resources configured semi-statically by RRC” – See [0133]; “In bitmap, if b_i is “1”, then this may indicate that the type of information is requested and should be included in assistance information. Otherwise, if b_i is “0”, then this may indicate that the type of information is not requested and should not be included in assistance information” – See [0235]; See also Table 7; When bits b0-b3 of the SCI are 0011, coordination information 3 and N are requested/expected, wherein coordination information N corresponds to the collision status. Thus, coordination information 3 and N are transmitted when the reserved bits are encoded as 00111 and collision is expected. Furthermore, the information may be transmitted in accordance with the mode 1 (scheme 1) format).
Conclusion
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/SCOTT M SCIACCA/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2478