DETAILED ACTION
This is in response to Applicant’s election (Group I comprising claims 1-19) dated 1/15/26. Claims 1-19 have been examined. Claims 20-30 have been withdrawn.
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 . 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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) 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.
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)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being unpatentable by Abotabl et al. (US 2022/0338255; included in IDS; hereafter Abotabl).
Regarding Claim 1,
An apparatus of wireless communication at a user equipment (UE), comprising: memory; and at least one processor coupled to the memory and, based at least in part on information stored in the memory, the at least one processor is configured to:
monitor for sidelink resource reservations in slots belonging to a sidelink resource pool during a sensing window including one or more slots in which the UE transmits, an inclusion of the one or more slots being based on a condition for sidelink full-duplex (FD) communication [Abotabl: 0075; one or both of the UE 115-a and the UE 115-a may perform a resource selection procedure which may include sensing in a sensing window 220 and reserving sidelink resources in a resource selection window 225 based on the sensing; 0074; in some examples, a UE 115 may receive a configuration from a base station 105 for performing a channel sensing procedure while operating in a full-duplex mode; the channel sensing procedure may be part of a sidelink resource selection procedure for identifying sidelink resource candidates in a resource selection window; 0076; to facilitate sidelink communication, the UE 115-a and the UE 115-b may be configured with a set of resources (e.g., time and frequency resources) allocated for sidelink communication within one or more sidelink resource pools]; and
transmit a sidelink transmission using a resource selected from a subset of candidate sidelink resources in the sidelink resource pool after monitoring for the sidelink resource reservations [Abotabl: 0077; during the sidelink resource allocation mode 2, the UE 115-a may select a set of resources from the one or more sidelink resource pools for sidelink transmissions autonomously (without signaling from the base station 105-a); 0079; The UE 115-a may select the resources from the available set of resource candidates in response to receiving a resource selection trigger (e.g., an indication the UE 115-a has data to transmit)].
Regarding Claim 2,
further comprising a transceiver coupled to the at least one processor, wherein, to transmit the sidelink transmission, the at least one processor is configured to transmit the sidelink transmission via the transceiver, and wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:
determine that the condition for the sidelink FD communication is met, wherein the UE monitors for the sidelink resource reservations during the one or more slots in which the UE transmits based on the condition for the sidelink FD communication being met [Abotabl: 0075; one or both of the UE 115-a and the UE 115-a may perform a resource selection procedure which may include sensing in a sensing window 220 and reserving sidelink resources in a resource selection window 225 based on the sensing; 0074; in some examples, a UE 115 may receive a configuration from a base station 105 for performing a channel sensing procedure while operating in a full-duplex mode; the channel sensing procedure may be part of a sidelink resource selection procedure for identifying sidelink resource candidates in a resource selection window].
Regarding Claim 3,
wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: monitor for the sidelink resource reservations in additional slots belonging to the sidelink resource pool excluding at least one slot in which the UE transmits based on the condition for the sidelink FD communication not being met [Abotabl: 0080; in some examples, a sidelink UE 115 may support one or more duplex modes, which may correspond to whether the UE 115 transmits, receives, or both, at a time; for example, the UE 115-a, the UE 115-b, or both, may operate according to a half-duplex mode or a full-duplex mode; in a half-duplex mode, the UE 115-a may transmit and receive in different time resources; 0081; if the UE 115-a operates in a half-duplex mode, the first and second panels may both be allocated for transmission or reception at a time; 0095; each of the resource elements 340 in the sensing window 305 may be half-duplex resource elements 340].
Regarding Claim 4,
wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: receive at least one sidelink resource reservation in the one or more slots in which the UE transmits [Abotabl: 0082; in some examples, the sensing window 220 may be located in one or more full-duplex slots; as such, the UE 115-a may monitor for and receive reference signaling in the sensing window 220, and the UE 115-a may additionally or alternatively transmit uplink data, sidelink data, or both, in the sensing window 220].
Regarding Claim 5,
wherein the condition for the sidelink FD communication includes a self-interference metric [Abotabl: 0082; simultaneously transmitting and sensing may introduce interference 245 at the UE 115-a, which may negatively impact the sensing procedure; that is, the interference 245 may result in an inaccurate signal strength measurement associated with the reference signaling; 0083; to reduce effects of the interference 245 on the channel sensing procedure, a UE 115 as described herein may be configured with two or more channel metrics to use for performing channel sensing; for example, base station 105-a may transmit a configuration to UE 115-a that indicates the two or more channel metrics. In some examples, a first channel metric may correspond to an RSRP and a second channel metric may correspond to a SINR. The configuration may further indicate a respective threshold value corresponding to each of the respective channel metrics].
Regarding Claim 6,
wherein the condition for the sidelink FD communication includes a quality metric for at least a subset of candidate sidelink channels meeting a threshold during measurement resources [Abotabl: 0083; the UE 115-a may measure reference signaling received in the sensing window 220 according to the first channel metric to obtain a first measurement, according to the second channel metric to obtain a second measurement, or both, depending on a duplex mode of the UE 115-a; the UE 115-a may compare the first measurement with the first threshold, the second measurement with the second threshold, or both, to determine an available set of sidelink resource candidates in the corresponding resource selection window 225].
Regarding Claim 7,
wherein the threshold is a defined or configured value [Abotabl: 0094; in some examples, the UE 115 may be configured with a first threshold value corresponding to the first channel metric to use during full-duplex operations by the UE 115 and a second threshold value corresponding to the first channel metric to use during half-duplex operations by the UE 115].
Regarding Claim 8,
wherein the threshold is based on a reference channel during a time period that the UE does not transmit [Abotabl: 0094; if the UE 115 operates in the half-duplex mode, the UE 115 may measure reference signaling according to the first channel metric to determine resource availability; the UE 115 may be configured with … a second threshold value corresponding to the first channel metric to use during half-duplex operations by the UE 115].
Regarding Claim 9,
wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: measure the quality metric for each candidate sidelink channel during the one or more slots in which the UE transmits, or predict the quality metric for each candidate sidelink channel based on one or more past measurements; and compare the quality metric to the threshold to determine if the condition for the sidelink FD communication is met, wherein the quality metric includes at least one of: a reference signal received power (RSRP), a Signal-to-Interference-plus-Noise Ratio (SINR), a block error rate (BLER), a received signal strength indicator (RSSI), a total interference plus noise, or a self-interference measurement [Abotabl: 0084; the UE 115-a may obtain a more accurate measurement of the reference signaling by performing channel sensing according to two or more channel metrics than according to one channel metric; for example, the interference 245 experienced by the UE 115-a operating in a full-duplex mode while monitoring reference signaling in the sensing window 220 may result in a greater RSRP level measured by the UE 115-a and a lower SINR level measured by the UE 115-a than the corresponding measurements without the interference 245; if the first channel metric corresponds to RSRP and the second channel metric corresponds to SINR, the UE 115-a may utilize both metrics to identify the effects of the interference 245 and to accurately determine whether a resource is available; 0092; the configuration may further indicate first and second threshold values corresponding to the first and second channel metrics, respectively; 0094; the UE 115 may be configured with a first threshold value corresponding to the first channel metric to use during full-duplex operations by the UE 115].
Regarding Claim 10,
wherein the condition for the sidelink FD communication is based on a configured set of transmission and reception parameters for the UE [Abotabl: 0091; the full-duplex mode may correspond to the UE 115 performing a transmission (e.g., an uplink transmission, a sidelink transmission, or both) during the sensing window 305 while measuring the reference signaling (e.g., concurrent uplink and downlink communications); 0080; in a full-duplex mode, the UE 115-a may transmit and receive concurrently (e.g., in the same or overlapping time resources) using two or more antenna panels at the UE].
Regarding Claim 11,
wherein the configured set of transmission and reception parameters for the condition for the sidelink FD communication includes one or more of: a modulation and coding scheme (MCS), a number of layers, a transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state, a transmission and reception power, a transmission and reception timing, or a guard band in frequency between transmission and reception [Abotabl: 0080; in a full-duplex mode, the UE 115-a may transmit and receive concurrently (e.g., in the same or overlapping time resources) using two or more antenna panels at the UE; some full-duplex communications (e.g., in-band full-duplex) may correspond to transmission and reception on the same time and frequency resources; for example, resources allocated for a transmission by the UE 115-a may overlap in time and frequency with resources allocated for a reception by the UE 115-a (e.g., partial overlap or full overlap within the time and frequency resource); other full-duplex communications (e.g., sub-band full-duplex) may correspond to transmission and reception at the same time (e.g., in the same time resources, such as a same slot), but in different frequency resources; for example, a resource allocated for a transmission by the UE 115-a may be separated from a resource allocated for reception by the UE 115-a in the frequency domain (e.g., in separate frequency bands), but may occur within a same slot in the time domain. In some examples, a guard band may be allocated between sub-band full-duplex resources in the frequency domain].
Regarding Claim 12,
wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: select, based on the condition for the sidelink FD communication, a reception resource for receiving sidelink communication overlapping in time with the resource in which the sidelink transmission is transmitted; and receive the sidelink communication in the reception resource that overlaps in time with the resource in which the sidelink transmission is transmitted [Abotabl: 0080; in a full-duplex mode, the UE 115-a may transmit and receive concurrently (e.g., in the same or overlapping time resources) using two or more antenna panels at the UE; some full-duplex communications (e.g., in-band full-duplex) may correspond to transmission and reception on the same time and frequency resources; for example, resources allocated for a transmission by the UE 115-a may overlap in time and frequency with resources allocated for a reception by the UE 115-a (e.g., partial overlap or full overlap within the time and frequency resource; 0077; during the sidelink resource allocation mode 2, the UE 115-a may select a set of resources from the one or more sidelink resource pools for sidelink transmissions autonomously (without signaling from the base station 105-a); 0092; the UE 115 may more accurately identify an available set of resource candidates while performing full-duplex operations by measuring the resources according to the first channel metric and the second channel metric than according to a single channel metric].
Regarding Claim 13,
wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: select, based on the condition for the sidelink FD communication, the resource for the sidelink transmission that overlaps in time with scheduled resources for reception of sidelink communication [Abotabl: 0092; the UE 115 may more accurately identify an available set of resource candidates while performing full-duplex operations by measuring the resources according to the first channel metric and the second channel metric than according to a single channel metric].
Regarding Claim 14,
wherein the condition for the sidelink FD communication is based, at least in part, on a subset of resources defined, configured, or otherwise indicated as being allowed for the sidelink FD communication [Abotabl: 0080; some full-duplex communications (e.g., in-band full-duplex) may correspond to transmission and reception on the same time and frequency resources; for example, resources allocated for a transmission by the UE 115-a may overlap in time and frequency with resources allocated for a reception by the UE 115-a (e.g., partial overlap or full overlap within the time and frequency resource); other full-duplex communications (e.g., sub-band full-duplex) may correspond to transmission and reception at the same time (e.g., in the same time resources, such as a same slot), but in different frequency resources; 0081; the UE 115-a may include one or more panels (e.g., transmission reception points (TRPs)) for simultaneous transmission and reception. For example, during full-duplex communications (e.g., sub-band full-duplex or in-band full-duplex) a first panel may be used for downlink reception and a second panel may be used for uplink transmission].
Regarding Claim 15,
wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: transmit inter-UE coordination information indicating a preferred resource set that includes, based on the condition for the sidelink FD communication, at least one time resource in which the UE will transmit [Abotabl: preferred resource set == reserved by one or more other UEs; 0078; the sensing window 220 may be associated with the resource selection window 225; the resource selection window 225 may be subsequent to the sensing window 220 in a time domain and may include a set of resource candidates (e.g., resources that the transmitting UE 115-a may potentially transmit on); one or more of the resource candidates may be reserved for sidelink communication by one or more other UEs 115; for example, the UE 115-a may monitor for SCI of other UEs 115 received on sidelink control resources 230; decoding SCI of other UEs 115 may inform the UE 115-a which resources of the resource candidates in the resource selection window 225 are reserved for transmission by other UEs 115 (e.g., the reserved resources 235); in some examples, the UE 115-a may determine that all resources of the resource selection window 225 excluding the reserved resources 235 are available; the UE 115-a may additionally or alternatively measure a channel metric (e.g., a RSRP) associated with the SCI transmitted by other UEs 115 to determine whether the corresponding reserved resources 235 may be available for a transmission by the UE 115-a; if the UE 115-a determines that the measured signal strength of reference signaling corresponding to a reserved resource 235 is below a threshold, the UE 115-a may include the resource in the available set of resource candidates (e.g., the scheduled transmission in the reserved resource 235 may not interfere with a transmission by the UE 115-a)].
Regarding Claim 16,
wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: transmit inter-UE coordination information indicating a non-preferred resource set that excludes, based on the condition for the sidelink FD communication, at least one time resource in which the UE will transmit [Abotabl: non-preferred resource set == reserved resources that are available; 0078; the sensing window 220 may be associated with the resource selection window 225; the resource selection window 225 may be subsequent to the sensing window 220 in a time domain and may include a set of resource candidates (e.g., resources that the transmitting UE 115-a may potentially transmit on); one or more of the resource candidates may be reserved for sidelink communication by one or more other UEs 115; for example, the UE 115-a may monitor for SCI of other UEs 115 received on sidelink control resources 230; decoding SCI of other UEs 115 may inform the UE 115-a which resources of the resource candidates in the resource selection window 225 are reserved for transmission by other UEs 115 (e.g., the reserved resources 235); in some examples, the UE 115-a may determine that all resources of the resource selection window 225 excluding the reserved resources 235 are available; the UE 115-a may additionally or alternatively measure a channel metric (e.g., a RSRP) associated with the SCI transmitted by other UEs 115 to determine whether the corresponding reserved resources 235 may be available for a transmission by the UE 115-a; if the UE 115-a determines that the measured signal strength of reference signaling corresponding to a reserved resource 235 is below a threshold, the UE 115-a may include the resource in the available set of resource candidates (e.g., the scheduled transmission in the reserved resource 235 may not interfere with a transmission by the UE 115-a)].
Regarding Claim 17,
wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: determine a resource conflict for inter-UE coordination information excluding, based on the condition for the sidelink FD communication, at least one time resource in which the UE will transmit [Abotabl: 0078; the sensing window 220 may be associated with the resource selection window 225; the resource selection window 225 may be subsequent to the sensing window 220 in a time domain and may include a set of resource candidates (e.g., resources that the transmitting UE 115-a may potentially transmit on); one or more of the resource candidates may be reserved for sidelink communication by one or more other UEs 115; for example, the UE 115-a may monitor for SCI of other UEs 115 received on sidelink control resources 230; decoding SCI of other UEs 115 may inform the UE 115-a which resources of the resource candidates in the resource selection window 225 are reserved for transmission by other UEs 115 (e.g., the reserved resources 235); in some examples, the UE 115-a may determine that all resources of the resource selection window 225 excluding the reserved resources 235 are available; the UE 115-a may additionally or alternatively measure a channel metric (e.g., a RSRP) associated with the SCI transmitted by other UEs 115 to determine whether the corresponding reserved resources 235 may be available for a transmission by the UE 115-a; if the UE 115-a determines that the measured signal strength of reference signaling corresponding to a reserved resource 235 is below a threshold, the UE 115-a may include the resource in the available set of resource candidates (e.g., the scheduled transmission in the reserved resource 235 may not interfere with a transmission by the UE 115-a)].
Regarding Claim 18,
wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: transmit inter-UE coordination information based on the condition for the sidelink FD communication, the inter-UE coordination information indicating at least one of a preferred resource set, a non-preferred resource set, or a resource conflict indication, and further indicating one or more of: the condition for the sidelink FD communication, a measurement associated with the condition for the sidelink FD communication, at least one selected resource for transmission by the UE, or a priority of the transmission by the UE [Abotabl: non-preferred resource set == reserved resources that are available; 0078; the sensing window 220 may be associated with the resource selection window 225; the resource selection window 225 may be subsequent to the sensing window 220 in a time domain and may include a set of resource candidates (e.g., resources that the transmitting UE 115-a may potentially transmit on); one or more of the resource candidates may be reserved for sidelink communication by one or more other UEs 115; for example, the UE 115-a may monitor for SCI of other UEs 115 received on sidelink control resources 230; decoding SCI of other UEs 115 may inform the UE 115-a which resources of the resource candidates in the resource selection window 225 are reserved for transmission by other UEs 115 (e.g., the reserved resources 235); in some examples, the UE 115-a may determine that all resources of the resource selection window 225 excluding the reserved resources 235 are available; the UE 115-a may additionally or alternatively measure a channel metric (e.g., a RSRP) associated with the SCI transmitted by other UEs 115 to determine whether the corresponding reserved resources 235 may be available for a transmission by the UE 115-a; if the UE 115-a determines that the measured signal strength of reference signaling corresponding to a reserved resource 235 is below a threshold, the UE 115-a may include the resource in the available set of resource candidates (e.g., the scheduled transmission in the reserved resource 235 may not interfere with a transmission by the UE 115-a)].
Regarding Claim 19,
wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: apply a priority rule for transmission of a first channel or a first reference signal that will overlap in time with reception of a second channel or a second reference signal based on support for FD communication and a transmission and reception beam pair [Abotabl: 0078; The UE 115-a may additionally or alternatively measure a channel metric (e.g., a RSRP) associated with the SCI transmitted by other UEs 115 to determine whether the corresponding reserved resources 235 may be available for a transmission by the UE 115-a. If the UE 115-a determines that the measured signal strength of reference signaling corresponding to a reserved resource 235 is below a threshold, the UE 115-a may include the resource in the available set of resource candidates (e.g., the scheduled transmission in the reserved resource 235 may not interfere with a transmission by the UE 115-a). In some examples, the UE 115-a may increase or decrease the threshold based on a percentage of available resources in the resource selection window 225 or a priority associated with the scheduled transmission by the UE 115-a].
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. See KR (10-2023-0169120) [para. 0097].
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SAAD A WAQAS whose telephone number is (571)270-5642. The examiner can normally be reached 8:30 - 5:00 PM.
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SAAD A. WAQAS
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2468
/Saad A. Waqas/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2468