DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
1. The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Priority
2. The instant application is a Continuation of PCT/CN2021/105329, filed 07/08/2021.
Information Disclosure Statement
3. The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted, IDS - 11/08/2024, 01/05/2025 and 09/05/2025. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
4. 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.
5. 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.
(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.
6. Claims 1-3, 7-14, and 19-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being
anticipated by Ye et al. (US-20230337187-A1) hereinafter “Ye”.
Regarding Claim 1,
Ye discloses, ‘A method for determining a resource, comprising: determining, by a terminal, a time range for contiguous partial sensing’(Perform by the terminal contiguous partial sensing, disclosure Claim 1 and time window during the contiguous partial sensing Fig. 5. And, window in a range of slots and range of values [0056, 0120].);
And discloses, ‘and performing, by the terminal based on a sensing result within the time range, resource exclusion on at least one resource in a candidate slot corresponding to the time range.’ (Perform by the terminal to process sensing result within the range of slots and the sensing window in Fig. 5; resource exclusion within the candidate slots [0056-0058], and disclosure claim 3 to 6. The terminal sensing within the T_Y candidate slot [0196] in a resource selection window [0236]] in Fig. 5. )
Regarding Claim 2,
‘The method of claim 1’ (disclosed above),
Ye discloses, ‘wherein determining, by the terminal, the time range for the contiguous partial sensing comprises:
determining, by the terminal, the time range based on a target time, a first time and a second time,
wherein the target time is a time when the terminal triggers the contiguous partial sensing.’ (Fig. 5 illustrates partial sensing within the selection time range/window, and trigger for resource selection is slot n that the target time in the sensing window of slot n. And, within the time range/window the first time and the second time [n+TA, n+TB] and candidate resource [0196]. )
Regarding Claim 3,
‘The method of claim 2’ (disclosed above),
Ye discloses, ‘wherein determining, by the terminal, the time range for the contiguous partial sensing comprises:
determining, by the terminal, the time range based on a target time,
a first time, and a second time in a case that a physical layer of the terminal has received a resource selection indication or a resource reselection indication transmitted by a Media Access Control (MAC) layer of the terminal at the target time and the terminal operates in a mode of resource selection based on partial sensing.’ (the terminal resource selection trigger time by the MAC layer to the physical layer [0091-0093] and Fig. 7. Receive higher layer parameter for the resource selection [0167]. The terminal selects the Y candidate slots for resource selection from the resource selection window [n+TA, n+TB] [0056-0058]. And, resource-selection trigger at n [0060]. )
Regarding Claim 7,
‘The method of claim 1’ (disclosed above),
Ye discloses, ‘wherein performing, by the terminal based on the sensing result within the time range, resource exclusion on the at least one resource in the candidate slot corresponding to the time range comprises: in a case that the sensing result indicates that Sidelink Control Information (SCI) has been detected within the time range and a resource reserved by the SCI is within the candidate slot, performing the resource exclusion on the at least one resource in the candidate slot.’ (Fig. 19 to Fig. 21 includes resource-exclusion and Fig. 21 resource reserve by the SCI and sensing results as illustrated resource-selected, resource-excluded, and the candidate resource within the time window [0178-0180, 0186].)
Regarding Claim 8,
‘The method of claim 7’ (disclosed above),
Ye discloses, ‘wherein in the case that the sensing result indicates that the Sidelink Control Information (SCI) has been detected within the time range and the resource reserved by the SCI is within the candidate slot, performing the resource exclusion on the at least one resource in the candidate slot comprises: in a case that the sensing result indicates that the SCI has been detected within the time range, the resource reserved by the SCI is within the candidate slot, and a Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP) of a Physical Sidelink Control Channel (PSCCH) corresponding to the SCI or a RSRP of a Physical Sidelink Shared Channel (PSSCH) scheduled by the PSCCH is greater than a power threshold, performing the resource exclusion on the at least one resource in the candidate slot.’ (The SL-RSRP measurement based on PSCCH or PSSCH [0051] and perform resource selection on the candidate resources with the selection window [0052] and Fig. 19.)
Regarding Claim 9,
‘The method of claim 7’ (disclosed above),
Ye discloses, ‘wherein performing the resource exclusion on the at least one resource in the candidate slot comprises: performing the resource exclusion on the resource, which is reserved by the SCI, in the at least one resource within the candidate slot.’ (perform resource-exclusion within the candidate resource Fig. 19. )
Regarding Claim 10,
‘The method of claim 1’ (disclosed above),
Ye discloses, ‘further comprising: obtaining a target candidate resource, wherein the target candidate resource is determined based on performing the resource exclusion on the at least one resource in the candidate slot; and selecting a resource for transmitting SL information from the target candidate resource.’ (The SL-info on the selected resource for Tx [0053]. Fig. 19 includes the selection window and the candidate resource.)
Regarding Claim 11,
‘The method of claim 3’ (disclosed above),
Ye discloses, ‘further comprising: when the physical layer of the terminal has received the resource selection or the resource reselection indication transmitted by the MAC layer of the terminal in the slot n,
and the terminal currently operates in the mode of resource selection based on partial sensing, determining, by the terminal,
Y candidate slots within a range [n+TO, n+D], wherein T0 is a second delay, D is a third delay, and Ymin≤Y≤D−T0+1’ (Fig. 13 illustrates determine the minimum number of candidate slot Y_min resource selection on partial sensing [0129, 0133]. The resource selection window may be defined by [n+T_1, n+T_2]. As a baseline, T_1 and T_2. And, T_1 and T_2 includes PDB for a resource pool and selection/re-selection triggered in slot n [0118-0119]. And, Y_min pre-configured from a range of values [0120].);
And Ye discloses, ‘determining, by the terminal, that a value of the first time is max (T0, Y0−31−n) and a value of the second time is Y0-Tproc0 SL−Tproc,1 SL, wherein Y0 is a serial number of a first slot in the Y candidate slots, and Tproc,0 SL is a third value, and Tproc,1 SL is a second value.’ (determine value of first time that is determining the first value is max{0,t_y−R} or max{1,t_y−R}; and determining the second value is max{first value, t_y−T_proc_0} or max {first value, t_y−T_proc_0−T_proc_1}, where the first value and the second value are nonnegative values, t_y is candidate slots in a resource selection window, T_proc_0 is a number of slots required by the UE to process sensing results, and T_proc_1 is a number of slots required by the UE to prepare a PSCCH/PSSCH [0233-0236]. R is a length of a resource reservation window 31/32 slots [0233-0236]. And, determine based on a remaining PDB and the PDB > pre-configured threshold [0238-0240].)
Regarding Claim 12,
Identical to claim 1 disclosed above, ‘A device for determining a resource, comprising a memory and a processor, wherein the memory is configured to store computer programs executable by the processor, and the processor is configured to implement, when executing the programs, operations of determining, a time range for contiguous partial sensing; and performing, based on a sensing result within the time range, resource exclusion on at least one resource in a candidate slot corresponding to the time range.’ (Fig. 27 includes the device).
Regarding Claim 13,
‘The device of claim 12’ (disclosed above),
Identical to claim 2 disclosed above, ‘wherein when determining the time range for the contiguous partial sensing, the processor is configured to: determine the time range based on a target time, a first time and a second time, wherein the target time is a time when the terminal triggers the contiguous partial sensing.’
Regarding Claim 14,
‘The device of claim 13’ (disclosed above),
Identical to claim 3 disclosed above, ‘wherein when determining the time range for the contiguous partial sensing, the processor is configured to: determine the time range based on a target time, a first time, and a second time in a case that a physical layer of the terminal has received a resource selection indication or a resource reselection indication transmitted by a Media Access Control (MAC) layer of the terminal at the target time and the terminal operates in a mode of resource 5selection based on partial sensing.’
Regarding Claim 18,
‘The device of claim 12’ (disclosed above),
Identical to claim 7 disclosed above, ‘wherein when performing, based on the sensing result within the time range, resource exclusion on the at least one resource in the candidate slot corresponding to the time range, the processor is configured to: in a case that the sensing result indicates that Sidelink Control Information (SCI) has been detected within the time range and a resource reserved by the SCI is within the candidate slot, perform the resource exclusion on the at least one resource in the candidate slot.’
Regarding Claim 19,
‘The device of claim 18’ (disclosed above),
Identical to claim 8 disclosed above, ‘wherein the processor is further configured to:in a case that the sensing result indicates that the SCI has been detected within the time range, the resource reserved by the SCI is within the candidate slot, and a Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP) of a Physical Sidelink Control Channel (PSCCH) corresponding to the SCI or a RSRP of a Physical Sidelink Shared Channel (PSSCH) scheduled by the PSCCH is greater than a power threshold, perform the resource exclusion on the at least one resource in the candidate slot.’
Regarding Claim 20,
‘The device of claim 18’ (disclosed above),
Identical to claim 9 disclosed above, ‘wherein when performing the resource exclusion on the at least one resource in the candidate slot, the processor is configured to: perform the resource exclusion on the resource, which is reserved by the SCI, in the at least one resource within the candidate slot.’
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
7. 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.
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
he claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner
in which the invention was made.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness
under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
• Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
• Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
• Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
• Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating
• obviousness or nonobviousness.
8. This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the
claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any
evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to
point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly
owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to
consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2)
prior art against the later invention.
9. Claims 4 and 15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable
over Ye et al. in view of Zhou et al. (US-20230262765-A1) hereinafter “Zhou”.
Regarding Claim 4,
‘The method of claim 2’ (disclosed above),
Ye discloses, ‘wherein determining, by the terminal, the time range based on the target time, the first time and the second time comprises:’ (disclosed above claim 2),
And didn’t disclose, ‘determining, by the terminal, a range from a third time to a fourth time as the time range, wherein the third time is a sum of the target time and the first time, and the fourth time is a sum of the target time and the second time.’
Zhou in the relevant art discloses, The terminal determines the time range the third and the fourth [t3, t4] for channel sensing [0103] and Fig. 4. For example, [t1, t2] the time when the terminal trigger to perform channel sensing in slot n within the time interval [n+T1, n+T2]. And, t1 may be n or n+T1; t2 may be n+T2. The determination of the [t3, t4] includes [t1-1, t2-11, [t1-2, t2-2], ..., [t1-n, t2-n]; for example, each [t1-n, t2-n] is a candidate resource. In this embodiment, [t1, t2] for determining [t3, t4] may be any one or more sets of [t1-1, t2-1] ... [t1-n, t2-n], [0113-0114].
Therefore, a person in the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of
the claim invention would have recognized that the disclosure of Ye and to include
with that of Zhou to come up with the claim invention,
Ye discloses the range of slots and resource selection window candidate slot N [0056, 0120]. And, slot 0, 1, 2, 3, 4 as illustrated Fig. 21. More specifically contiguous partial sensing on the candidate slot for SL t_y within a length of reservation window [0071-0072]. Trigger for the resource selection within the range in Fig. 2 and Fig. 5. Motive to derive another set of time range [t3, t4] to enhance the periodic-based contiguous partial sensing [0145]. Achieve D2D data rate with more reliability.
Regarding Claim 15,
‘The device of claim 13’ (disclosed above),
Identical to claim 4 disclosed above, ‘wherein when determining the time range based on the target time, the first time and the second time, the processor is configured to: determine a range from a third time to a fourth time as the time range, wherein the third time is a sum of the target time and the first time, and the fourth time is a sum of the target time and the second time.’
10. Claims 5-6 and 16-17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable
over Ye et al. in view of Information disclosure, 3GPP TS 38.214 V16.5,0 (2021-03), “RAN; Physical layer for data “NR hereinafter “3GPP-Tech-spec”.
Regarding Claim 5,
‘The method of claim 2, further comprising: ’(disclosed above),
Ye discloses, ‘determining, by the terminal, a third number of candidate slots within a range’ (disclosed above in Claim 2),
And didn’t disclose, ‘from a fifth time to a ninth time’;
3GPP-Tech-Spec in the relevant art discloses, the candidate resource slot contiguous-sub-channels selection of T1, 0<=T1<=TSL proc,1 where Tproc,1 is defined in slots in Table 8.1.4-2 where μSL, is the SCS configuration of the SL-BWP a range of fifth to nine, page 157,159, section 8.1.4;
Therefore, a person in the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of
the claim invention would have recognized that the disclosure of Ye and to include
with that of 3GPP-Tech-Spec to come up with the claim invention,
Ye motive mode 2 resource allocation includes resource pool configuration for sensing, reevaluation, selection and preemption in SL [0049]. The sensing window be at least to m−T_3−T_proc,0 where T_3=T_proc,1, T_proc,0 is a processing time of sensing results, and T_proc,1 is a processing time of preparing SL [0181]. Disclosure include specific section 8.1.4 of 3GPP-Tech-Spec for the resource selection window and preconfigured Y [0119]. Someone would obviously utilize the motive to further Include SCS configuration associated with resource pool configuration. As Tproc,1 SL as defined T3 in slots where μSL, is the SCS configuration of the SL-BWP. This would ease the resource pool configuration pre-configured Y from a range of values [0120].
And Ye discloses, ‘and determining, by the terminal, the first time and the second time based on the third number of candidate slots,
wherein the fifth time is determined based on the target time and a second delay, the third number is greater than or equal to a minimum number of slots required by the terminal for sensing, and is less than or equal to a fourth number, and the fourth number is determined based on a third delay and a second delay, a value of the second delay comprises 0 or 1’ (Fig. 21 illustrates resource selection. Determines minimum number of candidate slots within the selection window; the contiguous partial sensing performed based on the [n+T_A, n+T_B] also in Fig. 16 and [0145-0147]. Fig. 13 includes the determination of the minimum number of candidate slots. The first value and the second value based on a remaining PDB and the a time gap between the second value or the first value and the remaining PDB is greater than a preconfigured threshold [0238-0239]. The configured resource reservation periods having a zero value, and determining the first and second values comprises: determining, based on the configured resource reservation periods having the zero value, that the first and second values are nonnegative values [0232, 0255-0257]. The third number of candidate resource [0254, 0259]. Fig. 21 includes resource sensing window of the resource pool in Fig. 2, that is at least to m−T_3−T_proc,0 where T_3=T_proc,1, T_proc,0 is processing time of sensing results, and T_proc,1 is a processing time of SL [0181].);
3GPP-Tech-Spec in the relevant art discloses, ‘and the ninth time is determined based on the target time and the third delay’ (remaining PDB in slots table 8.4.1-2 page 157, 159 and section 8.4.1),
And further to include of Ye, ‘the third delay is determined based on the first delay, and the first delay is the remaining delay corresponding to the to-be-transmitted data packet of the terminal.’ (the contiguous partial sensing based on the remaining PDB to be transmitted. The threshold pre-configured to the T_A/T_B [0076, 0238]. Motive would be identical as first part of this claim disclosed above.)
Regarding Claim 6
‘The method of claim 5’ (disclosed above),
Ye discloses, ‘wherein determining, by the terminal, the first time and the second time based on the third number of candidate slots comprises: determining, by the terminal, the first time based on the second delay’ (disclosed above in claim 5),
and to further to include, ‘and a seventeenth time’ (3GPP-Tech-Spec table 8.4.1-2, page 159);
Ye discloses, ‘and determining, by the terminal, the second time based on a first slot in the third number of candidate slots, a second value, and a third value’,
‘and a time corresponding to the second value is a maximum time allowed for the terminal to prepare a physical SL channel, and a time corresponding to the third value is a time for the terminal to process a channel sensing result.’,
(determining the first and second values comprises determining the first value is max{0,t_y−R} or max{1,t_y−R}; and determining the second value is max{first value, t_y−T_proc_0} or max {first value, t_y−T_proc_0−T_proc_1}, where the first value and the second value are nonnegative values, t_y is candidate slots in a resource selection window, T_proc_0 is a number of slots required by the UE to process sensing results, and T_proc_1 is a number of slots required by the UE to prepare a PSCCH) or a PSSCH where R is the length of the resource reservation window [0234-0236]),
And further to include 3GPP-Tech-Spec, ‘wherein the seventeenth time is determined based on the first slot in the third number of candidate slots, a first set value, and the target time’ (The terminal procedure for resource allocation in SL mode- 2, the terminal determines the subset of resources (ro, r1, r2…); T3 equal to Tproc,1 SL and Table 8.4.1-2, section 8.4.1 page 156-159. ).
Regarding Claim 16,
‘The device of claim 13’ (disclosed above),
Identical to claim 5 disclosed above, ‘wherein the processor is further configured to: determine a third number of candidate slots within a range from a fifth time to a ninth time; and determine the first time and the second time based on the third number of candidate slots, wherein the fifth time is determined based on the target time and a second delay, the third number is greater than or equal to a minimum number of slots required by the terminal for sensing, and is less than or equal to a fourth number, and the fourth number is determined based on a third delay and a second delay, a value of the second delay comprises 0 or 1; and the ninth time is determined based on the target time and the third delay, the third delay is determined based on the first delay, and the first delay is the remaining delay corresponding to the to-be-transmitted data packet of the terminal.’
Regarding Claim 17,
‘The device of claim 16’ (disclosed above),
Identical to claim 6 disclosed above, ‘wherein when determining the first time and the second 6time based on the third number of candidate slots, the processor is configured to: determine the first time based on the second delay and a seventeenth time; and determine the second time based on a first slot in the third number of candidate slots, a second value, and a third value, wherein the seventeenth time is determined based on the first slot in the third number of candidate slots, a first set value, and the target time, and a time corresponding to the second value is a maximum time allowed for the terminal to prepare a physical SL channel, and a time corresponding to the third value is a time for the terminal to process a channel sensing result.’
Conclusion
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/S.A./Examiner, Art Unit 2466
/CHRISTOPHER M CRUTCHFIELD/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2466