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 .
DETAILED ACTION
RESPONSE TO AMENDMENT
Status of Application/Amendments/claims
Applicant’s amendment filed on 4/13/2026 is acknowledged. Claims 1-2, 7, 10, 17 and 20 are amended.
Claims 1-20 are pending and have been examined, of which claims 1, 17 and 20 are independent.
Claim Rejections/Objections Withdrawn
In view of the amendment filed, the following rejections/objections are withdrawn.
Claim objections for claims 7, 10 and 20 are withdrawn.
Claim rejection under 35 USC 112(b) for claims 2 and 20 are withdrawn.
New Grounds of Rejection Necessitated by the Amendment
The following rejections are new grounds of rejections necessitated by the amendment filed.
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 7, 20 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 7 recites “the duplication transmission”, which is preceded by “a duplication transmission for the SL” in claim 1 and “a duplication transmission for an DRB”. It is unclear, which duplication transmission is further limited.
Claim 20 recites “the first terminal device”, which have lack of antecedent basis in the claim.
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claim(s) 1-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chen et al. (WO 2019061194) in view of Wang et al. (US 20210337515).
Regarding claim 1, Chen teaches a duplication transmission method for a sidelink (SL) (para 92-96: for eV2X sidelink communication, the BS based SL RB configuration mechanism), performed by a first terminal device (UE 810, fig 8), comprising:
acquiring configuration information, wherein the configuration information is configured to configure a duplication transmission for the SL (step 1, fig 8; para 92: the BS 820 may configure the PC5 RB with appropriate PC5 QoS parameters to UE 810 together with PC5 data duplication/split configuration to UE 810); and
performing a SL transmission process with a second terminal device based on the configuration information (para 96: upon receiving the PC5 RB configuration with the data duplication/data split relevant info, the Tx UE 810 may configure the PC5 RB together with the PDCP entity, RLC entities and logical channels correspondingly, and then transmit on PC5 based on the data duplication/split configuration; para 95-96: unicast V2X SL communication with SL Rx UE 810 and TX UE 810).
Chen teaches the PC5 data duplication and carrier resources, but fails to teach that resource information included in transmitting/receiving pool includes frequency and time resources. Wang is directed to sidelink resource configuration.
Wang further teaches wherein the configuration information conforms to at least one case of: the configuration information being targeted at a transmitting resource pool used by the first terminal device and/or the second terminal device, wherein the configuration information corresponding to the transmitting resource pool is dedicated for the first terminal device and the second terminal device, the transmitting resource pool comprises resource information available to transmit data in the SL transmission process, and the resource information comprises a frequency resource and a time slot resource (para 72-73: a sidelink resource is a resource used for communication between terminals, the sidelink resource may include a frequency-domain sidelink resource and a time-domain sidelink resource, the sidelink resource may include a sidelink sending resource and a sidelink receiving resource, the sidelink resource pool may include the resource used to transmit data). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine sidelink duplication and carrier resource determination as taught by Chen with sidelink resources including time and frequency resources as taught by Wang for the benefit of improving transmission performance as taught by Wang in Para 7.
Regarding claim 17, Chen teaches a duplication transmission method for a sidelink (SL) (para 92-96: for eV2X sidelink communication, the BS based SL RB configuration mechanism), performed by a network device (BS 820, fig 8), comprising:
transmitting configuration information to at least one terminal device (step 1, fig 8), wherein the configuration information is configured to configure a duplication transmission for the SL (step 1, fig 8; para 92: the BS 820 may configure the PC5 RB with appropriate PC5 QoS parameters to UE 810 together with PC5 data duplication/split configuration to UE 810).
Chen teaches the PC5 data duplication and carrier resources, but fails to teach that resource information included in transmitting/receiving pool includes frequency and time resources. Wang is directed to sidelink resource configuration.
Wang further teaches wherein the configuration information conforms to at least one case of: the configuration information being targeted at a transmitting resource pool used by the first terminal device and/or the second terminal device, wherein the configuration information corresponding to the transmitting resource pool is dedicated for the first terminal device and the second terminal device, the transmitting resource pool comprises resource information available to transmit data in the SL transmission process, and the resource information comprises a frequency resource and a time slot resource (para 72-73: a sidelink resource is a resource used for communication between terminals, the sidelink resource may include a frequency-domain sidelink resource and a time-domain sidelink resource, the sidelink resource may include a sidelink sending resource and a sidelink receiving resource, the sidelink resource pool may include the resource used to transmit data). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine sidelink duplication and carrier resource determination as taught by Chen with sidelink resources including time and frequency resources as taught by Wang for the benefit of improving transmission performance as taught by Wang in Para 7.
Regarding claim 20, Chen teaches a device, applied in a network device (BS 500, fig 5), comprising:
a processor (processor 504, fig 5); and
a memory (memory 506, fig 5), storing a computer program (para 70: the processor 504, the memory 506 work similarly to the processor 304, the memory 306; para 48: the processor 304 typically performs logical and arithmetic operations based on program instructions stored within the memory 306);
wherein the processor is configured to execute the computer program (para 70, 48) to implement duplication transmission method for a sidelink (SL):
wherein in a case where the device is applied in the network device, the method comprises: transmitting configuration information to at least one terminal device, wherein the configuration information is configured to configure a duplication transmission for the SL (step 1, fig 8; para 92: the BS 820 may configure the PC5 RB with appropriate PC5 QoS parameters to UE 810 together with PC5 data duplication/split configuration to UE 810).
Chen teaches the PC5 data duplication and carrier resources, but fails to teach that resource information included in transmitting/receiving pool includes frequency and time resources. Wang is directed to sidelink resource configuration.
Wang further teaches wherein the configuration information conforms to at least one case of: the configuration information being targeted at a transmitting resource pool used by the first terminal device and/or the second terminal device, wherein the configuration information corresponding to the transmitting resource pool is dedicated for the first terminal device and the second terminal device, the transmitting resource pool comprises resource information available to transmit data in the SL transmission process, and the resource information comprises a frequency resource and a time slot resource (para 72-73: a sidelink resource is a resource used for communication between terminals, the sidelink resource may include a frequency-domain sidelink resource and a time-domain sidelink resource, the sidelink resource may include a sidelink sending resource and a sidelink receiving resource, the sidelink resource pool may include the resource used to transmit data). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine sidelink duplication and carrier resource determination as taught by Chen with sidelink resources including time and frequency resources as taught by Wang for the benefit of improving transmission performance as taught by Wang in Para 7.
Regarding claim 2, Chen further teaches wherein the configuration information further conforms to at least one case of: the configuration information being targeted at the first terminal device (para 96: for the unicast V2X SL communication, the BS may have knowledge of the UE pairs that perform unicast V2X SL communication, the BS 820 may also send the PC5 RB configuration with PC5 data duplication/split information to SL Rx UE 810, besides the above mentioned information, the source UE ID corresponding to the Rx PC5 RB is also included).
Regarding claim 3, Chen further teaches wherein the configuration information comprises configuration information corresponding to a duplication transmission employing 2 radio link control (RLC) entities (para 87: two RLC entities and logical channels established for the PC5 RB with data duplication/data spit; para 93-95: multiple RLC configuration included in the PC5 RB configuration).
Regarding claim 4, Chen further teaches wherein the configuration information comprises at least one of primary path information (para 94: Data duplication/split primary path indication indicates which path/leg (RLC entity/LCH) to be used when PDCP data duplication/split is deactivated， which could be identified by LCID), indication information of whether the duplication transmission is activated (para 94: PC5 data duplication indication indicates whether the SL RB to enable/support PC5 data duplication).
Regarding claim 5, Chen further teaches wherein the configuration information comprises at least one of an identity of the first terminal device and/or the second terminal device and an RB identity (para 96: the BS 820 may also send the PC5 RB configuration with PC5 data duplication/split information to SL Rx UE 810, besides the above mentioned information, the source UE ID corresponding to the Rx PC5 RB is also included).
Regarding claim 6, Chen further teaches wherein the configuration information comprises an enable identity of a split transmission (para 94: PC5 RB configuration and PC5 data duplication/split configuration includes PC5 data split indication indicates whether the SL RB to enable/support PC5 data split, data split primary path indication (in terms of LCID)).
Regarding claim 7, Chen further teaches wherein performing the SL transmission process with the second terminal device based on the configuration information (para 96: upon receiving the PC5 RB configuration with the data duplication/data split relevant info, the Tx UE 810 may configure the PC5 RB together with the PDCP entity, RLC entities and logical channels correspondingly, and then transmit on PC5 based on the data duplication/split configuration; para 95-96: unicast V2X SL communication with SL Rx UE 810 and TX UE 810), comprises:
determining whether to perform the duplication transmission for the SL based on the configuration information (para 94: configuration including PC5 data duplication indication indicates whether the SL RB to enable/support PC5 data duplication; para 92-96, UE 810 configures and transmits on PC5 (sidelink));
determining whether to perform a duplication transmission for an DRB and/or a SRB based on the configuration information (para 40: in fig 2a, for a given data radio bearer (DRB) or signaling radio bearer (SRB) that supports data duplication or data split, there are one PDCP entity 220, two or more radio link control (RLC) entities 231, 232, 233, and two or more logical channels associated with it; para 93-94: the PC5 RB configuration information may include the PC5 RBs that should be set up/released/updated, for each PC5 RB, whether data duplication or data split should be supported is indicated, the PC5 RB is used for SL transmission and or reception is also indicated, the PC5 RB may contain the PDCP, RLC and logical channel configurations, multiple RLC and logical channel configurations may be included, corresponding to the multiple legs of a PC5 RB/PDCP);
determining an RLC entity of performing the duplication transmission based on the configuration information (para 94: data duplication/split primary path indication indicates which path/leg (RLC entity/LCH) to be used); and
determining RLC entities to which data and a data duplicate in the duplication transmission are transmitted, respectively, based on the configuration information (para 87: the maximum number of RLC entities and logical channels to be established may be set as default value or preconfigured or configured by the BS, the system may only allow the data duplication/data split of two legs, two RLC entities and logical channels shall be established for the PC5 RB with data duplication/data split; para 94: multiple RLC configuration).
Regarding claim 8, Chen further teaches
determining whether to perform a split transmission for the SL in a case of the duplication transmission for the SL being not configured (para 105: the UE 1010 may be pre-configured or configured by BS 1020 with a data split threshold, if the data arrived at a PC5 RB is higher than the data split threshold， more carriers should be used for this PC5 RB’s sidelink data scheduling and transmission, thus the data split should be activated to support the data transmission over more carriers; here, the data split is configured, the data duplication is not configured); and
performing a data split transmission through a primary path and a secondary path in a case of determining to perform the split transmission for the SL (para 105: the data split should be activated to support the data transmission over more carriers, additional RLC entity/logical channel may also be established to support the data split operation; para 40: for the PDCP data split, the PDCP entity 220 may deliver the PDCP PDUs to different RLC entities 231, 232, 233 according to pre-configured data split ratio or data split rules).
Regarding claim 9, Chen further teaches performing a single RLC entity transmission in a case of the duplication transmission for the SL being not configured (para 101-102: only one RLC entity and logical channel are established when the PC5 RB that supports data duplication/data split is configured to set up, only one RLC entity and logical channel is used initially until the data duplication/data split is activated by UE or BS).
Regarding claim 10, Chen further teaches wherein the configuration information is configured or pre-configured by a network device (step 1, fig 8; para 92: the BS 820 may configure the PC5 RB with appropriate PC5 QoS parameters to UE 810 together with PC5 data duplication/split configuration to UE 810);
wherein the network device is configured to transmit the configuration information to the first terminal device and the second terminal device, respectively (para 95-96: the PC5 RB configuration with the data duplication/data split relevant info is received by the Tx UE 810, and for the unicast V2X SL communication, the BS 820 may also send the PC5 RB configuration with PC5 data duplication/split information to SL Rx UE 810).
Regarding claim 11, Chen further teaches wherein the configuration information is configured by a target terminal device (fig 9, para 97: Tx UE 910 may send its data duplication/data split relevant configuration to Rx UE 920 via broadcast or dedicated PC5 signaling), and the target terminal device is the first terminal device (TX UE 910, fig 9);
wherein the configuration information is transmitted to the second terminal device through a direct communication interface (fig 9, para 97: Tx UE 910 may send its data duplication/data split relevant configuration to Rx UE 920 via broadcast or dedicated PC5 signaling).
Regarding claim 12, Chen further teaches wherein the configuration information comprises all configuration parameters required to perform the SL transmission process (para 94 describes all the parameters for PC5 RB configuration; para 95: upon receiving the PC5 RB configuration with the data duplication/data split relevant info, the Tx UE 810 may configure the PC5 RB together with the PDCP entity, RLC entities and logical channels correspondingly， and then transmit on PC5 based on the data duplication/split configuration).
Regarding claim 13, Chen further teaches acquiring a first activating signaling (fig 11-12, signaling of PC5 data duplication/split activation/deactivation command), wherein the first activating signaling is configured to indicate to activate the duplication transmission for the SL (para 106: the activation/deactivation command may be delivered through RRC signaling or MAC CE or PDCP control PDU, it may contain a bitmap or list, each bit or entry indicates the PC5 RB which data duplication/data split should be activated or deactivated).
Regarding claim 14, Chen further teaches wherein signaling is configured or pre-configured by a network device (para 106: in fig 11, BS 1120 may send the activation/deactivation command to the Tx UE 1110), and
the signaling comprises the first activating signaling (para 106: in fig 11, BS 1120 may send the activation/deactivation command to the Tx UE 1110, the activation/deactivation command may contain a bitmap or list, each bit or entry indicates the PC5 RB which data duplication/data split should be activated or deactivated).
Regarding claim 15, Chen further teaches wherein the network device is configured to transmit the signaling to the first terminal device and the second terminal device, respectively (para 106: in fig 11, BS 1120 may send the activation/deactivation command to the Tx UE 1110, for the unicast SL communication, if the BS knows which UE pair is performing unicast SL communication, the BS may also send the activation/deactivation command to Rx UE).
Regarding claim 16, Chen further teaches wherein signaling is configured by a target terminal device (para 107: in fig 12, the Tx UE 1210 may send the activation/deactivation command to the Rx UE 1220), the signaling comprises the first activating signaling (para 107: the activation/deactivation command may be delivered through RRC signaling or MAC CE or PDCP control PDU, it may contain a bitmap or list, each bit or entry indicates the PC5 RB which data duplication/data split should be activated or deactivated), and the target terminal device is the first terminal device (TX UE 1210, fig 12);
wherein the signaling is transmitted to the second terminal device through a direct communication interface (para 107: in fig 12, the Tx UE 1210 may send the activation/deactivation command to the Rx UE 1220, the activation/deactivation command may be delivered through RRC signaling or MAC CE or PDCP control PDU).
Regarding claim 18, Chen further teaches transmitting second indicating information to the at least one terminal device (fig 10 – PC5 data duplication/data split activation/deactivation configuration from eNB 1020 to UE1 1010), wherein the second indication information is configured to indicate whether the terminal device is allowed to determine to activate or de-activate the duplication transmission for the SL by itself (para 105: the Tx UE may autonomously initiate the activation/deactivation of data duplication/data split, as shown in FIG. 10, the autonomous activation/deactivation may be based on the dynamic change of data flow, for the data split, the UE 1010 may be pre-configured or configured by BS 1020 with a data split threshold, if the data arrived at a PC5 RB is higher than the data split threshold, more carriers should be used for this PC5 RB’s sidelink data scheduling and transmission, thus the data split should be activated to support the data transmission over more carriers).
Regarding claim 19, Chen further teaches
receiving assistance information transmitted by the at least one terminal device (fig 8; para 95: UE1 810 may send PC5 RB configuration request/PC5 data duplication/split request to BS 820);
performing determining an activated and/or de-activated duplication transmission of the SL (para 93-95: the BS 820 may configure the PC5 RB with appropriate PC5 QoS parameters to UE 810 together with PC5 data duplication/split configuration to UE 810, configuration parameters including PC5 data duplication indication indicates whether the SL RB to enable/support PC5 data duplication).
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim 1 have been considered but are moot because the arguments do not apply to combination of the references being used in the current rejection.
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 nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) 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 mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to RINA C PANCHOLI whose telephone number is (571)272-2679. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 7:30am-4pm.
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/RINA C PANCHOLI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2477 6/21/2026
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