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 Objections
Claims 11 and 14-15 are objected to because of the following informalities: The variable L is undefined (for claim 11, the variable is undefined with respect to the first and second alternatives of each limitation beginning with “being determined based on”). Appropriate correction is required.
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.
(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 1-10, 12-13 and 17-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) and (2) as being anticipated by Park (US 2020/0313743).
Regarding claim 1, Park discloses a sidelink resource determining method (figs. 9A-10), comprising: determining, by a receiving terminal, a PSFCH resource or a PSFCH candidate resource according to a physical sidelink feedback channel (PSFCH) mapping rule (paras. 181, 196 and 217; paras. 221-224; note: determining a resource pool, sub-channel ID and other resource assignment for a PSFCH); wherein the PSFCH mapping rule satisfies at least one of the following:
Regarding claims 2-8 and 13, these limitations are rejected for further defining an alternative of claim 1 that is not addressed in the rejection.
Regarding claim 9, Park discloses the method according to claim 1, wherein the PSFCH resource or the PSFCH candidate resource totally occupies M1 physical resource blocks (PRBs) (para. 221, last sentence; note: PRB allocation; para. 223. PRB index; paras. 201 and 213; note: sub-channel for transmission of associated with PRBs), wherein M1 is a positive integer, and M1 satisfies at least one of the following:
Regarding claim 10, Park discloses the method according to claim 9, wherein for a PSSCH slot associated with a time domain location of PSFCH transmission (para. 221; note: timing gap between a PSSCH slot and a PSFCH resource) and a first object (para. 223; PRBs or sub-channel of a PFSCH resource), a transmission resource corresponding to the first object on the PSSCH slot is L PRBs among the M1 PRBs (para. 213; note: PRBs for a PSSCH transmission), wherein the first object is a subchannel or an interlace, L being a positive integer (paras. 221-223; note: sub-channel ID; paras. 106-108; note: resource units for a resource pool).
Regarding claim 12, Park discloses the method according to claim 10, wherein the index value of the subchannel or the interlace satisfies any one of the following: the index value of the subchannel or the interlace in a slot (para. 223 and 227; note: PSFCH sub-channel ID and PSFCH slot for HARQ feedback)
Regarding claim 17, Park discloses the method according to claim 1, wherein the resource location comprises a time domain location and a frequency domain location (para. 221; note: PFSCH resource pool based on a timing gap from a slot, and PRBs, sub-channel ID and symbol assignment); wherein the time domain location is indicated by first indication information (paras. 221-224; note: higher layer signaling, DCI or SCI), and the first indication information is used to indicate any one of the following: a slot index value of a feedback PSFCH resource corresponding to the second object (paras. 221 and 223; note: slot index for a PSFCH where the PSFCH is based on a timing gap from a PSSCH slot); a slot offset value of the feedback PSFCH resource corresponding to the second object (para. 223; note: the PSFCH is based on a timing gap from a PSSCH slot;
Regarding claim 18, Park discloses the method according to claim 1, wherein the PSFCH mapping rule is
Regarding claim 19, these limitations are rejected on the same ground as claim 1. In addition, Park discloses a terminal, comprising (fig. 17 and paras. 266-268) a memory, a processor, and a program stored in the memory and capable of running on the processor, wherein the program, when executed by the processor, causes the terminal to perform (paras. 231, 259-260 and 266-268) the method of claim 1.
Regarding claim 20, these limitations are rejected on the same ground as claim 1. In addition, Park discloses (fig. 17 and paras. 266-268) a non-transitory readable storage medium, wherein the non-transitory readable storage medium stores a program or instructions, wherein the program or the instructions, when executed by a processor, causes the processor to perform (paras. 231, 259-260 and 266-268) the method of claim 1.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 11 and 14-16 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Lee et al. (US 2022/0346090) discloses subchannel to sub-frequency mapping (figs. 10-21). Ryu et al. (US 2020/0351033) discloses PSFCH for cast types (figs. 6-7, 8A, 13B and 21B; paras. 128, 164-165, 171, 182 and 185). Hwang et al. (US 2020/0288286) discloses PSFCH subchannel mapping (figs. 13 and 15-18, and para. 187).
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/Kevin C. Harper/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2462