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.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments filed 07 April 2026 have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground(s) of rejection is made in view of Zhou.
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 1-4, 7-8 and 18-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Zhou et al. (US 2022/0140958).
Regarding claim 1, Zhou discloses a sidelink resource determining method (figs. 9A-10), comprising: determining, by a receiving terminal (fig. 2, first terminal receiving a PSFCH NACK/ACK), a PSFCH resource according to a physical sidelink feedback channel (PSFCH) mapping rule (fig. 11 and para. 113; note: determining a pool for a position of a PSFCH where the PFSCH is mapped to pools, each pool including a slot; paras. 71, 73-77 and 82); wherein the PSFCH mapping rule satisfies: PSFCH mapping is performed in M PSFCH periods, wherein M is an integer greater than 1 (fig. 11 and para. 113; note: PSFCH mapped to a pool or pools (periods) based indicated resource signaling).
Regarding claim 2, Zhou discloses the method according to claim 1, wherein a value of M is associated with at least one of the following:
Regarding claim 3, Zhou discloses the method according to claim 1, wherein during a first preset time period in the M PSFCH periods, a maximum number of transmissions of a first PSFCH in time domain is K, wherein K is a positive integer less than or equal to M (fig. 11; para. 113-114; note: maximum possible number of PSFCH pools is 4 and maximum actual number is 2 pools based other parameters such as a time slot offset and feedback period).
Regarding claim 4, Zhou discloses the method according to claim 3, wherein K transmission locations of the first PSFCH in the M PSFCH periods comprise: PSFCH transmission locations in most recent P PSFCH periods satisfying a first preset condition (fig. 11; para. 113-114; note: maximum actual number of pools (periods) is 2 based other parameters (conditions) such as a time slot offset and feedback period).
Regarding claim 7, Zhou discloses the method according to claim 4, wherein P is a natural number less than or equal to K (fig. 11; para. 113-114; note: P is one or two based on an actual PSFCH transmission).
Regarding claim 8, Zhou discloses the method according to claim 3, wherein the first preset time period is at least one of the following: M PSFCH periods (fig. 11; para. 113-114; note: maximum possible number of PSFCH pools is 4 and maximum actual number is 2 pools based other parameters such as a time slot offset and feedback period),
Regarding claim 18, Zhou 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, Zhou discloses a terminal, comprising (fig. 14 and para. 182) 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. 181 and 191) the method of claim 1.
Regarding claim 20, these limitations are rejected on the same ground as claim 1. In addition, Zhou discloses (fig. 14 and para. 182 and 191-192) 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. 181 and 191) the method of claim 1.
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.
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.
Claim 5 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhou in view of Yoshioka et al. (US 2022/0217741).
Regarding claim 5, Zhou discloses an offset between a PSSCH and a PSFCH (para. 113) but fails to disclose the method according to claim 4, wherein the first preset condition comprise at least one of the following: a time gap between a PSFCH transmission location and a corresponding physical sidelink control channel (PSCCH) or physical sidelink shared channel (PSSCH) is greater than or equal to a data processing time; or the time gap between the PSFCH transmission location and the corresponding PSCCH or PSSCH is greater than or equal to a PSFCH transmission processing time. Yoshioka discloses these features (fig. 10; paras. 103-106; note: processing for a PSSCH is a data processing time and a PSFCH transmission processing time).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have wherein the first preset condition comprise at least one of the following: a time gap between a PSFCH transmission location and a corresponding physical sidelink control channel (PSCCH) or physical sidelink shared channel (PSSCH) is greater than or equal to a data processing time; or the time gap between the PSFCH transmission location and the corresponding PSCCH or PSSCH is greater than or equal to a PSFCH transmission processing time in the invention of Zhou. The motivation to have the modification and/or well-known benefits of the modification include, but are not limited to, providing sufficient time determine a transmission status as is known in the art (Yoshioka, fig. 10 and paras. 103-106; MPEP 2143(I)(A)(B)(C)(D) - note: e.g., applying known techniques having predictable results).
Claims 9-10, 13 and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhou in view of Park et al. (US 2020/0313743). For dependent claims herein, the motivation to combine is the same as the parent claim unless otherwise noted.
Regarding claim 9, Zhou fails to disclose the limitations of claims 9 and 10 but Park discloses a PSFCH 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:
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have a PSFCH resource totally occupies M1 physical resource blocks (PRBs), wherein M1 is a positive integer, and M1 satisfies at least one of the following:
Regarding claim 10, Zhou in view of Park teaches and makes obvious the method according to claim 9, wherein for a PSSCH slot associated with a time domain location of PSFCH transmission (Park, para. 221; note: timing gap between a PSSCH slot and a PSFCH resource) and a first object (Park, 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 (Park, para. 213; note: PRBs for a PSSCH transmission), wherein the first object is a subchannel or an interlace, L being a positive integer (Park, paras. 221-223; note: sub-channel ID; paras. 106-108; note: resource units for a resource pool).
Regarding claim 13, Zhou in view of Park teaches and makes obvious the method according to claim 10, wherein in a case of performing PSFCH mapping in M PSFCH periods, the PSFCH mapping rule further satisfies at least one of the following: time-frequency domain resources of the PSFCH are contiguous or non-contiguous (Park, paras. 201, 213 and 223; note: subcarrier index(s)); mapping is performed in ascending or descending order of slot index values of PSSCH slots and in ascending or descending order of index values of first objects (Park, paras. 201, 213 and 223; note: lowest VRB); and time-frequency domain mapping is performed on basis of PSFCH period (Zhou, fig. 11 and para. 113; note: PSFCH slot; Park, paras. 201, 213 and 223; note: slot and frequency mapping to a PSFCH).
Regarding claim 16, Zhou in view of Park teaches and makes obvious with the same motivation as claim 9, the method according to claim 1, wherein the number of frequency domain radio bearers (RBs) or interlaces resulting from interlacing corresponding to one PSFCH transmission, MUE, satisfies any one of the following: .
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 11-12 and 14-15 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
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.
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/Kevin C. Harper/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2462
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