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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant’s submission filed on June 5, 2026 has been entered.
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.
Claims 1, 3-11, and 13-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hoang et al. (Patent No: US 2023/0284206 A1), hereinafter, HOANG, in view of CHENG et al. (Patent No: US 2024/0251417 A1), hereinafter, CHENG and further in view of FEHRENBACH et al. (Patent No: US 2020/0092685 A1), hereinafter, FEHRENBACH.
Regarding Claim 1, HOANG teaches,
A wireless communication method comprising: determining, by a wireless communication device, whether at least one of a dedicated resource pool or a number of shared resource pools is provided, -Paragraph[0105] [0242] ([0105] recites, “Sidelink discovery may be supported by resource pool configuration procedures. A WTRU may determine the resources for discovery data transmissions. In examples, a WTRU may be (pre)configured with one or more (e.g., multiple) dedicated resource pools for a discovery transmission.” [0242] recites. “The WTRU may be (pre-)configured with one or multiple shared resource pools for data transmission and/or one or more dedicated resource pools for discovery transmission (e.g., for discovery transmission only). The WTRU may determine which resource pool(s) to use for transmission of discovery messages based on one or any combination of the following.”)
wherein each of the shared resource pools includes a sidelink transmission or reception resource pool; -Fig. 2; Paragraph [0101, 0181] ([0101] recites, “When referred to herein, the term discovery message may describe any message transmitted from a WTRU to initialize direct communication (e.g., sidelink communication) with one or more other WTRUs.” [0181] recites, “A WTRU may perform resource selection in a shared resource pool between discovery and other data. A WTRU may perform resource selection for discovery transmission in a shared resource pool between discovery and data.” As shown in Fig. 2 sidelink transmission/reception between remote WTRU and Relay WTRU occurs in sidelink over PC5 interface.)
Although implicit, HOANG does not explicitly mention,
in response to no dedicated resource pool being provided, determining whether a configuration information element (IE) for a first shared resource pool of the number of shared resource pools being provided includes a sidelink relay allowed indication; and in response to the configuration IE for the first shared resource pool including the sidelink relay allowed indication, performing, by the wireless communication device, the sidelink discovery using the first shared resource pool.
However, in an analogous invention, CHENG teaches,
in response to no dedicated resource pool being provided, Fig. 8; Paragraph [0082-0083] ( [0082-0083] recites, “The allocated resources for the sidelink transmission may be comprised of shared pool of resources or dedicated pool of resources…. As illustrated at 810, the UE 802 may communicate with a wireless device (not shown) based on the allocated resources. The wireless device may comprise a UE. The UE 802 may communicate with the wireless device based on the allocated resources configured by the UE 802.” If the allocated resources are from shared pool of resources, wireless device will perform sidelink discovery using the shared resource pool)
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the “SIDELINK DISCOVERY ASSOCIATED WITH NR RELAYS” proposed by HOANG to include the concept of “in response to no dedicated resource pool being provided, performing, by the wireless communication device, the sidelink discovery using the the shared resource pool ” of CHENG . One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to improve power savings [0068].
Although, implicit and easily understandable to an ordinary person with the skill in the art, HOANG and CHENG combination do not explicitly mention,
determining whether a configuration information element (IE) for a first shared resource pool of the number of shared resource pools being provided includes a sidelink relay allowed indication;
However, in an analogous invention, FEHRENBACH teaches,
determining whether a configuration information element (IE) for a first shared resource pool of the number of shared resource pools being provided includes a sidelink relay allowed indication; -Paragraph [0139][0457-0458] ([0139] recites, “specific system information elements or also by sending a system information block for UEs supporting Group Management functionality and/or UEs supporting Group Member functionality. Such system information might either be sent cell wide to all UEs or only to UEs that support such functionality, for example based on UE request or as part of a request to serve as a Group Manager or to become a Group Member.” [0457-0458] recites, “providing control information about the sidelink or the group relay functions to other UEs via a physical sidelink broadcast channel (e.g. PSBCH) or via broadcast information mapped on the physical sidelink shared channel (e.g. PSSCH) [0458] by sending a control indication that group relay functionality is supported “)
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the “SIDELINK DISCOVERY ASSOCIATED WITH NR RELAYS” proposed by HOANG to include the concept of “determining whether a configuration information element (IE) for a first shared resource pool of the number of shared resource pools being provided includes a sidelink relay allowed indication;” of FEHRENBACH. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to improve the receive signal quality [0245].
Regarding Claim 3, HOANG, CHENG and FEHRENBACH teach the limitations of Claim 1.
HOANG further teaches,
The wireless communication method of claim 1, further comprising: determining, by the wireless communication device, that the dedicated resource pool is provided; determining, by the wireless communication device, that the shared resource pool being provided can be used to perform the sidelink discovery; and performing, by the wireless communication device, the sidelink discovery using any of dedicated resource pool or the shared resource pool. -Paragraph [0105] [0242][0247]([0105] recites, “Sidelink discovery may be supported by resource pool configuration procedures. A WTRU may determine the resources for discovery data transmissions. In examples, a WTRU may be (pre)configured with one or more (e.g., multiple) dedicated resource pools for a discovery transmission. In examples, a WTRU may be (pre)configured with one or more resource pools. A WTRU may be (pre)configured with a set of time/frequency resources (e.g., in each resource pool) for (e.g., possible) transmission of discovery data. A WTRU may be (pre)configured with one or more resource pools for transmission of discovery data and/or other data.” [0242] recites, “A WTRU may select one or more resource pools for discovery transmission. The WTRU may be (pre-)configured with one or multiple resource pools for discovery transmissions. The WTRU may be (pre-)configured with one or multiple shared resource pools for data transmission and/or one or more dedicated resource pools for discovery transmission (e.g., for discovery transmission only).” [0247] recites, “The WTRU may determine which resource pool(s) to use for discovery transmission based on the availability of a relay for a remote WTRU. For example, the WTRU may select a dedicated resource pool for relay selection and a shared resource pool for relay reselection. The WTRU may transmit a discovery message in a dedicated resource pool, for example, if the WTRU does not have a relay. The WTRU may transmit a discovery message in a shared resource pool, for example, if the WTRU is connected to a relay.” As recited above, the wireless device (WTRU) determines whether dedicated and/or shared resource pool is assigned (from the configuration) and either dedicated or shared resource pool may be used for transmitting discovery message (perform sidelink discovery))
Regarding Claim 4, HOANG, CHENG and FEHRENBACH teach the limitations of Claim 1.
HOANG further teaches,
The wireless communication method of claim 1, further comprising: determining, by the wireless communication device, that the dedicated resource pool and a Channel Busy Ratio (CBR) threshold are provided; determining, by the wireless communication device, that a CBR of the dedicated resource pool is lower than the CBR threshold; and performing, by the wireless communication device, the sidelink discovery using the dedicated resource pool and not using any of the shared resource pools. -Paragraph [0119][0244] ([0119] recites, “The WTRU may be configured with restriction application conditions depending on, for example, a CBR of a resource pool…” [0244] recites, “The WTRU may use a dedicated resource pool for discovery transmission, for example, if the CBR associated with the resource pool is smaller than a threshold….The WTRU may use a dedicated resource pool for discovery transmission if the CBR associated with the resource pool is smaller than a threshold…..One or more of the thresholds described herein may be configured (e.g., by a network or an upper layer, such as via RRC signaling)”)
Regarding Claim 5, HOANG, CHENG and FEHRENBACH teach the limitations of Claim 1.
HOANG further teaches,
The wireless communication method of claim 1, further comprising: determining, by the wireless communication device, that the dedicated resource pool and a Channel Busy Ratio (CBR) threshold are provided; determining, by the wireless communication device, that a CBR of the dedicated resource pool is higher than the CBR threshold; and performing, by the wireless communication device, the sidelink discovery using one of the shared resource pools being provided. -Paragraph [0071][0249] ([0071] recites, “A WTRU may determine the transmission behavior of a message based on, for example, one or more of the following: types of data multiplexed in a transport block (TB); an arrival time of discovery data within a discovery period; a QoS of a message (e.g., discovery message); a channel busy ratio (CBR) of a resource pool and/or a channel occupancy ratio (CR) of a WTRU; past transmission activity of a WTRU; and/or the like.” [0249] recites, “The CR thresholds may be (pre-)configured for one or more resource pools (e.g. per resource pool). For example, if the CR measured in a dedicated resource pool of the WTRU is greater than a CR threshold, the WTRU may transmit a discovery message in a different resource pool (e.g., a shared resource pool).” It is easily understandable to an ordinary person in the field of the art that CBR and CR ratio works in similar way and therefore, when CBR of the dedicated resource pool is greater than a threshold, discovery message is transmitted in shared resource pool. Also, see [0244] the condition to use dedicated resource pool.)
Regarding Claim 6, HOANG, CHENG and FEHRENBACH teach the limitations of Claim 5.
HOANG further teaches,
The wireless communication method of claim 5, further comprising: receiving, by the wireless communication device, a message indicating the shared resource pool configured to perform the sidelink discovery. -Paragraph [0181, 0242, 0254] ( [0181] recites, “A WTRU may select one or more (e.g., all) transmissions of a discovery message in the time/frequency resource configured for discovery transmission. A WTRU may select (e.g., the first) several resources in the time/frequency resource configured for discovery transmission.” [0254] recites, “The WTRU may determine which resource pool(s) to use for discovery transmission based on the received configuration information.” [0242] recites, “A WTRU may select one or more resource pools for discovery transmission. The WTRU may be (pre-)configured with one or multiple resource pools for discovery transmissions. The WTRU may be (pre-)configured with one or multiple shared resource pools for data transmission and/or one or more dedicated resource pools for discovery transmission (e.g., for discovery transmission only)”)
Claim 7, is very similar to Claim 4, except Claim 7 relates to shared resource pool while, Claim 4 relates to dedicated resource pool. It is easily understandable to an ordinary person with the skill in the art that condition of CBR/CR less than a threshold equally applies to shared resource pool in terms of sidelink discovery. The Applicant’s attention is directed towards Claim 4 above which is rejected. Claim 7 is rejected under the same rational as Claim 4.
Claim 8, is very similar to Claim 5, except Claim 8 relates to shared resource pool while, Claim 5 relates to dedicated resource pool. It is easily understandable to an ordinary person with the skill in the art that condition of CBR/CR greater than a threshold equally applies to shared resource pool in terms of sidelink discovery, i.e., whenever, CBR/CR of associated resource pool (dedicated or shared) is greater than a threshold, that resource pool (dedicated or shared) can’t be used for sidelink discovery. The Applicant’s attention is directed towards Claim 5 above which is rejected. Claim 8 is rejected under the same rational as Claim 5.
Regarding Claim 9, HOANG, CHENG and FEHRENBACH teach the limitations of Claim 7.
HOANG further teaches,
The wireless communication method of claim 7, further comprising: determining, by the wireless communication device, that the dedicated resource pool is provided; and performing, by the wireless communication device, the sidelink discovery using the dedicated resource pool being provided. -Paragraph [0105] ([0105] recites, “Sidelink discovery may be network assisted. Sidelink discovery may be supported by resource pool configuration procedures. A WTRU may determine the resources for discovery data transmissions. In examples, a WTRU may be (pre)configured with one or more (e.g., multiple) dedicated resource pools for a discovery transmission.”)
Regarding Claim 10, HOANG, CHENG and FEHRENBACH teach the limitations of Claim 1.
HOANG further teaches,
The wireless communication method of claim 1, wherein the wireless communication device is a sidelink remote User Equipment (UE) or a sidelink relay UE. -Fig. 2; Paragraph [0100] (Fig. 2 shows wireless device (remote WTRU 1) communicating to network through sidelink relay UE (Relay WTRU). [0100] recites, “A discovery procedure for sidelink relay (e.g., WTRU-to-network relay and WTRU-to-WTRU relay) may use one or more physical layer (PHY) channels. Sidelink discovery may be performed using, for example, NR V2X PHY channels.”)
Claims 11, 13-20 are apparatus claims corresponding to the method claims 1, 3-10. The Applicant’s attention is directed towards Claims 1, 3-10 above which are rejected. Claims 11, 13-20 are rejected under the same rational as Claims 1, 3-10.
HOANG further teaches,
A wireless communication device, comprising: at least one processor configured to: -Fig. 1B; Paragraph [0028] ([0028] recites, “FIG. 1B is a system diagram illustrating an example WTRU 102. As shown in FIG. 1B, the WTRU 102 may include a processor 118, a transceiver 120, a transmit/receive element 122, a speaker/microphone 124, a keypad 126, a display/touchpad 128, non-removable memory 130, removable memory 132, a power source 134, a global positioning system (GPS) chipset 136, and/or other peripherals 138, among others. It will be appreciated that the WTRU 102 may include any sub-combination of the foregoing elements while remaining consistent with an embodiment.”)
Response to Argument(s)
Applicant’s arguments with respect to the claims have been considered but are moot because the arguments do not apply to any of the references being used in the current rejection.
Conclusion
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/AHMED SAIFUDDIN/Examiner, Art Unit 2475
/ABDULLAHI AHMED/ Examiner, Art Unit 2475
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