DETAILED ACTION
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 .
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.
Claim(s) 1, 3, 5-7, 9-10 and 14-15 and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Tsai et al. (US Pub. 2022/0399927 A1).
In regards to claims 1, 15 and 17 Tsai et al. (US Pub. 2022/0399927 A1) teaches, a method for wireless communication, comprising: transmitting (or receiving), by a first terminal device (see figure 5A, the TX UE transmitting), M channel state information reference signals (CSI-RSs) to a second terminal device in a first slot using at least one spatial domain transmission filter (see figures 18A and 18B; see paragraph 139; If UE is equipped with multiple panels then UE can transmit multiple SL-CSI-RS with different spatial filters simultaneously or multiple panels transmit on the same antenna port. In FIG. 18A, two SL-CSI-RS are simultaneously transmitted using two different panels and spatial filters, while in FIG. 18B two SL-CSI-RS are transmitted at different OFDM symbols using a single panel with two different spatial filters. SL-CSI-RS is transmitted at the last M (e.g. 6) symbols in a slot or having time pattern, for example, such as at symbol l=5, 7, 9, 11 or l=9, 10, 11, 12 locations in a slot;); wherein the M CSI-RSs are configured for selecting a target spatial domain transmission filter, or the M CSI-RSs are configured for selecting a target spatial domain reception filter (see paragraph 135; Option 2: For each transmission occasion, different SL-CSI-RS resource in a same SL-CSI-RS resource set can be applied with different TX spatial filters. This can enable TX beam sweeping across resources of SL-CSI-RS in a resource set; see paragraph 136; In practice, a SL-CSI-RS is associated with a specific beam. The RX UE measures on the set of signals within a or multiple resource set(s) and reports the result to the TX UE as input to the beam-management (e.g., SL-CSI-RS can be used for BM), candidate beam identification, or beam failure monitoring), and each of the M CSI-RSs occupies N time domain symbol(s), M and N are positive integers, and M > 1 (see paragraph 139; in FIG. 18B two SL-CSI-RS are transmitted at different OFDM symbols using a single panel with two different spatial filters. SL-CSI-RS is transmitted at the last M (e.g. 6) symbols in a slot or having time pattern, for example, such as at symbol l=5, 7, 9, 11 or l=9, 10, 11, 12 locations in a slot).
In further regards to claims 1, 15 and 17, Tsai teaches, transmitting, by the first terminal device, first indication information to the second terminal device; wherein the first indication information is configured for indicating that the CSI-RSs transmitted by the first terminal device are configured for selecting a spatial domain transmission filter for the first terminal device to transmit sidelink data (see paragraph 186; NR SL may support beam indication for unicast or groupcast. This may imply a certain PSCCH or PSSCH transmission uses the same transmission beam as a configured sidelink reference signal (e.g. SL-CSI-RS). Beam indication can be based on the configuration and signaling of TCI states on SL. Each TCI state includes information about a SL-RS (e.g. SL-CSI-RS) by associating PSCCH or PSSCH with a certain TCI. Since the TCI state is for the indication of SL-RS associating with PSCCH or PSSCH, therefore, TCI state can be carried by the 2nd-stage SCI) or the first indication information is configured for indicating that the CSI-RSs transmitted by the first terminal device are configured for selecting a spatial domain reception filter for the second terminal device to receive the sidelink data; or the first indication information is configured for indicating that the CSI-RSs transmitted by the first terminal device are configured for measuring channel state information.
In regards to claims 3 and 19, Tsai teaches, wherein in a case that the M CSI-RSs are configured for selecting the target spatial domain transmission filter, N ≥ 2; wherein the N time domain symbols comprise a first time domain symbol and a second time domain symbol, and wherein data on the first time domain symbol is the same as data on the second time domain symbol, or the data on the first time domain symbol is duplication of the data on the second time domain symbol (see figure 18B and paragraph 139; FIG. 18B two SL-CSI-RS are transmitted at different OFDM symbols using a single panel with two different spatial filters. SL-CSI-RS is transmitted at the last M (e.g. 6) symbols in a slot or having time pattern, for example, such as at symbol l=5, 7, 9, 11 or l=9, 10, 11, 12 locations in a slot).
In regards to claim 5, Tsai teaches, wherein in a case that the M CSI-RSs are configured for selecting the target spatial domain reception filter, N ≥ 1 (see figures 18A and 18B; see paragraph 139; If UE is equipped with multiple panels then UE can transmit multiple SL-CSI-RS with different spatial filters simultaneously or multiple panels transmit on the same antenna port. In FIG. 18A, two SL-CSI-RS are simultaneously transmitted using two different panels and spatial filters, while in FIG. 18B two SL-CSI-RS are transmitted at different OFDM symbols using a single panel with two different spatial filters. SL-CSI-RS is transmitted at the last M (e.g. 6) symbols in a slot or having time pattern, for example, such as at symbol l=5, 7, 9, 11 or l=9, 10, 11, 12 locations in a slot;).
In regards to claim 6, Tsai teaches, wherein the N time domain symbol(s) does not overlap in time domain with at least one of: a time domain symbol carrying second-stage sidelink control information (SCI), a time domain symbol carrying a PSCCH, a time domain symbol carrying a physical sidelink shared channel demodulation reference signal (PSSCH DMRS) (see paragraph 138; RX UE can assume that transmission of a configured SL-CSI-RS will not collide with SL-DMRS for PSSCH transmissions and SL SS blocks), a first symbol configured for sidelink transmission in a slot, a guard period (GP) symbol in the slot, or a time domain symbol carrying a physical sidelink feedback channel (PSFCH).
In regards to claim 7, Tsai teaches, wherein in the first slot, a time domain position occupied by a first CSI-RS is located after a last time domain symbol occupied by second-stage SCI (see paragraph 152; SL-CSI-RS may transmit with PSSCH for RX UE to monitor the link quality to ensure there is enough samples for hypothetical BLER calculation. In this case, the transmission of SL-CSI-RS with PSSCH can be indicated by form of the single SCI or 2.sup.nd-stage SCI).
In regards to claim 9, Tsai teaches, transmitting, by the first terminal device, first sidelink configuration information to the second terminal device; wherein the first sidelink configuration information comprises at least one of the following: indexes of CSI-RS resources corresponding to the M CSI-RSs, an index of a CSI-RS resource set corresponding to the M CSI-RSs (see paragraph 94; RX UE may use identified candidate SL-CSI-RS resource configuration index q.sub.new provided by higher layers for transmission over PSSCH or PSFCH channel ), a correspondence between the CSI-RS resource set corresponding to the M CSI-RSs and a CSI report quantity, a number of CSI-RS resources comprised in the CSI-RS resource set corresponding to the M CSI-RSs, a value of M, a value of N, indication information for indicating time domain symbols occupied by a first CSI-RS in the M CSI-RSs, indication information for determining a RE or sub-carrier carrying a CSI-RS of the M CSI-RSs in a physical resource block (PRB), a density of the CSI-RS, indication information for indicating whether to allow a PSSCH DMRS and the CSI-RS to overlap in time domain, indication information for indicating whether to allow a PSCCH and the CSI-RS resources to overlap in time domain, indication information for indicating whether to allow second-stage SCI and the CSI-RS resources to overlap in time domain, a number of CSI-RS resources reported or fed back by the second terminal device to the first terminal device, a maximum number of CSI-RSs allowed to be transmitted in a slot, a minimum number of CSI-RSs allowed to be transmitted in the slot, or a value of a repetition field in configuration information of the CSI-RS resources or the CSI-RS resource set corresponding to the M CSI-RSs; wherein the repetition field in the configuration information of the CSI-RS resources or the CSI-RS resource set corresponding to the M CSI-RSs taking a first value indicates that the first terminal device transmits the CSI-RSs without using a same spatial domain transmission filter, and the repetition field in the configuration information of the CSI-RS resources or the CSI-RS resource set corresponding to the M CSI-RSs taking a second value indicates that the first terminal device transmits the CSI-RSs using the same spatial domain transmission filter.
In regards to claim 10, Tsai teaches, in a case that the first terminal device transmits the CSI-RSs to the second terminal device in the first slot using the at least one spatial domain transmission filter, carrying, by the first terminal device, CSI-RS resource indication information corresponding to the CSI-RSs in SCI in the first slot (see figure 9, 1st Stage SCI PSCCH and the 2nd stage SCI PSCCH).
In regards to claim 14, Tsai also teaches wherein part or all of a PSCCH DMRS, second-stage SCI and a PSSCH DMRS are transmitted in the first slot using a same spatial domain transmission filter (see paragraph 152; the UE may transmit a special PSSCH with a “zero padded” or “zero power.” Instead, for zero-padded PSSCH case, a dummy data would be transmitted over PSSCH with the purpose to offer the RX UE a link monitoring occasion via using both SL-DMRS for PSCCH and PSSCH. For zero-power PSSCH case, the transmission of PSSCH is set to zero. Furthermore, SL-CSI-RS may transmit with PSSCH for RX UE to monitor the link quality to ensure there is enough samples for hypothetical BLER calculation. In this case, the transmission of SL-CSI-RS with PSSCH can be indicated by form of the single SCI or 2.sup.nd-stage SCI; see paragraph 186; Since the TCI state is for the indication of SL-RS associating with PSCCH or PSSCH, therefore, TCI state can be carried by the 2nd-stage SCI. UE can assume that the SL transmission is done using the same spatial filter as the reference signal associated with that TCI); or part or all of the PSCCH DMRS, the second-stage SCI and the PSSCH DMRS have a QCL-TypeD relationship in the first slot.
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.
Claim(s) 11-13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tsai as applied above, and further in view of Zhao et al. (US Publ. 2024/0244449 A1).
The applied reference has a common assignee with the instant application. Based upon the earlier effectively filed date of the reference, it constitutes prior art under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2).
In regards to claims 11-13, Tsai teaches all the limitations of the parent claim as stated above.
Tsai however fails to teach, wherein the CSI-RS resource indication information corresponding to the CSI-RSs is configured for indicating at least one of a CSI-RS resource index corresponding to a first CSI-RS transmitted in the first slot or a number of the CSI-RSs transmitted in the first slot (see paragraph 158; indication information configured to determine a time domain symbol where a first CSI-RS resource is located, for example a time-domain symbol index in a slot), transmitting, by the first terminal device, second indication information to the second terminal device, the second indication information being configured for indicating CSI-RS resource set information corresponding to the M CSI-RSs (see paragraph 159; indication information configured to determine a Resource Element (RE) or subcarrier where a CSI-RS resource in a PRB is located, for example, a position of a RE where a first CSI-RS in the PRB is located is indicated by parameter SL CSI-RS frequency allocation (sl-CSI-RS-FreqAllocation) in form of a bitmap), wherein SCI in the first slot carries information indicating frequency domain resources occupied by the CSI-RSs (see paragraph 185; carry CSI-RS resource indication information corresponding to the CSI-RSs in Sidelink Control Information (SCI) associated with the CSI-RSs).
Zhao et al. (US Publ. 2024/0244449 A1) teaches, wherein the CSI-RS resource indication information corresponding to the CSI-RSs is configured for indicating at least one of a CSI-RS resource index corresponding to a first CSI-RS transmitted in the first slot or a number of the CSI-RSs transmitted in the first slot (see paragraph 158; indication information configured to determine a time domain symbol where a first CSI-RS resource is located, for example a time-domain symbol index in a slot), transmitting, by the first terminal device, second indication information to the second terminal device, the second indication information being configured for indicating CSI-RS resource set information corresponding to the M CSI-RSs (see paragraph 159; indication information configured to determine a Resource Element (RE) or subcarrier where a CSI-RS resource in a PRB is located, for example, a position of a RE where a first CSI-RS in the PRB is located is indicated by parameter SL CSI-RS frequency allocation (sl-CSI-RS-FreqAllocation) in form of a bitmap), wherein SCI in the first slot carries information indicating frequency domain resources occupied by the CSI-RSs (see paragraph 185; carry CSI-RS resource indication information corresponding to the CSI-RSs in Sidelink Control Information (SCI) associated with the CSI-RSs).
Tsai and Zhao both relate to sidelink communications.
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art to combine the indication as taught by Zhao into the teachings of Tsai. The motivation do so would have been to transmitting the indications of resource allocations more efficiently by using a frequency allocation bitmap.
This rejection under 35 U.S.C. 103 might be overcome by: (1) a showing under 37 CFR 1.130(a) that the subject matter disclosed in the reference was obtained directly or indirectly from the inventor or a joint inventor of this application and is thus not prior art in accordance with 35 U.S.C.102(b)(2)(A); (2) a showing under 37 CFR 1.130(b) of a prior public disclosure under 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(B); or (3) a statement pursuant to 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) establishing that, not later than the effective filing date of the claimed invention, the subject matter disclosed and the claimed invention were either owned by the same person or subject to an obligation of assignment to the same person or subject to a joint research agreement. See generally MPEP § 717.02.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed on 4/21/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
The applicant argues on pages 9-10, “As disclosed by paragraph [0186] of Tsai, NR SL supports beam indication for unicast or groupcast, which imply that a certain PSCCH or PSSCH transmission uses the same transmission beam as SL-CSI-RS, beam indication can be based on the configuration and signaling of TCI state on SL, and each TCI state includes SL-CSI-RS by associating PSCCH or PSSCH with a certain TCI; since the TCI state is for the indication of SL-RS associating with PSCCH or PSSCH, therefore, TCI state can be carried by the 2nd-stage SCI; and on SL, PSSCH beam indication can be assumed it is QCLed with PSCCH when they are transmitted within a slot. That is, Tsai merely indicates an implementation mode of beam indication in NR SL, i.e., beam indication is based on the TCI state which is carried by the 2nd-stage SCI, and it is assumed that PSSCH beam indication is QCLed with PSCCH beam indication when PSSCH and PSCCH are transmitted within a slot.
The applicant further argues “However, Tsai fails to disclose or teach information for indicating configuration of CSI- RSs transmitted by the first terminal device, such as indicating that such CSI-RSs are configured for selecting a spatial domain transmission filter for the first terminal device to transmit sidelink data, or indicating that such CSI-RSs transmitted are configured for selecting a spatial domain reception filter for the second terminal device to receive the sidelink data, or indicating that such CSI-RSs transmitted by the first terminal device are configured for measuring channel state information. Even if "beam indication" in Tsai would be considered as "indication information", as alleged by the Examiner, however, Tsai fails to disclose or teach the beam indication has the same function as the indication information defined in amended claim 1. Instead, the scheme provided by Tsai is directed to link recovery on SL, for example, as shown in FIG. 7, after the discovery announcement procedure, UE A starts timer T1, and when determining the timer T1 is not expired, UE A sends PSCCH+PSSCH to UE B or receives PSFCH ACK/NACK from UE B (see paragraph [0079] of Tsai).”
However the examiner respectfully disagrees.
The fact that Tsai is directed to in figure 7, a scheme for link recovery does not mean it can not be relied upon to teach, “teach indication information for indicating configuration of CSI-RSs transmitted by UE A, such as indicating that such CSI-RSs are configured for selecting a spatial domain transmission filter for UE A to transmit sidelink data, or indicating that such CSI-RSs transmitted are configured for selecting a spatial domain reception filter for UE B to receive the sidelink data, or indicating that such CSI-RSs transmitted by UE A are configured for measuring channel state information, nor does disclose or indicate transmission of such indication information from UE A to UE B. ” as the applicant contends.
In fact, Tsai further teaches, “A UE can be configured with one or several SL-CSI-RS resource sets, referred to as NZP-SL-CSI-RSResourceSet. Each such resource set includes one or several configured SL-CSI-RS resource(s), each SL-CSI-RS resource can be mapped to a single or multiple SL-CSI-RS antenna port(s). Transmission of all SL-CSI-RS within an aperiodic resource set is jointly triggered by means of SCI. The following configuration options can be considered for configuration of SL-CSI-RS [0134] Option 1: For each transmission occasion, all SL-CSI-RS resources on SL-CSI-RS resource set can be applied with the same TX spatial filter. This can enable TX beam sweeping across different SL-CSI-RS resource sets. [0135] Option 2: For each transmission occasion, different SL-CSI-RS resource in a same SL-CSI-RS resource set can be applied with different TX spatial filters. This can enable TX beam sweeping across resources of SL-CSI-RS in a resource set” (see paragraphs 133-135).
Tsai further teaches, in paragraph 139‘’ The mapping of SL-CSI-RS to one such panel is an example of a spatial information (filter) F from SL-CSI-RS antenna ports to the set of physical antennas. Transmission from different panels will then correspond to different spatial filters F as illustrated in FIG. 18A-FIG. 18B. In practice, depending on UE capability, UE may be equipped with a single panel or multiple panels for SL-CSI-RS transmission. To support SL-CSI-RS with different spatial transmission in a slot, different SL-CSI-RS can be separated at least one or multiple OFDM symbols away in a slot. Hence, TX UE can perform beam switching to apply with different spatial filter. If UE is equipped with multiple panels then UE can transmit multiple SL-CSI-RS with different spatial filters simultaneously or multiple panels transmit on the same antenna port. In FIG. 18A, two SL-CSI-RS are simultaneously transmitted using two different panels and spatial filters, while in FIG. 18B two SL-CSI-RS are transmitted at different OFDM symbols using a single panel with two different spatial filters. SL-CSI-RS is transmitted at the last M (e.g. 6) symbols in a slot or having time pattern, for example, such as at symbol l=5, 7, 9, 11 or l=9, 10, 11, 12 locations in a slot”.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4, 8 and 20 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.
Relevant Prior Art
Prior art Zhang et al. (US Publication 2024/0178895 A1) shows in figure 16, a schematic diagram of a first terminal device receiving multiple CSI-RSs on multiple transmission resources using multiple spatial domain receiving filters.
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. 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 JAY P PATEL whose telephone number is (571)272-3086. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9:30-6.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Faruk Hamza can be reached at 571-272-7969. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/JAY P PATEL/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2466
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