DETAILED ACTION
This Office Action is responsive to the claims filed on: 09/05/2023.
Claims 1-20 are pending for Examination.
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 .
Information Disclosure Statements
The information disclosure statements (IDS’) submitted on: 09/05/2023 and 03/26/2024 are determined to be compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, these IDS’ are being considered by the Examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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.
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, 6-13, and 16-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US PG Pub. 2021/0204307 A1, Lee et al. (hereinafter “Lee”), in view of US PG Pub. 2025/0185047 A1, Shimizu et al. (hereinafter “Shimizu”).
With Respect to Claim 1, Lee teaches:
A user equipment (UE) comprising:
a transceiver (UE 100 of Figs. 18 25, 27, and 28 —UE 100 has a transceiver 114) configured to:
receive and transmit on a LTE sidelink (SL) interface with a first sub-carrier spacing (SCS) (paras. [0014], [0075]-[0078], [0166], [0179], and [0254]; UE 100 w/LTE SL transceiver/modem of Figs. 18 and 27 —LTE SL can be transmitted/received according to a corresponding LTE SCS, which is depicted to be smaller than that of a NR SCS of Figs. 20 —it is well-known that LTE uses a fixed SCS of 15kHz having a 1ms slot), and
receive and transmit on a NR SL interface with a second SCS larger than the first SCS (paras. [0014], [0075]-[0078], [0166], [0179], and [0254]; UE 100 w/NR SL transceiver/modem of Figs. 18 and 27 —NR SL can be transmitted/received according to a corresponding NR SCS, which is depicted to be larger than that of a LTE SCS of Figs. 20 —NR uses a scalable SCS, as depicted in Fig. 6, and can be 30, 60 or 120kHz, with either 500µs, 250µs or 125µs slots, respectively),
wherein a LTE SL subframe overlaps in time with N NR SL slots (paras. [0167] and [0189] —as depicted in Fig. 20, an LTE slot/subframe can overlap with one or more NR SL slot(s), i.e., depending on a NR SCS),
and a processor operably coupled to the transceiver (UE 100 of Figs. 18, 25, 27, and 28 —UE 100 has a processor/control unit 120), the processor configured to:
perform sensing over the LTE SL interface (para. [0118]; and Fig. 14 —the UE can perform LTE SL sensing during a sensing window, as shown in Fig. 14, and in transmission mode 4 for LTE SL the UE can carry out sensing and decoding operations), wherein to perform the sensing the processor is further configured to:
decode SL control information (SCI) (paras. [0117]-[0118] and [0120] —a UE can receive and decode SCI from a transmitting UE over the PSCCH, as part of a sensing procedure); and
measure an SL reference signal receive power (SL-RSRP) associated with the SCI (paras. [0120] and [0145] —a UE can measure an L1 SL RSRP signal, i.e., of the SL DMRS, which is received from a transmitting UE, as part of a sensing procedure),
Lee also teaches overlapping SL LTE and SL NR transmissions and coordinated scheduling thereof (paras. [0189]-[0191] and [0232]-[0233]; and Figs. 20, 21, and 23).
However, Lee does not explicitly teach:
identify a presence of a LTE SL transmission in a first LTE SL sub-frame; and
identify candidate NR SL resources for NR SL resource selection or reselection in N NR SL slots overlapping the first LTE SL sub-frame,
wherein the transceiver is further configured to transmit in the N NR SL slots.
Shimizu does teach:
identify a presence of a LTE SL transmission in a first LTE SL sub-frame; and
identify candidate NR SL resources for NR SL resource selection or reselection in N NR SL slots overlapping the first LTE SL sub-frame (paras. [0052]-[0053], [0055], and [0064]-[0065] and Figs. 7A-B and 12 —a UE Type A, depicted in Fig. 4, can identify an LTE SL transmission in a first LTE SL sub-frame, having a SCS of 15kHz, as depicted in Fig. 7A —a UE can also identify N NR SL candidate resources/slots, having a SCS of 30KHz (where N=2), which overlap the single LTE SL sub-frame, as depicted in Fig. 7A —NR SL resource candidacy for an overlap can be evaluated based on various measurement thresholds and/or scheduling priorities),
wherein the transceiver is further configured to transmit in the N NR SL slots (paras. [0053] and [0064]-[0065]; and Figs. 7A-B and 12 —a UE can transmit NR SL data via candidate N NR SL slot(s) based on various evaluation criteria, i.e., considering the LTE sidelink receivers AGC).
It would have been prima-facie obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Lee’s coordinated SL LTE and SL NR scheduling/transmissions in overlapping RAT resources, with the selective/prioritized NR SL scheduling for mixed SCS considering AGC, as taught by Shimizu.
The motivation for doing so would have been to dynamically improve overlapped SL resource scheduling in mixed-RAT, mixed-SCS scenarios, as recognized by Shimizu (paras. [0052]-[0053], [0055], and [0064]-[0065] and Figs. 7A-B and 12).
With respect to claim 2, Lee in view of Shimizu teaches the UE of claim 1.
However, Lee does not explicitly teach:
wherein the first SCS is 15kHz, the second SCS is 30 kHz, and N = 2.
Shimizu does teach:
wherein the first SCS is 15kHz, the second SCS is 30 kHz, and N = 2 (the number of NR SL slots is N=2 per LTE subframe, as is depicted in Figs. 7A-B —the Examiner notes that LTE SL SCS is fixed at 15kHz, whereas NR SL SCS is variable —Applicant’s disclosure also describes NR SL SCS being 60kHz, where N = 4, etc.).
It would have been prima-facie obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Lee’s coordinated SL LTE and SL NR scheduling, with 30kHz NR SL SCS (LTE SL SCS is set at 15kHz), as taught by Shimizu.
The motivation for doing so would have been to select a variable SCS for NR SL to be designated at 30kHz or twice that of LTE in frequency, as recognized by Shimizu (Figs. 7A-B).
With respect to claim 3, Lee in view of Shimizu teaches the UE of claim 1.
However, Lee does not explicitly teach:
identifying an absence of a LTE SL transmission in a second LTE SL sub-frame, and
transmitting in one or more N NR SL slots overlapping the second LTE SL sub-frame.
Shimizu does teach:
identifying an absence of a LTE SL transmission in a second LTE SL sub-frame (paras. [0060], [0062]-[0063], [0065], [0075]-[0078], and [0081]; Figs. 10A-B, and blocks 1408 and 1410 of Fig. 14 —LTE-SL reserved resources, i.e., in a second LTE subframe, as depicted in Figs. 10A-B, that are not occupied/scheduled by LTE SL transmission are not excluded for use by NR-SL transmission, and can be scheduled with NR-SL data for transmission in a reservation overlap scenario), and
transmitting in one or more N NR SL slots overlapping the second LTE SL sub-frame (paras. [0060], [0062]-[0063], [0078], [0081], and [0085]; and block 1416 of Fig. 14).
It would have been prima-facie obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Lee’s coordinated SL LTE and SL NR scheduling, with transmitting data in at least one NR SL slot overlapping an empty second LTE SL subframe, as taught by Shimizu.
The motivation for doing so would be to utilize unoccupied/empty, overlapping SL resources for NR SL transmission to improve throughput, as recognized by Shimizu (paras. [0060], [0062]-[0063], [0065], [0075]-[0078], and [0081]; and Figs. 10A-B, and 14).
With respect to claim 6, Lee in view of Shimizu teaches the UE of claim 1, wherein:
However, Lee does not explicitly teach:
an NR SL slot includes physical SL feedback channel (PSFCH) symbols, and
the transceiver is further configured to transmit a physical SL shared channel (PSSCH) and a PSFCH in the NR SL slot.
Shimizu does teach:
an NR SL slot includes physical SL feedback channel (PSFCH) symbols (paras. [0055]-[0056]; and NR SL slot 2 of Figs. 7A-B —a NR SL slot can include the PSFCH as depicted in Fig. 7), and
the transceiver is further configured to transmit a physical SL shared channel (PSSCH) and a PSFCH in the NR SL slot (paras. [0055]-[0056]; and NR SL slot 2 of Figs. 7A-B —a UE can transmit a Tx NR SL slot with 30kHz SCS that may include: AGC, PSCCH, PSSCH, DMRS, PSFCH, and GUARD, as depicted in Fig. 7).
It would have been prima-facie obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Lee’s coordinated SL LTE and SL NR scheduling, with transmitting data a NR SL slot having PSFCH and PSSCH, as taught by Shimizu.
The motivation for doing so would be to designate slot resources for transmitting NR SL data (PSSCH) and NR SL feedback (PSFCH), as recognized by Shimizu (paras. [0055]-[0056]; and NR SL slot 2 of Figs. 7A-B).
With respect to claim 7, Lee in view of Shimizu teaches the UE of claim 6.
However, Lee does not explicitly teach:
wherein a transmission power of PSSCH and PSFCH are equal.
Shimizu does teach:
a transmission power of PSSCH and PSFCH within the same NR SL slot being equal.
(paras. [0054]-[0056]; and Figs. 7A-B — Shimizu teaches a NR SL device that is not allowed to change transmit power during a NR SL slot, at para. [0054] —a single NR SL slot transmission can include PSSCH and PSFCH within the same slot, as depicted in at least NR Slot 2 of Figs. 7A-B —In this regard, PSSCH and PSFCH of the same slot have equal transmission power, because the transmission power of the slot is not allowed to change during the period of the slot).
It would have been prima-facie obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Lee’s coordinated SL LTE and SL NR scheduling, with transmitting NR SL slot having PSFCH and PSSCH with equal transmission power, as taught by Shimizu.
The motivation for doing so would be to designate slot resources for transmitting NR SL data (PSSCH) and NR SL feedback (PSFCH) with the same Tx power to avoid AGC issues, as recognized by Shimizu (paras. [0054]-[0056]; and NR SL slot 2 of Figs. 7A-B).
With respect to claim 8, Lee in view of Shimizu teaches the UE of claim 6.
However, Lee does not explicitly teach:
wherein a transmission of power of PSSCH is not less than a transmission power of PSFCH.
Shimizu does teach:
a transmission of power of PSSCH is not less than a transmission power of PSFCH in the same NR SL slot (paras. [0054]-[0056]; and Figs. 7A-B — Shimizu teaches a NR SL device that is not allowed to change transmit power during a NR SL slot, at para. [0054] —a single NR SL slot transmission can include PSSCH and PSFCH within the same slot, as depicted in at least NR Slot 2 of Figs. 7A-B —In this regard, PSSCH and PSFCH of the same slot have equal transmission power, which is equivalent to the PSSCH Tx power not being less than the PSFCH Tx power).
It would have been prima-facie obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Lee’s coordinated SL LTE and SL NR scheduling, with transmitting NR SL slot having PSFCH and PSSCH with equal transmission power, as taught by Shimizu.
The motivation for doing so would be to designate slot resources for transmitting NR SL data (PSSCH) and NR SL feedback (PSFCH) with the same Tx power to avoid AGC issues, as recognized by Shimizu (paras. [0054]-[0056]; and NR SL slot 2 of Figs. 7A-B).
With respect to claim 9, Lee in view of Shimizu teaches:
wherein NR SL slots with physical SL feedback channel (PSFCH) symbols don’t overlap in time with sub-frames used for LTE SL transmission (Lee: paras. [0145], [0153], [0166]-[0168], and [0187] —NR SL transmission (including slots) and LTE SL transmission (including subframes) may or may not overlap in time —NR SL slots can comprise PSFCH symbols for HARQ feedback, therefore non-overlapping NR SL slots with PSFCH exist and generally do not create AGC problems —Also, when NR SL transmissions would partially or fully overlap a higher-priority LTE SL transmission, a UE can exclude the lower priority NR SL transmissions, such that any excluded NR SL slots would not overlap in time with a corresponding LTE SL transmission).
With respect to claim 10, Lee in view of Shimizu teaches the UE of claim 1.
However, Lee does not explicitly teach:
an NR SL slot includes physical SL feedback channel (PSFCH) symbols,
the processor is further configured to detect the presence or absence of a LTE SL transmission in a LTE SL sub-frame overlapping in time with the NR SL slot, and
the transceiver is configured to not transmit PSFCH in the NR SL slot if LTE SL transmission is present, and there is no physical SL shared channel (PSSCH) transmission in the NR SL slot.
Shimizu does teach:
an NR SL slot includes physical SL feedback channel (PSFCH) symbols (para. [0055]; and Fig. 7A —a NR SL slot can include PSFCH symbols, as depicted in NR Slot 2 of Fig. 7A),
the processor is further configured to detect the presence or absence of a LTE SL transmission in a LTE SL sub-frame overlapping in time with the NR SL slot (paras. [0045], [0061]-[0063], [0071]-[0073], [0075]-[0078], and [0081]; Figs. 10A-B, and blocks 1404 and 1406 of Fig. 14 —a UE can sense presence or absence of LTE-SL transmission in reserved resources of an LTE subframe, depicted in Figs. 10A-B, which overlap a NR-SL slot resource), and
the transceiver is configured to not transmit PSFCH in the NR SL slot if LTE SL transmission is present, and there is no physical SL shared channel (PSSCH) transmission in the NR SL slot (para. [0056] and [0071]-[0073]; Fig. 7B and blocks 1404 and 1406 of Fig. 14 —a UE can be configured to not transmit in a NR SL slot when LTE SL transmission is also present, as depicted in NR slot 1 overlapping with LTE Tx subframe having data of Fig. 7B —when no NR SL transmission occurs in the first slot, there is no PSSCH data in that NR SL slot, as indicated by the lack of a power profile associated NR Tx 1 (slot 1) in Fig. 7B).
It would have been prima-facie obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Lee’s coordinated SL LTE and SL NR scheduling, with the SL sensing and scheduling solutions taught by Shimizu.
The motivation for doing so would be to reduce potential interference by not transmitting NR SL Tx with PSFCH and PSSCH during a time when an LTE SL transmission overlapping in time with the NR SL slot exists, as recognized by Shimizu (paras. [0056] and [0071]-[0073]; Fig. 7B and blocks 1404 and 1406 of Fig. 14).
With respect to claim 11, this claim recites similar features to independent claim 1, except claim 11 is written in method form. As such, claim 11 is likewise rejected under §103 based on Lee in view of Shimizu, for the same reasons explained above for independent claim 1.
With respect to claim 12, this claim recites similar features to dependent claim 2, except claim 12 is written in method form. As such, claim 12 is likewise rejected under §103 based on Lee in view of Shimizu, for the same reasons explained above for dependent claim 2.
With respect to claim 13, this claim recites similar features to dependent claim 3, except claim 13 is written in method form. As such, claim 13 is likewise rejected under §103 based on Lee in view of Shimizu, for the same reasons explained above for dependent claim 3.
With respect to claim 16, this claim recites similar features to dependent claim 6, except claim 16 is written in method form. As such, claim 16 is likewise rejected under §103 based on Lee in view of Shimizu, for the same reasons explained above for dependent claim 6.
With respect to claim 17, this claim recites similar features to dependent claim 7, except claim 17 is written in method form. As such, claim 17 is likewise rejected under §103 based on Lee in view of Shimizu, for the same reasons explained above for dependent claim 7.
With respect to claim 18, this claim recites similar features to dependent claim 8, except claim 18 is written in method form. As such, claim 18 is likewise rejected under §103 based on Lee in view of Shimizu, for the same reasons explained above for dependent claim 8.
With respect to claim 19, this claim recites similar features to dependent claim 9, except claim 19 is written in method form. As such, claim 19 is likewise rejected under §103 based on Lee in view of Shimizu, for the same reasons explained above for dependent claim 9.
With respect to claim 20, this claim recites similar features to dependent claim 10, except claim 20 is written in method form. As such, claim 20 is likewise rejected under §103 based on Lee in view of Shimizu, for the same reasons explained above for dependent claim 10.
Claims 4-5 and 14-15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lee in view of Shimizu, in further view of US PG Pub. 2024/0057065 A1, Jacobsen et al. (hereinafter “Jacobsen”).
With respect to claim 4, Lee in view of Shimizu teaches the UE of claim 1.
However, Lee in view of Shimizu do not explicitly teach:
wherein a transmission power in the N NR SL slots are equal.
Jacobsen does teach:
wherein a transmission power in the N NR SL slots are equal (paras. [0059], [0076] and [0078]; and block 6a of Fig. 7 —successive NR SL Slots can be configured in aggregate to have the same transmission power).
It would have been prima-facie obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Lee in view of Shimizu’s coordinated SL LTE and SL NR scheduling/transmissions in overlapping SL RAT resources for mixed SCS considering AGC, with aggregated NR SL slot scheduling having the same transmission power between successive slots, as taught by Jacobsen.
The motivation for doing so would have been to improve overlapped NR-SL LTE-SL resource scheduling by mitigating AGC issues using NR slot aggregation power control, as recognized by Jacobsen (paras. [0059], [0076] and [0078]; and block 6a of Fig. 7).
With respect to claim 5, Lee in view of Shimizu teaches the UE of claim 1.
However, Lee in view of Shimizu do not explicitly teach:
wherein a transmission power in a first in time of the NR SL slots is not less than a transmission power in the remaining N-1 NR SL slots.
Jacobsen does teach:
wherein a transmission power in a first in time of the NR SL slots is not less than a transmission power in the remaining N-1 NR SL slots (paras. [0059], [0076] and [0078]; and block 6a of Fig. 7 —successive NR SL Slots can be configured in aggregate to have the same transmission power or a non-increasing transmission power, thus a first in time of NR SL slot having a transmission power that is not less than that in remaining NR SL slots).
It would have been prima-facie obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Lee in view of Shimzu’s coordinated SL LTE and SL NR scheduling/transmissions in overlapping SL RAT resources for mixed SCS considering AGC, with aggregated NR SL slot scheduling having the same (or non-increasing) transmission power between successive NR SL slots, as taught by Jacobsen.
The motivation for doing so would have been to improve overlapped NR-SL LTE-SL resource scheduling by mitigating AGC issues using NR slot aggregation power control, as recognized by Jacobsen (paras. [0059], [0076] and [0078]; and block 6a of Fig. 7).
With respect to claim 14, this claim recites similar features to dependent claim 4, except claim 14 is written in method form. As such, claim 14 is likewise rejected under §103 based on Lee in view of Shimizu and Jacobsen, for the same reasons explained above for dependent claim 4.
With respect to claim 15, this claim recites similar features to dependent claim 5, except claim 15 is written in method form. As such, claim 15 is likewise rejected under §103 based on Lee in view of Shimizu and Jacobsen, for the same reasons explained above for dependent claim 5.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to Applicant's disclosure is as follows:
US PG Pub 2025/0119854 A1, Yoshioka et al.: teaches LTE VX2 and NR VX2 coexistence problems and corresponding SL resource scheduling and interference mitigation solutions.
US PG Pub 2024/0349311 A1, Sun et al.: teaches LTE VX2 and NR VX2 coexistence problems and corresponding SL resource scheduling and interference mitigation solutions.
US PG Pub 2024/0032075 A1, Ye et al.: teaches LTE VX2 and NR VX2 coexistence problems and corresponding SL resource scheduling and interference mitigation solutions.
US PG Pub 2024/0098730 A1, Dutta et al.: teaches LTE VX2 and NR VX2 coexistence problems and corresponding SL resource scheduling and interference mitigation solutions.
US PG Pub 2018/0279303 A1, Sun et al.: teaches LTE VX2 and NR VX2 coexistence problems and corresponding SL resource scheduling and interference mitigation solutions.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the Examiner should be directed to Scott Schlack whose telephone number is (571)272-2332. The Examiner can normally be reached Mon. through Fri., from 11am-6pm EST.
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If attempts to reach the Examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the Examiner’s supervisor, Moo Jeong can be reached at: 571-272-9617. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is: 571-273-8300.
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/Scott A. Schlack/Examiner, Art Unit 2418
/Moo Jeong/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2418