DETAILED ACTION
Claim 1 is the broadest claim.
Notice of 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.
Priority
Applicant’s claim for the benefit of a prior-filed application under 35 U.S.C. 119(e) or under 35 U.S.C. 120, 121, 365(c), or 386(c) is acknowledged. In particular, this Application is the bypass application of an international application, which claims foreign priority to a Chinese application, filed on 7 Jun 2021.
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statements
The information disclosure statements, submitted on 4 Dec 2023 and 9 Oct 2025, are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statements are being considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 2-4, 10, 12, 13, 18, and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
A. Claims 2 and 13 recite, in part, “the first parameter.” Using claim 2 as an example, both claims 1 and 2, which depends of claim 1, recite “a first parameter.” As a result, it is unclear which first parameter (i.e. the one in claim 1 or the one in claim 2), “the first parameter” is referring to. Claim 13 is indefinite for the same reasons provided for claim 2. Claims 3 and 4 are also indefinite because they depend upon an indefinite claim.
B. Claims 10 and 18 recite, in part, “each second frequency domain resource comprises at least two frequency domain resource unit groups . . . wherein each first frequency domain resource or each second frequency domain resource comprises at least one frequency domain resource unit, K≥1, and J≥1.” It is unclear what constitutes a frequency domain resource that comprises at least two frequency domain resource unit groups and at least one frequency domain resource unit. The difference between a “unit group” and a “unit,” where the group is potentially larger than the unit is ambiguous.
C. Claims 12 and 20 recite, in part, “the first information meets a first transmission requirement; and the first transmission meets a first transmission requirement.” By reciting “a first transmission requirement” twice, indefiniteness is introduced into the claimed invention because it is unclear how many, different transmission requirements are required by the claimed invention. Claims 13-19 are rejected due to their dependence upon an indefinite claim.
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 1-8, 10-16, and 18-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Liu (US 20230319745).
Regarding claims 1 and 20, Liu teaches both a method for information transmission and a terminal, comprising a memory storing a computer program; and a processor coupled to the memory and configured to execute the computer program to perform operations comprising:
sensing a resource of first information on an unlicensed band or a shared band, or performing a transmission of first information (Liu, ¶67 – UEs employ LBT procedure to operate over unlicensed frequency bands),
wherein the first information comprises at least one of the following: N1 pieces of first SL information in frequency division multiplexing (FDM), wherein N1>1; N pieces of first information in FDM, wherein the N pieces of first information comprise N2 pieces of first SL information and N−N2 pieces of second information, N>1, and N2≥1; first SL information based on a first parameter; or first SL information within a first preset time (Liu, ¶96 – sidelink communication is created by frequency multiplexing PSCCH and PSSCH with S-SSB; e.g. Liu, figure 6-9 – S-SSB and PSCCH/PSSCH multiplexing schemes by puncturing or rate-matching around the S-SSB within a time slot),
wherein at least one first transmission exists within the first preset time (Liu, e.g. figure 8 and ¶107 – sidelink transmission exists within time slot 514),
wherein the first SL information comprises a synchronization signal, a broadcast channel, or a synchronization signal block (Liu, ¶¶42, 73 – S-SSB may be broadcasted and is a synchronization signal block);
the first information meets a first transmission requirement (Liu, ¶108 – e.g. in figure 8, a frequency-multiplexed PSCCH and PSSCH transmissions are mapped to RBs in subset 804, which do not overlap with the S-SSB transmission 434); and
the first transmission meets a first transmission requirement. Liu, ¶¶44, 98 (transmissions in figure 6 comply with OCB requirement).
Regarding claims 2 and 131, Liu also teaches
obtaining at least one item of third information through a first obtaining manner,
wherein the third information comprises at least one of the following: N1; G1, wherein G1 is a frequency domain interval between any adjacent first SL information or specific adjacent first SL information in the N1 pieces of first SL information, and G1 determined by being configured, preconfigured, or predefined by a control node is greater than or equal to a first preset value; a frequency domain position of first SL information; a number of first SL information; N; N2; G2, wherein G2 is a frequency domain interval between any adjacent first information or specific adjacent first information in the N pieces of first information; a frequency domain position of second information; a type of second information; bandwidth of second information; a number of second information; a structure of second information; a first parameter; or indication information, wherein the indication information is used to indicate whether a transmission of the first SL information is based on the first parameter (Liu, e.g. ¶108 – RBs are evenly spaced apart from each other in frequency band 502, where RBs (0) and (6) are for PSCCH 620 and RBs (1)-(5) are for PSSCH 610),
wherein the first obtaining manner comprises at least one of the following: being configured by a control node; being determined by the terminal; being preconfigured; being predefined: or being indicated by another terminal. Liu, e.g. ¶¶42, 49 (serving BS configures a sidelink UE with sidelink resource pools, where certain resources are for S-SSB transmission and other resources are for PSCCH/PSSCH transmission) or ¶102 (UE may be pre-configured with a default profile at the time of manufacturing to have certain number of SSB transmissions in a period) or ¶145 (module 1408 of UE determines multiplexing configuration).
Regarding claims 3, Liu also teaches determining, by the terminal, G1 based on first bandwidth and N1, wherein the first bandwidth is bandwidth associated with the first SL information. Liu, ¶98 (e.g. frequency band 502 has a bandwidth of 20 MHz and includes 10 clusters 504, where in figure 8, each of clusters C(0) to C(6) transmits either PSCCH or PSSCH).
Regarding claims 4, Liu also teaches wherein determining, by the terminal, G1 based on the first bandwidth and N1 comprises: determining, by the terminal, G1 by using at least one of the following formulas:
G1=(first bandwidth÷N1); G1=floor(first bandwidth÷N1), wherein floor is rounded down: or G1=ceil(first bandwidth÷N1), wherein ceil is rounded up. Liu, ¶98 (20 MHz divided by 10 cluster equals the distance between each RB used to transmit one of PSCCH, PSSCH, or S-SSB).
Regarding claims 5, Liu also teaches wherein N1 pieces of first SL information are N1 pieces of same first SL information; or at least M pieces of first SL information among N1 pieces of first SL information are at least partially different, wherein M>1. Liu, e.g. figure 8 (2 RBs transmit PSCCH and 5 RBs transmit PSSCH).
Regarding claims 6 and 14, Liu also teaches wherein the first parameter comprises at least one of the following: a specific sub-carrier space (SCS); a specific cyclic prefix (CP); a first SL sequence; a specific frequency domain, wherein the specific frequency domain comprises X frequency domain resource units, and X is an integer; a specific multiplexing manner, wherein the specific multiplexing manner is frequency division multiplexing of a synchronization signal and a broadcast channel; or an interlace. Liu, ¶¶87-88 (frequency band 502 includes frequency interlaces with any suitable SCS).
Regarding claims 7 and 15, Liu also teaches wherein performing the transmission of the first information comprises: performing a transmission of the first SL information based on the first parameter when it is satisfied that an SCS of an object associated with the first SL information is a first SCS, bandwidth associated with the first SL information is second bandwidth, and a frequency domain associated with the first SL information is at least one item of a first frequency domain (Liu, ¶88 – frequency band 502, which includes the interlaces of sidelink information, is based on bandwidth and SCS; Liu, ¶75 – the number of symbols in a slot varies based on channel bandwidth, SCS and cyclic prefix mode; Liu, ¶¶104-105 and figure 7 – when the SCS is 15 kHz, the RBS 510 in box 706 are punctured because they overlap with S-SSB, while the sidelink channels that are not in box 706 are transmitted),
wherein: the object associated with the first SL information is SL data, a control channel, or a feedback channel associated with the first SL information, or the object associated with the first SL information is a carrier, a cell, a BWP, an SL resource pool, or a subchannel associated with the first SL information (Lui, figure 7 – sidelink resources used for both data [PSSCH] and control [PSCCH]); and a time unit corresponding to the first SCS comprises W pieces of first SL information or W candidate positions of the first SL information, and W≥1. Liu, ¶¶103-104 (PSCCH and PSSCH [i.e. SL information] are time multiplexed in each RB 510, where SCS may be 15 kHz or 30 kHz).
Regarding claims 8 and 16, Liu also teaches wherein: when W=1, duration corresponding to the first SL information or duration corresponding to the candidate position of the first SL information is duration of the time unit corresponding to the first SCS, or duration corresponding to the first SL information or duration corresponding to the candidate position of the first SL information is equal to duration of the time unit corresponding to the first SCS obtained after removing at least one of first duration and second duration, wherein the first duration comprises duration required for at least one of automatic gain control (AGC) or power adjustment, and the second duration comprises duration required for at least one of a guard period (GP), radio frequency (RF) adjustment, or receive/transmit transition, when W>1, a time interval between any adjacent pieces of first SL information or candidate positions of the first SL information or between specific two adjacent pieces of first SL information or candidate positions of the first SL information in the time unit corresponding to the first SCS is 0 or Z, wherein Z comprises duration required for at least one of first duration and second duration, wherein the first duration comprises duration required for at least one of automatic gain control (AGC) or power adjustment, and the second duration comprises duration required for at least one of a guard period (GP), RF adjustment, or receive/transmit transition.
Regarding claims 10 and 18, Liu also teaches wherein the interlace comprises J second frequency domain resources, each second frequency domain resource comprises at least two frequency domain resource unit groups, and a frequency domain interval between two adjacent frequency domain resource units is K first frequency domain resources, wherein each first frequency domain resource or each second frequency domain resource comprises at least one frequency domain resource unit, K≥1, and J≥1. Liu, ¶88 (each interlace 508 comprises K plurality of RBs 510 in figure 5, where each interlace 508 is spaced at least one RB 510 away from each other); Liu, ¶89 (the M RBs 510 form a cluster 504 [resource group or unit]).
Regarding claims 11 and 19, Liu also teaches wherein the first SL information indicates target information, and the target information comprises at least one of the following: a quantity of pieces of first SL information; a quantity of repetitions of first SL information; a number of first SL information; an interlace of first SL information; an SCS of first SL information; a sequence of first SL information; frequency domain bandwidth of first SL information; a multiplexing manner of first SL information; information about a synchronization signal, a broadcast channel, or a synchronization signal block other than the first SL information; information about associated second information; information about a first preset time; information about associated first transmission; information about associated bandwidth; or information about an associated channel. Liu, ¶69 (S-SSB includes sync signals, SL BWP configuration, sidelink resource pools, SL slot configuration, and SSB periodicity).
Regarding claim 12, Liu teaches a method of information indication, comprising:
instructing, by a network side device, a terminal to sense a resource of first information on an unlicensed band or a shared band, or perform a transmission of first information (Liu, ¶¶66-67 – BS assigns active BWP to UE, where UE employ LBT procedure to operate over unlicensed frequency bands),
wherein the first information comprises at least one of the following: N1 pieces of first SL information in frequency division multiplexing (FDM), wherein N1>1; N pieces of first information in FDM, wherein the N pieces of first information comprise N2 pieces of first SL information and N−N2 pieces of second information, N>1, and N2≥1; first SL information based on a first parameter; or first SL information within a first preset time (Liu, ¶96 – sidelink communication is created by frequency multiplexing PSCCH and PSSCH with S-SSB; e.g. Liu, figure 6-9 – S-SSB and PSCCH/PSSCH multiplexing schemes by puncturing or rate-matching around the S-SSB within a time slot; Liu, ¶117 – S-SSB gets transmitted if the sidelink slot is configured for it),
wherein at least one first transmission exists within the first preset time (Liu, e.g. figure 8 and ¶107 – sidelink transmission exists within time slot 514),
wherein the first SL information comprises a synchronization signal, a broadcast channel, or a synchronization signal block (Liu, ¶¶42, 73 – S-SSB may be broadcasted and is a synchronization signal block);
the first information meets a first transmission requirement (Liu, ¶108 – e.g. in figure 8, a frequency-multiplexed PSCCH and PSSCH transmissions are mapped to RBs in subset 804, which do not overlap with the S-SSB transmission 434); and
the first transmission meets a first transmission requirement. Liu, ¶¶44, 98 (transmissions in figure 6 comply with OCB requirement).
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 9 and 17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Liu (US 20230319745) in view of Hwang (US 20230292344).
Regarding claims 9 and 17, Liu teaches the methods according to claims 7 and 15, wherein a time corresponding to a target subunit in a time unit in which the first SL information or the candidate position of the first SL information is located is equal to or less than a time corresponding to a target subunit in a time unit corresponding to the first SCS (Liu, ¶75 – SCS defines the number of symbols in time for each slot [i.e. including slots used for sidelink transmissions]), but does not explicitly teach “the target subunit comprises at least one of first duration or second duration, the first duration comprises duration required for at least one of automatic gain control (AGC) or power adjustment, and the second duration comprises duration required for at least one of a guard period (GP), RF adjustment, or receive/transmit transition.”
However, Hwang teaches each slot having either 12 or 14 symbols. Hwang, ¶¶56, 58-59 and tables 1 and 2 (number of symbols may be 12 or 14 for various SCS and CPs). In one embodiment, the length of the PSSCH may be 12 symbols, where one symbol is excluded for AGC and another for TX-RX switching. Id. at ¶119. At the time of the invention (pre-AIA ) or at the effective filing date of the invention (AIA ), it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art to base the transmission rate on the number of symbols used to transmit a sidelink channel, as taught by Hwang, when executing the rate-matching, taught by Liu, in order to ensure the UE is not asked to process sidelink transmission that are greater than the maximum data rate. Id. at ¶110 (see ¶109 for background).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to BENJAMIN S LAMONT whose telephone number is (571)270-7514 and email address is benjamin.lamont@uspto.gov (see MPEP 502.03, which allows for written authorization via the USPTO electronic filing system or mail, but not via email). The examiner can normally be reached M-F 7am to 3pm EST.
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/Benjamin Lamont/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2461
1 Claim 13 is broader than claim 2.