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 .
This action is in response to the application filed on 07 November 2023.
Claims 1-12 are under examination.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 02 January 2025. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Claim Objections
Claim 1, 9 and 12 are objected to because of the following informalities: Claim 1 recites utilising, it should read utilizing. Appropriate correction is required.
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, 2, 4-6, and 9-12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Farag et al. (US Publication 2023/0337192).
With respect to claims 1 and 12, Farag teaches A first apparatus (UE-B1, Paragraph 168) comprising at least one processor; (processor, figure 2) and at least one memory including computer program code, (memory store software, figure 2) the at least one memory and computer program code configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the first apparatus to:
communicate with a group of apparatuses in a group communication utilising sidelink transmission, (In a groupcast mode, a PSCCH/PSSCH conveys SL information from one UE to a group of UEs within a (pre-) configured set, paragraph 78) where the group of apparatuses comprises a second apparatus configured to coordinate resource allocation for the group communication and at least one other first apparatus; (The UE-A can be the intended receiver of the UE-B1 and UE-B2 transmissions, or just the intended receiver of the UE-B1 or UE-B2 transmissions. UE-A performs inter-UE coordination, if the SL resources indicated by UE-B1 and UE-B2 overlap in time and frequency domains (partially and/or fully) or collide, UE-A can indicate using grant/triggering signaling whether the SL resource is preferred or not preferred to each UE-B, Paragraph 168. Examiner Note: UE-A is coordinator and other first apparatus is UE-B2)
transmit, utilising a designated hybrid automatic repeat request process, an inter-UE coordination request; (the pre-indication/reservation signal can be included in PSCCH transmission, and the grant/trigger signaling can be included in a PSFCH-like transmission or feedback channel. UE-B pre-indicates/reserves N SL resources using PSCCH, Paragraph 172. a UE-A transmits HARQ-ACK feedback on PSFCH in response to a PSCCH/PSSCH transmission in a SL slot, and the pre-indicated/reserved resource can be for a retransmission of the current transmission. A UE-A can transmit positive acknowledgment (ACK) on PSFCH if the PSSCH transmission is successfully decoded. If the PSSCH transmission is not successfully decoded, a UE-B can retransmit on a pre-indicated/reserved resource if UE-A determines that it is available, paragraph 173. Examiner note: pre-indication/reservation signal is the inter-UE coordination request)
receive positive or negative hybrid automatic repeat request acknowledgements from the group of apparatuses in response to transmitting the inter-UE coordination request; (UE-A can indicate using grant/triggering signaling whether the SL resource is preferred or not preferred to each UE-B, paragraph 168. a UE-B can receive the grant/trigger signaling intended to that UE-B, a UE-B could also receive the grant/trigger signaling of other UE-B, Paragraph 169. grant/trigger signaling can be included in a PSFCH-like transmission or feedback channel, paragraph 171. the PSFCH-like (or feedback) channel or signal can indicate one of three levels, that of (i) ACK for successful reception of PSSCH, (ii) NACK (failed reception of PSSCH) and transmission on pre-indicated/reserved resource(s) is preferred (e.g., no conflict detected on reserved resource), or (iii) NACK (failed reception of PSSCH) and transmission on pre-indicated/reserved resource(s) is not preferred (e.g., with conflict detected on reserved resource), paragraph 177. or unicast HARQ-ACK feedback and Groupcast HARQ-ACK reporting option (2), wherein for a two-bit PSFCH resource m.sub.cs=6 indicates ACK, m.sub.cs=9, indicates NACK with retransmission on reserved resource preferred (e.g., no conflict detected on reserved resource), and m.sub.cs=3, indicates a NACK with retransmission on reserved resource not preferred (e.g., conflict detected on reserved resource) (the role of m.sub.cs=9 and m.sub.cs=3 can be switched). m.sub.cs=0 can be used by UEs not implementing the scheme described in example 3.1 to indicate a NACK, this allows co-existence of older UEs not implementing this scheme and newer UEs implementing the scheme, paragraph 182) and
control monitoring of inter-UE coordination requests of the at least one other first apparatus based on the received acknowledgements from the at least one other first apparatus (a UE-B can receive the grant/trigger signaling intended to that UE-B, a UE-B could also receive the grant/trigger signaling of other UE-Bs, and take that into account when making a decision on transmission on a SL resource. UE-B selects a pre-indicated/reserved SL resource that has no conflict indicated from UE-A. If there is no pre-indicated/reserved SL resource UE-B preforms resource (re-)selection to select a SL resource taking into account its own sensing results and/or any inter-UE coordination information from other UEs, paragraph 169)
With respect to claim 2, Farag teaches monitor inter-UE coordination requests of the at least one other first apparatus if the acknowledgement received from the at least one other first apparatus was negative, and not to monitor inter-UE coordination requests of the at least one other first apparatus if the acknowledgement received from the at least one first apparatus was positive (the PSFCH-like (or feedback) channel or signal can indicate one of three levels, that of (i) ACK for successful reception of PSSCH, (ii) NACK (failed reception of PSSCH) and transmission on pre-indicated/reserved resource(s) is preferred (e.g., no conflict detected on reserved resource), or (iii) NACK (failed reception of PSSCH) and transmission on pre-indicated/reserved resource(s) is not preferred (e.g., with conflict detected on reserved resource), paragraph 177. or unicast HARQ-ACK feedback and Groupcast HARQ-ACK reporting option (2), wherein for a two-bit PSFCH resource m.sub.cs=6 indicates ACK, m.sub.cs=9, indicates NACK with retransmission on reserved resource preferred (e.g., no conflict detected on reserved resource), and m.sub.cs=3, indicates a NACK with retransmission on reserved resource not preferred (e.g., conflict detected on reserved resource) (the role of m.sub.cs=9 and m.sub.cs=3 can be switched). m.sub.cs=0 can be used by UEs not implementing the scheme described in example 3.1 to indicate a NACK, this allows co-existence of older UEs not implementing this scheme and newer UEs implementing the scheme, paragraph 182)
With respect to claim 4, Farag teaches receive an inter-UE coordination message from the second apparatus, as a response to the inter- UE coordination request. (wherein a second SL transmission can be determined from a pre-indication/reserved signal(s) received by UE-A and/or UE-A's sensing information and/or UE-A's own SL transmission (with overlap in time with the pre-indicated/reserved resource of UE-B). A conflict due to sensing can take into account the SL RSRP of the SL resources involved in the collision for determining whether a pre-indicated/reserved SL resource from UE-B has a conflict, as described earlier in this disclosure. UE-A can indicate to UE-B a negative acknowledgement (NACK) for retransmission and indicate to UE-B that the pre-indicated/reserved resource is preferred for SL transmission, e.g., that the pre-indicated/reserved resource has no conflict, Paragraph 174)
With respect to claim 5, Farag teaches receive at least one inter-UE coordination request from the at least one other first apparatus; take the received at least one inter-UE coordination request into account in transmitting the inter- UE coordination request. (Two UE-Bs (i.e., UE-B1 and UE-B2) transmit PSCCH/PSSCH that includes a resource reservation for a SL transmission on a future SL resource. The reserved resource of UE-B1 and UE-B2 overlap. UE-A fails to decode the transmissions of UE-B1 and UE-B2. UE-A determines that the resources reserved by UE-B1 and UE-B2 overlap or collide. UE-A determines which SL transmission (UE-B1 or UE-B2) has a higher priority and/or higher SL RSRP and/or SL RSRP above a threshold, Paragraph 222)
With respect to claim 6, Farag teaches monitor inter-UE coordination messages transmitted from the second apparatus to other apparatuses of the group; and take received one or more inter-UE coordination messages into account in transmitting the inter- UE coordination request. (Two UE-Bs (i.e., UE-B1 and UE-B2) transmit PSCCH/PSSCH that includes a resource reservation for a SL transmission on a future SL resource. The reserved resource of UE-B1 and UE-B2 overlap. UE-A fails to decode the transmissions of UE-B1 and UE-B2. UE-A determines that the resources reserved by UE-B1 and UE-B2 overlap or collide. UE-A determines which SL transmission (UE-B1 or UE-B2) has a higher priority and/or higher SL RSRP and/or SL RSRP above a threshold, Paragraph 222)
With respect to claim 9, Farag teaches A first apparatus (UE-A, Paragraph 168) comprising at least one processor; (processor, figure 3) and at least one memory including computer program code, (memory store software, figure 3) the at least one memory and computer program code configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the first apparatus to:
communicate with a group of apparatuses in a group communication utilising sidelink transmission, (In a groupcast mode, a PSCCH/PSSCH conveys SL information from one UE to a group of UEs within a (pre-) configured set, paragraph 78) where the group of apparatuses comprises a second apparatus configured to coordinate resource allocation for the group communication and at least one other apparatus; (The UE-A can be the intended receiver of the UE-B1 and UE-B2 transmissions, or just the intended receiver of the UE-B1 or UE-B2 transmissions. UE-A performs inter-UE coordination, if the SL resources indicated by UE-B1 and UE-B2 overlap in time and frequency domains (partially and/or fully) or collide, UE-A can indicate using grant/triggering signaling whether the SL resource is preferred or not preferred to each UE-B, Paragraph 168. Examiner Note: UE-A is coordinator and other first apparatus is UE-B2)
detect an inter-UE coordination request from a first apparatus among at least one other apparatus of the group, the inter-UE coordination request is transmitted utilising a designated hybrid automatic repeat request process; (the pre-indication/reservation signal can be included in PSCCH transmission, and the grant/trigger signaling can be included in a PSFCH-like transmission or feedback channel. UE-B pre-indicates/reserves N SL resources using PSCCH, Paragraph 172. a UE-A transmits HARQ-ACK feedback on PSFCH in response to a PSCCH/PSSCH transmission in a SL slot, and the pre-indicated/reserved resource can be for a retransmission of the current transmission. A UE-A can transmit positive acknowledgment (ACK) on PSFCH if the PSSCH transmission is successfully decoded. If the PSSCH transmission is not successfully decoded, a UE-B can retransmit on a pre-indicated/reserved resource if UE-A determines that it is available, paragraph 173. Examiner note: pre-indication/reservation signal is the inter-UE coordination request), and
in response to the detected coordination request, transmit a negative hybrid automatic repeat request acknowledgement based at least on determining a need to transmit an inter-UE coordination request by the apparatus. (UE-A can indicate using grant/triggering signaling whether the SL resource is preferred or not preferred to each UE-B, paragraph 168. a UE-B can receive the grant/trigger signaling intended to that UE-B, a UE-B could also receive the grant/trigger signaling of other UE-B, Paragraph 169. grant/trigger signaling can be included in a PSFCH-like transmission or feedback channel, paragraph 171. the PSFCH-like (or feedback) channel or signal can indicate one of three levels, that of (i) ACK for successful reception of PSSCH, (ii) NACK (failed reception of PSSCH) and transmission on pre-indicated/reserved resource(s) is preferred (e.g., no conflict detected on reserved resource), or (iii) NACK (failed reception of PSSCH) and transmission on pre-indicated/reserved resource(s) is not preferred (e.g., with conflict detected on reserved resource), paragraph 177. or unicast HARQ-ACK feedback and Groupcast HARQ-ACK reporting option (2), wherein for a two-bit PSFCH resource m.sub.cs=6 indicates ACK, m.sub.cs=9, indicates NACK with retransmission on reserved resource preferred (e.g., no conflict detected on reserved resource), and m.sub.cs=3, indicates a NACK with retransmission on reserved resource not preferred (e.g., conflict detected on reserved resource) (the role of m.sub.cs=9 and m.sub.cs=3 can be switched). m.sub.cs=0 can be used by UEs not implementing the scheme described in example 3.1 to indicate a NACK, this allows co-existence of older UEs not implementing this scheme and newer UEs implementing the scheme, paragraph 182)
With respect to claim 10, Farag teaches transmit a negative hybrid automatic repeat request acknowledgement based on determining a conflict between the resources indicated in the inter-UE coordination request received from the first apparatus and resources preferred or non-preferred by the apparatus. (UE-A can indicate using grant/triggering signaling whether the SL resource is preferred or not preferred to each UE-B, paragraph 168. a UE-B can receive the grant/trigger signaling intended to that UE-B, a UE-B could also receive the grant/trigger signaling of other UE-B, Paragraph 169. grant/trigger signaling can be included in a PSFCH-like transmission or feedback channel, paragraph 171. the PSFCH-like (or feedback) channel or signal can indicate one of three levels, that of (i) ACK for successful reception of PSSCH, (ii) NACK (failed reception of PSSCH) and transmission on pre-indicated/reserved resource(s) is preferred (e.g., no conflict detected on reserved resource), or (iii) NACK (failed reception of PSSCH) and transmission on pre-indicated/reserved resource(s) is not preferred (e.g., with conflict detected on reserved resource), paragraph 177. or unicast HARQ-ACK feedback and Groupcast HARQ-ACK reporting option (2), wherein for a two-bit PSFCH resource m.sub.cs=6 indicates ACK, m.sub.cs=9, indicates NACK with retransmission on reserved resource preferred (e.g., no conflict detected on reserved resource), and m.sub.cs=3, indicates a NACK with retransmission on reserved resource not preferred (e.g., conflict detected on reserved resource) (the role of m.sub.cs=9 and m.sub.cs=3 can be switched). m.sub.cs=0 can be used by UEs not implementing the scheme described in example 3.1 to indicate a NACK, this allows co-existence of older UEs not implementing this scheme and newer UEs implementing the scheme, paragraph 182)
With respect to claim 11, Farag teaches in response to the detected coordination request, transmit a positive hybrid automatic repeat request acknowledgement in case the apparatus does not detect a conflict between the resources indicated in the inter-UE coordination request received from the first apparatus and resources preferred or non-preferred by the apparatus or if the apparatus does not have a need to transmit an inter-UE coordination request. (UE-A can indicate using grant/triggering signaling whether the SL resource is preferred or not preferred to each UE-B, paragraph 168. a UE-B can receive the grant/trigger signaling intended to that UE-B, a UE-B could also receive the grant/trigger signaling of other UE-B, Paragraph 169. grant/trigger signaling can be included in a PSFCH-like transmission or feedback channel, paragraph 171. the PSFCH-like (or feedback) channel or signal can indicate one of three levels, that of (i) ACK for successful reception of PSSCH, (ii) NACK (failed reception of PSSCH) and transmission on pre-indicated/reserved resource(s) is preferred (e.g., no conflict detected on reserved resource), or (iii) NACK (failed reception of PSSCH) and transmission on pre-indicated/reserved resource(s) is not preferred (e.g., with conflict detected on reserved resource), paragraph 177. or unicast HARQ-ACK feedback and Groupcast HARQ-ACK reporting option (2), wherein for a two-bit PSFCH resource m.sub.cs=6 indicates ACK, m.sub.cs=9, indicates NACK with retransmission on reserved resource preferred (e.g., no conflict detected on reserved resource), and m.sub.cs=3, indicates a NACK with retransmission on reserved resource not preferred (e.g., conflict detected on reserved resource) (the role of m.sub.cs=9 and m.sub.cs=3 can be switched). m.sub.cs=0 can be used by UEs not implementing the scheme described in example 3.1 to indicate a NACK, this allows co-existence of older UEs not implementing this scheme and newer UEs implementing the scheme, paragraph 182)
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103(a) which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent may not be obtained though the invention is not identically disclosed or described as set forth in section 102 of this title, if the differences between the subject matter sought to be patented and the prior art are such that the subject matter as a whole would have been obvious at the time the invention was made to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which said subject matter pertains. Patentability shall not be negatived by the manner in which the invention was made.
The factual inquiries set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 148 USPQ 459 (1966), that are applied for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103(a) are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness
Claim 3 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over Farag et al. (US Publication 2023/0337192) in view of Lee et al. (US Publication 2022/0337349).
With respect to claims 3, Farag doesn’t teach the at least one memory and the computer program code configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the first apparatus further to: perform a retransmission for the designated hybrid automatic repeat request process if a negative acknowledgement is received from the second apparatus; and terminate the designated hybrid automatic repeat request process if a positive acknowledgement is received from the second apparatus.
Lee teaches the at least one memory and the computer program code configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the first apparatus further to: perform a retransmission for the designated hybrid automatic repeat request process if a negative acknowledgement is received from the second apparatus; (when the transmitting UE receives the HARQ-NACK, the transmitting UE may retransmit a PSSCH related to the HARQ-NACK to the receiving UE. For example, the transmitting UE may retransmit the PSSCH related to the HARQ-NACK by the maximum number of retransmissions. For example, the maximum number of retransmissions may be configured or preconfigured by the base station or the UE, Paragraph 139) and terminate the designated hybrid automatic repeat request process if a positive acknowledgement is received from the second apparatus (the transmitting UE and the receiving UE may terminate the HARQ process. For example, when the receiving UE transmits a HARQ-ACK in response to one or more PSSCHs, the receiving UE may terminate the corresponding HARQ process. For example, when the transmitting UE receives a HARQ-ACK in response to one or more PSSCHs, the transmitting UE may terminate the corresponding HARQ process, Paragraph 136.)
Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to implement system of Farag with terminate the designated hybrid automatic repeat request process if a positive acknowledgement is received from the second apparatus as taught by Lee. The motivation for combining Farag and Lee is to be able to increase transmission reliability.
Claims 7 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over Farag et al. (US Publication 2023/0337192) in view of Pan et al. (US Publication 2024/0015755).
With respect to claims 7, Farag doesn’t teach in addition to communicating with the group of apparatuses, communicate with one or more apparatuses belonging to one or more other groups of apparatuses utilising sidelink transmission; take the communication with the one or more apparatuses belonging to the one or more other groups of apparatuses into account in transmitting the inter-UE coordination request.
Pan teaches in addition to communicating with the group of apparatuses, communicate with one or more apparatuses belonging to one or more other groups of apparatuses utilising sidelink transmission; take the communication with the one or more apparatuses belonging to the one or more other groups of apparatuses into account in transmitting the inter-UE coordination request. (UE A may perform sensing and UE B may not. If UE B's transmission cause interference to UE B of other group, Paragraph 253. For inter-UE coordination a set of resources determined at UE-A could be sent to UE-B in mode 2. UE-B may take this information into account in the resource selection for its own transmission. We may consider a set of resources that is preferred for UE-B's transmission, e.g., resource set which is preferred for UE-A's reception. In addition, we may also consider resource set which is preferred not to be used by UE-B's transmission, e.g., resource set that is not preferred for UE-A's reception. In case of groupcast we may also need to consider a set of resources that is preferred for other intended receivers of UE-B's transmission. In addition, we may also consider resource set that is not preferred for other intended receiver(s) of UE-B's transmission, Paragraph 288)
Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to implement system of Farag with take the communication with the one or more apparatuses belonging to the one or more other groups of apparatuses into account in transmitting the inter-UE coordination request as taught by Pan. The motivation for combining Farag and Pan is to be able to enable very efficient inter-UE operation and coordination, especially for enabling high reliability and low latency for resource allocation.
Claim 8 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over Farag et al. (US Publication 2023/0337192) in view of Yeo et al. (US Publication 2022/0183002).
With respect to claims 8, Farag doesn’t teach receive a configuration of the designated hybrid automatic repeat request process from the second apparatus.
Yeo teaches receive a configuration of the designated hybrid automatic repeat request process from the second apparatus. (The terminal 1701 may inform the terminal 1705 of the related configuration and indication information through the higher layer signaling and the physical layer control signal so that the terminal 1705 transmits the HARQ-ACK information for the PSSCH to transmit through the sidelink to the terminal 1701. In various embodiments, the HARQ-ACK information for the PSSCH may include at least one of the TB based HARQ-ACK information of the TBs included in the PSSCH, or the CBG based HARQ-ACK information if the CBG based retransmission and the feedback are configured in the sidelink. In various embodiments, the higher layer signaling in the sidelink may include at least one of MAC CE configuration and PC5-RRC configuration. The related configuration information of the sidelink HARQ-ACK may include one or more of the following information, Paragraph 194)
Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to implement system of Farag with receive a configuration of the designated hybrid automatic repeat request process from the second apparatus as taught by Yeo. The motivation for combining Farag and Yeo is to be able to reduce resources used to transmit and/or receive feedback information.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Park et al. (US Publication 2023/0239900) discloses generating a coordination message based on the coordination request; and transmitting the generating coordination message to the Tx UE. Here, the coordination request may include 1-bit information and the coordination request may be received based on at least one of a physical resource set of Physical Sidelink Feedback Channel (PSFCH), a Sidelink Control Information (SCI) format, Cyclic Redundancy Checking (CRC) scrambling, and a Demodulation Reference Signal (DMRS) sequence, and the Tx UE may perform resource reselection based on the coordination message.
Shin et al. (US Publication 2023/0224927) discloses transmits, to a second UE, first sidelink control information (SCI) requesting inter-UE coordination information. The first UE receives, from the second UE, second SCI providing the inter-UE coordination information. The first SCI includes a field indicating that the first SCI is used to request the inter-UE coordination information.
Any inquiry concerning this communication from the examiner should be directed to ABDULLAHI AHMED whose telephone number is (571) 270-3652. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F 8:00AM-4:30PM.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Khalid Kassim can be reached on 571-270-3370. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/ABDULLAHI AHMED/Examiner, Art Unit 2475