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)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-3 and 5-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Novlan et al (2015/0092710).
Regarding claims 1 and 17, Novlan discloses an apparatus and a communication method, comprising: receiving, by a second node (see UE2 in figure 6), a first message on at least one broadcast frequency hopping channel, wherein the first message indicates a first resource on a first general frequency hopping channel (see A user equipment (UE) configured for D2D communications includes one or multiple antenna, and a processing circuitry configured to schedule at least one resource for a Device-to-Device (D2D) transmission control channel (DCCH) carrying a D2D control information (D2DCI) message in paragraph 0016; FIG. 10 illustrates an example time/frequency hopping pattern for two UEs broadcast transmission resources in paragraph 0106); and receiving, by the second node, a second message on the first resource, wherein the second message indicates a transmission opportunity group OR a transmission opportunity group set, the transmission opportunity group set comprises at least two transmission opportunity groups, and transmission opportunity group comprises at least two transmission opportunities (see transmit the DCCH on the at least one DCCH resource, to at least one second UE through the one or more multiple antenna, schedule at least one resource for a D2D data channel (DDCH) in paragraphs 0016; transmission opportunity in paragraphs 0085 and 0086; one or more transmission instances (transmission opportunities) in paragraphs 0108, 0109), and each of the at least two transmission opportunities comprises a resource for carrying a message from a first node (see transmit the DDCH on the at least one DDCH resource, to the at least one second UE in paragraph 0016).
Regarding claim 2, Novlan discloses wherein the second message indicates the transmission opportunity group (see subsets of resources can be indicated to correspond to one or more transmission instances in paragraph 0108), and the second message carries: start moment information of the transmission opportunity group (see the time/frequency hopping pattern can be expressed as a series of shifts relative to a starting frequency resource k (e.g. DTRB) and a starting time slot t (e.g. DTRS) in paragraph 0107); time length information of the transmission opportunity group; frequency hopping frequency information or frequency hopping channel information corresponding to the transmission opportunity group; and/or bandwidth information corresponding to the transmission opportunity group.
Regarding claim 3, Novlan discloses the second message indicates the transmission opportunity group set (see the control information for multiple groups or broadcast IDs can be mapped to the same DCCH in paragraph 0078; transmission opportunity in paragraphs 0085 and 0086; one or more transmission instances (transmission opportunities) in paragraphs 0108, 0109), start moments of transmission opportunity groups in the transmission opportunity group set are distributed at an equal interval in time domain, and the second message carries: start moment information of at least one transmission opportunity group in the transmission opportunity group set (see the reference starting frequency and/or transmission instance in paragraph 0109); time length information of at least one transmission opportunity group in the transmission opportunity group set; frequency hopping frequency information or frequency hopping channel information corresponding to at least one transmission opportunity group in the transmission opportunity group set; bandwidth information corresponding to at least one transmission opportunity group in the transmission opportunity group set; information about an interval between start moments of two adjacent transmission opportunity groups in the transmission opportunity group set in time domain; frequency hopping random seed information corresponding to at least one transmission opportunity group in the transmission opportunity group set; clock parameter information corresponding to at least one transmission opportunity group in the transmission opportunity group set; clock parameter information of the first resource; and/OR information about a quantity of transmission opportunity groups comprised in the transmission opportunity group set.
Regarding claims 5 and 18, Novlan discloses receiving, by the second node, a third message in at least one transmission opportunity in the transmission opportunity group or the transmission opportunity group set (see transmitting, by the first UE, the DDCH on the at least one DDCH resource to the at least one second UE in paragraph 0006).
Regarding claim 6, Novlan discloses the third message is for carrying broadcast service data and/or broadcast signaling, and the broadcast service data and/or the broadcast signaling belong/belongs to a first broadcast set; and the third message further carries: a broadcast set identifier that indicates the first broadcast set (see A D2D communication channel corresponds to a given group or broadcast ID in paragraph 0077; the D2D control information for a given group or broadcast ID employs a unique DCCH. The group/broadcast IDs can be pre-configured, indicated by higher-layer configuration, or provided in a system information broadcast message in paragraph 0078); an update identifier that indicates an update of information in the first broadcast set; and/or a data packet identifier that indicates a first data packet that is carried in the third message and corresponds to the first broadcast set.
Regarding claim 7, Novlan discloses broadcast service data and/or broadcast signaling carried in different messages transmitted in a same transmission opportunity group belong/belongs to a same broadcast set (see A D2D communication channel corresponds to a given group or broadcast ID. In order for a D2D data channel (DDCH) transmission including a D2D broadcast channel (DBCH) to be received, a D2D transmission control channel (DCCH) is needed to be transmitted in addition to the reference symbols (RS) and data symbols in paragraph 0077).
Regarding claim 8, Novlan discloses wherein each of the at least two transmission opportunities further comprise a resource for carrying a message from the second node, and the second message further indicates an identifier of the second node (see the initial set of possible DCCH resources are determined by the UE based upon the D2D-ID. For example, UEs can be organized into groups based on ID or a single ID representing a group of UEs can correspond to the D2D-ID. Based on this ID allocation, sets of available DCCH resources can be partitioned as in FIG. 7 for example in paragraph 0092; UEs are initially configured with D2DIDs in paragraph 0137).
Regarding claim 9, Novlan discloses wherein each of the at least two transmission opportunities further comprise a resource for carrying a message from a third node; and the second message further indicates an identifier of the third node and a sequence of the resource for carrying the message from the second node and the resource for carrying the message from the third node that are in the transmission opportunity (see figures 4, 5 and 9 where each node can communicate with two or mode nodes for uplink/downlink communication. Note that resource allocation, transmission opportunity and node ID are described in previous paragraphs).
Regarding claims 10 and 19, Novlan discloses sending, by the second node, a fourth message in at least one transmission opportunity in the transmission opportunity group or the transmission opportunity group set (see an uplink D2D DTRS (subframe) for D2D transmission in paragraph 0081).
Regarding claims 11 and 20, Novlan discloses when, in any transmission opportunity group, the second node does not receive a message from the first node within a preset duration, determining, by the second node, that the transmission opportunity group is unavailable (see in the case where the UE listens on potentially available DCCH resources and detects the presence of other UEs, for example, if the power of the detected transmissions is above a given threshold T_DCCH, the following alternatives are envisioned. If all resources are determined to be occupied in step 810, the UE determines that channel access cannot succeed (transmission opportunity group is unavailable) and configures a backoff timer in step 814. The backoff timer can indicate a number of time units or slots wherein the UE will not attempt to contend for the control channel in order to attempt to avoid further collisions in paragraphs 0100-0101).
Regarding claim 12, Novlan discloses wherein the preset duration is a time length of N consecutive transmission opportunities or a time length of L timeslots, wherein N and L are positive integers (see the time/frequency resources utilized for a given D2D channel can be divided into N D2D transmission resource blocks (DTRBs) transmitted in T dedicated D2D transmission resource slots (DTRS) in paragraph 0079; the transmitting UE directly transmits during the time slots and at the frequency locations indicated in paragraph 0089).
Regarding claims 13-16, claims 13-16 claimed an apparatus that is in communication with an apparatus performed the method of claims 1, 5, 2, and 3. Claims 13-16 are, therefore, subject to the same rejection.
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 4 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Novlan in view of Rune et al (2022/0015146).
Regarding claims 4, Novlan doesn't specifically disclose the second message further carries: information about an interval between start moments of two adjacent transmission opportunities in the transmission opportunity group in time domain; and/or information about a quantity of transmission opportunities comprised in the transmission opportunity group. However, Rune discloses information about a quantity of transmission opportunities comprised in the transmission opportunity group (see a predetermined number (M) of sequential TXOPs are allocated to each beam in paragraph 0138; FIG. 3 illustrates a particular example according to the second set of embodiments, where there are S=4 beams and the number of TXOPs is S multiplied by an extension factor X=2, which equals 8 total TXOPs in paragraph 0139). The claim would have been obvious because a person of ordinary skill has good reason to pursue the known options within his or her technical grasp. If this leads to the anticipated success, it is likely the product not of innovation but of ordinary skill and common sense.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to BRIAN D NGUYEN whose telephone number is (571)272-3084. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 8:00 - 4:30.
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/BRIAN D NGUYEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2475