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 .
DETAILED ACTION
Allowable Subject Matter
0. Claims 4-8, 10, 14-18 and 20 are objected to as dependent upon rejected claims, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Claim Rejection - 35 USC § 102
1. 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.
1a. Claims 1, 3 and 9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Deng (US 20250142595 A1).
1b. Summary of the Cited Prior Art
Deng discloses a method for sidelink unlicensed channel access.
1c. Claim Analysis
Regarding Claim 1, Deng discloses:
A user equipment (UE) (Fig 3, Initiating WTRU 310) in a wireless communication system (Fig 3), the UE comprising:
a processor configured to (Fig 1B, Processor 118):
determine to perform (see: [0221] … a WTRU may determine the information based on the congestion level indicated in the COT by the initiating WTRU; Examiner’s Note: initiating WTRU may determine to start a channel access procedure and transmissions when channel is not congested) a first sidelink (SL) transmission (Fig 3, Initiating WTRU 310 transmits first PSSCH/PSCCH) and a second SL transmission (Fig 3, Initiating WTRU 310 transmits second PSSCH/PSCCH) over a channel;
wherein the first SL transmission and the second SL transmission are contiguous (Fig 3, Initiating WTRU 310 initiates a series of contiguous PSSCH/PSCCH transmissions without gap or idle);
determine a first channel access procedure (Fig 5, 521, LBT Type 1 of channel access procedure; see: [0442] … The WTRU may determine to perform a SL U channel access procedure for COT initiation with the RSW) for the first SL transmission (Fig 3, Initiating WTRU 310 transmits first PSSCH/PSCCH);
perform the first channel access procedure (Fig 5, 521, LBT Type 1 of channel access procedure; see: [0442] … The WTRU may determine to perform a SL U channel access procedure for COT initiation with the RSW);
determine a second channel access procedure (Fig 5, 522, LBT Type 1 of channel access procedure; see: [0442] … The WTRU may determine to perform a SL U channel access procedure for COT initiation with the RSW) for the second SL transmission (Fig 3, Initiating WTRU 310 transmits second PSSCH/PSCCH) when the first channel access procedure is unsuccessful (see: [0390] … a WTRU may trigger a resource re-selection when Type 1 LBT sensing channel access fails prior to one or more selected resource group(s) and/or COT(s).
and perform the second channel access procedure (Fig 5, 522, LBT Type 1 of channel access procedure; see: [0346] … At 522, the WTRU 501 may perform another LBT Type 1 of priority 1);
a transceiver (Fig 1B, Transceiver 120) operably coupled to the processor (Fig 1B, Processor 118), the transceiver configured to perform the second SL transmission (Fig 3, Initiating WTRU 310 transmits second PSSCH/PSCCH) when the second channel access procedure (Fig 5, 522, LBT Type 1 of channel access procedure) is successful (see: [0377] Upon a successful channel access within the indicated associated window, range and/or latency bound, a WTRU may determine the available resources within the initiated COT according to Resource selection in an initiated COT. Examiner’s Note: COT, Channel Occupancy Time).
Regarding Claim 3, Deng discloses:
the first channel access procedure (Fig 5, 521, LBT Type 1 of channel access procedure) is a first Type 2A (see: [0209] When performing a Type 2A LBT procedure, a WTRU may transmit immediately after sensing the channel to be available for a sensing period of 25 us) or a Type 2B SL channel access procedure (see: [0210] When performing a Type 2B LBT procedure, a WTRU may perform transmission immediately after sensing the channel to be available for a sensing period of 16 us; Examiner’s Note: an initiating device may select any channel access procedure types based on the channel condition);
the second channel access procedure (Fig 5, 522, LBT Type 1 of channel access procedure) is a second Type 2A SL channel access procedure (see: [0209] When performing a Type 2A LBT procedure, a WTRU may transmit immediately after sensing the channel to be available for a sensing period of 25 us)
a time duration spanned by sensing slots that are sensed to be idle before a SL transmission (see: [0230] … With Type 2X LBT channel access, a WTRU may perform a SL transmission after sensing the channel to be idle within the duration equal to the length of the gap indicated in the SCI received in the COT. The Type 2X LBT duration may include a sensing slot (e.g., at the end of the duration) using the first and second Type 2A SL channel access procedures is deterministic as 25 microseconds (μs) (see: [0209] When performing a Type 2A LBT procedure, a WTRU may transmit immediately after sensing the channel to be available for a sensing period of 25 us)
and a time duration spanned by sensing slots that are sensed to be idle before a SL transmission (see: [0230] … With Type 2X LBT channel access, a WTRU may perform a SL transmission after sensing the channel to be idle within the duration equal to the length of the gap indicated in the SCI received in the COT. The Type 2X LBT duration may include a sensing slot (e.g., at the end of the duration) using the Type 2B SL channel access procedure is deterministic as 16 μs (see: [0210] When performing a Type 2B LBT procedure, a WTRU may perform transmission immediately after sensing the channel to be available for a sensing period of 16 us).
Regarding Claim 9, Deng discloses:
wherein the processor (Fig 1B, Processor 118) is further configured to:
determine (see: [0221] … a WTRU may determine the information based on the congestion level indicated in the COT by the initiating WTRU; Examiner’s Note: initiating WTRU may determine to start a channel access procedure and transmissions when channel is not congested) a SL transmission burst as a set of SL transmissions (Fig 3, Initiating WTRU 310 transmits PSSCH/PSCCH burst) from the UE (Fig 3, Initiating WTRU 310);
wherein a gap between SL transmissions in the set is no larger than 16 microseconds (μs) (see: [0203] … A WTRU may determine to perform a LBT sensing (e.g., a Type 2C LBT channel access as discussed herein) following such a gap smaller than 16 us.)
and determine not to perform sensing over the channel within the gap (see: [0078] … Transmissions from a WTRU separated by such a gap may be considered to be separate transmission bursts and a new sensing for channel access may need to be performed after the gap; Examiner’s Note: sensing after the gap, means no sensing within the gap).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
2. 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.
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 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.
2a. Claim 2 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Deng (US 20250142595 A1) in view of Park (US 20250324451 A1).
2b. Summary of the Cited Prior Art
Deng discloses a method for sidelink unlicensed channel access.
Park discloses a method for sharing COT operations in sidelink communication.
2c. Claim Analysis
Regarding Claim 2, Deng discloses:
the first channel access procedure is a first Type 1 SL channel access procedure (Fig 5, 521, LBT Type 1 of channel access procedure)
the second channel access procedure is a second Type 1 SL channel access procedure (Fig 5, 522, LBT Type 1 of channel access procedure; see: [0344] … WTRU 501 … perform another Type 1 LBT (e.g., at 522) to continue to acquire a channel).
and a time duration spanned by sensing slots that are sensed to be idle before a SL transmission (see: [0230] … With Type 2X LBT channel access, a WTRU may perform a SL transmission after sensing the channel to be idle within the duration equal to the length of the gap indicated in the SCI received in the COT. The Type 2X LBT duration may include a sensing slot (e.g., at the end of the duration; Examiner’s Note: channel sensing is done before SL transmission in both type 1 and 2) using the first and second Type 1 SL channel access procedures is based on a random counter.
Deng does not disclose time duration based on random counter.
However, Park discloses random backoff time duration:
using the first and second Type 1 SL channel access procedures is based on a random counter (see: Table 10, Type 1 CAP, CAP with random backoff time duration scanned by the sending slots; Examiner’s Nite: Type 1 CAP, Channel Access Procedure with random backoff duration implies a random counter).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to integrate Deng’s method for sidelink unlicensed channel access with Park’s method for sharing COT operations in sidelink communication with the motivation being to improve processing throughput (Park [0056]).
Regarding Claims 11-13 and 19, the claims disclose similar features as of Claims 1-3 and 9, and are rejected accordingly.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Jung-Jen Liu whose telephone number is 571-270-7643. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday to Friday, 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Kwang B. Yao can be reached on 571-272-3182. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative or access to the automated information system, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/JUNG LIU/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2473