DETAILED ACTION
This office action is a response to an application filed on 04/02/2024.
Claims 1- 20 are pending for examination.
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application is being examined under the pre-AIA first to invent provisions.
Drawings
The Examiner contends that the drawings submitted on 04/02/2024 are acceptable for examination proceedings.
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.
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 non-obviousness.
Claims 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Li et al. (US 20240098703 A1), hereinafter “Li”; and in further view of Hwang et al. (US 20230308245 A1), hereinafter “Hwang”.
Regarding claim 1, Li teaches A baseband processor configured to, when executing instructions stored in a memory, perform operations comprising [Li: Par. 6; Fig. 2 illustrates device with processor, memory]:
receiving resource pool information indicating a sidelink (SL) beam management resource pool [Li: Fig. 4; 7; 14A; Par. 112 teaches of receiving and selecting sidelink resources including resources pool information];
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However, Li does not teach encoding a beam management message for transmission to a user equipment (UE) using resources in the SL beam management resource pool.
Nevertheless, Hwang, in the similar filed of endeavor, teaches and encoding a beam management message for transmission to a user equipment (UE) using resources in the SL beam management resource pool.
[Hwang: Fig. 12. 14; Par. 140- 164 teaches managing method for determining and receiving of resource pools with sidelink reference signal wherein sidelink signal are transmitted to device based on the sidelink resource].
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Thus It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill at the time the invention was made to utilize the teachings of Hwang for sidelink communication for resource management. One of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to utilize the teachings of Hwang in the Li system in order to provide wider range of communication capacities [Hwang: Par. 3].
Regarding claim 2, the combined Li in view of Hwang teaches all the limitations in the parent claim 1. Li in view of Hwang further teaches wherein the resource pool information includes resource pool configuration information indicating a time offset between a SL synchronization signal block (S-SSB) resource pool and the SL beam management resource pool [Li: Par. 101 teaches of transmitting S-SSB for sidelink communication].
Regarding claim 3, the combined Li in view of Hwang teaches all the limitations in the parent claim 1. Li in view of Hwang further teaches wherein the resource pool information includes resource pool configuration information indicating an offset, interval, and periodicity of the SL beam management resource pool [Li: Par. 113, 125 teaches of beam management resources information include burst offset].
Regarding claim 4, the combined Li in view of Hwang teaches all the limitations in the parent claim 1. Li in view of Hwang further teaches wherein the periodicity of the SL beam management resource pool is the same as a periodicity of an SL synchronization signal block (S-SSB) resource pool [Li: Par. 87 teaches of periodicity of sidelink transmission].
Regarding claim 5, the combined Li in view of Hwang teaches all the limitations in the parent claim 1. Li in view of Hwang further teaches wherein resources in the SL beam management resource pool are multiplexed in a time division multiplexing (TDM) manner with resources in an S-SSB resource pool and resources in a SL data transmission resource pool [Li: Par. 114].
Regarding claim 6, the combined Li in view of Hwang teaches all the limitations in the parent claim 1. Li in view of Hwang further teaches wherein the resource pool information configures the SL beam management resource pool on a per slot basis
Regarding claim 7, the combined Li in view of Hwang teaches all the limitations in the parent claim 1. Li in view of Hwang further teaches wherein the resource pool information configures the SL beam management resource pool on a per sub-slot basis [Hwang: Par. 59- 60 teaches of per slot bases transmission].
Regarding claim 8, the combined Li in view of Hwang teaches all the limitations in the parent claim 1. Li in view of Hwang further teaches wherein the operations further comprise encoding the beam management message for transmission in a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) on a physical sidelink shared channel (PSSCH) [Li: Par. 83; Par. 94 teaches of information for decoding sidelink communication on the PSSCH which is configured using MAC-CE].
Regarding claim 9, the combined Li in view of Hwang teaches all the limitations in the parent claim 1. Li in view of Hwang further teaches measuring a plurality of SL synchronization signal blocks (S-SSBs) received from the UE, wherein the plurality of S-SSBs are associated with a respective plurality of beams; wherein the beam management message indicates an optimal beam of the plurality of beams [Li: Par. 101 teaches of sweep SSBs with different transmitting beams].
Regarding claim 10, the combined Li in view of Hwang teaches all the limitations in the parent claim 1. Li in view of Hwang further teaches detecting a beam failure; wherein the beam management message is encoded in response to detecting the beam failure [Li: Par. 142 teaches UE detect beam failure];
wherein the beam management message comprises a beam failure recovery message including a candidate S-SSB index or a candidate channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) index, and a reference signal received power (RSRP) measurement associated with the candidate S-SSB index or the candidate CSI-RS index [Hwang: Par. 132].
Regarding claim 11, the combined Li in view of Hwang teaches all the limitations in the parent claim 1. Li in view of Hwang further teaches measuring a plurality of channel state information reference signals (CSI-RSs) received from the UE, wherein the plurality of CSI-RSs are associated with a respective plurality of beams; and wherein the beam management message indicates an optimal beam of the plurality of beams [Li: Fig. 5; Par. 97 teaches of measure CSI-RS information based in part on measurements reported by UE].
Regarding claim 12, the combined Li in view of Hwang teaches all the limitations in the parent claim 1. Li in view of Hwang further teaches randomly selecting a sub-channel from the SL beam management resource pool for transmitting the beam management message on a physical sidelink shared channel (PSSCH) or a physical sidelink control channel (PSCCH)
Regarding claim 13, the combined Li in view of Hwang teaches all the limitations in the parent claim 1. Li in view of Hwang further teaches based on a UE identifier for the UE, selecting a sub-channel from the SL beam management resource pool for transmitting the beam management message on a physical sidelink shared channel (PSSCH) or a physical sidelink control channel (PSCCH)
Regarding claim 14, Li teaches A user equipment (UE), comprising:
radio frequency (RF) circuitry; and
one or more processors coupled to the RF circuitry and configured to execute instructions stored in a memory to cause the UE to
[Li: Par. 6; Fig. 2 illustrates device with processor, memory]:
Receive resource pool information indicating a sidelink (SL) beam management resource pool [Li: Fig. 4; 7; 14A; Par. 112 teaches of receiving and selecting sidelink resources including resources pool information];
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However, Li does not teach receive a beam management message from a second UE using resources in the SL beam management resource pool.
Nevertheless, Hwang, in the similar filed of endeavor, teaches receive a beam management message from a second UE using resources in the SL beam management resource pool[Hwang: Fig. 12,14; Par. 140- 164 teaches managing method for determining and receiving of resource pools with sidelink reference signal wherein sidelink signal are transmitted to device based on the sidelink resource].
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Thus It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill at the time the invention was made to utilize the teachings of Hwang for sidelink communication for resource management. One of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to utilize the teachings of Hwang in the Li system in order to provide wider range of communication capacities [Hwang: Par. 3].
Regarding claim 15, the combined Li in view of Hwang teaches all the limitations in the parent claim 14. Li in view of Hwang further teaches wherein the beam management message includes at least one S-SSB index and at least one corresponding reference signal received power (RSRP) measurement [Li: Par. 110].
Regarding claim 16, the combined Li in view of Hwang teaches all the limitations in the parent claim 14. Li in view of Hwang further teaches wherein the one or more processors further cause the UE to monitor respective resources in the SL beam management resource pool for the beam management message using respective receive (Rx) beams associated with beam indexes of the S-SSBs [Li: Par. 134; 90 teaches of Rx of UE receive Rx beam].
Regarding claim 17, the combined Li in view of Hwang teaches all the limitations in the parent claim 14. Li in view of Hwang further teaches wherein the one or more processors further cause the UE to receive the beam management message using a quasi-omni receive (Rx) beam [Li: Par. 111 teaches of beam information with quasi type].
Regarding claim 18, the combined Li in view of Hwang teaches all the limitations in the parent claim 14. Li in view of Hwang further teaches wherein the one or more processors further cause the UE to receive a second beam management message from a third UE using the resources in the SL beam management resource pool [Li: Par. 135; Fig. 10 teaches of receiving messages from UEs which include resource pool information].
Regarding claim 19, the claim is interpreted and rejected for the same reason as set forth for claim 2.
Regarding claim 20, the claim is interpreted and rejected for the same reason as set forth for claim 1.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record (see attached PTO-892) and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
A shortened statutory period for reply to this action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of the action. An extension of time may be obtained under 37 CFR 1.136(a). However, in no event, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KYAW Z SOE whose telephone number is (571)270-0304. The examiner can normally be reached on 9am-5pm.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Charles C Jiang can be reached on 5712707191. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/KYAW Z SOE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2412