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 § 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 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 20claimed 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 1, 4-5, 7-8, 10-11, 13-14 and 18-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over He et al. (US 2020/0344722, hereinafter He) in view of Hwang et al. (US 2022/0303954, hereinafter Hwang).
Regarding claim 1, He discloses a Physical Sidelink Feedback CHannel (PSFCH) resource configuration method (Para 0005; 0140 and 0224), comprising:
sending, by a first communication device, first signaling to a second communication device by using a PSFCH resource according to a first rule (para 0137-0139; and 0149-0150; a receiver UE transmits only HARQ-ACK information with NACK value (option 1) or HARQ-ACK information with either ACK value or NACK value (option 2). In HARQ-ACK information reporting for groupcast, all receiver UEs can share a physical sidelink feedback channel (PSFCH) for Option 1, while each receiver UE can use a separate PSFCH for Option 2 - receiver UEs can select a resource for a PSFCH transmission according to predefined mapping rules); wherein the first signaling carries at least one of the following information:
information about whether to perform resource reselection;
collision type information of resource collision;
location information of resource collision (para 0108; 0181; 0186; and 0352 – location in frequency for the number of PRBs);
time validity feature information of resource collision;
collision overlapping degree information of at least one colliding resource;
transmission type information of resource collision (para 0092; 0217; 0222; and 0225 – type of transmission)
necessity degree information of resource reselection;
quantity or proportion information of resource collision;
service priority information corresponding to colliding resources (para 0249; 0270; 0274-0275 – priority of service); or
resource reselection priority information.
He does not explicitly disclose wherein the first signaling is used to instruct the second communication device to perform resource reselection.
In an analogous art, Hwang discloses wherein the first signaling is used to instruct the second communication device to perform resource reselection (para 0284; 0344; the UE-A may transmit, to a UE-B, information or an indicator triggering the resource reselection. For example, the resource reselection indicator or a resource conflict indicator may be transmitted by the UE-A to the UE-B via a PSFCH resource or in the form of PSFCH format). It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify He’s method/system by having Hwang’s disclosure in order to improve resource allocation of a communications system.
Regarding claim 8, He discloses a Physical Sidelink Feedback CHannel (PSFCH) resource configuration method (Para 0005; 0140 and 0224), comprising:
receiving, by a second communication device, first signaling on a PSFCH resource (para 0137-0139; and 0149-0150; a receiver UE transmits only HARQ-ACK information with NACK value (option 1) or HARQ-ACK information with either ACK value or NACK value (option 2). In HARQ-ACK information reporting for groupcast, all receiver UEs can share a physical sidelink feedback channel (PSFCH) for Option 1, while each receiver UE can use a separate PSFCH for Option 2 - receiver UEs can select a resource for a PSFCH transmission according to predefined mapping rules); wherein the first signaling carries at least one of the following information:
information about whether to perform resource reselection;
collision type information of resource collision;
location information of resource collision (para 0108; 0181; 0186; and 0352 – location in frequency for the number of PRBs);
time validity feature information of resource collision;
collision overlapping degree information of at least one colliding resource;
transmission type information of resource collision (para 0092; 0217; 0222; and 0225 – type of transmission); necessity degree information of resource reselection;
quantity or proportion information of resource collision; service priority information corresponding to colliding resources (para 0249; 0270; 0274-0275 – priority of service); or resource reselection priority information.
He does not explicitly disclose wherein the first signaling is used to instruct the second communication device to perform resource reselection.
In an analogous art, Hwang discloses wherein the first signaling is used to instruct the second communication device to perform resource reselection (para 0284; 0344; the UE-A may transmit, to a UE-B, information or an indicator triggering the resource reselection. For example, the resource reselection indicator or a resource conflict indicator may be transmitted by the UE-A to the UE-B via a PSFCH resource or in the form of PSFCH format). It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify He’s method/system by having Hwang’s disclosure in order to improve resource allocation of a communications system.
Regarding claim 19, He discloses a first communication device, comprising:
a processor (para 0064; a processor);
a memory (para 0064; a memory); and
a program or an instruction that is stored in the memory and that is run on the processor (para 0067; program stored in the memory to perform the method steps) wherein the program or the instruction is executed by the processor to implement the physical
sidelink feedback channel resource configuration method according to claim 1 (para 0140).
Regarding claim 20, He discloses a second communication device (para 0413), comprising:
a processor (para 0064; a processor);
a memory (para 0064; a memory); and a program or an instruction that is stored in the memory and that is run on the processor (para 0067; program stored in the memory to perform the method steps) wherein the program or the instruction is executed by the processor to implement the physical
sidelink feedback channel resource configuration method according to claim 8 (para 0140).
Regarding claim 4, He discloses wherein a time domain resource location of the PSFCH resource is determined in at least one of the following manners:
determining the time domain resource location of the PSFCH resource based on a first slot or a first sub-frame in which Sidelink Control Information (SCI) sent by the second communication device to indicate a reserved resource is located (para 0097; 0111; 0113; and 0121; SCI);
determining the time domain resource location of the PSFCH resource based on a second slot or a second sub-frame in which a colliding resource reserved by the second communication device is located; or
determining the time domain resource location of the PSFCH resource based on a third slot or a third sub-frame in which a resource with no collision reserved by the second communication device is located.
Regarding claim 5, He discloses wherein the determining the time domain resource location of the PSFCH resource based on a first slot or a first sub-frame
in which SCI sent by the second communication device to indicate a reserved resource is located comprises at least one of the following:
when there is a first PSFCH resource in the first slot or the first sub-frame, determining to transmit the first signaling by using the first PSFCH resource (para 0243; first slot in the PSFCH period for a PSFCH transmission);
when there is no PSFCH resource in the first slot or the first sub-frame, determining to transmit the first signaling by using a PSFCH resource that is nearest to the first slot or the first sub-frame;
transmitting the first signaling by using a PSFCH resource in an Lth slot or an Lth sub-frame after the first slot;
transmitting the first signaling by using the PSFCH resource that is nearest to the Lth slot or the Lth sub-frame after the first slot, wherein the nearest PSFCH resource is before or after the Lth slot or the Lᵗʰ sub-frame after the first slot; or
transmitting the first signaling by using at least one PSFCH resource in third preset duration after the first slot; wherein L is a positive integer.
Regarding claims 7 and 18, He discloses wherein a configuration
manner of the PSFCH resource comprises at least one of the following:
being configured in units of resource pools (para 0103; resource pool);
being configured in units of Bandwidth Parts (BWPs) (para 0353; BWP);
being configured in units of system bandwidth;
being independently configured for one or more transmission types (para 0137; 0142);
being uniformly configured for a plurality of transmission types, and state interpretation of the PSFCH resource needs to be independently defined for one or some transmission types; being independently configured for a resource collision type; or
being independently configured for a Hybrid Automatic Repeat reQuest (HARQ) feedback manner (para 0021 and 0023).
Regarding claim 10, He discloses wherein the PSFCH resource occupies one or more Physical Resource Blocks (PRBs) in frequency domain (para 0106-0108; 0146; and 0223; defining a location in frequency for the number of PRBs).
Regarding claim 11, He discloses wherein in a case that the PSFCH resource occupies one PRB in frequency domain, at least one of the following is met:
each code point of the first signaling corresponds to at least one information meaning, each information meaning corresponds to at least one M_CS value, each M_CS value corresponds to one cyclic prefix index value or cyclic prefix, first spacings between cyclic prefix index values or cyclic prefixes corresponding to each M_CS value are the same, and the first spacing is configured by a network side or a higher layer;
a default code point configured by a network side or a higher layer is obtained as a reference code point for demodulating the first signaling, wherein the reference code point corresponds to one default state, and the reference code point corresponds to one configured M_CS value;
an amount of first signaling or a quantity of PSFCHs transmitted by a same communication device supported by each PRB configured by a network side or a higher layer is obtained (para 0251 and 0259);
a quantity of cyclic prefix pairs supported by each PRB configured by a network side or a higher layer is obtained;
an amount of transmitted first signaling or a quantity of transmitted PSFCHs supported by each PRB configured by a network side or a higher layer is obtained (para 0251 and 0259);
a start index value of a cyclic prefix pair corresponding to each PRB configured by a network side or a higher layer is obtained; or
a quantity of communication devices that are supported by each PRB configured by a network side or a higher layer for sending the first signaling is received.
Regarding claim 13, He discloses wherein a multiplexing
manner of the PSFCH resource comprises at least one of the following:
a frequency division multiplexing manner (para 0096- FDD/TDD);
a code division multiplexing manner; or a time division multiplexing manner (para 0096; TDD).
Regarding claim 14, He discloses wherein the frequency
division multiplexing manner meets at least one of the following:
communication devices use different PRBs on the PFSCH when transmitting the first
signaling (para 0146; 0175); or
PRBs used by different communication devices to transmit the first signaling are consecutive or discrete on the PSFCH (para 0191).
Claim 2 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over He/Hwang in view of Levitsky et al. (US 2022/0167351, hereinafter Levitsky).
Regarding claim 2, He/Hwang does not explicitly disclose wherein the collision type
information of the resource collision comprises at least one of the following:
collision caused by entire or partial overlapping between the resource selected or reserved by the second communication device and the resource selected or reserved by the third communication device;
collision caused by entire or partial overlapping between the PSFCH resource associated with the resource selected or reserved by the second communication device and the PSFCH resource associated with the resource selected or reserved by the third communication device;
collision caused by entire or partial overlapping between the PSFCH resource associated with the resource selected or reserved by the second communication device and the resource selected or reserved by the third communication device;
collision caused by entire or partial overlapping between the resource selected or reserved by the second communication device and the PSFCH resource associated with the resource selected or reserved by the third communication device;
collision caused by entire or partial overlapping between the resource selected or reserved by the second communication device and the uplink transmission resource of the third communication device;
collision caused by entire or partial overlapping between the PSFCH resource associated with the resource selected or reserved by the second communication device and the uplink transmission resource of the third communication device;
collision caused by entire or partial overlapping between the resource selected or reserved by the second communication device and a resource location selected or reserved by the first communication device to perform SideLink (SL) transmission;
collision caused by entire or partial overlapping between the resource selected or reserved by the second communication device and a resource location at which the first communication device performs UpLink (UL) transmission;
collision caused by entire or partial overlapping between the PSFCH resource associated with the resource selected or reserved by the second communication device and the resource selected or reserved by the first communication device;
collision caused by entire or partial overlapping between the PSFCH resource associated with the resource selected or reserved by the second communication device and the PSFCH resource associated with the resource selected or reserved by the first communication device;
collision caused by entire or partial overlapping between the PSFCH resource associated with the resource selected or reserved by the second communication device and an uplink UL transmission resource of the first communication device; or
collision caused by entire or partial overlapping between the resource selected or reserved by the second communication device and the PSFCH resource associated with the resource selected or reserved by the first communication device.
In an analogous art, Levitsky discloses collision caused by entire or partial overlapping between the resource selected or reserved by the second communication device and the resource selected or reserved by the third communication device (para 0020 – fully overlap collision; para 0083; 0087 – collision between devices due to partial overlap);
collision caused by entire or partial overlapping between the PSFCH resource associated with the resource selected or reserved by the second communication device and the PSFCH resource associated with the resource selected or reserved by the third communication device (para 0067-0068; 0083 and 0087). It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify He/Hwang’s method/system by having Levitsky’s disclosure in order to reduce interference in a communication system.
Claims 3 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over He/Hwang in view of Shilov et al. (US 2020/0374861, hereinafter Shilov).
Regarding claim 3, He/Hwang does not explicitly disclose wherein the location
information of the resource collision comprises at least one of the following:
some or all resources in the first N or K periods in the periodically reserved resources;
an Mth resource in the first N or K periods in the periodically reserved resources;
first or last M resources in the first N or K periods in the periodically reserved resources;
an Mth resource in aperiodically reserved resources;
all or some resources in aperiodically reserved resources; or
first or last M resources in aperiodically reserved resources; wherein
N, K, and M are positive integers.
In an analogous art, Shilov discloses wherein the location
information of the resource collision comprises at least one of the following:
some or all resources in the first N or K periods in the periodically reserved resources (para 0003; 0096; 0167; periodic resource reservation);
an Mth resource in the first N or K periods in the periodically reserved resources;
first or last M resources in the first N or K periods in the periodically reserved resources;
an Mth resource in aperiodically reserved resources;
all or some resources in aperiodically reserved resources; or
first or last M resources in aperiodically reserved resources; wherein
N, K, and M are positive integers.
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify He/Hwang’s method/system by having Shilov’s disclosure in order to improve resource allocation in a communication system.
Claims 6 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over He/Hwang in view of Lee (WO 2021/230727, hereinafter Lee).
Regarding claim 6, He/Hwang does not explicitly disclose wherein the determining
the time domain resource location of the PSFCH resource based on a second slot or a second sub-frame in which a colliding resource reserved by the second communication device is located comprises at least one of the following:
transmitting the first signaling on the PSFCH resource in U slots or U sub-frames before the second slot in which at least one colliding resource is located or in fourth preset duration;
transmitting the first signaling on the PSFCH resource that is nearest to the second slot in which at least one colliding resource is located;
transmitting the first signaling on the PSFCH resource that is before or after H slots or H sub-frames before the second slot in which at least one colliding resource is located; or
selecting X PSFCH resources from R slots or R sub-frames before the second slot in which at least one colliding resource is located or in fifth preset duration as a second PSFCH resource, and transmitting the first signaling on the second PSFCH resource; wherein U, H, R, and X are positive integers.
In an analogous art, Lee discloses wherein the determining the time domain resource location of the PSFCH resource based on a second slot or a second sub-frame in which a colliding resource reserved by the second communication device is located comprises at least one of the following:
transmitting the first signaling on the PSFCH resource in U slots or U sub-frames before the second slot in which at least one colliding resource is located or in fourth preset duration (page 11; last para);
transmitting the first signaling on the PSFCH resource that is nearest to the second slot in which at least one colliding resource is located (pages 22 & 23; first paras). It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify He/Hwang’s method/system by having Lee’s disclosure in order to reduce interference in a communication system.
Claim 9 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over He/Hwang in view of Zhao (WO 2021/063002, hereinafter Zhao).
Regarding claim 9, He/Hwang does not explicitly disclose wherein the PSFCH
resource occupies one or two symbols in time domain; and in a case that the PSFCH resource occupies two symbols in time domain, resources on the symbols are used to transmit different information.
In an analogous art, Zhao discloses wherein the PSFCH resource occupies one or two symbols in time domain (page 12; last para; page 52; first para); and in a case that the PSFCH resource occupies two symbols in time domain, resources on the symbols are used to transmit different information (page 15; para 01; page 20; last para). It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify He/Hwang’s method/system by having Zhao’s disclosure in order to reduce interference in a communication system.
Claim 12 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over He/Hwang in view of Chatterjee et al. (US 2019/0149365, hereinafter Chatterjee).
Regarding claim 12, He/Hwang does not explicitly disclose wherein in a case that
the PSFCH resource occupies a plurality of PRBs in frequency domain, at least one of the following is met:
each code point of the first signaling corresponds to at least one information meaning, each information meaning corresponds to at least one M_CS value, and each M_CS value corresponds to one cyclic prefix index value or one cyclic prefix;
each PRB is associated with at least one code point;
the PRBs carry different information, and each PRB is associated with at least one type of indication information;
an amount of first signaling or a quantity of PSFCHs transmitted by a same communication device supported by every W PRBs configured by a network side or a higher layer is obtained;
a quantity of cyclic prefix pairs supported by every W PRBs configured by a network side or a higher layer is obtained;
an amount of first signaling or a quantity of transmitted PSFCHs supported by every W PRBs configured by a network side or a higher layer is obtained;
a start index value of a cyclic prefix pair corresponding to every W PRBs configured by a network side or a higher layer is obtained;
a quantity of communication devices that are supported by every W PRBs configured by a network side or a higher layer for sending the first signaling is received;
on a same PRB, second spacings between cyclic prefix index values or cyclic prefixes corresponding to M_CS values are the same, wherein the second spacing is configured by a network side or a higher layer; or
a default code point configured by a network side or a higher layer is obtained as a reference code point for demodulating the first signaling, wherein the reference code point corresponds to one default state, and the reference code point corresponds to one configured M_CS value; wherein W is a positive integer.
In an analogous art, Chatterjee discloses wherein in a case that
the PSFCH resource occupies a plurality of PRBs in frequency domain, at least one of the following is met:
each code point of the first signaling corresponds to at least one information meaning, each information meaning corresponds to at least one M_CS value, and each M_CS value corresponds to one cyclic prefix index value or one cyclic prefix;
each PRB is associated with at least one code point (para 0194; Table 21 -22);
the PRBs carry different information, and each PRB is associated with at least one type of indication information (para 0016);
a quantity of cyclic prefix pairs supported by every W PRBs configured by a network side or a higher layer is obtained (Para 0036; Table 1).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify He/Hwang’s method/system by having Zhao’s disclosure in order to reduce interference in a communication system.
Claim 15 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over He/Hwang in view of Jiang et al. (US 2020/0389858, hereinafter Jiang).
Regarding claim 15, He/Hwang does not explicitly disclose wherein the code
division multiplexing manner meets at least one of the following:
first signaling transmission or PSFCH transmission of a plurality of communication devices is multiplexed on a same PRB or a plurality of PRBs;
a quantity of cyclic prefix pairs supported by every V PRBs configured by a network side or a higher layer is obtained;
an amount of first signaling or a quantity of PSFCHs from different communication devices supported by every V PRBs configured by a network side or a higher layer is obtained;
a start index value of a cyclic prefix pair corresponding to code points of first signaling of different communication devices supported by every V PRBs configured by a network side or a higher layer is obtained;
M_CS values corresponding to code points of first signaling of different communication devices supported by every V PRBs configured by a network side or a higher layer is obtained, wherein each M_CS value corresponds to one cyclic prefix index value, and an M_CS value corresponding to a code point of first signaling of a same communication device comes from a same cyclic prefix pair;
a quantity of communication devices that are supported by every V PRBs configured by a network side or a higher layer for sending the first signaling is received; or on every V PRBs, third spacings between cyclic prefix index values or cyclic prefixes
corresponding to M_CS values of different communication devices keep the same, wherein the third spacing is configured by a network side or a higher layer; wherein
V is a positive integer.
In an analogous art, Jiang discloses first signaling transmission or PSFCH transmission of a plurality of communication devices is multiplexed on a same PRB or a plurality of PRBs (para 0017; 0109);
a quantity of cyclic prefix pairs supported by every V PRBs configured by a network side or a higher layer is obtained (para 0251-0252);
an amount of first signaling or a quantity of PSFCHs from different communication devices supported by every V PRBs configured by a network side or a higher layer is obtained (para 0180; 0295-0296).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify He/Hwang’s method/system by having Jiang’s disclosure in order to reduce interference in a communication system.
9. Claim 16 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over He/Hwang in view of Wang (US 2022/0078757, hereinafter Wang).
Regarding claim 16, He/Hwang does not explicitly disclose wherein the time
division multiplexing manner meets at least one of the following:
first signaling of different communication devices is transmitted by using resources on different symbols;
first signaling of a same communication device is transmitted by using resources on a plurality of symbols, and information transmitted on different symbols is different; or
first signaling of a same communication device is transmitted by using resources on a plurality of symbols, and information transmitted on different symbols is the same.
In an analogous art, Wang discloses first signaling of different communication devices is transmitted by using resources on different symbols (para 0062-0064; different symbols for different TX terminal devices).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify He/Hwang’s method/system by having Wang’s disclosure in order to reduce interference in a communication system.
10. Claim 17 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over He/Hwang in view of Farag (US 2021/0250772, hereinafter Farag).
Regarding claim 17, He/Hwang does not explicitly disclose wherein a sequence
length of the PSFCH resource, a sequence length for transmitting the PSFCH, or a sequence length for transmitting the first signaling is determined by using at least one of the following:
a quantity of code points or indication states corresponding to transmission of the first signaling;
a quantity of corresponding code points or a quantity of indication states when transmission of the first signaling by a plurality of communication devices is multiplexed on Y Physical Resource Blocks (PRBs);
a quantity of code points corresponding to at least one PRB during transmission of the first signaling; or
a quantity of code points or a quantity of indication states on at least one PRB when transmission of the first signaling by a plurality of communication devices is multiplexed on Y PRBs; wherein Y is a positive integer.
In an analogous art, Farag discloses wherein a sequence length of the PSFCH resource, a sequence length for transmitting the PSFCH, or a sequence length for transmitting the first signaling is determined by using at least one of the following:
a quantity of code points or indication states corresponding to transmission of the first signaling (para 0027; 0222-0228);
a quantity of corresponding code points or a quantity of indication states when transmission of the first signaling by a plurality of communication devices is multiplexed on Y Physical Resource Blocks (PRBs);
a quantity of code points corresponding to at least one PRB during transmission of the first signaling (para 0139 and 0252); or
a quantity of code points or a quantity of indication states on at least one PRB when transmission of the first signaling by a plurality of communication devices is multiplexed on Y PRBs; wherein Y is a positive integer (para 0115; 0124; and 0141).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify He/Hwang’s method/system by having Farag’s disclosure in order to reduce interference in a communication system.
Conclusion
11. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SAMINA CHOUDHRY whose telephone number is (571)270-7102. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday to Thursday (7:30 a.m. to 5.00p.m.).
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Yemane Mesfin can be reached on (571)272-3927. 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.
/SAMINA F CHOUDHRY/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2462
Prosecution Insights