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
This communication is in response to applicant’s 06/30/2026 amendment or response in the application of VAIDYA et al. for “WIRELESS COMMUNICATION METHOD, TERMINAL DEVICE, AND NETWORK DEVICE” filed 05/21/2024. The amendment or response to the claims have been entered. No claims have been canceled. No claims have been added. Claims 1-24 are now pending.
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(s) 1-2, 8, 12-14, 18-19, 22, 24 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over WU et al. (US 2021/0212027 A1), hereinafter WU in view of SUN et al. (US 2023/0269730 A1), hereinafter SUN.
Regarding claim 1, WU discloses a method for wireless communication, comprising:
receiving, by a terminal device, first resource allocation information sent by a network device, wherein the first resource allocation information is configured to determine Resource Block (RB) set(s) comprised in each of at least one sidelink (SL) transmission resource allocated by the network device (scheduling of scheduled entities (e.g., UEs) for downlink, uplink, or sidelink transmissions typically involves scheduling one or more resource elements 306 within one or more sub-bands or bandwidth parts (BWPs). Thus, a UE generally utilizes only a subset of the resource grid 304. In some examples, an RB may be the smallest unit of resources that can be allocated to a UE. Thus, the more RBs scheduled for a UE, and the higher the modulation scheme chosen for the air interface, the higher the data rate for the UE. The RBs may be scheduled by a base station (e.g., gNB, eNB, etc.) or may be self-scheduled by a UE implementing D2D or sidelink communication, see ¶ 0065).
WU fails to explicitly disclose each RB set comprise of a plurality of RBs.
In the same field of endeavor, SUN discloses in certain aspects, RBs may be assigned to sets (e.g., subbands), where each RB set includes a plurality of RBs. Further, a guard band (e.g., intra-cell guard band) may be defined between each of the RB sets. Accordingly, certain aspects herein related to mapping sub-channels to RBs while taking into account RB sets and guard bands. In certain aspects, sub-channels are mapped to RBs taking into account UE capabilities of the UEs communicating on a sidelink (see ¶ 0030).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement %%’s teaching in the network taught by WU to Reduced Control Signaling Overhead by grouping PRBs into an RB Set allows the base station (gNB) to assign frequency space using fewer control bits. The scheduler points to an entire set rather than mapping dozens of individual resource blocks independently.
Regarding claim 2, WU discloses the RB set(s) comprised in the each SL transmission resource are determined based on a RB set corresponding to a frequency domain starting position of the each SL transmission resource and a number of the RB sets comprised in the each SL transmission resource (the first sidelink transmission 406 may indicate one or more periodic resources. Such a periodic resource may be indicated by a starting location, period, window size, etc., which may be implied or indicated by UE-A 402, configured (e.g., by a base station), or preconfigured, see ¶ 0082).
Regarding claim 8, WU discloses when the number of the RB sets comprised in the each SL transmission resource is greater than 1, the RB sets comprised in the each SL transmission resource are consecutive (sidelink communication may utilize transmission or reception resource pools. For example, the minimum resource allocation unit in frequency may be a sub-channel (e.g., which may include, for example, 10, 15, 20, 25, 50, 75, or 100 consecutive resource blocks) and the minimum resource allocation unit in time may be one slot, see ¶ 0058).
Regarding claim 12, WU discloses a terminal device, comprising: a transceiver; a processor; and a memory for storing a computer program that, when executed by the processor, causes the processor to receive, through the transceiver, first resource allocation information sent by a network device, wherein the first resource allocation information is configured to determine Resource Block (RB) set(s) comprised in each of at least one sidelink (SL) transmission resource allocated by the network device (scheduling of scheduled entities (e.g., UEs) for downlink, uplink, or sidelink transmissions typically involves scheduling one or more resource elements 306 within one or more sub-bands or bandwidth parts (BWPs). Thus, a UE generally utilizes only a subset of the resource grid 304. In some examples, an RB may be the smallest unit of resources that can be allocated to a UE. Thus, the more RBs scheduled for a UE, and the higher the modulation scheme chosen for the air interface, the higher the data rate for the UE. The RBs may be scheduled by a base station (e.g., gNB, eNB, etc.) or may be self-scheduled by a UE implementing D2D or sidelink communication, see ¶ 0065).
WU fails to explicitly disclose each RB set comprise of a plurality of RBs.
In the same field of endeavor, SUN discloses in certain aspects, RBs may be assigned to sets (e.g., subbands), where each RB set includes a plurality of RBs. Further, a guard band (e.g., intra-cell guard band) may be defined between each of the RB sets. Accordingly, certain aspects herein related to mapping sub-channels to RBs while taking into account RB sets and guard bands. In certain aspects, sub-channels are mapped to RBs taking into account UE capabilities of the UEs communicating on a sidelink (see ¶ 0030).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement %%’s teaching in the network taught by WU to Reduced Control Signaling Overhead by grouping PRBs into an RB Set allows the base station (gNB) to assign frequency space using fewer control bits. The scheduler points to an entire set rather than mapping dozens of individual resource blocks independently.
Regarding claim 13, WU discloses the first resource allocation information is further configured to determine sub-channel(s) comprised in the each SL transmission resource (in 5G NR sidelink, sidelink communication may utilize transmission or reception resource pools. For example, the minimum resource allocation unit in frequency may be a sub-channel (e.g., which may include, for example, 10, 15, 20, 25, 50, 75, or 100 consecutive resource blocks) and the minimum resource allocation unit in time may be one slot. A radio resource control (RRC) configuration of the resource pools may be either pre-configured (e.g., a factory setting on the UE determined, for example, by sidelink standards or specifications) or configured by a base station (e.g., base station 210), see ¶ 0058).
Regarding claim 14, WU discloses the sub-channel(s) comprised in the each SL transmission resource are determined based on a sub-channel corresponding to a frequency domain starting position of the each SL transmission resource and a number of sub-channels, comprised in one RB set, of the each SL transmission resource (sidelink communication may utilize transmission or reception resource pools. For example, the minimum resource allocation unit in frequency may be a sub-channel (e.g., which may include, for example, 10, 15, 20, 25, 50, 75, or 100 consecutive resource blocks) and the minimum resource allocation unit in time may be one slot. A radio resource control (RRC) configuration of the resource pools may be either pre-configured (e.g., a factory setting on the UE determined, for example, by sidelink standards or specifications) or configured by a base station (e.g., base station 210), see ¶ 0058).
Regarding claim 18, WU discloses wherein when the number of sub-channels, comprised in one RB set, of the each SL transmission resource is greater than 1, the sub-channels, comprised in one RB set, of the each SL transmission resource are consecutive (sidelink communication may utilize transmission or reception resource pools. For example, the minimum resource allocation unit in frequency may be a sub-channel (e.g., which may include, for example, 10, 15, 20, 25, 50, 75, or 100 consecutive resource blocks) and the minimum resource allocation unit in time may be one slot. A radio resource control (RRC) configuration of the resource pools may be either pre-configured (e.g., a factory setting on the UE determined, for example, by sidelink standards or specifications) or configured by a base station (e.g., base station 210), see ¶ 0058).
Regarding claim 19, WU discloses wherein a second SL transmission resource of the each SL transmission resource comprises at least one RB set, the second SL transmission resource comprises at least one sub-channel, and each RB set of the second SL transmission resource comprises the at least one sub-channel (sidelink communication may utilize transmission or reception resource pools. For example, the minimum resource allocation unit in frequency may be a sub-channel (e.g., which may include, for example, 10, 15, 20, 25, 50, 75, or 100 consecutive resource blocks) and the minimum resource allocation unit in time may be one slot. A radio resource control (RRC) configuration of the resource pools may be either pre-configured (e.g., a factory setting on the UE determined, for example, by sidelink standards or specifications) or configured by a base station (e.g., base station 210), see ¶ 0058).
Regarding claim 22, WU discloses the at least one SL transmission resource comprises at least one of: an SL transmission resource occupied by a Physical Sidelink Shared Channel (PSSCH) scheduled by the first resource allocation information, or an SL transmission resource occupied by a Physical Sidelink Control Channel (PSCCH) scheduled by the first resource allocation information (an example of sidelink communication over a sidelink carrier via a PC5 interface, the control region 312 of the slot 310 may include a physical sidelink control channel (PSCCH) including sidelink control information (SCI) transmitted by an initiating (transmitting) sidelink device (e.g., V2X or other sidelink device) towards a set of one or more other receiving sidelink devices… the SCI may include information that indicates the location or distance of the transmitting device. In addition, the SCI may include decoding information for a physical sidelink shared channel (PSSCH) transmitted within the data region 314 of the slot see ¶ 0076).
Regarding claim 24, WU discloses a network device, comprising: a transceiver; a processor; and a memory for storing a computer program that, when executed by the processor, causes the processor to send first resource allocation information to a terminal device through the transceiver, wherein the first resource allocation information is configured to determine Resource Block (RB) set(s) comprised in each of at least one sidelink (SL) transmission resource allocated by the network (scheduling of scheduled entities (e.g., UEs) for downlink, uplink, or sidelink transmissions typically involves scheduling one or more resource elements 306 within one or more sub-bands or bandwidth parts (BWPs). Thus, a UE generally utilizes only a subset of the resource grid 304. In some examples, an RB may be the smallest unit of resources that can be allocated to a UE. Thus, the more RBs scheduled for a UE, and the higher the modulation scheme chosen for the air interface, the higher the data rate for the UE. The RBs may be scheduled by a base station (e.g., gNB, eNB, etc.) or may be self-scheduled by a UE implementing D2D or sidelink communication, see ¶ 0065).
WU fails to explicitly disclose each RB set comprise of a plurality of RBs.
In the same field of endeavor, SUN discloses in certain aspects, RBs may be assigned to sets (e.g., subbands), where each RB set includes a plurality of RBs. Further, a guard band (e.g., intra-cell guard band) may be defined between each of the RB sets. Accordingly, certain aspects herein related to mapping sub-channels to RBs while taking into account RB sets and guard bands. In certain aspects, sub-channels are mapped to RBs taking into account UE capabilities of the UEs communicating on a sidelink (see ¶ 0030).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement %%’s teaching in the network taught by WU to Reduced Control Signaling Overhead by grouping PRBs into an RB Set allows the base station (gNB) to assign frequency space using fewer control bits. The scheduler points to an entire set rather than mapping dozens of individual resource blocks independently.
Claim(s) 3-4 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over the combination of WU-SUN in view of ZHAO (US 2021/0329603 A1), hereinafter ZHAO.
Regarding claims 3-4, the combination of WU-SUN fails to disclose the first resource allocation information comprises a first information field, and a value of the first information field is configured to indicate a RB set corresponding to a frequency domain starting position of a first one of the at least one SL transmission resource or wherein the first resource allocation information is further configured to indicate at least one of:
an interlace corresponding to the frequency domain starting position of the first one of the at least one SL transmission resource; or
a sub-channel corresponding to the frequency domain starting position of the first one of the at least one SL transmission resource,
wherein the interlace corresponding to the frequency domain starting position of the first one of the at least one SL transmission resource and the RB set corresponding to the frequency domain starting position of the first one of the at least one SL transmission resource are indicated by two information fields respectively; or,
the sub-channel corresponding to the frequency domain starting position of the first one of the at least one SL transmission resource and the RB set corresponding to the frequency domain starting position of the first one of the at least one SL transmission resource are indicated by two information fields respectively.
In the same filed of endeavor, ZHAO discloses that the indication information of the frequency domain starting position or the indication information of the frequency domain ending position may be a directly indicated RB of a frequency domain position or an index value of a subband, etc. Or the indication information of the frequency domain starting position or the indication information of the frequency domain ending position may be an offset value relative to a frequency domain position, the frequency domain position may be a frequency domain position corresponding to a lowest resource block/a highest resource block or a subband of the PSCCH carrying the SCI, or a bandwidth start/ending position of a carrier, or a start/ending position of a bandwidth part, or a frequency domain position corresponding to an index of a lowest resource block/a highest resource block or a subband of a synchronization signal. For example, the indication information of the frequency domain starting position indicates an offset value of the frequency domain starting position of the sidelink CSI-RS relative to the frequency domain starting position of the PSCCH carrying the SCI. Or the indication information of the frequency domain starting position indicates an offset value of the frequency domain starting position of the sidelink CSI-RS relative to the frequency domain resource starting position of the PSSCH scheduled by the SCI (see ¶ 0082).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement ZHAO’s teaching in the network taught by the combination of WU-SUN for notifying the UE when to trigger sidelink transmission with another UE.
Claim(s) 5 and 15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over the combination of WU-SUN in view of LUO et al. (US 2023/0037535 A1), hereinafter LUO.
Regarding claims 5 and 15, the combination of WU-SUN fails to disclose wherein the first resource allocation information comprises a second information field, the second information field comprises a first Frequency Resource Indication Value (FRIV), and the first FRIV is configured to determine at least one of: RB set(s) corresponding to frequency domain starting position(s) of SL transmission resource(s), except the first one, of the at least one SL transmission resource; or the number of the RB sets comprised in the each SL transmission resource.
In the same field of endeavor, LUO discloses a user equipment obtaining indication information related to resource allocation; and determining Nindicatedres time/frequency resources according to the indication information, wherein Nindicatedres is a positive integer greater than or equal to 1, the indication information related to resource allocation comprises information indicated in sidelink control information (SCI), and the information indicated in the SCI comprises a time resource allocation indication value TRIV and/or a frequency resource allocation indication value FRIV.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement LUO’s teaching in the network taught by the combination of WU-SUN so that UE transmitting SCI can efficiently and unambiguously indicate an allocated time/frequency resource to UE receiving the SCI.
Claim(s) 21 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over the combination of WU-SUN in view of LI et al. (US 12,082,207 B2), hereinafter LI.
Regarding claim 21, the combination of WU-SUN fails to disclose wherein the first resource allocation information comprises a ninth information field, and the ninth information field is configured to determine a time domain resource of a first one of the at least one SL transmission resource; wherein the ninth information field is configured to determine a time offset of the first one of the at least one SL transmission resource relative to a transmission resource where the first resource allocation information is located.
In the same filed of endeavor, LI discloses a UE may be configured with an offset value to indicate the time resource to be used for sidelink transmission within the configured candidate time resources. The offset value may be signaled by the DCI carrying the scheduling grant. The offset value may indicate the offset between the time resource for sidelink transmission and the time resource used for transmitting scheduling grant DCI; or the offset value may indicate the offset between the time resource for sidelink transmission and the next available time resource after the minimum time gap within the configured candidate time resources (see col. 16 lines 23-33).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement LI’s teaching in the network taught by the combination of WU-SUN to provide ability to dynamically allocate the sidelink resources for both dedicated sidelink carrier and shared licensed carrier between Uu and sidelink through the Uu interface.
Claim(s) 23 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over WU in view of FONG (US 2022/0086869 A1), hereinafter FONG.
Regarding claim 23, the combination of WU-SUN fails to disclose the first resource allocation information is first Downlink Control Information (DCI) scrambled with a Sidelink Radio Network Temporary Identifier (SL-RNTI), the first DCI is configured to dynamically allocate SL transmission resource(s), and the first DCI comprises at least one of:
index information of a resource pool; Hybrid Automatic Repeat reQuest (HARQ) process number; New Data Indicator (NDI); indication information of a time interval between a first Physical Sidelink Feedback Channel (PSFCH) and a Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH) for reporting SL feedback, wherein the first PSFCH is a PSFCH corresponding to a Physical Sidelink Shared Channel (PSSCH) transmitted on a last one of the at least one SL transmission resource; or indication information of a PUCCH resource; or, wherein the first resource allocation information is second Downlink Control Information (DCI) scrambled with a Sidelink Configured Scheduling Radio Network Temporary Identifier (SL-CS-RNTI), the second DCI is configured to activate or release a second type of SL Configured Grant (CG), and the second DCI comprises at least one of: index information of a resource pool; Hybrid Automatic Repeat reQuest (HARQ) process number; New Data Indicator (NDI); indication information of a time interval between a first Physical Sidelink Feedback Channel (PSFCH) and a Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH) for reporting SL feedback, wherein the first PSFCH is a PSFCH corresponding to a Physical Sidelink Shared Channel (PSSCH) transmitted on a last one of the at least one SL transmission resource; indication information of a PUCCH resource; or index information of CG; wherein the processor is configured to receive a first Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling through the transceiver, wherein the first RRC signaling is configured to configure the second type of SL CG, and the first RRC signaling comprises at least one of: the index information of CG; period information of CG; a number of HARQ processes; indication information of an offset for the HARQ process number; or indication information of a maximum number of transmissions, or, wherein the first resource allocation information is a second Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling, the second RRC signaling is configured to configure a first type of SL Configured Grant (CG), and the second RRC signaling comprises at least one of: index information of a resource pool; indication information of a reference System Frame Number (SFN); indication information of a time interval between a first Physical Sidelink Feedback Channel (PSFCH) and a Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH) for reporting SL feedback, wherein the first PSFCH is a PSFCH corresponding to a Physical Sidelink Shared Channel (PSSCH) transmitted on a last one of the at least one SL transmission resource; indication information of a PUCCH resource; index information of CG; period information of CG; a number of Hybrid Automatic Repeat reQuest (HARQ) processes; indication information of an offset for a HARQ process.
In the same field of endeavor, FONG discloses that the DCI format may be used to schedule PSCCH and PSSCH in one cell. The DCI CRC may be scrambled by SL-RNTI or SL-CS-RNTI. The DCI may include a time gap, a HARQ process ID, a new data indicator, a lowest index of the subchannel allocation to the initial transmission, 1st-stage SCI Format 0-1 fields frequency resource assignment field(s) and time resource assignment field(s), a PSFCH-to-HARQ feedback timing indicator, a PUCCH resource indicator, and a configuration index (e.g., for CG) (see ¶ 0089).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement FONG’s teaching in the network taught by the combination of WU-SUN to allow periodic traffic to be efficiently scheduled, by a UE or base station, and transmitted with improved techniques.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 6-7, 9-11, 16-17, 20 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Claims 6-7, and 16-17, are considered allowable over the prior art of record since the prior art of record fails to show or fairly suggest when a maximum number of SL transmission resources that can be indicated by Sidelink Control Information (SCI) is 2, the third FRIV meets a formula as follows: FRIV3=
n
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b
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1
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+
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N
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+1-i) wherein FRIV3 is the third FRIV;
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1
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denotes an index of a sub-channel corresponding to a frequency domain starting position of a second SL transmission resource;
Lsub-channel is the number of sub-channels, comprised in one RB set, of the each SL transmission resource; and
N
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is a number of sub-channels comprised in one RB set.
Claims 10-11 are considered allowable over the prior art of record since the prior art of record fails to show or fairly suggest the first resource allocation information is further configured to determine interlace(s) comprised in the each SL transmission resource; wherein the interlace(s) comprised in the each SL transmission resource are determined based on an interlace corresponding to a frequency domain starting position of the each SL transmission resource and a number of interlaces, comprised in one RB set, of the each SL transmission resource; and wherein the first resource allocation information comprises a fourth information field, the fourth information field comprises a second Frequency Resource Indication Value (FRIV), and the second FRIV is configured to determine at least one of: interlace(s) corresponding to frequency domain starting position(s) of SL transmission resource(s), except the first one, of the at least one SL transmission resource; or the number of interlaces, comprised in one RB set, of the each SL transmission resource.
Claim 20 is considered allowable over the prior art of record since the prior art of record fails to show or fairly suggest and the TRIV meets conditions as follows: when N=1, the TRIV=0; when N=2, the TRIV=t1; when N=3, the TRIV=30(t2−t1−1)+t1+31 in case of (t2−t1−1)≤15; otherwise, the TRIV =30(31−t2+t1)+62−t1, wherein N is the number of the at least one SL transmission resource, and ti is a time domain offset of a (i+1)-th one of the at least one SL transmission resource relative to the first one of the at least one SL transmission resource; and wherein when N=2, 1≤t1≤31; when N=3, 1≤t1≤30 and t1<t2≤31.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1-5, 8, 12-15, 18-19, 21-24 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
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Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Bob A. Phunkulh whose telephone number is (571) 272-3083. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Thursday from 8:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M. (first week of the bi-week) and Monday-Friday (for second week of the bi-week).
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor CHARLES C. JIANG can be reach on (571) 270-7191.
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/BOB A PHUNKULH/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2412
Prosecution Insights