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 .
This action is in response to the application filed on March 07, 2024
Claims 1-30 are under examination.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 03/07/2024 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
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 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 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 nonobviousness.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claims 1 – 30 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hoang et al (US 2021/0243749 A1) in view of Wang et al. (US 2022/0183018 A1).
As per Claim 1 Hoang teaches a wireless communication device configured for wireless communication, comprising:
a transceiver (Paragraph 0037 may include multiple transceivers for communicating with different wireless networks over different wireless links));
a memory (Paragraph 0038 Memory); and
a processor coupled to the transceiver and the memory, the processor and the memory configured to (Paragraph 0038 may include a processor 118, a transceiver 120, a transmit/receive element 122non-removable memory):
transmit control information indicating a number of resources reserved for an initial transmission and at least one retransmission of a packet on a sidelink via the transceiver (Paragraph 0014, 0017, 0206, 0226 FIG. 8 is a diagram which illustrates options for an SCI_Notification to notify future PSSCH and/or physical sidelink control channel (PSCCH) transmission(s); The number of resource reservation signal/message, for example, SCI_Notification message, pre-emption message, resource reservation sequences are greater than a threshold. a WTRU to use an SCI_Notification of a first transmission to reserve resource for subsequent retransmissions. The WTRU may transmit an SCI_Notification 1106 which indicates resources for an initial transmission 1108. The SCI_Notification 1106 may also indicate resources for transmission of first control information 1110 and a first retransmission 1112. The SCI_Notification 1106 may also indicate resources for transmission of second control information), the number of resources being three in response to a congestion value representing a congestion on the sidelink being less than a threshold (Paragraph 0093, 0126 where the value of T1 and T2 may be determined based on QoS of the data, for example, latency, priority, and reliability and/or congestion level of the resource pool, for example using, CBR. For example, a WTRU may perform SCI_Notification for a TB when the measured CBR or similar congestion metric is above a threshold. the congestion level of the resource pool, for example, reliability and/or congestion level of the resource pool, the size of the MAC PDU; a packet size and/or buffer size and/or a traffic pattern. ), the number of resources being two in response to the congestion value being greater than or equal to the threshold (Paragraph 0126, 0181 the resource allocation procedure is greater than a threshold; the backoff value is higher than a threshold when the time to the end of resource selection window is smaller than a threshold. Congestion level of the resource pool, for example, CBR; the size of the MAC PDU; the packet size and/or a buffer size and/or a traffic pattern. This embodiment may reduce the number of threshold tables the WTRU needs to maintain and may reduce complexity of the resource selection procedure when it has to use multiple threshold tables. ); and transmit the initial transmission of the packet using a first resource of the number of resources via the transceiver (Paragraph 0192, 0194 For example, the WTRU can be configured two sets of codepoints in the table where the first set is used to reserve the resource the TB in the SPS traffic and the other set is used to reserve the resource for the TB in the burst traffic, the WTRU may be configured to use the SCIs associated with the first X transmissions to reserve the resources for one or more retransmissions and a transmission of another TB in the burst traffic. ).
However Hoang does not explicitly disclose a congestion value representing a congestion on the sidelink.
Wang disclose a congestion value representing a congestion on the sidelink.
(Paragraph 0102, 0223, 0132 the sidelink channel congestion degree being lower than the channel congestion threshold is higher than the first channel congestion proportion threshold, the value. When the sidelink channel congestion degree is lower than the second channel congestion threshold, the value of N is N4, and when the sidelink channel congestion degree is lower than the first channel congestion threshold and higher than the second channel congestion threshold, the value of N is N3. In the case that the proportion of the sidelink channel congestion degree being lower than the channel congestion threshold is higher than the first channel congestion proportion threshold, the value of N is N9, and the proportion of sidelink channel congestion degree being lower than the channel congestion threshold is higher than the second channel congestion proportion threshold and lower than the first channel congestion proportion threshold, the value of N is N8. ).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Hoang with the teachings of Wang in order to the make the system more efficient. Because when the sidelink channel congestion degree is lower than the second channel congestion threshold, the value of N is N4, and when the sidelink channel congestion degree is lower than the first channel congestion threshold and higher than the second channel congestion threshold (see Wang Paragraph 00220).
As per Claim 2 Hoang-Wang teaches the wireless communication device of claim 1, wherein the congestion value is a channel busy ratio (Paragraph 0002, 0093 The method may comprise determining a priority of a data packet and determining a channel busy ratio (CBR) of a resource pool. The WTRU may set a backoff counter to an initial backoff value, in accordance with at least one of the priority of the packet or the CBR. The congestion level of the resource pool, for example, a CBR; the size of the MAC PDU; a packet size and/or buffer size and/or a traffic pattern.. ).
As per Claim 3 Hoang-Wang teaches the wireless communication device of claim 1, wherein each resource of the number of resources includes a respective frequency resource and a respective time resource (Paragraph 0191, 0215 For example, the WTRU may be configured to use 3 bits in the SCI to indicate the reserved time resource for retransmission of a TB and a transmission of another TB in a burst traffic, in which one value indicated by the bitfield may correspond to the timing offset in the number of time slots between SCI transmission and the reserved resource. Alternatively, the WTRU may also use 3 bits in the SCI to indicate the reserved time resource for transmission of an SPS traffic; however, one value indicated by the bitfield may correspond to one index in the table of the SPS period ).
As per Claim 4 Hoang-Wang teaches the wireless communication device of claim 1, wherein the control information comprises first stage sidelink control information (SCI-1) (Paragraph 0011, 0079 FIG. 5 is a diagram which illustrates a pool configuration of a sidelink control information (SCI) Notification (SCI_Notification). PSCCH contains the sidelink control information (SCI), which provides information about an upcoming or simultaneous PSSCH transmission. By decoding PSCCH, a receiving WTRU may decode the following information: frequency and time of the forward booking PSSCH; priority of the PSSCH; frequency and time of a PSSCH retransmission. ).
As per Claim 5 Hoang-Wang teaches the wireless communication device of claim 1, wherein the processor and the memory are further configured to: receive an acknowledgement of the initial transmission of the packet; and cancel the at least one retransmission of the packet (Paragraph 0141 For example, the WTRU may perform SCI_Notification when one or more physical sidelink feedback channel (PSFCH) resources is or are (pre-)configured periodically with a period of smaller or equal than N slot(s), where the value of N may be (pre-)configured or provided by higher layer signaling.).
As per Claim 6 Hoang-Wang teaches the wireless communication device of claim 5, wherein the processor and the memory are further configured to: re-use unused resources of the number of resources for other sidelink transmissions (Paragraph 0133, 0136, 0140 Specifically, the WTRU may be configured to transmit one or multiple SCI_Notification(s) which may be used to notify other WTRUs about the resources used for PSSCH transmission and the parameters to decode PSSCH, before transmission of PSSCH. The WTRU also may be configured to transmit one SCI in the TB used for the PSSCH. A number of symbols and resource elements for transmission of PSCCH based on QoS of the data. In one embodiment, the transmitter WTRU may include the initial transmission of the referred PSCCH in the SCI_Notification. For example, a WTRU may perform an SCI notification for a TB when the TB to be transmitted is larger than a threshold or when a number of sequential TBs may exceed a threshold. For example, a WTRU may perform an SCI notification for a TB when the TB to be transmitted occupies a number of RBs in the same slot and/or a number of consecutive RBs in the same slot which is above a threshold. ).
As per Claim 7 Hoang-Wang teaches the wireless communication device of claim 1, wherein the processor and the memory are further configured to: receive a negative acknowledgement of the initial transmission of the packet; and transmit a first retransmission of the packet using a second resource of the number of resources (Paragraph 0175, 0176, 0192 the time-frequency resource of the initial transmission and possible retransmission(s); the frequency hopping pattern/index for transmission and retransmission(s); the time gap between transmission and retransmission; the time gap between two retransmissions; the number of retransmission(s); the pattern index used for the transmissions. Retransmission and a time gap between two retransmissions; whether or not frequency hopping is enabled or disabled. ).
As per Claim 8 Hoang-Wang teaches the wireless communication device of claim 7, wherein the processor and the memory are further configured to: identify an additional congestion value representing an additional congestion on the sidelink; and transmit additional control information for the first retransmission of the packet, the additional control information indicating an additional number of resources reserved for the first retransmission and at least one additional retransmission of the packet on the sidelink, the additional number of resources being three in response to the additional congestion value being less than the threshold, the additional number of resources being two in response to the additional congestion value being greater than or equal to the threshold, the additional number of resources including the second resource (Paragraph 0079,0226, 0254 The SCI_Notification 1106 may also indicate resources for transmission of first control information 1110 and a first retransmission 1112. The SCI_Notification 1106 may also indicate resources for transmission of second control information 1114 and a first retransmission 1116. Sensing and resource selection of LTE V2X may be performed by a WTRU prior to transmission of control information or data. In LTE V2X, the physical sidelink control channel (PSCCH) and physical sidelink shared channel (PSSCH) are transmitted in the same subframe. PSCCH contains the sidelink control information (SCI), which provides information about an upcoming or simultaneous PSSCH transmission).
As per Claim 9 Hoang-Wang teaches the wireless communication device of claim 8, wherein the processor and the memory are further configured to: receive an acknowledgement of the first retransmission of the packet; and cancel the at least one additional retransmission of the packet (Paragraph 0154 a larger number of repetitions, or the like during resource selection and/or transmission of its own SCI_Notification. Such modification may be used to ensure that the SCI_Notification may be received reliably by the original WTRU that transmitted the original SCI_Notification. Alternatively, or in conjunction, a WTRU may cancel transmission which overrides an SCI_Notification if it cannot find a resource for its own SCI_Notification which occurs at least some offset prior to the reserved PSSCH/PSCCH resources. ).
As per Claim 10 Hoang-Wang teaches the wireless communication device of claim 9, wherein the processor and the memory are further configured to: re-use unused resources of the additional number of resources for other sidelink transmissions (Paragraph 0079, 0087 FIG. 9 is a diagram which illustrates a sidelink received signal strength indicator (S-RSSI) calculation of a candidate resource. A variable number of additional subchannels are not shown for simplicity. In the 2-subchannel subband 208 example, there are 4 PRBs. In the 1-subchannel subband 210 example, there are two PRBs illustrated).
As per Claim 11 Hoang-Wang teaches the wireless communication device of claim 1, wherein the processor and the memory are further configured to: receive a configuration of the wireless communication device with the number of resources being equal to three; and dynamically adjust the number of resources from three to two in response to the congestion value being greater than or equal to the threshold (Paragraph 0154 A WTRU may further use modified resource selection criteria/parameters, for example, modified thresholds, a larger resource pool, increased TX power, a larger number of repetitions, or the like during resource selection and/or transmission of its own SCI_Notification. Such modification may be used to ensure that the SCI_Notification may be received reliably by the original WTRU that transmitted the original SCI_Notification. Alternatively, or in conjunction, a WTRU may cancel transmission which overrides an SCI_Notification if it cannot find a resource for its own SCI_Notification which occurs at least some offset prior to the reserved PSSCH/PSCCH resources).
Claims 12-30 are the methods and apparatus claims corresponding to the method claims 1-11 that have been rejected above. Applicant attention is directed to the rejection of claims 1-11. Claims 12-30 are rejected under the same rational as claims 1-11.
Examiner’s Note
Examiner is open for discussion if the applicant’s representative need further clarifications.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. (See form 892).
Conclusion
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/SYED ALI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2463