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 .
Response to Arguments/Amendments
Applicant's arguments filed 7/10/26 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
For Independent claims 1 and 14-15, Applicant argues:
Applicant agues “In paragraph [0106], D2 only discloses an iterative loop that indefinitely increases the RSRP threshold value until the ratio of candidate resources within the resource selection window
meets a certain criterion of the total resources. … sensing is not sufficiently performed because the length of the sensing window is short and resource exclusion based on resource reservation information of neighboring devices is not sufficiently performed, blindly raising the RSRP threshold value in the manner of D2 may cause a problem where even resources already reserved and in use by other devices are mistakenly selected as candidate resources, thereby increasing the possibility of wireless resource collision. This can
seriously degrade the transmission quality of the entire network.” (p9).
In response, Examiner respectfully disagrees. Xue (D2 by Applicant) reads:
“[0106] … The PHY layer 304 may exclude resources in the resource selection window based on resources 352 within the sensing window 342 that have signal measurements (e.g., RSRP and/or RSSI) higher than a certain signal threshold and a predicted resource usage pattern. … If the remaining candidate resources in the resource selection window is less than 20% of the total resources in the resource selection window, the PHY layer 304 may increase the signal threshold and repeat the resource filtering or exclusion until the candidate resources in the resource selection window is about 20% of the total resources in the resource selection window.”, which clearly teaches that when RSRP value is “higher than” a certain signal threshold (a second threshold), PHY layer 304 stops/excludes allocating resource to make sure candidate resources is less than 20% of the total resources. In this way the possibility of wireless resource collision. Therefore, Applicant’s arguments are not persuasive.
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.
Claims 1-15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over D1 (3GPP R1-2107528, NPL dated on 5/17/24, 29 pages) in view of Xue (US 20220061095 A1).
For claim 1, D1 discloses a method comprising:
obtaining, by a first user equipment (UE), information related to a resource pool (Section 2.1, p3, 1st para “In a resource pool where at least partial sensing is allowed, UE can perform periodic-based partial sensing, contiguous partial sensing or both, depending on the resource pool configuration and the transmission-related status of a UE”);
determining, by the first UE, a resource selection window for transmitting a medium access control (MAC) protocol data unit (PDU) in the resource pool (suggested by p3, last para “For resource re-evaluation or pre-emption checking by P-UE, contiguous partial sensing can be done prior to each selected resource with a sensing window length of e.g. 31 slots, to protect possible collision with an aperiodic transmission. …” and p15, last para “… the reliability can be considered in determining candidate slots or idle resources by UE’s physical layer, or in final SL resource selection by UE’s MAC layer. …”);
determining, by the first UE, a sensing window for selection of at least one transmission resource (p3, last para “For resource re-evaluation or pre-emption checking by P-UE, contiguous partial sensing can be done prior to each selected resource with a sensing window length of e.g. 31 slots, to protect possible collision with an aperiodic transmission. …”);
determining, by the first UE, a second threshold value related to a reference signal receiver power (RSRP) threshold value (p6, last para “In the resource (re)selection procedure, the sensing provides the resources whose RSRP is lower than the (pre-)configured RSRP threshold, …”);
determining, by the first UE, at least one candidate resource within the resource selection window, based on sensing and the RSRP threshold value (p6, last para “In the resource (re)selection procedure, the sensing provides the resources whose RSRP is lower than the (pre-)configured RSRP threshold, …”); and
selecting the at least one transmission resource among the at least one candidate resource (p6, last para “In the resource (re)selection procedure, the sensing provides the resources whose RSRP is lower than the (pre-)configured RSRP threshold, …”),
D1 is silent but Xue, in the same field of endeavor of wireless communication, discloses: wherein the RSRP threshold value is not incremented to a value greater than the second threshold value, based on a length of the sensing window being shorter than a first threshold value (FIGs 3-8 and the associated text, such as [0079] or “[0106] … The PHY layer 304 may exclude resources in the resource selection window based on resources 352 within the sensing window 342 that have signal measurements (e.g., RSRP and/or RSSI) higher than a certain signal threshold and a predicted resource usage pattern. … If the remaining candidate resources in the resource selection window is less than 20% of the total resources in the resource selection window, the PHY layer 304 may increase the signal threshold and repeat the resource filtering or exclusion until the candidate resources in the resource selection window is about 20% of the total resources in the resource selection window.”). Xue also explicitly teaches MAC PDU ([0043] “… upon generating a MAC PDU ready for transmission, a first UE may project an LBT completion time based on various factors, such as a contention window size, a traffic type or priority of the MAC PDU transmission and various other LBT parameters. The first UE may determine at least one of a sensing window or resource selection window based on the projected LBT completion time. …”). OOSA would have been motivated to apply the teaching of Xue above for increasing the signal threshold with the RSRP by D1 to yield a predictable result of selecting a resource with higher threshold of RSRP possible but below the configured RSRP.
Therefore, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the application to combine D1 and Xue for the benefit of selecting a resource with higher threshold of RSRP possible but below the configured RSRP ([0106] of Xue in view of p6, last para of D1).
Claim 14 is rejected because it is a claim of a generic device of wireless communication that performs the method of claim 1 and has the same subject matter.
Claim 15 is rejected because it is a claim of a generic control device of UE that performs the method of claim 1 and has the same subject matter.
As to claim 2, D1 in view of Xue discloses claim 1, D1 further discloses: wherein determining the at least one candidate resource includes:
performing, by the first UE, sensing for at least one sensing slot or the sensing window (suggested by p3, last para “For resource re-evaluation or pre-emption checking by P-UE, contiguous partial sensing can be done prior to each selected resource with a sensing window length of e.g. 31 slots, to protect possible collision with an aperiodic transmission. …”);
determining, by the first UE, at least one RSRP value related to at least one first candidate resource, based on the sensing (p6, last para “In the resource (re)selection procedure, the sensing provides the resources whose RSRP is lower than the (pre-)configured RSRP threshold, …”);
excluding, by the first UE, a candidate resource related to a first RSRP value from the at least one first candidate resource, based on the first RSRP value which is higher than the RSRP threshold value among the at least one RSRP value (p6, last para “In the resource (re)selection procedure, the sensing provides the resources whose RSRP is lower than the (pre-)configured RSRP threshold, …”; note that all sensing selected resources whose RSRP cannot higher than the configured RSRP threshold);
D1 is silent but Xue, in the same field of endeavor of wireless communication, discloses:
incrementing the RSRP threshold value, based on a number of the at least one first candidate resource being less than a third threshold value and the RSRP threshold value being smaller than the second threshold value ([0106] … If the remaining candidate resources in the resource selection window is less than 20% of the total resources in the resource selection window, the PHY layer 304 may increase the signal threshold and repeat the resource filtering or exclusion until the candidate resources in the resource selection window is about 20% of the total resources in the resource selection window. …”);
adding a candidate resource related to the first RSRP value which is smaller than the incremented RSRP threshold value to the at least one first candidate resource (“[0106] … The PHY layer 304 may exclude resources in the resource selection window based on resources 352 within the sensing window 342 that have signal measurements (e.g., RSRP and/or RSSI) higher than a certain signal threshold and a predicted resource usage pattern …” in view of design choice according to MEPE 2143(F)); and
determining the at least one first candidate resource as the at least one candidate resource (this is obvious to OOSA because it is an obvious try according to MEPE 2143(E)).
The motivation to combine D1 and Xue is the same as stated in the parent claim.
As to claim 3, D1 in view of Xue discloses claim 1, D1 further discloses: wherein the sensing is partial sensing (Section 2.1, p3, 1st para “In a resource pool where at least partial sensing is allowed, UE can perform periodic-based partial sensing, contiguous partial sensing or both …”).
As to claim 4, D1 in view of Xue discloses claim 3, D1 further discloses: wherein the partial sensing includes at least one of periodic based partial sensing (PBPS) or contiguous partial sensing (CPS) (p7, Agreement:, 1st bullet “In periodic-based partial sensing for resource (re)selection …”, and p8, Proposal 10: 1st bullet “Both periodic-based partial sensing and contiguous partial sensing”).
As to claim 5, D1 in view of Xue discloses claim 1, Xue further discloses:
wherein the second threshold value is determined as a first value, based on a priority value related to the MAC PDU being smaller than a third threshold value (FIGs 3-8 and the associated text, such as “[0099] At action 512, the PHY layer 304 provides the MAC layer 302 with the contention window information including at least one of a CW size, CW minimum value or a CW maximum value.” and “[0043] … upon generating a MAC PDU ready for transmission, a first UE may project an LBT completion time based on various factors, such as a contention window size, a traffic type or priority of the MAC PDU transmission and various other LBT parameters. The first UE may determine at least one of a sensing window or resource selection window based on the projected LBT completion time. …”), and
wherein the first value is greater than a second value which is determined as the second threshold value based on the priority value being greater than or equal to the third threshold value (FIGs 3-8 and the associated text, such as “[0099] At action 512, the PHY layer 304 provides the MAC layer 302 with the contention window information including at least one of a CW size, CW minimum value or a CW maximum value. … a high priority class may be assigned with a smaller CW size than a lower priority class.” and “[0106] … The PHY layer 304 may exclude resources in the resource selection window based on resources 352 within the sensing window 342 that have signal measurements (e.g., RSRP and/or RSSI) higher than a certain signal threshold and a predicted resource usage pattern. The PHY layer 304 may perform the resource filtering or exclusion by SCI decoding, priority, and/or signal measurements in the resource selection window in any suitable order. …”). The motivation to combine D1 and Xue is the same as stated in the parent claim.
As to claim 6, D1 in view of Xue discloses claim 1, D1 further discloses: wherein the second threshold value is determined as the same value as an initial value of the RSRP threshold value (This is obvious to OOSA because selecting the second threshold value to be the same as an initial value is a design choice according to MPEP 2143 (F), or an obvious try according to MPEP 2143 (E)).
As to claim 7, D1 in view of Xue discloses claim 1, D1 further discloses: wherein the second threshold value is determined as a value derived by adding an offset value to an initial value of the RSRP threshold value (This is obvious to OOSA because selecting the second threshold value to be the same as an initial value is a design choice according to MPEP 2143 (F); Xue also discloses it in [0106] “… … If the remaining candidate resources in the resource selection window is less than 20% of the total resources in the resource selection window, the PHY layer 304 may increase the signal threshold and repeat the resource filtering or exclusion until the candidate resources in the resource selection window is about 20% of the total resources in the resource selection window.”; where 20% is an offset value).
As to claim 8, D1 in view of Xue discloses claim 7, Xue further discloses: wherein the offset value is determined based on a quality of service (QoS) requirement related to the MAC PDU (FIGs 3-8 and the associated text, such as “[0126] At action 710, upon generation of a MAC PDU, for example, at a slot n, the MAC layer 302 sends a sensing request including a CAPC to the PHY layer 304. The CAPC may be associated with a traffic type of the MAC PDU. The CAPC can be based on a QoS …”). The motivation to combine D1 and Xue is the same as stated in the parent claim.
As to claim 9, D1 in view of Xue discloses claim 7, Xue further discloses: wherein the offset value is determined based on a priority related to the MAC PDU (FIGs 3-8 and the associated text, such as “[0126] At action 710, upon generation of a MAC PDU, for example, at a slot n, the MAC layer 302 sends a sensing request including a CAPC to the PHY layer 304. The CAPC may be associated with a traffic type of the MAC PDU. The CAPC can be based on a QoS …” in view of the parent claims). The motivation to combine D1 and Xue is the same as stated in the parent claim.
As to claim 10, D1 in view of Xue discloses claim 7, D1 further discloses: wherein the offset value is determined based on a channel busy ratio (CBR) value related to the resource pool (p17, 4th para from the bottom “CBR is calculated as the ratio of the number of sub-channels of which the RSSI exceed a (pre-configured)threshold, to the number of all available sub-channels in a measurement window …”).
As to claim 11, D1 in view of Xue discloses claim 1, D1 further discloses: wherein the first threshold value is determined based on a QoS requirement related to the MAC PDU (FIGs 3-8 and the associated text, such as “[0126] At action 710, upon generation of a MAC PDU, for example, at a slot n, the MAC layer 302 sends a sensing request including a CAPC to the PHY layer 304. The CAPC may be associated with a traffic type of the MAC PDU. The CAPC can be based on a QoS …”). The motivation to combine D1 and Xue is the same as stated in the parent claim.
As to claim 12, D1 in view of Xue discloses claim 1, D1 further discloses: wherein the first threshold value is determined based on a priority related to the MAC PDU ([0043] “… upon generating a MAC PDU ready for transmission, a first UE may project an LBT completion time based on various factors, such as a contention window size, a traffic type or priority of the MAC PDU transmission and various other LBT parameters.:).
As to claim 13, D1 in view of Xue discloses claim 1, D1 further discloses: wherein the first threshold value is determined based on a CBR value related to the resource pool (p17, 4th para from the bottom “CBR is calculated as the ratio of the number of sub-channels of which the RSSI exceed a (pre-configured)threshold, to the number of all available sub-channels in a measurement window …”).
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.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JIANYE WU whose telephone number is (571)270-1665. The examiner can normally be reached M-TH 8am-6pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Yemane Mesfin can be reached at (571) 272-3927. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/JIANYE WU/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2462
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