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 response filed under 37 C.F.R. § 1.111 in response to a Non-Final Office Action. Claims 43 and 46 have been amended; No claims have been added; Claims 44 and 47 canceled; Claims 1-42 were canceled previously. Claims 43, 45-46, and 48 are subject to examination.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 06/04/2026, have been fully considered but they are not persuasive for the following reasons:
Applicant's Argument:
Applicant argues in substance that " For example, in paragraph [0086], Liu discloses that "[g]enerally and for the Uu interface, the contention window adjustment for a category-four (CAT-4) listen-before-talk (LBT) (e.g., a full CCA procedure) may be based on the reference slot (e.g., usually the first slot of the channel occupancy time (COT))." (emphasis added). That is, Liu discloses that the contention window adjustment is based on the first slot of COT (i.e., just one slot).
In contrast, claim 43 recites that "the reference duration starts from beginning of channel occupancy initiated by the terminal device including a sidelink transmission until end of a starting slot where the at least one PSSCH with the HARO feedback comprising ACK or NACK is transmitted."
The reference duration in amended claim 43 spans from beginning of channel occupancy until end of a starting slot where the at least one PSSCH is transmitted, which is obviously longer than one slot. Accordingly, Liu does not teach or suggest the claimed reference duration. "
Examiner's Response:
The Examiner respectfully disagrees. The Liu reference teaches the limitations "wherein the reference duration starts from beginning of channel occupancy … including a sidelink transmission until end of a starting slot where the at least one PSSCH … is transmitted". Liu teaches that the reference slot usually the first slot of the channel occupancy time (COT). When reference slot coincides with COT, it is the reference duration. In this regard examiner would like to point to previously cited pertinent Ding et al. (US 20230421308 A1) which teaches the reference duration. Ding teaches in Fig. 12 Par. 0248 that “the reference time unit is a start time unit of a last channel occupancy of UE 1, and the time unit may be a slot … For the reference time period, e.g., in general, the start point of the reference time period coincides with the start point of the time period of the channel occupancy, and the end point of the reference time period is an end position of a start slot of transmission of the PSSCH by UE1 through channel occupancy”.
The claims merely recites “reference duration”, therefore the examiner contends that the reference slot, in fact can be interpreted to be reference duration. By this rationale, Liu in view of Ding teaches the limitations " reference duration” and therefore the rejection is updated due to amendment. See rejection below.
The Examiner advises the applicant to further define the “reference duration” limitation of the claims, in particular, what is its association with CW adjustment.
Regarding all other arguments presented by Applicant, the arguments are substantially the same as those which have already been addressed above and, in the interest of brevity, the Examiner directs Applicant to those responses above.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claim 43, 45-46, and 48 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor, or for pre-AIA the applicant regards as the invention.
Claim 43 and 46 recites the limitation "where the at least one PSSCH" in last limitation. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim(s) 45 and 48 are also rejected because they are dependent upon rejected claims 43 and 46 as set forth above and include limitations of the claims 43 and 46 respectively.
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 43, 45-46, and 48 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Liu et al. (Liu hereafter) (US 20220232625 A1) in view of Ding et al. (Ding hereafter) (US 20230421308 A1) and in further view of LI et al. (LI hereafter) (US 20210219268 A1).
Regarding claim 43 and claim 46, Liu teaches, A method performed by a terminal device (Liu; transmitting device 205, Par. 0089), the method comprising:
determining a contention window value for a channel access procedure for sidelink based on a Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARQ) feedback corresponding to a Physical Sidelink Shared Channel (PSSCH) in a reference (Liu; transmitting device 205 may maintain, reduce (e.g., reset), or increase (e.g., double) the contention window size for CCA procedures associated with subsequent transmission(s) based on the feedback response and transmission type, Par. 0089; if groupcast or broadcast transmission types are transmitted in the contention window update reference slot … improve HARQ feedback signaling, Par. 0087; the unicast transmission types in the contention window reference slot, Par. 0099; transmission ( e.g., the physical sidelink shared channel (PSSCH)), Par. 0085), in accordance with a determination of whether the PSSCH is for a unicast sidelink transmission or a groupcast sidelink transmission (Liu; transmission type (e.g., unicast, broadcast, connectionless groupcast, or connection-based groupcast), Par. 0089); and
transmitting a sidelink transmission using the channel access procedure (Liu; CCA procedures associated with subsequent transmission(s), Par. 0089);
wherein the reference starts from beginning of channel occupancy including a sidelink transmission until end of a starting slot where the at least one PSSCH is transmitted (Liu; Transmitting device 205 may monitor the same resource for the feedback message(s) (e.g., a single PSFCH resource) or different resources for the feedback message(s) (e.g., separate PSFCH resources) depending on the transmission type, Par. 0089; A/N feedback is received in the known, associated, or otherwise corresponding PSFCH resources, Par. 0101; Generally ... the contention window adjustment for ... (e.g., a full CCA procedure) may be based on the reference slot (e.g., usually the first slot of the channel occupancy time (COT)), Par. 0086).
Although Liu teaches reference slot, but failed to explicitly teach,
wherein the reference duration starts from beginning of channel occupancy initiated by the terminal device including a sidelink transmission until end of a starting slot where the at least one PSSCH with the HARQ feedback comprising ACK or NACK is transmitted.
However, in the same field of endeavor, Ding teaches,
wherein the reference duration starts from beginning of channel occupancy initiated by the terminal device (Ding; LBT 1 Fig. 12) including a sidelink transmission until end of a starting slot where the at least one PSSCH is transmitted (Ding; the reference time unit is a start time unit of a last channel occupancy of UE 1, and the time unit may be a slot … For the reference time period, e.g., in general, the start point of the reference time period coincides with the start point of the time period of the channel occupancy, and the end point of the reference time period is an end position of a start slot of transmission of the PSSCH by UE1 through channel occupancy, Par. 0248).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to incorporate the teachings of Liu to include the use of LBT as taught by Ding in order to access channel to transmit PSSCH (Ding; Fig. 12).
Although Liu teaches PSFCH resource to send A/N feedback in a reference slot for unicast, but Liu-Ding failed to explicitly teach,
duration where the at least one PSSCH with the HARQ feedback comprising ACK or NACK is transmitted.
However, in the same field of endeavor, LI teaches in Fig. 11 that slot/subframe contains PSSCH for unicast and multicast and its corresponding HARQ.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to incorporate the teachings of Liu-Ding to include the use of slot/subframe structure as taught by LI in order to include PSSCH and corresponding HARQ resources (LI; Fig. 11).
Specifically for claim 46, Liu teaches, A terminal device, comprising a processor configured to (Liu; transmitting device 205, Par. 0089).
Regarding claim 45 and claim 48, Liu-Ding-LI teaches, The method of claim 43 and The terminal device of claim 46 respectively, wherein the PSSCH is for the unicast sidelink transmission or the groupcast sidelink transmission is indicated by a sidelink control information (SCI) (Liu; NACK feedback may be used to indicate that the PSSCH following that SCI was not successfully decoded, Par. 0099 & LI; a PSSCH pointed by a SA-SCI specifically to the UE (e.g. using the UE's group member ID), Par. 0201).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to incorporate the teachings of Liu-Ding to include the use of SCI using member ID as taught by LI in order to unicast PSSCH (LI; Par. 0201).
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 SHARMIN CHOWDHURY whose telephone number is (571)272-6419. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8:00 am - 5:00 pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Noel Beharry can be reached at 5712705630. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/SHARMIN CHOWDHURY/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2416
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