CTNF 18/698,228 CTNF 85254 DETAILED ACTION Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status 07-03-aia AIA 15-10-aia 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 § 102 07-06 AIA 15-10-15 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. 07-07-aia AIA 07-07 The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action: A person shall be entitled to a patent unless – 07-08-aia AIA (a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention. 07-12-aia AIA (a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention. 07-15-aia AIA Claim(s) 1-6 and 16-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102 (a)(1) or (a)(2) as being anticipated by Wu et al. (U.S. 2023/0171803), hereinafter Wu . With respect to Claim 1, Wu teaches a communication device comprising: a communication control unit that performs sidelink communication on an unlicensed channel within a channel occupancy time of the unlicensed channel (¶ 0008, “When a plurality of UEs share a set of resources in unlicensed spectrum for sidelink communication, a set of resources may be defined by channel occupancy associated with a channel occupancy time (COT).”) a setting unit that sets a resource pool to be used for the sidelink communication (¶ 0068, “A COT may be initiated by a UE, as described above, by a BS, or by another type of wireless communication device using a channel sensing procedure, such as a listen-before-talk (LBT) procedure (e.g., based at least in part on a Type-1 channel access procedure).”); and a determination unit that determines a resource to be used for the sidelink communication from the set resource pool (¶ 0068, “In this case, a first UE may use a channel sensing procedure to select a resource and reserve the resource for channel occupancy.”) With respect to Claim 2, Wu teaches the communication device according to claim 1, wherein the resource to be used for the sidelink communication is a resource whose time overlaps with the channel occupancy time among resources of the set resource pool (¶ 0068, “In this case, a first UE may use a channel sensing procedure to select a resource and reserve the resource for channel occupancy. The first UE may remain in the channel occupancy for a period defined by the COT. During the channel occupancy, the first UE may have exclusive use of a particular resource or may selectively share the particular resource with other UEs.”) With respect to Claim 3, Wu teaches the communication device according to claim 1, further comprising: an acquisition unit that acquires at least one of information for setting the resource pool or information of the channel occupancy time (¶ 0058, “The one or more sidelink channels 310 may use resource pools. For example, a scheduling assignment (e.g., included in SCI 330) may be transmitted in sub-channels using specific resource blocks (RBs) across time. Data transmissions (e.g., on the PSSCH 320) associated with a scheduling assignment may occupy adjacent RBs in the same subframe as the scheduling assignment (e.g., using frequency division multiplexing). A scheduling assignment and associated data transmissions are not transmitted on adjacent RBs.”) With respect to Claim 4, Wu teaches the communication device according to claim 3, wherein the acquisition unit acquires information for setting the resource pool from another communication device (¶ 0058, “The one or more sidelink channels 310 may use resource pools. For example, a scheduling assignment (e.g., included in SCI 330) may be transmitted in sub-channels using specific resource blocks (RBs) across time. Data transmissions (e.g., on the PSSCH 320) associated with a scheduling assignment may occupy adjacent RBs in the same subframe as the scheduling assignment (e.g., using frequency division multiplexing). A scheduling assignment and associated data transmissions are not transmitted on adjacent RBs.”) With respect to Claim 5, Wu teaches the communication device according to claim 3, wherein the acquisition unit acquires information of the channel occupancy time from another communication device that performs sensing of the unlicensed channel (¶ 0058, “For example, a scheduling assignment (e.g., included in SCI 330) may be transmitted in sub-channels using specific resource blocks (RBs) across time.”) With respect to Claim 6, Wu teaches the communication device according to claim 5, wherein the another communication device is a communication device to be a communication partner of the sidelink communication (¶ 0057, “As further shown in FIG. 3, the one or more sidelink channels 310 may include a physical sidelink control channel (PSCCH) 315.”) With respect to Claim 16, Wu teaches the communication device according to claim 1, wherein after acquiring the information of the channel occupancy time, the determination unit excludes a resource whose time is not included in the channel occupancy time from selection candidates and selects the resource to be used for the sidelink communication from remaining resources of the resource pool (¶ 0008, “When a plurality of UEs share a set of resources in unlicensed spectrum for sidelink communication, a set of resources may be defined by channel occupancy associated with a channel occupancy time (COT).”) With respect to Claim 17, Wu teaches the communication device according to claim 1, wherein after acquiring the information of the channel occupancy time, the setting unit performs setting of the resource pool on a basis of the information of the channel occupancy time (figure 5, n, and ¶ 0072, “As further shown in FIG. 5, and by reference number 510, first UE 120-1 may identify a first resource available in a first slot of a COT and a second resource available in a second slot of the COT.”) With respect to Claim 18, Wu teaches the communication device according to claim 17, wherein the setting unit sets the resource pool in such a manner that a head of the channel occupancy time is a time of a head of the resource pool (figure 5, n, and ¶ 0072, “As further shown in FIG. 5, and by reference number 510, first UE 120-1 may identify a first resource available in a first slot of a COT and a second resource available in a second slot of the COT.”) With respect to Claim 19, Wu teaches the communication device according to claim 1, wherein the communication control unit performs sensing of the unlicensed channel in such a manner that a time indicated by a resource selected from the set resource pool is included in the channel occupancy time, and performs the sidelink communication using the selected resource when the sensing is successful (¶ 0072, “For example, first UE 120-1 may perform a channel sensing procedure to identify the first resource that is available for transmission and may transmit an indication of a reservation of the second resource that is available for transmission.”) With respect to Claim 20, Claim 20 is the method that corresponds to the device of Claim 1, and is rejected accordingly . Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103 07-06 AIA 15-10-15 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. 07-20-aia AIA 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. 07-23-aia AIA The factual inquiries 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. 07-20-02-aia AIA 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. 07-21-aia AIA Claim (s) 7-9, 11, 12, 14 and 15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wu et al. (U.S. 2023/0171803), hereinafter Wu, in view of Yeo et al. (U.S. 2023/0089655), hereinafter Yeo . With respect to Claim 7, Wu teaches the communication device according to claim 5, Wu fails to explicitly teach wherein the another communication device is a communication device different from a communication partner of the sidelink communication. Yeo teaches wherein the another communication device is a communication device different from a communication partner of the sidelink communication (¶ 0159, “Configuration information for a resource pool used for sidelink transmission or reception and other configuration information for sidelink may be pre-installed when the UE is manufactured, configured by the current BS, pre-configured by another BS or another network unit before the UE accesses the current BS, fixed, provisioned by a network, or self-constructed by the UE itself.”) Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the filing of the application to combine the invention of Yeo with the invention of Wu to have another device such as the eNB or gNB provide the sidelink information to the UE in order to allow for better flexibility in the assignment of channel occupancy times or sidelink times. With respect to Claim 8, Wu in view of Yeo teaches the communication device according to claim 7, Wu fails to explicitly teach wherein the acquisition unit acquires the information of the channel occupancy time from the another communication device when a relationship between the communication device and a communication device to be a communication partner with the communication device in the sidelink communication satisfies a predetermined condition. Yeo teaches wherein the acquisition unit acquires the information of the channel occupancy time from the another communication device when a relationship between the communication device and a communication device to be a communication partner with the communication device in the sidelink communication satisfies a predetermined condition (¶ 0196, “The UE may be pre-configured with the position of a slot that may transmit the PSFCH. The pre-configuration may be predetermined in the process of manufacturing the UE, delivered when the UE accesses a sidelink related system, delivered from a BS when connected to the BS, or delivered from another UE.”) Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the filing of the application to combine the invention of Yeo with the invention of Wu to have another device such as the eNB or gNB provide the sidelink information to the UE in order to allow for better flexibility in the assignment of channel occupancy times or sidelink times. With respect to Claim 9, Wu in view of Yeo teaches the communication device according to claim 7, Wu fails to explicitly teach wherein the another communication device is a base station device, and the acquisition unit acquires the information of the channel occupancy time from the base station device when the communication device and a communication device to be a communication partner with the communication device in the sidelink communication are connected to the same base station device. Yeo teaches wherein the another communication device is a base station device, and the acquisition unit acquires the information of the channel occupancy time from the base station device when the communication device and a communication device to be a communication partner with the communication device in the sidelink communication are connected to the same base station device.(¶ 0159, “Configuration information for a resource pool used for sidelink transmission or reception and other configuration information for sidelink may be pre-installed when the UE is manufactured, configured by the current BS, pre-configured by another BS or another network unit before the UE accesses the current BS, fixed, provisioned by a network, or self-constructed by the UE itself.”) Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the filing of the application to combine the invention of Yeo with the invention of Wu to have another device such as the eNB or gNB provide the sidelink information to the UE in order to allow for better flexibility in the assignment of channel occupancy times or sidelink times. With respect to Claim 11, Wu in view of Yeo teaches the communication device according to claim 7, Wu fails to explicitly teach wherein the acquisition unit acquires the information of the channel occupancy time from the another communication device when the sidelink communication satisfies a predetermined condition. Yeo teaches teaches wherein the acquisition unit acquires the information of the channel occupancy time from the another communication device when the sidelink communication satisfies a predetermined condition (¶ 0196, “The UE may be pre-configured with the position of a slot that may transmit the PSFCH. The pre-configuration may be predetermined in the process of manufacturing the UE, delivered when the UE accesses a sidelink related system, delivered from a BS when connected to the BS, or delivered from another UE.”) Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the filing of the application to combine the invention of Yeo with the invention of Wu to have another device such as the eNB or gNB provide the sidelink information to the UE in order to allow for better flexibility in the assignment of channel occupancy times or sidelink times. With respect to Claim 12, Wu in view of Yeo teaches the communication device according to claim 11, Wu fails to explicitly teach wherein the acquisition unit acquires the information of the channel occupancy time from the another communication device when a type of data transmission that is a target of the sidelink communication satisfies a predetermined condition Yeo teaches wherein the acquisition unit acquires the information of the channel occupancy time from the another communication device when a type of data transmission that is a target of the sidelink communication satisfies a predetermined condition (¶ 0189, “Receiver ID ID information about what UE is to receive QoS (quality of service) Information about what priority of data is used information of priority for data transmission or the like”) Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the filing of the application to combine the invention of Yeo with the invention of Wu to have another device such as the eNB or gNB provide the sidelink information to the UE in order to allow for better flexibility in the assignment of channel occupancy times or sidelink times. With respect to Claim 14, Wu in view of Yeo teaches the communication device according to claim 11, Wu fails to explicitly teach wherein the acquisition unit acquires the information of the channel occupancy time from the another communication device when a type of data that is a target of the sidelink communication satisfies a predetermined condition. Yeo teaches wherein the acquisition unit acquires the information of the channel occupancy time from the another communication device when a type of data that is a target of the sidelink communication satisfies a predetermined condition (¶ 0189, “Receiver ID ID information about what UE is to receive QoS (quality of service) Information about what priority of data is used information of priority for data transmission or the like”) Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the filing of the application to combine the invention of Yeo with the invention of Wu to have another device such as the eNB or gNB provide the sidelink information to the UE in order to allow for better flexibility in the assignment of channel occupancy times or sidelink times. With respect to Claim 15, Wu in view of Yeo teaches the communication device according to claim 14, Wu fails to explicitly teach wherein the acquisition unit acquires the information of the channel occupancy time from the another communication device when the type of data that is the target of the sidelink communication is data with a predetermined priority. Yeo teaches wherein the acquisition unit acquires the information of the channel occupancy time from the another communication device when the type of data that is the target of the sidelink communication is data with a predetermined priority (¶ 0189, “Receiver ID ID information about what UE is to receive QoS (quality of service) Information about what priority of data is used information of priority for data transmission or the like”) Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the filing of the application to combine the invention of Yeo with the invention of Wu to have another device such as the eNB or gNB provide the sidelink information to the UE in order to allow for better flexibility in the assignment of channel occupancy times or sidelink times . 07-21-aia AIA Claim (s) 10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wu et al. (U.S. 2023/0171803), hereinafter Wu, in view of Yeo et al. (U.S. 2023/0089655), hereinafter Yeo, in view of Cheng et al. (U.S. 2023/0053351), hereinafter Cheng . With respect to Claim 10, Wu in view of Yeo teaches the communication device according to claim 7, Wu in view of Yeo fails to explicitly teach wherein the acquisition unit acquires the information of the channel occupancy time from the another communication device when a positional relationship between the communication device and the another communication device satisfies a predetermined condition. Cheng teaches wherein the acquisition unit acquires the information of the channel occupancy time from the another communication device when a positional relationship between the communication device and the another communication device satisfies a predetermined condition (¶ 0149, “The relay discovery announcement response may include an application code based on the request for the UE 415 to be connected with a relay UE. At 435 , the base station 405 may identify sidelink configurations for UEs within the proximity of UE 415 (e.g., including UE 410 ) and determine a destination L2 ID and an application code for reception.” Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the filing of the application to combine the invention of Cheng with the invention Yeo with the invention of Wu in order to better provide information to devices that are in a position to communicate with eachother to provide better resource coordination . 07-21-aia AIA Claim (s) 13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wu et al. (U.S. 2023/0171803), hereinafter Wu, in view of Yeo et al. (U.S. 2023/0089655), hereinafter Yeo, in view of Yin et al. (U.S. 2023/0354402), hereinafter Yin . With respect to Claim 13, Wu in view of Yeo teacheshe communication device according to claim 12, Wu in view of Yeo fails to explicitly teach wherein the acquisition unit acquires the information of the channel occupancy time from the another communication device when the type of data transmission that is the target of the sidelink communication is broadcast or groupcast. Yin teaches wherein the acquisition unit acquires the information of the channel occupancy time from the another communication device when the type of data transmission that is the target of the sidelink communication is broadcast or groupcast (¶ 0017, “For SL unicast, groupcast and broadcast, QoS parameters of V2X packets are provided by upper layers to the Access Stratum (AS).”) Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the filing of the application to combine the invention of Yin with the invention Yeo with the invention of Wu in order to provide information related to groupcast and multicast traffic as use of this traffic can reduce transmission overhead. Conclusion Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ANGELA NGUYEN whose telephone number is (571)270-5660. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 9AM - 5PM. Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Brian Gillis can be reached at 571-272-7952. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000. /ANGELA NGUYEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2446 Application/Control Number: 18/698,228 Page 2 Art Unit: 2446 Application/Control Number: 18/698,228 Page 3 Art Unit: 2446 Application/Control Number: 18/698,228 Page 4 Art Unit: 2446 Application/Control Number: 18/698,228 Page 5 Art Unit: 2446 Application/Control Number: 18/698,228 Page 6 Art Unit: 2446 Application/Control Number: 18/698,228 Page 7 Art Unit: 2446 Application/Control Number: 18/698,228 Page 8 Art Unit: 2446 Application/Control Number: 18/698,228 Page 9 Art Unit: 2446 Application/Control Number: 18/698,228 Page 10 Art Unit: 2446 Application/Control Number: 18/698,228 Page 11 Art Unit: 2446 Application/Control Number: 18/698,228 Page 12 Art Unit: 2446 Application/Control Number: 18/698,228 Page 13 Art Unit: 2446
Prosecution Insights