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 .
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 1-9, 11-13, 16-17, 26-27 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over LI et al. (US 20240032076, hereinafter, “LI”) in view of HOU et al. (US 20200187208, hereinafter, “HOU”).
Claim 1. LI teaches: A method performed by a first user equipment, UE, for handling communication over a sidelink, SL, in a wireless communication network, the method comprising – See Fig. 11, ¶ [0350], (“At 1145, the UE 1105 may receive, from the base station, a configuration message indicating the sidelink carrier…”)
- receiving a configuration from a network node to setup carrier aggregation over multiple carriers of a SL to a second UE; - See Fig. 11, ¶ [0342], (“UE 1105 may be…configured by base station 1111 with a second set of candidate sidelink carriers”); ¶ [0347], (“the at least one sidelink carrier for establishing a sidelink control connection that supports carrier aggregation using multiple sidelink carriers…¶ [0350] At 1145, the UE 1105 may receive, from the base station, a configuration message indicating the sidelink carrier…”) and
- selecting one of the multiple carriers, - See Fig. 11, ¶ [0346 - 0347], (“the set of common candidate sidelink carriers may include one or more carriers common to the first set of candidate sidelink carriers and a second set of candidate sidelink carriers of the UE 1105…At 1135, the UE 1105 may determine at least one sidelink carrier of the first set of candidate sidelink carriers…for establishing a sidelink control connection that supports carrier aggregation using multiple sidelink carriers.”); ¶ [0294], (“the UE 805 may select, as the PACC from a list of sidelink anchor carriers…a sidelink anchor carrier having the lowest channel busy ratio (CBR) measurement…”) in the received configuration, - See Fig. 11, ¶ [0350], (“At 1145, the UE 1105 may receive, from the base station, a configuration message indicating the sidelink carrier…”) to establish a primary carrier connection between the first UE and the second UE – See Fig. 8, ¶ [0292], (“UE 805 may establish (reestablish) a sidelink control connection (e.g., PC5 RRC connection) between the UE 805 and the UE 810 using a sidelink primary anchor carrier or a sidelink primary anchor carrier component (PACC). The sidelink control connection may support carrier aggregation using multiple sidelink carriers (e.g., including the first sidelink anchor carrier).”) for handling control signaling messages, - in ¶ [0289], (“the UE 805 or the UE 810 may use the sidelink primary anchor carrier for a sidelink control message (e.g., PC5 RRC message)…”) and one or more of the multiple carriers as a secondary carrier connection between the first UE and the second UE for handling messages other than control signaling messages. – See Fig. 8, ¶ [0285], (“establishing a sidelink control connection (e.g., PC5 RRC connection)…one as a sidelink primary anchor carrier component (PACC) or sidelink primary anchor carrier and another one as a sidelink secondary anchor carrier component (SACC) or sidelink secondary anchor carrier.”)
LI does not explicitly teach:
one or more of the multiple carriers as a secondary carrier connection between the first UE and the second UE for handling messages other than control signaling messages.
However, HOU teaches:
one or more of the multiple carriers as a secondary carrier connection between the first UE and the second UE for handling messages other than control signaling messages. – in ¶ [0003], (“The aggregated component carriers include a primary component carrier (PCC…referred to as a primary carrier) and a secondary component carrier (SCC…referred to as a secondary carrier). The PCC may be used, for example, establishment and re-establishment of an initial link. The SCC may be used to provide additional radio resources and may be configured and activated.”)
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified LI with HOU to specify that the secondary carrier connection can handle messages other than control signaling messages, as taught by HOU. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification to allow flexibility in sidelink carrier aggregation, as suggested by HOU, a configuration of a secondary carrier for carrier aggregation in a sidelink can be implemented, providing a flexible implementation of carrier aggregation in the sidelink. - ¶ [0008]
Claim 2. Combination of LI and HOU teaches The method according to claim 1, - refer to the indicated claim for reference(s).
LI teaches:
further comprising - performing one or more measurements over the sidelink between the first UE and the second UE. - See Fig. 11, ¶ [0346], (“At 1130, the UE 1105 may measure one or more channel parameters of at least one candidate sidelink carrier of the first set of candidate sidelink carriers…the set of common candidate sidelink carriers may include one or more carriers common to the first set of candidate sidelink carriers and a second set of candidate sidelink carriers of the UE 1105”)
Claim 3. Combination of LI and HOU teaches The method according to claim 2, - refer to the indicated claim for reference(s).
LI teaches:
further comprising - reporting the one or more measurements to the network node or the second UE. – in ¶ [0349], (“the UE 1105 may transmit a sidelink UE information message to a base station…indicating at least the measured one or more channel parameters with the associated sidelink carriers, or the common candidate sidelink carriers.”)
Claim 4. Combination of LI and HOU teaches The method according to claim 1, - refer to the indicated claim for reference(s).
LI teaches:
wherein the SL comprises a PC5-radio resource control, RRC, connection comprising the primary carrier connection. – See Fig. 8, ¶ [0292], (“at 815, the UE 805 may establish (reestablish) a sidelink control connection (e.g., PC5 RRC connection) between the UE 805 and the UE 810 using a sidelink primary anchor carrier”)
Claim 5. Combination of LI and HOU teaches The method according to claim 1, - refer to the indicated claim for reference(s).
LI teaches:
wherein selecting the one of the multiple carriers to establish the primary carrier connection, - in ¶ [0293], (“the UE 805 may establish the sidelink control connection (e.g., PC5 RRC connection) based on channel parameters associated with candidate sidelink carriers for the sidelink control connection…the UE 805 may measure the channel parameters of candidate sidelink carriers and determine a PACC for PC5 RRC connection. The UE 805 may select the PACC based on a set of parameters or criteria.”) and the one or more of the multiple carriers to establish the secondary carrier connection is based on one or more criteria. – in ¶ [0295], (“the UE 805 may use a sidelink secondary anchor carrier component (SACC) for fallback of a PACC…the UE 805 may select an SACC based on the same parameters or criteria used for selecting a PACC.”)
Claim 6. Combination of LI and HOU teaches The method according to claim 1, - refer to the indicated claim for reference(s).
LI teaches:
wherein the selection is indicated in the received configuration or selected by the first UE based on one or more criteria. - in ¶ [0293], (“the UE 805 may establish the sidelink control connection (e.g., PC5 RRC connection) based on channel parameters associated with candidate sidelink carriers for the sidelink control connection…the UE 805 may measure the channel parameters of candidate sidelink carriers and determine a PACC for PC5 RRC connection. The UE 805 may select the PACC based on a set of parameters or criteria.”)
Claim 7. Combination of LI and HOU teaches The method according to claim 1, - refer to the indicated claim for reference(s).
LI teaches:
further comprising - setting up the multiple carriers for carrier aggregation according to the received configuration – in ¶ [0347], (“the at least one sidelink carrier for establishing a sidelink control connection that supports carrier aggregation using multiple sidelink carriers…¶ [0350] the UE 1105 may receive, from the base station, a configuration message…”) and selection. – in ¶ [0347], (“the UE 1105 may select the at least one sidelink carrier based on the one or more channel parameters satisfying a threshold.”)
Claim 8. Combination of LI and HOU teaches The method according to claim 1, - refer to the indicated claim for reference(s).
LI teaches:
further comprising - monitoring status of at least one carrier out of the multiple carriers used for carrier aggregation; – in ¶ [0300], (“the UE 805 may detect for a PC5 RLF or a potential PC5 RLF on the PACC…the PC5 RLF may include a failure of the PACC in which, for example, a measured CBR, RSRP, or RSSI of the PACC (e.g., as measured by the UE 805) is above a threshold”); ¶ [0309], (“The sidelink control connection may support carrier aggregation using multiple sidelink carriers.”); ¶ [0311], (“the UE 905 may monitor the channel parameters…”) and
- detecting an event or predicting an event to occur taking the monitored status into account. – in ¶ [0300], (“the UE 805 may detect for a PC5 RLF or a potential PC5 RLF on the PACC…the PC5 RLF may include a failure of the PACC in which, for example, a measured CBR, RSRP, or RSSI of the PACC (e.g., as measured by the UE 805) is above a threshold”); ¶ [0311], (“the UE 905 may monitor the channel parameters…”)
Claim 9. Combination of LI and HOU teaches The method according to claim 8, - refer to the indicated claim for reference(s).
LI teaches:
further comprising, with the proviso that the event occurs or is predicted, changing configuration of one or more of the multiple carriers. – in ¶ [0300], (“the UE 805 may detect for a PC5 RLF or a potential PC5 RLF on the PACC…the UE 805 may determine to switch from the PACC to the SACC…¶ [0301], the UE 805 may transmit, to the UE 810, a sidelink control message over the SACC…the sidelink control message…may be a sidelink MAC-CE…activating the SACC with an updated set of candidate sidelink carriers (e.g., an updated sl-acc-list1).”)
Claim 11. LI teaches: A method performed by a network node for handling communication over a sidelink, SL, between user equipments, UE, communicating in a wireless communication network, the method comprising – See Fig. 11, ¶ [0350], (“At 1145, the UE 1105 may receive, from the base station, a configuration message indicating the sidelink carrier…”)
- sending a configuration to a first UE to setup carrier aggregation over multiple carriers of a SL to a second UE, - See Fig. 11, ¶ [0342], (“UE 1105 may be…configured by base station 1111 with a second set of candidate sidelink carriers”); ¶ [0347], (“the at least one sidelink carrier for establishing a sidelink control connection that supports carrier aggregation using multiple sidelink carriers…¶ [0350] At 1145, the UE 1105 may receive, from the base station, a configuration message indicating the sidelink carrier…”)
wherein the configuration triggers that one of the multiple carriers is selected to establish a primary carrier connection between the first UE and the second UE for handling control signaling messages, – in ¶ [0350], (“At 1145, the UE 1105 may receive, from the base station, a configuration message indicating the sidelink carrier…”); ¶ [0292], (“In accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure, at 815, the UE 805 may establish (reestablish) a sidelink control connection (e.g., PC5 RRC connection) between the UE 805 and the UE 810 using a sidelink primary anchor carrier or a sidelink primary anchor carrier component (PACC). The sidelink control connection may support carrier aggregation using multiple sidelink carriers (e.g., including the first sidelink anchor carrier).”) and
one or more of the multiple carriers is selected as a secondary carrier connection between the first UE and the second UE for handling messages other than control signaling messages. – in ¶ [0285], (“establishing a sidelink control connection (e.g., PC5 RRC connection) using more than one sidelink anchor carrier components, for example, one as a sidelink primary anchor carrier component (PACC) or sidelink primary anchor carrier and another one as a sidelink secondary anchor carrier component (SACC) or sidelink secondary anchor carrier.”)
LI does not explicitly teach:
one or more of the multiple carriers is selected as a secondary carrier connection between the first UE and the second for handling messages other than control signaling messages.
However, HOU teaches:
one or more of the multiple carriers is selected as a secondary carrier connection between the first UE and the second for handling messages other than control signaling messages. – in ¶ [0003], (“The aggregated component carriers include a primary component carrier (PCC, which is hereinafter also referred to as a primary carrier) and a secondary component carrier (SCC, which is hereinafter also referred to as a secondary carrier). The PCC may be used, for example, establishment and re-establishment of an initial link. The SCC may be used to provide additional radio resources and may be configured and activated.”)
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified LI with HOU to specify the secondary carrier connection can handle messages other than control signaling messages, as taught by HOU. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification to allow flexibility in sidelink carrier aggregation, as suggested by HOU, a configuration of a secondary carrier for carrier aggregation in a sidelink can be implemented, providing a flexible implementation of carrier aggregation in the sidelink. - ¶ [0008]
Claim 12. Combination of LI and HOU teaches The method according to claim 11, - refer to the indicated claim for reference(s).
LI further teaches:
further comprising - receiving a report of one or more measurements from the first UE; – See Fig. 11, ¶ [0349], (“At 1140, the UE 1105 may transmit a sidelink UE information message to a base station, the sidelink UE information message indicating at least the measured one or more channel parameters with the associated sidelink carriers”) and
HOU further teaches:
- determining the configuration for carrier aggregation based on the report of the one or more measurements. - in ¶ [0053], (“If it is determined that there is capability and need for carrier aggregation, the base station delivers a PCC selection measurement configuration to the users, and the user 1 and the user 2 respectively perform measurement…on the communication quality of the CC, and report the measurement results to the base station…Subsequently, the base station…configures the PCC for the user 1 and the user 2…the base station may configure the same PCC or different PCCs...”)
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified LI with HOU to include determining the configuration for carrier aggregation based on the report of the one or more measurements, as taught by HOU. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification to allow flexibility in sidelink carrier aggregation, as suggested by HOU, a configuration of a secondary carrier for carrier aggregation in a sidelink can be implemented, providing a flexible implementation of carrier aggregation in the sidelink. - ¶ [0008]
Claim 13. Combination of LI and HOU teaches The method according to claim 12, - refer to the indicated claim for reference(s).
HOU further teaches:
wherein determining configuration comprises selecting which carrier is a primary carrier and which other carriers are secondary carriers based on one or more criteria. – in ¶ [0084], (“the network control node performs the selection and configuration of the PCC as described above…¶ [0085] the network control node performs the configuration of the SCC based on the measurement result, for example, configures a CC that meets the predetermined condition as the SCC…if the communication quality of a CC is higher than a predetermined value and the stability of the CC is higher than a predetermined stability, the CC is considered to meet the predetermined condition and thus can be configured as the SCC.”)
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified LI with HOU to include determining configuration comprises selecting which carrier is a primary carrier and which other carriers are secondary carriers based on criteria, as taught by HOU. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification to allow flexibility in sidelink carrier aggregation, as suggested by HOU, a configuration of a secondary carrier for carrier aggregation in a sidelink can be implemented, providing a flexible implementation of carrier aggregation in the sidelink. - ¶ [0008]
Claim 16 is the apparatus claim corresponding to the method claim of Claim 1 and is rejected under the same rationale as Claim 1 since they recite nearly identical limitations.
Claim 17 is rejected under the same rationale as Claim 2 since they recite nearly identical limitations.
Claim 26 is the apparatus claim corresponding to the method claim of Claim 11 and is rejected under the same rationale as Claim 11 since they recite nearly identical limitations.
Claim 27 is rejected under the same rationale as Claim 13 since they recite nearly identical limitations.
Claim 10 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over LI et al. (US 20240032076, hereinafter, “LI”) in view of HOU et al. (US 20200187208, hereinafter, “HOU”), and further in view of Chen et al. (US 20180279275, hereinafter, “Chen”).
Claim 10. Combination of LI and HOU teaches The method according to claim 8, - refer to the indicated claim for reference(s).
LI teaches:
further comprising - informing the network node about the detected event, or prediction when the event will occur, - in ¶ [0123], (“the UE may detect a PC5 RLF and declare the radio link RLF…the UE may inform the network via sidelink UE information based on detecting a PC5 RLF.”) and
Combination of LI and HOU does not explicitly teach:
- requesting another configuration from the network node.
However, Chen teaches:
- requesting another configuration from the network node. - in ¶ [0326], (“if the first mobile device…needs to transmit the sidelink information message for other purpose (e.g., request other sidelink service or request other configuration)…If the first mobile device set/include the indication in the sidelink information message, the network may provide the other SI for sidelink service to the first mobile device through either dedicated RRC message”)
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified LI and HOU with Chen to include requesting another configuration from the network node, as taught by Chen. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification to reduce signaling overhead, as suggested by Chen, facilitate reporting assistance information for sidelink service…advantageously reduce delay and/or signaling overhead for requesting sidelink related system information and configuration. - ¶ [0024]
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Shima Wasel whose telephone number is (703)756-4725. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 8:00 am - 5:00 pm.
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/SHIMA WASEL/Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2475
/KHALED M KASSIM/supervisory patent examiner, Art Unit 2475
