DETAILED ACTION
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
A preliminary amendment received on 11/15/2023 canceling claims 1-44 and adding claims 45-64 has been entered by the examiner.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDSs) submitted on 7/08/2024 has been entered and considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 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 –
(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.
Claims 45-64 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Ganesan et al (US2022/0330038 A1).
Regarding claims 45 and 64, Ganesan teaches a first device/method (Abstract), comprising:
one or more processors and memory comprising instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the first device to perform to (Para. 0409):
receive, at the first device, a first radio transmission from a third device (Figs. 4 and 6A-C; Paras. 0089-0099 and 0120-0126; The usage of panel # 2 of UE-B 303 at timeslot # 2 with frequency # 2 may not be detected with sensing operation by UE-A 301. If the UE-A 301 were to also transmit using the same time and frequency, this might result in interference. Hence, a feedback transmission from UE-B 303 to UE-A 301 may indicate to exclude this frequency from UE-A 301 scheduling and/or to reduce the transmission power. A UE may send information (e.g., either a periodic/aperiodic groupcast or unicast transmission from the UE) about its SL resource usage on each active antenna panel/beam, which may be transmitted from one or more panel/beam to one or more nearby UE(s); i.e. the feedback reads on the first radio transmission and UE-A reads on first device and UE-B or one of the other UEs reads on the third device);
determine, based on the received first radio transmission, at least one radio resource to be used for communication by the third device (Figs. 4 and 6A-C; Paras. 0089-0099 and 0120-0126; a feedback transmission from UE-B 303 to UE-A 301 may indicate to exclude this frequency from UE-A 301 scheduling and/or to reduce the transmission power. A UE may send information (e.g., either a periodic/aperiodic groupcast or unicast transmission from the UE) about its SL resource usage on each active antenna panel/beam, which may be transmitted from one or more panel/beam to one or more nearby UE(s));
determine a first direction from which the first radio transmission from the third device is received at the first device (Figs. 4 and 6A-C; Paras. 0089-0099, 0107-0111, and 0120-0126; The usage of panel # 2 of UE-B 303 at timeslot # 2 with frequency # 2 may not be detected with sensing operation by UE-A 301. If the UE-A 301 were to also transmit using the same time and frequency, this might result in interference. Hence, a feedback transmission from UE-B 303 to UE-A 301 may indicate to exclude this frequency from UE-A 301 scheduling and/or to reduce the transmission power. A UE may send information (e.g., either a periodic/aperiodic groupcast or unicast transmission from the UE) about its SL resource usage on each active antenna panel/beam, which may be transmitted from one or more panel/beam to one or more nearby UE(s); the UE is capable of Beam correspondence, where beam correspondence means that each Tx port may be beamformed in a desirable direction; sidelink directional transmission of data and control signaling, where the directionality aids in the Tx panel selection);
determine a radio resource set based on the determined at least one radio resource and the determined first direction (Figs. 4 and 6A-C; Paras. 0089-0099 and 0120-0126; The usage of panel # 2 of UE-B 303 at timeslot # 2 with frequency # 2 may not be detected with sensing operation by UE-A 301. If the UE-A 301 were to also transmit using the same time and frequency, this might result in interference. Hence, a feedback transmission from UE-B 303 to UE-A 301 may indicate to exclude this frequency from UE-A 301 scheduling and/or to reduce the transmission power. A UE may send information (e.g., either a periodic/aperiodic groupcast or unicast transmission from the UE) about its SL resource usage on each active antenna panel/beam, which may be transmitted from one or more panel/beam to one or more nearby UE(s); the UE is capable of Beam correspondence, where beam correspondence means that each Tx port may be beamformed in a desirable direction); and
select one or more radio resources from the determined radio resource set for communication with a second device or transmitting the determined radio resource set to the second device or a network entity (Figs. 4 and 6A-C; Paras. 0089-0099 and 0120-0126; The usage of panel # 2 of UE-B 303 at timeslot # 2 with frequency # 2 may not be detected with sensing operation by UE-A 301. If the UE-A 301 were to also transmit using the same time and frequency, this might result in interference. Hence, a feedback transmission from UE-B 303 to UE-A 301 may indicate to exclude this frequency from UE-A 301 scheduling and/or to reduce the transmission power. A UE may send information (e.g., either a periodic/aperiodic groupcast or unicast transmission from the UE) about its SL resource usage on each active antenna panel/beam, which may be transmitted from one or more panel/beam to one or more nearby UE(s); i.e. the panel/beam is selected so as not to interfere with UE-B).
Regarding claim 46, Ganesan teaches the limitations of the previous claims. Ganesan further teaches wherein determining the radio resource set comprises determining a set of candidate radio resources for communication with the second device; and wherein the determined radio resource set comprises preferred or non-preferred radio resources for communication with the second device (Figs. 4 and 6A-C; Paras. 0089-0099 and 0120-0126; The usage of panel # 2 of UE-B 303 at timeslot # 2 with frequency # 2 may not be detected with sensing operation by UE-A 301. If the UE-A 301 were to also transmit using the same time and frequency, this might result in interference. Hence, a feedback transmission from UE-B 303 to UE-A 301 may indicate to exclude this frequency from UE-A 301 scheduling and/or to reduce the transmission power. A UE may send information (e.g., either a periodic/aperiodic groupcast or unicast transmission from the UE) about its SL resource usage on each active antenna panel/beam, which may be transmitted from one or more panel/beam to one or more nearby UE(s); i.e. the panel/beam is selected so as not to interfere with UE-B).
Regarding claim 47, Ganesan teaches the limitations of the previous claims. Ganesan further teaches wherein the first device is configured to perform at least one of: select the one or more radio resources for transmission from the first device to the second device, or transmit a message indicative of the determined radio resource set to the second device or the network entity to select one or more radio resources for transmission from the second device to the first device (Figs. 4 and 6A-C; Paras. 0089-0099 and 0120-0126; The usage of panel # 2 of UE-B 303 at timeslot # 2 with frequency # 2 may not be detected with sensing operation by UE-A 301. If the UE-A 301 were to also transmit using the same time and frequency, this might result in interference. Hence, a feedback transmission from UE-B 303 to UE-A 301 may indicate to exclude this frequency from UE-A 301 scheduling and/or to reduce the transmission power. A UE may send information (e.g., either a periodic/aperiodic groupcast or unicast transmission from the UE) about its SL resource usage on each active antenna panel/beam, which may be transmitted from one or more panel/beam to one or more nearby UE(s); i.e. the panel/beam is selected so as not to interfere with UE-B).
Regarding claim 48, Ganesan teaches the limitations of the previous claims. Ganesan further teaches wherein determining the first direction comprises: estimating an angle of arrival of the first radio transmission at the first device; or determining a position of the third device relative to the first device (Figs. 4 and 6A-C; Paras. 0089-0099, 0107-0111, and 0120-0126; sidelink directional transmission of data and control signaling, where the directionality aids in the Tx panel selection; directionality may be defined with respect to current position (e.g., navigation system (e.g., GPS, GNSS) coordinates or positioning system parameters (e.g., based on positioning techniques such as DL reference signals (e.g., OTDoA), based on UL reference signals (e.g., UTDoA), or combination of the range and angular measurements)) and/or speed/direction of travel of the UE).
Regarding claim 49, Ganesan teaches the limitations of the previous claims. Ganesan further teaches wherein the first device is caused to determine a second direction from which a second radio transmission from the second device is received at the first device, and wherein determining the radio resource set is further based on the determined second direction (Figs. 4 and 6A-C; Paras. 0089-0099, 0107-0111, and 0120-0126; sidelink directional transmission of data and control signaling, where the directionality aids in the Tx panel selection).
Regarding claim 50, Ganesan teaches the limitations of the previous claims. Ganesan further teaches wherein the second radio transmission is associated with inter-device coordination between the first device and the second device (Figs. 4 and 6A-C; Paras. 0089-0099, 0107-0111, and 0120-0126; sidelink directional transmission of data and control signaling, where the directionality aids in the Tx panel selection).
Regarding claim 51, Ganesan teaches the limitations of the previous claims. Ganesan further teaches wherein determining the second direction comprises estimating an angle of arrival of the second radio transmission at the first device or determining a position of the second device relative to the first device (Figs. 4 and 6A-C; Paras. 0089-0099, 0107-0111, and 0120-0126; sidelink directional transmission of data and control signaling, where the directionality aids in the Tx panel selection; directionality may be defined with respect to current position (e.g., navigation system (e.g., GPS, GNSS) coordinates or positioning system parameters (e.g., based on positioning techniques such as DL reference signals (e.g., OTDoA), based on UL reference signals (e.g., UTDoA), or combination of the range and angular measurements)) and/or speed/direction of travel of the UE).
Regarding claim 52, Ganesan teaches the limitations of the previous claims. Ganesan further teaches wherein determining the radio resource set comprises determining a first angular distance between the determined first direction and the determined second direction (Figs. 4 and 6A-C; Paras. 0089-0099, 0107-0111, and 0120-0126; sidelink directional transmission of data and control signaling, where the directionality aids in the Tx panel selection; directionality may be defined with respect to current position (e.g., navigation system (e.g., GPS, GNSS) coordinates or positioning system parameters (e.g., based on positioning techniques such as DL reference signals (e.g., OTDoA), based on UL reference signals (e.g., UTDoA), or combination of the range and angular measurements)) and/or speed/direction of travel of the UE).
Regarding claim 53, Ganesan teaches the limitations of the previous claims. Ganesan further teaches wherein the first device is caused to determine a radio resource to be non-preferred at least if the radio resource is indicated as reserved by the first radio transmission and the determined first angular distance is below a threshold value (Figs. 4 and 6A-C; Paras. 0089-0099, 0107-0111, and 0118-0126; in addition to the boresight angle difference, the measured S-RSSI/S-RSRP may need to be above a second threshold than the first threshold used for determining the exclusion for the first resource. The second threshold may be larger than the first threshold to take in to account the antenna panel separability or isolation or additional signal path loss between first antenna panel and second antenna panel).
Regarding claim 54, Ganesan teaches the limitations of the previous claims. Ganesan further teaches wherein the radio resource set comprises preferred radio resources for communication with the second device and wherein determining the radio resource set comprises excluding a candidate radio resource from the set of candidate radio resources if: the candidate radio resource overlaps, at least partially, with a radio resource indicated as reserved by the first radio transmission, and the determined first angular distance is below a threshold value (Figs. 4 and 6A-C; Paras. 0089-0099, 0107-0111, and 0118-0126; Figs. 4 and 6A-C; Paras. 0089-0099 and 0120-0126; The usage of panel # 2 of UE-B 303 at timeslot # 2 with frequency # 2 may not be detected with sensing operation by UE-A 301. If the UE-A 301 were to also transmit using the same time and frequency, this might result in interference. Hence, a feedback transmission from UE-B 303 to UE-A 301 may indicate to exclude this frequency from UE-A 301 scheduling and/or to reduce the transmission power. A UE may send information (e.g., either a periodic/aperiodic groupcast or unicast transmission from the UE) about its SL resource usage on each active antenna panel/beam, which may be transmitted from one or more panel/beam to one or more nearby UE(s); i.e. the panel/beam is selected so as not to interfere with UE-B).
Regarding claim 55, Ganesan teaches the limitations of the previous claims. Ganesan further teaches wherein the first device is further caused to determine, based on the first radio transmission, a radio resource in which the third device is expected to receive, and wherein determining the radio resource set comprises deprioritizing or excluding a candidate radio resource from the set of candidate radio resources if: the candidate radio resource overlaps, at least partially, with the determined radio resource in which the third device is expected to receive, and the determined first angular distance is below a threshold value (Figs. 4 and 6A-C; Paras. 0089-0099, 0107-0111, and 0118-0126; Figs. 4 and 6A-C; Paras. 0089-0099 and 0120-0126; The usage of panel # 2 of UE-B 303 at timeslot # 2 with frequency # 2 may not be detected with sensing operation by UE-A 301. If the UE-A 301 were to also transmit using the same time and frequency, this might result in interference. Hence, a feedback transmission from UE-B 303 to UE-A 301 may indicate to exclude this frequency from UE-A 301 scheduling and/or to reduce the transmission power. A UE may send information (e.g., either a periodic/aperiodic groupcast or unicast transmission from the UE) about its SL resource usage on each active antenna panel/beam, which may be transmitted from one or more panel/beam to one or more nearby UE(s); i.e. the panel/beam is selected so as not to interfere with UE-B).
Regarding claim 56, Ganesan teaches the limitations of the previous claims. Ganesan further teaches wherein the first device is further caused to configure the threshold value based on at least one of a transmit antenna beamwidth or receive antenna beamwidth to be used for communication with the second device (Figs. 4 and 6A-C; Paras. 0089-0099, 0107-0111, and 0120-0126; directionality may determine the desired boresight angle (azimuth, elevation, or both), and the axis of maximum gain (maximum radiated power) for a (e.g., reference) transmission beam. The range may be conditioned on the indicated directionality, e.g., indicating the minimum distance in the angular direction (e.g., direction of the boresight angle with a certain (e.g., reference) beam width for a (e.g., reference) transmission) beam that the QoS parameters need to be fulfilled).
Regarding claim 57, Ganesan teaches the limitations of the previous claims. Ganesan further teaches wherein the first device is further caused to estimate a third direction from which a third radio transmission from the third device is expected to be received at the first device, and determine the radio resource set further based on the estimated third direction (Figs. 4 and 6A-C; Paras. 0089-0099, 0107-0111, and 0120-0126; sidelink directional transmission of data and control signaling, where the directionality aids in the Tx panel selection; directionality may be defined with respect to current position (e.g., navigation system (e.g., GPS, GNSS) coordinates or positioning system parameters (e.g., based on positioning techniques such as DL reference signals (e.g., OTDoA), based on UL reference signals (e.g., UTDoA), or combination of the range and angular measurements)) and/or speed/direction of travel of the UE).
Regarding claim 58, Ganesan teaches the limitations of the previous claims. Ganesan further teaches wherein the first device is further caused to estimate a fourth direction associated with a fourth radio transmission expected to be transmitted to or received from the second device, and determine the radio resource set further based on the estimated fourth direction (Figs. 4 and 6A-C; Paras. 0089-0099, 0107-0111, and 0120-0126; sidelink directional transmission of data and control signaling, where the directionality aids in the Tx panel selection; directionality may be defined with respect to current position (e.g., navigation system (e.g., GPS, GNSS) coordinates or positioning system parameters (e.g., based on positioning techniques such as DL reference signals (e.g., OTDoA), based on UL reference signals (e.g., UTDoA), or combination of the range and angular measurements)) and/or speed/direction of travel of the UE).
Regarding claim 59, Ganesan teaches the limitations of the previous claims. Ganesan further teaches wherein determining the radio resource set comprises determining a second angular distance between the estimated third direction and the estimated fourth direction (Figs. 4 and 6A-C; Paras. 0089-0099, 0107-0111, and 0120-0126; directionality may determine the desired boresight angle (azimuth, elevation, or both), and the axis of maximum gain (maximum radiated power) for a (e.g., reference) transmission beam. The range may be conditioned on the indicated directionality, e.g., indicating the minimum distance in the angular direction (e.g., direction of the boresight angle with a certain (e.g., reference) beam width for a (e.g., reference) transmission) beam that the QoS parameters need to be fulfilled).
Regarding claim 60, Ganesan teaches the limitations of the previous claims. Ganesan further teaches wherein the first device is caused to determine a radio resource to be non-preferred at least if the radio resource is indicated as reserved by the first radio transmission and the determined second angular distance is below a threshold value (Figs. 4 and 6A-C; Paras. 0089-0099, 0107-0111, and 0118-0126; in addition to the boresight angle difference, the measured S-RSSI/S-RSRP may need to be above a second threshold than the first threshold used for determining the exclusion for the first resource. The second threshold may be larger than the first threshold to take in to account the antenna panel separability or isolation or additional signal path loss between first antenna panel and second antenna panel).
Regarding claim 61, Ganesan teaches the limitations of the previous claims. Ganesan further teaches wherein the radio resource set comprises preferred radio resources for communication with the second device and wherein determining the radio resource set comprises excluding a candidate radio resource from the set of candidate radio resources if: the candidate radio resource overlaps, at least partially, with a radio resource indicated as reserved by the first radio transmission, and the determined second angular distance is below a threshold value (Figs. 4 and 6A-C; Paras. 0089-0099, 0107-0111, and 0118-0126; Figs. 4 and 6A-C; Paras. 0089-0099 and 0120-0126; The usage of panel # 2 of UE-B 303 at timeslot # 2 with frequency # 2 may not be detected with sensing operation by UE-A 301. If the UE-A 301 were to also transmit using the same time and frequency, this might result in interference. Hence, a feedback transmission from UE-B 303 to UE-A 301 may indicate to exclude this frequency from UE-A 301 scheduling and/or to reduce the transmission power. A UE may send information (e.g., either a periodic/aperiodic groupcast or unicast transmission from the UE) about its SL resource usage on each active antenna panel/beam, which may be transmitted from one or more panel/beam to one or more nearby UE(s)).
Regarding claim 62, Ganesan teaches the limitations of the previous claims. Ganesan further teaches wherein the first device is further caused to determine, based on the first radio transmission, a radio resource in which the third device is expected to receive, and wherein determining the radio resource set comprises deprioritizing or excluding a candidate radio resource from the set of candidate radio resources if: the candidate radio resource overlaps, at least partially, with the determined radio resource in which the third device is expected to receive, and the determined second angular distance is below a threshold value (Figs. 4 and 6A-C; Paras. 0089-0099, 0107-0111, and 0118-0126; Figs. 4 and 6A-C; Paras. 0089-0099 and 0120-0126; The usage of panel # 2 of UE-B 303 at timeslot # 2 with frequency # 2 may not be detected with sensing operation by UE-A 301. If the UE-A 301 were to also transmit using the same time and frequency, this might result in interference. Hence, a feedback transmission from UE-B 303 to UE-A 301 may indicate to exclude this frequency from UE-A 301 scheduling and/or to reduce the transmission power. A UE may send information (e.g., either a periodic/aperiodic groupcast or unicast transmission from the UE) about its SL resource usage on each active antenna panel/beam, which may be transmitted from one or more panel/beam to one or more nearby UE(s)).
Regarding claim 63, Ganesan teaches the limitations of the previous claims. Ganesan further teaches wherein the first device is a user equipment configured to communicate with the second device, which is a user equipment, by a sidelink transmission, and wherein the first radio transmission is a physical sidelink control channel transmission, a physical sidelink shared channel transmission, or a physical sidelink feedback channel transmission (Figs. 4 and 6A-C; Paras. 0043, 0089-0099, 0107-0111, and 0120-0126; beam sweeping refers to the source UE transmitting the groupcast in predefined directions/beams in sequence. In certain embodiments, the sequence is indexed and the sequence/index is transmitted as part of the sidelink control channel (e.g., in sidelink control information “SCI”)).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KENT KRUEGER whose telephone number is (303)297-4238. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F 8:00-5:00 MT.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Michael Thier can be reached on (571) 272-2832. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/KENT KRUEGER/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2474
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