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 Objections
Claims 7 and 22 are objected to because of the following informalities:
--In claims 7 and 22, replace “sub-chancel” with “sub-channel”.
Appropriate correction is required.
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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) 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 1-5, 9, 13 and 15-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Chae et al. (U.S. PGPub 2023/0354376), hereinafter referred to as Chae.
Regarding claim 1, Chae discloses a user equipment (UE) (wireless device; See Fig. 15, #1502) for wireless communication, the UE comprising:
a memory (memory; See Fig. 15, #1524); and
a processor (processing system; See Fig. 15, #1518) coupled to the memory and configured to cause the UE to:
obtain sidelink (SL) indicator (SL-I) configuration information associated with a resource pool (RP) based on configuration or pre-configuration (a base station may transmit to a wireless device, one or more configuration parameters for a sidelink resource pool; See [0244]), wherein the SL-I configuration information indicates at least one of:
a structure of resource(s) available for SL-I transmission;
an association between the resource(s) available for SL-I transmission and resource(s) for corresponding SL transmission(s); or
a priority threshold (The base station may indicate to the wireless device, a priority threshold for which the second resource selection procedure is allowed for the sidelink resource pool; See [0244]);
perform a sensing-based resource selection or sensing-based resource reselection in the RP (The sidelink resource pool may be configured with a first type of wireless device configured to perform sensing sidelink signals within a sensing window in the sidelink resource pool. a power saving wireless device may be a wireless device that may be configured to a perform partial sensing based resource selection or a random resource selection; See [0248] and [0257]); and
perform an operation associated with SL-I according to the SL-I configuration information (The wireless device may select for transmission of a sidelink transport block, one or more transmission resources from the sidelink resource pool; See [0248]), wherein performing the operation comprises:
transmitting an SL-I indicating at least one of reserved resource(s) for an intended SL transmission of the UE (The wireless device may transmit SCI. The SCI may indicate a first field indicating a type of wireless device among the first type and the second type. The SCI may indicate a second field indicating the one or more transmission resources; See [0248]) or a priority of the intended SL transmission of the UE; or
checking an SL-I indicating at least one of reserved resource(s) for an intended SL transmission of another UE or a priority of the intended SL transmission of the another UE; and a transmitter coupled to the processor; and a receiver coupled to the processor.
Regarding claim 2, Chae further discloses the UE of Claim 1, wherein the SL-I configuration information is configured per resource pool or per zone (one or more configuration parameters for a sidelink resource pool; See [0244]).
Regarding claim 3, Chae further discloses the UE of Claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to obtain configuration information associated with the RP, wherein the configuration information indicates at least one of:
only slot level SL transmission is enabled in the RP (The one or more first sidelink resources may be indicated by a slot bitmap; See [0274]); only sub-slot level SL transmission is enabled in the RP; or both slot level SL transmission and sub-slot level SL transmission are enabled in the RP.
Regarding claim 4,Chae further discloses the UE of Claim 1, wherein the SL-I configuration information includes at least one of the following information to indicate the structure of the resource(s) available for SL-I transmission:
a sub-slot pattern or a slot pattern for SL-I transmission (The one or more first sidelink resources may be indicated by a slot bitmap; See [0274]); or
half-symbol(s) or symbol(s) for SL-I transmission.
Regarding claim 5, Chae further discloses the UE of Claim 4, wherein the symbol(s) for SL-I transmission are included in a physical sidelink feedback channel (PSFCH) (PSFCH may be used by a first wireless device to send feedback information to a second wireless device; See [0229]).
Regarding claim 9, Chae further discloses the UE of Claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to cause the UE to perform one of:
in the case that the priority threshold is not indicated by the SL-I configuration information, check the SL-I once a resource selection or a resource reselection is triggered; or
in the case that the priority threshold is indicated by the SL-I configuration information, check the SL-I once a resource selection or a resource reselection is triggered in response to a priority of an intended slot level or sub-slot level SL transmission of the UE being lower than the priority threshold (The wireless device may select the one or more transmission resource from the subset of the sidelink resource pool based on the priority value being below the priority threshold; See [0245]).
Regarding claim 13, Chae teaches a method performed by a user equipment (UE), the method comprising:
obtaining sidelink (SL) indicator (SL-I) configuration information associated with a resource pool (RP) based on configuration or pre-configuration (a base station may transmit to a wireless device, one or more configuration parameters for a sidelink resource pool; See [0244]), wherein the SL-I configuration information indicates at least one of:
a structure of resource(s) available for SL-I transmission;
an association between the resource(s) available for SL-I transmission and resource(s) for corresponding SL transmission(s); or
a priority threshold (The base station may indicate to the wireless device, a priority threshold for which the second resource selection procedure is allowed for the sidelink resource pool; See [0244]);
performing a sensing-based resource selection or a sensing-based resource reselection in the RP (The sidelink resource pool may be configured with a first type of wireless device configured to perform sensing sidelink signals within a sensing window in the sidelink resource pool. a power saving wireless device may be a wireless device that may be configured to a perform partial sensing based resource selection or a random resource selection; See [0248] and [0257]); and
performing an operation associated with SL-I according to the SL-I configuration information (The wireless device may select for transmission of a sidelink transport block, one or more transmission resources from the sidelink resource pool; See [0248]), wherein performing the operation comprises:
transmitting an SL-I indicating at least one of reserved resource(s) for an intended SL transmission of the UE (The wireless device may transmit SCI. The SCI may indicate a first field indicating a type of wireless device among the first type and the second type. The SCI may indicate a second field indicating the one or more transmission resources; See [0248]) or a priority of the intended SL transmission of the UE; or
checking an SL-I indicating at least one of reserved resource(s) for an intended SL transmission of another UE or a priority of the intended SL transmission of the other UE.
Regarding claim 15, Chae further discloses the method of Claim 13, further comprising:
obtaining configuration information associated with the RP, wherein the configuration information indicates at least one of:
only slot level SL transmission is enabled in the RP (The one or more first sidelink resources may be indicated by a slot bitmap; See [0274]);
only sub-slot level SL transmission is enabled in the RP; or
both slot level SL transmission and sub-slot level SL transmission are enabled in the RP.
Regarding claim 16, Chae discloses a base station (BS) (base station; See Fig. 15, #1504) for wireless communication, the base station comprising:
a memory (memory; See Fig. 15, #1514);
a transmitter (TX processing system; See Fig. 15, #1510); and
a processor (processing system; See Fig. 15, #1508) coupled to the memory and the transmitter and configured to cause the base station to transmit, via the transmitter, at least one of the following information:
sidelink (SL) indicator (SL-I) configuration information associated with a resource pool (RP) (a base station may transmit to a wireless device, one or more configuration parameters for a sidelink resource pool; See [0244]), wherein the SL-I configuration information indicates at least one of:
a structure of resource(s) available for SL-I transmission;
an association between the resource(s) available for SL-I transmission and resource(s) for corresponding SL transmission(s); or
a priority threshold (The base station may indicate to the wireless device, a priority threshold for which the second resource selection procedure is allowed for the sidelink resource pool; See [0244]); or
configuration information associated with the RP, wherein the configuration information indicates at least one of:
only slot level SL transmission is enabled in the RP (The one or more first sidelink resources may be indicated by a slot bitmap; See [0274]);
only sub-slot level SL transmission is enabled in the RP; or
both slot level SL transmission and sub-slot level SL transmission are enabled in the RP.
Regarding claim 17, Chae further discloses the base station of Claim 16, wherein the processor is further configured to cause the base station to transmit configuration information associated with the RP, wherein the configuration information indicates at least one of:
only slot level SL transmission is enabled in the RP (The one or more first sidelink resources may be indicated by a slot bitmap; See [0274]);
only sub-slot level SL transmission is enabled in the RP; or
both slot level SL transmission and sub-slot level SL transmission are enabled in the RP.
Regarding claim 18, Chae further discloses the base station of Claim 16, wherein the SL-I configuration information is configured per resource pool or per zone (one or more configuration parameters for a sidelink resource pool; See [0244]).
Regarding claim 19, Chae further discloses the base station of Claim 16, wherein the SL-I configuration information includes at least one of the following information to indicate the structure of the resource(s) available for SL-I transmission:
a sub-slot pattern or a slot pattern for SL-I transmission (The one or more first sidelink resources may be indicated by a slot bitmap; See [0274]); or
half-symbol(s) or symbol(s) for SL-I transmission.
Regarding claim 20, Chae further discloses the base station of Claim 19, wherein the symbol(s) for SL-I transmission are included in a physical sidelink feedback channel (PSFCH) (PSFCH may be used by a first wireless device to send feedback information to a second wireless device; See [0229]).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) 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 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 6 and 21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chae as applied to claims 4 and 19 above, and further in view of Liu et al. (U.S. PGPub 2023/0319745), hereinafter referred to as Liu.
Regarding claim 6, Chae fails to teach the UE of Claim 4, wherein the SL-I configuration information includes at least one of the following information to indicate the structure of the resource(s) available for SL-I transmission: sub-channel(s) in each half-symbol of the half-symbol(s) or each symbol of the symbol(s) for SL-I transmission; a number of physical resource blocks (PRBs) in each sub-channel in each half-symbol of the half-symbol(s) or each symbol of the symbol(s) for SL-I transmission; a number of PRB sets in each sub-channel in each half-symbol of the half-symbol(s) or each symbol of the symbol(s) for SL-I transmission; at least one sequence type used for SL-I transmission; or at least one code used for SL-I transmission.
Liu teaches wherein the SL-I configuration information includes at least one of the following information to indicate the structure of the resource(s) available for SL-I transmission: sub-channel(s) in each half-symbol of the half-symbol(s) or each symbol of the symbol(s) for SL-I transmission (the sidelink configuration module 1308 is configured to configure a sidelink sync UE to multiplex the S-SSB transmission with the sidelink transmission in a subchannel (e.g., contiguous RBs) and may configure the sidelink sync UE to select between a frequency interlace-based resource pool or a subchannel-based resource pool base on whether a sidelink slot is configured for S-SSB transmission; See [0137]).
Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time before the effective filing date of the invention, to modify the apparatus of Chae to include wherein the SL-I configuration information includes at least one of the following information to indicate the structure of the resource(s) available for SL-I transmission: sub-channel(s) in each half-symbol of the half-symbol(s) or each symbol of the symbol(s) for SL-I transmission taught by Liu in order to keep sidelink communications operating reliably while meeting spectrum occupancy rules.
Regarding claim 21, Chae fails to teach the UE of Claim 19, wherein the SL-I configuration information includes at least one of the following information to indicate the structure of the resource(s) available for SL-I transmission: sub-channel(s) in each half-symbol of the half-symbol(s) or each symbol of the symbol(s) for SL-I transmission; a number of physical resource blocks (PRBs) in each sub-channel in each half-symbol of the half-symbol(s) or each symbol of the symbol(s) for SL-I transmission; a number of PRB sets in each sub-channel in each half-symbol of the half-symbol(s) or each symbol of the symbol(s) for SL-I transmission; at least one sequence type used for SL-I transmission; or at least one code used for SL-I transmission.
Liu teaches wherein the SL-I configuration information includes at least one of the following information to indicate the structure of the resource(s) available for SL-I transmission: sub-channel(s) in each half-symbol of the half-symbol(s) or each symbol of the symbol(s) for SL-I transmission (the sidelink configuration module 1308 is configured to configure a sidelink sync UE to multiplex the S-SSB transmission with the sidelink transmission in a subchannel (e.g., contiguous RBs) and may configure the sidelink sync UE to select between a frequency interlace-based resource pool or a subchannel-based resource pool base on whether a sidelink slot is configured for S-SSB transmission; See [0137]).
Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time before the effective filing date of the invention, to modify the apparatus of Chae to include wherein the SL-I configuration information includes at least one of the following information to indicate the structure of the resource(s) available for SL-I transmission: sub-channel(s) in each half-symbol of the half-symbol(s) or each symbol of the symbol(s) for SL-I transmission taught by Liu in order to keep sidelink communications operating reliably while meeting spectrum occupancy rules.
Claim 8 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chae as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Khoryaev et al. (U.S. PGPub 2018/0206260), hereinafter referred to as Khoryaev.
Regarding claim 8, Chae fails to teach the UE of Claim 1, wherein the priority of the intended SL transmission of the UE or the priority of the intended SL transmission of the other UE is indicated by at least one of: a sequence type associated with the SL-I; a PRB index associated with the SL-I; a code index associated with the SL-I; or an available resource index associated with the SL-I.
Khoryaev teaches wherein the priority of the intended SL transmission of the UE or the priority of the intended SL transmission of the other UE is indicated by at least one of: an available resource index associated with the SL-I (the PSCCH resource index within PSCCH resource pool may be associated with the transmission priority level, i.e. priority level is a function of PSCCH resource index (n.sub.PSCCH); See [0137]).
Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time before the effective filing date of the invention, to modify the apparatus of Chae to include wherein the priority of the intended SL transmission of the UE or the priority of the intended SL transmission of the other UE is indicated by at least one of: an available resource index associated with the SL-I taught by Khoryaev in order to handle contention while prioritizing packets by importance.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 7, 10-11 and 22 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Claim 7 appears to be novel and inventive because prior art fails to show or teach the UE of Claim 1, wherein the SL-I configuration information includes comprises the following information to indicate the association between the resource(s) available for SL-I transmission and the resource(s) for the corresponding SL transmission(s): an association between a first group of indexes associated with the resource(s) available for SL-I transmission and a second group of indexes associated with the resource(s) for the corresponding SL transmission(s),wherein the first group of indexes includes at least one of: SL slot index(es) associated with the resource(s) available for SL-I transmission, sub-slot index(es) associated with the resource(s) available for SL-I transmission, sub-chancel index(es) associated with the resource(s) available for SL-I transmission, PRB set index(es) associated with the resource(s) available for SL-I transmission, PRB index(es) associated with the resource(s) available for SL-I transmission, code index(es) associated with the resource(s) available for SL-I transmission, or available resource index(es) associated with the resource(s) available for SL-I transmission; and wherein the second group of indexes includes at least one of: SL slot index(es) associated with the resource(s) for the corresponding SL transmission(s);sub-slot index(es) associated with the resource(s) for the corresponding SL transmission(s); or sub-chancel index(es) associated with the resource(s) for the corresponding SL transmission(s).
Claim 10 appears to be novel and inventive because prior art fails to show or teach the UE of Claim 9, wherein the processor is further configured to: free resources(s) originally reserved for the intended slot level or sub-slot level SL transmission of the UE and re-select resource(s) for the intended slot level or sub-slot level SL transmission of the UE once at least one of the following conditions is satisfied: the resources(s) originally reserved for the intended slot level or sub-slot level SL transmission of the UE at least partially overlap the reserved resource(s) for the intended SL transmission of the other UE indicated by a detected SL-I; or the priority of the intended SL transmission of the other UE indicated by a detected SL-I is higher than the priority of the intended slot level or sub-slot level SL transmission of the UE.
Claim 11 appears to be novel and inventive because prior art fails to show or teach the UE of Claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to: in the case that the priority threshold is indicated by the SL-I configuration information, transmit the SL-I in response to a priority of the intended SL transmission of the UE being higher than the priority threshold; or in the case that the priority threshold is not indicated by the SL-I configuration information: transmit the SL-I after a resource selection or a resource reselection is triggered; or transmit the SL-I in the case that the priority of the intended SL transmission of the UE is higher than an estimated priority of an SL transmission from another UE on resource(s) which at least partially overlap the reserved resource(s) for the intended SL transmission of the UE.
Claim 22 appears to be novel and inventive because prior art fails to show or teach the base station of Claim 16, wherein the SL-I configuration information comprises the following information to indicate the association between the resource(s) available for SL-I transmission and the resource(s) for the corresponding SL transmission(s): an association between a first group of indexes associated with the resource(s) available for SL-I transmission and a second group of indexes associated with the resource(s) for the corresponding SL transmission(s),wherein the first group of indexes includes at least one of: SL slot index(es) associated with the resource(s) available for SL-I transmission, sub-slot index(es) associated with the resource(s) available for SL-I transmission, sub-chancel index(es) associated with the resource(s) available for SL-I transmission, PRB set index(es) associated with the resource(s) available for SL-I transmission, PRB index(es) associated with the resource(s) available for SL-I transmission, code index(es) associated with the resource(s) available for SL-I transmission, or available resource index(es) associated with the resource(s) available for SL-I transmission; and wherein the second group of indexes includes at least one of: SL slot index(es) associated with the resource(s) for the corresponding SL transmission(s);sub-slot index(es) associated with the resource(s) for the corresponding SL transmission(s); or sub-chancel index(es) associated with the resource(s) for the corresponding SL transmission(s).
Conclusion
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/ASHLEY SHIVERS/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2477 6/16/2026
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