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
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 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claim(s) 1-3,5-10 and 19-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Si et al (US 20230269056 A1) hereinafter as Si in view of FAKOORIAN et al (US 20230254821 A1) hereinafter as FAKOORIAN.
Regarding claim(s) 1, and 19, Si discloses a method for sidelink communication (See Fig(s). 1 between UEs 111) , comprising:
receiving, by a terminal device, a first physical sidelink shared channel (PSSCH) (See ¶ .. 5..; The UE includes a transceiver configured to receive a set of configurations from a higher layer and receive a physical sidelink shared channel (PSSCH)),
performing , by the terminal device, channel access on a shared spectrum (See ¶ .. 6 UE in a wireless communication system operating with a shared spectrum channel access),
wherein the first PSSCH is associated with a plurality of physical sidelink feedback channel (PSFCH) transmission resources on the shared spectrum (See Fig(s). 7-8, See ¶ .. 74-76, 99…a sub-channel resource for PSSCH transmission that enables HARQ feedback transmission can correspond to a PSFCH resource in a number of candidate PSFCH resources);
and the plurality of PSFCH transmission resources are located on at least one of reserved resources or dynamic resources on the shared spectrum (See Fig(s). 14 dynamic indication of resources, See ¶ ..80, 227-228…a PSSCH transmission that enables HARQ feedback transmission, the time domain information for the associated PSFCH transmission occasion can be dynamically indicated to the UE),
Si fails to disclose - transmitting, by the terminal device, a first PSFCH using one PSFCH transmission resource of the plurality of PSFCH transmission resources, wherein the first PSFCH carries feedback information associated with the first PSSCH.
FAKOORIAN discloses - transmitting, by the terminal device, a first PSFCH using one PSFCH transmission resource of the plurality of PSFCH transmission resources, wherein the first PSFCH carries feedback information associated with the first PSSCH (See ¶ .29… UEs in a wireless communications system may support techniques for efficiently selecting resources for sidelink communications in a shared spectrum while allowing other UEs a chance to gain access to the shared spectrum…See also ¶ .41-43 sidelink communications may include data transmissions on a physical sidelink shared channel (PSSCH). According to some aspects, sidelink communications may include feedback transmissions on a physical sidelink feedback channel (PSFCH)).
Feedback information provides efficient utilization of bandwidth resources amongst UEs within an shared spectrum band.
Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to incorporate the teachings of FAKOORIAN within Si, so as to enhance overall network performance by providing feedback information for efficient utilization of bandwidth resources amongst UEs within an shared spectrum band.
Regarding claim(s) 2 and 20, FAKOORIAN discloses wherein the reserved resources are associated with first indication information, and the first indication information is determined based on at least one of: a maximum number of resource blocks required by each PSFCH transmission resource of the plurality of PSFCH transmission resources; a number of first sidelink time-domain units in the reserved resources; a number of resource blocks configured for PSFCH transmission in a first sidelink time- domain unit; a number of PSFCH transmission resources in a first sidelink time-domain unit; or a service type corresponding to the first PSSCH (See ¶ .. 42). Reasons for combining same as claim 1.
Regarding claim(s) 3, FAKOORIAN discloses wherein the first indication information is carried in first sidelink control information (See ¶ .. 42. Decoding SCIs in the sensing procedure may provide at least some information on sidelink resources indicated by the UE 115 transmitting the SCI.) Reasons for combining same as claim 1.
Regarding claim(s) 5, FAKOORIAN discloses wherein the PSFCH transmission resources are interleaved (See ¶ .. 61, See Fig(s). 4). Reasons for combining same as claim 1.
Regarding claim(s) 6, FAKOORIAN discloses wherein the PSFCH transmission resources are interleaved according to an interleave waveform that is associated with a number of resource blocks (RBs) required for each PSFCH (See ¶ .. 61-63). Reasons for combining same as claim 1.
Regarding claim(s) 7, Si discloses further comprising: after performing, by the terminal device, channel access on the shared spectrum,:
determining, by the terminal device, whether there are idle PSFCH transmission resources in the reserved resources; and in response to determining that there are no idle PSFCH transmission resources in the reserved resource, transmitting, by the terminal device, the first PSFCH using the dynamic resources (See Fig(s). 14 dynamic indication of resources, See ¶ ..80, 227-228…a PSSCH transmission that enables HARQ feedback transmission, the time domain information for the associated PSFCH transmission occasion can be dynamically indicated to the UE).
Regarding claim(s) 8, Si discloses in response to the feedback information being a negative acknowledgement (NACK), transmitting the first PSFCH based on information of the NACK (See ¶ .. 78).
Regarding claim(s) 9, Si discloses in response to a number of NACKs being greater than a first threshold, terminating, by the terminal device, transmission of the first PSFCH (See ¶ 5-6, 78, The UE determines an index of a PSFCH resource for a PSFCH transmission in response to a PSSCH reception as (P.sub.ID+M.sub.ID) mod R.sub.PRB, CS.sup.PSFCH, where P.sub.ID is the source ID provided by the SCI scheduling the PSSCH, and M.sub.ID is the PSSCH receiver ID in groupcast SL transmission with ACK or NACK information in HARQ-feedback….. transmission occasions determines the number of NACK.).
Regarding claim(s) 10, FAKOORIAN discloses before performing, by the terminal device, channel access on the shared spectrum,: performing, by the terminal device, channel listening on the shared spectrum; and determining, by the terminal device, whether to transmit the first PSFCH using short control signaling based on a result of the channel listening See ¶ .. 13-15, 109)
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim(s) 4 and 11 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.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Raj Jain whose telephone number is (571) 272-3145. The examiner can normally be reached on M-Th ~8 ~6.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Derrick Ferris can be reached on 571-272-3123. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/RAJ JAIN/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2411
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