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 .
DETAILED ACTION
This communication is responsive to Application # 18752134 filed 06/24/2024. Claims 1-20 are subject to examination.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claim 1-20 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor, or for pre-AIA the applicant regards as the invention.
Claim 1 and 11 recite “whether to postpone or drop a first transmission or reception on the first sidelink carrier based on a physical channel associated with the first transmission or reception”. Is it not clear to examiner whether postponing, dropping, or transmission of the first transmission or reception has any relation with the first simultaneous transmissions or receptions.
Claim 3-5 and claim 13-15 recite “first transmission”, “first reception”, “dropped” and “postponed”. If the first transmission or the first reception is considered for rejecting claim 1 and 11, then the other first reception or the first transmission becomes optional. Similarly if drop or postpone is considered for rejecting claim 1 and 11, then other postpone or drop operation becomes optional. It is not clear to examiner how claim 3-5 and 13-15 are further narrowed if the other option is considered in claim 1 and 11.
Claim(s) 2-10 and 12-20 are also rejected because they are dependent upon rejected claims 1 and 11 as set forth above and include limitations of the claims 1 and 11 respectively.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 7-10 and 17-20 would be allowable if rewritten to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action and to include all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
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.
Claim 1 and 11 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lee et al. (Lee hereinafter) (US 20200288431 A1) in view of Yoshioka et al. (Yoshioka hereinafter) (US 20250071692 A1).
Regarding claim 1 and claim 11, Lee teaches, A user equipment (UE) in a wireless communication system, the UE comprising:
a transceiver configured to receive first information for sidelink operation on multiple sidelink carriers, wherein the first information includes priority values associated with the multiple sidelink carriers (Lee; FIG. 7, UE 1 receives information on a plurality of carriers preconfigured for UE 1 from a base station or a network (S710). Here, the information may include … information on the priority of the carriers, Par. 0129); and
a processor operably coupled to the transceiver, the processor configured to determine:
a first number of sidelink carriers from the multiple sidelink carriers based on the priority values (Lee; UE 1 selects one or more carriers based on the priority of the carriers, Par. 0131);
first simultaneous transmissions or receptions on the first number of sidelink carriers based on the first information (Lee; when a plurality of carriers is previously configured for the UEs and congestion occurs in the primary carrier, the V2X TX UE may transmit information having a relatively high importance level through the primary carrier and may transmit information having a relatively low importance level through the secondary carrier, Par. 0140);
wherein the transceiver is further configured to transmit or receive the first simultaneous transmissions or receptions on the first number of sidelink carriers (Lee; the V2X TX UE may transmit information having a relatively high importance level through the primary carrier and may transmit information having a relatively low importance level through the secondary carrier, Par. 0140).
Lee failed to explicitly teach,
a first sidelink carrier from the multiple sidelink carriers, wherein the first sidelink carrier is not in the first number of sidelink carriers; and
whether to postpone or drop a first transmission or reception on the first sidelink carrier based on a physical channel associated with the first transmission or reception.
However, in the same field of endeavor, Yoshioka teaches,
a first sidelink carrier from the multiple sidelink carriers, wherein the first sidelink carrier is not in the first number of sidelink carriers (Yoshioka; at the time of carrier aggregation of NR-SL, there may be an overlap in the time domain between PSFCH and PSCCH/PSSCH … there may be an overlap in the time domain between PSFCH in the resource pool of carrier A and PSCCH/PSSCH or S-SSB in the resource pool of carrier B, Par. 0149-0150); and
whether to postpone or drop a first transmission or reception on the first sidelink carrier based on a physical channel associated with the first transmission or reception (Yoshioka; The terminal 20 may determine the transmission power P.sub.a of the PSFCH transmission in carrier a and the transmission power P.sub.b of the PSCCH/PSSCH transmission in carrier b, Par. 0157; the transmission power of at least one of N PSFCH transmissions may be adjusted or the transmission may be dropped, Par. 0159).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to incorporate the teachings of Lee to include the use of comparison between different physical channels as taught by Yoshioka in order to perform transmission dropping in one carrier (Yoshioka; Par. 0186).
Specifically for claim 11, Lee teaches, A method performed by a user equipment (UE) in a wireless communication system, the method comprising (Lee; transmission method of a UE, Par. 0112).
Claim 2 and 12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lee-Yoshioka and in further view of DING et al. (DING hereinafter) (US 20240349252 A1).
Regarding claim 2 and claim 12, Lee-Yoshioka teaches, The UE of Claim 1 and The method of Claim 11 respectively.
Although Yoshioka teaches simultaneous transmission capability may be exceeded in Par. 0219, but Lee-Yoshioka fail to explicitly teach,
wherein: the first number is a maximum number associated with UE capability information, and the UE capability information comprises an indication for at least one of:
simultaneous transmissions,
simultaneous receptions, and
simultaneous transmissions or receptions.
However, in the same field of endeavor, DING teaches,
wherein: the first number is a maximum number associated with UE capability information, and the UE capability information comprises an indication for at least one of:
simultaneous transmissions (DING; the capability of simultaneous transmission is specified by a standard, configured by a network, or pre-configured. That the capability of simultaneous transmission is specified by a standard is taken as an example, in this case, the minimum value and/or the maximum value of the number of carriers simultaneous transmission on which is supported may be specified by the standard, Par. 0103).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to incorporate the teachings of Lee-Yoshioka to include the use of maximum value of the number of carriers as taught by DING in order to perform simultaneous transmission (DING; Par. 0103).
Claim 3 and 13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lee-Yoshioka and in further view of Jeon et al. (Jeon hereinafter) (US 20250227730 A1).
Regarding claim 3 and claim 13, Lee-Yoshioka teaches, The UE of Claim 1 and The method of Claim 11 respectively, wherein:
the first transmission of a physical sidelink feedback channel (PSFCH) in transmission occasion i is , or
the first transmission of a physical sidelink control channel (PSCCH) or a physical sidelink shared channel (PSSCH) in slot n is (Yoshioka; Drop PSFCH-a ... Drop PSCCH/PSSCH TX, Par. 0175).
Lee-Yoshioka fail to explicitly teach,
postponed to a next available PSFCH transmission occasion on the first sidelink carrier; or
postponed to a PSCCH-PSSCH transmission occasion in a subsequent slot n+m, where m is a positive integer.
However, in the same field of endeavor, Jeon teaches,
postponed to a next available PSFCH transmission occasion on the first sidelink carrier (Jeon; wireless device 2200 does not transmit (e.g., skip transmitting, postpone, delay, drop, and/or deprioritize) PSFCH transmission 2204 in the PSFCH occasion at t3. Wireless device 2200 may transmit PSFCH transmission 2404 in another PSFCH occasion (e.g., after t3), Par. 0302).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to incorporate the teachings of Lee-Yoshioka to include the use of postponing PSFCH as taught by Jeon in order to transmit later (Jeon; Par. 0302).
Claim 4 and 14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lee-Yoshioka and in further view of CHEN et al. (CHEN hereinafter) (US 20260006626 A1).
Regarding claim 4 and claim 14, Lee-Yoshioka teaches, The UE of Claim 1 and The method of Claim 11 respectively, wherein:
the first reception of a physical sidelink shared channel (PSSCH) on the first sidelink carrier is dropped (Yoshioka; Drop PSCCH/PSSCH TX, Par. 0175; the carrier aggregation may mean a function of performing transmission or reception via a plurality of carriers in the same time unit, Par. 0148).
Lee-Yoshioka fail to explicitly teach,
the transceiver is further configured to transmit a request in a sidelink control information (SCI) format for retransmission of the PSSCH on the first sidelink carrier.
However, in the same field of endeavor, CHEN teaches,
the transceiver is further configured to transmit a request in a sidelink control information (SCI) format for retransmission of the PSSCH on the first sidelink carrier (CHEN; Fig. 5; the UE 115-a may drop PSSCH reception ... the SCI message 305 reserves the PSSCH 310 for a retransmission of a sidelink data message, Par. 0099-0101).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to incorporate the teachings of Lee-Yoshioka to include the use of retransmission as taught by CHEN in order to successfully complete transmission (CHEN; Par. 0101).
Claim 5 and 15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lee-Yoshioka and in further view of YANG et al. (YANG hereinafter) (US 20240089072 A1).
Regarding claim 5 and claim 15, Lee-Yoshioka teaches, The UE of Claim 1 and The method of Claim 11 respectively, wherein:
the first reception of a physical sidelink feedback channel (PSFCH) with hybrid automatic repeat request acknowledgement (HARQ-ACK) information corresponding to a physical sidelink shared channel (PSSCH) on the first sidelink carrier is dropped (Yoshioka; Drop PSFCH-a, Par. 0175).
Lee-Yoshioka fail to explicitly teach,
the transceiver is further configured to retransmit the PSSCH on the first sidelink carrier.
However, in the same field of endeavor, YANG teaches,
the transceiver is further configured to retransmit the PSSCH on the first sidelink carrier (YANG; a dropped PSFCH transmission/reception may mean that the corresponding transmission associated with the PSFCH signal … retransmitted, Par. 0031).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to incorporate the teachings of Lee-Yoshioka to include the use of retransmission as taught by YANG in order to successfully complete transmission (YANG; Par. 0031).
Claim 6 and 16 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lee-Yoshioka and in further view of Li et al. (Li hereinafter) (US 20250031225 A1).
Regarding claim 6 and claim 16, Lee-Yoshioka teaches, The UE of Claim 1 and The method of Claim 11 respectively.
Lee-Yoshioka fail to explicitly teach,
a first priority value from the priority values is associated with a first time interval, and a second priority value from the priority values is associated with a second time interval.
However, in the same field of endeavor, Li teaches,
a first priority value from the priority values is associated with a first time interval, and a second priority value from the priority values is associated with a second time interval (Li; A selection priority of a carrier with a first time interval is higher or lower than a selection priority of a carrier with a second time interval, Par. 0678).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to incorporate the teachings of Lee-Yoshioka to include the use of time interval as taught by Li in order to determine priority (Li; Par. 0678).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Prior art US 20250280425 A1 teaches in Par. 013 that “shown in FIG. 7, and by reference number 720, the first UE 120-1 may select a number of carriers, of the plurality of carriers on which PSFCH communications are to be transmitted in the one or more PSFCH symbols, based at least in part on the respective carrier priority determined for each carrier”.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SHARMIN CHOWDHURY whose telephone number is (571)272-6419. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8:00 am - 5:00 pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Noel Beharry can be reached at 5712705630. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/SHARMIN CHOWDHURY/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2416
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