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 § 112
Claims 1 and 2 recites the limitation “... the reference signal comprises ...” “… the first indication information is used to …” “… the second indication information is used to …”. The applicant provided an “at least one of A, B, or C” list, but then subsequently claimed “the A,” “the B,” and “the C” as if they are all mandatory. This creates a severe lack of antecedent basis. If the sidelink information only comprises the “first indication information,” then “the reference signal” and “the second indication information” lack antecedent basis and render the claim scope ambiguous.
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.
Claim(s) 1-6, 8, and 10-12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Deng et al. (US 20240421876 A1)
Regarding claims 1 and 2 Deng discloses:
A terminal device, comprising a processor and a memory, wherein the memory is configured to store a computer program, and the processor is configured to invoke and run the computer program stored in the memory to cause the terminal device to perform: (Paragraph [0182], “a Wireless Transmit-Receive Unit (WTRU), comprising at least one processor (comprising circuitry comprising at least one processor, a memory”)
determining a first priority corresponding to first sidelink information; (Paragraph [0173], “A RX WTRU may use the spatial domain filter associated the SL identification of a SL TB with the highest priority”)
wherein the first sidelink information comprises at least one of following: a reference signal, transmission configuration indication (TCI) state configuration information, TCI state indication information, first reference signal resource indication information, first indication information, second indication information, or third indication information; (Paragraph [0178], “transmission of an SL Transmission Block (TB) over a SL identified by SL identification information, a Channel State Information Reference Signal (CSI-RS) is included in a Physical SL Control Channel/Physical SL Shared Channel (PSCCH/PSSCH) transmission of the SL TB.”)
and sending the first sidelink information to a second terminal based on the first priority; (Paragraph [0173], “when a RX WTRU determines a spatial conflict, a RX WTRU may perform a prioritization based on the priorities indicated in the SCIs reserving the resources in the SL slot. A RX WTRU may use the spatial domain filter associated the SL identification of a SL TB with the highest priority” and paragraph [0177], “A TX WTRU may perform a PSFCH transmission associated with a SL TB with the highest priority.”)
wherein the reference signal comprises at least one of following: a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS), a physical sidelink control channel (PSCCH) demodulation reference signal (DMRS), a physical sidelink shared channel (PSSCH) DMRS, or a phase tracking reference signal (PT-RS); (Paragraph [0178], “transmission of an SL Transmission Block (TB) over a SL identified by SL identification information, a Channel State Information Reference Signal (CSI-RS) is included in a Physical SL Control Channel/Physical SL Shared Channel (PSCCH/PSSCH) transmission of the SL TB.”)
the first indication information is used to instruct to start a process of selecting a spatial domain transmission filter; (Paragraph [0123], “A TX WTRU may determine a set of different spatial domain filters (N.sub.CSI-RS-index) to use for SL CSI-RS and PSCCH/PSSCH transmissions and associate a SL CSI-RS index with each determined spatial domain filter.” And paragraph [0127], “a TX WTRU 503 may perform each SL CSI-RS and PSCCH/PSSCH transmissions in each group using one of the determined spatial domain filters associated with one SL CSI-RS index.” And paragraph [0154], “a TX WTRU may determine a spatial domain filter indicated by the SL TCI state associated with the SL identification information of the SL TB, e.g., a unicast transmission…”)
the second indication information is used to instruct to start a process of selecting a spatial domain reception filter; (Paragraph [0141], “A RX WTRU may use a spatial domain filter indicated by a default SL TCI state (as indicated in both FIGS. 5 and 6) to receive a PSCCH/PSCCH transmission.” And paragraph [0143], “A RX WTRU may determine the value of Mgroup based on NTX and NCSI-RS-index indicated in the received SCI and determine the spatial domain filter(s) to use for measurement of SL CSI-RS transmission within a group.”)
and the third indication information is used to instruct the second terminal to report second reference signal resource indication information and/or a measurement result. (Paragraph [0126], “a TX WTRU 503 may perform each SL CSI-RS and PSCCH/PSSCH transmission using the set of the determined spatial domain filters according to an ascending order of the associated SL CSI-RS index in each of the M.sub.group groups of transmissions. This may be equivalent to a cycling of the set of determined spatial domain filters in each group and a repetition of such a cycling over M.sub.group groups” and paragraph [0143], “A RX WTRU may determine the value of Mgroup based on NTX and NCSI-RS-index indicated in the received SCI and determine the spatial domain filter(s) to use for measurement of SL CSI-RS transmission within a group…a RX WTRU may use a spatial domain filter indicated by a default SL TCI state to measure all groups of SL CSI-RS transmissions.”)
Regarding claim 3 Deng discloses:
wherein the reference signal is used for at least one of following: selection of a spatial domain transmission filter; (Paragraph [0123], “A TX WTRU may determine a set of different spatial domain filters (N.sub.CSI-RS-index) to use for SL CSI-RS and PSCCH/PSSCH transmissions and associate a SL CSI-RS index with each determined spatial domain filter.” And paragraph [0127], “a TX WTRU 503 may perform each SL CSI-RS and PSCCH/PSSCH transmissions in each group using one of the determined spatial domain filters associated with one SL CSI-RS index.”)
selection of a spatial domain reception filter; (Paragraph [0077], “Beam management design including the determination of a spatial domain filter by a WTRU for transmission and reception is specified in 3GPP Uu standard based on Quasi-CoLocation (QCL) relationship between two channels/signals and Transmission Configuration Indication (TCI) state to indicate such QCL relationship.” And Paragraph [0079], “A Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) and Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH) transmission configuration includes a DL TCI state indication, of which the value can be a synchronization signal (Synchronization Signal Block (SSB)) or reference signal (CSI-RS) that is transmitted using same spatial domain filter as the one used for the PDCCH and PDSCH transmission.” And Paragraph [0141], “A RX WTRU may use a spatial domain filter indicated by a default SL TCI state (as indicated in both FIGS. 5 and 6) to receive a PSCCH/PSCCH transmission.” And paragraph [0143], “A RX WTRU may determine the value of Mgroup based on NTX and NCSI-RS-index indicated in the received SCI and determine the spatial domain filter(s) to use for measurement of SL CSI-RS transmission within a group.” Discloses the relationship on how the UE determines the spatial reception filter. )
or measurement of channel state information (CSI),
wherein the CSI comprises at least one of following: a channel quality indicator (CQI), a rank indicator (RI), or a precoding matrix indicator (PMI). (Paragraph [0136], “A SL CSI reporting request for SL TCI state association establishment or update, e.g., a two-bit SCI indicator to indicate at least no SL CSI reporting (no SL CSI-RS transmission with PSCCH/PSSCH transmission in the SL slot), SL CSI reporting for CQI measurement”)
Regarding claim 4 Deng discloses:
The terminal device according to claim 2, wherein in a case in which the reference signal is used for selection of a spatial domain reception filter, transmission of the reference signal has the highest priority. (Paragraph [0122], “a TX WTRU may determine to use Type A SL CSI-RS resource configuration when the priority of the SL TB exceeds a (pre)configured threshold (see for example FIG. 7B, 711—Yes, step 712). A high priority value indicates a low QoS requirement (e.g., priority, reliability, latency, etc.) and therefore a larger number of transmission errors due to using different spatial domain filter for PCCCH/PSSCH transmissions of a SL TB may be acceptable.” And paragraph [0177], “A TX WTRU may perform a PSFCH transmission associated with a SL TB with the highest priority”.)
Regarding claim 5 Deng discloses:
The terminal device according to claim 2, wherein the TCI state configuration information comprises at least one of following: a TCI state identifier, a target reference signal identifier, or a quasi co-located (QCL) type; (Paragraph [0077], “Transmission Configuration Indication (TCI) state to indicate such QCL relationship.”)
the TCI state identifier is used to indicate or identify a TCI state;
the target reference signal identifier is used to indicate or identify a target reference signal, and the target reference signal comprises one or more of following: a CSI-RS, a PSCCH DMRS, a PSSCH DMRS, or a PT-RS;
and the QCL type indicates a TypeD type. (Paragraph [0078], “The target and reference downlink channel or signal can thus be considered as Quasi-CoLocated, or ‘QCL-ed’/‘QCL:ed’ in short, (in terms of spatial RX parameters, i.e. Type D).”)
Regarding claim 6 Deng discloses:
wherein the TCI state indication information is used to determine at least one of following: a reference signal associated with the TCI state indication information; a spatial domain reception filter that needs to be used by the second terminal; or a spatial domain transmission filter used by the first terminal. (Paragraph [0079], “A Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) and Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH) transmission configuration includes a DL TCI state indication, of which the value can be a synchronization signal (Synchronization Signal Block (SSB)) or reference signal (CSI-RS) that is transmitted using same spatial domain filter as the one used for the PDCCH and PDSCH transmission.”)
Regarding claim 8 Deng discloses:
wherein the first reference signal resource indication information is used to determine a spatial domain reception filter used by the second terminal and/or a spatial domain transmission filter used by the first terminal. (Paragraph [0125], “A TW WTRU may perform sensing using the N.sub.CSI-RS-index determined spatial domain filter and obtain N.sub.CSI-RS-index sets of available candidate resources. Each set may be applied for resource selection for PSCCH/PSSCH transmissions performed in the same SL slot with the SL CSI-RS transmission with the index associated with the used spatial domain filter.” And paragraph [0126], “SL CSI reporting using Type A SL CSI-RS resource configuration. In one embodiment shown as Option a) (reference 502) of spatial domain filter use, a TX WTRU 503 may perform each SL CSI-RS and PSCCH/PSSCH transmission using the set of the determined spatial domain filters”)
Regarding claim 9 Deng discloses:
The terminal device according to claim 2, in the process of selecting a spatial domain transmission filter, the first terminal sends the reference signal by using different spatial domain transmission filters, the reference signal is used for receiving and measurement by the second terminal using a same spatial domain reception filter, and the first terminal receives the second reference signal resource indication information and/or the measurement result sent by the second terminal. (Paragraph [0126], “a TX WTRU 503 may perform each SL CSI-RS and PSCCH/PSSCH transmission using the set of the determined spatial domain filters according to an ascending order of the associated SL CSI-RS index in each of the M.sub.group groups of transmissions. This may be equivalent to a cycling of the set of determined spatial domain filters in each group and a repetition of such a cycling over M.sub.group groups” and paragraph [0143], “a RX WTRU may use a spatial domain filter indicated by a default SL TCI state to measure all groups of SL CSI-RS transmissions.”)
Regarding claim 10 Deng discloses:
wherein the first indication information is used to indicate a first CSI-RS resource set; and the first CSI-RS resource set is configured by using a sidelink bandwidth part (BWP) or resource pool configuration information; (Paragraph [0093], “ A WTRU may be (pre)configured with a set of SL CSI-RS resource configurations in a resource pool. “)
or the first CSI-RS resource set is configured by the second terminal for the first terminal; or the method further comprises: configuring, by the first terminal, the first CSI-RS resource set for the second terminal.
Regarding claim 11 Deng discloses:
wherein the first sidelink information is carried in at least one of following: SCI, a medium access control control element (MAC CE), or PC5-radio resource control (PC5-RRC). (Paragraph [0089], “A WTRU may indicate the SL identification information of a SL TB in a Sidelink Control Information (SCI) transmitted in a PSCCH associated with the PSSCH transmission of the SL TB.”)
Regarding claim 12 Deng discloses:
wherein the first priority corresponding to the first sidelink information is configured by using protocol pre-defined information, pre-configuration information, or network configuration information. (Paragraph [0122], “a TX WTRU may determine to use Type A SL CSI-RS resource configuration when the priority of the SL TB exceeds a (pre)configured threshold (see for example FIG. 7B, 711—Yes, step 712). A high priority value indicates a low QoS requirement (e.g., priority, reliability, latency, etc.)”)
Regarding claim 13 Deng discloses:
The terminal device according to claim 2, wherein the sending the first sidelink information to a second terminal based on the first priority comprises: in a case in which a time domain resource of the first sidelink information overlaps that of fourth sidelink information, determining a second priority corresponding to the fourth sidelink information; and in a case in which a value of the first priority is less than a value of the second priority, sending the first sidelink information to the second terminal. (Paragraph [0176], “A spatial conflict may occur when multiple transmissions are performed at non- or partial-overlapping angle of departure (AoD). A TX WTRU may determine such a spatial conflict between PSFCH transmissions based on the configuration of the associated spatial domain filter.” And paragraph [0177], “when a TX WTRU determines such a conflict, a TX WTRU may perform a prioritization based on the priorities indicated in the SCIs associated with the PSSCH transmission corresponding to the HARQ feedback. A TX WTRU may perform a PSFCH transmission associated with a SL TB with the highest priority.”)
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.
Claim 7 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Deng in view of Kim (US 20190253220 A1).
Regarding claim 7 Deng does not disclose:
wherein the TCI state indication information comprises a TCI state identifier; wherein the TCI state identifier is used to indicate or identify a TCI state.
Kim discloses:
wherein the TCI state indication information comprises a TCI state identifier; wherein the TCI state identifier is used to indicate or identify a TCI state. (Paragraph [0098], “The TCI-state configuration information may include a TCI-state index (e.g., a TCI-state identifier (ID))”)
Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Deng’s TCI state indication information to include Kim’s Identifier. One would have been motivated to do this to allow the network to dynamically tell the UE which of the multiple filters to use.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 13 is 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.
Regarding claim 13, the prior art in single or in combination fails to teach, “The terminal device according to claim 2, wherein the sending the first sidelink information to a second terminal based on the first priority comprises: in a case in which a time domain resource of the first sidelink information overlaps that of fourth sidelink information, determining a second priority corresponding to the fourth sidelink information; and in a case in which a value of the first priority is less than a value of the second priority, sending the first sidelink information to the second terminal.” In combination with other limitation of the claim(s).
Conclusion
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/NAM P. CAO/ Examiner, Art Unit 2479 /JAE Y LEE/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2479
