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 § 102
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)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1, 3, 6, 7, 9, 13, 15, 18 – 22, 24 – 26 and 28 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Xue et al. (US Publication 2023/0171815).
Regarding claims 1, 13 and 18, Xue teaches a sidelink transmission method, comprising:
listening, by a terminal, for at least one sub-channel to obtain a
corresponding listening result; (i.e. fig. 8 shows a sidelink UE may perform an access procedure in order to gain access to subchannels for sidelink communications; see paragraph 136) (See Also; an access procedure for UE sidelink communications includes LBT (listen before talk); see paragraphs 116, 117) and
determining, based on the listening result, whether to perform sidelink transmission, wherein each sub-channel in the at least one sub-channel comprises at least one interlace, and the interlace comprises: (i.e. fig. 8 shows a sidelink UE may perform an LBT access procedure in order to access a subchannel, wherein each subchannel may comprise one or more interlaces; see fig. 8a; subchannel 0 ;SL UE1 (element 806) associated with interlace 0 (element 818 of fig. 8b); see paragraphs 140)
an interlace determined based on an entire carrier, (i.e. fig. 8b shows the interlace is based on the entire secondary carrier (element 805))
wherein a size of each sub-channel in the at least one sub-channel is determined by a physical resource block (PRB) comprised in each interlace; (i.e. fig. 8a and 8b shows the size of each subchannel is based on the associated number of PRBs associated with the interlace; see paragraph 140)
a resource pool comprises the at least one sub-channel. (i.e. fig. 9 shows the subchannel may be comprised of a resource pool; see paragraph 151)
Regarding claims 3, 15 and 20, Xue teaches the method according to claim 1, wherein the interlace determined based on the entire carrier comprises:
an interlace in at least one interlace obtained by performing interlacing on the entire carrier. (i.e. fig. 8b shows multiple interlacing (indices 0 - 4) over the entire secondary carrier (element 805); see paragraphs 140)
Regarding claims 6, 21 and 25, Xue teaches the method according to claim 1, wherein the size of each sub-channel in the at least one sub-channel is further determined by at least one of the following: a number of interlaces comprised in the sub-channel. (i.e. fig. 8a and 8b shows the size of each subchannel is based upon the number of interlaces and corresponding PRBs associated with the subchannel; see subchannel 0 (element 806) associated with interlace 0 of multiple PRBs)
Regarding claims 7, 22 and 26, Xue teaches the method according to claim 1, wherein each sub-channel comprises an integer number of resource block sets (RB sets) in frequency domain; and/or an index of the at least one sub-channel is determined by at least one of the following: a number of RB sets corresponding to one interlace, a total number of interlaces obtained by performing interlacing, a number of consecutive RB sets comprised in the sub-channel, or a number of consecutive interlaces comprised in the sub-channel. (i.e. fig. 8 shows multiple subchannels in the frequency domain that may be accessed by SL UEs, wherein each subchannel may be associated with a number PRBs that determines the size of the sidelink channel, wherein each subchannel is associated with an interlace index comprised of PRBs that determine channel size; see paragraphs 138 - 140)
Regarding claims 9, 24 and 28, Xue teaches the method according to claim 1, wherein sidelink control information (SCI) transmitted by the terminal indicates at least one of the following: an available resource block set (RB set) of the at least one sub-channel; or an RB set used by the terminal in the at least one sub-channel. (i.e. sidelink control information (SCI) transmitted by the UE may include sidelink resource allocation including subchannels and associated PRBs; see paragraphs 89, 90)
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 8, 23, 27 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
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ROBERT J LOPATA whose telephone number is (571)270-5158. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri 10-7 EST.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Sujoy Kundu can be reached at (571)272-8586. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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ROBERT J. LOPATA
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2471
/ROBERT J LOPATA/
October 1, 2026Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2471
