DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
1. The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Cross Reference to Related Applications
2. The current application is a U.S. National Phase application of the International Patent Application No. PCT/CN2022/076081, filed on February 11, 2022, the entire contents of which are incorporated by reference.
Claims status
3. This office action is a response to an application filed on August 09, 2024 in which claims 1-15 are pending for examination.
Information Disclosure Statement
4. The Examiner has considered the reference(s) listed on the Information Disclosure Statements submitted on August 09, 2024 ; April 23, 2025; August 22, 2025; October 02, 2025; November 11, 2025 and July 24, 2026.
Drawings
5. The Examiner contends that the drawings submitted on September 18, 2024 are acceptable for examination proceedings.
Claim Objections (minor informalities)
6. Claims 10 and 14 are objected to because of the following informality:
Claim 10 recites “…(LCP) procedure to allow a coordination information request…” in line 7 and “…wherein coordination information request…” in line 8.
It appears that “coordination information request” in line 8 is referring back to previously recited. In order to avoid antecedent basis issue, it is suggested to amend “…wherein coordination information request…” in line 8 to “…wherein the coordination information request…”.
If applicant is of the opinion that “coordination information request” in line 8 is not referring back to “a coordination information request” from line 7, further clarification is requested and it is suggested to fix antecedent basis issues.
Regarding claim 14, the claim is object based on the same reasoning as presented in the rejection of claim 10.
For the purpose of examinations, the examiner will interpret the claims as best understood.
Further clarification is requested to understand what applicant is trying to accomplish.
35 USC § 112 (f) Claim Limitations Analysis
7. The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(f):
(f) Element in Claim for a Combination. – An element in a claim for a combination may be expressed as a means or step for performing a specified function without the recital of structure, material, or acts in support thereof, and such claim shall be construed to cover the corresponding structure, material, or acts described in the specification and equivalents thereof.
8. The following is a quotation of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph:
An element in a claim for a combination may be expressed as a means or step for performing a specified function without the recital of structure, material, or acts in support thereof, and such claim shall be construed to cover the corresponding structure, material, or acts described in the specification and equivalents thereof.
CLAIM INTERPRETATION
9. Claims 14-15 have been analyzed under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph.
Regarding claims 14-15, the limitation recite “…a communication unit configured to …determine...”.
A review of the specification shows that the following appears to be the corresponding structure described in the specification for the 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph limitation:
Figs 1-2, paragraphs [0149]- [0154] in the spec provides “a processor, device, component, circuit, structure, machine, unit, etc. can be configured to perform one or more of the functions described herein; the term “configured to” or “configured for” as used herein with respect to a specified operation or function refers to a processor, device, component, circuit, structure, machine, unit, etc. that is physically constructed, programmed and/or arranged to perform the specified operation or function; furthermore, a skilled person would understand that various illustrative logical blocks, units, devices, components and circuits described herein can be implemented within or performed by an integrated circuit (IC) that can include a general purpose processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable gate array (FPGA) or other programmable logic device, or any combination thereof”. The term “communication” unit is either defined in the specification as a particular structure or known by one skilled in the art as denoting a type of structure device, hence, 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph is not invoked. [Note: MPEP 2181, Non-specialized functions: functions known by those of ordinary skill in the art as being commonly performed by a general purpose computer or computer component].
If Applicant wishes to provide further explanation or dispute the Examiner's interpretation of the corresponding structure, Applicant must identify the corresponding structure with reference to the specification by page and line number, and to the drawing, if any, by reference characters in response to this Office Action.
If the Applicant does not intend to have the claimed limitation(s) treated under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, Applicant may amend the claim(s) so that it/they will clearly not invoke 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, present a sufficient showing that the claim recites/recite sufficient structure, material, or acts for performing the claimed function to preclude application of 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph.
For more information, see MPEP § 2173 et seq. and Supplementary Examination Guidelines for Determining Compliance with 35 U.S.C. 112 and for Treatment of Related Issues in Patent Applications, 76 FR 7162, 7167 (Feb. 9, 2011).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
10. 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 of this title, 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.
11. Claims 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 and 14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lohr et al. (US 2024/0430913 A1; support for the cited paragraphs sporadically through the disclosures of provisional application number. 63/275,348 field on November 03, 2021), hereinafter “Lohr” in view of DI GIROLAMO et al. (US 2023/0171738 A1), hereinafter “Rocco”.
Regarding claim 1, Lohr discloses a wireless communication method (Figs.1, 4, wireless communication system for logical channel prioritization (LCP) procedure considering inter-user equipment coordination (IUC) schemes) comprising:
determining, by a first wireless communication terminal (paragraphs [0083]-[0086], [0241], the set of resources (preferred or not preferred) for UE-A to UE-B’s transmission 1 (based on sensing result)), a resource set in a resource pool (paragraphs [0083]-[0086], [0241], per resource pool); and
performing, by the first wireless communication terminal, a Logical Channel Prioritization (LCP) procedure (paragraphs [0042], [0232], LCP procedure performed in a first step UE/MAC) to allow coordination information to be transmitted to a second wireless communication terminal via the resource set (paragraphs [0042], [0232], IUC information received for selected destination),
wherein the coordination information is transmitted to allow the second wireless communication terminal to perform a sidelink transmission with the first wireless communication terminal (paragraphs [0042], [0232], based on the selected destination, MAC layer informs the PHY about the selected destination and potentially IUC information received for the selected destination; PHY will then perform the sensing/resource selection procedure thereby considering the IUC information received from MAC; when resource candidates are indicated from PHY to MAC as a result of the sensing/resource selection procedure, MAC performs the regular LCP procedure).
Assuming Arguendo that Lohr does not explicitly disclose or strongly suggest: “determining, by a first wireless communication terminal, a resource set in a resource pool; and performing, by the first wireless communication terminal, a Logical Channel Prioritization (LCP) procedure to allow coordination information to be transmitted to a second wireless communication terminal via the resource set, wherein the coordination information is transmitted to allow the second wireless communication terminal to perform a sidelink transmission with the first wireless communication terminal”, Rocco from the same or similar field of endeavor explicitly discloses determining, by a first wireless communication terminal, a resource set in a resource pool (Fig. 1, paragraphs [0056], [0104], [0109], [0156]-[0157], [0178], TX resource pools to be monitored); and
performing, by the first wireless communication terminal, a Logical Channel Prioritization (LCP) procedure (paragraphs [0228]-[0229], [0233], logical channel with the highest priority) to allow coordination information (paragraphs [0228]-[0229], [0233], coordination of assistance Information) to be transmitted to a second wireless communication terminal via the resource set (paragraphs [0228]-[0229], [0233], during the Sidelink Grant Reception process, the Sidelink Grant Reception may determine the destination of the logical channel with the highest priority),
wherein the coordination information is transmitted to allow the second wireless communication terminal (paragraphs [0157], [0178], requester UE) to perform a sidelink transmission (paragraphs [0157], [0178], sidelink transmissions over the slots) with the first wireless communication terminal (paragraphs [0157], [0178], assistant UE).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made to provide “the coordination information is transmitted to allow the second wireless communication terminal to perform a sidelink transmission with the first wireless communication terminal” as taught by Rocco, in the system of Lohr, so that it would provide distributed mechanism which relies on sensing to determine assistance information used to address a number of drawbacks such as power inefficiency, unused sidelink resources, and potential sidelink traffic collisions (Rocco, paragraph [0003]).
Regarding claim 2, Lohr discloses the coordination information comprises a preferred resource (paragraphs [0083]-[0086], preferred for UE-B’s transmission 1).
Regarding claim 3, Lohr discloses the coordination information comprises a non-preferred resource (paragraphs [0083]-[0086], not preferred for UE-B’s transmission 1).
Regarding claim 5, the claim is rejected based on the same reasoning as presented in the rejection of claim 1 from the perspective of second wireless communication terminal.
Regarding claim 6, the claim is rejected based on the same reasoning as presented in the rejection of claim 2 from the perspective of the second wireless communication terminal.
Regarding claim 7, the claim is rejected based on the same reasoning as presented in the rejection of claim 3 from the perspective of the second wireless communication terminal.
Regarding claim 8, Lohr discloses the second wireless communication is configured to receive an indication indicating a resource conflict from the first wireless communication terminal and remove a conflicted resource in a slot according to the indication (paragraphs [0088], [0095]-[0097], [0117]-[0119], UUC scheme 2, Option 2-1 – Option 2-2; coordination information sent from UE-A to UE-B is the presence of expected/potential and/or detected resource conflict on the resources indicated by UE-B's SCI).
Regarding claim 9, Lohr discloses the second wireless communication is configured to receive an indication indicating a resource conflict from the first wireless communication terminal and reselect an available resource to replace a conflicted resource in a slot (paragraphs [0088], [0095]-[0097], [0117]-[0119], UUC scheme 2, Option 2-1 – Option 2-2; coordination information sent from UE-A to UE-B is the presence of expected/potential and/or detected resource conflict on the resources indicated by UE-B's SCI).
Regarding claim 10, the claim is rejected based on the same reasoning as presented in the rejection of claim 1.
Regarding claim 11, the claim is rejected based on the same reasoning as presented in the rejection of claim 2.
Regarding claim 12, the claim is rejected based on the same reasoning as presented in the rejection of claim 3.
Regarding claim 14, the claim is rejected based on the same reasoning as presented in the rejection of claim 1.
12. Claims 4, 13 and 15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lohr et al. (US 2024/0430913 A1; support for the cited paragraphs sporadically through the disclosures of provisional application number. 63/275,348 field on November 03, 2021), hereinafter “Lohr” in view of DI GIROLAMO et al. (US 2023/0171738 A1), hereinafter “Rocco” in view of Deng et al. (US 2023/0164825 A1), hereinafter “Deng”.
Regarding claim 4, Lohr in view of Rocco disclose the method according to claim 1.
While Lohr in view of Rocco implicitly refer to “the first wireless communication terminal is configured to determine the resource pool where the coordination information is generated”, Deng from the same or similar field of endeavor discloses the first wireless communication terminal is configured to determine the resource pool where the coordination information is generated (Fig. 5, paragraphs [0110], [0115]-[0116], [0133], set of consecutive assistance transmission windows within resource pool; a resource allocation may be any of a resource pool and a set of time and frequency resources allocated within a resource pool).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made to provide “the first wireless communication terminal is configured to determine the resource pool where the coordination information is generated” as taught by Deng, in the combined system of Lohr and Rocco, so that it would provide architectures and interfaces for communications in an advanced or next generation wireless communication system, including communications carried out using a new radio and/or new radio (NR) access technology and communication systems (Deng, paragraph [0001]).
Regarding claim 13, the claim is rejected based on the same reasoning as presented in the rejection of claim 4.
Regarding claim 15, the claim is rejected based on the same reasoning as presented in the rejection of claim 4.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SITHU KO whose telephone number is 571-272-8647. The examiner can normally be reached on Mon-Friday 8:30am-5:00pmEST.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Edan Orgad can be reached on 571-272-7884. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/SITHU KO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2414
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