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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55 (KR10-2022-0055367 is received).
Acknowledgment is made of applicant's claim for foreign priority based on an application filed in Korea on 09/26/2024. It is noted, however, that applicant has not filed a certified copy of the KR10-2022-0048288 application as required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Should applicant desire to obtain the benefit of foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119(a)-(d) prior to declaration of an interference, a certified English translation of the foreign application must be submitted in reply to this action. 37 CFR 41.154(b) and 41.202(e).
Failure to provide a certified translation may result in no benefit being accorded for the non-English application.
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)(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.
Claims 1-5, 7-15 and 17-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by US 2021/0195649 A1 to Xue et al. (hereafter refers as Xue).
Regarding claims 1 and 11, Xue teaches a method of operating a first user equipment (UE) (a method of operating a sidelink UE, i.e. one of the UEs 115, 215, 400, paragraph [127] and Fig. 11), and a first user equipment (UE) (the sidelink UE, paragraph [127] and Fig. 1-3, 11), comprising:
at least one processor (including a processor 402, Fig. 4 and paragraphs [71, 127]), wherein the at least one processor causes the first UE to perform (wherein the processor causes the sidelink UE to perform the method, paragraphs [71-75]):
receiving listen-before-talk (LBT) configuration information (the sidelink receives LBT configuration information, paragraphs [69, 78, 87]);
identifying an LBT period based on the LBT configuration information (the sidelink UE identifies an LBT gap duration including a starting point/time, paragraphs [34, 66, 76, 81, 93, 100]);
performing an LBT operation in the LBT period (the sidelink UE performs an LBT operations in the LBT gap duration, at the identified starting point, paragraphs [92-93, 104, 128]); and
in response to a result of the LBT operation indicating an idle state, performing sidelink (SL) communication with a second UE (in response to a result of the LBT operation indicating an available state, the sidelink UE perform SL communication with a second UE, paragraphs [128-130]).
Regarding claims 2 and 12, Xue further teaches wherein the LBT configuration information includes at least one of LBT duration information (LBT gap duration, paragraph [69]), LBT periodicity information (LBT gap duration start and end boundaries, paragraph [69]), or LBT offset information (LBT starting points, paragraphs [34, 69, 92-93] and Fig. 6).
Regarding claims 3 and 13, Xue further teaches wherein identifying the LBT period further comprises: selecting an LBT duration corresponding to a priority of SL data based on the LBT duration information (selecting a starting point of a LBT gap duration based on the priority of SL data, wherein the LBT gap duration with different starting point has different paragraphs [35-37, 93-94, 96-97, 100, 102, 104]), and a length of the LBT period is the LBT duration (wherein the sidelink UE performs LBT process in the LBT gap duration, Fig. 6 and paragraphs [92-93, 104, 128]).
Regarding claims 4 and 14, Xue further teaches wherein an LBT periodicity indicated by the LBT periodicity information is configured to be associated with a physical sidelink feedback channel (PSFCH) periodicity (wherein the LBT periodicity/timing is associated with PSFCH periodicity/timing, paragraphs [65, 67] and Fig. 3, 6, 7-9).
Regarding claims 5 and 15, Xu further teaches wherein an LBT periodicity indicated by the LBT periodicity information is set to be shorter as the priority of the SL data is higher (wherein the LBT duration is set to be shorter when priority is higher, paragraph [97]), and the LBT periodicity is set to be longer as the priority of the SL data is lower (wherein the LBT duration is set to be longer when priority is lower, paragraph [97]).
Regarding claims 7 and 17, Xue further teaches wherein the LBT period is configured in a portion of or an entire symbol before the PSFCH symbol (wherein the LBT gap duration is configured in a portion of or an entire symbol before the PSFCH symbol, Fig. 6-10 and paragraphs [65, 97]).
Regarding claims 8 and 18, Xue further teaches wherein performing the SL communication with the second UE comprises:
transmitting SL data to the second UE in an unlicensed band (the sidelink UE/first UE transmits SL data to the second UE in an unlicensed band, paragraphs [102-103, 109, 119, 129]) and sidelink control information (SCI) including scheduling information of the SL data is transmitted to the second UE in a licensed band or the unlicensed band (the sidelink UE/first UE transmits SCI including scheduling information, paragraph [30], to the second UE/UE B in an unlicensed band, paragraphs [102-103, 109, 116, 119]).
Regarding claims 9 and 19, Xue further teaches wherein when the SCI is transmitted in the unlicensed band, the LBT operation is divided into a first LBT operation for transmission of the SCI (wherein the LBT operation is performed for a transmission of the SCI, [102-103, 109, 116, 119]) and a second LBT operation for transmission of the SL data (performing another LBT operation for transmission of the SL data when the SL data is scheduled by the SCI in another timing, paragraphs [99-103, 106-107], Fig. 7-9).
Regarding claims 10 and 20, Xue further teaches wherein performing the SL communication with the second UE comprises: transmitting SCI to the second UE within a channel occupancy time (COT) of an unlicensed band (transmitting SCI to the second UE within a COT 1002, paragraphs [34-36, 112-114, 118], and Fig. 10, of an unlicensed band, paragraph [70]), and SL data scheduled by the SCI is transmitted to the second UE within the COT without performing the LBT operation (wherein the SL data scheduled by the SCI is transmitted to the second UE within the COT, after transmitting the SCI, without performing the LBT operation, i.e. single LBT operation is used for both SCI and sidelink data, paragraphs [33, 81, 94-96, 111-115]).
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claims 6 and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 2021/0195649 A1 to Xue et al. (hereafter refers as Xue) as applied to claims above, and further in view of US 2023/0022077 A1 to Liu et al. (hereafter refers as Liu).
Regarding claims 6 and 16, Xu does not explicitly teach wherein the LBT configuration information is received “through at least one of higher layer signaling, medium access control (MAC) signaling, or physical (PHY) signaling of the base station”.
Liu teaches a LBT configuration information is received (an UE receives from a base station, a configuration including LBT parameters, paragraph [75]) through at least one of higher layer signaling, medium access control (MAC) signaling, or physical (PHY) signaling of the base station (wherein the configuration is received via RRC message, MAC control element signaling or physical signaling, paragraph [76]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skills in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the teachings of a LBT configuration information is received through at least one of higher layer signaling, medium access control (MAC) signaling, or physical (PHY) signaling of the base station as taught by Liu, with the teachings of LBT configuration information as taught by Xue, for purpose of expanding the usages of the teachings by allowing the LBT configuration information to be received via different suitable channels/protocols (see Liu, paragraphs [48, 76]).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
US 2023/0087110 A1 discloses an UE TX selects an LBT gap duration based on a priority of packet to be transmitted (paragraphs [75-78]), wherein the UE TX performs LBT sensing in the LBT gap duration to acquire sidelink channel (paragraphs [31, 33-34]), and wherein the LBT gap is configured by a base station via RRC signaling (paragraph [55]).
US 2024/0430912 A1 discloses UE performs LBT procedure within the defer period (paragraph [96]), where the defer period is determined based on LTB priority class (Table 1).
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DUNG B. HUYNH whose telephone number is (571)270-7642. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9:00 AM - 6:00 PM.
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/DUNG B HUYNH/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2469 June 12, 2026
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