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 .
DETAILED ACTION
2. This Office Action is in response to application filed on 08/15/2024. Claims 1-20 were previously pending. Claims 1-20 are rejected.
Information Disclosure Statement
3. The information disclosure statement(s) (IDS) submitted on 08/15/2024, 05/20/2025, 11/06/2025, and 04/08/2026 is/are is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the IDS(s) is/are being considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
4. 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 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.
4.1. 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.
4.2. Claim(s) 1, 3-6, 8-9, 11-14, 16-18, 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Bao et al., (“Bao”, US 2022/0141824 A1).
Regarding Claim 1, Bao teaches, A method of wireless communication, comprising:
receiving, by a first user device (FIG.1, device 02), a carrier aggregation (CA) operation information (FIG.4, first information), wherein the first user device is configured to perform a device-to-device communication using CA with a second user device (device 01) without relaying through a network device (Bao, FIG.1, devices 01, 02, [0036], FIG.4, S201A1, [0088-89]: receiving, by a device 02 (“1st user device) a target information where the target information includes the first information, and the target information is PC5 RRC signaling (“sidelink” or “device-to-device”); [0005]: the first information is used to indicate a target CA parameter configured for a sidelink service, and the sidelink service is a sidelink service between the first device and the second device (“without relaying”)); and
operating the first user device (device 02) according to the CA operation information (Bao, S205, [0089]: receiving, a first control signaling where the first control signaling is used to indicate a processing manner for each of target carrier(s); [0092]: The processing manner may be activation or deactivation of each of the carrier(s) according to the first control signaling).
Regarding Claim 3, Bao teaches, The method of claim 1, wherein the CA operation information (first information) includes CA assistance information that comprises a resource mode for each of N carriers (Bao, [0147-149]: If the resource allocation mode used by the device 01 is the Mode 2, the device 01 autonomously controls the number of carriers for CA. For example, when a service volume increases (for example, exceeds a threshold), a service transmission delay increases (for example, exceeds a threshold), or a single carrier no longer meet a service transmission requirement (a determining threshold is configured, preconfigured, or standard-specified), the device 01 may enable CA transmission for the service, select the number of carriers for CA according to a preset rule, and add, to a header of an L2 data PDU over PC5 interface, the first information used to indicate the number of carriers for CA).
Regarding Claim 4, Bao teaches, The method of claim 1, wherein the CA operation information (first information) comprises CA configuration information (CA parameter) that includes one or more mapping rules between services and carriers (Bao, [0052-53]: The target CA parameter may include at least one of: a first carrier activation list, the number of carriers for CA, or second indication information. The first carrier activation list corresponds to a target service (“mapping rule”). The number of carriers for CA corresponds to the target service. The second indication information may be used to indicate whether CA transmission is to be performed for the target service. The target service may be all services or a specified service).
Regarding Claim 5, Bao teaches, The method of claim 4, the mapping rules is that one service is associated to a carrier list including one or more carriers (Bao, [0053]: The first carrier activation list corresponds to a target service. The number of carriers for CA corresponds to the target service. The second indication information may be used to indicate whether CA transmission is to be performed for the target service. The target service may be all services or a specified service).
Regarding Claim 6, Bao teaches, The method of claim 5, wherein the carrier list includes default carriers which are assumed to be supported by peer device (Bao, [0085]: the PCS RRC signaling may be preconfigured or agreed upon in advance. For example, transmission may be performed on a common carrier; or a specific carrier may be specified in a list of carriers allowing service transmission indicated by a higher layer, for example, a default carrier is explicitly indicated; or it is agreed upon that a carrier with a lowest frequency or a highest frequency is used for transmission. It can be understood that, during transmission of the PCS RRC signaling, if receive-end UE is not sure of a capability or reception, for example, in a groupcast case, a reception effect can be improved by preconfiguring or agreeing upon in advance a carrier on which the PCS RRC signaling is to be transmitted).
Regarding Claim 8, Bao teaches, The method of claim 1, wherein the CA operation information (first information) comprises CA configuration information (target CA parameter) (Bao, [0005]: the first information is used to indicate a target CA parameter configured for a sidelink service, and the sidelink service is a sidelink service between the first device and the second device).
Regarding Claim 9, Bao teaches, A method of wireless communication, comprising:
transmitting, by a wireless device (FIG.1, device 01) to a first user device (device 02), a carrier aggregation (CA) configuration information (FIG.4, first information), wherein the first user device is configured to perform a device-to-device communication using CA with a second user device (device 01) without relaying through a network device (Bao, FIG.1, devices 01, 02, [0036], FIG.4, S201A1, [0088-89]: receiving, by a device 02 (“1st user device) a target information where the target information includes the first information, and the target information is PC5 RRC signaling (“sidelink” or “device-to-device”); [0005]: the first information is used to indicate a target CA parameter configured for a sidelink service, and the sidelink service is a sidelink service between the st user device), a first control signaling where the first control signaling is used to indicate a processing manner for each of target carrier(s); [0092]: The processing manner may be activation or deactivation of each of the carrier(s) according to the first control signaling)).
Regarding Claims 11, see similar rejection to Claims 3.
Regarding Claim 12, Bao teaches, The method of claim 9, wherein the CA configuration information includes two mapping rules between services and carriers (Bao, [0052-53]: The target CA parameter may include at least one of: a first carrier activation list, the number of carriers for CA, or second indication information. The first carrier activation list corresponds to a target service (“1st mapping rule”). The number of carriers for CA corresponds to the target service (“2nd mapping rule”). The second indication information may be used to indicate whether CA transmission is to be performed for the target service. The target service may be all services or a specified service).
Regarding Claim 13, Bao teaches, The method of claim 12, wherein one of the mapping rules is mandatory and the other mapping rule is optional (Bao, [0052-53]: The mapping rule of “the first carrier activation list corresponds to a target service (“1st mapping rule”)” is mandatory. The mapping rule of “the number of carriers for CA corresponds to the target service (“2nd mapping rule”)” is optional.).
Regarding Claim 14, Bao teaches, An apparatus (FIG.1, device 02) for wireless communication comprising one or more processors (110), configured to cause the apparatus to (Bao, FIG.1, devices 01, 02, [0036]; FIG.8, processor 110, [0274, 277]: including processor 100, configured to cause apparatus (device 01)):
receive, by a first user device (device 02), a carrier aggregation (CA) operation information (FIG.4, first information), wherein the first user device is configured to perform a device-to-device communication using CA with a second user device (device 01) without relaying through a network device (Bao, FIG.1, devices 01, 02, [0036], FIG.4, S201A1, [0088-89]: receiving, by a device 02 (“1st user device) a target information where the target information includes the first information, and the target information is PC5 RRC signaling (“sidelink” or “device-to-device”); [0005]: the first information is used to indicate a target CA parameter configured for a sidelink service, and the sidelink service is a sidelink service between the device 01 and the device 02 (“without relaying”)); and
operate the first user device (device 02) according to the CA operation information (Bao, S205, [0089]: receiving, a first control signaling where the first control signaling is used to indicate a processing manner for each of target carrier(s); [0092]: The processing manner may be activation or deactivation of each of the carrier(s) according to the first control signaling).
Regarding Claims 16-17, see similar rejection to Claims 3-4 respectively.
Regarding Claim 18, Bao teaches, An apparatus (FIG.1, device 01) for wireless communication comprising one or more processors (FIG.8, processor 110), configured to cause the apparatus to (Bao, Bao, FIG.1, devices 01, 02, FIG.8, device 01, [0274-275]: including processor 100, configured to cause apparatus (device 01)):
transmit, by a wireless device (device 01) to a first user device (device 02), a carrier aggregation (CA) configuration information (FIG.4, first information), wherein the first user device is configured to perform a device-to-device communication using CA with a second user device (device 01) without relaying through a network device (Bao, FIG.1, devices 01, 02, [0036], FIG.4, S201A1, [0088-89]: receiving, by a device 02 (“1st user device) a target information where the target information includes the first information, and the target information is PC5 RRC signaling (“sidelink” or “device-to-device”); [0005]: the first information is used to indicate a target CA parameter configured for a sidelink service, and the sidelink service is a sidelink service between the first device and the second device (“without relaying”)).
Regarding Claim 20, see similar rejection to Claim 11.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
5.1. 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.
5.2. 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.
5.3. Claim(s) 2, 7, 10, 15, 19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over by Bao et al.,, (“Bao”, US 2022/0141824 A1) in view of Huang et al., (“Huang”, WO 2019/096275 A1).
Regarding Claim 2, Bao teaches, The method of claim 1.
Bao does not expressly teach wherein the CA operation information (first information) comprises CA assistance information that includes a coverage state of each of N carriers, but Huang teaches wherein the CA operation information comprises CA assistance information that includes a coverage state of each of N carriers (Huang, page 19, lines 17-20: Synchronization timing information of each carrier; including one or a combination of the following: synchronization reference type (UE, GNSS, base station); coverage status of the synchronization source (used to indicate whether the synchronization source is in coverage or out of coverage); synchronization source absolute timing value).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to perform CA operation according to the CA operation information as taught by Zhang, to include coverage state of each carrier, as taught by Huang.
Doing so provides a method to perform CA operation according to the CA operation information, and CA operation information includes CA assistance information that includes a coverage state of each of N carriers (Huang, page 19, lines 17-20).
Regarding Claim 7, Bao teaches, The method of claim 5
Bao does not expressly teach wherein the carrier list includes optional carriers which are supported based on device capability, but Huang teaches wherein the carrier list includes optional carriers which are supported based on device capability (Huang, page 44, lines 4-7: When the V2X communication transmitting end device adopts multiple carrier frequency transmission, the V2X communication receiving end device (which may also be an in-vehicle terminal or a user terminal) has a limited receiving capability, and has V2X service data transmitted by the transmitting party through multiple carrier frequencies. There may be no ability to receive V2X service data transmitted on the multiple carrier frequencies at the same time. In this case, it is necessary to improve the phenomenon that the receiver UE with limited reception capability determines the carrier frequency to be received.).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to perform CA operation according to the CA operation information as taught by Zhang, to include carriers which are supported based on device capability, as taught by Huang.
Doing so provides a method to perform CA operation according to the CA operation information, and CA operation information includes optional carriers which are supported based on device capability, (Huang, page 44, lines 4-7).
Regarding Claim 10, see similar rejection to Claim 2.
Regarding Claim 15, see similar rejection to Claim 2.
Regarding Claim 19, see similar rejection to Claim 2.
Conclusion
6. The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant’s disclosure.
Fukumoto et al., US 2013/0329646 A1, Wireless communication system has transmission routing unit which selects transmission route used by mobile communication terminal based on the calculated evaluation value of transmission paths.
Luo et al., US 2021/0212113 A1, Method for measuring channel quality, involves receiving the configuration information sent by the network device, and channel quality is used to provide information of a first repetition level to the network device.
7. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CHHIAN (AMY) LING whose telephone number is (571)270-1074. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9-6 ET.
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/C.L./
Examiner
Art Unit 2418
/Moo Jeong/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2418
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