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 .
This Office Action is a response to communications dated 07/25/2024. Claims 1-30 are pending in the application.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement filed 07/25/2024 complies with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97, 1.98 and MPEP § 609. It has been considered and placed in the application file.
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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claims 1-30 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Li et al. (US 10,785,753) (hereinafter “Li”) in view of Ryu et al. (US 2023/0087225) (hereinafter “Ryu”).
Regarding claim 1, in accordance with Li reference entirety, Li discloses an apparatus (FIG. 2; receiver system 250) for communication at a first user equipment (UE) (FIG. 2 and col. 4, lines 40-46: “… a receiver system 250 (also known as access terminal (AT) or user equipment (UE)) in a MIMO system 200 … .”), comprising: memory (FIG. 2; 272); and at least one processor (FIG. 2; 272) coupled to the memory (FIG. 2; 272) (see FIG. 2 for connection details) and, based at least in part on information (FIG. 4; 312 and col. 6, lines 6-15: “… program code 312 … ) stored in the memory (FIG. 2; 272), the at least one processor (FIG. 2; 272) is configured to:
receive, from a second UE (FIG. 2; transmitter system 210), a sidelink communication (col. 22, lines 21-23: “… when a receiver device receives or detects a sidelink data transmission and/or sidelink control transmission … .” Or col. 24, lines 31-33: “… the receiver device may receive the sidelink data transmission comprising or delivering one transport block (TB).” Or col. 24, lines 44-45; col. 27, lines 1-3; or col. 27, lines 24-26; or col. 29, lines 19-21; or col. 34, lines 35-37; or col. 35, lines 9-11; Or FIG. 23; step 2310 and col. 38, lines 16-20 and thereinafter for similar description that anticipates the recitation in the present condition); and
transmit, to the second UE (FIG. 2; transmitter system 210) based on the sidelink communication, a physical sidelink feedback channel (PSFCH) (col. 22, lines 23-63: “… the receive device may perform multiple sidelink feedback transmission … the multiple sidelink feedback transmission s may be interleaved or distributed … 4 PSFCHs associated with the PSSCH, wherein the 4 PSFCHs are interleaved or distributed in the separate PRBs within … the sub-channels associated with the PSSCH.” Or col. 24; lines 46-52: “… The receiver device may generate … each PSFCH may comprise or may deliver the same two associated HARQ bits.” Or col. 24, lines 33-52; or col. 27, lines 8-23; or col. 29, lines 21-33; or col. 34, lines 37-47; or col. 35, lines 12-37; Or FIG. 23; step 2315 and col. 38, lines 20-43 and thereinafter for similar description that anticipates the recitation in the present condition), the PSFCH spanning multiple symbols in a time domain, comprising a set of repetitions in a frequency domain, spanning more than one resource blocks (RBs) (same symbol(s)) (col. 20, line 64 to col. 21, line 13: “… In time domain, the resource of PSFCH containing (sidelink) HARQ feedback and the resource associated PSSCH are within a time gap … . In frequency domain, the resource association of PSFCH containing (sidelink) HARQ feedback and associated PSSCH may fixed/configured or flexible … .” Or col. 23, lines 54-65: “… the multiple sidelink feedback transmissions are transmission repetition for one sidelink feedback transmission. The transmission repetition is performed in frequency domain … in the same symbol(s) … .” Moreover; col. 44, lines 52-55: “… the multiple sidelink feedback transmissions may be transmission repetition for one sidelink feedback transmission. The transmission repetition could be performed in frequency domain in the same symbol(s) … .”).
For argument’s sake, let’s say that Li fails to explicitly teach the recitation of “the PSFCH spanning multiple symbols in a time domain, comprising a set of repetitions in a frequency domain, or spanning more than one resource blocks (RBs).” Nevertheless, such recitation lacks thereof from Li’s teaching is well-known in the art and taught by Ryu.
In an analogous art in the same field of endeavor, Ryu teaches a sidelink resource configuration (Ryu; Abstract and thereinafter) comprising, among other things, the recitation of “the PSFCH spanning multiple symbols in a time domain, comprising a set of repetitions in a frequency domain, or spanning more than one resource blocks (RBs)” (Ryu; para [0132]: "The slot structure illustrated in FIG. 8 is similar to the slot structure illustrated in FIG. 7, except that the slot structure illustrated in FIG. 8 includes feedback resources. Specifically, two symbols at the end of the slot have been dedicated to the physical sidelink feedback channel (PSFCH). The first PSFCH symbol is a repetition of the second PSFCH symbol for AGC setting. In addition to the gap symbol after the PSSCH, there is a gap symbol after the two PSFCH symbols. Currently, resources for the PSFCH can be configured with a periodicity selected from the set of {0, 1, 2, 4} slots." Or FIGs. 15-18 and corresponding description in para [0160] for similar designs of PSFCH. Or para [0165]).
Thus, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate/combine/implement Ryu’s teaching of sidelink resource configuration to include to the previously discussed feature into Li’s teaching to arrive the claim invention. A motivation for doing so would be to overcome shortfalls of existing art in providing higher data rate while decreasing latency in wireless communication systems (Ryu; para [0004]).
Regarding claim 2, in addition to features recited in base claim 1 (see rationale discussed above), Li in view of Ryu also renders the claim limitation of wherein the PSFCH spans the multiple symbols in the time domain and comprises a second set of repetitions in one slot (Li; col. 13, lines 65-67: “… NR sidelink supports at least a PSFCH format which uses last symbol(s) available for sidelink in a slot.” Or col. 16, lines 19-32; concept of fixed slot gap between PSSCH and PSFCH TX slot. Or col. 37, lines 52-57: “… the TTI may mean a time interval for the sidelink resource pool … TTI may be a slot (for sidelink) … 12 or 14 symbols.” Or (Ryu; para [0132]: "The slot structure illustrated in FIG. 8 is similar to the slot structure illustrated in FIG. 7, except that the slot structure illustrated in FIG. 8 includes feedback resources. Specifically, two symbols at the end of the slot have been dedicated to the physical sidelink feedback channel (PSFCH). The first PSFCH symbol is a repetition of the second PSFCH symbol for AGC setting. In addition to the gap symbol after the PSSCH, there is a gap symbol after the two PSFCH symbols. Currently, resources for the PSFCH can be configured with a periodicity selected from the set of {0, 1, 2, 4} slots." Or FIGs. 15-18 and corresponding description in para [0160] for similar designs of PSFCH. Or para [0165]).
Thus, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate/combine/implement Ryu’s teaching of sidelink resource configuration to include to the previously discussed feature into Li’s teaching to arrive the claim invention for the same rationale as discussed above.
Regarding claim 3, in addition to features recited in base claim 2 (see rationale discussed above), Li in view of Ryu also renders the claim limitation of wherein the PSFCH is associated with a parameter indicating a starting symbol associated with the second set of repetitions (Li; col. 16, lines 28-32: "For example of simple way, certain starting and/or ending frequency resource location of PSSCH is linked to a PSFCH frequency location ... ." Moreover; col. 23, lines 54-65: "... each of the multiple sidelink feedback transmissions may comprise/deliver the same content of feedback information. In other words, the multiple sidelink feedback transmissions are transmission repetition for one sidelink feedback transmission. The transmission repetition is performed in frequency domain. In one embodiment, the transmission repetition is performed in frequency domain in the same symbol(s). Since the transmitter device may combine the multiple sidelink feedback transmissions to decode the feedback information, the first alternative can improve reliability of the sidelink feedback transmission given repetition gain and / or frequency diversity gain." Or (Ryu; para [0132]: "The slot structure illustrated in FIG. 8 is similar to the slot structure illustrated in FIG. 7, except that the slot structure illustrated in FIG. 8 includes feedback resources. Specifically, two symbols at the end of the slot have been dedicated to the physical sidelink feedback channel (PSFCH). The first PSFCH symbol is a repetition of the second PSFCH symbol for AGC setting. In addition to the gap symbol after the PSSCH, there is a gap symbol after the two PSFCH symbols. Currently, resources for the PSFCH can be configured with a periodicity selected from the set of {0, 1, 2, 4} slots." Or FIGs. 15-18 and corresponding description in para [0160] for similar designs of PSFCH. Or para [0165]).
Thus, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate/combine/implement Ryu’s teaching of sidelink resource configuration to include to the previously discussed feature into Li’s teaching to arrive the claim invention for the same rationale as discussed above.
Regarding claim 4, in addition to features recited in base claim 3 (see rationale discussed above), Li in view of Ryu also renders the claim limitation of wherein a number of PSFCH symbols associated with the PSFCH is two, and the starting symbol associated with the second set of repetitions is a second symbol associated with the PSFCH (Li; see FIG. 9 and its corresponding description in col. 21, line 47 to col. 22, line 15: “… used resource elements in the last 1-2 symbols for PSFCH transmission … .” Moreover; col. 22, lines 38-45: “… The multiple sidelink feedback transmission may be timely in the same symbol(s) of one same TTI, e.g., last one symbol and/or second last symbol … e.g., last one symbol or second last symbol.” Or; Ryu; para [0132]: "The slot structure illustrated in FIG. 8 is similar to the slot structure illustrated in FIG. 7, except that the slot structure illustrated in FIG. 8 includes feedback resources. Specifically, two symbols at the end of the slot have been dedicated to the physical sidelink feedback channel (PSFCH). The first PSFCH symbol is a repetition of the second PSFCH symbol for AGC setting. In addition to the gap symbol after the PSSCH, there is a gap symbol after the two PSFCH symbols. Currently, resources for the PSFCH can be configured with a periodicity selected from the set of {0, 1, 2, 4} slots." Or FIGs. 15-18 and corresponding description in para [0160] for similar designs of PSFCH. Or para [0165]).
Thus, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate/combine/implement Ryu’s teaching of sidelink resource configuration to include to the previously discussed feature into Li’s teaching to arrive the claim invention for the same rationale as discussed above.
Regarding claim 5, in addition to features recited in base claim 3 (see rationale discussed above), Li in view of Ryu also renders the claim limitation of wherein a number of PSFCH symbols associated with the PSFCH is four or more, and the second set of repetitions comprises one or more one symbol repetitions (“Li; col. 22, lines 56-62: “… the multiple sidelink feedback transmission may be interleaved or distributed in the separate frequency resources … there are 4 PSFCHs associated with the PSSCH, wherein the 4 PSFCH are interleaved or distributed in the separate PRBs within … the sub-channels associated with the PSSCH.” Moreover; col. 23, lines 54-65: "... each of the multiple sidelink feedback transmissions may comprise/deliver the same content of feedback information. In other words, the multiple sidelink feedback transmissions are transmission repetition for one sidelink feedback transmission. The transmission repetition is performed in frequency domain. In one embodiment, the transmission repetition is performed in frequency domain in the same symbol(s). Since the transmitter device may combine the multiple sidelink feedback transmissions to decode the feedback information, the first alternative can improve reliability of the sidelink feedback transmission given repetition gain and / or frequency diversity gain." Or Ryu; para [0132]: "The slot structure illustrated in FIG. 8 is similar to the slot structure illustrated in FIG. 7, except that the slot structure illustrated in FIG. 8 includes feedback resources. Specifically, two symbols at the end of the slot have been dedicated to the physical sidelink feedback channel (PSFCH). The first PSFCH symbol is a repetition of the second PSFCH symbol for AGC setting. In addition to the gap symbol after the PSSCH, there is a gap symbol after the two PSFCH symbols. Currently, resources for the PSFCH can be configured with a periodicity selected from the set of {0, 1, 2, 4} slots." Or FIGs. 15-18 and corresponding description in para [0160] for similar designs of PSFCH. Or para [0165]).
Thus, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate/combine/implement Ryu’s teaching of sidelink resource configuration to include to the previously discussed feature into Li’s teaching to arrive the claim invention for the same rationale as discussed above.
Regarding claim 6, in addition to features recited in base claim 1 (see rationale discussed above), Li in view of Ryu also renders the claim limitation of wherein a number of PSFCH symbols associated with the PSFCH is four or more, and the PSFCH spans multiple symbols (Li; col. 22, lines 56-62: “… the multiple sidelink feedback transmission may be interleaved or distributed in the separate frequency resources … there are 4 PSFCHs associated with the PSSCH, wherein the 4 PSFCH are interleaved or distributed in the separate PRBs within … the sub-channels associated with the PSSCH.” Or Ryu; para [0132]: "The slot structure illustrated in FIG. 8 is similar to the slot structure illustrated in FIG. 7, except that the slot structure illustrated in FIG. 8 includes feedback resources. Specifically, two symbols at the end of the slot have been dedicated to the physical sidelink feedback channel (PSFCH). The first PSFCH symbol is a repetition of the second PSFCH symbol for AGC setting. In addition to the gap symbol after the PSSCH, there is a gap symbol after the two PSFCH symbols. Currently, resources for the PSFCH can be configured with a periodicity selected from the set of {0, 1, 2, 4} slots." Or FIGs. 15-18 and corresponding description in para [0160] for similar designs of PSFCH. Or para [0165]).
Thus, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate/combine/implement Ryu’s teaching of sidelink resource configuration to include to the previously discussed feature into Li’s teaching to arrive the claim invention for the same rationale as discussed above.
Regarding claim 7, in addition to features recited in base claim 1 (see rationale discussed above), Li also discloses wherein the PSFCH spans the multiple symbols in the time domain and comprises a second set of repetitions in two or more slots (Li; col. 22, lines 56-62: “… the multiple sidelink feedback transmission may be interleaved or distributed in the separate frequency resources … there are 4 PSFCHs associated with the PSSCH, wherein the 4 PSFCH are interleaved or distributed in the separate PRBs within … the sub-channels associated with the PSSCH.” Moreover; col. 23, lines 54-65: "... each of the multiple sidelink feedback transmissions may comprise/deliver the same content of feedback information. In other words, the multiple sidelink feedback transmissions are transmission repetition for one sidelink feedback transmission. The transmission repetition is performed in frequency domain. In one embodiment, the transmission repetition is performed in frequency domain in the same symbol(s). Since the transmitter device may combine the multiple sidelink feedback transmissions to decode the feedback information, the first alternative can improve reliability of the sidelink feedback transmission given repetition gain and / or frequency diversity gain.” Or (Ryu; para [0132]: "The slot structure illustrated in FIG. 8 is similar to the slot structure illustrated in FIG. 7, except that the slot structure illustrated in FIG. 8 includes feedback resources. Specifically, two symbols at the end of the slot have been dedicated to the physical sidelink feedback channel (PSFCH). The first PSFCH symbol is a repetition of the second PSFCH symbol for AGC setting. In addition to the gap symbol after the PSSCH, there is a gap symbol after the two PSFCH symbols. Currently, resources for the PSFCH can be configured with a periodicity selected from the set of {0, 1, 2, 4} slots." Or FIGs. 15-18 and corresponding description in para [0160] for similar designs of PSFCH. Or para [0165]).
Thus, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate/combine/implement Ryu’s teaching of sidelink resource configuration to include to the previously discussed feature into Li’s teaching to arrive the claim invention for the same rationale as discussed above.
Regarding claim 8, in addition to features recited in base claim 7 (see rationale discussed above), Li in view of Ryu also renders the claim limitation of wherein each PSFCH occasion in the second set of repetitions is separated by a time gap (Li; col. 22, lines 38-45: “… the same time gap … the multiple sidelink feedback transmission may be interleaved or distributed in the separate frequency resources … there are 4 PSFCHs associated with the PSSCH, wherein the 4 PSFCH are interleaved or distributed in the separate PRBs within … the sub-channels associated with the PSSCH.” Moreover; col. 23, lines 54-65: "... each of the multiple sidelink feedback transmissions may comprise/deliver the same content of feedback information. In other words, the multiple sidelink feedback transmissions are transmission repetition for one sidelink feedback transmission. The transmission repetition is performed in frequency domain. In one embodiment, the transmission repetition is performed in frequency domain in the same symbol(s). Since the transmitter device may combine the multiple sidelink feedback transmissions to decode the feedback information, the first alternative can improve reliability of the sidelink feedback transmission given repetition gain and / or frequency diversity gain.” Or Ryu; FIG. 17 and para [0164]: “… Sl-MinTimeGapPSFCH … .”).
Thus, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate/combine/implement Ryu’s teaching of sidelink resource configuration to include to the previously discussed feature into Li’s teaching to arrive the claim invention for the same rationale as discussed above.
Regarding claim 9, in addition to features recited in base claim 7 (see rationale discussed above), Li in view of Ryu also renders the claim limitation of wherein each PSFCH occasion in the second set of repetitions is consecutive with another PSFCH occasion in the second set of repetitions (Li; col. 23, lines 54-65: "... each of the multiple sidelink feedback transmissions may comprise/deliver the same content of feedback information. In other words, the multiple sidelink feedback transmissions are transmission repetition for one sidelink feedback transmission. The transmission repetition is performed in frequency domain. In one embodiment, the transmission repetition is performed in frequency domain in the same symbol(s). Since the transmitter device may combine the multiple sidelink feedback transmissions to decode the feedback information, the first alternative can improve reliability of the sidelink feedback transmission given repetition gain and / or frequency diversity gain.” Or Ryu; para [0132]: "The slot structure illustrated in FIG. 8 is similar to the slot structure illustrated in FIG. 7, except that the slot structure illustrated in FIG. 8 includes feedback resources. Specifically, two symbols at the end of the slot have been dedicated to the physical sidelink feedback channel (PSFCH). The first PSFCH symbol is a repetition of the second PSFCH symbol for AGC setting. In addition to the gap symbol after the PSSCH, there is a gap symbol after the two PSFCH symbols. Currently, resources for the PSFCH can be configured with a periodicity selected from the set of {0, 1, 2, 4} slots." Or FIGs. 15-18 and corresponding description in para [0160] for similar designs of PSFCH. Or para [0165]).
Thus, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate/combine/implement Ryu’s teaching of sidelink resource configuration to include to the previously discussed feature into Li’s teaching to arrive the claim invention for the same rationale as discussed above.
Regarding claim 10, in addition to features recited in base claim 7 (see rationale discussed above), Li in view of Ryu also renders the claim limitation of wherein a time duration associated with the second set of repetitions comprises one or more time gaps, a number of the one or more time gaps being unequal to a number of repetitions in the second set of repetitions (Li; col. 22, lines 38-45: “… the same time gap … the multiple sidelink feedback transmission may be interleaved or distributed in the separate frequency resources … there are 4 PSFCHs associated with the PSSCH, wherein the 4 PSFCH are interleaved or distributed in the separate PRBs within … the sub-channels associated with the PSSCH.” Or Ryu; FIG. 17 and para [0164]: “… Sl-MinTimeGapPSFCH … .”).
Thus, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate/combine/implement Ryu’s teaching of sidelink resource configuration to include to the previously discussed feature into Li’s teaching to arrive the claim invention for the same rationale as discussed above.
Regarding claim 11, in addition to features recited in base claim 1 (see rationale discussed above), Li in view of Ryu also renders the claim limitation of wherein the PSFCH comprises the set of repetitions in the frequency domain, and wherein a number of repetitions associated with the set of repetitions in the frequency domain is equal to a number of scheduled RBs associated with the PSFCH (Li; col. 23, lines 54-65: "... each of the multiple sidelink feedback transmissions may comprise/deliver the same content of feedback information . In other words, the multiple sidelink feedback transmissions are transmission repetition for one sidelink feedback transmission. The transmission repetition is performed in frequency domain. In one embodiment, the transmission repetition is performed in frequency domain in the same symbol(s). Since the transmitter device may combine the multiple sidelink feedback transmissions to decode the feedback information, the first alternative can improve reliability of the sidelink feedback transmission given repetition gain and / or frequency diversity gain." Or Ryu; para [0132]: "The slot structure illustrated in FIG. 8 is similar to the slot structure illustrated in FIG. 7, except that the slot structure illustrated in FIG. 8 includes feedback resources. Specifically, two symbols at the end of the slot have been dedicated to the physical sidelink feedback channel (PSFCH). The first PSFCH symbol is a repetition of the second PSFCH symbol for AGC setting. In addition to the gap symbol after the PSSCH, there is a gap symbol after the two PSFCH symbols. Currently, resources for the PSFCH can be configured with a periodicity selected from the set of {0, 1, 2, 4} slots." Or FIGs. 15-18 and corresponding description in para [0160] for similar designs of PSFCH. Or para [0165]).
Thus, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate/combine/implement Ryu’s teaching of sidelink resource configuration to include to the previously discussed feature into Li’s teaching to arrive the claim invention for the same rationale as discussed above.
Regarding claim 12, in addition to features recited in base claim 11 (see rationale discussed above), Li in view of Ryu also renders the claim limitation of wherein the set of repetitions spans the more than one RBs, and wherein each RB in the more than one RBs is associated with a different cyclic shift (Li; col. 16, lines 50-57: “… different cyclic shifts … .” Or Ryu; para [0148]: “… the number of initial cyclic shift pairs allowed for PSFCH is given by sl-NumMuxCS-Pair. … .”).
Thus, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate/combine/implement Ryu’s teaching of sidelink resource configuration to include to the previously discussed feature into Li’s teaching to arrive the claim invention for the same rationale as discussed above.
Regarding claim 13, in addition to features recited in base claim 11 (see rationale discussed above), Li in view of Ryu also renders the claim limitation of wherein the set of repetitions spans the more than one RBs, and wherein each repetition in the set of repetitions is associated with a pseudo-noise (PN) sequence-based scrambling (Ryu; para [0069] and thereinafter, pseudo-random noise (PN) code is discussed.).
Thus, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate/combine/implement Ryu’s teaching of sidelink resource configuration to include to the previously discussed feature into Li’s teaching to arrive the claim invention for the same rationale as discussed above. Regarding claim 14, in addition to features recited in base claim 11 (see rationale discussed above), Li in view of Ryu also renders the claim limitation of wherein the set of repetitions is associated with one or more interlaced waveforms (Li; col. 22, lines 56-67 and thereinafter, interleaving of multiple sidelink feedback transmissions is discussed.).
Thus, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate/combine/implement Ryu’s teaching of sidelink resource configuration to include to the previously discussed feature into Li’s teaching to arrive the claim invention for the same rationale as discussed above.
Regarding claim 15, in addition to features recited in base claim 14 (see rationale discussed above), Li in view of Ryu also renders the claim limitation of wherein the one or more interlaced waveforms is associated with one or more cyclic shifts defined based on a higher layer parameter associated with the one or more interlaced waveforms (Li; col. 16, lines 50-57, cyclic shifts are discussed. Or Ryu; para [0007] and thereinafter, cyclic shift is discussed).
Thus, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate/combine/implement Ryu’s teaching of sidelink resource configuration to include to the previously discussed feature into Li’s teaching to arrive the claim invention for the same rationale as discussed above.
Regarding claim 2, in addition to features recited in base claim 1 (see rationale discussed above), Li in view of Ryu also renders the claim limitation of wherein the one or more cyclic shifts is defined further based on a parameter based on the number of scheduled RBs associated with the PSFCH (Li; col. 16, lines 50-57, cyclic shifts are discussed. Or Ryu; para [0007] and thereinafter, cyclic shift is discussed).
Thus, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate/combine/implement Ryu’s teaching of sidelink resource configuration to include to the previously discussed feature into Li’s teaching to arrive the claim invention for the same rationale as discussed above.
Regarding claim 17, in addition to features recited in base claim 15 (see rationale discussed above), Li in view of Ryu also renders the claim limitation of wherein the one or more cyclic shifts are associated with a root sequence change (Li; col. 16, lines 50-57, cyclic shifts are discussed. Or Ryu; para [0007] or [0149] and thereinafter, cyclic shift is discussed).
Thus, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate/combine/implement Ryu’s teaching of sidelink resource configuration to include to the previously discussed feature into Li’s teaching to arrive the claim invention for the same rationale as discussed above.
Regarding claim 18, in addition to features recited in base claim 11 (see rationale discussed above), Li in view of Ryu also renders the claim limitation of wherein a resource pool is defined for each RB of the more than one RBs (Ryu; para [0132]: "The slot structure illustrated in FIG. 8 is similar to the slot structure illustrated in FIG. 7, except that the slot structure illustrated in FIG. 8 includes feedback resources. Specifically, two symbols at the end of the slot have been dedicated to the physical sidelink feedback channel (PSFCH). The first PSFCH symbol is a repetition of the second PSFCH symbol for AGC setting. In addition to the gap symbol after the PSSCH, there is a gap symbol after the two PSFCH symbols. Currently, resources for the PSFCH can be configured with a periodicity selected from the set of {0, 1, 2, 4} slots." Or FIGs. 15-18 and corresponding description in para [0160] for similar designs of PSFCH. Or para [0165]).
Thus, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate/combine/implement Ryu’s teaching of sidelink resource configuration to include to the previously discussed feature into Li’s teaching to arrive the claim invention for the same rationale as discussed above.
Regarding claim 19, in addition to features recited in base claim 11 (see rationale discussed above), Li in view of Ryu also renders the claim limitation of wherein a single resource pool is defined for all of the more than one RBs (Li; col. 16, lines 5-10 and thereinafter; Or Ryu; para [0142] and thereinafter; resource pool is discussed).
Thus, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate/combine/implement Ryu’s teaching of sidelink resource configuration to include to the previously discussed feature into Li’s teaching to arrive the claim invention for the same rationale as discussed above.
Regarding claim 20, in addition to features recited in base claim 11 (see rationale discussed above), Li in view of Ryu also renders the claim limitation of wherein a number of cyclic shift pair associated with the PSFCH is based on the number of repetitions associated with the set of repetitions in the frequency domain.
Thus, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate/combine/implement Ryu’s teaching of sidelink resource configuration to include to the previously discussed feature into Li’s teaching to arrive the claim invention for the same rationale as discussed above.
Regarding claim 21, in addition to features recited in base claim 1 (see rationale discussed above), Li in view of Ryu also renders the claim limitation wherein the PSFCH spans the more than one resource blocks (RBs), and wherein a number associated with the more than one RBs is defined based on a radio resource control (RRC) parameter (Li; col. 20, lines 4-15; it is discussed that the periodicity may be configured in RRC.” Or Ryu; para [0128] and thereinafter, it is discussed sidelink resources are configured at the RRC layer).
Thus, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate/combine/implement Ryu’s teaching of sidelink resource configuration to include to the previously discussed feature into Li’s teaching to arrive the claim invention for the same rationale as discussed above.
Regarding claim 22, in addition to features recited in base claim 1 (see rationale discussed above), Li in view of Ryu also renders the claim limitation of wherein the PSFCH spans the more than one resource blocks (RBs), and wherein a number associated with the more than one RBs is defined based on a parameter in a sidelink control information (SCI) associated with the PSFCH (Li; col. 36, lines 1-67 and thereinafter; Sidelink Control Information is discussed. Or Ryu; para [0169] and thereinafter; SCI format is discussed).
Thus, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate/combine/implement Ryu’s teaching of sidelink resource configuration to include to the previously discussed feature into Li’s teaching to arrive the claim invention for the same rationale as discussed above.
Regarding claim 23, in addition to features recited in base claim 1 (see rationale discussed above), Li in view of Ryu also renders the claim limitation of wherein the PSFCH spans the more than one resource blocks (RBs) with a sequence, and wherein the sequence is generated based on a cyclic shift, a cyclic shift pair index corresponding to a PSFCH resource index associated with the PSFCH (Li; col. 16, lines 50-57; different cyclic shift is discussed. Or Ryu; para [0165] and thereinafter; cyclic shift is discussed).
Thus, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate/combine/implement Ryu’s teaching of sidelink resource configuration to include to the previously discussed feature into Li’s teaching to arrive the claim invention for the same rationale as discussed above.
Regarding claim 24, in addition to features recited in base claim 1 (see rationale discussed above), Li in view of Ryu also renders the claim limitation of further comprising at least one of a transceiver or an antenna coupled to the at least one processor (Li; FIG. 2; and col. 4, line 40 to col. 5, line 48 and thereinafter, details of receiver system 250 are discussed. Or Ryu; FIGs. 3A-3B and para [0021] and thereinafter, details of user equipment are discussed).
Thus, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate/combine/implement Ryu’s teaching of sidelink resource configuration to include to the previously discussed feature into Li’s teaching to arrive the claim invention for the same rationale as discussed above.
As per group claims 25-30, the claims appear to call for a method having limitations variously and essentially mirrored functional limitations of apparatus claims 1-5 and 7, respectively. Thus, they are deemed obvious over Li in view of Ryu for the same rationales applied to apparatus claims 1-5 and 7 as above discussed.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Lei et al. (US 2023/0136864).
Ye et al. (US 2022/0311582).
Lin (US 2022/0256504).
Xu et al. (US 2021/0022127).
Wang et al. (US 2021/0400681).
Yang et al. (US 11,641,664).
Wu et al. (US 10,985,879).
Chae et al. (US 11,464,025).
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/FRANK DUONG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2474 June 16, 2026
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