DETAILED ACTION
Notice of 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 Status:
Claims 41-60 are pending
Claims 1-40 are canceled
Claims 41-60 are rejected.
Election/Restrictions
This Office Action is responsive to Election/Restriction, dated 08/24/2026. Applicant elected Group III (claims 33-40) with traverse. In the 08/24/2026 remarks, on page 8, Lines [3-7], Applicant asserts that, “…The requirement is respectfully traversed, solely on the ground that it is directed to claims 21-40, which were canceled by the Preliminary Amendment filed June 24, 2026, and are no longer pending. This traversal is presented at the time of election so as to be timely and to preserve the right to petition under 37 C.F.R. § 1.144. No position is taken, and no admission is made, as to whether the identified inventions are or are not patentably distinct.”
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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.
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.
Claims 41-46, 48-55 and 57-60 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Huang et al. (US 20230064680 A1), hereinafter referenced as Huang, in view of Sun et al. (US 20210092783 A1), hereinafter referenced as Sun.
Regarding claims 41, 50 and 59, Huang teaches an apparatus for a user equipment (UE) comprising: processing circuitry (Para. [0002]-Huang discloses method and apparatus for listen before talk for sidelink transmission in a wireless communication system. Para. [0005]-Huang discloses a first User Equipment (UE), in response to performing successful listen before talk (LBT), the first UE determines a channel occupancy time (COT). The first UE determines whether or not a second sidelink transmission, to be performed by a second UE, is within the COT. Figs. 1-3, Para. [0045]-Huang discloses communication device 300 in a wireless communication system can be utilized for realizing the UEs (or ATs) 116 and 122 in FIG. 1 or the base station (or AN) 100 in FIG. 1, and the wireless communications system may be the LTE system or the NR system. The communication device 300 may include an input device 302, an output device 304, a control circuit 306, a central processing unit (CPU) 308, a memory 310, a program code 312, and a transceiver 314. The control circuit 306 executes the program code 312 in the memory 310 through the CPU 308, thereby controlling an operation of the communications device 300. Para. [0880-0881]-Huang discloses communication device (e.g., a UE, a base station, a network node, etc.) may be provided, wherein the communication device may comprise a control circuit, a processor installed in the control circuit and/or a memory installed in the control circuit and coupled to the processor ... A computer-readable medium may be provided. The computer-readable medium may be a non-transitory computer-readable medium) configured to:
receive or determine a sidelink transmission priority associated with a sidelink transmission (Para. [0158]-Huang discloses determines Sidelink transmission information of the TB for the source and destination pair of the MAC PDU as follows: … set the priority to the value of the highest priority of the logical channel(s));
perform a sidelink sensing (Para. [0070]-Huang discloses MAC entity can create a selected sidelink grant on the pool of resources based on random selection or sensing) and
resource selection procedure to select at least one sidelink resource for a sidelink transmission (Para. [0070]-Huang discloses MAC entity can create a selected sidelink grant on the pool of resources based on random selection or sensing),
the sidelink sensing and resource selection procedure is performed based on the reference signal received power (RSRP) measurements (Para. [0437-0450]-Huang discloses UE Procedure for Determining the Subset of Resources to be Reported to Higher Layers in PSSCH Resource Selection in Sidelink Resource Allocation Mode … The following higher layer parameters affect this procedure: [0445] sl-SelectionWindowList: internal parameter T.sub.2min is set to the corresponding value from higher layer parameter sl-SelectionWindowList for the given value of prio.sub.TX. [0446] sl-Thres-RSRP-List: this higher layer parameter provides an RSRP threshold for each combination (p.sub.i, p.sub.j), where p.sub.i is the value of the priority field in a received SCI format 1-A and p.sub.j is the priority of the transmission of the UE selecting resources; for a given invocation of this procedure, p.sub.j=prio.sub.TX. [0447] sl-RS-ForSensing selects if the UE uses the PSSCH-RSRP or PSCCH-RSRP measurement);
determine a channel access priority class (CAPC) associated with the sidelink transmission (Para. [0640]-Huang discloses UE, based on the COT sharing information, may determine (e.g., identify): (i) whether or not to share the COT initiated by the first UE; … (vi) CAPC (for the COT, for example));
perform a listen-before-talk (LBT) procedure on the selected sidelink resource according to the determined CAPC (Para. [0782]-Huang discloses performing a successful LBT (e.g., a LBT procedure having a LBT result corresponding to idle), wherein a length of the COT is a minimum length of: (A) a first length corresponding to a number of consecutive slots associated with a sidelink resource pool; and (B) a second length corresponding to a maximum time associated with a CAPC);
channel energy during the LBT procedure (Para. [0593]-Huang discloses LBT comprises an energy detection and/or sensing technique. Para. [0596]-Huang discloses transmitter device may use the first transmit power for determining a threshold to perform LBT, and a COT in response to the LBT (e.g., successful LBT) may be based on the energy sensing/detection being lower than the threshold) and
compare the measured channel energy with an energy detection threshold (EDT) (Para. [0759]-Huang discloses UE performing a successful LBT corresponds to an energy of the channel sensed by the UE being lower than or equal to an energy threshold (e.g., energy detection threshold)); and
transmit the sidelink transmission on the at least one selected sidelink resource based on a result of the comparison between the measured channel energy and the EDT (Para. [0706]-Huang dicloses when the first UE performs LBT for accessing the channel, the first UE may determine (e.g., set) an energy threshold based on the power-related information. In some examples, the first UE transmits a first sidelink transmission to a second UE (and/or one or more other UEs in addition to the second UE). Para. [0639]-Huang discloses COT sharing information may comprise: ... (vii) energy threshold (for the successful long LBT initiating the COT, for example); (viii) channel access type/LBT type that may be indicative of a channel access type/LBT type for the second UE to initiate a second COT (different than the COT) for sidelink transmission. Para. [0593]-Huang discloses sidelink transmission on unlicensed/shared spectrum with large spectrum availability may be a targeted solution. Listen before talk (LBT) may be required in order to have fair coexistence with other devices that are in the same radio access technology (RAT) or different RAT and/or that use different techniques (e.g., WiFi) in unlicensed spectrum. LBT comprises an energy detection and/or sensing technique. (See also Para. [0660-0661])); and
a memory to store the at least one sidelink resource (Para. [0182-0188]-Huang discloses to generate a transmission, the Sidelink process shall: ... instruct the physical layer to transmit SCI according to the stored sidelink grant with the associated Sidelink transmission information; [0188] 2> instruct the physical layer to generate a transmission according to the stored sidelink grant).
Huang fails to teach measure channel energy during the LBT procedure.
However, Sun teaches receive or determine a sidelink transmission priority associated with a sidelink transmission (Para. [0102]-Sun discloses the UE 615a may perform the CAT4 LBT 630 based on a certain CAPC. The CAPC may determine what type or priority of traffic that the UE 615a may transmit in the COT 602 and/or a transmission power or duration that the UE 615a may use for transmissions in the COT 602 upon passing the CAT4 LBT 630. To facilitate COT sharing, the UE 615a may include in the SCI 640, an indication of the CAPC to provide the responding UE 615c with CAPC information);
determine a channel access priority class (CAPC) associated with the sidelink transmission (Para. [0141]-Sun discloses the sidelink COT sharing information includes information associated with a CAPC, and the sidelink is transmitted based on the CAPC. Para. [0156]-Sun discloses the determining is based on a listen-before-talk (LBT) associated with a channel access priority class (CAPC), and where the COT sharing information indicates the CAPC);
perform a listen-before-talk (LBT) procedure on the selected sidelink resource according to the determined CAPC (Fig. 4, Para. [0078]-Sun discloses the sidelink communication module 408 is configured to select one or more frequency interlaces from the plurality of frequency interlaces to transmit the sidelink communication during the COT … the COT sharing information may include information associated with available or unoccupied frequency interlaces in the COT, a duration of the COT, an end time of the COT, gap periods within the COT for a responding sidelink UE to perform an LBT prior to joining the COT, and/or a CAPC used for acquiring the COT);
measure channel energy during the LBT procedure (Para. [0057]-Sun discloses the LBT may be based on energy detection. For example, the LBT results in a pass when signal energy measured from the channel is below a threshold) and
compare the measured channel energy with an energy detection threshold (EDT) (Para. [0057]-Sun discloses the LBT may be based on energy detection. For example, the LBT results in a pass when signal energy measured from the channel is below a threshold); and
transmit the sidelink transmission on the at least one selected sidelink resource based on a result of the comparison between the measured channel energy and the EDT (Para. [0057-0058]-Sun discloses the LBT may be based on energy detection. For example, the LBT results in a pass when signal energy measured from the channel is below a threshold … To communicate sidelink communications over an unlicensed band, a UE 115 may contend for a COT in the unlicensed band by perform an LBT. If the LBT passes indicating that the UE 115 won the contention, the UE 115 may communicate sidelink communication with another UE 115 in the unlicensed band during the COT); and
a memory to store the at least one sidelink resource (Fig. 4, Para. [0077-0078]-Sun discloses the sidelink communication module 408 may be implemented via hardware, software, or combinations thereof. For example, the sidelink communication module 408 may be implemented as a processor, circuit, and/or instructions 406 stored in the memory 404 and executed by the processor 402 ... the sidelink communication module 408 is configured to include COT sharing SCI in the PSSCH communication to enable another sidelink UE to opportunistically join the COT and utilize any time and/or frequency resource not occupied by the UE 400's sidelink communication. Para. [0082]-Sun discloses transceiver 410 may provide the demodulated and decoded data (e.g., PSSCH data and/or PSCCH control information, COT sharing SCI, HARQ ACK/NACK) to the sidelink communication module 408 for processing. Para. [0119]-Sun discloses the inclusion of the PSSCH communication 820 timing information in the SCI 940 can save the UE 715d's effort in performing LBT while the PSSCH communication 820 is ongoing).
Huang and Sun are both considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because they are in the same field of wireless communication system, dealing with channel occupancy time (COT) sharing among sidelink user equipment devices (UEs).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the Huang to incorporate the teachings of Sun on energy detection, with a motivation to measure energy during LBT, and guarantee providing users of mobile communication devices with voice over IP, multimedia, multicast and on-demand communication services., (Huang, Para. [0003]).
Regarding claims 42, 51 and 60, Huang in view of Sun teaches the device of claim 41, The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 50 and The method of claim 59 respectively,
Huang further teaches the sidelink transmission comprises stage 2 sidelink control information (SCI) including an indication of a CAPC associated with the sidelink transmission (Para. [0820]-Huang discloses the COT sharing information is indicated by 1st stage SCI, 2nd stage SCI, and/or MAC CE. Para. [0656]-Huang discloses UE may include, in the second sidelink transmission, data, LCH, radio bearers, and/or MAC CE with 5G QoS Identifier (5QI) value associated with a CAPC value that is the same as or higher than a CAPC value (e.g., a specific CAPC value) associated with a COT).
Regarding claims 43 and 52, Huang in view of Sun teaches the device of claim 42 and The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 51 respectively,
Huang further teaches the stage 2 SCI includes a two-bit indication for the CAPC (Para. [0820]-Huang discloses the COT sharing information is indicated by 1st stage SCI, 2nd stage SCI, and/or MAC CE. Para. [0656]-Huang discloses UE may include, in the second sidelink transmission, data, LCH, radio bearers, and/or MAC CE with 5G QoS Identifier (5QI) value associated with a CAPC value that is the same as or higher than a CAPC value (e.g., a specific CAPC value) associated with a COT).
Regarding claims 44 and 53, Huang in view of Sun teaches the device of claim 41 and The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 50 respectively,
Huang further teaches the CAPC is used to determine a maximum channel occupancy time (COT) for the sidelink transmission (Para. [0625]-Huang discloses the first UE may initiate a COT, wherein a length of the COT is min{a number of consecutive slot (e.g., consecutive physical slots) associated with a sidelink resource pool, a maximum time associated with a CAPC} (e.g., the length of the COT corresponds to a minimum length of: (i) a first length corresponding to the number of consecutive slots associated with the sidelink resource pool; and (ii) a second length corresponding to the maximum time associated with the CAPC)).
Regarding claims 45 and 54, Huang in view of Sun teaches the device of, claim 44 and The device of, claim 53 respectively,
Huang further teaches the UE allows another UE to share the same COT in the case of unicast or groupcast communication (Para. [0637]-Huang discloses a first UE may transmit COT sharing information to a second UE. The first UE may initiate a COT (after a successful long LBT, for example). The second UE, based on the COT sharing information, may identify the COT and/or determine (e.g., identify) information associated with the COT. Alternatively and/or additionally, the COT sharing information may be transmitted to a third UE. The third UE, based on the COT sharing information, may identify the COT and/or determine (e.g., identify) information associated with the COT. In some examples, the third UE and the second UE are UEs performing NR sidelink communication. In some examples, the second UE may have unicast connection to the first UE).
Regarding claims 46 and 55, Huang in view of Sun teaches the device of claim 45 and The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 54 respectively,
Huang further teaches stage 1 SCI contains information indicating whether the COT can be shared (Para. [0820]-Huang discloses the COT sharing information is indicated by 1st stage SCI, 2nd stage SCI, and/or MAC CE. Para. [0656]-Huang discloses UE may include, in the second sidelink transmission, data, LCH, radio bearers, and/or MAC CE with 5G QoS Identifier (5QI) value associated with a CAPC value that is the same as or higher than a CAPC value (e.g., a specific CAPC value) associated with a COT).
Regarding claims 48 and 57, Huang in view of Sun teaches the device of claim 41 and The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 50 respectively,
Huang further teaches candidate sidelink resources are evaluated using a RSRP threshold determined according to the sidelink transmission priority (Para. [0437-0450]-Huang discloses UE Procedure for Determining the Subset of Resources to be Reported to Higher Layers in PSSCH Resource Selection in Sidelink Resource Allocation Mode … The following higher layer parameters affect this procedure: [0445] sl-SelectionWindowList: internal parameter T.sub.2min is set to the corresponding value from higher layer parameter sl-SelectionWindowList for the given value of prio.sub.TX. [0446] sl-Thres-RSRP-List: this higher layer parameter provides an RSRP threshold for each combination (p.sub.i, p.sub.j), where p.sub.i is the value of the priority field in a received SCI format 1-A and p.sub.j is the priority of the transmission of the UE selecting resources; for a given invocation of this procedure, p.sub.j=prio.sub.TX. [0447] sl-RS-ForSensing selects if the UE uses the PSSCH-RSRP or PSCCH-RSRP measurement).
Regarding claims 49 and 58, Huang in view of Sun teaches the device of claim 41 and The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 50 respectively,
Huang further teaches candidate sidelink resources are selected over contiguous slots (Para. [0627]-Huang discloses contiguous sidelink slots, the first UE may perform long LBT for each contiguous set of sidelink slots).
Claims 47 and 56 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Huang et al. (US 20230064680 A1), hereinafter referenced as Huang, in view of Sun et al. (US 20210092783 A1), hereinafter referenced as Sun, and further in view of Chun-WEI Huang et al. (US 20230344563 A1), hereinafter referenced as Chun-WEI.
Regarding claims 47 and 56, Huang in view of Sun teaches the device of claim 41 and The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 50 respectively,
Huang fails to explicitly teach when the UE fails to access the channel prior to an intended sidelink transmission, the Layer 1 circuitry signals the channel access failure to higher layers.
However, Chun-WEI teaches when the UE fails to access the channel prior to an intended sidelink transmission, the Layer 1 circuitry signals the channel access failure to higher layers (Para. [0336]-Chun-WEI discloses if a UE fails to access the channel(s) prior to an intended UL transmission to a gNB, Layer 1 notifies higher layers about the channel access failure).
Chun-WEI is considered to be analogous because it is in the same field of wireless communication networks, dealing with method and apparatus for transmitting sidelink feedback in a wireless communication system.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the Huang in view of Sun to incorporate the teachings of Chun-WEI on channel access, with a motivation to notify higher layers of the outcome, and guarantee providing users of mobile communication devices with voice over IP, multimedia, multicast and on-demand communication services., (Huang, Para. [0003]).
Conclusion
Listed below are the prior arts made of record and not relied upon but are considered pertinent to applicant`s disclosure.
Lee et al. (US 20220394698 A1)-discloses method for performing wireless communication by a first device is proposed. The method may comprise a step of comparing, on the basis that multiple sidelink transmissions and uplink transmission are overlapped in a time domain, a first priority related to the multiple sidelink transmissions and a second priority related to the uplink transmission, wherein the first priority is the highest priority among priorities respectively related to the multiple sidelink transmissions, and preferentially assigning transmit power to transmission related to a higher priority among the first priority and the second priority …. …Fig. 1-5
Khoryaev et al. (US 20210385685 A1)-discloses A user equipment (UE), gNodeB or network component can be configured to support Quality of Service (QoS) aware sidelink communications for vehicle to everything (V2X) communication operations. The QoS aware sidelink communications can include operating QoS congestion control, QoS control and adaptation, QoS aware resource allocation, QoS aware in-device coexistence operations, as well as sensing and reservation based on sidelink resource allocations. Transmitter constraints can be provided according to a Quality of Service (QoS) aware congestion control that enables a fair usage of spectrum resources with one or more V2X devices, based on QoS attributes. Different V2X packets can be scheduled/filtered based on combinations of the QoS attributes. A priority of one radio access technology (RAT) over another can be made based on the QoS attributes associated with the different V2X packets being delivered in sidelink transmissions for a QoS aware in-device coexistence operation …. …Fig. 1-5
Xue et al. (US 20220070936 A1)-discloses a user equipment (UE) may determine candidate resources on one or more physical sidelink shared channels (PSSCHs) that are clear for transmitting at least two transport blocks, based at least in part on sensing a plurality of subchannels on the one or more PSSCHs with respect to listen-before-talk completion instants for the at least two transport blocks. The UE may select, from among the candidate resources, transmit resources on the one or more PSSCHs for transmitting the at least two transport blocks such that the at least two transport blocks are transmitted in one of: different subchannels of a same slot, or contiguous slots of a same subchannel. The UE may transmit the at least two transport blocks in the transmit resources .… …Fig. 1-5
Luo et al. (US 20240314840 A1)-discloses systems, apparatus, devices, and methods for wireless communication. In an implementation, a first user device: performs a listen-before-talk (LBT) procedure in an unlicensed carrier for a sidelink transmission; determines a result of the LBT procedure; in response to determining that the result is a LBT success, transmits a sidelink signal on a channel in the unlicensed carrier to a second user device; and in response to determining that the result is a LBT failure, a physical layer entity of the first user device sends a LBT failure indication to a medium access control (MAC) layer entity of the first user device …. …Fig. 1-3
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/OLADIRAN GIDEON OLALEYE/Examiner, Art Unit 2472
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