DETAILED ACTION
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
The instant first office action is in response to communication filed on 09/17/2024.
Claims 1-12, 16-23 are pending of which claims 1, 8, 16 and 23 are the base independent claims.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 09/17/2024 is being considered by the examiner.
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)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1-7 and 16-22 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Huang et al (US 2020/0205165).
Regarding claim 1 and 16, Huang’165 discloses a user equipment (UE) for wireless communication(see fig.2, User terminal equipment 250), comprising: at least one memory(see fig.2, which shows memory 272); and at least one processor coupled with the at least one memory and configured to cause the UE(see fig.2, which shows processor 270 coupled with the at least one memory 272 and configured to cause the UE 250 to) to:
select at least one resource on at least one carrier(fig.18 & see para.0444, which discusses the UE occupies/reserves a time-frequency resource for a sidelink transmission in slot n−P1 and in slot n of carrier 2, and the UE occupies/reserves a time-frequency resource for the sidelink transmission in slot n−P2 and in slot n of carrier 3 In slot n−P1 or earlier than slot n−P1, the UE could perform resource selection for resource in slot n−P1, slot n on carrier 2 based on sensing) of a plurality of carriers(see para.0444, which discusses as shown in FIG. 18, assuming that a slot in the figure refers to a resource configured in sidelink resource pool of a carrier, a UE is configured with 3 carriers as plurality of carriers while the number of TX RF chains of the UE is 2);
determine that a simultaneous transmission of a first transmission(see fig.18 & see para.0444, which discusses the UE occupies/reserves a time-frequency resource for a sidelink transmission in slot n−P1 and in slot n of carrier 2, and the UE occupies/reserves a time-frequency resource for the sidelink transmission in slot n−P2 and in slot n of carrier 3…If the UE receives a unicast sidelink transmission in slot n−k of carrier 1, and the UE is required/indicated to transmit PSFCH with corresponding HARQ-ACK feedback for the unicast sidelink transmission, the UE may fail to transmit in a carrier due to only 2 available TX RF chains) on a first resource on a first carrier of the plurality of carriers(see fig.18 & see para.0444, which discusses as shown in FIG. 18, assuming that a slot in the figure refers to a resource configured in sidelink resource pool of a carrier, a UE is configured with 3 carriers) and at least one transmission on the at least one resource is not supported by a transmit capability of the UE(see fig.18, para.0444, which discusses assuming that a slot in the figure refers to a resource configured in sidelink resource pool of a carrier, a UE is configured with 3 carriers while the number of TX RF chains of the UE is 2…f the UE receives a unicast sidelink transmission in slot n−k of carrier 1, and the UE is required/indicated to transmit PSFCH with corresponding HARQ-ACK feedback for the unicast sidelink transmission, the UE may fail to transmit in a carrier due to only 2 available TX RF chains, thus not support since the number of TX RF chains of the UE is 2 while a UE is configured with 3 carriers ) wherein the first carrier is different from the at least one carrier(see fig.18, which shows carrier 1 is different from carriers 2-3); and transmit assistant information associated with the first resource to another UE(see para.0454-0458, which discusses a first UE (e.g., sidelink receive (RX) UE) is required to transmit shared/assistant information to a second UE (e.g., sidelink TX UE), wherein the information includes, at a minimum, capability information of the first UE, see para.0459).
Regarding claim 2 and 17, Huang’165 discloses wherein the first transmission includes a physical sidelink feedback channel (PSFCH) transmission that at least partially overlaps with the at least one resource in a time domain, or(due to or alternative language, only one of them is being considered) at least partially overlaps with a radio frequency (RF) retuning period from a carrier of the at least one carrier to the first carrier (see para.0503, which discusses the PSFCH is partly or fully overlapped with the resource for the PSCCH (and/or PSSCH) in a time domain, see also para.0510, 0535, 0543).
Regarding claim 3 and 18, Huang’165 discloses wherein a carrier combination of the first carrier and the at least one carrier(see fig.18, which shows combination of carrier 2-3 and carrier 1) is not supported by the transmit capability of the UE(see para.0444, which discusses the UE occupies/reserves a time-frequency resource for a sidelink transmission in slot n−P1 and in slot n of carrier 2, and the UE occupies/reserves a time-frequency resource for the sidelink transmission in slot n−P2 and in slot n of carrier 3…. If the UE receives a unicast sidelink transmission in slot n−k of carrier 1, and the UE is required/indicated to transmit PSFCH with corresponding HARQ-ACK feedback for the unicast sidelink transmission, the UE may fail to transmit in a carrier due to only 2 available TX RF chains, thus transmission in one of the carrier is not supported due to only 2 available TX RF chains ).
Regarding claim 4 and 19, Huang’165 discloses wherein the first resource is for a physical sidelink feedback channel (PSFCH) transmission (see para.0444, which discusses the UE is required/indicated to transmit PSFCH with corresponding HARQ-ACK feedback for the unicast sidelink transmission, see para.0499).
Regarding claim 5 and 20, Huang’165 discloses wherein the assistant information(see para.0454, which discusses a first UE (e.g., sidelink receive (RX) UE) is required to transmit shared/assistant information to a second UE (e.g., sidelink TX UE), wherein the information includes, at a minimum, capability information of the first UE, see para.0455, which discusses he shared/assistant information could be the first UE's capability. In another alternative, the shared/assistant information could be the first UE's reserved capability in a slot. In another alternative, the shared/assistant information could be the first UE's multiple reserved capability in multiple slots, see para.0469, see para.0443) indicates a slot index of the first resource(see para.0483, which discusses the second UE's available resource for transmitting the feedback could be available slot index, see para.0585, which discusses the first UE's available resources on the carrier for transmitting the feedback could be an available slot index).
Regarding claim 6 and 21, Huang’165 discloses wherein the assistant information n(see para.0454, which discusses a first UE (e.g., sidelink receive (RX) UE) is required to transmit shared/assistant information to a second UE (e.g., sidelink TX UE), wherein the information includes, at a minimum, capability information of the first UE, see para.0455, which discusses he shared/assistant information could be the first UE's capability. In another alternative, the shared/assistant information could be the first UE's reserved capability in a slot. In another alternative, the shared/assistant information could be the first UE's multiple reserved capability in multiple slots, see para.0469, see para.0443) indicates a slot index(see para.0483, which discusses the second UE's available resource for transmitting the feedback could be available slot index, see para.0585, which discusses the first UE's available resources on the carrier for transmitting the feedback could be an available slot index) of a physical sidelink share channel (PSSCH) reception associated with the PSFCH transmission on the first resource(see para.0469, which discusses The second UE could determine an available resource for PSFCH for a unicast sidelink transmission (e.g., PSCCH1 (and/or PSSCH1)). In this example, the shared/assistant information could be the first UE's TX chain capability and/or reserved capability in slot n (e.g., the reserved capability in slot n is 0, due to the occupied/reserved resource in other two carriers). More specifically, the first UE could be configured to transmit the shared/assistant information periodically. If the first UE is required to transmit the shared/assistant information in a sidelink slot with index m, m+P, m+2P, the shared/assistant information in the sidelink slot m may include information related to sidelink slot m, sidelink slot m+P−1, or sidelink slot m+P. The second UE could determine one resource for the PSFCH based on the shared/assistant information from the first UE, see fig.19).
Regarding claim 7 and 22, Huang’165 discloses wherein the transmit capability of the UE comprises at least one(due to one language, only one of them is being considered) of: a limited number of simultaneous transmission carriers, a limitation on supported carrier combinations, or an interruption for radio frequency (RF) retuning (see para.0443, which discusses the capability could refer one or any combination of following bullets referenced from the Final Report of 3GPP TSG RAN WG1 #91 v1.0.0: (a) a number of Transmit (TX) (RF) chains smaller than the number of configured TX carriers, or (b) the UE does not support the given band combination, or (c) the TX chain switching time, or (d) the UE cannot fulfill the Radio Frequency (RF) requirement due to, for example, a Power Spectrum Density (PSD) imbalance. Alternatively, the capability could refer a number of carriers the UE can transmit simultaneously/concurrently in/during a time unit (e.g., a slot). A Transmit (TX) RF chain of a UE is used for handling a sidelink transmission on a carrier or on a plurality of carriers in the same band (e.g., a TX RF chain is used for handling carriers which is the UE's serving carriers in the band), see para.0459).
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.
Claim(s) 8-12 and 23 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Huang et al (US 2020/0205165) and in view of SHIMEZAWA et al (US 20240073778).
Regarding claim 8 and 23, Huang’165 discloses a user equipment (UE) for wireless communication (see fig.2, User terminal equipment 250), comprising:
at least one memory (see fig.2, which shows memory 272); and
at least one processor coupled with the at least one memory and configured to cause the UE to (see fig.2, which shows processor 270 coupled with the at least one memory 272 and configured to cause the UE 250 to):
determine assistant information(see para.0457, which discusses the first UE transmits assistant information, see para.0454, which discusses a first UE (e.g., sidelink receive (RX) UE) is required to transmit shared/assistant information to a second UE (e.g., sidelink TX UE)) associated with a physical sidelink feedback channel (PSFCH) transmission(see para.0458, which discusses If the second UE attempts to transmit sidelink transmission in slot n−k to the first UE, wherein the slot n−k is within slot m-P and slot m, the second UE may select a resource for the PSFCH associated with the sidelink transmission based on the assistant information received in slot m−P) on a carrier of a plurality of carriers(see fig.18, which shows carriers on carrier of 1-3 as plurality of carriers); and
As discussed above, although Huang’165 discloses determine assistant information(see para.0457, which discusses the first UE transmits assistant information, see para.0454, which discusses a first UE (e.g., sidelink receive (RX) UE) is required to transmit shared/assistant information to a second UE (e.g., sidelink TX UE)), Huang’165 does not explicitly show the use of “transmit the assistant information to a base station (BS)” as required by present claimed invention. However, including “transmit the assistant information to a base station (BS)” would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art as evidenced by SHIMEZAWA’778.
In particular, in the same field of endeavor, SHIMEZAWA’778 teaches the use of transmit the assistant information to a base station (BS)(see para.0192, which discusses the terminal device 200 transmits at least one of the received power information, the position information, and the capability information as assistant information to the base station 100, see para.0179-0185, which discusses at least the capability information may include information indicating whether or not transmission or reception in a channel (for example, PSCCH, PSSCH, PSFCH, and the like) in predetermined sidelink communication can be performed).
In view of the above, having the system of Huang’165 and then given the well-established teaching of SHIMEZAWA’778, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Huang’165 to include “transmit the assistant information to a base station (BS)” as taught by SHIMEZAWA’778, since SHIMEZAWA’778 stated in para.0011+ that such a modification would provide a mechanism capable of implementing sidelink communication with lower delay and higher reliability.
Regarding claim 9, Huang’165 discloses wherein the PSFCH transmission includes at least one(due to at least one language, only one of them is being considered) of: a PSFCH transmission associated with a physical sidelink share channel (PSSCH) reception with enabled hybrid automatic repeat request acknowledgement (HARQ-ACK); a PSFCH transmission associated with a reserved PSSCH reception; or a PSFCH transmission associated with a resource conflict indicator(see para.0469, see para.0503, which discusses the PSFCH is partly or fully overlapped with the resource for the PSCCH (and/or PSSCH) in a time domain, see para.0557 & see fig.19, which discusses and shows PSFCH associated with reserve resource for PSCCH2, thus, resource conflict/overlap indicator or reserve PSSCH)).
Regarding claim 10, Huang’165 discloses wherein the reserved PSSCH reception is reserved by a PSSCH reception (see para.0557 & see fig.19, which discusses and shows PSFCH associated with reserve resource for PSCCH2) with an enabled HARQ-ACK (see para.0292, which discusses HARQ-ACK for the corresponding PSSCH).
Regarding claim 11, Huang’165 discloses wherein the PSFCH transmission associated with a resource conflict indicator indicates a resource conflict of a PSSCH transmission (see para.0469, see para.0503, which discusses the PSFCH is partly or fully overlapped with the resource for the PSCCH (and/or PSSCH) in a time domain).
Regarding claim 12, Huang’165 discloses wherein the PSFCH transmission associated with a resource conflict indicator indicates a potential resource conflict of a PSSCH transmission(see para.0469, see para.0503, which discusses the PSFCH is partly or fully overlapped with the resource for the PSCCH (and/or PSSCH) in a time domain) based on a channel busy ratio (CBR) measurement associated with the PSSCH transmission(see table 1, which discusses based in CBR associated with PSSCH, see para.0530).
Conclusion
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Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to VINNCELAS LOUIS whose telephone number is (571)270-5138. The examiner can normally be reached 8:30-5:00 PM.
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/VINNCELAS LOUIS/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2474
