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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1-7, 9-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Zhou (Pub No 20240397484)
Regarding claim 1 and 15 and 16,
Zhou teaches a user equipment (UE) for wireless communication, comprising:
at least one memory; and at least one processor coupled with the at least one memory and configured to cause the UE to: (para [0085])
obtain first configuration information indicating physical sidelink feedback channel (PSFCH) resources in a time domain, wherein the first configuration information includes at least one set of parameters associated with at least one physical sidelink shared channel (PSSCH) transmission type, wherein each set of parameters includes at least one of: a time offset, a period, or a minimum gap; (interpreted as When calculating a time gap between two specific channels/messages (for example, a PSSCH carrying sidelink data and a PSFCH carrying corresponding feedback information), the gap is assumed to be N slots. If physical subframes or slots are to be calculated, the N slots correspond to an absolute time length of N*x milliseconds in the time domain, which x is a time length in unit of milliseconds of a physical slot (subframe) in the numerology of the scenario; otherwise, if logical subframes or slots are to be calculated, taking a sidelink resource pool defined by a bitmap as an example, the gap of the N slots corresponds to N slots indicated as “1” in the bitmap, see para [0185]. PSSCH resources in slots determined based on the PSFCH configuration para [0447]))
obtain second configuration information indicating PSFCH resources in a frequency domain, wherein the second configuration information includes at least one of: physical resource block (PRB) feedback lists available for PSFCH transmissions; numbers of PRBs for PSFCH transmissions; resource patterns for PSFCH transmissions; or resource mapping types for PSFCH transmissions; and (interpreted as The UE determines that in the sidelink communication system, the PSFCH resources are periodically configured every four slots in the time domain and on each sub-channel in the frequency domain according to the PSFCH configuration and other sidelink configurations. The frequency domain size of PSSCH sub-channels is 10 PRBs, and each PSSCH sub-channel corresponds to 4 PSFCH resources. The size of the PSFCH resource is 2 PRBs, and the starting positions of the PSFCH resources are the same as those of PSSCH sub-channels (for example, frequency domain resources of one PSSCH sub-channel are RB #0˜RB #9, then the positions in the frequency domain of corresponding PSFCH resources are RB #0˜RB #1, RB #2˜RB #3, RB #4˜RB #5, and RB #6˜RB #7 respectively. RB #8˜RB #9 are vacant resources or can be used to transmit PSSCH), see para [0447])
determine at least one PSFCH resource for an intended PSFCH transmission based on the first configuration information, the second configuration information, and a PSSCH transmission associated with the intended PSFCH transmission; and (interpreted as determining at least one PSFCH resource for transmitting the PSFCH based on the PSFCH configuration at S530, see para [0205]. See PSSCH gap for PSSCH resource para [0427]. PSFCH configuration for number of PRBs para [0447])
transmit the intended PSFCH transmission on the determined at least one PSFCH resource. (interpreted as transmitting the PSFCH on the determined PSFCH resources at S540, see para [0205])
Regarding claim 14,
Zhou a base station (BS) for wireless communication, comprising: at least one memory; and at least one processor coupled with the at least one memory and configured to cause the BS to:
transmit first configuration information indicating physical sidelink feedback channel (PSFCH) resources in a time domain, wherein the first configuration information includes at least one set of parameters associated with at least one physical sidelink shared channel (PSSCH) transmission type, wherein each set of parameters includes at least one of: a time offset, a period, or a minimum gap; and (interpreted as When calculating a time gap between two specific channels/messages (for example, a PSSCH carrying sidelink data and a PSFCH carrying corresponding feedback information), the gap is assumed to be N slots. If physical subframes or slots are to be calculated, the N slots correspond to an absolute time length of N*x milliseconds in the time domain, which x is a time length in unit of milliseconds of a physical slot (subframe) in the numerology of the scenario; otherwise, if logical subframes or slots are to be calculated, taking a sidelink resource pool defined by a bitmap as an example, the gap of the N slots corresponds to N slots indicated as “1” in the bitmap, see para [0185])
transmit second configuration information indicating PSFCH resources in a frequency domain, wherein the second configuration information includes at least one of: physical resource block (PRB) feedback lists available for PSFCH transmissions; numbers of PRBs for PSFCH transmissions; resource patterns for PSFCH transmissions; or resource mapping types for PSFCH transmissions. (Interpreted as The UE determines that in the sidelink communication system, the PSFCH resources are periodically configured every four slots in the time domain and on each sub-channel in the frequency domain according to the PSFCH configuration and other sidelink configurations. The frequency domain size of PSSCH sub-channels is 10 PRBs, and each PSSCH sub-channel corresponds to 4 PSFCH resources. The size of the PSFCH resource is 2 PRBs, and the starting positions of the PSFCH resources are the same as those of PSSCH sub-channels (for example, frequency domain resources of one PSSCH sub-channel are RB #0˜RB #9, then the positions in the frequency domain of corresponding PSFCH resources are RB #0˜RB #1, RB #2˜RB #3, RB #4˜RB #5, and RB #6˜RB #7 respectively. RB #8˜RB #9 are vacant resources or can be used to transmit PSSCH), see para [0447])
Regarding claim 2 and 17,
Zhou teaches the UE of claim 1, wherein the at least one set of parameters is configured or pre-configured in at least one of the following granularities: per resource pool; or per PSSCH transmission type. (interpreted as the UE determines a PSFCH resource pool according to at least one of the following: the PSFCH configuration, the PSCCH configuration and/or the PSSCH configuration, a association relationship between the PSFCH configuration and the PSCCH configuration and/or the PSSCH configuration, see para [0212])
Regarding claim 3 and 18,
Zhou teaches the UE of claim 1, wherein a PSSCH transmission type indicates that a PSSCH transmission belongs to a slot level or a sub-slot level. (Interpreted as PSSCH resources in the Nth slot on one sub-channel within one PSFCH period correspond to the Nth of the PSFCH resources corresponding to the sub-channel. Specifically, the PSSCH resources on the sub-channel M0 in the slot N0 correspond to the xth PSFCH resource on sub-channel M0 in the slot N0+a, N0+a is the earliest slot including PSFCH resources after the slot N0+N1, N1 is determined based on the PSFCH configuration or predefined, and x=(N0 mod 4)+1, see para [0447])
Regarding claim 4 and 19,
Zhou teaches the UE of claim 1, wherein the resource patterns include at least one of a contiguous pattern or an interleaved pattern, wherein the contiguous pattern indicates that PRBs for a PSFCH transmission are labeled in a consecutive way within a range of resources for the PSFCH transmission, and wherein the interleaved pattern indicates that PRBs for a PSFCH transmission have a same index in multiple PRB sets within a range of resources for the PSFCH transmission. (rejected as being an alternative limitation)
Regarding claim 5 and 20,
Zhou teaches the UE of claim 1, wherein at least one of the numbers of PRBs or the resource patterns are configured or pre-configured in at least one of the following granularities: per resource pool, per PSSCH transmission type, per PSFCH symbol type, or per priority of an associated PSSCH transmission. (interpreted as the UE determines a PSFCH resource pool according to at least one of the following: the PSFCH configuration, the PSCCH configuration and/or the PSSCH configuration, a association relationship between the PSFCH configuration and the PSCCH configuration and/or the PSSCH configuration, see para [0212])
Regarding claim 6,
Zhou teaches the UE of claim 5, wherein the PSFCH symbol type includes a shared PSFCH symbol (SFS) or an independent PSFCH symbol (IFS) (rejected as being an alternative limitation)
Regarding claim 7,
Zhou teaches the UE of claim 1, wherein, to determine the at least one PSFCH resource for the intended PSFCH transmission, the at least one processor is configured to cause the UE to: determine a set of parameters from the at least one set of parameters based on a PSSCH transmission type of the PSSCH transmission; and determine a slot index of a slot for the PSFCH transmission based on a slot index of the PSSCH transmission and the set of parameters. (interpreted as UE determines that corresponding PSFCH resources are in (M+M1)th PSFCH sub-channel in the V2X resource pool or in a PSFCH sub-channel corresponding to the frequency domain location of the (M+M1)th PSSCH sub-channel; based on the time domain location of the PSSCH being the N0th time slot in one PSFCH period (i.e., using the above method to index all PSSCH resources in one PSFCH period, and obtaining the index of the PSSCH as N0), see para [0379])
Regarding claim 9,
Zhou teaches the UE of claim 1, wherein the PRB feedback lists includes a PRB feedback list for shared PSFCH symbol (SFS) for slot level PSSCH transmission, a PRB feedback list for SFS for sub-slot level PSSCH transmission, a PRB feedback list for independent PSFCH symbol (IFS) for slot level PSSCH transmission, and a PRB feedback list for IFS for sub-slot level PSSCH transmission. (rejected upon being an alternative limitation)
Regarding claim 10,
Zhou teaches the UE of claim 9, wherein, to determine the at least one PSFCH resource for the intended PSFCH transmission, the at least one processor is configured to cause the UE to: determine a first PRB list for the intended PSFCH transmission from the PRB feedback list for SFS for slot level PSSCH transmission, the PRB feedback list for SFS for sub-slot level PSSCH transmission, the PRB feedback list for IFS for slot level PSSCH transmission, and the PRB feedback list for IFS for sub-slot level PSSCH transmission based on at least one of: whether a PSFCH symbol for the intended PSFCH transmission is an SFS or an IFS; or whether the PSSCH transmission is a slot level PSSCH transmission or a sub-slot level PSSCH transmission. (rejected upon being an alternative limitation)
Regarding claim 11,
Zhou teaches the UE of claim 10, wherein, to determine the at least one PSFCH resource for the intended PSFCH transmission, at least one processor is configured to cause the UE to: determine a second PRB list from the first PRB list based on a slot index of the PSSCH transmission, sub-channel indexes of the PSSCH transmission, and a resource mapping type included in the second configuration information, wherein the resource mapping type indicates whether the second PRB list is within PSFCH resources corresponding to all sub-channels of the PSSCH transmission or a part of sub-channels of the PSSCH transmission; or receive sidelink control information (SCI) associated with the PSSCH transmission, wherein the SCI indicates a second PRB list from the first PRB list for the intended PSFCH transmission. (rejected upon being an alternative limitation)
Regarding claim 12,
Zhou teaches the UE of claim 11, wherein, when the PSSCH transmission is a slot level PSSCH transmission, the at least one processor is configured to cause the UE to determine the at least one PSFCH resource for the intended PSFCH transmission based on at least one of: the second PRB list; at least one code for the intended PSFCH transmission; an identity of the UE; or an identity of a transmitting UE associated with the PSSCH transmission. (rejected upon being an alternative limitation)
Regarding claim 13,
Zhou teaches the UE of claim 11, wherein, when the PSSCH transmission is a sub-slot level PSSCH transmission, the at least one processor is configured to cause the UE to determine the at least one PSFCH resource for the intended PSFCH transmission based on at least one of: the second PRB list; at least one code for the intended PSFCH transmission; an identity of the UE; an identity of a transmitting UE associated with the PSSCH transmission; a sub-slot level index of the PSSCH transmission; a number of PRBs for the intended PSFCH transmission; or a resource pattern for the intended PSFCH transmission. (rejected upon being an alternative limitation)
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 8 objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Regarding claim 8,
The prior art does not teach the UE of claim 7, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to cause the UE to: determine a PSFCH symbol type of a PSFCH symbol in the slot for the PSFCH transmission based on a time offset and a period associated with each PSSCH transmission type as indicated by the first configuration information.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to BAO G NGUYEN whose telephone number is (571)272-7732. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 10pm - 6:30pm.
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/BAO G NGUYEN/Examiner, Art Unit 2461
/HUY D VU/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2461
