Prosecution Insights
Last updated: October 01, 2026
Application No. 18/852,599

INFORMATION TRANSMISSION METHOD AND APPARATUS, AND STORAGE MEDIUM AND ELECTRONIC APPARATUS

Non-Final OA §102§103
Filed
Sep 30, 2024
Priority
Apr 13, 2022 — CN 202210385010.6 +1 more
Examiner
AHMED, ATIQUE
Art Unit
2414
Tech Center
2400 — Computer Networks
Assignee
ZTE Corporation
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
81%
Grant Probability
Favorable
1-2
OA Rounds
9m
Est. Remaining
96%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 81% — above average
81%
Career Allowance Rate
390 granted / 482 resolved
+22.9% vs TC avg
Strong +15% interview lift
Without
With
+15.3%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
2y 9m
Avg Prosecution
28 currently pending
Career history
507
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
4.3%
-35.7% vs TC avg
§103
68.8%
+28.8% vs TC avg
§102
10.4%
-29.6% vs TC avg
§112
14.1%
-25.9% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 482 resolved cases

Office Action

§102 §103
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 . 2. This office action is a response to an application filed on 09/30/2024 where claims 1-4, 8-16, 18, 20-22, 24, 31-32 are pending. Claims 5-7, 17,19,23, 25-30, are cancelled. Information Disclosure Statement 3. The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 09/30/2024 has been considered by the examiner. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37CFR 1.97. Drawings 4. The drawings were received on 09/30/2024. These drawings are acceptable. Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102 5. 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) 1,2, 15, 16, 18, 24, 31, 32 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Liu et al. (US 20230231616 A1) hereinafter Liu As to claim 1. Liu teaches An information transmission method, comprising ([0053] Fig. 3, a first UE 305-1 may communicate with a second UE 305-2 (and one or more other UEs 305) via one or more sidelink channels 310) receiving a first Physical Sidelink Control Channel (PSCCH) or Physical Sidelink Shared Channel (PSSCH), ([0010][0072] [0078]Fig. 6,Fig. 7, UE 610 may transmit communications on a plurality of physical sidelink channels (PSCCH and/or PSSCH) with a plurality of beams; RX UE 620 receive from TX UE, provide feedback by transmitting acknowledgements on PSFCH resources that are associated with beams formed on a PSSCH. ) and sending beam feedback information in response to the first PSCCH or PSSCH, ([0072][0078]Fig. 6, Fig. 7,UE 610 may receive the feedback from UE 620. The feedback may be received on a PSFCH in response to PSCCH or PSSCH) wherein the beam feedback information is carried on at least one of: a Physical Sidelink Feedback Channel (PSFCH) resource corresponding to the first PSSCH; ([0078] Fig. 6. Fig. 7, , UE 620 may provide feedback by transmitting acknowledgements on PSFCH resources that are associated with beams formed on a PSSCH. ) and at least one of following pieces of information of a sent second PSCCH or PSSCH: first-stage Sidelink Control Information (SCI-1) information, a Media Access Control-Control Element (MAC CE), and second-stage Sidelink Control Information (SCI-2) information. ([0078] Fig. 6, Fig. 7, , UE 620 may provide feedback by transmitting acknowledgements on PSFCH resources that are associated with beams formed on a PSSCH. UE 620 may decode multiple communications in beams on a PSSCH (e.g., SCI-2)) As to claim 2. Liu teaches further comprising: in a case where the beam feedback information is carried on the PSFCH resource corresponding to the first PSSCH, , ([0072][0078]Fig. 6, Fig. 7,UE 610 may receive the feedback from UE 620. The feedback may be received on a PSFCH in response to PSCCH or PSSCH) indicating the beam feedback information through a cyclic shift of a sequence, ([0067] [0085]Fig. 5, Fig. 6, Feedback for the beams may be received in a PSFCH, UE may use the feedback to select a preferred beam that is used for the data burst, PSFCH cyclic shifts may be used to signal preferred beams, selected from subchannel sequence) wherein the beam feedback information comprises whether a beam corresponding to the first PSCCH or PSSCH satisfies a requirement. ([0078] [0087]Fig. 6, Fig. 7, UE 620 may provide feedback by transmitting acknowledgements on PSFCH resources that are associated with beams formed on a PSSCH; UE 620 may report a preferred beam on the PSFCH only if a communication range of UE 610 satisfies a minimum communication range (MCR)) As to claim 15. Liu teaches wherein in a case where the beam feedback information is carried on the SCI-1 information, or the MAC CE, or the SCI-2 information on the sent second PSCCH or PSSCH, . ([0078] Fig. 6, Fig. 7, , UE 620 may provide feedback by transmitting acknowledgements on PSFCH resources that are associated with beams formed on a PSSCH. UE 620 may decode multiple communications in beams on a PSSCH (e.g., SCI-2)) the beam feedback information further comprises beam information corresponding to a PSCCH or PSSCH before the first PSCCH or PSSCH in addition to beam information corresponding to the first PSCCH or PSSCH;([0081][0082] Fig. 6, Such beam selection on the PSFCH may need to be signaled before UE 620 determines a corresponding beam to UE 610; may signal a preferred beam on the PSFCH with a different cyclic shif)t. and the information transmission method comprises one of the following: the beam feedback information comprises: whether a beam corresponding to the first PSCCH or PSSCH satisfies a requirement; ([0078] [0087]Fig. 6, Fig. 7, UE 620 may provide feedback by transmitting acknowledgements on PSFCH resources that are associated with beams formed on a PSSCH; UE 620 may report a preferred beam on the PSFCH only if a communication range of UE 610 satisfies a minimum communication range (MCR)) or the beam feedback information comprises a measurement parameter value; or the beam feedback information comprises at least one of an index of a beam with strongest Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP), a strongest measurement parameter value, and a differential measurement parameter value using the strongest measurement parameter value as a reference; or the beam feedback information comprises at least one of: an index of a beam, and a measurement parameter value; or the beam feedback information comprises at least one of an index of a beam, a measurement parameter value, a strongest measurement parameter value, a differential measurement parameter value using the strongest measurement parameter value as a reference, and the number of beams to be fed back; or the beam feedback information comprises at least one of an index of a beam, a measurement parameter value, a strongest measurement parameter value, a difference measurement parameter value using the strongest measurement parameter value as a reference, and the number of beams to be fed back. As to claim 16. Liu teaches further comprising: determining the beam feedback information according to a configured or preconfigured beam reporting configuration, wherein the beam reporting configuration comprises at least one of a measurement parameter to be fed back, the number of beams to be fed back, whether group-based beam feedback is enabled, and a reference signal configuration. ([0075] Fig. 6, UE 620 may determine feedback for at least one beam. UE 620 may determine measurement results (e.g., signal strength, signal quality); UE 620 may determine any other information that would assist UE 610 with beam selection with respect to communications with UE 620.) As to claim 18. Liu teaches , further comprising: in a case where a UE receives a PSSCH, and sidelink control information associated with the PSSCH, or the PSSCH, or a higher-layer signalling configuration indicates that beam feedback is enabled([0092] special beam selection SCI-2 format may instruct a receiving node to perform beam selection and report back a preferred beam via PSFCH resources.periodic or semi-periodic PSSCH-based beam sweeping, a beam selection procedure may be configured at receiving nodes via an RRC message or a MAC-CE.) sending, by the UE, the beam feedback information on a resource corresponding to the PSSCH; ([0078] Fig. 6. Fig. 7, , UE 620 may provide feedback by transmitting acknowledgements on PSFCH resources that are associated with beams formed on a PSSCH. ) or, in a case where it is configured through a higher-layer signalling that beam feedback is enabled, when a PSSCH is received, and sidelink control information associated with the PSSCH or the PSSCH indicates that beam feedback is enabled, sending, by a UE, the beam feedback information on a resource corresponding to the PSSCH. As to claim 24. Liu teaches An information transmission method, comprising: ([0053] Fig. 3, a first UE 305-1 may communicate with a second UE 305-2 (and one or more other UEs 305) via one or more sidelink channels 310) sending a first Physical Sidelink Control Channel (PSCCH) or Physical Sidelink Shared Channel (PSSCH), ([0074] Fig. 6, UE 610 may transmit communications with beams on a PSSCH in different subchannels and/or slots) and receiving beam feedback information sent in response to the first PSCCH or PSSCH, wherein the beam feedback information is carried on at least one of: a Physical Sidelink Feedback Channel (PSFCH) resource corresponding to the first PSSCH; and at least one of following pieces of information of a sent second PSCCH or PSSCH: first-stage Sidelink Control Information (SCI-1) information, a Media Access Control-Control Element (MAC CE), and second-stage Sidelink Control Information (SCI-2) information. ([0078] Fig. 6, Fig. 7, UE 620 may provide feedback by transmitting acknowledgements on PSFCH resources that are associated with beams formed on a PSSCH.) As to claim 31. Liu teaches An electronic apparatus, comprising a memory and a processor, wherein the memory stores a computer program, and the processor is configured to run the computer program so as to execute the information transmission method according to any one of claims claim1, ([0009] UE for wireless communication includes a memory and one or more processors operatively coupled to the memory, a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing a set of instructions for wireless communication includes one or more instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of a UE,) As to claim 32. Liu teaches comprising a memory and a processor, wherein the memory stores a computer program, and the processor is configured to run the computer program so as to execute the information transmission method according to claim 24. ([0009] UE for wireless communication includes a memory and one or more processors operatively coupled to the memory, a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing a set of instructions for wireless communication includes one or more instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of a UE,) Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103 6. 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) 3, 11 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Liu and further in view of Ryu et al. (US 20220006505 A1) hereinafter Ryu As to claim 3 Liu does not teach further comprising: in a case where a measurement parameter value of a reference signal corresponding to the first PSSCH or the first PSCCH associated with the first PSSCH is greater than a threshold determining that the beam corresponding to the first PSCCH or PSSCH satisfies the requirement; in a case where the measurement parameter value of the reference signal corresponding to the first PSSCH or the first PSCCH associated with the first PSSCH is smaller than the threshold, determining that the beam corresponding to the first PSCCH or PSSCH does not satisfy the requirement. Ryu teaches further comprising: in a case where a measurement parameter value of a reference signal corresponding to the first PSSCH or the first PSCCH associated with the first PSSCH is greater than a threshold ([0037][0039] UE2 measures reference signals on the candidate list. If a reference signal on the candidate list has a received signal strength (e.g., RSRP (reference signal received power)) at or above a threshold, UE2 selects the reference signal with the signal strength at or above the threshold). determining that the beam corresponding to the first PSCCH or PSSCH satisfies the requirement;([0037][0039] UE2 transmits, to UE1, a random access channel (RACH) preamble, based on the selected reference signal and the corresponding transmit beam/satisfy PSCCH requirement in a case where the measurement parameter value of the reference signal corresponding to the first PSSCH or the first PSCCH associated with the first PSSCH is smaller than the threshold ([0091][0099]Fig. 6, Fig. 8, UE1 periodically transmits the beam failure detection reference signal on its transmit beams used for communicating with UE2. If the receive signal strength of the BFD reference signals falls below the threshold a certain number, N, times before the BFD timer expires, UE2 declares beam failure (BF) ) determining that the beam corresponding to the first PSCCH or PSSCH does not satisfy the requirement. ([0099] Fig. 8, If the receive signal strength of the BFD reference signals falls below the threshold a certain number, N,times before the BFD timer expires, UE2 declares beam failure (BF) i.e., does not satisfy,) Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to combine teaching of Ryu with the teaching of Liu because Ryu teaches that D2D communications would avoid the overhead involving the routing to and from the base station thereby improving throughput, reduce latency, and/or increase energy efficiency.(Ryu [0035]) As to claim 11. Liu does not teach further comprising :further indicating, in the first PSCCH or PSSCH, at least one of:_ whether HARQ feedback is enabled; and_ whether beam feedback is enabled or, whether a PSFCH contains the beam feedback information or whether beam feedback is enabled being configured or indicated through a higher-layer signalling. Ryu teaches further indicating, in the first PSCCH or PSSCH, at least one of:_ whether HARQ feedback is enabled; and_ whether beam feedback is enabled or, whether a PSFCH contains the beam feedback information or whether beam feedback is enabled being configured or indicated through a higher-layer signalling.( [0034][0091 Fig. 6, device-to-device (D2D) communications that enable discovery of, and communications with, nearby devices using a direct link between devices; PSFCH can be used for carrying feedback information, for example, HARQ ACK/NACK for sidelink data received in an earlier sidelink resource 606.) Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to combine teaching of Ryu with the teaching of Liu because Ryu teaches that D2D communications can avoid the overhead involving the base station thereby D2D communications would improve throughput, reduce latency, and/or increase energy efficiency.(Ryu [0035]) Claim(s) 8, 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Liu and further in view of Tsai et al. (US 20220399927 A1) hereinafter Tsai As to claim 8. Liu teaches The information transmission method according to claim 2, further comprising: in a case where the beam corresponding to the first PSCCH or PSSCH satisfies the requirement, ([0072][0078]Fig. 6, Fig. 7,UE 610 may receive the feedback from UE 620. The feedback may be received on a PSFCH in response to PSCCH or PSSCH) using a cyclic shift of a sequence transmitted by a PSSCH to indicate that the beam corresponding to the first PSCCH or PSSCH ([0067] [0085]Fig. 5, Fig. 6, Feedback for the beams may be received in a PSFCH, UE may use the feedback to select a preferred beam that is used for the data burst, PSFCH cyclic shifts may be used to signal preferred beams, selected from subchannel sequence) satisfies the requirement;([0078] [0087]Fig. 6, Fig. 7, UE 620 may provide feedback by transmitting acknowledgements on PSFCH resources that are associated with beams formed on a PSSCH; UE 620 may report a preferred beam on the PSFCH only if a communication range of UE 610 satisfies a minimum communication range (MCR)) Liu does not teach and in a case where the beam corresponding to the first PSCCH or PSSCH does not satisfy the requirement, performing no feedback. Tsai teaches and in a case where the beam corresponding to the first PSCCH or PSSCH does not satisfy the requirement, performing no feedback. ([0069] [0070]PSCCH measurement may be based on a (pre-)defined metric (e.g., L1-RSRP, RSRQ, SINR, or hypothetical BLER) under a certain (pre-)configured threshold,, then no feedback to TX UE) Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to combine teaching of Tsai with the teaching of Liu because Tsai teaches that receiving by TX UE no feedback of channel quality report would allow TX UE to decide whether there is a beam failure that should be reported to a higher layer for indicating this link failure or not. (Tsai [0074]) As to claim 20. Liu does not teach to further comprising: in a case where the sidelink control information associated with the PSSCH indicates that HARQ feedback is required, multiplexing and sending the beam feedback information and HARQ feedback information together on the resource corresponding to the PSSCH. Tsai teach in a case where the sidelink control information associated with the PSSCH indicates that HARQ feedback is required, ([0089] Fig. 10, single or multiple resources for ACK/NACK feedback may be reserved by TX UE or the reserved resources(s) for HARQ ACK/NACK feedback can be derived from the received PSSCH;). multiplexing and sending the beam feedback information and HARQ feedback information together on the resource corresponding to the PSSCH.([0089] multiple PSFCH for HARQ-ACK/NACK sequences may be multiplexed at a same reserved resource in a resource pool, X UE may feedback a single HARQ-ACK/NACK and transmit the correspondence PSFCH (block ID link to the PSFCH sequence ID) at the reserved resource to TX UE) Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to combine teaching of Tsai with the teaching of Liu because Tsai teaches that receiving by TX UE no feedback of channel quality report would allow TX UE to decide whether there is a beam failure that should be reported to a higher layer for indicating this link failure or not. (Tsai [0074]) Claim(s) 9, 13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Liu and further in view of Kwak et al. (US 20190312669 A1) hereinafter Kwak As to claim 9. Liu teaches further comprising: in a case where the beam feedback information is carried on the PSFCH resource corresponding to the first PSSCH, ([0072][0078]Fig. 6, Fig. 7,UE 610 may receive the feedback from UE 620. The feedback may be received on a PSFCH resource in response to PSCCH or PSSCH) indicating the beam feedback information([0067] [0085]Fig. 5, Fig. 6, Feedback for the beams may be received in a PSFCH, UE may use the feedback to select a preferred beam that is used for the data burst, PSFCH cyclic shifts may be used to signal preferred beams, selected from subchannel sequence) the beam feedback information comprises whether a beam corresponding to the first PSCCH or PSSCH satisfies a requirement. ([0078] [0087]Fig. 6, Fig. 7, UE 620 may provide feedback by transmitting acknowledgements on PSFCH resources that are associated with beams formed on a PSSCH; UE 620 may report a preferred beam on the PSFCH only if a communication range of UE 610 satisfies a minimum communication range (MCR)) Liu does not teach through a complex-valued symbol carried by a sequence, wherein the complex-valued symbol is formed by modulating 1-bit information indicating the beam feedback information, and Kwak teaches through a complex-valued symbol carried by a sequence, ([0416] [0435] In the case of the PUCCH formats 1a and 1 b, one or two explicit bits are transmitted. A block of bits (b(0), . . . , b(Mbit−1)) i.e., sequence needs to be modulated as described in Table 20, and becomes a complex value symbol d(0).)wherein the complex-valued symbol is formed by modulating 1-bit information indicating the beam feedback information, and([0416] [0435] In the case of the PUCCH formats 1a and 1 b, one or two explicit bits are transmitted. A block of bits (b(0), . . . , b(Mbit−1)) needs to be modulated as described in Table 20, and becomes a complex value symbol d(0).) Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to combine teaching of Kwak with the teaching of Liu because Kwak teaches for sidelink, number of bits transmitted in one sTTI can be reduced through by dividing a value transmitted with respect to each piece of channel state information into two steps thereby reduce the computational load of UE (Kwak[0262] [0435}) As to claim 13. Liu teaches further comprising: in a case where the beam feedback information is carried on the PSFCH resource corresponding to the first PSSCH, ([0072][0078]Fig. 6, Fig. 7,UE 610 may receive the feedback from UE 620. The feedback may be received on a PSFCH resource in response to PSCCH or PSSCH) indicating HARQ feedback and the beam feedback information ([0067] [0085]Fig. 5, Fig. 6, Feedback for the beams may be received in a PSFCH, UE may use the feedback to select a preferred beam that is used for the data burst, PSFCH cyclic shifts may be used to signal preferred beams, selected from subchannel sequence) the beam feedback information comprises whether a beam corresponding to the first PSCCH or PSSCH satisfies a requirement. ([0078] [0087]Fig. 6, Fig. 7, UE 620 may provide feedback by transmitting acknowledgements on PSFCH resources that are associated with beams formed on a PSSCH; UE 620 may report a preferred beam on the PSFCH only if a communication range of UE 610 satisfies a minimum communication range (MCR)) Liu does not teach through a complex-valued symbol carried by a sequence, wherein the complex-valued symbol is formed by modulating 1-bit or 2-bit information indicating the HARQ feedback and the beam feedback information, and Kwak teaches through a complex-valued symbol carried by a sequence, , ([0416] [0435] In the case of the PUCCH formats 1a and 1 b, one or two explicit bits are transmitted. A block of bits (b(0), . . . , b(Mbit−1)) i.e., sequence needs to be modulated as described in Table 20, and becomes a complex value symbol d(0).) wherein the complex-valued symbol is formed by modulating 1-bit or 2-bit information indicating the HARQ feedback and the beam feedback information, and ([0416] [0435] In the case of the PUCCH formats 1a and 1 b, one or two explicit bits are transmitted. A block of bits (b(0), . . . , b(Mbit−1)) needs to be modulated as described in Table 20, and becomes a complex value symbol d(0).) Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to combine teaching of Kwak with the teaching of Liu because Kwak teaches for sidelink, number of bits transmitted in one sTTI can be reduced through by dividing a value transmitted with respect to each piece of channel state information into two steps thereby reduce the computational load of UE (Kwak [0262] [0435}) Claim(s) 12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Liu, Tsai and further in view of Lien et al. (US 20210058900 A1) hereinafter Lien As to claim 12. Liu does not teach further comprising: in a case where a measurement parameter value of a reference signal corresponding to the first PSCCH or PSSCH is greater than a threshold, using a first cyclic shift and a second cyclic shift to respectively indicate an Acknowledgement (ACK) and a Non-Acknowledgement (NACK);and in a case where the measurement parameter value of the reference signal corresponding to the first PSCCH or PSSCH is smaller than or equal to the threshold, using a third cyclic shift and a fourth cyclic shift to respectively indicate the ACK and the NACK; or in a case where a measurement parameter value of a reference signal corresponding to the first PSCCH or PSSCH is greater than a threshold, using a first cyclic shift and a second cyclic shift to respectively indicate an ACK and a NACK; and in a case where the measurement parameter value of the reference signal corresponding to the first PSCCH or PSSCH is smaller than or equal to the threshold, performing no feedback; or in a case where a measurement parameter value of a reference signal corresponding to the first PSCCH or PSSCH is greater than a threshold and PSSCH reception is correct, using a cyclic shift to indicate an ACK; and in a case where the measurement parameter value of the reference signal corresponding to the first PSCCH or PSSCH is not greater than the threshold or the PSSCH reception is incorrect, performing no feedback; or in a case where an HARQ-ACK value is ACK, using, by a UE, a cyclic shift to indicate an ACK; in a case where the HARQ-ACK value is NACK and the beam satisfies the requirement, using, by the UE, another cyclic shift to indicate an NACK; and in a case where the HARQ-ACK value is NACK and the beam does not satisfy the requirement, performing, by the UE, no feedback. Tsai teaches and the beam does not satisfy the requirement, performing, by the UE, no feedback.([0069] [0070]PSCCH measurement may be based on a (pre-)defined metric (e.g., L1-RSRP, RSRQ, SINR, or hypothetical BLER) under a certain (pre-)configured threshold,, then no feedback to TX UE) Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to combine teaching of Tsai with the teaching of Liu because Tsai teaches that receiving by TX UE no feedback of channel quality report would allow TX UE to decide whether there is a beam failure that should be reported to a higher layer for indicating this link failure or not. (Tsai [0074]) The combination of Liu and Tsai does not teach in a case where an HARQ-ACK value is ACK, using, by a UE, a cyclic shift to indicate an ACK; in a case where the HARQ-ACK value is NACK and the beam satisfies the requirement, using, by the UE, another cyclic shift to indicate an NACK; and in a case where the HARQ-ACK value is NACK Lien teaches in a case where an HARQ-ACK value is ACK, using, by a UE, a cyclic shift to indicate an ACK; in a case where the HARQ-ACK value is NACK and the beam satisfies the requirement, using, by the UE, another cyclic shift to indicate an NACK; and in a case where the HARQ-ACK value is NACK ([0045] Fig. 7, UE 200 may generate the second signaling according to a first cyclic shift value in response to receiving the data successfully, wherein the first cyclic shift value corresponds to the ACK sequence; UE 200 may generate the second signaling according to a second cyclic shift value in response to not receiving the data successfully, wherein the second cyclic shift value corresponds to the NACK sequence Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to combine teaching of Lien with the teaching of Liu and Tsai because Lien teaches that low latency sidelink transmissions would allow a transmitting UE should decrease the number in performing channel sensing thereby alleviating occupying the same resources.(Lien [0004]) Claim(s) 14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Liu, Kwak, Ryu and further in view of Bhamri; Ankit et al. (US 20210218500 A1) hereinafter Bhamri As to claim 14. The combination of Liu and Kwak does not teach The information transmission method according to claim 13, further comprising: in a case where a measurement parameter value of a reference signal corresponding to the first PSCCH or PSSCH is greater than a threshold, using a first bit value and a second bit value to respectively indicate an ACK and a NACK; and in a case where the measurement parameter value of the reference signal corresponding to the first PSCCH or PSSCH is not greater than the threshold, using a third bit value and a fourth bit value to respectively indicate the ACK and the NACK; or in a case where a measurement parameter value of a reference signal corresponding to the first PSCCH or PSSCH is greater than a threshold, using a first bit value and a second bit value to respectively indicate an ACK and a NACK; and in a case where the measurement parameter value of the reference signal corresponding to the first PSCCH or PSSCH is not greater than the threshold, performing no feedback; or in a case where a measurement parameter value of a reference signal corresponding to the first PSCCH or PSSCH is greater than a threshold and PSSCH reception is correct, using a bit value to indicate an ACK; and in a case where the measurement parameter value of the reference signal corresponding to the first PSCCH or PSSCH is not greater than the threshold or the PSSCH reception is incorrect, performing no feedback. Ryu teaches in a case where a measurement parameter value of a reference signal corresponding to the first PSCCH or PSSCH is greater than a threshold, ([0037][0039] UE2 measures reference signals on the candidate list. If a reference signal on the candidate list has a received signal strength (e.g., RSRP (reference signal received power)) at or above a threshold, UE2 selects the reference signal with the signal strength at or above the threshold). and in a case where the measurement parameter value of the reference signal corresponding to the first PSCCH or PSSCH is not greater than the threshold, ([0091][0099]Fig. 6, Fig. 8, UE1 periodically transmits the beam failure detection reference signal on its transmit beams used for communicating with UE2. If the receive signal strength of the BFD reference signals falls below the threshold a certain number, N, times before the BFD timer expires, UE2 declares beam failure (BF) ;performing no feedback ([0103] UE2 does not receive the PSCCH from UE1 before the BFR timer expires (e.g., beam failure recovery failed), UE2 may initiate beam failure recovery without sidelink contention free random access SL-CFRA, ) Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to combine teaching of Ryu with the teaching of Liu and Kwak because Ryu teaches that D2D communications would avoid the overhead involving the routing to and from the base station thereby improving throughput, reduce latency, and/or increase energy efficiency.(Ryu [0035]) The combination of Liu, Kwak and Ryu does not teach ) using a first bit value and a second bit value to respectively indicate an ACK and a NACK; Bhamri teaches using a first bit value and a second bit value to respectively indicate an ACK and a NACK (0062] feedback may report whether all data packets within a burst are in error (e.g., “NACK” or “0” bit) or at least one of the data packets is successfully received and therefore not in error (e.g., “ACK” or “1” bit).) Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to combine teaching of Bhamri with the teaching of Liu, Kwak, Ryu because Bhamri teaches that loss tolerance can be monitored by reporting after every three DL data packets instead of after every DL data packet, thereby reducing feedback resources used.(Bhamri [0064]) 19. (Cancelled) Claim(s) 21, 22 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Liu and further in view of Shimoda et al. (US 20260019984 A1) hereinafter Shimoda As to claim 21. Liu does not teach The information transmission method according to claim 1, further comprising: sending the beam feedback information in a delay window subsequent to transmission of the first PSCCH or PSSCH, wherein the delay window is obtained in one of the following manners: the delay window is obtained based on configuration or pre-configuration; a first emerging PSFCH feedback resource at least M slots subsequent to the first PSCCH or PSSCH is determined based on a time domain position of the received first PSCCH or PSSCH;or the delay window provided by a UE receiving the beam feedback information is obtained. Shimoda teaches further comprising: sending the beam feedback information in a delay window subsequent to transmission of the first PSCCH or PSSCH, wherein the delay window is obtained in one of the following manners: the delay window is obtained based on configuration or pre-configuration; a first emerging PSFCH feedback resource at least M slots subsequent to the first PSCCH or PSSCH is determined based on a time domain position of the received first PSCCH or PSSCH;or the delay window provided by a UE receiving the beam feedback information is obtained. ([06498][0650] Fig. 37, the UE 1 transmits the feedback timing correction information of the UE 2 to the UE 2. The UE 1 may transmit a request for correcting the feedback timing to the UE 2. The UE 1 may include the feedback correction request information of the UE 2 in the request for correcting the feedback timing and notify the information. For example, the UE 1 may transmit the feedback timing correction information in the PSCCH; in Step ST4909, the UE 2 corrects the feedback timing using the feedback timing correction information) Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to combine teaching of Shimoda with the teaching of Liu because Shimoda teaches correcting the feedback timing would allow to correct the radio propagation delay time between the UEs thereby collision between the transmission timing and the reception timing in the UEs in SL communication can be reduced. (Shimoda[0651]) As to claim 22. The combination of Liu and Shimoda specifically Liu teaches, further comprising: in a case where the UE receives a PSSCH and beam feedback is enabled, the beam feedback information through a MAC CE, a sidelink control channel, or a higher-layer signalling; ([0092] special beam selection SCI-2 format may instruct a receiving node to perform beam selection and report back a preferred beam via PSFCH resources. periodic or semi-periodic PSSCH-based beam sweeping, a beam selection procedure may be configured at receiving nodes via an RRC message or a MAC-CE.) or, the first PSCCH or PSSCH indicates whether beam feedback is enabled through sidelink control information associated with the first PSSCH, or a MAC CE, or a higher-layer signalling. Liu does not teach indicating, by the UE in the delay window subsequent to the PSSCH, ([06498][0650] Fig. 37, the UE 1 transmits the feedback timing correction information of the UE 2 to the UE 2. The UE 1 may transmit a request for correcting the feedback timing to the UE 2. The UE 1 may include the feedback correction request information of the UE 2 in the request for correcting the feedback timing and notify the information. For example, the UE 1 may transmit the feedback timing correction information in the PSCCH; in Step ST4909, the UE 2 corrects the feedback timing using the feedback timing correction information) Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to combine teaching of Shimoda with the teaching of Liu because Shimoda teaches correcting the feedback timing would allow to correct the radio propagation delay time between the UEs thereby collision between the transmission timing and the reception timing in the UEs in SL communication can be reduced. (Shimoda[0651]) Allowable Subject Matter 6. Claims 4 and 10 are 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. The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: Regarding claims 4 and 10 prior art LEE; Seungmin et al. [US 20210314917 A1] teaches in para 0163] Otherwise, in the case that the number of REM_RSC is smaller than the number of preconfigured resources (or the number of resources corresponding to a preset ratio), the UE may primarily include resources (physical resources), which satisfy some or all of preconfigured conditions below until the number of REM_RSC is greater than or equal to the number of preconfigured resources (or the number of resources corresponding to a preset ratio). The resources that satisfy the preconfigured conditions may include i) resources excluded by a relatively small number of antenna panels (or beams, APs, TXRUs or antenna elements) (based on PSSCH-RSRP measurement), ii) resources to which a packet having priority relatively lower than priority (or priority of traffic) of a packet to be transmitted by the UE is transmitted (for example, resources to which a packet of a relatively high PPPP value or a packet of a relatively low PPPR value is transmitted), iii) randomly selected resources, resources having a relatively small value in a difference between the PSCCH-RSRP threshold value and the measured PSCCH-RSRP value, and iv) resources excluded by a beam (or AP, TXRU or antenna element) of a relatively low index (or high index) (based on PSSCH-RSRP measurement). Prior art Xue et al. [US 20230124012 A1] discloses in para [0101] Fig. 3, To support opportunistic cooperative relaying in sidelink, one or more UEs 115 may receive sidelink signaling including control signaling (e.g., stage-one SCI, stage-two SCI) which enables a UE 115 that receives and decodes the control signaling to reconstruct the received PSCCH information, PSSCH information, or both for the sidelink signaling. The UE 115 may determine to decode the PSSCH portion of the sidelink signaling and generate the sidelink signaling based on a request in the control signaling (e.g., in the PSCCH portion) for one or more UEs 115 to relay the sidelink signaling. The UE 115 (e.g., acting as a helper UE) may transmit the generated sidelink signaling in an SFN-type transmission in one or more configured resources within the set of resources 300 (e.g., in a specific sub-channel 310, in a specific slot 305, or in any other specific frequency resource, time resource, spatial resource, or combination thereof). Prior art Chae et al. [US 20210051500 A1 ]discloses in para [0159] The base station may semi-statically configure the UE with one or more SRS configuration parameters indicating at least one of following: a SRS resource configuration identifier; a number of SRS ports; time domain behavior of an SRS resource configuration (e.g., an indication of periodic, semi-persistent, or aperiodic SRS); slot, mini-slot, and/or subframe level periodicity; offset for a periodic and/or an aperiodic SRS resource; a number of OFDM symbols in an SRS resource; a starting OFDM symbol of an SRS resource; an SRS bandwidth; a frequency hopping bandwidth; a cyclic shift; and/or an SRS sequence ID. However, combination or prior arts records Lee, Xue Maga and Chae does not teach For claim 4 determining, by a User Equipment (UE), according to PSFCH resource configuration information used for beam feedback, RPSFCHPRB,CS PSFCH resources corresponding to the first PSSCH, wherein the RPSFCHPRB,CS resources are sequentially numbered firstly according to physical resource block indexes and then according to cyclic shift pair indexes; and_ determining, by the UE, a PSFCH resource index used for beam feedback as (PID+ MID)modR RPSFCHPRB,CS,wherein PID is a physical layer source Identifier (ID) provided by Sidelink Control Information (SCI) corresponding to the first PSSCH; for beam feedback information, MID=O; and the PSFCH resource configuration information used for beam feedback comprises at least one of: a PSFCH configuration period T, a frequency domain PRB set occupied by a PSFCH, and the number of cyclic shift pairs corresponding to the PSFCH; or, determining, by a UE, RPSFCHPRB,CS PSFCH resources corresponding to the first PSSCH, wherein the RPSFCHPRB,CS PSFCH resources are sequentially numbered firstly according to physical resource block indexes and then according to cyclic shift pair indexes: and determining, by the UE, a PSFCH resource index used for beam feedback as (PID+MID)modR RPSFCHPRB,CS wherein PID is a physical layer source ID provided by SCI corresponding to the first PSSCH; for beam feedback information.MID is equal to 0; or, in a case where the UE detects that a value of a transmission type indication field of a Channel State Information (CSI) format 2-A is 01. MID is equal to a higher-layer indicated identifier of a UE which receives the first PSSCH, otherwise, MID is equal to 0; and the UE uses a cyclic shift m, of a sequence transmitted by a PSFCH to indicate whether the beam corresponding to the first PSCCH or PSSCH satisfies the requirement or determining, by a UE, RPSFCHPRB,CS jPSFCH resources corresponding to the first PSSCH, wherein the RPSFCHPRB,CS PSFCH resources are sequentially numbered firstly according to physical resource block indexes and then according to cyclic shift pair indexes: and determining, by the UE, a PSFCH resource index used for beam feedback as (PID+MID)modR RPSFCHPRB,CS wherein PID is a physical layer source ID provided by SCI corresponding to the first PSSCH; for beam feedback information.MID is equal to a fixed value X, and for Hybrid Automatic Repeat reQuest (HARQ) feedback information.MID is equal to a fixed value Y; or determining, by a UE, RPSFCHPRB,CS PSFCH resource corresponding to the first PSSCH, wherein theRPSFCHPSFCH resources are sequentially numbered firstly according to physical resource block indexes and then according to cyclic shift pair indexes; a higher-layer entity configures or pre-configures, for the UE, an offset Amo of an initial cyclic shift of a PSFCH sequence used for beam feedback relative to an initial cyclic shift mo corresponding to HARQ feedback; and code division between the PSFCH used for beam feedback and the PSFCH used for HARQ feedback are achieved by different initial cyclic shifts. And for claim 10, determining, by a UE, according to PSFCH resource configuration information used for beam feedback, RP7j PSFCH resources corresponding to the first PSSCH, wherein the PSFCH resources are sequentially numbered according to frequencies; and determining, by the UE, a PSFCH resource index used for beam feedback as (PID+ wherein PIDis a physical layer source ID provided by SCI corresponding to the first PSSCH; for beam feedback information, MID =0; and the PSFCH resource configuration information used for beam feedback comprises at least one of: a PSFCH configuration period, a frequency domain position of each PSFCH resource, and a time domain symbol of the PSFCH resource. Therefore, claim 4 and 10 independently would be allowable if rewritten or amended to overcome the objections set forth in this office action and in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims. Conclusion 7. The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. LI; Qing et al. [US 20210219268 A1] RESOURCE MANAGEMENT FOR 5G EV2X LU; Qianxi et al. [US 20250240787 A1] CONTROL INFORMATION TRANSMISSION METHOD AND APPARATUS, RESOURCE POOL CONFIGURATION METHOD AND APPARATUS, AND COMMUNICATION DEVICE Lin; Ko-Chiang [US 20180206263 A1] METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR TIMING RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CONTROL CHANNEL AND DATA CHANNEL IN A WIRELESS COMMUNICATION SYSTEM Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ATIQUE AHMED whose telephone number is (571)272-6244. The examiner can normally be reached 9:30 - 7:30 PM M-F Eastern. Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Un Cho can be reached at 5712727919. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000. /ATIQUE AHMED/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2413
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Prosecution Timeline

Sep 30, 2024
Application Filed
Sep 10, 2026
Non-Final Rejection mailed — §102, §103 (current)

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