DETAILED ACTION
This office action is in response to the application filed on 10/03/2024. Claims 1-30 have been examined.
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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 01/27/2026 and 10/03/2024 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Specification
The lengthy specification has not been checked to the extent necessary to determine the presence of all possible minor errors. Applicant's cooperation is requested in correcting any errors of which applicant may become aware in the specification.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) 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 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, 5, 8-16, 19-24 and 26-30 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Wu (US 2020/0252910).
Regarding claim 1, Wu discloses a transmitter user equipment (UE) configured for wireless communications, comprising: a memory comprising computer-executable instructions; and a processor configured to execute the computer-executable instructions and cause the transmitter UE to: (Wu, paragraph 31 discloses UE includes a processor, and a memory, configured to store machine readable instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform the method according to the method of the first aspect),
select a first number of resources for an initial transmission based on a second number of transport blocks (TBs) for the initial transmission, the first number is greater than the second number; and transmit the initial transmission on one or more of the first number of resources (Wu, paragraph 127 discloses the UE may select multiple resources for initial transmission and retransmissions for one TB, and may also select multiple resources for initial transmissions and retransmissions for multiple TBs, and the maximum Transport Block Size (TBS) supported by the UE is predefined. The maximum TBS may be related to the type of UE and/or the type of data traffic. The UE determines the number of TBs that need to be transmitted according to the maximum TBS and the size of the arrived data, and the larger the size of the arrived data, the larger the number of TBs that need to be transmitted).
Regarding claim 2, Wu discloses the transmitter UE of claim 1, wherein the select comprises select the first number of resources in different slots or resource block (RB) sets (Wu, paragraphs 3 and 26 discloses a resource in the target resource set may comprises, in time domain and/or frequency domain, a plurality of continuous resource grids, and each resource grid is composed of one or more resource blocks within one time unit, wherein the one or more resource blocks are continuous in the frequency domain),
and the processor is further configured to execute the computer-executable instructions and cause the transmitter UE to: perform a listen-before-talk (LBT) procedure on the one or more of the first number of resources (Wu, paragraph 143 and claim 6 discloses wherein the determining of whether the first resource is available comprises at least one of: determining, at the second time unit, whether the first resource is available based on a Listen Before Talk (LBT) criterion).
Regarding claim 5, Wu discloses the transmitter UE of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to execute the computer-executable instructions and cause the transmitter UE to: perform a listen-before-talk (LBT) procedure using at least one of the first number of resources; and reselect additional resources for the initial transmission after failure of the LBT procedure, when available resources within the first number of resources after the LBT procedure for the initial transmission are less than a threshold (Wu, paragraphs 162 and 166 discloses if the selected resource is determined to be unavailable, the UE should reselect another resource from the target resource set S.sub.B , and again determine whether the reselected resource is available based on the approaches for determining whether the selected resource is available (i.e., the approaches 1, 2, or 3), and if the reselected resource is determined to be available, the data is transmitted on the reselected resource… Before transmitting the data on the reselected resource, the UE determines whether the reselected resource is available based on the LBT and/or the correctly decoded SA/RRS, for example, by using any of the approaches 1, 2, and 3. If the reselected resource is determined to be available, the process proceeds to operation 507 where data transmission is performed on the reselected resource; and if the reselected resource is determined to be unavailable, the process proceeds to operation 508 where determining whether there is any other available resources in S.sub.B.).
Regarding claim 8, Wu discloses the transmitter UE of claim 1, wherein the select comprises select the first number of resources that are contiguous from a beginning of a resource selection window (RSW) (Wu, paragraph 103 discloses the UE initiates the resource selection autonomously performed by UE in the time unit n, and uses all of the resources in the resource selection window [n+T.sub.1,n+T.sub.2] as the initialized resource set S.sub.A according to a pre-configured resource pool).
Regarding claim 9, Wu discloses the transmitter UE of claim 1, wherein the select comprises select the first number of resources based on a cyclic prefix (CP) extension (CPE) (Wu, paragraph 148 discloses the UE transmits the tail of a signal to be transmitted on the next OFDM (or S-FDMA) symbol over the incomplete OFDM (or S-FDMA) symbol to act as a cyclic prefix).
Regarding claim 10, Wu discloses the transmitter UE of claim 9, wherein the processor is further configured to execute the computer-executable instructions and cause the transmitter UE to: detect an out-of-channel occupancy time (COT) reservation with the CPE; and select a different subchannel but with the same CPE, when frequency division multiplexing (FDMing) with the first number of resources (Wu, paragraph 148 discloses If the remaining time of the selected resource contains an incomplete OFDM (or S-FDMA) symbol, the UE transmits the tail of a signal to be transmitted on the next OFDM (or S-FDMA) symbol over the incomplete OFDM (or S-FDMA) symbol to act as a cyclic prefix; alternatively, the UE transmits an arbitrary signal on the incomplete OFDM (or S-FDMA) symbol to occupy the selected resource).
Regarding claim 11, Wu discloses the transmitter UE of claim 9, wherein the processor is further configured to execute the computer-executable instructions and cause the transmitter UE to: detect an out-of-channel occupancy time (COT) reservation with the CPE; and select a different CPE, when time division multiplexing (TDMing) with the first number of resources (Wu, paragraph 148 discloses If the remaining time of the selected resource contains an incomplete OFDM (or S-FDMA) symbol, the UE transmits the tail of a signal to be transmitted on the next OFDM (or S-FDMA) symbol over the incomplete OFDM (or S-FDMA) symbol to act as a cyclic prefix; alternatively, the UE transmits an arbitrary signal on the incomplete OFDM (or S-FDMA) symbol to occupy the selected resource).
Regarding claim 12, Wu discloses the transmitter UE of claim 11, wherein: the different CPE has a first value that is more than a predetermined threshold value when the transmitter UE has a higher priority traffic; and the different CPE has a second value that is less than the predetermined threshold value when the transmitter UE does not have the higher priority traffic (Wu, paragraph 148 discloses If the remaining time of the selected resource contains an incomplete OFDM (or S-FDMA) symbol, the UE transmits the tail of a signal to be transmitted on the next OFDM (or S-FDMA) symbol over the incomplete OFDM (or S-FDMA) symbol to act as a cyclic prefix; alternatively, the UE transmits an arbitrary signal on the incomplete OFDM (or S-FDMA) symbol to occupy the selected resource).
Regarding claim 13, Wu discloses the transmitter UE of claim 9, wherein the processor is further configured to execute the computer-executable instructions and cause the transmitter UE to: increase a duration of the CPE (Wu, paragraph 148 discloses If the remaining time of the selected resource contains an incomplete OFDM (or S-FDMA) symbol, the UE transmits the tail of a signal to be transmitted on the next OFDM (or S-FDMA) symbol over the incomplete OFDM (or S-FDMA) symbol to act as a cyclic prefix; alternatively, the UE transmits an arbitrary signal on the incomplete OFDM (or S-FDMA) symbol to occupy the selected resource).
Regarding claim 14, Wu discloses the transmitter UE of claim 13, wherein the increase comprises gradually increase the duration of the CPE, based on an opportunity index indicating multiple time- frequency domain opportunities (Wu, paragraph 148 discloses If the remaining time of the selected resource contains an incomplete OFDM (or S-FDMA) symbol, the UE transmits the tail of a signal to be transmitted on the next OFDM (or S-FDMA) symbol over the incomplete OFDM (or S-FDMA) symbol to act as a cyclic prefix; alternatively, the UE transmits an arbitrary signal on the incomplete OFDM (or S-FDMA) symbol to occupy the selected resource).
Regarding claim 15, Wu discloses the transmitter UE of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to execute the computer-executable instructions and cause the transmitter UE to: perform an evaluation to check for a resource reservation collision in the first number of resources, before transmitting the initial transmission on the one or more of the first number of resources (Wu, paragraph 15 discloses a reserved resource indicated by the SA signaling collides with or is about to collide with a resource in the initial resource set, the resource which has or is about to have a collision is excluded from the initial resource set, excluding resources based on a correctly decoded Resource Reservation Signaling (RRS).
Regarding claim 16, Wu discloses the transmitter UE of claim 15, wherein the processor is further configured to execute the computer-executable instructions and cause the transmitter UE to: detect the resource reservation collision based on the evaluation; and trigger reselection of resources for the initial transmission, based on the detection (Wu, paragraph 15 discloses a reserved resource indicated by the SA signaling collides with or is about to collide with a resource in the initial resource set, the resource which has or is about to have a collision is excluded from the initial resource set, excluding resources based on a correctly decoded Resource Reservation Signaling (RRS).
Regarding claim 19, Wu discloses the transmitter UE of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to execute the computer-executable instructions and cause the transmitter UE to: perform an evaluation to check for a resource reservation collision, before a first resource of the first number of resources, after performing a listen-before-talk (LBT) procedure (Wu, paragraph 15 discloses a reserved resource indicated by the SA signaling collides with or is about to collide with a resource in the initial resource set, the resource which has or is about to have a collision is excluded from the initial resource set, excluding resources based on a correctly decoded Resource Reservation Signaling (RRS).
Regarding claim 20, Wu discloses the transmitter UE of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to execute the computer-executable instructions and cause the transmitter UE to: trigger an evaluation of multiple resources of the first number of resources at a same time to check for a resource reservation collision, before performing a listen-before-talk (LBT) procedure (Wu, paragraph 15 discloses a reserved resource indicated by the SA signaling collides with or is about to collide with a resource in the initial resource set, the resource which has or is about to have a collision is excluded from the initial resource set, excluding resources based on a correctly decoded Resource Reservation Signaling (RRS).
Regarding claim 21, Wu discloses the transmitter UE of claim 19, wherein the processor is further configured to execute the computer-executable instructions and cause the transmitter UE to: detect the resource reservation collision, based on the evaluation, in one of the first number of resources; and adjust a cyclic prefix (CP) extension (CPE) associated with the first number of resources (Wu, paragraph 148 discloses If the remaining time of the selected resource contains an incomplete OFDM (or S-FDMA) symbol, the UE transmits the tail of a signal to be transmitted on the next OFDM (or S-FDMA) symbol over the incomplete OFDM (or S-FDMA) symbol to act as a cyclic prefix; alternatively, the UE transmits an arbitrary signal on the incomplete OFDM (or S-FDMA) symbol to occupy the selected resource).
Regarding claim 22, Wu discloses the transmitter UE of claim 21, wherein the adjust comprises adjust the CPE based on a priority of a traffic (Wu, paragraph 148 discloses If the remaining time of the selected resource contains an incomplete OFDM (or S-FDMA) symbol, the UE transmits the tail of a signal to be transmitted on the next OFDM (or S-FDMA) symbol over the incomplete OFDM (or S-FDMA) symbol to act as a cyclic prefix; alternatively, the UE transmits an arbitrary signal on the incomplete OFDM (or S-FDMA) symbol to occupy the selected resource).
Regarding claim 23, Wu discloses a receiver user equipment (UE) configured for wireless communications, comprising: a memory comprising computer-executable instructions; and a processor configured to execute the computer-executable instructions and cause the receiver UE to: (Wu, paragraph 31 discloses UE includes a processor, and a memory, configured to store machine readable instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform the method according to the method of the first aspect),
receive an initial transmission on one or more of a first number of resources, wherein the first number of resources are selected for the initial transmission based on a second number of transport blocks (TBs) for the initial transmission, and wherein the first number is greater than the second number; and process the initial transmission (Wu, paragraph 127 discloses the UE may select multiple resources for initial transmission and retransmissions for one TB, and may also select multiple resources for initial transmissions and retransmissions for multiple TBs, and the maximum Transport Block Size (TBS) supported by the UE is predefined. The maximum TBS may be related to the type of UE and/or the type of data traffic. The UE determines the number of TBs that need to be transmitted according to the maximum TBS and the size of the arrived data, and the larger the size of the arrived data, the larger the number of TBs that need to be transmitted).
Regarding claim 24, Wu discloses the receiver UE of claim 23, wherein the first number of resources are in different slots or resource block (RB) sets (Wu, paragraphs 3 and 26 discloses a resource in the target resource set may comprises, in time domain and/or frequency domain, a plurality of continuous resource grids, and each resource grid is composed of one or more resource blocks within one time unit, wherein the one or more resource blocks are continuous in the frequency domain).
Regarding claim 26, Wu discloses the receiver UE of claim 23, wherein the first number of resources are contiguous from a beginning of a resource selection window (RSW) (Wu, paragraph 103 discloses the UE initiates the resource selection autonomously performed by UE in the time unit n, and uses all of the resources in the resource selection window [n+T.sub.1,n+T.sub.2] as the initialized resource set S.sub.A according to a pre-configured resource pool).
Regarding claim 27, Wu discloses a method for wireless communications by a transmitter user equipment (UE), comprising: selecting a first number of resources for an initial transmission based on a second number of transport blocks (TBs) for the initial transmission, the first number is greater than the second number; and transmitting the initial transmission on one or more of the first number of resources (Wu, paragraph 127 discloses the UE may select multiple resources for initial transmission and retransmissions for one TB, and may also select multiple resources for initial transmissions and retransmissions for multiple TBs, and the maximum Transport Block Size (TBS) supported by the UE is predefined. The maximum TBS may be related to the type of UE and/or the type of data traffic. The UE determines the number of TBs that need to be transmitted according to the maximum TBS and the size of the arrived data, and the larger the size of the arrived data, the larger the number of TBs that need to be transmitted).
Regarding claim 28, Wu discloses the method of claim 27, wherein the selecting comprises selecting the first number of resources in different slots or resource block (RB) sets (Wu, paragraphs 3 and 26 discloses a resource in the target resource set may comprises, in time domain and/or frequency domain, a plurality of continuous resource grids, and each resource grid is composed of one or more resource blocks within one time unit, wherein the one or more resource blocks are continuous in the frequency domain),
and performing a listen-before-talk (LBT) procedure on the one or more of the first number of resources (Wu, paragraph 143 and claim 6 discloses wherein the determining of whether the first resource is available comprises at least one of: determining, at the second time unit, whether the first resource is available based on a Listen Before Talk (LBT) criterion).
Regarding claim 29, Wu discloses a method for wireless communications by a receiver user equipment (UE), comprising: receiving an initial transmission on one or more of a first number of resources, wherein the first number of resources are selected for the initial transmission based on a second number of transport blocks (TBs) for the initial transmission, and wherein the first number is greater than the second number; and processing the initial transmission (Wu, paragraph 127 discloses the UE may select multiple resources for initial transmission and retransmissions for one TB, and may also select multiple resources for initial transmissions and retransmissions for multiple TBs, and the maximum Transport Block Size (TBS) supported by the UE is predefined. The maximum TBS may be related to the type of UE and/or the type of data traffic. The UE determines the number of TBs that need to be transmitted according to the maximum TBS and the size of the arrived data, and the larger the size of the arrived data, the larger the number of TBs that need to be transmitted).
Regarding claim 30, Wu discloses the method of claim 29, wherein the first number of resources are in different slots or resource block (RB) sets (Wu, paragraphs 3 and 26 discloses a resource in the target resource set may comprises, in time domain and/or frequency domain, a plurality of continuous resource grids, and each resource grid is composed of one or more resource blocks within one time unit, wherein the one or more resource blocks are continuous in the frequency domain).
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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) 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, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claim(s) 3-4, 6-7, 17-18 and 25 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wu (US 2020/0252910) in view of Lei (US 2023/0026357).
Regarding claim 3, Wu discloses the claimed invention as outlined above in claim 1.
Wu does not disclose the following claim limitations: wherein the processor is further configured to execute the computer-executable instructions and cause the transmitter UE to: perform a listen-before-talk (LBT) procedure across multiple LBT subbands, when multiple frequency domain opportunities are available in a same slot associated with the first number of resources.
However, in the same field of endeavor Lei discloses more explicitly the following: perform a listen-before-talk (LBT) procedure across multiple LBT subbands, when multiple frequency domain opportunities are available in a same slot associated with the first number of resources (Lei, paragraph 75 discloses In the initial slot, the BS 102 may perform a LBT test on each subband and obtain the result of the LBT test on each subband… assuming Subband 0 with a failed channel access procedure in the initial slot, the BS 102, for example, the first BS 102a or the second BS 102b may also perform a LBT test on Subband 0 in slot 1, and once the result of the LBT test on Subband 0 is successful, the BS 102 may transmit data on this subband; in addition paragraph 68 discloses the wideband-based resource mapping may include mapping the modulated complex symbols to the resource blocks first in frequency domain across all subbands of the second set of subbands and then in time domain… the wideband-based resource mapping may include mapping the modulated complex symbols to the resource blocks first in frequency domain in an increasing index order of the subcarriers of the second set of subbands and then in time domain).
It would have been obvious to one the ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention to modify the teachings of Wu with Lei to create a user equipment with performing LBT test on each subband.
The reasoning being is to provide a technical solution for resource mapping in unlicensed spectrum (Wei, paragraph 6).
Regarding claim 4, Wu and Lei discloses the transmitter UE of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to execute the computer-executable instructions and cause the transmitter UE to: transmit the second number of TBs on a subset of the first number of resources to occupy the subset of the first number of resources (Lei, paragraph 59 and claim 1 discloses receiving data on a first set of subbands, wherein the data is a part of a transport block, the first set of subbands is a subset of a second set of subbands, the second set of subbands is allocated for the transport block, and each subband of the second set of subbands has been performed a channel access procedure; determining a type of resource mapping of the transport block, wherein the resource mapping comprises mapping modulated complex symbols of the transport block to resource blocks of the second set of subbands; and decoding the data based on the determined type of resource mapping). The same motivation that was utilized in claim 3 applies equally as well to claim 4.
Regarding claim 6, Wu and Lei discloses the transmitter UE of claim 1, wherein the select comprises select the first number of resources that are contiguous in time for transmitting multiple TBs of the second number of TBs in one channel occupancy time (COT) (Lei, paragraphs 73-74 and fig. 6 illustrates the claimed feature). The same motivation that was utilized in claim 3 applies equally as well to claim 6.
Regarding claim 7, Wu and Lei discloses the transmitter UE of claim 6, wherein the transmit comprises transmit the multiple TBs of the second number of TBs in the one COT when there is no gap between resources of the first number of resources (Lei, paragraphs 73-74 and fig. 6 illustrates the claimed feature). The same motivation that was utilized in claim 3 applies equally as well to claim 7.
Regarding claim 17, Wu and Lei discloses the transmitter UE of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to execute the computer-executable instructions and cause the transmitter UE to: determine whether a channel occupancy time (COT) is initiated for multiple TBs of the second number of TBs transmission (Lei, paragraphs 73-74 and fig. 6 illustrates the claimed feature). The same motivation that was utilized in claim 3 applies equally as well to claim 17.
Regarding claim 18, Wu and Lei discloses the transmitter UE of claim 17, wherein when the COT is initiated for the multiple TBs, a COT transmission has a higher priority than other transmissions (Lei, paragraphs 73-74 and fig. 6 illustrates the claimed feature). The same motivation that was utilized in claim 3 applies equally as well to claim 18.
Regarding claim 25, Wu and Lei discloses the receiver UE of claim 23, wherein the first number of resources are contiguous in time for transmitting multiple TBs of the second number of TBs in one channel occupancy time (COT) (Lei, paragraphs 73-74 and fig. 6 illustrates the claimed feature). The same motivation that was utilized in claim 3 applies equally as well to claim 25.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JERRY T JEAN BAPTISTE whose telephone number is (571)272-6189. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 9-5PM EST.
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/JERRY T JEAN BAPTISTE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2481
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