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 statements (IDS) submitted on 7th October 2024 and 16th April 2025 are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
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Claim Objections
Claims 4 and 30 are objected to because of the following informalities:
Claim 4: Please insert -- Physical Sidelink Feedback Channel -- prior to the “PSFCH” term.
Claim 30: Please insert -- Channel Access Priority Class -- prior to the first occurrence of the “CAPC” term; and, insert -- Channel Occupancy Time -- prior to the first occurrence of the “COT” term.
Appropriate correction is required.
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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.
Claims 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 13, 14, 17, 19, 20, 21, 22 and 23 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Xue et al (US 2023/0239920 A1).
Claim 1. Xue shows a wireless communication method for execution by a first user equipment (UE) (figs. 2, 5 and 7: UE 115-a), comprising: receiving channel occupancy time (COT) initiating information from a base station ([0105]: the one or more UEs 115 may determine a COT sharing opportunity (e.g. from the base station 105 to the UEs 115) over one or more symbols, one or more slots, or the like which are indicated as uplink; [0106]: UE 115-a may obtain a COT for performing back-to-back transmission); performing COT initiating to initiate a COT based on a channel access scheme ([0108]: the indication of time interval 240-a and the indication of time interval 240-b may be used for COT sharing, to communicate information on a COT length, channel access priority class (CAPC), or the like); generating COT sharing information for sharing the COT and providing the COT sharing information to a second UE through a transmission of a first sidelink (SL) burst ([0108]: UE 115-b, UE 115-c, UE 115-d, or a combination thereof may jump in during one of sidelink transmission 235-a, sidelink transmission 235-b, or sidelink transmission 235-c for transmitting according to the COT sharing (e.g. at an appropriate instance and with a right burst length)); and receiving from the second UE a second SL burst within the shared COT ([0110] – [0111]: the FDRA may indicate a current sidelink shared channel for an entire transmission burst (e.g. time interval 240-a in SCI 210-a and time interval 240-b in SCI 210-b)… when a UE 115 performs back-to-back sidelink control channel and sidelink shared channel transmissions, the UE 115 may carry an indication of a time interval 240 of the transmission bursts after a current transmission in SCI 210).
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Claim 2. Xue shows the wireless communication method of claim 1, wherein the COT initiating information includes information of initiating a COT based on Type 1 listen before talk (LBT) with respect to a channel access priority class (CAPC) value or a cyclic prefix extension (CPE) value ([0104]: there may be multiple types of LBT procedures, such as a Type 1 LBT (e.g. Cat 1 LBT) procedure in which a wireless device may not perform sensing; [0108]: the indication of time interval 240-a and the indication of time interval 240-b may be used for COT sharing, to communicate information on a COT length, channel access priority class (CAPC)… a sensing UE 115 (e.g., a UE 115 performing a CCA 230, such as by performing an LBT procedure), may learn about COT sharing opportunities earlier; [0139]: UE 115-e may determine a time delay between an end of an initial time interval and a beginning of a subsequent time interval exceeds a threshold amount of time wherein the UE 115-e may apply a cyclic prefix extension to the additional control information based on the time delay exceeding the threshold amount of time).
Claim 3. Xue shows the wireless communication method of claim 2, wherein the CAPC value or the CPE value is determined based on a quality identity associated with a traffic service type or a channel type of a SL channel transmitted by the first UE ([0111]: UE 115-a may perform cycle prefix (CP) extension on the first automatic gain control (AGC) symbol of each following sidelink control channel and sidelink shared channel transmission to avoid leaving a gap greater than a threshold (e.g. equal to or greater than 16 micro seconds (μs)) from the proceeding transmission).
Claim 5. Xue shows the wireless communication method of claim 1, wherein the COT initiating information includes information of a frequency range of Type 1 LBT for COT initiation ([0104]: a node, such as a UE 115, may perform an LBT procedure (e.g. a Type 1 LBT procedure), within a threshold random interval (e.g. up to 9 ms), to reserve a COT for continuous transmission (e.g. up to 10 ms)).
Claim 6. Xue shows the wireless communication method of claim 5, wherein the frequency range includes at least one of subband indexes within a SL bandwidth part (BWP) ([0065]: a carrier used for a communication link 125 may include a portion of a radio frequency spectrum band (e.g. a bandwidth part (BWP)) that is operated according to one or more physical layer channels for a given radio access technology (e.g. LTE, LTE-A, LTE-A Pro, NR); [0068]: each served UE 115 may be configured for operating over portions (e.g. a sub-band, a BWP) or all of a carrier bandwidth; [0070]: a carrier may be divided into one or more BWPs having the same or different numerologies… a UE 115 may be configured with multiple BWPs. In some examples, a single BWP for a carrier may be active at a given time and communications for the UE 115 may be restricted to one or more active BWPs).
Claim 7. Xue shows the wireless communication method of claim 1, wherein the COT initiating information includes information of a time domain location for performing Type 1 LBT to initiate a COT ([0104]: a node, such as a UE 115, may perform an LBT procedure (e.g. a Type 1 LBT procedure), within a threshold random interval (e.g. up to 9 ms), to reserve a COT for continuous transmission (e.g. up to 10 ms); [0123]: TDRA 405-b may be configured according to a resource pool… a UE may configure two candidate time domain resource allocations in L2 and may introduce a one bit parameter in SCI 415-b to switch between the two candidates).
Claim 8. Xue shows the wireless communication method of claim 7, wherein the time domain location includes more than one starting position within a slot for the first sidelink burst transmission ([0123]: a UE may use a start and length indicator (SLIV) for a time domain allocation… a UE may configure two candidate time domain resource allocations in L2 and may introduce a one bit parameter in SCI to switch between the two candidates).
Claim 9. Xue shows the wireless communication method of claim 8, wherein the more than one starting position is configured per bandwidth part ([0123]: the UE may encode TDRA 405-b according to the SLIV for one or more reservations (e.g. two, where sl-MAxNumPerReserve=3) wherein the UE may use a same encoding approach to indicate a burst duration, such as time interval 430-c, and an isolated reservation for sidelink transmission 420-b, which may include a new transmission).
Claim 13. Xue shows the wireless communication method of claim 1, wherein the COT sharing information includes an indication in sidelink channel information (SCI) to indicate whether COT sharing is allowed ([0141]: UE 115-f may determine to perform the communications based on receiving SCI at 525, the SCI including a TDRA, a COT sharing status, or the like).
Claim 14. Xue shows the wireless communication method of claim 1, wherein the COT sharing information is transmitted using a sidelink channel information (SCI) format of a SCI, the SCI is carried in physical sidelink shared channel (PSSCH) ([0107]: SCI 210-a may indicate to UE 115-b, UE 115-c, or UE 115-d that, after sidelink transmission 235-a, which may be a current transmission, (e.g. a transmission over a physical sidelink shared channel (PSSCH)), there may be two other sidelink transmissions 235, sidelink transmission 235-b and sidelink transmission 235-c, which may be back-to-back); and the SCI format includes a field for carrying the COT sharing information ([0111]: UE 115-a may transmit PSCCH and PSSCH pairs, the PSCCH carrying SCI 210, such as SCI 210-a and SCI 210-b wherein the back-to-back transmission may occur after UE 115-a obtains a COT, at 220).
Claim 17. Xue shows the wireless communication method of claim 1, wherein the COT sharing information includes a CAPC value adopted by the first UE ([0108]: the indication of time interval 240-a and the indication of time interval 240-b may be used for COT sharing, to communicate information on a COT length, channel access priority class (CAPC), or the like).
Claim 19. Xue shows the wireless communication method of claim 1, wherein the COT sharing information includes a UE identifier (ID) to indicate a qualified UE for using the shared COT ([0137]: UE 115-e may indicate the COT sharing in the initial control information or in subsequent control information and in SCI).
Claim 20. Xue shows the wireless communication method of claim 1, wherein the first UE receives a configuration of resource location for PSCCH transmission from the base station ([0111]: UE 115-a may transmit PSCCH and PSSCH pairs, the PSCCH carrying SCI 210, such as SCI 210-a and SCI 210-b; [0160]: the resource allocation component may be configured as or otherwise support a means for transmitting SCI to configure the second UE with a list of subchannels associated with the sidelink shared channel, each subchannel in the list of subchannels being within the second time interval, where the first control information includes the SCI).
Claim 21. Xue shows the wireless communication method of claim 20, wherein the configuration of PSCCH is associated with a SL-BWP ([0070]: BWP; [0111]: UE 115-a may transmit the set of PSCCH and PSSCH pairs to a same destination or to respective destinations… UE 115-a may select a subcarrier spacing (SCS) for sidelink transmission 235-a, sidelink transmission 235-b, and sidelink transmission 235-c based on the duration of the COT 225).
Claim 22. Xue shows the wireless communication method of claim 20, wherein the resource location of PSCCH includes a resource index associated with interlaced or non-interlaced resources for PSCCH transmission in the first sidelink burst ([0108]: the indication of time interval 240-a in SCI 210-a and the indication of time interval 240-b in SCI 210-b may reserve one or more time resources for transmission bursts (e.g. sidelink transmission 235-b and sidelink transmission 235-c)… UE 115-a may over reserve one or more time-frequency resources to control leakage among interlaced channels).
Claim 23. Xue shows the wireless communication method of claim 1, wherein the first UE reports to the base station a result of a LBT for initiating a COT ([0108]: the indication of time interval 240-a and the indication of time interval 240-b may be used for COT sharing, to communicate information on a COT length, channel access priority class (CAPC), or the like… a sensing UE 115 (e.g. a UE 115 performing a CCA 230, such as by performing an LBT procedure), may learn about COT sharing opportunities earlier… UE 115-a may indicate to UE 115-b, UE 115-c, UE 115-d, or a combination thereof to perform COT sharing, prior to the UEs 115 performing a CCA 230).
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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.
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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claims 4 and 24 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Xue et al in view of Xue et al (US 2022/0408422 A1, “Xue_2”).
Claim 4. Xue shows the wireless communication method of claim 2; Xue does not expressly describe wherein one CAPC value or one CPE value is pre-determined for transmission of a PSFCH channel.Xue_2 teaches one CAPC value or one CPE value is pre-determined for transmission of a PSFCH channel (figs. 3A-3D and [0070] and [0073]: UE 115b may include the 1-bit HARQ response in a feedback channel, such as PSFCH 302, including Z-PRB).It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to apply the CAPC value or CPE value of Xue in a PSFCH channel as taught by Xue_2 to improve error correction and reliability.
Claim 24. Xue shows the wireless communication method of claim 1; Xue does not expressly describe wherein the first SL burst or the second SL burst includes more than one SL transmissions, each one of the SL transmissions corresponds to the same transport block (TB) or different TBs.Xue_2 teaches feature of a first SL burst or a second SL burst includes more than one SL transmissions ([0070]: communication networks illustrating feedback operations associated with sidelink burst transmissions over multiple sub-channels… the arrival of a data burst at UE 115a can lead to transmission of jumbo TBs 300 and 303 over multiple sub-channels), each one of the SL transmissions corresponds to the same transport block (TB) or different TBs ([0073]: UE 115a may further transmit sidelink bursts over multiple sub-channel in the same slot wherein UE 115a transmits sidelink burst over data channels 311 and 313 in the same slot).It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to apply the SL transmission and TB configurations as taught by Xue_2 in the SL burst(s) of Xue to improve error correction and reliability.
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Claims 18 and 30 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Xue et al in view of Noh et al (US 2022/0394755 A1).
Claim 18. Xue shows the wireless communication method of claim 17; Xue does not expressly describe wherein the second UE is qualified to use the shared COT if the CAPC value of the second UE is equal or less than the CAPC value adopted by the first UE.Noh teaches feature of a [second] UE being qualified to use a shared COT if a CAPC value of the [second] UE is equal or less than the CAPC value adopted by a[nother] [first] UE ([0256]: one pre-configured condition is a condition that the second transmission be performed based on a second channel access priority class (CAPC) value that is smaller than or equal to a first CAPC value used in the channel access).It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to apply the CAPC configuration as taught by Noh in the CAPC configuration of Xue to achieve faster and highly aggressive channel access with minimal latency.
Claim 30. Xue shows a wireless communication method for execution by a user equipment (UE) (figs. 2, 5 and 7: UE 115-a), comprising: receiving a sidelink configuration from a base station ([0105]: the one or more UEs 115 may determine a COT sharing opportunity (e.g. from the base station 105 to the UEs 115) over one or more symbols, one or more slots, or the like which are indicated as uplink; [0106]: UE 115-a may obtain a COT for performing back-to-back transmission); wherein the sidelink configuration includes information of a first CAPC value ([0108]: the indication of time interval 240-a and the indication of time interval 240-b may be used for COT sharing, to communicate information on a COT length, channel access priority class (CAPC), or the like), receiving COT sharing information for sharing a COT through a first SL burst from a first UE ([0108]: UE 115-b, UE 115-c, UE 115-d, or a combination thereof may jump in during one of sidelink transmission 235-a, sidelink transmission 235-b, or sidelink transmission 235-c for transmitting according to the COT sharing (e.g. at an appropriate instance and with a right burst length)), wherein the COT sharing information includes a second CAPC value that is adopted by the first UE ([0119]: the UE may indicate one of the two options or may provide for a receiving UE to choose between the two options in SCI 415-a; [0123]: a UE may configure two candidate time domain resource allocations in L2 and may introduce a one bit parameter in SCI 415-b to switch between the two candidates; [0124]: the UE may encode the duration indication 410 and the COT information jointly, in SCI-1 or SCI-2 wherein the UE may perform the joint encoding of the duration indication 410, the COT information, and CAPC according to an encoding scheme); and wherein transmitting a second SL burst within the shared COT to the first UE ([0108]: UE 115-b, UE 115-c, UE 115-d, or a combination thereof may jump in during one of sidelink transmission 235-a, sidelink transmission 235-b, or sidelink transmission 235-c for transmitting according to the COT sharing (e.g. at an appropriate instance and with a right burst length); [0122]: SCI 415-a may indicate TDRA 405-a and duration indication 410 in parallel to reserve both a burst for one or more additional sidelink transmissions 420 and one or more (e.g. up to 2) non-continuous transmission slots for a retransmission 425 of a current sidelink transmission 420-a on a sidelink shared channel).Xue does not very expressly describe wherein the second CAPC value is equal to or less than the first CAPC value.Noh teaches feature of a second CAPC value being equal to or less than a first CAPC value ([0256]: one pre-configured condition is a condition that the second transmission be performed based on a second channel access priority class (CAPC) value that is smaller than or equal to a first CAPC value used in the channel access).It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to apply the CAPC configuration as taught by Noh in the CAPC configuration of Xue to achieve faster and highly aggressive channel access with minimal latency.
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Conclusion
The prior art made of record is considered pertinent to applicant’s disclosure.
1. Talarico et al, US 2022/0046677 A1: techniques for ultra-reliable and low latency communication (URLLC) in wireless cellular networks.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Xavier Szewai Wong whose telephone number is 571.270.1780. The examiner can normally be reached on 11:30 am - 8:30 pm Mon to Fri.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Jeffrey Rutkowski can be reached on 571.270.1215. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/XAVIER S WONG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2415 2nd September 2026
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