DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 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.
Claims 11-16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a2) as being anticipated by HUI et al (US 20230319878 A1, Pro 63324674 Priority Date: Mar 29, 2022).
Regarding claim 11 (New), HUI’878 discloses a method performed by a terminal device (see, Fig. 17, direct communication between wireless devices under/outside the coverage of BSs, par 0209-0210), comprising:
generating a negative acknowledgment (NACK) (Fig. 36 step 3640-3645, second wireless device generates NACK message for HARQ, par 0505), when the terminal device does not transmit a physical sidelink shared channel (PSSCH) (PSSCH transmission as first transmission, par 0501) in any of provided resources (allocated first resources for sidelink transmission, par 0499, 0502, 0505) due to a failed channel access procedure (LBT failure, par 0502) for operation with shared spectrum channel access (Fig. 36, second wireless device may not send PSSCH transmission (as first sidelink transmission) via first resources allocated on shared spectrum based on LBT failure of the LBT procedure, par 0499, 0501-0502); and
reporting the NACK in a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) resource (Fig. 36 step 3650, second wireless device sends NACK in HARQ message on PUCCH resource, par 0503).
Regarding claim 12 (New), HUI’878 discloses the method of claim 11 (see, Fig. 17, direct communication between wireless devices under/outside the coverage of BSs, par 0209-0210), wherein a first priority value of the NACK (priority value associated with the NACK message, par 0518) is same as a second priority value of the PSSCH (first priority value for first transmission (PSSCH), par 0501, 0504) that was not transmitted due to the failed channel access procedure (priority value associated with the NACK message may be the same as first priority value of PSSCH that not transmitted on any sidelink radio resources due to LBT failure, par 0518).
Regarding claim 13 (New), HUI’878 discloses the method of claim 11 (see, Fig. 17, direct communication between wireless devices under/outside the coverage of BSs, par 0209-0210), wherein the provided resources are provided by a downlink control information (DCI) or a configured grant (Fig. 36 step 3640, first DCI comprises a field indicating first resources for sidelink transmission, or RRC message for configured grant type 2 comprises a field indicating first resources for first sidelink transmission par 0499).
Regarding claim 14 (New), HUI’878 discloses a terminal device (see, Fig. 15A and 17, direct communication between wireless devices under/outside the coverage of BSs, par 0209-0210), comprising a processor configured to (Fig. 15A, processing system carrying out processors function, par 0198):
generate a negative acknowledgment (NACK) (Fig. 36 step 3640-3645, second wireless device generates NACK message for HARQ, par 0505), when the terminal device does not transmit a physical sidelink shared channel (PSSCH) (PSSCH transmission as first transmission, par 0501) in any of provided resources (allocated first resources for sidelink transmission, par 0499, 0502, 0505) due to a failed channel access procedure (LBT failure, par 0502) for operation with shared spectrum channel access (Fig. 36, second wireless device may not send PSSCH transmission (as first sidelink transmission) via first resources allocated on shared spectrum based on LBT failure of the LBT procedure, par 0499, 0501-0502); and
report the NACK in a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) resource (Fig. 36 step 3650, second wireless device sends NACK in HARQ message on PUCCH resource, par 0503).
Regarding claim 15 (New), Claim 11 recites a terminal device performing the steps recited in claim 12 and thereby, is rejected for the reasons discussed above with respect to claim 12.
Regarding claim 16 (New), Claim 11 recites a terminal device performing the steps recited in claim 13 and thereby, is rejected for the reasons discussed above with respect to claim 13.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Liu et al (US 20230015997 A1, Priority Date: Jul 19, 2021) discloses: a NACK in the PUCCH 225 may not reflect whether the LBT 210 failed (e.g., LBT failure) or whether the receiving UE 115 failed to decode the sidelink transmission 215 after a successful LBT 210 (e.g., decoding failure). In such cases, the UE 115 may be configured to report an LBT failure to the base station 105 in the PUCCH 225, and the PUCCH 225 may include one additional LBT outcome bit per PSSCH transmission per DCI 205 (e.g., an ACK or NACK bit and an LBT outcome bit per PSSCH may be jointly encoded in two bits). That is, the UE 115 may report LBT failure directly to the base station 105 using the PUCCH resource allocated for ACK or NACK reporting (e.g., in a resource allocation mode 1) (par 0080). This applies to claims 11 and 14.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to XUAN LU whose telephone number is (571)272-2844. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday - Friday 7:30am-5:30pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, KWANG Yao can be reached on (571)272-3182. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/XUAN LU/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2473
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