DETAILED ACTION
This communication is in response to Application No. 18/860,743 filed on 10/28/2024. The preliminary amendment presented on 10/28/2024, which amends 1-2, 11-13, 15, and 19, is hereby acknowledged. Claims 1-20 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 10/28/2024 and 12/12/2024 is being considered by the examiner.
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, 14-15, and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Li et al. (hereinafter Li)(US 2023/0064573).
Regarding claim 1, Li teaches as follows:
A baseband processor configured to, when executing instructions stored in a memory (the transceiver may be used by a processor (e.g., the controller/processor 280) and the memory 282 to perform aspects of any of the methods described herein (e.g., with reference to FIGS. 6-16), see, ¶ [0048] and figure 2), perform operations comprising:
receiving a sidelink (SL) communication via a plurality of carriers (the transmitting UE 120-1 may transmit a PSSCH on a first component carrier (e.g., CC(j), as shown) with a first TB (e.g., TB1, as shown), a PSSCH on a second component (e.g., carrier (k), as shown) with a second TB (e.g., TB2, as shown), and a PSSCH on the first component (e.g., carrier (j), as shown) with a third TB (e.g., TB3, as shown), see, ¶ [0089] and step 610 in figure 6);
detecting a decoding error corresponding to at least one carrier of the plurality of carriers (a first HARQ entity of the receiving UE 120-2 associated with the first component carrier may send a first set of ACK/NACK bits based at least in part on decoding the first TB received from the first component carrier to a mapping function of the receiving UE 120-2 to map to a third component carrier for cross carrier feedback transmission. The first set of ACK/NACK bits may indicate a positive ACK when the first TB is successfully received and decoded by the receiving UE 120-2. Otherwise, the first set of ACK/NACK bits may indicate a NACK to indicate to the transmitting UE 120-1 that the first TB was not successfully received and/or decoded by the transmitting UE 120-1, see, ¶ [0090] step 615 in figure 6);
determining physical SL feedback channel (PSFCH) resources (the receiving UE 120-2 may determine first feedback associated with receiving the first TB on the first component carrier, second feedback associated with receiving the second TB on the second component carrier, and third feedback associated with receiving the third TB on the first component carrier, see, ¶ [0091]) on a single carrier for providing hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback associated with the decoding error (the receiving UE 120-2 may generate cross-carrier feedback carried on a PSFCH for cross carrier feedback based at least in part on the first set of ACK/NACK bits, the second set of ACK/NACK bits, and the third set of ACK/NACK bits, see, ¶ [0091] and step 620 in figure 6); and
providing, to a radio frequency (RF) interface (a direct link between UEs 120 (e.g., via a PC5 interface) may be referred to as a sidelink, see, ¶ [0065] and figure 4) for transmission, the HARQ feedback using the PSFCH resources (the receiving UE 120-2 may transmit, and the transmitting UE 120-1 may receive, the cross-carrier feedback on a third component carrier (e.g., CC(i)). For example, as shown in FIG. 10, the receiving UE 120-2 may transmit a PSFCH (e.g., PSFCH0, as shown) on component carrier CC(i) with the cross-carrier feedback. The PSFCH may aggregate the cross-carrier feedback for the first TB, the second TB, and the third TB, see, ¶ [0123] and figure 10).
Regarding claim 2, Li teaches as follows:
Receiving a retransmission of the SL communication via the plurality of carriers in response to providing the HARQ feedback (the transmitting UE 120-1 may retransmit the first TB on the first component carrier when the first set of ACK/NACK bits indicates a negative acknowledgment. The transmitting UE 120-1 may retransmit the second TB on the second component carrier when the second set of ACK/NACK bits indicates a negative acknowledgment. The transmitting UE 120-1 may retransmit the third TB on the first component carrier when the third set of ACK/NACK bits indicates a negative acknowledgment, see, ¶ [0129] and step 635 in figure 6).
Regarding claim 14, Li teaches as follows:
Wherein a HARQ acknowledgement (ACK) message is communicated via any carrier of the plurality of carriers when the decoding error is not detected (the first set of ACK/NACK bits may indicate a positive ACK when the first TB is successfully received and decoded by the receiving UE 120-2, see, ¶ [0090] and figure 6).
Regarding claims 15 and 19, Li teaches all limitations as presented above in the rejection of claims 1 and 2.
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.
Claims 3-6, 10-13, 16-17, and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Li et al. (hereinafter Li)(US 2023/0064573) in view of Lee et al. (hereinafter Lee)(US 2024/0097827).
Regarding claims 3, 16, and 20, Li teaches all limitations as presented above except for allocating PSFCH resources based on a pre-defined rule.
Lee teaches as follows:
The PSFCH resource may be implicitly determined, based on a pre-defined function or a pre-defined rule having at least one of a slot index related to a PSSCH resource, a starting subchannel index related to a PSSCH resource, a last subchannel index related to a PSSCH resource, a starting subchannel number related to a PSSCH resource, a last subchannel number related to a PSSCH resource, a slot index related to a PSCCH resource, a starting subchannel index related to a PSCCH resource, a last subchannel index related to a PSCCH resource, a starting subchannel number related to a PSCCH resource, a last subchannel number related to a PSCCH resource, a (L1 or L2) source ID, a (L1 or L2) source ID, and/or (some) bits of CRC of a PSCCH as input parameters (see, ¶ [0204]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Li with Lee to include allocating PSFCH resource based on a pre-defined rule as taught by Lee in order to efficiently pre-allocate resources.
Regarding claims 4 and 17, Li teaches all limitations as presented above except for allocating PSFCH resources based on a resource pool configuration.
Lee teaches as follows:
If the receiving UE transmits HARQ feedback on a PSFCH resource in response to one PSSCH transmitted by the transmitting UE to the receiving UE, the receiving UE may determine a frequency domain and/or code domain of the PSFCH resource based on an implicit mechanism in a configured resource pool (see, ¶ [0135]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Li with Lee to include allocating PSFCH resource based on a resource pool configuration as taught by Lee in order to efficiently allocate PSFCH resources.
Regarding claim 5, Li teaches the PC5 radio resource control (PC5-RRC) message as follows:
The transmitting UE 120-1 may forward the received configuration to the receiving UE 120-2 via a PC5 RRC message (see, ¶ [0085]).
Li does not explicitly teach allocating the PSFCH resources based on the PC5 RRC information.
Lee teaches the resource allocation using RRC message as follows:
SL MODE 1 may refer to a resource allocation method or a communication method in which a base station directly schedules SL transmission resource(s) for a TX UE through pre-defined signaling (e.g., DCI or RRC message)(see, ¶ [0159]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Li with Lee to include allocating PSFCH resource using PC5 RRC message in order to efficiently allocate PSFCH resources.
Regarding claim 6, Li teaches the well-known as follows:
The SCI 330 may include multiple sidelink control information in different stages, such as a first stage SCI (SCI-1) and a second stage SCI (SCI-2). The SCI-1 may be transmitted on the PSCCH 315. The SCI-2 may be transmitted on the PSSCH 320 (see, ¶ [0058] and figure 3); and
the UE 305 may perform resource selection and/or scheduling using SCI 330 received in the PSCCH 315, which may indicate occupied resources and/or channel parameters (see, ¶ [0061] and figure 3).
Li does not each allocating PSFCH resources based on the SCI.
Lee teaches as follows:
In step S1420, the transmitting UE may transmit a SCI including information related to HARQ feedback enabled, and the transmitting UE may transmit a MAC PDU related to the SCI (see, ¶ [0190] and figure 14).
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Li with Lee to include the well-kwon SCI including information related to HARQ feedback enabled as taught by Lee in order to efficiently allocate PSFCH resources based on the HARQ feedback enabling message from the SCI.
Regarding claim 10, Li teaches as follows:
A size of the first sub-field may be equal to log2M, where M is the total number of component carriers used for sidelink carrier aggregation for a group using groupcast, or a UE pair using unicast (see, ¶ [0097]); and
the size of the FSCI bits for cross-carrier feedback may be based at least in part on a total quantity of TBs received multiplied by a sum of a log base 2 of M on bits (e.g., the size of the first subfield for component carrier index or ID) plus one bit (e.g., 1 bit ACK/NACK for a TB), wherein M corresponds to a quantity of the component carriers using cross-carrier feedback (see, ¶ 0101)).
Li does not explicitly teach the unicast communication.
Lee teaches as follows:
In case of SL unicast and groupcast, HARQ feedback and HARQ combining in the physical layer may be supported. For example, when a receiving UE operates in a resource allocation mode 1 or 2, the receiving UE may receive the PSSCH from a transmitting UE, and the receiving UE may transmit HARQ feedback for the PSSCH to the transmitting UE by using a sidelink feedback control information (SFCI) format through a physical sidelink feedback channel (PSFCH)(see, ¶ [0122]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Li with Lee to include using carrier ID in order to efficiently allocate a PSFCH for each PSSCH.
Regarding claims 11-13, Li teaches all limitations as presented above except for the groupcast communication.
Lee teaches as follows:
The SL HARQ feedback may be enabled for groupcast. For example, in the non-CBG operation, two HARQ feedback options may be supported for groupcast… Groupcast option 2: After the receiving UE decodes the PSCCH of which the target is the receiving UE, if the receiving UE fails in decoding of the transport block related to the PSCCH, the receiving UE may transmit HARQ-NACK to the transmitting UE through the PSFCH. In addition, if the receiving UE decodes the PSCCH of which the target is the receiving UE and if the receiving UE successfully decodes the transport block related to the PSCCH, the receiving UE may transmit the HARQ-ACK to the transmitting UE through the PSFCH (see, ¶ [0124]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Li with Lee to include transmitting HARQ-NACK and HARQ-ACK through the PSFCH using carrier ID in order to efficiently allocate PSFCH resource in groupcast communication.
Claims 7-9 and 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Li et al. (hereinafter Li)(US 2023/0064573) in view of Huang et al. (hereinafter Huang)(US 2020/0205165).
Regarding claims 7-9 and 18, Li teaches as follows:
The configuration may indicate one or more parameters associated with cross-carrier feedback. For example, the one or more parameters may include a cross-carrier feedback parameter, a total quantity of component carriers parameter, a maximum quantity of ACK/NACK bits parameter, or a quantity of symbols parameter (see, ¶ [0081]); and
the receiving UE 120-2 may generate cross-carrier feedback carried on a PSFCH for cross carrier feedback based at least in part on the first set of ACK/NACK bits, the second set of ACK/NACK bits, and the third set of ACK/NACK bits (see, ¶ [0091] and step 620 in figure 6).
Li does not teach determining PSFCH resources associated with the number of carriers.
Huang teaches as follows:
The UE determines whether to prioritize either the PSFCH or the first sidelink transmission based on a rule when the number of carriers which the UE identifies to transmit in the overlapped slot exceeds the first number of carriers (see, ¶ [0651] and figure 24).
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Li with Huang to include allocating PSFCH resources associated with the number of carriers as taught by Huang in order to efficiently allocate PSFCH resources.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Jeong S Park whose telephone number is (571)270-1597. The examiner can normally be reached Monday through Friday 8:00-4:30 ET.
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/JEONG S PARK/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2417
August 13, 2026
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