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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 11/27/24, 04/23/25 & 08/28/25 has been considered by the examiner.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4-13 and 33-34 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 dependent claims 4-13 and 33-34 are objected as allowable because the closest prior art found fails to disclose, teach or suggest either alone or render obvious in a combined teachings of the prior art, the uniquely distinct features in the specific order, structure and combination of limitations together as a whole of the limitations recited in the dependent claims in combination with all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims in between.
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.
Claim(s) 1-3 and 29-32 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over XUE et al. (US Patent Publication 2022/0070921 herein after referenced as Xue).
Regarding claim 1 and claim 29 and claim 30, Xue discloses:
A method for determining a transmission resource in an unlicensed frequency band, performed by a terminal device, the method comprising: and A communication device, comprising: one or more processors; and a memory that stores a computer program, wherein the one or more processors are collectively configured to: and A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing one or more programs, wherein the one or more programs is configured to be executed by one or more processors of a processing device, and the one or more programs comprises instructions, when executed by the processing device, cause the processing device to: determining a resource for transmitting (Xue, [0046] discloses The present application describes mechanisms for reserving a frequency resource in a variable time range from a sidelink resource pool of a shared radio frequency band e.g., in a shared spectrum or an unlicensed spectrum (i.e. reads on in an unlicensed frequency band). For example, a first UE may reserve a frequency resource in the same subchannel e.g., reserving the resource with a fixed subchannel index over the variable time range for communication with a second UE. The variable time range may include one or more contiguous slots, which may provide the first UE with more opportunities and/or flexibility to transmit a sidelink transmission. For instance, the first UE may, after reserving the frequency resource, perform one or more LBTs and may transmit the sidelink transmission to the second UE based on the one or more LBTs. Accordingly, the first UE may begin transmission (i.e. reads on for transmitting) of the sidelink transmission at a slot (i.e. reads on determining a transmission resource) in the variable time range after identifying a successful e.g., passing LBT corresponding to e.g., occurring in a gap preceding that slot. On the other hand, after identifying a failing LBT at a slot in the variable time range, the first UE may continue to perform one or more LBTs for the remaining slots in the variable time range and/or may reschedule the sidelink transmission to an alternative frequency resource over another variable time range; Xue, [0039] discloses For example, a method may be implemented as part of a system, device, apparatus, and/or as instructions stored on a computer readable medium for execution on a processor or computer. One of ordinary skill in the art would recognize that it is inherent for complex devices to include a processor and medium or memory storing instructions in order to be able to perform the disclosed functionalities).
Xue discloses in one embodiment that a UE determines a transmission resource in a shared band for transmitting a sidelink transmission but fails to explicitly recite that the resource is determined from a resource selection window or that the sidelink transmission utilizes or is a transport block and therefore fails to disclose in the same embodiment, the limitations of “determining a resource for transmitting a transport block (TB) in a resource selection window”.
In a different embodiment, Xue discloses:
determining a resource for transmitting a transport block (TB) (Xue, [0157] discloses In some aspects, the UE 215 may transmit a first reservation 910 identifying (i.e. reads on determining) and reserving a first set of M resources 456 (i.e. reads on a resource) for transmitting a first TB (i.e. reads on for transmitting a TB), as described herein. For example, the UE may transmit the first reservation 910 after the resources within the first frequency reservation 454 are identified as available e.g., by the PHY layer 304 and selected e.g., by the MAC layer 302; Xue, [0102] discloses In some embodiments, the MAC layer 302 may send the resource selection trigger based on a MAC PDU and/or a transport block TB e.g., a transport block carrying the MAC PDU being generated and ready for transmission e.g., sidelink transmission).
in a resource selection window (Xue, [0199] discloses At block 1420, the UE may reserve, based on the sensing, a frequency resource of the sidelink resource pool within an instance of a variable time range. In some aspects, the UE may identify the resources to reserve the frequency resource within the resource selection window (i.e. reads on in a resource selection window) by examining or analyzing sensing results e.g. decoded SCI and/or signal measurements obtained within the sensing window. The UE may filter the resources in the resource selection window based on the decoded SCI, signal measurements, and/or a traffic priority associated with a sidelink transmission).
Therefore, at the time before the effective filing date of the invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify the invention of Xue to incorporate the teachings of the different embodiments for the purpose of conforming to the intent of the invention to modify and combine the various different embodiment (Xue, [0011] & [0039]) to make the system more dynamic and adaptable by providing the system with various different alternatives in design and functionality thereby allowing the system to handle a number of various different combination of specific design structure and scenarios and preventing the system from being limited to a single specific design structure and scenario and furthermore, one of ordinary skill in the art would recognize based on the guidelines to rationales supporting a conclusion of obviousness seen on MPEP 2143, that the modification would involve use of a simple substitution of one known element and base device (i.e. performing a process of an embodiment of a UE determining and reserving a transmission resource for transmitting a sidelink transmission as taught by Xue) with another known element and comparable device utilizing a known technique (i.e. performing a process of a similar embodiment of a UE determining and reserving a transmission resource for transmitting a sidelink transmission with additional and/or alternative features and functionalities of the other embodiments as taught by Xue) to improve the similar devices in the same way and to obtain the predictable result of the system performing a process of an embodiment of a UE determining and reserving a transmission resource for transmitting a sidelink transmission (i.e. as taught by Xue) and is dependent upon the specific intended use, design incentives, needs and requirements (i.e. such as due to teachings of a known standard, current technology, conservation of resources, personal preferences, economic considerations, etc.) of the user and the system as has been established in MPEP 2144.04.
Regarding claim 2 and claim 31, Xue discloses:
The method of claim 1, wherein determining the resource for transmitting the TB in the resource selection window comprises: (see claim 1) and The communication device of claim 29, wherein the one or more processors are collectively configured to: (see claim 29).
determining that each candidate resource in a candidate resource set located in the resource selection window is configured to transmit the TB without performing a mechanism of random resource selection (Xue, [0046] discloses For instance, the first UE may, after reserving the frequency resource, perform one or more LBTs and may transmit the sidelink transmission to the second UE based on the one or more LBTs. Accordingly, the first UE may begin transmission of the sidelink transmission at a slot in the variable time range after identifying a successful e.g., passing LBT corresponding to e.g., occurring in a gap preceding that slot. On the other hand, after identifying a failing LBT at a slot in the variable time range, the first UE may continue to perform one or more LBTs for the remaining slots in the variable time range and/or may reschedule the sidelink transmission to an alternative frequency resource over another variable time range).
Regarding claim 3 and claim 32, Xue discloses:
The method of claim 2, further comprising: (see claim 2) and The communication device of claim 31, wherein the one or more processors are collectively configured to: (see claim 31).
performing listen before talk (LBT) on a channel corresponding to a position of each candidate resource; and transmitting the TB at a resource position at which the LBT succeeds (Xue, [0046] discloses For instance, the first UE may, after reserving the frequency resource, perform one or more LBTs and may transmit the sidelink transmission to the second UE based on the one or more LBTs. Accordingly, the first UE may begin transmission of the sidelink transmission at a slot in the variable time range after identifying a successful e.g., passing LBT corresponding to e.g., occurring in a gap preceding that slot. On the other hand, after identifying a failing LBT at a slot in the variable time range, the first UE may continue to perform one or more LBTs for the remaining slots in the variable time range and/or may reschedule the sidelink transmission to an alternative frequency resource over another variable time range; Xue, [0070] discloses To avoid collisions, the BSs 105 and the UEs 115 may employ an LBT procedure to monitor for transmission opportunities TXOPs in the shared channel A wireless communication device may perform an LBT in the shared channel. LBT is a channel access scheme that may be used in the unlicensed spectrum. When the LBT results in an LBT pass e.g. the wireless communication device wins contention for the wireless medium, the wireless communication device may access the shared medium to transmit and/or receive data. For example, a transmitting node e.g., a BS 105 or a UE 115 may perform an LBT prior to transmitting in the channel When the LBT passes, the transmitting node may proceed with the transmission. When the LBT fails, the transmitting node may refrain from transmitting in the channel).
Claim(s) 14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over XUE et al. (US Patent Publication 2022/0070921 herein after referenced as Xue) in view of Hosseini et al. (US Patent Publication 2022/0330178 herein after referenced as Hoss).
Regarding claim 14, Xue discloses:
The method of claim 1, further comprising: (see claim 14).
determining a number of resources available for transmitting the TB in the resource selection window according to (Xue, [0084] discloses The PHY layer 304 may use a combination of SCI decoding, signal measurements, and/or priority information to identify candidate resources. In some aspects, the PHY layer 304 may exclude resources 352 in the resource selection window 344 that are reserved e.g., based on SCI decoding in the sensing window 342 and/or prediction. The PHY layer 304 may exclude resources 352 in the resource selection window 344 that are to be used for transmissions with a higher traffic priority than the UE 215 e.g., based on SCI decoding in the sensing window 342 and/or prediction. The PHY layer 304 may exclude resources 352 in the resource selection window 344 based on resources 352 within the sensing window 342 that have signal measurements e.g., RSRP and/or RSSI higher than a certain signal threshold and a predicted resource usage pattern; Xue, [0073] discloses Upon receiving a data packet for transmission, the sidelink transmitting UE 115 may determine a resource selection window and identify candidate resources from the resource selection window based on sensing results e.g., decoded SCI and signal measurements obtained from a sensing window as will be discussed more fully below in FIGS. 3A-3B. The sidelink transmitting UE 115 may randomly select a resource from the candidate resources and transmit a sidelink transmission e.g., including SCI over a PSCCH and/or data over a PSSCH using the selected resource).
In a related field of endeavor, Hoss discloses:
determining a number of resources available for transmitting the TB in the resource selection window according to a second preset offset value and a number of reserved resources indicated by sidelink control information (SCI) (Hoss, [0083] discloses When a UE detects an SCI transmitted on a resource m reserving a resource n, the UE can determine whether the resource n is available for use by applying the indicated offset to the measured received signal power metric. The sum of the indicated offset and the measured received signal power metric may be compared to a threshold value. If the sum of the indicated offset and the measured received signal power metric exceeds the threshold value, the UE can determine that the resource n is unavailable for use; otherwise, the UE can determine that the resource n can be used for uplink transmissions to a network entity; Hoss, [0074] discloses Generally, by monitoring the received power level for reservations of resources by a second UE, the UE can selectively transmit on resources such that uplink transmissions by the UE are not affected by interference caused by sidelink transmissions performed by the second UE. Thus, the likelihood that uplink transmissions are successfully received by the network entity may be increased, and resource utilization due to retransmission of failed uplink transmissions may be minimized; Hoss, [0081] discloses In some aspects, to further increase resource efficiency e.g., to allow other UEs to more accurately determine whether uplink transmissions can be performed on resources reserved for sidelink transmissions by a UE, such as resource 504 illustrated in FIG. 5 or resources 804 and 806 illustrated in FIG. 8, SCI signaling from a UE may include power control information. The power control information may be, for example, a value in a power offset field. The power offset field may indicate a transmission power offset for resources reserved by the UE e.g., in the SCI signaling).
Therefore, at the time before the effective filing date of the invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify the invention of Xue to incorporate the teachings of Hoss for the purpose of providing the system with a means to utilize alternative means in determining whether a resource is in use (Hoss, [0083]) that increases resource efficiency and which increases the likelihood that uplink transmissions are successfully received (Hoss, [0074] & [0081]) and for the purpose of making the system more dynamic and adaptable by providing the system with added functionalities and various different alternatives in design, thereby allowing the system to handle a number of various different combination of specific design structure and scenarios and thereby, preventing the system from being limited to a single specific design structure and scenario (Xue, [0011] & [0039]) and furthermore, one of ordinary skill in the art would recognize based on the guidelines to rationales supporting a conclusion of obviousness seen on MPEP 2143, that the modification would involve use of a simple substitution of one known element and base device (i.e. performing a process of determining whether a resource is in use utilizing an SCI as taught by Xue) with another known element and comparable device utilizing a known technique (i.e. performing a process of determining whether a resource is in use utilizing an SCI, wherein the process determines whether a resource is in use by utilizing the reserved resources and corresponding offset from the SCI as taught by Hoss) to improve the similar devices in the same way and to obtain the predictable result of the system performing a process of determining whether a resource is in use utilizing an SCI (i.e. as taught by both Xue & Hoss) and is dependent upon the specific intended use, design incentives, needs and requirements (i.e. such as due to teachings of a known standard, current technology, conservation of resources, personal preferences, economic considerations, etc.) of the user and the system as has been established in MPEP 2144.04.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
HU et al. (US Patent Publication 2023/0087110) discloses a system with combined resource selection for LBT sensing and transmission in the context of 5G NR Unlicensed NR-U sidelink communications wherein a TX UE may determine (e.g., define) a selection window [n−T.sub.0, n+T.sub.proc,0] that may include candidate resources for a TB transmission and After determining the selection window, the TX UE may perform a sensing operation during the sensing window [n+T.sub.1, n+T.sub.2] to determine which, if any, resources of the selection window may be excluded and The TX UE may also exclude candidate resources from the selection window by monitoring transmissions that may be received from other UEs during the sensing window. For example, a TX UE may decode first stage SCI received from other UEs that may indicate resources that the other UEs have reserved in the selection window and therefore may be excluded by the TX UE and Based on the transmissions detected during the sensing operation in sensing window, the TX UE may perform one or more processing operations (e.g., during the sensing window, the processing time, and/or the like) to determine which resources may be excluded from the selection window and to select (e.g., randomly) one or more resources from the remaining candidate resources. For example, for purposes of illustration, the TX UE may select the resources 1316 to use for transmitting a TB.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MICHAEL Y MAPA whose telephone number is (571)270-5540. The examiner can normally be reached Monday thru Thursday: 10 AM - 8 PM EST.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Anthony Addy can be reached at (571) 272 - 7795. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/MICHAEL Y MAPA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2645
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