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 § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claim 5, 6, 16, 17 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claims 5 and 16 recites the subject matter “NACKs” in line 3. It is unclear on what is meant by such limitation. Examiner suggests defining such subject matter.
Claims 6 and 17 recites the subject matter “NACKs” in line 3. It is unclear on what is meant by such limitation. Examiner suggests defining such subject matter.
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)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1-3, 7-9, 11-14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Liu et al. (US 2022/0232517)
Regarding claim 1, 12, Liu discloses a communication method (a method, a computer-readable medium, and an apparatus are provided. The apparatus may include a first user equipment (UE) included in a UE group and a second UE outside of the UE group, [0005] and [0083]-[0089] and figure 7 and [0048]-[0051] and [0104] and figure 3 and figure 10), comprising:
sending, by a first terminal device, a first sidelink channel, wherein the first sidelink channel comprises first channel occupancy time (COT) sharing information (the first UE 702 may transmit SCI reserving a COT on the sidelink channel in response to determining that the sidelink channel is available for data transmission, and the second UE 704 may receive, from the first UE 702, the SCI reserving a COT on a sidelink channel and The SCI may include new COT-SI (COT sharing information) signaling fields to enable the inter-group COT sharing, [0085]-[0086] and [0070] and [0078]), and the first COT sharing information indicates that the first terminal device has allocated a first resource within a COT to a second terminal device (The COT-SI (COT sharing information) may indicate the time/frequency resource grid of the inter-group sharable resources 630 for the rest of UEs outside the shared UE group and/or the specific groups indicated in the COT-SI and The COT may include a first set of resources reserved for the first UE 702 for sidelink data transmission on the sidelink channel, a second set of resources as an intra-group sharable resources capable of being shared by the UE group including the first UE 702 for sidelink transmission on the sidelink channel, and a third set of resources as an inter-group sharable resources capable of being shared by one or more UEs outside of the UE group for the sidelink transmission on the sidelink channel, [0078]-[0081] and [0086] and figure 7 and [0070] and [0059] and [0071]-[0073] and [0011] and [0015]); and
the first resource is determined based on a priority associated with the second terminal device (SCI indicates a priority threshold value, the second UE may transmit the sidelink transmission on the sidelink channel using the one or more resources of the inter-group sharable resources based on a priority of the sidelink transmission meeting the priority threshold value and The size of the inter-group sharable resources 630 may be configured to accommodate the high priority and/or time-sensitive data transmissions for the UEs outside the shared UE group, [0015] and [0076]-[0077] and [0081] and [0089] and [0091] and [0096] and [0103] and [0113]).
Regarding claim 7, Liu discloses a communication method (a method, a computer-readable medium, and an apparatus are provided. The apparatus may include a first user equipment (UE) included in a UE group and a second UE outside of the UE group, [0005] and [0083]- [0089] and figure 7), comprising:
receiving, by a second terminal device, a first sidelink channel, wherein the first sidelink channel comprises first channel occupancy time (COT) sharing information (the first UE 702 may transmit SCI reserving a COT on the sidelink channel in response to determining that the sidelink channel is available for data transmission, and the second UE 704 may receive, from the first UE 702, the SCI reserving a COT on a sidelink channel and The SCI may include new COT-SI (COT sharing information) signaling fields to enable the inter-group COT sharing, [0085]-[0086] and [0070] and [0078]), and the first COT sharing information indicates that a first terminal device has allocated a first resource within a COT to the second terminal device (The COT-SI (COT sharing information) may indicate the time/frequency resource grid of the inter-group sharable resources 630 for the rest of UEs outside the shared UE group and/or the specific groups indicated in the COT-SI and The COT may include a first set of resources reserved for the first UE 702 for sidelink data transmission on the sidelink channel, a second set of resources as an intra-group sharable resources capable of being shared by the UE group including the first UE 702 for sidelink transmission on the sidelink channel, and a third set of resources as an inter-group sharable resources capable of being shared by one or more UEs outside of the UE group for the sidelink transmission on the sidelink channel, [0078]-[0081] and [0086] and figure 7 and [0070] and [0059] and [0071]-[0073] and [0011] and [0015]); and
wherein the first resource corresponds to a priority associated with the second terminal device (SCI indicates a priority threshold value, the second UE may transmit the sidelink transmission on the sidelink channel using the one or more resources of the inter-group sharable resources based on a priority of the sidelink transmission meeting the priority threshold value and The size of the inter-group sharable resources 630 may be configured to accommodate the high priority and/or time-sensitive data transmissions for the UEs outside the shared UE group, [0015] and [0076]-[0077] and [0081] and [0089] and [0091] and [0096] and [0103] and [0113]).
Regarding claim 2, 8, 13, Liu discloses wherein the priority corresponding to the second terminal device is determined based on a first parameter, and the first parameter is related to one or more of the following information: a sidelink corresponding to the second terminal device, a resource required by the second terminal device, a queue in which the second terminal device is located, a waiting time of the second terminal device for resource allocation from the first terminal device, or a negative acknowledgment (NACK) fed back by the second terminal device to the first terminal device (When the SCI indicates a priority threshold value, the second UE may transmit the sidelink transmission on the sidelink channel using the one or more resources of the inter-group sharable resources based on a priority of the sidelink transmission meeting the priority threshold value, [0015] and [0076]-[0077] and [0081] and [0091] and [0103] and [0117]).
Regarding claim 3, 9, 14, Liu discloses wherein the first COT sharing information comprises second COT sharing information and third COT sharing information, with the second COT sharing information corresponding to a first communication mode, and the third COT sharing information corresponding to a second communication mode(The COT may include a first set of resources reserved for the first UE 702 for sidelink data transmission on the sidelink channel, a second set of resources as an intra-group sharable resources capable of being shared by the UE group including the first UE 702 for sidelink transmission on the sidelink channel, and a third set of resources as an inter-group sharable resources capable of being shared by one or more UEs outside of the UE group (correlating to communication modes) for the sidelink transmission on the sidelink channel, [0086] and [0078]-[0081] and figure 7 and [0070] and [0059] and [0071]-[0072] and [0011] and [0015]).
Regarding claim 11, Liu disclose wherein if the second terminal device is a terminal device outside of a communication cluster that the first terminal device belongs to, the first resource is determined based on the priority of the second terminal device (out-of-group UEs may join the COT on the inter-group sharable resources 630 for out-of-group (correlating to outside of a communication cluster) UE if the priority is higher than a threshold priority value or the remaining packet delay budget (PDB) is less than a threshold PDB value and a third set of resources as an inter-group sharable resources capable of being shared by one or more UEs outside of the UE group for the sidelink transmission on the sidelink channel, [0077] and [0078]-[0081] and [0086] and [0089]-[0091] and figure 7 and [0070] and [0059] and [0071]-[0072] and [0011] and [0015]).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 4-6, 10, 15-17 is 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.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
El Hamss et al. (US 2025/0203653) disclosing the Tx WTRU may indicate that only a sidelink transmission with priority larger than or equal to an indicated priority that may be used in the shared COT and the COT structure indication may also include the starting time of the COT, the bandwidth part, the sub-band, and/or the RB set and the resource pool that may be used during the COT ([0124]).
Sun et al. (US 2021/0092783) disclosing a first user equipment (UE) determines a channel occupancy time (COT) in a shared radio frequency band for communicating a sidelink with a second UE and the first UE transmits, to the second UE, the sidelink using first resources in the COT, the sidelink comprising COT sharing information for second resources in the COT (abstract).
Elazzouni et al. (US 2024/0049283) disclosing a method of wireless communication performed by a first sidelink user equipment (UE) may include performing a listen-before-talk (LBT) procedure, acquiring, based on the LBT procedure being successful, a channel occupancy time (COT), and transmitting, to a second sidelink UE during the COT, COT sharing information for sharing the COT with the second sidelink UE (abstract).
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to NGUYEN HOANG NGO whose telephone number is (571)272-8398. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 9am-5pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Kwang Yao can be reached at 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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/NGUYEN H NGO/Examiner, Art Unit 2473
