DETAILED ACTION
Claims status
In response to the application filed on 09/20/2024, claims 1-16 are currently pending for the examination. The present application, filed on or after March 1wl16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
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.
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 set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 148 USPQ 459 (1966), that are applied 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.
Claims 1-16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Panteleev et al. (US 2021/0127364 A1) in view of Hahn et al. (US 2022/0337348 A1).
Regarding claim 1; Panteleev teaches a method of a first terminal, the method comprising:
receiving sidelink control information (SCI) (See Fig. 2: receiving and decoding sidelink control information (SCI) received from a second UE via a physical sidelink control channel (PSCCH). See Abstract and Panteleev’s claim 1) including scheduling information of a physical sidelink shared channel (PSSCH) transmission from a second terminal (See Fig. 2: the SCI indicating sidelink resources from a sidelink resource pool reserved/scheduled by the second UE, and A PSSCH is encoded for transmission, the PSSCH is encoded to include a transport block mapped across the plurality of sidelink resources. See Abstract and claim 1);
determining a conflict of a reserved resource for the PSSCH transmission (See Fig. 2: determining to avoid Half-Duplex resource collision/conflict during resource selection procedure of PSCCH/PSSCH transmissions. ¶ [0101]); and
transmitting conflict information of the determined conflict (See Fig. 2: The half-duplex collisions within a group may be resolved by sending NACK to the colliding UEs by other UEs detected the collision. The half-duplex collision within a group may be resolved by sending a dedicated collision announcement (i.e., conflict information) signal by others UEs detected the collision. ¶ [0101]) through a physical sidelink feedback channel (PSFCH) (See Fig. 2: two different resources may be used for ACK and NACK respectively, especially when PSFCH carrying SFCI has PSCCH structure. In that case, if NACK is detected or if no ACK is detected, the transmitter may decide to schedule retransmission. ¶ [0085]).
Even though, Panteleev teaches the method for receiving SCI for reserving or scheduling of a PSSCH from a second UE, Panteleev doesn’t explicitly describe transmitting the PSFCH to the second terminal.
However, Hahn from the same or similar fields of endeavor further discloses a method of transmitting the PSFCH to the second terminal (Hahn-See Fig. 11: When reception of the SCI scheduling transmission of the sidelink data is successful, the receiving terminal(s) may transmit information indicating that the SCI has been successfully received (hereinafter referred to as an ‘SCI reception indicator’) to the transmitting terminal (S1104). And the SCI to carry the information of the overlapping transmission resource (i.e., conflicting info). ¶ [0129] and ¶ [0133])
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made to provide a method of transmitting the PSFCH to the second terminal as taught by Hahn to have incorporated in the system of Panteleev, so that it would provide that the performance of the communication system can be improved. Hahn-Abstract.
Regarding claim 2; Panteleev in view of Hahn discloses the method of claim 1, further comprising: receiving a radio resource control (RRC) message (Hahn- The resource pool for the sidelink control information may be configured based on an RRC signaling procedure (e.g., a dedicated RRC signaling procedure, a broadcast RRC signaling procedure). ¶ [0083]) including information of a time interval between a reception time of the SCI including the scheduling information of the reserved resource (Panteleev-If the TX UE determines the feedback resources then the feedback resources may be avoided by others when there is sufficient processing time, once the SCI scheduling PSSCH is detected by the surrounding UEs. ¶ [0071]) to be conflicted and a transmission time of the conflict information, wherein the conflict information is transmitted after the time interval from the reception time of the SCI (Hahn-See Fig. 11: When reception of the SCI scheduling transmission of the sidelink data is successful, the receiving terminal(s) may transmit information indicating that the SCI has been successfully received (hereinafter referred to as an ‘SCI reception indicator’) to the transmitting terminal (S1104). The SCI to carry the information of the overlapping transmission resource (i.e., conflicting info). i.e., the SCI transmitted before SFCI carrying feedback. ¶ [0102] and ¶ [0133]).
Regarding claim 3; Panteleev in view of Hahn teaches the method of claim 1, wherein periodicity of the PSFCH in which the conflict information is transmitted is configured identically with periodicity of a PSFCH for hybrid automatic repeat request-acknowledgment (HARQ-ACK) feedback of the PSSCH transmission (Panteleev-two different resources may be used for ACK and NACK respectively, especially when PSFCH carrying SFCI has PSCCH structure. In that case, if NACK is detected or if no ACK is detected, the transmitter may decide to schedule retransmission. ¶ [0085]).
Regarding claim 4; Panteleev in view of Hahn discloses the method wherein a first frequency resource for transmitting the conflict information (Hahn- That is, the SCI reception indicators may be transmitted according to an overlapping transmission scheme based on specific sequences. ¶ [0134]) is configured differently from a second frequency resource for transmitting HARQ-ACK feedback of the PSSCH transmission (Hahn-The remaining receiving terminals may transmit HARQ responses (e.g., NACK) through the shared PSFCH resource region within the PSFCH #2, and may transmit SCI reception indicators through the dedicated PSFCH resource region within the PSFCH #2. ¶ [0135]).
Regarding claim 5; Panteleev teaches the method of claim 4, wherein the first frequency resource for transmitting the conflict information is configured by a bitmap (Panteleev- The SFCI resource is determined by the receiving UE in a window known to the transmitting UE. The following categories of HARQ feedback payload may be used to send feedback: Category 1: HARQ-ACK bit(s) only for one or multiple transport blocks; Category 2: HARQ-ACK bit(s) and corresponding HARQ process ID(s); Category 3: HARQ-ACK bit(s) and corresponding group/destination ID(s); and Category 4: HARQ-ACK bit(s) (i.e., bitmaps), corresponding HARQ process ID(s), and corresponding group/destination ID(s). ¶ [0102]).
Regarding claim 6; Panteleev teaches a method for a second terminal, the method comprising:
transmitting sidelink control information (SCI) (See Fig. 2: transmitting sidelink control information (SCI) received to a first UE via a physical sidelink control channel (PSCCH). See Abstract and Panteleev’s claim 1) including scheduling information of a physical sidelink shared channel (PSSCH) transmission (See Fig. 2: the SCI indicating sidelink resources from a sidelink resource pool reserved/scheduled by the second UE, and A PSSCH is encoded for transmission, the PSSCH is encoded to include a transport block mapped across the plurality of sidelink resources. See Abstract and claim 1);
performing a monitoring operation on a physical sidelink feedback channel (PSFCH) (See Fig. 2: two different resources may be used for ACK and NACK respectively, especially when PSFCH carrying SFCI has PSCCH structure. In that case, if NACK is detected or if no ACK is detected, the transmitter may decide to schedule retransmission. ¶ [0085]) associated with the PSSCH transmission (See Fig. 2: determining to avoid Half-Duplex resource collision/conflict during resource selection procedure of PSCCH/PSSCH transmissions. ¶ [0101]); and
obtaining conflict information of a reserved resource for the PSSCH transmission by the monitoring operation (See Fig. 2: The half-duplex collisions within a group may be resolved by sending NACK to the colliding UEs by other UEs detected the collision. The half-duplex collision within a group may be resolved by sending a dedicated collision announcement (i.e., conflict information) signal by others UEs detected the collision. ¶ [0101]).
Even though, Panteleev teaches the method for receiving SCI for reserving or scheduling of a PSSCH from a second UE, Panteleev doesn’t explicitly describe obtaining the PSFCH from another UE terminal.
However, Hahn from the same or similar fields of endeavor further discloses a method of obtaining the PSFCH from another UE terminal (Hahn-See Fig. 11: When reception of the SCI scheduling transmission of the sidelink data is successful, the receiving terminal(s) may transmit information indicating that the SCI has been successfully received (hereinafter referred to as an ‘SCI reception indicator’) to the transmitting terminal (S1104). And the SCI to carry the information of the overlapping transmission resource (i.e., conflicting info). ¶ [0129] and ¶ [0133])
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made to provide a method of transmitting the PSFCH to the second terminal as taught by Hahn to have incorporated in the system of Panteleev, so that it would provide that the performance of the communication system can be improved. Hahn-Abstract.
Regarding claim 7: Panteleev in view of Hahn teaches the method of claim 6, further comprising: receiving a radio resource control (RRC) message (Hahn- The resource pool for the sidelink control information may be configured based on an RRC signaling procedure (e.g., a dedicated RRC signaling procedure, a broadcast RRC signaling procedure). ¶ [0083]) including information of a time interval between a reception time of the SCI including the scheduling information of the reserved resource (Panteleev-If the TX UE determines the feedback resources then the feedback resources may be avoided by others when there is sufficient processing time, once the SCI scheduling PSSCH is detected by the surrounding UEs. ¶ [0071]) to be conflicted and a transmission time of the conflict information, wherein the conflict information is transmitted after the time interval from the reception time of the SCI (Hahn-See Fig. 11: When reception of the SCI scheduling transmission of the sidelink data is successful, the receiving terminal(s) may transmit information indicating that the SCI has been successfully received (hereinafter referred to as an ‘SCI reception indicator’) to the transmitting terminal (S1104). The SCI to carry the information of the overlapping transmission resource (i.e., conflicting info). i.e., the SCI transmitted before SFCI carrying feedback. ¶ [0102] and ¶ [0133]).
Regarding claim 8; Panteleev in view of Hahn teaches the method further comprising: updating information of a conflicted resource based on the conflict information (Panteleev: If a special signal is designed to announce the collisions, it could. be transmitted once and be associated with the group ID and time instance of collision detection. If a TX UE knows there was a collision, the retransmission may be sent with redundancy version 0 (RV0) (i.e., updated info) instead of on changing the RV (e.g., to RV2) that would increase self-decodability of the ReTX. ¶ [0056]).
Regarding claim 9; Panteleev teaches the method wherein periodicity of the PSFCH in which the conflict information is received is configured identically with periodicity of a PSFCH for hybrid automatic repeat request-acknowledgment (HARQ-ACK) feedback for the PSSCH transmission (Panteleev-two different resources may be used for ACK and NACK respectively, especially when PSFCH carrying SFCI has PSCCH structure. In that case, if NACK is detected or if no ACK is detected, the transmitter may decide to schedule retransmission. ¶ [0085]).
Regarding claim 10; Panteleev in view of Hahn teaches the method wherein a first frequency resource for receiving the conflict information (Hahn- That is, the SCI reception indicators may be transmitted according to an overlapping transmission scheme based on specific sequences. ¶ [0134]) is configured differently from a second frequency resource for transmitting HARQ-ACK feedback of the PSSCH transmission (Hahn-The remaining receiving terminals may transmit HARQ responses (e.g., NACK) through the shared PSFCH resource region within the PSFCH #2, and may transmit SCI reception indicators through the dedicated PSFCH resource region within the PSFCH #2. ¶ [0135]).
Regarding claim 11; Panteleev teaches the method of claim 10, wherein the first frequency resource for receiving the conflict information is configured by a bitmap (Panteleev- The SFCI resource is determined by the receiving UE in a window known to the transmitting UE. The following categories of HARQ feedback payload may be used to send feedback: Category 1: HARQ-ACK bit(s) only for one or multiple transport blocks; Category 2: HARQ-ACK bit(s) and corresponding HARQ process ID(s); Category 3: HARQ-ACK bit(s) and corresponding group/destination ID(s); and Category 4: HARQ-ACK bit(s) (i.e., bitmaps), corresponding HARQ process ID(s), and corresponding group/destination ID(s). ¶ [0102]).
Regarding claim 12: Panteleev teaches a first terminal, comprising: at least one processor, wherein the at least one processor causes the first terminal to:
receive sidelink control information (SCI) (See Fig. 2: receiving and decoding sidelink control information (SCI) received from a second UE via a physical sidelink control channel (PSCCH). See Abstract and Panteleev’s claim 1) including scheduling information of a physical sidelink shared channel (PSSCH) transmission from a second terminal (See Fig. 2: the SCI indicating sidelink resources from a sidelink resource pool reserved/scheduled by the second UE, and A PSSCH is encoded for transmission, the PSSCH is encoded to include a transport block mapped across the plurality of sidelink resources. See Abstract and claim 1);
determine a conflict of a reserved resource for the PSSCH transmission (See Fig. 2: determining to avoid Half-Duplex resource collision/conflict during resource selection procedure of PSCCH/PSSCH transmissions. ¶ [0101]); and
transmit conflict information of the determined conflict (See Fig. 2: The half-duplex collisions within a group may be resolved by sending NACK to the colliding UEs by other UEs detected the collision. The half-duplex collision within a group may be resolved by sending a dedicated collision announcement (i.e., conflict information) signal by others UEs detected the collision. ¶ [0101]) through a physical sidelink feedback channel (PSFCH) (See Fig. 2: two different resources may be used for ACK and NACK respectively, especially when PSFCH carrying SFCI has PSCCH structure. In that case, if NACK is detected or if no ACK is detected, the transmitter may decide to schedule retransmission. ¶ [0085]).
Even though, Panteleev teaches the method for receiving SCI for reserving or scheduling of a PSSCH from a second UE, Panteleev doesn’t explicitly describe transmitting the PSFCH to the second terminal.
However, Hahn from the same or similar fields of endeavor further discloses a method of transmitting the PSFCH to the second terminal (Hahn-See Fig. 11: When reception of the SCI scheduling transmission of the sidelink data is successful, the receiving terminal(s) may transmit information indicating that the SCI has been successfully received (hereinafter referred to as an ‘SCI reception indicator’) to the transmitting terminal (S1104). And the SCI to carry the information of the overlapping transmission resource (i.e., conflicting info). ¶ [0129] and ¶ [0133])
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made to provide a method of transmitting the PSFCH to the second terminal as taught by Hahn to have incorporated in the system of Panteleev, so that it would provide that the performance of the communication system can be improved. Hahn-Abstract.
Regarding claim 13: Panteleev in view of Hahn teaches the first terminal of claim 12, wherein the at least one processor further causes the first terminal to: receive a radio resource control (RRC) message (Hahn- The resource pool for the sidelink control information may be configured based on an RRC signaling procedure (e.g., a dedicated RRC signaling procedure, a broadcast RRC signaling procedure). ¶ [0083]) including information of a time interval between a reception time of the SCI including the scheduling information of the reserved resource (Panteleev-If the TX UE determines the feedback resources then the feedback resources may be avoided by others when there is sufficient processing time, once the SCI scheduling PSSCH is detected by the surrounding UEs. ¶ [0071]) to be conflicted and a transmission time of the conflict information, wherein the conflict information is transmitted after the time interval from the reception time of the SCI (Hahn-See Fig. 11: When reception of the SCI scheduling transmission of the sidelink data is successful, the receiving terminal(s) may transmit information indicating that the SCI has been successfully received (hereinafter referred to as an ‘SCI reception indicator’) to the transmitting terminal (S1104). The SCI to carry the information of the overlapping transmission resource (i.e., conflicting info). i.e., the SCI transmitted before SFCI carrying feedback. ¶ [0102] and ¶ [0133]).
Regarding claim 14; Panteleev in view of Hahn teaches the first terminal wherein periodicity of the PSFCH in which the conflict information is transmitted is configured identically with periodicity of a PSFCH for hybrid automatic repeat request-acknowledgment (HARQ-ACK) feedback of the PSSCH transmission (Panteleev-two different resources may be used for ACK and NACK respectively, especially when PSFCH carrying SFCI has PSCCH structure. In that case, if NACK is detected or if no ACK is detected, the transmitter may decide to schedule retransmission. ¶ [0085]).
Regarding claim 15; Panteleev in view of Hahn teaches the first terminal wherein a first frequency resource for transmitting the conflict information (Hahn- That is, the SCI reception indicators may be transmitted according to an overlapping transmission scheme based on specific sequences. ¶ [0134]) is configured differently from a second frequency resource for transmitting HARQ-ACK feedback of the PSSCH transmission (Hahn-The remaining receiving terminals may transmit HARQ responses (e.g., NACK) through the shared PSFCH resource region within the PSFCH #2, and may transmit SCI reception indicators through the dedicated PSFCH resource region within the PSFCH #2. ¶ [0135]).
Regarding claim 16; Panteleev teaches the first terminal of claim 15, wherein the first frequency resource for transmitting the conflict information is configured by a bitmap (Panteleev- The SFCI resource is determined by the receiving UE in a window known to the transmitting UE. The following categories of HARQ feedback payload may be used to send feedback: Category 1: HARQ-ACK bit(s) only for one or multiple transport blocks; Category 2: HARQ-ACK bit(s) and corresponding HARQ process ID(s); Category 3: HARQ-ACK bit(s) and corresponding group/destination ID(s); and Category 4: HARQ-ACK bit(s) (i.e., bitmaps), corresponding HARQ process ID(s), and corresponding group/destination ID(s). ¶ [0102]).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
KIM et al. (US 2019/0075566 A1 to discuss the method for Wireless Communications Considering Collisions among Device to Device Transmissions).
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/SAI AUNG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2416
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