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 .
Double Patenting
The nonstatutory double patenting rejection is based on a judicially created doctrine grounded in public policy (a policy reflected in the statute) so as to prevent the unjustified or improper timewise extension of the “right to exclude” granted by a patent and to prevent possible harassment by multiple assignees. A nonstatutory double patenting rejection is appropriate where the conflicting claims are not identical, but at least one examined application claim is not patentably distinct from the reference claim(s) because the examined application claim is either anticipated by, or would have been obvious over, the reference claim(s). See, e.g., In re Berg, 140 F.3d 1428, 46 USPQ2d 1226 (Fed. Cir. 1998); In re Goodman, 11 F.3d 1046, 29 USPQ2d 2010 (Fed. Cir. 1993); In re Longi, 759 F.2d 887, 225 USPQ 645 (Fed. Cir. 1985); In re Van Ornum, 686 F.2d 937, 214 USPQ 761 (CCPA 1982); In re Vogel, 422 F.2d 438, 164 USPQ 619 (CCPA 1970); In re Thorington, 418 F.2d 528, 163 USPQ 644 (CCPA 1969).
A timely filed terminal disclaimer in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(c) or 1.321(d) may be used to overcome an actual or provisional rejection based on nonstatutory double patenting provided the reference application or patent either is shown to be commonly owned with the examined application, or claims an invention made as a result of activities undertaken within the scope of a joint research agreement. See MPEP § 717.02 for applications subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA as explained in MPEP § 2159. See MPEP § 2146 et seq. for applications not subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA . A terminal disclaimer must be signed in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(b).
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Claims 1-20 rejected on the ground of nonstatutory double patenting as being unpatentable over claims 1-20 of U.S. Patent No. 12137456. Although the claims at issue are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other because
Regarding claims 1, 9, 15, the Patent No. 12137456 teaches an integrated circuit, which comprises circuitry configured to:
generate a plurality of sidelink (SL) grants to allocate radio resources for a first user equipment to perform a plurality of direct SL transmissions over an SL interface to one or more second user equipments (claim 1); and
control transmitting, to the first user equipment, the plurality of SL grants for a subsequent sidelink control (SC) period, before a start of the subsequent SC period (claim 1), wherein:
a maximum number of SL processes configured for the first user equipment are associated with the plurality of SL grants, and each of the plurality of SL grants is associated with one of the maximum number of SL processes in a one-to-one manner (claim 1);
for one of the maximum number of SL processes, a second SL grant transmitted in subframe n for the subsequent SC period overwrites a first SL grant previously transmitted in subframe n-X for the same subsequent SC period, wherein X is an integer value equal to or greater than the maximum number of SL processes (claim 1);
for each of the maximum number of SL processes, radio resources within the subsequent SC period are allocated according to the associated SL grant (claim 1); and
the allocated radio resources are used for the plurality of SL transmissions including at least one sidelink control information (SCI) transmission and at least one data transmission (claim 1).
Regarding claim 2, the Patent No. 12137456 teaches the integrated circuit according to claim 1, comprising: at least one input coupled to the circuitry, wherein the at least one input, in operation, inputs data (claim 1, base station implicitly has receiver for input data); and at least one output coupled to the circuitry, wherein the at least one output, in operation, outputs data to be transmitted (claim 1).
Regarding claim 3, the Patent No. 12137456 teaches the integrated circuit according to claim 1, wherein the circuitry comprises: control circuitry, which, in operation, generates the plurality of SL grants (claim 1); and transmission circuitry, which, in operation, controls transmitting the plurality of SL grants (claim 1).
Regarding claims 4, 10, 16, the Patent No. 12137456 teaches the integrated circuit according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of SL grants for the subsequent SC period are only transmitted until 4 subframes before the start of the subsequent SC period (claim 2).
Regarding claims 5, 11, 17, the Patent No. 12137456 teaches the integrated circuit according to claim 1, wherein each of the maximum number of SL processes is re-initialized before the start of the subsequent SC period (claim 3).
Regarding claims 6, 12, 18, the Patent No. 12137456 teaches the integrated circuit according to claim 5, wherein each of the maximum number of SL processes is re-initialized 3 subframes before the start of the subsequent SC period (claim 4).
Regarding claims 7, 13, 19, the Patent No. 12137456 teaches the integrated circuit according to claim 1, wherein a logical channel prioritization (LCP) procedure is performed for each of the maximum number of SL processes (claim 5).
Regarding claims 8, 14, 20, the Patent No. 12137456 teaches the integrated circuit according to claim 7, wherein the LCP procedure includes identifying different destination Group IDs used in the plurality of SL transmissions (claim 6).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
R2-153259 teaches a base station, comprising: circuitry, which, in operation, generates a plurality of sidelink (SL) grants to allocate radio resources for a first user equipment to perform a plurality of direct SL transmissions over an SL interface to one or more second user equipments (R2-153259, section “eNB controlled resource allocation mode” discloses on page 2, “UE supports more than one valid SL grant (DCI format 3) per SC period”. The same section discloses on the same page that the SL grants are differentiated based on their subframe timing, meaning that the SL grants are received in different subframes); and a transmitter, which, in operation, transmits, to the first user equipment, the plurality of SL grants for a subsequent sidelink control (SC) period, before a start of the subsequent SC period (R2-153259, section “eNB controlled resource allocation mode” discloses on page 2, “UE supports more than one valid SL grant (DCI format 3) per SC period”. The same section discloses on the same page that the SL grants are differentiated based on their subframe timing, meaning that the SL grants are received in different subframes), wherein: a maximum number of SL processes configured for the first user equipment are associated with the plurality of SL grants, and each of the plurality of SL grants is associated with one of the maximum number of SL processes in a one-to-one manner (R2-153259, discloses on page 2, “Each sidelink grant is associated with one sidelink process/HARQ process” and “The subframe timing when a SL grant is received identifies the sidelink process the sidelink grant is associated with, i.e. for each sidelink process a set of subframes is defined”, the number of the sidelink process/HARQ process support by the UE it the maximum number of SL processes); for one of the maximum number of SL processes (R2-153259, discloses on page 2, “Each sidelink grant is associated with one sidelink process/HARQ process” and “The subframe timing when a SL grant is received identifies the sidelink process the sidelink grant is associated with, i.e. for each sidelink process a set of subframes is defined”),
for each of the maximum number of SL processes, radio resources within the subsequent SC period are allocated according to the associated SL grant (R2-153259, section “enB controlled resource allocation mode” disclosed the mode 2 mechanism for allocation of resources. In this mode, after the eNB conveys the grant, the transmitting UE will allocate the resources according to the received grant, see Section “2 Discussion” on page 1); and the allocated radio resources are used for the plurality of SL transmissions including at least one sidelink control information (SCI) transmission and at least one data transmission (R2-153259, Section “Multiple SA/data transmissions during one SC period” par. 2 of page 2 as well as Section “eNB controlled resource allocation mode” par. 4. Of page 2 disclose that the SL grant are subsequently followed by multiple data and SA [=scheduling control information] transmissions inside a group).
MARINIER et al. (US 20160183276) teaches the transmitting user equipment is configured with a maximum number of SL processes (par. 199, in a scenario involving four HARQ processes for the WTRU, four HARQ processes would indicating the maximum number of the processes the UE is allowed); wherein X is an integer value equal to or greater than the maximum number of SL processes (par. 199, the TP resource (or T-RPT) associated to the n.sup.th HARQ process may be restricted to a subset of subframes within a set of subframes defined by a period of four subframes and an offset n… among one or more subsets of subframes as well as one or more offsets in a scenario involving greater or less than four HARQ processes and further indicated by par. 326);
FREDA et al. (US 20130163543) in a similar or same field of endeavor teaches a second grant received in subframe n for the subsequent period overrides a first grant previously received in subframe n-X for the same subsequent period (par. 193, 194);
SAIWAI et al. (US 20180070264) teaches the received sidelink grant (i.e. DCI format 5) to be configured sidelink grant occurring in the subframes starting at the beginning of the first available SC-Period which starts at least 4 subframes after the subframe in which the sidelink grant was received, overwriting a previously configured sidelink grant occurring in the same SC-Period (par. 288).
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/THINH D TRAN/for /Thinh Tran/, Patent Examiner of Art Unit 2466 08/22/2026
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