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 .
Drawings
The drawings were received on 10/30/24. These drawings are acceptable.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 10/30/24 (7), 2/21/25, 7/1/25, 3/3/26 has been considered by the examiner.
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).
The filing of a terminal disclaimer by itself is not a complete reply to a nonstatutory double patenting (NSDP) rejection. A complete reply requires that the terminal disclaimer be accompanied by a reply requesting reconsideration of the prior Office action. Even where the NSDP rejection is provisional the reply must be complete. See MPEP § 804, subsection I.B.1. For a reply to a non-final Office action, see 37 CFR 1.111(a). For a reply to final Office action, see 37 CFR 1.113(c). A request for reconsideration while not provided for in 37 CFR 1.113(c) may be filed after final for consideration. See MPEP §§ 706.07(e) and 714.13.
The USPTO Internet website contains terminal disclaimer forms which may be used. Please visit www.uspto.gov/patent/patents-forms. The actual filing date of the application in which the form is filed determines what form (e.g., PTO/SB/25, PTO/SB/26, PTO/AIA /25, or PTO/AIA /26) should be used. A web-based eTerminal Disclaimer may be filled out completely online using web-screens. An eTerminal Disclaimer that meets all requirements is auto-processed and approved immediately upon submission. For more information about eTerminal Disclaimers, refer to www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/applying-online/eterminal-disclaimer.
Claims 1-4, 7-10, 13-16 are rejected on the ground of nonstatutory double patenting as being unpatentable over claims 6-9 and 12-15 of U.S. Patent No. 12,166,728 Although the claims at issue are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other because of the mapping below:
Instant Application
Patent No: 12,166,728
1. A method for determining a time domain resource, comprising: determining, by a terminal device, a first slot set in a first period according to a first time division duplexing (TDD) configuration in radio resource control (RRC) signaling or a second TDD configuration in a physical sidelink broadcast channel (PSBCH); and selecting, by the terminal device, a part of slots from the first slot set according to a first bitmap, wherein the part of slots forms a time domain resource of a resource pool; wherein when the terminal device is a terminal device in coverage of a base station, the method further comprises: determining, by the terminal device, the second TDD configuration in the PSBCH according to the first TDD configuration in the RRC signaling; and transmitting, by the terminal device, the PSBCH, wherein the PSBCH carries the second TDD configuration; wherein the second TDD configuration comprises at least one of the following: first indication information used to indicate a number of patterns; second indication information used to indicate a pattern period; or third indication information used to indicate a number of full uplink slots in a first pattern and/or a second pattern.
1. A method for determining a time domain resource, comprising: determining, by a terminal device, a first slot set in a first period according to a first time division duplexing (TDD) configuration in radio resource control (RRC) signaling or a second TDD configuration in a physical sidelink broadcast channel (PSBCH); and selecting, by the terminal device, a part of slots from the first slot set according to a first bitmap, wherein the part of slots forms a time domain resource of a resource pool; wherein the method further comprises: determining, by the terminal device, a resource reservation interval based on a number of slots available for sidelink communication in a statistical period in the following mode: where P.sub.rsvp_TX′ represents the resource reservation interval in slots, P.sub.rsvp_TX represents an absolute resource reservation period in milliseconds, T represents the statistical period, and P.sub.step represents the number of slots available for sidelink communication in the statistical period.
5. The method according to claim 1, when the terminal device is a terminal device in coverage of a base station, the method further comprises: determining, by the terminal device, the second TDD configuration in the PSBCH according to the first TDD configuration in the RRC signaling; and transmitting, by the terminal device, the PSBCH, wherein the PSBCH carries the second TDD configuration.
6. The method according to claim 5, wherein the second TDD configuration comprises at least one of the following: first indication information used to indicate a number of patterns; second indication information used to indicate a pattern period; and third indication information used to indicate a number of full uplink slots in the first pattern and/or the second pattern.
2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the third indication information indicates the number of full uplink slots in the first pattern and/or the second pattern through N bits b5,⋯,b5+N-1; wherein N represents a total number of bits used for indicating the number of full uplink slots in each pattern.
7. The method according to claim 6, wherein the third indication information indicates the number of full uplink slots in the first pattern and/or the second pattern through N bits {b.sub.5, . . . , b.sub.5+N−1}; wherein N represents a total number of bits used for indicating the number of full uplink slots in each pattern.
3. The method according to claim 2, when a number of the patterns indicated by the first TDD configuration in the RRC signaling is 2, the method comprises: determining, by the terminal device, a decimal representation value of the N bits in the PSBCH in the following mode: D=a×2μref-μPSBCH×P2×2μref+1+b×2μref-μPSBCH; where D represents the decimal representation value of the N bits in the PSBCH, a represents the number of full uplink slots in the first pattern, b represents the number of full uplink slots in the second pattern, μref represents a reference SCS index, μPSBCH represents a configured or pre-configured SCS index on a BWP where the PSBCH is located and P2 represents a period of the second pattern in milliseconds.
8. The method according to claim 7, when a number of the patterns indicated by the first TDD configuration in the RRC signaling is 2, the method comprises: determining, by the terminal device, a decimal representation value of the N bits in the PSBCH in the following mode:
D=└a×2.sup.μ.sup.ref−μ.sup.PSBCH┘× (P.sub.2×2.sup.μref+1)+└b×2.sup.μ.sup.ref −μ.sup.PSBCH ┘; where D represents the decimal representation value of the N bits in the PSBCH, a represents the number of full uplink slots in the first pattern, b represents the number of full uplink slots in the second pattern, μ.sub.ref represents a reference SCS index, and μ.sub.PSBCH represents a configured or pre-configured SCS index on a BWP where the PSBCH is located.
4. The method according to claim 3, wherein μref is determined in the following mode: when a sum of the period of the first pattern and the period of the second pattern is less than 4ms or not greater than 2.5ms, μref=μPSBCH; or, when the sum of the period of the first pattern and the period of the second pattern is 4ms or 5ms, μref=minμPSBCH,2; or, when the sum of the period of the first pattern and the period of the second pattern is 10ms, μref=minμPSBCH,1; or, when the sum of the period of the first pattern and the period of the second pattern is 20ms, μref=0.
9. The method according to claim 8, wherein μ.sub.ref is determined in the following mode: when a sum of the period of the first pattern and the period of the second pattern is less than 4 ms or not greater than 2.5 ms, μ.sub.ref=μ.sub.PSBCH; or, when the sum of the period of the first pattern and the period of the second pattern is 4 ms or 5 ms, μ.sub.ref=min(μ.sub.PSBCH, 2); or, when the sum of the period of the first pattern and the period of the second pattern is 10 ms, μ.sub.ref=min(μ.sub.PSBCH, 1); or, when the sum of the period of the first pattern and the period of the second pattern is 20 ms, μ.sub.ref=0.
7. An apparatus for determining a time domain resource, applied to a terminal device, the apparatus comprising: a memory, configured to store a computer program; and a processor, configured to call and run the computer program stored in the memory to: determine a first slot set in a first period according to a first time division duplexing (TDD) configuration in radio resource control (RRC) signaling or a second TDD configuration in a physical sidelink broadcast channel (PSBCH); and select a part of slots from the first slot set according to a first bitmap, wherein the part of slots forms a time domain resource of a resource pool; wherein when the terminal device is a terminal device in coverage of a base station, the processor is further configured to determine the second TDD configuration in the PSBCH according to the first TDD configuration in the RRC signaling; the apparatus further comprises a transceiver configured to transmit the PSBCH, wherein the PSBCH carries the second TDD configuration; wherein the second TDD configuration comprises at least one of the following: first indication information used to indicate a number of patterns; second indication information used to indicate a pattern period; or third indication information used to indicate a number of full uplink slots in a first pattern and/or a second pattern.
10. An apparatus for determining a time domain resource, applied to a terminal device, the apparatus comprising: a memory, configured to store a computer program; and a processor, configured to call and run the computer program stored in the memory to: determine a first slot set in a first period according to a first time division duplexing (TDD) configuration in radio resource control (RRC) signaling or a second TDD configuration in a physical sidelink broadcast channel (PSBCH); and select a part of slots from the first slot set according to a first bitmap, wherein the part of slots forms a time domain resource of a resource pool; wherein the processor is further configured to determine a resource reservation interval based on the number of slots available for sidelink communication in a statistical period in the following mode: where P.sub.rsvp_TX′ represents the resource reservation interval in slots, P.sub.rsvp_TX represents an absolute resource reservation period in milliseconds, T represents the statistical period, and P.sub.step represents the number of slots available for sidelink communication in the statistical period.
11. The apparatus according to claim 10, wherein when the terminal device is a terminal device in coverage of a base station, the processor is further configured to determine the second TDD configuration in the PSBCH according to the first TDD configuration in the RRC signaling; and the apparatus further comprises a transceiver configured to transmit the PSBCH, wherein the PSBCH carries the second TDD configuration.
12. The apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the second TDD configuration comprises at least one of the following: first indication information used to indicate a number of patterns; second indication information used to indicate a pattern period; and third indication information used to indicate a number of full uplink slots in the first pattern and/or the second pattern.
8. The apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the third indication information indicates the number of full uplink slots in the first pattern and/or the second pattern through N bits b5,⋯,b5+N-1; wherein N represents a total number of bits used for indicating the number of full uplink slots in each pattern.
13. The apparatus according to claim 12, wherein the third indication information indicates the number of full uplink slots in the first pattern and/or the second pattern through N bits{b.sub.5, . . . , b.sub.5+N−1}; wherein N represents a total number of bits used for indicating the number of full uplink slots in each pattern.
9. The apparatus according to claim 8, wherein when a number of the patterns indicated by the first TDD configuration in the RRC signaling is 2, the processor is further configured to determine a decimal representation value of the N bits in the PSBCH in the following mode: D=a×2μref-μPSBCH×P2×2μref+1+b×2μref-μPSBCH; where D represents the decimal representation value of the N bits in the PSBCH, a represents the number of full uplink slots in the first pattern, b represents the number of full uplink slots in the second pattern, μref represents a reference SCS index, μPSBCH represents a configured or pre-configured SCS index on a BWP where the PSBCH is located and P2 represents a period of the second pattern in milliseconds.
14. The apparatus according to claim 13, wherein when a number of the patterns indicated by the first TDD configuration in the RRC signaling is 2, the processor is further configured to determine a decimal representation value of the N bits in the PSBCH in the following mode:
D=└a×2.sup.μ.sup.ref−μ.sup.PSBCH┘ ×(P.sub.2×2.sup.μref+1) +└b×2.sup.μ.sup.ref−μ.sup.PSBCH┘; where D represents the decimal representation value of the N bits in the PSBCH, a represents the number of full uplink slots in the first pattern, b represents the number of full uplink slots in the second pattern, μ.sub.ref represents a reference SCS index, and μ.sub.PSBCH represents a configured or pre-configured SCS index on a BWP where the PSBCH is located.
10. The apparatus according to claim 9, wherein μref is determined in the following mode: when a sum of the period of the first pattern and the period of the second pattern is less than 4ms or not greater than 2.5ms, μref=μPSBCH; or, when the sum of the period of the first pattern and the period of the second pattern is 4ms or 5ms, μref=minμPSBCH,2; or, when the sum of the period of the first pattern and the period of the second pattern is 10ms, μref=minμPSBCH,1; or, when the sum of the period of the first pattern and the period of the second pattern is 20ms, μref=0.
15. The apparatus according to claim 14, wherein μ.sub.ref is determined in the following mode: when a sum of the period of the first pattern and the period of the second pattern is less than 4 ms or not greater than 2.5 ms, μ.sub.ref=μ.sub.PSBCH; or, when the sum of the period of the first pattern and the period of the second pattern is 4 ms or 5 ms, μ.sub.ref=min(μ.sub.PSBCH, 2); or, when the sum of the period of the first pattern and the period of the second pattern is 10 ms, μ.sub.ref=min(μ.sub.PSBCH, 1); or, when the sum of the period of the first pattern and the period of the second pattern is 20 ms, μ.sub.ref=0.
13. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium, configured to store a computer program, wherein the computer program enables a computer of a terminal device to execute a method for determining a time domain resource, comprising: determining a first slot set in a first period according to a first time division duplexing (TDD) configuration in radio resource control (RRC) signaling or a second TDD configuration in a physical sidelink broadcast channel (PSBCH); and selecting a part of slots from the first slot set according to a first bitmap, wherein the part of slots forms a time domain resource of a resource pool; wherein when the terminal device is a terminal device in coverage of a base station, the method further comprises: determining the second TDD configuration in the PSBCH according to the first TDD configuration in the RRC signaling; and transmitting the PSBCH, wherein the PSBCH carries the second TDD configuration; wherein the second TDD configuration comprises at least one of the following: first indication information used to indicate a number of patterns; second indication information used to indicate a pattern period; or third indication information used to indicate a number of full uplink slots in a first pattern and/or a second pattern.
10. An apparatus for determining a time domain resource, applied to a terminal device, the apparatus comprising: a memory, configured to store a computer program; and a processor, configured to call and run the computer program stored in the memory to: determine a first slot set in a first period according to a first time division duplexing (TDD) configuration in radio resource control (RRC) signaling or a second TDD configuration in a physical sidelink broadcast channel (PSBCH); and select a part of slots from the first slot set according to a first bitmap, wherein the part of slots forms a time domain resource of a resource pool; wherein the processor is further configured to determine a resource reservation interval based on the number of slots available for sidelink communication in a statistical period in the following mode: where P.sub.rsvp_TX′ represents the resource reservation interval in slots, P.sub.rsvp_TX represents an absolute resource reservation period in milliseconds, T represents the statistical period, and P.sub.step represents the number of slots available for sidelink communication in the statistical period.
11. The apparatus according to claim 10, wherein when the terminal device is a terminal device in coverage of a base station, the processor is further configured to determine the second TDD configuration in the PSBCH according to the first TDD configuration in the RRC signaling; and the apparatus further comprises a transceiver configured to transmit the PSBCH, wherein the PSBCH carries the second TDD configuration.
12. The apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the second TDD configuration comprises at least one of the following: first indication information used to indicate a number of patterns; second indication information used to indicate a pattern period; and third indication information used to indicate a number of full uplink slots in the first pattern and/or the second pattern.
14. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium according to claim 13, wherein the third indication information indicates the number of full uplink slots in the first pattern and/or the second pattern through N bits b5,⋯,b5+N-1; wherein N represents a total number of bits used for indicating the number of full uplink slots in each pattern.
13. The apparatus according to claim 12, wherein the third indication information indicates the number of full uplink slots in the first pattern and/or the second pattern through N bits{b.sub.5, . . . , b.sub.5+N−1}; wherein N represents a total number of bits used for indicating the number of full uplink slots in each pattern.
15. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium according to claim 14, when a number of the patterns indicated by the first TDD configuration in the RRC signaling is 2, the method comprises: determining a decimal representation value of the N bits in the PSBCH in the following mode: D=a×2μref-μPSBCH×P2×2μref+1+b×2μref-μPSBCH; where D represents the decimal representation value of the N bits in the PSBCH, a represents the number of full uplink slots in the first pattern, b represents the number of full uplink slots in the second pattern, μref represents a reference SCS index, μPSBCH represents a configured or pre-configured SCS index on a BWP where the PSBCH is located and P2 represents a period of the second pattern in milliseconds.
14. The apparatus according to claim 13, wherein when a number of the patterns indicated by the first TDD configuration in the RRC signaling is 2, the processor is further configured to determine a decimal representation value of the N bits in the PSBCH in the following mode:
D=└a×2.sup.μ.sup.ref−μ.sup.PSBCH┘ ×(P.sub.2×2.sup.μref+1) +└b×2.sup.μ.sup.ref−μ.sup.PSBCH┘; where D represents the decimal representation value of the N bits in the PSBCH, a represents the number of full uplink slots in the first pattern, b represents the number of full uplink slots in the second pattern, μ.sub.ref represents a reference SCS index, and μ.sub.PSBCH represents a configured or pre-configured SCS index on a BWP where the PSBCH is located.
16. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium according to claim 15, wherein μref is determined in the following mode: when a sum of the period of the first pattern and the period of the second pattern is less than 4ms or not greater than 2.5ms, μref=μPSBCH; or, when the sum of the period of the first pattern and the period of the second pattern is 4ms or 5ms, μref=minμPSBCH,2; or, when the sum of the period of the first pattern and the period of the second pattern is 10ms, μref=minμPSBCH,1; or, when the sum of the period of the first pattern and the period of the second pattern is 20ms, μref=0.
15. The apparatus according to claim 14, wherein μ.sub.ref is determined in the following mode: when a sum of the period of the first pattern and the period of the second pattern is less than 4 ms or not greater than 2.5 ms, μ.sub.ref=μ.sub.PSBCH; or, when the sum of the period of the first pattern and the period of the second pattern is 4 ms or 5 ms, μ.sub.ref=min(μ.sub.PSBCH, 2); or, when the sum of the period of the first pattern and the period of the second pattern is 10 ms, μ.sub.ref=min(μ.sub.PSBCH, 1); or, when the sum of the period of the first pattern and the period of the second pattern is 20 ms, μ.sub.ref=0.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-18 are allowable.
Claims 1-18 are allowable over prior art since the prior art taken individually or in combination fails to particularly disclose, fairly suggests, or render obvious the following limitations:
In claim 1, … selecting, by the terminal device, a part of slots from the first slot set according to a first bitmap, wherein the part of slots forms a time domain resource of a resource pool; wherein when the terminal device is a terminal device in coverage of a base station, the method further comprises: determining, by the terminal device, the second TDD configuration in the PSBCH according to the first TDD configuration in the RRC signaling; and transmitting, by the terminal device, the PSBCH, wherein the PSBCH carries the second TDD configuration; wherein the second TDD configuration comprises at least one of the following: first indication information used to indicate a number of patterns; second indication information used to indicate a pattern period; or third indication information used to indicate a number of full uplink slots in a first pattern and/or a second pattern.…in combination with other limitations recited as specified in Claim 1.
The first closest prior art of record is Yoon et al (Pub No: 2018/0098322). Yoon teaches a method for determining a time domain resource (Yoon, [0008][0052], method of determining a resource pool in the time domain), comprising: determining, by a terminal device, a first slot set in a first period (Yoon, [0054], determining a time domain resource set in a period of subframes [0056]) according to a first time division duplexing (TDD) configuration in radio resource control (RRC) signaling (Yoon, [0060], determination from a TDD bitmap using RRC); and selecting, by the terminal device, a part of slots from the first slot set according to a first bitmap, wherein the part of slots forms a time domain resource of a resource pool (Yoon, [0008], selecting a subset of subframes based on a bitmap as a resource pool). Yoon does not teach the italicized limitations above.
The second closest prior art of record is Vivo: "Remaining issues on sidelink synchronization mechanism", 3GPP DRAFT; R1-2000319, 3GPP TSG RAN wed 100. Feb. 24 - Mar. 6. 2020. 11 pages (as disclosed in the IDS). Vivo teaches according to a second TDD configuration in a physical sidelink broadcast channel (PSBCH) (Vivo, Pages 3-5 Section 2.1, a TDD config is indicated in a PBSCH for determining time slot). Vivo does not teach the italicized limitations above.
Thus, Yoon nor Vivo taken individually or in combination fails to particularly disclose, fairly suggest, or render obvious the above italic limitations as claimed.
For these reasons, in conjunction with the other limitations of the independent claims, puts these claims allowable over the prior art
Claims 5-6,11-12 and 17-18 are objected to as being dependent upon a double patent 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.
Kim et al (Pub No: 2017/0295601) [0194]
Chae et al (Pub No: 2017/0303291) [0107]
Lee et al (Pub No: 2017/0339679) [0196]
Sun et al (Pub No: 2019/0159216) [0019] [0039]
Lu et al (Pub No: 2019/0174491) [0117]
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to AFSHAWN M TOWFIGHI whose telephone number is (571)270-7296. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8:00 AM -5:00 PM.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Ian N Moore can be reached at 571-272-3085. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/AFSHAWN M TOWFIGHI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2469
Prosecution Insights