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 § 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.
Claim(s) 1, 5-6, 9, 13-14, 17 and 19-20 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Roth et al. (US 2020/0404624, “Roth”) in view of Ye et al. (US 2023/0132263, “Ye”).
Examiner’s note: in what follows, references are drawn to Roth unless otherwise mentioned.
Roth comprises the following features:
With respect to independent claims:
Regarding claim 1, a communication method, comprising:
transmitting, by a first terminal device, first information to a second terminal device ([0012] “The UE is configured to encode a physical sidelink shared channel (PSCCH) 104 for transmission within the current sidelink slot 102. The PSCCH 104 may be encoded to include sidelink control information (SCI).”),
wherein the first information is used to indicate a first reference value in a first time slot ([0051] “UE signals in PSCCH/SCI specific parameter for TBS determination e.g. indicates slot type (i.e. with PSFCH or w/o PSFCH) that was used for TBS determination” Note that the first reference value will be discussed in view of Ye.).
It is noted that while disclosing a TBS size for SL communications, Roth does not specifically teach about a reference number. It, however, had been known in the art before the effective date of the instant application as shown by Ye as follows;
the first reference value ([Ye, 0041] “To align the TBS calculation between initial transmission and retransmission(s), a configured (either preconfigured or via a resource pool configuration message) reference PSFCH symbol number should be used for the PSFCH overhead calculation.”) is used by the first terminal device to calculate a reference number of orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbols ([Ye, 0041] “The reference PSFCH symbol number should be between 0 and 3, and configuration is per PSFCH periodicity (i.e., 2 or 4 slots) per resource pool.”, and [Ye, 0042] “If PSFCH periodicity is 1 slot, N.sub.symbol.sup.PSFCH=3. If PSFCH periodicity is 0 slot, N.sub.symbol.sup.PSFCH=0. If PSFCH periodicity is 2 or 4 slots, N.sub.symbol.sup.PSFCH is configured or preconfigured by resource pool or pre-defined.”) when determining transmission block size (TBS) ([Ye, 0041] “To align the TBS calculation between initial transmission and retransmission(s), a configured (either preconfigured or via a resource pool configuration message) reference PSFCH symbol number should be used for the PSFCH overhead calculation.”).
It would have been obvious to modify Roth’s SCI-signaled slot-type /TBS procedure to use the reference PSFCH symbol number approach of Ye. The modification is a predictable application of the Ye’s reference overhead technique to Roth’s recognized PSFCH periodicity problem and yields a common transmitter/receiver TBS determination for the same TB during initial transmission and retransmission.
Regarding claim 9, it is a method claim at a second terminal corresponding to the method claim 1 in a reciprocal way, and is therefore rejected for the similar reasons set forth in the rejection of claim 1.
Regarding claim 17, it is an apparatus claim corresponding to the method claim 1, except the limitations, “a memory, a transceiver and a processor, wherein the memory is configured to store a program, the transceiver is configured to transmit and receive data, and the processor is configured to call the program in the memory” (See Fig. 5 and [0083] “The memory 508 may store information for configuring the processing circuitry 506 to perform operations for configuring and transmitting message frames and performing the various operations described herein.”), and is therefore rejected for the similar reasons set forth in the rejection of claim 1.
With respect to dependent claims:
Regarding claims 5 and 13, the method according to claims 1 and the method according to claim 9, respectively, wherein the first information is carried in sidelink control information (SCI) (See aforesaid [0012]).
Regarding claims 6 and 14, the method according to claim 5 and the method according to claim 9, respectively, wherein the first information is carried in a physical sidelink feedback channel (PSFCH) overhead indication field or other fields in the SCI ([0014] “the SCI may include signalling indicating the PSFCH.”).
Regarding claim 19, the communication apparatus according to claim 17, wherein the first information is carried in sidelink control information (SCI) (See aforesaid [0012]); wherein the first information is carried in a physical sidelink feedback channel (PSFCH) overhead indication field or other fields in the SCI ([0014] “the SCI may include signalling indicating the PSFCH.”).
Regarding claim 20, a communication apparatus, wherein the communication apparatus is a second terminal device, the second terminal device comprises a memory, a transceiver and a processor, wherein the memory is configured to store a program, the transceiver is configured to transmit and receive data, and the processor is configured to call the program in the memory, to perform the method according to claim 9 (See Fig. 5 and [0083] “The memory 508 may store information for configuring the processing circuitry 506 to perform operations for configuring and transmitting message frames and performing the various operations described herein.”).
Claim(s) 2-3, 7-8, 10-11, 15-16 and 18 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Roth et al. (US 2020/0404624, “Roth”) in view of Ye et al. (US 2023/0132263, “Ye”) and further in view of Huang et al. (US 2020/0305127, “Huang”).
Examiner’s note: in what follows, references are drawn to Roth unless otherwise mentioned.
Regarding claims 2, 10 and 18, it is noted that while disclosing a TBS size for SL communications, Roth does not specifically teach about a starting position for a SL transmission. It, however, had been known in the art before the effective date of the instant application as shown by Huang as follows;
the method according to claim 1, the method according to claim 9 and the communication apparatus according to claim 17, respectively, wherein the method further comprises: transmitting, by the first terminal device, sidelink information to the second terminal device at a first starting point position ([Huang, 0378] “In step 1415, the first device performs resource selection among a plurality of slots in the first resource pool. In step 1420, the first device selects a first resource in a first slot and a second resource in a third slot. In step 1425, the first device performs sidelink transmission of a TB on the first resource and performs sidelink transmission of the TB on the second resource.”), wherein the first starting point position is one of one or more sidelink transmission starting point positions in the first time slot ([Huang, 0393] “The first resource could start from the first symbol among the first number of consecutive symbols excluding the third number of symbols, and/or the second resource could start from the first symbol among the first number of consecutive symbols excluding the fourth number of symbols.”).
Therefore, Huang teaches transmitting sidelink information to a second device at a first starting point position in a first slot. It would have been obvious to apply Huang’s disclosed time-domain first resource starting position to Roth’s and Ye’s NR V2X SL TBS procedure because all three reference address SL resource allocation, SL control signaling, and determination of TB/TBS related transmission parameters based on time-domain resource availability. The combination would predictably permit use of a common TBS calculation while transmitting a SL TB or SCI from a defined SL resource starting position.
Regarding claims 3 and 11, the method according to claim 2 and the method according to claim 10, respectively, wherein a starting point position S1 is a first starting point position of the one or more sidelink transmission starting point positions in the first time slot ([Huang, 0378] “In step 1410, the first device is configured with only a first number of consecutive symbols in each slot for sidelink such that each slot in the first resource pool comprises only one subset of consecutive symbols for sidelink and the subset of each slot comprises the same first number of consecutive symbols”), and the starting point position S1 is determined according to a configuration or pre-configuration of a sidelink (SL) bandwidth part (BWP) in which a resource pool is located (This alternative is not examined.), or the starting point position S1 is determined according to a configuration or pre-configuration of a resource pool, and S1 is a positive integer ([Huang, 0382] “the first resource could start from the first symbol among the first number of consecutive symbols excluding the third number of symbols.” Note that an OFDM symbol position within a slot is a non-zero positive symbol index under the selected implementation.).
Regarding claims 7 and 15, the method according to claim 2 and the method according to claim 10, respectively, wherein a configuration period of a physical sidelink feedback channel (PSFCH) resource in a resource pool to which the first time slot belongs is greater than 1 ([0014] “the PSFCH 114 may be allocated in every sidelink slot (N=1), every second sidelink slot (N=2), or every fourth sidelink slot (N=4)”), and
if the first time slot does not comprise a PSFCH resource, a first starting point position is a starting point position S1 or S2 in the first time slot, or if the first time slot comprises a PSFCH resource, a first starting point position is a starting point position S1 in the first time slot ([Ye, 0134] “For the case of PSFCH periodicity being 2 or 4 slots, PSFCH resources may or may not exist in a sidelink slot. It is possible that an initial transmission occurs in a slot with PSFCH resources while retransmission(s) occur in a slot without PSFCH resources, or vice versa. To align the TBS calculation between initial transmission and retransmission(s), a (pre)configured reference PSFCH symbol number should be used for the PSFCH overhead calculation. The (pre)configured reference PSFCH symbol number should be between 0 and 3, and (pre)configuration is per PSFCH periodicity (i.e., 2 or 4 slots) per resource pool.”).
Regarding claims 8 and 16, the method according to claim 7 and the method according to claim 15, respectively, wherein the first reference value is 0 or 3 when determining the TBS (See aforesaid [Ye, 0041]).
Claim(s) 4 and 12 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Roth et al. (US 2020/0404624, “Roth”) in view of Ye et al. (US 2023/0132263, “Ye”) and further in view of Hwang et al. (US 2025/0294608, “Hwang”).
Examiner’s note: in what follows, references are drawn to Roth unless otherwise mentioned.
Regarding claims 4 and 12, it is noted that while disclosing a TBS size for SL communications, Roth does not specifically teach about two starting positions in a slot. It, however, had been known in the art before the effective date of the instant application as shown by Hwang as follows;
the method according to claim 3 and the method according to claim 11, respectively,
wherein the first time slot further comprises a starting point position S2, the starting point position S2 is pre-specified, configured by a network, or pre-configured by a network ([Hwang, 0276] “Referring to FIG. 14, in step S1410, the first device may obtain information related to a plurality of candidate starting symbols within a slot for sidelink (SL) transmission. For example, the plurality of candidate starting symbols may include a first starting symbol and a second starting symbol.”, and [Hwang, 0217] “Referring to FIG. 12, the starting symbol positions within a slot may be configured to symbol #A and symbol #B.”), and S2 is an integer greater than S1 (See [Hwang, Fig. 12].);
wherein a number N1 of symbols available for a sidelink transmission starting from the starting point position S2 in the first time slot is not less than 6, and N1 is a positive integer (See [Hwang, Fig. 12] depicting 7 symbols starting from #B.).
It would have been obvious to configure Hwang’s earlier candidate starting symbols as S1 and its later candidate starting symbols as S2, where S1 is greater than S1, because Hwang expressly teaches moving from a previous starting position to a next starting position after an LBT failure. Hwang further teaches that, by dividing a 12-symbol slot into two six-symbol PSCCH/PSSCH resources, two in slot transmission opportunities may be secures. Therefore, it would have been obvious to configure the later S2 transmission opportunity to have OFDM symbols. The medication is predictable use of Hwang’s disclosed multiple start positions and resource partitioning techniques to reduce LBT causes transmission delay.
/HARRY H KIM/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2411
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