DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
1. 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
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. The factual inquiries 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.
5. This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
6. Claims 1-3, 5, 7-12, 14, 15, 19 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kung et al. (US 2021/0045178 A1, hereinafter “Kung”) in view of Uchino et al. (WO 2020/261462 A1, hereinafter “Uchino”) and Zhou et al. (US 2022/0217743 A1, hereinafter “Zhou”).
Note: All citation with respect to Kung refer to provisional application # 62/884365.
Regarding claims 1 and 10, Kung teaches a method comprising: establishing, by a first wireless device (figs. A2, A3, Pages 53-56), a radio resource control (RRC) connection with a base station (page 41, when a UE detects a radio link failure with a network, the UE could perform actions and go to RRC_IDLE or initiate connection re-establishment procedure with a network. Some of the actions may not be applicable to SL RLF since the UE may not have a connection problem with the network and therefore no need to leave RRC_CONNECTED mode for Uu. In addition, when the UE declares SL RLF with a second UE, it may be unnecessary for the UE to perform cell reselection (or UE reselection) associated with connection re-establishment since it has no effect on recovering connection with the second UE. In this invention, we discuss possible behaviors for a sidelink UE in response to SL RLF); establishing, by the first wireless device, multiple PC5-RRC connections with multiple wireless devices (Page 42: The first UE may not stop one or more timers associated with one or more third UEs other than the second UE, wherein the first UE performs sidelink communications with the one or more third UEs. Pages 14, 15, 28, Claim 26), wherein one PC5-RRC connection from among the multiple PC5-RRC connections is established between the first wireless device and a second wireless device (Page 41, when a first UE considers a (SL) RLF associated with a second UE to be detected, wherein the first UE maintains a (sidelink) MAC/HARQ entity (dedicated) for sidelink (unicast) communication of the second UE, Page 42); scheduling, request (SR) associated to the one or more PC5-RRC (Page 42, The one or more timers could include prohibit SR timer (associated with SR configuration associated with a SL BSR), Page 46, claims 25 and 26); receiving, by the first wireless device, a request of media control (MAC) reset from an upper layer of the wireless device and canceling triggered SR procedure based on receiving the request (page 32: If a reset of the MAC entity is requested by upper layers. Page 33) and initializing, by the first wireless device, a variable related to a logical channel prioritization for each logical channel associated to the connection to zero (Page 32: If a reset of the MAC entity is requested by upper layers, the MAC entity shall: 1> initialize Bj for each logical channel to zero)
Kung does not explicitly teach receiving, by the first wireless device, a request of a sidelink specific MAC reset for the one PC5-RRC connection from an upper layer of the first wireless device, wherein the sidelink specific MAC reset is requested based on a sidelink RRC reconfiguration or release of the one PC5-RRC connection and based on the sidelink specific MAC reset being requested for the one PC5-RRC connection: i) canceling, by the first wireless device, the SR only associated with the one PC5-RRC connection, and ii) initializing, by the first wireless device, a variable related to a logical channel prioritization for each logical channel associated to the one PC5-RRC connection to zero.
However, Kung teaches the first wireless device based on detecting the sidelink specific RLF with the second wireless device: i) canceling, by the first wireless device, the triggered SR only associated with the one PC5-RRC connection with the second wireless device (page 41, the first UE could perform SL MAC reset associated with the MAC entity. Additionally or alternatively, the first UE may not perform SL MAC reset for MAC entities other than the MAC entity associated with the (SL) RLF. Page 42: the first UE could cancel pending Scheduling requests associated with the second UE in response to the SL RLF with the second UE. Additionally or alternatively, the UE may not cancel pending BSRs (not associated with the second UE) in response to the SL RLF with the second UE. Page 45, claim 16, Page 46, claim 25, the Sidelink MAC reset includes that the first device cancel (all) pending SR/BSRs associated with the second device. Claim 26, The Sidelink MAC reset does not include that the first device cancels (all) pending SR/BSRs not associated with the second device); and ii) initializing, by the first wireless device, a variable related to a logical channel prioritization for each logical channel associated to the one PC5-RRC connection (Page 41: The UE could initialize variables for logical channel prioritization for sidelink logical channels associated with the second UE).
Further, it is well known that RRC layer (upper layer) of a wireless device requests a reset from MAC (lower) layer based on a detected RLF and/or an RRC reconfiguration, as evidenced by (Fig. 10, Page 5: The "handover command" may be called RRC connection reconfiguration. Page 7: when the terminal (RRC) receives the handover command, it requests the MAC to reset. Pages 8-9: when the terminal (RRC) detects RLF, it suspends all radio bearers except SRB0. In addition, RRC requests a reset from MAC. Page 13: communication between a base station and a mobile station has been replaced with communication between a plurality of mobile stations (for example, it may be called Device-to-Device (D2D), Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X), etc.). In this case, the mobile station may have the function of the base station. In addition, words such as "up" and "down" may be read as words corresponding to communication between terminals (for example, "side"). For example, the uplink, downlink, and the like may be read as side channels. Figs. 9, 11) Uchino.
Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the invention, to receive a request of a sidelink specific MAC reset for the one PC5-RRC connection from an upper layer of the wireless device based on a sidelink RLF or sidelink RRC reconfiguration, and based on the sidelink specific MAC reset for the one PC5-RRC connection: i) cancel, by the first wireless device, the triggered SR only associated with the one PC5-RRC connection, and ii) initialize, by the first wireless device, a variable related to a logical channel prioritization for each logical channel associated to the one PC5-RRC connection to zero in the system of Kung to improve industrial applicability.
Kung does not explicitly teach triggering, by the first wireless device, an SR based on a SL channel state information (CSI) reporting.
However, it is well known in the art that an SR is triggered based on triggered SL CSI reporting, as evidenced by Zhou (Provisional application # 62/955882: ¶ [0273], ¶ [0279], the first wireless device may trigger a SL CSI report MAC CE transmission to a second wireless device (e.g., UE 2). In response to no PSSCH resource being available, the first wireless device may trigger one or more of the number of SR configurations configured for the SL CSI report MAC CE, based on the one or more RRC messages).
Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the invention, to trigger an SR based on a triggered SL CSI reporting in the system of Kung in view of Uchino to utilize conventional techniques in the art.
Regarding claims 2 and 11, Kung in view of Uchino and Zhou teaches the method of claim 1, wherein any SR associated to other PC5-RRC connections from among the multiple PC5-RRC connections except the one PC5-RRC connection is not canceled based on the sidelink specific MAC reset being requested for the one PC5-RRC connection (Kung: page 41, the first UE could perform SL MAC reset associated with the MAC entity. Additionally or alternatively, the first UE may not perform SL MAC reset for MAC entities other than the MAC entity associated with the (SL) RLF. Page 42: the first UE could cancel pending Scheduling requests associated with the second UE in response to the SL RLF with the second UE. Additionally or alternatively, the UE may not cancel pending BSRs (not associated with the second UE) in response to the SL RLF with the second UE. Page 45, claim 16, Page 46, claim 25, the Sidelink MAC reset includes that the first device cancel (all) pending SR/BSRs associated with the second device. Claim 26, The Sidelink MAC reset does not include that the first device cancels (all) pending SR/BSRs not associated with the second device).
Regarding claims 3 and 12, Kung in view of Uchino and Zhou teaches the method of claim 1, wherein the one PC5-RRC connection corresponds to a destination of sidelink transmission (Kung: Page 43, UE1 performs SL communication with UE2. UE1 detects a SL RLF associated with UE2. UEI could send a RLF report to a gNB and/or relay UE. The RLF report could indicate SL RLF between UEI and UE2. Pages 44, 45).
Regarding claims 5 and 14, Kung in view of Uchino and Zhou teaches the method of claim 1, wherein the upper layer is an RRC layer (Kung: fig. A4, Page 55, Layer 3 portion 402 may include RRC layer. Layer 2 portion 404 may radio link control (RLC) or Mac layer).
Regarding claims 7 and 8, Kung in view of Uchino and Zhou teaches the method of claim 1, wherein the one PC5-RRC connection is associated with a logical channel and/or a MAC control element (CE), where the MAC CE corresponds to a SL CSI reporting MAC CE (Kung: Page 41, Zhou: provisional application# 62/955,882: ¶ [0214], The one or more sidelink MAC CEs may comprise at least one of: a sidelink BSR MAC CE, and/or a sidelink CSI report MAC CE. ¶ [0225], when a SR of a SR configuration triggered in response to a BSR being triggered on a LCH corresponding to the SR configuration).
Regarding claim 9, Kung in view of Uchino and Zhou teaches the method of claim 1, wherein the first wireless device is in communication with at least one of a mobile device, a network, and/or autonomous vehicles other than the first wireless device (Kung: Page 43, UE1 performs SL communication with UE2. UE] detects a SL RLF associated with UE2. UE1 could send a RLF report to a gNB and/or relay UE. The RLF report could indicate SL RLF between UEI and UE2. Pages 42, 44, 45).
Regarding claims 19 and 20, Kung in view of Uchino and Lee teaches the method of claim 1, wherein the request is received at a lower layer of the wireless device (Kung: page 32: If a reset of the MAC entity is requested by upper layers. Where the MAC entity (lower layer of the wireless device) receives the request from upper layers. Pages 41-42. Uchino: fig. 10).
Regarding claim 15, Kung teaches a first wireless device/processor performing operations comprising: establishing, by the first wireless device (figs. A2, A3, Pages 53-56), a radio resource control (RRC) connection with a base station (page 41, when a UE detects a radio link failure with a network, the UE could perform actions and go to RRC_IDLE or initiate connection re-establishment procedure with a network. Some of the actions may not be applicable to SL RLF since the UE may not have a connection problem with the network and therefore no need to leave RRC_CONNECTED mode for Uu. In addition, when the UE declares SL RLF with a second UE, it may be unnecessary for the UE to perform cell reselection (or UE reselection) associated with connection re-establishment since it has no effect on recovering connection with the second UE. In this invention, we discuss possible behaviors for a sidelink UE in response to SL RLF); establishing, by the first wireless device, multiple PC5-RRC connections with multiple wireless devices (Page 42: The first UE may not stop one or more timers associated with one or more third UEs other than the second UE, wherein the first UE performs sidelink communications with the one or more third UEs. Pages 14, 15, 28, Claim 26), wherein one PC5-RRC connection from among the multiple PC5-RRC connections is established between the first wireless device and a second wireless device (Page 41, when a first UE considers a (SL) RLF associated with a second UE to be detected, wherein the first UE maintains a (sidelink) MAC/HARQ entity (dedicated) for sidelink (unicast) communication of the second UE, Page 42); scheduling, request (SR) associated to the one or more PC5-RRC (Page 42, The one or more timers could include prohibit SR timer (associated with SR configuration associated with a SL BSR), Page 46, claims 25 and 26); receiving, by the first wireless device, a request of media control (MAC) reset from an upper layer of the wireless device and canceling triggered SR procedure based on receiving the request (page 32: If a reset of the MAC entity is requested by upper layers. Page 33) and initializing, by the first wireless device, a variable related to a logical channel prioritization for each logical channel associated to the connection to zero (Page 32: If a reset of the MAC entity is requested by upper layers, the MAC entity shall: 1> initialize Bj for each logical channel to zero)
Kung does not explicitly teach receiving, by the first wireless device, a request of a sidelink specific MAC reset for the one PC5-RRC connection from an upper layer of the first wireless device, wherein the sidelink specific MAC reset is requested based on a sidelink RRC reconfiguration or release of the one PC5-RRC connection and based on the sidelink specific MAC reset being requested for the one PC5-RRC connection: i) canceling, by the first wireless device, the SR only associated with the one PC5-RRC connection, and ii) initializing, by the first wireless device, a variable related to a logical channel prioritization for each logical channel associated to the one PC5-RRC connection to zero.
However, Kung teaches the first wireless device based on detecting the sidelink specific RLF with the second wireless device: i) canceling, by the first wireless device, the triggered SR only associated with the one PC5-RRC connection with the second wireless device (page 41, the first UE could perform SL MAC reset associated with the MAC entity. Additionally or alternatively, the first UE may not perform SL MAC reset for MAC entities other than the MAC entity associated with the (SL) RLF. Page 42: the first UE could cancel pending Scheduling requests associated with the second UE in response to the SL RLF with the second UE. Additionally or alternatively, the UE may not cancel pending BSRs (not associated with the second UE) in response to the SL RLF with the second UE. Page 45, claim 16, Page 46, claim 25, the Sidelink MAC reset includes that the first device cancel (all) pending SR/BSRs associated with the second device. Claim 26, The Sidelink MAC reset does not include that the first device cancels (all) pending SR/BSRs not associated with the second device); and ii) initializing, by the first wireless device, a variable related to a logical channel prioritization for each logical channel associated to the one PC5-RRC connection (Page 41: The UE could initialize variables for logical channel prioritization for sidelink logical channels associated with the second UE).
Further, it is well known that RRC layer (upper layer) of a wireless device/processor requests a reset from MAC (lower) layer based on a detected RLF and/or an RRC reconfiguration, as evidenced by (Fig. 10, Page 5: The "handover command" may be called RRC connection reconfiguration. Page 7: when the terminal (RRC) receives the handover command, it requests the MAC to reset. Pages 8-9: when the terminal (RRC) detects RLF, it suspends all radio bearers except SRB0. In addition, RRC requests a reset from MAC. Page 13: communication between a base station and a mobile station has been replaced with communication between a plurality of mobile stations (for example, it may be called Device-to-Device (D2D), Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X), etc.). In this case, the mobile station may have the function of the base station. In addition, words such as "up" and "down" may be read as words corresponding to communication between terminals (for example, "side"). For example, the uplink, downlink, and the like may be read as side channels. Figs. 9, 11) Uchino.
Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the invention, to receive a request of a sidelink specific MAC reset for the one PC5-RRC connection from an upper layer of the first wireless device based on a sidelink RLF or sidelink RRC reconfiguration, and based on the sidelink specific MAC reset for the one PC5-RRC connection: i) cancel, by the first wireless device, the triggered SR only associated with the one PC5-RRC connection, and ii) initialize, by the first wireless device, a variable related to a logical channel prioritization for each logical channel associated to the one PC5-RRC connection to zero in the system of Kung to improve industrial applicability.
Kung does not explicitly teach a non-transitory computer readable medium (CRM) storing instructions that, based on being executed by at least one processor, perform the operation comprising triggering an SR based on a SL channel state information (CSI) reporting.
However, it is well known in the art to utilize a non-transitory CRM storing instructions that, based on being executed by at least one processor, perform the operation comprising triggering an SR based on a SL channel state information (CSI) reporting, as evidenced by Zhou (Provisional application # 62/955882: ¶ [0197], ¶ [0273], ¶ [0279], the first wireless device may trigger a SL CSI report MAC CE transmission to a second wireless device (e.g., UE 2). In response to no PSSCH resource being available, the first wireless device may trigger one or more of the number of SR configurations configured for the SL CSI report MAC CE, based on the one or more RRC messages).
Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the invention, to utilize a non-transitory CRM storing instructions that, based on being executed by a processor, perform the operations of Kung in view of Uchino to improve industrial applicability and to trigger an SR based on a triggered SL CSI reporting in the system of Kung in view of Uchino to utilize conventional techniques in the art.
Response to Arguments
7. Applicant's arguments filed on October 16, 2025 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Examiner submits that Kung in view of Uchino and Zhou render obvious the amended claims 1, 10 and 15, as set forth above.
Conclusion
8. THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
9. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MANDISH RANDHAWA whose telephone number is (571)270-5650. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Thursday (9 AM-7 PM).
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/MANDISH K RANDHAWA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2477