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.
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.
Claim(s) 1, 4-5, 10-11 and 14-15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chen (US 2020/0275474) in view of in view of Vivo, "Remaining issues on CSI reporting in sidelink," 3GPP TSG-RAN WG2 Meeting #109-e, R2-2000283, E-Meeting, February 24 - March 6, 2020, 4 pages (cited in Applicant’s IDS filed on August 24, 2022) (Hereafter, R2-2000283).
Regarding claim 1, Chen discloses a method (Chen, paragraph [0002], wireless communication system) comprising:
triggering a scheduling request (SR) based on a sidelink (SL) status information reporting having been triggered (Chen, paragraph [0040], SRs triggered by sidelink BSR, when SR is triggered, it shall be pending until it is cancelled; paragraph [0483], UE uses a SR transmission for requesting a sidelink grant instead of the uplink grant),
wherein the SR which is triggered based on the SL status information reporting having been triggered is considered as pending (Chen, paragraph [0040], SRs triggered by sidelink BSR, when SR is triggered, it shall be pending until it is cancelled);
transmitting, to a network, the SR on a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) resource, which is configured for the SL channel status information reporting (Chen, paragraph [0040], SR configured on the PUCCH; paragraph [0056], signal the SR on one valid PUCCH resource for SR; paragraph [0483], UE uses a SR transmission for requesting a sidelink grant instead of the uplink grant);
monitoring a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) carrying a SL grant during an active time which includes time while the SR is transmitted on the PUCCH resource and the SR which is triggered based on the SL status information reporting having been triggered is pending (Chen, paragraph [0005], sidelink grant allocated by the base station; paragraph [0073]-[0075], Active Time includes time while a SR is sent on the PUCCH and is pending; paragraph [0108]-[0109], during the Active Time, monitor the PDCCH; paragraph [0124], PDCCH indicates a new SL transmission; paragraph [0474], on-duration period to schedule SL grant), and
transmitting a SL CSI reporting media access control (MAC) control element (CE) based on the SL grant (Chen, paragraph [0143], SL-SCH Data Transmission, SL grant reception and SCI Transmission; paragraph [0144], MAC entity must have sidelink grant to transmit on the SL ; paragraph [0322], MAC CE which contains buffer status),
wherein the PDCCH is addressed to a sidelink radio network temporary identifier (SL-RNTI) and/or sidelink configured scheduling RNTI (SLCS-RNTI) (Chen, paragraph [0073], PDCCH monitoring for SL-RNTI), and
wherein, based on that i) a physical sidelink shared channel (PSSCH) including the SL CSI reporting MAC CE needs to be retransmitted for a sidelink process, but ii) there is no retransmission grant for the sidelink process, a SL discontinuous reception (DRX) hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) round trip time (RTT) timer for a HARQ process identifier (ID) is started and a sidelink DRX retransmission timer for the HARQ process ID is stopped (Chen, paragraph [0110]-[0114], if PDCCH does not indicate an assignment, start the HARQ RTT Timer for the corresponding HARQ process; stop the drx-RetransmissionTimer for the corresponding HARQ process; paragraph [0486], correspondence between sidelink grant for retransmission and the sidelink transmission is determined by a sidelink HARQ process ID; paragraph [0143], SL grant; paragraph [0551], retransmission timer can be a drx-RetrannmissionTimerSL; paragraph [0551], retransmission timer can be a drx-RetrannmissionTimerSL).
Chen does not explicitly disclose that the status information transmission corresponds to transmission of SL CSI reporting.
R2-2000283 discloses wherein the SL status information transmission corresponds to transmission of SL CSI reporting based on the SR being triggered for the SL CSI reporting (R2-2000283, page 1, reporting SL SCI via MAC CE; SL CQI/RI reporting MAC CE may trigger SR),
wherein the SL transmission corresponds to transmission of SL CSI reporting media access control (MAC) control element (CE) based on the SR being triggered for the SL CSI reporting (R2-2000283, page 1, reporting SL SCI via MAC CE; SL CQI/RI reporting MAC CE may trigger SR).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, for the SL transmission to correspond to transmission of SL CSI reporting and the SL transmission corresponds to transmission of SL CSI reporting media access control (MAC) control element (CE) based on the SR being triggered for the SL CSI reporting, in the invention of Chen. The motivation to combine the references would have been to report the quality of the sidelink channel.
Regarding claim 4, Chen in view of R2-2000283 discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the sidelink DRX retransmission timer starts upon expiry of the SL DRX HARQ RTT timer (Chen, paragraph [0079]-[0081], if a HARQ RTT timer expires, start the drx-RetranmissionTimer).
Regarding claim 5, Chen in view of R2-2000283 discloses the method of claim 4, wherein time while the sidelink DRX retransmission timer is running is included in the active time pending (Chen, paragraph [0073]-[0075], Active Time includes time while drx-Retransmission Timer is running; paragraph [0551], retransmission timer can be a drx-RetrannmissionTimerSL).
Regarding claim 10, Chen in view of R2-2000283 discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the method is performed by a wireless device configured to operate in a wireless communication system (Chen, paragraph [0002], wireless communication system), and wherein the wireless device is in communication with at least one of a mobile device, a network, and/or autonomous vehicles other than the wireless device (Chen, paragraph [0002], sidelink communication in a wireless communication system).
Claims 11 and 15 are rejected under substantially the same rationale as claim 1. Chen additionally discloses at least one transceiver; at least one processor; and at least one memory operably connectable to the at least one processor and storing instructions that, based on being executed by the at least one processor (Chen, Fig. 2).
Claims 14 are rejected under substantially the same rationale as claims 4, respectively.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed November10, 2025 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Applicant asserts that the claims are patentable because the cited references allegedly do not disclose wherein the PDCCH is addressed to a sidelink radio network temporary identifier (SL-RNTI) and/or sidelink configured scheduling RNTI (SLCS-RNTI). However, this is incorrect. Chen discloses, for example in, paragraph [0073], PDCCH monitoring for SL-RNTI.
Applicant asserts that the claims are patentable because the conditions related to a DRX HARQ RTT timer for a HARQ process ID of Chen is allegedly not related to a sidelink process. However, this is incorrect. Chen discloses, for example in, paragraph [0486], correspondence between sidelink grant for retransmission and the sidelink transmission is determined by a sidelink HARQ process ID. R2-2000283 additionally discloses, on page 1, reporting SL SCI via MAC CE; SL CQI/RI reporting MAC CE may trigger SR.
Conclusion
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.
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/ALAN L LINDENBAUM/Examiner, Art Unit 2466
/FARUK HAMZA/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2466