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 .
Priorities and Examiner Remarks
This application claims priority from provisional application 63239739 (filed 09/01/2021).
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 set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 148 USPQ 459 (1966), that are applied 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.
Claims 1-7, 10-25, and 28-30 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Pan et al. (US 20210227621 A1, hereinafter Pan), in view of Wu et al. (US 20210243836 A1, hereinafter Wu).
Regarding claim 1, Pan teaches an apparatus for wireless communication at a first user equipment (UE), comprising (in general, see sections including paragraphs 421-442 that comprise fig. 13-14, see also fig. 5 and its corresponding paragraphs for additional relevant information):
one or more processors; and memory coupled to the processor, the memory comprising instructions executable by the one or more processors (Pan, see at least fig. 2, e.g. apparatus components)
to cause the apparatus to:
determine a time window in which to select sidelink resources for an inter-UE coordination message to a second UE based at least in part on a minimum time configured for selecting the sidelink resources for the inter-UE coordination message (Pan, see at least para. 435-436 of fig. 14 in view of fig. 5, “…And then, gNB2 provide a sidelink DRX configuration to UE2. In order for UE1 to know UE2 will operate sidelink DRX mechanism, UE2 could provide the sidelink DRX configuration to UE1 via e.g. PC5 RRC message. It is also possible that UE2 could provide information of SL on-duration pattern derived from the sidelink DRX configuration to UE1 via e.g. PC5 RRC message...”, note that examiner interprets “a time window” relates to a DRX Cycle of fig. 5, and “a minimum time” relates to a period or time of a On-Duration (e.g. wake up time) of fig. 5)
and one or more on durations of a discontinuous reception cycle of one or more intended receivers (Pan, see at least para. 435-436 of fig. 14 in view of fig. 5, for one non-limiting example “...UE2 could provide the sidelink DRX configuration to UE1 via e.g. PC5 RRC message...”, note that sidelink DRX configuration may include configuration of one or more on-duration pattern in one or more DRX similar to fig. 5),
wherein the minimum time configured for selecting the sidelink resources for the inter-UE coordination message is different from a second minimum time configured for selecting other sidelink resources for other sidelink messages (Pan, see at least para. 435-436 in view of fig. 5 and para. 425, “…Based on the reported sidelink wake-up time or sidelink DRX configuration, gNB1 will be able to allocate UE1 with sidelink grant and/or sidelink resources for sidelink transmission(s) at the right time. Thus, UE1 will perform sidelink transmission to UE2…”, note that para. 425 discloses “...cycle: specifies the periodic repetition of the on-duration followed by a possible period of inactivity...”, also note that fig. 5 shows one DRX Cycle with one On-Duration period, and per para. 425 a person skilled in the art would have known that such DRX Cycle continues periodically with repetition of on-durations for other transmissions or receptions);
select the sidelink resources in the time window for the inter-UE coordination message based at least in part on the determining (Pan, see at least para. 435-436, “…Based on the reported sidelink wake-up time or sidelink DRX configuration, gNB1 will be able to allocate UE1 with sidelink grant and/or sidelink resources for sidelink transmission(s) at the right time. Thus, UE1 will perform sidelink transmission to UE2…”, note that UE1 is able to select sidelink resource during or within the DRX Cycle); and
transmit the inter-UE coordination message on the selected sidelink resources to the second UE over a sidelink (Pan, see at least para. 435-436, “…gNB1 will be able to allocate UE1 with sidelink grant and/or sidelink resources for sidelink transmission(s) at the right time. Thus, UE1 will perform sidelink transmission to UE2...”).
Pan differs from the claim, in that, it does not specifically disclose [wherein the minimum time configured for selecting the sidelink resources for the inter-UE coordination message is different from a second minimum time configured for selecting other sidelink resources for other sidelink messages] to one or more of a plurality of UEs comprising the second UE.
Wu, for example, from the similar field of endeavor, teaches [wherein the minimum time configured for selecting the sidelink resources for the inter-UE coordination message is different from a second minimum time configured for selecting other sidelink resources for other sidelink messages] to one or more of a plurality of UEs comprising the second UE (in general, see fig. 3A along with fig. 8 and their corresponding paragraphs, in particular, see at least para. 79-80, note that “...When the cycle parameters are applied to the cycle base unit 210, the possible sizes for the DRX cycle 305 may be 80 ms, 160 ms, 320 ms, 640 ms, 1280 ms, 2560 ms, 5120 ms, and 10240 ms. Because of the various possible cycle parameters, the DRX cycle may be different for different UEs 115...” as well as “...For example, suppose base unit 205 is 10 ms, DRX cycle 305 is 640 ms and the on-duration parameter is {1, 2, 3 . . . 64}. Then the on-duration period 310 may be 10 ms, 20 ms, . . . 640 ms. Because of the various possible on-duration parameters, the on-duration period 310 may be different for different DRX cycles 305. Thus, different UEs 115 may have different on-duration periods 310...”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to a person having ordinary skill in the art to incorporate Wu into the apparatus of Pan for effectively allowing UEs to save power.
Regarding claim 2, Pan in view of Wu teaches determine that a duration of the time window is equal to the minimum time configured for selecting the sidelink resources for the inter-UE coordination message. (Pan, see at least para. 430-431 in view of fig. 5, “…By this way, UE1 can know when UE2 will wake up based on the sidelink DRX configuration. Meanwhile, gNB1 will be able to allocate UE1 with sidelink grant and/or sidelink resources for sidelink transmission(s) at the right time since gNB1 can know when UE2 will wake up…”; Wu, see at least para. 80, “…For example, suppose base unit 205 is 10 ms, DRX cycle 305 is 640 ms and the on-duration parameter is {1, 2, 3 . . . 64}. Then the on-duration period 310 may be 10 ms, 20 ms, . . . 640 ms….”)
Therefore, it would have been obvious, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to a person having ordinary skill in the art to incorporate Wu into the apparatus of Pan for effectively allowing UEs to save power.
Regarding claim 3, Pan in view of Wu teaches determine that a duration of the time window is between the minimum time configured for selecting the sidelink resources for the inter-UE coordination message and a maximum time configured for selecting the sidelink resources for the inter-UE coordination message, wherein the maximum time is equal to a delay budget for the inter-UE coordination message. (Pan, see at least para. 203, e.g. UE decides a prefer DRX cycle length using delay budget report; Wu, see at least para. 80, e.g. both the DRX cycle and On-Duration period are configurable)
Therefore, it would have been obvious, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to a person having ordinary skill in the art to incorporate Wu into the apparatus of Pan for effectively allowing UEs to save power.
Regarding claim 4, Pan in view of Wu teaches the delay budget for the inter-UE coordination message is based at least in part on (i) a quality of service requirement associated with the inter-UE coordination message, (ii) a maximum delay indicated in an upper-layer configuration for the inter-UE coordination message, (iii) contents of the inter-UE coordination message, or a combination thereof. (Pan, see at least para. 203 along with para. 345 and 347, for example, for (iii) at least, logical channel prioritization based on PPPP is used for V2X sidelink communication, in which the packet delay budget (PDB) of the protocol data unit can be determined from the PPPP such that the low PDB is mapped to the high priority PPPP value)
Regarding claim 5, Pan in view of Wu teaches
the inter-UE coordination message indicates one or more sets of resources reserved by one or more other UEs for sidelink communications (Pan, see at least para. 431 and 445, “…And then, UE1 provides the sidelink DRX configuration to UE2. By this way, UE1 can know when UE2 will wake up based on the sidelink DRX configuration…”, note that sidelink DRX configuration including, in part, a slot offset (e.g. drx-SlotOffsetSL) used for determining a delay before starting the on-duration timer; Wu, “…Instead, UEs 115 may allocate resources for transmission over a sidelink and may allocate resources that listen to the transmissions from other UEs 115. Thus, when UE 115 is not transmitting, UE 115 may be attempting to decode the control information in every slot in the channel or subchannel to determine if other UEs 115 are transmitting information….), and
the maximum delay for the inter-UE coordination message is based at least in part on a time at which each of the one or more sets of resources is reserved (Pan, see at least para. 445, e.g. sidelink DRX configuration including, in part, a slot offset (e.g. drx-SlotOffsetSL) used for determining a delay before starting the on-duration timer; Wu, see at least para. 82, “…the DRX cycle 305 may include an offset 315. The offset 315 determines a location of the on-duration period 310 within the DRX cycle 305…”)
Therefore, it would have been obvious, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to a person having ordinary skill in the art to incorporate Wu into the apparatus of Pan for effectively allowing UEs to save power.
Regarding claim 6, Pan in view of Wu teaches
select an initial time window in which to select the sidelink resources for the inter-UE coordination message based at least in part on the minimum time configured for selecting the sidelink resources (Wu, see at least para. 80 along with para. 76 of fig. 2, “…For example, suppose base unit 205 is 10 ms, DRX cycle 305 is 640 ms and the on-duration parameter is {1, 2, 3 . . . 64}. Then the on-duration period 310 may be 10 ms, 20 ms, . . . 640 ms…”, note that each base unit 205 is resource);
and
expand the initial time window until a threshold quantity of resources is selected or until a duration of the expanded time window is equal to a maximum time configured for selecting the sidelink resources for the inter-UE coordination message (Wu, see at least para. 80 along with para. 76 of fig. 2, “…Each base unit 205 includes resources in the resource pool that UE 115 may use to transmit information, e.g. data or control information over a sidelink to other UE(s)…”, note that on-duration period is configurable and can have up to 640 ms in this example)
Therefore, it would have been obvious, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to a person having ordinary skill in the art to incorporate Wu into the apparatus of Pan for effectively allowing UEs to save power.
Regarding claim 7, Pan in view of Wu teaches select the sidelink resources in the initial time window or the expanded time window based at least in part on a fixed resource selection threshold. (Wu, see at least para. 80 along with either one of fig. 3A or 3B as an example, note that fig. 3A has one base unit 310, while fig. 3B has three base unit 310)
Therefore, it would have been obvious, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to a person having ordinary skill in the art to incorporate Wu into the apparatus of Pan for effectively allowing UEs to save power.
Regarding claim 10, Pan in view of Wu teaches identify a discontinuous reception cycle of the second UE; and select the sidelink resources in the time window based at least in part on the discontinuous reception cycle of the second UE. (Pan, see at least para. 430-431 of fig. 13, “…With these reported traffic information, gNB1 could determine a sidelink DRX configuration for UE2 to comply with. gNB1 could transmit the sidelink DRX configuration of UE2 to UE1. And then, UE1 provides the sidelink DRX configuration to UE2. By this way, UE1 can know when UE2 will wake up based on the sidelink DRX configuration. Meanwhile, gNB1 will be able to allocate UE1 with sidelink grant and/or sidelink resources for sidelink transmission(s) at the right time since gNB1 can know when UE2 will wake up based on the sidelink DRX configuration…”)
Regarding claim 11, Pan in view of Wu teaches select the sidelink resources from one or more sections of the time window that overlap with an on-duration of the discontinuous reception cycle of the second UE. (Pan, see at least para. 430-431 in view of fig. 5, “…By this way, UE1 can know when UE2 will wake up based on the sidelink DRX configuration. Meanwhile, gNB1 will be able to allocate UE1 with sidelink grant and/or sidelink resources for sidelink transmission(s) at the right time since gNB1 can know when UE2 will wake up…”; Wu, see at least para. 80, “…For example, suppose base unit 205 is 10 ms, DRX cycle 305 is 640 ms and the on-duration parameter is {1, 2, 3 . . . 64}. Then the on-duration period 310 may be 10 ms, 20 ms, . . . 640 ms….”, note that both the DRX cycle and On-Duration period are configurable)
Therefore, it would have been obvious, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to a person having ordinary skill in the art to incorporate Wu into the apparatus of Pan for effectively allowing UEs to save power.
Regarding claim 12, Pan in view of Wu teaches
the on-duration of the discontinuous reception cycle of the second UE comprises a first on-duration of a first discontinuous reception cycle of the second UE (Pan, see at least para. 430-431 in view of fig. 5, which shows one DRX Cycle with one On-Duration period for UE1 sidelink transmission; Wu, see at least fig. 3A, which shows two or more DRX Cycles with On-Duration period each),
and the instructions are further executable by the one or more processors to cause the apparatus to: determine that the first on-duration of the first discontinuous reception cycle of the second UE fails to overlap with a second on-duration of a second discontinuous reception cycle of a third UE (Wu, see at least para. 80, “…Because of the various possible on-duration parameters, the on-duration period 310 may be different for different DRX cycles 305. Thus, different UEs 115 may have different on-duration periods 310…”), and
wherein, the instructions to select the sidelink resources are executable by the one or more processors to cause the apparatus to: select the sidelink resources for transmitting the inter-UE coordination message to the second UE based at least in part on the first on-duration of the second UE overlapping with an earlier set of resources in the time window than the second on-duration of the third UE (Pan, see at least para. 430-431 in view of fig. 5, which shows one DRX Cycle with one On-Duration period for UE1 sidelink transmission; Wu, see at least fig. 3A and para. 80, “…Because of the various possible on-duration parameters, the on-duration period 310 may be different for different DRX cycles 305. Thus, different UEs 115 may have different on-duration periods 310…”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to a person having ordinary skill in the art to incorporate Wu into the apparatus of Pan for effectively allowing UEs to save power.
Regarding claim 13, Pan in view of Wu teaches
transmit a subsequent inter-UE coordination message to the third UE (Wu, see at least para. 80 in view of fig. 1, for example, different UEs 115 may have different on-duration periods 310 for their message transmission and reception, and fig. 1 indeed show multiple UEs 115),
the subsequent inter-UE coordination message comprising the same or different contents from the inter-UE coordination message transmitted to the second UE (Wu, see at least para. 80 in view of fig. 1, for example, messages sent do not have to be a same message for different UEs 115 and for different on-duration periods 310).
Therefore, it would have been obvious, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to a person having ordinary skill in the art to incorporate Wu into the apparatus of Pan for effectively allowing UEs to save power.
Regarding claim 14, Pan in view of Wu teaches select the sidelink resources from the one or more sections of the time window that overlap with the on-duration of the discontinuous reception cycle of the second UE based at least in part on iteratively adjusting a resource selection threshold. (Pan, see at least para. 430-431 in view of fig. 5, “…By this way, UE1 can know when UE2 will wake up based on the sidelink DRX configuration. Meanwhile, gNB1 will be able to allocate UE1 with sidelink grant and/or sidelink resources for sidelink transmission(s) at the right time since gNB1 can know when UE2 will wake up…”; Wu, see at least para. 80, “…For example, suppose base unit 205 is 10 ms, DRX cycle 305 is 640 ms and the on-duration parameter is {1, 2, 3 . . . 64}. Then the on-duration period 310 may be 10 ms, 20 ms, . . . 640 ms….”, note that both the DRX cycle and On-Duration period are configurable)
Therefore, it would have been obvious, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to a person having ordinary skill in the art to incorporate Wu into the apparatus of Pan for effectively allowing UEs to save power.
Regarding claim 15, Pan in view of Wu teaches
select an initial time window for selecting the sidelink resources for the inter-UE coordination message based at least in part on the minimum time configured for selecting the sidelink resources (Wu, see at least para. 80 along with para. 76 of fig. 2, “…For example, suppose base unit 205 is 10 ms, DRX cycle 305 is 640 ms and the on-duration parameter is {1, 2, 3 . . . 64}. Then the on-duration period 310 may be 10 ms, 20 ms, . . . 640 ms…”, note that each base unit 205 is resource);
and
expand the initial time window and the one or more sections of the time window that overlap with the on-duration of the discontinuous reception cycle of the second UE until a threshold quantity of resources is selected or until a duration of the expanded time window is equal to a maximum time configured for selecting the sidelink resources (Wu, see at least para. 80 along with para. 76 of fig. 2, “…Each base unit 205 includes resources in the resource pool that UE 115 may use to transmit information, e.g. data or control information over a sidelink to other UE(s)…”, note that on-duration period is configurable and can have up to 640 ms in this example).
Therefore, it would have been obvious, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to a person having ordinary skill in the art to incorporate Wu into the apparatus of Pan for effectively allowing UEs to save power.
Regarding claim 16, Pan in view of Wu teaches select the sidelink resources in the initial time window or the expanded time window based at least in part on a fixed resource selection threshold. (Wu, see at least para. 80 along with either one of fig. 3A or 3B as an example, note that fig. 3A has one base unit 310, while fig. 3B has three base unit 310)
Therefore, it would have been obvious, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to a person having ordinary skill in the art to incorporate Wu into the apparatus of Pan for effectively allowing UEs to save power.
Regarding claim 17, Pan in view of Wu teaches the sidelink resources selected for the inter-UE coordination message are selected from a subset of available sidelink resources, and the subset of available sidelink resources is allocated for transmitting inter-UE coordination messages. (Pan, see at least para. 354 and 359, “…UE on its own selects resources from resource pools and performs transport format selec tion to transmit sidelink control information and data …”)
Regarding claim 18, Pan in view of Wu teaches receive, at a lower layer from an upper layer, an indication of the minimum time configured for selecting the sidelink resources for the inter-UE coordination message. (Pan, see at least para. 433 along with para. 421-422, “…gNB1 could provide UE1 with the sidelink DRX configuration for UE2 via a RRC message (e.g. RRCReconfiguration)…”, NOTE: (i) the sidelink DRX configuration for UE2 includes on-duration period), and (ii) examiner interprets UE1 receiving the DRX configuration in a RRC message (higher layer message) via PHY layer interface (lower layer))
Regarding claims 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, and 28, these claims are rejected for the same reasoning as claims 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 10, respectively, except each of these claims is in method claim format.
Regarding claim 29, this claim is rejected for the same reasoning as claim 1 except this claim is in apparatus claim format.
To be more specific, Pan in view of Wu also teaches a same or similar apparatus comprising means for performing various functions (Pan, see at least fig. 2), which are well known in the art and commonly used for providing and enabling robust and reliable data communication hardware and software.
Regarding claim 30, this claim is rejected for the same reasoning as claim 1 except this claim is in computer-readable medium claim format.
To be more specific, Pan in view of Wu also teaches a same or similar apparatus comprising computer-readable medium (Pan, see at least fig. 2), which are well known in the art and commonly used for providing and enabling robust and reliable data communication hardware and software.
Claims 8-9 and 26-27 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Pan in view of Wu, as applied to claims 1 and 19 above, and further in view of Li et al. (US 20220224497 A1, hereinafter Li).
Regarding claim 8, Pan in view of Wu teaches all of the subject matters in claim 1, except identify a priority value associated with the inter-UE coordination message; and determine the minimum time configured for selecting the sidelink resources based at least in part on the identified priority value, which are well known in the art and commonly used for improving resource utilization efficiency.
Li, for example, from the similar field of endeavor, teaches similar or known mechanism to identify a priority value associated with the inter-UE coordination message; and determine the minimum time configured for selecting the sidelink resources based at least in part on the identified priority value (see at least claims 1-3, for example, but not limited to, using specific value which, in part, specifies data priority of the sidelink data for sidelink transmissions).
Therefore, it would have been obvious, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to a person having ordinary skill in the art to incorporate Li into the apparatus of Pan in view of Wu for improving resource utilization efficiency.
Regarding claim 9, Pan in view of Wu and Li teaches determine a maximum priority value of one or more sets of resources reserved by other UEs indicated in the inter-UE coordination message; and identify the priority value associated with the inter-UE coordination message to be equal to the determined maximum priority value. (Pan, see at least para. 315-318, e.g. transmission resource priorities; Li, see at least claims 1-3, e.g. specifies data priority of the sidelink data for sidelink transmissions).
Therefore, it would have been obvious, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to a person having ordinary skill in the art to incorporate Li into the apparatus of Pan in view of Wu for improving resource utilization efficiency.
Regarding claims 26 and 27, these claims are rejected for the same reasoning as claims 8 and 9, respectively, except each of these claims is in method claim format.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 01/09/2026 have been fully considered. Regarding independent claims 1, 19, 29, and 30, since applicant's amendment necessitated new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action, previous Office action's rejections are moot. Accordingly, corresponding dependent claims have also been rejected in this Office action.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). 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 extension fee 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 date of this final action.
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/YEE F LAM/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2465
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