Prosecution Insights
Last updated: August 17, 2026
Application No. 17/915,286

CHANNEL BUSY MEASUREMENTS IN SIDELINK COMMUNICATIONS

Final Rejection §103
Filed
Sep 28, 2022
Priority
May 29, 2020 — nonprovisional of PCTCN2020093494
Examiner
EMADI, MARYAM NMN
Art Unit
2478
Tech Center
2400 — Computer Networks
Assignee
Qualcomm Incorporated
OA Round
4 (Final)
81%
Grant Probability
Favorable
5-6
OA Rounds
0m
Est. Remaining
99%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 81% — above average
81%
Career Allowance Rate
30 granted / 37 resolved
+23.1% vs TC avg
Strong +24% interview lift
Without
With
+24.1%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
3y 0m
Avg Prosecution
25 currently pending
Career history
67
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
1.0%
-39.0% vs TC avg
§103
61.4%
+21.4% vs TC avg
§102
33.2%
-6.8% vs TC avg
§112
3.0%
-37.0% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 37 resolved cases

Office Action

§103
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 . Response to Amendment Applicant’s arguments: 103 Applicant argues on page 12 of Remarks that Lee in view of Li does not teach claim 14 as recited “A method for wireless communications at a first user equipment (UE), comprising: monitoring each of a plurality of resources of an unlicensed radio frequency spectrum band associated with sidelink communications; detecting sidelink control information in a first subset resources of the plurality of resources based at least in part on the monitoring; performing a channel busy measurement on the first subset of resources based at least in part on detecting the sidelink control information in the first subset of resources; and communicating with a second UE via a channel of the unlicensed radio frequency spectrum band based at least in part on the channel busy measurement.” Examiner’s response: Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim 14 have been considered and are moot because a new ground of rejection is found that does not rely on any references applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching. The updated search was conducted and new reference was found as shown below. Allowable subject matter Claims 1-10, 21-33, and 41 are allowable. 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. Claims 14, 16, 34, 36, 38-39 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lee in view of Cao et al. (US 2021/0144750 A1)(“Cao”). Regarding claim 14, Lee teaches A method for wireless communications at a first user equipment (UE), comprising: plurality of resources of an unlicensed radio frequency spectrum band associated with sidelink communications; Lee [0115] User equipment 1 (UE1) may select a resource unit corresponding to a specific resource within a resource pool, which refers to a set of resources, and UE1 may then be operated so as to transmit a SL signal by using the corresponding resource unit. User equipment 2 (UE2), which is to a receiving UE, may be configured with a resource pool to which UE1 can transmit signals, and may then detect signals of UE1 from the corresponding resource pool. (Lee, [0081] As described above, the values of the frequency ranges in the NR system may be changed (or varied). For example, as shown below in Table 4, FR1 may include a band within a range of 410 MHz to 7125 MHz. More specifically, FR1 may include a frequency band of 6 GHz (or 5850, 5900, 5925 MHz, and so on) and higher. For example, a frequency band of 6 GHz (or 5850, 5900, 5925 MHz, and so on) and higher being included in FR1 may include an unlicensed band. The unlicensed band may be used for various purposes, e.g., the unlicensed band for vehicle-specific communication (e.g., autonomous driving). performing a channel busy measurement; (Lee [204]; For example, CR measurement and/or CBR measurement may be independently performed per V2X resource pool and/or BWP). and communicating with a second UE based at least in part on the channel busy measurement. (Lee, Fig. 20 [0172] in step S2030, the UE may perform sidelink transmission. For example, the sidelink transmission may be performed by using resource that are selected and/or occupied in accordance with the CR measurement and/or CBR measurement.) Lee does not teach monitoring each of the plurality of resources, detecting sidelink control information in each of one or more a first subset resources of the plurality of resources based at least in part on the monitoring; Cao teaches monitoring each of the plurality of resources, Cao [0181]; During the preemption window, the UE monitors for SCIs transmitted by other UEs, and upon detection of such an SCI, determines what resources are being reserved, and the priority of the reservation. detecting sidelink control information in each of one or more a first subset resources of the plurality of resources based at least in part on the monitoring; Cao [0181] There may be a preemption sensing window, within which UE collects information to decide whether to trigger reselection. During the preemption window, the UE monitors for SCIs transmitted by other UEs, and upon detection of such an SCI, determines what resources are being reserved, and the priority of the reservation. The priority may, for example, be a priority value indicated in SCI that is used to indicate the QoS priority of the data packet that is transmitting or to be transmitted on the reserved resources (first subset of resource). In view of Cao, Lee is modified such that UE monitoring each of the plurality of resources, detecting sidelink control information in each of one or more a first subset resources of the plurality of resources based at least in part on the monitoring; Lee and Cao are analogous art to the claimed invention because they are in the same field of endeavor, performing sidelink communication on the pool of resources. It would have been obvious, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to a person of ordinary skill in the art to modify Lee in manner described above to detecting sidelink control information in resources based on monitoring to determine what resources are reserved and to schedule the efficient subsequent re-transmission of resources (Cao [0208]). Regarding claim 16, Lee in view of Cao in further view of Hoang teaches all the limitation of claim 14. Lee further teaches The method of claim 15, wherein the sidelink control information is associated with a transmitting UE different from the first UE. (Lee [0131]; Procedures related to sensing and resource (re-)selection may be supported in resource allocation mode 2. The sensing procedure may be defined as a process decoding the SCI from another UE( another UE) and/or SL measurement. The decoding of the SCI in the sensing procedure may at least provide information on a SL resource that is being indicated by a UE transmitting the SCI (transmitting UE different form the first UE)). Regarding claim 34, An apparatus for wireless communications at a first user equipment (LE), comprising: a processor (Lee, Fig. 28, Ref. 102), memory (Lee, Fig. 28, Ref. 104), coupled with the processor; and instructions stored (Lee, [0263])in the memory and executable by the processor to cause the apparatus to: plurality of resources of an unlicensed radio frequency spectrum band associated with sidelink communications; Lee [0115] User equipment 1 (UE1) may select a resource unit corresponding to a specific resource within a resource pool, which refers to a set of resources, and UE1 may then be operated so as to transmit a SL signal by using the corresponding resource unit. User equipment 2 (UE2), which is to a receiving UE, may be configured with a resource pool to which UE1 can transmit signals, and may then detect signals of UE1 from the corresponding resource pool. (Lee, [0081] As described above, the values of the frequency ranges in the NR system may be changed (or varied). For example, as shown below in Table 4, FR1 may include a band within a range of 410 MHz to 7125 MHz. More specifically, FR1 may include a frequency band of 6 GHz (or 5850, 5900, 5925 MHz, and so on) and higher. For example, a frequency band of 6 GHz (or 5850, 5900, 5925 MHz, and so on) and higher being included in FR1 may include an unlicensed band. The unlicensed band may be used for various purposes, e.g., the unlicensed band for vehicle-specific communication (e.g., autonomous driving). perform a channel busy measurement; (Lee [204]; For example, CR measurement and/or CBR measurement may be independently performed per V2X resource pool and/or BWP). and communicate with a second UE based at least in part on the channel busy measurement. (Lee, Fig. 20 [0172] in step S2030, the UE may perform sidelink transmission. For example, the sidelink transmission may be performed by using resource that are selected and/or occupied in accordance with the CR measurement and/or CBR measurement.) Lee does not teach monitor each of the plurality of resources, detect sidelink control information in each of one or more a first subset resources of the plurality of resources based at least in part on the monitoring; Cao teaches monitor each of the plurality of resources, Cao [0181]; During the preemption window, the UE monitors for SCIs transmitted by other UEs, and upon detection of such an SCI, determines what resources are being reserved, and the priority of the reservation. detect sidelink control information in each of one or more a first subset resources of the plurality of resources based at least in part on the monitoring; Cao [0181] There may be a preemption sensing window, within which UE collects information to decide whether to trigger reselection. During the preemption window, the UE monitors for SCIs transmitted by other UEs, and upon detection of such an SCI, determines what resources are being reserved, and the priority of the reservation. The priority may, for example, be a priority value indicated in SCI that is used to indicate the QoS priority of the data packet that is transmitting or to be transmitted on the reserved resources (first subset of resource). In view of Cao, Lee is modified such that UE monitoring each of the plurality of resources, detecting sidelink control information in each of one or more a first subset resources of the plurality of resources based at least in part on the monitoring; Lee and Cao are analogous art to the claimed invention because they are in the same field of endeavor, performing sidelink communication on the pool of resources. It would have been obvious, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to a person of ordinary skill in the art to modify Lee in manner described above to detecting sidelink control information in resources based on monitoring to determine what resources are reserved and to schedule the efficient subsequent re-transmission of resources (Cao [0208]). Regarding claim 36, Lee in view of Cao teaches all the limitation of claim 34. Lee further teaches The method of claim 35, wherein the sidelink control information is associated with a transmitting UE different from the first UE. (Lee [0131]; Procedures related to sensing and resource (re- )selection may be supported in resource allocation mode 2. The sensing procedure may be defined as a process decoding the SCI from another UE( another UE) and/or SL measurement. The decoding of the SCI in the sensing procedure may at least provide information on a SL resource that is being indicated by a UE transmitting the SCI (transmitting UE different form the first UE)). Regarding claim 38, The apparatus of claim 34, wherein the first subset of resources corresponds to a number of the plurality of resources. (Lee, Fig. 17 [0133]; Referring to FIG. 17, the UE may identify transmission resources (number of the plurality of resources) reserved by another UE (first subset of resource) or resources being used by another UE via sensing within a sensing window) Regarding claim 39, The apparatus of claim 34, wherein the first subset of resources corresponds to a number of the one or more resources. (Lee, Fig. 17 [0133]; Referring to FIG. 17, the UE may identify transmission resources (one or more resources) reserved by another UE(first subset of resource) or resources being used by another UE via sensing within a sensing window) Claim 40 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lee in view of Cao in further view of Ro et al. (US 2016/0278120 A1) (“Ro”). Regarding claim 40, Lee in view of Cao teaches all the limitation of claim 34. The apparatus of claim 34, wherein the instructions are further executable by the one or more processor (Lee, Fig. 28, Ref. 102)to cause the apparatus to: Cao teaches monitoring, first subset of resources of the plurality of resources, Cao [0181]; During the preemption window, the UE monitors for SCIs transmitted by other UEs, and upon detection of such an SCI, determines what resources are being reserved, and the priority of the reservation. Lee in view of Cao does not teach performing channel sensing in each of the plurality of resources, wherein the resources are determined based at least in part on successful channel sensing. Ro teaches performing channel sensing in each of the plurality of resources, wherein the resources of the plurality of resources are determined based at least in part on successful channel sensing. (Ro [0035]; In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, a device-to-device (D2D) communication method of a receiving terminal includes: detecting a channel sensing signal from a transmitting terminal, using a preset resource allocation condition; and detecting, when the detection of a channel sensing signal is successful, the size of a transmission resource of the transmitting terminal, using the preset resource allocation condition.) In view of Ro, Lee in view of Cao is modified such that a set of resources are determined based on successful channel sensing. Lee in view of Cao are analogous art to the claimed invention because they are in the same field of endeavor, performing sidelink communication via determined resources. It would have been obvious, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to a person of ordinary skill in the art to modify Lee in further view of Ro in manner described above to determine the window of resources based on channel sensing to enhance the efficiency of the network (Ro [0012]). 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. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Maryam Emadi whose email is Maryam.emadi1@uspto.gov with telephone number of 703-756-1834. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Joseph Avellino can be reached on 571-272-3905. Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pairdirect.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). /M.E./Examiner, Art Unit 2478 /JOSEPH E AVELLINO/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2478
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Prosecution Timeline

Show 5 earlier events
Oct 31, 2025
Final Rejection mailed — §103
Dec 17, 2025
Response after Non-Final Action
Jan 27, 2026
Request for Continued Examination
Feb 10, 2026
Response after Non-Final Action
Feb 25, 2026
Non-Final Rejection mailed — §103
Apr 17, 2026
Examiner Interview Summary
May 14, 2026
Response Filed
Jul 28, 2026
Final Rejection mailed — §103 (current)

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Prosecution Projections

5-6
Expected OA Rounds
81%
Grant Probability
99%
With Interview (+24.1%)
3y 0m (~0m remaining)
Median Time to Grant
High
PTA Risk
Based on 37 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allowance rate.

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