DETAILED ACTION
This is in response to the Applicant's arguments and amendments filed on 10 March 2026 in which claims 61-62 are currently pending and claims 1-60 have been cancelled.
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
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.
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 61, 62 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Deng et al. (PG Pub US 2023/0164825 A1) in view of Zhao et al. (PG Pub US 2022/0361149 A1).
Regarding claims 61, 62, Deng discloses a first terminal and a method.
a receiver (transceiver 120, fig. 1B) configured to receive, from a second terminal, a request (“an assisted WTRU may transmit an assistance transmission request” [0080]) for inter-user equipment coordination (“inter-WTRU coordination” [0068]) with parameters comprising L1 priority (“a L1 priority of a TB” [0075]), the number of subchannels to be used for a sidelink transmission in a slot (“a number of sub-channels, for example, to be used for a PSSCH transmission of a TB” [0075]);
a processor (processor 118, fig. 1B) coupled to the receiver and configured to determine, with the parameters, resources for the sidelink transmission of the second terminal (“a WTRU may determine resources for an assistance request transmission” [0085], “a first WTRU determining a set of resources” [0068]);
provide, to the second terminal, information about the determined resources (“a first WTRU determining a set of resources and sending them to a second WTRU” [0068]).
However, Deng does not explicitly disclose a resource reservation interval.
Nevertheless, Zhao discloses “the resource reservation interval” [0040].
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have a resource reservation interval because it will allow “improving the efficiency of sidelink resource selection or sidelink resource reselection” [0012].
Response to Arguments
Previous minor informality objection to claim 61 is withdrawn in view of Applicant’s amendment.
Applicant’s arguments have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
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 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 CHRISTINE D FUQUA whose telephone number is (571)270-1664. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 8 AM - 6 PM EST with every other Friday off.
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CHRISTINE DUONG FUQUA
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2462
/CHRISTINE T DUONG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2462 04/08/2026
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