DETAILED ACTION
Applicant's submission filed on 27 March 2026 has been entered. Claims 1, 15, and 20 are currently amended; no claims are cancelled; claims 2-14 and 16-19 are previously presented; no claims have been added. Claims 1-20 are pending and ready for examination.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to the claims have been considered but are moot in view of the new grounds of rejection.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 16 July 2026 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
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.
Claims 1, 15, and 18-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ou et al. (US 2017/0318615 A1), hereafter referred Ou, in view of NTT DOCOMO et al. “Synchronization mechanism”, 3GPP Draft; R1-1809158, 3GPP TSG RAN WG1 Meeting #94, Gothenburg, Sweden, August 20-24, 2018, hereafter referred NTT, in view of Cao et al. (US 2021/0134159 A1), hereafter referred Cao, further in view of Fehrenbach et al. (US 2020/0092685 A1), hereafter referred Fehrenbach. NTT was cited by applicant’s IDS filed 2 November 2022.
Regarding claim 1, Ou teaches a method for joining a first user equipment-coordination set (UECS) by a first user equipment (UE) in a wireless communications network (Ou, Fig. 6 and 9, [0177]; the procedure for finding a qualified cooperative UE is illustrated in Fig. 9), a UECS comprising multiple UEs configured to jointly transmit to and/or jointly receive from a base station, data for one or more UEs of the UECS (Ou, Fig. 6 and 9, [0068]; Cooperation mode: an uplink transmission using cooperation mode is transmitted by multiple UEs at the same time), the UECS further comprising a coordinating UE configured to coordinate joint transmission and/or joint reception of downlink and/or uplink data with the base station (Ou, Fig. 9, [0178]-[0181]; the UE in figure 9 initiating the finding of a qualified cooperative UEs includes transmit a D2D discovery message. The examiner contends the UE transmitting D2D discovery signal is interpreted as the coordinating UE), the method comprising the first UE equipment.
Ou does not expressly teach receiving an indication of an allocation of air interface resources for UECS synchronization signals; and monitoring the air interface resources to receive UECS synchronization signals.
However, NTT teaches receiving an indication of an allocation of air interface resources for UECS synchronization signals; and monitoring the air interface resources to receive UECS synchronization signals (NTT, p. 1-5; synchronization resource is (pre-)configured resource for SLSS/PSBCH transmission. Synchronization resource is configured with fixed defined period in LTE V2X and three independent offset indicators can configure up to three synchronization resources. In NR V2X the synchronization resource configuration can follow LTE V2X synchronization resource configuration principle and resource for SLSS/PSBCH block can be indicated via configuration signaling).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Ou to include the above recited limitations as taught by NTT in order to provide system information to the UEs (NTT, p. 2, Section 2.1 Synchronization signal).
Ou in view of NTT does not expressly teach receiving, based on the monitoring and from a second UE, acting as the coordinating UE for the first UECS, group information for the first UECS;
transmitting, based on the receiving of the group information, a first UECS-Access-Request to the second UE; and
receiving a first UECS-Access-Response from the second UE, the first UECS-Access-Response indicating that the second UE has determined to include the first UE in the first UECS.
However, Cao teaches receiving, based on the monitoring and from a second UE, acting as the coordinating UE for the first UECS, group information for the first UECS (Cao, Fig. 5A, [0069]-[0071]; group head announces the group information);
transmitting, based on the receiving of the group information, a first UECS-Access-Request to the second UE (Cao, Fig. 5A, [0069]-[0071]; a second UE decides to join and sends a joining message); and
receiving a first UECS-Access-Response from the second UE, the first UECS-Access-Response indicating that the second UE has determined to include the first UE in the first UECS (Cao, Fig. 5A, [0069]-[0071]; the group head confirms the joining request explicitly or implicitly).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Ou in view of NTT to include the above recited limitations as taught by Cao in order to allow other UEs that may not belong to the platoon to be aware of the existence of the platoon (Cao, [0063]).
Ou in view of NTT further in view of Cao does not expressly teach the group information is in the UECS synchronization signals.
However, Fehrenbach teaches the group information is in the UECS synchronization signals (Fehrenbach, [0425]-[0435]; sidelink synchronization signal that contained sidelink control information with details about the UE Groups/Platoons).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Ou in view of NTT further in view of Cao to include the above recited limitations as taught by Fehrenbach in order to provide efficient communication between an eNB and the one or more UEs within a radio network (Fehrenbach, [0023]).
Regarding claim 20, Ou teaches a user equipment (UE) (Ou, Fig. 3, [0039]; the communication device 300 can be utilized for realizing the UEs in Fig. 1) comprising:
a wireless transceiver (Ou, Fig. 3, [0039]; the communication device 300 may include a transceiver 314);
a processor (Ou, Fig. 3, [0039]; the communication device 300 may include a control circuit 306); and
instructions for a communication manager application that are executable by the processor (Ou, Fig. 3, [0039]; the control circuit 306 executes the program code 312 in the memory 310 through the CPU) to configure the UE to:
a UECS comprising multiple UEs configured to jointly transmit to and/or jointly receive from a base station, data for one or more UEs of the UECS (Ou, Fig. 6 and 9, [0068]; Cooperation mode: an uplink transmission using cooperation mode is transmitted by multiple UEs at the same time), the UECS further comprising a coordinating UE configured to coordinate joint transmission and/or joint reception of downlink and/or uplink data with the base station (Ou, Fig. 9, [0178]-[0181]; the UE in figure 9 initiating the finding of a qualified cooperative UEs includes transmit a D2D discovery message. The examiner contends the UE transmitting D2D discovery signal is interpreted as the coordinating UE).
Ou does not expressly teach receive, using the wireless transceiver, an indication of an allocation of air interface resources for UECS synchronization signals; and monitor the air interface resources to receive UECS synchronization signals.
However, NTT teaches receive, using the wireless transceiver, an indication of an allocation of air interface resources for UECS synchronization signals; and monitor the air interface resources to receive UECS synchronization signals (NTT, p. 1-5; synchronization resource is (pre-)configured resource for SLSS/PSBCH transmission. Synchronization resource is configured with fixed defined period in LTE V2X and three independent offset indicators can configure up to three synchronization resources. In NR V2X the synchronization resource configuration can follow LTE V2X synchronization resource configuration principle and resource for SLSS/PSBCH block can be indicated via configuration signaling).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Ou to include the above recited limitations as taught by NTT in order to provide system information to the UEs (NTT, p. 2, Section 2.1 Synchronization signal).
Ou in view of NTT does not expressly teach receive, based on the monitoring and from a second UE, acting as the coordinating UE for the UECS, group information for the UECS;
transmit, based on the receiving of the group information, a first UECS-Access-Request to the second UE; and
receive a first UECS-Access-Response from the second UE, the first UECS-Access-Response indicating that the second UE has determined to include the first UE in the UECS.
However, Cao teaches receive, based on the monitoring and from a second UE, acting as the coordinating UE for the UECS, group information for the first UECS (Cao, Fig. 5A, [0069]-[0071]; group head announces the group information);
transmit, based on the receiving of the group information, a first UECS-Access-Request to the second UE (Cao, Fig. 5A, [0069]-[0071]; a second UE decides to join and sends a joining message); and
receive a first UECS-Access-Response from the second UE, the first UECS-Access-Response indicating that the second UE has determined to include the first UE in the first UECS (Cao, Fig. 5A, [0069]-[0071]; the group head confirms the joining request explicitly or implicitly).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Ou in view of NTT to include the above recited limitations as taught by Cao in order to allow other UEs that may not belong to the platoon to be aware of the existence of the platoon (Cao, [0063]).
Ou in view of NTT further in view of Cao does not expressly teach the group information is in the UECS synchronization signals.
However, Fehrenbach teaches the group information is in the UECS synchronization signals (Fehrenbach, [0425]-[0435]; sidelink synchronization signal that contained sidelink control information with details about the UE Groups/Platoons).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Ou in view of NTT further in view of Cao to include the above recited limitations as taught by Fehrenbach in order to provide efficient communication between an eNB and the one or more UEs within a radio network (Fehrenbach, [0023]).
Regarding claim 15, Ou in view of NTT in view of Cao further in view of Fehrenbach teaches the method of claim 1 above. Ou in view of NTT in view of Cao further in view of Fehrenbach does not expressly teach wherein the joining of the first UE to the first UECS is performed without the base station determining a configuration of the first UECS.
However, Cao teaches wherein the joining of the first UE to the first UECS is performed without the base station determining a configuration of the first UECS (Cao, Fig. 5A, [0069]-[0071]; the group head confirms the joining request explicitly or implicitly).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Ou in view of NTT to include the above recited limitations as taught by Cao in order to allow other UEs that may not belong to the platoon to be aware of the existence of the platoon (Cao, [0063]).
Regarding claim 18, Ou in view of NTT in view of Cao further in view of Fehrenbach teaches the method of claim 1 above. Ou does not expressly teach wherein the receiving the indication of the allocation of air interface resources for the UECS synchronization signals comprises:
receiving the indication of the allocation of air interface resources for the UECS synchronization signals from a base station.
However, NTT teaches wherein the receiving the indication of the allocation of air interface resources for the UECS synchronization signals comprises:
receiving the indication of the allocation of air interface resources for the UECS synchronization signals from a base station (NTT, p. 4, paragraph 1; in LTE V2X, synchronization sources include base station).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Ou to include the above recited limitations as taught by NTT in order to provide system information to the UEs (NTT, p. 2, Section 2.1 Synchronization signal).
Regarding claim 19, Ou in view of NTT in view of Cao further in view of Fehrenbach teaches the method of claim 18 above. Further, Ou teaches wherein the receiving of the indication of the allocation of air interface resources for the UECS synchronization signals from the base station comprises:
receiving the indication of the allocation of air interface resources for the UECS synchronization signals from the base station in a broadcast message (Ou, [0134]-[0135]; if some configuration can be cell-specific, it can be signaled by broadcasting, e.g. in system information).
Claims 2-4 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ou in view of NTT in view of Cao further in view of Fehrenbach as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Li et al. (US 2016/0113050 A1), hereafter referred Li. Li was cited by applicant’s IDS filed 2 November 2022.
Regarding claim 2, Ou in view of NTT in view of Cao further in view of Fehrenbach teaches the method of claim 1 above. Further, Ou teaches the method comprising the first UE: based on being the coordinator, periodically transmitting UECS synchronization signals for the first UECS (Ou, [0156]-[0166]; once a UE receives the configuration, the UE starts to find a qualified cooperative UE periodically).
Ou in view of NTT in view of Cao further in view of Fehrenbach does not expressly teach the method comprising the first UE:
receiving, from the second UE, a first Coordinator-Change message, the first Coordinator-Change message indicating that the first UE is now acting as the coordinating UE for the first UECS.
However, Li teaches the method comprising the first UE:
receiving, from the second UE, a first Coordinator-Change message, the first Coordinator-Change message indicating that the first UE is now acting as the coordinating UE for the first UECS (Li, [0040]; a previous coordinator can select a another D2D UE as the next coordinator in a D2D network and transmit the coordinator selection to the UEs in the D2D network).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Ou in view of NTT in view of Cao further in view of Fehrenbach to include the above recited limitations as taught by Li in order to coordinate UE contention scheduling (Li, [0034]-[0041]).
Regarding claim 3, Ou in view of NTT in view of Cao in view of Fehrenbach further in view of Li teaches the method of claim 2 above. Ou in view of NTT in view of Cao further in view of Fehrenbach does not expressly teach wherein the Coordinator-Change message includes a round-robin schedule of UEs to act as the coordinating UE for the first UECS.
However, Li teaches wherein the Coordinator-Change message includes a round-robin schedule of UEs to act as the coordinating UE for the first UECS (Li, Fig. 5, [0037]-[0051]; for a group of D2D devices, the resource allocation can be determined for a period of time by a coordinator. The coordinator can be selected using defined criteria, such as each active D2D UE can be assigned as a coordinator by using a defined coordinator order or list based on various parameters such as priorities or requested resource size).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Ou in view of NTT in view of Cao further in view of Fehrenbach to include the above recited limitations as taught by Li in order to coordinate UE contention scheduling (Li, [0034]-[0041]).
Regarding claim 4, Ou in view of NTT in view of Cao in view of Fehrenbach further in view of Li teaches the method of claim 3 above. Ou in view of NTT in view of Cao further in view of Fehrenbach does not expressly teach wherein the round-robin schedule includes an indication of one or more criteria for scheduling a duration for each UE in the round-robin schedule to act as the coordinating UE, and wherein the criteria include one or more of:
a time duration; an amount of power consumed performing coordinating UE operations; or an amount of data transferred while acting as the coordinating UE.
However, Li teaches wherein the round-robin schedule includes an indication of one or more criteria for scheduling a duration for each UE in the round-robin schedule to act as the coordinating UE, and wherein the criteria include one or more of:
a time duration; an amount of power consumed performing coordinating UE operations; or an amount of data transferred while acting as the coordinating UE (Li, Fig. 5, [0037]-[0051]; for a group of D2D devices, the resource allocation can be determined for a period of time by a coordinator. The coordinator can be selected using defined criteria, such as each active D2D UE can be assigned as a coordinator by using a defined coordinator order or list based on various parameters such as priorities or requested resource size).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Ou in view of NTT in view of Cao further in view of Fehrenbach to include the above recited limitations as taught by Li in order to coordinate UE contention scheduling (Li, [0034]-[0041]).
Claims 5 and 6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ou in view of NTT in view of Cao in view of Fehrenbach further in view of Li as applied to claim 3 above, and further in view of Yie et al. (US 2015/0208371 A1), hereafter referred Yie.
Regarding claim 5, Ou in view of NTT in view of Cao in view of Fehrenbach further in view of Li teaches the method of claim 3 above. Ou in view of NTT in view of Cao further in view of Fehrenbach does not expressly teach the method comprising the first UE:
based on the round-robin schedule, including an indication of a third UE acting as a next coordinating UE for the first UECS in a second Coordinator-Change message; and transmitting the second Coordinator-Change message as a message to the UEs included in the first UECS.
However, Li teaches the method comprising the first UE:
based on the round-robin schedule, including an indication of a third UE acting as a next coordinating UE for the first UECS in a second Coordinator-Change message; and transmitting the second Coordinator-Change message as a message to the UEs included in the first UECS (Li, [0039]-[0042]; each active D2D UE can be assigned as a coordinator by using a defined coordinator order or list based on a criteria, so the first D2D UE is assigned as the first coordinator and then proceeding down the list to assign subsequent coordinators, where the previous coordinator can broadcast the next coordinator to the UEs in the D2D network).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Ou in view of NTT in view of Cao further in view of Fehrenbach to include the above recited limitations as taught by Li in order to coordinate UE contention scheduling (Li, [0034]-[0041]).
Ou in view of NTT in view of Cao in view of Fehrenbach further in view of Li does not expressly teach discontinuing the periodic transmission of UECS synchronization signals for the first UECS.
However, Yie teaches discontinuing the periodic transmission of UECS synchronization signals for the first UECS (Yie, [0016]; a transmission policy may utilize an aperiodic transmission scheme or a transmission stopping scheme so as to perform the D2D communication with the other terminal).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Ou in view of NTT in view of Cao in view of Fehrenbach further in view of Li to include the above recited limitations as taught by Yie in order to efficiently transmit a D2D synchronization signal for D2D communication (Yie, [0010]).
Regarding claim 6, Ou in view of NTT in view of Cao in view of Fehrenbach in view of Li further in view of Yie teaches the method of claim 5 above. Ou in view of NTT in view of Cao further in view of Fehrenbach does not expressly teach wherein the transmitting of the second Coordinator-Change message comprises:
transmitting the second Coordinator-Change message as a broadcast message to the UEs included in the first UECS.
However, Li teaches wherein the transmitting of the second Coordinator-Change message comprises:
transmitting the second Coordinator-Change message as a broadcast message to the UEs included in the first UECS (Li, [0039]-[0042]; each active D2D UE can be assigned as a coordinator by using a defined coordinator order or list based on a criteria, so the first D2D UE is assigned as the first coordinator and then proceeding down the list to assign subsequent coordinators, where the previous coordinator can broadcast the next coordinator to the UEs in the D2D network).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Ou in view of NTT in view of Cao further in view of Fehrenbach to include the above recited limitations as taught by Li in order to coordinate UE contention scheduling (Li, [0034]-[0041]).
Claims 11 and 12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ou in view of NTT in view of Cao further in view of Fehrenbach as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Niu et al. (CN 104937859 A). A machine translation of Niu et al. was provided and is hereby referred Niu. Niu et al. is cited by applicant’s IDS filed 2 November 2022.
Regarding claim 11, Ou in view of NTT in view of Cao further in view of Fehrenbach teaches the method of claim 1 above. Ou does not expressly teach the method comprising the first UE:
after receiving, from the second UE, the first UECS-Access-Response, monitoring air interface resources to receive UECS synchronization signals from the second UE.
However, NTT teaches the method comprising the first UE:
after receiving, from the second UE, the first UECS-Access-Response, monitoring air interface resources to receive UECS synchronization signals from the second UE (NTT, p. 1-5; synchronization resource is (pre-)configured resource for SLSS/PSBCH transmission. Synchronization resource is configured with fixed defined period in LTE V2X and three independent offset indicators can configure up to three synchronization resources. In NR V2X the synchronization resource configuration can follow LTE V2X synchronization resource configuration principle and resource for SLSS/PSBCH block can be indicated via configuration signaling).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Ou to include the above recited limitations as taught by NTT in order to provide system information to the UEs (NTT, p. 2, Section 2.1 Synchronization signal).
Ou in view of NTT in view of Cao further in view of Fehrenbach does not expressly teach determining that the UECS synchronization signals from the second UE have not been received for a threshold period of time.
However, Niu teaches determining that the UECS synchronization signals from the second UE have not been received for a threshold period of time (Niu, p. 15, paragraphs 1-2; the UE is monitoring D2D discovery beacon for a predetermined period of time. When D2D discovery beacon is not received by the UE for a predetermined period of time, the UE is assigned D2D a cluster coordinator and perform D2D communication where the UE send D2D to D2D UE in D2D cluster from the cluster coordinator D2D discovery beacons such as frame 1040).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Ou in view of NTT in view of Cao further in view of Fehrenbach to include the above recited limitations as taught by Niu in order to reduce the interference between the D2D UE (Niu, p. 15, paragraph 2).
Regarding claim 12, Ou in view of NTT in view of Cao in view of Fehrenbach further in view of Niu teaches the method of claim 11 above. Ou in view of NTT in view of Cao further in view of Fehrenbach does not expressly teach the method comprising the first UE:
determining to act as the coordinating UE for the first UECS; and
periodically transmitting the UECS synchronization signals for the first UECS.
However, Niu teaches the method comprising the first UE:
determining to act as the coordinating UE for the first UECS; and periodically transmitting the UECS synchronization signals for the first UECS (Niu, p. 15, paragraphs 1-2; the UE is monitoring D2D discovery beacon for a predetermined period of time. When D2D discovery beacon is not received by the UE for a predetermined period of time, the UE is assigned D2D a cluster coordinator and perform D2D communication where the UE send D2D to D2D UE in D2D cluster from the cluster coordinator D2D discovery beacons such as frame 1040).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Ou in view of NTT in view of Cao further in view of Fehrenbach to include the above recited limitations as taught by Niu in order to reduce the interference between the D2D UE (Niu, p. 15, paragraph 2).
Claim 7-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ou in view of NTT in view of Cao in view of Fehrenbach further in view of Li as applied to claim 2 above, and further in view of Noh et al. (US 2015/0011230 A1), hereafter referred Noh. Noh was cited in applicant’s IDS filed 2 November 2022.
Regarding claim 7, Ou in view of NTT in view of Cao in view of Fehrenbach further in view of Li teaches the method of claim 2 above. Ou in view of NTT further in view of Cao does not expressly teach the method comprising the first UE:
receiving a second UECS-Access-Request from a fourth UE while the first UE acts as the coordinating UE for the first UECS; and
transmitting to the fourth UE a second UECS-Access-Response, the second UECS-Access-Response indicating that the fourth UE is included in the first UECS.
However, Fehrenbach teaches the method comprising the first UE:
receiving a second UECS-Access-Request from a fourth UE while the first UE acts as the coordinating UE for the first UECS (Fehrenbach, [0219]; the group manager UE may receive a connection setup request message from the foreign UE that is not yet a member of the UE-group); and
transmitting to the fourth UE a second UECS-Access-Response, the second UECS-Access-Response indicating that the fourth UE is included in the first UECS (Fehrenbach, [0223]; in response to said connection setup request message, the group manager UE may send a connection setup response message to the foreign UE).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Ou in view of NTT further in view of Cao to include the above recited limitations as taught by Fehrenbach in order to provide efficient communication between an eNB and the one or more UEs within a radio network (Fehrenbach, [0023]).
Ou in view of NTT in view of Cao in view of Fehrenbach further in view of Li does not expressly teach receiving a second UECS-Access-Request from a fourth UE; and
determining to include the fourth UE in the first UECS.
However, Noh teaches receiving a second UECS-Access-Request from a fourth UE (Noh, Fig. 3, [0048]-[0053]; each of the terminals 20, 30, and 40 may transmit a random access preamble message for uplink synchronization to the coordinator 50 and receive a random access response message including timing advance information in response to the random access preamble message from the coordinator); and
determining to include the fourth UE in the first UECS (Noh, Fig. 3, [0048]-[0053]; each of the terminals 20, 30, and 40 may transmit a random access preamble message for uplink synchronization to the coordinator 50 and receive a random access response message including timing advance information in response to the random access preamble message from the coordinator).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Ou in view of NTT in view of Cao in view of Fehrenbach further in view of Li to include the above recited limitations as taught by Noh in order to efficiently perform a coordinator based device-to-device communications in a wireless communication system (Noh, [0008]-[0009]).
Regarding claim 8, Ou in view of NTT in view of Cao in view of Fehrenbach in view of Li further in view of Noh teaches the method of claim 7 above. Ou in view of NTT in view of Cao further in view of Fehrenbach does not expressly teach wherein the Coordinator-Change message includes a round-robin schedule of UEs to act as the coordinating UE for the first UECS, the method comprising the first UE: including the fourth UE in the round-robin schedule.
However, Li teaches wherein the Coordinator-Change message includes a round-robin schedule of UEs to act as the coordinating UE for the first UECS, the method comprising the first UE: including the fourth UE in the round-robin schedule (Li, Fig. 5, [0037]-[0051]; for a group of D2D devices, the resource allocation can be determined for a period of time by a coordinator. The coordinator can be selected using defined criteria, such as each active D2D UE can be assigned as a coordinator by using a defined coordinator order or list based on various parameters such as priorities or requested resource size).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Ou in view of NTT in view of Cao further in view of Fehrenbach to include the above recited limitations as taught by Li in order to coordinate UE contention scheduling (Li, [0034]-[0041]).
Regarding claim 9, Ou in view of NTT in view of Cao in view of Fehrenbach in view of Li further in view of Noh teaches the method of claim 8 above. Ou in view of NTT in view of Cao further in view of Fehrenbach does not expressly teach wherein the including of the fourth UE in the round-robin schedule comprises the first UE:
evaluating one or more selection criteria for including the fourth UE in the round-robin schedule, wherein the one or more selection criteria include:
a remaining battery charge of the fourth UE;
a charging status of the fourth UE;
an uplink signal power to a base station;
a downlink received signal strength from the base station;
an uplink transmit power to the base station;
a number of uplinks from the fourth UE to base stations; or
an uplink data throughput of the fourth UE.
However, Li teaches wherein the including of the fourth UE in the round-robin schedule comprises the first UE:
evaluating one or more selection criteria for including the fourth UE in the round-robin schedule, wherein the one or more selection criteria include:
a remaining battery charge of the fourth UE; a charging status of the fourth UE;
an uplink signal power to a base station; a downlink received signal strength from the base station; an uplink transmit power to the base station; a number of uplinks from the fourth UE to base stations; or an uplink data throughput of the fourth UE (Li, Fig. 5, [0037]-[0051]; for a group of D2D devices, the resource allocation can be determined for a period of time by a coordinator. The coordinator can be selected using defined criteria, such as each active D2D UE can be assigned as a coordinator by using a defined coordinator order or list based on various parameters such as priorities or requested resource size).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Ou in view of NTT in view of Cao further in view of Fehrenbach to include the above recited limitations as taught by Li in order to coordinate UE contention scheduling (Li, [0034]-[0041]).
Regarding claim 10, Ou in view of NTT in view of Cao in view of Fehrenbach in view of Li further in view of Noh teaches the method of claim 9 above. Ou in view of NTT in view of Cao further in view of Fehrenbach does not expressly teach wherein the one or more selection criteria are included in the second UECS-Access-Request.
However, Li teaches wherein the one or more selection criteria are included in the second UECS-Access-Request (Li, Fig. 5, [0037]-[0051]; for a group of D2D devices, the resource allocation can be determined for a period of time by a coordinator. The coordinator can be selected using defined criteria, such as each active D2D UE can be assigned as a coordinator by using a defined coordinator order or list based on various parameters such as priorities or requested resource size).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Ou in view of NTT in view of Cao further in view of Fehrenbach to include the above recited limitations as taught by Li in order to coordinate UE contention scheduling (Li, [0034]-[0041]).
Claim 13 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ou in view of NTT in view of Cao in view of Fehrenbach further in view of Niu as applied to claim 11 above, and further in view of Noh.
Regarding claim 13, Ou in view of NTT in view of Cao in view of Fehrenbach further in view of Niu teaches the method of claim 11 above. Ou in view of NTT in view of Cao in view of Fehrenbach further in view of Niu does not teach the method comprising the first UE:
receiving UECS synchronization signals for a second UECS from a fifth UE, the fifth UE acting as a coordinating UE for the second UECS;
transmitting a third UECS-Access-Request to the fifth UE; and
receiving from the fifth UE a third UECS-Access-Response, the third UECS-Access-Response indicating that the first UE is included in the second UECS.
However, Noh teaches the method comprising the first UE:
receiving UECS synchronization signals for a second UECS from a fifth UE, the fifth UE acting as a coordinating UE for the second UECS (Noh, Fig. 3, [0048]-[0053]; the coordinator may transmit the synchronization signals and the system information in a broadcast manner to terminals 20, 30, and 40);
transmitting a third UECS-Access-Request to the fifth UE (Noh, Fig. 3, [0048]-[0053]; each of the terminals 20, 30, and 40 may transmit a random access preamble message for uplink synchronization to the coordinator 50 and receive a random access response message including timing advance information in response to the random access preamble message from the coordinator); and
receiving from the fifth UE a third UECS-Access-Response, the third UECS-Access-Response indicating that the first UE is included in the second UECS (Noh, Fig. 3, [0048]-[0053]; each of the terminals 20, 30, and 40 may transmit a random access preamble message for uplink synchronization to the coordinator 50 and receive a random access response message including timing advance information in response to the random access preamble message from the coordinator).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Ou in view of NTT in view of Cao in view of Fehrenbach further in view of Niu to include the above recited limitations as taught by Noh in order to efficiently perform a coordinator based device-to-device communications in a wireless communication system (Noh, [0008]-[0009]).
Claims 14 and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ou in view of NTT in view of Cao in view of Fehrenbach further in view of Niu as applied to claim 11 above, and further in view of Li.
Regarding claim 14, Ou in view of NTT in view of Cao in view of Fehrenbach further in view of Niu teaches the method of claim 11 above. Ou in view of NTT in view of Cao in view of Fehrenbach further in view of Niu does not expressly teach wherein the first UECS includes additional UEs, the method comprising the first UE:
transmitting a UECS-Handover-Request to a fifth UE, the fifth UE acting as a coordinating UE for a second UECS; receiving a UECS-Handover-Response indicating that the fifth UE has included the first UE and the additional UEs into the second UECS; and transmitting a third Coordinator-Change message to the additional UEs indicating that the fifth UE is the coordinating UE for the second UECS.
However, Li teaches wherein the first UECS includes additional UEs, the method comprising the first UE:
transmitting a UECS-Handover-Request to a fifth UE, the fifth UE acting as a coordinating UE for a second UECS; receiving a UECS-Handover-Response indicating that the fifth UE has included the first UE and the additional UEs into the second UECS; and transmitting a third Coordinator-Change message to the additional UEs indicating that the fifth UE is the coordinating UE for the second UECS (Li, [0039]-[0042]; each active D2D UE can be assigned as a coordinator by using a defined coordinator order or list based on a criteria, so the first D2D UE is assigned as the first coordinator and then proceeding down the list to assign subsequent coordinators, where the previous coordinator can broadcast the next coordinator to the UEs in the D2D network).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Ou in view of NTT in view of Cao in view of Fehrenbach further in view of Niu to include the above recited limitations as taught by Li in order to coordinate UE contention scheduling (Li, [0034]-[0041]).
Regarding claim 16, Ou in view of NTT in view of Cao in view of Fehrenbach in view of Niu further in view of Li teaches the method of claim 14 above. Ou in view of NTT in view of Cao in view of Fehrenbach further in view of Niu do not expressly teach wherein the transmitting of the third Coordinator-Change message to the additional UEs comprises:
transmitting the third Coordinator-Change message as a broadcast message to the additional UEs indicating that the fifth UE is the coordinating UE for the second UECS.
However, Li teaches wherein the transmitting of the third Coordinator-Change message to the additional UEs comprises:
transmitting the third Coordinator-Change message as a broadcast message to the additional UEs indicating that the fifth UE is the coordinating UE for the second UECS (Li, [0039]-[0042]; each active D2D UE can be assigned as a coordinator by using a defined coordinator order or list based on a criteria, so the first D2D UE is assigned as the first coordinator and then proceeding down the list to assign subsequent coordinators, where the previous coordinator can broadcast the next coordinator to the UEs in the D2D network).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Ou in view of NTT in view of Cao in view of Fehrenbach further in view of Niu to include the above recited limitations as taught by Li in order to coordinate UE contention scheduling (Li, [0034]-[0041]).
Claim 17 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ou in view of NTT in view of Cao in view of Fehrenbach in view of Niu further in view of Noh as applied to claim 13 above, and further in view of Li.
Regarding claim 17, Ou in view of NTT in view of Cao in view of Fehrenbach in view of Niu further in view of Noh teaches the method of claim 13 above. Ou in view of NTT further in view of Cao does not expressly teach the method comprising the first UE:
based on being the coordinator, periodically transmitting UECS synchronization signals for the second UECS.
However, Fehrenbach teaches the method comprising the first UE:
based on being the coordinator, periodically transmitting UECS synchronization signals for the second UECS (Fehrenbach, [0268]; the group manager UE may transmit a signal to a yet foreign UE in the second step, where the signal transmitted by the Group Manger UE might be a sidelink primary and secondary synchronization signal to provide an identity of the UE-Group identity and to measure the receive signal strength).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Ou in view of NTT further in view of Cao to include the above recited limitations as taught by Fehrenbach in order to provide efficient communication between an eNB and the one or more UEs within a radio network (Fehrenbach, [0023]).
Ou in view of NTT in view of Cao in view of Fehrenbach in view of Niu further in view of Noh does not expressly teach the method comprising the first UE:
receiving, from the fifth UE, a fourth Coordinator-Change message, the fourth Coordinator-Change message indicating that the first UE is now acting as the coordinating UE for the second UECS.
However, Li teaches the method comprising the first UE:
receiving, from the fifth UE, a fourth Coordinator-Change message, the fourth Coordinator-Change message indicating that the first UE is now acting as the coordinating UE for the second UECS (Li, [0040]; a previous coordinator can select a another D2D UE as the next coordinator in a D2D network and transmit the coordinator selection to the UEs in the D2D network).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Ou in view of NTT in view of Cao in view of Fehrenbach in view of Niu further in view of Noh to include the above recited limitations as taught by Li in order to coordinate UE contention scheduling (Li, [0034]-[0041]).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. See PTO-892.
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 RODRICK MAK whose telephone number is (571)270-0284. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 9:30 am - 5:30 pm.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Noel Beharry can be reached at 571-270-5630. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/R.M./Examiner, Art Unit 2416
/NOEL R BEHARRY/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2416
Prosecution Insights