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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 11/20/2025 has been entered.
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.
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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claim(s) 1-4, 6, 8-9, 11-16, 20-21 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over DUTTA et al (US 2021/0267008) in view of MOCHIZUKI et al (US 20230061163)
Regarding claim 1, 13, DUTTA et al (US 2021/0267008) method, comprising:
maintaining Sidelink (SL) Discontinuous Reception (DRX) configuration by a User Equipment (UE), wherein the SL DRX configuration comprises one of a transmission pattern and a reception pattern that the UE expects to perform transmission and reception to a peer UE (DUTTA: Fig. 5, ¶132, ¶182-183, DRX cycle configuration pattern is maintained at a UE (e.g. a UE 115); this pattern includes on-off pattern i.e on-duration, offset, and periodicity, inactive DRX duration), wherein, for a groupcast or broadcast communication, the SL DRX configuration is maintained (DUTTA: Fig. 4 and Fig. 5, ¶132, for groupcast/broadcast communication, the DRX configuration is maintained at the UE)
per groupcast or broadcast service identified by a Layer-2 (L2) destination Identifier (ID), or per PC5 Quality of Service (QoS) flow associated with a QoS requirement (DUTTA: Fig. 4 and Fig. 5, ¶189, ¶183, ¶185-186, ¶195, for groupcast communication, the DRX configuration is maintained per PC5 connection which has an associated peak-QoS criterion (equivalent to QoS requirement))
exchanging the SL DRX configuration with the peer UE; based on the exchange of the SL DRX configuration, determining when to perform transmission or reception to or from the peer UE during an SL DRX operation (DUTTA: Fig. 4, Fig. 2, ¶174, ¶183, ¶208, exchanging DRX configuration with a peer UE; determining when to perform transmission/reception to/from the peer UE); and
based on the determination, performing transmission or reception to or from the peer UE during the SL DRX operation (DUTTA: Fig. 6, ¶130, ¶132, ¶207, ¶199, ¶214, using the derived transmission schedule based on the neighboring V2X UEs’ DRX patterns, for sidelink traffic/data).
DUTTA remains silent regarding the DRX configuration is maintained per groupcast or broadcast service identified by Layer-2(L2) destination ID or per PC5 Quality of Service (QoS) flow associated with a QoS requirement.
However, MOCHIZUKI et al (US 20230061163) the DRX configuration is maintained per groupcast or broadcast service identified by Layer-2 (L2) destination ID or per PC5 Quality of Service (QoS) flow associated with a QoS requirement (MOCHIZUKI: ¶371, ¶373, ¶376, ¶379, the DRX configuration is maintained per PC5 QoS flow with a QoS required or per destination L2ID).
A person of ordinary skill in the art working with the invention of DUTTA would have been motivated to use the teachings of MOCHIZUKI as it provides a way to improve power consumption by properly synchronizing DRX configurations among the group of UEs (¶385) Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify invention of DUTTA with teachings of MOCHIZUKI in order to improve energy consumptions.
Regarding claim 2, 14, DUTTA modified by MOCHIZUKI discloses method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the transmission pattern comprises information indicative of a plurality of time-frequency radio resources that the UE uses to perform transmission to the peer UE, and the reception pattern comprises information indicative of a plurality of time-frequency radio resources that the UE uses to perform reception from the peer UE (DUTTA: ¶206-207, ¶211, ¶238, the resource indication i.e. which resource is being used by the peer UE for transmission and for reception is indicated in the configuration exchanged).
Regarding claim 3, 15, DUTTA modified by MOCHIZUKI discloses method as claimed in claim 2, wherein the information comprises an SL DRX offset, an SL DRX-ON duration, and an SL DRX cycle (DUTTA: ¶238, the DRX offset, active(ON) duration, periodicity (cycle)).
Regarding claim 4, DUTTA modified by MOCHIZUKI discloses method as claimed in claim 1, wherein, for a unicast communication, the SL DRX configuration is maintained per unicast link or per PC5-Radio Resource Control (RRC) connection (DUTTA: ¶212, ¶204, DRX is maintained per unicast communication link).
Regarding claim 16, DUTTA modified by MOCHIZUKI discloses method as claimed in claim 1/13, wherein for a unicast communication the SL DRX configuration is maintained per unicast link or per PC5 RRC connection (DUTTA: ¶189, Fig. 4, Fig.2, DRX configuration is maintained per unicast communication link).
Regarding claim 6, DUTTA modified by MOCHIZUKI discloses method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the SL DRX configuration is maintained per UE, and the UE applies the same SL DRX configuration for SL communications with all peer UEs (DUTTA: ¶198, ¶208, Fig. 17, the UE maintains a DRX for itself which it uses to communicate with all peer UEs).
Regarding claim 21, DUTTA modified by MOCHIZUKI discloses method of claim 1, but remains silent regarding the DRX configuration determined at a first layer based on the QoS requirement and applied by the UE at a second layer.
However, MOCHIZUKI in another teaching discloses the DRX configuration determined at a first layer based on the QoS requirement and applied by the UE at a second layer (MOCHIZUKI: ¶415, ¶196, ¶382-383, RRC layer of the UE determines the DRX configuration based on the QoS requirements; applied at the MAC layer)
A person of ordinary skill in the art working with the invention of DUTTA modified by MOCHIZUKI would have been motivated to use the other teachings of MOCHIZUKI as it provides a way to improve reliability of communication can be enhanced and a delay can be reduced. (¶383). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify invention of DUTTA modified by MOCHIZUKI with the other teachings of MOCHIZUKI in order to improve reliability of the communication.
Regarding claim 8, DUTTA modified by MOCHIZUKI discloses method as claimed in claim 1.
DUTTA modified by MOCHIZUKI remains silent regarding prior to the exchange of the SL DRX configuration, monitoring a set of time-frequency radio resources for reception of a discovery message from the peer UE..
However, MOCHIZUKI in embodiment of Fig. 27 through Fig. 30, discloses the exchange of the SL DRX configuration, monitoring a set of time-frequency radio resources for reception of a discovery message from the peer UE (MOCHIZUKI: ¶589, Fig. 27-Fig. 30, DRX configuration is exchanged after monitoring for and receiving, at a UE, the discovery messages from a peer/V2X UE).
A person of ordinary skill in the art working with the invention of DUTTA modified by MOCHIZUKI would have been motivated to use the teachings of MOCHIZUKI’s embodiment of Fig. 27-Fig. 30 as it provides an autonomous technique to search for neighboring devices compatible with the self-device thereby improving coverage. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify invention of DUTTA modified by MOCHIZUKI with teachings of MOCHIZUKI’s embodiment of Fig. 27-Fig. 30 in order to improve overall coverage in the network.
Regarding claim 9, DUTTA modified by MOCHIZUKI discloses a method as claimed in claim 8, wherein the set of time-frequency radio resources are configured based on pre-configuration, system information received from a base station, or L2 destination ID of the UE (MOCHIZUKI: ¶373, based on the destination L2ID).
Regarding claim 11, 20, DUTTA modified by MOCHIZUKI discloses method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising: prior to performing the transmission to the peer UE, performing sensing on the sidelink control (DUTTA:¶216, sidelink control communication is sensed/received before the transmission using the DRX configuration is performed; ¶186, Sidelink Control Channel)
Regarding claim 12, DUTTA modified by MOCHIZUKI discloses as claimed in claim 11, further comprising: prior to performing the transmission to the peer UE, performing reception from the peer UE, wherein the performed reception and sensing are overlapped in time and frequency domains (DUTTA: Fig. 6, ¶240, ¶198, the DTX and DRX occasions are aligned in time and frequency domain).
Claim(s) 7 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over DUTTA modified by MOCHIZUKI as applied to claim 1 above, further in view of LUO et al (US 2022/0353948)
Regarding claim 7, DUTTA modified by MOCHIZUKI discloses method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the SL DRX configuration is configured (DUTTA: ¶132, DRX configuration is configured).
DUTTA modified by MOCHIZUKI remains silent regarding, however, LUO et al (US 2022/0353948) discloses) the configuration is based on pre-configuration, or system information received from a base station, or dedicated signaling from the base station (LOU: ¶23, the information based on which the DRX configuration is determined is received from a WANN (base station)).
A person of ordinary skill in the art working with the invention of DUTTA modified by MOCHIZUKI would have been motivated to use the teachings of LUO as it provides a way to improve collision mitigation and resource management when resources for sidelink communications are governed by the network. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify invention of DUTTA modified by MOCHIZUKI with teachings of LUO in order to improve overall resource management and avoid resource collision within and outside the network.
Claim(s) 10, 19, is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over DUTTA modified by MOCHIZUKI as applied to claim 1 above, further in view of PARK et al (US 2022/0322486).
Regarding claim 10, 19, DUTTA modified by MOCHIZUKI discloses method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the performed transmission to the peer UE within the transmission pattern (DUTTA: Fig. 6, ¶130, ¶132, ¶207, ¶199, ¶214, using the deriving a transmission schedule based on the neighboring V2X UEs’ DRX patterns, for sidelink traffic/data).
DUTTA modified by MOCHIZUKI remains silent, however, PARK discloses transmission comprises performing a first Transport Block (TB) transmission to the peer UE within the transmission pattern (PARK: ¶113, ¶107,SL transmission include transport block ).
A person of ordinary skill in the art working with the invention of DUTTA would have been motivated to use the teachings of PARK as it provides an autonomous technique to search for neighboring devices compatible with the self-device thereby improving coverage. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify invention of DUTTA with teachings of PARK in order to improve overall coverage in the network.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 11/20/2025 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Applicants argue,
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Examiner respectfully disagrees with the above arguments. Applicants take a position that claim 5 requires, “…wherein, for a group or broadcast communication, the SL DRX configuration is maintained per group cast or broadcast service identifier by a L2 destination ID or a PC5 quality of Service flow associated with a QoS requirement…” and the rejection alleges the DRX configuration being maintained per unicast. Examiner submits that this position is respectfully traversed as explained below.
As an initial note, Examiner submits that the claim 5 was rejected together with claim 16 which, as originally filed, included both the limitations of claim 5 and claim 16. Examiner’s rejection has its basis in the cited ¶189. This teaches both the limitations regarding maintaining of DRX configuration for both unicast and broadcast. Since Applicants argue the limitation that is directed towards “groupcast or broadcast” only, Examiner submits that this teaching is provided in at least the cited sections of claim 5 i.e. ¶189 and claim 1 (on which claim 5 depends) i.e. ¶182-183, Fig. 4 and Fig. 5.
DUTTA in ¶189 states:
[0189] The UE 115-a may broadcast the DTX configuration 210 to the UE 115-b, the UE 115-c and the UE 115-d. Similarly, one or more of the UE 115-b, the UE 115-c and the UE 115-d may broadcast a corresponding DRX configuration 215. In the example of FIG. 4, DTX configuration 210 may be common for all the UEs 115 (e.g., the UE 115-b, the UE 115-c, and the UE 115-d). That is, the DTX configuration 210 may be the same for all the UEs 115 (e.g., the UE 115-b, the UE 115-c, and the UE 115-d), while each of the UEs 115 (e.g., the UE 115-b, the UE 115-c, and the UE 115-d) may, in some examples, have different unicast traffic on a corresponding sidelink connection 205…
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DUTTA, in ¶132 as cited for claim 1 on which claim 5 depends, explains how the DRX configuration is maintained by the UEs 115 for the broadcast/groupcast communication.
[0132] As part of DRX operations, the UE may determine a DRX configuration based on one or multiple received DTX configurations. The DRX configuration identify one or more DRX cycles, which may include an active DRX duration (e.g., a period of time when a receiver of a UE is active or monitoring), an inactive DRX duration (e.g., a period of time when a receiver of the UE is inactive or asleep), etc., as described herein. In some cases, a DRX pattern may indicate when a UE may be configured to receive data/control information (e.g., DRX active duration) and when receiver circuitry of the UE is asleep or inactive (DRX inactive duration). Similarly, in some examples of unicast communications, the UE may transmit the DRX configuration to another UE via a connection (e.g., a sidelink connection), and the DRX configuration may identify a pattern of DRX cycles specific for the UE. In some examples of broadcast communications and groupcast communications, the UE may transmit or broadcast the DRX configuration to all UEs or a group of UEs over multiple connections (e.g., multiple sidelink connections). The DRX configuration may thus be common for all the UEs or the group of UEs. Therefore, by implementing DRX operations and DTX operations with sidelink communications, the associated UEs may experience power savings as a result of providing a DTX configuration or a DRX configuration, or both.
DUTTA remains silent regarding the DRX configuration is maintained per groupcast or broadcast service identified by Layer-2(L2) destination ID or per PC5 Quality of Service (QoS) flow associated with a QoS requirement.
However, newly cited reference, MOCHIZUKI et al (US 20230061163) the DRX configuration is maintained per groupcast or broadcast service identified by Layer-2 (L2) destination ID or per PC5 Quality of Service (QoS) flow associated with a QoS requirement (MOCHIZUKI: ¶371, ¶373, ¶376, ¶379, the DRX configuration is maintained per PC5 QoS flow with a QoS required or per destination L2ID).
A person of ordinary skill in the art working with the invention of DUTTA would have been motivated to use the teachings of MOCHIZUKI as it provides a way to improve power consumption by properly synchronizing DRX configurations among the group of UEs (¶385) Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify invention of DUTTA with teachings of MOCHIZUKI in order to improve energy consumptions.
All remaining arguments are based on the arguments addressed above, and are, therefore, fully responded to as above.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to OMER S MIAN whose telephone number is (571)270-7524. The examiner can normally be reached M,T,W,Th: 10a-7p, Fri, 9a-12p.
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OMER S. MIAN
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2461
/OMER S MIAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2461