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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 12/19/2025 has been entered.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 11/06/2025 was filed after the mailing date of the Final Office action on 09/19/2025. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Response to Amendment
The amendment to the claims filed on 12/19/2025 complies with the requirements of 37 CFR 1.121(c) and has been entered.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 12/19/2025 (hereinafter Resp.) are fully considered hereinafter.
For the purpose of responding to this argument, Examiner takes Official Notice of the time-domain organization of resources in LTE and NR: resources are located in periodic radio frames indexed by a System Frame Number (SFN) modulo 1024, wherein each radio frame has a duration of 10ms and is divided in 10 subframes, each subframe being 1 ms long and containing 2 slots of 0.5ms each (in LTE) or a multiple of 2 slots (in NR). While the SFN provides the time reference across radio frames, a pool for sidelink transmission/reception is a periodically occurring time-domain duration that is configured in number of subframes (e.g., 40, 80, 160 or 320 subframes), and over which a configurable indication (e.g., a bitmap) flags the indices of those subframes wherein a UE may find resources allocated for data transmission/reception. This indication/bitmap is repeated within a SFN cycle with the periodicity given by the time-domain duration of the resource pool expressed in number of subframes. The subframes belonging to the resource pool, i.e., those for which the configured bitmap contains a “1,” are arranged in increasing order of their indices. Because a resource pool is cycled over the SFN, a candidate single-subframe resource in the pool has a fixed position relative to the beginning subframe of the pool1.
First Applicant argues that Guo et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 20230066041 (hereinafter Guo) “discloses that the sensing is performed only during DRX ON duration, and Guo however does not disclose that resource selection is performed during DRX ON duration as recited in Claim 15” – See Resp.,8:¶2. Examiner respectfully disagrees with this simplified reading of Guo because: (1) the inherent cyclic nature of pre-configured DRX and resource pools may assure that when a candidate resource in a resource pool is sensed during DRX onduration that resource the resource will be in the DRX onduration when selected, e.g., when sensing window and DRX cycle lengths are approximately the same, as shown in Fig. 4 (1) of Guo and [¶0052] (“configurations for both mechanisms are defined in a periodic manner”); see also 3GPP TS 36:331:368 defining the DRX-Cycle in number of frames, e.g., 40, 64, 80, 128, or 160, whereby when both the DRX cycle and the resource pool start with the same subframe offset in SFN #0 and they have the same length, e.g., one of the 40/80/160 number of subframes; and (2) Guo specifically teaches that “when SL DRX for Rx UE is configured by a BS or a network, the BS or the network will determine the configuration for the Rx UE based on partial sensing configuration information of the Rx UE” – See [¶0108], i.e., the BS would have the information needed to align the DRX cycle length or DRX onduration with the selection window length in the resource pool and its periodicity.
Therefore, given these examples already present in the art before the effective filing date of the present application, the argument that “it appears that the Examiner interprets that, since sensing is performed during the ON duration in Guo then the resource selection is also performed during the ON duration” – See Resp., 9:¶1 fails to persuade.
Second, Applicant, citing to Guo:[¶0060], argues that “sensing is performed during the OFF duration, but the monitoring results cannot be used for resource selection” – Resp.,8:¶3. However, Applicant, citing many times to [¶0060] paragraph of Guo, fails to notice that the paragraph refers to prior art and that Guo specifically points out the cited deficiency in the next paragraph [¶0061] (stating that: “Given the above [issue], when both a partial sensing mechanism and a SL DRX mechanism are enabled for UE (e.g., PUE), coordination between configurations of these two mechanisms is needed”). Furthermore, Applicant argues that “Claim 15 explains the sensing window as [n – T0, n - Tproc,0 SL) and the selection window as [n + T1, n + T2]. In other words, the sensing window and the selection window as recited in Claim 15 are distinguished based on slot n, and even if the sensing window is located in the ON duration, the selection window is not located in the ON duration.” – See Resp., 9:¶1. In response to Applicant's argument that Guo fails to show certain features of the invention, it is noted that the features upon which applicant relies (i.e., "the sensing window as [n – T0, n - Tproc,0 SL) and the selection window as [n + T1, n + T2]") are not recited in the rejected claim(s). Although the claims are interpreted in light of the specification, limitations from the specification are not read into the claims. See In re Van Geuns, 988 F.2d 1181, 26 USPQ2d 1057 (Fed. Cir. 1993). Here, the Amended Claim 15 only discloses that “the selection window is located after the sensing window in time,” an obvious feature known in the art whereby resources monitoring and sensing, when they happen, obviously happen before resource selection. Furthermore, the third reference used in the previous Office action, Yoon, U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2023/0156670 (hereinafter Yoon) discloses the feature discussed above and not claimed.
In sum, all Applicant’s arguments have been fully addressed but they are unpersuasive.
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.
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.
Claims 15-26, as amended, are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Guo et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 20230066041 (hereinafter Guo), and further in view of Yoon, U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2023/0156670 (hereinafter Yoon).
Regarding Amended Claim 15, Guo teaches a method performed by a terminal in a communication system (“a method for wireless communications . . . includ[ing] determining whether a sidelink (SL) discontinuous reception (DRX) procedure is enabled” – See [¶0004] and “when both a partial sensing mechanism and a SL DRX mechanism are enabled for UE (e.g., PUE), coordination between configurations of these two mechanisms” – See [¶0061], e.g., to avoid scenarios wherein “power saving cannot be efficiently achieved” such as when the “UE in Off duration for SL DRX are configured as performing a sensing operation during the Off duration for SL DRX when a partial sensing window has been configured,” and the candidate resources “cannot be used for resource selection” – See [¶0060]) the method comprising:
receiving, from a base station, a sidelink configuration including a sidelink discontinuous reception (DRX) configuration (“In the case of NR Uu link, a BS or a network decides when to let UE sleep and when to wake it up and informs the timing to the UE using a RRC message” so that “UE (e.g., UE 101a or UE 101b illustrated and shown in FIG. 1) in discontinuous reception (DRX) mechanism gets into a sleep mode for a certain period of time and wakes up for another period of time” – See [¶0051] and Table 1; in addition, “when SL DRX for Rx UE is configured by a BS or a network, the BS or the network will determine the configuration for the Rx UE based on partial sensing configuration information of the Rx UE” – See [¶0108] and “configurations for both mechanisms are defined in a periodic manner” – See [¶0052])
and a sidelink resource pool configuration including information on a sensing window and information on a selection window (“If UE (e.g., a PUE) is configured to use a partial sensing based selection mechanism only, the UE shall use the partial sensing based selection mechanism in the pool” – See [¶0044] whereby “partial sensing based selection mechanism may also be named as a partial sensing based resource selection mechanism” – See [¶0042] as defined “[i]n 3GPP standard document TS36.300” – See [¶0042] and “[w]hen UE . . . performs a partial sensing based selection mechanism . . ., the UE should have sensed on a sensing window with all allowed resource reservation periodicities configured by a higher layer before using sensing result(s) for resource reselection mechanism. The UE may not know when the resource selection or reselection procedure will be performed, and thus, a sensing window for the UE should be periodical” – See [¶0046] and Table 2; see also 3GPP TS 36.300 V16.2.0 (2020-07), “Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA) and Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN); Overall description; Stage 2 (Release 16),” July 24, 2020, (hereinafter 3GPP TS 36.300) stating that “[i]f the P-UE is configured to use partial sensing based selection only, the P-UE shall use partial sensing based selection in the pool. The P-UE shall not do random selection in the pool wherein only partial sensing is allowed,” and a “P-UE can send Sidelink UE Information message to indicate that it requests resource pools for P2X-related V2X sidelink communication transmission as specified in TS 36.331 [16]”– See 3GPP 36.300, at page 354, i.e., the UE is configured with a window for resource sensing and a window for resource selection in the one or more resource pools cycled over the radio frames; furthermore)
monitoring slots belonging to a sidelink resource pool within the sensing window except for slots used for a transmission (“According to 3GPP standard document TS36.213 [ 4], if UE (e.g., PUE) is configured to use a partial sensing based selection mechanism, the UE will monitor the resource only in a subset of subframes” of the resource pool – See [¶0045]; see also Yoon infra); and
identifying a candidate resource within the selection window, wherein the candidate resource is identified from among resources belonging to a sidelink DRX active time (“SL DRX configuration information may include . . . ‘SL DRX Active Time'” that “indicate[s] the duration of one 'ON time'” – See [¶0069] and Table 1, which may overlap with the ON Sensing duration as shown in Figs. 3 and 4 (1)-(5), e.g., selecting candidate resources monitored only in SFN1 because of the partial sensing ON duration window, wherein “ON Duration of the SL DRX cycle (i.e., ON DRX as shown in FIG. 3) includes subframe #0 and subframe #1” and “subframe #5 and subframe #6” – See [¶0057] and “when determining a candidate subframe of resource for physical sidelink shared channel (PSSCH) transmission, UE should guarantee that the associated subframe to be monitored is contained in a certain on duration of a SL DRX procedure which is configured by a higher layer of the UE” – See [¶0075]; see also [¶0077-78] stating that “if a SL DRX procedure has a higher priority than a partial sensing procedure according to comparing results of the physical layer of UE, the UE may perform, . . . sensing operation in on sensing duration of the partial sensing procedure, when the on sensing duration is located within on duration of the SL DRX procedure, to monitor one or more partial sensing subframes for PSSCH transmission”)
wherein the sidelink DRX active time is determined based on the sidelink DRX configuration (the UE “determines whether a SL DRX procedure is enabled” and, “in response to the SL DRX procedure being enabled, the UE receives SL DRX configuration information” – See [¶0067] wherein “SL DRX configuration information may include parameters: 'SL DRX Cycle Gap', 'SL DRX Active Time', 'SL DRX Offset', 'SL DRX Priority', or a combination thereof. Details are shown in Table 1” – See [¶0069]).
Guo does not explicitly teach exclusion of a resource for transmission and the associated algorithms described specifically for partial sensing in § 14.1.1.6 , 3GPP TS 36.213 V16.2.0 (2020-06), “Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA); Physical layer procedures (Release 16)” (hereinafter 3GPP TS 213) as mentioned above. Guo also does not explicitly teach wherein the selection window is located after the sensing window in time.
Yoon, like Guo, teaches “a partial sensing method and device for device-to device (D2D) communication in a wireless communication system” – See [¶0005] and “[a]method of selecting a resource for D2D communication based on partial sensing in a wireless” including “receiving a transmission resource reservation period and a reception resource reservation period from a base station through upper layer signaling; determining a selection window; determining a sensing window for partial sensing based on the selection window, based on the transmission resource reservation period; excluding an overlapping resource through sensing in the determined sensing window; and performing transmission by selecting a resource for transmitting control information and data in the selection window based on information of the excluded resource” – See [¶0009].
Yoon specifically teaches monitoring slots belonging to a sidelink resource pool within the sensing window except for slots used for a transmission (“slots for the resource pool for V2X may be defined by indicating a repetition of a bitmap with respect to all of the slots excepting specific slots” – See [¶0134] and Fig. 7 (a) wherein “the repeatedly applied bitmap may be indicated with upper layer signaling (signaling field "slot indication of resource pool" in FIG. 7) such as RRC and the like. A length of the signaling field may be 16, 20, or 100, but is not limited thereto. If the bitmap value is 1, it may indicate a slot for the resource pool. If the bitmap value is 0, it may indicate a slot that does not belong to the resource pool” – See [¶0137] and, as shown in in Fig. 7(b), “slots to be excepted from bitmap repetitions may include slots used for transmission of a Sidelink Signal Block (SSB) including a Primary Sidelink Synchronization Signal (PSSS), a Secondary Sidelink Synchronization Signal (SSSS), and a Physical Sidelink Broadcast Channel (PSBCH)” – See [¶0135] and “excepted slots within a system frame number (SNF) or a D2D frame number (DFN) period may include d non-uplink slots and slots for SSB” and “may further include d' slots that are additionally excepted such that a bitmap with a length of L bitmap may be repeatedly applied by an integer multiple within the SFN or DFN period” – See [¶0136];).
Thus, Guo in view of Chen and Yoon each teaches UEs receiving information associated with a sidelink resource pool and a sensing window in the resource pool wherein to select the candidate resources identified during the sensing window. A person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have understood that the excepted slots used for transmission, as taught by Yoon, could have been added to the configuration information about the partial selection procedure in Guo, because both are configuration information for resource sensing and selection received by the UE from a base station. Furthermore, a person of ordinary skill in the art would have been able to carry out the addition through techniques known in the art. Finally, the addition achieves the predictable result of defining resource pools for sidelink/V2X communications in a new radio (NR) system, as taught by Yoon.
Yoon further teaches wherein the selection window is located after the sensing window in time (“[i]n a sensing window corresponding to a duration from "TTI m-a" to "TTI m-b", the UE may verify a resource that has been occupied and used by another UE through sensing. Based thereon, the UE may select a resource from among remaining resources excluding a resource occupied and used or to be used by the other terminal from among resources that belong to the resource pool” – See [¶0145] wherein “"TTI m" corresponding to a time at which the UE determines a selection/reselection corresponds to a time at which a corresponding TB arrives (i.e., a TB generated in an upper layer of the UE arrives at a physical layer)” – See [¶0146]; in another example, “for the sensing window to be monitored, the UE may define a slot that belongs to the range of [n-T0 , n-Tproc,0]” whereby “T0 and T proc,0 may be set to pre-configured values or fixed values based on Table 9” and “in the case of partial sensing, the sensing window may be configured based on Y slots” – See [¶0207] and “the UE may define a selection window and may define the single slot resource candidate Rx,y” wherein “in the case of partial sensing, Y slots may be the selection window. In the case of full sensing, the time duration [n+T1, n+T2] may be defined as the selection window” – See [¶0206] and Fig. 13(a), i.e., the selection window comes after the sensing window, as a person of ordinary skills in the art would be able to appreciate before the effective filing date of the present application).
Therefor, Amended Claim 15 is obvious over Gao in view of Yoon.
Regarding Claim 16, dependednt from Amended Claim 15, Guo in view of Chen further teaches the method of claim 15, wherein the sidelink DRX configuration includes a parameter for a sidelink DRX onduration timer and a parameter for a sidelink inactivity timer (as shown in Table 1, the “SLDRX Configuration Parameter[s]” include: “SLDRX Active Time -To indicate the duration of one 'ON time'” used for a sidelink DRX onduration timer and to derive the value for the sidelink inactivity timer from the “SLDRX Cycle Gap” which is “a parameter indicating a duration of a SL DRX cycle. A SL DRX cycle length is defined as a duration which equals to one 'ON time' plus one 'OFF time'. The value of SL DRX cycle length may be expressed in one or more time units. The time unit can be a frame, a subframe, a timeslot, or a symbol. As an example, a SL DRX cycle length can be measured by multiplying SL DRX Cycle Gap by a pre-defined time duration” – See Guo:[¶0069]). While a person of ordinary skills in the art would know that timers based on these parameters are the practical implementation of time duration in wireless networks, and Guo teaches that “the SL DRX configuration information is configured by radio resource control (RRC) signaling or by a MAC control element (CE)” – See [¶0072], Guo in view of Yoon does not explicitly teach DRX timers corresponding to the DRX parameters listed in Table 1.
However, 3GPP TS 36.331 V16.1.1 (2020-07), "Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA); Radio Resource Control (RRC); Protocol specification (Release 16)," published July 24, 2020 (hereinafter 3GPP TS 36.331), referenced by Guo – See [¶0044], teaches that the MAC-MainConfig information element “used to specify the MAC main configuration for signalling and data radio bearers” of the UE contains a drx-Config field “[u]sed to configure DRX as specified in TS 36.321 [6],” further comprising a drx-InactivityTimer that is a “[t]imer for DRX in TS 36.321 [6]. Value in number of PDCCH sub-frames” and a onDurationTimer that is a “[t]imer for DRX in TS 36.321 [6]. Value in number of PDCCH sub-frames” – See 3GPP TS 36.331:543-548; see also 3GPP TS 36.321 V16.1.0 (2020-07), Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA); Medium Access Control (MAC) protocol specification (Release 16),” July 24 2020 (hereinafter 3GPP TS 36.321) teaching DRX timers in § 5.7, at page 57-61.
Thus, Gao in view of Yoon teaches sidelink DRX parameters defining values for onduration and inactivity timers while 3GPP TS 36.331, referenced by Gao, further teaches that the DRX configuration of a UE, sent to a UE in a MAC CE as taught by Gao, generally comprises the timers configured with the two parameter values. A person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have understood that the timers generally defined for DRX configuration of a UE as taught in 3GPP TS 36.331 could have been used for the implementation of the sidelink DRX parameters defined in Guo in view of Yoon because they are based on the same configuration information for DRX. Furthermore, a person of ordinary skill in the art would have been able to carry out the combination through techniques known in the art. Finally, the addition achieves the predictable result of allowing the sidelink DRX implementation to use the similar timers as those generally used for implementing DRX.
Therefore, Claim 16 is obvious over Gao in view of Yoon.
Regarding Claim 17, dependent from Claim 16, Guo in view of Yoon further teaches a sidelink DRX active time (the “SL DRX cycle length is defined as a duration which equals to one 'ON time' plus one 'OFF time'” – See Table 1, and the “ON Duration of a SL DRX cycle may also be named as On Duration for SL DRX, Active Time of a SL DRX cycle, Active Time for SL DRX, or the like” – See Guo:[¶0056]). Because 3GPP TS 36.331 supra teaches that the onDurationTimer is a “[t]imer for DRX in TS 36.321 [6]. Value in number of PDCCH sub-frames” and § 5.7, 3GPP TS 36.321:57 teaches that “[w]hen a DRX cycle is configured, the Active Time includes the time while: onDurationTimer or drx-InactivityTimer . . . is running,” Guo in view of Yoon teaches that the active time includes time while the sidelink DRX onduration timer is running or the sidelink inactivity timer is running.
Therefore, Claim 17 is obvious over Gao in view of Yoon.
Regarding Claim 18, dependent from Amended Claim 15, Guo further teaches wherein the information on the sensing window further includes a parameter indicating a start of the sensing window (as shown in Table 2, “Partial Sensing Configuration Parameter[s]” include “Partial Sensing Active Time - To indicate the duration of one 'On Sensing' or one sensing window. The value of Partial Sensing Active Time may be expressed in one or more time units. The time unit can be a frame, a subframe, a timeslot, or a symbol” and “Partial Sensing Offset – To indicate an offset of the first time unit of an On Sensing Duration (or a partial sensing window) from a certain reference time unit,” which together are used to determine the start of the sensing window relative to a certain system frame number; see also 3GPP TS 36.331:829-30 (the IE SL-CommTxPoolSensingConfig, which “specifies V2X sidelink communication configurations used for UE autonomous resource selection” contains the field gapCandidateSensing which “[i]ndicates which subframe should be sensed when a certain subframe is considered as a candidate resource (see TS 36.213 [23]),” i.e., indicates the start of the sensing window).
Therefore, Claim 18 is obvious over Guo in view of Yoon.
Regarding Claim 19, Guo in view of Yoon further teaches the method of claim 15, wherein the selection window is associated with a subcarrier spacing (“According to 3GPP standard document TS36.213 [ 4], if UE (e.g., PUE) is configured to use a partial sensing based selection mechanism, the UE will monitor the resource only in a subset of subframes,” i.e., a sensing window – See Guo:[¶0045]; wherein “a single subframe may correspond to 1 ms on a time axis. Also, a single slot may correspond to 14 symbols on the time axis” and “Table 8 shows a number of slots and a number of symbols according to each SCS” – See Yoon:[¶0127] and Fig. 11(b) showing “sensing may be performed for slots that belong to the range of [n-T0, n-Tproc,0]” and “the UE may perform sensing in a sensing window corresponding to 1000·2µ slots”– See [¶0181] wherein µ is the numerology “defined based on an SCS” – See [¶0119] and Table 5) and
wherein the candidate resource is identified based on the monitoring of the slots (e.g., the “sensing window corresponding to a duration from "TTI m-a" to "TTI m-b"” whereby “sensing a specific resource for resource selection may include referencing whether a resource corresponding to the specific resource is occupied or used within the sensing window (i.e., at a previous point in time based on the specific resource)” because “sidelink resource allocation may have a periodic characteristic” – See [¶0145] and Fig. 9, has a length of 1000·2µ slots depending on the SCS, as explained supra).
Therefore, Claim 19 is obvious over Guo in view of Yoon.
Regarding Claim 20, dependent from Amended Claim 15, Yoon further teaches the method of claim 15, wherein an end of the selection window is determined based on a remaining packet delay budget (when “for the sensing window to be monitored, the UE may define a slot that belongs to the range of [n-T0 , n-Tproc,0]” with T0 and Tproc,0 “set to pre-configured values or fixed values based on Table 9” – See [¶0207], “the UE may define a selection window and may define the single slot resource candidate Rx,y” within, whereby “Y slots may be the selection window” comprised within “the time duration [n+T1, n+T2] may be defined as the selection window” – See [¶206] and Table 9; because “T1<=Tproc,1 and T2<=(remaining packet delay budget), values of T 1 and T2 may be determined” – See [¶0190] and Fig. 12, showing partial selection of Y slots).
Therefore, Claim 20 is obvious over Guo in view of Yoon.
Regarding Amended Claim 21, Guo further teaches a terminal in a communication system, the terminal comprising: a transceiver; and a controller coupled with the transceiver – See Fig. 18, and configured to performs the steps of Amended Claim 15, using the same language. Because Amended Claim 21 does not recite any other limitations, and the steps of the Amended Claim 15 method are obvious over Guo in view of Yoon, as explained in Regarding Amended Claim 15, supra, Amended Claim 21 is obvious over Guo in view of Yoon.
Regarding Claims 22-26, dependent from Amended Claim 21, each claim merely recites the same limitations as Claims 16-20, respectively, using the same language, and no other limitations, only applied to the apparatus of Amended Claim 21. Because Claims 16-21, as amended, are obvious over Guo in view of Yoon, each of the Claims 22-26 is also obvious over Guo in view of Yoon.
In sum, Claims 15-26, as amended, are rejected under 35 U.S.C. §103 as obvious over Gao in view of Yoon.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
Huang et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2021/0227604 teaches selecting candidate sidelink transmission resources when sidelink DRX is configured;
Chen et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2022/0039149 teaches sidelink communication or V2X sidelink communication within a sidelink resource pool within the sensing window except for slots used for a transmission;
Xu et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2022/0167268 teaches the configuration of SL-DRX may include timers;
Han et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2023/0232492 teaches power saving in R17 may be achieved by performing sidelink DRX at the UE, whereby the configuration information received by the UE may indicate that one sidelink DRX configuration is associated with the resource pool;
3GPP TSG RAN WG1 #101-e, R1-2003379, Title: ‘Remaining issues on mode 2 resource allocation mechanism,” Source: vivo, June 2020;
3GPP TSG RAN WG1 #101-e, R1-20004531, Title:” Remain details on mode-2 resource allocation for NR V2X” Source: ITIL, June 2020;
3GPP TSG RAN WG1 #101-e, R1-2004945, Title:” TPs based on outcome of [101-e-NR-5G_V2X_NRSL-Mode-2-04],” (periodic reservations), Source: Intel (moderator); June 2020;
3GPP TSG RAN WG1 #99, R1-1913450, Title: “Summary#2 for AI 7.2.4.2.2 Mode-2 Resource Allocation,” Source: Intel, November 2019;
3GPP TS 38.321 V16.1.0 (2020-07) “3rd Generation Partnership Project; Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; NR; Medium Access Control (MAC) protocol specification (Release 16)”; Published 07/24/2020;
3GPP TS 38.331 V16.1.0 (2020-07), “Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; NR; Radio Resource Control (RRC) protocol specification (Release 16),” published July 24, 2020;
3GPP TS 36.331 V16.1.1 (2020-07), "Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA); Radio Resource Control (RRC); Protocol specification (Release 16)," published July 24, 2020;
3GPP TS 36.213 V16.2.0 (2020-06), “Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA); Physical layer procedures (Release 16)”;
3GPP TS 36.300 V16.2.0 (2020-07), “Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA) and Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN); Overall description; Stage 2 (Release 16),” July 24, 2020.
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/L.G.G./ Examiner, Art Unit 2478
/JOSEPH E AVELLINO/ Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2478
1 This description is sufficient for the understanding of the present claimed invention wherein resources are identified at slot level. A person of ordinary skills in the art would look further into the 3GPP specifications regarding sidelink resource pools, e.g., 3GPP TS 36.331 V16.1.1 (2020-07), "Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA); Radio Resource Control (RRC); Protocol specification (Release 16)," published July 24, 2020, (hereinafter 3GPP TS 36.331) defining the SL-CommResourcePool IE contain the configuration information for an individual pool of resources for sidelink communication: sc-Period, define “the period over which resources are allocated in a cell for SC and over which scheduled and UE selected data transmissions occur, see PSCCH period in TS 36.213 [23]. Value in number of subframes,” sl-Subframe, “the bitmap of the resource pool, which is defined by repeating the bitmap within a SFN cycle (see TS 36.213 [23]),” and sl-OffsetIndicator, “the offset of the first subframe of a resource pool, i.e., the starting subframe of the repeating bitmap sl-Subframe, within a SFN cycle. If absent, the resource pool starts from first subframe of SFN=0” – See 3GPP TS 36.331:825-829.