DETAILED ACTION
The Reply filed December 11, 2025 has been received and carefully considered.
Claims 1, 3, 5, 8-14, 24, 26, and 28-34 are pending in the application.
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see page 6 of the Reply, with respect to the rejection(s) of claims 1, 3, 5, 8-14, 24, 26, and 28-34 under 35 U.S.C. §103 have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground(s) of rejection is made in view of a newly found prior art reference, U.S. Pub. No. 2023/0276526.
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.
Claims 1, 3, 5, 13, 14, 24, 26, 28-34 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over U.S. Pub. No. 2021/0306948 (hereinafter “Ding”) in view of U.S. Pub. No. 2023/0276526 (Newly Cited, hereinafter “Shin”).
Regarding claims 1, 14, and 26, Ding discloses or teaches a method, a first device, and a processing device comprising:
at least one transceiver (see at least Fig. 3, and paragraphs 51-52 and 58, transmit processor and receive processor);
at least one processor (see at least Fig. 3 and paragraphs 53 and 57, controller/processor); and
at least one memory connected to the at least one processor and storing instructions that, based on being executed by the at least one processor, cause the first device to perform operations comprising (see at least Fig. 3 and paragraphs 57, the controller/processor can be associated with a memory that stores program code and data):
obtaining a value of a sidelink (SL) discontinuous reception (DRX) hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) round trip time (RTT) timer (see at least paragraph 87, the duration of SL drx-HARQ-RTT-Timer-TX/RX is configured);
starting the SL DRX HARQ RTT timer (see at least Fig. 9, and paragraphs 88 and 91, the UE starts the SL drx-HARQ-RTT-timer-RX and then sleeps at time t4),
wherein, the first device operates in a sleep mode in a time domain before the second SL resource by starting the SL DRX HARQ RTT timer (see at least Fig. 9, and paragraphs 88 and 91, the UE starts the SL drx-HARQ-RTT-timer-RX and then sleeps at time t4 before the subsequent SL resource starting at time t5).
Ding does not explicitly disclose receiving, based on a first SL resource, sidelink control information (SCI) including information related to a second SL resource; and starting the SL DRX HARQ RTT timer based on the SCI including the information related to the second SL resource, wherein based on the SCI including information representing retransmission, the SL DRX HARQ RTT timer is startedd.
However, in an analogous art, Shin discloses or suggests receiving, based on a first SL resource, sidelink control information (SCI) including information related to a second SL resource; and starting the SL DRX HARQ RTT timer based on the SCI including the information related to the second SL resource, wherein based on the SCI including information representing retransmission, the SL DRX HARQ RTT timer is started (see at least paragraphs 124 and 129, for sidelink communication, the UE may receive sidelink control information through a PSCCH in the DRX on-duration, where the control information may include information related to retransmission and specifically include whether a retransmission resource is reserved and position information of a resource in which the retransmission resource is to be transmitted, where a drx-HARQ-RTT-Timer is configured for a time gap between initial transmission and retransmission resources or a time gap between retransmission resources).
Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to implement the teaching of Shin in to the invention of Ding in order to match/synchronize wake-up time points between UEs performing communication in the sidelink, which minimizes power consumption of the UEs (see at least paragraphs 10 and 129 of Shin).
Regarding claims 3, 29, and 32, Ding, as modified by Shin, further disclose or suggest, based on the SCI including the information related to the second SL resource, the time domain before the second SL resource is not an active time (Ding: see at least Fig. 9, DRX inactive).
Regarding claims 5 and 24, Ding, as modified by Shin, further disclose or suggest that the value of the SL DRX HARQ RTT timer is derived based on a time interval between the first SL resource and the second SL resource (Ding: see at least Fig. 9 and paragraph 91, the duration of the drx-HARQ-RTT-timer-RX is derived based on a time interval between the first PSSCH/PSCCH at time t1 and the retransmission at time t5).
Regarding claims 13, 31, and 34, Ding, as modified by Shin, further disclose or suggest that a time during which the SL DRX HARQ RTT timer is running is a minimum duration before an SL HARQ retransmission is expected by the first device (Ding: see at least Fig. 9 and paragraph 91, the UE0 starts the SL drx-HARQ-RTT-timer-RX and then sleeps at time t4 and, after the SL drx-HARQ-RTT-timer-RX timer expires at time 5, the SL drx-Retransmission-Timer-RX starts and the UE0 wakes up to listen for a retransmission).
Regarding claims 28, 30, and 33, Ding, as modified by Shin, further disclose or suggest, based on that information representing initial transmission, is included in the SCI, an inactivity timer is started (Ding: see at least Fig. 9 and paragraph 88, a sidelink inactivity timer starts at reception of the PSSCH/PSCCH).
Claims 8-12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ding in view of Shin, and further in view of U.S. Pub. No. 2024/0015838 (hereinafter “Ashraf”).
Regarding claims 8 and 9, Ding, as modified by Shin, discloses all of the subject matter of the claimed invention except, based on the SCI including information related to a plurality of SL resources, the inactivity timer or the retransmission timer is started after a time domain of a last SL resource among the plurality of SL resources, wherein the plurality of SL resources are included in the on-duration of the first device.
Ashraf, from the same or similar fields of endeavor, discloses or suggests, based on the SCI including information related to a plurality of SL resources, the inactivity timer or the retransmission timer is started after a time domain of a last SL resource among the plurality of SL resources (see at least Fig. 4, and paragraphs 57, 75, 77, and 79-81, based on the SCI scheduling resources for SL transmission and HARQ feedback, the drx-RetransmissionTimerSL is started after a time domain of a PSFCH resource for HARQ feedback transmission, which is the last SL resource among the plurality of SL resources), wherein the plurality of SL resources are included in the on-duration of the first device (see at least Fig. 4 and paragraphs 76-79, the plurality of SL resources for SL transmission and HARQ feedback are included during the DRX active mode).
Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to implement the technique as taught by Ashraf in to the invention of Ding, as modified by Shin, in order to improve the DRX operation of the communication system.
Regarding claim 10, Ding, as modified by Shin, discloses all of the subject matter of the claimed invention except, based on the SCI including information related to a plurality of SL resources, the inactivity timer or the retransmission timer is started after a time domain of a PSFCH resource related to a last SL resource among the plurality of SL resources.
Ashraf, from the same or similar fields of endeavor, discloses or suggests, based on the SCI including information related to a plurality of SL resources, the inactivity timer or the retransmission timer is started after a time domain of a PSFCH resource related to a last SL resource among the plurality of SL resources (see at least Fig. 4, and paragraphs 57, 75, 77, and 79-81, based on the SCI scheduling resources for SL transmission and HARQ feedback, the drx-RetransmissionTimerSL is started after a time domain of a PSFCH resource for HARQ feedback transmission, which is the last SL resource among the plurality of SL resources).
Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to implement the technique as taught by Ashraf in to the invention of Ding, as modified by Shin, in order to improve the DRX operation of the communication system.
Regarding claims 11 and 12, Ding, as modified by Shin, discloses all of the subject matter of the claimed invention except, based on the SCI including information related to a plurality of SL resources, the inactivity timer or the retransmission timer is started after a time domain of a PSFCH resource related to a first occurring SL resource among the plurality of SL resources.
Ashraf, from the same or similar fields of endeavor, discloses or suggests, based on the SCI including information related to a plurality of SL resources, the inactivity timer or the retransmission timer is started after a time domain of a PSFCH resource related to a first occuring SL resource among the plurality of SL resources (see at least Fig. 4, and paragraphs 57, 75, 77, and 79-81, based on the SCI scheduling resources for SL transmission and HARQ feedback, the drx-RetransmissionTimerSL is started after a time domain of a PSFCH resource for HARQ feedback transmission, which is the last SL resource among the plurality of SL resources).
Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to implement the technique as taught by Ashraf in to the invention of Ding, as modified by Shin, in order to improve the DRX operation of the communication system.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Pawaris Sinkantarakorn whose telephone number is (571)270-1424. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 8:00am-4:00pm.
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/PAO SINKANTARAKORN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2409 12/22/2025