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 .
Claim Status
This office action is in response to the communication(s) filed on 03/04/2026.
Claim(s) 1-2, 6-8, 14-15, and 21-23 is/are currently presenting for examination.
Claim(s) 1 and 14 is/are independent claim(s).
Claim(s) 1-2, 6-8, 14-15, and 21-23 is/are rejected.
This action has been made NON-FINAL.
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 03/04/2026 has been entered.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed on 02/12/2026 have been considered but are moot in view of the new ground(s) of rejection.
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 set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 148 USPQ 459 (1966), that are applied 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) 1-2, 6-8, 14-15, and 21-23 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US_20230328840_A1_Cheng in view of US_20200337110_A1_Kim (Hereinafter, “Kim-10”) and US_20150105062_A1_Quan.
Regarding claim 1, Cheng discloses a discontinuous reception (DRX) processing method, performed by a terminal (Cheng figures 3, 16-17) and comprising: sending DRX configuration preference information to a network-side device (Cheng figure 3 step 305, figure 16 step 1605, paragraph 153, “At 305, the UE 115-e may transmit sidelink DRX information to the base station 105-b, for example, via a Uu interface. The UE 115-e may transmit the sidelink DRX information in UE-assistance information (UAI). The sidelink DRX information may indicate a DRX preference, which may include a DRX cycle, an active duration of a DRX cycle, an offset period prior to the active duration of the DRX cycle, a DRX inactivity timer, a DRX retransmission timer, etc. …”); wherein the DRX configuration preference information is used to assist the network-side device in configuring at least one of sidelink (SL) DRX or Uu DRX for the terminal (Cheng figure 3 step 310, figure 16 step 1610, paragraph 154, “At 310, the base station 105-b may determine a sidelink DRX configuration, for example, based on the received sidelink DRX information from the UE 115-e…”), but does not discloses wherein before sending the DRX configuration preference information to the network-side device, the method further comprises: determining whether a first condition for sending the DRX configuration preference information is satisfied; and in a case that the first condition is satisfied, sending the DRX configuration preference information to the network-side device; wherein the first condition comprises DRX assistance information having changed; wherein the DRX assistance information comprises at least the DRX configuration preference information.
Kim-10 discloses wherein before sending the DRX configuration preference information to the network-side device, the method further comprises: determining whether a first condition for sending the DRX configuration preference information is satisfied (Kim-10 paragraph 24, “…transmitting preference information of the terminal to the base station when a predetermined condition is satisfied…”); and in a case that the first condition is satisfied, sending the DRX configuration preference information to the network-side device (Kim-10 paragraph 24, “…transmitting preference information of the terminal to the base station when a predetermined condition is satisfied…”); wherein the DRX assistance information comprises at least the DRX configuration preference information (Kim-10 paragraph 228, “… in the operation of the step S702-1, when at least one condition (or selectively combined conditions) among the conditions listed below is satisfied, the terminal may request transition of the DRX operation (e.g., transition between the non-DRX operation and the DRX operation) or change of the DRX configuration parameters to the base station, or transmit to the base station a connection reconfiguration request message for requesting to stop (or deactivate) the measurement/measurement reporting operation or change the configuration parameters for the measurement/measurement reporting operation (S703). In addition, the terminal may generate the above-described preference information (e.g., UE preference information or UE assist information), and may transmit the preference information to the base station 702 by including it in the connection reconfiguration request message or together with the connection reconfiguration request message”), but does not disclose wherein the first condition comprises DRX assistance information having changed.
Quan discloses wherein the first condition comprises DRX assistance information having changed (Quan paragraph 76, “In this embodiment, before the second condition is met, the UE is not allowed to send the UE assistance information to abase station.”, paragraph 79, “In addition, the second condition may further be that only when content of the UE assistance information is changed, the UE can again send the UE assistance information, for example, a power saving preference of the UE is changed.…”).
Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement the teachings of Kim-10’s the UE transmitting preference information to the base station when a predetermined condition is satisfied, and Quan’s the (second) condition may be that only when content of the UE assistance information is changed in Cheng’s system to let the base station determines the DRX parameters according to the UE’s preference information, and to avoid excessive signaling of assistance information. This method for improving the system of Cheng was within the ordinary ability of one of ordinary skill in the art based on the teachings of Kim-10. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to combine the teachings of Cheng and Kim-10 to obtain the invention as specified in claim 1.
Regarding claim 2, Cheng, Kim-10, and Quan disclose the method according to claim 1, and Cheng further discloses wherein the DRX configuration preference information comprises at least one of following: Uu DRX being preferentially guaranteed or SL DRX being preferentially guaranteed; whether switching of SL resource allocation mode is allowed; power saving being preferentially guaranteed; quality of service (QoS) being preferentially guaranteed; offset relative to SL DRX on-duration (Cheng paragraph 153, “At 305, the UE 115-e may transmit sidelink DRX information to the base station 105-b, for example, via a Uu interface. The UE 115-e may transmit the sidelink DRX information in UE-assistance information (UAI). The sidelink DRX information may indicate a DRX preference, which may include a DRX cycle, an active duration of a DRX cycle, an offset period prior to the active duration of the DRX cycle, a DRX inactivity timer, a DRX retransmission timer, etc. …The UE 115-e may determine the DRX preference based at least in part on a relay service or QoS requirements of pending data traffic at the UE 115-e, or both”); or whether wake-up of SL DRX is allowed.
Regarding claim 6, Cheng, Kim-10, and Quan disclose the method according to claim 1, Cheng further discloses further comprising: receiving configuration information sent by the network-side device (Cheng figure 16, step 1610); and Quan further discloses wherein the configuration information comprises at least one of following: first indication information, wherein the first indication information is used to indicate whether the terminal is allowed to send the DRX assistance information (Quan paragraph 79, “…the base station indicates, in the RRC message or a MAC layer message whether the UE assistance information is allowed to be (again) reported…”); or a time length of the prohibit timer.
Regarding claim 7, Cheng, Kim-10, and Quan disclose the method according to claim 6, and Cheng further discloses wherein the receiving the configuration information sent by the network-side device comprises: receiving a radio resource control (RRC) reconfiguration message or system information block (SIB) sent by the network-side device; wherein the RRC reconfiguration message or the SIB carries the configuration information (Cheng paragraph 35, “…receiving a system information block (SIB) or an RRC reconfiguration message including the group sidelink DRX configuration”, also see paragraphs 143, 146).
Regarding claim 8, Cheng, Kim-10, and Quan disclose the method according to claim 1, and Kim-10 further discloses wherein the sending the DRX configuration preference information to the network-side device comprises: if the first condition is satisfied when the terminal is in a current serving cell, sending the DRX configuration preference information in the current serving cell (Kim-10 figure 7 step s703, paragraph 24, and paragraph 186, “The terminal may transmit at least part of the following preference information (i.e., UE preference information) to the serving base station (or cell) in consideration of the low power consumption operation of the terminal”); or if the first condition is not satisfied when the terminal is in the current serving cell, reselecting to or handing over to a cell satisfying the first condition, and sending the DRX configuration preference information.
Regarding claim 14, Cheng, Kim-10, and Quan disclose the limitations as set forth in claim 1, and Cheng further discloses a terminal, comprising a processor, a memory, and a program or instructions stored in the memory and executable on the processor (Cheng figure 11).
Regarding claim 15, Cheng, Kim-10, and Quan disclose the limitations as set forth in claim 2.
Regarding claim 21, Cheng, Kim-10, and Quan disclose the limitations as set forth in claim 6.
Regarding claim 22, Cheng, Kim-10, and Quan disclose the limitations as set forth in claim 7.
Regarding claim 23, Cheng, Kim-10, and Quan disclose the limitations as set forth in claim 8.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to WEIBIN HUANG whose telephone number is (571)270-3695. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 9:30AM - 6:00PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Sujoy Kundu can be reached at (571)272-8586. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/W.H/Examiner, Art Unit 2471
/SUJOY K KUNDU/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2471