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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 5-4-2026 has been entered.
Response to Arguments
Claims objections and 112 rejections have been withdrawn in view of the amendment.
Applicant's arguments filed 5-4-2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Applicant submits “Park does not disclose that a timer for monitoring PDCCH is started in response to determining that the wireless device is located in the one or more location areas. This is because, as shown above in Park's FIG. 13, Park contemplates that monitoring PDCCH occurs during an on-duration of a respective sidelink DRX configuration and, while the timing of the on-duration timer may be based on a respective DRX configuration of a zone, Park does not contemplate that the on- duration timer starts in response to determining that the UE is located in a respective zone.”; the examiner respectfully disagree. As stated by Park in par. 0167-0175, the on-duration timer is part of the DRX configuration of a zone; thereby, the on-duration timer is configured and used in response to determining that the UE is located in a respective zone. And using timer requires to start the timer to measure the desired time. Therefore, Park teaches the argued limitations.
The rest of the arguments they fall for the same reasons as shown above. The rejection of record stands.
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, 6-12 and 14-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Park 20220322486.
As to claim 1, Park discloses a method comprising:
receiving, by a first wireless device [10] from a second wireless device [20 or UE], one or more messages indicating;
a discontinuous reception (DRX) configuration (see par. 0028-0029);
one or more location areas where the first wireless device wakes up to monitor for one or more sidelink signals [S1201] (see fig. 12; par. 0153, 0168);
determining that the first wireless device is located in the one or more location areas; in response to the determining, using a wake up timer for monitoring of a control channel for the one or more sidelink signals from a third wireless device (see par. 0175); and
receiving, from the third wireless device [TX UE] and based on the wake up timer being running, the one or more side link signals [S1202] (see fig. 12; par. 0153, 0168-0177). Park does not explicitly disclose starting the wakeup timer, but it is required in other to use the timer. Therefore, it would be obvious to one of the ordinary skills in the art before the effective filing date of the present invention that using a wakeup timer requires starting the timer for the simple purpose of measuring the desired time; thereby, allowing the device to receive operate in the correct cycle.
As to claim 2, Park discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the one or more location areas indicate where the first wireless device starts to monitor for side link signals (see par. 0153, 0168). Park does not explicitly disclose starting the wakeup timer, but it is required in other to use the timer. Therefore, it would be obvious to one of the ordinary skills in the art before the effective filing date of the present invention that using a wakeup timer requires starting the timer for the simple purpose of measuring the desired time; thereby, allowing the device to receive operate in the correct cycle.
As to claim 3, Park discloses the method of claim 1, wherein each location area of the one or more location areas comprises at least one of: a fixed size; a unique zone identity; a preconfigured zone identity (see par. 0170); a communication range (see par. 0168); or a zone identity configured by the second wireless device (see par. 0170-0172).
As to claim 4, Park discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the starting the wake up timer monitoring is further based on one or more conditions comprising at least one of:
a first threshold for a received signal strength indicator of the first wireless device (see par. 0115);
a second threshold for a channel busy ratio (CBR) of the first wireless device; a third threshold for a number of detected wireless devices within a time period;
a fourth threshold for a remaining battery level of the first wireless device;
a fifth threshold for a transmit power of the first wireless device;
a sixth threshold for a pathloss from a base station to the first wireless device; or a seventh threshold for a speed of the first wireless device.
Park does not explicitly disclose starting the wakeup timer, but it is required in other to use the timer. Therefore, it would be obvious to one of the ordinary skills in the art before the effective filing date of the present invention that using a wakeup timer requires starting the timer for the simple purpose of measuring the desired time; thereby, allowing the device to receive operate in the correct cycle.
As to claim 6, Park discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the second wireless device and the third wireless device are the same wireless device [Method 3-4; UE sends zone info and sidelink] (see par. 0171-0172, 0177).
As to claim 7, Park discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the second wireless device is different from the third wireless device [when BS send zone info] (see par. 0039).
As to claim 8, Park discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the second wireless device is a base station and the third wireless device is a sidelink device (see par. 0039).
Regarding claims 9-12 and 14-16 they are the correspondent device claims of method claims 1-4 and 6-9. Therefore, claims 9-12 and 14-16, are rejected for the same reasons as shown above and Park discloses the processor [102,202] and memory [104,204].
Regarding claims 17-20, they are the correspondent non-transitory computer-readable medium claims of method claims 1-4. Therefore, claims 17-20, are rejected for the same reasons as shown above
Claim(s) 5 and 13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Park in view Hoang 20230300713.
As to claim 5, 13 Park discloses the method of claim 1, further comprising sending monitoring instructions such as start monitoring for the one or more location areas (see par. 0153, 0168). Park fails to disclose stopping monitoring. In an analogous art, Hoang discloses start or stopping monitoring when the wireless device receives instructions (see par. 0428). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skills in the art before the effective filing date of the present invention to instruct monitor where needed such as in the desired area and to stop monitoring where is not needed such as outside of the desired areas; thereby, saving resources such as power and increasing battery life.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MARCOS L TORRES whose telephone number is (571)272-7926. The examiner can normally be reached 10:00 AM - 6:00 PM M-F.
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MARCOS L. TORRES
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2647
/MARCOS L TORRES/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2647
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