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 .
RCE filed 04/24/2026 has been entered.
Claims 1-3, 5, 7-10 are pending.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112:
The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention.
Claims 1-3, 5, 7-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention.
Independent claim 1 as amended recites a “sidelink retransmission timer”. This is not in the original specification verbatim. The original spec recites “DRX-Retransmission TImerSL”. Although SL could mean sidelink, the original specification does not spell this out. It is incumbent upon the applicant to clearly state the amended “sidelink retransmission timer” is “DRX-Retransmission TImerSL” of the original specification.
In addition, Claim 1 as amended recite this process:
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The original specification only recites “DRX-Retransmission TImerSL” 3 times. On page 28, it recites following:
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It is not clear to the examiner if the claimed sidelink process, start a second timer, etc. is supported in the original specification at all. The amended claim requires HARQ is enabled or disabled. But the original specification that recites “DRX-Retransmission TImerSL” do not mention HARQ.
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.
Claims 1-2, 5, 7-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yang, CN 111567070, published on 08/21/2020, in view of He, US 2020/0344722, assigned to Samsung.
For claim 1, Yang teaches a sidelink discontinuous reception (DRX) apparatus, configured in a first terminal equipment (Yang, Page 1/14, paragraph 6 discloses first and second terminal; the First terminal in Yang corresponds to the second terminal of the claims), the apparatus comprising:
a receiver configured (Yang, Fig. 9, Communication Assembly 916) to receive first sidelink control information transmitted by a second terminal equipment, the first sidelink control information indicating a reserved resource used for retransmission after a slot where the first sidelink control information is located (Yang, Fig. 4, Step 402 and corresponding written description); and
a processor configured to, (Yang, Fig. 9, Processor 920) at a slot where the reserved resource is located, enable the first terminal equipment to be in an active state or an on state in a sidelink (Yang, Fig. 1, Page 4/14 explains under DRX technology, waking up based on a timer indication is fairly standard) and for a sidelink process, starts a first timer from a first slot after a slot where the first terminal equipment receives the first sidelink control information ((Yang, Page 4/14, paragraph 64 to 67), wherein the first timer is a sidelink HARQ RTT timer (Yang, Page 4/14, paragraph 64 to 65 teaches HARQ RTT timer represents the terminal before receiving the desired sidelink retransmission).
Yang does not explicitly teach for a sidelink process, starts a first timer from a first slot after a slot where the first terminal equipment receives the first sidelink control information, and for the sidelink process, start a second timer and make the first terminal equipment enter into the active state or the on state at a first slot after the first timer expires, in a case where the first sidelink control information indicates that a HARQ is disabled, or the first side link control information indicates that a HARQ is enabled and the first terminal equipment feeds back non-acknowledgement, wherein the second timer is a sidelink HARQ RTT timer.
He further teaches for a sidelink process, starts a first timer from a first slot after a slot where the first terminal equipment receives the first sidelink control information (He, PP337),
and for the sidelink process, start a second timer and make the first terminal equipment enter into the active state or the on state at a first slot after the first timer expires (He, PP336), in a case where the first sidelink control information indicates that a HARQ is disabled, or the first side link control information indicates that a HARQ is enabled and the first terminal equipment feeds back non-acknowledgement, wherein the second timer is a sidelink HARQ RTT timer (He, PP343).
It would have obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the effective filing of the current invention, to incorporate the teaches of He into that of Yang for an improved DRX HARQ process on the sidelink.
For claim 2, Yang and Zhao teaches all the limitations of parent claim 1. Zhao further teaches wherein the first terminal equipment is activated or started in the sidelink starting from a first symbol of the slot where the reserved resource is located, and the active state or the on-state lasts for a slot or a plurality of continuous slots in a sidelink resource pool (examiner interprets this limitation to mean a terminal wakes up for at least 1 time slot and potentially more than one timeslot; See Fig. 1H, 2B to 2F and corresponding written description).
For claim 5, Yang and Zhao teaches all the limitations of parent claim 4. Zhao further teaches a value of the first timer is the number of slots, the number of slots being a total number of slots in a resource pool contained in a period from the first slot in sidelink resource pool after the slot where the first terminal equipment receives the first sidelink control information to a slot in sidelink resource pool prior to a slot where a reserved resource, used for next time of transmission, indicated in the first sidelink control information is located (Zhao, page 6, lines 23-28; e.g., 31 slots and 32 slots, this is identical to the disclosure in the current application, see claim 12).
For claim 7, Yang and Zhao teaches all the limitations of parent claim 6. Zhao further teaches wherein the receiver further receives second sidelink control information in the active state or the on state (Zhao, Fig. 2C, retransmission h3, see also page 6, starting at line 34, “Optionally, the duration of the second timer is determined according to the time interval between sideline transmission resources indicated in the SCI sent by the first device.”); and the processor stops the second timer (Zhao Fig. 2C shows stopping the second timer ), in a case where the second sidelink control information is received and a destination identification and a source identification and a hybrid automatic retransmission request process identification indicated by the second sidelink control information are respectively identical to a destination identification and a source identification and a hybrid automatic retransmission request process identification indicated by the first sidelink control information (Zhao, Fig. 2C, ACK at h4).
For claim 8, Yang and Zhao teaches all the limitations of parent claim 4. Zhao further teaches the first terminal equipment, for the sidelink process, does not start a second timer at a first symbol of a first slot after the first timer expires, in a case where the first sidelink control information indicates that a hybrid automatic retransmissionr equest is enabled, and the first terminal equipment feeds back acknowledgement (Zhao, Page 7, lines 24 to 25, “In this possible example, the feedback information of the side row data is a positive acknowledgement ACK; the method further includes: the first device stops the second timer”).
For claim 9, Yang and Zhao teaches all the features of parent claim 1. Yang further teaches a slot where a resource, used for initial transmission, selected by the second terminal equipment is located is in an operational period of a third timer, and the third timer operates periodically and is used by the first terminal equipment for discontinuous reception (the claimed 3rd timer is the 2nd timer in Fig. 9, as explained above, the claim only requires another timer, not 3 distinct timers. Yang, Fig. 5, Step 503 to 506, page 9/14).
For claim 10, Yang and Zhao teaches all the features of parent claim 1. Yang further teaches a reselected resource obtained by the second terminal equipment reselecting for a first reserved resource is located after the first reserved resource (Yang, Fig. 5, Step 503 to 506, page 9/14 and on page 10/14, paragraph 148 disclose a time offset, which is the reselection), when the first reserved resource is pre-empted (this limitation is interpreted as resources are not available. Yang, Fig. 5, Step 503 to 505, page 9/14, paragraph 139).
Claim 3 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yang, CN 111567070, published on 08/21/2020, in view of He, US 2020/0344722, assigned to Samsung., further in view of Yang XD, CN 111800894, Published 10/20/2020.
For claim 3, Yang and Zhao teaches all the limitations of parent claim 1. Yang further teaches wherein the first terminal equipment is an intended receiving terminal of the first sidelink control information and/or a corresponding physical sidelink shared channel (because of and/or, PSCCH is not treated for this office action; Yang Fig 4, as mentioned earlier, teaches sending sidelink control information for intended target); Yang does not teach a destination identification indicated in the first sidelink control information is identical to an identification of the first terminal equipment, or a destination identification indicated in the first sidelink control information comprises an identification of the first terminal equipment, or the first sidelink control information indicates traffics interested by the first terminal equipment.
However, having a destination ID is well known in the art. In the analogous art of sidelink DRX communication, Yang XD teaches a destination identification indicated in the first sidelink control information is identical to an identification of the first terminal equipment, or a destination identification indicated in the first sidelink control information comprises an identification of the first terminal equipment, or the first sidelink control information indicates traffics interested by the first terminal equipment (page 5/11, Paragraph 75).
It would have obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the effective filing of the current invention, to incorporate the teaching of Yang XD into Yang to achieve the intended result of DRX communication between two terminals.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Charles C Jiang whose telephone number is (571)270-7191. The examiner can normally be reached Monday to Thursday 7 am to 5 pm Eastern Time.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, TC Group director, Deborah Reynolds can be reached at (571) 272-0734. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/CHARLES C JIANG/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2412
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