DETAILED ACTION
This action is a response to an amendment filed on 11/21/25 in which claims 1, 5-8, 10-15, 19 and 20 are pending.
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 Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1, 5-8, 10-12, 14, 15, 19 and 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Non-Patent Literature: CATT, Sidelink DRX Timer Maintenance and Active Time Definition, herein CATT.
As to claim 1, CATT teaches a method for controlling a timer, comprising:
starting or restarting, by a first terminal device, a first timer after transmitting a first physical transmission to a plurality of second terminal devices within a common active time of the plurality of second terminal devices, the first terminal device being in an active state during running of the first timer, wherein the first terminal device is capable of performing transmission and reception during the running of the first timer (CATT section 2.1 drx-onduration timer and once SCI is transmitted (physical transmission) the drx-inactivityTimer in TX UE side should be started and section 2.3 active time in a DRX group (common active time) and sidelink groupcast when the drx onduration timer is running)
As to claim 8, CATT teaches a method for controlling a timer, comprising: starting or restarting, by each of a plurality of second terminal devices, a second timer after receiving a first physical transmission transmitted by a first terminal device within a common active time of the plurality of second terminal devices, the each second terminal device being in an active state during running of the second timer, wherein the each second terminal device is capable of performing transmission and reception during the running of the second timer (CATT section 2.1 drx-onduration timer and once SCI is transmitted (physical transmission) the drx-inactivityTimer in TX UE side should be started and section 2.3 active time in a DRX group (common active time) and sidelink groupcast when the drx onduration timer is running)
As to claim 15, CATT teaches a first terminal device, comprising:
a transceiver (Section 2.1 a TX/RX UE);
a processor (Section 2.1 a TX/RX UE); and
a memory storing a computer program executable by the processor, wherein the transceiver is configured to transmit a first physical transmission to one or more a plurality of second terminal devices within a common active time of the plurality of second terminal devices CATT section 2.1 drx-onduration timer and once SCI is transmitted (physical transmission) the drx-inactivityTimer in TX UE side should be started and section 2.3 active time in a DRX group (common active time) and sidelink groupcast when the drx onduration timer is running)
the processor is configured to start or restart a first timer after the transceiver transmits the first physical transmission to the plurality of second terminal devices within the common active time of the plurality of second terminal devices, the first terminal device being in an active state during running of the first timer, wherein the first terminal device is capable of performing transmission and reception during the running of the first timer (CATT section 2.1 drx-onduration timer and once SCI is transmitted (physical transmission) the drx-inactivityTimer in TX UE side should be started and section 2.3 active time in a DRX group (common active time) and sidelink groupcast when the drx onduration timer is running)
As to claim 5, CATT teaches the method of claim 1, wherein the first timer comprises at least one of a first transmitting side timer or a first receiving side timer, the first terminal device is capable of transmitting during running of the first transmitting side timer (CATT section 2.1 drx-onduration timer and once SCI is transmitted (physical transmission) the drx-inactivityTimer in TX UE side should be started and once SCI is received the drx-inactivity timer in RX UE side should be started)
; and the first terminal device is capable of receiving during running of the first receiving side timer (CATT proposal 1 one set of sidelink DRX timers should be maintained for each direction of the sidelink unicast connection and section 2.1 once SCI is received drx-inactivityttimer in RX is started)
Claim 19 is rejected for the same reasons stated in claim 5.
As to claim 6, CATT teaches the method of claim 1, further comprising: receiving, by the first terminal device, a second physical transmission transmitted by each of at least some of the one or more second terminal devices in a case that the first terminal device is capable of receiving (CATT proposal 1 one set of sidelink DRX timers should be maintained for each direction (second physical transmission) (TX -> RX and RX <- TX) of the sidelink unicast connection and section 2.1 once SCI is received drx-inactivityttimer in RX is started)
Claim 20 is rejected for the same reasons stated in claim 5.
As to claim 7, CATT teaches the method of claim 1, further comprising: transmitting, by the first terminal device, a third physical transmission to at least some of the one or more second terminal devices in a case that the first terminal device is capable of transmitting. (CATT page 3 drx-Retransmission timer the sidelink drx-retransmission timer in Rx/Tx UE can be started after SCI is received/transmitted)
As to claim 10, CATT teaches the method of claim 8, wherein the second timer comprises at least one of a second transmitting side timer or a second receiving side timer, the second terminal device is capable of transmitting during running of the second transmitting side timer (CATT proposal 1 one set of sidelink DRX timers should be maintained for each direction of the sidelink unicast connection and section 2.1 the drx-inactivityTimer in TX UE side should be started and once SCI is received the drx-inactivity timer in RX UE side should be started); and the second terminal device is capable of receiving during running of the second receiving side timer (CATT section 2.1 drx-onduration timer and once SCI is transmitted (physical transmission) the drx-inactivityTimer in TX UE side should be started and once SCI is received the drx-inactivity timer in RX UE side should be started)
As to claim 11, CATT teaches the method of claim 8, further comprising: in a case that the second terminal device is capable of transmitting, determining, by the second terminal device, a sidelink resource, and transmitting a second physical transmission to a third terminal device on the sidelink resource, the third terminal device being same as or different from the first terminal device (CATT section 2 SCI can indicate a resource for transmission section 2.2 group and UEs (third terminal) and section 2.1 drx-onduration timer and once SCI is transmitted (physical transmission) the drx-inactivityTimer in TX UE side should be started)
As to claim 12, CATT teaches the method of claim 8, further comprising: in a case that the second terminal device is capable of transmitting, acquiring, by the second terminal device, a sidelink resource allocated by a network device, and transmitting a second physical transmission to a third terminal device on the sidelink resource, the third terminal device being same as or different from the first terminal device (CATT section 2 SCI can indicate a resource for transmission section 2.2 group and UEs (third terminal) and section 2.1 drx-onduration timer and once SCI is transmitted (physical transmission) the drx-inactivityTimer in TX UE side should be started)
As to claim 14, CATT teaches the method of claim 8, further comprising: in a case that the second terminal device is capable of receiving, receiving, by the second terminal device, a third physical transmission transmitted by a third terminal device, the third terminal device being same as or different from the first terminal device (CATT section 2 SCI can indicate a resource for transmission section 2.2 group and UEs (third terminal) and section 2.1 drx-onduration timer and once SCI is transmitted (physical transmission) the drx-inactivityTimer in TX UE side should be started)
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.
Claim(s) 13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over CATT and Park et al. (Pub. No.: 2010/0265896 A1), herein Park.
As to claim 13, CATT teaches the method of claim 12,
determine the sidelink resource (CATT section 2 SCI can indicate a resource for transmission)
CATT does not teach
wherein acquiring, by the second terminal device, the sidelink resource allocated by the network device comprises:
transmitting, by the second terminal device, at least one of a Scheduling Request (SR) or a Buffer Status Report (BSR) to the network device, transmission resources of at least one of the SR or the BSR indicating at least one of:
a starting time of the second timer;
a duration of the second timer;
an ending time of the second timer; or
a duration of which a sidelink resource scheduled by the network device expected by the second terminal device; and
receiving, by the second terminal device, resource allocation information transmitted by the network device, the resource allocation information being used to determine the sidelink resource.
However Park doe teach
wherein acquiring, by the second terminal device, the sidelink resource allocated by the network device comprises:
transmitting, by the second terminal device, at least one of a Scheduling Request (SR) or a Buffer Status Report (BSR) to the network device, transmission resources of at least one of the SR or the BSR indicating at least one of:
a starting time of the second timer (Park [0048] After transmitting the 1 bit information through the SR channel, the UE makes a timer T1 operate. The driving time of the timer could be either the transmission time of the 1 bit information or the time when ACK for the 1 bit information is received. If the UE is not allocated with radio resources from the eNB until the timer ends, the UE transmits the 1 bit information to the eNB through the SR channel to request radio resource allocation [S62], and makes the timer operate again);
a duration of the second timer;
an ending time of the second timer; or
a duration of which a sidelink resource scheduled by the network device expected by the second terminal device; and
receiving, by the second terminal device, resource allocation information transmitted by the network device, the resource allocation information being used to determine the resource (Park [0049] If the UE is allocated with radio resources from the eNB as above, the UE terminates transmission of the 1 bit information and transmits data through the allocated radio resources)
It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of CATT with Park, because Park teaches us [0010] For scheduling, the user equipment can perform a buffer status report (BSR) and a channel resource request. The user equipment can allow a network to efficiently perform scheduling by notifying the network of data stored in its buffer, through the buffer status report. The network can perform proper scheduling by identifying what user equipment needs how many radio resources, using the buffer status report. Meanwhile, the user equipment can actively request the network to allocate radio resources.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 11/21/25 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. The applicant states CATT is silent about starting or restarting a timer when transmitting a transmission to multiple terminals, rather it is started or restarted periodically rather than to a physical transmission (applicant remarks page 2) . The examiner respectfully disagrees. CATT teaches us an inactivity timer is started for the transmission of SCI (physical transmission) (section 2.1) in addition CATT teaches us the active time includes the inactivity timer (section 2.1). Furthermore CATT section 2.3 teaches the definition of active time for serving cells in a DRX group includes the time while the inactivity timer for the DRX group is running. Lastly, for sidelink unicast we know the active time is defined per sidelink (multiple links – multiple terminals) and thus the timers are started or restarted and the inactivity timer is started or restarted once the SCI is received in Rx UE or transmitted in Tx UE (section 2.1). Section 2.3 also teaches us there is an inactivitytimer for a DRX group (multiple serving cells). For this reason the examiner maintains the rejection.
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to AYANAH S GEORGE whose telephone number is (571)272-8880. The examiner can normally be reached 7:00 AM - 5:00 PM.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Hassan Phillips can be reached at 572-272-3940. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
AYANAH S. GEORGE
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2467
/AYANAH S GEORGE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2467
Prosecution Insights