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
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 March 17, 2026 has been entered.
This Office Action is in response to claim amendment filed on February 13, 2026. Wherein claims 1, 12 being currently amended, and Claims 9 and 20 being currently cancelled.
In virtue of this communication, claims 1-8, 10-19, 21-22 are currently pending in this Office Action.
The Office appreciates the explanation of the amendment and analyses of the prior arts, and however, although the claims are interpreted in light of the specification, limitations from the specification are not read into the claims. See In re Van Geuns, 988 F.2d 1181, 26 USPQ2d 1057 (Fed. Cir. 1993) and MPEP 2145.
Response to Arguments
Applicant argue LeeSeung2 and LeeYoung failed to disclose resetting of the counters to zero only upon receiving a sidelink grant deactivation command or signal (Remarks, page 8) has been fully considered. The examiner respectively disagrees.
LeeYoung disclose UE perform retransmission of the TB after receive the retransmission
grant DCI, and retransmission is for additional retransmission of exist TB, see Fig. 12, element S1208, paragraph [0203-0204].
LeeYoung further disclose the DCI include the numbers of HARQ retransmissions used for a resource reservation procedure, an indication to activation or deactivation (or release) of a particular pool of resources, an indication related to the number of activated and/or deactivated HARQ processes associated to the particular pool of resources and/or an indication related to one or more of the activated and/or deactivated HARQ processes associated to the particular pool of resources, wherein the number of HARQ retransmissions is reading as a counter
of each of the one or more pending HARQ process, which is configurable/programmable via DCI, including value zero, thus UE can RESET a counter of each of the one or more pending HARQ process to zero as configured after receiving deactivation command, see paragraph [0281-0289].
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)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-6, 11, 12-17,22 are rejected under 35 U.S.C.102(a)(2) as being anticipated by LeeYoung et al. (US 20220007337 A1, hereinafter LeeYoung).
Claim 1: LeeYoung teaches a method performed by a wireless device for deactivating a sidelink configured grant (Fig. 12, Fig.13, [0305], “upon receiving the DCI from the network, TX UE may activate and/or deactivate the particular pool of resources according to the DCI”) the method comprising:
receiving an indication to deactivate a sidelink configured grant (Fig. 13, element S1300, [0139], “RRC defines the periodicity of the configured sidelink grant while PDCCH can either signal and activate the configured sidelink grant, or deactivate it”, [0287], “An indication related to the number of activated and/or deactivated HARQ processes
associated to the particular pool of resources and/or an indication related to one or more of the activated and/or deactivated HARQ processes associated to the particular pool of resources”, [0283], “An indication related to activation or deactivation
(or release) of a particular pool of resources”);
and flushing one or more hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) buffers of one or more pending HARQ processes containing one or more transport blocks (TBs) that are being transmitted/retransmitted using the configured sidelink grant (Fig. 13, element S1302, S1304, [0305], “upon receiving the DCI from the network, TX UE may activate and/or deactivate
the particular pool of resources according to the DCI”, [0367], “ deactivation/release indication to the pool of resources is received from the network, TX UE may clear the given retransmission grant assigned to the HARQ process in the selected sidelink grant … TX UE may flush the buffer of the sidelink process associated to the HARQ process ID”, [0368], “deactivation/release indication to the pool of resources is received from the network, TX UE may clear all retransmission grants assigned to all (activated) HARQ
processes in the selected sidelink grant … TX UE may flush the buffer of the sidelink
process associated to the HARQ process ID”, [0361], “if a retransmission grant associated to the HARQ process ID has been not received by the DCI on the PDCCH from the network for a certain duration … TX UE may flush the buffer of the Sidelink process associated to the HARQ process ID”, wherein clear given retransmission grant assigned to the HARQ and flushing HARQ buffer after receiving deactivate command),
resetting a counter of each of the one or more pending HARQ process for counting number of transmissions of each of the TBs to be zero ( Fig. 12, element S1208, [0203-0204], disclose UE perform retransmission of the TB by after receive the retransmission grant DCI, and retransmission is for additional retransmission of exist TB, [0281-0289], disclose the DCI include the numbers of HARQ retransmissions used for a resource reservation procedure, an indication to activation or deactivation (or release) of a particular pool of resources, an indication related to the number of activated and/or deactivated HARQ processes associated to the particular pool of resources and/or an indication related to one or more of the activated and/or deactivated HARQ processes associated to the particular pool of resources and e.g., wherein the number of HARQ retransmissions is reading as a counter of each of the one or more pending HARQ process, which is configurable/programmable via DCI, including value zero, thus UE can RESET a counter of each of the one or more pending HARQ process to zero as configured after receiving deactivation command).
Claim 12 is analyzed and rejected according to claim1 and LeeYoung further teaches processing circuitry (Fig. 4, element 102, [0084], “The processor 102 may be configured to implement the descriptions, functions, procedures, suggestions, methods and/or operational flowcharts disclosed in the present disclosure”).
Claim 2: LeeYoung teaches the method of claim 1, further comprising: prior to flushing the one or more HARQ buffers, retransmitting one or more of the TBs that are being transmitted/retransmitted using the configured sidelink grant (Fig. 13, element S1302, S1304, [0360], “TX UE may perform one or more retransmissions of the TB for the sidelink process associated to the HARQ process ID by using the retransmission grant, until the TB for a sidelink process is positively acknowledged from RX UE and/or the PDB of the TB does not remain, and/or the maximum number of retransmissions of the TB is reached”).
Claim 13 is analyzed and rejected according to claim 12 and claim 2.
Claim 3: LeeYoung teaches the method of claim 1, further comprising: transmitting an indication to a network node indicating that the wireless device has one or more pending HARQ processes that need to be scheduled for further retransmissions (Fig, 13, element S1306, [0362], “if the TB for a sidelink process is not positively acknowledged from RX UE and/or the PDB of the TB still remains, and/or the maximum number of retransmissions
of the TB is not reached for the pool of resources (or a selected sidelink grant); and if no retransmission grant has been reserved by TX UE or given by the network and if data is available for a logical channel mapped to the pool of resources (or the selected sidelink grant) or a MAC CE is available mapped to the pool of resources (or the selected sidelink grant), TX UE may send PUCCH, UCI and/or MAC CE to network to request
a retransmission grant for the pool of resources”).
Claim 14 is analyzed and rejected according to claim 12 and claim 3.
Claim 4: LeeYoung teaches the method of claim 3, wherein the indication includes one or more of:a HARQ process index; a transport block size; an identifier of a logical channel; a service or traffic type associated with the one or more TBs; and a remaining packet delay budget for the one or more TBs ([0362], “The PUCCH, UCI and/or MAC CE may additionally indicate at least one of the HARQ process ID associated to the sidelink process and/or a particular ID associated to the pool of resources (or the selected sidelink grant) to the network”).
Claim 15 is analyzed and rejected according to claim 14 and claim 4.
Claim 5: LeeYoung teaches the method of claim 3, wherein the indication comprises a negative HARQ acknowledgment for each of the one or more pending HARQ processes ([0362], “The PUCCH, UCI and/or MAC CE may be configured per UE, per pool of resources or per selected sidelink grant in order to request a retransmission grant for sidelink resource allocation mode 2. The PUCCH, UCI and/or MAC CE may indicate the HARQ NACK for requesting a retransmission grant”).
Claim 16 is analyzed and rejected according to claim 14 and claim 5.
Claim 6: LeeYoung teaches the method of claim 3, wherein the indication comprises a scheduling request for each of the one or more pending HARQ processes ([0362], “TX UE may send PUCCH, UCI and/or MAC CE to network to request a retransmission grant for the pool of resources (or the selected sidelink grant). The PUCCH, UCI and/or MAC CE may be configured per UE, per pool of resources or per selected sidelink grant in order to request a retransmission grant for sidelink resource allocation mode 2 … indicate at least one of the HARQ process ID associated to the sidelink process and/or a particular ID associated to the pool of resources (or the selected sidelink grant) to the network”).
Claim 17 is analyzed and rejected according to claim 14 and claim 6.
Claim 11: LeeYoung teaches the method of claim 1, wherein the indication to deactivate a sidelink configured grant includes one or more HARQ process identifiers and flushing the one or pending HARQ processes comprises flushing the HARQ processes associated with the one or more HARQ process identifiers ([0287], “the number of activated and/or deactivated HARQ processes associated to the particular pool of resources and/or an indication related to one or more of the activated and/or deactivated HARQ
processes associated to the particular pool of resources”, Fig. 13, [0361], “TX UE may flush the buffer of the Sidelink process associated to the HARQ process ID”).
Claim 22 is analyzed and rejected according to claim 12 and claim 11.
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 7- 8, 18-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over LeeYoung et al. (US 20220007337 A1, hereinafter LeeYoung) in view of LeeSeung et al. (US 20230319815 A1, hereinafter LeeSeung).
Claim 7: LeeYoung does not explicitly teach the method of claims 3, further comprising: starting a timer; and prior to flushing the one or more HARQ buffers of the one or more pending HARQ processes, determining that the timer has expired and that the wireless device has not received a dynamic grant for the one or more pending HARQ processes.
However, LeeSeung, from the same or similar field of endeavor, teaches the method of claims 3, further comprising: starting a timer; and prior to flushing the one or more HARQ buffers of the one or more pending HARQ processes (Fig. 11, element S1150, [0167], “ the transmitting UE may start a timer related to the dynamic grant based on transmitting SL NACK information to the base station .. a time required to transmit a dynamic grant related to resource(s) for retransmitting the transport block”), determining that the timer has expired and that the wireless device has not received a dynamic grant for the one or more pending HARQ processes (Fig. 11, element S1160, [0171], “the transmitting UE may expire the timer based on a pre-configured condition. For example, the transmitting
UE may flush a buffer related to the transport block based on an expiration of the timer”, [0168], “before the timer expires, the transmitting UE may receive a second dynamic
grant from the base station. For example, the transmitting UE may retransmit the transport block to the receiving UE based on sidelink resource(s) allocated by the second dynamic grant”).
LeeYoung and LeeSeung are both considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because they are in the same field of wireless communication. Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the system of LeeYoung and the features of starting a timer for receiving dynamic grant as taught by LeeSeung, for the benefit for allowing UE may determine when to flush the buffer based on the expiration of the timer (paragraph [0171]).
Claim 18 is analyzed and rejected according to claim 14 and claim 7.
Claim 8: LeeSeung teaches the method of claim 3, wherein a duration of the timer is based on a remaining packet delay budget for the TBs that are being transmitted/retransmitted using the configured sidelink grant ([0167], “the value of the timer may be configured based on at least one of a quality of service (QoS) requirement (e.g., latency, reliability), a feedback option (e.g., groupcast option 1, groupcast option 2), or a cast type”, ([0141], “the timer value of HPN_DCI#X may refer to a time during which HPN_DCI#X or HPN_SCI mapped with HPN_DCI#X cannot be used for new TB transmission”, [0127], “in various embodiments of the present disclosure, latency may be replaced/substituted with a packet delay budget (PDB)” ).
The motivation regarding to the obviousness to claim 7 is also applied to claim 8.
Claim 19 is analyzed and rejected according to claim 14 and claim 8.
Claims 10, 21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over LeeYoung et al. (US 20220007337 A1, hereinafter LeeYoung) in view of LeeSeung2 et al. (US 20220217767 A1, hereinafter LeeSeung2).
Claim 10: LeeSeung2 teaches the method of claim1, further comprising setting a new data indicator (NDI) for each of the one or more pending HARQ processes to zero ([0200], “the transmitting UE may use the retransmission resource allocated through the DG for new TB transmission … the receiving UE may distinguish whether a new TB is transmitted or not based on the sidelink HARQ process ID information and the NDI information on the SCI”. wherein NDI serve as an indicator whether a new TB is transmitted or not).
LeeYoung and LeeSeung2 are both considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because they are in the same field of wireless communication. Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the system of LeeYoung and the features of setting NDI as zero as taught by LeeSeung2, for the benefit for allowing the receiving UE to distinguish whether a new TB is transmitted or not based on the sidelink HARQ process ID information and the NDI information on the SCI (paragraph [0200]).
Claim 21 is analyzed and rejected according to claim 12 and claim 10.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to YONGHONG ZHAO whose telephone number is (571)272-4089. The examiner can normally be reached Monday -Friday 9:00 am - 5:00pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, NICHOLAS JENSEN can be reached on 5712723980. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/Y.Z./Examiner, Art Unit 2472
/ANH VU H LY/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2472
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