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 § 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, 21, and 25 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as being unpatentable over Agiwal and Kang (U.S. Pat. Pub. 2022/0132464), herein referred to as “Agiwal”, in view of Nam et. al. (U.S. Pat. Pub. 2021/0320700), herein referred to as “Nam.” The Nam reference claims priority to, and has support in, provisional application 63/006897.
Regarding Claim 1,
Agiwal discloses: A method comprising: obtaining, by a first device, a medium access control (MAC) protocol data unit (PDU) including at least one of sidelink (SL) discontinuous reception (DRX) command MAC control element (CE), SL channel state information (CSI) reporting MAC CE, or traffic data, based on a logical channel prioritization (LCP) procedure
[0134] The MAC sublayer provides the following services and functions over the PC5 interface: —Radio resource selection; Packet filtering; Priority handling between uplink and sidelink transmissions for a given UE; Sidelink CSI reporting. With LCP restrictions in MAC, only sidelink logical channels belonging to the same destination can be multiplexed into a MAC PDU for every unicast, groupcast and broadcast transmission which is associated to the destination. NG-RAN can also control whether a sidelink logical channel can utilize the resources allocated to a configured sidelink grant Type 1. For packet filtering, a SL-SCH MAC header including portions of both Source Layer-2 ID and a Destination Layer-2 ID is added to each MAC PDU. LCID included within a MAC subheader uniquely identifies a logical channel within the scope of the Source Layer-2 ID and Destination Layer-2 ID combination.
transmitting, by the first device to a second device, through a physical sidelink control channel (PSCCH), first sidelink control information (SCI) for scheduling of a physical sidelink shared channel (PSSCH)
[0153] For transmitting data over PC5 interface, transmitter UE first transmits 1.sup.st Stage SCI over PSCCH resource. 1st stage SCI includes information about the transport block such as: Priority, Frequency resource assignment, Time resource assignment, resource reservation period, DMRS pattern, 2.sup.nd stage SCI format, MCS, number of DMRS port, etc. Transmitter UE then transmits 2.sup.nd stage SCI over PSSCH. The second stage SCI includes information such as, HARQ process number, NDI, RV, Source ID, Destination ID, HARQ feedback enabled/disabled indicator, cast type, CSI request, Zone ID, range, etc. Transmitter UE then transmits TB carrying SL MAC PDU over PSSCH.
and transmitting, by the first device to the second device, through the PSSCH, second SCI including a source ID and a destination ID, and the MAC PDU
[0153] For transmitting data over PC5 interface, transmitter UE first transmits 1.sup.st Stage SCI over PSCCH resource. 1st stage SCI includes information about the transport block such as: Priority, Frequency resource assignment, Time resource assignment, resource reservation period, DMRS pattern, 2.sup.nd stage SCI format, MCS, number of DMRS port, etc. Transmitter UE then transmits 2.sup.nd stage SCI over PSSCH. The second stage SCI includes information such as, HARQ process number, NDI, RV, Source ID, Destination ID, HARQ feedback enabled/disabled indicator, cast type, CSI request, Zone ID, range, etc. Transmitter UE then transmits TB carrying SL MAC PDU over PSSCH.
Agiwal does not disclose wherein, in the LCP procedure, a priority of the SL DRX command MAC CE is lower than a priority of the SL CSI reporting MAC CE.
However, Nam discloses wherein, in the LCP procedure, a priority of the SL DRX command MAC CE is lower than a priority of the SL CSI reporting MAC CE.
[0058] The present disclosure provides techniques for the UE and the base station to independently and concurrently (or nearly concurrently) determine to override a low priority for CSI reporting (e.g., periodic or semi-persistent CSI reporting) by at least temporarily elevating (increasing) the priority of the CSI reporting to high priority. If a condition is met, the UE and the base station may determine to change the priority of the CSI reporting to high. For example, the UE and the base station may assign a high priority to CSI reporting that occurs during a DRX inactive time, may assign a high priority to CSI reporting after the UE meets a threshold time duration outside of DRX active time, or may assign a high priority to CSI reporting after meeting a threshold time duration in which the UE does not report CSI, among other examples. The UE and the base station may change (e.g., decrease) the priority of the CSI reporting back to low priority if a second condition is met. For example, the UE may transmit a predetermined number of CSI reports, a threshold time duration may pass with the CSI reporting at high priority, the UE may transition to a DRX active time (e.g., the base station may transmit a wake-up signal (WUS) to the UE), or the base station may explicitly signal the UE to transition to low priority for CSI reporting, among other examples.
Agiwal and Nam are considered to be analogous because they involve communications over a wireless network. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Agiwal to include the concept of a
a priority of the SL DRX command MAC CE being lower than a priority of the SL CSI reporting MAC CE in the LCP procedure as taught by Lam so as to resolve conflicts within the network.
Regarding Claim 21,
Claim 21 is rejected on the same grounds of rejection set forth in claim 1.
Agiwal discloses: A first device comprising: at least one transceiver; at least one processor; and at least one memory connected to the at least one processor and storing instructions that, based on being executed, cause the first device to perform operations comprising: obtaining a medium access control (MAC) protocol data unit (PDU) including at least one of sidelink (SL) discontinuous reception (DRX) command MAC control element (CE), SL channel state information (CSI) reporting MAC CE, or traffic data, based on a logical channel prioritization (LCP) procedure
[0134] The MAC sublayer provides the following services and functions over the PC5 interface: —Radio resource selection; Packet filtering; Priority handling between uplink and sidelink transmissions for a given UE; Sidelink CSI reporting. With LCP restrictions in MAC, only sidelink logical channels belonging to the same destination can be multiplexed into a MAC PDU for every unicast, groupcast and broadcast transmission which is associated to the destination. NG-RAN can also control whether a sidelink logical channel can utilize the resources allocated to a configured sidelink grant Type 1. For packet filtering, a SL-SCH MAC header including portions of both Source Layer-2 ID and a Destination Layer-2 ID is added to each MAC PDU. LCID included within a MAC subheader uniquely identifies a logical channel within the scope of the Source Layer-2 ID and Destination Layer-2 ID combination.
transmitting, to a second device, through a physical sidelink control channel (PSCCH), first sidelink control information (SCI) for scheduling of a physical sidelink shared channel (PSSCH)
[0153] For transmitting data over PC5 interface, transmitter UE first transmits 1.sup.st Stage SCI over PSCCH resource. 1st stage SCI includes information about the transport block such as: Priority, Frequency resource assignment, Time resource assignment, resource reservation period, DMRS pattern, 2.sup.nd stage SCI format, MCS, number of DMRS port, etc. Transmitter UE then transmits 2.sup.nd stage SCI over PSSCH. The second stage SCI includes information such as, HARQ process number, NDI, RV, Source ID, Destination ID, HARQ feedback enabled/disabled indicator, cast type, CSI request, Zone ID, range, etc. Transmitter UE then transmits TB carrying SL MAC PDU over PSSCH.
and transmitting, to the second device, through the PSSCH, second SCI including a source ID and a destination ID, and the MAC PDU
[0153] For transmitting data over PC5 interface, transmitter UE first transmits 1.sup.st Stage SCI over PSCCH resource. 1st stage SCI includes information about the transport block such as: Priority, Frequency resource assignment, Time resource assignment, resource reservation period, DMRS pattern, 2.sup.nd stage SCI format, MCS, number of DMRS port, etc. Transmitter UE then transmits 2.sup.nd stage SCI over PSSCH. The second stage SCI includes information such as, HARQ process number, NDI, RV, Source ID, Destination ID, HARQ feedback enabled/disabled indicator, cast type, CSI request, Zone ID, range, etc. Transmitter UE then transmits TB carrying SL MAC PDU over PSSCH.
Agiwal does not disclose wherein, in the LCP procedure, a priority of the SL DRX command MAC CE is lower than a priority of the SL CSI reporting MAC CE.
However, Nam discloses wherein, in the LCP procedure, a priority of the SL DRX command MAC CE is lower than a priority of the SL CSI reporting MAC CE.
[0058] The present disclosure provides techniques for the UE and the base station to independently and concurrently (or nearly concurrently) determine to override a low priority for CSI reporting (e.g., periodic or semi-persistent CSI reporting) by at least temporarily elevating (increasing) the priority of the CSI reporting to high priority. If a condition is met, the UE and the base station may determine to change the priority of the CSI reporting to high. For example, the UE and the base station may assign a high priority to CSI reporting that occurs during a DRX inactive time, may assign a high priority to CSI reporting after the UE meets a threshold time duration outside of DRX active time, or may assign a high priority to CSI reporting after meeting a threshold time duration in which the UE does not report CSI, among other examples. The UE and the base station may change (e.g., decrease) the priority of the CSI reporting back to low priority if a second condition is met. For example, the UE may transmit a predetermined number of CSI reports, a threshold time duration may pass with the CSI reporting at high priority, the UE may transition to a DRX active time (e.g., the base station may transmit a wake-up signal (WUS) to the UE), or the base station may explicitly signal the UE to transition to low priority for CSI reporting, among other examples.
Agiwal and Nam are considered to be analogous because they involve communications over a wireless network. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Agiwal to include the concept of a
a priority of the SL DRX command MAC CE being lower than a priority of the SL CSI reporting MAC CE in the LCP procedure as taught by Lam so as to resolve conflicts within the network.
Regarding Claim 25,
Claim 25 is rejected on the same grounds of rejection set forth in claim 1.
Agiwal discloses: A processing device comprising: at least one processor; and at least one memory connected to the at least one processor and storing instructions that, based on being executed, cause a first device to perform operations comprising: obtaining a medium access control (MAC) protocol data unit (PDU) including at least one of sidelink (SL) discontinuous reception (DRX) command MAC control element (CE), SL channel state information (CSI) reporting MAC CE, or traffic data, based on a logical channel prioritization (LCP) procedure
[0134] The MAC sublayer provides the following services and functions over the PC5 interface: —Radio resource selection; Packet filtering; Priority handling between uplink and sidelink transmissions for a given UE; Sidelink CSI reporting. With LCP restrictions in MAC, only sidelink logical channels belonging to the same destination can be multiplexed into a MAC PDU for every unicast, groupcast and broadcast transmission which is associated to the destination. NG-RAN can also control whether a sidelink logical channel can utilize the resources allocated to a configured sidelink grant Type 1. For packet filtering, a SL-SCH MAC header including portions of both Source Layer-2 ID and a Destination Layer-2 ID is added to each MAC PDU. LCID included within a MAC subheader uniquely identifies a logical channel within the scope of the Source Layer-2 ID and Destination Layer-2 ID combination.
transmitting, to a second device, through a physical sidelink control channel (PSCCH), first sidelink control information (SCI) for scheduling of a physical sidelink shared channel (PSSCH)
[0153] For transmitting data over PC5 interface, transmitter UE first transmits 1.sup.st Stage SCI over PSCCH resource. 1st stage SCI includes information about the transport block such as: Priority, Frequency resource assignment, Time resource assignment, resource reservation period, DMRS pattern, 2.sup.nd stage SCI format, MCS, number of DMRS port, etc. Transmitter UE then transmits 2.sup.nd stage SCI over PSSCH. The second stage SCI includes information such as, HARQ process number, NDI, RV, Source ID, Destination ID, HARQ feedback enabled/disabled indicator, cast type, CSI request, Zone ID, range, etc. Transmitter UE then transmits TB carrying SL MAC PDU over PSSCH.
and transmitting, to the second device, through the PSSCH, second SCI including a source ID and a destination ID, and the MAC PDU
[0153] For transmitting data over PC5 interface, transmitter UE first transmits 1.sup.st Stage SCI over PSCCH resource. 1st stage SCI includes information about the transport block such as: Priority, Frequency resource assignment, Time resource assignment, resource reservation period, DMRS pattern, 2.sup.nd stage SCI format, MCS, number of DMRS port, etc. Transmitter UE then transmits 2.sup.nd stage SCI over PSSCH. The second stage SCI includes information such as, HARQ process number, NDI, RV, Source ID, Destination ID, HARQ feedback enabled/disabled indicator, cast type, CSI request, Zone ID, range, etc. Transmitter UE then transmits TB carrying SL MAC PDU over PSSCH.
Agiwal does not disclose wherein, in the LCP procedure, a priority of the SL DRX command MAC CE is lower than a priority of the SL CSI reporting MAC CE.
However, Nam discloses wherein, in the LCP procedure, a priority of the SL DRX command MAC CE is lower than a priority of the SL CSI reporting MAC CE.
[0058] The present disclosure provides techniques for the UE and the base station to independently and concurrently (or nearly concurrently) determine to override a low priority for CSI reporting (e.g., periodic or semi-persistent CSI reporting) by at least temporarily elevating (increasing) the priority of the CSI reporting to high priority. If a condition is met, the UE and the base station may determine to change the priority of the CSI reporting to high. For example, the UE and the base station may assign a high priority to CSI reporting that occurs during a DRX inactive time, may assign a high priority to CSI reporting after the UE meets a threshold time duration outside of DRX active time, or may assign a high priority to CSI reporting after meeting a threshold time duration in which the UE does not report CSI, among other examples. The UE and the base station may change (e.g., decrease) the priority of the CSI reporting back to low priority if a second condition is met. For example, the UE may transmit a predetermined number of CSI reports, a threshold time duration may pass with the CSI reporting at high priority, the UE may transition to a DRX active time (e.g., the base station may transmit a wake-up signal (WUS) to the UE), or the base station may explicitly signal the UE to transition to low priority for CSI reporting, among other examples.
Agiwal and Nam are considered to be analogous because they involve communications over a wireless network. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Agiwal to include the concept of a
a priority of the SL DRX command MAC CE being lower than a priority of the SL CSI reporting MAC CE in the LCP procedure as taught by Lam so as to resolve conflicts within the network.
Claims 3, 23, and 27 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as being unpatentable over Agiwal in view of Nam, held further in view of Li et. al. (U.S. Pat. Pub. 2022/0095232), herein referred to as “Li”. The Li reference claims priority to provisional application 63/080301.
Regarding Claim 3,
Agiwal in view of Nam does not disclose all the limitations of claim 3.
However, Li discloses: The method of claim 1, wherein the SL DRX command MAC CE is generated for each pair of the source ID and the destination ID.
[0075] FIG. 9 illustrates an example implementation 900 of wake up indications from different Tx UEs in sidelink DRX, in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure. In some cases, the wake up indication may be a MAC-CE-based wake up indication (WUI) at the MAC layer, e.g., sent within a slot or mini-slot prior to an SL DRX on phase and within subchannels (as shown in FIG. 9 as an example) or out of the subchannels (e.g., one or multiple PRBs or subchannels allocated for wake-up indication in frequency) used for a corresponding transmission(s) in a sidelink bandwidth part (SL BWP). The wake up indication may contain an identification of a Tx UE (e.g., Tx UE's ID, source ID, etc.), a destination identification for a service using broadcast or for a group using groupcast, or a pair of source and destination ID or a link ID for paired UEs using unicast. The wake up indication may also include location information, or priority information in a SCI (or in either a first or second stage of a second stage SCI if two stage SCI is used) associated with a physical SL shared channel (PSSCH) carrying the MAC-CE(s).
Agiwal in view of Nam and Li are considered to be analogous because they involve communications over a wireless network. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Agiwal in view of Nam to include the concept of having the SL DRX command MAC CE being generated for each pair of the source ID and the destination ID as taught by Li so as to resolve conflicts within the network.
Regarding Claim 23,
Claim 23 is rejected on the same grounds of rejection set forth in claim 3.
Regarding Claim 27,
Claim 27 is rejected on the same grounds of rejection set forth in claim 3.
Claim 5 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as being unpatentable over Agiwal in view of Nam, held further in view of Lin et. al. (U.S. Pat. Pub. 2023/0239793), herein referred to as “Lin”.
Regarding Claim 5,
Agiwal in view of Nam does not disclose all the limitations of claim 5.
However, Lin discloses: The method of claim 1 wherein, in the LCP procedure, the priority of the SL DRX command MAC CE is lower than a priority of a PC5 radio resource control (RRC) message and higher than a priority of the traffic data.
[0097] In an SL DRX operation, a UE may not know the SL DRX configuration of the peer UE before they exchange their SL DRX configurations. That is, before UE A and UE B exchange their SL DRX configurations (e.g., during PC5-RRC connection establishment procedure), if UE B applies SL DRX too early, UE A may not discover UE B because UE A does not know when UE B will monitor PSCCH/Physical Sidelink Shared Channel (PSSCH). As a result, UE A and UE B cannot build PC5-RRC connection due to early SL DRX.
[0108] In one embodiment, the granularity of the sensing pattern may be per UE. In one example, the sensing pattern is not related to the transmission pattern, and the Tx UE may follow a regular on-off pattern to ensure that the Tx UE can transmit data whenever it wants, or to ensure that the Tx UE can always have small latency to transmit data whenever his data arrives. In one example, the Tx UE may select a per-UE sensing pattern to ensure that the corresponding sensing results can enable the Tx UE to satisfy all QoS requirements of the highest-priority and/or the most latency stringent SL data, and the QoS requirements may be determined by the QoS metric, such as the packet delay budget of all the established QoS flows, SL radio bearers, and/or SL logical channels.
Note: Having a regular on-off pattern is tied in with a PC5-RRC connection/message, which this dependency creates a higher priority over the SL DRX.
Agiwal in view of Nam and Lin are considered to be analogous because they involve communications over a wireless network. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Agiwal in view of Nam to include the concept of having the priority of the SL DRX lower in priority than a PC5 RRC message but higher in priority in the traffic data as taught by Lin so as to resolve conflicts within the network.
Claims 6 and 7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as being unpatentable over Agiwal in view of Nam, held further in view of Ganesan et. al. (U.S. Pat. Pub. 2023/0354407), herein referred to as “Ganesan.” This reference claims priority to provisional application 62/994151.
Regarding Claim 6,
Agiwal in view of Nam does not disclose all the limitations of Claim 6.
However, Ganesan discloses: The method of claim 1, wherein a priority value of the SL DRX command MAC CE is set to 1.
[0086] In certain embodiments, the UL SR is deprioritized only when the priority of the logical channel that triggered SR is lower than a certain threshold (i.e., has higher numeric value). However, when the priority of the logical channel that triggered SR is same as that of the priority of SL CSI MAC CE, e.g., both are of the highest priority (i.e., priority value = 1), then in one implementation the transmission of SL CSI MAC CE is prioritized and in another implementation UL SR is prioritized. In some embodiments, the Tx UE behavior may be specified as one of these two. In other embodiments, the Tx UE behavior may be configured by the network.
Agiwal in view of Nam and Ganesan are considered to be analogous because they involve communications over a wireless network. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Agiwal in view of Nam to include the concept of where a priority value of the SL DRX command MAC CE is set to 1 as taught by Ganesan so as to resolve conflicts within the network.
Regarding Claim 7,
Agiwal in view of Nam does not disclose all the limitations of Claim 7.
However, Ganesan discloses: The method of claim 6, wherein, based on that the SL DRX command MAC CE is included in the MAC PDU, priority information included in the first SCI is set to 1.
[0086] In certain embodiments, the UL SR is deprioritized only when the priority of the logical channel that triggered SR is lower than a certain threshold (i.e., has higher numeric value). However, when the priority of the logical channel that triggered SR is same as that of the priority of SL CSI MAC CE, e.g., both are of the highest priority (i.e., priority value = 1), then in one implementation the transmission of SL CSI MAC CE is prioritized and in another implementation UL SR is prioritized. In some embodiments, the Tx UE behavior may be specified as one of these two. In other embodiments, the Tx UE behavior may be configured by the network.
Agiwal in view of Nam and Ganesan are considered to be analogous because they involve communications over a wireless network. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Agiwal in view of Nam to include the concept of where priority information included in the first SCI is set to 1 as taught by Ganesan so as to resolve conflicts within the network.
Claim 8 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as being unpatentable over Agiwal in view of Nam, held further in view of Hong (U.S. Pat. Pub. 2022/0346011).
Regarding Claim 8,
Agiwal in view of Nam does not disclose all the limitations of Claim 8.
However, Hong discloses: The method of claim 1, wherein the first device is not allowed to include a MAC CE other than the SL DRX command MAC CE in the MAC PDU.
[0202] Otherwise, if HARQ feedback is disabled (in the corresponding HARQ process), when the reception UE receives SCI from the transmission UE (e.g., if the PSCCH indicates sidelink transmission), the sidelink discontinuous reception HARQ RTT timer (e.g., drx-HARQ-RTT-TimerRX-SL, drx-HARQ-RTT-TimerTX-SL, drx-HARQ-RTT-TimerSL) is not applied. Or, if the HARQ feedback is disabled (in the corresponding HARQ process), the sidelink discontinuous reception HARQ RTT timer is also disabled. Or, if the HARQ feedback is disabled, the sidelink discontinuous reception HARQ RTT timer may be set to a specific value (e.g., 0). If the sidelink discontinuous reception HARQ RTT timer is disabled for the corresponding HARQ process, the sidelink discontinuous reception retransmission timer may also be disabled. Or, the sidelink discontinuous reception retransmission timer may be set to a specific value (e.g., 0).
Agiwal in view of Nam and Hong are considered to be analogous because they involve communications over a wireless network. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Agiwal in view of Nam to include the concept of not including a MAC CE other than the SL DRX command MAC CE in the MAC PDU as taught by Hong so as to resolve conflicts within the network.
Claim 9 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as being unpatentable over Agiwal in view of Nam, held further in view of Li et. al. (U.S. Pat. Pub. 2023/0309016), herein referred to as “Li II”.
Regarding Claim 9,
Agiwal in view of Nam does not disclose all the limitations of Claim 9.
However, Li II discloses: The method of claim 1, wherein, based on reaching a maximum number of transmissions related to the MAC PDU, the SL DRX command MAC CE is included in the MAC PDU and transmitted to the second device.
[0090] In some aspects, an RSU, a group lead, a cluster lead, a scheduling UE or a Tx UE may end UE (s)' active state in SL DRX On duration or extended active phase (e.g., extended with SL DRX Inactivity timer or SL DRX HARQ retransmission timer) via an SL DRX command carried on PC5 MAC CE for a certain data traffic or for a certain system loading condition, for example, to reduce sidelink load or interference. The SL DRX command may include the priority of the traffic, SL DRX configuration if more than one, or number of SL DRX cycles with Rx UEs' active state turned off.
Agiwal in view of Nam and Li II are considered to be analogous because they involve communications over a wireless network. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Agiwal in view of Nam to include the concept of reaching a maximum number of transmissions related to the MAC PDU as taught by Li II so as to resolve conflicts within the network.
Claim 10 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as being unpatentable over Agiwal in view of Nam, held further in view of Luo et. al. (U.S. Pat. Pub. 2023/0171843), herein referred to as “Luo”.
Regarding Claim 10,
Agiwal in view of Nam does not disclose all the limitations of Claim 10.
However, Luo discloses: The method of claim 1, wherein, based on that a quality between the first device and the second device is less than or equal to a threshold, the SL DRX command MAC CE is included in the MAC PDU and transmitted to the second device.
[0054] In some embodiments, the peer UE maintains a pack loss number counter. If the peer UE determines that the transmission with a selected SL grant cannot fulfill a latency requirement of data in a logical channel due to the SL DRX configuration, and the pack loss number counter does not reach the threshold, the peer UE adds one to the pack loss number counter. If the pack loss number counter reaches the threshold, the peer UE transmits the SL DRX configuration response, which may be either a DRX adjustment request or an indication of timeout packet loss due to the current DRX configuration. If the UE receives an updated SL DRX configuration of the peer UE, the peer UE either re-initializes the pack loss number counter to zero or sets the pack loss number counter to 0 or 1.
Agiwal in view of Nam and Luo are considered to be analogous because they involve communications over a wireless network. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Agiwal in view of Nam to include the concept of having the MAC CE being based on measuring quality on the basis of a threshold as taught by Luo so as to resolve conflicts within the network.
Claim 11 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as being unpatentable over Agiwal in view of Nam, held further in view of Liang and Liu (U.S. Pat. Pub. 2023/0199905), herein referred to as “Liang”.
Regarding Claim 11,
Agiwal in view of Nam does not disclose all the limitations of Claim 11.
However, Liang discloses: The method of claim 1, wherein, based on that a resource pool is reconfigured for the first device, the SL DRX command MAC CE is included in the MAC PDU and transmitted to the second device.
[0143] Optionally, the new PC5 MAC CE carries eighth information, and the eighth information indicates one or more of the following: [0144] a pool ID, indicating that Sidelink DRX control is performed on a corresponding pool; and [0145] an offset value, after which Sidelink DRX control is performed.
Agiwal in view of Nam and Liang are considered to be analogous because they involve communications over a wireless network. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Agiwal in view of Nam to include the concept of having the MAC CE being based on a resource pool as taught by Liang so as to resolve conflicts within the network.
Claim 13 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as being unpatentable over Agiwal in view of Nam, held further in view of Xu et. al. (U.S. Pat. Pub. 2020/0296668), herein referred to as “Xu”.
Regarding Claim 13,
Agiwal in view of Nam does not disclose all the limitations of Claim 13.
However, Xu discloses: The method of claim 1, wherein the MAC PDU includes PC5 link information related to the SL DRX command MAC CE.
[0069] For example, the control information can be represented by a MAC PDU sub-header carrying LCID. Specifically, a command element SLDRX Command MAC CE may be newly added, and the LCID corresponding to the SLDRX Command MAC CE is represented on the SL-SCH as shown in Table 1 below. It can be seen that the SLDRX Command MAC CE has a fixed length of 5 bits.
TABLE-US-00001 TABLE 1 Index Value of LCID 11011 SL-DRX command
[0070] Therefore, when the network node receives the SLDRX Command MAC CE with the value “11011”, it can enter the SL-DRX sleep state, as shown in FIG. 4.
Agiwal in view of Nam and Xu are considered to be analogous because they involve communications over a wireless network. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Agiwal in view of Nam to include the concept of including PC5 link information as taught by Xu so as to resolve conflicts within the network.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s response filed on January 20, 2026 is acknowledged.
The following claims were amended as part of applicant’s response: 1, 5, 21, 23, 25, and 27.
Foreign priority is now perfected.
The are no new claims.
The following claims are canceled: 2, 4, 22, and 26.
Claims 1, 3, 5-13, 21, 23-25, and 27 are pending.
Applicant's arguments with respect to claims 1, 21, and 25 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). 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 extension fee 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 date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JESSE P. SAMLUK whose telephone number is (571)270-5607. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9-5.
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, Derrick Ferris can be reached on 571-272-3123. 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.
/JESSE P. SAMLUK/Examiner, Art Unit 2411
/DERRICK W FERRIS/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2411
Prosecution Insights