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 .
DETAILED ACTION
In the amendment filed November 19, 2025, claims 1, 4, 15, 17, 18 and 20 has been amended, claims 5-6 cancelled, claims 1-4, 7-20 and 27-28 are currently pending for examination.
Claim Objections
Claim 20 is objected to because of the following informalities:
Claim 20 has be amended to recite in line 1-4, “wherein the UE operates the sidelink DRX inactivity timer that represents a duration after a PSSCH occasion in which the PSCCH indicates a new sidelink transmission for a corresponding sidelink transmission or reception activity”. Since “PSSCH” and “PSCCH” are recited for the first time in the claim, it is recommended to define “PSSCH” and “PSCCH”.
Claim 20 lacks antecedent basis for “the PSCCH”, in line 2.
Appropriate correction is required.
Response to Arguments
Regarding 35 U.S.C. 103 applicant’s arguments, see page 8 Section II, filed November 19, 2025, with respect to claims 1-4, 7-20 and 27-28 have been fully considered and are not persuasive.
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1-4, 7-20 and 27-28 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.
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Hence a new ground of rejection is further made in view of Agiwal et al (US Pub. No.:2022/0191965).
Notice re prior art available under both pre-AIA and AIA
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 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.
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 of this title, 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 1-4, and 7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lenovo et al.( "Sidelink resource allocation for Power saving", 3GPP TSG RAN WG1 #103-e R1-2008917,13 November 2020 (2020-11-13)), in view of Ko et al (US provisional 63/104538, published as US Pub. No.:2023/0397034) and further in view of Agiwal et al (US Pub. No.:2022/0191965).
As per claim 1, Lenovo disclose A processor of a user equipment (UE) (see sections 1 and 2, UE/TxUE with a CPU/a processor) configured to perform operations comprising:
establishing a sidelink with a further UE (see section 2.4, establishing a sidelink with a second UE/Rx UE and the sidelink transmission on selected resources is transmitted within the DRX on-duration of Rx UE);
configuring a sidelink discontinuous reception (DRX) cycle (see section 2.4, DRX mechanism will be introduced for NR sidelink, it can be designed not only for communication between vehicle UE and pedestrian UE but also for the communication among multiple commercial UEs. DRX configuration and alignment mechanism will be studied by RAN2. RAN1 needs to consider whether the resource selection/re-evaluation window should further determine based on the DRX on-duration of Rx UE);
receiving first sidelink control information (SCI) during the sidelink DRX cycle; and receiving second SCI during the sidelink DRX cycle (see section 2.4, power saving benefit of entering early DRX sleep within the DRX on-duration/active period when there is not enough data for transmission/reception should be investigated through any signaling enhancement in SCI. Cross slot scheduling enhancement in the sidelink can be introduced for power saving purpose by indicating the time slot offset between 2nd SCI and data from that of 1st SCI. An information present in the 1st SCI provide information on the intended recipient of the message and accordingly Rx UE decide to buffer and decode the 2nd SCI and data).
Lenovo however does not explicitly disclose a processor of a user equipment (UE) configured to perform operations; and receiving first SCI and first data at a first time and receiving second SCI at a second time during the sidelink DRX cycle;
Ko however disclose a processor (see Fig.11-12, Fig.14, , a processor 202) of a user equipment (UE) (see Fig.11-12, Fig.14, a second device 200, see para. 0154) configured to perform operations; and receiving first SCI and first data at a first time (see Fig.11, para. 0135, referring to FIG. 11, in step S1110, a first device performing wireless communication based on a first sidelink (SL) discontinuous reception (DRX) configuration starts a first timer related to an on-duration. In step S1120 {a firs time}, the first device transmits, to a second device, first sidelink control information (SCI) for scheduling of a physical sidelink shared channel (PSSCH)), see also Fig.12, para. 0151-0154) and receiving second SCI at a second time during the sidelink DRX cycle (see Fig.11, para. 0135, in step S1130 {a second time}, the first device transmits, to the second device, the second SCI including a request of a first channel state information (CSI) report through the PSSCH, based on the first SCI. In step S1140, the first device may start a second timer, based on transmitting the request of the first CSI report. In step S1150, the first device may receive, from the second device, SL data, based on the second timer running. In step S1160, the first device may start a third timer, based on a priority value related to the SL data being smaller than a first threshold. For example, a first active time related to the first SL DRX configuration may be a time during which at least one of the first timer, the second timer, or the third timer is running, see also Fig,12, para. 0151-0154, see prov. page 20-22, 55-60).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide the functionality of a processor of a user equipment (UE) configured to perform operations; and receiving first SCI and first data at a first time and receiving second SCI at a second time during the sidelink DRX cycle, as taught by Ko, in the system of Lenovo, so that a user equipment (UE) efficiently performs SL communication, see Ko, para. 0003-0006, prov. pages 1-2.
The combination of Lenovo and Ko however does not explicitly disclose the first SCI and the first data comprising a first layer 2 (L2) ID; and when the first L2 ID matches a second L2 ID associated with the UE, restarting a sidelink DRX inactivity timer;
Agiwal however disclose a first SCI and a first data comprising a first layer 2 (L2) ID; and when the first L2 ID matches a second L2 ID associated with the UE, restarting a sidelink DRX inactivity timer (see para. 0114-0123, a first SCI and a first data comprising a first layer 2 (L2) ID and the first L2 ID matches a second L2 ID associated with the UE, and UE starts or restarts corresponding sl-drx-InactivityTimer, see also Fig.4, para. 0127, Fig.5, para. 0156, In operation S540, if the Destination ID field in the 2nd stage SCI is equal to 16 least significant bits of any of the Source Layer-2 ID(s) of the UE, and the Source ID field in the 2nd stage SCI is equal to 8 least significant bits of the Destination Layer-2 ID(s) of the UE for unicast communication, the UE starts or restarts sl-drx-InactivityTimer in the first symbol after the end of the 2nd stage SCI reception, or if not, sl-drx-InactivityTimer is not (re-)started)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide the functionality of a first SCI and a first data comprising a first layer 2 (L2) ID; and when the first L2 ID matches a second L2 ID associated with the UE, restarting a sidelink DRX inactivity timer, as taught by Agiwal, in the system of Lenovo and Ko, so that a user equipment (UE) reduce power consumption when performing sidelink communication, see Agiwal, para. 0014.
As per claim 2, the combination of Lenovo, Ko and Agiwal disclose the processor of claim 1.
Lenovo further disclose wherein the first SCI indicates an offset relative to the second SCI and wherein the UE uses a sleep mode of inactivity with regard to data exchange processing during a time gap between the first data and the second SCI (see section 2.4, in mode 1, sidelink Tx UE follows the scheduling from network using existing time gap indication in DCI can ensure that the scheduled sidelink is transmitted in DRX on-duration of Rx UE and the time gap is based on network implementation. Power saving benefit of entering early DRX sleep within the DRX on-duration/active period when there is not enough data for transmission/reception as an example, Tx UE may transmit no more data to be transmitted to a destination using go-to-sleep indication to Rx UEs as an assistance message to make the Rx UEs enter the DRX Sleep state earlier).
As per claim 3, the combination of Lenovo, Ko and Agiwal disclose the processor of claim 3.
Lenovo further disclose wherein the UE transitions from the sleep mode of inactivity to an active mode of data exchange processing to receive the second SCI based on a value of the offset (see section 2.4, sidelink Tx UE follows the scheduling from network using existing time gap indication in DCI can ensure that the scheduled sidelink is transmitted in DRX on-duration of Rx UE and the time gap is based on network implementation and Tx UE may transmit no more data to be transmitted to a destination using go-to-sleep indication to Rx UEs as an assistance message to make the Rx UEs enter the DRX Sleep state earlier base on offset value).
As per claim 4, the combination of Lenovo, Ko and Agiwal disclose the processor of claim 1.
Ko further disclose further disclose wherein the UE is configured to start or restart the sidelink DRX inactivity timer in response to physical sidelink control channel (PSCCH) that includes a layer 1 (L1) ID matching a set of L1 IDs representing the UE interests (see Fig.11, para. 0135, Referring to FIG. 11, in step S1110, a first device performing wireless communication based on a first sidelink (SL) discontinuous reception (DRX) configuration start a first timer related to an on-duration. In step S1120, the first device may transmit, to a second device, first sidelink control information (SCI) for scheduling of a physical sidelink shared channel (PSSCH) and second SCI, through a physical sidelink control channel (PSCCH). In step S1130, the first device may transmit, to the second device, the second SCI including a request of a first channel state information (CSI) report through the PSSCH, based on the first SCI, see also para. 0039).
As per claim 7, the combination of Lenovo and Ko disclose the processor of claim 1.
Ko further disclose wherein the UE is configured to start or restart a sidelink DRX inactivity timer based on UE transmission activity (see Table 11, if the PDCCH indicates a new transmission (DL or UL) on a Serving Cell in this DRX group: 3> start or restart drx-InactivityTimer for this DRX group in the first symbol after the end of the PDCCH reception, see also para. 0105, after transmitting an SL CSI report request/triggering message to a receiving UE, a transmitting UE starts a previously configured (separate) DRX inactivity timer (CSI_ONTIMER). Here, the CSI_ONTIMER value may be assumed to be the same as the “SL CSI Report Latency budget (CSI_LB)” value transmitted from the transmitting UE to the receiving UE through PC5 RRC signaling, or may be assumed equal to a DRX inactivity timer value normally used (based on the receipt of a newly transmitted message).,see also para. 0121-0125).
Claims 8 -16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lenovo et al. ("Sidelink resource allocation for Power saving", 3GPP TSG RAN WG1 #103-e R1-2008917,13 November 2020 (2020-11-13)), in view of Ko et al (US provisional 63/104538, published as US Pub. No.:2023/0397034), in view of Agiwal et al (US Pub. No.:2022/0191965)and further in view of InterDigital (Discussion on Uu DRX for SL UE, R2-2009211, 11-2020).
As per claim 8, the combination of Lenovo, Ko and Agiwal disclose the processor of claim 1.
The combination of Lenovo, Ko and Agiwal however does not explicitly disclose wherein the UE is configured to start a sidelink DRX hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) round trip time (RTT) timer in response to receiving the first SCI.
InterDigital however disclose wherein a UE is configured to start a sidelink DRX hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) round trip time (RTT) timer in response to receiving the first SCI (see Section 2. The DRX cycle and an on-duration of the DRX configuration define the periods of time in which the
UE is required to monitor PDCCH. In addition, an inactivity timer is controlled by PDCCH scheduling and
the UE monitors PDCCH at long as this timer is running. Finally, the HARQ RTT timer and
retransmission timers defined per HARQ process are used to ensure that the UE monitors PDCCH for
HARQ retransmissions, and that the UE can perform microsleep in between such retransmissions).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide the functionality of wherein a UE is configured to start a sidelink DRX hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) round trip time (RTT) timer in response to receiving the first SCI, as taught by InterDigital, in the system of Lenovo, Ko and Agiwal, so that PDCCH monitoring activity for SL-RNTI and SLCS-RNTI are controlled by DRX, see InterDigital, Section 2.
As per claim 9, the combination of Lenovo, Ko and Agiwal disclose the processor of claim 1.
The combination of Lenovo, Ko and Agiwal however does not explicitly disclose wherein the UE is configured to start a sidelink DRX retransmission timer in response to receiving downlink control information (DCI) from a serving cell.
InterDigital however disclose wherein the UE is configured to start a sidelink DRX retransmission timer in response to receiving downlink control information (DCI) from a serving cell (see Section 2. the UE start the drxRetransmissionTimerSL after receiving DCI).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide the functionality of wherein the UE is configured to start a sidelink DRX retransmission timer in response to receiving downlink control information (DCI) from a serving cell, as taught by InterDigital, in the system of Lenovo, Ko and Agiwal, so that PDCCH monitoring activity for SL-RNTI and SLCS-RNTI are controlled by DRX, see InterDigital, Section 2.
As per claim 10, the combination of Lenovo, Ko and Agiwal disclose the processor of claim 1.
The combination of Lenovo, Ko and Agiwal however does not explicitly disclose wherein the UE is configured to start a sidelink DRX retransmission timer after a sidelink DRX HARQ round trip timer (RTT) timer expires.
InterDigital however disclose wherein the UE is configured to start a sidelink DRX retransmission timer after a sidelink DRX HARQ round trip timer (RTT) timer expires (see Section 2, The UE starts drxRetransmissionTimerSL for a SL process at the expiry of the drx-HARQRTT-TimerSL for that process).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide the functionality of wherein the UE is configured to start a sidelink DRX retransmission timer after a sidelink DRX HARQ round trip timer (RTT) timer expires, as taught by InterDigital, in the system of Lenovo, Ko and Agiwal, so that PDCCH monitoring activity for SL-RNTI and SLCS-RNTI are controlled by DRX, see InterDigital, Section 2.
As per claim 11, the combination of Lenovo, Ko and Agiwal disclose the processor of claim 1.
The combination of Lenovo, Ko and Agiwal however does not explicitly disclose wherein the UE is configured to start i) a sidelink DRX hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) round trip time (RTT) timer and ii) a DRX HARQ RTT timer for DRX operations corresponding to a Uu interface in response to receiving downlink control information (DCI) from a serving cell.
InterDigital however disclose wherein the UE is configured to start i) a sidelink DRX hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) round trip time (RTT) timer and ii) a DRX HARQ RTT timer for DRX operations corresponding to a Uu interface in response to receiving downlink control information (DCI) from a serving cell (see Section 2, in Uu, when the UE starts the HARQ RTT timer depends on whether the HARQ process is defined for DL or UL. For a DL transmission, the HARQ RTT timer is started at the end of the first symbol after transmission of the DL HARQ feedback by the UE. For UL, the HARQ RTT timer is started after the first repetition of the UL transmission. Also, when the round-trip over sidelink is part of the RTT, the UE can start the HARQ RTT timer upon reception of DCI or transmission of the SCI. Alternatively, if the round-trip over sidelink is not included in the HARQ RTT, the UE can start the HARQ RTT timer upon reception of the SL HARQ feedback from the peer UE, or the transmission of the HARQ feedback on PUCCH).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide the functionality of wherein the UE is configured to start i) a sidelink DRX hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) round trip time (RTT) timer and ii) a DRX HARQ RTT timer for DRX operations corresponding to a Uu interface in response to receiving downlink control information (DCI) from a serving cell, as taught by InterDigital, in the system of Lenovo, Ko and Agiwal, so that PDCCH monitoring activity for SL-RNTI and SLCS-RNTI are controlled by DRX, see InterDigital, Section 2.
As per claim 12, the combination of Lenovo, Ko and Agiwal disclose the processor of claim 1.
The combination of Lenovo, Ko and Agiwal however does not explicitly disclose wherein the UE is configured to start i) a sidelink DRX retransmission timer and ii) a DRX retransmission timer for DRX operations corresponding to a Uu interface in response to transmitting physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) to a serving cell.
InterDigital however disclose wherein the UE is configured to start i) a sidelink DRX retransmission timer and ii) a DRX retransmission timer for DRX operations corresponding to a Uu interface in response to transmitting physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) to a serving cell (see Section 2, a SL UE monitors PDCCH when any of Inactivity timer, retransmission timer, or SL retransmission timer are running. Also, when the round-trip over sidelink is part of the RTT, the UE can start the HARQ RTT timer upon reception of DCI or transmission of the SCI. Alternatively, if the round-trip over sidelink is not included in the HARQ RTT, the UE can start the HARQ RTT timer upon reception of the SL HARQ feedback from the peer UE, or the transmission of the HARQ feedback on PUCCH).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide the functionality of wherein the UE is configured to start i) a sidelink DRX hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) round trip time (RTT) timer and ii) a DRX HARQ RTT timer for DRX operations corresponding to a Uu interface in response to receiving downlink control information (DCI) from a serving cell, as taught by InterDigital, in the system of Lenovo, Ko and Agiwal, so that PDCCH monitoring activity for SL-RNTI and SLCS-RNTI are controlled by DRX, see InterDigital, Section 2.
As per claim 13, the combination of Lenovo, Ko and Agiwal disclose the processor of claim 1.
The combination of Lenovo and Ko however does not explicitly disclose wherein the UE is configured to align, using an offset, a sidelink DRX hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) round trip time (RTT) timer and a DRX HARQ RTT timer for DRX operations corresponding to a Uu interface.
InterDigital however disclose wherein the UE is configured to align, using an offset, a sidelink DRX hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) round trip time (RTT) timer and a DRX HARQ RTT timer for DRX operations corresponding to a Uu interface (see Section 2, the UE starts drxRetransmissionTimerSL for a SL process at the expiry of the drx-HARQ RTT-TimerSL
for that process).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide the functionality of wherein the UE is configured to align, using an offset, a sidelink DRX hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) round trip time (RTT) timer and a DRX HARQ RTT timer for DRX operations corresponding to a Uu interface, as taught by InterDigital, in the system of Lenovo, Ko and Agiwal, so that PDCCH monitoring activity for SL-RNTI and SLCS-RNTI are controlled by DRX, see InterDigital, Section 2.
As per claim 14, the combination of Lenovo, Ko and Agiwal disclose the processor of claim 1.
The combination of Lenovo, Ko and Agiwal however does not explicitly disclose wherein the UE configures a peer UE with a sidelink DRX HARQ round trip time (RTT) timer and a sidelink DRX retransmission timer based on the configured DRX HARQ RTT timer and DRX retransmission timer for DRX operations corresponding to a Uu interface.
InterDigital however disclose wherein the UE configures a peer UE with a sidelink DRX HARQ round trip time (RTT) timer and a sidelink DRX retransmission timer based on the configured DRX HARQ RTT timer and DRX retransmission timer for DRX operations corresponding to a Uu interface (see Section 2, the UE starts drxRetransmissionTimerSL for a SL process at the expiry of the drx-HARQ RTT-TimerSL
for that process).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide the functionality of wherein the UE configures a peer UE with a sidelink DRX HARQ round trip time (RTT) timer and a sidelink DRX retransmission timer based on the configured DRX HARQ RTT timer and DRX retransmission timer for DRX operations corresponding to a Uu interface, as taught by InterDigital, in the system of Lenovo, Ko and Agiwal, so that PDCCH monitoring activity for SL-RNTI and SLCS-RNTI are controlled by DRX, see InterDigital, Section 2.
As per claim 15, the combination of Lenovo, Ko and Agiwal disclose the processor of claim 1.
The combination of Lenovo, Ko and Agiwal however does not explicitly disclose wherein the UE is configured to use an active mode of data exchange processing during the DRX cycle when i) a sidelink DRX onDuration timer is running, ii) a sidelink DRX inactivity timer is running or iii) a sidelink DRX retransmission timer is running.
InterDigital however disclose wherein the UE is configured to use an active mode of data exchange processing during the DRX cycle when i) a sidelink DRX onDuration timer is running, ii) a sidelink DRX inactivity timer is running or iii) a sidelink DRX retransmission timer is running (see Section 2, in Uu, when the UE starts the HARQ RTT timer depends on whether the HARQ process is defined for DL
or UL. For a DL transmission, the HARQ RTT timer is started at the end of the first symbol after
transmission of the DL HARQ feedback by the UE. For UL, the HARQ RTT timer is started after the
first repetition of the UL transmission).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide the functionality of wherein the UE is configured to use an active mode of data exchange processing during the DRX cycle when i) a sidelink DRX onDuration timer is running, ii) a sidelink DRX inactivity timer is running or iii) a sidelink DRX retransmission timer is running, as taught by InterDigital, in the system of Lenovo, Ko and Agiwal, so that PDCCH monitoring activity for SL-RNTI and SLCS-RNTI are controlled by DRX, see InterDigital, Section 2.
As per claim 16, the combination of Lenovo, Ko and Agiwal disclose the processor of claim 1.
The combination of Lenovo, Ko and Agiwal however does not explicitly disclose wherein the UE operates a sidelink DRX onDuration timer that represents a duration at a beginning of the DRX cycle.
InterDigital however disclose wherein the UE operates a sidelink DRX onDuration timer that represents a duration at a beginning of the DRX cycle (see Section 2, in Uu, when the UE starts the HARQ RTT timer depends on whether the HARQ process is defined for DL or UL. For a DL transmission, the HARQ RTT timer is started at the end of the first symbol after transmission of the DL HARQ feedback by the UE. For UL, the HARQ RTT timer is started after the first repetition of the UL transmission).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide the functionality of wherein the UE operates a sidelink DRX onDuration timer that represents a duration at a beginning of the DRX cycle, as taught by InterDigital, in the system of Lenovo, Ko and Agiwal, so that PDCCH monitoring activity for SL-RNTI and SLCS-RNTI are controlled by DRX, see InterDigital, Section 2.
Claim 17 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lenovo et al. ("Sidelink resource allocation for Power saving", 3GPP TSG RAN WG1 #103-e R1-2008917,13 November 2020 (2020-11-13)), in view of Ko et al (US provisional 63/104538, published as US Pub. No.:2023/0397034), in view of Agiwal et al (US Pub. No.:2022/0191965) and further in view of LG (Discussion on physical layer design considering sidelink DRX operation, R1-2007897, 13-11-2020).
As per claim 17, the combination of Lenovo, Ko and Agiwal disclose the processor of claim 1.
The combination of Lenovo, Ko and Agiwal however does not explicitly disclose wherein the UE operates a sidelink DRX inactivity timer that represents a duration after a physical sidelink control channel (PSCCH) occasion in which a PSCCH indicates a new sidelink transmission for a corresponding sidelink transmission or reception activity.
LG however disclose wherein a UE operates a sidelink DRX inactivity timer that represents a duration after a physical sidelink control channel (PSCCH) occasion in which a PSCCH indicates a new sidelink transmission for a corresponding sidelink transmission or reception activity (see page 2, the active time and inactive time can be defined similar to those in Uu DRX operation. That is, the active time includes on-duration timer, inactivity timer and retransmission timer. The inactive time is the rest of time duration except active time among DRX cycle period. Further extension of the active time to include the time duration when UE wakes up to transmit a signal (e.g. PSCCH/PSSCH or wake-up indication) or to receive a signal (e.g. for monitoring wake-up indication) . The COD can also be used for monitoring a wake-up indication, which can be monitored by all UEs and depending on the target UE information of the wake-up indication, the relevant UE can wake up for PSCCH/PSSCH reception, and based on the
indication by PSCCH transmitted on COD, the COD can be extended by the inactivity timer to become the
individual ON duration for the UE targeted by the PSCCH. Or an individual ON duration can be created
based on the wake-up indication signal transmitted on COD, which includes the time location and/or the
activation/deactivation of the individual ON duration).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide the functionality of wherein a UE operates a sidelink DRX inactivity timer that represents a duration after a physical sidelink control channel (PSCCH) occasion in which a PSCCH indicates a new sidelink transmission for a corresponding sidelink transmission or reception activity, as taught by Lg, in the system of Lenovo, Ko and Agiwal, so that a UE that is interested in a specific service or a LCH can monitor a relevant PSCCH or wake-up indication signal that indicates the SL DRX cycle information for that service or the LCH, from which the ON duration the UE can receive the packet of the service or the LCH, see Lg, page 2.
Claims 18-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yang (CN111480391) and further in view of Agiwal et al (US Pub. No.:2022/0191965).
As per claim 18, Yang however disclose A user equipment (UE) (see Fig.4, apparatus 400 / a UE) including: a transceiver (see a communication component 416) configured to communicate via a sidelink; and a processor (see Fig.4, a processing component 402) communicatively coupled to the transceiver, the processor configured to perform operations comprising:
configuring a sidelink discontinuous reception (DRX) cycle; utilizing an active mode of data exchange processing during an onDuration of the sidelink DRX cycle; and utilizing a sleep mode of inactivity outside of the onDuration of the sidelink DRX cycle (see paragraphs [0004], [0083]-[0084], [0196]): In order to save power consumption of the terminal, the network device may configure DRX parameters for the terminal, where the DRX parameters include an inactivity timer, an on duration timer, a cycle, a start offset, and the like. The terminal may monitor the PDCCH only during the start of the inactivity timer and on duration, and the terminal may not monitor the PDCCH channel at other times, thereby saving power consumption. After the receiving terminal is configured DRX for on the sidelink, the sending terminal needs to send data in an on duration window of the receiving terminal so that the receiving terminal can receive the data sent by the sending terminal. When a receiving terminal is in a dormant state, data loss may be caused by transmitting data, from the sending terminal, to a receiving terminal).
Yang however does not explicitly disclose the first SCI and the first data comprising a first layer 2 (L2) ID; and when the first L2 ID matches a second L2 ID associated with the UE, restarting a sidelink DRX inactivity timer;
Agiwal however disclose a first SCI and a first data comprising a first layer 2 (L2) ID; and when the first L2 ID matches a second L2 ID associated with the UE, restarting a sidelink DRX inactivity timer (see para. 0114-0123, a first SCI and a first data comprising a first layer 2 (L2) ID and the first L2 ID matches a second L2 ID associated with the UE, and UE starts or restarts corresponding sl-drx-InactivityTimer, see also Fig.4, para. 0127, Fig.5, para. 0156, In operation S540, if the Destination ID field in the 2nd stage SCI is equal to 16 least significant bits of any of the Source Layer-2 ID(s) of the UE, and the Source ID field in the 2nd stage SCI is equal to 8 least significant bits of the Destination Layer-2 ID(s) of the UE for unicast communication, the UE starts or restarts sl-drx-InactivityTimer in the first symbol after the end of the 2nd stage SCI reception, or if not, sl-drx-InactivityTimer is not (re-)started)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide the functionality of a first SCI and a first data comprising a first layer 2 (L2) ID; and when the first L2 ID matches a second L2 ID associated with the UE, restarting a sidelink DRX inactivity timer, as taught by Agiwal, in the system of Lenovo and Ko, so that a user equipment (UE) reduce power consumption when performing sidelink communication, see Agiwal, para. 0014.
As per claim 19, the combination of Yang and Agiwal disclose the UE of claim 18.
Yang further disclose wherein the UE operates a sidelink DRX onDuration timer that represents a duration at a beginning of the DRX cycle (see paragraphs [0004], [0083]-[0084], the network device configures DRX parameters for the terminal, where the DRX parameters include an inactivity timer, an on duration timer).
As per claim 20, Yang and Agiwal disclose the UE of claim 18.
Yang further disclose wherein the UE operates the sidelink DRX inactivity timer that represents a duration after a PSSCH occasion in which the PSCCH indicates a new sidelink transmission for a corresponding sidelink transmission or reception activity (see paragraphs [0004], [0083]-[0084], the terminal monitors the PDCCH only during the start of the inactivity timer and on duration, and the terminal may not monitor the PDCCH channel at other times, thereby saving power consumption. After the receiving terminal is configured DRX for on the sidelink, the sending terminal needs to send data in an on duration window of the receiving terminal so that the receiving terminal can receive the data sent by the sending terminal. When a receiving terminal is in a dormant state, data loss may be caused by transmitting data, from the sending terminal, to a receiving terminal).
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Second Rejection
Claim 1 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lenovo et al.( "Sidelink resource allocation for Power saving", 3GPP TSG RAN WG1 #103-e R1-2008917,13 November 2020 (2020-11-13)), in view of Park et al (US Pub. No.:2022/0217740) and further in view of Agiwal et al (US Pub. No.:2022/0191965).
As per claim 1, Lenovo disclose A processor of a user equipment (UE) (see sections 1 and 2, UE/TxUE with a CPU/a processor) configured to perform operations comprising:
establishing a sidelink with a further UE (see section 2.4, establishing a sidelink with a second UE/Rx UE and the sidelink transmission on selected resources is transmitted within the DRX on-duration of Rx UE);
configuring a sidelink discontinuous reception (DRX) cycle (see section 2.4, DRX mechanism will be introduced for NR sidelink, it can be designed not only for communication between vehicle UE and pedestrian UE but also for the communication among multiple commercial UEs. DRX configuration and alignment mechanism will be studied by RAN2. RAN1 needs to consider whether the resource selection/re-evaluation window should further determine based on the DRX on-duration of Rx UE);
receiving first sidelink control information (SCI) during the sidelink DRX cycle; and receiving second SCI during the sidelink DRX cycle (see section 2.4, power saving benefit of entering early DRX sleep within the DRX on-duration/active period when there is not enough data for transmission/reception should be investigated through any signaling enhancement in SCI. Cross slot scheduling enhancement in the sidelink can be introduced for power saving purpose by indicating the time slot offset between 2nd SCI and data from that of 1st SCI. An information present in the 1st SCI provide information on the intended recipient of the message and accordingly Rx UE decide to buffer and decode the 2nd SCI and data).
Lenovo however does not explicitly disclose a processor of a user equipment (UE) configured to perform operations; and receiving first SCI and first data at a first time and receiving second SCI at a second time during the sidelink DRX cycle;
Park however disclose a processor (see Fig.16-17, Fig.19, processor 102) of a user equipment (UE) (see Fig.16-17, Fig.19, the first device 100, see para. 0254) configured to perform operations; and receiving first SCI and first data at a first time (see Fig.16-17, para. 0245, 0254, 0259-0260, Referring to FIG. 17, in step S1710, the second device may obtain a sidelink (SL) discontinuous reception (DRX) configuration including information related to a timer for an active time and information related to a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) round trip time (RTT) timer. In step S1720, the second device may transmit, to a first device through a physical sidelink control channel (PSCCH) based on a first SL resource, a first sidelink control information (SCI) for scheduling of a physical sidelink shared channel (PSSCH)) and receiving second SCI at a second time during the sidelink DRX cycle (see Fig.16-17, para. 0245, 0254, 0259-0260,, in step S1730, the second device transmits, to the first device through the PSSCH based on the first SL resource, the second SCI and data).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide the functionality of a processor of a user equipment (UE) configured to perform operations; and receiving first SCI and first data at a first time and receiving second SCI at a second time during the sidelink DRX cycle, as taught by Park, in the system of Lenovo, so that power saving gain of the UE is maximized and the reliability of SL communication is secured, see Park, para. 0007-0009.
The combination of Lenovo and Ko however does not explicitly disclose the first SCI and the first data comprising a first layer 2 (L2) ID; and when the first L2 ID matches a second L2 ID associated with the UE, restarting a sidelink DRX inactivity timer;
Agiwal however disclose a first SCI and a first data comprising a first layer 2 (L2) ID; and when the first L2 ID matches a second L2 ID associated with the UE, restarting a sidelink DRX inactivity timer (see para. 0114-0123, a first SCI and a first data comprising a first layer 2 (L2) ID and the first L2 ID matches a second L2 ID associated with the UE, and UE starts or restarts corresponding sl-drx-InactivityTimer, see also Fig.4, para. 0127, Fig.5, para. 0156, In operation S540, if the Destination ID field in the 2nd stage SCI is equal to 16 least significant bits of any of the Source Layer-2 ID(s) of the UE, and the Source ID field in the 2nd stage SCI is equal to 8 least significant bits of the Destination Layer-2 ID(s) of the UE for unicast communication, the UE starts or restarts sl-drx-InactivityTimer in the first symbol after the end of the 2nd stage SCI reception, or if not, sl-drx-InactivityTimer is not (re-)started)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide the functionality of a first SCI and a first data comprising a first layer 2 (L2) ID; and when the first L2 ID matches a second L2 ID associated with the UE, restarting a sidelink DRX inactivity timer, as taught by Agiwal, in the system of Lenovo and Ko, so that a user equipment (UE) reduce power consumption when performing sidelink communication, see Agiwal, para. 0014.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Freda (US Pub. No.: 2023/0063472) – see para. 0405, 0433-0434, “A WTRU, upon enabling an activity behavior, may perform DRX based on the associated DRX configuration. A WTRU, upon disabling an activity behavior, may be required to always monitor PSCCH for scheduling, possibly for that associated aspect (e.g. L2 ID, HARQ process. Based on the configured services and or interested L2 IDs: [0434] a. For example, the WTRU may be configured with a set of interested L2 IDs, and associated DRX behavior for each L2 ID (whether to be perform DRX between reception), and the WTRU may adhere to one behavior if at least one interested L2 ID is configured with such behavior and the corresponding L1 ID is received in SCI”.
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 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 LAKERAM JANGBAHADUR whose telephone number is (571)272-1335. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F 7 am - 4 pm.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Ian Moore can be reached on 571-272-3085. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/LAKERAM JANGBAHADUR/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2469