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 .
Response to Amendment
Applicant's submission filed on 1/28/2026 has been entered. Claim(s) 1-10, 12-15 is/are pending in the application.
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.
Claim(s) 1-8, 12, 14-15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yang (U.S. Patent App Pub 20230164696) in view of Li (U.S. Patent App Pub 20230345559).
Regarding claim 1,
Yang teaches a method comprising:
receiving, by a first device from a second device, sidelink control information (SCI) for scheduling of a physical sidelink shared channel (PSSCH) through a physical sidelink control channel (PSCCH), wherein a first resource is reserved by the SCI; (See paragraphs 27, 30, 31, 95, 120, figs 4-5, Yang)
receiving, by the first device from the second device, a first data through the PSSCH, starting, by the first device, a sidelink (SL) discontinuous reception (DRX) timer related to an active time, based on that no SCI is monitored on the first resource; and(See paragraphs 52-53, figs 4-5, Yang)
Yang does not explicitly teach but Li teaches receiving, by the first device from the second device, a second data based on a second resource, wherein the first resource scheduled by the SCI is reselected as the second resource located within a time period during which the SL DRX timer is running. (See paragraphs 390, 391, 382-383. Li teaches selecting/reselecting resource schedule by the SCI as the second resource located with a time period during which the SL DRC timer is running)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to have known to combine the teachings of Li with Yang because both deal with selection of sidelink resources. The advantage of incorporating the above limitation(s) of Li into Yang is that Li enables selecting the first sidelink resource based on sidelink active time or wake-up time of the second device efficiently. The method allows the first device to perform the sidelink transmission on the second sidelink resources within the time duration of selection window effectively, thus improving performance of the device-to-device resource pool in a wireless communication system, therefore making the overall system more robust and efficient. (See paragraphs [0004] - [0006], Li)
Regarding claim 2,
Yang and Li teach the method of claim 1, wherein the second data is related to a retransmission of the first data. (See paragraphs 55-57, figs 4-5, Yang)
Regarding claim 3,
Yang and Li teach the method of claim 1, wherein the second data is different from the first data. (See paragraphs 55-57, figs 4-5, Yang)
Regarding claim 4,
Yang and Li teach the method of claim 1, wherein the SL DRX timer is started based on expiration of an SL DRX hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) round trip time (RTT) timer with a timer value of zero. (See paragraphs 55-60, Yang )
Regarding claim 5,
Yang and Li teach the method of claim 4, wherein the SL DRX timer is an SL DRX retransmission timer. (See paragraphs 55-60, Yang )
Regarding claim 6,
Yang and Li teach the method of claim 1, wherein a maximum number of resources reserved by the SCI is three. (See paragraphs 52-54, claim 6, figs 4-5, Yang)
Regarding claim 7,
Yang and Li teach the method of claim 1.
Li teaches further comprising:operating, by the first device, as an inactive time of SL DRX configuration from after a time point of a third resource in which the SCI is received to a time point of the first resource. (See paragraphs 451-452, fig 14, Li) See motivation to combine for claim 1.
Regarding claim 8,
Yang and Li teach the method of claim 7.
Li further teaches wherein the inactive time of the SL DRX configuration is started from a time point where the reception of the first data based on the third resource is completed. (See paragraphs 451-452, fig 14, Li) See motivation to combine for claim 1.
Regarding claim 12,
Yang and Li teach the method of claim 1, wherein the second resource is reselected based on pre-emption or resource re-evaluation. (See paragraphs 55-60, Yang )
Claim 14 list all the same elements of claim 1, but in device form rather than method form. Therefore, the supporting rationale of the rejection to claim 1 applies equally as well to claim 14.
Claim 15 list all the same elements of claim 1, but in device form rather than method form. Therefore, the supporting rationale of the rejection to claim 1 applies equally as well to claim 15.
Claim(s) 13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yang (U.S. Patent App Pub 20230164696) in view of Li (U.S. Patent App Pub 20230345559) in view of Gopal (U.S. Patent App Pub 20150264613).
Regarding claim 13,
Yang and Li teach the method of claim 10.
Yang and Li do not explicitly teach but Gopal teaches wherein the reselection is performed based on uplink (UL)-SL prioritization or prioritization between radio access technologies (RATs). (See paragraphs 33, 36, abstract, Gopal)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to have known to combine the teachings of Gopal with Yang and Li because both deal with discontinuous reception. The advantage of incorporating Gopal into Yang and Li is that Gopal enables providing time slots used for uplink or downlink, thus allowing greater flexibility during higher data transmission times in uplink or downlink directions. The method enables providing midamble for channel estimation when a inter-burst interference is avoided at guard period, therefore making the overall system more robust and efficient. (See paragraphs [0004] - [0007], Gopal)
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 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
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure and located in the PTO-892 form.
1.Chen, U.S. Patent 11470676, teaches methods and apparatuses are provided to avoid unintended UE state transition, and the risk of packet loss due to unintended UE state transition is reduced. The methods and apparatuses are also provided to avoid unintended BWP switching, and the risk of packet loss due to unintended BWP switching is reduced. A device (e.g., UE) is configured by a network node through a signaling with a functionality, wherein the functionality is associated with a timer. The device receives a package, wherein the package contains one or more payload, and the payload is mapped to a logical channel, wherein the logical channel is used for multicast and/or broadcast service, and the device starts or restarts the timer.
2. Chean, U.S. Patent App 20180368099, teaches Methods, systems, and devices for wireless communication are described. Some wireless devices (e.g., dual subscriber identity modules (SIM) devices) may support two subscriptions such that while one subscription is actively transmitting or receiving, the other subscription is put on standby. The wireless device may identify collisions in time between monitored paging messages associated with the first and second subscriptions. Accordingly, the wireless device may modify a radio access technology (RAT) priority setting for one of the subscriptions, such that paging messages may be received via a RAT different that the RAT used for the other subscription (e.g., following a cell reselection procedure performed according to the modified RAT priority). Operation using a modified RAT priority setting may be referred to as a fallback mode, which may be exited upon expiration of a timer. Additionally, discontinuous reception (DRX) durations associated with the RATs used for subscription paging may be reduced.
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.
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/NINOS DONABED/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2444