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 .
This action is in response to the communication filed on 07/22/2026.
The Claims 2, 4-17 have been canceled by the applicant.
The Claims 18-26 have been newly added by the applicant.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments/remarks filed on 07/22/2026 with respect to claim(s) 1 and the similarly amended independent claims have been considered but are moot in view of the new ground(s) of rejection.
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.
Claim(s) 1, 3, 18, 20-23 and 27 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tseng et al. (WIPO. Pub. WO2021147959) in view of Wu et al. (US. Pub. 20230362896).
Regarding claim 1 Tseng disclose, a communication apparatus comprising:
circuitry which, in operation, allocates, between a first operating window and a second operating window for a reception or a transmission of a (SL) sidelink signal para. 33, Fig. 5a “receiving a SL-Discontinuous Reception (SL-DRX) configuration indicating a SL-DRX function; and determining whether to monitor at least one of a first Sidelink Control Information (SCI) (e.g., a first stage SCI/1 .sup.st stage SCI)”; and
a transceiver which, in operation, performs the sensing within the third operating window, wherein the third operating window is within a SL discontinuous reception (DRX) inactive time, para. 65, “the UE may adjust SL packet transmission/reception based on the SL-DRX mechanism”.
Tseng do not specifically disclose, a third operating window for sensing, wherein the third operating window is separated from an end of the first operating window and a start of the second operating window. However, Wu disclose, a third operating window for sensing, wherein the third operating window is separated from an end of the first operating window and a start of the second operating window para. 65, “Some UEs implement sidelink discontinuous reception (SL-DRX) that allows the receiver to remain in an inactive or sleep state and wake during short periods to monitor for packets”.
Tseng and Wu are analogous because they pertain to the field of wireless communication and, more specifically, both are focused on systems that allocate resources for sidelink communications and reducing the power consumption during the configuration and communications.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Wu in the system of Tseng to so the system can accurately determine the time window to monitor transmissions while on inactive state. The motivation for doing so would have been to save the power of the communication terminals.
Regarding claim 3 Tseng disclose, wherein the one or more additional operating windows is a contiguous operating window extended from an end of the first operating window and/or a start of the second operating window para. 96, “the UE may be configured with a ‘Sidelink (SL) Sensing window’ time period during the SL-DRX off-period (s). As shown in Figure 5 (a) , before the starting of SL-DRX On-Duration, the UE may start to implement SL sensing or partial sensing mechanism in advance for the preparation of SL packet delivery in the coming SL-DRX On-Duration.”.
Claim 18 recites a method corresponding to the apparatus of claim 1 and thus is rejected under the same reason set forth in the rejection of claim 1.
Regarding claim 20 Tseng do not specifically disclose, wherein the third operating windows is comprised of continuous slots, and a number of the contiguous slots is configured based on a fixed value. However, Wu disclose, wherein the third operating windows is comprised of continuous slots, and a number of the contiguous slots is configured based on a fixed value para. 5, “The UE can determine a subset of candidate slots from the set of candidate slots based at least on an occupancy threshold over the history window”.
Tseng and Wu are analogous because they pertain to the field of wireless communication and, more specifically, on systems that allocate resources for sidelink communications.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Wu in the system of Tseng to so the system can use the time window reducing signaling overhead. The motivation for doing so would have been to maintain continuous sensing and avoid collition.
Regarding claim 21 Tseng do not specifically disclose, wherein the third operating window is comprised of contiguous slots determined forwardly from a specific slot. However, Wu disclose, wherein the third operating window is comprised of contiguous slots determined forwardly from a specific slot para. 5, “The sensed periods can correspond to a plurality of SL-DRX Active Times, and the plurality of SL-DRX Active Times can correspond to a static gap pattern over the history window”.
Tseng and Wu are analogous because they pertain to the field of wireless communication and, more specifically, on systems that allocate resources for sidelink communications.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Wu in the system of Tseng to so the system can use the time window reducing signaling overhead. The motivation for doing so would have been to maintain continuous sensing and avoid collition.
Regarding claim 22 Tseng do not specifically disclose, wherein a starting point of the third operating window is configured based on an end slot of the first operating window. However, Wu disclose, wherein a starting point of the third operating window is configured based on an end slot of the first operating window para. 6, “To determine the set of candidate slots that are sufficiently sensed, the UE can detect at least q sensed periods corresponding to the first candidate slot of the set of candidate slots over the history window”.
Tseng and Wu are analogous because they pertain to the field of wireless communication and, more specifically, on systems that allocate resources for sidelink communications.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Wu in the system of Tseng to so the system can take the immediate time window available after the transition to inactive state. The motivation for doing so would have been to improve the management of the available resources.
Regarding claim 23 Tseng do not specifically disclose, wherein each of the first operating window and the second operating window is a window relating to SL DRX operation However, Wu disclose, wherein each of the first operating window and the second operating window is a window relating to SL DRX operation para. 10, “The UE can determine based at least on the SL sensed measurements, a positive candidate list, select a candidate slot from the positive candidate list”.
Tseng and Wu are analogous because they pertain to the field of wireless communication and, more specifically, on systems that allocate resources for sidelink communications.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Wu in the system of Tseng to so the system provide significant architectural and performance advantages for scheduling resources. The motivation for doing so would have been to reduce congestion and improve the quality of services.
Regarding claim 27 Tseng do not specifically disclose, wherein the sensing is a partial sensing performed within the third operating window, the third operating window being different from a sensing window for full sensing. However, Wu disclose, wherein the sensing is a partial sensing performed within the third operating window, the third operating window being different from a sensing window for full sensing para. 84, “hen q=3, UE 110 determines whether given candidate slot 820 is detected in at least 3 of 410a, 410b, 410g, or 410i. When q is satisfied, given candidate slot 820 has sufficient measurement history over history window 450. Candidate slots that satisfy q make up a set of candidate slots. The set of candidate slots can be a subset of selection window 445”.
Tseng and Wu are analogous because they pertain to the field of wireless communication and, more specifically, on systems that allocate resources for sidelink communications.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Wu in the system of Tseng to so the system is able to tailor the process of resource allocation according to the needs of the network. The motivation for doing so would have been to improve resource optimization and quality of services.
Claim(s) 19 and 24-26 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tseng et al. (WIPO. Pub. WO2021147959) in view of Wu et al. (US. Pub. 20230362896), further in view of Wu et al. (US. Pub. 20230362896)
Regarding claim 19 Tseng and Wu do not specifically disclose, wherein the third operating window is comprised of continuous slots, and a number of the contiguous slots is configured based on a Radio Resource Control (RRC) message. However, Hong disclose, wherein the third operating window is comprised of continuous slots, and a number of the contiguous slots is configured based on a Radio Resource Control (RRC) message para. 65, “the base station may inform the UE of whether the slot is a downlink slot, an uplink slot, or a flexible slot using a slot format indicator (SFI). The base station may inform a slot format by instructing, using the SFI, the index of a table configured through UE-specific RRC signaling”.
Tseng Wu and Hong are analogous because they pertain to the field of wireless communication and, more specifically, on systems that allocate resources for sidelink communications.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Wu in the system of Tseng and Wu to so the system is able to tailor the process of resource allocation according to the needs of the network. The motivation for doing so would have been to improve resource optimization and quality of services.
Regarding claim 24 Tseng and Wu do not specifically disclose, wherein the sensing within the SL DRX inactive time is enabled or disabled by a Radio Resource Control (RRC) message. However, Hong disclose, wherein the sensing within the SL DRX inactive time is enabled or disabled by a Radio Resource Control (RRC) message para. 336, “the transmission UE in the RRC idle/RRC inactive state may transmit an RRC message including the SLRB configuration to the reception UE”.
Tseng, Wu and Hong are analogous because they pertain to the field of wireless communication and, more specifically, on systems that allocate resources for sidelink communications.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Wu in the system of Tseng and Wu to so the system can take the immediate time window available after the transition to inactive state. The motivation for doing so would have been to improve the management of the available resources.
Regarding claim 25 Tseng and Wu do not specifically disclose, wherein the third operating window is configured based on a transmission trigger slot. However, Hong disclose, wherein the third operating window is configured based on a transmission trigger slot para. 341, “the corresponding UE may perform/trigger the discontinuous reception operation on the PSCCH associated with the UE identifier”.
Tseng, Wu and Hong are analogous because they pertain to the field of wireless communication and, more specifically, on systems that allocate resources for sidelink communications.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Wu in the system of Tseng and Wu to so the system provide significant architectural and performance advantages for scheduling resources. The motivation for doing so would have been to reduce congestion and improve the quality of services.
Regarding claim 26 Tseng and Wu do not specifically disclose, wherein the third operating window between the first operating window and the second operating window comprises two or more discrete occasions in a time domain. However, Hong disclose, wherein the third operating window between the first operating window and the second operating window comprises two or more discrete occasions in a time domain para. 84, “the PBCH may include information on the position of the first DM-RS symbol in the time domain, information for the UE to monitor SIB1 (e.g., SIB1 numerology information, information related to SIB1 CORESET, search space information, PDCCH-related parameter information, etc.)”.
Tseng, Wu and Hong are analogous because they pertain to the field of wireless communication and, more specifically, on systems that allocate resources for sidelink communications.
Tseng and Wu are analogous because they pertain to the field of wireless communication and, more specifically, on systems that allocate resources for sidelink communications.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Wu in the system of Tseng and Wu to so the system provide significant architectural and performance advantages for scheduling resources. The motivation for doing so would have been to reduce congestion and improve the quality of services.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure: Huang et al. (U.S. Pub. 20210037468) which disclose(s) method and apparatus for providing power saving of monitoring for device-to-device communication in a wireless communication system.
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 RAUL RIVAS whose telephone number is (571)270–5590. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday – Friday, from 8:30am to 5:00pm.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Sujoy K. Kundu, can be reached on (571) 272 - 8586. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571–272–8300.
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/R.R/ Examiner, Art Unit 2471
/SUJOY K KUNDU/ Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2471
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