DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 8/11/2025 has been entered.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claims 1-3, and 6-11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over ZHAO; Yali US PGPUB 20230140680 A1, in view of LIANG; Jing et al. US PGPUB 20230208563 A1, further in view of CHENG; YU-HSIN et al. US PGPUB 20220271868 A1.
Regarding claim 1. ZHAO teaches A method for a first User Equipment (UE) in a wireless communication system, the method comprising:
configuring, by the first UE, a round trip time (RTT) timer and a retransmission timer to a base station; ([0041] HARQ RTT timer and [0042] HARQ retransmission timer).
transmitting, by the first UE, Physical Sidelink Shared Channel (PSSCH) to a second UE; ([0153] corresponding to a PSSCH after the UE has transmitted the PSSCH)
receiving, by the first UE, a Hybrid Automatic Repeat and request (HARQ) feedback related to the PSSCH from the second UE; ([0153] when at least one HARQ feedback received by the UE from the other UE with respect to the first HARQ process is an HARQ NACK)
starting, by the first UE, the RTT timer; ([0153] starting an HARQ round-trip time timer corresponding to the first HARQ process corresponding to a PSSCH after the UE has transmitted the PSSCH,) and
starting, by the first UE, the retransmission timer after expiry of the RTT timer, ([0153] when the HARQ round-trip time timer expires, starting an HARQ retransmission timer corresponding to the first HARQ process after the HARQ round-trip time timer corresponding to the first HARQ process expires)
Zhao does not expressly teach
wherein the RTT timer is started based on a Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH) transmission is dropped, wherein the PUCCH is based on the HARQ feedback related to the PSSCH from the second UE.
However, Liang teaches
wherein the RTT timer is started based on a Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH) transmission is dropped, ([0121] Step S43: The first terminal does not send NACK, but still starts drx-HARQ-RTT-TimerSL.)
in order to save power consumption by applying DRX to sidelink communication.
Zhao and Liang are analogous art in the same field of endeavor of wireless communication. It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person with ordinary skill in the art to modify the method in Zhao with the techniques of sidelink RTT timer in Liang in order to save power consumption by applying DRX to sidelink communication.
Zhao and Liang do not teach wherein the PUCCH is based on the HARQ feedback related to the PSSCH from the second UE.
However, Cheng teaches wherein the PUCCH is based on the HARQ feedback related to the PSSCH from the second UE. ([0072]The PUCCH 506 may be used for transmitting a second HARQ feedback associated with the PSSCH 514.)
In order to improve data rate, reliability and mobility. ([0003])
Zhao and Cheng are analogous art in the same field of endeavor of wireless communication. It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person with ordinary skill in the art to modify the method in Zhao with the technique of prioritize sidelink feedback vs. PUCCH in Cheng in order to improve data rate, reliability and mobility.
Regarding claim 2. Zhao, Liang and Cheng teach The method of claim 1, and Zhao teaches wherein the retransmission timer is started based on the expiry of the RTT timer and the PUCCH, which is related to the HARQ feedback, being not transmitted. ([0153] … starting an HARQ round-trip time timer corresponding to the first HARQ process corresponding to a PSSCH after the UE has transmitted the PSSCH… Examiner notes the teaching implies PUCCH related HARQ feedback being not transmitted).
Regarding claim 3. Zhao, Liang and Cheng teach The method of claim 2, Zhao teaches wherein the HARQ feedback is a HARQ negative acknowledgement (NACK) feedback. ([0153] and when at least one HARQ feedback received by the UE from the other UE with respect to the first HARQ process is an HARQ NACK when the HARQ round-trip time timer expires,)
Regarding claim 6. Zhao, Liang and Cheng teach The method of claim 1, and Liang teaches
wherein the RTT timer is DRX-HARQ-RTT-TimerSL, the retransmission timer is DRX-HARQ-RetransmissionSL. ([0080] It should be noted that the first timer in this embodiment of this application may be drx-HARQ-RTT-TimerSL in a specific application scenario. The second timer in this embodiment of this application may be drx-RetransmissionTimerSL in a specific application scenario.)
Regarding claim 7. Zhao, Liang and Cheng teach The method of claim 1, but Zhao and Liang do not teach wherein the PUCCH is dropped for reasons related to prioritization.
However, Cheng teaches the PUCCH is dropped for reasons related to prioritization.
([0087] In one implementation, if a payload size of a PUCCH resource (e.g., the first PUCCH 406 in FIG. 4, the second PUCCH 416 in FIG. 4, or the PUCCH 506 in FIG. 5) cannot contain all SL HARQ feedback and UCI (which may include DL HARQ feedback, SR, CSI) bits, there may be a priority rule to decide which information may be transmitted on the PUCCH resource and which information may be dropped/discarded.)
In order to improve data rate, reliability and mobility. ([0003])
Zhao and Cheng are analogous art in the same field of endeavor of wireless communication. It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person with ordinary skill in the art to modify the method in Zhao with the technique of prioritize sidelink feedback vs. PUCCH in Cheng in order to improve data rate, reliability and mobility.
Regarding claim 8. Zhao, Liang and Cheng teach The method of claim 1, but Zhao and Liang do not teach wherein the first UE is configured to operate in mode 1.
However, Cheng teaches wherein the first UE is configured to operate in mode 1.
([0056] In one implementation, downlink control information (DCI) in SL resource allocation mode 1 (e.g., DCI_SL) may contain resource allocation information about physical sidelink control channel (PSCCH) and/or physical sidelink shared channel (PSSCH). New parameters, such as K0_1, K0_2, K0_SL and K1_SL, may be introduced.)
In order to improve data rate, reliability and mobility. ([0003])
Zhao and Cheng are analogous art in the same field of endeavor of wireless communication. It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person with ordinary skill in the art to modify the method in Zhao with the technique of prioritize sidelink feedback vs. PUCCH in Cheng in order to improve data rate, reliability and mobility.
Regarding claim 9. Zhao, Liang and Cheng teach A first user equipment (UE) configured to operate in a wireless communication system, the first UE comprising: at least one processor; (Zhao Fig. 6, Processor 61) and at least one computer memory operably connected (Fig. 6, Memory 63) to the at least one processor and configured to store instructions that, when executed, cause the at least one processor to perform operations recited in claim 1, and they are rejected for the same reasons.
Regarding claim 10. Zhao, Liang and Cheng teach The first UE of claim 9, Zhao teaches wherein the first UE is configured to communicate with at least one of another user equipment (UE), (Fig. 3, UE1 connected to UE2 via sidelink) a UE or base station related to autonomous driving vehicles, or a network.
Regarding claim 11. Zhao, Liang and Cheng teach teaches A non-volatile computer-readable storage medium configured to store at least one computer program comprising instructions that, (Zhao [0173] the steps of the method or the modules may be implemented through an integrated logic circuit of the processing element in the form of hardware or through instructions in the form of software.) when executed by at least one processor, (Fig. 6, processor 61) cause the at least one processor to perform operations for a first user equipment (UE), the operations comprising the method recited in claim 1. It is rejected for the same reasons.
Claim(s) 4 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhao, Liang and Cheng as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Wu; Chih-Yao et al. US PGPUB 20150003304 A1.
Regarding claim 4. Zhao, Liang and Cheng teach The method of claim 1, but they do not each wherein the first UE is configured to operate in a sleep mode from a start of the RTT timer to the expiry of the RTT timer.
However, Wu teaches
the first UE is configured to operate in a sleep mode from a start of the RTT timer to the expiry of the RTT timer. ([0080] Hence, the mobile device can set the RTT Timer appropriately under joint TDD and FDD operation, which assures the mobile device can switch its receiver to a sleep mode for appropriate time frames) in order to save battery power ([0080])
Zhao and Wu are analogous art in the same field of endeavor of wireless communication. It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person with ordinary skill in the art to modify
Claim 5 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhao, Liang and Cheng as applied to claim 1 above, further in view of Xu; Haibo et al. US PGPUB 20220312241 A1.
Regarding claim 5. Zhao, Liang and Cheng teach The method of claim 1, Zhao does not teach wherein the first UE is configured to await reception of a grant from a base station from a start of the retransmission timer to expiry of the retransmission timer.
However, Xu teaches the first UE is configured to await reception of a grant from the base station from a start of the retransmission timer to expiry of the retransmission timer.([0236] if a HARQ feedback of data a is NACK, after receiving the NACK, the base station schedules a resource for retransmission of the data a, and delivers an SL grant used for the retransmission of the data a on a PDCCH.)
in order to reduce the delay in sidelink by configuring a sidelink DRX process timers. ([0005])
Zhao and XU are analogous art in the same field of endeavor of wireless communication. It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person with ordinary skill in the art to modify the method in Zhao with the sidelink timers in XU in order to reduce sidelink delays.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ZHAOHUI YANG whose telephone number is (571)270-7527. The examiner can normally be reached 9 AM to 5 PM M-F.
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/ZHAOHUI YANG/Examiner, Art Unit 2468
/Thomas R Cairns/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2468