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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 03/06/2026 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 text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
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.
Claims 2, 5-6, 9-13, 17, and 21-22 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over LI et al. (2022/0224497), hereinafter LI in view of Kang et al. (2023/0107246), hereinafter Kang.
Re. Claim 9, LI teaches a method performed by a first wireless user device, the method comprising: determining sidelink (SL) resources indicated by a physical layer of the first wireless user device (¶0006 - The first device determines/selects a first sidelink resource from a set of sidelink resources); selecting, from the determined SL resources, at least one SL resource for SL transmission to at least one second wireless user device (¶0006 - The first device determines/selects a first sidelink resource from a set of sidelink resources, wherein the set of sidelink resources is derived or determined based on at least sensing result in the first contiguous sensing duration), wherein the at least one SL resource is within an SL discontinuous reception (DRX) active time of the at least one second wireless user device (¶0006 - The first device performs sensing for a first contiguous sensing duration before a sidelink on-duration active time of the second device… wherein the set of sidelink resources is derived or determined based on at least sensing result in the first contiguous sensing duration); wherein the selecting the at least one SL resource comprises selecting, based on an amount of selected frequency resources (¶0078 - the received SCI may schedule/indicate the sidelink resource(s) via “Frequency resource assignment” field and “Time resource assignment field”, and/or “Resource reservation period” field) and a packet delay budget (PDB) of SL data of a logical channel (¶0074 - the associated resource selection window, e.g., in time interval [n+T.sub.1, n+T.sub.2], may be upper bounded based on remaining packet delay budget (PDB)), the at least one SL resource (¶0006 - wherein the set of sidelink resources is derived or determined based on at least sensing result in the first contiguous sensing duration) and transmitting, from the first wireless user device to the at least one second wireless user device, the SL data via the selected at least one SL resource (¶0006 - The first device performs a first sidelink transmission on the first sidelink resource for transmitting the sidelink data to the second device).
However, LI does not expressly teach generating, based on an SL DRX operation of the at least one second wireless user device, an SL grant for transmission of SL data.
Yet, Kang explicitly teaches generating, based on an SL DRX operation of the at least one second wireless user device, an SL grant for transmission of SL data (¶0047 - The SL DRX configuration information may include configured grant resource configuration information for SL transmission, ¶0245 - The SL resource pool may be configured with respect to one or more SL DRX configurations. & ¶0273 – [T]he terminal may generate configuration information applicable to the corresponding unicast connection, in operation 1405, wherein the configuration information includes… the SL configured grant information...).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to add the teaching of Kang to the teaching of LI. The motivation for such would be to improve transmission efficiency via improved data generation as Kang provides a means of generating an SL grant based on an SL DRX operation of a second terminal (Kang, ¶0273). All of the claimed elements were known in the prior art and one skilled in the art could have combined the elements, as claimed by known methods, and the combination would have yielded predictable results to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention.
Re. Claim 2, LI and Kang teach Claim 9.
Additionally, LI further teaches determining an SL DRX configuration configured for the first wireless user device, wherein the selecting the at least one SL resource comprises selecting, based on the SL DRX configuration, the at least one SL resource (¶0153 - the sidelink DRX configuration is configured for the sidelink link/connection between the first UE and the second UE.).
Re. Claim 5, LI and Kang teach Claim 9.
Additionally, LI further teaches wherein the logical channel is associated with a pair of a source and a destination, and wherein the source is the first wireless user device, and the destination is the at least one second wireless user device (¶0006 - The first device performs a first sidelink transmission on the first sidelink resource for transmitting the sidelink data to the second device).
Re. Claim 6, LI and Kang teach Claim 9.
Additionally, LI further teaches wherein the logical channel is associated with the at least one second wireless user device (¶0006 - The first device performs a first sidelink transmission on the first sidelink resource for transmitting the sidelink data to the second device.).
Re. Claim 10, LI and Kang teach Claim 9.
Additionally, LI further teaches determining, based on a sensing at the physical layer, a plurality of SL resources comprised in a resource selection window as the determined SL resources (¶0174 - Preferably in certain embodiments, a sub-channel may comprise multiple contiguous Physical Resource Blocks (PRBs) in frequency domain. Preferably in certain embodiments, the number of PRBs for each sub-channel may be (pre-)configured for a sidelink resource pool).
Re. Claim 11, LI and Kang teach Claim 9.
Additionally, LI teaches wherein the logical channel is associated with a plurality of wireless user devices for groupcast (¶0003 - Such IP data packet communication can provide users of mobile communication devices with voice over IP, multimedia, multicast and on-demand communication services).
Re. Claim 12, LI and Kang teach Claim 9.
However, LI does not expressly teach transmitting, from the first wireless user device to the at least one second wireless user device, the SL grant
Yet, Kang explicitly teaches transmitting, from the first wireless user device to the at least one second wireless user device, the SL grant (¶0047 - The SL DRX configuration information may include configured grant resource configuration information for SL transmission, & ¶0051 - A method of performing, by a terminal sidelink (SL) discontinuous reception (DRX) includes obtaining SL DRX configuration information, and transmitting, to another terminal, SL data availability signaling and data corresponding to the SL data availability signaling based on the SL DRX configuration information).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to add the teaching of Kang to the teaching of LI. The motivation for such would be to improve communication between the two devices through the use of Sidelink grants as Kang provides a means of transmitting an SL grant to a second terminal (Kang, ¶0051). All of the claimed elements were known in the prior art and one skilled in the art could have combined the elements, as claimed by known methods, and the combination would have yielded predictable results to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention.
Re. Claim 17, LI and Kang teach Claim 9.
Additionally, LI also teaches performing, from the first wireless user device to the at least one second wireless user device, retransmission of the SL data via the selected at least one SL resource (¶0050 - If the first terminal determines that the second sidelink resource is located in the DRX-active time of the second terminal, the first terminal sends the data to the second terminal on the second sidelink resource used to retransmit the data).
Re. Claim 20, Li and Kang teach Claim 9.
Additionally, Li further teaches wherein the logical channel of the plurality of logical channels is associated with a user equipment (UE) pair (¶0167 - Preferably in certain embodiments, the one or more sidelink logical channels associated with (the paired UEs of) the first sidelink link/connection are separate/independent from the one or more sidelink logical channels associated with (the paired UEs of) the second sidelink link/connection).
Re. Claim 21, Li and Kang teach Claim 9.
Additionally, Li further teaches wherein the plurality of logical channels are associated with the first wireless user device (¶0167 - Preferably in certain embodiments, the one or more sidelink logical channels associated with (the paired UEs of) the first sidelink link/connection are separate/independent from the one or more sidelink logical channels associated with (the paired UEs of) the second sidelink link/connection).
Claims 3, 13-16, 18-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over LI in view of Kang and Cai et al. (2023/0371005), hereinafter Cai.
Re. Claim 3, Li and Kang teach Claim 9.
However, the combination of Li and Kang do not expressly teach wherein the selecting the at least one SL resource comprises randomly selecting, by a medium access control (MAC) layer of the first wireless user device, the at least one SL resource.
Yet, Cai explicitly teaches wherein the selecting the at least one SL resource comprises randomly selecting, by a medium access control (MAC) layer of the first wireless user device, the at least one SL resource (¶0160 - Then, the MAC entity randomly selects one sidelink resource from the group of sidelink resources provided by the PHY layer).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to add the teaching of Cai to the teaching of Li and Kang. The motivation for such would be in order to improve communication efficiency via randomly selecting an SL resource as Cai provides a means via the MAC layer to randomly select an SL resource (Cai, ¶0160). All of the claimed elements were known in the prior art and one skilled in the art could have combined the elements, as claimed by known methods, and the combination would have yielded predictable results to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention.
Re. Claim 13, Li and Kang teach Claim 9.
However, Li and Kang do not expressly teach receiving, by a medium access control (MAC) layer of the first wireless user device, an SL DRX configuration configured by a radio resource control (RRC) layer; and based on the SL DRX configuration, indicating, by the physical layer of the first wireless user device to the MAC layer, the SL resources, wherein the selecting the at least one SL resource comprises: based on the SL DRX configuration, selecting, by the MAC layer, the at least one SL resource.
Yet, Cai explicitly teaches receiving, by a medium access control (MAC) layer of the first wireless user device, an SL DRX configuration configured by a radio resource control (RRC) layer (¶0141 - The terminal 100 is a sender terminal, and the terminal 200 is a receiver terminal. In other words, the terminal 100 is a source of sidelink communication (or a MAC PDU), and the receiver terminal is a destination of sidelink communication (or a MAC PDU), ¶0142 - The PC5-RRC connection and the PC5 unicast link are in a one-to-one correspondence. The PC5-RRC connection may be used by a sender terminal to transmit a capability and/or a sidelink configuration of the sender terminal, & ¶0244 - The second terminal sends DRX configuration information of the second terminal to the first terminal); and based on the SL DRX configuration, indicating, by the physical layer of the first wireless user device to the MAC layer (¶0141 - The terminal 100 is a source of sidelink communication (or a MAC PDU), and the receiver terminal is a destination of sidelink communication (or a MAC PDU)), the SL resources, wherein the selecting the at least one SL resource comprises: based on the SL DRX configuration, selecting, by the MAC layer, the at least one SL resource (¶0244 - The DRX configuration information includes information used to determine the sidelink discontinuous reception-active time of the second terminal. For example, the information used to determine the discontinuous reception-active time of the sidelink of the second terminal is a discontinuous reception related parameter of the second terminal, for example, a DRX cycle, duration of the drx-onDurationTimer-SL, duration of the drx-InactivityTimer-SL, duration of the drx-RetransmissionTimer-SL, and a DRX start offset).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to add the teaching of Cai to the teaching of Li and Kang. The motivation for such would be in order to improve communication efficiency via randomly selecting an SL via a MAC layer resource as Cai provides a means via the MAC layer to randomly select an SL resource (Cai, ¶0244). All of the claimed elements were known in the prior art and one skilled in the art could have combined the elements, as claimed by known methods, and the combination would have yielded predictable results to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention.
Re. Claim 14, Li, Kang, and Cai teach Claim 13.
Additionally, Li further teaches wherein a resource exclusion is performed by the physical layer based on the SL DRX configuration (Fig. 13, ¶0075 - exclusion of the candidate resources and/or generation of valid/identified resources in the associated resource selection window can be performed based on sensing results in previous one or multiple sidelink active times, e.g., the partial/periodic sensing results as shown in FIG. 13).
However, the combination of Li and Kang does not explicitly teach wherein the SL DRX configuration is acquired by the physical layer from the MAC layer.
Yet, Cai expressly teaches wherein the SL DRX configuration is acquired by the physical layer from the MAC layer (Fig. 8 & ¶0097 - FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram in which a moment n at which a MAC entity triggers a physical layer to sense a sidelink resource is before active time).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to add the teaching of Cai to the teaching of Li and Kang. The motivation for such would be in order to improve communication efficiency via acquiring a DRX configuration via the MAC layer as Cai provides a means via the MAC layer to acquire the DRX (Cai, ¶0097). All of the claimed elements were known in the prior art and one skilled in the art could have combined the elements, as claimed by known methods, and the combination would have yielded predictable results to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention.
Re. Claim 15, Li, Kang, and Cai teach Claim 14.
Additionally Li further teaches wherein the SL DRX configuration comprises: SL DRX on-duration timer for the first wireless user device (¶0072 - if DRX cycle is introduced for sidelink and/or a DRX on-duration timer for sidelink is introduced, the sidelink active time of the UE may include the time while the DRX on-duration timer for sidelink is running); SL DRX inactivity timer for the first wireless user device (¶0072 - if a DRX Inactivity timer for sidelink is introduced, the sidelink active time of the UE may include the time while the DRX Inactivity timer for sidelink is running); SL DRX retransmission timer for the first wireless user device (¶0072 - if a DRX retransmission timer for sidelink is introduced, the sidelink active time of the UE may include the time while the DRX retransmission timer for sidelink is running); SL DRX on-duration timer for the at least one second wireless user device (¶0072 - if DRX cycle is introduced for sidelink and/or a DRX on-duration timer for sidelink is introduced, the sidelink active time of the UE may include the time while the DRX on-duration timer for sidelink is running); SL DRX inactivity timer for the at least one second wireless user device (¶0072 - if a DRX Inactivity timer for sidelink is introduced, the sidelink active time of the UE may include the time while the DRX Inactivity timer for sidelink is running); and SL DRX retransmission timer for the at least one second wireless user device (¶0072 - if a DRX retransmission timer for sidelink is introduced, the sidelink active time of the UE may include the time while the DRX retransmission timer for sidelink is running).
Re. Claim 16, Li, Kang, and Cai teach Claim 13.
Additionally, Li also teaches wherein the SL DRX configuration is configured per user device (¶0153 – Preferably in certain embodiments, the sidelink DRX configuration is configured for the first UE. Preferably or alternatively in certain embodiments, the sidelink DRX configuration is configured for the second UE.).
Re. Claim 18, Li and Kang teach Claim 9.
However, the combination of Li and Kang do not expressly teach wherein SL DRX parameters are configured per logical channel.
Yet, Cai explicitly teaches wherein SL DRX parameters are configured per logical channel (¶0355 - A DRX parameter considered when the MAC entity selects the first sidelink resource from the one or more sidelink resources provided by the physical layer may be a DRX parameter of a destination selected for an SL grant according to the LCP process, specifically a destination of which at least one of a logical channel).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to add the teaching of Cai to the teaching of Li and Kang. The motivation for such would be in order to improve communication efficiency via specific configurations of DRX parameters per logical channel as Cai provides a means of configuring DRX parameters per logical channel (Cai, ¶0355). All of the claimed elements were known in the prior art and one skilled in the art could have combined the elements, as claimed by known methods, and the combination would have yielded predictable results to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention.
Re. Claim 19, Li, Kang, and Cai teach Claim 18.
However, the combination of Li and Kang do not expressly teach wherein the SL DRX parameters comprises a common DRX cycle.
Yet, Cai explicitly teaches wherein the SL DRX parameters comprises a common DRX cycle (¶0184 - A DRX on duration timer (drx-onDurationTimer) indicates duration at the beginning of a DRX cycle (the duration at the beginning of a DRX Cycle)).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to add the teaching of Cai to the teaching of Li and Kang. The motivation for such would be in order to improve communication efficiency by containing a full DRX cycle within a parameter as Cai provides a DRX parameter can include a DRX cycle (Cai, ¶0184). All of the claimed elements were known in the prior art and one skilled in the art could have combined the elements, as claimed by known methods, and the combination would have yielded predictable results to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention.
Claims 7 and 8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Li in view of Kang and Park et al. (2024/0089994), hereinafter Park.
Re. Claim 7, LI and Kang teach Claim 9.
However, the combination of LI and Kang does not explicitly teach wherein the SL DRX active time comprises an on-Duration of the at least one second wireless user device, and wherein the at least one second wireless user device comprises a reception (Rx) user equipment (UE).
Yet, Park does expressly teach wherein the SL DRX active time comprises an on-Duration of the at least one second wireless user device, and wherein the at least one second wireless user device comprises a reception (Rx) user equipment (UE) (¶0213 - The SL DRX on-duration timer may be used in a duration in which a UE performing SL DRX operation basically needs to operate in active time in order to receive a PSCCH/PSSCH of a counterpart UE.).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to add the teaching of Park to the teaching of LI and Kang. The motivation would be because Park provides a notable improvement to the sidelink connection between two wireless communication devices in utilizing an on-duration timer (¶0003, Park). All of the claimed elements were known in the prior art and one skilled in the art could have combined the elements, as claimed by known methods, and the combination would have yielded predictable results to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention.
Re. Claim 8, LI and Kang teach Claim 9
However, the combination of LI and Kang does not explicitly teach wherein the on-Duration is indicated by an on-Duration timer.
Yet, Park does expressly teach wherein the on-Duration is indicated by an on-Duration timer (¶0213 - The SL DRX on-duration timer may be used in a duration in which a UE performing SL DRX operation basically needs to operate in active time in order to receive a PSCCH/PSSCH of a counterpart UE.).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to add the teaching of Park to the teaching of LI and Kang. The motivation would be because Park provides a notable improvement to the sidelink connection between two wireless communication devices in utilizing an on-duration timer (¶0003, Park). All of the claimed elements were known in the prior art and one skilled in the art could have combined the elements, as claimed by known methods, and the combination would have yielded predictable results to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 2-21 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection with the introduction of new primary reference Li (2022/0224497) to replace previous primary reference Cai (2023/0371005). With the introduction of the new reference, Examiner upholds the previously provided rejection under 35 U.S.C. § 103 for independent claim 9 and all further claims depending therein.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Han et al. (2023/0292395), Figs. 1, 4, 5, ¶0005-0010, & ¶0086-0088.
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/N.J.S./Examiner, Art Unit 2475
/KHALED M KASSIM/supervisory patent examiner, Art Unit 2475
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