Prosecution Insights
Last updated: October 02, 2026
Application No. 18/392,360

TECHNIQUES FOR REQUESTING INTER-UE COORDINATION MESSAGES FOR SIDELINK

Final Rejection §103
Filed
Dec 21, 2023
Priority
May 11, 2021 — provisional 63/187,343 +1 more
Examiner
LOUIS-FILS, NICOLE M
Art Unit
2641
Tech Center
2600 — Communications
Assignee
Qualcomm Incorporated
OA Round
6 (Final)
72%
Grant Probability
Favorable
7-8
OA Rounds
0m
Est. Remaining
99%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 72% — above average
72%
Career Allowance Rate
192 granted / 265 resolved
+10.5% vs TC avg
Strong +35% interview lift
Without
With
+34.8%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
2y 9m
Avg Prosecution
33 currently pending
Career history
312
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
1.6%
-38.4% vs TC avg
§103
76.4%
+36.4% vs TC avg
§102
9.1%
-30.9% vs TC avg
§112
7.7%
-32.3% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 265 resolved cases

Office Action

§103
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 . Response to amendment The Amendment filed 06/26/2026 has been entered. Claims 1, 13, 16 and 19-20 have been amended. Claim 6 and 21 has been canceled. Claims 22-23 have been added. Claims 1-5, 8-20 and 22-23 remain pending in the application. Response to Arguments Applicants’ arguments with respect to claims 1-5, 8-20 and 22-23 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. 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, 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, 4-5, 9, 11-12, 14-16 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wang (US 20240023145 A1) in view of Chae et al. (US 20210105055 A1) and further in view of Ye et al. (US 20220311582 A1). Regarding claim 1, Wang teaches a first user (UE) equipment configured for wireless communications (UE-A of Figs. 9A and 13), comprising: a processing system that includes one or more processors (processor 1302) and one or more memories coupled with the one or more processors (memory 1304), the processing system configured to cause the first UE to: receive, from a second UE, a first sidelink transmission, the first sidelink transmission requesting a report on sidelink resource availability (UE-A detects a trigger for sending an SL resource indicator MAC CE and/or the MAC subheader associated with the MAC CE (step 902). Detection of the trigger may be, for example, receiving a request from UE-B 704-B, [0213]; the SL resource indicator MAC CE includes one or more information fields that comprise information that indicates one or more resources that are preferred for use by UE-B 704-B for SL transmission, [0213]), generate the report comprising an indication of one or more available sidelink resources (UE-A 704-A selects the SL indictor MAC CE for transmission (step 904-4). As described above, this selection may take into consideration a priority defined or configured for SL resource indicator MAC CEs as well as a priority defined or configured to one or more other types of MAC CEs, [0214]), wherein the one or more available sidelink resources are based on sensing one or more slots (Mode 2 is for UE autonomous resource selection. Its basic structure is of a UE sensing, within a (pre-)configured resource pool, which resources are not in use by other UEs with higher-priority traffic, and choosing an appropriate amount of such resources for its own transmissions, [0085]); and transmit the report to the second UE (Responsive to detecting the trigger, UE-A 704-A performs a procedure by which it transmits an SL resource indicator MAC CE and/or a MAC subheader associated with the MAC CE to UE-B, [0213]); wherein the report further indicates a subset of the one or more available sidelink resources preferred by the first UE (each information field may indicate the resources preferred to be used by UE-B, the resources preferred not to be used by UE-B, Wang [0156]). However, Wang does not clearly teach the first sidelink transmission indicating a priority of a packet to be transmitted by the second UE and a number of subchannels to be used for transmission of the packet and the first sidelink transmission including information for a start time and an end time of a resource selection window. In an analogous art, Chae teaches the first sidelink transmission indicating a priority of a packet to be transmitted by the second UE (wherein the plurality of conditions for CSI reporting window comprises at least one of Packet priority range, [0273]) and a number of subchannels to be used for transmission of the packet and the first sidelink transmission including information for a start time and an end time of a resource selection window (a first wireless may receive from a second wireless device, one or more configuration messages comprising channel state information (CSI) reporting triggering indication and one or more CSI reporting window configurations… wherein the CSI reporting window may comprise at least one of upper limit, lower limit, a number of sidelink resources, a starting time and a ending time, a starting time slot with a duration, a starting sidelink slot and an ending sidelink slot, [0272]). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the report request of Wang with the resource information of Chae to provide a method and a system in order to improve link reliability or adaptively control transmission parameters e.g. MCS, transmission power, etc. in sidelink communication as suggested, Chae [0243]. However, Wang and Chae do not clearly teach the first sidelink contained within a sidelink control element (SCI)-2 on a physical sidelink shared channel (PSSCH) and a request for a channel state information (CSI) reference signal (RS), and the first sidelink transmission conveying information comprising a cast type of communications for the packet. In an analogous art, Ye teaches Ye teaches the first sidelink contained within a sidelink control element (SCI)-2 on a physical sidelink shared channel (PSSCH) (SCI stage 2 is carried in the physical/sidelink shared channel (PSSCH), [0085]) and a request for a channel state information (CSI) reference signal (RS), and the first sidelink transmission conveying information comprising a cast type of communications for the packet (There are 2 formats for stage 2 SCI including: Format A for unicast, groupcast HARQ option 2, broadcast and its payload includes an HARQ process number; New data indicator, Redundancy version; Source ID; Destination ID; HARQ feedback enabling/disabling indicator; /Cast type indicator; and CSI request, [0085]). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the report request of Wang and Chae with the SCI stage 2 information of Ye to provide a method and a system for performing sidelink wireless cellular communications utilizing an enhanced physical sidelink feedback channel for improved coverage as suggested, Ye [0003]. Regarding claim 4, Wang as modified by Chae and Ye teaches the first UE of claim 1,wherein the processing system is configured to further cause the first UE to: receive the first sidelink transmission on a resource of a first dedicated resource pool configured for receiving report requests (when traffic arrives at a transmitter UE, then this transmitter UE should select resources for the following transmissions: The PSSCH associated with the PSCCH for initial transmission and blind retransmissions, [0081]-[0082]), and to transmit the report comprises to transmit the report on a resource of a second dedicated resource pool configured for transmitting reports (UE-A 704-A receives, from the network node 702, a SR configuration as described above (step 904-1). In one embodiment, this SR configuration defines a PUCCH resource on which UE-A 704-A can transmit a SR for an SL transmission (e.g., a Mode 1 SL transmission) to UE-B 704-B, Wang [0214]). Regarding claim 5, Wang as modified by Chae and Ye teaches the first UE of claim 1, wherein the indication of the one or more available sidelink resources comprises, for each sidelink resource of a plurality of sidelink resources, a binary indicator of whether the sidelink resource is available (For instance, the “indicator type” takes the values [0165] 00 representing that the indicated resources can be used for transmission by UE-B; [0166] 01 representing that the indicated resources cannot be used for transmission by UE-B; [0167] 10 representing that the indicated resources are currently experiencing collision, Wang [0164]-[0167]). Regarding claim 9, Wang as modified by Chae and Ye teaches the first UE of claim 1, wherein the processing system is configured to further cause the first UE to receive a configuration for periodic reporting, wherein the report is transmitted according to the configuration (UE-A 704-A periodically transmits an SL resource indicator MAC CE and/or the MAC subheader associated with the MAC CE (e.g., based on a periodic timer), Wang [0216]). Regarding claim 11, Wang as modified by Chae and Ye teaches the first UE of claim 1, wherein the processing system is configured to further cause the first UE to transmit an acknowledgement or negative acknowledgement of the first sidelink transmission over a physical sidelink feedback channel (MAC CE may be triggered by a UE (UE-A or UE-B) for a sidelink connection (e.g., a PC5-RRC connection between UE-A and UE-B) when at least one of the following events occur: A measured HARQ NACK ratio of the transmissions on the PC5-RRC connection has been over a configured threshold, Wang [0201]-[0208]). Regarding claim 12, Wang as modified by Chae and Ye teaches the first UE of claim 1, wherein the processing system is configured to further cause the first UE to detect a retransmission from the second UE on one or more resources indicated as available in the report (UE-A 704-A starts a retransmission timer upon transmitting the SL resource indicator MAC CE, subsequently stops this timer if a stopping condition is satisfied, and retransmits the SL resource indicator MAC CE if this timer expires before the stopping criterion is satisfied, Wang [0215]). Regarding claim 14, Wang as modified by Chae and Ye teaches the first UE of claim 1, wherein the indication of the one or more available sidelink resources comprises channel quality measurements associated with the one or more available sidelink resources (MAC CE may be triggered by a UE (UE-A or UE-B) for a sidelink connection (e.g., a PC5-RRC connection between UE-A and UE-B) when at least one of the following events occur: [0202] A resource (re)selection has been triggered. [0203] A measured radio channel quality of the PC5-RRC connection has dropped below a configured threshold (optionally for a configured time period), Wang [0201]). Regarding claim 15, Wang as modified by Chae and Ye teaches the first UE of claim 1. wherein: the first sidelink transmission indicates a communication range requirement on a link from the second UE to the first UE, and the processing system is configured to cause the first UE to determine the one or more available sidelink resources comprises to determine based on resources that satisfy the communication range requirement (PPPP and CBR can each also be (pre-)configured with mappings to ranges of values of transmission parameters, e.g. a range of MCS values, and/or a range of numbers of subchannels, etc. In this case, the UE has to choose its transmission parameters from within the range corresponding to the prevailing PPPP and/or CBR, Wang [0098]). Regarding claim 16, Wang as modified by Chae and Ye teaches the first UE of claim 1, wherein the first sidelink transmission indicates a zone identifier and a cast type, and the processing system is configured to cause the first UE to determine the one or more available sidelink resources based on excluding resources reserved by UEs associated with the zone identifier (For example, a resource selection procedure similar to that shown in FIG. 2 may be performed by UE-B 704-B but where UE-B 704-B considers the resources indicated as preferred for the resource selection, excludes resources that are indicated as not preferred from consideration for the resource selection, and/or excludes resources that are indicated as having a collision from consideration for the resource selection, Wang [0218]) and Chae further teaches wherein the first sidelink transmission indicates a cast type (the first wireless device and the second wireless device are a pair of a unicast group, and the one or more configuration messages is radio resource control or system information block, Chae [0272]). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the report request of Wang and Ye with the resource information of Chae to provide a method and a system in order to improve link reliability or adaptively control transmission parameters e.g. MCS, transmission power, etc. in sidelink communication as suggested, Chae [0243]. Regarding claim 20, Wang teaches a method for wireless communication by a first user equipment (UE-A of Fig. 13 performing method of Fig. 9A), comprising: receiving, from a second UE, a first sidelink transmission, the first sidelink transmission requesting a report on sidelink resource availability (UE-A detects a trigger for sending an SL resource indicator MAC CE and/or the MAC subheader associated with the MAC CE (step 902). Detection of the trigger may be, for example, receiving a request from UE-B 704-B, [0213]; the SL resource indicator MAC CE includes one or more information fields that comprise information that indicates one or more resources that are preferred for use by UE-B 704-B for SL transmission, [0213]); generating the report comprising an indication of one or more available sidelink resources (UE-A 704-A selects the SL indictor MAC CE for transmission (step 904-4). As described above, this selection may take into consideration a priority defined or configured for SL resource indicator MAC CEs as well as a priority defined or configured to one or more other types of MAC CEs, [0214]), wherein the one or more available sidelink resources are based on sensing one or more slots (Mode 2 is for UE autonomous resource selection. Its basic structure is of a UE sensing, within a (pre-)configured resource pool, which resources are not in use by other UEs with higher-priority traffic, and choosing an appropriate amount of such resources for its own transmissions, [0085]); and transmitting the report to the second UE (Responsive to detecting the trigger, UE-A 704-A performs a procedure by which it transmits an SL resource indicator MAC CE and/or a MAC subheader associated with the MAC CE to UE-B, [0213]); wherein the report further indicates a subset of the one or more available sidelink resources preferred by the first UE (each information field may indicate the resources preferred to be used by UE-B, the resources preferred not to be used by UE-B, Wang [0156]). However, Wang does not clearly teach the first sidelink transmission indicating a priority of a packet to be transmitted by the second UE and a number of subchannels to be used for transmission of the packet and the first sidelink transmission including information for a start time and an end time of a resource selection window. In an analogous art, Chae teaches the first sidelink transmission indicating a priority of a packet to be transmitted by the second UE (wherein the plurality of conditions for CSI reporting window comprises at least one of Packet priority range, [0273]) and a number of subchannels to be used for transmission of the packet and the first sidelink transmission including information for a start time and an end time of a resource selection window (a first wireless may receive from a second wireless device, one or more configuration messages comprising channel state information (CSI) reporting triggering indication and one or more CSI reporting window configurations… wherein the CSI reporting window may comprise at least one of upper limit, lower limit, a number of sidelink resources, a starting time and a ending time, a starting time slot with a duration, a starting sidelink slot and an ending sidelink slot, [0272]). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the report request of Wang with the resource information of Chae to provide a method and a system in order to improve link reliability or adaptively control transmission parameters e.g. MCS, transmission power, etc. in sidelink communication as suggested, Chae [0243]. Claims 2-3 and 8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wang in view of Chae and further in view of Ye and Shin et al.( US 20230020105 A1). Regarding claim 2, Wang as modified by Chae and Ye teaches the first UE of claim 1, determine a number of candidate resources to be reported as less than a configured threshold (A change of the measured radio channel quality of the PC5-RRC connection compared to the previous measurement has been beyond a configured threshold (optionally for a configured time period). [0205] A distance between two UEs (e.g., between UE-A and UE-B) has been over a configured threshold (optionally for a configured time period), due to mobility. [0206] A mobility state of one UE (either UE-A or UE-B) has changed, Wang [0201]); and determine the one or more available sidelink resources based on excluding the determined sidelink resource reservations and the number of candidate resources to be reported (For example, a resource selection procedure similar to that shown in FIG. 2 may be performed by UE-B 704-B but where UE-B 704-B considers the resources indicated as preferred for the resource selection, excludes resources that are indicated as not preferred from consideration for the resource selection, and/or excludes resources that are indicated as having a collision from consideration for the resource selection. In addition, the UE-B 704-B performs SL transmission using the selected one or more resources, Wang [0218]) However, Wang, Chae and Ye do not clearly teach wherein the processing system is configured to further cause the first UE to decode one or more (SCI) messages in the one or more slots; determine sidelink resource reservations based on the decoded one or more SCI messages; and determine the one or more available sidelink resources based on excluding the determined sidelink resource reservations. In an analogous art, Shin teaches wherein the processing system is configured to further cause the first UE to decode one or more (SCI) messages in the one or more slots (The UE may decode the 1.sup.st SCI, may detect PSSCH information connected thereto from the 1.sup.st SCI information, may monitor a PSSCH DMRS area, and may measure PSSCH RSRP, [0128]); determine sidelink resource reservations based on the decoded one or more SCI message (Unicast or groupcast transmission is determined through SCI decoding, and there are resources reserved for the future by the received SCI, [0139]). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the report request of Wang, Chae and Ye with the SCI decoding of Shin to provide a method and a system of performing sensing and resource selection while minimizing power consumption of a UE, and selected resources may be effectively used to optimize power consumption of the UE as suggested, Shin [0042]. Regarding claim 3, Wang as modified by Chae, Ye and Shin teaches the first UE of claim 2. Shin further teaches wherein to determine the one or more available sidelink resources further comprises to exclude sidelink resources based on received signal levels (In this case, only when RSRP of the resources is higher than a configured RSRP threshold, the resource candidates R.sub.x,y are excluded from S.sub.A in Process 4 of Step 1 in Resource (re-)selection procedure, Shin [0179]), the priority of the packet to be transmitted by the second UE, and a remaining packet delay budget (PDB) of the packet.( UE may select T.sub.2 within a range that satisfies T.sub.2≤Remaining packet delay budget (PDB). The UE may select T.sub.2 within a range that satisfies T.sub.2≥T.sub.2min. When T.sub.2 min>Remaining PDB, T.sub.2 min=Remaining PDB. T.sub.2 min is to prevent the UE from selecting T.sub.2 that is a too small value. T.sub.2 min may be defined as a function of a priority of the transmission UE, [0095]). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the report request of Wang, Chae and Ye with the SCI decoding of Shin to provide a method and a system of performing sensing and resource selection while minimizing power consumption of a UE, and selected resources may be effectively used to optimize power consumption of the UE as suggested, Shin [0042]. Regarding claim 18, Wang as modified by Chae and Ye teaches the first UE of claim 1. However, Wang, Chae and Ye do not teach wherein: the first sidelink transmission indicates a-priority remaining packet delay budget (PDB) of the packet, and the processing system is configured to further cause the first UE to determine the one or more available sidelink resources based on the priority of the packet to be transmitted by the second UE and the remaining PDB of the packet. In an analogous art, Shin teaches wherein: the first sidelink transmission indicates a-priority remaining packet delay budget (PDB) of the packet, and the processing system is configured to further cause the first UE to determine the one or more available sidelink resources based on the priority of the packet to be transmitted by the second UE and the remaining PDB of the packet (UE may select T.sub.2 within a range that satisfies T.sub.2≤Remaining packet delay budget (PDB). The UE may select T.sub.2 within a range that satisfies T.sub.2≥T.sub.2min. When T.sub.2 min>Remaining PDB, T.sub.2 min=Remaining PDB. T.sub.2 min is to prevent the UE from selecting T.sub.2 that is a too small value. T.sub.2 min may be defined as a function of a priority of the transmission UE, [0095]). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the report request of Wang, Chae and Ye with the SCI decoding of Shin to provide a method and a system of performing sensing and resource selection while minimizing power consumption of a UE, and selected resources may be effectively used to optimize power consumption of the UE as suggested, Shin [0042]. Claim 8 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wang in view of Chae and further in view of Ye and Guo et al. (US 20230171799 A1). Regarding claim 8, Wang as modified by Chae and Ye teaches the first UE of claim 1. However, Wang, Chae and Ye do not teach wherein the report comprises an aperiodic report and the processing system is configured to cause the first UE to trigger an aperiodic report comprising the indication of the determined available sidelink resources to be transmitted to the second UE upon receipt of the first sidelink transmission. In an analogous art, Guo teaches wherein the report comprises an aperiodic report and the one or more processors are configured to execute the processor-executable instructions and further cause the first UE to trigger an aperiodic report comprising the indication of the determined available sidelink resources to be transmitted to the second UE upon receipt of the first sidelink transmission (UE determines, based on the received sensing report configuration information, whether to transmit a sensing result message, [0069] and The operation of sensing result request and report can be activated or deactivated based on MAC control elements (MAC CE). [0067] For aperiodic Sensing Window, no periodicity is configured. UE is explicitly triggered about each operation of sensing result request and report, such as by means of sidelink control information (SCI) signaling, Guo [0064]). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the report request of Wang, Chae and Ye with the aperiodic report of Guo to provide an apparatus to increase network throughput, coverage, and robustness and reduce latency and power consumption as suggested, Guo [0003]. Claims 10, 17 and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wang in view of Chae and further in view of Ye and Park et al. ( US 20230156602 A1). Regarding claim 10, Wang as modified by Chae and Ye teaches the first UE of claim 1. However, Wang, Chae and Ye do not teach wherein the processing system is configured to execute the processor-executable instructions and further cause the first UE to: receive a failed sidelink transmission prior to receiving the first sidelink transmission; and monitor for a retransmission of the failed sidelink transmission, wherein the first sidelink transmission comprises the retransmission. In an analogous art, Park teaches wherein the one or more processors are configured to execute the processor-executable instructions and further cause the first UE to: receive a failed sidelink transmission prior to receiving the first sidelink transmission (no acknowledgement (NACK) information may be transmitted to the TX UE only if the RX UE fails to decode/receive the PSSCH received from the TX UE, [0113]); and monitor for a retransmission of the failed sidelink transmission, wherein the first sidelink transmission comprises the retransmission (the receiving UE may monitor the reception of the sidelink packet or the PSSCH assignment during the sidelink DRX retransmission timer period, [0198]). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the report request of Wang, Chae and Ye with the feedback channel of Park to provide a method and a system for a more improved environment than an environment in which a self-sensor is used for detection as suggested, Park [0011]. Regarding claim 17, Wang as modified by Chae and Ye teaches the first UE of claim 1. However, Wang, Chae and Ye do not teach wherein: the first sidelink transmission indicates a reliability requirement of the packet to be transmitted by the second UE and a request for a number of reports with a periodicity, and the processing system is configured to further cause the first UE to determine the one or more available sidelink resources based on resources that satisfy the reliability requirement of the packet to be transmitted by the second UE and transmit periodic reports based on the request for the number of reports with the periodicity. In an analogous art, Park teaches wherein: the first sidelink transmission indicates a reliability requirement of the packet to be transmitted by the second UE and a request for a number of reports with a periodicity (TX UE may transmit some or all of the following information to the RX UE through a first SCI and/or a second SCI. [0116] PSSCH (and/or PSCCH) related resource allocation information (e.g., the location/number of time/frequency resources, resource reservation information (e.g., period)), [0115]), and the processing system is configured to further cause the first UE to determine the one or more available sidelink resources based on resources that satisfy the reliability requirement of the packet to be transmitted by the second UE and transmit periodic reports based on the request for the number of reports with the periodicity (The parameter or parameter configuration value related to whether the proposal/rule of the present disclosure is applied may be configured specifically or independently based on at least one of a resource pool, a type of service/packet, a priority of service/packet, a QoS requirement e.g., URLLC / EMBB traffic, reliability, latency, [0207]). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the report request of Wang, Chae and Ye with the feedback channel of Park to provide a method and a system for a more improved environment than an environment in which a self-sensor is used for detection as suggested, Park [0011]. Regarding claim 19, Wang as modified by Chae and Ye teaches the first UE of claim 1. However, Wang, Chae and Ye do not teach wherein the processing system is configured to further cause the first UE to determine a modulation and coding scheme (MCS), a total number of sub-channels, and a number of layers for the one or more available sidelink resources based at least in part on channel state information (CSI) estimation information in the first sidelink transmission. In an analogous art, Park teaches wherein the processing system is configured to further cause the first UE to determine a modulation and coding scheme (MCS), a total number of sub-channels and a number of layers for the one or more available sidelink resources based at least in part on channel state information (CSI) estimation information in the first sidelink transmission. (TX UE may transmit some or all of the following information to the RX UE through a first SCI and/or a second SCI. [0116] PSSCH (and/or PSCCH) related resource allocation information (e.g., the location/number of time/frequency resources, resource reservation information (e.g., period)) … Modulation and Coding Scheme (MCS) information, [0115]-[0119]). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the report request of Wang, Chae and Ye with the feedback channel of Park to provide a method and a system for a more improved environment than an environment in which a self-sensor is used for detection as suggested, Park [0011]. Claim 13 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wang in view of Chae and further in view of Ye and Son et al. (US 20230217287 A1). Regarding claim 13, Wang as modified by Chae and Ye teaches the first UE of claim 1. However, Wang, Chae and Ye do not teach wherein to transmit the report the processing system is configured to cause the first UE to transmit the report over reporting resources that are defined as a fixed distance to a physical sidelink scheduled channel (PSSCH) transmission. In an analogous art, Son teaches wherein to transmit the report comprises to transmit the report over reporting resources that are defined as a fixed distance to a physical sidelink scheduled channel (PSSCH) transmission (In the communication system, K (e.g., time offset, slot offset) may be set to a fixed value, and the SL CSI reporting may be configured to be performed before the (N+K)-th slot, Son [0079]; The SCI may be transmitted through a PSCCH and/or a PSSCH, Son [0069]). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the report request of Wang, Chae and Ye with the reporting of Son to provide to provide a method and an apparatus for reporting channel state information for sidelink communication as suggested, Son [0006]. Claim 22 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wang in view of Chae and further in view of Ye and Chen et al.( US 20220061041 A1). Regarding claim 22, Wang as modified by Chae and Ye teaches the first UE of claim 1,. However, Wang, Chae and Ye do not teach wherein: the first sidelink transmission indicates that the report is an aperiodic report, and the subset of the one or more available sidelink resources preferred by the first UE excludes one or more second resources of the one or more available sidelink resources that the first UE does not prefer for sidelink communication. In an analogous art, Chen teaches wherein: the first sidelink transmission indicates that the report is an aperiodic report (“A-CSI request” requests the UE to measure and report aperiodical channel state indicator (CSI), [0081]), and the subset of the one or more available sidelink resources preferred by the first UE excludes one or more second resources of the one or more available sidelink resources that the first UE does not prefer for sidelink communication (Based on the SCIs from the other UEs and the measurements as described above, selected or reserved resources by the other UEs in the selection window with PSSCH-RSRP above a threshold are excluded from being candidates by the sensing UE 102, [0034]). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the report request of Wang, Chae and Ye with the reporting of Chen to provide to provide a method and an apparatus of two-stage sidelink control information (SCI) as suggested, Chen [0005]. Allowable Subject Matter Claim 23 is objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims. Conclusion The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Hong et al. (US 20240097855 A1): Disclosed in one embodiment is an operating method of user equipment (UE) in a wireless communication system, comprising the steps of: transmitting sidelink control information mapped to a first data area in a slot; and transmitting a channel status information reference signal (CSI-RS) mapped to a second data area in the slot, wherein a symbol of the first data area and a symbol of the second data area are separated from each other. 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 NICOLE M LOUIS-FILS whose telephone number is (571)270-0671. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday. Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Charles Appiah can be reached at 571-272-7904. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000. /NICOLE M LOUIS-FILS/ Examiner, Art Unit 2641 /CHARLES N APPIAH/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2641
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Prosecution Timeline

Show 15 earlier events
Mar 11, 2026
Response after Non-Final Action
Apr 09, 2026
Non-Final Rejection mailed — §103
Apr 24, 2026
Applicant Interview (Telephonic)
Apr 24, 2026
Examiner Interview Summary
Jun 26, 2026
Response Filed
Sep 11, 2026
Final Rejection mailed — §103
Sep 29, 2026
Applicant Interview (Telephonic)
Sep 30, 2026
Examiner Interview Summary

Precedent Cases

Applications granted by this same examiner with similar technology

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POWER CONTROL TECHNIQUES FOR UPLINK CONTROL CHANNELS ON MULTIPLE COMPONENT CARRIERS
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2y 5m to grant Granted Jun 02, 2026
Study what changed to get past this examiner. Based on 5 most recent grants.

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Prosecution Projections

7-8
Expected OA Rounds
72%
Grant Probability
99%
With Interview (+34.8%)
2y 9m (~0m remaining)
Median Time to Grant
High
PTA Risk
Based on 265 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allowance rate.

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