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 02/13/2026 has been entered. Claims 1, 3, 12, and 14 have been amended. Claims 1-20 are pending in this application.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 02/13/2026, have been fully considered and entered but they are not persuasive/ moot because the arguments do not apply to any of the references being used in the current rejection.
Main Argument:
… “As amended, each of Claims 1 and 12 now recites, among other features:
" the SL active time includes a joint set of SL DRX active times of all SL links to the peer UEs, and the joint set includes a time when any of an SL on- duration timer, the SL DRX inactivity timer, or an SL retransmission timer of any applied SL DRX configuration is running”.
In view of the current amendment, it is respectfully submitted that the prior art fails to disclose each and every limitation of each of Claims 1 and 12, as amended. It is also respectfully submitted that the prior art fails to teach or suggest all the limitations of each of Claims 1 and 12, as amended, viewed as a whole. That is, XU fails to disclose each and every limitation of each of Claims 1 and 12, as amended. …
Reply:
Examiner respectfully disagrees for the following reasons:
As a quick reminder of the first limitation of claim 1: “a wireless transceiver, configured to perform wireless transmission and reception to and from one or more peer UEs”; In other words, the claim is satisfied by one peer UE. For the amended limitation: "the SL active time includes a joint set of SL DRX active times of all SL links to the peer UEs” when applied to the option of one peer UE, this set will carry one element corresponding to the one UE peer; and hence it is satisfied by XU.
Applicant is reminded that obviousness may be established by combining or modifying the teachings of the prior art to produce the claimed invention where there is some teaching, suggestion, or motivation to do so found either in the references themselves or in the knowledge generally available to one of ordinary skill in the art. See in re Fine, 837 F.2d 1071, 5 USPQ2d 1596 (Fed. Cir. 1988), In re Jones, F.2d 347, 21 USPQ2d 1941 (Fed. Cir. 1992), and KSR international Co. v. Teleflex, Inc., 550 U.S. 398, 82 USPQ2d 1385 (2007).
To help advance the prosecution, the examiner used another reference to teach the set of SL DRX active times of “more than one” SL links to the peer UEs.
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 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 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.
Claims 1-4, 7-8, 12-15 and 17-18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over XU et al. (US 20190174411 A1) hereinafter XU, in view of DI GIROLAMO et al. (US 20230014303 A1), hereinafter DI GIROLAMO.
Regarding claim 1,
XU teaches a User Equipment (UE) (Relay UE and Remote UE, Fig. 1 and 2), comprising:
a wireless transceiver, configured to perform wireless transmission and reception to and from one or more peer UEs (PC5 represents a communication link between the relay UE and a remote UE [0004]; Fig. 1); and
a controller, configured to determine one or more Sidelink (SL) Discontinuous Reception (DRX) configurations (a control signaling including configuration, of the SL-DRX, to indicate to the relay network node and/or the remote network node [0006]);
and apply the one or more SL DRX configurations to enable an SL DRX operation for SL communications with the peer UEs via the wireless transceiver (with respect to the sidelink, a DRX is configured for the relay network node and the remote network node, which is called SL-DRX [0043]. can configure the SL-DRX for both the relay network node and the remote network node. Alternatively, the electronic apparatus 100 may only configure the SL-DRX for the relay network node, while the relay network node configures the SL-DRX for the remote network node [0045]);
each SL DRX configuration including at least one of an SL DRX cycle, an SL DRX-ON duration, an SL DRX start offset, and an SL DRX inactivity timer (The configuration of SL-DRX may include timers as follows: a SLDRX-onDurationTimer for indicating the number of continuous PSCCH sub-frames for the network node to detect the PSCCH after the network node wakes up from the sleep state; a SLDRX-InactivityTimer for indicating the maximum number of PSCCH sub-frames for the network node to wait for successfully decoding of the PSCCH: a SLDRX-Cycle for indicating the number of sub-frames included in one SL-DRX cycle; and a SLDRX-StartOffset for indicating a sub-frame position where each SL-DRX cycle starts [0046]);
wherein the UE is configured to perform the SL DRX operation to monitor a Sidelink control channel during an SL active time, and the SL active time is determined according to the corresponding one or more SL DRX configurations (the determining unit 101 may determine an active time for the relay network node and/or the remote network node to detect the PSCCH [0043]-[0047]; Fig. 4); and
wherein the SL active time includes a time when any of an SL on-duration timer, the SL DRX inactivity timer, or an SL retransmission timer of any applied SL DRX configuration is running (While in the case where the PSCCH is not detected, the SLDRX-onDurationTimer corresponds to a wake-up active time [0047]-[0049]; Fig. 4. It is obvious /well-known to one with ordinary skills in the art that PSCCH carries the SCI).
XU further teaches wherein the SL active time includes a joint set of SL DRX active times of all SL links to the peer UEs, at least for the case of one peer UE (which satisfies the claim language).
XU does not explicitly teach the set of SL DRX active times of “more than one” SL links to the peer UEs.
DI GIROLAMO teaches the set of SL DRX active times of “more than one” SL links to the peer UEs (UE 201 may have multiple simultaneous SL DRX operations, one for each sidelink communication [0146]-[0148][0304][0323][0412]).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to add the teachings of DI GIROLAMO to the teachings of XU. The motivation for such an addition would be to represent details to design sidelink DRX in a multi-peer UEs sidelink discovery or sidelink communication environment wherein a UE may be engaged in sidelink interactions with more than one UE (DI GIROLAMO [0083]).
Regarding claim 2,
XU and DI GIROLAMO teach all the limitations of claim 1, as outlined above.
XU further teaches wherein the SL on-duration timer, the SL DRX inactivity timer, or the SL retransmission timer of any applied SL DRX configuration is corresponding to unicast, groupcast, or broadcast communication (wherein the SL-DRX configuration of the remote network node is forwarded by the relay network node. This forwarding can be implemented by the RRC signaling or a broadcast signaling, for example [0055]).
Regarding claim 3,
XU and DI GIROLAMO teaches all the limitations of claim 1, as outlined above.
XU further teaches wherein the UE is configured to monitor the SCI corresponding to the more SL DRX configurations when any one of the SL DRX configurations is active (configure discontinuous reception SL-DRX for the network node and … the … more other network nodes [0007] For example, the determining unit 201 may determine an active time for the network node and/or the one or more other network nodes to detect the PSCCH and a sleep time for the network node and/or the one or more other network nodes not to detect the PSCCH [0060]) when any one of the SL DRX configurations is active (it may happen that the relay network node receives data from the network control terminal simultaneously when it is in the SLDRX-ActiveTime [0072].. Xu teaches various schemes to avoid that conflict [0074]-[0123]). Please note the claim is further limiting unselected option of XU which teaches one SL DRX configuration .
DI GIROLAMO teaches the set of SL DRX active times of “more than one” SL links to the peer UEs and monitoring “more than one” SL DRX (UE 201 may have multiple simultaneous SL DRX operations, one for each sidelink communication [0146]-[0148][0304][0323][0412]);
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to add the teachings of DI GIROLAMO to the teachings of XU. The motivation for such an addition would be to represent details to design sidelink DRX in a multi-peer UEs sidelink discovery or sidelink communication environment wherein a UE may be engaged in sidelink interactions with more than one UE (DI GIROLAMO [0083]).
Regarding claim 4,
XU and DI GIROLAMO teach all the limitations of claim 1, as outlined above.
XU further teaches wherein the UE determines the peer UEs being in the SL active time is based on at least one of the following conditions:
an onDurationTimer of the SL DRX is running;
an inactivity timer of the SL DRX is running (FIG. 4 shows the entire time period SLDRX-ActiveTime during which the network node wakes up, which, as can be seen, includes the SLDRX-onDurationTimer and the SLDRX-InactivityTimer as well as the continuous reception time [0049]; Fig. 4);
a retransmission timer of transmission or reception HARQ process applying the corresponding SL DRX configuration is running; and
the UE has a pending CSI report to transmit or receive.
Regarding claim 5,
XU and DI GIROLAMO teach all the limitations of claim 1, as outlined above.
XU does not explicitly teach the configuration for unicast is configured per source UE ID and destination UE ID.
DI GIROLAMO teaches the configuration for unicast is configured per source UE ID and destination UE ID (if unicast transmission, the Source ID and Destination ID in the SCI …. [0359][0360]).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to add the teachings of DI GIROLAMO to the teachings of XU. The motivation for such an addition would to represent details to design sidelink DRX in a multi-peer UEs sidelink discovery or sidelink communication environment wherein a UE may be engaged in sidelink interactions with more than one UE (DI GIROLAMO [0083]).
Regarding claim 7,
XU and DI GIROLAMO teach all the limitations of claim 1, as outlined above.
XU further teaches wherein The UE as claimed in claim 1, wherein the controller further turns on the wireless transceiver when the UE is in the SL DRX-ON duration (a SLDRX-onDurationTimer for indicating the number of continuous PSCCH sub-frames for the network node to detect the PSCCH after the network node wakes up from the sleep state [0046], turns off the wireless transceiver when the UE is not in the SL DRX-ON duration, except when the inactivity timer is running (the entire time period SLDRX-ActiveTime during which the network node wakes up, which, as can be seen, includes the SLDRX-onDurationTimer and the SLDRX-InactivityTimer [0049]), and starts the inactivity timer in response to one of the following conditions:
the UE receives SL-related Radio Network Temporary Identifier (RNTI) from the BS for configuring SL resources or for SL configured grant activation or deactivation;
the UE receives Sidelink Control Information (SCI) associated with one of the SL services from one of the peer UEs; and
the UE selects from the SL resources for data transmission to one of the peer UEs when SL mode-2 resource scheduling is configured for the UE (a SLDRX-InactivityTimer for indicating the maximum number of PSCCH sub-frames for the network node to wait for successfully decoding of the PSCCH [0046]; mode 2 is a mode that the relay network node transmits the SL-DRX configuration to the remote network node (the SL-DRX configuration may be received from the network control terminal or determined by the relay network node itself) [0057][0066]).
Please note the claim did not define “mode-2”.
Regarding claim 8,
XU and DI GIROLAMO teach all the limitations of claim 1, as outlined above.
XU further teaches wherein the control signal that is received from a BS comprises a DRX configuration applied to enable another DRX operation for communication with the BS (Uu represents the general link, …, DL represents the downlink, the sleep time of SL-DRX is indicated by a gray-filled block, and SL-DRX ActiveTime is indicated by a blank block…. DRX may also be applied on the general downlink between the network control terminal and the network node, where the network node may be a relay network node, or may also be a remote network node [0080][0081]; Figs. 1, 2 and 7).
Regarding claims [12-17] “method” are rejected under the same reasoning as claims [1-4 and 7-8 ] “UE apparatus”, where XU teaches UE apparatus and method [0006]-[0009].
Claim 6 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over XU and DI GIROLAMO, and further in view of FREDA et al (US 20220150730 A1) hereinafter FREDA.
Regarding claim 6,
XU and DI GIROLAMO teach all the limitations of claim 1, as outlined above.
XU and DI GIROLAMO do not explicitly teach at least one of SL DRX configurations for broadcast and groupcast is configured per destination ID.
FREDA teaches at least one of SL DRX configurations for broadcast and groupcast is configured per destination ID (A WTRU may be configured with a different RLM/RLF process for each destination ID and/or source ID associated with unicast and/or groupcast [0968] an ID (e.g. a source or destination ID) associated with possible broadcast transmissions that can be used by the peer WTRU to perform RLM/RLF [0418]).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to add the teachings of FREDA to the teachings of XU and DI GIROLAMO. The motivation for such an addition would for the advantage of detecting at least a second synchronization status based on the monitoring the second radio link quality.
Claims 9 and 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over XU and DI GIROLAMO, and further in view of YANG et al (US 20220046543 A1), hereinafter YANG.
Regarding claim 9,
XU and DI GIROLAMO teach all the limitations of claim 1, as outlined above.
XU and DI GIROLAMO do not explicitly teach wherein the controller further sends a message to one of the peer UEs via the wireless transceiver in response to the peer UE not being in the SL DRX-ON duration of the one or more SL DRX configurations associated with the peer UE, and perform SL communication with the peer UE in response to receiving a response to the message from the peer UE.
YANG teaches wherein the controller further sends a message to one of the peer UEs via the wireless transceiver in response to the peer UE not being in the SL DRX-ON duration of the one or more SL DRX configurations associated with the peer UE, and perform SL communication with the peer UE in response to receiving a response to the message from the peer UE (After data have been received and transmitted, the terminal enters the sleep state with extremely low power consumption again. FIG. 2B shows the DRX in an RRC connected state. When the RRC is in the connected state, in one DRX cycle, the terminal performs PDCCH detection within the duration of DRX-on, and the terminal enters the sleep state and does not perform the PDCCH detection during the time outside DRX-on, i.e., DRX-off [0086]).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to add the teachings of YANG to the teachings of XU and DI GIROLAMO. The motivation for such an addition would be for the advantage of power conservation (YANG [0008]).
Regarding claim [18] “method” is rejected under the same reasoning as claim [9] “UE apparatus”, where XU teaches UE apparatus and method [0006]-[0009].
Claims 10 and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over XU and DI GIROLAMO, and further in view of XU (US 20220182939 A1), hereinafter XU939.
Regarding claim 10,
XU and DI GIROLAMO teach all the limitations of claim 1, as outlined above.
XU and DI GIROLAMO do not explicitly teach wherein the controller further turns on the wireless transceiver for a period of time prior to the SL DRX-ON duration corresponding to the DRX operation for SL communication with one of the peer UEs to determine whether a signal is received from the peer UE; and turns off the wireless transceiver for a next SL DRX-ON duration corresponding to the DRX operation for SL communication with the peer UE in response to not receiving a signal from the peer UE in the period of time.
XU939 teaches wherein the controller further turns on the wireless transceiver for a period of time prior to the SL DRX-ON duration corresponding to the DRX operation for SL communication with one of the peer UEs to determine whether a signal is received from the peer UE; and turns off the wireless transceiver for a next SL DRX-ON duration corresponding to the DRX operation for SL communication with the peer UE in response to not receiving a signal from the peer UE in the period of time (see claim 11. A terminal device, comprising: a processor ( controller) ; and a transceiver, connected to the processor and configured to monitor a Power Saving (PS) signal Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) in one or more than one monitoring time period prior to a Discontinuous Reception (DRX) ON time period and after a monitoring starting time point, wherein the one or more than one monitoring time period is determined by at least one configuration parameter of each PS signal search space of K PS signal search spaces, K being an integer more than or equal to 1. Further, , in ¶ [0041] With respect to the related descriptions about the PS signal PDCCH, the PS signal PDCCH may be configured to wake up the terminal device to detect the PDCCH, and may further be configured to indicate PS indication information such as a target Bandwidth Part (BWP) used when the terminal device is woken up, a configuration of the used PDCCH search space, and Secondary Cell (Scell) dormancy indication information).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to add the teachings of XU939 to the teachings of XU and DI GIROLAMO. The motivation for such an addition would be for the advantage of power conservation without increasing of signaling overheads between a terminal device and a network device (XU939 [0016]).
Regarding claim [19] “method” is rejected under the same reasoning as claim [10] “UE apparatus”, where XU teaches UE apparatus and method [0006]-[0009].
Claims 11 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over XU and DI GIROLAMO, and further in view of LEE et al. (US 8743859 B2), hereinafter LEE.
Regarding claim 11,
XU and DI GIROLAMO teaches all the limitations of claim 1, as outlined above.
XU and DI GIROLAMO do not explicitly teach wherein the controller further sends a request to one of the peer UEs via the wireless transceiver in the SL DRX-ON duration corresponding to the DRX operation for SL communication with the peer UE to enable the peer UE to tum off its wireless transceiver until the start of a next SL DRX-ON duration.
LEE teaches wherein the controller further sends a request to one of the peer UEs via the wireless transceiver in the SL DRX-ON duration corresponding to the DRX operation for SL communication with the peer UE to enable the peer UE to tum off its wireless transceiver until the start of a next SL DRX-ON duration (see claim 7. activating wireless transmissions and receptions for transmitting a scheduling request message to the service network; keeping the wireless receptions activated in a first predetermined period of time subsequent to the transmission of the scheduling request message; and deactivating the wireless transmissions and receptions in response to that no response message corresponding to the scheduling request message is received from the service network in the first predetermined period of time, without prolonging a DRX-ON duration of the DRX cycle with Scheduling Request (SR) prohibition control for periodic retransmission of the scheduling request message).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to add the teachings of LEE to the teachings of XU and DI GIROLAMO. The motivation for such an addition would be for the advantage of power conservation without increasing of signaling overheads between a terminal device and a network device (LEE, Col. 2, Lines 12-17).
Regarding claim [20] “method” is rejected under the same reasoning as claim [11] “UE apparatus”, where XU teaches UE apparatus and method [0006]-[0009].
Conclusion
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 AYMAN A ABAZA whose telephone number is (571)270-0422. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri 8-5. 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, Deborah Reynolds, can be reached at 571-272-0734. 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.
/AYMAN A ABAZA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2465