Prosecution Insights
Last updated: April 19, 2026
Application No. 18/552,546

COMMUNICATION METHOD FOR SIDELINK INTERFACE, TERMINAL DEVICE, AND STORAGE MEDIUM

Non-Final OA §102§112
Filed
Sep 26, 2023
Examiner
MURPHY, RHONDA L
Art Unit
2462
Tech Center
2400 — Computer Networks
Assignee
Datang Mobile Communications Equipment Co. Ltd.
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
76%
Grant Probability
Favorable
1-2
OA Rounds
3y 8m
To Grant
84%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 76% — above average
76%
Career Allow Rate
521 granted / 684 resolved
+18.2% vs TC avg
Moderate +7% lift
Without
With
+7.4%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
3y 8m
Avg Prosecution
37 currently pending
Career history
721
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
5.6%
-34.4% vs TC avg
§103
52.9%
+12.9% vs TC avg
§102
20.4%
-19.6% vs TC avg
§112
10.7%
-29.3% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 684 resolved cases

Office Action

§102 §112
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 . Status of Claims The status of the claims is as follows: claims 4, 5, 7, 11, 12, 15, 16, 21, 22, 26, 29 and 31 have been canceled and claims 1 – 3, 6, 8 – 10, 13, 14, 17 – 20, 23 – 25, 27, 28, 30 and 32 are pending. Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112 The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b): (b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention. The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph: The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention. Claims 18 – 20, 23 – 25, 27, 28 and 30 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention. Claim 18 recites the limitation "the processor" in line 3. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. Claims 19, 20, 23 – 25, 27, 28 and 30 are rejected for the same reason as they depend on the above rejected claim 18. Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102 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 the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action: A person shall be entitled to a patent unless – (a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention. Claims 1 – 3, 6, 8 – 10, 13, 14, 17 – 20, 23 – 25, 27, 28, 30 and 32 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Freda et al. (US 2024/0381485 A1). Regarding claim 1, Freda teaches a communication method for a sidelink interface, performed by a transmitting terminal (Fig. 2; WTRU), comprising: determining that a previously selected resource is outside an active time of a sidelink (SL) discontinuous reception/discontinuous transmission (DRX/DTX) corresponding to a sidelink interface destination Layer-2 ID (end of paragraph 678: Conversely, the TX WTRU may prioritize/restrict transmission of data to the second peer WTRU for grants which occur outside the active period of the first peer WTRU. Specifically, a TX WTRU may restrict selection of a L2 source/destination when the grant does not fall within the active time of that L2 source/destination, and that L2 source/destination is configured with DRX. Also described in paragraph 553, 596: DTX); determining to perform a resource selection or reselection (paragraph 659: a WTRU may perform transmission of the same data in different resources. Also described in paragraphs 786-787). Regarding claims 2 and 19, Freda teaches the communication method according to claim 1, wherein the resource reselection is performed by executing a first operation as follows: selecting a resource within the active time of the SL DRX/DTX corresponding to the sidelink interface destination Layer-2 ID as a newly selected resource (end of paragraph 678: Conversely, the TX WTRU may prioritize/restrict transmission of data to the second peer WTRU for grants which occur outside the active period of the first peer WTRU. Specifically, a TX WTRU may restrict selection of a L2 source/destination when the grant does not fall within the active time of that L2 source/destination, and that L2 source/destination is configured with DRX; paragraph 659: a WTRU may perform transmission of the same data in different resources. Also described in paragraphs 786-787); notifying a physical layer of the active time of the SL DRX/DTX corresponding to the sidelink interface destination Layer-2 ID, and/or the newly selected resource and/or a resource reservation interval (end of paragraph 678: Conversely, the TX WTRU may prioritize/restrict transmission of data to the second peer WTRU for grants which occur outside the active period of the first peer WTRU. Specifically, a TX WTRU may restrict selection of a L2 source/destination when the grant does not fall within the active time of that L2 source/destination, and that L2 source/destination is configured with DRX; paragraph 659: a WTRU may perform transmission of the same data in different resources. Also described in paragraphs 786-787). Regarding claims 3 and 20, Freda teaches the communication method according to claim 2, wherein prior to the selecting the resource within the active time of the SL DRX/DTX corresponding to the sidelink interface destination Layer-2 ID as the newly selected resource, the method further comprises: wherein the first operation further comprises: setting the resource reservation interval (paragraph 382: A resource reservation period). Regarding claim 6, Freda teaches the communication method according to claim 3, wherein, in case that the first operation further comprises setting the resource reservation interval, the resource reservation interval notified to the physical layer is a newly set resource reservation interval (paragraph 381-382: The presence or absence of, and/or the value of such field/parameter can consist of any or a combination of the following: [0382] A resource reservation period). Regarding claims 8 and 23, the limitation is rejected based upon claim 3's exclusion of this limitation through use of the “or” statement. Regarding claims 9 and 24, Freda teaches the communication method according to claim 8, wherein data transmission is performed in one cycle of the SL DRX/DTX corresponding to the sidelink interface destination Layer-2 ID by executing a second operation as follows: entering, by the transmitting terminal, the active time of the SL DRX/DTX corresponding to the sidelink interface destination Layer-2 ID after starting the first timer; performing the data transmission on the newly selected resource, and starting the second timer; starting the third timer after the data transmission; entering, by the transmitting terminal, the sleep period of the SL DRX/DTX corresponding to the sidelink interface destination Layer-2 ID in a case that the first timer, the second timer and the third timer all expire (paragraphs 257: L2 ID… timer.. active resource; paragraphs 519-522; 1314-1318: sleep). Regarding claims 10 and 25, Freda teaches the communication method according to claim 9, wherein the starting the third timer comprises: starting a fourth timer; starting the third timer after the fourth timer expires (paragraph 110-112; 121-122, 900; paragraphs 174 and 254: start timers;). Regarding claims 13 and 27, Freda teaches the communication method according to claim 1, further comprising: wherein the active time of the SL DRX/DTX corresponding to the sidelink interface destination Layer-2 ID is comprised in a time range of any one running timer of the following timers: a first timer, a second timer and a third timer (paragraph 110-112; 121-122, 257, 714, 900; paragraphs 174 and 254: start timers). Regarding claims 14 and 28, the limitation is rejected based upon claim 13's exclusion of this limitation through use of the “or” statement. Regarding claims 17 and 30, Freda teaches the communication method according to claim 8, wherein the first timer is an SL discontinuous reception on duration timer (drx-on duration TimerSL), the second timer is an SL discontinuous reception inactivity timer (drx-Inactivity TimerSL), the third timer is an SL discontinuous reception retransmission timer (drx-Retransmission TimerSL) (paragraphs 110 and 122: drx-onDurationTimer; paragraph 112 and 122: drx-Inactivity Timer; paragraph 122 and 136: DRX-RetransmissionTimer). Regarding claim 18, Freda teaches the same limitations described above in the rejection of claim 1. Freda further teaches a terminal device (Figs. 1B and Fig 2; WTRU), comprising: a memory (Fig. 1B: memory 130/132), configured to store a computer program (paragraph 1328: computer program); a transceiver (transceiver 120), configured to transmit and receive data under the control of the processor (see Fig. 1B; paragraph 39); a processor (processor 118), configured to read the computer program in the memory (paragraph 39). Regarding claim 32, Freda teaches the same limitations described above in the rejection of claim 1. Freda further teaches a non-transitory processor-readable storage medium, wherein the non-transitory processor-readable storage medium stores a computer program, and the computer program is configured to be executed by a processor of a transmitting terminal (paragraphs 1326 and 1331). Conclusion Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to RHONDA L MURPHY whose telephone number is (571)272-3185. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 9:00-5:00pm. 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, Yemane Mesfin can be reached at (571) 272-3927. 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. /RHONDA L MURPHY/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2462
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Prosecution Timeline

Sep 26, 2023
Application Filed
Jan 08, 2026
Non-Final Rejection — §102, §112 (current)

Precedent Cases

Applications granted by this same examiner with similar technology

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GROUPING ENDPOINTS OF A NETWORK FOR NAT TO ORGANIZE IP ADDRESS SPACE FOR POLICY APPLICATIONS
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Study what changed to get past this examiner. Based on 5 most recent grants.

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Prosecution Projections

1-2
Expected OA Rounds
76%
Grant Probability
84%
With Interview (+7.4%)
3y 8m
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 684 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allow rate.

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