1DETAILED 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 .
Claim Status
This office action is in response to the communication(s) filed on 12/31/2025.
Claim(s) 7-13 is/are currently presenting for examination.
Claim(s) 7 and 13 is/are independent claim(s).
Claim(s) 7-13 is/are rejected.
This action has been made FINAL.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed on 12/31/2025 have been considered but are moot in view of the new ground(s) of rejection.
Applicant's amendment with respect to 35 U.S.C. 112(f) claim interpretation of claims 7-12 is acknowledged. Therefore, the 35 U.S.C. 112(f) claim interpretation to the claims is withdrawn.
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.
The factual inquiries set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 148 USPQ 459 (1966), that are applied for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claim(s) 7-13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US_20230337187_A1_Ye in view of US_20230156670_A1_Yoon.
Regarding claim 7, Ye discloses a terminal comprising: a processor configured to, in a case where slots that are periodic-based partial sensing targets are included in DRX inactive time, determine that some of the slots that are targets of periodic-based partial sensing are to be monitored (Ye figure 11, the periodic based partial sensing window is within the sidelink DRX off duration, and paragraph 118, “…a resource pool and resource selection/reselection is triggered at slot n, it may be up to UE implementation to determine a set of Y candidate slots within a resource selection window…”); and a transmitter configured to transmit a signal for device-to-device communications (Ye paragraph 43, “Two or more of the UEs 102/104/106 may also communicate directly with one another over a sidelink interface. The sidelink interface may alternatively be referred to as a ProSe interface, device-to-device (D2D) interface, or a PC5 interface or reference point…”) by using a resource that is selected from a candidate resource set that is determined based on a result of the periodic-based partial sensing of the some of the slots (Ye paragraph 158, “…transmitting on the selected resources…”, paragraph 57, “In NR V2X, if a resource pool is configured (or preconfigured) with at least partial sensing, a UE performs contiguous partial sensing, and resource selection (or reselection) is triggered in slot n, the UE may select (or reselect) resources by monitoring slots between [n+T_A, n+T_B] and identifying candidate resources in or after slot n+T_B based on all available sensing results, including periodic-based partial sensing results if applicable”), but does not explicitly disclose the slots that are targets of periodic-based partial sensing are to be monitored are within a non-empty subset, and determine that the slots other than the non-empty subset of the slots that are the targets of the periodic-based partial sensing are not to be monitored.
Yoon discloses the slots that are targets of periodic-based partial sensing are to be monitored are within a non-empty subset (Yoon page 23, claim 1, “monitoring, for a second partial sensing, a first subset of slots of a plurality of slots in a second sensing window”), and determine that the slots other than the non-empty subset of the slots that are the targets of the periodic-based partial sensing are not to be monitored (Yoon page 23, claim 10, “based on the second partial sensing, skipping monitoring a second subset of slots in the second sensing window, wherein the plurality of slots in the second sensing window comprises the second subset of slots that is not monitored by the first wireless user device”).
Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement the teachings of Yoon’s skipping monitoring a second subset of slots in the second sensing window in Ye’s system to save power and reduce UE complexity by allowing the UE to only monitor slots that are relevant to its specific transmission needs. This method for improving the system of Ye was within the ordinary ability of one of ordinary skill in the art based on the teachings of Yoon. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to combine the teachings of Ye and Yoon to obtain the invention as specified in claim 7.
Regarding claim 8, Ye and Yoon disclose the terminal according to claim 7, and Ye further discloses wherein the processor determines that slots that are targets of contiguous partial sensing are to be monitored in a case of performing reevaluation or preemption checking for the selected resource (Ye paragraph 49, “Mode 2 resource allocation may include a plurality of operations including, for example: resource pool configuration; sensing; resource reevaluation; resource selection; preemption; and sidelink transmission”, paragraph 177, “Embodiments also provide partial sensing for resource reevaluation and preemption.” Paragraphs 178-179, 187, 274, 285), and the transmitter transmits the signal for the device-to-device communications by using a resource that is selected from a candidate resource set that is determined based on a result of the contiguous partial sensing (Ye figure 11, contiguous partial sensing, paragraph 158, “…transmitting on the selected resources.…”).
Regarding claim 9, Ye and Yoon disclose the terminal according to claim 8, and Ye further discloses wherein the processor stops execution of the periodic-based partial sensing in a case of performing reevaluation or preemption checking for the selected resource (Ye paragraph 206, “Five sensing schemes may also be used for resource reevaluation…and no additional sensing for resource reevaluation (which may be referred to as scheme 5)”).
Regarding claim 10, Ye and Yoon disclose the terminal according to claim 7, and Ye further discloses wherein the processor determines that all of the slots that targets of the periodic-based partial sensing are to be monitored in a case where that the slots that are targets of the periodic-based partial sensing are not included in the DRX inactive time (Ye figures 6-7, the updated contiguous partial sensing window is within the sidelink DRX ON duration, and paragraph 118, “…a resource pool and resource selection/reselection is triggered at slot n, it may be up to UE implementation to determine a set of Y candidate slots within a resource selection window…”), and the transmitter transmits the signal for the device-to-device communications by using a resource selected from a candidate resource set that is determined based on a result of the periodic-based partial sensing in all of the slots (Ye paragraph 158, “…transmitting on the selected resources…”, paragraph 57, “In NR V2X, if a resource pool is configured (or preconfigured) with at least partial sensing, a UE performs contiguous partial sensing, and resource selection (or reselection) is triggered in slot n, the UE may select (or reselect) resources by monitoring slots between [n+T_A, n+T_B] and identifying candidate resources in or after slot n+T_B based on all available sensing results, including periodic-based partial sensing results if applicable”).
Regarding claim 11, Ye and Yoon disclose the terminal according to claim 8, and Ye further discloses wherein the processor determines that all of the slots that targets of the periodic-based partial sensing are to be monitored in a case where that the slots that are targets of the periodic-based partial sensing are not included in the DRX inactive time (Ye figures 6-7, the updated contiguous partial sensing window is within the sidelink DRX ON duration, and paragraph 118, “…a resource pool and resource selection/reselection is triggered at slot n, it may be up to UE implementation to determine a set of Y candidate slots within a resource selection window…”), and the transmitter transmits the signal for the device-to-device communications by using a resource selected from a candidate resource set that is determined based on a result of the periodic-based partial sensing in all of the slots (Ye paragraph 158, “…transmitting on the selected resources…”, paragraph 57, “In NR V2X, if a resource pool is configured (or preconfigured) with at least partial sensing, a UE performs contiguous partial sensing, and resource selection (or reselection) is triggered in slot n, the UE may select (or reselect) resources by monitoring slots between [n+T_A, n+T_B] and identifying candidate resources in or after slot n+T_B based on all available sensing results, including periodic-based partial sensing results if applicable”).
Regarding claim 12, Ye and Yoon disclose the terminal according to claim 9, and Ye further discloses wherein the processor determines that all of the slots that targets of the periodic-based partial sensing are to be monitored in a case where that the slots that are targets of the periodic-based partial sensing are not included in the DRX inactive time (Ye figures 6-7, the updated contiguous partial sensing window is within the sidelink DRX ON duration, and paragraph 118, “…a resource pool and resource selection/reselection is triggered at slot n, it may be up to UE implementation to determine a set of Y candidate slots within a resource selection window…”), and the transmitter transmits the signal for the device-to-device communications by using a resource selected from a candidate resource set that is determined based on a result of the periodic-based partial sensing in all of the slots (Ye paragraph 158, “…transmitting on the selected resources…”, paragraph 57, “In NR V2X, if a resource pool is configured (or preconfigured) with at least partial sensing, a UE performs contiguous partial sensing, and resource selection (or reselection) is triggered in slot n, the UE may select (or reselect) resources by monitoring slots between [n+T_A, n+T_B] and identifying candidate resources in or after slot n+T_B based on all available sensing results, including periodic-based partial sensing results if applicable”).
Regarding claim 13, Ye and Yoon disclose the limitations as set forth in claim 7.
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
The reference US_20230063472_A1_Freda, teaches a WTRU determines the resources for partial sensing based on the DRX/activity behavior (Freda paragraphs 120-121, 1016-1189).
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 WEIBIN HUANG whose telephone number is (571)270-3695. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 9:30AM - 6:00PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Sujoy Kundu can be reached at (571)272-8586. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/W.H/Examiner, Art Unit 2471
/SUJOY K KUNDU/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2471
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