CTFR 18/558,901 CTFR 101252 Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status 07-03-aia AIA 15-10-aia 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 February 10, 2026 has been entered. Claims 1-20 remain pending in the application. Response to Arguments Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 1-20 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 07-20-aia AIA 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. 07-23-aia AIA 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. 07-21-aia AIA Claim s 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hoang et al. (U.S. Publication No. 2021/0243749) in view of Ghanbarinejad et al. (WO 2020/153998 A1) and further in view of Sarkis et al. (U.S. Publication No. 2022/0240265 A1) . Regarding claim 1 , Hoang teaches “ [a]n apparatus comprising: at least one processor; and at least one non-transitory memory including computer program code, where the at least one non- transitory memory and the computer program code are configured, with the at least one processor, to cause the apparatus to at least ” (see ¶¶ [0038], [0043], and [0255]; WTRU (i.e., apparatus ) may include a processor and memory ; the processor may access information from any type of suitable memory; and the methods described in Hoang may be implemented in a computer program, software, or firmware incorporated in a computer-readable medium for execution by a computer or processor ): Hoang also teaches “ determine, by a first user equipment (UE) of more than one user equipment of a communication network, a first set of candidate radio resources for sidelink transmission by the first user equipment or a second user equipment of the more than one user equipment ” (see ¶¶ [0075], [0163], and [0168] and FIG. 1A; one or more WTRU are part of the communication network depicted in FIG. 1A (i.e., more than one user equipment of a communication network ); a WTRU (i.e., a first user equipment ) performs resource selection (i.e., determine a first set of candidate radio resources ) for sidelink control information (SCI) Notification (SCI_Notification) messages (i.e., sidelink transmission ); and the WTRU transmits the SCI_Notification messages (i.e., sidelink transmission by the first user equipment )); Hoang further teaches “ receive, from a third user equipment, . . . a second set of preferred radio resources . . . for sidelink transmission by at least one of the second user equipment, the third user equipment, or a fourth user equipment other than the first user equipment of the more than one user equipment ” (see ¶ [0155]; a WTRU (i.e., first user equipment ) may decode SCI_Notification or SCI messages from other WTRU (e.g., third user equipment ), where decoding the message allows the WTRU (i.e., first user equipment ) to determine if the PSSCH and/or PSCCH or SCI_Notification resource (i.e., a second set of preferred radio resources ) of another transmission (i.e., for sidelink transmission by at least one of the second user equipment, the third user equipment, or a fourth user equipment ) overlaps other resources; if the resource from the sidelink transmitting UE overlaps with receiving UE’s selected sidelink resource, then the transmitting resource can be considered as preferred sidelink resource for the transmitting UE; thus, SCI_Notification/SCI messages received from the third user equipment includes the second set of preferred radio resources for sidelink transmission by at least one of the second user equipment, the third user equipment, or a fourth user equipment ); Hoang further teaches “ identify at least one radio resource from the first set of candidate radio resources that overlaps at least partially with a radio resource in the second set of preferred radio resources ” (see ¶ [0155]; WTRU (i.e., first user equipment ) may decode SCI_Notification or SCI messages to determine (i.e., identify ) if the PSSCH and/or PSCCH or SCI_Notification resource of another transmission (i.e., a radio resource in the second set of preferred radio resources ) overlaps with its own PSSCH and/or PSCCH or SCI_Notification resource (i.e., at least one radio resource from the first set of candidate radio resources )); thus, the first user equipment identifies at least one radio resource from the first set of candidate radio resources that overlaps at least partially with a radio resource in the second set of preferred radio resources ); Hoang also teaches “ determine a subset of the first set of candidate radio resources based at least in part on . . . one overlapping radio resource ” (see ¶¶ [0155] and [0170]; WTRU (i.e., first user equipment ) may decode SCI_Notification or SCI messages to determine if the PSSCH and/or PSCCH or SCI_Notification resource of another transmission overlaps with its own PSSCH and/or PSCCH or SCI_Notification resource (i.e., the first set of candidate radio resources ), and if it overlaps (i.e., based at least in part on one overlapping radio resource ), the WTRU may reselect another resource for SCI_Notification or PSSCH and/or PSCCH transmission (i.e., a subset of the first set of candidate radio resources ); As an example, WTRU selects four time resources (e.g., the first set of candidate radio resources ) to transmit SCI_Notification; the WTRU determines that at least one of those resources is occupied (i.e., overlapping ),and then the WTRU reselects different resource from the four time resources (i.e., a subset of the first set of candidate radio resources ); thus, the subset of the first set of candidate radio resources is determined based at least in part on the overlapping radio resource )); and Hoang further teaches “ at least one of select from the determined subset one or more radio resources for sidelink transmission by the first user equipment or transmit the determined subset to the second user equipment ” (see ¶ [0170]; the WTRU ( the first user equipment ) selects the determined non-occupied resource for transmitting SCI_Notification message; thus, a resource is selected from the determined subset one or more radio resources for sidelink transmission by the first user equipment )). While Hoang teaches determining of the first set of candidate radio resources based at least in part on one overlapping radio resource, it does not explicitly state that the occupied/overlapping resource is “the identified at least one overlapping radio resource” with “a radio resource in the second set of preferred radio resources” as described in claim 1. However, determining the overlapping resource being the resource that overlaps with a radio resource in a set of radio resources for sidelink transmission by a different user equipment is well known in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention. For example, Ghanbarinejad teaches claim 1’s described limitation of “ the identified at least one overlapping radio resource ” (see p. 12, lines 9-12; UE determines sidelink reference signal resources used by other UEs and, for its own sidelink reference signal transmission, selects sidelink reference signal resources from a set of resources that avoids collision or overlap (i.e., based at least in part on the identified at least one overlapping radio resource ) with the sidelink reference signal transmissions of its neighboring UEs; thus, the UE identifies at least one resource overlapping with resource of another UE and determines a subset of resources from a set of resources based at least in part on the identified at least one overlapping radio resource ). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Hoang to incorporate the teachings of Ghanbarinejad to determine the overlapping resource being the resource that overlaps with a radio resource in a set of radio resources for sidelink transmission by a different user equipment. The motivation to do so would have been to reduce sidelink transmission collisions and improve overall sidelink communication performance (see p. 6 lines 32, 33 and p. 7, lines 1 and 2). The combination of Hoang and Ghanbarinejad does not explicitly disclose receiving “an inter-UE coordination message comprising” a set of preferred radio resources “indicated as preferred” of claim 1. However, the foregoing limitations were well known in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention. For example, Sarkis teaches “ an inter-UE coordination message comprising . . . radio resources indicated as preferred ” (see ¶ [0066] and FIG. 5; inter-UE coordination information (i.e., an inter-UE coordination message ) may include (i.e., comprising ) a UE's own transmission and reservation, the UE's sensing information (e.g., resource reservations of other UEs that are sensed by UE 502 (e.g., UE-A)), resources that are bad or undesirable around the UE-A (e.g., resources subject to high interference), resources which are better than other resources (i.e., radio resources indicated as preferred ), etc; the inter-UE coordination information 506 may indicate candidate resources (i.e., radio resources indicated as preferred ) for sidelink transmission; in some aspects, such candidate resource information may be referred to as preferred resource inter-UE coordination information; thus, an inter-UE coordination message comprising radio resources indicated as preferred ). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Hoang in view of Ghanbarinejad to incorporate the teachings of Sarkis to use an inter-UE coordination message comprising radio resources indicated as preferred for sidelink transmission a different user equipment. The motivation to do so would have been to improve sidelink communication performance (see ¶ [0023] of Sarkis). Regarding claim 2 , the combination of Hoang, Ghanbarinejad, and Sarkis teaches the apparatus of claim 1, and further teaches “ wherein the determined subset is a set of preferred or non- preferred radio resources for sidelink transmission by the first or second user equipment ” (see ¶¶ [0145] and [0154] of Hoang; WTRU may be configured to select the PSSCH and/or PSCCH resource in the resource selection window in the range [n+T1, n+T2], where T1 and T2 may be determined based on the QoS of the packet such as priority and/or latency (i.e., preference); therefore, the resources selected are based on a preference for certain priority or latency; thus, the determined subset is a set of preferred or non- preferred radio resources ). Regarding claim 3 , the combination of Hoang, Ghanbarinejad, and Sarkis teaches the apparatus of claim 1, and further teaches “ wherein determining the subset of the first set of candidate radio resources based at least in part on the identified at least one overlapping radio resource comprises: deprioritizing or excluding the identified at least one overlapping radio resource from the first set of candidate radio resources ” (see ¶ [0170] of Hoang, and p. 12, lines 9-12 of Ghanbarinejad; Hoang’s WTRU selects the non-overlapping resource; thus, the overlapping resource is excluded from the subset ; Ghanbarinejad’s UE avoids the overlapping resources when selecting its resources from a set of resources , thus, overlapping resource is excluded from the subset ). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Hoang to incorporate the teachings of Ghanbarinejad to deprioritizing or excluding the identified at least one overlapping radio resource from the first set of candidate radio resources. The motivation to do so would have been to reduce sidelink transmission collisions and improve overall sidelink communication performance (see p. 6 lines 32, 33 and p. 7, lines 1 and 2). Regarding claim 4 , the combination of Hoang, Ghanbarinejad, and Sarkis teaches the apparatus of claim 3, and further teaches “ wherein the at least one of deprioritizing or excluding the identified at least one overlapping radio resource is based on a cardinality of the second set of preferred radio resources ” (see ¶ [0170] of Hoang; under BRI, cardinality of a set corresponds to unique elements/resources; the WTRU selects four different resources, and one of those resources is occupied; the WTRU chooses two of the remaining three non-overlapping resources to transmit SCI_notification; by not selecting the overlapping resource, it is being excluded based on its uniqueness in a second/different set of resources; thus, it is excluded based on a cardinality of the second set of preferred radio resources ). Regarding claim 5 , the combination of Hoang, Ghanbarinejad, and Sarkis teaches the apparatus of claim 3, and further teaches “ wherein the at least one of deprioritizing or excluding the identified at least one overlapping radio resource is based on a radio resource size of the identified at least one overlapping radio resource and/or a radio resource size of the radio resource in the second set of preferred radio resources ” (see ¶¶ [0166] and [0168] of Hoang; the WTRU may determine the number of SCI_Notification messages for transmission for one or multiple PSSCH and/or PSCCH transmissions based on one or a combination of the following: the QoS characteristics of the MAC PDU, for example VQI, priority, latency, reliability, etc.; congestion level of the resource pool, for example, CBR; the size of the MAC PDU; the packet size and/or the traffic pattern; the WTRU selects N+M possible time-frequency resources , where the value of M may be determined based on one or any combination of the following: the QoS characteristics of the MAC PDU (for example VQI, priority, latency, reliability, etc.); congestion level of the resource pool, for example, CBR; the size of the MAC PDU; the packet size and/or the traffic pattern; therefore, the initial set of resources are selected based on a size of the resources required to satisfy the selection criteria including size of packets ; thus, the size of all the selected resources can be same ; thus, the overlapping resource can be excluded based on its size being not greater than the non-overlapping resource required for the transmissions). Regarding claim 6 , the combination of Hoang, Ghanbarinejad, and Sarkis teaches the apparatus of claim 3, and further teaches “ wherein the at least one of deprioritizing or excluding the identified at least one overlapping radio resource is based on an extent of overlap between the identified at least one overlapping radio resource and the radio resource in the second set of preferred radio resources ” (see ¶ [0170] of Hoang, and see p. 12, lines 9-12 of Ghanbarinejad; the initially selected resource is not selected for transmission of the SCI_Notification messages based on it being occupied/ overlapped ; the UE selects sidelink reference signal resources from a set of resources that avoids collision or overlap with transmission of another UE; the extent of overlapping can be a complete overlap; thus, at least one of deprioritizing or excluding the identified at least one overlapping radio resource is based on an extent of overlap ). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Hoang to incorporate the teachings of Ghanbarinejad to exclude overlapping resource based on the extent of overlap between the two resources. The motivation to do so would have been to reduce sidelink transmission collisions and improve overall sidelink communication performance (see p. 6 lines 32, 33 and p. 7, lines 1 and 2). Regarding claim 7 , the combination of Hoang, Ghanbarinejad, and Sarkis teaches the apparatus of claim 3, and further teaches “ wherein the at least one of deprioritizing or excluding the identified at least one overlapping radio resource is based on a channel busy ratio measured at the first user equipment ” (see ¶ [0168] of Hoang; the WTRU (i.e., the first user equipment ) selects N+M possible time-frequency resources , where the value of M may be determined based on congestion level of the resource pool, for example, [ channel busy ratio] CBR (i.e., CBR measured at the first user equipment ); therefore the initial set of resources are selected based on CBR measured at the first user equipment, and the subset of resources that excludes the overlapping resource can be selected based on CBR measured at the first user equipment; thus, the exclusion of the resource is based on the CBR ). Regarding claim 8 , the combination of Hoang, Ghanbarinejad, and Sarkis teaches the apparatus of claim 3, and further teaches “ wherein the at least one of deprioritizing or excluding the identified at least one overlapping radio resource is based on a reference signal received power measured at the first user equipment from the third user equipment ” (see ¶¶ [0168], [0170], and [0180] of Hoang; the WTRU may exclude the resource or resources notified by the SCI_Notification message (i.e., an SCI_Notification message received from another WTRU (i.e., the third user equipment); thus, the identified overlapping radio resource ) if the RSRP measured on the SCI_Notification is greater than a threshold (i.e., reference signal received power measured at the first user equipment from the third user equipment ); thus, the overlapping radio resource is excluded based on a reference signal received power measured at the first user equipment from the third user equipment ). Regarding claim 9 , the combination of Hoang, Ghanbarinejad, and Sarkis teaches the apparatus of claim 3, and further teaches “ wherein the at least one of deprioritizing or excluding the identified at least one overlapping radio resource is based on a distance between the first user equipment and the third user equipment ” (see ¶¶ [0168], [0170], and [0180] of Hoang; paragraph [0050] of the specification of the present application describes “UE-A may deprioritize more aggressively in case UE-C is relatively close to UE-A (i.e., high RSRP).” Thus, the present application describes determining distance based on RSRP . Hoang describes the WTRU may exclude the resource or resources notified by the SCI_Notification message (i.e., an SCI_Notification message received from another WTRU (i.e., the third user equipment); thus, the identified overlapping radio resource ) if the RSRP measured on the SCI_Notification is greater than a threshold (i.e., the measured RSRP indicates the distance between the first user equipment and the third user equipment); thus, the overlapping radio resource is excluded based on a distance between at the first user equipment from the third user equipment ). Regarding claim 10 , the combination of Hoang, Ghanbarinejad, and Sarkis teaches the apparatus of claim 3, and further teaches “ wherein the at least one of deprioritizing or excluding the identified at least one overlapping radio resource is based on a priority of the sidelink transmission by the first user equipment or the second user equipment ” (see ¶¶ [0153], [0168], and [0170]; if the data to be transmitted by the WTRU ( the first user equipment ) is higher priority than that announced by the received SCI/SCI_Notification, the WTRU may select the same/overlapping resources as reserved by the SCI/SCI_Notification received from the other WTRU; therefore, the WTRU doesn’t select (i.e., excludes ) the overlapping resource if the priority of the data to be transmitted (i.e., priority of the sidelink transmission by the first user equipment ) is not a higher priority; thus, the overlapping radio resource is excluded based on a priority of the sidelink transmission by the first user equipment or the second user equipment ). Regarding claims 11-20 , they are method claims corresponding to the apparatus claims 1-10 that have been rejected above. Applicant’s attention is directed to the rejection of claims 1-10. Claims 11-20 are rejected under the same rationale . Conclusion 07-40 AIA 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. 07-96 AIA The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Ye et al. (U.S. Publication No. 2022/0322359 A1) teaches signaling of inter-UE coordination message to reduce collision. Hosseini et al. (U.S. Publication No. 2022/0046603 A1) teaches sidelink resource selection using inter-UE coordination message. 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If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000. /SRIHARSHA REDDY VANGAPATY/Examiner, Art Unit 2475 /KHALED M KASSIM/supervisory patent examiner, Art Unit 2475 Application/Control Number: 18/558,901 Page 2 Art Unit: 2475 Application/Control Number: 18/558,901 Page 3 Art Unit: 2475 Application/Control Number: 18/558,901 Page 4 Art Unit: 2475 Application/Control Number: 18/558,901 Page 5 Art Unit: 2475 Application/Control Number: 18/558,901 Page 6 Art Unit: 2475 Application/Control Number: 18/558,901 Page 7 Art Unit: 2475 Application/Control Number: 18/558,901 Page 8 Art Unit: 2475 Application/Control Number: 18/558,901 Page 9 Art Unit: 2475 Application/Control Number: 18/558,901 Page 10 Art Unit: 2475 Application/Control Number: 18/558,901 Page 11 Art Unit: 2475 Application/Control Number: 18/558,901 Page 12 Art Unit: 2475 Application/Control Number: 18/558,901 Page 13 Art Unit: 2475 Application/Control Number: 18/558,901 Page 14 Art Unit: 2475 Application/Control Number: 18/558,901 Page 15 Art Unit: 2475 Application/Control Number: 18/558,901 Page 16 Art Unit: 2475
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