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
This action is in response to the application filed on April 08, 2026
Claims 1-18, 22 and 23 are under examination.
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, 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.
Claims 1-18, 22 and 23 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over 3GPP TSG-RAN WG2 Meeting #113bis Electronic R2-2103470 hereinafter “(R2-2103470).”in view of Lee et al. (US: 2022/0225156 A1).
As per Claim 1 R2-2103470 teaches an auxiliary configuration method, performed by a terminal device, comprising: sending sidelink Discontinuous Reception (DRX) information to a network device, wherein the sidelink DRX information comprises at least one of sidelink DRX information of a designated sidelink address or sidelink DRX information of a designated sending mode (proposal 2, 4 and 5: UE provides assistance information to gNB on DRX configuration/ActiveTime information per SL destination/service. In order to allow gNB to efficiently schedule SL resources (mode 1) to the Tx UE, the gNB should be aware of the time slots the Tx UE is in ActiveTime for a specific destination, e.g. SL service.gNB aligning UE's Uu DRX DRX ActiveTime UE should provide to the gNB information on its SL
DRX configuration, i.e. information on the SL ActiveTime. To ensure that UE is in DRX ActiveTime on Uu and monitoring PDCCH for SL DCI(s) while UE is receiving/transmitting SL data on the PC5 interface, some coordination between the time periods where UE is active (transmit/receive) on the PC5 interface and UE's Uu DRX settings/configurations is required. Therefore it should be discussed further whether UE should report within the UE assistance information (UAI) or Sidelink UE information (SUI) to the gNB timing information
indicating when UE is in ActiveTime on the PC5 interface, i.e. transmission/receiving SL data, e.g. SL DRX ),wherein the designated sidelink address satisfies at least one of following conditions:
the terminal device receiving information sent via the designated sidelink address; or the terminal device receiving information sent via the designated sidelink address and the information being received using a sidelink DRX mechanism (Page 2 Proposal 2; DRX related timers/states for controlling the DRX ActiveTime on the Uu interface should be updated based on SL data/control transmission/reception on the PCS interface. In order to ensure that the UE is in ActiveTime on the Uu interface and monitor PDCCH for SL grants when SL data ransmissions/reception occurs on the PCS interface, some linkage between the ActiveTime on Uu and the sidelink data activity on the PCS interface should be introduced. );
wherein the sidelink DRX information further comprises at least one of: first indication information for indicating whether the designated sidelink address uses a sidelink DRX mechanism; or Quality of Service (QoS) characteristic information of a transmission service on the designated sidelink address (Page 2 Proposal 3, 4; UE providing assistance information to gNB on timing information indicating when UE is active on the PCS interface, i.e. transmission/receiving SL data, for aligning DRX configuration on Uu should be considered. the UE assistance information (UAI) or Sidelink UE information (SUI) to the gNB timing information indicating when UE is in ActiveTime on the PCS interface, i.e. transmission/receiving SL data, e.g. SL DRX configuration(s));
wherein the QoS characteristic information comprises at least one of:
QoS requirement information; or an index number in a PC5 QoS Identifier (PQI) list (Page 2 Proposal 2,3, 6;Based on the received information the gNB may configure the PCS DRX configuration or the Uu DRX configuration for the Tx UE thereby aligning the Uu DRX and PCS/SL DRX. the UE is in ActiveTime on the Uu interface and monitor PDCCH for SL grants when SL data transmissions/reception occurs on the PCS interface, some linkage between the ActiveTime on Uu and the sidelink data activity on the PCS interface should be introduced. DRX related timers/states controlling the DRX ActiveTime on the Uu interface should be updated based on SL data/control transmission/reception on the PCS interface.).
R2-2103470 does not explicitly disclose wherein the designated sidelink address wherein the QoS characteristic information
However, Lee from an analogous art similarly teaches wherein the designated sidelink address wherein the QoS characteristic information (Paragraph 0236, 0312, 0336, 0275, 0356 The information on QoS flows to be mapped to the SLRB may include the list of SL (sidelink) QoS flows ID of the NR sidelink communication transmission destination to be additionally mapped to this SLRB (e.g., sl-MappedQoS-FlowsToAddList field). Sidelink unicast link between two UEs, the TX UE may indicate to the base station which link ID is used for sidelink transmission and/or which value of at least one QoS parameter is set for the indicated link ID. The TX UE may use different link IDs with different destination UEs for different one-to-one. Standardized PQI values have one-to-one mapping to a standardized combination of PC5 QoS characteristics. Marking QoS flow ID in SL packets based on the SDAP configuration for a pair of the TX UE and the indicated destination (or for the indicated link ID). );
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 R2-2103470 to include the teaching of LEE. Because for unicast link between wireless devices for sidelink communication, the wireless device may transmit to the network which link ID is used for sidelink communication. (See Lee Paragraph 00275).
As per Claim 2 R2-2103470-Lee teaches the method of claim 1, wherein the designated sidelink address comprises at least one of: a broadcast address, a groupcast address, or a unicast address (Parge2 Proposal 7: For Unicast, Rx UE could send its preferred PC5 DRX configuration to Tx UE, which is further propagated to the gNB. gNB can configure PC5/Uu DRX configuration for Tx UE, which considers the alignment ).
R2-2103470 does not explicitly disclose wherein the designated sidelink address wherein the QoS characteristic information
However, Lee from an analogous art similarly teaches wherein the designated sidelink address wherein the QoS characteristic information (Paragraph 0236, 0312, 0336, 0275, 0356 The information on QoS flows to be mapped to the SLRB may include the list of SL (sidelink) QoS flows ID of the NR sidelink communication transmission destination to be additionally mapped to this SLRB (e.g., sl-MappedQoS-FlowsToAddList field). Sidelink unicast link between two UEs, the TX UE may indicate to the base station which link ID is used for sidelink transmission and/or which value of at least one QoS parameter is set for the indicated link ID. The TX UE may use different link IDs with different destination UEs for different one-to-one. Standardized PQI values have one-to-one mapping to a standardized combination of PC5 QoS characteristics. Marking QoS flow ID in SL packets based on the SDAP configuration for a pair of the TX UE and the indicated destination (or for the indicated link ID). );
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 R2-2103470 to include the teaching of LEE. Because for unicast link between wireless devices for sidelink communication, the wireless device may transmit to the network which link ID is used for sidelink communication. (See Lee Paragraph 00275).
As per Claim 3 R2-2103470-Lee teaches the method of claim 1, wherein the designated sidelink address further satisfies at least one of following conditions:
the terminal device not sending the designated sidelink address to the network device; or the terminal device receiving information sent by the designated sidelink address, the information being received using the sidelink DRX mechanism, and the terminal device not sending the designated sidelink address to the network device (Page 2 Proposal 5 and 7: For cases when SL data transmission/reception activity, e.g. also referred to as SL DRX ActiveTime, is not coordinated with the DRX operation on Uu interface, there may be cases where Tx UE (using mode 1 resource allocation mode) is in sleep mode (DRX) on the Uu interface, i.e. not monitoring PDCCH, even though the UE is expected to receive SL resource allocations by the gNB for SL data transmission on the PC5 interface. Further for cases when the SL data transmission/reception activity on the PC5 interface is not aligned with the DRX operation on Uu interface, The ActiveTime on Uu interface may be unnecessarily extended, leading to some increased battery power consumption).
R2-2103470 does not explicitly disclose wherein the designated sidelink address wherein the QoS characteristic information
However, Lee from an analogous art similarly teaches wherein the designated sidelink address wherein the QoS characteristic information (Paragraph 0236, 0312, 0336, 0275, 0356 The information on QoS flows to be mapped to the SLRB may include the list of SL (sidelink) QoS flows ID of the NR sidelink communication transmission destination to be additionally mapped to this SLRB (e.g., sl-MappedQoS-FlowsToAddList field). Sidelink unicast link between two UEs, the TX UE may indicate to the base station which link ID is used for sidelink transmission and/or which value of at least one QoS parameter is set for the indicated link ID. The TX UE may use different link IDs with different destination UEs for different one-to-one. Standardized PQI values have one-to-one mapping to a standardized combination of PC5 QoS characteristics. Marking QoS flow ID in SL packets based on the SDAP configuration for a pair of the TX UE and the indicated destination (or for the indicated link ID). );
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 R2-2103470 to include the teaching of LEE. Because for unicast link between wireless devices for sidelink communication, the wireless device may transmit to the network which link ID is used for sidelink communication. (See Lee Paragraph 00275).
As per Claim 4 R2-2103470-Lee teaches the method of claim 3, wherein the terminal device determines whether to send the designated sidelink address to the network device according to at least one of: whether the terminal device carries the designated sidelink address in a sidelink terminal device message sent to the network device; or whether the terminal device carries the sidelink address in a sidelink sending resource request sent to the network device (Page 2 Proposal 4, 5 and 6: Tx UE provides assistance information to gNB on DRX configuration/ActiveTime information per SL destination/service. In order to allow gNB to efficiently schedule SL resources (mode 1) to the Tx UE, the gNB For example if Tx UE reports a certain amount of data available for transmission for a specific destination, the gNB needs to know when the peer receiving UE(s) associated with this destination is in ActiveTime in order to allocate SL resources correspondingly. It should be noted that the sidelink BSR signalled to the gNB also reports the buffer status per destination. From a SL UE perspective there may be only one "common" ActiveTime which is basically the superposition of the ).
R2-2103470 does not explicitly disclose wherein the designated sidelink address wherein the QoS characteristic information
However, Lee from an analogous art similarly teaches wherein the designated sidelink address wherein the QoS characteristic information (Paragraph 0236, 0312, 0336, 0275, 0356 The information on QoS flows to be mapped to the SLRB may include the list of SL (sidelink) QoS flows ID of the NR sidelink communication transmission destination to be additionally mapped to this SLRB (e.g., sl-MappedQoS-FlowsToAddList field). Sidelink unicast link between two UEs, the TX UE may indicate to the base station which link ID is used for sidelink transmission and/or which value of at least one QoS parameter is set for the indicated link ID. The TX UE may use different link IDs with different destination UEs for different one-to-one. Standardized PQI values have one-to-one mapping to a standardized combination of PC5 QoS characteristics. Marking QoS flow ID in SL packets based on the SDAP configuration for a pair of the TX UE and the indicated destination (or for the indicated link ID). );
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 R2-2103470 to include the teaching of LEE. Because for unicast link between wireless devices for sidelink communication, the wireless device may transmit to the network which link ID is used for sidelink communication. (See Lee Paragraph 00275).
As per Claim 5 R2-2103470-Lee teaches the method of claim 1, wherein the sidelink DRX information further comprises at least one of:
sidelink DRX configuration information on the designated sidelink address; first indication information for indicating whether the designated sidelink address uses a sidelink DRX mechanism; or second indication information for indicating whether a designated terminal device exists, wherein the designated terminal device receives information sent by the designated sidelink address and conforms to an R16 standard (Page 2 Proposal 3, 4: UE providing assistance information to gNB on timing information indicating when UE is active on the PC5 interface, i.e. transmission/receiving SL data, for aligning DRX configuration on Uu should be considered. Therefore it should be discussed further whether UE should report within the UE assistance information (UAI) or Sidelink UE information (SUI) to the gNB timing information indicating when UE is in ActiveTime on the PC5 interface, i.e. transmission/receiving SL data, e.g. SL DRX ).
R2-2103470 does not explicitly disclose wherein the designated sidelink address wherein the QoS characteristic information
However, Lee from an analogous art similarly teaches wherein the designated sidelink address wherein the QoS characteristic information (Paragraph 0236, 0312, 0336, 0275, 0356 The information on QoS flows to be mapped to the SLRB may include the list of SL (sidelink) QoS flows ID of the NR sidelink communication transmission destination to be additionally mapped to this SLRB (e.g., sl-MappedQoS-FlowsToAddList field). Sidelink unicast link between two UEs, the TX UE may indicate to the base station which link ID is used for sidelink transmission and/or which value of at least one QoS parameter is set for the indicated link ID. The TX UE may use different link IDs with different destination UEs for different one-to-one. Standardized PQI values have one-to-one mapping to a standardized combination of PC5 QoS characteristics. Marking QoS flow ID in SL packets based on the SDAP configuration for a pair of the TX UE and the indicated destination (or for the indicated link ID). );
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 R2-2103470 to include the teaching of LEE. Because for unicast link between wireless devices for sidelink communication, the wireless device may transmit to the network which link ID is used for sidelink communication. (See Lee Paragraph 00275).
As per Claim 6 R2-2103470-Lee teaches the method of claim 1, wherein the index number has corresponding QoS requirement information (Page 2 Proposal 2 and 3: DRX related timers/states for controlling the DRX ActiveTime on the Uu interface should be updated based on SL data/control transmission/reception on the PC5 interface. In order to ensure that the UE is in ActiveTime on the Uu interface and monitor PDCCH for SL grants when SL data transmissions/reception occurs on the PC5 interface, some linkage between the ActiveTime on Uu and the sidelink data activity on the PC5 interface should be introduced. DRX related timers/states controlling the DRX ActiveTime on the Uu interface should be updated based on SL data/control transmission/reception on the PC5 interface.).
As per Claim 7 R2-2103470-Lee teaches the method of claim 1, wherein the designated sending mode comprises at least one of: a broadcast sending mode, a groupcast sending mode, or a unicast sending mode (Page 2 Proposal 6 and 7: Sidelink DRX for broadcast, groupcast, and unicast RAN2 Define on- and off-durations in sidelink and specify the corresponding UE procedure Specify mechanism aiming to align sidelink DRX wake-up time among the UEs communicating with each other Specify mechanism aiming to align sidelink DRX wake-up time with Uu DRX wake-up time in an in-coverage UE. ).
R2-2103470 does not explicitly disclose wherein the designated sidelink address wherein the QoS characteristic information
However, Lee from an analogous art similarly teaches wherein the designated sidelink address wherein the QoS characteristic information (Paragraph 0236, 0312, 0336, 0275, 0356 The information on QoS flows to be mapped to the SLRB may include the list of SL (sidelink) QoS flows ID of the NR sidelink communication transmission destination to be additionally mapped to this SLRB (e.g., sl-MappedQoS-FlowsToAddList field). Sidelink unicast link between two UEs, the TX UE may indicate to the base station which link ID is used for sidelink transmission and/or which value of at least one QoS parameter is set for the indicated link ID. The TX UE may use different link IDs with different destination UEs for different one-to-one. Standardized PQI values have one-to-one mapping to a standardized combination of PC5 QoS characteristics. Marking QoS flow ID in SL packets based on the SDAP configuration for a pair of the TX UE and the indicated destination (or for the indicated link ID). );
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 R2-2103470 to include the teaching of LEE. Because for unicast link between wireless devices for sidelink communication, the wireless device may transmit to the network which link ID is used for sidelink communication. (See Lee Paragraph 00275).
As per Claim 8 R2-2103470-Lee teaches the method of claim 1, wherein the sidelink DRX information of the designated sending mode is determined according to sidelink DRX information of a designated sidelink address having the designated sending mode (Page 2 Proposal 3 and 4: In order to allow gNB aligning UE's Uu DRX DRX ActiveTime UE should provide to the gNB information on its SL DRX configuration, i.e. information on the SL ActiveTime. To ensure that UE is in DRX ActiveTime on Uu and monitoring PDCCH for SL DCI(s) while UE is receiving/transmitting SL data on the PC5 interface, some coordination between the time periods where UE is active (transmit/receive) on the PC5 interface and UE's Uu DRX settings/configurations is required. Therefore it should be discussed further whether UE should report within the UE assistance information (UAI) or Sidelink UE information (SUI) to the gNB timing information indicating when UE is in ActiveTime on the PC5 interface, i.e. transmission/receiving SL data, e.g. SL DRX configuration(s) ).
R2-2103470 does not explicitly disclose wherein the designated sidelink address wherein the QoS characteristic information
However, Lee from an analogous art similarly teaches wherein the designated sidelink address wherein the QoS characteristic information (Paragraph 0236, 0312, 0336, 0275, 0356 The information on QoS flows to be mapped to the SLRB may include the list of SL (sidelink) QoS flows ID of the NR sidelink communication transmission destination to be additionally mapped to this SLRB (e.g., sl-MappedQoS-FlowsToAddList field). Sidelink unicast link between two UEs, the TX UE may indicate to the base station which link ID is used for sidelink transmission and/or which value of at least one QoS parameter is set for the indicated link ID. The TX UE may use different link IDs with different destination UEs for different one-to-one. Standardized PQI values have one-to-one mapping to a standardized combination of PC5 QoS characteristics. Marking QoS flow ID in SL packets based on the SDAP configuration for a pair of the TX UE and the indicated destination (or for the indicated link ID). );
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 R2-2103470 to include the teaching of LEE. Because for unicast link between wireless devices for sidelink communication, the wireless device may transmit to the network which link ID is used for sidelink communication. (See Lee Paragraph 00275).
As per Claim 9 R2-2103470-Lee teaches the method of claim 8, wherein the sidelink DRX information of the designated sending mode is a collection of the sidelink DRX information of the designated sidelink address having the designated sending mode (Page 2 Proposal 4 Introduction: Sidelink DRX for broadcast, groupcast, and unicast RAN2 Define on- and off-durations in sidelink and specify the corresponding UE procedure Specify mechanism aiming to align sidelink DRX wake-up time among the UEs communicating with each other Specify mechanism aiming to align sidelink DRX wake-up time with Uu DRX wake-up time in an in-coverage UE).
R2-2103470 does not explicitly disclose wherein the designated sidelink address wherein the QoS characteristic information
However, Lee from an analogous art similarly teaches wherein the designated sidelink address wherein the QoS characteristic information (Paragraph 0236, 0312, 0336, 0275, 0356 The information on QoS flows to be mapped to the SLRB may include the list of SL (sidelink) QoS flows ID of the NR sidelink communication transmission destination to be additionally mapped to this SLRB (e.g., sl-MappedQoS-FlowsToAddList field). Sidelink unicast link between two UEs, the TX UE may indicate to the base station which link ID is used for sidelink transmission and/or which value of at least one QoS parameter is set for the indicated link ID. The TX UE may use different link IDs with different destination UEs for different one-to-one. Standardized PQI values have one-to-one mapping to a standardized combination of PC5 QoS characteristics. Marking QoS flow ID in SL packets based on the SDAP configuration for a pair of the TX UE and the indicated destination (or for the indicated link ID). );
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 R2-2103470 to include the teaching of LEE. Because for unicast link between wireless devices for sidelink communication, the wireless device may transmit to the network which link ID is used for sidelink communication. (See Lee Paragraph 00275).
Claims 10-18,22 and 23 are the device claims corresponding to the terminal device claims 1-9 that have been rejected above. Applicant attention is directed to the rejection of claims 1-9. Claims 10-18,22 and 23 are rejected under the same rational as claims 1-9.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to amended claims 1, 10 and 22 have been considered but are moot in view of the new ground(s) of rejection.
Examiner’s Note
Examiner is open for discussion if the applicant’s representative need further clarifications.
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL
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 extension fee 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 SYED ALI whose telephone number is (571)270-3681. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Asad Nawaz can be reached on 571-272-3988. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov . Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative or access to the automated information system, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/SYED ALI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2463
Prosecution Insights