DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
1. This action is responsive to communication filed on 03 November 2025, with acknowledgement of an original application filed on 06 March 2024.
Status of Claims
2. Claims 1-15 are pending. Claims 1, 8, and 15 are in independent forms. Claims 1, 8, and 14-15 has been amended.
Information Disclosure Statement
3. The information disclosure statements (IDS's) submitted on 09/10/2025 is in compliance with provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Response to Amendment
4. Applicant’s arguments filed 03 November 2025 have been fully considered however they are moot due to new grounds of rejection below initiated by applicant’s amendment.
Drawings
5. The drawings filed on 03/06/2024 are accepted by the examiner.
REMARKS
6. The rejection of claim 15 under 35 U.S.C. 101 and 35 U.S.C. 112(b) overcomes the rejections by the amendment. The rejection has been withdrawn.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
7. 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.
8. Claims 1, 7-8, and 14-15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kuge et al. US Patent Application Publication No. 2018/0192280 (hereinafter Kuge) in view of Cho et al. US Patent Application Publication No. 2014/0295815 (hereinafter Cho) in further view of Velev et al. US Patent Application Publication No. 2020/0314955 (hereinafter Velev).
Regarding claim 1, Kuge discloses a method of applying for an authorization duration, the method comprising:
“acquiring a plurality of authorization durations for a plurality of authorization services in response to service authorizations of the plurality of authorization services being received” (see Kuge par. 0023, transmitting a first service authorization request message, to request permission for the terminal device to be directly detected as a relay terminal device by a proximity terminal device positioned in proximity or perform direct communication with the proximity terminal device, to a device equipped with a ProSe function; receiving an authorization message with respect to the first service authorization request message from the device equipped with the ProSe function);
“applying for a plurality of new authorization durations for the plurality of authorization services in response to a timeout of the periodic timer” (see Kuge pars. 0435, 0660, the UE_A 8 that has acquired a Relay Service Code and a timer and has started counting of the timer for a connection service using the UE-to-NW Relay function, acquires a new ProSe Relay Service Code and a timer for the same connection service such as a connection service with respect to an application identified by the same Application ID and makes the old Relay Service Code and timer invalid so as to use the new ProSe Relay Service code and timer. The UE_A 8 that has acquired a Relay Service Code and a timer and has started counting of the timer for a connection service using the UE-to-NW Relay function, acquires a new ProSe Relay Service Code and a timer for the same connection service and makes the old Relay Service Code and timer invalid so as to use the new ProSe Relay Service code and timer);
Kuge does not explicitly discloses determining a periodic timer duration for acquiring the plurality of authorization services at one time based on a minimum or lowest authorization duration among the plurality of authorization durations and a timer duration for applying for authorization in advance, the timer duration for applying for authorization in advance being set by a user.
However, in analogues art, Cho discloses determining a periodic timer duration for acquiring the plurality of authorization services at one time based on a minimum or lowest authorization duration among the plurality of authorization durations and a timer duration for applying for authorization in advance, the timer duration for applying for authorization in advance being set by a user (see Cho pars. 0087-0092, The ProSe manager 810 determines whether an application indicated by the application ID included in the search message 840 is an application that is authorized for the ProSe usage through the authorization procedure at Step 2 and Step 3 in FIG. 6, and the ProSe manager 810 also determines whether a listening operation is allowed, based on the service-related information in the information that is stored in the ProSe manager 610 at operation 606 in FIG. 6. At operation 803, the ProSe manager 810 starts a validity timer that counts a ProSe delivery time and then transmits the reception results of the search message, the UE ID and the data, to the App1 800 indicated by the application ID. At operation 804, the App1 800 checks the data received at operation 803 and then transmits the UE ID, application ID and data to the ProSe manager 810 in response to the search message. The ProSe manager 810 determines whether the validity timer has expired, which started upon receipt of the search message 840. If the validity timer has not expired, the ProSe manager 810 determines whether the application indicated by the application ID received at operation 804 is authorized for the ProSe usage based on the information obtained in the authorization procedure at Step 2 and Step 3 in FIG. 6. If it is determined that the application is an application authorized for the ProSe usage, the ProSe manager 810 compares the UE ID and application ID obtained at operation 804 with the UE ID and application ID obtained at operation 802 to find the stored response-listening-cycle).
Therefore it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the application to incorporate the teachings of Cho into the system of Kuge to receive an authorization response message including a validity time for a ProSe of the application from the server in response to the authorization request message (see Cho par. 0014).
Kuge in view of Velev does not explicitly discloses starting a periodic timer based on the periodic timer duration.
However, in analogues art, Velev discloses starting a periodic timer based on the periodic timer duration (see Velev par. 0102, if a UE has not transmitted or received any data (e.g., application data over DRBs or NAS data over SRBs) for an RRC-Inactive inactivity time (e.g., for 30 min), then a RAN may decide to send the UE to an idle state. The RRC-Inactive inactivity timer may be started upon the expiration of a communication duration time (e.g., from expected UE activity behavior parameters.
Therefore it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the application to incorporate the teachings of Velev into the system of Kuge and Cho to include an RRC-Inactive inactivity timer is started (or restarted) if the UE enters the RRC inactive state and if the UE transmits the periodic RNA update successfully (see Velev par. 0103).
Regarding claims 7 and 14, Kuge in view of Cho in further view of Velev discloses the method of claim 1, the terminal of claim 8,
Kuge further discloses starting timers corresponding to the plurality of authorization services while acquiring the plurality of authorization durations, the timers being set based on the plurality of authorization durations respectively (see Kuge par. 0021, a transmission/reception unit configured to transmit a first service authorization request message, to request permission for the terminal device to be directly detected as a relay terminal device by a proximity terminal device positioned in proximity or perform direct communication with the proximity terminal device, to a device equipped with a ProSe function, receive an authorization message with respect to the first service authorization request message from the device equipped with the ProSe function, receive a ProSe Restricted Code and a timer value corresponding to the ProSe Restricted code from the device equipped with the ProSe function through a procedure initiated by the terminal device during counting of a first timer being performed, and transmit an announcement message including the ProSe Restricted code to the proximity terminal device); and using one or more timers among the timers corresponding to one or more services to check whether the one or more services are within the corresponding authorization durations in response to a service request for the one or more services being received (see Kuge par. 0021, a control unit configured to start the counting of the first timer based on receiving a period of time, included in the authorization message, during which the first service authorization is valid, and start counting of a second timer based on receiving the ProSe Restricted Code. The ProSe Restricted Code is used for the proximity terminal device to detect the terminal device based on explicit permission from the terminal device).
Regarding claim 8, Kuge discloses a terminal configured to apply for an authorization duration, the terminal comprising:
“at least one processor” (see Kuge Fig. 5, Control Unit_B 502, par. 0131, The control unit_B 502 is a function unit to control the UE_A 8. The control unit_B 502 is a function unit configured to read out and execute various kinds of programs stored in the storage unit_B 540); and
at least one memory (Fig. 5, Storage Unit_B 540) storing computer executable instructions, wherein the processor configured to execute the computer executable instructions to cause the terminal to
“acquire a plurality of authorization durations for a plurality of authorization services in response to service authorizations of the plurality of authorization services being received” (see Kuge par. 0023, transmitting a first service authorization request message, to request permission for the terminal device to be directly detected as a relay terminal device by a proximity terminal device positioned in proximity or perform direct communication with the proximity terminal device, to a device equipped with a ProSe function; receiving an authorization message with respect to the first service authorization request message from the device equipped with the ProSe function); “apply for a plurality of new authorization durations for the plurality of authorization services in response to a timeout of the periodic timer” (see Kuge pars. 0435, 0660, the UE_A 8 that has acquired a Relay Service Code and a timer and has started counting of the timer for a connection service using the UE-to-NW Relay function, acquires a new ProSe Relay Service Code and a timer for the same connection service such as a connection service with respect to an application identified by the same Application ID and makes the old Relay Service Code and timer invalid so as to use the new ProSe Relay Service code and timer. The UE_A 8 that has acquired a Relay Service Code and a timer and has started counting of the timer for a connection service using the UE-to-NW Relay function, acquires a new ProSe Relay Service Code and a timer for the same connection service and makes the old Relay Service Code and timer invalid so as to use the new ProSe Relay Service code and timer);
Kuge does not explicitly discloses determine a periodic timer duration for acquiring the plurality of authorization services at one time, based on a minimum or lowest authorization duration among the plurality of authorization durations and a timer duration for applying for authorization in advance, the timer duration for applying for authorization being set by a user.
However, in analogues art, Cho discloses determining a periodic timer duration for acquiring the plurality of authorization services at one time based on a minimum or lowest authorization duration among the plurality of authorization durations and a timer duration for applying for authorization in advance, the timer duration for applying for authorization in advance being set by a user (see Cho pars. 0087-0092, The ProSe manager 810 determines whether an application indicated by the application ID included in the search message 840 is an application that is authorized for the ProSe usage through the authorization procedure at Step 2 and Step 3 in FIG. 6, and the ProSe manager 810 also determines whether a listening operation is allowed, based on the service-related information in the information that is stored in the ProSe manager 610 at operation 606 in FIG. 6. At operation 803, the ProSe manager 810 starts a validity timer that counts a ProSe delivery time and then transmits the reception results of the search message, the UE ID and the data, to the App1 800 indicated by the application ID. At operation 804, the App1 800 checks the data received at operation 803 and then transmits the UE ID, application ID and data to the ProSe manager 810 in response to the search message. The ProSe manager 810 determines whether the validity timer has expired, which started upon receipt of the search message 840. If the validity timer has not expired, the ProSe manager 810 determines whether the application indicated by the application ID received at operation 804 is authorized for the ProSe usage based on the information obtained in the authorization procedure at Step 2 and Step 3 in FIG. 6. If it is determined that the application is an application authorized for the ProSe usage, the ProSe manager 810 compares the UE ID and application ID obtained at operation 804 with the UE ID and application ID obtained at operation 802 to find the stored response-listening-cycle).
Therefore it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the application to incorporate the teachings of Cho into the system of Kuge to receive an authorization response message including a validity time for a ProSe of the application from the server in response to the authorization request message (see Cho par. 0014).
Kuge in view of Cho does not explicitly discloses start a periodic timer set based on the periodic timer duration.
However, in analogues art, Velev discloses start a periodic timer set based on the periodic timer duration (see Velev par. 0102, if a UE has not transmitted or received any data (e.g., application data over DRBs or NAS data over SRBs) for an RRC-Inactive inactivity time (e.g., for 30 min), then a RAN may decide to send the UE to an idle state. The RRC-Inactive inactivity timer may be started upon the expiration of a communication duration time (e.g., from expected UE activity behavior parameters.
Therefore it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the application to incorporate the teachings of Velev into the system of Kuge and Cho to include an RRC-Inactive inactivity timer is started (or restarted) if the UE enters the RRC inactive state and if the UE transmits the periodic RNA update successfully (see Velev par. 0103).
Regarding claim 15, Kuge discloses a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium wherein, storing (Fig. 9 storage-_unit_D) instructions in the computer readable storage medium, in response to being that, when executed by at least one processor (Fig. 9, control_unit_D), cause the at least one processor to perform:
“acquiring a plurality of authorization durations for a plurality of authorization
services in response to service authorizations of the plurality of authorization services
being received” (see Kuge par. 0023, transmitting a first service authorization request message, to request permission for the terminal device to be directly detected as a relay terminal device by a proximity terminal device positioned in proximity or perform direct communication with the proximity terminal device, to a device equipped with a ProSe function; receiving an authorization message with respect to the first service authorization request message from the device equipped with the ProSe function);
“applying for a plurality of new authorization durations for the plurality of authorization services in response to a timeout of the periodic timer” (see Kuge pars. 0435, 0660, the UE_A 8 that has acquired a Relay Service Code and a timer and has started counting of the timer for a connection service using the UE-to-NW Relay function, acquires a new ProSe Relay Service Code and a timer for the same connection service such as a connection service with respect to an application identified by the same Application ID and makes the old Relay Service Code and timer invalid so as to use the new ProSe Relay Service code and timer. The UE_A 8 that has acquired a Relay Service Code and a timer and has started counting of the timer for a connection service using the UE-to-NW Relay function, acquires a new ProSe Relay Service Code and a timer for the same connection service and makes the old Relay Service Code and timer invalid so as to use the new ProSe Relay Service code and timer);
Kuge does not explicitly discloses determining a periodic timer duration for acquiring the plurality of authorization services at one time based on a minimum or lowest authorization duration among the plurality of authorization durations and a timer duration for applying for authorization in advance, the timer duration for applying for authorization in advance being set by a user.
However, in analogues art, Cho discloses determining a periodic timer duration for acquiring the plurality of authorization services at one time based on a minimum or lowest authorization duration among the plurality of authorization durations and a timer duration for applying for authorization in advance, the timer duration for applying for authorization in advance being set by a user (see Cho pars. 0087-0092, The ProSe manager 810 determines whether an application indicated by the application ID included in the search message 840 is an application that is authorized for the ProSe usage through the authorization procedure at Step 2 and Step 3 in FIG. 6, and the ProSe manager 810 also determines whether a listening operation is allowed, based on the service-related information in the information that is stored in the ProSe manager 610 at operation 606 in FIG. 6. At operation 803, the ProSe manager 810 starts a validity timer that counts a ProSe delivery time and then transmits the reception results of the search message, the UE ID and the data, to the App1 800 indicated by the application ID. At operation 804, the App1 800 checks the data received at operation 803 and then transmits the UE ID, application ID and data to the ProSe manager 810 in response to the search message. The ProSe manager 810 determines whether the validity timer has expired, which started upon receipt of the search message 840. If the validity timer has not expired, the ProSe manager 810 determines whether the application indicated by the application ID received at operation 804 is authorized for the ProSe usage based on the information obtained in the authorization procedure at Step 2 and Step 3 in FIG. 6. If it is determined that the application is an application authorized for the ProSe usage, the ProSe manager 810 compares the UE ID and application ID obtained at operation 804 with the UE ID and application ID obtained at operation 802 to find the stored response-listening-cycle).
Therefore it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the application to incorporate the teachings of Cho into the system of Kuge to receive an authorization response message including a validity time for a ProSe of the application from the server in response to the authorization request message (see Cho par. 0014).
Kuge in view of Cho does not explicitly discloses starting a periodic timer based on the periodic timer duration.
However, in analogues art, Velev discloses starting a periodic timer based on the periodic timer duration (see Velev par. 0102, if a UE has not transmitted or received any data (e.g., application data over DRBs or NAS data over SRBs) for an RRC-Inactive inactivity time (e.g., for 30 min), then a RAN may decide to send the UE to an idle state. The RRC-Inactive inactivity timer may be started upon the expiration of a communication duration time (e.g., from expected UE activity behavior parameters.
Therefore it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the application to incorporate the teachings of Velev into the system of Kuge and Cho to include an RRC-Inactive inactivity timer is started (or restarted) if the UE enters the RRC inactive state and if the UE transmits the periodic RNA update successfully (see Velev par. 0103).
9. Claims 6 and 13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kuge et al. US Patent Application Publication No. 2018/0192280 (hereinafter Kuge) in view of Cho et al. US Patent Application Publication No. 2014/0295815 (hereinafter Cho) in further view of Velev et al. US Patent Application Publication No. 2020/0314955 (hereinafter Velev) in further view of Li et al. US Patent Application Publication No. 2018/0332647 (hereinafter Li).
Regarding claims 6 and 13, Kuge in view of Velev discloses the method of claim 1, the terminal of claim 8,
Kuge in view of Velev does not explicitly discloses suspending timings of the plurality of authorization durations for the plurality of authorization services and a timing of the periodic timer, in response to a terminal receiving the service authorizations of the plurality of authorization services switches from a state in a coverage range (IC state) to a state out of the coverage range (OOC state); and resuming the timings of the plurality of authorization durations for the plurality of authorization services and the timing of the periodic timer in response to the terminal switching from the OOC state to the IC state.
However, in analogues art, Li discloses suspending timings of the plurality of authorization durations for the plurality of authorization services and a timing of the periodic timer, in response to a terminal receiving the service authorizations of the plurality of authorization services switches from a state in a coverage range (IC state) to a state out of the coverage range (OOC state) (see Li par. 0110, Initially, the UE is in a connected (IC) state 814. Another timer, T310 816, starts running at time b1 818 when the UE detects a number (N−310) of times consecutive that the UE is out-of-sync. T310 816 stops if N−311 times consecutive in-sync is detected. When T310 816 expires, RLF 820 has been detected, and a timer, T311 822, starts at time b2 826 running. When T311 822 is running, the UE searches for suitable cell. If the UE does not find a suitable cell, but T311 822 expires at time b3 828, the UE goes to IDLE 830); and resuming the timings of the plurality of authorization durations for the plurality of authorization services and the timing of the periodic timer in response to the terminal switching from the OOC state to the IC state); and resuming the timings of the plurality of authorization durations for the plurality of authorization services and the timing of the periodic timer in response to the terminal switching from the OOC state to the IC state (see Li par. 0109, Initially, the UE is in an idle state, such as OOC idle state 802. At time a1 804, the UE enters IC and starts acquiring SIBs 806. A timer, T300 808, starts at time a2 810 when the UE is connecting. T300 808 stops at time a3 812 when the UE connects successfully. The UE can treat T300 808 running as one of the exceptional cases. Once the UE is connected, the UE uses use M1).
Therefore it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the application to incorporate the teachings of Li into the system of Kuge, Cho, and Velev to include a pool of resources for scheduling assignment or data for out-of-coverage (OOC) D2D UEs can be indicated to the D2D UEs, so that a D2D UE can perform contention to transmit SA. The D2D UE can be transitioning among in-coverage (IC) coverage, edge-network (EN) coverage, out-of-coverage (OOC) coverage (see Li par. 0074).
Allowable Subject Matter
13. Claims 2-5 and 9-12 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
14. 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 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 SAMUEL AMBAYE whose telephone number is (571)270-7635. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9:00 AM - 6:00 PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Jeffrey Pwu can be reached at (571) 272-6798. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/SAMUEL AMBAYE/Examiner, Art Unit 2433
/JEFFREY C PWU/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2433
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