CTNF 18/637,585 CTNF 86005 DETAILED ACTION 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. Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102 07-06 AIA 15-10-15 In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status. 07-07-aia AIA 07-07 The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action: A person shall be entitled to a patent unless – 07-12-aia AIA (a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention. 07-15-03-aia AIA Claim(s) 1, 10-11, 17, 19-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by ZHANG (WO 2021/062669) Regarding claim 1, 19, ZHANG (WO 2021/062669) discloses method for sidelink communication, performed by a first terminal, comprising: receiving a sidelink communication resource scheduled by a network device ( ZHANG: ¶88-91, at least one sidelink resource is scheduled by a network device and the terminal receives this resource as a scheduled resource ); and sending indication information configured to indicate a use condition of the sidelink communication resource ( ZHANG: ¶101, ¶103, the terminal sends an indication to the network device/base station indicating a use condition of the sidelink resource received as a scheduled resource from the network device ). Regarding claim 10, 20, ZHANG discloses method for sidelink communication, performed by a network device comprising: a processor; and a memory for storing instructions executable by a processor; wherein the processor is configured to: ( ZHANG: ¶140, processor and coupled memory with instructions to be executed ) scheduling a sidelink communication resource ( ZHANG: ¶88-91, at least one sidelink resource is scheduled by a network device and the terminal receives this resource as a scheduled resource ); and receiving indication information configured to indicate a use condition of the sidelink communication resource ( ZHANG: ¶101, ¶103, the terminal sends an indication to the network device/base station indicating a use condition of the sidelink resource received as a scheduled resource from the network device ). Regarding claim 11, ZHANG discloses a method according to claim 10, wherein the indication information is configured to indicate not using a sidelink communication resource by a first terminal ( ZHANG: ¶101, ¶103, the terminal sends an indication to the network device/base station indicating that a sidelink resource received as a scheduled resource from the network device is not needed and is not used ). Regarding claim 17, ZHANG discloses a method according to claim 10, wherein the indication information is configured to indicate resource information of using the sidelink communication resource by a first terminal ( ZHANG: ¶106-107, SL communication is received by the terminal 2 and then an indication is sent by the terminal 1 to the network device indicating the use of the resource for SL communication ) . Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103 07-06 AIA 15-10-15 In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status. 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) 2, 8 , is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over ZHANG (WO 2021/062669) in view of KUNG et al (US 2021/0227465) Regarding claim 2, ZHANG discloses method according to claim 1, further comprising: determining not using the sidelink communication resource ( ZHANG: ¶103, the granted sidelink resource is determined by the terminal as not to be used ) wherein the indication information is configured to indicate not using the sidelink communication resource ( ZHANG: ¶101, ¶103, the terminal sends an indication to the network device/base station indicating that a sidelink resource received as a scheduled resource from the network device is not needed and is not used ). ZHANG remains silent regarding the not using a sidelink communication resource is in response to determining that there is no second terminal being in an active time among at least one second terminal performing sidelink communication with the first terminal. However, KUNG et al (US 2021/0227465) the not using a sidelink communication resource is in response to determining that there is no second terminal being in an active time among at least one second terminal performing sidelink communication with the first terminal ( KUNG: ¶404, ¶130, ¶395, the sidelink communication resource, is not used in response to determining that there is no RX UE with an active time among at least one RX UE at the time of the resource; the active time of the TX UE is during which the resource is scheduled ). A person of ordinary skill in the art working with the invention of ZHANG would have been motivated to use the teachings of KUNG as it provides a reduction in data loss due to mismatch of the active timings of the TX UE and the RX UE (¶397). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify invention of ZHANG with teachings of KUNG in order to improve overall sidelink communication throughput of the network. Regarding claim 8, ZHANG discloses method according to claim 1, further comprising: sending sidelink communication data to the second terminal being using the sidelink communication resource (ZHANG: ¶106, terminal sends SL communication data to other terminal 2 during a mode when terminal 2 can receive data communication) ; wherein the indication information is configured to indicate resource information of using the sidelink communication resource ( ZHANG: ¶106-107, SL communication is received by the terminal 2 and then an indication is sent by the terminal 1 to the network device indicating the use of the resource for SL communication ). ZHANG remains silent regarding, however, KUNG discloses the sending is in response to determining that there is a second terminal being in an active time among at least one second terminal performing sidelink communication with the first terminal, the second terminal being in an active time ( KUNG: ¶404, ¶400, the sidelink communication resource, is used to transmit SL communication data in response to determining that there is at least one RX UE with an active time among at least one RX UE at the time of the resource ). A person of ordinary skill in the art working with the invention of ZHANG would have been motivated to use the teachings of KUNG as it provides a reduction in data loss due to mismatch of the active timings of the TX UE and the RX UE (¶397). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify invention of ZHANG with teachings of KUNG in order to improve overall sidelink communication throughput of the network . 07-21-aia AIA Claim (s) 3-4, 12-13 , is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over ZHANG modified by KUNG as applied to claim 2, further in view of PARK (US 2021/0050953) . Regarding claim 3, ZHANG modified by KUNG discloses method according to claim 2, wherein the indication information comprises an identification of the unused sidelink communication resource that is provided in the information scheduling the resource ( ZHANG: ¶103, the configured resource which is unused is indicated by the indication information ) ZHANG modified by KUNG remains silent regarding, however, PARK (US 2021/0050953) discloses the identification of a sidelink communication resource comprises a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) process identification (ID) ( PARK: ¶173-174, ¶180-182, the identification of the HARQ process associated with a scheduled sidelink resource ); wherein the HARQ process ID is comprised in downlink control information (DCI) scheduling the unused sidelink communication resource ( PARK: ¶173-174, the identification of the HARQ process associated with a scheduled sidelink resource ). A person of ordinary skill in the art working with the invention of ZHANG modified by KUNG would have been motivated to use the teachings of PARK as it resolves the HARQ codebook composition issue (¶173) Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify invention of ZHANG modified by KUNG with teachings of PARK in order to improve control information interpretation at the base station (¶173). Regarding claim 4, ZHANG modified by KUNG modified by PARK discloses a method according to claim 3, wherein the indication information comprises a first bit map, and there is a corresponding relationship between a bit in the first bit map and the HARQ process ID; and a bit value after setting the bit in the first bit map is configured to indicate the unused sidelink communication resource ( PARK: Fig. 15, ¶173, ¶180-182, bits of a bitmap is used to identify respective HARQ process IDs indicating the status of the sidelink communication resource; ZHANG: ¶103, the status of the is unused is indicated by the indication information ). Regarding claim 12, ZHANG discloses a method according to claim 11, wherein the indication information comprises an identification of the unused sidelink communication resource that is provided in the information scheduling the resource ( ZHANG: ¶103, the configured resource which is unused is indicated by the indication information ) ZHANG remains silent regarding, however, PARK (US 2021/0050953) discloses the indication information comprises a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) process identification (ID) ( PARK: ¶173-174, ¶180-182, the identification of the HARQ process associated with a scheduled sidelink resource ); wherein the HARQ process ID is comprised in downlink control information (DCI) scheduling the unused sidelink communication resource ( PARK: ¶173-174, the identification of the HARQ process associated with a scheduled sidelink resource ). A person of ordinary skill in the art working with the invention of ZHANG would have been motivated to use the teachings of PARK as it resolves the HARQ codebook composition issue (¶173) Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify invention of ZHANG with teachings of PARK in order to improve control information interpretation at the base station (¶173). Regarding claim 13, ZHANG modified by PARK discloses a method according to claim 12, wherein the indication information comprises a first bit map, and there is a corresponding relationship between a bit in the first bit map and the HARQ process ID; and a bit value after setting the bit in the first bit map is configured to indicate the unused sidelink communication resource ( PARK: Fig. 15, ¶173, ¶180-182, bits of a bitmap is used to identify respective HARQ process IDs indicating the status of the sidelink communication resource; ZHANG: ¶103, the status of the is unused is indicated by the indication information ) . 07-21-aia AIA Claim (s) 6 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over ZHANG modified by KUNG as applied to claim 2, further in view of ZHOU et al (US 2021/0028891) Regarding claim 6, ZHANG modified by KUNG discloses method according to claim 2, further comprising one of: in response to the network device configuring a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) for the sidelink communication resource, sending an acknowledgment feedback for a data transmission based on the sidelink communication resource ( ZHANG: ¶93, ¶106, ¶116, an ACK/acknowledgement is sent by the terminal in response to the network device configuring PUCCH for the terminal for sidelink communication ); in response to the network device configuring a PUCCH for the sidelink communication resource, and in response to performing an initial transmission based on the sidelink communication resource, sending an HARQ acknowledgment feedback for a data transmission based on the sidelink communication resource; or in response to the network device configuring a PUCCH for the sidelink communication resource and in response to performing a retransmission based on the sidelink communication resource, sending an HARQ negative acknowledgement feedback for a data transmission based on the sidelink communication resource. ZHANG modified by KUNG remains silent regarding, however, ZHOU et al (US 2021/0028891) discloses the acknowledgment feedback is an HARQ acknowledgement feedback ( ZHOU: Fig. 1, ¶140, ¶205, the acknowledgement is a HARQ-ACK ). A person of ordinary skill in the art working with the invention of ZHANG modified by KUNG would have been motivated to use the teachings of ZHOU as it improves timeliness of retransmission by using the HARQ-ACK feedback information (¶143) Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify invention of ZHANG modified by KUNG with teachings of ZHOU in order to enhance feedback information by using the HARQ-ACK feedback information (¶143) . 07-21-aia AIA Claim (s) 9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over ZHANG modified by KUNG as applied to claim 8, further in view of PARK2 (Park et al (US 2022/0329389)) Regarding claim 9, ZHANG modified by KUNG discloses the method according to claim 8, wherein the method further comprises: receiving a sidelink communication resource scheduled by the network device based on the resource information ( ZHANG: ¶3, SL grant is received on PDCCH; ¶115-116, ¶118, based on the information in the indication sent by the transmitting terminal to the base station, the base station configures a grant resource (adds new CG) to the sidelink resource and allocate/configure the UE for this resource ). ZHANG modified by KUNG remains silent regarding, however, PARK2 (Park et al (US 2022/0329389)) discloses determining an active time based on the resource information ( PARK2: ¶235, ¶238, based on the DRX information and other resource related information, the base station/network device determines resource allocation to be during an active time ) the receiving of the schedule is within the active time determined based on a resource information ( PARK2: ¶235, the scheduling grant is for a resource received in an active duration of the RX UE), wherein the resource information comprises at least one of: an ID of a layer 2 of the second terminal; a logical channel corresponding to the sidelink communication data sent; or starting by the first terminal a sidelink communication HARQ feedback, or not starting by the first terminal a sidelink communication HARQ feedback ( PARK2: ¶240, the feedback information includes a destination L2 ID for the second/RX UE ) A person of ordinary skill in the art working with the invention of ZHANG would have been motivated to use the teachings of PARK2 as it prevents scheduling of a mode 1 resource for a TX UE of a base station may be severely constrained (¶193). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify invention of ZHANG with teachings of PARK2 in order to improve allocation of resources (¶193) . 07-21-aia AIA Claim (s) 15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over ZHANG in view of ZHOU et al (US 2021/0028891) Regarding claim 15, ZHANG discloses method according to claim 2, further comprising one of: in response to the network device configuring a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) for the sidelink communication resource, sending an acknowledgment feedback for a data transmission based on the sidelink communication resource ( ZHANG: ¶93, ¶106, ¶116, an ACK/acknowledgement is sent by the terminal in response to the network device configuring PUCCH for the terminal for sidelink communication ); in response to the network device configuring a PUCCH for the sidelink communication resource, and in response to performing an initial transmission based on the sidelink communication resource, sending an HARQ acknowledgment feedback for a data transmission based on the sidelink communication resource; or in response to the network device configuring a PUCCH for the sidelink communication resource and in response to performing a retransmission based on the sidelink communication resource, sending an HARQ negative acknowledgement feedback for a data transmission based on the sidelink communication resource. ZHANG remains silent regarding, however, ZHOU et al (US 2021/0028891) discloses the acknowledgment feedback is an HARQ acknowledgement feedback ( ZHOU: Fig. 1, ¶140, ¶205, the acknowledgement is a HARQ-ACK ). A person of ordinary skill in the art working with the invention of ZHANG would have been motivated to use the teachings of ZHOU as it improves timeliness of retransmission by using the HARQ-ACK feedback information (¶143) Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify invention of ZHANG with teachings of ZHOU in order to enhance feedback information by using the HARQ-ACK feedback information (¶143) . 07-21-aia AIA Claim (s) 16, 18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over ZHANG in view of PARK2 (Park et al (US 2022/0329389)) Regarding claim 16, ZHANG discloses method according to claim 11, further comprising: receiving a sidelink communication resource scheduled by the network device ( ZHANG: ¶3, SL grant is received on PDCCH ). ZHANG remains silent regarding, however, PARK2 (Park et al (US 2022/0329389)) discloses the resource being within a next active time ( PARK2: ¶235, the scheduling grant is for a resource received in an active duration of the RX UE ). A person of ordinary skill in the art working with the invention of ZHANG would have been motivated to use the teachings of PARK2 as it prevents scheduling of a mode 1 resource for a TX UE of a base station may be severely constrained (¶193). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify invention of ZHANG with teachings of PARK2 in order to improve allocation of resources (¶193). Regarding claim 18, ZHANG discloses the method according to claim 17, wherein the method further comprises: receiving a sidelink communication resource scheduled by the network device ( ZHANG: ¶3, SL grant is received on PDCCH; ¶115-116, ¶118, based on the information in the indication sent by the transmitting terminal to the base station, the base station configures a grant resource (adds new CG) to the sidelink resource and allocate/configure the UE for this resource; ). ZHANG remains silent regarding, however, PARK2 (Park et al (US 2022/0329389)) discloses determining an active time based on the resource information ( PARK2: ¶235, ¶238, based on the DRX information and other resource related information, the base station/network device determines resource allocation to be during an active time ) the receiving of the schedule is within the active time determined based on a resource information ( PARK2: ¶235, the scheduling grant is for a resource received in an active duration of the RX UE), wherein the resource information comprises at least one of: an ID of a layer 2 of the second terminal; a logical channel corresponding to the sidelink communication data sent; or starting by the first terminal a sidelink communication HARQ feedback, or not starting by the first terminal a sidelink communication HARQ feedback ( PARK: ¶240, the feedback information includes a destination L2 ID for the second/RX UE ) A person of ordinary skill in the art working with the invention of ZHANG would have been motivated to use the teachings of PARK2 as it prevents scheduling of a mode 1 resource for a TX UE of a base station may be severely constrained (¶193). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify invention of ZHANG with teachings of PARK2 in order to improve allocation of resources (¶193) . 07-21-aia AIA Claim (s) 7 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over ZHANG modified by KUNG, as applied to claim 2 above, further in view of PARK2 (Park et al (US 2022/0329389)) Regarding claim 7, ZHANG modified by KUNG dislcoses method according to claim 2, further comprising: receiving a sidelink communication resource scheduled by the network device ( ZHANG: ¶3, SL grant is received on PDCCH; KUNG: ¶395, ¶397, ¶130, the scheduling grant is received in an active duration of the UE on the Uu from the network device ). ZHANG modified by KUNG remains silent regarding, however, PARK2 discloses the sidelink communicating resource scheduled within an active time ( PARK2: ¶235, SL resource is allocated a next active time of the RX UE ) A person of ordinary skill in the art working with the invention of ZHANG modified by KUNG would have been motivated to use the teachings of PARK2 as it prevents scheduling of a mode 1 resource for a TX UE of a base station may be severely constrained (¶193). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify invention of ZHANG modified by KUNG with teachings of PARK2 in order to improve allocation of resources (¶193) . Allowable Subject Matter 12-151-08 AIA 07-43 12-51-08 Claim s 5 and 14 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. Regarding claim 5 and 14, the prior art of record does not anticipate or render obvious, the methods according to claim 3/13, wherein the indication information is further configured to indicate a retransmission position corresponding to the unused sidelink communication resource, and there is a corresponding relationship between the retransmission position and a retransmission number of times, wherein the indication information comprises a second bit map, and there is a corresponding relationship between a bit in the second bit map and the retransmission position; and a bit value after setting the bit in the second bit map is configured to indicate the retransmission position. Conclusion 07-96 AIA The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Document U discloses a comprehensive overview of the latest terminal power saving techniques which were specified in 5G New Radio (NR) over the last couple of years. The key feature and benefit of each power saving technique is analyzed with simulation results under various traffic scenarios. In addition, some of the candidate techniques for the next phase of NR on terminal power saving enhancement are proposed targeting not only conventional data services but also various vertical services. Document V discloses a new low-cost radio access technology (RAT) protocol, called sidelink communications on unlicensed bands (SCUBA), which can be implemented on cellular devices such that it coexists with the legacy cellular protocol by operating as a secondary RAT in a time division multiplexed manner using the existing radio hardware. SCUBA is compatible on different types of cellular devices including the low-complexity half-duplex frequency-division duplex machine type communication (MTC) user equipments. SCUBA provides flexible sidelink (SL) latency and battery life tradeoff using a discontinuous reception procedure, which ensures that it is applicable across a wide range of use cases. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to OMER S MIAN whose telephone number is (571)270-7524. The examiner can normally be reached M,T,W,Th: 10a-7p, Fri, 9a-12p. Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Huy D Vu can be reached at 571-272-3155. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000. OMER S. MIAN Primary Examiner Art Unit 2461 /OMER S MIAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2461 Application/Control Number: 18/637,585 Page 2 Art Unit: 2461 Application/Control Number: 18/637,585 Page 3 Art Unit: 2461 Application/Control Number: 18/637,585 Page 4 Art Unit: 2461 Application/Control Number: 18/637,585 Page 5 Art Unit: 2461 Application/Control Number: 18/637,585 Page 6 Art Unit: 2461 Application/Control Number: 18/637,585 Page 7 Art Unit: 2461 Application/Control Number: 18/637,585 Page 8 Art Unit: 2461 Application/Control Number: 18/637,585 Page 9 Art Unit: 2461 Application/Control Number: 18/637,585 Page 10 Art Unit: 2461 Application/Control Number: 18/637,585 Page 11 Art Unit: 2461 Application/Control Number: 18/637,585 Page 12 Art Unit: 2461 Application/Control Number: 18/637,585 Page 13 Art Unit: 2461 Application/Control Number: 18/637,585 Page 14 Art Unit: 2461 Application/Control Number: 18/637,585 Page 15 Art Unit: 2461 Application/Control Number: 18/637,585 Page 16 Art Unit: 2461 Application/Control Number: 18/637,585 Page 17 Art Unit: 2461 Application/Control Number: 18/637,585 Page 18 Art Unit: 2461
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