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 .
This action is in response to the application filed on 2/5/2024.
The IDS field on 4/17/2024 has been considered.
Claim 5 is amended.
Claims 16-20 are canceled.
Claims 1-15 have been examined and rejected.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Independent claims 1, 14-17 and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention. This claim recites in part: “… obtaining information related to at least one sidelink (SL) discontinuous reception (DRX) configuration; determining a first SL DRX configuration for a reception of a message for establishing a unicast connection, based on information related to a first service, among the at least one SL DRX configuration; receiving, from a second device, first sidelink control information (SCI) for scheduling of a physical sidelink shared channel (PSSCH) through a physical sidelink control channel (PSCCH), based on an active time of the first SL DRX configuration; and receiving, from the second device, the message for establishing the unicast connection and second SCI through the PSSCH, based on the active time, wherein the at least one SL DRX configuration is configured for each information related to a unicast service.”
The limitations: 1) information related to at least one sidelink (SL) DRX; 2) information related to a first service, and 3) one SL DRX configuration is configured for each information related to a unicast service.
Here, firstly, it is not clear what exactly the limitation “information related to” is referring to in the context of this claim, as to whether it is the same information or different information.
Secondly, in the limitation “information related to a first service” is out of context, since “information” is not clear, and also “first service” is not clear.
Thirdly, the limitation “for each information related to a unicast service” is unclear since it implies more than one information being referred to, but none of the “information” in the claim is about unicast service.
Because of the above stated reasons, claim 1 is unclear and confusing, and hence indefinite.
The dependent claims 2-14, 18 and 20 are also rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, by virtue of their dependency and for the same reasons stated above.
For the sake of comparison with prior art, the limitation “information related to at least one sidelink (SL) DRX” will be interpreted to mean obtaining SL DRX configuration based on SL services; the limitation “information related to a first service”, will be interpreted to mean information related to unicast or groupcast or broadcast services and the limitation “one SL DRX configuration is configured for each information related to a unicast service” will be interpreted to mean information of the unicast service link such as peer UE, per unicast link, per PC5 connection.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claim(s) 1-3, 9, 12, 14-15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lin (US 11,877241 B1).
Regarding Claim 1, Lin discloses a method for performing, by a first device, wireless communication (see FIG. 9., a flow chart illustrating the method for DRX support in SL communication), the method comprising:
obtaining information related to at least one sidelink (SL) discontinuous reception (DRX) configuration (see FIG. 9., step S910, the UE determines an SL DRX configuration set based on one of the following: one or more types of one or more SL services which the UE is participating with one or more peer UEs, one or more SL DRX configurations received from the peer UEs, and control information received from a BS);
determining a first SL DRX configuration for a reception of a message for establishing a unicast connection, based on information related to a first service, among the at least one SL DRX configuration (see step S920, the UE applies the SL DRX configuration set to enable a DRX operation for SL communications with the peer UEs; also see step S910, UE determines SL DRX configuration set based on one or more SL services which the UE is participating with one or more peer UEs; and at col 10, lines 33-35, for either one of unicast/groupcast/broadcast/i.e., representing SL services, the SL DRX configuration could be associated with the destination ID; also cee Claim 1, the UE maintains separate SL active times for different SL DRX configurations when multiple SL DRX configurations corresponding to the multiple peer UEs for unicast, groupcast, or broadcast communication are applied);
receiving, from a second device, first sidelink control information (SCI) for scheduling of a physical sidelink shared channel (PSSCH) through a physical sidelink control channel (PSCCH), based on an active time of the first SL DRX configuration (see col 15, lines 19-24, if the UE has received the SCI/i.e., a first SCI, from its peer UE recently, which is used for SL communication with other UEs or this UE, then the UE may be able to determine whether the peer UE is still in the SL DRX active time based on the SL DRX inactivity timer of the peer UE. That is, the peer UE may stay in SL DRX active time before its SL DRX inactivity timer (which may be started when the peer UE sends SCI) expires, and the value of the SL DRX inactivity timer of the peer UE may be derived via a previous signaling for SL DRX configuration exchange); and
receiving, from the second device, the message for establishing the unicast connection and second SCI through the PSSCH, based on the active time (see col 18, lines 10-14, a group member may send a wake-up signal/i.e., representing a message for unicast communication, on a UE-specific resource when he wants to perform a one-on-one unicast communication with a specific UE; also see col 10, lines 6-19, a UE may maintain a respective SL DRX active time for each SL link to a peer UE (i.e. Sidelink active time per link)/i.e., representing the capability of the UE to receive a second SCI… That is, the SL DRX active time of the UE (i.e., Sidelink active time per UE) may be determined to be the joint set of the SL DRX active times of all SL links to the peer UEs),
wherein the at least one SL DRX configuration is configured for each information related to a unicast service (see col 10, lines 33-41, for a unicast link, the SL DRX timer could be configured per peer UE, per unicast link, or per PC5 RRC connection/i.e., representing each information of the unicast service link such as peer UE, per unicast link, per PC5 connection. For example, the SL DRX configuration may be identified by the source ID and the destination ID of an SL link. For example, the SL DRX configuration may be configured for each combination of source ID, destination ID, and cast type. It means that even for the same pair of source ID and destination ID, different cast types may apply different SL DRX configurations).
Lin does not specify “receiving a first SCI” and “receiving a second SCI”.
However, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify the teaching of Lin to specify the reception of distinct SCIs (first SCI and second SCI), since Lin already discloses that a UE may maintain an activity timer for each SL to a peer UE, and that the SL DRX active time is the sidelink active time per UE, to be used as a joint set of SL DRX configurations and active times for all SL links to the peer UEs (see Lin, col 10, lines 6-19).
Regarding Claim 2, Lin discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the second SCI includes a cast type indicator, and wherein the cast type indicator represents broadcast (see col 10, lines 42-65, A UE may simultaneously have several SL DRX configurations to apply, e.g., different peer UEs apply different SL DRX configurations, and different broadcast/groupcast service apply different SL DRX configurations as well. In this case, the UE should monitor the joint set or superposition of all SL DRX active time requested by the peer UEs and the interested groupcast/broadcast services indicated in their SL DRX configurations. For example, a UE may receive an SL DRX configuration indicating when its peer UEs or when its interested groupcast/broadcast services may perform SL transmission. This UE then needs to keep awake during the transmission pattern indicated by any of its peer UEs and any of its interested groupcast/broadcast services).
Regarding Claim 3, Lin discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the second SCI includes a cast type indicator, and wherein the cast type indicator represents unicast (see col 18, lines 10-14, a group member may send a wake-up signal/i.e., representing a message for unicast communication, on a UE-specific resource when he wants to perform a one-on-one unicast communication with a specific UE).
Regarding Claim 9 Lin discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the first SL DRX configuration is configured for a destination L2 ID related to the first service (see col 10, lines 33-41, for a unicast link, the SL DRX timer could be configured per peer UE, per unicast link, or per PC5 RRC connection. For example, the SL DRX configuration may be identified by the source ID and the destination ID of an SL link. For example, the SL DRX configuration may be configured for each combination of source ID, destination ID, and cast type/i.e., related to the service type (unicast, broadcast etc.). It means that even for the same pair of source ID and destination ID, different cast types may apply different SL DRX configurations).
Regarding Claim 12 Lin discloses the method of claim 1, wherein a second SL DRX configuration included in the at least one SL DRX configuration is related to a plurality of services (see col.13-14, or a mode-1 and/or mode-2 UE, the SL DRX configuration may be configured per V2X application/service or per UE ID. In other words, a UE may have separate UE ID for transmission/reception of different V2X applications/services, and thus, the UE may apply different SL DRX configurations for different V2X applications/services).
Regarding Claim 14, Lin discloses a first device (see FIG. 4 for UE) for performing wireless communication, the first device comprising: one or more memories storing instructions; one or more transceivers; and one or more processors connected to the one or more memories and the one or more transceivers, wherein the one or more processors execute the instructions to:
obtain information related to at least one sidelink (SL) discontinuous reception (DRX) configuration (see FIG. 9., step S910, the UE determines an SL DRX configuration set based on one of the following: one or more types of one or more SL services which the UE is participating with one or more peer UEs, one or more SL DRX configurations received from the peer UEs, and control information received from a BS);
determine a first SL DRX configuration for a reception of a message for establishing a unicast connection, based on information related to a first service, among the at least one SL DRX configuration (see step S920, the UE applies the SL DRX configuration set to enable a DRX operation for SL communications with the peer UEs; also see step S910, UE determines SL DRX configuration set based on one or more SL services which the UE is participating with one or more peer UEs; and at col 10, lines 33-35, for either one of unicast/groupcast/broadcast/i.e., representing SL services, the SL DRX configuration could be associated with the destination ID; also cee Claim 1, the UE maintains separate SL active times for different SL DRX configurations when multiple SL DRX configurations corresponding to the multiple peer UEs for unicast, groupcast, or broadcast communication are applied);
receive, from a second device, first sidelink control information (SCI) for scheduling of a physical sidelink shared channel (PSSCH) through a physical sidelink control channel (PSCCH), based on an active time of the first SL DRX configuration (see col 15, lines 19-24, if the UE has received the SCI/i.e., a first SCI, from its peer UE recently, which is used for SL communication with other UEs or this UE, then the UE may be able to determine whether the peer UE is still in the SL DRX active time based on the SL DRX inactivity timer of the peer UE. That is, the peer UE may stay in SL DRX active time before its SL DRX inactivity timer (which may be started when the peer UE sends SCI) expires, and the value of the SL DRX inactivity timer of the peer UE may be derived via a previous signaling for SL DRX configuration exchange); and
receive, from the second device, the message for establishing the unicast connection and second SCI through the PSSCH, based on the active time (see col 18, lines 10-14, a group member may send a wake-up signal/i.e., representing a message for unicast communication, on a UE-specific resource when he wants to perform a one-on-one unicast communication with a specific UE; also see col 10, lines 6-19, a UE may maintain a respective SL DRX active time for each SL link to a peer UE (i.e. Sidelink active time per link)/i.e., representing the capability of the UE to receive a second SCI… That is, the SL DRX active time of the UE (i.e., Sidelink active time per UE) may be determined to be the joint set of the SL DRX active times of all SL links to the peer UEs),
wherein the at least one SL DRX configuration is configured for each information related to a unicast service (see col 10, lines 33-41, for a unicast link, the SL DRX timer could be configured per peer UE, per unicast link, or per PC5 RRC connection/i.e., representing each information of the unicast service link such as peer UE, per unicast link, per PC5 connection. For example, the SL DRX configuration may be identified by the source ID and the destination ID of an SL link. For example, the SL DRX configuration may be configured for each combination of source ID, destination ID, and cast type. It means that even for the same pair of source ID and destination ID, different cast types may apply different SL DRX configurations).
Lin does not specify “receiving a first SCI” and “receiving a second SCI”.
However, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify the teaching of Lin to specify the reception of distinct SCIs (first SCI and second SCI), since Lin already discloses that a UE may maintain an activity timer for each SL to a peer UE, and that the SL DRX active time is the sidelink active time per UE, to be used as a joint set of SL DRX configurations and active times for all SL links to the peer UEs (see Lin, col 10, lines 6-19).
Regarding Claim 15, Lin discloses a device adapted to control a first user equipment (UE) (see FIG. 4 for UE), the device comprising: one or more processors; and one or more memories operably connectable to the one or more processors and storing instructions, wherein the one or more processors execute the instructions to:
obtain information related to at least one sidelink (SL) discontinuous reception (DRX) configuration (see FIG. 9., step S910, the UE determines an SL DRX configuration set based on one of the following: one or more types of one or more SL services which the UE is participating with one or more peer UEs, one or more SL DRX configurations received from the peer UEs, and control information received from a BS);
determine a first SL DRX configuration for a reception of a message for establishing a unicast connection, based on information related to a first service, among the at least one SL DRX configuration (see step S920, the UE applies the SL DRX configuration set to enable a DRX operation for SL communications with the peer UEs; also see step S910, UE determines SL DRX configuration set based on one or more SL services which the UE is participating with one or more peer UEs; and at col 10, lines 33-35, for either one of unicast/groupcast/broadcast/i.e., representing SL services, the SL DRX configuration could be associated with the destination ID; also cee Claim 1, the UE maintains separate SL active times for different SL DRX configurations when multiple SL DRX configurations corresponding to the multiple peer UEs for unicast, groupcast, or broadcast communication are applied);
receive, from a second device, first sidelink control information (SCI) for scheduling of a physical sidelink shared channel (PSSCH) through a physical sidelink control channel (PSCCH), based on an active time of the first SL DRX configuration (see col 15, lines 19-24, if the UE has received the SCI/i.e., a first SCI, from its peer UE recently, which is used for SL communication with other UEs or this UE, then the UE may be able to determine whether the peer UE is still in the SL DRX active time based on the SL DRX inactivity timer of the peer UE. That is, the peer UE may stay in SL DRX active time before its SL DRX inactivity timer (which may be started when the peer UE sends SCI) expires, and the value of the SL DRX inactivity timer of the peer UE may be derived via a previous signaling for SL DRX configuration exchange); and
receive, from the second device, the message for establishing the unicast connection and second SCI through the PSSCH, based on the active time (see col 18, lines 10-14, a group member may send a wake-up signal/i.e., representing a message for unicast communication, on a UE-specific resource when he wants to perform a one-on-one unicast communication with a specific UE; also see col 10, lines 6-19, a UE may maintain a respective SL DRX active time for each SL link to a peer UE (i.e. Sidelink active time per link)/i.e., representing the capability of the UE to receive a second SCI… That is, the SL DRX active time of the UE (i.e., Sidelink active time per UE) may be determined to be the joint set of the SL DRX active times of all SL links to the peer UEs),
wherein the at least one SL DRX configuration is configured for each information related to a unicast service (see col 10, lines 33-41, for a unicast link, the SL DRX timer could be configured per peer UE, per unicast link, or per PC5 RRC connection/i.e., representing each information of the unicast service link such as peer UE, per unicast link, per PC5 connection. For example, the SL DRX configuration may be identified by the source ID and the destination ID of an SL link. For example, the SL DRX configuration may be configured for each combination of source ID, destination ID, and cast type. It means that even for the same pair of source ID and destination ID, different cast types may apply different SL DRX configurations).
Lin does not specify “receiving a first SCI” and “receiving a second SCI”.
However, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify the teaching of Lin to specify the reception of distinct SCIs (first SCI and second SCI), since Lin already discloses that a UE may maintain an activity timer for each SL to a peer UE, and that the SL DRX active time is the sidelink active time per UE, to be used as a joint set of SL DRX configurations and active times for all SL links to the peer UEs (see Lin, col 10, lines 6-19).
Claim(s) 4, 6-7, are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lin (US 11,877241 B1) in view of Fu (US 20230077297 A1).
Regarding Claim 4, Lin discloses the method of claim 1, but does not disclose details regarding: transmitting, to the second device, a direct communication accept (DCA) message, as a response for the message for establishing the unicast connection; and establishing the unicast connection with the second device, based on the transmission of the DCA message.
In the same field of endeavor, Fu teaches this limitation: see para 202, when the second terminal device is interested in using at least one announced service over a unicast link with the first terminal device, the second terminal device may send the Direct Communication Accept message to the first terminal device.
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify the teaching of Lin, to specify using a direct communication accept (DCA) message as a response for the message for establishing the unicast connection, the motivation being the Direct Communication Accept message includes information regarding a corresponding privacy policy of the second terminal device (see Fu, para 202), and also so that the privacy policy between the two terminals match (see FU, para 15).
Regarding Claim 6, Lin discloses the method of claim 1, but does not disclose detials regarding: the message for establishing the unicast connection includes a direct communication request (DCR) message.
In the same field of endeavor, Fu teaches this limitation: see para 202, the request message may be the Direct Communication Request message which may be transmitted via broadcast, when the second terminal device is interested in using at least one announced service over a unicast link with the first terminal device, the second terminal device may send the Direct Communication Accept message to the first terminal device. In addition, the Direct Communication Accept message may further include information regarding at least one corresponding privacy policy of the second terminal device.
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify the teaching of Lin, to send with a direct communication request (DCR) message as for establishing the unicast connection as taught by Fu, the motivation being that the privacy policy between the two terminals match as a result of the DCA and DCR (see FU, para 15).
Regarding Claim 7, Lin discloses the method of claim 4, but does not disclose details regarding: method of claim 1, wherein the first SL DRX configuration is configured for a direction of a pair of a source layer (L) 2 ID and a destination L2 ID (see col 10, lines 32-41, for a unicast link, the SL DRX timer could be configured per peer UE, per unicast link, or per PC5 RRC connection. For example, the SL DRX configuration may be identified by the source ID and the destination ID of an SL link. For example, the SL DRX configuration may be configured for each combination of source ID, destination ID, and cast type. It means that even for the same pair of source ID and destination ID, different cast types may apply different SL DRX configurations).
Claim(s) 10-11 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lin (US 11,877241 B1) in view of Park (US 20230363048 A1).
Regarding Claim 10, Lin discloses the method of claim 1, but does not disclose details regarding: the first service is a service related to voice over internet protocol (VoIP).
In the same field of endeavor, Park teaches this limitation: see para 112, After the DRX inactivity timer and the RRC inactivity timer are started, if no DL grant or UL grant has occurred in the UE until the timer expires, a short DRX cycle may be started, if a short DRX cycle is configured for the UE. Further, for example, the short DRX cycle may be started if the UE receives a DRX command and a short DRX cycle is set for the UE. Here, the DRX command may be received via a DRX Command MAC CE, wherein the DRX command MAC CE may be identified via an LCID in the MAC PDU sub header. For example, the short DRX cycle may be motivated mainly by the Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service.
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify the teaching of Lin, to establish a VoIP service using short DRX cycle as taught by Park, the motivation being, if a short DRX cycle is started, the UE may not monitor the PDCCH during the DRX sleep period, but may perform the PDCCH monitoring only during the on-duration interval, thereby reducing the power consumption (see Park, para 113).
Regarding Claim 11, Lin discloses the method of claim 1, but does not disclose details regarding: the first service is a service related to autonomous driving.
In the same field of endeavor, Park teaches this limitation: see para 271, The UE device includes various forms of the communication devices in which interactive services using SLs are supported for services such as Internet access, service performance, navigation, real-time information, autonomous driving, safety, and risk diagnosis.
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify the teaching of Lin, to include service related to autonomous driving as taught by Park, the motivation being, the motivation being for performing the DRX operations in a new radio (NR) vehicle to everything (V2X) (see Park, Background).
Claim(s) 5 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lin in view of Fu, in view of Pan (WO 2021119474 A1, from IDS).
Regarding Claim 5, Lin in view of Fu do not disclose details regarding: receiving, from the second device, a medium access control (MAC) protocol data unit (PDU) MAC PDU, based on the unicast connection.
In the same field of endeavor, Pan teaches this limitation: see paras 317 and para 318, The determination of whether a SL transmission is destined for a UE may be made at a UE by checking if information carried in the SL transmission matches information known to the UE … unicast transmission… of the decoded MAC PDU.
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify the combined teachings of Lin and Fu, to specify communication over unicast connection using MAC PUD by determining the destination and source address of the MAC PDU as taught by Pan, to ensure that the sidelink transmission destined for the UE matches the information known to the UE (see Pan, para 317).
Claim(s) 13 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lin in view of Pan.
Regarding Claim 13, Lin discloses the method of claim 1, but does not disclose details regarding: the information related to the first service includes a PC5 5 quality indicator (PQI).
In the same field of endeavor, Park teaches this limitation: see para 181, SL DRX may be enabled/disabled based on the type of traffic carried on the sidelink connection. The SL DRX may be enabled if the sidelink connection carries traffic with a certain QoS profile (identified by a PCS SG QoS Identifier (PQI) for example). Alternatively, the SL DRX may be linked to certain traffic flows (identified by a PC5 QoS Flow Identifier (PFI) for example). The SL DRX may be enabled if the sidelink
connection carries traffic with a certain PFI.
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify the teaching of Lin, to specify the PC5 5G quality indicator traffic using SL DRX as taught by Pan, to ensure power saving opportunities to the UE (see Pan, Abstract).
Claim(s) 8 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lin in view of Fu, in view of Pan.
Regarding Claim 8, Lin in view of Fu, do not disclose details regarding: the source L2 ID is related to the second device, and wherein the destination L2 ID is related to the first device.
In the same field of endeavor, Pan teaches this limitation: see para 317, The determination of whether a SL transmission is destined for a UE may be made at a UE by checking if information carried in the SL transmission matches information known to the UE … para 319, if unicast transmission, the DST (destination) field of the decoded MAC PDU sub header is equal to the 8 MSB of any of the Source Layer-2 ID(s) of the UE/i.e., L2 destination address of the first device, for which the 16 LSB are equal to the Destination ID in the corresponding SCI, and the SRC (source) field of the decoded MAC PDU sub header is equal to the 16 MSB of any of the Destination Layer-2 ID(s) of the UE/i.e., L2 source address of the second device for which the 8 LSB are equal to the Source ID in the corresponding SCI.
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify the combined teachings of Lin and Fu, to specify details regarding communication direction of a pair of a source layer L2 ID and a destination L2 ID as taught by Pan, so as to ascertain that a SL transmission is destined for this UE based on its destination address (see Pan, para 317).
Conclusion
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/DEEPA BELUR/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2472