Prosecution Insights
Last updated: July 17, 2026
Application No. 18/686,179

SL MODE 1 OPERATION METHOD AND DEVICE IN CONSIDERATION OF SL DRX ACTIVE TIME OF RECEPTION TERMINAL IN NR V2X

Non-Final OA §103
Filed
Feb 23, 2024
Priority
Sep 16, 2021 — provisional 63/245,159 +1 more
Examiner
MIAH, LITON
Art Unit
2642
Tech Center
2600 — Communications
Assignee
LG Electronics Inc.
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
75%
Grant Probability
Favorable
1-2
OA Rounds
7m
Est. Remaining
96%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 75% — above average
75%
Career Allowance Rate
500 granted / 664 resolved
+13.3% vs TC avg
Strong +21% interview lift
Without
With
+21.2%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
3y 0m
Avg Prosecution
21 currently pending
Career history
694
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
1.3%
-38.7% vs TC avg
§103
73.6%
+33.6% vs TC avg
§102
21.4%
-18.6% vs TC avg
§112
0.4%
-39.6% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 664 resolved cases

Office Action

§103
CTNF 18/686,179 CTNF 83736 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. Information Disclosure Statement The information disclosure statement submitted on February 11, 2025 and April 30, 2024 have been considered by the Examiner and made of record in the application file. 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. 07-20-02-aia AIA 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. 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 Claim s 1-15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over Ericsson “Remaining aspects of SL DRX” 3GPP Draft; R2-2107472 (hereinafter Ericsson) in view of Di Girolamo et al (US Pat. Pub. No. 2023/0014303) . Regarding claim 1, Ericsson discloses a method for performing, by a first device (see page 5 [TX UE]) , wireless communication, the method comprising: receiving, from a base station, information related to at least one first sidelink (SL) resource, including an initial transmission resource and at least one retransmission resource (see page 5 [section 2.1.6 TX UE behaviors for alignment with the RX UE]) ; obtaining an SL discontinuous reception (DRX) configuration of a second device, wherein the SL DRX configuration includes at least any one of information related to an SL DRX cycle or information related to an SL DRX timer (see page 8 [section 2.3 Alignment of Uu DRX and SL DRX] discloses serving gNB configures both Uu DRX of the TX UE and SL DRX of the RX UE) , wherein the SL DRX timer includes at least any one of an SL DRX on-duration timer, an SL DRX inactivity timer, an SL DRX retransmission timer, or an SL DRX hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) round trip time (RTT) timer (see page 12 [proposal 28] discloses active time for the RX UE) , and wherein at least any one of a time during which the SL DRX on-duration timer is running, a time during which the SL DRX inactivity timer is running, a time during which the SL DRX retransmission timer is running is included within an SL DRX active time of the second device (see page 12 [proposal 28] discloses active time for the RX UE) . Ericsson specifically does not disclose transmitting, to the base station, HARQ negative acknowledge (NACK), based on the at least one retransmission resource being not included within the SL DRX active time. However, Di Girolamo et al from the same or similar fields of endeavor teaches transmitting, to the base station, HARQ negative acknowledge (NACK), based on the at least one retransmission resource being not included within the SL DRX active time (see at least paragraph 391 discloses transmitting NACK to gNB). Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made to modify to incorporate above mention feature as taught by Di Girolamo et al into the system of Ericsson for purpose of sending NACK feedback to base station; provides power saving opportunities during SL operation. Regarding claim 2, Di Girolamo et al discloses receiving, from the base station, information related to at least one second SL resource, wherein the at least one second SL resource is reallocated by the base station based on the HARQ NACK (see at least paragraph 391) . Same motivation as claim 1. Regarding claim 3, Ericsson discloses the at least one second SL resource is included within the SL DRX active time (see page 12 [proposal 28] discloses active time for the RX UE) . Regarding claim 4, Ericsson discloses transmitting, to the second device, sidelink control information (SCI) for scheduling of a physical sidelink shared channel (PSSCH) through a physical sidelink control channel (PSCCH), based on the at least one second SL resource; and transmitting, to the second device, a medium access control (MAC) protocol data unit (PDU) through the PSSCH, based on the at least one second SL resource (see page 5 [section 2.1.6 TX UE behaviors for alignment with the RX UE]) . Regarding claim 5, Ericsson discloses the transmission of the MAC PDU through the PSSCH is an initial transmission resource (see page 5 [section 2.1.6 TX UE behaviors for alignment with the RX UE]) . Regarding claim 6, Ericsson discloses the transmission of the MAC PDU through the PSSCH is a retransmission resource (see page 5 [section 2.1.6 TX UE behaviors for alignment with the RX UE]) . Regarding claim 7, Ericsson discloses an SL HARQ feedback for the MAC PDU is allowed resource (see page 5 [section 2.1.6 TX UE behaviors for alignment with the RX UE]) . Regarding claim 8, Ericsson discloses an SL HARQ feedback for the MAC PDU is not allowed resource (see page 5 [section 2.1.6 TX UE behaviors for alignment with the RX UE]) . Regarding claim 9, Ericsson discloses transmitting, to the second device, the SL DRX configuration (see page 8 [section 2.3 Alignment of Uu DRX and SL DRX]) . Regarding claim 10, Ericsson discloses the initial transmission resource among the at least one first SL resource is included within the SL DRX active time (see page 12 discloses active time for the RX UE) . Regarding claim 11, Ericsson discloses the initial transmission resource is used for an initial transmission based on a resource preceding the initial transmission among the at least one first SL resource being not included within the SL DRX active time (see page 8 [section 2.3 Alignment of Uu DRX and SL DRX]) . Regarding claim 12, Ericsson discloses the HARQ NACK is transmitted based on a number of resources included within the SL DRX active time among the at least one first SL resource being smaller than a threshold value (see page 12 discloses active time for the RX UE) . Regarding claim 13, Ericsson discloses the threshold value is a maximum transmission number for the MAC PDU, configured by the base station (see page 12 discloses active time for the RX UE) . Regarding claim 14, Ericsson discloses a first device for performing wireless communication, the first device (see page 5 [TX UE]) 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 (see page 5 [TX UE] UE inherently includes memory and processor) , wherein the one or more processors execute the instructions to: receive, from a base station, information related to at least one first sidelink (SL) resource, including an initial transmission resource and at least one retransmission resource (see page 5 [section 2.1.6 TX UE behaviors for alignment with the RX UE]) ; obtain an SL discontinuous reception (DRX) configuration of a second device, wherein the SL DRX configuration includes at least any one of information related to an SL DRX cycle or information related to an SL DRX timer (see page 8 [section 2.3 Alignment of Uu DRX and SL DRX] discloses serving gNB configures both Uu DRX of the TX UE and SL DRX of the RX UE) , wherein the SL DRX timer includes at least any one of an SL DRX on-duration timer, an SL DRX inactivity timer, an SL DRX retransmission timer, or an SL DRX hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) round trip time (RTT) timer (see page 12 [proposal 28] discloses active time for the RX UE) , and wherein at least any one of a time during which the SL DRX on-duration timer is running, a time during which the SL DRX inactivity timer is running, a time during which the SL DRX retransmission timer is running is included within an SL DRX active time of the second device (see page 12 [proposal 28] discloses active time for the RX UE) . Ericsson specifically does not disclose transmit, to the base station, HARQ negative acknowledge (NACK), based on the at least one retransmission resource being not included within the SL DRX active time. However, Di Girolamo et al from the same or similar fields of endeavor teaches transmit, to the base station, HARQ negative acknowledge (NACK), based on the at least one retransmission resource being not included within the SL DRX active time (see at least paragraph 391 discloses transmitting NACK to gNB). Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made to modify to incorporate above mention feature as taught by Di Girolamo et al into the system of Ericsson for purpose of sending NACK feedback to base station; provides power saving opportunities during SL operation. Regarding claim 15, Ericsson discloses a device adapted to control a first user equipment (UE), the device (see page 5 [TX UE]) comprising: one or more processors; and one or more memories operably connectable to the one or more processors (see page 5 [TX UE] UE inherently includes memory and processor) and storing instructions, wherein the one or more processors execute the instructions to: receive, from a base station, information related to at least one first sidelink (SL) resource, including an initial transmission resource and at least one retransmission resource (see page 5 [section 2.1.6 TX UE behaviors for alignment with the RX UE]) ; obtain an SL discontinuous reception (DRX) configuration of a second UE, wherein the SL DRX configuration includes at least any one of information related to an SL DRX cycle or information related to an SL DRX timer (see page 8 [section 2.3 Alignment of Uu DRX and SL DRX] discloses serving gNB configures both Uu DRX of the TX UE and SL DRX of the RX UE) , wherein the SL DRX timer includes at least any one of an SL DRX on-duration timer, an SL DRX inactivity timer, an SL DRX retransmission timer, or an SL DRX hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) round trip time (RTT) timer (see page 12 [proposal 28] discloses active time for the RX UE) , and wherein at least any one of a time during which the SL DRX on-duration timer is running, a time during which the SL DRX inactivity timer is running, a time during which the SL DRX retransmission timer is running is included within an SL DRX active time of the second UE (see page 12 [proposal 28] discloses active time for the RX UE) . Ericsson specifically does not disclose transmit, to the base station, HARQ negative acknowledge (NACK), based on the at least one retransmission resource being not included within the SL DRX active time. However, Di Girolamo et al from the same or similar fields of endeavor teaches transmit, to the base station, HARQ negative acknowledge (NACK), based on the at least one retransmission resource being not included within the SL DRX active time (see at least paragraph 391 discloses transmitting NACK to gNB). Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made to modify to incorporate above mention feature as taught by Di Girolamo et al into the system of Ericsson for purpose of sending NACK feedback to base station; provides power saving opportunities during SL operation . Conclusion 07-96 AIA The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to Applicant's disclosure. The following prior art are cited to show a method, which is considered pertinent to the claimed invention: Hong (US Pat. Pub. No. 2022/0394810) directed toward method for controlling sidelink communication; and further directed to DRX included in the sidelink discontinuous HARQ configuration. Liu et al (US Pat. Pub. No. 2023/0389047) directed toward SL HARQ feedback resource . Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to LITON MIAH whose telephone number is (571)270-3124. The examiner can normally be reached Mon - Fri 7:30am -5:00pm. 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, Rafael Perez-Gutierrez can be reached on 571-272-7915. 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. /LITON MIAH/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2642 Application/Control Number: 18/686,179 Page 2 Art Unit: 2642 Application/Control Number: 18/686,179 Page 3 Art Unit: 2642 Application/Control Number: 18/686,179 Page 4 Art Unit: 2642 Application/Control Number: 18/686,179 Page 5 Art Unit: 2642 Application/Control Number: 18/686,179 Page 6 Art Unit: 2642 Application/Control Number: 18/686,179 Page 7 Art Unit: 2642 Application/Control Number: 18/686,179 Page 8 Art Unit: 2642 Application/Control Number: 18/686,179 Page 9 Art Unit: 2642 Application/Control Number: 18/686,179 Page 10 Art Unit: 2642
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Prosecution Timeline

Feb 23, 2024
Application Filed
Jun 17, 2026
Non-Final Rejection mailed — §103 (current)

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Prosecution Projections

1-2
Expected OA Rounds
75%
Grant Probability
96%
With Interview (+21.2%)
3y 0m (~7m remaining)
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 664 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allowance rate.

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