DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present U.S. non-provisional application is being examined under the first-inventor-to-file provisions of the AIA . The present U.S. non-provisional application, filed on March 13, 2024, is the U.S. national stage of an international PCT application, filed on September 13, 2022, and claims priority to a foreign application, filed on September 13, 2021.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDS) submitted on March 13, 2024 and November 10, 2025 were filed before the mailing date of a first Office action in the present U.S. non-provisional application, in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statements have been considered by the examiner.
Response to Amendment
This Office action is responsive to the preliminary amendment under 37 CFR 1.115 on March 13, 2024. The abstract and specification were amended. Claims 14-16 were canceled. Claims 1-13 are pending for consideration in the present U.S. non-provisional application.
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.
Claims 1-13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kang et al. (US 2023/0107246 A1) in view of Freda et al. (US 2023/0063472 A1).
1. An operation method of a first user equipment (UE) (Kang, FIG. 3) in a wireless communication system, the operation method comprising:
receiving, from a second UE, sidelink transmission pool information including information on a sidelink transmission pool (Kang, paras. [0268], [0269], “According to an embodiment of the disclosure, the transmission terminal may transmit SL resource pool information to the reception terminal with respect to the unicast connection for which the SL DRX is configured, based on the resource pool configuration information obtained from the BS. The unicast connection may be indicated by at least one of a unicast link identifier, a destination identifier, a logical channel identifier, or an SLRB identifier, and the SL resource pool may be indicated by a pool index or pool configuration information. When an operation of selecting a pool to be used for a unicast connection from among one or more transmission resource pools is performed, the transmission terminal may transmit an index or configuration information of the selected pool to the reception terminal…”);
selecting a sidelink reception pool related to the sidelink transmission pool based on the sidelink transmission pool information (Kang, paras. [0268], [0269], “…When SL DRX is configured, the reception terminal may determine which reception resource pool is monitored to perform a data monitoring in SL DRX for a unicast connection, based on SL resource pool information with respect to the corresponding unicast connection obtained from the BS or transmission terminal. When the SL resource pool is operated in one or more frequency bands, the reception terminal may obtain, from the BS or transmission terminal, mapping information of a unicast connection and a frequency band.” Id.);
receiving a physical sidelink control channel (PSCCH) from the second UE based on the sidelink reception pool (Freda, paras. [0466], [0481], “…Specifically, the RX WTRU may be configured with a first resource pool and a second set of resource pool(s). Both the first and second resource pools may be used for the reception of PSCCH and Physical Sidelink Shared Channel (PSSCH) associated with the same L2 ID. The WTRU may activate the monitoring of the second resource pool(s) only upon the reception of SCI (i.e. in PSCCH) on the first resource pool to minimize energy consumption at the WTRU. In another example, to further minimize energy consumption, the first resource pool may only be configured for a narrowband reception of the SCI while the second resource pool may be used for a wider band reception of both the PSCCH and PSSCH…”); and
receiving a physical sidelink shared channel (PSSCH) from the second UE based on the sidelink reception pool (Freda, paras. [0466], [0481], “…Specifically, the RX WTRU may be configured with a first resource pool and a second set of resource pool(s). Both the first and second resource pools may be used for the reception of PSCCH and Physical Sidelink Shared Channel (PSSCH) associated with the same L2 ID. The WTRU may activate the monitoring of the second resource pool(s) only upon the reception of SCI (i.e. in PSCCH) on the first resource pool to minimize energy consumption at the WTRU. In another example, to further minimize energy consumption, the first resource pool may only be configured for a narrowband reception of the SCI while the second resource pool may be used for a wider band reception of both the PSCCH and PSSCH…” Id.),
wherein one of the sidelink transmission pool or the sidelink reception pool supports a discontinuous reception (DRX) operation (Kang, paras. [0268], [0269], “…When SL DRX is configured, the reception terminal may determine which reception resource pool is monitored to perform a data monitoring in SL DRX for a unicast connection, based on SL resource pool information with respect to the corresponding unicast connection obtained from the BS or transmission terminal. When the SL resource pool is operated in one or more frequency bands, the reception terminal may obtain, from the BS or transmission terminal, mapping information of a unicast connection and a frequency band.” Id.)
Kang et al. may not seem to describe the identical claimed invention, however in the same field of endeavor, Freda et al. provides prior art disclosure for the claimed invention, such as receiving a physical sidelink control channel (PSCCH) from the second UE based on the sidelink reception pool (Freda, paras. [0466], [0481], Id.); and receiving a physical sidelink shared channel (PSSCH) from the second UE based on the sidelink reception pool (Freda, paras. [0466], [0481], Id.) The prior art disclosure and suggestions of Freda et al. are for reasons of minimizing energy consumption (Freda, paras. [0466], [0481], Id.) In view of the prior art of record, the claimed invention 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, for reasons of minimizing energy consumption.
2. The operation method of claim 1, further comprising: configuring a unicast connection or a PC5 radio resource control (RRC) connection with the second UE (Kang, paras. [0268], [0269], Id.)
3. The operation method of claim 1, wherein receiving the sidelink transmission pool information from the second UE comprises receiving the sidelink transmission pool information from the second UE based on a PC5 RRC message or a sidelink MAC control element (CE) (Kang, paras. [0148], [0264], “When SL DRX is configured in a terminal, a DRX ID may be used as identification information used in an SL DRX operation by the terminal. In addition, according to an embodiment of the disclosure, the DRX ID identification information may be used to distinguish at least one or a combination of a terminal, a service of a terminal, or a SL radio bearer configured in a terminal. The DRX ID may be configured in the terminal by a network (via RRC dedicated or via system information) or may be pre-configured. The DRX ID may be configured through PC5-RRC message, PC5-S signaling, or PC5 MAC CE, which are exchanged between two terminals performing data transmission and reception based on SL unicast. However, the disclosure is not limited to the example above. […] Mapping information of at least one or a combination of a SL DRX configuration, a SL resource pool, a SL PQI, or a SL QoS parameter set may be obtained according to at least one method from among a signaling between the terminal and the BS, information pre-configured in the terminal, or a signaling between terminals (SL unicast).”)
4. The operation method of claim 1, wherein receiving the sidelink transmission pool information from the second UE comprises receiving the sidelink transmission pool information from the second UE based on a sidelink capability negotiation, a PC5 RRC reconfiguration, or a sidelink DRX configuration (Kang, paras. [0148], [0264], Id.)
5. The operation method of claim 4, wherein the sidelink DRX configuration includes at least one of SL drx-onDurationTimer, SL drx-SlotOffset, SL drx-InactivityTimer, SL drx-StartOffset, SL drx-Cycle, SL drx-HARQ-RTT-Timer or SL drx-Retransmission Timer (Kang, paras. [0261], [0264], “The reception terminal may determine a SL resource pool and SL DRX configuration information corresponding thereto. The reception terminal may determine a SL DRX cycle, a SL DRX offset, a SL on-duration, a period in which a SL data availability signaling is monitored, or a SL inactivity-timer, in a case in which a SL resource pool is used…”)
6. The operation method of claim 1, wherein the sidelink transmission pool information further includes at least one of whether the sidelink transmission pool supports a discontinuous reception (DRX), transmission profile information linked to the sidelink transmission pool or quality of service (QoS) profile information linked to the sidelink transmission pool, unicast link information, groupcast service information or broadcast service information to which the sidelink transmission pool is applied, or DRX configuration information linked to the sidelink transmission pool (Kang, paras. [0268], [0269], Id.)
7. A first user equipment (UE) operating in a wireless communication system, the first UE comprising: one or more transceivers; one or more processors configured to control the one or more transceivers; and a memory including one or more instructions performed by the one or more processors, wherein (Kang, FIG. 3, Id.) the one or more instructions comprise:
receiving, from a second UE, sidelink transmission pool information including information on a sidelink transmission pool (Kang, paras. [0268], [0269], Id.);
selecting a sidelink reception pool related to the sidelink transmission pool based on the sidelink transmission pool information (Kang, paras. [0268], [0269], Id.);
receiving a physical sidelink control channel (PSCCH) from the second UE based on the sidelink reception pool (Freda, paras. [0466], [0481], Id.); and
receiving a physical sidelink shared channel (PSSCH) from the second UE based on the sidelink reception pool (Freda, paras. [0466], [0481], Id.),
wherein one of the sidelink transmission pool or the sidelink reception pool supports a discontinuous reception (DRX) operation (Kang, paras. [0268], [0269], Id. cf. Claim 1).
Kang et al. may not seem to describe the identical claimed invention, however in the same field of endeavor, Freda et al. provides prior art disclosure for the claimed invention, such as receiving a physical sidelink control channel (PSCCH) from the second UE based on the sidelink reception pool (Freda, paras. [0466], [0481], Id.); and receiving a physical sidelink shared channel (PSSCH) from the second UE based on the sidelink reception pool (Freda, paras. [0466], [0481], Id.) The prior art disclosure and suggestions of Freda et al. are for reasons of minimizing energy consumption (Freda, paras. [0466], [0481], Id.) In view of the prior art of record, the claimed invention 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, for reasons of minimizing energy consumption.
8. The first UE of claim 7, wherein the one or more instructions further comprise configuring a unicast connection or a PC5 radio resource control (RRC) connection with the second UE (Kang, paras. [0268], [0269], Id. cf. Claim 2).
9. The first UE of claim 7, wherein receiving the sidelink transmission pool information from the second UE comprises receiving the sidelink transmission pool information from the second UE based on a PC5 RRC message or a sidelink MAC control element (CE) (Kang, paras. [0148], [0264], Id. cf. Claim 3).
10. The first UE of claim 7, wherein receiving the sidelink transmission pool information from the second UE comprises receiving the sidelink transmission pool information from the second UE based on a sidelink capability negotiation, a PC5 RRC reconfiguration, or a sidelink DRX configuration (Kang, paras. [0148], [0264], Id. cf. Claim 4).
11. The first UE of claim 10, wherein the sidelink DRX configuration includes at least one of SL drx-onDurationTimer, SL drx-SlotOffset, SL drx-InactivityTimer, SL drx-StartOffset, SL drx-Cycle, SL drx-HARQ-RTT-Timer or SL drx-Retransmission Timer (Kang, paras. [0261], [0264], Id. cf. Claim 5).
12. The first UE of claim 7, wherein the sidelink transmission pool information further includes at least one of whether the sidelink transmission pool supports a discontinuous reception (DRX), transmission profile information linked to the sidelink transmission pool or quality of service (QoS) profile information linked to the sidelink transmission pool, unicast link information, groupcast service information or broadcast service information to which the sidelink transmission pool is applied, or DRX configuration information linked to the sidelink transmission pool (Kang, paras. [0268], [0269], Id. cf. Claim 6).
13. An operation method of a first user equipment (UE) (Kang, FIG. 3, Id.) in a wireless communication system, the operation method comprising:
transmitting, to a second UE, sidelink transmission pool information including information on a sidelink transmission pool (Kang, paras. [0268], [0269], Id.);
transmitting a physical sidelink control channel (PSCCH) to the second UE based on the sidelink transmission pool (Freda, paras. [0466], [0481], Id.); and
transmitting a physical sidelink shared channel (PSSCH) to the second UE based on the sidelink transmission pool (Freda, paras. [0466], [0481], Id.),
wherein one of the first UE or the second UE supports a sidelink discontinuous reception (DRX) operation (Kang, paras. [0268], [0269], Id.)
Kang et al. may not seem to describe the identical claimed invention, however in the same field of endeavor, Freda et al. provides prior art disclosure for the claimed invention, such as transmitting a physical sidelink control channel (PSCCH) to the second UE based on the sidelink transmission pool (Freda, paras. [0466], [0481], Id.); and transmitting a physical sidelink shared channel (PSSCH) to the second UE based on the sidelink transmission pool (Freda, paras. [0466], [0481], Id.) The prior art disclosure and suggestions of Freda et al. are for reasons of minimizing energy consumption (Freda, paras. [0466], [0481], Id.) In view of the prior art of record, the claimed invention 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, for reasons of minimizing energy consumption.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record (PTO-1449, PTO-892) and not relied upon is considered pertinent to the subject matter of the present U.S. non-provisional application.
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/TIMOTHY J WEIDNER/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2476