Prosecution Insights
Last updated: July 17, 2026
Application No. 18/691,703

METHOD AND DEVICE FOR DETERMINING MINIMUM PARTIAL SENSING WINDOW LENGTH IN NR V2X

Non-Final OA §103
Filed
Mar 13, 2024
Priority
Sep 15, 2021 — RE 10-2021-0123469 +1 more
Examiner
WU, JIANYE
Art Unit
2462
Tech Center
2400 — Computer Networks
Assignee
LG Electronics Inc.
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
82%
Grant Probability
Favorable
1-2
OA Rounds
7m
Est. Remaining
97%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 82% — above average
82%
Career Allowance Rate
705 granted / 861 resolved
+23.9% vs TC avg
Moderate +15% lift
Without
With
+14.8%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
2y 11m
Avg Prosecution
27 currently pending
Career history
909
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
1.7%
-38.3% vs TC avg
§103
81.6%
+41.6% vs TC avg
§102
3.5%
-36.5% vs TC avg
§112
7.0%
-33.0% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 861 resolved cases

Office Action

§103
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 . Claim Objections Claims 11 is objected to because of the following informalities: Claim 11 recites “… wherein the first threshold value is determined based on q QoS requirement related to the MAC PDU.”. It appears that “q QoS” is a typo and it should have been “a QoS”. Appropriate correction is required. 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 1-15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over D1 (3GPP R1-2107528, NPL dated on 5/17/24, 29 pages) in view of Xue (US 20220061095 A1). For claim 1, D1 discloses a method for performing, by a first device, wireless communication, the method comprising: obtaining information related to a resource pool (Section 2.1, p3, 1st para “In a resource pool where at least partial sensing is allowed, UE can perform periodic-based partial sensing, contiguous partial sensing or both, depending on the resource pool configuration and the transmission-related status of a UE”); determining a resource selection window for transmitting a medium access control (MAC) protocol data unit (PDU) in the resource pool (suggested by p3, last para “For resource re-evaluation or pre-emption checking by P-UE, contiguous partial sensing can be done prior to each selected resource with a sensing window length of e.g. 31 slots, to protect possible collision with an aperiodic transmission. …” and p15, last para “… the reliability can be considered in determining candidate slots or idle resources by UE’s physical layer, or in final SL resource selection by UE’s MAC layer. …”); determining a sensing window for selection of at least one transmission resource (p3, last para “For resource re-evaluation or pre-emption checking by P-UE, contiguous partial sensing can be done prior to each selected resource with a sensing window length of e.g. 31 slots, to protect possible collision with an aperiodic transmission. …”); determining a second threshold value related to a reference signal receiver power (RSRP) threshold value (p6, last para “In the resource (re)selection procedure, the sensing provides the resources whose RSRP is lower than the (pre-)configured RSRP threshold, …”); determining at least one candidate resource within the resource selection window, based on sensing and the RSRP threshold value (p6, last para “In the resource (re)selection procedure, the sensing provides the resources whose RSRP is lower than the (pre-)configured RSRP threshold, …”); and selecting the at least one transmission resource among the at least one candidate resource (p6, last para “In the resource (re)selection procedure, the sensing provides the resources whose RSRP is lower than the (pre-)configured RSRP threshold, …”), D1 is silent but Xue, in the same field of endeavor of wireless communication, discloses: wherein the RSRP threshold value is not incremented to a value greater than the second threshold value, based on a length of the sensing window being shorter than a first threshold value ([0106] “… the PHY layer 304 may increase the signal threshold and repeat the resource filtering …”). Xue also explicitly teaches MAC PDU ([0043] “… upon generating a MAC PDU ready for transmission, a first UE may project an LBT completion time based on various factors, such as a contention window size, a traffic type or priority of the MAC PDU transmission and various other LBT parameters. The first UE may determine at least one of a sensing window or resource selection window based on the projected LBT completion time. …”). OOSA would have been motivated to apply the teaching of Xue above for increasing the signal threshold with the RSRP by D1 to yield a predictable result of selecting a resource with higher threshold of RSRP possible but below the configured RSRP. Therefore, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the application to combine D1 and Xue for the benefit of selecting a resource with higher threshold of RSRP possible but below the configured RSRP ([0106] of Xue in view of p6, last para of D1). Claim 14 is rejected because it is a claim of a generic device of wireless communication that performs the method of claim 1 and has the same subject matter. Claim 15 is rejected because it is a claim of a generic control device of UE that performs the method of claim 1 and has the same subject matter. As to claim 2, D1 in view of Xue discloses claim 1, D1 further discloses: wherein determining the at least one candidate resource includes: performing sensing for at least one sensing slot or the sensing window (suggested by p3, last para “For resource re-evaluation or pre-emption checking by P-UE, contiguous partial sensing can be done prior to each selected resource with a sensing window length of e.g. 31 slots, to protect possible collision with an aperiodic transmission. …”); determining at least one RSRP value related to at least one first candidate resource, based on the sensing (p6, last para “In the resource (re)selection procedure, the sensing provides the resources whose RSRP is lower than the (pre-)configured RSRP threshold, …”); excluding a candidate resource related to a first RSRP value from the at least one first candidate resource, based on the first RSRP value which is higher than the RSRP threshold value among the at least one RSRP value (p6, last para “In the resource (re)selection procedure, the sensing provides the resources whose RSRP is lower than the (pre-)configured RSRP threshold, …”; note that all sensing selected resources whose RSRP cannot higher than the configured RSRP threshold); D1 is silent but Xue, in the same field of endeavor of wireless communication, discloses: incrementing the RSRP threshold value, based on a number of the at least one first candidate resource being less than a third threshold value and the RSRP threshold value being smaller than the second threshold value ([0106] “… the PHY layer 304 may increase the signal threshold and repeat the resource filtering …”); adding a candidate resource related to the first RSRP value which is smaller than the incremented RSRP threshold value to the at least one first candidate resource ([0106] “… the PHY layer 304 may increase the signal threshold and repeat the resource filtering …” in view of design choice according to MEPE 2143(F)); and determining the at least one first candidate resource as the at least one candidate resource (this is obvious to OOSA because it is an obvious try according to MEPE 2143(E)). The motivation to combine D1 and Xue is the same as stated in the parent claim. As to claim 3, D1 in view of Xue discloses claim 1, D1 further discloses: wherein the sensing is partial sensing (Section 2.1, p3, 1st para “In a resource pool where at least partial sensing is allowed, UE can perform periodic-based partial sensing, contiguous partial sensing or both …”). As to claim 4, D1 in view of Xue discloses claim 3, D1 further discloses: wherein the partial sensing includes at least one of periodic based partial sensing (PBPS) or contiguous partial sensing (CPS) (p7, Agreement:, 1st bullet “In periodic-based partial sensing for resource (re)selection …”, and p8, Proposal 10: 1st bullet “Both periodic-based partial sensing and contiguous partial sensing”). As to claim 5, D1 in view of Xue discloses claim 1, Xue further discloses: wherein the second threshold value is determined as a first value, based on a priority value related to the MAC PDU being smaller than a third threshold value (FIGs 3-8 and the associated text, such as “[0099] At action 512, the PHY layer 304 provides the MAC layer 302 with the contention window information including at least one of a CW size, CW minimum value or a CW maximum value.” and “[0043] … upon generating a MAC PDU ready for transmission, a first UE may project an LBT completion time based on various factors, such as a contention window size, a traffic type or priority of the MAC PDU transmission and various other LBT parameters. The first UE may determine at least one of a sensing window or resource selection window based on the projected LBT completion time. …”), and wherein the first value is greater than a second value which is determined as the second threshold value based on the priority value being greater than or equal to the third threshold value (FIGs 3-8 and the associated text, such as “[0099] At action 512, the PHY layer 304 provides the MAC layer 302 with the contention window information including at least one of a CW size, CW minimum value or a CW maximum value. … a high priority class may be assigned with a smaller CW size than a lower priority class.” and “[0106] … The PHY layer 304 may exclude resources in the resource selection window based on resources 352 within the sensing window 342 that have signal measurements (e.g., RSRP and/or RSSI) higher than a certain signal threshold and a predicted resource usage pattern. The PHY layer 304 may perform the resource filtering or exclusion by SCI decoding, priority, and/or signal measurements in the resource selection window in any suitable order. …”). The motivation to combine D1 and Xue is the same as stated in the parent claim. As to claim 6, D1 in view of Xue discloses claim 1, D1 further discloses: wherein the second threshold value is determined as the same value as an initial value of the RSRP threshold value (This is obvious to OOSA because selecting the second threshold value to be the same as an initial value is a design choice according to MPEP 2143 (F), or an obvious try according to MPEP 2143 (E)). As to claim 7, D1 in view of Xue discloses claim 1, D1 further discloses: wherein the second threshold value is determined as a value derived by adding an offset value to an initial value of the RSRP threshold (This is obvious to OOSA because selecting the second threshold value to be the same as an initial value is a design choice according to MPEP 2143 (F)). As to claim 8, D1 in view of Xue discloses claim 7, Xue further discloses: wherein the offset value is determined based on a quality of service (QoS) requirement related to the MAC PDU (FIGs 3-8 and the associated text, such as “[0126] At action 710, upon generation of a MAC PDU, for example, at a slot n, the MAC layer 302 sends a sensing request including a CAPC to the PHY layer 304. The CAPC may be associated with a traffic type of the MAC PDU. The CAPC can be based on a QoS …”). The motivation to combine D1 and Xue is the same as stated in the parent claim. As to claim 9, D1 in view of Xue discloses claim 7, Xue further discloses: wherein the offset value is determined based on a priority related to the MAC PDU (FIGs 3-8 and the associated text, such as “[0126] At action 710, upon generation of a MAC PDU, for example, at a slot n, the MAC layer 302 sends a sensing request including a CAPC to the PHY layer 304. The CAPC may be associated with a traffic type of the MAC PDU. The CAPC can be based on a QoS …” in view of the parent claims). The motivation to combine D1 and Xue is the same as stated in the parent claim. As to claim 10, D1 in view of Xue discloses claim 7, D1 further discloses: wherein the offset value is determined based on a channel busy ratio (CBR) value related to the resource pool (p17, 4th para from the bottom “CBR is calculated as the ratio of the number of sub-channels of which the RSSI exceed a (pre-configured)threshold, to the number of all available sub-channels in a measurement window …”). As to claim 11, D1 in view of Xue discloses claim 1, D1 further discloses: wherein the first threshold value is determined based on q QoS requirement related to the MAC PDU (FIGs 3-8 and the associated text, such as “[0126] At action 710, upon generation of a MAC PDU, for example, at a slot n, the MAC layer 302 sends a sensing request including a CAPC to the PHY layer 304. The CAPC may be associated with a traffic type of the MAC PDU. The CAPC can be based on a QoS …”). The motivation to combine D1 and Xue is the same as stated in the parent claim. As to claim 12, D1 in view of Xue discloses claim 1, D1 further discloses: wherein the first threshold value is determined based on a priority related to the MAC PDU ([0043] “… upon generating a MAC PDU ready for transmission, a first UE may project an LBT completion time based on various factors, such as a contention window size, a traffic type or priority of the MAC PDU transmission and various other LBT parameters.:). As to claim 13, D1 in view of Xue discloses claim 1, D1 further discloses: wherein the first threshold value is determined based on a CBR value related to the resource pool (p17, 4th para from the bottom “CBR is calculated as the ratio of the number of sub-channels of which the RSSI exceed a (pre-configured)threshold, to the number of all available sub-channels in a measurement window …”). Conclusion Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JIANYE WU whose telephone number is (571)270-1665. The examiner can normally be reached M-TH 8am-6pm. 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, Yemane Mesfin can be reached at (571) 272-3927. 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. /JIANYE WU/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2462
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Prosecution Timeline

Mar 13, 2024
Application Filed
Apr 30, 2026
Non-Final Rejection mailed — §103 (current)

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Prosecution Projections

1-2
Expected OA Rounds
82%
Grant Probability
97%
With Interview (+14.8%)
2y 11m (~7m remaining)
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 861 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allowance rate.

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