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 .
Response to Amendment
Applicant’s amendment filed on June 3, 2026, has been entered. Claims 1, 3, 10, and 12-14 are presently pending with claims 1, 10, 12, and 13 being independent. Claims 2, 4-9, and 11 are canceled. Claims 1, 3, 10, and 12-13 are currently amended. Claim 14 is new.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see page 5, filed June 3, 2026, with respect to claim 6 has been fully considered and are persuasive. The 35 USC §112(b) rejection of claim 6 has been withdrawn.
Applicant’s arguments, see pages , filed June 3, 2026, with respect to the rejection(s) of claim(s) 1, 3, 10, and 12-13 under 35 U.S.C. §103 have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground(s) of rejection is made in view of 35 U.S.C. §103. Refer to updated rejection of claims 1, 3, 10, and 12-14 below in view of amendments.
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.
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.
Claims 1, 3, 10, and 12-14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Freda et al. (US 2024/0381485 A1; hereinafter Freda) in view of Cai et al. (US 2023/0371005 A1; hereinafter Cai).
Regarding claims 1, 10, and 12-13, Freda teaches a first user equipment (UE) (read as WTRU) (Fig. 1A, element 100 Wireless Communication System, element 102 Wireless Transmit/Receive Units (WTRU); ¶ [0025] Communication system including wireless transmit/receive units (WTRUs).),
comprising:
at least one processor (Fig. 1B, element 118 Processor; ¶ [0038] The WTRU may include a processor.); and
at least one computer memory operatively connected to the at least one processor and configured to store instructions (read as information) that, when executed, cause the at least one processor to perform operations including: (Fig. 1B, element 130 non-removable memory, element 132 removable memory; The WTRU may include non-removable memory and removable memory.; ¶ [0043] The processor may access information from, and store data in, any type of suitable memory, such as the non-removable memory and/or the removable memory.; ¶ [1328] Reference to acts and symbolic representations of operations or instructions may be performed by the various CPUs and memories.),
establishing a connection with a second UE (¶ 0107] The PC5 QoS parameters are negotiated at the establishment of one-to-one communication procedure.; ¶ [0108] UE-1 (WTRU-1) sends a Direct Communication Request message to UE-2.);
based on being configured with resource allocation mode 1, receiving, from a base station (BS), an inter-UE grant (read as sidelink grant) on a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) (¶ [0061] In mode 1, the WTRU may receive a single sidelink grant (e.g., via a DCI) which corresponds to physical resources in sidelink which occur in each of the active resource (e.g., one transmission resource per configuration or offset).; ¶ [1298] A WTRU may apply resources granted in a DCI received from gNB.); and
based on at least one resource for an initial transmission related to the inter-UE grant (read as sidelink grant) not overlapping with an inter-UE discontinuous reception (DRX) active time related to the second UE, ignoring the inter-UE grant (read as may not use the grant) (¶ [0654] A WTRU may determine all of its transmission and retransmission resources such that they all fall within active resources.; ¶ [0655] The WTRU may perform an initial transmission within a first pool (the guaranteed active resources).; ¶ [0657] Given a sidelink grant, if the sidelink grant is associated with a resource which falls within the active resources for a specific destination L2 ID, the WTRU may select the associated destination L2 to be transmitted for that grant, otherwise, the WTRU may not use the grant for the associated destination L2 ID.; ¶ [0678] A TX WTRU may receive a grant (e.g. from the network in mode 1). Specifically, a TX WTRU may restrict selection of a L2 source/destination when the grant does not fall within the active time of that L2 source/destination, and that L2 source/destination is configured with DRX.).
Regarding claim 3, Freda does not explicitly teach wherein, based on that the at least one resource for the initial transmission overlaps the inter-UE DRX active time related to the second UE, the first UE performs the initial transmission using the at least one resource for the initial transmission.
In analogous art, Cai teaches wherein, based on that the at least one resource for the initial transmission overlaps the inter-UE DRX active time related to the second UE (read as located in the sidelink discontinuous reception-active time), the first UE performs the initial transmission using the at least one resource for the initial transmission (Fig. 5, step 502 Send data to the second terminal on a first sidelink resource in the one or more sidelink resources; ¶ [0236] The first terminal sends the data to the second terminal on a first sidelink resource. The first sidelink resource is located in the sidelink discontinuous reception-active time of the second terminal.; ¶ [0237] Some time domain locations of the first sidelink resource are located in the sidelink discontinuous reception-active time.; ¶ [0340] The MAC entity selects the sidelink resource, so that the selected initial transmission resource is in the sidelink discontinuous reception-active time.; ¶ [0341] The initial transmission resource in this embodiment of this application is a resource used to transmit the data for the first time.).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine transmitting on a resource related to retransmission as taught by Cai with sidelink communication as taught by Freda. One would have been motivated to do so in order to improve reliability, reduce latency and unnecessary power consumption by applying Cai’s teaching of using a retransmission related resource for transmission when the initial resource is outside the destination UE’s SL DRX active time to Freda’s PC5 sidelink DRX framework, where transmission resources are selected with respect to peer WTRU’s active reception behavior (Cai: ¶¶ [0004-0005]).
Regarding claim 14, Freda teaches transmitting, to the second UE, configuration information (read as PC5-RRC signaling) including DRX information, wherein the DRX information includes timer information related to the inter-UE DRX active time (¶ [0257] A WTRU may receive a reception activity behavior or change of such for a particular source and or destination ID from a peer WTRU in PC5-RRC signaling and/or in a MAC CE. A WTRU may receive in PC5-RRC, a DRX configuration (e.g. an on-duration, DRX cycle, inactivity timer, etc.) A WTRU may determine its active time from the activity behavior of at least one of the PC5-RRC connections).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Kung et al. (US 2021/0227465 A1) discloses “Method and Apparatus for Handling Logical Channel Prioritization Regarding Sidelink Discontinuous Reception in a Wireless Communication System”
Lee et al. (US 2024/0057136 A1) discloses “Sidelink DRX Operation Based on Resource Allocation”
Li et al. (US 2023/0345559 A1) discloses “Method and Apparatus of Handling Device-to-Device
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DAVID M KAYAL whose telephone number is (703)756-4576. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8:30-5:30 ET.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Ricky Ngo can be reached at 571-272-3139. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/D.M.K./Examiner, Art Unit 2464
/RICKY Q NGO/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2464
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