Detail Action
This office action is a response to an amendment submitted on 05/18/2026.
Claims 1-6, 8-20, and 22- 30 are pending for examination.
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
Claims 1, 5, 8-12, 15, 19, 22-26 and 28- 29 have been amended.
Claims 7 and 21 have been canceled.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed on 05/18/2026 with respect to claim(s) have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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.
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.
The factual inquiries set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 148 USPQ 459 (1966), that are applied for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103(a) 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 non-obviousness.
Claims 1-6, 8-20, and 22- 27 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over LG et al. (Discussion on inter-UE coordination for Mode 2 enhancements, October 11, 2021), hereinafter “LG”, and in view of Ganesan et al. (US 20240430917 A1); hereinafter “Ganesan”; and in further view of Zhao et al. (US 20220007369 A1), hereinafter “Zhao”.
Regarding claim 1, LG teaches receive an indication that enables a condition to trigger transmission of inter-UE coordination information [LG: Pg. 1 teaches UE that transmitted PSCCH/PSSCH with SCI indicating reserved resource(s) to be used for its transmission, received inter-UE coordination information from UE-A indicating expected/potential resource conflicts for the reserved resource(s);
determine, after reception of the indication that enables the condition, an occurrence of the condition to trigger the transmission [LG: Pg. 1,2; section 1 teaches received inter-UE coordination information from UE-A indicating expected/potential resource
conflict(s) for the reserved resource(s), and uses it to determine resource re-selection is UE-B in the inter-UE coordination transmission triggered by a detection of expected/potential resource conflict].
However, LG does not teach an apparatus for wireless communication, comprising: memory; and at least one processor coupled to the memory and configured to, based at least in part on information stored in the memory; a condition to trigger transmission of inter-UE coordination information based on below a threshold CR associated with a priority level for the inter-UE coordination information,
transmit a side link message that includes the inter-UE coordination information in response to the occurrence of the condition for the inter-UE coordination information
Nevertheless, Ganesan, in the similar field of endeavor, teaches an apparatus for wireless communication, comprising: memory [Abstract, Fig. 7]; and at least one processor coupled to the memory and configured to, based at least in part on information stored in the memory ;a condition to trigger transmission of inter-UE coordination information based on below a threshold CR associated with a priority level for the inter-UE coordination information [Ganesan: Fig. 4; claims 15; 2B; Par. 174-195 teaches of receiving and sending inter-UE coordination based of the schemes; Par. 174, 181; teaches of using priority values of CBR],
transmit a side link message that includes the inter-UE coordination information in response to the occurrence of the condition for the inter-UE coordination information [Ganesan: Fig. 9; step 910 teaches of sending inter-UE coordination information in response of defining a restriction of inter-UE coordination schemes].
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Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill at the time the invention was made to utilize the teachings of Ganesan for sending inter-UE coordination message to trigger transmission . One of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to utilize the teachings of Ganesan in the LG system in order to be able to transmit coordination report.
However, LG/Ganesan does not teach trigger transmission based on a channel occupancy ratio (CR).
Nevertheless, Zhao, in the similar filed of endeavor, teaches teach trigger transmission based on a channel occupancy ratio (CR) [Zhao: Figs. 2A, 2B; item 236; Par. 64- 80 teaches of receiving Channel Occupancy Ratio information by the terminal device, performs transmission resource allocation based on CR)
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Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill at the time the invention was made to utilize the teachings of Zhao for transmit CR information. One of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to utilize the teachings of Zhao in the LG/Ganesan system in order to provide channel usage of the terminal device to allocate appropriate transmission [Zhao: Par. 26].
Regarding claim 2, the combined LG/ Ganesan in view of Zhao teaches all the limitations in the parent claim 1. LG/ Ganesan in view of Zhao further teaches herein the condition is different than reception of a request for the inter-UE coordination information [Ganesan: Abstract; Par. 41 teaches of condition based trigger of transmitting resource based on explicit request of schemes].
Regarding claim 3, the combined LG/ Ganesan in view of Zhao teaches all the limitations in the parent claim 1. LG/ Ganesan in view of Zhao further teaches herein the priority level for the inter-UE coordination information is configured [Ganesan: Par. 184- 187 teaches of restriction are configured based on CBR and per packet priority].
Regarding claim 4, the combined LG/ Ganesan in view of Zhao teaches all the limitations in the parent claim 1. LG/ Ganesan in view of Zhao further teaches receive a configuration of the priority level for the inter-UE coordination information [Ganesan: Par. 180- 184; Fig. 4].
Regarding claim 5, the combined LG/ Ganesan in view of Zhao teaches all the limitations in the parent claim 1. LG/ Ganesan in view of Zhao further teaches wherein the inter-UE coordination information includes at least one of: a resource reservation interval [LG. Pg. 4].
Regarding claim 6, the combined LG/ Ganesan in view of Zhao teaches all the limitations in the parent claim 1. LG/ Ganesan in view of Zhao further teaches wherein the inter-UE coordination information comprises an entry-based format including a time resource indicator value or a frequency resource indicator value to identify reserved resources and indicates a number of entries in the inter-UE coordination information [Ganesan: Par. 93 further teaches of CBR priority configuration include value indicates the first entry].
Regarding claim 8, the combined LG/ Ganesan in view of Zhao teaches all the limitations in the parent claim 1. LG/ Ganesan in view of Zhao further teaches receive a configuration for multiple conditions to trigger the transmission of the inter-UE coordination information, wherein the indication enables the condition from the multiple conditions in the configuration is received after reception of the configuration [LG: Pg. 23, Proposal 27 teaches of configuration can enable one or more coordination’s with different schemes/ conditions; Ganesan: Par. 132- 141 teaches of resources indicated different conditions where resource conflict occur on the resources satisfying].
Regarding claim 9, the combined LG/ Ganesan in view of Zhao teaches all the limitations in the parent claim 1. LG/ Ganesan in view of Zhao further teaches wherein the condition to trigger the transmission the inter-UE coordination information further based on a duration of time from a previous inter-UE coordination information message meeting a threshold length of time [LG: Pg. 7; Proposal 3 teaches inter-UE coordination information is triggered within a resource selection window/ threshold length time; Ganesan: Par. 152, 199 teaches UE-A 503 may drop/ignore/skip the explicit request due to the limitation or restriction of one or more schemes due to higher CBR e.g., congested scenario, or based on a measured RSSI exceeding a (pre) configured threshold at UE-A 503, where a separate threshold may be (pre) configured compared to the CBR]
Regarding claim 10, the combined LG/ Ganesan in view of Zhao teaches all the limitations in the parent claim 1. LG/ Ganesan in view of Zhao further teaches wherein the condition further includes at least one of: a reserved resources priority value being smaller than a threshold [LG. Pg. 9; Proposal 7].
Regarding claim 11, the combined LG/ Ganesan in view of Zhao teaches all the limitations in the parent claim 1. LG/ Ganesan in view of Zhao further teaches receive an additional indication enabling one or more information field types to be included in the inter-UE coordination information wherein the sidelink message includes the one or more information field types of the inter-UE coordination information enabled by the additional indication [ LG: Pg. 15 ; teaches inter-UE coordination information has SCI format with additional SCI field that can enabled/ disable/ and cast type indicator, Ganesan: Fig. 7, 8; Par. 244 teaches of restriction/enable/disable of the one or more inter-UE schemes based on CBR measurement/ information types that is in the field].
Regarding claim 12, the combined LG/ Ganesan in view of Zhao teaches all the limitations in the parent claim 11. LG/ Ganesan in view of Zhao further teaches skip transmission of non-enabled information field types of the inter-UE coordination information [LG: Pg. 22 teaches UE-B can skip Step 5) and use the inter-UE coordination information].
Regarding claim 13, the combined LG/ Ganesan in view of Zhao teaches all the limitations in the parent claim 1. LG/ Ganesan in view of Zhao further teaches wherein the inter-UE coordination information includes an indication of a resource reservation using an entry-based format or a bitmap-based format, wherein the entry-based format or the bitmap-based format is selected based at least in part on a configuration of a resource pool, a periodicity of the resource reservation, a size of the resource reservation, or whether the indication of the resource reservation is multiplexed with sidelink data [Ganesan: Par. 93 further teaches of CBR priority configuration include value indicates the first entry].
Regarding claim 14, the combined LG/ Ganesan in view of Zhao teaches all the limitations in the parent claim 1. LG/ Ganesan in view of Zhao further teaches further comprising at least one of a transceiver or an antenna coupled to the at least one processor and configured to transmit the inter-UE coordination information [Ganesan: Fig. 7, 8 illustrates memory, antenna, processor].
Regarding claim 15, the claim is interpreted and rejected for the same reason as set forth for claim 1.
Regarding claim 16, the claim is interpreted and rejected for the same reason as set forth for claim 2.
Regarding claim 17, the claim is interpreted and rejected for the same reason as set forth for claim 3.
Regarding claim 18, the claim is interpreted and rejected for the same reason as set forth for claim 4.
Regarding claim 19, the claim is interpreted and rejected for the same reason as set forth for claim 5.
Regarding claim 20, the claim is interpreted and rejected for the same reason as set forth for claim 6.
Regarding claim 22, the claim is interpreted and rejected for the same reason as set forth for claim 8.
Regarding claim 23, the claim is interpreted and rejected for the same reason as set forth for claim 9.
Regarding claim 24, the claim is interpreted and rejected for the same reason as set forth for claim 10.
Regarding claim 25, the claim is interpreted and rejected for the same reason as set forth for claim 11.
Regarding claim 26, the claim is interpreted and rejected for the same reason as set forth for claim 12.
Regarding claim 27, the claim is interpreted and rejected for the same reason as set forth for claim 13.
Claims 28- 30 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over LG et al. (Discussion on inter-UE coordination for Mode 2 enhancements, October 11, 2021), hereinafter “LG”, and in view of Ganesan et al. (US 20240430917 A1); hereinafter “Ganesan”; 7369 A1), hereinafter “Zhao”.
Regarding claim 28, LG teaches transmit, to a user equipment (UE), a configuration for inter-UE coordination information, wherein the configuration includes at least one of: [LG: Pg. 1 teaches UE that transmitted PSCCH/PSSCH with SCI indicating reserved resource(s) to be used for its transmission, received inter-UE coordination information from UE-A indicating expected/potential resource conflicts for the reserved resource(s);
Provide after the configuration, an indication to the UE enabling one or more of the multiple information field types to be included in an inter-UE coordination information transmission [LG: Pg. 1,2; section 1 teaches received inter-UE coordination information from UE-A indicating expected/potential resource conflict(s) for the reserved resource(s), and uses it to determine resource re-selection is UE-B in the inter-UE coordination transmission triggered by a detection of expected/potential resource conflict; LG: Pg. 15 ; teaches inter-UE coordination information has SCI format with additional SCI field that can enabled/ disable/ and cast type indicator].
However, LG does not teach An apparatus for wireless communication, comprising: memory; and at least one processor coupled to the memory and configured to, based at least in part on information stored in the memory;
a condition to trigger transmission of inter-UE coordination information
Nevertheless, Ganesan, in the similar field of endeavor, teaches An apparatus for wireless communication, comprising: memory; and at least one processor coupled to the memory and configured to, based at least in part on information stored in the memory [Abstract, Fig. 7]; a condition to trigger transmission of inter-UE coordination information [Ganesan: Fig. 4; claims 15; 2B; Par. 174-195 teaches of receiving and sending inter-UE coordination based of the schemes; Par. 174, 181; teaches of using priority values of CBR; Fig. 9; step 910 teaches of sending inter-UE coordination information in response of defining a restriction of inter-UE coordination schemes].
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Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill at the time the invention was made to utilize the teachings of Ganesan for sending inter-UE coordination message to trigger transmission . One of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to utilize the teachings of Ganesan in the LG system in order to be able to transmit coordination report.
Regarding claim 29, the combined LG in view of Ganesan teaches all the limitations in the parent claim 28. LG in view of Ganesan further teaches wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:
receive, from the UE, a sidelink message that includes the one or more information field types of the inter-UE coordination information enabled for the UE, wherein the one or more information field types of the inter-UE coordination information LG: Pg. 15 ; teaches inter-UE coordination information has SCI format with additional SCI field that can enabled/ disable/ and cast type indicator ;Ganesan: Fig. 9; step 910 teaches of sending inter-UE coordination information in response of defining a restriction of inter-UE coordination schemes; Par. 3] include wherein the inter-UE coordination information includes at least one of: a resource reservation interval [LG. Pg. 4].
Regarding claim 30, the combined LG in view of Ganesan teaches all the limitations in the parent claim 1. LG in view of Ganesan further teaches receive, from the UE, a sidelink message that includes the inter-UE coordination information in response to an occurrence of the condition that is enabled for the inter-UE coordination information [Ganesan: Par. 3; Zhao Par. 112 teaches of receiving first indication information indicates which level of the parameter of the sidelink data is to transmit the channel occupancy ratio to the network device, i.e., indicating that the terminal device is to transmit the channel occupancy ratio for at least one level of the first parameter of the sidelink data to the network device].
Conclusion
The prior art made of record (see attached PTO-892) and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
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 KYAW Z SOE whose telephone number is (571)270-0304. The examiner can normally be reached 9am-5pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Charles C Jiang can be reached at 5712707191. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/KYAW Z SOE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2412
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