Prosecution Insights
Last updated: October 01, 2026
Application No. 18/719,418

EHNHANCEMENT OF RESOURCE SELECTION FOR SIDELINK DISCONTINUOUS RECEPTION (DRX) RECEIVER USER EQUIPMENT (UE)

Non-Final OA §102
Filed
Jun 13, 2024
Priority
Jan 10, 2022 — nonprovisional of PCTCN2022071145
Examiner
LOUIS, VINNCELAS
Art Unit
2474
Tech Center
2400 — Computer Networks
Assignee
Apple Inc.
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
80%
Grant Probability
Favorable
1-2
OA Rounds
8m
Est. Remaining
99%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 80% — above average
80%
Career Allowance Rate
546 granted / 680 resolved
+22.3% vs TC avg
Strong +33% interview lift
Without
With
+33.3%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
2y 12m
Avg Prosecution
16 currently pending
Career history
700
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
6.4%
-33.6% vs TC avg
§103
56.1%
+16.1% vs TC avg
§102
22.5%
-17.5% vs TC avg
§112
6.3%
-33.7% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 680 resolved cases

Office Action

§102
DETAILED ACTION The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA . The instant first office action is in response to communication filed on 02/28/2025. Claims 1-7, 9, 11-16, 18-22 and 24 are pending of which claims 1, 18 and 24 are the base independent claims. Information Disclosure Statement The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 06/13/2024, 09/17/2024 and 03/04/2025 is being considered by the examiner. Allowable Subject Matter Claims 4-7, 9, 11-13, 16 and 20-22 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims. Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102 The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action: A person shall be entitled to a patent unless – (a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention. Claim(s) 1-3, 14-15, 18-19 and 24 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by KO et al (US 20250055580 A1). Regarding claim 1, 18, 24, Ko’580 discloses a user equipment (UE), comprising: a memory(see fig.17, which shows memory(s) 104) ; and a processing circuitry configured to(see fig.17, which shows processor(s) 102), when executing instructions stored in the memory, cause the UE to(see para.0267, which discusses the memory(s) 104 may be connected to the processor(s) 102 and may store a variety of information related to operations of the processor(s) 102. For example, the memory(s) 104 may store software code including commands for performing a part or the entirety of processes controlled by the processor(s) 102 or for performing the descriptions, functions, procedures, proposals, methods, and/or operational flowcharts disclosed in this document, see para.0006-0007): receive an indication of a sidelink (SL) discontinuous reception (DRX) parameter of a receiver UE(see para.0229, which discusses SL DRX active time information of the RX UE is informed to the TX UE, see fig.13, 1300, fig.14, 1410 & see para.0240, which discusses the first device may obtain a sidelink (SL) discontinuous reception (DRX) configuration including information related to an active time, see para.0211, which discusses the SL DRX active time of the RX UE) for a SL communication(see fig.13, which shows for SL communication 1330); perform a resource selection procedure(see fig.13, which shows TX UE perform resource selection 1310-1320) to determine a set of candidate resources(see para.0179, which discusses the UE may select a set of candidate resources (SA), see para.0211, which discusses determine total number of candidate resources as the set of candidate resource within the resource selection window, see fig.14, 1470, see para.0244, which discusses the number of the at least one second candidate resource may be a sum of the number of the at least one first candidate resource and a number of candidate resources), wherein the set of candidate resources(see para.0179, which discusses the UE may select a set of candidate resources (SA), see para.0211, which discusses determine total number of candidate…resources as the set of candidate resource within the resource selection window, see fig.14, 1470, see para.0244, which discusses the number of the at least one second candidate resource may be a sum of the number of the at least one first candidate resource and a number of candidate resources) includes at least a subset of candidate resources satisfying a threshold of the SL DRX parameter of the receiver UE(see fig.14, shows determining, based on first RSRP threshold, at least one first candidate resource as subset of candidate resources within active time within selection 1460, see para.0211, which discusses within the SL DRX active time of the RX UE that is the target of packet transmission, the TX UE may select candidate/available/transmission resources to satisfy a ratio that is greater than or equal to a threshold X1 (wherein the threshold X1 is defined as the number of candidate/available/transmission resources as subset of candidate resources within the active time compared to the total number of candidate/available/transmission resources as set of candidate resource within the resource selection window, see fig.9, selection window includes the active time, see para.0244, which discusses the number of the at least one second candidate resource may be a sum of the number of the at least one first candidate resource and a number of candidate resources, thus the number of candidate resources as subset of candidate resources within the active time since the total/second number of candidate resources as set of candidate resource within the resource selection window including candidate resources within the active window as shown in fig.9); and use one or(due to or alternative language, only one of them is being considered) more resources from the set of candidate resources(see fig.14, 1480 & see para.0240, which discusses the first device may select a transmission resource among the at least one first candidate resource and the at least one second candidate resource, based on that (i) a number of the at least one first candidate resource is greater than or equal to a first threshold and (ii) a number of the at least one second candidate resource is greater than or equal to a second threshold) to enable the SL communication(see fig.13, which shows to enable SL communication 1330). Regarding claim 2, Ko’580 discloses wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to: select the at least the subset of candidate resources at a physical (PHY) layer within a resource selection window (RSW) to satisfy the threshold(see fig.14, shows determining, based on first RSRP threshold, at least one first candidate resource as subset of candidate resources within active time within selection 1460) based on the indication of the SL DRX parameter(see para.0229, which discusses SL DRX active time information of the RX UE is informed to the TX UE, see fig.13, 1300, fig.14, 1410 & see para.0240, which discusses the first device may obtain a sidelink (SL) discontinuous reception (DRX) configuration including information related to an active time, see para.0211, which discusses the SL DRX active time of the RX UE), wherein the threshold comprises at least one (due to at least one language, only one of them is being considered) of: a portion of reported candidate resources within an SL DRX active time of the receiver UE, a number of reported candidate resources within the SL DRX active time, or a number of candidate slots overlapping with the SL DRX active time(see para.0215, which discusses the candidate resources may be reported to the higher layer (MAC) as available resources, see para.0214, which discusses 2) Within the SL DRX active time of the RX UE within the entire resource selection window…, see para.0211, which discusses the threshold X1 is defined as the number of candidate/available/transmission resources within the active time, thus report candidate resources as number of resourced within an SL DRX active time of the receiver UE). Regarding claim 3, Ko’580 discloses wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to: determine the threshold based on a preconfigured ratio or(due to or alternative language, only one of them is being considered) a preconfigured number of candidate resources(see para.0211, which discusses threshold X1 is defined as the number of candidate/available/transmission resources within the active time, see para.0214, which discusses the TX UE may check whether the number of candidate resources (or the number of one or more candidate slots including the candidate resources) whose RSRP measurement value for DMRS associated with the candidate resources is less than or equal to an RSRP threshold P1 for the SL DRX active time, which is a value configured or (pre-)configured by the network or a value configured by the MAC layer to the PHY layer, satisfies the threshold number N1 (or N1′). Alternatively, within the SL DRX active time of the RX UE within the entire resource selection window, the TX UE may check whether a ratio of candidate resources (or a ratio of one or more candidate slots including the candidate resources) whose RSRP measurement value for DMRS associated with the candidate resources is less than or equal to an RSRP threshold P1 for the SL DRX active time, which is a value configured or (pre-)configured by the network or a value configured by the MAC layer to the PHY layer, satisfies the threshold ratio X1 (or X1′). For example, the P1 value may be the same as the P value) associated with a resource pool(see para.0099, which discuses the configured SL resource(s) or the pre-configured SL resource(s) may be a resource pool, see fig.13 & see para.0201, TX UE to select SL resource(s) in a resource pool based on a SL discontinuous reception (DRX) configuration); or(due to or alternative language, only one of them is being considered) determine the threshold based on communication with the receiver UE, wherein the threshold comprises a portion of candidate resources, a number of candidate resources, or(due to or alternative language, only one of them is being considered) a number of candidate slots that overlap with an SL DRX active time of the receiver UE, wherein the at least the subset of candidate resources is equal to or greater than the threshold. Regarding claim 14, Ko’580 discloses wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to: performing a re-evaluation or a pre-emption check of one or(due to or language, only one of them is being considered) more selected candidate resources(see fig.8, see para.0182 which discusses the UE selects a first resource (i.e., the initially selected resource) in a slot m within a selection window. In this case, the UE may continue to perform sensing through a re-evaluation procedure or a pre-emption procedure, see para.0204) of the set of candidate resources from the resource selection procedure (see para.0208, which discusses the TX UE may (re)select the resource(s) within the selection window or the candidate slots, by considering the SL DRX configuration, see para.0211, which discusses the TX UE may select candidate/available/transmission resources to satisfy a ratio that is greater than or equal to a threshold X1 (wherein the threshold X1 is defined as the number of candidate/available/transmission resources within the active time compared to the total number of candidate/available/transmission resources within the resource selection window), or may select candidate slots to satisfy a ratio that is greater than or equal to a threshold X1′ (wherein the threshold X1′ is defined as the number of candidate slots within the active time compared to the total number of candidate slots within the resource selection window, see fig.12) for an aperiodic transmission(see para.0291, which discusses the communication unit 110 may aperiodically/periodically acquire recent traffic information data from the external server and acquire surrounding traffic information data from neighboring vehicles. In the middle of autonomous driving, the sensor unit 140c may obtain a vehicle state and/or surrounding environment information) by performing a partial sensing(see fig.12, see para.0197, which discusses partial sensing may include PBPS or CPS), wherein the set of candidate resources(see fig.12 & see para.0196, which discusses it is assumed that Y candidate slots selected by the UE are the slot #M, the slot #(M+T1), and the slot #(M+T1+T2). In this case, slots for which the UE should perform sensing may be determined based on the first slot (i.e., slot #M) among the Y candidate slots. For example, after determining the first slot among the Y candidate slots as a reference slot, the UE may perform sensing for N slots (before) from the reference slot) starts from the one or more selected candidate resources(see fig.12, which shows start from slot # M) and ends at a last slot of candidate slots based on slot indices utilized in the resource selection procedure(see fig.12, which shows end at the last slot #(M+T1+T2). Regarding claim 15, Ko’580 discloses wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to: perform contiguous partial sensing (CPS) as the partial sensing(see fig.12 & see para.0197, which discusses partial sensing may include PBPS or CPS) based on a sensing window that is at least M logical slots plus one or more logical slots before a first selected resource of the one or more selected candidate resources(see para.0196, which discusses , based on the first slot (i.e., slot #M) among the Y candidate slots, the UE may perform sensing for N slots. For example, the UE may perform sensing for N slots before the slot #M, and the UE may select at least one SL resource within the Y candidate slots (i.e., slot #M, slot #(M+T1), and slot #(M+T1+T2)) based on the results of the sensing), wherein M is up to 31 slots or(due to or language, only one of them is being considered) another preconfigured number of slots(see para.0196, which discusses the UE may perform sensing for N slots before the slot #M, and the UE may select at least one SL resource within the Y candidate slots (i.e., slot #M, slot #(M+T1), and slot #(M+T1+T2)) based on the results of the sensing. For example, N may be configured or pre-configured for the UE); or (due to or language, only one of them is being considered) perform a periodic based partial sensing (PBPS) based on a periodicity utilized for the resource selection procedure, wherein the CPS and the PBPS initiate after a resource selection of the set of candidate resources. Regarding claim 19, Ko’580 discloses wherein the SL communication comprises an autonomous determination of SL resources as a Mode-2 sidelink communication(see para.099, which discusses the NR resource allocation mode 2, a UE may determine SL transmission resource(s) within SL resource(s) configured by a base station/network or pre-configured SL resource(s). For example, the configured SL resource(s) or the pre-configured SL resource(s) may be a resource pool. For example, the UE may autonomously select or schedule resource(s) for SL transmission. For example, the UE may perform SL communication by autonomously selecting resource(s) within the configured resource pool. For example, the UE may autonomously select resource(s) within a selection window by performing a sensing procedure and a resource (re)selection procedure). Conclusion The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Following prior arts are related to the present claimed invention: Zhao et al (US 2024/0064644) teaches, see para.0162, the network device indicates N time units before the target time, so that the UE determines the CBR at the target time according to the measurement result for the SL RSSI within the N time units before the target time, which can be used to calculate the CBR in the sidelink transmission system configured with the SL DRX or the partial sensing see para.0188, the N time units include time units that are available for the UE to measure the SL RSSI during the DRX active time and DRX inactive time. Applicant is encouraged to submit a written authorization for Internet communications (PTO/SB/439, http://www.uspto.gov/sites/default/files/documents/sb0439.pdf) in the instant patent application to authorize the examiner to communicate with the applicant via email. The authorization will allow the examiner to better practice compact prosecution. The written authorization can be submitted via one of the following methods only: (1) Central Fax which can be found in the Conclusion section of this Office action; (2) regular postal mail; (3) EFS WEB; or (4) the service window on the Alexandria campus. EFS web is the recommended way to submit the form since this allows the form to be entered into the file wrapper within the same day (system dependent). Written authorization submitted via other methods, such as direct fax to the examiner or email, will not be accepted. See MPEP § 502.03. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to VINNCELAS LOUIS whose telephone number is (571)270-5138. The examiner can normally be reached 8:30-5:00 PM. 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, Michael Thier can be reached at 571-272-2832. 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. /VINNCELAS LOUIS/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2474
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Prosecution Timeline

Jun 13, 2024
Application Filed
Aug 26, 2026
Non-Final Rejection mailed — §102 (current)

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Prosecution Projections

1-2
Expected OA Rounds
80%
Grant Probability
99%
With Interview (+33.3%)
2y 12m (~8m remaining)
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 680 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allowance rate.

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