Prosecution Insights
Last updated: August 17, 2026
Application No. 18/833,077

METHOD FOR SIDELINK RESOURCE SELECTION, TERMINAL DEVICE, AND STORAGE MEDIUM

Non-Final OA §102
Filed
Jul 25, 2024
Priority
Jun 17, 2021 — nonprovisional of PCTCN2021100651
Examiner
PATEL, JAY P
Art Unit
Tech Center
Assignee
Guangdong OPPO Mobile Telecommunications Corp., Ltd.
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
85%
Grant Probability
Favorable
1-2
OA Rounds
7m
Est. Remaining
90%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 85% — above average
85%
Career Allowance Rate
794 granted / 939 resolved
+24.6% vs TC avg
Moderate +6% lift
Without
With
+5.5%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
2y 8m
Avg Prosecution
23 currently pending
Career history
964
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
6.4%
-33.6% vs TC avg
§103
45.1%
+5.1% vs TC avg
§102
31.8%
-8.2% vs TC avg
§112
8.4%
-31.6% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 939 resolved cases

Office Action

§102
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 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) 1-2, 6-15, 19, 55-57 and 59-62 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Liu et al. (US Publication 2022/0353945 A1). In regards to claims 1, 55, 56 and 57, Liu et al. (US Publication 2022/0353945 A1) teaches, a method for sidelink resource selection, applicable to a first terminal device, the method comprising: selecting at least N transmission resources within a first time range, N being an integer greater than or equal to 1 (see figure 3 paragraphs 74-75; a UE 302 may operate using a transmission mode where resource selection and/or scheduling is performed by the UE 302; the one or more sidelink channels 310 may use resources from a sidelink resource pool. A sidelink resource pool may refer to a set of time resources (including a number of symbols similar to the symbols 206 or a number of slots similar to the slots 202) and frequency resources (including a number of subcarriers similar to the subcarriers 204 or a number of RBs similar to the RBs 210) that may be used for sidelink transmissions); wherein the first time range comprises an intersection of a link monitoring period and a resource selection period, the link monitoring period being determined based on discontinuous reception (DRX) configuration, and the resource selection period being a time period in which the first terminal device performs resource selection (see figure 6 and paragraphs 103-104; the UE 402c may decode data from the sidelink resource 620, for example, based on transmission parameters such as MCS and/or resource information (e.g., time and frequency locations of the data in the resource 620; The UE 402c may configure the DRX-inactivity timer with a duration 640 long enough to cover the next reserved sidelink resource 622.). In regards to claims 2 and 59, Liu teaches, wherein the link monitoring period comprises at least one of: a running period of a DRX activity timer, a running period of a DRX inactivity timer (see figure 6 and paragraphs 103-104; the UE 402c may decode data from the sidelink resource 620, for example, based on transmission parameters such as MCS and/or resource information (e.g., time and frequency locations of the data in the resource 620, or a running period of a DRX retransmission timer (see figure 5 and paragraph 94; the UE 402c may configure the DRX-retransmission timer with a timer duration 524 in accordance with the DRX-retransmission timer value. The UE 402c may remain in an active state and continue to perform SCI sensing and decoding while the DRX-retransmission timer is in progress or active. As such, the UE 402c may further extend a DRX on-duration based on a DRX-retransmission timer. In this way, the UE 402c may continue to remain in the active state to receive the retransmission in the sidelink resource 550). In regards to claims 6 and 60, Liu teaches, wherein the running period of the DRX inactivity timer is a time period from start to end of the DRX inactivity timer that is determined by the first terminal device based on a duration of the DRX inactivity timer and a time domain location of an initial transmission resource as selected (see paragraph 104 and figure 6; The UE 402c may configure the DRX-inactivity timer with a duration 640 long enough to cover the next reserved sidelink resource 622). In regards to claim 7, Liu teaches, wherein the running period of the DRX inactivity timer is (ti, t1+t2] or (ti, t1+t2), wherein ti represents the time domain location of the initial transmission resource, and t2 represents the duration of the DRX inactivity timer (see figure 6 and paragraph 104; the UE 402c may start a DRX-inactivity timer as shown by the arrow at time T2. The UE 402c may configure the DRX-inactivity timer with a duration 640 long enough to cover the next reserved sidelink resource 622. The UE 402c may remain in the active state and continue to monitor for SCI after the end of the DRX on-duration 422 based on the DRX-inactivity timer is in progress). In regards to claims 8 and 61, Liu teaches, wherein the running period of the DRX retransmission timer is a time period from start to end of a DRX retransmission timer corresponding to a target transmission resource as selected that is determined by the first terminal device based on a duration of the DRX retransmission timer and a time domain location of the target transmission resource (see paragraph 106; the UE 402c may restart the DRX-inactivity timer (shown by the arrow at time T3) with a duration 642 to cover the next reserved sidelink resource 624. The restarting of the DRX-inactivity timer may include resetting the DRX-inactivity timer and setting the DRX-inactivity timer with the duration 642. The UE 402c may remain in the active state and continue to monitor for SCI while the DRX-inactivity timer is in progress). In regards to claim 9, Liu teaches, wherein the running period of the DRX retransmission timer is (t3, t3+t4] or (t3, t3+t4), wherein t3 represents the time domain location of the target transmission resource, and t4 represents the duration of the DRX retransmission timer (see paragraph 106; the UE 402c may restart the DRX-inactivity timer (shown by the arrow at time T3) with a duration 642 to cover the next reserved sidelink resource 624. The restarting of the DRX-inactivity timer may include resetting the DRX-inactivity timer and setting the DRX-inactivity timer with the duration 642. The UE 402c may remain in the active state and continue to monitor for SCI while the DRX-inactivity timer is in progress). In regards to claims 10 and 62, Liu teaches, wherein the running period of the DRX retransmission timer is a time period from start to end of a DRX retransmission timer corresponding to a target transmission resource as selected that is determined by the first terminal device based on a duration of a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) round-trip time (RTT) timer, a duration of the DRX retransmission timer, and a time domain location of the target transmission resource as selected (see paragraph 97; he UE 402c may configure the DRX-HARQ-RTT timer with a timer duration 522 in accordance with the DRX- HARQ-RTT timer value. The DRX-HARQ-RTT timer value may be based on a RTT time between the UE 402c and the sidelink transmitting UE. The UE 402c may switch one or more radio components and/or transceiver components, for example, in the modem 1412 and/or the RF unit 1414 of FIG. 14, to a sleep state or a low-power state to conserve power since the NACK feedback 548 may arrive at the sidelink transmitting UE after a propagation time and a retransmission from the sidelink transmitting UE may also take certain propagation time to arrive at the UE 402c. The UE 402c may remain in the inactive state while the DRX-HARQ-RTT timer is in progress or active. Accordingly, the UE 402c may be in an active state if at least one of the DRX-inactive timer or the DRX-retransmission timer is in progress and the DRX-HARQ-RTT timer is not in progress). In regards to claim 11, Liu teaches, wherein the running period of the DRX retransmission timer is (t5+t6, t5+t6+t4] or (t5+t6, t5+t6+t4), wherein t5 represents a time domain location of a physical sidelink feedback channel (PSFCH) resource corresponding to the target transmission resource, t6 represents the duration of the HARQ RTT timer, and t4 represents the duration of the DRX retransmission timer (see paragraph 124; the DRX information may include a predefined duration value (e.g., the DRX-inactivity timer duration 644) after a last resource when utilizing the scheme 600, a predefined X value for the X slots 702 after a last reserved resource when utilizing the scheme 700, or a predefined Y value for the Y slots 802 after a PSFCH resource associated with a last reserved resource when utilizing the scheme 800. Additionally or alternatively, the DRX information may include a DRX-retransmission timer value (e.g., the DRX-retransmission timer duration 524) and/or a DRX-retransmission start time (e.g., N slots 532) prior to a reserved resource. Additionally or alternatively, the DRX information may include a DRX-HARQ-RTT timer value (e.g., the DRX-HARQ-RTT timer duration 522)). In regards to claim 12, Liu teaches, wherein the resource selection period comprises at least one of: a whole period corresponding to a resource selection window or a partial period determined from the resource selection window (see figure 5, sidelink resources 540, 550 and 560). In regards to claim 13, Liu teaches, wherein a value of N depends on implementation of the first terminal device, or is configured by a network device, or pre-configured, or specified by a standard (see figure 3 paragraphs 74-75; a UE 302 may operate using a transmission mode where resource selection and/or scheduling is performed by the UE 302; the one or more sidelink channels 310 may use resources from a sidelink resource pool. A sidelink resource pool may refer to a set of time resources (including a number of symbols similar to the symbols 206 or a number of slots similar to the slots 202) and frequency resources (including a number of subcarriers similar to the subcarriers 204 or a number of RBs similar to the RBs 210) that may be used for sidelink transmissions). In regards to claim 14, Liu teaches, a method for sidelink resource exclusion, applicable to a first terminal device, the method comprising: acquiring a set of candidate resources by excluding available resources within a resource selection period, wherein a number of candidate resources within a second time range in the set of candidate resources is greater than or equal to W, W being greater than or equal to 0 (see paragraph 77; In the transmission mode where resource selection and/or scheduling is performed by a UE 302, the UE 302 may generate sidelink grants, and may transmit the grants in SCI 330. A sidelink grant may indicate, in some aspects, one or more parameters (e.g., transmission parameters) to be used for an upcoming sidelink transmission, such as one or more resource blocks to be used for the upcoming sidelink transmission on the PSSCH 320 (e.g., for TBs 335)); wherein the second time range comprises an intersection of a discontinuous reception (DRX) active time period and the resource selection period, the DRX active time period being determined based on DRX configuration, and the resource selection period being a time period in which the first terminal device performs resource selection (see paragraph 202; The DRX-inactivity timer configuration may indicate whether the first UE may configure the DRX-activity timer duration to cover a next sidelink resource reserved by SCI (in the first communication signal), to cover X slots after a last sidelink resource reserved by the SCI, or to cover Y slots after a PSFCH resource associated with a last sidelink resource reserved by the SCI). In regards to claim 15, Liu teaches, wherein the DRX active time period comprises a running period of a DRX activity timer (see paragraph 202; The DRX-inactivity timer configuration may indicate whether the first UE may configure the DRX-activity timer duration to cover a next sidelink resource reserved by SCI (in the first communication signal), to cover X slots after a last sidelink resource reserved by the SCI, or to cover Y slots after a PSFCH resource associated with a last sidelink resource reserved by the SCI). In regards to claim 19, Liu teaches, wherein the resource selection period comprises at least one of: a whole period corresponding to a resource selection window or a partial period determined from the resource selection window (see paragraph 109; the UE 402c may remain in an active state or a total or aggregated DRX on-duration 632 from time T0 to time T6 (covering the DRX on-duration 412 for the first sidelink 404, the DRX on-duration 422 for the second sidelink 406, and the extended DRX on-duration 610 for the second sidelink 406)). Relevant Prior Art Prior art Park et al. (US Publication 2024/0206008 A1) teaches a process for transmitting or receiving information related to SL DRX active time in NR V2X. Prior art Ko et al. (US Publication 2023/0397034 A10 teaches a process for reporting SL CSI in NR V2X. Prior art Lin et al. (US Publication 2022/0353815 A1) teaches, an improved SL DRX operating using DRX request. Conclusion Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JAY P PATEL whose telephone number is (571)272-3086. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9:30-6. 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, Faruk Hamza can be reached at 571-272-8786. 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. /JAY P PATEL/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2466
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Prosecution Timeline

Jul 25, 2024
Application Filed
Jul 22, 2026
Non-Final Rejection mailed — §102 (current)

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Study what changed to get past this examiner. Based on 5 most recent grants.

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Prosecution Projections

1-2
Expected OA Rounds
85%
Grant Probability
90%
With Interview (+5.5%)
2y 8m (~7m remaining)
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 939 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allowance rate.

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