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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
Acknowledgment is made of the information disclosure statements filed on February 9, 2026. U.S. patent applications, foreign patents, and non-patent literature documents have been considered.
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, 10, and 11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as being unpatentable over Malkamaki et. al. (U.S. Pat. Pub. 2022/0225207), herein referred to as “Malkamaki”, in view of Wang et. al. (U.S. Pat. Pub. 2022/0286938), herein referred to as “Wang”, held further in view of Luo and Chen (U.S. Pat. Pub. 2021/0315043), herein referred to as “Luo”, held further in view of Teyeb et. al. (U.S. Pat. Pub. 2022/0217613), herein referred to as “Teyeb.” The Teyeb reference has support and claims priority to provisional application 62/842429.
Regarding Claim 1,
Malkamaki discloses: A communication control method performed in a relay apparatus comprising a Backhaul Adaptation Protocol (BAP) layer, the communication control method comprising: establishing a backhaul link between the relay apparatus and a first upper relay apparatus
[0054] IAB network consists of a tree where the IAB-donor is the root and IAB-nodes connect to it and other IAB-nodes (see FIG. 1). An adaptation layer supports mapping of UE bearer (i.e. access bearer) to backhaul RLC channel and/or routing in the IAB tree. It has been agreed that routing in the IAB tree uses adaptation layer addresses, either destination addresses (IAB-node (DL) or IAB-donor CU or DU address (UL)) or path identifiers. The “adaptation layer” is officially named Backhaul Adaptation Protocol (BAP).
receiving a BAP data unit from a lower relay apparatus lower than the relay apparatus
[0089] In some example embodiments, the parent node may send a packet comprising the identification of the new IAB node (e.g. an adaptation layer/BAP control PDU with the IAB-donor DU destination address) after having received the UL packet. In particular, the parent node may respond to the unspecified destination address by a packet comprising the identification of the new IAB node.
transferring the BAP data unit to the first upper relay apparatus
[0089] In some example embodiments, the parent node may send a packet comprising the identification of the new IAB node (e.g. an adaptation layer/BAP control PDU with the IAB-donor DU destination address) after having received the UL packet. In particular, the parent node may respond to the unspecified destination address by a packet comprising the identification of the new IAB node.
Malkamaki does not disclose the final limitations of this claim.
However, Wang discloses: detecting a radio link failure in the backhaul link established between the relay apparatus the first upper relay apparatus.
[0317] Step 3-1: node 6 transmits a message 3-1 for reporting RLF to node 7, this message is mainly to report information related to the RLF detected by node 6. This message is a message transmitted after the distributed unit part or the mobile terminal part of node 6 detects that the RLF occurs on the backhaul link it serves. The message includes at least one of the following information.
Wang further discloses: in response to detecting the radio link failure, establishing a backhaul link with a second upper relay apparatus.
[0324] Identification information or address information (for example, BAP address) of unreachable node, the unreachable node is one node in the relay network, which can be the destination receiving node of one or more transmission paths, or a destination receiving node indicated by one or more pieces of routing identification information. In one embodiment, the unreachable node is a node that cannot reach through node 6 and inferred by node 6 according to the backhaul link where the RLF occurs, and the unreachable node may be the next hop node of node 6; in another embodiment, the unreachable node may not be the next hop node of node 6. The unreachable node can be a node that the downlink data cannot reach, or may be a node that the uplink data cannot reach, or may be a node that both the uplink and downlink data cannot reach; [0325] identification information or address information (for example, BAP address) of reachable node, the reachable node is a node in the relay network, which can be the destination receiving node of one or more transmission paths, or may be a destination receiving node indicated by one or more pieces of routing identification information. In one embodiment, the reachable node is a node can be reached by node 6 and inferred according to the backhaul link where the RLF occurs, and the reachable node may be the next hop node of node 6; in another embodiment, the reachable node may not be the next hop node of node 6. The reachable node may be a node that the downlink data can reach, or may be a node that the uplink data can reach, or may be a node that both uplink and downlink data can reach; [0326] Identification information of a transmission path that cannot be used for data transmission. The backhaul link where the RLF occurs is in this transmission path; the transmission path that cannot be used for data transmission can be a transmission path that cannot be used for downlink data transmission, or may be a transmission path that cannot be used for uplink data transmission, or may be a transmission path that cannot be used for uplink and downlink data transmission;
Note: The node sends a message that includes IDs of the unreachable node (first upper relay apparatus) and a reachable node (second upper relay apparatus).
Malkamaki and Wang are considered to be analogous because they involve the concept of backhaul communications. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Malkamaki to include the concept of detecting a radio link failure occurring in a backhaul link and establishing a backhaul link with an upper relay apparatus in response to the failure as taught by Wang so as to promote efficient communication within the network.
Luo further discloses: receiving, from a first donor apparatus of the relay apparatus via the second upper relay apparatus, a Radio Resource Control (RRC) reconfiguration message including an identifier for a distributed unit of a donor apparatus of the second upper relay apparatus and based on the identifier included in the RRC reconfiguration message.
[0036] The entity part of the IAB donor includes an IAB donor CU and an IAB donor DU.
[0153] It is assumed that the terminal is connected to two or more DUs, and one or more of the DUs are in an activated status, while some of the other DUs are in a deactivated status. When the entity unit of the donor determines that a link switching is required according to the measurement report reported by the IAB, the following operations are performed.
[0163] In operation 7, the source DU sends an RRC reconfiguration message to an IAB. The RRC reconfiguration message includes: a link migration indication or a link switching indication; a deactivated DU identifier; a deactivated UE F1AP identifier; a deactivated cell group identifier; an activated target DU identifier; an activated UE F1AP identifier; an activated cell group identifier; configured bearer configuration indication information; a target DU identifier of migration or switching; a target UE F1AP identifier of the migration or switching; a target cell group identifier of the migration or switching.
Malkamaki and Luo are considered to be analogous because they involve the concept of relay communications. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Malkamaki to include the concept of an RRC Reconfiguration message containing the donor identifier as taught by Luo so as to promote efficient communication within the network.
Teyeb further discloses: based on the identifier included in the RRC reconfiguration message, transferring the BAP data to the second upper relay apparatus having the same donor apparatus as the first upper relay apparatus based on the identifier included in the RRC reconfiguration message.
[0051] FIG. 7 illustrates multiple connectivity at intermediate nodes, leading to multiple connectivity of end nodes. An IAB child node connected to one or more upstream IAB node which uses NR-DC, can be allocated multiple BAP identifiers and IP addresses in order for it to be able to utilize the multi-connectivity.
[0186] The intermediate IAB node and donor DU may be configured. Adopting the CU-DU principles, using RRC Reconfiguration to set up the MT BAP layer and the BH RLC channels between the IAB node and its parent node implies that F1-AP signalling is required between the donor CU and the parent IAB node.
Note: Figure 7 shows several IAB nodes (IAB Nodes 0, 1, and 2, or IAB Nodes 0, 1, and 3) in relay to the donor DU (“same donor”). Since the nodes all connected sequentially to their respective donors (in the case of IAB Nodes 0-2 Donor DU 1, and in the case of IAB nodes 0, 1, and 3 Donor DU 2), the BAP data is transferred between these devices. Paragraph [0186] demonstrates that the RRC Reconfiguration message is uses between these IAB nodes and the donor.
Malkamaki and Teyeb are considered to be analogous because they involve the concept of relay communications. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Malkamaki to include the concept of transferring the BAP data as taught by Teyeb so as to promote efficient communication within the network.
Regarding Claim 10,
Claim 10 is rejected on the same grounds of rejection set forth in claim 1.
Malkamaki discloses: A relay apparatus comprising: a controller configured to establish a backhaul link between the relay apparatus and a first upper relay apparatus; and a Backhaul Adaptation Protocol (BAP) layer configured to receive a BAP data unit from a lower relay apparatus lower than the relay apparatus from a lower relay apparatus
[0054] IAB network consists of a tree where the IAB-donor is the root and IAB-nodes connect to it and other IAB-nodes (see FIG. 1). An adaptation layer supports mapping of UE bearer (i.e. access bearer) to backhaul RLC channel and/or routing in the IAB tree. It has been agreed that routing in the IAB tree uses adaptation layer addresses, either destination addresses (IAB-node (DL) or IAB-donor CU or DU address (UL)) or path identifiers. The “adaptation layer” is officially named Backhaul Adaptation Protocol (BAP).
[0089] In some example embodiments, the parent node may send a packet comprising the identification of the new IAB node (e.g. an adaptation layer/BAP control PDU with the IAB-donor DU destination address) after having received the UL packet. In particular, the parent node may respond to the unspecified destination address by a packet comprising the identification of the new IAB node.
wherein the BAP layer is configured to transfer the BAP data unit to the first upper relay apparatus
[0089] In some example embodiments, the parent node may send a packet comprising the identification of the new IAB node (e.g. an adaptation layer/BAP control PDU with the IAB-donor DU destination address) after having received the UL packet. In particular, the parent node may respond to the unspecified destination address by a packet comprising the identification of the new IAB node.
Malkamaki does not disclose the final limitations of this claim.
However, Wang discloses: the controller is configured to detect a radio link failure in the backhaul link established between the relay apparatus the first upper relay apparatus.
[0317] Step 3-1: node 6 transmits a message 3-1 for reporting RLF to node 7, this message is mainly to report information related to the RLF detected by node 6. This message is a message transmitted after the distributed unit part or the mobile terminal part of node 6 detects that the RLF occurs on the backhaul link it serves. The message includes at least one of the following information.
Wang further discloses: in response to detecting the radio link failure, establish a backhaul link with a second upper relay apparatus.
[0324] Identification information or address information (for example, BAP address) of unreachable node, the unreachable node is one node in the relay network, which can be the destination receiving node of one or more transmission paths, or a destination receiving node indicated by one or more pieces of routing identification information. In one embodiment, the unreachable node is a node that cannot reach through node 6 and inferred by node 6 according to the backhaul link where the RLF occurs, and the unreachable node may be the next hop node of node 6; in another embodiment, the unreachable node may not be the next hop node of node 6. The unreachable node can be a node that the downlink data cannot reach, or may be a node that the uplink data cannot reach, or may be a node that both the uplink and downlink data cannot reach; [0325] identification information or address information (for example, BAP address) of reachable node, the reachable node is a node in the relay network, which can be the destination receiving node of one or more transmission paths, or may be a destination receiving node indicated by one or more pieces of routing identification information. In one embodiment, the reachable node is a node can be reached by node 6 and inferred according to the backhaul link where the RLF occurs, and the reachable node may be the next hop node of node 6; in another embodiment, the reachable node may not be the next hop node of node 6. The reachable node may be a node that the downlink data can reach, or may be a node that the uplink data can reach, or may be a node that both uplink and downlink data can reach; [0326] Identification information of a transmission path that cannot be used for data transmission. The backhaul link where the RLF occurs is in this transmission path; the transmission path that cannot be used for data transmission can be a transmission path that cannot be used for downlink data transmission, or may be a transmission path that cannot be used for uplink data transmission, or may be a transmission path that cannot be used for uplink and downlink data transmission;
Note: The node sends a message that includes IDs of the unreachable node (first upper relay apparatus) and a reachable node (second upper relay apparatus).
Malkamaki and Wang are considered to be analogous because they involve the concept of backhaul communications. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Malkamaki to include the concept of detecting a radio link failure occurring in a backhaul link and establishing a backhaul link with an upper relay apparatus in response to the failure as taught by Wang so as to promote efficient communication within the network.
Luo further discloses: receive from a first donor apparatus of the relay apparatus via the second upper relay apparatus, a Radio Resource Control (RRC) reconfiguration message including an identifier for a distributed unit of a donor apparatus of the second upper relay apparatus and based on the identifier included in the RRC reconfiguration message.
[0036] The entity part of the IAB donor includes an IAB donor CU and an IAB donor DU.
[0153] It is assumed that the terminal is connected to two or more DUs, and one or more of the DUs are in an activated status, while some of the other DUs are in a deactivated status. When the entity unit of the donor determines that a link switching is required according to the measurement report reported by the IAB, the following operations are performed.
[0163] In operation 7, the source DU sends an RRC reconfiguration message to an IAB. The RRC reconfiguration message includes: a link migration indication or a link switching indication; a deactivated DU identifier; a deactivated UE F1AP identifier; a deactivated cell group identifier; an activated target DU identifier; an activated UE F1AP identifier; an activated cell group identifier; configured bearer configuration indication information; a target DU identifier of migration or switching; a target UE F1AP identifier of the migration or switching; a target cell group identifier of the migration or switching.
Malkamaki and Luo are considered to be analogous because they involve the concept of relay communications. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Malkamaki to include the concept of an RRC Reconfiguration message containing the donor identifier as taught by Luo so as to promote efficient communication within the network.
Teyeb further discloses: based on the identifier included in the RRC reconfiguration message, transferring the BAP data to the second upper relay apparatus having the same donor apparatus as the first upper relay apparatus based on the identifier included in the RRC reconfiguration message.
[0051] FIG. 7 illustrates multiple connectivity at intermediate nodes, leading to multiple connectivity of end nodes. An IAB child node connected to one or more upstream IAB node which uses NR-DC, can be allocated multiple BAP identifiers and IP addresses in order for it to be able to utilize the multi-connectivity.
[0186] The intermediate IAB node and donor DU may be configured. Adopting the CU-DU principles, using RRC Reconfiguration to set up the MT BAP layer and the BH RLC channels between the IAB node and its parent node implies that F1-AP signalling is required between the donor CU and the parent IAB node.
Note: Figure 7 shows several IAB nodes (IAB Nodes 0, 1, and 2, or IAB Nodes 0, 1, and 3) in relay to the donor DU (“same donor”). Since the nodes all connected sequentially to their respective donors (in the case of IAB Nodes 0-2 Donor DU 1, and in the case of IAB nodes 0, 1, and 3 Donor DU 2), the BAP data is transferred between these devices. Paragraph [0186] demonstrates that the RRC Reconfiguration message is uses between these IAB nodes and the donor.
Malkamaki and Teyeb are considered to be analogous because they involve the concept of relay communications. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Malkamaki to include the concept of transferring the BAP data as taught by Teyeb so as to promote efficient communication within the network.
Regarding Claim 11,
Claim 11 is rejected on the same grounds of rejection set forth in claim 1.
Malkamaki discloses: A chipset provided in a relay apparatus comprising a Backhaul Adaptation Protocol (BAP) layer, the chipset comprising a processor and a memory, wherein, the processor configured to execute processes of establishing a backhaul link between the relay apparatus and a first upper relay apparatus
[0054] IAB network consists of a tree where the IAB-donor is the root and IAB-nodes connect to it and other IAB-nodes (see FIG. 1). An adaptation layer supports mapping of UE bearer (i.e. access bearer) to backhaul RLC channel and/or routing in the IAB tree. It has been agreed that routing in the IAB tree uses adaptation layer addresses, either destination addresses (IAB-node (DL) or IAB-donor CU or DU address (UL)) or path identifiers. The “adaptation layer” is officially named Backhaul Adaptation Protocol (BAP).
receiving a BAP data unit from a lower relay apparatus lower than the relay apparatus
[0089] In some example embodiments, the parent node may send a packet comprising the identification of the new IAB node (e.g. an adaptation layer/BAP control PDU with the IAB-donor DU destination address) after having received the UL packet. In particular, the parent node may respond to the unspecified destination address by a packet comprising the identification of the new IAB node.
transferring the BAP data unit to the first upper relay apparatus
[0089] In some example embodiments, the parent node may send a packet comprising the identification of the new IAB node (e.g. an adaptation layer/BAP control PDU with the IAB-donor DU destination address) after having received the UL packet. In particular, the parent node may respond to the unspecified destination address by a packet comprising the identification of the new IAB node.
Malkamaki does not disclose the final limitations of this claim.
However, Wang discloses: detecting a radio link failure in the backhaul link established between the relay apparatus the first upper relay apparatus.
[0317] Step 3-1: node 6 transmits a message 3-1 for reporting RLF to node 7, this message is mainly to report information related to the RLF detected by node 6. This message is a message transmitted after the distributed unit part or the mobile terminal part of node 6 detects that the RLF occurs on the backhaul link it serves. The message includes at least one of the following information.
Wang further discloses: in response to detecting the radio link failure, establishing a backhaul link with a second upper relay apparatus.
[0324] Identification information or address information (for example, BAP address) of unreachable node, the unreachable node is one node in the relay network, which can be the destination receiving node of one or more transmission paths, or a destination receiving node indicated by one or more pieces of routing identification information. In one embodiment, the unreachable node is a node that cannot reach through node 6 and inferred by node 6 according to the backhaul link where the RLF occurs, and the unreachable node may be the next hop node of node 6; in another embodiment, the unreachable node may not be the next hop node of node 6. The unreachable node can be a node that the downlink data cannot reach, or may be a node that the uplink data cannot reach, or may be a node that both the uplink and downlink data cannot reach; [0325] identification information or address information (for example, BAP address) of reachable node, the reachable node is a node in the relay network, which can be the destination receiving node of one or more transmission paths, or may be a destination receiving node indicated by one or more pieces of routing identification information. In one embodiment, the reachable node is a node can be reached by node 6 and inferred according to the backhaul link where the RLF occurs, and the reachable node may be the next hop node of node 6; in another embodiment, the reachable node may not be the next hop node of node 6. The reachable node may be a node that the downlink data can reach, or may be a node that the uplink data can reach, or may be a node that both uplink and downlink data can reach; [0326] Identification information of a transmission path that cannot be used for data transmission. The backhaul link where the RLF occurs is in this transmission path; the transmission path that cannot be used for data transmission can be a transmission path that cannot be used for downlink data transmission, or may be a transmission path that cannot be used for uplink data transmission, or may be a transmission path that cannot be used for uplink and downlink data transmission;
Note: The node sends a message that includes IDs of the unreachable node (first upper relay apparatus) and a reachable node (second upper relay apparatus).
Malkamaki and Wang are considered to be analogous because they involve the concept of backhaul communications. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Malkamaki to include the concept of detecting a radio link failure occurring in a backhaul link and establishing a backhaul link with an upper relay apparatus in response to the failure as taught by Wang so as to promote efficient communication within the network.
Luo further discloses: receiving, from a first donor apparatus of the relay apparatus via the second upper relay apparatus, a Radio Resource Control (RRC) reconfiguration message including an identifier for a distributed unit of a donor apparatus of the second upper relay apparatus and based on the identifier included in the RRC reconfiguration message.
[0036] The entity part of the IAB donor includes an IAB donor CU and an IAB donor DU.
[0153] It is assumed that the terminal is connected to two or more DUs, and one or more of the DUs are in an activated status, while some of the other DUs are in a deactivated status. When the entity unit of the donor determines that a link switching is required according to the measurement report reported by the IAB, the following operations are performed.
[0163] In operation 7, the source DU sends an RRC reconfiguration message to an IAB. The RRC reconfiguration message includes: a link migration indication or a link switching indication; a deactivated DU identifier; a deactivated UE F1AP identifier; a deactivated cell group identifier; an activated target DU identifier; an activated UE F1AP identifier; an activated cell group identifier; configured bearer configuration indication information; a target DU identifier of migration or switching; a target UE F1AP identifier of the migration or switching; a target cell group identifier of the migration or switching.
Malkamaki and Luo are considered to be analogous because they involve the concept of relay communications. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Malkamaki to include the concept of an RRC Reconfiguration message containing the donor identifier as taught by Luo so as to promote efficient communication within the network.
Teyeb further discloses: based on the identifier included in the RRC reconfiguration message, transferring the BAP data to the second upper relay apparatus having the same donor apparatus as the first upper relay apparatus based on the identifier included in the RRC reconfiguration message.
[0051] FIG. 7 illustrates multiple connectivity at intermediate nodes, leading to multiple connectivity of end nodes. An IAB child node connected to one or more upstream IAB node which uses NR-DC, can be allocated multiple BAP identifiers and IP addresses in order for it to be able to utilize the multi-connectivity.
[0186] The intermediate IAB node and donor DU may be configured. Adopting the CU-DU principles, using RRC Reconfiguration to set up the MT BAP layer and the BH RLC channels between the IAB node and its parent node implies that F1-AP signalling is required between the donor CU and the parent IAB node.
Note: Figure 7 shows several IAB nodes (IAB Nodes 0, 1, and 2, or IAB Nodes 0, 1, and 3) in relay to the donor DU (“same donor”). Since the nodes all connected sequentially to their respective donors (in the case of IAB Nodes 0-2 Donor DU 1, and in the case of IAB nodes 0, 1, and 3 Donor DU 2), the BAP data is transferred between these devices. Paragraph [0186] demonstrates that the RRC Reconfiguration message is uses between these IAB nodes and the donor.
Malkamaki and Teyeb are considered to be analogous because they involve the concept of relay communications. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Malkamaki to include the concept of transferring the BAP data as taught by Teyeb so as to promote efficient communication within the network.
Response to Arguments
The objections to the drawings and Claim 1 are withdrawn.
Foreign priority is now perfected.
Applicant's arguments filed with respect to independent claims 1, 10, and 11 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Conclusion
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 extension fee 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 date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JESSE P. SAMLUK whose telephone number is (571)270-5607. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9-5.
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/JESSE P. SAMLUK/Examiner, Art Unit 2411
/DERRICK W FERRIS/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2411
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