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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 7/10/2025 has been entered.
Claim Objections
Claim 16 is objected to because it depends on a canceled claim. The Examiner assumes claim 16 depends on claim 1. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
Claims 1, 4, 12, 14, 16-18, 33 and 49 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Wang et al (US 20220286896 A1, hereinafter Wang-896).
Consider claims 1 and 33, Wang-896 discloses a sidelink interface bearer configuration change method, applied to a first terminal comprising a transceiver, a memory, a processor and a program (see Fig. 7 and paragraphs 144-146) , wherein the first terminal is a sidelink interface transmitting terminal, the method comprises:
in a case that a state of the first terminal is changed, obtaining sidelink radio bearer (SLRB) configuration information from a first network device serving the first terminal or from a protocol layer responsible for management of the SLRB configuration information of the first terminal after the state of the first terminal is changed (For example, when a UE switches from the current base station to another base station, paragraph 41; the UE receives the PC5 QoS flow remapping configuration, that is, the configuration information, sent by the base station, paragraph 70);
releasing an SLRB established by a current sidelink interface (As for a UE in the connected state, if being interested in or being no longer interested in sending or receiving sidelink communication, the UE in the connected state needs to notify the base station so as to request the base station to allocate or release a sidelink communication resource, paragraph 160), or performing SLRB remapping of the sidelink interface according to the SLRB configuration information after the state of the first terminal is changed (when a UE switches from the current base station to another base station, the new base station may reconfigure/update the mapping from the PC5 QoS flow to an SLRB based on the sidelink resource situations. Alternatively, the PC5 QoS flow is remapped to another SLRB from a default SLRB, paragraph 41);
wherein the performing SLRB remapping of the sidelink interface comprises:
after sending End Marker Control PDU corresponding to the SLRB, performing SLRB reconfiguration (Specifically, the UE sends the end marker (that is, the assembled end-marker SDAP PDU) and maps the PC5 QoS flow to the source SLRB for transmission, Fig. 3 and paragraph 75);
transmitting indication information to a second terminal, wherein the second terminal is a communication terminal that forms a sidelink with the first terminal, and the indication information includes at least one of:
a first type of indication information for releasing the currently established SLRB, releasing the currently established SLRB and establishing a new SLRB (As for a UE in the connected state, if being interested in or being no longer interested in sending or receiving sidelink communication, the UE in the connected state needs to notify the base station so as to request the base station to allocate or release a sidelink communication resource, paragraph 160), or
a second type of indication information for indicating SLRB remapping of the sidelink interface (the remapping configuration information is sent to a second communication node, Fig. 3 and paragraph 49; the remapping configuration information includes the identifier information of the PC5 QoS flow in which re-mapping is occurred, the identifier information of the corresponding source SLRB, and the identifier information of the corresponding target SLRB, paragraph 56);
wherein the releasing an SLRB established by a current sidelink interface, or performing SLRB remapping of the sidelink interface according to the SLRB configuration information after the state of the first terminal is changed includes:
after obtaining the SLRB configuration information after the state of the first terminal is changed, releasing the SLRB that has been established by the current sidelink interface, or, performing SLRB remapping of the sidelink interface according to the SLRB configuration information after the state of the first terminal is changed (remapping configuration information is determined, where the remapping configuration information indicates a PC5 QoS flow in which re-mapping is occurred, a source sidelink radio bearer (SLRB) corresponding to the PC5 QoS flow in which re-mapping is occurred, and a target SLRB corresponding to the PC5 QoS flow in which re-mapping is occurred; and the remapping configuration information is sent to a second communication node, paragraph 52; on a target SLRB, the mapping from PC5 QoS flow 1 to the target SLRB is added to the mapping relationships between PC5 QoS flows and SLRBs, paragraph 63).
Consider claim 4, and as applied to claim 1 above, Wang-896 discloses wherein the state of the first terminal is changed, includes one of the following:
changing from an OOC state to an RRC_IDLE state or an RRC_INACTIVE state; changing from the RRC_IDLE state or the RRC_INACTIVE state to an RRCCONNECTED state;
changing from the RRC_CONNECTED state to the RRC_IDLE state or the RRINACTIVE state (when a UE enters the RRC idle/inactive state from the RRC connected, paragraph 130);
reselecting a first terminal in the RRC_IDLE state from one cell to another cell; handing over a first terminal in the RRC_CONNECTED state from one cell to another cell (For example, when a UE switches from the current base station to another base station, the new base station may reconfigure/update the mapping from the PC5 QoS flow to an SLRB based on the sidelink resource situations, paragraph 41).
Consider claim 12, and as applied to claim1 above, Wang -896 discloses wherein the second type of indication information includes at least one of the following:
RRC signaling of the sidelink interface;
PDU of the sidelink interface, the PDU is a data PDU or a control PDU, and the PDU is used to indicate that the first terminal has performed the SLRB remapping, wherein a content of the RRC signaling of the sidelink interface includes at least one of the following:
SLRB configuration information before the state of the first terminal is changed; SLRB configuration information after the state of the first terminal is changed.
(the UE sends the identifier information of the PC5 QoS flow in which re-mapping is occurred, the identifier information of the source SLRB, and the identifier information of the target SLRB through an SL MAC CE to the opposite-end UE, paragraph 66).
Consider claim 14, and as applied to claim 1 above, Wang-896 discloses wherein after transmitting the indication information to the second terminal, the method further comprises:
receiving a response message sent by the second terminal, wherein the releasing the SLRB that has been established by the current sidelink interface, or,
performing SLRB remapping of the sidelink interface according to the SLRB configuration information after the state of the first terminal is changed includes: after receiving the response message sent by the second terminal, releasing the SLRB that has been established by the current sidelink interface, or, performing the SLRB remapping of the sidelink interface according to the SLRB configuration information after the state of the first terminal is changed (see Fig. 3).
Consider claim 16, and as applied to claim 1 above, Wang-896 discloses wherein after releasing the SLRB that has been established by the current sidelink interface, the method further comprises: establishing a target SLRB according to the SLRB configuration information (As for a UE in the connected state, if being interested in or being no longer interested in sending or receiving sidelink communication, the UE in the connected state needs to notify the base station so as to request the base station to allocate or release a sidelink communication resource, paragraph 160; a target SLRB corresponding to the PC5 QoS flow in which re-mapping is occurred, paragraph 150)
Consider claim 17, and as applied to claim 1 above, Wang-896 discloses wherein the first network device is a serving base station, a serving distributed unit (DU) or a serving centralized unit (CU) of the first terminal; the protocol layer responsible for the management of the SLRB configuration information of the first terminal is an RRC layer or other protocol layers that store the SLRB configuration information (base station, see Fig. 3).
Consider claims 18 and 49, Wang-896 discloses a sidelink interface bearer configuration change method, applied to a second terminal comprising a transceiver, a memory, a processor and a program (see Fig. 8 and paragraphs 147-149), wherein the second terminal is a sidelink interface receiving terminal, the method comprises:
after obtaining, by a first terminal, SLRB configuration information after the state of the first terminal is changed from a first network device serving the first terminal or from a protocol layer responsible for management of the SLRB configuration information of the first terminal, receiving indication information sent by a first terminal (For example, when a UE switches from the current base station to another base station, paragraph 41; the UE receives the PC5 QoS flow remapping configuration, that is, the configuration information, sent by the base station, paragraph 70; the remapping configuration information is sent to a second communication node, paragraph 52); and
releasing an SLRB that has been established by a current sidelink interface according to the indication information, or
performing an operation corresponding to SLRB remapping of the sidelink interface of the first terminal (updating the mapping relationship between QFIs and SLRBs, paragraph 131);
the indication information includes at least on of:
a first type of indication information for releasing the currently established SLRB, or releasing the currently established SLRB and establishing a new SLRB As for a UE in the connected state, if being interested in or being no longer interested in sending or receiving sidelink communication, the UE in the connected state needs to notify the base station so as to request the base station to allocate or release a sidelink communication resource, paragraph 160), or
a second type of indication information for indicating SLRB remapping of the sidelink (the remapping configuration information is sent to a second communication node, Fig. 3 and paragraph 49; the remapping configuration information includes the identifier information of the PC5 QoS flow in which re-mapping is occurred, the identifier information of the corresponding source SLRB, and the identifier information of the corresponding target SLRB, paragraph 56);
wherein the performing SLRB remapping of the sidelink interface comprises:
after sending End Marker Control PDU corresponding to the SLRB, performing SLRB reconfiguration (Specifically, the UE sends the end marker (that is, the assembled end-marker SDAP PDU) and maps the PC5 QoS flow to the source SLRB for transmission, Fig. 3 and paragraph 75).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
Claims 7-9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wang-896 in view of Wang et al (US 2022/0217575 A1, hereinafter Wang-575).
Consider claim 7, and as applied to claim 1 above, Wang-896 des not expressly disclose wherein the first type of indication information includes one of the following:
an RRC signaling of the sidelink interface;
a media access control unit (MAC CE) of the sidelink interface;
a physical layer signaling of the sidelink interfaces;
a protocol data unit (PDU) of the sidelink interface, wherein the PDU is a data PDU or a control PDU, and the PDU is used to instruct the second terminal to release the SLRB that has been established by the current sidelink interface.
In the same field of endeavor, Wang-575 discloses wherein the first type of indication information includes one of the following:
an RRC signaling of the sidelink interface (the UE sends the SLRB configuration update information to the peer UE over the PC5 interface ; paragraph 131; For PC5/sidelink unicast communication, it is defined that PC5 RRC signallings are at least used for UE capability interaction and AS layer configuration information interaction, and these PC5 RRC signallings should be transmitted through a sidelink signalling bearer over the PC5 interface, paragraph 142);
a media access control unit (MAC CE) of the sidelink interface;
a physical layer signaling of the sidelink interfaces;
a protocol data unit (PDU) of the sidelink interface, wherein the PDU is a data PDU or a control PDU, and the PDU is used to instruct the second terminal to release the SLRB that has been established by the current sidelink interface.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to combine the teachings of Wang-575 with the teachings of Wang-896 in order to avoid the problem of SLRB configuration conflict.
Consider claim 8, and as applied to claim 7 above, Wang-575 discloses wherein the RRC signaling of the sidelink interface carries at least one of the following information:
a full configuration identifier of the sidelink interface;
an identifier of the first terminal;
an identifier of the second terminal;
a radio bearer identifier or a logical channel identifier corresponding to an SLRB to be released between the first terminal and the second terminal;
SLRB configuration information of an SLRB to be established between the first terminal and the second terminal (the SLRB configuration information includes: configuration information of one or more SLRBs associated with a first identifier and a second identifier or configuration information of one or more SLRBs associated with the second identifier. The first identifier is a source layer 2 (L2) identifier (ID) or a source access stratum (AS) layer UE ID, and the second identifier is a destination L2 ID or a destination AS layer UE ID, paragraph 50).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to combine the teachings of Wang-575 with the teachings of Wang-896 in order to avoid the problem of SLRB configuration conflict.
Consider claim 9, and as applied to claim 7 above, Wang-896 discloses wherein a payload of the MAC CE of the sidelink interface is empty, or the payload of the MAC CE includes at least one of the following information:
an identifier of the first terminal;
an identifier of the second terminal;
a radio bearer identifier or a logical channel identifier corresponding to an SLRB to be released between the first terminal and the second terminal; wherein, the radio bearer identifier or the logical channel identifier corresponding to the SLRB is a complete identifier or is an identifier indicated by a bitmap in an ascending or descending order of identifier numbers (The remapping configuration information may include: the PC5 QoS flow being released from the source SLRB and added to the target SLRB, paragraph 48; When the remapping configuration information is sent through the SL MAC CE, the identifier information of the PC5 QoS flow in which re-mapping is occurred, the identifier information of the source SLRB, and the identifier information of the new SLRB are sent through the SL MAC CE to an opposite-end UE, that is, the second communication node, so that the second communication node performs in-order delivery to the upper layer, paragraph 62; the UE sends the identifier information of the PC5 QoS flow in which re-mapping is occurred, the identifier information of the source SLRB, and the identifier information of the target SLRB through an SL MAC CE to the opposite-end UE. Table 1 shows the MAC CE format, see Paragraph 66).
Claim 11 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable Wang-896 in view of Wang-575, and further in view of Zhao et al (US 20220046698 A1, hereinafter Zhao).
Consider claim 11, and as applied to claim 7 above, the combination of Wang-896 and Wang-575 does not expressly disclose wherein the physical layer signaling of the sidelink interface includes at least one of the following information:
1 bit indication information, used to indicate to release all SLRBs of the current sidelink interface;
an identifier of the first terminal;
an identifier of the second terminal;
a radio bearer identifier or a logical channel identifier corresponding to the SLRB to be released between the first terminal and the second terminal.
In the same field of endeavor, Zhao discloses wherein the physical layer signaling of the sidelink interface includes at least one of the following information:
1 bit indication information, used to indicate to release all SLRBs of the current sidelink interface (the DCI includes a first bitmap, and each bit in the first bit map is used to indicate to activate or deactivate a sidelink configured grant of the plurality of sidelink configured grants which is corresponding to the bit, paragraph 217);
an identifier of the first terminal;
an identifier of the second terminal;
a radio bearer identifier or a logical channel identifier corresponding to the SLRB to be released between the first terminal and the second terminal.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to combine the teachings of Zhao with the teachings of Wnag-896 and Wang-575to reduce the sidelink transmission delay.
Claim 19, 27 and 28 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable Wang-896 in view of Kim et al (US 20220295337 A1, hereinafter Kim).
Consider claim 19, and as applies to claim 18 above, Wang-896 does not disclose wherein the releasing the SLRB that has been established by a current sidelink interface according to the indication information includes:
releasing the SLRB that has been established by the current sidelink interface according to the first type of indication information.
In the same field of endeavor Kim discloses
wherein the releasing the SLRB that has been established by a current sidelink interface according to the indication information includes:
releasing the SLRB that has been established by the current sidelink interface according to the first type of indication information.
disclose wherein the releasing the SLRB that has been established by a current sidelink interface according to the indication information includes:
releasing the SLRB that has been established by the current sidelink interface according to the first type of indication information.
In the same field of endeavor Kim discloses wherein the releasing the SLRB that has been established by a current sidelink interface according to the indication information includes:
releasing the SLRB that has been established by the current sidelink interface according to the first type of indication information (For unicast, when the UE determines the SLRB is not needed anymore, e.g. when the PC5 unicast link was released, when the related PC5 QoS Flow(s) and PFI(s) were removed from the PC5 unicast link. Proposal#13: It is proposed that the UE may perform SLRB release when the UE determines the SLRB is not needed anymore (see Table 9, pp. 15-16).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to combine the teachings of Kim with the teachings of Wang-896 in order to release resource that are not needed anymore.
Consider claim 27, and as applies to claim 19 above, Wang -896 discloses wherein the indication information is the first type of indication information, and the method further comprises:
releasing the SLRB that has been established by the current sidelink interface according to the first type of indication information;
when the first type of indication information includes establishing SLRB configuration information of an SLRB, establishing the SLRB according to the SLRB configuration information, or
wherein the performing an operation corresponding to SLRB remapping of the sidelink interface of the first terminal further includes:
performing SLRB reconfiguration according to the second type of indication information (remapping configuration information is determined, where the remapping configuration information indicates a PC5 QoS flow in which re-mapping is occurred, a source sidelink radio bearer (SLRB) corresponding to the PC5 QoS flow in which re-mapping is occurred, and a target SLRB corresponding to the PC5 QoS flow in which re-mapping is occurred; and the remapping configuration information is sent to a second communication node, paragraph 52; on a target SLRB, the mapping from PC5 QoS flow 1 to the target SLRB is added to the mapping relationships between PC5 QoS flows and SLRBs, paragraph 63).
Kim discloses releasing the SLRB that has been established by the current sidelink interface according to the first type of indication information( For unicast, when the UE determines the SLRB is not needed anymore, e.g. when the PC5 unicast link was released, when the related PC5 QoS Flow(s) and PFI(s) were removed from the PC5 unicast link. Proposal#13: It is proposed that the UE may perform SLRB release when the UE determines the SLRB is not needed anymore (see Table 9, pp. 15-16).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to combine the teachings of Kim with the teachings of Wang-896 in order to release resource that are not needed anymore.
Consider claim 28, and as applies to claim 19 above, Kim discloses wherein the performing an operation corresponding to SLRB remapping of the sidelink interface of the first terminal comprises at least one of the following:
releasing the SLRB corresponding to the sidelink interface after receiving the second type of indication information For unicast, when the UE determines the SLRB is not needed anymore, e.g. when the PC5 unicast link was released, when the related PC5 QoS Flow(s) and PFI(s) were removed from the PC5 unicast link. Proposal#13: It is proposed that the UE may perform SLRB release when the UE determines the SLRB is not needed anymore (see Table 9, pp. 15-16);
when an End Marker Control PDU of a service data adaptation protocol layer corresponding to the SLRB is received, releasing the SLRB corresponding to the End Marker Control PDU, wherein, after releasing the SLRB corresponding to the sidelink interface or releasing the SLRB corresponding to the End Marker Control PDU, the performing an operation corresponding to SLRB remapping of the sidelink interface of the first terminal includes at least one of the following:
when receiving a first data packet corresponding to a combination of a source address, a destination address and a logical channel identifier, establishing a corresponding SLRB and corresponding service data adaptation protocol (SDAP), packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) and radio link control (RLC) entities (The SLRB configuration information includes at least one of: a destination L2 ID, a source-destination L2 ID, a bearer identifier, an associated PDU session identifier, whether to carry a service discovery application profile (SDAP) header (SDAP header), a default bearer identifier, a mapping relationship between QFIs and SLRBs, a PDCP configuration, an RLC mode indication, paragraph 98; the sidelink communication configuration information includes an LCG ID to which a logical channel of the SLRB belongs, paragraph 181);
when receiving a first data packet corresponding to a combination of the source address, the destination address, a transmission type and the logical channel identifier, establishing the corresponding SLRB and the corresponding SDAP, PDCP and RLC entities.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to combine the teachings of Kim with the teachings of Wang-896 in order to release resource that are not needed anymore.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments have been considered but are moot in view of the new ground(s) of rejection.
Conclusion
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/GERMAN VIANA DI PRISCO/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2642