DETAILED ACTION
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 29 December 2025 has been entered. Claims 1, 16, 50, and 51 are currently amended; claim 19-49 are cancelled; claims 2-15, 17, and 18 are previously presented; no claims have been added. Claims 1-18, 50, and 51 are pending and ready for examination.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to the claims have been considered but are moot in view of the new grounds of rejection.
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 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 nonobviousness.
Claims 1, 2, 50, and 51 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over WO2019212249 A1 in view of Damnjanovic et al. (US 11,647,383 B2), hereafter referred Damnjanovic, further in view of Lu et al. (US 2019/0187999 A1), hereafter referred Lu. WO2019212249 A1 was cited by applicant’s IDS filed 11 August 2022 and is used for references to the figures. A machine language translation of WO2019212249 A1 is provided for the description of its specification in the rejection below and is hereafter referred Hong.
Regarding claim 1, Hong teaches a method of operating a first communications device (Hong, Fig. 13, p. 18; IAB node 910 that serves as a relay node) forming part of a wireless communications network including a second communications device (Hong, Fig. 13, p. 18; IAB node 900 that serves as a UE) and an infrastructure equipment (Hong, Fig. 13, p. 18; IAB donor node 920 that serves as gNB), the method comprising:
communicating via the infrastructure equipment using a first wireless access interface implemented by a first set of protocol entities in the first communications device and a corresponding first set of peer protocol entities in the infrastructure equipment (Hong, Fig. 13, p. 18-19; Interface BH RLC channel between 910 and 920 is a Un interface that connects the relay node and the donor base station as a wireless backhaul);
receiving, from the infrastructure equipment, an indication of a configuration of a second wireless access interface for communication between the first communications device and the second communications device (Hong, p. 17-19; an ARQ function may be configured along an access link and backhaul link where the PDCP entity may receive an indication of confirmation of successful transmission or a transmission failure), the second wireless access interface being implemented by a second set of protocol entities in the first communications device and a corresponding second set of peer protocol entities in the second communications device (Hong, Fig. 13, p. 18-19; Interface BH RLC channel between 900 and 910 is a Uu interface that directly connects the terminal and the relay node as a wireless access);
maintaining at least one protocol entity of the first set of protocol entities in the first communications device used in the communicating via the infrastructure equipment using the first wireless access interface; configuring, on a basis of the indication of the configuration of the second wireless access interface received from the infrastructure equipment, the second wireless access interface for communication between the first communications device and the second communications device (Hong, p. 17-20; the terminal receive an acknowledgement of whether the transmission was successful according to the ARQ operation from the relay node, where if the response indicates the transmission failure, the terminal performs a retransmission operation on the packet performed in the AM RLC entity).
Hong does not expressly teach processing data including:
processing the data using at least one of the at least one maintained protocol entity of the first set of protocol entities in the first communications device used in the communicating via the infrastructure equipment using the first wireless access interface when the data is intended for the infrastructure equipment, and
processing the data using at least one of the second set of protocol entities in the first communications device when the data is intended for the second communications device to facilitate routing of the data between the first communications device, the second communications device, and the infrastructure equipment.
However, Damnjanovic teaches processing data including:
processing the data using at least one of the at least one maintained protocol entity of the first set of protocol entities in the first communications device used in the communicating via the infrastructure equipment using the first wireless access interface when the data is intended for the infrastructure equipment (Damnjanovic, Fig. 9, Column 23, lines 17-25; the UE 115-i may communicate with the UE RRH 140-i on a second frequency band (FR2) and the UE RRH 140-i may relay such communication to/from the base station 105-i on the first frequency band (FR1)), and
processing the data using at least one of the second set of protocol entities in the first communications device when the data is intended for the second communications device to facilitate routing of the data between the first communications device, the second communications device, and the infrastructure equipment (Damnjanovic, Fig. 9, Column 23, lines 17-25; the UE 115-i may communicate with the UE RRH 140-i on a second frequency band (FR2) and the UE RRH 140-i may relay such communication to/from the base station 105-i on the first frequency band (FR1)).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Hong to include the above recited limitations as taught by Damnjanovic in order to enable communications via relays in wireless communication systems (Damnjanovic, Column 1, lines 45-60).
Hong in view of Damnjanovic does not expressly teach the configuring the second wireless access interface for communication and the processing the data using at least one of the second set of protocol entities occur while maintaining the at least one protocol entity of the first set of protocol entities in the first communication device used in the communicating via the infrastructure equipment using the first wireless access interface.
However, Lu teaches the configuring the second wireless access interface for communication and the processing the data using at least one of the second set of protocol entities occur while maintaining the at least one protocol entity of the first set of protocol entities in the first communication device used in the communicating via the infrastructure equipment using the first wireless access interface (Lu, Fig. 10B, [0073]-[0074]; the relay UE device may be utilized to provide topological redundant wireless backhaul connections for the remote UE where this multi-connectivity channels can meet service requirement of the remote UE).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Hong in view of Damnjanovic to include the above recited limitations as taught by Lu in order to meet different UE service requirement of the remote UE (Lu, [0073]).
Regarding claim 50, Hong teaches a communications device (Hong, Fig. 13, p. 18; IAB node 900 that serves as a UE) for communicating in a wireless communications network, the communications device comprising
receiver circuitry configured to receive signals transmitted via a first wireless access interface between the communications device and an infrastructure equipment (Hong, Fig. 13, p. 18; IAB donor node 920 that serves as gNB) of the wireless communications network (Hong, Fig. 13, p. 18-19; Interface BH RLC channel between 910 and 920 is a Un interface that connects the relay node and the donor base station as a wireless backhaul) and to receive signals transmitted via a second wireless access interface between the communications device (Hong, p. 17-19; an ARQ function may be configured along an access link and backhaul link where the PDCP entity may receive an indication of confirmation of successful transmission or a transmission failure) and another communications device acting as a relay for the communications device (Hong, Fig. 13, p. 18; IAB node 910 that serves as a relay node),
transmitter circuitry configured to transmit signals via the first wireless access interface between the communications device and the infrastructure equipment of the wireless communications network and to transmit signals via the second wireless access interface between the communications device and relay communications device, and controller circuity configured to control the transmitter circuitry and the receiver circuitry to communicate via the infrastructure equipment using the first wireless access interface implemented by a first set of protocol entities in the communications device and a corresponding first set of peer protocol entities in the infrastructure equipment (Hong, Fig. 19, p. 38; terminal has a transmitter 1920 for transmitting to the donor base station through the relay node and receiver 1930 for receiving from the donor base station);
to receive, from the infrastructure equipment, an indication of a configuration of the second wireless access interface implemented by a second set of protocol entities in the communications device and a corresponding second set of peer protocol entities in the relay communications device (Hong, p. 17-19; an ARQ function may be configured along an access link and backhaul link where the PDCP entity may receive an indication of confirmation of successful transmission or a transmission failure), which correspond to the first set of protocol entities in the first communications device and the corresponding first set of peer protocol entitles in the infrastructure equipment implementing the first wireless access interface (Hong, Fig. 13, p. 18-19; Interface BH RLC channel between 900 and 910 is a Uu interface that directly connects the terminal and the relay node as a wireless access); and
to maintain at least one protocol entity of the first set of protocol entities in the communications device used in the communicating via the infrastructure equipment using the first wireless access interface; to configure, on a basis of the indication of the configuration of the second wireless access interface received from the infrastructure equipment, the second wireless access interface for communication between the communications device and the relay communications device (Hong, p. 17-20; the terminal receive an acknowledgement of whether the transmission was successful according to the ARQ operation from the relay node, where if the response indicates the transmission failure, the terminal performs a retransmission operation on the packet performed in the AM RLC entity).
Hong does not expressly teach to process data including:
processing the data using at least one of the at least one maintained protocol entity of the first set of protocol entities in the first communications device used in the communicating via the infrastructure equipment using the first wireless access interface when the data is intended for the infrastructure equipment, and
processing the data using at least one of the second set of protocol entities in the first communications device when the data is intended for the second communications device to facilitate routing of the data between the first communications device, the second communications device, and the infrastructure equipment.
However, Damnjanovic teaches to process data including:
processing the data using at least one of the at least one maintained protocol entity of the first set of protocol entities in the first communications device used in the communicating via the infrastructure equipment using the first wireless access interface when the data is intended for the infrastructure equipment (Damnjanovic, Fig. 9, Column 23, lines 17-25; the UE 115-i may communicate with the UE RRH 140-i on a second frequency band (FR2) and the UE RRH 140-i may relay such communication to/from the base station 105-i on the first frequency band (FR1)), and
processing the data using at least one of the second set of protocol entities in the first communications device when the data is intended for the second communications device to facilitate routing of the data between the first communications device, the second communications device, and the infrastructure equipment (Damnjanovic, Fig. 9, Column 23, lines 17-25; the UE 115-i may communicate with the UE RRH 140-i on a second frequency band (FR2) and the UE RRH 140-i may relay such communication to/from the base station 105-i on the first frequency band (FR1)).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Hong to include the above recited limitations as taught by Damnjanovic in order to enable communications via relays in wireless communication systems (Damnjanovic, Column 1, lines 45-60).
Hong in view of Damnjanovic does not expressly teach the configuring the second wireless access interface for communication and the processing the data using at least one of the second set of protocol entities occur while maintaining the at least one protocol entity of the first set of protocol entities in the first communication device used in the communicating via the infrastructure equipment using the first wireless access interface.
However, Lu teaches the configuring the second wireless access interface for communication and the processing the data using at least one of the second set of protocol entities occur while maintaining the at least one protocol entity of the first set of protocol entities in the first communication device used in the communicating via the infrastructure equipment using the first wireless access interface (Lu, Fig. 10B, [0073]-[0074]; the relay UE device may be utilized to provide topological redundant wireless backhaul connections for the remote UE where this multi-connectivity channels can meet service requirement of the remote UE).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Hong in view of Damnjanovic to include the above recited limitations as taught by Lu in order to meet different UE service requirement of the remote UE (Lu, [0073]).
Regarding claim 51, Hong teaches a communications device for forming a relay communications device (Hong, Fig. 13, p. 18; IAB node 910 that serves as a relay node) to a remote communications device in a wireless communications network, the communications device comprising:
receiver circuitry configured to receive signals transmitted via a first wireless access interface from an infrastructure equipment of the wireless communications network (Hong, Fig. 13, p. 18-19; Interface BH RLC channel between 910 and 920 is a Un interface that connects the relay node and the donor base station as a wireless backhaul) and to receive signals transmitted via a second wireless access interface from the remote communications device (Hong, p. 17-19; an ARQ function may be configured along an access link and backhaul link where the PDCP entity may receive an indication of confirmation of successful transmission or a transmission failure),
transmitter circuitry configured to transmit signals via the first wireless access interface to the infrastructure equipment of the wireless communications network and to transmit signals via the second wireless access interface to the remote communications device, and controller circuity configured to control the receiver circuitry (Hong, Fig. 7; Fig. 7 illustrates the relay node (RN) 710 with a wireless antenna that is capable of wireless communications through the Uu interface to the UE 700 and through the Un interface to the DeNB 720)
to receive, from the infrastructure equipment, an indication of a configuration of the second wireless access interface for communication between the remote communications device and the relay communications device, the indication of the second wireless access interface being related to the first wireless access interface (Hong, p. 17-19; an ARQ function may be configured along an access link and backhaul link where the PDCP entity may receive an indication of confirmation of successful transmission or a transmission failure), the second wireless access interface being implemented by a second set of protocol entities in the remote communications device and a corresponding second set of peer protocol entities in the relay communications device, which correspond to a first set of protocol entities in the remote communications device and a corresponding first set of peer protocol entitles in the infrastructure equipment that implement the first wireless access interface; and to control the transmitter circuitry (Hong, p. 30-31; when the terminal is connected to the donor base station via one or more relay nodes, RLC sessions may be configured one each radio link)
to transmit, to the remote communications device, the indication of the configuration of the second wireless interface (Hong, p. 17-19; an ARQ function may be configured along an access link and backhaul link where the PDCP entity may receive an indication of confirmation of successful transmission or a transmission failure);
to control the receiver circuitry to receive processed data from either the remote communications device or the infrastructure equipment (Hong, Fig. 10 and 11, p. 17; terminal 900 transmits data, IAB node 910 transmits the successful reception of the corresponding data and forwards the data to another IAB node 915 that then forwards the data to the donor base station).
Hong does not expressly teach to distinguish between a first type of data received from the remote communications device that was processed by a maintained protocol entity of the first set of protocol entities in the remote communications device and a second type of data received from the remote communications device that was processed by a second set of protocol entities in the remote communication device, and to control the transmitter circuitry to forward the first type of data to the infrastructure equipment.
However, Damnjanovic teaches to distinguish between a first type of data received from the remote communications device that was processed by a maintained protocol entity of the first set of protocol entities in the remote communications device and a second type of data received from the remote communications device that was processed by a second set of protocol entities in the remote communication device, and to control the transmitter circuitry to forward the first type of data to the infrastructure equipment (Damnjanovic, Fig. 9, Column 23, lines 17-25; the UE 115-i may communicate with the UE RRH 140-i on a second frequency band (FR2) and the UE RRH 140-i may relay such communication to/from the base station 105-i on the first frequency band (FR1)).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Hong to include the above recited limitations as taught by Damnjanovic in order to enable communications via relays in wireless communication systems (Damnjanovic, Column 1, lines 45-60).
Hong in view of Damnjanovic does not expressly teach the configuring the second wireless access interface for communication and the processing the data using at least one of the second set of protocol entities occur while maintaining the at least one protocol entity of the first set of protocol entities in the first communication device used in the communicating via the infrastructure equipment using the first wireless access interface.
However, Lu teaches the configuring the second wireless access interface for communication and the processing the data using at least one of the second set of protocol entities occur while maintaining the at least one protocol entity of the first set of protocol entities in the first communication device used in the communicating via the infrastructure equipment using the first wireless access interface (Lu, Fig. 10B, [0073]-[0074]; the relay UE device may be utilized to provide topological redundant wireless backhaul connections for the remote UE where this multi-connectivity channels can meet service requirement of the remote UE).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Hong in view of Damnjanovic to include the above recited limitations as taught by Lu in order to meet different UE service requirement of the remote UE (Lu, [0073]).
Regarding claim 2, Hong in view of Damnjanovic further in view of Lu teaches the method according to claim 1 above. Hong does not expressly teach further comprising transmitting the processed data intended for the infrastructure equipment to the second communications device for forwarding on to the infrastructure equipment.
However, Damnjanovic teaches further comprising transmitting the processed data intended for the infrastructure equipment to the second communications device for forwarding on to the infrastructure equipment (Damnjanovic, Fig. 9, Column 23, lines 17-25; the UE 115-i may communicate with the UE RRH 140-i on a second frequency band (FR2) and the UE RRH 140-i may relay such communication to/from the base station 105-i on the first frequency band (FR1)).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Hong to include the above recited limitations as taught by Damnjanovic in order to enable communications via relays in wireless communication systems (Damnjanovic, Column 1, lines 45-60).
Claim 3 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hong in view of Damnjanovic further in view of Lu as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of WO 2020/059633 A1, hereafter referred Ishii. Ishii was cited by applicant’s IDS filed 11 August 2022.
Regarding claim 3, Hong in view of Damnjanovic further in view of Lu teaches the method according to claim 1 above. Hong in view of Damnjanovic further in view of Lu does not expressly teach wherein the processing the data comprises encrypting the data.
However, Ishii teaches wherein the processing the data comprises encrypting the data (Ishii, Fig. 5B, [0031]; IAM-node may proceed with a security procedure to configure encryption/integrity protection features).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Hong in view of Damnjanovic further in view of Lu to include the above recited limitations as taught by Ishii in order to protect the integrity of the transmission (Ishii, [0031]).
Claim 4 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hong in view of Damnjanovic further in view of Lu as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Wang et al. (US 2023/0073469 A1), hereafter referred Wang.
Regarding claim 4, Hong in view of Damnjanovic further in view of Lu teaches the method according to claim 1 above. Hong in view of Damnjanovic further in view of Lu does not expressly teach wherein maintaining the at least one protocol entity of the first set of protocol entities in the first communications device comprises
maintaining a first Packet Data Convergence Protocol Entity (PDCP) of the first set of protocol entities in the first communications device to maintain end-to-end security between the first communications device and the infrastructure equipment.
However, Wang teaches wherein maintaining the at least one protocol entity of the first set of protocol entities in the first communications device comprises
maintaining a first Packet Data Convergence Protocol Entity (PDCP) of the first set of protocol entities in the first communications device to maintain end-to-end security between the first communications device and the infrastructure equipment (Wang, [0158]-[0160]; the source UE maintain an end-to-end PDCP).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Hong in view of Damnjanovic further in view of Lu to include the above recited limitations as taught by Wang in order to implement sidelink relay communications for 5G NR systems (Wang, [0003]).
Claims 5-18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hong in view of Damnjanovic in view of Lu further in view of Wang as applied to claim 4 above, and further in view of Ishii.
Regarding claim 5, Hong in view of Damnjanovic in view of Lu further in view of Wang teaches a method according to claim 4 above. Hong in view of Damnjanovic in view of Lu further in view of Wang does not expressly teach wherein one or more of a MAC entity, RLC entity and PHY entity of the first set of protocol entities in the first communications device is suspended or released.
However, Ishii teaches wherein one or more of a MAC entity, RLC entity and PHY entity of the first set of protocol entities in the first communications device is suspended or released (Ishii, Fig. 5B, [0031]; release radio bearers, like RLC entity through the RRC messages).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Hong in view of Damnjanovic in view of Lu further in view of Wang to include the above recited limitations as taught by Ishii in order to handle radio link failures (Ishii, [0001]).
Regarding claim 6, Hong in view of Damnjanovic in view of Lu further in view of Wang further in view of Ishii teaches a method according to claim 5 above. Hong in view of Damnjanovic in view of Lu further in view of Wang does not expressly teach wherein the maintained PDCP entity of the first set of protocol entitles in the first communications device submits the processed data to a Radio Link Control ( RLC) entity of the second set of protocol entities in the first communications device if the data is intended for the infrastructure equipment.
However, Ishii teaches wherein the maintained PDCP entity of the first set of protocol entitles in the first communications device submits the processed data to a Radio Link Control ( RLC) entity of the second set of protocol entities in the first communications device if the data is intended for the infrastructure equipment (Ishii, [0038-0040]; upstream RLF notification may be carried by the RLC sublayer).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Hong in view of Damnjanovic in view of Lu further in view of Wang to include the above recited limitations as taught by Ishii in order to handle radio link failures (Ishii, [0001]).
Regarding claim 7, Hong in view of Damnjanovic in view of Lu in view of Wang further in view of Ishii teaches a method according to claim 5 above. Hong in view of Damnjanovic further in view of Lu does not expressly teach wherein a PDCP entity of the second set of protocol entitles in the first communications device submits the processed data to a Radio Link Control ( RLC) entity of the second set of protocol entities in the first communications device if the data is intended for the second communications device.
However, Wang teaches wherein a PDCP entity of the second set of protocol entitles in the first communications device submits the processed data to a Radio Link Control ( RLC) entity of the second set of protocol entities in the first communications device if the data is intended for the second communications device (Wang, [0067]-[0070]; the Uu PDCP PDU is mapped to the PC5 RLC bearer between the remote UE and the relay UE, where the remote UE performs RLC layer processing and transmits the data packet to the relay UE and forwards it to the base station).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Hong in view of Damnjanovic further in view of Lu to include the above recited limitations as taught by Wang in order to implement sidelink relay communications for 5G NR systems (Wang, [0003]).
Regarding claim 8, Hong in view of Damnjanovic in view of Lu in view of Wang further in view of Ishii teaches a method according to claim 7 above. Hong in view of Damnjanovic further in view of Lu does not expressly teach wherein the RLC entity of the second set of protocol entities in the first communications device assigns a marker to the processed data to identify whether the data was generated in an RRC entity of the maintained protocol entities of the first set of protocol entities in the first communications device or whether the data was generated in an RRC entity of the second set of protocol entities in the first communications device to facilitate routing of the data between the first communications device, the second communications device and the infrastructure equipment.
However, Wang teaches wherein the RLC entity of the second set of protocol entities in the first communications device assigns a marker to the processed data to identify whether the data was generated in an RRC entity of the maintained protocol entities of the first set of protocol entities in the first communications device or whether the data was generated in an RRC entity of the second set of protocol entities in the first communications device to facilitate routing of the data between the first communications device, the second communications device and the infrastructure equipment (Wang, Fig. 4, [0076]; the 1 bit or relay forwarding indication field in the adaptation layer packet header indicates whether to relay and forward the data).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Hong in view of Damnjanovic further in view of Lu to include the above recited limitations as taught by Wang in order to implement sidelink relay communications for 5G NR systems (Wang, [0003]).
Regarding claim 9, Hong in view of Damnjanovic in view of Lu in view of Wang further in view of Ishii teaches a method according to claim 8 above. Hong in view of Damnjanovic further in view of Lu does not expressly teach wherein the second set of protocol entities in the first communications device includes a Backhaul Adaptation Protocol (BAP) entity which is used to identify whether the data was generated in an RRC entity of the maintained protocol entities of the first set of protocol entities in the first communications device or whether the data was generated in an RRC entity of the second set of protocol entities in the first communications device.
However, Wang teaches wherein the second set of protocol entities in the first communications device includes a Backhaul Adaptation Protocol (BAP) entity which is used to identify whether the data was generated in an RRC entity of the maintained protocol entities of the first set of protocol entities in the first communications device or whether the data was generated in an RRC entity of the second set of protocol entities in the first communications device (Wang, Fig. 4, [0076]; the 1 bit or relay forwarding indication field in the adaptation layer packet header indicates whether to relay and forward the data).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Hong in view of Damnjanovic further in view of Lu to include the above recited limitations as taught by Wang in order to implement sidelink relay communications for 5G NR systems (Wang, [0003]).
Regarding claim 10, Hong in view of Damnjanovic in view of Lu in view of Wang further in view of Ishii teaches a method according to claim 9 above. Further, Hong teaches comprising
receiving, from the second communications device, an indication that the second communications device can act as a relay between the first communications device and the infrastructure equipment (Hong, Fig. 8B, p. 13-14; the relay node retrieves an initial configuration parameter including a list of DeNB cells from the RN OAM and start the relaying operation)
Regarding claim 11, Hong in view of Damnjanovic in view of Lu in view of Wang further in view of Ishii teaches a method according to claim 10 above. Further, Hong teaches wherein the indication that the second communications device can act as a relay between the first communications device and the infrastructure equipment is included in a discovery signal (Hong, Fig. 8B, p. 13-14; the relay node retrieves an initial configuration parameter including a list of DeNB cells from the RN OAM and start the relaying operation).
Regarding claim 12, Hong in view of Damnjanovic in view of Lu in view of Wang further in view of Ishii teaches a method according to claim 10 above. Further, Hong teaches wherein the indication that the second communications device can act as a relay between the first communications device and the infrastructure equipment is included in a system information block (SIB) (Hong, Fig. 6, p. 11; the UE may monitor SIB that includes information necessary for the UE to perform an initial random access procedure).
Regarding claim 13, Hong in view of Damnjanovic in view of Lu in view of Wang further in view of Ishii teaches a method according to claim 12 above. Further, Hong teaches wherein the wireless communications network comprises one or more other communications devices which do cannot act as a relay between the first communications device and the infrastructure equipment, and the first communications device uses the indication that the second communications device can act as a relay between the first communications device and the infrastructure equipment to prioritise the configuring of the second wireless access interface for communication between the first communications device and the second communications device over a configuring of a wireless access interface for communication with the one or more other communications devices (Hong, Fig. 19, p. 37; a multi-hop relay structure may include a PDCP entity that transmits PDCP data to the relay nodes).
Regarding claim 14, Hong in view of Damnjanovic in view of Lu in view of Wang further in view of Ishii teaches a method according to claim 13 above. Further, Hong teaches comprising determining that the first communications device should handover to the second communications device (Hong, p. 32; upon triggering the handover procedure on detecting radio link failure).
Regarding claim 15, Hong in view of Damnjanovic in view of Lu in view of Wang further in view of Ishii teaches a method according to claim 14 above. Further, Hong teaches wherein the determining that the first communications device should handover to the second communications device is based on a signal received from the infrastructure equipment (Hong, p. 32; triggering the handover procedure upon receiving N310 consecutive out of sync indications for the PCell that leads to detecting radio link failure).
Regarding claim 16, Hong in view of Damnjanovic in view of Lu in view of Wang further in view of Ishii teaches a method according to claim 14 above. Further, Hong teaches wherein the determining that the first communications device should handover to the second communications device is based on pre-defined conditions (Hong, p. 32; triggering a handover procedure on detecting radio link failure).
Regarding claim 17, Hong in view of Damnjanovic in view of Lu in view of Wang further in view of Ishii teaches a method according to claim 16 above. Further, Hong teaches comprising
transmitting, to the infrastructure equipment, a measurement report including at least an identification of the second communications device (Hong, p. 32; triggering a measurement report).
Regarding claim 18, Hong in view of Damnjanovic in view of Lu in view of Wang further in view of Ishii teaches a method according to claim 17 above. Further, Hong teaches wherein the measurement report includes measurements of reference signal received power (RSRP) of the second communications device (Hong, p. 35; measurement results including RSRP and RSRQ).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. See PTO-892.
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/R.M./Examiner, Art Unit 2416
/NOEL R BEHARRY/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2416
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