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 .
Response to Arguments
Claims 1, 28, 36, and 38 have been amended.
Claims 1, 6, 28-29, 36, 38-39, and 41 are pending.
Applicant's arguments with respect to the claim(s) have been considered but are moot in view of the new ground(s) 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.
Claims 1, 6, 36, 38-39, and 41 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over WANG et al. (US 20220377822, hereinafter, “WANG”) in view of MA et al. (US 20190141771, hereinafter, “MA”), and further in view of XU et al. (US 20190313315, hereinafter, “XU”).
Claim 1. WANG teaches: A path switching method, applied to a first user equipment (UE), comprising: - See Fig. 6-10
receiving a radio resource control (RRC) reconfiguration message comprising path switching configuration information from a base station, - See Fig. 7, ¶ [0006], (“the UE…receives a path switching message from the source gNB indicating to switch from the sidelink relay path to a target direct Uu link, and performs a path switching…based on the path switching message…the path switching message is a RRC Reconfiguration message from the source gNB.”)
wherein the path switching configuration information comprises path switching criteria and switching instruction information, - See Fig. 8-11, ¶ [0044], (“gNB 803 sends RRCReconfiguration message to remote UE 801. gNB 803 instructs remote UE 801 to switch from the direct Uu…gNB 803 instructs remote UE 801 to establish the unicast link with relay”) the switching instruction information comprising a relay identifier configured by the base station; - See Fig. 8-11, ¶ [0044], (“gNB 803 sends RRCReconfiguration message to remote UE 801. gNB 803 instructs remote UE 801 to switch from the direct Uu…¶ [0045], (“RelayRadioBearerConfig structure used to configure relaying RB(s) can include…[0050] Relay UE ID””)
sending, to the base station, a message including relay-associated information comprising the relay identifier and serving cell information of the relay; - See Fig. 10, ¶ [0060 – 0061], (“remote UE 1001 sends Uu RRC message, e.g. Measurement Report, to source gNB...The relay UE information and/or relay UE serving cell identity are reported to the target gNB 1004. The relay UE information includes one or more elements of relay UE L2 ID…”, remote UE reports both the relay identifier (Relay UE L2 ID) and serving cell ID to the gNB) and
switching, after receiving the RLF indication and sending the message to the base station, - See Fig. 8, ¶ [0060 – 0061], (“remote UE 1001 sends Uu RRC message…to source gNB...The relay UE information and/or relay UE serving cell identity are reported to the target gNB 1004. The relay UE information includes one or more elements of relay UE L2 ID…At step 1031, serving gNB 1003 decides to switch remote UE 1001 from cellular link to relay link.”, as shown in Fig. 8, the UE reports the Uu RRC message before switching) a communication link with the base station from a first link to a second link according to the path switching configuration information, - See Fig. 4-6, 10-12, ¶ [0006], (“switch from the sidelink relay path to a target direct Uu link…based on the path switching message”); ¶ [0060 – 0061], (“…At step 1031, serving gNB 1003 decides to switch remote UE 1001 from cellular link to relay link.”); See Fig. 3, ¶ [0032], (“A UE 303 is connected to a gNB 301 via an indirect link through a relay UE 302…The network upon…determines to initiate the path switch. UE 303 receives path switch command. At step 321, UE switches path to Uu direct link 313 with gNB 301.”) wherein the first link is for direct communication with the base station and the second link is for communication with the base station through the relay. - See Fig. 4, ¶ [0033], (“A UE 403 is connected to a gNB 401 via a direct Uu link 413…UE 403 receives path switch command from the network. At step 421, UE 403 switches path to indirect link with gNB 401. The indirect link includes a sidelink 412 between UE 403 and relay UE 402 and a Uu direct link 411 between relay UE 402 and gNB 401”)
WANG does not explicitly teach:
receiving radio link failure (RLF) indication information of a relay corresponding to the relay identifier;
switching, after receiving the RLF indication and sending the message to the base station,
However, MA teaches:
receiving radio link failure (RLF) indication information of a relay corresponding to the relay identifier; switching, after receiving the RLF indication and sending the message to the base station, - See Fig. 3-4, ¶ [0008], (“base station acquires that a relay link between the base station and remote terminal device fails…sending, by the base station, a first reconfiguration message to the remote terminal device…used to instruct the remote terminal device to switch a transmission path of a communication service from the relay link to the first cellular direct link”); ¶ [0169], (“the base station…searches, based on the source cell ID, for a cell that exists before the cellular link of the remote terminal device fails, and sends a “terminal device context acquire” message…The message includes the source cell ID, the relay terminal device ID, and the terminal device ID of the remote terminal device in the source serving cell”)
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified WANG with MA to include transmitting radio link failure indication information of the relay to the first UE and switching after receiving the RLF indication, as taught by MA. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification to ensure service continuity when RLF occurs, as suggested by MA, a radio link failure handling method so that normal communication of remote terminal device can be ensured when a radio link failure occurs in a cellular direct communication process or a relay communication process of the remote terminal device. - ¶ [0006]
Combination of WANG and MA does not explicitly teach:
receiving a radio resource control (RRC) reconfiguration message comprising path switching configuration information from a base station, wherein the path switching configuration information comprises path switching criteria and switching instruction information,
However, XU teaches:
receiving a radio resource control (RRC) reconfiguration message comprising path switching configuration information from a base station, wherein the path switching configuration information comprises path switching criteria and switching instruction information, - See Fig. 7, 15, ¶ [0144 - 0145], (“The threshHigh…represents the threshold condition of the remote UE…the eNB informs the remote UE of the measurement configuration message by using the measConfig cell carried in the RRCConnectionReconfiguration message…SupportERelay (1 bit) is additionally used to indicate whether the cell supports the UE-to-Network Relay…remoteThresh needs to be used to inform the cell of the threshold condition configured for the remote UE.”, SupportERelay and measConfig/remoteThresh (eq. path switching criteria) are included in the RRC reconfiguration message); ¶ [0043], (“A scheme for determining a path switching manner of the remote UE…it is determined whether to switch from a PC5 link to another PC5 link…or to switch from the PC5 link to a Uu link”)
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified WANG and MA with XU to include RRC reconfiguration message comprises path switching criteria, as taught by XU. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification to specify that both switching instruction information and path switching criteria are included in the RRC reconfiguration message to ensure service continuity, as suggested by XU, the remote UE performing different link switching may have different effects on service continuity. By performing communication link selection, the remote UE can be better served in terms of service continuity, link switching power consumption, and delay. - ¶ [0043]
Claim 6. Combination of WANG, MA, and XU teaches The method of claim 1, - refer to the indicated claim for reference(s).
WANG teaches:
wherein the path switching criteria is met responsive to at least one of: a link quality of the first link being lower than a first threshold of the link quality; or a PC5 interface link quality of the second link being higher than a second threshold of the PC5 interface link quality of the second link. - See Fig. 8, ¶ [0043], (a new measurement event or criteria can be configured…defined as “Relay UE quality (PC5) offset better than serving cell (Uu)”, “Relay UE quality (PC5) better than an absolute threshold”, or “Relay UE quality (PC5) offset better than an absolute threshold”. Remote UE 801 evaluates the event or criteria for each measurement result before selecting the relay 802…At step 831, based on the received RRC message, gNB 803 decides path switch for remote UE 801 to handover from the serving gNB 803 to the UE-to-Network Relay.”)
Claim 36 is the apparatus claim corresponding to the method claim of claim 1 and is rejected under the same rationale as claim 1 since they recite nearly identical limitations.
Claim 38 is the apparatus claim corresponding to the method claim of claim 28 and is rejected under the same rationale as claim 28 since they recite nearly identical limitations.
Claims 39, 41 are rejected under the same rationale as Claim 6 since they recite nearly identical limitations.
Claims 28-29 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over WANG et al. (US 20220377822, hereinafter, “WANG”) in view of XU et al. (US 20190313315, hereinafter, “XU”).
Claim 28. WANG teaches: A path switching configuration method applied to a base station, comprising: - See Fig. 6-10
sending a radio resource control (RRC) reconfiguration message comprising path switching configuration information to a first user equipment (UE), - in ¶ [0006], (“the UE…receives a path switching message from the source gNB indicating to switch from the sidelink relay path to a target direct Uu link, and performs a path switching…based on the path switching message…the path switching message is a RRC Reconfiguration message from the source gNB.”)
wherein the path switching configuration information instructs the first UE to switch a communication link with the base station from a first link to a second link, - See Fig. 4-6, 10-12, ¶ [0060 – 0061], (“…At step 1031, serving gNB 1003 decides to switch remote UE 1001 from cellular link to relay link.”); See Fig. 3, ¶ [0032], (“A UE 303 is connected to a gNB 301 via an indirect link through a relay UE 302…The network upon…determines to initiate the path switch. UE 303 receives path switch command. At step 321, UE switches path to Uu direct link 313 with gNB 301.”) the first link being a link for direct communication with the base station, and the second link being a link for communication with the base station through a relay - See Fig. 4, ¶ [0033], (“A UE 403 is connected to a gNB 401 via a direct Uu link 413…UE 403 receives path switch command from the network. At step 421, UE 403 switches path to indirect link with gNB 401. The indirect link includes a sidelink 412 between UE 403 and relay UE 402 and a Uu direct link 411 between relay UE 402 and gNB 401”) corresponding to a relay identifier configured by the base station, - See Fig. 3-6, 10-11, ¶ [0006 - 0007], (“the path switching message is a RRC Reconfiguration message from the source gNB….the UE…receives from the source gNB, a message for one or more path switching triggering events…the message for one or more path switching triggering events is a Uu RRC message of a Relay Discovery Command that includes an ID of the relay UE.”) wherein the path switching configuration information comprises path switching criteria and switching instruction information, - See Fig. 8-11, ¶ [0044], (“gNB 803 sends RRCReconfiguration message to remote UE 801. gNB 803 instructs remote UE 801 to switch from the direct Uu…gNB 803 instructs remote UE 801 to establish the unicast link with relay”) the switching instruction information comprising the relay identifier; - See Fig. 8-11, ¶ [0044], (“gNB 803 sends RRCReconfiguration message to remote UE 801. gNB 803 instructs remote UE 801 to switch from the direct Uu…gNB 803 instructs remote UE 801 to establish the unicast link with relay 802…¶ [0045], (“RelayRadioBearerConfig structure used to configure relaying RB(s) can include…[0050] Relay UE ID””)
receiving, from the first UE, a message including relay-associated information comprising the relay identifier serving cell information of the relay corresponding to the relay identifier; - See Fig. 10, ¶ [0060 – 0061], (“At step 1023…remote UE 1001 gets the serving cell ID of target gNB 1004 of relay UE 1002…If explicit relay discovery procedure proceeds before sidelink communication, relay UE puts its serving cell ID of gNB 1004 into the PC5-S…At step 1024, remote UE 1001 sends Uu RRC message, e.g. Measurement Report, to source gNB 1003…at step 1025, remote UE 1001 sends a Sidelink UE information message to the gNB 1003. The relay UE information and/or relay UE serving cell identity are reported to the target gNB 1004. The relay UE information includes one or more elements of relay UE L2 ID, C-RNTI…Relay UE serving cell identity can include CGI and/or PCI.”, remote UE reports both the relay identifier (Relay UE L2 ID) and serving cell ID to the gNB) and
transmitting data with the first UE on the second link, - See Fig. 4, 8-10, ¶ [0033], (“At step 421, UE 403 switches path to indirect link with gNB 401. The indirect link includes a sidelink 412 between UE 403 and relay UE 402 and a Uu direct link 411 between relay UE 402 and gNB 401”) the first UE switching to the second link subsequent to sending the message. - See Fig. 10-12, ¶ [0060 – 0061], (“remote UE 1001 sends Uu RRC message…to source gNB...The relay UE information and/or relay UE serving cell identity are reported to the target gNB 1004. The relay UE information includes one or more elements of relay UE L2 ID…At step 1031, serving gNB 1003 decides to switch remote UE 1001 from cellular link to relay link.”, as shown in Fig. 8, the UE reports the Uu RRC message before switching)
WANG does not explicitly teach:
wherein the path switching configuration information comprises path switching criteria and switching instruction information,
However, XU teaches:
wherein the path switching configuration information comprises path switching criteria and switching instruction information, - See Fig. 7, 15, ¶ [0144 - 0145], (“The threshHigh…represents the threshold condition of the remote UE…the eNB informs the remote UE of the measurement configuration message by using the measConfig cell carried in the RRCConnectionReconfiguration message…SupportERelay (1 bit) is additionally used to indicate whether the cell supports the UE-to-Network Relay…remoteThresh needs to be used to inform the cell of the threshold condition configured for the remote UE.”, SupportERelay and measConfig/remoteThresh (eq. path switching criteria) are included in the RRC reconfiguration message); ¶ [0043], (“A scheme for determining a path switching manner of the remote UE…it is determined whether to switch from a PC5 link to another PC5 link…or to switch from the PC5 link to a Uu link”)
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified WANG with XU to include RRC reconfiguration message comprises path switching criteria, as taught by XU. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification to specify that both switching instruction information and path switching criteria are included in the RRC reconfiguration message to ensure service continuity, as suggested by XU, the remote UE performing different link switching may have different effects on service continuity. By performing communication link selection, the remote UE can be better served in terms of service continuity, link switching power consumption, and delay. - ¶ [0043]
Claim 29 is rejected under the same rationale as Claim 6 since they recite nearly identical limitations.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, 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 nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) 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 mailing date of this final action.
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/SHIMA WASEL/Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2475
/KHALED M KASSIM/supervisory patent examiner, Art Unit 2475