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 .
Priority
The instant application claims priority to the PCT/CN2021/088362 filed 04/20/2021 and Foreign application Filed: CN202010313400.3 04/20/2020 and CN202010717121.3 07/23/2020.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted, IDS - 04/10/2023 and 11/22/2023. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Continued Examination (RCE)
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has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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
05/07/2026 has been entered.
Response to Amendment
The amendment filed 05/07/2026 has been entered. Claims 1-8, 15, 21, 23, 27, 29, 41, 43, 49 and 55 remain pending in the application. Claims 1,2, 4-6, 15, 21 and 29 were amended. Claims 9, 10, 14 and 23 were cancelled.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35
U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any
correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will
not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale
supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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 similarly 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
he 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:
• Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
• Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
• Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
• Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating
• obviousness or nonobviousness.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the
claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any
evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to
point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly
owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to
consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2)
prior art against the later invention.
Claims 1-8, 15, 21, 27, 29, 41, 43, 49 and 55 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wang et al. (US-20230073469-A1) hereinafter “Wang” in view of Pan et al. (US 10,904,787 B2) hereinafter “Pan”.
Regarding Claim 1,
Wang discloses, ‘An information transmission method, applied to a network device, comprising: determining a first target mapping relationship;’ (Disclosure Claim 1, sidelink relay communication method applied to UE-to-Network relay communication and includes network device within the UE-to-Network relay communication, source device/UE1, relay device/UE2 and BS/network node/network device. Mapping-determination includes receiving by a relay UE from source-UE and mapped; mapped by the relay-UE between relay-UE and a target device.
The base station performs relay communication configuration on a relay base station so that the relay UE performs relay after completion of configuration based on the relay communication configuration information [0106].
The source device that is a remote UE maps the data packet to the first bearer between the source device and the relay UE through first-bearer. After the relay-UE receives the data-packet, transmits to the second-bearer between the relay UE-BS and thus relay forwarding is implemented [0060]. The data packet can be control plane or a user plane Fig. 3 and Fig. 4 [0058].
Determine a first target mapping relationship based on configuration-mapping i.e. configured or pre-configured or pre-defined by BS/network entity between the Uu bearer and the PC5 bearer [0065] and Fig. 3. Determination based on a BS/Network node that includes, an initiation from a remote UE, send to the relay UE to the BS and then configured/pre-configured by the BS. the relay UE acquires the mapping relationship between the Uu DRB of the remote UE and PC5 BH bearer [0094],[0153] and by RRC configuration Fig. 5 and 6.
And, based on bearer identifier and further logical channel identifier and further for RLC channel identifier. The PC5-RLC-bearer is also referred to as PC5-BH-bearer, SL BH bearer, or access BH-bearer. The Uu-bearer refers to a Uu-DRB/SRB. And that Uu SRB1 is mapped to the PC5 RLC bearer associated with a sidelink logical channel LCID1, and so on [0065-0067].
If the mapping relationship between either the Uu SRBs of the remote UE and the PC5 RLC bearers or the Uu DRBs of the remote UE and the PC5 RLC bearers is in a one-to-one manner, an adaptation layer is not required between the remote UE and the relay UE [0072].
Determination based on the configuration of the BS/Network entity. Relay UE indicates to the BS that a relay communication is performed and the BS perform the relay configuration. The relay communication configuration information includes at least one of the following: relay Uu BH bearer configuration, PC5 RLC bearer configuration, or a bearer mapping relationship. The relay Uu BH bearer configuration includes at least one of the following: a signaling forwarding bearer indication, a data forwarding bearer indication, a bearer identifier, an RLC mode, RLC configuration, a logical channel identifier, a logical channel priority, a logical channel group identifier, or logical channel related configuration. The BS configures PC5 RLC bearer configuration [0106-0111].
Further, the relay UE forwards remote communication configuration information configured by the base station for the remote UE. The remote communication configuration information includes at least one of the following: Uu bearer configuration, PC5 RLC bearer configuration, or the mapping relationship between a Uu bearer and a PC5 RLC bearer [0114-0115].
the process perform data transmission based on the relay communication configuration information [0006]; Fig. 1 relay communication towards receiving terminal or map relationship between source device/UE1 and relay a sidelink interface i.e. PC5 and further Uu/backhaul between relay device/UE2 to network node/BS. The process of initiate SL request, determination based on RRC configuration and bearer configuration further explained in Fig. 6.);
Also discloses, ‘transmitting the first target mapping relationship to a target terminal, wherein the target terminal includes a first terminal and/or a second terminal, the second terminal is a relay terminal corresponding to the first terminal’;
(Disclosure, in Fig.1, UE-to-Network relay mode 1 [0049]; a communication between a remote UE to relay UE sidelink/PC5 interface and to backhaul link network node/BS [0053-56], [0063], [0065] and; backhaul link between second terminal/relay UE to BS [0066]; The interface between devices is a PC5 interface is a SL interface between a remote UE and a relay UE. The interface between a device and a base station is a Uu interface [0047];
To transmit a data packet from the source communication device that is the remote UE map between the remote UE and the relay UE to a first bearer based on a configured map relationship to transmit to the relay UE [0063].
Disclosure claim 1, a data packet from a source communication device through a first bearer between the source communication device and the relay UE, wherein the data packet is mapped to the first bearer by the source communication device; mapped, by the relay-UE, data packet to second bearer between the relay-UE and a target device and transmit to the target device.
The remote UE maps the data packet from the Uu bearer to the PC5 RLC bearer in Fig. 3, [0065]. And, PC5 RLC bearer associated with SL logical channel i.e. LCID [0067].
Fig. 5 and Fig. 6 illustrates the process remote or relay configuration, the relay indicates to the BS. And, in response the BS transmits the first configurations to relay UE and to remote UE as Fig. 6 step 4.
Transmit map i.e. remote or relay or bearer configuration based on side-link request and configuration of bearer, RLC channel or RLC logical channel identifier. Fig. 5 and Fig. 6 illustrates the process of configuration set up. A relay UE communicates to a BS to receive configuration i.e. bearer configuration by RRC signaling Fig. 6 step 4.
The relay communication configuration information includes: relay Uu BH bearer configuration, PC5 RLC bearer configuration, or a bearer mapping relationship. The relay Uu backhaul (BH) bearer configuration includes: a signaling forwarding bearer indication, a data forwarding bearer indication, a bearer identifier, an RLC mode, RLC configuration, a logical channel identifier, a logical channel priority, a logical channel group identifier, or logical channel related configuration. The bearer mapping relationship includes a bearer or logical channel identifier mapping of the relay Uu BH bearer and the PC5 RLC bearer, a bearer or logical channel priority mapping of the relay Uu BH bearer and the PC5 RLC bearer. The BS configures a PC5 RLC bearer for the relay UE [0107-0111].)
Also Wang discloses, ‘wherein, the first target mapping relationship includes
a an end-to-end target object, a target object of the backhaul link, and a target object of in Fig. 8 end-to-end target object that is the remote UE/UE1 to the BS can be two links: U1[Wingdings font/0xE0]PC5 RLC[Wingdings font/0xE0]relay UE and relay UE[Wingdings font/0xE0]Uu BH[Wingdings font/0xE0]BS [0144]. And, relay BH bearer contains a bearer identifier/index. [0126, 0130]. The BS configures data forwarding bearer for relay BH bearer and relay RLC bearer that includes: a data forwarding bearer identifier, RLC mode, a logical channel identifier [0135], and Uu end-to-end between UE-BS in Fig. 3 and Fig. 8.
End-to-End SL-bearer configuration between the source and the target UE or PC5 bearer configuration between the source UE and the relay UE. Performs the relay communication configuration includes, relay BH bearer between the relay UE and the target UE or mapping-PC5-bearer between the PC5 RLC bearer between the source UE and relay UE and a relay BH bearer [0195-0196]. And, disclosure Claim 1, perform relay communication mapped to the first bearer and the second bearer. And the target device is the BS, disclosure Claim 2.
Uu-RRC[Wingdings font/0xE0]PDCP [Wingdings font/0xE0] Uu DRB/SRB based-on-QoS-flow [0068-0069, 0078].
and further the target object backhaul link, see Fig. 1 shows backhaul link target object as recited between relay UE and network node/BS; The Uu bearer refers to a Uu DRB/SRB. The relay bearer, the relay Uu BH bearer, and the relay air interface bearer are the same and refer to the bearer between the relay UE and the base station [0066]. The BS configures the mapping of relay Uu bearer the target object of the backhaul link; the relay UE forwards remote communication configuration information configured by the base station for the remote UE. The remote communication configuration include: Uu bearer configuration [0114-0115];)
End-to end target BH link Uu bearer or Uu DRB/SRB, side-link interface or PC5 RLC and end-to-end target object from remote UE, relay UE and the BS/network node bearer identifier/logical channel identifier Fig. 3 disclosed above [0106-0111, 0114-0121, 0135] and further Fig. 1 to Fig. 2, source UE and relay UE, sidelink interface and backhaul link. Fig. 3 and Fig. 8.
Relay BH bearer configuration and relay BH/RLC BH configuration include RLC configuration include PC5 RLC bearer and relay bearer identifier/index [0112, 0135]);
Wang discloses, ‘a target object is one of a bearer, a radio link control (RLC) channel and a RLC layer logical channel’ (remote and relay UE configuration PC5 RLC bearer configuration [0114-0115, 0190-0191]; Map between the PC5 RLC bearer and the Uu bearer PC5 RLC bearer associated with a SL logical channel [0067, 0075]. Further, RLC layer/L2 and logical channel Fig. 3 and Fig. 4. Disclosure Claim 2, includes the Uu bearer[Wingdings font/0xE0] PC5 RLC bearer between the source UE-relay UE; and relay bearer between the relay UE-BS.);
Regarding claim element, ‘the target object of the sidelink interface is a target object of a sidelink interface between the first terminal and the second terminal, the target object of the backhaul link is a target object between the second terminal and the network device for carrying data and/or control information of the first terminal, and the end-to-end target object is an end-to-end target object between the first terminal and the network device’,
Wang discloses, ‘the target object of the sidelink interface is a target object of a sidelink interface between the first terminal and the second terminal, the target object of the backhaul link is a target object between the second terminal and the network device for carrying data’, and ‘of the first terminal, and the end-to-end target object is an end-to-end target object between the first terminal and the network device’ (Fig. 3 and Fig. 8 includes both the SL interface between the first terminal and the second terminal/relay UE and the BH link the relay UE to the BS. The first terminal i.e. the remote map from Uu bearers to PC5 RLC bearer and data forwarding bearer identifier/index [0071-0072]. And, the end-to-end target object between the UE-BS Uu-interface in Fig. 3 and Fig. 8 [0047] by UE-to-Network relay [0051]. Also delivers through relay parse of the Uu interface to a PC5 interface [0093].
Disclosure claim 1, A SL relay communication applied to UE-to-NW relay comprises, receiving, by a relay UE, a data packet from a source communication device through a first bearer between the source communication device and the relay UE, wherein the data packet is mapped to the first bearer by the source communication device; and mapping, by the relay UE, the data packet to a second bearer between the relay UE and a target communication device and transmitting the data packet to the target communication device; wherein either the source communication device comprises a remote UE and the target communication device comprises a base station or the source communication device comprises a base station and the target communication device comprises a remote UE. Disclosure Claim 2, includes PC5 RLC bearer and the relay BH bearer and mapping that is End-to-End between the source UE and the BS.
Disclosure, End-to-End SL-bearer-configuration between the source and the target UE includes PC5-RLC bearer and the relay BH [0190-0191] and PC5 BH index, relay-UE identifier and E2E SL bearer index [0200].
The SL interface/PC5 and end to end object used between terminals/node, target objects are remote UE1, relay UE2 and the BS/network node as shown in Fig. 1. sidelink interface/PC5 between remote the UE1 and the relay UE2. And, end-to-end bearer target object obtains from the Uu bearer configuration, PC5 RLC bearer configuration, or the mapping relationship between a Uu bearer and a PC5 RLC bearer when remote configuration are performed by bearer identifier, logical channel identifier and PC5 RLC bearer mapping [0108-0116].
Fig. 1 and Fig. 2, sidelink between first and second terminal and backhaul link between relay/UE2 and network node/BS; Fig. 2 mentions carry data information; sidelink interface/PC5 UE1 and UE2 and the backhaul link and transmit/carry data packet of remote UE/UE1 [abstract] and relay UE carry control information of UE1 to network node/BS, perform relay communication as shown in Fig. 5; relay information such as indication to BS, serving UE1, communication RAT to support the configuration for relay communication to BS [0101-0105]; In Fig. 3, end to end between first and the network device/node.);
Wang discloses PDU when carries from L2 layer to L1 and communicate between the terminals or to the BS that include control information field as part of PDU,
And, didn’t disclose, carry ‘control information’ of the first terminal,
Pan in the relevant art discloses, UE1 Tx bearer transmit data PDU to UE2 Rx bearer Col. 22 [0011]. Further discloses, The coded data for each data stream may be multiplexed with pilot data using OFDM techniques and modulation symbols MIMO processor Tx/Rx transceiver. To transmit PDU between transmitter and receiver with data PDU have control information such as modulation symbols for coding of data stream Col. 4[0003, 0015] and Fig. 2.
Therefore, a person in the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claim invention would have recognized that the disclosure of Wang and to modify with that of Pan to come up with the claim invention; someone would be motivated to modification to include data/control information.
Disclosure of Wang include end-to-end transmission between first remote UE, relay UE and the BS/network node through sidelink PC5 and BH link. And, provide motive the L2 UE-to-Network relay control-plane stack in Fig. 3 and a user-plane stack in Fig. 4 to implement the L2 forwarding/routing schemes. And, the UE-to-Network relay communication data includes CP-data and UP-data [0061-0062].
Inclusion of control information coding and modulation would enhance the capability of transmission rate, latency, data rate and reliability end-to-end communication as disclosed by Pan transmission parameters included with payload Col. 11 [0020-0025]. This would enhance the capability of UE to have relay communication by relay UE to the BS PC5 and backhaul link/Uu interface maximize the data rate, coding and modulation for each data stream to use a particular modulation scheme as disclosed by Wang.
Wang disclose, ‘The backhaul link is a link between the second terminal and the network device’ (As disclosed above Fig. 1 and also Fig. 8 and 9, first terminal and second terminal as relay terminal; The BH link between the second terminal that is a relay UE and the network device as illustrated in Fig. 9 and [0148-0149] and disclosure Claim 1.)
Wang discloses, ‘wherein the transmitting the first target mapping relationship to a target terminal comprises: notifying the first target mapping relationship to the target terminal through end-to-end Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling.’ (In Fig. 6, end-to-end connection by RRC signaling [0124] between source terminal and network node as part of mapping; first target mapping relationship disclosed above in Claim 1.
UE 1 received from the BS and sends the end-to-end sidelink bearer configuration between the source UE and the target UE configured by the base station to the relay UE through a PC5 RRC message [0201].);
Wang discloses, ‘ the RRC signaling also carries target configuration information’ (target mapping relationship disclosed above in Claim 1 and further in Fig. 6, RRC signaling carrying configuration information [0124-0127]. Between the SL and the BH link Fig. 3 and Fig. 8. End-to-End SL bearer configuration [0195-0196].
The BS performs the SL-bearer-configuration between the source-target UE, PC5 BH bearer configuration between the source UE and the relay UE and the mapping relationship between the source and the target UE. And, PC5 BH configuration includes a relay UE identifier, a PC5 BH bearer identifier/index, an end-to-end sidelink bearer identifier/index between the associated source UE and target UE [0200]. And, mapped-second-bearer between the relay UE and the target device that is the BS [0208-0209].
);
Discloses, ‘the target configuration information includes: at least one of configuration information of the target object of the sidelink interface and configuration information of the end-to-end target object, or configuration of the target object of the backhaul link’ (Configuration for the SL-communication [0009] and the E2E SL bearer configuration [0195];
Configuration of the BH, disclosure Claim 8, mapping-relay-UE configured by the BS between the PC5 RLC bearer and the relay-bearer. And, RRC configuration for SL in Fig. 6 and [0123-0124]. );
Wang discloses, ‘wherein, when the target configuration information includes: a quality of service (QoS) parameter, the information transmission method further includes:
dividing the QoS parameter of the end-to-end target object between the target object of the sidelink interface and the target object of the backhaul link.’ (The relay UE sends to the BS includes QoS and the End-to-End SL-bearer configuration [0201-0204]. The QoS includes a PFI, a PQI, GFBR/MFBR [0201].)
Regarding Claim 2,
‘The method according to claim 1’ (disclosed above),
Wang discloses, ‘wherein the target object of the sidelink interface includes one of the following: a combination of a sidelink interface source L2 ID, a sidelink interface destination L2 ID, and a target object identifier corresponding to the target object of the sidelink interface’ (the SL-interface between a source UE and a target/destination identifier [0077], and source L2 ID, and destination L2 ID [0097], [0140]; In Fig. 3 and Fig. 4 L2 relay [0027-0028].);
Wang discloses, ‘a combination of the sidelink interface source L2 ID, the sidelink interface destination L2 ID, a sidelink interface cast type, and the target object identifier corresponding to the target object of the sidelink interface’; (Source UE identifier L2 ID, target UE identifier for sidelink communication [0097] [0140], sidelink/PC5 source and target identifier [0077], sidelink uses unicast PC5 S-link [0077],[0158];)
Wang discloses, ‘a combination of the sidelink interface source L2 ID, the sidelink interface destination L2 ID, and a logical channel identifier corresponding to the target object of the sidelink interface’ (Source UE identifier L2 ID, target UE identifier for sidelink communication [0097] [0140] for sidelink/PC5 source and target identifier [0077]);
Also discloses, ‘a combination of the sidelink interface source L2 ID, the sidelink interface destination L2 ID, the sidelink interface cast type, and the logical channel identifier corresponding to the target object of the sidelink interface.’ (source UE L2 ID and sidelink interface destination id and logical channel identifier of sidelink interface [0075], [0084], [0086], sidelink unicast [0077],[0158])
Regarding Claim 3,
‘method according to claim 2’ (disclosed above),
Wang discloses sidelink interface cast type unicast and didn’t disclose,
‘wherein the sidelink interface cast type comprises: groupcast or broadcast.’
Pan in the relevant art discloses, sidelink UE Information, section 5.10.2 and communication interface type unicast, multicast, groupcast and broadcast Col. 6 [0020], [0030], and Col. 12 [0006]);
Therefore, a person in the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claim invention would have recognized that combining the disclosure of Wang and to include with that of Pan to come up with the claim invention; someone would be motivated to include multicast, groupcast and broadcast communication. Motivation would be similar to claim 1 above.
Disclosure Wang included both UE-to-Network and UE-to-UE SL configuration that includes a source UE and a destination UE uses relay UE SL communication. Someone would recognize the SL relay configuration to perform SL relay communication to use groupcast/broadcast to identify SL as disclosed by Pan.
Further, disclosure of Wang includes vehicle to everything (V2X) [0147] and many to many map besides one-to-one map for relay communication [0083]. A relay UE can serve multiple remote UE [0160]. to enhance the communication capability (disclosed by Pan) to sidelink communication disclosure of Wang. This would provide more flexibility to use unicast or broadcast communication based on scenario both PC5 based V2X communication and Uu based V2X communication disclosed by Pan Col. 11 [0029].
Regarding Claim 4,
‘method according to claim 1’ (disclosed above),
Wang discloses, ‘wherein
Wang discloses, ‘a logical channel identifier of the Uu interface’ (logical channel identifier of Uu interface disclosure claim 7, [0094], [0095],[0171]);
Also discloses, ‘the target object identifier of the Uu interface and a user identifier of the first terminal’ ([0094], [0095],[0171]. Disclosure claim 3, 5 and 7 includes identifier, 5QI/QFI);
Wang discloses, ‘the logical channel identifier of the Uu interface, and the user identifier of the first terminal.’(logical channel identifier and user identifier source/target UE, [0094], [0095], [0171]);
Regarding Claim 5,
‘method according to claim 1’ (disclosed above),
Wang discloses, ‘wherein disclosure claim 6 to claim 8.);
Also discloses, ‘the target object identifier of the Uu interface and a user identifier of the second terminal; the logical channel identifier of the Uu interface, and the user identifier of the second terminal.’ ([0166] and disclosure claim 6 to claim 8.);
Regarding Claim 6,
‘method according to claim 5’ (disclosed above),
Wang discloses, ‘wherein
Disclosed above, ‘the target object type indication information is used to indicate whether the target object is the target object of the backhaul link.’ (disclosure claim 6 to claim 8 includes backhaul, [0102-0108], [0160], [0226-0227] and Fig. 17 indication module);
Regarding Claim 7,
‘method according to claim 4’ (disclosed above),
Wang discloses, ‘wherein the user identifier includes: a cell radio network temporary identity (C-RNTI).’ (the base station configures a C-RNTI or a local identifier for the remote UE and sends the C-RNTI or the local identifier to the relay UE [0098]);
Regarding Claim 8,
‘method according to claim 1’ (disclosed above),
Wang discloses, ‘wherein the first target mapping relationship is maintained separately based on an uplink transmission direction and a downlink transmission direction.’ (between source UE/terminal to BS uplink transmission [0062] and BS to terminal UE downlink transmission [0087], target mapping relationship disclosed above in Claim 1; Claim 3 and Claim 8 includes 5QI/QFI.)
Regarding Claim 15,
Similar to Claim 1 disclosed above only changes, applied to a first terminal,
‘An information transmission method, applied to a first terminal, comprising: receiving a first target mapping relationship sent by a network device or a second terminal;
Similar to Claim 1 disclosed above, ‘wherein, the first target mapping relationship
a target object is one of a bearer, a radio link control (RLC) channel and a RLC layer logical channel; the target object of the sidelink interface is end-to-end target object is an end-to-end target object between the first terminal and the network device; the second terminal is a relay terminal corresponding to the first terminal, the backhaul link is a link between the second terminal and the network device’ (Disclosure, sidelink relay communication method applied to UE-to-Network relay communication. where the UE-to-Network relay communication includes, remote/source UE, relay UE and BS/network node/network device; the process perform data transmission based on the relay communication configuration information [0006, 0060]. And, disclosure Claim 1 to 3.);
‘wherein the receiving a first target mapping relationship sent by a network device includes: receiving the first target mapping relationship sent by the network device through end-to-end radio resource control (RRC) signaling; wherein the receiving a first target mapping relationship sent by a second terminal includes: receiving the first target mapping relationship sent by the second terminal through sidelink interface radio resource control (PC5-RRC) signaling; wherein, the RRC signaling or the PC5-RRC signaling also carries target configurationinformation; the target configuration information includes at least one of: configuration information of the target object of the sidelink interface, configuration information of the end-to-end target object, or configuration infonnation of the target object of the backhaul link; wherein, when the target configuration information includes: a quality of service (QoS) parameter, the QoS parameter of the end-to-end target object is divided between the target object of the sidelink interface and the target object of the backhaul link.’
Regarding Claim 21,
‘method according to claim 15’ (disclosed above),
Wang discloses, ‘PC5 RRC signaling [0171] and RRC signaling for the first target mapping [0075, 0124-0127] and Fig. 6, 7 and Fig. 10); PC5-RRC signaling [0124-0127] and Fig. 6, Fig. 7 and Fig. 10)
Regarding Claim 27,
‘method according to claim 15’ (disclosed above),
Wang discloses, ‘wherein before the receiving the first target mapping relationship sent by the network device or the second terminal, the method further includes: establishing a sidelink interface PC5-S connection with the second terminal, wherein an establishment mode of the PC5-S connection includes one of the following: establishing the PC5-S connection using a PC5-S message dedicated to a relay system’ (establish PC5-S sidelink connection to relay [0124] and Fig. 6);
Discloses, ‘or, adding indication information to a PC5-S connection establishment request message, wherein the indication information is used to indicate that a purpose of establishing the PC5-S connection is to request the second terminal to serve as a relay from the first terminal to the network device.’ (PC5-S for connection establishment request RRC signaling, [0122-0127] and Fig. 6)
Regarding Claim 29,
Wang discloses, ‘An information transmission method, applied to a second terminal, comprising: receiving a first target mapping relationship sent by a network device or a first terminal’ (The relay-UE indicate to the BS to perform the relay-communication [0098-0099]. Perform the relay communication based on the config [0100-0106], Fig. 5 and Fig. 6);
Similar to Claim 1 and 15 disclosed above, ‘wherein, the first target mapping relationship includes
a target object is one of a bearer, a radio link control (RLC) channel and a RLC layer logical channel;
the target object of the sidelink interface is a target object of a sidelink interface between the first terminal and the second terminal, the target object of the backhaul link is a target object between the second terminal and the network device for carrying data and/or control information of the first terminal, and the end-to-end target object is an end-to-end target object between the first terminal and the network device; the second terminal is a relay terminal corresponding to the first terminal, the backhaul link is a link between the second terminal and the network device.’
Disclosed above in Claim 1, ‘wherein the receiving a first target mapping relationship sent by a network device includes: receiving the first target mapping relationship sent by the network device through end-to-end radio resource control (RRC) signaling; wherein the receiving a first target mapping relationship sent by a second terminal includes: receiving the first target mapping relationship sent by the second terminal through sidelink interface radio resource control (PC5-RRC) signaling; wherein, the RRC signaling or the PC5-RRC signaling also carries target configuration information; the target configuration information includes at least one of: configuration information of the target object of the sidelink interface, configuration information of the end-to-end target object, or configuration infonnation of the target object of the backhaul link; wherein, when the target configuration information includes: a quality of service (QoS) parameter, the QoS parameter of the end-to-end target object is divided between the target object of the sidelink interface and the target object of the backhaul link.’
Regarding Claim 41,
‘method according to claim 29’ (disclosed above),
Wang discloses, ‘further comprising: determining mapping relationship between the target object of the sidelink interface and the target object of the backhaul link according to the first target mapping relationship’ (similar to Claim 1 disclosed above);
Discloses, ‘or wherein before the receiving the first target mapping relationship sent by the network device or the first terminal, the method further includes: determining that data and/or control information of the first terminal is transmitted on the backhaul link using a default target object of the backhaul link.’ (similar to part of claim 1 and for control information such as configuration uses acknowledge mode; Fig. 2 illustrates data information from first terminal to relay terminal and to network node by backhaul [0054-0058]; Regarding the determining includes a control plane and use plane stack for UE-to-Network Relay [0061-0062] and Fig. 3 and Fig. 4. The remote UE generates an RRC connection and map to default PC5 RLC bearer to communicate to the relay UE. The BS configures a relay BH bearer for the relay UE and includes bearer identifier and index [0126-0128].
And, Pan includes control message for PC5 and Uu interface Col. 7 [0038-0039];
Motive would be similar to claim 1 disclosed above.)
Regarding Claim 43,
Wang discloses, ‘A network device, comprising: a memory, a processor, and a program stored on the memory and executed by the processor; wherein, the processor executes the program implement the information transmission method according to claim1.’ (communication device include terminal, relay and network device/network node [0006, 0012] associated with processor to store one or program and execute instructions [0022-0024] and claim 1 disclosed above. [0268-0270] and Fig. 20).
Regarding Claim 49,
‘A terminal, being a first terminal, comprising: a memory, a processor, and a program stored on the memory and executed by the processor; wherein, the processor executes the program implement the information transmission method according to claim 15.’ (communication device include terminal, relay and network device/network node [0006, 0012] associated with processor to store one or program and execute instructions [0022-0024] and claim 15 disclosed above. Apparatus Fig. 16, 19 and 20)
Regarding Claim 55,
Wang discloses, ‘A terminal, being a second terminal, comprising: a memory, a processor, and a program stored on the memory and executed by the processor; wherein the processor executes the program implement the information transmission method according to claim29’ (communication device include terminal, relay and network device/network node [0006, 0012] associated with processor to store one or program and execute instructions [0022-0024] and claim 29 disclosed above. Apparatus Fig. 16, 19 and 20).
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 09/23/2025 have been fully considered but they are
not persuasive.
Arguments and Examiners response:
With respect to applicant’s arguments/remarks, examiner responses in view of relevant disclosures from presented prior arts “Wang”, and “Pan” provided here.
Regarding the applicant arguments page-10 to 11, Wang paragraphs [0105]-[0110] and [0114-0115] and Fig. 8, that is specific to Claim 1, 15 and 29. For clarity examiner would present relevant disclosures. Independent claim 1 applied to NW device, remote terminal and the relay terminal.
Most important subject matter,
UE-to-NW relay communication
[Wingdings font/0xE0] determining target mapping relation ship
[Wingdings font/0xE0] transmit to target terminal i.e. first/second (relay) terminal
[Wingdings font/0xE0] E2E target object BH link and SL interface
Wang disclosure in Claim 1 specific to above, SL U2N relay communication, receiving by a relay UE from a source device map-first-bearer between source-relay. And mapped-relay between relay-target device.
End-to-End SL-bearer configuration between the source and the target-UE, PC5 bearer configuration between the source UE and the relay UE. Performs the relay communication configuration includes, relay BH bearer between the relay UE and the target UE or mapping-PC5-bearer between the PC5 RLC bearer between the source UE and relay UE and a relay BH bearer [0195-0196]. And, disclosure Claim 1 and 2, perform relay communication mapped to the first bearer and the second bearer.
Regarding the applicant argument page-12, Wang doesn’t disclose mapping-source-UE-to-target-device that is illustrated in Fig. 3, Fig. 4, Fig. 8, Fig. 10 and Fig.11 as stack-layers specific RLC then adaptation includes PDCP/SDAP and also RRC. And, Wang [0200] E2E SL-bearer configuration between the source and the target UE. And, E2E SL-bearer configuration includes a target-UE-index, a bearer-index, a mapping from a QoS flow to an SL DRB, whether to carry an SDAP, PDCP configuration, or the PC5 BH bearer-index between the associated source UE and relay UE.
Regarding the applicant argument page-12 first paragraph, “integrated mapping includes E2E object, the target object of BH link and the target of SL-interface…. as shown in Fig. 8”. Disclosure Claim 2, receiving, by the relay UE, a data packet from the remote UE through a PC5 RLC bearer, wherein the data packet is mapped from a Uu bearer of the remote UE to the PC5 RLC bearer, which is between the remote UE and the relay UE, by the remote UE based on a configured mapping relationship; and mapping, by the relay UE, the data packet to the second bearer between the relay UE and the target communication device, and transmitting the data packet to the target communication device comprises: identifying, by the relay UE, the Uu bearer of the remote UE to which the data packet belongs, mapping the data packet to a relay bearer between the relay UE and the base station, and transmitting the data packet to the base station. And “mapping and/or delivering, by the remote UE, data packets on Uu bearers to an adaptation layer” also includes 5QI/QFI, disclosure claim 3.
Wang discloses, in Fig. 3 and Fig. 8 includes: remote UE[Wingdings font/0xE0] PC5 [Wingdings font/0xE0] relay UE;
relay UE[Wingdings font/0xE0] Uu interface [Wingdings font/0xE0] BS
In Fig. 3 and Fig. 4, Wang discloses UE-to-Network relay CP and UP stack that implement the UE forwarding and routing. Maps the first bearer between the UE-relay UE and the second bearer between the relay UE-BS. PC5-RLC/SL-BH and Uu-DRB/SRB. And, the Uu-BH and associated to the logical channel/LCID [0060-0067].
Regarding the applicant argument page-13, “diving QoS E2E…”, Wang discloses, the relay UE sends to the BS includes QoS and the End-to-End SL-bearer configuration [0201-0204]. The QoS includes a PFI, a PQI, GFBR/MFBR [0201]. Includes the QoS flow control and rate. And, the remote UE generates a data packet, maps the data packet or Uu RRC signaling or a Uu RRC message to the PDCP entity of the corresponding Uu DRB/SRB based on 5G Uu QoS and/or bearer configuration performs Uu PDCP layer operations [0068].
Examiner thanks to applicant and the attorney for their time and effort.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to
applicant's disclosure:
Hu et al. (US20220369164A1) ”Method of and Equipment for Performing Transfer of Data Packets in End-to-End Multihop Sidelink Radio Communication”
Wang et al. (US 20220295375 A1) “Connection establishment and bearer mapping for UE-to-network relay”
Chen et al. (Information disclosure WO2018141294A1), discloses the subject matter of claim 1, 15 and 29, determining a first targe map [0145-0146] and mapping relationship of first includes the first, the second, the third and fourth, see disclosure Claim 22 to claim 29. Further, [0154-0156], [0169-170].
Baghel et al. Title: “SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR DEVICE-TO-DEVICE COMMUNICATION WITH EVOLVED MACHINE TYPE COMMUNICATION”;
Liang et al. Title: “Method of and Equipment for Performing Transfer of Data Packets in End-to-End Multihop Sidelink Radio Communication”;
3GPP TR 23.786 v1.0.0; 3rd Generation Partnership Project; Technical Specification Group Services and System Aspects; Study on architecture enhancements for EPS and 5G System to support advanced V2X services”.
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/S.A./Examiner, Art Unit 2466
/CHRISTOPHER M CRUTCHFIELD/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2466
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