DETAILED ACTION
This action is response to application number 18/011,861, amendment and remarks, dated on 02/26/2026.
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Claims 8-9, 12-17, 24-25, 28-29, 31-32 and 34-36 pending.
Claims 1-7, 10-11, 18-23, 26-27, 30, 33 and 37 cancelled.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 02/26/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Applicant in page 8 of remarks regarding amended claims argues that “However, Tseng's trigger is not an inability of the UE to comply with configuration information that the UE just received. In contrast, Tseng's UE initiates an RRC Connection Resume procedure when sidelink parameters have changed in broadcast system information or when the UE's own preferences change. This behavior reflects a desire or need to modify an existing configuration, not a failure to implement a newly provided configuration from the base station. As such, Tseng does not disclose or suggest a UE that attempts to apply second-connection configuration and cannot comply, as now expressly required by amended claim 8. Ji also fails to teach these features. Therefore, claim 8 is allowable over the combination of Ji and Tseng”.
Ji discloses wherein the unsuccessful implementation of the configuration information for the second connection (SL connection; between SL UEs; Fig. 6, el. 72) comprises that the terminal device (RX UE/TX UE; Fig. 1; Figs 6b, 6c, els. 20, 30) cannot comply with the configuration information for the second connection (the SL UE being unsuccessful to complete the SL procedure to establishment SL between the two SL UEs and cannot comply with the configuration information for establishing the sidelink connection between the two SL UEs; When the T400 expires and no feedback on RRCReconfigurationSidelink message has been received (i.e., RRCReconfigurationCompleteSidelink or RRCReconfigurationFailureSidelink message), the PC5-RRC connection will be handled by radio link failure (RLF) procedures. Thus, upon T400 expiry, the TX UE detects PC5-RRC RLF and performs the same operations as RLF. This means the TX UE will release the PC5 link and delete the associated configurations of this link; ¶46; Upon the expiry of T400, the TX-UE may consider it as PC5-RRC RLF and release the PC5 radio link. In this case, the V2X services between the two SL UEs cannot be supported via PC5, not really due to PC5 radio link problem, but due to radio link problem of Uu interface, which may be recovered by, e.g., solving the physical layer problem, reestablishing the RRC connection in the new serving cell, handing over to a target cell or ended up with UE entering RRC idle mode (e.g. due to expiry of T301, T310, or T311). In this case, the PC5 connection and communication can actually continue. Therefore, it may be desirable that PC5-RRC RLF triggered by T400 expiration due to Uu radio link problem is avoided to the extent possible; ¶51; It is noted that the reason for having the T400 timer may include to timely detect issues with a PC5 connection. In current 3GPP V2X discussions, the discrepancy between the generation of the RRCReconfigurationSidelink message at the TX-UE and its actual transmission to the peer UE and the corresponding discrepancy of the T400 timer is not addressed. However, setting the timer T400 to a large value will not allow a timely detection of a PC5 connection with problems, and may impact the system in several ways. For example, taking into account the worst case (which is also not easy to predict) from the Uu interface to configure T400, may result in the Tx UE waiting much longer than necessary to perform RLF/RLM. The timer T400 is introduced to monitor the SL performance, and it should not be used to monitor the Uu link, which will be handled by the other timers/procedures. Making T400 too large may have the same effect as the case where no timer is used. Thus, the meaning of introducing the timer T400 will be lost. Further, setting the timer T400 to its largest value (e.g., 2 seconds) does not solve the problem mentioned above. On the other hand, a larger value of T400 will delay the detection of the problem over PC5 link; ¶52).
Furthermore, Tseng discloses wherein the unsuccessful implementation of the configuration information for the second connection comprises that the terminal device (SL UE) cannot comply with the configuration information for the second connection (unsuccessful implementation of the configuration information (SL configuration) and the SL UE cannot comply with the SL configuration information for the sidelink connection and the SL configuration is required to be modified (UE indicating the unsuccessful implementation of the SL control parameter configuration information and the SL control parameter configuration is required to be modified); ¶106; ¶107 “In some of the present implementations, a UE may start an RRC Connection Resume procedure if the sidelink control parameters broadcast in the system information (e.g., by the serving cell), or the UE's own preference for a sidelink operation, has changed. In some of such implementations, the UE may send an RRC Connection Resume Request message which may include a Resume Cause (e.g., SL Operation Modification) to the serving cell. The serving cell may then instruct the UE to move to an RRC Connected state to transmit the Sidelink Assistance information (e.g., SidelinkUEInformation) to the serving cell. The serving cell may configure new sidelink control parameters to the UE based on the received Sidelink Assistance information in some of the present implementations”; ¶110.
It is noted that if the applicant interpretation of the claim limitation of “terminal device cannot comply with the configuration information for the second connection” is different from the SL RLF of the second connection disclosed by JI and/or Tseng’s sidelink configuration incompliance. The steps of the instant application of the configuration information noncompliance are required to be added to the claim in order to be distinguished from the prior art and the claim is required to particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
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 8-9, 12-17, 24-25, 28-29, 31-32 and 34-36 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ji et al. (US 2023/0129741 A1) in view of Tseng el. al. (US 2020/0045674 A1).
Claim 8, Ji discloses a method performed by a terminal device (RX UE/TX UE; Fig. 1; Figs 6b, 6c, els. 20, 30), the terminal device having a first connection (a first connection between the SL UEs and the base station; Fig. 6, els. 70, 71) with a serving base station (Network base station; Fig. 1; Fig. 6a, el. 10) using a first radio- access technology, and a second connection (a second connection between SL UEs; Fig. 6, el. 72) with one or more nodes (a second UE/ SL UE; Fig 6, els. 20, 30) using a second radio-access technology (the first and the second connections using the first and the second radio-access technology; Some example embodiments may generally relate to mobile or wireless telecommunication systems, such as Long Term Evolution (LTE) or fifth generation (5G) radio access technology or new radio (NR) access technology, or other communications systems. For example, certain embodiments may relate to systems and/or methods for monitoring PC5-radio resource control (RRC) configuration procedure in new radio (NR) sidelink (SL) mode 1; ¶2; ¶3; For example, apparatus 10 may be a satellite, base station, a Node B, an evolved Node B (eNB), 5G Node B or access point, next generation Node B (NG-NB or gNB), and/or WLAN access point, associated with a radio access network, such as a LTE network, 5G or NR. In example embodiments, apparatus 10 may be NG-RAN node, an eNB in LTE, or gNB in 5G; ¶85; In some example embodiments, apparatus 20 may include one or more processors, one or more computer-readable storage medium (for example, memory, storage, or the like), one or more radio access components (for example, a modem, a transceiver, or the like), and/or a user interface. In some embodiments, apparatus 20 may be configured to operate using one or more radio access technologies, such as GSM, LTE, LTE-A, NR, 5G, WLAN, WiFi, NB-IoT, Bluetooth, NFC, MulteFire, and/or any other radio access technologies. It should be noted that one of ordinary skill in the art would understand that apparatus 20 may include components or features not shown in FIG. 6b; ¶103; ¶108; According to an example embodiment, apparatus 20 may optionally be configured to communicate with apparatus 10 or apparatus 30 via a wireless or wired communications link or interface 70 according to any radio access technology, such as NR; ¶110; In some example embodiments, apparatus 30 may include one or more processors, one or more computer-readable storage medium (for example, memory, storage, or the like), one or more radio access components (for example, a modem, a transceiver, or the like), and/or a user interface. In some example embodiments, apparatus 30 may be configured to operate using one or more radio access technologies, such as GSM, LTE, LTE-A, NR, 5G, WLAN, WiFi, NB-IoT, MulteFire, and/or any other radio access technologies. It should be noted that one of ordinary skill in the art would understand that apparatus 30 may include components or features not shown in FIG. 6c; ¶124; ¶129; According to an example embodiment, apparatus 30 may optionally be configured to communicate with apparatus 10 via a wireless or wired communications link 71 and/or to communicate with apparatus 20 via a wireless or wired communications link 72, according to any radio access technology, such as NR; ¶131), the method comprising:
receiving, from the serving base station (Network base station; Fig. 1; Fig. 6a, el. 10) over the first connection (a first connection between the SL UEs and the base station; Fig. 6, els. 70, 71), a connection configuration message, the connection configuration message comprises configuration information for the second connection (SL connection; between SL UEs; Fig. 6, el. 72)(receiving from the base station the configuration, setting and the resource pool to be used for the SL connection between the two SL UEs as shown in Fig. 6, el. 72; For each SL data radio bearer (DRB) that is to be released, e.g., due to configuration by sl-ConfigDedicatedNR, system information block type x (SIBX), SidelinkPreconfigNR or by upper layers: the UE may set the slrb-PC5-Configlndex included in the slrb-ConfigToReleaseList corresponding to the SL DRB. For each SL DRB that is to be established or modified, e.g., due to receiving sl-ConfigDedicatedNR, SIBX, SidelinkPreconfigNR: the UE may set the SLRB-Config included in the slrb-ConfigToAddModList, according to the received sl-RadioBearerConfig and sl-RLC-BearerConfig corresponding to the SL DRB. For each NR SL measurement and report that is to be configured, the UE may set the sl-MeasConfig according to the stored NR SL measurement configuration information. The UE may submit the RRCReconfigurationSidelink message to lower layers for transmission and start timer T400, which is used to monitor the performance of the PC5 RRC (re)configuration procedure; ¶44; The above steps, therefore, indicate that when the PC5-RRC is to be configured or reconfigured, the timer T400 is started to detect any problems occurring during the PC5 (re)configuration procedure. The value of T400 may be defined by the network in the information element of SL-ConfigDedicatedNR, SIBX, or SidelinkPreconfigNR (e.g., t400-r16 ENUMERATED {ms100, ms200, ms300, ms400, ms600, ms1000, ms1500, ms2000}); ¶45; Fig. 1; FIG. 1 illustrates an example signaling diagram depicting an example operation of transmitting the RRCReconfigurationSidelink message by using SL mode 1 (i.e., in mode 1, initiating UE needs to request for SL transmission resources from its serving network). As illustrated in the example of FIG. 1, compared to the Uu interface, NR SL in mode 1 requests SL resource from the network to transmit the RRCReconfigurationSidelink message. It is noted that the time period may be denoted as t_SL_grant in this disclosure. As depicted in the example of FIG. 1, t_SL_grant may be the time it takes for a SL connection to obtain a resource in the system; ¶48; In case there is configured exceptional resource pool(s), the UE may transmit the RRCReconfigurationSidelink message by using the configured exceptional resource pool(s), when it experiences a problem from Uu that prevents the UE in mode 1 from requesting sidelink resource from the network. However, as the UE needs to randomly select a resource from the exceptional resource pool(s), it cannot ensure a good sidelink performance. Thus, in this case, timer T400 may also expire due to the bad performance of using the exceptional resource pool(s). As the exceptional resource pool(s) is/are only used temporarily, and the UE will later switch back to the normal operations, e.g., requesting resource from network or even switching to sensing-based resource selection in mode 2, it is unreasonable to determine the sidelink performance by monitoring its temporary performance during the time when the exceptional resource pool is used; ¶50; Fig. 5a; As illustrated in the example of FIG. 5a, the method may include, at 500, configuring a SL UE with behaviors on handling and monitoring the PC5 RRC procedures and related timers by taking into account Uu link status/problem; ¶68; In some embodiments, apparatus 10 may be controlled by memory 14 and processor 12 to configure the SL UE such that its RRC layer may construct the RRCReconfigurationSidelink message and send it to the lower layers, when there is no radio problem (e.g., a physical layer problem is not detected, and/or a connection re-establishment procedure or a handover procedure is not performed) via the Uu interface, which prevents the SL UE from requesting a SL resource from the network node. For instance, in an embodiment, apparatus 10 may be controlled by memory 14 and processor 12 to configure the RRC layer at the SL UE to construct the RRCReconfigurationSidelink message and send it to the lower layers, only if there is not a physical layer problem or a connection re-establishment procedure or a handover procedure via the Uu interface. Otherwise, in an embodiment, apparatus 10 may be controlled by memory 14 and processor 12 to configure the SL UE such that its RRC layer should not submit the RRCReconfigurationSidelink message to lower layers and, therefore, the timer T400 should not start in this case; ¶98; In certain embodiments, apparatus 20 may be configured, by the network, with multiple values for the timer (e.g., T400 timer) or multiple different similar timers associated to the same PC5-RRC procedure. According to some examples, the different values or timers may be used or configured according to the different conditions experienced from the interface between the apparatus 20 and the network (e.g., Uu interface), if there is physical layer problem or connection reestablishment or handover procedure via the (Uu) interface; ¶121); and
responsive to unsuccessful implementation of the configuration information for the second connection (SL connection; between SL UEs; Fig. 6, el. 72), triggering a failure procedure, wherein the unsuccessful implementation of the configuration information for the second connection (SL connection; between SL UEs; Fig. 6, el. 72) comprises that the terminal device (RX UE/TX UE; Fig. 1; Figs 6b, 6c, els. 20, 30) cannot comply with the configuration information for the second connection (triggering a failure procedure responsive to the SL UE being unsuccessful to complete the SL procedure to establishment SL between the two SL UEs and cannot comply with the configuration information for establishing the SL between the two SL UEs; When the T400 expires and no feedback on RRCReconfigurationSidelink message has been received (i.e., RRCReconfigurationCompleteSidelink or RRCReconfigurationFailureSidelink message), the PC5-RRC connection will be handled by radio link failure (RLF) procedures. Thus, upon T400 expiry, the TX UE detects PC5-RRC RLF and performs the same operations as RLF. This means the TX UE will release the PC5 link and delete the associated configurations of this link; ¶46; Upon the expiry of T400, the TX-UE may consider it as PC5-RRC RLF and release the PC5 radio link. In this case, the V2X services between the two SL UEs cannot be supported via PC5, not really due to PC5 radio link problem, but due to radio link problem of Uu interface, which may be recovered by, e.g., solving the physical layer problem, reestablishing the RRC connection in the new serving cell, handing over to a target cell or ended up with UE entering RRC idle mode (e.g. due to expiry of T301, T310, or T311). In this case, the PC5 connection and communication can actually continue. Therefore, it may be desirable that PC5-RRC RLF triggered by T400 expiration due to Uu radio link problem is avoided to the extent possible; ¶51; It is noted that the reason for having the T400 timer may include to timely detect issues with a PC5 connection. In current 3GPP V2X discussions, the discrepancy between the generation of the RRCReconfigurationSidelink message at the TX-UE and its actual transmission to the peer UE and the corresponding discrepancy of the T400 timer is not addressed. However, setting the timer T400 to a large value will not allow a timely detection of a PC5 connection with problems, and may impact the system in several ways. For example, taking into account the worst case (which is also not easy to predict) from the Uu interface to configure T400, may result in the Tx UE waiting much longer than necessary to perform RLF/RLM. The timer T400 is introduced to monitor the SL performance, and it should not be used to monitor the Uu link, which will be handled by the other timers/procedures. Making T400 too large may have the same effect as the case where no timer is used. Thus, the meaning of introducing the timer T400 will be lost. Further, setting the timer T400 to its largest value (e.g., 2 seconds) does not solve the problem mentioned above. On the other hand, a larger value of T400 will delay the detection of the problem over PC5 link; ¶52).
Ji does not disclose “wherein the failure procedure comprises transmitting, to the serving base station over the first connection, a second response message comprising an indication that implementation of the configuration information was unsuccessful”.
Tseng in the same filed of endeavor, configuring the sidelink control parameters discloses wherein the failure procedure comprises transmitting, to the serving base station over the first connection, a second response message comprising an indication that implementation of the configuration information was unsuccessful, wherein the unsuccessful implementation of the configuration information for the second connection comprises that the terminal device cannot comply with the configuration information for the second connection (SL UE transmitting, to the serving base station over the first connection, a second response message comprising an indication that implementation of the configuration information (SL configuration) was unsuccessful and the SL UE cannot comply with the SL configuration information for the sidelink connection and it is required to be modified (SL indicating the unsuccessful implementation of the SL control parameter configuration information by the UE and the SL control parameter configuration is required to be modified); ¶106; ¶107; In some of the present implementations, a UE may start an RRC Connection Resume procedure if the sidelink control parameters broadcast in the system information (e.g., by the serving cell), or the UE's own preference for a sidelink operation, has changed. In some of such implementations, the UE may send an RRC Connection Resume Request message which may include a Resume Cause (e.g., SL Operation Modification) to the serving cell. The serving cell may then instruct the UE to move to an RRC Connected state to transmit the Sidelink Assistance information (e.g., SidelinkUEInformation) to the serving cell. The serving cell may configure new sidelink control parameters to the UE based on the received Sidelink Assistance information in some of the present implementations; ¶110).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention was made to provide a failure procedure comprising transmitting, to the serving base station over the first connection, a second response message comprising an indication that implementation of the configuration information was unsuccessful, as taught by Tseng to modify Ji’s method and system in order to configure and update the sidelink (SL) control parameters and to improve sidelink resource allocation process in the next generation wireless networks (¶3; ¶110).
Claims 9, 25, Ji in view of Tseng discloses wherein the configuration information for the second connection (Ji; SL connection; between SL UEs; Fig. 6, el. 72) is embedded within the received connection configuration message from the serving base station (Ji; embedding the SL connection configuration, setting and the resource pool to be used for the SL connection between the two SL UEs as shown in Fig. 6, el. 72 within the received connection configuration messages from the base station; For each SL data radio bearer (DRB) that is to be released, e.g., due to configuration by sl-ConfigDedicatedNR, system information block type x (SIBX), SidelinkPreconfigNR or by upper layers: the UE may set the slrb-PC5-Configlndex included in the slrb-ConfigToReleaseList corresponding to the SL DRB. For each SL DRB that is to be established or modified, e.g., due to receiving sl-ConfigDedicatedNR, SIBX, SidelinkPreconfigNR: the UE may set the SLRB-Config included in the slrb-ConfigToAddModList, according to the received sl-RadioBearerConfig and sl-RLC-BearerConfig corresponding to the SL DRB. For each NR SL measurement and report that is to be configured, the UE may set the sl-MeasConfig according to the stored NR SL measurement configuration information. The UE may submit the RRCReconfigurationSidelink message to lower layers for transmission and start timer T400, which is used to monitor the performance of the PC5 RRC (re)configuration procedure; ¶44; The above steps, therefore, indicate that when the PC5-RRC is to be configured or reconfigured, the timer T400 is started to detect any problems occurring during the PC5 (re)configuration procedure. The value of T400 may be defined by the network in the information element of SL-ConfigDedicatedNR, SIBX, or SidelinkPreconfigNR (e.g., t400-r16 ENUMERATED {ms100, ms200, ms300, ms400, ms600, ms1000, ms1500, ms2000}); ¶45).
Claim 12, Ji in view of Tseng discloses wherein the indication that implementation of the configuration information was unsuccessful comprises an indication of a cause of the unsuccessful implementation of the configuration information (Tseng; the indication that implementation of the configuration information was unsuccessful and it is required to be modified (SL indicating the unsuccessful implementation of the currently used configuration information and it is required to be modified); ¶106; ¶107; In some of the present implementations, a UE may start an RRC Connection Resume procedure if the sidelink control parameters broadcast in the system information (e.g., by the serving cell), or the UE's own preference for a sidelink operation, has changed. In some of such implementations, the UE may send an RRC Connection Resume Request message which may include a Resume Cause (e.g., SL Operation Modification) to the serving cell. The serving cell may then instruct the UE to move to an RRC Connected state to transmit the Sidelink Assistance information (e.g., SidelinkUEInformation) to the serving cell. The serving cell may configure new sidelink control parameters to the UE based on the received Sidelink Assistance information in some of the present implementations; ¶110).
Claim 13, Ji in view of Tseng discloses wherein the failure procedure comprises not responding to the connection configuration message (Ji; the failure procedure comprising no communication (no response) between the SL UE and the base station due to failure of the Uu interface to the base station; When the T400 expires and no feedback on RRCReconfigurationSidelink message has been received (i.e., RRCReconfigurationCompleteSidelink or RRCReconfigurationFailureSidelink message), the PC5-RRC connection will be handled by radio link failure (RLF) procedures. Thus, upon T400 expiry, the TX UE detects PC5-RRC RLF and performs the same operations as RLF. This means the TX UE will release the PC5 link and delete the associated configurations of this link; ¶46).
Claim 14, Ji in view of Tseng discloses wherein the failure procedure comprises releasing the second connection (Ji; releasing SL link between the two SL UEs; When the T400 expires and no feedback on RRCReconfigurationSidelink message has been received (i.e., RRCReconfigurationCompleteSidelink or RRCReconfigurationFailureSidelink message), the PC5-RRC connection will be handled by radio link failure (RLF) procedures. Thus, upon T400 expiry, the TX UE detects PC5-RRC RLF and performs the same operations as RLF. This means the TX UE will release the PC5 link and delete the associated configurations of this link; ¶46; Upon the expiry of T400, the TX-UE may consider it as PC5-RRC RLF and release the PC5 radio link. In this case, the V2X services between the two SL UEs cannot be supported via PC5; ¶51; Thus, if the T400 timer is started without noticing the timer T310 is running, the T400 timer may expire before the physical layer problem is resolved, and it results in a release of the PC5 link, which is not desirable as it does not reflect the status of the PC5 link. In this embodiment, when it is determined that there is a physical layer problem, apparatus 20 may be controlled by memory 24 and processor 22 to construct the RRC Reconfiguration Sidelink message after the physical layer problem is solved, e.g., when the T310 timer stops; ¶114).
Claim 15, 32, Ji in view of Tseng discloses wherein the second connection (Ji; a second connection between SL UEs; Fig. 6, el. 72) is a sidelink connection (Ji; SL connection between RX UE and TX UE; Fig. 1, Fig. 6, el. 72), and the one or more nodes are one or more other terminal devices (Ji; a second UE/ SL UE; Figs 6b, 6c, els. 20, 30) (Ji; Certain embodiments may relate to 3rd generation partnership project (3GPP) NR sidelink (SL) in Release-16 and beyond. An objective of NR SL is to provide high-reliability and low-latency communication (HRLLC), for example, in order to support advanced vehicle-to-everything (V2X) use cases; ¶42; NR V2X is targeted to be used to serve advanced V2X services, while LTE V2X serves the basic V2X services. In 3GPP Release-16 NR SL specification (e.g., 3GPP TS 38.331), it is indicated that the actions related to transmission of sidelink RRC reconfiguration (RRCReconfigurationSidelink) message include the UE setting the contents of the RRCReconfigurationSidelink message as discussed in the following; ¶43; Upon the expiry of T400, the TX-UE may consider it as PC5-RRC RLF and release the PC5 radio link. In this case, the V2X services between the two SL UEs cannot be supported via PC5, not really due to PC5 radio link problem, but due to radio link problem of Uu interface, which may be recovered by, e.g., solving the physical layer problem, reestablishing the RRC connection in the new serving cell, handing over to a target cell or ended up with UE entering RRC idle mode (e.g. due to expiry of T301, T310, or T311). In this case, the PC5 connection and communication can actually continue. Therefore, it may be desirable that PC5-RRC RLF triggered by T400 expiration due to Uu radio link problem is avoided to the extent possible; ¶51; ¶52; For example, certain embodiments enable a SL UE to avoid PC5-RRC radio link failure, for instance, such as that due to a Uu radio link problem. As a result, according to example embodiments, SL UEs can maintain V2X services since the PC5 connection and communication are able to continue. Accordingly, the use of certain example embodiments results in improved functioning of communications networks and their nodes, such as base stations, eNBs, gNBs, and/or UEs or mobile stations; ¶135).
Claim 16, Ji in view of Tseng discloses wherein the sidelink connection is a vehicle-to-anything, V2X, connection (Ji; the V2X sidelink connection; Certain embodiments may relate to 3rd generation partnership project (3GPP) NR sidelink (SL) in Release-16 and beyond. An objective of NR SL is to provide high-reliability and low-latency communication (HRLLC), for example, in order to support advanced vehicle-to-everything (V2X) use cases; ¶42; NR V2X is targeted to be used to serve advanced V2X services, while LTE V2X serves the basic V2X services. In 3GPP Release-16 NR SL specification (e.g., 3GPP TS 38.331), it is indicated that the actions related to transmission of sidelink RRC reconfiguration (RRCReconfigurationSidelink) message include the UE setting the contents of the RRCReconfigurationSidelink message as discussed in the following; ¶43; Upon the expiry of T400, the TX-UE may consider it as PC5-RRC RLF and release the PC5 radio link. In this case, the V2X services between the two SL UEs cannot be supported via PC5, not really due to PC5 radio link problem, but due to radio link problem of Uu interface, which may be recovered by, e.g., solving the physical layer problem, reestablishing the RRC connection in the new serving cell, handing over to a target cell or ended up with UE entering RRC idle mode (e.g. due to expiry of T301, T310, or T311). In this case, the PC5 connection and communication can actually continue. Therefore, it may be desirable that PC5-RRC RLF triggered by T400 expiration due to Uu radio link problem is avoided to the extent possible; ¶51; ¶52; For example, certain embodiments enable a SL UE to avoid PC5-RRC radio link failure, for instance, such as that due to a Uu radio link problem. As a result, according to example embodiments, SL UEs can maintain V2X services since the PC5 connection and communication are able to continue. Accordingly, the use of certain example embodiments results in improved functioning of communications networks and their nodes, such as base stations, eNBs, gNBs, and/or UEs or mobile stations; ¶135).
Claims 17, 34, Ji in view of Tseng discloses wherein the first radio-access technology is New Radio, NR, and the second radio-access technology is Long Term Evolution, LTE; or wherein the first radio-access technology is LTE and the second radio- access technology is NR (Ji; the first and the second connections using the first and the second radio-access technology (NR, LTE or LTE, NR); Some example embodiments may generally relate to mobile or wireless telecommunication systems, such as Long Term Evolution (LTE) or fifth generation (5G) radio access technology or new radio (NR) access technology, or other communications systems. For example, certain embodiments may relate to systems and/or methods for monitoring PC5-radio resource control (RRC) configuration procedure in new radio (NR) sidelink (SL) mode 1; ¶2; ¶3; For example, apparatus 10 may be a satellite, base station, a Node B, an evolved Node B (eNB), 5G Node B or access point, next generation Node B (NG-NB or gNB), and/or WLAN access point, associated with a radio access network, such as a LTE network, 5G or NR. In example embodiments, apparatus 10 may be NG-RAN node, an eNB in LTE, or gNB in 5G; ¶85; In some example embodiments, apparatus 20 may include one or more processors, one or more computer-readable storage medium (for example, memory, storage, or the like), one or more radio access components (for example, a modem, a transceiver, or the like), and/or a user interface. In some embodiments, apparatus 20 may be configured to operate using one or more radio access technologies, such as GSM, LTE, LTE-A, NR, 5G, WLAN, WiFi, NB-IoT, Bluetooth, NFC, MulteFire, and/or any other radio access technologies. It should be noted that one of ordinary skill in the art would understand that apparatus 20 may include components or features not shown in FIG. 6b; ¶103; ¶108; According to an example embodiment, apparatus 20 may optionally be configured to communicate with apparatus 10 or apparatus 30 via a wireless or wired communications link or interface 70 according to any radio access technology, such as NR; ¶110; In some example embodiments, apparatus 30 may include one or more processors, one or more computer-readable storage medium (for example, memory, storage, or the like), one or more radio access components (for example, a modem, a transceiver, or the like), and/or a user interface. In some example embodiments, apparatus 30 may be configured to operate using one or more radio access technologies, such as GSM, LTE, LTE-A, NR, 5G, WLAN, WiFi, NB-IoT, MulteFire, and/or any other radio access technologies. It should be noted that one of ordinary skill in the art would understand that apparatus 30 may include components or features not shown in FIG. 6c; ¶124; ¶129; According to an example embodiment, apparatus 30 may optionally be configured to communicate with apparatus 10 via a wireless or wired communications link 71 and/or to communicate with apparatus 20 via a wireless or wired communications link 72, according to any radio access technology, such as NR; ¶131).
Claim 24, analyzed with respect to claims 8 and 10.
Claim 28, Ji in view of Tseng discloses further comprising, responsive to receipt of the second response message, initiating a connection re-establishment procedure for the terminal device (Ji; initiating a connection re-establishment procedure for the terminal device; In SL mode 1, t_SL_grant may depend on the radio condition of the Uu link and congestion on the Uu interface. For instance, after the RRCReconfigurationSidelink message is constructed, it may be given to the lower layers for transmission and the timer T400 may be started. Afterwards, the UE may need to request for a SL resource, e.g., using buffer status report, scheduling request, or random access procedure. However, if there is a radio link problem from the Uu interface and there is no exceptional resource pool, the UE may need to first resolve the Uu radio link problem (e.g., perform RRC reestablishment procedure) before it can obtain the SL resource from network. Thus, the UE may not be able to transmit the RRCReconfigurationSidelink message before T400 expires, if the Uu radio link problem is not resolved before the expiry of T400; and, if the radio link problem is resolved before T400 expires, the remaining time until its expiry may not be long enough to perform the SL RRC reconfiguration procedure. As used herein, a radio link problem may refer to, for example, a problem, condition or status via the Uu interface, which prevents the UE to request SL resource from the network, e.g., experiencing a physical layer problem, performing a connection reestablishment procedure, and/or a handover procedure; ¶49; Upon the expiry of T400, the TX-UE may consider it as PC5-RRC RLF and release the PC5 radio link. In this case, the V2X services between the two SL UEs cannot be supported via PC5, not really due to PC5 radio link problem, but due to radio link problem of Uu interface, which may be recovered by, e.g., solving the physical layer problem, reestablishing the RRC connection in the new serving cell, handing over to a target cell or ended up with UE entering RRC idle mode (e.g. due to expiry of T301, T310, or T311); ¶51; Therefore, in this case, the SL reconfiguration failure will not be detected due to the problem of the Uu interface. The PC5 RRC (re)configuration procedure will be initiated when physical layer problem of the Uu interface is resolved, or the connection re-establishment procedure or the handover procedure via the Uu interface is performed or the Tx UE enters RRC Idle mode; ¶54; In another embodiment, apparatus 10 may be controlled by memory 14 and processor 12 to configure the SL UE such that, if the SL UE detects a Uu physical layer problem or initiates the Uu connection reestablishment or the handover procedure after constructing the RRCReconfigurationSidelink message and starting timer T400, the SL UE is configured to hold the value of the timer T400 until the Uu physical layer problem is resolved, or the Uu connection re-establishment or the handover procedure is done, or the SL UE enters RRC idle mode; ¶99).
Claim 29, Ji in view of Tseng discloses further comprising, responsive to receipt of the second response message, releasing radio resources for the terminal device on the first connection; and/or further comprising, responsive to receipt of the second response message, releasing a stored context for the second connection of the terminal device (Ji; releasing radio resources and stored context of the SL UEs on the first and the second connections; In SL mode 1, t_SL_grant may depend on the radio condition of the Uu link and congestion on the Uu interface. For instance, after the RRCReconfigurationSidelink message is constructed, it may be given to the lower layers for transmission and the timer T400 may be started. Afterwards, the UE may need to request for a SL resource, e.g., using buffer status report, scheduling request, or random access procedure. However, if there is a radio link problem from the Uu interface and there is no exceptional resource pool, the UE may need to first resolve the Uu radio link problem (e.g., perform RRC reestablishment procedure) before it can obtain the SL resource from network. Thus, the UE may not be able to transmit the RRCReconfigurationSidelink message before T400 expires, if the Uu radio link problem is not resolved before the expiry of T400; and, if the radio link problem is resolved before T400 expires, the remaining time until its expiry may not be long enough to perform the SL RRC reconfiguration procedure. As used herein, a radio link problem may refer to, for example, a problem, condition or status via the Uu interface, which prevents the UE to request SL resource from the network, e.g., experiencing a physical layer problem, performing a connection reestablishment procedure, and/or a handover procedure; ¶49; Upon the expiry of T400, the TX-UE may consider it as PC5-RRC RLF and release the PC5 radio link. In this case, the V2X services between the two SL UEs cannot be supported via PC5, not really due to PC5 radio link problem, but due to radio link problem of Uu interface, which may be recovered by, e.g., solving the physical layer problem, reestablishing the RRC connection in the new serving cell, handing over to a target cell or ended up with UE entering RRC idle mode (e.g. due to expiry of T301, T310, or T311); ¶51; A similar approach may also apply if the apparatus 20 is trying to perform a Uu connection reestablishment procedure, e.g., when the timers T301 or T311 are running In this case, when it is determined that there is a connection re-establishment procedure via the interface (e.g., Uu interface), apparatus 20 cannot obtain a SL resource from network before the Uu connection is re-established. Thus, T400 should not start in this case in order to avoid that T400 expires before the Uu connection establishment is done, since it will release the PC5 link if T400 expires. In addition, if the UE re-establishes the Uu connection to a new cell, it may obtain new PC5 configuration from the new cell. Therefore, when it is determined that there is a connection re-establishment procedure via the interface (e.g., Uu interface), apparatus 20 may be controlled by memory 24 and processor 22 to construct the RRC Reconfiguration Sidelink message after the connection re-establishment; ¶115; In an embodiment, when a connection reestablishment procedure is initiated (e.g., due to an RLC failure as the maximal retransmission via the Uu interface has achieved the maximal number, or a handover failure) or a handover procedure is started, apparatus 20 may be controlled by memory 24 and processor 22 to place the timer T400 on hold. Upon a successful Uu re-establishment with the same serving cell, apparatus 20 may be controlled by memory 24 and processor 22 to continue to run the timer T400. Upon a successful connection reestablishment or handover with a new serving cell or when the UE enters RRC idle mode without successful connection re-establishment, apparatus 20 may be controlled by memory 24 and processor 22 to check if the PC5 configuration acquired from the new serving cell (in case of successful Uu reestablishment) or SIB/pre-configuration (in case of entering idle mode) complies with the configuration in the constructed RRC Reconfiguration Sidelink message; ¶119).
Claim 31, Ji in view of Tseng discloses wherein the connection configuration message is configured according to the first radio-access technology, wherein the connection configuration message comprises a connection configuration sub-message configured according to the second radio-access technology (Ji; the base station connection configuration message being configured according to the first radio-access technology and having sub-message of the SL connection configured according to the second radio-access technology; Some example embodiments may generally relate to mobile or wireless telecommunication systems, such as Long Term Evolution (LTE) or fifth generation (5G) radio access technology or new radio (NR) access technology, or other communications systems. For example, certain embodiments may relate to systems and/or methods for monitoring PC5-radio resource control (RRC) configuration procedure in new radio (NR) sidelink (SL) mode 1; ¶2; ¶3; For example, apparatus 10 may be a satellite, base station, a Node B, an evolved Node B (eNB), 5G Node B or access point, next generation Node B (NG-NB or gNB), and/or WLAN access point, associated with a radio access network, such as a LTE network, 5G or NR. In example embodiments, apparatus 10 may be NG-RAN node, an eNB in LTE, or gNB in 5G; ¶85; In some example embodiments, apparatus 20 may include one or more processors, one or more computer-readable storage medium (for example, memory, storage, or the like), one or more radio access components (for example, a modem, a transceiver, or the like), and/or a user interface. In some embodiments, apparatus 20 may be configured to operate using one or more radio access technologies, such as GSM, LTE, LTE-A, NR, 5G, WLAN, WiFi, NB-IoT, Bluetooth, NFC, MulteFire, and/or any other radio access technologies. It should be noted that one of ordinary skill in the art would understand that apparatus 20 may include components or features not shown in FIG. 6b; ¶103; ¶108; According to an example embodiment, apparatus 20 may optionally be configured to communicate with apparatus 10 or apparatus 30 via a wireless or wired communications link or interface 70 according to any radio access technology, such as NR; ¶110; In some example embodiments, apparatus 30 may include one or more processors, one or more computer-readable storage medium (for example, memory, storage, or the like), one or more radio access components (for example, a modem, a transceiver, or the like), and/or a user interface. In some example embodiments, apparatus 30 may be configured to operate using one or more radio access technologies, such as GSM, LTE, LTE-A, NR, 5G, WLAN, WiFi, NB-IoT, MulteFire, and/or any other radio access technologies. It should be noted that one of ordinary skill in the art would understand that apparatus 30 may include components or features not shown in FIG. 6c; ¶124; ¶129; According to an example embodiment, apparatus 30 may optionally be configured to communicate with apparatus 10 via a wireless or wired communications link 71 and/or to communicate with apparatus 20 via a wireless or wired communications link 72, according to any radio access technology, such as NR; ¶131), and wherein the connection configuration sub-message comprises the configuration information for the second connection (Ji; the connection configuration sub-message of the SL connection within the connection configuration messages of the base station, the SL connection being configured according to the second radio-access technology (NR or LTE) in order to configure and to provide the setting and the resources of the SL connection and to establish the SL connection between the two SL UEs as shown in Fig. 6, el. 72; For each SL data radio bearer (DRB) that is to be released, e.g., due to configuration by sl-ConfigDedicatedNR, system information block type x (SIBX), SidelinkPreconfigNR or by upper layers: the UE may set the slrb-PC5-Configlndex included in the slrb-ConfigToReleaseList corresponding to the SL DRB. For each SL DRB that is to be established or modified, e.g., due to receiving sl-ConfigDedicatedNR, SIBX, SidelinkPreconfigNR: the UE may set the SLRB-Config included in the slrb-ConfigToAddModList, according to the received sl-RadioBearerConfig and sl-RLC-BearerConfig corresponding to the SL DRB. For each NR SL measurement and report that is to be configured, the UE may set the sl-MeasConfig according to the stored NR SL measurement configuration information. The UE may submit the RRCReconfigurationSidelink message to lower layers for transmission and start timer T400, which is used to monitor the performance of the PC5 RRC (re)configuration procedure; ¶44; The above steps, therefore, indicate that when the PC5-RRC is to be configured or reconfigured, the timer T400 is started to detect any problems occurring during the PC5 (re)configuration procedure. The value of T400 may be defined by the network in the information element of SL-ConfigDedicatedNR, SIBX, or SidelinkPreconfigNR (e.g., t400-r16 ENUMERATED {ms100, ms200, ms300, ms400, ms600, ms1000, ms1500, ms2000}); ¶45).
Claim 35, analyzed with respect to claim 8 the further limitation of claim 35 disclosed by Ji, a terminal device (RX UE/TX UE; Fig. 1; Figs 6b, 6c, els. 20, 30) comprising: processing circuitry (Fig. 6, els. 32, 22) and power supply circuitry (power supply circuitry of SL UE; Fig. 1, Fig. 6, els. 20, 30) configured to supply power to the terminal device (supplying power to the RX UE/TX UE; Fig. 1; Figs 6b, 6c, els. 20, 30; ¶102; ¶123).
Claim 36, analyzed with respect to claim 8 the further limitation of claim 35 disclosed by Ji, a base station (Network base station; Fig. 1; Fig. 6a, el. 10) comprising: processing circuitry (Fig. 6, el. 12) configured and power supply circuitry (power supply circuitry of the Network base station; Fig. 1; Fig. 6a, el. 10) configured to supply power to the base station (supply power to the Network base station; Fig. 1; Fig. 6a, el. 10; ¶85-¶101).
Conclusion
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/KOUROUSH MOHEBBI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2471
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