DETAILED ACTION
The following is a final office action in response to applicant’s remarks/arguments 9/26/2025 for
response of the office action mailed on 6/26/2025. Claims 42 and 47-65 have been amended. Claims 42 and 47-65 remain pending in the application.
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 Amendment
The Amendment filed on 9/26/2025 has been entered.
Applicant’s amendments to the Abstract and Claims have overcome each and every objection previously
set forth in the Non-Final Rejection mailed on 6/26/2025.
Response to Remarks/Arguments
Applicant’s remarks/arguments (page 10-14), filed on 9/26/2025, with respect to claims 42, 51, and 57
have been have been fully considered but are moot based on newly added limitations in the amendment and new ground of rejections using a newly introduced references (Xu et al.) are applied in the current rejection.
Regarding remarks in page 11 for independent claims 42 and 51, applicant asserts that Hong fails to teach (i) A relay user equipment (UE) comprising ... at least one processor configures the relay UE to: ... establish a relayed connection of a link between the UE and the BS; and.
Examiner respectfully disagrees with the applicant. Hong et al. (US 2022/0030493 Al) discloses (BS may perform resource scheduling to a UE 1 through a PDCCH ( e.g., downlink control information (DCI)) or RRC signaling (e.g., Configured Grant Type 1 or Configured Grant Type 2), and the UE 1 may perform V2X or SL communication with respect to a UE 2 according to the resource scheduling, the remote UE can quickly select a new relay UE, and communication between the remote UE and the base station can be quickly resumed via the new relay UE. establish a PCS radio resource control (RRC) connection with a second UE, wherein the second UE is a relay UE for relaying communication between the first UE and a base station, Hong: Fig.8, [0088], [0187], [0200]).
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 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 identically disclosed as set forth in section 102 of this title, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
The factual inquiries set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 148 USPQ 459 (1966), that
are applied for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claims 42, 47, 49-59, 61-62, and 64-65 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hong et al. (US 2022/0030493 Al, hereinafter “Hong”) in view of Xu et al. (US 2022/0408509 Al, hereinafter “Xu”).
Regarding claim 42, Hong discloses:
A relay user equipment (UE), comprising (the second UE is a relay UE for relaying communication between the first UE and a base station, Hong: Fig. 9, [0200]):
at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored thereon computer executable instructions (non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions may be provided, Hong: [0010], [0202]);
at least one receiving circuitry (one or more transceivers; Hong: [0010], [0198], [0214]);
at least one transmitting circuitry (one or more transceivers; Hong: [0010], [0198], [0214]); and
at least one processor coupled to the at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium, the at least one receiving circuitry and the at least one transmitting circuitry (non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions may be provided. one or more memories storing instructions; one or more transceivers; and one or more processors connected to the one or more memories and the one or more transceivers. The one or more processors may execute the instruction, Hong: [0010], [0198], [0202]),
wherein the at least one processor configures the relay UE to (one or more processors connected to the one or more memories and the one or more transceivers. The one or more processors may execute the instructions, Hong: [0010], [0198]);
establish a PC5 radio resource control (RRC) connection of a link between a UE and the relay UE (remote UE may establish a PC5-RRC connection with a newly allocated relay UE, Hong: [0161]);
establish a RRC connection of a link between the relay UE and a base station (BS) (RRC layer exchanges an RRC message between the UE and the BS. RRC connection is established between an RRC layer of the UE and an RRC layer of the E-UTRAN Hong: [0043], [0053]);
establish a relayed connection of a link between the UE and the BS (BS may perform resource scheduling to a UE 1 through a PDCCH ( e.g., downlink control information (DCI)) or RRC signaling (e.g., Configured Grant Type 1 or Configured Grant Type 2), and the UE 1 may perform V2X or SL communication with respect to a UE 2 according to the resource scheduling, the remote UE can quickly select a new relay UE, and communication between the remote UE and the base station can be quickly resumed via the new relay UE. establish a PCS radio resource control (RRC) connection with a second UE, wherein the second UE is a relay UE for relaying communication between the first UE and a base station, Hong: Fig.8, [0088], [0187], [0200]);
detect whether a failure occurs on the link between the UE and the relay UE (radio link failure (RLF) occurs in the link between the remote UE and the relay UE. detecting a radio link failure (RLF) for the PCS RRC connection between the first device and the second device, Hong: [0008]-[0009], [0100], [0200]); and
Hong does not explicitly disclose:
in response to detecting that the failure occurs on the link between the UE and the relay UE, transmit, by the relay UE, failure information to the BS.
However, in the same field of endeavor, Xu teaches:
in response to detecting that the failure occurs on the link between the UE and the relay UE, transmit, by the relay UE, failure information to the BS (the relay UE may provide a remote UE relay link transmission failure indication to the gNB, which may indicate identification information for the remote UE, Xu: Fig. 21, [0124]-[0126]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Hong in view of Xu in order to further modify transmitting, by the relay UE, failure information to the BS in response to detecting that the failure occurs on the link between the UE and the relay UE from the teachings of Xu.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated because it may also be useful to provide relay link failure detection and handling techniques, in addition to detection of Uu link failure (Xu: [0119]).
Regarding claim 47, Hong in view of Xu teaches all the claimed limitations as set forth in the rejection of claim 42 above.
Hong further discloses:
The relay UE of Claim 42, wherein the at least one processor configures the relay UE to detect that the failure occurs on the link between the UE and the relay UE, in response to at least one of (The processor(s) 202 may control the memory(s). radio link failure (RLF) occurs in the link between the remote UE and the relay UE. detecting a radio link failure (RLF) for the PCS RRC connection between the first device and the second device, Hong: [0008]-[0009], [0100], [0200], [0202]):
reaching a maximum number of retransmissions of a radio link control (RLC) entity of the relay UE (In case of RLC acknowledged mode (AM) in SL unicast, the RLF declaration may be triggered by an indication from RLC indicating that the maximum number of retransmissions has been reached, Hong: [0127], [0142]-[0143], [0167]-[0168]);
Regarding claim 49, Hong in view of Xu teaches all the claimed limitations as set forth in the rejection of claim 42 above.
Hong further discloses:
The relay UE of Claim 42, wherein the failure information is included in one of:
a sidelink UE information message (remote UE may inform the network of the cause of the SL-RLF and/or the failure of detection of the relay UE through a message (e.g., sidelink UE information NR message), Hong: [0177]);
Regarding claim 50, Hong in view of Xu teaches all the claimed limitations as set forth in the rejection of claim 42 above.
Hong further discloses:
The relay UE of Claim 42, wherein the failure information includes at least one of:
an ID of the UE (the network receiving the measurement information for the relay UE and/or the SL RLF may transmit a message for SL recovery to the remote UE. Specifically, for example, the message may include list information of UE IDs or UE ID information of relay UE(s) connected to the same network as the remote UE, Hong: [0159]); and
Regarding claim 51, Hong discloses:
A relay user equipment (UE), comprising (the second UE is a relay UE for relaying communication between the first UE and a base station, Hong: Fig. 9, [0200]):
at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored thereon computer executable instructions (non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions may be provided, Hong: [0010], [0202]);
at least one receiving circuitry (one or more transceivers; Hong: [0010], [0198], [0214]);
at least one transmitting circuitry (one or more transceivers; Hong: [0010], [0198], [0214]); and
at least one processor coupled to the at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium, the at least one receiving circuitry and the at least one transmitting circuitry (non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions may be provided. one or more memories storing instructions; one or more transceivers; and one or more processors connected to the one or more memories and the one or more transceivers. The one or more processors may execute the instruction, Hong: [0010], [0198], [0202]),
wherein the at least one processor configures the relay UE to (one or more transceivers; and one or more processors connected to the one or more memories and the one or more transceivers. The one or more processors may execute the instructions, Hong: [0010], [0198]);
establish a relayed logical connection of a link between a UE and a base station (BS) (BS may perform resource scheduling to a UE 1 through a PDCCH ( e.g., downlink control information (DCI)) or RRC signaling (e.g., Configured Grant Type 1 or Configured Grant Type 2), and the UE 1 may perform V2X or SL communication with respect to a UE 2 according to the resource scheduling, the remote UE can quickly select a new relay UE, and communication between the remote UE and the base station can be quickly resumed via the new relay UE. establish a PCS radio resource control (RRC) connection with a second UE, wherein the second UE is a relay UE for relaying communication between the first UE and a base station, Hong: Fig.8, [0088], [0187], [0200]);
detect whether a failure occurs on a link between the relay UE and the BS (even if an RLF occurs in Uu link, the remote UE may inform the relay UE that an RLF of a master cell group (MCG) has occurred through SL, and a procedure for quickly recovering the Uu link based on this may also be considered. base station may not be able to receive the data from the relay UE due to a link problem (e.g., deterioration of link quality) between the base station and the relay UE, Hong: [0136], [0148]),
wherein a PCS radio resource control (RRC) connection of a link between the UE and the relay UE has been established (remote UE may establish a PC5-RRC connection with a newly allocated relay UE, Hong: [0161]),
and wherein a RRC connection of a link between the relay UE and the BS has been established (RRC layer exchanges an RRC message between the UE and the BS. RRC connection is established between an RRC layer of the UE and an RRC layer of the E-UTRAN, Hong: [0043], [0053]); and
Hong does not explicitly disclose:
in response to detecting that the failure occurs on the link between the relay UE and the BS, transmit, by the relay UE, a failure notification to the UE.
However, in the same field of endeavor, Xu teaches:
in response to detecting that the failure occurs on the link between the relay UE and the BS, transmit, by the relay UE, a failure notification to the UE (the relay UE may provide a remote UE relay link transmission failure indication to the gNB, which may indicate identification information for the remote UE, Xu: Fig. 21, [0124]-[0126]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Hong in view of Xu in order to further modify transmitting, by the relay UE, failure information to the BS in response to detecting that the failure occurs on the link between the UE and the relay UE from the teachings of Xu.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated because it may also be useful to provide relay link failure detection and handling techniques, in addition to detection of Uu link failure (Xu: [0119]).
Regarding claim 52, Hong in view of Xu teaches all the claimed limitations as set forth in the rejection of claim 51 above.
Hong further discloses:
The relay UE of Claim 51, wherein the failure occurs on the link between the relay UE and the BS is a radio link failure (RLF) (even if an RLF occurs in Uu link, the remote UE may inform the relay UE that an RLF of a master cell group (MCG) has occurred through SL, and a procedure for quickly recovering the Uu link based on this may also be considered. base station may not be able to receive the data from the relay UE due to a link problem (e.g., deterioration of link quality) between the base station and the relay UE, Hong: [0136], [0148]).
Regarding claim 53, Hong in view of Xu teaches all the claimed limitations as set forth in the rejection of claim 51 above.
Hong further discloses:
The relay UE of Claim 51, wherein the failure notification is a RLF notification generated in response to detecting that a radio link failure (RLF) occurs on the link between the relay UE and the BS (even if an RLF occurs in Uu link, the remote UE may inform the relay UE that an RLF of a master cell group (MCG) has occurred through SL, and a procedure for quickly recovering the Uu link based on this may also be considered. remote UE may receive a configuration related to a timer for selecting the relay UE, from the base station. remote UE may perform a procedure for recovering the Uu link by exchanging information for recovery of the Uu link with the network through PCS link, Hong: [0136]-[0138], [0182]).
Regarding claim 54, Hong in view of Xu teaches all the claimed limitations as set forth in the rejection of claim 51 above.
Hong further discloses:
The relay UE of Claim 51, wherein at least one processor configures the relay UE to (one or more transceivers; and one or more processors connected to the one or more memories and the one or more transceivers. The one or more processors may execute the instructions, Hong: [0010], [0198]):
in response to completing a successful RRC re-establishment procedure, transmit a successful recovery notification (remote UE may receive a message for the recovery procedure via the relay UE (e.g., through the PCS link), and the remote UE may change the PCell, and the remote UE may resume transmission through the suspended SRB/DRB, Hong: [0185]).
Regarding claim 55, Hong in view of Xu teaches all the claimed limitations as set forth in the rejection of claim 51 above.
Hong further discloses:
The relay UE of Claim 51, wherein the at least one processor configures the relay UE to (one or more transceivers; and one or more processors connected to the one or more memories and the one or more transceivers. The one or more processors may execute the instructions, Hong: [0010], [0198]):
in response to detecting a RRC re-establishment failure on the link between the relay UE and the BS, transmit a recovery failure notification (even if an RLF occurs in Uu link, the remote UE may inform the relay UE that an RLF of a master cell group (MCG) has occurred through SL, and a procedure for quickly recovering the Uu link based on this may also be considered. remote UE may receive a configuration related to a timer for selecting the relay UE, from the base station. remote UE may perform a procedure for recovering the Uu link by exchanging information for recovery of the Uu link with the network through PCS link. remote UE may inform thenetwork of the occurrence of the Uu RLF through SL, Hong: [0136]-[0138], [0182]-[0183]).
Regarding claim 56, Hong in view of Xu teaches all the claimed limitations as set forth in the rejection of claim 51 above.
Hong further discloses:
The relay UE of any Claims 51, wherein at least one of the failure notification, the successful recovery notification, and the recovery failure notification is included in one of (message informing the network of the SL RLF may be included in Sidelink UE information NR message (SidelinkUEinformationNR, RRC message) or may be defined as a separate sidelink failure information message. transmitted message may include at least one of a specific cause of the SL-RLF, a list of relay UEs for SL recovery. if the SL-RLF timer expires while the remote UE does not receive the message for SL recovery. remote UE may perform a procedure for recovering the Uu link by exchanging information for recovery of the Uu link with the network through PCS link, Hong: [0138], [0156], [0160], [0182]):
a RRC signaling (BS may perform resource scheduling to a UE 1 through a PDCCH ( e.g., downlink control information (DCI)) or RRC signaling (e.g., Configured Grant Type 1 or Configured Grant Type 2), and the UE 1 may perform V2X or SL communication with respect to a UE 2 according to the resource scheduling, Hong: [0088]);
Regarding claim 57, Hong discloses:
A user equipment (UE), comprising (a remote UE may perform communication with a base station via a relay UE, Hong: Fig. 9, [0008], [0080]):
at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored thereon computer-executable instructions (non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions may be provided, Hong: [0010], [0202]);
at least one receiving circuitry (one or more transceivers; Hong: [0010], [0198], [0214]);
at least one transmitting circuitry (one or more transceivers; Hong: [0010], [0198], [0214]); and
at least one processor coupled to the at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium, the at least one receiving circuitry and the at least one transmitting circuitry (non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions may be provided. one or more memories storing instructions; one or more transceivers; and one or more processors connected to the one or more memories and the one or more transceivers. The one or more processors may execute the instruction, Hong: [0010], [0198], [0202]),
wherein the at least one processor configures the UE to (one or more processors connected to the one or more memories and the one or more transceivers. The one or more processors may execute the instructions, Hong: [0010], [0198]);
receive a notification associated with a failure from a relay UE (remote UE may inform the network of the occurrence of the SL RLF, Hong: [0155]),
wherein a PC5 radio resource control (RRC) connection of a link between the UE and the relay UE has been established (remote UE may establish a PC5-RRC connection with a newly allocated relay UE, Hong: [0161]),
wherein a RRC connection of a link between the relay UE and a base station (BS) has been established (RRC layer exchanges an RRC message between the UE and the BS. RRC connection is established between an RRC layer of the UE and an RRC layer of the E-UTRAN, Hong: [0043], [0053]),
wherein a RRC relayed connection of a link between the UE and the BS has been established (BS may perform resource scheduling to a UE 1 through a PDCCH ( e.g., downlink control information (DCI)) or RRC signaling (e.g., Configured Grant Type 1 or Configured Grant Type 2), and the UE 1 may perform V2X or SL communication with respect to a UE 2 according to the resource scheduling, Hong: [0088]),
initiate a relay reselection procedure (performing reselection for the relay device based on detecting the RLF for the PCS RRC connection, Hong: [0009]-[0010], [0173], [0189]-[0193]).
Hong does not explicitly disclose:
and wherein the notification associated with a failure indicates a failure on a link between the relay UE and the BS; and
However, in the same field of endeavor, Xu teaches:
and wherein the notification associated with a failure indicates a failure on a link between the relay UE and the BS (the RRC reestablishment request delivery may fail, and in 1614, the relay UE 1604 may declare Uu link RLF. In 1616, the relay UE 1604 may stop providing discovery broadcasts, and in 1618, may provide an indication to the remote UE 1602 that Uu failure has occurred, Xu: Fig. 16, [0072], [0113]); and
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Hong in view of Xu in order to further modify the notification associated with a failure indicates a failure on a link between the relay UE and the BS from the teachings of Xu.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated because it may also be useful to provide relay link failure detection and handling techniques, in addition to detection of Uu link failure (Xu: [0119]).
Regarding claim 58, Hong in view of Xu teaches all the claimed limitations as set forth in the rejection of claim 57 above.
Hong further discloses:
The UE of Claim 57, wherein the relay reselection procedure is initiated in response to the notification associated with a failure indicating that a radio link failure (RLF) of the link between relay UE and BS is detected (performing reselection for the relay device based on detecting the RLF for the PCS RRC connection. even if an RLF occurs in Uu link, the remote UE may inform the relay UE that an RLF of a master cell group (MCG) has occurred through SL, and a procedure for quickly recovering the Uu link based on this may also be considered. base station may not be able to receive the data from the relay UE due to a link problem (e.g., deterioration of link quality) between the base station and the relay UE, Hong: [0009]-[0010], [0136], [0148], [0173], [0189]-[0193]).
Regarding claim 59, Hong in view of Xu teaches all the claimed limitations as set forth in the rejection of claim 57 above.
Hong further discloses:
The UE of Claim 57, wherein the at least one processor configures the UE to (one or more transceivers; and one or more processors connected to the one or more memories and the one or more transceivers. The one or more processors may execute the instructions, Hong: [0010], [0198]):
receive a successful recovery notification from the relay UE (in case the remote UE detects a relay UE, the remote UE may transmit an UE ID of the detected relay UE through a message (e.g., sidelink UE information NR message) to the network, Hong: [0177]).
Regarding claim 61, Hong in view of Xu teaches all the claimed limitations as set forth in the rejection of claim 57 above.
Hong further discloses:
The UE of Claim 57, wherein the at least one processor configures the UE to (one or more transceivers; and one or more processors connected to the one or more memories and the one or more transceivers. The one or more processors may execute the instructions, Hong: [0010], [0198]):
receive a recovery failure notification from the relay UE (remote UE may inform the network of the occurrence of the SL RLF. the first device may transmit a message including (i) information representing the failure of the reselection and (ii) a cause of the RLF, to the base station, Hong: [0155], [0196]).
Regarding claim 62, Hong in view of Xu teaches all the claimed limitations as set forth in the rejection of claim 57 above.
Hong further discloses:
The UE of Claim 57, wherein the at least one processor configures the UE to initiate the relay reselection procedure in response to receiving the recovery failure notification from the relay UE (performing reselection for the relay device based on detecting the RLF for the PCS RRC connection, Hong: [0009]-[0010], [0173], [0189]-[0193]).
Regarding claim 64, Hong in view of Xu teaches all the claimed limitations as set forth in the rejection of claim 57 above.
Hong further discloses:
The UE of Claim 57, wherein to initiate the relay reselection procedure, the at least one processor configures the UE to (performing reselection for the relay device based on detecting the RLF for the PCS RRC connection, Hong: [0009]-[0010], [0173], [0189]-[0193]):
establishes a PC5 RRC connection of a link between the UE and the second relay UE (remote UE may establish a PC5-RRC connection with a newly allocated relay UE, Hong: [0161]);
Regarding claim 65, Hong in view of Xu teaches all the claimed limitations as set forth in the rejection of claim 57 above.
Hong further discloses:
The UE of Claim 57, wherein at least one of the notification associated with a failure, the successful recovery notification, and a recovery failure notification is included in one of (message informing the network of the SL RLF may be included in Sidelink UE information NR message (SidelinkUEinformationNR, RRC message) or may be defined as a separate sidelink failure information message. transmitted message may include at least one of a specific cause of the SL-RLF, a list of relay UEs for SL recovery. if the SL-RLF timer expires while the remote UE does not receive the message for SL recovery. remote UE may perform a procedure for recovering the Uu link by exchanging information for recovery of the Uu link with the network through PCS link, Hong: [0138], [0156], [0160], [0182]):
a RRC signaling (BS may perform resource scheduling to a UE 1 through a PDCCH (e.g., downlink control information (DCI)) or RRC signaling (e.g., Configured Grant Type 1 or Configured Grant Type 2), and the UE 1 may perform V2X or SL communication with respect to a UE 2 according to the resource scheduling, Hong: [0088]);
Claim 48 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hong and Xu in view of Kuo (US 2021/0409936 Al, hereinafter “Kuo”).
Regarding claim 48, Hong in view of Xu teaches all the claimed limitations as set forth in the rejection of claim 42 above.
Hong further discloses:
The relay UE of Claim 42, wherein the at least one processor configures the relay UE to (one or more transceivers; and one or more processors connected to the one or more memories and the one or more transceivers. The one or more processors may execute the instructions, Hong: [0010], [0198]):
transmit a RRC reconfiguration sidelink message to the UE (RRC layer serves to control the logical channel, the transport channel, and the physical channel in association with configuration, reconfiguration and release of RBs. the message for recovering the Uu link of the remote UE may be transmitted to the remote UE via the relay UE. For example, the message may include reconfiguration with sync information for performing PCell change (i.e., handover), Hong: [0049], [0184]);
in response to receiving the RRC reconfiguration failure sidelink message, detect that the failure occurs on the link between the UE and the relay UE (radio link failure (RLF) occurs in the link between the remote UE and the relay UE. detecting a radio link failure (RLF) for the PCS RRC connection between the first device and the second device, Hong: [0008]-[0009], [0100], [0200]).
Hong in view of Xu does not explicitly disclose:
receive a RRC reconfiguration failure sidelink message from the UE; and
However, in the same field of endeavor, Kuo teaches:
receive a RRC reconfiguration failure sidelink message from the UE (RRCReconfigurationFailure Sidelink is received as sidelink RRC reconfiguration failure, Kuo: [0251]-[0257], [0299]-[0305]); and
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Hong and Xu in view of Kuo in order to further modify receiving a RRC reconfiguration failure sidelink message from the UE from the teachings of Kuo.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated because if the UE initiates the procedure to indicate it is (no more) interested to receive NR sidelink communication or to request (configuration/release) of NR sidelink communication transmission resources (i.e. UE includes all concerned information, (Kuo: [0252]).
Claims 60 and 63 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hong and Xu in view of
Hoang et al. (US 2023/0300713 Al, hereafter “Hoang”).
Regarding claim 60, Hong in view of Xu teaches all the claimed limitations as set forth in the rejection of claim 59 above.
Hong further discloses:
The UE of Claim 59, wherein the at least one processor configures the UE to perform one of (one or more transceivers; and one or more processors connected to the one or more memories and the one or more transceivers. The one or more processors may execute the instructions, Hong: [0010], [0198]):
Hong in view of Xu does not explicitly disclose:
stop monitoring a discovery resource pool.
However, in the same field of endeavor, Hoang teaches:
stop monitoring a discovery resource pool (WTRU (e.g., sidelink relay or remote WTRU) may start/stop monitoring a discovery resource pool following reception of an indication of which of the sidelink measurements to use from a peer WTRU, Hoang: [0428]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Hong and XU in view of Hoang in order to further modify stop monitoring a discovery resource pool from the teachings of Hoang.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated because sidelink-based relaying functionality should be additionally studied in order for sidelink/network coverage extension and power efficiency improvement, considering wider range of applications and services (Hoang: [0078]).
Regarding claim 63, Hong in view of Xu teaches all the claimed limitations as set forth in the rejection of claim 57 above.
Hong further discloses:
The UE of Claim 57, wherein to initiate the relay reselection procedure, the at least one processor configures the UE to (performing reselection for the relay device based on detecting the RLF for the PCS RRC connection, Hong: [0009]-[0010], [0173], [0189]-[0193]):
Hong in view of Xu does not explicitly disclose:
monitors a discovery resource pool in response to receiving a recovery failure notification from the relay UE.
However, in the same field of endeavor, Hoang teaches:
monitors a discovery resource pool in response to receiving a recovery failure notification from the relay UE (sidelink relay and/or the WTRU may be configured to enable/disable discovery message transmissions/monitoring. The sidelink relay and/or the WTRU may use measurements from discovery message if discovery message transmission/monitoring is enabled, Hoang: [0365]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Hong and Xu in view of Hoang in order to further modify monitoring a discovery resource pool in response to receiving a recovery failure notification from the relay UE from the teachings of Hoang.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated because sidelink-based relaying functionality should be additionally studied in order for sidelink/network coverage extension and power efficiency improvement, considering wider range of applications and services (Hoang: [0078]).
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 extension fee 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.
In the case of amendments, applicant is respectfully requested to indicate the portion(s) of the specification which dictate(s) the structure relied on for proper interpretation and support, for ascertaining the metes and bounds of the claimed invention.
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/S.C.L./Examiner, Art Unit 2467
/MICHAEL J MOORE JR/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2467