DETAILED ACTION
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA . In response to the amendments filed on 12/15/2025, claim objections is withdrawn.
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 01/20/2026 has been entered.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 26-27 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims set forth in this Office action.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Examiner Response to Arguments
Regarding applicant’s arguments. The arguments have been fully considered, unfortunately the arguments are not persuasive. Examiner appreciated applicants’ effort to amend the independent claims to include additional limitations; unfortunately, the additional limitations "receiving, by a relay device, Relay Service Code (RSC) information sent by a remote device during establishment of a PC5 connection" and "determining, based on the RSC information, parameter information used to establish a relay session" in the amended in the independent claims are disclosed in the cited references 3GPP and Ding et al (US20220330361).
Regarding the cited reference 3GPP: 3GPP discloses in page 95 section 6.28.1.2 PC5 connection establishment where the Remote UE may decide to establish a PC5 connection with a UE-to Network Relay. 3GPP discloses in page 95 a model B discovery mechanism where the Remote UE sends a solicitation message with the UE-to-Network Relay Service Code which is associated to dedicated network slicing information and page 96 line 3 discloses that the Remote UE selects UE-to-Network Relay based on network slicing information. 3GPP discloses in pages 66-67 that the PCF determines the UE-to-Network Relay parameters for the UE-to-Network Relay and provides them to the UE-to-Network Relay UE-to-Network Relay parameters are provided to the UE-to-Network Relay where the associated PDU session parameters (S-NSSAI, DNN, SSC mode, etc.) to be used for relayed traffic for each UE-to-Network Relay Service Code. 3GPP Page 95 Section 6.28.1.2 further discloses connection establishment between Remote UE and UE-to-Network Relay where the use of PDU session requirements at UE-to-Network Relay for the purpose of associating a PDU Session where the UE-to-Network Relay may decide to establish a new PDU session or modify an existing one for the traffic of the Remote UE, based on the PDU session requirements (e.g. S-NSSAI, DNN) received where the PDU session requirements is based on, e.g. URSP rules (pre-configured). 3GPP further discloses in page 108 section 6.35.2.3 the PDU Session parameters (PDU Session type).
Regarding the cited reference Ding et al (US20220330361): Ding'0361 discloses in ¶0166 and ¶0170-¶0171 that the remote UE establishes a PC5 connection to the relay UE in the following manner for example Mode B where the remote UE sends a broadcast message …The broadcast message may include the following information: Relay service code where ¶0005 discloses that the first relay service code includes information about a first parameter and ¶0015 discloses that the first parameter includes a PDU session type.Ding' 0361 further discloses in ¶0180 that the first relay service code may include a plurality of pieces of specific content. For example, the first relay service code may be associated with an application to be initiated by an application of the UE #B (relay UE (see ¶0181)) that supports a relay service, and includes information about a first parameter.
Therefore, the cited references 3GPP and Ding'0361 disclose the limitations above and the reasoning stated above also applies to other pending claims.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1, 10, and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by 3GPP (3GPP TR 23.752 V0.4.0 (2020-06)).
Regarding claim 1, the cited reference 3GPP discloses a method for session establishment,
comprising: receiving, by a relay device, Relay Service Code (RSC) information sent by a remote device (Page 95 Section 6.28.1.1 discloses that the Remote UE sends a solicitationmessage with the UE-to-Network Relay Service Code … the UE-to-Network Relay replies with a response message, which means the relay device receives a message with Relay Service Code) during establishment of a PC5 connection (page 95 section 6.28.1.2 PC5 connection establishment where the Remote UE may decide to establish a PC5 connection with a UE-to Network Relay); and determining, based on the RSC information, parameter information used to establish a relay session (Page 95, discloses in section 6.28,line 1 - line 21: "Solution #28: Layer-3 UE-toNetwork Relay Discovery and Connection Establishment. Model B: The Remote UE sends a solicitation message with the UE-toNetwork Relay Service Code which is associated to dedicated network slicing information; the UE-to-Network Relay replies with a response message which includes a UE-to-Network Relay Service Code. The Layer-3 UE-to-Network Relay and the Remote UE receive the association between UE-to-Network Relay Service Code and Slicing information during the Service Authorization and Provisioning procedure in solution #16.", wherein an electronic device is the UE-to Network Relay which determines the Relay Service Code and based on that, replies with a response message. Page 67, section 6.16.3 discloses in line 1 - line 4: "UE-to-Network Relay Service Code or Service ID which identifies a connectivity service that the UE-toNetwork Relay provides. The associated POU session parameters (SNSSAI, DNN, SSC mode, etc.) to be used for relayed traffic for each UEto-Network Relay Service Code or Service ID.", wherein each Relay Service Code is associated with POU session parameters that need to be used to establish a relay session.), wherein the parameter information of the relay session comprises a Protocol Data Unit (PDU) session type (Page 108 section 6.35.2.3 the PDU Session parameters (PDU Session type)); and determining, based on the RSC information, the parameter information used to establish the relay session comprises: determining, by the relay device according to a pre-configured rule, the parameter information used to establish the relay session corresponding to the RSC information (Page 95 Section 6.28.1.2 discloses connection establishment where the UE-to-Network Relay may decide to establish a new PDU session or modify an existing one for the traffic of the Remote UE, based on the PDU session requirements received from the Remote UE where the PDU session requirements is based on, e.g. URSP rules (pre-configured)).
Regarding independent claims 10 and 19, the claims are drawn to an electronic device and a non-transitory storage medium, the cited reference 3GPP discloses the method of initiating relay session by UE-to-Network Relay. The UE-to-Network Relay is known, from the common general knowledge for the person skilled in the art in the field of wireless communication, as a hardware including processors and memory which stores the program or firmware to perform substantially the same features of the method of claim 1. Therefore, the claim is subject to the same rejection as claim 1.
Claims 1, 4, 7-10, 13, 16-19, 22-25, and 28-30 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Ding et al (US20220330361).
Regarding claim 1, the cited reference Ding discloses a method for session establishment, comprising: receiving, by a relay device, Relay Service Code (RSC) information sent by a remote device (¶0171 discloses that the remote UE sends a broadcast message… The broadcast message may include the following information: (b) Relay Service Code and ¶0172 discloses that the relay UE listens to the broadcast message) during establishment of a PC5 connection (¶0166 and ¶0170-¶0171 that the remote UE establishes a PC5 connection to the relay UE in the following manner for example Mode B where the remote UE sends a broadcast message …The broadcast message may include the following information: Relay service code); and determining, based on the RSC information, parameter information used to establish a relay session (¶0180 discloses that the first relay service code may include a plurality of pieces of specific content where ¶0006 also discloses that a first relay service code included in a first broadcast message sent by remote UE may include information about a first parameter. Ding' 0361 further discloses in ¶180 that the first relay service code may include a plurality of pieces of specific content. For example, the first relay service code may be associated with an application to be initiated by an application of the UE #B (relay UE (see ¶181)) that supports a relay service, and includes information about a first parameter), wherein the parameter information of the relay session comprises a Protocol Data Unit (PDU) session type (¶0015 discloses that the first parameter includes one or more of the following parameters a PDU session type); and determining, based on the RSC information, the parameter information used to establish the relay session comprises: determining, by the relay device according to a pre-configured rule, the parameter information used to establish the relay session corresponding to the RSC information (¶0171 discloses that the relay UE sends a response message to the remote UE … after receiving the response message, the remote UE initiates a PC5 establishment request to the relay UE, to establish the PC5 connection to the relay UE. ¶0176 discloses that the relay UE establishes a PDU session for the service or the application according to a URSP rule).
Regarding claim 4, the cited reference Ding discloses all limitations of claim 1. Ding further discloses wherein the relay device establishes a connection with the remote device through a sidelink (¶0003 discloses that remote user equipment (UE) establishes a PC5 connection to relay UE by using a preconfigured relay service code.it is known to the ordinary skill in the art that the PC5 is the interface that enables sidelink
communication, which is direct device-to-device).
Regarding claim 7, the cited reference Ding discloses wherein the pre-configured rule comprises at least one of: a first number of bits of information in the RSC information corresponding to first network slice information in the parameter information used to establish the relay session; a second number of bits of information in the RSC information corresponding to first DNN information in the parameter information used to establish the relay session; a third number of bits of information in the RSC information corresponding to first SSC information in the parameter information used to establish the relay session; or a fourth number of bits of information in the RSC information corresponding to a first PDU session type in the parameter information used to establish the relay session (¶0196 discloses that the relay service code #2 includes information about a first parameter. That the relay service code #2 includes information about a first parameter may be understood as that the relay service code #2 includes a code corresponding to the first parameter... In other words, the first parameter may be obtained from the relay service code #2 through parsing where ¶0015 discloses that the first parameter includes one or more of the following parameters: a DNN, S-NSSAI, an SSC mode, a PDU session type).
Regarding claim 8, the cited reference Ding discloses wherein a format of the RSC information is predetermined by a protocol, or configured through subscription information, or configured by a Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN) (¶0094 discloses determining the second relay service code based on the second parameter and the following information: subscription information).
Regarding claim 9, the cited reference Ding discloses wherein the pre-configured rule comprises at least one of: RSC information configured in a service description information field of a User Equipment Routing Selection Policy (URSP) rule; or the parameter information used to establish the relay session configured in a route selection descriptor (¶0196 discloses that the relay service code #2 includes information about a first parameter where ¶0192 discloses that the first parameter may be one or more of parameters in the route selection descriptor information in a URSP rule).
Regarding claim 10, the cited reference Ding discloses an electronic device. comprising: a processor, a transceiver, and a memory configured to store a computer program executable by the processor (Fig. 10, ¶0191, and ¶0196), wherein the processor is configured to perform substantially the same features of the method of claim 1. Therefore, the claim is subject to the
same rejection as claim 1.
Regarding claim 13, the claim is drawn to the electronic device performing substantially
the same features of the method of claim 4. Therefore, the claim is subject to the same rejection as claim 4.
Regarding claim 16, the claim is drawn to the replay device performing substantially the same features of the method of claim 7. Therefore, the claim is subject to the same rejection as claim 7.
Regarding claim 17, the claim is drawn to the replay device performing substantially the same features of the method of claim 8. Therefore, the claim is subject to the same rejection as claim 8.
Regarding claim 18, the claim is drawn to the replay device performing substantially the same features of the method of claim 9. Therefore, the claim is subject to the same rejection as claim 9.
Regarding claim 19, the cited reference Ding discloses a non-transitory storage medium
having stored thereon computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a processor (Fig. 10, ¶0191, and ¶0196), cause the processor to perform to perform substantially the same features of the method of claim 1. Therefore, the claim is subject to the same rejection as claim 1.
Regarding claim 22, the claim is drawn to the non-transitory storage medium having stored thereon computer-executable instructions performing substantially the same features of the method of claim 4. Therefore, the claim is subject to the same rejection as claim 4.
Regarding claim 23, the claim is drawn to the non-transitory storage medium having stored thereon computer-executable instructions performing substantially the same features of the method of claim 7. Therefore, the claim is subject to the same rejection as claim 7.
Regarding claim 24, the claim is drawn to the replay device performing substantially the
same features of the method of claim 8. Therefore, the claim is subject to the same rejection as claim 8.
Regarding claim 25, the claim is drawn to the non-transitory storage medium having stored thereon computer-executable instructions performing substantially the same features of the method of claim 9. Therefore, the claim is subject to the same rejection as claim 9.
Regarding claims 28-30, the cited reference Ding discloses wherein the parameter information of the relay session further comprises Session Service Continuity (SSC) information (¶0021 discloses that first parameter includes an SSC (session and service continuity) mode).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ABDELILLAH ELMEJJARMI whose telephone number is (571)270-1656. The examiner can normally be reached on Mon-Fri: 8AM-5PM EST.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Yemane Mesfin can be reached on (571)272-3927. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative or access to the automated information system, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
Respectfully submitted,
/ABDELILLAH ELMEJJARMI/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2462