DETAILED ACTION
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 1/2/2026 has been entered. In response to amendment filed on 1/2/2026 claims 1, 3- 4, 7- 10, 13 and 16 are amended, claims 2 and 17 are cancelled and claim 21 is added as a new claim. Claims 1, 3- 16, 18- 21 are pending for examinations.
Examiner’s note
Please provide the full form of PCS-S connection.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) filed in the remarks on 1/2/2026 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument. Applicant has changed all independent claims limitations hence examiner believes that the scope has been changed. Examiner has considered a new reference Zhang et al. (WO 2022/017378 A1), pls see attached machine translation copy. Zhang teaches in abstract regarding .. a relay terminal receiving indication information that is sent by a remote terminal via a direct communication interface, wherein the indication information is used for requesting at least one first system information block or first system information message on at least one first configuration frequency; and the relay terminal sending the first system information block or first system information message to the remote terminal according to the indication information; further see page 8 regarding .. wherein, the indication information is sent to the relay terminal through the direct communication interface (i.e. PC5 connection between remote terminal and the relay terminal having been established successfully), including: In the case that the first condition is satisfied, the indication information is sent to the relay terminal through the direct communication interface; wherein, the first condition includes at least one of the following:
The connection establishment between the remote terminal and the relay terminal is completed ;
the remote terminal receives an instruction to notify the system information update;
The system information block or system information message that the remote terminal is interested in is changed;
The system information valid area of the remote terminal is changed;
The system information block or the system information message stored by the remote terminal is invalid;
The remote terminal does not store a valid system information block or system information message; further see on page 12 regarding .. The triggering conditions of the indication information include but are not limited to one or a combination of the following:
The connection between the remote UE and the relay UE is established;
The remote UE receives an instruction to notify the system information update, such as Paging;
The SIB or SI message that the remote UE is interested in changes;
The area where the remote UE is located changes, for example, the remote UE moves out of the valid area of the previously acquired SIB (i.e. remote UE is located out of network coverage and hence Uu (i.e. base station and remote UE connection strength is low or below some threshold);
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.
Claim(s) 1, 18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Zhang et al. (WO 2022/017378 A1), please see attached machine translated copy.
Regarding claim 1, Zhang teaches a system message transmission method, wherein the method is executed by a remote terminal (see abstract remote terminal and a relay terminal), and the method comprises:
sending a first request for system information SI or system information block SIB to a relay terminal; and receiving a target SI or SIB sent by the relay terminal (see abstract regarding .. a relay terminal receiving indication information that is sent by a remote terminal via a direct communication interface, wherein the indication information is used for requesting at least one first system information block or first system information message on at least one first configuration frequency; and the relay terminal sending the first system information block or first system information message to the remote terminal according to the indication information); wherein the sending a first request for system information SI or system information block SIB to a relay terminal comprises: sending the first request for system information SI or SIB to the relay terminal in a case that a trigger condition is satisfied; wherein the trigger condition comprises at least a first trigger condition, and the first trigger condition comprises: Uu quality being lower than a predetermined threshold, the remote terminal being located out of network coverage, and a PC5 connection between the remote terminal and the relay terminal having been established successfully; as stated above in context with Abstract please refer to page 8 regarding .. wherein, the indication information is sent to the relay terminal through the direct communication interface (i.e. PC5 connection between remote terminal and the relay terminal having been established successfully), including: In the case that the first condition is satisfied, the indication information is sent to the relay terminal through the direct communication interface; wherein, the first condition includes at least one of the following:
The connection establishment between the remote terminal and the relay terminal is completed ;
the remote terminal receives an instruction to notify the system information update;
The system information block or system information message that the remote terminal is interested in is changed;
The system information valid area of the remote terminal is changed;
The system information block or the system information message stored by the remote terminal is invalid;
The remote terminal does not store a valid system information block or system information message; further see on page 12 regarding .. The triggering conditions of the indication information include but are not limited to one or a combination of the following:
The connection between the remote UE and the relay UE is established;
The remote UE receives an instruction to notify the system information update, such as Paging;
The SIB or SI message that the remote UE is interested in changes;
The area where the remote UE is located changes, for example, the remote UE moves out of the valid area of the previously acquired SIB (i.e. remote UE is located out of network coverage and hence Uu (i.e. base station and remote UE connection strength is low or below some threshold).
Regarding claim 18, Zhang teaches a terminal device, comprising a processor, a memory, and a program or instructions stored in the memory and capable of running on the processor, wherein when the program or instructions are executed by the processor, the steps of the system message transmission method according to claim 1 are implemented; pls refer to claim 1’s citations.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
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.
The factual inquiries 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.
Claim(s) 3, 7- 8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhang et al. (WO 2022/017378 A1), please see attached machine translated copy in view of Wang et al. (US Pub. No. 2022/0338283 A1).
Regarding claim 3, Zhang teaches as per claim 1, but fails to teach about wherein the first trigger condition further comprises
predetermined indication information from an upper layer to an access stratum having been received; and
a first RACH resource for transmitting the first request for SI or SIB having been configured by a network or preconfigured;
wherein the predetermined indication information comprises at least one of the following information:
notification of successful establishment of a PC5-S connection to the relay terminal, information about presence of user data to be sent or received, and information about presence of upper layer signaling to be sent or received; however Wang states in [0029] reading ….remote UE 501 sends the MSG1-based on-demand SI request as in a RACH procedure (i.e. this a User Equipment (UE) requests specific System Information Blocks (SIBs) by transmitting a designated preamble (Message 1 - Msg1) in the Random Access (RA) channel, rather than waiting for a periodic broadcast or using RRC signaling. This method allows for faster acquisition and saves power by, for instance, requesting only positioning SIBs (PosSIB)). Relay UE 503 translates received MSG1-based or MSG3-based SI request from remote UE 501 into a Uu-RRC message. Relay UE 503 sends the Uu-RRC message to gNB 502. In another embodiment, remote UE sends a pure PC5-RRC message based on-demand SI request to relay UE 503. Relay UE 503 translates it into a Uu-RRC message as in an SI Request to the gNB 502. It would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill, in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made to consider the teachings of Wang with the teachings of Zhang to make system more effective. Having a mechanism wherein the first trigger condition further comprises predetermined indication information from an upper layer to an access stratum having been received; and a first RACH resource for transmitting the first request for SI or SIB having been configured by a network or preconfigured; wherein the predetermined indication information comprises at least one of the following information: notification of successful establishment of a PC5-S connection to the relay terminal, information about presence of user data to be sent or received, and information about presence of upper layer signaling to be sent or received; greater way resources can be used/managed in the communication system.
Regarding claim 7, Zhang teaches as per claim 1, wherein the first request comprises at least one of the following contents:
a SI or SIB requirement of the remote terminal; and
a first RACH resource configuration; or
Zhang see abstract regarding .. a relay terminal receiving indication information that is sent by a remote terminal via a direct communication interface (i.e. ), wherein the indication information is used for requesting at least one first system information block (SIB) or first system information (SI) message; but Zhang is silent about wherein a sending mode of the first request further comprises at least one of the following sending modes: sending by using a PC5 radio resource control RRC message; sending by using an information element in a PC5 RRC message; and sending by using a Uu RRC container in a PC5 RRC message; however Wang teaches in [0006], Fig. 5 and [0030] regarding PC5-RRC message to request a set of SIBs; see [0006]. It would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill, in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made to consider the teachings of Wang with the teachings of Zhang to make system more standardized. Having a mechanism wherein a sending mode of the first request further comprises at least one of the following sending modes: sending by using a PC5 radio resource control RRC message; sending by using an information element in a PC5 RRC message; and sending by using a Uu RRC container in a PC5 RRC message; greater way more standardized approach can be carried out in the communication system.
Regarding claim 8, Zhang teaches as per claim 1, but Zhang fails to state about wherein a sending mode of the target SI or SIB comprises at least one of the following sending modes:
Sending by using a PC5 radio resource control RRC message;
sending by using an information element in a PC5 RRC message; and
sending by using a Uu RRC container in a PC5 RRC message; however Wang teaches in [0006] about … the remote UE (i.e. remote terminal) establishes a sidelink connection with a relay UE (i.e. relay terminal) in a wireless network, wherein the relay UE is connected with a gNB in the wireless network, configures a L2-based sidelink relay path between the UE and the gNB, wherein the sidelink is a relay link in the relay path, sends an SI Request message (i.e. first request message) to the relay UE through the sidelink in a PC5-RRC message to request a set of SIBs, and receives (i.e. sent by relay UE) the requested set of SIBs in a PC5-RRC SI Update message through the sidelink of the configured L2-based sidelink relay path; further see Fig. 5.. It would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill, in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made to consider the teachings of Wang with the teachings of Zhang to make system more standardized. Having a mechanism wherein a sending mode of the target SI or SIB comprises at least one of the following sending modes: Sending by using a PC5 radio resource control RRC message; sending by using an information element in a PC5 RRC message; and sending by using a Uu RRC container in a PC5 RRC message; greater way more standardized approach can be carried out in the communication system.
Claim(s) 4- 5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhang et al. (WO 2022/017378 A1), please see attached machine translated copy in view of Chen et al. (US Pub. No. 2019/0306784 A1).
Regarding claim 4, Zhang teaches as per claim 1, but Zhang is silent about, wherein the trigger condition further comprises a second trigger condition, and the second trigger condition is at least one of the following conditions:
that an indication for allowing a dedicated SI or SIB request has been configured; and
that a prohibit timer for allowing a dedicated SI or SIB request has been configured and the prohibit timer is in a non-running state; however Chen states in [0041- 0044] and [0047] about prohibit timer and also about allowing or not SI request. It would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill, in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made to consider the teachings of Chen with the teachings of Zhang to make system more standardized.
Regarding claim 5, Zhang in view of Chen teaches as per claim 4, wherein in a case that the prohibit timer for allowing the dedicated SI or SIB request has been configured, after the sending a first request for system information SI or SIB to a relay terminal, the method further comprises:
starting or restarting the prohibit timer; and
stopping the prohibit timer after the target SI or SIB sent by the relay terminal is received; already discussed in Chen see in [0041- 0044] and [0047].
Claim(s) 6 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhang et al. (WO 2022/017378 A1), please see attached machine translated copy in view of Chen et al. (US Pub. No. 2019/0306784 A1) and in further view of Tsai et al. (US Pub. No. 2023/0209464 A1).
Regarding claim 6, Zhang in view of Chen teaches as per claim 5, but Zhang fails to state about wherein before the receiving a target SI or SIB sent by the relay terminal, the method further comprises:
stopping the prohibit timer in a case that a stop timing condition is satisfied, wherein the stop timing condition comprises at least one of the following conditions:
that radio link transmission fails on a sidelink to the relay terminal;
that a PC5 connection to the relay terminal has been released; and
that a reselection condition for the relay terminal is satisfied; however Tsai states in [0248- 0260] about The prohibit timer may be stopped when the UE enters the RRC_CONNECTED state or when the UE receives the RRC release (with/without suspend configuration) message or when the UE receives the new signaling/indication (e.g., PEI) or when the UE receives paging (e.g., paging DCI, paging message) or when the UE initiates an RA procedure and/or an RRC connection resume procedure. It would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill, in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made to consider the teachings of Tsai with the teachings of Zhang in view of Chen to make system more effective. Having a mechanism wherein before the receiving a target SI or SIB sent by the relay terminal, the method further comprises: stopping the prohibit timer in a case that a stop timing condition is satisfied, wherein the stop timing condition comprises at least one of the following conditions: that radio link transmission fails on a sidelink to the relay terminal; that a PC5 connection to the relay terminal has been released; and that a reselection condition for the relay terminal is satisfied; greater way resources can be utilized or managed in the communication system.
Claim(s) 9- 11, 13, 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhang et al. (WO 2022/017378 A1), please see attached machine translated copy in view of Lee et al. (US Pat. No. 11234184 B1), hereafter Lee1.
Regarding claim 9, Zhang teaches a system message transmission method, wherein the method is executed by a relay terminal (see abstract remote terminal and a relay terminal), and the method comprises:
receiving a first request for system information SI or system information block SIB sent by a remote terminal; and sending a target SI or SIB to the remote terminal ((see abstract regarding .. a relay terminal receiving indication information that is sent by a remote terminal via a direct communication interface, wherein the indication information is used for requesting at least one first system information block or first system information message on at least one first configuration frequency; and the relay terminal sending the first system information block or first system information message to the remote terminal according to the indication information)). But silent about the limitations, “wherein the sending a target SI or SIB to remote terminal comprises at least one of the following:
in a case that the stored SI or SIB does not match the system message currently broadcast by the network device, sending a second request for SI or SIB to the network device to obtain the target SI or SIB;
wherein the obtaining the target SI or SIB comprises: in a case that a first trigger condition is satisfied, receiving the target SI or SIB sent by the network device through broadcast or by using dedicated RRC signaling, wherein the first trigger condition comprises: Uu quality being lower than a predetermined threshold, the remote terminal being located out of network coverage, and a PC5 connection between the remote terminal and the relay terminal having been established successfully; as stated above in context with Abstract please refer to page 8 regarding .. wherein, the indication information is sent to the relay terminal through the direct communication interface (i.e. PC5 connection between remote terminal and the relay terminal having been established successfully), including: In the case that the first condition is satisfied, the indication information is sent to the relay terminal through the direct communication interface; wherein, the first condition includes at least one of the following:
The connection establishment between the remote terminal and the relay terminal is completed ;
the remote terminal receives an instruction to notify the system information update;
The system information block or system information message that the remote terminal is interested in is changed;
The system information valid area of the remote terminal is changed;
The system information block or the system information message stored by the remote terminal is invalid;
The remote terminal does not store a valid system information block or system information message; further see on page 12 regarding .. The triggering conditions of the indication information include but are not limited to one or a combination of the following:
The connection between the remote UE and the relay UE is established;
The remote UE receives an instruction to notify the system information update, such as Paging;
The SIB or SI message that the remote UE is interested in changes;
The area where the remote UE is located changes, for example, the remote UE moves out of the valid area of the previously acquired SIB (i.e. remote UE is located out of network coverage and hence Uu (i.e. base station and remote UE connection strength is low or below some threshold).
But Zhang is silent about in a case that the stored SI or SIB does not match the system message currently broadcast by the network device, sending a second request for SI or SIB to the network device to obtain the target SI or SIB; however Lee1 states limitations, “in a case that the stored SI or SIB does not match the system message currently broadcast by the network device, sending a second request for SI or SIB to the network (i.e. here target SI or SIB is nor being sent to the remote terminal)” pls see in abstract regarding… method for receiving broadcast information by a user equipment (UE) connected with a network via a relay UE in a wireless communication system is disclosed. The method includes steps of determining whether the broadcast information stored in the UE is updated or not; transmitting a request message for updating the broadcast information to the relay UE (i.e. relay UE receives request message from UE (i.e. remote one) for system information update (through broadcasting)), when the broadcast information stored in the UE is not updated; and receiving the requested broadcast information from the relay UE or the network (i.e. relay requests to network for requested broadcasted information and network provided to relay UE and relay UE provides that to the remote UE). It would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill, in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made to consider the teachings of Lee1 with the teachings of Zhang to make system more standardized.
Regarding claim 10, Zhang in view of Lee1 teaches as per claim 9, wherein the sending a target SI or SIB to the remote terminal further comprises:
in a case that a stored SI or SIB matches a system message currently broadcast by a network device, sending the stored SI or SIB to the remote terminal; Lee1 states in lines 53- 67 of col. 12 and lines 1- 25 of col. 13 regarding .. Upon receiving the request message, the network node or relay UE provides the broadcast information to the remote UE. More specifically, when the remote UE only provides a system information value tag and the system information value tag stored in network/relay UE is different from the one received from the remote UE, the network or relay UE provides requested necessary system information block. Especially, if a specific SIB or SI message information is not included in the above request message, all the defined necessary system information for remote UE operation is provided…. Or, when the remote UE only provides a system information value tag and the system information value tag stored in network/relay UE is same as the one received from the remote UE, the network or relay UE provides empty message or provides the indication which indicates that the system information of the remote UE is up-to-date…. Or, when the remote UE only provides a system information value tag and the system information value tag stored in network/relay UE is same as the one received from the remote UE, the network or relay UE provides empty message or provides the indication which indicates that the system information of the remote UE is up-to-date… Or, when the remote UE provides both value tag (i.e., the system information value tag and the system information value tag defined per SI message/SIB) and the system information value tag stored in network/relay UE is same as the one received from the remote UE, the network or relay UE provides empty message or provides the indication which indicates that the system information of the remote UE is up-to-date.
Regarding claim 11, Zhang in view of Lee1 teaches as per claim 10, Zhang teaches about sending request message to a network device; see abstract; but fails to state about sending the second request for SI or SIB using a first RACH resource in the first request; or sending the second request for SI or SIB using a second RACH resource configured by a network; however Lee1 states about PRACH/RACH resource configurations in col. 6 lines 40- 50 and col. 7 lines 1- 10; further refer to col. 14 lines 15- 55.
Regarding claim 13, Zhang in view of Lee1 teaches as per claim 1, wherein Lee1 teaches the first trigger condition further comprises at least one of the following conditions:
predetermined indication information from an upper layer to an access stratum having been received; and
a first RACH resource for transmitting the first request for SI or SIB having been configured by a network or preconfigured;
wherein the predetermined indication information comprises at least one of the following information:
notification of successful establishment of a PC5-S connection to the relay terminal, information about presence of user data to be sent or received, and information about presence of upper layer signaling to be sent or received; however Wang states in [0029] reading ….remote UE 501 sends the MSG1-based on-demand SI request as in a RACH procedure (i.e. this a User Equipment (UE) requests specific System Information Blocks (SIBs) by transmitting a designated preamble (Message 1 - Msg1) in the Random Access (RA) channel, rather than waiting for a periodic broadcast or using RRC signaling. This method allows for faster acquisition and saves power by, for instance, requesting only positioning SIBs (PosSIB)). Relay UE 503 translates received MSG1-based or MSG3-based SI request from remote UE 501 into a Uu-RRC message. Relay UE 503 sends the Uu-RRC message to gNB 502. In another embodiment, remote UE sends a pure PC5-RRC message based on-demand SI request to relay UE 503. Relay UE 503 translates it into a Uu-RRC message as in an SI Request to the gNB 502.
Regarding claim 19, Zhang in view of Lee1 teaches a terminal device, comprising a processor, a memory, and a program or instructions stored in the memory and capable of running on the processor, wherein when the program or instructions are executed by the processor, the steps of the system message transmission method according to claim 9 are implemented; pls refer to claim 9’s citations.
Claim(s) 12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhang et al. (WO 2022/017378 A1), please see attached machine translated copy in view of Lee et al. (US Pat. No. 11234184 B1), hereafter Lee1 and in further view of Tang et al. (US Pub. No. 2021/0195503 A1).
Regarding claim 12, Zhang in view of Lee1 teaches as per claim 10, but Zhang is silent about wherein after the sending a second request for SI or SIB to the network device to obtain the target SI or SIB, the method further comprises: storing the target SI or SIB; wherein the obtaining the target SI or SIB comprises: in a case that a second trigger condition is satisfied, receiving the target SI or SIB sent by the network device by using dedicated RRC signaling, wherein the second trigger condition is at least one of the following conditions: that an indication for allowing a dedicated SI or SIB request has been configured; and that a prohibit timer for allowing a dedicated SI or SIB request has been configured and the prohibit timer is in a non-running state; but Tang states in see [0069- 0070, 0074- 0075, 0137, 0139, 0142]… the relay node requesting the on-demand system information from the gNB through radio resource control (RRC) dedicated signaling; see [0069].. In addition, the requesting unit 502 may request the on-demand system information from the base station through random access, or request the on-demand system information from the base station through random access RRC dedicated signaling; see [0074] regarding the gNB broadcasts the on-demand system information, and then the relay node sends the on-demand system information to the corresponding end node through transparent transmission by means of RRC dedicated signaling (i.e. indicating); further see [0137]… Specifically, the third forwarding unit 601 may transmit the system information that is sent by the base station to the end node through an RRC connection between the base station and the end node to the end node through transparent transmission; see [0142]. It would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill, in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made to consider the teachings of Tang with the teachings of Zhang in view of Lee1 to make system more standardized. Having a mechanism wherein after the sending a second request for SI or SIB to the network device to obtain the target SI or SIB, the method further comprises: storing the target SI or SIB; wherein the obtaining the target SI or SIB comprises: in a case that a second trigger condition is satisfied, receiving the target SI or SIB sent by the network device by using dedicated RRC signaling, wherein the second trigger condition is at least one of the following conditions: that an indication for allowing a dedicated SI or SIB request has been configured; and that a prohibit timer for allowing a dedicated SI or SIB request has been configured and the prohibit timer is in a non-running state; greater way more standardized approach can be carried out in the communication system.
Claim(s) 14- 15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhang et al. (WO 2022/017378 A1), please see attached machine translated copy in view of Lee et al. (US Pat. No. 11234184 B1), hereafter Lee1 and further in view of Wang et al. (US Pub. No. 2022/0338283 A1).
Regarding claim 14, Zhang in view of Lee1 teaches as per claim 9, wherein Zhang teaches the first request for SI or SIB comprises at least one of the following content: a SI or SIB requirement of the remote terminal; and a first RACH resource configuration; Tang already discussed above see [0108- 0111]; but Zhang is silent about wherein a sending mode of the first request for SI or SIB is at least one of the following sending modes: sending by using a PC5 radio resource control RRC message; sending by using an information element in a PC5 RRC message; and sending by using a Uu RRC container in a PC5 RRC message; however Wang teaches in [0006] about … the remote UE (i.e. remote terminal) establishes a sidelink connection with a relay UE (i.e. relay terminal) in a wireless network, wherein the relay UE is connected with a gNB in the wireless network, configures a L2-based sidelink relay path between the UE and the gNB, wherein the sidelink is a relay link in the relay path, sends an SI Request message (i.e. first request message) to the relay UE through the sidelink in a PC5-RRC message to request a set of SIBs, and receives (i.e. sent by relay UE) the requested set of SIBs in a PC5-RRC SI Update message through the sidelink of the configured L2-based sidelink relay path; further see Fig. 5.. It would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill, in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made to consider the teachings of Wang with the teachings of Zhang in view of Lee1 to make system more effective. Having a mechanism wherein a sending mode of the first request for SI or SIB is at least one of the following sending modes: sending by using a PC5 radio resource control RRC message; sending by using an information element in a PC5 RRC message; and sending by using a Uu RRC container in a PC5 RRC message; greater way resources can be managed/utilized in the communication system.
Regarding claim 15, Zhang in view of Lee1 teaches as per claim 9, but Zhang is silent about wherein a sending mode of sending the target SI or SIB to the remote terminal comprises at least one of the following sending modes:
sending by using a PC5 radio resource control RRC message;
sending by using an information element in a PC5 RRC message; and
sending by using a Uu RRC container in a PC5 RRC message; however Wang teaches in [0006] about … the remote UE (i.e. remote terminal) establishes a sidelink connection with a relay UE (i.e. relay terminal) in a wireless network, wherein the relay UE is connected with a gNB in the wireless network, configures a L2-based sidelink relay path between the UE and the gNB, wherein the sidelink is a relay link in the relay path, sends an SI Request message (i.e. first request message) to the relay UE through the sidelink in a PC5-RRC message to request a set of SIBs, and receives (i.e. sent by relay UE) the requested set of SIBs in a PC5-RRC SI Update message through the sidelink of the configured L2-based sidelink relay path; further see Fig. 5.. It would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill, in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made to consider the teachings of Wang with the teachings of Zhang in view of Lee1 to make system more effective. Having a mechanism wherein a sending mode of sending the target SI or SIB to the remote terminal comprises at least one of the following sending modes: sending by using a PC5 radio resource control RRC message; sending by using an information element in a PC5 RRC message; and sending by using a Uu RRC container in a PC5 RRC message; greater way resources can be managed/utilized in the communication system.
Claim(s) 16, 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tang et al. (US Pub. No. 2021/0195503 A1) in view of Zhang et al. (WO 2022/017378 A1), please see attached machine translated copy.
Regarding claim 16, Tang teaches a system message transmission method, wherein the method is executed by a network device (fig. 3 gNB), and the method comprises:
receiving a second request for SI or SIB sent by a relay terminal, wherein the second request comprises a SI or SIB requirement of a remote terminal (see [0112] and Fig. 3); and sending a target SI or SIB in response to the second request (see [0113] and Fig. 3); but fails to state about wherein the sending the target SI or SIB comprises: in a case that a first trigger condition is satisfied, sending the target SI or SIB through broadcast or by using dedicated RRC signaling, wherein the first trigger condition comprises: Uu quality being lower than a predetermined threshold, the remote terminal being located out of network coverage, and a PC5 connection between the remote terminal and the relay terminal having been established successfully; however Zhang in context with Abstract teaches in page 8 regarding .. wherein, the indication information is sent to the relay terminal through the direct communication interface (i.e. PC5 connection between remote terminal and the relay terminal having been established successfully), including: In the case that the first condition is satisfied, the indication information is sent to the relay terminal through the direct communication interface; wherein, the first condition includes at least one of the following:
The connection establishment between the remote terminal and the relay terminal is completed ;
the remote terminal receives an instruction to notify the system information update;
The system information block or system information message that the remote terminal is interested in is changed;
The system information valid area of the remote terminal is changed;
The system information block or the system information message stored by the remote terminal is invalid;
The remote terminal does not store a valid system information block or system information message; further see on page 12 regarding .. The triggering conditions of the indication information include but are not limited to one or a combination of the following:
The connection between the remote UE and the relay UE is established;
The remote UE receives an instruction to notify the system information update, such as Paging;
The SIB or SI message that the remote UE is interested in changes;
The area where the remote UE is located changes, for example, the remote UE moves out of the valid area of the previously acquired SIB (i.e. remote UE is located out of network coverage and hence Uu (i.e. base station and remote UE connection strength is low or below some threshold). It would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill, in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made to consider the teachings of Zhang with the teachings of Tang to make system more effective. Having a mechanism wherein the sending the target SI or SIB comprises: in a case that a first trigger condition is satisfied, sending the target SI or SIB through broadcast or by using dedicated RRC signaling, wherein the first trigger condition comprises: Uu quality being lower than a predetermined threshold, the remote terminal being located out of network coverage, and a PC5 connection between the remote terminal and the relay terminal having been established successfully; greater way resources can be utilized/managed in the communication system.
Regarding claim 20, Tang in view of Zhang teaches a network device, comprising a processor, a memory, and a program or instructions stored in the memory and capable of running on the processor, wherein when the program or instructions are executed by the processor, the steps of the system message transmission method according to claim 16 are implemented; pls refer to claim 16’s citations.
Claim(s) 21 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tang et al. (US Pub. No. 2021/0195503 A1) in view of Zhang et al. (WO 2022/017378 A1), please see attached machine translated copy and in in view of Wang et al. (US Pub. No. 2022/0338283 A1).
Regarding claim 21, Tang in view of Zhang teaches as per claim 1, but Tang fails to teach about wherein before the receiving a second request for SI or SIB sent by a relay terminal, the method further comprises: configuring, for the remote terminal, a first RACH resource for transmitting a first request for SI or SIB; and/or configuring, for the relay terminal, a second RACH resource for transmitting a second request for SI or SIB; however Wang states in [0029] reading ….remote UE 501 sends the MSG1-based on-demand SI request as in a RACH procedure (i.e. this a User Equipment (UE) requests specific System Information Blocks (SIBs) by transmitting a designated preamble (Message 1 - Msg1) in the Random Access (RA) channel, rather than waiting for a periodic broadcast or using RRC signaling. This method allows for faster acquisition and saves power by, for instance, requesting only positioning SIBs (PosSIB)). Relay UE 503 translates received MSG1-based or MSG3-based SI request from remote UE 501 into a Uu-RRC message. Relay UE 503 sends the Uu-RRC message to gNB 502. In another embodiment, remote UE sends a pure PC5-RRC message based on-demand SI request to relay UE 503. Relay UE 503 translates it into a Uu-RRC message as in an SI Request to the gNB 502. It would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill, in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made to consider the teachings of Wang with the teachings of Tang in view of Zhang to make system more effective. Having a mechanism wherein before the receiving a second request for SI or SIB sent by a relay terminal, the method further comprises: configuring, for the remote terminal, a first RACH resource for transmitting a first request for SI or SIB; and/or configuring, for the relay terminal, a second RACH resource for transmitting a second request for SI or SIB; greater way resources can be used/managed in the communication system.
Conclusion
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PARTH PATEL
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2479
/PARTH PATEL/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2479