DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 January 29. 2026 has been entered.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on January 29, 2026 and June 4, 2026 was filed in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Response to Amendment
The amendment filed January 29, 2026 has been accepted and entered. Accordingly, claims 1, 3, 9, 11, and 13 have been amended. New claim 21 has been added.
Claim 19 has been canceled.
Claims 1-18 and 20-21 are pending in this application.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 1, 11, and 21 have been considered but are moot because the arguments do not apply to any of the references being used in the current rejection.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claims 1-5, 7-15, 17-18, and 20-21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Perras et al. (U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2025/0071637) and further in view of Xu et al. (U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2024/0129830).
Regarding Claim 1, Perras et al. teaches A method for communication path switching from PC5 to Uu (Perras et al. teaches that the WTRU performs a path switch from the PC5 interface to Uu interface (para. [0006])), comprising: communicating, by a second User Equipment (UE), with a first UE via a PC5 unicast link established between the first UE and the second UE (Perras et al. teaches that a PC5 unicast link is established between WTRU1 and WTRU2 (i.e., second UE)(para. [0127]; FIG. 2)); receiving, by the second UE, a path switch request message from the first UE (Perras et al. teaches that WTRU1 is configured to trigger path switching by transmitting a PC5 path switching request message 220 to WTRU2 (para. [0133]l FIG. 2)), wherein the path switch request message indicates a path switching to a Uu path (Perras et al. teaches that the path switch request message includes path switching direction (e.g., PC5 to Uu)(para. [0133]l FIG. 2)) and wherein the Uu path is a communication path via a data network (Perras et al. teaches that WTRU is configured to determine to switch from a PC5 interface to a Uu interface over a PDU session (para. [0110][0119]); Uu-based network communication link (para. [0151]); determining, by the second UE, whether to accept the path switch request message according to at least a Uu signal level (Perras et al. teaches that if the WTRU2 is capable of performing a path switch, the WTRU2 replies to WTRU1 by transmitting a PC5 path switching response message (para. [0134]; FIG. 2)); and transmitting, by the second UE, a path switch reject message to the first UE if the Uu signal level is lower than a threshold (Perras et al. teaches if the WTRU2 determines not to switch paths, the WTRU2 transmits a PC4 path switching reject message to the WTRU1 (para. [0134]; FIG. 2)).
Although teaching WTRU2 responding to path switching request as noted above, Perras et al. does not explicitly teach determining, by the second UE, whether to accept the path switch request message according to at least a Uu signal level; and transmitting, by the second UE, a path switch reject message to the first UE if the Uu signal level is lower than a threshold. Xu et al. teaches such limitations.
Xu et al. is directed to communication mode switching method and related apparatus. Xu et al. teaches determining, by the second UE, whether to accept the path switch request message according to at least a Uu signal level (Xu et al. teaches that UE2 determines based on the signal quality of a Uu interface of the UE2 to accept switching of the service #B from the PC5 interface communication mode to the Uu interface communication mode (para. [0373]; FIG. 4)); and transmitting, by the second UE, a path switch reject message to the first UE if the Uu signal level is lower than a threshold (Xu et al. teaches that when the signal quality of the Uu interface of the UE2 is greater than or equal to a second signal quality threshold, the UE2 determines to accept switching of the service #B from the PC5 interface communication mode to the Uu interface communication mode (para. [0379]; FIG. 4); second terminal device does not accept switching of tbe some services from the PC5 interface communication mode to the Uu interface communication mode (para. [0145])).
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the method of Perras et al. so that whether to accept the path switch request message is determined according to at least a Uu signal level, as taught by Xu et al. The modification would have allowed the system to ensure qualified services are switched to Uu interface communication mode (see Xu et al., para. [0145]).
Regarding Claim 2, the combined teachings of Perras et al. and Xu et al. teach The method of claim 1, and further, the references teach further comprising: transmitting, by the second UE, a path switch accept message to the first UE if the Uu signal level is higher than or equal to the threshold (Perras et al. teaches that WTRU1 receives the path switch response from a WTRU2 (para. [0148]); Xu et al. teaches that when the signal quality of the Uu interface of the UE2 is greater than or equal to a second signal quality threshold, the UE2 determines to accept switching of the service #B from the PC5 interface communication mode to the Uu interface communication mode (para. [0379]; FIG. 4)).
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the method of Perras et al. so that a path switch accept message is transmitted to the first UE if the Uu signal level is higher than or equal to the threshold, as taught by Xu et al. The modification would have allowed the system to ensure qualified services are switched to Uu interface communication mode (see Xu et al., para. [0145]).
Regarding Claim 3, the combined teachings of Perras et al. and Xu et al. teach The method of claim 1, and further, the references teach wherein the second UE communicates with the first UE via the Uu path after the second UE accepts the path switch request message (Perras et al. teaches that after a successful path switch, the WTRU1 and WTRU2 are configured to transmit traffic over the PDU session and stop sending traffic over the PC5 link (para. [0135]; FIG. 2)).
Regarding Claim 4, the combined teachings of Perras et al. and Xu et al. teach The method of claim 1, and further, the references teach wherein the second UE determines to accept the path switching to Uu if the path switch to Uu is allowed (Perras et al. teaches that if the WTRU2 is capable of performing a path switch, the WTRU2 replies to WTRU1 by transmitting a PC5 path switching response message (para. [0134])).
Regarding Claim 5, the combined teachings of Perras et al. and Xu et al. teach The method of claim 1, and further, the references teach wherein the second UE determines to accept the path switching to Uu if the second UE is camping to a suitable cell or connecting to a serving cell (Perras et al. teaches that WTRU1 receives the path switch response from a WTRU2 (para. [0148]); Xu et al. teaches that UE is connected to access network (AN) device by using a radio resource control (RRC) protocol, and the UE and the AN device communicate with each other through a Uu interface (para. [0114]); Ue obtains a path switching policy from the network (para. [0339][0340]; FIG. 4), indicating the second UE is connected to a serving cell).
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the method of Perras et al. so that the second UE determines to accept the path switching to Uu if the second UE is camping to a suitable cell or connecting to a serving cell, as taught by Xu et al. The modification would have allowed the system to ensure qualified services are switched to Uu interface communication mode (see Xu et al., para. [0145]).
Regarding Claim 7, the combined teachings of Perras et al. and Xu et al. teach The method claim 1, and further, the references teach wherein the path switch request message includes information indicating a first set of services to be switched to Uu (Perras et al. teaches that the path switch request includes the IP address used over WTRI1’s PDU session (para. [0133]); PDU session meets criteria (e.g., meets the QoS requirement) for the given application (para. [0111]), indicating that PDU session is associated with service; WTRU1 and/or WTRU2 inform their respective applications about the path switch, and/or traffic is switched from the PDU session to the PC5 link (para. [0195]); Xu et al. teaches that the first message such as path switch request message is used to request to switch at least one service between the first terminal device and the second terminal device from a PC5 interface communication mode to a Uu interface communication mode (para. [0136][0137][0138]]))
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the method of Perras et al. so that the path switch request message includes information indicating a first set of services to be switched to Uu, as taught by Xu et al. The modification would have allowed the system to ensure qualified services are switched to Uu interface communication mode (see Xu et al., para. [0145]).
Regarding Claim 8, the combined teachings of Perras et al. and Xu et al. teach The method of claim 2, and further, the references teach wherein the path switch accept message includes information indicating a second set of services to be switched to Uu (Perras et al. teaches that the WTRU2’s PC5 path switching response message includes WTRU2’s PDU session IP address (para. [0134]); PDU session meets criteria (e.g., meets the QoS requirement) for the given application (para. [0111]), indicating that PDU session is associated with service; Xu et al. teaches that the second message, path switch accept message notifies that switching of a service #A from the PC5 interface communication mode to the Uu interface communication mode is accepted (para. [0139]-[00142]).
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the method of Perras et al. so that the path switch request message includes information indicating a first set of services to be switched to Uu, as taught by Xu et al. The modification would have allowed the system ensure qualified services are switched to Uu interface communication mode (see Xu et al., para. [0145]).
Regarding Claim 9, the combined teachings of Perras et al. and Xu et al. teach The method of claim 8, and further, the references teach wherein: the path switch request message includes information indicating a first set of services to be switched to Uu (Perras et al. teaches that the path switch request includes the IP address used over WTRI1’s PDU session (para. [0133]); PDU session meets criteria (e.g., meets the QoS requirement) for the given application (para. [0111]), indicating that PDU session is associated with service; WTRU1 and/or WTRU2 inform their respective applications about the path switch, and/or traffiic is switched from the PDU session to the PC5 link (para. [0195]); Xu et al. teaches that a first message (i.e., path switch request message) is used to request to switch a service #A between the first terminal device and the second terminal device from a PC5 interface communication mode to a UU interface communication mode (para. [0136][0137][0138])); and the second set of services is a subset of the first set of services (Xu et al. teaches that the second terminal device sends an ACK message indicating that the second terminal device accepts switching of the first service from the PC5 interface communication mode to the Uu interface communication mode (para. [0142]), where the first service is some services in the service #A (para. [0144])).
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the method of Perras et al. so that the second set of services is a subset of the first set of services requested to be switched, as taught by Xu et al. The modification would have allowed the system to allow the data of the services to communicate dynamically meeting the communication requirement of the services (see Xu et al., para. [0145]).
Regarding Claim 10, the combined teachings of Perras et al. and Xu et al. teach The method of claim 7, and further, the references teach wherein the second UE determines to accept the path switching to Uu if at least a service in the first set of services is allowed to be switched to Uu (Perras et al. teaches that a WTRU is configured with path switching policy that indicates whether path switch between the Uu interface to/from the PC5 is allowed for each ProSe service (para. [0196]); Xu et al. teaches a path switching policy that includes information about service for which switching of a communication mode is allowed (para. [0021]); second terminal device determines, based on the path switching policy, to accept switching of the service #B from the PC5 interface communication mode to the Uu interface communication mode (para. [0234])).
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the method of Perras et al. so that the second UE determines to accept the path switching in Uu if at least a service in the first set of services is allowed to be switched to Uu, as taught by Xu et al. The modification would have allowed the system to allow the data of the services to communicate dynamically meeting the communication requirement of the services (see Xu et al., para. [0145]).
Regarding Claim 11, Perras et al. teaches A second User Equipment (UE)(WTRU2 (FIG. 2)), comprising: a control circuit (integrated circuit (para. [0055]); a processor (processor (FIG. 1B)) installed in the control circuit; and a memory (memory (FIG. 1B)) installed in the control circuit and operatively coupled to the processor; wherein the processor is configured to execute a program code stored in the memory to: perform the limitations recited in claim 1. Therefore, claim 11 is also rejected for similar reasons set forth in claim 1.
Regarding Claims 12-15, 17-18, and 20, Claims 12-15, 17-18, and 20 are directed to apparatus claims and they do not teach or further define over the limitations recited in claims 2-5, 7-8, and 10. Therefore, claims 12-15, 17-18, and 20 are also rejected for similar reasons set forth in claims 2-5, 7-8, and 10.
Regarding Claim 21, Claim 21 is directed to a computer medium claim and it does not teach or further define over the limitations recited in claim 1. Therefore, claim 21 is also rejected for similar reasons set forth in claim 1.
Claims 6 and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Perras et al. (U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2025/0071637), Xu et al. (U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2024/0129830), and further in view of Mok et al. (U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2020/0128470).
Regarding Claim 6, the combined teachings of Perras et al. and Xu et al. teach The method of claim 1, however, although teaching the measurement of signal quality as noted above, the references do not explicitly teach wherein the Uu signal level refers to a strength of a reference signal received from a camping/serving cell of the second UE. Mok et al. teaches such a limitation.
Mok et al, is directed to Mok et al. is directed to method and device for changing wireless path in wireless communication system. Mok et al. teaches that the channel signal measurement value is a reference signals received power (RSRP) value (para. [0111]). Further, Mok et al. teaches the base station provides the uplink channel signal threshold value between the terminal and the base station (e.g., Uu link signal_threshold) or the direct communication channel signal threshold value between the terminals (e.g., sidelink_signl_threshold) as the radio path change condition (para. [0111]), indicating signals are recieved from the serving cell).
It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the method of Perras et al. and Xu et al. so that the Uu signal level refers to a strength of a reference signal received from a camping/serving cell of the second UE, as taught by Mok et al. The modification would have allowed the system to obtain heighten reliability during data transmission (see Mok et al., para. [0022]).
Regarding Claim 26, Claim 16 is directed to an apparatus claim and it does not teach or further define over the limitations recited in claim 6. Therefore, claim 16 is also rejected for similar reasons set forth in claim 6.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Ericsson, “Remaining Issues on Service Continuity for L2 sidelink Relay” ; 3GPP TSG-RAN WG2 #116-e, R2-2110690, Electronic Meeting, 1st-12th November 2021. This reference is cited in IDS filed on 6/2/2026 and teaches that Indirect to direct path switch when serving relay UE SL-RSRP is lesser than a threshold and the Uu-RSRP is greater than a threshold (page 2, section 2.2).
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to REBECCA E. SONG whose telephone number is (571)270-3667. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday: 8-5 PM.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Deborah Reynolds can be reached at 571-272-0734. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/REBECCA E SONG/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2417
Prosecution Insights