DETAILED ACTION
This action is responsive to Amendments filed on 8/12/2025.
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 .
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant’s claim for domestic benefit/national stage under 35 U.S.C. 119(e), 120, 121, 365(c), or 386(c) for parent Application No
PCT/CN2021/119280 filed on 9/18/2021
Acknowledgment is made of applicant’s claim for foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119(a)-(d). Receipt is acknowledged of certified copy required by 37 CFR 1.55 for parent Application No
CN202010997401.4 filed on 9/21/2020
Response to Amendment
Claims 1-20 were pending for examination in previous Office Action mailed 5/12/2025.
Claims 1, 2, 6, and 19 have been amended with Claims 1, 7, and 19 being independent and Claim 5 cancelled.
Claims 1-4 and 6-20 remain pending for examination.
Acknowledgement is made of applicant’s filing of terminal disclaimer received on 8/20/2025 in order to overcome provisional nonstatutory double patenting rejection. This is acceptable and provisional nonstatutory double patenting rejection has been withdrawn.
Acknowledgement is made of applicant’s amendments to the claims received on 8/12/2025 in order to overcome objections in prior Office Action. These amendments are acceptable and objections listed in previous Office Action to the claims have been withdrawn.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see Applicant’s remarks pg. 14-16, filed 8/12/2025, with respect to Claims 1-4 and 6-20 have been fully considered but are not persuasive.
In response to Applicant’s arguments that in substance the prior art of record does not disclose “reporting the WLAN measurement report to a base station and/or relay terminal” and “receiving SL and WLAN interworking configuration information transmitted by the base station and/or relay terminal and performing service data transmission according to the SL and WLAN interworking configuration information,” Examiner respectfully disagrees.
In response to applicant's arguments against the references individually, one cannot show nonobviousness by attacking references individually where the rejections are based on combinations of references. See In re Keller, 642 F.2d 413, 208 USPQ 871 (CCPA 1981); In re Merck & Co., 800 F.2d 1091, 231 USPQ 375 (Fed. Cir. 1986).
Here, applicant addresses Kim et al. (US 2019/0393969 A1; hereinafter Kim) and Paladugu et al. (US 2023/0247513 A1; hereinafter Paladugu) separately without addressing the combination.
Kim in view of Paladugu were relied upon to disclose previously presented dependent claim 5 which has been incorporated into the independent claim 1. As provided in the previous office action, Kim (¶30; ¶61-63; ¶110-111; ¶141; Fig. 3; Fig. 10; Fig. 12) discloses inter-RAT communication (WLAN/Uu switching, as mentioned by applicant on page 16 of Applicant’s remarks) which includes WLAN and that a UE measures and reports on listed cells and that measurements include WLAN measurements of Band, Carrier Info, Available Admission Capacity, Backhaul bandwidth, Channel Utilization, and Station Count; Kim also discloses PC5 sidelink interface. These same WLAN measurements are discussed in the instant application (US 2023/0180046 A1; ¶79-90 and ¶113). Paladugu, which also discloses carrier aggregation and inter-RAT measurements (¶32-33; ¶49-53; Fig. 3-4), further discloses performing data transmission according to configuration information which may trigger a handover (Uu/sidelink switching) according to conditional handover criteria based on at least in part on one or more measurement reports which include SL configuration information (¶30; ¶44-46; ¶67-69; ¶76-78; Fig. 6).
Therefore, the prior art of record still discloses the claimed invention of the independent claims, and the prior art rejection is maintained below and altered as required by the amendments.
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 1-10 and 12-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kim et al. (US 2019/0393969 A1; hereinafter Kim) and further in view of Paladugu et al. (US 2023/0247513 A1; hereinafter Paladugu).
Regarding Claim 1, Kim discloses:
A sidelink (SL) and wireless local area network (WLAN) interworking method, performed by a remote terminal in a sidelink, and the method comprising:
performing, in a case that a WLAN measurement condition is met, WLAN measurement according to WLAN measurement configuration information to obtain a WLAN measurement report; and [Kim discloses performing a measurement according to measurement configuration such as channel occupancy and received signal strength indicator (RSSI) when a condition related to the RSSI measurement and/or channel occupancy measurement is met (abstract; ¶ 13-14; Fig. 10). Kim further discloses that the communication standard by IEEE includes wireless local area network (WLAN) system and that for inter-RAT (radio access technology) WLAN, the UE measures and reports on listed cells and that WLAN measurements are part of measurement reporting (¶ 30; ¶ 110-111)]
reporting the WLAN measurement report to a base station [Kim discloses reporting an ID of specific bandwidth parts to the network as well as reporting measurement results to a network (abstract; ¶ 141; Fig. 10; Fig. 12)].
wherein after the reporting the WLAN measurement report to a base station and/or a relay terminal, the method further comprises:
receiving Kim discloses that the network may provide a command for changing Bandwidth Parts (BWP) in response to corresponding measurement results which includes inter-RAT WLAN measurements and serves in cell configuration (¶141-142; ¶ 159; ¶ 110-111; Fig. 12 Item S1222).]
performing service data transmission according to the [Kim discloses service data adaptation protocol (SDAP) which includes mapping between quality of service (QoS) flow and a data radio bearer (DRB) and marking QoS flow ID (QFI) in both downlink and uplink packets and that a DRM is used for transmitting user data in the user plane (¶ 76-78).]
Kim does not explicitly disclose:
reporting the WLAN measurement report to a base station and/or a relay terminal.
receiving SL and WLAN interworking configuration information transmitted by the base station and/or the relay terminal; and
performing service data transmission according to the SL and WLAN interworking configuration information.
However Paladugu, analogous art also teaching conditional measurement reporting to a base station and carrier aggregation, does disclose:
reporting the WLAN measurement report to a base station and/or a relay terminal. [Paladugu discloses a remote UE providing measurement reports to a base station through a relay UE (¶30; ¶45-46; ¶69; Fig. 3; Fig. 6).]
receiving SL and WLAN interworking configuration information transmitted by the base station and/or the relay terminal; and [Paladugu discloses SL measurement reports and determining relay connectivity according to measurement reports and further discloses that a relay terminal may be in between a remote node and a base station for communication purposes (¶ 44-46; ¶69; Fig. 3; Fig. 6)]
performing service data transmission according to the SL and WLAN interworking configuration information. [Paladugu discloses a conditional handover configuration component configured to handle data transmission during a handover procedure such as relaying data transmissions and that the conditional handover configuration component may also trigger the handover process based on determining that one or more conditional handover criteria are met (¶ 30)]
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to have modified the communication system of Kim with that of Paladugu to include the relay terminal so the remote UE to has access to the core network, as per Paladugu (¶ 69), with reasonable expectation of success.
Regarding Claim 2, Kim and Paladugu discloses:
The method according to claim 1, wherein the WLAN measurement condition comprises at least one of the following:
signal quality of a Uu interface between the remote terminal and the base station is less than or equal to a first threshold; [Kim discloses that a condition may include that the results of the received signal strength indicator (RSSI) is lower than a threshold (¶ 135)]
signal quality of a PC5 interface between the remote terminal and the relay terminal is less than or equal to a second threshold; [Paladugu discloses the condition of sidelink signal strength falling below a channel condition threshold (¶51)]
the remote terminal is located at a first preset location;
the base station instructs the remote terminal to start the WLAN measurement;
the base station instructs the remote terminal to start the WLAN measurement through the relay terminal; or
the relay terminal instructs the remote terminal to start the WLAN measurement.
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to have modified the communication system of Kim with that of Paladugu to include the condition of PC5 signal quality to maintain a threshold of signal quality, as per Paladugu (¶ 51), with reasonable expectation of success.
Regarding Claim 3, Kim and Paladugu disclose:
The method according to claim 1, further comprising:
receiving the WLAN measurement configuration information transmitted by the base station or the relay terminal. [Kim discloses a UE reporting an ID of specific bandwidth parts to the network as well as reporting measurement results to a network (abstract; ¶ 141; Fig. 10; Fig. 12). Kim also discloses that measurement results may include WLAN measurements (¶ 110-111). Furthermore, Kim discloses that a UE can be connected to an eNB with a Uu interface or to another UE through a sidelink PC5 interface (¶ 63; Fig. 3) Paladugu discloses a remote UE providing measurement reports to a base station through a relay UE with which it has a sidelink (PC5) connection (¶45-46; ¶69; Fig. 3; Fig. 6)]
Regarding Claim 4, Kim and Paladugu disclose:
The method according to claim 1, wherein the WLAN measurement configuration information comprises at least one of the following:
WLAN measurement configuration parameters; or [Kim discloses configuration parameters (¶ 112-117; Fig. 12 Item S1211)]
WLAN measurement reporting parameters; [Kim discloses measurement reporting parameters (¶ 111)]
wherein the WLAN measurement configuration parameters comprise at least one of the following:
a WLAN band indicator list; a WLAN carrier information list; a WLAN identifier list that needs to be added to a measurement configuration; a WLAN identifier list that needs to be removed from a measurement configuration; whether a measurement report comprises a WLAN available admission capacity; whether a measurement report comprises a WLAN backhaul uplink and/or downlink bandwidth; whether a measurement report comprises a WLAN band; whether a measurement report comprises WLAN carrier information; whether a measurement report comprises WLAN channel utilization; an event ID that triggers the WLAN measurement; a maximum number of cells in a measurement report; a configuration of a measurement report of a WLAN received signal strength indication (RSSI); reporting any WLAN access point that meets an interworking trigger request; WLAN carrier information; a WLAN channel number; a WLAN country code; a WLAN operating class; a WLAN name; or an event that triggers the WLAN measurement; [Kim discloses configuration parameters such as measID, measRSSI-ReportConfig, rssi-Result set to the average of sample values, channelOccupancy to the rounded percentage of sample values which are beyond the channelOccupancyThreshold within the sample values of the reportinterval (¶ 112-117; Fig. 12 Item S1211)]
and wherein the WLAN measurement reporting parameters comprise at least one of the following:
a WLAN available admission capacity; a WLAN backhaul downlink bandwidth; a WLAN backhaul uplink bandwidth; WLAN carrier information; WLAN channel occupancy information; WLAN channel utilization; indication information used for indicating whether the remote terminal is connected to a WLAN to which a measurement result is applicable; a WLAN measurement result list; a WLAN RSSI measurement result; a total number of stations associated with a WLAN; a WLAN identifier; or WLAN round trip time (RTT) information. [Kim discloses RSSI measurements, channel occupancy measurements, channel busy ration (CBR) measurements, WLAN measurements of Band, Carrier Info, Available Admission Capacity, Backhaul Bandwidth, Channel Utilization, and Station Count, (¶ 111)]
Regarding Claim 6, Kim and Paladugu disclose:
The method according to claim 1, wherein the SL and WLAN interworking configuration information comprises at least one of SL and WLAN interworking configuration information configured by the base station or SL and WLAN interworking configuration information configured by the relay terminal; [Kim discloses that the radio link control (RLC) sublayer includes the service data adaptation protocol (SDAP) sublayer which includes mapping QoS flow and data radio bearer, and marking QoS flow ID in both downlink and uplink packets (mapped to a configuration information) (¶ 74-78)]
wherein the SL and WLAN interworking configuration information configured by the base station comprises at least one of the following:
supporting an SL and WLAN aggregation operation; [Kim discloses carrier aggregation, inter-RAT NR, and inter-RAT WLAN, which supports switching between Uu and WLAN (¶ 11; ¶ 110). Paladugu discloses carrier aggregation and switching between sidelink (PC5) and Uu interfaces (¶ 45; ¶ 67-69). Paladugu further discloses that device-to-device communication (sidelink) may be through Wi-Fi based on the IEEE 802.11 standard, LTE and NR (¶ 32-33)]
service features capable of performing WLAN transmission; [Kim discloses carrier aggregation and inter-RAT WLAN, which supports WLAN transmission (¶ 11; ¶ 110).]
service quality of service (QoS) flow information capable of performing WLAN transmission; [Kim discloses that the radio link control (RLC) sublayer includes the service data adaptation protocol (SDAP) sublayer which includes mapping QoS flow and data radio bearer, and marking QoS flow ID in both downlink and uplink packets (¶ 74-78)]
service data radio bearer (DRB) information capable of performing WLAN transmission; [Kim discloses that the radio link control (RLC) sublayer includes the service data adaptation protocol (SDAP) sublayer which includes mapping QoS flow and data radio bearer (DRB) and marking QoS flow ID in both downlink and uplink packets (¶ 74-78). Kim further discloses carrier aggregation and inter-RAT WLAN, which supports WLAN transmission (¶ 11; ¶ 110).]
a configuration of a protocol stack layer corresponding to a service capable of performing WLAN transmission; [Kim discloses protocol stack layers capable of performing WLAN transmission (¶ 71-79; ¶ 110). Paladugu discloses configuring data radio bearers (DRBs) as dual active protocol stack DRBs (¶ 71-72).]
service features capable of performing WLAN offloading or replication, delivery, and transmission;
service QoS flow information capable of performing WLAN offloading or replication, delivery, and transmission;
service DRB information capable of performing WLAN offloading or replication, delivery, and transmission;
a configuration of a protocol stack layer corresponding to a service capable of performing WLAN offloading or replication, delivery, and transmission;
service features performing SL transmission; [Kim discloses that sidelink denotes communication between UEs (¶ 61). Paladugu discloses performing sidelink transmissions (¶43)]
service QoS flow information performing SL transmission; [Paladugu discloses that the Access and Mobility Management function (AMF) may provide QoS flow and session management (¶ 39)]
service DRB information performing SL transmission; [Paladugu discloses that the source base station may configure one or more dedicated DRBs of the remote UE as Dual Active Protocol Stack (DAPS) for the handover between Uu and PC5 (¶71-72)]
a configuration of a protocol stack layer corresponding to a service performing SL transmission; or [Paladugu discloses that the source base station may configure one or more dedicated DRBs of the remote UE as Dual Active Protocol Stack (DAPS) for the handover between Uu and PC5 (¶71-72)]
interface or port information of WLAN data transmission;
and wherein the SL and WLAN interworking configuration information configured by the relay terminal comprises at least one of the following:
configuration information of a WLAN data radio bearer; [Kim discloses that the radio link control (RLC) sublayer includes the service data adaptation protocol (SDAP) sublayer which includes mapping QoS flow and data radio bearer (DRB) and marking QoS flow ID in both downlink and uplink packets (¶ 74-78). Kim further discloses carrier aggregation and inter-RAT WLAN, which supports WLAN transmission (¶ 11; ¶ 110).]
configuration information of a QoS flow mapped to a WLAN data radio bearer; [Kim discloses that the radio link control (RLC) sublayer includes the service data adaptation protocol (SDAP) sublayer which includes mapping QoS flow and data radio bearer (DRB) and marking QoS flow ID in both downlink and uplink packets (¶ 74-78). Kim further discloses carrier aggregation and inter-RAT WLAN, which supports WLAN transmission (¶ 11; ¶ 110).]
configuration information of a WLAN offloading or replication duplication data radio bearer;
configuration information of a QoS flow mapped to a WLAN offloading data radio bearer;
configuration information of a WLAN interface or port;
configuration information of an SL data radio bearer; [Paladugu discloses that the source base station may configure one or more dedicated data radio bearers (DRBs) of the remote UE as Dual Active Protocol Stack (DAPS) for the handover between Uu and PC5 (¶71-72)]
configuration information of a QoS flow mapped to an SL data radio bearer; or [Paladugu discloses that the Access and Mobility Management function (AMF) may provide QoS flow and session management (¶ 39)]
WLAN media access control (MAC) address information related to interworking between an SL and a WLAN.
Regarding Claim 7, Kim discloses:
A sidelink (SL) and wireless local area network (WLAN) interworking method, performed by a communication device, and the method comprising:
receiving a WLAN measurement report reported [Kim discloses a UE reporting an ID of specific bandwidth parts to the network as well as reporting measurement results to a network (abstract; ¶ 141; Fig. 10; Fig. 12). Kim also discloses that measurement results may include WLAN measurements (¶ 110-111). Furthermore, Kim discloses that a UE can be connected to an eNB with a Uu interface or to another UE through a sidelink PC5 interface (¶ 63; Fig. 3)].
transmitting [Kim discloses performing a measurement according to measurement configuration such as channel occupancy and received signal strength indicator (RSSI) when a condition related to the RSSI measurement and/or channel occupancy measurement is met (abstract; ¶13-14; Fig. 10). Kim further discloses reporting an ID of specific bandwidth parts to the network as well as reporting measurement results to a network (abstract; ¶ 141; Fig. 10; Fig. 12) and that measurement results may include WLAN measurements (¶ 110-111).
Kim does not explicitly disclose:
receiving a WLAN measurement report reported by a remote terminal in a sidelink; and
transmitting SL and WLAN interworking configuration information in a case that the WLAN measurement report indicates that an SL and WLAN interworking condition is met.
However Paladugu, analogous art also teaching conditional measurement reporting to a base station and carrier aggregation, does disclose:
receiving a WLAN measurement report reported by a remote terminal in a sidelink; and [Paladugu discloses a remote UE providing measurement reports to a base station through a relay UE with which it has a sidelink (PC5) connection (¶45-46; ¶67-69; Fig. 3; Fig. 6).]
transmitting SL and WLAN interworking configuration information in a case that the WLAN measurement report indicates that an SL and WLAN interworking condition is met. [Paladugu discloses a remote UE providing measurement reports informing of a detected relay UE and/or a sidelink measurement report for the relay UE to a base station where the sidelink measurement report may correspond to a measured channel quality and may also include an explicit or implicit UE identifier; base station may determine whether the relay UE qualifies to provide relay services based on the measured channel quality (¶ 45-46). Paladugu further discloses Uu and PC5 mobility where a handover from one to the other may be triggered by remote UE to relay UE over PC5 connection falls below a sidelink connection threshold (sidelink -reference signal receive power) (¶ 67) ]
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to have modified the communication system of Kim with that of Paladugu to include sidelink and sidelink configuration information to include a relay terminal so the remote UE to has access to the core network, as per Paladugu (¶ 69), with reasonable expectation of success.
Regarding Claim 8, Kim and Paladugu disclose:
The method according to claim 7, wherein the communication device is a base station; and the receiving a WLAN measurement report reported by a remote terminal in a sidelink comprises:
receiving the WLAN measurement report reported by the remote terminal through a Uu interface; or [Kim discloses that a UE is connected to the eNB though a Uu interface and UEs are connected to each other through a PC5 interface (¶ 63). Kim also discloses reporting measurement results that include WLAN measurements to a network (abstract; ¶ 141; ¶ 110-111; Fig. 10; Fig. 12)].
receiving the WLAN measurement report reported by the remote terminal through a relay terminal; or [Paladugu discloses a remote UE providing measurement reports to a base station through a relay UE (PC5 interface) and/or directly (through a Uu interface) (¶30; ¶45-46; ¶69; Fig. 3; Fig. 6).]
wherein the communication device is a base station; and the transmitting SL and WLAN interworking configuration information comprises:
transmitting the SL and WLAN interworking configuration information to a relay terminal and/or the remote terminal; or [Kim discloses that a UE is connected to the eNB though a Uu interface and UEs are connected to each other through a PC5 interface (¶ 63). Kim also discloses reporting measurement results that include WLAN measurements to a network (abstract; ¶ 141; ¶ 110-111; Fig. 10; Fig. 12). Paladugu discloses sidelink channel quality (¶45) ].
transmitting the SL and WLAN interworking configuration information through broadcast. [Paladugu discloses that UEs may communicate with each other using a device-to-device (D2D) communication link that may include sidelink channels such as physical sidelink broadcast channel (¶ 33)]
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to have modified the communication system of Kim with that of Paladugu to include broadcasting as it is one of the many sidelink channel options, as per Paladugu (¶ 69), with reasonable expectation of success.
Regarding Claim 9, Kim and Paladugu disclose:
The method according to claim 8, wherein the transmitting the SL and WLAN interworking configuration information to a relay terminal and/or the remote terminal comprises:
transmitting the SL and WLAN interworking configuration information to the relay terminal through a Uu interface, and forwarding, by the relay terminal, the SL and WLAN interworking configuration information to the remote terminal through a PC5 interface. [Kim discloses that a UE is connected to the eNB though a Uu interface and UEs are connected to each other through a PC5 interface (¶ 63). Paladugu discloses a relay UE set up in between a remote UE (with a PC5 connection) and a base station (with a Uu connection) and the relay terminal forwarding reconfiguration information to the remote terminal (¶ 77-79; Fig. 6 Item 650)]
Regarding Claim 10, Kim and Paladugu disclose:
The method according to claim 8, wherein the SL and WLAN interworking configuration information comprises:
supporting an SL and WLAN aggregation operation; [Kim discloses carrier aggregation, inter-RAT NR, and inter-RAT WLAN, which supports switching between Uu and WLAN (¶ 11; ¶ 110). Paladugu discloses carrier aggregation and switching between sidelink (PC5) and Uu interfaces (¶ 45; ¶ 67-69). Paladugu further discloses that device-to-device communication (sidelink) may be through Wi-Fi based on the IEEE 802.11 standard, LTE and NR (¶ 32-33)]
service features capable of performing WLAN transmission; [Kim discloses carrier aggregation and inter-RAT WLAN, which supports WLAN transmission (¶ 11; ¶ 110).]
service quality of service (QoS) flow information capable of performing WLAN transmission; [Kim discloses that the radio link control (RLC) sublayer includes the service data adaptation protocol (SDAP) sublayer which includes mapping QoS flow and data radio bearer, and marking QoS flow ID in both downlink and uplink packets (¶ 74-78)]
service data radio bearer (DRB) information capable of performing WLAN transmission; [Kim discloses that the radio link control (RLC) sublayer includes the service data adaptation protocol (SDAP) sublayer which includes mapping QoS flow and data radio bearer (DRB) and marking QoS flow ID in both downlink and uplink packets (¶ 74-78). Kim further discloses carrier aggregation and inter-RAT WLAN, which supports WLAN transmission (¶ 11; ¶ 110).]
a configuration of a protocol stack layer corresponding to a service capable of performing WLAN transmission; [Kim discloses protocol stack layers capable of performing WLAN transmission (¶ 71-79; ¶ 110). Paladugu discloses configuring data radio bearers (DRBs) as dual active protocol stack DRBs (¶ 71-72).]
service features capable of performing WLAN offloading or replication, delivery, and transmission;
service QoS flow information capable of performing WLAN offloading or replication, delivery, and transmission;
service DRB information capable of performing WLAN offloading or replication, delivery, and transmission;
a configuration of a protocol stack layer corresponding to a service capable of performing WLAN offloading or replication, delivery, and transmission;
service features performing SL transmission; [Kim discloses that sidelink denotes communication between UEs (¶ 61). Paladugu discloses performing sidelink transmissions (¶43)]
service QoS flow information performing SL transmission; service DRB information performing SL transmission; [Paladugu discloses that the Access and Mobility Management function (AMF) may provide QoS flow and session management (¶ 39)]
a configuration of a protocol stack layer corresponding to a service performing SL transmission; or [Paladugu discloses that the source base station may configure one or more dedicated DRBs of the remote UE as Dual Active Protocol Stack (DAPS) for the handover between Uu and PC5 (¶71-72)]
interface or port information of WLAN data transmission.
Regarding Claim 12, Kim and Paladugu disclose:
The method according to claim 7, wherein the communication device is a base station; and the method further comprises at least one of the following:
transferring an entire or partial service of a relay terminal from a Uu link to a WLAN link; [Kim discloses carrier aggregation, inter-RAT NR, and inter-RAT WLAN, which supports switching between Uu and WLAN (¶ 11; ¶ 110). Paladugu discloses carrier aggregation and switching between sidelink (PC5) and Uu interfaces (¶ 45; ¶ 67-69). Paladugu further discloses that device-to-device communication (sidelink) may be through Wi-Fi based on the IEEE 802.11 standard, LTE and NR (¶ 32-33)]
instructing a relay terminal to transfer an entire or partial service from a Uu link to a WLAN link; [Kim discloses carrier aggregation, inter-RAT NR, and inter-RAT WLAN, which supports switching between Uu and WLAN (¶ 11; ¶ 110). Paladugu discloses carrier aggregation and switching between sidelink (PC5) and Uu interfaces (¶ 45; ¶ 67-69). Paladugu further discloses that device-to-device communication (sidelink) may be through Wi-Fi based on the IEEE 802.11 standard, LTE and NR (¶ 32-33)]
releasing a Uu link with a relay terminal; or
transmitting a request for establishing a Uu and WLAN dual connectivity for a relay terminal to a WLAN node. [Kim discloses carrier aggregation, inter-RAT NR, and inter-RAT WLAN, which supports switching between Uu and WLAN (¶ 11; ¶ 110). Paladugu discloses carrier aggregation and switching between sidelink (PC5) and Uu interfaces (¶ 45; ¶ 67-69). Paladugu further discloses that device-to-device communication (sidelink) may be through Wi-Fi based on the IEEE 802.11 standard, LTE and NR (¶ 32-33)]
Regarding Claim 13, Kim and Paladugu disclose:
The method according to claim 7, wherein the communication device is a relay terminal, and the SL and WLAN interworking configuration information comprises at least one of the following: [Paladugu discloses a relay UE set up in between a remote UE (with a PC5 connection) and a base station (with a Uu connection) and the relay terminal forwarding reconfiguration information to the remote terminal (¶ 77-79; Fig. 6 Item 650)]
configuration information of a WLAN data radio bearer; [Kim discloses that the radio link control (RLC) sublayer includes the service data adaptation protocol (SDAP) sublayer which includes mapping QoS flow and data radio bearer (DRB) and marking QoS flow ID in both downlink and uplink packets (¶ 74-78). Kim further discloses carrier aggregation and inter-RAT WLAN, which supports WLAN transmission (¶ 11; ¶ 110).]
configuration information of a QoS flow mapped to a WLAN data radio bearer; or [Kim discloses that the radio link control (RLC) sublayer includes the service data adaptation protocol (SDAP) sublayer which includes mapping QoS flow and data radio bearer (DRB) and marking QoS flow ID in both downlink and uplink packets (¶ 74-78). Kim further discloses carrier aggregation and inter-RAT WLAN, which supports WLAN transmission (¶ 11; ¶ 110).]
configuration information of a WLAN offloading or duplication data radio bearer;
configuration information of a QoS flow mapped to a WLAN offloading data radio bearer;
configuration information of a WLAN interface or port;
configuration information of an SL data radio bearer; [Paladugu discloses that the source base station may configure one or more dedicated data radio bearers (DRBs) of the remote UE as Dual Active Protocol Stack (DAPS) for the handover between Uu and PC5 (¶71-72)]
configuration information of a QoS flow mapped to an SL data radio bearer; or [Paladugu discloses that the Access and Mobility Management function (AMF) may provide QoS flow and session management (¶ 39)]
WLAN media access control (MAC) address information related to interworking between an SL and a WLAN.
Regarding Claim 14, Kim and Paladugu disclose:
The method according to claim 7, wherein the communication device is a relay terminal, and the method further comprises at least one of the following:
instructing a base station to transfer an entire or partial service of the relay terminal from a Uu link to a WLAN link; [Kim discloses carrier aggregation, inter-RAT NR, and inter-RAT WLAN, which supports switching between Uu and WLAN (¶ 11; ¶ 110). Paladugu discloses carrier aggregation and switching between sidelink (PC5) and Uu interfaces (¶ 45; ¶ 67-69). Paladugu further discloses that device-to-device communication (sidelink) may be through Wi-Fi based on the IEEE 802.11 standard, LTE and NR (¶ 32-33)]
transferring an entire or partial service of the remote terminal from a PC5 link to a WLAN link; [Kim discloses carrier aggregation, inter-RAT NR, and inter-RAT WLAN, which supports switching between Uu and WLAN (¶ 11; ¶ 110). Paladugu discloses carrier aggregation and switching between sidelink (PC5) and Uu interfaces (¶ 45; ¶ 67-69). Paladugu further discloses that device-to-device communication (sidelink) may be through Wi-Fi based on the IEEE 802.11 standard, LTE and NR (¶ 32-33)]
instructing the remote terminal to transfer an entire or partial service from a PC5 link to a WLAN link; [Kim discloses carrier aggregation, inter-RAT NR, and inter-RAT WLAN, which supports switching between Uu and WLAN (¶ 11; ¶ 110). Paladugu discloses carrier aggregation and switching between sidelink (PC5) and Uu interfaces (¶ 45; ¶ 67-69). Paladugu further discloses that device-to-device communication (sidelink) may be through Wi-Fi based on the IEEE 802.11 standard, LTE and NR (¶ 32-33)]
releasing a PC5 link with the remote terminal; or [Kim discloses carrier aggregation, inter-RAT NR, and inter-RAT WLAN, which supports switching between Uu and WLAN (¶ 11; ¶ 110). Paladugu discloses carrier aggregation and switching between sidelink (PC5) and Uu interfaces (¶ 45; ¶ 67-69). Paladugu further discloses that device-to-device communication (sidelink) may be through Wi-Fi based on the IEEE 802.11 standard, LTE and NR (¶ 32-33)]
transmitting a request for establishing an SL and WLAN dual connectivity for the remote terminal to a WLAN node. [Kim discloses carrier aggregation, inter-RAT NR, and inter-RAT WLAN, which supports switching between Uu and WLAN (¶ 11; ¶ 110). Paladugu discloses carrier aggregation and switching between sidelink (PC5) and Uu interfaces (¶ 45; ¶ 67-69). Paladugu further discloses that device-to-device communication (sidelink) may be through Wi-Fi based on the IEEE 802.11 standard, LTE and NR (¶ 32-33). Paladugu discloses that the source base station may configure one or more dedicated DRBs of the remote UE as Dual Active Protocol Stack (DAPS) for the handover between Uu and PC5 (¶71-72)]
Regarding Claim 15, Kim and Paladugu disclose:
The method according to claim 7, wherein before the receiving a WLAN measurement report reported by a remote terminal in a sidelink, the method further comprises:
transmitting WLAN measurement configuration information to the remote terminal. [Kim discloses that the UE will receive measurement configuration from an RRC layer of a serving node in the network before performing measurements and providing results (¶144; Fig. 12 Item S1211)]
Regarding Claim 16, Kim and Paladugu disclose:
The method according to claim 15, wherein the WLAN measurement configuration information comprises at least one of the following:
WLAN measurement configuration parameters; or [Kim discloses configuration parameters (¶ 112-117)]
WLAN measurement reporting parameters; [Kim discloses measurement reporting parameters (¶ 111)]
wherein the WLAN measurement configuration parameters comprise at least one of the following:
a WLAN band indicator list; a WLAN carrier information list; a WLAN identifier list that needs to be added to a measurement configuration; a WLAN identifier list that needs to be removed from a measurement configuration; whether a measurement report comprises a WLAN available admission capacity; whether a measurement report comprises a WLAN backhaul uplink and/or downlink bandwidth; whether a measurement report comprises a WLAN band; whether a measurement report comprises WLAN carrier information; whether a measurement report comprises WLAN channel utilization; an event ID that triggers the WLAN measurement; a maximum number of cells in a measurement report; a configuration of a measurement report of a WLAN received signal strength indication (RSSI); reporting any WLAN access point that meets an interworking trigger request; WLAN carrier information; a WLAN channel number; a WLAN country code; a WLAN operating class; a WLAN name; or an event that triggers the WLAN measurement; [Kim discloses configuration parameters such as measID, measRSSI-ReportConfig, rssi-Result set to the average of sample values, channelOccupancy to the rounded percentage of sample values which are beyond the channelOccupancyThreshold within the sample values of the reportinterval (¶ 112-117)]
and wherein the WLAN measurement reporting parameters comprise at least one of the following:
a WLAN available admission capacity; a WLAN backhaul downlink bandwidth; a WLAN backhaul uplink bandwidth; WLAN carrier information; WLAN channel occupancy information; WLAN channel utilization; or indication information used for indicating whether the remote terminal is connected to a WLAN to which a measurement result is applicable; a WLAN measurement result list; a WLAN RSSI measurement result; a total number of stations associated with a WLAN; a WLAN identifier; or WLAN round trip time (RTT) information. [Kim discloses RSSI measurements, channel occupancy measurements, channel busy ration (CBR) measurements, WLAN measurements of Band, Carrier Info, Available Admission Capacity, Backhaul Bandwidth, Channel Utilization, and Station Count, (¶ 111)]
Regarding Claim 17, Kim and Paladugu disclose:
The method according to claim 7, further comprising at least one of the following:
instructing the remote terminal to start WLAN measurement; [Kim discloses that the UE will receive measurement configuration from an RRC layer of a serving node in the network before performing measurements and providing results which include WLAN measurements (¶110-111; ¶ 144; Fig. 12 Item S1211)]
configuring a first threshold for the remote terminal, wherein a first threshold is used by the remote terminal to determine whether signal quality of a Uu interface meets a WLAN measurement condition; [Kim discloses that a condition may include that the results of the received signal strength indicator (RSSI) is lower than a threshold (¶ 135). Kim also discloses setting the configuration of rssi-result to the average of sample values and setting channelOccupancyThreshold (¶115-116)]
configuring a first preset location for the remote terminal, wherein the first preset location is used by the remote terminal to determine whether a location at which the remote terminal is located meets a WLAN measurement condition; or
configuring a second threshold for the remote terminal, wherein the second threshold is used by the remote terminal to determine whether signal quality of a PC5 interface meets a WLAN measurement condition. [Paladagu discloses the condition of sidelink signal strength falling below a channel condition threshold as well as the base station determining the threshold (¶45; ¶51)]
Regarding Claim 18, Kim and Paladugu disclose:
The method according to claim 17, wherein the communication device is a relay terminal; and [Paladugu discloses a remote UE being connected to a base station through a relay UE (PC5 interface) (¶30; ¶45-46; ¶69; Fig. 3; Fig. 6).]
the instructing the remote terminal to start WLAN measurement comprises:
instructing the remote terminal to start the WLAN measurement in a case that the signal quality of the PC5 interface with the remote terminal is less than or equal to a third threshold, and/or the relay terminal is located at a second preset location. [Kim discloses that the UE will receive measurement configuration from an RRC layer of a serving node in the network before performing measurements and providing results which include WLAN measurements (¶110-111; ¶ 144; Fig. 12 Item S1211). Paladugu discloses Uu and PC5 mobility where a handover from one to the other may be triggered by remote UE to relay UE over PC5 connection falls below a sidelink connection threshold (SL-RSRP) (¶45; ¶67)]
Regarding Claim 19, Kim discloses:
A terminal, comprising a processor, a memory, and an instruction stored in the memory and executable on the processor, wherein the instruction, when executed by the processor, implements steps of a sidelink (SL) and wireless local area network (WLAN) interworking method, and the steps comprises: [Kim discloses multiple communication devices with memory storing instructions that is connected to a processor which may execute instructions of the present invention (¶ 53-54; ¶ 168; Fig. 2; Fig. 13)]
performing, in a case that a WLAN measurement condition is met, WLAN measurement according to WLAN measurement configuration information to obtain a WLAN measurement report; and [Kim discloses performing a measurement according to measurement configuration such as channel occupancy and received signal strength indicator (RSSI) when a condition related to the RSSI measurement and/or channel occupancy measurement is met (abstract; ¶ 13-14; Fig. 10). Kim further discloses that the communication standard by IEEE includes wireless local area network (WLAN) system and that for inter-RAT (radio access technology) WLAN, the UE measures and reports on listed cells and that WLAN measurements are part of measurement reporting (¶ 30; ¶ 110-111)]
reporting the WLAN measurement report to a base station [Kim discloses reporting an ID of specific bandwidth parts to the network as well as reporting measurement results to a network (abstract; ¶ 141; Fig. 10; Fig. 12)].
wherein after the reporting the WLAN measurement report to a base station and/or a relay terminal, the steps further comprise:
receiving Kim discloses that the network may provide a command for changing Bandwidth Parts (BWP) in response to corresponding measurement results which includes inter-RAT WLAN measurements and serves in cell configuration (¶141-142; ¶ 159; ¶ 110-111; Fig. 12 Item S1222).]
performing service data transmission according to the [Kim discloses service data adaptation protocol (SDAP) which includes mapping between quality of service (QoS) flow and a data radio bearer (DRB) and marking QoS flow ID (QFI) in both downlink and uplink packets and that a DRM is used for transmitting user data in the user plane (¶ 76-78).]
Kim does not explicitly disclose:
reporting the WLAN measurement report to a base station and/or a relay terminal.
receiving SL and WLAN interworking configuration information transmitted by the base station and/or the relay terminal; and
performing service data transmission according to the SL and WLAN interworking configuration information.
However Paladugu, analogous art also teaching conditional measurement reporting to a base station and carrier aggregation, does disclose:
reporting the WLAN measurement report to a base station and/or a relay terminal. [Paladugu discloses a remote UE providing measurement reports to a base station through a relay UE (¶30; ¶45-46; ¶69; Fig. 3; Fig. 6).]
receiving SL and WLAN interworking configuration information transmitted by the base station and/or the relay terminal; and [Paladugu discloses SL measurement reports and determining relay connectivity according to measurement reports and further discloses that a relay terminal may be in between a remote node and a base station for communication purposes (¶ 44-46; ¶69; Fig. 3; Fig. 6)]
performing service data transmission according to the SL and WLAN interworking configuration information. [Paladugu discloses a conditional handover configuration component configured to handle data transmission during a handover procedure such as relaying data transmissions and that the conditional handover configuration component may also trigger the handover process based on determining that one or more conditional handover criteria are met (¶ 30)]
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to have modified the communication system of Kim with that of Paladugu to include the relay terminal so the remote UE to has access to the core network, as per Paladugu (¶ 69), with reasonable expectation of success.
Regarding Claim 20, Kim and Paladugu disclose:
A communication device, comprising a processor, a memory, and an instruction stored in the memory and executable on the processor, wherein the instruction, when executed by the processor, implements the steps of the method according to claim 7. [Kim discloses multiple communication devices with memory storing instructions that is connected to a processor which may execute instructions of the present invention (¶ 53-54; ¶ 168; Fig. 2; Fig. 13)]
Claims 11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kim and Paladugu and further in view of Kim et al. (US 2018/0199225 A1; hereinafter Kim’225).
Regarding Claim 11, Kim and Paladugu fully disclose:
The method according to claim 10.
Kim and Paladugu do not explicitly disclose:
wherein the SL and WLAN interworking configuration information transmitted to the relay terminal further comprises:
node interactive parameters of an SL node and a WLAN node;
wherein the node interactive parameters of the SL node and the WLAN node comprise at least one of the following:
a basic service set identifier (BSSID); a WLAN operating class; a WLAN country code; a WLAN maximum admission capacity; WLAN band information; a WLAN channel number; a service set identifier (SSID); an HESSID; WLAN usage; WAN indicator information; WLAN channel utilization; or terminal identity information.
However Kim’225, analogous art also teaching dual connectivity, carrier aggregation, and performing WLAN measurements, does disclose:
wherein the SL and WLAN interworking configuration information transmitted to the relay terminal further comprises:
node interactive parameters of an SL node and a WLAN node; [Kim’225 discloses SSID, BSSID, WLAN country, WLAN operating class, and channel number (mapped to node interactive parameters (¶ 53-58; Table 1; Fig. 4)]
wherein the node interactive parameters of the SL node and the WLAN node comprise at least one of the following:
a basic service set identifier (BSSID); a WLAN operating class; a WLAN country code; a WLAN maximum admission capacity; WLAN band information; a WLAN channel number; a service set identifier (SSID); an HESSID; WLAN usage; WAN indicator information; WLAN channel utilization; or terminal identity information. [Kim’225 discloses that the eNB is capable of transmitting a message instructing to measure nearby WLANs to the UE in order to configure the interworking operation or the integration/aggregation between LTE and WLAN and the measurement instruction message may contain measurement object information and report configuration information, the details of which may contain an WLAN AP identifier such as SSID and BSSID; the eNB is further capable of instructing the UE to measure WLAN frequency by combining the country, operating class, and channel number (¶ 53-61; Table 1; Fig. 4)]
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to have modified the communication system of Kim and Paladugu with that of Kim’225 to include a WLAN AP identifier and other details in the measurement report configuration in order to configure the interworking operation between LTE and WLAN, as per Kim’225 (¶ 53), with reasonable expectation of success.
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 nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) 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.
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/RKF/Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2468
/MARCUS SMITH/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2468