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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 01/14/2026 has been entered.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 1-30 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. The amendments submitted on 12/29/2025 change the scope of the claim. An example is in claim 1, the limitation “the information including a default destination layer-2 identifier for a discovery solicitation message and a default destination layer-2 identifier for a discovery announcement message” changes the scope of the claim.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-14 and 16-29 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Zhang et al. (US 2024/0080730).
Regarding claim 1, Zhang discloses a first user equipment (UE), comprising: one or more memories; and one or more processors, coupled with the one or more memories, configured to ([0417], “As shown in FIG. 5, the apparatus 500 may comprise one or more processors such as processor 501 and one or more memories such as memory 502 storing computer program codes 503.”): initiate a discovery procedure to discover one or more of access to a second UE or services provided by the second UE for user-equipment-to-user-equipment (U2U) relay communication ([0173], “When a source UE wants to communicate with a target UE, it will first try to find the target UE by either sending a Direct Communication Request or a Solicitation message with the target UE information. If the source UE cannot reach the target UE directly, it will try to discover a UE-to-UE relay to reach the target UE which may also trigger the relay to discover the target UE.”), the second UE being accessible via a third UE ([0168], “The L2 UE-to-UE relay may provide the functionality to support connectivity between two UEs (also called source UE and target UE).”), wherein a proximity services policy includes information for the U2U relay communication ([0177], “When a UE-to-UE relay receives a Direct Communication Request or a Solicitation message with the relay_indication set, then it may decide whether to forward the message (i.e. modify the message and broadcast it in its proximity), according to e.g. Relay Service Code if there is any, Application ID, authorization policy (e.g. relay for specific ProSe Service), the current traffic load of the relay, the radio conditions between the source UE and the relay UE, etc.”), the information including a default destination layer-2 identifier for a discovery solicitation message and a default destination layer-2 identifier for a discovery announcement message ([0197], “2. On reception of discovery solicitation, the candidate relay UE-R broadcasts discovery solicitation carrying UE-1 information, UE-R information, target UE information. The relay UE-R uses the relay's L2 address as the source L2 ID.”); and communicate one or more U2U communications with the second UE via the third UE based at least in part on the discovery procedure ([0200], “5. The source and target UEs may need to setup PC5 links with the relay before communicating with each other. Alternatively, the source and target UEs can setup an end-to-end PC5 link via the relay if a L2 UE-to-UE relay is assumed.”).
Regarding claim 2, Zhang discloses the first UE of claim 1, wherein the proximity services policy ([0195], “As described in 3GPP TR 23.752 V1.0.0, a procedure of 5G ProSe UE-to-UE relay selection shown in FIG. 3B may include the following steps:”) indicates one or more relay service codes (RSCs) ([0196], “1. UE-1 broadcasts a discovery solicitation message carrying UE-1 information, target UE information (UE-2), an application ID, a relay service code if any, and UE-1 may also indicate relay_indication enabled.”).
Regarding claim 3, Zhang discloses the first UE of claim 1, wherein the information includes one or more of: a mapping of an application identifier to one or more relay service codes (RSCs), or a mapping of an application service type to one or more RSCs ([0177], “When a UE-to-UE relay receives a Direct Communication Request or a Solicitation message with the relay_indication set, then it may decide whether to forward the message (i.e. modify the message and broadcast it in its proximity), according to e.g. Relay Service Code if there is any, Application ID, authorization policy (e.g. relay for specific ProSe Service), the current traffic load of the relay, the radio conditions between the source UE and the relay UE, etc.”).
Regarding claim 4, Zhang discloses the first UE of claim 2, wherein each of the one or more RSCs is associated with one or more of: a U2U relay layer indicator indicating whether a relay type is layer-2 or layer-3 U2U relay, a respective default destination layer-2 identifier, or end-to-end quality of service parameters ([0185], “When a relay broadcasts the Direct Communication Request message, it includes source UE information, target UE information and relay UE information (e.g. a relay UE ID) in the message and use the relay's L2 address as the source L2 ID. The relay may maintain association between the source UE information (e.g. the source UE L2 ID) and the new Direct Communication Request.”).
Regarding claim 5, Zhang discloses the first UE of claim 1, wherein the discovery procedure discovers the third UE, the third UE supporting providing access to the second UE associated with one or more of: a proximity service, a group associated with the first UE, or application user information associated with the proximity service ([0177], “When a UE-to-UE relay receives a Direct Communication Request or a Solicitation message with the relay_indication set, then it may decide whether to forward the message (i.e. modify the message and broadcast it in its proximity), according to e.g. Relay Service Code if there is any, Application ID, authorization policy (e.g. relay for specific ProSe Service), the current traffic load of the relay, the radio conditions between the source UE and the relay UE, etc.”).
Regarding claim 6, Zhang discloses the first UE of claim 1 wherein the one or more processors are further configured to one or more of: receive from the third UE, the discovery announcement message ([0173], “If the source UE cannot reach the target UE directly, it will try to discover a UE-to-UE relay to reach the target UE which may also trigger the relay to discover the target UE.”), the discovery announcement message indicating support or a lack of support for relaying communications between the first EU and the second UE, or transmit a relay discovery message to the second UE via the third UE ([0176], “The field can be called relay_indication. When a UE wants to broadcast a Direct Communication Request or a Solicitation message, it indicates in the message whether a UE-to-UE relay may be used.”).
Regarding claim 7, Zhang discloses the first UE of claim 6, wherein the relay discovery message comprises one or more of: a discovery relaying message that indicates that associated end-to-end discovery messages are to be relayed by the third UE to the second UE, the discovery announcement message, the discovery announcement message indicating that the first UE is accessible to the third UE, or the discovery solicitation message, the discovery solicitation message for querying the UEs accessible via the third UE ([0187], “4. UE-2 chooses Relay-1 and replies with a Direct Communication Accept message. If UE-2 directly receives the Direct Communication Request from UE-1, it may choose to setup a direct communication link by sending the Direct Communication Accept message directly to UE-1. After receiving the Direct Communication Accept message, a UE-to-UE relay retrieves the source UE information stored in step 2 and sends the Direct Communication Accept message to the source UE with its relay UE information added in the message.”).
Regarding claim 8, Zhang discloses the first UE of claim 7, wherein the relay discovery message comprises one or more of: a relay service code (RSC), user information associated with the first UE corresponding to the RSC, user information associated with the second UE, or end-to-end proximity services direct discovery information, indicating proximity services supported by the first UE or the second UE, in a container that is to be forwarded to accessible UEs by the third UE ([0177], “When a UE-to-UE relay receives a Direct Communication Request or a Solicitation message with the relay_indication set, then it may decide whether to forward the message (i.e. modify the message and broadcast it in its proximity), according to e.g. Relay Service Code if there is any, Application ID, authorization policy (e.g. relay for specific ProSe Service), the current traffic load of the relay, the radio conditions between the source UE and the relay UE, etc.”).
Regarding claim 9, Zhang discloses the first UE of claim 8, wherein the container comprises: a direct discovery announcement message, a direct discovery solicitation for a response, or one or more information elements of the direct discovery announcement message or the direct discovery solicitation ([0176], “A new field is proposed to be added in the Direct Communication Request or the Solicitation message to indicate whether relays can be used in the communication. The field can be called relay_indication. When a UE wants to broadcast a Direct Communication Request or a Solicitation message, it indicates in the message whether a UE-to-UE relay may be used.”).
Regarding claim 10, Zhang discloses the first UE of claim 8, wherein the end-to-end proximity services direct discovery information is transparent or non-transparent to the third UE ([0169], “The source UE's traffic (both control plane and user plane) may be transparently transferred between the source UE and the target UE over the L2 UE-to-UE relay without any modifications.”) based at least in part on a security configuration ([0181], “The authorization can be done when UEs/relays are registered to the network. Security related parameters may be provisioned so that a UE and a relay can verify the authorization with each other if needed.”).
Regarding claim 11, Zhang discloses the first UE of claim 7, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to receive a response to the discovery solicitation message, wherein the response to the discovery solicitation message indicates one or more of: user information associated with the second UE, user information associated with the third UE, a relay service code, a relaying indication, or information elements of an end-to-end discovery message included in the discovery solicitation message ([0198], “3. The target UE-2 responds the discovery message. If the UE-2 receives a discovery solicitation message in step 1, then UE-2 responds a discovery response in step 3b with UE-1 information, UE-2 information. If not and UE-2 receives discovery solicitation in step 2, then UE-2 responds a discovery response message in step 3a with UE-1 information, UE-R information, UE-2 information.”).
Regarding claim 12, Zhang discloses the first UE of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to select the third UE based at least in part on one or more of: relay discovery selection criteria, end-to-end direct discovery selection criteria, radio link quality between the first UE and the third UE, or an end-to-end link quality between the first UE and the second UE via the third UE ([0204], “The source UE or the target UE may find that the signal quality with other UE-to-UE relays is better than that with the currently used UE-to-UE relay. Alternatively or additionally, if the source UE or the target UE finds that the signal quality with the selected UE-to-UE relay is not good enough, it may initiate the discovery message to find the candidate UE-to-UE relays which can provide a better connection. After new candidate UE-to-UE relays have been identified, the source UE or the target UE may initiate the relay reselection procedure and then these two UEs can negotiate UE-to-UE relay reselection using the existing relay connection.”).
Regarding claim 13, Zhang discloses the first UE of claim 12, wherein the relay discovery selection criteria are based at least in part on the third UE supporting one or more relay discovery parameters comprising one or more of: user information associated with the third UE, or a relay service code ([0177], “When a UE-to-UE relay receives a Direct Communication Request or a Solicitation message with the relay_indication set, then it may decide whether to forward the message (i.e. modify the message and broadcast it in its proximity), according to e.g. Relay Service Code if there is any, Application ID, authorization policy (e.g. relay for specific ProSe Service), the current traffic load of the relay, the radio conditions between the source UE and the relay UE, etc.”).
Regarding claim 14, Zhang discloses a relay user equipment (UE), comprising: one or more memories; and one or more processors, coupled with the one or more memories, configured to ([0417], “As shown in FIG. 5, the apparatus 500 may comprise one or more processors such as processor 501 and one or more memories such as memory 502 storing computer program codes 503.”): perform a discovery procedure for user-equipment-to-user-equipment (U2U) relay communication, the discovery procedure comprising one or more of: advertising, to a first UE or a second UE, support for U2U relay services, transmitting a response to a solicitation from the first UE or the second UE, the response indicating the support for the U2U relay services ([0173], “When a source UE wants to communicate with a target UE, it will first try to find the target UE by either sending a Direct Communication Request or a Solicitation message with the target UE information. If the source UE cannot reach the target UE directly, it will try to discover a UE-to-UE relay to reach the target UE which may also trigger the relay to discover the target UE.”), discovering the first UE or the second UE as accessible via the relay UE, or advertising the first UE or the second UE as accessible via the relay UE, wherein a proximity services policy includes information for the U2U relay communication ([0177], “When a UE-to-UE relay receives a Direct Communication Request or a Solicitation message with the relay_indication set, then it may decide whether to forward the message (i.e. modify the message and broadcast it in its proximity), according to e.g. Relay Service Code if there is any, Application ID, authorization policy (e.g. relay for specific ProSe Service), the current traffic load of the relay, the radio conditions between the source UE and the relay UE, etc.”), the information including a default destination layer-2 identifier for a discovery solicitation message and a default destination layer-2 identifier for a discovery announcement message ([0197], “2. On reception of discovery solicitation, the candidate relay UE-R broadcasts discovery solicitation carrying UE-1 information, UE-R information, target UE information. The relay UE-R uses the relay's L2 address as the source L2 ID.”); and relay U2U communications between the first UE and the second UE based at least in part on performing the discovery procedure ([0200], “5. The source and target UEs may need to setup PC5 links with the relay before communicating with each other. Alternatively, the source and target UEs can setup an end-to-end PC5 link via the relay if a L2 UE-to-UE relay is assumed.”).
Regarding claim 16, Zhang discloses the relay UE of claim 14, wherein the discovery procedure discovers that the relay UE supports providing access to the second UE associated with one or more of: a proximity service, a group associated with the first UE, or application user information associated with the proximity service ([0177], “When a UE-to-UE relay receives a Direct Communication Request or a Solicitation message with the relay_indication set, then it may decide whether to forward the message (i.e. modify the message and broadcast it in its proximity), according to e.g. Relay Service Code if there is any, Application ID, authorization policy (e.g. relay for specific ProSe Service), the current traffic load of the relay, the radio conditions between the source UE and the relay UE, etc.”).
Regarding claim 17, Zhang discloses the relay UE of claim 14, wherein advertising the support for the U2U relay services comprises one or more of: transmitting, to the first UE, the discovery announcement message ([0173], “If the source UE cannot reach the target UE directly, it will try to discover a UE-to-UE relay to reach the target UE which may also trigger the relay to discover the target UE.”), the discovery announcement message indicating support or a lack of support for relaying communications between the first UE and the second UE, or forwarding a relay discovery message from the first UE to the second UE ([0176], “The field can be called relay_indication. When a UE wants to broadcast a Direct Communication Request or a Solicitation message, it indicates in the message whether a UE-to-UE relay may be used.”).
Regarding claim 18, Zhang discloses the relay UE of claim 17, wherein the relay discovery message comprises one or more of: a discovery relaying message that indicates that associated end-to-end discovery messages are to be relayed by the relay UE to the second UE, the discovery announcement message, the discovery announcement message indicating that the first UE is accessible to the relay UE, or the discovery solicitation message, the discovery solicitation message, the discovery solicitation message for querying UEs accessible via the relay UE ([0187], “4. UE-2 chooses Relay-1 and replies with a Direct Communication Accept message. If UE-2 directly receives the Direct Communication Request from UE-1, it may choose to setup a direct communication link by sending the Direct Communication Accept message directly to UE-1. After receiving the Direct Communication Accept message, a UE-to-UE relay retrieves the source UE information stored in step 2 and sends the Direct Communication Accept message to the source UE with its relay UE information added in the message.”).
Regarding claim 19, Zhang discloses the relay of claim 18, wherein the relay discovery message comprises one or more of: a relay service code (RSC), user information associated with the first UE corresponding to the RSC, user information associated with the second UE, or end-to-end proximity services direct discovery information, indicating proximity services supported by the first UE or the second UE, in a container that is to be forwarded to accessible UEs by the relay UE ([0177], “When a UE-to-UE relay receives a Direct Communication Request or a Solicitation message with the relay_indication set, then it may decide whether to forward the message (i.e. modify the message and broadcast it in its proximity), according to e.g. Relay Service Code if there is any, Application ID, authorization policy (e.g. relay for specific ProSe Service), the current traffic load of the relay, the radio conditions between the source UE and the relay UE, etc.”).
Regarding claim 20, Zhang discloses the relay UE of claim 19, wherein the container comprises: a direct discovery announcement message, a direct discovery solicitation for another response, or one or more information elements of the direct discovery announcement messages or the direct discovery solicitation ([0176], “A new field is proposed to be added in the Direct Communication Request or the Solicitation message to indicate whether relays can be used in the communication. The field can be called relay_indication. When a UE wants to broadcast a Direct Communication Request or a Solicitation message, it indicates in the message whether a UE-to-UE relay may be used.”).
Regarding claim 21, Zhang discloses the relay UE of claim 19, wherein the end-to-end proximity services direct discovery information is transparent or non-transparent to the relay UE ([0169], “The source UE's traffic (both control plane and user plane) may be transparently transferred between the source UE and the target UE over the L2 UE-to-UE relay without any modifications.”) based at least in part on a security configuration ([0181], “The authorization can be done when UEs/relays are registered to the network. Security related parameters may be provisioned so that a UE and a relay can verify the authorization with each other if needed.”).
Regarding claim 22, Zhang discloses the relay UE of claim 21, wherein the one or more processor are further configured to transmit a response to the discovery solicitation message, wherein the response to the discovery solicitation message indicates one or more of: user information associated with the second UE, user information associated with the relay UE, the RSC, a relaying indication, or contents of an end-to-end discovery message included in the discovery solicitation message ([0198], “3. The target UE-2 responds the discovery message. If the UE-2 receives a discovery solicitation message in step 1, then UE-2 responds a discovery response in step 3b with UE-1 information, UE-2 information. If not and UE-2 receives discovery solicitation in step 2, then UE-2 responds a discovery response message in step 3a with UE-1 information, UE-R information, UE-2 information.”).
Regarding claim 23, Zhang discloses a method of wireless communication performed by a first user equipment (UE), comprising: initiating, a discovery procedure to discover one or more access to a second UE or services provided by the second UE for user-equipment-to-user-equipment (U2U) relay communication ([0173], “When a source UE wants to communicate with a target UE, it will first try to find the target UE by either sending a Direct Communication Request or a Solicitation message with the target UE information. If the source UE cannot reach the target UE directly, it will try to discover a UE-to-UE relay to reach the target UE which may also trigger the relay to discover the target UE.”), the second UE being accessible via a third UE ([0168], “The L2 UE-to-UE relay may provide the functionality to support connectivity between two UEs (also called source UE and target UE).”), wherein a proximity services policy includes information for the U2U relay communication ([0177], “When a UE-to-UE relay receives a Direct Communication Request or a Solicitation message with the relay_indication set, then it may decide whether to forward the message (i.e. modify the message and broadcast it in its proximity), according to e.g. Relay Service Code if there is any, Application ID, authorization policy (e.g. relay for specific ProSe Service), the current traffic load of the relay, the radio conditions between the source UE and the relay UE, etc.”), the information including a default destination layer-2 identifier for a discovery solicitation message and a default destination layer-2 identifier for a discovery announcement message ([0197], “2. On reception of discovery solicitation, the candidate relay UE-R broadcasts discovery solicitation carrying UE-1 information, UE-R information, target UE information. The relay UE-R uses the relay's L2 address as the source L2 ID.”); and communicating one or more U2U communications with the second UE via the third UE based at least in part on the discover procedure ([0200], “5. The source and target UEs may need to setup PC5 links with the relay before communicating with each other. Alternatively, the source and target UEs can setup an end-to-end PC5 link via the relay if a L2 UE-to-UE relay is assumed.”).
Regarding claim 24, Zhang discloses the method of claim 23, wherein the discovery procedure discovers the third UE, the third UE supporting providing access to the second UE associated with one or more of: a proximity service, a group associated with the first UE, or application user information associated with the proximity service ([0177], “When a UE-to-UE relay receives a Direct Communication Request or a Solicitation message with the relay_indication set, then it may decide whether to forward the message (i.e. modify the message and broadcast it in its proximity), according to e.g. Relay Service Code if there is any, Application ID, authorization policy (e.g. relay for specific ProSe Service), the current traffic load of the relay, the radio conditions between the source UE and the relay UE, etc.”).
Regarding claim 25, Zhang discloses the method of claim 23, further comprising one or more of: receiving, from the third UE, the discovery announcement message ([0173], “If the source UE cannot reach the target UE directly, it will try to discover a UE-to-UE relay to reach the target UE which may also trigger the relay to discover the target UE.”), the discovery announcement message indicating support or a lack of support for relaying communications between the first UE and the second UE, or transmitting a relay discovery message to the second UE via the third UE ([0176], “The field can be called relay_indication. When a UE wants to broadcast a Direct Communication Request or a Solicitation message, it indicates in the message whether a UE-to-UE relay may be used.”).
Regarding claim 26, Zhang discloses the method of claim 25, wherein the relay discovery message comprises one or more of: a discovery relaying message that indicates that associated end-to-end discovery messages are to be relayed by the third UE to the second UE, the discovery announcement message, the discovery announcement message indicating that the first UE is accessible to the third UE, or the discovery solicitation message, the discovery solicitation message for querying UEs accessible via the third UE ([0187], “4. UE-2 chooses Relay-1 and replies with a Direct Communication Accept message. If UE-2 directly receives the Direct Communication Request from UE-1, it may choose to setup a direct communication link by sending the Direct Communication Accept message directly to UE-1. After receiving the Direct Communication Accept message, a UE-to-UE relay retrieves the source UE information stored in step 2 and sends the Direct Communication Accept message to the source UE with its relay UE information added in the message.”).
Regarding claim 27, Zhang discloses a method of wireless communication performed by a relay user equipment (UE), comprising: performing a discovery procedure for user-equipment-to-user-equipment (U2U) relay communication, the discovery procedure comprising one or more of: advertising, to a first UE or a second UE, support for U2U relay services, transmitting a response to a solicitation from the first UE or the second UE, the response indicating the support for the U2U relay services ([0173], “When a source UE wants to communicate with a target UE, it will first try to find the target UE by either sending a Direct Communication Request or a Solicitation message with the target UE information. If the source UE cannot reach the target UE directly, it will try to discover a UE-to-UE relay to reach the target UE which may also trigger the relay to discover the target UE.”), discovering the first UE or the second UE as accessible via the relay UE, or advertising the first UE or the second UE as accessible via the relay UE, wherein a proximity services policy includes information for the U2U relay communication ([0177], “When a UE-to-UE relay receives a Direct Communication Request or a Solicitation message with the relay_indication set, then it may decide whether to forward the message (i.e. modify the message and broadcast it in its proximity), according to e.g. Relay Service Code if there is any, Application ID, authorization policy (e.g. relay for specific ProSe Service), the current traffic load of the relay, the radio conditions between the source UE and the relay UE, etc.”), the information including a default destination layer-2 identifier for a discovery solicitation message and a default destination layer-2 identifier for a discovery announcement message ([0197], “2. On reception of discovery solicitation, the candidate relay UE-R broadcasts discovery solicitation carrying UE-1 information, UE-R information, target UE information. The relay UE-R uses the relay's L2 address as the source L2 ID.”); and relaying communications between the first UE and the second UE based at least in part on performing the discovery procedure ([0200], “5. The source and target UEs may need to setup PC5 links with the relay before communicating with each other. Alternatively, the source and target UEs can setup an end-to-end PC5 link via the relay if a L2 UE-to-UE relay is assumed.”).
Regarding claim 28, Zhang discloses the method of claim 27, wherein the discovery procedure discovers that the relay UE supports providing access to the second UE associated with one or more of: a proximity service, a group associated with the first UE, or application user information associated with the proximity service ([0177], “When a UE-to-UE relay receives a Direct Communication Request or a Solicitation message with the relay_indication set, then it may decide whether to forward the message (i.e. modify the message and broadcast it in its proximity), according to e.g. Relay Service Code if there is any, Application ID, authorization policy (e.g. relay for specific ProSe Service), the current traffic load of the relay, the radio conditions between the source UE and the relay UE, etc.”).
Regarding claim 29, Zhang discloses the method of claim 27, wherein advertising the support for the U2U relay services comprises one or more of: transmitting, to the first UE, the discovery announcement message ([0173], “If the source UE cannot reach the target UE directly, it will try to discover a UE-to-UE relay to reach the target UE which may also trigger the relay to discover the target UE.”), the discovery announcement message indicating support or a lack of support for relaying communications between the first UE and the second UE, or forwarding a relay discovery message from the first UE to the second UE ([0176], “The field can be called relay_indication. When a UE wants to broadcast a Direct Communication Request or a Solicitation message, it indicates in the message whether a UE-to-UE relay may be used.”).
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 15 and 30 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhang et al. (US 2024/0080730) in view of Xing et al. (US 2023/0189054).
Regarding claim 15, Zhang does not disclose the discovering while connected to RAN. Xing discloses the relay UE of claim 14, wherein the one or more of discovering or advertising comprises one or more of: discovering or advertising when connected to a radio access network ([0201], "For example, when the remote UE establishes a connection to the RAN, and communication quality at a Uu interface between the remote UE and the RAN cannot satisfy a communication requirement, or the remote UE is outside network coverage or is in a connection management-idle (connection management-idle, CM-IDLE) state, the remote UE may initiate a relay connection to the relay UE based on relay discovery information preconfigured on a network side or relay discovery information preconfigured locally, to complete relay discovery."). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Zhang in view of Xing to have the discovering while connected to the RAN. The motivation would have been to have wider network coverage (e.g., Xing [0201]).
Regarding claim 30, Zhang does not disclose the RSCs associated with end-to-end QoS. The first UE of claim 2, wherein each of the one or more RSCs ([0209], “The relay service code may further indicate specific service content of the relay service, for example, a service ID, an application ID, a DNN, or slice information of the relay service;”) is associated with one or more end-to-end quality of service parameters ([0191], “The subscription information of the UE includes a QoS parameter used when the UE serves as common UE and a QoS parameter used when the UE serves as relay UE”). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Zhang in view of Xing to have the RSCs associated with end-to-end QoS. The motivation would have been to have wider network coverage (e.g., Xing [0201]).
Conclusion
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/NICK ANON SUNDARA/Examiner, Art Unit 2479 /JAE Y LEE/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2479