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 .
DETAILED ACTION
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 01/02/2026 has been entered.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to the claim(s) 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.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 38, 40, 49, 50 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
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.
Claim(s) 32, 34, 36, 39, 42-44, 46, 48, 51-54 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 20200008210 A1 to Li; Guoqing et al. in view of US 20170078964 A1 to Siomina; Iana et al.
Re: Claim(s) 32, 39, 44, 51, 52
Li discloses an apparatus (Fig. 2 – 200)
comprising: at least one processor (Fig. 2 – 210);
and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to (Fig. 2 – 235):
establish using a first terminal device an association with an access node (Fig. 1 – 140b);
establish a direct wireless link with a second, non-access-node, terminal device (Fig. 1 – 140c);
cause transmission of a message to the access node, the message comprising a buffer status report and at least one information element indicative of the direct wireless link (Fig. 4 – 430 and 0036 - At 430, system 200 receives a buffer status report (BSR) for P2P traffic (e.g., NAN traffic) that may indicate presence of P2P traffic);
receive, in response to the message, a trigger frame indicative of a resource unit allocated to the direct wireless link (Fig. 4 – 440, 450 and 0037-0038 - At 440, system 200 schedules UL MU access based at least in part on the BSR received to support the P2P traffic. For example, AP 110 may determine RU allocations, decoding parameters, and/or transmission parameters based at least in part on the BSR received from station 120b. At 450, system 200 transmits a trigger frame that indicates that an allocated resource unit (RU) is to be used for P2P traffic. For example, AP 110 may transmit the trigger frame that includes an “allocation policy” field. When the “allocation policy” field is set to “1”, station 120b may utilize the RU allocated to transmit P2P traffic (e.g., to transmit P2P traffic to station 120c));
in response to the trigger frame, cause transmission of a data packet to the second terminal device over the direct wireless link in the allocated resource unit (0038 – See Id. Fig. 6 – 630 and 0049, 0053 - FIG. 6 may be described with regard to elements of FIGS. 1-5 … At 630, system 200 transmits P2P traffic utilizing the allocated RU. For example, station 120b may transmit P2P traffic to station 120c using the allocated RU).
Li does/do not appear to explicitly disclose that the association established between the first terminal and the access node is indicative of the first terminal having registered with the access node.
However, further attention is directed to Siomina which discloses said limitation (0053 - determining a Device-to-Device (D2D) activity status of a wireless device that is registered in the network and has network communications capability and D2D communications capability, and adapting one or both of network and D2D operations with respect to the wireless device, in dependence on the determined activity status. 0220 - The method 800 includes determining 802 a D2D activity status of a wireless device 12 that is registered in the wireless communication network associated with the network node 10. By way of example, “registered” means that the wireless device 12 has been admitted to the network or has otherwise connected and authenticated itself with the network, such that the device 12 is known to the network).
Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the Li invention by employing the teaching as taught by Siomina to provide the ability for a UE acting as a relay to transmit a message including a BSR to a access node with which said UE is registered. The motivation for the combination is given by Siomina (Abstract and 0001).
Li further discloses a corresponding apparatus (e.g. base station) (Fig. 2), a corresponding method implemented by a UE (Figs. 4 and 6), a corresponding method implemented by a base station (Figs. 4 and 6), and a corresponding computer program product (Fig. 2 – 235); as required by claims 39, 44, 51, and 52, respectively.
Re: Claim(s) 34, 46
Li in view of Siomina discloses those limitations as set forth in the rejection of claim(s) 32 above.
Li does/do not appear to explicitly disclose wherein the at least one information element indicative of the direct wireless link comprises a channel quality indicator indicative of a channel quality of the direct wireless link.
However, further attention is directed to Siomina which discloses said limitation (0095-0103 – a message sent to the network node comprises an indication of a D2D link and includes a measurement report pertaining to RSRP/RSRQ, CSI, etc.).
Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the Li invention by employing the teaching as taught by Siomina to provide the ability for a UE acting as a relay to transmit a message including a BSR and channel quality information relating to a remote terminal. The motivation for the combination is given by Siomina (Abstract and 0001).
Re: Claim(s) 36
Li in view of Siomina discloses those limitations as set forth in the rejection of claim(s) 32 above.
Li further discloses wherein the resource unit comprises a time-frequency transmission resource (0026).
Re: Claim(s) 42
Li in view of Siomina discloses those limitations as set forth in the rejection of claim(s) 39 above.
Li does/do not appear to explicitly disclose establish an association with a third terminal device; after receiving the message and before transmitting the trigger frame, receiving a further message from the third terminal device, the further message comprising a further buffer status report and at least one information element indicating a further direct wireless link between the third terminal device and a fourth terminal device; allocate, in response to the further message, a further resource unit to the further direct wireless link, wherein the trigger frame indicates, in addition to the resource unit allocated to the direct wireless link, a further resource unit allocated to the further direct wireless link, wherein the resource unit and the further resource unit specify the same time resource but a different frequency resource or a different spatial multiplexing resource.
The Examiner notes that Li discloses the majority of that which is claimed in the aforementioned claim limitation (see as analyzed in the rejection of claim 32). Li does not explicitly teach the distinction that an additional message is transmitted pertaining to a third terminal involved in a direct communication with the base station and acting as a relay for a fourth terminal.
However, the Examiner notes that it would have been readily apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art for a base station to be in multiple communications with multiple different terminals which would in turn be capable of acting as a relay terminal as disclosed by the teachings of Li.
Re: Claim(s) 43
Li in view of Siomina discloses those limitations as set forth in the rejection of claim(s) 39 above.
Li further discloses establish an association with a third terminal device; after receiving the message and before transmitting the trigger frame, receive a further message from the third terminal device, the further message comprising a further buffer status report and at least one information element indicating an access link between the third terminal device and the access node; allocate in response to the further message, a further resource unit to the access link, wherein the trigger frame indicates, in addition to the resource unit allocated to the direct wireless link, the further resource unit allocated to the access link (Fig. 5 – 520 No path, 560, 570, 580).
Li does/do not appear to explicitly disclose wherein the resource unit and the further resource unit specify the same time resource but a different frequency resource or a different spatial multiplexing resource.
However, further attention is directed to Li which implies said limitation (0004, 0026 - A resource unit may be: a frequency resource such as a frequency segment out of the total bandwidth (BW) that can be used by devices in the network; a spatial resource such as one or more spatial streams that can be used by devices in the network; or a combination of both frequency and spatial resources … AP 310 schedules UL MU access to the WLAN medium by allocating RUs in frequency and time domain for multiple associated stations 320 (e.g., station 320a and 320b). When an RU is allocated to a station 320, the station 320 may transmit infrastructure traffic UL in their RU allocation. An example of an RU is an orthogonal frequency-division multiple access (OFDMA) RU). The Examiner notes that in assigning RUs to comprising time and frequency resources that are in turn in accordance with OFDMA would suggest that a different spatial resource is being utilized in a given set of time and frequency RUs.
Re: Claim(s) 53
Li in view of Siomina discloses those limitations as set forth in the rejection of claim(s) 32 above.
Li further discloses wherein the apparatus is the first terminal device (see as analyzed in the rejection of claim 32 – Fig. 1 – Station 120b).
Re: Claim(s) 54
Li in view of Siomina discloses those limitations as set forth in the rejection of claim(s) 39 above.
Li further discloses wherein the apparatus is the access node (see as analyzed in the rejection of claim 39 – Fig. 1 – Access Point 110).
Claim(s) 33, 37, 45, 48 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Li in view of Siomina as applied to claim 32 above, and further in view of US 20200374907 A1 to Viger; Pascal et al.
Re: Claim(s) 33, 45
Li in view of Siomina discloses those limitations as set forth in the rejection of claim(s) 32 above.
Li in view of Siomina does/do not appear to explicitly disclose wherein the at least one information element indicative of the direct wireless link comprises an association identifier of the direct wireless link, wherein the association identifier comprises a 12-bit field.
However, further attention is directed to Viger which discloses said limitation (Fig. 10 and 0157 - Step 1000 consists in the reception of a direct link report request for generating a direct link report for a given direct link session involved a source station, referred to as DL SRC station, and a destination station, referred to as DL DST station. 0160 - the direct link report request is an internal request generated by the DL SRC station … The direct link report request contains at least an AID of a source station, referred to REQ DL SRC station and a direct link session identifier. An example of direct link session identifier may be the AID or the MAC address of the destination station (referred to REQ DL DST station). 0162 - Step 1002 computes and generates a DL report based on AID format. In such a case, the AID of REQ DL DST is known. DL report is described with reference to FIG. 8. According to a first embodiment, field 801 is set to a direct link session identifier as for instance the AID of REQ DL DST. Fig. 8 and 0143-0147 – DL report can be a BSR for a final destination station that includes the AID of the destination (i.e. AID of REQ DL DST station as cited previously)).
Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the Li in view of Siomina invention by employing the teaching as taught by Viger to provide the ability for a station to transmit a BSR along with association identification information of a destination station to an access point for the purpose of resource allocation. The motivation for the combination is given by Viger (Abstract).
Re: Claim(s) 37, 48
Li in view of Siomina discloses those limitations as set forth in the rejection of claim(s) 32 above.
Li in view of Siomina does not appear to explicitly disclose wherein the trigger frame comprises an information element indicative an association identifier of the direct wireless link.
However, further attention is directed to Viger which discloses said limitation (Abstract - status report contains an identification element allowing the access point to reserve a wireless resource for the direct transmission between the emitting station and the destination station. 0024 - A resource unit can be reserved for a specific station, in which case the access point indicates, in the TF, the station to which the resource unit is reserved (the Association ID (AID) is provided to indicate which 802.11ax station is allowed to use the resource unit). 0092 - The trigger frame may designate “Scheduled resource units”, which may be reserved by the access point for certain stations in which case no contention for accessing such resource units is needed for these stations. Such resource units and their corresponding scheduled stations are indicated in the trigger frame. For instance, a station identifier, such as the Association ID (AID) assigned to each station upon registration, is added in association with each Scheduled resource unit in order to explicitly indicate the station that is allowed to use each Scheduled resource unit.).
Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the Li in view of Siomina invention by employing the teaching as taught by Viger to provide the ability to transmit a trigger frame indicating specific resource allocation for a specific station by indicating its association identifier. The motivation for the combination is given by Viger (Abstract).
Claim(s) 35, 41, 47 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Li in view of Siomina as applied to claim 32 above, and further in view of US 20210314991 A1 to Tenny; Nathan Edward et al.
Re: Claim(s) 35, 47
Li in view of Siomina discloses those limitations as set forth in the rejection of claim(s) 32 above.
Li in view of Siomina does/do not appear to explicitly disclose wherein the at least one information element indicative of the direct wireless link comprises an indicator of a peer-to-peer transmission mode of the apparatus.
However, further attention is directed to Tenny which discloses said limitation (Fig. 2, 0055 - At step S210, a scheduled UE 203 sends a first sidelink BSR 210 to a scheduling UE 202 to request a sidelink resource grant … the radio resources in the BSR pool can be separated to be used for different services, such as unicast, groupcast, and/or broadcast. In such an example, information of the service(s) for which resources are requested can be indicated along with the sidelink BSR, and the scheduling UE and/or the BS can then take this information into account in formulating an appropriate grant of sidelink radio resources.).
Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the Li in view of Siomina invention by employing the teaching as taught by Tenny to provide the ability to indicate, along with a sidelink BSR, an identifier of the type of transmission mode being used in said sidelink. The motivation for the combination is given by Tenny (Abstract and 0002).
Re: Claim(s) 41
Li in view of Siomina discloses those limitations as set forth in the rejection of claim(s) 32 above.
Li in view of Siomina does/do not appear to explicitly disclose establish an association with a third terminal device; after receiving the message and before transmitting the trigger frame, receiving a further message from a third terminal device, the further message comprising a further buffer status report and at least one information element indicating a further direct wireless link between the third terminal device and the second terminal device; allocate, in response to the further message, a further resource unit to the further direct wireless link, wherein the trigger frame indicates, in addition to the resource unit allocated to the direct wireless link, a further resource unit allocated to the further direct wireless link.
The Examiner notes that Li discloses the majority of that which is claimed in the aforementioned claim limitation (see as analyzed in the rejection of claim 32). Li does not explicitly teach the distinction that an additional message is transmitted by a third terminal (i.e. remote terminal) involved in a direct communication with a base station that in turn acts as a relay for the second terminal already in a relay communication with the first terminal.
However, further attention is directed to Tenny which discloses said distinction (0043 - a scheduled UE 203 sends a first sidelink BSR 210 to a scheduling UE 202 to request a sidelink resource grant. In an embodiment, the first sidelink BSR 210 can be sent over one or more sidelink radio resources (e.g., PSSCH). In an embodiment, the first sidelink BSR 210 can include identification information allowing the scheduling UE 202 to identify the scheduled UE 203, since multiple scheduled UEs may have been configured to send BSRs in the same set of radio resources).
Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the Li in view of Siomina invention by employing the teaching as taught by Tenny to provide the ability for a terminal to communicate with multiple remote terminals and facilitate sidelink resource allocation via BSR messages send to an access point serving the terminal. Further, it would have been readily apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art for a base station to be in multiple communications with multiple different terminals which would in turn be capable of acting as a relay terminal as disclosed by the teachings of Li in view of Tenny. The motivation for the combination is given by Tenny (Abstract and 0002).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KASHIF SIDDIQUI whose telephone number is (571)270-3188. The examiner can normally be reached on M-R 6:00 EST to 16:00 EST.
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/KASHIF SIDDIQUI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2415