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 .
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments and amendments with respect to claim(s) 1-5, 12-22, 24-27 have been considered but are moot because of new grounds of rejection.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claim(s) 12 & 14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Roy et al. (WO 2021/041214 A1) in view of Ding CN 106716965 B.
Regarding claim 12, Roy discloses a method performed by a mobile terminal controller, comprising:
generating a control message (see control message, [0085]) associated with a mobile terminal that is an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) (see UAV, [0085]) and is controllable by the mobile terminal controller (see UAV-C controller, fig. 2, [0003]) via a first layer over an access stratum (AS) layer (see access stratum) of the mobile terminal controller; and transmitting the control message (see [0081] “the architecture illustrated in FIG. 2, the UAS (e.g., UAV 202a-e and/or UAV-C 203a, b) may communicate with the UTM 210 via the network user plane for identification, authentication and authorization procedures and also for other command and control message/data exchanges.”) to a base station (BS) (see base station [0026]) that is accessible by the mobile terminal controller (see UAV-C, [0003]);
Roy does not specifically disclose;
However Ding explicitly discloses receiving a polling indication requesting power information associated with the mobile terminal form the BS (see indicating the polled, claim 1); and
Reporting the power information associated with the mobile terminal to the BS in response t receiving the polling indication (see power information, claim 6);
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to combine the teachings of Ding with that of Chun and Wang. Doing wo would conform to well-known standards in the field of invention.
Regarding claim 14, Roy discloses the method of claim 12, wherein the control message comprises an ID of the mobile terminal controller and an ID of the mobile terminal (see UAV-C, ID, see 203b, fig. 2), and wherein the ID of the mobile terminal controller and the ID of the mobile terminal are unique at the BS (see UAV-C, ID, see 203b, fig. 2, which implies “unique”).
Claim(s) 1, 2-5, 15-19, 25 & 26 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wang et al. (US 2019/0274017 A1) in view of Chun et al. (US Pat. No. 10,506,394 B2) in further view of Ding CN 106716965 B.
Regarding claims 1 & 15, A method performed by a mobile terminal and a mobile terminal for wireless communication, comprising:
at least one memory; and
at least one processor (see processor [0058]) coupled with the at least one memory (storage [0058]) and configured to cause the mobile terminal to:
receiving, from a base station (BS), a message comprising an indication that a drone-based relay or vehicle-based relay is supported by the BS (see [0014], “receiving a relay capability reporting request sent by the base station”), the mobile terminal serving as a relay node (relay terminal in fig. 1b) between the BS and a user equipment (UE) (see eNB and vehicle terminals fig. 1b);
in response to receiving the indication that the drone-based relay or vehicle-based relay is supported by the BS (see [0014], “receiving a relay capability reporting request sent by the base station”), the mobile terminal serving as a relay node (relay terminal in fig. 1b),
Wang does not specifically does not disclose what Chun discloses “and performing”, “a random-access procedure with the BS” (see performing a Random Access procedure fig. 5);
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to combine the teachings of Chun with that of Wang. Doing would conform to well-known standards of mobile network operations to establish an initial connection with a cellular network after a relay;
Wang and Chun do not specifically disclose;
However Ding explicitly discloses receiving a polling indication requesting power information associated with the mobile terminal form the BS (see indicating the polled, claim 1); and
Reporting the power information associated with the mobile terminal to the BS in response t receiving the polling indication (see power information, claim 6);
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to combine the teachings of Ding with that of Chun and Wang. Doing wo would conform to well-known standards in the field of invention.
Regarding claim 26, Wang discloses a base station for wireless communication, comprising:
at least one memory (storage and processor [0058]); and at least one processor (storage and processor [0058]) coupled with the at least one memory (see coupled [0058]) and configured to cause the base station to: broadcast a message (see broadcast [0013]) comprising an indication (see indication [0013]) that a drone-based relay or vehicle-based relay (see vehicle terminal fig. 1a) is supported by the base station(see relay capability reporting [0014]);
a configuration message to the mobile terminal that configures (see relay configuration information [0014])) configuring the mobile terminal (see terminals in fig. 1a) as a relay node between the base station (see base station [0014]) and a user equipment.
Wang does not specifically disclose however Chun discloses and transmit, in response to a successful random-access procedure being performed between a mobile terminal and the base station (see performing a Random-Access procedure fig. 5);
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to combine the teachings of Chun with that of Wang. Doing would conform to well-known standards of mobile network operations to establish an initial connection with a cellular network after a relay;
Transmitting a polling indication requesting power information associated with the mobile terminal form the base station (see indicating the polled, claim 1); and
Receiving the power information associated with the mobile terminal (see power information, claim 6);
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to combine the teachings of Ding with that of Chun and Wang. Doing wo would conform to well-known standards in the field of invention.
Regarding claim 2, Wang in view of Chun discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the mobile terminal is a drone or a vehicle (see vehicle terminal fig. 1a).
Regarding claim 3, Wang in view of Chun discloses the method of claim 2, Wang discloses the method of claim 1, wherein in a case that the received indication indicates that the drone-based relay or vehicle-based relay is supported by the BS, the message further indicates at least one of a minimum height to be the relay node (see [0119], “a height higher than 3.35 meters (m).”), a maximum height to be the relay node, and a minimum time period to be the relay node.
Regarding claim 4, Wang in view of Chun discloses the method of claim 1, further comprising, in response to the mobile terminal accessing the BS, transmitting to the BS one or more of:
an indication of whether the mobile terminal acts as the drone-based relay or vehicle-based relay (see relay capability indication message [0014]); a capability report indicating whether the mobile terminal acts as the drone-based relay or vehicle-based relay; and power information associated with the mobile terminal.
Regarding claim 5, Wang in view of Chun discloses the method of claim 1, further comprising, in response to the mobile terminal accessing the BS, receiving from the BS one or more of: at least one of an expected location (see relay location [0014]) of the relay node and an expected height of the relay node (see [0119] “ a height higher than 3.35 meters (m).”); a maximum transmission power of the relay node for reference signals; and an expected coverage area of the relay node.
Regarding claim 16, Wang in view of Chun discloses the method of claim 15, wherein the mobile terminal is a drone or a vehicle (see vehicle fig. 1a).
Regarding claim 17, Wang in view of Chun discloses the method of claim 15, wherein in a case that the received indication indicates that the drone-based relay or vehicle-based relay is supported by the BS (see base station [0013]), the message further indicates at least one of a minimum height to be the relay node, a maximum height to be the relay node (see [0119] “a height higher than 3.35 meters (m).”), and a minimum time period to be the relay node.
Regarding claim 18, Wang in view of Chun discloses the method of claim 15, wherein the at least one processor is configured to cause the mobile terminal to, in response to the mobile terminal accessing the BS, transmit to the BS one or more of: an indication of whether the mobile terminal acts as the drone-based relay or vehicle-based relay (see indication [0013]); a capability report indicating (see “relay capability reporting”, [0014]) whether the mobile terminal acts as the drone-based relay or vehicle-based relay; and power information associated with the mobile terminal.
Regarding claim 19, Wang in view of Chun discloses the method of claim 15, wherein the at least one processor is configured to cause the mobile terminal to, in response to the mobile terminal accessing the BS, receive from the BS one or more of: at least one of an expected location of the relay node (see relay location of the relay terminal, [0013]) and an expected height of the relay node (see [0119], “a height higher than 3.35 meters (m).”); a maximum transmission power of the relay node for reference signals; and an expected coverage area of the relay node.
Regarding claim 25, Wang in view of Chun discloses the method of claim 15, wherein the message received from the BS comprises a further indication that the drone-based or vehicle-based relay is not supported by the BS (see [0013], “capability”, which would infer or indicate the alternative if it’s not capable).
Claim 13 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Roy et al. (WO 2021/041214 A1) in view of Ding in further view of Ding in further view of Yie et al. (US 2015/0156814 A1).
Regarding claim 13, Roy discloses the method of claim 12, Roy does not specifically disclose however Yie discloses wherein the first layer is a layer above a packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) layer, or wherein the first layer is an application layer (see [0068] first layer, application layer, PDCP );
It would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to combine the teachings of Yie with that of Roy. Doing so would conform to ordinary standards in the field of invention.
Claim(s) 20-21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wang et al. (US 2019/0274017 A1) in view of Chun et al. (US Pat. No. 10,506,394 B2) in further view of Ding in further view Zhang et al. (EP 2410669 A1).
Regarding claim 20, Wang in view of Chung disclose the mobile terminal of claim 20,
They do not specifically disclose however Zhang discloses wherein the at least one processor is configured to cause the mobile terminal to: report the power information associated with the mobile terminal to the BS in response to the condition being met (see [0061], report power information and predetermined condition);
It would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to combine the teachings of Zhang with that of Roy. Doing so would conform to ordinary standards in the field of invention.
Regarding claim 21, Wang in view of Chung disclose the mobile terminal of claim 20, wherein the at least one processor is configured to cause the mobile terminal to: report the power information associated with the mobile terminal to the BS in response to the condition being met (see [0061], report power information and predetermined condition).
It would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to combine the teachings of Zhang with that of Roy. Doing so would conform to ordinary standards in the field of invention.
Claim 22 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wang et al. (US 2019/0274017 A1) in view of Chun et al. (US Pat. No. 10,506,394 B2) in further view of Ding in further view of Zhang et al. (EP 2410669 A1) in further view of Wassingbo (US 2016/0259956 A1).
Regarding claim 22, Roy in view of Wang discloses the mobile terminal of claim 15, Wang, Chun, and Zhang do not specifically disclose however Wassingbo discloses wherein the at least one processor is configured to cause the mobile terminal to: receive (see instruction, [0056]) a condition (see condition [0056]) for reporting (see reports, [0056]) power information associated with the mobile terminal (see power remaining, [0056]);
It would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to combine the teachings of Wassingbo with that of Roy. Doing so would conform to ordinary standards in the field of invention.
Claim(s) 24 & 27 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wang et al. (US 2019/0274017 A1) in view of Chun et al. (US Pat. No. 10,506,394 B2) in further view of Ding (CN 106716965 B) in further view of He et al. (US 2018/0324488 A1).
Regarding claims 24 and 27, Chun, Wang in view of Ding disclose the method of claim 1 and mobile terminal of claim 15, wherein the power information associated with the mobile terminal indicates at least one of a remaining power of the mobile terminal and an estimated time period for providing services as a base station (see [0046] estimated time for picture and remaining power);
It would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to combine the teachings of Chun, Wang & Ding with that of He. Doing so would conform to ordinary standards in the field of invention.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to K. WILFORD SHAHEED whose telephone number is (469) 295-9175. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Friday 9 am-6pm; CST; ALT Friday. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. The examiner’s Supervisor, Jinsong Hu, can be reached at (571)272-3965, where attempts to reach the examiner are unsuccessful.
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/KHALID W SHAHEED/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2643