DETAILED ACTION
This action is responsive to claims filed on 26 January 2024. Claims 1-15, and 19-23 are pending examination.
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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claims 1, 3-7, 9-15, and 20-23 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zisimopoulos et al. (US 20210084609 A1) (hereinafter Zis) in view of Zhang et al. (US 20210168574 A1) (hereinafter Ang).
In regards to claim 1 and 15, Zis teaches a method (Zis, see fig. 7a-7b, fig. 8-9)/ a communication unit (Zis, see fig. 1):
A communication unit for communication in a vehicle of a user to at least one base station(Zis, fig. 1, fig. 3, fig. 4, [0039]-[0051], [0060]-[0070], [0071]-[0080]: [0063] The controller/processor 359 can be associated with a memory 360 that stores program codes and data. [0066] The UL transmission is processed at the base station 310 in a manner similar to that described in connection with the receiver function at the UE 350.):
For UE-to-UE reliving resource management between communication subscribers, which can each communicate with at least one base station via at least one communication interface for communication, in which the following steps are carried out on the part of the base station for establishing communication (Zis, fig. 4, [0071]-[0080]: [0073] The Ui interface may include both the user plane and the control plane signaling and/or data streams. In some aspects, messages for the Uu interface may be carried over a D2D link, such as the PC5 link 410. Therefore, the PC5 link 410 may be configured to carry the signaling and/or messages for the Uu interface in order to provide communication between the UE 406 and the base station 402. PC5 is an example, of a D2D link directly between devices that supports communication directly between the devices without passing the communication through a base station. Such a D2D link may support sidelink communication between the two devices. [0076] A UE 406 in an idle mode may select a best cell (whether for a base station or a mobile relay) based on a scanning procedure performed by the UE 406. A UE 406 camped on a mobile relay 404 may perform frequent reselections to a new mobile relay 404 due to the mobility of the mobile relay 404 and/or the UE 406. The frequent reselections may expend considerable resources at the UE 406. As presented herein, a base station 402 may provide a neighbor list to a UE 406 in idle mode and camped on a mobile relay 404 to assist in reducing the amount of reselections performed by the UE 406 and/or improving the efficiency of the reselection performed by the UE 406. A base station 402 providing a neighbor list to a UE 406 in a connected mode may also assist in ensuring successful handovers for the UE 406. Aspects presented herein may enable a UE 406 camped on a mobile relay 404 to identify neighboring relays based on assistance information provided by a base station 402. The base station 402 may update the assistance information, such as a neighbor list, sent to the UE 406 based on the UE's location and/or the locations of the mobile relays 404.):
determining local and thematic information for determining communication subscribers (Zis, fig. 8 and 16, [0039]-[0055], [0056]-[0059], [0071]-[0080], [0100]-[0105]: [0041] A network that includes both small cell and macrocells may be known as a heterogeneous network. A heterogeneous network may also include Home Evolved Node Bs (eNBs) (HeNBs), which may provide service to a restricted group known as a closed subscriber group (CSG). [0049] The UE 104 may also be referred to as a station, a mobile station, a subscriber station, a mobile unit, a subscriber unit, a wireless unit, a remote unit, a mobile device, a wireless device, a wireless communications device, a remote device, a mobile subscriber station, an access terminal, a mobile terminal, a wireless terminal, a remote terminal, a handset, a user agent, a mobile client, a client, or some other suitable terminology. [0050] Referring again to FIG. 1, in certain aspects, the base station 102/180 may be configured to determine which mobile relays are within the vicinity of a UE and send this information to the UE. For example, a network entity in FIG. 1 may include an assistance information component 198 configured to provide assistance information to the UE identifying at least one mobile relay based on the distance between the UE and the at least one mobile relay, such as mobile relay 107. The network entity may comprise a base station 102 or 180 or may comprise a component of a core network, such as core network 190 or EPC 160. The network entity may receive location information from UE(s) and mobile relay(s), and determine a distance between the UE(s) and the mobile relay(s));
characterized in that (Zis, see fig. 16, [0134]-[0135]),
granting permission to communicate data from a group of communication subscribers to the at least one base station is established via further communication subscribers by using discovery mechanisms between them the interest-related aspect are radio resources, which can be organized in an orthogonal manner according to the requested or offered further communication subscribers(Zis, fig. 18, [0139]-[0141]: [0139] The apparatus includes a discovery component 1810 that may perform discovery for a mobile relay, e.g., as described in connection with 906 of FIG. 9. The apparatus includes a priority component 1828 that may assign the mobile relay a reduced priority in a candidate list when the indication indicates that the mobile relay is not accepting the additional UE, e.g., as described in connection with 1304 of FIG. 13.).
Thus, Zis does not explicitly teach determining a group of communication subscribers based on the local and thematic information, wherein a local area is defined for local restriction of the communication subscribers and wherein at least one of a technological aspect and an interest-related aspect is used for thematic restriction on the part of the base station.
Similar to the system of Zis, Ang teaches using device information including position, speed, location, and planned route, along with connection density and QoS conditions within an area over time, to organize vehicles/devices participating in a V2X communication group, which can be seen as, determining a group of communication subscribers based on the local and thematic information, wherein a local area is defined for local restriction of the communication subscribers and wherein at least one of a technological aspect and an interest-related aspect is used for thematic restriction on the part of the base station (Ang, Fig. 1A-E, fig. 6, fig. 15, [0069]-[0140], [0143]-[0155], [0187]-[0192], [0250]-[0268]):[0070] It is understood that with the wide variety of use cases contemplated for wireless communications, each WTRU may comprise or be included in any type of apparatus or device configured to transmit and/or receive wireless signals, including, by way of example only, user equipment (UE), a mobile station, a fixed or mobile subscriber unit, a pager, a cellular telephone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a smartphone, a laptop, a tablet, a netbook, a notebook computer, a personal computer, a wireless sensor, consumer electronics, a wearable device such as a smart watch or smart clothing, a medical or eHealth device, a robot, industrial equipment, a drone, a vehicle such as a car, bus or truck, a train, or an airplane, and the like.Table 2: Connection Connection density refers to total number of devices 106 Density fulfilling specific Quality of Service (QoS) per unit devices/km2 area (per km2). QoS definition should take into account the amount of data or access request generated within a time t_gen that can be sent or received within a given time, t_sendrx, with x% probability. [0181] Step 4: In order to join the group, this vehicle sends a V2X group join request message to one or several members of the group. This new signaling called V2X group join request can be defined as either a higher layer signaling or a MAC-CE signaling. It contains the following information: (i) Indication of the request to join; (ii) Group ID; (iii) The intended position within the group when it joins; and (iv) Key information of the vehicle itself: for example, vehicle size, speed, location, planned travel route/destination and 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 combine Zis with Ang. Ang teaches vehicle platooning in which vehicles dynamically form a group traveling together and share information from a leading vehicle to coordinate movement and manage the platoon. Such coordinated communication enables vehicles to travel closer together in an efficient and organized manner while moving in the same direction (Ang, [0147). Furthermore, Ang teaches that discovery messages may be transmitted in a more efficient manner (Ang, [0283]). Accordingly, incorporating Ang’s grouping and coordination techniques into the system of Zis would have predictably improved the efficiency and organization of communication among participating devices.
In regards to claim 3 and 20, Zis teaches a method (Zis, see fig. 7a-7b, fig. 8-9)/ a communication unit (Zis, see fig. 1):
characterized in that (Zis, see fig. 16, [0134]-[0135]),
that a possible relay node request of further communication subscribers is done by on-demand (Zis, fig. 7A-7B, [0039]-[0052], [0081]-[0088], [0089]-[0099], [0100]-[0114]: [0049] The UE 104 may also be referred to as a station, a mobile station, a subscriber station, a mobile unit, a subscriber unit, a wireless unit, a remote unit, a mobile device, a wireless device, a wireless communications device, a remote device, a mobile subscriber station, an access terminal, a mobile terminal, a wireless terminal, a remote terminal, a handset, a user agent, a mobile client, a client, or some other suitable terminology. [0092] The relay discovery assistance entity 702, or another network entity, may restrict the list of available relays that is provided to the UE. The restricted list may indicate that the UE is restricted to camping on the mobile relays on the list. For example, the restricted list may be used to minimize the number of reselections performed by the UE. The relay discovery assistance entity 702 can send the restricted list information to the UE in dedicated signaling to the UE. The relay discovery assistance entity 702 may provide the restricted list to the UE in response to a request 713 from the UE. The information may be sent in system information. For example, the restricted list, or other assistance information, may be provided to the UE via an on-demand SIB that is transmitted in response to a request 713 from the UE. The restricted list may include information that is customized to the UE that requested the restricted list. Similarly, other assistance information that is transmitted to the UE may be customized to the UE. [0112] The UE may receive the assistance information in response to the request sent to the network entity. In some aspects, the assistance information may be provided via on-demand SIB, in response to the request from the UE.).
In regards to claim 4 and 21, Zis teaches a method (Zis, see fig. 7a-7b, fig. 8-9)/ a communication unit (Zis, see fig. 1):
characterized in that (Zis, see fig. 16, [0134]-[0135]),
a discovery mechanism used by further communication subscribers is established by announcing its presence and capabilities by regularly transmitting discovery information in a broadcast manner (Zis, fig. 7A-7B, [0089]-[0099], [0100]-[0114]: [0095] In some aspects, the UE 706 may use direct discovery over a PC5 interface to discover mobile relays on which the UE can camp. For example, the mobile relay 704 may broadcast an ID 722 over PC5 with PCI information. As an example, the mobile relay 704 may broadcast a short ID of approximately 2-3 bytes from which the UE can deduce the PCI of the mobile relay 704. Then the UE would acquire the PCI for the relays in proximity. The mobile relay 704 may generate the identifier at 720, based on the PCI for the mobile relay 704. The UE 706 may use the broadcast ID 722 to determine the PCI for the mobile relay 704, at 724. As illustrated at 726, the UE 706 may report the discovered mobile relays to a network entity (e.g., a base station or other relay discovery assistance entity 702). For example, the report of discovered mobile relays may assist a donor base station in maintaining a current, accurate list of neighboring mobile relays. [0096] A mobile relay 704 may broadcast an indication 730 of whether the mobile relay 704 is capable of accepting additional UEs. The mobile relay 704 may determine, at 728, whether the mobile relay is capable of supporting an additional UE. The indication 730 may be provided, e.g., over an Uu interface in a SIB (such as a new SIB or a modification of an existing SIB). The indication 730 may be provided, e.g., over a PC5 interface. The indication 730 may indicate whether or not the mobile relay is accepting new UEs.).
In regards to claim 5 and 22, Zis teaches a method (Zis, see fig. 7a-7b, fig. 8-9)/ a communication unit (Zis, see fig. 1):
characterized in that (Zis, see fig. 16, [0134]-[0135]),
a discovery mechanism used by communication subscribers is established by announcing their presence and inquire for communication partners by issuing corresponding discovery messages regularly (Zis, fig. 7A-7B, [0089]-[0099], [0100]-[0114]: [0093] The UE 706 may use the assistance information 714, provided by the relay discovery assistance entity 702, to perform discovery for mobile relays, at 716. The UE 706 may use the assistance information to monitor for signals from mobile relays. [0095] In some aspects, the UE 706 may use direct discovery over a PC5 interface to discover mobile relays on which the UE can camp. For example, the mobile relay 704 may broadcast an ID 722 over PC5 with PCI information. As an example, the mobile relay 704 may broadcast a short ID of approximately 2-3 bytes from which the UE can deduce the PCI of the mobile relay 704. Then the UE would acquire the PCI for the relays in proximity. The mobile relay 704 may generate the identifier at 720, based on the PCI for the mobile relay 704. The UE 706 may use the broadcast ID 722 to determine the PCI for the mobile relay 704, at 724. As illustrated at 726, the UE 706 may report the discovered mobile relays to a network entity (e.g., a base station or other relay discovery assistance entity 702). For example, the report of discovered mobile relays may assist a donor base station in maintaining a current, accurate list of neighboring mobile relays.).
In regards to claims 6 and 23, Zis teaches a method (Zis, see fig. 7a-7b, fig. 8-9)/ a communication unit (Zis, see fig. 1):
characterized in that (Zis, see fig. 16, [0134]-[0135]),
once the group has been determined by at least one further communication subscriber based on network configuration and prioritization by the base station of the data transmitted for the group of communication subscribers to the base station (Zis, [0060]-[0070]: [0064] Similar to the functionality described in connection with the DL transmission by the base station 310, the controller/processor 359 provides RRC layer functionality associated with system information (e.g., MIB, SIBs) acquisition, RRC connections, and measurement reporting; PDCP layer functionality associated with header compression/decompression, and security (ciphering, deciphering, integrity protection, integrity verification); RLC layer functionality associated with the transfer of upper layer PDUs, error correction through ARQ, concatenation, segmentation, and reassembly of RLC SDUs, re-segmentation of RLC data PDUs, and reordering of RLC data PDUs; and MAC layer functionality associated with mapping between logical channels and transport channels, multiplexing of MAC SDUs onto TBs, demultiplexing of MAC SDUs from TBs, scheduling information reporting, error correction through HARQ, priority handling, and logical channel prioritization.).
In regards to claim 7, Zis teaches the method according to claim 1 (Zis, see fig. 7a-7b, fig. 8-9):
characterized in that (Zis, see fig. 16, [0134]-[0135]),
data transmitted for the group of communication subscribers as requested from and provided by the base station a technological aspect includes at least any type of resources that are used by the communication subscribers (Zis, fig. 2a-2d, [0053]-[0059], [0134]-[0138]: [0055] A resource grid may be used to represent the frame structure. Each time slot includes a resource block (RB) (also referred to as physical RBs (PRBs)) that extends 12 consecutive subcarriers. The resource grid is divided into multiple resource elements (REs). The number of bits carried by each RE depends on the modulation scheme.).
In regards to claim 9, Zis teaches the method according to claim 1 (Zis, see fig. 7a-7b, fig. 8-9):
characterized in that (Zis, see fig. 16, [0134]-[0135]),
technological aspect includes at least any type of resources including the use of carrier aggregation (Zis, fig. 1, [0039]-[0052]: [0041] The communication links may be through one or more carriers. The base stations 102/UEs 104 may use spectrum up to Y MHz (e.g., 5, 10, 15, 20, 100, 400, etc. MHz) bandwidth per carrier allocated in a carrier aggregation of up to a total of Yx MHz (x component carriers) used for transmission in each direction. The carriers may or may not be adjacent to each other. Allocation of carriers may be asymmetric with respect to DL and UL (e.g., more or fewer carriers may be allocated for DL than for UL). The component carriers may include a primary component carrier and one or more secondary component carriers. A primary component carrier may be referred to as a primary cell (PCell) and a secondary component carrier may be referred to as a secondary cell (SCell).).
In regards to claim 10, Zis teaches the method according to claim 1 (Zis, see fig. 7a-7b, fig. 8-9):
characterized in that (Zis, see fig. 16, [0134]-[0135]),
technological aspect includes at least any type of resources including dual connectivity (Zis, fig. 1, [0039]-[0052]: [0040] In addition to other functions, the base stations 102 may perform one or more of the following functions: transfer of user data, radio channel ciphering and deciphering, integrity protection, header compression, mobility control functions (e.g., handover, dual connectivity), inter-cell interference coordination, connection setup and release, load balancing, distribution for non-access stratum (NAS) messages, NAS node selection, synchronization, radio access network (RAN) sharing, multimedia broadcast multicast service (MBMS), subscriber and equipment trace, RAN information management (RIM), paging, positioning, and delivery of warning messages.).
In regards to claim 11, Zis teaches the method according to claim 1 (Zis, see fig. 7a-7b, fig. 8-9):
characterized in that (Zis, see fig. 16, [0134]-[0135]),
technological aspect includes the aspect of relay selection single-hop or multi-hop PC5-to-Uu relaying by introducing a composite load metric (Zis, fig. 4, [0071]-[0088], [0089]-[0097]: [0073] In some examples, a UE 406 may need to perform frequent reselections to a new mobile relay 404. Aspects presented herein may help the UE 406 to search for mobile relays 404 and/or select mobile relays 404 in a more efficient manner. [0077] Aspects presented herein enable the load of the mobile relay 404 and/or the donor base station, e.g., base station 402, to be taken into account prior to a UE 406, in idle mode, reselecting from one mobile relay 404 to another, prior to a mobile relay 404 reselecting from one donor base station to another donor base station, prior to a donor base station handing over a mobile relay to another donor base station, or prior to a UE 406, in a connected mode, being handed over to another mobile relay 404. [0084] The base station may comprise the relay discovery assistance entity 502 that provides assistance information to the UE for use in selecting a mobile relay.).
In regards to claim 12, Zis teaches the method according to claim 1 (Zis, see fig. 7a-7b, fig. 8-9):
characterized in that (Zis, see fig. 16, [0134]-[0135]),
the relay selection meets the communication subscribers E2E QoS requirements, and triggering a procedure for selection and/or reselection for further communication subscribers (Zis, fig. 4, [0071]-[0088], [0089]-[0097]: [0073] In some examples, a UE 406 may need to perform frequent reselections to a new mobile relay 404. Aspects presented herein may help the UE 406 to search for mobile relays 404 and/or select mobile relays 404 in a more efficient manner. [0077] Aspects presented herein enable the load of the mobile relay 404 and/or the donor base station, e.g., base station 402, to be taken into account prior to a UE 406, in idle mode, reselecting from one mobile relay 404 to another, prior to a mobile relay 404 reselecting from one donor base station to another donor base station, prior to a donor base station handing over a mobile relay to another donor base station, or prior to a UE 406, in a connected mode, being handed over to another mobile relay 404. [0084] The base station may comprise the relay discovery assistance entity 502 that provides assistance information to the UE for use in selecting a mobile relay.).
In regards to claim 13, Zis teaches the method according to claim 1 (Zis, see fig. 7a-7b, fig. 8-9):
characterized in that (Zis, see fig. 16, [0134]-[0135]),
the communication subscribers are users (Zis, fig. 4, [0071]-[0080]: [0073] The Uu interface may include both the user plane and the control plane signaling and/or data streams. In some aspects, messages for the Uu interface may be carried over a D2D link, such as the PC5 link 410. Therefore, the PC5 link 410 may be configured to carry the signaling and/or messages for the Uu interface in order to provide communication between the UE 406 and the base station 402. PC5 is an example, of a D2D link directly between devices that supports communication directly between the devices without passing the communication through a base station. Such a D2D link may support sidelink communication between the two devices. [0076] A UE 406 in an idle mode may select a best cell (whether for a base station or a mobile relay) based on a scanning procedure performed by the UE 406. A UE 406 camped on a mobile relay 404 may perform frequent reselections to a new mobile relay 404 due to the mobility of the mobile relay 404 and/or the UE 406. The frequent reselections may expend considerable resources at the UE 406. As presented herein, a base station 402 may provide a neighbor list to a UE 406 in idle mode and camped on a mobile relay 404 to assist in reducing the amount of reselections performed by the UE 406 and/or improving the efficiency of the reselection performed by the UE 406. A base station 402 providing a neighbor list to a UE 406 in a connected mode may also assist in ensuring successful handovers for the UE 406. Aspects presented herein may enable a UE 406 camped on a mobile relay 404 to identify neighboring relays based on assistance information provided by a base station 402. The base station 402 may update the assistance information, such as a neighbor list, sent to the UE 406 based on the UE's location and/or the locations of the mobile relays 404.).
In regards to claim 14, Zis teaches the method according to claim 1 (Zis, see fig. 7a-7b, fig. 8-9):
characterized in that (Zis, see fig. 16, [0134]-[0135]),
the local and thematic information is determined from the mean value of the spatial coordinates of the end users and the respective relative speed v and average direction of the end users (Zis, see fig. 4-6, [0071]-[0080], [0081]-[0100]: [0089] FIG. 7 illustrates an example communication flow 700 between a UE 706, a relay discovery assistance entity 702, and a mobile relay 704. The relay discovery assistance entity 702 may include a component of a base station or may correspond to a base station. The relay discovery assistance entity 702 may correspond to a core network entity, and may have an interface to a base station. As described in connection with FIGS. 5 and 6, the relay discovery assistance entity 702 may receive location information 710 from the UE 706 and location information 708 from the mobile relay 704. Although only a single UE 706 and a single mobile relay 704 are used to illustrate the concepts in FIG. 7, the aspects may be applied for multiple UEs and multiple mobile relays. Therefore, the relay discovery assistance entity 702 may receive location information for multiple UEs 706. The relay discovery assistance entity 702 may receive location information for multiple mobile relays 704. As described in connection with FIG. 5, the relay discovery assistance entity 702 may receive the location information from another network entity, such as from a GMLC. The relay discovery assistance entity 702 may receive the location updates directly from the UE 706 and/or the mobile relay 704, as described in the example in FIG. 6. As illustrated at 712, the relay discovery assistance entity 702 may determine a distance between the UE 706 and the mobile relay 704, and may similarly determine a distance between multiple UEs and each of one or more mobile relays. The relay discovery assistance entity 702 may use the determination, at 712, to identify mobile relays within a certain area or a certain range of the UE(s). The relay discovery assistance entity 702 may then send assistance information 714 to the UE 706. [0095] In some aspects, the UE 706 may use direct discovery over a PC5 interface to discover mobile relays on which the UE can camp. For example, the mobile relay 704 may broadcast an ID 722 over PC5 with PCI information. As an example, the mobile relay 704 may broadcast a short ID of approximately 2-3 bytes from which the UE can deduce the PCI of the mobile relay 704. Then the UE would acquire the PCI for the relays in proximity. The mobile relay 704 may generate the identifier at 720, based on the PCI for the mobile relay 704. The UE 706 may use the broadcast ID 722 to determine the PCI for the mobile relay 704, at 724. As illustrated at 726, the UE 706 may report the discovered mobile relays to a network entity (e.g., a base station or other relay discovery assistance entity 702). For example, the report of discovered mobile relays may assist a donor base station in maintaining a current, accurate list of neighboring mobile relays.).
Claims 2 and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zisimopoulos et al. (US 20210084609 A1) (hereinafter Zis) as applied to claims 1/15 above, and further in view of Zhang et al. (US 20240195722 A1) (hereinafter Zha).
In regards to claim 2 and 19, Zis and Zha teach a method (Zis, see fig. 7a-7b, fig. 8-9)/ a communication unit (Zis, see fig. 1) wherein:
a) at least one base station computes and provides to further communication subscribers the node in the resources assigned for relaying (Zis, fig. 8 and 16, [0039]-[0055], [0056]-[0059], [0071]-[0080], [0100]-[0105]: [0041] A network that includes both small cell and macrocells may be known as a heterogeneous network. A heterogeneous network may also include Home Evolved Node Bs (eNBs) (HeNBs), which may provide service to a restricted group known as a closed subscriber group (CSG). The communication links 120 between the base stations 102 and the UEs 104 may include uplink (UL) (also referred to as reverse link) transmissions from a UE 104 to a base station 102 and/or downlink (DL) (also referred to as forward link) transmissions from a base station 102 to a UE 104. The communication links 120 may use multiple-input and multiple-output (MIMO) antenna technology, including spatial multiplexing, beamforming, and/or transmit diversity. The communication links may be through one or more carriers. The base stations 102/UEs 104 may use spectrum up to Y MHz (e.g., 5, 10, 15, 20, 100, 400, etc. MHz) bandwidth per carrier allocated in a carrier aggregation of up to a total of Yx MHz (x component carriers) used for transmission in each direction. ;
b) broadcast this to further communication subscribers (Zis, fig. 1, [0039]-[0052]: [0047] The EPC 160 may include a Mobility Management Entity (MME) 162, other MMES 164, a Serving Gateway 166, a Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service (MBMS) Gateway 168, a Broadcast Multicast Service Center (BM-SC) 170, and a Packet Data Network (PDN) Gateway 172. The MME 162 may be in communication with a Home Subscriber Server (HSS) 174. The MME 162 is the control node that processes the signaling between the UEs 104 and the EPC 160. Generally, the MME 162 provides bearer and connection management. All user Internet protocol (IP) packets are transferred through the Serving Gateway 166, which itself is connected to the PDN Gateway 172. The PDN Gateway 172 provides UE IP address allocation as well as other functions. The PDN Gateway 172 and the BM-SC 170 are connected to the IP Services 176. The IP Services 176 may include the Internet, an intranet, an IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS), a PS Streaming Service, and/or other IP services. The BM-SC 170 may provide functions for MBMS user service provisioning and delivery. The BM-SC 170 may serve as an entry point for content provider MBMS transmission, may be used to authorize and initiate MBMS Bearer Services within a public land mobile network (PLMN), and may be used to schedule MBMS transmissions. The MBMS Gateway 168 may be used to distribute MBMS traffic to the base stations 102 belonging to a Multicast Broadcast Single Frequency Network (MBSFN) area broadcasting a particular service, and may be responsible for session management (start/stop) and for collecting eMBMS related charging information.);
d) acceptance by further communication subscribers or at least one base station (Zis, fig. 7A-7B, [0089]-[0100]: [0096] In some aspects load information may be advertised. The load information may be taken into account before camping decisions involving a mobile relay are made. A mobile relay 704 may broadcast an indication 730 of whether the mobile relay 704 is capable of accepting additional UEs. The mobile relay 704 may determine, at 728, whether the mobile relay is capable of supporting an additional UE. The indication 730 may be provided, e.g., over an Uu interface in a SIB (such as a new SIB or a modification of an existing SIB). The indication 730 may be provided, e.g., over a PC5 interface. The indication 730 may indicate whether or not the mobile relay is accepting new UEs.).
Thus, Zis does not explicitly teach c) relaying request indicating QoS parameters.
Similar to the system of Zis, Zha teaches determining bandwidth and/or bit rate for relay traffic based on at least one QoS requirement, associated with a second terminal device communicating via PC5 interface, which can be seen as, c) relaying request indicating QoS parameters (Zha, fig. 4c, [0031]-[0038], [0191]-[0239]: [0036] Each UE is associated with the following aggregate rate limit QoS parameter: per UE Aggregate Maximum Bit Rate (UE-AMBR). The UE-AMBR limits the aggregate bit rate that can be expected to be provided across all Non-GBR QOS Flows of a UE. [0213] In an embodiment, the bandwidth and/or the bit rate for relay traffic occupied by at least one second terminal device which is connected to the first terminal device in the PC5 interface of the first terminal device is determined based on at least one quality of service (QOS) requirement for the PC5 interface of the first terminal device. In this embodiment, a machine learning algorithm or a simulation may be used to determine the bandwidth and/or the bit rate for relay traffic occupied by at least one second terminal device which is connected to the first terminal device in the PC5 interface of the first terminal device.).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Zis with Zha to improve network resource utilization and transmission reliability when relaying traffic for connected terminal devices. (Zha, [0187], [0348]).
Claims 8 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zisimopoulos et al. (US 20210084609 A1) (hereinafter Zis) as applied to claims 1/15 above, and further in view of Hong et al. (US 20220046485 A1) (hereinafter Hong).
In regards to claim 8, Zis-Hong teaches the method according to claim 1 (Zis, see fig. 7a-7b, fig. 8-9):
characterized in that (Zis, see fig. 16, [0134]-[0135]),
technological aspect includes at least any type of resources including the use of bandwidth parts, whereby bandwidth parts consists of contiguous sub-set of resources within a component carrier (Zis, fig. 2a-2d, [0053]-[0059], [0134]-[0138]) and (Hong, [0066]-[0078]).
Thus, Zis does not explicitly state the term bandwidth parts (bwp).
Similar to the system of Zis, Hong teaches that a bandwidth part (BWP) may be defined as a set of consecutive physical resource blocks (PRBs) in a given numerology, which can be seen as, bandwidth parts (Hong, [0066]-[0078]: [0069] The BWP may be a set of consecutive physical resource blocks (PRBs) in a given numerology. The PRB may be selected from consecutive sub-sets of common resource blocks (CRBs) for the given numerology on a given carrier).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Zis with Hong to improve energy efficiency by allowing a UE to switch from an active BWP to a default BWP when downlink control information is not detected (Hong, [0070]).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Yang et al. (US 20220225072 A1) discloses a method and apparatus enable sidelink resource management using a sidelink discovery signal. The method provides for determining a resource configuration for a sidelink discovery signal. The resource configuration provides one or more parameters for transmitting the sidelink discovery signal. The method also provides for measuring link quality between the UE and at least one candidate relay UE. Based on the measured link quality one of the candidate relay UEs is selected and serves as a relay UE (See fig. 8-9).
Liao et al. (US 11653286 B2) discloses an equipment direct-through system relay state determination method and device. The method comprises the steps that relay user equipment UE acquires relay configuration information and/or receives device-to-device D2D information, and the relay state of the relay UE is determined according to the relay configuration information and/or the D2D information. The device is arranged in the relay user equipment UE and comprises an information acquisition module and a state determination module. According to the method and the device, the UE with the relay capacity can enter the relay second state without accessing of far-end users and enter the relay first state when receiving the request of the far-end users for searching the relay and periodically broadcast the relay information so that switching of the relay state of the relay UE can be realized through the mode, and the objective of power saving can be achieved when the relay UE is in the relay second state (See fig. 5-8).
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/FRANCESCA LIMA SANTOS/ Examiner, Art Unit 2468
/MARCUS SMITH/ Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2468