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 § 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.
Claim(s) 1 - 19 and 29 - 34 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Martin, U.S. Patent Publication No. 2019/0357114.
Martin teaches:
1. (Original) A method for handing over to a relay user equipment (UE), performed by a remote UE, comprising:
determining whether to hand over to a target relay UE based on a serving cell of the target relay UE (a determination is made that a communications link with a first relay UE is no longer viable, [0039]).
2. (Original) The method of claim 1, wherein determining whether to hand over to the target relay UE based on the serving cell of the target relay UE comprises:
determining whether the serving cell of the target relay UE meets a handover condition in response to a trigger condition for a handover to the target relay UE being met (a determination is made that a communications link with a first relay UE is no longer viable, [0039]); and
performing the handover to the target relay UE, in response to the handover condition being met (second relay UE is selected for out-of-coverage UE to switch over to, [0048]).
3. (Original) The method of claim 2, further comprising:
not performing the handover to the target relay UE, in response to the handover condition not being met (the condition in question is the viability of the current link between the out-of-coverage UE and the first relay UE, if the link is still viable, no handover would be required).
4. (Original) The method of claim 2, wherein the trigger condition for the handover to the target relay UE comprises at least one of:
receiving, from a base station, a handover command for instructing the remote UE to perform the handover to the target relay UE (second relay UE is selected for out-of-coverage UE to switch over to, [0048]); or
determining, based on a parameter of a sidelink between the remote UE and the target relay UE, that a preset condition for handing over to the target replay UE is met;
wherein the preset condition is received from the base station.
5. (Original) The method of claim 4, wherein, the parameter of the sidelink between the remote UE and the target relay UE comprises:
channel quality of the sidelink between the remote UE and the target relay UE (highest RSRP from out-of-coverage UE to next relay UE is utilized to determine handover, [0047]); and
the preset condition for handing over to the target relay UE comprises:
the channel quality of the sidelink between the remote UE and the target relay UE being greater than a preset threshold (highest RSRP from out-of-coverage UE to next relay UE is utilized to determine handover, [0047]).
6. (Original) The method of claim 2, wherein, the serving cell of the target relay UE meeting the handover condition comprises at least one of:
the serving cell of the target relay UE being same as a serving cell of the remote UE (as the relay UE is relaying data for the out-of-coverage UE, they are both communicating with the same base station, see Fig. 1);
the serving cell of the target relay UE being same as a reported serving cell of the target relay UE that has been reported by the remote UE to a base station; or
the serving cell of the target relay UE belonging to a cell list.
7. (Original) The method of claim 6, further comprising:
receiving the cell list from the base station, wherein the cell list corresponds to the target relay UE (in-coverage UEs perform measurements on out-of-coverage UEs and report to the eNB, [0044], the eNB would inherently have knowledge of the in-coverage and out-of-coverage UEs).
8. (Original) The method of claim 4, further comprising one of:
sending, to the base station, information for indicating that the remote UE does not hand over to the target relay UE (the condition in question is the viability of the current link between the out-of-coverage UE and the first relay UE, if the link is still viable, no handover would be required);
initiating reestablishment of a radio resource control link to the target relay UE;
triggering a re-establishment request of the radio resource control link; deleting the handover command corresponding to the target relay UE;
deleting the preset condition for handing over to the target relay UE; or
deleting the handover command corresponding to the target relay UE and the preset condition for handing over to the target relay UE.
9. (Original) The method of claim 8, after sending, to the base station, the information for indicating that the remote UE does not hand over to the target relay UE, further comprising:
receiving, from the base station, another handover command for instructing to hand over to a relay UE other than the target relay UE (highest RSRP from out-of-coverage UE to next relay UE is utilized to determine handover, [0047], many UEs could potentially be selected but highest RSRP is determining factor).
10. (Original) A method for handing over to a relay user equipment (UE), performed by a network device, comprising:
receiving, from a remote UE, information for indicating that a target relay UE is not handed over to (the condition in question is the viability of the current link between the out-of-coverage UE and the first relay UE, if the link is still viable, no handover would be required).
11. (Original) The method of claim 10, wherein, the information for indicating that the target relay UE is not handed over to is determined by the remote UE based on a serving cell of the target relay UE (the condition in question is the viability of the current link between the out-of-coverage UE and the first relay UE, if the link is still viable, no handover would be required).
12. (Original) The method of claim 10, wherein, the information for indicating that the target relay UE is not handed over to is determined by the remote UE based on a determination that the serving cell of the target relay UE does not meet a handover condition in response to a trigger condition for a handover to the target relay UE being met (the condition in question is the viability of the current link between the out-of-coverage UE and the first relay UE, if the link is still viable, no handover would be required).
13. (Original) The method of claim 10, further comprising:
sending a cell list to the remote UE; wherein the cell list is used for enabling the remote UE to determine that the serving cell of the target relay UE meets the handover condition in response to the serving cell of the target relay UE belonging to the cell list and perform the handover to the target relay UE (in-coverage UEs perform measurements on out-of-coverage UEs and report to the eNB, [0044], the eNB would inherently have knowledge of the in-coverage and out-of-coverage UEs).
14. (Original) The method of claim 10, further comprising:
sending a handover command for instructing the remote UE to hand over to the target relay UE (second relay UE is selected for out-of-coverage UE to switch over to, [0048]).
29. (Currently Amended) A communication device, comprising:
a processor (see Fig. 4); and
a memory storing processor-executable instructions (see Fig. 4);
wherein the processor is configured to;
determine whether to hand over to a target relay user equipment (UE) based on a serving cell of the target relay UE (a determination is made that a communications link with a first relay UE is no longer viable, [0039]).
30. (Currently Amended) A communication device, comprising:
a processor (see Fig. 4); and
a memory storing processor-executable instructions (see Fig. 4);
wherein the processor is configured to execute the executable instructions stored in the memory to perform the method of claim 10. (the condition in question is the viability of the current link between the out-of-coverage UE and the first relay UE, if the link is still viable, no handover would be required)
31. (Currently Amended) A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, having executable instructions stored thereon stored, wherein, when the executable instructions are executed by a processor, the method of claim 1 (a determination is made that a communications link with a first relay UE is no longer viable, [0039]).
32. (Currently Amended) A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, having executable instructions stored thereon stored, wherein, when the executable instructions are executed by a processor, the method of claim 10 is performed (the condition in question is the viability of the current link between the out-of-coverage UE and the first relay UE, if the link is still viable, no handover would be required).
33. (New) The communication device of claim 29, wherein the processor is further configured to:
determine whether the serving cell of the target relay UE meets a handover condition in response to a trigger condition for a handover to the target relay UE being met (a determination is made that a communications link with a first relay UE is no longer viable, [0039]); and
perform the handover to the target relay UE, in response to the handover condition being met (second relay UE is selected for out-of-coverage UE to switch over to, [0048]).
34. (New) The communication device of claim 33, wherein the processor is further configured to:
not perform the handover to the target relay UE, in response to the handover condition not being met (the condition in question is the viability of the current link between the out-of-coverage UE and the first relay UE, if the link is still viable, no handover would be required).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to PETER G SOLINSKY whose telephone number is (571)270-7216. The examiner can normally be reached M - Th, 6:30 A - 5:00 P.
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PETER G. SOLINSKY
Examiner
Art Unit 2463
/Peter G Solinsky/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2463