Detailed Office 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 .
This communication is in response to the communication dated 1/4/24
Original claims 1-20 are pending.
Claims 2-4, 6, 10-13 and 17-20 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 § 102
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, 5, 7, 8, 9, and 14-16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by LI et al. U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2022/0225448 [hereinafter LI].
As per claims 1, and 14 LI discloses a relay identification method, comprising at least one of the following(see 0138):
sending, by relay user equipment (UE), first identifier information to a serving base station, wherein the first identifier information comprises at least a first PC5 Layer-2 identifier of the relay UE(see par. 0138, and fig. 14 and pars. 0275-0281, where identifier information comprises at least a first PC5 Layer-2 identifier of the relay UE; or
sending, by the relay UE, second identifier information to remote UE, wherein the second identifier information comprises at least a Uu identifier of the relay UE, and
the serving base station is a base station serving the relay UE and the remote UE(see fig. 14, pars. 0275-0281).
As per claim 5, LI discloses he method according to claim 1, wherein the relay UE sends the second identifier information to the remote UE through any one of unicast, broadcast, and multicast(see par. 0132).
As per claim 7, LI discloses the method according to claim 1, wherein the Uu identifier comprises at least one of a cell radio network temporary identifier (C-RNTI), a temporary mobile subscription identifier (S-TMSI), an inactive radio network temporary identifier (I-RNTI), (par. 45 and table -US-00001) or a first indication identifier, and the first indication identifier is an identifier specifically used for identifying the relay UE(see par. 0321).
As per claim 8, LI discloses relay determining method, wherein the method comprises at least one of the following:
sending, by remote UE, first information to a serving base station, wherein the first
information carries at least a first identifier(see par. 0105, 0110, 0247 where A multi-hop relay chain ID can be used) ; or
receiving, by the remote UE, second information sent by the serving base station, wherein the second information carries at least a second identifier, wherein
the first identifier is used to instruct the serving base station to identify first relay UE, the
second identifier is used to instruct the remote UE to identify second relay UE, the serving base station is a base station serving the second relay UE and the remote UE, and/or the serving base station is a base station serving the first relay UE and the remote UE(see par. 0247, 0312).
as per claim 9, and 15 LI discloses the method according to claim 8, wherein the first identifier comprises at least one of a PC5 Layer-2 identifier or a Uu identifier of the relay UE(see par. 0138, and fig. 14 and pars. 0275-0281); or the second identifier comprises at least one of a PC5 Layer-2 identifier or a Uu identifier of the relay UE(see par. 0138, and fig. 14 and pars. 0275-0281).
As per claim 16, LI disclose the method according to claim 14, wherein after the receiving, by the serving base station, first information sent by remote UE, the method further comprises: identifying, by the serving base station, the first relay UE according to the first identifier (see par. 0138, and fig. 14 and pars. 0275-0281).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ABDULLAHI ELMI SALAD whose telephone number is (571)272-4009. The examiner can normally be reached 9:30AM-6:PM.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Faruk Hamza can be reached at 571-272-7969. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/ABDULLAHI E SALAD/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2466