Detailed Action
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
This is a final action for application number 18/410,545 in response to an amendment filed on 05/14/2026; the original application filed on 01/11/2024.
Claims 1-13 are currently pending and have been considered below.
Claims 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9 are independent claims.
Claims 11-13 are new.
Response to Arguments
Applicants’ arguments with respect to claims 1-13 have been considered but are moot in view of the new ground(s) 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.
Claims 1-10, 12 and 13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wang et al. (US 2023/0074899 A1) in view of Walldeen et al. (US 2024/0224154 A1).
Regarding claims 1, 3 and 7, a cellular communication system, [Wang et al., Figure 7 shows a cellular communication system] comprising: a relay node, [Figure 7, 1st Relay and 2nd Relay], a first user equipment, [Figure 7, UE1] and a second user equipment, [Figure 7, UE1] wherein the relay node relays data between the first user equipment and the second user equipment, [As shown in FIG. 6, the UE1 and UE2 establish unicast connection and forward data through an L2 first relay (relay 1), (Wang et al., Paragraph 68)],
and the relay node performs the relay of a layer 2 relay by using the egress RLC channel, [As shown in FIG. 6, the UE1 and UE2 establish unicast connection and forward data through an L2 first relay (relay 1), See Figure 7, Ref # (Wang et al., Paragraph 68)],
Wang et al. fails to explicitly teach determining an egress radio link control (RLC) channel based on a mapping of the egress RLC channel and identification information regarding to communication between the first user equipment and the second user equipment,
Walldeen et al. teaches the BAP layer determines the proper egress BH RLC channel on the basis of the BAP destination, path identities/identifiers (IDs) and ingress BH RLC channel. Same as the above applies also to the upstream, with the only difference that the final destination is always one specific donor DU/CU, (Walldeen et al., Paragraph 19), Walldeen et al. further teaches the BAP layer is in charge of handling the BH RLC channel, e.g. to map an ingress BH RLC channel from a parent/child IAB node to an egress BH RLC channel in the link towards a child/parent IAB node. In particular, one BH RLC channel may convey end-user traffic for several dedicated radio bearers (DRBs) and for different UEs which could be connected to different IAB nodes in the network, (Walldeen et al., Paragraph 7),
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention was made to modify Wang et al. by determining an egress radio link control (RLC) channel based on a mapping of the egress RLC channel and identification information regarding to communication between the first user equipment and the second user equipment, (Walldeen et al., Paragraphs 7 and 19), in order to satisfy the end-to-end Quality of Service requirements of bearers, (Walldeen et al., Paragraph 7).
Regarding claims 2, 4 and 8, the cellular communication system wherein the relay node includes a function of a user equipment, [Relay transmission of layer 2 (access layer) is routing forward of control plane and user plane data in the access layer by relay UE, which allows operators (i.e., core network elements and base stations) to manage remote UE more efficiently, (Wang et al., Paragraph 28)].
Regarding claims 5 and 9, a relay node, [Figure 5, Ref # Relay 1], comprising a transceiver circuitry and a processing circuitry operatively associated with the transceiver circuitry, [The block diagram of any logic process in the drawings of the present disclosure may represent program steps, or may represent interconnected logic circuits, modules and functions, or may represent a combination of program steps and logic circuits, modules and functions, (Wang et al., Paragraph 236)], and configured to execute process of: relaying data between a first user equipment and a second user equipment, [As shown in FIG. 6, the UE1 and UE2 establish unicast connection and forward data through an L2 first relay (relay 1), (Wang et al., Paragraph 68)], wherein the relaying includes performing the relay of a layer 2 relay by using the egress RLC channel, [As shown in FIG. 6, the UE1 and UE2 establish unicast connection and forward data through an L2 first relay (relay 1), See Figure 7, Ref # (Wang et al., Paragraph 68)],
Wang et al. fails to explicitly teach determining an egress radio link control (RLC) channel based on a mapping of the egress RLC channel and identification information regarding to communication between the first user equipment and the second user equipment,
Walldeen et al. teaches the BAP layer determines the proper egress BH RLC channel on the basis of the BAP destination, path identities/identifiers (IDs) and ingress BH RLC channel. Same as the above applies also to the upstream, with the only difference that the final destination is always one specific donor DU/CU, (Walldeen et al., Paragraph 19), Walldeen et al. further teaches the BAP layer is in charge of handling the BH RLC channel, e.g. to map an ingress BH RLC channel from a parent/child IAB node to an egress BH RLC channel in the link towards a child/parent IAB node. In particular, one BH RLC channel may convey end-user traffic for several dedicated radio bearers (DRBs) and for different UEs which could be connected to different IAB nodes in the network, (Walldeen et al., Paragraph 7),
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention was made to modify Wang et al. by determining an egress radio link control (RLC) channel based on a mapping of the egress RLC channel and identification information regarding to communication between the first user equipment and the second user equipment, (Walldeen et al., Paragraphs 7 and 19), in order to satisfy the end-to-end Quality of Service requirements of bearers, (Walldeen et al., Paragraph 7).
Regarding claims 6 and 10, the relay node wherein the relay node includes a function of a user equipment, [Relay transmission of layer 2 (access layer) is routing forward of control plane and user plane data in the access layer by relay UE, which allows operators (i.e., core network elements and base stations) to manage remote UE more efficiently, (Wang et al., Paragraph 28)].
Regarding claim 12, the communication control method according to claim 1, wherein the relay node further determines an egress link based on the identification information, and relays the data using the egress RLC channel of the determined egress link, [the BAP layer determines the proper egress BH RLC channel on the basis of the BAP destination, path identities/identifiers (IDs) and ingress BH RLC channel. Same as the above applies also to the upstream, with the only difference that the final destination is always one specific donor DU/CU, (Walldeen et al., Paragraph 19)].
Regarding claim 13, the communication control method according to claim 1, wherein the identification information is included in a header of a packet of the data, and the relay node identifies the egress RLC channel by reading the identification information from the header, [the BAP destination and path ID are included in the header of the BAP packet so that the BAP layer can determine where to forward the packet, (Walldeen et al., Paragraph 20)].
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 11 is 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.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Shukri Taha whose telephone number is 571-270-1921. The examiner can normally be reached on 8:30am-5pm Mon-Fri.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Joseph Avellino can be reached on 571-272-3905.
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/SHUKRI TAHA/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2478
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