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 .
Claims 1-20 are pending.
Claim Objections
Claims 1-20 are objected to because of the following informalities: abbreviations should be in parentheses. Appropriate correction is required.
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)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1-2, 12-13, 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Kim et al. US 20200178343.
Regarding claim 12, A sidelink SL UE (UE, Figure 26, element 2620), comprising a processor (element 2621), a memory (element 2622), and a program or instructions stored in the memory and capable of running on the processor, wherein when the program or the instructions are executed by the processor, implements: in a case that a relay terminal Relay UE is in a radio resource control idle state RRC_IDLE or a radio resource control inactive state RRC_INACTIVE (the eRelay-UE is in an ECM-IDLE state, para. 0810), determining, by the Relay UE, whether a first condition is satisfied; and triggering, by the Relay UE, an RRC connection establishment or RRC connection recovery procedure in a case that the Relay UE satisfies the first condition (a RRC connection request by an eRelay UE internal behavior from the eRelay-UE itself and a RRC connection request by the connection activation from the eRemote-UE are triggered, the eRelay-UE may initiate the RRC connection request to the eNB, para. 0820); wherein the first condition comprises one or more of the following: the Relay UE determines to provide a relay service for one or more remote terminals Remote UEs; and the Relay UE receives one or more first messages from one or more Remote UEs, wherein each of the first messages carries a first cause value cause value of each of the Remote UEs for requesting RRC connection recovery or RRC connection establishment (when the eRemote UE performs a RRC connection request procedure through the eRelay UE, if a RRC connection request procedure of the eRelay UE should be performed at a time at which the eRelay UE is in an idle state, if the eRemote UE performs the RRC connection with the network via the eRelay UE, the eRelay UE may include the RRC establishment cause of the relay UE (a cause why the relay UE requests RRC connection/establishment) in a RRC connection request message and send it to the eNB, para. 0810-0811).
Regarding claim 13, The sidelink SL UE according to claim 12, wherein in a case that the Relay UE is in RRC_IDLE, the triggering, by the Relay UE, an RRC connection establishment procedure is determined by a non-access stratum NAS of the Relay UE; and in a case that the Relay UE is in RRC_INACTIVE, the triggering, by the Relay UE, an RRC connection recovery procedure is determined by an access stratum AS of the Relay UE (when the eRemote UE performs a RRC connection request procedure through the eRelay UE, if a RRC connection request procedure of the eRelay UE should be performed at a time at which the eRelay UE is in an idle state, if the eRemote UE performs the RRC connection with the network via the eRelay UE, the eRelay UE may include the RRC establishment cause of the relay UE (a cause why the relay UE requests RRC connection/establishment) in a RRC connection request message and send it to the eNB, para. 0810-0811).
Claims 1-2 and 20 are rejected under the same rationale.
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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claim(s) 3 and 14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kim in view of Leng et al. US 20230397265.
Regarding claim 14, The sidelink SL UE according to claim 12, Kim does not disclose wherein when the program or instructions are executed by a processor, further implements: determining, by the AS of the Relay UE, target information, wherein the target information comprises a second cause value and/or a second access category AC; and sending, by the AS of the Relay UE, first indication information to the NAS of the Relay UE, and determining, by the NAS of the Relay UE, the target information based on the first indication information, wherein the target information comprises at least one of the second cause value, the second AC, and trigger of a NAS signaling procedure.
Leng discloses a method for establishing relay connection, which may include that: a relay UE sends a first connection establishment request message to a network device, the first connection establishment request message carries a connection establishment cause value, and the first connection establishment request message is configured to request the establishment of a connection between the relay UE and the network device, para. 0004.
Leng discloses a Non Access Stratum (NAS) of the UE may obtain the RRC establishment cause according to the mapping of an access identifier and an access category while initiating the call, the RRC establishment cause is encoded in the RRCSetupRequest message by the RRC layer and sent to the network device, para. 0031.
Leng discloses the connection establishment cause value may be sent to the relay UE by the remote UE, the connection establishment cause value may be sent to an Access Stratum (AS) entity of the relay UE by the remote UE, the connection establishment cause value is determined by the AS entity of the relay UE according to a protocol, the connection establishment cause value corresponds to a relay manner of the relay UE, a relay based on layer 2 corresponds to a connection establishment cause value of 1, and a relay based on layer 3 corresponds to a connection establishment cause value of 2, the connection establishment cause value is sent to an NAS entity of the relay UE by the remote UE, and then sent to the AS entity of the relay UE by the NAS entity or the connection establishment cause value is determined by the NAS entity of the relay UE according to the protocol, para. 0040. Before the filing of the invention it would have been obvious to modify Kim to include Leng’s relay connection method and establishment. One of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to do so for higher spectral efficiency and lower transmission time delay, para, 0021.
Claim 3 is rejected under the same rationale.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4-11,15-19 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.
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 MELANIE JAGANNATHAN whose telephone number is (571)272-3163. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9-5.
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, Marcus Smith can be reached at 571-270-1096. 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.
/MELANIE JAGANNATHAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2468