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 .
Applicant’s RCE filed 6/18/26 is acknowledged.
Claim 1, 12, and 20 are amended.
Claims 1-9 and 12-20 are pending.
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 6/18/2026 has been entered.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to the independent claim(s) (pages 9-12) in a reply filed 6/18/2026 have been considered but are moot because the arguments are based on newly changed limitations in the amendment and new ground of rejections using newly introduced references or a newly introduced portion of an existing reference are applied in the current rejection.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112:
The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention.
Claim 1, 12, and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention.
As amended, claim 1 recites:
A radio resource control (RRC) connection maintenance method, comprising: establishing, by a primary terminal, a first RRC connection to a network side device, wherein the primary terminal is a terminal among Q terminals, the primary terminal supports transmitting information about some or all of the Q terminals, and the Q terminals support receiving data of a first service together, wherein Q is an integer greater than 1,wherein after the establishing, by the primary terminal, the first RRC connection to the network side device, the method further comprises: performing, by the primary terminal, a second operation, wherein the second operation comprises at least one of the following: receiving second downlink information of a fourth secondary terminal sent by the network side device, and sending the second downlink information to the fourth secondary terminal, wherein the fourth secondary terminal is any secondary terminal among the Q terminals; or receiving second uplink information sent by a fifth secondary terminal, and sending the second uplink information to the network side device, wherein the fifth secondary terminal is any secondary terminal among the Q terminals; wherein the primary terminal is not configured with a packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) layer, and a PDCP protocol data unit (PDCP PDU) of the secondary terminal is forwarded via a radio link control (RLC) bearer of the primary terminal.
After carefully examining the instant disclosure, the examiner respectfully submits that support for this amendment is lacking and the addition of said limitation is new matter. The specification does not disclose the following:
wherein the primary terminal is not configured with a packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) layer
The applicant mentions that the amended limitation is disclosed in [0113-0115] and [0218] of the specification, but the specification does not specifically mention that the primary terminal is not configured with a PDCP layer. Claim 12 and 20 were amended in a similar manner. Claim 2-9 and 13-19 are rejected because they carry the same limitations as the rejected claims.
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.
Claim(s) 1-9, 12-14, and 16-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Fehrenbach et al. US 20200092685 (hereinafter “Fehrenbach”) in view of Paladugu et al. US 20220418015 (hereinafter “Paladugu”)
As to claim 1:
Fehrenbach discloses:
A radio resource control (RRC) connection maintenance method, comprising: establishing, by a primary terminal, a first RRC connection to a network side device, (“Furthermore, the Group Manager UE 11 may be configured to relay a data packet and/or RRC control messages received from its serving eNB 13”, Fehrenbach [0128]) wherein the primary terminal is a terminal among Q terminals, the primary terminal supports transmitting information about some or all of the Q terminals, (“In other words, the Group Manager UE 11 may be configured to relay data packets and/or RRC control messages from other Group Member UEs 12A, 12B of its UE-Group 17 received via, for example the side link shared channel (PSSCH) 23, and to transmit same to the serving eNB 13 it is connected to, for example, via the uplink shared channel (e.g. PUSCH) 21A, 22A.”, Fehrenbach [0127]) and the Q terminals support receiving data of a first service together, (“In other words, the UE 11 may or may not relay other control data (e.g. system information updates, paging or other RRC messages) and/or other user data (e.g. for specific services such as V2X, MTC/IoT or voice services).”, Fehrenbach [0213]) wherein Q is an integer greater than 1. (FIG. 2 shows more than 1 UE in the group, Fehrenbach)
wherein after the establishing, by the primary terminal, the first RRC connection to the network side device, the method further comprises: performing, by the primary terminal, a second operation, wherein the second operation comprises at least one of the following:
receiving second downlink information of a fourth secondary terminal sent by the network side device, and sending the second downlink information to the fourth secondary terminal, wherein the fourth secondary terminal is any secondary terminal among the Q terminals;
or receiving second uplink information sent by a fifth secondary terminal, and sending the second uplink information to the network side device, wherein the fifth secondary terminal is any secondary terminal among the Q terminals; (“This may also work in the other direction (downlink), wherein the Group Member UE may receive predetermined data from the eNB, said predetermined data being relayed by the Group Manager UE from the eNB to the Group Member UE. In other words, the Group Manager UE may receive said predetermined data from the eNB and may relay said predetermined data via the second interface to the one or more of the Group Member UEs.”, Fehrenbach [0063])
Fehrenbach as described above does not explicitly teach:
wherein the primary terminal is not configured with a packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) layer, and a PDCP protocol data unit (PDCP PDU) of the secondary terminal is forwarded via a radio link control (RLC) bearer of the primary terminal.
However, Paladugu further teaches forwarding PDCP PDU which includes:
wherein the primary terminal is not configured with a packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) layer, (FIG. 6 shows that the relay UE or “primary terminal” does not have a PDCP layer, Paladugu)
and a PDCP protocol data unit (PDCP PDU) of the secondary terminal is forwarded via a radio link control (RLC) bearer of the primary terminal. (“In some aspects, the relay UE 120 includes means for receiving, from the remote UE via the sidelink unicast link, a packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) packet data unit (PDU) that includes an adaptation layer header that indicates at least one of: the remote UE identifier associated with the remote UE, or a bearer identifier; means for identifying an RLC channel of the link with the network entity based at least in part on the RLC channel mapping information and the bearer identifier; means for generating a Uu PDCP PDU for the link with the network entity that includes an adaptation layer header that indicates at least one of: the remote UE identifier associated with the remote UE, or the bearer identifier; and/or means for transmitting, to the network entity via the RLC channel, the Uu PDCP PDU for the link with the network entity that includes the adaptation layer header.”, Paladugu [0070])
Fehrenbach and Paladugu are analogous because they pertain to sidelink communication.
Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include forwarding PDCP PDU as described in Paladugu into Fehrenbach. By modifying the method to include forwarding PDCP PDU as taught by Paladugu, the benefits of improved RRC signaling scheme (Fehrenbach [FIG. 7, 8, 17, and 22] and Paladugu [0107]) are achieved.
As to claim 2:
Fehrenbach discloses:
The method according to claim 1, wherein only the primary terminal among the Q terminals establishes an RRC connection to the network side device. (FIG. 2 shows only the Group Manager UE establishing RRC connection with the network side device, Fehrenbach)
As to claim 3:
Fehrenbach discloses:
The method according to claim 2, wherein after the establishing, by a primary terminal, a first RRC connection to a network side device, the method further comprises: sending, by the primary terminal, first information to the network side device, wherein the first information indicates that the primary terminal expects to receive the data of the first service together with other terminals. (“Accordingly, the UE of this aspect may serve as a Relay-UE that relays said predetermined data from the eNB to one or more of the Group Member UEs (downlink), or to relay said predetermined data from one or more of the Group Member UEs to the eNB (uplink). Said predetermined data may, for instance, be portions of the configuration data, any further control information and/or user data.”, Fehrenbach [0049]) (“In other words, the Group Manager UE 11 may be configured to relay data packets and/or RRC control messages from other Group Member UEs 12A, 12B of its UE-Group 17 received via, for example the side link shared channel (PSSCH) 23, and to transmit same to the serving eNB 13 it is connected to, for example, via the uplink shared channel (e.g. PUSCH) 21A, 22A.”, Fehrenbach [0127]) (“In other words, the UE 11 may or may not relay other control data (e.g. system information updates, paging or other RRC messages) and/or other user data (e.g. for specific services such as V2X, MTC/IoT or voice services).”, Fehrenbach [0213])
As to claim 4:
Fehrenbach discloses:
The method according to claim 3, wherein the first information further comprises related information of at least one secondary terminal, and the related information comprises at least one of the following: identification information; authentication information; capability information; or assistance information, wherein the Q terminals comprise the at least one secondary terminal. (“Accordingly, the UE of this aspect may serve as a Relay-UE that relays said predetermined data from the eNB to one or more of the Group Member UEs (downlink), or to relay said predetermined data from one or more of the Group Member UEs to the eNB (uplink). Said predetermined data may, for instance, be portions of the configuration data, any further control information and/or user data.”, Fehrenbach [0049]) (“In other words, the Group Manager UE 11 may be configured to relay data packets and/or RRC control messages from other Group Member UEs 12A, 12B of its UE-Group 17 received via, for example the side link shared channel (PSSCH) 23, and to transmit same to the serving eNB 13 it is connected to, for example, via the uplink shared channel (e.g. PUSCH) 21A, 22A.”, Fehrenbach [0127]) (“In other words, the UE 11 may or may not relay other control data (e.g. system information updates, paging or other RRC messages) and/or other user data (e.g. for specific services such as V2X, MTC/IoT or voice services).”, Fehrenbach [0213])
As to claim 5:
Fehrenbach discloses:
The method according to claim 2, wherein after the establishing, by the primary terminal, the first RRC connection to the network side device, the method further comprises: performing, by the primary terminal, a first operation, wherein the first operation comprises at least one of the following: receiving first downlink information of a first secondary terminal sent by the network side device, and sending the first downlink information to the first secondary terminal, wherein the first secondary terminal is any secondary terminal among the Q terminals; or receiving first uplink information sent by a second secondary terminal, and sending the first uplink information to the network side device, wherein the second secondary terminal is any secondary terminal among the Q terminals. (“This may also work in the other direction (downlink), wherein the Group Member UE may receive predetermined data from the eNB, said predetermined data being relayed by the Group Manager UE from the eNB to the Group Member UE. In other words, the Group Manager UE may receive said predetermined data from the eNB and may relay said predetermined data via the second interface to the one or more of the Group Member UEs.”, Fehrenbach [0063])
As to claim 6:
Fehrenbach discloses:
The method according to claim 5, wherein the information about the secondary terminal meets at least one of the following:
downlink information of the secondary terminal is sent by the network side device in the first security mechanism and is sent by the primary terminal in the second security mechanism;
or the downlink information of the secondary terminal is sent by the network side device in the third security mechanism;
or uplink information of the secondary terminal is sent by the secondary terminal in the second security mechanism and is sent by the primary terminal in a first security mechanism;
or uplink information of the secondary terminal is sent by the secondary terminal in a third security mechanism, wherein the first security mechanism is a security mechanism between the network side device and the primary terminal, the second security mechanism is a security mechanism between the primary terminal and the secondary terminal, and the third security mechanism is a security mechanism between the network side device and the secondary terminal. (“By means of said request message, the UE 11 may request the base station 13 to be authorized and/or allowed to coordinate the communication within the UE Group 17, i.e. to overtake Group Management Functionality. For this, the base station 13 may also communicate with the core network to see if the UE 11 is authorized and/or allowed to become a Group Manager and it may also run a kind of admission control procedure for such functionality.”, Fehrenbach [0148-0149]) (“The Group Manager UE 11A may be configured to ask the base station 13, for example via a RRC control message, if the UE 52A requesting to join the UE-Group 17A is authorized to do so.”, Fehrenbach [0221]) (“According to an example, the core network may be configured to authorize the UE 11 to become a Group Manager UE 11 via a response message and/or to provide security credentials and other required control information.”, Fehrenbach [0286]) (“According to yet a further example, the base station 13 may be configured to connect to a core network and to communicate with a network to request authorization for UEs 11 to become a Group Manager UE 11 and/or to become a Group Member UE 12A, 12B and/or to provide security credentials.”, Fehrenbach [0404])
As to claim 7:
Fehrenbach discloses:
The method according to claim 1, wherein the Q terminals separately establish an RRC connection to the network side device. (FIG. 7, 8, 17, and 22 shows direct RRC connection between UEs, Fehrenbach)
As to claim 8:
Fehrenbach discloses:
The method according to claim 7, wherein after the establishing, by the primary terminal, the first RRC connection to the network side device, the method further comprises at least one of the following:
sending, by the primary terminal, first information to the network side device, wherein the first information indicates that the primary terminal expects to receive the data of the first service together with other terminals;
receiving, by the primary terminal, at least one dedicated random access resource sent by the network side device;
or sending, by the primary terminal, a dedicated random access resource to a third secondary terminal, wherein the third secondary terminal is any secondary terminal among the Q terminals. (“The base station may signal to a UE Group a resource pool and may allocate resources to the UEs. Additionally or alternatively, the UEs of a UE Group may perform random access/LBT (Listen Before Talk). Any data from the UEs may be relayed via the Group Manager UE. This may also be referred to as a scheduled mode with relayed Uplink.”, Fehrenbach [0038]) (“The Group Manager UE may signal to a UE Group the resource pool and resources may be allocated by the Group Manager UE to all the Group Member UEs. Additionally or alternatively, the Group Member UEs within a UE Group perform LBT (Listen Before Talk) or random access (e.g. for IoT Devices).”, Fehrenbach [0038]) (“According to an example, the one or more response messages may comprise configuration information for at least one of a transmission and/or reception handling to be used for UE-to-UE communication within a UE Group 17, an uplink control channel for UE-to-Basestation communication, an uplink data channel for UE-to-Basestation communication, or an uplink random access channel for UE-to-Basestation communication.”, Fehrenbach [0156])
As to claim 9:
Fehrenbach discloses:
The method according to claim 7, wherein after the establishing, by the primary terminal, the first RRC connection to the network side device, the method further comprises: sending, by the primary terminal, second information to the network side device, wherein the second information comprises identification information of Q−1 secondary terminals among the Q terminals. (“Accordingly, the UE of this aspect may serve as a Relay-UE that relays said predetermined data from the eNB to one or more of the Group Member UEs (downlink), or to relay said predetermined data from one or more of the Group Member UEs to the eNB (uplink). Said predetermined data may, for instance, be portions of the configuration data, any further control information and/or user data.”, Fehrenbach [0049]) (“In other words, the Group Manager UE 11 may be configured to relay data packets and/or RRC control messages from other Group Member UEs 12A, 12B of its UE-Group 17 received via, for example the side link shared channel (PSSCH) 23, and to transmit same to the serving eNB 13 it is connected to, for example, via the uplink shared channel (e.g. PUSCH) 21A, 22A.”, Fehrenbach [0127]) (“In other words, the UE 11 may or may not relay other control data (e.g. system information updates, paging or other RRC messages) and/or other user data (e.g. for specific services such as V2X, MTC/IoT or voice services).”, Fehrenbach [0213]) (“In other words, during configuration of the Group manager by the eNB 13 the UE 11 that will become the Group manager may transmit one or more RRC Configuration messages with configuration details of the UE-Group to the serving eNB 13. Said configuration details may comprise information about the UEs 12A, 12B that might be or become part of the UE-Group using certain UE identities (e.g. Common Radio Network Temporary Identity (C-RNTI) for connected UEs or Temporary Mobile Station Identity (TMSI) for Idle UEs or other identities for other UE states. The UEs are thus visible and reachable by the network.”, Fehrenbach [0177]) (“Therefore, the base station 13 according to yet another example may be configured to be connected to a Group Manager UE 11 and to receive at least a portion of the control information from the Group Manager UE 11. Said portion of control information may, for instance, contain a request to add (UE joins) or to remove (UE leaves) a UE 12A, 12B (e.g. with a certain user identity) to/from a UE Group 17 (e.g. with a certain UE Group Identity).”, Fehrenbach [0390])
As to claim 12:
Fehrenbach discloses:
A radio resource control (RRC) connection maintenance method, comprising: performing, by a secondary terminal, a third operation, wherein the third operation comprises at least one of the following:
transmitting information about the secondary terminal between the secondary terminal and the network side device by proxy by using a primary terminal without establishing an RRC connection to the network side device; (“According to this aspect, this UE is a Group Member UE which may communicate with the eNB via the Group Manager UE of its UE-Group, namely in such a manner that said Group Manager UE may relay the predetermined data (e.g. control data and/or user data) between the eNB and the Group Member UE in a way as already explained above.”, Fehrenbach [0061])
or establishing a second RRC connection to the network side device, wherein the secondary terminal is any secondary terminal among Q terminals, the Q terminals support receiving data of a first service together, the Q terminals comprise the primary terminal, and Q is an integer greater than 1. (FIG. 7, 8, 17, and 22 shows direct RRC connection between UEs, Fehrenbach) (“In other words, the UE 11 may or may not relay other control data (e.g. system information updates, paging or other RRC messages) and/or other user data (e.g. for specific services such as V2X, MTC/IoT or voice services).”, Fehrenbach [0213]) (“In other words, the Group Manager UE 11 may be configured to relay data packets and/or RRC control messages from other Group Member UEs 12A, 12B of its UE-Group 17 received via, for example the side link shared channel (PSSCH) 23, and to transmit same to the serving eNB 13 it is connected to, for example, via the uplink shared channel (e.g. PUSCH) 21A, 22A.”, Fehrenbach [0127]) (FIG. 2 shows more than 1 UE in the group, Fehrenbach)
wherein after the primary terminal establishes a first RRC connection to the network side device, the method further comprises at least one of:
receiving second downlink information of the secondary terminal sent by the primary terminal, wherein the second downlink information is sent by the network side device to the primary terminal; or sending second uplink information to the primary terminal, wherein the second uplink information is sent by the primary terminal to the network device; (“This may also work in the other direction (downlink), wherein the Group Member UE may receive predetermined data from the eNB, said predetermined data being relayed by the Group Manager UE from the eNB to the Group Member UE. In other words, the Group Manager UE may receive said predetermined data from the eNB and may relay said predetermined data via the second interface to the one or more of the Group Member UEs.”, Fehrenbach [0063])
Fehrenbach as described above does not explicitly teach:
wherein the primary terminal is not configured with a packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) layer, and a PDCP protocol data unit (PDCP PDU) of the secondary terminal is forwarded via a radio link control (RLC) bearer of the primary terminal.
However, Paladugu further teaches forwarding PDCP PDU which includes:
wherein the primary terminal is not configured with a packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) layer, (FIG. 6 shows that the relay UE or “primary terminal” does not have a PDCP layer, Paladugu)
and a PDCP protocol data unit (PDCP PDU) of the secondary terminal is forwarded via a radio link control (RLC) bearer of the primary terminal. (“In some aspects, the relay UE 120 includes means for receiving, from the remote UE via the sidelink unicast link, a packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) packet data unit (PDU) that includes an adaptation layer header that indicates at least one of: the remote UE identifier associated with the remote UE, or a bearer identifier; means for identifying an RLC channel of the link with the network entity based at least in part on the RLC channel mapping information and the bearer identifier; means for generating a Uu PDCP PDU for the link with the network entity that includes an adaptation layer header that indicates at least one of: the remote UE identifier associated with the remote UE, or the bearer identifier; and/or means for transmitting, to the network entity via the RLC channel, the Uu PDCP PDU for the link with the network entity that includes the adaptation layer header.”, Paladugu [0070])
Fehrenbach and Paladugu are analogous because they pertain to sidelink communication.
Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include forwarding PDCP PDU as described in Paladugu into Fehrenbach. By modifying the method to include forwarding PDCP PDU as taught by Paladugu, the benefits of improved RRC signaling scheme (Fehrenbach [FIG. 7, 8, 17, and 22] and Paladugu [0107]) are achieved.
As to claim 13:
Fehrenbach discloses:
The method according to claim 12, wherein the information about the secondary terminal meets at least one of the following:
downlink information of the secondary terminal is sent by the network side device in a first security mechanism and is sent by the primary terminal in a second security mechanism; or the downlink information of the secondary terminal is sent by the network side device in the third security mechanism;
or the uplink information of the secondary terminal is sent by the secondary terminal in the second security mechanism and is sent by the primary terminal in the first security mechanism;
or the uplink information of the secondary terminal is sent by the secondary terminal in the third security mechanism, wherein the first security mechanism is a security mechanism between the network side device and the primary terminal, the second security mechanism is a security mechanism between the primary terminal and the secondary terminal, and the third security mechanism is a security mechanism between the network side device and the secondary terminal. (“By means of said request message, the UE 11 may request the base station 13 to be authorized and/or allowed to coordinate the communication within the UE Group 17, i.e. to overtake Group Management Functionality. For this, the base station 13 may also communicate with the core network to see if the UE 11 is authorized and/or allowed to become a Group Manager and it may also run a kind of admission control procedure for such functionality.”, Fehrenbach [0148-0149]) (“The Group Manager UE 11A may be configured to ask the base station 13, for example via a RRC control message, if the UE 52A requesting to join the UE-Group 17A is authorized to do so.”, Fehrenbach [0221]) (“According to an example, the core network may be configured to authorize the UE 11 to become a Group Manager UE 11 via a response message and/or to provide security credentials and other required control information.”, Fehrenbach [0286]) (“According to yet a further example, the base station 13 may be configured to connect to a core network and to communicate with a network to request authorization for UEs 11 to become a Group Manager UE 11 and/or to become a Group Member UE 12A, 12B and/or to provide security credentials.”, Fehrenbach [0404])
As to claim 14:
Fehrenbach discloses:
The method according to claim 12, wherein the establishing, by the secondary terminal, the second RRC connection to the network side device comprises: receiving, by the secondary terminal, a dedicated random access resource sent by the primary terminal; and using, by the secondary terminal, the dedicated random access resource to establish the second RRC connection to the network side device. (“The configuration data may also include physical resources of the second interface (e.g. side link resources). The Group Manager UE may assign these resources to the Group Member UEs and/or may signal the respective allocated resources to the respective Group Member UE via its respective second interface. This may also be done by using a corresponding message via the second interface (e.g. side link message).”, Fehrenbach [0042]) (FIG. 7, 8, 17, and 22 shows direct RRC connection between UEs, Fehrenbach)
As to claim 16:
Fehrenbach discloses:
The method according to claim 12, wherein after the establishing, by the secondary terminal, the second RRC connection to the network side device, the method further comprises: performing, by the secondary terminal, a fourth operation, wherein the fourth operation comprises at least one of the following:
transmitting the information about the secondary terminal through a first interface, wherein the first interface is a communications interface between the secondary terminal and the network side device;
or transferring the information about the secondary terminal between the secondary terminal and the network side device by using a first target terminal, wherein the first target terminal is any other secondary terminal among the Q terminals. (“FIG. 6 shows a cellular network according to the, conventional technology with full coverage transmission in LTE (left) versus beam sweeping in 5G (right). FIG. 7 shows an example of reception of downlink data (e.g. system information updates, paging/RRC messages and small packets) directly from the base station 13 or relayed via the Group Manager UE 11. FIG. 8 shows an example of transmission of data (e.g. uplink RRC messages, PUCCH scheduling requests or small packets) directly to the base station 13 or relayed via the Group Manager UE 11”, Fehrenbach [0406]) (FIG. 7, 8, 17, and 22 shows direct RRC connection between UEs, Fehrenbach)
As to claim 17:
Fehrenbach discloses:
The method according to claim 16, wherein in a case that the information about the secondary terminal is transferred by using the first target terminal, the information about the secondary terminal meets: a passed PDCP layer is located at the secondary terminal, and a passed RLC layer is located at the first target terminal. (“In other words, during configuration of the Group manager by the eNB 13 the UE 11 that will become the Group Manager may receive and process one or more RRC Reconfiguration messages with configuration details from the serving eNB 13.”, Fehrenbach [0172]) (“Said RRC Reconfiguration messages may contain, for example, information for the uplink shared channel (e.g. PUSCH) for data transmission e.g. user plane information of PHY, MAC, RLC and PDCP layer”, Fehrenbach [0175]) (“In other words, the Group Manager UE 11 may be configured to relay data packets and/or RRC control messages from other Group Member UEs 12A, 12B of its UE-Group 17 received via, for example the side link shared channel (PSSCH) 23, and to transmit same to the serving eNB 13 it is connected to, for example, via the uplink shared channel (e.g. PUSCH) 21A, 22A.”, Fehrenbach [0127]) (Examiner’s Note: it is not clear what is exactly meant by “passed”)
As to claim 18:
Fehrenbach discloses:
A radio resource control (RRC) connection maintenance apparatus, comprising: a memory, a processor and a computer program stored in the memory and executable by the processor, wherein the processor executes the computer program to implement steps of the RRC connection maintenance method according to claim 1. (“Methods performed by any of the above mentioned apparatuses and computer program for instructing a processor to perform, when executed by said processor, any of these methods.”, Fehrenbach [0785]) (“Some embodiments according to the invention comprise a non-transitory data carrier having electronically readable control signals, which are capable of cooperating with a programmable computer system, such that one of the methods described herein is performed.”, Fehrenbach [0892])
As to claim 19:
Fehrenbach discloses:
A radio resource control (RRC) connection maintenance apparatus, comprising: a memory, a processor and a computer program stored in the memory and executable by the processor, wherein the processor executes the computer program to implement steps of the RRC connection maintenance method according to claim 12. (“Methods performed by any of the above mentioned apparatuses and computer program for instructing a processor to perform, when executed by said processor, any of these methods.”, Fehrenbach [0785]) (“Some embodiments according to the invention comprise a non-transitory data carrier having electronically readable control signals, which are capable of cooperating with a programmable computer system, such that one of the methods described herein is performed.”, Fehrenbach [0892])
As to claim 20:
Fehrenbach discloses:
A radio resource control (RRC) connection maintenance apparatus, comprising: a memory, a processor and a computer program stored in the memory and executable by the processor, wherein the processor executes the computer program to: (“Methods performed by any of the above mentioned apparatuses and computer program for instructing a processor to perform, when executed by said processor, any of these methods.”, Fehrenbach [0785]) (“Some embodiments according to the invention comprise a non-transitory data carrier having electronically readable control signals, which are capable of cooperating with a programmable computer system, such that one of the methods described herein is performed.”, Fehrenbach [0892]) maintain P RRC connections, wherein the P RRC connections are located between the network side device and a second target terminal, the second target terminal comprises some or all of the Q terminals, (FIG. 7, 8, 17, and 22 shows direct RRC connection between UEs, Fehrenbach) and the Q terminals support receiving data of a first service together, (“In other words, the UE 11 may or may not relay other control data (e.g. system information updates, paging or other RRC messages) and/or other user data (e.g. for specific services such as V2X, MTC/IoT or voice services).”, Fehrenbach [0213]) wherein P is a positive integer, and Q is an integer greater than 1. (FIG. 7, 8, 17, and 22 shows direct RRC connection between UEs, Fehrenbach) (FIG. 2 shows more than 1 UE in the group, Fehrenbach)
wherein after a primary terminal establishes a first RRC connection to the network side device, the processor further executes the computer program to at least one of: sending second downlink information of a secondary terminal to the primary terminal, wherein the second downlink information is sent by the primary terminal to the p secondary terminal; or receiving second uplink information from the primary terminal, wherein the second uplink information is sent by the secondary terminal to the primary terminal; wherein the primary terminal is a terminal among Q terminals, the primary terminal supports transmitting information about some or all of the Q terminals, the secondary terminal is any terminal among the Q terminals excluding the primary terminal; (“This may also work in the other direction (downlink), wherein the Group Member UE may receive predetermined data from the eNB, said predetermined data being relayed by the Group Manager UE from the eNB to the Group Member UE. In other words, the Group Manager UE may receive said predetermined data from the eNB and may relay said predetermined data via the second interface to the one or more of the Group Member UEs.”, Fehrenbach [0063])
Fehrenbach as described above does not explicitly teach:
wherein the primary terminal is not configured with a packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) layer, and a PDCP protocol data unit (PDCP PDU) of the secondary terminal is forwarded via a radio link control (RLC) bearer of the primary terminal.
However, Paladugu further teaches forwarding PDCP PDU which includes:
wherein the primary terminal is not configured with a packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) layer, (FIG. 6 shows that the relay UE or “primary terminal” does not have a PDCP layer, Paladugu)
and a PDCP protocol data unit (PDCP PDU) of the secondary terminal is forwarded via a radio link control (RLC) bearer of the primary terminal. (“In some aspects, the relay UE 120 includes means for receiving, from the remote UE via the sidelink unicast link, a packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) packet data unit (PDU) that includes an adaptation layer header that indicates at least one of: the remote UE identifier associated with the remote UE, or a bearer identifier; means for identifying an RLC channel of the link with the network entity based at least in part on the RLC channel mapping information and the bearer identifier; means for generating a Uu PDCP PDU for the link with the network entity that includes an adaptation layer header that indicates at least one of: the remote UE identifier associated with the remote UE, or the bearer identifier; and/or means for transmitting, to the network entity via the RLC channel, the Uu PDCP PDU for the link with the network entity that includes the adaptation layer header.”, Paladugu [0070])
Fehrenbach and Paladugu are analogous because they pertain to sidelink communication.
Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include forwarding PDCP PDU as described in Paladugu into Fehrenbach. By modifying the method to include forwarding PDCP PDU as taught by Paladugu, the benefits of improved RRC signaling scheme (Fehrenbach [FIG. 7, 8, 17, and 22] and Paladugu [0107]) are achieved.
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.
Claim(s) 15 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Fehrenbach in view of Paladugu, as applied to claim 12 above, and further in view of Li et al. US 20180027429 (hereinafter “Li”)
As to claim 15:
The combination of Fehrenbach and Paladugu as described above does not explicitly teach:
The method according to claim 12, wherein after the establishing, by the secondary terminal, the second RRC connection to the network side device, the method further comprises: sending, by the secondary terminal, third information to the network side device, wherein the third information comprises identification information of the primary terminal.
However, Li further teaches secondary terminal sending identification information of the primary terminal which includes:
The method according to claim 12, wherein after the establishing, by the secondary terminal, the second RRC connection to the network side device, the method further comprises: sending, by the secondary terminal, third information to the network side device, wherein the third information comprises identification information of the primary terminal. (“Optionally, the relay request message may further include at least one of the following: indication information of the data that needs assistance relay, a magnitude of a data amount of the data that needs assistance relay, a buffer size of the data that needs assistance relay, a service type of the data that needs assistance relay, an identity (ID) of relay UE to be preferentially selected, an ID of a cell on which the first UE last camps, an ID of a base station of a cell on which the first UE last camps, a destination cell ID of relay data, or a target ID of group communication.”, Li [0507]) (FIG. 11, Li) (“Specifically, the base station 10 may send the D2D relay configuration information at a specified time or periodically in a broadcast manner or by using dedicated signaling. For example, the dedicated signaling may be radio resource control (RRC) signaling.”, Li [0087])
Li, Paladugu, and Fehrenbach are analogous because they both pertain to UEs communicating through primary UE.
Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include secondary terminal sending identification information of the primary terminal as described in Li into Fehrenbach as modified by Paladugu. By modifying the method to include secondary terminal sending identification information of the primary terminal as taught by Li, the benefits of improved RRC signaling scheme (Fehrenbach [FIG. 7, 8, 17, and 22], Paladugu [0107], and Li [0087]) are achieved.
Conclusion
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/A.C.K./
Examiner
Art Unit 2471
/SUJOY K KUNDU/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2471
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