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 .
Claim Interpretation
The claims have been determined to have a significant amount of alternative language (including a lot of nesting “at least one” statements and “in a case (if-then) statements), disjoint limitations and non-functional descriptive material. While not rising to the level of 112(b) indefiniteness, this does mean that the claims have “vague breadth” and don’t tie elements cohesively as a singular inventive concept. As such, the claims will be given their broadest reasonable interpretation, including the fact that only one element per alternative language needs to be met, and that the limitations may be treated as separate instances.
Significant rewriting of the claims is recommended.
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) 1-2, 6, 9-11, 16, 18-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Xing et al. (12,501,305).
For claim 1, Xing teaches an information acquisition method (abstract, background, summary and claims; col. 20, line 15 – col. 21, line 30), comprising: performing, by a remote terminal (col. 20, lines 35-55), a first operation (col. 44, lines 50-65), wherein the first operation satisfies at least one of the following:
in a case that the remote terminal is within coverage of a same cell as a relay terminal, the first operation comprises at least a first sub-operation (N/A);
in a case that the remote terminal is not within the coverage of the same cell as the relay terminal or that the remote terminal is not covered by any cell, the first operation is a second sub-operation; or the first operation is determined based on whether the remote terminal has searched out a target cell, wherein the target cell is a serving cell covering the relay terminal (N/A);
the first operation is determined based on an indication of a minimum system information set (N/A); or
the first operation is determined based on whether the remote terminal has established a sidelink connection (col. 21, line 40 – col. 22, line 50) to the relay terminal (col. 20, lines 50-col. 21, line 5), wherein
the first sub-operation is to acquire system information through a first interface, the first interface is an air interface between the remote terminal and a cell, and the second sub-operation is to acquire system information through the relay terminal (N/A).
For claim 2, Xing teaches that in a case that the first operation comprises at least the first sub-operation, a first part of system information in the system information is acquired through the first interface (col. 20, lines 20-35), and a second part of system information in the system information is acquired through at least one of the first interface and the relay terminal (col. 31, lines 1-30); wherein the acquisition of the second part of system information satisfies at least one of the following:
the remote terminal acquires the second part of system information through the first interface or the relay terminal (col. 32, lines 30-50);
the remote terminal acquires the second part of system information through at least one of the first interface and the relay terminal (col. 32, lines 30-50) in descending order of system information acquisition priorities of the first interface and the relay terminal (col. 36, lines 25-40);
in a case that the second part of system information fails to be acquired through the first interface, the remote terminal acquires the second part of system information through the relay terminal (N/A); or
in a case that the second part of system information fails to be acquired through the relay terminal, the remote terminal acquires the second part of system information through the first interface (N/A).
For claim 6, Xing teaches wherein in a case that the first operation comprises the second sub-operation, the system information acquired by the remote terminal through the relay terminal comprises at least one of the following:
valid system information stored in the relay terminal (N/A);
first system information requested by the relay terminal from the target cell based on a system information request of the remote terminal (col. 32, lines 30-50); or
second system information requested by the remote terminal from the target cell through the relay terminal (col. 32, lines 30-50).
For claim 9, Xing teaches wherein in a case that the system information comprises updated system information (col. 22, lines 5-25), the performing, by a remote terminal, a first operation comprises at least one of the following:
in a case that the updated system information is broadcast by the relay terminal, receiving, by the remote terminal, the updated system information through the relay terminal (N/A);
in a case that the updated system information is sent by the relay terminal by using a dedicated sidelink RRC message, receiving, by the remote terminal, the system information carried by the dedicated sidelink RRC message (N/A);
in a case that the updated system information is broadcast by the target cell and that the remote terminal is within coverage of the target cell (col. 36, lines 10-40), receiving, by the remote terminal, the updated system information through the first interface (col. 31, lines 1-20) or
in a case that the updated system information is not broadcast by the relay terminal and that the remote terminal is not within coverage of the target cell, requesting, by the remote terminal, the updated system information from the target cell through the relay terminal (N/A).
For claim 10, Xing teaches an information sending method (abstract, background, summary and claims), comprising:
in a case that a second condition is satisfied, sending, by a relay terminal (col. 20, lines 50-col. 21, line 5), at least part of system information (col. 31, lines 1-30) to a remote terminal (col. 20, lines 35-55), wherein
the second condition comprises at least one of the following:
the remote terminal is within coverage of a same cell as the relay terminal (N/A), the remote terminal is not within the coverage of the same cell as the relay terminal (N/A), or the remote terminal is not covered by any cell (N/A);
a minimum system information set instructs the remote terminal to acquire system information through the relay terminal (N/A); or
the relay terminal (col. 20, lines 50-col. 21, line 5) has established a sidelink connection to the remote terminal (col. 21, line 40 – col. 22, line 50).
For claim 11, Xing teaches that the second condition further comprises at least one of the following:
a system information acquisition priority of the relay terminal is higher than a system information acquisition priority of a first interface, wherein the first interface is an air interface between the remote terminal and a cell (N/A); or
the remote terminal fails to acquire a second part of system information through the first interface (N/A); or,
wherein the at least part of system information comprises at least one of the following:
the minimum system information set or at least part of system information other than the minimum system information set (N/A);
at least part of system information not broadcast by a target cell (N/A);
at least part of system information whose forwarding is supported by the relay terminal (N/A);
at least part of system information provided by the target cell (N/A);
at least part of updated system information (col. 31, lines 1-20);
valid system information stored in the relay terminal (N/A); or
second system information requested by the remote terminal from the target cell through the relay terminal (col. 32, lines 30-50).
For claim 16, Xing teaches an information sending method (abstract, background, summary and claims), comprising:
sending, by a network-side device, configuration information (col. 21, lines 1-15), wherein the configuration information is used to configure behavior information (col. 21, lines 15-55) of a relay terminal (col. 20, lines 55-67), wherein
the behavior information comprises at least one of the following:
actively sending, by the relay terminal, a third part of system information to a remote terminal (col. 21, line 55 – col. 22, line 25); or
after receiving a request from the remote terminal, sending, by the relay terminal, a fourth part of system information to the remote terminal (col. 22, lines 25-65).
For claim 18, Xing teaches a terminal, comprising a processor, a memory (col. 57, line 35 - col. 59, line 25), and a program or instructions stored in the memory and capable of running on the processor (col. 59, lines 25-55), wherein when the program or instructions are executed by the processor, the steps of the information acquisition method according to claim 1 are implemented.
For claim 19, Xing teaches a terminal, comprising a processor, a memory (col. 57, line 35 - col. 59, line 25), and a program or instructions stored in the memory and capable of running on the processor (col. 59, lines 25-55), wherein when the program or instructions are executed by the processor, the steps of the information acquisition method according to claim 10 are implemented.
For claim 20, Xing teaches a network-side device, comprising a processor, a memory (col. 57, line 35 - col. 59, line 25), and a program or instructions stored in the memory and capable of running on the processor (col. 59, lines 25-55), wherein when the program or instructions are executed by the processor, the steps of the information sending method according to claim 16 are implemented.
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) 3, 7, 17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Xing as applied to claims 2, 6, 16 above, and further in view of Zhang et al. (12,490,175).
For claim 3, Xing does not expressly disclose the elements. Zhang teaches a method and system (abstract) in the relevant art (background, summary and claims) wherein:
wherein the first part of system information comprises at least one of the following:
the minimum system information set (N/A);
a master information block (MIB) and a system information block 1 (SIB1) (col. 11, lines 55-67);
system information broadcast by the target cell (col. 11, lines 64-67);
system information not forwarded by the relay terminal (N/A); or
system information requested by the remote terminal (col. 12, lines 1-50); or,
wherein the second part of system information comprises at least one of the following:
the minimum system information set or at least part of system information other than the minimum system information set (col. 12, line 50 – col. 13, line 15);
at least part of system information not broadcast by the target cell (N/A);
at least part of system information whose forwarding is supported by the relay terminal (N/A);
at least part of system information provided by the target cell (N/A); or
at least part of updated system information (col. 12, lines 25-50);
wherein the at least part of updated system information is indicated by at least one of the following: the minimum system information set (col. 12, line 50 – col. 13, line 15); a sidelink discovery signal (N/A); a sidelink relay discovery signal (N/A); a broadcast message of the relay terminal (N/A); and a multicast message of the relay terminal (N/A).
At the time of filing, one of ordinary skill in the art would have added Zhang in order to provide improvements to the handling of system information and cell selection (col. 3, lines 1-30).
For claim 7, Xing does not expressly disclose the limitations. Zhang teaches wherein in a case that the system information comprises the first system information, the performing, by a remote terminal, a first operation comprises:
sending, by the remote terminal, a first request to the relay terminal, wherein the first request is used to request the first system information (col. 12, lines 1-50); and
receiving, by the remote terminal, the first system information through the first interface (col. 21, lines 5-25);
wherein the first system information is broadcast by the target cell, or sent by the target cell over an RRC connection between the target cell and the remote terminal (col. 12, lines 50-65).
For claim 17, Xing does not expressly disclose the limitations. Zhang teaches wherein the actively sending, by the relay terminal, a third part of system information to a remote terminal comprises:
actively broadcasting or multicasting, by the relay terminal, the third part of system information to the remote terminal (col. 12, lines 50-65); or,
wherein the third part of system information comprises at least one of the following:
a minimum system information set (N/A);
a master information block (MIB) and a system information block 1 (SIB1) (col. 11, lines 55-67);
system information broadcast by a target cell (col. 11, lines 64-67);
system information not forwarded by the relay terminal (N/A); and
system information requested by the remote terminal (col. 12, lines 1-50); or,
wherein the fourth part of system information comprises at least one of the following:
a minimum system information set or at least part of system information other than the minimum system information set (col. 12, line 50 – col. 13, line 15);
at least part of system information not broadcast by a target cell (N/A);
at least part of system information whose forwarding is supported by the relay terminal (N/A);
at least part of system information provided by the target cell (N/A); or
at least part of updated system information (col. 12, lines 25-50).
Claim(s) 4, 8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Xing as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Fehrenbach et al. (12,457,532).
For claim 4., Xing does not expressly disclose the elements. Fehrenbach teaches a method and system (abstract) in the relevant art (background, summary and claims) wherein in a case that the first operation is determined based on whether the remote terminal has searched out the target cell (col. 19, lines 15-45), the first operation satisfies at least one of the following:
in a case that a first condition (col. 9, lines 30-45) is satisfied, the first operation comprises at least the first sub-operation (col. 9, lines 20-30); or
in a case that the first condition is not satisfied, the first operation is the second sub-operation (col. 8, line 55 – col. 9, line 20), wherein
the first condition comprises that the remote terminal has searched out the target cell and that the remote terminal is within coverage of the target cell (col. 9, lines 45-55).
At the time the invention was filed, one of ordinary skill in the art would have added Fehrenbach in order to provide improvements to robustness in remote networking (col. 1, line 50 – col. 2, line 30).
For claim 8, Fehrenbach teaches wherein the minimum system information set comprises at least one of the following:
at least part of information in a MIB (N/A);
at least part of information in a SIB1 (N/A);
at least part of information in a system information block 12 (SIB12) (N/A);
configuration information of a sidelink resource pool, wherein the sidelink resource pool comprises at least one of the following: a sidelink data transmission resource pool (col. 24, lines 35-45), a sidelink relay discovery signal resource pool (N/A), and a sidelink discovery signal resource pool (N/A);
a system information block (SIB) related to the configuration information (col. 20, lines 5-20); or
reference signal received power (RSRP) threshold information of the remote terminal (col. 13, lines 10-25); or,
wherein the system information comprises at least one of the following: system information corresponding to N broadcast groups; and system information corresponding to M multicast groups, wherein both N and M are positive integers (col. 20, lines 20-30).
For claim 15, Fehrenbach teaches wherein the minimum system information set comprises at least one of the following:
at least part of information in a MIB (N/A);
at least part of information in a SIB1 (N/A);
at least part of information in a system information block 12 (SIB12) (N/A);
configuration information of a sidelink resource pool, wherein the sidelink resource pool comprises at least one of the following: a sidelink data transmission resource pool (col. 24, lines 35-45), a sidelink relay discovery signal resource pool (N/A), and a sidelink discovery signal resource pool (N/A);
a system information block SIB related to the configuration information (col. 20, lines 5-20); or
reference signal received power (RSRP) threshold information of the remote terminal (col. 13, lines 10-25); or,
wherein the at least part of system information comprises at least one of the following: system information corresponding to N broadcast groups; and system information corresponding to M multicast groups, wherein both N and M are positive integers (col. 20, lines 20-30).
Claim(s) 5, 12, 14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Xing as applied to claims 1, 10, 11 above, and further in view of Paladugu et al. (12,464,434).
For claim 5, Xing does not expressly disclose the limitations. Paladugu teaches a method (abstract) in the relevant art (background, summary and claims) that further teaches that wherein in a case that the first operation is the second sub-operation, at least part of system information in the system information is broadcast (col. 8, line 50 – col. 9, line 20) or multicast (col. 13, lines 45-55) by the relay terminal (col. 8, line 50 – col. 9, line 20); wherein that at least part of system information is broadcast or multicast comprises at least one of the following:
the at least part of system information is sent by using a sidelink relay discovery signal resource pool (N/A) or a sidelink discovery signal resource pool (col. 16, lines 35-60); or
the at least part of system information is sent by using a sidelink data communication resource pool (col. 16, lines 35-60).
At the time of filing, one of ordinary skill in the art would have added Paladugu in order to provide improvements to sidelink signaling (col. 1, lines 20-55).
For claim 12, Xing does not expressly disclose the limitations. Paladugu teaches wherein
the at least part of system information whose forwarding is supported by the relay terminal is indicated by first information sent by the relay terminal (col. 8, line 50 – col. 9, line 20), and the first information is carried in a broadcast message (col. 8, line 50 – col. 9, line 20), a multicast message (col. 13, lines 45-55), or dedicated signaling (N/A); or,
wherein the at least part of updated system information is indicated by at least one of the following: the minimum system information set (N/A); a sidelink discovery signal (col. 16, lines 35-60); a sidelink relay discovery signal (N/A); a broadcast message of the relay terminal (col. 8, line 50 – col. 9, line 20); and a multicast message of the relay terminal (col. 13, lines 45-55); or,
wherein the valid system information or the second system information is carried by a sidelink radio resource control (RRC) message sent by the relay terminal or a sidelink RRC container sent by the relay terminal (N/A).
For claim 14, Paladugu teaches wherein the at least part of system information is broadcast or multicast by the relay terminal (col. 8, line 50 – col. 9, line 20); wherein that the at least part of system information is broadcast (col. 8, line 50 – col. 9, line 20) or multicast (col. 13, lines 45-55) comprises at least one of the following:
the at least part of system information is sent by using a sidelink relay discovery signal resource pool (N/A) or a sidelink discovery signal resource pool (col. 16, lines 35-60); or
the at least part of system information is sent by using a sidelink data communication resource pool (col. 16, lines 35-60).
Claim(s) 13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Xing as applied to claim 11 above, and further in view of Nguyen et al. (12,323,947).
For claim 13, Xing does not expressly disclose the combination of elements (but does teach some of the elements in the case, as shown above). Nguyen teaches a method and system (abstract) in the relevant art (background, summary and claims; col. 3, line 20-col. 4, line 15) wherein in a case that the at least part of system information comprises the second system information, the sending, by a relay terminal (col. 5, lines 15-20), at least part of system information to a remote terminal (col. 4, lines 15-25) comprises:
receiving, by the relay terminal (col. 7, lines 45-55), a second request sent by the remote terminal, wherein the second request is used to request the second system information (col. 7, lines 10-45);
forwarding, by the relay terminal, the second request to the target cell (col. 4, lines 25-65);
receiving, by the relay terminal, the second system information (col. 12, lines 1-60) sent by the target cell (col. 9, lines 5-35); and
forwarding, by the relay terminal, the second system information to the remote terminal (col. 19, lines 20-50).
At the time of filing, one of ordinary skill in the art would have added Nguyen in order to provide improvements to the sidelink connectivity and relay elements (col. 1, lines 20-55).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Many of the elements designated N/A are taught by various elements of the cited art and may be brought in by a later office action.
The designation “N/A” is merely an element that the limitation was not searched for in the art because a different limitation in the “nested or” section was found, and thus the or branch as a whole is found. It is not meant to be a concession that the limitation could not be found in the particular art, let alone have any bearing on whether the element is novel or taught in a different combinable piece of art.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MELVIN H POLLACK whose telephone number is (571)272-3887. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8:30-5:00.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Oscar Louie can be reached at (571)270-1684. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/MELVIN H POLLACK/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2445