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 .
DETAILED ACTION
This action is in response to communications filed 06/02/2026.
Claims 1-3, 5-13, 15-26, and 28-30 are currently pending in the application.
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 06/02/2026 has been entered.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 05/20/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Applicant states on page 7 of remarks that “a person of ordinary skill would understand, especially in view of the specification of the present application, that data is different than just any sort of indication…there is extensive descriptions in the present application regarding control information and data”. The claims must stand on their own and the content of the specification cannot be read into the claims. Additionally, the term ‘data’ is extremely broad and can be interpreted in multiple different ways. The broadest reasonable interpretation of the claim language can be used. Data, according to Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines the word as “information in digital form that can be transmitted or processed” (see NPL attached).
Page 7 of applicant’s remarks asserts that Kim itself teaches that the PC5 message is different from data. However, simply because a message notifies of data that needs to be transmitted, doesn’t mean that the message in and of itself does not contain any data. Any information can be data, including an indication. Examiner encourages applicant to amend the claim language to clarify the intended meaning and the invention.
Applicant argues on pg. 8 of remarks that Kim does not teach or suggest “the first message comprises a sidelink RRC reconfiguration message”. However, this argument is moot as newly cited Bangolae does teach this feature and a claim mapping has been provided below. Please see claim rejections section for more details
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.
Claims 1-3, 5-13, 15-26, and 28-30 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kim (Pub. No.: US 2019/0394816 A1) in view of Bangolae (WO 2017/099833 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Kim teaches
A method for wireless communications performed by a remote user equipment (UE) (Kim [0001], [0005], and [0458]: method for wireless communications performed by a remote UE), comprising:
generating, while the remote UE is in a radio resource control (RRC) state with no dedicated resources allocated to the remote UE by a relay UE (Kim [0460]: the remote UE is in RRC idle), a first message with data (Kim [0463]: data is transmitted in the uplink to the relay UE over the PC5 link between the remote UE and relay UE) and an indication the relay UE is to forward the data to a network entity, (Kim [0464]: the PC5 message may include an indicator indicating that the PC5 message is not transmitted to the relay UE but is a message transmitted to a network by being relayed) …; and
transmitting the first message to the relay UE while still in the RRC state (Kim [0461-0462]: transmitting message from remote UE to the relay UE while still in the RRC state [0460]).
Kim does discuss sidelink communication between the devices and utilizing RRC reconfiguration messages, but the limitation as recited is not taught explicitly.
However, Bangolae, in the analogous art of remote UE communications and RRC signaling, teaches
wherein the first message comprises a sidelink RRC reconfiguration message (Bangolae [0049]: “SL-RRC reconfiguration message”)
It would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Kim to incorporate the teachings of Bangolae and have the first message comprises a sidelink RRC configuration message. Doing so would allow for indication of a completion of the configuration of resources (Bangolae [0049]).
Regarding claim 2, Kim modified by Bangolae teaches
The method of claim 1 (the limitations of parent claim 1 as indicated above), wherein the RRC state comprises an RRC idle state (Kim [0460]: the remote UE is in RRC idle; only one of the two options is required per the claim language) or an RRC inactive state.
Regarding claim 3, Kim modified by Bangolae teaches
The method of claim 1 (the limitations of parent claim 1 as indicated above), further comprising:
receiving a second message, from the relay UE, with response data from the network entity (Kim Fig. 15 step 6, [0011-0012], and [0545]: receiving message from relay UE with data from network entity (e)NB)).
Regarding claim 5, Kim modified by Bangolae teaches
The method of claim 1 (the limitations of parent claim 1 as indicated above), further comprising:
receiving, from the relay UE, a second sidelink RRC reconfiguration message with response data from the network entity (Kim Fig. 15 step 6, [0011-0012], and [0545]: receiving message from relay UE with data from network entity (e)NB)).
Regarding claim 6, Kim modified by Bangolae teaches
The method of claim 1 (the limitations of parent claim 1), wherein the first message also includes an RRC message to be relayed to the network entity (Kim fig. 15 and fig. 16: 2-A to be relayed to the network entity).
Regarding claim 7, Kim teaches
A method for wireless communications performed by a relay user equipment (UE) (Kim [0001], [0005]: method for wireless communication by a relay UE), comprising:
receiving, while a remote UE is in a radio resource control (RRC) state with the relay UE with no dedicated resources allocated to the remote UE (Kim [0460]: the remote UE is in RRC idle), a first message from the remote UE with data (Kim [0463]: data is received by the relay UE over the PC5 link between the remote UE and relay UE) and an indication the relay UE is to forward the data to a network entity, (Kim [0464]: the PC5 message may include an indicator indicating that the PC5 message is not transmitted to the relay UE but is a message transmitted to a network by being relayed) …; and
transmitting the data to the network entity while the remote UE is still in the RRC state with the relay UE (Kim fig. 16 and [0461-0462]]: transmitting message from relay UE to the network entity while still in the RRC state [0460]).
Kim does discuss sidelink communication between the devices and utilizing RRC reconfiguration messages, but the limitation as recited is not taught explicitly.
However, Bangolae, in the analogous art of remote UE communications and RRC signaling, teaches
wherein the first message comprises a sidelink RRC reconfiguration message (Bangolae [0049]: “SL-RRC reconfiguration message”)
It would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Kim to incorporate the teachings of Bangolae and have the first message comprises a sidelink RRC configuration message. Doing so would allow for indication of a completion of the configuration of resources (Bangolae [0049]).
Regarding claim 8, Kim modified by Bangolae teaches
The method of claim 7 (the limitations of parent claim 7 as indicated above), further comprising:
transmitting a second message, to the remote UE, with response data from the network entity (Kim fig. 15 and [0021-0023]: step 5 response data from network entity to the relay UE).
Regarding claim 9, Kim modified by Bangolae teaches
The method of claim 7 (the limitations of parent claim 7 as indicated above), wherein the data is transmitted to the network entity while the relay UE is in an RRC connected state with the network entity (Kim fig. 15: 2-A data transmitted to network entity while relay UE is in RRC-connected with eNB (network entity)).
Regarding claim 10, Kim modified by Bangolae teaches
The method of claim 7 (the limitations of parent claim 7 as indicated above), wherein the data is transmitted to the network entity via a sidelink UE information message (Kim [0464] and [0136]: PC5 message transmitted to network entity).
Regarding claim 11, Kim modified by Bangolae teaches
The method of claim 7 (the limitations of parent claim 7 as indicated above), wherein the data is transmitted to the network entity while the relay UE is in an RRC idle state (Kim fig. 16: S16050 transmission to network entity while in idle state) or RRC inactive state with the network entity.
Regarding claim 12, Kim modified by Bangolae teaches
The method of claim 7 (the limitations of parent claim 7 as indicated above), wherein the data is transmitted to the network entity via a random access channel (RACH) based procedure (Kim [0120] and [0132-0133]: transmitting data from a UE to a network includes random access channel (RACH) transmitting).
Regarding claim 13, Kim modified by Bangolae teaches
The method of claim 7 (the limitations of parent claim 7 as indicated above),
wherein the data is transmitted to the network entity via a configured grant (CG) based procedure (Kim [0135]: grant uses resource allocation that is used for transmission of the scheduling message).
Regarding claim 15, Kim modified by Bangolae teaches
The method of claim 7 (the limitations of parent claim 7 as indicated above), further comprising:
transmitting, to the remote UE, a second sidelink RRC reconfiguration message with response data from the network entity (Kim Fig. 15 step 6, [0011-0012], and [0545]: transmitting message to remote UE with data from network entity (e)NB)).
Regarding claim 16, Kim modified by Bangolae teaches
The method of claim 7 (the limitations of parent claim 7 as indicated above), wherein the first message also includes an RRC message and the method further comprises:
relaying the RRC message to the network entity (Kim [0464]: transmitted to the network by being relayed; ‘go’ is a typographical error and is addressed in the claim objection section above).
Regarding claim 17, Kim teaches
A method for wireless communications performed by a network entity (Kim [0001] and [0004-0005]: method for wireless communications performed by an eNB (network entity)), comprising:
receiving, from a relay UE, a first message with data and an indication the data is from a remote UE, (Kim fig. 16 and [0461-0462]]: receiving message from relay UE while still in the RRC state [0460]; Kim [0464]: the PC5 message with information from remote UE may include an indicator indicating that the PC5 message is not transmitted to the relay UE but is a message transmitted to a network by being relayed) …;
determining, based on the indication provided with the first message, that the data is from the remote UE (Kim [0012] and [0518]: identifier (indication) that the data is from remote UE); and
processing the data (Kim [0520]: eNB performs operations on the data received).
Kim does discuss sidelink communication between the devices and utilizing RRC reconfiguration messages, but the limitation as recited is not taught explicitly.
However, Bangolae, in the analogous art of remote UE communications and RRC signaling, teaches
wherein the first message comprises a sidelink RRC reconfiguration message (Bangolae [0049]: “SL-RRC reconfiguration message”)
It would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Kim to incorporate the teachings of Bangolae and have the first message comprises a sidelink RRC configuration message. Doing so would allow for indication of a completion of the configuration of resources (Bangolae [0049]).
Regarding claim 18, Kim modified by Bangolae teaches
The method of claim 17 (the limitations of parent claim 17 as indicated above), wherein processing the data comprises:
transmitting a second message, to the relay UE, with response data for the remote UE (Kim fig. 15 and [0021-0023]: step 5 response data from network entity to the relay UE).
Regarding claim 19, Kim modified by Bangolae teaches
The method of claim 17 (the limitations of parent claim 17 as indicated above), wherein the first message is received while the relay UE is in an RRC connected state with the network entity (Kim fig. 15: 2-A data transmitted to network entity while relayUE is in RRC-connected with eNB (network entity)).
Regarding claim 20, Kim modified by Bangolae teaches
The method of claim 17 (the limitations of parent claim 17 as indicated above), wherein the first message comprises a sidelink UE information message (Kim [0464] and [0136]: PC5 message transmitted to network entity).
Regarding claim 21, Kim modified by Bangolae teaches
The method of claim 17 (the limitations of parent claim 17 as indicated above), wherein the first message is received while the relay UE is in an RRC idle state (Kim fig. 16: S16050 transmission to network entity while in idle state) or RRC inactive state with the network entity.
Regarding claim 22, Kim modified by Bangolae teaches
The method of claim 17 (the limitations of parent claim 17 as indicated above), wherein the first message is received via a random access channel (RACH) based procedure (Kim [0120] and [0132-0133]: transmitting data from a UE to a network includes random access channel (RACH) transmitting).
Regarding claim 23, Kim modified by Bangolae teaches
The method of claim 17 (the limitations of parent claim 17 as indicated above), wherein the first message is received via a configured grant (CG) based procedure (Kim [0135]: grant uses resource allocation that is used for transmission of the scheduling message).
Regarding claim 24, Kim teaches
A remote user equipment (UE) (Kim [0001], [0005], and [0458]: remote UE), comprising:
a processing system (Kim [0645]: processor/processing system) configured to generate, while the remote UE is in a radio resource control (RRC) state with no dedicated resources allocated to the remote UE by a relay UE (Kim [0460]: the remote UE is in RRC idle), a first message with data (Kim [0463]: data is transmitted in the uplink to the relay UE over the PC5 link between the remote UE and relay UE) and an indication the relay UE is to forward the data to a network entity, (Kim [0464]: the PC5 message may include an indicator indicating that the PC5 message is not transmitted to the relay UE but is a message transmitted to a network by being relayed) …; and
a transmitter (Kim [0653]: transmitter) configured to transmit the first message to the remote relay UE while still in the RRC state (Kim [0461-0462]: transmitting message from remote UE to the relay UE while still in the RRC state [0460]).
Kim does discuss sidelink communication between the devices and utilizing RRC reconfiguration messages, but the limitation as recited is not taught explicitly.
However, Bangolae, in the analogous art of remote UE communications and RRC signaling, teaches
wherein the first message comprises a sidelink RRC reconfiguration message (Bangolae [0049]: “SL-RRC reconfiguration message”)
It would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Kim to incorporate the teachings of Bangolae and have the first message comprises a sidelink RRC configuration message. Doing so would allow for indication of a completion of the configuration of resources (Bangolae [0049]).
Regarding claim 25, Kim modified by Bangolae teaches
The remote UE of claim 24 (the limitations of parent claim 24 as indicated above), wherein the RRC state comprises an RRC idle state (Kim [0460]: the remote UE is in RRC idle; only one of the two options is required per the claim language) or an RRC inactive state.
Regarding claim 26, Kim modified by Bangolae teaches
The remote UE of claim 24 (the limitations of parent claim 24 as indicated above), further comprising:
a receiver (Kim [0653]: receiver) configured to receive a second message, from the relay UE, with response data from the network entity (Kim Fig. 15 step 6, [0011-0012], and [0545]: receiving message from relay UE with data from network entity (e)NB)).
Regarding claim 28, Kim modified by Bangolae teaches
The remote UE of claim 24 (the limitations of parent claim 24 as indicated above), further comprising:
a receiver configured to receive (Kim [0653]: receiver), from the relay UE, a second sidelink RRC reconfiguration message with response data from the network entity (Kim Fig. 15 step 6, [0011-0012], and [0545]: receiving message from relay UE with data from network entity (e)NB).
Regarding claim 29, Kim modified by Bangolae teaches
The remote UE of claim 24 (the limitations of parent claim 24 as indicated above), wherein the first message also includes an RRC message to be relayed to the network entity (Kim fig. 15 and fig. 16: 2-A to be relayed to the network entity).
Regarding claim 30, Kim modified by Bangolae teaches
The method of claim 1 (the limitations of parent claim 1 as indicated above), wherein the first message further includes control information, wherein the data is different than the control information. (Kim [0466]: “The PC5 message may include an RRC message [control information], and the RRC message may encapsulate a NAS message [data].”)
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to RACHEL E MARKS whose telephone number is (703)756-1309. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri 8:30am-6pm.
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, Charles C Jiang can be reached at (571)270-7191. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/R.E.C./Examiner, Art Unit 2412 /CHARLES C JIANG/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2412
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