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 Office Action is in response to the Applicant's communication filed on 09/25/2025. In virtue of this communication, claims 1, 3, 5 – 14 have been amended; claims 16 – 20 have been newly added. Claims 1 – 20 are currently pending in the instant application.
Claim Objections
Claims 3 and 17 are objected to because of the following informalities: a typo occurs in phrase “the or each sub-block”. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
3. 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 of this title, 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.
4. Claims 1 – 8 and 10 – 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wang et al. (hereinafter “Wang”) (KR 102849337 B1) in view of Yan et al. (hereinafter “Yan”) (WO 2020/253511 A1).
Regarding claims 1, 15, and 20, Wang discloses an apparatus (i.e., UE1, see Fig. 12, page 20), comprising:
at least one processor (see 510 in Fig. 12); and
at least one memory (see 520 in Fig. 12) storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor (see page 20), cause the apparatus at least to:
generate a data packet comprising data for transmission over an egress link to a destination device (i.e., UE2), the data being received from one or more of a plurality of input devices over respective ingress links or being provided by the apparatus (see Fig. 6, page 8 for a relay 1/2 to forward data from UE1 to UE2, see method 4 in page 10 for the relay 1 received (Ingress Link) data packets and repackaged when forwarding (Egress Link),see last paragraph of page 20 for the device generates data packets to transmit);
transmit the data package to the destination device (see Fig. 6, page 8 for transmit data packet from UE1 to UE2);
select one or more end-to-end links (see page 8 for end-to-end PC5-S/PC5-RRC and end-to-end Service Data Adaptation Protocol (SDAP) or PDCP between UE1 and UE2) between a said input device (i.e., relay 1) and the destination device, or the apparatus and the destination device, based on one or more properties of the generated data packet (see Fig. 6, page 8 for UE1 selects relay 1 for transmit packets, maintains end-to-end PC5 and packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) between UE1 and UE2, and transmit data through PC5 Backhaul RLC bearer with relay 1, thus selects based on properties );
perform radio link monitoring for the transmitted data packet in relation to the selected one or more end-to-end links (see Fig. 6, page 8 for the UE1 detects link quality on the relay 1 is degraded, and see page 9 for radio link failure (RLF), thus monitors radio link); and
perform radio link control in relation to at least one of the selected one or more end-to-end links based on the radio link monitoring (see Fig. 6, page 8 for the UE1 detects link quality on the relay 1 is degraded, the UE1 reselects the second relay device (relay 2) to transmit data).
Wang teaches data packets, thus that is obviously for a data block. In case this is in question, using Yan as below.
In an analogous art, Yan teaches a data block (see Yan, page 8 lines 18 – 28 for data packets, data blocks represent packet data unit (PDUs).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before effective filing date the invention was made, to modify the invention of Wang, and have a data block as PDU such that a data PDU can be generated through operations for security, i.e., header compression, encryption, integrity protection, as discussed by Yan (see Yan, page 8 lines 18 – 28).
Regarding claims 2 and 16, Wang in view of Yan disclose wherein the generated data block comprises data from at least one of the one or more input devices and/or data provided by the apparatus (see Wang, FIG. 7, page 11, for example, RLC bearer setup information associated with the DRB, and a relay device identifier).
Regarding claims 3 and 17, Wang in view of Yan disclose populating the data block with one or more sub-blocks (i.e., packets 1, 2, 3, etc.), the or each sub-block corresponding to data received from an input device, or data provided by the apparatus, and associated at least with an identifier indicative of one or more of (i) the input device (i.e., a relay device identifier, 1st paragraph in page 11), (ii) the apparatus, (iii) the ingress link and (iv) the end-to-end link (see Wang, Fig. 6, two last paragraphs in page 8, page 10).
Regarding claims 4 and 18, Wang in view of Yan disclose wherein the one or more selected end-to-end links are selected based on the one or more identifiers in the generated data block (see Wang, Fig. 6, Fig. 7, two last paragraphs in page 8, page 10, and page 11 for switching from the first link to the second link, wherein the relevant information of the relay device includes at least one of a relay device identifier).
Regarding claims 5 and 19, Wang in view of Yan disclose indicate, in the data block, the identity of one or more radio bearers or logical channels of the egress link over which the data block will be transmitted, wherein the one or more selected end-to-end links are selected based on the one or more egress link radio bearers or logical channels identified in the generated data block (see Wang, Fig. 6, Fig. 7, two last paragraphs in page 10, special in method 4).
Regarding claim 6, Wang in view of Yan disclose access reference data which maps ingress and/or end-to-end link radio bearer or logical channel identities to egress link radio bearer or logical channel identities, the one or more selected end-to-end links comprising the one or more end-to-end, or associated ingress links, whose radio bearer or logical channel identities are mapped to the one or more egress link radio bearer or logical channel identities identified in the generated data block (see Wang, two last paragraphs in page 10 for a mapping relationship between the RLC SN of the received (Ingress Link) data packet and the RLC SN repackaged when forwarding (Egress Link), and mapping an end-to-end SLRB (Sidelink radio bearer, SLRB) between UE1 and UE2 and the new PC5 BH RLC bearer).
Regarding claim 7, Wang in view of Yan disclose wherein the one or more selected end-to-end links are selected based on determining that the generated data block is set to operate in a radio link control (RLC) acknowledged mode (AM) (see Wang, 5th paragraph in page 6, two last paragraphs in page 8 for the PC5 interface is an RLC acknowledgement mode (AM mode) transmission).
Regarding claim 8, Wang in view of Yan disclose wherein the one or more selected end-to-end links are selected based on determining that data sent directly between one or more of the input devices and the destination device would operate in an RLC unacknowledged mode and/or hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) disabled mode, and responsive to said determination, determining not to select the end-to-end links associated with said one or more input devices (see Wang, 5th paragraph in page 6, two first paragraphs in page 8 for RLC acknowledgement mode and the UE1 performs PDCP data discovery (Data Recovery) if the packets whose reception are not acknowledge and the UE1 determines whether to perform link switching).
Regarding claim 10, Wang in view of Yan disclose wherein the generated data block is a Media Access Control (MAC) -Protocol Data Unit (PDU) or a Radio Link Control (RLC) Protocol Data Unit (PDU) (see Wang, Fig. 6, two first paragraphs in page 8 for a PDU session, and see Yan, page 8 lines 18 – 28 for data packets, data blocks represent packet data unit (PDUs), and after adding the RLC header, the RLC data PDU is formed). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before effective filing date the invention was made, to modify the invention of Wang, and have the generated data block is a RLC PDU such that a data PDU can be generated with security, i.e., header compression, encryption, integrity protection, as discussed by Yan (see Yan, page 8 lines 18 – 28).
Regarding claim 11, Wang in view of Yan disclose wherein the radio link control is configured to terminate, or cause termination of, one or more of the end-to- end links based on determination by the radio link monitoring of a radio link failure condition (see Wang, two first paragraphs in page 9 for RLF and termination indication).
Regarding claim 12, Wang in view of Yan disclose wherein the radio link monitoring means is configured to determine a radio link failure condition based on one or more of: (i) a predetermined threshold number of retransmissions of the data block to the destination device having been reached (see Wang, two first paragraphs in page 9 for RLF failure indication, an indication that the link quality is lower than the set or preset threshold, and see Method 4 in page 10 for retransmission based on RLC feedback); and (ii) a predetermined threshold number of consecutive hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback discontinuous transmissions from the destination device.
Regarding claims 13 and 14, Wang in view of Yan disclose wherein the apparatus (i.e., UE1) and the respective input devices (i.e., relay devices: relay 1 and relay 2) are user equipment devices (i.e., UE-to-UE relay), wherein the destination device is a user equipment device (i.e., UE2) or network node (see Wang, 2nd paragraph in page 3, and method 4 in page 10).
5. Claim 9 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wang et al. (hereinafter “Wang”) (KR 102849337 B1) in view of Yan et al. (hereinafter “Yan”) (WO 2020/253511 A1) as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Sachs et al. (hereinafter “Sachs”) (Pub # US 2020/0259896 A1).
Regarding claim 9, Wang in view of Yan disclose first/second sub-block (i.e., packet 1, packet 2, etc. to form MAC PDU, RLC PDU) and select end-to-end link (see Wang, see Fig. 6, page 8).
Wang in view of Yan do not disclose specifically that wherein the one or more selected end-to-end links are selected based on determining that the generated data block comprises a first sub-block associated with high priority data of a first end-to-end link and a second sub-block associated with low priority data of a second end-to-end link, and responsive to said determination, determining to select the first end-to-end link and not the second end-to-end link.
In an analogous art, Sachs discloses that wherein the one or more selected end-to-end links are selected based on determining that the generated data block comprises a first sub-block associated with high priority data of a first end-to-end link and a second sub-block associated with low priority data of a second end-to-end link, and responsive to said determination, determining to select the first end-to-end link and not the second end-to-end link (see Sachs, see [1012], [1047] for the UE selects the highest priority logical channel, see [1057] for higher to lower priority are place in order in the MAC PDU).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before effective filing date the invention was made, to modify the invention of Wang/Yan, and have selected end-to-end links are selected based on determining that the generated data block comprises a first sub-block associated with high priority data of a first end-to-end link and a second sub-block associated with low priority data of a second end-to-end link, and responsive to said determination, determining to select the first end-to-end link and not the second end-to-end link, thereby allows the user to be in control of end-to-end service-level agreements (SLAs) such that the end-to-end communication service is delivered according to an agreed quality of service (QoS), as discussed by Sachs (see Sachs, [0006]).
Conclusion
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/MONG-THUY T TRAN/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2645