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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 11/10/23 and 1/22/25 is being considered by the examiner.
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, 4, 10 and 16-18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wang et al. (US 2022/0377822 A1) in view of Da Silva et al. (US 2024/0098588 A1).
Consider claim 1, Wang teaches an apparatus for performing operations of a relay node (abstract and Fig. 7), comprising:
at least one memory; and at least one processor coupled with the at least one memory (an electronic device would include a processor and a memory) and configured to cause the apparatus to:
receive a radio resource control (RRC) reconfiguration message from a serving cell (Fig. 7, step 751 and paragraph 38, relay 702 receives RRC reconfiguration from gNB 703); and
transmit a handover associated indication to a remote user equipment (UE) via sidelink communication in response to reception of the RRC reconfiguration message including the reconfiguration with synchronization (Fig. 7, step 751 and paragraph 35 and 38, the relay transmits the RRC reconfiguration to the UE 701).
Wang teaches RRC reconfiguration message and RRC reconfiguration message is known to includes a reconfiguration and synchronization.
However to make the record clear. Da Silva is used for this teaching of a radio resource control (RRC) reconfiguration message including a reconfiguration with synchronization (paragraph 65 and 69, handover is reconfiguration with synchronization).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify and utilize the above teachings for the purposes of a successful handover.
Consider claim 16, Wang teaches a user equipment (UE) (abstract and Fig. 7), comprising:
at least one memory; and at least one processor coupled with the at least one memory (an electronic device would include a processor and memory) and configured to cause the UE to:
access a serving cell of a base station via a relay node (Fig. 7); and
receive a handover associated indication from the relay node, wherein the handover associated indication indicates that the relay node receives a first radio resource control (RRC) reconfiguration message from the serving cell (Fig. 7, step 751 and paragraph 35 and 38, the relay transmits the RRC reconfiguration to the UE 701).
Wang teaches RRC reconfiguration message and RRC reconfiguration message is known to includes a reconfiguration and synchronization.
However to make the record clear. Da Silva is used for this teaching of a radio resource control (RRC) reconfiguration message including a reconfiguration with synchronization (paragraph 65 and 69, handover is reconfiguration with synchronization).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify and utilize the above teachings for the purposes of a successful handover.
Consider claims 17-18, claims 17-18 having similar limitation as claim 16, therefore, claims 17-18 are rejected for the same reasons claim 16 is rejected.
Consider claim 4, Wang also teaches wherein the handover associated indication indicates reception of the RRC reconfiguration message including the reconfiguration with synchronization or indicates that the relay node performs handover (Fig. 7, step 751 and paragraph 38).
Consider claim 10, Wang also teaches wherein the at least one processor is configured to cause the apparatus to: transmit a handover success indication to the remote UE in response to successful handover to a target cell (Fig. 7, step 791 and paragraph 40).
Claim(s) 3 and 21 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wang et al. (US 2022/0377822 A1) in view of Da Silva et al. (US 2024/0098588 A1) as applied to claim 1 and further in view of Cheng et al. (US 2024/0031890 A1).
Consider claims 3 and 21, Wang and Da Silva do not teach wherein the handover associated indication includes an identifier (ID) of a target cell associated with handover of the relay node.
Cheng further teaches wherein the handover associated indication includes an identifier (ID) of a target cell associated with handover of the relay node (paragraph 191-192, the RRC message including identification of the target base station).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify and utilize the above teachings for the purposes of handover to the correct target base station.
Claim(s) 6-8 and 12-13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wang et al. (US 2022/0377822 A1) in view of Da Silva et al. (US 2024/0098588 A1) as applied to claim 1 and further in view of Ozturk et al. (US 2021/0176681 A1).
Consider claim 6, Wang and Da Silva do not teach wherein the at least one processor is configured to cause the apparatus to release buffered uplink (UL) data received from the remote UE and buffered downlink (DL) data received from a base station when the relay node performs handover.
Ozturk further teaches wherein the at least one processor is configured to cause the apparatus to release buffered uplink (UL) data received from the remote UE and buffered downlink (DL) data received from a base station when the relay node performs handover (paragraph 110, buffered data is then processed and transmitted after handover is complete).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify and utilize the above teachings for the purposes of preventing any data loss during handover.
Consider claim 7, Ozturk further teaches wherein the at least one processor is configured to cause the apparatus to: store buffered uplink (UL) data received from the remote UE in response to the reception of the RRC reconfiguration message including the reconfiguration with synchronization; and/or transmit the buffered LL data to a target cell in response to successful handover to the target cell (paragraph 110, buffered data is then processed and transmitted after handover is complete).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify and utilize the above teachings for the purposes of preventing any data loss during handover.
Consider claim 8, Ozturk further teaches wherein the handover associated indication includes a data forwarding indication, and the at least one processor is configured to cause the apparatus to transmit buffered downlink (DL) data received from a base station to the remote UE when the relay node performs handover (paragraph 110, buffered data is then processed and transmitted after handover is complete).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify and utilize the above teachings for the purposes of preventing any data loss during handover.
Consider claim 12, Wang also teaches wherein the at least one processor is configured to cause the apparatus to establish a Uu bearer associated with the remote UE in a link between the relay node and a target cell in response to the successful handover to the target cell (Fig. 7, step 752, 761 and 781-791 and paragraph 38 and 40).
Consider claim 13, Wang also teaches wherein the at least one processor is configured to cause the apparatus to release a PC5 connection between the relay node and the remote UE after the relay node transmits all the buffered downlink (DL) data (Fig. 7, step 791 and paragraph 40).
Claim(s) 11 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wang et al. (US 2022/0377822 A1) in view of Da Silva et al. (US 2024/0098588 A1) as applied to claim 1 and further in view of Xu (US 2022/0174563 A1).
Consider claim 11, Wang and Da Silva do not teach wherein the handover success indication includes an identifier (ID) of the target cell.
Xu further teaches wherein the handover success indication includes an identifier (ID) of the target cell (paragraph 245, handover complete message include the target cell ID.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify and utilize the above teachings for the purposes of ensuring the network the handover was performed on the correct target cell.
Claim(s) 19-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wang et al. (US 2022/0377822 A1) in view of Da Silva et al. (US 2024/0098588 A1) as applied to claim 18 and further in view of Back et al. (US 2023/0363020 A1).
Consider claim 19, Wang and Da Silva do not teach receiving a second RRC reconfiguration message from the serving cell, wherein the second RRC reconfiguration message includes a list of at least one candidate relay node belonging to the serving cell and/or a list of at least one candidate relay node belonging to the same base station.
Back further teaches receiving a second RRC reconfiguration message from the serving cell, wherein the second RRC reconfiguration message includes a list of at least one candidate relay node belonging to the serving cell and/or a list of at least one candidate relay node belonging to the same base station (paragraph 207, a RRC reconfiguration message includes the identification of the relay UE).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify and utilize the above teachings for the purposes of notifying the UE of relay UEs to reduce time and efficiently connect to the new relay UE.
Consider claim 20, Back further teaches performing measurement toward at least one candidate relay node and at least one neighbour cell; and transmitting a measurement report to the serving cell of the base station, wherein the measurement report includes at least one of: an identifier (ID) of the serving cell, at least one serving base station ID of the at least one neighbour cell, and sidelink (SL) reference signal receiving power (RSRP) information (paragraph 148 and 203, the remote UE measuring surrounding relays and cells and report to the gNB).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify and utilize the above teachings for the purposes of letting the gNB know of the potential and qualifying relays and cells.
Claim(s) 22 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wang et al. (US 2022/0377822 A1) in view of Da Silva et al. (US 2024/0098588 A1) as applied to claim 18 and further in view of Kim et al .(US 2022/0264387 A1).
Consider claim 22, Wang and Da Silva do not teach suspending data transmission terminated at the serving cell in response to reception of the handover associated indication.
Kim further teaches suspending data transmission terminated at the serving cell in response to reception of the handover associated indication (paragraph 595, the UE stops data transmission and reception with the source base station upon receiving the handover command).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify and utilize the above teachings for the purposes of conserving network resources and prevent data loss during handover.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2, 5 and 9 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
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/JUSTIN Y LEE/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2644 2/12/26