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 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) 1-5 and 10-12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Wu (US 2024/0064593).
Wu discloses the following features.
Regarding claim 1, a remote UE device (see UE 401A in Fig. 4 and UE 501A in Fig. 5) comprising:
a controller (see processor 806 in Fig. 8) configured to maintain a connection with a serving base station over a current indirect communication path (see serving cell 502 in Fig. 5 and BS 402, which connects to the UE 401A via a relay UE 401B), the current indirect communication path through a current relay UE device (see Fig. 4, wherein the UE 401A connects with the BS 402 via relay UE 401B; “source relay link” recited in paragraph [0046] and see “UE 501A may access serving cell 502 via a relay UE” recited in paragraph [0049]);
a receiver (see receiving circuitry 802 in Fig. 8) configured to receive, from the serving base station over the current indirect communication path (see step 513 in Fig. 5 and see “In operation 513, serving cell 502 may transmit an RRC reconfiguration message to UE 501A” recited in paragraph [0053], wherein the UE access the serving cell 502 via a relay UE as shown in paragraph [0049], which constitutes a source relay link as shown in paragraph [0046]), a conditional reconfiguration message instructing the remote UE device to switch from the current indirect communication path to an alternate indirect communication path when a condition is met (see “The RRC reconfiguration message may include at least one conditional path switch configuration associated with at least one execution condition…at least one execution condition for at least one candidate relay…” recited in paragraph [0053]), the alternate communication path through a target relay UE device not in the current indirect communication path (see “target relay link (e.g., between UE 401A and UE 401C)” recited in paragraph [0046] and shown in Fig. 4).
Regarding claim 2, wherein the condition comprises an alternate quality level of radio link to the target relay UE device exceeding an alternate quality link threshold (see “the execution condition may be a condition event (hereinafter, “event #B2”) that the channel quality of the PC5 link between the UE and the serving relay of the UE becomes worse than a threshold (threshold #B1) and the channel quality between the UE and a candidate cell becomes better than another threshold (threshold #B2)” recited in paragraph [0062]).
Regarding claim 3, wherein the condition further comprises a current quality level of a current indirect link to the current relay UE device being below a current quality link threshold (see “the execution condition may be a condition event (hereinafter, “event #B2”) that the channel quality of the PC5 link between the UE and the serving relay of the UE becomes worse than a threshold (threshold #B1) and the channel quality between the UE and a candidate cell becomes better than another threshold (threshold #B2)” recited in paragraph [0062]).
Regarding claim 4, wherein: the alternate quality level of the radio link to the target relay UE device is a measured alternate RSRP, the alternate quality link threshold is an alternate link RSRP threshold, the current quality level of the current indirect link to the current relay UE device is a measured current link RSRP, and the current quality link threshold is a current link RSRP threshold (paragraph [0062] as applied in the rejection above shows the use of the channel quality of the serving relay, the candidate relay and the channel quality thresholds; and see “sidelink channel quality (e.g., reference signal received power (RSRP))” recited in paragraph [0051] and paragraph [0067], which shows that the “channel quality” may be determined in RSRP).
Regarding claim 5, wherein the measured alternate RSRP is one of a SD-RSRP and a SL-RSRP (see “candidate relay UE…sidelink channel quality (e.g., reference signal received power (RSRP))” recited in paragraph [0051]).
Regarding claim 10, wherein the receiver, the serving base station and the at least one relay UE device are configured to operate in accordance with at least one revision of the 3GPP NR V2X communication specification (see “NR sidelink communications (e.g., specified in 3GPP specification TS 38.311) may refer to access stratum (AS) functionality enabling at least vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communications as defined in 3GPP specification TS 23.287 between neighboring UEs, using NR technology but not traversing any network node…” recited in paragraph [0022]).
Regarding claim 11, wherein the target relay UE device is served by the serving base station (see Fig. 4, wherein the target relay UE 401C is served by the same base station 402 serving the source relay UE 401B).
Regarding claim 12, wherein the target relay UE device is served by a target base station different from the serving base station (see Fig. 1, wherein the target relay UE may be UE 101B that is served by a target base station 103 different from a serving base station 102).
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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claim(s) 6-7 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wu as applied to claims 3 above, and further in view of Cheng (US 2024/0015809).
Wu discloses the features as shown above.
Wu does not disclose the following features: regarding claim 6, wherein: the alternate quality level, the alternate quality link threshold, the current quality level, and the current quality link threshold are RSRQ values; regarding claim 7, wherein: the alternate quality level, the alternate quality link threshold, the current quality level, and the current quality link threshold are SINR values.
Cheng discloses the following features.
Regarding claim 6, wherein: the alternate quality level, the alternate quality link threshold, the current quality level, and the current quality link threshold (see paragraph [0106], wherein the UE determines that the signal strength being below a threshold and see paragraph [0111], wherein measurements are performed for the relay UE candidates and compared against thresholds) are RSRQ values (see paragraph [0111], which shows that the measure quantity may be the “RSRP/RSRQ/SINR quantities associated with the PC5 relay link”).
Regarding claim 7, wherein: the alternate quality level, the alternate quality link threshold, the current quality level, and the current quality link threshold (see paragraph [0106], wherein the UE determines that the signal strength being below a threshold and see paragraph [0111], wherein measurements are performed for the relay UE candidates and compared against thresholds) are SINR values (see paragraph [0111], which shows that the measure quantity may be the “RSRP/RSRQ/SINR quantities associated with the PC5 relay link”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the effective filing date of the current Application to modify the system of Wu using features, as taught by Cheng, in order to configure measurement of different metrics (see paragraph [0111] of Cheng).
Claim(s) 8-9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wu as applied to claim 3 above, and further in view of Zhao (US 2023/0397075).
Wu discloses the features as shown above.
Wu does not disclose the following features: regarding claim 8, a transmitter configured to transmit an RRC Reconfiguration Complete message to the target relay UE device in response to the controller determining the alternate quality level of radio link to the target relay device exceeds the alternate quality link threshold; regarding claim 9, a transmitter configured to transmit an RRC reconfiguration complete message to the relay UE device in response to the controller determining the current quality level of the current indirect link to the current relay UE device is below a current quality link threshold and determining the alternate quality level of the radio link to the target relay device UE exceeds the alternate quality link threshold.
Zhao discloses the following features.
Regarding claim 8, a transmitter configured to transmit an RRC Reconfiguration Complete message to the target relay UE device (see “the terminal may transmit, through the second target relay, an RRC reconfiguration complete message to the network device to which the second target cell belongs” recited in paragraph [0193]) in response to the controller determining the alternate quality level of radio link to the target relay device exceeds the alternate quality link threshold (Wu discloses the RRC reconfiguration having the conditional path switch configuration determined based on the alternate quality level exceeding the quality link threshold in paragraphs [0053] and [0062]).
Regarding claim 9, a transmitter configured to transmit an RRC reconfiguration complete message to the relay UE device (see “the terminal may transmit, through the second target relay, an RRC reconfiguration complete message to the network device to which the second target cell belongs” recited in paragraph [0193]) in response to the controller determining the current quality level of the current indirect link to the current relay UE device is below a current quality link threshold and determining the alternate quality level of the radio link to the target relay device UE exceeds the alternate quality link threshold (Wu discloses the RRC reconfiguration having the conditional path switch configuration determined based on the alternate quality level exceeding the quality link threshold and quality level of source relay falling below a quality level threshold in paragraphs [0053] and [0062]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the effective filing date of the current Application to modify the system of Wu using features, as taught by Zhao, in order to inform the network device of the RRC reconfiguration (see paragraph [0193] of Zhao).
Conclusion
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/JUTAI KAO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2473