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 .
2. The following is a non-final Office action in response to Applicant submission received on 12/18/2023.
3. Claims 1-20 are currently pending and have been examined.
Foreign Priority
4. No foreign priority claimed under 35 U.S.C. 119 (a)-(d).
Oath/Declaration
5. The applicant's oath/declaration filed on 12/18/2023 has been reviewed by the examiner and is found to conform to the requirements prescribed in 37 C.F.R. 1.63.
Drawings
6. The applicant’s drawings submitted on 12/18/2023 are acceptable for examination purposes.
Information Disclosure Statement
7. The information disclosure statement submitted by Applicant is in compliance with the provision of 37 CFR 1.97, 1.98 and MPEP § 609. It has been placed in the application file and the information referred to therein has been considered as to the merits.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
8. 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.
9. 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.
10. 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.
11. 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.
12. Claim(s) 1-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over STAUFFER et al. (WO 2021080666 A1) in view of HWANG et al. (US 20190004179 A1).
Regarding claim 1, STAUFFER discloses a method performed by a first user equipment (UE) configured as a coordinating user equipment for a user equipment-coordination set (UECS) in a wireless communications network, the method comprising the coordinating user equipment:
allocating first air interface resources to a second UE and second air interface resources to a third UE for intra-UECS communication (STAUFFER, FIG. 5, para. 40, 52: At 515, the coordinating UE 111 allocates air interface resources for the local wireless network to each of the UEs in the UECS 404. At 520 and 525, the coordinating UE 111 transmits UECS resource grants for the local wireless network and for joint communication to the UE 112 and UE 113, respectively);
receiving, using the allocated first air interface resources, an Internet Protocol (IP) data packet from the second UE in the UECS (STAUFFER, FIG. 1, para. 6-8, 9-12: Each UE 110 in a UE-coordination set (illustrated as UE 111, UE 112, and UE 113) can communicate with a coordinating UE of the UE-coordination set and/or a target UE in the UE-coordination set through one or more local wireless network connections (e.g., WLAN, Bluetooth, NFC, a personal area network (PAN), WiFi-Direct, IEEE 802.15.4, ZigBee, Thread, millimeter wavelength communication (mmWave), or the like) such as local wireless network connections 133, 134, and 135).
STAUFFER does not appear to explicitly disclose determining that a destination address included in the IP data packet is an address of the third UE; and transmitting, using the allocated second air interface resources, the IP data packet to the third UE.
In the same field of endeavor, HWANG discloses determining that a destination address included in the IP data packet is an address of the third UE (HWANG, FIG. 26, para. 221-222: The UE1 2600 generates a data packet and transmits the data packet to the UE-R1 2602 in operation 2635. The UE1 2600 may generate the data packet by using the obtained local source IP address, destination IP address, UE1 L2 ID, and UE-RL2 ID); and
transmitting, using the allocated second air interface resources, the IP data packet to the third UE (HWANG, FIG. 26, para. 221-222: The UE-R1 2602 monitors received data. Once receiving a data packet having a source IP address and a destination IP address that are pre-allocated before, the UE-R1 2602 identifies the received data as relay traffic and redirects the relay traffic to the UE2 2602 by using the source IP address, the destination IP address, the UE-R L2 ID, and the target UE L2 ID in operation 2640).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teaching of STAUFFER with the teaching of HWANG to include the above features such as determining that a destination address included in the IP data packet is an address of the third UE and transmitting, using the allocated second air interface resources, the IP data packet to the third UE as taught by HWANG. The motivation for doing so would have been to provide a method for preventing radio resource waste and communication collision that may occur when UE-to-UE communication is performed by using a broadcast-based relay scheme.
Regarding claim 2, STAUFFER as modified by HWANG discloses the method of claim 1, further comprising the coordinating user equipment: receiving, from a base station, a resource grant of air interface resources for intra-UECS communication (STAUFFER, para. 50: the base station 121 transmits a resource grant for the UECS 404 to the coordinating UE 111. The resource grant includes an indication of the air interface resources for joint communication between the UECS 404 and the base station 121).
Regarding claim 3, STAUFFER as modified by HWANG discloses the method of claim 2, further comprising the coordinating user equipment: receiving, from the base station, a reconfigured resource grant of air interface resources for intra-UECS communication (STAUFFER, para. 31, 49: the base stations 120 allocate portions (e.g., the resource units 304) of the air interface resource 302 for uplink and downlink communications. Each resource block 310 of network access resources may be allocated to support respective wireless communication links 130 of multiple user equipments 110).
Regarding claim 4, STAUFFER as modified by HWANG discloses the method of claim 2, wherein the received resource grant includes the first air interface resources and the second air interface resources (STAUFFER, para. 49: For UECS scheduling using licensed band resources, the base station 121 grants air interface resources 302 to the coordinating UE 111 for the local wireless network. The coordinating UE 111 in turn allocates portions of those air interface resources 302 as needed for communication with the other UEs (e.g., UE 112 and/or UE 113) in the UECS 404. For UECS scheduling using a CBRS spectrum grant, the base station 121 allocates a portion of the resources in the CBRS spectrum grant to the coordinating UE 111 for the local wireless network. The remaining resources in the CBRS spectrum grant are used for joint reception and/or joint transmission between the UECS and the base station 121).
Regarding claim 5, STAUFFER as modified by HWANG discloses the method of claim 2, wherein the receiving the resource grant of air interface resources for intra-UECS communication comprises the coordinating user equipment: receiving the resource grant of air interface resources for intra-UECS communication when the UECS is formed (STAUFFER, para. 50: the base station 121 transmits a resource grant for the UECS 404 to the coordinating UE 111. The resource grant includes an indication of the air interface resources for joint communication between the UECS 404 and the base station 121).
Regarding claim 6, STAUFFER as modified by HWANG discloses the method of claim 2, wherein the receiving the resource grant of air interface resources for intra-UECS communication comprises the coordinating user equipment: receiving the resource grant of air interface resources for intra-UECS communication in a broadcast message (STAUFFER, para. 50, 51: the base station 121 groups UEs with similar local wireless capabilities into a UECS. When the base station 121 assigns a UE to a UECS, the base station provides a local wireless network configuration that enables that UE to communicate with the coordinating UE. Moreover, STAUFFER further discloses broadcasting communications to one or more UEs in the UECS.).
Regarding claim 7, STAUFFER as modified by HWANG discloses the method of claim 2, wherein the receiving the resource grant of air interface resources for intra-UECS communication comprises the coordinating user equipment: transmitting a request message to the base station to request the resource grant of air interface resources for intra-UECS communication (STAUFFER, para. 40-41: The base station can receive a response message from a UE in the UE-coordination set acknowledging the request message. In some cases, the base station can receive a response message from at least two of the UEs acknowledging that a UE has joined the UE-coordination set. The response message may indicate that by a user of the UE has approved the request message).
Regarding claim 8, STAUFFER as modified by HWANG discloses all the subject matter of the method of claim 2, however, HWANG further discloses wherein each UE in the UECS has an IP address for intra-UECS communication provided by the base station, the method comprising the coordinating user equipment: assigning an IP address for intra-UECS communication to each UE in the UECS (HWANG, para. 65, 205-206, 218: allocating an IP address to each UE).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teaching of STAUFFER with the teaching of HWANG to include the above features such as assigning an IP address for intra-UECS communication to each UE in the UECS as taught by HWANG. The motivation for doing so would have been to provide a method for preventing radio resource waste and communication collision that may occur when UE-to-UE communication is performed by using a broadcast-based relay scheme.
Regarding claims 9, 12, STAUFFER as modified by HWANG discloses the method of claim 1, however, HWANG further discloses the method comprising the coordinating user equipment: receiving a Radio Resource Control Connection Request message from a UE (HWANG, para. 178: receiving a radio resource request from the UE); in response to the receiving the RRC Connection Request message, assigning an IP address for intra-UECS communication to the UE (HWANG, para. 206: in the IP connection process, allocating an IP address to the UE); including the IP address in an RRC Connection Setup message; and transmitting the RRC Connection Setup message to the UE (HWANG, para. 212: allocates an IP address to the source node and the target node, and transmits the allocated IP addresses through a response message.).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teaching of STAUFFER with the teaching of HWANG to include the above features such as receiving a Radio Resource Control Connection Request message from a UE and transmitting the RRC Connection Setup message to the UE as taught by HWANG. The motivation for doing so would have been to provide a method for preventing radio resource waste and communication collision that may occur when UE-to-UE communication is performed by using a broadcast-based relay scheme.
Regarding claim 10, STAUFFER as modified by HWANG discloses the method of claim 1, comprising the coordinating user equipment: however, HWANG further discloses storing context information for intra-UECS communication of the second UE and the third UE; and mapping the context information to the IP address of the respective UE (HWANG, para. 219: memorizes (stores) a source IP address, a destination IP address, and an L2 UE ID of a UE (that is, a relay candidate UE) having sent the response message).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teaching of STAUFFER with the teaching of HWANG to include the above features such as storing context information for intra-UECS communication of the second UE and the third UE and mapping the context information to the IP address of the respective UE as taught by HWANG. The motivation for doing so would have been to provide a method for preventing radio resource waste and communication collision that may occur when UE-to-UE communication is performed by using a broadcast-based relay scheme.
Regarding claim 11, STAUFFER as modified by HWANG discloses the method of claim 10, comprising the coordinating user equipment: determining to transfer the role of coordinating UE to a fourth UE (STAUFFER, para. 42: the base station can change the coordination UE if another UE in the UE-coordination set would be a better candidate based on the battery-level states of the UEs in the UE-coordination set); transmitting a delegation message to the fourth UE, the delegation message including intra-UECS context information (STAUFFER, para. 42-43: The base station can select the coordinating UE from the group of UEs in the UE-coordination set based on a variety of factors, some of which may be signaled to the base station by the UE using a UE-capability message); and sending one or more messages to the UEs in the UECS, the one or more messages indicating that the fourth UE is the coordinating UE for the UECS, wherein the coordinating UE selects the fourth UE as a new coordinating UE based on the ability of the fourth UE to route IP data packets between the second UE and the third UE (STAUFFER, para. 34, 39, 50: The base station manager 266 can therefore allocate air interface resource 302 by resource unit 304, resource block 310, frequency carrier, time interval, resource element 320, frequency subcarrier, time subinterval, symbol, spreading code, some combination thereof, and so forth. Based on respective allocations of resource units 304, the base station manager 266 can transmit respective messages to the multiple user equipments 110 indicating the respective allocation of resource units 304 to each user equipment 110. Each message may enable a respective user equipment 110 to queue the information or configure the LTE transceiver 206 and/or 5G NR transceiver 208 to communicate via the allocated resource units 304 of the air interface resource 302).
Regarding claim 13, STAUFFER as modified by HWANG discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the coordinating UE transmits the IP data packet to the third UE using: unicast transmission; multicast transmission; or broadcast transmission; the method further comprising the coordinating user equipment: transmitting control information to UEs in the UECS using broadcast transmission (STAUFFER, para. 19, 50: the base station provides a local wireless network configuration that enables that UE to communicate with the coordinating UE. The coordinating UE schedules air interface resources of the unlicensed radio spectrum as needed for communication with the other UEs (e.g., UE 112 and/or UE 113) in the UECS 404. The coordinating UE 111 may additionally alter operating parameters of the UEs for the unlicensed local wireless network based on the operating environment of the UECS by sending unicast, multicast, or broadcast communications to one or more UEs in the UECS.).
Regarding claim 14, STAUFFER as modified by HWANG discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the allocating the first air interface resources to the second UE and the second air interface resources to the third UE for intra-UECS communication comprises the coordinating user equipment scheduling the air interface resources using: a dynamic resource grant; a semi-persistent resource grant; or a preconfigured resource grant (STAUFFER, para. 51, 63: The coordinating UE transmits the MCS configuration and an associated resource grant to each UE to use for coordinating communication within the UECS).
Regarding claim 15, STAUFFER as modified by HWANG discloses the method of claim 1, wherein a user equipment-coordination set comprises multiple user equipments configured to jointly transmit and/or jointly receive data for one or more user equipments of the user equipment-coordination set, a user equipment-coordination set further comprising the coordinating user equipment configured to coordinate joint transmission and/or reception of downlink and/or uplink data (STAUFFER, para. 15, 37, 46, 48, 65: the base station 121 can specify a set of UEs (e.g., the UE 111, UE 112, and UE 113) to form a UE-coordination set (e.g., the UE-coordination set 404, UECS 404) for joint transmission and/or joint reception of data for a target UE (e.g., the UE 112)).
Regarding claim 16, STAUFFER discloses a user equipment comprising: a wireless transceiver; a processor; and instructions for a communication manager application that are executable by the processor to configure the user equipment (UE) to:
allocate first air interface resources to a second UE and second air interface resources to a third UE for intra user equipment-coordination set (intra-UECS) communication (STAUFFER, FIG. 5, para. 40, 52: At 515, the coordinating UE 111 allocates air interface resources for the local wireless network to each of the UEs in the UECS 404. At 520 and 525, the coordinating UE 111 transmits UECS resource grants for the local wireless network and for joint communication to the UE 112 and UE 113, respectively);
receive, using the allocated first air interface resources, an Internet Protocol (IP) data packet from the second UE in the UECS (STAUFFER, FIG. 1, para. 6-8, 9-12: Each UE 110 in a UE-coordination set (illustrated as UE 111, UE 112, and UE 113) can communicate with a coordinating UE of the UE-coordination set and/or a target UE in the UE-coordination set through one or more local wireless network connections (e.g., WLAN, Bluetooth, NFC, a personal area network (PAN), WiFi-Direct, IEEE 802.15.4, ZigBee, Thread, millimeter wavelength communication (mmWave), or the like) such as local wireless network connections 133, 134, and 135).
STAUFFER does not appear to explicitly disclose determine that a destination address included in the IP data packet is an address of the third UE; and transmit, using the allocated second air interface resources, the IP data packet to the third UE.
In the same field of endeavor, HWANG discloses determine that a destination address included in the IP data packet is an address of the third UE (HWANG, FIG. 26, para. 221-222: The UE1 2600 generates a data packet and transmits the data packet to the UE-R1 2602 in operation 2635. The UE1 2600 may generate the data packet by using the obtained local source IP address, destination IP address, UE1 L2 ID, and UE-RL2 ID); and
transmit, using the allocated second air interface resources, the IP data packet to the third UE (HWANG, FIG. 26, para. 221-222: The UE-R1 2602 monitors received data. Once receiving a data packet having a source IP address and a destination IP address that are pre-allocated before, the UE-R1 2602 identifies the received data as relay traffic and redirects the relay traffic to the UE2 2602 by using the source IP address, the destination IP address, the UE-R L2 ID, and the target UE L2 ID in operation 2640).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teaching of STAUFFER with the teaching of HWANG to include the above features such as determining that a destination address included in the IP data packet is an address of the third UE and transmitting, using the allocated second air interface resources, the IP data packet to the third UE as taught by HWANG. The motivation for doing so would have been to provide a method for preventing radio resource waste and communication collision that may occur when UE-to-UE communication is performed by using a broadcast-based relay scheme.
Regarding claim 17, STAUFFER as modified by HWANG discloses the user equipment of claim 16, the instructions further executable to configure the UE to: receive, from a base station, a resource grant of air interface resources for intra-UECS communication (STAUFFER, para. 50: the base station 121 transmits a resource grant for the UECS 404 to the coordinating UE 111. The resource grant includes an indication of the air interface resources for joint communication between the UECS 404 and the base station 121).
Regarding claim 18, STAUFFER as modified by HWANG discloses the user equipment of claim 16, however, HWANG further discloses wherein each UE in the UECS has an IP address for intra-UECS communication provided by a base station, the instructions further executable to configure the UE to: assign an IP address for intra-UECS communication to each UE in the UECS (HWANG, para. 65, 205-206, 218: allocating an IP address to each UE).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teaching of STAUFFER with the teaching of HWANG to include the above features such as assigning an IP address for intra-UECS communication to each UE in the UECS as taught by HWANG. The motivation for doing so would have been to provide a method for preventing radio resource waste and communication collision that may occur when UE-to-UE communication is performed by using a broadcast-based relay scheme.
Regarding claim 19, STAUFFER as modified by HWANG discloses the user equipment of claim 16, the instructions further executable to configure the UE to: determine to transfer the role of coordinating UE to a fourth UE (STAUFFER, para. 42: the base station can change the coordination UE if another UE in the UE-coordination set would be a better candidate based on the battery-level states of the UEs in the UE-coordination set); transmit a delegation message to the fourth UE, the delegation message including intra-UECS context information (STAUFFER, para. 42-43: The base station can select the coordinating UE from the group of UEs in the UE-coordination set based on a variety of factors, some of which may be signaled to the base station by the UE using a UE-capability message); and send one or more messages to the UEs in the UECS, the one or more messages indicating that the fourth UE is the coordinating UE for the UECS, wherein the coordinating UE selects the fourth UE as a new coordinating UE based on the ability of the fourth UE to route IP data packets between the second UE and the third UE (STAUFFER, para. 34, 39, 50: The base station manager 266 can therefore allocate air interface resource 302 by resource unit 304, resource block 310, frequency carrier, time interval, resource element 320, frequency subcarrier, time subinterval, symbol, spreading code, some combination thereof, and so forth. Based on respective allocations of resource units 304, the base station manager 266 can transmit respective messages to the multiple user equipments 110 indicating the respective allocation of resource units 304 to each user equipment 110. Each message may enable a respective user equipment 110 to queue the information or configure the LTE transceiver 206 and/or 5G NR transceiver 208 to communicate via the allocated resource units 304 of the air interface resource 302).
Regarding claim 20, STAUFFER as modified by HWANG discloses the user equipment of claim 16, wherein the UE transmits the IP data packet to the third UE using: unicast transmission; multicast transmission; or broadcast transmission; the instructions executable to configure the UE to: transmit control information to UEs in the UECS using broadcast transmission (STAUFFER, para. 19, 50: the base station provides a local wireless network configuration that enables that UE to communicate with the coordinating UE. The coordinating UE schedules air interface resources of the unlicensed radio spectrum as needed for communication with the other UEs (e.g., UE 112 and/or UE 113) in the UECS 404. The coordinating UE 111 may additionally alter operating parameters of the UEs for the unlicensed local wireless network based on the operating environment of the UECS by sending unicast, multicast, or broadcast communications to one or more UEs in the UECS).
Conclusion
13. The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
a) Beale (US 20140044090 A1) discloses determine IP address allocation for a UE, as well as QoS enforcement and flow-based charging according to rules received from a PCRF.
b) Thalanany et al. (US 20150312824 A1) discloses IP address allocation to user equipment for the session, enforcing QoS, and charging an account based upon an associated subscription and actual data flow by the particular user equipment during a session.
14. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JEAN F VOLTAIRE whose telephone number is (571)272-3953. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9:00-6:45 PM.
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, FARUK HAMZA can be reached at (571)272-7969. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/JEAN F VOLTAIRE/Examiner, Art Unit 2466
/CHRISTOPHER M CRUTCHFIELD/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2466