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 § 103
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.
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) 1-2, 12-14, 24 and 27-28 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Teyeb (US 2024/0178947) in views of Yu (US 2020/0267025) and Haghighat (US 2023/0300806).
Teyeb discloses the following features.
Regarding claim 1, an apparatus for wireless communication at a first UE (see remote WTRU 1 201 in Fig. 2), comprising:
a processor (see processor 118 in Fig. 1B);
memory coupled with the processor (see memory 130 and 132 in Fig. 1B); and
instructions stored in the memory and executable by the processor to cause the apparatus to:
establish a first communication link with a first network entity (see Fig. 3, wherein the Remote WTRU 1 201 RLC/MAC/PHY forming a link with the RLC/MAC/PHY entities of eNB 203 in Fig. 3 via the L2 Relay WTRU 202) and a second communication link with a second network entity (see Fig. 3, wherein the Remote WTRU 1 201 RRC/PDCP forms direct link via the Uu interface with the RRC/PDCP entities of eNB 203), wherein the first communication link between the first UE and the first network entity is via a second UE (see Fig. 3, wherein the Remote WTRU 1 201 RLC/MAC/PHY forming a link with the RLC/MAC/PHY entities of eNB 203 in Fig. 3 via the L2 Relay WTRU 202, which forms an indirect path).
Regarding claim 2, wherein the second network entity is the first network entity (see Fig. 3, wherein both the first and second network entity are located in the eNB 203) or a different network entity (see Fig. 3, wherein the first and second network entities being entities of different layers within eNB 203; or see secondary reference Yu, which shows an indirect path of the remote UE connected with eNB1 via relay UE while also being able to connect to eNB2 via a direct connection).
Regarding claim 12, an apparatus for wireless communication at a first network entity (see RLC/MAC/PHY entities within eNB 203 in Fig. 3), comprising:
a processor;
memory coupled with the processor (an eNB must include the processor/memory combination; paragraph [0229] also shows the use of processor/memory in disclosed elements);
instructions stored in the memory and executable by the processor to cause the apparatus to:
establish a first communication link with a first UE via a second UE (see Fig. 3, wherein the Remote WTRU 1 201 RLC/MAC/PHY forming a link with the RLC/MAC/PHY entities of eNB 203 in Fig. 3 via the L2 Relay WTRU 202), the first communication link different from a second communication link between the first UE and a second network entity (see Fig. 3, wherein the Remote WTRU 1 201 RRC/PDCP forms direct link via the Uu interface with the RRC/PDCP entities of eNB 203, while the eNB 203 forms a separate indirect path with the Remote WTRU 1 201 via Relay WTRU 202).
Regarding claim 13, wherein the second network entity is the first network entity (see Fig. 3, wherein both the first and second network entity are located in the eNB 203) or a different network entity (see Fig. 3, wherein the first and second network entities being entities of different layers within eNB 203; or see secondary reference Yu, which shows an indirect path of the remote UE connected with eNB1 via relay UE while also being able to connect to eNB2 via a direct connection).
Regarding claim 24, a method for wireless communication at a first UE (see remote WTRU 1 201 in Fig. 2), comprising:
establishing a first communication link with a first network entity (see Fig. 3, wherein the Remote WTRU 1 201 RLC/MAC/PHY forming a link with the RLC/MAC/PHY entities of eNB 203 in Fig. 3 via the L2 Relay WTRU 202) and a second communication link with a second network entity (see Fig. 3, wherein the Remote WTRU 1 201 RRC/PDCP forms direct link via the Uu interface with the RRC/PDCP entities of eNB 203), wherein the first communication link between the first UE and the first network entity is via a second UE (see Fig. 3, wherein the Remote WTRU 1 201 RLC/MAC/PHY forming a link with the RLC/MAC/PHY entities of eNB 203 in Fig. 3 via the L2 Relay WTRU 202, which forms an indirect path).
Regarding claim 27, a method for wireless communication at a first network entity (see RLC/MAC/PHY entities within eNB 203 in Fig. 3), comprising:
establishing a first communication link with a first UE via a second UE (see Fig. 3, wherein the Remote WTRU 1 201 RLC/MAC/PHY forming a link with the RLC/MAC/PHY entities of eNB 203 in Fig. 3 via the L2 Relay WTRU 202), the first communication link different from a second communication link between the first UE and a second network entity (see Fig. 3, wherein the Remote WTRU 1 201 RRC/PDCP forms direct link via the Uu interface with the RRC/PDCP entities of eNB 203, while the eNB 203 forms a separate indirect path with the Remote WTRU 1 201 via Relay WTRU 202).
Teyeb does not disclose the following features: regarding claims 1 and 24, receive, from the first network entity via the second UE and the first communication link, control signaling indicating the first UE to transmit one or more SRSs (Teyeb shows receiving SRS configuration from the base station or the relay WTRU, but not necessarily receiving the SRS configuration from the base station via the relay WTRU); and transmit the one or more SRSs at a first time interval from reception of the control signaling at the second UE, the first time interval associated with control signaling received from the first network entity via the first communication link, and the first time interval different from a second time interval associated with control signaling for SRSs received from the second network entity via the second communication link; regarding claims 12 and 27, transmit, via the first communication link, control signaling indicating the first UE to transmit one or more SRSs on a set of time resources at a first time interval from transmission of the control signaling, the first time interval associated with control signaling transmitted via the first communication link, and the first interval different from a second time interval associated with control signaling for SRSs transmitted by the second network entity via the second communication link; regarding claims 14 and 28, receive, in response to the control signaling, the one or more SRSs on the set of time resources at the first time interval from transmission of the control signaling.
Yu discloses the following features.
Regarding claims 1 and 24, receive, from the first network entity via the second UE and the first communication link, control signaling indicating the first UE to transmit one or more SRSs (see paragraph [0072] and Fig. 7A, wherein the remote UE receives the SL SRS configuration/indication in S702 and S704 via the relay UE that originates from the eNB during step S701 and S703, wherein the SL SRS configuration indicates the remote UE to transmit SL SRS in step S705; wherein the SRS indication information may be transmitted in an SCI in an SCI in step 704 as shown in paragraph [0074]).
Regarding claims 12 and 27, transmit, via the first communication link, control signaling indicating the first UE to transmit one or more SRSs on a set of time resources at a first time interval from transmission of the control signaling (see paragraph [0072] and Fig. 7A, wherein the remote UE receives the SL SRS configuration/indication in S702 and S704 via the relay UE that originates from the eNB during step S701 and S703, wherein the SL SRS configuration indicates the remote UE to transmit SL SRS in step S705; wherein the SRS indication information may be transmitted in an SCI in an SCI in step 704 as shown in paragraph [0074]).
Haghighat discloses the following features.
Regarding claims 1 and 24, transmit the one or more SRSs at a first time interval from reception of the control signaling at the second UE, the first time interval associated with control signaling received from the first network entity via the first communication link (see “SRS offset indication may be signaled in an associated control information (e.g., downlink control information or sidelink control information)” recited in paragraph [0222]; and “wherein an aperiodic SRS triggering offset may be an offset between a first slot in which a WTRU may receive an SRS trigger indication and a second slot in which the WTRU may send or transmit the triggered SRS resource and/or resource set” recited in paragraph [0220]; that is, the claimed “first time interval” spans the time from the reception of the control signaling at the second UE (relay UE of Yu) until the reception of the sidelink control information acting as an SRS trigger indication at the first UE (remote UE of Yu/WTRU of paragraph [0220]-[0222] of Haghighat) and the time indicated in the SRS offset indication; thus “the first time interval” is associated with the SRS offset indication, being part of the sidelink control information (paragraph [0222]), that is received from the first network entity via the indirect path (Yu shows in Fig. 7A and paragraph [0074] that the indication being sent from the eNB to the relay UE, which transmits the SCI including SL SRS indication information to the remote UE) that represents the claimed first communication link), and the first time interval different from a second time interval associated with control signaling for SRSs received from the second network entity via the second communication link (see “SRS offset indication may be signaled in an associated control information (e.g., downlink control information or sidelink control information)” recited in paragraph [0222]; Yu shows in step 403 in Fig. 4A and paragraph [0050] wherein the eNB transmits the SL SRS configuration/trigger indication information using a DCI transmitted from the direct path from the eNB to the remote UE; the second time interval is therefore associated with the DCI that includes the SRS offset indication signaled in the direct path, which is different from the SRS offset indication signaled in the indirect path; and the second time interval also includes the timing from the transmission of the DCI from the base station until the reception of the DCI at the remote UE, which is also different from the propagation time of the SCI from the relay UE to the remote UE that is part of the first time interval).
Regarding claims 12 and 27, the first time interval associated with control signaling transmitted via the first communication link (see “SRS offset indication may be signaled in an associated control information (e.g., downlink control information or sidelink control information)” recited in paragraph [0222]; and “wherein an aperiodic SRS triggering offset may be an offset between a first slot in which a WTRU may receive an SRS trigger indication and a second slot in which the WTRU may send or transmit the triggered SRS resource and/or resource set” recited in paragraph [0220]), and the first interval different from a second time interval associated with control signaling for SRSs transmitted by the second network entity via the second communication link (see “SRS offset indication may be signaled in an associated control information (e.g., downlink control information or sidelink control information)” recited in paragraph [0222]; Yu shows in step 403 in Fig. 4A and paragraph [0050] wherein the eNB transmits the SL SRS configuration/trigger indication information using a DCI transmitted from the direct path from the eNB to the remote UE; the second time interval is therefore associated with the DCI that includes the SRS offset indication signaled in the direct path, which is different from the SRS offset indication signaled in the indirect path).
Regarding claims 14 and 28, receive, in response to the control signaling, the one or more SRSs on the set of time resources at the first time interval from transmission of the control signaling (see Fig. 10, wherein the SRS being transmitted in the indicated slot based on the DCI triggering the SRS; wherein the slot indication uses an SRS offset that represents a time interval as shown in paragraph [0222]).
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 Teyeb using features, as taught by Yu and Haghighat, in order to enable effective channel measurement in order to meet the requirements for QoS, reliability, complexity and power consumption involving sidelink communications (see paragraph [0038] of Yu) and in order to transmit SRS more flexibly and reliably with less overhead and latency (see paragraph [0081] of Haghighat).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3-11, 15-23, 25-26 and 29-30 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
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JUTAI KAO whose telephone number is (571)272-9719. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 8:00-17:00 EST.
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/JUTAI KAO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2473
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