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 .
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1-21 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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.
Claims 1-8, 15-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Xu (2019/3877446).
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.
Claims 1-8, 15-20 are is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being obvious over Xu (2019/3877446) in view of Wu (2023/0189110).
The applied reference has a common assignee with the instant application. Based upon the earlier effectively filed date of the reference, it constitutes prior art under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2).
Regarding claim 1, Xu discloses A user equipment (UE) for wireless communication, comprising: at least one memory; and at least one processor coupled with the at least one memory (Figure 12, processing unit which inherently contains both a processor and memory, note network device Figure 11 shows both a CPU and memory) and configured to cause the UE to: access a base station (BS) via a Uu link (para 94, 95);in response to a channel quality of the Uu link being less than a threshold, access the BS via a relay node (para 106, 156); and stop at least one of a physical layer timer or a timer associated with measurement report triggering if the at least one of the physical layer timer or the timer associated with the measurement report triggering is running (para 162, 164). Xu fails to disclose receiving from the BS, a RRC reconfiguration message, and based on the RRC reconfiguration message, starting a physical layer timer or timer associated with the measurement report triggering.
However, Wu teaches in an analogous art, a wireless network in which a base station transmits a reconfiguration message and based on the RRC reconfiguration message, a timer associated with the physical layer or measurement report is started (abstract, Figure 5, para 98-99, 112-114). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to include a time with RRC Reconfiguration messaging in order to perform sync procedures during the handover as taught by Wu.
Regarding claim 6, Xu discloses a method performed by a user equipment (para 93) comprising, initiating a re-establishment procedure (para 124, 144), starting a re-establishment initiation timer in response to initiation of the reestablishment procedure (149, 151, 162 – setting a timer during the process), and selecting a relay node cell for reestablishment (para 144, 164). Xu fails to disclose stopping the reestablishment timer in response to selecting the relay node.
However, Wu teaches stopping the reestablishment timer in response to selecting a relay node (Figure 4b, sidelink communication is selecting a relay node) also see para 119 and para 126, after successfully completing a handover, stopping all timers). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to stop the timers after selecting a relay node in order to properly signal the selection of a relay node.
Regarding claim 15, Xu discloses a relay node for wireless communication comprising at least one memory and processor coupled to the memory (relay UE, Figure 12, processing unit which inherently contains both a processor and memory, note network device Figure 11 shows both a CPU and memory) configured to cause the relay node to transmit a release request to a user equipment that accesses a base station via the relay node (para 160 and RRC configuration complete message S407), and the release request indicates one of a radio failure link or a handover of the relay node from the BS (Figure 7, reconfiguration complete states eRelay has completed handover between first BS and second BS). Xu fails to disclose detecting one of radio link failure on the link between the relay node and a base station or receive a handover command from the BS.
However Wu teaches a relay node in which a radio link failure is detected, or the reception of a handover command is received (Figure 6, para 132-133). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to include a RLF detection in order to realize when a problem has occurred.
Regarding claim 18, Xu discloses a processor for wireless communications comprising: at least one controller coupled with a memory(Figure 12, processing unit which inherently contains both a processor and memory, note network device Figure 11 shows both a CPU and memory) and configured to cause the processor to initiate a re-establishment procedure (para 124, 144), start a re-establishment initiation timer in response to initiation of the reestablishment procedure (149, 151, 162 – setting a timer during the process), and select a relay node cell for reestablishment (para 144, 164). Xu fails to disclose stopping the reestablishment timer in response to selecting the relay node.
However, Wu teaches stopping the reestablishment timer in response to selecting a relay node (Figure 4b, sidelink communication is selecting a relay node) also see para 119 and para 126, after successfully completing a handover, stopping all timers). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to stop the timers after selecting a relay node in order to properly signal the selection of a relay node.
Regarding claims 2, 8, and 20, Xu discloses wherein the timer associated with the measurement report is stopped in response to one of: connecting to the BS via the relay node (Figure 4, Steps 407-409, para 21).
Regarding claim 3, Xu discloses wherein the at least one processor is configured to cause the UE to receive a release request from the relay node (para 160 and RRC configuration complete message S407), wherein the release request indicates one of a radio failure link (para 208-210) or a handover of the relay node from the BS (Figure 7, reconfiguration complete states eRelay has completed handover between first BS and second BS).
Regarding claims 4-5, 16-17, Xu discloses wherein response to receiving the release request, the at least one processor is configured to cause the UE to transmit a response message to the relay node, indicating to release (para 210, based on failure, the UE releases in step s611) or keep a PC5 link between the UE or relay node (Para 197-204, based on connection/keeping a relay node connection).
Regarding claims 7 and 19, Xu discloses the selected relay noted is a relay node for which a radio measurement at the UE fulfills a relay selection criterion (para 107-109, relay UE selection based on a condition being met).
This rejection under 35 U.S.C. 103 might be overcome by: (1) a showing under 37 CFR 1.130(a) that the subject matter disclosed in the reference was obtained directly or indirectly from the inventor or a joint inventor of this application and is thus not prior art in accordance with 35 U.S.C.102(b)(2)(A); (2) a showing under 37 CFR 1.130(b) of a prior public disclosure under 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(B); or (3) a statement pursuant to 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) establishing that, not later than the effective filing date of the claimed invention, the subject matter disclosed and the claimed invention were either owned by the same person or subject to an obligation of assignment to the same person or subject to a joint research agreement. See generally MPEP § 717.02.
Claim(s) 9-10, 14, 21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Xu and Wu as rejected in claim 1 above, and further in view of Ji (WO 2021/204989).
Regarding claims 9, 14, and 21, the combination of Xu and Wu fails to disclose the use of the system information block (SIB) to denote whether a relay function is supported.
However, Ji teaches in a sidelink communications system, the use of the system information block (SIB) to denote whether relay function is supported (para 44-45, 60).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to include SIB information in order to reduce the amount of control signaling by stating capabilities in the RRC level signaling.
Regarding claim 10, Ji further teaches that the SIB of interest indicates that the service cell supports at least one of L2 relay feature or a V2X service (para 13-19, 74-83 and para 43- V2X services). Therefore, claim 10 is rejected for the same reasoning as above.
Claims 11-13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Xu and Wu as rejected in claim 1 above, and further in view of Fujishiro (2018/0302779).
Regarding claim 11, the combination of Xu and Wu discloses all the particulars of the claim except retaining a configuration configured by a source cell of the UE in response to a serving cell of the selected relay node.
However, Fujishiro teaches a sidelink process in which the configuration configured by the source cell of the UE in response to a serving cell of the selected relay node (Steps 430, 450, configuration information shared between the serving/neighbor cells and the UE).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to include the configuration in order to properly communicate between all the portions of the wireless system.
Regarding claims 12-13, the combination of Xu and Wu discloses all the particulars of the claim except releasing the configuration as well as the configuration being either a second configuration for a secondary cell of a master cell group or DRX preference associated with an MCG.
However, Fujishiro teaches in an analogous art, the releasing of configuration information (step 480) in response to a sidelink handover/discovery process. Fujishiro also teaches that the second configuration for a secondary cell (enB) of a master cell group (service and neighbor cell enB0 and the preference of a DRX preference (para 174, UEs can use DRX depending on RRC signaling).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to include a release or further configuration information to accurately provide connection between the UE and the eNB’s in the wireless network.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Tseng (12231975) discloses sidelink failure reporting
Jung (11457499) discloses RRC reconfiguration signaling in a wireless network.
Cheng (2020/0351707) discloses radio link monitoring for failure in sidelink.
Ji (Wo 2021/204989) discloses sidelink timer with RRC reconfiguration.
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WILLIAM GEORGE TROST IV
Primary Patent Examiner
Art Unit 2641
/WILLIAM G TROST IV/ Primary Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2641
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