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 .
Drawings
New corrected drawings in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in this application because Fig. 6: 608- 624 are incorrect based off what is disclosed in the specification. Further, there is no reference number associated with text box between Fig. 6: 606 and Fig. 6: 608. Applicant is advised to employ the services of a competent patent draftsperson outside the Office, as the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office no longer prepares new drawings. The corrected drawings are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. The requirement for corrected drawings will not be held in abeyance.
The drawings are objected to as failing to comply with 37 CFR 1.84(p)(5) because they do not include the following reference sign(s) mentioned in the description: Fig. 6: 626. Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112:
The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention.
Claims 6 and 17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the enablement requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to enable one skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and/or use the invention. Claims 6 and 17 recite the limitation “a third list of TMGIs including the TMGIs from the second list that correspond to the TMGI’s from the first list.” It is unclear to one skilled how this limitation will be enabled in practice because it is not clearly taught or disclosed in the specification.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 4, 7,15, and 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claim 4 recites the limitation "PagingCause." While claim 1 recites “a paging cause”, there is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 7 recites the limitation the "UE." While claim 1 is about a relay UE and recites “a remote UE”, there is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 15 recites the limitation "PagingCause." While claim 12 recites “a paging cause”, there is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 18 recites the limitation "the UE." While claim 12 recites “a relay UE” and “remote UE,” there is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
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.
Claims 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Xiao et al. US PG PUB 20260052511 A1.
Regarding claim 1, Xiao discloses:
A relay user equipment (UE) comprising:
a transceiver [it is obvious in the art that relay user equipment would have a transceiver] configured to:
receive, from a remote UE [par. 37; transmit from network], an identity for the remote UE [par. 37; ue-Identity field], and
receive, from a base station (BS) [par. 37; network… transmitting], a paging message [par. 37; paging message] including
a first paging record list of a first type of paging record [par. 37; pagingRecordList… The paging message… indicating a list of identities of paged UEs… related to the UEs] and a second paging record list of a second type of paging record [par. 37; pagingGroupList…. include a pagingGroupList field… indicating a list of identities of MBS multicast session]; and
a processor [par. 37; fig. 5: 501], operably coupled to the transceiver, the processor configured to:
determine that the remote UE is associated with the paging message [par. 38; if ue-Identity matches UE identity allocated…],
identify a first paging record of the first type from the first paging record list comprising the identity of the remote UE [par. 38; if ue-Identity included in the PagingRecord field included in the paging message matches the UE identity];
identify a second paging record of the second type from the second paging record list comprising a paging cause [par. 38; For each TMGI included in the PagingGroupList field of the paging message, if the UE has joined the MBS session indicated by the TMGI, forwarding the TMGI to the upper layer… upon receiving the TMGI… upper layer may determine… to… setup… RRC connection… (or)… the upper layer may prepare to receive the corresponding MBS session]; and
generate a UuMessageTransferSidelink message including the first paging record
and the second paging record [par. 38; forwarding ue-Identity and accessType (if present) to the upper layer. See also: par. 38; forwarding the TMGI to the upper layer];
wherein the transceiver is further configured to transmit [par. 45; transmitting], to the remote UE, the UuMessageTransferSidelink message [par. 38; forwarding ue-Identity and accessType (if present) to the upper layer. See also: par. 38; forwarding the TMGI to the upper layer].
Regarding claim 2, Xiao discloses:
The relay UE of claim 1, wherein:
the first paging record is a kth paging record in the first paging record list, where k is an integer [par. 37; pagingRecordList field… indicating a list of identities of paged UEs], and
the second paging record is a kth paging record in the second paging record list [par. 37;
a pagingGroupList field… indicating a list of identities of MBS multicast sessions].
Regarding claim 3, Xiao discloses:
The relay UE of claim 1, wherein the first type of paging record comprises an access type [par. 37; pagingRecord… includes… accessType].
Regarding claim 4, Xiao discloses:
The relay UE of claim 1, wherein:
the transceiver is further configured to receive, from the remote UE, an indication that
the remote UE supports pagingCause [par. 37; The full I-RNTI is allocated to the UE by the base station in an RRCRelease message for suspending an RRC connection. See also par. 62; paging early indication (PEI)]; and
the processor is further configured to include the second type of paging record in the
UuMessageTransferSidelink message based on the indication that the remote UE supports pagingCause [par. 38; forwarding the TMGI to the upper layer. (This limitation was also included in claim 1)].
Regarding claim 5, Xiao discloses:
The relay UE of claim 1, wherein the transceiver is further configured to:
receive, from the remote UE, a first list of temporary mobile group identities (TMGIs) for
monitoring paging for multicast and broadcast services (MBS) [par. 4; monitoring a paging message, the paging message comprising at least one temporary mobile group identity (TMGI) identifying an MBS multicast session]; and
transmit, to the BS, the first list of TMGIs [par. 167; to receive MBS multicast… a paging message is received… includes TMGIs corresponding to one or more MBS sessions that the UE has joined), the UE… sends… base station… RRC resume request message… includes a… value corresponding to TMGIs of one or more MBS sessions].
Regarding claim 6, Xiao discloses:
The relay UE of claim 5, wherein:
the paging message includes a second list of TMGIs including at least one TMGI from the
first list of TMGIs [par. 167; to receive MBS multicast… a paging message is received… includes TMGIs corresponding to one or more MBS sessions that the UE has joined), the UE… sends… base station… RRC resume request message… includes a… value corresponding to TMGIs of one or more MBS sessions]; and
the UuMessageTransferSidelink message includes a third list of TMGIs including the
TMGIs from the second list that correspond to the TMGIs from the first list [par. 126; The indication identifier includes a TMGI list. If a TMGI corresponding to an MBS session is included in the indication identifier, it is indicated that the UE needs to receive the MBS session or an MRB corresponding to the TMGI after entering the RRC inactive state. See also par. 38; For each TMGI included… if the UE has joined the MBS session indicated by the TMGI, forwarding the TMGI to the upper layer. See also 112(a) above].
Regarding claim 7, Xiao discloses:
The relay UE of claim 1, wherein:
the UE is in a radio resource control (RRC) inactive state; and
the processor is further configured to initiate an RRC connection resumption procedure [par. 38; if the UE is in the RRC inactive state… initiating an RRC connection resumption procedure].
Regarding claim 8, Xiao discloses:
The relay UE of claim 7, wherein:
the transceiver is further configured to receive a second paging message including a
paging group list [par. 38; PagingGroupList field of… paging message (distinct from pagingRecordList) {it is also obvious in the art that new paging occasions may trigger additional paging messages}],
the paging group list includes one or more TMGIs corresponding to one or more MBS
sessions joined by the UE, and [par. 38; For each TMGI included… if the UE has joined the MBS session indicated by the TMGI, forwarding the TMGI to the upper layer]
when the second paging message does not include a paging record, the processor is further configured to initiate the RRC connection resumption procedure [par. 38; upon receiving the TMGI, the upper layer may determine whether to… setup… RRC connection].
Regarding claim 9, Xiao discloses:
The relay UE of claim 1, wherein the identity for the remote UE is one of:
a 5G-S-Temporary Mobile Subscriber identity (5G-S-TMSI) [par. 37; ue-Identity field may be an ng-5G-S-TMSI]; and
an Inactive-Radio Network Temporary Identifier (I-RNTI) [par. 37; ue-Identity field may be… a full I-RNTI].
Regarding claim 10, Xiao discloses:
A base station (BS) comprising:
a processor [it is obvious in the art that a base station would have a processor*]; and
a transceiver operably coupled to the processor, the transceiver [*likewise] configured to:
receive, from a remote user equipment (UE) [par. 37; network… transmitting], a
first list of temporary mobile group identities (TMGIs) for monitoring paging for multicast and broadcast services (MBS) [par. 38; For each TMGI included in the PagingGroupList field of the paging message, if… UE… joined… MBS session indicated by… TMGI, forwarding the TMGI to the upper layer]; and
transmit, to the UE [par. 37; network… transmitting], a paging message including
a first paging record list of a first type of paging record [par. 37; pagingRecordList… The paging message may include a pagingRecordList field… indicating a list of identities of paged UEs… including pagingRecord fields… indicating the identities of the paged UEs… related to the UEs], a second paging record list of a second type of paging record [par. 37; pagingGroupList…. include a pagingGroupList field… indicating a list of identities of MBS multicast sessions… of one or more TMGIs to page the UEs for a specific MBS multicast session], and a second list of TMGIs including at least one TMGI from the first list of TMGIs [par. 78; the base station may send indication information…The indication information may be carried DCI or MAC CE... (which) may include the TMGI… corresponding to the MBS session].
Regarding claim 11, Xiao discloses:
The BS of Claim 10, wherein:
the transceiver is further configured to transmit a second paging message including a
paging group list [par. 38; PagingGroupList field of… paging message…{it is obvious in the art that new paging occasions would trigger additional paging messages}]; and
the paging group list includes one or more TMGIs corresponding to one or more MBS
sessions joined by the UE [par. 37; pagingGroupList…. include a pagingGroupList field… indicating a list of identities of MBS multicast sessions… of one or more TMGIs to page the UEs for a specific MBS multicast session].
Regarding claim 12, Xiao discloses:
A method of operating a relay user equipment (UE) comprising:
receiving [par. 37; transmit from network], from a remote UE, an identity for the remote
UE [par. 37; ue-Identity field];
receiving, from a base station (BS) [par. 37; network… transmitting], a paging message [par. 37; paging message] including a first paging record list of a first type of paging record [par. 37; pagingRecordList… The paging message may include a pagingRecordList field… indicating a list of identities of paged UEs… including pagingRecord fields… indicating the identities of the paged UEs… related to the UEs] and a second paging record list of a second type of paging record [par. 37; pagingGroupList…. include a pagingGroupList field… indicating a list of identities of MBS multicast sessions… of one or more TMGIs to page the UEs for a specific MBS multicast session];
determining that the remote UE is associated with the paging message [par. 38; if ue-Identity matches UE identity allocated…];
identifying a first paging record of the first type from the first paging record list comprising the identity of the remote UE [par. 38; if ue-Identity included in the PagingRecord field included in the paging message matches the UE identity];
identifying a second paging record of the second type from the second paging record list comprising a paging cause [par. 38; For each TMGI included in the PagingGroupList field of the paging message, if the UE has joined the MBS session indicated by the TMGI, forwarding the TMGI to the upper layer];
generating a UuMessageTransferSidelink message including the first paging record and the second paging record [par. 38; forwarding ue-Identity and accessType… if present… to the upper layer. See also par. 38; forwarding the TMGI to the upper layer]; and
transmitting [par. 45; transmitting], to the remote UE, the UuMessageTransferSidelink message [par. 38; forwarding ue-Identity and accessType… if present… to the upper layer. See also par. 38; forwarding the TMGI to the upper layer].
Regarding claim 13, Xiao discloses:
The method of claim 12, wherein:
the first paging record is a kth paging record in the first paging record list, where k is an integer [par. 37; pagingRecordList field… indicating a list of identities of paged UEs], and
the second paging record is a kth paging record in the second paging record list [par. 37; a pagingGroupList field… indicating a list of identities of MBS multicast sessions].
Regarding claim 14, Xiao discloses:
The method of claim 12, wherein the first type of paging record comprises an access type [par. 37; pagingRecord… includes… accessType].
Regarding claim 15, Xiao discloses:
The method of claim 12, further comprising:
receiving, from the remote UE, an indication that the remote UE supports pagingCause [par. 37; The full I-RNTI is allocated to the UE by the base station in an RRCRelease message for suspending an RRC connection. See also par. 62; paging early indication]; and
including the second type of paging record in the UuMessageTransferSidelink message
based on the indication that the remote UE supports pagingCause [par. 38; forwarding the TMGI to the upper layer. (This limitation was already included in claim 12)].
Regarding claim 16, Xiao discloses:
The method of claim 12, wherein the transceiver is further configured to:
receiving, from the remote UE, a first list of temporary mobile group identities (TMGIs)
for monitoring paging for multicast and broadcast services (MBS) [par. 4; monitoring a paging message, the paging message comprising at least one… TMGI… identifying an MBS multicast session]; and
transmitting, to the BS, the first list of TMGIs [par. 167; to receive MBS multicast… a paging message is received… includes TMGIs corresponding to one or more MBS sessions that the UE has joined… the UE… sends… base station… RRC resume request message… includes a… value corresponding to TMGIs of one or more MBS sessions].
Regarding claim 17, Xiao discloses:
The method of claim 16, wherein:
the paging message includes a second list of TMGIs including at least one TMGI from the first list of TMGIs [par. 167; to receive MBS multicast… a paging message is received… includes TMGIs corresponding to one or more MBS sessions that the UE has joined), the UE… sends… base station… RRC resume request message… includes a… value corresponding to TMGIs of one or more MBS sessions]; and
the UuMessageTransferSidelink message includes a third list of TMGIs including the TMGIs from the second list that correspond to the TMGIs from the first list [par. 126; The indication identifier includes a TMGI list. If a TMGI corresponding to an MBS session is included in the indication identifier, it is indicated that the UE needs to receive the MBS session or an MRB corresponding to the TMGI after entering the RRC inactive state. See also par. 38; For each TMGI included… if the UE has joined the MBS session indicated by the TMGI, forwarding the TMGI to the upper layer].
Regarding claim 18, Xiao discloses:
The method of claim 12, wherein:
the UE is in a radio resource control (RRC) inactive state; and
the method further comprises initiating an RRC connection resumption procedure [par. 38; if the UE is in the RRC inactive state… initiating an RRC connection resumption procedure].
Regarding claim 19, Xiao discloses:
The method of claim 18, further comprising:
receiving a second paging message including a paging group list [par. 38;
PagingGroupList field of… paging message (distinct from pagingRecordList) {it is also obvious in the art that new paging occasions will trigger additional paging messages}],
wherein the paging group list includes one or more TMGIs corresponding to one or
more MBS sessions joined by the UE, and [par. 38; For each TMGI included… if the UE has joined the MBS session indicated by the TMGI, forwarding the TMGI to the upper layer]
when the second paging message does not include a paging record, initiating the RRC connection resumption procedure [par. 38; upon receiving the TMGI, the upper layer may determine whether to… setup… RRC connection].
Regarding claim 20, Xiao discloses:
The method of claim 12, wherein the identity for the remote UE is one of:
a 5G-S-Temporary Mobile Subscriber identity (5G-S-TMSI) [par. 37; ue-Identity field may be an ng-5G-S-TMSI]; and
an Inactive-Radio Network Temporary Identifier (I-RNTI) [par. 37; ue-Identity field may be… a full I-RNTI].
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
XU et al. US PG PUB 2025/0234414 A1. Xu further discloses RRC connection management using
paging messages in MBS sessions along with various other aspects of the claimed invention.
XU et al. US PG PUB 2024/0381309 A1. Xu further discloses the use of remote and relay UEs,
paging groups, and various other aspects of the claimed invention.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ELIJAH P WILSON whose telephone number is (571)272-9401. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 8am-5pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, JINSONG HU can be reached at 571-272-3965. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/ELIJAH PETER WILSON/ Examiner, Art Unit 2643
/JINSONG HU/ Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2643
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