Prosecution Insights
Last updated: April 19, 2026
Application No. 18/636,936

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR ACQUIRING SYSTEM INFORMATION AND PAGING VIA UE-TO-NETWORK RELAY IN A WIRELESS COMMUNICATION SYSTEM

Non-Final OA §102§103
Filed
Apr 16, 2024
Examiner
AJAYI, JOEL
Art Unit
2646
Tech Center
2600 — Communications
Assignee
Asustek Computer Inc.
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
77%
Grant Probability
Favorable
1-2
OA Rounds
2y 9m
To Grant
99%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 77% — above average
77%
Career Allow Rate
486 granted / 632 resolved
+14.9% vs TC avg
Strong +48% interview lift
Without
With
+47.6%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
2y 9m
Avg Prosecution
40 currently pending
Career history
672
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
3.0%
-37.0% vs TC avg
§103
53.4%
+13.4% vs TC avg
§102
39.5%
-0.5% vs TC avg
§112
2.4%
-37.6% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 632 resolved cases

Office Action

§102 §103
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 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 1-7, 9-15, 17, 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being unpatentable by Kim et al. (U.S. Patent Application Number: 2020/0077253). Consider claim 1; Kim discloses a method for a relay User Equipment (UE) to support UE-to-Network relay communication with a remote UE, comprising: receiving a first paging message or information for the remote UE from the network node (e.g. eNB) on a dedicated downlink channel or a paging channel (par. 552, lines 1-8); and transmitting a second paging message or information (e.g. PC5) to the remote UE (par. 574, lines 1-4) in response to reception of the first paging message or information for the remote UE (par. 552, lines 1-8), wherein the second paging message or information (e.g. PC5) is generated (par. 574, lines 1-4) based on the first paging message or information (par. 552, lines 1-8), and wherein the second paging message or information sent to the remote UE includes one paging record which includes a first identification or a second identification of the remote UE only (par. 547, lines 1-4). Consider claim 2; Kim discloses the first paging message or information for the remote UE includes one or more paging records (par. 547, lines 1-4), and one of the paging records includes the first identification or the second identification of the remote UE (par. 547, lines 1-4). Consider claim 3; Kim discloses receiving a Radio Resource Control (RRC) message from the network node (e.g. eNB) (par. 571, lines 1-6), wherein the RRC message includes the first paging message or information for the remote UE (par. 571, lines 1-6). Consider claim 4; Kim discloses the RRC message is included in a downlink transmission (par. 581, line 1 – par. 582, line 4) scrambled by or addressed to an identification or a Cell Radio Network Temporary Identifier (C-RNTI) of the relay UE [e.g. via the dedicated signaling (par. 552, lines 1-8)]. Consider claim 5; Kim discloses the RRC message is a RRC reconfiguration message (par. 115, lines 3-9). Consider claim 6; Kim discloses the network node is a gNB or a base station (par. 552, lines 1-8). Consider claim 7; Kim discloses the second paging message or information sent to the remote UE is included in a PC5 Radio Resource Control (PC5-RRC) message (par. 573, line 1 – par. 574, line 4). Consider claim 9; Kim discloses a relay User Equipment (UE) to support UE-to-Network relay communication with a remote UE, comprising: a control circuit (par. 675); a processor installed in the control circuit (par. 675); and a memory installed in the control circuit and operatively coupled to the processor (par. 676); wherein the processor is configured to execute a program code stored in the memory (par. 676) to: receive a first paging message or information for the remote UE from the network node (e.g. eNB) on a dedicated downlink channel or a paging channel (par. 552, lines 1-8); and transmit a second paging message or information (e.g. PC5) to the remote UE (par. 574, lines 1-4) in response to reception of the first paging message or information for the remote UE (par. 552, lines 1-8), wherein the second paging message or information (e.g. PC5) is generated (par. 574, lines 1-4) based on the first paging message or information (par. 552, lines 1-8), and wherein the second paging message or information sent to the remote UE includes one paging record which includes a first identification or a second identification of the remote UE only (par. 547, lines 1-4). Consider claim 10; Kim discloses the first paging message or information for the remote UE includes one or more paging records (par. 547, lines 1-4), and one of the paging records includes the first identification or the second identification of the remote UE (par. 547, lines 1-4). Consider claim 11; Kim discloses receiving a Radio Resource Control (RRC) message from the network node (e.g. eNB) (par. 571, lines 1-6), wherein the RRC message includes the first paging message or information for the remote UE (par. 571, lines 1-6). Consider claim 12; Kim discloses the RRC message is included in a downlink transmission (par. 581, line 1 – par. 582, line 4) scrambled by or addressed to an identification or a Cell Radio Network Temporary Identifier (C-RNTI) of the relay UE [e.g. via the dedicated signaling (par. 552, lines 1-8)]. Consider claim 13; Kim discloses the RRC message is a RRC reconfiguration message (par. 115, lines 3-9). Consider claim 14; Kim discloses the network node is a gNB or a base station (par. 552, lines 1-8). Consider claim 15; Kim discloses the second paging message or information sent to the remote UE is included in a PC5 Radio Resource Control (PC5-RRC) message (par. 573, line 1 – par. 574, line 4). Consider claim 17; Kim discloses the first identification of the remote UE is a NG- 5G-S-TMSI (par. 571, lines 1-6; par. 678, lines 1-5), and the second identification of the remote UE is a I-RNTI (par. 192, lines 1-3; par. 277, line 1 – par. 278, line 8). Consider claim 18; Kim discloses the first identification of the remote UE is a NG- 5G-S-TMSI (par. 571, lines 1-6; par. 678, lines 1-5), and the second identification of the remote UE is a I-RNTI (par. 192, lines 1-3; par. 277, line 1 – par. 278, line 8). 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 of this title, 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 8 and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kim et al. (U.S. Patent Application Number: 2020/0077253) in view of Hong et al. (U.S. Patent Application Number: 2019/0373652). Consider claim 8, as applied in claim 7; Kim discloses the claimed invention except: the PC5-RRC message is included in a sidelink transmission with a Layer-2 Identity (ID) of the relay UE as Source Layer-2 ID, and a Layer-2 ID of the remote UE as Destination Layer-2 ID. In an analogous art Hong discloses the PC5-RRC message is included in a sidelink transmission (par. 77, lines 32-47) with a Layer-2 Identity (ID) of the relay UE as Source Layer-2 ID, and a Layer-2 ID of the remote UE as Destination Layer-2 ID (par. 132, lines 1-10). It is an object of Kim’s invention to provide a method for transmitting and receiving. It is an object of Hong’s invention to provide a method for receiving/transmitting uplink/downlink data. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teaching of Kim by including a layer-2 ID, as taught by Hong, for the purpose of efficiently providing services in a wireless network. Consider claim 16, as applied in claim 15; Kim discloses the claimed invention except: the PC5-RRC message is included in a sidelink transmission with a Layer-2 Identity (ID) of the relay UE as Source Layer-2 ID, and a Layer-2 ID of the remote UE as Destination Layer-2 ID. In an analogous art Hong discloses the PC5-RRC message is included in a sidelink transmission (par. 77, lines 32-47) with a Layer-2 Identity (ID) of the relay UE as Source Layer-2 ID, and a Layer-2 ID of the remote UE as Destination Layer-2 ID (par. 132, lines 1-10). It is an object of Kim’s invention to provide a method for transmitting and receiving. It is an object of Hong’s invention to provide a method for receiving/transmitting uplink/downlink data. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teaching of Kim by including a layer-2 ID, as taught by Hong, for the purpose of efficiently providing services in a wireless network. Conclusion Any response to this Office Action should be faxed to (571) 273-8300 or mailed to: Commissioner for Patents P.O. Box 1450 Alexandria, VA 22313-1450 Hand-delivered responses should be brought to Customer Service Window Randolph Building 401 Dulany Street Alexandria, VA 22314 Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the Examiner should be directed to Joel Ajayi whose telephone number is (571) 270-1091. The Examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Friday from 7:30am to 5:00pm. If attempts to reach the Examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the Examiner’s supervisor, Jeanette Parker can be reached on (571) 270-3647. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is (571) 273-8300. Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free) or 703-305-3028. Any inquiry of a general nature or relating to the status of this application or proceeding should be directed to the receptionist/customer service whose telephone number is (571) 272-2600. /JOEL AJAYI/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2646
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Prosecution Timeline

Apr 16, 2024
Application Filed
Mar 10, 2026
Non-Final Rejection — §102, §103 (current)

Precedent Cases

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Study what changed to get past this examiner. Based on 5 most recent grants.

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Prosecution Projections

1-2
Expected OA Rounds
77%
Grant Probability
99%
With Interview (+47.6%)
2y 9m
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 632 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allow rate.

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