DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
1. The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Status of Claims
2. Claims 1-20 are pending wherein claims 1, 10, 11, and 16 are in independent form.
3. Claims 1-15 have been amended.
4. Claims 16-20 have been added newly.
Response to Arguments
5. Applicant's arguments filed 05/11/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. The reasons set forth below.
6. On page 9 of the remarks, applicant argues, “Gao fails to teach or suggest "transmit, to the remote UE, a valid version of the particular SIB requested by the remote UE, using a sidelink channel, wherein the valid version of the particular SIB is transmitted to a reserved [L2 DSTID], as recited in amended claim 1.”
In response, examiner respectfully disagrees because:
Examiner relied on Pan (US 20220141756) for teaching the feature to transmit a particular SIB requested by the remote UE to a reserved layer-2 Destination Identifier (L2 DST ID) (common Layer-2 Identity (ID) as Destination Layer-2 ID; Remote UE as Destination (Layer-2 or Layer-1) ID) (Abstract, Par 0005, Par 0376, Par 0386, Par 0398-0400).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
7. 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.
8. Claims 1-3, 8, 10-11, 13, 15-16, 18, and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Leng et al (US 20230422151, hereinafter referred to as Leng) in view of Pan (US 20220141756, hereinafter referred to as Pan).
Re claim 1, Leng teaches a relay user equipment (“UE”) (First terminal device, Fig. 4; Relay UE, Fig. 5) for wireless communication, comprising:
(i) at least one memory (Fig. 8-9, Par 0183-189, Par 0197-0199); and
(ii) at least one processor coupled with the at least one memory (Fig. 8-9, Par 0183-189, Par 0197-0199) and configured to cause the UE to:
(iii) transmit, to a remote UE, information for system information blocks ("SIBs") provided by a serving cell in a mobile communication network (transmitting updated SIB to the remote UE, Fig. 5) (Par 0130-0136);
(iv) receive, from the remote UE, a request for a particular system information block ("SIB") (receiving first information from the second terminal device, Fig. 4; receiving on demand SI request from the remote UE, Fig. 5) (Fig. 4-5, Par 0057-0061, Par 0070, Par 0108-0110);
(v) acquire a set of SIBs from the serving cell (acquiring SIBs from the network device, S504, Fig. 5) (Fig. 4-5, Par 0074, Par 0085-0091, Par 0113-0115, Par 0118-0120, Par 0124-0127); and
(vi) transmit, to the remote UE, a valid version of the particular SIB requested by the remote UE (transmitting requested SIBs to the remote UE), using a sidelink channel (PC5 interface) (Fig. 4-5, Par 0074-0076, Par 0085-0092, Par 0127-0129),
Leng discloses to transmit a valid version of the particular SIB requested by the remote UE to the remote UE, but does not transmit the valid version of the particular SIB to a reserved Layer-2 Destination Identifier ("L2 DST ID").
Leng does not explicitly disclose to transmit the particular SIB requested by the remote UE to a reserved Layer-2 Destination Identifier ("L2 DST ID").
Pan teaches to transmit the particular SIB requested by the remote UE (other SI/SIB requested by the remote UE) to a reserved Layer-2 Destination Identifier ("L2 DST ID") (common Layer-2 Identity (ID) as Destination Layer-2 ID; Remote UE as Destination (Layer-2 or Layer-1) ID) (Fig. 14, Abstract, Par 0005, Par 0375-0377, Par 0383-0387, Par 0398-0400).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Leng by including the feature to transmit the particular SIB requested by the remote UE to a reserved Layer-2 Destination Identifier ("L2 DST ID"), as taught by Pan for the purpose of properly delivering or forwarding the system information from the network node via a relay UE, as taught by Pan (Par 0005).
Therefore, Leng in view of Pan discloses that the valid version of the particular SIB is transmitted to a reserved Layer-2 Destination Identifier ("L2 DST ID").
Claim 10 recites a method performing the functions recited in claim 1 and thereby, is rejected for the reasons discussed above with respect to claim 1.
Re claim 2, Leng teaches to determine whether the valid version of the particular SIB is available in local memory; and acquire, from the serving cell, the particular SIB, if the valid version is not available in the local memory (acquiring unavailable SIBs from the network device) (Fig. 4-5, Par 0080-0092, Par 0113-0115, Par 0118-0120, Par 0124-0129).
Re claim 3, Leng teaches to receive a system information message containing a plurality of SIBs, and wherein, to transmit the valid version of the particular SIB, the processor is configured to cause the relay UE to forward only a requested subset of the plurality of SIBs (transmitting valid SIBs to the remote UE based on the SIB request from the remote UE) (Fig. 4-5, Par 0080-0092, Par 0113-0115, Par 0118-0120, Par 0124-0129).
Re claims 8, 13, 18, Leng teaches to transmit System Information Block #1 ("SIB1") to the remote UE via sidelink transmission (transmitting updated SIB1 to the remote UE), wherein the sidelink transmission comprises a unicast transmission, a groupcast transmission, or a broadcast transmission (Updated SIB is transmitted to the remote UE, Fig. 5) (Fig. 5, Par 0130-0136).
Re claim 11, Leng teaches a user equipment ("UE") (second terminal device, Fig. 4; remote UE, Fig. 5) for wireless communication, comprising:
(i) at least one memory (Fig. 8-9, Par 0183-189, Par 0197-0199); and
(ii) at least one processor coupled with the at least one memory (Fig. 8-9, Par 0183-189, Par 0197-0199) and configured to cause the UE to:
(iii) receive, from a relay UE, information for system information blocks ("SIBs") provided by a serving cell in a mobile wireless communication network (receiving updated SIB from the relay UE, Fig. 5) (Par 0130-0136);
(iv) transmit, to the relay UE, a request for a required system information block ("SIB") (transmitting first information to the first terminal device, Fig. 4; transmitting on demand SI request to the relay UE, Fig. 5) (Fig. 4-5, Par 0057-0061, Par 0070, Par 0108-0110); and
(v) receive, from the relay UE, a valid version of the required SIB (receiving requested SIBs from the relay UE) via a sidelink channel (PC5 interface) (Fig. 4-5, Par 0074-0076, Par 0085-0092, Par 0127-0129).
Leng discloses to receive a valid version of the particular SIB requested by the remote UE, but does not receive the valid version of the particular SIB addressed to a reserved Layer-2 Destination Identifier ("L2 DST ID").
Leng does not explicitly disclose to receive the particular SIB requested by the remote UE addressed to a reserved Layer-2 Destination Identifier ("L2 DST ID").
Pan teaches to receive the particular SIB requested by the remote UE (other SI/SIB requested by the remote UE) addressed to a reserved Layer-2 Destination Identifier ("L2 DST ID") (common Layer-2 Identity (ID) as Destination Layer-2 ID; Remote UE as Destination (Layer-2 or Layer-1) ID) (Fig. 14, Abstract, Par 0005, Par 0375-0377, Par 0383-0387, Par 0398-0400).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Leng by including the feature to receive the particular SIB requested by the remote UE addressed to a reserved Layer-2 Destination Identifier ("L2 DST ID"), as taught by Pan for the purpose of properly delivering or forwarding the system information from the network node via a relay UE, as taught by Pan (Par 0005).
Therefore, Leng in view of Pan discloses to receive the valid version of the particular SIB addressed to a reserved Layer-2 Destination Identifier ("L2 DST ID").
Claim 16 recites a method performing the functions recited in claim 11 and thereby, is rejected for the reasons discussed above with respect to claim 11.
Re claims 15, 20, Leng does not explicitly disclose that the relay UE comprises an in-coverage UE device of the mobile wireless communication network, wherein the UE comprises an out-of coverage UE device or an in-coverage UE device that is not connected to a same serving cell as the relay UE.
Pan teaches that the relay UE comprises an in-coverage UE device of the mobile wireless communication network (relay is in coverage of a cell, Fig. 12), wherein the UE comprises an out-of coverage UE device (remote UE is out of coverage, Fig. 12) or an in-coverage UE device that is not connected to a same serving cell as the relay UE (Fig. 12, Par 0266, Par 0293, Par 0380-0382).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Leng by including the feature that the relay UE comprises an in-coverage UE device of the mobile wireless communication network, wherein the UE comprises an out-of coverage UE device or an in-coverage UE device that is not connected to a same serving cell as the relay UE, as taught by Pan for the purpose of properly delivering or forwarding the system information from the network node via a relay UE, as taught by Pan (Par 0005).
9. Claims 4, 12, and 17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Leng and Pan as applied to claims 1, 11, and 16 above and further in view of Shimoda et al (US 20240187960, hereinafter referred to as Shimoda).
Re claims 4, 12, 17, Leng does not explicitly disclose to transmit a physical sidelink data channel ("PSSCH") transmission, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to cause the relay UE to: transmit, to the remote UE, sidelink control information ("SCI") that indicates which of the SIBs provided by the serving cell are contained in the PSSCH transmission, wherein the PSSCH transmission comprises a unicast transmission, a groupcast transmission, or a broadcast transmission.
Shimoda teaches to transmit a physical sidelink data channel ("PSSCH") transmission (transmitting SI received from the gNB via SL-SCH), wherein the at least one processor is further configured to cause the relay UE to: transmit, to the remote UE, sidelink control information ("SCI") that indicates which of the SIBs provided by the serving cell are contained in the PSSCH transmission (SCI indicating the SI transmitted via SL-SCH), wherein the PSSCH transmission comprises a unicast transmission, a groupcast transmission, or a broadcast transmission (SI transmission is any of the unicast transmission, a groupcast transmission, or a broadcast transmission) (Par 0569-0571, Par 0576-0578, Par 0580-0588).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Leng by including the feature to transmit a physical sidelink data channel ("PSSCH") transmission, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to cause the relay UE to: transmit, to the remote UE, sidelink control information ("SCI") that indicates which of the SIBs provided by the serving cell are contained in the PSSCH transmission, wherein the PSSCH transmission comprises a unicast transmission, a groupcast transmission, or a broadcast transmission, as taught by Shimoda for the purpose of efficiently sending to a remote UE the necessary system information essential for the communication between the remote UE and the gNB via the relay UE, as taught by Shimoda (Par 0569, Par 0571-0572, Par 0579-0580).
10. Claims 5, 9, 14, and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Leng, Pan, and Shimoda as applied to claims 4, 12 above and further in view of Kang et al (US 20220124475, hereinafter referred to as Kang).
Re claim 5, Leng does not explicitly disclose that the SCI comprises a bitmap that indicates the particular SIB.
Kang teaches that the SCI comprises a bitmap that indicates the particular SIB (Par 0189, Par 0194-0195).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Leng by including the feature that the SCI comprises a bitmap that indicates the particular SIB, as taught by Kang for the purpose of sending system information message via a relay UE to provide coverage expansion, data transmission reliability increase, and device power consumption reduction, as taught by Kang (Par 0013-0015).
Re claims 9, 14, 19, Leng does not explicitly disclose to receive Radio Resource Control ("RRC") signaling comprising a bitmap that indicates the particular SIB.
Kang teaches to receive Radio Resource Control ("RRC") signaling comprising a bitmap that indicates the particular SIB (Par 0020-0021, Par 0164-0165, Par 0215).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Leng by including the feature to receive Radio Resource Control ("RRC") signaling comprising a bitmap that indicates the particular SIB, as taught by Kang for the purpose of sending system information message via a relay UE to provide coverage expansion, data transmission reliability increase, and device power consumption reduction, as taught by Kang (Par 0013-0015).
11. Claims 6 and 7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Leng and Pan as applied to claims 1, 10, 11, and 16 above and further in view of Gao et al (US 20220053321, hereinafter referred to as Gao).
Re claim 6, Leng does not explicitly disclose that the reserved L2 DST ID being composed of a hexadecimal value of 'FFFFFF’.
Gao teaches that the reserved L2 DST ID being composed of a hexadecimal value of 'FFFFFF’ (Par 0026, Par 0041).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Leng by including the feature that the reserved L2 DST ID being composed of a hexadecimal value of 'FFFFFF’, as taught by Gao for the purpose of introducing a long/extended identifier to provide support for an increased number of users and devices, as taught by Gao (Par 0003-0005).
Re claim 7, Leng does not explicitly disclose that the L2 DST ID is a SIB-specific identifier corresponding to the particular SIB.
Pan teaches that the L2 DST ID is a SIB-specific identifier corresponding to the particular SIB (Fig. 14-15, Par 0375-0377, Par 0383-0387, Par 0398-0405).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Leng by including the feature that the L2 DST ID is a SIB-specific identifier corresponding to the particular SIB, as taught by Pan for the purpose of properly delivering or forwarding the system information from the network node via a relay UE, as taught by Pan (Par 0005).
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.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to HARUN UR R CHOWDHURY whose telephone number is (571)270-3895. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 9AM-5PM.
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, Kwang B Yao can be reached at 5712723182. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/HARUN CHOWDHURY/Examiner, Art Unit 2473
Prosecution Insights