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. Claims 1 -3, 5 -9, 14, 16 , 2 8-29 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ou (US 2022/0078875) ) in view of Park (US 2012/0208527 ) and Xu (US 2022/0394807). Regarding claim 1 , Ou describes an apparatus for wireless communication at a first user equipment (UE) (fig. 2 , UE 250 ), comprising: memory; and at least one processor coupled to the memory, the memory and the at least one processor configured to: (fig. 2 , UE 250 with processor 270 & memory 272 ) transmit a request associated with an RRC connection to the base station ( fig. 13 step 1002 & para. 5 or 257-258, UE initiate a RRC connection resume procedure comprising sending a RRC Resume Request to network gNB (base station) ); and monitor for a response from the base station based on the one or more timers associated with the RRC connection procedure via the second UE as the relay ( fig. 13 step 1002 & 1004 and para. 6 or 258 , UE starts a timer at initiation of requesting RRC connection resume & stops upon reception of a RRC response message for the RRC connection resume procedure, see para. 6 . See also fig. 11 ). Ou describes using a timer for monitoring the RRC reestablishment response from BS, but fails to further explicitly describe: receive an indication of one or more timers associated with a radio resource control (RRC) connection procedure with a base station. Park also describes using a timer for a RRC connection purpose (para. 13) , further describing: receive an indication of one or more timers associated with a radio resource control (RRC) connection procedure with a base station (fig. 5 S500 & S510 and para. 13-1 6 , UE receives a timer value as configuration from the network (fig. 1, base station + RNC) to use in RRC connection [release] procedure). It would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art before the effective date of the claimed invention to specify that the UE in Wu to receive an indication of timer associated with RRC connection procedure from the base station as in Park . The motivation for combining the teachings is that reduces messaging which increases network load in the communication network (Park, para. 5). Ou and Park combined fail to further explicitly describe: transmit the request associated with an RRC connection to the base station to a second UE to be relayed to the base station . Xu also describes remote UE transmission of request associated with RRC connection to gNB (base station) (fig. 10 or 11, remote UE 1102 sending RRC connection request or RRC re-establishment request), further describing: transmit the request associated with an RRC connection to the base station to a second UE to be relayed to the base station (fig. 10 or 11 & para. 21-22 , remote UE 1 0 02 /1102 sending RRC connection request or RRC re-establishment request via the relay UE 1004/1104 to gNB 1006/1106). It would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art before the effective date of the claimed invention to specify that the communication between UE and base station of Ou and Park be sent via a relay UE as in Xu. The motivation for combining the teachings is that this provide s improved support for a broad range of desired wireless communication characteristics (Xu, para. 5). Regarding claim 2 , Ou, Park, and Xu combined describe: wherein the indication is in system information (SI) from the base station (Park para. 16, configuration sent by network (base station) to UE is in SIB parameter (SI)). Regarding claim 3 , Ou, Park, and Xu combined describe: at least one antenna; and a transceiver coupled to the at least one antenna and the at least one processor ( Ou fig. 2, antennas 252, transceivers 254 coupled to antennas, and processor 270 ) , wherein the one or more timers include at least one of: an RRC connection re- establishment timer ( Ou fig. 13 & para. 257-258 , timer is used for RRC resumption ( reestablishment ) ). Regarding claim 5 , Ou, Park and Xu combined describe: wherein to monitor for the response, the memory and the at least one processor are further configured to: start the one or more timers in response to a transmission of the request; and stop the one or more timers in response to one of: an RRC setup message from the base station ( Ou para. 257 -258 , UE starts timer at initiation of RRC resume Request, & stops timer upon reception of RRC response message, where RRC response message is a RRC setup message) . Regarding claim 6 , Ou, Park, and Xu combined describe: wherein the memory and the at least one processor are further configured to: start the one or more timers in response to a transmission of the request; and perform recovery or entering an RRC idle state in response to the one or more timers expiring ( Ou para. 24 7, UE start timer in upon initiation of RRC connection resume procedure (see fig. 13 & para. 258) , and enter RRC idle stat e in response timer expiry). Regarding claim 7 , Ou, Park, and Xu combined describe: wherein the request comprises an RRC resume request, the memory and the at least one processor being further configured to: start an RRC connection resume timer in response to a transmission of the RRC resume request; and stop the one or more timers in response to one of: an RRC resume response from the base station (Ou para. 257-258, UE starts timer at initiation of RRC resum e Request, & stops timer upon reception of RRC response message, where RRC response message is a RRC setup message). Regarding claim 8 , Ou, Park, and Xu combined describe: wherein the request comprises an RRC re-establishment request, the memory and the at least one processor being further configured to: start an RRC connection re-establishment timer in response to a transmission of the RRC re-establishment request; and stop the one or more timers in response to one of: an RRC re-establishment response from the base station (Ou para. 257-258, UE starts timer at initiation of RRC resume (re-establishment) Request, & stops timer upon reception of RRC response message, where RRC response message is a RRC setup message). Regarding claim 9 , Ou, Park, and Xu combined describe: wherein the request comprises an RRC re-establishment request, the memory and the at least one processor being further configured to: start an RRC connection re-establishment timer in response to initiation of an RRC re-establishment procedure; and stop the one or more timers in response to selection of at least one of a first cell meeting a cell selection criteria ( Ou para. 5 , regarding RRC connection resume (re-establishment) procedure where UE initiate timer, the timer can be stopped when cell selection/reselection occurs, para. 171-172 ). Regarding claim 14 , Ou, Park, and Xu combined describe: wherein the one or more timers are independent of a connection state of the second UE ( Ou , para. 5 or fig. 13 , timer start/stop is NOT based on connection state of relay UE). Regarding claim 16 , Ou describe s : wherein the memory and the at least one processor are further configured to: initiate, a procedure to re-establish the RRC connection with at least one of a different base station or a different relay , and receive an RRC setup message in response to initiating the procedure (Ou para. 5, initiate RRC resume (re-establishment) procedure & receiving a RRC resume response, which may be cell reselection or inter-RAT cell reselection, see section 5.3.1.3.6 (~para. 169) & section 5.3.13.12 (~para. 185)). Ou, Park, and Xu combined describe: initiate , while in an RRC inactive state , a procedure regarding a RRC connection procedure, receiving a RRC connection message in response to initiating the procedure, and enter an RRC idle state (fig. 4 & para. 63, UE in RRC_connected state initiates RRC_connection release in step S400, receives RRC connection release message in step S430, and enters idle mode 200). Regarding claim 28 , Ou describes an apparatus for wireless communication at a second user equipment (UE) (fig. 6 UE 602), comprising: memory; and at least one processor coupled to the memory, the memory and the at least one processor configured to: (fig. 2, UE 250 with processor 270 & memory 272) [the base station] receives a request associated with an RRC connection from a first UE (fig. 13 step 1002 & para. 5 or 257-258, UE initiate a RRC connection resume procedure comprising sending a RRC Resume Request to network gNB (base station)); Wu fails to further explicitly describe: transmit a sidelink message indicating one or more timers associated with a radio resource control (RRC) connection procedure of a first UE with a base station via the second UE, the one or more timers including additional amount of time for the RRC connection procedure via the second UE. Park also describes using a timer for a RRC connection purpose (para. 13), further describing: [base station] transmits a sidelink message indicating one or more timers associated with a radio resource control (RRC) connection procedure of a first UE with a base station via the second UE, the one or more timers including additional amount of time for the RRC connection procedure via the second UE (fig. 5 S500 & S510 and para. 13-16, relay UE 602 transmits/forwards to UE 601 [as sidelink message] a timer value as indication which is originally sent from the network (fig. 1, base station + RNC) to use in RRC connection [release] procedure). It would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art before the effective date of the claimed invention to specify that the relay UE in Wu to transmit to remote UE an indication of timer associated with RRC connection procedure from the base station as in Park. The motivation for combining the teachings is that reduces messaging which increases network load in the communication network (Park, para. 5). Ou and Park combined fails to further explicitly describe: UE as a second UE; transmitting the sideline message of a first UE with a base station via the second UE, and receiving a request associated with an RRC connection from the first UE for relay to the base station . Xu also describes remote UE transmission of request associated with RRC connection to gNB (base station) (fig. 10 or 11, remote UE 1102 sending RRC connection request or RRC re-establishment request), further describing: UE as a second UE (fig. 10 or 11, relay UE 1004/1104); transmitting the sideline message of a first UE with a base s t ation via the second UE (fig. 10, relay UE 1004 transmits/forwards connection setup specifics from the gNB 1006 (base station) to the remote UE 1002) , and receiving a request associated with an RRC connection from the first UE for rela y to the base station (fig. 11, when remote UE 1102 loses connection after being connected, relay UE 1104 receives RRC connection reestablishment request 1110 from remote (first) UE 1102) for relaying to gNB 1106 (base station)). It would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art before the effective date of the claimed invention to specify that the communication between UE and base station of Ou and Park be sent via a relay UE as in Xu. The motivation for combining the teachings is that this provide s improved support for a broad range of desired wireless communication characteristics (Xu, para. 5). Regarding claim 29 , Ou, Park and Xu combined describe: at least one antenna; and a transceiver coupled to the at least one antenna and the at least one processor ( Xu fig. 3 & 5 and para. 73-75, relay UE 106 comprising a ntennas 335a&b, LTE/LTE-A/CDMA2000, etc . circuitries 330 ( transceiver s) 804 & processor 302 ), wherein the sidelink message is a sidelink discovery message or a sidelink RRC message ( Xu para. 8, messaging between UE & relay UE are RRC-related messages). Claims 4 , 11 , and 1 8 - 20 and 30 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ou, Park and Xu , and further in view of Yao (US 2024 / 0179786 ). Regarding claim 4 , Ou, Park and Xu combined fail to further explicitly describe : wherein the system information further includes an additional set of the one or more timers for the RRC connection procedure for UEs that do not support the RRC connection procedure via the relay, wherein the first UE refrains from applying the additional set of the one or more timers for the RRC connection procedure Yao also d e scribes RRC reconfiguration between base station & remote terminal device via the indirect path using a relay terminal device (fig. 2), further describing: wherein the system information further includes an additional set of the one or more timers for the RRC connection procedure for UEs that do not support the RRC connection procedure via the relay, wherein the first UE refrains from applying the additional set of the one or more timers for the RRC connection procedure (fig. 2 & para. 360 source network device/base station to configure different timers for UE’s path switching to/from a indirect path (via the relay) from/to a direct path (no relay), via RRC reconfiguration procedure, timers selected for use either being timer T304 or a newly introduced timer). It would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art before the effective date of the claimed invention to specify that the SI configuration sent in Ou, Park and Xu to include additional timer(s) for RRC procedure that do not support the RRC connection procedure via the relay as in Yao. The motivation for combining the teachings is that this approach mitigates deterioration of service quality of the relay UE (Yao, para. 5). Regarding claim 11 , Ou, Park and Xu combined fail to further explicitly describe: wherein the system information further includes an additional set of the one or more timers for the RRC connection procedure independent of the relay. Yao also describes RRC reconfiguration between base station & remote terminal device via the indirect path using a relay terminal device (fig. 2), further describing: wherein the system information further includes an additional set of the one or more timers for the RRC connection procedure independent of the relay (fig. 2 & para. 360 source network device/base station to configure different timers for UE’s path switching to/from a indirect path (via the relay) from/to a direct path ( independent of relay), via RRC reconfiguration procedure, timers selected for use either being timer T304 or a newly introduced timer). It would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art before the effective date of the claimed invention to specify that the SI configuration sent in Ou, Park and Xu to include additional timer(s) for RRC procedure that do not support the RRC connection procedure via the relay as in Yao. The motivation for combining the teachings is that this approach mitigates deterioration of service quality of the relay UE (Yao, para. 5). Regarding claim 1 8 , Ou, Park and Xu combined fail to further describe: wherein the memory and the at least one processor are further configured to: receive, from the base station, an RRC reconfiguration message indicating an additional timer associated with a path switch; and perform the path switch based on the additional timer. Yao also describes RRC reconfiguration between base station & remote terminal device via the indirect path using a relay terminal device (fig. 2), further describing: wherein the memory and the at least one processor are further configured to: receive, from the base station, an RRC reconfiguration message indicating an additional timer associated with a path switch; and perform the path switch based on the additional timer (fig. 2 & para. 360 source network device/base station to configure different timers for UE’s path switching to/from an indirect path (via the relay) from/to a direct path (no relay), via RRC reconfiguration procedure, timers selected for use either being timer T304 or a newly introduced timer). It would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art before the effective date of the claimed invention to specify that the RRC configuration message sent in Ou, Park and Xu to indicate an additional timer associated with a path switch as in Yao. The motivation for combining the teachings is that this approach mitigates deterioration of service quality of the relay UE (Yao, para. 5). Regarding claim 19 , Ou , Park , Xu and Yao combined describe: wherein the path switch includes a first change from an indirect path to the base station via the second UE to a direct path to the base station or a second change to a different relay (Yao, fig. 2 & para. 360 source network device/base station to configure different timers for UE’s path switching to/from an indirect path (via the relay) from/to a direct path (no relay), via RRC reconfiguration procedure, timers selected for use either being timer T304 or a newly introduced timer). Regarding claim 20 , Ou, Park, Xu and Yao combined describe: wherein to perform the path switch based on the additional timer, the memory and the at least one processor are further configured to: start the additional timer in response to reception of the RRC reconfiguration message; and stop the additional timer in response to at least one of completion of: a successful transmission of the RRC reconfiguration complete message (Ou fig. 19 & para. 303, second (additional) timer starts in response to RA resume request (RRC reconfiguration message), and stopping the second (additional) timer in response to receiving (completion of) RRC response message). Regarding claim 30 , Ou, Park and Xu combined fail to further explicitly describe: wherein the one or more timers are independent of a connection state of the second UE. Yao also describes RRC reconfiguration between base station & remote terminal device via the indirect path using a relay terminal device (fig. 2), further describing: wherein the one or more timers are independent of a connection state of the second UE (fig. 2 & para. 360 source network device/base station to configure different timers for UE’s path switching to/from a indirect path (via the relay (second UE)) from/to a direct path (independent of second UE), via RRC reconfiguration procedure, timers selected for use either being timer T304 or a newly introduced timer). It would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art before the effective date of the claimed invention to specify that the SI configuration sent in Ou, Park and Xu to include additional timer(s) for RRC procedure that do not support the RRC connection procedure via the relay (second UE) as in Yao. The motivation for combining the teachings is that this approach mitigates deterioration of service quality of the relay UE (Yao, para. 5). Claim 17 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ou in view of Park and Xu , and further in view of Sun (US 2020/0374968). Regarding claim 17 , Ou and Park combined fail to further explicitly describe: wherein the memory and the at least one processor are further configured to: initiate, while in an RRC inactive state, a procedure to resume the RRC connection with at least one of a different base station or a different relay; receive an RRC setup message in response to initiating the procedure; and enter an RRC idle state. Sun also describes terminal device communication with network device in different RRC states (fig. 2), further describing: wherein the memory and the at least one processor (fig. 6, memory & processor) are further configured to: initiate, while in an RRC inactive state, a procedure to resume the RRC connection with at least one of a different base station or a different relay; receive an RRC setup message in response to initiating the procedure; and enter an RRC idle state (para. 4, UE in RRC inactive state is being prompted to quickly resume an RRC connection. And if an exception occurs, UE enters the RRC idle state). It would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art before the effective date of the claimed invention to specify that the first UE of Wu and Park to initiate a RRC resume procedure while in RRC inactive state & receive a response which prompts first UE to enter an RRC idle state as in Sun. The motivation to combining the teachings is that this enables UE in RRC inactive state to quickly switch back to RRC connected state (Sun, para. 4). Claim 21 is an apparatus (base station) claim that mirrors limitation steps set forth for the apparatus (first user equipment) claim 1 & includes claim 2 limitations. Hence, it is rejected under the same rationale. Claims 22-24 and 27 recite same limitations as that of claims 3, 11, 10 and 19 respectively. Hence, they are rejected under the same rationale. Claims 25-26 recite the mirrored limitations of that in claims 17-18. Hence, they are rejected under the same rationale. Allowable Subject Matter Claims 10, 12-13, and 15 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. Regarding claim 10 , the prior art fails to further explicitly describe: wherein the one or more timers are indicated in system information from the base station that includes a first timer for use when the second UE is in an RRC connected state and a second timer for use when the second UE is in an RRC idle or RRC inactive state . Regarding claim 12 , the prior art fails to further explicitly describe: wherein the memory and the at least one processor are further configured to: receive, from the second UE, information about a connection state for the second UE, wherein the first UE monitors for the response from the base station based on the first timer or the second timer based on the connection state of the second UE . For claims 10 and 12 , t he closest prior art, Yao describing UE 201A or UE 201B be ing in one of the following states: RRC_IDLE state, RRC_CONNECTED state, and RRC_INACTIVE state, at a given time. And in three cases in which the relay UE is in an RRC idle state, an RRC inactive state, and an RRC connected state, the offset duration may be set differently (fig. 1 para. 65), in combination with Ou, Park and Xu, fail to render the above additional features as a whole obvious. Regarding claim 15 , the prior art fails to further explicitly describe: wherein the indication is received in a sidelink message from the second UE, the memory and the at least one processor being further configured to: add the one or more timers as an additional amount of time for a timer indicated by the base station. The closest prior art, Yao describing using a timer for RRC reconfiguration in a simple manner (para. 64-65 in view of abstract), in combination with Ou describing adding additional timer for T319 timer based on RA complete (fig. 14) along with Park and Xu , fail to render the above features as a whole obvious. Conclusion The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure: Xu (US 2022 / 0394807) and (US 2021/0051758) describing RRC connection procedure between UE & BS via relay UE (fig. 5), Pan (US 2022/0174758) describing RRC setup request & RRC setup complete between remote UE & gNB via relay UE (fig. 14 & 16-20), Purkayastha (US 2021/0185757) describing UE sideline connection states dependent on expiration of configured timer (abstract), Jung (US 2020/0221532) describing delinking method where terminal starts a validity timer set as the received valid time together therewith. While the valid timer is operated, the terminal applies the dedicated priority in the RRC idle mode. If the valid timer is expired (fig. 13 & 15 & para. 128), Nair (US 2018/0020442) describing layer-2 relay to remote UE of RRC signals (title & para. 7+), W u (US 2025/0351213) describing relay path establishment & change (title), Wu (US 2025/0254011) describing processor configured to transmit a second indication indicating an upcoming path switch to the UE in response to receiving the RRC reconfiguration message for handover. In some embodiments, the second indication may indicate a value of a timer for the upcoming path switch (para. 12), Wu (US 2025/0071660) describing handling establishment and failure (title), and Yao (US 2025/0227802) describing remote terminal receives RRC reconfiguration message & starts a timer (fig. 1) . Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to FILLIN "Examiner name" \* MERGEFORMAT WARNER WONG whose telephone number is FILLIN "Phone number" \* MERGEFORMAT (571)272-8197 . 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