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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant's election with traverse of claims 68-73 in the reply filed on May 4, 2026 is acknowledged. The traversal is on the ground(s) that both groups maintain the same technical feature. This is not found persuasive because the elected group is directed to relay communications while the non-elected claims are directed to paging solely..
The requirement is still deemed proper and is therefore made FINAL.
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.
Claim(s) 1-4, 8, 13, 27 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Jung (2018/0124621).
Regarding claim 1, Jung discloses a method performed by a first UE (remote UE) comprising: generating first frequency information, wherein the first frequency information indicates one or more frequencies of the first UE (para 252-255 and transmitting the first frequency information to a second UE (relay UE, transmission of relay discovery signal, para 238-240).
Regarding claim 27, Jung discloses a method performed by a second UE (relay UE) comprising: receiving first frequency information from a first UE (remote UE), wherein the frequency information indicates one or more frequencies of the first UE (transmission of discovery signals, para 238-240); and determining one or more frequencies of the first UE, according to the first frequency information (para 252-255, discovery information and frequency announcement).
Regarding claims 2-4, Jung discloses the first frequency information is transmitted to the second UE in a discovery message (para 252, D2D discovery) and wherein the first UE is linked to the second UE (sidelink communications links the two UEs) and that frequency info is transmitted proactively (para 267-270, UE sends frequency info as part of a handover preparation) and the first UE is a remote UE and the second UE is a relay UE (Figure 16).
Regarding claims 8 and 13, Jung discloses the use of prioritization in selection of a cell (para 120-128, para 329-332; as well as receiving from a base station as well as when a UE cannot provide operations, para 259, para 290, par 299) , a first list of relay UEs (resource allocation S201, para 282 includes inter UE sidelink operations, also para 283-84, relay operations proceed based on signals received from network/base station) as well as second list not available (no process for selecting inter-UE resources, para 282).
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.
Claim(s) 5-7 are is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jung in view of Deng (CN 106888494, provided by Applicant).
Regarding claims 5-7, Jung discloses an indication of whether one or more frequencies are overlapped between the first and second UE (para 255 and 258, overlapping frequencies) but does not disclose all the particulars of the claim except for the one or more frequencies comprising UU frequencies which the first or second UE camps on when the first UE is in a RRC state or receiving from the second UE the frequency info.
However, Deng in an analogues art, teaches that the one or more frequencies is related to the UU frequencies in a RRC state (The response message includes radio access network connection status information of the candidate relay UE and/or frequency information used between the candidate relay UE and its serving cell. The radio access network connection state information includes any information used to indicate the radio access network connection state of the candidate relay UE; for example, the radio access network connection state information is used to indicate that the candidate relay UE is in the RRC connection state (RRC_Connected) or idle state (RRC_Idle). The frequency information is used to indicate whether the carrier frequency used between the candidate relay UE and its serving cell is the same as the carrier frequency used between the candidate relay UE and the remote UE; The remote UE is connected to the PC5 interface and the Uu interface used to connect to its serving cell, and the frequency information is used to indicate whether the frequency of the Uu link used by the candidate relay UE is the same as the frequency of the PC5 link. It should be noted that when the frequency information used by the candidate relay UE and its serving cell needs to be considered in the process of selecting the relay UE, it is assumed that the candidate relay UE can support the simultaneous processing of cellular communication and D2D (Device-to-D2D) communication with different frequencies. -Device) communication.). Deng further teaches that the first and second UEs exchange information about frequencies as well (As another example, based on the scenario shown in FIG. 5 , UE1 determines that it meets the predetermined relay condition, and feeds back a response message corresponding to the relay discovery request message to the remote UE, where the response message includes the information used between UE1 and the eNB. Frequency information, which indicates that the frequency of the Uu link used by UE1 is different from that of the PC5 link; UE2 determines that it meets the predetermined relay condition, and feeds back a response message corresponding to the relay discovery request message to the remote UE. The message includes the frequency information used between the UE2 and the eNB, the frequency information indicates that the frequency of the Uu link used by the UE2 is the same as the frequency of the PC5 link.) Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to include UU frequencies and information between first and second UEs in order to provide the correct control signaling for the discovery process.
Claim(s) 9-11 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jung in view of Freda (2024/0163934).
Regarding claims 9-11, Jung discloses cell reselection (para 117-130), but doesn’t’ disclose explicit disclosure of relay reselection for a first UE. However, Freda teaches that in a sidelink/relay operation, a relay reselection procedure is used to select another relay for a first UE (para 324-329), also transmitting information indicating that no cell is selected by the cell reselection procedure (para 329, if no cell can be reselected, the control signaling indicates to reacquire the previous link for sidelink/relay). Freda also teaches entering RRC connected state during the procedure, when an event persists for a predetermined period (para 328, RRC connection established if remote UE is unable to receive via UU, which is for a predetermined period). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention, a relay reselection as taught by Freda, to the system of Jung in order to provide continuous coverage based on changing conditions.
Claim(s) 12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jung and Freda as applied to claim 11 above, and further in view of Deng.
Regarding claim 12, the combination of Jung and Freda disclose all the particulars of the claim except transmitting whether a first UE is able to find a cell with a UU quality higher than a threshold. However, Deng teaches that the Uu link between UEs is monitored (As another example, it is assumed that UE1 and UE2 can support simultaneous processing of cellular communication and D2D communication of different frequencies; based on the scenario shown in FIG. 5 , the response message fed back by UE1 includes the frequency information used between UE1 and the eNB, and the frequency information indicates UE1 The Uu link frequency used is different from the PC5 link frequency; the response message fed back by UE2 includes the frequency information used between UE2 and the eNB, and the frequency information indicates that the Uu link frequency used by UE2 is the same as the PC5 link frequency; In step S105, the remote UE determines that the measured link quality between the remote UE and UE1 and the link quality between the remote UE and UE2 satisfy the predetermined link quality condition (for example, the link quality is higher than the predetermined quality threshold). ), the remote UE selects UE1 with different Uu link frequency and PC5 link frequency from UE1 and UE2 as the intermediate UE of the remote UE according to the response messages fed back by UE1 and UE2. It should be noted that the selected relay UE uses different frequencies to perform cellular communication and D2D communication respectively, which can effectively avoid the conflict between cellular communication and D2D communication in the relay UE.) Deng also disclose the use of simultaneous relay and cellular (via a base station/eNB) communications (As another example, it is assumed that UE1 and UE2 can support simultaneous processing of cellular communication and D2D communication of different frequencies; based on the scenario shown in FIG. 5 , the response message fed back by UE1 includes the frequency information used between UE1 and the eNB, and the frequency information indicates UE1 The Uu link frequency used is different from the PC5 link frequency; the response message fed back by UE2 includes the frequency information used between UE2 and the eNB, and the frequency information indicates that the Uu link frequency used by UE2 is the same as the PC5 link frequency; In step S105, the remote UE determines that the measured link quality between the remote UE and UE1 and the link quality between the remote UE and UE2 satisfy the predetermined link quality condition (for example, the link quality is higher than the predetermined quality threshold). ), the remote UE selects UE1 with different Uu link frequency and PC5 link frequency from UE1 and UE2 as the intermediate UE of the remote UE according to the response messages fed back by UE1 and UE2. It should be noted that the selected relay UE uses different frequencies to perform cellular communication and D2D communication respectively, which can effectively avoid the conflict between cellular communication and D2D communication in the relay 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 UU link quality monitoring, as taught by Deng, to the system of Jung and Freda which disclose signaling in cellular networks to base stations, in order to provide seamless communication with minimal interruptions due to poor signal quality.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Ozturk (12538267) discloses paging and relay optimization.
Cheng (2023/0224859) discloses sidelink communications with layer 3 signaling.
Yang (2020/0374832) discloses relay communications with paging transmission information.
Zhang (2018/00416055) disclose UU signaling with RRC control messaging in relay communications.
Bhushan (2013/0016630) discloses relay communications with in band and out of band signals.
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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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