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 § 101
35 U.S.C. 101 reads as follows:
Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.
Claim 13 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because said Claim is directed ineligible subject matter.
Claim 13 is directed to a “non-volatile computer-readable storage medium”. The specification of the instant application does not explicitly exclude ineligible signal or transitory embodiments thus said “non-volatile computer-readable storage medium” reads on a transitory computer readable medium.
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) 1, 6, 8 – 13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Xu et al. (US 2019/0313315) in view of Freda et al. (US 2023/0063472).
Regarding Claim 1, Xu teaches a method of operating a sidelink remote user equipment (UE) in a wireless communication system, the method comprising: performing, by the remote UE, measurements based on discovery messages received from one or more candidate relay UEs (sideline discovery reference signal received power (SD-RSRP) (Section 0074) would need to be measured in order to determine satisfaction of SD-RSRP threshold conditions, discovery messages from candidate relay UEs (Sections 0050, 0054)); reporting, by the remote UE, results of the measurements for the one or more candidate relay UEs to a base station (BS) (reporting the SD-RSRP (Sections 0062, 0072, 0074); receiving, by the remote UE, a radio resource control (RRC) Reconfiguration message from the BS (Section 0145); and performing, by the remote UE, a procedure for establishing a PC5 link with a target relay UE (Section 0038).
Xu does not teach wherein the remote UE reports a Layer 2 (L2) identifier (ID) of the remote UE to the BS.
Freda, which also teaches use of sidelinks, teaches wherein the remote UE reports a Layer 2 (L2) identifier (ID) of the remote UE to the BS (Section 0253).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Xu with the above features of Freda for the purpose of saving energy in UEs as taught by Freda.
Regarding Claim 10, Xu teaches a remote user equipment (UE) in a wireless communication system, the remote UE comprising: at least one processor; and at least one computer memory operably connected to the at least one processor and configured to store instructions that, when executed, cause the at least one processor to perform operations comprising: performing, by the remote UE, measurements based on discovery messages received from one or more candidate relay UEs (sideline discovery reference signal received power (SD-RSRP) (Section 0074) would need to be measured in order to determine satisfaction of SD-RSRP threshold conditions, discovery messages from candidate relay UEs (Sections 0050, 0054), typical UEs comprise processors and memory that stores code executed by said processors); reporting, by the remote UE, results of the measurements for the one or more candidate relay UEs to a base station (BS) (reporting the SD-RSRP (Sections 0062, 0072, 0074); receiving, by the remote UE, a radio resource control (RRC) Reconfiguration message from the BS (Section 0145); and performing, by the remote UE, a procedure for establishing a PC5 link with a target relay UE (Section 0038).
Xu does not teach wherein the remote UE reports a Layer 2 (L2) identifier (ID) of the remote UE to the BS.
Freda, which also teaches use of sidelinks, teaches wherein the remote UE reports a Layer 2 (L2) identifier (ID) of the remote UE to the BS (Section 0253).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Xu with the above features of Freda for the purpose of saving energy in UEs as taught by Freda.
Regarding Claim 12, Xu teaches a processor configured to perform operations for a remote user equipment (UE) in a wireless communication system, the operations comprising: performing, by the remote UE, measurements based on discovery messages received from one or more candidate relay UEs (sideline discovery reference signal received power (SD-RSRP) (Section 0074) would need to be measured in order to determine satisfaction of SD-RSRP threshold conditions, discovery messages from candidate relay UEs (Sections 0050, 0054), typical UEs comprise processors and memory that stores code executed by said processors); reporting, by the remote UE, results of the measurements for the one or more candidate relay UEs to a base station (BS) (reporting the SD-RSRP (Sections 0062, 0072, 0074); receiving, by the remote UE, a radio resource control (RRC) Reconfiguration message from the BS (Section 0145); and performing, by the remote UE, a procedure for establishing a PC5 link with a target relay UE (Section 0038).
Xu does not teach wherein the remote UE reports a Layer 2 (L2) identifier (ID) of the remote UE to the BS.
Freda, which also teaches use of sidelinks, teaches wherein the remote UE reports a Layer 2 (L2) identifier (ID) of the remote UE to the BS (Section 0253).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Xu with the above features of Freda for the purpose of saving energy in UEs as taught by Freda.
Regarding Claim 13, Xu teaches a non-volatile computer-readable storage medium configured to store at least one computer program comprising instructions that, when executed by at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to perform operations for a relay user equipment (UE), the operations comprising: performing, by the remote UE, measurements based on discovery messages received from one or more candidate relay UEs (sideline discovery reference signal received power (SD-RSRP) (Section 0074) would need to be measured in order to determine satisfaction of SD-RSRP threshold conditions, discovery messages from candidate relay UEs (Sections 0050, 0054), typical UEs comprise processors and memory that stores code executed by said processors); reporting, by the remote UE, results of the measurements for the one or more candidate relay UEs to a base station (BS) (reporting the SD-RSRP (Sections 0062, 0072, 0074); receiving, by the remote UE, a radio resource control (RRC) Reconfiguration message from the BS (Section 0145); and performing, by the remote UE, a procedure for establishing a PC5 link with a target relay UE (Section 0038).
Xu does not teach wherein the remote UE reports a Layer 2 (L2) identifier (ID) of the remote UE to the BS.
Freda, which also teaches use of sidelinks, teaches wherein the remote UE reports a Layer 2 (L2) identifier (ID) of the remote UE to the BS (Section 0253).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Xu with the above features of Freda for the purpose of saving energy in UEs as taught by Freda.
Regarding Claim 6, Xu combination teaches all of the claimed limitations recited in Claim 1. Xu further handover from the BS to another BS through the target relay UE (Section 0046).
Xu does not teach wherein the L2 ID is used for handover from the BS to another BS through the target relay UE.
Freda, which also teaches use of sidelinks, teaches the L2 ID (Section 0253).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Xu with the above features of Freda for the purpose of saving energy in UEs as taught by Freda. The combination of Xu and Freda teaches wherein the L2 ID is used for handover from the BS to another BS through the target relay UE.
Regarding Claim 8, Xu combination teaches all of the claimed limitations recited in Claim 1. Xu further teaches wherein the target relay UE is selected by the BS (Section 0101, decision by eNB is relay selection).
Regarding Claim 9, Xu combination teaches all of the claimed limitations recited in Claim 1. Xu further teaches wherein the measurements are sidelink discovery reference signal received power (SD-RSRP) based on discovery signals of the candidate relay UEs (Section 0074).
Regarding Claim 11, Xu combination teaches all of the claimed limitations recited in Claim 10. Xu further teaches wherein the remote UE communicates with at least one of another UE, a UE related to an autonomous vehicle, the BS, or a network (Section 0043, PC% link with a relay UE).
Claim(s) 2 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Xu et al. (US 2019/0313315) in view of Freda et al. (US 2023/0063472), as applied to Claim 1 set forth above, and further in view of Rao et al. (US 2023/0189050)
Regarding Claim 2, Xu combination teaches all of the claimed limitations recited in Claim 1. Xu combination does not teach wherein the L2 ID is used by the remote UE to establish the PC5 link with the target relay UE.
Rao, which also teaches use of relay UEs, teaches wherein the L2 ID is used by the remote UE to establish the PC5 link with the target relay UE (Section 0192).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Xu combination with the above features of Rao for purpose of providing end-to-end quality of service as taught by Rao.
Claim(s) 3 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Xu et al. (US 2019/0313315) in view of Freda et al. (US 2023/0063472), as applied to Claim 1 set forth above, and further in view of Zhang et al. (US 2022/0095186)
Regarding Claim 3, Xu combination teaches all of the claimed limitations recited in Claim 1. Xu combination does not teach wherein the L2 ID is related to path switching from the BS to the target relay UE.
Zhang, which also teaches use of wireless communications, teaches wherein the L2 ID is related to path switching from the BS to the target relay UE (Section 0140).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Xu combination with the above features of Zhang for the purpose of enabling mobile devices to connect to multiple types of networks as taught by Zhang.
Claim(s) 4 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Xu et al. (US 2019/0313315) in view of Freda et al. (US 2023/0063472), as applied to Claim 1 set forth above, and further in view of Baghel et al. (US 2017/0111754)
Regarding Claim 4, Xu combination teaches all of the claimed limitations recited in Claim 1. Xu combination does not teach wherein the L2 ID is used by the BS to identify a UE which the relay UE needs to perform an RRC reconfiguration for.
Baghel, which also teaches wireless communications, teaches wherein the L2 ID is used by the BS to identify a UE which the relay UE needs to perform an RRC reconfiguration for (Section 0120).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Xu combination with the above features of Baghel for the purpose of providing signaling optimization via S-TMSI (Section 0010) as taught by Baghel.
Claim(s) 5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Xu et al. (US 2019/0313315) in view of Freda et al. (US 2023/0063472), as applied to Claim 1 set forth above, and further in view of Freda et al. (US 2021/0410129)
Regarding Claim 5, Xu combination teaches all of the claimed limitations recited in Claim 1. Xu combination does not teach wherein the L2 ID is used by the BS for a bearer configuration for the remote UE.
Freda, which also teaches wireless communications, teaches wherein the L2 ID is used by the BS for a bearer configuration for the remote UE (Section 0176).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Xu combination with the above features of Freda for the purpose of providing support for out of coverage operations, which is a benefit of SLRBs, as taught by Freda.
Claim(s) 7 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Xu et al. (US 2019/0313315) in view of Freda et al. (US 2023/0063472), as applied to Claim 1 set forth above, and further in view of Pan et al. (US 2020/0205209)
Regarding Claim 7, Xu combination teaches all of the claimed limitations recited in Claim 1. Xu combination does not teach wherein the L2 ID is used by the remote UE to transmit a direct communication request (DCR) message.
Pan, which also teaches the use of sidelinks, teaches wherein the L2 ID is used by the remote UE to transmit a direct communication request (DCR) message (Section 0109).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Xu combination with the above features of Pan for the purpose of effectively handling the mobility of a UE with one-to-one sidelink communication as taught by Pan.
Conclusion
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/RAYMOND S DEAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2645 Raymond S. Dean
February 6, 2026