DETAILED ACTION
This office action is a response to an application filed on 04/19/2024.
Claims 1,2,4,8, 10-13, 16,20, 23, 26- 27, 29, 33-35, 40 and 45 are pending for examination.
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application is being examined under the pre-AIA first to invent provisions.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) was filed. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant’s claim for foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119 (a)-(d). The certified copy has been filed in parent Application.
Drawings
The Examiner contends that the drawings submitted on 04/19/2024 are acceptable for examination proceedings.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 2, 4, 10, 14, 16, 27, 29 and 35 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
The claims’ recitation “at least one of the following” followed by the “and/ or” renders unclear whether the claims cover each listed alternative individually, only certain combinations or all listed alternatives togethers. As a result, one of the ordinary skill in the art would not be able to determine with reasonable certainty what is encompassed by the claims and thus, the scope of the claims is ambiguous.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) 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 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.
The factual inquiries set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 148 USPQ 459 (1966), that are applied for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103(a) are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or non-obviousness.
Claims 1,2,4,8, 10-13, 16,20, 23, 26- 27, 29, 33-35, 40 and 45 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wu et al. (US 20180160287 A1), hereinafter “Wu”; and in further view of Ohtsuji et al. (US 20200008127 A1), hereinafter “Ohtsuji”.
Regarding claim 1, Wu teaches A transmission path configuration method, comprising [Wu: Fig. 6]:
transmitting, by a communication device, transmission path configuration information for a first user equipment (UE), to the first UE and/or a relay UE [Wu: Fig. 6; Par. 60- 71 teaches of relay equipment broadcast relay discovery information];
wherein the communication device is a network device accessed by the first UE or a target UE that communicates with the first UE [WU: Figs. 8-9; Par. 73- 90 teaches of remote terminal are in communication with network device];
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However, Wu does not teaches the relay UE is a relay UE used by the first UE for accessing the communication device.
Nevertheless, Ohtsuji, in the similar filed of endeavor, teaches the relay UE is a relay UE used by the first UE for accessing the communication device [Ohtsuji: Fig. 4; item 2 illustrates relay UE].
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Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill at the time the invention was made to utilize the teachings of Ohtsuji for using relay UE for communication. One of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to utilize the teachings of Ohtsuji in the Wu system in order to implement relay UE to transmit discovery message. [Ohtsuji: Par.12].
Regarding claim 2, the combined Wu in view of Ohtsuji teaches all the limitations in the parent claim 1. Wu in view of Ohtsuji further teaches determining, by the communication device, the transmission path configuration information for the first UE, according to implementation of the communication device [Wu: Par. 132 teaches remote terminal may select an appropriate relay, and the eNB may perform necessary configuration for the remote terminal or perform path switching of downlink data according to the serving cell of the selected relay equipment].
Regarding claim 4, the combined Wu in view of Ohtsuji teaches all the limitations in the parent claim 1. Wu in view of Ohtsuji further teaches wherein the cell is a cell discovered by the first UE when the first UE performs cell search [Ohtsuji: Par. 83 teaches cell selection].
Regarding claim 8, the combined Wu in view of Ohtsuji teaches all the limitations in the parent claim 1. Wu in view of Ohtsuji further teaches transmitting first indication information to the first UE; wherein the first indication information is used to instruct the first UE to perform a first operation [See Wu: Fig. 5; 6 illustrates sending discovery information to identify the serving cell and measure channel quality];
wherein the first operation includes at least one of cell search, cell measurement and relay UE discovery [Wu: Figs. 5,6].
Regarding claim 10, the combined Wu in view of Ohtsuji teaches all the limitations in the parent claim 1. Wu in view of Ohtsuji further teaches transmitting first transmission path configuration information to the first UE, wherein the first transmission path configuration information is used to indicate identification information of a relay UE that the first UE needs to access [Wu: Par. 112 teaches the remote terminal may select appropriate relay, and the eNB may perform necessary configuration for the remote terminal or perform path switching of downlink data according to the serving cell of the selected relay equipment.]
Regarding claim 11, the combined Wu in view of Ohtsuji teaches all the limitations in the parent claim 1. Wu in view of Ohtsuji further teaches wherein the method further comprises: configuring a transmission path identifier for all or part of transmission paths of the first UE [Wu: Figs. 5-6; Par. 62 teaches the identifier information of the relay equipment is, for example, a relay UE ID, and the identifier information of a serving cell of the relay equipment is, for example, a cell identifier (ID) of the serving cell of the relay equipment, i.e. a cell ID];
wherein the transmission path identifier includes one of the following:
a first identifier; wherein the first identifier is a unique transmission path identifier configured by the communication device for each transmission path of the first UE [Wu: Fig. 6 illustrates transmitting discovery message including identifier].
Regarding claim 12, the combined Wu in view of Ohtsuji teaches all the limitations in the parent claim 1. Wu in view of Ohtsuji further teaches receiving UE capability information transmitted by the first UE, wherein the UE capability information is used to indicate that the first UE supports transmission using multiple transmission paths [Ohtsuji: Par. 30 teaches AP)) selects a single path communicating communicate with a remote UE (a terminal), from among a plurality of paths that reach the terminal through one or more relays].
Regarding claim 13, the claim is interpreted and rejected for the same reason as set forth for claim 1.
Regarding claim 14, the claim is interpreted and rejected for the same reason as set forth for claim 2.
Regarding claim 16, the claim is interpreted and rejected for the same reason as set forth for claim 4.
Regarding claim 20, the claim is interpreted and rejected for the same reason as set forth for claim 8.
Regarding claim 23, the claim is interpreted and rejected for the same reason as set forth for claim 10.
Regarding claim 26, Wu teaches A transmission path configuration method, comprising [Wu: Fig. 6]:
receiving, by a relay UE, transmission path configuration information for a first UE transmitted by a communication device [Wu: Fig. 6; Par. 60- 71 teaches of relay equipment broadcast relay discovery information];
wherein the communication device is a network device accessed by the first UE or a target UE that communicates with the first UE [WU: Figs. 8-9; Par. 73- 90 teaches of remote terminal are in communication with network device];
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However, Wu does not teaches the relay UE is a relay UE used by the first UE for accessing the communication device.
Nevertheless, Ohtsuji, in the similar filed of endeavor, teaches the relay UE is a relay UE used by the first UE for accessing the communication device [Ohtsuji: Fig. 4; item 2 illustrates relay UE].
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Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill at the time the invention was made to utilize the teachings of Ohtsuji for using relay UE for communication. One of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to utilize the teachings of Ohtsuji in the Wu system in order to implement relay UE to transmit discovery message. [Ohtsuji: Par.12].
Regarding claim 27 the claim is interpreted and rejected for the same reason as set forth for claim 2.
Regarding claim 29, the claim is interpreted and rejected for the same reason as set forth for claim 4.
Regarding claim 33, the claim is interpreted and rejected for the same reason as set forth for claim 10.
Regarding claim 34, the claim is interpreted and rejected for the same reason as set forth for claim 11.
Regarding claim 35, the combined Wu in view of Ohtsuji teaches all the limitations in the parent claim 1. Wu in view of Ohtsuji further teaches wherein the memory is used to store a computer program; the processor is used to read the computer program in the memory [Wu: Fig. 23; Par. 147 teaches memory 2302 in relay equipment 2300]; the transceiver is used to transmit and receive data under control of the processor and perform the following [Wu: Fig. 23]:
transmitting transmission path configuration information for a first user equipment (UE), to the first UE and/or a relay UE [WU: Figs. 8-9; Par. 73- 90 teaches of remote terminal are in communication with network device]; wherein the communication device is a network device accessed by the first UE or a target UE that communicates with the first UE [WU: Figs. 8-9; Par. 73- 90 teaches of remote terminal are in communication with network device]; and the relay UE is a relay UE used by the first UE for accessing the communication device [Ohtsuji: Fig. 4; item 2 illustrates relay UE in communication with remote UE];
wherein the processor is configured to read the computer program in the memory and perform the following [Wu: Fig. 23]
determining the transmission path configuration information for the first UE, according to implementation of the communication device [Wu: Par. 132 teaches remote terminal may select an appropriate relay, and the eNB may perform necessary configuration for the remote terminal or perform path switching of downlink data according to the serving cell of the selected relay equipment].
Regarding claim 40, the combined Wu in view of Ohtsuji teaches all the limitations in the parent claim 13. Wu in view of Ohtsuji further teaches a memory, a transceiver and a processor [Wu: Fig. 23; Par. 147 teaches memory 2302 and processor in relay equipment 2300];
wherein the memory is used to store a computer program; the processor is used to read the computer program in the memory; the transceiver is used to transmit and receive data under control of the processor and perform the following [WU: Figs. 8-9; Par. 73- 90 teaches of remote terminal are in communication with network device]:
receiving transmission path configuration information for the first UE transmitted by a communication device [Wu: Fig. 6; Ohtsuji: Fig. 4; item 2 illustrates relay UE in communication with remote UE],
wherein the communication device is a network device accessed by the first UE or a target UE that communicates with the first UE [Ohtsuji: Fig. 4; item 2 illustrates relay UE in communication with remote UE].
Regarding claim 45, the combined Wu in view of Ohtsuji teaches all the limitations in the parent claim 26. Wu in view of Ohtsuji further teaches memory, a transceiver and a processor; wherein the memory is used to store a computer program; the processor is used to read the computer program in the memory; the transceiver is used to transmit and receive data under control of the processor and perform the following [Wu: Fig. 23; Par. 147 teaches memory 2302 and processor in relay equipment 2300]:
receiving transmission path configuration information for a first UE transmitted by a communication device [Wu: Par. 132 teaches remote terminal may select an appropriate relay, and the eNB may perform necessary configuration for the remote terminal or perform path switching of downlink data according to the serving cell of the selected relay equipment];
wherein the communication device is a network device accessed by the first UE or a target UE that communicates with the first UE; and the relay UE is a relay UE used by the first UE for accessing the communication device [Wu: Par. 132 teaches remote terminal may select an appropriate relay, and the eNB may perform necessary configuration for the remote terminal or perform path switching of downlink data according to the serving cell of the selected relay equipment; Ohtsuji: Fig. 4; item 2 illustrates relay UE in communication with remote UE].
Conclusion
The prior art made of record (see attached PTO-892) and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
A shortened statutory period for reply to this action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of the action. An extension of time may be obtained under 37 CFR 1.136(a). However, in no event, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KYAW Z SOE whose telephone number is (571)270-0304. The examiner can normally be reached on 9am-5pm.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Charles C Jiang can be reached on 5712707191. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/KYAW Z SOE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2412
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