DETAILED ACTION
This is in response to the Applicant's arguments and amendments filed on 28 June 2024 in which claims 1-3, 5-7, 9-10, 12-13, 15-21, 23-24, 38 are currently pending and claims 4, 8, 11, 14, 22, 25-37, 39-67 have been cancelled.
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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The references listed in the Information Disclosure Statement, filed on 16 December 2024, 27 May 2025, have been considered by the examiner (see attached PTO-1449 form or PTO/SB/08A and 08B forms).
Specification
The title of the invention is not descriptive. A new title is required that is clearly indicative of the invention to which the claims are directed.
Claim Objections
Claims 13, 18, 23 are objected to because of the following informalities:
Regarding claim 13, it is suggested to add a semicolon “;” at the end of line 3 after the claimed limitation “UE-to-UE relay”.
Regarding claim 18, it is suggested to add a semicolon “;” at the end of line 2 after the claimed limitation “UE-to-UE relay”.
Regarding claim 23, the language of the claim is awkward. The full claim appears to be the preamble leaving no body with active limitations. There is no clear distinction between the preamble and the body of the claim. It is suggested to add a colon “:” after the claimed limitation “comprising” in line 1.
Appropriate correction is required.
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.
Claims 1-3, 5-7, 9-10, 15, 23-24 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to an abstract idea without significantly more. Claims 1, 23 recite “determining a target path”, “selecting the target path”, which could be steps done as a mental process or with a pencil and paper. This judicial exception is not integrated into a practical application because the generically recited computer elements do not add a meaningful limitation to the abstract idea. The claims do not include additional elements that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception because the additional computer elements, which are recited at a high level of generality, provide conventional computer functions that do not add meaningful limits to practicing the abstract idea. Generic computer components recited as performing generic computer functions that are well-understood, routine and conventional activities amount to no more than implementing the abstract idea with a computerized system.
Dependent claims 2-3, 5-7, 9-10, 15, 24 recite additional concepts which further describe the “determining” and “selecting” steps. These dependent claims are also not integrated into a practical application and do not include additional elements that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception.
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.
Claims 1-3, 5-7, 9-10, 15-16, 21, 23-24, 38 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Belleschi et al. (PG Pub US 2020/0229194 A1) in view of Falkenberg (PG Pub US 2024/0064740 A1).
Regarding claims 1, 23, Belleschi discloses an information determining method and a user equipment (UE), comprising a memory, a transceiver and a processor; wherein the memory is used to store a computer program; the transceiver is used to send and receive data under control of the processor (radio interface, processing circuitry, UE fig. 11):
in case that UE capability does not support simultaneous sidelink data transmission on a first path and a second path (“the UE cannot perform sidelink carrier aggregation employing more than X carriers” [0076], “cannot use more than one sidelink carrier” [0080]), determining a target path according to a first condition (“UE to remove one or more sidelink carriers currently in use. This may be due to channel quality becoming bad or channels becoming congested in the resource pool the UE is using in a certain carrier .. the UE shall stop using such carrier” [0104], “In case some of the currently in use sidelink carriers shall not be used any longer (e.g. due to any of the methods disclosed in the previous embodiments), the UE first removes the carrier which is most interfered/congested (e.g. having CBR above a threshold), or the UE first removes the carrier which requires more RF capabilities, e.g. more transmitting chains or more gaps” [0129]);
the target path is the first path or the second path (“determine which sidelink carrier to select among the available set of sidelink carriers” [0034]);
the first condition includes at least one of the following: selecting the target path based on buffer status information corresponding to the first path and the second path, respectively; selecting the target path based on indication information of a network device (“the eNB configures a UE to transmit using different numbers of sidelink carriers depending on the required data rate. The required data rate can be represented by the UE sidelink buffer status” [0077], “allocate resources to a first carrier until the maximum amount of data for that UE on the first carrier is reached” [0086], [0088]). However, Belleschi does not explicitly disclose the first path or the second path is identified by one of the following: a combination of a source address and a destination address of a sidelink; a destination address of a sidelink; a transmission direction corresponding to a sidelink.
Nevertheless, Falkenberg discloses “A Source Layer-2 ID, a Destination Layer-2 ID and a PC5 Link Identifier may be used for NR sidelink communication” [0036], “The Logical Channel Identifier (LCID) included within a MAC subheader may uniquely identify a logical channel within the scope of the Source Layer-2 ID and Destination Layer-2 ID combination” [0060].
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to identify the first path or the second path because “The transmission of sidelink capabilities may enable the parallel transmission of multiple sidelinks” [0127].
Regarding claim 2, Belleschi, Falkenberg discloses everything claimed as applied above. In addition, Belleschi discloses the selecting the target path based on buffer status information corresponding to the first path and the second path, respectively, includes one of the following: selecting the target path according to a relationship between the buffer status information corresponding to the first path and the buffer status information corresponding to the second path; selecting the target path according to a relationship between a preset buffer status threshold and each of the buffer status information corresponding to the first path and the buffer status information corresponding to the second path (“the UE is configured with both a threshold (first threshold) on the maximum amount of data that can be transmitted on a certain carrier per UE, and with a threshold (second threshold) on the maximum amount of data that can be transmitted on a certain carrier per traffic identifier. The UE, when preparing the MAC PDUs for transmission on a first carrier, will allocate resources for the first carrier until the maximum amount of data for the first carrier is reached or until the maximum amount of data for the traffic identifier is reached. Then, the UE may select a second carrier if either the first threshold or the second threshold is reached. If the second threshold is reached first, the UE will continue preparing the MAC PDUs for transmission on the first carrier until the first threshold is reached. When the first threshold is reached, the UE will select a second carrier for transmission” [0088]).
Regarding claim 3, Belleschi, Falkenberg discloses everything claimed as applied above. In addition, Belleschi discloses the selecting the target path according to a relationship between the buffer status information corresponding to the first path and the buffer status information corresponding to the second path, includes: determining, a path corresponding to the buffer status information of a larger value between the buffer status information corresponding to the first path and the buffer status information corresponding to the second path, as the target path; or, wherein the selecting the target path according to a relationship between a preset buffer status threshold and each of the buffer status information corresponding to the first path and the buffer status information corresponding to the second path, includes at least one of the following: in case that a second condition is met, determining a path whose buffer status information with a value greater than or equal to the preset buffer status threshold, as the target path; in case that the second condition is not met, randomly selecting a path from the first path and the second path as the target path; in case that the second condition is not met, comparing priority relationship between first information having a data transmission requirement and the highest priority on the first path and first information having a data transmission requirement and the highest priority on the second path, and determining a path corresponding to the first information having a higher priority as the target path; wherein the first information is logical channel(s) and/or a media access control layer control element (MAC CE(s)); wherein the second condition includes one of the following: a value of the buffer status information corresponding to one of the first path and the second path is less than the preset buffer status threshold, and a value of the buffer status information corresponding to the other one of the first path and the second path is greater than or equal to the preset buffer status threshold; a value of the buffer status information corresponding to one of the first path and the second path is less than or equal to the preset buffer status threshold, and a value of the buffer status information corresponding to the other one of the first path and the second path is greater than the preset buffer status threshold (“the UE is configured with both a threshold (first threshold) on the maximum amount of data that can be transmitted on a certain carrier per UE, and with a threshold (second threshold) on the maximum amount of data that can be transmitted on a certain carrier per traffic identifier. The UE, when preparing the MAC PDUs for transmission on a first carrier, will allocate resources for the first carrier until the maximum amount of data for the first carrier is reached or until the maximum amount of data for the traffic identifier is reached. Then, the UE may select a second carrier if either the first threshold or the second threshold is reached. If the second threshold is reached first, the UE will continue preparing the MAC PDUs for transmission on the first carrier until the first threshold is reached. When the first threshold is reached, the UE will select a second carrier for transmission” [0088]).
Regarding claim 5, Belleschi, Falkenberg discloses everything claimed as applied above. In addition, Belleschi discloses the second condition further includes one of the following: a priority of first data on a path whose buffer status information is of a value greater than or equal to the preset buffer status threshold, is greater than or equal to a first preset threshold; a difference between a priority of first data on a path whose buffer status information is of a value greater than or equal to the preset buffer status threshold, and a priority of first data on a path whose buffer status information is of a value less than the preset buffer status threshold, or an absolute value of the difference, is greater than a second preset threshold; a difference between a priority of first data on a path whose buffer status information is of a value greater than the preset buffer status threshold, and a priority of first data on a path whose buffer status information is of a value less than or equal to the preset buffer status threshold, or an absolute value of the difference, is greater than a second preset threshold; wherein the first data is a logical channel and/or MAC CE with the highest priority and having data transmission demand on the path (“determine the number of sidelink carriers by comparing the data rate/data in the buffer with the threshold, in order to determine how many sidelink carriers are needed to transmit the data in the buffer” [0156], “the threshold is associated with a traffic type identified by a traffic priority identifier” [0157], “the probability to select such sidelink carrier is higher for high-priority data (which has strict QoS requirements) and lower for low priority data (which have more relaxed QoS requirements). If the CBR measurements of a sidelink carrier are for example higher than a certain threshold, the probability to select such sidelink carrier is higher for low-priority data and lower for high priority data” [0115]).
Regarding claim 6, Belleschi, Falkenberg discloses everything claimed as applied above. In addition, Belleschi discloses determining the buffer status information in one of the following: a sum of buffer data volumes of all sidelink logical channel groups; a sum of buffer data volumes of sidelink logical channel groups and having priorities higher than a third preset threshold (“From the SL-BSR, the eNB determines the amount of data in the UE buffer for different logical channels or logical channels groups (LCG)” [0078], “the network (or the UE implementation) may configure a lower CBR threshold A for high priority data and a higher CBR threshold A for lower priority data (see for example threshold A 225 for PPPP1 (high priority) and threshold A 220 for PPPP2” [0101]). Further, Falkenberg disclose belonging to a same combination of source address and destination address on the path (“A Source Layer-2 ID, a Destination Layer-2 ID and a PC5 Link Identifier may be used for NR sidelink communication” [0036], “The Logical Channel Identifier (LCID) included within a MAC subheader may uniquely identify a logical channel within the scope of the Source Layer-2 ID and Destination Layer-2 ID combination” [0060]).
Regarding claim 7, Belleschi, Falkenberg discloses everything claimed as applied above. In addition, Belleschi discloses the preset buffer status threshold has a configuration granularity which includes at least one of the following: based on UE configuration; based on logical channel group configuration; based on configuration of logical channel group set; or, wherein the method further includes: determining the preset buffer status threshold in a manner including at least one of the following: pre-configured; determining according to status of UE (“for each carrier and for each UE, a configuration with different thresholds on the amount of data may be provided. More specifically, the UE can be configured with a threshold on the maximum amount of data that can be transmitted on a certain carrier per UE” [0085]).
Regarding claim 9, Belleschi, Falkenberg discloses everything claimed as applied above. Further, Falkenberg discloses the determining according to status of the UE, includes: in case that the UE is in an offline state, determining to use a preconfigured preset buffer status threshold; in case that the UE is in an online state and in a first state, determining the preset buffer status threshold according to a broadcast message sent by a network device, wherein the first state is an idle state or an inactive state; in case that the UE is in an online state and in a connected state, determining the preset buffer status threshold according to a broadcast message or a radio resource control (RRC) signaling sent by a network device (“The Other SI may be periodically broadcast on DL-SCH, broadcast on-demand on DL-SCH (e.g., upon request from UEs in RRC Idle State, RRC Inactive State, or RRC connected State), or sent in a dedicated manner on DL-SCH to UEs in RRC Connected State” [0086]).
Regarding claim 10, Belleschi, Falkenberg discloses everything claimed as applied above. Further, Falkenberg discloses the indication information is carried in sidelink grant; or, wherein the indication information includes at least one of the following: a combination of a sidelink source address and a sidelink destination address; a list of combinations of a sidelink source address and a sidelink destination address (“the IE SL-ConfiguredGrantConfig may specify the configured grant configuration information for NR sidelink communication” [0109]).
Regarding claim 15, Belleschi, Falkenberg discloses everything claimed as applied above. Further, Falkenberg discloses the determining a target path according to a first condition, includes: for each sidelink grant or sidelink control information, determining the target path according to the first condition (“the IE SL-ConfiguredGrantConfig may specify the configured grant configuration information for NR sidelink communication” [0109]).
Regarding claims 16, 38, Belleschi discloses an information configuring method and a network device (base station, fig. 11).
sending indication information to a user equipment (UE) (“the eNB configures a UE to transmit using different numbers of sidelink carriers depending on the required data rate” [0077]);
the indication information is used by the UE to select a target path, the target path is a first path or a second path (“UE to remove one or more sidelink carriers currently in use. This may be due to channel quality becoming bad or channels becoming congested in the resource pool the UE is using in a certain carrier .. the UE shall stop using such carrier” [0104], “In case some of the currently in use sidelink carriers shall not be used any longer (e.g. due to any of the methods disclosed in the previous embodiments), the UE first removes the carrier which is most interfered/congested (e.g. having CBR above a threshold), or the UE first removes the carrier which requires more RF capabilities, e.g. more transmitting chains or more gaps” [0129], “determine which sidelink carrier to select among the available set of sidelink carriers” [0034]).
However, Belleschi does not explicitly disclose the first path or the second path is identified by one of the following: a combination of a source address and a destination address of a sidelink; a destination address of a sidelink; a transmission direction corresponding to a sidelink.
Nevertheless, Falkenberg discloses “A Source Layer-2 ID, a Destination Layer-2 ID and a PC5 Link Identifier may be used for NR sidelink communication” [0036], “The Logical Channel Identifier (LCID) included within a MAC subheader may uniquely identify a logical channel within the scope of the Source Layer-2 ID and Destination Layer-2 ID combination” [0060].
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to identify the first path or the second path because “The transmission of sidelink capabilities may enable the parallel transmission of multiple sidelinks” [0127].
Regarding claim 21, Belleschi, Falkenberg discloses everything claimed as applied above. Further, Falkenberg discloses the indication information is carried in sidelink grant; or, wherein the indication information includes at least one of the following: a combination of a sidelink source address and a sidelink destination address; a list of combinations of a sidelink source address and a sidelink destination address (“the IE SL-ConfiguredGrantConfig may specify the configured grant configuration information for NR sidelink communication” [0109]).
Regarding claim 24, Belleschi, Falkenberg discloses everything claimed as applied above. In addition, Belleschi discloses selecting the target path according to a relationship between the buffer status information corresponding to the first path and the buffer status information corresponding to the second path; selecting the target path according to a relationship between a preset buffer status threshold and each of the buffer status information corresponding to the first path and the buffer status information corresponding to the second path; or, wherein the processor is used to read the computer program in the memory and perform the following operations: determining, a path corresponding to the buffer status information of a larger value between the buffer status information corresponding to the first path and the buffer status information corresponding to the second path, as the target path; or, wherein the processor is used to read the computer program in the memory and perform at least one of the following operations: in case that a second condition is met, determining a path whose buffer status information with a value greater than or equal to the preset buffer status threshold, as the target path; in case that the second condition is not met, randomly selecting a path from the first path and the second path as the target path; in case that the second condition is not met, comparing priority relationship between first information having a data transmission requirement and the highest priority on the first path and first information having a data transmission requirement and the highest priority on the second path, and determining a path corresponding to the first information having a higher priority as the target path; wherein the first information is logical channel(s) and/or a media access control layer control element (MAC CE(s)); wherein the second condition includes one of the following: a value of the buffer status information corresponding to one of the first path and the second path is less than the preset buffer status threshold, and a value of the buffer status information corresponding to the other one of the first path and the second path is greater than or equal to the preset buffer status threshold; a value of the buffer status information corresponding to one of the first path and the second path is less than or equal to the preset buffer status threshold, and a value of the buffer status information corresponding to the other one of the first path and the second path is greater than the preset buffer status threshold (“the UE is configured with both a threshold (first threshold) on the maximum amount of data that can be transmitted on a certain carrier per UE, and with a threshold (second threshold) on the maximum amount of data that can be transmitted on a certain carrier per traffic identifier. The UE, when preparing the MAC PDUs for transmission on a first carrier, will allocate resources for the first carrier until the maximum amount of data for the first carrier is reached or until the maximum amount of data for the traffic identifier is reached. Then, the UE may select a second carrier if either the first threshold or the second threshold is reached. If the second threshold is reached first, the UE will continue preparing the MAC PDUs for transmission on the first carrier until the first threshold is reached. When the first threshold is reached, the UE will select a second carrier for transmission” [0088]).
Claims 12-13, 17-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Belleschi, Falkenberg further in view of Rao et al. (PG Pub US 2021/0045093 A1).
Regarding claims 12, 17, Belleschi, Falkenberg discloses everything claimed as applied above. In addition, Belleschi discloses in case that the first condition includes selecting the target path based on indication information of a network device, sending auxiliary information to a network device (“The UE may therefore signal its own radio transmitting capabilities” [0126]).
However, Belleschi, Falkenberg does not explicitly disclose the auxiliary information includes at least one of the following: identity information of the UE; sidelink target address; transmission direction corresponding to sidelink target address; a combination of sidelink source address and sidelink destination address; transmission direction corresponding to sidelink source address and sidelink destination address.
Nevertheless, Rao discloses “The relaying UE may indicate the identifier (i.e. UE ID or Group ID) in the SCI” [0121].
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to send auxiliary information to a network device because it will “provide for support for scalable AS-layer UE group context management via PC5-RRC when supporting UE group operations and UE group mobility” [0081].
Regarding claims 13, 18, 20, Belleschi, Falkenberg, Rao discloses everything claimed as applied above. Further, Rao discloses the identity information of the UE includes at least one of the following: UE-to-UE relay remote UE; UE to network device relay; or, wherein transmission mode of the auxiliary information includes any one of the following: sidelink UE information (SUI); UE sidelink Assistant Information (UAI); sidelink RRC signaling (“The relaying UE may indicate the identifier (i.e. UE ID or Group ID) in the SCI” [0121], “UE assistance information (UAI)” [0135]).
Regarding claim 19, Belleschi, Falkenberg, Rao discloses everything claimed as applied above. Further, Rao discloses the sending the indication information to the user equipment, includes: when determining that the UE is a UE-to-UE relay or a UE-to-network device relay, sending the indication information to the UE (“The L-UE 402 can either relay the data packets received from gNB 214 or send different data packets to M-UE 406 via PC5 SL-RB 609” [0118], “The establishment and configuration of the R-DRB may be done either in a single step where the gNB 214 configures the corresponding R-DRB component segments/links (DRB and SL-RB) in both M-UE 406 and L-UE 402” [0119]).
Conclusion
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CHRISTINE DUONG FUQUA
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2462
/CHRISTINE T DUONG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2462 08/17/2026
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