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 § 102
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 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) 41-60 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102[a2] as being anticipated by Li [US 2022/0322202].
As claims 41 and 52, Li [US 2022/0322202] discloses an apparatus for a user equipment (UE), the apparatus [Fig 7, Ref remote UE] comprising: processing circuitry configured to: decode, from a policy control function (PCF), a UE route selection policy (URSP) that includes URSP rules, at least one of the URSP rules indicating a multi-path preference [Par. 0082, 0150, 0282 discloses UE decodes the message includes URSP rules from PCF wherein at least one of rules indicating multi-path reference for send traffic via multiple paths, Par. 0232, 0235]; determine, based on the at least one of the URSP rules, that traffic of a matching application is preferred to be routed via multi-path [Par. 0082, 0232-0235, 0244, 0259 discloses matching application ID with multi-path reference]; and based on a determination that traffic of the matching application is preferred to be routed via multi-path, encode the traffic of the matching application for transmission via a packet data unit (PDU) Session over a Uu reference point and a Layer-3 UE-to- Network Relay outside of the PDU Session [Par. 0097, 0056, 0232 discloses traffic is sent via both path such as UU and PC5 which is Layer-3 UE-to- Network Relay, Fig 19]; and memory configured to store the URSP rules [Fig 18-19].
As claims 42 and 53, Li [US 2022/0322202] discloses an the Layer-3 UE-to- 318 Network Relay outside of the PDU Session is a Proximity-Based Service (ProSe) Layer-3 UE-to-Network Relay outside of the PDU Session [Par. 0054-0056, 0095-0096, 0136, table 2 and Fig 18-20] and the multi-path preference is a ProSe multi-path preference [Par. 0082, 0150, 0232, 0235, 0282].
As claims 43 and 54, Li [US 2022/0322202] discloses the ProSe multi-path preference is provided in a Route Selection Descriptor of the at least one of the URSP rules [Par. 0082, 0150, 0232, 0235, 0282].
As claims 44 and 55, Li [US 2022/0322202] discloses the Route Selection Descriptor further comprises an Access Type preference parameter that indicates an Access Type on which the PDU Session for the matching application is to be established, the Access Type being one of 3GPP, non-3GPP, or Multi-Access [Par. 0082, 0095, 0318 discloses access type preference for 3GPP, non-3GPP or PC5 and UU].
As claims 45 and 56, Li [US 2022/0322202] discloses the Route Selection Descriptor further comprises a ProSe multi-path preference parameter that contains the ProSe multi-path preference, the Access Type parameter, and a ProSe Layer-3 UE-to-Network Relay Offload indication parameter [Par. 0232, 0318 and 0082].
As claims 46 and 57, Li [US 2022/0322202] discloses the Route Selection Descriptor is only considered valid if the ProSe multi-path preference is present [Par. 0082, 0150, 0232, 0235, 0282, 0054-0056, 0095-0096, 0136, table 2 and Fig 18-20] and the UE supports a ProSe capability of 5G ProSe Layer-3 Remote UE [Par. 0082, 0150, 0232, 0235, 0282, 0054-0056, 0095-0096, 0136, table 2 and Fig 18-20].
As claims 47 and 58, Li [US 2022/0322202] discloses evaluate the URSP rules to determine whether the at least one of the URSP rules is applicable for traffic of the matching application [Par. 0082]; determine whether an existing PDU Session matches all components in a Route Selection Descriptor of the at least one of the URSP rules [Par. 0171, 0172, 0187, 0191 discloses determining existing PDU]; and in response to a determination that the existing PDU Session matches all components in the Route Selection Descriptor of the at least one of the URSP rules, route the traffic of the matching application on the existing PDU Session [Par. 0171, 0172, 0187, 0191 discloses if PDU exists then route the PDU based the URSP rule].
As claims 48 and 58, Li [US 2022/0322202] discloses evaluate the URSP rules to determine whether the at least one of the URSP rules is applicable for traffic of the matching application [Par. 0082]; determine whether an existing PDU Session matches all components in a Route Selection Descriptor of the at least one of the URSP rules [Par. 0171, 0172, 0187, 0191 discloses determining existing PDU]; and in response to a determination that no existing PDU Session matches all components in the Route Selection Descriptor of the at least one of the URSP rules, establish a new PDU Session using parameters specified by the Route Selection Descriptor to route the traffic of the matching application on the new PDU Session [Par. 0082, 0148, 0187, 0191-0192, 0295, 0323 discloses no existing PDU then establishing a new PDU].
As claim 49, Li [US 2022/0322202] discloses indicate a fifth generation (5G) Proximity-Based Service (ProSe) Capability during registration and the multi-path preference is a ProSe multi-path preference [Par. 0141-0142, 0276, 0287 discloses registering its capability].
As claim 50, Li [US 2022/0322202] discloses determine that one of the PDU Session over the Uu reference point or the Layer-3 UE-to- Network Relay outside of the PDU Session is not available [Par. 0097]; and in response to a determination that one of the PDU Session over the Uu reference point or the Layer-3 UE-to-Network Relay outside of the PDU Session is not available [Par. 0284], encode the traffic of the matching application for transmission via another of the PDU Session over the Uu reference point or the Layer-3 UE-to-Network Relay outside of the PDU Session [Par. 0284].
As claim 51, Li [US 2022/0322202] implicitly discloses determine that each of a multi-path preference and a ProSe Layer-3 UE-to-Network Relay Offload indication is absent in at least one other of the URSP rules; and in response to a determination that each of the multi-path preference and the ProSe Layer-3 UE-to-Network Relay Offload indication is absent in the at least one other of the URSP rules, encode traffic matching the at least one other of the URSP rules for transmission via another PDU Session over the Uu reference point and not a ProSe Layer-3 UE-to-Network Relay outside of a PDU Session [Par. 0232 discloses when only UU is available then send traffic via UU only].
As claim 59, Li [US 2022/0322202] discloses an apparatus [Fig 3, PCF] for a policy control function (PCF), the apparatus comprising: processing circuitry configured to: encode, for transmission to a user equipment (UE) [Fig 3, PCF encode URSP rules for transmitting to UE], a UE route selection policy (URSP) that includes URSP rules, at least one of the URSP rules indicating a multi-path preference indicating that traffic of a matching application is preferred to be routed via multi-path via a packet data unit (PDU) Session over a Uu reference point and a Layer-3 UE-to-Network Relay outside of the PDU Session [Par. 0082, 0150, 0282 discloses UE decodes the message includes URSP rules from PCF wherein at least one of rules indicating multi-path reference for send traffic via multiple paths, Par. 0232, 0235, 0244, 0259 and Par. 0097, 0056, 0232 discloses traffic is sent via both path such as UU and PC5 which is Layer-3 UE-to- Network Relay, Fig 19]]; and memory configured to store the URSP rules [Fig 4, Remote UE].
As claim 60, Li [US 2022/0322202] discloses the Layer-3 UE-to-Network Relay outside of the PDU Session is a Proximity-Based Service (ProSe) Layer-3 UE-to-Network Relay outside of the PDU Session [Par. 0054-0056, 0095-0096, 0136, table 2 and Fig 18-20] and the multi-path preference is a ProSe multi-path preference [Par. 0082, 0150, 0232, 0235, 0282] and the ProSe multi-path preference is provided in a Route Selection Descriptor of the at least one of the URSP rules [Par. 0082, 0150, 0232, 0235, 0282].
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Youn [US 2022/0417825] discloses path switching between PC5 and UU.
Ly [US 2022/0210698] discloses a method for performing data aggregation.
Xu [US 2024/0172084] discloses a data transmission method and apparatus.
Xu [US 2021/0029253] discloses a method for determining a policy.
Pan [US 11259350] discloses a method and system for supporting UE-TO-Network relay.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to STEVEN HIEU D NGUYEN whose telephone number is (571)272-3159. The examiner can normally be reached 9-5.
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/STEVEN HIEU D NGUYEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2414
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