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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 07/29/2026 is in compliance with provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Claim status
Claims 1, 4, 11, 14 and 21-36 are pending.
Claims 2, 3, 5-10, 12, 13 and 15-20 have been cancelled.
Claims 1, 4, 11, 14 and 21-36 are rejected.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 1 and 11 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
The prior rejection relied on Ohtsuji in view of Yun for independent claims 1 and 11. In this Office action, the rejection has been revised to rely on Ohtsuji in view of Liang, and further in view of Applicant-Admitted Prior Art (AAPA) where appropriate. Applicant’s arguments directed to the previous Ohtsuji and Yun combination do not overcome the newly explained combination.
As can be read below, the new rejection uses Ohtsuji as the primary reference for the relay discovery framework. Ohtsuji teaches a remote UE receiving, from a relay UE, a discovery signal message containing selection assistance information, where the selection assistance information includes base station information such as frequency-band information (Ohtsuji 0061–0065 and 0071–0072).
In addition, newly drafted rejection relies on Liang for the more specific teaching of a cell identifier associated with the candidate relay UE’s located cell. Liang teaches that relay-related information may include a first cell identifier used to indicate a cell in which a candidate UE is located, and that the cell identifier may include a physical cell identification (PCI) and frequency information (Liang 0076, 0080 and 0086).
The rejection further relies on Applicant-Admitted Prior Art for the known procedure of measuring the cell in which or on which the relay UE works or camps and determining, based on that measurement result, whether the UE can serve or continue to serve as remote UE (Applicant’s specification 0003–0005, particularly 0004).
Thus, the revised rejection is not premised withYun’s UE identifiers allegedly teaching the claimed PCI of the relay device’s first cell. Rather, Liang is applied for the PCI/frequency cell id.
Applicant further argues that Ohtsuji does not disclose a relay originated discovery message carrying both actual frequency information and PCI of the same first cell. This argument is not persuasive against the revised combination. Ohtsuji teaches that the relay UE transmits a discovery signal containing selection-assistance information to the remote UE. Liang teaches that relay-related information may include a first cell identifier identifying the cell in which the candidate UE is located, and that the cell identifier may include PCI and frequency information.
Applicant further argues that Ohtsuji and Yun concern relay link quality, throughput estimation, relay selection, or D2D/PC5 information, and do not teach determining whether the terminal device can serve as a remote device based on a measurement result of the specifically identified first cell.
This argument is not persuasive because the Applicant’s own specification admits (as discussed above) that this determination was known. In particular, applicant’s specification states that when the remote UE is connected to a network by using a relay UE, the remote UE may determine whether it can continue to serve as the remote UE, and therefore may measure a cell in which or on which the relay UE works or camps and perform the determination based on the measurement result. See Applicant’s specification 0004. The specification further explains that the problem in the prior art was that the remote UE needed to perform blind searching over multiple frequencies to locate the cell in which or on which the relay UE works or camps.
Lastly, Applicant argues that the rejection relies on the claimed invention as a roadmap and that the motivation to improve relay selection does not bridge the missing limitations. This argument is not persuasive. Ohtsuji already teaches sending relay originated discovery and selection assistance information to improve relay selection. Liang teaches that relay-related information may include a cell identifier of the candidate UE’s located cell, including PCI and frequency information. A person of ordinary skill in the art would have had reason to include Liang’s PCI/frequency cell identifier in Ohtsuji’s discovery and selection assistance information to more precisely identify the relay UE’s serving or camping cell and improve the reliability of relay selection/path determination.
This combination uses known elements for their known purposes: Ohtsuji’s discovery-based relay assistance and Liang’s PCI/frequency-based cell identification. The resulting method predictably enables the remote UE to identify the relay-associated cell and perform the known cell determination procedure.
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.
Claims 1, 11, 27 and 32 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ohtsuji (US 2020/0008127) in view of Liang et al. (US 2023/0026021) and further in view of Applicant-Admitted Prior Art (AAPA).
Regarding claim 1, Ohtsuji teaches a method applied to a terminal device wherein the terminal device receives, from a first relay device, a discovery message comprising frequency information of a first cell, wherein the first cell is a cell in which the first relay device is located (Ohtsuji 0049-0051 disclose relay UE 2 in cellular coverage of base station 3. 0061-0065 disclose relay UE 2 transmitting a discovery signal containing selection assistance information to remote UE 1. 0065 discloses the selection assistance information includes cell information transmitted from the base station and received by the relay UE. 0071-0072 disclose the cell information includes frequency band information supported by the base station).
Ohtsuji further teaches determining a communication path or relay based on the received discovery assistance information, including base station information associated with the relay UE (Ohtsuji 0066-0067 and 0080-0082 disclose the remote UE using the selection assistance information to select a suitable relay UE or determine whether a relay path or direct path is to be used).
Ohtsuji does not specifically disclose that the discovery message comprises a physical cell identity (PCI) of the first cell or expressly determining the first cell based on both the frequency information and PCI.
Liang teaches relay information corresponding to a relay UE, wherein the relay information includes a first cell identifier used to indicate a cell in which the candidate UE is located, and further teaches that the cell identifier may include a physical cell identification (PCI), CGI, and frequency information (Liang 0076, 0080, and 0086).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Liang’s PCI/frequency based cell identifier into Ohtsuji’s relay discovery assistance message so that the remote UE could more precisely identify the cell in which the relay UE is located, thereby improving reliability and accuracy of relay selection determination and reducing ambiguity associated with merely using generalized base station capability information.
Regarding the limitation of determining the first cell based on the frequency information of the first cell and an identifier of the first cell, Ohtsuji as modified by Liang teaches discloses that the cell identifier indicates the cell in which the candidate UE is located and that the cell identifier may include PCI and frequency information, which are conventional cell identifying parameters used to identify a cell associated with a candidate relay UE (Liang 0080 and 0086).
Regarding the limitation of determining, based on a measurement result of the first cell, whether the terminal device is capable of serving as a remote device in the first cell, Applicant admits in the Background that, when remote UE is connected to a network using relay UE, the remote UE may determine whether it can continue to serve as remote UE by measuring the cell in which or on which the relay UE works or camps and performing the determination based on the measurement result (Applicant’s specification 0003-0005, particularly 0004).
Therefore it would have been obvious to apply the known cell measurement based determination admitted by Applicant to the relay identification information provided by the combination of Ohtsuji and Liang, because once the terminal device receives the relay device’s cell frequency information and PCI, the predictable and known next step is to identify and measure that cell to determine whether the terminal device can operate as a remote device in that cell.
Regarding claim 27 and 32, the relay sends information that enables termination (functional language), same rejection to claims 1 and 11 applies.
Claims 4, 14, 28 and 33 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ohtsuji (US 2020/0008127), Liang et al. (US 2023/0026021) and Applicant-Admitted Prior Art (AAPA) and further in view of Yun et al. (CN 106888494).
Regarding claims 4 and 14, Ohtsuji teaches sending, by the remote UE to the relay UE, a message requesting selection assistance information, wherein the relay UE responds with selection assistance information including cell/frequency-related information (Ohtsuji 0061-0072 teaches sending, to the first relay device, a second message querying frequency information of the cell in which the first relay device is located.)
Yun teaches a remote UE broadcasting a relay discovery request message to candidate relay UEs and receiving a response message from a candidate relay UE, wherein the response message includes frequency information used between the candidate relay UE and its serving cell (Yun, steps S101-S104; see also Yun Summary describing response message including radio access network connection status information and/or frequency information used between the candidate relay UE and the serving cell of the candidate relay UE). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use Yun’s explicit relay discovery request/response query procedure with Ohtsuji/Liang relay-discovery framework in order to allow the remote UE to request and obtain cell information from a candidate relay UE when such information is needed for relay selection and cell identification.
Regarding claims 28 and 33, Ohtsuji and Yun teach the reciprocal relay side operation of receiving, from the terminal device, a second message querying frequency information of the cell in which the first relay device is located, because Ohtsuji discloses that the remote UE transmits a request for selection assistance information and each relay UE receives the request and transmits selection assistance information in response (Ohtsuji 0068-0069), and Yun discloses that the candidate relay UE receives a relay discovery request message from the remote UE and feeds back a response message including frequency information used between the candidate relay UE and its serving cell (Yun, steps S102-S103). Same rationale applied as to claims 4 and 14.
Claims 21, 22, 24, 25, 29, 30, 34 and 35 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ohtsuji (US 2020/0008127) and Liang et al. (US 2023/0026021) in view of Applicant-Admitted Prior Art (AAPA) and further in view of Yang (US 2022/0225072).
Regarding claims 21 and 24, Ohtsuji as modified by Liang teaches relay related information corresponding to a candidate UE, wherein the relay information includes a first cell identifier used to indicate a cell in which the candidate UE is located, and further teaches that the cell identifier may include a physical cell identification (PCI), CGI, and frequency information (Liang 0076, 0080, and 0086). Applicant admits that, in the prior art, a remote UE may perform searching for a corresponding cell based on a known physical cell identity (PCI), and may search for the cell in which or on which the relay UE works or camps before measuring the cell (Applicant’s specification 0004).
Yang further teaches that a UE may determine a physical cell identifier (PCI) based on synchronization signals, and that the PCI is used in identifying cell-related reference signal locations and cell information (Yang 0049). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, after receiving the relay UE’s cell frequency information and PCI as taught by Ohtsuji in view of Liang, to search at the frequency corresponding to the frequency information for one or more cells and identify the first cell based on the PCI, because using known PCI procedures would allow the terminal to quickly locate the relay device’s camping cell at the indicated frequency, confirm the correct cell, and avoid unnecessary blind searching across multiple frequencies, thereby reducing search time and power consumption.
Regarding claims 22 and 25, Ohtsuji as modified by Liang and AAPA disclose a remote UE may measure a cell in which or on which the relay UE works or camps and determine, based on the measurement result, whether the remote UE can continue to serve as remote UE (Applicant’s specification 0004). Yang teaches downlink reference and synchronization signals used by a UE for cell identification and measurement, including reference signals, CSI-RS, PSS, SSS, and SS/PBCH block information used to determine timing and PCI/cell-related information (Yang 0048-0050).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, after identifying the first cell using the relay-provided frequency information and PCI, to measure a downlink reference signal of the first cell to obtain the measurement result of the first cell, to allow the terminal device to obtain a reliable measurement result of the relay device’s camping cell before determining whether the terminal device can serve as a remote device in that cell and therefore reducing power consumption.
Regarding claims 29 and 34, Ohtsuji teaches the relay-side transmission of discovery/selection assistance information from the relay UE to the remote UE (Ohtsuji 0061-0065), and Liang teaches that relay-related information for the candidate UE includes a first cell identifier indicating the cell in which the candidate UE is located, wherein the cell identifier may include PCI and frequency information (Liang 0080 and 0086). Applicant’s admitted prior art teaches that the remote UE searches for a cell based on a known PCI and uses the cell information to identify the cell in which or on which the relay UE works or camps (Applicant’s specification 0004 and 0076). Accordingly, the discovery message taught by Ohtsuji as modified by Liang would enable the terminal device to search, at a frequency corresponding to the frequency information of the first cell, for one or more cells and to identify the first cell from the one or more cells based on the PCI. Same rationale applied as to claims 21 and 24.
Regarding claims 30 and 35, Ohtsuji teaches that the relay UE sends discovery/selection-assistance information to the remote UE (Ohtsuji 0061-0065), Liang teaches that the relay related information may include PCI and frequency information identifying the cell in which the candidate UE is located (Liang 0080 and 0086), and Yang teaches the use of downlink reference/synchronization signals for cell identification and measurement (Yang 0048-0050). Therefore, the discovery message taught by Ohtsuji as modified by Liang would enable the terminal device to identify the relay-associated first cell and measure a downlink reference signal of that first cell to obtain the measurement result, same rationale applied as to claims 22 and 25.
Claims 23, 26, 31, and 36 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as being unpatentable over Ohtsuji in view of Liang and Applicant-Admitted Prior Art and further in view of Chang et al (US 2023/0292234).
Regarding claims 23, 26, 31 and 36, Chang teaches a relay UE transmits selected system information in a PC5 broadcast message, such as a sidelink discovery message, where the selected system information is received from the relay UE’s serving cell (Chang 0005, 0015 and 0047). Chang further teaches that the selected system information may include remote UE cell access information, including cell barred information/cellBarred IE, which indicates whether the cell is barred (Chang 0016 and 0018).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include Chang’s cellBarred/access barring information in the discovery message of Ohtsuji as modified by Liang because a remote UE selecting a relay would benefit from knowing whether the relay UE’s serving cell is accessible before attempting cell measurement, relay selection, or connection. Including such status information would reduce failed access attempts and signaling overhead.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to EDAN ORGAD whose telephone number is (571)272-7884. The examiner can normally be reached 9AM-5PM.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/EDAN ORGAD/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2414
Prosecution Insights