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 Objections
Claims 3, 12, 14 and 15 are objected to because of the following informalities: Claim 3: “SRAP” should change to “sidelink relay adaptation protocol (SRAP)”. Claim 12: “Relay Adaptation Protocol (SRAP)” should change to “a Sidelink Relay Adaptation Protocol (SRAP)”. Appropriate correction is required. Claim 14: “SRAP entity” should change to “a sidelink relay adaptation protocol (SRAP) entity”. Claim 15: “processer” should change to “processor”.
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 7-9, 13, and 15-18 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.
Regarding claim 7, “the signaling radio bearer 0 (SRB0) message” lacks antecedent basis.
Regarding claim 8, it is unclear whether “(the remote UE)” in line 6 is an essential claim limitation or merely a citation to a reference.
Regarding claim 9, “the SRAP-related configuration” lacks antecedent basis.
Regarding claim 13, “the default SRAP related configuration” and “the relevant configuration of SRAP” lack antecedent basis.
Regarding claim 15, it is unclear whether “(a relay UE)” in line 2 is an essential claim limitation or merely a citation to a reference. Claims 16-18 are rejected because they depend from claim 15.
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.
Claims 1-18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Pan (US 2022/0210847 A1, hereinafter “Pan”).
Regarding claim 1:
Pan discloses an apparatus (e.g., 300 in Fig. 3), applicable to a first terminal equipment (e.g., UE1 in Fig. 23), the apparatus comprising: processor circuitry (e.g., 306 in Fig. 3) configured to control to establish PC5 connection with a second terminal equipment (e.g., UE2 in Fig, 23); and a receiver (e.g., 314 in Fig. 3) configured to receive a radio resource control (RRC) message via the second terminal equipment by means of default configuration (e.g., Fig. 18, “RRCSetup”, “SecurityModeCommand”, “RRReconfigurationComplete”, Fig. 23, “UE1’s RRCREsume in sent on specific PC5 RLC channel (for UE1’s Uu SRB1)”).
Regarding claim 2:
Pan further discloses the apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the RRC message is at least one of a radio resource control setup (RRC setup) message, a radio resource control resume (RRC resume) message, a radio resource control re-establishment (RRC re-establishment) message and a radio resource control reconfiguration (RRC reconfiguration) message (e.g., Fig. 23, UE1’s RRCResume).
Regarding claim 3:
Pan further discloses the apparatus according to claim 2, wherein, the receiver receives a signaling radio bearer 1 (SRB1) message by using default SRAP configuration of SRB1 and/or SL-RLC1 default configuration at the PC5 interface between the first terminal equipment and the second terminal equipment (e.g., Fig. 23, UE1’s Uu SRB1, see PC5 RLC channel and Uu SRB mapping in Fig. 21).
Regarding claim 4:
Pan further discloses the apparatus according to claim 1, wherein, the default configuration includes default sidelink radio link control bearer configuration (sidelink RLC bearer configuration) and/or default sidelink relay adaptation protocol (SRAP)-related configuration (e.g., PC5 RLC channel and Uu SRB mapping in Fig. 21).
Regarding claim 5:
Pan further discloses the apparatus according to claim 4, wherein, the default sidelink radio link control bearer configuration is sidelink radio link control 0 (SL-RLC0) default configuration or sidelink radio link control 1 (SL-RLC1) default configuration (e.g., PC5 RLC channel mapping in Fig. 21).
Regarding claim 6:
Pan further discloses the apparatus according to claim 4, wherein, the default SRAP-related configuration includes at least one of the following: a local or temporary identifier of the first terminal equipment, an added mapping list or a deleted mapping list, and default SRAP configuration of signaling radio bearer 0 (SRB0) and/or default SRAP configuration of signaling radio bearer 1 (SRB1) (e.g., [0774]-[0775], mapping between Uu SRB, PC5 RLC channel, and Uu RLC channel in Fig. 21).
Regarding claim 7:
Pan further discloses the SRB1 message carries the RRC resume message and/or the RRC re-establishment message, or the SRB1 message is a first SRB1 message to be received by the first terminal equipment after the signaling radio bearer 0 (SRB0) message of the first terminal equipment is transmitted to the network apparatus (e.g., [0777], remote UE receives RRCResume on the PC5 RLC channel mapped to Uu SRB1).
Regarding claim 8:
Pan further discloses wherein the processor circuitry is further configured to control to use the SRB1 default SRAP configuration and/or use the SL-RLC1 default configuration for SRB1 when the first terminal equipment (the remote UE) transmits a radio resource control re-establishment request (RRC re-establishment request) message or a radio resource control resume (RRC resume request) message or when the first terminal equipment (the remote UE) initiates a radio resource control re-establishment procedure or a radio resource control resume procedure (e.g., [0777], remote UE receives RRCResume on the PC5 RLC channel mapped to Uu SRB1).
Regarding claim 9:
Pan further discloses a transmitter configured to transmit a radio resource control resume complete (RRC resume complete) message and/or a radio resource control re-establishment complete (RRC re-establishment complete) message by using the sidelink relay adaptation protocol (SRAP)-related configuration (e.g., [0780], [0791]), wherein the radio resource control resume (RRC resume) message or the radio resource control re-establishment (RRC re-establishment) message includes the SRAP-related configuration (e.g., [0332], radioBearerConfig, [0722], identity information of Remote UE Uu Radio Bearer and identity information of Remote UE).
Regarding claim 10:
Pan further discloses the apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the RRC message includes sidelink relay adaptation protocol (SRAP)-related configuration (e.g., [0332], [0347], radioBearerConfig in RRCSetup and RRCResume, [0722], identity information of Remote UE Uu Radio Bearer and identity information of Remote UE).
Regarding claim 11:
Pan further discloses the apparatus according to claim 10, wherein, the RRC message is a RRC setup message (e.g., RRCSetup in Fig. 18), after the receiver receives the SRAP-related configuration in the RRC setup message, the processor circuitry control to perform at least one of the following operations: establishing an SRAP entity; configuring parameters of the SRAP entity according to the SRAP-related configuration; applying the terminal equipment identifier in the RRC setup message as a cell radio network temporary identifier (C-RNTI) of the first terminal equipment; and transmitting a radio resource control setup complete (RRC setup complete) message based on SRAP-related configuration (e.g., RRCSetupComplete in Fig. 18, [0722], [0724], [0725]).
Regarding claim 12:
Pan further discloses the apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the processor circuitry is further configured to establish Relay Adaptation Protocol (SRAP) entity (e.g., [0718], [0772], bearer and channel mapping on the adaptation layer for sidelink relay in Fig. 17 and Fig. 20) in at least one of the following processes: selecting or reselecting a second terminal equipment; initiating RRC connection establishment process and/or RRC reconstruction process and/or RRC resume process via the second terminal equipment; receiving RRC setup and/or RRC re assembly and/or RRC resume and/or RRC configuration messages via the second terminal equipment; and receiving from the network apparatus an RRC configuration message to perform path switch to the second terminal equipment (e.g., RRCSetup and RRCReconfiguration in Fig. 18, RRCResumeRequest and RRCResume in Fig. 23).
Regarding claim 13:
Pan further discloses the apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the processor circuitry is further configured to configure, reconfigure, or modify SRAP entity in at least one of the following processes: using the default SRAP related configuration; and receiving the relevant configuration of SRAP in RRC setup message and/or RRC re-establishment message and/or RRC resume message and/or RRC configuration message (e.g., [0332], [0347], radioBearerConfig, [0722], identity information of Remote UE Uu Radio Bearer and identity information of Remote UE, radio bearer configuration and identity information may be considered SRAP related configuration).
Regarding claim 14:
Pan further discloses 14. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the processor circuitry is further configured to release SRAP entity during at least one of the following processes: switching from communicating with the network apparatus via relay to directly communicating with the network apparatus, releasing PC5 connection between the remote UE and the relay UE, and entering radio resource control idle (RRC_Idle) or radio resource control inactive (RRC_Inactive) state (e.g., [0150], network initiated RRC connection release to transmit a UE to RRC_IDLE or RRC_INACTIVE, or release and redirect a UE to another frequency, an RRC connection may be considered a SRAP entity, [0388], release a PC5 unicast connection between a Remote UE and a UE-to-Network Relay, a PC5 connection may be considered a SRAP entity).
Regarding claim 15:
Pan discloses an apparatus (300 in Fig. 3) for transceiving information, applicable to a second terminal equipment (a relay UE) (e.g., UE2 in Fig. 23), the apparatus comprising: processer circuitry (e.g., 306 in Fig. 3) configured to control to establish PC5 connection with a first terminal equipment; and a transmitter (e.g., 314 in Fig. 3) configured to transmit a radio resource control (RRC) message via the second terminal equipment by means of default configuration (e.g., Fig. 18, “RRCSetup”, “SecurityModeCommand”, or “RRReconfigurationComplete”, Fig. 23, “UE1’s RRCREsume in sent on specific PC5 RLC channel (for UE1’s Uu SRB1)”).
Regarding claim 16:
Pan further discloses the apparatus according to claim 15, wherein the RRC message is at least one of a radio resource control resume (RRC resume) message, a radio resource control re-establishment (RRC re-establishment) message and a radio resource control reconfiguration (RRC reconfiguration) message (e.g., Fig. 23, UE1’s RRCResume).
Regarding claim 17:
Pan further discloses the apparatus according to claim 15, wherein, the transmitter transmits a signaling radio bearer 1 (SRB1) message by using the default SRAP configuration of SRB1 and/or the SL-RLC1 default configuration at the PC5 interface between the second terminal equipment and the first terminal equipment (e.g., Fig. 23, UE1’s Uu SRB1, see PC5 RLC channel and Uu SRB mapping in Fig. 21).
Regarding claim 18:
Pan further discloses the apparatus according to claim 16, wherein, the radio resource control resume (RRC resume) message or the radio resource control re-establishment (RRC re-establishment) message includes sidelink relay adaptation protocol (SRAP)-related configuration (e.g., [0332], radioBearerConfig, [0722], identity information of Remote UE Uu Radio Bearer and identity information of Remote UE).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Alvin ZHU whose telephone number is (571)270-1086. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri 6am-9am and 2pm-7pm.
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/BO HUI A ZHU/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2465
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