DETAILED ACTION
This Office action is a response to an application filed on July , 2024. Claims 1-16 are currently pending and ready for examination.
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 July 11, 2024 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statements are being considered by the examiner.
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 1 and 9 each recite the limitation “ the User Info ID of the second relay UE"" in line 10 (Claim 1) and lines 13-14 (Claim 9) . There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claims.
For the purpose of further examination of theses claims, the limitation is interpreted as “a User Info ID of the second relay UE.”
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)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section151, 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, 4, 5, 7-9, 12, 13, 15 and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. §102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Leng et al. (US Patent Publication No. US2024/0147489).
Regarding claim 1, Leng et al. discloses a method for supporting multi-hop UE-to-Network (U2N) Relay (See, Fig. 6), comprising:
a second relay UE (Fig. 6, any one of UE2 – UE4) is provided with a maximum number of hops (¶[0080], “N′”1) specific for a Relay Service Code (RSC) (See, ¶[0177]) by a network (¶ [0083], [0084], [0098] and [0037]);
the second relay UE receives a first U2N Relay Discovery Announcement message (See, Fig.6, “Discovery message/DCR message,” and ¶[0101], “first message;” and ¶s[0060]-[0063] and [0111], “Model A” discovery message) from a first relay UE (Fig. 6, UE1 or when UE3 is the second relay UE, UE2), wherein the first U2N Relay Discovery Announcement message includes a User Info Identity (ID) of the first relay UE (See, ¶[0058]-[0063], “the notifying UE will broadcast its own information,” and [0119] and [0123], the “first hop device list,” the “list includes IDs of M electronic devices.”), the RSC (See, ¶[0101] and [0177]), and a first accumulated number of hops (¶[0101], the “hop counter”); and
the second relay UE transmits or broadcasts a second U2N Relay Discovery Announcement message (See, Fig. 6, UE 2 and UE3 each transmitting a “discovery message;” and ¶s[0107] (“the UE2 … forwards the first message”) and [0108] (the UE3 … forwards the first message”)), if the first accumulated number of hops plus 1 is less than or equal to the maximum number of hops (See, ¶[0107] (“the maximum number of relays (i.e., 2)”), As discussed, N′ is the maximum allowed number hops. That is, in this example shown in Fig. 6, N′=2. ¶[0107], for the UE2, the accumulated number of hop received from UE1 (‘0’) plus 1 = 1, which is less than 2; and ¶[0108], for the UE3, the accumulated number of hop received from UE2 (‘1’) plus 1 = 2, which is equal to N′) wherein the second U2N Relay Discovery Announcement message includes the User Info ID of the second relay UE (See, ¶[0058]-[0063], “the notifying UE will broadcast its own information,” and [0119] and [0123], the “first hop device list,” the “list includes IDs of M electronic devices.”), the RSC (See, ¶[0101] and [0177]), and a second accumulated number of hops (See, Fig. 6; ¶s[0107] and [0108], the second accumulated number of hops is 1 in the case of UE2 and 2 for the UE3).
Regarding claim 4, Leng et al. further discloses that the second accumulated number of hops is set to the first accumulated number of hops plus 1 (See, Fig. 6 and ¶s[0107] and [0108], “the UE2 [UE2] set[s] the first hop counter to be added with 1”).
Regarding claim 5, Leng et al. further discloses that the second relay UE does not transmit or broadcast the second U2N Relay Discovery Announcement message if the first accumulated number of hops plus 1 is greater than the maximum number of hops (See, ¶[0109], the “UE4 will no longer forward the first message because the first hop counter in the first message indicates the number of forwards is 2.” Here, hop counter +1 = 3, which is greater than the maximum number of hops, i.e., N′ (=2)).
Regarding claim 7, Leng et al. further discloses that the first relay UE is a ProSe UE-to-Network Relay (See, Fig. 6, UE2; ¶s[0056],[0057], “U2U” relay, and [0106], “authorized as relay devices for U2U”).
Regarding claim 8, Leng et al. further discloses that the second relay UE is an Intermediate UE-to-Network Relay (See, Fig. 6, UE2 or UE3; and ¶[0106], “Both the UE2 and the UE3 are not target UEs”).
Regarding claim 9, Leng et al. discloses a second relay User Equipment (UE) (Fig. 6, any one of UE2 – UE4) for supporting multi-hop UE-to-Network (U2N) Relay (See, Fig. 6, showing multiple hops), wherein the second relay UE is provided with a maximum number of hops (¶[0080], “N′,” See above footnote 1) specific for a Relay Service Code (RSC) (See, ¶[0177]) by a network (¶ [0083], [0084], [0098] and [0037]), comprising:
a control circuit (Fig. 11, Communication Device 600); a processor (Fig. 11, #610) installed in the control circuit; and a memory (Fig. 11, #620) installed in the control circuit and operatively coupled to the processor; wherein the processor is configured to execute a program code stored in the memory (See, ¶s[0226] and [0227]) to:
receive a first U2N Relay Discovery Announcement message (See, Fig.6, “Discovery message/DCR message,” and ¶[0101], “first message;” and ¶s[0060]-[0063] and [0111], “Model A” discovery message) from a first relay UE (Fig. 6, UE1 or when UE3 is the second relay UE, UE2), wherein the first U2N Relay Discovery Announcement message includes a User Info Identity (ID) of the first relay UE (See, ¶[0058]-[0063], “the notifying UE will broadcast its own information,” and [0119] and [0123], the “first hop device list,” the “list includes IDs of M electronic devices.”), the RSC (See, ¶[0101] and [0177]), and a first accumulated number of hops (¶[0101], the “hop counter”); and
transmit or broadcast a second U2N Relay Discovery Announcement message (See, Fig. 6, UE 2 and UE3 each transmitting a “discovery message;” and ¶s[0107] (“the UE2 … forwards the first message”) and [0108] (the UE3 … forwards the first message”)) if the first accumulated number of hops plus 1 is less than or equal to the maximum number of hops (See, ¶[0107] (As discussed above in connection with claim 1, for UE2, hop counter +1 = 1 < N′ (2); and ¶[0108], for UE3, hop counter +1 = 2 = N′ (2)), wherein the second U2N Relay Discovery Announcement message includes the User Info ID of the second relay UE (See, ¶[0058]-[0063], “the notifying UE will broadcast its own information,” and [0119] and [0123], the “first hop device list,” the “list includes IDs of M electronic devices.”), the RSC (See, ¶[0101] and [0177]), and a second accumulated number of hops (See, Fig. 6; ¶s[0107] and [0108], the second accumulated number of hops is 1 in the case of UE2 and 2 for the UE3).
Regarding claim 12, Leng et al. further discloses that the second accumulated number of hops is set to the first accumulated number of hops plus 1 (See, Fig. 6 and ¶s[0107] and [0108], “the UE2 [UE2] set[s] the first hop counter to be added with 1”).
Regarding claim 13, Leng et al. further discloses that the second relay UE does not transmit or broadcast the second U2N Relay Discovery Announcement message if the first accumulated number of hops plus 1 is greater than the maximum number of hops (See, ¶[0109], the “UE4 will no longer forward the first message because the first hop counter in the first message indicates the number of forwards is 2.” Here, hop counter +1 = 3, which is greater than the maximum number of hops, i.e., N′ (=2)).
Regarding claim 15, Leng et al. further discloses that the first relay UE is a ProSe UE-to-Network Relay (See, Fig. 6, UE2; ¶s[0056],[0057], “U2U” relay, and [0106], “authorized as relay devices for U2U”).
Regarding claim 16, Leng et al. further discloses that the second relay UE is an Intermediate UE-to-Network Relay (See, Fig. 6, UE2 or UE3; and ¶[0106], “Both the UE2 and the UE3 are not target UEs”).
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 2 and 10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. §103 as being unpatentable over Leng et al. in view of Cai et al. (US Patent Publication No. US 2016/0044613).
Regarding claim 2, Leng et al. teaches a method for supporting multi-hop UE-to-Network (U2N) Relay comprising all elements recited in claim 1 as discussed above, but fails to explicitly teach that the second relay UE is out of coverage (OOC) of a network.
Cai et al. teaches a method for supporting multi-hop UE-to-Network (U2N) Relay (See. e.g., Fig. 3), wherein a relay UE is out of coverage (OOC) of a network (See, Fig. 3, #s 312; and ¶[0038], “UE 312 may also act as a relay UE…[and] is not within the coverage area 304 of base station 302).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the UEs taught by Leng et al. to incorporate the above teaching of Cai et al. in order to provide an out-of-coverage remote UE, (i.e., UE 314), that would otherwise be unable to do so, the ability to communicate with the network by utilizing a proximate UE as a relay path to the network (See, e.g., Cai et al., Fig. 3 and ¶[0038]).
Regarding claim 10, Leng et al. teaches a second relay User Equipment (UE) for supporting multi-hop UE-to-Network (U2N) Relay comprising all elements recited in claim 9 as discussed above, but fails to explicitly teach that the second relay UE is out of coverage (OOC) of a network.
Cai et al. teaches a multi-hop UE-to-Network (U2N) Relay (See. e.g., Fig. 3), wherein a relay UE is out of coverage (OOC) of a network (See, Fig. 3, #s 312; and ¶[0038], “UE 312 may also act as a relay UE…[and] is not within the coverage area 304 of base station 302).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the UEs taught by Leng et al. to incorporate the above teaching of Cai et al. in order to provide an out-of-coverage remote UE, (i.e., UE 314), that would otherwise be unable, the ability to communicate with the network by utilizing a proximate UE as a relay path to the network (See, e.g., Cai et al., Fig. 3 and ¶[0038]).
Claims 3 and 11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. §103 as being unpatentable over Leng et al. and Cai et al. and in further view of Xu et al. (US Patent Publication No. US2025/0119723).
Regarding claim 3, Leng et al. and Cai et al. teach a method for supporting multi-hop UE-to-Network (U2N) Relay comprising all elements recited in claim 2 as discussed above, but fails to explicitly teach that the second relay UE is not in any of RRC_IDLE, RRC_INACTIVE and RRC_CONNECTED when it is OOC of the network.
Xu et al. teaches a method for supporting multi-hop communication (See, Fig. 3; and ¶[0006]) wherein a relay UE is not in any of RRC_IDLE, RRC_INACTIVE and RRC_CONNECTED when the relay UE is OOC of the network (See, ¶[0235], “if the relay UE is out of network coverage, the period may be configured based on the pre-configuration. If the relay UE is in RRC IDLE/INACTIVE state, the period may be configured by the system information. If the relay UE is in RRC CONNECTED state, the period may be configured by system information,” Emphasis added; Xu et al. clearly teaches that: when the relay UE is in any of the RRC IDLE/INACTIVE/ RRC CONNECTED states, the UE is able to obtain the transmittal period from the network, i.e., the system information; but when the UE is OOC, the UE would not be in any of the above RRC states, and thus needs to be pre-configured.).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the relay UEs taught by Leng et al. and Cai et al. to incorporate the above teaching of Xu et al., which is also directed to a multi-hop communication paths through relay UEs, in order to improve upon the LTE, and in so doing, provide a solution suitable for implementation in a 5G network (See, e.g., Xu et al., ¶[0007]; Cai et al. ¶[0003]; and Leng et al., ¶[0023]).
Regarding claim 11, Leng et al. and Cai et al. teach a second relay User Equipment (UE) for supporting multi-hop UE-to-Network (U2N) Relay comprising all elements recited in claim 10 as discussed above, but fails to explicitly teach that that the second relay UE is not in any of RRC_IDLE, RRC_INACTIVE and RRC_CONNECTED when it is OOC of the network.
Xu et al. teaches a relay UE for supporting multi-hop communication (See, Fig. 3, any one of UEs 1-5) that is not in any of RRC_IDLE, RRC_INACTIVE and RRC_CONNECTED when the relay UE is OOC of the network (See, ¶[0235], “if the relay UE is out of network coverage, the period may be configured based on the pre-configuration. If the relay UE is in RRC IDLE/INACTIVE state, the period may be configured by the system information. If the relay UE is in RRC CONNECTED state, the period may be configured by system information,” Emphasis added).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the relay UEs taught by Leng et al. and Cai et al. to incorporate the above teaching of Xu et al., which is also directed to a multi-hop communication paths through relay UEs, in order to improve upon the LTE, and in so doing, provide a solution suitable for implementation in a 5G network (See, e.g., Xu et al., ¶[0007]; Cai et al. ¶[0003]; and Leng et al., ¶[0023]).
Claims 6 and 14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. §103 as being unpatentable over Leng et al. in view of 3GPPTS23.304V182
Regarding claim 6, Leng et al. teaches a method for supporting multi-hop UE-to-Network (U2N) Relay comprising all elements recited in claim 1 as discussed above, but fails to explicitly teach that that the RSC indicates a connectivity service a ProSe UE-to-Network Relay provides to a ProSe Remote UE.
3GPPTS23.304V18 teaches that that the RSC indicates a connectivity service a ProSe UE-to-Network Relay provides to a ProSe Remote UE (See, e.g., page 40, §5.1.5.1, Lines 28-32).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the method for proximity based service (ProSe) taught by Leng et al. (See, Leng et al.,¶0046]) to incorporate the above RSC indication teaching of 3GPPTS23.304V18 in order for the ProSe U2N relays that are compliant to the 5G standards, which compliance is contemplated by Leng et al. (See, e.g., Leng et al., ¶[0023]).
Regarding claim 14, Leng et al. teaches a U2N relay comprising all elements recited in claim 9 as discussed above, but fails to explicitly teach that that the RSC indicates a connectivity service a ProSe UE-to-Network Relay provides to a ProSe Remote UE.
3GPPTS23.304V18 teaches that that the RSC indicates a connectivity service a ProSe UE-to-Network Relay provides to a ProSe Remote UE (See, e.g., page 40, §5.1.5.1, Lines 28-32).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the method for proximity based service (ProSe) taught by Leng et al. (See, Leng et al.,¶0046]) to incorporate the above RSC indication teaching of 3GPPTS23.304V18 in order for the ProSe U2N relays that are compliant to the 5G standards, which compliance is contemplated by Leng et al. (See, e.g., Leng et al., ¶[0023]).
Conclusion
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/K.S.K./Examiner, Art Unit 2418 April 2, 2026
/Moo Jeong/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2418
1 It is noted that, a comparison of the Applicant’s disclosure (Figs 16 and 17; and ¶s[0334] and [0342]) with Fig. 6 and ¶[0080] of Leng et al. shows that what the Applicant refers to as the maximum number of hops should be equated with N′, i.e., the maximum number of relays, of Leng et al. That is, Fig. 6 of Leng et al. shows that the “hop count” of Leng et al. starts with the count of ‘0,’ i.e., the ‘hop’ from UE1 to UE2 is a ‘0’ hop. In contrast, according to the Applicant’s disclosure, it is apparent that the hop count starts at 1. See, Applicant’s disclosure Figs. 16, 17; ¶[0334], “FIG. 16 illustrates an exemplary 3-hop U2N Relay” (where Fig. 16 illustrates 3 relays) and [0342], “Route A has 3 hops and Route B has 2 hops” (where Route A is depicted as including 3 relays, and while Route B includes 2 relays). Accordingly, when properly normalized with respect to each other, the maximum number of hops as referred to by the Applicant’s disclosure correspond to N′ of Leng et al., and likewise, the accumulated number of hops as referred to that term by the Applicant’s disclosure corresponds to the hop counter plus 1 in Leng et al.
2 3GPP TS 23.304 V18.2.0, “3rd Generation Partnership Project; Technical Specification Group Services and System Aspects; Proximity based Services (ProSe) in the 5G Systems (5GC)” (Release 18), published by 3GPP Organizational Partners, June 2023, Pp. 1-142.