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 .
Response to Remarks
This Office action is considered fully responsive to the amendments filed 09/08/2026.
Claims 5-8 are pending in the application. Claims 5-6 have been amended, claims 1-4 have been canceled and claims 7-8 have been added.
The objection to the specification is withdrawn in light of Applicant’s amendments.
The claim objections are withdrawn in light of Applicant’s amendments.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments, see Remarks, filed 09/08/2026, with respect to the rejection(s)
of claim(s) have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground(s) of rejection is made in view of (US-20240007922-A1) and (WO-2024068745-A1).
Regarding independent claims 5 and 6, see the U.S.C. 103 rejection below.
Regarding the dependent claims 7-8, see the U.S.C. 103 rejection below. The Claim Rejections section below details the rejections of the instant claims.
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 5-6 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 5, line 6— “a network node”, it is unclear as to whether “a network node” is referring to the “a network node” of line 2 or is a different network node. And lines 7, 11 and 13— “the network node”, it is unclear as to whether “the network node” is referring to the “a network node” of line 2, line 6 or is a different network node. For examination purposes, the network node of lines 2, 6, 7, 11, and 13 will be interpreted to be the same.
Regarding claim 5, line 5— “a remote user equipment”, it is unclear as to whether “a remote user equipment” is referring to the “a remote user equipment” of line 2 or is a different remote user equipment. And lines 7, 11 and 14— “the remote user equipment”, it is unclear as to whether “the remote user equipment” is referring to the “a remote user equipment” of line 2, line 5 or is a different remote user equipment. For examination purposes, the remote user equipment of lines 2, 5, 7, 11, and 14 will be interpreted to be the same.
Regarding claim 5, line 4— “a relay user equipment”, it is unclear as to whether “a relay user equipment” is referring to the “a relay user equipment” of line 3 or is a different relay user equipment. And lines 8, 9, 12 and 13— “the relay user equipment”, it is unclear as to whether “the relay user equipment” is referring to the “a relay user equipment” of line 3, line 4 or is a different relay user equipment. For examination purposes, the relay user equipment of lines 3, 4, 8, 9, 12, and 13 will be interpreted to be the same.
Regarding claim 6, line 6— “a network node”, it is unclear as to whether “a network node” is referring to the “a network node” of line 2 or is a different network node. And lines 10 and 13— “the network node”, it is unclear as to whether “the network node” is referring to the “a network node” of line 2, line 6 or is a different network node. For examination purposes, the network node of lines 2, 6, 10, and 13 will be interpreted to be the same.
Regarding claim 6, line 5— “a remote user equipment”, it is unclear as to whether “a remote user equipment” is referring to the “a remote user equipment” of line 2 or is a different remote user equipment. And lines 7, 8, 11, 12, and 13— “the remote user equipment”, it is unclear as to whether “the remote user equipment” is referring to the “a remote user equipment” of line 2, line 5 or is a different remote user equipment. For examination purposes, the remote user equipment of lines 2, 5, 7, 8, 11, 12, and 13 will be interpreted to be the same.
Regarding claim 6, line 4— “a relay user equipment”, it is unclear as to whether “a relay user equipment” is referring to the “a relay user equipment” of line 3 or is a different relay user equipment. And lines 5, 8, 10, and 15— “the relay user equipment”, it is unclear as to whether “the relay user equipment” is referring to the “a relay user equipment” of line 3, line 4 or is a different relay user equipment. For examination purposes, the relay user equipment of lines 3, 4, 5, 8, 10, and 15 will be interpreted to be the same.
Claims 7-8 are additionally rejected for being dependent on at least one rejected base claim.
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claims 5-8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over by Paladugu (WO-2023050286-A1), as PCT field on Sep. 30, 2021, and published on Apr. 06, 2023, in view of Cheng et al. (US-20240007922-A1), and further in view of Lagrange et al. (WO-2024068745-A1).
Regarding claim 5 (Currently Amended), Paladugu teaches a communication method for transmitting multicast broadcast service (MBS) data belonging to an MBS session from a network node to a remote user equipment via a relay user equipment (Abstract and [0006] provide the method related to wireless communication, where a relay user equipment (UE) may transmit to a remote UE, a relay discovery message indicating one or more supported services, wherein the one or more supported services include at least one of a multicast service and/or broadcast service, such as 5G/NR, support multicast services and/or broadcast services, collectively referred to as multicast and broadcast services (MBS), for example, the relay UE may relay uplink communications associated with a relay service from the remote UE to the network, and/or may relay downlink communications associated with a relay service from the network to the remote UE, as described in [0066] “The techniques described herein relate to relaying between a remote UE and a network (e.g., a base station 110) via a relay UE. The relay UE is an example of a first wireless node. The remote UE is an example of a second wireless node.” As also provided in [0082]-[0083] and Figs. 6-11), the communication method comprising: transferring, by a relay user equipment, data received from a first cell supporting a sidelink relay function to a remote user equipment (Step 860-Fig. 8 and [0111] provides that the relay UE can transfer the MBS data related to the MBS session to the remote UE. Abstract and Claim 1 also confirm that the relay UE can provide the selected service to the second wireless node (remote UE) after configuration step, see also Steps 760-770-Fig. 7. [0079] provide the description of the sidelink relay function, as states “IP communications of the remote UE may be relayed to the 5G core via the relay UE. For example, the IP communications may be communicated to the relay UE via a local link like sidelink, WiFi, WiFi-D, Bluetooth or Bluetooth LE (e.g., for sidelink, a PC5 local link, which may be a secure unicast link established prior to relaying) , then between the relay UE and the NG-RAN via the radio access (e.g., Uu) interface, then to the 5G core via an N3 or N2 interface. The remote UE and/or the relay UE may be provisioned by the 5G core or preconfigured with a policy (e.g., a sidelink policy)” that confirms the relay UE can transfer the MBS data through SL relay function, where the relay UE can act as intermediate communication between the gNB/serving cell and the remote UE, sidelink relaying function); performing, by a network node configured to manage the first cell (Fig. 1 and [0036]-[0037] provide that the BS can manage the cell, coverage area, using , for example, the base station (e.g., using communication manager 150 and/or transmission component 1304, depicted in Fig. 13) may transmit, to a first wireless node or a second wireless node, information indicating one or more supported services, wherein the one or more supported services include at least one of a multicast service or a broadcast service, as described in [0160] and Fig. 11),
Paladugu does not explicitly teach processing that causes the remote user equipment to transmit a first measurement report to the network node in response to determining handover of the relay user equipment to a second cell not supporting the sidelink relay function based on a second measurement report received from the relay user equipment; performing, by the network node, handover of the remote user equipment to a first target before the handover of the relay user equipment, based on the first measurement report.
However, Cheng teaches processing that causes the remote user equipment to transmit a first measurement report to the network node in response to determining handover of the relay user equipment to a second cell not supporting the sidelink relay function based on a second measurement report received from the relay user equipment ([0101] states “the UE 115-d may perform one or more measurements and generate the measurement report based on the trigger event. In some other examples, the UE 115-e may automatically perform the measurements (e.g., regardless of the trigger event) and may generate and transmit the measurement report based on the trigger event.” Where the trigger event measurements can include such as sidelink channel metric for the connection between the remote UE and the relay UE failing to satisfy a first threshold, a sidelink channel metric for the remote UE and a candidate relay UE satisfying a second threshold, the difference between a first sidelink channel metric for the remote UE and a candidate relay UE and a second sidelink channel metric for the remote UE and the current relay UE satisfying an offset threshold, or any combination thereof, [0005] and mobility trigger (e.g., a trigger event based on the mobility of the remote UE 405 effecting one or more connections, such as the PC5 connection with the source L2 UE-to-network relay 410), as stated in [0108] and can include other metrics such as RSRQ, RSSI, and S/N ratio, as stated in [0097]. That implies the relay node can perform the measurement (second measurement report) regarding the SL channel quality such as supporting/not supporting the SL relay using the current relay UE. [0005] also provides that the remote UE may determine a trigger event, such as a sidelink channel metric for the connection between the remote UE and the relay UE failing to satisfy a first threshold, a sidelink channel metric for the remote UE and a candidate relay UE satisfying a second threshold, the difference between a first sidelink channel metric for the remote UE and a candidate relay UE and a second sidelink channel metric for the remote UE and the current relay UE satisfying an offset threshold, or any combination thereof. Based on the trigger event, the remote UE may transmit a measurement report (first measurement report) to the base station (e.g., via the relay UE) indicating information related to the relay UE, one or more candidate relay UEs, a direct connection to the base station, or some combination thereof. The base station may receive the measurement report and determine to handover the UE between relay connections based on the measurement report.); performing, by the network node, handover of the remote user equipment to a first target before the handover of the relay user equipment, based on the first measurement report (Figs. 2-4 and 13-15 and [0005] illustrate that the base station may receive the measurement report (first report from the remote UE) and determine to handover the UE between relay connections based on the measurement report and the base station may transmit a handover command to the UE, triggering the UE to perform a handover procedure to switch from using a first UE as a UE-to-network relay to using a second UE as the UE-to-network relay, see also the examples in [0006]-[0008]. [0111]-[0112] describes that the source base station 415 may transmit an RRC reconfiguration message including the handover command to the remote UE 405, for example, via the source L2 UE-to-network relay 410. The handover command may indicate a PC5 RLC channel configuration for relaying. That implies the switching the path of the remote UE. [0113] provides that the releasing process for the source relay UE by sending the reconfiguration releasing its PC5-to Uu bearer mapping, since it is no longer serve for SL relying, see also [0176] and claim 27. That implies the handover procedure for the remote UE is first applied since the handover command is sent via the source relay, therefore the source relay UE must remain able to forward the command/message at that time. Moreover, the disclosure expressly allow that process variations such us some process may be in different order, rearranged or modified, that implies the flexibility of the performing the method, see [0095] and [0106] );
Therefore, it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Paladugu to incorporate the teachings of Cheng (in analogous art) by adding processing that causes the remote user equipment to transmit a first measurement report to the network node in response to determining handover of the relay user equipment to a second cell not supporting the sidelink relay function based on a second measurement report received from the relay user equipment for increasing channel throughput, improving communication reliability, or both.. (Cheng, [0005] and [0053]).
Paladugu and Cheng do not explicitly teach performing, by the network node, the handover of the relay user equipment to a second target based on the second measurement report after the remote user equipment performs connection processing to the first target
However, Lagrange teaches performing, by the network node, the handover of the relay user equipment to a second target based on the second measurement report after the remote user equipment performs connection processing to the first target (Fig. 1 supports the relay UE 130 is served by network node even though it is not serving any remote UE at the specific time, that implies the relay UE may remain connected to its current cell even with absence of relay serving. Lines 8-11 Page 3 provides some remote UEs that have good direct connectivity with another base station or with one or more other UEs capable of performing sidelink relaying may wish to detach from the handed over relay UE and perform either relay reselection or connect directly to another base station. Lines 32-34 Page 7, also states, “UE node 130 is also served by network node 102 and may have some relaying capability, i.e. UE node 130 may act as a UE-to-network (U2N) relay UE at some time, even though it is not serving any remote UE at the time represented in Figure 1.” The relay UE may perform its measurements as stated in lines 11-18 Page 22, and based on this measurement (second report measurement) reporting provided by MEASUREMENT REPORT message(s) 312, the source gNB 101 may further decide to initiate a handover (HO) procedure in order for the Relay UE to connect to the target gNB 102, as stated in lines 19-21 Page 22. Further elaborated in line 4-12 Page 22, that states “At some point, the gNB 101, acting as a source gNB, may decide to hand over the relay UE 110 to the gNB 102, which would then act as a target gNB. For example, in the case where the radio conditions in the serving cell (not shown in Figure 1) controlled by the source gNB 101 deteriorate such that the radio conditions in the target cell (not shown in Figure 1) controlled by the target gNB 102 are better than the serving cell, the source gNB 101 may decide to handover the relay UE 110 to the target gNB 102. In such a case, the relay UE 110 would detach from the source gNB 101, thereby releasing the Uu link 110a to further connect to the target gNB 102 through Uu link 110b (shown in dotted lines in Figure 1) established as part of a re-establishment procedure.” That confirms the BS can execute the HO based on the relay’s measurements after the performing the HO of the remote UE ).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Paladugu in view of Cheng to incorporate the teachings of Lagrange (in analogous art) by adding teaches performing, by the network node, the handover of the relay user equipment to a second target based on the second measurement report after the remote user equipment performs connection processing to the first target provide support for broadcast, groupcast and unicast communications between any two UEs in both out- of-coverage and in-network coverage scenarios. (Lagrange, Lines 21-25 Page 1).
Regarding claim 6 (Currently Amended), Paladugu teach a communication method for transmitting multicast broadcast service (MBS) data belonging to an MBS session from a network node to a remote user equipment via a relay user equipment (Abstract and [0006] provide the method related to wireless communication, where a relay user equipment (UE) may transmit to a remote UE, a relay discovery message indicating one or more supported services, wherein the one or more supported services include at least one of a multicast service and/or broadcast service, such as 5G/NR, support multicast services and/or broadcast services, collectively referred to as multicast and broadcast services (MBS), for example, the relay UE may relay uplink communications associated with a relay service from the remote UE to the network, and/or may relay downlink communications associated with a relay service from the network to the remote UE, as described in [0066] “The techniques described herein relate to relaying between a remote UE and a network (e.g., a base station 110) via a relay UE. The relay UE is an example of a first wireless node. The remote UE is an example of a second wireless node.” As also provided in [0082]-[0083] and Figs. 6-11), the communication method comprising: transferring, by a relay user equipment, MBS data received by the relay user equipment from a first cell supporting an MBS function to a remote user equipment (Step 860-Fig. 8 and [0111] provides that the relay UE can transfer the MBS data related to the MBS session to the remote UE. Abstract and Claim 1 also confirm that the relay UE can provide the selected service to the second wireless node (remote UE) after configuration step, see also Steps 760-770 in Fig. 7. [0079] provide the description of the sidelink relay function, as states “IP communications of the remote UE may be relayed to the 5G core via the relay UE. For example, the IP communications may be communicated to the relay UE via a local link like sidelink, WiFi, WiFi-D, Bluetooth or Bluetooth LE (e.g., for sidelink, a PC5 local link, which may be a secure unicast link established prior to relaying) , then between the relay UE and the NG-RAN via the radio access (e.g., Uu) interface, then to the 5G core via an N3 or N2 interface. The remote UE and/or the relay UE may be provisioned by the 5G core or preconfigured with a policy (e.g., a sidelink policy)” that confirms the relay UE can transfer the MBS data through SL relay function, where the relay UE can act as intermediate communication between the gNB/serving cell and the remote UE, sidelink relaying function. [0083] provides the description for the cell that supporting the MBS services as states “Some radio access technologies (RATs) , such as 5G/NR, support multicast services and/or broadcast services, collectively referred to as multicast and broadcast services (MBS) . An MBS can be characterized as point-to-multipoint (PTM) , where data is transmitted from a single source entity to multiple recipients, and can be contrasted with a unicast service, which is point-to-point (PTP)” see also [0111], lines 9-12); performing, by a network node configured to manage the first cell (Fig. 1 and [0036]-[0037] provide that the BS can manage the cell, coverage area, using , for example, the base station (e.g., using communication manager 150 and/or transmission component 1304, depicted in Fig. 13) may transmit, to a first wireless node or a second wireless node, information indicating one or more supported services, wherein the one or more supported services include at least one of a multicast service or a broadcast service, as described in [0160] and Fig. 11), processing that causes the remote user equipment to establish a PDU session for delivering the MBS data to the remote user equipment by unicast in response to determining handover of the relay user equipment to a second cell not supporting the MBS function ([0109] sates “In some aspects, the NG-RAN (which may know which MBS sessions the remote UE has joined) may switch the multicast PDU session to a unicast PDU session before handover, and may prepare a target base station or UE with an MRB or DRB configuration for the remote UE’s multicast service.” That means if the relay UE is about to move to a cell that does not support MBS, then the network can reconfigure the session of the remote UE for continuous receiving MBS data using unicast PDU session to ensure that the service does not disconnect); wherein the performing processing that causes the remote user equipment to establish the PDU session includes transmitting, by the network node to the remote user equipment, a message including cause information indicating that the establishment of the PDU session is caused by the handover of the relay user equipment. ([0088] states “The NG-RAN may take into account the selected service indicated by the service request indication message for handover preparation “ and [0109] states “the NG-RAN (which may know which MBS sessions the remote UE has joined) may switch the multicast PDU session to a unicast PDU session before handover, and may prepare a target base station or UE with an MRB or DRB configuration for the remote UE’s multicast service.” Claim 28 states “The base station of claim 26, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to: configure a handover of the second wireless node to a cell or first wireless node that supports the selected service”, see also [0165]. That means the network node may establish/modify the PDU session before the handover and the BS may switch the multicast PDU session for the remote UE to a unicast PDU session before handover and prepare the target BS or target relay with barer configuration), and
Paladugu does not explicitly teach performing, by the network node, the handover of the relay user equipment after the PDU session is established by the remote user equipment
However, Lagrange teaches performing, by the network node, the handover of the relay user equipment after the PDU session is established by the remote user equipment (Lines 27-31 Page 1 identifies these bearer as signaling radio or data bearers and shows the remote UE traffic forwarded over the PC5 link and the Uu link of the relay UE. Lines 6-11 Page 3 confirms that the remote UEs that have good direct connectivity with another base station or with one or more other UEs capable of performing sidelink relaying may wish to detach from the handed over relay UE and perform either relay reselection or connect directly to another base station. Fig. 1 and lines 17-30 illustrate how the logical data connection is preserved while the remote UE is served by the relay UE with end to end logic data connection “Therefore, the remote UE 111 is connected to the gNB 101 through the relay UE 110 with a PC5 hop I l la and a Uu hop 110a.”, see also Figs. 2a-2b and lines 27-34 Page 9 and 21-26 that depict the establishments of end to end radio bearer. That implies the logic data path (such as PDU session) is existing before the UE ceases to act as relay to that remote relay).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Paladugu to incorporate the teachings of Lagrange (in analogous art) by adding teaches performing, by the network node, the handover of the relay user equipment to a second target based on the second measurement report after the remote user equipment performs connection processing to the first target provide support for broadcast, groupcast and unicast communications between any two UEs in both out- of-coverage and in-network coverage scenarios. (Lagrange, Lines 21-25 Page 1).
Regarding claim 7 (New), Paladugu, Cheng and Lagrange teach the communication method according to claim 5, wherein the performing, by the network node, processing that causes the remote user equipment to transmit the first measurement report to the network node includes:
Paladugu does not explicitly teach, but Cheng teaches transmitting, by the network node to the remote user equipment via the relay user equipment, an indication indicating the remote user equipment to transmit the first measurement report; and transmitting, by the remote user equipment to the network node, the first measurement report in response to receiving the indication (Abstract describes the remote user equipment (UE) may communicate with a base station via a relay UE. [0084] states “ the base station 105 may transmit messages to the relay UE 115, and the relay UE 115 may relay the messages to the UE 115…. to trigger a handover procedure.” [0053] clearly illustrates that based on the trigger event, the remote UE may transmit a measurement report to the base station (e.g., via the relay UE) indicating information related to the relay UE, one or more candidate relay UEs, a direct connection to a base station, or some combination thereof. The base station may receive the measurement report and may determine to handover the UE to a different PC5 path (e.g., a different L2 relay UE) based on the measurement report. The base station may transmit a handover command to the UE, triggering the UE to perform a handover procedure to switch from a first relay path using the current relay UE to a second relay path using a candidate relay UE. Also, [0005] illustrates that Based on the trigger event, the remote UE may transmit a measurement report (first report) to the base station (e.g., via the relay UE) indicating information related to the relay UE, one or more candidate relay UEs, a direct connection to the base station, or some combination thereof. The base station may receive the measurement report and determine to handover the UE between relay connections based on the measurement report. See also [0112]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Paladugu to incorporate the teachings of Cheng (in analogous art) by adding processing that causes the remote user equipment to transmit a first measurement report to the network node in response to determining handover of the relay user equipment to a second cell not supporting the sidelink relay function based on a second measurement report received from the relay user equipment for increasing channel throughput, improving communication reliability, or both. (Cheng, [0005] and [0053]).
Regarding claim 8 (New), Paladugu and Lagrange teach the communication method according to claim 6, further comprising:
Paladugu further teaches continuing, by the remote user equipment after performing the handover of the relay user equipment, to receive the MBS data using the PDU session established by the remote user equipment (Step 850 Fig. 8 and [0110] depict that the MRB configured for the remote UE (for PTM, PTP, or both) based at least in part on an MBS capability of the relay UE. For example, if the relay UE supports MBS, then the NG-RAN may configure an MRB for PTM. Otherwise, the NG-RAN may configure an MRB for PTP.” [0103] states “the relay UE may support forwarding of multicast data to remote UEs (e.g., over the local link) using either unicast (e.g., PTP) or groupcast (e.g., PTM)”. [0109] states “ the NG-RAN (which may know which MBS sessions the remote UE has joined) may switch the multicast PDU session to a unicast PDU session before handover, and may prepare a target base station or UE with an MRB or DRB configuration for the remote UE’s multicast service.” That implies the mapping of MRB to the multicast session to sidelink unicast between the remote UE and the relay UE or groupcast for continuing receive the MBS data using the PDU session established after the HO of the relay UE).
Relevant Prior Art
7. The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's
disclosure.
Sahyoun et al. (WO-2024022904-A1), Kim et al. (US-20230345210-A1), Chen et al. (US-20260107293-A1), and Dai et al. (US-12470897-B2) teach methods for supporting multicast and broadcast services MBS using UEs and network nodes in wireless communication systems.
Conclusion
8. 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.
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/SANAA AL SAMAHI/Examiner, Art Unit 2463
/ASAD M NAWAZ/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2463
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