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 .
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3-4, 10-11, and 14-17 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
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.
Claims 1-2, 5-9, 12-13, and 18-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Li (US 2023/0261826 A1) (hereinafter as Li) is a continuation of PCT/CN2020/123342 filed on 23 October 2020).
Regarding Claim 1. Li teaches a method for relay communication, comprising:
determining, by an initiating terminal according to whether a first target connection has been established between the initiating terminal and a relay terminal, whether to use the first target connection for communication between the initiating terminal and a target terminal (the first terminal and second terminal exchange data through a relay device, which includes a PC5-S layer identifier, in a PC5-RRC message, the data that is sent by a protocol layer below the RLC layer to the relay device or data received from the relay device, to determine that a source terminal device or a destination terminal device associated with the data is the first terminal device, a PC5-RRC layer of the first relay device indicates a PC5-S layer to send the unicast connection establishment request message, pars [0009], [0045], [0140],and [0308]).
Regarding Claim 2. Li teaches the method of claim 1, wherein determining, by the initiating terminal according to whether the first target connection has been established between the initiating terminal and the relay terminal, whether to use the first target connection for communication between the initiating terminal and the target terminal comprises:
in a case where the first target connection has been established between the initiating terminal and the relay terminal, determining, by the initiating terminal, to use the first target connection for communication between the initiating terminal and the target terminal (the second terminal device has obtained the identifier of the first terminal device, that associates the first data with the identifier of the second terminal device and the identifier of the first terminal device, and determines, based on an association relationship of the first data, that a receive end device of the first data is the first terminal device, pars [0015-0016]); or
in a case where the first target connection has not been established between the initiating terminal and the relay terminal, determining, by the initiating terminal, to establish the first target connection for communication between the initiating terminal and the target terminal (a unicast connection can be established between the second terminal device and the relay device is used to indicate to establish a unicast connection between the relay device and a new destination terminal device, N is 3, the third terminal device may be one of UE1, UE3, and UE4. UE2 sends data to UE1 through the relay device. For example, the first terminal device is UE1. UE2 establishes a unicast connection through the relay device to perform U2U relay communication with UE1. An L2 ID used by UE2 is L2 ID 2, an L2 ID used by UE1 is L2 ID 1, and L2 IDs used for allocation by the relay device are L2 ID a (used for communication between the relay device and UE1) and L2 ID b (used for communication between the relay device and UE2, pars [0299-0300]).
Regarding Claim 5. Li teaches the method of claim 2, further comprising:
in a case where the initiating terminal determines to establish the first target connection, transmitting, by the initiating terminal, a second request message to the relay terminal, wherein the second request message is used for requesting to establish the first target connection (a second request message. The second terminal device sends the second request message to an access network device. The second request message includes first QoS information, a second identifier of a first relay device, and first information. The first QoS information is QoS information corresponding to a first terminal device, the second identifier of the first relay device is used by the second terminal device to communicate with the first relay device, there is a correspondence between the first information and the first QoS information, and there is a correspondence between the first information and the second identifier, par [0033]).
Regarding Claim 6. Li teaches the method of claim 5, further comprising: transmitting, by the initiating terminal, address information of the initiating terminal to the relay terminal in a secure interaction procedure between the initiating terminal and the relay terminal (wo terminal devices that need to establish a unicast connection are represented by UE1 and UE2. A message 1 is a PC5-S connection establishment request (Direct Communication Request) message sent by UE2 to UE1. A message 2 is a security mode activation command (Direct Security Mode Command) message sent by UE1 to UE2. A message 3 is a security mode activation complete (Direct Security Mode Complete) message fed back by UE2 to UE1. A message 4 is a PC5-S connection establishment accept (Direct Communication Accept) message fed back by UE1 to UE2. In a process of establishing the PC5-S connection, corresponding security is also established, par [0124]).
Regarding Claim 7. Li teaches the method of claim 5, further comprising: receiving, by the initiating terminal, a second response message from the relay terminal, wherein the second response message indicates that establishment of the first target connection is completed, wherein the second response message contains address information of the target terminal, wherein the address information of the target terminal comprises IP address information of the target terminal and/or MAC address information of the target terminal (receiving a second response message from the access network device, where the second response message includes radio bearer configuration information corresponding to the first terminal device; and communicating with the first terminal device through the first relay device on a radio bearer corresponding to the first terminal device, the second terminal device may receive the first radio bearer configuration information that is configured by the access network device for the first terminal device. Therefore, the second terminal device may communicate with the first terminal device based on the first radio bearer configuration information, pars [0037-0038]).
Regarding Claims 8-9, this apparatus (initiating terminal) claim comprises limitations(s) substantially the same, as those discussed in claims 1-2 above, same rationale of rejection is applicable. Li further teaches a transceiver, memory, and processor (pars [0077] and [0080], see fig.5 for example that discloses a first relay device, first terminal device, and second terminal device).
Regarding Claims 12-13, this apparatus (relay terminal) claim comprises limitations(s) substantially the same, as those discussed in claims 1-2 above, same rationale of rejection is applicable. Li further teaches a transceiver, memory, and processor (pars [0077] and [0080], see fig.5 for example that discloses a first relay device, first terminal device, and second terminal device).
Regarding Claims 18-20, this apparatus (relay terminal) claim comprises limitations(s) substantially the same, as those discussed in claims 5-7 above, same rationale of rejection is applicable. Li further teaches a transceiver, memory, and processor (pars [0077] and [0080], see fig.5 for example that discloses a first relay device, first terminal device, and second terminal device).
Conclusion
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/ANTHONY MEJIA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2451
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