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 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 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.
Claim(s) 1-2,7-8,13-14 and 16 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over FUJISHIRO et al (US 20230239714 A1) hereinafter as FUJISHIRO in view of KAWANO et al (US 20240147344 A1) hereinafter as KAWANO.
Regarding claim(s) 1,7 and 13, FUJISHIRO discloses a method for notification message transmission (See Fig(s). 9 PC5 messaging between 100a and 100b), comprising:
performing, by a UE-to-UE (U2U) relay UE, a discovery procedure (See Fig(s). 7, step S1, See ¶ 66, the remote UE 100A and the relay UE 100B perform a relay UE discovery procedure. );
establishing a U2U relay UE a first PC5 Radio Resource Control (RRC) connection with a first remote UE (See Fig(s). 6, Relay UE with RRc to 100a, See ¶ .. 63.. The U2U relay is a mode in which the relay UE 100B performs relay between the remote UE 100A and another UE 100C. Here, sidelink connection is established between the relay UE 100B and the remote UE 100A and between the relay UE 100B and another UE 100C.),
and establishes one or more second PC5 RRC connections with one or more additional remote UEs (See Fig(s). 7 steps S2-S3, See ¶ 67) so that the first remote UE can communicate with the one or more additional remote UEs via the U2U relay UE (again See Fig(s). 6, See ¶ .. 63, 66-68, 79. A PC5-RRC message for various configurations is transmitted between the PC5-RRC layer of the remote UE 100A and the PC5-RRC layer of the relay UE 100B. When a connection (PC5-RRC connection) between the PC5-RRC of the remote UE 100A and the PC5-RRC of the relay UE 100B is present, the remote UE 100A may be in a PC5-RRC connected state);
detecting a PC5 radio link failure (RLF) of a second PC5 RRC connection established with a second remote UE among the one or more additional remote UEs (See Fig(s). 6, See ¶ 182, ; a case of the U2U relay, the relay UE 100B may detect at least one of an RLF in sidelink connection with another UE 100C, PC5-RRC connection release, PC5-S connection release, a failure in PC5-RRC connection establishment, and a failure in PC5-S connection establishment.);
transmitting the U2U relay UE a notification message to the first remote UE (See Fig(s). 6-7, See ¶ .. 66.. in Step S1, the remote UE 100A and the relay UE 100B perform a relay UE discovery procedure. The relay UE discovery procedure has a method in which the relay UE 100B gives a notification of presence of the relay UE 100B itself through transmission of a discovery message, and a method in which the remote UE 100A searches for the relay UE 100B through transmission of a discovery message.).
an indication of a PC5 RLF with the second remote UE (See ¶ .. 182.. in a case of the U2U relay, the relay UE 100B may detect at least one of an RLF in sidelink connection with another UE 100C, PC5-RRC connection release, PC5-S connection release, a failure in PC5-RRC connection establishment, and a failure in PC5-S connection establishment.).
FUJISHIRO fails to disclose, after the first PC5 RRC connection between the U2U relay UE and the first remote UE has been established wherein the notification message includes a sidelink indication type and information identifying a second remote UE among the one or more additional remote UEs…and the information identifying the second remote UE is a layer-2 identity of the second remote UE.
KAWANO discloses wherein notification is sent after the first PC5 RRC connection between the U2U relay UE and the first remote UE has been established (See ¶ 71 The PC5-RRC connection is a logical connection between two UEs corresponding to a pair of source L2ID and destination L2ID, and is considered to be established after a corresponding PC5 unicast link is established.) the notification message includes a sidelink indication type and information identifying a second remote UE among the one or more additional remote UEs (See ¶ .. 101.. there may be a type other than ProSe Direct Discovery for discovering another UE in order to perform direct communication with another UE, specifically, there may be Group member Discovery for discovering one or more UEs in order to perform communication within a group using a sidelink, 5G ProSe UE-to-Network Relay Discovery for discovering candidate relay UEs…. See Fig(s). 6, 8, See ¶ .. 157.. The information may be notified to one remote UE, or may be notified to multiple remote UEs. The U2U relay UE may notify the remote UE of the information by transmitting a PC5-RRC message including the information to the remote UE, or by transmitting a MAC CE to the remote UE. The information may be information simply indicating the proximity, may additionally include information capable of identifying a remote UE in proximity, may include information indicating a degree of proximity, and may include the SL-RSRP-1 and/or the SL-RSRP-2 ).
Kawano further also discloses an indication of a PC5 radio link failure (RLF) with the second remote UE (See Fig(s). 1, See ¶ 71, 157).
Kawano further discloses UE, and the information identifying the second remote UE is a layer-2 identity (ID) of the second remote UE (See ¶ 33, SL communication is performed in one of the transmission modes using a pair of a source layer-2 (L2) identifier (ID) and a destination layer-2 (L2) identifier (ID). The source layer-2 identifier and the destination layer-2 identifier may be referred to as a source L2ID and a destination L2ID).
The U2U relay terminal apparatus is responsible to relay communication between the first terminal apparatus and the second terminal apparatus successfully with proper configuration parameters for all UEs without interruption and delay.
Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to incorporate the teachings of KAWANO within FUJISHIRO, so as to enhance overall UEs performance by ensuring proper PC5 link establishment for all UEs concerned.
Regarding claim(s) 2, 8, KAWANO discloses wherein each PC5 RRC connection of the first PC5 RRC connection and the one or more second PC5 RRC connections is a Layer-2 link over PC5 reference point (See ¶ .. 71.. the PC5-RRC connection, and in a case that a layer 2 link release procedure is completed, the UE releases the PC5-RRC connection). Reasons for combining same as claim 1.
Regarding claim(s) 14, FUJISHIRO discloses and one or more second PC5 RRC connections are established between the U2U relay UE and the one or more additional remote UEs (again See Fig(s). 6, See ¶ .. 63, 66-68, 79. A PC5-RRC message for various configurations is transmitted between the PC5-RRC layer of the remote UE 100A and the PC5-RRC layer of the relay UE 100B. When a connection (PC5-RRC connection) between the PC5-RRC of the remote UE 100A and the PC5-RRC of the relay UE 100B is present, the remote UE 100A may be in a PC5-RRC connected state).
Regarding claim(s) 16, FUJISHIRO discloses wherein the notification message is transmitted when the PC5 RLF with the second remote UE is detected by the U2U relay UE (See Fig(s). 16 step S404, See ¶ .. 182, 184... The relay UE 100B may detect that received power (RSRP) of a reference signal received from another UE 100C or throughput of sidelink communication with another UE 100C has fallen below a threshold, or that resource utilization (occupancy) of sidelink communication with another UE 100C has exceeded a threshold).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Raj Jain whose telephone number is (571) 272-3145. The examiner can normally be reached on M-Th ~8 ~6.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Derrick Ferris can be reached on 571-272-3123. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from Patent Center. Status information for published applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Patent Center for authorized users only. Should you have questions about access to Patent Center, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free).
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) Form at https://www.uspto.gov/patents/uspto-automated- interview-request-air-form.
/RAJ JAIN/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2411