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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted, IDS - 08/15/2024. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
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 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 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 1-5, 9-22 and 24-30 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being
anticipated by Freda et al. (US20230180313A1) hereinafter “Freda”.
Regarding Claim 1,
Freda discloses, ‘A source node for wireless communication, comprising:
a memory; and one or more processors, coupled to the memory, configured to:
discover one or more relay nodes’ (In Fig. 1B includes processor and memory. A SL-relay selection/re-selection discovery procedure for the SL-relaying [0077-0078]. And, SL-Relay configuration [0095, 0097-0098].);
And discloses, ‘transmit a relaying configuration or an indication associated with the relaying configuration, wherein the relaying configuration is associated with a selected multi-node communication mode including at least one of a relaying multi-node communication mode or a non-relaying multi-node communication mode’ (A WTRU transmit the configuration to multiple WTRUs relay [0121]. A first remote WTRU (e.g., source-WTRU-191) may make the decision of relay versus direct connection, both; based on SL traffic (e.g., non-relayed [0188] and both relay and non-relayed [0301]. Relay component configuration includes configuration RLC/MAC/PHY at relay WTRU; configuration at relay adaptation layer [0105].);
And discloses, ‘and transmit a transmission to the one or more relay nodes based at least in part on the selected multi-node communication mode.’ (In Fig. 8 remote WTRU perform a relay discovery procedure to select the relay-WTRUs [0200]. )
Regarding Claim 2,
‘The source node of claim 1’ (disclosed above),
And discloses, ‘wherein discovering the one or more relay nodes is based at least in part on a location identifier indicated in one or more discovery messages associated with the one or more relay nodes.’ (A remote WTRU initiate the relay/link selection [0219]; location of the relays WTRU; transmitted on SL-discovery message [0221].)
Regarding Claim 3,
‘The source node of claim 1’ (disclosed above),
And discloses, ‘wherein the one or more processors, to discover the one or more relay nodes, are configured to:
receive an indication of one or more reachable remote nodes associated with a relay node of the one or more relay nodes.’ (reachability SL-links [0075]. The remote WTRU determine the relay, the SL-configuration procedure based on factors: availability, measurements of the SL at remote/relay WTRU [0218]; threshold/RSRP and quality from discovery message [0219, 0221]. )
Regarding Claim 4,
‘The source node of claim 1’ (disclosed above),
And discloses, ‘wherein the one or more processors, to discover the one or more relay nodes, are configured to:
receive a relaying support indication of whether the one or more relay nodes support unicast relaying, groupcast relaying, broadcast relaying, both unicast relaying and groupcast relaying, or all of unicast relaying, groupcast relaying, and broadcast relaying, wherein the selected multi-node communication mode is based at least in part on the relaying support indication.’ (In Fig. 1E illustrates relay communications include unicast, and groupcast [0069]. NR SL-relays support for groupcast and unicast [0073, 0209-0210].)
Regarding Claim 5,
‘The source node of claim 1’ (disclosed above),
And discloses, ‘wherein the selected multi-node communication mode is the relaying multi-node communication mode, and wherein transmitting the transmission to the one or more relay nodes further comprises:
transmit the transmission to a destination identifier, a Layer 3 identifier, or a Layer 2 identifier, associated with a group of nodes.’ (In Fig. 1E include source/destination and multiple relays/more than one relay WTRU192 [0069] remote WTRU and A WTRU receive/determine source/destination-ID and/or relay WTRUs [0107]. Received by a source/destination WTRU and/or relay WTRU include: L2-ID, a list of IDs-WTRUs [0109]. Relay specific L2-ID. In Fig. 5 and Fig. 6 relays L2-layers. And, adaptation layers for relay configurations [0105].)
Regarding Claim 9,
‘The source node of claim 1’ (disclosed above),
And discloses, ‘wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:
select the one or more relay nodes to relay the transmission.’ (SL-relay selection/re-selection discovery procedure for the SL-relaying [0077]. Relay configuration [0095, 0097-0098].)
Regarding Claim 10,
‘The source node of claim 1’ (disclosed above),
And discloses, ‘wherein the transmission includes an indication of a group identifier corresponding to a group of destination nodes for the selected multi-node communication mode.’ (In Fig. 6 selection of relay 671, relay UE groups and group ID [0126] )
Regarding Claim 11,
‘The source node of claim 1’ (disclosed above),
And discloses, ‘wherein the one or more processors are further configured to select both of the relaying multi-node communication mode and the non-relaying multi-node communication mode, wherein, to transmit the transmission to the one or more relay nodes based at least in part on the selected multi-node communication mode, the one or more processors are further configured to transmit the transmission using the relaying multi-node communication mode and the non-relaying multi-node communication mode.’ (In Fig. 1b includes the processor for the WTRU. And, configured to transmit both relayed and non-relayed traffic includes the configuration of SL-RLC bearer and/or determine, SL-bearer for the transmission [0301]. )
Regarding Claim 12,
‘The source node of claim 1’ (disclosed above),
And discloses, ‘wherein the one or more processors are further configured to select the multi-node communication mode based at least in part on a number of received acknowledgments or a number of retransmissions.’ (Relay configuration includes number of retransmission [0147]. And transmission of SL-configuration acknowledgement [0135, 0149]. )
Regarding Claim 13,
‘The source node of claim 1’ (disclosed above),
And discloses, ‘wherein the relaying configuration includes a selective relaying configuration that indicates one or more parameters associated with determining whether the transmission is to be relayed.’ (Determination of relay vs direct connection [0188].)
Regarding Claim 14,
‘The source node of claim 13’ (disclosed above),
And discloses, ‘wherein the one or more parameters include at least one of:
a link quality associated with the one or more relay nodes,
whether the one or more relay nodes support relaying for a group identifier,
a location associated with the one or more relay nodes,
a loading or power metric of the one or more relay nodes, or
a number of nodes reachable by the one or more relay nodes or within a threshold range of the one or more relay nodes.’ (SL-quality, CQI and RSRP. And quality of each link based on threshold; CBR [0188, 0191]. Relay selection/re-selection based on RSRP [0080].)
Regarding Claim 15,
‘The source node of claim 13’ (disclosed above),
And discloses, ‘wherein the relaying configuration indicates a set of parameters of a multi-node communication relaying table including at least one of:
whether the relaying configuration is associated with the relaying multi-node communication mode,
a source address,
a destination identifier corresponding to a group identifier,
the group identifier, or
one or more identifiers of the one or more relay nodes.’ (SL configuration includes SL-source/destination-identifier [0122-0123]. )
Regarding Claim 16,
‘The source node of claim 15’ (disclosed above),
And discloses, ‘wherein the multi-node communication relaying table includes the selective relaying configuration.’ (identification of each of the WTRUs relay links determine hop and route table [0165]. )
Regarding Claim 17,
‘The source node of claim 1’ (disclosed above),
And discloses, ‘wherein a discovery message from the one or more relay nodes indicates a set of group identifiers for which groupcast relaying is supported.’ (groupcast L2-ID [0315].)
Regarding Claim 18,
‘The source node of claim 1’ (disclosed above),
And discloses, ‘wherein the transmission is a broadcast transmission that does not utilize feedback and the selected multi-node communication mode is a broadcast communication mode.’ (SL relay broadcast [0073]. )
Regarding Claim 19,
‘The source node of claim 1’ (disclosed above),
And discloses, ‘wherein the transmission is a groupcast transmission that utilizes feedback and the selected multi-node communication mode is a groupcast communication mode.’
Regarding Claim 20,
Similar to Claim 1 disclosed above, ‘A relay node for wireless communication, comprising: a memory; and one or more processors, coupled to the memory, configured to: discover a source node and one or more destination nodes;
receive a relaying configuration or an indication associated with the relaying configuration associated with a relaying multi-node communication mode;
receive a transmission from the source node; and
relay the transmission to the one or more destination nodes based at least in part on the relaying configuration.’ (Fig. 1E includes source-relay WTRU and Fig. 1 includes processor. )
Regarding Claim 21,
‘The relay node of claim 20’ (disclosed above),
Similar to Claim 3 disclosed above, ‘wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:
transmit a discovery message including an indication of one or more reachable remote nodes associated with the relay node.’
Regarding Claim 22,
‘The relay node of claim 20’ (disclosed above),
Similar to Claim 4 disclosed above, ‘wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:
transmit a relaying support indication of whether the relay node supports unicast relaying, groupcast relaying, broadcast relaying, both unicast relaying and groupcast relaying, or all of unicast relaying, groupcast relaying, and broadcast relaying.’
Regarding Claim 24,
‘The relay node of claim 20’ (disclosed above),
Similar to Claim 13 disclosed above, ‘wherein the one or more processors are further configured to: determine whether to relay the transmission.’
Regarding Claim 25,
‘The relay node of claim 24’ (disclosed above),
Similar to Claim 14 disclosed above, ‘wherein the one or more processors, to determine whether to relay the transmission, are configured to determine whether to relay the transmission based at least in part on a selective relaying configuration, wherein the selective relaying configuration is based at least in part on one or more parameters including at least one of:
a link quality associated with the relay node,
whether the relay node supports relaying for a group identifier,
one or more locations associated with the relay node, the source node, or the one or more destination nodes,
a loading or power metric of the relay node, or
a number of destination nodes reachable by the relay node or within a threshold range of the relay node.’
Regarding Claim 26,
‘The relay node of claim 25’ (disclosed above),
Similar to Claim 15 disclosed above, ‘wherein the one or more processors are further configured to: transmit, to a network entity, signaling indicating the one or more parameters; and receive, from the network entity, the selective relaying configuration based at least in part on the signaling, wherein the selective relaying configuration is based at least in part on at least one of: the one or more parameters of the relay node,
a parameter of the source node, or a parameter of a destination node of the one or more destination nodes.’
Regarding Claim 27,
Similar to Claim 1 disclosed above, ‘A method of wireless communication performed by a source node, comprising: discovering one or more relay nodes;
transmitting a relaying configuration or an indication associated with the relaying configuration, wherein the relaying configuration is associated with a selected multi-node communication mode including at least one of a relaying multi-node communication mode or a non-relaying multi-node communication mode; and
transmitting a transmission to the one or more relay nodes based at least in part on the selected multi-node communication mode’.
Regarding Claim 28,
‘The method of claim 27’ (disclosed above),
Similar to Claim 13 disclosed above, ‘wherein the relaying configuration includes a selective relaying configuration that indicates one or more parameters associated with determining whether the transmission is to be relayed.’
Regarding Claim 29,
Similar to Claim 20 disclosed above, ‘A method of wireless communication performed by a relay node, comprising:
discovering a source node and one or more destination nodes;
receiving a relaying configuration or an indication associated with the relaying configuration associated with a relaying multi-node communication mode;
receiving a transmission from the source node; and
relaying the transmission to the one or more destination nodes based at least in part on the relaying configuration.’
Regarding Claim 30,
‘The method of claim 29’ (disclosed above),
Similar to Claim 13 disclosed above, ‘further comprising:
determining whether to relay the transmission based at least in part on a selective relaying configuration.’
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
he 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:
• Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
• Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
• Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
• 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 6-8 and 23 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable
over Freda et al. in view of KANG et al. (US-20220103997-A1) hereinafter “KANG”.
Regarding Claim 6,
‘The source node of claim 5’ (disclosed above),
Freda discloses, ‘‘wherein the destination identifier is associated with a’ groupcast ‘corresponding to the group of nodes including the one or more relay nodes.’ the WTRU transmit/receive relay configuration for multiple WTRUs includes multiple hops and the L2 source/destination-identifier [0121-0124]. And, L2-ID next hop in the relay link [0170]. And, the remote WTRU filter groupcast L2-ID upon receiving from the relay WTRU. The groupcast L2 ID, the relay WTRU may receive/determine (e.g., from upper layers or from the network), a groupcast L2 ID [0210].
And didn’t disclose, ‘group identifier’ that is the destination identifier and associated with the group identifier corresponding to the group of nodes including the one or more relay nodes.
KANG in the relevant art discloses, a relay discovery message, the services that relay UE can relay (identifier SRC/DST) and the groups of the relay UE, the remote UE request to relay includes SRC/DST ID and group ID, table 1 [0125- 0126].
Therefore, a person in the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of
the claim invention would have recognized that the disclosure of Freda and to include
with that of KANG to come up with the claim invention,
Freda motive to provide relay configuration for relay that includes multiple WTRUs and groupcast between source-destination in multiple hops connected by the relay WTRUs [0121-0124, 0170] as part of SL-relaying discovery [0077] and SL-relaying for the groupcast [0073]. Includes routing table [0165]. KANG complements group ID in the relay discovery message [0125] and table 1 for the selection of the relay that enhance the selection of the relay procedure.
Regarding Claim 7,
‘The source node of claim 5’ (disclosed above),
Freda discloses, ‘‘wherein the selected multi-node communication mode includes the relaying multi-node communication mode’,
And didn’t disclose, and wherein a header of the transmission indicates that the transmission is associated with the relaying multi-node communication mode.’
KANG in the relevant art discloses, SL-relay for the groupcast and selection of relay; header to the groupcast transmitted by the transmission terminal [0224]. Motive would be identical disclosed above in Claim 6. In addition, Freda disclose, the relay/hop identifier and the header in adaptation layer [0128]. That increases the performance of SL-relay communication.
Regarding Claim 8,
‘The source node of claim 1’ (disclosed above),
KANG discloses, ‘wherein the transmission includes the indication in a header associated with the transmission.’ (Receiving UE receive SL-relay discovery indication transmitted by UE-1 indication signaling acquired through at least MAC header [0224]. Motive would be identical disclosed above in Claim 6 and Claim 7 above.)
Regarding Claim 23,
‘The relay node of claim 20’ (disclosed above),
Similar to Claim 6 disclosed above, ‘wherein the transmission is directed to a destination identifier associated with a group of relay nodes including the relay node.’
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to
applicant's disclosure:
3GPP TR 23.752 V0.4.0 (Jun. 2020), Technical Report, 3rd Generation Partnership Project; Tech Spec Group Services and System Aspects; Study on system enhancement for Proximity based Services (ProSe) in the 5G System (5GS) (Release 17), Jun. 2020, 115 pages. (Year: 2020). UE-to-UE Relay Selection Without Relay Discovery section 6.8 page-42. Prose direct discovery model, page-25 to 28; Prose Relay selection, page-43.
Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS); LTE; Proximity-based services (ProSe); Stage 2 (3GPP TS 23.303 version 16.0.0 Release 16)
Proximity-based services (ProSe); Stage 2.
LTE; Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA) and Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN); Overall description; Stage 2 (3GPP TS 36.300 version 16.7.0 Release 16).
Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA) and Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network.
3GPP TS 38.351 V0.5.0 (2022-02), NR; SL Relay Adaptation Protocol (SRAP) Specification (Release 17)
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/S.A./Examiner, Art Unit 2466
/CHRISTOPHER M CRUTCHFIELD/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2466
Prosecution Insights