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 .
Status of Claims
The following is a non-final, first action on the merits, in response to application filed October 29, 2024. The preliminary amended claims 1-10, 12, 17-24, 31, are currently pending. Claims 11, 13-16 and 25-30, have been canceled.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDSs) submitted on 10/29/2024, 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 (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 –
Claim(s) 1, 3-6, 8, 12, 17-20, 22, is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Kuo (US 2021/0409263, IDS) in view of Hu et al (hereinafter Hu) (WO2021/063519, IDS).
Regarding claims 1, 12, Kuo discloses a security establishing method for execution by a user equipment (UE) that serves as a UE-to-UE relay (para. 0294 for Authentication and security establishment messages are exchanged between UE1 and UE3 via the UE-to-UE Relay. UE-to-UE Relay changes the source/destination Layer-2 IDs based on the information saved in its local mapping table with figure 19 for having a UE relay messages between), comprising:
receiving security-related information of a first UE (paragraph 294 for Target UE3 is interested in the announced application thus, it triggers the authentication and security establishment with UE1, via the UE-lo-UE Relay. UE3 keeps track of the Relay's Identifiers with paragraph 126 for receiving the security establishment procedure messages, UE1 [first UE] obtains the peer UE's Layer-2 ID for future communication, for signaling and data traffic for this unicast link);
receiving security-related Information of a second UE (paragraph 294 for UE3 [second UE] sends the RID in a security protected message during the authentication and security establishment to inform (sending security related information from the second UE3] UE1 that the communications traversing the UE-to-UE Relay identified by RID);
determining a common security protection scheme for communication between the first UE and the UE-to-UE relay and communication between the second UE and the UE-to-UE relay based on the security-related Information of the first UE (paragraph 286 for secured "extended" PC5 link is set up between the source UE and the target UE via the UE-lo-UE Relay. The source/target UEs do not know their respective peer UE's L2 Ds. Source/Target UEs send messages to the UE-to-UE Relay and receive messages through the UE-to-UE Relay. However, the security association and the PC5 unicast link reestablished directly between the source UE and target UE), the security-related information of the second UE, as well as security-related information of the UE-to-UE relay (para. 294 for Authentication and security establishment messages re-exchange between UE1 and UE3 via the UE-to-UE Relay. UE-to-UE Relay changes the source/destination Layer-2 IDs based on the Information saved In Its local mapping table with paragraph 320 for source UE and target UE can establish bearer level security with the UE-to-UE Relay for the unicast L2 Link, using procedures defined); and performing security establishment with the first UE and the second UE based on the common security protection scheme (para. 298 for extended unicast link is established between UE1 and UE3, via the UE-to-UE Relay. The extended link is secured end to end, i.e. a security association has been created between UE1 and UE3 [using common security protection for first UE1 and second UE3 to communicate]). Kuo fails to explicitly disclose wherein the common security protection scheme is hop-by-hop security or end-to-end security.
HU, in a similar field of endeavor in an end-to-end, E2E, multi-hop sidelink radio communication (abstract) teaches wherein the common security protection scheme is hop-by-hop security or end-to-end security (page 11, lines 15-25 for UE comprising at least one processor and radio transceiver equipment, 20 arranged for performing transfer of data packets requiring a specified Quality of Service (QoS), in an end-to-end, E2E, multi-hop sidelink radio communication; page 2, Iines 9-31 for data exchanged via sidelink generally requires a relatively high (QoS), as these typically process security related mission critical traffic including voice, video and data). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Kuo with the end-to-end, E2E multi-hop sidelink radio communication teaching of HU for the benefit of performing transfer of data packets requiring a specified Quality of Service (HU, page 11, lines 15-26).
Regarding claim 3, Kuo in view of Hu discloses limitation noted above with claim 1. Kuo further discloses the security-related information of the first UE comprises a security policy of the first UE (para. 293 for it compares the announce ProSe Application ID with its provisioned relay policy/parameters and, if It matches, the UE-to-UE Relay assigns itself a Relay-Layer-2 ID e.g., R-L2 ID-a for UE1 i.e., related to UE1's L2 ID with paragraph 298 for Confidentiality and/or integrity/replay [security policy information] protected messages i.e., data or PC5-S may be exchanged betweenUE1 and UE3);
the security-related information of the second UE comprises a security policy of the second UE (paragraph 294 for UE3 [second UE) sends the RID in a security protected message during the authentication and security establishment to inform UE1 that the communications traversing the UE-to-UE Relay identified by RID with paragraph 60-61 for Policy/parameters related to privacy: The list of V2X service types, e.g. PSIDs or TS-AIDS of the V2X applications, with Geographical Areas that require privacy support [privacy support is a security policy)): and
the security-related information of the UE-to-UE relay comprises a security policy of the UE-to-UE relay (para. 274 for the QoS requirements In the request, the current traffic load of the relay, the radio conditions between the source UE and the relay UE, or some other policies).
Regarding claims 4, 18, Kuo in view of Hu discloses limitation noted above with claim 1. Kuo further discloses relaying traffic between the first UE and the second using the common security protection scheme (para. 294, for Authentication and security establishment messages [common security protection] reexchanged between UE1 and UE3 via the UE-to-UE Relay, UE-to-UE Relay changes the source/destination Layer-2 IDs based on the information saved in its local mapping table with paragraph 320 for source UE and target UE can establish bearer level security with the UE-to-UE Relay for the unicast L2 Link, using procedures defined).
Regarding claims 5, 19, Kuo in view of Hu discloses limitation noted above with claim 1. Kuo further discloses wherein the communication between the first UE and the UE-to-UE relay is a PC5 sidelink, and the communication between the second UE and the UE-to-UE relay is a PC5 sidelink (para. 291, for On the source UE i.e. UE1, the application layer provides Information to the ProSe layer for PC5 unicast communication), and the communication between the second UE and the UE-to-UE relay is a PC5 sidelink (paragraph 298 for unicast link is established between UE1 and UE3, via the UE-lo-UE Relay. The extended link is secured end to end, i.e. a security association has been created between UE1 and E3. Confidentiality and/or integrity/replay protected messages i.e. data or PC5-S may be exchanged betweenUE1 and UE3).
Regarding claims 6, 20, Kuo in view of Hu discloses limitation noted above with claim 1. Kuo further discloses security establishment of the common security protection scheme is performed during a PC5 sidelink establishment between the first UE and the UE-to-UE relay (para. 291, for On the source UE Le. UE1, the application layer provides information to the ProSe layer for PC5 unicast communication with paragraph 294 for Authentication and security establishment messages are exchanged between UE1 and UE3 via the UE-to-UE Relay, UE-to-UE Relay changes the source/destination Layer-2 IDs based on the information saved in its local mapping table); and
security establishment of the common security protection scheme is performed during a PC5 sidelink establishment between the second UE and the UE-to-UE relay (para. 298, for unicast link Is established between UE1 and UE3, via the UE-to-UE Relay, The extended link is secured end to end, i.e. a security association has been created between UE1 and E3.Confidentiality and/or integrity/replay protected messages i.e., data or PC5-S may be exchanged betweenUE1 and UE3).
Regarding claims 8, 22, Kuo in view of Hu discloses limitation noted above with claim 1. HU, however, further discloses wherein the security policy of the first UE, the second UE, or the UE-to-UE relay specifies a requirement or a preference of using hop-by-hop security or end-to-end security. HU show a User Equipment, UE, in an end-to-end, E2E, multi-hop sidelink radio communication (abstract) and teaches the security policy of the first UE, the second UE (page 15, lines 3-8) for the case of a UE-UE relay architecture, the relay UE employs just the PC5 Interface for communication with both the source and destination UE (page 16, lines 10-15) for the mapping rule [using mapping rule to determine the requirement preference of UE to UE relay] may be configured when the node joins the network, when the multi-hop sidelink is established or when a new service arrives which requests a new end-to-end radio bearer configuration), or the UE-to-UE relay specifies a requirement or a preference of using hop-by-hop security or end-to-end security (page 11. lines 15-25 for UE comprising at least one processor and radio transceiver equipment, 20 arranged for performing transfer of data packets requiring a specified QoS, in an end-to-end, E2E, multi-hop sidelink radio communication). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the Invention to modify Kuo with the end-to-end, E2E, multi-hop sidelink radio communication teaching of HU for the purpose of performing transfer of data packets requiring a specified QoS (HU, page 11, lines 15-25).
Regarding claim 17, Kuo discloses a security establishing method for execution by a first user equipment (UE), comprising (para. 294, for Authentication and security establishment messages are exchanged between UE1 and UE3 via the UE-to-UE Relay. UE-to-UE Relay changes the source/destination Layer-2 IDs based on the information saved in its local mapping table with figure 19 for having a UE relay messages between):
reporting security-related information of the first UE, wherein the security-related information comprises a security capability and/or a security policy of the first UE (para. 294, for Target UE3 is interested in the announced application thus, It triggers the authentication and security establishment with UE1, via the UE-to-UE UE3 keeps track of the Relay's identifiers with paragraph 126 for receiving the security establishment procedure messages, UE-1 [first UE] obtains the peer UE's Layer-2 ID for future communication, for signaling and date traffic for this unicast link);
performing security establishment with a UE-to-UE relay based on a common security protection scheme (para. 294, for Authentication and security establishment messages are exchanged between UE1 and UE3 via the UE-to-UE Relay. UE-to-UE Relay changes the source/destination Layer-2 IDs based on the information saved In its local mapping table with paragraph 320 for source UE and target UE can establish bearer level security with the UE-to-UE Relay for the unicast L2 Link, using procedures defined) ; and
communicating with a second UE through the UE-to-UE relay using the common security protection scheme shared by the first UE (para. 294, for UE3 [second UE] sends the RID in a security protected message during the authentication and security establishment to inform UE1 that the communications traversing the UE-to-UE Relay identified by RID), the second UE, and the UE-to-UE relay (para. 298, for extended unicast link is established between UE1 and UE3, via the UE-to-UE Relay. The extended link is secured end to end a security association has been created between UE1 and UE3 [using common security protection for first UE1 and second UE3 to communicate]). Kuo fails to explicitly disclose wherein the common security protection scheme is hop-by-hop security or end-to-end security. HU discloses a User Equipment, UE, in an end-to-end, E2E, multi-hop sidelink radio communication (abstract) and teaches wherein the common security protection scheme Is hop-by-hop security or end-to-end security (page 11. lines 15-25) for UE comprising at least one processor and radio transceiver equipment, 20 arranged for performing transfer of data packets requiring a specified QoS, in an end-to-end, E2E, multi-hop sidelink radio communication; (page 2, Iines 9-31) for data exchanged via sidelink generally requires a relatively high QoS, as these typically process security related mission critical traffic including voice, video and data. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Kuo with the end-to-end, E2E, multi-hop sidelink radio communication teaching of HU for the purpose of performing transfer of data packets requiring a specified Quality of Service (HU,
page 11, lines 15-25).
Claim(s) 2, 7, 9, 10, 21, 23, 24, 31, is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Kuo (US 2021/0409263, IDS) in view of Hu et al (hereinafter Hu) (WO2021/063519, IDS) and further in view of Wang et al (hereinafter Wang) (US 2022/0174763, IDS).
Regarding claim 2, Kuo discloses a UE-to UE relay (para. 298, for extended unicast link is established between UE1 and UE3, via the UE-to-UE Relay. The extended link is secured end to end, i.e. a security association has been created between UE1 and UE3 [using common security protection for first UE1 and second UE3 to communicate]). Kuo in view of HU however fail to explicitly disclose the security-related information of the first UE comprises a security capability of the first UE;
the security-related information of the second UE comprises a security capability of the second UE; and
the security-related Information of the UE-to-UE link comprises a security policy of the UE-lo-UE relay. Wang discloses has devices related to digital wireless communication (abstract) and teaches the security-related information of the first UE comprises a security capability of the first UE (para. 60, for After receiving the first UE's sidelink capability information, the second UE may report the first UE's sidelink capability information [first UE security capability] to the base station via Sidelink UE Information);
the security-related information of the second UE comprises a security capability of the second UE (para. 64, for before the first UE sends sidelink security configuration information to the second UE, the first UE may receive the sidelink security capability information sent by the second UE [receiving security Information from second UE]); and the security-related information of the UE-to-UE relay comprises a security capability of the UE-10-UE relay (para. 65-66, for first UE may send the second UE's sidelink security capability information to the base station. Before the first UE sends the sidelink security configuration to the second UE [getting security and capability information from the first and second UEs], the first UE may receive the sidelink security information sent by the base station. The sidelink security information may include keys for sidelink unicast communication, Integrity protection algorithm and encryption algorithm [getting security related Information from the base station for the UE to UE link]). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify Kuo in view of HU with the security information between peer terminals teaching of Wang for the purpose of allowing encryption algorithm for sidelink unicast communication (Wang, para. 62).
Regarding claims 7, 21, Kuo in view of Hu and further in view of Wang discloses limitation noted above with claim 1. Hu however further discloses a User Equipment, UE, in an end-to-end, E2E, multi-hop sidelink radio communication (abstract) and teaches the security capability of the first UE, the second UE, or the UE-to-UE relay Indicates one or more of: a capability of supporting hop-by-hop security or end-to-end security (page 11, lines 15-25, for UE comprising at least one processor and radio transceiver equipment, 20 arranged for performing transfer of data packets requiring a specified Quality of Service, (QoS), in an and-to-end, E2E, multi-hop sidelink radio communication); and
a power condition (page 11, lines 1-6 for a User Equipment (UE), for performing transfer of data packets requiring specified QoS [using QoS or a power condition determining the link quality], QoS, in an end-to-end, E2E, multi-hop sidelink radiocommunication destining the data packets while maintaining the specified QoS).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Kuo with the end-to-end, E2E, multi-hop sidelink radio communication teaching of HU for the benefit of performing transfer of data packets requiring a specified Quality of Service (HU, page 11, lines 15-25).
Regarding claims 10, 24, Kuo in view of HU discloses limitation noted above with claims 1, 17. Kuo further discloses the common security protection scheme is when all of the following conditions are satisfied: the security policy of the first UE (para. 293, for it compares the announce ProSe Application ID with its provisioned relay policy/parameters and, if it matches, the UE-to-UE Relay assigns itself a Relay-Layer-2 ID e.g.R-L2 ID-B for UE1 i.e., related to UE1's L2 ID with paragraph 298 for Confidentiality and/or integrity/replay [security policy information] protected messages i.e., data or PC5-S may be exchanged between UE and UE3); the security policy of the second UE (paragraph 294 for UE3 [second UE) sends the RID in a security protected message during the authentication and security establishment to inform UE1 that the communications traversing the UE-to-UE Relay identified by RID with paragraph 60-61 for Policy/parameters related to privacy: The list of V2X service types, e.g. PSIDs or TS-AIDS of the V2X applications, with Geographical Areas that require privacy support (privacy support is a security policy]); and the security policy of the UE-to-UE relay support security (paragraph 274 for the QoS requirements in the request, the current traffic load of the relay, the radio conditions between the source UE and the relay UE, or some other policies).
Kuo fails to explicitly indicate end-to-end security. HU has a User Equipment, (UE), in an end-to-end, E2E, multi-hop sidelink radio communication (abstract) and teaches end-to-end security (page 14, lines 1-10 for transfer of data packets requiring a specified QoS, by a User Equipment, UE, in an end-to-end (using end to end security], E2E, multi-hop sidelink radio communication. The E2E multi-hop sidelink is formed between a source communication node and a destination communication node. One of the source and destination communication node is a remote UE having no network coverage, hence there is no direct communication between the remote UE and the other end of the multi-hop side link).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed Invention to modify Kuo with the end-to-end, E2E, multi-hop sidelink radio communication teaching of HU for the purpose of performing applicable to two different types of multi-hop relay network architectures (HU page 14, lines 7-11). Kuo and HU fail to explicitly disclose the security-related information comprises a security capability. Wang has devices related to digital wireless communication (abstract) and teaches the security-related information comprises a security capability (para. 61) for the second UE may report first UE's sidelink capability Information via a UE Capability message [taking into account the capability] to the base station when receiving a capability enquiry message from the base station. The capability enquiry message may indicate the identifier of the first UE with paragraph 94 for the UE1 may obtain security configuration information from a broadcast system information message or pre-configuration (security policy information such as security configuration and keys), such as sidelink unicast communication key, integrity protection algorithm for signaling, integrity protection algorithm for data, encryption algorithm for signaling, and encryption algorithm for data [security policy with protection algorithms for date encryption and Integrity]). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify Kuo and HU with the security information between peer terminals teaching of Wang for the purpose of allowing encryption algorithm for sidelink unicast communication (Wang, paragraph 62).
Regarding claims 9, 23, Kuo discloses wherein the common security protection scheme is hop-by-hop security when all of the following conditions are satisfied:
the security policy of the first UE (para. 293, for it compares the announce ProSe Application ID with its provisioned relay policy/parameters and, if it matches, the UE-to-UE Relay assigns itself a Relay-Layer-2 ID e.g., R-L2 ID-a for UE1 i.e., related to UE1's L2 ID with paragraph 298 for Confidentiality and/or Integrity/replay (security policy information] protected messages i.e., data or PC5-S may be exchanged between UE1 and UE3);
the security policy of the second UE (para. 294 for UE3 (second UE) sends the RID: in a security protected message during the authentication and security establishment to inform UE1 that the communications traversing the UE-to-UE Relay identified by RID with paragraph 60-61 for Policy/parameters related to privacy: The list of V2X service types, e.g. PSIDs ITS-AIDS of the V2X applications, with Geographical Areas that require privacy support (privacy support is a security policy)); and
the security policy of the UE-to-UE relay support (paragraph 274, for the QoS requirements in the request, the current traffic load of the relay, the radio conditions between the source UE and the relay UE, or some other policies). Kuo fails to explicitly disclose indicate hop-by-hop security. HU has a User Equipment, UE, in an end-to-end, E2E, multi-hop sidelink radio communication (abstract) and teaches wherein the common security protection scheme is hop-by-hop security (page 11, lines 15-25 for UE comprising at least one processor and radio transceiver equipment, arranged for performing transfer of data packets requiring a specified QoS,
in an end-to-end, E2E, multi-hop sidelink radio communication). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Kuo with the end-to-end, E2E, multi-hop sidelink radio communication teaching of HU for the purpose of performing transfer of data packets requiring a specified Quality of Service (HU, page 11, lines 15-25). Kuo and HU fail to explicitly disclose the security-related information comprises a security capability. Wang has devices related to digital wireless communication (abstract) and teaches the security-related information comprises a security capability (para. 61, for the second UE may report first UE's sidelink capability information via a UE Capability message [taking into account the capability] to the base station when receiving capability enquiry message from the base station. The capability enquiry message may indicate the Identifier of the first UE with paragraph 94 for the UE1 may obtain security configuration information from a broadcast system information message or pre-configuration [security policy information such as security configuration and keys]. such BB sidelink unicast communication key, integrity protection algorithm for signaling, Integrity protection algorithm for data, encryption algorithm for signaling, and encryption algorithm for data [security policy with protection algorithms for data encryption and integrity]). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed Invention to modify Kuo and HU with the security information between peer terminals teaching of Wang for the purpose of allowing encryption algorithm for sidelink unicast communication (Wang, paragraph 62).
Regarding claim 31, the limitation recited is similar in subject matter to those recited with claims 2 and 3, and therefore claim 31 is likewise rejected.
Conclusion
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/QUTBUDDIN GHULAMALI/
Primary Examiner,
Art Unit 2632.
