DETAILED ACTION
This action is a response to an application filed on 9/15/25 in which claims 20-33 are pending.
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
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) 20-33 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Freda et al. (WO 2023/014777 A1), herein Freda and Zhang et al. (Pub. No.: 2024/0406763), herein Zhang.
As to claim 20, Freda teaches a method performed by a relay user equipment (UE), the method comprising:
receiving, from a source remote UE (Freda Fig. 4 a remote WTRU)
determining a radio link control (RLC) channel configuration based on the at least one QoS parameter (Freda [0152] This may be reflective of the QoS of the data relayed to and/or from the remote WTRU 202. The WTRU 204-n may receive a SL RLC channel configuration upon reception of a PC5-RRC message from a remote WTRU 202 or via Uu RRC signaling. For example, the condition may be based on any of (and not limited to) the following SL RLC channel configuration parameters: (1) logical channel priority, (2) SL HARQ configuration, (3) SL RLC acknowledge mode/unacknowledged mode (AM/UM) configuration, and/or (4) a configuration parameter in a SL RLC channel configuration. For example, if the priority of at least one LCH is associated with data smaller than a threshold, the remote WTRU 202 may trigger a connection establishment. For example, if at least one of the LCHs associated with data has SL HARQ feedback enabled, the remote WTRU 202 may trigger connection establishment. For example, if at least one of the SL RLC channels is configured with SL RLC AM, the remote WTRU 202 may trigger connection establishment. For example, a configuration parameter (e.g., an explicit or implicit indication) in a SL RLC channel configuration may trigger connection establishment [0153] Coverage and/or Uu measurements may be one of the conditions described above. For example, a WTRU 204-n may be configured with a condition (e.g., trigger condition) based on a measured Uu signal and/or a coverage condition of a relay (e.g., in coverage, out of coverage, etc.). For example, the condition may be for the WTRU 204-n to be in coverage of a cell. If the condition is satisfied, the WTRU 204-n may initiate a connection establishment procedure upon reception of an SRBO message.
Freda does not teach
between the target remote UE and the relay UE
a PC5 radio resource control (RRC) message comprising at least one quality of service (QoS) parameter between a target remote UE and the relay UE
However Zhang does teach
between the target remote UE and the relay UE [0104] the first link information may be determined by the second communications device. That the first link information is link quality information is used as an example. The second communications device (relay) may measure the link between the second communications device (relay) and the third terminal (target remote UE) to determine the first link information.
a PC5 radio resource control (RRC) message comprising at least one quality of service (QoS) parameter between the target remote UE and the relay UE (Zhang [0096] The first information may be carried in one or more of following messages: a discovery message, a discovery response message, a PC5-RRC message, a sidelink medium access control control element (SL MAC CE), or sidelink control information (SCI) and [0100] The first link information is link quality information, for example and [0104] the first link information may be determined by the second communications device. That the first link information is link quality information is used as an example. The second communications device may measure the link between the second communications device and the third terminal, to determine the first link information. For example, the second communications device may perform SD-RSRP measurement and/or SL-RSRP measurement.); and
It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Freda and Zhang, because Zhang teaches us [0070] Terminal-to-terminal relaying can extend coverage of sidelink communication transmission between terminals, and may further achieve power saving. A device that implements terminal-to-terminal relaying may be referred to as a relay device. The relay device may be a terminal. In this case, the terminal may be referred to as a relay terminal (relay UE). The relay terminal may be a relay between a source remote terminal (source UE) and a target remote terminal (destination UE).
As to claim 25, Freda teaches a method performed by a source remote user equipment (UE), the method comprising:
transmitting, to a relay UE, a PC5 radio resource control (RRC) message comprising at least one quality of service (QoS) parameter between a target remote UE and the relay UE (Freda Fig. 4 a remote WTRU)
wherein the at least one QoS parameter is used for the relay UE to determine a radio link control (RLC) channel configuration between the target remote UE and the relay UE (Freda [0152] This may be reflective of the QoS of the data relayed to and/or from the remote WTRU 202. The WTRU 204-n may receive a SL RLC channel configuration upon reception of a PC5-RRC message from a remote WTRU 202 or via Uu RRC signaling. For example, the condition may be based on any of (and not limited to) the following SL RLC channel configuration parameters: (1) logical channel priority, (2) SL HARQ configuration, (3) SL RLC acknowledge mode/unacknowledged mode (AM/UM) configuration, and/or (4) a configuration parameter in a SL RLC channel configuration. For example, if the priority of at least one LCH is associated with data smaller than a threshold, the remote WTRU 202 may trigger a connection establishment. For example, if at least one of the LCHs associated with data has SL HARQ feedback enabled, the remote WTRU 202 may trigger connection establishment. For example, if at least one of the SL RLC channels is configured with SL RLC AM, the remote WTRU 202 may trigger connection establishment. For example, a configuration parameter (e.g., an explicit or implicit indication) in a SL RLC channel configuration may trigger connection establishment [0153] Coverage and/or Uu measurements may be one of the conditions described above. For example, a WTRU 204-n may be configured with a condition (e.g., trigger condition) based on a measured Uu signal and/or a coverage condition of a relay (e.g., in coverage, out of coverage, etc.). For example, the condition may be for the WTRU 204-n to be in coverage of a cell. If the condition is satisfied, the WTRU 204-n may initiate a connection establishment procedure upon reception of an SRBO message.
Freda does not teach
between the target remote UE and the relay UE
a PC5 radio resource control (RRC) message comprising at least one quality of service (QoS) parameter between a target remote UE and the relay UE
However Zhang does teach
between the target remote UE and the relay UE [0104] the first link information may be determined by the second communications device. That the first link information is link quality information is used as an example. The second communications device (relay) may measure the link between the second communications device (relay) and the third terminal (target remote UE) to determine the first link information.
a PC5 radio resource control (RRC) message comprising at least one quality of service (QoS) parameter (Zhang [0096] The first information may be carried in one or more of following messages: a discovery message, a discovery response message, a PC5-RRC message, a sidelink medium access control control element (SL MAC CE), or sidelink control information (SCI) and [0100] The first link information is link quality information, for example and [0104] the first link information may be determined by the second communications device. That the first link information is link quality information is used as an example. The second communications device may measure the link between the second communications device and the third terminal, to determine the first link information. For example, the second communications device may perform SD-RSRP measurement and/or SL-RSRP measurement.); and
It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Freda and Zhang for the same reasons stated in claim 20.
As to claim 29, Freda teaches a relay user equipment (UE), comprising:
a processor configured to cause the relay UE to (Freda Fig. 1B processor):
receive, from a source remote UE (Freda Fig. 4 a remote WTRU)
and determine a radio link control (RLC) channel configuration between the target remote UE and the relay UE based on the at least one QoS parameter (Freda [0152] This may be reflective of the QoS of the data relayed to and/or from the remote WTRU 202. The WTRU 204-n may receive a SL RLC channel configuration upon reception of a PC5-RRC message from a remote WTRU 202 or via Uu RRC signaling. For example, the condition may be based on any of (and not limited to) the following SL RLC channel configuration parameters: (1) logical channel priority, (2) SL HARQ configuration, (3) SL RLC acknowledge mode/unacknowledged mode (AM/UM) configuration, and/or (4) a configuration parameter in a SL RLC channel configuration. For example, if the priority of at least one LCH is associated with data smaller than a threshold, the remote WTRU 202 may trigger a connection establishment. For example, if at least one of the LCHs associated with data has SL HARQ feedback enabled, the remote WTRU 202 may trigger connection establishment. For example, if at least one of the SL RLC channels is configured with SL RLC AM, the remote WTRU 202 may trigger connection establishment. For example, a configuration parameter (e.g., an explicit or implicit indication) in a SL RLC channel configuration may trigger connection establishment [0153] Coverage and/or Uu measurements may be one of the conditions described above. For example, a WTRU 204-n may be configured with a condition (e.g., trigger condition) based on a measured Uu signal and/or a coverage condition of a relay (e.g., in coverage, out of coverage, etc.). For example, the condition may be for the WTRU 204-n to be in coverage of a cell. If the condition is satisfied, the WTRU 204-n may initiate a connection establishment procedure upon reception of an SRBO message.
Freda does not teach
between the target remote UE and the relay UE
a PC5 radio resource control (RRC) message comprising at least one quality of service (QoS) parameter between a target remote UE and the relay UE
However Zhang does teach
between the target remote UE and the relay UE [0104] the first link information may be determined by the second communications device. That the first link information is link quality information is used as an example. The second communications device (relay) may measure the link between the second communications device (relay) and the third terminal (target remote UE) to determine the first link information.
a PC5 radio resource control (RRC) message comprising at least one quality of service (QoS) parameter between the target remote UE and the relay UE (Zhang [0096] The first information may be carried in one or more of following messages: a discovery message, a discovery response message, a PC5-RRC message, a sidelink medium access control control element (SL MAC CE), or sidelink control information (SCI) and [0100] The first link information is link quality information, for example and [0104] the first link information may be determined by the second communications device. That the first link information is link quality information is used as an example. The second communications device may measure the link between the second communications device and the third terminal, to determine the first link information. For example, the second communications device may perform SD-RSRP measurement and/or SL-RSRP measurement.); and
It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Freda and Zhang for the same reasons stated in claim 20.
As to claim 21, the combination of Freda and Zhang teach the method of claim 20, further comprising: transmitting, to the target remote UE, the RLC channel configuration (Freda [0135] In certain representative embodiments, a relay WTRU 204-n may create a default and/or specified RLC channel towards another relay node in the upstream for multi-hop relaying via sidelink. The default and/or specified RLC channel may be associated with transmission of the first RRC message received via a default SL RLC channel. The default and/or specified RLC channel may also be associated with a first Uu RRC message)
Claim 30 is rejected for the same reason stated in claim 21.
As to claim 22, the combination of Freda and Zhang teach the method of claim 20, wherein the at least one QoS parameter comprises a guaranteed flow bit rate (GFBR), a maximum flow bit rate (MFBR), a resource type, a priority level, a packet delay budget, a packet error rate, a maximum data burst volume and an averaging window (Freda [0152] One or more SL RLC channels associated with a remote WTRU 202 may be one of the conditions described above. For example, a WTRU 204-n may be configured with a condition associated with a configuration property of the SL RLC channels with the remote WTRU 202, which may determine whether to perform connection establishment and/or resume, or remain in RRC IDLE and/or RRC INACTIVE. This may be reflective of the QoS of the data relayed to and/or from the remote WTRU 202. The WTRU 204-n may receive a SL RLC channel configuration upon reception of a PC5-RRC message from a remote WTRU 202 or via Uu RRC signaling. For example, the condition may be based on any of (and not limited to) the following SL RLC channel configuration parameters: (1) logical channel priority, (2) SL HARQ configuration, (3) SL RLC acknowledge mode/unacknowledged mode (AM/UM) configuration, and/or (4) a configuration parameter in a SL RLC channel configuration. For example, if the priority of at least one LCH is associated with data smaller than a threshold, the remote WTRU 202 may trigger a connection establishment)
Claims 26 and 31 are rejected based on the same reasons stated in claim 22.
As to claim 23, the combination of Freda and Zhang teach the method of claim 20, wherein the RLC channel configuration comprises an RLC acknowledged mode (AM) or an RLC unacknowledged mode (UM) (Freda [0152] (3) SL RLC acknowledge mode/unacknowledged mode (AM/UM) configuration)
Claims 27 and 32 are rejected based on the same reasons stated in claim 23.
As to claim 24, the combination of Freda and Zhang teach the method of claim 20, further comprising: transmitting, to the source remote UE, a message indicating a radio link failure (RLF) in a case where a timer T400 expires, wherein the message includes an identity of the target remote UE (Freda [0207] In certain representative embodiments, a WTRU (e.g., a relay WTRU 204-n and/or a remote WTRU 202) may receive a reject message or a failure message following initiation of (i) a connection establishment procedure or (ii) a similar procedure initiated via a relay WTRU 204-n. The reject or failure message may be a PC5-RRC message, a Uu RRC message (e.g., sent by the network) or a combination thereof (e.g., a Uu RRC message encapsulated or combined with a PC5- RRC message). A relay WTRU 204-n may send a reject or failure message to a remote WTRU 202 (or a relay WTRU 204-n it is serving) as a result of a failed connection establishment. A relay WTRU 204-n may send an indication of its own failed connection establishment to a remote WTRU 202 (or a relay WTRU 204-n it is serving [0208] the WTRU may initiate failure message following the expiry (e.g., lapsing) of a timer and [0003] The (e.g., relay) WTRU may determine that a failure has occurred in the connection establishment procedure. The (e.g., relay) WTRU may send, via the SL resources, a second SL transmission to the remote WTRU. The second SL transmission may in some instances include (1) information indicating the failure in the connection establishment procedure is associated with a second relay WTRU (identity of the target remote), or in other instances include (2) information indicating the failure in the connection establishment procedure is associated with the base station)
Claims 28 and 33 are rejected for the same reasons stated in claim 24.
Conclusion
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AYANAH S. GEORGE
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2467
/AYANAH S GEORGE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2467
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