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 .
2. This office action is a response to an application filed on 12/17/2024 where claims 11-17 are pending. Claims 1- 10 cancelled.
Information Disclosure Statement
3. The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 03/20/2025, 04/20/2026,07/28/2026 has been considered by the examiner. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37CFR 1.97.
Drawings
4. The drawings were received on 12/17/2024. These drawing are acceptable.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
5. 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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. 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.
Claim(s) 1 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Basu Malick et al. (US 20230276514 A1 ) hereinafter Basu and further in view of Kuo (US 20210409263 A1)hereinafter Kuo
As to claim 11. Basu teaches a method comprising:
establishing, by a remote user equipment (UE) 1, a first PC5 connection with a relay UE; ([0089] Fig. 2A, Fig. 2B, Fig. 3, communication between Tx-Remote-UE 201 and the SL-Relay-UE 203 by a first PC5 link (corresponding to Interface-1))
establishing, by the remote UE 1, an end-to-end PC5 connection with a remote UE 2 via the relay UE, ([0084][0085] Fig. 2A, Fig. 2B, Fig. 3, communication between Tx-Remote-UE (i.e., UE1) 201 may transmit the TB to the one or multiple SL Relay UEs 203 on Interface-1 using groupcast or multiple unicast links to the RX -Remote-UE (i.e., UE1) 205
wherein the relay UE has established a second PC5 connection with the remote UE 2; ([0089] Fig. 2A, Fig. 2B, Fig. 3,communication between the SL-Relay-UE 203 and the Rx-Remote-UE 205 by a second PC5 link (corresponding to Interface-2))
[US 20240357448 A1] US 20240357448 A1
Basu does not teach releasing, by the remote UE 1, the end-to-end PC5 connection of a first layer; releasing, by the remote UE 1, the first PC5 connection of a second layer based on the release of the end-to-end PC5 connection,
wherein the first layer is upper layer of the second layer.
Kuo teaches releasing, by the remote UE 1, the end-to-end PC5 connection of a first layer; ([0095] [0083]Fig. 9 Fig. 14, Upon receiving an indication from the AS layer that the PC5-RRC connection was released due to RLF; the V2X layer of each UE for the PC5 unicast link informs the AS layer that the PC5 unicast link has been released,)releasing, by the remote UE 1, the first PC5 connection of a second layer based on the release of the end-to-end PC5 connection, ([0329] [0330]Fig. 19, UE-to-UE Relay to initiate a Layer-2 link release procedure to release the PC5 unicast link with the other UE when detecting a sidelink radio link failure on the PC5 unicast link with one UE).
wherein the first layer is upper layer of the second layer. ([0082] Fig. 3, Fig. 4, AS layer is upper layer, v2x layer is lower layer)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to combine teaching of Kuo with the teaching of Basu because Kuo teaches that it would also be beneficial for the UE-to-UE Relay to initiate a Layer-2 link release procedure to release the PC5 unicast link with the other UE in response to reception of a Disconnect Request message from one UE to disconnect or release the PC5 unicast link with one UE. (Kuo [0330])
Regarding claims 14, 17, there is recited a UE with steps that identical to the functions performed by the method recited in claim 11. Prior art Basu discloses a UE in para [0143] Fig. 5, includes a processor couple to a memory with computer readable medium comprise instructions for causing a processor to perform functions of claims 14, 17. As a result, claims 14, 17 is/are rejected for the same reasons as in claim 11.
As to claim 12. The combination of Basu and Kuo specifically Kuo teaches
wherein the first PC5 connection is released (([0329] [0330]Fig. 19, UE-to-UE Relay to initiate a Layer-2 link release procedure to release the PC5 unicast link with the other UE when detecting a sidelink radio link failure on the PC5 unicast link with one UE).
after the releasing of the end-to-end PC5 connection. ([0095] [0083]Fig. 9, Fig. 14, Upon receiving an indication from the AS layer that the PC5-RRC connection was released due to RLF; the V2X layer of each UE for the PC5 unicast link informs the AS layer that the PC5 unicast link has been released,) Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to combine teaching of Kuo with the teaching of Basu because Kuo teaches that it would also be beneficial for the UE-to-UE Relay to initiate a Layer-2 link release procedure to release the PC5 unicast link with the other UE in response to reception of a Disconnect Request message from one UE to disconnect or release the PC5 unicast link with one UE. (Kuo [0330])
Claim 15 is/are interpreted and rejected for the same reasons as set forth in claim 12.
As to claim 13. The combination of Basu and Basu teaches wherein the second layer does not exist in the relay UE. ( [0091]Fig. 2A, Fig. 2B, the SL-Relay-UE 203 acts as a L1 relay (also referred to as an Amplify and Forward relay) with HARQ functionality. In certain embodiments, the protocol stack of the SL-Relay-UE 203 may have PHY layer 755 and a HARQ entity (i.e., of the MAC layer 760) which interact with corresponding layers at the Tx-Remote-UE 201 via the Interface-1, and which interact with corresponding layers at the Rx-Remote-UE 205 via the Interface-2)
Claim 16 is/are interpreted and rejected for the same reasons as set forth in claim 13.
Conclusion
6. The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Pateromichelakis; Emmanouil [US 20230179969 A1] CONTROLLING V2X MESSAGE DISTRIBUTION
CHANG; Henry et al. [US 20230380007 A1] PC5 RADIO RESOURCE CONTROL (RRC) SIDELINK (SL) CONNECTION MANAGEMENT
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ATIQUE AHMED whose telephone number is (571)272-6244. The examiner can normally be reached 9:30 - 7:30 PM M-F Eastern.
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/ATIQUE AHMED/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2413
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