Detailed Action
The office action is in response to the communications filed on 09/19/2024.
Notice of 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 .
Claims Status
Claims 1-20 are pending in this application.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 09/19/2024, 07/14/2025, and 04/30/2026 are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Prior Art Made of Record
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Cheng et al. (Publication No. US 2024/0163935), the prior art relates to techniques for radio resource control message delivery and configuration for remote user equipment; see ¶ 1.
Claim Objections
Claims 6 and 17 are objected to because an ambiguity. The claim recites “wireless communication method further comprises determining, by the second wireless communication device, an RLC channel associated with each RB of the second wireless communication device based on the first configuration, the second configuration, and the QoS related information”. Examiner notes that the parent claim 5 only requires to give patentable weight to either the first configuration or the second configuration. Therefore, selecting the first configuration would make this limitation ambiguous. Appropriate correction is required.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 8 and 19 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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)(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 1-2, 7, 10-13, and 18 are rejected under AIA 35 U.S.C. 102(2) as being anticipated by Srinivasan et al. (Publication Patent No. US 2026/0122528, hereinafter referred to as Srinivasan).
Regarding claims 1 and 12, Srinivasan discloses a wireless communication method for managing communications between a first wireless communication device and a second wireless communication device, comprising (A configuration procedure between a gNB [device from the network], a relay UE [first wireless communication device], and a remote UE [second wireless communication device]; see figure 6.):
receiving, by the second wireless communication device from the first wireless communication device, Quality of Service (QOS) related information (The relay UE transmits a configuration to the remote UE, including one or more QoS parameter [QoS information]; see figure 6 step 6.5 & ¶ 231.),
wherein the QoS related information is received by the first wireless communication device from a network (The gNB transmits the configuration to the remote UE via the relay UE, wherein the configuration includes one or more QoS parameter [QoS information]; see figure 6 step 6.5 & ¶ 231.);
receiving, by the second wireless communication device from the network, at least one configuration (The remote UE receive the configuration from the gNB, wherein the configuration includes one or more PC5-RLC channels [configuration]; see figure 6 step 6.5 & ¶ 231.).
Regarding claims 2 and 13, Srinivasan discloses the wireless communication method of claim 1, and that the QoS-related information comprises at least one of: QoS information; at least one Radio Link Control (RLC) channel for which the QoS information applies; or at least one Radio Bearer (RB) for which the QoS information applies (The remote UE receive the configuration from the gNB, wherein the configuration includes one or more PC5-RLC channels [configuration] and one or more QoS parameter [QoS information]; see figure 6 step 6.5 & ¶ 231.).
Regarding claims 7 and 18, Srinivasan discloses the wireless communication method of claim 5, and sending, by the second wireless communication device to the network, at least one of an RLC mode, the QoS information, or a channel ID of the at least one RLC channel (The remote UE sends assistance information to the gNB via the relay UE, wherein the assistance information one or more QoS parameters; see figure 6 step 6.4 & ¶ 231.).
Regarding claims 10 and 11, Srinivasan discloses a wireless communication method for managing communications between a first wireless communication device and a second communication device, comprising (A configuration procedure between a gNB [device from the network], a relay UE [first wireless communication device], and a remote UE [second wireless communication device]; see figure 6.):
sending, by the first wireless communication device to the second wireless communication device, Quality of Service (QOS) related information (The relay UE transmits a configuration to the remote UE, including one or more QoS parameter [QoS information]; see figure 6 step 6.5 & ¶ 231.),
wherein the QoS related information is received by the first wireless communication device from a network (The gNB transmits the configuration to the remote UE via the relay UE, wherein the configuration includes one or more QoS parameter [QoS information]; see figure 6 step 6.5 & ¶ 231.),
wherein the second wireless communication device receives from the network at least one configuration (The remote UE receive the configuration from the gNB, wherein the configuration includes one or more PC5-RLC channels [configuration]; see figure 6 step 6.5 & ¶ 231.).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of AIA 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent may not be obtained though the invention is not identically disclosed or described as set forth in section 102 of this title, if the differences between the subject matter sought to be patented and the prior art are such that the subject matter as a whole would have been obvious at the time the invention was made to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which said subject matter pertains. Patentability shall not be negatived by the manner in which the invention was made.
The factual inquiries set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 148 USPQ 459 (1966), that are applied for establishing a background for determining obviousness under AIA 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.
Claims 3-6 and 14-17 are rejected under AIA 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Srinivasan et al. (Publication Patent No. US 2026/0122528, hereinafter referred to as Srinivasan) in view of Wang et al. (Publication No. US 2022/0361267, hereinafter referred as Wang).
Regarding claims 3 and 14, Srinivasan discloses the wireless communication method of claim 2. In specific, Srinivasan discloses a configuration procedure to enable relaying signals from a remote UE, but fails to explicitly disclose that the QoS information comprises at least one of a QoS Flow Identifier (QFI), a Protocol Data Unit (PDU) session identifier (ID), a PC5 QFI, a Uu QFI, a QoS profile, a Uu QoS profile, or a PC5 QoS profile. However, in analogous art, Wang discloses that the configuration for each relay channel includes one or more elements of the associated end-to-end Uu Radio Bearer index(es) and the QoS profile of the QoS flow(s) within each associated end-to-end Uu radio bearer; see ¶ 34. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Srinivasan with configuration information of Wang in order to enhance the process of relaying information between the remote UE and the network device.
Regarding claims 4 and 15, Srinivasan discloses the wireless communication method of claim 2. In specific, Srinivasan discloses a configuration procedure to enable relaying signals from a remote UE, but fails to explicitly disclose that each of the at least one RLC channel is identified by at least one of a channel identifier (ID) or a channel index. However, in analogous art, Wang discloses that the configuration for each relay channel includes one or more elements of the associated end-to-end Uu Radio Bearer index(es) and the QoS profile of the QoS flow(s) within each associated end-to-end Uu radio bearer; see ¶ 34. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Srinivasan with configuration information of Wang in order to enhance the process of relaying information between the remote UE and the network device.
Regarding claims 5 and 16, Srinivasan discloses the wireless communication method of claim 1. In specific, Srinivasan discloses a configuration procedure to enable relaying signals from a remote UE, but fails to explicitly disclose a first configuration comprising a mapping of at least one QoS Flow Identifier (QFI) to at least one Radio Bearer (RB); or a second configuration comprising a mapping of the at least one RB to at least one Radio Link Control (RLC) channel. However, in analogous art, Wang discloses that the configuration for each relay channel includes one or more elements of the associated end-to-end Uu Radio Bearer index(es) and the QoS profile of the QoS flow(s) within each associated end-to-end Uu radio bearer; see ¶ 34. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Srinivasan with configuration information of Wang in order to enhance the process of relaying information between the remote UE and the network device.
Regarding claims 6 and 17, Srinivasan discloses the wireless communication method of claim 5. In specific, Srinivasan, as modified, discloses a configuration procedure to enable relaying signals from a remote UE, but fails to explicitly disclose the QoS related information received from the first wireless communication device comprises a QFI that is the same as one of the at least one QFI in the first configuration; and wireless communication method further comprises determining, by the second wireless communication device, an RLC channel associated with each RB of the second wireless communication device based on the first configuration, the second configuration, and the QoS related information. However, in analogous art, Wang discloses that the configuration for each relay channel includes one or more elements of the associated end-to-end Uu Radio Bearer index(es) and the QoS profile of the QoS flow(s) within each associated end-to-end Uu radio bearer; see ¶ 34. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Srinivasan with configuration information of Wang in order to enhance the process of relaying information between the remote UE and the network device.
Claims 9 and 20 are rejected under AIA 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Srinivasan et al. (Publication Patent No. US 2026/0122528, hereinafter referred to as Srinivasan) in view of Wang et al. (Publication No. US 2022/0361267, hereinafter referred as Wang) and further in view of Kuo et al. (Patent No. US 11,564,208; hereinafter referred as Kuo).
Regarding claims 9 and 20, Srinivasan discloses the wireless communication method of claim 9. In specific, Srinivasan discloses a configuration procedure to enable relaying signals from a remote UE, but fails to explicitly disclose reporting, by the second wireless communication device to the network, a Radio Link Control (RLC) mode identified by at least one of an RLC channel identifier (ID) received from a first signaling, an RLC channel ID received from a second signaling, or an RLC mode. However, in analogous art, Kuo discloses reporting the sidelink UE capability information of the associated peer UE for unicast communication, is reporting the RLC mode information of the sidelink data radio bearer(s) received from the associated peer UE for unicast communication; see column 8 lines 5-10. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Srinivasan with reporting mechanism of Kuo in order to enhance the process of relaying information between the remote UE and the network device.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Hector Reyes (Hector.Reyes@uspto.gov) whose telephone number is (571) 270-0239. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 6-5.
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/H.R/Examiner, Art Unit 2472
/KEVIN T BATES/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2472
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