DETAILED ACTION
Status of Case
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
This Office Action is in response to the claims filed on 10/14/2024.
Claims 1-20 are pending.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDS) filed on 1/22/2025 and 7/30/2025 have been considered by Examiner.
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.
Claims 1, 5-6, 10, 14-15, 17, and 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Gunnarsson (WO 2020/190198) in view of Manithara (USPAN 2023/0262576).
Consider claims 1 and 10, Gunnarsson discloses a communication method (see figures 2A and 2B, reproduced below for convenience, wherein disclosed is said method) and a corresponding communication apparatus, comprising at least one processor and at least one memory, wherein the at least one processor is coupled to the at least one memory, and the at least one memory stores a computer program or instructions which, when executed by the at least one processor (see figures 2A and 2B and figure 13, wherein disclosed is said processor and memory), cause the communication apparatus to:
determine that a first cell accessed by a terminal device is a cell of a mobile relay (see figures 2A and 2B; also, see page 8 lines 20-29, wherein the wireless device 210 may be a “mobile phone, sensor, relay, mobile tablet or even a small base station communicating within a cell” and since figures 2A and 2B show wireless device 210 moving, wireless device 210 can be a mobile relay); and
determine first location information of the mobile relay to a device serving the terminal device, wherein the first location information comprises a tracking area code (TAC) and/or a cell identifier (cell ID) corresponding to a second cell currently accessed by the mobile relay, the first location information of the mobile relay is used by the core network device to determine location information of the terminal device, the mobile relay is configured to provide a relay service between the terminal device and the first access network device, and the second cell is a cell of the first access network device (see figures 2A and 2B; also, see page 3 line 26 to page 4 line 8: “the location server is made aware of the logical position of the UE, e.g. the target device, by obtaining information such as the tracking area, identity of the serving cell, etc. The logical position information of the target device is used in the location server to determine how to compile the positioning assistance data. The positioning assistance data may optionally be provided periodically at a number of points in time. By the expression “logical position” when used in this disclosure is meant an association between the target device and a network entity. Examples of network entities, e.g. physical network entities, comprises a radio base station, a radio network node, a Transmission Point (TP), a Reception Point (RP), a Transmission and Reception Point (TRP), a Remote Radio Head (RRH), etc. The physical network entities are typically assigned identifiers, e.g. identities (IDs) such as an eNB ID, a gNB ID, a base station ID, a TP ID, an RP ID, a TRP ID, a RRH ID, etc. The physical network entities may also be assigned a reference signal with an ID, such as a cell specific reference signal, a physical cell ID, a channel state information reference signal, or a group of network entities may be assigned an ID such as a tracking area (TA) code or ID, a routing area ID, a location area I D etc.”; in addition, see page 18 lines 1-25: “The location server 230 is configured to provide positioning assistance data to the target device 210. The positioning assistance data may be periodic positioning assistance data, i.e. positioning assistance data provided periodically. Thus, at periodic points in time, the location server 230 may provide positioning assistance data to the target device 210. The location server 230 may receive the positioning assistance data from an assistance data provider, e.g. from the positioning server 240. The target device 210 may be served by or may be camping at a first radio network node 220 associated to a first logical position information (for example a cell ID), and the first radio network node 220 provides communication services in a first cell 220a. In the shown example, the target device 210 is mobile and moving with a velocity v. Therefore, at a later point in time the target device 210 will be served by or be camping at a second radio network node 222 associated to a second logical position information and providing communication services in a second cell 222a. Furthermore, the first and second radio network nodes 220,222 are associated to a core network node 250, which may route messages between the UE 210 and the location server 230 via the first radio network node 220 or the second radio network node 222.”).
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Although Gunnarsson discloses that the AMF 250 will indicate to the location server 230, e.g. an LMF, that the target device 210 has changed its position from a first logical position associated to a first radio network node 220 and the associated new second logical position associated to a second radio network node 222 (see page 23 lines 14-18), Gunnarsson does not specifically disclose sending first location information of the mobile relay to a core network device serving the terminal device.
Manithara discloses sending first location information of the mobile relay to a core network device serving the terminal device (see paragraph 167 and claim 37: sending, in the relay communication, location information to the core network).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Gunnarsson and combine it with the noted teachings of Manithara. The motivation to combine these references is to provide user equipment-to-network relay for emergency services (see paragraph 2 of Manithara), as well as providing location information for the core network to process in order to allow for mobility for relay services.
Consider claims 5, 14, and 18, Gunnarsson discloses sending, by the first access network device, first location information of the mobile relay to a core network device serving the terminal device comprises: sending, by the first access network device, an N2 message to the core network device, wherein the N2 message comprises the first location information (see page 23 lines 5-12: notifying change of UE location to Location Server 230 using N2 interface).
Consider claims 6 and 15, Gunnarsson discloses that the N2 message further comprises one or more of the following: a TAC corresponding to the first cell; a cell ID of the first cell; or an NAS message of the terminal device (see page 23 lines 5-12: notifying change of UE location to Location Server 230 using N2 interface, and that the “information may comprise UE identifier, Positioning Session ID, previous serving cell, new Serving cell id etc.”).
Consider claim 17, Gunnarsson discloses a communication apparatus, comprising at least one processor and at least one memory, wherein the at least one processor is coupled to the at least one memory, and the at least one memory stores a computer program or instructions which, when executed by the at least one processor (see figures 2A and 2B and figure 13, wherein disclosed is said processor and memory), cause the communication apparatus to:
receive first location information of a mobile relay from a first access network device, wherein the first location information comprises a tracking area code (TAC) and/or a cell identifier (cell ID) corresponding to a second cell currently accessed by the mobile relay, the second cell is a cell of the first access network device, the mobile relay is configured to provide a relay service between the terminal device and the first access network device, and a first cell accessed by the terminal device is a cell of the mobile relay; and determine location information of the terminal device based on the first location information of the mobile relay (see figures 2A and 2B; also, see page 3 line 26 to page 4 line 8: “the location server is made aware of the logical position of the UE, e.g. the target device, by obtaining information such as the tracking area, identity of the serving cell, etc. The logical position information of the target device is used in the location server to determine how to compile the positioning assistance data. The positioning assistance data may optionally be provided periodically at a number of points in time. By the expression “logical position” when used in this disclosure is meant an association between the target device and a network entity. Examples of network entities, e.g. physical network entities, comprises a radio base station, a radio network node, a Transmission Point (TP), a Reception Point (RP), a Transmission and Reception Point (TRP), a Remote Radio Head (RRH), etc. The physical network entities are typically assigned identifiers, e.g. identities (IDs) such as an eNB ID, a gNB ID, a base station ID, a TP ID, an RP ID, a TRP ID, a RRH ID, etc. The physical network entities may also be assigned a reference signal with an ID, such as a cell specific reference signal, a physical cell ID, a channel state information reference signal, or a group of network entities may be assigned an ID such as a tracking area (TA) code or ID, a routing area ID, a location area I D etc.”; in addition, see page 18 lines 1-25: “The location server 230 is configured to provide positioning assistance data to the target device 210. The positioning assistance data may be periodic positioning assistance data, i.e. positioning assistance data provided periodically. Thus, at periodic points in time, the location server 230 may provide positioning assistance data to the target device 210. The location server 230 may receive the positioning assistance data from an assistance data provider, e.g. from the positioning server 240. The target device 210 may be served by or may be camping at a first radio network node 220 associated to a first logical position information (for example a cell ID), and the first radio network node 220 provides communication services in a first cell 220a. In the shown example, the target device 210 is mobile and moving with a velocity v. Therefore, at a later point in time the target device 210 will be served by or be camping at a second radio network node 222 associated to a second logical position information and providing communication services in a second cell 222a. Furthermore, the first and second radio network nodes 220,222 are associated to a core network node 250, which may route messages between the UE 210 and the location server 230 via the first radio network node 220 or the second radio network node 222.”).
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Although Gunnarsson discloses that the AMF 250 will indicate to the location server 230, e.g. an LMF, that the target device 210 has changed its position from a first logical position associated to a first radio network node 220 and the associated new second logical position associated to a second radio network node 222 (see page 23 lines 14-18), Gunnarsson does not specifically disclose sending first location information of the mobile relay to a core network device serving the terminal device.
Manithara discloses sending first location information of the mobile relay to a core network device serving the terminal device (see paragraph 167 and claim 37: sending, in the relay communication, location information to the core network).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Gunnarsson and combine it with the noted teachings of Manithara. The motivation to combine these references is to provide user equipment-to-network relay for emergency services (see paragraph 2 of Manithara), as well as providing location information for the core network to process in order to allow for mobility for relay services.
Claims 2 and 11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Gunnarsson (WO 2020/190198) in view of Manithara (USPAN 2023/0262576) and Ishii (USPAN 2023/0292201).
Consider claims 2 and 11, Gunnarsson and Manithara do not specifically disclose that the determining, by a first access network device, that a first cell accessed by a terminal device is a cell of a mobile relay comprises: determining, by the first access network device based on prestored configuration information and information about the first cell, that the first cell is a cell of the mobile relay, wherein the information about the first cell comprises a TAC and/or a cell ID corresponding to the first cell, the configuration information comprises cell information of the mobile relay, the cell information comprises a TAC and/or a cell ID, and the cell information of the mobile relay comprises the information about the first cell; or receiving, by the first access network device, first indication information from the mobile relay or the terminal device, wherein the first indication information indicates that the first cell is a cell having mobility, and/or the mobile relay has mobility.
Ishii discloses the determining, by a first access network device, that a first cell accessed by a terminal device is a cell of a mobile relay comprises: determining, by the first access network device based on prestored configuration information and information about the first cell, that the first cell is a cell of the mobile relay, wherein the information about the first cell comprises a TAC and/or a cell ID corresponding to the first cell, the configuration information comprises cell information of the mobile relay, the cell information comprises a TAC and/or a cell ID, and the cell information of the mobile relay comprises the information about the first cell; or receiving, by the first access network device, first indication information from the mobile relay or the terminal device, wherein the first indication information indicates that the first cell is a cell having mobility, and/or the mobile relay has mobility (see paragraph 71: “In one example implementation, one of such attributes may be a cell mobility indicator as a Boolean value, indicating whether or not the cell is “mobile”. For example, a base station mounted on a vehicle to move, such as a bus, a train and a taxi, may set to a value or symbol indicative of the cell being “mobile”, e.g., the cell mobility indicator may be set to “mobile”. For a stationary base station, or a base station mounted on a vehicle but not to move (stationary), such as a temporary base station equipped in a van for an event, the cell mobility indicator may be set with “stationary” (or “fixed” or “not mobile”), or alternatively, the cell mobility indicator may not be present in the system information. Listing 1 shows an example implementation of an example cell mobility indicator, cellMobilityIndicator, comprised in the MIB, e.g., which may be included in the Master Information Block (MIB). The wireless terminal 116 that receives the MIB may determine whether or not the cell is “mobile”, e.g., served by a mobile base station relay, based on the cell mobility indicator.”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Gunnarsson and combine it with the noted teachings of Ishii. The motivation to combine these references is to provide a method for providing mobility of base stations (see paragraph 8 of Ishii), as well as efficiently providing an indication of whether a device is in a state of mobility.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3-4, 7-9, 12-13, 16, 19-20 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.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Jamal Javaid whose telephone number is 571-270-5137 and email address is Jamal.Javaid@uspto.gov.
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/JAMAL JAVAID/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2412
JAMAL JAVAID
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2412
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