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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 07/18/2025 and 01/28/2025 are 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 –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1, 5, 11, 14 and 19 – 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Wang et al. US 20210160956 A1 (US 20210160956 A1 is a Continuation of CN112839368B, and CN112839368B is listed in applicant submitted IDS and listed as D1 in EPO search report), hereinafter Wang.
Regarding claim 1, Wang teaches a wireless communication method for use in a first wireless terminal, the wireless communication method comprising: (Wang: Summary, para. [0029] and Fig. 3 Mobile station 301 also includes a set of control modules that carry out functional tasks. These control modules can be implemented by circuits, software, firmware, or a combination of them)
receiving, from a first wireless network node (gNB), a sidelink (SL) measurement configuration (measurement configuration) associated with a user-to-user relay for the first wireless terminal (relay UE 802) and a second wireless terminal (peer UEs),
(Wang: Fig. 8 and para. [0039] At step 822, relay UE 802 transmits a relay-interest indication and optionally the UE measurement report to gNB 801. At step 823, relay UE 803 transmits a relay-interest indication and optionally UE measurement report to gNB 801. In one embodiment, relay UE 802 and/or relay UE 803 send the relay-interest indication to the network to indicate the interest to do radio communication, including TX, RX or the combination, via L2-based sidelink relay… gNB 801, via RRC Reconfiguration message with measurement configuration, configures the one or more relay UEs to do measurement based on the relay-interest indication from the relay UE. The one or more relay UEs report radio signal measurement result, e.g. RSRP, RSRQ, or SINR, on one or more peer UEs (correspond to claim limitation “second wireless terminal”) over corresponding sidelinks and the radio signal measurement result, e.g. RSRP, RSRQ, or SINR, towards corresponding camped cell. The measurement configuration behavior described above for remote UE applies to relay UEs)
and
transmitting, to the first wireless network node, a measurement report (measurement report) based on the measurement configuration. (Wang: para. [0039] and Fig. 8 gNB 801, via RRC Reconfiguration message with measurement configuration, configures the one or more relay UEs to do measurement based on the relay-interest indication from the relay UE. The one or more relay UEs report radio signal measurement result, e.g. RSRP, RSRQ, or SINR, on one or more peer UEs over corresponding sidelinks and the radio signal measurement result, e.g. RSRP, RSRQ, or SINR, towards corresponding camped cell. The measurement configuration behavior described above for remote UE applies to relay UEs. When a different base station/gNB serves the relay UE, the relay UE report may be sent to the corresponding serving base station/gNB and then be forwarded via X2 or Xn interface by that serving gNB to the destination gNB 801)
Regarding claim 5, Wang teaches the wireless communication method of claim 1, wherein the SL measurement configuration is associated with an identifier (ID) of the second wireless terminal. (Wang: para. [0038] a specific UE ID is used to identify a particular peer UE and the sidelink measurement report has a list of measurement result each identified by the UE ID)
Regarding claim 11, Wang teaches a wireless communication method for use in a first wireless network node, the wireless communication method comprising: (Wang: Summary, para. [0027] and Fig. 3 gNB 302 has an antenna 356, which transmits and receives radio signals. An RF transceiver circuit 353, coupled with the antenna, receives RF signals from antenna 356, converts them to baseband signals, and sends them to processor 352. RF transceiver 353 also converts received baseband signals from processor 352, converts them to RF signals, and sends out to antenna 356. Processor 352 processes the received baseband signals and invokes different functional modules to perform features in gNB 302. Memory 351 stores program instructions and data 354 to control the operations of gNB 302)
transmitting, to a first wireless terminal, a sidelink (SL) measurement configuration (measurement configuration) associated with a user-to-user relay for the first wireless terminal (relay UE 802) and a second wireless terminal (one or more peer UEs),
(Wang: Fig. 8 and para. [0039] At step 822, relay UE 802 transmits a relay-interest indication and optionally the UE measurement report to gNB 801. At step 823, relay UE 803 transmits a relay-interest indication and optionally UE measurement report to gNB 801. In one embodiment, relay UE 802 and/or relay UE 803 send the relay-interest indication to the network to indicate the interest to do radio communication, including TX, RX or the combination, via L2-based sidelink relay… gNB 801, via RRC Reconfiguration message with measurement configuration, configures the one or more relay UEs to do measurement based on the relay-interest indication from the relay UE. The one or more relay UEs report radio signal measurement result, e.g. RSRP, RSRQ, or SINR, on one or more peer UEs (correspond to claim limitation “second wireless terminal”) over corresponding sidelinks and the radio signal measurement result, e.g. RSRP, RSRQ, or SINR, towards corresponding camped cell. The measurement configuration behavior described above for remote UE applies to relay UEs)
and
receiving, from the first wireless terminal, a measurement report (measurement report) associated with the SL measurement configuration. (Wang: para. [0039] and Fig. 8 gNB 801, via RRC Reconfiguration message with measurement configuration, configures the one or more relay UEs to do measurement based on the relay-interest indication from the relay UE. The one or more relay UEs report radio signal measurement result, e.g. RSRP, RSRQ, or SINR, on one or more peer UEs over corresponding sidelinks and the radio signal measurement result, e.g. RSRP, RSRQ, or SINR, towards corresponding camped cell. The measurement configuration behavior described above for remote UE applies to relay UEs. When a different base station/gNB serves the relay UE, the relay UE report may be sent to the corresponding serving base station/gNB and then be forwarded via X2 or Xn interface by that serving gNB to the destination gNB 801)
Regarding claim 14, Wang teaches all the limitations as discussed in the rejection of claim 5, and therefore method claim 14 is rejected using the same rationales.
Regarding claim 19, Wang teaches a first wireless terminal, comprising: a communication unit, configured to: (Wang: Summary, para. [0029] and Fig. 3 Mobile station 301 also includes a set of control modules that carry out functional tasks. These control modules can be implemented by circuits, software, firmware, or a combination of them) and Wang teaches all the limitations as discussed in the rejection of claim 1, and therefore apparatus claim 19 is rejected using the same rationales.
Regarding claim 20, Wang teaches a first wireless network node, comprising a communication unit, wherein the communication unit is configured to perform the wireless communication method of claim 11. (Wang: Summary, para. [0027] and Fig. 3 gNB 302 has an antenna 356, which transmits and receives radio signals. An RF transceiver circuit 353, coupled with the antenna, receives RF signals from antenna 356, converts them to baseband signals, and sends them to processor 352. RF transceiver 353 also converts received baseband signals from processor 352, converts them to RF signals, and sends out to antenna 356. Processor 352 processes the received baseband signals and invokes different functional modules to perform features in gNB 302. Memory 351 stores program instructions and data 354 to control the operations of gNB 302)
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 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.
Claim(s) 2 – 4, 6, 10, 12 – 13 and 15 – 16 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wang in view of Wei et al. US20180242381A1 (listed in applicant submitted IDS and listed as D2 in EPO search report), hereinafter Wei.
Regarding claim 2, Wang teaches the wireless communication method of claim 1, wherein the SL measurement configuration comprises at least one of: at least one threshold used in a measurement report event, (Wang: para. [0038] sidelink oriented measurement event can refer to Event A4, which indicates a neighbor cell becomes better than a threshold defined for NR air interface. The measurement event can refer to a sidelink specific measurement event: a neighbor UE becomes better than a threshold)
a filtering criterion of filtering the measurement report triggered by the measurement report event,
(Wang: para. [0042] measurement configuration sent to relay UE 902 is either triggered by the RRC connection release of the relay UE 903, or is triggered in a dynamic or periodic manner for an update to the relay path)
Or a measurement quantity associated with the user-to-user relay.
It is noted that Wang does not explicitly disclose: a measurement quantity associated with the user-to-user relay.
However, Wei from the same or similar fields of endeavor teaches the use of: a measurement quantity (limiting the number of measurement reports) associated with the user-to-user relay. (Wei: para. [0066] number of measurement reports can be limited by limiting the number of measurement reports to be sent. For example, for a measurement report to be transmitted, only the best/worst ones may be sent and the other ones may not be transmitted) Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use the teaching of Wei in the method of Wang. One of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to do so for number of measurements may be reduced with a view to avoiding these possible side effects. For example one or more of the following scheme can be put in place. Firstly the number of UEs to be configured for measurement can be reduced. (Wei: para. [0066]).
Regarding claim 3, Wang teaches the wireless communication method of claim 2, wherein the measurement report event comprises at least one of:
a link quality (radio signal measurement e.g. RSRP, RSRQ, or SINR) of a first hop between a second user-to-user relay candidate and the first wireless terminal (Wang: para. [0040] next hop ADAPT address identifies a downstream relay UE, or the remote UE for downstream within the relay path. The next hop ADAPT address identifies an upstream relay UE or the destination gNB for upstream within the relay path) is greater than a fourth threshold, (Wang: para. [0038] UE measurement report includes a sidelink measurement report including radio signal measurement result, e.g. RSRP, RSRQ, or SINR, on one or more peer UEs (corresponds to claim limitations “second user-to-relay candidate”) over the sidelink. The UE measurement report further includes the radio signal measurement result, e.g. RSRP, RSRQ, or SINR, towards its camped cell if any. In one embodiment, the sidelink measurement report is reported per peer UE. In another embodiment, a specific UE ID is used to identify a particular peer UE and the sidelink measurement report has a list of measurement result each identified by the UE ID. The measurement configuration from the network configures one or more measurement objects including frequency, measurement event, etc. The sidelink oriented measurement event can refer to Event A4, which indicates a neighbor cell becomes better than a threshold defined for NR air interface. In one embodiment, the measurement event can refer to a sidelink specific measurement event: a neighbor UE becomes better than a threshold (correspond to claim limitation “fourth threshold”))
a link quality (radio signal measurement e.g. RSRP, RSRQ, or SINR) of a first hop between a third user-to-user relay candidate and the first wireless terminal and a link quality of a second hop (Wang: para. [0040] When a plural of paths is configured for a pair of end nodes, multiple next hop (correspond to claim limitation “second hop”) ADAPT addresses can be put into the routing table) between the third user-to-user relay candidate and the second wireless terminal are greater than a fifth threshold, (Wang: para. [0038] UE measurement report includes a sidelink measurement report including radio signal measurement result, e.g. RSRP, RSRQ, or SINR, on one or more peer UEs over the sidelink (corresponds to claim limitations “third user-to-relay candidate”). The UE measurement report further includes the radio signal measurement result, e.g. RSRP, RSRQ, or SINR, towards its camped cell if any. In one embodiment, the sidelink measurement report is reported per peer UE. In another embodiment, a specific UE ID is used to identify a particular peer UE and the sidelink measurement report has a list of measurement result each identified by the UE ID. The measurement configuration from the network configures one or more measurement objects including frequency, measurement event, etc. The sidelink oriented measurement event can refer to Event A4, which indicates a neighbor cell becomes better than a threshold defined for NR air interface. In one embodiment, the measurement event can refer to a sidelink specific measurement event: a neighbor UE becomes better than a threshold (correspond to claim limitation “fifth threshold”))
or
a link quality of the direct SL between the first wireless terminal and the second wireless terminal (Wang: para. [0040] next hop ADAPT address identifies a downstream relay UE, or the remote UE for downstream within the relay path. The next hop ADAPT address identifies an upstream relay UE or the destination gNB for upstream within the relay path) is greater than a seventh threshold. (Wang: para. [0038] UE measurement report includes a sidelink measurement report including radio signal measurement result, e.g. RSRP, RSRQ, or SINR, on one or more peer UEs (corresponds to claim limitations “second user-to-relay candidate”) over the sidelink. The UE measurement report further includes the radio signal measurement result, e.g. RSRP, RSRQ, or SINR, towards its camped cell if any. In one embodiment, the sidelink measurement report is reported per peer UE. In another embodiment, a specific UE ID is used to identify a particular peer UE and the sidelink measurement report has a list of measurement result each identified by the UE ID. The measurement configuration from the network configures one or more measurement objects including frequency, measurement event, etc. The sidelink oriented measurement event can refer to Event A4, which indicates a neighbor cell becomes better than a threshold defined for NR air interface. In one embodiment, the measurement event can refer to a sidelink specific measurement event: a neighbor UE becomes better than a threshold (correspond to claim limitation “seventh threshold”))
It is noted that Wang does not explicitly disclose: a link quality of a direct SL between the first wireless terminal and the second wireless terminal is lower than a first threshold, a link quality of a direct SL between the first wireless terminal and the second wireless terminal is lower than a second threshold and a link quality of a first hop between a first user-to-user relay candidate and the first wireless terminal is greater than a third threshold, link qualities of a first hop and a second hop of an indirect SL are lower than a sixth threshold, wherein the first hop is between the first wireless terminal and the user-to-user relay serving the indirect SL for the first wireless terminal and the second wireless terminal and the second hop is between the second wireless terminal and the user-to-user relay serving the indirect SL for the first wireless terminal and the second wireless terminal.
However, Wei from the same or similar fields of endeavor teaches the use of: a link quality of a direct SL between the first wireless terminal and the second wireless terminal is lower than a first threshold,
a link quality of a direct SL between the first wireless terminal and the second wireless terminal is lower than a second threshold and a link quality of a first hop between a first user-to-user relay candidate and the first wireless terminal is greater than a third threshold, link qualities of a first hop and a second hop of an indirect SL are lower than a sixth threshold, wherein the first hop is between the first wireless terminal and the user-to-user relay serving the indirect SL for the first wireless terminal and the second wireless terminal and the second hop is between the second wireless terminal and the user-to-user relay serving the indirect SL for the first wireless terminal and the second wireless terminal, (Wei: para. [0055 & 0048-0064 & 0069 & 0076] While the RSRP_ReqU_PC5 is monitored, it is compared to a threshold “T” and if it falls below the threshold T, then this event is triggered, and para. [0056-0057 & 0066 & 0070] RSRP_NeighU_PC5 becomes better than a threshold) Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use the teaching of Wei in the method of Wang. One of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to do so for RN may be operating as a relay for D2D communications between UE2 and UE3, either by default or by selection, and this mobile node may also be configured to assign the relay function to UE1 so that UE1 becomes the terminal-to-terminal relay for D2D communications between UE1 and UE2. Additionally, such a terminal may also assist in managing the resource allocation for one or more D2D terminals in the area. Accordingly, using such a terminal-to-terminal relay may help in improving the overall network performance while limiting the negative effect on the energy efficiency and spectrum efficiency of the network (Wei: para. [0037]).
Regarding claim 4, Wang teaches wireless communication method of claim 2, Wang does not explicitly teach: wherein the filtering criterion comprises at least one of: an eighth threshold configured to filter out a fourth user-to-user relay candidate if a link quality of a first hop between the fourth user-to-user relay candidate and the first wireless terminal is lower than the eighth threshold, or a ninth threshold configured to filter out a fifth user-to-user relay candidate if a link quality of a second hop between the fifth user-to-user relay candidate and the second wireless terminal is lower than the ninth threshold.
However, Wei from the same or similar fields of endeavor teaches the use of: wherein the filtering criterion comprises at least one of: an eighth threshold configured to filter out a fourth user-to-user relay candidate if a link quality of a first hop between the fourth user-to-user relay candidate and the first wireless terminal is lower than the eighth threshold, or a ninth threshold configured to filter out a fifth user-to-user relay candidate if a link quality of a second hop between the fifth user-to-user relay candidate and the second wireless terminal is lower than the ninth threshold (Wei: para. [0055 & 0048-0064 & 0069 & 0076] While the RSRP_ReqU_PC5 is monitored, it is compared to a threshold “T” and if it falls below the threshold T, then this event is triggered, and para. [0056-0057 & 0066 & 0070] RSRP_NeighU_PC5 becomes better than a threshold) Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use the teaching of Wei in the method of Wang. One of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to do so for RN may be operating as a relay for D2D communications between UE2 and UE3, either by default or by selection, and this mobile node may also be configured to assign the relay function to UE1 so that UE1 becomes the terminal-to-terminal relay for D2D communications between UE1 and UE2. Additionally, such a terminal may also assist in managing the resource allocation for one or more D2D terminals in the area. Accordingly, using such a terminal-to-terminal relay may help in improving the overall network performance while limiting the negative effect on the energy efficiency and spectrum efficiency of the network (Wei: para. [0037]).
Regarding claim 6, Wang teaches the wireless communication method of claim 1, Wang does not explicitly teach: further comprising: receiving, from the first wireless network node, a path switch configuration indicating a path switch towards an indirect SL which is between the first wireless terminal and the second wireless terminal and served by a third wireless terminal, wherein the path switch configuration comprises at least one of: an ID of the second wireless terminal, an ID of the third wireless terminal, or a timer value of a path switch timer associated with the path switch.
However, Wei from the same or similar fields of endeavor teaches the use of: further comprising: receiving, from the first wireless network node, a path switch configuration indicating a path switch towards an indirect SL which is between the first wireless terminal and the second wireless terminal and served by a third wireless terminal, wherein the path switch configuration comprises at least one of: an ID of the second wireless terminal, an ID of the third wireless terminal (Wei: para. [0082] Once the D2D relay node has been selected or identified, the selection can be notified to the relevant mobile nodes. Para. [0083-0084 & 0093 & 0096] and Fig. 13 the notification may contain one or more of a carrier or cell index to be used for carrying out the relaying, the serving source UE (transmitting request UE), the serving destination UE or UE groups, service type (broadcast, unicast), and any other appropriate information. In the signalling to transmitting request UE, the notification may contain one or more of a carrier or cell index for carrying out the relaying, a relay node identifier (e.g. a ProSe UE ID – correspond to claim limitation ID of second/third wireless terminal), destination UE or UE groups, service type (broadcast, unicast), and any other appropriate information) or a timer value of a path switch timer associated with the path switch. Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use the teaching of Wei in the method of Wang. One of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to do so for RN may be operating as a relay for D2D communications between UE2 and UE3, either by default or by selection, and this mobile node may also be configured to assign the relay function to UE1 so that UE1 becomes the terminal-to-terminal relay for D2D communications between UE1 and UE2. Additionally, such a terminal may also assist in managing the resource allocation for one or more D2D terminals in the area. Accordingly, using such a terminal-to-terminal relay may help in improving the overall network performance while limiting the negative effect on the energy efficiency and spectrum efficiency of the network (Wei: para. [0037]).
Regarding claim 10, Wang and Wei teach the wireless communication method of claim 1, Wang does not explicitly teach: further comprising at least one of: receiving, from the third wireless terminal, information of the second wireless terminal, wherein the information of the second wireless terminal comprises at least one of a radio resource control state, a serving cell information, or an outside-of-coverage indication; transmitting, to the first wireless network node, information of the second wireless terminal, wherein the information of the second wireless terminal comprises at least one of a radio resource control state, a serving cell information, or an outside-of-coverage indication; or transmitting, to a third wireless terminal serving an indirect SL between the first wireless terminal and the second wireless terminal, a measurement configuration comprising an ID of the second wireless terminal.
Wei from the same or similar fields of endeavor teaches: receiving, from the third wireless terminal, information of the second wireless terminal, wherein the information of the second wireless terminal comprises at least one of a radio resource control state, a serving cell information, or an outside-of-coverage indication; (Wei: para. [0083] network can notify the relay node and the transmitting request terminal of the decision, and optionally the receiving request terminals as well. In one example, the network can use dedicated RRC signalling to the selected relay node and to the transmitting request UE to indicate the selection and that the selected relay node will now assist the transmitting terminal. In the signalling to relay, the notification may contain one or more of a carrier or cell index to be used for carrying out the relaying, the serving source UE (transmitting request UE), the serving destination UE or UE groups, service type (broadcast, unicast), and any other appropriate information. In the signalling to transmitting request UE, the notification may contain one or more of a carrier or cell index for carrying out the relaying, a relay node identifier (e.g. a ProSe UE ID), destination UE or UE groups, service type (broadcast, unicast), and any other appropriate information) Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use the teaching of Wei in the method of Wang. One of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to do so for RN may be operating as a relay for D2D communications between UE2 and UE3, either by default or by selection, and this mobile node may also be configured to assign the relay function to UE1 so that UE1 becomes the terminal-to-terminal relay for D2D communications between UE1 and UE2. Additionally, such a terminal may also assist in managing the resource allocation for one or more D2D terminals in the area. Accordingly, using such a terminal-to-terminal relay may help in improving the overall network performance while limiting the negative effect on the energy efficiency and spectrum efficiency of the network (Wei: para. [0037]).
Regarding claims 12 – 13 and 15 – 16, Wang, Wei and Wu teach all the limitations as discussed in the rejection of claims 2-4, 6 and 10, and therefore apparatus claims 12 – 13 and 15 – 16 are rejected using the same rationales.
Claim(s) 7 – 9 and 15 – 17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wang and Wei as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Wu et al. US 20250071628 A1, hereinafter Wu.
Regarding claim 7, Wang and Wei teach the wireless communication method of claim 6, Wang and Wei do not explicitly teach: further comprising at least one of:
starting the path switch timer when receiving the path switch configuration, or
stopping the path switch timer at the time of at least one of:
when a first PC5 link between the first wireless terminal and the third wireless terminal and a second PC5 link between the third wireless terminal and the second wireless terminal are established,
transmitting, to the third wireless terminal, a radio resource control (RRC) reconfiguration SL message successfully,
receiving, from the third wireless terminal, a PC5 radio link control acknowledge,
receiving, from the third wireless terminal, an RRC reconfiguration complete SL message,
receiving, from the second wireless terminal, a packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) acknowledge,
receiving, from the third wireless terminal, an end-to-end direct communication response from the second wireless terminal via the third wireless terminal,
transmitting, to the third wireless terminal, an end-to-end layer 2 link modification request message successfully, or
receiving, from the third wireless terminal, an end-to-end layer 2 link modification accept message.
However, Wu from the same or similar fields of endeavor teaches the use of: starting the path switch timer when receiving the path switch configuration, or stopping the path switch timer at the time of at least one of:
when a first PC5 link between the first wireless terminal and the third wireless terminal and a second PC5 link between the third wireless terminal and the second wireless terminal are established, (Wu: [0128] remote UE 501 starts a timer associated with path switch towards target relay UE 502. In an embodiment of the direct-to-indirect path switch case, the timer may be named as “a timer for path switch to a target relay UE” or “a timer for path switch from direct path to indirect path” or the like)
transmitting, to the third wireless terminal, a radio resource control (RRC) reconfiguration SL message successfully, (Wu: para. [0129] remote UE 501 will stop the timer associated with path switch towards target relay UE 502 (e.g., the timer for path switch from direct path to indirect path), once the PC5 RRC connection towards target relay UE 502 is established or a complete message of PC5 RRC connection establishment is transmitted)
receiving, from the third wireless terminal, a PC5 radio link control acknowledge,
receiving, from the third wireless terminal, an RRC reconfiguration complete SL message, (Wu: para. [0129 & 0128 & 0068] remote UE 501 will stop the timer associated with path switch towards target relay UE 502 (e.g., the timer for path switch from direct path to indirect path), once the PC5 RRC connection towards target relay UE 502 is established or a complete message of PC5 RRC connection establishment is transmitted). Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use the teaching of Wu in the method of Wang and Wei. One of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to do so for mechanism for a case in which a relay UE (re-)selects to another cell after a remote UE reports measurement result(s) (Wu: para. [0077]), and Relay UE 103 may be a U2N relay UE, which is a UE that provides functionality to support connectivity to the network for U2N remote UE(s) (Wu: para. [0056]).
Regarding claim 8, Wang and Wei teach the wireless communication method of claim 6, wherein, at an expiry of the path switch timer, the method further comprises at least one of: initiating a relay reselection procedure, or transmitting, to the first wireless network node, information of a path switch failure.
Wu from the same or similar fields of endeavor teach: wherein, at an expiry of the path switch timer, the method further comprises at least one of: initiating a relay reselection procedure, (Wu: para. [0128] remote UE 501 starts a timer associated with path switch towards target relay UE 502. The direct-to-indirect path switch case, the timer may be named as “a timer for path switch to a target relay UE” or “a timer for path switch from direct path to indirect path” or the like. In this embodiment, the source path of the path switch is a direct path, and the target path of the path switch is an indirect path, via target relay UE 502) or transmitting, to the first wireless network node, information of a path switch failure.
(Wu: para. [0146] upon a random access problem indication from SCG MAC (medium access control) while a handover timer (e.g., timer T304) is not running, remote UE 501 considers that a radio link failure is to be detected for the SCG, i.e., SCG radio link failure (RLF). Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use the teaching of Wu in the method of Wang and Wei. One of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to do so for mechanism for a case in which a relay UE (re-)selects to another cell after a remote UE reports measurement result(s) (Wu: para. [0077]), and Relay UE 103 may be a U2N relay UE, which is a UE that provides functionality to support connectivity to the network for U2N remote UE(s) (Wu: para. [0056]).
Regarding claim 9, Wang and Wei teach the wireless communication method of claim 6, Wang and Wei do not explicitly teach: further comprising at least one of: transmitting, to the first wireless network node, information comprising at least one of a path switch failure indication, a PC5 link setup failure indication, an ID of the second wireless terminal, an indication of a first hop between the first wireless terminal and the third wireless terminal, or an indication of a second hop between the third wireless terminal and the second wireless terminal; receiving, from the third wireless terminal, a failure report indicating a failure of a PC5 link setup between the third wireless terminal and the second wireless terminal; transmitting, to the second wireless terminal, an end-to-end PC5 RRC reconfiguration message indicating a PDCP data recovery, transmitting, to the second wireless terminal, an end-to-end PC5 RRC message indicating a PDCP reestablishment, receiving, from the second wireless terminal, an end-to-end PC5 RRC reconfiguration message indicating a PDCP data recovery, receiving, from the second wireless terminal, an end-to-end PC5 RRC message indicating a PDCP reestablishment, receiving, from the first wireless network node, an SL configuration comprising at least one of an indication of a PDCP data recovery for an SL between the first wireless terminal and the second wireless terminal, an indication of a PDCP data recovery for each end-to-end SL data radio bearer, DRB, of an SL between the first wireless terminal and the second wireless terminal, an indication of a PDCP re-establishment for an SL between the first wireless terminal and the second wireless terminal, or an indication of a PDCP re-establishment for each end-to-end SL DRB of an SL between the first wireless terminal and the second wireless terminal, or performing a PDCP data recovery or a PDCP reestablishment after the path switch towards the indirect SL which is between the first wireless terminal and the second wireless terminal and served by the third wireless terminal.
Wu from the same or similar fields of endeavor teach: transmitting, to the first wireless network node, information comprising at least one of a path switch failure indication, a PC5 link setup failure indication, (Wu: para. [0017] RRC connection establishment failure) an ID of the second wireless terminal, an indication of a first hop between the first wireless terminal and the third wireless terminal, or an indication of a second hop between the third wireless terminal and the second wireless terminal; receiving, from the third wireless terminal, a failure report indicating a failure of a PC5 link setup between the third wireless terminal and the second wireless terminal; (Wu: para. [0017] RRC connection establishment failure) transmitting, to the second wireless terminal, an end-to-end PC5 RRC reconfiguration message indicating a PDCP data recovery, (Wu: para. [0067 & 0082-0089] RRC ReconfigurationSidelink message) transmitting, to the second wireless terminal, an end-to-end PC5 RRC message indicating a PDCP reestablishment, (Wu: para. [0010-0012 & 0029-0031 & 0095 & 0098-0099 & 0107] UE is configured to initiate an RRC reestablishment procedure, in response to: receiving the notification message including at least one indication of: the relay UE handover; an radio link failure (RLF) on a Uu link of the relay UE) receiving, from the second wireless terminal, an end-to-end PC5 RRC reconfiguration message indicating a PDCP data recovery, (Wu: para. [0067 & 0082-0089] RRC ReconfigurationSidelink message) receiving, from the second wireless terminal, an end-to-end PC5 RRC message indicating a PDCP reestablishment, (Wu: para. [0010-0012 & 0029-0031 & 0095 & 0098-0099 & 0107] UE is configured to initiate an RRC reestablishment procedure, in response to: receiving the notification message including at least one indication of: the relay UE handover; an radio link failure (RLF) on a Uu link of the relay UE) receiving, from the first wireless network node, an SL configuration comprising at least one of an indication of a PDCP data recovery for an SL between the first wireless terminal and the second wireless terminal, an indication of a PDCP data recovery for each end-to-end SL data radio bearer, DRB, of an SL between the first wireless terminal and the second wireless terminal, an indication of a PDCP re-establishment for an SL between the first wireless terminal and the second wireless terminal, (Wu: para. [0010-0012 & 0029-0031 & 0095 & 0098-0099 & 0107] UE is configured to initiate an RRC reestablishment procedure, in response to: receiving the notification message including at least one indication of: the relay UE handover; an radio link failure (RLF) on a Uu link of the relay UE) or an indication of a PDCP re-establishment for each end-to-end SL DRB of an SL between the first wireless terminal and the second wireless terminal, (Wu: para. [0010-0012 & 0029-0031 & 0095 & 0098-0099 & 0107] UE is configured to initiate an RRC reestablishment procedure, in response to: receiving the notification message including at least one indication of: the relay UE handover; an radio link failure (RLF) on a Uu link of the relay UE) or performing a PDCP data recovery or a PDCP reestablishment after the path switch towards the indirect SL which is between the first wireless terminal and the second wireless terminal and served by the third wireless terminal. (Wu: para. [0010-0012 & 0029-0031 & 0095 & 0098-0099 & 0107] UE is configured to initiate an RRC reestablishment procedure, in response to: receiving the notification message including at least one indication of: the relay UE handover; an radio link failure (RLF) on a Uu link of the relay UE) Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use the teaching of Wu in the method of Wang and Wei. One of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to do so for mechanism for a case in which a relay UE (re-)selects to another cell after a remote UE reports measurement result(s) (Wu: para. [0077]), and Relay UE 103 may be a U2N relay UE, which is a UE that provides functionality to support connectivity to the network for U2N remote UE(s) (Wu: para. [0056]).
Regarding claims 15-16, Wang, Wei and Wu teach all the limitations as discussed in the rejection of claim 9, and therefore apparatus claims 15-16 are rejected using the same rationales.
Regarding claim 17, Wang, Wei and Wu teaches the wireless communication method of claim 16, wherein the SL configuration comprises at least one of:
a user-to-user relay indication, (Wang: Fig. 8 and para. [0039] At step 822, relay UE 802 transmits a relay-interest indication and optionally the UE measurement report to gNB 801. At step 823, relay UE 803 transmits a relay-interest indication and optionally UE measurement report to gNB 801. In one embodiment, relay UE 802 and/or relay UE 803 send the relay-interest indication to the network to indicate the interest to do radio communication, including TX, RX or the combination, via L2-based sidelink relay)
an ID of the first wireless terminal, an ID of the second wireless terminal, (Wang: para. [0038] UE measurement report includes a sidelink measurement report including radio signal measurement result, e.g. RSRP, RSRQ, or SINR, on one or more peer UEs over the sidelink. The UE measurement report further includes the radio signal measurement result, e.g. RSRP, RSRQ, or SINR, towards its camped cell if any. In one embodiment, the sidelink measurement report is reported per peer UE. In another embodiment, a specific UE ID is used to identify a particular peer UE and the sidelink measurement report has a list of measurement result each identified by the UE ID)
a bearer mapping associated with an end-to-end SL radio bearer (SLRB) to a PC5 radio link control, RLC, channel of a first hop over an indirect SL, wherein the first hop is between the third wireless terminal and the first wireless terminal and the indirect SL is between the first wireless terminal and the second wireless terminal and is through the third wireless terminal, (Wang: Fig. 4 and Fig 5 and para. [0030] UE-to-Network relay with sidelink is a one-hop relay 410)
or
a bearer mapping associated with an end-to-end SL SLRB to a PC5 RLC channel of a second hop over an indirect SL, wherein the second hop is between the third wireless terminal and the second wireless terminal and the indirect SL is between the first wireless terminal and the second wireless terminal and is through the third wireless terminal, (Wang: Fig. 4 and Fig. 5 and para. [0030] multi-hop UE-to-Network relay 430 is configured. A remote UE 432 established a relay path with a gNB 431 through relay UEs 433 and 434. Relay UE 433 communicates with gNB 431 via access link 435. Relay UE 433 communicates with relay UE 434 through sidelink 436. Relay UE 434 communicates with remote UE 432 through sidelink 437. gNB 431 transmits data packets destined to remote UE 432 through DL to relay UE 433, which is forwarded to relay UE 434 through sidelink 436. gNB 431 receives data packets from remote UE 432 through UL from relay UE 433, which is forwarded from relay UE 434 through sidelink 436. The relay path between remote UE 432 and gNB 431 includes access link 435 and sidelinks 436 and 437. Multi-hop UE-to-Network relay can be configured with two or more relay UEs)
Wang and Wei do not explicitly teach: wherein the bearer mapping comprises at least one of an end-to-end SLRB ID, a PC5 RLC channel ID of the first hop, a PC5 RLC channel ID of the second hop, an ingress PC5 RLC channel ID, an egress PC5 RLC channel ID, a PC5 RLC channel ID between the first wireless terminal and the third wireless terminal, or a PC5 RLC channel ID between the third wireless terminal and the second wireless terminal.
Wu from the same or similar fields of endeavor teaches: wherein the bearer mapping comprises at least one of an end-to-end SLRB ID, a PC5 RLC channel ID of the first hop, a PC5 RLC channel ID of the second hop, an ingress PC5 RLC channel ID, an egress PC5 RLC channel ID, a PC5 RLC channel ID between the first wireless terminal and the third wireless terminal, or a PC5 RLC channel ID between the third wireless terminal and the second wireless terminal. (Wu: para. [0105-0106 & 0099-0106] b) Mapping from UE ID and BEARER ID to egress Uu RLC channel for each U2N Remote UE via RRC; c) Mapping from UE ID and BEARER ID to egress PC5 RLC channel for each U2N Remote UE via RRC. Para. [0101] a) Mapping from an radio bearer identified by BEARER ID to egress PC5 RLC (radio link control) channel via RRC) Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use the teaching of Wu in the method of Wang and Wei. One of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to do so for mechanism for a case in which a relay UE (re-)selects to another cell after a remote UE reports measurement result(s) (Wu: para. [0077]), and Relay UE 103 may be a U2N relay UE, which is a UE that provides functionality to support connectivity to the network for U2N remote UE(s) (Wu: para. [0056]).
Claim(s) 18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wei et al. US20180242381A1 (listed in applicant submitted IDS and listed as D2 in EPO search report), hereinafter Wei and further in view of Wang in view of Kang et al. US20220322063A1, hereinafter Kang.
Regarding claim 18, Wang teaches the wireless communication method of claim 11, Wang does not explicitly teach: further comprising: transmitting, to a second wireless network node, SL relay assistance information associated with a third wireless terminal, wherein the third wireless terminal is selected to be a user-to-user relay for the first wireless terminal and the second wireless terminal based on the measurement report and is served by the second wireless network node, wherein the SL relay assistance information comprises at least one of:
serving cell information of the third wireless terminal, an ID of the third wireless terminal, an ID of the first wireless terminal, an ID of the second wireless terminal, a bearer mapping between an SL signaling radio bearer, SRB and a PC5 RLC channel, a mapping between an SL data radio bearer, DRB, and at least one quality of service, QoS, flow, a bearer mapping between an SL DRB and a PC5 RLC channel, a packet delay budget, PDB, associated with each PC5 RLC channel, a PDB associated with each SL DRB, a control plane indication of each PC5 RLC channel, or a channel configuration for each PC5 RLC channel; or further comprising: receiving, from the first wireless terminal, information of the second wireless terminal, wherein the information of the second wireless terminal comprises at least one of a radio resource control state, a serving cell information, or an outside-of-coverage indication.
Wei from the same or similar fields of endeavor teaches: further comprising: receiving, from the first wireless terminal, information of the second wireless terminal, wherein the information of the second wireless terminal comprises at least one of a radio resource control state, a serving cell information, or an outside-of-coverage indication (Wei: para. [0083] network can notify the relay node and the transmitting request terminal of the decision, and optionally the receiving request terminals as well. In one example, the network can use dedicated RRC signalling to the selected relay node and to the transmitting request UE to indicate the selection and that the selected relay node will now assist the transmitting terminal. In the signalling to relay, the notification may contain one or more of a carrier or cell index to be used for carrying out the relaying, the serving source UE (transmitting request UE), the serving destination UE or UE groups, service type (broadcast, unicast), and any other appropriate information. In the signalling to transmitting request UE, the notification may contain one or more of a carrier or cell index for carrying out the relaying, a relay node identifier (e.g. a ProSe UE ID), destination UE or UE groups, service type (broadcast, unicast), and any other appropriate information) Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use the teaching of Wei in the method of Wang. One of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to do so for RN may be operating as a relay for D2D communications between UE2 and UE3, either by default or by selection, and this mobile node may also be configured to assign the relay function to UE1 so that UE1 becomes the terminal-to-terminal relay for D2D communications between UE1 and UE2. Additionally, such a terminal may also assist in managing the resource allocation for one or more D2D terminals in the area. Accordingly, using such a terminal-to-terminal relay may help in improving the overall network performance while limiting the negative effect on the energy efficiency and spectrum efficiency of the network (Wei: para. [0037]).
Kang from the same or similar fields of endeavor teaches: further comprising: transmitting, to a second wireless network node, SL relay assistance information (Kang: para. [0140] BS may receive assistance information) associated with a third wireless terminal, wherein the third wireless terminal is selected to be a user-to-user relay for the first wireless terminal and the second wireless terminal (Kang: para. [0140] When a UE authenticated as an SL relay UE or an SL remote UE is configured to transmit assistance information necessary for the SL-CGPeriod, the SL discovery TX gap pattern, and the SL discovery period which are necessary for transmission of the SL relay discovery message, the UE may transmit the assistance information to the BS. When it is determined that a condition for transmission of the SL relay discovery message is satisfied, the SL relay UE and the SL remote UE may transmit the assistance information to the BS) based on the measurement report and is served by the second wireless network node (Kang: para. [0196] UE may obtain, based on the indication information, at least one information among location information about a resource on which the SL relay discovery message is received, SCI (PSCCH and PSSCH) corresponding to the SL relay discovery message, or a PSSCH corresponding to the SL relay discovery message. The UE may perform, based on the obtained information, RSRP measurement on at least one of the SCI (PSCCH and PSSCH) corresponding to the SL relay discovery message whose RSRP is configured to be measured), wherein the SL relay assistance information comprises at least one of:
serving cell information of the third wireless terminal, an ID of the third wireless terminal, an ID of the first wireless terminal, an ID of the second wireless terminal, (Kang: para. [0180] SL relay UE or SL remote UE) Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use the teaching of Kang in the method of Wang and Wei. One of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to do so for service may be efficiently provided to a user in a wireless communication system, and service coverage may be extended (Kang: para. [0222]), and utilizing a sidelink relay capable of supporting an extension of service coverage, an increase in data transmission reliability, and a reduction in power consumption of a terminal (Kang: para. [0013 & 0048]).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Please also see PTO-892.
Pertinent to claim 18 - Kang et al. US20230199803A1 teaches in para. [0161-0204] assistance information for SL relay communication.
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/WUTCHUNG CHU/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2418
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