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 .
Claims 1-20 are presented for examination.
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 1-3, 6-12, 14-17, 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Liu et al. U.S. Patent Application Publication Number 2023/0046436 A1 (hereinafter Liu).
As per claims 1, 15, Liu discloses a communication method, comprising:
obtaining quality of service (QoS) information (see relay terminal, or second device as claimed, receiving QoS information from remote terminal, or first device as claimed, on page 7 section [0118]) of a first link (see first link as link between relay terminal, or second device as claimed, and remote terminal, or first device as claimed on page 7 section [0118] and Figure 2), wherein the first link is a link between a first device and a second device (see first link is between first device, or remote terminal and second device, or relay terminal), and the second device provides a relay service for communication between the first device and a third device (see second device is a relay terminal and providing relay service between first device, or remote terminal, and third device, or network device on Figure 2); and
sending configuration information of the first link to the second device (see sending configuration information for relay terminal, or second device as claimed, to establish a mapping relationship between a Uu bearer and a remote terminal, or first terminal as claimed, on page 7 section [0115]) based on the QoS information of the first link (see QoS information corresponds to a service of the remote terminal on page 7 section [0119]), wherein the configuration information of the first link is for establishing, on the first link, a radio bearer that meets the QoS information (see configuration information using mapping information and QoS flow information so relay terminal, or second device as claimed, can server the remote terminal, or first device as claimed, to meet QoS requirement of service on page 7 section [0116]).
As per claims 2, 16, Liu discloses the method according to claim 1, wherein the obtaining QoS information of a first link comprises receiving the QoS information of the first link from the second device (see network device, or third device as claimed, receiving QoS information from relay terminal, or second device as claimed, which in turn received from the remote terminal, or first terminal as claimed, on page 7 section [0118]).
As per claims 3, 17, Liu discloses the method according to claim 1, wherein the QoS information of the first link or QoS information of a second link is determined based on at least one of the following information:
link information of the first link (see QoS flow 1 between remote terminal and relay terminal, or first link as claimed, as Sidelink SLRB1 on page 3 section [0043] and Table 1), link information of the second link (see QoS flow 1 between relay terminal and network device, or second link as claimed, as Uu link DRB8 on page 3 section [0043] and Table 1), or QoS information between the first device and the third device (see QoS information as service type, service data delay, block error rate, and priority on page 3 section [0050]);
wherein the second link is a link between the second device and the third device (see second link is link between the relay device, or second device as claimed, and network device, or third device as claimed, on Figure 2).
As per claims 6, 14, 20, Liu discloses the method according to claim 1, wherein the configuration information of the first link comprises at least one of sidelink relay adaptation protocol (SRAP) configuration information or radio link control (RLC) configuration information (see radio link control (RLC) configuration parameter information on page 3 section [0039-0040]).
As per claim 7, Liu discloses a communication method, comprising:
receiving configuration information of a first link from a first device (see sending configuration information for relay terminal, or second device as claimed, to establish a mapping relationship between a Uu bearer and a remote terminal, or first terminal as claimed, on page 7 section [0115]), wherein the first link is a link between the first device and a second device (see first link as link between relay terminal, or second device as claimed, and remote terminal, or first device as claimed on page 7 section [0118] and Figure 2), the configuration information of the first link is for establishing, on the first link, a radio bearer that meets quality of service (QoS) information (see configuration information using mapping information and QoS flow information so relay terminal, or second device as claimed, can server the remote terminal, or first device as claimed, to meet QoS requirement of service on page 7 section [0116]), and
the second device provides a relay service for communication between the first device and a third device (see second device is a relay terminal and providing relay service between first device, or remote terminal, and third device, or network device on Figure 2); and
communicating with the first device based on the configuration information of the first link (see set up remote terminal, or first device as claimed, service that meet QoS requirement on page 7 section [0116]).
As per claim 8, Liu discloses the method according to claim 7, wherein the method further comprises:
determining configuration information of a second link based on QoS information of the second link, wherein the second link is a link between the second device and the third device (see sending configuration information to set up second link between relay terminal, or second device as claimed, and network device, or the third device as claimed on page 7 section [0115]).
As per claim 9, Liu discloses the method according to claim 8, wherein: the QoS information of the second link is determined by the second device; or the method further comprises receiving the QoS information of the second link from a network device (see relay terminal, or second device as claimed, cand report service QoS information of second link to the network device, or third device as claimed, on page 3 section [0052]).
As per claim 10, Liu discloses the method according to claim 9, wherein the method further comprises: sending the QoS information of the first link to the first device (see remote terminal, or first device as claimed, can obtain QoS information from network device side, or third device as claimed, on page 4 section [0057]), wherein the QoS information of the first link is determined by the second device (see relay terminal, or second device as claimed, cand report service QoS information of second link to the network device, or third device as claimed, on page 3 section [0052]); or receiving the QoS information of the first link from the network device (see remote terminal, or first device as claimed, can obtain QoS information from network device side, or third device as claimed, on page 4 section [0057]).
As per claim 11, Liu discloses the method according to claim 8, wherein the method further comprises receiving the QoS information of the second link from the first device (see receiving QoS information from the relay terminal, or first device as claimed, on page 7 section [0118] and see receiving QoS flow information including second link information, or Uu link of the DRB8 between relay terminal, or second device as claimed, and network device, or third device as claimed on page 3 section [0043] and Table 1).
As per claim 12, Liu discloses the method according to claim 8, wherein the QoS information of the first link or the QoS information of the second link is determined based on at least one of the following information: link information of the first link (see QoS flow 1 between remote terminal and relay terminal, or first link as claimed, as Sidelink SLRB1 on page 3 section [0043] and Table 1), link information of the second link (see QoS flow 1 between relay terminal and network device, or second link as claimed, as Uu link DRB8 on page 3 section [0043] and Table 1), or QoS information between the first device and the third device (see receiving QoS information from the relay terminal, or first device as claimed, on page 7 section [0118] and see receiving QoS flow information including second link information, or Uu link of the DRB8 between relay terminal, or second device as claimed, and network device, or third device as claimed on page 3 section [0043] and Table 1).
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 4-5, 13, 18-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable Liu et al. U.S. Patent Application Publication Number 2023/0046436 A1 (hereinafter Liu), and further in view of Chun et al. U.S. Patent Application Publication Number 2024/0049333 A1 (hereinafter Chun).
As per claims 4, 18, Liu discloses: method according to claim 3, wherein the link information comprises at least one of the following: a delay (see link information regarding delay on page 3 section [0050]), reference signal received power RSRP (to be taught by Chun), or a channel busy ratio CBR.
Liu does not disclose expressly: reference signal received power RSRP.
Chun teaches: configuration parameter of reference signal received power RSRP (see page 85 section [0705]).
Liu and Chun are analogous art because they are from the same field of endeavor, wireless communication for sidelink. Before the effective filing date of the claim invention, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to use reference signal received power RSRP measurement as a link information. The motivation for doing so would have been to use reference signal received power measurement to access link information (see page 85 section [0705] in Chun). Therefore, it would have been obvious to combine Liu and Chun for the benefit of using reference signal received power RSRP as link information to obtain the invention as specified in claims 4, 18.
As per claims 5, 13, 19, Liu and Chun disclose method according to claim 1, wherein the QoS information comprises at least one of:
QoS information of a sidelink radio bearer (SLRB) (see sidelink radio bearer mapping rules and QoS profiles on page 37 section [0341] in Chun), QoS information of radio link control (RLC) (see radio link control on page 3 section [0040] in Liu), or QoS information of a QoS flow (see QoS flow information on page 3 section [0040] in Liu). The motivation to combine is same as above.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Guo U.S. Patent Application Publication Number 2023/0018378 A1. Configuring QoS parameters of core network and relay terminal (see Abstract).
Liu et U.S. Patent Application Publication Number 2024/0031874 A1. Method for acquiring configuration information from relay devices and network devices (see Abstract).
Chang et al. U.S. Patent Application Publication Number 2023/0422141 A1. Sidelink PCS link management for remote user equipment (see Abstract).
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ALAN S CHOU whose telephone number is (571)272-5779. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 9:00-5:00 EST.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Chris L Parry can be reached at (571)272-8328. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/ALAN S CHOU/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2451
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