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 .
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 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.
Claim [1, 12, 23, 24, 33, 34, 35 and 36] are rejected under 35 U.S.C 103 as being unpatentable over Nagi (US 20210029658 A1) in view of Markus (US 20150016431 A1).
In regards to claims 1, 12, 23 and 27 Nagi teaches a method of wireless communication performed by a user equipment (UE), comprising: receiving, from a base station, a random access configuration indicating spreading code information for a set of random access channel (RACH) occasions associated with a RACH procedure. [0190] The base station may broadcast a RACH root sequence index, RACH transmit opportunities, RACH transmission resources, data-part transmit opportunities, resources to be used for data-part, channelization codes (e.g., spreading codes) for the data-part, a modulation coding scheme (MCS) to apply for the data part and mapping between the RACH preamble index and data-part resources, data-part opportunities, and/or MCS and channelization codes, user equipment (UE) for wireless communication, comprising: one or more memories; and one or more processors, coupled to the one or more memories [0055] The processor 118 may be a general purpose processor, a special purpose processor, a conventional processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), a plurality of microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in association with a DSP core, a controller, a microcontroller, Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), any other type of integrated circuit (IC), a state machine, and the like, wherein the spreading code is determined based at least in part on the spreading code information received from the base station, [0185] The base station may transmit, as part of system information, RACH related parameters that are to be used for UL contention based access. The superset of P WH codes, the set of C.sub.SF [0 to P−1], that can be used for channelization may be indicated via system information. The length of a specific WH code, or alternately the spreading factor, may differ compared with other WH codes among the set of WH codes signaled in system information. In such cases, the WH repeat factor N to be used corresponding to the C.sub.SF[i]; 0≤i<P−1 may also be indicated.
Nagi does not teach transmitting, to the base station, a physical RACH (PRACH) communication in a RACH occasion, of the set of RACH occasions using a spreading code, and based at least in part on a quantity of repetitions of a PRACH preamble included in the PRACH communication, indicating a set of physical RACH (PRACH) preambles, wherein the set of PRACH preambles include a first subset of PRACH preambles associated with a first set of UEs associated with the base station, and a second subset of PRACH preambles associated with a second set of UEs associated with the base station.
However, Markus does teach transmitting, to the base station, a physical RACH (PRACH) communication in a RACH occasion [0153] Transmit a preamble using the selected uplink access slot, signature, and preamble transmission power, of the set of RACH occasions using a spreading code, [0063] The communication devices 101, 102, 103, 104 can access the communication system based on various access techniques, such as code division multiple access (CDMA), or wideband CDMA (WCDMA) and based at least in part on a quantity of repetitions of a PRACH preamble included in the PRACH communication [0158] 6.4 Decrease the Preamble Retransmission Counter by one, indicating a set of physical RACH (PRACH) preambles, [0012] The preambles may be configured to be divided at least into a first set and a second set, wherein the set of PRACH preambles include a first subset of PRACH preambles associated with a first set of UEs associated with the base station, [0042] The first set of preambles may be associated with a first transmission time interval length and a first set of user equipment, and a second subset of PRACH preambles associated with a second set of UEs associated with the base station [0042] said second set of preambles may be associated with the first transmission time interval length and a second set of user equipment, and a third set of preambles may be associated with a second transmission time interval length and said second set of user equipment.
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, having the teachings of Nagi and Markus before him or her, to modify the method of Nagi to include PRACH as taught by Markus.
The motivation to do so would be improved downlink transmission. (0005 by Markus).
In regards to claims 33 Nagi and Markus teaches the limitations of the parent claims.
Nagi also teaches wherein the quantity of repetitions of the PRACH preamble comprises a plurality of repetitions [0198] The WTRU may use a PRACH similar to PRACH Format 3 in LTE and NR (e.g., with a sequence of length 1.6 ms which is a twice repetition of the base sequence of length 839).
In regards to claims 34 Nagi and Markus teaches the limitations of the parent claims.
Nagi also teaches wherein the PRACH communication includes a plurality of PRACH preambles [ 0194] To mitigate this possible issue, there may be a cascaded RACH procedure 1907. In the cascaded RACH procedure, the WTRU may transmit a configured amount of RACH messages, RACHCascadeCount.
In regards to claims 35 Nagi and Markus teaches the limitations of the parent claims.
Nagi also teaches wherein each PRACH preamble, of the plurality of PRACH preambles, corresponds to a different format. [0108] A PRACH preamble may have multiple formats, each with a different length, cyclic prefix (CP) and guard time (GT). The PRACH format may be identified from a PRACH configuration index which may be transmitted by a gNB in higher layer signaling through the system information blocks (SIBs).
In regards to claims 36 Nagi and Markus teaches the limitations of the parent claims.
Nagi also teaches performing the RACH procedure with the base station. [0094] Generally, during the initial access of a WTRU a random access channel (RACH) procedure may be used for uplink time synchronization where a WTRU may send a random access preamble to a gNB in the uplink.
Claim [2,8,11,13,19,22,26,30 and 32] are rejected under 35 U.S.C 103 as being unpatentable over Nagi (US 20210029658 A1) in view of Markus (US 20150016431 A1) further in view of Tan (US 20070165567 A1).
In regards to claim 2, 13 and 30 Nagi and Markus teach the limitations of the parent claim.
Nagi and Markus does not teach determining the spreading code associated with the PRACH communication from the spreading code information based at least in part on at least one of the RACH occasion, of the set of RACH occasions, associated with the PRACH communication, or a RACH capability of the UE.
However, Tan does teach determining the spreading code associated with the PRACH communication from the spreading code information based at least in part on at least one of:the RACH occasion, of the set of RACH occasions, associated with the PRACH communication, or a RACH capability of the UE. [0053] The UE then determines an available RACH access slot and other transmission parameters. In a next step, the UE sets 1408 a transmission power. In a next step, the UE transmits 1410 the RACH preamble using the selected slot, signature sequence, and power, and then monitors 1412 for a positive acquisition indicator (ACKnowledgement) from the node-B 1502.
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, having the teachings of Nagi, Markus and Tan before him or her, to modify the method of Nagi and Markus to include PRACH as taught by Tan.
The motivation to do so would be improved RACH performance. (0027 by Tan).
In regards to claim 8, 19, 26 and 32, Nagi, Tan and Markus teach the limitations of the parent claim.
Nagi and Markus does not teach wherein a subset of PRACH preambles, of the set of PRACH preambles, is associated with: the quantity of repetitions of a PRACH preamble included in the PRACH communication, or a RACH capability of the UE.
However, Tan does teach wherein a subset of PRACH preambles, of the set of PRACH preambles, is associated with: the quantity of repetitions of a PRACH preamble included in the PRACH communication, or a RACH capability of the UE. [0032] The RACH preamble structure is summarized as follows: a) the preamble length is 1 millisecond using two 0.5 millisecond sub-frames; a total of 4200 chips excluding Cyclic Prefix length, b) frequency spreading with spreading factor M using a Chu-sequence (complex quadratic sequence), where M is the occupied sub-carriers excluding DC (direct current) component, c) time spreading with a Walsh sequence of length two, d) signature sequences with combined spreading factor 2.times.M out of which a total of twenty are used, and e) a repetition of seven is used to rate-match the preamble sequence length to one millisecond.
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, having the teachings of Nagi, Markus and Tan before him or her, to modify the method of Nagi and Markus to include PRACH as taught by Tan.
The motivation to do so would be improved RACH performance. (0027 by Tan).
In regards to claim 11 and 22, Nagi, Tan and Markus teach the limitations of the parent claim.
Nagi and Markus does not teach determining that a quantity of repetitions of a PRACH preamble included in the PRACH communication is an odd value; and determining that the spreading code is a discrete Fourier transform based spreading code.
However, Tan does teach determining that a quantity of repetitions of a PRACH preamble included in the PRACH communication is an odd value; [0032] a repetition of seven is used to rate-match the preamble sequence length to one millisecond and determining that the spreading code is a discrete Fourier transform based spreading code. [0035] RACH preamble generation can be accomplished using either time-domain modulation (FIG. 8) or frequency-domain generation (FIG. 9). In time-domain modulation, a message symbol is mixed with a frequency-spreading sequence as described herein in accordance with the present invention. The combined signal is then processed using time-spreading, followed by a Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT).
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, having the teachings of Nagi, Markus and Tan before him or her, to modify the method of Nagi and Markus to include PRACH as taught by Tan.
The motivation to do so would be improved RACH performance. (0027 by Tan).
Claim [3-4, 14-15, 25 and 29] are rejected under 35 U.S.C 103 as being unpatentable over Nagi in view of Markus further in view of Oketani (US 20180262295 A1).
In regards to claims 3, 14, 25 and 29 Nagi and Markus teach the limitations of the parent claims.
Nagi and Markus does not teach wherein the spreading code information for the set of RACH occasions associated with the RACH procedure indicates at least one of: a first spreading code for a first subset of RACH occasions, of the set of RACH occasions, that are valid for each UE associated with the base station; a second spreading code for a second subset of RACH occasions, of the set of RACH occasions, that are valid only for a proper subset of UEs associated with the base station; or a third spreading code for a third subset of RACH occasions, of the set of RACH occasions, that are valid for the proper subset of UEs associated with the base station.
However, Oketani teaches wherein the spreading code information for the set of RACH occasions associated with the RACH procedure indicates at least one of: a first spreading code for a first subset of RACH occasions, of the set of RACH occasions, that are valid for each UE associated with the base station; a second spreading code for a second subset of RACH occasions, of the set of RACH occasions, that are valid only for a proper subset of UEs associated with the base station; or a third spreading code for a third subset of RACH occasions, of the set of RACH occasions, that are valid for the proper subset of UEs associated with the base station. [0070] Furthermore, the first spreading code sequence and at least one other spreading code sequence (hereinafter referred to as a fourth spreading code sequence) included in the 2n (orthogonal) spreading code sequences may be defined as follows. The second spreading code sequence, which is a subset of the first spreading code sequence, is orthogonal to a spreading code sequence consisting of corresponding two elements of the fourth spreading code sequence, and the third spreading code sequence, which is the remaining subset of the first spreading code sequence, is orthogonal to a spreading code sequence consisting of the remaining two elements of the fourth spreading code sequence.
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, having the teachings of Nagi, Oketani and Markus before him or her, to modify the method of Nagi and Markus to include PRACH as taught by Oketani.
The motivation to do so would be improved spreading rate. (0129 by Oketani).
In regards to claims 4 and 15 Nagi, Oketani and Markus teach the limitations of the parent claims.
Nagi teaches wherein the proper subset of UEs associated with the base station is determined based at least in part on a RACH capability of UEs included in the proper subset of UEs. [0110] For RACH in WCDMA, the RACH may be a two-step process: First, a PRACH preamble part may be transmitted by the WTRU as a RACH, and second, the base station may signal acceptance via an Acquisition Indicator Channel (AICH). The WTRU may transmit a PRACH message part subsequently on a different transmission occasion informing the base station of the WTRU's actual identity.
Claim [6 and 17] are rejected under 35 U.S.C 103 as being unpatentable over Nagi in view of Markus further in view of Takeda (US 20180109971 A1).
In regards to claims 6 and 17 Nagi and Markus teach the limitations of the parent claims.
Nagi and Markus does not teach determining, from the spreading code information, that the spreading code is a nested spreading code based at least in part on a quantity of repetitions of a PRACH preamble included in the PRACH communication.
However, Takeda teaches determining, from the spreading code information, that the spreading code is a nested spreading code based at least in part on a quantity of repetitions of a PRACH preamble included in the PRACH communication. [0058] Now, when a different reduced bandwidth (1.4 MHz) is assigned to each MTC terminal, this may lead to a situation in which the resources to which reduced bandwidths can be allocated run out. So, in order to achieve increased capacity, a study is in progress to apply CDM (Code Division Multiplexing) to signals that are subject to repetitious transmission. To be more specific, a study is in progress to multiplex signals that each MTC terminal transmits and/or receives on the same resources (time/frequency resources) over a plurality of subframes. These signals are applied (multiplied by) varying spreading codes that correspond to each MTC terminal. The transmitting end (for example, an MTC terminal) multiplies signals to transmit in repetitions by spreading code elements in subframe units, and transmits the resulting signals.
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, having the teachings of Nagi, Takeda and Markus before him or her, to modify the method of Nagi and Markus to include PRACH as taught by Takeda.
The motivation to do so would be improved communication efficiency. (0048 by Takeda).
Claim [10 and 21] are rejected under 35 U.S.C 103 as being unpatentable over Nagi in view of Markus further in view of Liu (US 20070165567 A1).
In regards to claims 10 and 21 Nagi and Markus teach the limitations of the parent claims.
Nagi and Markus does not teach determining that a quantity of repetitions of a PRACH preamble included in the PRACH communication is an even value; determining that the spreading code is a Walsh code.
However, Liu teaches determining that a quantity of repetitions of a PRACH preamble included in the PRACH communication is an even value; determining that the spreading code is a Walsh code. [0032] In accordance with the present invention, a hybrid/CDM approach is used for the RACH preamble configuration. To minimize uplink interference, the RACH preamble is designed to use time-frequency spreading with a long spreading factor. With this approach, no reservation of symbols and sub-carriers are required and uplink interference generated is minimal (e.g. 27.8 dB reduction with a spreading gain of 600). In addition, a simple receiver structure with frequency domain processing can be used to process the preamble. The RACH preamble structure is summarized as follows: a) the preamble length is 1 millisecond using two 0.5 millisecond sub-frames; a total of 4200 chips excluding Cyclic Prefix length, b) frequency spreading with spreading factor M using a Chu-sequence (complex quadratic sequence), where M is the occupied sub-carriers excluding DC (direct current) component, c) time spreading with a Walsh sequence of length two, d) signature sequences with combined spreading factor 2.times.M out of which a total of twenty are used, and e) a repetition of seven is used to rate-match the preamble sequence length to one millisecond.
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, having the teachings of Nagi, Markus and Liu before him or her, to modify the method of Nagi and Tan to include PRACH as taught by Liu.
The motivation to do so would be improved transmission performance. (0027 by Liu).
Claim [ 24, 28 and 31] are rejected under 35 U.S.C 103 as being unpatentable over Nagi in view of Markus further in view of Zhang (US 20190327766 A1).
In regards to claims 24 and 28 Nagi and Markus teach the limitations of the parent claims.
Nagi and Markus does not teach determining the spreading code information for the set of RACH occasions associated with the RACH procedure based at least in part on a validity of RACH occasions, included in the set of RACH occasions, for a set of UEs associated with the base station.
However, Zhang teaches determining the spreading code information for the set of RACH occasions associated with the RACH procedure based at least in part on a validity of RACH occasions, included in the set of RACH occasions, for a set of UEs associated with the base station. [0051] In FIG. 1, the wireless link 45 can be considered to include a number of logical channels 40 (e.g., RACH 41) that get mapped onto physical channels 42. The physical channels 42 are defined at least in part by, e.g., a (e.g., UL carrier) frequency 34, access code 38 (e.g., spreading code 38), and/or time slot 36. Physical channels 42 (and the logical channels 40) may be on the uplink (UL), from the UE 10 to the BS 12, or on the downlink (DL), from the BS 12 to the UE 10.
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, having the teachings of Nagi, Zhang and Tan before him or her, to modify the method of Nagi and Tan to include PRACH as taught by Zhang.
The motivation to do so would be improved QoS. (0071 by Zhang).
In regards to claims 31 Nagi and Markus teach the limitations of the parent claims.
Nagi and Tan does not teach transmitting, to the UE, the random access configuration indicating a set of PRACH preambles, wherein the set of PRACH preambles include one or more subsets of PRACH preambles.
However, Zhang teaches wherein transmitting, to the UE, the random access configuration indicating a set of PRACH preambles, wherein the set of PRACH preambles include one or more subsets of PRACH preambles. [0096] In one example, at 605, the UE may receive PRACH configuration information. In some cases, PRACH configuration may be received via RMSI from a base station. In some examples, the PRACH configuration information may indicate a set of available random access preambles, where a first subset of the set of available random access preambles may be available for aggregated random access requests and a second subset of the set of available random access preambles may be available for non-aggregated random access requests, where the first subset and the second subset may be overlapping or non-overlapping.
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, having the teachings of Nagi, Zhang and Markus before him or her, to modify the method of Nagi and Tan to include PRACH as taught by Zhang.
The motivation to do so would be improved QoS. (0071 by Zhang).
Response to Argument
Applicant’s arguments filed on 12/02/2025 have been fully considered but they are moot in view of the new rejection stated above.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SHEHAB A ALAWDI whose telephone number is (571)270-3203. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9-5.
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/SHEHAB A ALAWDI/Examiner, Art Unit 2466
/JAY P PATEL/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2466