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 .
DETAILED ACTION
a. A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 12/08/2025 has been entered.
Claims 1-20 in the present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, are being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
- claims 1-7, 15-17, and 20 are amended
- claim 14 is canceled
b. This is a first action on the merits based on Applicant’s claims submitted on 11/10/2025.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 12/31/2025 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Response to Arguments
Regarding Independent claims 1, 15, and 20 previously rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103, Applicant's arguments, see “Cheng9291 does not disclose two different features as claimed where "a first feature specific RACH resource for the first feature or a second feature specific RACH resource for the second feature [is selected] based on priorities assigned to the first feature and the second feature."” on pages 9-10, filed on 11/10/2025, with respect to U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2023/0388971 to Bergström et al., in view of U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2024/0049291 to Cheng et al., have been fully considered but not persuasive.
Bergstrom discloses a first feature specific RACH resource for the first feature or a second feature specific RACH resource for the second feature (“the information that indicates the mappings between the plurality of PRACH resources and the plurality of sets of features comprises, for a PRACH resource from among the plurality of PRACH resources, information that indicates a mapping of a first set of PRACH preambles for the PRACH resource to a first set of features and information that indicates a mapping of a second set of the PRACH preamble for the PRACH resource to a second set of features.” [0058]) based on priorities assigned to the first feature and the second feature (“a mapping between a feature and one or more preamble ranges in a PRACH resource to which the feature is mapped is defined based on one or more rules (e.g. priorities)” [0066]).
The Bergstrom’s reference discloses each and every limitation of the present claims, and therefore render the claims 1, 15, and 20 obvious. The Examiner respectfully disagrees with the applicant’s arguments that the Examiner fails to establish a prima facie case of obviousness MPEP § 2141. Claims 1, 15, and 20 are still being rejected on the same grounds for rejection as before.
Regarding dependent claims 6 and 17 previously rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103, Applicant's arguments, see “Although this section of Bergstrom discusses multiple PRACH occasions in the frequency domain and in the time domain, this section of Bergstrom does not disclose that these PRACH occasions are used for signaling different features. It merely discusses that multiple PRACH occasions can be in the frequency domain and in the time domain. In contrast, dependent claim 6 recites that "one or more of a plurality of RACH occasions associated with the plurality of features are used for indicating the first feature or the second feature and wherein the plurality of RACH occasions are spread in a frequency domain and a time domain."” on page 10, filed on 11/10/2025, with respect to U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2023/0388971 to Bergström et al., in view of U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2024/0049291 to Cheng et al., have been fully considered but not persuasive.
Bergstrom discloses one or more of a plurality of RACH occasions associated with the plurality of features (“This means that the PRACH resources are partitioned and mapped to different information. The partitioning can either take place in the time/frequency domain (i.e., the PRACH occasions are partitioned) or in the coding domain (i.e., the PRACH preambles are partitioned), or a combination of the two. Based on the partition the preamble is received on, the network can decode the information. For example, as explained above, PRACH partitioning is used to convey the selected downlink beam/Synchronization Signal Block (SSB) to the network, to differentiate between 2-step and 4-step Random Access (RA), and to signal the Msg3/MsgA size using the group A/B preamble partitions.” [0101]) are used for indicating the first feature or the second feature (“TABLE 1 Rel-17 feature Reason for PRACH indication Reduced To indicate reduced capabilities to the network so Capabilities that the network can adapt subsequent transmissions (RedCap) Small Data To request a larger Msg3 size (or MsgA size in case Transmission of 2-step RA) (SDT) Coverage To indicate need for coverage enhancement (esp. for Enhancement Msg3) (CovEnh) Slicing To indicate high priority slice to the network and to achieve slice isolation also during random access” see Table 1 and furthermore “A set of PRACH occasions which may be divided into partitions for feature signaling, wherein this set of PRACH occasions is repeated every feature association cycle. A typical example of a partitioning set is the set of PRACH occasions associated with the same SSB index (where the same partitioning would be used for the set of PRACH occasions associated with every SSB index). With this typical example, the partitioning set would recur with each SSB to RO mapping cycle and consequently a feature association cycle would be equally long as an SSB to RO mapping cycle. Terms that may be used to refer to the same concept as the “partitioning set” may be “partitioning space” or “partitioning unit”.” [0191]) and wherein the plurality of RACH occasions are spread in a frequency domain and a time domain (“there may not only be multiple PRACH occasions in the frequency domain but also in the time domain. In each such PRACH time/frequency occasion, there are 64 preambles available for transmission. The PRACH resource structure is illustrated in FIG. 3.” [0009]).
The Bergstrom’s reference, as combined with the Chen’s reference, discloses each and every limitation of the present claims, and therefore render the claims 6 and 17 obvious. The Examiner respectfully disagrees with the applicant’s arguments that the Examiner fails to establish a prima facie case of obviousness MPEP § 2141. Claims 6 and 17 are still being rejected on the same grounds for rejection as before.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1, 2, 5-9, 11, and 15-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Bergstrom et al. US Pub 2023/0388971, claiming provisional application 63191141 priority 2021-05-20 (hereinafter “Bergstrom”).
Regarding claim 1 (Currently Amended)
Bergstrom discloses a user equipment (UE) (“FIG. 21 is a schematic block diagram of a wireless communication device 712 (e.g., a UE)” [0317]; Fig. 21), comprising:
a transceiver (“transceiver 2106” in Fig. 21; [0317]) configured to enable wireless communication with a base station; and
a processor (“processor 2102” in Fig. 21; [0317]) communicatively coupled to the transceiver and configured to:
determine a first feature and a second feature to be indicated at an initial access of the UE to the base station (i.e. pre-defined PRACH configuration) using feature specific Random Access Channel (RACH) resources (“the plurality of PRACH resources are defined by a PRACH configuration, and the information that indicates the mappings between the plurality of PRACH resources and the plurality of sets of features comprises, for the PRACH configuration, information that indicates a mapping of different subsets of the plurality of PRACH resources defined by the PRACH configuration to different sets of features” [0037]), wherein the first and second features are different ones of a plurality of features (e.g. “RedCap”, “Small Data (SDT)”, “coverage enhancement (CovEnh)”, “slicing” [Table 1]) to be indicated at the initial access of the UE to the base station (“the information that indicates the mappings between the plurality of PRACH resources and the plurality of sets of features comprises, for a PRACH resource from among the plurality of PRACH resources, information that indicates a mapping of a first set of PRACH preambles for the PRACH resource to a first set of features and information that indicates a mapping of a second set of the PRACH preamble for the PRACH resource to a second set of features.” [0039]).
determine whether the UE and the base station support a first feature specific random access (RA) procedure for the first feature and a second feature specific RA procedure for the second feature (“a network node (e.g., a base station such as, e.g., a gNB) maps PRACH resources to different sets of features. The UE determines which set of features the UE wants to indicate in the random access procedure by inspecting the mappings of the possible PRACH resources and selects the PRACH resource which maps to the set of features that the UE wants to indicate.” [0109]);
in response to determining that both the UE and the base station support the first feature specific RA procedure (“4-step RA can be seen as feature F1”) for the first feature and support the second feature specific RA procedure (“2-step RA feature can be seen as feature F2”) for the second feature, determine whether a first condition for the first feature and a second condition for the second features are satisfied (“The PRACH configurations defined for Rel-15 4-step RA and Rel-16 2-step RA in PRACH-ConfigCommon and RACH-ConfigCommon2stepRA, respectively, are used as starting point. The group A/B feature in Rel-15 4-step RA can be seen as feature F1 and the 2-step RA feature introduced in Rel-16 can be seen as feature F2.” [0153]); and
in response to determining that the first condition and the second condition are satisfied:
select a first feature specific RACH resource for the first feature or a second feature specific RACH resource for the second feature (“the information that indicates the mappings between the plurality of PRACH resources and the plurality of sets of features comprises, for a PRACH resource from among the plurality of PRACH resources, information that indicates a mapping of a first set of PRACH preambles for the PRACH resource to a first set of features and information that indicates a mapping of a second set of the PRACH preamble for the PRACH resource to a second set of features.” [0058]) based on priorities assigned to the first feature and the second feature (“a mapping between a feature and one or more preamble ranges in a PRACH resource to which the feature is mapped is defined based on one or more rules (e.g. priorities)” [0066]); and
perform a 4-step RA procedure or a 2-step RA procedure based on the selected first feature specific RACH resource or the second feature specific RACH resource (“Another way to support both RA types together with feature signaling could be to provide two instances of RACH configuration for feature signaling, where one of them configures PRACH occasions for 4-step RA and one of them configures PRACH occasions for 2-step RA. The feature configuration for a feature for which 2-step RA is suitable could then point out PRACH occasions for which 2-step RA is configured, while the feature configuration for a feature for which 4-step RA is suitable could point out PRACH occasions for which 4-step RA is configured. As another option, a feature configuration could point out both PRACH occasions with 2-step RA and PRACH occasions with 4-step RA and let the selection between them be governed by an RSRP threshold or some other condition.” [0212]).
Regarding claim 2 (Currently Amended)
Bergstrom previously discloses the UE of claim 1,
Bergstrom further discloses wherein one or more RACH occasions or one or more preambles partitioned based on the plurality of features (“the plurality of PRACH occasions and/or associated preamble ranges are prepared to simplify indications of the mappings from the feature configurations” [0047] and furthermore “For example, if feature Fn shares PRACH occasions with feature F1 (the Rel-15 group A/B feature), the RACH-configCommon-Fn IE can point to PRACH occasions defined in the Rel-15 RACH-ConfigCommon IE rather than defining new, separate ones. If separate PRACH occasions are defined, the SSB-associated contention-based preambles are partitioned to signal feature Fn combined with the other, previously introduced features.” [0156-0157]) are used for indicating the first feature or the second feature (“the information that indicates the mappings between the plurality of PRACH resources and the plurality of sets of features comprises, for a PRACH resource from among the plurality of PRACH resources, information that indicates a mapping of a first set of PRACH preambles for the PRACH resource to a first set of features and information that indicates a mapping of a second set of the PRACH preamble for the PRACH resource to a second set of features.” [0058]).
Regarding claim 5 (Currently Amended)
Bergstrom previously discloses the UE of claim 2,
Bergstrom further discloses wherein one or more of a plurality of frequency resources of a RACH occasion associated with the plurality of features (“the information that indicates the mappings between the plurality of PRACH resources and the plurality of sets of features comprises, for a PRACH resource from among the plurality of PRACH resources, information that indicates a mapping of a first set of PRACH preambles for the PRACH resource to a first set of features and information that indicates a mapping of a second set of the PRACH preamble for the PRACH resource to a second set of features.” [0058]) are used to indicate the first feature or the second feature (“the plurality of PRACH resources form a plurality of PRACH occasions, the plurality of PRACH occasions being a common pool of PRACH occasions dedicated for feature signaling, and the information that indicates the mappings between the plurality of PRACH resources and the plurality of sets of features comprises, for each of a plurality of features, a feature configuration that comprises information that indicates one or more PRACH occasions from the common pool of PRACH occasions dedicated for feature signaling that are mapped to the feature” [0047]).
Regarding claim 6 (Currently Amended)
Bergstrom previously discloses The UE of claim 2,
Bergstrom further discloses wherein one or more of a plurality of RACH occasions associated with the plurality of features are used to indicate the first feature or the second feature (“the information that indicates the mappings between the plurality of PRACH resources and the plurality of sets of features comprises, for a PRACH resource from among the plurality of PRACH resources, information that indicates a mapping of a first set of PRACH preambles for the PRACH resource to a first set of features and information that indicates a mapping of a second set of the PRACH preamble for the PRACH resource to a second set of features.” [0058]) and wherein the plurality of RACH occasions are spread in a frequency domain and a time domain (“for short preambles, there may not only be multiple PRACH occasions in the frequency domain but also in the time domain. In each such PRACH time/frequency occasion, there are 64 preambles available for transmission.” [0009]).
Regarding claim 7 (Currently Amended)
Bergstrom previously discloses the UE of claim 2,
Bergstrom further discloses wherein one or more of a plurality of preamble offsets associated with the plurality of features are used to indicate the first feature or the second feature (“the plurality of PRACH occasions and/or associated preamble ranges are prepared to simplify indications of the mappings from the feature configurations. In one embodiment, a mapping between a feature and one or more preamble ranges in a PRACH resource to which the feature is mapped is defined based on a rule(s).” [0047]).
Regarding claim 8
Bergstrom previously discloses the UE of claim 1,
Bergstrom further discloses wherein when the first feature specific RACH is selected between the first feature specific RACH resource and the second feature specific RACH, the processor is configured to select the first feature specific RACH resource based on the determined feature and a feature specific RACH configuration (“The PRACH configurations defined for Rel-15 4-step RA and Rel-16 2-step RA in PRACH-ConfigCommon and RACH-ConfigCommon2stepRA, respectively, are used as starting point. The group A/B feature in Rel-15 4-step RA can be seen as feature F1 and the 2-step RA feature introduced in Rel-16 can be seen as feature F2. Hence the next feature to be added is feature F3. When a new feature Fn (e.g., F3=RedCap) to be signaled via PRACH is introduced, a new IE is added in system information which contains the PRACH configuration for the new feature.“ [0154-0155]).
Regarding claim 9
Bergstrom previously discloses the UE of claim 8,
Bergstrom further discloses wherein the feature specific RACH configuration includes a general RACH configuration (“For instance, it could be allowed for up to three or four features to share a common associated PRACH occasion, and signaled feature combinations could be restricted to contain no more than two or three features.” [0230]) and a plurality of specific RACH configurations (“Feature Fn either defines new, separate PRACH occasions or shares PRACH occasions defined by one of the previously introduced features.” [0156]).
Regarding claim 11
Bergstrom previously discloses the UE of claim 9,
Bergstrom further discloses wherein each of the plurality of specific RACH configurations comprises information associated with a 4-step RA procedure or a 2-step RA procedure associated with the corresponding feature of the plurality of features (“Another way to support both RA types together with feature signaling could be to provide two instances of RACH configuration for feature signaling, where one of them configures PRACH occasions for 4-step RA and one of them configures PRACH occasions for 2-step RA. The feature configuration for a feature for which 2-step RA is suitable could then point out PRACH occasions for which 2-step RA is configured, while the feature configuration for a feature for which 4-step RA is suitable could point out PRACH occasions for which 4-step RA is configured. As another option, a feature configuration could point out both PRACH occasions with 2-step RA and PRACH occasions with 4-step RA and let the selection between them be governed by an RSRP threshold or some other condition.” [0212]).
Regarding claim 15 (Currently Amended)
A method, comprising:
determining, by a user equipment (UE), a first feature and a second feature to be indicated at an initial access of the UE to a base station using feature specific Random Access Channel (RACH) resources, wherein the first and second features are different ones of a plurality of features to be indicated at the initial access of the UE to the base station;
determining whether the UE and the base station support a first feature specific random access (RA) procedure for the first feature and a second feature specific RA procedure for the second feature;
in response to determining that both the UE and the base station support the first feature specific RA procedure for the first feature and support the second feature specific RA procedure for the second feature, determining whether a first condition for the first feature and a second condition for the second features are satisfied; and
in response to determining that the first condition and the second condition are:
selecting a first feature specific RACH resource for the first feature or a second feature specific RACH resource for the second feature based on priorities assigned to the first feature and the second feature; and
performing a 4-step RA procedure or a 2-step RA procedure based on the selected first feature specific RACH resource or the second feature specific RACH resource.
The scope and subject matter of method claim 15 is drawn to the method of using the corresponding apparatus claimed in claim 1. Therefore method claim 15 corresponds to apparatus claim 1 and is rejected for the same reasons of anticipation as used in claim 1 rejection above.
Regarding claim 16 (Currently Amended)
The method of claim 15, wherein one or more RACH occasions or one or more preambles partitioned based on the plurality of features are used to indicate the first feature or the second feature.
The scope and subject matter of method claim 16 is drawn to the method of using the corresponding apparatus claimed in claim 2. Therefore method claim 16 corresponds to apparatus claim 2 and is rejected for the same reasons of anticipation as used in claim 2 rejection above.
Regarding claim 17 (Currently Amended)
The method of claim 16, wherein:
one or more of a plurality of Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH) configuration indexes associated with the plurality of features are used to indicate the first feature or the second feature,
one or more of a plurality of sets of subframes for a PRACH configuration index associated with the plurality of features are used to indicate the first feature or the second feature,
one or more of a plurality of frequency resources of a RACH occasion associated with the plurality of features are used to indicate the first feature or the second feature,
one or more of a plurality of RACH occasions associated with the plurality of features are used to indicate the first feature or the second feature, wherein the plurality of RACH occasions are spread in a frequency domain and a time domain, or
one or more of a plurality of preamble offsets associated with the plurality of features are used for indicating the first feature or the second feature.
The scope and subject matter of method claim 17 is drawn to the method of using the corresponding apparatus claimed in claims 3-7. Therefore method claim 17 corresponds to apparatus claims 3-7 and is rejected for the same reasons of anticipation as used in claims 3-7 rejections above.
Regarding claim 18
The method of claim 15, wherein when the first feature specific RACH is selected between the first feature specific RACH resource and the second feature specific RACH resource, selecting the first feature specific RACH resource comprises selecting the feature specific RACH resource based on the determined feature and a feature specific RACH configuration.
The scope and subject matter of method claim 18 is drawn to the method of using the corresponding apparatus claimed in claim 8. Therefore method claim 18 corresponds to apparatus claim 8 and is rejected for the same reasons of anticipation as used in claim 8 rejection above.
Regarding claim 19
The method of claim 18, wherein:
the feature specific RACH configuration includes a general RACH configuration and a plurality of specific RACH configurations, or
the feature specific RACH configuration comprises a first feature specific RACH configuration associated with the 4-step RA procedure and a second feature specific RACH configuration associated with the 2-step RA procedure.
The scope and subject matter of method claim 19 is drawn to the method of using the corresponding apparatus claimed in claims 9 and 11. Therefore method claim 19 corresponds to apparatus claims 9 and 11 and is rejected for the same reasons of anticipation as used in claims 9 and 11 rejections above.
Regarding claim 20 (Currently Amended)
A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions that when executed by a processor of a user equipment (UE) cause the processor to perform operations comprising:
determining a first feature and a second feature to be indicated at an initial access of the UE to a base station using feature specific Random Access Channel (RACH) resources, wherein the first and second features are different ones of a plurality of features to be indicated at the initial access of the UE to the base station;
determining whether the UE and the base station support a first feature specific random access (RA) procedure for the first feature and a second feature specific RA procedure for the second feature;
in response to determining that both the UE and the base station support the first feature specific RA procedure for the first feature and support the second feature specific RA procedure for the second feature, determining whether a first condition for the first feature and a second condition for the second features are satisfied; and
in response to determining that the first condition and the second condition are satisfied:
selecting a first feature specific RACH resource for the first feature or a second feature specific RACH resource for the second feature based on priorities assigned to the first feature and the second feature; and
performing a 4-step RA procedure or a 2-step RA procedure based on the selected first feature specific RACH resource or the second feature specific RACH resource.
The scope and subject matter of non-transitory computer readable medium claim 20 is drawn to the computer program product of using the corresponding method claimed in claim 15. Therefore computer program product claim 20 corresponds to method claim 15 and is rejected for the same reasons of anticipation as used in claim 15 rejection above.
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 of this title, 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.
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.
Claim 3 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Bergstrom, and in view of Zhang et al. US Pub 2020/0252977 (hereinafter “Zhang”).
Regarding claim 3 (Currently Amended)
Bergstrom previously discloses the UE of claim 2,
Bergstrom does not specifically teach one or more of a plurality of Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH) configuration indexes associated with the plurality of features are used for indicating the first feature or the second feature.
In an analogous art, Zhang discloses one or more of a plurality of Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH) configuration indexes associated with the plurality of features (“In some cases, it may be desirable for a communication system to support both two-step random access procedures and four-step random access procedures, by, for example, using the same physical RACH (PRACH) configuration for both types of procedures. In some cases, such as in NR, the PRACH configuration index may determine the RACH occasion (RO) (e.g., a transmission occasion during which a UE may transmit information) in the time domain.” [0149]) are used for indicating the first feature (e.g. “two-step RACH”) or the second feature (e.g. “four-step RACH”).
Before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify Bergstrom’s method for PRACH partitioning for feature signaling, to include Zhang’s random access procedure, in order to identify physical resources supporting different features (Zhang [0062). Thus, a person of ordinary skill would have appreciated the ability to incorporate Zhang’s random access procedure into Bergstrom’s method for PRACH partitioning for feature signaling since the claimed invention is merely a combination of old elements, and in the combination each element merely would have performed the same function as it did separately, and one of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized that the results of the combination were predictable.
Claim 4 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Bergstrom, and in view of Cheng et al. US Pub 2023/0328794 (hereinafter “Cheng8794”).
Regarding claim 4 (Currently Amended)
Bergstrom previously discloses the UE of claim 2,
Zhang does not specifically teach wherein one or more of a plurality of sets of subframes for a Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH) configuration index associated with the plurality of features are used for indicating the first feature or the second feature.
In an analogous art, Cheng8794 discloses wherein the first feature specific RACH resource or the second feature specific RACH resource comprises a plurality of sets of subframes for a Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH) configuration index (“The RACH configuration may further specify that the random access response window starts a certain number of sub-frames after the end of the PRACH preamble in some examples.” [0090]) associated with the plurality of features are used for indicating the first feature or the second feature (“different RACH configurations for different slices” [0118]).
Before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify Bergstrom’s method for PRACH partitioning for feature signaling, to include Cheng8794’s method for configuring different random access channel (RACH) configurations for different service/slice groups, in order to support different features or network slices (Cheng8794 [Abstract]). Thus, a person of ordinary skill would have appreciated the ability to incorporate Cheng8794’s method for configuring different random access channel (RACH) configurations for different service/slice groups into Bergstrom’s method for PRACH partitioning for feature signaling since the claimed invention is merely a combination of old elements, and in the combination each element merely would have performed the same function as it did separately, and one of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized that the results of the combination were predictable.
Claim 10 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Bergstrom, and in view of 3GPP TS 38.211, version 16.2.0, 07-2020 (hereinafter “TS38.211”).
Regarding claim 10
Bergstrom previously discloses the UE of claim 9,
Bergstrom does not specifically teach wherein the general RACH configuration comprises a number of the plurality of specific RACH configurations and a mapping between a plurality of features and the plurality of specific RACH configurations.
In an analogous art, TS38.211 discloses Table 6.3.3.2-2 (as partially shown below) wherein the general RACH configuration comprises a number of the plurality of specific RACH configurations and a mapping between a plurality of features and the plurality of specific RACH configurations.
PNG
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586
710
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Before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify Bergstrom’s method for PRACH partitioning for feature signaling, to include TS38.211’s method for configuring different random access channel (RACH) configurations, in order to identify physical resources supporting different features (TS38.211 [6.3.3.2). Thus, a person of ordinary skill would have appreciated the ability to incorporate TS38.211’s method for configuring different random access channel (RACH) configurations into Bergstrom’s method for PRACH partitioning for feature signaling since the claimed invention is merely a combination of old elements, and in the combination each element merely would have performed the same function as it did separately, and one of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized that the results of the combination were predictable.
Claims 12 and 13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Bergstrom, and in view of Ericsson NPL “RACH partitioning for Rel-17 features”, 3GPP R2-2104933, available for internet retrieval (https://www.3gpp.org/ftp/tsg_ran/WG2_RL2/TSGR2_114-e/Docs/R2-2104933.zip), 05-11-2021 (hereinafter “Ericsson”) .
Regarding claim 12
Bergstrom previously discloses the UE of claim 8,
Bergstrom does not specifically teach wherein the feature specific RACH configuration comprises a first feature specific RACH configuration associated with the 4-step RA procedure and a second feature specific RACH configuration associated with the 2-step RA procedure.
In an analogous art, Ericsson discloses wherein the feature specific RACH configuration comprises a first feature specific RACH configuration associated with the 4-step RA procedure (“For 4-step RA, the RACH resources are configured in the RACH-ConfigCommon IE in SIB1” on page 1, section 2.1) and a second feature specific RACH configuration associated with the 2-step RA procedure (“The RACH resources for 2-step RA are configured in the RACH-ConfigCommonTwoStepRA IE in SIB1 and can either be separate from 4-step RA or they can be shared with 4-step RA.” on page 3, section 2.2).
Before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify Bergstrom’s method for PRACH partitioning for feature signaling, to include Ericsson’s method for RACH partitioning, in order to determine different RACH configurations supporting different features (Ericsson [Section 1 – Introduction]). Thus, a person of ordinary skill would have appreciated the ability to incorporate Ericsson’s method for RACH partitioning into Zhang’s random access procedure since the claimed invention is merely a combination of old elements, and in the combination each element merely would have performed the same function as it did separately, and one of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized that the results of the combination were predictable.
Regarding claim 13
Bergstrom previously discloses the UE of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to:
Bergstrom does not specifically teach in response to determining that the second condition is not satisfied but the first condition is satisfied, perform the 4-step RA procedure or the 2-step RA procedure based on the first feature specific RACH resource.
In an analogous art, Ericsson discloses in response to determining that the second condition is not satisfied but the first condition is satisfied, perform the 4-step RA procedure or the 2-step RA procedure based on the selected feature specific RACH resource (“Observation 2 - RACH partitioning is already used today for determining the SSB/beam and for differentiating between 2-step and 4-step RA and between group A and B.” section 2.3.1).
Before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify Bergstrom’s method for PRACH partitioning for feature signaling, to include Ericsson’s method for RACH partitioning, in order to determine different RACH configurations supporting different features (Ericsson [Section 1 – Introduction]). Thus, a person of ordinary skill would have appreciated the ability to incorporate Ericsson’s method for RACH partitioning into Zhang’s random access procedure since the claimed invention is merely a combination of old elements, and in the combination each element merely would have performed the same function as it did separately, and one of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized that the results of the combination were predictable.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CHUONG M NGUYEN whose telephone number is (571)272-8184. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 10:00am - 6:30pm.
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/CHUONG M NGUYEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2411