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 .
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 38, 42-47, 50, and 52-58 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
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.
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) 38, 42, 43, 45-47, 50, and 53-58 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhang et al. (US 2025/0267719) (“Zhang”) in view of Park et al. (US 2019/0053120) (“Park”).
For claims 38, 47, and 55-58; Zhang discloses: receiving, from a base station in the wireless communication network, a handover command message initiating execution of a handover to a target cell (paragraph 179, 181: the serving base station may initiate a HO/beam switching process by sending a HO request to one or more target base stations; then the target base station(s) will send a HO response if the HO/beam switching is allowed. The target base station(s) will configure the required resources and reserve a C-RNTI and a random access (e.g. RACH) preamble/preamble access channel, and then the serving base station will deliver the HO resource configuration(s) from the target base station(s) to the UE via a HO command (or RRC reconfiguration message)), the handover command message comprising an indication of a dedicated random access preamble (paragraph 179: configuration may include the information indicating a UE specific preamble (or index), a preamble transmission channel (that can be a dedicated channel or a shared channel with any other UE)), and an allocation of dedicated resources on an uplink shared channel in the target cell (paragraph 179: configuration may include the information indicating … an uplink grant resource for Msg 3 transmission (that can be a dedicated resource or a shared resource with any other UE)) associated with the dedicated random access preamble (paragraph 193: wherein there is a one-to-one mapping between the particular uplink data channel resource and the random access preamble) for transmission of a second part of the random access message (paragraph 179: uplink grant resource for Msg 3 transmission); transmitting, to a base station, the dedicated random access preamble on a random access channel as a first part of a random access message (paragraph 121: Msg 1 and Msg 3 transmitted in step 356 may sometimes be referred to collectively as Msg A, even though Msg 1 and Msg 3 are not transmitted as a single message, but are transmitted as two different messages on two different uplink channels, coupled together using time-division multiplexing (TDM), frequency-division multiplexing (FDM) or a combination of both); and transmitting, to the base station, the second part of the random access message using the dedicated resources on the uplink shared channel associated with the dedicated random access preamble (paragraph 121, 179, 193: Msg 1 and Msg 3 transmitted in step 356 may sometimes be referred to collectively as Msg A, even though Msg 1 and Msg 3 are not transmitted as a single message, but are transmitted as two different messages on two different uplink channels, coupled together using time-division multiplexing (TDM), frequency-division multiplexing (FDM) or a combination of both… wherein there is a one-to-one mapping between the particular uplink data channel resource and the random access preamble).
Zhang does not expressly disclose, but Park from similar fields of endeavor teaches: dedicated random access preamble associated with a reference signal for the target cell (paragraph 164, 172: the SS block may include an association between SS blocks and a subset of RACH resources and/or a subset of RAP indices. A wireless device may determine a subset of RACH resources and/or a subset of RAP indices based on DL measurements on SS blocks. In multi-beam operation, a gNB may repeat a transmission of PSS/SSS/PBCH using different Tx beams, e.g., Tx beam sweeping, to provide a DL coverage for supporting cell selection/reselection… wireless device may measure one or more SS blocks and/or CSI-RSs in a neighboring cell (e.g., for a handover). If one or more of the neighboring cell SS-block measurements triggers a handover request, a source gNB may transmit one or more parameters for indicating one or more preferred beams in a handover request to a target gNB based on the measurements. Based on receiving the one or more preferred beams, the target gNB may transmit one or more beam-specific dedicated RACH resources and/or one or more RAPs in a handover command). Thus it would have been obvious to the person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to implement the beam association as described by Park in the 2 step RACH CFRA HO as described by Zhang. The motivation is to improve RA efficiency.
For claims 42 and 50; Zhang discloses: wherein the configuration information further comprises mapping information for a dedicated preamble to resource mapping associating the dedicated preamble with the dedicated resources on the uplink shared channel (paragraph 179, 193).
For claim 43; Zhang discloses: wherein indication of the dedicated preamble and the mapping information are received in the same message (paragraph 179, 181, 193).
For claims 45 and 53; Zhang discloses: wherein at least a portion of configuration information is received from the base station in a handover command or in a radio resource control message (paragraph 179).
For claims 46 and 54; Zhang discloses: receiving, from the base station, transmission parameters for use in transmitting the second part of the random access message on the uplink shared channel (paragraph 237).
Claim(s) 44 and 52 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhang in view of Park as applied to claim 38 above, and further in view of Loehr et al. (US 2020/0100299) (“Loehr”).
For claims 44 and 52; Zhang discloses the subject matter in claim 38 as described above in the office action.
Zhang does not expressly disclose, but Loehr from similar fields of endeavor teaches: wherein the configuration information further comprises an indication to use a two-step random access procedure (paragraph 95: a PDCCH order or a RRC message ordering a handover may indicate whether to use a legacy contention-free RACH procedure or a 2-step RACH procedure (e.g., a handover complete message may be included in step 1 of the 2-step RACH procedure)). Thus it would have been obvious to the person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to implement the beam association as described by Loehr in the 2 step RACH CFRA HO as described by Zhang. The motivation is to improve RA efficiency.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Zhang et al. (US 2020/0252973); Zhang discloses a user equipment (UE) may establish a connection with a base station using a random access procedure. The random access procedure may be a 2-step random access procedure and reduce a number of handover exchange messages.
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JOHN D BLANTON whose telephone number is (571)270-3933. The examiner can normally be reached 7am-6pm EST, Mon-Thu.
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/JOHN D BLANTON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2466
