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.
Applicant's arguments filed 2/5/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
On page 8 of the Applicant’s Response, Applicant: “Zhang does not explicitly state that both the preamble and uplink data channel resource are sent in a single message. Further, Zhang does not teach or suggest that the configuration information includes an explicit indication to use a two-step random access procedure.“.
Examiner respectfully disagrees with Applicant’s argument. Kim expressly discloses configuration information including an indication of the dedicated preamble and a resource allocation for the dedicated resources (p250-257). Uchino expressly discloses an explicit indication to use a two-step random access procedure (p40-42, p45-47). Uchino expressly discloses the information may be sent in RRC signal (p40, 42). Zhang expressly discloses an RRC configuration message comprises a preamble indication and indication of resource granted in the uplink data channel for sending MSG 3 in a 2 step RA procedure (p150-151, p157-160). Kim, Uchino, and Zhang disclose all limitations of claim 38, and in combination it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to include the explicit indication disclosed by Uchino in RRC configuration message disclosed by Zhang for the purpose of reducing overhead in the signaling; and using the RRC configuration information message in Kim’s invention to improve efficiency of the 2 step RA procedure.
In view of the above discussions the rejection of claims 38, 42-47, 50, and 52-58 still stands.
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, 42-47, 50, and 52-58 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kim (US 2021/0120581) in view of Zhang et al. (US 2025/0267719) (“Zhang”) in view of Uchino et al. (US 2022/0124828) (“Uchino”).
For claims 38, 47, and 55-58; Kim discloses: receiving, from a base station in the wireless communication network, configuration information including an indication of the dedicated preamble (paragraph 216, 294, 301: In a contention-free random access (CFRA) procedure, the base station may pre-allocate the RA preamble to the terminal. The pre-allocation of the RA preamble may mean that an index, masking information, etc. of the RA preamble for the RA MSG1 is allocated dedicatedly to the terminal. In this case, the terminal may perform the random access procedure (e.g., CFRA procedure) without competing with other terminals) (paragraph 250-257: base station may transmit system information and/or a control message including configuration information of a radio resource (e.g., uplink radio resource) for the random access procedure to the terminal (S1001). The terminal may obtain the configuration information of the radio resource for the random access procedure by receiving the system information and/or the control message from the base station); transmitting, to a base station, a dedicated random access preamble on a random access channel as a first part of a random access message (paragraph 250-260: RA MSG-A may include an RA preamble and an RA payload… When the 2-step random access procedure is performed in a non-contention scheme, the transmission resources of the RA preamble and/or the RA payload of the RA MSG-A may be allocated dedicatedly to the terminal); and a resource allocation for the dedicated resources (paragraph 250-257: base station may transmit system information and/or a control message including configuration information of a radio resource (e.g., uplink radio resource) for the random access procedure to the terminal (S1001). The terminal may obtain the configuration information of the radio resource for the random access procedure by receiving the system information and/or the control message from the base station); transmitting, to the base station, a second part of the random access message using dedicated resources on an uplink shared channel (paragraph 250-260: the RA preamble may be transmitted on a PRACH, and the RA payload may be transmitted on a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH)… When the 2-step random access procedure is performed in a non-contention scheme, the transmission resources of the RA preamble and/or the RA payload of the RA MSG-A may be allocated dedicatedly to the terminal) associated with the dedicated random access preamble (paragraph 250-260, 294, 301: When the 2-step random access procedure is performed in a non-contention scheme, the transmission resources of the RA preamble and/or the RA payload of the RA MSG-A may be allocated dedicatedly to the terminal).
Kim does not expressly disclose, but Uchino from similar fields of endeavor teaches: configuration information including an explicit indication to use a two-step random access procedure (paragraph 40-42, 45-47: an explicit indication to use a two-step random access procedure… for example, L1 signal, RRC signal, MAC signal … Parameters used for threshold value for determining switch trigger based on information on radio quality or information on congestion degree may be indicated by an RRC message or broadcast information …Before the start of the random access procedure or during execution of the random access procedure, the user equipment 20 may receive an instruction for performing 2-step random access procedure from the base station… the user equipment 20 may receive, for example, as an explicit indication, an instruction of 2-step random access procedure from the base station apparatus 10 via broadcast information or individual signaling). Thus it would have been obvious to the person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to implement the signaling as described by Uchino in the 2 step RACH as described by Kim. The motivation is to improve RA efficiency.
Kim does not expressly disclose, but Zhang from similar fields of endeavor teaches: configuration message including all 3 parts (paragraph 151, 157-160: when the UE 110 is in the RRC connected state, higher-layer signaling, such as an RRC configuration message, may be used in step 352 of FIG. 7 to transmit to the UE 110 both a specific preamble and an associated uplink data channel resource grant… received in an RRC configuration message sent in step 352 of the two-step random access 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 single message signaling of information as described by Zhang in the 2 step RACH as described by Kim. The motivation is to improve signaling overhead.
For claims 42 and 50; Kim 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 256).
For claims 43; Kim discloses: wherein indication of the dedicated preamble and the mapping information are received in the same message (paragraph 256, 294, 301,482-490).
For claims 44 and 52; Kim discloses: wherein the configuration information further comprises an indication to use a two-step random access procedure (paragraph 483: The channel quality threshold (e.g., RSRP threshold) may be used to determine the type of random access procedure performed by the terminal. When the channel quality between the terminal and the base station is equal to or greater than the RSRP threshold, the terminal may perform the 2-step random access procedure).
For claims 45 and 53; Kim 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 258).
For claims 46 and 54; Kim 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 256, 453, 294, 301).
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.
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/JOHN D BLANTON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2466
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