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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 06/29/2026 has been entered.
Response to Amendment/Remarks
This communication is considered fully responsive to the amendment filed on 06/23/2026 .
Claims 1-7, 9-11, 13-20, 22-25, 27-30, 32-33, 43-49 are pending and are examined in this office action.
Claims 1, 15, 25, 30, have been amended.
New claim 49 has been added and claims 8, 12, 21, 26, 31, 34-42, had been canceled.
Potential Allowable Subject Matter
To help move the case forward, Applicant is encouraged to amend their claim to be more consistent with the inventive concept shown in applicant’s Fig. 4 below.
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Support for Applicant’s Fig. 4 is found e.g., in paragraphs [0063] to [0074] of Applicant’s specification (Li et al. US 20230007683 A1). The applicant invention is, as best understood by the examiner, “A primary UE advertises sidelink random access configurations mapped to uplink configurations and receives a setup request from a secondary UE. If aforesaid primary UE’s and aforesaid secondary UE’s uplink configurations match, aforesaid primary UE performs part of the RACH procedure on the secondary UE’s behalf by sending a preamble to the network node, enabling the secondary UE to monitor for the response.” The applicant needs to expressively point out that that the RACH procedure 430 is initiated by Primary UE 120 by sending the preamble sequence to the network node. Also aforesaid preamble sequence is provided by the second which secondary UE monitors. However, this concept is currently not clearly captured in amended claim 1 or other independent claims. Incorporating the above concept with the claim as a whole as written will most likely overcome the current grounds of rejection and place the claim in potential condition for allowance.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, filled on 06/23/2026, with respect to claim(s) 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. See, Li et al. (US 20180006775 A1; hereinafter as “Li6775”).
Regarding all dependent claims: the applicant alleges that all dependent claims are allowable since they depend from all the independent claims above. The examiner respectfully disagrees in view of the above explanation of independent claims. Thus the rejection is deemed proper.
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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) 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.
Claims 1-7, 9-11, 13-20, 22-25, 27-29, 33, 43-49 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over GANESAN et al. (US 20220225290 A1; hereinafter as “GANESAN ”, which has a priority dated November 6, 2019) in view of LU et al. (US 20220183005 A1; hereinafter as “LU”, which has priority August 1, 2019), in view of CHOI et al. (US 20200367289 A1; hereinafter as “CHOI”) and further in view of Li et al. (US 20180006775 A1; hereinafter as “Li6775”).
Examiner’s note: in what follows, references are drawn to GANESAN unless otherwise mentioned.
Regarding claim 1, GANESAN teaches, A method of wireless communication performed by a primary user equipment (UE) (== UE 102 in Fig. 1 [0035]/ Transmitter Device Remote Unit 102: :[0116] ) comprising:
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transmitting, on a sidelink (==see fig. 1: UE 102 is in sidelink communication with another UE 102 ), information indicating a set of sidelink random access configurations ( (see fig. 6 where aforesaid Transmitter Device Remote Unit 102 (==primary UE in claim ) transmits “a channel state information reference signal (==information indicating ) within a data region and a channel state information request indicator in sidelink control information. (==a set of random access configuration ) ” to receiving remote unit 102 (==secondary UE in claim ) : [0116] );
receiving, on the sidelink and from a secondary UE (==receiving Remote Unit 102 in fig. 1) , a random access signal based at least in part on a selected sidelink random access configuration of the set of sidelink random access configurations (see fig. 6 element 604, 606, After Remote Device Remote Unit 102 (==secondary UE in claim ) determines resource (==select ) for sidelink communication, transmitting device, Remote Unit 102 / transmitting device receives “”a channel state information report in response to the channel state information request indicator “; determining 604, at a receiver device (e.g., remote unit 102), a resource for transmitting a channel state information report in response to the channel state information request indicator using a mode 1 resource allocation procedure, a mode 2 resource allocation procedure, or a combination thereof. In certain embodiments, the method 600 includes transmitting 606, from the receiver device, the channel state information report via a medium access control element using the resource. ”: [0116] ), ( see fig. 6 element 604 : receiving device or remote unit 102 in fig. 1 determine (==select) “ a resource for transmitting a channel state information report in response to the channel state information request indicator using a mode 1 resource allocation procedure, a mode 2 resource allocation procedure,”: [0116]).
While GANESAN teaches “receiving, on the sidelink and from a secondary UE , a random access signal based at least in part on a selected sidelink random access configuration of the set of sidelink random access configurations “,
GANESAN does not expressively teach:
transmitting, … information indicating …… random access configurations corresponding to a set of uplink random access configurations;
wherein the selected sidelink random access configuration corresponds to a selected uplink random access configuration of the secondary UE from the set of uplink random access configurations; determining a selected uplink random access configuration for the primary UE; and
selectively performing a part of a random access channel (RACH) procedure with a network node, on behalf of the secondary UE, in accordance with the selected uplink random access configuration of the secondary UE, based at least in part on a determination that the selected uplink random access configuration of the primary UE matches the selected uplink random access configuration of the secondary UE,
wherein selectively performing the part of the RACH procedure comprises transmitting, to the network node, a random access signal generated using a preamble sequence indicated by the selected uplink random access configuration of the secondary UE, such that the secondary UE monitors, from the network node, a RACH message of the part of the RACH procedure based at least in part on the preamble sequence used by the primary UE.
LU, in the same field of endeavor, discloses:
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transmitting, … information indicating …… random access configurations corresponding to a set of uplink random access configurations (see fig. 2 where VUE 131 and VUE 132 are in sidelink communication: [0040]; see fig. 2 element 210; where second terminal device/VUE 132 transmits first information resource first device /UE 131 which is for cellular communication /uplink random access communication : [0050]);
wherein the selected sidelink random access configuration corresponds to a selected uplink random access configuration of the secondary UE from the set of uplink random access ( selected resource are used for uplink cellular commucnation and selected resource is used for sidelink communication : [0050]); and
determining a selected uplink random access configuration for the primary UE (resource for uplink/cellular communication : [0050]; “ The UE 1 may perform sidelink communication with the UE 2 on the first time domain resource, and the UE 1 may perform cellular communication with the NW 1 on the second time domain resource”: [0137]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teaching of GANESAN to include the above recited limitations as taught by LU. The suggestion/motivation would be to use access requirement of the terminal that is sensitive to energy consumption: (LU; [0003]).
The combination of GANESAN and LU does not expressively disclose:
selectively performing a part of a random access channel (RACH) procedure with a network node, on behalf of the secondary UE, in accordance with the selected uplink random access configuration of the secondary UE, based at least in part on a determination that the selected uplink random access configuration of the primary UE matches the selected uplink random access configuration of the secondary UE,
wherein selectively performing the part of the RACH procedure comprises transmitting, to the network node, a random access signal generated using a preamble sequence indicated by the selected uplink random access configuration of the secondary UE, such that the secondary UE monitors, from the network node, a RACH message of the part of the RACH procedure based at least in part on the preamble sequence used by the primary UE.
CHOI, in the same field of endeavor, discloses:
selectively performing a part of a random access channel (RACH) procedure with a network node, on behalf of the secondary UE, in accordance with the selected uplink random access configuration of the secondary UE, based at least in part on a determination that the selected uplink random access configuration of the primary UE matches the selected uplink random access configuration of the secondary UE ( UE (==primary UE ) receives Random Access Configuration or RACH Configuration and use it for uplink communication with base station : [0095]; Aforesaid terminal/UE/Primary UE compare/select “reference signal received power (RSRP) on the downlink component carrier 701 of the cell 1 707 (S802), compares the measured RSRP with a threshold for selecting the supplementary uplink carrier 704 included in the random access configuration information (S803), and performs a random access on the supplementary uplink carrier 704 only in case that the measured RSRP is less than the threshold (S804)”: [0096]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teaching of GANESAN in view of LU to include the above recited limitations as taught by CHOI . The suggestion/motivation would be to provides a solution for activating/deactivating a supplementary uplink carrier when uplink transmission is performed through the supplementary uplink carrier in a 5G communication system, and enables efficient data transmission and reception through aperiodic channel information transmission and reception by indicating a specific downlink carrier for the aperiodic channel information transmission and reception when the supplementary uplink carrier is configured and activated.( CHOI; [0009]).
The combination of GANESAN , LU , CHOI does not expressively disclose:
wherein selectively performing the part of the RACH procedure comprises transmitting, to the network node, a random access signal generated using a preamble sequence indicated by the selected uplink random access configuration of the secondary UE, such that the secondary UE monitors, from the network node, a RACH message of the part of the RACH procedure based at least in part on the preamble sequence used by the primary UE.
Li6775, in the same field of endeavor, discloses:
wherein selectively performing the part of the RACH procedure comprises transmitting, to the network node, a random access signal generated using a preamble sequence indicated by the selected uplink random access configuration of the secondary UE, such that the secondary UE monitors, from the network node, a RACH message of the part of the RACH procedure based at least in part on the preamble sequence used by the primary UE (RACH procedure triggered by UE (==primary UE in claim ) includes UE’s determines a preamble sequence and sends the preamble sequence to the network node. Aforesaid network device sends acknowledgement information to the UE after receiving the preamble sequence, where the acknowledgement information is used to indicate an uplink grant to be used in subsequent transmission and/or adjust uplink sending timing of the UE; the UE sends, to the network device according to the uplink grant, an uplink data unit carrying identifier information of the UE; and the network device determines, according to the uplink data unit carrying the identifier information of the UE, the UE corresponding to the preamble sequence received previously, and sends, to the UE, a grant or a downlink data unit that carries an identifier of the UE, so that the UE determines that the network device has received the uplink data unit : [0231]; “ primary core carrier change notification message sent by the network device to the UE includes a dedicated preamble sequence, after sending the primary core carrier change notification message to the UE, the network device may determine, according to a RACH procedure triggered by the UE by using the dedicated preamble sequence and based on an uplink carrier corresponding to the new primary core carrier, that the primary core carrier of the UE is successfully changed.”: [0233]; “ RACH procedure triggered by the UE by using the dedicated preamble sequence is specifically a non-contention-based RACH procedure that may specifically include: the UE sends, based on the uplink carrier corresponding to the new primary core carrier, the dedicated preamble sequence to the network device; and after receiving the dedicated preamble sequence, the network device sends acknowledgement information to the UE, where the acknowledgement information is used to indicate an uplink grant to be used in subsequent transmission and/or adjust uplink sending timing of the UE. The network device may determine, according to the received dedicated preamble sequence sent by the UE, that the primary core carrier of the UE is successfully changed.”: [0234]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teaching of GANESAN in view of LU , CHOI to include the above recited limitations as taught by Li6775. The suggestion/motivation would be to improve stability of communication between the UE and the network device, when the multiple component carriers include at least two core carriers,Li6775; [0247]).
Regarding claim 2, GANESAN in view of LU, CHOI, Li6775 teaches the invention of claim 1 as set forth above. Further, GANESAN teaches, the method of claim 1, wherein the selected sidelink random access configuration indicates at least one of a sidelink preamble sequence for the random access signal or a sidelink random access channel (RACH) occasion for the random access signal (“determining 604 (==selected random access configuration ), at a receiver device (e.g., remote unit 102), a resource for transmitting a channel state information report in response to the channel state information request indicator using a mode 1 resource allocation procedure, a mode 2 resource allocation procedure, or a combination thereof.”:[0116] ).
Regarding claim 3, , GANESAN in view of LU, CHOI, Li6775 teaches the invention of claim 1 as set forth above. Further, GANESAN teaches, The method of claim 1, wherein the information indicating the set of sidelink random access configurations is transmitted in a sidelink system information block (SIB) (“a UE configured as a relay UE (e.g., by a gNB or an eNB) may transmit TX pool and/or RX pool related configuration information in PSBCH (e.g., relay Sidelink SIB related information) or in a discovery message. “: [0058]).
Regarding claim 4, , GANESAN in view of LU, CHOI, Li6775 teaches the invention of claim 1 as set forth above. Further, GANESAN teaches, The method of claim 1, wherein the set of uplink random access configurations are associated with respective synchronization signal blocks ( “UE configured as a sync ref UE (e.g., providing synchronization signal and other related system information to out of coverage UEs) may carry in PSBCH information related to at-least one TX resource pool configuration and/or RX resource pool configuration (e.g., sub-channel size, 1st stage SCI's (transmitted via PSCCH) aggregation level, start symbol for PSCCH in a slot, start frequency resource for PSCCH within a sub-channel, symbol length for PSCCH, total number of occupied RBs, and/or size of 1st stage SCI): [0054]).
Regarding claim 5, , GANESAN in view of LU, CHOI, Li6775 teaches the invention of claim 1 as set forth above. Further, GANESAN teaches, The method of claim 1, wherein the set of sidelink random access configurations indicate one or more time-frequency resource configurations for subsequent communications between the primary UE and the secondary UE s ( “ transmission resources (e.g., time and/or frequency domain) of SLSS may be configured to represent a sub-channel size.”: [0057] ).
Regarding claim 6, , GANESAN in view of LU, CHOI, Li6775 teaches the invention of claim 1 as set forth above. Further, CHO teaches, The method of claim 1, wherein the random access signal is associated with a lower transmit power than a random access signal transmitted by the primary UE in connection with the RACH procedure ( transmit power : [0096 ]).
Regarding claim 7, , GANESAN in view of LU, CHOI, Li6775 teaches the invention of claim 1 as set forth above. Further, GANESAN teaches, The method of claim 1, wherein, relative to a random access signal transmitted by the primary UE in connection with the RACH procedure, the random access signal received by the primary UE is associated with at least one of:
a smaller set of possible preamble sequences, a smaller subcarrier spacing, a shorter preamble sequence, or a smaller cyclic RYUft ( “In one embodiment, as shown in FIG. 4, the determination of an index of a PSFCH resource for a PSFCH transmission may be based first on a frequency (first on the frequency refers to the first lowest PRB in a subchannel), and, if there are not enough frequency resources, then based on cyclical RYUft of a sequence (first cyclic RYUft value from the configured list of cyclic RYUft pairs). In FIG. 4, 12 UEs are allocated within 10 RBs, 8 UEs PSFCH resources are allocated in a frequency domain first and then 4 UEs PSFCH resources are allocated in the code domain. This may degrade the performance of some UEs allocated in the code domain compared with UEs allocated in the frequency domain due to a near-far effect. ”; [0062] ).
Regarding claim 9, , GANESAN in view of LU, CHOI, Li6775 teaches the invention of claim 1 as set forth above. Further, CHOI teaches, The method of claim 1, further comprising:
Transmitting feedback information to the secondary UE based at least in part on selectively performing the RACH procedure ( [0089]).
Regarding claim 10, , GANESAN in view of LU, CHOI, Li6775 teaches the invention of claim 1 as set forth above. Further, CHOI teaches, The method of claim 9, wherein the information indicates whether the RACH procedure is successful ( [0089]).
Regarding claim 11, , GANESAN in view of LU, CHOI, Li6775 teaches the invention of claim 1 as set forth above. Further, CHOI teaches, The method of claim 9, wherein the feedback information indicates that the RACH procedure is successful ( [0089]).
Regarding claim 13, , GANESAN in view of LU, CHOI, Li6775 teaches the invention of claim 1 as set forth above. Further, GANESAN teaches, The method of claim 1, wherein selectively performing the part of the RACH procedure in accordance with the selected uplink random access configuration comprises: performing the part of the RACH procedure using a random access preamble associated with a repetition level to be used for a reception by the secondary UE ([0059]).
Regarding claim 14, , GANESAN in view of LU, CHOI, Li6775 teaches the invention of claim 1 as set forth above. Further, GANESAN teaches, The method of claim 1, wherein the selected uplink random access configuration is selected by the secondary UE ( see fig. 1 where random access configuration is selected by second UE 102 : [0030]-[0034]).
Regarding claim 15, GANESAN teaches, A method of wireless communication performed by a secondary user equipment (UE) ( see fig. 1 and fig. 6, Remote Unit 102/Receiving Device; [0035] )) comprising:
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determining a selected random access configuration for the secondary UE for a random access channel (RACH) procedure ( ( see fig. 6 element 604 : receiving device or remote unit 102 in fig. 1 determine (==select) “ a resource for transmitting a channel state information report in response to the channel state information request indicator using a mode 1 resource allocation procedure, a mode 2 resource allocation procedure,”: [0116]; NOTE select/determine sidelink random access configuration RACH procedure ));
receiving, on a sidelink and from a primary UE ( ==fig. 1 Remote Unit 102 Transmitter ) , system information indicating a sidelink random access configuration ( (see fig. 6 where Transmitter Device Remote Unit 102 transmits “a channel state information reference signal within a data region and a channel state information request indicator in sidelink control information. (==a set of random access configuration ) ” to receiving remote unit 102 : [0116]);
and transmitting, on the sidelink and to the primary UE, a random access signal indicated by the sidelink random access configuration ((see fig. 6 element 604, 606, After Remote Device Remote Unit 102 determines resource for sidelink communication, transmitting device, Remote Unit 102 / transmitting device receives “”a channel state information report in response to the channel state information request indicator “; determining 604, at a receiver device (e.g., remote unit 102), a resource for transmitting a channel state information report in response to the channel state information request indicator using a mode 1 resource allocation procedure, a mode 2 resource allocation procedure, or a combination thereof. In certain embodiments, the method 600 includes transmitting 606, from the receiver device, the channel state information report via a medium access control element using the resource. ”: [0116] ).
GANESAN does not expressively teach:
determining a selected uplink random access configuration…. ;
wherein the sidelink random access configuration corresponds to the selected uplink random access configuration of the secondary UE;
receiving, on the sidelink and from the primary UE, feedback information corresponding to a part of the RACH procedure selectively performed by the primary UE, in accordance with the selected uplink random access configuration of the secondary UE, based at least in part on a selected uplink random access configuration of the primary UE matching the uplink random access configuration of the secondary UE; and
receiving, from a network node, a RACH message in response to the part of the RACH procedure selectively performed by the primary UE based at least in part on a preamble sequence used by the primary UE for the part of the RACH procedure, wherein the preamble sequence is indicated by the selected uplink random access configuration of the secondary UE.
LU, in the same field of endeavor, discloses:
determining a selected uplink random access configuration… (see fig. 2 where VUE 131 and VUE 132 are in sidelink communication: [0040]; see fig. 2 element 210; where second terminal device/VUE 132 transmits first information resource first device /UE 131 which is for cellular communication /uplink random access communication : [0050]);
wherein the sidelink random access configuration corresponds to the selected uplink random access configuration of the secondary UE ( selected resource are used for uplink cellular commucnation and selected resource is sued for sidelink communication : [0050]);
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teaching of GANESAN to include the above recited limitations as taught by LU. The suggestion/motivation would be to use access requirement of the terminal that is sensitive to energy consumption: (LU; [0003]).
The combination of GANESAN and LU does not expressively disclose:
receiving, on the sidelink and from the primary UE, feedback information corresponding to a part of the RACH procedure selectively performed by the primary UE, in accordance with the selected uplink random access configuration of the secondary UE, based at least in part on a selected uplink random access configuration of the primary UE matching the uplink random access configuration of the secondary UE ; and
receiving, from a network node, a RACH message in response to the part of the RACH procedure selectively performed by the primary UE based at least in part on a preamble sequence used by the primary UE for the part of the RACH procedure, wherein the preamble sequence is indicated by the selected uplink random access configuration of the secondary UE.
CHOI, in the same field of endeavor, discloses:
receiving, on the sidelink and from the primary UE, feedback information corresponding to a part of the RACH procedure selectively performed by the primary UE, in accordance with the selected uplink random access configuration of the secondary UE, based at least in part on a selected uplink random access configuration of the primary UE matching the uplink random access configuration of the secondary UE (UE (==primary UE ) receives Random Access Configuration or RACH Configuration and use it for uplink communication with base station : [0095]; Aforesaid terminal/UE/Primary UE compare/select “reference signal received power (RSRP) on the downlink component carrier 701 of the cell 1 707 (S802), compares the measured RSRP with a threshold for selecting the supplementary uplink carrier 704 included in the random access configuration information (S803), and performs a random access on the supplementary uplink carrier 704 only in case that the measured RSRP is less than the threshold (S804)”: [0096]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teaching of GANESAN in view of LU to include the above recited limitations as taught by CHOI . The suggestion/motivation would be to provides a solution for activating/deactivating a supplementary uplink carrier when uplink transmission is performed through the supplementary uplink carrier in a 5G communication system, and enables efficient data transmission and reception through aperiodic channel information transmission and reception by indicating a specific downlink carrier for the aperiodic channel information transmission and reception when the supplementary uplink carrier is configured and activated.( CHOI; [0009]).
The combination of GANESAN , LU , CHOI does not expressively disclose:
receiving, from a network node, a RACH message in response to the part of the RACH procedure selectively performed by the primary UE based at least in part on a preamble sequence used by the primary UE for the part of the RACH procedure, wherein the preamble sequence is indicated by the selected uplink random access configuration of the secondary UE.
Li6775, in the same field of endeavor, discloses:
receiving, from a network node, a RACH message in response to the part of the RACH procedure selectively performed by the primary UE based at least in part on a preamble sequence used by the primary UE for the part of the RACH procedure, wherein the preamble sequence is indicated by the selected uplink random access configuration of the secondary UE (RACH procedure triggered by UE (==primary UE in claim ) includes UE’s determines a preamble sequence and sends the preamble sequence to the network node. Aforesaid network device sends acknowledgement information to the UE after receiving the preamble sequence, where the acknowledgement information is used to indicate an uplink grant to be used in subsequent transmission and/or adjust uplink sending timing of the UE; the UE sends, to the network device according to the uplink grant, an uplink data unit carrying identifier information of the UE; and the network device determines, according to the uplink data unit carrying the identifier information of the UE, the UE corresponding to the preamble sequence received previously, and sends, to the UE, a grant or a downlink data unit that carries an identifier of the UE, so that the UE determines that the network device has received the uplink data unit : [0231]; “ primary core carrier change notification message sent by the network device to the UE includes a dedicated preamble sequence, after sending the primary core carrier change notification message to the UE, the network device may determine, according to a RACH procedure triggered by the UE by using the dedicated preamble sequence and based on an uplink carrier corresponding to the new primary core carrier, that the primary core carrier of the UE is successfully changed.”: [0233]; “ RACH procedure triggered by the UE by using the dedicated preamble sequence is specifically a non-contention-based RACH procedure that may specifically include: the UE sends, based on the uplink carrier corresponding to the new primary core carrier, the dedicated preamble sequence to the network device; and after receiving the dedicated preamble sequence, the network device sends acknowledgement information to the UE, where the acknowledgement information is used to indicate an uplink grant to be used in subsequent transmission and/or adjust uplink sending timing of the UE. The network device may determine, according to the received dedicated preamble sequence sent by the UE, that the primary core carrier of the UE is successfully changed.”: [0234]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teaching of GANESAN in view of LU , CHOI to include the above recited limitations as taught by Li6775. The suggestion/motivation would be to improve stability of communication between the UE and the network device, when the multiple component carriers include at least two core carriers,Li6775; [0247]).
Regarding claim 16, GANESAN in view of LU, CHOI, Li6775 teaches the invention of claim 15 as set forth above. Further, GANESAN teaches, The method of claim 15, wherein the selected sidelink random access configuration indicates at least one of a sidelink preamble sequence for the random access signal or a sidelink random access channel (RACH) occasion for the random access signal (“determining 604 (==selected random access configuration ), at a receiver device (e.g., remote unit 102), a resource for transmitting a channel state information report in response to the channel state information request indicator using a mode 1 resource allocation procedure, a mode 2 resource allocation procedure, or a combination thereof.”:[0116]).
Regarding claim 17, GANESAN in view of LU, CHOI, Li6775 teaches the invention of claim 15 as set forth above. Further, CHOI teaches, The method of claim 15, further comprising: receiving, from a network node, a synchronization signal block, wherein the part of the RACH procedure is associated with the network node, and wherein the secondary UE transmits the random access signal in accordance with a sidelink random access channel (RACH) occasion and a sidelink random access preamble that are selected in accordance with the synchronization signal block and the selected uplink random access configuration of the secondary UE ([0107], ]0103]).
Regarding claim 18, GANESAN in view of LU, CHOI, Li6775 teaches the invention of claim 15 as set forth above. Further, GANESAN teaches, The method of claim 15, wherein the system information comprises a sidelink system information block (“a UE configured as a relay UE (e.g., by a gNB or an eNB) may transmit TX pool and/or RX pool related configuration information in PSBCH (e.g., relay Sidelink SIB related information) or in a discovery message. “: [0058]).
Regarding claim 19, GANESAN in view of LU, CHOI, Li6775 teaches the invention of claim 15 as set forth above. Further, GANESAN teaches, receiving the feedback information from the primary UE indicating whether the RACH procedure was successfully performed by the primary UE on behalf of the secondary UE (“In some embodiments, the method 600 further comprises stopping the sidelink channel state information report timer and canceling the trigger for the trigger for the sidelink channel state information report after successful transmission of the trigger for the sidelink channel state information report. ”: [0118]).
Regarding claim 20, GANESAN in view of LU, CHOI, Li6775 teaches the invention of claim 15 as set forth above. Further, GANESAN teaches, further comprising: receiving the feedback information from the primary UE indicating that the part of the RACH procedure was successfully performed by the primary UE on behalf of the secondary UE (“ a SL HARQ feedback resource may be configured per TX resource pool and/or per RX resource pool, may be enabled per TX/RX resource pool, and/or may be disabled per TX/RX resource pool.” [0079]-[0081]).
Regarding claim 22, GANESAN in view of LU, CHOI, Li6775 teaches the invention of claim 15 as set forth above. Further, GANESAN teaches, The method of claim 15, wherein the sidelink random access configuration indicates one or more time-frequency resource configurations for communications between the primary UE and the secondary UE (timer between primary UE and secondary UE : 0113]).
Regarding claim 23, GANESAN in view of LU, CHOI, Li6775 teaches the invention of claim 15 as set forth above. Further, CHOI teaches, The method of claim 15 wherein the random access signal is associated with a lower transmit power than a random access signal for a base station procedure ( transmit power : [0096 ]).
Regarding claim 24, GANESAN in view of LU, CHOI, Li6775 teaches the invention of claim 15 as set forth above. Further, GANESAN teaches, wherein, relative to a random access signal for a network node, the random access signal transmitted by the secondary UE is associated with at least one of: a smaller set of possible preamble sequences, a smaller subcarrier spacing, a shorter preamble sequence, or a smaller cyclic shift. ( “In one embodiment, as shown in FIG. 4, the determination of an index of a PSFCH resource for a PSFCH transmission may be based first on a frequency (first on the frequency refers to the first lowest PRB in a subchannel), and, if there are not enough frequency resources, then based on cyclical RYUft of a sequence (first cyclic RYUft value from the configured list of cyclic RYUft pairs). In FIG. 4, 12 UEs are allocated within 10 RBs, 8 UEs PSFCH resources are allocated in a frequency domain first and then 4 UEs PSFCH resources are allocated in the code domain. This may degrade the performance of some UEs allocated in the code domain compared with UEs allocated in the frequency domain due to a near-far effect. ”; [0062] ).
Regarding claim 25, GANESAN in view of LU, CHOI, Li6775 teaches the invention of claim 15 as set forth above. Further, GANESAN teaches, receiving, from the primary UE, information indicating a preamble sequence for the part of the RACH procedure (“determining 604 (==selected random access configuration ), at a receiver device (e.g., remote unit 102), a resource for transmitting a channel state information report in response to the channel state information request indicator using a mode 1 resource allocation procedure, a mode 2 resource allocation procedure, or a combination thereof.”:[0116]).
Regarding claim 27, GANESAN in view of LU, CHOI, Li6775 teaches the invention of claim 15 as set forth above. Further, GANESAN teaches, further comprising:
performing a transmission using a timing correction associated with the RACH message ( “ a remote unit 102 may receive, from a transmitter device (e.g., network unit 104, remote unit 102), a channel state information reference signal within a data region and a channel state information request indicator in sidelink control information”: [0035]; preamble identifier : [0103]).
Regarding claim 28, GANESAN in view of LU, CHOI, Li6775 teaches the invention of claim 15 as set forth above. Further, GANESAN teaches, receiving, from a network node, a communication with a plurality of repetitions, wherein the plurality of repetitions are based at least in part on a preamble sequence used to perform the ( “ In one embodiment, a 2nd SCI may span more than one sub-channel and/or may occupy less than or equal to a PSSCH. In various embodiments, a 2nd SCI may be repeated within a PSSCH resource to increase reliability if the repetition is configured by a 1st SCI and/or configured or configured per TX resource pool and/or RX resource pool.” : 0070]).
Regarding claim 29, GANESAN in view of LU, CHOI, Li6775 teaches the invention of claim 15 as set forth above. Further, CHOI teaches, The method of claim 15, wherein the secondary UE is a low-power UE or a low-complexity UE ([0008].
Regarding claim 33, the claim is interpreted and rejected for the same reason as set forth in claim 1.
Regarding claim 43, GANESAN in view of LU, CHOI, Li6775 teaches the invention of claim 33 as set forth above. Further, GANESAN teaches The primary UE of claim 33, wherein the selected sidelink random access configuration indicates at least one of a sidelink preamble sequence for the random access signal or a sidelink random access channel (RACH) occasion for the random access signal (“determining 604 (==selected random access configuration ), at a receiver device (e.g., remote unit 102), a resource for transmitting a channel state information report in response to the channel state information request indicator using a mode 1 resource allocation procedure, a mode 2 resource allocation procedure, or a combination thereof.”:[0116] ).
Regarding claim 44, GANESAN in view of LU, CHOI, Li6775 teaches the invention of claim 33 as set forth above. Further, GANESAN teaches The primary UE of claim 33, wherein the information indicating the set of sidelink random access configurations is transmitted in a sidelink system information block (SIB) (“a UE configured as a relay UE (e.g., by a gNB or an eNB) may transmit TX pool and/or RX pool related configuration information in PSBCH (e.g., relay Sidelink SIB related information) or in a discovery message. “: [0058]).
Regarding claim 45, GANESAN in view of LU, CHOI, Li6775 teaches the invention of claim 33 as set forth above. Further, GANESAN teaches The primary UE of claim 33, wherein the set of uplink random access configurations are associated with respective synchronization signal blocks (: [0153]).
Regarding claim 46, GANESAN in view of LU, CHOI, Li6775 teaches the invention of claim 1 as set forth above. Further, CHOI teaches, wherein selectively performing the part of the RACH procedure with the network node, on behalf of the secondary UE comprises:
transmitting one or more of a RACH message 1, a RACH message A, or a RACH message 3 to the network node using a RACH occasion identified by the selected uplink random access configuration of the secondary UE ( [0095]).
Regarding claim 47, GANESAN in view of LU, CHOI, Li6775 teaches the invention of claim 15 as set forth above. Further, CHOI teaches, wherein the part of the RACH procedure selectively performed by the primary UE comprises:
transmitting one or more of a RACH message 1, a RACH message A, or a RACH message 3 to the network node using a RACH occasion identified by the selected uplink random access configuration of the second UE (0095])..
Regarding claim 48, GANESAN in view of LU, CHOI, Li6775 teaches the invention of claim 30 as set forth above. Further, GANESAN teaches The primary UE of claim 33, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:
transmit feedback information to the secondary UE based at least in part on selectively performing the part of the RACH procedure ( “the second feedback information indicates that the network device is successfully accessed. Based on the second feedback information, the network device can learn that the first terminal has successfully accessed the network device, so that subsequently the network device can further allocate a resource to the first terminal and communicate with the first terminal.”: [0198]).
Regarding claim 49, GANESAN in view of LU, CHOI, Li6775 teaches the invention of claim 33 as set forth above. Further, GANESAN teaches, The primary UE of claim 33,
wherein the set of sidelink random access configurations indicate one or more time- frequency resource configurations for subsequent communications between the primary UE and the secondary UE (“transmission resources (e.g., time and/or frequency domain) of SLSS may be configured to represent a sub-channel size.”: [0057]).
Claims 30, 32 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over GANESAN et al. (US 20220225290 A1; hereinafter as “GANESAN ”, which has a priority dated November 6, 2019) in view of CHOI et al. (US 20200367289 A1; hereinafter as “CHOI”), further in view of Li et al. (US 20180006775 A1; hereinafter as “Li6775”).
Regarding claim 30, GANESAN teaches, A method of wireless communication performed by a network node (see fig. 1: eNB 104), comprising:
transmitting, to a primary user equipment (UE) (==fig. 1: UE 102 acts as RELAY UE) and a secondary UE (==fig. 1 UE 102 acts as Remote UE when outside the coverage area of eNB 104 ), a set of uplink random access configurations ( “ a remote unit 102 may receive, from a transmitter device (e.g., network unit 104, remote unit 102), a channel state information reference signal within a data region and a channel state information request indicator in sidelink control information. In some embodiments, the remote unit 102 may determine, at a receiver device (e.g., remote unit 102), a resource for transmitting a channel state information report in response to the channel state information request indicator using a mode 1 resource allocation procedure, a mode 2 resource allocation procedure, or a combination thereof. In certain embodiments, the remote unit 102 may transmit, from the receiver device, the channel state information report via a medium access control element using the resource. Accordingly, the remote unit 102 may be used for determining a resource for a channel state information report.” Uplink transmission : [0035]);
receiving, from the primary UE (==fig. 1: UE 102 acts as RELAY UE) a random access signal associated with a part of a random access channel (RACH) procedure ( “In various embodiments, the method 600 includes receiving 602, from a transmitter device (e.g., remote unit 102), a channel state information reference signal within a data region and a channel state information request indicator in sidelink control information. In some embodiments, the method 600 includes determining 604, at a receiver device (e.g., remote unit 102), a resource for transmitting a channel state information report in response to the channel state information request indicator using a mode 1 resource allocation procedure, a mode 2 resource allocation procedure, or a combination thereof. In certain embodiments, the method 600 includes transmitting 606, from the receiver device, the channel state information report via a medium access control element using the resource.
[0117] In certain embodiments, the channel state information report is a sidelink channel state information report comprising a channel quality indicator and a rank indicator. In some embodiments, the method 600 further comprises, in response to transmitting the channel state information report, configuring a latency bound packet delay budget and a priority value for the transmission of a sidelink channel state information report by the sidelink medium access control element for a source-destination pair. In various embodiments, transmission of the sidelink channel state information report by the medium access control element is triggered by an indication from a lower layer. ”: [0106]),
wherein the random access signal is associated with a group of random access preambles ( “Embodiments described herein relate to various configurations, such as for parameters for TX resource pools and/or RX resource pools, such as: 1) configuring one of the TX resource pools and/or RX resource pools via PSBCH by a sync Ref UE or a relay UE to facilitate communication between in-coverage and out of coverage UEs; 2) a reliability of a 1st stage SCI with an AL configured per RP to avoid blind decoding in a sub-channel of a RP; 3) a SCI decoding priority (e.g., as part of sensing) based on a TX pool priority and/or an RX pool priority; and/or 4) FDM+CDMed mapping of PSFCH resource for groupcast option-2 and/or a TX pool configuration and/or RX Pool configuration on the mapping and/or TX-UE behavior.
[0053] In a first embodiment, a TX pool configuration and/or an RX pool configuration may be signaled because some V2X UEs may be out of coverage and/or may have partial coverage and may communicate with in-coverage V2X UEs (e.g., including V2X UEs belonging to different MNOs).
[0054] In one embodiment, a V2X UE configured as a sync ref UE (e.g., providing synchronization signal and other related system information to out of coverage UEs) may carry in PSBCH information related to at-least one TX resource pool configuration and/or RX resource pool configuration (e.g., sub-channel size, 1st stage SCI's (transmitted via PSCCH) aggregation level, start symbol for PSCCH in a slot, start frequency resource for PSCCH within a sub-channel, symbol length for PSCCH, total number of occupied RBs, and/or size of 1st stage SCI). In such an embodiment, a TX resource pool and/or RX resource pool may be a common resource pool for communication between in-coverage or out of coverage UEs and may be used for unicast, groupcast, and/or broadcast transmission. The information carried in PSBCH may help out of coverage UEs to monitor or receive PSCCH from the common resource pool which may help in initiating a PC5 RRC connection for unicast, groupcast, and/or broadcast transmission. After establishing a connection in the common resource pool, PC5 RRC may carry information related to other dedicated TX resource pools and/or RX resource pools (e.g., dedicated resource pool associated with a QoS priority). ”: [0052]-[0055]).
GANESAN does not expressively disclose:
wherein the random access signal is generated using a preamble sequence, of the group of random access preambles, indicated by a selected uplink random access configuration of the secondary UE;
transmitting, to the secondary UE, a RACH message of the part of the RACH procedure based at least in part on the preamble sequence used by the primary UE, the RACH message transmitted in response to receiving the random access signal from the primary UE;
determining a repetition scheme for a transmission of the network node based at least in part on the random access signal; and
performing the transmission to the secondary UE using the repetition scheme.
CHOI , in the same field of endeavor, discloses:
transmitting, to the secondary UE, a RACH message…………. in response to receiving the random access signal from the primary UE ( “ receiving, from a base station, random access channel configuration (RACH configuration) information in the supplementary uplink carrier through a cell common signal of a downlink component carrier (downlink carrier: DL carrier); measuring a reference signal received power (RSRP) in the downlink component carrier”:[abstract]; [0008], “ a base station transmits, to a terminal through a cell common signal on a downlink component carrier 701 of a cell 1 707, random access configuration (random access channel configuration, or RACH configuration) information on a supplementary uplink carrier 704 so that an initial random access may be performed on the supplementary uplink carrier 704, and the terminal receives, through the cell common signal on the downlink component carrier 701 of the cell 1 707, the random access configuration information on the supplementary uplink carrier 704 (S801). ”: [0095).
determining a repetition scheme for a transmission of the network node based at least in part on the random access signal [0042] [0089]; and
performing the transmission to a secondary UE on a secondary using the repetition scheme [0042] [0089].
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teaching of GANESAN to include the above recited limitations as taught by CHOI . The suggestion/motivation would be to provides a solution for activating/deactivating a supplementary uplink carrier when uplink transmission is performed through the supplementary uplink carrier in a 5G communication system, and enables efficient data transmission and reception through aperiodic channel information transmission and reception by indicating a specific downlink carrier for the aperiodic channel information transmission and reception when the supplementary uplink carrier is configured and activated.( CHOI; [0009]).
The combination of GANESAN , CHOI does not expressively disclose:
wherein the random access signal is generated using a preamble sequence, of the group of random access preambles, indicated by a selected uplink random access configuration of the secondary UE;
transmitting, to the secondary UE, a RACH message of the part of the RACH procedure based at least in part on the preamble sequence used by the primary UE, the RACH message transmitted in response to receiving the random access signal from the primary UE.
Li6775, in the same field of endeavor, discloses:
wherein the random access signal is generated using a preamble sequence, of the group of random access preambles, indicated by a selected uplink random access configuration of the secondary UE; transmitting, to the secondary UE, a RACH message of the part of the RACH procedure based at least in part on the preamble sequence used by the primary UE, the RACH message transmitted in response to receiving the random access signal from the primary UE (RACH procedure triggered by UE (==primary UE in claim ) includes UE’s determines a preamble sequence and sends the preamble sequence to the network node. Aforesaid network device sends acknowledgement information to the UE after receiving the preamble sequence, where the acknowledgement information is used to indicate an uplink grant to be used in subsequent transmission and/or adjust uplink sending timing of the UE; the UE sends, to the network device according to the uplink grant, an uplink data unit carrying identifier information of the UE; and the network device determines, according to the uplink data unit carrying the identifier information of the UE, the UE corresponding to the preamble sequence received previously, and sends, to the UE, a grant or a downlink data unit that carries an identifier of the UE, so that the UE determines that the network device has received the uplink data unit : [0231]; “ primary core carrier change notification message sent by the network device to the UE includes a dedicated preamble sequence, after sending the primary core carrier change notification message to the UE, the network device may determine, according to a RACH procedure triggered by the UE by using the dedicated preamble sequence and based on an uplink carrier corresponding to the new primary core carrier, that the primary core carrier of the UE is successfully changed.”: [0233]; “ RACH procedure triggered by the UE by using the dedicated preamble sequence is specifically a non-contention-based RACH procedure that may specifically include: the UE sends, based on the uplink carrier corresponding to the new primary core carrier, the dedicated preamble sequence to the network device; and after receiving the dedicated preamble sequence, the network device sends acknowledgement information to the UE, where the acknowledgement information is used to indicate an uplink grant to be used in subsequent transmission and/or adjust uplink sending timing of the UE. The network device may determine, according to the received dedicated preamble sequence sent by the UE, that the primary core carrier of the UE is successfully changed.”: [0234]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teaching of GANESAN in view of LU , CHOI to include the above recited limitations as taught by Li6775. The suggestion/motivation would be to improve stability of communication between the UE and the network device, when the multiple component carriers include at least two core carriers,Li6775; [0247]).
Regarding claim 32, GANESAN in view of CHOI , Li6775 teaches the invention of claim 30 as set forth above. Further, GANESAN teaches The method of claim 30, wherein the repetition scheme is one of a plurality of repetition schemes, and wherein the plurality of repetition schemes are associated with respective groups of random access preambles ( repletion of configuration : [0070]-[0071]).
Conclusion
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/M Mostazir Rahman/Examiner, Art Unit 2411
/DERRICK W FERRIS/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2411
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