CTNF 17/800,862 CTNF 83553 DETAILED ACTION This office action is responsive to communications filed on February 2, 2026. Claims 7 and 16 have been canceled. Claims 4-6, 13-15, 19, and 20 are pending in the application. Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status 07-03-aia AIA 15-10-aia The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA. Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103 07-20-aia AIA 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. 07-21-aia AIA Claim s 4-6, 13-15, 19, and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Turtinen et al. (US 2022/0394758) in view of “3GPP TSG-RAN WG2 Meeting #109 R2-2000147” (hereinafter, 3GPP) . Regarding Claim 4, Turtinen teaches a method of wireless communication at a user equipment (UE), comprising: transmitting, to a base station, a physical random access channel (PRACH) preamble sequence for a random access procedure, wherein the PRACH preamble sequence is part of a first message for the random access procedure ( “a terminal device transmits 210 a first message (which may be referred to as “MSGA”) to a network device. The first message combines a random access preamble (similar as “MSG1”) and uplink data (similar as “MSG3”). For example, MSGA includes a random access preamble on physical random access channel (PRACH) and a payload on physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH)” – See [0049]; The UE transmits, to the base station, a PRACH preamble, wherein the preamble is part of a random access MsgA (first message for the random access procedure)); determining whether a device-specific network identifier is included in a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) of the first message and monitoring a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) for a second message identified by the device-specific network identifier, based on whether the device-specific network identifier is included in the PUSCH of the first message, wherein the second message, for the random access procedure, is from the base station in response to the first message ( “a terminal device in CONNECTED mode already has its Cell Radio Network Temporary Identifier (C-RNTI) and thus MSGA transmitted by such a terminal device may comprise C-RNTI of the terminal device. For example, C-RNTI medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) may be transmitted on the PUSCH as at least a part of the payload of MSGA” – See [0055]; “the following agreements have been reached. For MSGA with C-RNTI, the terminal device shall monitor the physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) addressed to C-RNTI for success response” – See [0056]; When the C-RNTI (device-specific network identifier) is included in the PUSCH of the MsgA, the UE monitors the PDCCH for a response message identified by the C-RNTI (second message identified by the device-specific network identifier), wherein the response message is from the base station in response to the MsgA (first message)). Although Turtinen teaches monitoring a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) for a second message identified by the device-specific network identifier, Turtinen does not explicitly teach monitoring the physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) for the second message identified by the device-specific network identifier irrespective of whether the PUSCH is transmitted or not . However, 3GPP teaches monitoring the physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) for the second message identified by the device-specific network identifier irrespective of whether the PUSCH is transmitted or not ( “According to the last RAN2 meeting agreement, it is still FFS how and whether to deal with the C-RNTI PDCCH monitoring for the connected mode 2-step RACH when the preamble is transmitted but LBT for msgA PUSCH fails. From our understanding, the C-RNTI PDCCH monitoring for the CONNECTED UE should not be stopped, as the CONNECED UE would also need to monitor the C-RNTI PDCCH for other purposes (e.g. scheduling information for PDSCH/PUSCH data). Proposal 3: The C-RNTI PDCCH monitoring for the CONNECTED UE is not stopped when the preamble is transmitted but LBT for msgA PUSCH fails” – See p. 2; The does not stop monitoring the PDCCH for the second message identified by the C-RNTI (the device-specific network identifier) even when the random access MsgA PUSCH payload is not transmitted (e.g., due to LBT failure). Thus, the UE monitors the PDCCH for a second message identified by the C-RNTI irrespective of whether the random access MsgA PUSCH payload is transmitted or not). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Turtinen to include monitoring the physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) for the second message identified by the device-specific network identifier irrespective of whether the PUSCH is transmitted or not. Motivation for doing so would be to ensure that the connected mode UE is still able to monitor the C-RNTI PDCCH for other purposes (e.g., scheduling information for PDSCH/PUSCH data) even when the MsgA PUSCH is not transmitted due to LBT failure (See 3GPP, p. 2). Regarding Claim 5, Turtinen in view of 3GPP teaches the method of Claim 4. Turtinen further teaches that the random access procedure comprises a contention-free random access procedure ( “The solution is related to the RA procedure where a random access preamble and data on a shared channel are transmitted together in a RA message, such as MSGA … It would be appreciated that any other suitable RA procedures may also be applicable, for instance, a 2-step CFRA procedure” – See [0062]; The random access procedure is a CFRA (contention-free random access) procedure). Regarding Claim 5, Turtinen in view of 3GPP teaches the method of Claim 4. 3GPP further teaches that the first message fails to include the PUSCH comprising information for determining the device-specific network identifier for the UE ( “According to the last RAN2 meeting agreement, it is still FFS how and whether to deal with the C-RNTI PDCCH monitoring for the connected mode 2-step RACH when the preamble is transmitted but LBT for msgA PUSCH fails. From our understanding, the C-RNTI PDCCH monitoring for the CONNECTED UE should not be stopped, as the CONNECED UE would also need to monitor the C-RNTI PDCCH for other purposes (e.g. scheduling information for PDSCH/PUSCH data). Proposal 3: The C-RNTI PDCCH monitoring for the CONNECTED UE is not stopped when the preamble is transmitted but LBT for msgA PUSCH fails” – See p. 2; When LBT for the MsgA preamble succeeds but LBT for the MsgA PUSCH payload fails, the MsgA preamble is transmitted but the MsgA PUSCH payload is not. Thus, the MsgA (first message) includes the preamble but fails to include the PUSCH). Claim 13 is rejected based on reasoning similar to Claim 4. Claim 14 is rejected based on reasoning similar to Claim 5. Claim 15 is rejected based on reasoning similar to Claim 6. Regarding Claim 19, Turtinen in view of 3GPP teaches the method of Claim 4. Turtinen further teaches that the first message comprises the PUSCH comprising information for determining the device-specific network identifier for the UE ( “a terminal device in CONNECTED mode already has its Cell Radio Network Temporary Identifier (C-RNTI) and thus MSGA transmitted by such a terminal device may comprise C-RNTI of the terminal device. For example, C-RNTI medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) may be transmitted on the PUSCH as at least a part of the payload of MSGA” – See [0055]; The MsgA PUSCH includes a MAC CE/information for determining the C-RNTI (device-specific network identifier) of the UE). Claim 20 is rejected based on reasoning similar to Claim 19. Response to Arguments In the previous Office Action dated November 19, 2025, claims 4-6, 13-15, 19, and 20 were indicated as being allowable over the prior art. After performing an updated search a new prior art reference ( “3GPP TSG-RAN WG2 Meeting #109 R2-2000147” ) was found. Upon further consideration of the claims in view of the teachings of “3GPP TSG-RAN WG2 Meeting #109 R2-2000147” , a new grounds of rejection is made under 35 U.S.C. 103 based on Turtinen in view of “3GPP TSG-RAN WG2 Meeting #109 R2-2000147” . Conclusion Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Scott M Sciacca whose telephone number is (571)270-1919. The examiner can normally be reached Monday thru Friday, 7:30 A.M. - 5:00 P.M. EST. Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Joseph Avellino can be reached at (571) 272-3905. 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If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000. /SCOTT M SCIACCA/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2478 Application/Control Number: 17/800,862 Page 2 Art Unit: 2478 Application/Control Number: 17/800,862 Page 3 Art Unit: 2478 Application/Control Number: 17/800,862 Page 4 Art Unit: 2478 Application/Control Number: 17/800,862 Page 5 Art Unit: 2478 Application/Control Number: 17/800,862 Page 6 Art Unit: 2478 Application/Control Number: 17/800,862 Page 7 Art Unit: 2478
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