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 .
Applicant’s RCE filed 11/25/25 is acknowledged.
Claim 1, 5, 12, 14, and 16 are amended.
Claims 1-5, 7-16, and 18-22 are pending.
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 11/25/25 has been entered.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to independent claims 1, 12, and 16 (pages 10-11) in a reply filed 10/28/2025 have been considered but are moot because the arguments are based on newly changed limitations in the amendment and new ground of rejections using newly introduced references or a newly introduced portion of an existing reference are applied in the current rejection.
Applicant's arguments with respect to dependent claims 5, 14, and 18 (pages 11-12) filed 10/28/2025 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. The Applicant disagrees with the rejection under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Taherzadeh Boroujeni in view of Hedayat and Liu as applied to claims 1,12, and 16 above, and further in view of Islam et al. US 20190053271 (hereinafter “Islam”).
Specifically, the Applicant remarks:
Islam does not teach configured tuples
Islam does not teach preambles that correspond to beam strength ranks
The Examiner respectfully disagrees.
Regarding (1), it is not exactly clear what is meant by "configured tuples"; therefore, The Examiner interpreted "configured tuples" as ordered dataset which is taught by Islam since the UE "select(s) the downlink transmission beams based on a ranking" - this implies that the UE selects a beam based on ordered dataset.
Regarding (2), Islam mentions in [0157] that the beams are ranked based on RSRP measurements which maps to "beam strength ranks" ("UE 115-a may select the downlink transmission beams based on a ranking of reference signal power measurements of signals received from base station 105-a (e.g., by ranking the beams based on RSRP measurements)"). In addition, in [0157], Islam mentions that "UE 115-a may select one preamble of the set of preambles based on the selected downlink transmission beam(s)." which maps to "preambles that correspond to beam strength ranks" since this implies that there is a corresponding preamble for the selected beam (which is selected based on a ranking of reference signal power measurements).
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 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 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.
Claim(s) 1-4, 10-13, and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Taherzadeh Boroujeni et al. US 20220123819 (hereinafter “Taherzadeh Boroujeni”) in view of Liu et al. US 20190174551 (hereinafter “Liu”) and in further view of Karimidehkordi et al. US 20230262819 (hereinafter “Karimidehkordi”)
As to claim 1, 12, and 16 (claim 1 is the method claim for the UE in claim 12 and non-transitory machine-readable medium in claim 16):
Taherzadeh Boroujeni discloses:
A method, comprising: receiving, by a user equipment comprising a processor (“a user equipment may include a transceiver, a memory, and a processor coupled to the transceiver and the memory”, Taherzadeh Boroujeni [0007]), a random access channel configuration (“random access channel (RACH)”, Taherzadeh Boroujeni [0020]) from a radio access node (“radio access network (RAN) node”, Taherzadeh Boroujeni [0022]), wherein the random access channel configuration comprises a coverage criterion applicable to a coverage of the user equipment (“In some examples, SIB2 includes random access configuration information (e.g., a RACH configuration) that indicates the resources that the UE is to use to communicate with the RAN during initial access”, Taherzadeh Boroujeni [0092]), a first resource indication of a first random access channel resource, and a second resource indication of a second random access channel resource (“the RACH configuration may indicate the resources allocated by the network for the UE to transmit a PRACH preamble and to receive a random access response”, Taherzadeh Boroujeni [0093]); determining, by the user equipment, a first coverage indication of a first coverage corresponding to a first downlink beam (“The UE may measure the reference signal received power (RSRP) of each of the SSB transmit beams on each of the receive beams of the UE”, Taherzadeh Boroujeni [0111]); determining, by the user equipment, based on the first coverage indication, that the first coverage fails to satisfy the coverage criterion (“the UE 1104 may measure the RSRP of the SSB. In this case, the UE may elect to perform PRACH beam sweeping if the measured RSRP is less than a threshold”, Taherzadeh Boroujeni [0146]);
Taherzadeh Boroujeni as described above does not explicitly teach:
transmitting, by the user equipment, a first random access channel preamble portion using the first random access channel resource corresponding to the first resource indication; and transmitting, by the user equipment, a second random access channel preamble portion using the second random access channel resource corresponding to the second resource indication;
wherein the first random access channel preamble portion is a first random access preamble, wherein the second random access portion is a second random access preamble, wherein the first random access preamble and the second random access channel preamble are different preambles,
determining, by the user equipment, a first beam strength rank corresponding to a first beam associated with the radio access network node; determining, by the user equipment, a second beam strength rank corresponding to a second beam associated with the radio access network node,
wherein the first random access channel resource corresponds to the first beam strength rank, and wherein the second random access channel resource corresponds to the second beam strength rank.
However, Liu further teaches transmitting different portions of a preamble using different resource which includes:
transmitting, by the user equipment, a first random access channel preamble portion using the first random access channel resource corresponding to the first resource indication; and transmitting, by the user equipment, a second random access channel preamble portion using the second random access channel resource corresponding to the second resource indication;
wherein the first random access channel preamble portion is a first random access preamble, wherein the second random access portion is a second random access preamble, wherein the first random access preamble and the second random access channel preamble are different preambles, (“Optionally, step S507a may include receiving, by using a single beam, the random access preamble that is sent by the terminal on the first-type random access resource. Alternately receiving, by using a plurality of beams, the random access preamble that is sent by the terminal on the second-type random access resource.”, Liu [0148]) (“Preferably, in this embodiment, different types of random access resources are further corresponding to random access preamble formats. Specifically, the first-type random access resource is corresponding to a first-type random access preamble format, and the second-type random access resource is corresponding to a second-type random access preamble format. The first-type random access preamble format includes a cyclic prefix part and a preamble sequence part, and the preamble sequence part of the first-type random access preamble format includes a single sequence. The second-type random access preamble format includes a cyclic prefix part and a preamble sequence part, and the preamble sequence part of the second-type random access preamble format includes a plurality of repeated sequences.”, Liu [0149]) (“The first-type random access preamble format is shown in FIG. 7a, and the second-type random access preamble format is shown in FIG. 7b. As shown in FIG. 7a, the first-type random access preamble format includes the cyclic prefix part 71a and the preamble sequence part 72a, and the preamble sequence part of the first-type random access preamble format includes the single sequence 73a. As shown in FIG. 7b, the second-type random access preamble format also includes the cyclic prefix part 71b and the preamble sequence part 72b, and the preamble sequence part 72b of the second-type random access preamble format includes the plurality of repeated sequences 73b. It can be learned from FIG. 7a and FIG. 7b that a length of the single sequence 73a in the first-type random access preamble format may be greater than a length of the single sequence 73b in the second-type random access preamble format.”, Liu [0150])
Taherzadeh Boroujeni and Liu are analogous because they pertain to a method for RACH.
Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include transmitting different portions of a preamble using different resource as described in Liu into Taherzadeh Boroujeni. By modifying the protocol to include transmitting different portions of a preamble using different resource as taught by Liu, the benefits of versatile preamble sequence formatting (Liu [0150]) and improved efficiency (Taherzadeh Boroujeni [0062]) are achieved.
The combination of Taherzadeh Boroujeni and Liu as described above does not explicitly teach:
determining, by the user equipment, a first beam strength rank corresponding to a first beam associated with the radio access network node; determining, by the user equipment, a second beam strength rank corresponding to a second beam associated with the radio access network node,
wherein the first random access channel resource corresponds to the first beam strength rank, and wherein the second random access channel resource corresponds to the second beam strength rank.
However, Karimidehkordi further teaches determining beam strength rank for each beam which includes:
determining, by the user equipment, a first beam strength rank corresponding to a first beam associated with the radio access network node; determining, by the user equipment, a second beam strength rank corresponding to a second beam associated with the radio access network node,
wherein the first random access channel resource corresponds to the first beam strength rank, and wherein the second random access channel resource corresponds to the second beam strength rank. (“According to an embodiment, the method comprises ranking the beams into a preference order based on at least the arrival direction or the arrival antenna panel of the beams and the required transmission power for the random access channel preamble of each beam. Hence, the UE may rank the beams into a preference order such that if the serving beam fails, the second beam in the preference order is reported to the access node. If no response from the access node is received, the third beam in the preference order is reported to the access node etc. If the beams are spatially grouped into a plurality of groups, each group may have a group-specific preference order for the beams included in the group. The ranking may be carried out according to an algorithm, which may primarily emphasize the sufficient offset between the arrival directions of the selected candidate beam and the serving beam, and secondarily emphasize the required transmission power for the random access channel preamble of the candidate beam.”, Karimidehkordi [0096])
Taherzadeh Boroujeni, Liu, and Karimidehkordi are analogous because they pertain to a method for RACH.
Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include determining beam strength rank for each beam as described in Karimidehkordi into Taherzadeh Boroujeni as modified by Liu. By modifying the protocol to include determining beam strength rank for each beam as taught by Karimidehkordi, the benefits of improved beam selection procedure (Karimidehkordi [0096]), versatile preamble sequence formatting (Liu [0150]), and improved efficiency (Taherzadeh Boroujeni [0062]) are achieved.
As to claim 2:
Taherzadeh Boroujeni discloses:
The method of claim 1, wherein the first random access channel resource and the second random access channel resource are associated with the first downlink beam. (“multiple RACH occasions (ROs) associated with one SSB beam”, Taherzadeh Boroujeni [0125])
As to claim 3:
Taherzadeh Boroujeni as described above does not explicitly teach:
The method of claim 2, wherein the first random access channel preamble portion and the second random access channel preamble portion have different lengths
However, Liu further teaches transmitting two different types of preambles of different lengths from the same terminal which includes:
The method of claim 2, wherein the first random access channel preamble portion and the second random access channel preamble portion have different lengths (“The first-type random access preamble format is shown in FIG. 7a, and the second-type random access preamble format is shown in FIG. 7b. As shown in FIG. 7a, the first-type random access preamble format includes the cyclic prefix part 71a and the preamble sequence part 72a, and the preamble sequence part of the first-type random access preamble format includes the single sequence 73a. As shown in FIG. 7b, the second-type random access preamble format also includes the cyclic prefix part 71b and the preamble sequence part 72b, and the preamble sequence part 72b of the second-type random access preamble format includes the plurality of repeated sequences 73b. It can be learned from FIG. 7a and FIG. 7b that a length of the single sequence 73a in the first-type random access preamble format may be greater than a length of the single sequence 73b in the second-type random access preamble format.”, Liu [0150])
Taherzadeh Boroujeni and Liu are analogous because they pertain to a method for RACH.
Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include transmitting two different types of preambles of different lengths from the same terminal as described in Liu into Taherzadeh Boroujeni. By modifying the protocol to include transmitting two different types of preambles of different lengths from the same terminal as taught by Liu, the benefits of versatile preamble sequence formatting (Liu [0150]), and improved efficiency (Taherzadeh Boroujeni [0062]) are achieved.
As to claim 4:
Taherzadeh Boroujeni discloses:
The method of claim 1, wherein the first downlink beam has a strongest beam strength of available downlink beams. (“select the transmit and receive beams based on the measured RSRP”, Taherzadeh Boroujeni [0111]) (“2 bits may be used to indicate the strongest of these 4 beams”, Taherzadeh Boroujeni [0134])
As to claim 10:
Taherzadeh Boroujeni discloses:
The method of claim 1, wherein the first random access channel preamble portion and the second random access channel preamble portion are transmitted via the first random first random access channel resource and the second random access channel resource, respectively. (“the UE 1104 may use a first beam to transmit a first repetition on a first RO, use a second beam to transmit a second repetition on a second RO”, Taherzadeh Boroujeni [0148])
As to claim 11:
Taherzadeh Boroujeni discloses:
The method of claim 1, wherein the first resource indication indicates: at least one first occasion index, at least one first timing resource indication, or at least one first frequency resource indication, and wherein the second resource indication indicates: at least one second occasion index, at least one second timing resource indication, or at least one second frequency resource indication. (“receives downlink control information 114, including but not limited to scheduling information (e.g., a grant), synchronization or timing information, or other control information from another entity in the wireless communication network such as the scheduling entity.”, Taherzadeh Boroujeni [0048]) (“The broadcast information 450 may be transmitted by a RAN node (e.g., a base station, such as an eNB or gNB) on resources (e.g., time-frequency resources) allocated for the transmission of the broadcast information 450 in a cell.”, Taherzadeh Boroujeni [0087]
As to claim 13:
Taherzadeh Boroujeni discloses:
The user equipment of claim 1, wherein the first PRACH resource indication and the second PRACH resource indication are associated with the first downlink beam, (“multiple RACH occasions (ROs) associated with one SSB beam”, Taherzadeh Boroujeni [0125]), and wherein the first downlink beam has a highest signal strength measured by the user equipment among a group of downlink beams corresponding to the radio access node. (“select the transmit and receive beams based on the measured RSRP”, Taherzadeh Boroujeni [0111]) (“2 bits may be used to indicate the strongest of these 4 beams”, Taherzadeh Boroujeni [0134])
Claim(s) 7, 8, 9, 15, and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Taherzadeh Boroujeni in view of Liu and Karimidehkordi as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Zewail et al. US 20210266979 (hereinafter “Zewail”).
As to claim 7:
Taherzadeh Boroujeni as described above does not explicitly teach:
The method of claim 1, wherein the random access channel configuration comprises a random access channel long-sequence preamble indication that indicates a spread-preamble, and wherein the first random access channel preamble portion is longer than the second random access channel preamble portion
However, Liu further teaches transmitting two different types of preambles of different lengths from the same terminal which includes:
The method of claim 1, (“The first-type random access preamble format is shown in FIG. 7a, and the second-type random access preamble format is shown in FIG. 7b. As shown in FIG. 7a, the first-type random access preamble format includes the cyclic prefix part 71a and the preamble sequence part 72a, and the preamble sequence part of the first-type random access preamble format includes the single sequence 73a. As shown in FIG. 7b, the second-type random access preamble format also includes the cyclic prefix part 71b and the preamble sequence part 72b, and the preamble sequence part 72b of the second-type random access preamble format includes the plurality of repeated sequences 73b. It can be learned from FIG. 7a and FIG. 7b that a length of the single sequence 73a in the first-type random access preamble format may be greater than a length of the single sequence 73b in the second-type random access preamble format.”, Liu [0150]) (FIG. 8 shows the terminal transmitting two different types of random access preamble, Liu)
Taherzadeh Boroujeni and Liu are analogous because they pertain to a method for RACH.
Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include transmitting two different types of preambles of different lengths from the same terminal as described in Liu into Taherzadeh Boroujeni. By modifying the protocol to include transmitting two different types of preambles of different lengths from the same terminal as taught by Liu, the benefits of versatile preamble sequence formatting (Liu [0150]), and improved efficiency (Taherzadeh Boroujeni [0062]) are achieved.
The combination of Taherzadeh Boroujeni, Liu, and Karimidehkordi as described above does not explicitly teach:
The method of claim 1, wherein the random access channel configuration comprises a random access channel long-sequence preamble indication that indicates a spread-preamble
However, Zewail further teaches long sequence based spread preamble configuration which includes:
The method of claim 1, wherein the random access channel configuration comprises a random access channel long-sequence preamble indication that indicates a spread-preamble (“In some examples, the UE may transmit the random access signal including a long PRACH sequence spanning more than one slot, the long PRACH sequence including the gap. The BS may receive the random access signal.”, Zewail [0119]),
Taherzadeh Boroujeni, Liu, Karimidehkordi, and Zewail are analogous because they pertain to a method for RACH.
Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include long sequence based preamble configuration as described in Zewail into Taherzadeh Boroujeni as modified by Karimidehkordi and Liu. By modifying the protocol to include long sequence based preamble configuration as taught by Zewail, the benefits of improved beam selection procedure (Karimidehkordi [0096]), improved spectral efficiency (Zewail [0091]), versatile preamble sequence formatting (Liu [0150]), and improved efficiency (Taherzadeh Boroujeni [0062]) are achieved.
As to claim 8:
The combination of Taherzadeh Boroujeni, Liu, and Karimidehkordi as described above does not explicitly teach:
The method of claim 7, wherein the first random access channel preamble portion is orthogonal to random access channel preambles that are not spread-preambles.
However, Zewail further teaches orthogonal preambles which includes:
The method of claim 7, wherein the first random access channel preamble portion is orthogonal to random access channel preambles that are not spread-preambles. (“The spreading with the spreading code may allow two UEs to transmit the same signal PRACH format signal 810 (e.g., four repetitions of the short PRACH format signal 801) using the same resource, but applying a different spreading code (e.g., orthogonal to each other).”, Zewail [0089])
Taherzadeh Boroujeni, Liu, Karimidehkordi, and Zewail are analogous because they pertain to a method for RACH.
Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include orthogonal preambles as described in Zewail into Taherzadeh Boroujeni as modified by Karimidehkordi and Liu. By modifying the protocol to include orthogonal preambles as taught by Zewail, the benefits of improved beam selection procedure (Karimidehkordi [0096]), versatile preamble sequence formatting (Liu [0150]), improved spectral efficiency (Zewail [0091]), and improved efficiency (Taherzadeh Boroujeni [0062]) are achieved.
As to claim 9:
Taherzadeh Boroujeni discloses:
The method of claim 7, wherein the first downlink beam has a strongest beam strength from available downlink beams. (“select the transmit and receive beams based on the measured RSRP”, Taherzadeh Boroujeni [0111]) (“2 bits may be used to indicate the strongest of these 4 beams”, Taherzadeh Boroujeni [0134])
As to claim 15:
Taherzadeh Boroujeni discloses:
The user equipment of claim 12, (“select the transmit and receive beams based on the measured RSRP”, Taherzadeh Boroujeni [0111]) (“2 bits may be used to indicate the strongest of these 4 beams”, Taherzadeh Boroujeni [0134])
Taherzadeh Boroujeni as described above does not explicitly teach:
wherein the PRACH configuration comprises a PRACH long-sequence preamble indication that indicates a spread-preamble,
wherein the first PRACH preamble portion is longer than the second PRACH preamble portion
and wherein the first PRACH preamble portion and the second PRACH preamble portion are transmitted via the first PRACH resource and the second PRACH resource, respectively
However, Liu further teaches transmitting different portions of a preamble using different resource which includes:
and wherein the first PRACH preamble portion and the second PRACH preamble portion are transmitted via the first PRACH resource and the second PRACH resource, respectively
wherein the first PRACH preamble portion is longer than the second PRACH preamble portion
(“Optionally, step S507a may include receiving, by using a single beam, the random access preamble that is sent by the terminal on the first-type random access resource. Alternately receiving, by using a plurality of beams, the random access preamble that is sent by the terminal on the second-type random access resource.”, Liu [0148]) (“Preferably, in this embodiment, different types of random access resources are further corresponding to random access preamble formats. Specifically, the first-type random access resource is corresponding to a first-type random access preamble format, and the second-type random access resource is corresponding to a second-type random access preamble format. The first-type random access preamble format includes a cyclic prefix part and a preamble sequence part, and the preamble sequence part of the first-type random access preamble format includes a single sequence. The second-type random access preamble format includes a cyclic prefix part and a preamble sequence part, and the preamble sequence part of the second-type random access preamble format includes a plurality of repeated sequences.”, Liu [0149]) (“The first-type random access preamble format is shown in FIG. 7a, and the second-type random access preamble format is shown in FIG. 7b. As shown in FIG. 7a, the first-type random access preamble format includes the cyclic prefix part 71a and the preamble sequence part 72a, and the preamble sequence part of the first-type random access preamble format includes the single sequence 73a. As shown in FIG. 7b, the second-type random access preamble format also includes the cyclic prefix part 71b and the preamble sequence part 72b, and the preamble sequence part 72b of the second-type random access preamble format includes the plurality of repeated sequences 73b. It can be learned from FIG. 7a and FIG. 7b that a length of the single sequence 73a in the first-type random access preamble format may be greater than a length of the single sequence 73b in the second-type random access preamble format.”, Liu [0150])
Taherzadeh Boroujeni and Liu are analogous because they pertain to a method for RACH.
Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include transmitting different portions of a preamble using different resource as described in Liu into Taherzadeh Boroujeni. By modifying the protocol to include transmitting different portions of a preamble using different resource as taught by Liu, the benefits of improved beam selection procedure (Karimidehkordi [0096]) and improved efficiency (Taherzadeh Boroujeni [0062]) are achieved.
The combination of Taherzadeh Boroujeni, Karimidehkordi, and Liu as described above does not explicitly teach:
wherein the PRACH configuration comprises a PRACH long-sequence preamble indication that indicates a spread-preamble
However, Zewail further teaches long sequence based spread preamble configuration which includes:
The user equipment of claim 12, wherein the PRACH configuration comprises a PRACH long-sequence preamble indication that indicates a spread-preamble, (“In some examples, the UE may transmit the random access signal including a long PRACH sequence spanning more than one slot, the long PRACH sequence including the gap. The BS may receive the random access signal.”, Zewail [0119])
Taherzadeh Boroujeni, Liu, Hedayat, and Zewail are analogous because they pertain to a method for RACH.
Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include long sequence based preamble configuration as described in Zewail into Taherzadeh Boroujeni as modified by Karimidehkordi and Liu. By modifying the protocol to include long sequence based preamble configuration as taught by Zewail, the benefits of improved beam selection procedure (Karimidehkordi [0096]), improved spectral efficiency (Zewail [0091]), versatile preamble sequence formatting (Liu [0150]), and improved efficiency (Taherzadeh Boroujeni [0062]) are achieved.
As to claim 19:
Taherzadeh Boroujeni discloses:
The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 16, wherein the PRACH configuration comprises (“select the transmit and receive beams based on the measured RSRP”, Taherzadeh Boroujeni [0111]) (“2 bits may be used to indicate the strongest of these 4 beams”, Taherzadeh Boroujeni [0134]) (“multiple RACH occasions (ROs) associated with one SSB beam”, Taherzadeh Boroujeni [0125])
Taherzadeh Boroujeni as described above does not explicitly teach:
wherein the first PRACH preamble portion is longer than the second PRACH preamble portion
However, Liu further teaches transmitting two different types of preambles of different lengths from the same terminal which includes:
wherein the first PRACH preamble portion is longer than the second PRACH preamble portion (“The first-type random access preamble format is shown in FIG. 7a, and the second-type random access preamble format is shown in FIG. 7b. As shown in FIG. 7a, the first-type random access preamble format includes the cyclic prefix part 71a and the preamble sequence part 72a, and the preamble sequence part of the first-type random access preamble format includes the single sequence 73a. As shown in FIG. 7b, the second-type random access preamble format also includes the cyclic prefix part 71b and the preamble sequence part 72b, and the preamble sequence part 72b of the second-type random access preamble format includes the plurality of repeated sequences 73b. It can be learned from FIG. 7a and FIG. 7b that a length of the single sequence 73a in the first-type random access preamble format may be greater than a length of the single sequence 73b in the second-type random access preamble format.”, Liu [0150]) (FIG. 8 shows the terminal transmitting two different types of random access preamble, Liu)
Taherzadeh Boroujeni and Liu are analogous because they pertain to a method for RACH.
Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include transmitting two different types of preambles of different lengths from the same terminal as described in Liu into Taherzadeh Boroujeni as modified by Hedayat. By modifying the protocol to include transmitting two different types of preambles of different lengths from the same terminal as taught by Liu, the benefits of improved resource allocation (Hedayat [0017]), versatile preamble sequence formatting (Liu [0150]), and improved efficiency (Taherzadeh Boroujeni [0062]) are achieved.
The combination of Taherzadeh Boroujeni, Liu, and Karimidehkordi as described above does not explicitly teach:
wherein the PRACH configuration comprises a PRACH long-sequence preamble indication that indicates a spread-preamble,
wherein the first PRACH preamble portion is orthogonal to PRACH preambles that are not spread-preambles,
However, Zewail further teaches long sequence based preamble configuration and orthogonal preambles which includes:
The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 16, wherein the PRACH configuration comprises a PRACH long-sequence preamble indication that indicates a spread-preamble, (“In some examples, the UE may transmit the random access signal including a long PRACH sequence spanning more than one slot, the long PRACH sequence including the gap. The BS may receive the random access signal.”, Zewail [0119])
wherein the first PRACH preamble portion is orthogonal to PRACH preambles that are not spread-preambles, (“The spreading with the spreading code may allow two UEs to transmit the same signal PRACH format signal 810 (e.g., four repetitions of the short PRACH format signal 801) using the same resource, but applying a different spreading code (e.g., orthogonal to each other).”, Zewail [0089])
Taherzadeh Boroujeni, Liu, Karimidehkordi, and Zewail are analogous because they pertain to a method for RACH.
Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include long sequence based preamble configuration and orthogonal preambles as described in Zewail into Taherzadeh Boroujeni as modified by Karimidehkordi and Liu. By modifying the protocol to include long sequence based preamble configuration and orthogonal preambles as taught by Zewail, the benefits of improved beam selection procedure (Karimidehkordi [0096]), improved spectral efficiency (Zewail [0091]), versatile preamble sequence formatting (Liu [0150]), and improved efficiency (Taherzadeh Boroujeni [0062]) are achieved.
Claim(s) 5, 14, and 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Taherzadeh Boroujeni in view of Karimidehkordi and Liu as applied to claims 1,12, and 16 above, and further in view of Islam et al. US 20190053271 (hereinafter “Islam”).
As to claim 5, 14, and 18 (claim 5 is the method claim for the UE in claim 14 and non-transitory machine-readable medium in claim 18):
The combination of Taherzadeh Boroujeni, Liu, and Karimidehkordi as described above does not explicitly teach:
The method of claim 1, wherein the random access channel configuration further comprises at least one random access channel preamble tuple comprising preambles associated with respective beam strength ranks of downlink beams available with respect to the radio access network node, wherein the first random access channel preamble portion is associated with a first beam strength rank of the respective beam strength ranks, and wherein the second random access channel preamble portion is associated with a second beam strength rank of the respective beam strength ranks, the method further comprising: determining, by the user equipment, that the first downlink beam has a strongest beam strength of the available downlink beams based on the first coverage indication to result in the first beam strength rank corresponding to a determined strongest beam strength and that the second downlink beam has a second-strongest beam strength of the available downlink beams based on a second coverage indication corresponding to the second downlink beam to result in the second beam rank strength corresponding to a determined second-strongest beam strength; and determining, by the user equipment, at least one of the at least one random access channel preamble tuple to result in at least one determined random access channel preamble tuple, wherein, based on the at least one determined random access channel preamble tuple, the first random access channel resource corresponds to the first beam strength rank and the second random access channel resource corresponds to the second beam strength rank.
However, Islam further teaches ranking downlink beams which includes:
The method of claim 1, wherein the random access channel configuration further comprises at least one random access channel preamble tuple comprising preambles associated with respective beam strength ranks of downlink beams available with respect to the radio access network node, wherein the first random access channel preamble portion is associated with a first beam strength rank of the respective beam strength ranks, and wherein the second random access channel preamble portion is associated with a second beam strength rank of the respective beam strength ranks, the method further comprising: determining, by the user equipment, that the first downlink beam has a strongest beam strength of the available downlink beams based on the first coverage indication to result in the first beam strength rank corresponding to a determined strongest beam strength and that the second downlink beam has a second-strongest beam strength of the available downlink beams based on a second coverage indication corresponding to the second downlink beam to result in the second beam rank strength corresponding to a determined second-strongest beam strength; and determining, by the user equipment, at least one of the at least one random access channel preamble tuple to result in at least one determined random access channel preamble tuple, wherein, based on the at least one determined random access channel preamble tuple, the first random access channel resource corresponds to the first beam strength rank and the second random access channel resource corresponds to the second beam strength rank. (“Base station 105-a may determine an uplink reception beam based on the RACH message 220 (e.g., based on a signal quality of the received RACH message 220). Additionally, for RACH messages 220 transmitted in dedicated RACH resources, base station 105-a may configure UE 115-a to include an indication of one or more selected downlink transmission beams in the RACH messages 220. UE 115-a may select the downlink transmission beams based on a ranking of reference signal power measurements of signals received from base station 105-a (e.g., by ranking the beams based on RSRP measurements), and may include one or more indexes corresponding to the selected beam(s) in the RACH message 220. UE 115-a may select the one or more indexes based on other measurements, including, for example, measured channel quality measurements, interference measurements, signal strength measurements, or the like, of prior downlink directional transmissions received from base station 105-a. Additionally or alternatively, UE 115-a may indicate one or more downlink transmission beams to base station 105-a by selecting a specific preamble. For example, the network may allocate a set of preambles (e.g., 64 preambles) for UE 115-a in dedicated time and frequency domain RACH resources, and UE 115-a may select one preamble of the set of preambles based on the selected downlink transmission beam(s). UE 115-a may modify the RACH message 220 to include the selected preamble. Based on the one or more indexes corresponding of the selected beam(s) or the preamble included in the RACH message 220, base station 105-a may select one or more beams for uplink transmissions 210 and downlink transmissions 205 based on as few as a single RACH message 220. Base station 105-a may transmit a random access response using one or more of the selected downlink directional transmissions, or may choose a different downlink directional transmission that does not correspond to any of the indexes included in the RACH message 220. The base station 105-a and the UE 115-a may use information included in the random access response to establish a connection. The random access response may, for example, assign a radio network temporary identifier (RNTI) to UE 115-a, include timing information, include a grant assigning uplink and/or downlink resources to the UE 115-a, or the like, or any combination thereof.”, Islam [0157])
Taherzadeh Boroujeni, Karimidehkordi, Liu, and Islam are analogous because they pertain to a method for RACH.
Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include ranking downlink beams as described in Islam into Taherzadeh Boroujeni as modified by Karimidehkordi and Liu. By modifying the protocol to include ranking downlink beams as taught by Islam, the benefits of improved efficiency (Taherzadeh Boroujeni [0062]), improved beam selection procedure (Karimidehkordi [0096]), versatile preamble sequence formatting (Liu [0150]), and improved reliability (Islam [0135]) are achieved.
Claim(s) 20 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Taherzadeh Boroujeni in view of Karimidehkordi, Liu, and Zewail as applied to claim 19 above, and further in view of Pantelidou et al. US 20230043737 (hereinafter “Pantelidou”).
As to claim 20:
The combination of Taherzadeh Boroujeni, Liu, Karimidehkordi, and Zewail as discussed above does not teach:
The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 19, wherein the second PRACH preamble portion is non-orthogonal to PRACH preambles that are not spread-preambles.
However, Pantelidou further teaches non-orthogonal preamble in combination with non-spread preamble which includes:
The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 19, wherein the second PRACH preamble portion is non-orthogonal to PRACH preambles that are not spread-preambles. (“For example, when two or more wireless terminals use the same RACH resource concurrently to access a mobile network they may collide and not be granted access to the mobile network. Furthermore, a RACH procedure may fail when the related RACH parameters are selected in a non-optimized way, such as the Root Sequence Index with which the RACH Preambles are created; this may lead to non-orthogonal preambles being used in neighbouring cells. Additionally, using an unsuitable UE power setting may create Inter-Cell Interference from neighbouring cells leading RACH to fail.”, Pantelidou [0268])
Taherzadeh Boroujeni, Karimidehkordi, Liu, Zewail, and Pantelidou are analogous because they pertain to a method for RACH.
Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include non-orthogonal preamble in combination with non-spread preamble as described in Pantelidou into Taherzadeh Boroujeni as modified by Karimidehkordi, Liu, and Zewail. By modifying the protocol to include non-orthogonal preamble in combination with non-spread preamble as taught by Pantelidou, the benefits of minimized contention (Pantelidou [0275]), improved efficiency (Taherzadeh Boroujeni [0062]), improved beam selection procedure (Karimidehkordi [0096]), versatile preamble sequence formatting (Liu [0150]), and improved spectral efficiency (Zewail [0091]) are achieved.
Claim(s) 21 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Taherzadeh Boroujeni in view of Karimidehkordi and Liu as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Zhang et al. US 20190327766 (hereinafter “Zhang”).
As to claim 21:
The combination of Taherzadeh Boroujeni, Liu, and Karimidehkordi as described above does not explicitly teach:
The method of claim 1, wherein the transmitting of the second random access channel preamble portion using the second random access channel resource corresponding to the second resource indication is based on the first coverage being determined to fail to satisfy the coverage criterion.
However, Zhang further teaches transmitting another preamble across multiple resources based on the determination that the signal strength is too low which includes:
The method of claim 1, wherein the transmitting of the second random access channel preamble portion using the second random access channel resource corresponding to the second resource indication is based on the first coverage being determined to fail to satisfy the coverage criterion. (“if a signal strength of a signal received at the UE from the base station (e.g., a synchronization signal block (SSB) transmission) is below a threshold value, the UE may transmit an aggregated random access request that spans two or more PRACH occasions. The two or more PRACH occasions may be contiguous or non-contiguous. In some cases, the random access request may include a sequence or preamble that is transmitted from the UE, and that may be selected from a set of available preambles.”, Zhang [0006])
Taherzadeh Boroujeni, Liu, Karimidehkordi, and Zhang are analogous because they pertain to a method for RACH.
Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include transmitting another preamble across multiple resources based on the determination that the signal strength is too low as described in Zhang into Taherzadeh Boroujeni as modified by Karimidehkordi and Liu. By modifying the protocol to include transmitting another preamble across multiple resources based on the determination that the signal strength is too low as taught by Zhang, the benefits of improved beam selection procedure (Karimidehkordi [0096]), versatile preamble sequence formatting (Liu [0150]) , and improved efficiency (Taherzadeh Boroujeni [0062] and Zhang [0005]) are achieved.
Claim(s) 22 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Taherzadeh Boroujeni in view of Karimidehkordi and Liu as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Bae et al. US 20230345524 (hereinafter “Bae”).
As to claim 22:
The combination of Taherzadeh Boroujeni, Liu, and Karimidehkordi as described above does not explicitly teach:
The method of claim 1, wherein the first random access channel resource corresponds to the first downlink beam, wherein the second random access channel resource corresponds to a second downlink beam, and wherein the first downlink beam and the second downlink beam are different.
However, Bae further teaches each RO corresponding to different downlink beam which includes:
The method of claim 1, wherein the first random access channel resource corresponds to the first downlink beam, wherein the second random access channel resource corresponds to a second downlink beam, and wherein the first downlink beam and the second downlink beam are different. (“In some embodiments, the first RO is associated with a first SSB transmitted on a first downlink beam, and the second RO is associated with a second SSB transmitted on a second downlink beam, different from the first downlink beam.”, Bae [0167])
Taherzadeh Boroujeni, Karimidehkordi, Liu, and Bae are analogous because they pertain to a method for RACH.
Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include each RO corresponding to different downlink beam as described in Bae into Taherzadeh Boroujeni as modified by Karimidehkordi and Liu. By modifying the protocol to include each RO corresponding to different downlink beam as taught by Bae, the benefits of improved beam selection procedure (Karimidehkordi [0096]), versatile preamble sequence formatting (Liu [0150]), minimized interference (Bae [0076]), and improved efficiency (Taherzadeh Boroujeni [0062]) are achieved.
Conclusion
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/A.C.K./
Examiner
Art Unit 2471
/SUJOY K KUNDU/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2471