DETAILED ACTION
This office action response the Request for Continued Examination application on 4/29/2026.
Claims 1, 4-8, 11-15, and 18-21 are presented for examination.
Notice of 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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 4/29/2026 has been entered.
Response to Amendment
This communication is in response to the amendments filed on April 29, 2026. Claims 1, 4, 8, 11, 15, and 18 have been amended. Claims 2-3, 9-10, and 16-17 are cancelled. Claim 1, 4-8, 11-15, and 18-21 are currently pending and have been considered below.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 1, 8 and 15 have been carefully considered but are moot in view of the new grounds of rejection necessitated by Applicant’s amendments.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102 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.
Claims 1, 4, 6-8, 11, 13-15, and 18 - 21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over JIA et al. (WO 2023039809 A1), hereinafter “D1” in view of JIA et al. (WO 2022151110 A1), hereinafter “D2”.
As per Claim 1, D1 discloses a method performed by a User Equipment (UE) ([see, [0010], a random-access method is provided for terminals in RRC-connected mode]), the method comprising:
receiving, from a Base Station (BS), via Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling ([see, [0248], terminals in RRC connection receive network device configuration information]), a timing advance (TA) report configuration (TA is triggered to report) comprising a parameter that is set to either enabled or disabled to indicate whether to trigger a scheduling report (SR) for a TA reporting (enables the terminal to promptly report TA by sending SR) procedure ([see, [0248-0256], When TA is triggered to report, terminal stops the random access process once the stop conditions are met, enables the terminal to promptly report TA by sending SR]);
determining whether at least one uplink resource is available for a new transmission ([see, [0129], When SR is triggered and there are PUCCH resources available for transmitting SR, the terminal sends SR to the network device. When the network device receives the SR, it schedules the newly transmitted PUSCH resource to the terminal for terminal reporting to the terminal]), and
in a case that no uplink resource is available for the new transmission ([see, [0116], a terminal in the RRC connection state triggers an SR when TA reporting is triggered but uplink resources meet unavailable conditions. When a terminal triggers an SR]), or the at least one uplink resource available for the new transmission does not accommodate the TAR MAC CE and the subheader of the TAR MAC CE as the result of the LCP,
determining whether to trigger the SR based on whether the parameter in the TA report configuration is set to enabled ([see, [0116, 0130, 0248-0255, 0315], wherein when available PUCCH resources exist, enables the terminal to promptly report TA by sending SR, the SR is triggered and the terminal sends an SR to the network device]).
D1 doesn’t appear to explicitly disclose: determining whether at least one TA report (TAR) has been triggered and not canceled; in a case that the at least one TAR has been triggered and not canceled, determining whether at least one uplink resource accommodates a TAR Media Access Control (MAC) Control Element (CE) and a subheader of the TAR MAC CE as a result of a logical channel prioritization (LCP), and the TAR MAC CE comprising an amount of TA pre-compensation applied by the UE.
However, D2 discloses determining whether at least one TA report (TAR) has been triggered and not canceled ([see, page 28, lines 30-37, triggers a scheduling request (SR) for TRP-specific beam failure recovery for each TRP that triggers BFR and does not cancel]);
in a case that the at least one TAR has been triggered and not canceled ([see, page 28, lines 25-35], triggers a scheduling request (SR) for TRP-specific beam failure recovery for each TRP that triggers BFR and does not cancel; determine the uplink resources are available for a new transmission)), determining whether at least one uplink resource accommodates a TAR Media Access Control (MAC) Control Element (CE) and a subheader of the TAR MAC CE as a result of a logical channel prioritization (LCP) ([see, page 25, lines [10-20], when the uplink resource is available for a new transmission and the result of LCP is that the uplink resource can accommodate the Truncated BFR MAC CE plus its subheader]),
the TAR MAC CE comprising an amount of TA pre-compensation applied by the UE ([see, page 52, lines 1-25, a value of 1 bit in the MAC CE indicates that the beam failure detection or trigger beam failure is detected at the transmission and reception point corresponding to the beam failure detection reference signal set (BFD-RS set) with index 0]).
In view of the above, having the system of D1 and then given the well-established teaching of D2, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made to modify the system of D1 as taught by D2. The motivation for doing so would have been to provide measures as the cell beam and generating and reporting beam failure information results enhanced the efficiency of the network, and avoiding waste of resources (D2, page 5, lines 5-10]).
As per Claim 8, D1 discloses a User Equipment (UE) ([see, [0010], a terminals in RRC-connected mode]), comprising:
one or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing computer-executable instructions; and at least one processor coupled to the one or more non-transitory computer-readable media and configured to execute the computer-executable instructions to cause the UE ([see, [0023], a terminal is provided, wherein the terminal includes a processor, a transceiver connected to the processor, and memory]), to:
receive, from a Base Station (BS), via Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling ([see, [0248], terminals in RRC connection receive network device configuration information]), a timing advance (TA) report configuration comprising a parameter that is set to either nabled or disabled to indicate whether to trigger a scheduling report (SR) for a TA reporting procedure ([see, [0248-0256], When TA is triggered to report, terminal stops the random access process once the stop conditions are met, enables the terminal to promptly report TA by sending SR]);
in a case that the at least one TAR has been triggered and not canceled, determine whether at least one uplink resource is available for a new transmission ([see, [0129], When SR is triggered and there are PUCCH resources available for transmitting SR, the terminal sends SR to the network device. When the network device receives the SR, it schedules the newly transmitted PUSCH resource to the terminal for terminal reporting to the terminal]), and
in a case that no uplink resource is available for the new transmission ([see, [0116], a terminal in the RRC connection state triggers an SR when TA reporting is triggered but uplink resources meet unavailable conditions. When a terminal triggers an SR]), or the at least one uplink resource available for the new transmission does not accommodate the TAR MAC CE and the subheader of the TAR MAC CE as the result of the LCP,
determine whether to trigger the SR based on whether the parameter in the TA report configuration is set to enabled ([see, [0116, 0130, 0248-0255, 0315], wherein when available PUCCH resources exist, enables the terminal to promptly report TA by sending SR, the SR is triggered and the terminal sends an SR to the network device]).
D1 doesn’t appear to explicitly disclose: in a case that the at least one TAR has been triggered and not canceled, determining whether at least one TA report (TAR) has been triggered and not canceled; in a case that the at least one TAR has been triggered and not canceled, determining whether at least one uplink resource accommodates a TAR Media Access Control (MAC) Control Element (CE) and a subheader of the TAR MAC CE as a result of a logical channel prioritization (LCP), and the TAR MAC CE comprising an amount of TA pre-compensation applied by the UE.
However, D2 discloses in a case that the at least one TAR has been triggered and not canceled, determining whether at least one TA report (TAR) has been triggered and not canceled ([see, page 28, lines 30-37, triggers a scheduling request (SR) for TRP-specific beam failure recovery for each TRP that triggers BFR and does not cancel]);
in a case that the at least one TAR has been triggered and not canceled ([see, page 28, lines 25-35], triggers a scheduling request (SR) for TRP-specific beam failure recovery for each TRP that triggers BFR and does not cancel; determine the uplink resources are available for a new transmission)), determining whether at least one uplink resource accommodates a TAR Media Access Control (MAC) Control Element (CE) and a subheader of the TAR MAC CE as a result of a logical channel prioritization (LCP) ([see, page 25, lines [10-20], when the uplink resource is available for a new transmission and the result of LCP is that the uplink resource can accommodate the Truncated BFR MAC CE plus its subheader]),
the TAR MAC CE comprising an amount of TA pre-compensation applied by the UE ([see, page 52, lines 1-25, a value of 1 bit in the MAC CE indicates that the beam failure detection or trigger beam failure is detected at the transmission and reception point corresponding to the beam failure detection reference signal set (BFD-RS set) with index 0]).
In view of the above, having the system of D1 and then given the well-established teaching of D2, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made to modify the system of D1 as taught by D2. The motivation for doing so would have been to provide measures as the cell beam and generating and reporting beam failure information results enhanced the efficiency of the network, and avoiding waste of resources (D2, page 5, lines 5-10]).
As per Claims 4, 11, D1 further discloses further comprising: in a case that the parameter is set to enabled, triggering the SR ([see, [0248-0256], When TA is triggered to report, terminal stops the random-access process once the stop conditions are met, enables the terminal to promptly report TA by sending SR]).
As per Claims 6, 13, D1 further discloses wherein the TAR MAC CE is associated with one of the at least one TAR that has been triggered and notcanceled ([see, [0097, 0117, 0127], when the terminal triggers TA reporting, the MAC CE command associated with terminal triggers TA reporting and maintain the terminal triggers TA reporting]).
As per Claims 7, 14, D1 further discloses wherein the UE operates in a non-terrestrial network (NTN) ([see, [0054], Figure 2 shows the scenario of the regenerative load NTN]).
As per Claim 15, D1 discloses a Base Station (BS), comprising:
one or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing computer-executable instructions; and at least one processor coupled to the one or more non-transitory computer-readable media and configured to execute the computer-executable instructions ([see, [0023], a terminal is provided, wherein the terminal includes a processor, a transceiver connected to the processor, and memory]), to cause the BS to:
transmit, via Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling ([see, [0248], terminals in RRC connection receive network device configuration information]), a timing advance (TA) report configuration to a User Equipment (UE), the TA report configuration comprising a parameter that is set to either enabled or disabled to indicate whether to trigger a scheduling report (SR) for a TA reporting procedure ([see, [0248-0256], When TA is triggered to report, terminal stops the random access process once the stop conditions are met, enables the terminal to promptly report TA by sending SR]),
wherein:
in a case that the at least one TAR has been triggered and not canceled, the TA report configuration further causes the UE to determine whether at least one uplink resource is available for a new transmission ([see, [0129], When SR is triggered and there are PUCCH resources available for transmitting SR, the terminal sends SR to the network device. When the network device receives the SR, it schedules the newly transmitted PUSCH resource to the terminal for terminal reporting to the terminal]), and
in a case that no uplink resource is available for the new transmission ([see, [0116], a terminal in the RRC connection state triggers an SR when TA reporting is triggered but uplink resources meet unavailable conditions. When a terminal triggers an SR]), or the at least one uplink resource available for the new transmission does not accommodate the TAR MAC CE and the subheader of the TAR MAC CE as the result of the LCP,
the TA report configuration further causes the UE to:
determine whether to trigger the SR based on whether the parameter in the TA report configuration is set to enabled ([see, [0116, 0130, 0248-0255, 0315], wherein when available PUCCH resources exist, enables the terminal to promptly report TA by sending SR, the SR is triggered and the terminal sends an SR to the network device]).
D1 doesn’t appear to explicitly disclose: the TA report configuration causing the UE to: in a case that the at least one TAR has been triggered and not canceled, determine whether at least one TA report (TAR) has been triggered and not canceled, the at least one uplink resource accommodates a TAR Media Access Control (MAC) Control Element (CE) and a subheader of the TAR MAC CE as a result of a logical channel prioritization (LCP), the TAR MAC CE comprising an amount of TA pre-compensation applied by the UE.
However, D2 discloses the TA report configuration causing the UE to: in a case that the at least one TAR has been triggered and not canceled, determining whether at least one TA report (TAR) has been triggered and not canceled ([see, page 28, lines 30-37, triggers a scheduling request (SR) for TRP-specific beam failure recovery for each TRP that triggers BFR and does not cancel]);
in a case that the at least one TAR has been triggered and not canceled ([see, page 28, lines 25-35], triggers a scheduling request (SR) for TRP-specific beam failure recovery for each TRP that triggers BFR and does not cancel; determine the uplink resources are available for a new transmission)), determining whether at least one uplink resource accommodates a TAR Media Access Control (MAC) Control Element (CE) and a subheader of the TAR MAC CE as a result of a logical channel prioritization (LCP) ([see, page 25, lines [10-20], when the uplink resource is available for a new transmission and the result of LCP is that the uplink resource can accommodate the Truncated BFR MAC CE plus its subheader]),
the TAR MAC CE comprising an amount of TA pre-compensation applied by the UE ([see, page 52, lines 1-25, a value of 1 bit in the MAC CE indicates that the beam failure detection or trigger beam failure is detected at the transmission and reception point corresponding to the beam failure detection reference signal set (BFD-RS set) with index 0]).
In view of the above, having the system of D1 and then given the well-established teaching of D2, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made to modify the system of D1 as taught by D2. The motivation for doing so would have been to provide measures as the cell beam and generating and reporting beam failure information results enhanced the efficiency of the network, and avoiding waste of resources (D2, page 5, lines 5-10]).
As per Claim 18, D1 and D2 disclose the BS of claim 15, and D1 further discloses wherein in a case that the parameter is set to enabled, the TA report configuration further causes the UE to: trigger the SR ([see, [0248-0256], When TA is triggered to report, terminal stops the random-access process once the stop conditions are met, enables the terminal to promptly report TA by sending SR]).
As per Claim 19, D1 and D2 disclose the BS of claim 15, and D1 appears to be silent to the instant claim, however D2 discloses wherein in a case that the at least one uplink resource is available for the new transmission and the at least one uplink resource accommodates the TAR MAC CE and the subheader of the TAR MAC CE as the result of the LCP ([see, page 28, lines [25-35], when there are no uplink resources available for a new transmission, or if uplink resources are available for a new transmission and if the result of the LCP is that the TRP-specific beam fails to recover the MAC CE plus its subheader]),
the TA report configuration further causes the UE to:
instruct a multiplexing and assembly entity to generate the TAR MAC CE ([see, page 23, lines (15-20), the medium access control (MAC) entity of the terminal device instructs the multiplexing and assembly process to generate a TRP-specific MAC CE]).
In view of the above, having the system of D1 and then given the well-established teaching of D2, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made to modify the system of D1 as taught by D2. The motivation for doing so would have been to provide measures as the cell beam and generating and reporting beam failure information results enhanced the efficiency of the network, and avoiding waste of resources (D2, page 5, lines 5-10]).
As per Claim 20, D1 discloses the BS of claim 15, and D1 further discloses wherein the TAR MAC CE is associated with one of the at least one TAR that has been triggered and not canceled ([see, [0097, 0117, 0127], the MAC CE command associated with reported by TAs]).
As per Claim 21, D1 and D2 disclose the BS of claim 15, and D1 further discloses wherein the UE operates in a non-terrestrial network (NTN) ([see, [0054], Figure 2 shows the scenario of the regenerative load NTN]).
Claims 5, and 12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over D1, in view of D2, and further in view of Babaei et al. (U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2019/0215870), hereinafter "D3”).
As per Claim 5, D1 and D2 disclose the method of claim 1, and D1 further discloses further comprising: in a case of determining that the at least one uplink resource is available for the new transmission and the at least one uplink resource accommodates the TAR MAC CE and the subheader of the TAR MAC CE as a result of LCP ([see, [0091-0093, 0097, 0205], (EP [0084-0087]), wherein determining the priority, the base station may allocate an uplink resource to the TA according to the logical channel priority of the TA and the logical channel priority of the other information, and also a logical channel priority of a TA to be transmitted is determined and the terminal may report the TA via a MAC CE, and the TA may have a corresponding logical channel]).
D1 doesn’t appear to explicitly disclose: instructing a multiplexing and assembly procedure to generate the TAR MAC CE.
However, D3 discloses instructing a multiplexing and assembly procedure to generate the TAR MAC CE ([see, [0223], wherein a logical channel or MAC CE may be configured for the wireless device by the base station, the logical channel prioritization procedure may allocate the uplink resources to one or more first logical channels in one or more MAC Control Elements, the MAC layer at the wireless device may multiplex one or more MAC CEs]).
In view of the above, having the system of D1 and then given the well-established teaching of D3, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made to modify the system of D1 as taught by D3. The motivation for doing so would have been to provide accurate timing advance results improved uplink resource utilization with reduced interference (D3, ¶ [0651]).
As per Claim 12, D1 discloses the UE of claim 8, and D1 further discloses wherein the at least one processor is further configured to execute the computer-executable instructions to cause the UE to in a case of determining that the at least one uplink resource is available for the new transmission and the at least one uplink resource accommodates the TAR MAC CE and the subheader of the TAR MAC CE as a result of LCP ([see, [0091-0093, 0097, 0205], (EP [0084-0087]), wherein determining the priority, the base station may allocate an uplink resource to the TA according to the logical channel priority of the TA and the logical channel priority of the other information, and also a logical channel priority of a TA to be transmitted is determined and the terminal may report the TA via a MAC CE, and the TA may have a corresponding logical channel]).
D1 doesn’t appear to explicitly disclose: instruct a multiplexing and assembly procedure to generate the TAR MAC CE.
However, D3 discloses instruct a multiplexing and assembly procedure to generate the TAR MAC CE ([see, [0223], wherein a logical channel or MAC CE may be configured for the wireless device by the base station, the logical channel prioritization procedure may allocate the uplink resources to one or more first logical channels in one or more MAC Control Elements, the MAC layer at the wireless device may multiplex one or more MAC CEs]).
In view of the above, having the system of D1 and then given the well-established teaching of D3, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made to modify the system of D1 as taught by D3. The motivation for doing so would have been to provide accurate timing advance results improved uplink resource utilization with reduced interference (D3, ¶ [0651]).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to BERHANU D BELETE whose telephone number is (571)272-3478. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Friday 7:30am-5pm, Alt. Friday, and EDT.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, JEONG, MOO R. can be reached on (571) 272-9617. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative or access to the automated information system, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/BERHANU D BELETE/Examiner, Art Unit 2468
/WUTCHUNG CHU/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2418
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