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 .
Claim Status
This office action is in response to the communication(s) filed on 01/08/2026.
Claim(s) 1-5, 8-12, and 15-16 is/are currently presenting for examination.
Claim(s) 1, 8, and 15-16 is/are independent claim(s).
Claim(s) 1-5, 8-12, and 15-16 is/are rejected.
This action has been made FINAL.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed on 01/08/2026 have been considered but are moot in view of the new ground(s) of rejection.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112:
The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention.
Claims 1-5, 8-12, and 15-16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-5, 8-12, and 15-16, specifically independent claims 1, 8, and 15-16, contain new limitations such as “wherein, based on a positive response message of the data being received with a first random access response related to the first random access preamble during the timer is running, the monitoring timer is stopped”. However, the original specification only describes that a (monitoring) timer will be expired, and nowhere describes that the (monitoring) timer will be stopped when a positive response message received (Published specification, figure 13, paragraphs 216, 230)
Claims 2-5, 9-12 depends on claims 1 and 8 respectively, therefore they are rejected for the same reason.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
The factual inquiries set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 148 USPQ 459 (1966), that are applied for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claim(s) 1-5, 8-12, and 15-16 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US_20200106573_A1_Cirik in view of US_20220225428_A1_Xiong.
Regarding claim 1, Cirik discloses a method comprising: transmitting a first random access preamble on a first bandwidth part (BWP) among a plurality of BWPs configured for data transmission in a radio resource control (RRC) inactive state (RRC_INACTIVE) (Cirik figure 26B, preamble transmission on second UL-BWP at time T2; paragraph 301, “…if a wireless device in an RRC inactive state has one or more packets, in a buffer, to transmit to a network, the wireless device may initiate a random access procedure to transmit one or more packets to a base station of a cell that the wireless device selects…”, paragraph 584, plurality of downlink and uplink BWPs), wherein, based on the first random access preamble being transmitted, a monitoring timer is started (Cirik figure 26B, preamble transmission on second UL-BWP at time T2; paragraphs 596-597, “…transmitting, in a first slot, at least one preamble via at least one PRACH resource of the second uplink BWP for the random-access procedure (at time T2 in FIG. 26B)… in response to transmitting the at least one preamble in the first slot, the wireless device may start, from a second slot, a configured response window (e.g., ra-responseWindow)”. That means, a timer for monitoring the response is started); switching from the first BWP to a second BWP among the plurality of BWPs, based on expiry of the monitoring timer (Cirik figure 26B, preamble retransmission on third UL-BWP at time T5; paragraph 599, “…configured response window may expire…In response to the configured response window expiring and the wireless device not receiving the DCI ( e.g., scrambled by C-RNTI) or a random-access response comprising the random-access preamble identifier being associated with (or corresponding to) the at least one preamble, the wireless device may consider a reception of the random-access response unsuccessful and may increment a preamble trans mission counter variable (e.g., PREAMBLE_TRANSMISSION_COUNTER) by one”, paragraph 602, switching from the second UL-BWP to the third UL-BWP); and transmitting a second random access preamble on the second BWP (Cirik figure 26B, preamble retransmission on third UL-BWP at time T5; paragraph 602), but does not explicitly disclose transmitting random access preamble with data, and wherein, based on a positive response message of the data being received with a first random access response related to the first random access preamble during the timer is running, the monitoring timer is stopped.
Xiong discloses transmitting random access preamble with data (Xiong figure 3, step 305, paragraph 46, “…The MsgA includes a PRACH preamble and a PUSCH carrying payload...”), and wherein, based on a positive response message of the data being received with a first random access response related to the first random access preamble during the timer is running, the monitoring timer is stopped (Xiong figure 3, step 310, paragraph 207, “…UE stops the MsgB reception timer...”).
Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement the teachings of Xiong’s the MsgA includes a PRACH preamble and a PUSCH carrying payload, and the UE stops the MsgB reception timer after the reception of the MsgB in Cirik’s system to reduce access latency and signaling overhead, and to allow the UE to skip waiting for a PUSCH allocation (paragraph 174). T33his method for improving the system of Cirik was within the ordinary ability of one of ordinary skill in the art based on the teachings of Xiong. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to combine the teachings of Cirik and Xiong to obtain the invention as specified in claim 1.
Regarding claim 2, Cirik and Xiong disclose the method of claim 1, and Cirik further discloses wherein transmitting the first random access preamble on the first BWP comprises transmitting the first random access preamble on random access resources configured for the first BWP (Cirik figure 26B, preamble transmission on second UL-BWP at time T2; paragraph 588, “… the configuration parameters may comprise one or more first PRACH resources ( or occasions) on the second uplink BWP and one or more second PRACH resources (or occasions) on the third uplink BWP”, paragraph 596, “…transmitting, in a first slot, at least one preamble via at least one PRACH resource of the second uplink BWP for the random-access procedure (at time T2 in FIG. 26B)”), and Xiong further discloses transmitting random access preamble with data (Xiong figure 3, step 305, paragraph 46, “…The MsgA includes a PRACH preamble and a PUSCH carrying payload...”).
Regarding claim 3, Cirik and Xiong disclose the method of claim 1, and Cirik further discloses wherein transmitting the second random access preamble on the second BWP comprises transmitting the second random access preamble on random access resources configured for the second BWP (Cirik figure 26B, preamble transmission on third UL-BWP at time T5; paragraph 588, “… the configuration parameters may comprise one or more first PRACH resources ( or occasions) on the second uplink BWP and one or more second PRACH resources (or occasions) on the third uplink BWP”, paragraph 602, “…transmitting, in a third slot, at least one second preamble via at least one second PRACH resource of the third uplink BWP for the random-access procedure (at time TS in FIG. 26B)”), and Xiong further discloses transmitting random access preamble with data (Xiong figure 3, step 305, paragraph 46, “…The MsgA includes a PRACH preamble and a PUSCH carrying payload...”).
Regarding claim 4, Cirik and Xiong disclose the method of claim 1, further comprising configuring an initial BWP for connecting the network and the plurality of BWPs for data transmissions in RRC_INACTIVE (Cirik figures 22-23, 24B, 26B, and paragraph 263-265, 528-535, default BWP 0, initial BWP 1, and BWP 2, BWP 3, wherein default BWP 0 as a fallback, the initial BWP 1 is for connecting the network, and BWP 2 and BWP 3 can be used for data communication).
Regarding claim 5, Cirik and Xiong disclose the method of claim 1, and Cirik futher discloses wherein transmitting the first random access preamble with the data on a first BWP comprises: transmitting the first random access preamble with the data on the first BWP repeatedly based on the monitoring timer is running (Cirik paragraph 599, “…In response to the configured response window expiring and the wireless device not receiving the DCI ( e.g., scrambled by C-RNTI) or a random-access response comprising the random-access preamble identifier being associated with (or corresponding to) the at least one preamble, the wireless device may consider a reception of the random-access response unsuccessful and may increment a preamble transmission counter variable (e.g., PREAMBLE_TRANSMIS SION_COUNTER) by one”).
Regarding claim 8, Cirik and Xiong disclose the limitations as set forth in claim 1, and Cirik further discloses an user equipment (UE) comprising: at least one processor; and at least one computer memory storing instructions (Cirik figure 3).
Regarding claim 9, Cirik and Xiong disclose the limitations as set forth in claim 2.
Regarding claim 10, Cirik and Xiong disclose the limitations as set forth in claim 3.
Regarding claim 11, Cirik and Xiong disclose the limitations as set forth in claim 4.
Regarding claim 12, Cirik and Xiong disclose the limitations as set forth in claim 5.
Regarding claim 15, Cirik and Xiong disclose the limitations as set forth in claim 1, and Cirik further discloses an apparatus for a user equipment (UE), the apparatus comprising: at least one processor, and at least one computer memory operably connectable to the at least one processor and storing instructions (Cirik figure 3).
Regarding claim 16, Cirik and Xiong disclose the limitations as set forth in claim 1, and Cirik further discloses A non-transitory computer readable storage medium comprising program instructions that, when executed by at least one processor (Cirik figure 3).
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Prior art US_20200220693_A1_Babaei, teaches if a wireless device in an RRC inactive state has one or more packets, in a buffer, to transmit to a network, the wireless device may initiate a random access procedure to transmit one or more packets to a base station of a cell that the wireless device selects; in response to switching from the first BWP to the second BWP, the second configured grants may be available for the wireless device for transmission or retransmission of the packets; the wireless device can switch from the first BWP to the second BWP when the inactivity timer expired… may be retransmitted via second configured grants of the second BWP (Babaei figures 22-24, paragraphs 300, 474).
Prior art US_20230247501_A1_Kim, teaches A UE configuring or switching BWPs according to the RRC connection reconfiguration from the serving gNB (Kim figure 6).
Prior art US_20210051631_A1_Deogun, teaches the transceiver configured to communicate the one or more data bursts is further configured to receive, from the BS, information associated with a number of acknowledgements/negative-acknowledgements (ACK/NACKs) expected from the UE; and the transceiver configured to switch from the communication in the first BWP to the communication in the second BWP is further configured to switch from the communication in the first BWP to the communication in the second BWP based on the received information associated with the number of ACK/NACKs expected (Deogun figure 15, and paragraph 165).
Prior art US_20200275485_A1_Babaei, teaches a switch is made from the first bandwidth part to a second bandwidth part as an active bandwidth part based on the LBT counter reaching the first value (Babaei figure 10, and paragraphs 192, 516).
Prior art US_20210127450_A1_Abdoli discloses upon receipt of the DCI, the UE switches to an INACTIVE DL BWP, if a switching condition is met. The base station sends DL data in the INACTIVE DL BWP. Once the DL data has been received, the UE switches the DL BWP from INACTIVE DL BWP to CORESET 0, if the switching was performed (Abdoli figures 7-11).
Prior art US_20190158229_A1_Wei discloses the base station may apply a specific DCI to indicate to the UE to restart, pause, disable, and/or modify the initial value or modify the unit (but keep the configured value) of the configured BWP switching timer without containing any data scheduling information. The indication may be determined by the base station based on a predefined or preconfigured lookup table. If the UE is indicated to disable the BWP Inactivity timer, or if the UE has not been configured with a BWP Inactivity timer, the UE may not switch its active BWP back to the default BWP until the UE transitions to RRC_IDLE state. For example, when the UE transitions to RRC_IDLE state in a non-default BWP, the UE should not re-enter the non-default BWP when it needs to transition back to RRC_CONNECTED state. Within the DCI indicating BWP switching, the base station may also indicate, to the UE, as to whether to trigger the BWP Inactivity timer or not. If not, the UE may not switch its active BWP until the UE transitions to RRC_IDLE or RRC_INACTIVE state when the BWP switching indication is received.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to WEIBIN HUANG whose telephone number is (571)270-3695. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 9:30AM - 6:00PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Sujoy Kundu can be reached at (571)272-8586. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/W.H/Examiner, Art Unit 2471
/SUJOY K KUNDU/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2471
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