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 .
Response to Amendment
The amendment to the claims filed on 07/07/2026 complies with the requirements of 37 CFR 1.121(c) and has been entered. Claims 24, 33-34 and 40-41 are amended. Claims 1-23 remain cancelled. Objection to claims 25, 26, and 30 as substantially duplicate of Claim 24 is withdrawn.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s Arguments/Remarks filed on 07/07/2026 (hereinafter Resp.) with respect to the independent claims have been considered but are unpersuasive. Specifically, Applicant argues that Park et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2020/0288509 (hereinafter Park) “does not teach or suggest configuring a plurality of DMRS resources, each associated with a respective TBS and MCS combination, such that the particular DMRS resource used by the UE for the PUSCH transmission indicates which TBS and MCS combination is used by the UE” as amended to the independent claims – See Resp., p.11:¶2. Examiner respectfully disagrees and points to Park:[¶¶0147-173] describing at length a plurality of DMRS resources configured for uplink transmission, including sequence generation, cyclic shifting, single-tone vs. multi-tone DRMS RU allocations and location of DMRS in a PUSCH, including references to 3GPP technical specifications, and further describes how these characteristics of DRMSs can be used to indicate TBS and MCS combinations – See [¶¶0881-901] in “a method for generating a physical layer signal of Msg. 3 and distinguishing TBSs using a reference signal” – See [¶0881]. To be sure, the method of using DMRS characteristics (sequence, cyclic shift or scrambling values) to encode additional information regarding an UL transmission, information that can be further signaled to the base station by a UE when the UE uses one of the DRMS characteristics in the DMRSs multiplexed with data on the PUSCH transmission, is not novel. For example, Song et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2018/0242286 (hereinafter Song) cited as prior art discloses how to transmit to a base station the HARQ-ACK codebook size by mapping orthogonal sequences applied to DRMS(s) to one or a group of HARQ-ACK codebook sizes, or by mapping a plurality of values for the cyclic shift of the DMRS sequence to possible HARQ-ACK codebook sizes, thus reducing blind decoding of the said information (here, the HARQ-ACK codebook size, in Park the TBS size) at the base station See, e.g., Park:[¶¶0877-78]. Therefore, Applicant’s argument against Park fails to persuade and the rejection over Park is maintained albeit adding other pertinent parts of Park.
Claim Objections
Claim 26 objected to under 37 CFR 1.75 as being a substantial duplicate of claim 25 as further explained in Regarding Claim 26 infra. When two claims in an application are duplicates or else are so close in content that they both cover the same thing, despite a slight difference in wording, it is proper after allowing one claim to object to the other as being a substantial duplicate of the allowed claim. See MPEP § 608.01(m).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 24-46, as amended, are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Park et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2020/0288509 (hereinafter Park).
Regarding Amended Claim 24, Park teaches an apparatus comprising: memory to store transport block size (TBS) and modulation and coding scheme (MCS) information associated with a small data transmission (SDT) from a user equipment (UE) and; processing circuitry, coupled with the memory (“the base station receives, from the UE, a request for the EDT by using message 1” – See [¶0988] and “In order to perform early data transmission (EDT) in the random access procedure in the wireless communication system, the base station includes a radio frequency (RF) module transmitting and receiving a radio signal, and a processor controlling the RF module” – See [¶1000] wherein “the processor of the base station controls the RF module to transmit, to the UE, a control message including first information indicating whether selection for a second transport size (TBS) smaller than a first TBS for message 3 is permitted and second information for the first TBS” – See [¶1001] and the processor “implements a function, a process, and/or a method which are proposed in FIGS. 1 to 19” while a memory “is connected with the processor to store various information for driving the processor” – See [¶1019], e.g., when “the number of values which may become the maximum TBS is promised 8” – See [¶0654] and “[t]he values . . . preferably include TBS, RU, modulation order, and the like indicated by the legacy MSG3 UL grant” – See [¶0657], “8 separate tables to be referred to are specified in 3GPP TS spec. according to the maximum TBS value via the SIB in order to support more various coding rates, etc. each []BS and the UE may be configured to follow 8 tables” – See [¶0660] and Table 40 showing “a 4-bit (16 states) table for indicating the TBS, the modulation, the number of RUs” – See [¶0662] wherein “it is assumed that the maximum TBS is 1000 and in this case, it is assumed that a total of 4 TBSs including 208, 256, and 680 may be used” – See [¶0663] that can be stored as shown in Figs. 22-25, depending on the amount of EDT information to be encoded, i.e., the amount of RUs and the coding rate for each allowed TBS value; see also § 16.5, 3GPP TS 36.213 V16.2.0 (2020-06), “Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA)” (hereinafter 3GPP TS 36.213, reference, e.g., in [¶0111]], providing in Table 16.5.1.2-1, at page 547, Modulation and TBS index table for NPUSCH with
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23
49
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Greyscale
and in Table 16.5.1.2-2, at page 548, Transport block size (TBS) table for NPUSCH as a function of MCS index and number of allocate RUs) to:
configure a plurality of demodulation reference signal (DMRS) resources1, each DMRS resource of the plurality of DMRS resources associated with a respective one of a first TBS and MCS combination and a second TBS and MCS combination of the TBS and MCS information (“the base station may configure one or more DMRSs and the UE may select and transmit a specific DMRS according to contents of . . . the ‘multi-tone capability report’” – See [¶0488] whereby each DMRS is a sequence as known in the art, e.g., “defined by 7.2 of TS36.211” – See [¶0149] and whereby “a base sequence index u is provided by higher layer parameters threeTone-BaseSequence, sixTone-BaseSequence, and twelveTone-BaseSequence, respectively, with respect to
N
sc
RU
=
3
,
N
sc
RU
=
6
, and
N
sc
RU
=
12
” – See [¶0156], i.e., DMRS resources/sequences may be indexed based on the multi-tone/number of subcarriers used by the UE to transmit on that RU, using yet another “reference signal sequence ru(n) for
N
sc
RU
=
1
,
” i.e., single-tome transmission – See [¶0148]; therefore, there may be at least 4 different indices for 4 different kinds of DRMS resources based on the number of subcarriers per allocated resource unit (RU), i.e.,
N
sc
RU
=
1
,
3
,
6
,
a
n
d
12
tones; furthermore, a first TBS and MCS combination may be associated with a single-tone DMRS RU, i.e., a first DMRS sequence index, as shown in Table 16.5.1.2-1 correlated with Table 16.5.1.2-2 provided by 3GPP TS 36.213 at page 547 for
N
sc
RU
=
1
, that combination encompassing MCSs 0-10 shown in Table 16.5.1.2-1, and then a second TBS and MCS combination, encompassing MCSs 11-13 highlighted in Table 16.5.1.2-2 corresponding to DMRS resources/sequences transmitted using multi-tone RUs, i.e., in case
N
sc
RU
=
3
,
6
o
r
12
; the respective tables are reproduced below for clarity
Table 16.5.1.2-1: Modulation and TBS index table for NPUSCH with
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23
49
media_image1.png
Greyscale
.
MCS Index
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23
29
media_image2.png
Greyscale
Modulation Order
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20
21
media_image3.png
Greyscale
TBS Index
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23
27
media_image4.png
Greyscale
0
1
0
1
1
2
2
2
1
3
2
3
4
2
4
5
2
5
6
2
6
7
2
7
8
2
8
9
2
9
10
2
10
Table 16.5.1.2-2: Transport block size (TBS) table for NPUSCH
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23
27
media_image4.png
Greyscale
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25
25
media_image5.png
Greyscale
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
0
16
32
56
88
120
152
208
256
1
24
56
88
144
176
208
256
344
2
32
72
144
176
208
256
328
424
3
40
104
176
208
256
328
440
568
4
56
120
208
256
328
408
552
680
5
72
144
224
328
424
504
680
872
6
88
176
256
392
504
600
808
1000
7
104
224
328
472
584
712
1000
1224
8
120
256
392
536
680
808
1096
1384
9
136
296
456
616
776
936
1256
1544
10
144
328
504
680
872
1000
1384
1736
11
176
376
584
776
1000
1192
1608
2024
12
208
440
680
1000
1128
1352
1800
2280
13
224
488
744
1032
1256
1544
2024
2536
wherein “
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23
27
media_image4.png
Greyscale
is given in Table 16.5.1.2-1 if
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23
49
media_image6.png
Greyscale
,
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23
69
media_image7.png
Greyscale
otherwise” – See id.; see also Table 40 of Park); and
encode a Random-Access Response (RAR) message for transmission to the UE that includes the TBS and MCS information, the RAR message including a RAR uplink (UL) grant field (e.g., “Table 38 is a table showing an example of the field configuration in the UL grant of the RAR for the EDT” – See [¶0627] and Table 37 wherein the “Modulation and coding scheme” field may be correlated with the TBS index in the Tables from 3GPP TS 36.211 shown supra; in addition, “a method for introducing a new MSG3 UL Grant including the MCS, the TBS, the RU, etc., which may be indicated by a legacy MSG3 UL Grant [is further] described” – See [¶0634] whereby “TBS for Msg.3 Field, Modulation, and 4 Bits of Numbers of RUs” are introduced – See [¶¶0625-68] and Table 40; and “the base station receiving the Msg.1 may transmit a UL grant for scheduling Msg.3 to the corresponding UE in the Msg.2 RAR” – See [¶0822] including the case where “the TBS indicated by the UL grant may include . . . 2) simultaneously schedules a maximum TBS and N-1 TBSs (less than the maximum TBS value, and each TBS may not overlap each other) induced from the value” – See [¶0823]),
wherein a DMRS resource, of the plurality of DMRS resources, used by the UE for a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) transmission associated with the SDT indicates which of the first TBS and MCS combination and the second TBS and MCS combination is used by the UE for the PUSCH transmission (because “when the UE transmits the Msg.3 by directly selecting the TBS from the N TBSs, the base station needs to blindly detect the TBS selected from the UE or used for the corresponding Msg.3 among the N TBSs” – See [¶0877] then “a method for generating a physical layer signal of Msg. 3 and distinguishing TBSs using a reference signal” may be used – See [¶0881] whereby “the initial value used to generate the pseudorandom sequence or a location of some sequences selected for DMRS and scrambling sequence generation from the pseudo-random sequence is used/selected differently for each TBS” – See [¶0901], e.g., a first DMRS sequence index points to the first TBS and MCS combination based on single-tone transmission and MCSs 0-10 with corresponding TBSs further discriminated by a scrambling sequence and a different DMRS sequence index points to the second TBS and MCS combination based on multi-tone transmission and MCSs 11-13 with corresponding TBSs further discriminated by a scrambling sequence).
Note: instead of the 4 DMRS sequence indices based on the single-tone and the three multi-tone type of RUs used for DRMS transmission, a method based on “DMRS Cyclic Shift (CS)” whereby “cyclic-shifting the generated DMRS sequence may be configured differently for each TBS [and MCS combination]” could be used – See [¶¶0889-94]
Therefore, Amended Claim 24 is anticipated by Park.
Regarding Claim 25, dependent from Amended Claim 24, Park further teaches the apparatus of claim 24 wherein the SDT transmission is associated with a four-step random access (RACH) procedure or a two-step RACH procedure (“The "early UL data transmission (hereinafter, referred to as 'EDT')" proposed in this specification is a method for transmitting uplink data in a state in which the UE does not enter the RRC_CONNECTED mode in the process of . . . the random access procedure” – See [¶0395], which for NB transmissions is a 4-step RACH procedure including Msg1. to Msg.4 as described in [¶¶0400-414], and “The EDT proposed in this specification is based on a method in which the UE in the RRC_IDLE state transmits the uplink data to the Msg.3 during the random access procedure” – See [¶0426]).
Therefore, Claim 25 is anticipated by Park.
Regarding Claim 26, dependent from Claim 25, Park further teaches wherein the processing circuitry is further to encode a Msg2 random access response (RAR) for transmission to the UE that includes a RAR uplink (UL) grant field (“The base station determines whether the corresponding EDT request is made through . . . the Msg.1 and transmits the Msg.2 to the UE by the corresponding RA-RNTI” – See [¶0513] and “[w]hen the base station accepts the EDT request and schedules the Msg.3 for the EDT request, the base station informs acceptance of the EDT request with a value of '1' in the reserved bit of the MAC RAR of the corresponding
RAPID,” – [¶0516] by “[u]tilizing UL-Grant of Existing RAR” – See [¶0545] and Fig. 14).
Furthermore, Claim 26 is substantially the same as Claim 25 because Amended Claim 24 requires random access response (RAR) for transmission to the UE that includes a RAR uplink (UL) grant field and Claim 25 further requires a 4-step RA procedure thus making the RAR a Msg2 RAR.
Therefore, Claim 26 is anticipated by Park.
Regarding Claim 27, dependent from Claim 26, Park further teaches the apparatus of claim 26 wherein the RAR UL grant field indicates a plurality of Msg3 PUSCH frequency domain resource allocations (FDRAs), or a plurality of time domain resource allocations (TDRAs) (e.g., “FIG. 15 is a diagram illustrating an example of repetition transmission of NPUSCH proposed in this specification” showing the Resource Units (RUs) as a plurality of TDRAs and the frequency resources FDRAs based on the subcarrier spacing indication in Table 38, corresponding to the “UL grant of the RAR for the EDT” – See [¶0627] “when the UL grant is indicated by a specific MCS index (when the specific MCS index is indicated as '100' in the table of FIG. 23, for example), when different repetition numbers are used for each TBS, and a parameter of T0 TBS indicated in the UL grant is Δf=15kHz, NRU=2, NscRU=3{3 , 4 , 5}, NslotUL=S , M rep NPUSCH=4 . . .and only T0 and T1 of the TBS are present in the table of FIG. 23 . . . and when R1,1 is 2, 64 slots are used when the UE selects T0 in FIG. 15”- – See [¶0704]).
Therefore, Claim 27 is anticipated by Park.
Regarding Claim 28, dependent from Claim 26, Park further teaches the apparatus of claim 26, wherein the RAR UL grant field indicates a single Msg3 PUSCH FDRA and a single Msg3 PUSCH TDRA (e.g., the table in Fig. 22 when the MCS index is ‘010’ indicates a single RU allocated for Msg.3 PUSCH without repetition, whereby “[t]he modulation values for EDT Msg.3 scheduling . . . is selected from pi/2 BPSK or pi/4 QPSK for the single-tone” – See [¶0714] and Fig. 8, showing FDRA inside one Resource Block/RB for single-tone Msg.3 transmission on one TDRA/RU; see also §§ 16.5.1.1-2, 3GPP TS 36.213 referenced in footnote 2, describing resource allocation for NPUSCH).
Therefore, Claim 28 is anticipated by Park.
Regarding Claim 29, dependent from Claim 26, Park further teaches the apparatus of claim 26, wherein the RAR UL grant field includes a reserved MCS field information to indicate that the UE is to ignore the MCS field for Msg3 PUSCH transmission (“the UE may inform the base station of the CE level thereof and a multi-tone capability through transmission of the Msg.1” – See [¶0420] and “the base station may perform appropriate Msg. 3 scheduling based thereon” – See [¶0420], whereby “the interpretation of the UL_grant for the EDT may vary for each CE level and in the simplest interpretation, the TBS may be different for each CE level” – See [¶0576], i.e., the contents of the Random Access Response Grant are interpreted according to CEModeA or CEModeB, as shown in Table 6-2, of § 6.2, 3GPP TS 36.213, at page 63, wherein for CEModeB zero bits are allocated for the MCS field, therefore the UE in coverage levels 2 or 3 knows to ignore the MCS field for Msg3 PUSCH transmission wherefor coverage levels 0 or 1 the UE interprets the 3 bits of the MCS field as explained in Park).
Therefore, Claim 29 is anticipated by Park.
Regarding Claim 30, dependent from Claim 26, Park further teaches wherein the RAR UL grant field includes an MCS field to indicate a maximum MCS index that the UE can use for Msg3 PUSCH transmission from a set of MCS values in the TBS and MCS information (e.g., as shown in Table 38, “showing an example of the field configuration in the UL grant of the RAR for the EDT” – See [¶0627] the Modulation and coding scheme field may indicate a maximum MCS index 15 that the UE can use for Msg3 PUSCH transmission from a set of MCS values in the TBS and MCS information that may be further limited by the DMRS resource(s)/sequence index used by the UE for the physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) transmission associated with the SDT, as explained in Regarding Amended Claim 24 supra; furthermore, in the new method based on Table 40 described in Regarding Amended Claim 24, MCS “States 0 to 2 of each table may be configured to include the same modulation, number of RUs, TBS value as legacy” – See [¶0661], i.e., a state between 0-2 indicates a maximum MCS index of 2 usable by the UE for the SDT/EDT, while any state greater than 2 indicates a maximum MCS index of 7 or 15 usable by the UE for the SDT/EDT, depending on whether the MCS field comprises 3 or 4 bits; alternatively one of the reserved MCS indices in Table 40 could be used to indicate the same).
Therefore, Claim 30 is anticipated by Park.
Regarding Claim 31, dependent from Amended Claim 24, Park further teaches the apparatus of claim 24, wherein the processing circuitry is further to select PRACH preambles from group A or group B to indicate a TBS or MCS value for transmission of Msg3 PUSCH or MsgA PUSCH (“The request for the EDT may be identified based on . . . or a random access preamble identifier (RAPID)” – See [¶0934], e.g., “maximum TBS value may vary depending on characteristics of Msg.1 transmitted by the UE” – See [¶0832], including “a CE level, a RA-RNTI, a RAPID, and the like” – See [¶0833] whereby the preamble is chosen by the UE according to § 5.1.1 3GPP TS 36.321 referenced in footnote 2, teaching, at page 19-20, that “preambles that are contained in Random Access Preambles group A and Random Access Preambles group B are calculated from the parameters numberOfRA-Preambles and sizeOfRA-PreamblesGroupA” and “[i]f sizeOfRA-PreamblesGroupA is equal to numberOfRA-Preambles then there is no Random Access Preambles group B. The preambles in Random Access Preamble group A are the preambles 0 to sizeOfRA-PreamblesGroupA – 1 and, if it exists, the preambles in Random Access Preamble group B are the preambles sizeOfRA-PreamblesGroupA to numberOfRA-Preambles – 1 from the set of 64 preambles as defined in TS 36.211” wherein the specified parameters are defined in 3GPP specifications,2 therefore, when a UE choses a Preamble group B, i.e., larger size preamble for Msg.1, the base station may infer a larger maximum TBS in the RAR UL grant for the UE with that RAPID).
Therefore, Claim 31 is anticipated by Park.
Regarding Claim 32, dependent from Amended Claim 24, Park further teaches wherein the SDT transmission from the UE is associated with a Msg3 transmission (“if the UE transmits MSG1 to a place corresponding to a resource (e.g., a subcarrier index, a resource pool, etc.) predetermined for the EDT, when the same TBS, RU, and modulation order as the value indicated by the legacy MSG3 UL grant in the new MSG3 UL grant, the UE determines that the EDT is rejected and acts on the legacy NPRACH procedure (i.e., falls back)” – See [¶0658], i.e., the EDT transmission from the UE is associated with a Msg3 transmission).
Therefore, Claim 32 is anticipated by Park.
Regarding Amended Claim 33, dependent from Amended Claim 24, Park further teaches the apparatus of claim 24 wherein the TBS and MCS information is configured for the UE via
new radio (NR) remaining minimum system information (RMSI),
NR other system information (OSI) (“N MCS indexes are used to schedule four TBS sets by the EDT Msg.3 and M MCS indexes are used to schedule only the maximum TBS value to the EDT Msg.3” – See [¶0685] wherein “N and M may be configured in system information or specified in the 3GPP TS spec. and may be configured as different values according to the CE level or a carrier location of the Msg.1” – See [¶0686] and “Table 33 shows an example of the SystemlnformationBlockTypel (SIB1)-NB message” – See [¶0374]), or
dedicated radio resource control (RRC) signaling (“The random access procedure may be performed by a request by the base station when the base station needs to transmit downlink data to a specific UE” whereby “the base station may directly indicate the process . . . to the RRC_CONNECTED UE through PDCCH” – See [¶0394], using the UL grant in “DCI format NO” – See [¶0626] and Table 37 showing the Modulation and coding scheme field whose index value may be resolved to a TBS index using the tables in 3GPP TS 36.213 reproduced supra).
Therefore, Claim Amended 33 is anticipated by Park
Regarding Amended Claim 34, Park teaches one or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing instructions that, when executed by one or more processors a next-generation NodeB (gNB) (“The base station includes a processor 2011, a memory 2012 . . . The memory is connected with the processor to store various information for driving the processor” – See [¶1019] and “software code may be stored in the memory and executed by the processor” – See [¶1030] and wherein “(BS) may be substituted with another term, such as a fixed station, a Node B, an eNB (evolved-NodeB)” – See [¶0059]) to:
determine transport block size (TBS) and modulation and coding scheme (MCS) information associated with a small data transmission (SDT) from a user equipment (UE) (“When the base station accepts the EDT request and schedules the Msg.3 for the EDT request, the base station informs acceptance of the EDT request with a value of '1' in the reserved bit of the MAC RAR of the corresponding RAPID” – See [¶0516], and “[t]he base station may contiguously support the EDT by referring to the uplink buffer status of the UE . . additionally delivered through the corresponding NPUSCH after decoding of the received Msg.3 is successful” – See [¶0517] and “[w]hen the uplink buffer data of the UE . . . is bigger than the TBS scheduled by the Msg.3 and may not be transmitted to the Msg.3 by the EDT, the UE may additionally inform such a state by the Msg.3” – See [¶0524] and “[t]he base station may newly transmit the MAC RAR for the Msg.3 transmission with reference to the informing” – See [¶0525], i.e., the base station determines TBS and MCS based on UE needs, e.g., “indicating the TBS and the N_RU . . . by jointly interpreting a modulation and coding scheme (MCS) and a reserved state of I_sc” – See [¶0547] and Tables 39- 40, after “the base station and the UE accurately understand that the transmission of the Msg.1 is intended for the EDT together” – See [¶0551]),
wherein the SDT transmission is associated with a four-step random access (RACH) procedure or a two-step RACH procedure (“The base station determines whether the corresponding EDT request is made through the NPRACH resource (NPRACH starting carrier (tone) index and/or non-anchor carrier index and/or RAPID used for NPRACH transmission) of the Msg.1 and transmits the Msg.2 to the UE by the corresponding RA-RNTI” – See [¶0513], i.e., the SDT/EDT transmission is associated with a 4-step random access procedure); and
execute the encode step recited in Amended Claim 24 comprising the same features and limitations as recited in Amended Claim 24 using the same language.
Because Amended Claim 24 is anticipated by Park, Amended Claim 34 is anticipated by Park.
Regarding Claims 35-40, as amended, dependent from Amended Claim 34, each claim requires the same limitations as in Claims 27-33, respectively, as amended, recited with the same language. Because Claims 27-34 are anticipated by Park, each of the Claims 35-40, as amended, is anticipated by Park.
Regarding Amended Claim 41, Park teaches one or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing instructions that, when executed by one or more processors cause a user equipment (UE) (“The UE includes a processor 2021, a memory 2022, and an RF module 2023” and [t]he memory is connected with the processor to store various information for driving the processor”– See [¶¶1020 – 21] and Fig. 20; “In order to perform early data transmission (EDT) in the random access procedure in the wireless communication system, the UE may include a radio frequency (RF) module transmitting and receiving a radio signal, and a processor controlling the RF module” – See [¶0966]) to:
receive, from a next-generation NodeB (gNB), a configuration message (“the processor controls the RF module to receive a UL grant for the message 3 from the base station” – See [¶0970]); and
encode a message for transmission to the gNB based on the configuration message (“the processor controls the RF module to transmit the message 3 to the base station” – See [¶0972]; based on the “first information indicating whether selection for a second transport size (TBS) smaller than a first TBS for message 3 is permitted and second information for the first TBS” – See [¶0967] and/or “select a specific second TBS in the second TBS subset and transmit the message 3 according to a repetition number for the specific second TBS” – See [¶0974], i.e., encoding a message for transmission to the gNB based on the received configuration message)
wherein the SDT transmission is associated with a four-step random access (RACH) procedure or a two-step RACH procedure (“message 1, the UL grant, the message 3, and the message 4 described in FIG. 18 may mean a message to be transmitted and received to and from the base station in the random access procedure” – See [¶0964])
and the configuration message includes the determined transport block size (TBS) and modulation and coding scheme (MCS) information associated with a small data transmission (SDT) from a user equipment (UE) recited in Amended Claim 34, using the same language, and further has the same features and limitations as recited in one of the Amended Claims 24 and 34.
Because each of the Amended Claims 24 and 34 is anticipated by Park, Amended Claim 41 is anticipated by Park.
Regarding Claim 42, dependent from Amended Claim 41, Park further teaches the one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 41, wherein the message is a Msg3 message or a MsgA PUSCH message (“the processor controls the RF module to transmit the message 3 to the base station” – See [¶0972]).
Therefore, Claim 42 is anticipated by Park.
Regarding Claim 43, dependent from Amended Claim 41, the claim language recites in the alternative the limitations in Claims 27 and 28, with no other limitations, as applied to the product of Amended Claim 41. Because any one of the Claims 27 and 28 is anticipated by Park, Claim 43 is also anticipated by Park.
Regarding Claim 44, dependent from Claim 43, Park further teaches the one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 43 wherein the media further stores instructions for causing the UE to derive one or more TBSs based on the configuration message and the FDRAs or TDRAs indicated in the RAR UL grant field (“the UL grant received from the base station is all scheduled for TBS1, TBS2, TBS3, and TBS4 (when N=4), and which TBS value is used to transmit Msg.3 may be directly selected by the UE by considering the size and type of data accumulated in the UL buffer of the UE” – See [¶0836], e.g., “a TBS value that requires the least amount of padding bits other than the data, may be selected in Msg.3” – See [¶0837] and Fig. 23 wherein the Rij represent the resource allocation for each TBS value indicated and the RUs are shown in Fig. 15 on the resource grid corresponding to the subcarrier spacing indicated in the UL grant, as shown in Table 38 and in Fig. 8).
Therefore, Claim 44 is anticipated by Park.
Regarding Claim 45 and 46, dependent from Amended Claim 41, the claim language recites in the alternative the limitations of each of the Claims 29 and 30, and the limitations of Claim 31, respectively, as applied to the product of Amended Claim 41. Because any one of the Claims 29-31 and 41 is anticipated by Park, each of the Claims 45 and 46 is anticipated by Park.
In sum, Claims 24-46, as amended, are rejected under 35 U.S.C § 102(a)(2) over Park.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
Song et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2018/0242286 discloses how to transmit to a base station the HARQ-ACK codebook size by mapping orthogonal sequences applied to DRMS(s) or by mapping a plurality of values for the cyclic shift of the DMRS sequence to possible HARQ-ACK codebook sizes, thus reducing blind decoding of the said information at the base station;
Xue et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2023/0345517 teaches small data transmission (SDT) on random access procedure the UE being preconfigured with a maximum MCS associated with a threshold RSRP value known to the UE;
Saito et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2020/0259576 discloses a receiver that receives a demodulation reference signal; and a processor that controls reception of the demodulation reference signal based on a parameter related to mapping of the demodulation reference signal, wherein when the parameter is configured to a specific value, a specific multiplexing method for the demodulation reference signal is supported;
Rico Alvarino et al., U.S. Publication No. 2019/0159257, as described in previous Office actions;
Ahn et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 20220394777, as described in previous Office actions;
Luo et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2021/0378017 discloses EDT using NPRACH;
Zhao et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2020/0196355 discloses 4-step RACH procedure and RAR UL grant;
Liu et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2021/0058823 discloses EDT according to the uplink grant and/or the broadcast message, a maximum transmission block size allowed during the early data transmission and a resource and a repetition number corresponding thereto;
Lei et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2022/0039147 discloses configuration message indicating a configured grant-small data transfer (CG-SDT) group that includes the UE;
Agiwal et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication No. US 20230284329, discloses small data transmission whereby gNB configures the parameter sdt-TBS-groupA and sdt-TBS-groupB which indicates the maximum allowed transport block sizes for small data transmission using 4-step RA for preamble group A and preamble group B;
Charbit et al., U.S. Patent No. 11,039,477, discloses various methods and apparatus for PRACH resource partitioning and multiple grants in random access response (RAR) for early data transmission (EDT);
Ye et al., U.S. Patent No. 10,779,333, discloses methods and apparatus for early data transmission (EDT) that is transmitted during the random access procedure whereby PRACH resources may include one or both of time resources and frequency resources, e.g., a dedicated set of PRACH time resources and/or PRACH frequency resources may be configured to indicate that the UE supports EDT in Msg3;
Chen et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 20200100294, discloses methods and apparatus for a UE to transmit multiple Msg3 transmissions on multiple UL grants;
Shin et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 20220201772, discloses method and apparatus of a UE performing a 2- or 4-step random access process in a shared spectrum interpreting an FDRA field for PUSCH transmissions corresponding to an RAR in a 4-step random access process or a fallback RAR in a 2-step random access process;
Kim et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 20240430930, discloses method of a terminal in random access procedure receiving UL grant included in the Msg2 that may include information indicating a TDRA table used for repeated transmission of the Msg3;
3GPP TS 36.213 V16.2.0 (2020-06), “Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA)”;
3GPP TS 36.321 V16.1.0 (2020-07), “Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA); Medium Access Control (MAC) protocol specification (Release 16)”;
3GPP TS 36.331 V16.1.1 (2020-07), “Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA); Radio Resource Control (RRC); Protocol specification (Release 16)”;
3GPP TS 38.213 V16.2.0 (2020-06), “Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; NR; Physical layer procedures for control (Release 16);”
3GPP TS 38.214 V16.2.0 (2020-06), “Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; NR; Physical layer procedures for data (Release 16);”
3GPP TS 38.321 V16.1.0 (2020-07), “Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; NR; Medium Access Control (MAC) protocol specification (Release 16)”;
3GPP TS 38.331 V16.0.0 (2020-03), “Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; NR; Radio Resource Control (RRC) protocol specification (Release 16)”;
Final Report of 3GPP TSG RAN WG1 #92, R1-1803571, referencing Tdoc contributions to Action Item 6.2.5.2 – Early data transmission and Action Item 6.2.6.1.2 – 6.2.6.1.2–Data transmission during the random access procedure; 2018
Final Report of 3GPP TSG RAN WG1 #92bis, R1-1805801, referencing Tdoc contributions to Action Item 6.2.6.2 – Early data transmission and Action Item 6.2.7.1.2 –Data transmission during the random access procedure; 2018;
Final Report of 3GPP TSG RAN WG1 #93, R1-1808001, referencing Tdoc contributions to Action Item 6.2.6.2 – Early data transmission and Action Item 6.2.7.1.2 –Data transmission during the random access procedure; 2018;
Report of 3GPP TSG RAN WG2 meeting #111-e, R2-2102242, referencing Tdoc contributions to Action Item 8.6.2– UL small data transmissions for RACH-based schemes; 2020;
Report of 3GPP TSG RAN WG2 meeting #112-e, R2-2100001, referencing Tdoc contributions to Action Item 8.6.4–Aspects specific to RACH based schemes; 2020;
Report of 3GPP TSG RAN WG2 meeting #113-e, R2-2102601, referencing Tdoc contributions to Action Item 8.6.4–Aspects specific to RACH based schemes; 2021;
Report of 3GPP TSG RAN WG2 meeting #113bis-e, R2-2106641, referencing Tdoc contributions to Action Item 8.6.4–Aspects specific to RACH based schemes; 2021;
Report of 3GPP TSG RAN WG2 meeting #114-e, R2-2106901, referencing Tdoc contributions to Action Item 8.6.4–Aspects specific to RACH based schemes; 2021;
Report of 3GPP TSG RAN WG2 meeting #115-e, R2-2109301, referencing Tdoc contributions to Action Item 8.6.4–Aspects specific to RACH based schemes; 2021;
Report of 3GPP TSG RAN WG2 meeting #116-e, R2-2201970, referencing Tdoc contributions to Action Item 8.6.4–Aspects specific to RACH based schemes; 2021;
Report of 3GPP TSG RAN WG2 meeting #116bis-e, R2-2202102, referencing Tdoc contributions to Action Item 8.6.4–Aspects specific to RACH based schemes; 2021;
Yu et al., "Uplink Scheduling and Link Adaptation for Narrowband Internet of Things Systems," in IEEE Access, vol. 5, pp. 1724-1734, 2017, doi: 10.1109/ACCESS.2017.2664418.
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.
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/L.G.G./ Examiner, Art Unit 2478
/JOSEPH E AVELLINO/ Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2478
1 The Specification defines DMRS resources to “include DMRS sequence and/or cyclic shifts and/or scrambling IDs and/or DMRS antenna port” – See p.7: 34–p.8:1
2 See 3GPP TS 36.331 V16.1.1 (2020-07), “Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA); Radio Resource Control (RRC); Protocol specification (Release 16)” (hereinafter 3GPP TS 36.331) defining, at page 591, the sizeOfRA-PreamblesGroupA parameter in RACH-ConfigCommon Information Element as maximum 256 bits.
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