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 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.
Claim(s) 11, 12, 14-16, 21, 22, 24-26, 28, 29, and 31, is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Stern-Berkowitz et al. (US Publication No. 20230262779).
As to claims 11, 21, and 28, Stern-Berkowitz teaches a method and one or more non-transitory, computer-readable media having instructions that, when executed, cause processor circuitry to (fig. 1B, wireless transmit/receive unit (WTRU)): process downlink control information (DCI), the DCI having an enhanced coverage (EC) DCI format (fig. 4A-B, #402, #404, receive random access procedure configuration including coverage enhancement level, and pp0227, WTRU may receive a request or indication, e.g., from an eNB for random access procedure in a downlink control information (DCI)); detect, based on said processing of the DCI, scheduling information associated with a second message of a random-access channel (RACH) procedure (Random Access Response) (fig. 4A-B, #408, determine RAR location, RAR location may comprise at least one of a subframe (i.e. time) and/or a frequency resource on which the RAR may be transmitted, and pp0096, pp0227, WTRU may receive a request or indication, e.g., from an eNB for random access procedure in a downlink control information (DCI)); and receive the second message of the RACH procedure (Random Access Response, RAR) based on the scheduling information (RAR location e.g. time) (fig. 4A-B, #412, receive RAR at the determined RAR location, and pp0096).
As to claims 12, 22, and 29, Stern-Berkowitz teaches wherein the instructions, when executed, further cause the processor circuitry to: detect an EC condition; and generate, for transmission to the base station, an indication of the EC condition (fig. 4A-B, #406, pp0103, WTRU determine CE level, and pp0295, WTRU may choose the preamble to use from a set of preambles available for the CE level that the WTRU will use for the preamble transmission).
As to claims 14, 24, and 31, Stern-Berkowitz teaches wherein the instructions, when executed, further cause the processor circuitry to: receive a random-access channel (RACH) configuration that defines an EC PRACH preamble or an EC RACH occasion (fig. 4A-B, #402, and pp0103, the RA configuration may include one or more PRACH parameters or sets of PRACH parameters that may be associated with one or more CE levels. PRACH parameters may include one or more preambles and/or one or more PRACH time and/or frequency resources); and provide the indication by transmitting a PRACH message with the EC PRACH preamble or on the EC RACH occasion (fig. 4A-B, #402, #406, transmit the determined preamble in the determined subframe or set of subframes in the determined frequency resource, pp0103, pp0104).
As to claims 15 and 25, Stern-Berkowitz teaches wherein the instructions, when executed, further cause the UE processor circuitry to: determine the DCI has the EC DCI format based on a detected EC condition or based on a bit set in the DCI (fig. 4A-B, #402, #404, receive random access procedure configuration including coverage enhancement level, and pp0227, WTRU may receive a request or indication, e.g., from an eNB for random access procedure in a downlink control information (DCI)).
As to claims 16 and 26, Stern-Berkowitz teaches wherein the second message includes a random access response (RAR) uplink grant for a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) transmission (fig. 4A-B, pp0092, may receive the RAR, provide an UL grant for resources, and pp0121 for PUSCH transmission) and the instructions, when executed, further cause the processor circuitry to: detect, separately from the RAR uplink grant, a transmission parameter for the PUSCH transmission, the transmission parameter including a modulation and coding scheme, a transmit power control command, or a channel state information request (fig. 4A-B, pp0199, The closed loop component may be a function of transmit power control commands that may be received by the WTRU, e.g., from an eNB. WTRU transmit power for an UL channel, e.g., a PUSCH, may be or may also be a function of the power ramping performed by the WTRU during a random access (RA) procedure); and output the PUSCH transmission based on the transmission parameter (fig. 4A-B, pp0199, pp0203, for message 3 transmission).
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.
Claim(s) 13, 23, and 30, is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Stern-Berkowitz et al. (US Publication No. 20230262779) in view of Shih et al. (US Publication No. 20220150986).
As to claims 13, 23, and 30, Stern-Berkowitz teaches the limitations of the independent claims as discussed above. However, fails to explicitly teach wherein to detect the EC condition the processor circuitry is to: determine a number of unsuccessful attempts at decoding a random-access response is greater than a predetermined threshold; determine a distance between the a user equipment (UE) and a non-terrestrial network (NTN) access device is greater than a predetermined threshold; determine a distance between a UE and a timing reference point is greater than a predetermined threshold; or determine a reference signal received power of a downlink pathloss reference is less than a predetermined threshold.
In an analogous field of endeavor, Shih teaches wherein to detect the EC condition the processor circuitry is to: determine a number of unsuccessful attempts at decoding a random-access response is greater than a predetermined threshold; determine a distance between the a user equipment (UE) and a non-terrestrial network (NTN) access device is greater than a predetermined threshold; determine a distance between a UE and a timing reference point is greater than a predetermined threshold; or determine a reference signal received power of a downlink pathloss reference is less than a predetermined threshold (fig. 1, pp0387, pp0388, if the measured RSRP of the downlink pathloss reference is less than a first threshold, the UE uses coverage-enhanced RA (e.g., the UE uses one or more PRACH resources for coverage-enhanced RA and/or the UE performs the RA procedure as a coverage-enhanced RA)). Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Stern-Berkowitz with the teachings of Shih to achieve the goal of efficiently providing communication coverage to adequately improve quality of service (Shih, pp0032).
Claim(s) 17 and 27 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Stern-Berkowitz et al. (US Publication No. 20230262779) in view of Echigo et al. (US Publication No. 20250300758).
As to claims 17 and 27, Stern-Berkowitz teaches the limitations of the independent claims as discussed above. However, fails to explicitly teach wherein the instructions, when executed, further cause the processor circuitry to: detect a value in a modulation and coding scheme (MCS) field of the RAR uplink grant; and determine a number of repetitions of the PUSCH transmission based on the value.
In an analogous field of endeavor, Echigo teaches wherein the instructions, when executed, further cause the processor circuitry to: detect a value in a modulation and coding scheme (MCS) field of the RAR uplink grant; and determine a number of repetitions of the PUSCH transmission based on the value (fig. 1, pp0062, it is agreed that the MCS field in an RAR uplink grant is used to indicate the number of repetitions for initial transmission of the PUSCH of the Msg 3). Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Stern-Berkowitz with the teachings of Echigo to achieve the goal of efficiently and reliably providing support in communication system by retransmission in a random access procedure for increasing a reception success rate (Echigo, pp0007, pp0043).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to OMONIYI OBAYANJU whose telephone number is (571)270-5885. The examiner can normally be reached M-Thur 10:30-7pm.
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/OMONIYI OBAYANJU/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2645