DETAILED ACTION
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 20 March 2026 has been entered. Claims 1, 14, and 20 are currently amended; claim 7 is cancelled; claims 2-6, 8-13, and 15-19 are previously presented; no claims have been added. Claims 1-6 and 8-20 are pending and ready for examination.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to the claims have been considered but are moot in view of the new grounds of rejection.
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 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.
Claims 1, 9-14, and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Rastegardoost et al. (US 2021/0051707 A1), hereafter referred Rastegardoost, in view of WO 2015165031 A1, further in view of Gao et al. (US 2022/0361236 A1), hereafter referred Gao. A machine translation of WO 2015165031 is provided and hereafter referred Quan.
Regarding claim 1, Rastegardoost teaches a signal transmission method for random access, performed by a terminal and comprising:
sending N transmissions of first message to a network device, wherein the first message comprises a first random access preamble and N is an integer greater than 1 (Rastegardoost, [0232]-[0234], [0239], and [0241]; a single preamble may be sent for the number of PRACH repetitions based on the associated PRACH coverage enhancement level); and
receiving, in a receiving window, response information transmitted by the network device (Rastegardoost, [0240], [0247]-[0250], and [0270]; the wireless device may be able to detect the random access response (RAR) in the RAR window), wherein the receiving window is started after an n-th transmission of first message among the N transmissions of first message, wherein n is an integer and 1≤n≤N (Rastegardoost, [0271]-[0274]; the wireless device may start the monitoring window based on sending the K-th repetition for example).
Rastegardoost does not expressly teach wherein the method further comprises:
determining a radio network temporary identifier according to a target time-frequency resource specified in a protocol;
wherein: the target time-frequency resource comprises a time-frequency resource of a first message last transmitted among the ij first messages.
However, Quan teaches wherein the method further comprises:
determining a radio network temporary identifier according to a target time-frequency resource specified in a protocol (Quan, p. 16; the receiving module of the UE may determine the value of the random access radio network temporary identifier RA-RNTI according to the pre-configuration of the protocol or the time and frequency position of the PRACH resource actually used by the UE);
wherein: the target time-frequency resource comprises a time-frequency resource of a first message last transmitted among the ij first messages (Quan, p. 10; where the UE sent the preamble to the base station on the available PRACH resources, which would include the PRACH resources used to send the last transmitted first message).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Rastegardoost to include the above recited limitations as taught by Quan in order to implement a random access procedure on an unlicensed spectrum (Quan, p. 10).
Rastegardoost in view of Quan does not expressly teach wherein the ij first messages comprise a first message sent in the nj-th transmission and ij-1 first messages transmitted nearest to a time of the nj-th transmission of first message, wherein ij is an integer, 1≤ ij ≤n, 1≤j≤N, and 1≤nj≤N.
However, Gao teaches wherein the ij first messages comprise a first message sent in the nj-th transmission and ij-1 first messages transmitted nearest to a time of the nj-th transmission of first message, wherein ij is an integer, 1≤ ij ≤n, 1≤j≤N, and 1≤nj≤N (Gao, Fig. 7, [0185]-[0195]; a terminal sends a random access preamble on at least two random access occasions in a first window, where the random access preamble is used by the terminal to perform random access and the terminal sends the random access preamble on as many random access occasions as possible in one window, where random access preambles transmitted on M random access occasions and M can be any value from 1-16 in the example illustrated by Gao [0195]).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Rastegardoost in view of Quan to include the above recited limitations as taught by Gao in order to increase a probability of receiving the random access preamble by a base station (Gao, [0187]).
Regarding claim 14, Rastegardoost teaches a terminal, comprising a processor, a memory, and a program or instructions stored in the memory and executable on the processor, wherein the program or instructions, when executed by the processor (Rastegardoost, [0277]; a wireless device may comprise one or more processors, and memory storing instructions that when executed cause the wireless device to perform the method), causes the terminal to perform:
sending N transmissions of first message to a network device, wherein the first message comprises a first random access preamble and N is an integer greater than 1 (Rastegardoost, [0232]-[0234], [0239], and [0241]; a single preamble may be sent for the number of PRACH repetitions based on the associated PRACH coverage enhancement level); and
receiving, in a receiving window, response information transmitted by the network device (Rastegardoost, [0240], [0247]-[0250], and [0270]; the wireless device may be able to detect the random access response (RAR) in the RAR window), wherein the receiving window is started after the n-th transmission of first message among the N transmissions of first message, wherein n is an integer and 1≤n≤N (Rastegardoost, [0271]-[0274]; the wireless device may start the monitoring window based on sending the K-th repetition for example).
Rastegardoost does not expressly teach wherein the program or instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the terminal to further:
determine a radio network temporary identifier according to a target time-frequency resource specified in a protocol;
wherein the target time-frequency resource comprises a time-frequency resource of a first message last transmitted among the ij first messages.
However, Quan teaches wherein the program or instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the terminal to further:
determine a radio network temporary identifier according to a target time-frequency resource specified in a protocol (Quan, p. 16; the receiving module of the UE may determine the value of the random access radio network temporary identifier RA-RNTI according to the pre-configuration of the protocol or the time and frequency position of the PRACH resource actually used by the UE);
wherein the target time-frequency resource comprises a time-frequency resource of a first message last transmitted among the ij first messages (Quan, p. 10; where the UE sent the preamble to the base station on the available PRACH resources, which would include the PRACH resources used to send the last transmitted first message).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Rastegardoost to include the above recited limitations as taught by Quan in order to implement a random access procedure on an unlicensed spectrum (Quan, p. 10).
Rastegardoost in view of Quan does not expressly teach wherein the ij first messages comprise a first message sent in the nj-th transmission and ij-1 first messages transmitted nearest to a time of the nj-th transmission of first message, wherein ij is an integer, 1≤ ij ≤n, 1≤j≤N, and 1≤nj≤N.
However, Gao teaches wherein the ij first messages comprise a first message sent in the nj-th transmission and ij-1 first messages transmitted nearest to a time of the nj-th transmission of first message, wherein ij is an integer, 1≤ ij ≤n, 1≤j≤N, and 1≤nj≤N (Gao, Fig. 7, [0185]-[0195]; a terminal sends a random access preamble on at least two random access occasions in a first window, where the random access preamble is used by the terminal to perform random access and the terminal sends the random access preamble on as many random access occasions as possible in one window, where random access preambles transmitted on M random access occasions and M can be any value from 1-16 in the example illustrated by Gao [0195]).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Rastegardoost in view of Quan to include the above recited limitations as taught by Gao in order to increase a probability of receiving the random access preamble by a base station (Gao, [0187]).
Regarding claim 20, Rastegardoost teaches a network-side device, comprising a processor, a memory, and a program or instructions stored in the memory and executable on the processor, wherein the program or instructions, when executed by the processor (Rastegardoost, [0278]; a base station may comprise one or more processors, and memory storing instructions that when executed cause the wireless device to perform the method), causes the network-side device to perform:
receiving N transmissions of first message sent by a terminal, wherein the first message comprises a first random access preamble and N is an integer greater than 1 (Rastegardoost, [0232]-[0234], [0239], and [0241]; a single preamble may be sent for the number of PRACH repetitions based on the associated PRACH coverage enhancement level); and
transmitting, in a response window, response information to the terminal (Rastegardoost, [0240], [0247]-[0250], and [0270]; the wireless device may be able to detect the random access response (RAR) in the RAR window), wherein the response window corresponds to a receiving window of the terminal, and the receiving window is started after the n-th transmission of first message among the N transmissions of first message, wherein n is an integer and 1≤n≤N (Rastegardoost, [0271]-[0274]; the wireless device may start the monitoring window based on sending the K-th repetition for example).
Rastegardoost does not expressly teach wherein the program or instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the network-side device to further:
determine a radio network temporary identifier according to a target time-frequency resource specified in a protocol;
wherein the target time-frequency resource comprises a time-frequency resource of a first message last transmitted among the ij first messages.
However Quan teaches wherein the program or instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the network-side device to further:
determine a radio network temporary identifier according to a target time-frequency resource specified in a protocol (Quan, p. 16; the receiving module of the UE may determine the value of the random access radio network temporary identifier RA-RNTI according to the pre-configuration of the protocol or the time and frequency position of the PRACH resource actually used by the UE);
wherein the target time-frequency resource comprises a time-frequency resource of a first message last transmitted among the ij first messages (Quan, p. 10; where the UE sent the preamble to the base station on the available PRACH resources, which would include the PRACH resources used to send the last transmitted first message).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Rastegardoost to include the above recited limitations as taught by Quan in order to implement a random access procedure on an unlicensed spectrum (Quan, p. 10).
Rastegardoost in view of Quan does not expressly teach wherein the ij first messages comprise a first message sent in the nj-th transmission and ij-1 first messages transmitted nearest to a time of the nj-th transmission of first message, wherein ij is an integer, 1≤ ij ≤n, 1≤j≤N, and 1≤nj≤N.
However, Gao teaches wherein the ij first messages comprise a first message sent in the nj-th transmission and ij-1 first messages transmitted nearest to a time of the nj-th transmission of first message, wherein ij is an integer, 1≤ ij ≤n, 1≤j≤N, and 1≤nj≤N (Gao, Fig. 7, [0185]-[0195]; a terminal sends a random access preamble on at least two random access occasions in a first window, where the random access preamble is used by the terminal to perform random access and the terminal sends the random access preamble on as many random access occasions as possible in one window, where random access preambles transmitted on M random access occasions and M can be any value from 1-16 in the example illustrated by Gao [0195]).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Rastegardoost in view of Quan to include the above recited limitations as taught by Gao in order to increase a probability of receiving the random access preamble by a base station (Gao, [0187]).
Regarding claim 9, Rastegardoost in view of Quan further in view of Gao teaches the method according to claim 1 above. Further, Rastegardoost teaches wherein the receiving, in a receiving window, response information transmitted by the network device comprises:
receiving, in the receiving window, a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) scrambled using a radio network temporary identifier (Rastegardoost, [0172]-[0175]; a base station may process the DCI after scrambling the DCI with an RNTI and send the DCI via a PDCCH occupying a number of contiguous control channel elements); and
receiving, using a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) resource indicated by the PDCCH, the response information transmitted by the network device (Rastegardoost, [0080] and [0155]-[0158]; the second message received by the wireless device may comprise an RAR. The second message may be scheduled on the DL-SCH and indicated by a PDCCH using a RA-RNTI, where a PDSCH may carry downlink data and signaling messages from the DL-SCH, as well as paging messages from the PCH).
Regarding claim 10, Rastegardoost in view of Quan further in view of Gao teaches the method according to claim 1 above. Further, Rastegardoost teaches wherein the first message is the first random access preamble, or the first message comprises the first random access preamble and physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) payload (Rastegardoost, [0203]-[0209]; a preamble and a payload may both be sent in a first message uplink transmission, such as a MsgA).
Regarding claim 11, Rastegardoost in view of Quan further in view of Gao teaches the method according to claim 1 above. Further, Rastegardoost teaches wherein the N first messages are associated with P different first synchronization signal blocks (SSBs), and each first message is associated with one first SSB, wherein P is an integer; and
the sending N transmissions of first message to a network device comprises:
determining a first random access channel occasion for each first message among the N first messages according to a correspondence between SSBs and physical random access channel occasions and the first SSB associated with each first message; and transmitting the first messages to the network device according to the first random access channel occasions for the first messages (Rastegardoost, [0252]-[0255]; resource allocation for MsgA may be indicated by a mapping of MsgA PRACH occasions to MsgA PUSCH occasions, where all associated Ros may be mapped to different SSBs).
Regarding claim 12, Rastegardoost in view of Quan further in view of Gao teaches the method according to claim 11 above. Further, Rastegardoost teaches wherein the first random access channel occasions for the N first messages are configured on one physical random access channel occasion or more physical random access channel occasions that are consecutive (Rastegardoost, [0252]-[0255]; the ROs/POs within the group of Ros/Pos may be allocated in consecutive ROs/POs).
Regarding claim 13, Rastegardoost in view of Quan further in view of Gao teaches the method according to claim 1 above. Further, Rastegardoost teaches wherein the receiving, in a receiving window, response information transmitted by the network device comprises:
receiving, in the receiving window, a plurality of pieces of response information transmitted by the network device (Rastegardoost, [0175] and [0240]; the base station may send multiple RAR messages in multiple RAR occasions within the single RAR window to the wireless device).
Claims 2 and 15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Rastegardoost in view of Quan further in view of Gao as applied to claims 1 and 14 above, and further in view of “RAR reception for multiple Msg1 transmissions” from Huawei at 3GPP TSG-RAN WG2 Meeting #99 in Berlin, Germany, 21-25 August 2017, hereafter referred Huawei. Huawei was cited by applicant’s IDS filed 8 February 2024.
Regarding claims 2 and 15, Rastegardoost in view of Quan further in view of Gao teaches the method according to claim 1 and the terminal according to claim 14 above. Rastegardoost in view of Quan further in view of Gao does not expressly teach wherein in a case that n is equal to N, one receiving window is present.
However, Huawei teaches wherein in a case that n is equal to N, one receiving window is present (Huawei, Section 3.1; after the preamble transmission occasion for last Msg1 transmission, RAR window starts a fixed duration).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Rastegardoost in view of Quan further in view of Gao to include the above recited limitations as taught by Huawei in order to save power and reduce UE complexity (Huawei, Section 3.1).
Claims 3-6, 8, and 16-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Rastegardoost in view of Quan further in view of Gao as applied to claims 1 and 14 above, and further in view of EP 3614781 A1, hereafter referred Tang. Tang was cited by applicant’s IDS filed 8 February 2024.
Regarding claims 3 and 16, Rastegardoost in view of Quan further in view of Gao teaches the method according to claim 1 and the terminal according to claim 14 above. Rastegardoost in view of Quan further in view of Gao does not expressly teach wherein in a case that n is less than N, a start time of the receiving window corresponds to a time of a start orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDM) symbol in the first type 1 search space following the end of the n-th transmission of first message among the N transmissions of first message.
However, Tang teaches wherein in a case that n is less than N, a start time of the receiving window corresponds to a time of a start orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDM) symbol in the first type 1 search space following the end of the n-th transmission of first message among the N transmissions of first message (Tang, Fig. 3-9; [0040] and [0048]-[0092]; the terminal monitors RAR in a RAR window in the middle of the preamble sending where the technical solutions can be applied to OFDM systems and the network device may configure the starting position of the RAR window in the time domain is located after transmission of the first preamble and before transmission of the second preamble as shown in Fig. 6).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Rastegardoost in view of Quan further in view of Gao to include the above recited limitations as taught by Tang in order to enable the terminal device to monitor the RAR more quickly (Tang, [0069]).
Regarding claims 4 and 17, Rastegardoost in view of Quan further in view of Gao teaches the method according to claim 1 and the terminal according to claim 14 above. Rastegardoost in view of Quan further in view of Gao does not expressly teach wherein in a case that n is less than N, a plurality of receiving windows are present, wherein the j-th receiving window is started after the nj-th transmission of first message among the N transmissions of first message, the j-th receiving window corresponds to i; first messages, nj is a sum of nj-1 corresponding to the (j-1)-th receiving window and ij, ni is i1 corresponding to the 1st receiving window.
Further, Tang teaches wherein in a case that n is less than N, a plurality of receiving windows are present, wherein the j-th receiving window is started after the nj-th transmission of first message among the N transmissions of first message, the j-th receiving window corresponds to i; first messages, nj is a sum of nj-1 corresponding to the (j-1)-th receiving window and ij, ni is i1 corresponding to the 1st receiving window (Tang, Fig. 3-9; [0040] and [0048]-[0092]; the terminal monitors RAR in a RAR window in the middle of the preamble sending where the technical solutions can be applied to OFDM systems and the network device may configure the starting position of the RAR window in the time domain is located after transmission of the first preamble and before transmission of the second preamble as shown in Fig. 6).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Rastegardoost in view of Quan further in view of Gao to include the above recited limitations as taught by Tang in order to enable the terminal device to monitor the RAR more quickly (Tang, [0069]).
Regarding claims 5 and 18, Rastegardoost in view of Quan in view of Gao further in view of Tang teaches the method according to claim 4 and the terminal according to claim 17 above. Rastegardoost in view of Quan further in view of Gao does not expressly teach further comprising:
in a case that ij first messages that have been transmitted and are corresponding to the j-th receiving window comprise a first message whose first random access preamble matches indication information in response information received in the j-th receiving window, determining that transmission of the matched first message is successful.
However, Tang teaches further comprising:
in a case that ij first messages that have been transmitted and are corresponding to the j-th receiving window comprise a first message whose first random access preamble matches indication information in response information received in the j-th receiving window, determining that transmission of the matched first message is successful (Tang, Fig. 3-9; [0040] and [0048]-[0092]; the terminal device may configure a combination of three RAR windows for multiple preambles where the starting position of the common RAR window may be located after transmission of any preamble).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Rastegardoost in view of Quan further in view of Gao to include the above recited limitations as taught by Tang in order to enable the terminal device to monitor the RAR more quickly (Tang, [0069]).
Regarding claims 6 and 19, Rastegardoost in view of Quan in view of Gao further in view of Tang teaches the method according to claim 5 and the terminal according to claim 18 above. Rastegardoost in view of Quan further in view of Gao does not expressly teach wherein the in a case that i; first messages that have been transmitted and are corresponding to the j-th receiving window comprise a first message whose first random access preamble matches indication information in response information received in the j-th receiving window, determining that transmission of the matched first message is successful comprises:
in a case that the indication information in the response information received in the j-th receiving window matches a first random access preamble in a target message among the 1, first messages that have been transmitted and are corresponding to the j-th receiving window, determining that transmission of the target message is successful, wherein the target message is a first message among the 1, first messages that corresponds to a radio network temporary identifier obtained by the terminal.
However, Tang teaches wherein the in a case that i; first messages that have been transmitted and are corresponding to the j-th receiving window comprise a first message whose first random access preamble matches indication information in response information received in the j-th receiving window, determining that transmission of the matched first message is successful comprises:
in a case that the indication information in the response information received in the j-th receiving window matches a first random access preamble in a target message among the 1, first messages that have been transmitted and are corresponding to the j-th receiving window, determining that transmission of the target message is successful, wherein the target message is a first message among the 1, first messages that corresponds to a radio network temporary identifier obtained by the terminal (Tang, Fig. 3-9; [0040] and [0048]-[0092]; the terminal device may configure a combination of three RAR windows for multiple preambles where the starting position of the common RAR window may be located after transmission of any preamble where the network device configure the plurality of PRACH resources to transmit a corresponding preamble according to an uplink grant carried in the RAR to the first preamble).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to create the invention of Rastegardoost in view of Quan further in view of Gao to include the above recited limitations as taught by Tang in order to enable the terminal device to monitor the RAR more quickly (Tang, [0069]).
Regarding claim 8, Rastegardoost in view of Quan in view of Gao further in view of Tang teaches the method according to claim 5 above. Further, Rastegardoost teaches wherein after the determining that transmission of the matched first message is successful, the method further comprises:
determining, according to the indication information in the response information or/and a radio network temporary identifier, a reference signal that satisfies a quasi co-location relationship with the response information, wherein the reference signal comprises a synchronization signal block (SSB) or a network-configured reference signal (Rastegardoost, Fig. 14B, [0172]-[0175]; the CCE-to-REG mapping performed for the DCI transmission via a CORESET and PDCCH processing may indicate QCL information of a DM-RS for a PDCCH reception via the CORESET, where the DCI is scrambled with an RNTI).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. See PTO-892.
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/R.M./Examiner, Art Unit 2416
/NOEL R BEHARRY/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2416
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