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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 01/26/2026 has been entered.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see the remarks filed 01/26/2026 with respect to the rejection(s) of claims 1-11, 13-22 and 26-31 have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground(s) of rejection is made in view of Khude et al (US 2014/0254564 A1), hereinafter, “Khude” in view of Suh et al (US 2005/0105460 A1), hereinafter, “Suh”.
Applicant's arguments filed on 01/26/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. The reasons are set forth below:
Applicant's arguments and the examiner’s response:
Applicant's arguments A-D: Applicant's arguments, page 11-12, recites “the cited portions of Chen do not explicitly describe "receiving, by the base station, a first system information block of type 1 (SIB 1) transmitted by a second base station, the transmission of the first SIB 1 being based on a first plurality of physical random access channel," as in claim 1.
The examiner’s response: The independent claims 1, 14 and 28 have rejected in view of Khude et al (US 2014/0254564 A1), hereinafter, “Khude” in view of Suh et al (US 2005/0105460 A1), hereinafter, “Suh”. See the rejection below. Therefore the arguments are traversed.
All the remaining arguments are based on the arguments above and are responded to in full.
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 text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
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.
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.
Claims 1-2, 14, 28 and 32-33 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Khude et al (US 2014/0254564 A1), hereinafter, “Khude” in view of Suh et al (US 2005/0105460 A1), hereinafter, “Suh”.
Regarding claims 1, 14 and 28, Khude discloses: A method for wireless communication performed by a base station (Khude: fig 7, para [0004], where, a method for inter cell interference coordination methods, e.g., enhanced inter-cell interference coordination (eICIC)), the method comprising: receiving, by the base station a first system information block of type 1 (SIB 1) transmitted by a second base station (Khude: fig 7, para [0077], where, “Configurable femto BS C 708 receives SIB signals 744 from femto BS A and recovers information identifying the set B of uplink PRACH communications resources, as indicated by block 746. Configurable femto BS C 708 selects to use a set C of uplink PRACH communications resources which is non-overlapping with set A of uplink PRACH communications resources and set B of uplink PRACH communications resources, as indicated by block 748”, where, SIB signal 740 equivalent to “SIB1”), the transmission of the first SIB1 being based on a first plurality of physical random access channel (PRACH) parameters (Khude: fig 7, para [0077], where, “Femto BS A 704 transmits SIB signals 740 equivalent to “SIB1”, at times in accordance with the femto BS A frame timing which communicate information identifying set A of uplink PRACH communications resources” with “Configurable femto BS C 708 selects to use a set C of uplink PRACH communications resources which is non-overlapping with set A of uplink PRACH communications resources (equivalent to “PRACH parameter”)”),
transmitting a second SIB1 based on a second plurality of PRACH parameters (Khude: fig 4, para [0047], where, “Operation proceeds from step 458 to step 460. In step 460 the configurable base station transmits a SIB information signal equivalent to “SIB1”communicating said determines second set of uplink PRACH equivalent to “second plurality of PRACH parameter” communications resources”);
Khude does not explicitly teach: physical random access channel (PRACH) that are based on one or more first PRACH root sequences associated with the second base station; that are based on a second PRACH root sequence selected so as not to be one of the one or more first PRACH root sequences.
Suh teaches: physical random access channel (PRACH) that are based on one or more first PRACH root sequences associated with the second base station (Suh: fig 6, para [0083], where, “ the first base station, which is the reference base station, outputs the reference preamble sequence (equivalent to “first root sequence”) without shifting the phase of the reference preamble sequence.) that are based on a second PRACH root sequence selected so as not to be one of the one or more first PRACH root sequences (Suh: fig 6, para [0083], where, “the second base station, which is the first non-reference base station, outputs the reference preamble sequence (equivalent to “second root sequence”) while shifting the phase of the reference preamble sequence by a degree of L).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to use “physical random access channel (PRACH) that are based on one or more first PRACH root sequences associated with the second base station; that are based on a second PRACH root sequence selected so as not to be one of the one or more first PRACH root sequences” as taught by Suh into Khude in order to avoid the interference between the OFDM symbols, the guard interval signal is inserted into the data (Suh: para [0009]).
Regarding claims 2 and 15, Khude modified by Suh discloses: wherein the first plurality of PRACH parameters include one or more of a duplex mode indication, a PRACH configuration index, a zero correlation zone (ZcZ) value, a PRACH root sequence index or a PRACH format length indication (Suh: fig 6, para [0080], where, the base stations generate plurality of preamble sequence (equivalent to “root sequence”) with numbered from 0 to N-1 which is equivalent to “root sequence index”).
Regarding claim 32, Khude modified by Suh discloses: The method of claim 1, wherein the base station receives the first SIB1 from the second base station via a network-based scan (Khude: fig 7, para [0077], where, “Configurable femto BS C 708 receives SIB signals 740 from femto BS A and recovers information identifying the set A of uplink PRACH communications resources, as indicated by block 742”).
Regarding claim 33, Khude modified by Suh discloses: The method of claim 1, wherein the base station selects the second PRACH root sequence based at least in part on a failure to identify one or more available PRACH root sequences that are unused by the second base station (Suh: fig 6, para [0083], where, “the second base station, which is the first non-reference base station, outputs the reference preamble sequence (equivalent to “second root sequence”) while shifting the phase of the reference preamble sequence by a degree of L).
Claims 3-6 and 16-19 and 27, are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Khude et al (US 2014/0254564 A1), hereinafter, “Khude” in view of Suh et al (US 2005/0105460 A1), hereinafter, “Suh” further in view of Chen et al (US 2017/0295596 A1), hereinafter, “Chen”.
Regarding claims 3 and 16, Khude modified by Suh discloses: further comprising: determining a frequency range associated with the first SIB1 (Khude: fig 1, para [0024], where, “air link resources 150 corresponds to a frequency range of 6-100 resource blocks, as indicated by line 152 and a time duration of 1 milli-sec, as indicated by line 154”); neither Khude nor Suh explicitly teach: determining, based on the duplex mode indication, a duplex mode type associated with the second base station; identifying, based on the frequency range and the duplex mode type, a PRACH configuration index table; and identifying, based on the PRACH configuration index, a preamble format in the PRACH configuration index table, wherein the preamble format is associated with the first SIB1
Chen teaches: determining, based on the duplex mode indication, a duplex mode type associated with the second base station (Chen: fig 1-2, para [0127], where, “The communication links described herein (e.g., communication links 125 of FIG. 1) may transmit bidirectional communications using FDD (e.g., using paired spectrum resources)”);
identifying, based on the frequency range and the duplex mode type, a PRACH configuration index table (Chen: para [00554], where, the SIB1 indicates the PRACH configuration index); and identifying, based on the PRACH configuration index, a preamble format in the PRACH configuration index table (Chen: para [00554], where, the SIB1 indicates the PRACH configuration index); wherein the preamble format is associated with the first SIB1 (Chen: fig 3, para [0062], where, “the system information may include an indication of the enhanced PRACH resource set determined by base station 105-b (equivalent to “second base station”)”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to use “physical random access channel (PRACH) that are based on one or more first PRACH root sequences associated with the second base station; that are based on a second PRACH root sequence selected so as not to be one of the one or more first PRACH root sequences” as taught by Chen into Khude in order to enabled, different repetition levels may be associated with the enhanced and unenhanced PRACH resource sets (Chen: para [0053]).
Regarding claims 4 and 17, Khude modified by Suh modified by Chen discloses: further comprising: determining, based on the preamble format (Chen: para [0004], where, “The preambles may be generated using various cyclic shifts”), a sequence length and a subcarrier spacing (Chen: para [0004], where, “The preambles may be generated using various “cyclic shifts” (equivalent to “spacing”)”);
determining a mapping of the ZcZ value to a cyclic shift (Ncs) value based on the subcarrier spacing (Chen: para [0051]-[0054], where, “which may include a root sequence index, a PRACH configuration index, a high speed flag, a zero correlation zone configuration, and/or a PRACH frequency offset”); and
determining a cardinality of preambles per PRACH root sequence associated with the second base station based on a ratio of the sequence length to the Ncs value (Chen: para [0010], where, referring number of cyclic shift), wherein determining the one or more first PRACH root sequences includes selecting, based on the PRACH root sequence index (Chen: para [0051]-[0054], where, “which may include a root sequence index, a PRACH configuration index, a high speed flag, a zero correlation zone configuration, and/or a PRACH frequency offset”); and based further on the cardinality of PRACH root sequences, the one or more first PRACH root sequences from a plurality of candidate PRACH root sequences specified by a wireless communication protocol (Chen: para [0041], where, “a different number of cyclic shifts may be used for random access preambles conveyed by the first and second resource sets (e.g., a random access preamble sent using the first resource set may include only the root sequence and may be exclusive of cyclic shifts)”).
Regarding claims 5 and 18, Khude modified by Suh modified by Chen discloses: wherein determining the one or more second PRACH root sequences includes selecting, based on the one or more first PRACH root sequences, the one or more second PRACH root sequences from the plurality of candidate PRACH root sequences specified by the wireless communication protocol (Chen: fig 6, para [0083], where, “the third base station, which is the second non-reference base station, outputs the reference preamble sequence”).
Regarding claims 6 and 19, Khude modified by Suh modified by Chen discloses: further comprising: receiving one or more third SIB is from one or more third base stations (Suh: para [0083], where, “the third base station, which is the second non-reference base station, outputs the reference preamble sequence”);
determining, based on the one or more third SIB 1s, PRACH parameters associated with the one or more third base stations (Khude: fig 4, para [0047], where, “Operation proceeds from step 458 to step 460. In step 460 the configurable base station transmits a SIB information signal equivalent to “SIB1”communicating said determines second set of uplink PRACH equivalent to “second plurality of PRACH parameter” communications resources”); and
determining, based on the PRACH parameters associated with the one or more third base stations, one or more third PRACH root sequences associated with the one or more third base stations (Chen: fig 7, para [0083]-[0085], where, base station 105-c, corresponding to “third base station”), wherein the one or more second PRACH root sequences (Chen: para [0072]-[0073], where, “In some cases, using TDM includes separating the first PRACH resource set from the second PRACH resources set using different subframes or different portions of a subframe”) are based further on the one or more third PRACH root sequences and each of the one or more second PRACH root sequences is different than each of the one or more third PRACH root sequences (Suh: fig 6, para [0083], where, the first preamble is non-shifted and the second preamble is shifted and they are different).
Regarding claim 27, Khude modified by Suh modified by Chen discloses: wherein the base station is a small cell base station, and wherein the second base station is a macro base station (Chen: para [0045], where, the base station is a small cell and the second base station is the macro cell).
Claims 10 and 23 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Khude et al (US 2014/0254564 A1), hereinafter, “Khude” in view of Suh et al (US 2005/0105460 A1), hereinafter, “Suh” further in view of Wen et al (US 2024/0089033 A1), hereinafter, “Wen”.
Regarding claims 10 and 23, neither Chen nor Kusashima explicitly teach: wherein the PRACH detection threshold is based on a cell radius associated with the base station, and wherein the cell radius is based on one or more of a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of a signal associated with the base station, a signal-to-noise plus interference (SINR) associated with the signal, a received signal strength indicator (RSSI) associated with the signal, a reference signal received power (RSRP) associated with the signal, or a quality metric associated with the signal.
Wen teaches: wherein the PRACH detection threshold is based on a cell radius associated with the base station, and wherein the cell radius is based on one or more of a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of a signal associated with the base station (Wen: para [0048], where, “Coverage enhancement (CE) is one feature for NB -IoT networks, which can be achieved with the help of the narrower carrier bandwidth and the repetition transmission. To support various traffic with different coverage conditions, each second device 120 (e.g., a base station (BS)) defines three coverage groups that have different ranges measured reference signal received power (RSRP)”), a signal-to-noise plus interference (SINR) associated with the signal, a received signal strength indicator (RSSI) associated with the signal, a reference signal received power (RSRP) associated with the signal, or a quality metric associated with the signal (Wen: para [0048], where, “The first device 110 measures its downlink received signal power to obtain RSRP and compares its received signal power with configured RSRP thresholds corresponding to the PRACH configurations, so as to determine (or select or identify) the first device 110's coverage level. Then the repetition number configured for the coverage level can be selected, such that the number of repetitions for transmitting preamble and the maximum number of repetitions for NPDCCH common search space (CSS) for Msg2, Msg3 retransmissions and Msg4 is able to be selected. Accordingly, the first device 110 transmits a random access preamble and re-transmission Msg3 as well as receive Msg2 and Msg 4 with the NPRACH parameters configured for its estimated coverage level including the repetition number”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to use “wherein the PRACH detection threshold is based on a cell radius associated with the base station, and wherein the cell radius is based on one or more of a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of a signal associated with the base station, a signal-to-noise plus interference (SINR) associated with the signal, a received signal strength indicator (RSSI) associated with the signal, a reference signal received power (RSRP) associated with the signal, or a quality metric associated with the signal” as taught by Wen into the system of Khude and Suh in order to improve the readability although “network” is redundant (Wen: para [0042]);
Claims 11 and 29-30 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Khude et al (US 2014/0254564 A1), hereinafter, “Khude” in view of Suh et al (US 2005/0105460 A1), hereinafter, “Suh” further in view of Abedini et al (US 2019/0116613 A1), hereinafter, “Abedini”.
Regarding claims 11 and 29-30, neither Khude nor Suh explicitly teach: further comprising: allocating one or more preambles associated with the second PRACH root sequence to a contention free random access (CFRA) process, wherein the one or more preambles are not in use by the second base station; and allocating, after allocating the one or more preambles associated with the second PRACH root sequence to the CFRA process, one or more remaining preambles associated with the second PRACH root sequence to a contention based random access (CBRA) process, wherein the one or more remaining preambles are not in use by the second base station.
Abedini teaches: allocating one or more preambles associated with the second PRACH root sequence to a contention free random access (CFRA) process (Abedini: para [0119], where, “a parameter that identifies a total number of random access preambles used for contention based and contention-free random access (e.g., totalNumberOfARA-Preambles)”),
wherein the one or more preambles are not in use by the second base station; and allocating, after allocating the one or more preambles associated with the second PRACH root sequence to the CFRA process, one or more remaining preambles associated with the second PRACH root sequence to a contention based random access (CBRA) process, wherein the one or more remaining preambles are not in use by the second base station (Abedini: para [0119], where, “the parameter of the common RACH configuration information element may include a parameter associated with a Group B preamble or a parameter associated with a Group A preamble, such as a transport block size threshold below which to use a contention based random access preamble of Group A (e.g., ra-Msg3 SizeGroupA), a parameter that identifies a threshold for preamble selection (e.g., messagePowerOffsetGroupB)”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to use “allocating one or more preambles associated with the second PRACH root sequence to a contention free random access (CFRA) process, wherein the one or more preambles are not in use by the second base station; and allocating, after allocating the one or more preambles associated with the second PRACH root sequence to the CFRA process, one or more remaining preambles associated with the second PRACH root sequence to a contention based random access (CBRA) process, wherein the one or more remaining preambles are not in use by the second base station” as taught by Abedini into the system of Khude and Suh in order to avoid interference between wireless networks of different RATs (Abedini: para [0059]).
Claims 13 and 26 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Khude et al (US 2014/0254564 A1), hereinafter, “Khude” in view of Suh et al (US 2005/0105460 A1), hereinafter, “Suh” further in view of Mukherjee et al (US 2021/0176794 A1), hereinafter, “Mukherjee”.
Regarding claims 13 and 26, neither Khude nor Suh explicitly teach: further comprising performing a self-organizing network (SON) scan, wherein the base station receives the SIB 1 based on the SON scan.
Mukherjee teaches: performing a self-organizing network (SON) scan, wherein the base station receives the SIB 1 based on the SON scan (Mukherjee: fig 5A-5B, para [0123], where, “the broadcast SSB-to-RO mapping configuration indicated in RACH-ConfigCommon in SIB1 is enhanced to a SSB-to-multi-cell RO mapping configuration, either according to Operations, Administration and Maintenance (OAM) or Self-Organizing Network (SON) configurations”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to use “performing a self-organizing network (SON) scan, wherein the base station receives the SIB 1 based on the SON scan” as taught by Mukherjee into the system of Khude and Suh in order to increase the bandwidth, and thereby throughput (Mukherjee: para [0011]).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 7-9, 20-22 and 31are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to NIZAM U AHMED whose telephone number is (571)272-9561. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fry, 7:00 AM-6:00 PM PST.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Huy Vu can be reached at 571-272-3155. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/NIZAM U AHMED/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2461