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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 2/13/2026 has been entered.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s regarding the 103 rejection have been carefully considered and they are moot because they do not apply to the new references used in the current office action.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112:
The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention.
Claims 1, 4-10, 13-16, 19, 22, 28-30 and 32 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for pre-AIA the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention.
Claim 1( and 16, 19, 32) recites the phrase " the mapping based at least in part on a number of terminal devices served by at least one wide beam and at least one narrow beam". Review of the specification does not find the support for the amended limitation (that is, the mapping is based on a number of terminal devices served by BOTH a wide beam and a narrow beam). This language is not supported by the original disclosure and therefore constitutes new matter (See also 37 C.F.R. 1.121(f), MPEP 608.04, 706.03(o)). The claim is examined under the interpretation that the mapping based at least in part on a number of terminal devices served by at least one wide beam and another number of terminal devices served by at least one narrow beam. Depending claims are rejected as well since they depend on the rejected independent claims.
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) 1, 4-9, 13-16, 19, 29-30, 32 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Xiong (US 20200396744 ) in view of Kim (US 20200153500) further in view of Popovic (US 20210337604) further in view of Park (US 20200275493).
Regarding claim 1, Xiong discloses a method implemented at a network node in a non-terrestrial network, NTN ([0184], or satellite stations providing coverage within a geographic area), comprising:
determining at least a first synchronization signal (SS)/physical broadcast channel (PBCH) block, SSB, group comprising one or more SSBs and a second SSB group comprising one or more SSBs, the first SSB group being used for wide beams, and the second SSB group is used for narrow beams ([0100], first 8 bits are used to indicate the presence of SSB block groups, while the second 8 bits are used to indicate the position of used beams within a SSB group with 8 SSB positions, where the first [Q/8] bits are used to indicate that the used beam in each group);
mapping a respective number of random access resources to the one or more SSBs in the first SSB group and the one or more SSBs in the second SSB group separately, the mapping comprising ([0093-100][0127][0145-153], figs. 8-9, bitmaps per SSB group, identifies the best gNB Rx beam based on the detected PRACH and/or PUSCH resource; PRACH and/or PUSCH resource index, which corresponds to the best UE Tx beam and is identified in the Step 2, can be included in MsgB for 2-step RACH procedure; table 2, different beams; different PRACH occasions may be used); and
transmitting, to a terminal device in the NTN, configuration information indicating the mapping of the respective number of random access resources to the one or more SSBs in the first SSB group and the one or more SSBs in the second SSB group ([0128][0145-153], Step 3: gNB transmits the MsgB for 2-step RACH procedure or Msg2 for 4-step RACH procedure; fig. 27).
Xiong only implicitly discloses the first SSB group being used for wide beams, and the second SSB group is used for narrow beams (fig. 20, different bandwidth, [0116]);
the mapping comprising (figs. 8-9, bitmaps per SSB group).
To further clarify and provide support for this feature, Kim discloses the first SSB group being used for wide beams, and the second SSB group is used for narrow beams (Kim, [0209-210], , L1,1 to L1,3 (are narrow beams) may be represented by a longbitmap of the ssb-PositionsInBurst parameter described with reference to FIG.8, the beams L1 to L4, are not the narrow beam; the indices of the beams L1 to L4 over time T1 to T4 may be mapped to the indices of the SS/PBCH blocks);
the mapping comprising (Kim, [0092][0125-133], defines the number of SSBs mapped to each PRACH occasion and the number of contention-based Random Access Preambles mapped to each SSB; fig. 7, [0177]).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the time of effective filing to combine the teachings of exchanging SSB using wide or narrow beams as given by Xiong with the teachings of configuring SSBs associated with PRAH occasion given by Kim. The motivation for doing so would have been to maintain connection by efficient beam management (Kim, [0005]).
Kim discloses several mapping schemes, but does not explicitly disclose the mapping comprising non-uniformly allocating a first number of preambles to each SSB of the first SSB group and non-uniformly allocating a second number of preambles to each SSB of the second SSB group.
Popovic discloses the mapping comprising non-uniformly allocating a first number of preambles to each SSB of the first SSB group and non-uniformly allocating a second number of preambles to each SSB of the second SSB group (Popovic, [0004-05][0101-104], mapping can be non-uniform; the generic modulation sequence design is applicable to any of the four alternatives of time-frequency resource allocation listed in 3GPP TR38.889 V16.0.0, “Study on NR-based Access to Unlicensed Spectrum”. These four alternatives for allocating the time-frequency resources to the random access preamble are: Alt-1: Uniform PRB-level interlace mapping, Alt-2: Non-uniform PRB-level interlace mapping. The non-uniform allocation/mapping scheme can be added/combined/modified to the allocation/mapping schemes taught by Kim).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the time of effective filing to combine the teachings of exchanging SSB using wide or narrow beams as given by Xiong with the teachings of mapping non-uniformly PRAH occasions given by Popovic. The motivation for doing so would have been to reduce mis-detection probability and large time synchronization estimation error (Popovic, [0005]).
Popovic does not explicitly disclose the mapping based at least in part on a number of terminal devices served by at least one wide beam and at least one narrow beam.
Park discloses the mapping based at least in part on a number of terminal devices served by at least one wide beam and at least one narrow beam (Park, [0070][0075], as an example, a wide beam may serve a greater number of UEs, in a cell associated with the BS, than a narrow beam due to the directional nature of the narrow beam, if an SSB associated with the wide beam, and an SSB associated with the narrow beam, are assigned the same number of RACH signatures, UEs being served by the wide beam may experience a greater number of RACH preamble collisions due to the greater number of UEs being served by the wide beam, whereas the narrow beam may experience lower utilization of RACH preambles due to the lesser number of UEs being served by the narrow beam, [0080] [00802] [0101]).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the time of effective filing to combine the teachings of exchanging SSB using wide or narrow beams as given by Xiong with the teachings of mapping PRAH occasions or signatures based on beam width given by Park. The motivation for doing so would have been to assigning the right amount of preambles or signatures based on the beam width (Park, [0006]).
Claims 16, 19 (and 29 which is redundant), 32 are rejected similarly with claim 1 noting that Xiong discloses a processor and memory (Xiong, fig. 33) and performing a random access procedure using the random access resource mapped to the selected SSB (Xiong, fig. 27).
It is noted that the applicant uses selective language in this claim and the examiner is only showing one of the claimed options.
Regarding claim 4, Xiong and Kim disclose the method according to claim 1, wherein mapping a respective number of random access resources to the one or more SSBs in the first SSB group and the one or more SSBs in the second SSB group separately comprises:
mapping a first set of RACH occasions to the one or more SSBs in the first SSB group; and mapping a second set of RACH occasions to the one or more SSBs in the second SSB group (Xiong, fig. 14, [0136-137]; Kim, [0092]).
Regarding claim 5, Xiong and Kim disclose the method according to claim 4, wherein the number of RACH occasions in the first set is different from the number of RACH occasions in the second set (Xiong; table 2, different beams; different PRACH occasions may be used).
Regarding claim 6, Xiong and Kim disclose the method according to claim 1, wherein mapping a respective number of random access resources to the one or more SSBs in the first SSB group and the one or more SSBs in the second SSB group separately comprises:
configuring a first SSB to random access channel, RACH, occasion mapping for the first SSB group; and configuring a second SSB to RACH occasion mapping for the second SSB group (Xiong, fig. 14, [0136-137]; Kim, [0098]).
Regarding claim 7 Xiong, Kim, Popovic and Park disclose the method according to claim 1,
wherein: one or both of:
the first and second numbers of preambles and the number of RACH occasions in the first and second set, are different depending on one or both of:
at least one of sizes of beams for which the first SSB group and the second SSB group are used; and a beam deployment in a coverage of the network node (Park, [0070][0075] [0080][0082]).
It is noted that the applicant uses selective language in this claim and the examiner is only showing one of the claimed options.
Regarding claim 8, Xiong and Kim disclose the method according to claim 1, further comprising:
configuring a dedicated SSB resource list for one of the first and second SSB groups for a contention-free random access procedure, wherein the SSB resource in the dedicated SSB resource list indicates one or more SSB indices and one or more preamble identifiers; and wherein the configuration information further indicates the dedicated SSB resource list (Xiong, [0102], indicates that the used beam or the reserved/dedicated SSB for rate-matching is in 1st, 3rd to 5th position. Kim, [0098-99], totalNumberOfRA-Preambles: The total number of preambles used for contention based and contention free random access in the RACH resources defined in RACH-ConfigCommon, excluding preambles used for other purposes (e.g. for SI request). If the field is absent, the all 64 preambles are available for RA. The setting should be consistent with the setting of ssb-perRACH-OccasionAndCB-PreamblesPerSSB, i.e. it should be a multiple of the number of SSBs per RACH occasion).
Regarding claim 9, Xiong and Kim disclose the method according to claim 1, further comprising:
configuring a dedicated SSB to RACH occasion mapping for one of the first and second SSB groups for a contention-free random access procedure; and wherein the configuration information further indicates the dedicated SSB to RACH occasion mapping (Xiong, [0102], indicates that the used beam or the reserved/dedicated SSB for rate-matching is in 1st, 3rd to 5th position. Kim, [0098-99], totalNumberOfRA-Preambles: The total number of preambles used for contention based and contention free random access in the RACH resources defined in RACH-ConfigCommon, excluding preambles used for other purposes (e.g. for SI request). If the field is absent, the all 64 preambles are available for RA. The setting should be consistent with the setting of ssb-perRACH-OccasionAndCB-PreamblesPerSSB, i.e. it should be a multiple of the number of SSBs per RACH occasion).
Regarding claim 13, Xiong, Kim, Popovic and Park disclose the method according to claim 1,
wherein when the wide beam is used to cover an area that has a larger amount of expected terminal devices than the narrow beam, at least one of the following:
1) the first number of preambles is larger than the second number of preambles (Park, [0070][0075] [0080][0082]);
2) the number of RACH occasions in the first set is larger than the number of RACH occasions in the second set; and
3) a first mapping ratio is larger than a second mapping ratio.
It is noted that the applicant uses selective language in this claim and the examiner is only showing one of the claimed options.
Regarding claim 14, Xiong, Kim, Popovic and Park disclose the method according to claim 1,
wherein when the wide beam is used to cover an area that has a smaller amount of expected terminal devices than the narrow beam, at least one of the following:
1) the first number of preambles is smaller than the second number of preambles (Park, Park, [0070][0075] [0080][0082]);
2) the number of RACH occasions in the first set is smaller than the number of RACH occasions in the second set; and
3) a first mapping ratio is smaller than a second mapping ratio.
It is noted that the applicant uses selective language in this claim and the examiner is only showing one of the claimed options.
Claim 30 is rejected similarly with claims 13-14
Regarding claim 15, Xiong and Kim disclose the method according to claim 1, further comprising: receiving a preamble on a RACH occasion from a terminal device ; and determining an SSB that was used by the terminal device, based on the received preamble and the RACH occasion (Xiong, [0135-136], UE performs beam sweeping for PRACH preamble transmission in RACH occasions which are associated with the detected SSB index in the Step 1, gNB can determine the SSB index and correspondingly, the best gNB Tx beam based on association between SSB and PRACH occasion).
Claims 10, 22, 28 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Xiong, Kim, Park and Popovic further in view of Rastegardoost (US 20210051672).
Regarding claim 10, Xiong, Kim, Park and Popovic disclose the method according to claim 1, further comprising:
Xiong, Kim and Popovic do not explicitly disclose determining, for a two-step random access procedure, a first mapping ratio between a Physical Random Access Channel, PRACH, resource and a Physical Uplink Shared Channel, PUSCH, resource for the first SSB group; and
determining a second mapping ratio between the PRACH resource and the PUSCH resource for the second SSB group; and
wherein one or both: the configuration information further indicates the first mapping ratio and the second mapping ratio; and the first mapping ratio is different from the second mapping ratio.
Rastegardoost discloses determining, for a two-step random access procedure, a first mapping ratio between a Physical Random Access Channel, PRACH, resource and a Physical Uplink Shared Channel, PUSCH, resource for the first SSB group; and
determining a second mapping ratio between the PRACH resource and the PUSCH resource for the second SSB group; and
wherein one or both: the configuration information further indicates the first mapping ratio and the second mapping ratio; and the first mapping ratio is different from the second mapping ratio (Rastegardoost , [0256][0267][0346], a two-step RACH procedure may support a PRACH configuration with multiple ROs within a PRACH slot. The two-step RACH procedure may support a PRACH preamble mapping to multiple PUSCH allocations; the ratio of the PRACH/DM-RS used in the mapping of the PRACH preambles to the PUSCH resources may be selected, for example, based on the proximity of the PRACH and the PUSCH resources. The base station may specify/configure a mapping ratio between MsgA PRACH occasions (MsgA ROs) and MsgA PUSCH occasions (MsgA POs); a mapping ratio indicating a number/quantity of POs associated with a single RO).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the time of effective filing to combine the teachings of exchanging SSB using wide or narrow beams as given by Xiong with the teachings of mapping of preambles and PUSCH resources given by Rastegardoost . The motivation for doing so would have been to reduce the likelihood of failed PUSCH decoding, for example, due to collision (Rastegardoost , [0256]). It is noted that the applicant uses selective language in this claim and the examiner is only showing one of the claimed options.
Claim 22 (and 28 which is redundant compared to claim 22) is rejected similarly with the rejections of claims 1, 9, 10.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ZHENSHENG ZHANG whose telephone number is (571)270-1985. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Thursday 8:00am-6:00pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Michael Thier can be reached at 571-272-2832. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/ZHENSHENG ZHANG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2474