DETAILED ACTION
Status of Case
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
This Office Action is in response to the amendment filed on 1/29/2026.
Claims 1-7 and 18 are pending.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed on 1/29/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Applicant states that “Deenoo describes using a preamble to request SI. Deenoo does not teach a two-stage RACH process where a first preamble is used specifically to “activate” a secondary RA resource for a subsequent preamble transmission” and Applicant also states that “Deeno’s ‘Other SI’ request is a request for data transmission (DL), whereas the features of claim 1 are for the dynamic activation of physical Random Access (UL) infrastructure.”)
In response, Examiner respectfully disagrees.
Examiner notes that Deenoo specifically discloses in paragraph 295 that “a WTRU may transmit a first RACH preamble” (which is the activation preamble) and paragraph 295 further discloses “…the WTRU may use a subsequent RACH preamble.” Additionally, paragraph 300 of Deenoo discloses “additional RACH resources.” As such, Deenoo alone discloses all of the claimed limitations of transmitting an activation preamble to active an on-demand RA resource and transmitting a preamble on the on-demand RA resource.
Examiner notes that Applicant’s remarks would be persuasive if the claims reflected what Applicant is arguing. However, the claims as currently recited are written in a broader manner and therefore, Deenoo teaches the claimed language.
However, Examiner recommends that Applicant consider amending the claim language such that the claims specifically recite a “two-stage RACH process.” By amending the claims to specifically include the language of a “two-stage RACH process,” Applicant’s remarks would be given patentable weight and such an amendment would clearly overcome the prior art of Deenoo, since such a claim amendment would overcome Examiner’s claim interpretation and Deenoo’s teachings.
Thus, absent any claim amendments that would clearly overcome the prior art reference of Deenoo, Examiner maintains the rejection.
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 1-2, 5, 7, 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Deenoo (WO 2017/197063 A1; cited in Applicant’s IDS filed on 11/1/2023).
Consider claims 1 and 18, Deenoo discloses a method performed by a wireless device for early indication of features (see paragraphs 294-317, wherein disclosed is said method performed by a WTRU: an early request for other system information is performed; also, see figure 2, reproduced below for convenience), and a corresponding wireless device for early indication of features, the wireless device comprising one or more processors configured to cause the wireless device to (see figure 1B, wherein disclosed is said wireless device comprising said processor 118):
determine to use an on-demand Random Access, RA, resource (see paragraph 295: “WTRU may transmit a first RACH preamble to indicate the desire for other-SI and/or the WTRU may use a subsequent RACH preamble to request the other-SI that should be transmitted”);
transmit, to a network node, an activation preamble to activate the on-demand RA resource (see paragraph 295: the first RACH preamble; see also paragraph 298); and
transmit, to the network node, a preamble on the on-demand RA resource (see paragraph 300: “additional RACH resources” are on-demand RA resources as they result from the transmission of the first preamble in paragraphs 295 and 298).
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Consider claim 2, Deenoo discloses that there are two levels of RA resources, a first level and a second level, the on-demand RA resource comprises the second level RA resources (see paragraphs 294-317: distinct resources for the initial RACH transmission and second state RACH transmission; “A WTRU may use multi-stage RACH…”).
Consider claim 5, Deenoo discloses that transmitting the activation preamble comprises transmitting using a separate Random Access Channel, RACH, occasion (see paragraph 293: multi-stage RACH; see paragraph 294: multiple RACH transmissions).
Consider claim 7, Deenoo discloses that the wireless device operates in a Fifth Generation, 5G, NR network (see paragraph 3: 5G network).
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.
Claims 3 and 4 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Deenoo (WO 2017/197063 A1; cited in Applicant’s IDS filed on 11/1/2023) in view of Nord (USPAN 2021/0352732).
Consider claim 3, although Deenoo discloses using Msg1 early indication (see paragraphs 294-317), Deeno does not specifically disclose that one or more of the group consisting of: Coverage Enhancement, CE, reduced capability, RedCap, New Radio, NR, devices, Small Data Transmission, SDT, slicing, and Non-Terrestrial Networks, NTN.
Nord discloses that one or more of the group consisting of: Coverage Enhancement, CE, reduced capability, RedCap, New Radio, NR, devices, Small Data Transmission, SDT, slicing, and Non-Terrestrial Networks, NTN (see paragraph 62: network slicing function).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Deenoo and combine it with the noted teachings of Nord. The motivation to combine these references is to provide a method for early-data-transmission of a random access procedure and terminal mobility (see paragraph 1 of Nord).
Consider claim 4, although Deenoo discloses transmitting the activation preamble (see above), Deenoo does not specifically disclose transmitting using preamble partitioning.
Nord discloses transmitting using preamble partitioning (see paragraph 82: “Initially, at 6541, an indicator 6041 indicative of the EDT 601 to take place is communicated. For instance, the indicator 6041 can be implemented by RA preamble partitioning as explained above with respect to FIG. 4, 6501)”.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Deenoo and combine it with the noted teachings of Nord. The motivation to combine these references is to provide a method for early-data-transmission of a random access procedure and terminal mobility (see paragraph 1 of Nord).
Claim 6 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Deenoo (WO 2017/197063 A1; cited in Applicant’s IDS filed on 11/1/2023) in view of Tsai (USPAN 2018/0279379).
Consider claim 6, although Deenoo discloses transmitting the preamble on the one-demand RA resource (see above), Deenoo does not specifically disclose to activate a third level of RA resource; and: transmitting, to the network node, a preamble on the third level of RA resource.
Tsai discloses to activate a third level of RA resource; and transmitting, to the network node, a preamble on the third level of RA resource (see paragraph 56: the third blocks/PBCH block and the third CSI-RS resource are corresponding to the third set of PRACH preambles and RACH occasions according to the associations).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Deenoo and combine it with the noted teachings of Tsai. The motivation to combine these references is to provide a method for beam identification through the PRACH and efficient PRACH resource utilization (see paragraph 2 of Tsai).
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. 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 extension fee 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 date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Jamal Javaid whose telephone number is 571-270-5137 and email address is Jamal.Javaid@uspto.gov.
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, Charles Jiang, can be reached on 571-270-7191. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/JAMAL JAVAID/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2412
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