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 § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
Claim(s) 1-2, 4-5, 7-12, 14-15, 17-22, 25 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tsai (12,342,381) in view of Jeong et al. (12,432,771).
For claims 1, 22, Tsai teaches a method and system (abstract) performed by a communication device for indicating a random access, RA, resource (col. 5, lines 25-40) that was used by the communication device during a RA procedure (col. 5, lines 5-50), the method (background, summary and claims) comprising:
receiving a RA configuration (col. 5, lines 25-40) associated to at least one feature specific RA resource configuration (col. 7, lines 20-35) from a first network node (col. 6, lines 35-50);
performing the RA procedure towards the first network node using the RA resource based on the RA configuration (col. 8, lines 30-60); and
transmitting the information to a second network node (col. 5, line 40 – col. 6, line 50).
Tsai does not expressly disclose storing information indicating the RA resource that was used by the communication device during the RA procedure. Jeong teaches a method and system (abstract) in the relevant art (background, summary and claims) that includes storing information indicating the RA resource that was used by the communication device during the RA procedure (col. 12, line 20 – col. 13, ,line 45). At the time of filing, one of ordinary skill in the art would have added Jeong in order to provide improvements to the efficiency of random access (col. 2, lines 10-45).
For claims 2, 12, Tsai teaches that the information comprises a feature type associated with the RA resource that was used in the RA procedure (col. 7, lines 20-35).
For claims 4, 14, Tsai teaches that the identifier comprises at least one of: a time associated with the RA resource; a frequency associated with the RA resource; and a preamble dimension associated with the RA resource (col. 25, lines 45-55 in view of col. 22, line 25 – col. 23, line 40).
For claims 5, 15, Tsai teaches that the first network node is separate from the second network node (col. 6, lines 15-45).
For claims 7, 19, Tsai does not expressly disclose transmitting, to the second network node, an indication that the communication device is capable of storing the information. Jeong teaches this limitation (col. 9, lines 15-30).
For claims 8, 20, Tsai does not expressly disclose receiving a request from the second network node to store the information. Jeong teaches this limitation (col. 8, line 50 – col. 9, line 15).
For claims 9, 21, Jeong teaches further comprising at least one of:
transmitting an indication that the communication device has stored the information to the second network node (col. 13, lines 5-45); and
transmitting an indication that the communication device has stored information associated to a feature specific RA procedure (col. 6, lines 15-55).
For claim 10, Jeong teaches further comprising
at least one of:
receiving a request from the second network node to transmit the information (col. 8, line 50 – col. 9, line 15); and
receiving a request from the second network node to transmit information associated to a specific feature type (col. 6, lines 15-55),
wherein transmitting the information to the second network node comprises transmitting the information to the second network node in response to receiving the request from the second network node (col. 13, lines 5-45).
For claims 11, 25, Tsai teaches a method and system (abstract) performed by a second network node for collecting information indicating a random access, RA, resource used by a communication device during a RA procedure with a first network node (background, summary and claims), the method comprising:
transmitting, to the communication device, a request to transmit the information (col. 5, line 40 – col. 6, line 50) indicating the RA resource information during the RA procedure (col. 5, lines 5-40);
responsive to transmitting the request, receiving the information from the communication device (col. 8, lines 30-60).
Tsai does not expressly disclose resource usage tracking. Jeong teaches a method and system (abstract) in the relevant art (background, summary and claims) that includes storing information indicating the RA resource that was used by the communication device during the RA procedure (col. 12, line 20 – col. 13, ,line 45). At the time of filing, one of ordinary skill in the art would have added Jeong in order to provide improvements to the efficiency of random access (col. 2, lines 10-45).
For claim 17, Tsai teaches transmitting, to the communication device, a RA configuration associated with at least one feature specific RA resource configuration (col. 7, line 5 – col. 8, line 60).
For claim 18, Tsai teaches transmitting the RA configuration comprises at least one of transmitting a broadcast message (col. 6, lines 35-60) and a dedicated configuration (col. 7, line 5 – col. 8, line 60).
Claim(s) 3, 13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tsai and Jeong as applied to claims 1, 11 above, and further in view of Huang et al. (11,229,062).
For claims 3, 13, Tsai and Jeong do not expressly disclose that the information comprises an identifier of the RA resource that was used in the RA procedure. Huang teaches a method and system (abstract) in the relevant art (background, summary and claims) that includes this limitation (col. 12, lines 30-50). At the time of filing, one of ordinary skill in the art would have added Huang in order to provide improvements to performing random access procedures (col. 1, lines 30-55).
Claim(s) 6, 16 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tsai and Jeong as applied to claims 1, 11 above, and further in view of Miao et al. (12,232,176).
For claims 6, 16, Tsai and Jeong do not expressly disclose that the first network node comprises the second network node. Miao teaches a method and system (abstract) in the relevant art (background, summary and claims) that includes this limitation (col. 4, lines 40-60). At the time of filing, one of ordinary skill in the art would have added Miao in order to provide improvements to handling backhaul communications (col. 1, lines 20-45).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MELVIN H POLLACK whose telephone number is (571)272-3887. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8:30-5:00.
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/MELVIN H POLLACK/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2445