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. Information Disclosure Statement The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted is being considered by the examiner. 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 . Claim(s) 1 – 2, 4, 8 – 9, 11, 14 – 15 and 17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wu et al. US 20240365394 A1 (Wu: para. [0001] claims priority to Chinese Patent Application No. 202210006534.X, filed in China on Jan. 5, 2022 ), hereinafter Wu in view of Mangalvedhe et al. US 20240397556 A1, hereinafter Mangalvedhe . Regarding claim 1, Wu teaches a user equipment (UE) comprising: ( Wu: Summary, Fig. 1, Fig. 16 and para. [0348 & 0351-0353] terminal 1600 includes processor 1610 and memory 1609 may be configured to store software programs or instructions ) a transceiver ( Wu: Fig. 16 and para. [0350] radio frequency unit 1601 receives downlink data from a network-side device, and then sends the downlink data to the processor 1610 for processing. In addition, the radio frequency unit 1601 may send uplink data to the network-side device ) configured to receive a information, wherein the information indicates: a first number of multiple physical random access channel (PRACH) transmissions, a first partition of PRACH occasions (ROs) associated with multiple PRACH transmissions ( Wu : para. [ 0072] Step 401 of Fig. 4 The terminal obtains resource configuration information for physical random access channel PRACH repetition transmission, where the resource configuration information includes a resource configuration type for the PRACH repetition transmission. Para. [0085 -0087 ] and Fig. 5 resource configuration type (1) indicates that the PRACH repetition transmission uses all ROs for PRACH non-repetition transmission, that is, the PRACH repetition transmission and one or more types of PRACH non-repetition transmissions use common configured ROs (also referred to as shared ROs). The common configured RO (corresponds to claim limitation “ first partition of PRACH occasions (ROs) ”) is a RO that may be used for both PRACH repetition transmission or may be used for PRACH non-repetition transmission, that is, all ROs used for sending PRACH repetition share all ROs of one or more types of PRACH non-repetition transmissions ) a second partition of ROs associated with one PRACH transmission , and ( Wu : para. [00 9 0] and Fig. 6 third RO (that is, a non-repetition RO, which corresponds to claim limitation “second partition” ) is not used for PRACH repetition transmission, but used only for PRACH non-repetition transmission (corresponds to claim limitation “one PRACH transmission”) , the UE will not be able to use this RO) one or more first sets of multiple ROs associated with the first number of multiple PRACH transmissions, wherein the one or more first sets include ROs from the first partition of ROs and do not include ROs from the second partition of ROs; and ( Wu: para. [0090 & 0094] and Fig. 6 three ROs are configured in each PRACH configuration period, of which two ROs (that is, common ROs, which corresponds to claim limitation “one or more first sets include ROs from the first partition of ROs from the first partition of ROs and do not include ROs from the second partition of ROs” ) are used for sharing between PRACH repetition and PRACH transmission without repetition, while the third RO (that is, a non-repetition RO , which corresponds to “second partition of ROs” is separate and not included in “first partition of ROs” ) is not used for PRACH repetition transmission, but used only for PRACH non-repetition transmission ) a processor operably coupled to the transceiver, (Wu: Summary, Fig. 1, Fig. 16 and para. [0348 & 0351-0353] terminal 1600 includes processor 1610 and memory 1609 may be configured to store software programs or instructions, and para. [0350] radio frequency unit 1601 receives downlink data from a network-side device, and then sends the downlink data to the processor 1610 for processing. In addition, the radio frequency unit 1601 may send uplink data to the network-side device) the processor configured to determine: a group of ROs from the one or more first sets of multiple ROs, and a PRACH preamble for transmission in a first number of ROs of the group of ROs, ( Wu: para. [0061-0062 & 0076] and Fig. 4 UE selects a RO/“combination of RO (corresponds to claim limitation “ a group of ROs ”) and preamble” (corresponds to claim limitation “PRACH preamble”) associated with an SSB with good signal to send an Msg1. In this way, based on the RO/“combination of RO and preamble” of the received preamble, the network-side device can determine an SSB selected by the UE, and send an Msg2 on a downlink beam corresponding to the SSB to ensure reception quality of downlink signals) wherein the transceiver is further configured to transmit the PRACH preamble in the first number of ROs. ( Wu : para. [00 79-0081 ] Step 403: The terminal performs PRACH repetition transmission based on the RO. Para. [0061-0062] UE selects a RO/“combination of RO and preamble” associated with an SSB with good signal to send an Msg1. In this way, based on the RO/“combination of RO and preamble” of the received preamble, the network-side device can determine an SSB selected by the UE, and send an Msg2 on a downlink beam corresponding to the SSB to ensure reception quality of downlink signals ) It is noted that Wu does not explicitly disclose: configured to receive a system information block (SIB) , wherein the SIB indicates: . However, Mangalvedhe from the same or similar fields of endeavor teaches the use of: configured to receive a system information block (SIB) , wherein the SIB indicates ( Mangalvedhe : para. [0036] SIB provides a RACH configuration, which defines RACH occasions (ROs), which can be used for transmission of the PRACH preamble for initiating the random access procedure. The ROs can be configured within the initial UL BWP. The RACH configuration can provide the time configuration, frequency configuration, and the number of PRACH preambles to be associated with each synchronization signal block (SSB). The specification allows up to 8 ROs to be contiguously multiplexed in the frequency domain within the initial UL BWP. The number of ROs (e.g., multiplexed ROs) can be indicated as a parameter in the RACH configuration) . Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use the teaching of Mangalvedhe in the apparatus of Wu . One of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to do so for enabling the sharing of ROs between RedCap UEs and NR UEs even with different number of frequency-multiplexed ROs and enabling remapping of SSBs to valid ROs for the RedCap UE with a PRACH slot, which can include a subset of the valid ROs for the NR UE, both with dedicated PRACH preambles for RedCap UEs and with PRACH preambles shared with NR UEs. ( Mangalvedhe : para. [0059 ]) . Regarding claim 2, Wu and Mangalvehde teach the UE of claim 1, wherein the SIB ( Mangalvedhe : para. [0036] SIB provides a RACH configuration, which defines RACH occasions (ROs), which can be used for transmission of the PRACH preamble for initiating the random access procedure) further indicates (Wu: Para. [0108] first information may be sent by a network-side device or a predefined rule; or part of the first information is sent by the network-side device, and the rest part of information is a predefined rule. Para. [0127] 18) A mapping relationship between a common RO in a PRACH slot and the first RO, that is, a mapping relationship between the common ROs in the PRACH slot (which may be all ROs in the PRACH slot or a subset of the ROs) and a group of ROs (that is, the first ROs) additionally configured relative to the PRACH slot and specially used for PRACH repetition transmission) an association period for mapping ROs of the one or more first sets of multiple ROs to the first number of multiple PRACH transmissions. ( Wu : Para. [0 133 & 0130-0136 ] performing resource mapping based on the mapping relationship between the common RO in the PRACH slot and the first RO includes: performing mapping on ROs in the PRACH slot and the first RO according to a first defined order; where a mapping ratio of the ROs in the PRACH slot to the first RO is related to the number of PRACH repetition transmissions and/or the number of common ROs. ) Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use the teaching of Mangalvedhe in the apparatus of Wu. One of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to do so for enabling the sharing of ROs between RedCap UEs and NR UEs even with different number of frequency-multiplexed ROs and enabling remapping of SSBs to valid ROs for the RedCap UE with a PRACH slot, which can include a subset of the valid ROs for the NR UE, both with dedicated PRACH preambles for RedCap UEs and with PRACH preambles shared with NR UEs. ( Mangalvedhe : para. [0059]) . Regarding claim 4 , Wu and Mangalvedhe teaches t he UE of claim 1, wherein the SIB further indicates: a second number of multiple PRACH transmissions, one or more second sets of multiple ROs associated with the second number of multiple PRACH transmissions, wherein the one or more second sets include ROs from the first partition of ROs, (Wu: para. [0176] the resource configuration type (1), it is indicated that the PRACH repetition (which corresponds to claim limitation “one or more first sets”) transmission uses all ROs for PRACH non-repetition transmission (which corresponds to claim limitation “one or more second sets”) , that is, the PRACH repetition transmission and one or more types of PRACH non-repetition transmissions use common configured ROs. The common configured RO is a RO that may be used for both PRACH repetition transmission or may be used for PRACH non-repetition transmission, that is, all ROs used for sending PRACH repetition share all ROs of one or more types of PRACH non-repetition transmission) and an association period for mapping ROs of the one or more first sets of multiple ROs to the first number of multiple PRACH transmissions and (Wu: para. [0176] the resource configuration type (1), it is indicated that the PRACH repetition transmission uses all ROs for PRACH non-repetition transmission, that is, the PRACH repetition transmission and one or more types of PRACH non-repetition transmissions use common configured ROs. The common configured RO is a RO that may be used for both PRACH repetition transmission or may be used for PRACH non-repetition transmission, that is, all ROs used for sending PRACH repetition share all ROs of one or more types of PRACH non-repetition transmission. Para. [0177] RO indicated in the type (1) for PRACH repetition transmission (corresponds to claim limitation “mapping ROs of the one or more first sets”) ) the ROs of the one or more second sets of multiple ROs to the second number of multiple PRACH transmissions. (Wu: para. [0178] Part of ROs for PRACH non-repetition transmission (corresponds to claim limitation “ROs of the one or more second sets”) are used for the PRACH repetition transmission) Regarding claim s 8 -9 and 11 , Wu teaches a base station (BS) comprising: a transceiver and processor (Wu: Summary, Fig. 1, Fig. 17 and para. [0411-0415] network-side device 1700 includes an antenna 171, a radio frequency apparatus 172, a baseband apparatus 173, a processor 174, and a memory 175. Para. [0415] processor 174 invokes the instructions or program in the memory 175 to execute the method executed by the modules shown in FIG. 14) , and Wu and Mangalvedhe teach all the limitations as discussed in the rejection of claims 1-2 and 4, and therefore apparatus claims 8-9 and 11 are rejected using the same rationales. Regarding claims 14-15 and 17, Wu teaches a method (Wu: Summary, Fig. 1, Fig. 16 and para. [0348 & 0351-0353] terminal 1600 includes processor 1610 and memory 1609 may be configured to store software programs or instructions) and Wu and Mangalvedhe teach all the limitations as discussed in the rejection of claims 1-2 and 4, and therefore apparatus claims 14-15 and 17 are rejected using the same rationales. Claim(s) 3 , 7, 10, 13, 16 and 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Mangalvehde and Wu as applied to claims 1 above, and further in view of Ly et al. US20250048420A1, hereinafter Ly. Regarding claim 3, Wu and Mangalvehde teach the UE of claim 1, Wu does not explicitly teach but Mangalvehde teaches: ROs of the one or more first sets of multiple ROs associated with the first number of multiple PRACH transmissions are mapped to an index of the SS/PBCH block ( Mangalvehde : para. [0043 & 0042] mapping SS/PBCH block (i.e., SSB) indexes to PRACH occasions is the smallest value in the set determined by the PRACH configuration period such that N Tx SSB SS/PBCH block indexes are mapped at least once to the PRACH occasions within the association period) Mangalvehde and Wu does not explicitly teaches : wherein: the transceiver is further configured to receive a synchronization signal and physical broadcast channel (SS/PBCH) block. However, Mangalvedhe from the same or similar fields of endeavor teaches the use of: wherein: the transceiver is further configured to receive a synchronization signal and physical broadcast channel (SS/PBCH) block (Ly: Para. [0074] synchronization information and system information may be transmitted in the SSB and a physical broadcast channel (PBCH) block (for example, an SS/PBCH block). The base station 110 may transmit a reference signal, such as a DMRS, on the PBCH to assist the UE 120 in decoding the SSB and synchronizing with the base station 110) , and ROs of the one or more first sets of multiple ROs associated with the first number of multiple PRACH transmissions are mapped to an index of the SS/PBCH block. (Ly: para. [0075-0077] Table 1 SS/PBCH block indices may be mapped to PRACH occasion based on an order, for example, an increasing order of preamble indices within a single PRACH occasion, increasing order of frequency resource indexes for frequency multiplexed PRACH occasions, or increasing order of time resource indexes for time-multiplexed PRACH occasions) . Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use the teaching of Ly in the apparatus of Wu and Mangalvedhe . One of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to do so for the association pattern period may be defined based on the one or more PRACH configuration periods (Ly: para. [0075-0077]) . Regarding claim 7, Wu and Mangalvedhe teach t he UE of claim 1, Wu and Mangalvedhe do not explicitly teach: wherein: the transceiver is further configured to receive a downlink control information (DCI) format 1_0 with a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) scrambled by a random access radio network temporary identifier (RA-RNTI) during a window controlled by higher layers, and the RA-RNTI is associated with a last RO of the group of ROs. However, Mangalvedhe from the same or similar fields of endeavor teaches the use of: wherein: the transceiver is further configured to receive a downlink control information (DCI) format 1_0 with a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) scrambled by a random access radio network temporary identifier (RA-RNTI) during a window controlled by higher layers, and the RA-RNTI is associated with a last RO of the group of ROs (Ly: para. [0087] the PRACH occasion used to calculate the RA-RNTI (corresponds to claim limitation “ RA-RNTI is associated with the group of ROs ”) is also used to determine a start of an RAR window. An example of a PRACH occasion used to determine a start of an RAR window is shown in FIG. 6C detect a DCI format 1_0 with CRC scrambled by the RA-RNTI associated with a designated PRACH occasion, such as RO #0 in the first association period of FIG. 6C. The UE may detect the DCI format 1_0 based on transmitting a PRACH preamble. The RAR window 602 may begin at a first symbol of an earliest control resource set (CORESET) associated with a downlink control channel, such as a PDCCH. The first symbol may be one or more symbols after a last symbol of the PRACH occasion (corresponds to claim limitation “ last RO of the group of ROs ”) associated with the PRACH preamble transmission) . Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use the teaching of Ly in the apparatus of Wu and Mangalvedhe . One of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to do so for the association pattern period may be defined based on the one or more PRACH configuration periods (Ly: para. [0075-0077]) . Regarding claims 10 and 13, Wu, Mangalvedhe and Zhang teaches all the limitations as discussed in the rejection of claims 3 and 7, and therefore apparatus claims 10 and 13 are rejected using the same rationales. Regarding claims 16 and 20, Wu, Mangalvedhe and Zhang teaches all the limitations as discussed in the rejection of claims 3 and 7, and therefore method claims 16 and 20 are rejected using the same rationales. Claim(s) 5 and 18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wu and Mangalvedhe as applied to claims 1 above, and further in view of MolavianJazi et al. US 20210058971 A1, hereinafter MolavianJazi . Regarding claim 5, Wu and Mangalvedhe teaches t he UE of claim 4, wherein: the transceiver is further configured to receive: a first reference signal received power (RSRP) value, and a synchronization signal and physical broadcast channel (SS/PBCH) block; and the processor is further configured to determine: a second RSRP value based on the received SS/PBCH block, (Wu: para. [0064] Before PRACH transmission, the UE firstly selects a resource. The UE first selects an SSB with an RSRP (corresponds to claim limitation “first RSRP”) higher than a threshold based on a reference signal received power (RSRP) (corresponds to claim limitation “second RSRP”) of a received beam or SSB; if RSRPs (corresponds to claim limitation “first RSRP”) of a plurality of SSBs are higher than the threshold, the terminal may select any one SSB with an RSRP higher than the threshold ) Wu and Mangalvedhe do not explicitly teach: the group of ROs to be a set of the one or more first sets of multiple ROs when the second RSRP value is not larger than the first RSRP value, and the group of ROs to be a set of the one or more second sets of multiple ROs when the second RSRP value is larger than the first RSRP value. However, MolavianJazi from the same or similar fields of endeavor teaches: the group of ROs to be a set of the one or more first sets of multiple ROs when the second RSRP value is not larger than the first RSRP value, and the group of ROs to be a set of the one or more second sets of multiple ROs when the second RSRP value is larger than the first RSRP value. ( MolavianJazi : para. [0118] new PRACH parameters such as the RSRP ranges, the number of repetitions, RO extensions, and so on by scheduling a separate SIB-light in a new CORESET or in the same CORESET as in Rel-15 but different RNTI (e.g., L-RNTI), the association of ROs with DL RS such that consecutive TDMed ROs that map to same DL RS are used for PRACH repetitions, and a configuration of number of SSBs per RO and/or number of preambles per SSB per RO and/or total number of ROs to depend on the CE level/RSRP range/UE power class ). Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use the teaching of MolavianJazi in the apparatus of Wu and Mangalvedhe . One of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to do so for reduced power class, compared to a UE or UE group/category such as one as defined by 3GPP 5G NR Rel-15. Such a UE or UE group may be recognized as a UE category (or multiple UE categories) satisfying certain radio/service requirements, similar to 3GPP LTE UE Cat-M1 ( MolavianJazi : para. [0114]) . Regarding claim 18, Wu, Mangalvedhe and MolavianJazi teaches all the limitations as discussed in the rejection of claim 5, and therefore method claim 18 is rejected using the same rationales. Claim(s) 6 , 12 and 19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wu and Mangalvehde as applied to claims 1 above, and further in view of Zhang et al. US 20230209606 A1 , hereinafter Zhang . Regarding claim 6 , Wu and Mangalvehde teaches t he UE of claim 1, Wu and Mangalvehde do not explicitly teach: wherein ROs of the group of ROs associated with the first number of repetitions are mapped to one of: different time resource indexes and a same frequency resource index, and different time resource indexes and different frequency resource indexes. However, Zhang from the same or similar fields of endeavor teaches: wherein ROs of the group of ROs associated with the first number of repetitions are mapped to one of: different time resource indexes and a same frequency resource index, and different time resource indexes and different frequency resource indexes. (Zhang: para. [0147 & 0160] UE may receive the configuration from a SIB broadcast by a BS (e.g., the BS 105 and/or 1100). The configuration may indicate a random access preamble pool. The random access preamble pool or a portion of the random access preamble pool may configured for exclusive multiple RO-based random access preamble transmissions. The configuration may also indicate ROs associated with the random access preamble pool. Each RO of the multiple ROs may include at least one of a different time resource or a different frequency resource) Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use the teaching of Zhang in the apparatus of Wu and Mangalvedhe . One of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to do so for use of dedicated ROs for multiple RO-based random access or shared ROs for sharing between multiple RO-based random access and single RO-based random access can provide flexibility in random access and reduce complexity in RAR monitoring at the UE and/or flexibility in RAR responding at the BS when dedicated ROs are used. The use of a new function can provide further flexibility in random access with multiple ROs (Zhang: para. [0046]) . Regarding claim 12, Wu, Mangalvedhe and Zhang teaches all the limitations as discussed in the rejection of claim 6, and therefore apparatus claim 12 is rejected using the same rationales. Regarding claim 19, Wu, Mangalvedhe and Zhang teaches all the limitations as discussed in the rejection of claim 6, and therefore method claim 19 is rejected using the same rationales. Conclusion The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Please also see PTO-892. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to FILLIN "Examiner name" \* MERGEFORMAT WUTCHUNG CHU whose telephone number is FILLIN "Phone number" \* MERGEFORMAT (571)272-4064 . The examiner can normally be reached FILLIN "Work Schedule?" \* MERGEFORMAT 10:00 AM - 4:00 PM . 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