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.
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.
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.
Claim(s) 1-3, 5-11, 13-16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sedin et al (US 20250016837) in view of Park (US 20210392699).
As to claims 1 and 9 Sedin discloses a random access method (Sedin Fig.1), and a random access apparatus (Sedin Fig. 12 and 13), comprising a processor (Sedin 1206 of Fig.12): determining, by a terminal device, a first random access preamble group from at least two random access preamble groups (Sedin ¶0139-1st sentence- Based on the parameters broadcasted by a gNB (e.g., the gNB 120) ..a UE (e.g., the UE 110) may determine how the preambles are grouped and their usages. For example, with the received parameter “#SSBs-per-PRACH-occasion=4”, the UE may determine that the 64 preambles are mapped to 4 SSBs, respectively, and therefore preambles 0-15 are mapped to SSB 0, preambles 16-31 are mapped to SSB 1, preambles 32-47 are mapped to SSB 2, and preambles 48-63 are mapped to SSB 3. ¶0141- For both 2-step RACH and 4-step RACH, 2 preamble groups, group A and group B may be configured, such that the network can be made aware of that a greater TB size may be scheduled in a MsgA/Msg3 PUSCH transmission when a preamble in group B is detected by the network), wherein the at least two random access preamble groups are associated with a sending manner of a message 3, the message 3 is used for random access, and at least one of the at least two random access preamble groups is associated the sending manner of the message 3 by the terminal device (¶0194- In some embodiments, this can be done with the following text proposal: [0195] 3GPP TS 38.321: ¶0196 2> else if Msg3 buffer is empty: ¶0197 3> if Random Access resources associated with msg3 repetitions were selected: ¶0198 4> select the Random Access Preambles associated with msg3 repetitions. ¶0199 3> else: ¶0200 4> if Random Access Preambles group B is configured: ¶0201 5> if the potential Msg3 size (UL data available for transmission plus MAC subheader(s) and, where required, MAC CEs) is greater than ra-Msg3SizeGroupA and the pathloss is less than PCMAX (of the Serving Cell performing the Random Access Procedure)—preambleReceivedTargetPower—msg3-DeltaPreamble—messagePowerOffsetGroupB ¶0202 5> if the Random Access procedure was initiated for the CCCH logical channel and the CCCH SDU size plus MAC subheader is greater than ra-Msg3SizeGroupA: 6> select the Random Access Preambles group B. ¶0203 5> else: 6> select the Random Access Preambles group A. ¶0204 4> else: ¶0205 5>select the Random Access Preambles group A.); determining, by the terminal device, a random access preamble from the first random access preamble group (Sedin ¶0241- a first preamble may be determined from two or more groups of preambles indicated by the received configuration at least partially based on the received configuration and one or more measurements at the UE); and sending, by the terminal device, the random access preamble to a network device (Sedin ¶0242-the PRACH transmission may be transmitted to the network node by using the first preamble).
Sedin however doses not explicitly recite where the sending manner of the message 3 comprises that the terminal device repeatedly sends the message 3 or the terminal device does not repeatedly send the message 3, . However, in an analogous art Park remedies this deficiency: Park ¶0145- 2nd sentence- Based on the configuration information of the corresponding RACH preamble, the UE may configure and transmit the RACH preamble for the repeated transmission of the Msg3 based on a separate sequence; Park ¶0146- 1st sentence- the random access preamble for repeated transmission of Msg3 is configured based on a different sequence separated from the sequence in a general case where Msg3 is not repeatedly transmitted, and transmitted based on separate PRACH occasions.). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skills in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the teachings of Sedin with that of Park for the purpose of efficient scheduling of resources for message 3 transmission.
As to claims 2 and 10 the combined teachings of Sedin and Park disclose the method and apparatus of claims 1 and 9 respectively, wherein the determining, by the terminal device, the first random access preamble group from the at least two random access preamble groups comprises: receiving, by the terminal device, indication information from the network device; determining, by the terminal device based on the indication information, that the first random access preamble group is associated with repeatedly sending the message 3 by the terminal device (Sedin ¶0214- last sentence- If the network knows that UEs that require Msg3 repetitions rarely need greater TB sizes, then the number of preambles for group B may be reduced. Each configuration could for instance be optionally signaled and only used if signaled, and otherwise the same configuration as that for not having selected PRACH resources for msg3 repetitions may be used.); and when the sending manner of the message 3 is that the terminal device repeatedly sends the message 3, determining, by the terminal device, the first random access preamble group from the at least two random access preamble groups (Sedin ¶0215- 2nd sentence- While there is a pathloss threshold (corresponding to the RSRP threshold indicated by repetition-Threshold) for selecting whether to select PRACH resources for Msg3 repetition, the selection between message groups A and B may be based on pathloss thresholds that are determined through the messagePowerOffsetGroupB and messagePowerOffsetGroupB-Repetitions).
As to claim 3 and 11 the combined teachings of Sedin and Park disclose the method and apparatus of claims 1 and 9 respectively, wherein the determining, by the terminal device, the first random access preamble group from the at least two random access preamble groups comprises: measuring, by the terminal device, reference signal received power (RSRP); and when the RSRP is less than a first threshold, determining, by the terminal device, the first random access preamble group from the at least two random access preamble groups, wherein the first random access preamble group is associated with a sending manner in which the terminal device repeatedly sends the message 3 (Sedin ¶0167- to determine whether a UE should request Msg3 repetition or not, a UE may measure the RSRP, then determine whether the RSRP is below a threshold, and then the UE may signal to a gNB that it is above or below a threshold by means of either choosing a separate preamble group or a separate random access time/frequency resources).
As to claims 5 and 13 the combined teachings of Sedin and Park disclose the method and apparatus of claims 1 and 9 respectively, wherein the first random access preamble group is further configured to indicate a plurality of features of the terminal device (Sedin ¶0172- methods to enable a preamble group (or multiple preamble groups), e.g., preamble group B, which indicates that the UE has more data in its buffers along with repetitions. Some embodiments of the present disclosure also provide methods on how to allocate the msg3 repetition preambles along with the preamble allocations for legacy 4-step RACH, 2-step RACH and/or other features indicated by PRACH transmissions.).
As to claims 6 and 14 the combined teachings of Sedin and Park disclose the method and apparatus of claims 5 and 13 respectively, wherein the plurality of features comprises at least one of the following: reduced-capability (Sedin ¶0233- The PRACH resource for indicating a RedCap UE (UE with reduced capability);, or repeated sending of messages 3 (Park ¶0145- 2nd sentence).
As to claim 7 and 15 Sedin discloses a random access method (Sedin Fig.1), and a random access apparatus (Sedin Fig. 12 and 13), comprising: a processor ((Sedin 1206 of Fig.12) : determining, by a terminal device, a sending manner of a message 3 for random access after selecting a carrier for the random access and/or before selecting an access type of the random access Sedin ¶0167- to determine whether a UE should request Msg3 repetition or not, a UE may measure the RSRP, then determine whether the RSRP is below a threshold, and then the UE may signal to a gNB that it is above or below a threshold by means of either choosing a separate preamble group or a separate random access time/frequency resources); determining, by the terminal device, a random access preamble from a first random access preamble group or a first random access opportunity group based on the sending manner of the message 3 (Sedin ¶0241- a first preamble may be determined from two or more groups of preambles indicated by the received configuration at least partially based on the received configuration and one or more measurements at the UE); wherein the first random access preamble group or the first random access opportunity group is associated with the sending manner of the message 3 Sedin ¶0139-1st sentence; ¶0141), and a synchronization signal block is associated with the first random access preamble group or the first random access opportunity group Sedin ¶0139-1st sentence- Based on the parameters broadcasted by a gNB (e.g., the gNB 120) ..a UE (e.g., the UE 110) may determine how the preambles are grouped and their usages. For example, with the received parameter “#SSBs-per-PRACH-occasion=4”, the UE may determine that the 64 preambles are mapped to 4 SSBs, respectively, and therefore preambles 0-15 are mapped to SSB 0, preambles 16-31 are mapped to SSB 1, preambles 32-47 are mapped to SSB 2, and preambles 48-63 are mapped to SSB 3 ); and sending, by the terminal device, the random access preamble to a network device (Sedin ¶0242-the PRACH transmission may be transmitted to the network node by using the first preamble).
Sedin however doses not explicitly recite wherein the sending manner of the message 3 comprises that the terminal device repeatedly sends the message 3 or the terminal device does not repeatedly send the message 3, . However, in an analogous art Park remedies this deficiency: Park ¶0145- 2nd sentence- Based on the configuration information of the corresponding RACH preamble, the UE may configure and transmit the RACH preamble for the repeated transmission of the Msg3 based on a separate sequence; Park ¶0146- 1st sentence- the random access preamble for repeated transmission of Msg3 is configured based on a different sequence separated from the sequence in a general case where Msg3 is not repeatedly transmitted, and transmitted based on separate PRACH occasions.). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skills in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the teachings of Sedin with that of Park for the purpose of efficient scheduling of resources for message 3 transmission.
As to claims 8 and 16 the combined teachings of Sedin and Park disclose the method and apparatus of claims 7 and 15 respectively, wherein the determining, by the terminal device, the sending manner of the message 3 for random access after selecting the carrier for the random access and/or before selecting the access type of the random access comprises: measuring, by the terminal device, reference signal received power (RSRP); and when the RSRP is less than a first threshold, determining, by the terminal device, to repeatedly send the message 3 (Sedin ¶0167- to determine whether a UE should request Msg3 repetition or not, a UE may measure the RSRP, then determine whether the RSRP is below a threshold, and then the UE may signal to a gNB that it is above or below a threshold by means of either choosing a separate preamble group or a separate random access time/frequency resources).
Claim(s) 4 and 12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sedin in view of Park and further in view of Park (US 20230007702) hereinafter ‘Park’702’.
As to claims 4 and 12 the combined teachings of Sedin and Park disclose the method and apparatus of claims 1 and 9 respectively, however silent further comprising: receiving, by the terminal device, configuration information from the network device, wherein the configuration information comprises a start preamble index of the first random access preamble group and a quantity of preambles of the first random access preamble group. However in an analogous art Park’702 remedies this deficiency: Park’702 ¶0173- 2nd sentence- a preamble index that is spaced an offset value apart from the end index of a preamble belonging to the first preamble group (or group A and/or B) may be the start preamble index of the second preamble group, and preambles from the start preamble index to the end index of a preamble in all the preambles or to a preamble index corresponding to the number of preambles in the second preamble group may belong to the second preamble group), Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skills in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the combined teachings of Sedin and Park with that of Park’702 for the purpose of preventing overlap of index belonging to various preamble groups (Park’702 ¶0173 – last sentence).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Sedin et al – Method and User Equipment, and Network Node for Feature Based Random Access Procedure-US 20240284514: ¶0206- ¶0224, ¶237- ¶0247.
Jung et al – Method and Apparatus for Transmitting and Receiving Data in Wireless Communication System- US 20210352689, ¶0184, ¶0198, ¶0223.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DERRICK V ROSE whose telephone number is (571)270-7460. The examiner can normally be reached 9am- 6pm.
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, YEMANE MESFIN can be reached at 571-272-3927. 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.
/DERRICK V ROSE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2462