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 .
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see pages 1-3 in the Remarks, filed February 18, 2026, with respect to the rejection(s) of claim(s) 1, 14, 15, and 28-30 under 35 U.S.C 102 have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground(s) of rejection is made in view of Xu et al (US Publication 2022/0264662 A1).
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.
Claims 1, 14, 15, and 28-30 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lei et al (US Publication 2020/0252975 A1) in view of Xu et al (US Publication 2022/0264662 A1).
Regarding to claims 1 and 29, Lei discloses a user equipment UE 120 (fig. 2), comprising: one or more memories 282 storing processor-executable code (page 4 paragraph 0042); and one or more processors 280 coupled with the one or more memories (page 4 paragraph 0042) and individually or collectively operable to execute the code to cause the UE to: receive 902 a control message indicating a first set of cyclic shifts for transmission of a random access message comprising a random access preamble (fig. 9 page 9 paragraph 0104); and transmit 906 the random access message in accordance with a cyclic shift of the first set of cyclic shifts (page 10 paragraph 0118).
Lei fails to teach for the first set of cyclic shifts being associated with a first cyclic shift step size that is less than a round trip time RTT associated with a serving cell of the UE.
However, Xu discloses a user equipment 900 (fig. 9) for receiving a message (PRACH) with a cyclic shift step size (length) that is less than a round trip time RTT 1 (fig. 4) associated with a serving cell 101 of the UE 102 (fig. 1 page 8 paragraph 0090).
Thus, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to arrange for the cyclic shift step size as taught by Xu into Lei’s system to shortens a length of the PRACH occasion as much as possible, thereby saving time domain resources occupied by the PRACH transmission.
Regarding to claim 14, Lei discloses the RTT corresponds to a threshold RTT supported by the serving cell (page 10 paragraph 0110).
Regarding to claims 15 and 30, Lei discloses a network entity 110 (fig. 2), comprising: one or more memories 242 storing processor-executable code (page 4 paragraph 0042); and one or more processors 240 coupled with the one or more memories (page 4 paragraph 0042) and individually or collectively operable to execute the code to cause the network entity to: transmit 902, to a first user equipment UE 120 and a second UE 120a-c (fig. 1), a control message indicating a first set of cyclic shifts for transmission of one or more random access messages (fig. 9 page 9 paragraph 0104); receive 906 a first random access message of the one or more random access messages from the first UE, the first random access message associated with a first cyclic shift based at least in part on the first set of cyclic shifts (page 10 paragraph 0118); receive a second random access message of the one or more random access messages from the second UE, the second random access message associated with a second cyclic shift based at least in part on the first set of cyclic shifts (page 8 paragraph 0095; noted the base station received random access message from another UE with different cyclic shifts to reduce transmission preamble collision); and transmit 908 a response message for the first UE based at least in part on the control message, the first cyclic shift, and the second cyclic shift (page 10 paragraph 0119).
Lei fails to teach for the first set of cyclic shifts being associated with a first cyclic shift step size that is less than a round trip time RTT associated with a serving cell of the UE.
However, Xu discloses a user equipment 900 (fig. 9) for receiving a message (PRACH) with a cyclic shift step size (length) that is less than a round trip time RTT 1 (fig. 4) associated with a serving cell 101 of the UE 102 (fig. 1 page 8 paragraph 0090).
Thus, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to arrange for the cyclic shift step size as taught by Xu into Lei’s system to shortens a length of the PRACH occasion as much as possible, thereby saving time domain resources occupied by the PRACH transmission.
Regarding to claim 28, Lei discloses the RTT corresponds to a maximum RTT of the serving cell (page 10 paragraph 0114).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-13 and 16-27 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Duc T Duong whose telephone number is (571)272-3122. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri; 9am-6pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Hassan Phillips can be reached at (571)272-3940. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/DUC T DUONG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2467
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