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 .
This Office Action is in response to claim amendment filed on March 05, 2026 and wherein claims 21, 31 and 39 being currently amended, claims 41 being new added.
In virtue of this communication, claims 21-41 are currently pending in this Office Action.
The Office appreciates the explanation of the amendment and analyses of the prior arts, and however, although the claims are interpreted in light of the specification, limitations from the specification are not read into the claims. See In re Van Geuns, 988 F.2d 1181, 26 USPQ2d 1057 (Fed. Cir. 1993) and MPEP 2145.
Response to Arguments
Applicant argue “Xu fails to disclose the claimed random access resource set comprising random access resources on the first and second frequency domain resources corresponding to different respective uplink-downlink configurations.” (Remarks, Filed on March 5, 2026, page 11-12) has been fully considered and it is not persuasive.
Applicant argue “Xu's SUL and NUL carriers are described in terms of uplink transmissions and uplink RACH configurations, without any disclosure of these carriers supporting bidirectional communication with different uplink- downlink configurations” (First paragraph of page 11). The Examiner respectfully disagrees.
Claim 21 recite “…wherein the system information indicates a first frequency domain resource and a second frequency domain resource, and the first frequency domain resource and the second frequency domain resource correspond to different respective uplink-downlink configurations …”. The limitation of “these carriers supporting bidirectional communication with different uplink- downlink configurations” is no disclosed in amendment claim 21.
Further, “the first frequency domain resource and the second frequency domain resource correspond to different respective uplink-downlink configurations” can be interpreted as different first and second frequency for two different uplink configurations, or different first and second frequency for two different downlink configurations, or first frequency for uplink configuration, second frequency for downlink configuration or some other. Seok disclose system information indicates carrier frequency of DL resource (or DL CC) and carrier frequency of UL resource (or UL CC), and the carrier frequency refers to the center frequency of each CC, see para [0115], “When the carrier aggregation is supported, the linkage between the carrier
frequency of the DL resource (or DL CC) and the carrier frequency of the UL resource (or UL CC) may be indicated by system information. The carrier frequency refers to the center frequency of each cell or CC”. Seok further disclose system information include information related to the preamble and a RACH occasion, see para [0320], “The SIB1 may include at least one of information related to the preamble and a RACH occasion. In addition, the PUSCH may be transmitted in a resource determined based on at least one of the information related to the preamble and the RACH occasion”. Thus, Seok teaches “wherein the system information indicates a first frequency domain resource and a second frequency domain resource, and the first frequency domain resource and the second frequency domain resource correspond to different respective uplink-downlink configurations”.
Xu teaches RACH configuration include SUL and NUL carrier, see Fig. 13A, [0180], “The UE may be configured with a supplementary uplink (SUL) carrier and a normal uplink (NUL) carrier … a base station may configure the UE with two separate RACH configurations: one for an SUL carrier and the other for an NUL carrier. For random
access in a cell configured with an SUL carrier, the network may indicate which carrier to use (NUL or SUL)”. Xu further teach RACH parameters is carried on system information blocks, and each RACH parameter include frequency and time domain resource, see para [0233], “one or more RRC messages comprising configuration parameters (e.g., at time T1). The configuration parameters may comprise one or more random access channel (RACH) parameters … the one or more RRC messages may be system information blocks (SIBs) … Each of the one or more PRACH occasions may comprise a location in frequency domain
resources (e.g., physical resource blocks) and/or time domain resources (e.g., sub-frames, slots, and/or OFDM symbols) of the PRACH”. Thus, Xu teach “a random access preamble corresponding to the first random access resource, wherein the random access resource set comprises first at least one random access resource on the first frequency domain resource and second at least one random access resource on the second frequency domain resource”.
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.
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.
Claims 21-41 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Seok et al. (US 20230247680 A1, hereinafter Seok) in view of Xu et al. (US 20220070943 A1, hereinafter Xu).
Claim 21: Seok teaches a method (Fig. 3, [0011]), comprising:
receiving a first downlink common signal (Fig. 3, element S101, [0072], “the UE may synchronize with the BS in the initial cell search. For this, the UE may receive a primary synchronization signal (PSS) and a secondary synchronization signal (SSS) from the base station to synchronize with the base station, and obtain information such as a cell ID. Thereafter, the UE can receive the physical broadcast channel from the base station and obtain the broadcast information in the cell”), wherein the first downlink common signal indicates a time-frequency location of control information for scheduling system information (Fig. 4a, 4b, [0079], “The PSS may be used to obtain time domain synchronization and/or frequency domain synchronization … The SSS can be used to obtain frame synchronization and cell group ID”);
receiving the system information (Fig. 3, element S102, [0073], “the UE receives a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) according to the physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) and information in the PDCCH, so that the UE can obtain more specific system information than the system information obtained through the initial cell search…the system information received by the UE is cell-common system
information for the UE to properly operate at the physical layer in Radio Resource Control (RRC)”), wherein the system information indicates a first frequency domain resource and a second frequency domain resource, and the first frequency domain resource and the second frequency domain resource correspond to different respective uplink- downlink configurations ([0115], “When the carrier aggregation is supported, the linkage between the carrier frequency of the DL resource (or DL CC) and the carrier frequency of the UL resource (or UL CC) may be indicated by system information. The carrier frequency
refers to the center frequency of each cell or CC”, wherein system information indicates corresponding frequency information for each DL CC and/or UL CC, [0320], “The terminal may transmit a preamble for a random access procedure to the base station … The terminal may transmit the PUSCH to the base station, based on the random access
response …The SIB1 may include at least one of information related to the preamble and a RACH occasion. In addition, the PUSCH may be transmitted in a resource determined based on at least one of the information related to the preamble and the RACH occasion”);
and sending, on a first random access resource in a random access resource set (Fig. 3, element S103, [0074], “the UE may transmit a preamble through a physical random access channel (PRACH) (S103)”, [0228], “In a case where a separate PRACH resource …The separate PRACH resource may be configured for the terminal by the base station while being included in SIB1. That is, the terminal may repeatedly transmit a Msg3 PUSCH on a resource determined based on at least one of a PRACH preamble and a RACH occasion”, [0320], “The SIB1 may include at least one of information related to the preamble and a RACH occasion. In addition, the PUSCH may be transmitted in a resource determined based on at least one of the information related to the preamble and the RACH occasion”).
However, Seok does not explicitly teach a random access preamble corresponding to the first random access resource, wherein the random access resource set comprises first at least one random access resource on the first frequency domain resource and second at least one random access resource on the second frequency domain resource.
Xu, from the same or similar field of endeavor, teaches a random access preamble corresponding to the first random access resource , wherein the random access resource set comprises first at least one random access resource on the first frequency domain resource and second at least one random access resource on the second frequency domain resource (Fig. 13A, [0180], “The UE may be configured with a supplementary uplink (SUL) carrier and a normal uplink (NUL) carrier … a base station may configure the UE with two separate RACH configurations: one for an SUL carrier and the other for an NUL carrier. For random access in a cell configured with an SUL carrier, the network may indicate which carrier to use (NUL or SUL). The UE may determine the SUL carrier, for example, if a measured quality of one or more reference signals is lower than a broadcast threshold. Uplink transmissions of the random access procedure (e.g., the Msg 1 1311 and/or the Msg 3 1313) may remain on the selected carrier”, [0233], “The base station may broadcast (or multicast) the one or more RRC messages to the wireless device (e.g., the wireless device is in an RRC idle state or an RRC inactive state). In an example, the one or more RRC messages may be system information blocks (SIBs) … The one or more RACH parameters may indicate one or more physical random access channel (PRACH) occasions … Each of the one or more PRACH occasions may comprise a location in frequency domain resources (e.g., physical resource blocks) and/or time domain resources (e.g., sub-frames, slots, and/or OFDM symbols) of the PRACH … The one or more RACH parameters may indicate an association between (a) one or more PRACH occasions and (b) one or more reference signals …the one or more reference signals may be one or more SS/PBCH blocks (SSBs)”).
Seok and Xu are both considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because they are in the same field of wireless communication. Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Seok and the features of determining a random access preamble corresponding to either first frequency domain resources or the second frequency domain frequency as taught by Xu, for the benefit for selecting the carrier based on measured signal quality, which allow more robust and reliability of the transmission (paragraph [0180]).
Claim 31 is analyzed and rejected according to claim 21.
Claim 39 is analyzed and rejected according to claim 21 and Seok further teaches an apparatus (Fig. 11, element 100), comprising: one or more processors (Fig. 11, element 110); and one or more memories (Fig. 11, element 130) coupled to the one or more processors and storing programming instructions for execution by the one or more processors ([0128], “The memory 130 stores a control program used in the UE 100 and various kinds of data therefor. Such a control program may include a prescribed program required for performing wireless communication with at least one among the base station 200”).
Claim 22: The combination of Seok and Xu teach the method according to claim 21, Xu additionally teaches further comprising: determining a downlink common signal resource subset, wherein the downlink common signal resource subset comprises at least one of a first downlink common signal resource on the first frequency domain resource or a second downlink common signal resource on the second frequency domain resource (Fig. 19, [0233], “The base station may broadcast (or multicast) the one or more RRC messages to the wireless device (e.g., the wireless device is in an RRC idle state or an RRC inactive state). In an example, the one or more RRC messages may be system information blocks (SIBs) … The one or more RACH parameters may indicate one or more physical random access channel
(PRACH) occasions … Each of the one or more PRACH occasions may comprise a location in frequency domain resources (e.g., physical resource blocks) and/or time domain resources (e.g., sub-frames, slots, and/or OFDM symbols) of the PRACH … The one or more RACH parameters may indicate an association between (a) one or more PRACH occasions and (b) one or more reference signals …the one or more reference signals may be one or more SS/PBCH blocks (SSBs)”, [0234], ““the association may indicate a transmission relationship in frequency domain between the first (1st) RS(s) and the second (2nd) RS(s) (e.g., a transmission relationship with a frequency
offset in frequency domain between the first (1st) RS(s) and the second (2nd) RS(s)”);
determining an association relationship between the random access resource set and the downlink common signal resource subset, wherein the association relationship comprises a correspondence between a downlink common signal resource in the downlink common signal resource subset and a random access resource subset in the random access resource set (Fig. 19, [0233], “The configuration parameters may comprise one or more random access
channel (RACH) parameters…The one or more RACH parameters may comprise at least one of the following: general parameters for one or more random access procedures (e.g., RACH-configGeneric); cell-specific parameters (e.g., RACH-ConfigCommon); and/or dedicated parameters (e.g., RACH-configDedicated) … The one or more RACH parameters may indicate one or more physical random access channel (PRACH) occasions (e.g., available transmission occasions of the Msg 1 by the wireless device) … The one or more PRACH occasions may be predefined. Each of the one or more PRACH occasions may comprise a location in frequency domain resources (e.g., physical resource blocks) and/or time domain resources (e.g., sub-frames, slots, and/or OFDM symbols) of the PRACH. The one or more RACH parameters may indicate one or more available sets of one or more PRACH occasions”);
and determining, based on the association relationship, a first random access resource subset corresponding to the first downlink common signal resource, wherein the first downlink common signal resource corresponds to the first downlink common signal, a resource of the first downlink common signal is in the downlink common signal resource subset, all random access resources in the random access resource subset belong to the random access resource set, and the random access resource subset comprises the first random access resource ([0235], “The configuration parameters may indicate the first RS associated with a plurality of random access resources. The plurality random access resources may comprise a plurality of preambles and/or random access occasions. The configuration parameters may indicate the first RS associated with a plurality of second RSs (e.g., the second (2nd) RS(s)). Each of the plurality of second RSs (or the second (2nd) RS(s)) may be associated with respective one or more the plurality of random access resources. The wireless device may determine, based on a first signal strength of the first RS (or the first signal power of the first RS), a plurality of second signal strengths (or a plurality of second signal powers) of the plurality of second RSs (or the second (2nd) RS(s))”).
The motivation for combining Seok and Xu regarding to the claim 21 is also applied to claim 22.
Claim 32 is analyzed and rejected according to claim 31 and claim 22.
Claim 40 is analyzed and rejected according to claim 39 and claim 22.
Claim 23: The combination of Seok and Xu teaches the method according to claim 22, wherein the determining the downlink common signal resource subset comprises: receiving first indication information and second indication information (Seok, Fig. 3, element S101, S102, [0072-0073], disclose UE receiving PSS, SSS and SIB information);
determining a first downlink common signal resource subset based on the first indication information, wherein a downlink common signal in the first downlink common signal resource subset belongs to the first frequency domain resource (Seok, Fig. 4a, Fig.4b, [0079], “The PSS may be used to obtain time domain synchronization and/or frequency domain synchronization … The SSS can be used to obtain frame synchronization and cell group ID”, Fig.4b illustrate SS/PBCH in 2D allocation using frequency axis and time axis);
and determining a second downlink common signal resource subset based on the second indication information, wherein a second downlink common signal in the second downlink common signal resource subset belongs to the second frequency domain resource, and the downlink common signal resource subset is a union set of the first downlink common signal resource subset and the second downlink common signal resource subset (Seok, [0080], “The SS allows a total of 1008 unique physical layer cell IDs to be grouped into 336 physical-layer cell-identifier groups, each group including three unique identifiers, through a combination of three PSSs and SSSs”, wherein up to 3 PSSs are supported, and each PSS is associated with its own time domain and/or frequency domain allocation.
Xu, [0233], “The configuration parameters may comprise one or more random access channel (RACH) parameters…The one or more RACH parameters may comprise at least one of the following: general parameters for one or more random access procedures (e.g., RACH-configGeneric); cell-specific parameters (e.g., RACH-ConfigCommon); and/or dedicated parameters (e.g., RACH-configDedicated) … The one or more RACH parameters may indicate one or more physical random access channel(PRACH)
occasions (e.g., available transmission occasions of the Msg 1 by the wireless device) … The one or more PRACH occasions may be predefined. Each of the one or more PRACH occasions may comprise a location in frequency domain resources (e.g., physical resource blocks) and/or time domain resources (e.g., sub-frames, slots, and/or OFDM symbols) of the PRACH. The one or more RACH parameters may indicate one or more available sets of one or more PRACH occasions”).
The motivation for combining Seok and Xu regarding to the claim 21 is also applied to claim 22.
Claim 33 is analyzed and rejected according to claim 32 and claim 23.
Claim 24: The combination of Seok and Xu teach the method according to claim 23, Xu additionally teaches wherein the association relationship comprises at least one of: a first association relationship, a second association relationship (alternative), a third association relationship (alternative), or a fourth association relationship (alternative), wherein the first association relationship is between a first random access resource set on the first frequency domain resource and the first downlink common signal resource subset ([0235], “The configuration parameters may indicate the first RS associated with a plurality of random access resources. The plurality random access resources may comprise a plurality of preambles and/or random access occasions. The configuration parameters may indicate the first RS associated with a plurality of second RSs (e.g., the second (2nd) RS(s)). Each of the plurality of second RSs (or the second (2nd) RS(s)) may be associated with respective one or more the plurality of random access resources. The wireless device may determine, based on a first signal strength of the first RS (or the first signal power of the first RS), a plurality of second signal strengths (or a plurality of second signal powers) of the plurality of second RSs (or the second (2nd) RS(s))”, [0248], “ The first RS associated with the plurality of second RSs may comprise the first RS and the plurality of second RSs have a transmission relationship in frequency domain”), wherein the second association relationship is between a second random access resource set on the second frequency domain resource and the first downlink common signal resource subset (alternative), wherein the third association relationship is between the first random access resource set on the first frequency domain resource and the second downlink common signal resource subset (alternative), and wherein the fourth association relationship is between the second random access resource set on the second frequency domain resource and the second downlink common signal resource subset (alternative).
The motivation for combining Seok and Xu regarding to the claim 21 is also applied to claim 24.
Claim 34 is analyzed and rejected according to claim 33 and claim 24.
Claim 25: The combination of Seok, June and Xu teach the method according to claim 22, wherein the determining the downlink common signal resource subset comprises: receiving third indication information (Seok, Fig. 3, [0074], “During the random Access
process, the UE may obtain UE-specific system information necessary for the UE to properly operate at the physical layer in the RRC layer. When the UE obtains UE-specific system information from the RRC layer, the UE enters the RRC_CONNECTED mode”, [0076], “the UE receives PDCCH/PDSCH (S107) and transmits a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH)/physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) (S108) as a general UL/DL signal transmission procedure”); and determining a third downlink common signal resource subset based on the third indication information, wherein the downlink common signal resource subset is equal to the third downlink common signal resource subset, the third downlink common signal resource subset is of a third downlink common signal resource set, the third downlink common signal resource set corresponds to a third downlink common signal pattern, and the third downlink common signal resource set comprises the first downlink common signal resource on the first frequency domain resource and the second downlink common signal resource on the second frequency domain resource (Xu, Fig. 13A,[0180], “a base station may configure the UE with two separate RACH configurations: one for an SUL carrier and the other for an NUL carrier. For random access in a cell configured with an SUL carrier, the network may indicate which carrier to use (NUL or SUL). The UE may determine the SUL carrier, for example, if a measured quality of one or more reference signals is lower than a broadcast threshold. Uplink transmissions of the random access procedure (e.g., the Msg 1 1311 and/or the Msg 3 1313) may remain on the selected carrier”, [0235], “The configuration parameters may indicate the first RS associated with a plurality of random access resources. The plurality random access
resources may comprise a plurality of preambles and/or random access occasions. The configuration parameters may indicate the first RS associated with a plurality of second RSs (e.g., the second (2nd) RS(s)). Each of the plurality of second RSs (or the second (2nd) RS(s)) may be associated with respective one or more the plurality of random
access resources. The wireless device may determine, based on a first signal strength of the first RS (or the first signal power of the first RS), a plurality of second signal strengths (or a plurality of second signal powers) of the plurality of second RSs (or the second (2nd) RS(s))””).
The motivation for combining Seok and Xu regarding to the claim 21 is also applied to claim 25.
Claim 35 is analyzed and rejected according to claim 32 and claim 25.
Claim 26: Seok teaches the method according to claim 25, further comprising: receiving downlink common signal pattern indication information, wherein the downlink common signal pattern indication information indicates an index of the third downlink common signal pattern, and the third downlink common signal pattern defines a time domain location of each common signal in the third downlink common signal resource set on the first frequency domain resource or the second frequency domain resource (Fig. 4A, fig. 4B, [0079], TABLE 2, “The PSS may be used to obtain time domain synchronization and/or frequency domain synchronization, such as OFDM symbol synchronization and slot synchronization … the lowest subcarrier index of the SS/PBCH block is numbered from 0 ”, disclose SSS/PBCH is indicated with indexes. [0080], disclose the SS allows a total of 1008 unique physical layer cell IDs to be grouped into 336 physical-layer cell-identifier groups, each group including three unique identifiers, through a combination of three PSSs and SSSs, and the physical layer cell ID can be uniquely defined by the index, thus the UE can detect the SSS and identify one of the 336 physical layer cell IDs associated with the physical-layer identifier).
Claim 36 is analyzed and rejected according to claim 32 and claim 26.
Claim 27: Seok teaches the method according to claim 21, wherein the method further comprises: performing at least one of: detecting second downlink control information (DCI) at a second physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) monitoring location in a second PDCCH monitoring location set ([0076], “the UE may receive downlink control information (DCI) through the PDCCH. The DCI may include control information such as resource allocation information for the UE”, [0088], “the UE-specific search space may be set for each UE so that UEs monitor the PDCCH allocated to each UE at different search space position according to the UE”, [0091], “it is assumed that the DCI transmitted on a specific PDCCH is CRC masked with an RNTI of “A”, and the DCI indicates that PDSCH is allocated to a radio resource (e.g., frequency location) of “B” and indicates transmission format information (e.g., transport block size, modulation scheme, coding information, etc.) of “C”. The UE monitors the PDCCH using the RNTI information that the UE has”);
or detecting second DCI at a third PDCCH monitoring location in a third PDCCH monitoring location set (alternative),
wherein the second DCI schedules a second physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH), the second PDCCH monitoring location in the second PDCCH monitoring location set is on the first frequency domain resource and is located in a first sub-time window ([0073], “the UE receives a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) according to the physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) and information in the PDCCH”, [0086], “The CORESET is a time-frequency resource in which PDCCH … the UE may monitor the time-frequency domain designated as CORESET instead of monitoring all frequency bands for PDCCH reception, and decode the PDCCH mapped to CORESET”, [0091], “it is assumed that the DCI transmitted on a specific PDCCH is CRC masked with an RNTI of “A”, and the DCI indicates that PDSCH is allocated to a radio resource
(e.g., frequency location) of “B” and indicates transmission format information (e.g., transport block size, modulation scheme, coding information, etc.) of “C”. The UE monitors the PDCCH using the RNTI information that the UE has”),
the third PDCCH monitoring location in the third PDCCH monitoring location set is on the second frequency domain resource and is located in a second sub-time window, and the first sub-time window and the second sub-time window are determined based on the first random access resource (alternative).
Claim 37 is analyzed and rejected according to claim 31 and claim 27.
Claim 28: Seok teaches the method according to claim 27, wherein based on that the second PDCCH monitoring location in the second PDCCH monitoring location set and the third PDCCH monitoring location in the third PDCCH monitoring location set overlap in the time domain, a second symbol on which the second PDCCH monitoring location is located is a downlink symbol or a flexible symbol, and a third symbol on which the third PDCCH monitoring location is located comprises an uplink symbol, the second DCI is detected at the second PDCCH monitoring location ([0086], “The CORESET is a time-frequency resource in which PDCCH, that is, a control signal for the UE, is transmitted. In addition, a search space to be described later may be mapped to one CORESET. Therefore, the UE may monitor the time-frequency domain designated as CORESET … The CORESET may be configured with up to three consecutive symbols on the time axis”, wherein UE can monitor DCI at the location based on the configured CORESET no matter whether desired CORESET overlap with other CORESET or not.
Xu, [0195], “A CORESET may comprise a time-frequency resource in which the UE tries to decode a DCI using one or more search spaces”);
or based on that the second PDCCH monitoring location in the second PDCCH monitoring location set and the third PDCCH monitoring location in the third PDCCH monitoring location set overlap in the time domain, the second symbol on which the second PDCCH monitoring location is located is a downlink symbol or a flexible symbol, and the third symbol on which the third PDCCH monitoring location is located is also a downlink symbol or a flexible symbol, the second DCI is monitored at a fourth PDCCH monitoring location, wherein the fourth PDCCH monitoring location is one of the second PDCCH monitoring location and the third PDCCH monitoring location (alternative).
Claim 38 is analyzed and rejected according to claim 37 and claim 28.
Claim 29: Seok teaches the method according to the method according to wherein the second DCI is scrambled by using a random access radio network temporary identifier (RA-RNTI), and the RA-RNTI is determined based on a frequency domain resource on which the first random access resource is located and a first time-frequency location of the first random access resource in the frequency domain resource on which the first random access resource is located ([0084], “the base station may add a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) masked (e.g., an XOR operation) with a radio network temporary identifier (RNTI) to control information (e.g., downlink control information (DCI)) … The base station may scramble the CRC with an RNTI value determined according to the purpose/target of each control information … a random access RNTI (RA-RNTI)”, [0091], disclose UE perform PDCCH decoding, PDSCH receiving based on RNTI and frequency location indicated in DCI).
Claim 30: Seok teaches the method according to claim 27, wherein the method further comprises: receiving a random access response (RAR), wherein the RAR is carried on the second PDSCH, the RAR schedules a first physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH), the RAR indicates a fourth frequency domain resource, and the fourth frequency domain resource belongs to the first frequency domain resource or the second frequency domain resource; and sending the first PUSCH on the fourth frequency domain resource (Fig. 3, [0074], “ and receive a random access response (RAR) message for the preamble from the base station through the PDCCH and the corresponding PDSCH (S104)”, [0165], “in a random access process, a terminal may transmit a Msg3 PUSCH by using an uplink grant (UL grant) included in a random access response (RAR or Msg2) … the UL grant is information for scheduling the Msg3 PUSCH, and may include a frequency hopping flag indicating frequency hopping information, time domain resource assignment (TDRA) information, frequency domain resource assignment (FDRA) information”).
Claim 41: The combination of Seok and Xu teaches the method according to claim 21, wherein the first frequency domain resource and the second frequency domain resource each include respective downlink symbols and respective uplink symbols (Seok, [0115], “When the carrier aggregation is supported, the linkage between the carrier frequency of the DL resource (or DL CC) and the carrier frequency of the UL resource (or UL CC) may be indicated by system information. The carrier frequency refers to the center frequency of each cell or CC”, wherein system information indicates corresponding frequency information for each DL CC and/or UL CC, [0320], “The SIB1 may include at least one of information related to the preamble and a RACH occasion. In addition, the PUSCH may be transmitted in a resource determined based on at least one of the information related to the preamble and the RACH occasion”), and wherein the first random access resource is selected from random access resources on the first frequency domain resource and random access resources on the second frequency domain resource by a terminal apparatus (Xu, Fig. 13A, [0180], “The UE may be configured with a supplementary uplink (SUL) carrier and a normal uplink (NUL) carrier … a base station may configure the UE with two separate RACH configurations: one for an SUL carrier and the other for an NUL carrier. For random access in a cell configured with an SUL carrier, the network may indicate which carrier to use (NUL or SUL)”, [0233], “one or more RRC messages comprising configuration parameters (e.g., at time T1). The configuration parameters may comprise one or more random access channel (RACH) parameters … the one or more RRC messages may be system information blocks (SIBs) … Each of the one or more PRACH occasions may comprise a location in frequency domain resources (e.g., physical
Resource blocks) and/or time domain resources (e.g., sub-frames, slots, and/or OFDM symbols) of the PRACH”) based on the first random access resource being available at an earliest time (Xu, [0248], “The one or more random access resources may comprise one or more preambles and/or one or more random access occasions …. The first RS associated with the plurality of second RSs may comprise the first RS and the plurality of second RSs have a transmission relationship in time domain. The first RS associated with the plurality of second RSs may comprise the first RS and the plurality of second
RSs have a transmission relationship in frequency domain” , [0236], “ The wireless device may determine first one or more random access resources, of the one or more
random access resources, associated with the first RS (e.g., based on the configuration parameters).”, [0240], “the association may indicate a transmission relationship in time domain between the first (1st) RS(s) and the second (2nd) RS(s) (e.g., a transmission relationship with a time offset in time domain between the first (1st) RS(s) and the
second (2nd) RS(s)) … The wireless device may determine the one or more random
access resources (e.g., illustrated as in FIG. 19 and FIG. 20) of the plurality of random
access resources based on the first RS and/or the second RS”).
The motivation for combining Seok and Xu regarding to the claim 21 is also applied to claim 41.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). 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 nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) 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 mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to YONGHONG ZHAO whose telephone number is (571)272-4089. The examiner can normally be reached Monday -Friday 9:00 am - 5:00pm.
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, NICHOLAS JENSEN can be reached on 5712723980. 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.
/Y.Z./Examiner, Art Unit 2472
/NICHOLAS A JENSEN/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2472
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