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 § 101
35 U.S.C. 101 reads as follows:
Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.
Claim 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to a judicial exception (i.e., a law of nature, a natural phenomenon, or an abstract idea) without “significantly more”. Claim(s) 1-20 is/are directed to Abstract Idea such as an idea standing alone such as an instantiated concept, pan or scheme, as well as a mental process (thinking) that “can be performed in the human mind, or by a human using a pen and paper for example using measurement received from a mobile device, transmitting from the source relay node to a donor access node.
The apparatus and the method claim 1, 15, 19 and 20 recites limitation, “receiving, by the terminal device, first configuration information transmitted by a network device, the first configuration information comprising one or more sets of random access resource configuration, and the first configuration information indicating that the terminal device is to initiate a random access procedure according to the one or more sets of random access resource configuration”. Since the claim is directed to a process and a machine, which is one of the statutory categories of the invention (Step 1: YES).
The claim is then analyzed to determine whether it is directed to any judicial exception. The claim recites receiving, by the terminal device, first configuration information transmitted by a network device. The receiving step and initiating RA procedure recited in the claim is no more than an abstract idea i.e., mental process of receiving data and outputting certain results, etc. (Step 2A: Prong One Abstract Idea=Yes) i.e., a claim to "collecting information, analyzing it, and displaying certain results of the collection and analysis," where the data analysis steps are recited at a high level of generality such that they could practically be performed in the human mind, Electric Power Group v. Alstom, S.A., 830 F.3d 1350, 1353-54, 119 USPQ2d 1739, 1741-42 (Fed. Cir. 2016.
The claim is then analyzed if it requires an additional elements or a combination of additional elements in the claim to apply, rely on, or use the judicial exception in a manner that imposes a meaningful limit on the judicial exception, such that the claim is more than a drafting effort designed to monopolize the exception – i.e., limitation that are indicative of integration into a practical application: improving to the functioning of a computer or to any other technology or technical field. In the current claims, there is no additional elements that would integrate the abstract idea into a practical application (Step 2A: Prong Two Abstract Idea=Yes).
Next the claim as a whole is analyzed to determine if there are additional limitation recited in the claim such that the claim amount to significantly more than an abstract idea. The claim requires the additional limitation of a computer with the central processing unit, memory, a printer, an input and output terminal and a program. These generic computer components are claimed to perform the basic functions of storing, retrieving and processing data through the program that enables. In the current scenario, there are no additional elements that would amount to significantly more than the abstract idea. Therefore, the claim does not amount to significantly more than the abstract idea itself (Step 2B: No). Accordingly, the claim is not patent eligible.
Further, dependent claims do not add any positive limitation or step that recite within the scope of the claim and does not carry patentable weight they are also rejected for the same reasons as independent claims.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claim 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
As per independent claims 1, 15, 19 and 20 applicant is claiming “sets of random access resources configuration” but does not define what is meant by sets of random access configuration. Does it mean one set of parameters which can be access parameter or plurality of different random-access configuration.
As per independent claims 1, 15, 19 and 20 applicant states that the terminal device is to initiate a random-access procedure according to one or more sets of random access resource configuration. However, it is not clear how a terminal can perform random access according to one or more sets of configurations.
As per dependent claim 2 and 16, applicant is claiming dedicated random access preamble root-sequence related configuration and common random access preamble root-sequence related configuration. However, it is unclear and leaves the reader in doubt as to the meaning of the technical feature to which it refer and render the definition of the subject matter of said claim unclear. It is not clear what applicant meant by “related” i.e., whether the configuration refers to the preamble root sequence or it can be refer to a parameter that is related to the preamble root sequence. It is also not clear whether it is configuration that is dedicated or common or the preamble that is dedicated or common or the root sequence that is dedicated or common. The claim is vague and difficult for one having ordinary skill in the art to understand.
As per claim 3 and 17, applicant is claiming “system application scenario” however it is not clear and leave the reader in doubt as to the technical meaning of the feature to which it refers.
As per claim 4-5 and 18, applicant is claiming “wherein one or more of the following” but does not define if there is any correlation to the parent limitation and leaves the reader in doubt if applicant is trying to further limit the claim or further define feature that is claimed in the parent limitation.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s)1-4, 6, 9-12, 14-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by 3GPP TSG RAN WG1 #103-e R1-2008075 e-Meeting, October 26th – November 13th, 2020.
Regarding Claim 1, 3GPP teaches a method for resource configuration (Fig. 1 and Sec 2.1.1 Random access preambles fin each cell where the preambles of each cell are separated into three section) , being applied to a terminal device (Sec 2.1 UE) and comprising:
receiving, by the terminal device, first configuration information transmitted by a network device (Sec 2.1 During Msg1 | MsgA transmission, the network to transmit messages within a capability compatible with UE i.e., receiving by the terminal device UE configuration information which is One straight forward way is to configure one dedicated initial UL BWP or PRACH resource or PRACH preamble sections for the reduced capability UEs. Special for 2-step RA, one dedicated PUSCH resource can be configured to the reduced capability UEs to identify the UE Type i.e., configuration information by the network device),
the first configuration information comprising one or more sets of random access resource configuration (Fig. 1 and Sec 2.1.1 Preambles, the preambles of each cell are separated into three sections i.e., first configuration information comprising one or more sets of random access resource configuration), and
the first configuration information indicating that the terminal device is to initiate a random access procedure according to the one or more sets of random access resource configuration (Sec 2.2.2 PRACH resources, configuring the different PRACH occasions (POs) for the regular UEs and the reduced capability UEs in the same initial uplink BWP i.e., configuration information indicating that the terminal device is to initiate a random access procedure according to the one or more sets of random access resource configuration).
Regarding Claim 2, 3GPP teaches wherein: random access resource configurations in a single set are all first type of random access resource configurations or second type of random access resource configurations; the first type of random access resource configuration comprises a dedicated random access preamble root sequence-related configuration, the dedicated random access preamble root sequence-related configuration is in a first association relationship with predefined information; and the second type of random access resource configuration comprises a common random access preamble root sequence-related configuration (Sec 2.2.2 PRACH resources different PRACH occasion for the regular UEs and the reduced capability UE in the same initial uplink BWP where there are many ways to separate PRACH occasions for the UEs of different types, and different ways can be adopted in the frequency domain and the time domain).
Regarding Claim 3, 3GPP teaches wherein the predefined information comprises a terminal device type identifier and/or a system application scenario identifier (Sec 2.2.2 identifying a UE type by the time location or the frequency location of a PO i.e., terminal device type identifier).
Regarding Claim 4, 3GPP teaches wherein one or more of the following: the first association relationship between the dedicated random access preamble root sequence-related configuration and the terminal device type identifier comprises at least one of: a one-to-one mapping, a one-to-multiple mapping, or a multiple-to-multiple mapping; and the first association relationship between the dedicated random access preamble root sequence-related configuration and the system application scenario identifier comprises at least one of: a one-to-one mapping, a one-to-multiple mapping, or a multiple-to-multiple mapping (Sec 2.2.2).
Regarding Claim 6, 3GPP teaches further comprising: determining, by the terminal device, a type of the terminal device based on at least one of: a predefined type classification rule, a terminal device type identifier in factory settings, or a terminal device type identifier provided in a non-access stratum (NAS) procedure (Sec 2.1).
Regarding Claim 9, 3GPP teaches wherein at least one set of random access resource configuration among the one or more sets of random access resource configuration further comprises: one or more message A (MSGA) physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) resource configurations and/or one or more random access occasion (RO) resource configurations associated with a random access preamble root sequence-related configuration in the set of random access resource configuration (Sec 2.1).
Regarding Claim 10, 3GPP teaches wherein:the first configuration information is used for a resource configuration for a contention free random access procedure, and the first configuration information comprises a dedicated random access resource configuration containing one or more dedicated RO resources (Sec 2.1).
Regarding Claim 11, 3GPP teaches wherein the dedicated random access resource configuration further comprises: a dedicated random-access preamble-related configuration corresponding to the one or more dedicated RO resources, and/or one or more dedicated MSGA PUSCH resource configurations corresponding to the one or more dedicated RO resources (Sec 2.1).
Regarding Claim 12, 3GPP teaches wherein the first configuration information further comprises first indication information, wherein the first indication information indicates whether the terminal device is allowed to initiate a new random-access attempt before an end of a random-access response (RAR) window corresponding to one random access attempt (Sec 2.1.1 and Fig. 2a).
Regarding Claim 14, 3GPP teaches wherein: the first configuration information further comprises a first-time interval threshold and/or a configuration of a maximum number of consecutive random-access attempts that the terminal device is allowed to initiate within an RAR window; and the first time interval threshold indicates a minimum time interval between two consecutive random access attempts initiated by the terminal device (Sec 2.2.2).
Regarding Claim 15, it has been rejected for the same reasons as claim 1.
Regarding Claim 16, it has been rejected for the same reasons as claim 2.
Regarding Claim 17, it has been rejected for the same reasons as claim 3.
Regarding Claim 18, it has been rejected for the same reasons as claim 4.
Regarding Claim 19, it has been rejected for the same reasons as claim 1 and further teaches a terminal device (Sec 2.1 UE), comprising: a transceiver; a memory configured to store computer programs; and a processor configured to execute the computer programs stored in the memory to control the transceiver (Sec 2.1 UE where UE inherently has transceiver, memory that store program and a processor that is configured to execute computer program).
Regarding Claim 20, it has been rejected for the same reasons as claim 15.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 5 in combination of 7-8 or 13 would be allowable if rewritten to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action and 35 U.S.C. 101 rejection and to include all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: The prior art reference fail to teach the limitation of “wherein one of the following: the terminal device initiates the random access procedure with the second type of random access resource configuration if the first configuration information comprises the first type of random access resource configuration and the second type of random access resource configuration and a type of the terminal device is not a terminal device type associated with the first type of random access resource configuration and/or an application scenario of the terminal device is not a terminal device type associated with the first type of random access resource configuration; the terminal device initiates the random access procedure with the first type of random access resource configuration if the first configuration information comprises the first type of random access resource configuration and the type of the terminal device is the terminal device type associated with the first type of random access resource configuration and/or the application scenario of the terminal device is the application scenario associated with the first type of random access resource configuration; and the terminal device initiates the random access procedure with the second type of random access resource configuration if the first configuration information comprises the second type of random access resource configuration and does not comprise the first type of random access resource configuration; and wherein: the first configuration information further comprises a first threshold; the terminal device is allowed to initiate the random access procedure with the first type of random access resource configuration if a measurement result of the terminal device on a current serving cell or a target cell satisfies a first condition; and one of the following: the first condition is the measurement result being less than or equal to the first threshold; and the first condition is the measurement result being greater than or equal to the first threshold or wherein the terminal device initiates the random access procedure with the second type of random access resource configuration if the measurement result of the terminal device on the current serving cell or the target cell fails to satisfy the first condition”. These limitation in combination of other elements are neither found nor disclosed in prior art as a whole.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Cirik et al. Pub. No. US 20250097990 A1 - Random Access Procedures Using Multiple Active Bandwidth Parts
Xiong et al. Pub. No. US 20240314848 A1 - METHOD FOR GRANT FREE UPLINK TRANSMISSION, USER EQUIPMENT AND BASE STATION DEVICE
Prasad et al. Pub. No. US 20240260092 A1 - Triggering Multiple Preamble Transmissions in NTN
Lin et al. Pub. No. US 20230363016 A1 - NETWORK DEVICE, TERMINAL DEVICE, AND METHODS THEREIN
Xiong et al. Pub. No. US 20230328597 A1 - RANDOM ACCESS METHOD, NETWORK NODE AND USER EQUIPMENT
You et al. Pub. No. US 20220053557 A1 - RANDOM ACCESS METHOD AND APPARATUS
Chen Pub. No. US 20210058979 A1 - RANDOM ACCESS METHOD, TERMINAL, AND NETWORK DEVICE
Shi et al. Pub. No. US 20210153247 A1 - RANDOM ACCESS METHOD AND TERMINAL DEVICE
Hong et al. Pub. No. US 20180124836 A1 - US 20180124836 A1
CN 115707143 B - Random access resource isolation method, device and medium of access network slice
WO 2019004694 A1 - METHOD FOR GENERATING PREAMBLE, METHOD FOR CONFIGURING PREAMBLE AND EQUIPMENT THEREOF, RANDOM ACCESS METHOD, DEVICE, USER EQUIPMENT AND BASE STATION
3GPP TSG RAN WG1 Meeting #103-e R1-2007617 E-meeting, October 26th – November 13th, 2020
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to NIZAR N SIVJI whose telephone number is (571)270-7462. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 7-4.
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, Alison Slater can be reached at (571) 270-0375. 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.
NIZAR N. SIVJI
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2647
/NIZAR N SIVJI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2647
Prosecution Insights