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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after allowance or after an Office action under Ex Parte Quayle, 25 USPQ 74, 453 O.G. 213 (Comm'r Pat. 1935). Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, prosecution in this application has been reopened pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 7/29/26 has been entered.
Response to Amendment
This office action is in response to amendment filed on 7/29/26. Claims 1-8, 10-17, and 19-30 are currently pending.
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.
Claim(s) 1-8, 10-17, and 19-30 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over MU (US 2025/0301504) in view of LI et al. (US 2024/0276538).
Regarding claim 1, MU teaches a first network node (terminal) [Fig. 1, item 14] for wireless communication, comprising a processing system configured to:
receive first control information indicative of one or more physical random access channel (PRACH) resources (first, second, and third random access resources) to be used for random access, each of the one or more PRACH resources being associated with a respective one or more user equipment (UE) types (eRedCap UE/normal terminal/RedCap UE) (see “Step 201, a first random access resource configured by a network device for a first-type terminal is received” [par 69] and “Step (1), a network device is allowed to configure a separate first random access resource for an eRedCap UE, where the first random access resource is different from a third random access resource for a normal terminal and a second random access resource for a RedCap UE” [par 131] which suggests an eRedCap UE receives a configuration that comprises first, second, and third random access resource for access of a network device, each of the random access resources are associated with an eRedCap UE, normal terminal, and RedCap UE);
determine that none of the one or more PRACH resources included in the first control information are associated with a first UE type, wherein the first network node is of the first UE type, and wherein the first UE type is an enhanced reduced capability UE type (see “Step (8), based on step (1), when the network device does not configure the separate first random access resource for the eRedCap UE…” [par 138]);
select, in accordance with a prioritization for PRACH resource selection when none of the one or more PRACH resources included in the first control information are associated with the first UE type, a particular PRACH resource of the one or more PRACH resources included in the first control information for transmission of a random access preamble, wherein the prioritization is based on a respective UE type associated with each PRACH resource of the one or more PRACH resources (see “Step (8), based on step (1), when the network device does not configure the separate first random access resource for the eRedCap UE, the eRedCap UE determines whether the second random access resource allocated to the RedCap UE is within the terminal capability range of the eRedCap UE. If it is within the terminal capability range of the eRedCap UE, the eRedCap UE uses the second random access resource of the RedCap UE. Further, if the network device does not configure the separate second random access resource for the RedCap UE, the eRedCap UE determines whether the third random access resource allocated to the normal terminal is within the terminal capability range of the eRedCap UE. If it is within the terminal capability range of the eRedCap UE, the eRedCap UE uses the third random access resource of the normal terminal. If the eRedCap UE determines that there is no random access resource that can be used by the terminal, the eRedCap UE gives up accessing the network device” [par 138] which suggests a “prioritization for PRACH selection” because the eRedCap UE first selects the second random access resource, and then selects the third random access resource if the second random access resource is unavailable); and
transmit the random access preamble via the selected PRACH resource of the one or more PRACH resources (see par 138, “the eRedCap UE uses the second random access resource” and “the eRedCap UE uses the third random access resource”).
MU does not explicitly teach receive second control information indicative of prioritization for PRACH resource selection. In an analogous prior art reference, LI teaches a first network node (terminal device) receives second control information (priority sequence of the plurality of features) indicative of prioritization for PRACH resource selection (see “S520: The network device sends the first indication information to the terminal device, or the terminal device receives the first indication information from the network device” [par 234] and “For example, the first indication information includes identification information of the plurality of features, a sequence of the identification information of the plurality of features indicates that the sequence of the plurality of features is RedCap, RAN slicing, CovEnh, and SDT, and the priority sequence of the plurality of features is RedCap>RAN slicing>CovEnh>SDT” [par 238]); and the first network node selects in accordance with the prioritization for PRACH resource selection one or more PRACH resources (see “In addition, the terminal device may further select a random access resource based on the priority sequence of the plurality of features” [par 283]). Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of MU to allow the first network node to receive second control information indicative of prioritization for PRACH resource selection, as taught by LI, in order to directly indicate a priority sequence of the PRACH resources thereby improving the flexibility and efficiency of PRACH resource selection by the first network node.
Regarding claim 2, MU and LI in combination teaches the first network node of claim 1, wherein the prioritization prioritizes PRACH resources associated with a second UE type when none of the one or more PRACH resources included in the first control information are associated with the first UE type (see MU par 138, the eRedCap UE “prioritizes” the second random access resource when the network device does not configure separate first random access resource for the eRedCap UE).
Regarding claim 3, MU and LI in combinaiton teaches the first network node of claim 2, wherein the prioritization prioritizes a default PRACH resource when none of the one or more PRACH resources included in the first control information are associated with the first UE type and none of the one or more PRACH resources included in the first control information are associated with the second UE type (see MU par 138, the eRedCap UE “prioritizes” the third random access resource when the network device does not configure separate first random access resource and the second random access resource for the eRedCap UE).
Regarding claim 4, MU and LI in combination teaches the first network node of claim 2, wherein the prioritization prioritizes PRACH resources associated with a third UE type (normal terminal) when none of the one or more PRACH resources included in the first control information are associated with the first UE type and none of the one or more PRACH resources included in the first control information are associated with the second UE type (see MU par 138 and 131, the eRedCap UE prioritizes third random access resource for a normal terminal when there is not a first random access resource for an eRedCap UE and a second random access resource for a RedCap UE).
Regarding claim 5, MU and LI in combination teaches the first network node of claim 4, wherein:
the second UE type is a reduced capability UE type (RedCap UE), and the third UE type is an enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB) UE type (normal terminal) (see MU “Optionally, the first-type terminal is an eRedCap UE, the second-type terminal is a RedCap UE, and the third-type terminal is a non-Reduced Capability terminal (i.e., a normal terminal). The non-Reduced Capability terminal
is a terminal defined in a 5G NR system, which includes terminals in the 5G NR system other than the eRedCap UE and the RedCap” [par 131] wherein the normal terminal suggests an “eMBB UE type” because an eMBB UE is defined in a 5G NR system).
Regarding claim 6, MU and LI in combination teaches the first network node of claim 1, wherein the enhanced reduced capability UE type corresponds to reduced capabilities with respect to a reduced capability UE type (RedCap UE) and an enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB) UE type (normal terminal) (see MU “Optionally, the first-type terminal is an eRedCap UE, the second-type terminal is a RedCap UE, and the third-type terminal is a non-Reduced Capability terminal (i.e., a normal terminal). The non-Reduced Capability terminal is a terminal defined in a 5G NR system, which includes terminals in the 5G NR system other than the eRedCap UE and the RedCap” [par 131] wherein the normal terminal suggests an “eMBB UE type” because an eMBB UE is defined in a 5G NR system).
Regarding claim 7, MU teaches wherein the first UE type is associated with a capability to process at most a first maximum bandwidth (maximum transceiving bandwidth) that is lower than a second maximum bandwidth (see MU “The maximum transceiving bandwidth supported by the eRedCap UE is smaller than the maximum transceiving bandwidth supported by the RedCap UE and the maximum transceiving bandwidth supported by the non-Reduced Capability terminal” [par 74]), but does not explicitly teach the processing system is configured to receive a random access response responsive to the random access preamble, wherein the second maximum bandwidth is associated with transmission of the random access response. LI further teaches a processing system (terminal device) is configured to receive a random access response (RAR) responsive to a random access preamble, wherein the second maximum bandwidth (maximum bandwidth supported by the terminal device) is associated with transmission of the random access response (see “Because the maximum bandwidth (for example, 20 MHz) supported by the RedCap UE is smaller than that supported by a conventional terminal device (or referred to as a non-RedCap terminal device), in a random access procedure, a network device needs to identify the RedCap UE early during sending of a Msg1, so that the network device can perform special processing on the RedCap UE in a subsequent RACH procedure. For example, a Msg3 uplink resource scheduled in an RAR does not exceed the maximum bandwidth supported by the RedCap UE” [par 148] which suggests the network device identifies the RedCap UE and performs special processing in a random access procedure which would include transmission of the RAR at a bandwidth that does not exceed the maximum bandwidth of the UE since this information is known). Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of MU to allow the processing system to be configured to receive a random access response responsive to the random access preamble, wherein the second maximum bandwidth is associated with transmission of the random access response, as taught by LI, in order to receive a RAR at a supported bandwidth thereby ensuring proper reception of the RAR.
Regarding claim 8, MU and LI in combination teaches the first network node of claim 7, wherein the capability to process at most the first maximum bandwidth pertains to one or more combinations of radio frequency bandwidth (terminal bandwidth), baseband bandwidth, or bandwidth for physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) or physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) (see MU “For example, the terminal capability includes a terminal bandwidth, and the terminal bandwidth supported by the first-type terminal is smaller than the terminal bandwidth supported by the second-type terminal and the terminal bandwidth supported by the third-type terminal” [par 72]).
Claim 10 recites similar subject matter as claim 1, but differs by reciting “initial bandwidth part” instead of “PRACH resources”. Claim 9 is therefore rejected on the same basis as claim 1 and the following disclosures in MU “Optionally, the first random access resource includes a first uplink initial BandWidth Part (BWP) configured for the first-type terminal…” [par 77] and “…the network device configures a second uplink initial BWP for a second type terminal” [par 88] and “Optionally, in the case that the network device configures the third uplink initial BWP for the third-type terminal” [par 96] which suggest random access resource may be uplink initial BWP).
Claims 11, 20, and 26 recite subject matter similar to claim 2 and are therefore rejected on the same basis.
Claims 12, 21, and 27 recite subject matter similar to claim 3 and are therefore rejected on the same basis.
Claims 13, 22, and 28 recite subject matter similar to claim 4 and are therefore rejected on the same basis.
Claims 14, 23, and 29 recite subject matter similar to claim 5 and are therefore rejected on the same basis.
Claims 15, 24, and 30 recite subject matter similar to claim 6 and are therefore rejected on the same basis.
Claim 16 recites subject matter similar to claim 7 and is therefore rejected on the same basis.
Claim 17 recites subject matter similar to claim 8 and is therefore rejected on the same basis.
Claim 19 recites subject matter similar to claim 1 and is therefore rejected on the same basis.
Claim 25 recites subject matter similar to claim 10 and is therefore rejected on the same basis.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1-8, 10-17, and 19-30 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Nam T Huynh whose telephone number is (571)272-5970. The examiner can normally be reached 9am-5pm.
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/NAM T HUYNH/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2647
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