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 final rejection. 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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office Action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant’s submission filed on August 18, 2026 has been entered.
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.
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 1, 3-6, 8-9, 11-12, 16, 19, 21-24, 26-27 and 39-41 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over Wang et al (US Pat. Pub. No. 2022/0232639) in view of Zhou et al (US Pat. Pub. No. 2022/0046714).
Regarding claim 1, Wang et al discloses a method for wireless communication, comprising: enhancing, by a user equipment (UE) (paragraph 90 [UE]), an uplink coverage of a cell with a base station (paragraph 107 [network device, gNB]) by: receiving, by the UE, a configuration from the cell (see at least paragraph 88 discloses receiving system information including a configuration); determining, by the UE, a random access (RA) resource based on the configuration and a measured downlink signal strength (see at least paragraph 89 UE selects preamble); sending, by the UE, the RA preamble to the base station to request Msg3 repetition (see at least paragraph 81 preamble is transmitted to network device; also in paragraph 88 discloses preamble used for requesting Msg3 repetitions); and receiving, by the UE, an RA response from the base station indicating transmission resource for Msg3 repetition (see at least paragraphs 81 UE receives RAR message).
Wang et al specifically does not disclose wherein the configuration comprises a first Msg3 repetition reference signal received power (RSRP) threshold configured for a normal uplink (NUL) carrier of the cell and a second Msg3 repetition RSRP threshold configured for a supplementary uplink (SUL) carrier of the cell, and wherein the first Msg3 repetition RSRP threshold and the second Msg3 repetition RSRP threshold are configured separately from one another.
However, Zhou et al from the same or similar fields of endeavor teaches wherein the configuration comprises a first Msg3 repetition reference signal received power (RSRP) threshold configured for a normal uplink (NUL) carrier of the cell and a second Msg3 repetition RSRP threshold configured for a supplementary uplink (SUL) carrier of the cell, and wherein the first Msg3 repetition RSRP threshold and the second Msg3 repetition RSRP threshold are configured separately from one another (see at least paragraphs 192, 274 and 280 discloses base station configured UE with two separate configurations, one for SUL carrier and another for NUL carrier).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made to modify to incorporate above mention feature as taught by Zhou et al into the system of Wang et al for purpose of RA procedure with multiple uplink carriers and multiple RA types configured.
Regarding claim 3, Wang et al discloses the configuration comprises at least one of the following: a list of synchronization signal block (SSB) indexes; an SSB bitmap; an RSRP threshold configuration comprising the first Msg3 repetition threshold and the second Msg3 repetition RSRP threshold; a pathloss threshold configuration; or a random access channel (RACH) resource configuration (see at least paragraphs 89-90 discloses random access resources, SSB, RSRP).
Regarding claim 4, Wang et al discloses the list of SSB indexes indicates that any SSB in the list of SSB indexes is available for the UE to request Msg3 repetition (see at least paragraphs 89-90 discloses random access resources, SSB, RSRP).
Regarding claim 5, Wang et al discloses the SSB bitmap indicates that any SSB in the SSB bitmap is available for the UE to request Msg3 repetition (see at least paragraph 106).
Regarding claim 6, Wang et al discloses the RSRP threshold configuration comprises at least one of the following: an Msg3 repetition RSRP threshold; an SSB selection RSRP threshold; or a set of two carrier selection RSRP thresholds (see at least paragraph 106).
Regarding claim 8, Wang et al discloses the configuration is configured differently for at least one of the following: different uplink carriers comprising a normal uplink (NUL) carrier and a supplementary uplink (SUL) carrier; different bandwidth parts; or different SSBs (see at least paragraph 19).
Regarding claim 9, Wang et al discloses the set of two carrier selection RSRP thresholds comprises a first carrier selection RSRP threshold and a second carrier selection RSRP threshold, the first carrier selection RSRP threshold being applicable to a UE not supporting Msg3 repetition, and the second carrier selection RSRP threshold being applicable to a UE supporting Msg3 repetition (see at least paragraphs 89 and 107).
Regarding claim 11, Wang et al discloses the RACH resource configuration comprises at least one of the following: a RACH occasion associated with an SSB; at least one random access preamble associated with an SSB; at least one preamble for RACH group A; or at least one preamble for RACH group B (see at least paragraph 82).
Regarding claim 12, Wang et al discloses the RACH resource configuration comprises at least one of the following parameters for triggering RACH with Msg3 repetition: a preambleTransMax; a preambleReceivedTargetPower; a powerRampingStep; an ra-ResponseWindow; or an Msg3-DeltaPreamble (see at least paragraph 90).
Regarding claim 15, Wang et al discloses performing, by the UE, cell selection and reselection based on at least one access threshold, the at least one access threshold being configured by the base station via system information (see at least paragraph 88).
Regarding claim 16, Zhou et al discloses performing, by the UE, cell selection and reselection based on at least one access threshold, the at least one access threshold being configured by the base station via system information, wherein the at least one access threshold comprises at least one of the following: a first threshold being applicable to a UE not supporting SUL and Msg3 repetition; a second threshold being applicable to a UE supporting Msg3 repetition and not supporting SUL; a third threshold being applicable to a UE supporting SUL and not supporting Msg3 repetition; or a fourth threshold being applicable to a UE supporting SUL and Msg3 repetition (see at least paragraphs 274 and 280). Same motivation as claim 1.
Regarding claim 19, Wang et al discloses method for wireless communication, comprising: enhancing, by a base station, an uplink coverage of a cell for a user equipment (UE) by: sending, by the base station, a configuration to the UE (see at least paragraph 88 discloses receiving system information including a configuration), so that the UE determines a random access (RA) resource based on the configuration and a measured downlink signal strength (see at least paragraph 89 UE selects preamble ); receiving, by the base station, the RA preamble from the UE to request Msg3 repetition (see at least paragraph 81 preamble is transmitted to network device; also in paragraph 88 discloses preamble used for requesting Msg3 repetitions); and sending, by the base station, an RA response to the UE indicating transmission resource for Msg3 repetition (see at least paragraphs 81 UE receives RAR message).
Wang et al specifically does not disclose wherein the configuration comprises two Msg3 repetition reference signal received power (RSRP) thresholds configured separately for a normal uplink (NUL) carrier of the cell and a supplementary uplink (SUL) carrier of the cell.
However, Zhou et al from the same or similar fields of endeavor teaches wherein the configuration comprises two Msg3 repetition reference signal received power (RSRP) thresholds configured separately for a normal uplink (NUL) carrier of the cell and a supplementary uplink (SUL) carrier of the cell (see at least paragraphs 192, 274 and 280 discloses base station configured UE with two separate configurations, one for SUL carrier and another for NUL carrier).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made to modify to incorporate above mention feature as taught by Zhou et al into the system of Wang et al for purpose of RA procedure with multiple uplink carriers and multiple RA types configured.
Regarding claims 21-24 and 26-27, see above rejection of claims 3-6 and 8-9.
Regarding claim 39, Wang et al discloses an apparatus 400 (figure 4 and paragraph 0114) comprising: a memory 434 storing instructions; and a processor 428 in communication with the memory, wherein, when the processor executes the instructions, the processor is configured to cause the apparatus to perform: enhancing an uplink coverage of a cell with a base station by: receiving a configuration from the cell (see at least paragraph 88 discloses receiving system information including a configuration); determining a random access (RA) resource based on the configuration and a measured downlink signal strength (see at least paragraph 89 UE selects preamble); sending the RA preamble to the base station to request Msg3 repetition (see at least paragraph 81 preamble is transmitted to network device; also in paragraph 88 discloses preamble used for requesting Msg3 repetitions); and receiving an RA response from the base station indicating transmission resource for Msg3 repetition (see at least paragraphs 81 UE receives RAR message).
Wang et al specifically does not disclose wherein the configuration comprises two Msg3 repetition reference signal received power (RSRP) thresholds configured separately for a normal uplink (NUL) carrier of the cell and a supplementary uplink (SUL) carrier of the cell.
However, Zhou et al from the same or similar fields of endeavor teaches wherein the configuration comprises two Msg3 repetition reference signal received power (RSRP) thresholds configured separately for a normal uplink (NUL) carrier of the cell and a supplementary uplink (SUL) carrier of the cell (see at least paragraphs 192, 274 and 280 discloses base station configured UE with two separate configurations, one for SUL carrier and another for NUL carrier).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made to modify to incorporate above mention feature as taught by Zhou et al into the system of Wang et al for purpose of RA procedure with multiple uplink carriers and multiple RA types configured.
Regarding claim 40, Wang et al discloses an apparatus 400 (figure 4 and paragraph 0114) comprising: a memory 434 storing instructions; and a processor 428 in communication with the memory, wherein, when the processor executes the instructions, the processor is configured to cause the apparatus to perform: enhancing an uplink coverage of a cell for a user equipment (UE) by: sending a configuration to the UE (see at least paragraph 88 discloses receiving system information including a configuration), so that the UE determines a random access (RA) resource based on the configuration and a measured downlink signal strength (see at least paragraph 89 UE selects preamble); receiving the RA preamble from the UE to request Msg3 repetition (see at least paragraph 81 preamble is transmitted to network device; also in paragraph 88 discloses preamble used for requesting Msg3 repetitions); and sending an RA response to the UE indicating transmission resource for Msg3 repetition (see at least paragraphs 81 UE receives RAR message).
Wang et al specifically does not disclose wherein the configuration comprises two Msg3 repetition reference signal received power (RSRP) thresholds configured separately for a normal uplink (NUL) carrier of the cell and a supplementary uplink (SUL) carrier of the cell.
However, Zhou et al from the same or similar fields of endeavor teaches wherein the configuration comprises two Msg3 repetition reference signal received power (RSRP) thresholds configured separately for a normal uplink (NUL) carrier of the cell and a supplementary uplink (SUL) carrier of the cell (see at least paragraphs 192, 274 and 280 discloses base station configured UE with two separate configurations, one for SUL carrier and another for NUL carrier).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made to modify to incorporate above mention feature as taught by Zhou et al into the system of Wang et al for purpose of RA procedure with multiple uplink carriers and multiple RA types configured.
Regarding claim 41, Zhou et al discloses in response to NUL being selected, requesting Msg3 repetition on NUL when a measured RSRP value is lower than the first Msg3 repetition RSRP threshold; or in response to SUL being selected, requesting Msg3 repetition on SUL when the measured RSRP value is lower than the second Msg3 repetition RSRP threshold (see at least paragraphs 274 and 280). Same motivation as claim 1.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments, filed on August 18, 2026, with respect to claims 1, 19, 39 and 40 have been considered but are moot in view of the new ground(s) of rejection, necessitated by applicant’s amendment. See the above rejection of claims 1, 3-6, 8-9, 11-12, 16, 19, 21-24, 26-27 and 39-41 for the relevant citations found in Wang et al and Zhou et al disclosing the limitations.
Conclusion
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/LITON MIAH/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2642
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