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 .
DETAILED ACTION
a. Claims 1-20 in the present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA :
b. This is a second non final action on the merits based on Applicant’s claims submitted on 01/29/2026.
Response to Arguments
Regarding claims 1, 3, 5, 14-16, and 18 previously rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 102, Applicant's arguments, see “First, Shin fails to disclose "a configuration index specifying a RACH pattern including a gap to be inserted between RACH occasion (ROs)" of claim 1.” on page 8, and “Second, Shin fails to disclose "determining a candidate starting symbol" "to cause the candidate starting symbol to be consistent with the starting symbol when the gap is inserted between the ROs" of claim 1.”, on page 9, filed on 01/29/2026, with respect to Shin et al. US Pub 2024/0306208, claiming foreign application priority 2021-01-14 (hereinafter “Shin”), have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the previous rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground of rejection is made in view of Intel NPL “Discussion on initial access aspects for extending NR up to 71 GHz”, 3GPP R1-2104894, May 19 – 27, 2021 (hereinafter “Intel”), in combination with previously applied Shin’s reference. See section Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103 below for complete details.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 of this title, 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.
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 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.
Claims 1, 3, 5, 14-16, 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Shin et al. US Pub 2024/0306208, claiming foreign application priority 2021-01-14 (hereinafter “Shin”), and in view of Intel NPL “Discussion on initial access aspects for extending NR up to 71 GHz”, 3GPP R1-2104894, May 19 – 27, 2021 (hereinafter “Intel”).
Regarding claim 1
Shin discloses a method (“Disclosed are a method and device for transmitting and receiving a wireless signal in a wireless communication system” [Abstract]) comprising:
receiving, by a wireless communication device (i.e. “terminal”) from a wireless communication node (i.e. “base station”), a random access channel (RACH) signaling (“when a terminal accesses to a base station for the first time or does not have a radio resource for signal transmission, it may perform a random access (RACH) procedure to a base station (S603 to S606). For the random access procedure, a terminal may transmit a specific sequence as a preamble through a physical random access channel (PRACH) (S603 and S605) and may receive a response message for a preamble through a PDCCH and a corresponding PDSCH (S604 and S606).” [0110]; Fig. 6 and furthermore “In addition, since a starting symbol of the first RO may be indicated for each preamble format, information indicating at what point in the corresponding RACH slot the RO starts may be transmitted and received between a base station and a UE.” [0251]) comprising a value associated with a starting symbol (“Alternatively, when a starting OFDM symbol of a subsequent RACH slot of a corresponding RACH slot is given as a specific value (e.g., enough OFDM symbol(s) to be used as a timing gap) other than 0, (regardless of a PRACH format) it may be configured/defined so that RO mapping may not cross a slot boundary, but maximum ROs are mapped/allocated assuming that RO mapping is valid until the last OFDM symbol of a corresponding RACH slot.” [0264]); and
determining, by the wireless communication device, a candidate starting symbol for a subcarrier spacing (SCS) higher than 120 kiloHertz (KHz) (“Method A: Among a plurality of higher SCS (e.g., 480/960 kHz) slots facing (e.g., overlapped or included) a specific slot of reference SCS (e.g., 120 kHz), a specific slot may be fixed as an RO mapping starting slot.” [0274]) or 60KHz (“when SCS is 60 kHz or higher, bandwidths greater than 24.25 GHz are supported to overcome phase noise.” [0199]), according to information in the RACH signaling,
Shin does not specifically teach a configuration index specifying a RACH pattern including indicating a gap to be inserted between RACH occasions (ROs); to cause the candidate starting symbol to be consistent with the starting symbol when the gap is inserted between the ROs.
In an analogous art, Intel discloses a configuration index specifying a RACH pattern (i.e. “PRACH RO configurations”) including indicating a gap to be inserted between RACH occasions (ROs) (“This means nothing but that non-consecutive RO with time gaps in between occupy two consecutive PRACH slots as illustrated in Figure 6. Therefore, the total number of PRACH slots occupied by PRACH ROs may be greater than 2 in case of non-consecutive ROs with time gaps in between.”, Section 2.3 and also Proposal 7 below);
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to cause the candidate starting symbol to be consistent with the starting symbol when the gap is inserted between the ROs (see also Fig. 8 below, showing three candidate position sets with time gaps in between).
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Before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify Shin’s method for transmitting and receiving a wireless signal in a wireless communication system to include Intel’s method of configuring PRACH configuration indices with time gaps, in order to efficiently support accommodate a beam switch transient period (Intel, section 2.3). Thus, a person of ordinary skill would have appreciated the ability to incorporate Intel’s method of configuring PRACH configuration indices with time gaps into Shin’s method for transmitting and receiving a wireless signal in a wireless communication system since the claimed invention is merely a combination of old elements, and in the combination each element merely would have performed the same function as it did separately, and one of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized that the results of the combination were predictable.
Regarding claim 3
Shin, as modified by Intel, previously discloses the method of claim 1, comprising:
Shin further discloses receiving, by the wireless communication device from the wireless communication node, a signaling that indicates a RACH occasion (RO) RO position set, the RO position set identifying one candidate RO position set (“Therefore, a method in which a base station directly configures validity of a plurality of ROs of a specific RACH slot to a UE is proposed. For example, in order to configure validity of a plurality of ROs, a base station may configure/indicate a bitmap pattern (i.e., each bit corresponds to each RO, and a bit value indicates validity/invalidity of a corresponding RO) together with PRACH configuration. Alternatively, a base station may indicate/configure a starting invalid RO position corresponding to an initial invalid RO within a specific RACH slot and a number of contiguous invalid ROs, etc.” [0240]).
Regarding claim 5
Shin, as modified by Intel, previously discloses the method of claim 3, wherein the signaling comprises:
Shin further discloses a radio resource configuration (RRC) signaling, or a downlink control information (DCI) signaling (“a PRACH configuration to configure an RO using an SCS value (e.g., 480 kHz) indicated in an active UL BWP through UE-specific RRC signaling, when a base station transmits a DCI format indicating a PDCCH order RACH procedure to a UE” [0296]), a medium access control control element (MAC CE) signaling (“Here, uplink transmission includes an uplink channel such as a PRACH and a PUSCH, an uplink signal such as an SRS, and the configuration information may be transmitted through higher layer signaling (e.g., SIB, RRC signaling, MAC CE, etc.)” [0378]).
Regarding claim 14
A method comprising:
sending, by a wireless communication node to a wireless communication device, a random access channel (RACH) signaling comprising a configuration index indicating a gap to be inserted between RACH occasions (ROs) and a value associated with a starting symbol; and
causing the wireless communication device to determine a candidate starting symbol for a subcarrier spacing (SCS) higher than 120 kiloHertz (KHz) or 60KHz, according to information in the RACH signaling, to cause the candidate starting symbol to be consistent with the starting symbol when the gap is inserted between the ROs.
The scope and subject matter of method claim 14 is reciprocal to the scope and subject matter as claimed in method claim 1. Therefore method claim 14 corresponds to method claim 1 and is rejected for the same reasons of obviousness as used in claim 1 rejection above.
Regarding claim 15
Shin discloses a wireless communication device (“first wireless device 100” in Fig. 25; [0425]) comprising:
at least one processor (“processor 102“ in Fig. 25; [0425]) configured to:
receive, via a receiver from a wireless communication node, a random access channel (RACH) signaling comprising a configuration index indicating a gap to be inserted between RACH occasions (ROs) and a value associated with a starting symbol; and
determine a candidate starting symbol for a subcarrier spacing (SCS) higher than 120 kiloHertz (KHz) or 60KHz, according to information in the RACH signaling, to cause the candidate starting symbol to be consistent with the starting symbol when the gap is inserted between the ROs (as afore-mentioned in claim 1 discussion).
The scope and subject matter of apparatus claim 15 is drawn to the apparatus of using the corresponding method claimed in claim 1. Therefore apparatus claim 15 corresponds to method claim 1 and is rejected for the same reasons of obviousness as used in claim 1 rejection above.
Regarding claim 16
Shin discloses a wireless communication node (“second wireless device 200” in Fig. 25; [0426]) comprising:
at least one processor (“processor 202“ in Fig. 25; [0426]) configured to send, via a transmitter to a wireless communication device, a random access channel (RACH) signaling comprising a configuration index indicating a gap to be inserted between RACH occasions (ROs) and a value associated with a starting symbol,
wherein the wireless communication device determines a candidate starting symbol for a subcarrier spacing (SCS) higher than 120 kiloHertz (KHz) or 60KHz, according to information in the RACH signaling, to cause the candidate starting symbol to be consistent with the starting symbol when the gap is inserted between the ROs.
The scope and subject matter of apparatus claim 16 is drawn to the apparatus of using the corresponding method claimed in claim 14. Therefore apparatus claim 16 corresponds to method claim 14 and is rejected for the same reasons of obviousness as used in claim 14 rejection above.
Regarding claim 18
The wireless communication node of claim 16, wherein the at least one processor is configured to:
send, via a transmitter to the wireless communication device, a signaling that indicates a RACH occasion (RO) RO position set, the RO position set identifying one candidate RO position set.
The scope and subject matter of apparatus claim 18 is drawn to the apparatus of using the corresponding method claimed in claim 3. Therefore apparatus claim 18 corresponds to method claim 3 and is rejected for the same reasons of obviousness as used in claim 3 rejection above.
Claims 2, 4, 6, 7, 9-11, 17, and 19-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Shin, in view of Intel, and further in view of Ericsson NPL “Initial Access Aspects”, 3GPP R1-2102788, 12th – 20th April, 2021 (hereinafter “Ericsson”).
Regarding claim 2
Shin, as modified by Intel, previously discloses the method of claim 1, comprising:
Shin and Intel do not specifically teach determining, by the wireless communication device, the candidate starting symbol, according to a starting symbol for a slot with a SCS of 120 KHz or 60KHz.
In an analogous art, Ericsson discloses determining, by the wireless communication device, the candidate starting symbol, according to a starting symbol for a slot with a SCS of 120 KHz or 60KHz (the equation at the bottom of page 14 of section 2.2.0, i.e.
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defines the starting symbol for 60 KHZ. This is the starting symbol of a RO. According to the first sentence on page 15 of section 2.2.0 “In order to support 480/960 kHz SCS, there is no need to make any changes to this equation or these table columns.”, there is no need to change this equation for SCS of 120 KHz).
Before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify Shin’s method for transmitting and receiving a wireless signal in a wireless communication system, as modified by Intel, to include Ericsson’s method of configuring PRACH configuration indices, in order to efficiently support initial access for extending NR up to 71 GHz (Ericsson, section 2.2.1). Thus, a person of ordinary skill would have appreciated the ability to incorporate Ericsson’s method of configuring PRACH configuration indices into Shin’s method for transmitting and receiving a wireless signal in a wireless communication system since the claimed invention is merely a combination of old elements, and in the combination each element merely would have performed the same function as it did separately, and one of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized that the results of the combination were predictable.
Regarding claim 4
Shin, as modified by Intel, previously discloses the method of claim 1, comprising:
Shin and Intel do not specifically teach receiving, by the wireless communication device from the wireless communication node, a signaling that indicates a RACH occasion (RO) RO position set, the RO position set identifying at least two candidate RO position sets.
In an analogous art, Ericsson discloses receiving, by the wireless communication device from the wireless communication node, a signaling that indicates a RACH occasion (RO) RO position set, the RO position set identifying at least two candidate RO position sets (Ericsson describes the support for the configuration of PRACH occasions with one or two 480/960 KHz slots (section 2.2). This corresponds to “identifying at least two candidate RO position sets”. Also, in Table 4, row of PRACH configuration index 68, number of PRACH slots within a 60 KHZ slot is 2. This implies that there are two candidate RO position sets).
Before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify Shin’s method for transmitting and receiving a wireless signal in a wireless communication system, as modified by Intel, to include Ericsson’s method of configuring PRACH configuration indices, in order to efficiently support initial access for extending NR up to 71 GHz (Ericsson, section 2.2.1). Thus, a person of ordinary skill would have appreciated the ability to incorporate Ericsson’s method of configuring PRACH configuration indices into Shin’s method for transmitting and receiving a wireless signal in a wireless communication system since the claimed invention is merely a combination of old elements, and in the combination each element merely would have performed the same function as it did separately, and one of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized that the results of the combination were predictable.
Regarding claim 6
Shin, as modified by Intel, previously discloses the method of claim 1, comprising:
Shin and Intel do not specifically teach determining, by the wireless communication device according to a default configuration, a RACH occasion (RO) RO position set, the RO position set identifying one candidate RO position set.
In an analogous art, Ericsson discloses determining, by the wireless communication device according to a default configuration, a RACH occasion (RO) RO position set, the RO position set identifying one candidate RO position set (Ericsson describes the support for the configuration of PRACH occasions with one or two 480/960 KHz slots (section 2.2). This corresponds to “identifying one candidate RO position set”).
Before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify Shin’s method for transmitting and receiving a wireless signal in a wireless communication system, as modified by Intel, to include Ericsson’s method of configuring PRACH configuration indices, in order to efficiently support initial access for extending NR up to 71 GHz (Ericsson, section 2.2.1). Thus, a person of ordinary skill would have appreciated the ability to incorporate Ericsson’s method of configuring PRACH configuration indices into Shin’s method for transmitting and receiving a wireless signal in a wireless communication system since the claimed invention is merely a combination of old elements, and in the combination each element merely would have performed the same function as it did separately, and one of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized that the results of the combination were predictable.
Regarding claim 7
Shin, as modified by Intel, previously discloses the method of claim 1, comprising:
Shin and Intel do not specifically teach determining, by the wireless communication device according to a default configuration, a RACH occasion (RO) RO position set, the RO position set identifying at least two candidate RO position sets.
In an analogous art, Ericsson discloses determining, by the wireless communication device according to a default configuration, a RACH occasion (RO) RO position set, the RO position set identifying at least two candidate RO position sets (Table 4, row of PRACH config. Index 68, number of PRACH slots within a 60 KHZ slot is 2. This implies that there are two candidates RO position sets).
Before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify Shin’s method for transmitting and receiving a wireless signal in a wireless communication system, as modified by Intel, to include Ericsson’s method of configuring PRACH configuration indices, in order to efficiently support initial access for extending NR up to 71 GHz (Ericsson, section 2.2.1). Thus, a person of ordinary skill would have appreciated the ability to incorporate Ericsson’s method of configuring PRACH configuration indices into Shin’s method for transmitting and receiving a wireless signal in a wireless communication system since the claimed invention is merely a combination of old elements, and in the combination each element merely would have performed the same function as it did separately, and one of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized that the results of the combination were predictable.
Regarding claim 9
Shin, as modified by Intel, previously discloses the method of claim 1,
Shin and Intel do not specifically teach wherein a symbol position (l) is a function of at least one of: l0, a candidate starting symbol with a SCS of 120KHz or 60KHz;
ntRA, a RO within a slot with the SCS of 120KHz or 60KHz, numbered in increasing order from 0 to NtRA, slot - 1 within the slot with the SCS of 120KHz or 60KHz in a candidate RO position set, where NtRA, slot is a number of RO in one candidate RO position set within the slot with the SCS of 120KHz or 60KHz;
NdurRA, a number of symbols of a RO duration or physical RACH (PRACH) duration;
NRAslot,, a number of PRACH slots within a 60KHz or 120KHz slot per candidate RO position set, or a number of 120KHz slot or 60Khz slot in the 60KHz or 120KHz slot.
In an analogous art, Ericsson discloses wherein a symbol position (l) is a function of at least one of:
l0, a candidate starting symbol with a SCS of 120KHz or 60KHz;
ntRA, a RO within a slot with the SCS of 120KHz or 60KHz, numbered in increasing order from 0 to NtRA, slot - 1 within the slot with the SCS of 120KHz or 60KHz in a candidate RO position set, where NtRA, slot is a number of RO in one candidate RO position set within the slot with the SCS of 120KHz or 60KHz;
NdurRA, a number of symbols of a RO duration or physical RACH (PRACH) duration;
NRAslot,, a number of PRACH slots within a 60KHz or 120KHz slot per candidate RO position set, or a number of 120KHz slot or 60Khz slot in the 60KHz or 120KHz slot (“The location of PRACH occasions within a 60 kHz reference slot is then determined in Section 5.3.2 of 38.211 as follows:
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where l is the starting OFDM symbol (in the PRACH SCS) of a PRACH occasion within the reference 60 kHz slot, l0 is given by the column "Starting symbol" in the PRACH configuration table, NRAslot is the PRACH occasion duration in number of OFDM symbols and is given by the column NRAslot , PRACH duration”, NtRA is the PRACH occasion index within the slot and ranges from 0 up to one less than the value in the column ntRA ,number of time-domain PRACH occasions within a PRACH slot”, and n_"slot" ^"RA" is the PRACH slot index within the 60 kHz reference slot as discussed above. In order to support 480/960 kHz SCS, there is no need to make any changes to this equation or these table columns.” Section 2.2.0); or
Before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify Shin’s method for transmitting and receiving a wireless signal in a wireless communication system, as modified by Intel, to include Ericsson’s method of configuring PRACH configuration indices, in order to efficiently support initial access for extending NR up to 71 GHz (Ericsson, section 2.2.1). Thus, a person of ordinary skill would have appreciated the ability to incorporate Ericsson’s method of configuring PRACH configuration indices into Shin’s method for transmitting and receiving a wireless signal in a wireless communication system since the claimed invention is merely a combination of old elements, and in the combination each element merely would have performed the same function as it did separately, and one of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized that the results of the combination were predictable.
Regarding claim 10
Shin, as modified by Intel and Ericsson, previously discloses the method of claim 9, wherein the function includes at least one of:
NtRANdurRA *2µ-3 (µ> 3), which refers to symbols of one or more ROs in the slot with the SCS of 120KHz or 60KHz;
14nslorRA * 2µ-3 (µ> 3), which refers to symbols of the slot with the SCS of 120KHz or 60KHz; or
µ, which is a PRACH SCS.
The features of claim 10 appear to be obvious design matter that one skilled in the art would implement using the teaching of Section 5.3.2 of 38.211 without inventive activity.
Regarding claim 11
Shin, as modified by Intel and Ericsson, previously discloses the method of claim 9, wherein the symbol position (l) is determined by:
Ericsson further discloses l =lo+ NtRANdurRA *2µ-3 + ∆l + 14nslorRA * 2µ-3 (µ> 3) (“The location of PRACH occasions within a 60 kHz reference slot is then determined in Section 5.3.2 of 38.211 as follows” section 2.2.0),
Intel further discloses l = lO * 2µ-3 + NtRANdurRA *2µ-3 + ∆l + 14nslorRA * 2µ-3 (µ> 3) (“Modify equation defining the first OFDM symbol of PRACH RO given Section 5.3.2 from TS 38.211 as follows” section 2.3),
l = lO + NtRANdurRA *2µ-3 + ∆l *NdurRA + 14nslorRA * 2µ-3 (µ> 3) , or
l = lO * 2µ-3 + NtRANdurRA *2µ-3 + ∆l * NdurRA + 14nslorRA * 2µ-3 (µ> 3)•
The features of claim 11 appear to be obvious design matter that one skilled in the art would implement using the teaching of Section 5.3.2 of 38.211 without inventive activity.
Regarding claim 17
The wireless communication node of claim 16, wherein the wireless communication device determines the candidate starting symbol according to a starting symbol for a slot with a SCS of 120 KHz or 60KHz.
The scope and subject matter of apparatus claim 17 is drawn to the apparatus of using the corresponding method claimed in claim 2. Therefore apparatus claim 17 corresponds to method claim 2 and is rejected for the same reasons of obviousness as used in claim 2 rejection above.
Regarding claim 19
The wireless communication node of claim 16, wherein the at least one processor is configured to:
send, via a transmitter to the wireless communication device, a signaling that indicates a RA.CH occasion (RO) RO position set, the RO position set identifying at least two candidate RO position sets.
The scope and subject matter of apparatus claim 19 is drawn to the apparatus of using the corresponding method claimed in claim 4. Therefore apparatus claim 19 corresponds to method claim 4 and is rejected for the same reasons of obviousness as used in claim 4 rejection above.
Regarding claim 20
The wireless communication node of claim 18, wherein the signaling comprises:
a radio resource configuration (RRC) signaling,
a medium access control control element (MAC CE) signaling, or
a downlink control information (DCI) signaling.
The scope and subject matter of apparatus claim 20 is drawn to the apparatus of using the corresponding method claimed in claim 5. Therefore apparatus claim 20 corresponds to method claim 5 and is rejected for the same reasons of obviousness as used in claim 5 rejection above.
Claims 8, 12, and 13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Shin, in view of Intel and Ericsson, and further in view of LG NPL “Initial access aspects to support NR above 52.6 GHz”, 3GPP R1-2105419, May 10 – 27, 2021 (hereinafter “LG”).
Regarding claim 8
Shin, as modified by Intel and Ericsson, previously discloses the method of claim 6, wherein the default configuration includes a parameter having:
Shin, Intel, and Ericsson do not specifically teach:
a first value that indicates that the RO position set includes one candidate RO position set; or
a second value that indicates that the RO position set includes two candidate RO position sets; or
a third value that indicates that the RO position set includes three candidate RO position sets; or
a fourth value that indicates that the RO position set includes four candidate RO position sets; or
a fifth value that indicates that the RO position set includes five candidate RO position sets; or
a sixth value that indicates that the RO position set includes six candidate RO position sets; or
a seventh value that indicates that the RO position set includes seven candidate RO position sets; or
an eighth value that indicates that the RO position set includes eight candidate RO position sets.
In an analogous art, LG discloses a value of nslotRA specified in the pre-configured rules, and furthermore how “possible values of nslotRA for the new subcarrier spacing are PRACH SCS divided by 60 (nslotRA ϵ (0,1,…7) for 480 Khz”) see Proposal # 10-11.
LG further discloses how additional PRACH slots for the 480 KHz SCS can be specified by parameter X; if nslotRA=7, X=4, then four consecutive slots are the additional PRACH slots, see Proposal #12.
Since nslotRA ϵ (0,1,…7), where it is clear that the range of X is from 0 to 7. This thus corresponds to the “first value”, “second value”, “third value”, “fourth value”, “fifth value”, “sixth value”, “seventh value”, and “eight value”.
Before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify Shin’s method for transmitting and receiving a wireless signal in a wireless communication system, as modified by Intel and Ericsson, to include LG’s method for configuring RACH configuration, in order to efficiently support NR in high frequency range from 52.6 GHz to 71 GHz (LG [Introduction]). Thus, a person of ordinary skill would have appreciated the ability to incorporate LG’s method for configuring RACH configuration into Shin’s method for transmitting and receiving a wireless signal in a wireless communication system since the claimed invention is merely a combination of old elements, and in the combination each element merely would have performed the same function as it did separately, and one of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized that the results of the combination were predictable.
Regarding claim 12
Shin, as modified by Intel and Ericsson, previously discloses the method of claim 9,
Shin, Intel, and Ericsson do not specifically teach wherein for a x-th candidate RO position set, ∆l = x.
In an analogous art, LG discloses how additional PRACH slots for the 480 KHz SCS can be specified by parameter X; if nslotRA=7, X=4, then four consecutive slots are the additional PRACH slots, see Proposal #12.
Before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify Shin’s method for transmitting and receiving a wireless signal in a wireless communication system, as modified by Intel and Ericsson, to include LG’s method for configuring RACH configuration, in order to efficiently support NR in high frequency range from 52.6 GHz to 71 GHz (LG [Introduction]). Thus, a person of ordinary skill would have appreciated the ability to incorporate LG’s method for configuring RACH configuration into Shin’s method for transmitting and receiving a wireless signal in a wireless communication system since the claimed invention is merely a combination of old elements, and in the combination each element merely would have performed the same function as it did separately, and one of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized that the results of the combination were predictable.
Regarding claim 13
Shin, as modified by Intel and Ericsson, previously discloses the method of claim 9,
Shin, Intel, and Ericsson do not specifically teach wherein for a plurality of candidate RO position sets, ∆l is a set of values corresponding to indices of the plurality of candidate RO position sets, or a set of values corresponding to one or more symbol level offsets between the candidate starting symbol and a starting symbol of each candidate RO position set.
In an analogous art, LG discloses wherein for a plurality of candidate RO position sets, ∆l is a set of values corresponding to indices of the plurality of candidate RO position sets, or a set of values corresponding to one or more symbol level offsets between the candidate starting symbol and a starting symbol of each candidate RO position set.
Before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify Shin’s method for transmitting and receiving a wireless signal in a wireless communication system, as modified by Intel and Ericsson, to include LG’s method for configuring RACH configuration, in order to efficiently support NR in high frequency range from 52.6 GHz to 71 GHz (LG [Introduction]). Thus, a person of ordinary skill would have appreciated the ability to incorporate LG’s method for configuring RACH configuration into Shin’s method for transmitting and receiving a wireless signal in a wireless communication system since the claimed invention is merely a combination of old elements, and in the combination each element merely would have performed the same function as it did separately, and one of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized that the results of the combination were predictable.
Conclusion
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/CHUONG M NGUYEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2411