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 .
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.
Drawings
The replacement sheet for Fig. 5 submitted on 10 December 2025 is acknowledged and entered into the record.
Claim Objections
The claims filed on 10 December 2025 are objected to for not being in compliance with 37 CFR 1.52(a)(1)(iv) and (V) which states all papers must be plainly and legibly written either by a typewriter or machine printer in permanent dark ink or its equivalent; and presented in a form having sufficient clarity and contrast between the paper and the writing thereon to permit the direct reproduction of readily legible copies in any number by use of photographic, electrostatic, photo-offset, and microfilming processes and electronic capture by use of digital imaging and optical character recognition.
Due to USPTO processing, the red or blue text used with revisions in most text editors (MS Word, etc.) is changed to what appears to be light grey text. Most text editors change text color to red or blue depending on which revision is being created. Since added text is underlined and deleted text has strikethrough the colored text is not necessary, and applicant is advised that all text should be made black before submitting amendments in order to avoid such objections. The grey text is readily apparent with a cursory look at the claims in the file wrapper.
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, 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) 25-37 and 45 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Liu et al. (US 2024/0306209 A1) in view of Belleschi et al. (US 2023/0007686 A1).
Regarding claim 25, Liu appears to disclose an apparatus, comprising: at least one processor; and at least one memory including program code; wherein the at least one memory and the program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to (Fig. 17, [0252], [0255]-[0257]):
receive information of group definition and random access configuration for each group ([0035]-[0036], Fig. 1 step 101, [0038]-[0041] disclosing the user equipment receives random access resource pool configurations for different network slices);
determine a group based on the information of group definition (Fig. 1, step 102, [0042]-[0043], [0045] disclosing based on the slice information of target network slices, the UE determines the first random access resource);
make a first random access attempt using a random access configuration for the determined group (Fig. 1, 103, [0044] disclosing random access is initiated on the first random access resource);
determine whether the first random access attempt is successful ([0138]-[0140], [0154] disclosing the UE reports random access failure when the total number of initiating random access failures reaches the maximum number of random accesses (i.e., random access was not successful)).
Liu does not disclose the following; however, Belleschi discloses transmit a random access report when the first random access attempt is successful (Fig. 2A, 2B, [0017], [0166] disclosing a RACH report is sent to the access node in response to a successful random access procedure).
It would have been obvious to provide the random access report in the invention of Liu as taught by Belleschi because the motivation is provided by Belleschi that a random access procedure in licensed communication may succeed or result in RLF/handover/connection setup or resume failure and providing such random access reports can improve 4-step and 2-step random access resource allocation and increase the connection establishment success if the UE ([0130-[0131]).
Regarding claim 26, Liu appears to disclose the apparatus as claimed in claim 25, wherein the information of group definition comprises at least one of: slice information; a type of the apparatus; one or more capabilities of the apparatus; quality of service priority; one or more bandwidth parts; and information identifying the group ([0035]-[0036], [0043], [0045]).
Regarding claim 27, Liu appears to disclose the apparatus as claimed in claim 25, wherein determining the group based on the information of group definition comprises determining the group based on slice information initiating a connection ([0035]-[0036], [0043], [0045]).
Regarding claim 28, Liu appears to disclose the apparatus as claimed in claim 25, wherein resources allocated by random access configuration are different for each group ([0035]-[0036], [0043], [0045]).
Regarding claim 29, Liu appears to disclose the apparatus as claimed in claim 25, wherein the apparatus is further caused to:
select a random access occasion based on random access configuration for the group (Fig. 1. Step 102, [0042], [0005]), and
transmit the first random access attempt in the random access occasion (Fig. 1, step 103, [0044]).
Regarding claim 30, Liu does not disclose the following; however, Belleschi appears to disclose the apparatus as claimed in claim 25, wherein the apparatus is further caused to:
start a random access logging timer upon the first random access attempt ([0152]), and
stop the random access logging timer after a successful random access attempt or a new random access in a new cell is initiated by the apparatus ([0152]).
It would have been obvious to provide the random access report in the invention of Liu as taught by Belleschi because the motivation is provided by Belleschi that a random access procedure in licensed communication may succeed or result in RLF/handover/connection setup or resume failure and providing such random access reports can improve 4-step and 2-step random access resource allocation and increase the connection establishment success if the UE ([0130-[0131]).
Regarding claim 31, Liu does not disclose the following; however, Belleschi appears to disclose the apparatus as claimed in claim 30, wherein the apparatus is further caused to:
log a timer value after each failed random access attempt ([0149], [0156]).
It would have been obvious to provide the random access report in the invention of Liu as taught by Belleschi because the motivation is provided by Belleschi that a random access procedure in licensed communication may succeed or result in RLF/handover/connection setup or resume failure and providing such random access reports can improve 4-step and 2-step random access resource allocation and increase the connection establishment success if the UE ([0130-[0131]).
Regarding claim 32, Liu does not disclose the following; however, Belleschi appears to disclose the apparatus as claimed in claim 31, wherein logging the timer value comprises logging the timer value with a preamble selected for that attempt (Fig. 2A, Fig. 2B, [0017], perRAAttemptinfolist; [0172] disclosing the perRAAttemptinfolist comprising a list of preambles).
It would have been obvious to provide the random access report in the invention of Liu as taught by Belleschi because the motivation is provided by Belleschi that a random access procedure in licensed communication may succeed or result in RLF/handover/connection setup or resume failure and providing such random access reports can improve 4-step and 2-step random access resource allocation and increase the connection establishment success if the UE ([0130-[0131]).
Regarding claim 33, Liu does not disclose the following; however, Belleschi appears to disclose the apparatus as claimed in claim 31, wherein logging the timer value comprises at least one of:
logging the timer value when a second message is not received by the apparatus within a random access response window ([0149], [0156]), or
logging the timer value when a fourth message is not received by the apparatus within a contention resolution window after transmission of a third message ([0150], [0156]).
It would have been obvious to provide the random access report in the invention of Liu as taught by Belleschi because the motivation is provided by Belleschi that a random access procedure in licensed communication may succeed or result in RLF/handover/connection setup or resume failure and providing such random access reports can improve 4-step and 2-step random access resource allocation and increase the connection establishment success if the UE ([0130-[0131]).
Regarding claim 34, Liu appears to disclose the apparatus as claimed in claim 31, wherein the random access resources are with respect to a slice type ([0003] slices for different service requirements; [0035]-[0036], [0043], [0045] configured RACH resources for particular slices). Liu does not disclose the following; however, Liu in view of Belleschi suggest wherein logging the timer value comprises logging the timer value with respect to a slice type ([0183] disclosing information in the RACH report regarding the status of the configured RACH resources (i.e. the configured resources for particular slices of Liu)).
It would have been obvious to provide the random access report in the invention of Liu as taught by Belleschi because the motivation is provided by Belleschi that a random access procedure in licensed communication may succeed or result in RLF/handover/connection setup or resume failure and providing such random access reports can improve 4-step and 2-step random access resource allocation and increase the connection establishment success if the UE ([0130-[0131]).
Regarding claim 35, Liu does not disclose the following; however, Belleschi appears to disclose the apparatus as claimed in claim 31, wherein the random access report comprises the logged timer values ([0156]).
It would have been obvious to provide the random access report in the invention of Liu as taught by Belleschi because the motivation is provided by Belleschi that a random access procedure in licensed communication may succeed or result in RLF/handover/connection setup or resume failure and providing such random access reports can improve 4-step and 2-step random access resource allocation and increase the connection establishment success if the UE ([0130-[0131]).
Regarding claim 36, Liu does not disclose the following; however, Belleschi appears to disclose the apparatus as claimed in claim 30, wherein the apparatus is further caused to:
log a timer value for a successful random access attempt ([0152]).
It would have been obvious to provide the random access report in the invention of Liu as taught by Belleschi because the motivation is provided by Belleschi that a random access procedure in licensed communication may succeed or result in RLF/handover/connection setup or resume failure and providing such random access reports can improve 4-step and 2-step random access resource allocation and increase the connection establishment success if the UE ([0130-[0131]).
Regarding claim 37, Liu appears to disclose the apparatus as claimed in claim 25, wherein the random access report comprises a type of the apparatus ([0154] disclosing the RACH report is provided by the UE which implicitly is an indication that a UE is the type of apparatus which sent the RACH report).
Regarding claim 45, Liu appears to disclose the apparatus as claimed in claim 25, wherein the apparatus comprises or is comprised by a user equipment ([0154] disclosing the RACH report is provided by the UE).
Response to Arguments
Election/Restrictions
Applicant's election with traverse of claims 25-37 in the reply filed on 10 December 2025 is acknowledged. The traversal is on the ground(s) that the inventions of group I and group II have “reciprocal features” and “common technical features”. This is not found persuasive because these features do not satisfy the requirement for unity of invention (PCT Rule 13). Unity exists when there is a technical relationship between the claimed inventions involving one or more of the same special technical features. A special technical feature is a contribution which each of the inventions, considered as a whole, makes over the prior art. In the instant case, there is a lack of unity a posteriori as evidenced by the prior art in the restriction requirement showing the “common technical features”, a.k.a., “the reciprocal features”, are known in the art; thus, said features cannot be held as a special technical feature. Applicant has not effectively rebutted the a posteriori lack of unity presented in the requirement for restriction.
The requirement is still deemed proper and is therefore made FINAL.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Joseph A Bednash whose telephone number is (571)270-7500. The examiner can normally be reached 7 AM - 4:30 PM M-F.
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/JOSEPH A BEDNASH/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2461