DETAILED ACTION
This action is in response to applicant’s amendment filed on 02 April 2026. Claims 1-5, 7-8, 10-13, 15-16, 18-19, 21-22, 24-27, 29, 33, 43, 47, and 61-62 are now pending in the present application and claims 6, 9, 14, 17, 20, 23, 28, 30-32, 34-42, 44-46, and 48-60 are canceled. This office action is made Final.
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 § 102
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)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1, 15, 29, and 43 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by CMCC (hereinafter CMCC-3GPP) (“Consideration for RACH Resource Partitioning for NR”; 3GPP Draft; R2-1706998).
Regarding claims 1, 15, 29, and 43, CMCC-3GPP discloses an apparatus for wireless communication at a user equipment (UE):
one or more memories (e.g., UE) { (see pg. 1, section 1, Agreements (RAN1#88bis)); pp. 1-2, section 2.1) }; and
one or more processors coupled to the memory, the one or more processors configured to { (see pg. 1, section 1, Agreements (RAN1#88bis)); pp. 1-2, section 2.1) }:
receive a message indicating a common pool of resources for a random access channel (RACH) { (see pg. 1, section 1, Agreements (RAN1#88bis)), where the system provides an association for occasions of SS block and subset of RACH resources, and the system provides RACH resources categorized as common and dedicated set (see pg. 3, section 2.2, ‘proposal 1’; Fig. 1) };
receive an indication of a plurality of subsets within the common pool of resources, wherein the indication indicates at least one use case associated with each subset of the plurality of subsets { (see pg. 3, section 2.2, ‘proposal 1’; Fig. 1) }; and
initiate a random access procedure by transmitting a first RACH preamble in a RACH occasion within a subset of the common pool of resources in accordance with the indication and an associated use case, wherein the subset is selected based at least in part on the use case that triggered the random access procedure { (see pg. 3, section 2.2, ‘proposal 1’; pg. 1, section 1, Agreements (RAN1#88bis); Fig. 1), where the system provides RACH resources categorized as common and dedicated set }.
Claim(s) 1-5, 7-8, 10-13, 15-16, 18-19, 21-22, 24-27, 29, 33, 43, 47, and 61-62 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Jeon et al. (hereinafter Jeon) (US 2018/0324853 A1).
Regarding claims 1, 15, 29, and 43, Jeon discloses an apparatus for wireless communication at a user equipment (UE):
one or more memories (e.g., UE) { (see pg. 7, [0082]; pp. 3-4, [0059]; Figs. 1 & 4) }; and
one or more processors coupled to the memory, the one or more processors configured to { (see pg. 7, [0082]; pp. 3-4, [0059]; Figs. 1 & 4) }:
receive a message indicating a common pool of resources for a random access channel (RACH) { (see pg. 11, [0121-0122]; pg. 12, [0124]; pg. 15, [0163]; Figs. 1, 9, 18-20C, & 26), where the system provides a PRACH resources for PRACH transmission occasions and a subset of RACH resources };
receive an indication of a plurality of subsets within the common pool of resources, wherein the indication indicates at least one use case associated with each subset of the plurality of subsets { (see pg. 12, [0124]; pg. 15, [0163]; Figs. 1, 9, & 18-20C, & 26), where the system has multiple subsets of resources (see pg. 5, [0069, lines 1-8]; pg. 10, [0106, 0105]; pg. 33, [0430, lines 8-12; pg. 16, [0172, lines 10-15]) }; and
initiate a random access procedure by transmitting a first RACH preamble in a RACH occasion within a subset of the common pool of resources in accordance with the indication and an associated use case, wherein the subset is selected based at least in part on the use case that triggered the random access procedure { (see pg. 11, [0121-0122]; pg. 12, [0124]; pg. 15, [0163]; Figs. 1, 9, 18-20C, & 26), where the system provides a PRACH resources for PRACH transmission occasions and a subset of RACH resources, and the system has multiple subsets of resources (see pg. 5, [0069, lines 1-8]; pg. 10, [0106, 0105]; pg. 33, [0430, lines 8-12; pg. 16, [0172, lines 10-15]) }.
Regarding claims 2, 16, 33, and 47, Jeon discloses the apparatus of claim 1, wherein the message includes a starting frequency, a quantity of RACH occasions per slot, a time domain pattern indicator, at least one preamble-transmission parameter, or a combination thereof { (see pg. 12, [0124]; pg. 11, [0121-0122]; pg. 15, [0163]; Figs. 1, 9, 18-20C, & 26) }.
Regarding claims 4 and 18, Jeon discloses the apparatus of claim 1, wherein the indication includes, for each subset, a corresponding mapping between a synchronization signal block (SSB) and one or more corresponding RACH occasions { (see pg. 11, [0117]; pg. 12, [0124]; pg. 15, [0163]; Figs. 1, 9, & 18-20C, & 26) }.
Regarding claims 5 and 19, Jeon discloses the-GE apparatus of claim 1, wherein the indication includes, for at least one of the subsets, at least one preamble-transmission parameter { (see pg. 12, [0124]; pg. 15, [0163]; Figs. 1, 9, & 18-20C, & 26) }.
Regarding claims 7 and 21, Jeon discloses the apparatus of claim 1, wherein the selected subset includes a portion of the common pool of resources that is associated with an unaffiliated use case { (see pg. 12, [0124]; pg. 15, [0163, 0157]; Figs. 1, 9, & 18-20C, & 26) }.
Regarding claims 8 and 22, Jeon discloses the apparatus of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to: receive a second indication of a mapping of one or more RACH preambles to one or more use cases including the use case that triggered the random access; transmit, to the base station, an initial RACH preamble selected from the one or more RACH preambles based at least in part on the use case associated with the first RACH preamble; and receive a third indication that the subset of the common pool of resources, associated with the use case, is activated, wherein the first RACH preamble is transmitted within the subset based at least in part on the third indication that the subset is activated { (see pg. 12, [0124]; pg. 11, [0121-0122]; pg. 15, [0163]; Figs. 1, 9, 18-20C, & 26) }.
Regarding claims 10 and 24, Jeon discloses the apparatus of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to: transmit, to the base station, an initial RACH preamble within the common pool of resources; transmit, to the base station, a RACH payload including a second indication associated with the use case that triggered the random access procedure; and receive a third indication that the subset of the common pool of resources, associated with the use case, is activated, wherein the first RACH preamble is transmitted within the subset based at least in part on the third indication that the subset is activated { (see pg. 12, [0124]; pg. 11, [0121-0122]; pg. 15, [0163]; Figs. 1, 9, 18-20C, & 26) }.
Regarding claims 11 and 25, Jeon discloses the apparatus of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to: receive a second indication of a mapping of one or more RACH occasions to one or more use cases including the use case that triggered the random access; transmit an initial RACH preamble within an occasion of the one or more RACH occasions, based at least in part on the use case that triggered the random access; and receive a third indication of the subset of the common pool of resources associated with the use case, wherein the first RACH preamble is transmitted within the subset based at least in part on the third indication of the subset { (see pg. 12, [0124]; pg. 11, [0121-0122]; pg. 15, [0163]; Figs. 1, 9, 18-20C, & 26) }.
Regarding claims 12 and 26, Jeon discloses the apparatus of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to: receive a second indication of a mapping of one or more RACH preambles to one or more use cases including the use case that triggered the random access; transmit, to the base station, an initial RACH preamble selected from the one or more RACH preambles based at least in part on the use case that triggered the random access; and receive a third indication of the subset of the common pool of resources associated with the use case, wherein the first RACH preamble is transmitted within the subset based at least in part on the indication of the subset { (see pg. 12, [0124]; pg. 11, [0121-0122]; pg. 15, [0163]; Figs. 1, 9, 18-20C, & 26) }.
Regarding claims 13 and 27, Jeon discloses the apparatus of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to: transmit an initial RACH preamble within the common pool of resources; transmit a RACH payload including a second indication associated with the use case that triggered the random access procedure; and receive a third indication of the subset of the common pool of resources associated with the use case, wherein the first RACH preamble is transmitted within the subset based at least in part on the third indication of the subset { (see pg. 12, [0124]; pg. 11, [0121-0122]; pg. 15, [0163]; Figs. 1, 9, 18-20C, & 26) }.
Regarding claims 61 and 62, Jeon discloses the method of claim 31, wherein the message includes a starting frequency, a quantity of RACH occasions per slot, a time domain pattern indicator, at least one preamble-transmission parameter, or a combination thereof { (see pg. 12, [0124]; pg. 11, [0121-0122]; pg. 3, [0052, 0055, 0057; 0051, lines 19 et seq.]; pg. 15, [0163]; Figs. 1, 9, 18-20C, & 26) }.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments with respect to claims 1-5, 7-8, 10-13, 15-16, 18-19, 21-22, 24-27, 29, 33, 43, 47, and 61-62 have been considered but are moot in view of the new ground(s) of rejection necessitated by the amended language, new limitations, and/or new claims.
In response to applicant’s arguments, the Examiner respectfully disagrees as the applied reference(s) provide more than adequate support and to further clarify (see the above claims for relevant citations and comments in this section).
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to WILLIE J DANIEL JR whose telephone number is (571)272-7907. The examiner can normally be reached on 9 - 6.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Gary Mui can be reached on 571-270-1420. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/WILLIE J DANIEL JR/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2465
WJD,Jr
17 June 2026
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