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 .
Response to Amendment
Receipt is acknowledged of the amendment filed 12/6/2023. Claims 1-27 have been canceled. Claims 28-47 have been added. Claims 28-47 are pending and an action is as follows.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 28-47 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.
Claim Objections
Claims 32 and 41 are objected to because of the following informalities: The claims recite in the last claim limitations “… ii) the UE is configured to provide a … (MC) service and/or the is UE configured to provide…”. The Examiner believes that the Applicant may have intended to compose the claims to recite “… and/or the UE is configured to provide…”. Appropriate correction is required.
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.
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.
Claim(s) 28-30, 32-39 and 41-47 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Xu et al. US 2023/0156823 (hereinafter Xu), in view of XIONG et al. US 2018/0227958 (hereinafter XIONG).
Regarding claim 28, Xu teaches a method of configuring one or more user equipments (UEs), wherein the method comprising:
([Xu, Fig. 6B and 11,¶62-¶64] the base station (BS) sends configuration information, including a Repetition Number (Repetition Num), in a Broadcast message to the UE for configuring the UE)
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Generating a second message, the second message comprising a repetition parameter, wherein the repetition parameter indicates that a UE is allowed to or must transmit a first message repeatedly while a set of one or more repetition criterions met provided that the UE satisfies one or more UE criterions; and
([Xu, Fig. 6B and 11,¶62-¶64] the base station (BS) sends configuration information including a Repetition Number (Repetition Num), in a Broadcast message 612 (interpreted as the claimed “second message”) to the UE for configuring the UE to repeatedly transmit a First Random Access (RA) message 614-616, interpreted as the claimed “first message” while the transmission of the First RA Message is to be the initial First RA message transmitted from the UE following the reception of the Broadcast message received from the BS by the UE and that the number of current First RA message in the sequence of the set of repeated First RA messages being transmitted is less than or equal to the Repetition Num, which is interpreted by the Examiner as the one or more repetition criterions being met, provided that UE has not received Msg B (which is the acknowledgement of the Msg A that is the subject of repetitive transmission) indicating Acknowledgement by the BS of the transmitted Msg A, which is interpreted by the Examiner as the claimed “the UE satisfies one or more UE criterions”)
transmitting the second message, wherein
the set of one or more repetition criterions includes a first repetition criterion, the repetition criterion is that physical random access channel (PRACH) reattempt has not occurred, and
([Xu, Fig. 6B and 11, ¶62-¶64] The BS transmits the Broadcast message 612 ( the claimed second message) while the BS includes in Broadcast message 612, wherein the repetition criterion is reflected in Fig. 6B as comprising that a PRACH reattempt has not occurred as the transmission of the First RA message 614 will be the initial PRACH transmission (meaning that no PRACH reattempt has occurred) as further noted by the absence of PRACH transmissions prior to the transmission of the First RA message 614 (see all transmissions above 614 in Fig. 6B).)
But, while Xu teaches that UE receives a Broadcast (the claimed “second message”) [See Xu, Fig. 6B], but it does not teach wherein the criteria includes that the UE is (i) a UE configured to provide a mission critical, MC, service, (ii) a UE configured to provide one or more multimedia priority services, or (iii) any one of (i) and (ii).
However, XIONG teaches that transmissions are repeated under the conditions of said one or more UE criterions including the UE is configured to provide a mission critical (MC) service and/or the UE is configured to provide one or more multimedia priority services in addition to being configured to repeat transmissions for a number of repetitions due to satisfying UE criterions.
(XIONG teaches wherein the UE also satisfies the UE criterion of the UE by being configured to provide mission critical services in addition to being configured to repeat transmissions for a number of repetitions, thus the UE will repeated transmit the mission critical communication, thus the XIONG reference teaches the claimed said one or more UE criterions includes that the UE is configured to provide a mission critical (MC) service or one or more multimedia priority services [XOING, ¶125-¶126].)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to combine the teachings of Xu, indicating the ability to send and receive repetitive RA messages, with the teachings of XIONG, indicating that the UEs may be configured to provide MC service. Benefiting result would have been the ability to improve latency, reliability of communications between networked devices and availability-of-service [XOING, ¶21].
Regarding claim 37, Xu teaches a method of configuring a user equipment (UE), wherein the method comprises:
([Xu, Fig. 6B and 11,¶62-¶64] The base station (BS) sends configuration information, including a Repetition Number (Repetition Num), in a Broadcast message to the UE for configuring the UE to repeatedly transmit a First Random Access (RA) message 614-616,)
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receiving a second message, the second message comprising a repetition parameter, wherein the repetition parameter indicates that the UE is allowed to or must transmit a first message repeatedly while a set of one or more repetition criterion is met provided that the UE satisfies one or more UE criterions;
([Xu, Fig. 6B and 11,¶62-¶64] the base station (BS) sends configuration information including a Repetition Number (Repetition Num), in a Broadcast message 612 (interpreted as the claimed “second message”) to the UE for configuring the UE to repeatedly transmit a First Random Access (RA) message 614-616, interpreted as the claimed “first message” while the transmission of the First RA Message is to be the initial First RA message transmitted from the UE following the reception of the Broadcast message received from the BS by the UE and that the number of current First RA message in the sequence of the set of repeated First RA messages being transmitted is less than or equal to the Repetition Num, which is interpreted by the Examiner as the one or more repetition criterions being met, provided that UE has not received Msg B (which is the acknowledgement of the Msg A that is the subject of repetitive transmission) indicating Acknowledgement by the BS of the transmitted Msg A, which is interpreted by the Examiner as the claimed “the UE satisfies one or more UE criterions”)
based on the received second message, determining whether to repeatedly transmit the first message; and
([Xu, Fig. 6B, ¶62-¶64 and also see Fig. 5A] Xu teaches wherein based on receiving the Broadcast message, determining whether to repeatedly transmit the First RA message as the number of repetitions which may be 0 is determined based on the radio quality of the received Broadcast message (interpreted as the claimed “second message”) as also noted in Fig. 5A of Xu where the RSRP of the received Broadcast message is compared to a threshold)
transmitting the first message,
wherein the set of one or more repetition criterions includes a first repetition criterion, the first repetition criterion is that physical random access channel (PRACH) reattempt has not occurred, and
([Xu, Fig. 6B and 11, ¶62-¶64] The BS transmits the Broadcast message 612 ( the claimed second message) while the BS includes in Broadcast message 612, wherein the first repetition criterion is reflected in Fig. 6B as comprising that a PRACH reattempt has not occurred as the transmission of the First RA message 614 will be the initial PRACH transmission (meaning that no PRACH reattempt has occurred) as further noted by the absence of PRACH transmissions prior to the transmission of the First RA message 614 (see all transmissions above 614 in Fig. 6B).)
But, while Xu teaches that UE receives a Broadcast (the claimed “second message”) [See Xu, Fig. 6B], but it does not teach wherein the UE criterion includes that the UE is a UE configured to provide a mission critical (MC) service or a UE configured to provide one or more multimedia priority services.
However, XIONG teaches that transmissions are repeated under the conditions of said one or more UE criterions including the UE is configured to provide a mission critical (MC) service and/or the UE is configured to provide one or more multimedia priority services in addition to being configured to repeat transmissions for a number of repetitions due to satisfying UE criterions.
(XIONG teaches wherein the UE also satisfies the UE criterion of the UE by being configured to provide mission critical services in addition to being configured to repeat transmissions for a number of repetitions, thus the UE will repeated transmit the mission critical communication, thus the XIONG reference teaches the claimed said one or more UE criterions includes that the UE is configured to provide a mission critical (MC) service or one or more multimedia priority services [XOING, ¶125-¶126].)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to combine the teachings of Xu, indicating the ability to send and receive repetitive RA messages, with the teachings of XIONG, indicating that the UEs may be configured to provide MC service. Benefiting result would have been the ability to improve latency, reliability of communications between networked devices and availability-of-service [XOING, ¶21].
Regarding claim 46, Xu teaches a base station for configuring one or more user equipments (UEs),
([Xu, Fig. 6B and 11,¶62-¶64] the base station (BS) sends configuration information, including a Repetition Number (Repetition Num), in a Broadcast message to the UE for configuring the UE)
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the base station comprising:
a memory; and [Xu, Fig. 16, Memory 1630, ¶142]
processing circuitry coupled to the memory, [Xu, Fig. 16, Processor 1610 coupled to Memory 1630, ¶142]
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wherein the base station is configured to:
generate a second message, the second message comprising a repetition parameter, wherein the repetition parameter indicates that a UE is allowed to or must transmit a first message repeatedly while a set of one or more repetition criterions met provided that the UE satisfies one or more UE criterions; and
([Xu, Fig. 6B and 11,¶62-¶64] the base station (BS) sends configuration information including a Repetition Number (Repetition Num), in a Broadcast message 612 (interpreted as the claimed “second message”) to the UE for configuring the UE to repeatedly transmit a First Random Access (RA) message 614-616, interpreted as the claimed “first message” while the transmission of the First RA Message is to be the initial First RA message transmitted from the UE following the reception of the Broadcast message received from the BS by the UE and that the number of current First RA message in the sequence of the set of repeated First RA messages being transmitted is less than or equal to the Repetition Num, which is interpreted by the Examiner as the one or more repetition criterions being met, provided that UE has not received Msg B (which is the acknowledgement of the Msg A that is the subject of repetitive transmission) indicating Acknowledgement by the BS of the transmitted Msg A, which is interpreted by the Examiner as the claimed “the UE satisfies one or more UE criterions”)
transmitting the second message, wherein
the set of one or more repetition criterions includes a first repetition criterion, the first repetition criterion is that physical random access channel (PRACH) reattempt has not occurred, and
([Xu, Fig. 6B and 11, ¶62-¶64] The BS transmits the Broadcast message 612 ( the claimed second message) while the BS includes in Broadcast message 612, wherein the repetition criterion is reflected in Fig. 6B as comprising that a PRACH reattempt has not occurred as the transmission of the First RA message 614 will be the initial PRACH transmission (meaning that no PRACH reattempt has occurred) as further noted by the absence of PRACH transmissions prior to the transmission of the First RA message 614 (see all transmissions above 614 in Fig. 6B).)
But, while Xu teaches that UE receives a Broadcast (the claimed “second message”) [See Xu, Fig. 6B], but it does not teach wherein the criteria includes that the UE is (i) a UE configured to provide a mission critical, MC, service, (ii) a UE configured to provide one or more multimedia priority services, or (iii) any one of (i) and (ii).
However, XIONG teaches that transmissions are repeated under the conditions of said one or more UE criterions including the UE is configured to provide a mission critical (MC) service and/or the UE is configured to provide one or more multimedia priority services in addition to being configured to repeat transmissions for a number of repetitions due to satisfying UE criterions.
(XIONG teaches wherein the UE also satisfies the UE criterion of the UE by being configured to provide mission critical services in addition to being configured to repeat transmissions for a number of repetitions, thus the UE will repeated transmit the mission critical communication, thus the XIONG reference teaches the claimed said one or more UE criterions includes that the UE is configured to provide a mission critical (MC) service or one or more multimedia priority services [XOING, ¶125-¶126].)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to combine the teachings of Xu, indicating the ability to send and receive repetitive RA messages, with the teachings of XIONG, indicating that the UEs may be configured to provide MC service. Benefiting result would have been the ability to improve latency, reliability of communications between networked devices and availability-of-service [XOING, ¶21].
Regarding claim 47, Xu teaches a user equipment (UE) [XU, Fig. 16, UE 1600],
the UE comprising:
a memory; and [Xu, Fig. 16, Memory 1630, ¶142]
processing circuitry coupled to the memory, [Xu, Fig. 16, Processor 1610 coupled to Memory 1630, ¶142]
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wherein the UE is configured to:
receive a second message, the second message comprising a repetition parameter, wherein the repetition parameter indicates that the UE is allowed to or must transmit the first message repeatedly while a set of the one or more repetition criterions is met provided that the UE satisfies one or more UE criterions:
([Xu, Fig. 6B and 11,¶62-¶64] the base station (BS) sends configuration information including a Repetition Number (Repetition Num), in a Broadcast message 612 (interpreted as the claimed “second message”) to the UE which receives the broadcast message 612 message for configuring the UE to repeatedly transmit a First Random Access (RA) message 614-616, interpreted as the claimed “first message” while the transmission of the First RA Message is to be the initial First RA message transmitted from the UE following the reception of the Broadcast message received from the BS by the UE and that the number of current First RA message in the sequence of the set of repeated First RA messages being transmitted is less than or equal to the Repetition Num, which is interpreted by the Examiner as the one or more repetition criterions being met, provided that UE has not received Msg B (which is the acknowledgement of the Msg A that is the subject of repetitive transmission) indicating Acknowledgement by the BS of the transmitted Msg A, which is interpreted by the Examiner as the claimed “the UE satisfies one or more UE criterions”)
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based on the received second message, determine whether to repeatedly transmit the first message; and
([Xu, Fig. 6B, ¶62-¶64 and also see Fig. 5A] Xu teaches wherein based on receiving the Broadcast message, determining whether to repeatedly transmit the First RA message as the number of repetitions which may be 0 is determined based on the radio quality of the received Broadcast message (interpreted as the claimed “second message”) as also noted in Fig. 5A of Xu where the RSRP of the received Broadcast message is compared to a threshold)
transmit the first message,
wherein the set of one or more repetition criterions includes a first repetition criterion, the first repetition criterion is that physical random access channel (PRACH) reattempt has not occurred, and
([Xu, Fig. 6B and 11, ¶62-¶64] The BS transmits the Broadcast message 612 ( the claimed second message) while the BS includes in Broadcast message 612, wherein the first repetition criterion is reflected in Fig. 6B as comprising that a PRACH reattempt has not occurred as the transmission of the First RA message 614 will be the initial PRACH transmission (meaning that no PRACH reattempt has occurred) as further noted by the absence of PRACH transmissions prior to the transmission of the First RA message 614 (see all transmissions above 614 in Fig. 6B).)
But, while Xu teaches that UE receives a Broadcast (the claimed “second message”) [See Xu, Fig. 6B], but it does not teach wherein the UE criterion includes that the UE is a UE configured to provide a mission critical (MC) service or a UE configured to provide one or more multimedia priority services.
However, XIONG teaches that transmissions are repeated under the conditions of said one or more UE criterions including the UE is configured to provide a mission critical (MC) service and/or the UE is configured to provide one or more multimedia priority services in addition to being configured to repeat transmissions for a number of repetitions due to satisfying UE criterions.
(XIONG teaches wherein the UE also satisfies the UE criterion of the UE by being configured to provide mission critical services in addition to being configured to repeat transmissions for a number of repetitions, thus the UE will repeated transmit the mission critical communication, thus the XIONG reference teaches the claimed said one or more UE criterions includes that the UE is configured to provide a mission critical (MC) service or one or more multimedia priority services [XOING, ¶125-¶126].)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to combine the teachings of Xu, indicating the ability to send and receive repetitive RA messages, with the teachings of XIONG, indicating that the UEs may be configured to provide MC service. Benefiting result would have been the ability to improve latency, reliability of communications between networked devices and availability-of-service [XOING, ¶21].
Regarding claim 29 and claim 38, the combination of Xu, in view of XIONG teaches the method of claim 28 and claim 37 respectively, wherein the first message includes random access preamble. [Xu, Fig. 6B, 614 (the First RA message comprises a preamble)]
Regarding claim 30 and claim 39, the combination of Xu, in view of XIONG teaches the method of claim 28 and claim 37 respectively, wherein the set of one or more repetition criterions further includes a second repetition criterion, and the second repetition criterion is that a random access response (RAR) window has not been ended.
([Xu, Fig. ¶43] For 4-step RA procedure, if the UE does not receive a RA response within the response window then the UE may retransmit the Frist RA message. [Xu, Fig. 6B, ¶64] With some similarity the repetition of the First RA message in a 2-step RACH procedure is allowed to be retransmitted prior to the end of the RA response (RAR) window.)
Regarding claim 32 and claim 41, the combination of Xu, in view of XIONG teaches the method of claim 28 and claim 37 respectively, wherein the UE satisfies the one or more UE criterions if: i) the UE has a certain capability and ii) the UE is configured to provide a mission critical (MC) service and/or the is UE configured to provide one or more multimedia priority services. (According to XIONG the has the capability to retransmit repeatedly in addition to the UE having the capability of providing supporting Mission Critical services as well as repeat transmissions [XIONG, ¶125-¶126])
The reasons for obviousness, motivation and benefit of combining the applied references is the same as that which is expressed in the rejection of claim 28 and 37 respectively above.
Regarding claim 33 and claim 42, the combination of Xu, in view of XIONG teaches the method of claim 32 and claim 41 respectively, wherein the UE has the certain capability if the UE includes i) a capability of repeatedly transmitting Msg1, Msg3, and/or MsgA, and/or ii) beamforming related capability (According to XU, the UE has the capability to retransmit repeatedly MsgA [Xu, Fig. 6B, 614-616]].
Regarding claim 34 and claim 43, the combination of Xu, in view of XIONG teaches the method of claim 28 and claim 37 respectively, wherein the one or more UE criterions includes that a measurement of a downlink reference signal is below or not larger than a predetermined threshold. ([XU, Fig. 5A, ¶50 and ¶62 with respect to Fig. 6B] The measurement of the reference signal received power for the signal received from the BS by the UE is considered at the UE for the UE criterions that includes the claimed measurement of the downlink reference signal (shown as the RSRP of Fig. 5A which is also referred to as a radio link quality of the UE in ¶50 and also noted in ¶62 corresponding to Fig. 6B of Xu) determination that the radio link quality (RSRP) of the UE is within the predefined radio link quality threshold, which is interpreted as the claimed “is below or not larger than a threshold”.
Regarding claim 35 and claim 44, the combination of Xu, in view of XIONG teaches the method of claim 28 and claim 37 respectively, wherein the repetition parameter further indicates the number of allowed or required repeated transmissions of the first message. ([Xu, Fig. 6B, ¶62 and ¶64] The repetition parameter shown in Xu as “Repetition Num” is the maximum number that retransmission are allowed to be reached during the retransmission process.)
Regarding claim 36 and claim 45, the combination of Xu, in view of XIONG teaches the method of claim 28 and claim 37 respectively, wherein a particular group of PRACH resources is dedicated for repeated transmission of the first message for the UEs. ([Xu, Fig. 6A 614-616, ¶83 and ¶106] The particular group of PRACH resources dedicated for repeated UE transmissions as shown in 614-616 of Xu is the dedicated RACH preamble group for RRC inactive communication.)
Claim(s) 31 and 40 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Xu, in view of XIONG as applied to claims 28 and 37 respectively above, and further in view of CHOI et al. US 2022/0322454 (hereinafter CHOI).
Regarding claim 31 and claim 40, the combination of Xu, in view of XIONG teaches the method of claim 28 and claim 37 respectively, wherein the second message is a broadcast message. ([Xu, Fig. 6B] See the rejection of claim 31 above wherein the Broadcast message 612 is transmitted from the BS to the UE and the repetition parameter (Repetition Num) is included in the Broadcast message 612).
But it does not teach that the repetition parameter is included in system information block (SIB) of the broadcast message.
However, CHOI teaches that the repetition parameter is included in system information block, SIB, of the broadcast message ([CHOI, ¶120 and ¶179] According to CHOI the number of repeated transmission of the preamble for the PRACH is configured through the SIB via an explicit indication in the SIB).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to combine the teachings of Xu, in view of XIONG, indicating the ability to receive a repetition parameter in the Broadcast message for repeating the transmission of a first RA message of a RA procedure, with the teachings of CHOI, indicating that the repetition parameter is carried in the SIB message prior to the RA procedure. The resulting benefit of the combination would have been the ability to pre-configure the number of preamble repetitions to improve coverage and efficiently operate random access [CHOI, ¶8, ¶120 and ¶179]
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 LONNIE V SWEET whose telephone number is (571)270-3622. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday.
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/LONNIE V SWEET/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2467