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 .
Initial Examination
Applicant's submission filed on 03/27/24, including preliminary amendments filed on 06/20/24, has been entered.
Claims 32-51 are pending.
Claims 1-31 have been canceled.
Claims 32-51 have been added.
Priority
Applicant’s claim for the benefit of a prior-filed application under 35 U.S.C. 119(e) or under 35 U.S.C. 120, 121, 365(c), or 386(c) is acknowledged.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statements are being considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 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.
Claims 32-35, 42-45 and 37-40, 47-50 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Qian (US 20200154377 A1, cited by Applicant of Record).
Regarding claim 32, Qian discloses a method of wireless communication [Abstract] comprising:
receiving, by a wireless communication device (Terminal [Abstract]), from a network device (Base Station [Abstract]), a message comprising a random access configuration information element associated with at least one transmission information (Terminal reads PRACH config info from MIB/SIB… [par. 0008]), wherein the at least one transmission information includes a candidate cell (… to obtain PRACH time-freq resource (i.e., candidate cell) [par. 0008]),
wherein the random access configuration information element includes information configuring: (1) a number of Synchronization Signal Blocks (SSBs) per Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH) occasion (Number of SSBs per PRACH determined from config info [par. 0139-140, tbl. 3, fig. 9, clm. 16]), (2) an index of a root sequence for determining a random access preamble (Index indicates RA preamble sequence format, RA time-freq resource info, number of RA channels/occasions (i.e., index of root sequence for RA preamble determination [par. 0074, tbl. 1, par. 0146]), and (3) an indication of a frequency position of a PRACH occasion (In LTE, terminal knows the position of PRACH time-freq resource (i.e., indication of freq position) from the PRACH config info and in 5G the RA config info provides freq domain index (i.e., freq position) [par. 0009, 0077, 119, 124, 141, 146]);
determining, by the wireless communication device based on the message, at least one random access resource pool associated with the at least one transmission information (Selects preamble sequence from resource pool (i.e., resource pool determined) [par. 0147]);
determining, by the wireless communication device, the random access preamble and a PRACH transmission occasion based on the at least one random access resource pool (Selects preamble sequence from resource pool (i.e., resource pool determined) and transmits in occasion (i.e., PRACH transmission occasion determined) [par. 0147]); and
transmitting, after determining the at least one random access resource pool and the random access preamble, the random access preamble to the network device in the PRACH transmission occasion (Transmits RA preamble in PRACH occasion [par. 0072, 147]).
Regarding claim 42, it is substantially similar to claim 32, except is in apparatus claim format, and is rejected under substantially similar reasoning, where Qian further discloses an apparatus (Terminal [Abstract]) for wireless communication comprising a processor (Terminal (i.e., inherent) [Abstract]) and a memory (Terminal (i.e., inherent) [Abstract]) storing instructions [fig. 1, 16].
Regarding claims 33 and 43, Qian discloses everything claimed, as applied above.
Qian further discloses further comprising:
generating multiple sets of random access preambles, wherein each of the multiple sets of random access preambles corresponds to a respective transmission information based on the message (Selects and transmits preamble sequences (i.e., multiple sets) [par. 0063]).
Regarding claims 34 and 44, Qian discloses everything claimed, as applied above.
Qian further discloses further comprising:
determining multiple PRACH occasions, wherein each of the multiple PRACH occasions corresponds to a respective transmission information based on the random access configuration information element (Plurality of RA occasions (i.e., multiple) [par. 0067]).
Regarding claims 35 and 45, Qian discloses everything claimed, as applied above.
Qian further discloses:
wherein the multiple PRACH occasions are indexed according to a time position and a frequency position of the multiple PRACH occasions [par. 0083, 163, 217].
Regarding claim 37, it is substantially similar to claim 32, except is from the perspective of the network and is rejected under substantially similar reasoning.
Regarding claims 38-40, they are substantially similar to claims 33-35 respectively, except are from the perspective of the network and are rejected under substantially similar reasoning.
Regarding claim 47, it is substantially similar to claim 37, except is in apparatus claim format, and is rejected under substantially similar reasoning, where Qian further discloses an apparatus (Base Station [Abstract]) for wireless communication comprising a processor (Base Station (i.e., inherent) [Abstract]) and a memory (Base Station (i.e., inherent) [Abstract]) storing instructions [fig. 15, 17].
Regarding claims 48-50, they are substantially similar to claims 38-40 respectively, except are in apparatus claim format, and are rejected under substantially similar reasoning.
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.
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.
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.
Claims 36, 46 and 41, 51 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Qian as applied to claims 32, 42 and 37, 47 respectively, and further in view of Jang (US 20230284285 A1).
Regarding claims 36 and 46, Qian discloses everything claimed, as applied above.
Although Qian discloses wherein the at least one transmission information, as discussed above, Qian does not explicitly disclose comprises a physical cell index (PCI). However, these concepts are well known as disclosed by Jang.
In the same field of endeavor, Jang discloses:
comprises a physical cell index (PCI) [par. 0084, fig. 1C].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Qian with Jang. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to perform such a modification given the benefit of beam-based communication [Jang par. 0079].
Regarding claims 41 and 51, they are substantially similar to claims 36 and 46 respectively, except are from the perspective of the network and are rejected under substantially similar reasoning.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Walter J DiVito whose telephone number is (571)272-2556. The examiner can normally be reached M-R: 8 am - 6 pm (PST).
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Gary Mui can be reached at 571-270-1420. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/WALTER J DIVITO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2465
Prosecution Insights