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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 8-9 and 26-27 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
A broad range or limitation together with a narrow range or limitation that falls within the broad range or limitation (in the same claim) may be considered indefinite if the resulting claim does not clearly set forth the metes and bounds of the patent protection desired. See MPEP § 2173.05(c). In the present instance, claim 8 recites the broad recitation “a preamble power ramping counter”, and the claim also recites “a value of the preamble power ramping counter” which is the narrower statement of the range/limitation. The claim(s) are considered indefinite because there is a question or doubt as to whether the feature introduced by such narrower language is (a) merely exemplary of the remainder of the claim, and therefore not required, or (b) a required feature of the claims.
Claim 26 is rejected for similar reasoning.
Claims 9 and 27 are rejected for being dependent upon the rejected claims.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-7 and 21-25 are allowed.
The following is an examiner’s statement of reasons for allowance: the closest prior art of record, Lee et al (WO-2023059094) discloses in a case the transmission counter is higher than or equal to a threshold (PREAMBLE_TRANSMISSION_COUNTER is equal to or higher than the preambleTransMax), performing a second number of PRACH transmissions based on a specific value given by the network, KHOSHKHOLGH et al (WO 2024233944) discloses that a preamble transmission threshold is a sum of a maximum number of preamble transmission and 1. However, the combination of the prior art does not appear to disclose “in case that a preamble transmission counter is equal to a sum of the maximum number and 1, determining to perform a second number of PRACH transmissions, the second number being a next higher number than the first number among the plurality of candidate values” in combination with the other claimed limitations.
For Claims 8-9 and 26-27, if the rejection under 35 USC 112 2nd paragraph is overcome, these claims would also appear to be allowable in view of the closest prior art of record.
Any comments considered necessary by applicant must be submitted no later than the payment of the issue fee and, to avoid processing delays, should preferably accompany the issue fee. Such submissions should be clearly labeled “Comments on Statement of Reasons for Allowance.”
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure: Agiwal et al (US-20200178235-A1) discloses maximum preamble transmission counters.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CHRISTOPHER R CROMPTON whose telephone number is (571)270-3678. The examiner can normally be reached 10AM-4PM ET M-Th.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Asad Nawaz can be reached at (571)272-3988. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/CHRISTOPHER R CROMPTON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2463
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