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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 07/22/2026 has been entered. Claims 1, 3-8, 11, 13, 14, 16-18, and 21-24 are pending.
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 1, 3, 5-8, 11, 14, 16-18, and 22-24 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wei et al. (US 2022/0330348), hereinafter "Wei", in view of Alfarhan et al. (WO 2025/174860), hereinafter “Alfarhan”.
Regarding claims 1, 14, Wei teaches:
A user equipment (UE) (see Wei, Fig. 10, item 1005, par. [0170], lines 1-6: FIG. 10 shows a diagram of a system 1000 including a device 1005 that supports association of SSBs to random access occasions in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. The device 1005 may be an example of or include the components of device 705, device 805, or a UE 115 as described herein) or a method for wireless communications at a user equipment (UE) (see Wei, Fig. 6, par. [0132], lines 1-5: FIG. 6 illustrates an example of a process flow 600 that supports association of SSBs with random access occasions in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. In some aspects, the process flow 600 may be implemented by aspects of the wireless communications system 100), comprising:
one or more memories storing processor-executable code (see Wei, Fig. 10, items 1030 and 1035, par. [0170], lines 6-11: The device 1005 may include components for bi-directional voice and data communications including components for transmitting and receiving communications, including a communications manager 1010, an I/O controller 1015, a transceiver 1020, an antenna 1025, memory 1030, and a processor 1040, and see Wei, par. [0176], lines 9-13: The processor 1040 may be configured to execute computer-readable instructions stored in a memory (e.g., the memory 1030) to cause the device 1005 to perform various functions (e.g., functions or tasks supporting association of SSBs to random access occasions)); and
one or more processors coupled with the one or more memories and individually or collectively operable to execute the code to cause the UE (see Wei, Fig. 10, items 1030 and 1035, par. [0170], lines 6-11: The device 1005 may include components for bi-directional voice and data communications including components for transmitting and receiving communications, including a communications manager 1010, an I/O controller 1015, a transceiver 1020, an antenna 1025, memory 1030, and a processor 1040, and see Wei, par. [0176], lines 9-13: The processor 1040 may be configured to execute computer-readable instructions stored in a memory (e.g., the memory 1030) to cause the device 1005 to perform various functions (e.g., functions or tasks supporting association of SSBs to random access occasions)) to:
receive first control signaling indicating a random access configuration (see Wei, Fig. 6, item 605, par. [0133], lines 1-3: At 605, the base station 105-a may transmit to the UE 115-a, and the UE 115-a may receive from the base station 105-a, one or more random access configurations), the random access configuration comprising a plurality of spatial-domain parameters for one or more random access procedures (see Wei, par. [0133], lines 8-10: the first random access configuration may indicate a first configuration period and a first set of random access opportunities for the first configuration period, and see Wei, par. [0082], lines 2-7: a RACH configuration may specify a certain set of values that these UEs 115 may then use to perform RACH procedures. In some cases, sets of parameters (e.g., presented in a look-up table) may be indexed according to a certain index (e.g. a PRACH configuration index); in this case, the first random access configuration may contain parameters for RACH procedures (i.e. random access procedures)), wherein the random access configuration indicates spatial-domain resources (see Wei, par. [0082], lines 7-12: The sets of parameters may include a variety of parameters, such as a RACH configuration period (e.g., 10 ms, 20 ms, 40 ms, 80 ms, or 160 ms), a RACH format (or PRACH format), and a resource configuration that allocates certain resources (e.g., time, frequency, and/or spatial resources) for the RACH procedures), wherein the spatial-domain resources comprise one or more random access occasions (see Wei, par. [0006], lines 2-12: each of the RACH configurations may configure an association between one or more SSBs in a set of SSBs (e.g., an SSB burst set) and corresponding sets or subsets of RACH resources for RACH opportunities (e.g., assigning resources for corresponding RACH preambles). In such cases, the base station may indicate to its respective UEs, in the RACH configuration, a set of parameters including, for example, a number of transmitted SSBs, a number of SSBs mapped per RACH occasion, a number of contention-based RACH preambles per SSB for one or more RACH occasions, one or more configuration periods, and see Wei, par. [0082], lines 2-12: a RACH configuration may specify a certain set of values that these UEs 115 may then use to perform RACH procedures. In some cases, sets of parameters (e.g., presented in a look-up table) may be indexed according to a certain index (e.g. a PRACH configuration index). The sets of parameters may include a variety of parameters, such as a RACH configuration period (e.g., 10 ms, 20 ms, 40 ms, 80 ms, or 160 ms), a RACH format (or PRACH format), and a resource configuration that allocates certain resources (e.g., time, frequency, and/or spatial resources) for the RACH procedures; in this case, RACH configuration, which includes resource configuration, may indicate number of SSBs and ratio of SSBs mapped per RACH occasion (i.e. may indicate one or more random access occasions to be used))
However, Wei does not teach:
wherein the one or more random access occasions associated with one or more beams;
receive second control signaling indicating a beam associated with one or more of the spatial-domain resources to be disregarded by the UE, wherein the one or more of the spatial-domain resources to be disregarded by the UE comprise a first random access occasion, in a random access slot of the one or more of the spatial-domain resources, that is mapped to the beam or a last random access occasion, in the random access slot, that is mapped to the beam, and wherein one or more other random access occasions in the random access slot remain available for the one or more random access procedures; and
perform a random access procedure via the spatial-domain resources that are different from the one or more of the spatial-domain resources to be disregarded by the UE.
Alfarhan, in the same field of endeavor, teaches:
wherein the one or more random access occasions associated with one or more beams (see Alfarhan, par. [0264]: the WTRU may be configured/signaled with information on the full set of SSBs per burst. Such configuration info may include the indexes of the muted and non-muted SSBs per burst, where the muted SSBs may be adjacent to the non-muted SSBs (e.g., narrow-beamwidth SSB) or overlapped by the non-muted SSBs (e.g., wide beamwidth SSB), and see pars. [0269]: The WTRU may determine the PRACH resource (e.g., preamble, RO) for transmitting the indication on the best/preferred SSB based on a configured mapping configuration between the SSBs and the PRACH resources. For example, the parameters of a mapping configuration may comprise any of the following: 8 SSBs per burst with 4 non-muted SSBs (e.g., SSBs with indexes #0, 2, 4, 6 are non-muted and indexes #1 , 3, 5, 7 are muted); 64 PRACH preambles per RO; and/or 2 ROs in time domain (TDMed) and 4 ROs in frequency domain (FDMed), and see par. [0098]: an SSB may refer to one or more SSB beam (spatial relation) within a collection of SSBs (SSB burst). A SSB may refer to a beam and vice versa or a CSI-RS resource related to the beam. SSB, SSBs, and/or SSB burst may loosely refer to one or more beams transmitted from a TRP or to a TRP; in this case, PRACH resources including occasions are associated with beams);
receive second control signaling indicating a beam associated with one or more of the spatial-domain resources to be disregarded by the UE, wherein the one or more of the spatial-domain resources to be disregarded by the UE comprise a first random access occasion, in a random access slot of the one or more of the spatial-domain resources, that is mapped to the beam (see Alfarhan, par. [0264]: the WTRU may be configured/signaled with information on the full set of SSBs per burst. Such configuration info may include the indexes of the muted and non-muted SSBs per burst, where the muted SSBs may be adjacent to the non-muted SSBs (e.g., narrow-beamwidth SSB) or overlapped by the non-muted SSBs (e.g., wide beamwidth SSB), and see pars. [0269-0271]: The WTRU may determine the PRACH resource (e.g., preamble, RO) for transmitting the indication on the best/preferred SSB based on a configured mapping configuration between the SSBs and the PRACH resources. For example, the parameters of a mapping configuration may comprise any of the following: 8 SSBs per burst with 4 non-muted SSBs (e.g., SSBs with indexes #0, 2, 4, 6 are non-muted and indexes #1 , 3, 5, 7 are muted); 64 PRACH preambles per RO; and/or 2 ROs in time domain (TDMed) and 4 ROs in frequency domain (FDMed). In the example above, the WTRU may determine the association between the 8 SSBs, comprising both muted and non-muted SSBs and the 2 x 4 ROs based on the mapping configuration. The WTRU may determine the RO for transmitting a PRACH preamble based on the best/preferred SSB and the associated RO. For example, if the best/preferred SSB corresponds to a non-muted SSB, the WTRU may use the RO associated with the non-muted SSB to transmit the PRACH preamble, and see par. [0238]: Another example may correspond to the scenario where the WTRU may receive an SSB burst containing a subset of SSBs that may be muted/non-muted (e.g., SSBs with indexes #0, 2, 4, 6 are non-muted and indexes #1 , 3, 5, 7 are muted). The WTRU may be configured with a mapping configuration between SSBs and PRACH resources, where the mapping configuration provides the PRACH resources for full set of SSBs (e.g., 8 non-muted SSBs per burst). The WTRU may determine the PRACH resources to use, when detecting a subset of SSBs that may be muted, using or based on any of the following: 1 ) using PRACH resources or resource pools only associated with the nonmuted SSBs, and see par. [0098]: an SSB may refer to one or more SSB beam (spatial relation) within a collection of SSBs (SSB burst). A SSB may refer to a beam and vice versa or a CSI-RS resource related to the beam. SSB, SSBs, and/or SSB burst may loosely refer to one or more beams transmitted from a TRP or to a TRP; in this case, SSBs (i.e. beams) are indicated including an indication of muted and non-muted SSBs. Based on a mapping of SSBs to ROs and the indication, SSBs and associated ROs are determined as muted (i.e. spatial-domain resources to be disregarded)) or a last random access occasion, in the random access slot, that is mapped to the beam (optional limitation), and wherein one or more other random access occasions in the random access slot remain available for the one or more random access procedures (see Alfarhan, par. [0264]: the WTRU may be configured/signaled with information on the full set of SSBs per burst. Such configuration info may include the indexes of the muted and non-muted SSBs per burst, where the muted SSBs may be adjacent to the non-muted SSBs (e.g., narrow-beamwidth SSB) or overlapped by the non-muted SSBs (e.g., wide beamwidth SSB), and see pars. [0269-0271]: The WTRU may determine the PRACH resource (e.g., preamble, RO) for transmitting the indication on the best/preferred SSB based on a configured mapping configuration between the SSBs and the PRACH resources. For example, the parameters of a mapping configuration may comprise any of the following: 8 SSBs per burst with 4 non-muted SSBs (e.g., SSBs with indexes #0, 2, 4, 6 are non-muted and indexes #1 , 3, 5, 7 are muted); 64 PRACH preambles per RO; and/or 2 ROs in time domain (TDMed) and 4 ROs in frequency domain (FDMed). In the example above, the WTRU may determine the association between the 8 SSBs, comprising both muted and non-muted SSBs and the 2 x 4 ROs based on the mapping configuration. The WTRU may determine the RO for transmitting a PRACH preamble based on the best/preferred SSB and the associated RO. For example, if the best/preferred SSB corresponds to a non-muted SSB, the WTRU may use the RO associated with the non-muted SSB to transmit the PRACH preamble, and see par. [0238]: Another example may correspond to the scenario where the WTRU may receive an SSB burst containing a subset of SSBs that may be muted/non-muted (e.g., SSBs with indexes #0, 2, 4, 6 are non-muted and indexes #1 , 3, 5, 7 are muted). The WTRU may be configured with a mapping configuration between SSBs and PRACH resources, where the mapping configuration provides the PRACH resources for full set of SSBs (e.g., 8 non-muted SSBs per burst). The WTRU may determine the PRACH resources to use, when detecting a subset of SSBs that may be muted, using or based on any of the following: 1 ) using PRACH resources or resource pools only associated with the nonmuted SSBs; in this case, non-muted SSBs and associated ROs are used for random access, corresponding to other random access occasions remaining available); and
perform a random access procedure via the spatial-domain resources that are different from the one or more of the spatial-domain resources to be disregarded by the UE (see Alfarhan, par. [0264]: the WTRU may be configured/signaled with information on the full set of SSBs per burst. Such configuration info may include the indexes of the muted and non-muted SSBs per burst, where the muted SSBs may be adjacent to the non-muted SSBs (e.g., narrow-beamwidth SSB) or overlapped by the non-muted SSBs (e.g., wide beamwidth SSB), and see pars. [0269-0271]: The WTRU may determine the PRACH resource (e.g., preamble, RO) for transmitting the indication on the best/preferred SSB based on a configured mapping configuration between the SSBs and the PRACH resources. For example, the parameters of a mapping configuration may comprise any of the following: 8 SSBs per burst with 4 non-muted SSBs (e.g., SSBs with indexes #0, 2, 4, 6 are non-muted and indexes #1 , 3, 5, 7 are muted); 64 PRACH preambles per RO; and/or 2 ROs in time domain (TDMed) and 4 ROs in frequency domain (FDMed). In the example above, the WTRU may determine the association between the 8 SSBs, comprising both muted and non-muted SSBs and the 2 x 4 ROs based on the mapping configuration. The WTRU may determine the RO for transmitting a PRACH preamble based on the best/preferred SSB and the associated RO. For example, if the best/preferred SSB corresponds to a non-muted SSB, the WTRU may use the RO associated with the non-muted SSB to transmit the PRACH preamble, and see par. [0238]: Another example may correspond to the scenario where the WTRU may receive an SSB burst containing a subset of SSBs that may be muted/non-muted (e.g., SSBs with indexes #0, 2, 4, 6 are non-muted and indexes #1 , 3, 5, 7 are muted). The WTRU may be configured with a mapping configuration between SSBs and PRACH resources, where the mapping configuration provides the PRACH resources for full set of SSBs (e.g., 8 non-muted SSBs per burst). The WTRU may determine the PRACH resources to use, when detecting a subset of SSBs that may be muted, using or based on any of the following: 1 ) using PRACH resources or resource pools only associated with the nonmuted SSBs; in this case, using non-muted SSBs and associated ROs for transmitting a preamble corresponds to performing the random access procedure using different spatial-domain resources).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the UE or method of Wei with the spatial-domain resources to be disregarded and performing a random access procedure with different resources of Alfarhan with a reasonable expectation of success. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification for the benefit of avoiding using muted resources (see Alfarhan, par. [0168]).
Regarding claims 3, 16, the combination of Wei in view of Alfarhan teaches the UE or method. Wei further teaches:
wherein the one or more processors are individually or collectively further operable to execute the code to cause the UE to:
receive third control signaling indicating one or more additional spatial-domain resources (see Wei, Fig. 6, par. [0133]: At 605, the base station 105-a may transmit to the UE 115-a, and the UE 115-a may receive from the base station 105-a, one or more random access configurations (e.g., RACH configurations, as described herein), and see par. [0133], lines 11-13: the second random access configuration may indicate a second configuration period and a second set of random access opportunities for the second configuration period, and see Wei, par. [0082], lines 2-12: a RACH configuration may specify a certain set of values that these UEs 115 may then use to perform RACH procedures. In some cases, sets of parameters (e.g., presented in a look-up table) may be indexed according to a certain index (e.g. a PRACH configuration index). The sets of parameters may include a variety of parameters, such as a RACH configuration period (e.g., 10 ms, 20 ms, 40 ms, 80 ms, or 160 ms), a RACH format (or PRACH format), and a resource configuration that allocates certain resources (e.g., time, frequency, and/or spatial resources) for the RACH procedures) for performing a second random access procedure relative to the spatial-domain resources indicated in the random access configuration (see Wei, Fig. 6, par. [0137], lines 1-5: At 635, the UE 115-a may determine a first set of random access occasions within a first association period based on the first random access configuration and the second random access configuration, as the UE 115-a may have received at 605; in this case, performance of a random access procedure may be based on resources indicated in a first random access configuration (corresponding to the random access configuration) and resources indicated in a second random access configuration (corresponding to second signaling)), wherein the second random access procedure is performed using at least one of the one or more additional spatial-domain resources (see Wei, Fig. 6, items 655 and 680, par. [0146], lines 1-7: At 680, the UE 115-a may transmit to the base station 105-a, and the base station 105-a may receive from the UE 115-a, a first random access sequence over one or more of the one or more (e.g., the first subset of) random access occasions selected from the first set of random access opportunities (e.g., as the UE 115-a may have determined, or selected, at 655); in this case, the resources indicated by second random access configuration are used as part of the selection for performing random access).
Regarding claims 5, 22, the combination of Wei in view of Alfarhan teaches the UE or method. Wei further teaches:
wherein the third control signaling (see Wei, Fig. 6, item 605, par. [0133], lines 1-3: At 605, the base station 105-a may transmit to the UE 115-a, and the UE 115-a may receive from the base station 105-a, one or more random access configurations) indicates a quantity of random access occasions associated with the one or more additional spatial-domain resources (see Wei, par. [0082], lines 2-17: a RACH configuration may specify a certain set of values that these UEs 115 may then use to perform RACH procedures. In some cases, sets of parameters (e.g., presented in a look-up table) may be indexed according to a certain index (e.g. a PRACH configuration index). The sets of parameters may include a variety of parameters, such as a RACH configuration period (e.g., 10 ms, 20 ms, 40 ms, 80 ms, or 160 ms), a RACH format (or PRACH format), and a resource configuration that allocates certain resources (e.g., time, frequency, and/or spatial resources) for the RACH procedures. For example, in some cases, the resource configuration may be a time-domain resource configuration, which may indicate frame numbers, subframe numbers, a number of RACH slots per subframe, a number of RACH occasions (e.g., time-domain RACH occasions) per slot; in this case, a subsequent RACH configuration (corresponding to second control signaling) may include resource configuration, including of spatial resources, which may configure the number of RACH occasions).
Regarding claims 6, 17, the combination of Wei in view of Alfarhan teaches the UE or method. Wei further teaches:
wherein the one or more processors are individually or collectively further operable to execute the code to cause the UE to:
receive third control signaling indicating an additional random access configuration index (see Wei, par. [0082], lines 2-7: a RACH configuration may specify a certain set of values that these UEs 115 may then use to perform RACH procedures. In some cases, sets of parameters (e.g., presented in a look-up table) may be indexed according to a certain index (e.g. a PRACH configuration index), and see Wei, par. [0139], lines 5-9: the second set of random access opportunities may be associated with a random access configuration index of the first random access configuration or the second random access configuration, or both), wherein the additional random access configuration index indicates one or more additional random access occasions (see Wei, par. [0130], lines 2-7: a UE may first map one or more SSBs 510 transmitted from a base station to the UE for one or more RACH occasions (e.g., the low-tier resources 515 allocated for RACH transmissions from the low-tier UE, as described herein) within an association period 525 according to a first RACH configuration index that the UE received; in this case, RACH occasions are mapped for RACH transmissions based on the index (i.e. the index indicates the additional random access occasions)) and a second random access procedure is performed using at least one of the one or more additional random access occasions (see Wei, Fig. 6, items 655 and 680, par. [0146], lines 1-7: At 680, the UE 115-a may transmit to the base station 105-a, and the base station 105-a may receive from the UE 115-a, a first random access sequence over one or more of the one or more (e.g., the first subset of) random access occasions selected from the first set of random access opportunities (e.g., as the UE 115-a may have determined, or selected, at 655); in this case, the random access procedure may be performed using the one or more random access occasions as configured with the index).
Regarding claims 7, 18, the combination of Wei in view of Alfarhan teaches the UE or method. Wei further teaches:
wherein the one or more processors are individually or collectively further operable to execute the code to cause the UE to:
receive third control signaling indicating a random access occasion periodicity (see Wei, Fig. 2, par. [0091], lines 5-9: a RACH configuration may include one or more parameters that indicate a value for a duration of the RACH configuration periods 220-a, for example, a value corresponding to one of 10 ms, 20 ms, 40 ms, 80 ms, or 160 ms, and see Wei, par. [0092], lines 7-10: For example, as shown by the transmission timeline 200-a, each configuration period 220-a has a duration that, according to the configured pattern for the RACH occasions 215-a, includes three RACH occasions 215-a; in this case, a RACH configuration includes configuration periods (corresponding to an indication of a random access occasion periodicity)).
Regarding claims 8, 23, the combination of Wei in view of Alfarhan teaches the UE or method. Wei further teaches:
wherein the one or more processors are individually or collectively further operable to execute the code to cause the UE to:
receive third control signaling indicating one or more additional time domain resources (see Wei, par. [0109], lines 1-6: the RACH configuration may indicate low-tier resources 315 for low-tier device RACH transmissions via a first RACH configuration index corresponding to a first set of time-domain resources and a second RACH configuration index corresponding to a second set of time-domain resources) for RA configuration for performing a second random access procedure relative to the spatial-domain resources indicated in the random access configuration (see Wei, Fig. 6, par. [0133], lines 11-13: the second random access configuration may indicate a second configuration period and a second set of random access opportunities for the second configuration period, and see Wei, par. [0082], lines 2-12: a RACH configuration may specify a certain set of values that these UEs 115 may then use to perform RACH procedures. In some cases, sets of parameters (e.g., presented in a look-up table) may be indexed according to a certain index (e.g. a PRACH configuration index). The sets of parameters may include a variety of parameters, such as a RACH configuration period (e.g., 10 ms, 20 ms, 40 ms, 80 ms, or 160 ms), a RACH format (or PRACH format), and a resource configuration that allocates certain resources (e.g., time, frequency, and/or spatial resources) for the RACH procedures, and see Wei, Fig. 6, par. [0137], lines 1-5: At 635, the UE 115-a may determine a first set of random access occasions within a first association period based on the first random access configuration and the second random access configuration, as the UE 115-a may have received at 605, and see Wei, Fig. 6, items 655 and 680, par. [0146], lines 1-7: At 680, the UE 115-a may transmit to the base station 105-a, and the base station 105-a may receive from the UE 115-a, a first random access sequence over one or more of the one or more (e.g., the first subset of) random access occasions selected from the first set of random access opportunities (e.g., as the UE 115-a may have determined, or selected, at 655); in this case, the RACH procedure is performed according to at least second random access configuration which includes time domain resource configurations and spatial domain resource configurations), wherein the second random access procedure is performed using at least one of the one or more additional time domain resources (see Wei, par. [0139], lines 1-9: determining the one or more random access occasions ( )may include identifying a time-domain offset for a first set of random access opportunities relative to a second set of random access opportunities within the first association period where, for example, the second set of random access opportunities may be associated with a random access configuration index of the first random access configuration or the second random access configuration, or both, and see Wei, Fig. 6, items 655 and 680, par. [0146], lines 1-7: At 680, the UE 115-a may transmit to the base station 105-a, and the base station 105-a may receive from the UE 115-a, a first random access sequence over one or more of the one or more (e.g., the first subset of) random access occasions selected from the first set of random access opportunities (e.g., as the UE 115-a may have determined, or selected, at 655); in this case, the random access procedure is performed using random access occasions determined using time-domain resources and configurations).
Regarding claims 11, 24, the combination of Wei in view of Alfarhan teaches the UE or method.
Wei does not teach, but Alfarhan teaches:
wherein the second control signaling indicates one or more random access occasions in which the one or more of the spatial-domain resources to be disregarded by the UE are located (see Alfarhan, par. [0264]: the WTRU may be configured/signaled with information on the full set of SSBs per burst. Such configuration info may include the indexes of the muted and non-muted SSBs per burst, where the muted SSBs may be adjacent to the non-muted SSBs (e.g., narrow-beamwidth SSB) or overlapped by the non-muted SSBs (e.g., wide beamwidth SSB), and see pars. [0269-0271]: The WTRU may determine the PRACH resource (e.g., preamble, RO) for transmitting the indication on the best/preferred SSB based on a configured mapping configuration between the SSBs and the PRACH resources. For example, the parameters of a mapping configuration may comprise any of the following: 8 SSBs per burst with 4 non-muted SSBs (e.g., SSBs with indexes #0, 2, 4, 6 are non-muted and indexes #1 , 3, 5, 7 are muted); 64 PRACH preambles per RO; and/or 2 ROs in time domain (TDMed) and 4 ROs in frequency domain (FDMed). In the example above, the WTRU may determine the association between the 8 SSBs, comprising both muted and non-muted SSBs and the 2 x 4 ROs based on the mapping configuration. The WTRU may determine the RO for transmitting a PRACH preamble based on the best/preferred SSB and the associated RO. For example, if the best/preferred SSB corresponds to a non-muted SSB, the WTRU may use the RO associated with the non-muted SSB to transmit the PRACH preamble, and see par. [0238]: Another example may correspond to the scenario where the WTRU may receive an SSB burst containing a subset of SSBs that may be muted/non-muted (e.g., SSBs with indexes #0, 2, 4, 6 are non-muted and indexes #1 , 3, 5, 7 are muted). The WTRU may be configured with a mapping configuration between SSBs and PRACH resources, where the mapping configuration provides the PRACH resources for full set of SSBs (e.g., 8 non-muted SSBs per burst). The WTRU may determine the PRACH resources to use, when detecting a subset of SSBs that may be muted, using or based on any of the following: 1 ) using PRACH resources or resource pools only associated with the nonmuted SSBs, and see par. [0098]: an SSB may refer to one or more SSB beam (spatial relation) within a collection of SSBs (SSB burst). A SSB may refer to a beam and vice versa or a CSI-RS resource related to the beam. SSB, SSBs, and/or SSB burst may loosely refer to one or more beams transmitted from a TRP or to a TRP; in this case, indicating SSBs to be muted and having associated ROs corresponds to one or more random access occasions in which the one or more of the spatial-domain resources to be disregarded by the UE are located).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the UE or method of Wei with the spatial-domain resources to be disregarded of Alfarhan with a reasonable expectation of success. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification for the benefit of avoiding using muted resources (see Alfarhan, par. [0168]).
Claims 4, 13, and 21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wei in view of Alfarhan, as applied to claims 1, 3, 5-8, 11, 14, 16-18, and 22-24 above, and further in view of Shibaike et al. (WO 2024/219411), published 24 October, 2024, hereinafter "Shibaike" (see “WO2024219411_Translation.pdf” for citations)
Regarding claims 4, 21, the combination of Wei in view of Alfarhan teaches the UE or method.
However, the combination of Wei in view of Alfarhan does not teach:
wherein the third control signaling indicates a beam associated with the one or more additional spatial-domain resources.
Shibaike, in the same field of endeavor, teaches:
wherein the third control signaling indicates a beam associated with the one or more additional spatial-domain resources (see Shibaike, page 3, par. 14: As in Figure 1, the common RACH configuration (RACH-ConfigCommon) may include a generic RACH configuration (rach-ConfigGeneric), a total number of RA preambles (totalNumberOfRA-Preambles), and SSB per RACH occasion and contention-based (CB) preambles per SSB (ssb-perRACH-OccasionAndCB-PreamblesPerSSB, and see Shibaike, page 4, par. 5: Figure 2A shows an example (mapping 1) of PRACH occasion (RACH occasion (RO)) and beam (SSB/CSI-RS) association based on the higher layer parameter ssb-perRACH-OccasionAndCB-PreamblesPerSSB. If ssb-perRACH-OccasionAndCB-PreamblesPerSSB indicates oneHalf,n16 (N=1/2, R=16) and msg1-FDM is 4, four ROs are FDMed in one time instance and one SSB is mapped to two ROs. Preamble indexes 0 to 15 are associated with two ROs, and preamble indexes 0 to 15 are associated with SSB0. Thus, when N<1, one SSB is mapped to multiple Ros; in this case, RACH configuration may include an mapping between RACH occasion and beam association (corresponding to a beam associated with the resources)).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the control signaling of the combination of Wei in view of Alfarhan with the control signaling indicating resources being associated with one or more beams of Shibaike with a reasonable expectation of success. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification for the benefit of increasing RACH occasion capacity per beam (see Shibaike page 5, par 5).
Regarding claim 13, the combination of Wei in view of Alfarhan teaches the UE. Wei further teaches:
wherein the one or more processors are individually or collectively further operable to execute the code to cause the UE to:
receive third control signaling indicating one or more additional spatial-domain resources (see Wei, Fig. 6, par. [0133], lines 11-13: the second random access configuration may indicate a second configuration period and a second set of random access opportunities for the second configuration period, and see par. [0133], lines 11-13: the second random access configuration may indicate a second configuration period and a second set of random access opportunities for the second configuration period, and see Wei, par. [0082], lines 2-12: a RACH configuration may specify a certain set of values that these UEs 115 may then use to perform RACH procedures. In some cases, sets of parameters (e.g., presented in a look-up table) may be indexed according to a certain index (e.g. a PRACH configuration index). The sets of parameters may include a variety of parameters, such as a RACH configuration period (e.g., 10 ms, 20 ms, 40 ms, 80 ms, or 160 ms), a RACH format (or PRACH format), and a resource configuration that allocates certain resources (e.g., time, frequency, and/or spatial resources) for the RACH procedures) for performing the random access procedure relative to spatial-domain resources indicated in the random access configuration (see Wei, Fig. 6, par. [0137], lines 1-5: At 635, the UE 115-a may determine a first set of random access occasions within a first association period based on the first random access configuration and the second random access configuration, as the UE 115-a may have received at 605), wherein a second random access procedure is performed using at least one of the one or more additional spatial-domain resources (see Wei, Fig. 6, par. [0137], lines 1-5: At 635, the UE 115-a may determine a first set of random access occasions within a first association period based on the first random access configuration and the second random access configuration, as the UE 115-a may have received at 605; in this case, performance of the random access procedure may be based on resources indicated in a first random access configuration (corresponding to the random access configuration) and resources indicated in a second random access configuration (corresponding to third signaling));
However, the combination of Wei in view of Alfarhan does not teach:
wherein the one or more additional spatial-domain resources are associated with a beam.
Shibaike, in the same field of endeavor, teaches:
wherein the one or more additional spatial-domain resources are associated with a beam (see Shibaike, page 3, par. 14: As in Figure 1, the common RACH configuration (RACH-ConfigCommon) may include a generic RACH configuration (rach-ConfigGeneric), a total number of RA preambles (totalNumberOfRA-Preambles), and SSB per RACH occasion and contention-based (CB) preambles per SSB (ssb-perRACH-OccasionAndCB-PreamblesPerSSB, and see Shibaike, page 4, par. 5: Figure 2A shows an example (mapping 1) of PRACH occasion (RACH occasion (RO)) and beam (SSB/CSI-RS) association based on the higher layer parameter ssb-perRACH-OccasionAndCB-PreamblesPerSSB. If ssb-perRACH-OccasionAndCB-PreamblesPerSSB indicates oneHalf,n16 (N=1/2, R=16) and msg1-FDM is 4, four ROs are FDMed in one time instance and one SSB is mapped to two ROs. Preamble indexes 0 to 15 are associated with two ROs, and preamble indexes 0 to 15 are associated with SSB0. Thus, when N<1, one SSB is mapped to multiple Ros; in this case, RACH configuration may include an mapping between RACH occasion and beam association (corresponding to a beam associated with the resources)).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the control signaling of the combination of Wei in view of Alfarhan with the control signaling indicating resources being associated with one or more beams of Shibaike with a reasonable expectation of success. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification for the benefit of increasing RACH occasion capacity per beam (see Shibaike page 5, par 5).
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 1 and 14 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.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
Islam et al. (US 2020/0146076) teaches methods, systems, and devices that support different, or adjusted, random access channel (RACH) preamble formats for efficient use of shared RACH time-frequency resources.
Lei et al. (US 2022/0408483) teaches a user equipment (UE) determining a mapping between synchronization signal blocks (SSBs) and a random access message of a two-step random access procedure based on an indication in system information signaling or radio resource control (RRC) signaling.
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/C.J.B./Examiner, Art Unit 2419
/Nishant Divecha/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2419
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