DETAILED ACTION
Notice of 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 .
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.
Priority
No domestic benefit or foreign priority is claimed by this Application.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement, submitted on 17 Dec 2025, is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to the independent claims 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 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.
Claims 1-5, 16-18, 20, and 21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable by Prasad (WO 2025/235743) in view of Shibaike (US 20250338317).
Regarding claims 1, 16, and 20, Prasad teaches an apparatus, method, and non-transitory medium for wireless communication at a user equipment (UE), comprising: one or more memories storing a set of instructions; and one or more processors, coupled to the one or more memories (Prasad, figure 15 – elements of wireless device 1502), individually or collectively configured to cause the UE to perform the method comprising:
receiving at least one configuration for a set of random access occasions (ROs), wherein the set of ROs include a first subset associated with subband full duplex (SBFD) symbols and a second subset associated with non-SBFD symbols (Prasad, ¶¶326, 353, 361 – PRACH occasions comprise both SBFD symbols and non-SBFD symbols); and
transmitting a random-access preamble in an RO, from the set of ROs (Prasad, ¶¶169, 171 – PRACH occasion used to transmit a msg 1, which is a random access preamble),
wherein a transmit power associated with the random access preamble is based at least in part on whether the RO is included in the first subset or the second subset (Prasad, e.g. figures 21-22 - either power control parameters 1908 or 1910 are used based on presence of SBFD and non-SBFD symbols; id.¸ figure 20 - message 1912 [a preamble] is transmitted with the transmit power 1914, as dictated by the power control parameters; id., ¶¶315-316, 362, 366 - power control parameters used in transmitting the RA preamble are determined based on whether the PRACH occasion is non-SBFD or SBFD),
wherein the RO is included in an RO group that is within the first subset or the second subset (Prasad, ¶171 – one or more PRACH occasions creates a group or set), and the transmit power is equal to a transmit power in an additional RO included in the RO group. Prasad, ¶324-326 (one or more preambles gets transmitted in one or more PRACH occasions using the transmit power defined by either power control parameters 1908 or 1910 based on the type of resource being used).
Prasad does not explicitly teach “wherein the transmit power is based at least in part on a media access control (MAC) counter that is incremented across RO groups rather than across individual ROs.” However, Shibaike teaches the change unit for a preamble power ramping counter is an RO group, rather than individual ROs. Shibaike, ¶210; contra id., ¶209 (change unit is an individual RO). At the time of the effective filing date of the invention, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art to have the same transmit power for all ROs in a group, as taught by Shibaike, when executing the random access power control over SBFD and non-SBFD symbols, as taught by Prasad, in order to minimize interference to other existing UEs that do not use multi-PRACH. Id. at ¶264.
Regarding claim 2, the combination of Prasad and Shibaike also teaches receiving, in response to the random access preamble, a random access response. Prasad, figure 13 and ¶176 (msg 2 received in response to transmitting msg 1).
Regarding claims 3 and 17, the combination of Prasad and Shibaike also teaches wherein the transmit power is derived using a first target reception power associated with the first subset or a second target reception power associated with the second subset. Prasad, ¶¶313, 416, 418 (transmit power of RA preamble is derived from the target power level at the receiver [i.e. either the first preamble received target power or the second preamble received target power]).
Regarding claims 4 and 18, the combination of Prasad and Shibaike also teaches wherein the transmit power is derived using a first power step size associated with the first subset or a second power step size associated with the second subset. Prasad, ¶¶314, 416, 418 (first or second power ramping step).
Regarding claim 5, the combination of Prasad and Shibaike also teaches the MAC counter is incremented by one for each RO group. Shibaike, ¶¶266-269 and figure 15 (power increased when MAC counter goes from “M” in the RO group 1 to “M+1” in RO group 2).
Regarding claim 11, the combination of Prasad and Shibaike also teaches wherein the transmit power is calculated using a previous transmit power associated with a most recent random access preamble and a power step size. Shibaike, ¶255 (transmit power is increased by a ramping step based on the power of the previous RO group).
Regarding claim 21, the combination of Prasad and Shibaike also teaches repeat[ing] the random access preamble across one or more additional ROs included in the RO group. Shibaike, ¶176 (Msg 1 [i.e. a preamble] is repeatedly transmitted on N ROs that constitute an RO group).
Claims 6-10 and 12-14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Prasad in view of Shibaike (both of record) and further in view of Zhang (WO 2025166522) (citations based on attached machine translation).
Regarding claim 6, the combination of Prasad and Shibaike teaches the apparatus of claim 5, wherein the MAC counter is reset in response to . . . [an event]. Shibaike, ¶212, 217, 272 (when the number of transmissions reaches its maximum, the maximum power being reached, or the random access procedure completes, the MAC counter is reset). However, the combination of Prasad and Shibaike does not explicitly teach resetting its counter in response to “the random access preamble being associated with a transition from the first subset to the second subset or with a transition from the second subset to the first subset.” However, Zhang teaches resetting a power ramping counter when different resource types are used. Zhang, ¶¶162, 169-171 (i.e. SBFD and non-SBFD resources). At the time of the effective filing date of the invention, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art to increment the power ramping counter, taught by the combination of Prasad and Shibaike, when transitioning between different resource types, as taught by Zhang, in order to improve the success rate of RA preamble transmission based on the resource type being used. Zhang, ¶34; see also id. at ¶160 for different interference situations for different resource types.
Regarding claims 7 and 19, the combination of Prasad and Shibaike teaches the apparatus of claim 1, the method of claim 16, and transmit power for a preamble changing based on a power offset. Prasad, ¶¶172-173 (power offset between preamble groups). Prasad does not explicitly teach “a power offset associated with a transition from the first subset to the second subset or with a transition from the second subset to the first subset.” However, Zhang teaches two different transmit powers for preambles in SBFD resources and preambles in non-SBFD resources. Zhang, ¶¶157-158. Because the equation for each transmit power relies on a different set of variables, it creates a power difference or offset between the first transmit power and the second transmit power. Id. at ¶159 (e.g. different preamble received target power, different preamble power ramping counter, and difference power ramping steps for each equation). At the time of the effective filing date of the invention, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art to have an offset between the transmit power used in SBFD and non-SBFD resources, as taught by Zhang, when transmitting the preambles, taught by the combination of Prasad and Shibaike, in order to accommodate different interference situations in each type of resource. Id. at ¶160.
Regarding claim 8, the combination of Prasad, Shibaike, and Zhang also teaches wherein the power offset is calculated using a difference between a first power step size associated with the first subset and a second power step size associated with the second subset. Zhang, ¶¶157-158 (PREAMBLE_POWER_RAMPING_STEP_nonSBFD and PREAMBLE_POWER_RAMPING_STEP_SBFD are two power step sizes).
Regarding claim 9, the combination of Prasad, Shibaike, and Zhang also teaches wherein the power offset is further calculated using a quantity of previous random access preamble transmission attempts. Zhang, ¶¶94, 157-158 (PREAMBLE_POWER_RAMPING_COUNTER_nonSBFD and PREAMBLE_POWER_RAMPING_COUNTER_SBFD are the number of retransmissions of the preamble).
Regarding claim 10, the combination of Prasad, Shibaike, and Zhang also teaches wherein the power offset is calculated using a previous transmit power associated with a most recent random access preamble. Zhang, ¶95 (a retransmitted PRACH transmit power performs power climbing on the basis of the PRACH transmit used “last time”).
Regarding claim 12, the combination of Prasad and Shibaike teaches the apparatus of claim 1, but does not explicitly teach the additional limitations of claim 12. However, Zhang teaches a UE configured to: maintain a first medium access control (MAC) counter and a second MAC counter for random access preamble transmission (Zhang, ¶156 – first and second power ramping counters), wherein the transmit power is calculated by accumulating power using a first power step size associated with the first subset and the first MAC counter and using a second power step size associated with the second subset and the second MAC counter. Zhang, ¶156 (first and second power ramping step). At the time of the effective filing date of the invention, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art to have an offset between the transmit power used in SBFD and non-SBFD resources, as taught by Zhang, when transmitting the preambles, taught by the combination of Prasad and Shibaike, in order to accommodate different interference situations in each type of resource. Id. at ¶160.
Regarding claim 13, the combination of Prasad and Shibaike teaches the apparatus of claim 1, but does not teach the additional limitations of claim 13. However, Zhang teaches a UE configured to: maintain a first medium access control (MAC) counter and a second MAC counter for random access preamble transmission (Zhang, ¶156 – first and second power ramping counters), wherein the RO is in the first subset, and the transmit power is calculated by accumulating power using a first power step size associated with the first subset and the first MAC counter. Zhang, ¶157 (for SBFD resources, PREAMBLE_POWER_RAMPING_COUNTER_SBFD and PREAMBLE_POWER_RAMPING_STEP_SBFD are used). At the time of the effective filing date of the invention, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art to have an offset between the transmit power used in SBFD and non-SBFD resources, as taught by Zhang, when transmitting the preambles, taught by the combination of Prasad and Shibaike, in order to accommodate different interference situations in each type of resource. Id. at ¶160.
Regarding claim 14, the combination of Prasad and Shibaike teaches the apparatus of claim 1, but does not explicitly teach the additional limitations of claim 14. However, Zhang teaches a UE configured to: maintain a first medium access control (MAC) counter and a second MAC counter for random access preamble transmission (Zhang, ¶156 – first and second power ramping counters), wherein the RO is in the second subset, and the transmit power is calculated by accumulating power using a second power step size associated with the second subset and the second MAC counter. Zhang, ¶158 (for non-SBFD resources, PREAMBLE_POWER_RAMPING_COUNTER_nonSBFD and PREAMBLE_POWER_RAMPING_STEP_nonSBFD are used). At the time of the effective filing date of the invention, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art to have an offset between the transmit power used in SBFD and non-SBFD resources, as taught by Zhang, when transmitting the preambles, taught by the combination of Prasad and Shibaike, in order to accommodate different interference situations in each type of resource. Id. at ¶160.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure includes Noh, which in one of its provisional ‘841, describes RO groups. Noh, figures 8-9 (see pgs. 34-35 of provisional ‘841 for support).
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 BENJAMIN S LAMONT whose telephone number is (571)270-7514 and email address is benjamin.lamont@uspto.gov (see MPEP 502.03 for using EFS or mail, but not email to authorize electronic communications). The examiner can normally be reached M-F 7am to 3pm EST.
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/Benjamin Lamont/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2461
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