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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement filed 10 May 2024 fails to comply with 37 CFR 1.98(a)(2), which requires a legible copy of each cited foreign patent document; each non-patent literature publication or that portion which caused it to be listed; and all other information or that portion which caused it to be listed. It has been placed in the application file, but the information referred to therein has not been considered.
The information disclosure statement (IDS) was submitted on 7 November 2025. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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.
Claim(s) 1, 3-7, 9, 12-15, and 17-25 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by MolavianJazi et al. US 2021/0058971 A1 (hereinafter referred to as “MolavianJazi”). NOTE: MolavianJazi was cited by the applicant in the IDS received 10 May 2024.
As to claim 1, MolavianJazi teaches a method for configuring physical random access channel (PRACH) retransmissions in a wireless communication network by a user equipment (UE) (¶¶117 and 120; figures 8, 18, and 22), comprising:
receiving a PRACH trigger comprising a random access channel occasion (RO) indication (¶¶67, 117, 120, 130, and 174; figure 22: UE receives PRACH trigger and configuration for PRACH repetition including list of ROs);
transmitting a PRACH preamble to a base station during a first RO specified by the RO indication (¶¶130, 174, 235, and 268; figures 8, 18, and 22: perform PRACH preamble transmission during RO from the list of ROs);
transmitting one or more PRACH preamble repetitions to the base station during a second RO specified by the RO indication (¶¶130, 174, 235, and 268; figures 8, 18, and 22: perform PRACH preamble repetition transmissions during following ROs from the list of ROs); and
receiving a random access response (RAR) from the base station in response to the PRACH preamble and/or the one or more PRACH preamble repetitions (¶237; figure 18: receive RAR(s) in response to the PRACH preamble/PRACH preamble repetitions).
As to claim 3, MolavianJazi teaches the method according to claim 1, wherein the RO indication is in a PRACH mask index table comprising 16 rows; and
one or more of rows 12 to 16 are utilized to indicate the first RO and the second RO (¶¶90-92).
As to claim 4, MolavianJazi teaches the method according to claim 1, wherein the RO indication is in a PRACH mask index table comprising one or more reserved rows; and
the one or more reserved rows are utilized to indicate the first RO and the second RO (¶¶90-92).
As to claim 5, MolavianJazi teaches the method according to claim 1, wherein the RO indication is in a PRACH mask index table that indicates:
all PRACH occasions can be used for the one or more PRACH preamble repetitions;
a first half of PRACH occasions can be used for the one or more PRACH preamble repetitions;
a second half of PRACH occasions can be used for the one or more PRACH preamble repetitions;
a first quarter of PRACH occasions can be used for the one or more PRACH preamble repetitions;
a second quarter of PRACH occasions can be used for the one or more PRACH preamble repetitions;
a third quarter of PRACH occasions can be used for the one or more PRACH preamble repetitions;
a fourth quarter of PRACH occasions can be used for the one or more PRACH preamble repetitions;
every even PRACH occasion can be used for the one or more PRACH preamble repetitions; or
every odd PRACH occasion can be used for the one or more PRACH preamble repetitions (¶¶90-92).
As to claim 6, MolavianJazi teaches the method according to claim 1, wherein
the RO indication is in a PRACH mask index table that indicates a starting PRACH occasion X can be used for the one or more PRACH preamble repetitions, where X is selected from a set consisting of 8 integers (¶¶127-128; figure 5).
As to claim 7, MolavianJazi teaches the method according to claim 1, wherein
the RO indication is in a PRACH mask index table that indicates a starting PRACH occasion X and a repetition factor Y can be used for the one or more PRACH preamble repetitions, where X is selected from a set consisting of 8 integers and Y is selected from a set consisting of 4 integers (¶¶90-92).
As to claim 9, MolavianJazi teaches the method according to claim 1, wherein
the RO indication is in a PRACH mask index table comprising 64 rows, wherein
each row is indexed by a 6-bit PRACH mask index (¶¶127-128; figure 5).
As to claim 12, MolavianJazi teaches the method according to claim 1, wherein
the RO indication is in a PRACH mask index table conveyed within a UE-specific radio resource control (RRC) parameter (¶¶127-128; figure 5).
As to claim 13, MolavianJazi teaches the method according to claim 1, wherein
the PRACH trigger is a PDCCH order; and
the RO indication is in a PRACH mask index table; and the method further comprises:
identifying whether to use the PRACH mask index table by reading a preamble index field in the PDCCH order (¶¶90-93).
As to claim 14, MolavianJazi teaches the method according to claim 13, wherein
the RO indication is in a PRACH mask index of the PRACH mask index table (¶¶90-93).
As to claim 15, MolavianJazi teaches the method according to claim 13, further comprising:
reading a PRACH mask index field after the preamble index field to identify whether the PRACH mask index is for PRACH repetition (¶¶90-93).
As to claim 17, MolavianJazi teaches the method according to claim 1, wherein
the PRACH trigger is a PDCCH order; and
the RO indication is a PRACH mask index table; and the method further comprises:
identifying whether to use the RO indication in the PRACH mask index table by reading an explicit indication in the PDCCH order (¶¶90-92).
As to claim 18, MolavianJazi teaches the method according to claim 1, wherein
the PRACH trigger is a PDCCH order; and
a plurality of reserved bits in the PDCCH order indicate a time or frequency domain resource for PRACH repetition (¶201).
As to claim 19, MolavianJazi teaches the method according to claim 1, wherein
the PRACH trigger is a PDCCH order; and
the PDCCH order includes an offset to a time or frequency domain resource of PRACH without repetition (¶¶83, 108-109, 147, and 150).
As to claim 20, MolavianJazi teaches the method according to claim 1, wherein
the RO indication is in ra-OccasionList; and
the PRACH trigger is a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) (¶¶174 and 199).
As to claim 21, MolavianJazi teaches the method according to claim 1, wherein
the RO indication is in ra-CSIRS-OccasionMasklndex; and
the PRACH trigger is a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) (¶¶90-98, 119, and 203-205).
As to claim 22, MolavianJazi teaches a method for configuring PRACH retransmissions in a wireless communication network by a base station (¶¶117 and 120; figures 8, 18, and 22), comprising:
transmitting a PRACH trigger comprising a RO indication to a UE, wherein
the PRACH trigger is one of:
System Information (SI),
a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) order,
ra-ssb-OccasionMasklndex, or
BeamFailureRecovery (¶¶67, 117, 120, 130, and 174; figure 22: BS transmits, to UE, PRACH trigger and configuration for PRACH repetition including list of ROs);
receiving a PRACH preamble from the UE during a first RO specified by the RO indication (¶¶130, 174, 235, and 268; figures 8, 18, and 22: perform PRACH preamble transmission during RO from the list of ROs);
receiving one or more PRACH preamble repetitions from the UE during a second RO specified by the RO indication (¶¶130, 174, 235, and 268; figures 8, 18, and 22: perform PRACH preamble repetition transmissions during following ROs from the list of ROs); and
transmitting a RAR to the UE in response to the PRACH preamble and/or the one or more PRACH preamble repetitions (¶237; figure 18: receive RAR(s) in response to the PRACH preamble/PRACH preamble repetitions).
As to claim 23, MolavianJazi teaches the method according to claim 22, wherein
the RO indication is in a PRACH mask index table shared by all UEs within a cell (¶¶90-93).
As to claim 24, MolavianJazi teaches the method according to claim 22, wherein
the RO indication is in a PRACH mask index table individually assigned to the UE and not shared with any other UE in a cell (¶¶90-93).
As to claim 25, claim 25 is rejected the same way as claim 1.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
Singh et al., US 2021/0307078 A1 – Method and System for Performing Random Access Channel Procedure for Unlicensed Operation
Yoshimura et al., US 2019/0014598 A1 – Terminal Apparatus, Base Station Apparatus, and Communication Method
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JUSTIN T VAN ROIE whose telephone number is (571)270-0308. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 8:00am - 4:30pm.
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/JUSTIN T VAN ROIE/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2469
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