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 .
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.
DETAILED ACTION
This communication is in response to Application No. 18/683,215 filed on 12 February 2024. The response filed 17 April 2026 amends claims 1, 10, 44, and 89, cancels claims 4, 6, 9, 13-15, 18-21, 24-29, 32-41, 43, 45-88, 91, and 92, and presents arguments is hereby acknowledged. Claims 1-3, 5, 7, 8, 10-12, 16, 17, 22, 23, 30, 31, 42, 44, 89, and 90 are presented for examination.
Response to Arguments
Independent Claims 1, 44, and 89
On pages 8-10 of the response filed 17 April 2026, Applicant addresses the 35 U.S.C. 102 rejection made on the 21 January 2026 Non-Final Rejection. Applicant’s arguments, regarding the rejections under 35 U.S.C. 102, have been fully considered.
On pages 8-10, Applicant argues that the You system fails to teach or suggest “wherein a 2-step RACH resource of a second type of terminal and a 4-step RACH resource of the second type of terminal are configured, and the method further comprises: instructing, by the network device, the first type of terminal to share at least part of PRACH resources of the second type of terminal via a first signaling.” Examiner respectfully agrees and finds this argument persuasive. You fails to disclose the amended limitations. Therefore, Examiner finds this argument persuasive.
Dependent Claims 2, 3, 5, 7, 8, 10-12, 16, 17, 22, 23, 30, 31, 42, and 90
On pages 8-10 of the response filed 17 April 2026, Applicant addresses the 35 U.S.C. 102 rejection made on the 21 January 2026 Non-Final Rejection. Applicant submits that these claims are allowable at least as depending from an allowable independent claim, and further in view of the amendments to the independent claims, and the comments provided above. As per the comments above, Examiner found the arguments persuasive. With regards to allowability, Examiner has conducted a search and applied new art. Thus, a new rejection is established against the independent claims.
Finality
Due to the response filed 17 April 2026, Examiner is restarting prosecution. This action is a Non-Final Action.
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 1-3, 5, 7, 8, 10-12, 16, 17, 22, 23, 30, 31, 44, 89, and 90 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US PGPUB 2021/0378021 A1 to You et al and in view of US PGPUB 2020/0288506 A1 to Lei et al.
Regarding Claim 1, You discloses a resource allocation method, performed by a network device (FIG. 7, network device), the method comprising: configuring indication information for a first type of terminal (FIG. 7 and 0166-0168 provides for network device transmitting first indication information), wherein the indication information is configured to indicate a physical random access channel (PRACH) resource shared by the first type of terminal (0287 provides for where the first indication information may be a physical random access channel mask index PRACH mask index). You doesn’t explicitly disclose wherein a 2-step RACH resource of a second type of terminal and a 4-step RACH resource of the second type of terminal are configured, and the method further comprises: instructing, by the network device, the first type of terminal to share at least part of PRACH resources of the second type of terminal via a first signaling. Lei, in a similar field of endeavor, discloses wherein a 2-step RACH resource of a second type of terminal and a 4-step RACH resource of the second type of terminal are configured (0152-0153 provides for co-existence of 2-step RACH and 4-step RACH), and the method further comprises: instructing, by the network device, the first type of terminal to share at least part of PRACH resources of the second type of terminal via a first signaling (0147-0148 and 0150-0153 provides for sending transmission payloads to share resources). One of ordinary skill in the art before the effectively filed date of the claimed invention would have recognized the ability to utilize the teachings of Lei for sharing resources between multiple 4-step RA types. The 4-step RA types of Lei, when implemented with the random access of the You system, will allow one of ordinary skill in the art to configure RACH resources in order to implement 4-step in coexistence with 2-step RACH. Therefore, the examiner concludes it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the application to utilize the 4-step RA types of Lei with the random access of the You system for the desirable purpose of PRACH configuration.
Regarding Claim 2, the You/Lei system discloses the method according to claim 1, wherein a four-step random access channel (4-step RACH) resource for a second type of terminal is configured (You, 0321 provides for wherein a four-step RACH resource for a time-frequency resource), and a random access channel (RACH) resource of the first type of terminal shares the 4-step RACH resource of the second type of terminal (You, 0322 provides for the time-frequency resource of the two-step random access and the time-frequency resource of the four-step random access are shared); wherein the RACH resource of the first type of terminal comprises at least one of the followings: a 4-step RACH resource (You, 0321 provides for a four-step RACH resource); and a 2-step RACH resource.
Regarding Claim 3, the You/Lei system discloses the method according to claim 2, wherein the 4-step RACH of the first type of terminal, the 2-step RACH of the first type of terminal and a 4-step RACH of the second type of terminal shares a same random access channel occasion (RO) resource (You, 0322 provides for the time-frequency resource of the two-step random access and the time-frequency resource of the four-step random access are shared).
Regarding Claim 5, the You/Lei system discloses the method according to claim 3, wherein one SSB corresponds to a plurality of RO resources (You, 0308 provides for a correspondence between the SSB index and a PRACH resource range), and the method further comprises: configuring a first PRACH mask (You, 0287-0289 provides for PRACH mask index) and a second PRACH mask for the 2-step RACH of the first type of terminal and the 4-step RACH of the first type of terminal, respectively (You, 0287-0289 provides for PRACH mask first value is for 2-step, and second value is for 4-step); wherein the first PRACH mask is configured to determine a first subset of RO resources of the 4-step RACH of the second type of terminal (You, 0289-0294 provides for a PRACH mask index indicates all available resources that are available for a four-step), and the first subset is shared with the 4-step RACH of the first type of terminal (You, 0322 provides for the resource is shared between a two-step and a four-step); and the second PRACH mask is configured to determine a second subset of RO resources of the 4-step RACH of the second type of terminal (You, 0289-0294 provides for a PRACH mask index indicates all available resources that are available for the second type), and the second subset is shared with the 2-step RACH of the first type of terminal (You, 0289-0294 provides for PRACH resource of the two-step contention-free random access).
Regarding Claim 7, the You/Lei system discloses the method according to claim 3, wherein one SSB corresponds to a plurality of RO resources (You, 0308 provides for a correspondence between the SSB index and a PRACH resource range), a PRACH mask is configured for the 4-step RACH of the first type of terminal and a PRACH mask is not configured for the 2-step RACH of the first type of terminal (0322 provides for the preambles of the two-step random access and preambles of the four-step random access are separated), the 2-step RACH of the first type terminal uses the same RO resource as the 4-step RACH of the first type of terminal or uses the same RO resource as the 4-step RACH of the second type of terminal (You, 0322 provides for the resource is shared between a two-step and a four-step).
Regarding Claim 8, the You/Lei system discloses the method according to claim 3, wherein one SSB corresponds to a plurality of RO resources (You, 308 provides for a correspondence between the SSB index and a PRACH resource range), and a PRACH mask is configured for the 2-step RACH of the first type of terminal and the PRACH mask is not configured for the 4-step RACH of the first type of terminal (You, 0322 provides for the preambles of the two-step random access and preambles of the four-step random access are separated), the 4-step RACH of the first type of terminal uses the same RO resource as the 2-step RACH of the first type of terminal (You, 0322 provides for the resource is shared between a two-step and a four-step); or the 4-step RACH of the first type of terminal uses the same RO resource as the 4-step RACH of the second type of terminal; or a configuration of configuring a PRACH mask for the 2-step RACH of the first type of terminal, but not configuring a PRACH mask for the 4-step RACH of the first type of terminal is not supported.
Regarding Claim 10, the You/Lei system discloses the method according to claim 1, wherein instructing the first type of terminal comprises: configuring a same first indication parameter for a 2-step RACH of the first type of terminal and a 4-step RACH of the first type of terminal (You, 0195-0207 provides for the LCH1 is associated with the 2-step RACH and the 4-step RACH); or configuring an independent second indication parameter for a 2-step RACH and a 4-step RACH of the first type of terminal respectively (You, 0207 provides for the LCH2 is associated with the 2-step RACH).
Regarding Claim 11, the You/Lei system discloses the method according to claim 10, further comprising: the first indication parameter or the second indication parameters being configured to indicate that the 2-step RACH of the first type of terminal and the 4-step RACH of the first type of terminal only share one of an RO resource of the 2-step RACH of the second type of terminal and an RO resource of the 4-step RACH of the second type of terminal (You, 0322 provides for the time-frequency resource of the two-step random access and the time-frequency resource of the four-step random access are shared); or the first indication parameter or the second indication parameters being configured to indicate that the 2-step RACH of the first type of terminal and the 4-step RACH of the first type of terminal share at least one of an RO resource of the 2-step RACH of the second type of terminal and an RO resource of the 4-step RACH of the second type of terminal.
Regarding Claim 12, the You/Lei system discloses the method according to claim 11, wherein the independent second indication parameter is configured for the 2-step RACH and the 4-step RACH of the first type of terminal respectively (You, 0322 provides for preambles of the two-step random access and preambles of the four-step random access are separated), and the second indication parameters are configured to indicate that the 2-step RACH of the first type of terminal and the 4-step RACH of the first type of terminal only share one of the RO resource of the 2-step RACH of the second type of terminal and the RO resource of the 4-step RACH of the second type of terminal (You, 0322 provides for the time-frequency resource of the two-step random access and the time-frequency resource of the four-step random access are shared), wherein the method further comprises one of the following: configuring a PRACH mask respectively for the 2-step RACH of the first type of terminal and the 4-step RACH of the first type of terminal (You, 0287 provides for PRACH mask index is a first value for 2-step RACH, and a second value for 4-step RACH); or configuring one same PRACH mask for different RACH manners of the first type of terminal.
Regarding Claim 16, the You/Lei system discloses the method according to claim 1, wherein a 2-step RACH resource of a second type of terminal and a 4-step RACH resource of the second type of terminal are configured (You, 0287 provides for PRACH mask index is a first value for 2-step RACH, and a second value for 4-step RACH), a 2-step RACH of the first type of terminal and a 4-step RACH of the first type of terminal only shares an RO resource of a 4-step RACH of the second type of terminal (You, 0322 provides for the time-frequency resource of the two-step random access and the time-frequency resource of the four-step random access are shared); or a 2-step RACH of the first type of terminal only shares an RO resource of a 2-step RACH of the second type of terminal, and a 4-step RACH of the first type of terminal only shares an RO resource of a 4-step RACH of the second type of terminal.
Regarding Claim 17, the You/Lei system discloses the method according to claim 16, further comprising one of the following: configuring an independent PRACH mask for the 2-step RACH of the first type of terminal and the 4-step RACH of the first type of terminal respectively (You, 0287 provides for PRACH mask index is a first value for 2-step RACH, and a second value for 4-step RACH); or configuring one same PRACH mask for different RACH manners of the first type of terminal.
Regarding Claim 22, the You/Lei system discloses the method according to claim 1, wherein a 4-step RACH resource of a second type of terminal and a 2-step RACH resource of the first type of terminal are configured (You, 0287 provides for PRACH mask index is a first value for 2-step RACH, and a second value for 4-step RACH), a configuration of configuring the 2-step RACH resource of the first type of terminal but not configuring a 4-step RACH resource of the first type of terminal is not supported in an initial random access phase (You, 0322 provides for the network device may select a preamble from the preambles of the two-step random access); or a 4-step RACH of the first type of terminal shares an RO resource of a 2-step RACH of the first type of terminal; or a 4-step RACH of the first type of terminal shares an RO resource of a 4-step RACH of the second type of terminal.
Regarding Claim 23, the You/Lei system discloses the method according to claim 1, wherein a 2-step RACH resource of a second type of terminal (You, 0322 provides for the network device may select a preamble from the preambles of the two-step random access), a 4-step RACH resource of the second type of terminal and a 2-step RACH resource of the first type of terminal are configured (You, 0322 provides for the time-frequency resource of the two-step random access and the time-frequency resource of the four-step random access are shared), a configuration of configuring the 2-step RACH resource of the first type of terminal but not configuring a 4-step RACH resource of the first type of terminal is not supported in an initial random access phase; or a 4-step RACH of the first type of terminal shares an RO resource of a 2-step RACH of the first type of terminal; or a 4-step RACH of the first type of terminal shares an RO resource of a 2-step RACH of the first type of terminal; or a 4-step RACH of the first type of terminal sharing shares an RO resource of a 4-step RACH of the second type of terminal.
Regarding Claim 30, the You/Lei system discloses the method according to claim 1, wherein a 4-step RACH resource of the first type of terminal and a 4-step RACH resource of a second type of terminal are configured You, (0116 provides for the terminal may re-initiate four-step random access), a 2-step RACH of the first type of terminal shares an RO resource of a 4-step RACH of the second type of terminal (You, 0322 provides for the time-frequency resource of the two-step random access and the time-frequency resource of the four-step random access are shared), or a 2-step RACH of the first type of terminal shares an RO resource of a 4-step RACH of the first type of terminal.
Regarding Claim 31, the You/Lei system discloses the method according to claim 1, wherein the 4-step RACH resource of the first type of terminal, a 2-step RACH resource of the second type of terminal and the 4-step RACH resource of the second type of terminal are configured, a 2-step RACH of the first type of terminal shares an RO resource of a 4-step RACH of the first type of terminal (You, 0322 provides for the time-frequency resource of the two-step random access and the time-frequency resource of the four-step random access are shared); or a 2-step RACH of the first type of terminal shares an RO resource of a 2-step RACH of the second type of terminal; or a 2-step RACH of the first type of terminal shares an RO resource of a 4-step RACH of the second type of terminal.
Regarding Claim 44, the You/Lei system discloses a resource allocation method, performed by a first type of terminal (You, FIG. 7, terminal), the method comprising: receiving indication information configured by a network device (You, FIG. 7 and 0166-0168 provides for terminal receiving first indication information S520 comprising a random access type for a first type of terminal configured by a network device), and obtaining a physical random access channel (PRACH) resource shared by the first type of terminal according to the indication information (You, 0287 provides for where the first indication information may be a physical random access channel mask index PRACH mask index); wherein a 2-step RACH resource of a second type of terminal and a 4-step RACH resource of the second type of terminal are configured (Lei, 0152-0153 provides for co-existence of 2-step RACH and 4-step RACH), and the method further comprises: receiving a first signaling of the network device, wherein the first type of terminal shares at least part of PRACH resources of the second type of terminal (Lei, 0147-0148 and 0150-0153 provides for sending transmission payloads to share resources). Same motivation as claim 1.
Regarding Claim 89, similar rejection where the method of claim 1 teaches the network device of claim 89.
Regarding Claim 90, similar rejection where the method of claim 44 teaches the terminal of claim 90.
Claim 42 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over the You/Lei system as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of US PGPUB 2021/0307073 A1 to Huang et al.
Regarding Claim 42, the You/Lei system discloses the method according to claim 1. The You/Lei system doesn’t explicitly disclose wherein a current cell only supports 4-step RACHs for the first type of terminal and a second type of terminal, and a 4-step RACH resource of the second type of terminal is configured, a 4-step RACH of the first type of terminal sharing the 4-step RACH resource of the second type of terminal. Huang, in a similar field of endeavor, discloses wherein a current cell only supports 4-step RACHs for the first type of terminal and a second type of terminal, and a 4-step RACH resource of the second type of terminal is configured (0298 provides for PRACH resources discloses 4-step RA without small data and 4-step CBRA), a 4-step RACH of the first type of terminal sharing the 4-step RACH resource of the second type of terminal (0298 provides for the RO(s) may be shared with other RA types when the NW configures the same PRACH resources for more than one RA type). One of ordinary skill in the art before the effectively filed date of the claimed invention would have recognized the ability to utilize the teachings of Huang for sharing resources between multiple 4-step RA types. The 4-step RA types of Huang, when implemented with the random access of the You/Lei system, will allow one of ordinary skill in the art to configure RACH resources in order to implement 4-step RACH for multiple types of resources. Therefore, the examiner concludes it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the application to utilize the 4-step RA types of Huang with the random access of the You/Lei system for the desirable purpose of PRACH configuration.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SCHQUITA GOODWIN whose telephone number is (571)272-5477. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9am - 5pm EST.
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/SCHQUITA D GOODWIN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2459
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