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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The IDS’s filed on 3/22/2024, 2/13/2025, 2/18/2025 and 7/17/2025 have been considered.
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.
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.
Claim(s) 1-5, 7-11, 15 and 36-42 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over
Cozzo et al. (US 2021/0274554) in view of Mo et al. (US 2024/0179684).
Regarding claim 1, Cozzo discloses a radio terminal (Cozzo, paragraph [0005], UE) comprising:
at least one memory; and at least one processor coupled to the at least one memory (Cozzo, Fig. 3, memory, processing circuitry; paragraph [0044], UE 116) and configured to:
select a Synchronization Signal (SS)/Physical Broadcast Channel (PBCH) block (SSB) having a Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP) greater than a first RSRP threshold associated with a feature or a feature combination (Cozzo, paragraph [0076], UE selects the uplink carrier to initiate the random access based on DL measurements. An RSRP threshold rsrp-ThresholdSSB-SUL for the selection between the NUL carrier and the SUL carrier is configured to the UE: if the RSRP of the downlink pathloss reference is less than rsrp-ThresholdSSB-SUL, the UE selects the SUL carrier for performing Random Access procedure; paragraph [0087], The UE selects which uplink carrier to use for random access based on a threshold, rsrp-ThresholdSSB-RedCap; paragraph [0088], different threshold values for UL carrier determination allow a certain type of traffic and/or certain load in an UL carrier); and
perform a random access preamble transmission using a first random access occasion corresponding to the selected SSB (Cozzo, paragraph [0081], UE attempts a PRACH preamble transmission with the PRACH resource section including a SSB and/or preamble), wherein
the feature is one of Reduced Capability (RedCap), Small Data Transmission (SDT), Coverage Enhancement (CovEnh), or Slicing (Cozzo, paragraph [0087], The UE selects which uplink carrier to use for random access based on a threshold, rsrp-ThresholdSSB-RedCap; paragraph [0088], different threshold values for UL carrier determination allow a certain type of traffic and/or certain load in an UL carrier).
Cozzo does not explicitly disclose a feature combination that includes at least two of RedCap, SDT, CovEnh, or Slicing.
Mo discloses a feature combination includes at least two of RedCap, SDT, CovEnh, or Slicing (Mo, paragraph [0080], first characteristic includes at least one of small data transmission (SDT), a reduced capability (RedCap) NR device, coverage enhancement (CovEnh), radio access network slicing (RAN slicing; paragraph [0137], threshold value associated with the combined characteristic of Slice-RedCap-SDT).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to perform a random access preamble transmission using a first random access occasion corresponding to the selected SSB and for a RSRP threshold for SSB selection to be associated with a feature combination, in the invention of Cozzo. The motivation to combine the references would have been to use conventional terminology to refer to a random access resource, and for rsrp thresholds for SSB selection to be specifically tailored to feature combinations having their own bandwidth/latency/data rate requirements (see Cozzo, paragraphs [0003], [0088]).
Regarding claim 2, Cozzo in view of Mo discloses the radio terminal according to claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is configured to perform SSB selection using a second RSRP threshold not associated with the feature or the feature combination if no SSB has an RSRP greater than the first RSRP threshold (Mo, paragraph [0112]-[0113], when the first condition that a downlink pathloss measurement value of the terminal is less than a second threshold is not satisfied, selecting a second random access preamble group as the target random access preamble group, where the second random access preamble group and the first random access preamble group are different).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to fall back to a different RA configuration of Mo having a different RSRP threshold if no SSB has an RSRP greater than the first RSRP threshold, in the invention of Cozzo. The motivation to combine the references would have been for a fallback rsrp threshold for SSB selection to be at least partially tailored to feature combinations having their own bandwidth/latency/data rate requirements (see Cozzo, paragraphs [0003], [0088]).
Regarding claim 3, Cozzo in view of Mo discloses the radio terminal according to claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is configured to perform SSB selection using a third RSRP threshold associated with a feature subset included in the feature combination if no SSB has an RSRP greater than the first RSRP threshold (Mo, paragraph [0112]-[0113], when the first condition that a downlink pathloss measurement value of the terminal is less than a second threshold is not satisfied, selecting a second random access preamble group as the target random access preamble group, where the second random access preamble group and the first random access preamble group are different; paragraph [0120], performing a random access type fallback when a random access type selected by the terminal includes a RAN slicing or SDT type (that may be, for example, a RAN slicing-RedCap-4-step RA type) and a preset fallback condition is satisfied in an ongoing random access procedure, and resetting the target random access type (for example, the RAN slicing-RedCap-4-step RA type may fall back to a RedCap-4-step RA type)).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to fall back to a different RA configuration of Mo having a different RSRP threshold if no SSB has an RSRP greater than the first RSRP threshold , in the invention of Cozzo. The motivation to combine the references would have been for a fallback rsrp threshold for SSB selection to be specifically tailored to feature combinations having their own bandwidth/latency/data rate requirements (see Cozzo, paragraphs [0003], [0088]).
Regarding claim 4, Cozzo in view of Mo discloses the radio terminal according to claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is configured to perform random access resource selection prior to random access preamble retransmission if random access response reception or contention resolution is not successful after transmission on the first random access occasion (Cozzo, paragraph [0081], if the RAR is not successful, the UE attempts a new PRACH preamble transmission with the PRACH resource section possibly including a different SSB and/or different preamble),
wherein the random access resource selection includes retrying to select an SSB having an RSRP greater than the first RSRP threshold (Cozzo, paragraph [0087], The UE selects which uplink carrier to use for random access based on a threshold, rsrp-ThresholdSSB-RedCap).
Regarding claim 5, Cozzo in view of Mo discloses the radio terminal according to claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is configured to:
receive, from the radio access network node, a plurality of RSRP thresholds, each associated with one of a plurality of features or with one of one or more combinations of two or more features included in the plurality of features (Cozzo, Table 1 and paragraph [0090], rsrp-ThresholdSSB-SUL-RedCap and rsrp-ThresholdSSB-RedCap); and
select the first RSRP threshold from the plurality of RSRP thresholds (Cozzo, paragraph [0087], The UE selects which uplink carrier to use for random access based on a threshold, rsrp-ThresholdSSB-RedCap),
wherein the plurality of features includes at least two of RedCap, SDT, CovEnh, or Slicing (Mo, paragraph [0080], first characteristic includes at least one of small data transmission (SDT), a reduced capability (RedCap) NR device, coverage enhancement (CovEnh), radio access network slicing (RAN slicing; paragraph [0137], threshold value associated with the combined characteristic of Slice-RedCap-SDT).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, for RSRP thresholds for SSB selection to be associated with feature combinations, in the invention of Cozzo. The motivation to combine the references would have been for rsrp thresholds for SSB selection to be specifically tailored to feature combinations having their own bandwidth/latency/data rate requirements (see Cozzo, paragraphs [0003], [0088]).
Regarding claim 7, Cozzo in view of Mo discloses the radio terminal according to claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is configured to:
if both a Normal Uplink (NUL) carrier and a Supplementary Uplink (SUL) carrier support the feature or the feature combination, select one of the NUL carrier and the SUL carrier based on a downlink measurement result (Cozzo, Fig. 6, step 630; paragraph [0076], the UE selects the uplink carrier to initiate the random access based on DL measurements. An RSRP threshold rsrp-ThresholdSSB-SUL for the selection between the NUL carrier and the SUL carrier is configured to the UE. The value of the threshold rsrp-ThresholdSSB-SUL determines the carrier where the RedCap UE initiates the random access), otherwise select one of the NUL carrier and the SUL carrier that supports the feature or the feature combination (Cozzo, Fig. 6, step 630; paragraph [0094], In case the threshold is set to zero, all RedCap UEs perform random access on the normal UL carrier. If the threshold is set to a very high value or infinity, all RedCap UEs perform random access on the SUL carrier); and
select the first random access occasion from a set of random access resources associated with the selected uplink carrier (Cozzo, paragraph [0081], UE attempts a PRACH preamble transmission with the PRACH resource section including a SSB and/or preamble).
Regarding claim 8, Cozzo in view of Mo discloses the radio terminal according to claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is configured to:
select an uplink carrier from a Normal Uplink (NUL) carrier and a Supplementary Uplink (SUL) carrier based on a downlink measurement result (Cozzo, Fig. 6, step 630; paragraph [0076], the UE selects the uplink carrier to initiate the random access based on DL measurements. An RSRP threshold rsrp-ThresholdSSB-SUL for the selection between the NUL carrier and the SUL carrier is configured to the UE); and
if the selected uplink carrier does not support the feature combination, select the first random access occasion from a set of random access resources associated with a feature subset included in the feature combination (Mo, paragraph [0108]-[0113], when the first condition, that the first random access preamble group corresponding to the target random access type is configured on a network side, is not satisfied, selecting a second random access preamble group as the target random access preamble group, where the second random access preamble group and the first random access preamble group are different; paragraph [0120], performing a random access type fallback when a random access type selected by the terminal includes a RAN slicing or SDT type (that may be, for example, a RAN slicing-RedCap-4-step RA type) and a preset fallback condition is satisfied in an ongoing random access procedure, and resetting the target random access type (for example, the RAN slicing-RedCap-4-step RA type may fall back to a RedCap-4-step RA type); paragraph [0146], random access type fallback is performed if the random access type selected by the UE includes at least a Slicing or SDT manner and a fallback condition is satisfied, and random access resource selection is performed again based on a fallback type. For example, the UE may fall back from a Slice-RedCap-SDT access type to Slice-RedCap).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to fall back to a different RA configuration of Mo having a subset of specific features of the communication if there is not a supported RA configuration having a subset of specific features of the communication, in the invention of Cozzo. The motivation to combine the references would have been for a fallback rsrp threshold for SSB selection to be tailored as closely as possible to feature combinations having their own bandwidth/latency/data rate requirements (see Cozzo, paragraphs [0003], [0088]).
Regarding claim 9, Cozzo in view of Mo discloses the radio terminal according to claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is configured to: if a first set of random access resources associated with the feature combination is configured, select the first random access occasion from the first set; and if the first set is not configured, select the first random access occasion from a second set of random access resources associated with a feature subset included in the feature combination (Mo, paragraph [0108]-[0113], when the first condition, that the first random access preamble group corresponding to the target random access type is configured on a network side, is not satisfied, selecting a second random access preamble group as the target random access preamble group, where the second random access preamble group and the first random access preamble group are different; paragraph [0120], performing a random access type fallback when a random access type selected by the terminal includes a RAN slicing or SDT type (that may be, for example, a RAN slicing-RedCap-4-step RA type) and a preset fallback condition is satisfied in an ongoing random access procedure, and resetting the target random access type (for example, the RAN slicing-RedCap-4-step RA type may fall back to a RedCap-4-step RA type); paragraph [0146], random access type fallback is performed if the random access type selected by the UE includes at least a Slicing or SDT manner and a fallback condition is satisfied, and random access resource selection is performed again based on a fallback type. For example, the UE may fall back from a Slice-RedCap-SDT access type to Slice-RedCap).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to fall back to a different RA configuration of Mo having a subset of specific features of the communication if there is not a supported RA configuration having all of specific features of the communication, in the invention of Cozzo. The motivation to combine the references would have been for a fallback rsrp threshold for SSB selection to be tailored as closely as possible to feature combinations having their own bandwidth/latency/data rate requirements (see Cozzo, paragraphs [0003], [0088]).
Regarding claim 10, Cozzo in view of Mo discloses the radio terminal according to claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is configured to: if a first set of random access resources associated with the feature or the feature combination is configured, select the first random access occasion from the first set; and if the first set is not configured, select the first random access occasion from a second set of random access resources not associated with the feature or the feature combination (Mo, paragraph [0108]-[0113], when the first condition, that the first random access preamble group corresponding to the target random access type is configured on a network side, is not satisfied, selecting a second random access preamble group as the target random access preamble group, where the second random access preamble group and the first random access preamble group are different; paragraph [0120], performing a random access type fallback when a random access type selected by the terminal includes a RAN slicing or SDT type (that may be, for example, a RAN slicing-RedCap-4-step RA type) and a preset fallback condition is satisfied in an ongoing random access procedure, and resetting the target random access type (for example, the RAN slicing-RedCap-4-step RA type may fall back to a RedCap-4-step RA type); paragraph [0146], random access type fallback is performed if the random access type selected by the UE includes at least a Slicing or SDT manner and a fallback condition is satisfied, and random access resource selection is performed again based on a fallback type. For example, the UE may fall back from a Slice-RedCap-SDT access type to Slice-RedCap).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to fall back to a different RA configuration of Mo without one of the specific features of the communication if there is not a supported RA configuration having all of specific features of the communication, in the invention of Cozzo. The motivation to combine the references would have been for a fallback rsrp threshold for SSB selection to be tailored as closely as possible to feature combinations having their own bandwidth/latency/data rate requirements (see Cozzo, paragraphs [0003], [0088]).
Claim 11 is rejected under substantially the same rationale as claim 1.
Regarding claim 15, Cozzo discloses method performed by a radio access network node, the method comprising (Cozzo, paragraph [0006], base station) comprising:
broadcasting in a cell a first Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP) threshold associated with a feature or a feature combination (Cozzo, paragraph [0076], UE selects the uplink carrier to initiate the random access based on DL measurements. An RSRP threshold rsrp-ThresholdSSB-SUL for the selection between the NUL carrier and the SUL carrier is configured to the UE: if the RSRP of the downlink pathloss reference is less than rsrp-ThresholdSSB-SUL, the UE selects the SUL carrier for performing Random Access procedure; paragraph [0087], The UE selects which uplink carrier to use for random access based on a threshold, rsrp-ThresholdSSB-RedCap, which is broadcasted in the cell; paragraph [0088], different threshold values for UL carrier determination allow a certain type of traffic and/or certain load in an UL carrier); and
receiving a random access preamble transmitted using a first random access occasion corresponding to a Synchronization Signal (SS)/Physical Broadcast Channel (PBCH) block (SSB) having an RSRP greater than the first RSRP threshold (Cozzo, paragraph [0076], UE selects the uplink carrier to initiate the random access based on DL measurements. An RSRP threshold rsrp-ThresholdSSB-SUL for the selection between the NUL carrier and the SUL carrier is configured to the UE: if the RSRP of the downlink pathloss reference is less than rsrp-ThresholdSSB-SUL, the UE selects the SUL carrier for performing Random Access procedure; paragraph [0087], The UE selects which uplink carrier to use for random access based on a threshold, rsrp-ThresholdSSB-RedCap, which is broadcasted in the cell; paragraph [0081], UE attempts a PRACH preamble transmission with the PRACH resource section including a SSB and/or preamble; paragraph [0088], different threshold values for UL carrier determination allow a certain type of traffic and/or certain load in an UL carrier), wherein
the feature is one of Reduced Capability (RedCap), Small Data Transmission (SDT), Coverage Enhancement (CovEnh), or Slicing (Cozzo, paragraph [0087], The UE selects which uplink carrier to use for random access based on a threshold, rsrp-ThresholdSSB-RedCap; paragraph [0088], different threshold values for UL carrier determination allow a certain type of traffic and/or certain load in an UL carrier).
Cozzo does not explicitly disclose a feature combination that includes at least two of RedCap, SDT, CovEnh, or Slicing.
Mo discloses a feature combination includes at least two of RedCap, SDT, CovEnh, or Slicing (Mo, paragraph [0080], first characteristic includes at least one of small data transmission (SDT), a reduced capability (RedCap) NR device, coverage enhancement (CovEnh), radio access network slicing (RAN slicing; paragraph [0137], threshold value associated with the combined characteristic of Slice-RedCap-SDT).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to perform a random access preamble transmission using a first random access occasion corresponding to the selected SSB and for a RSRP threshold for SSB selection to be associated with a feature combination, in the invention of Cozzo. The motivation to combine the references would have been to use conventional terminology to refer to a random access resource, and for rsrp thresholds for SSB selection to be specifically tailored to feature combinations having their own bandwidth/latency/data rate requirements (see Cozzo, paragraphs [0003], [0088]).
Claims 36-41 are rejected under substantially the same rationale as claims 4-5 and 7-10, respectively.
Claim 42 is rejected under substantially the same rationale as claim 5.
Claim(s) 34-35 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over
Cozzo et al. (US 2021/0274554) in view of Mo et al. (US 2024/0179684), and further in view of VIVO, "Discussion on RACH Partitioning in Rel-17", 3GPP TSG RAN WG2 #115-e R2-2107058, August 6, 2021 (cited in Applicant’s IDS filed on March 22, 2024) (Hereafter, R2-2107058)
Claim 34 is rejected under substantially the same rationale as claim 2, but Cozzo in view of Mo does not explicitly disclose performing beam selection using a second RSRP threshold not associated with the feature or the feature combination if no SSB has an RSRP greater than the first RSRP threshold.
R2-2107058 discloses performing beam selection using a second RSRP threshold not associated with the feature or the feature combination if no SSB has an RSRP greater than the first RSRP threshold (R2-2107058, page 1, section 2.1, third paragraph, beam direction is associated with a given SSB; page 5, section 2.3, UE will select an SSB/preamble/RO associated with the RACH resource associated with the selected RA type).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, that a beam is selected when a given SSB is selected in the invention of Cozzo in view of Mo. The motivation to combine the references would have been to perform configuration of beams accordingly to standardized procedures.
Claim 35 is rejected under substantially the same rationale as claim3, but Cozzo in view of Mo does not explicitly disclose performing beam selection using a second RSRP threshold not associated with the feature or the feature combination if no SSB has an RSRP greater than the first RSRP threshold.
R2-2107058 discloses performing beam selection using a second RSRP threshold not associated with the feature or the feature combination if no SSB has an RSRP greater than the first RSRP threshold (R2-2107058, page 1, section 2.1, third paragraph, beam direction is associated with a given SSB; page 5, section 2.3, UE will select an SSB/preamble/RO associated with the RACH resource associated with the selected RA type).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, that a beam direction is selected when a given SSB is selected in the invention of Cozzo in view of Mo. The motivation to combine the references would have been to perform configuration of beams accordingly to standardized procedures.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Sedin et al. (US 20240284514) discloses that a first PRACH resource comprises at least one of:—a PRACH time/frequency resource; and—a PRACH preamble sequence. In some embodiments, the feature comprises at least one of:—Msg3 repetition;—MsgA repetition;—a network slice;—Non-small data transmission (Non-SDT);—a UE with reduced capability (RedCap UE);—a random access in non-terrestrial network; and—a specific service type or UE priority.
Xu et al. (US 20240032102) discloses implementing unified RA for multiple features. For example, some aspects of this disclosure relate to apparatuses and methods for implementing mechanisms to unify RA design across multiple features, which may support the multiple features at the same time. The multiple features can include, but are not limited to, reduced capability (RedCap), coverage enhancement, Radio Access Network (RAN) slicing, small data transmission, and the like. According to some aspects, feature identification during the RA procedure can be done using, for example, different RACH occasions (ROs) or different preamble configuration.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ALAN LOUIS LINDENBAUM whose telephone number is (571)270-3858. The examiner can normally be reached Monday through Friday 11:00 AM to 7:00 PM EST.
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/ALAN L LINDENBAUM/Examiner, Art Unit 2413
/OUSSAMA ROUDANI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2413
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