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 .
DETAILED ACTION
This Office Action is in response to the Applicant's communication filed on 03/22/2024. In virtue of this communication, claims 1 – 30 have been canceled; claims 31 – 36 have been newly added. Claims 31 – 36 are currently pending in the instant application.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
Claims 31 – 36 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claims 31, 33, 34, and 36 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) as being indefinite because it is unclear. Claims 31, 33, 34, and 36 currently stated that “a first set of random access resources associated with a feature or feature combination selected, desired, or intended by the radio terminal from any one of Reduced Capability (RedCap), Small Data Transmission (SDT), Coverage Enhancement (CovEnh), or Slicing, or a feature combination including at least two of RedCap, SDT, CovEnh, and Slicing”. A person having ordinary skill in the art cannot tell what steps are required for the “feature combination desired, or intended by the radio terminal”. For examination on the merits the claim would be given their broadest reasonable interpretation consistent with the specification, as required by MPEP 2111. Correction is required.
Claims 32 and 35 are also rejected because they directly depend to claims 31 and 34, respectively.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
4. 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 of this title, 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.
5. Claims 31, 33, 34, and 36 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lim et al. (hereinafter “Lim”) (WO 2023/044025 A1, using provisional 63246271 for early filing date) in view of Agiwal et al. (hereinafter “Agiwal”) (Pub # US 2026/0025877 A1).
Regarding claims 31 and 34, Lim discloses a radio terminal (see UE YY02 in Figure YY (page 28) including circuitry associated with the UE, and see Figure YZ (page 31) for hardware resources) comprising:
at least one memory (see YZ20 in Figure YZ); and
at least one processor (see YZ12 in Figure YZ) coupled to the at least one memory and configured to:
receive receives system information including a random access configuration from a radio access network node (see ANYY04 in Figure YY (page 28) (see page 33, example 2 for receiving the feature specific and combination of features specific PRACH configuration/resources signaled by the network, thus obviously receiving system information);
determine whether or not a first set of random access resources associated with a feature or feature combination selected, desired, or intended by the radio terminal (see page 14 lines 13 – 18 for the UE decides on whether a PRACH configuration/resources corresponding feature combination is valid) from any one of Reduced Capability (RedCap), Small Data Transmission (SDT), Coverage Enhancement (CovEnh), or Slicing, or a feature combination including at least two of RedCap, SDT, CovEnh, and Slicing, is available (see page 4 lines 16 – 20 for features from SDT, Slicing, CovEnh, RedCap or feature combination);
select a first random access resource from the first set, if the first set is available (see page 17, options 1, 3, 4 for the UE will select the PRACH configuration/resources corresponding to the feature combination that are valid to the UE); and
select a second random access resource from a second set of random access resources not associated with the feature or the feature combination, if the first set is not available (see page 17, options 4 for the UE will select the legacy common configuration for 4-step RACH and/or 2-step RACH if no PRACH configuration/resources corresponding to feature combinations that are valid with the UE).
Lim teaches that receiving the feature specific and combination of features specific PRACH configuration/resources signaled by the network, thus obviously receiving system information, and the UE will select the PRACH configuration/resources corresponding to the feature combination that are valid to the UE or select the legacy common configuration for 4-step RACH and/or 2-step RACH if no PRACH configuration/resources corresponding to feature combinations that are valid with the UE.
Lim does not disclose specifically that the system information including a random access configuration, and performs a random access preamble transmission using the selected first/second random access resource.
In an analogous art, Agiwal discloses that the system information including a random access configuration (see Agiwal, [0054] for network node broadcast system information (SI), see [0054] – [0056] for the UE acquires SI including random access resources, e.g., PRACH preamble(s) and PRACH resource(s)), and performs a random access preamble transmission using the selected first/second random access resource (see Agiwal, [0067], [0191] for if there is no SSB having DL RSRP above a threshold amongst the SSBs for which contention free random access resources (i.e. dedicated preambles /ROs, i.e., first RA resource) are provided by gNB, UE select non dedicated preamble (i.e., second RA resource), otherwise UE select dedicated preamble (i.e., first RA resource), see [0065], [0066] for the UE selects random access resource (preamble/RACH occasion) and transmits the RA preamble).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before effective filing date the invention was made, to modify the invention of Lim which include the UE determines RA resource associated with SDT feature, and have the system information including a random access configuration, and performs a random access preamble transmission using the selected random access resource depends on the RA configuration provided by the network node, thereby provides efficiently enhanced RA-SDT, as discussed by Agiwal (see Agiwal, [0008], [0190], [0191]).
Regarding claims 33 and 36, Lim discloses a radio access network node (see ANYY04 in Figure YY (page 28) including circuitry associated with the base station or node B/ gNB, and see Figure YZ (page 31) for hardware resources) comprising:
at least one memory (see YZ20 in Figure YZ); and
at least one processor (see YZ12 in Figure YZ) coupled to the at least one memory and configured to:
transmit system information including a random access configuration to a radio terminal (see UE YY02 in Figure YY (page 28) (see page 33, example 2 for receiving the feature specific and combination of features specific PRACH configuration/resources signaled by the network, thus obviously transmit system information); and
receive a random access procedure from the radio terminal (see page 17, last paragraph for the UE selects the PRACH configuration/resources corresponding to the feature combination and performs random access procedure with the update on the selection of the PRACH configuration/resource), wherein
if a first set of random access resources associated with a feature or feature combination selected, desired, or intended by the radio terminal (see page 14 lines 13 – 18 for the UE decides on whether a PRACH configuration/ resources corresponding feature combination is valid) from any one of Reduced Capability (RedCap), Small Data Transmission (SDT), Coverage Enhancement (CovEnh), or Slicing, or a feature combination including at least two of RedCap, SDT, CovEnh, and Slicing, is available (see page 4 lines 16 – 20 for features from SDT, Slicing, CovEnh, RedCap or feature combination), the random access procedure is transmitted using a first random access resource selected from the first set (see page 17, options 1, 3, 4, and last paragraph for the UE will select the PRACH configuration/resources corresponding to the feature combination that are valid to the UE and performs random access procedure with the update on the selection of the PRACH configuration/resource), and
if the first set is not available (see page 17, options 4 for the UE will select the legacy common configuration for 4-step RACH and/or 2-step RACH if no PRACH configuration/resources corresponding to feature combinations that are valid with the UE), the random access procedure is transmitted using a second random access resource selected from a second set of random access resources not associated with the feature or the feature combination (see page 17, options 4, and last paragraph for the UE will select the PRACH configuration/ resources corresponding to the feature combination if no PRACH configuration/ resources and performs random access procedure with the update on the selection of the PRACH configuration/resource).
Lim does not disclose specifically that the system information including a random access configuration, and receives a random access preamble is transmitted using the selected first/second random access resource.
In an analogous art, Agiwal discloses that the system information including a random access configuration (see Agiwal, [0054] for network node broadcast system information (SI), see [0054] – [0056] for the UE acquires SI including random access resources, e.g., PRACH preamble(s) and PRACH resource(s), and performs a random access preamble is transmitted using the selected first/second random access resource (see Agiwal, [0067], [0191] for if there is no SSB having DL RSRP above a threshold amongst the SSBs for which contention free random access resources (i.e. dedicated preambles /ROs, i.e., first RA resource) are provided by gNB, the UE select non dedicated preamble (i.e., second RA resource), otherwise UE select dedicated preamble (i.e., first RA resource), see [0065], [0066] for the UE selects random access resource (preamble/RACH occasion) and transmits the RA preamble, and see [0072] for PRACH occasion or PRACH TX occasion or RACH occasion in which RA preamble was detected by gNB).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before effective filing date the invention was made, to modify the invention of Lim which include the UE determines RA resource associated with SDT feature, and have the system information including a random access configuration, and receive a random access preamble from the radio terminal using the selected random access resource depends on the RA configuration provided by the network node, thereby provides efficiently enhanced RA-SDT, as discussed by Agiwal (see Agiwal, [0008], [0190], [0191]).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 32 and 35 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if overcome the 112 rejection above and rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MONG-THUY THI TRAN whose telephone number is (571)270-3199. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday: 9AM - 6PM (IFP).
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/MONG-THUY T TRAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2645