CTNF 18/715,722 CTNF 85642 DETAILED ACTION Claim(s) 1-19 and 22-24 have been examined and are pending. Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status 07-03-aia AIA 15-10-aia The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA. Specification The title of the invention is not descriptive. A new title is required that is clearly indicative of the invention to which the claims are directed. It is suggested that the new title at least incorporate the terms “cooperative transmission” and “random access”. Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103 07-20-aia AIA 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. 07-20-02-aia AIA This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention. 07-23-aia AIA 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. 07-21-aia AIA Claim (s) 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, and 19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over LIN (WO 2021004337 A1, cited in June 2, 2024 IDS) in view of WANG (“US 20220217731 A1”) in view of KIM (US 20150365968 A1) In regards to claim 11, LIN (WO 2021004337 A1) teaches a method performed by a radio network node for handling a cooperative transmission of data from a group of user equipments , UE, in a wireless communications network, the method comprising configurating dedicated resources related to a random access procedure for the group of UEs ; receiving indications from one or more UEs of the group of UEs, wherein each indication indicates a preferred synchronization signal block, SSB, for respective UE (Note that with respect to the group of UE’s at least one UE and another UE, are multiplexed, the multiplexing being regarding as a grouping, for reception of a second message, See “[0030] In a second aspect of the disclosure, there is provided a method at a base station. The method comprises receiving a first message including a random access channel (RACH) preamble on a RACH occasion and data on an uplink shared channel (USCH) from a user equipment (UE) , wherein the data includes information of at least one synchronization signal and physical broadcast channel block (SSB) with a signal measured metric satisfying a criterion. The method further comprises transmitting a second message as a response to the first messag e. [0031] In a third aspect of the disclosure, there is provided a method at a base station. The method comprises receiving a first message including a random access channel (RACH) preamble on a RACH occasion and data on an uplink shared channel (USCH) from a user equipment (UE) . The method further comprises transmitting a second message as respective response to respective first message of the UE and at least one other UE . The base station determines a beam for the second message as one of a common downlink beam of the UE and the at least one other UE; a beam covering at least one of the UE's preferred beam and the at least one other UE's preferred beam; a preferred beam of a UE with a higher priority between the UE and the at least one other UE; and a beam randomly selected from the UE's preferred beam and the at least one other UE's preferred beam… [00110] At block 302, the UE transmits a first message including a random access channel (RACH) preamble on a RACH occasion and data on an uplink shared channel (USCH) to a base station …. [00114] In an embodiment, the data may include information of at least one synchronization signal and physical broadcast channel block (SSB) with a signal measured metric satisfying a criterion. The signal measured metric may be any suitable signal measured metric measured based on downlink signals. In an embodiment, the signal measured metric may be reference signal received power (RSRP) , or reference signal received quality (RSRQ) , or signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR) measured based on a downlink signal. The reference signal can be any suitable reference signal such as synchronization signal reference signal, etc. In an embodiment, the signal may be a layer 1 signal. For example, the data may include information of at least one SSB with a synchronization signal RSRP (SS-RSRP) above rsrp-ThresholdSS B …[00115] In an embodiment, the criterion may be a threshold and the signal measured metric satisfying the criterion may include the signal measured metric larger than or no less than the threshold . ” ); selecting a SSB for the random access procedure for the group of UEs performing the cooperative transmission (“[0031] In a third aspect of the disclosure, there is provided a method at a base station. The method comprises receiving a first message including a random access channel (RACH) preamble on a RACH occasion and data on an uplink shared channel (USCH) from a user equipment (UE) . The method further comprises transmitting a second message as respective response to respective first message of the UE and at least one other UE. The base station determines a beam for the second message as one of a common downlink beam of the UE and the at least one other UE; a beam covering at least one of the UE's preferred beam and the at least one other UE's preferred beam; a preferred beam of a UE with a higher priority between the UE and the at least one other UE; and a beam randomly selected from the UE's preferred beam and the at least one other UE's preferred beam . A beam for the second message may be determined for example by the base station in various ways. [00130] In an embodiment, a beam for the second message may be a common downlink beam of the UE and the at least one other UE. For example, the beam for the combined msgB transmission can be a common downlink beam preferred by the UEs, this requires the combination is only used in a group of UEs with at least one same downlink preferred beam. For example, when 64 preambles are allocated, and each RO is mapped by 4 SSBs and 16 preambles are mapped to each SSB, then only the UEs transmitting some of the 16 preambles mapped to one SSB can be combined in the msgB. [00131] In an embodiment, a beam for the second message may be a beam covering at least one of the UE's preferred beam and the at least one other UE's preferred beam. For example, the beam for the combined msgB transmission can be a wide beam covering at least one of the UE's preferred beam and the at least one other UE's preferred beam. [00132] In an embodiment, a beam for the second message may be a preferred beam of a UE with a higher priority between the UE and the at least one other UE. For example, the beam used for the combined msgB transmission can be determined based on the priority of the data of the UEs. For example, the preferred beam for the transmission of the data for UE with higher priority can be used. The priority can be based on the random access type, e.g. 2-step RA is prioritized. The priority can be based on the service type, e.g. the uRLLC (Ultra Reliable Low Latency Communications) UE is prioritized. [00133] In an embodiment, a beam for the second message may be a beam randomly selected from the UE's preferred beam and the at least one other UE's preferred beam. For example, the beam for the second message is randomly selected from the set of beams preferred by the group of UEs with data combined in one msgB PDSCH. [00134] In an embodiment, a beam for the second message may be determined based on a common SSB from the plurality of SSBs reported by the UEs. For example, UEs that have reported a certain common SSB in the sets (one from each UE) of SSBs with SS-RSRP above rsrp-ThresholdSSB are selected to be combined in PDSCH of one msgB . ”); and transmitting a response to the one or more UEs of the group of UEs using the selected SSB (“[0031] In a third aspect of the disclosure, there is provided a method at a base station. The method comprises receiving a first message including a random access channel (RACH) preamble on a RACH occasion and data on an uplink shared channel (USCH) from a user equipment (UE) . The method further comprises transmitting a second message as respective response to respective first message of the UE and at least one other UE. The base station determines a beam for the second message as one of a common downlink beam of the UE and the at least one other UE; a beam covering at least one of the UE's preferred beam and the at least one other UE's preferred beam; a preferred beam of a UE with a higher priority between the UE and the at least one other UE; and a beam randomly selected from the UE's preferred beam and the at least one other UE's preferred beam …[00126] At block 304, the UE receives a second message as a response to the first message. The second message such as msgB may include any suitable information such as the equivalent contents of msg2 and msg4 of 4-step random access procedure. The second message may be a layer 1 message. In an embodiment, for the response to a successfully decoded msgA, the msgB should include TA (timing advance) command, contention resolution ID, etc. For the response to a msgA failed to be decoded, the msgB can be a fall-back message, or even a normal RAR (msg2) …[00128] In an embodiment, the second message can multiplex respective response to respective first message of the UE and at least one other UE. In this case, the second message further includes the respective response to the respective first message of at least one other UE. For example, for CCCH, for success or fallback RAR, MsgB can multiplex messages for multiple UEs and msgB is transmitted in one PDSCH. In another embodiment, MsgB containing the success RAR shall not be multiplexed with the legacy 4-step RACH RAR in the same MAC PDU. Which UEs can be multiplexed in the second message can be determined in various ways. In an embodiment, UEs having a same determined MCS can be multiplexed in the second message. In an embodiment, UEs having a certain common SSB with a signal measured metric satisfying the criterion can be multiplexed in the second message. In an embodiment, UEs transmitting RACH preambles mapped to a same SSB can be multiplexed in the second message. [00129] In an embodiment, UEs having a same downlink preferred beam can be multiplexed in the second message. The UE's preferred beam can be indicated to the base station in various ways. For example, when UE detects a best SSB beam (i.e., the preferred beam) , a PRACH preamble in the set of one or more PRACH preambles mapped to this SSB will be selected for the random access, then when the base station such as gNB detects the PRACH preamble, the best SSB beam for this UE is known indirectly so that best beams can be used for transmitting signals to or receiving signals from this UE. In this case, the UE's preferred beam can correspond to the best SSB beam. In other embodiments, the UE's preferred beam can correspond to the SSB beam with the best signal measured metric (such as the highest RSRP, or the best RSRQ, or the biggest SINR) satisfying the criterion . ”). The random access feature of LIN differs from that of claim 11 in that LIN is silent on the method performed by the radio network node for handling a cooperative transmission of data from the group of user equipments. Thus, LIN is silent on selecting the SSB for the random access procedure for the group of UEs performing the cooperative transmission, as arranged with the remaining elements of claim 11. LIN further differs from claim 11, in that LIN is silent on configurating dedicated resources related to a random access procedure for the group of UEs. Despite these differences similar features have been seen in other prior art for wireless communication. WANG (“US 20220217731 A1”) teaches a cooperative transmission feature for a group UE’s, the cooperative transmission feature providing a benefit of increased UL coverage (“[0001] Device to Device, D2D, group communication may be a way to increase the uplink coverage and user bit rate for example in a future high frequency Fifth Generation, 5G, network. On a high level, a group of User Equipment, UEs, or sensors are D2D capable, and when a UE has data to transmit it will first distribute this data to neighbouring UEs in the group over the D2D or Side Link (SL). In a second step, the UEs in the group will cooperatively transmit the data over the cellular Up Link, UL. The cooperative transmission will increase the UL coverage, for example by combining several UEs, the total output power and may be beneficial from a latency point of view compared to repeated transmissions for coverage, as used for example in Long Term Evolution, LTE, narrowband. Such a D2D group communication may also be referred to as a 2-hop group transmission. ”). Thus, based upon the teachings of WANG, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the UE grouping feature of LIN, by taking advantage cooperative transmission for UE groups as suggested by WANG, to thus arrive at the method being performed by the radio network node for handling a cooperative transmission of data from the group of user equipments and selecting the SSB for the random access procedure for the group of UEs performing the cooperative transmission, as arranged with the remaining elements of claim 11. A person of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make such a modification in order to provide a benefit of increased UL coverage. The combined teachings of LIN in view of WANG further differ from claim 11, in that the combined teachings are silent on configurating dedicated resources related to a random access procedure for the group of UEs. Despite these differences similar features have been seen in other prior art involving random access of a communication network. KIM (US 20150365968 A1) suggests random access feature for configuring dedicated resources (i.e. RAPID) related to random access of a UE and monitoring for the dedicated resources (i.e. RAPID) related to the random access procedure; (“[0092] The RAR is a response message transmitted by the eNB in reply to the preamble transmitted by the UE and includes a header and a payload, the header containing Random Access Preamble ID (RAPID) and the payload containing various informations as well as uplink grant. The UE monitors to receive an RAR during a predetermined period after transmitting the random access preamble and, if the RAR includes the same RAPID as the preamble it has transmitted, determines that the RAR and the uplink grant included in the RAR are valid… .[0133] The UE determines whether the uplink grant triggered the PUSCH transmission corresponding to the received PHICH has been transmitted through RAR or PDCCH at step 1925. If the uplink grant has been transmitted through RAR, the procedure goes to step 1930 and, otherwise, step 1940. At step 1930, the UE determines whether the preamble triggered the RAR transmission (or the preamble corresponding to RAPID contained in the RAR) is a dedicated preamble or a random preamble. If the UE receives the RAR in response to the random preamble, this means that the eNB has transmitted the uplink grant to the UE in the state of not knowing whether the UE had been configured for the dynamic TDD operation and thus the procedure goes to step 1935. If the RAR is received in response to the dedicated preamble, this means that the eNB has transmitted the uplink grant to the UE in the state of knowing that the UE had been configured for the dynamic TDD operation and thus the procedure goes to step 1940. ”) Thus based upon the teachings of KIM it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the random access feature for a group UE’s suggested by the combined teachings of LIN in view of WANG, by adopting use of dedicated resources such as RAPIDs to perform the random-access, to arrive at configurating dedicated resources related to a random access procedure for the group of UEs to thus arrive at claim 11, in order to provide a benefit a reliable and efficient random-access feature. In regards to claim 15, LIN (WO 2021004337 A1) teaches a method performed by a user equipment, UE, for handling a cooperative transmission of data from a group of UEs in a wireless communications network; the method comprising receiving configuration data, from a radio network node, indicating dedicated resources related to a random access procedure for the group of UEs ; selecting a preferred synchronization signal block, SSB, for the random access procedure (Note that with respect to the group of UE’s at least one UE and another UE, are multiplexed, the multiplexing being regarding as a grouping, for reception of a second message, See “[0030] In a second aspect of the disclosure, there is provided a method at a base station. The method comprises receiving a first message including a random access channel (RACH) preamble on a RACH occasion and data on an uplink shared channel (USCH) from a user equipment (UE) , wherein the data includes information of at least one synchronization signal and physical broadcast channel block (SSB) with a signal measured metric satisfying a criterion. The method further comprises transmitting a second message as a response to the first message. [0031] In a third aspect of the disclosure, there is provided a method at a base station . The method comprises receiving a first message including a random access channel (RACH) preamble on a RACH occasion and data on an uplink shared channel (USCH) from a user equipment (UE) . The method further comprises transmitting a second message as respective response to respective first message of the UE and at least one other UE. The base station determines a beam for the second message as one of a common downlink beam of the UE and the at least one other UE; a beam covering at least one of the UE's preferred beam and the at least one other UE's preferred beam; a preferred beam of a UE with a higher priority between the UE and the at least one other UE; and a beam randomly selected from the UE's preferred beam and the at least one other UE's preferred beam …[00110 ] At block 302, the UE transmits a first message including a random access channel (RACH) preamble on a RACH occasion and data on an uplink shared channel (USCH) to a base station …. [00114] In an embodiment, the data may include information of at least one synchronization signal and physical broadcast channel block (SSB) with a signal measured metric satisfying a criterion. The signal measured metric may be any suitable signal measured metric measured based on downlink signals. In an embodiment, the signal measured metric may be reference signal received power (RSRP) , or reference signal received quality (RSRQ) , or signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR) measured based on a downlink signal. The reference signal can be any suitable reference signal such as synchronization signal reference signal, etc. In an embodiment, the signal may be a layer 1 signal. For example, the data may include information of at least one SSB with a synchronization signal RSRP (SS-RSRP) above rsrp-ThresholdSSB …[00115 ] In an embodiment, the criterion may be a threshold and the signal measured metric satisfying the criterion may include the signal measured metric larger than or no less than the threshold . ”); transmitting an indication to the radio network node, wherein the indication indicates the selected preferred SSB for the UE (See “[0030] In a second aspect of the disclosure, there is provided a method at a base station. The method comprises receiving a first message including a random access channel (RACH) preamble on a RACH occasion and data on an uplink shared channel (USCH) from a user equipment (UE) , wherein the data includes information of at least one synchronization signal and physical broadcast channel block (SSB) with a signal measured metric satisfying a criterion. The method further comprises transmitting a second message as a response to the first messag e. [0031] In a third aspect of the disclosure, there is provided a method at a base station. The method comprises receiving a first message including a random access channel (RACH) preamble on a RACH occasion and data on an uplink shared channel (USCH) from a user equipment (UE) . The method further comprises transmitting a second message as respective response to respective first message of the UE and at least one other UE. The base station determines a beam for the second message as one of a common downlink beam of the UE and the at least one other UE; a beam covering at least one of the UE's preferred beam and the at least one other UE's preferred beam; a preferred beam of a UE with a higher priority between the UE and the at least one other UE; and a beam randomly selected from the UE's preferred beam and the at least one other UE's preferred beam… [00110] At block 302, the UE transmits a first message including a random access channel (RACH) preamble on a RACH occasion and data on an uplink shared channel (USCH) to a base station …. [00114] In an embodiment, the data may include information of at least one synchronization signal and physical broadcast channel block (SSB) with a signal measured metric satisfying a criterion. The signal measured metric may be any suitable signal measured metric measured based on downlink signals. In an embodiment, the signal measured metric may be reference signal received power (RSRP) , or reference signal received quality (RSRQ) , or signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR) measured based on a downlink signal. The reference signal can be any suitable reference signal such as synchronization signal reference signal, etc. In an embodiment, the signal may be a layer 1 signal. For example, the data may include information of at least one SSB with a synchronization signal RSRP (SS-RSRP) above rsrp-ThresholdSS B …[00115] In an embodiment, the criterion may be a threshold and the signal measured metric satisfying the criterion may include the signal measured metric larger than or no less than the threshold . ” ); monitoring for the dedicated resources related to the random access procedure; and receiving a response from the radio network node related to one of the dedicated resources (“[0031] In a third aspect of the disclosure, there is provided a method at a base station. The method comprises receiving a first message including a random access channel (RACH) preamble on a RACH occasion and data on an uplink shared channel (USCH) from a user equipment (UE) . The method further comprises transmitting a second message as respective response to respective first message of the UE and at least one other UE. The base station determines a beam for the second message as one of a common downlink beam of the UE and the at least one other UE; a beam covering at least one of the UE's preferred beam and the at least one other UE's preferred beam; a preferred beam of a UE with a higher priority between the UE and the at least one other UE; and a beam randomly selected from the UE's preferred beam and the at least one other UE's preferred beam …[00126] At block 304, the UE receives a second message as a response to the first message. The second message such as msgB may include any suitable information such as the equivalent contents of msg2 and msg4 of 4-step random access procedure. The second message may be a layer 1 message. In an embodiment, for the response to a successfully decoded msgA, the msgB should include TA (timing advance) command, contention resolution ID, etc. For the response to a msgA failed to be decoded, the msgB can be a fall-back message, or even a normal RAR (msg2) …[00128] In an embodiment, the second message can multiplex respective response to respective first message of the UE and at least one other UE. In this case, the second message further includes the respective response to the respective first message of at least one other UE. For example, for CCCH, for success or fallback RAR, MsgB can multiplex messages for multiple UEs and msgB is transmitted in one PDSCH. In another embodiment, MsgB containing the success RAR shall not be multiplexed with the legacy 4-step RACH RAR in the same MAC PDU. Which UEs can be multiplexed in the second message can be determined in various ways. In an embodiment, UEs having a same determined MCS can be multiplexed in the second message. In an embodiment, UEs having a certain common SSB with a signal measured metric satisfying the criterion can be multiplexed in the second message. In an embodiment, UEs transmitting RACH preambles mapped to a same SSB can be multiplexed in the second message. [00129] In an embodiment, UEs having a same downlink preferred beam can be multiplexed in the second message. The UE's preferred beam can be indicated to the base station in various ways. For example, when UE detects a best SSB beam (i.e., the preferred beam) , a PRACH preamble in the set of one or more PRACH preambles mapped to this SSB will be selected for the random access, then when the base station such as gNB detects the PRACH preamble, the best SSB beam for this UE is known indirectly so that best beams can be used for transmitting signals to or receiving signals from this UE. In this case, the UE's preferred beam can correspond to the best SSB beam. In other embodiments, the UE's preferred beam can correspond to the SSB beam with the best signal measured metric (such as the highest RSRP, or the best RSRQ, or the biggest SINR) satisfying the criterion . “). The random access feature of LIN differs from that of claim 15 in that LIN is silent on the method performed by the user equipment, UE, being for handling a cooperative transmission of data from the group of UEs in a wireless communications network. LIN further differs from claim 15, in that LIN is silent on receiving configuration data, from a radio network node, indicating dedicated resources related to a random access procedure for the group of UEs, monitoring for the dedicated resources related to the random access procedure; and receiving a response from the radio network node related to one of the dedicated resources . Despite these differences similar features have been seen in other prior art for wireless communication. WANG (“US 20220217731 A1”) teaches a cooperative transmission feature for a group UE’s, the cooperative transmission feature providing a benefit of increased UL coverage (“[0001] Device to Device, D2D, group communication may be a way to increase the uplink coverage and user bit rate for example in a future high frequency Fifth Generation, 5G, network. On a high level, a group of User Equipment, UEs, or sensors are D2D capable, and when a UE has data to transmit it will first distribute this data to neighbouring UEs in the group over the D2D or Side Link (SL). In a second step, the UEs in the group will cooperatively transmit the data over the cellular Up Link, UL. The cooperative transmission will increase the UL coverage, for example by combining several UEs, the total output power and may be beneficial from a latency point of view compared to repeated transmissions for coverage, as used for example in Long Term Evolution, LTE, narrowband. Such a D2D group communication may also be referred to as a 2-hop group transmission. ”). Thus, based upon the teachings of WANG, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the UE grouping feature of LIN, by taking advantage cooperative transmission for UE groups as suggested by WANG, to thus arrive at the method performed by the user equipment, UE, being for handling a cooperative transmission of data from the group of UEs in a wireless communications network, as arranged with the remaining elements of claim 15. A person of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make such a modification in order to provide a benefit of increased UL coverage. The combined teachings of LIN in view of WANG further differ from that of claim 15, in that the combined teachings are silent on receiving configuration data, from a radio network node, indicating dedicated resources related to a random access procedure for the group of UEs, monitoring for the dedicated resources related to the random access procedure; and receiving a response from the radio network node related to one of the dedicated resources. Despite these differences similar features have been seen in other prior art involving random access of a communication network. KIM (US 20150365968 A1) suggests random access feature for receiving configuration data, from a radio network node indicayinh, dedicated resources (i.e. RAPID) related to random access of a UE, monitoring for the dedicated resources (i.e. RAPID) related to the random access procedure, and receiving a response, RAR, from a radio network node related to one of the dedicated resources (“[0092] The RAR is a response message transmitted by the eNB in reply to the preamble transmitted by the UE and includes a header and a payload, the header containing Random Access Preamble ID (RAPID) and the payload containing various informations as well as uplink grant. The UE monitors to receive an RAR during a predetermined period after transmitting the random access preamble and, if the RAR includes the same RAPID as the preamble it has transmitted, determines that the RAR and the uplink grant included in the RAR are valid… .[0133] The UE determines whether the uplink grant triggered the PUSCH transmission corresponding to the received PHICH has been transmitted through RAR or PDCCH at step 1925. If the uplink grant has been transmitted through RAR, the procedure goes to step 1930 and, otherwise, step 1940. At step 1930, the UE determines whether the preamble triggered the RAR transmission (or the preamble corresponding to RAPID contained in the RAR) is a dedicated preamble or a random preamble. If the UE receives the RAR in response to the random preamble, this means that the eNB has transmitted the uplink grant to the UE in the state of not knowing whether the UE had been configured for the dynamic TDD operation and thus the procedure goes to step 1935. If the RAR is received in response to the dedicated preamble, this means that the eNB has transmitted the uplink grant to the UE in the state of knowing that the UE had been configured for the dynamic TDD operation and thus the procedure goes to step 1940. ”) Thus based upon the teachings of KIM it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the random access feature for a group UE’s suggested by the combined teachings of LIN in view of WANG, by adopting use of dedicated resources such as RAPIDs to perform the random-access, to arrive at receiving configuration data, from the radio network node indicating, dedicated resources (i.e. RAPID) related to random access of the UE, monitoring for the dedicated resources (i.e. RAPID) related to the random access procedure, and receiving the response, RAR, from the radio network node related to one of the dedicated resources to thus arrive at claim 15, in order to provide a benefit a reliable and efficient random-access feature. In regards to claim 12, the combination of LIN in view of WANG in view of KIM suggest the method according to claim 11, wherein receiving the indications comprises monitoring for preambles from the one or more UEs, and selecting the SSB comprises selecting a preamble to respond to based on signal strength, quality and/or load on SSBs (See, LIN where, “[00129] In an embodiment, UEs having a same downlink preferred beam can be multiplexed in the second message. The UE's preferred beam can be indicated to the base station in various ways. For example, when UE detects a best SSB beam (i.e., the preferred beam) , a PRACH preamble in the set of one or more PRACH preambles mapped to this SSB will be selected for the random access, then when the base station such as gNB detects the PRACH preamble, the best SSB beam for this UE is known indirectly so that best beams can be used for transmitting signals to or receiving signals from this UE. In this case, the UE's preferred beam can correspond to the best SSB beam. In other embodiments, the UE's preferred beam can correspond to the SSB beam with the best signal measured metric (such as the highest RSRP, or the best RSRQ, or the biggest SINR) satisfying the criterion .”). In regards to claim 18, the combination of LIN in view of WANG in view of KIM suggest the method according to claim 15, further comprising measuring a signal strength or quality of one or more SSBs configured in a cell of the radio network node; and wherein the preferred SSB is selected based on the measured signal strength or quality (See, LIN where, “[00129] In an embodiment, UEs having a same downlink preferred beam can be multiplexed in the second message. The UE's preferred beam can be indicated to the base station in various ways. For example, when UE detects a best SSB beam (i.e., the preferred beam) , a PRACH preamble in the set of one or more PRACH preambles mapped to this SSB will be selected for the random access, then when the base station such as gNB detects the PRACH preamble, the best SSB beam for this UE is known indirectly so that best beams can be used for transmitting signals to or receiving signals from this UE. In this case, the UE's preferred beam can correspond to the best SSB beam. In other embodiments, the UE's preferred beam can correspond to the SSB beam with the best signal measured metric (such as the highest RSRP, or the best RSRQ, or the biggest SINR) satisfying the criterion .”). In regards to claim 17, the combination of LIN in view of WANG in view of KIM suggest the method according to claim 15, wherein transmitting the indication comprises transmitting a preamble and/or at a random access channel occasion configured for the selected preferred SSB (See LIN, where ““[0030] In a second aspect of the disclosure, there is provided a method at a base station. The method comprises receiving a first message including a random access channel (RACH) preamble on a RACH occasion and data on an uplink shared channel (USCH) from a user equipment (UE) , wherein the data includes information of at least one synchronization signal and physical broadcast channel block (SSB) with a signal measured metric satisfying a criterion. The method further comprises transmitting a second message as a response to the first message. [0031] In a third aspect of the disclosure, there is provided a method at a base station. The method comprises receiving a first message including a random access channel (RACH) preamble on a RACH occasion and data on an uplink shared channel (USCH) from a user equipment (UE) . ”). In regards to claim 16, the combination of LIN in view of WANG in view of KIM the method according to claim 15, wherein monitoring for the dedicated resources comprises monitoring for random access responses indicating respective preamble identity corresponding to respective configured SSB. LIN teaches wherein monitoring for the resources comprises monitoring for random access response indicating identities corresponding to respective SSBs (See LIN where, “[00127] In an embodiment, the second message may include one or more of the UE's assigned identifier, timing advance information and contention resolution message . [00128] In an embodiment, the second message can multiplex respective response to respective first message of the UE and at least one other UE. I n this case, the second message further includes the respective response to the respective first message of at least one other UE. For example, for CCCH, for success or fallback RAR, MsgB can multiplex messages for multiple UEs and msgB is transmitted in one PDSCH. In another embodiment, MsgB containing the success RAR shall not be multiplexed with the legacy 4-step RACH RAR in the same MAC PDU. [00129] Which UEs can be multiplexed in the second message can be determined in various ways. In an embodiment, UEs having a same determined MCS can be multiplexed in the second message. In an embodiment, UEs having a certain common SSB with a signal measured metric satisfying the criterion can be multiplexed in the second message. In an embodiment, UEs transmitting RACH preambles mapped to a same SSB can be multiplexed in the second message. In an embodiment, UEs having a same downlink preferred beam can be multiplexed in the second message. The UE's preferred beam can be indicated to the base station in various ways. For example, when UE detects a best SSB beam (i.e., the preferred beam) , a PRACH preamble in the set of one or more PRACH preambles mapped to this SSB will be selected for the random access, then when the base station such as gNB detects the PRACH preamble, the best SSB beam for this UE is known indirectly so that best beams can be used for transmitting signals to or receiving signals from this UE. In this case, the UE's preferred beam can correspond to the best SSB beam. In other embodiments, the UE's preferred beam can correspond to the SSB beam with the best signal measured metric (such as the highest RSRP, or the best RSRQ, or the biggest SINR) satisfying the criterion .”). LIN differs from claim 16, in that LIN is silent on dedicated resources and preamble identities. Thus, LIN is silent on wherein monitoring for the dedicated resources comprises monitoring for random access responses indicating respective preamble identity corresponding to respective configured SSB, as arranged in claim 16. Despite these differences similar features have been seen in other prior art for wireless communication. KIM (US 20150365968 A1) suggests random access feature for receiving configuration data, from a radio network node indicated, dedicated resources comprising preamble identities (i.e. RAPID) related to random access of a UE, monitoring for the dedicated resources (i.e. RAPID) related to the random access procedure, and receiving a response, RAR, from a radio network node indicating the preamble identifies, (“[0092] The RAR is a response message transmitted by the eNB in reply to the preamble transmitted by the UE and includes a header and a payload, the header containing Random Access Preamble ID (RAPID) and the payload containing various informations as well as uplink grant. The UE monitors to receive an RAR during a predetermined period after transmitting the random access preamble and, if the RAR includes the same RAPID as the preamble it has transmitted, determines that the RAR and the uplink grant included in the RAR are valid… .[0133] The UE determines whether the uplink grant triggered the PUSCH transmission corresponding to the received PHICH has been transmitted through RAR or PDCCH at step 1925. If the uplink grant has been transmitted through RAR, the procedure goes to step 1930 and, otherwise, step 1940. At step 1930, the UE determines whether the preamble triggered the RAR transmission (or the preamble corresponding to RAPID contained in the RAR) is a dedicated preamble or a random preamble. If the UE receives the RAR in response to the random preamble, this means that the eNB has transmitted the uplink grant to the UE in the state of not knowing whether the UE had been configured for the dynamic TDD operation and thus the procedure goes to step 1935. If the RAR is received in response to the dedicated preamble, this means that the eNB has transmitted the uplink grant to the UE in the state of knowing that the UE had been configured for the dynamic TDD operation and thus the procedure goes to step 1940. ”) Thus based upon the teachings of KIM it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the random access feature for a group UE’s suggested by the combined teachings of LIN in view of WANG, by adopting use of dedicated resources such as RAPIDs to perform the random-access, to arrive at claim 16, in order to provide a benefit a reliable and efficient random-access feature. In regards to claim 14, the combination of LIN in view of WANG in view of KIM suggest the method according to claim 11, wherein the transmitted response comprises a random access response indicating the selected SSB by using a preamble identity corresponding to the selected SSB. LIN teaches wherein a transmitted response comprises a random access response indicating the selected SSB by using an identity corresponding to the selected SSB (See LIN where, “[00127] In an embodiment, the second message may include one or more of the UE's assigned identifier, timing advance information and contention resolution message . [00128] In an embodiment, the second message can multiplex respective response to respective first message of the UE and at least one other UE. I n this case, the second message further includes the respective response to the respective first message of at least one other UE. For example, for CCCH, for success or fallback RAR, MsgB can multiplex messages for multiple UEs and msgB is transmitted in one PDSCH. In another embodiment, MsgB containing the success RAR shall not be multiplexed with the legacy 4-step RACH RAR in the same MAC PDU. [00129] Which UEs can be multiplexed in the second message can be determined in various ways. In an embodiment, UEs having a same determined MCS can be multiplexed in the second message. In an embodiment, UEs having a certain common SSB with a signal measured metric satisfying the criterion can be multiplexed in the second message. In an embodiment, UEs transmitting RACH preambles mapped to a same SSB can be multiplexed in the second message. In an embodiment, UEs having a same downlink preferred beam can be multiplexed in the second message. The UE's preferred beam can be indicated to the base station in various ways. For example, when UE detects a best SSB beam (i.e., the preferred beam) , a PRACH preamble in the set of one or more PRACH preambles mapped to this SSB will be selected for the random access, then when the base station such as gNB detects the PRACH preamble, the best SSB beam for this UE is known indirectly so that best beams can be used for transmitting signals to or receiving signals from this UE. In this case, the UE's preferred beam can correspond to the best SSB beam. In other embodiments, the UE's preferred beam can correspond to the SSB beam with the best signal measured metric (such as the highest RSRP, or the best RSRQ, or the biggest SINR) satisfying the criterion .”). LIN differs from claim 14, in that LIN is silent on preamble identities. Thus, LIN is silent on wherein the transmitted response comprises the random access response indicating the selected SSB by using a preamble identity corresponding to the selected SSB, as arranged in claim 14. Despite these differences similar features have been seen in other prior art for wireless communication. KIM (US 20150365968 A1) suggests random access feature for receiving configuration data, from a radio network node indicated, dedicated resources comprising preamble identities (i.e. RAPID) related to random access of a UE, monitoring for the dedicated resources (i.e. RAPID) related to the random access procedure, and receiving a response, RAR, from a radio network node indicating the preamble identifies, (“[0092] The RAR is a response message transmitted by the eNB in reply to the preamble transmitted by the UE and includes a header and a payload, the header containing Random Access Preamble ID (RAPID) and the payload containing various informations as well as uplink grant. The UE monitors to receive an RAR during a predetermined period after transmitting the random access preamble and, if the RAR includes the same RAPID as the preamble it has transmitted, determines that the RAR and the uplink grant included in the RAR are valid… .[0133] The UE determines whether the uplink grant triggered the PUSCH transmission corresponding to the received PHICH has been transmitted through RAR or PDCCH at step 1925. If the uplink grant has been transmitted through RAR, the procedure goes to step 1930 and, otherwise, step 1940. At step 1930, the UE determines whether the preamble triggered the RAR transmission (or the preamble corresponding to RAPID contained in the RAR) is a dedicated preamble or a random preamble. If the UE receives the RAR in response to the random preamble, this means that the eNB has transmitted the uplink grant to the UE in the state of not knowing whether the UE had been configured for the dynamic TDD operation and thus the procedure goes to step 1935. If the RAR is received in response to the dedicated preamble, this means that the eNB has transmitted the uplink grant to the UE in the state of knowing that the UE had been configured for the dynamic TDD operation and thus the procedure goes to step 1940. ”) Thus, based upon the teachings of KIM it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the random access feature for a group UE’s suggested by the combined teachings of LIN in view of WANG, by adopting use of dedicated resources such as RAPIDs to perform the random-access, to arrive at claim 14, in order to provide a benefit a reliable and efficient random-access feature. In regards to claim 19, the combination of LIN in view of WANG in view of KIM suggest the method according to claim 15, further comprising determining to perform a cooperative transmission; and sending data, to UEs in the group of UEs, for the cooperative transmission. LIN is silent on determining to perform a cooperative transmission; and sending data, to UEs in the group of UEs, for the cooperative transmission. Despite these differences similar features have been seen in other prior art for wireless communication. WANG (“US 20220217731 A1”) teaches a cooperative transmission feature for a group UE’s which involves determining to perform a cooperative transmission and sending data to the UEs in the group for the cooperative transmission. The cooperative transmission feature is said to provide a benefit of increased UL coverage (“[0001] Device to Device, D2D, group communication may be a way to increase the uplink coverage and user bit rate for example in a future high frequency Fifth Generation, 5G, network. On a high level, a group of User Equipment, UEs, or sensors are D2D capable, and when a UE has data to transmit it will first distribute this data to neighbouring UEs in the group over the D2D or Side Link (SL). In a second step, the UEs in the group will cooperatively transmit the data over the cellular Up Link, UL. The cooperative transmission will increase the UL coverage, for example by combining several UEs, the total output power and may be beneficial from a latency point of view compared to repeated transmissions for coverage, as used for example in Long Term Evolution, LTE, narrowband. Such a D2D group communication may also be referred to as a 2-hop group transmission. ”). Thus, based upon the teachings of WANG, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to further modify the combination of LIN in view of WANG in view of KIM, by taking advantage cooperative transmission for UE groups as suggested by WANG, to thus arrive at claim 19. A person of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make such a modification in order to provide a benefit of increased UL coverage . 07-21-aia AIA Claim (s) 13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over LIN (WO 2021004337 A1, cited in June 2, 2024 IDS) in view of WANG (“US 20220217731 A1”) in view of KIM (US 20150365968 A1) in view of AWADIN (US 20220039158 A1) . In regards to claim 13, the combination of LIN in view of WANG in view of KIM is silent on the method according to claim 12, wherein monitoring for the preambles is performed during a time interval set by a timer. Despite these differences similar features have been seen in other prior art involving random access. AWADIN (US 20220039158 A1) teaches a feature where a network node monitors for preambles during a interval set by a timer (“[0152] FIG. 25 illustrates an example of the use of a one-to-one CFRA transmission to indicate the availability of DL sub-band in TDD case. In the example of FIG. 25, gNB cannot initiate contention-free RACH (CFRA) on UL SB3 which is associated with unavailable DL SB3. Also, the gNB may initiate CFRA on UL SB1 which is associated with available DL SB1 at gNB side. However, due to the presence of hidden nodes in SB1, the UE does not transmit RACH preamble. In each time gNB initiates CFRA on particular sub-band, gNB may trigger a timer to monitor the RACH preamble, may be called as SB switchingTimer for example, after expiry of this timer without receiving RACH preamble, gNB may infer the presence of a hidden nodes on this DL sub-band around the UE, e.g., DL sub-bands is not available at UE side .”). Thus based upon the teachings of AWADIN, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the random access feature suggested by the combination of LIN in view of WANG in view of KIM, by monitoring the preambles according to a timer, to thus arrive at claim 13, in order to provide a benefit of a more efficient monitoring of preambles during a random access procedure . Allowable Subject Matter 12-151-07 AIA 07-97 12-51-07 Claim (s) 1-10 and 22-24 are allowed . Conclusion Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to TARELL A HAMPTON whose telephone number is (571)270-7162. The examiner can normally be reached 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM. Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Ayaz Sheikh can be reached at 5712723795. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000. /TARELL A HAMPTON/Examiner, Art Unit 2476 /AYAZ R SHEIKH/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2476 Application/Control Number: 18/715,722 Page 2 Art Unit: 2476 Application/Control Number: 18/715,722 Page 3 Art Unit: 2476 Application/Control Number: 18/715,722 Page 4 Art Unit: 2476 Application/Control Number: 18/715,722 Page 5 Art Unit: 2476 Application/Control Number: 18/715,722 Page 6 Art Unit: 2476 Application/Control Number: 18/715,722 Page 7 Art Unit: 2476 Application/Control Number: 18/715,722 Page 8 Art Unit: 2476 Application/Control Number: 18/715,722 Page 9 Art Unit: 2476 Application/Control Number: 18/715,722 Page 10 Art Unit: 2476 Application/Control Number: 18/715,722 Page 11 Art Unit: 2476 Application/Control Number: 18/715,722 Page 12 Art Unit: 2476 Application/Control Number: 18/715,722 Page 13 Art Unit: 2476 Application/Control Number: 18/715,722 Page 14 Art Unit: 2476 Application/Control Number: 18/715,722 Page 15 Art Unit: 2476 Application/Control Number: 18/715,722 Page 16 Art Unit: 2476 Application/Control Number: 18/715,722 Page 17 Art Unit: 2476 Application/Control Number: 18/715,722 Page 18 Art Unit: 2476 Application/Control Number: 18/715,722 Page 19 Art Unit: 2476 Application/Control Number: 18/715,722 Page 20 Art Unit: 2476 Application/Control Number: 18/715,722 Page 21 Art Unit: 2476 Application/Control Number: 18/715,722 Page 22 Art Unit: 2476 Application/Control Number: 18/715,722 Page 23 Art Unit: 2476 Application/Control Number: 18/715,722 Page 24 Art Unit: 2476 Application/Control Number: 18/715,722 Page 25 Art Unit: 2476
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