DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Relevant Technical Information Submittal Requirement
Requirement — Overview
The applicant is required to submit copies of non-patent literature and relevant technical information as set forth below.
Basis for Requirement
35 U.S.C. § 131 provides:
The Director shall cause an examination to be made of the application and the alleged new invention; and if on such examination it appears that the applicant is entitled to a patent under the law, the Director shall issue a patent therefor.
37 C.F.R. § 1.105(a) provides:
In the course of examining or treating a matter in a pending or abandoned application filed under 35 U.S.C. 111 or 371 (including a reissue application), in a patent, or in a reexamination proceeding, the examiner or other Office employee may require the submission, from individuals identified under § 1.56(c), or any assignee, of such information as may be reasonably necessary to properly examine or treat the matter, for example:
….
(iii) Related information: A copy of any non-patent literature, published application, or patent (U.S. or foreign), by any of the inventors, that relates to the claimed invention.
(iv) Information used to draft application: A copy of any non-patent literature, published application, or patent (U.S. or foreign) that was used to draft the application.
(v) Information used in invention process: A copy of any non-patent literature, published application, or patent (U.S. or foreign) that was used in the invention process, such as by designing around or providing a solution to accomplish an invention result.
…
(viii) Technical information known to applicant. Technical information known to applicant concerning the related art, the disclosure, the claimed subject matter, other factual information pertinent to patentability, or concerning the accuracy of the examiner’s stated interpretation of such items.
Background
The applicant has stated in a publicly available European Telecommunication Standards Institute (ETSI) record that the present application, Application No. 18/762,139 (“the Application”), identified as “US202418762139,” and as “US2024365401,” which is the pre-grant publication of the Application, “may be or may become ESSENTIAL in relation to at least the ETSI Work Item(s), STANDARD(S) and/or TECHNICAL SPECIFICATION(S) identified in the attached IPR Information Statement Annex.”1
Necessity for this Requirement.
This Requirement is issued pursuant to the Director’s duty and authority to examine patent applications. See 35 U.S.C. § 131; 37 C.F.R. § 1.105(a). The ETSI record indicates the applicant likely possesses information relating to the ETSI Work Item(s), STANDARD(S) and/or TECHNICAL SPECIFICATION(S) that is necessary for a more complete understanding of the invention and its context. See MPEP § 704.11. Such information may include non-patent literature and technical materials (e.g., contribution papers or Tdocs) authored, generated, or submitted by the applicant or others that form the basis of, or resulted from, the claimed invention.
Applicant is Required to Submit:
Copies of any non-patent literature relating to the ETSI Work Item(s), STANDARD(S) and/or TECHNICAL SPECIFICATION(S) identified in the ETSI record for the Application, which satisfies any of the following criteria:
Authored by any of the inventors and related to the claimed invention,
Used to draft the present application, or
Used in the invention process (for example, used to design around prior art or to provide a solution that enabled the claimed invention); and
Any technical information known to the applicant relating to the ETSI Work Item(s), STANDARD(S) and/or TECHNICAL SPECIFICATION(S) identified in the ETSI record for the Application, which concerns the related art, the disclosure, the claimed subject matter, other factual information pertinent to patentability, or the accuracy of the examiner’s stated interpretation of such items.
Instructions to Applicant
A complete reply to this Requirement is a reply to each enumerated requirement for information giving either the information required or a statement that the information required to be submitted is unknown and/or is not readily available to the applicant. There is no requirement for the applicant to show that the required information was not, in fact, readily attainable, but the applicant is required to make a good faith attempt to obtain the information and to make a reasonable inquiry once the information is requested. See MPEP § 704.12(b).
This Requirement is subject to the provisions of 37 CFR §§ 1.134, 1.135 and 1.136 and is accorded the same period for reply as the action on the merits sent with this Requirement. See MPEP § 704.13 (third paragraph). EXTENSIONS OF THIS TIME PERIOD MAY BE GRANTED UNDER 37 CFR 1.136 (a).
Response to Amendment
The Amendment filed June 17, 2026 has been entered. Prior to the Amendment, claims 1-20 were pending in the application. By the Amendment, claims 1 and 11 were amended, claims 7 and 17 were canceled, and no claim was newly added. Accordingly, claims 1-6, 8-16 and 18-20 remain pending and ready for examination.
Withdrawal of Objection to Drawing
In view of the substitute drawing submitted on June 17, 2026, which is accepted, the objection of Fig. 6 in the previous Office Action is now withdrawn.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. §103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claims 1-3, 6, 8- and are rejected under 35 U.S.C. §103 as being unpatentable over 3GPPTS38.321V16.7.02 in view of Yuan et al. (US Published Patent Application No. US2026/0164464) (“Yuan”).
Regarding claim 1, 3GPPTS38.321V16.7.0 teaches a wireless communication method (See, Pp. 34-36, §§5.1.5 and 5.1.6), comprising:
in a case that a random access contention resolution timer (p. 34, line 12, ContentionResolutionTimer) expires (See, p. 35, line 7) and a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) for scheduling retransmission of a message Msg3 (p. 34, lines 12-13, a “HARQ retransmission”. The HARQ process, as it is an uplink grant scheduling, i.e., for Msg3 retransmission, a PDCCH (and DCI) transmission would be made by the network, i.e., a base station. See, e.g., 3GPPTS38.321V16.7.0, P. 9, lines 16-17; Fig. Figure 4.2.2-1: MAC structure overview; and p. 41, §5.4.1 UL Grant reception, et seq.) is not received before the random access contention resolution timer expires (See, p. 35, line 7), considering, by a terminal device, that contention resolution does not succeed (See, p. 34, lines 11-15, “Once Msg3 is transmitted the MAC entity shall: 1> start the ra-ContentionResolutionTimer and restart the ra-ContentionResolutionTimer at each HARQ retransmission in the first symbol after the end of the Msg3 transmission; 1> monitor the PDCCH while the ra-ContentionResolutionTimer is running regardless of the possible occurrence of a measurement gap;” and p.35, lines, 7-9, “1> if ra-ContentionResolutionTimer expires: 2> discard the TEMPORARY_C-RNTI; 2> consider the Contention Resolution not successful.” First, the “MAC entity” in these cited portions is the MAC layer of a UE, i.e., the claimed “terminal device,” as it should be clear from the context, i.e., for example, starting and restarting the timer, ra-ContentionResolutionTimer. Next, the above cited passage of 3GPPTS38.321V16.7.0 describe the following operation by a UE: 1) the UE sends the random access Msg3, and starts the timer, ra-ContentionResolutionTimer, and monitors for PDCCH; 2) if a PDCCH for the “HARQ retransmission,” i.e., for Msg3 retransmission, is received, re-send Msg3 and restart the timer, ra-ContentionResolutionTimer; and 3) if a PDCCH for the “HARQ retransmission,” i.e., for Msg3 retransmission, is NOT received (and the Msg4 (PDSCH) is not received) prior to the expiry of the timer, ra-ContentionResolutionTimer, then, the UE is to “discard the TEMPORARY_C-RNTI,” and “consider the Contention Resolution not successful.” Accordingly, the UE considers that contention resolution does not succeed in the case that a PDCCH for scheduling retransmission of a message Msg3 is not received prior to the expiry of the random access contention resolution timer.).
3GPPTS38.321V16.7.0, however, fails to teach that in a case that the random access contention resolution timer expires and the PDCCH for scheduling the retransmission of the Msg3 is received before the random access contention resolution timer expires, skipping, by the terminal device, considering that contention resolution fails.
Yuan teaches that in a case that the random access contention resolution timer expires (See, Fig. 2, T5; and ¶[0040], “The contention resolution timer will be expired at the time point T5.”) and the PDCCH for scheduling the retransmission of the Msg3 is received (See, Fig. 2, T3; ¶[0039[, “Within the duration 220 of the contention resolution timer, the UE 110 may monitor the PDCCH for UL grant from the gNB 120. The UL grant may be associated with the MSG3 retransmission;” and ¶[0041], “If an uplink grant is received after the transmission of the MSG3, for example, at the time point T3”) before the random access contention resolution timer expires (See, Fig. 2, T3 is earlier, i.e., before, T5), skipping, by the terminal device, considering that contention resolution fails (See, ¶[0041] If an uplink grant is received after the transmission of the MSG3, for example, at the time point T3, or the further transmission of the MSG3 is performed, for example, at the time point T4, the UE 110 may determine that no contention resolution failure has occurred at the time point when the timer expires, i.e., at the time point T5, and therefore the UE 110 may keep monitoring the PDCCH after the expiry of the contention resolution timer.”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the UE taught by 3GPPTS38.321V16.7.0 to incorporate the above teaching of Yuan in order to avoid a false random access failure declaration due to the increased likelihood of the expiry of the contention resolution timer during the time offset before restarting of the timer to account for the long RTT of an NTN UEs (See, e.g., Yuan, ¶¶[0034] - [0036]).
Regarding claim 2/1, 3GPPTS38.321V16.7.0 in view of Yuan teach a wireless communication method comprising all elements recited in claim 1 as discussed above.
3GPPTS38.321V16.7.0 further discloses that the random access contention resolution timer is started or restarted at a first time domain symbol after the Msg3 is sent (See, Page 34, lines 12-13; “start the ra-ContentionResolutionTimer and restart the ra-ContentionResolutionTimer at each HARQ retransmission in the first symbol after the end of the Msg3 transmission,” Emphasis Added).
Regarding claim 3/1, 3GPPTS38.321V16.7.0 in view of Yuan teach a wireless communication method comprising all of the recited elements of claim 1 as discussed above.
3GPPTS38.321V16.7.0 further teaches that the random access contention resolution timer is started or restarted at a first time domain symbol after following the sending of the Msg3 (See, Page 34, lines 12-13; “start the ra-ContentionResolutionTimer and restart the ra-ContentionResolutionTimer at each HARQ retransmission in the first symbol after the end of the Msg3 transmission,” Emphasis Added).
Yuan further teaches that the random access contention resolution timer is started or restarted after a time offset following the sending of the Msg3 (See, e.g., Fig. 2, #210 or #230; and ¶[0039], “At time point T1, the UE 110 may transmit a MSG3 in a random access procedure. Transmission of MSG3 at T1 maybe an initial transmission or a retransmission of MSG3. As mentioned above, since a UE-gNB RTT 210 is introduced, a contention resolution timer may be started after the UE-gNB RTT 210, i.e., at the time point T2.”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the UE taught by 3GPPTS38.321V16.7.0 to incorporate the above teaching of Yuan in order to reduce the time an NTN UEs is required to monitor the PDCCH (See, e.g., Yuan, ¶¶[0034]).
Regarding claim 6/1, 3GPPTS38.321V16.7.0 in view of Yuan teach a wireless communication method comprising all elements recited in claim 1 as discussed above.
3GPPTS38.321V16.7.0 further discloses that the method further comprises:
in a case that the random access contention resolution timer expires and the PDCCH for scheduling the retransmission of the Msg3 is not received before the random access contention resolution timer expires, discarding a temporary cell radio network temporary identifier (TC-RNTI), wherein the TC-RNTI is used to scramble the PDCCH (See, the above discussion of claim 1. If the PDCCH is not received, resulting in the contention timer not being restarted, and thus expires (and no Msg4 is received), the procedure specified in Page 35, lines 7-8, is performed, i.e., if ra-ContentionResolutionTimer expires: 2> discard the TEMPORARY_C-RNTI.” It is noted that, with regard to the recited claim language, “the TC-RNTI is used to scramble the PDCCH,” in the parlance of, e.g., 5G NR, has the meaning equivalent to the “the PDCCH transmission is addressed to its TEMPORARY_C-RNTI.“ (See, Page 34, lines 28-29, Emphasis added). That is, such “addressing” is achieved by scrambling the CRC of the PDCCH wth (e.g., XOR’d with) the TEMPORARY_C-RNTI. See, e.g., 3GPPTS38.213V16.7.03, Page 45, §8.2, et seq., which is hereby made of record).
Regarding claim 8/1, 3GPPTS38.321V16.7.0 in view of Yuan teach a wireless communication method comprising all of the recited elements of claim 1 as discussed above.
3GPPTS38.321V16.7.0 further teaches that the method further comprising:
in a case that the PDCCH for scheduling the retransmission of the Msg3 is received before the random access contention resolution timer expires (See, Page 34, line 10–26),
retransmitting the Msg3 by the terminal device (See, Page 35, line 17-Page 36, line 7; §5.1.2 (Page 23, line 3-Page 24, line 40), in particular, Page 24, line 3 “(i.e. Msg3 is being retransmitted);” and §5.1.3, et seq.),
restarting the random access contention resolution timer by the terminal device (See, Page, 34, lines 11-13), and during running of the random access contention resolution timer, monitoring, by the terminal device, a PDCCH that is scrambled by a cell radio network temporary identifier (C-RNTI) or a TC-RNTI and sent by a network device (See, Page, 34, lines 14-15. See, also, the discussion above in connection to claim 6 regarding the recited claim language “scrambled by a cell radio network temporary identifier (C-RNTI) or a TC-RNTI” ).
Yuan further teaches that the restarting the random access contention resolution timer by the terminal device is performed after a first time offset following the retransmission of the Msg3(See, e.g., Fig. 2, #210 or #230; and ¶[0039], “At time point T1, the UE 110 may transmit a MSG3 in a random access procedure. Transmission of MSG3 at T1 maybe an initial transmission or a retransmission of MSG3. As mentioned above, since a UE-gNB RTT 210 is introduced, a contention resolution timer may be started after the UE-gNB RTT 210, i.e., at the time point T2.”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the UE taught by 3GPPTS38.321V16.7.0 to incorporate the above teaching of Yuan in order to reduce the time an NTN UEs is required to monitor the PDCCH (See, e.g., Yuan, ¶¶[0034]).
Regarding claim 9/3, 3GPPTS38.321V16.7.0 in view of Yuan teaches a wireless communication method comprising all of the recited elements of claim 3 as discussed above.
Yuan further teaches that the first time offset is determined according to a round-trip time (RTT) between the terminal device and a network device (See, ¶[0034], “Currently, it has been agreed that the RTT between the UE and the gNB (UE-gNB RTT) is introduced to the starting of several timers for NTN so that the UE only needs to start monitoring the PDCCH after the RTT;” and ¶[0035], Furthermore, it has been agreed that of a Message 3 (MSG3) transmitted on a NTN, the ra-ContentionResolutionTimer is started and the ra-ContentionResolutionTimer is restarted at each Hybrid Automatic Repeat reQuest (HARQ) retransmission in the first symbol after the end of the MSG3 transmission plus the UE-gNB RTT estimated by the UE.”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the UE taught by 3GPPTS38.321V16.7.0 to incorporate the above teaching of Yuan in order to reduce the time an NTN UEs is required to monitor the PDCCH (See, e.g., Yuan, ¶¶[0034]).
Regarding claim 10/1, 3GPPTS38.321V16.7.0 in view of Yuan teach a wireless communication method comprising all of the recited elements of claim 1 as discussed above.
Yuan further teaches that the wireless communication method is applied to a non-terrestrial networks (NTN) system, or the method is applied to an NTN system and a terrestrial networks (TN) system (See, e.g., the title; and ¶[0011], “FIG. 2 shows a time diagram illustrating a process of contention resolution for the NTN”.).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the UE taught by 3GPPTS38.321V16.7.0 to incorporate the above teaching of Yuan in order to allow a random access procedure for NTN communication devices in 5G NR networks, in consideration of the longer round trip time (RTT) for the satellite communication device (See, e.g., Yuan, ¶[0002]).
Regarding claim 11, 3GPPTS38.321V16.7.0 teaches a terminal device (See, §4.1 at Page 11, a “UE”) configured to perform:
in a case that a random access contention resolution timer (p. 34, line 12, ContentionResolutionTimer) expires (See, p. 35, line 7) and a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) for scheduling retransmission of a message Msg3 (p. 34, lines 12-13, a “HARQ retransmission”. The HARQ process, as it is an uplink grant scheduling, i.e., for Msg3 retransmission, a PDCCH (and DCI) transmission would be made by the network, i.e., a base station. See, e.g., 3GPPTS38.321V16.7.0, P. 9, lines 16-17; Fig. Figure 4.2.2-1: MAC structure overview; and p. 41, §5.4.1 UL Grant reception, et seq.) is not received before the random access contention resolution timer expires (See, p. 35, line 7), considering, by a terminal device, that contention resolution does not succeed (See, p. 34, lines 11-15, “Once Msg3 is transmitted the MAC entity shall: 1> start the ra-ContentionResolutionTimer and restart the ra-ContentionResolutionTimer at each HARQ retransmission in the first symbol after the end of the Msg3 transmission; 1> monitor the PDCCH while the ra-ContentionResolutionTimer is running regardless of the possible occurrence of a measurement gap;” and p.35, lines, 7-9, “1> if ra-ContentionResolutionTimer expires: 2> discard the TEMPORARY_C-RNTI; 2> consider the Contention Resolution not successful.” First, the “MAC entity” in these cited portions is the MAC layer of a UE, i.e., the claimed “terminal device,” as it should be clear from the context, i.e., for example, starting and restarting the timer, ra-ContentionResolutionTimer. Next, the above cited passage of 3GPPTS38.321V16.7.0 describe the following operation by a UE: 1) the UE sends the random access Msg3, and starts the timer, ra-ContentionResolutionTimer, and monitors for PDCCH; 2) if a PDCCH for the “HARQ retransmission,” i.e., for Msg3 retransmission, is received, re-send Msg3 and restart the timer, ra-ContentionResolutionTimer; and 3) if a PDCCH for the “HARQ retransmission,” i.e., for Msg3 retransmission, is NOT received (and the Msg4 (PDSCH) is not received) prior to the expiry of the timer, ra-ContentionResolutionTimer, then, the UE is to “discard the TEMPORARY_C-RNTI,” and “consider the Contention Resolution not successful.” Accordingly, the UE considers that contention resolution does not succeed in the case that a PDCCH for scheduling retransmission of a message Msg3 is not received prior to the expiry of the random access contention resolution timer.).
3GPPTS38.321V16.7.0, however, while describing the UE “from a functional point of view” (See, 3GPPTS38.321V16.7.0., page 11, §4.1), fails to explicitly teach that: 1) the UE comprises a processor and a memory, wherein the memory is configured to store a computer program, and the processor is configured to invoke and run the computer program stored in the memory to cause the terminal device to perform the above recited process steps; and 2) in a case that the random access contention resolution timer expires and the PDCCH for scheduling the retransmission of the Msg3 is received before the random access contention resolution timer expires, skipping, by the terminal device, considering that contention resolution fails.
Yuan teaches 1) the UE (Fig. 1, #110; Fig. 4, #400; and ¶[0061], “The device 400 may be provided to implement the communication device, for example the UE 110 as shown in FIG. 1.”) comprises a processor (Fig. 4, $410) and a memory (Fig. 4, #420), wherein the memory is configured to store a computer program (Fig. 4, #430), and the processor is configured to invoke and run the computer program stored in the memory (¶[0065], “A computer program 430 includes computer executable instructions that are executed by the associated processor 410.”) to cause the terminal device to perform the process steps (¶0066], “The embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented by means of the program 430 so that the device 400 may perform any process of the disclosure as discussed with reference to FIGS. 2 to 3.”); and 2) in a case that the random access contention resolution timer expires (See, Fig. 2, T5; and ¶[0040], “The contention resolution timer will be expired at the time point T5.”) and the PDCCH for scheduling the retransmission of the Msg3 is received (See, Fig. 2, T3; ¶[0039[, “Within the duration 220 of the contention resolution timer, the UE 110 may monitor the PDCCH for UL grant from the gNB 120. The UL grant may be associated with the MSG3 retransmission;” and ¶[0041], “If an uplink grant is received after the transmission of the MSG3, for example, at the time point T3”) before the random access contention resolution timer expires (See, Fig. 2, T3 is earlier, i.e., before, T5), skipping, by the terminal device, considering that contention resolution fails (See, ¶[0041] If an uplink grant is received after the transmission of the MSG3, for example, at the time point T3, or the further transmission of the MSG3 is performed, for example, at the time point T4, the UE 110 may determine that no contention resolution failure has occurred at the time point when the timer expires, i.e., at the time point T5, and therefore the UE 110 may keep monitoring the PDCCH after the expiry of the contention resolution timer.”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the UE taught by 3GPPTS38.321V16.7.0 to incorporate the above teaching of Yuan in order to: 1) provide a conventional hardware components for the UE to implement the functionalities of the UE as described by the 3GPPTS38.321V16.7.0 (See, 3GPPTS38.321V16.7.0, Page 11, §4.1); and 2) avoid a false random access failure declaration due to the increased likelihood of the expiry of the contention resolution timer during the time offset before restarting of the timer to account for the long RTT of an NTN UEs (See, e.g., Yuan, ¶¶[0034] - [0036]).
Regarding claim 12/11, 3GPPTS38.321V16.7.0 in view of Yuan teach a terminal device comprising all of the recited elements of claim 11 as discussed above.
3GPPTS38.321V16.7.0 further discloses that the random access contention resolution timer is started or restarted at a first time domain symbol after the Msg3 is sent (See, Page 34, lines 12-13; “start the ra-ContentionResolutionTimer and restart the ra-ContentionResolutionTimer at each HARQ retransmission in the first symbol after the end of the Msg3 transmission,” Emphasis Added).
Regarding claim 13/11, 3GPPTS38.321V16.7.0 in view of Yuan teach a terminal device comprising all of the recited elements of claim 11 as discussed above.
3GPPTS38.321V16.7.0 further teaches that the random access contention resolution timer is started or restarted at a first time domain symbol after following the sending of the Msg3 (See, Page 34, lines 12-13; “start the ra-ContentionResolutionTimer and restart the ra-ContentionResolutionTimer at each HARQ retransmission in the first symbol after the end of the Msg3 transmission,” Emphasis Added).
Yuan further teaches that the random access contention resolution timer is started or restarted after a time offset following the sending of the Msg3 (See, e.g., Fig. 2, #210 or #230; and ¶[0039], “At time point T1, the UE 110 may transmit a MSG3 in a random access procedure. Transmission of MSG3 at T1 maybe an initial transmission or a retransmission of MSG3. As mentioned above, since a UE-gNB RTT 210 is introduced, a contention resolution timer may be started after the UE-gNB RTT 210, i.e., at the time point T2.”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the UE taught by 3GPPTS38.321V16.7.0 to incorporate the above teaching of Yuan in order to reduce the time an NTN UEs is required to monitor the PDCCH (See, e.g., Yuan, ¶¶[0034]).
Regarding claim 16/11, 3GPPTS38.321V16.7.0 in view of Yuan teach a terminal device comprising all of the recited elements of claim 11 as discussed above.
3GPPTS38.321V16.7.0 further teaches that the terminal device further comprises:
in a case that the random access contention resolution timer expires and the PDCCH for scheduling the retransmission of the Msg3 is not received before the random access contention resolution timer expires, discarding a temporary cell radio network temporary identifier (TC-RNTI), wherein the TC-RNTI is used to scramble the PDCCH (See, the above discussion of claim 1. If the PDCCH is not received, resulting in the contention timer not being restarted, and thus expires (and no Msg4 is received), the procedure specified in Page 35, lines 7-8, is performed, i.e., if ra-ContentionResolutionTimer expires: 2> discard the TEMPORARY_C-RNTI.” It is noted that, with regard to the recited claim language, “the TC-RNTI is used to scramble the PDCCH,” in the parlance of, e.g., 5G NR, has the meaning equivalent to the “the PDCCH transmission is addressed to its TEMPORARY_C-RNTI.“ (See, Page 34, lines 28-29, Emphasis added). That is, such “addressing” is achieved by scrambling the CRC of the PDCCH wth (e.g., XOR’d with) the TEMPORARY_C-RNTI. See, e.g., 3GPPTS38.213V16.7.04, Page 45, §8.2, et seq., which is hereby made of record).
Regarding claim 18/11, 3GPPTS38.321V16.7.0 in view of Yuan teach a terminal device comprising all of the recited elements of claim 11 as discussed above.
3GPPTS38.321V16.7.0 further teaches that the method further comprising:
in a case that the PDCCH for scheduling the retransmission of the Msg3 is received before the random access contention resolution timer expires (See, Page 34, line 10–26),
retransmitting the Msg3 by the terminal device (See, Page 35, line 17-Page 36, line 7; §5.1.2 (Page 23, line 3-Page 24, line 40), in particular, Page 24, line 3 “(i.e. Msg3 is being retransmitted);” and §5.1.3, et seq.),
restarting the random access contention resolution timer by the terminal device (See, Page, 34, lines 11-13), and during running of the random access contention resolution timer, monitoring, by the terminal device, a PDCCH that is scrambled by a cell radio network temporary identifier (C-RNTI) or a TC-RNTI and sent by a network device (See, Page, 34, lines 14-15. See, also, the discussion above in connection to claim 6 regarding the recited claim language “scrambled by a cell radio network temporary identifier (C-RNTI) or a TC-RNTI” ).
Yuan further teaches that the restarting the random access contention resolution timer by the terminal device is performed after a first time offset following the retransmission of the Msg3(See, e.g., Fig. 2, #210 or #230; and ¶[0039], “At time point T1, the UE 110 may transmit a MSG3 in a random access procedure. Transmission of MSG3 at T1 maybe an initial transmission or a retransmission of MSG3. As mentioned above, since a UE-gNB RTT 210 is introduced, a contention resolution timer may be started after the UE-gNB RTT 210, i.e., at the time point T2.”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the UE taught by 3GPPTS38.321V16.7.0 to incorporate the above teaching of Yuan in order to reduce the time an NTN UEs is required to monitor the PDCCH (See, e.g., Yuan, ¶¶[0034]).
Regarding claim 19/13, 3GPPTS38.321V16.7.0 in view of Yuan teach a terminal device comprising all of the recited elements of claim 13 as discussed above.
Yuan further teaches that the first time offset is determined according to a round-trip time (RTT) between the terminal device and a network device (See, ¶[0034], “Currently, it has been agreed that the RTT between the UE and the gNB (UE-gNB RTT) is introduced to the starting of several timers for NTN so that the UE only needs to start monitoring the PDCCH after the RTT;” and ¶[0035], Furthermore, it has been agreed that of a Message 3 (MSG3) transmitted on a NTN, the ra-ContentionResolutionTimer is started and the ra-ContentionResolutionTimer is restarted at each Hybrid Automatic Repeat reQuest (HARQ) retransmission in the first symbol after the end of the MSG3 transmission plus the UE-gNB RTT estimated by the UE.”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the UE taught by 3GPPTS38.321V16.7.0 to incorporate the above teaching of Yuan in order to reduce the time an NTN UEs is required to monitor the PDCCH (See, e.g., Yuan, ¶¶[0034]).
Regarding claim 20/11, 3GPPTS38.321V16.7.0 in view of Yuan teach a terminal device comprising all of the recited elements of claim 11 as discussed above.
Yuan further teaches that the wireless communication method is applied to a non-terrestrial networks (NTN) system, or the method is applied to an NTN system and a terrestrial networks (TN) system (See, e.g., the title; and ¶[0011], “FIG. 2 shows a time diagram illustrating a process of contention resolution for the NTN”.).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the UE taught by 3GPPTS38.321V16.7.0 to incorporate the above teaching of Yuan in order to allow a random access procedure for NTN communication devices in 5G NR networks, in consideration of the longer round trip time (RTT) for the satellite communication device (See, e.g., Yuan, ¶[0002]).
Claims 4, 5, 14 and 15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. §103 as being unpatentable over 3GPPTS38.321V16.7.0 in view of Yuan an in further view of Lee et al. (US Patent Publication No. US2020/0170045) (“Lee”).
Regarding claim 4/1, 3GPPTS38.321V16.7.0 in view of Yuan teach a wireless communication method comprising all elements recited in claim 1 as discussed above.
3GPPTS38.321V16.7.0 in view of Yuan, however, fails to explicitly teach that the starting or restarting occurs in a subframe in which a first physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) is retransmitted for a last time, and the first PUSCH is used to carry the Msg3.
Lee teaches that the random access contention resolution timer is started or restarted in a subframe in which a first physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) is retransmitted for a last time, and the first PUSCH is used to carry the Msg3 (See, e.g., Fig. 10; and ¶[0111], “the UE starts contention resolution timer and restarts contention resolution timer at each HARQ retransmission of the bundle in the subframe containing the last repetition of the corresponding PUSCH transmission.”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the UE taught by 3GPPTS38.321V16.7.0 in view of Yuan to incorporate the above teaching of Lee in order to allow power savings for low power UEs (See, e.g., Lee, ¶[0086] and [0111]).
Regarding claim 5/1, 3GPPTS38.321V16.7.0 Yuan teach a wireless communication method comprising all of the recited elements of claim 1 as discussed above.
Yuan further teaches that the staring or restarting of the random access contention resolution timer occurs (Fig. 2, T2) after the first time offset (Fig. 2, #210) following the PUSCH carrying the Msg3 (See, Fig. 1, T1; and ¶[0039], “At time point T1, the UE 110 may transmit a MSG3 in a random access procedure. Transmission of MSG3 at T1 maybe an initial transmission or a retransmission of MSG3. As mentioned above, since a UE-gNB RTT 210 is introduced, a contention resolution timer may be started after the UE-gNB RTT 210, i.e., at the time point T2.”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the UE taught by 3GPPTS38.321V16.7.0 to incorporate the above teaching of Yuan in order to reduce the time an NTN UEs is required to monitor the PDCCH (See, e.g., Yuan, ¶¶[0034]).
3GPPTS38.321V16.7.0 in view of Yuan, however, fails to teach explicitly that the random access contention resolution timer is started or restarted in a subframe in which a second PUSCH is retransmitted for a last time, and the second PUSCH is used to carry the Msg3.
Lee teaches that the random access contention resolution timer is started or restarted in a subframe in which a second PUSCH is retransmitted for a last time, and the second PUSCH is used to carry the Msg3 (See, e.g., Fig. 10; and ¶[0111], “the UE starts contention resolution timer and restarts contention resolution timer at each HARQ retransmission of the bundle in the subframe containing the last repetition of the corresponding PUSCH transmission.”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the UE taught by 3GPPTS38.321V16.7.0 in view of Yuan to incorporate the above teaching of Lee in order to allow power savings for low power UEs (See, e.g., Lee, ¶[0086] and [0111]).
Regarding claim 14/11, 3GPPTS38.321V16.7.0 in view of Yuan teaches a terminal device comprising all of the recited elements of claim 11.
3GPPTS38.321V16.7.0 in view of Yuan, however, fails to explicitly teach that the starting or restarting occurs in a subframe in which a first physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) is retransmitted for a last time, and the first PUSCH is used to carry the Msg3.
Lee et al. teaches that the random access contention resolution timer is started or restarted in a subframe in which a first physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) is retransmitted for a last time, and the first PUSCH is used to carry the Msg3 (See, e.g., Fig. 10; and ¶[0111], “the UE starts contention resolution timer and restarts contention resolution timer at each HARQ retransmission of the bundle in the subframe containing the last repetition of the corresponding PUSCH transmission.”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the UE taught by 3GPPTS38.321V16.7.0 in view of Sedin et al., to incorporate the above teaching of Lee et al. in order to allow power savings for low power UEs (See, e.g., Lee et al., ¶[0086] and [0111]).
Regarding claim 15/11, 3GPPTS38.321V16.7.0 in view Yuan teach a terminal device comprising all of the recited elements of claim 11.
Yuan further teaches that the staring or restarting of the random access contention resolution timer occurs (Fig. 2, T2) after the first time offset (Fig. 2, #210) following the PUSCH carrying the Msg3 (See, Fig. 1, T1; and ¶[0039], “At time point T1, the UE 110 may transmit a MSG3 in a random access procedure. Transmission of MSG3 at T1 maybe an initial transmission or a retransmission of MSG3. As mentioned above, since a UE-gNB RTT 210 is introduced, a contention resolution timer may be started after the UE-gNB RTT 210, i.e., at the time point T2.”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the UE taught by 3GPPTS38.321V16.7.0 to incorporate the above teaching of Yuan in order to reduce the time an NTN UEs is required to monitor the PDCCH (See, e.g., Yuan, ¶¶[0034]).
3GPPTS38.321V16.7.0 in view of Yuan, however, fails to teach explicitly that the random access contention resolution timer is started or restarted in a subframe in which a second PUSCH is retransmitted for a last time, and the second PUSCH is used to carry the Msg3.
Lee teaches that the random access contention resolution timer is started or restarted in a subframe in which a second PUSCH is retransmitted for a last time, and the second PUSCH is used to carry the Msg3 (See, e.g., Fig. 10; and ¶[0111], “the UE starts contention resolution timer and restarts contention resolution timer at each HARQ retransmission of the bundle in the subframe containing the last repetition of the corresponding PUSCH transmission.”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the UE taught by 3GPPTS38.321V16.7.0 in view of Yuan to incorporate the above teaching of Lee in order to allow power savings for low power UEs (See, e.g., Lee, ¶[0086] and [0111]).
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed on June 17, 2026 have been fully considered, and are considered partially persuasive.
Applicant argues first that the prior art references, mainly 3GPPTS38.321V16.7.0, does not disclose or teach the newly added limitations of claims 1 and 11, which limitations were previously presented in now canceled claims 7 and 17, respectively.
In particular, Applicant argues that the claims now require as amended, both of:
“Feature A: in a case that a random access contention resolution timer expires and a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) for scheduling retransmission of a message Msg3 is not received before the random access contention resolution timer expires, considering, by a terminal device, that contention resolution does not succeed; and
Feature B: in a case that the random access contention resolution timer expires and the PDCCH for scheduling the retransmission of the Msg3 is received before the random access contention resolution timer expires, skipping, by the terminal device, considering that contention resolution fails.” See, Amendment at p. 7.
The Examiner respectfully disagrees with respect to the “Feature A,” but is persuaded with respect to the “Feature B.” With respect to the “Feature A,” the Examiner has made every effort to make the application of the prior art reference, 3GPPTS38.321V16.7.0, explicit. In a nutshell, the fact that the contention resolution timer has expired indicates that neither the PDCCH scheduling the retransmission of the Msg3, nor the Msg4 (PDSCH) was revived prior to the expiry of the timer. According to the procedure specified in the portions of 3GPPTS38.321V16.7.0 cited in this and previous Office Actions, if the contention resolution time expires without a reception of the HARQ PDCCH, one of two outcomes is possible, i.e., 1) outcome 1: no Msg4 is received prior to the expiry of the last reset timer, and the random access fails; or 2) outcome 2: a Msg4 is received prior to the expiry of the timer, and the random access is successful. Because the plain and literal meaning of the recitation of “Feature A,” encompasses the above outcome 1, the Examiner remains unpersuaded by Applicant’s argument with respect to the “Feature A.”
With respect to Applicant’s argument relating to the “Feature B,” however, the Examiner agrees that 3GPPTS38.321V16.7.0 fails to disclose or teach the contention resolution timer expiring after receiving a HARQ PDCCH, and despite the timer expiring, not considering the random access a failure. This argument, however, is now moot in light of the new grounds of rejections presented in this Office Action.
Finally, Applicant further argues, with respect to the remaining dependent claims, that these claims overcomes the prior art of record relying generally on the various dependencies to the independent claims 1 and 11 for similar reasons argued for the independent claims, namely the Features A and B address above. These arguments for the remaining dependent claims are either addressed above or are moot in light of the new grounds of rejections presented in this Office Action.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to Applicant’s disclosure.
Huang et al. US (US Published Patent Application No. US2022/0322458) teaches the issue relating to the contention resolution timer expiry during the RTT offset (See, e.g., Fig. 5 and the description thereof).
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KI S KIM whose telephone number is (571)272-9141. The examiner can normally be reached M-Th 7:00AM - 5:30PM.
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, Moo R Jeong can be reached at (571) 272-9617. 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.
/K.S.K./Examiner, Art Unit 2418 August 10, 2026
/Moo Jeong/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2418
1 See Guangdong OPPO Mobile Telecommunications Corp., Ltd’s IPR Information Statement and IPR Licensing Declaration and IPR Information Statement Annex, ISLD-202510-023, pp 1 & 11 (listing the Application as “US202418762139,” and as “US2024365401,”), Retrieved from the Internet<URL: https://ipr.etsi.org/IPRDetails.aspx?IPRD_ID=9789&IPRD_TYPE_ID=2&MODE=2&sessionkey=f9ec15> (Year: 2025). A copy of the ISLD-202510-023 is being provided herewith.
2 3GPP TS 38.321 V16.7.0 (2021-12) Technical Specification 3rd Generation Partnership Project;
Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; NR; Medium Access Control (MAC) protocol specification (Release 16), Published by 3GPP Organizational Partners, December 2021), Pp. 1-158. Previously made of record.
3 3GPP TS 38.213 V16.7.0 (2021-09), “Technical Specification, 3rd Generation Partnership Project; Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; NR; Physical layer procedures for control (Release 16), Published by the 3GPP Organizational Partners, September 2021, Pp. 1-188. Previously made of record.
4 3GPP TS 38.213 V16.7.0 (2021-09), “Technical Specification, 3rd Generation Partnership Project; Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; NR; Physical layer procedures for control (Release 16), Published by the 3GPP Organizational Partners, September 2021, Pp. 1-188. Previously made of record.
Prosecution Insights