DETAILED ACTION
This action is in response to communication on July 26th, 2024.
Claims 21-40 are currently pending. Claims 1-20 are canceled via preliminary amendment. And claims 21-40 are newly presented via preliminary amendment.
The present application is a continuation of International application no. PCT/CN2023/071345, filed on January 9th, 2023, which claims priority to the People’s Republic of China application no. CN202210104950.3, filed on January 27th, 2022.
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 21-40 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Kie et al (U.S. Patent Application Publication no. 2020/0045735, hereinafter Kim).
With respect to claims 21 and 31, Kim discloses a method, applied to a terminal device and apparatus (paragraph [0052]), the method comprising:
determining a first random access channel (RACH) resource for a current round of a random access (RA) process (paragraph [0228], lines 5-10, allocated resource), wherein the first RACH resource comprises a first random access preamble (paragraph [0228], lines 1-5, RACH preamble (or msg1)), a quantity N of repeated transmission attempts of the first preamble in the current round of the RA process (paragraph [0257], lines 1-7, repeatedly transmits a RACH sequence), and a first physical random access channel (PRACH) resource for transmission of the first preamble each attempted time of transmission in the current round of the RA process (paragraph [0071], resolution procedure including transmission of an additional PRACH), and wherein the first PRACH resource is located on a first transmission channel (paragraph [0071], receive a PDCCH and a PDSCH), the first transmission channel is located on an unlicensed spectrum (paragraph [0223], lines 1-3, transmission and reception in unlicensed bands), and N is an integer greater than 1 (paragraph [0257], lines 1-7, repeatedly transmits a RACH sequence two times);
before each attempt to perform transmission of the first preamble in the current round of the RA process, performing listen before talk (LBT) detection on the first transmission channel on which the first PRACH resource is located (paragraph [0247], lines 1-8, preamble retransmission after failing in LBT for RACH preamble transmission); and
each time the LBT detection succeeds in the current round of the RA process, performing transmission of the first preamble one corresponding time by using the first PRACH resource (paragraph [0247], lines 1-8, RACH preamble transmission after succeeding in additional LBT).
With respect to claims 22 and 32, Kim discloses the method according to claim 21 and 31, further comprising:
each time the LBT detection fails in the current round of the RA process, stopping the corresponding attempt to perform transmission of the first preamble (paragraph [0244], UE does not attempt the RACH preamble transmission).
With respect to claims 23 and 33, Kim discloses the method according to claim 21 and 31, further comprising:
when detection results for multiple LBT detections in the current round of the RA process meet a preset condition, reselecting a second RACH resource for a next round of the RA process (paragraph [0249], lines 5-8, based on the second RACH preamble transmission method).
With respect to claims 24 and 34, Kim discloses the method according to claim 22 and 33, wherein the preset condition comprises any one of the following conditions:
a quantity of LBT detection failures in a statistical result reaches a first preset threshold, wherein the first preset threshold is N (paragraph [0268], LBT failure occurs is equal to or more than Y);
a quantity of LBT detection failures in the statistical result reaches a second preset threshold, wherein the second preset threshold is M, and M is an integer greater than o and less than N (paragraph [0268], LBT failure occurs less than Y); or
a proportion of LBT detection failures in the statistical result reaches a preset proportion K, wherein the preset proportion K is a quotient of a quantity of LBT detection failures and a total quantity of LBT detections, and K is greater than 0 and less than or equal to 1 (paragraph [0249], less than X times).
With respect to claims 25 and 35, Kim discloses the method according to claim 23 and 33, wherein reselecting the second RACH resource comprises:
determining the second RACH resource used for the next round of the RA process, wherein the second RACH resource comprises a second random access preamble, a quantity N+n of repeated transmissions of the second preamble in the next round of the RA process (paragraph [0258], repeatedly transmit a RACH sequence two times), and a second PRACH resource for transmission of the second preamble each attempted time of transmission in the next round of the RA process, and n is an integer greater than or equal to 0 (paragraph [0258], repeatedly transmit a RACH sequence four times).
With respect to claims 26 and 36, Kim discloses the method according to claim 23 and 31, wherein the terminal device comprises a medium access control (MAC) layer and a physical layer (paragraph [0323]); and
wherein performing LBT detection on the first transmission channel on which the first PRACH resource is located comprises:
indicating, using the MAC layer, the physical layer to perform LBT detection on the first transmission channel on which the first PRACH resource is located (paragraphs [0238] & [0323]).
With respect to claims 27 and 37, Kim discloses the method according to claim 26 and 36, further comprising:
receiving, using the MAC layer, the detection results for the multiple LBT detections fed back by the physical layer, and performing statistics collection (paragraph [0323]); and
wherein reselecting the second RACH resource for the next round of the RA process comprises:
reselecting the second RACH resource using the MAC layer, and indicating to the physical layer to perform the next round of the RACH process (paragraph [0238]).
With respect to claims 28 and 38, Kim discloses the method according to claim 26 and 36, further comprising:
performing statistics collection on the detection results for the multiple LBT detections using the physical layer, and feeding back a statistical result to the MAC layer (paragraph [0323]); and
wherein reselecting the second RACH resource for the next round of the RA process comprises:
reselecting the second RACH resource using the MAC layer, and indicating to the physical layer to perform the next round of the RA process (paragraph [0238]).
With respect to claims 29 and 39, Kim discloses the method according to claim 21 and 31, further comprising:
receiving an indication message sent by an access network device, wherein the indication
message indicates to the terminal device to initiate contention-free random access (CFRA) that is based on preamble repeated transmission (paragraphs [0276] & [0305]);
wherein the indication message comprises one or more of the following: RACH resource configuration information, preamble repeated transmission enabling information, or information about a quantity of preamble repeated transmissions (paragraph [0305]); and
wherein the RACH resource configured by using the RACH resource configuration information is located on the unlicensed spectrum (paragraph [0328]).
With respect to claims 30 and 40, Kim discloses the method according to claim 29 and 39, wherein the indication message further comprises beam switching information, and the beam switching information indicates to the terminal device to perform preamble repeated transmission through beam switching (paragraph [0247], lines 8-11, changing the transmission beam).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Murray Pat. Pub. 2022/0272760
Parichehrehteroujeni Pat. Pub. 2024/0039799
Xiong Pat. Pub. 2023/0224953
Deenoo Pat. Pub. 2022/0038985
Turtinen Pat. Pub. 2022/0225410
Agiwal Pat. Pub. 2020/0077446
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to BLAKE J RUBIN whose telephone number is (571)270-3802. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday - Friday, 9am - 5pm.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Ario Etienne can be reached on 571-272-4001. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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7/21/26
/BLAKE J RUBIN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2457
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