Prosecution Insights
Last updated: August 17, 2026
Application No. 18/793,723

RANDOM ACCESS IN LOWER-LAYER TRIGGERED MOBILITY PROCEDURE

Non-Final OA §102
Filed
Aug 02, 2024
Priority
Aug 03, 2023 — provisional 63/530,514
Examiner
JAGANNATHAN, MELANIE
Art Unit
Tech Center
Assignee
Apple Inc.
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
87%
Grant Probability
Favorable
1-2
OA Rounds
11m
Est. Remaining
91%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 87% — above average
87%
Career Allowance Rate
673 granted / 777 resolved
+26.6% vs TC avg
Minimal +5% lift
Without
With
+4.7%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
2y 11m
Avg Prosecution
21 currently pending
Career history
795
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
6.0%
-34.0% vs TC avg
§103
48.6%
+8.6% vs TC avg
§102
21.9%
-18.1% vs TC avg
§112
10.4%
-29.6% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 777 resolved cases

Office Action

§102
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 . Claims 1-20 are pending. Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102 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 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. Claim(s) 1, 6, 10-11, 16, and 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Prasad et al. US 20260075657. Regarding claim 1, a method for performing a contention-free random access (CFRA) in a lower-layer triggered mobility (LTM) procedure from a serving cell to a target candidate cell (a method performed by a wireless device including receiving a first physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) order initiating a first random access (RA) procedure for a candidate cell for layer-1 or layer-2 triggered mobility (LTM) procedure, Abstract, the wireless device may perform contention free random access (CFRA) at cell switch, para. 0247), the method comprising: determining, by a user equipment (UE) (wireless device, Figure 1A, element 106), that random access response (RAR) reception is not configured for the UE (the wireless device may receive one or more configuration parameters indicating that an RAR monitoring is not required/needed/configured, the one or more configuration parameters may comprise a noRAR field that is set to true, para. 0276); receiving, by the UE, a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) order for transmitting a physical random access channel (PRACH) signal to the target candidate cell (the wireless device may receive a PDCCH order indicating an initial transmission of a random access preamble/PRACH transmission, the wireless device may perform the PRACH transmission based on receiving the PDCCH order, para. 0276, the PDCCH order may initiate/trigger a lower layer triggered mobility procedure, the random access procedure is associated with a candidate/target cell of the one or more candidate/target cells, para. 0301); and determining, by the UE and based on the PDCCH order, a transmission power for transmitting the PRACH signal (the wireless device may initialize or reset a counter based on the PDCCH order, indicating an initial transmission of the PRACH transmission, the counter may be a preamble power ramping counter which is used to determine a transmission/transmit power for transmitting a PRACH transmission, para. 0306). Regarding claim 6, The method of claim 1, wherein the PDCCH order comprises a one-bit field that indicates whether the transmission of the PRACH signal is an initial transmission or a retransmission (the PDCCH order comprises a bitfield which indicates the initial transmission of the PRACH transmission, the field may be a 1-bit field indicating initial transmission or retransmission of PRACH in response to the one or more configuration parameters indicates that random access response monitoring is not required and a cell indicated by a cell indicator field in the PDCCH order is a candidate/target cell para. 0304-0305). Regarding claim 10, The method of claim 1, further comprising: transmitting the PRACH signal to the target candidate cell (the wireless device may receive a PDCCH order indicating an initial transmission of a random access preamble/PRACH transmission, the wireless device may perform the PRACH transmission based on receiving the PDCCH order, para. 0276, the PDCCH order may initiate/trigger a lower layer triggered mobility procedure, the random access procedure is associated with a candidate/target cell of the one or more candidate/target cells, para. 0301). Regarding claim 11, An apparatus (wireless device, Figure 15, element 1502) comprising: one or more processors (processing systems, element 1518, 1520, 1522); and memory (memory, element 1524) configured to store instructions that, when executed, cause the apparatus to perform operations of a contention-free random access (CFRA) in a lower-layer triggered mobility (LTM) procedure from a serving cell to a target candidate cell a method performed by a wireless device including receiving a first physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) order initiating a first random access (RA) procedure for a candidate cell for layer-1 or layer-2 triggered mobility (LTM) procedure, Abstract, the wireless device may perform contention free random access (CFRA) at cell switch, para. 0247), the operations comprising: determining that random access response (RAR) reception is not configured for a user equipment (UE) (the wireless device may receive one or more configuration parameters indicating that an RAR monitoring is not required/needed/configured, the one or more configuration parameters may comprise a noRAR field that is set to true, para. 0276); receiving a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) order for transmitting a physical random access channel (PRACH) signal to the target candidate cell (the wireless device may receive a PDCCH order indicating an initial transmission of a random access preamble/PRACH transmission, the wireless device may perform the PRACH transmission based on receiving the PDCCH order, para. 0276, the PDCCH order may initiate/trigger a lower layer triggered mobility procedure, the random access procedure is associated with a candidate/target cell of the one or more candidate/target cells, para. 0301); and determining, based on the PDCCH order, a transmission power for transmitting the PRACH signal (the wireless device may initialize or reset a counter based on the PDCCH order, indicating an initial transmission of the PRACH transmission, the counter may be a preamble power ramping counter which is used to determine a transmission/transmit power for transmitting a PRACH transmission, para. 0306). Regarding claim 16, The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the PDCCH order comprises a one-bit field that indicates whether the transmission of the PRACH signal is an initial transmission or a retransmission (the PDCCH order comprises a bitfield which indicates the initial transmission of the PRACH transmission, the field may be a 1-bit field indicating initial transmission or retransmission of PRACH in response to the one or more configuration parameters indicates that random access response monitoring is not required and a cell indicated by a cell indicator field in the PDCCH order is a candidate/target cell para. 0304-0305). Regarding claim 20, A network entity (gnB, Figure 1B, element 160) comprising one or more processors configured to execute instructions that cause the network entity to perform operations in a lower-layer triggered mobility (LTM) procedure, the operations comprising: configuring a user equipment (UE) with random access response (RAR) skipping (the base station may provide for lower layer triggered mobility, one or more candidate/target lower layer triggered mobility cell configurations to the wireless device through/via one or more messages comprising configuration parameters and indicating the one or more candidate/target cells, para. 0233); and causing a first base station associated with a serving cell to transmit, to the UE, a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) order (cell switch trigger information for LTM may be conveyed by a PRACH order, para. 0243, the wireless device receives the PDCCH order via the source/serving cell, para. 0302), wherein the PDCCH order instructs the UE to transmit a physical random access channel (PRACH) signal to a second base station associated with a target candidate cell (the wireless device may perform the PRACH transmission based on receiving the PDCCH order, para. 0276, the PDCCH order may initiate/trigger a lower layer triggered mobility procedure, the random access procedure is associated with a candidate/target cell of the one or more candidate/target cells, para. 0301), and wherein the PDCCH order comprises information that the UE uses to determine a transmission power for transmitting the PRACH signal (the wireless device may initialize or reset a counter based on the PDCCH order, indicating an initial transmission of the PRACH transmission, the counter may be a preamble power ramping counter which is used to determine a transmission/transmit power for transmitting a PRACH transmission, para. 0306). Allowable Subject Matter Claims 2-5, 7-9, 12-15, 17-19 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims. Conclusion The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure and select prior art are described as follows: Go et al. US 20260164469 which discloses receiving a PDCCH order, transmitting a PRACH, receiving a PDCCH related to a RAR, and receiving a PDSCH to the RAR. Chandrashekar et al. US 20260173079 discloses a serving gNB-DU uses a Physical Downlink Control Channel order to request the UE to perform the UL synchronization, the UE performs the UL synchronization and is configured to receive Random Access Response from a target gNB-DU which includes a candidate/target cell timing advance to be used by the UE, the target gNB-DU includes UE's TA of neighbouring beams in addition to UE's TA of an optimal beam at the candidate/target cell gNB-DU with random access response. Wang et al. US 20260197834 discloses a terminal device receives, from a serving cell, a trigger for an RA procedure on a candidate cell allowing lower layer triggered mobility and transmits, to the candidate cell, a preamble for the random access procedure, the terminal device performs a PDCCH monitoring on at least one of the serving cell or the candidate cell, and receives a random access response from the at least one of the serving cell or the candidate cell. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MELANIE JAGANNATHAN whose telephone number is (571)272-3163. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9-5. 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, Marcus Smith can be reached at 571-270-1096. 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. /MELANIE JAGANNATHAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2468
Read full office action

Prosecution Timeline

Aug 02, 2024
Application Filed
Jul 15, 2026
Non-Final Rejection mailed — §102 (current)

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Study what changed to get past this examiner. Based on 5 most recent grants.

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Prosecution Projections

1-2
Expected OA Rounds
87%
Grant Probability
91%
With Interview (+4.7%)
2y 11m (~11m remaining)
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 777 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allowance rate.

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