DETAILED ACTION
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA . In the Preliminary Amendment of 09/18/2024, claims 1-20 are pending, and claims 1, 8, 15 are recited in independent form. The Applicant presents claims 1, 8, 15. The Present Application is a Continuation of 17/877,173 (Now US Pat. No. 12,075,490) and claims priority to Provisional Application 63/229,659.
Double Patenting
The nonstatutory double patenting rejection is based on a judicially created doctrine grounded in public policy (a policy reflected in the statute) so as to prevent the unjustified or improper timewise extension of the “right to exclude” granted by a patent and to prevent possible harassment by multiple assignees. A nonstatutory double patenting rejection is appropriate where the conflicting claims are not identical, but at least one examined application claim is not patentably distinct from the reference claim(s) because the examined application claim is either anticipated by, or would have been obvious over, the reference claim(s). See, e.g., In re Berg, 140 F.3d 1428, 46 USPQ2d 1226 (Fed. Cir. 1998); In re Goodman, 11 F.3d 1046, 29 USPQ2d 2010 (Fed. Cir. 1993); In re Longi, 759 F.2d 887, 225 USPQ 645 (Fed. Cir. 1985); In re Van Ornum, 686 F.2d 937, 214 USPQ 761 (CCPA 1982); In re Vogel, 422 F.2d 438, 164 USPQ 619 (CCPA 1970); In re Thorington, 418 F.2d 528, 163 USPQ 644 (CCPA 1969).
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Claims 1-20 are rejected on the ground of nonstatutory double patenting as being unpatentable over claims 1-20 of U.S. Patent No. 12, 075,490 (hereinafter the patent). Although the claims at issue are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other because the claim limitations are found entirely within the claims of the patent. To illustrate the correspondence that Examiner provides the following table in which corresponding limitations are presented next those of the patent.
18/814,637
15. (Original) A method comprising:
selecting, by a wireless device and in response to initiating a two-step random access (RA) procedure, a first radio resource for transmission of a first message of the two-step RA procedure;
switching, without transmitting the first message, from the two-step RA procedure to a four- step RA procedure based on
the first radio resource being invalid for the transmission of the first message; and
transmitting, via a second radio resource, a preamble for the four-step RA procedure.
16. (Original) The method of claim 15, wherein the first radio resource comprises a first physical random access channel (PRACH) occasion and a first physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) occasion mapped to the first PRACH occasion.
17. (Original) The method of claim 16, wherein the first radio resource is invalid based at least one of: the first PUSCH occasion being invalid; and failing to satisfy a time gap condition.
18. (Original) The method of claim 16, further comprising: selecting, by the wireless device and in response to the switching to the four-step RA procedure, the second radio resource associated with the preamble for the four-step RA procedure for transmission of the first message, wherein the second radio resource comprises a second PRACH occasion and a second PUSCH occasion mapped to the second PRACH occasion.
19. (Original) The method of claim 18, wherein the switching to the four-step RA procedure is further based on the second radio resource being invalid.
20. (Original) The method of claim 15, further comprising: receiving, by the wireless device, one or more radio resource control (RRC) messages comprising: first configuration parameters of a two-step RA procedure; and second configuration parameters of a four-step RA procedure; and initializing a preamble counter value by a first value in response to the initiating the two-step RA procedure, wherein the first value is indicated by the one or more RRC messages.
1. (Original) A wireless device comprising: one or more processors; and memory storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the wireless device to:
select, in response to initiating a two-step random access (RA) procedure, a first radio resource for transmission of a first message of the two-step RA procedure;
switch, without transmitting the first message, from the two-step RA procedure to a four- step RA procedure based on
the first radio resource being invalid for the transmission of the first message; and
transmit, via a second radio resource, a preamble for the four-step RA procedure.
2. (Original) The wireless device of claim 1, wherein the first radio resource comprises a first physical random access channel (PRACH) occasion and a first physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) occasion mapped to the first PRACH occasion.
3. (Original) The wireless device of claim 2, wherein the first radio resource is invalid based at least one of: the first PUSCH occasion being invalid; and failing to satisfy a time gap condition.
4. (Original) The wireless device of claim 3, wherein the time gap condition is satisfied based on at least one of: a time difference between a last symbol of the first PUSCH occasion and a last symbol of the first PRACH occasion being less than a first threshold; a time difference between a first symbol of the first PUSCH occasion and a first symbol of the first PRACH occasion being less than the first threshold; a time difference between the last symbol of the first PUSCH occasion and a time that the first radio resource is selected being less than the first threshold; and a time difference between the last symbol of the first PUSCH occasion and a time that the two-step RA procedure is initiated being less than the first threshold.
5. (Original) The wireless device of claim 2, wherein the instructions further cause the wireless device to: select, in response to the switching to the four-step RA procedure, the second radio resource associated with the preamble for the four-step RA procedure for transmission of the first message, wherein the second radio resource comprises a second PRACH occasion and a second PUSCH occasion mapped to the second PRACH occasion.
6. (Original) The wireless device of claim 5, wherein the switching to the four-step RA procedure is further based on the second radio resource being invalid.
7. (Original) The wireless device of claim 1, wherein the instructions further cause the wireless device to: receive one or more radio resource control (RRC) messages comprising: first configuration parameters of a two-step RA procedure; and second configuration parameters of a four-step RA procedure; and initialize a preamble counter value by a first value in response to the initiating the two-step RA procedure, wherein the first value is indicated by the one or more RRC messages.
8. (Original) A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of a wireless device, cause the wireless device to:
select, in response to initiating a two-step random access (RA) procedure, a first radio resource for transmission of a first message of the two-step RA procedure;
switch, without transmitting the first message, from the two-step RA procedure to a four-step RA procedure based on
the first radio resource being invalid for the transmission of the first message; and
transmit, via a second radio resource, a preamble for the four-step RA procedure.
9. (Original) The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8, wherein the first radio resource comprises a first physical random access channel (PRACH) occasion and a first physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) occasion mapped to the first PRACH occasion.
10. (Original) The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 9, wherein the first radio resource is invalid based at least one of: the first PUSCH occasion being invalid; and failing to satisfy a time gap condition.
11. (Original) The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein the time gap condition is satisfied based on at least one of: a time difference between a last symbol of the first PUSCH occasion and a last symbol of the first PRACH occasion being less than a first threshold; a time difference between a first symbol of the first PUSCH occasion and a first symbol of the first PRACH occasion being less than the first threshold; a time difference between the last symbol of the first PUSCH occasion and a time that the first radio resource is selected being less than the first threshold; and a time difference between the last symbol of the first PUSCH occasion and a time that the two-step RA procedure is initiated being less than the first threshold.
12. (Original) The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 9, wherein the instructions further cause the wireless device to: select, in response to the switching to the four-step RA procedure, the second radio resource associated with the preamble for the four-step RA procedure for transmission of the first message, wherein the second radio resource comprises a second PRACH occasion and a second PUSCH occasion mapped to the second PRACH occasion.
13. (Original) The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 12, wherein the switching to the four-step RA procedure is further based on the second radio resource being invalid.
14. (Original) The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8, wherein the instructions further cause the wireless device to: receive one or more radio resource control (RRC) messages comprising: first configuration parameters of a two-step RA procedure; and second configuration parameters of a four-step RA procedure; and initialize a preamble counter value by a first value in response to the initiating the two-step RA procedure, wherein the first value is indicated by the one or more RRC messages
US Pat. No. 12,075490
1. A method comprising:
selecting, by a wireless device and in response to initiating a two-step random access (RA) procedure, a first radio resource for transmission of a first message of the two-step RA procedure;
switching, without transmitting the first message, from the two-step RA procedure to a four-step RA procedure based on:
a cell associated with the wireless device being part of a non-terrestrial network (NTN); and
the first radio resource being invalid for the transmission of the first message; and
transmitting, via a second radio resource, a preamble for the four-step RA procedure.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first radio resource comprises a first physical random access channel (PRACH) occasion and a first physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) occasion mapped to the first PRACH occasion.
3. The method of claim 2, wherein the first radio resource is invalid based at least one of: the first PUSCH occasion being invalid; or failing to satisfy a time gap condition.
4. The method of claim 3, wherein the time gap condition is satisfied based on at least one of: a time difference between a last symbol of the first PUSCH occasion and a last symbol of the first PRACH occasion being less than a first threshold; a time difference between a first symbol of the first PUSCH occasion and a first symbol of the first PRACH occasion being less than the first threshold; a time difference between the last symbol of the first PUSCH occasion and a time that the first radio resource is selected being less than the first threshold; or a time difference between the last symbol of the first PUSCH occasion and a time that the two-step RA procedure is initiated being less than the first threshold.
5. The method of claim 4, further comprising determining the first threshold based on at least one of: a propagation delay between the wireless device and a node of the NTN; or a portion of a propagation delay between the wireless device and a base station, wherein the wireless device communicates with the base station via the NTN.
6. The method of claim 2, further comprising selecting, in response to the switching to the four-step RA procedure, the second radio resource associated with the preamble for the four-step RA procedure for transmission of the first message, wherein the second radio resource comprises a second PRACH occasion and a second PUSCH occasion mapped to the second PRACH occasion.
7. The method of claim 6, wherein the switching to the four-step RA procedure is further based on the second radio resource being invalid.
8. The method of claim 7, wherein the second radio resource is invalid based on: the second PRACH occasion being valid; and the second PUSCH occasion being invalid.
9. The method of claim 7, wherein the second radio resource is invalid based on a time difference between the second radio resource and the first radio resource being larger than a second threshold.
10. The method of claim 1, further comprising: receiving, by the wireless device, one or more radio resource control (RRC) messages comprising: first configuration parameters of a two-step random access (RA) procedure; and second configuration parameters of a four-step RA procedure; and initializing a preamble counter value by a first value in response to the initiating the two-step RA procedure, wherein the first value is indicated by the one or more RRC messages.
11. A wireless device comprising: one or more processors; and memory storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the wireless device to:
select, in response to initiating a two-step random access (RA) procedure, a first radio resource for transmission of a first message of the two-step RA procedure;
switch, without transmitting the first message, from the two-step RA procedure to a four-step RA procedure based on:
a cell associated with the wireless device being part of a non-terrestrial network (NTN); and
the first radio resource being invalid for the transmission of the first message; and
transmit, via a second radio resource, a preamble for the four-step RA procedure.
12. The wireless device of claim 11, wherein the first radio resource comprises a first physical random access channel (PRACH) occasion and a first physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) occasion mapped to the first PRACH occasion.
13. The wireless device of claim 12, wherein the first radio resource is invalid based at least on: the first PUSCH occasion being invalid; or failing to satisfy a time gap condition.
14. The wireless device of claim 13, wherein the time gap condition is satisfied based on at least one of: a time difference between a last symbol of the first PUSCH occasion and a last symbol of the first PRACH occasion being less than a first threshold; a time difference between a first symbol of the first PUSCH occasion and a first symbol of the first PRACH occasion being less than the first threshold; a time difference between the last symbol of the first PUSCH occasion and a time that the first radio resource is selected being less than the first threshold; or a time difference between the last symbol of the first PUSCH occasion and a time that the two-step RA procedure is initiated being less than the first threshold.
15. The wireless device of claim 14, wherein the instructions further cause the wireless device to determine the first threshold based on at least one of: a propagation delay between the wireless device and a node of the NTN; or a portion of a propagation delay between the wireless device and a base station, wherein the wireless device communicates with the base station via the NTN.
16. The wireless device of claim 12, wherein the instructions further cause the wireless device to select, in response to the switching to the four-step RA procedure, the second radio resource associated with the preamble for the four-step RA procedure for transmission of the first message, wherein the second radio resource comprises a second PRACH occasion and a second PUSCH occasion mapped to the second PRACH occasion.
17. The wireless device of claim 16, wherein the switching to the four-step RA procedure is further based on the second radio resource being invalid.
18. The wireless device of claim 17, wherein the second radio resource is invalid based on: the second PRACH occasion being valid; and the second PUSCH occasion being invalid.
19. The wireless device of claim 17, wherein the second radio resource is invalid based on a time difference between the second radio resource and the first radio resource being larger than a second threshold.
1. A method comprising:
selecting, by a wireless device and in response to initiating a two-step random access (RA) procedure, a first radio resource for transmission of a first message of the two-step RA procedure;
switching, without transmitting the first message, from the two-step RA procedure to a four-step RA procedure based on:
a cell associated with the wireless device being part of a non-terrestrial network (NTN); and
the first radio resource being invalid for the transmission of the first message; and
transmitting, via a second radio resource, a preamble for the four-step RA procedure.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first radio resource comprises a first physical random access channel (PRACH) occasion and a first physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) occasion mapped to the first PRACH occasion.
3. The method of claim 2, wherein the first radio resource is invalid based at least one of: the first PUSCH occasion being invalid; or failing to satisfy a time gap condition.
4. The method of claim 3, wherein the time gap condition is satisfied based on at least one of: a time difference between a last symbol of the first PUSCH occasion and a last symbol of the first PRACH occasion being less than a first threshold; a time difference between a first symbol of the first PUSCH occasion and a first symbol of the first PRACH occasion being less than the first threshold; a time difference between the last symbol of the first PUSCH occasion and a time that the first radio resource is selected being less than the first threshold; or a time difference between the last symbol of the first PUSCH occasion and a time that the two-step RA procedure is initiated being less than the first threshold.
5. The method of claim 4, further comprising determining the first threshold based on at least one of: a propagation delay between the wireless device and a node of the NTN; or a portion of a propagation delay between the wireless device and a base station, wherein the wireless device communicates with the base station via the NTN.
6. The method of claim 2, further comprising selecting, in response to the switching to the four-step RA procedure, the second radio resource associated with the preamble for the four-step RA procedure for transmission of the first message, wherein the second radio resource comprises a second PRACH occasion and a second PUSCH occasion mapped to the second PRACH occasion.
7. The method of claim 6, wherein the switching to the four-step RA procedure is further based on the second radio resource being invalid.
10. The method of claim 1, further comprising: receiving, by the wireless device, one or more radio resource control (RRC) messages comprising: first configuration parameters of a two-step random access (RA) procedure; and second configuration parameters of a four-step RA procedure; and initializing a preamble counter value by a first value in response to the initiating the two-step RA procedure, wherein the first value is indicated by the one or more RRC messages.
The salient differences between the present application and the patent include: an omission of the limitation “a cell associated with the wireless device being part of a non-terrestrial network (NTN)” and a non-transitory computer readable medium (CRM) embodiment of the method. The differences are obvious at least in light of Patent Application Publication US-20220322459 to Zhou et al. (hereinafter d1) and/or US Patent Application Publication US-20220210844 to MolavianJazi et al. (hereinafter d2). Wherein d1 and d2 describe techniques in the field of wireless communication with application to NTN (see d2) embodied as methods (see d1 Figs 35-38) which are employed in a system (see d1 Figs. 1 and 15), which includes at least a wireless device with associated processors and memory (see d1 Fig. 15 elements 1520, 1518, 1522, 1524); base station with associated processors and memories (see d1 Fig. 15 elements 1510, 1508, 1512, 1514 ) wherein the method is embodied as instructions stored in memory which are executed by a processor to cause the wireless device or base station to execute the method (see d1 para. 0208-0211), wherein the functionality includes trigger RA procedure involving selection of a resource (see d1 Fig. 38 para. 0389); in response to two-step RA (see d1 Fig. 38 para. 0375, step 3810); triggering a switching procedure to four-step RA (see d1 Fig. 38 step 3820, para. 0376) which is based on a cell associated with the wireless device being part of a non-terrestrial network (NTN) (see d1 paras. 0375, 0357) followed by transmitting, via a second radio resource, a preamble for the four-step RA procedure (see d1 Fig. 38 steps 3825-3855 para. 0376-0378); determination of a resource being invalid for transmission of a message (see d2 para. 0165-0177) as applied to NTN para. 0088, 0111, 0570). From which the differences are obvious wherein d1 and d2 set forth a CRM embodiment in the noted sections above. The other differences are represented in that the present Application is broadened from those of the Patent, wherein all the limitations of the present application are present in the patent, and the patent contains additional limitations. Therefore, claims 1-20 are rejected under double patenting.
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/NATHAN S TAYLOR/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2643