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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDSs) submitted on 08/22/2024, 06/12/2025, 02/24/2026 are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statements are being considered by the examiner.
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)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 13, 24, and 28 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Li et al. (CN 104780559 A), hereinafter Li.
Re. Claim 13, Li teaches a random access method, performed by a base station, comprising: sending trigger information to a user equipment (UE), wherein the trigger information indicates the UE to trigger a random access process (Pg. 4, Paragraph 7 - detecting trigger information of random access process of the cell X, and perform a random access process); and receiving a random access channel preamble (RACH preamble) signal sent by the UE (Pg. 10, Paragraph 2 - the trigger information (e.g., PDCCH or cell X activation instruction) satisfy the random access process to the transmission timing relationship of the PRACH preamble signal, there is no need to wait for periodically distributing the PRACH channel resource, the UE can send PRACH preamble signal at a speed as fast as possible, so as to obtain the uplink synchronization).
Re. Claims 24 and 28, Claims 24 and 28 are the hardware elements of the method claim found within Claim 13. Li, in Fig. 6, discloses a communication apparatus with a processor and non-transitory memory that satisfies these additional claims.
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.
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.
Claims 1-3, 16, 23 and 27 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Li in view of Wu et al. (CN 113518417 B), hereinafter Wu.
Re. Claim 1, Li teaches A random access method, performed by a user equipment (UE), comprising: acquiring trigger information, wherein the trigger information indicates the UE to trigger a random access process (Pg. 4, Paragraph 7 - detecting trigger information of random access process of the cell X, and perform a random access process); determining uplink synchronization assistance information (Pg. 5, Paragraph 1 - the UE can obtain the uplink synchronization after receiving the random access response information (RAR) so as to perform uplink transmission); and sending a random access channel preamble (RACH preamble) signal to a base station according to the first position of the UE and the uplink synchronization assistance information (Pg. 10, Paragraph 2- the trigger information (e.g., PDCCH or cell X activation instruction) satisfy the random access process to the transmission timing relationship of the PRACH preamble signal, there is no need to wait for periodically distributing the PRACH channel resource, the UE can send PRACH preamble signal at a speed as fast as possible, so as to obtain the uplink synchronization).
However, Li does not expressly teach determining a first position of the UE.
Yet, Wu explicitly teaches determining a first position of the UE (Pg. 12, Paragraph 5 - the terminal equipment can also according to the preset condition in the first indication information, (such as the signal strength of the source cell and the candidate cell, the channel quality of the source cell and the candidate cell, the location information of the UE, the position information of the candidate base station and so on));
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to add the teaching of Wu to the teaching of Li. The motivation for such would be to improve data transfer efficiency by including position within the trigger information as Wu provides (Pg. 12, Paragraph 5, Wu). All of the claimed elements were known in the prior art and one skilled in the art could have combined the elements, as claimed by known methods, and the combination would have yielded predictable results to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention.
Re. Claims 23 and 27, Claims 23 and 27 are the hardware elements of the method claim found within Claim 13. Li, in Fig. 6, discloses a communication apparatus with a processor and non-transitory memory that satisfies these additional claims.
Re. Claims 2 and 16, Li and Wu teach Claim 1 and Li teaches Claim 13
However, Li does not expressly teach wherein the uplink synchronization assistance information comprises at least one of ephemeris information or a common timing advance (common TA).
Yet, Wu explicitly teaches wherein the uplink synchronization assistance information comprises at least one of ephemeris information OR a common timing advance (common TA) (Pg. 2, Paragraph 3 - In order to accommodate non-terrestrial network (NTN), such as satellite communication, a common timing advance can be used. The time synchronization of the receiving side is guaranteed by the common TA), but the common TA mechanism in the prior art only relates to the idle UE, and the handover process of the connected UE is not involved. Additionally, Examiner interprets that only one of the claimed features needs to be mapped because of the presence of “Or”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to add the teaching of Wu to the teaching of Li. The motivation for such would be to improve data transfer efficiency by including a timing advance within the trigger information as Wu provides (Pg. 2, Paragraph 3, Wu). All of the claimed elements were known in the prior art and one skilled in the art could have combined the elements, as claimed by known methods, and the combination would have yielded predictable results to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention.
Re Claim 3, Li and Wu teach Claim 1
Additionally Li teaches wherein acquiring the trigger information comprises: acquiring the trigger information sent by a high layer of the UE, OR acquiring the trigger information sent by the base station (Pg. 4, Paragraph 7- the UE receiving the triggering information of random access process on PDCCH detection. Additionally, Examiner interprets that only one of the claimed features needs to be mapped because of the presence of “Or”).
Claim 4 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Li in view of Wu and Lee et al. (KR 102727765 B1), hereinafter Lee.
Re. Claim 4, Li and Wu teach Claim 1
However, Li and Wu do not expressly teach wherein determining the uplink synchronization assistance information comprises: keeping monitoring, by the UE, a system information block sent by the base station to acquire the uplink synchronization assistance information and to ensure validity of the uplink synchronization assistance information, after acquiring the trigger information, where x is a positive integer, and the SIB x comprises the uplink synchronization assistance information, or keeping monitoring, by the UE, the SIB x sent by the base station to acquire the uplink synchronization assistance information and to ensure validity of the uplink synchronization assistance information, when the UE is in an unconnected state, where x is a positive integer, and the SIB x comprises the uplink synchronization assistance information.
Yet, Lee explicitly teaches wherein determining the uplink synchronization assistance information comprises: keeping monitoring, by the UE, a system information block (SIB x) (Pg. 14, Paragraph 5 - system information about the cell, which may include operating parameters (e.g., UL and DL bandwidths), resources for random access, neighbor lists for measurements, etc., may be broadcast by the cell in information blocks) sent by the base station to acquire the uplink synchronization assistance information and to ensure validity of the uplink synchronization assistance information, after acquiring the trigger information, where x is a positive integer, and the SIB x comprises the uplink synchronization assistance information (Pg. 14, Paragraph 5- In one exemplary embodiment, SIB 1 may provide information important for cell selection including cell ID and PLM ID, certain operational parameters such as TDD UL/DL configuration (e.g., only for TDD), and/or scheduling information for other SIBs. Additionally, Examiner interprets that only one of the claimed features needs to be mapped because of the presence of “Or”), OR keeping monitoring, by the UE, the SIB x sent by the base station to acquire the uplink synchronization assistance information and to ensure validity of the uplink synchronization assistance information, when the UE is in an unconnected state, where x is a positive integer, and the SIB x comprises the uplink synchronization assistance information.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to add the teaching of Lee to the teaching of Li and Wu. The motivation for such would be to streamline the transfer of information between the UE and BS through the use of SIB x blocks as Lee provides (Pg. 14, Paragraph 5, Lee). All of the claimed elements were known in the prior art and one skilled in the art could have combined the elements, as claimed by known methods, and the combination would have yielded predictable results to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention.
Claims 8-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Li in view of Wu and Gao et al. (US 2024/0365138), hereinafter Gao.
Re. Claim 8, Li and Wu teach Claim 3.
However, the combination of Li and Wu does not expressly teach, wherein the trigger information comprises configuration information of a system information block (SIB x); wherein determining the uplink synchronization assistance information comprises: periodically acquiring the SIB x according to the configuration information of the SIB x comprised in the trigger information to obtain the uplink synchronization assistance information.
Yet, Gao expressly teaches wherein the trigger information comprises configuration information of a system information block (SIB x) (¶0152 - The system information includes a SIBX comprising uplink synchronization assistance information); wherein determining the uplink synchronization assistance information comprises: periodically acquiring the SIB x according to the configuration information of the SIB x comprised in the trigger information to obtain the uplink synchronization assistance information (¶0102 - the UE checks the value tag provided for the SIB comprising the uplink synchronization assistance information and considers/determines that the uplink synchronization assistance information in the SIB is updated when the value tag is updated (e.g. changes/varies)).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to add the teaching of Gao to the teaching of Li and Wu. The motivation for such would be to improve data organization by paging the SIB x periodically in order to obtain synchronization information as Gao provides (¶0102, Gao). All of the claimed elements were known in the prior art and one skilled in the art could have combined the elements, as claimed by known methods, and the combination would have yielded predictable results to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention.
Re. Claim 9, Li and Wu teach Claim 3
However, the combination of Li and Wu does not expressly teach wherein the trigger information comprises at least one of a time domain position OR a time-frequency domain position of a system information block (SIB x); wherein determining the uplink synchronization assistance information comprises: periodically acquiring the SIB x according to at least one of the time domain position or the time-frequency domain position of the SIB x comprised in the trigger information to obtain the uplink synchronization assistance information
Yet, Gao explicitly teaches wherein the trigger information comprises at least one of a time domain position OR a time-frequency domain position of a system information block (SIB x) (¶0152 - The system information includes a SIBX comprising uplink synchronization assistance information); wherein determining the uplink synchronization assistance information comprises: periodically acquiring the SIB x according to at least one of the time domain position or the time-frequency domain position of the SIB x comprised in the trigger information to obtain the uplink synchronization assistance information (¶0102 - the UE checks the value tag provided for the SIB comprising the uplink synchronization assistance information and considers/determines that the uplink synchronization assistance information in the SIB is updated when the value tag is updated (e.g. changes/varies)).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to add the teaching of Gao to the teaching of Li and Wu. The motivation for such would be to improve data organization by paging the SIB x periodically in order to obtain synchronization information as Gao provides (¶0102, Gao). All of the claimed elements were known in the prior art and one skilled in the art could have combined the elements, as claimed by known methods, and the combination would have yielded predictable results to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention.
Re. Claim 10, Li and Wu teach Claim 2.
Additionally, Li further teaches sending the RACH preamble signal to the base station according to the transmitting frequency and the uplink transmission timing position (Pg. 10, Paragraph 2- the trigger information (e.g., PDCCH or cell X activation instruction) satisfy the random access process to the transmission timing relationship of the PRACH preamble signal, there is no need to wait for periodically distributing the PRACH channel resource, the UE can send PRACH preamble signal at a speed as fast as possible, so as to obtain the uplink synchronization).
However, the combination of Li and Wu does not expressly teach wherein sending the RACH preamble signal to the base station according to the first position of the UE and the uplink synchronization assistance information comprises: acquiring a position of a satellite according to the ephemeris information; pre-compensating a frequency offset of a channel between the UE and the satellite according to the first position of the UE and the position of the satellite to obtain a transmitting frequency; pre-compensating a propagation delay of the channel between the UE and the satellite and a propagation delay of a channel between the satellite and the base station according to the first position of the UE, the position of the satellite and the common TA to obtain an uplink transmission timing position.
Yet, Gao expressly teaches wherein sending the RACH preamble signal to the base station according to the first position of the UE and the uplink synchronization assistance information comprises: acquiring a position of a satellite according to the ephemeris information (¶0003 - the UE may also compensate the TA between the UE and the satellite based on an ephemeris of the serving satellite. Examiner proports that this it is commonly known in the art that ephemeris data contains the location of a satellite); pre-compensating a frequency offset of a channel between the UE and the satellite according to the first position of the UE and the position of the satellite to obtain a transmitting frequency (¶0004 - To ensure an accuracy of the TA pre-compensation, the common TA, the TA drift rate and variations as well as the ephemeris and some other information used for a random access with a high accuracy should be provided); pre-compensating a propagation delay of the channel between the UE and the satellite and a propagation delay of a channel between the satellite and the base station according to the first position of the UE, the position of the satellite and the common TA to obtain an uplink transmission timing position (¶0004 - To ensure an accuracy of the TA pre-compensation, the common TA, the TA drift rate and variations as well as the ephemeris and some other information used for a random access with a high accuracy should be provided);
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to add the teaching of Gao to the teaching of Li and Wu. The motivation for such would be to improve data organization pre-compensating for the difference between the UE and satellite in order to propagate positions as Gao provides (¶0004, Gao). All of the claimed elements were known in the prior art and one skilled in the art could have combined the elements, as claimed by known methods, and the combination would have yielded predictable results to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention.
Claim 14 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Li in view of Gao.
Re. Claim 14, Li teaches Claim 13.
However, while Li does not teach the language disclosed within Claim 14, the language of this claim is identical to that of the rejection found for Claim 8 and as such, while Claim 13 is rejected under a 102(a)(1) basis and claims 8 and 14 cannot be rejected together, the applicable language of Claim 14 is rejected under the same grounds as the identical language in Claim 8.
Claim 15 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Li in view of Lee.
Re. Claim 15, Li teaches Claim 13.
However, while Li does not teach the language disclosed within Claim 15, the language of this claim is identical to that of the rejection found for Claim 4 and as such, while Claim 13 is rejected under a 102(a)(1) basis and claims 4 and 15 cannot be rejected together, the applicable language of Claim 15 is rejected under the same grounds as the identical language in Claim 4.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 7, 11-12, and 19-20 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.
Guan et al. (2015/0208396) – Fig. 3, Fig. 4 & ¶0106-0152
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/N.J.S./Examiner, Art Unit 2475
/KHALED M KASSIM/supervisory patent examiner, Art Unit 2475
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