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 .
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)(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 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Taherzadeh Boroujeni (US 2022/0046726, hereinafter referred to as Taherzadeh).
Regarding claim 1, Taherzadeh discloses a user equipment (UE) for wireless communication, comprising:
at least one memory (memory; see at least paragraph 0006); and
at least one processor coupled with the at least one memory (processor; see at least paragraph 0006) and configured to cause the UE to:
receive a first downlink beam (UE scans a plurality of beams to select a beam pair link; see at least paragraph 0096);
transmit at least one uplink signal based at least in part on the first downlink beam (the UE may transmit a random-access request, i.e. a message, to a scheduling entity; see at least paragraph 0113); and
receive a second downlink beam based at least in part on the first downlink beam, wherein the second downlink beam comprises at least one different spatial domain property than the first downlink beam (after completing the PRACH procedure, the base station and the UE may perform a P2 beam management procedure for beam refinement. For example, the base station may be configured to transmit a CSI-RS on each of a plurality of narrower transmit beams; see at least paragraphs 0095 and 0097).
Regarding claim 2, Taherzadeh discloses the UE of claim 1, wherein the at least one uplink signal includes one or more of a physical random access channel (PRACH) transmission or a sounding reference signal (SRS) transmission (PRACH; see at least paragraph 0113).
Regarding claim 3, Taherzadeh discloses the UE of claim 1, wherein the second downlink beam includes one or more of demodulation reference signal (DMRS) for physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH), tracking reference signal (TRS), or channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) (see at least paragraphs 0069 and 0083).
Regarding claim 4, Taherzadeh discloses the UE of claim 1, wherein one or more of a coverage area, a beam width, or a beam footprint associated with the first downlink beam is larger than one or more of a coverage area, a beam width, or a beam footprint associated with the second downlink beam (see at least paragraphs 0095 and 0097).
Regarding claim 5, Taherzadeh discloses the UE of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is configured to cause the UE to receive a configuration for the at least one uplink signal, wherein the configuration comprises parameters for performing an extended physical random access channel (PRACH) transmission by transmitting multiple uplink signals (see at least paragraphs 0116-0117 and 0140-0142).
Regarding claim 6, Taherzadeh discloses the UE of claim 5, wherein the parameters comprise a repetition factor and PRACH duration for determining a duration and resources for the extended PRACH transmission of uplink signals (see at least paragraphs 0116-0117 and 0140-0142).
Regarding claim 7, Taherzadeh discloses the UE of claim 6, wherein the at least one processor is configured to cause the UE to determine the duration for the extended PRACH transmission of uplink signals based at least in part on multiplying the PRACH duration with the repetition factor (see at least paragraphs 0116-0117 and 0140-0142).
Regarding claim 8, Taherzadeh discloses the UE of claim 6, wherein the at least one processor is configured to cause the UE to transmit multiple uplink signals corresponding to the repetition factor using spatial domain properties of the first downlink beam (see at least paragraphs 0116-0117 and 0140-0142).
Regarding claim 9, Taherzadeh discloses the UE of claim 6, wherein the extended PRACH transmission comprises consecutive time domain symbols of slots that are determined by extending a number of PRACH symbols by the repetition factor (see at least paragraphs 0140-0142).
Regarding claim 10, Taherzadeh discloses the UE of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is configured to cause the UE to:
receive the first downlink beam at a first occasion and perform an initial access procedure based at least in part on the first downlink beam (see at least paragraph 0096);
receive a sounding reference signal (SRS) configuration for beam refinement (see at least paragraphs 0069, 0086, 0088 and 0101);
receive the first downlink beam at a second occasion and transmit a sounding reference signal (SRS) burst based at least in part on the SRS configuration (the UE may transmit an SRS on each beam in the different beam directions and the base station may then select one or more transmit beams on which to communicate downlink and/or uplink control and/or data with the UE; see at least paragraphs 0101-0102); and
receive the second downlink beam based at least in part on the SRS burst (see at least paragraphs 0101-0102).
Regarding claim 11, Taherzadeh discloses the UE of claim 10, wherein the SRS configuration for beam refinement comprises at least a repetition factor defining a length of the SRS burst (see at least paragraphs 0116-0117 and 0140-0142).
Regarding claim 12, Taherzadeh discloses the UE of claim 11, wherein the at least one processor is configured to cause the UE to receive an indication that the repetition factor is within a slot or across slots (see at least paragraphs 0116-0117 and 0140-0142).
Regarding claim 13, Taherzadeh discloses the UE of claim 11, wherein the at least one processor is configured to cause the UE to receive an indication to use one or more spatial domain properties of the first downlink beam for multiple SRS repetitions (see at least paragraphs 0116-0117 and 0140-0142).
Claim 14 is rejected on the same grounds as claim 1.
Claim 15 is rejected on the same grounds as claim 1.
Claim 16 is rejected on the same grounds as claim 1, wherein the network equipment is met by a base station; see at least Fig. 1 and paragraphs 0040-0042.
Claim 17 is rejected on the same grounds as claim 2.
Claim 18 is rejected on the same grounds as claim 3.
Claim 19 is rejected on the same grounds as claim 4.
Claim 20 is rejected on the same grounds as claim 5.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to YASSIN ALATA whose telephone number is (571)270-5683. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri 7-4 ET.
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, Nasser Goodarzi can be reached at 571-272-4195. 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.
/YASSIN ALATA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2426
Prosecution Insights