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`UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
`United States Patent and Trademark Office
`Address: COMMISSIONER FOR PATENTS
`P.O. Box 1450
`Alexandria, Virginia 22313-1450
`
`17/441,262
`
`09/20/2021
`
`Tetsuya YAMAMOTO
`
`733456.659USPC
`
`8137
`
`Seed IP Law Group LLP/Panasonic (PIPCA)
`701 5th Avenue, Suite 5400
`Seattle, WA 98104
`
`MURPHY, RHONDAL
`
`ART UNIT
`
`2462
`
`PAPER NUMBER
`
`NOTIFICATION DATE
`
`DELIVERY MODE
`
`04/22/2024
`
`ELECTRONIC
`
`Please find below and/or attached an Office communication concerning this application or proceeding.
`
`The time period for reply, if any, is set in the attached communication.
`
`Notice of the Office communication was sent electronically on above-indicated "Notification Date" to the
`following e-mail address(es):
`USPTOeAction @ SeedIP.com
`
`pairlinkdktg @seedip.com
`
`PTOL-90A (Rev. 04/07)
`
`

`

`
`
`Disposition of Claims*
`12-31 is/are pending in the application.
`)
`Claim(s)
`5a) Of the above claim(s) _ is/are withdrawn from consideration.
`C} Claim(s)__ is/are allowed.
`Claim(s) 12-31 is/are rejected.
`(] Claim(s)__ is/are objectedto.
`C] Claim(s
`are subjectto restriction and/or election requirement
`)
`* If any claims have been determined allowable, you maybeeligible to benefit from the Patent Prosecution Highway program at a
`participating intellectual property office for the corresponding application. For more information, please see
`http://www.uspto.gov/patents/init_events/pph/index.jsp or send an inquiry to PPHfeedback@uspto.gov.
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`) ) ) )
`
`Application Papers
`10)( The specification is objected to by the Examiner.
`11) The drawing(s)filed on 18 February 2022 is/are: a) accepted or b)( objected to by the Examiner.
`Applicant may not request that any objection to the drawing(s) be held in abeyance. See 37 CFR 1.85(a).
`Replacement drawing sheet(s) including the correction is required if the drawing(s) is objected to. See 37 CFR 1.121(d).
`
`Priority under 35 U.S.C. § 119
`12)(¥) Acknowledgment is made of a claim for foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. § 119(a)-(d)or (f).
`Certified copies:
`_—_c)L) None ofthe:
`b)L) Some**
`a)Y) All
`1.) Certified copies of the priority documents have been received.
`2.1.) Certified copies of the priority documents have been received in Application No. |
`3.2.) Copies of the certified copies of the priority documents have been receivedin this National Stage
`application from the International Bureau (PCT Rule 17.2(a)).
`*“ See the attached detailed Office action for a list of the certified copies not received.
`
`Attachment(s)
`
`1)
`
`Notice of References Cited (PTO-892)
`
`Information Disclosure Statement(s) (PTO/SB/08a and/or PTO/SB/08b)
`2)
`Paper No(s)/Mail Date
`U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
`
`3)
`
`4)
`
`(LJ Interview Summary (PTO-413)
`Paper No(s)/Mail Date
`(Qj Other:
`
`PTOL-326 (Rev. 11-13)
`
`Office Action Summary
`
`Part of Paper No./Mail Date 20240416
`
`Application No.
`Applicant(s)
`171441,262
`YAMAMOTOetal.
`
`Office Action Summary Art Unit|AIA (FITF)StatusExaminer
`RHONDA L MURPHY
`2462
`Yes
`
`
`
`-- The MAILING DATEof this communication appears on the cover sheet with the correspondence address --
`Period for Reply
`
`A SHORTENED STATUTORYPERIOD FOR REPLYIS SET TO EXPIRE 3 MONTHS FROM THE MAILING
`DATE OF THIS COMMUNICATION.
`Extensionsof time may be available underthe provisions of 37 CFR 1.136(a). In no event, however, may a reply betimely filed after SIX (6) MONTHSfrom the mailing
`date of this communication.
`If NO period for reply is specified above, the maximum statutory period will apply and will expire SIX (6) MONTHSfrom the mailing date of this communication.
`-
`- Failure to reply within the set or extended period for reply will, by statute, cause the application to become ABANDONED (35 U.S.C. § 133).
`Any reply received by the Office later than three months after the mailing date of this communication, evenif timely filed, may reduce any earned patent term
`adjustment. See 37 CFR 1.704(b).
`
`Status
`
`1) Responsive to communication(s)filed on 18 February 2022.
`C} A declaration(s)/affidavit(s) under 37 CFR 1.130(b) was/werefiled on
`
`2a)() This action is FINAL. 2b)¥)This action is non-final.
`3) An election was madeby the applicant in responseto a restriction requirement set forth during the interview
`on
`; the restriction requirement and election have been incorporated into this action.
`4)(2) Since this application is in condition for allowance except for formal matters, prosecution as to the merits is
`closed in accordance with the practice under Exparte Quayle, 1935 C.D. 11, 453 O.G. 213.
`
`

`

`Application/Control Number: 17/441 ,262
`Art Unit: 2462
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`Page 2
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`Notice of Pre-AlA or AIA Status
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`The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined
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`underthe first inventor to file provisions of the AIA.
`
`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
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`correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AlA) for the rejection will
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`not be considered a new ground ofrejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale
`
`supporting the rejection, would be the same undereither status.
`
`The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that
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`form the basis for the rejections under this section madein this Office action:
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`A personshall be entitled to a patent unless —
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`(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, namesanother inventor and waseffectively filed
`before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
`
`Claims 12 —31 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by
`
`Lim et al. (US 2022/0150973 A1).
`
`Regarding claims 12 and 22, Lim teaches a terminal (Figs. 1 and 12: UE), comprising:
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`control circuitry (Fig. 12: application circuitry 1205), which, in operation, determines,
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`based onafirst parameter included in message B whichis a responseto a transmission
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`of arandom accesssignal, a resource used for transmission of a responsesignalto the
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`message B (paragraphs 70-73: One or more new MAC RAR (each new MAC RAR is
`
`responding to a UE and contains the contents of existing RAR and also include DL
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`

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`Application/Control Number: 17/441 ,262
`Art Unit: 2462
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`Page 3
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`assignmentfor the ContentionResolutionidentifier MAC CE and DL payload) to form a
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`RAR MAC PDUandthe ContentionResolutionidentifier MAC CE+MAC SDUs (DL
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`payload) of each of the UE are sent separately in another MAC PDUandis sent in L1
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`resources indicated in DL assignment; [0071] One or more new MAC CE(each new
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`MAC CEis responding to a UE and contains the C-RNTI, UL grant...; paragraph 73: the
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`DL assignment can include one or more following parameters); and transmission
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`circuitry (Fig. 12: Radio Front End Module 1215), which, in operation, transmits the
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`responsesignal in the resource (paragraphs 71: One or more new MAC CE(each new
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`MAC CEis responding to a UE and contains the... UL grant, UL timing advancevalue).
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`Regarding claims 13 and 23, Lim teaches the terminal according to claim 12, wherein
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`the control circuitry determines the resource basedon the first parameter without using
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`bits of a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) and a control channel element
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`(CCE) index (paragraph 102: The PDCCH uses CCEsto conveythe control information.
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`Before being mappedto resource elements, the PDCCH complex-valued symbols may
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`first be organized into quadruplets, which may then be permuted using a sub-block
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`interleaverfor rate matching. Each PDCCH maybe transmitted using one or more of
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`these CCEs, where each CCE may correspondto nine sets of four physical resource
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`elements known as REGs.).
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`Regarding claims 14 and 24, Lim teachesthe terminal according to claim 12, wherein
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`the control circuitry determines the resource, based on the first parameter, from a
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`plurality of resources,the plurality of resources being indicated by a higher layer
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`signaling (paragraph 101: The PDSCHcarries user data and higher-layer signaling to
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`

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`Application/Control Number: 17/441 ,262
`Art Unit: 2462
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`Page 4
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`the UEs 801. The PDCCHcarries information about the transport format and resource
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`allocations related to the PDSCH channel).
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`Regarding claims 15 and 25, Lim teachesthe terminal according to claim 12, wherein
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`the message B further includes transmission timing information usedfor the
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`transmission of the response signal (paragraph 71: One or more new MAC CE(each
`
`new MAC CEis responding to a UE and contains the C-RNTI, UL grant, UL timing
`
`advance value. Also described in paragraph 74: time window; and paragraph 52).
`
`Regarding claims 16 and 26, Lim teachesthe terminal according to claim 12, wherein
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`the control circuitry considers a random access procedure is successfully completed in
`
`a case whereidentification information of the terminal is included in the message B
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`(paragraph 43: in MsgB, the gNB sends a response message backto the UE, which can
`
`include the preamble ID for identification and UE ID for contention resolution in case of
`
`contention based random access. Also described in paragraph 111).
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`Regarding claims 17 and 27, Lim teachesthe terminal according to claim 12, wherein
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`the transmission circuitry performs a message 3 transmission by using another resource
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`indicated by the message B in a case where the message B requests retransmission of
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`a data part of the random accesssignal (paragraph 73: Retransmission of MsgB MAC
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`PDU can be scheduled by DL DCI with CRC scrambled by TC-RNTI or C-RNTN).
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`Regarding claims 18 and 28, Lim teachesthe terminal according to claim 17, wherein
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`no identification information of the terminal is included in the message B in a case
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`where the message B requests retransmission of the data part of the random access
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`signal (paragraphs 55 — 56: In some embodiments (such as:cell radio network
`
`temporary identifier (C-RNTI)—which may be usedto differentiate/identify a connected
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`

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`Application/Control Number: 17/441 ,262
`Art Unit: 2462
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`Page 5
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`UEin the cell; a specific radio channel; a group of UEsin case of paging, etc.), MsgB
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`may not be needed by the UE...).
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`Regarding claims 19 and 29, Lim teachesthe terminal according to claim 12, wherein
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`the control circuitry starts a window relating to the messageBafter the transmission of
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`the random accesssignal, and the transmission circuitry performs retransmission of the
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`random accesssignal in a case where the message B is not received within the window
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`(paragraphs 73-74: Retransmission of MsgB MAC PDU can be scheduled by DL DCI!
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`with CRC scrambled by TC-RNTI or C-RNTI. [0074] Further, when DL assignmentfor
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`scheduling MsgB MAC PDUis indicated in the DCI, a time window may bedefined,
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`where the starting slot and duration of the time window may be configured by SIB).
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`Regarding claims 20 and 30, Lim teachesthe terminal according to claim 12, wherein
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`the message B doesnotinclude control information of one or more terminals, of which a
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`preamble part of the random accesssignalis not detected at a base station (paragraph
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`43: In some embodiments, in MsgB, the gNB sends a response message backto the
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`UE, which can include the preamble ID for identification and UE ID for contention
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`resolution in case of contention based random access. In order to support the sending
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`of the RRC Setup, Resume and Re-establishment message, the Msg2 also carries a
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`payload for RRC messages. Further described in paragraphs 48-54).
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`Regarding claims 21 and 31, Lim teachesthe terminal according to claim 12, wherein
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`the random accesssignal includes both of a Random access channel (RACH) preamble
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`and a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) (paragraph 29: In Step 1, a first
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`message (MsgA) comprising a preamble and a payload is sent by UE. The physical
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`random access channel (PRACH) preamble can be used as reference signals for
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`

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`Application/Control Number: 17/441 ,262
`Art Unit: 2462
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`Page 6
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`coherent detection of payload transmitted, as well as for time alignmentif needed. Also
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`described in paragraph 75: RACH and paragraph 98: PUSCH).
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`Conclusion
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`Anyinquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the
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`examiner should be directed to RHONDA L MURPHYwhosetelephone numberis
`
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`

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`Application/Control Number: 17/441 ,262
`Art Unit: 2462
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`Page 7
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`/RHONDA L MURPHY/
`Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2462
`
`