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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 10/21/2025 has been entered.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to the claim(s) have been considered but are moot because of the new grounds of rejection.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112:
The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention.
Claims 10 and 15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for pre-AIA the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention. Claim 10 contains the new limitation of “indicating to the network that the application of the policy to the user device is different than the application of the policy to the plurality of other user devices”; while Claim 15 contains the new limitations of “information specifying whether a default version of a policy of the one or more policies or a customized version of the one or more policies is applied to the respective user device” and “based on the information specifying whether a default version of the policy or a customized version of the policy is applied to the user device” without support from the original disclosure. Applicant is requested to point out in the next response the passages where the original disclosure supports such limitations and how the original disclosure reads on the limitation.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 15-18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claim 15 recites the limitation "…a default version of the policy.." and later recites “a default version of the policy”. It is unclear whether this is the same default version of the policy or a different version. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claim(s) 1-7 and 10-15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 20190173760 A1 herein Gal in view of US 9203629 B2 herein Momtahan in view of US 20190173752 A1 herein Dosovitsky.
Claim 1, Gal discloses a system, comprising:
at least one processor (0017, processor); and
at least one memory coupled to the at least one processor, the memory having computer- executable instructions stored thereon that, when executed by the at least one processor (0117, storage medium, storing software instructions, which are executed by one or more processors), cause the system to perform:
electronically identifying a policy having one or more default quality of service attributes indicating a level of service provided to a user device by a network (0116, TCP parameters of a policy being within a threshold, thus default quality of service attributes indicating a level of service provided; claim 1);
electronically applying the policy to a user device and a plurality of devices, (Claim 1: default network policy to a plurality of user devices, TCP parameters);
electronically receiving, from the user device, an indication that the application of the policy to the user device is to change (0095, reporting network conditions to the network/server; thus, receiving an indication from the user device to change the application of a policy); and
in response to receiving the indication, electronically changing the application of the policy to the user device via a network (Fig. 1: 106, 116; 0096, executions of the recommended strategies; Fig. 2: 220; 0100), wherein changing the application of the policy to the user device comprises (0098, 0101, throttling of throughput based on collected data),
Gal may not explicitly disclose electronically detecting that a current usage value for at least one quality of service attribute indicating the level of service provided to the user devices has exceeded a threshold value; in response to detecting that the current usage value has exceeded the threshold value, electronically transmitting an indication that the current usage value has exceeded the threshold value to the user device; changing the level of service provided only to the user device by changing one or more quality of service attributes without changing the level of service provided to the plurality of other user device to which the policy is also applied and without changing a type of the policy applied to the user device.
Momtahan discloses electronically detecting that a current usage value for at least one quality of service attribute indicating the level of service provided to the user device has exceeded a threshold value (Claim 1, sending a notification to a user about exceeding a threshold, thus detection);
in response to detecting that the current usage value has exceeded the threshold value, electronically transmitting an indication that the current usage value has exceeded the threshold value to the user device (Claim 1, sending a notification to a user about exceeding a threshold);
changing the level of service provided only to the user device by changing one or more quality of service attributes without changing the level of service provided to the plurality of other user device to which the policy is also applied (Claim 1, receiving from the user, a response to change the service tier of the user; and subsequently changing the service tier and informing the user of the service tier change) and without changing a type of the policy applied to the user device (Fig. 6: attribute is changed, i.e. more data is provided, and this change is to the attribute and not to a change of policy type). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Gal to include notifications to users and changing policy tiers as taught by Momtahan so as to monitor and control data communication costs, and to improve the subscriber experience (Col 2: 22-25).
Gal in view of Momtahan electronically indicating to the network that the application of the policy to the user device is different from the application of the policy to the plurality of other user devices, wherein the user device receives a different level of service related to one or more quality of service attributes and wherein the policy is still considered by the network to be applied to the user device with respect to other aspects of the policy.
Dosovitsky discloses electronically indicating to the network that the application of the policy to the user device is different from the application of the policy to the plurality of other user devices (0033, exchanging of signaling to adjust attributes of different users), wherein the user device receives a different level of service related to one or more quality of service attributes (0040-0042, attribute adjustment rules produce modified traffic enforcement rules that are applied to subscriber data traffic; 0070, QoS attribute of bit rate is modified for an individual user) and wherein the policy is still considered by the network to be applied to the user device with respect to other aspects of the policy (0048-0050, modify only selected normal condition parameters). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Gal to include adjusting QoS parameters of data traffic as taught by Dosovitsky so as to improve network efficiency and user experience (0041).
Claim 2, Gal discloses the system of claim 1. Gal discloses wherein the computer-executable instructions further cause the system to perform:
electronically obtaining a current usage value of at least one quality of service attribute of the default one or more quality of service attributes for the user device (0101, data rate threshold of 50 MB/s reduced to 20-30 MB/s); and electronically determining whether the current usage value of the at least one quality of service attribute has exceeded a predetermined threshold (0101, data rate threshold of 50 MB/s reduced to 20-30 MB/s).
Claim 3, Gal discloses the system of claim 2. Gal discloses wherein the computer-executable instructions further cause the system to perform: electronically transmitting, to the user device, an indication that the current usage value of the at least one quality of service attribute has exceeded the predetermined threshold based on a determination that the current usage value of the at least one quality of service attribute has exceeded the predetermined threshold (0101, estimation and calculation of a new threshold of a TCP parameter; 0106-0107, propagating the new policy for the estimated TCP parameter to a user device).
Claim 4, Gal discloses the system of claim 3. Gal discloses wherein the computer-executable instructions further cause the system to perform: electronically receiving, from the user device, the indication that at least one quality of service attribute of the default one or more quality of service attributes is to be changed for the user device (0101).
Claim 5, Gal discloses the system of claim 2. Gal discloses wherein the computer-executable instructions further cause the system to perform: electronically obtaining one or more current usage values of at least one quality of service attribute for a plurality of user devices (0096, 0113, aggregation of parameters for a machine learning); electronically applying a machine learning model to the one or more current usage values, the machine learning model being trained to generate a new threshold based on one or more current usage values; and electronically updating the predetermined threshold with the new threshold (0096, 0113, 0116, supervised machine learning of collected data sets to reach new threshold for different parameters).
Claim 6, Gal discloses the system of claim 2. Gal discloses wherein the computer-executable instructions further cause the system to perform: electronically obtaining one or more current usage values of at least one quality of service attribute for a plurality of user devices (0096, 0113, aggregation of parameters for a machine learning; all TCP parameters in a data set, thus index); electronically accessing an index of one or more threshold values for at least one quality of service attribute (0096, 0113, 0116, machine learning access a data set, thus accessing an index); electronically determining a new threshold value for the at least one quality of service attribute based on the index of one or more threshold values; and electronically updating the predetermined threshold with the new threshold (0096, 0113, 0116, supervised machine learning of collected data sets to reach new threshold for different parameters).
Claim 7, Gal discloses the system of claim 2. Gal may not explicitly disclose wherein determining whether the current usage value of the at least one quality of service attribute has exceeded a predetermined threshold is performed by a charging function.
Momtahan discloses wherein determining whether the current usage value of the at least one quality of service attribute has exceeded a predetermined threshold is performed by a charging function (Col 15: 49-55). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Gal to include notifications to users and changing policy tiers as taught by Momtahan so as to monitor and control data communication costs, and to improve the subscriber experience (Col 2: 22-25).
Claim 10, as analyzed with respect to the limitations as discussed in claim 1. Gal may not explicitly disclose generating a new threshold value for the at least one quality of service attribute; and updating the predetermined threshold with the new threshold value.
Momtahan discloses generating a new threshold value for the at least one quality of service attribute; and updating the predetermined threshold with the new threshold value (Claim 1, selection of new quota, thus generation and updating of a new threshold). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Gal to include notifications to users and changing policy tiers as taught by Momtahan so as to monitor and control data communication costs, and to improve the subscriber experience (Col 2: 22-25).
Dosovistsky discloses indicating to the network that the application of the policy to the user device is different than the application of the policy to the plurality of other user device (0033, exchanging of signaling to adjust attributes of different users; 0040-0042, attribute adjustment rules produce modified traffic enforcement rules that are applied to subscriber data traffic). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Gal to include adjusting QoS parameters of data traffic as taught by Dosovitsky so as to improve network efficiency and user experience (0041).
Claim 11, Gal in view of Momtahan discloses the method of claim 10. Gal may not explicitly disclose wherein the indication that a value of the at least one quality of service attribute has reached a predetermined threshold is received from a SOM.
Momtahan discloses wherein the indication that a value of the at least one quality of service attribute has reached a predetermined threshold is received from a system on module (Claim 1). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Gal to include notifications to users and changing policy tiers as taught by Momtahan so as to monitor and control data communication costs, and to improve the subscriber experience (Col 2: 22-25).
Claim 12, as analyzed with respect to the limitations as discussed in claim 1.
Claim 13, Gal in view of Raleigh discloses the method of claim 10. Gal may not explicitly disclose wherein the indication that a value of the at least one quality of service attribute has reached a predetermined threshold is received from an application function.
Momtahan discloses wherein the indication that a value of the at least one quality of service attribute has reached a predetermined threshold is received from an application function (Col 15: 49-55). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Gal to include notifications to users and changing policy tiers as taught by Momtahan so as to monitor and control data communication costs, and to improve the subscriber experience (Col 2: 22-25).
Claim 14, Gal in view of Momtahan discloses the method of claim 10. Gal discloses wherein an indication that the at least one quality of service attribute should be changed is transmitted to an application function (Fig. 1: 106, 0092-0096).
Claim 15, as analyzed with respect to the limitations as discussed in claims 1 and 14. Gal may not explicitly disclose identify a policy having one or more quality of service attributes indicating a level of service provided to a user device by a network, wherein the quality of service attributes do not include a data usage limit, call limit, and messaging limit.
Momtahan discloses quality of service attributes indicating a level of service provided to a user device by a network, wherein the quality of service attributes do not include a data usage limit, call limit, and messaging limit (Col 2: 5-6, unlimited plans). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Gal to include notifications to users and changing policy tiers as taught by Momtahan so as to monitor and control data communication costs, and to improve the subscriber experience (Col 2: 22-25).
Gal may not explicitly disclose for each respective user device of the one or more user devices: information specifying whether a default version of a policy of the one or more policies or a customized version of the one or more policies is applied to the respective user device; and information specifying a policy of the one or more policies that is applied to the respective user device; quality of service attributes of the policy is different from the level of service provided to other user devices to which the policy is applied based on the information specifying whether a default version of the policy or a customized version of the policy is applied to the user device.
Dosovitsky discloses for each respective user device of the one or more user devices: information specifying whether a default version of a policy of the one or more policies or a customized version of the one or more policies is applied to the respective user device (Fig. 10: 1040, modifying of gold policy; 0050-0052, policy adjustment signaling for modified attributes of a policy); and information specifying a policy of the one or more policies that is applied to the respective user device (0050-0052, policy adjustment signaling for modified attributes of a policy; 0040-0042, attribute adjustment rules produce modified traffic enforcement rules that are applied to subscriber data traffic); quality of service attributes of the policy is different from the level of service provided to other user devices to which the policy is applied based on the information specifying whether a default version of the policy or a customized version of the policy is applied to the user device (Fig. 10: 1040, 0065, modifying of gold policy, modifying the level 1025 of services, for example, in case of detection of a certain event, may prescribe to reduce the coefficient KG1 to 0.3 and the coefficient KG2 to 0.4. Additionally, if a certain parameter of the network exceeds a predetermined threshold, the policy may prescribe to reduce the coefficient KG1 to 0.4 and the coefficient KG2 to 0.5; 0050-0052, policy adjustment signaling for modified attributes of a policy). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Gal to include adjusting QoS parameters of data traffic as taught by Dosovitsky so as to improve network efficiency and user experience (0041).
Claim(s) 16-18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Gal in view of Momtahan in view of Dosovitsky in view of GB 2522046 A herein Pasquale.
Claim 16, Gal in view of Momtahan discloses the one or more storage devices of claim 15. Gal in view of Momtahan discloses wherein the at least one computer processor is able to transmit an indication to the user device that the at least one current value has exceeded the at least one threshold.
Gal may not explicitly disclose wherein the data structure further comprises: for each respective policy of the one or more policies: information specifying one or more thresholds for each of the one or more quality of service attributes; and for each respective user device of the one or more user devices: information specifying one or more current values for at least one quality of service attribute of the policy applied to the respective user device, wherein the information specifying one or more thresholds and the information specifying one or more current values is used to determine whether at least one current value of the one or more current values has exceeded at least one threshold of the one or more thresholds, and wherein the at least one computer processor is able to transmit an indication to the user device that the at least one current value has exceed the at least one threshold.
Pasquale discloses wherein the data structure further comprises: for each respective policy of the one or more policies: information specifying one or more thresholds for each of the one or more quality of service attributes (Fig. 7: policies, Gold, silver, etc. with corresponding users); and for each respective user device of the one or more user devices: information specifying one or more current values for at least one quality of service attribute of the policy applied to the respective user device (Fig. 7: policies, Gold, silver, etc. with corresponding users required thresholds), wherein the information specifying one or more thresholds and the information specifying one or more current values is used to determine whether at least one current value of the one or more current values has exceeded at least one threshold of the one or more thresholds (Fig. 7, Page 13: last paragraph – Page 14: first three paragraphs). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Gal to include various policies with different threshold comparisons as taught by Pasquale so as to meet a need in the art for optimizing these schemes which further improve the use of MIMO mode in telecommunication networks (Page 2: 3rd paragraph).
Claim 17, as analyzed with respect to the limitations as discussed in claim 5.
Claim 18, as analyzed with respect to the limitations as discussed in claim 6.
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. US 20190173752 A1 - Provided are methods and systems for adjusting subscriber policies. A method for adjusting of subscriber policies may include applying traffic enforcement rules to a data traffic associated with a subscriber. The method can further include determining network conditions associated with the data traffic. The method can include modifying, based on the determination of the network conditions, attributes according to attribute adjustment rules to obtain modified attributes. The method can further include modifying the traffic enforcement rules based on the modified attributes to obtain modified traffic enforcement rules.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Mehmood B. Khan whose telephone number is (571)272-9277. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9:30 am-6:30 pm.
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/Mehmood B. Khan/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2468