DETAILED ACTION
This Final Office Action is in response to application number 17/756,432 filed on October 24th,2025. The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant’s claim for foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119 (a)-(d). The certified copy has been filed on May 25th,2022.
Information Disclosure Statements
The information disclosure statements (IDS), submitted on May 25th, 2022 and on April 4th, 2022 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 § 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 may not be obtained though the invention is not identically disclosed or described as set forth in section 102 of this title, if the differences between the subject matter sought to be patented and the prior art are such that the subject matter as a whole would have been obvious at the time the invention was made to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which said subject matter pertains. Patentability shall not be negatived by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claims 1-14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being as being unpatentable over Dunsmore et al. (WO2021108358-A1) further in view of Theimer et al. (WO 2020256688 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Dunsmore et al. disclose a control device (Paragraph 00109 discloses “Such a change in access points is referred to herein as a “mobility event.” The mobility management component is typically a defined component in wireless networks, such as the Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF) for 5G networks or the Mobility Management Entity (MME) for 4G or LTE networks. The detection of such mobility events in a CSP network 801, for example, may be based on a certain signal measured by the electronic device 890 that is periodically reported to the CSP network 801 or when other conditions are satisfied. These measurements, for example, can include the received power or the signal quality perceived by the electronic device 890 coming from different geographic areas of coverage (or “cells”) provided by various access points (e.g., access points 888, 889). In some embodiments, these measurements can be used by mobility management component(s) 862 and/or other components of the CSP network 801 to decide whether a handover of the electronic device 890 from one access point to another is to take place, and which access point is the best connection point.”) Select a first processing device from the plurality of processing devices based on the acquired information and the mobility of the mobile device; (Paragraph 00119 discloses “ In this example, the edge location placement service 820 returns an identification of edge location 810-2 as a candidate edge location and the hardware virtualization service 806 selects edge location 810-2 if more than one candidate was returned. The hardware virtualization service 806 issue control plane command(s) to a local resource manager 814 at the edge location 810-2 to launch the requested instance, as indicated at circle “6” of FIG. 8. In some embodiments, a compute instance 815 launched at an edge location 810-2 responsive to a mobility event associated with an electronic device 890 can be based on a same resource (e.g., a virtual machine image, container image, etc.) as that used to launch the compute instance 813 to which the electronic device 890 was previously connected. Once launched, the electronic device 890 can establish a connection with the compute instance 815 launched at the edge location 810-2 and resume use of any application(s) with which the device was interacting.”). Paragraph 0092 and FIG. 8 discloses the Edge Location Placement Service acquiring and comparing latency data and mobility data to identify the optimal edge location. Furthermore paragraphs 0088-0090 disclose a range of additional processing qualities from CPU and memory constraints to network performance and network configurations that can be evaluated in the edge location selection process).
Dunsmore et al. fail to explicitly disclose selecting at least one network function from a plurality of network functions of a core network connected to the base station device, wherein the selection of the at least one network function is based on a processing quality of the selected first processing device, the plurality of processing qualities includes the processing quality of the selected processing device, and the selected first processing device executes the selected at least one function of the core network.
However, in an analogous art, Theimer et al. teaches selecting at least one network function from a plurality of network functions of a core network connected to the base station device, wherein the selection of the at least one network function is based on a processing quality of the selected first processing device, the plurality of processing qualities includes the processing quality of the selected processing device, and the selected first processing device executes the selected at least one function of the core network. (Page 3 Paragraph 2 discloses selecting a network function from one or more network functions by querying the network repository function for one or more network function identifiers and selecting a network function identifier from the provided set of network function identifiers). Furthermore Page 3 Paragraph 2 discloses that “…each of the one or more network functions provides the service and fulfills a condition;” Whereby the conditions comprise “…at least one of a distance condition related to a distance between the respective network function and a reference point, a performance condition related to a performance of the respective network function, a capacity condition related to a capacity of the respective network function, an operational state condition related to an operational state of the respective network function, and a reliability condition related to a reliability of the respective network function;”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to have modified Dunsmore et al. to incorporate the teachings of Theimer et al., to select a core network function from a plurality of network functions based on the acquired information of the processing devices, in order to support the support the application requirements of the end user.
Regarding claim 2, Dunsmore et al. disclose the control device according to claim 1, wherein the information related to the plurality of processing qualities includes information related to latency between the first processing device and the base station device (Paragraph 0092 discloses the latency between the base station and the edge location equivalent to the processing device evaluated by the edge location placement service).
Regarding claim 3, Dunsmore et al. disclose the control device according to claim 2, wherein the information related to the latency between the first processing device and the base station device indicates: information related to a position between the first processing device and the base station device and latency between the plurality of processing devices (Paragraph 0089 discloses the particular geographic locations where edge optimized instances are to be launched, this is equivalent to the predetermined location of the processing device. Additionally the latency between the particular geographic location and the user device equivalent to the base station is also disclosed).
Regarding claim 4, Dunsmore et al. disclose the control device according to claim 3, wherein the base station device, the plurality of processing devices, and the control device are independently connected to a plurality of different networks, the plurality of different networks includes the first network, and the position between the first processing device and the base station device is a connection point that connects the plurality of different networks (FIG. 6 discloses the Cloud Provider Network consisting of the Hardware Virtualization Service, Edge Location Placement Service and the Database Service equivalent to the control device connected to a plurality of Edge Locations equivalent to the processing devices and the Electronic Devices equivalent to the base station).
Regarding claim 5, Dunsmore et al. disclose the control device according to claim 1, wherein the information related to the plurality of processing qualities includes information related to the processing speed of the first processing device (Paragraphs 0031 and 0088 discloses through “configuration of CPUs” and “resource constraints of CPU” processing qualities such as processing speed that are evaluated by the edge location placement service).
Regarding claim 6, Dunsmore et al. disclose the control device according to claim 1, wherein the information related to plurality of processing qualities includes information related to a capacity of the first processing device (Paragraph 0096 discloses through “available capacity” processing qualities such as device capacity evaluated by the edge location placement service).
Regarding claim 7, Dunsmore et al. disclose the control device according to claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: control the first processing device, connected to the first network to which the base station device is connected, to execute the selected at least one function of the core network, or control the first processing device, in a case where the first processing device is connected to a second network(Paragraph 0048, 0058 and FIG. 2 disclose that the edge location or provider substrate extension (PSE) can be located in various locations ranging from the same network as base station to an independent network).
Regarding claim 8, Dunsmore et al. disclose the control device according to claim 7, wherein the processing quality required for the execution of the at least one function of the core network (Paragraph 0092 discloses the Edge Location Service an equivalent component of the control unit acquiring and comparing latency data to desired requirements to identify the optimal edge location. Furthermore paragraphs 0088-0090 disclose a range of additional processing qualities from CPU and memory constraints to network performance and network configurations that can be evaluated in the edge location selection process).
Regarding claim 9, Dunsmore et al. disclose the control device according to claim 1, wherein at least one processor is configured to reselect, based on an update of the information related to the plurality of processing qualities of the plurality of processing devices, the first processing device to execute at least one function from the plurality of processing devices (Paragraphs 00107-00108 and FIG.8 disclose the reselection of the edge location equivalent to the processing device, from edge location 810-1 to edge location 810-2 as edge location 810-1 and compute instance 813 were unable to maintain the initial processing quality the latency requirement).
Regarding claim 10, Dunsmore et al. disclose a base station device, comprising: at least one processor configured to: acquire device information related to a first processing device of a plurality of processing devices, wherein the base station device is connected to the plurality of processing devices and a control device via a network, the base station is selected based on a mobility of a mobile device, the base station provides a wireless connection to the mobile device within a coverage of the base station, and the control device selects the first processing device from the plurality of processing devices based on the mobility of the mobile device and information related to a plurality of processing qualities of the plurality of processing devices; and establish a connection to a core network of which at least one network function is executed by the selected first processing device, wherein the connection of the base station device to the core network is based on the acquired device information and the selection of the first processing device, the control device selects the at least one network function from a plurality of network functions of the core network based on a processing quality of the selected first processing device, and the plurality of processing qualities includes the processing quality of the(The limitations of this claim are rejected on the same grounds of rejection as claim #1 from the perspective of the base station).
Regarding claim 11, Dunsmore et al. disclose a control method, comprising: in a control device connected to a plurality of processing devices, a base station device, and a mobile device via a network: acquiring information related to a plurality of processing qualities of the plurality of processing devices, wherein the base station is selected based on a mobility of the mobile device, and the base station provides a wireless connection to the mobile device within a coverage of the base station; selecting a first processing device from the plurality of processing devices based on the acquired information and the mobility of the mobile device; and selecting at least one network function from a plurality of network functions of a core network connected to the base station device, wherein the selection of the at least one network function is based on a processing quality of the selected first processing device, the plurality of processing qualities includes the processing quality of the selected first processing device, and the selected first processing device executes the selected at least one network function of the core network connected to the base station device. (The limitations of this claim are rejected on the same grounds of rejection as claim #1).
Regarding claim 12, Dunsmore et al. disclose a connection method, comprising: in a base station device connected to a plurality of processing devices and a control device via a network: acquiring device information related to a first processing device of the plurality of processing devices, wherein the base station is selected based on a mobility of a mobile device, the base station provides a wireless connection to the mobile device within a coverage of the base station, and the control device selects the first processing device from the plurality of processing devices based on the mobility of the mobile device and information related to a plurality of processing qualities of the plurality of processing devices; and establishing a connection to a core network of which at least one network function is executed by the selected first processing device, wherein the connection of the base station device to the core network is based on the acquired device information and the selection of the first processing device, the control device selects the at least one network function from a plurality of network functions of the core network based on a processing quality of the selected first processing device, and the plurality of processing qualities includes the processing quality of the(The limitations of this claim are rejected on the same grounds of rejection as claim #1 from the perspective of the base station).
Regarding claim 13, Dunsmore et al. disclose the control device according to claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: select, based on an update of the information related to the plurality of processing qualities of the plurality of processing devices, a second processing device from the plurality of processing devices, wherein the second processing device is selected to execute the selected at least one network function, and the second processing device is different from the first processing device; and control the first processing device to release the execution of the selected at least one network function (Paragraphs 00107-00108 and FIG.8 disclose the reselection of the edge location equivalent to the processing device, from edge location 810-1 to edge location 810-2 as edge location 810-1 and compute instance 813 were unable to maintain the initial processing quality the latency requirement) .
Regarding claim 14, Dunsmore et al. disclose the control device according to claim 13, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to receive a response associated with the first processing device, and the received response indicates the release of the execution of the selected at least one network function (Paragraph 0023 discloses “The cloud can provide convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources that can be programmatically provisioned and released in response to customer commands. These resources can be dynamically provisioned and reconfigured to adjust to variable load. ”).
Response to Arguments
The applicant states that the combination of Dunsmore and Theimer does not teach, suggest or render obvious the newly presented feature “the base station is selected based on a mobility of the mobile device and the base station provides to the mobile device a wireless connection within a coverage of the base station” as recited in the amended independent claim1.
The Examiner respectfully disagrees as Dunsmore paragraph 00109 discloses “At circle “1” of FIG. 8, a mobility management component 862 of the CSP network 801 manages the mobility of devices connected to the CSP network 801, including the electronic device 890, as those devices move and possibly change access points to the CSP network 801. Such a change in access points is referred to herein as a “mobility event.” The mobility management component is typically a defined component in wireless networks, such as the Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF) for 5G networks or the Mobility Management Entity (MME) for 4G or LTE networks. The detection of such mobility events in a CSP network 801, for example, may be based on a certain signal measured by the electronic device 890 that is periodically reported to the CSP network 801 or when other conditions are satisfied. These measurements, for example, can include the received power or the signal quality perceived by the electronic device 890 coming from different geographic areas of coverage (or “cells”) provided by various access points (e.g., access points 888, 889). In some embodiments, these measurements can be used by mobility management component(s) 862 and/or other components of the CSP network 801 to decide whether a handover of the electronic device 890 from one access point to another is to take place, and which access point is the best connection point.”
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Samuel Dilan Rutnam whose telephone number is 703-756-1374. The examiner can normally be reached between 8:30am-5:00pm Mon-Fri.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Sujoy Kundu can be reached on 571-272-8586.
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/Samuel Dilan Rutnam/
Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2471
/SUJOY K KUNDU/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2471
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