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 .
Examiner’s Note
In the interest of compact prosecution, the Examiner is inviting the Applicant and Applicant’s representative(s) to an interview. The Examiner can be contacted by phone or email. See conclusion paragraph below for contact information.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim(s) 18-21 and 26 is/are 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.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, filed 08/13/2026, with respect to the rejection(s) of the claim(s) have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground(s) of rejection has been made. See rejection below.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
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.
Claim(s) 1, 22 and 23 is/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 1 recites the limitation of "an identified cell or group of cells of the second network" and later recites "a proximate identified cell in the second network" which make the claim vague and indefinite. It is unclear whether the limitation of "a proximate identified cell in the second network" is referring to the previously recited "an identified cell" or a wholly new cell altogether. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim 22 recites the limitation of "an identified cell or group of cells of the MVNO network" and later recites "a proximate identified cell in the MVNO network" which make the claim vague and indefinite. It is unclear whether the limitation of "a proximate identified cell in the MVNO network" is referring to the previously recited "an identified cell" or a wholly new cell altogether. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim 23 recites the limitation of "an identified cell or group of cells of the second network" and later recites "a proximate identified cell in the second network" which make the claim vague and indefinite. It is unclear whether the limitation of "a proximate identified cell in the second network" is referring to the previously recited "an identified cell" or a wholly new cell altogether. 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, 2, 4, 5, 8, 9, 10 and 23 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 2017/0311198 A1 herein Monjas Llorente in view of US 2021/0168584 A1 herein Li.
Claim 1, Monjas Llorente discloses a method of managing Dual SIM Dual Standby (DSDS) user equipment (UE) configured to communicate with each of a first and second network (Abstract, Method), comprising:
at a connection manager server (CMS) of the second network, receiving a traffic offload policy associated with an identified cell or group of cells of the second network (0151, the PCRF sends the ANDSF Server a message including the congestion location information, the Cell ID, and the list of IMSI identifying the candidate switchable UEs that could switch access network, and may include a prioritized list of available access networks that each UE should switch to; 0178, the ANDSF Server sends the PCRF a list of pairs comprising cell ID and availability of alternative access networks, thus a policy associated with an identified cell; 0094), wherein the traffic offload policy is determined in response to at least one of second network cell loading information (0015, based on the parameters received from the RAN OAM the RCAF reports a congestion level to the CN and the operator configures the mitigation policies in accordance with the reported congestion level; 0018, a congestion level), second network planned maintenance information, or second network planned outage information;
at the CMS, determining each of at least one UE proximate any of the identified cell or group of cells of the second network (0168, the ANDSF Server carries out an ANDSF procedure for every UE located in the area identified by means of the Cell ID; 0014, the MME provides the RCAF with the list of UEs in a given area, an eNB ID or ECGI; 0112); and
transmitting traffic offload rules toward the determined each of at least one UE proximate any of the identified cell or group of cells of the second network (0161, the network switcher controls the transmitter to transmit instructions to the UE and the ANDSF client to switch access network; 0092, to provide the UE with rules policing the connection to these networks);
wherein each traffic offload rule is configured to cause a receiving UE to offload to a proximate identified cell in the second network (0094, cell D comprises three different areas served by an alternative access network; 0152, a list of identifiers of the cells without any alternative access network, thus the areas of the alternative access network within an identified cell, as evidenced by Chatterjee 0009, a cell may also be an area served by a wireless access point).
Monjas Llorente may not explicitly disclose for a prescribed time period an amount of traffic defined by the traffic offload rule.
Li discloses for a prescribed time period (0102, Time window, the start time and end time for the scheduled data transfer) an amount of traffic defined by the traffic offload rule (0102, Traffic characteristic, the total amount of data, max data rates, and periodicity of 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 Monjas Llorente to include a time window and a total amount of data for the scheduled transfer, as taught by Li, so as to pre-configure a data transfer to user equipments during a specific time period with a certain data rate (0002).
Claim 2, Monjas Llorente in view of Li discloses the method of claim 1.
Monjas Llorente discloses wherein the traffic offload policy is further determined in response to at least one of UE data usage information, UE mobility information, or UE analytics information collected for UEs using second network services (0031, the data relating to the UE's context comprises a current application running on the UE, a most recent application running on the UE, and a most frequently run application on the UE; 0132, the PCRF uses the applications being used by each UE as inputs for the policy evaluation process).
Claim 4, Monjas Llorente in view of Li discloses the method of claim 1.
Monjas Llorente discloses wherein the traffic offload policy comprises a network-controlled traffic offload policy (0088, the PCRF is responsible for deciding which congestion mitigation action should be taken if a RAN in a cGII becomes congested and for instructing the policy enforcement points in the network to execute said congestion mitigation actions).
Claim 5, Monjas Llorente in view of Li discloses the method of claim 1.
Monjas Llorente discloses wherein the traffic offload policy comprises a UE connection manager (CM/UE) controlled traffic offload policy (0097, Pull mode, the UE determines that it needs new policies and sends a message to the ANDSF Server to require policies, and the UE sends back a status message reporting the result of the application of the new policies; 0122, the network node may comprise an ANDSF Client).
Claim 8, Monjas Llorente in view of Li discloses the method of claim 1.
Li discloses wherein the group of cells comprises cells associated with at least one Tracking Area Identity (TAI) (0102, Geographic area granularity, the granularity of the geographic area information, such as tracking area and registration area; 0002, a LADN service area may be a set of tracking areas). 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 Monjas Llorente to include a tracking area granularity for the area to which the policy applies, as taught by Li, so as to pre-configure a data transfer to user equipments during a specific time period with a certain data rate (0002).
Claim 9, Monjas Llorente in view of Li discloses the method of claim 1.
Li discloses wherein at least one traffic offload rule comprises an instruction configured to cause a receiving UE to determine a traffic offload decision (0105, when the UE receives a BOT transfer policy the contents of thQ policy may cause the UE to perform one or more actions; 0106, determine to activate the policy, triggered by reception of the policy or by the UE detecting that it has entered a location indicated in the received 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 Monjas Llorente to include a policy whose contents cause the UE to determine whether to activate it, as taught by Li, so as to pre-configure a data transfer to user equipments during a specific time period with a certain data rate (0002).
Claim 10, Monjas Llorente in view of Li discloses the method of claim 9.
Monjas Llorente discloses wherein the UE configured to determine a traffic offload decision comprises UE determined by the CMS to be associated with a defined cell or group of cells (0168, the ANDSF Server carries out an ANDSF procedure for every UE located in the area identified by means of the Cell ID; 0095, UEs a, b, c, e, f, h, i are in locations in cell D that are served by alternative access networks and could switch access network).
Claim 23, Monjas Llorente discloses computer-readable storage hardware having instructions stored thereon, the instructions, when carried out by computer processor hardware, cause the computer processor hardware to perform a method (0117, the computer program may be loaded in the memory from a non-transitory computer readable medium on which the computer program is stored; 0065, a computer program comprising instructions which, when executed on at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to carry out the method) of managing Dual SIM Dual Standby (DSDS) user equipment (UE) configured to communicate with each of a first and second network (Abstract, Method), the method comprising:
at a connection manager server (CMS) of the second network, receiving a traffic offload policy associated with an identified cell or group of cells of the second network (0151, the PCRF sends the ANDSF Server a message including the congestion location information, the Cell ID, and the list of IMSI identifying the candidate switchable UEs that could switch access network; 0178, a list of pairs comprising cell ID and availability of alternative access networks, thus a policy associated with an identified cell; 0094), the traffic offload policy comprising a UE connection manager (CM/UE) controlled traffic offload policy (0097, Pull mode, the UE determines that it needs new policies and sends a message to the ANDSF Server to require policies, and the UE sends back a status message reporting the result of the application of the new policies; 0122, the network node may comprise an ANDSF Client);
at the CMS, determining each of at least one UE proximate any of the identified cell or group of cells of the second network (0168, the ANDSF Server carries out an ANDSF procedure for every UE located in the area identified by means of the Cell ID; 0014, the MME provides the RCAF with the list of UEs in a given area, an eNB ID or ECGI; 0112); and
transmitting traffic offload rules toward the determined each of at least one UE proximate any of the identified cell or group of cells of the second network (0161, the network switcher controls the transmitter to transmit instructions to the UE and the ANDSF client to switch access network; 0092, to provide the UE with rules policing the connection to these networks);
wherein each traffic offload rule is configured to cause a receiving UE to offload to a proximate identified cell in the second network (0094, cell D comprises three different areas served by an alternative access network; 0152, a list of identifiers of the cells without any alternative access network, thus the areas of the alternative access network within an identified cell, as evidenced by Chatterjee 0009, a cell may also be an area served by a wireless access point).
Monjas Llorente may not explicitly disclose for a prescribed time period an amount of traffic defined by the traffic offload rule.
Li discloses for a prescribed time period (0102, Time window, the start time and end time for the scheduled data transfer) an amount of traffic defined by the traffic offload rule (0102, Traffic characteristic, the total amount of data, max data rates, and periodicity of 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 Monjas Llorente to include a time window and a total amount of data for the scheduled transfer, as taught by Li, so as to pre-configure a data transfer to user equipments during a specific time period with a certain data rate (0002).
Claim(s) 6 and 16 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Monjas Llorente in view of Li and further in view of US 2022/0217623 A1 herein Sevindik.
Claim 6, Monjas Llorente in view of Li discloses the method of claim 1.
Monjas Llorente may not explicitly disclose wherein the traffic offload policy defines whether a UE or group of UEs are to be prevented from accessing a cell or group of cells for a prescribed time period.
Sevindik discloses wherein the traffic offload policy defines whether a UE or group of UEs are to be prevented from accessing a cell or group of cells (0092, the MNO eNBs are configured with SPIDs so the eNBs conditionally reject connection requests from the MVNO's UEs; 0098, the MNO base station applies one or more rules included in the SPID record causing the MNO base station to disconnect or deny service to the UE) for a prescribed time period. 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 Monjas Llorente to include rules that cause connection requests from identified UEs to be rejected, as taught by Sevindik, so as to keep the UEs in the MVNO's network as long as possible (0092).
Claim 16, Monjas Llorente in view of Li discloses the method of claim 1.
Monjas Llorente may not explicitly disclose wherein the first network comprises a mobile network operator (MNO) network, the second network comprises a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) network, and a default traffic offload policy is configured to cause an offloading from a MNO network cell to a MVNO network cell of UE traffic.
Sevindik discloses wherein the first network comprises a mobile network operator (MNO) network, the second network comprises a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) network (0032, a Mobile Network Operator (MNO) network and a Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) network, which are partner networks, the MVNO network including CBSD base stations with corresponding wireless coverage areas), and a default traffic offload policy is configured to cause an offloading from a MNO network cell to a MVNO network cell of UE traffic (0098, the UE is forced to use the MVNO network, obtaining access via a CBSD of the MVNO, rather than using the MNO network; 0092, the MVNO does not pay the MNO for data offload of the MVNOs subscribers). 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 Monjas Llorente to include an MNO network and a partner MVNO network having its own base stations to which UE traffic is offloaded, as taught by Sevindik, so as to keep the UEs in the MVNO's network as long as possible (0092).
Claim(s) 11, 12, 13 and 14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Monjas Llorente in view of Li and further in view of US 2012/0257499 A1 herein Chatterjee.
Claim 11, Monjas Llorente in view of Li discloses the method of claim 10. Monjas Llorente may not explicitly disclose wherein the defined cell or group of cells of the second network is associated with a second network performance measurement below a threshold level.
Chatterjee discloses wherein the defined cell or group of cells of the second network is associated with a second network performance measurement below a threshold level (0077, the monitoring module determines, based on the message traffic, whether a predetermined congestion threshold associated with a cell has been crossed; 0050, a normalized congestion value computed by the monitoring module is compared with preconfigured threshold levels to determine the congestion level). 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 Monjas Llorente to include a per-cell congestion value compared against preconfigured thresholds, as taught by Chatterjee, so as to fairly and efficiently control bandwidth usage in a cell (0004).
Claim 12, Monjas Llorente in view of Li discloses the method of claim 11.
Monjas Llorente may not explicitly disclose wherein the second network performance measurement comprises at least one of a network delay measurement and a network congestion measurement.
Chatterjee discloses wherein the second network performance measurement comprises at least one of a network delay measurement and a network congestion measurement (0038, TCP Retransmission rate and average TCP round-trip time, these parameters can be used to detect issues with the radio network). 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 Monjas Llorente to include round-trip time and retransmission rate as measurements of the radio network, as taught by Chatterjee, so as to fairly and efficiently control bandwidth usage in a cell (0004).
Claim 13, Monjas Llorente in view of Li discloses the method of claim 12.
Monjas Llorente may not explicitly disclose further comprising transmitting the network performance measurements toward the CMS.
Chatterjee discloses further comprising transmitting the network performance measurements toward the CMS (0061, the monitoring module sends a notification message to the policy server when a congestion level is exceeded; 0064, Subscriber List in the congested cell containing IMSI, % Bandwidth usage, Handset type and Application). 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 Monjas Llorente to include transmission of the congestion notification to the policy server, as taught by Chatterjee, so as to fairly and efficiently control bandwidth usage in a cell (0004).
Claim 14, Monjas Llorente in view of Li discloses the method of claim 12.
Monjas Llorente may not explicitly disclose further comprising transmitting the network performance measurements toward an Operation Support System (OSS), the transmitted network performance measurements being configured to cause the OSS to adjust criteria within the traffic offload policy.
Chatterjee discloses further comprising transmitting the network performance measurements toward an Operation Support System (OSS), the transmitted network performance measurements being configured to cause the OSS to adjust criteria within the traffic offload policy (0029, a network services platform server for system configuration and presenting the RAN congestion analytics, illustrated as the OAMP component, thus an operations support system; 0025, the policies can be provisioned by the service provider to define rules that are to be applied when congestion occurs). 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 Monjas Llorente to include presentation of the congestion analytics to an operations component that provisions the congestion rules, as taught by Chatterjee, so as to fairly and efficiently control bandwidth usage in a cell (0004).
Claim(s) 15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Monjas Llorente in view of Li and further in view of US 2022/0086712 A1 herein Teyeb.
Claim 15, Monjas Llorente in view of Li discloses the method of claim 1.
Monjas Llorente may not explicitly disclose wherein the traffic offload rule is further configured to cause a receiving UE to reconnect to a first network cell in response to the receiving UE detecting congestion at a presently-connected second network cell above a threshold level.
Teyeb discloses wherein the traffic offload rule is further configured to cause a receiving UE to reconnect to a first network cell in response to the receiving UE detecting congestion at a presently-connected second network cell above a threshold level (0144, List 2, Conditions and Thresholds for Measurement Reporting or Steering Traffic from WLAN to 3GPP; 0147, WLAN air interface load greater than 22 percent; 0052, subsequently determining that the second set of thresholds and/or conditions are met and autonomously initiating the steering of at least some traffic to the first RAN). 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 Monjas Llorente to include a second set of thresholds on which the UE autonomously steers its traffic back to the first network, as taught by Teyeb, so as to perform a backward traffic steering when the conditions in the first network improve and the conditions in the second network worsen (0137).
Claim(s) 17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Monjas Llorente in view of Li, further in view of Sevindik and further in view of US 2015/0063166 A1 herein Sif.
Claim 17, Monjas Llorente in view of Li and further in view of Sevindik discloses the method of claim 16.
Monjas Llorente may not explicitly disclose wherein the UE comprises a UE-x associated with a third network comprising a different MVNO-x, and the traffic offload policy is further configured to cause an offloading from a MNO network cell to a MVNO network cell of UE-x traffic.
Sif discloses wherein the UE comprises a UE-x associated with a third network comprising a different MVNO-x (0156, only one of the operators owns spectrum and MME resources and two MVNOs, MY-MVNO1 and MY-MVNO2, own other resources; 0158, the MNO creates APNs for each site separately and hands APN-SP and APN-LP to MY-MVNO1 and MY-MVNO2 respectively), and the traffic offload policy is further configured to cause an offloading from a MNO network cell to a MVNO network cell of UE-x traffic (0161, a subscriber may be created or simulated using a UE with sessions on VMNO1, VMNO2, or the MNO, thus a UE having sessions on either virtual operator or on the host operator). 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 Monjas Llorente to include a second, different virtual network operator hosted by the same mobile network operator, as taught by Sif, so as to allocate the shared resources in the radio access node or core network to the mobile virtual network operators (0113).
Claim(s) 22 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sevindik in view of Monjas Llorente and further in view of Li.
Claim 22, Sevindik discloses apparatus for managing Dual SIM Dual Standby (DSDS) user equipment (UE) configured to communicate with each of a mobile network operator (MNO) network and a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) network (0032, a Mobile Network Operator (MNO) network and a Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) network, which are partner networks; Abstract, UE), comprising:
a connection manager server (CMS) configured to communicate with UE subscribed to the MVNO network (0032, the MVNO network includes a plurality of MVNO network base stations and a mobility management entity; 0100, the HSS of the MVNO generates and sends messages communicating MVNO IMSI subscriber information to the HSS of the MNO, thus a server of the MVNO network holding the identities of the UEs subscribed thereto).
Sevindik may not explicitly disclose to receive a traffic offload policy associated with an identified cell or group of cells of the MVNO network, to determine for each of at least one UE proximate any of the identified cell or group of cells of the MVNO network a respective traffic offload rule, and to transmit the determined traffic offload rules toward the respective UE; and wherein each traffic offload rule is (ii) determined by the CMS based on a request from an Operation Support System (OSS) of the MVNO network in response to a determination by the OSS of a traffic offload condition.
Monjas Llorente discloses to receive a traffic offload policy associated with an identified cell or group of cells of the MVNO network (0151, the PCRF sends the ANDSF Server a message including the congestion location information, the Cell ID, and the list of IMSI identifying the candidate switchable UEs, and may include a prioritized list of available access networks that each UE should switch to; 0178, a list of pairs comprising cell ID and availability of alternative access networks, thus a policy associated with an identified cell), to determine for each of at least one UE proximate any of the identified cell or group of cells of the MVNO network a respective traffic offload rule (0168, the ANDSF Server carries out an ANDSF procedure for every UE located in the area identified by means of the Cell ID; 0181, for each UE a message is assembled containing a flag stating whether an alternative access network is available; 0193), and to transmit the determined traffic offload rules toward the respective UE (0161, the network switcher controls the transmitter to transmit instructions to the UE and the ANDSF client to switch access network; 0092, to provide the UE with rules policing the connection to these networks); and
wherein each traffic offload rule is (ii) determined by the CMS based on a request from an Operation Support System (OSS) of the MVNO network (0008, the RCAF collects raw user plane congestion information from the RAN OAM, which corresponds to Operations Support System (055) level features of a RAN operator; 0199, the RCAF sends a RUCI report to the ANDSF Server, thus a report triggered by a determined condition and addressed to the server that determines the per-UE action; 0197) in response to a determination by the OSS of a traffic offload condition (0009, determines a list of user equipments impacted by user plane congestion; 0143, the RCAF determines a list of UEs impacted by a sustained congestion situation and reports such a congestion situation through the Np reference point). 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 Sevindik to include a report of a determined congestion condition, carrying the cell identifier and the identities of the affected UEs, on which a server determines and transmits a per-UE offload action, as taught by Monjas Llorente, so as to extend the set of available congestion mitigation actions and to make the decision process in congestion situations more fine-grained (0217).
Sevindik may not explicitly disclose wherein each traffic offload rule is (i) configured to cause a receiving UE to offload UE traffic from an MNO network cell to a proximate identified cell in the MVNO network for a prescribed time period an amount of traffic defined by the traffic offload rule.
Sevindik discloses wherein each traffic offload rule is (i) configured to cause a receiving UE to offload UE traffic from an MNO network cell to a proximate identified cell in the MVNO network (0098, the MNO base station applies one or more rules included in the SPID record causing the MNO base station to disconnect or deny service to the UE, and the UE is forced to use the MVNO network, obtaining access via a CBSD of the MVNO; 0092, the MVNO does not pay the MNO for data offload of the MVNOs subscribers).
Li discloses for a prescribed time period (0102, Time window, the start time and end time for the scheduled data transfer) an amount of traffic defined by the traffic offload rule (0102, Traffic characteristic, the total amount of data, max data rates, and periodicity of 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 Sevindik to include a time window and a total amount of data for the scheduled transfer, as taught by Li, so as to pre-configure a data transfer to user equipments during a specific time period with a certain data rate (0002).
Claim 25, Sevindik in view of Monjas Llorente and further in view of Li discloses the apparatus of claim 22.
Sevindik may not explicitly disclose wherein the determination by the OSS of the traffic offload condition is made in response to at least one of cell loading information, planned maintenance information, or planned outage information for the identified cell or group of cells of the MVNO network.
Monjas Llorente discloses wherein the determination by the OSS of the traffic offload condition is made in response to at least one of cell loading information (0015, based on the parameters and their values receive from the RAN OAM 104, the RCAF 100 reporst a congestion level to the CN; 0017, congestion/abatement location information, e.g. eNB ID of Cell ID or 3G service area ID; 0018), planned maintenance information, or planned outage information for the identified cell or group of cells of the MVNO network. 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 Sevindik to include a report of determined congestion condition, carrying the cell identifier and the identities of the affected UEs, on which a server determines and transmits a per-UE offload action, as taught by Monjas Llorente, so as to exten the set of available congestion mitigation actions and to make the decision process in congestion situation more fine grained (0217).
Claim(s) 24 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Monjas Llorente in view of Li and further in view US 2012/0281674 A1 herein Jackson.
Claim 24, Monjas Llorente in view of Li discloses the method of claim 1.
Monjas Llorente may not explicitly disclose wherein the traffic offload policy is determined in response to at least one of second network planned maintenance information or a second network planned outage information.
Jackson discloses wherein the traffic offload policy is determined in response to at least one of second network planned maintenance information (0020, subscribers may be steered to a second or alternate access network based on network condition of either the first or second networks, such as actual or predicted network congestion as well as based on general network health such as detected equipment failure or other network impairment, scheduled network maintenance; 0026, generating a first policy rule that results in the throttling of use of the first access network by the candidates subscriber and sending that policy rule to the appropriate PCEF) or a second network planned outage information. 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 Monjas Llorente to include steering subscribers to alternate access network upon detection of scheduled network maintenance by generating a policy rule and sending it to the enforcement node, as taught by jacson, so as to steer the subscriber to a faster, lower-cost, or lower-congestion access network (0019).
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. US 12563444 B1 – A method operable with a first communication network for supporting a user equipment (UE) device having at least a first identity associated with the first communication network and a second identity associated with a second communication network. The method includes (a) exchanging data with the UE device via a first access communication link, the first access communication link being an access communication link of the first communication network, (b) exchanging data with the UE device via a second access communication link and an interface between the first and second communication networks, the second access communication link being an access communication link of the second communication network, (c) performing access traffic steering, switching, and splitting (ATSSS) across at least the first and second communication links, at least partially using a proxy server associated with the first communication network.
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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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Asad Nawaz can be reached on (571) 272-3988. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/Mehmood B. Khan/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2463
