DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Claim Objections
Claims 1-2, 10 and 12 are objected to because of the following informalities: the use of hyphenated bullet points within the body of the claim is improper claim format. Appropriate correction is required.
Response to Amendment
The examiner has taken notice that claims 1, 4, 5, 7, 10, and 12-14 have been amended and claims 3, 9, and 18-20 have been cancelled . Claims 1, 2, 4-8, and 10-17 are currently pending in the present application.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see response, filed 05/18/2026, with respect to the rejection(s) of claim(s) 1, 5, 7 and 12-13 under 35 USC § 103 have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground(s) of rejection is made in view of Segall.
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.
Claim(s) 1-2, 5, 12-13 and 15-16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Krishan (US 2020/0127916) in view of Yao et al. (US 20210021494) in further view of Segall et al. (US 2011/0159876).
Regarding claim 1, Krishan teaches an apparatus, comprising: one or more processors; and at least one memory storing instructions that (Paragraph [0017]; Fig. 8, shows apparatus structure with processor and a memory),
when executed by the one or more processors, cause the apparatus to perform: requesting, from a producer, at least one of - to provide an indication of one or more network functions or of one or more management services or of one or more radio cells fulfilling at least one of one or more criteria;- to provide management data fulfilling the at least one criterion; or - to start collection of management data fulfilling the at least one criterion (Paragraph [0066] teaches requesting and receiving indication of network function, and locality attributes typically contain information about the geographical location, capabilities, and other relevant details of the producer NFs offering the service; thus, examiner is required to show only one of the alternative claim limitations);
wherein the at least one of the criteria is fulfilled only if the respective one of the network functions (Paragraph [0064]-[0065] teaches Requesting NFs using structured locality parameters and hierarchical geographical structure (regions, domains, zones) Figure. 6 visually illustrates this structure, showing how network functions are selected based on their geographical relationships using the structured locality parameters across different data centers. Notice the claim limitation is written in alternative form),
Krishan doesn’t teach the network management services, the radio cells, and the management data are related to a geographical area, and wherein, for each of one or more radio cells, the one or more criteria comprises an antenna of the respective radio cell is located in an area corresponding to the geographical area and a margin around the geographical area.
However, in analogous art Yao teaches the network management services (Paragraphs [0038]; [0084] describes MnS producer are required to collect data “with indication of location” establishing that management services operate with geographic constraints and location-based criteria),
the radio cells (TABLE-US-00001 TABLE 6.1.1.3.2 Describes Radio cells are identified as being “affected by the coverage issue” and analyzed based on geographic coverage areas. The performance measurements are tied to specific geographic ranges and timing advance that define cell coverage areas),
and the management data are related to a geographical area (Paragraphs [0084]; [0085]; TABLE-US-00001 TABLE 6.1.1.3.2 Describes that management data is required to include “indication of location” and must incorporate “geographical information (longitude, latitude, altitude) and “terrain data”),
Krishan and Yao don’t teach and wherein, for each of one or more radio cells, the one or more criteria comprises an antenna of the respective radio cell is located in an area corresponding to the geographical area and a margin around the geographical area.
However, in analogous art Segall teaches and wherein, for each of one or more radio cells, the one or more criteria comprises an antenna of the respective radio cell is located in an area corresponding to the geographical area and a margin around the geographical area (Paragraphs [0092]; [0096]; [0138]; [0140]; [0162] describes cell/sector-selection criteria are antenna location based. “target sector” is a radio cell defined by its antenna location, so selecting target sectors within range of the geographic area of overlap is selecting radio cells whose antennas are located in an area corresponding to the geographical area and margin (the range) around it).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to modify Krishan’s method of locality-based producer network function selection and Segall’s method of Selecting a proxy serving cell using centroid, demod-list overlap, or coverage-area matching by incorporating the teaching of Yao method that collects, processes, and analyzes various types of network data to improve the performance and automation of wireless networks (Yao, Paragraph [0003]).
Regrading claim 2, Krishan in view of Yao and Segall, Krishan teaches wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the apparatus to perform (Paragraph [0017]; Fig. 8, shows apparatus structure with processor and a memory):
requesting, from the producer, for the geographical area , at least one of - to provide an indication of all the network functions or all the management services or radio cells fulfilling the at least one of the criteria;- to provide all the management data fulfilling the at least one of the criteria; or - to start collection of all the management data fulfilling the at least one of the criteria (Paragraph [0059] teaches that a consumer NF (the apparatus) sends a request (requesting) to NRF (the producer), where the NRF responds with a complete list of available producer NFs (indication of all network functions) along with their corresponding localities (for the geographical area), and these NFs can be sorted based on locality preferences, and Paragraph [0066] teaches that all qualifying network functions for a given geographical area are provided in response to the request. Notice the claim limitation is written in alternative form; thus, examiner is required to show only one of the alternative claim limitations).
Regrading claim 5, Krishan in view of Yao and Segall, Krishan teaches an apparatus, comprising: one or more processors; and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the apparatus to perform (Paragraph [0017]; Fig. 8, shows apparatus structure with processor and a memory):
Krishan teaches receiving a request to provide an indication of one or more network functions serving a geographical area (Paragraph [0066] teaches a mechanism where a request is received by a centralized function to indicate one or more network functions that serve a specific geographical area or have certain locality attributes. Consumer NFs send a discovery request to the NRF (Network Repository Function) for a particular service. The NRF responds with structured locality attribute information for producer NFs that offer the requested service. Consumer NFs then sort and select producer NFs based on their locality attributes, such as preferences related to geographical area, network latency, or other specified criteria. Notice the claim limitation is written in alternative form; thus, examiner is required to show only one of the alternative claim limitations)
or management data related to the geographical area or an indication of one or more management services serving the geographical area or an indication of one or more radio cells the coverage area of which is covered by the geographical area; for each of one or more radio cells: checking if the radio cell fulfills at least one of one or more criteria;
determining one or more network functions serving the respective radio cell if the radio cell fulfills the at least one of the one or more criteria and the request requests to provide the indication of the one or more network functions (Paragraph [0043]; [0046] disclose that the NRF 100 plays a crucial role in providing information about available network functions and their corresponding locations, enabling consumer NFs or NF proxies to choose the most suitable NF to fulfill specific service requirements in a service-based architecture environment)
or the management data or the indication of the one or more management services, respectively;
Yao teaches determining management data or one or more management services, respectively, related to the determined one or more network functions (Paragraphs [0036]; [0040] describes determining management data and services related to identified network functions),
Yao teaches if the request requests to provide the management data or the indication of the one or more management services, respectively (Paragraphs [0217]-[0218] describes conditional processing based on request content);
Yao teaches and providing, in response to the request, the indication of the determined one or more network functions (Paragraphs [0087]; [0217]-[0218];[0035];[0040] describes providing information or reports in response to consumer requests and providing analytics reports that include information about network functions (NFs) )or
Yao teaches the indication of the determined one or more management data or the indication of the determined one or more management services or, if the respective radio cell fulfills the at least one of the one or more criteria and the request requests to provide the indication of the one or more radio cells the coverage area of which is covered by the geographical area, the indication of the respective radio cell, respectively (Table 6, Paragraphs [0081]; [0102];[0110] describes providing indications of radio cells (MOIs of affected cells) that fulfill geographic coverage criteria );
wherein each of the one or more criteria is only fulfilled if the respective one of the network functions (Paragraphs [0038]; [0084] describes MnS producer are required to collect data “with indication of location” establishing that management services operate with geographic constraints and location-based criteria),
However, Krishan doesn’t teach the network management services, the respective radio cell is, and the management data are related to the geographical area.
However, in analogous art Yao teaches the network management services (Paragraphs [0038]; [0084] describes MnS producer are required to collect data “with indication of location” establishing that management services operate with geographic constraints and location-based criteria),
the respective radio cells (TABLE-US-00001 TABLE 6.1.1.3.2 Describes Radio cells are identified as being “affected by the coverage issue” and analyzed based on geographic coverage areas. The performance measurements are tied to specific geographic ranges and timing advance that define cell coverage areas),
and the management data are related to a geographical area (Paragraphs [0084]; [0085]; TABLE-US-00001 TABLE 6.1.1.3.2 Describes that management data is required to include “indication of location” and must incorporate “geographical information (longitude, latitude, altitude) and “terrain data”),
Krishan and Yao don’t teach and wherein, for each of one or more radio cells, the one or more criteria comprises an antenna of the respective radio cell is located in an area corresponding to the geographical area and a margin around the geographical area.
However, in analogous art Segall teaches and wherein, for each of one or more radio cells, the one or more criteria comprises an antenna of the respective radio cell is located in an area corresponding to the geographical area and a margin around the geographical area (Paragraphs [0092]; [0096]; [0138]; [0140]; [0162] describes cell/sector-selection criteria are antenna location based. “target sector” is a radio cell defined by its antenna location, so selecting target sectors within range of the geographic area of overlap is selecting radio cells whose antennas are located in an area corresponding to the geographical area and margin (the range) around it).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the invention to incorporate the teachings of Krishan in view of Yao and Segall for the same reason as claim 1 above.
Regrading claim 15, Krishan in view of Yao and Segall, Krishan teaches, a non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising a set of instructions encoded thereupon which, when executed on an apparatus, causes the apparatus to carry out the method according to claim 12 (Paragraph [0027] disclose a non-transitory computer-readable medium).
Regrading claim 16, the combination of Krishan Yao and Segall, specifically Krishan teaches a non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising a set of instructions encoded thereupon which, when executed on an apparatus, causes the apparatus to carry out the method according to claim 13 (Paragraph [0027] disclose a non-transitory computer-readable medium).
Claims 12, 13 are rejected for the same reason as set forth in claim 1 respectively.
Claim(s) 4, 6-8, 10, 14 and 17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Krishan in view of Yao in further view of Segall and Goswami et al. (US 20170150365; hereinafter Goswami).
Regarding claim 4, Krishan’s in view of Yao, Segall don’t’ teach wherein at least one of: the request comprises the margin; the margin is predefined; or the request comprises a hint that only one of the one or more criteria is relevant.
However, in analogous art Goswami teaches wherein at least one of: the request comprises the margin; the margin is predefined; or the request comprises a hint that only one of the one or more criteria is relevant (Paragraph [0056] shows the system uses predefined search ring boundaries (margins) within which to place solutions. Paragraphs [0036]-[0037] describes requests that include geographic parameters and specifications that would encompass threshold values and margins for determining cell selection criteria).
Regarding claim 6, Krishan’s in view of Yao, Segall and Goswami, Goswami teaches wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the apparatus to perform, for each of one or more radio cells (Paragraph [0059] describes a per-cell evaluation (“each cell site”) gated by criteria (overlap >= threshold; proximity) satisfying the “for each radio cell…” If it fulfills the criteria):
Yao teaches determining all the network functions serving the respective radio cell or all the management data related to the determined network functions or all the management services related to the determined network functions, respectively (Paragraph [0035] teaches collecting “management data” by describing how the system collects “performance data” and resource usage status” which are types of management data related to the identified network functions),
Goswami teaches if the respective radio cell fulfills the at least one of the one or more criteria (Paragraphs [0058]-[0059] Describes identifying cell site locations within or near defined geographical areas. The “search ring” concept inherently includes a margin around the central geographical area).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to modify Krishan’s method of locality-based producer network function selection by incorporating Yao method that collects, processes, and analyzes various types of network data, and Segall and the teaching of Goswami methods for planning and deploying small cells in wireless telecommunications networks to improve coverage and capacity (Goswami, Paragraph [0017]).
Regarding claim 7, Krishan’s in view of Yao and Goswami, Krishan teaches an apparatus, comprising: one or more processors; and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the apparatus to perform (Fig. 8 showing apparatus with Processor and Memory):
Krishan doesn’t teach receiving a request to start collection of management data for a geographical area; for each of one or more radio cells:
checking whether the respective radio cell fulfills at least one of one or more criteria; determining one or more network functions serving the respective radio cell if the respective radio cell fulfills the at least one of the one or more criteria;
or triggering the determined one or more network functions to start collection of the management data for the respective radio cell;
However, in analogous art Yao teaches receiving a request to start collection of management data for a geographical area; for each of one or more radio cells (Paragraphs [0084]-[0085] describes the system’s capability to initiate collection of management data that is geographically bounded (“with indication of location”) TABLE-US-00001 TABLE 6.1.1.3.2 describes data collection requirements “per serving cell” and measurements for individual cells, showing the system processes radio cells individually (“for each”)):
Goswami teaches checking whether the respective radio cell fulfills at least one of one or more criteria ((Paragraphs [0058]-[0059]; [0060] describes checking whether radio cells fulfill specific criteria (coverage overlap, distance thresholds, percentage thresholds) to determine if they should be included in the subset);
determining one or more network functions serving the respective radio cell if the respective radio cell fulfills the at least one of the one or more criteria;
Yao teaches or triggering the determined one or more network functions to start collection of the management data for the respective radio cell (Paragraphs [0035];[0039]-[0040]; [0046] describes a system that actively initiates data collection from network functions rather than passively receiving data);
Krishan teaches wherein each of the one or more criteria is only fulfilled if the respective one of the network functions (Paragraph [0064]-[0065] teaches Requesting NFs using structured locality parameters and hierarchical geographical structure (regions, domains, zones) Figure. 6 visually illustrates this structure, showing how network functions are selected based on their geographical relationships using the structured locality parameters across different data centers. Notice the claim limitation is written in alternative form),
Krishan doesn’t teach the respective radio cell and the management data are related to the geographical area.
However, in analogous art Yao teaches the respective radio cell (TABLE-US-00001 TABLE 6.1.1.3.2 Describes Radio cells are identified as being “affected by the coverage issue” and analyzed based on geographic coverage areas. The performance measurements are tied to specific geographic ranges and timing advance that define cell coverage areas)
Yao teaches and the management data are related to the geographical area (Paragraphs [0084]; [0085]; TABLE-US-00001 TABLE 6.1.1.3.2 Describes that management data is required to include “indication of location” and must incorporate “geographical information (longitude, latitude, altitude) and “terrain data”),
Krishan, Yao and Goswami don’t teach and wherein, for each of one or more radio cells, the one or more criteria comprises an antenna of the respective radio cell is located in an area corresponding to the geographical area and a margin around the geographical area.
However, in analogous art Segall teaches and wherein, for each of one or more radio cells, the one or more criteria comprises an antenna of the respective radio cell is located in an area corresponding to the geographical area and a margin around the geographical area (Paragraphs [0092]; [0096]; [0138]; [0140]; [0162] describes cell/sector-selection criteria are antenna location based. “target sector” is a radio cell defined by its antenna location, so selecting target sectors within range of the geographic area of overlap is selecting radio cells whose antennas are located in an area corresponding to the geographical area and margin (the range) around it).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to modify Krishan’s method of locality-based producer network function selection by incorporating the teaching of Goswami methods for planning and deploying small cells in wireless telecommunications networks to improve coverage and capacity and Segall’s method of Selecting a proxy serving cell using centroid, demod-list overlap, or coverage-area matching Yao method that collects, processes, and analyzes various types of network data to improve the performance and automation of wireless networks (Yao, Paragraph [0003]).
Regrading claim 8, Krishan’s in view of Yao, Segall and Goswami, specifically Krishan teaches wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the apparatus to further perform, for each of one or more radio cells: reporting the determined one or more network functions in response to the received request (Paragraph [0043] teaches reporting network functions in response to a request).
Regrading claim 17, Krishan’s in view of Yao and Goswami, specifically Krishan teaches a non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising a set of instructions encoded thereupon which, when executed on an apparatus, causes the apparatus to carry out the method according to claim 14 (Paragraph [0027] disclose a non-transitory computer-readable medium).
Claim 10 is rejected for the same reason as set forth in claim 4 respectively.
Claim 14 is rejected for the same reason as set forth in claim 7 respectively.
Claim 11 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Krishan in view of Yao in further view of Segall and Schmidt et al. (US 2014/0113656).
Regrading claim 11, the combination of Krishan, Segall and Yao don’t teach wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the apparatus to further perform, for each of the one or more radio cells: supervising if the request comprises a hint that only one of the one or more criteria is relevant; inhibiting checking for the other one of the one or more criteria if the request comprises the hint.
Schmidt, in the same endeavor teaches wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the apparatus to further perform, for each of the one or more radio cells: supervising if the request comprises a hint that only one of the one or more criteria is relevant; inhibiting checking for the other one of the one or more criteria if the request comprises the hint (Paragraph [0156] teaches A message (request) containing a hint (Predetermined delay threshold).The hint indicates only one criterion is relevant (delay threshold), and the system supervises/monitors for this specific criterion. Paragraphs [0157]; [0221] This shows, when a specific threshold/criterion is specified in the message. The system only applies that specified criterion other criteria are inhibited/not checked because the message pre-defines which specific measurements to use).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to incorporate the teachings of Krishan into the combination of Yao, Segall and Schmidt in order to enhance wireless communication network performance by improving locality-based network function selection, optimizing coverage management, and dynamically adjusting network resources based on real-time traffic demand and geographical data (Schmidt, Paragraphs [0002]-[0005]).
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). 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 MEHERET WOLDEGEBREAL KIDANE whose telephone number is (571)270-3642. The examiner can normally be reached M-F8:30-5.
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/M.W.K./Examiner, Art Unit 2464
/KAN YUEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2464
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