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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 12/15/2025 has been entered.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 1-6, 9-14, 17, 25-30 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 17 and 25 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by
Chou (US 2021/0204148 A1 with priority date of provisional application 62/959,721 filed on 1/10/2020).
(1) Regarding claim 17:
Chou discloses a method performed by a radio access network (RAN) network node, the method comprising:
receiving an indication from a management function via an open radio access network (0-RAN) Al or 01 interface that at least one radio resource used by the network node should be modified (During the execution phase, the SON algorithm may interact with network functions to execute the SON actions. For example, the SON actions execute the actions to reallocate NSSI resources may include reconfiguring NSSI attributes via the 01 interface and updating cloud resources via an 02 interface, para. 0070);
transitioning one or more wireless devices (new radio network, claim 1) to or from the at least one radio resource; and modifying the at least one resource (the random access channel (RACH) optimization use case to show how the SON described above can be used to enable the 0-RAN RIC to improve the RACH performance over NR cells, para. 0072; RACH optimization may automatically configure the RACH parameters, and adapt to the changes in the number of UEs or resources in a cell in order to achieve the optimal network performance by reducing the network access time, and minimize the failures, para. 0073; It may then automatically re-allocate the network resources ahead of the network issues surfaced. This shows that the SON function running in the Non-Real Time RIC can support NSI resource allocation optimization, para. 0076).
(2) Regarding claim 25:
Chou discloses a radio access network (RAN) network node (new radio network, claim 1) comprising processing circuitry operable to:
receive an indication from a management function via an open radio access network (0-RAN) A1 or 01 interface that at least one radio resource used by the network node should be modified (During the execution phase, the SON algorithm may interact with network functions to execute the SON actions. For example, the SON actions execute the actions to reallocate NSSI resources may include reconfiguring NSSI attributes via the 01 interface and updating cloud resources via an 02 interface, para. 0070);
transitioning one or more wireless devices (new radio network, claim 1) to or from the at least one radio resource; and modifying the at least one resource (the random access channel (RACH) optimization use case to show how the SON described above can be used to enable the 0-RAN RIC to improve the RACH performance over NR cells, para. 0072; RACH optimization may automatically configure the RACH parameters, and adapt to the changes in the number of UEs or resources in a cell in order to achieve the optimal network performance by reducing the network access time, and minimize the failures, para. 0073; It may then automatically re-allocate the network resources ahead of the network issues surfaced. This shows that the SON function running in the Non-Real Time RIC can support NSI resource allocation optimization, para. 0076).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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.
Claims 26-27 and 29-30 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chou (US 2021/0204148 A1 with priority date of provisional application 62/959,721 filed on 1/10/2020) in view of Decarreau et al. (US 2022/0217781 A1).
(1) Regarding claim 26:
Chou discloses all subject matter of claim 25 and an RACH optimization process, but fails to explicitly disclose the at least one radio resource comprises at least one radio frequency or frequency band.
However, Decarreau discloses a CU 1112 can start (or perform) its ML RACH optimization algorithm. For example, based on trigger-specific cost information provided by each RACH trigger-specific ML submodule, the RACH optimization coordinator (e.g., see FIG. 3) may determine a new (e.g., optimal) set of RACH parameters and/or RACH resources, such as an optimal preamble or set of preambles and a RACH resource (e.g., a frequency, time and beam related parameters) to be used for one or more (or all) RACH trigger types (par. 0119-0120).
It is desirable to have the at least one radio resource comprises at least one radio frequency or frequency band because it improve the performance of the 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 employ the teaching of Decarreau in the method of Chou for the benefit of improving the network performance.
(2) Regarding claim 27:
Chou and Decarreau disclose all subject matter of claim 25, and Decarreau further disclose the RACH optimization process includes new or adjusted RACH parameters including a new of adjusted bandwidth part (BWP) or frequency range (para. 0120) (it is obvious an indication of a new BWP is an implicit indication that the old BWP (radio resource) should not be used).
It is desirable to have an indication that the at least one radio resource used by the base station should be modified comprises an indication that the at least one radio resource should not be used because it provides optimization of the network performance. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to employ the teaching of Decarreau in the method of Chou for the benefit of improving the network performance.
(3) Regarding claim 29:
Chou and Decarreau disclose all subject matter of claim 25, and Decarreau further discloses the indication that the at least one radio resource used by the base station should be modified comprises an indication that the at least one radio resource should be used (The optimal ML RACH solution (e.g., adjusted or new RACH parameters and/or resource allocations) is then signaled at 1140 to each DU (e.g., the best choice of frequency (or BWP), time or timing (e.g., BWP), para. 0120).
It is desirable to have the indication that the at least one radio resource used by the base station should be modified comprises an indication that the at least one radio resource should be used because it provides optimization of the network performance. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to employ the teaching of Decarreau in the method of Chou for the benefit of improving the network performance.
(4) Regarding claim 30:
Chou and Decarreau disclose all subject matter of claim 29, and Decarreau further discloses:
the indication that the at least one radio resource should be used comprises an indication that a radio frequency or frequency band should be activated (The optimal ML RACH solution (e.g., adjusted or new RACH parameters and/or resource allocations) is then signaled at 1140 to each DU (e.g., the best choice of frequency (or BWP), time or timing (e.g., BWP), para. 0120; the examiner interprets the parameter for an optimized BWP as the indication that a radio frequency or frequency band should be activated);
the processing circuitry is operable to transition one or more wireless devices by transitioning the one or more wireless devices to the frequency or frequency band; and the processing circuitry is operable to modify the at least one resource by enabling the frequency or frequency band (the CU 1310 may trigger (or perform, or cause to perform) the ML RACH optimization (1138, e.g., see example description with reference to FIG. 11) at the DU by ML algorithm 1314 with a set of received RACH information or RACH parameters. ML algorithm 1314 may optimize RACH parameters (or RACH resource allocations), e.g., based on the RACH resource statistics of other DUs, a UE RACH report(s), and/or RACH Information it has received through the Xn interface, para. 0122).
It is desirable to have the indication that the at least one radio resource should be used comprises an indication that a radio frequency or frequency band should be activated; the processing circuitry is operable to transition one or more wireless devices by transitioning the one or more wireless devices to the frequency or frequency band; and the processing circuitry is operable to modify the at least one resource by enabling the frequency or frequency band because it optimize the resource allocation and improve network performance. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to employ the teaching of Decarreau in the method of Chou for the benefit of improving the network performance.
Claims 1-6 and 9-14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chou (US 2021/0204148 A1 with priority date of provisional application 62/959,721 filed on 1/10/2020) in view of Liu et al. (US 2020/0389937 A1).
(1) Regarding claim 1:
Chou discloses a method performed by a management function network node, wherein the management function network node is connected to a public land mobile network (PLMN) via an open radio access network (0-RAN) A1 or 01 interface (system as shown in figure 4; the SON actions execute the actions to reallocate NSSI resources may include reconfiguring NSSI attributes via the O1 interface, para. 0067-0071), the method comprising:
determining that at least one radio resource should be modified by a PLMN based on the obtained information (The SON algorithms may include a number of operations such as monitoring, analysis/decision making, execution, and evaluation. During monitoring the radio network(s) may be monitored by collecting data via the O1 interface and storing the data in memory. The data may include performance measurements, alarms (e.g., radio link failure), analytic data, and other information, from the network functions. For example, the measurements may be measured per NSSI for, e.g., performance measurements may include the downlink (DL) and uplink (UL) physical resource blocks (PRBs) used for data traffic, average DL and UL UE throughput in the gNB, and number of protocol data unit (PDU) sessions requested to setup, successfully setup and failed to set up. During analysis and decision making the data may be analyzed to determine whether there are issues in the network(s) to be resolved. The data may be analyzed to train the AI/ML model (e.g., to predict the traffic demand patterns of NSSI at different times and locations). The actions may be determined to add or reduce the resources (e.g., capacity, VNF resources, slice subnet attributes) for, e.g., the NSSI at a given time and location (which O-RAN nodes), para. 0068-0069); and
transmitting an indication of the at least one radio resource to the PLMN via the A1 or 01 interface (the RAN nodes (O-CU-CP, O-CU-UP, O-DU, O-RU) may both support the performance measurement collection with a desired granularity over the O1 interface as well as supporting a configuration related to the NSSI resource allocation update over the O1 interface, para. 0071).
Chou disclose evaluation of analytic data for determination of reallocation of resource for the RAN nodes but fails to explicitly disclose obtaining non-PLMN public land mobile network (PLMN) information, wherein the non-PLMN information comprises information about network resources for a network other than a PLMN and determine radio resource based on the non-PLMN information.
However, Liu teaches consideration of notification from wireless transceiver 20 that notify the controller 30 of the Wi-Fi frequency bands, including the Wi-Fi frequency band (denoted as A) of an AP that the wireless transceiver 20 is currently connected to (step S403), para. 0073, the examiner interprets the Wi-Fi frequency band used by the wireless transceiver 20 as the claimed non-PLMN network information); and consider a frequency band that avoid interference with the Wi-Fi frequency band (subsequent to step S409, the wireless transceiver 10 may receive a handover command from the cellular network 120, which indicates a handover to one of the reported LTE/NR frequency bands (denoted as B) (step S410), para. 0078; the examiner interprets the frequency band used by the wireless transceiver 10 as the claimed at least one radio resource; the selection of the handover band is based on the step S407 in figure 4A of determine whether there is at least one combination of one of the LTE/NR frequency bands and the Wi-Fi frequency band A which do not overlap).
It is desirable to obtain non-PLMN public land mobile network (PLMN) information, wherein the non-PLMN information comprises information about network resources for a network other than a PLMN and determine radio resource based on the non-PLMN information because it avoid interference and collision with respect to the Wi-Fi frequency band. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to employ the teaching of Liu in the method of Chou for the benefit of avoiding data lose.
(2) Regarding claim 9:
Chou discloses a management function network node connected to a public land mobile network (PLMN) via an open radio access network (0-RAN) Al or 01 interface (During the execution phase, the SON algorithm may interact with network functions to execute the SON actions. For example, the SON actions execute the actions to reallocate NSSI resources may include reconfiguring NSSI attributes via the 01 interface and updating cloud resources via an 02 interface, para. 0070; system as shown in figure 4; the SON actions execute the actions to reallocate NSSI resources may include reconfiguring NSSI attributes via the O1 interface, para. 0067-0071; O-RAN, abstract) comprising processing circuitry operable to:
determining that at least one radio resource should be modified by a PLMN based on the obtained information (The SON algorithms may include a number of operations such as monitoring, analysis/decision making, execution, and evaluation. During monitoring the radio network(s) may be monitored by collecting data via the O1 interface and storing the data in memory. The data may include performance measurements, alarms (e.g., radio link failure), analytic data, and other information, from the network functions. For example, the measurements may be measured per NSSI for, e.g., performance measurements may include the downlink (DL) and uplink (UL) physical resource blocks (PRBs) used for data traffic, average DL and UL UE throughput in the gNB, and number of protocol data unit (PDU) sessions requested to setup, successfully setup and failed to set up. During analysis and decision making the data may be analyzed to determine whether there are issues in the network(s) to be resolved. The data may be analyzed to train the AI/ML model (e.g., to predict the traffic demand patterns of NSSI at different times and locations). The actions may be determined to add or reduce the resources (e.g., capacity, VNF resources, slice subnet attributes) for, e.g., the NSSI at a given time and location (which O-RAN nodes), para. 0068-0069); and
transmitting an indication of the at least one radio resource to the PLMN via the A1 or 01 interface (the RAN nodes (O-CU-CP, O-CU-UP, O-DU, O-RU) may both support the performance measurement collection with a desired granularity over the O1 interface as well as supporting a configuration related to the NSSI resource allocation update over the O1 interface, para. 0071).
Chou disclose evaluation of analytic data for determination of reallocation of resource for the RAN nodes but fails to explicitly disclose obtaining non-PLMN public land mobile network (PLMN) information, wherein the non-PLMN information comprises information about network resources for a network other than a PLMN and determine radio resource based on the non-PLMN information.
However, Liu teaches consideration of notification from wireless transceiver 20 that notify the controller 30 of the Wi-Fi frequency bands, including the Wi-Fi frequency band (denoted as A) of an AP that the wireless transceiver 20 is currently connected to (step S403), para. 0073, the examiner interprets the Wi-Fi frequency band used by the wireless transceiver 20 as the claimed non-PLMN network information); and consider a frequency band that avoid interference with the Wi-Fi frequency band (subsequent to step S409, the wireless transceiver 10 may receive a handover command from the cellular network 120, which indicates a handover to one of the reported LTE/NR frequency bands (denoted as B) (step S410), para. 0078; the examiner interprets the frequency band used by the wireless transceiver 10 as the claimed at least one radio resource; the selection of the handover band is based on the step S407 in figure 4A of determine whether there is at least one combination of one of the LTE/NR frequency bands and the Wi-Fi frequency band A which do not overlap).
It is desirable to obtain non-PLMN public land mobile network (PLMN) information, wherein the non-PLMN information comprises information about network resources for a network other than a PLMN and determine radio resource based on the non-PLMN information because it avoid interference and collision with respect to the Wi-Fi frequency band. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to employ the teaching of Liu in the method of Chou for the benefit of avoiding data lose.
(3) Regarding claims 2 and 10:
Chou and Liu discloses all subject matter of claims 1 and 9, and Chou further discloses reallocation of resource, but fails to explicitly disclose the at least one radio resource comprises at least one radio frequency or frequency band.
However, Liu discloses the at least one radio resource comprises at least one radio frequency or frequency band (frequency band A, B, and C as mentioned in para. 0074).
It is desirable to have the at least one radio resource comprises at least one radio frequency or frequency band because it avoid interference with the Wi-Fi frequency band. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to employ the teaching of Liu in the method of Chou for the benefit of avoiding data lose.
(4) Regarding claims 3 and 11:
Chou and Liu discloses all subject matter of claims 1 and 9, and Chou further discloses reallocation of resource, but fails to explicitly disclose the at least one radio resource should be modified by the PLMN comprises determining that the at least one radio resource should not be used by the PLMN.
However, Liu discloses determining that at least one radio resource should be modified by a PLMN comprises determining that at least one radio resource should not be used by a PLMN (In response to receiving the notification, the controller 30 may determine whether there is at least one combination of one of the LTE/NR frequency bands and the Wi-Fi frequency band A, wherein the LTE/NR frequency band and the Wi-Fi frequency band A in the combination do not overlap (step S407), and store the determined combination(s) in a suggestion list (step S408), para. 0076; the examiner interprets the avoidance of usage of frequency band A in the LTE/NR system as the claimed action of determining at least one radio resource should not be used by PLMN).
It is desirable to have the at least one radio resource comprises at least one radio frequency or frequency band because it avoid interference with the Wi-Fi frequency band. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to employ the teaching of Liu in the method of Chou for the benefit of avoiding data lose.
(5) Regarding claims 4 and 12:
Chou and Liu discloses all subject matter of claims 3 and 11, and Chou further discloses reallocation of resource, but fails to explicitly disclose the at least one radio resource should not be used by a PLMN comprises determining that a radio frequency or frequency band should be deactivated.
However, Liu discloses determining that at least one radio resource should not be used by a PLMN comprises determining that a radio frequency or frequency band should be deactivated (In response to receiving the notification, the controller 30 may determine whether there is at least one combination of one of the LTE/NR frequency bands and the Wi-Fi frequency band A, wherein the LTE/NR frequency band and the Wi-Fi frequency band A in the combination do not overlap (step S407), and store the determined combination(s) in a suggestion list (step S408), para. 0076; the examiner interprets the avoidance of usage of frequency band A in the LTE/NR system as the claimed action of deactivated a radio frequency of frequency band).
It is desirable to have the at least one radio resource comprises at least one radio frequency or frequency band because it avoid interference with the Wi-Fi frequency band. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to employ the teaching of Liu in the method of Chou for the benefit of avoiding data lose.
(6) Regarding claims 5 and 13:
Chou and Liu discloses all subject matter of claims 1 and 9, and Chou further discloses the at least one radio resource should be modified by a PLMN comprises determining that at least one radio resource should be used by a PLMN (the RAN nodes (0-CU-CP, 0-CUUP, 0-DU, 0-RU) may both support the performance measurement collection with a desired granularity over the O1 interface as well as supporting a configuration related to the NSSI resource allocation update over the O1 interface, para. 0071).
(7) Regarding claims 6 and 14:
Chou and Liu discloses all subject matter of claims 3 and 11, and Chou further discloses reallocation of resource, but fails to explicitly disclose the at least one radio resource should be used by a PLMN comprises determining that a radio frequency or frequency band should be activated.
However, Liu discloses determining that the at least one radio resource should be used by a PLMN comprises determining that a radio frequency or frequency band should be activated (Subsequent to step S409, the wireless transceiver 10 may receive a handover command from the cellular network 120, which indicates a handover to one of the reported LTE/NR frequency bands (denoted as B) (step S410), para. 0078; the examiner interprets the usage of frequency band B as the claimed action of activating a radio frequency or frequency band should be used by a PLMN (LTE/NR system of wireless transceiver 10)).
It is desirable to have the at least one radio resource comprises at least one radio frequency or frequency band because it avoid interference with the Wi-Fi frequency band. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to employ the teaching of Liu in the method of Chou for the benefit of avoiding data lose.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 28 is 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.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Chou (US 2021/0258866 A1) discloses resource allocation and activation/deactivation configuration of open radio access network (O-RAN) network slice subnets.
Parekh et al. (US 2021/0234648 A1) discloses method and apparatus for distribution and synchronization of radio resource assignments in a wireless communication system.
Parekh et al. (US 2021/0235323 A1) discloses method and apparatus for orthogonal resource allocation in a wireless communication system.
Chou et al. (US 2020/0329381 A1) discloses orchestration and configuration of E2E network slice access 3GPP core network and ORAN.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SIU M LEE whose telephone number is (571)270-1083. The examiner can normally be reached M-T 8:30-7:00.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Chieh M Fan can be reached at 571-272-3042. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/SIU M LEE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2632 2/28/2026