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 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.
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.
1. Claims 25-44 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over D1 (WO 2020/119900 found in the current PCT search report and IDS) in view of Hirschman et al (9,049,590) further in view of Wolf (2014/0068058).
The applied reference has a common assignee with the instant application. Based upon the earlier effectively filed date of the reference, it constitutes prior art under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2). This rejection under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) might be overcome by: (1) a showing under 37 CFR 1.130(a) that the subject matter disclosed in the reference was obtained directly or indirectly from the inventor or a joint inventor of this application and is thus not prior art in accordance with 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(A); (2) a showing under 37 CFR 1.130(b) of a prior public disclosure under 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(B) if the same invention is not being claimed; or (3) a statement pursuant to 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) establishing that, not later than the effective filing date of the claimed invention, the subject matter disclosed in the reference and the claimed invention were either owned by the same person or subject to an obligation of assignment to the same person or subject to a joint research agreement.
Regarding claims 25, 33 and 44. D1 teaches a node and a method performed by a network node of a charging system for a communication network (abstract, figure 1a, billing domain (103) having communication interface and processing circuitry is applicable to both 4G (100a) and 5G (100b) and provides charging information to the network), the method comprising:
receiving a request for a grant of service units for authorizing consumption of a first communication service provided by the communication network to a user equipment (UE) that is associated with subscriber information maintained by or accessible to the network node (page 10 – page 11, figure 2a at steps 201-203 wherein UE sends a communication service request for voice call and a communication request for song download … steps 206-207 – charging function receives another request to continue the communication request for voice call)
determining from the subscriber information that a subscriber associated with the subscriber information has designated the first communication service as a prioritized communication service (page 9 – the subscriber can prioritize any service of his choice … the subscriber is making a voice call to his friend at the same time as a popular movie song app on the UE is downloading, page 11 – page 12, figure 2b at steps 209-211 – the UE receives low balance indication and in response the UE sends an indication that ongoing voice call is the prioritized service to the charging function so that the voice call service can get the maximum remaining credit units when there is shortage of credit units (low balance condition). Credit units reserved by other communication sessions are made available to the voice service which allows the user to continue with his voice call to maximum the time without any disruption. It is up to the subscriber to prioritize any ongoing service over others during the low balance condition); and
applying a preferential granting scheme in which granting service units in response to the request is prioritized with respect to a competing request for a grant of service units for a second communication service that is not prioritized according to the subscriber information service (page 9 – the subscriber can prioritize any service of his choice … the subscriber is making a voice call to his friend at the same time as a popular movie song app on the UE is downloading, page 11 – page 12, figure 2b at steps 209-211 – the UE receives low balance indication and in response the UE sends an indication that ongoing voice call is the prioritized service to the charging function so that the voice call service can get the maximum remaining credit units when there is shortage of credit units (low balance condition). Credit units reserved by other communication sessions are made available to the voice service which allows the user to continue with his voice call to maximum the time without any disruption. It is up to the subscriber to prioritize any ongoing service over others during the low balance condition. page 12, figure 2b at step 212 – the charging function initiates termination of ongoing services except the prioritized service), wherein the prioritized communication service is communicated by the subscriber via a portal (page 14 – The predefined priority may be defined by the subscriber via the UE 101 at subscription start, before communication service usage, by customer login on self-service portal, etc. page 31 – Step 601, The subscriber may use a user portal (self-care) on the UE 101 to setup the priorities of its subscribed communication services, i.e. the subscriber predefines its priorities using the UE. Page 32 – Step 603.1, The user portal sends the personalized priorities of the subscribed communication services to the charging function 125 for storing.) or an application.
D1 does not explicitly teach wherein the prioritized communication service is communicated by the subscriber via a portal or an application.
Hirschman teaches a user communication device (e.g., application) receives a user input indicating a user priority and transfers to the user priority to the network element (abstract). A user communication device (e.g., application) receives a user input indicating a user priority for controlling multiple user/device rating groups in an efficient manner and transfers the user priority to the network element (col. 1 lines 25-46, col. 2 line 66 – col. 3 line 10, col. 4 lines 15-16, col. 5 lines 5-6, col. 9 lines 24-30). Device may display a graphic menu (e.g., application) to select among various user priorities (col. 3 lines 66-67, col. 5 lines 2-4, col. 6 lines 3-12 – UE receives user inputs indicating priorities for users, services, devices and/or locations, col. 6 lines 41-53 – UE displays a graphic user menu indicating one or more user priorities for selection).
Hirschman teaches at col. 7 lines 8-40:
(41) FIG. 7 illustrates an exemplary graphical menu 700 for display to a user to control communication usage among users in a rating group. Menu 700 lists various users and user devices in the rating group along with user-definable priorities using a scale from 1-10. Menu 700 also lists various services and locations in the rating group with additional user-definable priorities. Services include voice calling, video calling, video streaming, audio streaming, web browsing, email, virtual networking, and the like. Locations might include home and work locations for various users, although these may vary by example.
(42) The priorities are used to reallocate the credits remaining for the rating group. Various rules could be used for this purpose. The priorities might correlate to percentages of remaining credit, so a high priority of 1 might receive 80% of remaining credits where a low priority of 10 gets 0% of remaining credits. The priorities may be sequenced by type where "user" priorities are used first to perform an initial allocation, and then other priorities (device, location, service) are used to adjust the initial priorities in a weighted fashion. Various allocation techniques could be used to translate the priorities into the allocations.
(43) In some examples, combinations of these items could be selected and prioritized. For example, the user might select a given device and service combination (like their tablet computer device and an email service) to receive top priority in a communication resource reclamation from one quota to the next. In other examples, a combination, such as a location and a service could be given a lowest priority to shift resources to other uses. Thus, the combination of a home location and a video streaming service could be given the lowest priority in a communication resource reclamation from one quota to the next.
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to modify D1 to display a graphic menu as taught by Hirschman in order to enable the user to dynamically prioritize devices and/or communication services (Hirschman – col. 1 lines 25-30).
Regarding amendment dated 1/21/2025. Applicant amends and argues prior art does not teach wherein the network node of a charging system exposes a list of service IDs/Rating Group IDs to the subscriber through the portal or application.
The Examiner notes Hirschman exposes a list of service IDS/Rating group IDs to the user through the portal of the UE (col. 5 lines 1-5 – UE may display a graphic menu to select among various user priorities, col. 6 lines 1-3 and lines 41-42 wherein UE displays a graphic menu to select one or more user priorities, figure 7, col. 7 lines 8-40 – graphical menu for display for a user to control communications usage among users in a rating group).
Wolf teaches a network server (0041 – system depicted in figure 2 may be implemented at network server) displays through the portal or webpage a list of prioritized network services wherein the list allows the user to more easily and/or efficiently select a suitable local network service 302-310 for use by the UE than if local network services were displayed alphabetically and/or according to a non-usage based order. For example, the list may encourage the user to immediately select one of the first three local network services 302-306 instead of requiring the user to scroll through a long list of local network services to find an unsecured WiFi network with high signal strength (figure 3, 0038, 0044) .
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to modify D1 in view of Hirschman to have the network node provide a graphic menu/list as taught by Wolf in order to enable the user to more quickly prioritize devices and/or communication services (Hirschman – col. 1 lines 25-30 and Wolf at 0044) which saves on UE power since the network side stores and processes the list.
Regarding claims 26 and 34. D1 teaches wherein applying the preferential granting scheme comprises increasing a quota size used for granting service units in response to the request, where the increase is relative to a quota size that would be used absent grant competition between prioritized and non-prioritized communication services (page 9 – the subscriber can prioritize any service of his choice … the subscriber is making a voice call to his friend at the same time as a popular movie song app on the UE is downloading, page 11 – page 12, figure 2b at steps 209-214 – the UE receives low balance indication and in response the UE sends an indication that ongoing voice call is the prioritized service to the charging function so that the voice call service can get the maximum remaining credit units when there is shortage of credit units (low balance condition). Credit units reserved by other communication sessions are made available to the voice service which allows the user to continue with his voice call to maximum the time without any disruption. It is up to the subscriber to prioritize any ongoing service over others during the low balance condition. page 12, figure 2b at step 212 – the charging function initiates termination of ongoing services except the prioritized service).
Regarding claims 27 and 35. D1 teaches wherein applying the preferential granting scheme comprises decreasing a quota size used for the competing grant of service units, where the decrease is relative to a quota size that would be used absent grant competition between prioritized and non-prioritized communication services (page 9 – the subscriber can prioritize any service of his choice … the subscriber is making a voice call to his friend at the same time as a popular movie song app on the UE is downloading, page 11 – page 12, figure 2b at steps 209-214 – the UE receives low balance indication and in response the UE sends an indication that ongoing voice call is the prioritized service to the charging function so that the voice call service can get the maximum remaining credit units when there is shortage of credit units (low balance condition). Credit units reserved by other communication sessions are made available to the voice service which allows the user to continue with his voice call to maximum the time without any disruption. It is up to the subscriber to prioritize any ongoing service over others during the low balance condition. page 12, figure 2b at step 212 – the charging function initiates termination of ongoing services except the prioritized service).
Regarding claim 28 and 36. D1 teaches wherein the grant of service units for the second communication service competes with the grant of service units for the first communication service based on the UE having or attempting to have overlapping sessions for the first and second communication services, and further based on the respective grants requiring corresponding credit reservations from a same source of credit (page 8 – the user may have multiple ongoing communication services that are charged to the same credit account. page 9 – the subscriber can prioritize any service of his choice … the subscriber is making a voice call to his friend at the same time as a popular movie song app on the UE is downloading, page 11 – page 12, figure 2b at steps 209-214 – the UE receives low balance indication and in response the UE sends an indication that ongoing voice call is the prioritized service to the charging function so that the voice call service can get the maximum remaining credit units when there is shortage of credit units (low balance condition). Credit units reserved by other communication sessions are made available to the voice service which allows the user to continue with his voice call to maximum the time without any disruption. It is up to the subscriber to prioritize any ongoing service over others during the low balance condition. page 12, figure 2b at step 212 – the charging function initiates termination of ongoing services except the prioritized service).
Regarding claims 29 and 37. D1 teaches wherein applying the preferential granting scheme comprises temporarily overriding an existing granting scheme that would be used absent the prioritized designation for the first communication service (page 14, figure 4 at steps 307-308 – the method proceeds to step 307 if no input has been received and the charging function checks if a predefined priority exist for the subscriber. If no predefined priority for ongoing services does not exist the legacy call flow for credit flow application. All services consume credit until balance drops to zero value without any priority).
Regarding claims 30 and 38. D1 does not teach wherein the existing granting scheme is a Dynamic Service Configuration (DSC) scheme that, for each given communication service for which the UE requests grants of service units, corresponding quota sizes for granting service units are determined dynamically as a function of ongoing quota usage.
Hirschman teaches at col. 7 lines 8-40:
(41) FIG. 7 illustrates an exemplary graphical menu 700 for display to a user to control communication usage among users in a rating group. Menu 700 lists various users and user devices in the rating group along with user-definable priorities using a scale from 1-10. Menu 700 also lists various services and locations in the rating group with additional user-definable priorities. Services include voice calling, video calling, video streaming, audio streaming, web browsing, email, virtual networking, and the like. Locations might include home and work locations for various users, although these may vary by example.
(42) The priorities are used to reallocate the credits remaining for the rating group. Various rules could be used for this purpose. The priorities might correlate to percentages of remaining credit, so a high priority of 1 might receive 80% of remaining credits where a low priority of 10 gets 0% of remaining credits. The priorities may be sequenced by type where "user" priorities are used first to perform an initial allocation, and then other priorities (device, location, service) are used to adjust the initial priorities in a weighted fashion. Various allocation techniques could be used to translate the priorities into the allocations.
(43) In some examples, combinations of these items could be selected and prioritized. For example, the user might select a given device and service combination (like their tablet computer device and an email service) to receive top priority in a communication resource reclamation from one quota to the next. In other examples, a combination, such as a location and a service could be given a lowest priority to shift resources to other uses. Thus, the combination of a home location and a video streaming service could be given the lowest priority in a communication resource reclamation from one quota to the next.
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to modify D1 to use the dynamic service quota scheme as taught by Hirschman in order to enable the user to dynamically prioritize devices and/or communication services (Hirschman – col. 1 lines 25-30).
Regarding claims 31 and 39. D1 teaches wherein the prioritized designation is received as a runtime input to the charging system (page 22, figure 5b at steps 514-515 – priority is chosen at run time).
Regarding claim 40. D1 does not teach wherein, to apply the preferential granting scheme, the processing circuitry is configured to override an existing granting scheme for the duration of a session established with respect to consumption of the first communication service by the UE.
Hirschman teaches at col. 7 lines 8-40:
(41) FIG. 7 illustrates an exemplary graphical menu 700 for display to a user to control communication usage among users in a rating group. Menu 700 lists various users and user devices in the rating group along with user-definable priorities using a scale from 1-10. Menu 700 also lists various services and locations in the rating group with additional user-definable priorities. Services include voice calling, video calling, video streaming, audio streaming, web browsing, email, virtual networking, and the like. Locations might include home and work locations for various users, although these may vary by example.
(42) The priorities are used to reallocate the credits remaining for the rating group. Various rules could be used for this purpose. The priorities might correlate to percentages of remaining credit, so a high priority of 1 might receive 80% of remaining credits where a low priority of 10 gets 0% of remaining credits. The priorities may be sequenced by type where "user" priorities are used first to perform an initial allocation, and then other priorities (device, location, service) are used to adjust the initial priorities in a weighted fashion. Various allocation techniques could be used to translate the priorities into the allocations.
(43) In some examples, combinations of these items could be selected and prioritized. For example, the user might select a given device and service combination (like their tablet computer device and an email service) to receive top priority in a communication resource reclamation from one quota to the next. In other examples, a combination, such as a location and a service could be given a lowest priority to shift resources to other uses. Thus, the combination of a home location and a video streaming service could be given the lowest priority in a communication resource reclamation from one quota to the next.
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to modify D1 to use the dynamic service quota scheme as taught by Hirschman in order to dynamically override the current quota scheme based on location and service type.
Regarding claim 41. D1 does not teach wherein the existing reservation scheme is a Dynamic Service Configuration (DSC) scheme that, for each given communication service for which the UE requests grants of service units, corresponding quota sizes for granting service units are determined dynamically as a function of ongoing quota usage.
Hirschman teaches at col. 7 lines 8-40:
(41) FIG. 7 illustrates an exemplary graphical menu 700 for display to a user to control communication usage among users in a rating group. Menu 700 lists various users and user devices in the rating group along with user-definable priorities using a scale from 1-10. Menu 700 also lists various services and locations in the rating group with additional user-definable priorities. Services include voice calling, video calling, video streaming, audio streaming, web browsing, email, virtual networking, and the like. Locations might include home and work locations for various users, although these may vary by example.
(42) The priorities are used to reallocate the credits remaining for the rating group. Various rules could be used for this purpose. The priorities might correlate to percentages of remaining credit, so a high priority of 1 might receive 80% of remaining credits where a low priority of 10 gets 0% of remaining credits. The priorities may be sequenced by type where "user" priorities are used first to perform an initial allocation, and then other priorities (device, location, service) are used to adjust the initial priorities in a weighted fashion. Various allocation techniques could be used to translate the priorities into the allocations.
(43) In some examples, combinations of these items could be selected and prioritized. For example, the user might select a given device and service combination (like their tablet computer device and an email service) to receive top priority in a communication resource reclamation from one quota to the next. In other examples, a combination, such as a location and a service could be given a lowest priority to shift resources to other uses. Thus, the combination of a home location and a video streaming service could be given the lowest priority in a communication resource reclamation from one quota to the next.
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to modify D1 to use the dynamic service quota scheme as taught by Hirschman in order to enable the user to dynamically prioritize devices and/or communication services (Hirschman – col. 1 lines 25-30).
Regarding claims 32 and 42. D1 teaches wherein the method further comprises receiving input from the UE or from a computer system associated with the subscriber, the input indicating that the first communication service has been prioritized by the subscriber (page 11 – page 12, figure 2b at steps 209-214 – the UE receives low balance indication and in response the UE sends an indication that ongoing voice call is the prioritized service to the charging function so that the voice call service can get the maximum remaining credit units when there is shortage of credit units (low balance condition). Credit units reserved by other communication sessions are made available to the voice service which allows the user to continue with his voice call to maximum the time without any disruption. It is up to the subscriber to prioritize any ongoing service over others during the low balance condition. page 12, figure 2b at step 212 – the charging function initiates termination of ongoing services except the prioritized service).
Regarding claim 43. D1 teaches wherein the processing circuitry is configured to maintain a subscriber database operative to register prioritization designations input by the subscriber for respective communication services or types of communication services (page 31, figure 6 at steps 601-602 – subscriber may use a user portal (self-care) on the UE to setup the priorities of its subscribed communication services and the user portal sends the personalized priorities services and rating groups to a Unified Data Repository (UDR)).
Response to Arguments
2. Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 25-44 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.
Conclusion
3. The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
---(2014/0378094) Gillick et al teaches dynamically adjusting the quota size for communication sessions.
---(2018/0205698) Gupta teaches using web portal and/or application for providing the user with a list services that he/she may select/prioritize (0027).
4. 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.
5. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to BARRY W TAYLOR whose telephone number is (571)272-7509. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Thursday: 7-5.
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/BARRY W TAYLOR/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2646