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 .
DETAILED ACTION
This communication is a non-Final office action on merit. Claims 45-64, after preliminary amendment, are presently pending and have been considered below.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 2/27/2023, 4/4/2023, 5/2/2023, 5/16/2024, and 7/15/2025 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102 of this title, 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 set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 148 USPQ 459 (1966), that are applied 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.
Claims 45-64 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 2018/0041913 A1, Zhu et al. (hereinafter Zhu) in view of US 2022/0417780 A1, Liu et al. (hereinafter Liu).
1.-44. (Canceled).
As to claim 45, Zhu discloses a method for a user equipment (UE) to perform radio-layer and application-layer measurements in a radio access network (RAN) (Figs 11-12), the method comprising:
receiving the following from a RAN node: a first configuration of radio-layer measurements to be performed by the UE (Figs 9-10, 12, UE to perform MDT metrics configured by the network; pars 0005, 0061-0065, note MDT is radio-layer measurement), a second configuration of application-layer measurements to be performed by the UE (Fig 8; pars 0053-0055, UE to measure the QoE metrics in accordance with the configuration provided via the link 818 from the network. Note that the QoE measurement is performed in an application layer), and
an indication that the radio-layer measurements and the application-layer measurements should be linked (Figs 12-14; pars 0071-0073, MDT and QoE metrics being correlated and combined, indicating the link of both);
based on the second configuration, performing application-layer measurements (Figs 12-14); and
performing radio-layer measurements based on the first configuration, wherein at least a portion of the radio-layer measurements are performed concurrently with at least a portion of the application-layer measurements (Figs 12-14; par 0071, QoE being correlated with MDT, e.g. both measurements are concurrently performed at least partially), wherein performing radio-layer measurements comprises receiving, by a UE radio layer from a UE application layer, a second start indication and initiating the radio- layer measurements in response to the second start indication (Figs 10-11; pars 0064-0071, the MDT measurements being configured by the network (eNB) and passed from RRC signaling to PDCP sublayer where the MDT measurements are performed. The start/stop timing of QoE measurement being passed down and the MDT start/stop timing then determined based on QoE timing for correlation/combination of both measurements).
Zhu does not expressly disclose based on the application-layer measurements being related to one or more applications.
Liu, in the same or similar field of endeavor, further teaches the QoE measurements may be used for one or more applications and services (pars 0066-0068, 0174).
Therefore, consider Zhu and Liu’s teachings as a whole, it would have been obvious to one of skill in the art before the filing date of invention to incorporate Liu’s teachings in Zhu’s method to provide quality of experience metrics for specific applications and services.
As to claim 46, Zhu as modified discloses the method of claim 45, wherein performing the application-layer measurements comprises:
receiving, by a UE application layer from a UE radio layer, one of the following first control indications for the application-layer measurements: a first start indication, a first stop indication, a first suspend indication, or a first resume indication (Zhu: par 0071, QoE attributes including startTime, stopTime; Liu: pars 0037, 0075, 0094, start, stop, suspend or resume indication of the QoE measurements); and performing one of the following operations in response to the received first control indication: initiating the application-layer measurements in response to the first start indication (Zhu: par 0071; Liu: par 0030); stopping ongoing application-layer measurements in response to the first stop indication (Zhu: par 0071; Liu: pars 0028, 0037, 0047, 0070, stopping QoE measurement); suspending ongoing application-layer measurements in response to the first suspend indication (Liu: par 0028, 0037, 0047, 0070, suspending QoE measurement); or resuming suspended application-layer measurements in response to the first resume indication (Liu: par 0029, 0070, 0075, 0079, resuming QoE measurement).
As to claim 47, Zhu as modified discloses the method of claim 45, wherein performing radio-layer measurements further comprises: receiving, by a UE radio layer from a UE application layer, one of the following second control indications for the radio-layer measurements: a second stop indication, a second suspend indication, or a second resume indication (Zhu: par 0071, timestamp for MDT measurement, the MDT parameters log correlated to QoE starTime and stopTime); and performing one of the following operations in response to the second control indication: stopping ongoing radio-layer measurements in response to the second stop indication; suspend ongoing radio-layer measurements in response to the second suspend indication; or resuming paused radio-layer measurements in response to the second resume indication (Zhu: par 0071, timestamp for MDT measurement, performing the MDT measurement based on parameters and timestamp provided).
As to claim 48, Zhu as modified discloses the method of claim 45, wherein the indication that the radio-layer and application-layer measurements should be linked comprises one or more of the following: a radio-layer measurement identifier that is included in the second configuration, an application-layer measurement identifier that is included in the first configuration (Zhu: pars 0061, 0070, 0083, session IDs and loggings; Liu: pars 0075, 0100, 0191), a common sampling rate and duration included in the first and second configurations, a common start time included in the first and second configurations (Zhu: pars 0066-0072), a start time offset in one of the first and second configurations that is relative to a start time in the other of the first and second configurations (Zhu: Figs 11-12; pars 0066-0072, 0077, 0083, correlation between the MDT and QoE measurement and timing offset of the measurement), a common end time included in the first and second configurations, an end time offset in one of the first and second configurations that is relative to an end time in the other of the first and second configurations (Zhu: Figs 11-12; pars 0066-0072, 0077, 0083), and an explicit indication that at least a portion of the radio-layer measurements should be performed concurrently with at least a portion of the application-layer measurements (see rejection in claim 45).
As to claim 49, Zhu as modified discloses the method of claim 45, wherein the first configuration includes one or more of the following: a pause criterion for the radio-layer measurements that is related to the application-layer measurements (Zhu: pars 0045, 0050, 0064, resources allocation/signal quality consideration for deactivation of measurement), a first absolute time, a time offset relative to a second time included in the second configuration (Zhu: pars 0061, 0077, 0083), an indication that radio-layer measurement reports should include associations between radio resources and particular applications (Liu: pars 0037, 0066-0068, 0174), and a request to inform the RAN node when the UE radio layer receives a first control indication from the UE application layer (Zhu: Figs 9-11; pars 0054, 0060-0064, reporting to RAN node the measurement configuration/metrics received).
As to claim 50, Zhu as modified discloses the method of claim 45, wherein the second configuration includes one or more of the following: a pause criterion for the application-layer measurements that is related to the radio-layer measurements (Liu: par 0070, suspending the ongoing QoE measurement due to a network workload (e.g. criterion)), a second absolute time (Zhu: par 0061, absolute time stamp), a time offset relative to a first absolute time included in the first configuration (Zhu: pars 0077, 0083, time offset), and an indication that application-layer measurement reports should include associations between radio resources and particular applications (Zhu: Figs 10-12; pars 0066-0072, correlation between the MDT and QoE measurements).
As to claim 51, Zhu as modified discloses the method of claim 45, wherein: the radio-layer measurements are performed based on the first configuration while the UE is operating in a first cell (Zhu: Figs 2, 7A; pars 0060-0062); the method further comprises connecting to a second cell and performing radio-layer measurements in the second cell based on a further first configuration (Zhu: Figs 2, 7A; pars 0060-0062); and the application-layer measurements are performed in the first and second cells based on the second configuration (Zhu: Figs 2, 7A; pars 0060-0062, 0064; Liu: pars 0079, 0160, QoE measurements can be performed by the UE using the QoE configuration provided in source and target cells).
As to claim 52, Zhu as modified discloses the method of claim 45, further comprising sending, to the RAN node, one or more of the following: one or more measurement timing parameters included in the second configuration (Zhu: Fig 8; pars 0053-0054, 0056-0057, UE to report measurement timing parameters configured by the network including measurement interval, report interval, time period, etc. to the QoE server), a first measurement report related to the performed radio-layer measurements (Zhu: Fig 9; pars 0061-0064, UE to report MDT performed by the UE), a second measurement report related to the performed application-layer measurements (Zhu: Fig 8; pars 0053-0054, 0056-0057, 0060).
As to claim 53, Zhu as modified discloses the method of claim 45, wherein: the radio-layer measurements are minimization of drive testing (MDT) or trace measurements (Zhu: Figs 9-10, 12; pars 0005, 0061-0065), and the application-layer measurements are quality-of-experience (QoE) measurements (Zhu: Figs 8, 12; pars 0005, 0053-0055, UE to measure and report a QoE metrics).
As to claim 54, it recites similar features and functions to claim 45. Rejection of claim 45 is incorporated herein. Nevertheless, Zhu as modified discloses a method for a radio access network (RAN) node to configure a user equipment (UE) to perform radio-layer and application-layer measurements (Zhu: Figs 1, 8-9), the method comprising: receiving, from a network node or function outside the RAN, a second configuration of application-layer measurements to be performed by the UE in relation to one or more applications (Zhu: Fig 8; pars 0053-0055, UE to measure the QoE metrics in accordance with the configuration provided from the network; Liu: pars 0066-0068, 0174); sending the following to the UE: a first configuration of radio-layer measurements to be performed by the UE (Zhu: Figs 9-10, 12, UE to perform MDT metrics configured by the network; pars 0005, 0061-0065), the second configuration, and an indication that the radio-layer and application-layer measurements by the UE should be linked (Zhu: Figs 12-14; pars 0071-0073, MDT and QoE metrics being correlated and combined, indicating the link of both); and performing radio-layer measurements that are linked with application-layer measurements performed by the UE based on the second configuration (Zhu: Figs 12-14; pars 0071-0073). See motivation statement in claim 45.
As to claim 55, it is rejected with the same reason as set forth in claim 48.
As to claim 56, it is rejected with the same reason as set forth in claim 49.
As to claim 57, it is rejected with the same reason as set forth in claim 50.
As to claim 58, it is rejected with the same reason as set forth in claim 52.
As to claim 59, it is rejected with the same reason as set forth in claim 53.
As to claim 60, it is a device (UE) claim encompassed claim 45. Rejection of claim 45 is therefore incorporated herein.
As to claims 61-62, they are rejected with the same reason as set forth in claims 46-47, respectively.
As to claim 63, it is a device (RAN node) claim encompassed claim 54. Rejection of claim 54 is therefore incorporated herein.
As to claim 64, it is rejected with the same reason as set forth in claim 55.
Examiner’s Note
Examiner has cited particular column, line number, paragraphs and/or figure(s) in the reference(s) as applied to the claims for the convenience of the Applicant. Although the specified citations are representative of the teachings of the art and are applied to the specific limitations within the individual claim, other passages and figures may apply as well. It is respectfully requested from the applicant in preparing responses, to fully consider the reference(s) in entirety as potentially teaching all or part of the claimed invention, as well as the context of the passage as taught by the prior art or disclosed by the Examiner.
Contact Information
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Qun Shen whose telephone number is (571) 270-7927. The examiner can normally be reached on Mon-Friday from 9:00-5:00. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner's Supervisor, Amandeep Saini can be reached on (571) 272-3382. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is (571) 273-8300. Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free).
/QUN SHEN/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2662