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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claims 1-2, 6, 8-11, 15, 17-20, 24, 26-29, 33, is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being obvious over SANG et al (US 20150312831) in view of CHANG et al (US 2024/0340939) further in view of LINS DE MEDEIROS et al (US 2025/0294404)
Regarding claim 1, 10, 19, 28, SANG discloses a method/UE/CRM/apparatus of wireless communication performed by a user equipment (UE), comprising:
identifying a first throughput estimate using a first throughput estimation technique based at least in part on a threshold being satisfied at a first time (SANG: ¶46-55, ¶69, ¶48-49, ¶92, Fig. 8, ¶81, ¶78, the throughput is measured using a first estimation when the utilization of radio resources is above a threshold level (connected)),
identifying a second throughput estimate using a second throughput estimation technique based at least in part on the threshold not being satisfied at a second time (SANG: ¶46-55, ¶70, Fig. 8, ¶78, the throughput is measured using a second estimation (see ¶50) when the utilization of radio resources is below a threshold level (not connected i.e. not using resources to communicate service information and a QoS requirement is present)); and communicating based at least in part on the first throughput estimate or the second throughput estimate (SANG: Fig. 4, ¶67, UE performs an admission control procedures).
SANG remains silent regarding a threshold being adjustable based at least in part on a scheduling rate of the UE.
However, CHANG et al (US 2024/0340939) discloses the threshold is a value of utilization of the resources of the UE and is adjustable (CHANG: ¶35, decision threshold is variable/adjustable value of the resource utilization of the UE).
A person of ordinary skill in the art working with the invention of SANG would have been motivated to use the teachings of CHANG as it provides an optimal threshold which takes time to converge (¶36). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify invention of SANG with teachings of CHANG in order to optimize threshold.
SANG modified by CHANG remains silent regarding the utilization of the resources being scheduling rate of the resources.
However, LINS DE MEDEIROS et al (US 2025/0294404) discloses the utilization of the resources being scheduling rate of the resources (LINS DE MEDEIROS: ¶73, the utilization of resource is scheduling rate i.e. percentage/ratio of schedule to schedulable resources).
A person of ordinary skill in the art working with the invention of SANG modified by CHANG would have been motivated to use the teachings of LINS DE MEDEIROS as it provides a way determine utilization in the prior art in terms of simple ratio, thereby keeping the resource management simple. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify invention of SANG modified by CHANG with teachings of LINS DE MEDEIROS in order to improve simplicity of resource management.
Regarding claim 6, 15, 24, 33, SANG modified by CHANG modified by LINS DE MEDEIROS discloses method of claim 1/10/19/28, wherein the first throughput estimation technique is based at least in part on an observed data rate at a layer of the UE higher than a physical layer (SANG: ¶71, IP layer and RAN layer measurements are used to estimate throughput estimation).
Regarding claim 8, 17, 26 SANG modified by CHANG modified by LINS DE MEDEIROS discloses method of claim 1/10/19, further comprising switching between the first throughput estimation technique and the second throughput estimation technique based at least in part on a current value of the threshold (SANG: ¶46-55, ¶70, Fig. 8, the throughput is measured using a second estimation (see ¶50) when the utilization of radio resources is below a threshold level; CHANG: ¶36, decision threshold is variable/adjustable value).
Regarding claim 9, 18, 27, SANG modified by CHANG modified by LINS DE MEDEIROS discloses method of claim 1/10/19, further comprising determining the threshold based at least in part on the scheduling rate (CHANG: ¶36, decision threshold is variable/adjustable based on the resource utilization rate).
Claims 3-4, 12-13, 21-22, 30-31 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being obvious over SANG modified by CHANG modified by LINS DE MEDEIROS as applied to claim 1/10/19/28 above, further in view of YANG et al (US 2020/0394137)
Regarding claim 3, 12, 21, 30 SANG modified by CHANG modified by LINS DE MEDEIROS discloses method of claim 1/10/19, wherein the threshold is adjustable based at least in part on the scheduling rate (CHANG: ¶36, decision threshold is variable/adjustable based on the resource utilization rate).
SANG modified by CHANG modified by LINS DE MEDEIROS remains silent regarding moving average derived from the scheduling rate.
However, YANG et al (US 2020/0394137) discloses moving average derived from the scheduling rate (YANG: ¶63-64, the moving average is used to determine an average scheduling/utilization rate).
A person of ordinary skill in the art working with the invention of SANG modified by CHANG modified by LINS DE MEDEIROS would have been motivated to use the teachings of YANG as it optimizes calculation by using an average value over a period of time for a utilization rate thereby reducing processing load of using a real-time value that could overwhelm the system. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify invention of SANG modified by CHANG modified by LINS DE MEDEIROS with teachings of YANG in order to improve user devices
Regarding claim 4, 13, 22, 31 SANG modified by CHANG modified by LINS DE MEDEIROS modified by YANG discloses method of claim 3/12/19/30, wherein the moving average comprises an exponential moving average (YANG: ¶63-64, exponentially moving average scheduling/utilization rate).
Claims 5, 14, 23, 32 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being obvious over SANG modified by CHANG modified by LINS DE MEDEIROS modified by YANG as applied to claim 3/12/19 above, further in view of BROWNE et al (US 2019/0004922)
Regarding claim 5, 14, 23, 32, SANG modified by CHANG modified by LINS DE MEDEIROS modified by YANG discloses method of claim 3/12/19/30, wherein the moving average is used (YANG: ¶63-64, exponentially moving average scheduling/utilization rate)
SANG modified by CHANG modified by LINS DE MEDEIROS modified by YANG remains silent regarding moving average is based at least in part on a moving average convergence divergence technique.
However, BROWNE et al (US 2019/0004922) discloses moving average is based at least in part on a moving average convergence divergence technique (BROWNE: ¶23, ¶40, moving average convergence divergence values are used to determine the moving average).
A person of ordinary skill in the art working with the invention of SANG modified by CHANG modified by LINS DE MEDEIROS modified by YANG would have been motivated to use the teachings of BROWNE as it uses a technique that makes it easier to track trends in values of counters (¶23). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify invention of SANG modified by CHANG modified by LINS DE MEDEIROS modified by YANG with teachings of BROWNE in order to improve tracking of the value trends.
Claims 7, 16, 25, 34 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being obvious over SANG modified by CHANG modified by LINS DE MEDEIROS as applied to claim 1/10/19/28 above, further in view of PICA et al (US 20140334318)
Regarding claim 7, 16, 25, 34 SANG modified by CHANG modified by LINS DE MEDEIROS discloses method of claim 1/10/19/28, wherein the second throughput estimation technique is based at least in part on the scheduling rate ((SANG: ¶46-55, ¶69, Fig. 8, the throughput is measured using a first estimation when the utilization of radio resources is above a threshold level; CHANG: ¶36, decision threshold is variable/adjustable based on the resource utilization rate)
SANG modified by CHANG modified by LINS DE MEDEIROS remains silent regarding throughput based on a power headroom of the UE.
However, PICA et al (US 20140334318) discloses throughput based on a power headroom of the UE. (PICA: ¶132-133, power headroom estimating which is then used to estimate throughput).
A person of ordinary skill in the art working with the invention of SANG modified by CHANG modified by LINS DE MEDEIROS would have been motivated to use the teachings of PICA as it provides a way to improve throughput estimate based on available power headroom to achieve the optimal QoS. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify invention of SANG modified by CHANG modified by LINS DE MEDEIROS with teachings of PICA in order to improve QoS.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 8/29/2025 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Applicants argue,
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Examiner respectfully disagrees with the above argument. Applicants take a position that SANG modified by CHANG does not disclose that the “threshold is a value of a scheduling rate of the UE and is adjustable”. Examiner respectfully submits that CHANG discloses:
[0035] Another solution for the resource allocation problems is to predict the resource usage of the UE and then make resource allocation decisions by comparing the predicted resource usage to a threshold that is dynamically adapted to the traffic load. However, only the general idea of adapting the decision threshold to the traffic load is introduced and the concrete way how the decision threshold dynamically adapts to the traffic load is not presented.
The above portion of CHANG teaches the threshold to be of a value of resource utilization.
SANG modified by CHANG remains silent regarding the utilization of the resources being scheduling rate of the resources.
However, the newly cited reference, LINS DE MEDEIROS et al (US 2025/0294404), discloses the utilization of the resources being scheduling rate of the resources (LINS DE MEDEIROS: ¶73, the utilization of resource is scheduling rate i.e. percentage/ratio of schedule to schedulable resources).
A person of ordinary skill in the art working with the invention of SANG modified by CHANG would have been motivated to use the teachings of LINS DE MEDEIROS as it provides a way determine utilization in the prior art in terms of simple ratio, thereby keeping the resource management simple. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify invention of SANG modified by CHANG with teachings of LINS DE MEDEIROS in order to improve simplicity of resource management.
A person of ordinary skill in the art would reasonably interpret the above as the threshold being adaptable which is equivalent to being adjustable, and having a value of scheduling ratio/percentage which is equivalent to scheduling rate.
All arguments are based on arguments addressed as above and are fully addressed as above.
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.
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OMER S. MIAN
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2461
/OMER S MIAN/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2461