DETAILED ACTION
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Claims 1-14 are pending.
Information Disclosure Statement
The references cited in the information disclosure statements (IDS) submitted on 06/15/2023 have been considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
Claim 10 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claim 10 recites “wherein the local device is connected to the remote device via a communication line for which prediction of communication delay and jitter is difficult, and is connected to the control target device via a communication line for which the prediction of the communication delay and the jitter is not difficult.” It is unclear what Applicant means by “is difficult” and “is not difficult,” as to how it is determined whether the communication delay and the jitter is difficult or not. For purposes of examination, the elements “is difficult” and “is not difficult” are not given patentable weights. Appropriate clarification through claim amendment is respectfully requested.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1, 7, 10 and 12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Kozat et al. (US 2018/0124183 A1) (“Kozat”).
Regarding independent claim 1, Kozat teaches:
A control system comprising: a state machine to make a state transition among a plurality of states each set with either of a remote control attribute and a local control attribute as an attribute; and (Kozat: [0006] “One or more embodiments provide for offloading of control decisions based on switch-local states to the switch side in a programmatic way from a remote controller. One or more embodiments provide a technique for implementing a policy-driven distributed control plane. The control logic may be moved closer to the transport resources in a programmable way to deliver high-speed control to achieve low latency and high throughput performance by avoiding bottlenecks due to the cloudification of the main control logic. A remote controller application still determines end-to-end policies, while policy enforcement is achieved at the local level. One or more embodiments are more versatile than the Policy and Charging Rules Function (PCRF)/Policy and Charging Enforcement Function (PCEF) approach in the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) standards, as complex control plane decision logic may be programmed at any point in the network”) (Kozat: [0047] “FIG. 11 illustrates a step 1110 in which recipes for state transitions are prepared, where each recipe is a set of instructions that are called in sequence. In an embodiment, recipes are created only for transitions that are to be controlled locally on a network element. Recipes are not created for transitions that are to be controlled remotely by a remote controller. The remote controller or some other component may determine which transitions are more suitable for local control by the network element than remote control by the remote controller.”) (Kozat: [0054] “A similar functionality may be gained by pushing actual codes to run in the control fabric of the network element (e.g., as containers). A remote controller may load or unload the codes onto the network element to change the control plane (as opposed to loading or unloading modules onto the packet processing pipeline) …”) [The determined suitability for local control or the switch-local states reads on “an attribute”. The state machine with the state transition among the plurality of states are illustrated in FIG. 11.]
processing circuitry to cause a remote device in a remote environment for a control target device to perform an output value generating process of generating an output value to the control target device, when the attribute of a current state of the state machine is the remote control attribute, and (Kozat: [0003] “In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, a method for controlling a network element by a remote controller comprising a processor coupled to a transmitter comprises modeling, by the processor, a state machine that controls transitions between operational states of the network element, offloading, by the transmitter, to the network element a portion of the state machine that controls a subset of the transitions, the subset comprising selected transitions that are more suitable for local control by the network element than remote control by the remote control application, and remotely controlling, by the processor, other transitions that are not in the subset of the transitions.”) (Kozat: [0040] “FIG. 7 illustrates an embodiment control flow 700 for posting an FSM rule. A message router 730 receives a set of FSM rules from a control application 710 via a “post FSM rules” message 720 or similar message. The message router 730 routes the rules to an FSM engine 750 via a “route FSM rules” message 740 or similar message. The FSM engine 750 saves the rules in an FSM table 770 via a “save FSM rules” message 760 or similar message. A FSM rule may specify a locally unique resource identifier, a first state that is matched against the current state of that resource, a second state that is matched against a target state of that resource, and a recipe identifier that points to a particular recipe to be executed to move the identified resource from the first state to the second state. For a FSM rule to be meaningful, a recipe with the specified recipe ID may need to be already stored in the cookbook.”) (Kozat: [0048] “In the example of FIG. 11, the transition from the first state 1020 to the second state 1030, the transition from the fourth state 1050 to the second state 1030, and the transition from the third state 1040 to the first state 1020 are to be offloaded to a network element. Thus, a first recipe 1120 is prepared and includes instructions for transitioning from the first state 1020 to the second state 1030. A second recipe 1130 is prepared and includes instructions for transitioning from the fourth state 1050 to the second state 1030. A third recipe 1140 is prepared and includes instructions for transitioning from the third state 1040 to the first state 1020. The transition from the second state 1030 to the third state 1040 and the transition from the third state 1040 to the fourth state 1050 are to be controlled remotely by the remote controller, so recipes are not created for those transitions. In this way, a programmable network element may be partially controlled locally by recipes stored in the network element and partially controlled remotely by the remote controller.”) [The state transition map, as illustrated in FIG. 11, reads on “an output value generating process of generating an output value”. The identified resource reads on “a control target device”. The processor of the remote controller reads on “a remote device in a remote environment for a control target device …”.]
to cause a local device in a local environment for the control target device to perform the output value generating process, when the attribute of the current state of the state machine is the local control attribute, (Kozat: [0040] and [0048] as discussed above) (Kozat: [0029] “In an embodiment, an apparatus and method are provided for running lightweight stateful control functions on network elements. The apparatus may consist of two tiers, where one tier comprises one or more remote control applications, and another tier comprises a network element (NE) with a control agent that hosts state machines for NE-local programmable entities, a cookbook of recipes, state machine tables, event-condition-action (ECA) tables, and corresponding engines to load, unload and execute actions specified by the tables. As used herein, the terms “network element” or “NE” may refer to a base station, a user equipment (UE), a switch, a gateway, or any similar component. A network element may also be referred to herein as a forwarding element.”) [The network element (NE) or NE-local programmable entities read on “a local device in a local environment”.]
wherein the state machine includes a remote state machine managed at the remote device and a local state machine managed at the local device, (Kozat: [0048] as discussed above) [The recipe for transitioning from the second state 1030 to the third state 1040 and transitioning from the third state 1040 to the fourth state 1050 are controlled remotely by the remote controller, and reads on “a remote state machine managed at the remote device”. The recipes for the other transitions are controlled by the network element, and reads on “a local state machine managed at the local device”.]
the remote state machine making a state transition among the plurality of states each set with either of the remote control attribute and the local control attribute as the attribute, the local state machine including a plurality of states identical to the plurality of states included in the remote state machine, and making a state transition in synchronization with the remote state machine, with an attribute identical to that of a corresponding state of the remote state machine being set to each state, (Kozat: [0059] “In some embodiments, the processing system 1500 models a state machine that controls transitions between operational states of the network element, offloads to the network element a portion of the state machine that controls a subset of the transitions, the subset comprising selected transitions that are more suitable for local control by the network element than remote control by the remote control application, and remotely controls other transitions that are not in the subset of the transitions.”)
the processing circuitry includes remote processing circuitry which operates at the remote device and manages the remote state machine, and local processing circuitry which operates at the local device and manages the local state machine, the remote processing circuitry causes the remote state machine to perform the output value generating process, when the attribute of the current state of the remote state machine is the remote control attribute, and the local processing circuitry causes the local state machine to perform the output value generating process, when the attribute of the current state of the local state machine is the local control attribute. (Kozat: [0003], [0029], [0040], [0047], [0048] and [0054] as discussed above) [The control applications, programs, instructions or recipes being executed by the network element reads on “local processing circuitry”. The control applications, programs, instructions or recipes being executed by the remote controller reads on “remote processing circuitry”.]
Regarding claim 7, Kozat teaches all the claimed features of claim 1. Kozat further teaches:
wherein the remote processing circuitry generates a program for causing the local state machine to perform the output value generating process as a local state machine program and outputs the generated local state machine program to the local processing circuitry, and the local processing circuitry sets the local state machine program to the local state machine. (Kozat: [0029] “In an embodiment, an apparatus and method are provided for running lightweight stateful control functions on network elements. The apparatus may consist of two tiers, where one tier comprises one or more remote control applications, and another tier comprises a network element (NE) with a control agent that hosts state machines for NE-local programmable entities, a cookbook of recipes, state machine tables, event-condition-action (ECA) tables, and corresponding engines to load, unload and execute actions specified by the tables. As used herein, the terms “network element” or “NE” may refer to a base station, a user equipment (UE), a switch, a gateway, or any similar component. A network element may also be referred to herein as a forwarding element.”) (Kovat: [0030] “The NE may be assumed to be remotely controllable. A remote control application capable of controlling an entity on an NE may first model the desired operational states of that entity and then push the resulting state machine onto the NE. Alternatively, a programmable entity may have a default state machine already hosted by the control agent on an NE. In the latter case, the remote control application may query a finite state machine (FSM) for the entity. Each controllable entity may be modeled as an FSM by the remote controller.”) (Kovat: [0031] “Once the state machine of a particular entity is stored on the NE, remote control applications can send instructions to the control agent on the NE to change the state of the entity from one state to another. Each state transition is accompanied by a series of locally executed control actions in a particular order. Such a collection of control actions executed in a particular order may be referred to as a recipe.”)
Regarding claim 10, Kozat teaches all the claimed features of claim 1. Kozat further teaches:
wherein the local device is connected to the remote device via a communication line for which prediction of communication delay and jitter is difficult, and is connected to the control target device via a communication line for which the prediction of the communication delay and the jitter is not difficult. (Kozat: [0027] “Several issues may arise when all control functions are offloaded to a network element 110 in the manner of FIG. 1. For example, the network element 110 may become bloated in such a case. Furthermore, if multiple control applications 130 act to program or configure the same forwarding module or pipeline 150, it may be unclear how to resolve conflicts. It may also be unclear how to isolate the policies of the control functions. In addition, there may be repetition across the control applications 130 regarding functions such as state maintenance and policy management. Moreover, it may be difficult to make dynamic changes in control functions. For instance, a complete new set of executable logic may need to be moved onto the network element 110 even when only a small number of statements or policies need to be changed. In addition to being inefficient, such a logic update may not be stateful.”) (Kozat: [0028] “In the next generation of networks, the needs of different workloads may need to be addressed in terms of latency and throughput while also satisfying the needs of operations support systems and business support systems (OSS/BSS) that may have a global network view to meet the end-to-end service requirements. A distributed and hierarchical control plane that can deploy control functions closer to the network elements that generate or aggregate the local states in a flexible and programmable way may address both performance needs as well as OSS/BSS needs. Embodiments disclosed herein provide solutions that enable such a distributed and hierarchical control plane.”)
Regarding claim 12, Kozat teaches all the claimed features of claim 1. Kozat further teaches:
wherein the local device is a gateway which is connected to the remote device and an input/output device connected to the control target device, and relays communication between the input/output device and the remote device. (Kozat: [0034] “FIG. 2 illustrates internal components of an embodiment NE 210 that can communicate with a control application 212. The control application 212 or remote controller is a software defined network-based external entity that may be a discrete entity residing in a single component or may be an entity that is distributed across multiple components. The control application 212 programs the NE 210 by sending instructions to a message router 214 in the NE 210. The message router 214 forwards the instructions coming from the control application 212 to at least one of three engines, an ECA engine 216, an FSM engine 218, and a cookbook (CB) engine 220. Each of these engines has a corresponding table (i.e., ECA table 222, FSM table 224, and cookbook 226) to store policy rules, state transition rules, and a set of instructions to be executed in response to the state transition requests and observed events. The ECA engine 216 and the FSM engine 218 call local instructions on entity controllers 228 (e.g., EC-1 through EC-k), which in return program, control, and/or observe one or more controlled entities 230 (e.g., E-11 through E-1i, E2 to E-k). States of the controlled entities 230 may be stored in a state table 232.”) (Kozat: [0035] “The ECA engine 216 may receive a policy rule that specifies an event to be observed, monitored, or measured by the NE 210, a condition statement that is to be satisfied, and an action or a sequence of actions that are to be taken if the condition statement is satisfied when the event is observed. Events typically correspond to state changes of local virtual resources (e.g., a virtual port or container), physical resources (e.g., ternary content-addressable memory (TCAM) or interface cards), or logical resources (e.g., flow tables, packet counters, tunnels, or paths). An event may be a composite event, where the state changes of more than one resource change are observed, monitored, or measured. Similarly, a condition statement may be a composite statement, where more than one condition is to be satisfied.”) (Kozat: [0042] “Once the FSM rules, ECA rules, and recipes are stored in the FSM table, ECA table, and cookbook as disclosed herein, the ECA engine has the pieces in place to execute event and condition based actions. FIG. 9 illustrates an embodiment control flow goo for event and condition based actions. One or more entity controllers 910 observe state changes for their local controller entities. If a state change for a monitored entity is detected, the detecting entity controller 910 notifies an ECA engine 920. In an embodiment, the entity controllers 910 notify the ECA engine 920 of all the state changes of their controlled entities. …”)
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.
Claims 2-6, 11 and 13-14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kozat, in view of HU et al. (US 2022/0283579 A1) (“Hu”).
Regarding claim 2, Kozat teaches all the claimed features of claim 1. Kozat does not expressly teach the recitations of claim 2.
Hu teaches:
wherein the processing circuitry, when the attribute of the current state of the state machine is the remote control attribute, causes the remote device to perform the output value generating process using an input value from the control target device, and (Hu: [0009] “An information processing terminal according to an aspect of the present disclosure is an information processing terminal mountable on a mobile body, including: a determiner that determines whether an event that requires remote operation of the mobile body has occurred; a transmitter that transmits information of the event, when the event has occurred; a receiver that receives a travel limitation of the mobile body in the remote operation and an instruction of the remote operation based on the information of the event transmitted; and a controller that causes the mobile body to execute travel control according to the instruction of the remote operation under the travel limitation received”) (Hu: [0075]-[0081] “Autonomous driving system 110 includes vehicle controller 111 and notifier 112. [0076] Vehicle controller 111 controls the travel of vehicle 100 based on a travel plan of autonomous driving. Vehicle controller 111 controls the speed, steering angle, etc. of vehicle 100 based on the travel plan. The travel plan includes a travel route, speed, etc. [0077] Notifier 112 notifies edge system 130 of the current state of vehicle 100 based on the vehicle information obtained in the autonomous driving mode. Notifier 112 may further notify edge system 130 of the obstacle information. When vehicle 100 becomes unable to travel, notifier 112 notifies edge system 130 that vehicle 100 has become unable to travel. [0078] First remote control system 120 is a control system for remotely operated driving mounted on vehicle 100. When vehicle 100 travels in the remote operation mode, first remote control system 120 controls the travel of vehicle 100 based on a remote operation instruction (for example, control command) of remote operation obtained from second remote control system 300. [0079] First remote control system 120 obtains vehicle information of vehicle 100 based on sensing information of various sensors (not illustrated) mounted on vehicle 100. For example, first remote control system 120 obtains the vehicle information of vehicle 100 in the remote operation mode. The vehicle information includes at least video. The vehicle information may include at least one of the current speed, steering angle, acceleration, or obstacle information of vehicle 100. [0080] First remote control system 120 includes vehicle controller 121 and video transmitter 122. [0081] Vehicle controller 121 controls the travel of vehicle 100 based on the remote operation instruction. Vehicle controller 121 controls the speed, steering angle, etc. of vehicle 100 based on the remote operation instruction. The remote operation instruction includes information indicating speed, steering angle, etc.”) [The remote control system generating the remote operation instruction reads on “remote device to perform the output value generating process”. The vehicle reads on “the control target device”, and the vehicle information from the vehicle reads on “an input value”. The determined event or the notification regarding vehicles ability to travel based on information, such as an obstacle information, reads on “the attribute of the current state”. The remote operation mode reads on “the remote control attribute”.]
when the attribute of the current state of the state machine is the local control attribute, causes the local device to perform the output value generating process using the input value from the control target device. (Hu: [0074] “Autonomous driving system 110 obtains vehicle information of vehicle 100 based on sensing information of various sensors (not illustrated) mounted on vehicle 100. For example, autonomous driving system 110 obtains the vehicle information of vehicle 100 in the autonomous driving mode. The vehicle information includes at least information relating to the travel of vehicle 100. In this embodiment, the vehicle information includes the information relating to the travel of vehicle 100 and information relating to the surroundings of vehicle 100. For example, the information relating to the travel of vehicle 100 includes at least one of the current speed, steering angle, or acceleration of vehicle 100. For example, the information relating to the surroundings of vehicle 100 includes at least one of information relating to obstacles (obstacle information) or video. The information relating to obstacles is information indicating the position and speed of each obstacle around vehicle 100. Non-Bruiting examples of the various sensors include a speed sensor, a steering angle sensor, LIDAR (light detection and ranging), radar (for example, millimeter-wave radar), an ultrasonic sensor, and an imaging device.”) [The autonomous driving mode reads on “the local control attribute”. The autonomous driving system operating the vehicle autonomously with various sensed information reads on “the local device to perform the output value generating process using the input value”.]
Accordingly, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, having the teachings of Kozat and Hu before them, to modify the state transition scheme of multiple states that divide the state transitions to execute partially remotely and partially locally to control the identified resource, to incorporate an ability to control the identified resource completely remotely through the local controller or completely locally through the local controller.
One of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have been motivated to do this modification because it would allow for a complete local control when suitable, and allow for a remote control when the identified resource is in a state when the local control is not suitable. (Hu: [0003])
Regarding claim 3, Kozat teaches all the claimed features of claim 1. Kozat does not expressly teach the recitations of claim 3.
Hu teaches:
wherein the remote processing circuitry, when the current state of the remote state machine is the remote control attribute, notifies the local processing circuitry of an output value generated at the remote state machine, and the local processing circuitry, when the attribute of the current state of the local state machine is the remote control attribute, transmits, to the control target device, the output value of which notification is provided from the remote processing circuitry, and (Hu: [0009] “An information processing terminal according to an aspect of the present disclosure is an information processing terminal mountable on a mobile body, including: a determiner that determines whether an event that requires remote operation of the mobile body has occurred; a transmitter that transmits information of the event, when the event has occurred; a receiver that receives a travel limitation of the mobile body in the remote operation and an instruction of the remote operation based on the information of the event transmitted; and a controller that causes the mobile body to execute travel control according to the instruction of the remote operation under the travel limitation received”) (Hu: [0075]-[0075] “Autonomous driving system 110 includes vehicle controller 111 and notifier 112. [0076] Vehicle controller 111 controls the travel of vehicle 100 based on a travel plan of autonomous driving. Vehicle controller 111 controls the speed, steering angle, etc. of vehicle 100 based on the travel plan. The travel plan includes a travel route, speed, etc. [0077] Notifier 112 notifies edge system 130 of the current state of vehicle 100 based on the vehicle information obtained in the autonomous driving mode. Notifier 112 may further notify edge system 130 of the obstacle information. When vehicle 100 becomes unable to travel, notifier 112 notifies edge system 130 that vehicle 100 has become unable to travel. [0078] First remote control system 120 is a control system for remotely operated driving mounted on vehicle 100. When vehicle 100 travels in the remote operation mode, first remote control system 120 controls the travel of vehicle 100 based on a remote operation instruction (for example, control command) of remote operation obtained from second remote control system 300. [0079] First remote control system 120 obtains vehicle information of vehicle 100 based on sensing information of various sensors (not illustrated) mounted on vehicle 100. For example, first remote control system 120 obtains the vehicle information of vehicle 100 in the remote operation mode. The vehicle information includes at least video. The vehicle information may include at least one of the current speed, steering angle, acceleration, or obstacle information of vehicle 100. [0080] First remote control system 120 includes vehicle controller 121 and video transmitter 122. [0081] Vehicle controller 121 controls the travel of vehicle 100 based on the remote operation instruction. Vehicle controller 121 controls the speed, steering angle, etc. of vehicle 100 based on the remote operation instruction. The remote operation instruction includes information indicating speed, steering angle, etc.”) [The determined event or the notification regarding vehicles ability to travel based on information, such as an obstacle information, reads on “the attribute”. The remote operation mode reads on “the remote control attribute”. The mobile body or the vehicle reads on “the control target device”. The instruction of the remote operation generated by the remote control system reads on “an output value generated at the remote state machine”. The controller or the vehicle controller causing the execution of the instruction to control the mobile body or the vehicle based on the instruction of the remote operation reads on “the local processing circuitry … transmits, to the control target device, the output value … from the remote processing circuitry”.]
when the attribute of the current state of the local state machine is the local control attribute, transmits, to the control target device, an output value generated at the local state machine. (Hu: [0074] “Autonomous driving system 110 obtains vehicle information of vehicle 100 based on sensing information of various sensors (not illustrated) mounted on vehicle 100. For example, autonomous driving system 110 obtains the vehicle information of vehicle 100 in the autonomous driving mode. The vehicle information includes at least information relating to the travel of vehicle 100. In this embodiment, the vehicle information includes the information relating to the travel of vehicle 100 and information relating to the surroundings of vehicle 100. For example, the information relating to the travel of vehicle 100 includes at least one of the current speed, steering angle, or acceleration of vehicle 100. For example, the information relating to the surroundings of vehicle 100 includes at least one of information relating to obstacles (obstacle information) or video. The information relating to obstacles is information indicating the position and speed of each obstacle around vehicle 100. Non-Bruiting examples of the various sensors include a speed sensor, a steering angle sensor, LIDAR (light detection and ranging), radar (for example, millimeter-wave radar), an ultrasonic sensor, and an imaging device.”) [The autonomous driving mode reads on “the local control attribute”. The autonomous driving system operating the vehicle autonomously with various sensed information reads on “the local device to perform the output value generating process using the input value”.]
Accordingly, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, having the teachings of Kozat and Hu before them, to modify the state transition scheme of multiple states that divide the state transitions to execute partially remotely and partially locally to control the identified resource, to incorporate an ability to control the identified resource completely remotely through the local controller or completely locally through the local controller.
One of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have been motivated to do this modification because it would allow for a complete local control when suitable, and allow for a remote control when the identified resource is in a state when the local control is not suitable. (Hu: [0003])
Regarding claim 4, Kozat and Hu teach all the claimed features of claims 1 and 3. Hu further teaches:
wherein the local processing circuitry repeatedly receives an input value from the control target device, and notifies the remote processing circuitry of the received input value whenever receiving the input value from the control target device, the remote processing circuitry, when the attribute of the current state of the remote state machine is the remote control attribute, causes the remote state machine to perform the output value generating process using the input value from the control target device, and the local processing circuitry, when the attribute of the current state of the local state machine is the remote control attribute, transmits, to the control target device, the output value of which notification is provided from the remote processing circuitry, and (Hu: [0009] and [0075]-[0081] as discussed in claim 3)
when the attribute of the current state of the local state machine is the local control attribute, causes the local state machine to perform the output value generating process using the input value from the control target device and transmits the output value generated at the local state machine to the control target device. (Hu: [0074] as discussed in claim 3)
The motivation to combine Kozat and Hu as described in claim 3 is incorporated herein.
Regarding claim 5, Kozat and Hu teach all the claimed features of claims 1 and 3-4. Kozat further teaches:
wherein the remote processing circuitry, when the attribute of the current state of the remote state machine is the remote control attribute, causes the remote state machine to decide a state transition destination based on the input value from the control target device, causes a state of the remote state machine to make a transition to the state transition destination, and notifies the local processing circuitry of the state transition destination, and the local processing circuitry, when notified of the state transition destination from the remote processing circuitry, causes a state of the local state machine to make a transition to the state transition destination of which notification is provided from the remote processing circuitry. (Kozat: [0048] and FIG. 11 as discussed in claim 1) [The remotely controlled transition from S2 to S3, for example as illustrated in FIG.11, reads on “the remote state machine to decide a state transition destination … causes a state of the remote state machine to make a transition”. The transition from S3 to S1 handed off to the NE, for example as illustrated in FIG. 11, reads on “when notified of the state transition destination … causes a state of the local state machine to make a transition …”.]
Regarding claim 6, Kozat and Hu teach all the claimed features of claims 1 and 3-4. Kozat further teaches:
wherein the local processing circuitry, when the attribute of the current state of the local state machine is the local control attribute, causes the local state machine to decide a state transition destination based on the input value from the control target device, causes a state of the local state machine to make a transition to the state transition destination, and notifies the remote processing circuitry of the state transition destination, and the remote processing circuitry, when notified of the state transition destination from the local processing circuitry, causes a state of the remote state machine to make a transition to the state transition destination of which notification is provided from the local processing circuitry. (Kozat: [0048] and FIG. 11 as discussed in claim 1) [The NE controlled transition from S1 to S2, for example as illustrated in FIG.11, reads on “the local state machine to decide a state transition destination … causes a state of the local state machine to make a transition”. The transition from S2 to S3 handed back to the remote control, for example as illustrated in FIG. 11, reads on “when notified of the state transition destination … causes a state of the remote state machine to make a transition …”.]
Regarding claim 11, Kozat and Hu teach all the claimed features of claims 1 and 3-4. Hu further teaches:
wherein the local processing circuitry receives the input value from the control target device from an input/output device connected to the control target device. (Hu: [0074] as discussed in claim 3)
The motivation to combine Kozat and Hu as described in claim 3 is incorporated herein.
Regarding independent claim 13, Kozat teaches:
A local device in a local environment for a control target device, the local device comprising: a local state machine to make a state transition among a plurality of states each set with either of a remote control attribute and a local control attribute as an attribute. (Kozat: [0006] “One or more embodiments provide for offloading of control decisions based on switch-local states to the switch side in a programmatic way from a remote controller. One or more embodiments provide a technique for implementing a policy-driven distributed control plane. The control logic may be moved closer to the transport resources in a programmable way to deliver high-speed control to achieve low latency and high throughput performance by avoiding bottlenecks due to the cloudification of the main control logic. A remote controller application still determines end-to-end policies, while policy enforcement is achieved at the local level. One or more embodiments are more versatile than the Policy and Charging Rules Function (PCRF)/Policy and Charging Enforcement Function (PCEF) approach in the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) standards, as complex control plane decision logic may be programmed at any point in the network”) (Kozat: [0029] “In an embodiment, an apparatus and method are provided for running lightweight stateful control functions on network elements. The apparatus may consist of two tiers, where one tier comprises one or more remote control applications, and another tier comprises a network element (NE) with a control agent that hosts state machines for NE-local programmable entities, a cookbook of recipes, state machine tables, event-condition-action (ECA) tables, and corresponding engines to load, unload and execute actions specified by the tables. As used herein, the terms “network element” or “NE” may refer to a base station, a user equipment (UE), a switch, a gateway, or any similar component. A network element may also be referred to herein as a forwarding element.”) (Kozat: [0035] “The ECA engine 216 may receive a policy rule that specifies an event to be observed, monitored, or measured by the NE 210, a condition statement that is to be satisfied, and an action or a sequence of actions that are to be taken if the condition statement is satisfied when the event is observed. Events typically correspond to state changes of local virtual resources (e.g., a virtual port or container), physical resources (e.g., ternary content-addressable memory (TCAM) or interface cards), or logical resources (e.g., flow tables, packet counters, tunnels, or paths). An event may be a composite event, where the state changes of more than one resource change are observed, monitored, or measured. Similarly, a condition statement may be a composite statement, where more than one condition is to be satisfied.”) (Kozat: [0040] “FIG. 7 illustrates an embodiment control flow 700 for posting an FSM rule. A message router 730 receives a set of FSM rules from a control application 710 via a “post FSM rules” message 720 or similar message. The message router 730 routes the rules to an FSM engine 750 via a “route FSM rules” message 740 or similar message. The FSM engine 750 saves the rules in an FSM table 770 via a “save FSM rules” message 760 or similar message. A FSM rule may specify a locally unique resource identifier, a first state that is matched against the current state of that resource, a second state that is matched against a target state of that resource, and a recipe identifier that points to a particular recipe to be executed to move the identified resource from the first state to the second state. For a FSM rule to be meaningful, a recipe with the specified recipe ID may need to be already stored in the cookbook.”) (Kozat: [0047] “FIG. 11 illustrates a step 1110 in which recipes for state transitions are prepared, where each recipe is a set of instructions that are called in sequence. In an embodiment, recipes are created only for transitions that are to be controlled locally on a network element. Recipes are not created for transitions that are to be controlled remotely by a remote controller. The remote controller or some other component may determine which transitions are more suitable for local control by the network element than remote control by the remote controller.”) (Kozat: [0048] “In the example of FIG. 11, the transition from the first state 1020 to the second state 1030, the transition from the fourth state 1050 to the second state 1030, and the transition from the third state 1040 to the first state 1020 are to be offloaded to a network element. Thus, a first recipe 1120 is prepared and includes instructions for transitioning from the first state 1020 to the second state 1030. A second recipe 1130 is prepared and includes instructions for transitioning from the fourth state 1050 to the second state 1030. A third recipe 1140 is prepared and includes instructions for transitioning from the third state 1040 to the first state 1020. The transition from the second state 1030 to the third state 1040 and the transition from the third state 1040 to the fourth state 1050 are to be controlled remotely by the remote controller, so recipes are not created for those transitions. In this way, a programmable network element may be partially controlled locally by recipes stored in the network element and partially controlled remotely by the remote controller.”) (Kozat: [0054] “A similar functionality may be gained by pushing actual codes to run in the control fabric of the network element (e.g., as containers). A remote controller may load or unload the codes onto the network element to change the control plane (as opposed to loading or unloading modules onto the packet processing pipeline) …”) [The network element (NE) or NE-local programmable entities read on “[a] local device in a local environment”. The identified resource reads on “a control target device”. The state transition map, as illustrated in FIG. 11, teaches “a state transition among a plurality of states”. The determined suitability for local control or the switch-local states reads on “an attribute”.]
Kozat does not expressly teach: processing circuitry to receive an input value signal for providing notification of an input value from the control target device; to receive an output packet for providing notification of an output value to the control target device from a remote device in a remote environment for the control target device; and when the attribute of a current state of the local state machine is the remote control attribute, to transmit to the control target device, an output value signal for providing notification of the output value to the control target device of which notification is provided by the output packet, and, when the attribute of the current state of the local state machine is the local control attribute, to output, to the local state machine, the input value from the control target device of which notification is provided by the input value signal to cause the local state machine to generate an output value to the control target device, and to transmit to the control target device, an output value signal for providing notification of the output value to the control target device generated by the local state machine.
Hu teaches:
processing circuitry to receive an input value signal for providing notification of an input value from the control target device; to receive an output packet for providing notification of an output value to the control target device from a remote device in a remote environment for the control target device; and when the attribute of a current state of the local state machine is the remote control attribute, to transmit to the control target device, an output value signal for providing notification of the output value to the control target device of which notification is provided by the output packet, and, (Hu: [0009] “An information processing terminal according to an aspect of the present disclosure is an information processing terminal mountable on a mobile body, including: a determiner that determines whether an event that requires remote operation of the mobile body has occurred; a transmitter that transmits information of the event, when the event has occurred; a receiver that receives a travel limitation of the mobile body in the remote operation and an instruction of the remote operation based on the information of the event transmitted; and a controller that causes the mobile body to execute travel control according to the instruction of the remote operation under the travel limitation received”) (Hu: [0075]-[0081] “Autonomous driving system 110 includes vehicle controller 111 and notifier 112. [0076] Vehicle controller 111 controls the travel of vehicle 100 based on a travel plan of autonomous driving. Vehicle controller 111 controls the speed, steering angle, etc. of vehicle 100 based on the travel plan. The travel plan includes a travel route, speed, etc. [0077] Notifier 112 notifies edge system 130 of the current state of vehicle 100 based on the vehicle information obtained in the autonomous driving mode. Notifier 112 may further notify edge system 130 of the obstacle information. When vehicle 100 becomes unable to travel, notifier 112 notifies edge system 130 that vehicle 100 has become unable to travel. [0078] First remote control system 120 is a control system for remotely operated driving mounted on vehicle 100. When vehicle 100 travels in the remote operation mode, first remote control system 120 controls the travel of vehicle 100 based on a remote operation instruction (for example, control command) of remote operation obtained from second remote control system 300. [0079] First remote control system 120 obtains vehicle information of vehicle 100 based on sensing information of various sensors (not illustrated) mounted on vehicle 100. For example, first remote control system 120 obtains the vehicle information of vehicle 100 in the remote operation mode. The vehicle information includes at least video. The vehicle information may include at least one of the current speed, steering angle, acceleration, or obstacle information of vehicle 100. [0080] First remote control system 120 includes vehicle controller 121 and video transmitter 122. [0081] Vehicle controller 121 controls the travel of vehicle 100 based on the remote operation instruction. Vehicle controller 121 controls the speed, steering angle, etc. of vehicle 100 based on the remote operation instruction. The remote operation instruction includes information indicating speed, steering angle, etc.”) [The remote control system generating the remote operation instruction and transmitting to the controller to control the vehicle reads on “to transmit to the control target device, an output value signal by the output packet”. The vehicle reads on “the control target device”, and the vehicle information from the vehicle reads on “an input value”. The determined event or the notification regarding vehicles ability to travel based on information, such as an obstacle information, reads on “the attribute of a current state”. The remote operation mode reads on “the remote control attribute”.]
when the attribute of the current state of the local state machine is the local control attribute, to output, to the local state machine, the input value from the control target device of which notification is provided by the input value signal to cause the local state machine to generate an output value to the control target device, and to transmit to the control target device, an output value signal for providing notification of the output value to the control target device generated by the local state machine. (Hu: [0074] “Autonomous driving system 110 obtains vehicle information of vehicle 100 based on sensing information of various sensors (not illustrated) mounted on vehicle 100. For example, autonomous driving system 110 obtains the vehicle information of vehicle 100 in the autonomous driving mode. The vehicle information includes at least information relating to the travel of vehicle 100. In this embodiment, the vehicle information includes the information relating to the travel of vehicle 100 and information relating to the surroundings of vehicle 100. For example, the information relating to the travel of vehicle 100 includes at least one of the current speed, steering angle, or acceleration of vehicle 100. For example, the information relating to the surroundings of vehicle 100 includes at least one of information relating to obstacles (obstacle information) or video. The information relating to obstacles is information indicat