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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 03/30/2026 are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Response to Amendment
This office action is in reply to Applicant’s Request for continued examination dated 02/18/2026. Claims 1, 10, 31 and 41 were amended. Claims 1-23, 28, 31 and 41 are pending in the application.
Response to Arguments
The applicant argues (see page 10 line 12) that Fox fails to disclose the amendment “controlling network slice construction, composition and/or deployment based on the estimated carbon footprint for the UE.” The examiner agrees. A new reference (Xing USPGPub 2021/0329464) Xing hereinafter is now relied upon to teach this claim limitation.
The applicant also argues (see page 11 line 1) that “””Liu's reporting scheme is predicated on a network architecture in which the OSS is a separate entity from the base station. As discussed above, however, the Office Action has already mapped the claimed "network node" to Wigard's eNB 110 and the claimed "base station" to Wigard's base station 400, which are the same physical entity in Wigard. … “””. The examiner replies that a person of ordinary skill in the art would have been able to split the network energy consumption module as a distinct unit but to make this office action clearer the examiner has brought another reference that reports energy usage to a distinct network node in Guo (USPGPub 2013/0166083) Guo hereinafter.
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.
In 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 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 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.
Claims 1, 2 and 28 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wigard et al. ( U.S. PGPUB 2012/0282862), Wigard hereinafter in view of Hsu (USPGPub 2020/0229085), Hsu hereinafter and further in view of Liu (USPGPub 2013/0109321), Liu hereinafter and further in view of Xing (USPGPub 2021/0329464), Xing hereinafter.
Regarding claim 1, Wigard teaches a method for estimating a total energy consumption of a user equipment, UE, in a network, wherein the method is performed by a network node and the method comprises: (fig.2 and paragraph 0034 - In some implementations, at 220, the network, such as eNB 110, may also determine energy consumption. For example, the eNB 110 may determine the energy consumption of the downlink to the user equipment 114A based on the power transmitted by the eNB 110 to the user equipment for a given radio access technology. For example, when the eNB 110 is transmitting via a GSM downlink to user equipment 114A, the eNB 110 may determine the power consumption (e.g., energy per bit of power transmitted via the downlink to the user equipment 114A), and also determine power consumption when operating via WiFi/UMA (e.g., energy per bit of power transmitted via the link to user equipment 114A)
estimating a total energy consumption for the UE based on a resource usage for the UE and a measure of energy consumed by a base station of the network serving the UE in communicating with the UE, (paragraph 0046 - The base station 400 may further include a network energy consumption module 440. The network energy consumption module 440 may be configured to perform one or more of the aspects noted with respect to processes 200. For example, the energy consumption module 440 may send the request to monitor and/or to report energy consumption (e.g., request 205), determine energy consumption, receive energy consumption from a plurality of user equipment ...)
Yet, Wigard does not expressly teach wherein the resource usage for the UE is reported to the network node by the base station.
However, in the analogous art, Hsu explicitly discloses wherein the resource usage for the UE is reported to the network node by the base station, and ( fig. 1 and paragraphs 0028 to 0031 disclosed that the device (which is the equivalent to the UE) is connected to the network through the base station. It further disclosed that the base stations are interconnected to each other and to the core. Paragraph 0087 discloses the energy consumption information which is resource usage being sent to the network. The connection between the device which is the UE to the network is through the base station. [0087] ... The energy consumption information can be sent to the network 101 from the electronic device 110.... )
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to combine Wigard’s User equipment energy reporting for enabling power efficient operations of networks to include Hsu's energy consumption information been sent to the network because it helps in making energy saving decision.
Yet, Wigard in view of Hsu does not expressly teach the measure of energy consumed by the base station is reported to the network node by the UE and/or the base station.
However, in the analogous art, Liu explicitly discloses the measure of energy consumed by the base station is reported to the network node by the UE and/or the base station (paragraph 0038 - A base station in the communication site reports power consumption of the communication site and traffic volume of the communication site to the OSS power consumption platform through a management channel of a base station controller. The power consumption reported by the communication site includes: power consumption of devices which are capable of monitoring power consumption and reporting power consumption in the communication site. In addition, the base station may also periodically report the traffic volume of the communication site together with the power consumption of the communication site to the OSS. After receiving the traffic volume reported by the communication site, the OSS platform stores the traffic volume for query and analysis).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to combine Wigard’s User equipment energy reporting for enabling power efficient operations of networks to include Liu's reporting of energy consumption to the network to enhance energy saving decision making.
Yet, Wigard in view of Hsu and further in view of Liu does not expressly teach controlling network slice construction, composition and/or deployment based on the estimated carbon footprint for the UE.
However, in the analogous art, Xing explicitly discloses controlling network slice construction, composition and/or deployment based on the estimated carbon footprint for the UE (paragraph 0025 discloses battery usage (which is measure of carbon footprint) as one of the factor considered in choosing network slice - '[0025] Moreover, the RAN node 104 may access the s-NSSAI value and/or an association of the s-NSSAI value to the UE 102 and/or the network slice 116 to perform one or more operations, such as: supporting Quality of Service (QoS) flow and mapping to services/applications; supporting the UE 102 in different RRC states (e.g., RRC-Idle, RRC-Connection, and/or RRC-Inactive) to meet low latency service requirement (e.g., stay below a latency threshold value) and/or stay below a battery usage threshold value; RAN slice security which may include isolating the one or more network slices 116, for instance, to rent/release the network slice 116 to a private network; NSSAI-based AMF selection and rerouting; and/or supporting network slice management.). S-NSSAI stands for Single Network Slice Selection Assistance Information
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to combine Wigard’s User equipment energy reporting for enabling power efficient operations of networks to include Xing's usage of network slice to achieve acceptable QOS while minimizing battery usage.
Regarding claim 2, Wigard in view of Hsu and further in view of Liu and further in view of Xing teaches claim 1.
Wigard further teaches comprising: causing rendering, at the UE, of any one or more of: the resource usage for the UE; the measure of energy consumed by the base station; and the estimated total energy consumption for the UE [0044] Furthermore, the user equipment may include an energy consumption module 350. The energy consumption module 350 may be configured to perform one or more of the aspects noted with respect to processes 200. For example, the energy consumption module 350 may receive the request to monitor and/or report energy consumption, determine energy consumption for the user equipment, send the report to the network, such as the eNB, and switch between operating modes based on for example the control message 230.).
Regarding claim 28, Wigard in view of Hsu and further in view of Liu and further in view of Xing teaches claim 1.
Wigard further teaches a network node comprising processing circuitry configured to operate in accordance with claim 1. (paragraph 0047 … For example, the base stations and user equipment (or one or more components therein) and/or the processes described herein can be implemented using one or more of the following: a processor executing program code, an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a digital signal processor (DSP), an embedded processor, a field programmable gate array (FPGA), and/or combinations thereof. ...)
Claims 3, 6 – 10 and 14-23 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wigard et al. ( U.S. PGPUB 2012/0282862), Wigard hereinafter in view of Hsu and further in view of Liu and further in view of Xing and further in view of Fox et al. (WO 2010/029354 A1), Fox hereinafter.
Regarding Claim 3, Wigard in view of Hsu and further in view of Liu and further in view of Xing teaches claim 2.
Yet, Wigard in view of Hsu and further in view of Liu and further in view of Xing does not expressly teach comprising: causing rendering, at the UE, of the estimated total energy consumption for the UE with a corresponding total energy consumption for a reference activity that has an associated carbon footprint.
However, in the analogous art, Fox explicitly discloses comprising: causing rendering, at the UE, of the estimated total energy consumption for the UE with a corresponding total energy consumption for a reference activity that has an associated carbon footprint. (page 2 line 25 to pae 3 line 2 - The step of indicating the estimated cost associated with a user executable network operation to the user can then advantageously include displaying on the user device the estimated carbon footprint relative to an estimated minimum energy consumption associated with the network operation. It is preferable to record the accumulated cost of user initiated network operations over a predetermined period of time; ..).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to combine Wigard’s User equipment energy reporting for enabling power efficient operations of networks to include Fox's estimation of energy consumption and cost in carbon footprint because it helps to quantify impact on environment (page 1 line 12 Fox).
Regarding Claim 6, Wigard in view of Hsu and further in view of Liu and further in view of Xing teaches claim 1.
Yet, Wigard in view of Hsu and further in view of Liu and further in view of Xing does not expressly teach comprising: estimating a carbon footprint for the UE based on the estimated total energy consumption for the UE.
However, in the analogous art, Fox explicitly discloses comprising: estimating a carbon footprint for the UE based on the estimated total energy consumption for the UE (page 4 line 26 to line 30 - Preferably the device also includes means for storing data representing the carbon efficiency of one or more network components received from a network component; wherein the estimated cost is the estimated carbon footprint, and the processor is arranged to calculate the estimated carbon footprint associated with a user executable network operation based on the estimated energy consumption and the data representing the carbon efficiency of one or more network components.).
The motivation regarding to the obviousness of claim 3 is also applied to claim 6.
Regarding Claim 7, Wigard in view of Hsu and further in view of Liu and further in view of Xing and further in view of Fox teaches claim 6.
Fox further teaches comprising: estimating the carbon footprint for the UE based on the estimated total energy consumption for the UE and an emission factor for one or more energy sources powering the base station. (page 11 line 22 to 26 - The Network provides the UE 1 with information about the Power consumption in the BS and the Service Infrastructure. The UE uses this information to ascertain the total quantity of power, and carbon footprint from Mobile Station (UE), BS and Network/Service Infrastructure. There are a number of ways to provide this information, the following describes two implementations.).
The motivation regarding to the obviousness of claim 3 is also applied to claim 7.
Regarding Claim 8, Wigard in view of Hsu and further in view of Liu and further in view of Xing and further in view of Fox teaches claim 6.
Fox further teaches the method comprising: causing rendering, at the UE, of the estimated carbon footprint for the UE (page 16 line 30 to page 31 line 6 - The UE 1 may also be configured to alert the user when the carbon/pollution creation goes too high, and when affirmative action should be taken by the user. The meter 90 on the display of the UE could also indicate the relative or absolute carbon footprint if the user were to make a call at that moment in time. This calculation would be based on information received from the network, along with signal strength measurements of the current cell, and the system information broadcasted would provide the transmit power of the network.).
The motivation regarding to the obviousness of claim 3 is also applied to claim 8.
Regarding Claim 9, Wigard in view of Hsu and further in view of Liu and further in view of Xing and further in view of Fox teaches claim 8.
Fox further teaches comprising: causing rendering, at the UE, of the estimated carbon footprint for the UE with a carbon footprint for a reference activity. (page 16 line 30 to page 31 line 6 - The UE 1 may also be configured to alert the user when the carbon/pollution creation goes too high, and when affirmative action should be taken by the user. The meter 90 on the display of the UE could also indicate the relative or absolute carbon footprint if the user were to make a call at that moment in time. This calculation would be based on information received from the network, along with signal strength measurements of the current cell, and the system information broadcasted would provide the transmit power of the network.).
The motivation regarding to the obviousness of claim 3 is also applied to claim 9.
Regarding Claim 10, Wigard in view of Hsu and further in view of Liu and further in view of Xing teaches claim 6.
Yet, Wigard in view of Hsu and further in view of Liu and further in view of Xing does not expressly teach comprising: controlling one or more network orchestrators based on the estimated carbon footprint for the UE.
However, in the analogous art, Fox explicitly discloses comprising: controlling one or more network orchestrators based on the estimated carbon footprint for the UE (page 17 line 26 to page 18 line 5 -The network receiving this capping information passes this information to the Radio Access Network (RAN). This information is then used as part of the Call Admission Control to accept or reject the Guaranteed Bit Rate (GBR) bearers and hence limit the amount of network resource utilised by the user's UE for Guaranteed Data Rate Services. The Carbon Capping information would also be used to modify the Aggregate Maximum Bit Rate (AMBR) used at the RAN for non-Guaranteed services, thereby reducing the amount of resources allocated to the UE in the uplink and downlink, throttling the user throughput for these bearers to meet the carbon usage threshold included in the Carbon Capping Information.).
The motivation regarding to the obviousness of claim 3 is also applied to claim 10.
Regarding Claim 14, Wigard in view of Hsu and further in view of Liu and further in view of Xing teaches claim 1.
Yet, Wigard in view of Hsu and further in view of Liu and further in view of Xing does not expressly teach comprising: determining an efficiency factor indicative of an efficiency of the base station when serving the UE.
However, in the analogous art, Fox explicitly discloses comprising: determining an efficiency factor indicative of an efficiency of the base station when serving the UE. (page 10 line 24 to 25 - Each base station has an associated power efficiency and this would depend on the hardware and firmware version, so the above aspect could vary from BS to BS.).
The motivation regarding to the obviousness of claim 3 is also applied to claim 14.
Regarding Claim 15, Wigard in view of Hsu and further in view of Liu and further in view of Xing and further in view of Fox teaches claim 14.
Fox further teaches wherein: the efficiency factor is determined based on: measurement data acquired on the base station during development of the base station and/or testing of the base station; and/or operational data acquired on the base station during deployment of the base station in the network. (page 13 line 10 to 13 - A network/service layer 80 communicates with a BS 3, which in turn communicates with one or more UEs 1. Power-related information 86 is sent from the BS 3 to an O&M 82, which communicates power efficiency information 87 to and from an Eco-Server 85.).
The motivation regarding to the obviousness of claim 3 is also applied to claim 15.
Regarding Claim 16, Wigard in view of Hsu and further in view of Liu and further in view of Xing and further in view of Fox teaches claim 14.
Fox further teaches wherein: the efficiency factor is determined using a statistical and/or machine learning process (page 2 line 23 to page 3 line 4 - Data representing the carbon efficiency of the one or more network components is used in the calculation of the estimated cost so that the estimated carbon footprint can be calculated. The step of indicating the estimated cost associated with a user executable network operation to the user can then advantageously include displaying on the user device the estimated carbon footprint relative to an estimated minimum energy consumption associated with the network operation. It is preferable to record the accumulated cost of user initiated network operations over a predetermined period of time; and reconfiguring the user device so as to reduce its average energy consumption if the accumulated cost exceeds a threshold value.).
The motivation regarding to the obviousness of claim 3 is also applied to claim 16.
Regarding Claim 17, Wigard in view of Hsu and further in view of Liu and further in view of Xing teaches claim 1.
Yet, Wigard in view of Hsu and further in view of Liu and further in view of Xing does not expressly teach comprising: estimating changes in the total energy consumption for the UE based on periodic changes in the resource usage for the UE in the network and/or periodic changes in the measure of energy consumed by the base station in communicating with the UE, wherein the periodic changes in the resource usage for the UE is reported to the network node by the UE and/or the base station, and the periodic changes in the measure of energy consumed by the base station is reported to the network node by the UE and/or the base station.
However, in the analogous art, Fox explicitly discloses comprising: estimating changes in the total energy consumption for the UE based on periodic changes in the resource usage for the UE in the network and/or periodic changes in the measure of energy consumed by the base station in communicating with the UE, (page 3 line 7 to 12 - ... estimating the energy consumption associated with executing said network operation in the user device; estimating the energy consumption associated with executing said network operation in a base station to which the user device is connected; and estimating the energy consumption associated with executing said network operation in the network infrastructure to which the user device is connected.). Estimation of the energy consumption under various condition enables estimation of change from one condition to the other.)
wherein the periodic changes in the resource usage for the UE is reported to the network node by the UE and/or the base station, and the periodic changes in the measure of energy consumed by the base station is reported to the network node by the UE and/or the base station. (page 3 line 24 to page 4 line 12 - Preferably the estimated cost associated with an executed user executable network operation is communicated to a billing server; … There are many different ways that the environmental cost can be factored into the bill, each with the aim of rewarding the device user for reducing there power usage, or choosing different ways of using there device which lower the environment cost. ... estimating the energy consumption associated with executing said network operation in the user device; estimating the energy consumption associated with executing said network operation in a base station to which the user device is connected; and estimating the energy consumption associated with executing said network operation in the network infrastructure to which the user device is connected.).
The motivation regarding to the obviousness of claim 3 is also applied to claim 17.
Regarding Claim 18, Wigard in view of Hsu and further in view of Liu and further in view of Xing and further in view of Fox teaches claim 17.
Fox further teaches comprising: causing rendering, at the UE, of the estimated changes in the total energy consumption for the UE (page 2 line 25 to 29 - The step of indicating the estimated cost associated with a user executable network operation to the user can then advantageously include displaying on the user device the estimated carbon footprint relative to an estimated minimum energy consumption associated with the network operation.)
The motivation regarding to the obviousness of claim 3 is also applied to claim 18.
Regarding Claim 19, Wigard in view of Hsu and further in view of Liu and further in view of Xing and further in view of Fox teaches claim 18.
Fox further teaches comprising: causing rendering, at the UE, of the estimated changes in the total energy consumption of the UE with corresponding changes in the total energy consumption for a reference activity that has an associated carbon footprint (page 2 line 25 to 29 - The step of indicating the estimated cost associated with a user executable network operation to the user can then advantageously include displaying on the user device the estimated carbon footprint relative to an estimated minimum energy consumption associated with the network operation.).
The motivation regarding to the obviousness of claim 3 is also applied to claim 19.
Regarding Claim 20, Wigard in view of Hsu and further in view of Liu and further in view of Xing and further in view of Fox teaches claim 17.
Fox further teaches estimating changes in a carbon footprint for the UE based on the estimated changes in the total energy consumption for the UE (page 2 line 25 to 29 - The step of indicating the estimated cost associated with a user executable network operation to the user can then advantageously include displaying on the user device the estimated carbon footprint relative to an estimated minimum energy consumption associated with the network operation.).
The motivation regarding to the obviousness of claim 3 is also applied to claim 20.
Regarding Claim 21, Wigard in view of Hsu and further in view of Liu and further in view of Xing and further in view of Fox teaches claim 20.
Fox further teaches estimating the changes in the carbon footprint for the UE based on the estimated changes in the total energy consumption for the UE and/or changes in an emission factor for the one or more energy sources powering the base station (page 13 line 16 to 27 - Currently it is assumed that the O&M 82 will be provided with information on the power source and BS 3 temperature for other purposes, which means that no additional functionality is required from the BS 3. The Eco-Server 85 would be configured with the product information for each BS manufacturer on the power efficiency at different temperatures, and the Carbon Efficiency of each power source. A UE 1 requiring carbon footprint information would contact the Eco-Server 85 and provide the Cell ID of the current cell. The Eco-Server 85 may query the O&M 82 to retrieve information on the BS 3, and this server would provide information about the carbon rating of the BS 3 to the UE 1. The information would be provided to the UE 1 as follows: … ).
The motivation regarding to the obviousness of claim 3 is also applied to claim 21.
Regarding Claim 22, Wigard in view of Hsu and further in view of Liu and further in view of Xing and further in view of Fox teaches claim 20.
Fox further teaches causing rendering, at the UE, of the estimated changes in the carbon footprint for the UE (page 2 line 25 to 29 - The step of indicating the estimated cost associated with a user executable network operation to the user can then advantageously include displaying on the user device the estimated carbon footprint relative to an estimated minimum energy consumption associated with the network operation.).
The motivation regarding to the obviousness of claim 3 is also applied to claim 22.
Regarding Claim 23, Wigard in view of Hsu and further in view of Liu and further in view of Xing and further in view of Fox teaches claim 22.
Fox further teaches causing rendering, at the UE, of the estimated changes in the carbon footprint for the UE with corresponding changes in a carbon footprint for a reference activity (page 2 line 23 to 29 - Data representing the carbon efficiency of the one or more network components is used in the calculation of the estimated cost so that the estimated carbon footprint can be calculated. The step of indicating the estimated cost associated with a user executable network operation to the user can then advantageously include displaying on the user device the estimated carbon footprint relative to an estimated minimum energy consumption associated with the network operation.).
The motivation regarding to the obviousness of claim 3 is also applied to claim 23.
Claims 4 and 5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wigard et al. ( U.S. PGPUB 2012/0282862), Wigard hereinafter in view of Hsu and further in view of Liu and further in view of Xing and further in view Farhadi et al. (U.S. PGPUB 20230412003), Farhadi hereinafter.
Regarding Claim 4, Wigard in view of Hsu and further in view of Liu and further in view of Xing teaches claim 1.
Yet, Wigard in view of Hsu and further in view of Liu and further in view of Xing does not expressly teach comprising: generating a model to predict a future total energy consumption for the UE, wherein the model is generated using the estimated total energy consumption for the UE, the resource usage for the UE, and the measure of energy consumed by the base station.
However, in the analogous art, Farhadi explicitly discloses comprising: generating a model to predict a future total energy consumption for the UE, [0089] … A first predictive model block 262 is configured to predict energy properties of the user equipment 300. … ) wherein the model is generated using the estimated total energy consumption for the UE, the resource usage for the UE, and the measure of energy consumed by the base station [0055] ... The inputs to the prediction model could be user equipment related data such as historical energy information data from the user equipment 300, chipset energy consumption at the user equipment 300, the energy transmitted from the network node 200. ... [0056] Further, before the prediction model can be used, it needs to be trained with data. This could be achieved by collecting data from a real or a simulated network, thus learning, based on certain inputs, whether a user equipment has energy for transmission when data is expected to arrive (in the downlink and/or uplink).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to combine Wigard’s User equipment energy reporting for enabling power efficient operations of networks to include Farhadi's energy consumption prediction model to achieve future energy usage prediction.
Regarding Claim 5, Wigard in view of Hsu and further in view of Liu and further in view of Xing and further in view of Farhadi teaches claim 4.
Farhadi further teaches wherein: generating the model to predict the future total energy consumption for the UE comprises: compiling a look-up table to predict the future total energy consumption for the UE; ortraining a machine learning model to predict the future total energy consumption for the UE[0055] ... The inputs to the prediction model could be user equipment related data such as historical energy information data from the user equipment 300, chipset energy consumption at the user equipment 300, the energy transmitted from the network node 200. ... [0056] Further, before the prediction model can be used, it needs to be trained with data. This could be achieved by collecting data from a real or a simulated network, thus learning, based on certain inputs, whether a user equipment has energy for transmission when data is expected to arrive (in the downlink and/or uplink).
The motivation regarding to the obviousness of claim 4 is also applied to claim 5.
Claims 11, 12 and 13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wigard et al. ( U.S. PGPUB 2012/0282862), Wigard hereinafter in view of Hsu and further in view of Liu and further in view of Fox et al. (WO 2010/029354 A1), Fox hereinafter and further in view of Farhadi et al. (U.S. PGPUB 2023/0412003), Farhadi hereinafter.
Regarding Claim 11, Wigard in view of Hsu and further in view of Liu and further in view of Xing and further in view of Fox teaches claim 7.
Yet, Wigard in view of Hsu and further in view of Liu and further in view of Xing and further in view of Fox does not expressly teach generating a model to predict a future carbon footprint for the UE, wherein the model is generated using the estimated carbon footprint for the UE and the estimated total energy consumption for the UE.
However, in the analogous art, Farhadi explicitly discloses generating a model to predict a future carbon footprint for the UE, wherein the model is generated using the estimated carbon footprint for the UE and the estimated total energy consumption for the UE [0055] ... The inputs to the prediction model could be user equipment related data such as historical energy information data from the user equipment 300, chipset energy consumption at the user equipment 300, the energy transmitted from the network node 200. ... [0056] Further, before the prediction model can be used, it needs to be trained with data. This could be achieved by collecting data from a real or a simulated network, thus learning, based on certain inputs, whether a user equipment has energy for transmission when data is expected to arrive (in the downlink and/or uplink. [0089] … A first predictive model block 262 is configured to predict energy properties of the user equipment 300. … ).
The motivation regarding to the obviousness of claim 4 is also applied to claim 11.
Regarding Claim 12, Wigard in view of Hsu and further in view of Liu and further in view of Xing and further in view of Fox and further in view of Farhadi teaches claim 11.
Fox further teaches wherein: the model is generated using a predicted emission factor for one or more energy sources powering the base station (page 10 line 24 to page 11 line 2 - Each base station has an associated power efficiency and this would depend on the hardware and firmware version, so the above aspect could vary from BS to BS. The quantity of CO2 (and other polluting elements) the BS creates depends on the power source; some are powered by Solar or wind at the BS site, others are powered from the mains, where the type of generation may be known (or an average unit from the power supplier is available), for example; wind, tidal, solar, gas or coal power stations. When these supplies are not available a BS would draw power from a diesel generator on site - which would also be rated for its efficiency and pollution.).
The motivation regarding to the obviousness of claim 3 is also applied to claim 12.
Regarding Claim 13, Wigard in view of Hsu and further in view of Liu and further in view of Xing and further in view of Fox and further in view of Farhadi teaches claim 11.
Fox further teaches wherein: generating the model to predict the future carbon footprint for the UE comprises: (page 8 line 28 to 30 - Referring now to Figure 2, there is shown a model of the major power consuming components in a typical UE 1 , comprising a modem component 40, phone functions component 50, and an application layer component 60. … )
compiling a look-up table to predict the future carbon footprint for the UE; or (page 6 line 20 to 31 - According to a further aspect of the present invention there is provided a network system for providing an indication of an estimated cost associated with a user executable network operation on a mobile device, the system comprising: one or more mobile devices according to any of claims 8 to 10; a base station to which one or more of said mobile devices are registered, said base station configured to send power related information to an operations and maintenance server connected to said base station; and an Eco-server connected to said operations and maintenance server configured to receive power related information from the operations and maintenance server; wherein said Eco-server comprises data representing the carbon efficiency of the one or more network components, said data arranged to be communicated directly to the one or more mobile devices in response to a request from one or more of the mobile devices.)
training a machine learning model to predict the future carbon footprint for the UE (Alternative).
The motivation regarding to the obviousness of claim 3 is also applied to claim 13.
Claims 31 and 41 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wigard et al. (U.S. PGPUB 2012/0282862), Wigard hereinafter, in view of Guo et al. (U.S. PGPUB 2013/0166083), Guo hereinafter, and further in view of Xing et al. (U.S. PGPUB 2021/0329464), Xing hereinafter.
Regarding Claim 31, Wigard teaches a method for use in estimating an energy consumption for a user equipment, UE, in a network, wherein the method is performed by a base station of the network that is serving the UE and the method comprises: (paragraph 0046 - The base station 400 may further include a network energy consumption module 440. The network energy consumption module 440 may be configured to perform one or more of the aspects noted with respect to processes 200. For example, the energy consumption module 440 may send the request to monitor and/or to report energy consumption (e.g., request 205), determine energy consumption, receive energy consumption from a plurality of user equipment ...)
Yet, Wigard does not expressly teach reporting, to a network node, a resource usage for the UE and/or a measure of energy consumed by the base station in communicating with the UE, wherein the resource usage for the UE is for use, with the measure of energy consumed by the base station, in estimating a total energy consumption for the UE.
However, in the analogous art, Guo explicitly discloses reporting, to a network node, a resource usage for the UE and/or a measure of energy consumed by the base station in communicating with the UE, wherein the resource usage for the UE is for use, with the measure of energy consumed by the base station, in estimating a total energy consumption for the UE (paragraph 0052 - The transmission unit 14 is configured to perform bidirectional data transmission between the control unit 12 and the net management unit 16. The data may be the operating parameter of the load and the control instruction that is sent by the net management unit 16. In order to adapt to a current erection environment of an energy consuming device and transmission network, and to adapt to a future development trend of the energy consuming device and transmission network, a transmission mode of the transmission unit 14 may be two transmission modes shown in FIG. 2, namely, an in-band transmission mode and an out-band transmission mode. Specifically, the in-band transmission mode refers to that a controller of the control unit 12 reports collected information through a channel (E1) of a base station (GSM/UMTS/LTE/CDMA/WIMAX), so as to transmit state information and energy consumption information of the load and the supporting device that are obtained by the control unit 12 to the network management unit 12 in real time. ...)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to combine Wigard’s User equipment energy reporting for enabling power efficient operations of networks to include Guo's reporting of energy consumption for better management of energy consumption in the network.
Yet, Wigard in view of Guo does not expressly teach wherein network slice construction, composition and/or deployment is controlled based on the estimated carbon footprint for the UE.
However, in the analogous art, Xing explicitly discloses wherein network slice construction, composition and/or deployment is controlled based on the estimated carbon footprint for the UE (paragraph 0025 discloses battery usage (which is measure of carbon footprint) as one of the factor considered in choosing network slice - '[0025] Moreover, the RAN node 104 may access the s-NSSAI value and/or an association of the s-NSSAI value to the UE 102 and/or the network slice 116 to perform one or more operations, such as: supporting Quality of Service (QoS) flow and mapping to services/applications; supporting the UE 102 in different RRC states (e.g., RRC-Idle, RRC-Connection, and/or RRC-Inactive) to meet low latency service requirement (e.g., stay below a latency threshold value) and/or stay below a battery usage threshold value; RAN slice security which may include isolating the one or more network slices 116, for instance, to rent/release the network slice 116 to a private network; NSSAI-based AMF selection and rerouting; and/or supporting network slice management.). S-NSSAI stands for Single Network Slice Selection Assistance Information
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to combine Wigard’s User equipment energy reporting for enabling power efficient operations of networks to include Xing's usage of network slice to achieve acceptable QOS while minimizing battery usage.
Regarding Claim 41, Wigard teaches a method for use in estimating an energy consumption for a user equipment, UE, in a network, wherein the method is performed by the UE and the method comprises: (paragraph 0044 - Furthermore, the user equipment may include an energy consumption module 350. The energy consumption module 350 may be configured to perform one or more of the aspects noted with respect to processes 200. For example, the energy consumption module 350 may receive the request to monitor and/or report energy consumption, determine energy consumption for the user equipment, send the report to the network, such as the eNB, and switch between operating modes based on for example the control message 230.)
wherein the measure of energy consumed by the base station is for use, with the resource usage for the UE, in estimating a total energy consumption for the UE (fig.2 and paragraph 0034 - In some implementations, at 220, the network, such as eNB 110, may also determine energy consumption. For example, the eNB 110 may determine the energy consumption of the downlink to the user equipment 114A based on the power transmitted by the eNB 110 to the user equipment for a given radio access technology. For example, when the eNB 110 is transmitting via a GSM downlink to user equipment 114A, the eNB 110 may determine the power consumption (e.g., energy per bit of power transmitted via the downlink to the user equipment 114A), and also determine power consumption when operating via WiFi/UMA (e.g., energy per bit of power transmitted via the link to user equipment 114A … [0046] The base station 400 may further include a network energy consumption module 440. The network energy consumption module 440 may be configured to perform one or more of the aspects noted with respect to processes 200. For example, the energy consumption module 440 may send the request to monitor and/or to report energy consumption (e.g., request 205), determine energy consumption, receive energy consumption from a plurality of user equipment ...).
Yet, Wigard does not expressly teach reporting, to a network node, a measure of energy consumed by a base station of the network serving the UE in communicating with the UE and/or a resource usage for the UE.
However, in the analogous art, Guo explicitly discloses reporting, to a network node, a measure of energy consumed by a base station of the network serving the UE in communicating with the UE and/or a resource usage for the UE, (paragraph 0052 - The transmission unit 14 is configured to perform bidirectional data transmission between the control unit 12 and the net management unit 16. The data may be the operating parameter of the load and the control instruction that is sent by the net management unit 16. In order to adapt to a current erection environment of an energy consuming device and transmission network, and to adapt to a future development trend of the energy consuming device and transmission network, a transmission mode of the transmission unit 14 may be two transmission modes shown in FIG. 2, namely, an in-band transmission mode and an out-band transmission mode. Specifically, the in-band transmission mode refers to that a controller of the control unit 12 reports collected information through a channel (E1) of a base station (GSM/UMTS/LTE/CDMA/WIMAX), so as to transmit state information and energy consumption information of the load and the supporting device that are obtained by the control unit 12 to the network management unit 12 in real time. ...)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to combine Wigard’s User equipment energy reporting for enabling power efficient operations of networks to include Guo's reporting of energy consumption for better management of energy consumption in the network.
Yet, Wigard in view of Guo does not expressly teach wherein network slice construction, composition and/or deployment is controlled based on the estimated carbon footprint for the UE.
However, in the analogous art, Guo explicitly discloses wherein network slice construction, composition and/or deployment is controlled based on the estimated carbon footprint for the UE (paragraph 0025 discloses battery usage (which is measure of carbon footprint) as one of the factor considered in choosing network slice - '[0025] Moreover, the RAN node 104 may access the s-NSSAI value and/or an association of the s-NSSAI value to the UE 102 and/or the network slice 116 to perform one or more operations, such as: supporting Quality of Service (QoS) flow and mapping to services/applications; supporting the UE 102 in different RRC states (e.g., RRC-Idle, RRC-Connection, and/or RRC-Inactive) to meet low latency service requirement (e.g., stay below a latency threshold value) and/or stay below a battery usage threshold value; RAN slice security which may include isolating the one or more network slices 116, for instance, to rent/release the network slice 116 to a private network; NSSAI-based AMF selection and rerouting; and/or supporting network slice management.). S-NSSAI stands for Single Network Slice Selection Assistance Information
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to combine Wigard’s User equipment energy reporting for enabling power efficient operations of networks to include Xing's usage of network slice to achieve acceptable QOS while minimizing battery usage.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. This includes:
U.S. PGPUB 2015/0373204 which describes billing related information reporting
U.S. PGPUB 2018/0206235 which describes apparatus and method in wireless communications system
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/A.L.O./Examiner, Art Unit 2472
/NICHOLAS A JENSEN/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2472
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