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 .
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claim(s) 1-3, 8-11 and 16-18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jian (US 2023/0300671).
Regarding Claims 1, 9 and 17, Jian teaches a method of operating a wireless communication network to proactively notify congestion control systems in response to downlink data congestion, the method comprising:
an access node wirelessly exchanging user data with a wireless user device (Figure 1, see specifically 115, 125 and 170.);
the access node exchanging the user data with a network user plane for delivery to an application server (¶ [0046], see specifically backhaul links);
the application server receiving the indication, generating additional user data, and transferring the additional user data based on a congestion control scheme (¶ [0102], see specifically adjusted window size);
the access node detecting a data queue for downlink user data transferred by the application server and received from the network user plane (¶ [0103], see specifically ECN type notification.)
the access node exchanging the additional user data with the network user plane for delivery to the application server (¶ [0102], see specifically adjusted window size); and
the access node wirelessly exchanging the additional user data with the wireless user device (¶ [0102], see specifically adjusted window size).
Jian does not explicitly teach the access node indicating the data queue to the network user plane for delivery to the application server;
Examiner submits that the reference states in ¶ [0094], that “in some cases, the IP services 150-a (e.g., the Internet), the core network 130-a (e.g., the RAN), or both may not indicate congestion status (e.g., buffer depth) to the server 185-a, which may increase complexity and inaccuracy of predictions by the congestion control mechanism 220.”
This is a direct suggestion in the reference that it would be an advantage if this was done, and therefore Examiner submits that it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art that the system of Jian could be modified to move the functionality provided by the UE to estimate and determine the congestion status to the server by providing the ECN type notifications of the buffer status from the access node to the server, and it would be an obvious variant as it would reduce complexity and increase the accuracy of the control mechanism 220.
Regarding Claims 2 and 10, Jian teaches the application server transferring the additional user data based on the congestion control scheme comprises determining a new downlink data rate based on the congestion indication and transferring the additional user data based on the new downlink data rate (¶ [0102], see specifically adjust a rate.)
Regarding Claims 3 and 11, Jian teaches the application server transferring the additional user data based on the congestion control scheme comprises executing a congestion control algorithm based on the congestion indication to generate a congestion control output and transferring the additional user data based on the congestion control output (¶ [0040], see specifically algorithm.)
Regarding Claims 8, 16 and 18, Jian teaches the access node executing a Media Access Control (MAC) network application; the access node executing a Congestion Detection (CD) network application; and wherein: the access node detecting the data queue for downlink user data transferred by the application server and received from the network user plane comprises the MAC detecting the data queue for the downlink user data transferred by the application server and received from the network user plane; and the access node indicating the data queue to the network user plane for delivery to the application server comprises the CD indicating the data queue to the network user plane for delivery to the application server (¶ [0083], see specifically MAC layer, ¶ [0103], see specifically ECN)
Claim(s) 4, 5, 12 and 13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jian (US 2023/0300671) in view of Potluri (US 2024/0291765)
Regarding Claim 4 and 12, Jian fails to explicitly teach a first portion of the user data comprises low latency data packets; a second portion of the user data comprises other data packets; and the application server transferring the additional user data based on congestion control scheme comprises determining a data priority that prioritizes the low latency data packets over the other data packets and transferring the additional user data based on data priority.
Potluri from the same or similar field of endeavor teaches a first portion of the user data comprises low latency data packets; a second portion of the user data comprises other data packets; and the application server transferring the additional user data based on congestion control scheme comprises determining a data priority that prioritizes the low latency data packets over the other data packets and transferring the additional user data based on data priority (¶ [0011], see specifically high priority service data flows.)
Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art of telecommunications at the time of the filing of the invention to prioritize high priority and L4S queues in the system of Potluri as taught by Jain.
The motivation is that this provides for the ability to provide ultra reliable low latency communication (URLLC) as taught within Jian in ¶ 0070.
Regarding Claim 5 and 13, Jian fails to explicitly teach a first portion of the user data comprises Low-Latency, Low Loss Scalable Throughput (L4S) data packets; a second portion of the user data comprises other data packets; and the application server transferring the additional user data based on congestion control scheme comprises determining a data priority that prioritizes the L4S data packets over the other data packets and transferring the additional user data based on the data priority.
Potluri from the same or similar field of endeavor teaches a first portion of the user data comprises Low-Latency, Low Loss Scalable Throughput (L4S) data packets; a second portion of the user data comprises other data packets; and the application server transferring the additional user data based on congestion control scheme comprises determining a data priority that prioritizes the L4S data packets over the other data packets and transferring the additional user data based on the data priority (¶ [0007], see specifically L4S, and ¶ [0011], see specifically high priority service data flows.)
Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art of telecommunications at the time of the filing of the invention to prioritize high priority and L4S queues in the system of Potluri as taught by Jain.
The motivation is that this provides for the ability to provide ultra reliable low latency communication (URLLC) as taught within Jian in ¶ 0070.
Claim(s) 6, 14 and 19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jian (US 2023/0300671) in view of Shiraki (US 2019/0068502).
Regarding Claim 6, 14 and 19, Jian fails to explicitly teach the access node tracking an Explicit Congestion Notification (ECN) counter and determining when the ECN counter exceeds a threshold value; and when the ECN counter exceeds the threshold value, the access node inserting a queue indicator into a message header of an uplink data packet; and wherein: the access node indicating the data queue to the network user plane for delivery to the application server comprises transferring the uplink data packet that comprises the queue indicator to the network user plane for delivery to the application server.
Shiraki teaches the access node tracking an Explicit Congestion Notification (ECN) counter and determining when the ECN counter exceeds a threshold value; and when the ECN counter exceeds the threshold value, the access node inserting a queue indicator into a message header of an uplink data packet; and wherein: the access node indicating the data queue to the network user plane for delivery to the application server comprises transferring the uplink data packet that comprises the queue indicator to the network user plane for delivery to the application server (¶ [0048], see specifically quantity of the received packet).
Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art of telecommunications at the time of the filing of the invention to count the number of packets to determine to mark packets based on the ECN or provide an indication in the system as taught by Shiraki in the system of Jian.
The motivation is that a Jian teaches that ECN can occur based on the queue percentage, and it would be obvious that the queue can accommodate a certain number of packets and therefore that would be a way to track the congestion of the queue in the system of Jian.
Claim(s) 7, 15 and 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jian (US 2023/0300671) in view of Wang (US 2022/0391731).
Regarding Claims 7, 15 and 20, Jian fails to explicitly teach the access node detecting a data queue for downlink user data transferred by the application server and received from the network user plane comprises detecting a presence of the data queue, determining a downlink data latency, determining a downlink data rate, and determining an amount of queued downlink data; and the access node indicating the data queue to the network user plane for delivery to the application server comprises generating and transferring a queue report that indicates the presence of the downlink data queue, the downlink data latency, the downlink data rate, and the amount of queued downlink data.
Wang from the same or similar field of endeavor the access node detecting a data queue for downlink user data transferred by the application server and received from the network user plane comprises detecting a presence of the data queue, determining a downlink data latency, determining a downlink data rate, and determining an amount of queued downlink data; and the access node indicating the data queue to the network user plane for delivery to the application server comprises generating and transferring a queue report that indicates the presence of the downlink data queue, the downlink data latency, the downlink data rate, and the amount of queued downlink data (¶ [0096], see specifically queue length, waiting time and arrival rate).
Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art of telecommunications at the time of the filing of the invention to include additional information such as latency and rate in the report of Jian as taught by Wang.
The motivation is that it allows the system to make better decisions in the system of Jian.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ROBERT M MORLAN whose telephone number is (571)270-5674. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday, 10 AM - 4PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Hadi Armouche can be reached at 571-270-3618. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/ROBERT M MORLAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2409
ROBERT M. MORLAN
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2409
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