Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
The following is a quotation of 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.
Claim(s) [ 1, 17 and 20] is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102 a (1) as being anticipated by Paul (US 20170238318 A1)] hereon after Paul.
Regrading claim 1, 17 and 20, Paul teaches monitoring, by a processing system including at least one processor, [0051] The DAU embedded software control module comprises a DAU Monitoring module that detects which carriers and corresponding time slots are active for each RRU. The DAU embedded software control module also comprises a DAU Management Control module which communicates with the RRU over a fiber optic link control channel via a control protocol with the RRU Management Control module, uplink traffic conditions and downlink traffic conditions [0030] For the downlink (DL) path, RF signals received from the BTS are separately down-converted, digitized, and converted to baseband (using a Digital Down-Converter)... For the uplink (UL) path optical signals received from RRUs are deserialized, deframed, and up-converted digitally using a Digital Up-Converter, in a plurality of nodes emitting radio frequency signals in a wireless communications network; [0030] An embodiment of the system is mainly comprised of DAU1 indicated at 101, RRU1 indicated at 103, RRU2 indicated at 104, DAU2 indicated at 102, RRU3 indicated at 105, and RRU4 indicated at 106. A composite downlink input signal 107 from, e.g., a base station belonging to one wireless operator enters DAU1 at the DAU1 RF input port, determining, by the processing system based on the monitoring and for each node of the plurality of nodes, [0052] In an embodiment, an algorithm operating within the DAU Monitoring module, that detects which carriers and corresponding time slots for each carrier are active for each RRU, provides information to the DAU Management Control module to help identify when an unused uplink capacity and an unused downlink capacity;[0052] a particular downlink carrier is loaded by a percentage greater than a predetermined threshold whose value is communicated to the DAU Management Control module by the DAU's Remote Monitoring and Control function, sorting, by the processing system, the plurality of nodes into a plurality of subsets, [0052] the DAU Management Control module adaptively modifies the system configuration to slowly begin to deploy additional radio resources (such as RF carriers, CDMA codes or TDMA time slots) for use by a particular RRU which need those radio resources within its coverage area, based on the unused uplink capacity and the unused downlink capacity; [0052] the DAU Management Control module to help identify when, e.g., a particular downlink carrier is loaded by a percentage greater than a predetermined threshold whose value is communicated to the DAU Management Control module by the DAU's Remote Monitoring and Control function, and boosting, by the processing system, a first subset of the radio frequency signals emitted by a first subset of the plurality of subsets, [0052] the DAU Management Control module adaptively modifies the system configuration to slowly begin to deploy additional radio resources (such as RF carriers, CDMA codes or TDMA time slots) for use by a particular RRU which need those radio resources within its coverage area, without boosting a second subset of the radio frequency signals emitted by a second subset of the plurality of subsets [0052] the DAU Management Control module adaptively modifies the system configuration to slowly begin to remove certain radio resources (such as RF carriers, CDMA codes or TDMA time slots) for use by a particular RRU which no longer needs those radio resources within its coverage area, A non-transitory computer-readable medium [0029] FIG. 7 illustrates an embodiment of the basic structure of the embedded software control modules which manage key functions of the DAU and RRU, in accordance with the present invention, a device comprising: a processing system including at least one processor; and a computer-readable medium [0018] FIG. 3 depicts a typical indoor system employing multiple Remote Radio Head Units (RRUs) and a central Digital Access Unit (DAU).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claim [2-3] are rejected under 35 U.S.C 103 as being unpatentable over Paul in view of Raju (US 11296764 B2).
In regards to claims 2 Paul teach the limitation of the parent claim.
Paul does not teach wherein the plurality of nodes comprises fifth generation millimeter wave nodes of the wireless communications network, and the radio frequency signals comprise millimeter wave frequencies
However, Raju does teach wherein the plurality of nodes comprises fifth generation millimeter wave nodes of the wireless communications network, [Col 1 Row 59-65] In various aspects, described techniques provide a repeater for beamforming a received signal at a millimeter wave (mmW) radio frequency via one or more scan angles or beamforming directions and then retransmitting and beamforming the signal at the mmW radio frequency via one or more scan angles or beamforming directions. and the radio frequency signals comprise millimeter wave frequencies [ Col 19 Row 15-18] Analog processing 315 component may then upconvert the filtered signal back to the RF millimeter wave frequency, and retransmit the signal to a UE.
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, having the teachings of Paul and Raju before him or her, to modify the method of Paul to include mmw configuration as taught by Raju.
The motivation to do so would be to the improved signal stability. (Col 9 Row 19-25 by Raju).
In regards to claims 3 Paul teach the limitation of the parent claim.
Paul does not teach wherein the processing system is part of a repeater that is positioned to detect the radio frequency signals emitted by all of the nodes of the plurality of nodes.
However, Raju does teach wherein the processing system is part of a repeater that is positioned to detect the radio frequency signals emitted by all of the nodes of the plurality of nodes; [ Col 15 Row 64-67] A mmW beamforming repeater 140 may be utilized to receive a signal from a base station 105 and transmit the signal to the UE 115 and/or receive a signal from a UE 115 and transmit the signal to the base station 105.
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, having the teachings of Paul and Raju before him or her, to modify the method of Paul to include mmw configuration as taught by Raju.
The motivation to do so would be to the improved signal stability. (21 by Raju).
Claim [4-5] are rejected under 35 U.S.C 103 as being unpatentable over Paul in view of Yao (US 20210243652 A1).
In regards to claims 4 Paul teach the limitation of the parent claim.
Paul does not teach wherein the monitoring comprises retrieving a plurality of key performance indicators from a data source in the wireless communications network and wherein the key performance indicators are recorded by at least one sensor in the wireless communications network.
However, Yao does teach wherein the monitoring comprises retrieving a plurality of key performance indicators from a data source in the wireless communications network, [0057] FIG. 4 illustrates user plane packet delay in accordance with some embodiments. As shown, a service producer collects the raw performance measurements from NFs, and then generates the performance measurements for NFs for its consumers, and wherein the key performance indicators are recorded by at least one sensor in the wireless communications network. [0179] a) This measurement provides the downlink user plane RLC SDU data volume of the NR cell sent by the gNB-DU to the UEs. The measurement is split into subcounters per QoS level (mapped 5QI or QCI in NR option 3) and per supported S-NSSAI.
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, having the teachings of Paul and Yao before him or her, to modify the method of Paul to include monitoring performance indicators as taught by Yao.
The motivation to do so would be to the improved latency. (0056 by Yao).
In regards to claims 5 Paul teach the limitation of the parent claim.
Paul does not teach wherein the plurality of key performance indicators comprises, for each node of the plurality of nodes, at least one of: an uplink traffic volume, a downlink traffic volume, an uplink bandwidth consumption, a downlink bandwidth consumption, an uplink data speed, or a downlink data speed.
However, Yao does teach wherein the plurality of key performance indicators comprises, for each node of the plurality of nodes, [0062] c) This KPI is the sum of: 1) the weighted average of UL packet delay, including UL delay on the air interface and UL delay within the NR Cell DU, for all NRCellDU managed object instances (MOIs) contained by the SubNetwork MOI, at least one of: an uplink traffic volume, [0066] UL user plane data volume of the NR Cell in the gNB-DU, such as UL user plane RLC SDU data volume or UL user plane RLC PDU data volume; a downlink traffic volume, [0124] DL user plane data volume of the NR Cell in the gNB-DU, such as DL user plane RLC SDU data volume or DL user plane RLC PDU data volume, an uplink bandwidth consumption, a downlink bandwidth consumption, [0356] a) This measurement provides the number of octets of GTP data PDUs received on the N9 interface by the PSA UPF. This measurement is split into subcounters per S-NSSAI, an uplink data speed, or a downlink data speed.
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, having the teachings of Paul and Yao before him or her, to modify the method of Paul to include monitoring performance indicators as taught by Yao.
The motivation to do so would be to the improved latency. (0056 by Yao).
Claim [6] are rejected under 35 U.S.C 103 as being unpatentable over Paul in view of Raju (US 11296764 B2) further in view of Wolfe (US 20200045627 A1).
In regards to claims 2 Paul and Raju teach the limitation of the parent claim.
Paul and Raju do not wherein the determining comprises: estimating, based on a known uplink capacity of the each node and on the plurality of key performance indicators, the unused uplink capacity; and estimating, based on a known downlink capacity of the each node and on the plurality of key performance indicators, the unused downlink capacity.
However, Wolfe does teach wherein the determining comprises: estimating, based on a known uplink capacity [0041] The traffic history data considered may include, for example, the number of connected users, the location of each connected user, the uplink and downlink throughput for each user and the resource block utilization level. This data may be used to specify on a time-of-day and/or day-of-the-week basis the amount of capacity reduction, if any, that may be implemented in each sector using the power consumption reduction techniques discussed herein, of the each node and on the plurality of key performance indicators, the unused uplink capacity; [0040] Examples of key performance indicators and other types of data that may be used as inputs to an algorithm that modifies the available capacity at a base station in order to reduce power consumption include (1) the number of connected users within the cell, (2) the total throughput on both the uplink and the downlink, and estimating, based on a known downlink capacity of the each node and on the plurality of key performance indicators, the unused downlink capacity [0040] Examples of key performance indicators and other types of data that may be used as inputs to an algorithm that modifies the available capacity at a base station in order to reduce power consumption include (1) the number of connected users within the cell, (2) the total throughput on both the uplink and the downlink, (3) the dropped call rate within the cell, (4) the number of users that do not have service within the cell.
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, having the teachings of Paul, Wolfe and Raju before him or her, to modify the method of Paul and Raju to include configuration Message as taught by Wolfe.
The motivation to do so would be to the improved quality of service. (0028 by Wolfe).
Claim [7] are rejected under 35 U.S.C 103 as being unpatentable over Paul in view of Yizhi (US 20210243652 A1).
In regards to claims 7 Paul teach the limitation of the parent claim.
Paul does not teach wherein the monitoring comprises retrieving a plurality of key performance indicators from a data source in the wireless communications network and wherein the key performance indicators are recorded by at least one sensor in the wireless communications network.
However, Yizhi does teach wherein the monitoring comprises retrieving a plurality of key performance indicators from a data source in the wireless communications network, [0057] FIG. 4 illustrates user plane packet delay in accordance with some embodiments. As shown, a service producer collects the raw performance measurements from NFs, and then generates the performance measurements for NFs for its consumers, and wherein the key performance indicators are recorded by at least one sensor in the wireless communications network. [0179] a) This measurement provides the downlink user plane RLC SDU data volume of the NR cell sent by the gNB-DU to the UEs. The measurement is split into subcounters per QoS level (mapped 5QI or QCI in NR option 3) and per supported S-NSSAI.
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, having the teachings of Paul and Yizhi before him or her, to modify the method of Paul to include key performance configurations as taught by Yizhi.
The motivation to do so would be to the improved network connectivity. (0056 by Yizhi).
Claim [9] are rejected under 35 U.S.C 103 as being unpatentable over Paul in view of Xiong (US 7660285 B2).
In regards to claims 9 Paul teach the limitation of the parent claim.
Paul does not teach wherein the boosting the first subset of the radio frequency signals emitted by the first subset of the plurality of subsets comprises routing network traffic between a user endpoint device of the wireless communications network and another endpoint of the wireless communications network via nodes of the plurality of nodes that are contained within the first subset of the plurality of subsets.
However, Xiong does teach wherein the boosting the first subset of the radio frequency signals [Col 2 Row 53-58] To better ensure that forthcoming RTC traffic for a new communication flow can be serviced at the requested or required QoS, wireless network predicts the path quality in advance before the traffic is actually accepted at a network node and propagated over the wireless network, emitted by the first subset of the plurality of subsets comprises routing network traffic between a user endpoint device of the wireless communications network [Col 1 Row 51-58] The routing of traffic in wireless networks is performed in accordance with a routing metric. The routing metric can reflect the effects of future self-traffic of a forthcoming communication flow. In a described implementation, a routing decision is made for a forthcoming communication flow that is to propagate over multiple nodes of a multi-hop wireless network, and another endpoint of the wireless communications network via nodes of the plurality of nodes that are contained within the first subset of the plurality of subsets [Col 16 Row 56-61] if links A-B and B-C use the first channel, and links C-D and D-E use the second channel, then link B-C only experiences interference as a result of the self-traffic of link A-B. Hence, the CSF is 1, and the HTF is 0, which is much smaller than in the single-channel case.
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, having the teachings of Paul and Xiong before him or her, to modify the method of Paul to include boosting configurations as taught by Xiong.
The motivation to do so would be to the improved network capacity. (Col 16 Row 7-10 by Xiong).
Claim [10] are rejected under 35 U.S.C 103 as being unpatentable over Paul in view of Xiong further in view of Fwu (US 20180184306 A1).
In regards to claims 10 Paul teach the limitation of the parent claim.
Paul and Fwu do not teach wherein the user endpoint device is physically located outside of a coverage area of the nodes of the plurality of nodes that are contained within the first subset of the plurality of subsets prior to the boosting.
However, Xiong does teach wherein the user endpoint device is physically located outside of a coverage area of the nodes of the plurality of nodes that are contained within the first subset of the plurality of subsets prior to the boosting. [0026] For a device 104A-D that needs a coverage extension to reliably communicate with the base station 102, repeated sending of a PRACH preamble or sequence in the time domain can be an effective way to improve the coverage. The repeated transmissions can accumulate more energy and can provide a mechanism for the communication to be received at the base station 102.
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, having the teachings of Paul, Xiong and Fwu before him or her, to modify the method of Paul and Fwu to include boosting configurations as taught by Fwu.
The motivation to do so would be to the improved network coverage. (0026 by Xiong).
Claim [15-16] are rejected under 35 U.S.C 103 as being unpatentable over Paul in view of Xiong (US 20190311425 A1).
In regards to claims 15 Paul teach the limitation of the parent claim.
Paul does not teach continuously repeating, by the processing system, the monitoring, the determining, the sorting, and the boosting.
However, Niklas does teach continuously repeating, by the processing system [0009] cause the processor to recursively partition the element set into a plurality of element subsets and identify a set of eligible elements from the element set, the monitoring, the determining, the sorting, and the boosting. [0047] During the recursive partitioning process, bids are identified in descending order of bid price (i.e., from highest to lowest bid price), as the leaves in the recursion tree are reached
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, having the teachings of Paul and Niklas before him or her, to modify the method of Paul to include processing system as taught by Niklas.
The motivation to do so would be to the improved sorting algorithm. (0030 by Xiong).
In regards to claims 16 Paul teach the limitation of the parent claim.
Paul does not teach wherein a repetition of the sorting results in a change in membership to at least one subset of the plurality of subsets as a result of a repetition of the determining.
However, Niklas does teach wherein a repetition of the sorting results in a change in membership to at least one subset of the plurality of subsets [0052] FIG. 4 depicts a flow of an exemplary partitioning of bids including intelligent termination of sorting, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure. In particular, FIG. 4 depicts a set of ten bids, each being associated with a bid price, bid allocation, and target allowability. as a result of a repetition of the determining [0047] Next, if a.sub.cum(k) now exceeds one, then the bidder is a candidate for being the lowest eligible or highest ineligible bidder.
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, having the teachings of Paul and Niklas before him or her, to modify the method of Paul to include processing system as taught by Niklas.
The motivation to do so would be to the improved sorting algorithm. (0030 by Niklas).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 8,11-14 and 18-19 objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base
claim, but could be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
For Claim 8, Paul and Yizhi teach the limitation of the parent claims.
Paul and Yizhi do not teach wherein the second subset of the plurality of subsets contains nodes of the plurality of nodes for which the at least one of: the unused uplink capacity or the unused downlink capacity is equal to or less than the predefined threshold.
A close reference Narsi (US 20220124146 A1) teaches a mobile network that manages nodes and load balancing during session setup, by analyzing node availability and capacity to optimize performance, nodes are placed on load level thresholds (low, medium or high), the document speaks on the avoiding high loads to select less loaded peer group. But does not speak on creating a subset of nodes with unused uplink/downlink capacity.
For Claim 11 and 18 , Paul and Yizhi teach the limitation of the parent claims.
Paul and Yizhi do not teach wherein the plurality of subsets comprises: the first subset, wherein the unused uplink capacity of nodes of the plurality of nodes contained within the first subset is above a predefined threshold; the second subset, wherein the unused uplink capacity of nodes of the plurality of nodes contained within the second subset is equal to or below the predefined threshold; a third subset, wherein the unused downlink capacity of nodes of the plurality of nodes contained within the third subset is above the predefined threshold; and a fourth subset, wherein the unused downlink capacity of nodes of the plurality of nodes contained within the fourth subset is equal to or below the predefined threshold.
For Claim 12, 13, 14 and 19, Paul and Yizhi do not teach the limitation of the parent claim 11. However, is taught by reference US 20070223451 A1 which deals with a wireless mesh system that routes traffic bidirectionally between devices and gateways through nodes, and uses mobile access nodes to extend the coverage area afforded by the fixed access nodes, it also teaches different subsets of nodes that handle uplink versus downlink routing, and routing capabilities and coverage extension through mobile nodes.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SHEHAB A ALAWDI whose telephone number is (571)270-3203. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9-5.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, [ Hamza, Faruk] can be reached at [ (571) 272-7969 ]. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/SHEHAB A ALAWDI/Examiner, Art Unit 2466
/JAY P PATEL/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2466