Prosecution Insights
Last updated: April 19, 2026
Application No. 18/396,103

Network Overload Control

Non-Final OA §102§103
Filed
Dec 26, 2023
Examiner
JAHANGIR, KABIR U
Art Unit
2464
Tech Center
2400 — Computer Networks
Assignee
Ofinno LLC
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
88%
Grant Probability
Favorable
1-2
OA Rounds
2y 7m
To Grant
96%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 88% — above average
88%
Career Allow Rate
394 granted / 450 resolved
+29.6% vs TC avg
Moderate +9% lift
Without
With
+8.9%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
2y 7m
Avg Prosecution
21 currently pending
Career history
471
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
3.8%
-36.2% vs TC avg
§103
46.8%
+6.8% vs TC avg
§102
26.0%
-14.0% vs TC avg
§112
9.2%
-30.8% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 450 resolved cases

Office Action

§102 §103
DETAILED ACTION Claims 1-20 are pending. 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 01/30/2024 was filed. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner. Specification The following guidelines illustrate the preferred layout for the specification of a utility application. These guidelines are suggested for the applicant’s use. Arrangement of the Specification As provided in 37 CFR 1.77(b), the specification of a utility application should include the following sections in order. Each of the lettered items should appear in upper case, without underlining or bold type, as a section heading. If no text follows the section heading, the phrase “Not Applicable” should follow the section heading: (a) TITLE OF THE INVENTION. (b) CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS. (c) STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT. (d) THE NAMES OF THE PARTIES TO A JOINT RESEARCH AGREEMENT. (e) INCORPORATION-BY-REFERENCE OF MATERIAL SUBMITTED ON A READ-ONLY OPTICAL DISC, AS A TEXT FILE OR AN XML FILE VIA THE PATENT ELECTRONIC SYSTEM. (f) STATEMENT REGARDING PRIOR DISCLOSURES BY THE INVENTOR OR A JOINT INVENTOR. (g) BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION. (1) Field of the Invention. (2) Description of Related Art including information disclosed under 37 CFR 1.97 and 1.98. (h) BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION. (i) BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING(S). (j) DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION. (k) CLAIM OR CLAIMS (commencing on a separate sheet). (l) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE (commencing on a separate sheet). (m) SEQUENCE LISTING. (See MPEP § 2422.03 and 37 CFR 1.821 - 1.825). A “Sequence Listing” is required on paper if the application discloses a nucleotide or amino acid sequence as defined in 37 CFR 1.821(a) and if the required “Sequence Listing” is not submitted as an electronic document either on read-only optical disc or as a text file via the patent electronic system. Claim Objections Claims 16-20 are objected to because of the following informalities: the preamble of claims state “The computer-readable medium” should state “The non-transitory computer-readable medium” as stated in the parent claim 15. Appropriate correction is required. 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, 3-8, 10-15 and 17-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Ianev et al. (US 20210136659, Ianev hereinafter). As to claim 1: Ianev discloses a method comprising: receiving, by a base station of a second network, an indication of a start of an overload control for access to a first network (see at least paragraph [0080] and Fig. 8, the network (e.g. AMF or MME) indicates the start of the overload control by sending N2 overload control message to the gNB in 5G or S1 Overload Start message to the eNB in 4G with a parameter indicating overload for delay tolerant access.); receiving, by the base station from a wireless device, a connection request to access the first network via the second network (see at least paragraph [0082] and Fig. 8, UE requests RRC connection establishment to access AMF/MME network via gNB.); and sending, by the base station and based on the indication, a rejection of the connection request (see at least paragraph [0083] and Fig. 8, the RAN node has activated overload control for delay tolerant type communication or services, the RAN Node shall reject the requests for RRC connection establishment.). As to claim 3: Ianev discloses the method of claim 1. Ianev further discloses further comprising receiving, by the base station, an identifier of the first network (see at least paragraph [0080] and Fig. 8, the network (e.g. AMF or MME) indicates the start of the overload control by sending N2 overload control message to the gNB would include network ID.). As to claim 4: Ianev discloses the method of claim 1. Ianev further discloses wherein the base station receives the indication from at least one of: an access and mobility management function (AMF) of the second network; or a mobility management entity (MME) of the second network (see at least paragraph [0080] and Fig. 8, the network (e.g. AMF or MME) indicates the start of the overload control by sending N2 overload control message to the gNB in 5G or S1 Overload Start message to the eNB in 4G with a parameter indicating overload for delay tolerant access.). As to claim 5: Ianev discloses the method of claim 1. Ianev further discloses further comprising receiving, by the base station from the wireless device, the connection request (see at least paragraph [0082] and Fig. 8, UE requests RRC connection establishment to access AMF/MME network via gNB.). As to claim 6: Ianev discloses the method of claim 1. Ianev further discloses wherein the connection request comprises a radio resource control (RRC) request message (see at least paragraph [0082] and Fig. 8, UE requests RRC connection establishment to access AMF/MME network via gNB.). As to claim 7: Ianev discloses the method of claim 1. Ianev further discloses further comprising sending, by the base station to the wireless device and based on the indication of the start of the overload control, a message comprising an access barring configuration for an access type (see at least paragraph [0081], the RAN Node (e.g. gNB or eNB) activates an overload control for delay tolerant access. The RAN Node shall reject requests from UEs for delay tolerant access type, i.e. reject requests from UEs for connection establishment with delay tolerant RRC establishment cause.). As to claim 8: Ianev discloses a base station of a second network, comprising one or more processors and memory (see Fig. 3) storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the base station of the second network to: receive an indication of a start of an overload control for access to a first network (see at least paragraph [0080] and Fig. 8, the network (e.g. AMF or MME) indicates the start of the overload control by sending N2 overload control message to the gNB in 5G or S1 Overload Start message to the eNB in 4G with a parameter indicating overload for delay tolerant access.); receiving, by the base station from a wireless device, a connection request to access the first network via the second network (see at least paragraph [0082] and Fig. 8, UE requests RRC connection establishment to access AMF/MME network via gNB.); and sending, by the base station and based on the indication, a rejection of the connection request (see at least paragraph [0083] and Fig. 8, the RAN node has activated overload control for delay tolerant type communication or services, the RAN Node shall reject the requests for RRC connection establishment.). As to claim 10: Ianev discloses the base station of claim 8. Ianev further discloses wherein the instructions further cause the base station to receive an identifier of the first network (see at least paragraph [0080] and Fig. 8, the network (e.g. AMF or MME) indicates the start of the overload control by sending N2 overload control message to the gNB would include network ID.). As to claim 11: Ianev discloses the base station of claim 8. Ianev further discloses wherein the base station receives the indication from at least one of: an access and mobility management function (AMF) of the second network; or a mobility management entity (MME) of the second network (see at least paragraph [0080] and Fig. 8, the network (e.g. AMF or MME) indicates the start of the overload control by sending N2 overload control message to the gNB in 5G or S1 Overload Start message to the eNB in 4G with a parameter indicating overload for delay tolerant access.). As to claim 12: Ianev discloses the base station of claim 8. Ianev further discloses wherein the instructions further cause the base station to receive, from the wireless device, the connection request (see at least paragraph [0082] and Fig. 8, UE requests RRC connection establishment to access AMF/MME network via gNB.). As to claim 13: Ianev discloses the base station of claim 8. Ianev further discloses wherein the connection request comprises a radio resource control (RRC) request message (see at least paragraph [0082] and Fig. 8, UE requests RRC connection establishment to access AMF/MME network via gNB.). As to claim 14: Ianev discloses the base station of claim 8. Ianev further discloses wherein the instructions further cause the base station to send, to the wireless device and based on the indication of the start of the overload control, a message comprising an access barring configuration for an access type (see at least paragraph [0081], the RAN Node (e.g. gNB or eNB) activates an overload control for delay tolerant access. The RAN Node shall reject requests from UEs for delay tolerant access type, i.e. reject requests from UEs for connection establishment with delay tolerant RRC establishment cause.). As to claim 15: Ianev discloses a non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause a base station of a first network to: receive an indication of a start of an overload control for access to a first network(see at least paragraph [0080] and Fig. 8, the network (e.g. AMF or MME) indicates the start of the overload control by sending N2 overload control message to the gNB in 5G or S1 Overload Start message to the eNB in 4G with a parameter indicating overload for delay tolerant access.); receiving, by the base station from a wireless device, a connection request to access the first network via the second network (see at least paragraph [0082] and Fig. 8, UE requests RRC connection establishment to access AMF/MME network via gNB.); and sending, by the base station and based on the indication, a rejection of the connection request (see at least paragraph [0083] and Fig. 8, the RAN node has activated overload control for delay tolerant type communication or services, the RAN Node shall reject the requests for RRC connection establishment.). As to claim 17: Ianev discloses the computer-readable medium of claim 15. Ianev further discloses wherein the instructions further cause the base station to receive an identifier of the first network (see at least paragraph [0080] and Fig. 8, the network (e.g. AMF or MME) indicates the start of the overload control by sending N2 overload control message to the gNB would include network ID.). As to claim 18: Ianev discloses the computer-readable medium of claim 15. Ianev further discloses wherein the base station receives the indication from at least one of: an access and mobility management function (AMF) of the second network; or a mobility management entity (MME) of the second network (see at least paragraph [0080] and Fig. 8, the network (e.g. AMF or MME) indicates the start of the overload control by sending N2 overload control message to the gNB in 5G or S1 Overload Start message to the eNB in 4G with a parameter indicating overload for delay tolerant access.). As to claim 19: Ianev discloses the computer-readable medium of claim 15. Ianev further discloses wherein the instructions further cause the base station to receive, from the wireless device, the connection request (see at least paragraph [0082] and Fig. 8, UE requests RRC connection establishment to access AMF/MME network via gNB.). As to claim 20: Ianev discloses the computer-readable medium of claim 15. Ianev further discloses wherein the connection request comprises a radio resource control (RRC) request message (see at least paragraph [0082] and Fig. 8, UE requests RRC connection establishment to access AMF/MME network via gNB.). 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 of this title, 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, 9 and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ianev et al. (US 20210136659, Ianev hereinafter) in view of Chiba et al. (US 20180083847, Chiba hereinafter). As to claim 2: Ianev discloses the method of claim 1. Ianev does not explicitly disclose wherein the first network comprises an overlay network and the second network comprises an underlay network. However Chiba discloses wherein the first network comprises an overlay network and the second network comprises an underlay network (see at least paragraphs [0004]-[0005], [0038]-[0039] and Fig. 1 overlay and underlay network.). Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement overlay and underlay network, as taught by Chiba, into the invention of Ianev in order to achieve assurance of the quality of a network service and optimization of the throughput of an entire system (see Chiba, paragraph [0038]). As to claim 9: Ianev discloses the base station of claim 8. Ianev does not explicitly disclose wherein the first network comprises an overlay network and the second network comprises an underlay network. However Chiba discloses wherein the first network comprises an overlay network and the second network comprises an underlay network (see at least paragraphs [0004]-[0005], [0038]-[0039] and Fig. 1 overlay and underlay network.). Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement overlay and underlay network, as taught by Chiba, into the invention of Ianev in order to achieve assurance of the quality of a network service and optimization of the throughput of an entire system (see Chiba, paragraph [0038]). As to claim 16: Ianev discloses the computer-readable medium of claim 15. Ianev does not explicitly disclose wherein the first network comprises an overlay network and the second network comprises an underlay network. However Chiba discloses wherein the first network comprises an overlay network and the second network comprises an underlay network (see at least paragraphs [0004]-[0005], [0038]-[0039] and Fig. 1 overlay and underlay network.). Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement overlay and underlay network, as taught by Chiba, into the invention of Ianev in order to achieve assurance of the quality of a network service and optimization of the throughput of an entire system (see Chiba, paragraph [0038]). Conclusion The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. KIM et al. (US 20190141609) discloses Method For Attempting Network Access From NB-IOT RAT. TIWARI, Kundan (US 20120155257) discloses Methods For Congestion Control For Machine Type Communication (MTC) Devices Or Low Priority Devices, And Apparatuses Using The Same. Kim et al. (US 20190082350) discloses Method And Device By Which Prioritized Service Is Transmitted. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KABIR U JAHANGIR whose telephone number is (571)272-0796. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri 10am to 6:30pm. Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Ricky Ngo can be reached at (571)272-3139. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000. /K. J./ Examiner, Art Unit 2464 /RICKY Q NGO/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2464
Read full office action

Prosecution Timeline

Dec 26, 2023
Application Filed
Jan 10, 2026
Non-Final Rejection — §102, §103 (current)

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Study what changed to get past this examiner. Based on 5 most recent grants.

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Prosecution Projections

1-2
Expected OA Rounds
88%
Grant Probability
96%
With Interview (+8.9%)
2y 7m
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 450 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allow rate.

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