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 .
DETAILED ACTION
Claim Status
1. This is in response to application filed on 1/17/2024 in which claims 1-20 are presented for examination.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
2. 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.
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.
Claims 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over Costa et al., (US 2018/0139641), (hereinafter, Costa) in view of Abdel Shadid et al., (US 11,096,096), (hereinafter, Abdel).
Regarding claims 1, 8 and 15, Costa discloses a method/network device/ non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising:
transmitting, by a network device (= radio unit is typically located remotely from the controller and other components of the access node but in certain installations may be collocated with the access node, see [0042]), an indication of physical properties associated with a user equipment (UE) (= user node, see [0047 and 0050]), wherein the physical properties include a route associated with the UE
(= tracking position of user nodes, thereby obtaining both position and velocity information about user nodes in the coverage area the ultra-dense network/other wireless network with which the ultra-dense network is exchanging data, see [0049]);
receiving, by the network device, a metric (= and predicting when user connectivity is expected or likely to be deteriorated or lost, see [0047]) associated with a line-of-sight (LOS) of the UE with a base station (= remote radio units may form a single access node controlled by separate access nodes that are part of one ultra-dense network or communication system, see [0041]), wherein the LOS is while the UE is traveling along the route (= moving physical disturbance 116 blocking the LoS radio link 118, see [0045]; prediction can be made based on the direction and velocity of detected physical disturbance as to whether or not radio links of another user node connected to network 100 are likely to experience a disruption of radio access or when the possible disruption will occur, see [0052]); and
transmitting, by the network device, a message to enable connectivity for the UE based on the metric and one or more other parameters (= actions or adjustment to the connectivity of the affected node can be taken to ensure always on connectivity, see [0047]; imminent reduction in QoS experience, see [0065]; messages may be sent to have user nodes turn on their mobility beacons, see [0081]; and messages can include instruction to initiate a handoff from one radio resource unit to another radio resource unit, see [0077]).
Although Costa discloses that “messages can include instruction to initiate a handoff from one radio resource unit to another radio resource unit; and connectivity adjustment action (see, [0077 and 0066-67]), Costa explicitly fails to mention “a message to enable dual connectivity”.
However, Abdel, which is an analogous art teaches a system and method herein can be used to select or determine whether to use an E-UTRAN New Radio-Dual Connectivity (EN-DC) connection that include both an LTE connection and a 5G connection (see col. 2, lines 33-47).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have combined the teaching of Abdel with Costa for the benefit of achieving a communication system where an increase data throughput level could be provided by an EN-DC connection.
Regarding claims 2, 9 and 16, as mentioned in claims 1, 8, and 15, Costa further discloses the method/network device/ non-transitory computer-readable medium wherein the physical properties include one or more of: a latitude associated with the UE, a longitude associated with the UE, a height or elevation associated with the UE, a speed associated with the UE, a data buffer status associated with the UE, or a temperature associated with the UE (= obtaining both position and velocity information about user nodes, see [0049]).
Regarding claims 3, 10 and 17, as mentioned in claims 1, 8, and 15, Costa further discloses the method/network device/ non-transitory computer-readable medium wherein the metric indicates a percentage of time, while the UE is traveling along the route, that the UE is expected to have the LOS with the base station (= predicting when user connectivity is expected or likely to be blocked/deteriorated or lost, see [0047 and 0049]).
Regarding claims 4, 11 and 17, as mentioned in claims 1, 8, and 15, Costa further discloses the method/network device/ non-transitory computer-readable medium wherein the metric is based on one or more of: high-resolution terrain data, LOS data
(see [0056 and 0058), clutter data, or information regarding an antenna radiation center associated with the base station.
Regarding claims 5, 12 and 18, as mentioned in claims 1, 8, and 15, Costa further discloses the method/network device/ non-transitory computer-readable medium wherein the one or more other parameters is a network slice parameters associated with single network slice selection assistance information (S-NSSAI), and the S-NSSAI includes one or more of: an indication of whether the UE is a smart phone or a customer premises equipment (CPE), an indication of whether the UE is configured for connected mode discontinuous reception (C-DRX), an indication of whether the UE is battery powered or connected to a power source, an indication of whether the UE is mounted to a surface, an indication of whether the UE is to optimize latency (= imminent reduction in QoS experience; and switching to an alternate remote node, see [0065] and maintain latency, see [0066]);, an indication of whether the UE is to optimize throughput, or an indication of whether the UE is to optimize battery life.
Regarding claims 6, 13 and 19, as mentioned in claims 1, 8, and 15, Costa further discloses the method/network device/ non-transitory computer-readable medium wherein the network device is a radio access network (RAN) intelligent controller (RIC) (= controller, see [0040]).
Regarding claims 7, 14 and 20, as mentioned in claims 1, 8, and 15, Costa explicitly fails to disclose method/network device/ non-transitory computer-readable medium, wherein the dual connectivity is based on a first frequency range and a second frequency range (= frequency for LTE and NR connections, see col. 13, lines 29-55).
However, Abdel, which is an analogous art disclose method/network device/ non-transitory computer-readable medium, wherein the dual connectivity is based on a first frequency range and a second frequency range.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have combined the teaching of Abdel with Costa for the benefit of achieving a communication system where an increase data throughput level could be provided by an EN-DC connection.
CONCLUSION
3. The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
a. Li et al., (US 2011/0116480) teaches method and apparatus to support interference management in multi-tier wireless communication systems.
b. Levin et al., (US 2011/0287778) teaches method and system for estimation of mobile station velocity in a cellular system based on geographical data.
c. Prabhakar et al., (US 2021/0345235) teaches simultaneous network slice usage via dual connectivity.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KWASI KARIKARI whose telephone number is (571)272-8566. The examiner can normally be reached M-Fri: 8am-4pm.
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/Kwasi Karikari/
Primary Examiner: Art Unit 2641.