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 .
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 (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 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, 2, 8, 9, 15 and 16 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Ansari et al. (Ansari), WO 2014/065818 A1.
Regarding claims 1, 8 and 15, Ansari discloses an information processing method (including a device/controller 134; figure 1, computing device 400; figure 4 or special purpose processor 590; figure 5) with a processor see figures 4 and 5 and a storage medium/computer readable medium 706; figure 6) comprising: receiving, by an information processing device (device 134, 400 or 590), information indicating renewable energy (biofuels, solar, wind, bio-mass etc.) (0016, 0020) usage (energy consumption) related to each of a plurality of selectable candidates (base stations 302 and 306) for a component (such as mobile unit 108, 110, 120, 122 130 and 132; figure 1) included in a cellular network (see figure 1); and selecting, by the information processing device, a selectable candidate (such as base station 302 or 306) that is enabled to use renewable energy from among the plurality of selectable candidates, based on the information indicating the renewable energy usage (the selection of the selectable candidate reads on the system choosing base station 306 for the user to switch to when the energy demand of its current base station 302 is reduced) (0033).
Regarding claims 2, 9 and 16, Ansari discloses the information processing method according to claim 1, wherein the information indicating the renewable energy usage is an amount of renewable energy available to each of the plurality of selectable candidates or a renewable energy utilization rate at each of the plurality of selectable candidates (the energy generation rate which indicates the amount of energy generated from the renewable source per second) (0024).
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 (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.
Claim(s) 3, 6, 7, 10, 13, 14, 17 and 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ansari in view of Sharma et al. (Sharma), WO 2021/229587 A1.
Regarding claims 3, 10 and 17, Ansari discloses the information processing method, device and storage medium according to claims 1, 8 and 15 as described above. Ansari, however, fails to specifically disclose wherein the component included in the cellular network is any one of an access and mobility management function (AMF), a session management function (SMF), a user plane function (UPF), or a policy control function (PCF).
In a similar field of endeavor, Sharma discloses a core network node and method in a wireless communication network, wherein base stations within the communication network are powered by renewable energy (wind or water power) (lines 24-29, page 5).
Sharma further discloses core network node components connected to the base stations wherein the base stations share with the core network node, data about its source of power being renewable (lines 16 and 17, page 8). These components of the core network include an access and mobility management function AMF (lines 5-8, page 8) and a policy control function PCF (lines 7-8, page 13).
Therefore, before the effective filing date, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to modify Ansari with the teachings of Sharma. The motivation for this modification would have been to combine prior art elements according to known methods to yield predictable results.
Regarding claims 6, 13 and 20, Ansari discloses the information processing method, device and storage medium according to claims 1, 8 and 15 as described above. Ansari, however, fails to specifically disclose operating, by the information processing device, as an access and mobility management function (AMF) included in the cellular network, wherein the component is a session management function (SMF).
Sharma discloses operating, by an information processing device, as an access and mobility management function (AMF) included in the cellular network, wherein the component is a session management function (SMF) (The SMF node connects with the PCF to retrieve power source data…The SMF node includes the base station gNB power source data and sends it to the AMF) (lines 31 and 32, page 13 and lines 1 and 2, page 14).
Therefore, before the effective filing date, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to modify Ansari with the teachings of Sharma. The motivation for this modification would have been to combine prior art elements according to known methods to yield predictable results.
Regarding claims 7 and 14, Ansari discloses the information processing method and device according to claims 1 and 8 as described above. Ansari, however, fails to disclose further comprising operating, by the information processing device, as a session management function (SMF) included in the cellular network, wherein the component is a user plane function (UPF).
Sharma discloses operating, by the information processing device, as a session management function (SMF) included in the cellular network (The SMF node connects with the PCF to retrieve power source data…The SMF node includes the base station gNB power source data and sends it to the AMF) (lines 31 and 32, page 13 and lines 1 and 2, page 14). Although, the combination of Ansari and Sharma does not specifically disclose the UPF as the component, the UPF is well-known to be part of the core network for routing and forwarding data.
Therefore, before the effective filing date, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to modify Ansari with the teachings of Sharma. The motivation for this modification would have been to combine prior art elements according to known methods to yield predictable results.
Claim(s) 4, 5, 11, 12, 18 and 19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ansari in view of YAO et al. (YAO), U.S. Patent Pub. No. 2023/0164598.
Regarding claims 4, 11 and 18, Ansari discloses the information processing method, device and storage medium according to claims 1, 8 and 15 as described above. Ansari, however, fails to specifically disclose receiving, by the information processing device, second information indicating the plurality of selectable candidates from a network repository function (NRF) included in the cellular network.
In a similar field of endeavor, YAO discloses self-organizing network coordination and energy saving assisted by management data analytics. YAO further discloses wherein a core network comprised of an NRF that operates in a cellular system that uses renewable energy sends information regarding the system to a controller (In some embodiments, the CN 220 may be a 5GC 240. The 5GC 240 may include an …AMF 244, SMF 246, UPF 248, NSSF 250, NEF 252, NRF 254, PCF 256, UDM 258, and AF 260 coupled with one another over interfaces (or “reference points”)) (0071); see also (The NRF 254 may support service discovery functions, receive NF discovery requests from NF instances, and provide the information of the discovered NF instances to the NF instances. NRF 254 also maintains information of available NF instances and their supported services.) (0078).
Therefore, before the effective filing date, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to modify Ansari with the teachings of YAO. The motivation for this modification would have been to combine prior art elements according to known methods to yield predictable results.
Regarding claims 5, 12 and 19, Ansari discloses the information processing method, device and storage medium according to claims 1, 8 and 15 as described above. Ansari, however, fails to specifically disclose wherein the information indicating the renewable energy usage related to each of the plurality of selectable candidates is received from a network data analytics function (NWDAF) included in the cellular network.
YAO further discloses wherein a core network comprised of an NWDAF that operates in a cellular system that uses renewable energy sends information regarding the system to a controller (the management system has the overall view of network load information and it could also take the inputs from the control plane analysis (e.g. the analytics provided by NWDAF). The management system may provide the network wide analytics and cooperate with Core and RAN domains and decide on which NF/cell should move into energy saving mode in a coordinated manner.) (0019, 0137).
Therefore, before the effective filing date, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to modify Ansari with the teachings of YAO. The motivation for this modification would have been to combine prior art elements according to known methods to yield predictable results.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Brown, U.S. Patent Pub. No. 2022/0383728, discloses edge intelligence powered security solutions and other applications for a smart city.
PARZYSZ et al. U.S. Patent Pub. No. 2021/0045072, discloses a method for placing a base station on standby, computer program product, device and corresponding base station and signal.
Ho, U.S. Patent Pub. No. 2016/0157075, discloses EMP-shielded, power-independent SMS text tower system for nuclear communications.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to TEMICA M. BEAMER whose telephone number is (571)272-7797. The examiner can normally be reached Monday thru Friday; 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM.
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/TEMICA M BEAMER/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2646