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 .
Response to Amendment
Prior to examination, claims 1-20 have been canceled.
Priority
This application claims priority to Patent Cooperation Treaty Application No. PCT/CN2022/110695 filed August 05, 2022.
This application claims priority to Chinese Application No. CN202110900384.2 filed August 06, 2021. Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55. However, the Examiner notes that figures 9A and 9B are not in the Chinese application however they are present in the PCT. If applicant wishes to assert priority to the earliest priority, an English translation is required.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 12/11/2024 was filed in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
The Examiner notes that NPL entries 2-6 contain citations of references that do not comply with 37 C.F.R. 1.98(b)(5) which requires "Each publication listed in an information disclosure statement must be identified by publisher, author (if any), title, relevant pages of the publication, date, and place of publication." The Examiner is unable to timely consider the various coding standards and working drafts of said coding standard in their entirety as they comprise hundreds of pages, therefore a cursory review of the IDS has been completed.
The Examiner encourages resubmission with the pertinent portions of these references pointed out. Accordingly, the references have been placed on the record, but have only been given a cursory review by the Examiner.
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 01/07/2025 was in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Specification
Applicant is reminded of the proper language and format for an abstract of the disclosure.
The abstract should be in narrative form and generally limited to a single paragraph on a separate sheet within the range of 50 to 150 words in length. The abstract should describe the disclosure sufficiently to assist readers in deciding whether there is a need for consulting the full patent text for details.
The language should be clear and concise and should not repeat information given in the title. It should avoid using phrases which can be implied, such as, “The disclosure concerns,” “The disclosure defined by this invention,” “The disclosure describes,” etc. In addition, the form and legal phraseology often used in patent claims, such as “means” and “said,” should be avoided. See MPEP 608.01(b)
Appropriate correction is required.
The title of the invention is not descriptive. A new title is required that is clearly indicative of the invention to which the claims are directed. The following title is suggested: A .
The disclosure is objected to because of the following informalities:
The use of the terms ZigBee and Sigfoxx, which is a trade name or a mark used in commerce, has been noted in this application. The term should be accompanied by the generic terminology; furthermore the term should be capitalized wherever it appears or, where appropriate, include a proper symbol indicating use in commerce such as ™, SM , or ® following the term.
Although the use of trade names and marks used in commerce (i.e., trademarks, service marks, certification marks, and collective marks) are permissible in patent applications, the proprietary nature of the marks should be respected and every effort made to prevent their use in any manner which might adversely affect their validity as commercial marks.
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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.
Claims 21-40 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Mythri HUNUKUMBURE (US 20170311216 A1 and Hunukumbure hereinafter) in view of Monteiro (US 20240251258 A1 and Monteiro hereinafter).
Regarding Claim 21, Hunukumbure discloses a communication method comprising:
sending a first message to a first network device corresponding to a first target cell (“ Then, (4. “Handover Request”) the Source eNB (i.e. second network device) issues a handover request (i.e. a first message) to the Target eNB (i.e. first network device), passing necessary information to prepare the handover at the target side“,[0005] Fig 7, step 4),
wherein the first target cell is a predicted serving cell accessible by a terminal device (“Suppose that a connected-mode UE is connected to a Source eNB providing a serving cell, and can receive at least reference signals from a neighbour cell (i.e. target cell) provided by a Target eNB).“,[0005]),
Hunukumbure doesn’t explicitly teach
the first message indicates a first inference result, the first inference result comprises first predicted information and the first predicted information comprises:
future movement information of the terminal device
future service information of the terminal device
or future movement track information of the terminal device
However, in a similar endeavor Monterio teaches
the first message indicates a first inference result, the first inference result comprises first predicted information (“The Handover Request message comprises the MPM (Mobility Prediction Model) the UE 105 currently uses, settings, error information of the MPM, accuracy information of the MPM etc (i.e. inference results of predicted information)“,[0224]) and the first predicted information comprises:
future movement information of the terminal device (“Procedures of mobility prediction are input from the applications to the performance matrices. Evaluating results from prediction outputs (i.e. future predictions) such as moving direction 308 (i.e. future movement information), transition probability 309, future location 310 (i.e. future movement information), user trajectory 311 and the next cell ID 312 are provided to the performance matrices“,[0010], Fig 1),
future service information of the terminal device (“Procedures of mobility prediction are input from the applications to the performance matrices. Evaluating results from prediction outputs (i.e. future predictions) such as moving direction 308, transition probability 309, future location 310, user trajectory 311 and the next cell ID 312 (i.e. future service information) are provided to the performance matrices“,[0010], Fig 1) and ("an index or identifier of a next cell the UE 105 is predicted to move to or enter the coverage of, where the identifier or index may be, e.g., physical cell identity (PCI) and/or Cell Identity as indicated in a System Information Block; ii) the beam or Synchronization Sequence Block (SSB) index or identifier, e.g., that is expected to best serve a UE 105 in the future;"[0133]),
future movement track information of the terminal device (“Procedures of mobility prediction are input from the applications to the performance matrices. Evaluating results from prediction outputs (i.e. future predictions) such as moving direction 308 (i.e. future movement track information)… future location 310, user trajectory 311 (i.e. future movement track information) and the next cell ID 312 are provided to the performance matrices“,[0010], Fig 1).
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the method of Hunukumbure with the method suggested by Monterio. The motivation would be to enhance users' experience through services related to the users' specific location, see Monterio at [0008].
Regarding Claims 28 and 35, Hunukumbure-Monterio suggests all the limitations of claim 21 in device form rather than method form. Further Hunukumbure discloses an apparatus ([0119] ” FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating an example of an eNB 10, 11, 12 or 13 (i.e. network device) to which the present invention may be applied. The eNB includes transmitter/receiver unit(s) 904 connected to at least one antenna 902 (together defining a communication unit) and a controller 906 (i.e. processor)…the various functions described above may be embodied in the form of a computer program stored in the storage medium 908.”). Therefore, the rejection of claim 21 applies equally as well to the limitations of claim 28 and 35.
Regarding Claims 22 and 29, Hunukumbure-Monteiro teaches all the limitations of claims 21 and 28 as discussed above. Further Hunukumbure teaches
further comprising determining the first target cell based on the first inference result (“Step 3 “HO decision” is for Source eNB to make a decision (i.e. determining) based on measurement report (i.e. inference result) and RRM information to hand over the UE. Then, (4. “Handover Request”) the Source eNB issues a handover request to the Target eNB (i.e. target cell),“, [0005] Fig 7, steps 3 and 4).
Regarding Claims 23, 30 and 38, Hunukumbure-Monteiro teaches all the limitations of claims 21, 28 and 35 as discussed above. Further Hunukumbure teaches
wherein the future movement information of the terminal device comprises second predicted information, the second predicted information comprising:
camping time information of the terminal device in the future cell ("the profiling process enables the central controller to identify some patterns of commuter behaviour…From such patterns, the central controller can establish the bi-directional commuter movement (some getting out and some getting in) at most of the bus stops/stations at busy times (i.e. future camping time information).",[0084]),
information about whether the terminal device exits a connected state in the future cell(“In a bus for example, all of the users leaving the bus at a particular stop will normally leave (i.e. exit connection) by the same exit door (i.e. the first base station which is a moving cell on the bus) and then come into contact with the neighbour cell. Up to this point, they will be served by the moving cell (i.e. the bus example in reference). It is this measurement (at the exit point) that matters, which will be almost the same every time, even if individual users then disperse and later join different cells. This measurement can be provided to the controller or the destination cell in advance to speed up the handover.“,[0106]),
or prediction accuracy of the future movement information of the terminal device ("wherein the central controller is arranged to receive data concerning the users from at least the first base station, gather profile data of the users based on the data received, make predictions about which users are likely to enter and leave the vehicle at the stop, and based on the predictions, to provide guidance to the first and second base stations for performing handovers of the users."[0037]).
Hunukumbure doesn’t explicitly teach
information about a future cell of the terminal device;
a manner of accessing the future cell by the terminal device.
In a similar field of endeavor Monteiro teaches
information about a future cell of the terminal device (“If the MPM returns as output, for example: i) an index or identifier of a next cell the UE 105 is predicted to move to or enter the coverage of (i.e. future cell information), where the identifier or index may be, e.g., physical cell identity (PCI) and/or Cell Identity as indicated in a System Information Block;“,[0135]);
a manner of accessing the future cell by the terminal device (“ii) the beam or Synchronization Sequence Block (SSB) (i.e. how the UE accesses a future cell) index or identifier, e.g., that is expected to best serve a UE 105 in the future“,[0135]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the method of Hunukumbure with the method suggested by Monteiro. The motivation would be so that the UE may transmit or report to the target network node, e.g. after the handover, mobility, reconfiguration with sync, the information related to the MPM (i.e. Mobility Prediction Model). see Monteiro at [0136].
Regarding Claims 24, 31 and 39, Hunukumbure-Monteiro teaches all the limitations of claims 21, 28 and 35 as discussed above. Further Hunukumbure teaches
wherein the future service information of the terminal device comprises third predicted information, the third predicted information comprising: a future service type of the terminal device (" Some of these users will furthermore be active users, in other words, will use their mobile devices for data or voice services (predicted service type) inside the public transport vehicle and/or while waiting at a stop or station;"[0074] and “the central controller is arranged to predict whether the user is likely to continue to require wireless access to the service after leaving or entering the vehicle“,[0027] and "Users U are waiting at each bus stop and, like the users on the bus B, will be using their mobile devices in general and receiving services via the bus stop eNBs 12."[0067] and Fig. 1),
a quality of service (QoS) requirement of a future service (“A network oriented solution is proposed, which has a holistic view of the multiple destination cells based on previously reported values to determine what level of capacity will be freed and what level of QoS can be provided.“,[0047]),
a traffic volume of the future service (“In S16 the moving eNB provides (if necessary) the signal strength measurements to the central controller 20. Meanwhile, the fixed eNB(s) at bus stop BS2 informs the central controller of the number of passengers waiting at the bus stop. (For present purposes, “likely passengers” means users of the wireless communication network (i.e. traffic volume) waiting at the bus stop (i.e. future service): other users having no active mobile device are of no interest).“,[0092], Fig.4, element S16 and "If the serving (moving) cell finds that the measurements are delayed or there are a larger number of potential handovers (i.e. traffic volume)"[0104]),
or time information of the future service (“profiles can also be associated with the UEs' individual RFIDs in addition to the ID(s) allocated by the mobile network. The mapping between the two types of ID can be based on users' behaviour information, such as when the user's UE connects and disconnects (i.e. time information) with the in-vehicle eNB“[0078]. Further "the profiling process enables the central controller to identify some patterns of commuter behaviour…From such patterns, the central controller can establish the bi-directional commuter movement (some getting out and some getting in) at most of the bus stops/stations at busy times.",[0084]).
Regarding Claims 25, 32 and 40 Hunukumbure-Monteiro teaches all the limitations of claim 21, 28 and 35 as discussed above. Further Hunukumbure teaches
receiving feedback information from the first network device ("Then (6. “Handover Request Ack.”) the Target eNB 11 (i.e. first network device) prepares the HO and sends the handover request Ack. (feedback information) to the Source eNB...“,[0005] Fig. 7, step 6),
wherein the feedback information comprises indication information of: actual camping time information of the terminal device in the first target cell (“profiles can also be associated with the UEs' individual RFIDs in addition to the ID(s) allocated by the mobile network. The mapping between the two types of ID can be based on users' behaviour information, such as when the user's UE connects and disconnects (i.e. actual camping time information) with the in-vehicle eNB“,[0078] Fig. 3),
information about whether the terminal device actually exits a connected state in the first target cell (“The mapping between the two types of ID can be based on users' behaviour information such as when the user's UE connects and disconnects (i.e. exits) with the in-vehicle eNB, when the user gets on and gets off the bus (i.e. exits)“,[0078] and "detach (i.e. exits/disconnects) from old cell to synchronize to new cell", Fig. 7 under step 7),
a second inference result (“Step 3 “HO decision” is for Source eNB to make a decision (i.e. determining) based on measurement report (i.e. inference result) and RRM information to hand over the UE.”[0005], Fig 7, steps 3 and 4),
or a second target cell (“all of the users leaving the bus at a particular stop will normally leave by the same exit door and then come into contact with the neighbour cell (i.e. second target cell).“,[0106]).
Regarding Claims 26 and 33, Hunukumbure in view of Monteiro, Hunukumbure-Monteiro hereinafter, teaches all the limitations of claims 25 and 33 as discussed above.
Hunukumbure doesn’t explicitly teach
optimizing or updating a parameter of a model for determining the first inference result based on the feedback information
In a similar endeavor Monteiro teaches
optimizing or updating a parameter of a model for determining the first inference result based on the feedback information ("The target gNodeB 101 sends a Handover Request Acknowledgement message (feedback information) to the source gNodeB 101. The Handover Request Acknowledgement message comprises a re-configured (i.e. optimizing/updating) MPM (i.e. mobility prediction model), e.g., new MPM or new settings (i.e. parameters of a model). The source gNodeB 101 sends a RRC Reconfiguration message to the UE 105. The RRC Reconfiguration message comprises the re-configured MPM, e.g. the new MPM or the new settings(i.e. parameter)."[0226-0227] Fig. 13, element 1307).
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the method of Hunukumbure with the method suggested by Monteiro. The motivation would be so the UE 105 may perform some clean up actions related to the previous MPM configuration such as deleting and/or releasing entries predicted according to the previous model, state variables, reset timers, etc. see Monteiro at [0220].
Regarding Claims 27 and 34, Hunukumbure-Monteiro teaches all the limitations of claim 21 and 28 as discussed above.
Hunukumbure doesn’t explicitly teach
wherein the first inference result comprises a mobility-related inference result of a primary cell of the terminal device or a mobility-related inference result of a secondary node of the terminal device
In a similar endeavor Monteiro teaches
wherein the first inference result comprises a mobility-related inference result of a primary cell of the terminal device ("The UE 105 performs mobility predictions (i.e. inference result) using an MPM. Before step 201 is performed, the UE 105 is configured with the MPM, e.g., a first MPM, a current MPM"[0070] Fig. 13, element 1300 and 1305) or a mobility-related inference result of a secondary node of the terminal device ("The network node 101 determines that MPM re-configuration should be performed. The decision may be taken based on the report from step 202. The network node 101 creates MPM re-configuration information (i.e. inference result) as part of step 203, e.g., instructions that MPM re-configuration should be performed, information about the re-configuration etc."[0072] Fig. 3).
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the method of Hunukumbure with the method suggested by Monteiro. The motivation would be so the UE 105 receives a MPM configuration from the network node 101 and uses this model to perform mobility predictions e.g. predicted RSRP, prediction RSRQ, predicted SINR, next cell or beam, SSB, Channel State Information-Reference Signal (CSI-RS), predict whether the UE 105 is moving to or entering the coverage of, etc. see Monteiro at [0083].
Regarding Claim 36, Hunukumbure-Monteiro teaches all the limitations of claim 35 as discussed above. Further Hunukumbure teaches
wherein the first message requests the apparatus to allocate a resource corresponding to a first target cell to the terminal device (“Then, (4. “Handover Request”) the Source eNB issues a handover request (i.e. a first message) to the Target eNB (i.e. the apparatus), passing necessary information to prepare the handover (i.e. resource allocation) at the target side“,[0005] Fig 7, step 4), and
the first target cell is a predicted serving cell accessible by the terminal device (“Suppose that a connected-mode UE is connected to a Source eNB providing a serving cell, and can receive at least reference signals from a neighbour cell (i.e. target cell) provided by a Target eNB).“,[0005]).
Regarding Claim 37, Hunukumbure-Monteiro teaches all the limitations of claim 35 as discussed above. Further Hunukumbure teaches
wherein, when executed, the instructions cause the apparatus to perform operations comprising: allocating the resource of the first target cell to the terminal device in response to the first message (Then (6. “Handover Request Ack.”) the Target eNB 11 (i.e. first network device) prepares the HO (i.e. resource allocation)…); and
sending indication information of the resource that is of the first target cell and that is allocated to the terminal device ("…and sends the handover request Ack. (i.e. indication of feedback information) to the Source eNB...“,[0005] Fig. 7, steps 6 and 10).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Soldati (US 20250081101 A1) which teaches A method performed by a serving first network node for coordinating with a target second network node with respect to handoff of a user equipment.
Liu (CN 108810965 A) which teaches a random access resource allocation method comprising: a target network device receives the sent by the source network device a request for the terminal device from the source network device to switch the cell switching request to the target network device.
Paredes (US 20230140473 A1) which teaches using artificial intelligence (AI) for communication networks to collect location information, the collected location information associated with movement of at least one user equipment within a network; communicating an indication of the prediction based on the collected information.
Liu (CN 101365242 A) which teaches a group switching method based on mobile predicting, multi-service group user terminal moving along fixed line in large scale public transit needs to apply for group switching to a target base station according to detected wireless channel changing condition.
Zhu (CN 104902529 A) which teaches a user equipment (UE) reports the position information of the moving track according to the position information using the report to select the target cell, and triggering handover preparation process to the target cell.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Iyonda L. Lewis whose telephone number is (571)272-4440. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 8:00am - 4:00pm.
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/IYONDA L LEWIS/Examiner, Art Unit 2647
/Alison Slater/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2647