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 .
1. Claims 1-7, 9-11, and 13-22 are presented for examination.
Claims 8 and 12 have been cancelled.
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
2. A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 06/15/2026 has been entered.
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, 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.
3. Claim(s) 1-4, 7, 10, 11, 13-14, 17 and 20-22 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wang et al. (hereinafter, “Wang”), in view of Jia et al. (hereinafter, “Jia”), US 12,107,739 B2, and Safavi, US 2015/0373565 A1.
Regarding claim 1, Wang teaches a method comprising:
obtaining, by a device, network telemetry and environmental telemetry associated with a physical environment (i.e., receive a plurality of signal strength and location data from multiple mobile devices, page 3 paragraph [0032]);
forecasting, by the device and based on the network telemetry and environmental telemetry, future values of the network telemetry and environmental telemetry (i.e., Wang, in page 4 paragraph [0037], forecast map that shows signal strength, based on signal quality history data and also useful data points from users in particular locations. Wang, in page 4 paragraph [0037], also discloses signal strength…measured in decibels (dB) as radio waves with a ranges of -50 to -120 for the cellular devices); and
providing, by the device, a recommendation to a user interface that recommends a user of the online application navigate to a particular location from among the different locations to access the online application at a future point in time (i.e., recommend on when and where to have an important short duration call, page 4 paragraph [0041]).
Wang does not explicitly teach predicting, based on the future values, quality of experience metrics for an online application for different locations within the physical environment; and providing, based on the quality of experience metric, a recommendation to a user interface, wherein the environment telemetry comprises an ambient noise level for a plurality of locations within the physical environment, and wherein the quality of experience metrics represents a predicted user-perceived experience of the online application.
Jia teaches predicting, by the device and based on the future values, quality of experience metrics for an online application for different locations within the physical environment (i.e., the prediction component 302 can provide information indicative of expected levels at various locations within the communication network…the prediction component can make prediction based on expected future information, col. 11 lines 17-22); and providing, based on the quality of experience metric, a recommendation to a user interface (i.e., a navigation component 306 can associate QoS to one or more locations based on the prediction received from the prediction component 302…output suggestions as to where the second device 104 should be moved, col. 11 lines 31-35).It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the teachings of Wang to predict, based on the future values, quality of experience metrics for an online application for different locations within the physical environment; and provide, based on the quality of experience metric, a recommendation to a user, as taught by Jia. One would be motivated to do so to improve quality of service (i.e., Jia, col. 10 lines 60-62).
Safavi teaches wherein the environment telemetry comprises an ambient noise level for a plurality of locations within the physical environment (i.e., Safavi, in page 7 paragraph [0076, discloses ambient noise level in structure 102. Safavi, in Fig. 1 and page 2 paragraph [0026], further discloses structure 102 includes a plurality of different rooms/locations), and wherein the quality of experience metrics represents a predicted user-perceived experience of the online application(i.e., the predicted QoEs of QoE map 600 may be for viewing experience of audiovisual material that accounts for the user's preference for audiovisual quality, and ambient noise level in structure 102, Fig. 6 and page 7 paragraph [0076] and page 8 paragraph [0090]). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the teachings of Wang to comprise an ambient noise level for a plurality of locations within the physical environment, and wherein the quality of experience metrics represents a predicted user-perceived experience of the online application, as taught by Safavi. One would be motivated to do so to improve Quality of Experience (QoE) within a context-aware computing environment (i.e., Safavi, page 1 paragraph [0017]).
Regarding claim 2, Wang teaches the method as in claim 1.
Wang does not explicitly teach the environment telemetry comprises at least one of network equipment placement information or an occupancy level.
Jia teaches the environment telemetry comprises at least one of network equipment placement information or an occupancy level (i.e., crowded zones for usage, col. 19 lines 41-49).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modify the teachings of Wang to comprise at least one of an ambient noise or an occupancy level, as taught by Jia. One would be motivated to do so to improve the QoS or mitigate the QoS loss (i.e., Jia, col. 19 lines 58-59).
Regarding claim 3, Wang teaches the method as in claim 1, wherein the environmental telemetry comprises sensor data from a sensor that measures a physical characteristic of the physical environment (i.e., sensors, Fig. 11 and page 8 paragraphs [0096]- [0097]).
Regarding claim 4, Wang teaches the method as in claim 1,
Wang does not explicitly teach wherein the recommendation indicates an upcoming network or environmental degradation to the quality of experience of the online application.
Jia teaches wherein the recommendation indicates an upcoming network or environmental degradation to the quality of experience of the online application (i.e., navigation component can provide indication where QoS is expected to degrade in the near future, col. 11 lines 44-47).
Regarding claim 7, Wang teaches wherein the recommendation includes navigation instructions to navigate the user to the particular location, based on the floor plan for the physical location (i.e., floor plan, Fig. 3 and page 3 paragraph [0032]).
Regarding claim 10, Wang teaches the method as in claim 1.
Wang does not explicitly teach selecting the particular location from among the different locations for the recommendation to the user based on user redirection constraints associated with network load allocations.
Jia teaches selecting the particular location from among the different locations for the recommendation to the user based on user redirection constraints associated with network load allocations (i.e., loading balancing can be facilitated such that subset of the twenty-device including the second device are notified to move within the service area of the network device, col. 7 lines 1-24).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the teachings of Wang to select the particular location from among the different locations for the recommendation to the user based on user redirection constraints associated with network load balancing, as taught by Jia, for the reason Jia expressly taught (i.e., load balancing).
Regarding claim 11-4, and 17, those claims recite an apparatus for performing method claims 1-5 and 7, discussed above, same rationale of rejections is applied.
Regarding claim 20, this claim recites a tangible, non-transitory, and computer-readable medium storing program instructions that cause a device to perform a method claim 1, discussed above, same rationale of rejections is applied.
Regarding claim 21, Wang teaches the method as in claim 1.
The combination of teachings of Wang and Jia does not explicitly teach wherein the network telemetry comprises at least one of: (i) a device type and configuration of a device accessing the online application; (ii) performance data comprising at least one of loss, latency, or jitter; (iii) interface statistics comprising at least one of bandwidth usage or error counters; or (iv) user statistics comprising at least one active users per network device, applications used by each user, or per user bandwidth consumption.
Safavi teaches wherein the network telemetry comprises at least one of: (i) a device type and configuration of a device accessing the online application; (ii) performance data comprising at least one of loss, latency, or jitter; (iii) interface statistics comprising at least one of bandwidth usage or error counters; or (iv) user statistics comprising at least one active users per network device, applications used by each user, or per user bandwidth consumption (i.e., page 3 paragraph [0038]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the combination of teachings of Wang and Jia to comprises at least one of: (i) a device type and configuration of a device accessing the online application; (ii) performance data comprising at least one of loss, latency, or jitter; (iii) interface statistics comprising at least one of bandwidth usage or error counters; or (iv) user statistics comprising at least one active users per network device, applications used by each user, or per user bandwidth consumption, as taught by Safavi. One would be motivated to do so to improve Quality of Experience (QoE) within a context-aware computing environment (i.e., Safavi, page 1 paragraph [0017]).
Regarding claim 22, Wang teaches the method as in claim 1.
The combination of teachings of Wang and Jia does not explicitly teach wherein the quality experience metrics comprises providing the future values of the network telemetry and the environmental telemetry as inputs to a quality experience predictions model trained to predict user satisfaction with the online application.
Safavi teaches wherein the quality experience metrics comprises providing the future values of the network telemetry and the environmental telemetry as inputs to a quality experience predictions model trained to predict user satisfaction with the online application (i.e., generating a QoE model using the device data and the user data…determine the predicted QoE is determined using the QoE model, Fig. 5 and page 5 paragraph [0060]-page 6 paragraph [0064]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the combination of teachings of Wang and jia to provide values of telemetry as inputs to quality experience predictions model trained to predict user satisfaction with the online application, as taught by Safavi. One would be motivated to do so to improve Quality of Experience (QoE) within a context-aware computing environment (i.e., Safavi, page 1 paragraph [0017]).
4. Claim(s) 5-6, 15-16, and 19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wang, in view of Jia, and Safavi as applied to claim 5 above, and further in view of Satyanarayanan et al. (hereinafter, “Satyanarayanan”), US 8,995,635 B1.
Regarding claim 5 and 15, Wang teaches the apparatus as in claim 1.
The combination of teachings of Wang, Jia, and Safavi does not explicitly teach reserving by the device, use of particular location by the user during the future point in time via a meeting scheduling system.
Satyanarayanan teaches reserving by the device, use of particular location by the user during the future point in time via a meeting scheduling system (i.e., Satyanarayanan, in abstract, col. 2 lines 29-40 and col. 4 lines 23-35, discloses reschedule the teleconference/videoconference call/meeting for a second/specific teleconference location. Satyanarayanan, in col. 7 lines 9-11, also discloses meeting participants reserve teleconference rooms via the calendaring software).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the combination of teachings of Wang, Jia, and Safavi to reserve by the device, use of particular location by the user during the future point in time via a meeting scheduling system, as taught by Satyanarayanan. One would be motivated to do so to attain a level of confidence regarding the level of quality of teleconference calls (i.e., Satyanarayanan, col. 5 lines 3-5).
Regarding claims 6 and 16, Wang teaches the method as in claim 5.
The combination of teachings of Wang, Jia, and Safavi does not explicitly teach causing, by the device, the meeting scheduling system to move a scheduled meeting at future point in time from particular location to another location in the physical environment to accommodate the user of the online application at the particular location instead.
Satyanarayanan teaches causing, by the device, the meeting scheduling system to move a scheduled meeting at future point in time from particular location to another location in the physical environment to accommodate the user of the online application at the particular location instead (i.e., Satyanarayanan, in abstract, teaches based on at least the status data and the availability data, the apparatus reschedules the teleconference call for a second teleconference location. Satyanarayanan, in col. 11 lines 24-30, further discloses: use the information indicating temporally adjacent meetings to find the best location to accommodate the participants if the participants have meetings directly before or after the meeting being rescheduled. Thus, if 3 of 4 participants are scheduled to meet at Building A at 1:00 PM, then it will be convenient for the same participants to meet at Building B, which is next door, at 2:00 PM).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modify the combination of teachings of Wang, Jia, and Safavi to cause, by the device, the meeting scheduling system to move a scheduled meeting at future point in time from particular location to another location in the physical environment to accommodate the user of the online application at the particular location instead, as taught by Satyanarayanan. One would be motivated to do so to ensure the video and/or audio quality of scheduled teleconferencing meetings/calls (i.e., Satyanarayanan, col. 3 lines 30-61).
Regarding claim 19, Wang teaches the apparatus as in claim 11.
The combination of teachings of Wang, Jia, and Safavi does not explicitly teach wherein the process when executed is further configured to: select the particular location from among different location for recommendation to the user based on a user capacity associate with the particular location at the future point in time.
Satyanarayanan teaches select the particular location from among different location for recommendation to the user based on a user capacity associate with the particular location at the future point in time (i.e., for a meeting of six participants at one room, TMS 124 can move the six participant to a new room that may hold 18 participants, Fig. 1 and col.10 lines 15-48).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the combination of teachings of Wang, Jia, and Safavi to select the particular location from among different location for recommendation to the user based on a user capacity associate with the particular location at the future point in time, as taught by Satyanarayanan. One would be motivated to do so to provide an efficient system for the user. One would be motivated to do so to improve Quality of Experience (QoE) within a context-aware computing environment (i.e., Safavi, page 1 paragraph [0017]).
5. Claim(s) 9 and 18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wang, in view of Jia, and Safavi as applied to claim 1 and/or 11 above, and further in view of Venkataraman et al. (hereafter, “Venkataraman”), US 2021/0295346 A1.
Regarding claims 9, Wang teaches the method as in claim 1.
The combination of teachings of Wang, Jia, and Safavi does not explicitly teach wherein the device obtains the network telemetry and the environmental telemetry from a software-defined networking controller.
Venkararaman teaches the device obtains the network telemetry and the environmental telemetry from a software-defined networking controller (i.e., abstract).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the combination of teachings of Wang, Jia, and Safavi to obtain the network telemetry and the environmental telemetry from a software-defined networking controller, as taught by Venkaraman. One would be motivated to do so to provide intelligent life-cycle based information for presentation on a user interface (i.e., Venkaraman, page 1 paragraph [0001]).
Regarding claim 18, Wang teaches the apparatus as in claim 11, wherein the network telemetry comprises wireless metrics (i.e., dB Value, Fig. 5 and page 4 paragraph [0037]).
The combination of teachings of Wang, Jia, and Safavi does not explicitly teach the apparatus obtains the network telemetry and the environmental telemetry from a software-defined networking controller.
Venkararaman teaches the device obtains the network telemetry and the environmental telemetry from a software-defined networking controller (i.e., abstract).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the combination of teachings of Wang, Jia, and Safavi to obtain the network telemetry and the environmental telemetry from a software-defined networking controller, as taught by Venkaraman. One would be motivated to do so to provide intelligent life-cycle based information for presentation on a user interface (i.e., Venkaraman, page 1 paragraph [0001]).
Response to Arguments
6. Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1-7, 9-11, and 13-22 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Conclusion
7. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to OANH DUONG whose telephone number is (571)272-3983. The examiner can normally be reached Maxiflex Mon-Fri 6:00am-5:00pm.
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, Wing Chan can be reached on (571)272-7493. 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.
/OANH DUONG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2459