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 § 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.
Claim(s) 1-3, 5, 8-11, 13, 16 and 20 is/are rejected under U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Song (US 2023/0239710 A1) in view of Chen (US 2017/0367036 A1)
Regarding claim 1 and 9, Song teaches a method, comprising:
identifying, by a radio access network (RAN) intelligent controller (RIC) associated with a core network, one or more controls for controlling a RAN ([0079] Referring to FIG. 4, an RIC 440 is connected to an O-CU-CP 420, an O-CU-UP 410, and an O-DU 430. The RIC 440 is a device for customizing RAN functionality for a new service or regional resource optimization. The RIC 440 may provide functions such as network intelligence (e.g., policy enforcement..), resource assurance (e.g., radio-link management..), resource control (e.g. slicing policy). The RIC 440 may communicate with the O-CU-CP 420, the O-CU-UP 410, and the O-DU 430.”)
at two or more of a cell level, a slicing level, a user equipment (UE) grouping level, or a quality of service (QoS) level ([0053], RIC identifying whether the RIC control request was correctly made; [0068] “P-GW 140 may control the terminal 120 (e.g., QoS management”; [0110] “FIG. 11B describes based on the UE, but the measurement may be performed and reported on various bases such as UE group/network slice, and the RIC control may be performed”; [0141] Referring to FIG. 13C, in operation 1361, the Non-RT RIC may transmit a Policy for controlling the Near-RT RIC to the E2 Node … The A1 policy includes at least one of a policy for each UE, a policy for each group, a policy for each cell, or a policy for each slice, and the A1 policy may be variously configured for each service”); and
transmitting, by the RIC (Fig.4, RIC 440) to one or more of a radio unit (RU) associated with the RAN, a distributed unit (DU); the signaling associated with the one or more controls (Fig. 4, E2-DU) associated with the RAN, a centralized unit (CU) associated with the RAN, or a network management system (NMS), signaling associated with the one or more controls ([0053] the present disclosure relates to a procedure, message, and method for transmitting a RIC control request message from an RIC to an E2 node on an E2 interface in a radio access network”, see also abstract) .
“wherein the signaling associated with the one or more controls indicates a RAN parameter ([0079] Referring to FIG. 4, an RIC 440 is connected to an O-CU-CP 420, an O-CU-UP 410, and an O-DU 430. The RIC 440 is a device for customizing RAN functionality for a new service or regional resource optimization. The RIC 440 may provide functions such as network intelligence (e.g., policy enforcement..), resource assurance (e.g., radio-link management..), resource control (e.g. slicing policy).,
wherein the RAN parameter is based on a cell level, a slicing level or the UE grouping level, or a QoS level.” ([0068] “P-GW 140 may control the terminal 120 (e.g., QoS management”; [0110] “FIG. 11B describes based on the UE, but the measurement may be performed and reported on various bases such as UE group/network slice, and the RIC control may be performed”; [0141] Referring to FIG. 13C, in operation 1361, the Non-RT RIC may transmit a Policy for controlling the Near-RT RIC to the E2 Node … The A1 policy includes at least one of a policy for each UE, a policy for each group, a policy for each cell, or a policy for each slice, and the A1 policy may be variously configured for each service”);
However, Song does not explicitly teach that these three RAN parameters are associated with a first weight, second weight or third weight respectively.
In an analogous art, Chen teaches the concept of weighting various parameters that are associated with a first weight, second weight or third weight respectively. (“[0094] In Examples 2 and 3, as shown in FIG. 17, at 1, the UE 1202 sends the new service request directly to the currently using RAN slice 1. At 2, the RAN slice 1 performs an evaluation to determine whether the RAN slice 1 is able to serve the new service. In performing the evaluation, the RAN slice 1 may weight various parameters, such as, for example and without limitation, UE capabilities (e.g., antennas, frequency, etc.), service type associated with the UE (e.g., eMBB, mMTC), traffic characteristics associated with the UE (e.g., real-time video, heartbeat monitoring, etc.), QoS parameters (e.g. throughput, packet loss ratio, jitter delay, etc.), etc. The RAN slice 1, in some cases, also checks to determine whether this new service of the UE 1202 is permitted to use RAN slice 1. The RAN slice may check, for example and without limitation: UE subscriptions, slice license agreements, operator's policies, ... At 5, a response message is sent back to RAN slice 1 by the CN slice 1”)
By applying Chen’s teaching of associating various weights to Song’s various parameters such as (a cell level, a slicing level or the UE grouping level, or a QoS level), the combined teaching of Song and Chen’s would yield the claimed limitation of first weight associated with the cell level, a second weight associated with the slicing level or the UE grouping level, or a third weight associated with the QoS level.
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to apply Chen's teaching of associating weights on various parameters to Song's teaching of the RAN parameters to assign the level of importance of each of the parameters and fine-tuning them to meet specific performance objectives.
Although the amended limitation
“wherein the signaling associated with the one or more controls indicates a RAN parameter, and the RAN parameter is based on a first weight associated with the cell level, a second weight associated with the slicing level or the UE grouping level, or a third weight associated with the QoS level”
merely indicates the details or content of the signaling being associated with different weights, renders the limitation nonfunctional descriptive material. This limitation does not recite any positively recited active step/function of how these weights are determined or utilized in subsequent step. The detail/content of the signal that is being transmitted doesn’t alter how the steps are to be performed to achieve the utility of the invention and carry very little patentable weight (see MPEP 2111.05 Nonfunctional Descriptive Material).
Regarding claim 2 and 10, Song and Chen teach the method of claim 1, wherein the one or more controls are associated with a first time resolution, and the first time resolution is associated with non-real-time (Non-RT) ([0140] “FIG. 13C illustrates signaling of an entire control procedure between an E2 node, an RIC, and a Non-RT RIC according to embodiments of the disclosure., [0141] Referring to FIG. 13C, in operation 1361, the Non-RT RIC may transmit a Policy for controlling the Near-RT RIC to the E2 Node by using an A1 Interface to the RIC… The A1 policy includes at least one of a policy for each UE, a policy for each group, a policy for each cell, or a policy for each slice, and the A1 policy may be variously configured for each service”).
Regarding claim 3 and 11, Song and Chen teach the method of claim 1, wherein the one or more controls are associated with a second time resolution, and the second time resolution is associated with near-real-time (Fig 13C Near-RT RIC) (Fig 13C 1363-1367; [0141] “Referring to FIG. 13C, in operation 1361, the Non-RT RIC may transmit a Policy for controlling the Near-RT RIC to the E2 Node by using an A1 Interface to the RIC”).
Regarding claim 5 and 13, Song and Chen teach the method of claim 1, wherein the RAN parameter is based on a function of an adjustment at the cell level, an adjustment at the slicing level, or the UE grouping level, and an adjustment at the QoS level (“[0141] Referring to FIG. 13C, in operation 1361, the Non-RT RIC may transmit a Policy for controlling the Near-RT RIC to the E2 Node by using an A1 Interface to the RIC... The A1 policy includes at least one of a policy for each UE, a policy for each group, a policy for each cell, or a policy for each slice, and the A1 policy may be variously configured for each service..., in case of setting a policy for a specific UE, the A1 policy create message may include a UE ID.. in case of setting a policy for a specific cell, the A1 policy create message may include a cell ID. Also, for example, in case of controlling QoS, the A1 policy create message may include GBR related to QoS.”)
Regarding claim 8, 16 and 20, Song and Chen teach the method of claim 1, wherein: the one or more controls are associated with: a traffic steering and load balancing ([0079] Referring to FIG. 4..The RIC 440 is a device for customizing RAN functionality for a new service or regional resource optimization… may provide functions such as network intelligence (e.g.. resource control (e.g., load balancing, slicing policy));
one or more of power, bands, or antenna tilting at the cell level (P[0063], transmission power); a DU-CU allocation at the slicing or UE grouping level (P[0108], control message including information related to resource allocation procedure; (P[0079], slicing policy); or a cell individual offset (CIO) or a QoS offset at the QoS level (P[0065], QoS policy).
Claim(s) 4, 7, 12, 15, 17 and 18 is/are rejected under U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Song and Chen in view of D'Oro (US 2024/0378506 A1)
Regarding claim 4, 12 and 17, Song and Chen teach the method of claim 1, except wherein the one or more controls are associated with a third time resolution, and the third time resolution is associated with real-time. In an analogous art, D'Oro teaches third time resolution is associated with real-time [0067] “in order to facilitate such orchestration of the Open RAN, a set of optimization computer-implemented methods with diverse complexity/optimality tradeoffs have been developed such that OrchestRAN can provide approximate solutions in a few hundreds of milliseconds or optimal ones in a few seconds. In addition, a set of xApps embedding Deep Reinforcement Learning (DRL) solutions to control the RAN in real time via an interface such as an O-RAN E2 interface have been developed” “These components act in concert to gather data and performance metrics from the RAN, and to optimize and reprogram its behavior in real time through software algorithms to reach Telco's goals.” [0141] Access DU/CU Data and Functionalities in Real Time. dApps make it possible to access control- and user-plane data that is either unavailable at the near-RT RIC, or available but not with a sub-ms latency. This includes real-time access to I/Q samples, data packets, handover-related mobility information, dual-connectivity between 5G NR and 4G, among others). Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify Song’s teaching of RIC controls to also include D'Oro’s teaching of controls that are associated with real-time in order to reduce latency which is particularly crucial for time-sensitive applications/functions.
Regarding claim 7 and 15, Song and Chen teach the method of claim 1, except wherein a service level agreement (SLA) is provided based on the RAN parameter. In an analogous art, D'Oro teaches a service level agreement (SLA) based on the RAN parameters (“[0010] Ayala-Romero et al. present an online Bayesian learning orchestration framework for intelligent virtualized RANs in which radio resources are allocated according to channel conditions and network load. The same authors present a similar framework where networking and computational resources are orchestrated via DRL to comply with service level agreements (SLAs) while accounting for the limited amount of RAN resources.” [0132], QoS requirements and to comply with the service level agreements; these include resource allocation, network slicing). Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify Song’s teaching of RIC controls to also include D'Oro’s teaching of controls that are associated with real-time in order to reduce latency which is particularly crucial for time-sensitive applications/functions.
Regarding claim 18, it has similar limitations as combination of claims 2, 3 and 4. Thus claim 18 is rejected for the same reasons as claims 2, 3 and 4 combined.
Claim(s) 21-22 is/are rejected under U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Song (US 2023/0239710 A1) in view of Chen (US 2017/0367036 A1) further in view of Roach (US 20160164787)
Regarding claim 21 and 22, Song and Chen teach the method of claim 7, except wherein the SLA is associated with traffic steering and load balancing.
In an analogous art, Roach teaches the SLA is associated with traffic steering and load balancing ([0061] A block diagram of a system for carrying out the “passive port” method of intelligent traffic steering in accordance with the present invention is shown in FIG. 4 of the drawings. Basically, the congestion level of the port 12 closest to the server 6 negatively impacts the decision to forward the next connection to that server 6. That is, if a port 12 is saturated, the adaptive load balancer 2 will reduce the traffic to it. [0088] The next step in the method of the present invention is, if the QoS is specified for a particular flow because application centric business requirements require special handling, then the method resorts to SDN controller 4 to identify the flow and add the flow to the appropriate input port of the server switch 10. In addition, a meter 34 is also programmed in the input of the server switch to allow a Service Level Agreement to be tracked and enforced. Meters are configured via the common NBI API on the SDN controller. This allows use of the invention across different hardware switch platforms, which may have differing meter implementations. [0089] The third step in the “QoS overlay” method of the present invention is to use the programmed meters 34 to take actions when a flow exceeds the Service Level Agreement, drop the packets, or modify the DSCP (Differentiated Services Code Point) which may result in the packets using an alternative lower priority queue on the output port of the server switch 10 and the other switch layers along the end to end path. The SLA characteristics of an Application can include a maximum data rate which an application may use in the SDN controlled network. If an Application exceeds the maximum data rate, then other applications or services may be impacted.”)
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify Song's teaching of controlling of RAN parameters to also include 's teaching of in order to improve the system.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 12/30/2025 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Applicant argued that,
"evaluation to determine whether the RAN slice 1 is able to serve the new service" described in CHEN does not teach or suggest "the signaling associated with the one or more controls indicates a RAN parameter, and the RAN parameter is based on a first weight associated with the cell level, a second weight associated with the slicing level or the UE grouping level, or a third weight associated with the QoS level," as recited in amended claim 1”.
The examiner respectfully disagrees. As addressed above, Song teaches
“the signaling associated with the one or more controls indicates a RAN parameter ([0079] The RIC 440 is a device for customizing RAN functionality for a new service or regional resource optimization. The RIC 440 may provide functions such as network intelligence (e.g., policy enforcement..), resource assurance (e.g., radio-link management..), resource control (e.g. slicing policy), wherein the RAN parameter is based on a cell level, a slicing level or or the UE grouping level, or a QoS level.” ([0068] “P-GW 140 may control the terminal 120 (e.g., QoS management”; [0110] “FIG. 11B describes based on the UE, but the measurement may be performed and reported on various bases such as UE group/network slice, and the RIC control may be performed”; [0141] Referring to FIG. 13C, in operation 1361, the Non-RT RIC may transmit a Policy for controlling the Near-RT RIC to the E2 Node … The A1 policy includes at least one of a policy for each UE, a policy for each group, a policy for each cell, or a policy for each slice, and the A1 policy may be variously configured for each service”);
Chen teaches the concept of weighting various parameters (“[0094] the RAN slice 1 may weight various parameters, such as, for example and without limitation, UE capabilities (e.g., antennas, frequency, etc.), service type associated with the UE (e.g., eMBB, mMTC), traffic characteristics associated with the UE (e.g., real-time video, heartbeat monitoring, etc.), QoS parameters (e.g. throughput, packet loss ratio, jitter delay. The RAN slice may check, for example and without limitation: UE subscriptions, slice license agreements, operator's policies, ... At 5, a response message is sent back to RAN slice 1 by the CN slice 1”)
Chen teaches weighting various parameters means each of the weighted parameter would have it’s respective first, second, third or N weight. Therefore, by applying Chen’s teaching of associating various weights to Song’s various parameters such as (a cell level, a slicing level or the UE grouping level, or a QoS level), the combined teaching of Song and Chen’s would yield the claimed limitation of first weight associated with the cell level, a second weight associated with the slicing level or the UE grouping level, or a third weight associated with the QoS level.
Furthermore, the newly amended limitation,
“wherein the signaling associated with the one or more controls indicates a RAN parameter, and the RAN parameter is based on a first weight associated with the cell level, a second weight associated with the slicing level or the UE grouping level, or a third weight associated with the QoS level”,
merely indicates the details or content of the signaling being associated with different weights, renders the limitation nonfunctional descriptive material. This limitation does not recite any positively recited active step/function of how these weights are determined or utilized in subsequent step. The detail/content of the signal that is being transmitted doesn’t alter how the steps are to be performed to achieve the utility of the invention and carry very little patentable weight (see MPEP 2111.05 Nonfunctional Descriptive Material).
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DUNG L LAM whose telephone number is (571)272-6497. The examiner can normally be reached Monday -Thursday 9-5pm.
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/DUNG L LAM/Examiner, Art Unit 2646
/JEANETTE J PARKER/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2646