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 .
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1-20 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.
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 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.
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, 6, 10, 11, 14-16, 19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Rahman et al. (Pub No.: 2023/0422127) in view of Centonza et al. (Pub No.: 2022/0217542).
Regarding claim 14, Rahman et al. discloses a communication apparatus (read as first network node 111 in fig. 9) comprising: a non-transitory memory (see memory 1660 in fig. 16a); and a processor (see processor 1650 in fig. 16a) configured to read a program from the memory coupled to the processor and run the program, to implement operations comprising:
receiving first load information from a second access network device (read as the second network node 112), wherein the first load information indicates load that is in a cell (read as cell 112c) of the second access network device and that is associated with a first-type terminal device (read as UE 120); wherein the first-type terminal device has a capability of accessing the communication apparatus and the second access network device (Rahman et al. see fig. 9; UE 120, network nodes 111-113, cells 11c-113c; para. 0073, 0074; The first network node may now have load information of LTE cells, e.g. cell 112c and/or 113c). The first network node 111 receives load information from second network node 112, and the UE 120 is type of terminal device that has a capability to accessing the first and second network nodes to maintain a stable connection; and
wherein the communication apparatus and the second access network device belong to different systems (Rahman et al. see para. 0073; LTE cells, e.g. cell 112c and/or 113c,… NR cell, e.g. cell 111c). Thus, second network node belongs to LTE cell while first network node belongs to NR cell; and
using the first load information (Rahman et al. see para. 0074; by exchanging traffic load information of WiFi cells, e.g. cell 112c and/or cell 113c, between network nodes, e.g. the first network node 111 and the second network node 112, the wireless device 120 may be offloaded from the first network node 111 to a WiFi cell, e.g. the cell 112c or the cell 113c, based on the traffic load of said WiFi cell and/or based on other load information of any of cells 111c, 112c, and 113c). The first network node 111 may use the load information to offload the UE 120 to the second network node.
However, Rahman et al. does not explicitly disclose the feature wherein the first load information comprises at least a slice available capacity.
Centonza et al. from the same or similar fields of endeavor discloses the feature wherein the first load information comprises at least a slice available capacity (Centonza et al. see abstract; para. 0053, 0114; In some embodiments, the available capacity associated to the radio cell is determined based on the available capacity associated to one or more network slices).
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the disclosure of Rahman et al. and to implement with the feature as taught by Centonza et al. wherein load information comprises slice available capacity associated with a radio cell.
The motivation would be to improve transmission reliability.
Claim 1 is rejected similarly to claim 14.
Regarding claim 11, Rahman et al. discloses a communication method, wherein the method comprises:
determining, by a second access network device (read as the second network node 112), first load information, wherein the first load information indicates load that is in a cell (read as cell 112c) of the second access network device and that is associated with a first-type terminal device, the first-type terminal device has a capability of accessing a first access network device (read as first network node 111 in fig. 9), and the second access network device (Rahman et al. see fig. 9; UE 120, network nodes 111-113, cells 11c-113c; fig. 11, step 1102; para. 0073, 0074, 0103; the second network node 112 obtains current load information for a second cell candidate 112c served by the second network node 112.). The second network node 112 obtains the current load information for a second cell. The UE 120 is type of terminal device that has a capability to accessing the first and second network nodes to maintain a stable connection, and
the first access network device and the second access network device belong to different systems (Rahman et al. see para. 0073; LTE cells, e.g. cell 112c and/or 113c,… NR cell, e.g. cell 111c). Thus, second network node belongs to LTE cell while first network node belongs to NR cell; and
sending, by the second access network device, the first load information to the first access network device (Rahman et al. see para. 0110; the second network node 112 assists the first network node 111 in determining the one or more cells to serve the wireless device 120 by further transmitting to the first network node 111, the current load information for the second cell candidate 112c). The second network node transmits the obtained load information to the first network node.
However, Rahman et al. does not explicitly disclose the feature wherein the first load information comprises at least a slice available capacity.
Centonza et al. from the same or similar fields of endeavor discloses the feature wherein the first load information comprises at least a slice available capacity (Centonza et al. see abstract; para. 0053, 0114; In some embodiments, the available capacity associated to the radio cell is determined based on the available capacity associated to one or more network slices).
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the disclosure of Rahman et al. and to implement with the feature as taught by Centonza et al. wherein load information comprises slice available capacity associated with a radio cell.
The motivation would be to improve transmission reliability.
Regarding claims 2, 15, Rahman et al. discloses the feature wherein the first load information comprises at least one of the following: a number of active first-type terminal devices, radio resource control (RRC) connections, a transport layer capacity indicator, a composite available capacity group, or a radio resource status (Rahman et al. see para. 0158, 0159; In addition to information in messages above, other load information relating to traffic load information, may further be communicated such as, e.g. a number of active UEs, number of RRC connected UEs.).
Regarding claims 3, 16, Rahman et al. discloses the feature wherein the method further comprises: sending, by the first access network device, first request information to the second access network device, wherein the first request information is for requesting the second access network device to send load information (Rahman et al. see fig. 10, step 1001; para. 0080; the first network node 111 requests from the second network node 112, any one or more out of: a current load information for the third cell candidate 113c, and a current load information for the second cell candidate 112c.).
Regarding claims 6, 19, Rahman et al. discloses the feature wherein the using, by the first access network device, the first load information comprises: determining, by the first access network device based on the first load information, whether to perform load balancing (Rahman et al. see para. 0088; The first network node 111 then determines one or more cells to serve the wireless device 120 based on the current load information of the third cell candidate 113c. In this way, it may thus be possible for the network node 111 to determine one or more cells to serve the wireless device 120 based on traffic load information of cells provided by network nodes without a control connection to the first network node 111.). The first network node performs load balancing based on the load information.
Regarding claim 10, Rahman et al. discloses the feature wherein the first access network device is an access network device in a 5th generation (5G) system, and the second access network device is an access network device in a 4th generation (4G) system (Rahman et al. see para. 0073; LTE cells, e.g. cell 112c and/or 113c,… NR cell, e.g. cell 111c). Thus, second network node belongs to LTE cell while first network node belongs to NR cell;
Claim(s) 4, 17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Rahman et al. (Pub No.: 2023/0422127) in view of Centonza et al. (Pub No.: 2022/0217542) as applied to claim 3 or 16 above, and further in view of Gao et al. (Pub No.: 2017/0164235).
Regarding claims 4, 17, Rahman et al. in view of Centonza et al. does not explicitly disclose the feature wherein the first request information comprises at least one of the following: a load type, periodicity information, or information about a threshold that corresponds to the load information, wherein the periodicity information indicates a periodicity in which the second access network device sends the load information, and the load indicated by the load information is greater than or equal to the threshold.
Gao et al. from the same or similar fields of endeavor discloses the feature wherein the first request information comprises at least one of the following: a load type, periodicity information, or information about a threshold that corresponds to the load information, wherein the periodicity information indicates a periodicity in which the second access network device sends the load information, and the load indicated by the load information is greater than or equal to the threshold (Gao et al. see para. 0082, 0083; The message for requesting load information includes: information about a source network element, information about a target network element, a request type, information about access network equipment, and the like… The request type may be an event-trigger request type or a periodic-trigger request type; Specifically, the second network element may request the first network element to transmit the load information of access network equipment to the second network element when the requested access network equipment is heavily overloaded, overloaded or lightly loaded.).
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the disclosure of Rahman et al. in view of Centonza et al. and to implement with the feature as taught by Gao et al. such that the load request includes load type and etc.
The motivation would be to improve network resources.
Claim(s) 5, 18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Rahman et al. (Pub No.: 2023/0422127) in view of Centonza et al. (Pub No.: 2022/0217542) as applied to claim 1 or 14 above, and further in view of Comstock (Pub No.: 2016/0192262).
Regarding claims 5, 18, Rahman et al. in view of Centonza et al. does not explicitly disclose the feature wherein the using, by the first access network device, the first load information comprises: determining, by the first access network device based on the first load information, whether to perform an energy saving operation.
Comstock from the same or similar fields of endeavor discloses the feature wherein the using, by the first access network device, the first load information comprises: determining, by the first access network device based on the first load information, whether to perform an energy saving operation (Comstock see fig. 5, steps 502, 504, 514; para. 0041, 0042, 0045; When all of the UE devices 116, 118 are handed over to other cells and the compensation cell has completed its coverage expansion to include the energy saving service area, the energy saving service area 106 is deactivated.).
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the disclosure of Rahman et al. in view of Centonza et al. and to implement with the feature as taught by Comstock to use the load information for energy saving.
The motivation would be to improve network resources.
Claim(s) 7, 8, 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Rahman et al. (Pub No.: 2023/0422127) in view of Centonza et al. (Pub No.: 2022/0217542) as applied to claim 1 or 14 above, and further in view of Pekonen et al. (Pub No.: 2014/0349650).
Regarding claims 7, 20, Rahman et al. in view of Centonza et al. does not explicitly disclose the feature wherein the first-type terminal device is a terminal device that meets a handover condition in the cell of the second access network device.
Pekonen et al. from the same or similar fields of endeavor discloses the feature wherein the first-type terminal device is a terminal device that meets a handover condition in the cell of the second access network device (Pekonen et al. see para. 0039; The second base station may report to the first base station the current channel conditions or signal quality between the UE and the second base station, the reported quality metrics may include for example Channel Quality Information (CQI), Channel State Information (CSI) or measurements done in the base station based on the received Sounding Reference Signal (SRS) transmission by the terminal in the uplink direction.). Thus, a base station is configured to measure the information: current channel condition or signal quality of the between the UE and the base station in order to determine whether the UE mees a handover condition.
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the disclosure of Rahman et al. in view of Centonza et al. and to implement with the feature as taught by Pekonen et al. where the UE is determined to meet HO condition.
The motivation would be to improve HO accuracy.
Regarding claim 8, Pekonen et al. discloses the feature wherein the method further comprises: measuring, by the first access network device, a sounding reference signal (SRS) sent by the first-type terminal device, to obtain an SRS measurement result; and sending, by the first access network device, the SRS measurement result to the second access network device (Pekonen et al. see para. 0039; The second base station may report to the first base station the current channel conditions or signal quality between the UE and the second base station, the reported quality metrics may include for example Channel Quality Information (CQI), Channel State Information (CSI) or measurements done in the base station based on the received Sounding Reference Signal (SRS) transmission by the terminal in the uplink direction.). Thus, a base station is configured to measure the information: current channel condition or signal quality of the between the UE and the base station. The base station may report the information to another base station and based on the measured information, the other base station may decide to perform HO of the UE.
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the disclosure of Rahman et al. in view of Centonza et al. and to implement with the feature as taught by Pekonen et al. to measure channel condition or signal quality based on the received SRS sent by the UE, and report the measurement result to another base station.
The motivation would be to improve transmission efficiency.
Claim(s) 12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Rahman et al. (Pub No.: 2023/0422127) in view of Centonza et al. (Pub No.: 2022/0217542) as applied to claim 11 above, and further in view of Soldati et al. (Pub No.: 2022/0110039).
Regarding claim 12, Rahman et al. in view of Centonza et al. does not explicitly disclose the feature for receiving, by the second access network device, first information from the first-type terminal device, wherein the first information indicates coverage and/or quality information of a cell of the first access network device; and wherein the first load information is based on the first information.
Soldati et al. from the same or similar fields of endeavor discloses the feature for receiving, by the second access network device, first information from the first-type terminal device, wherein the first information indicates coverage and/or quality information of a cell of the first access network device; and wherein the first load information is based on the first information (Soldati et al. see fig. 12, step 3; Subsequently, the source node receives measurements from UE 1210 of target node beams/cells (“3”). Based on these measurements, a mobility triggering event between the specified source beams and target beams (and vice versa, as needed) occurs according to the ΔHOs exchanged.). The UE transmits measurement report to the source node (e.g., the second access network device), where the measurement report is the quality information of the target node (e.g., first access network node). The measurement report is based on the first information (e.g., load information).
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the disclosure of Rahman et al. in view of Centonza et al. and to implement with the feature as taught by Soldati et al. where the UE transmits, based on load information, a measurement report to the source node, where the report is the quality information of the target node.
The motivation would be to improve transmission reliability.
Claim(s) 13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Rahman et al. (Pub No.: 2023/0422127) in view of Centonza et al. (Pub No.: 2022/0217542) as applied to claim 11 above, and further in view of Qian et al. (Pub No.: 2015/0304889).
Regarding claim 13, Rahman et al. in view of Centonza et al. does not explicitly disclose the feature for wherein the first load information is based on second information, and the second information indicates coverage and/or quality information of the cell of the second access network device.
Qian et al. from the same or similar fields of endeavor discloses the feature wherein the first load information is based on second information, and the second information indicates coverage and/or quality information of the cell of the second access network device (Qian et al. see para. 0081, 0082, 0084; the load related information may include: a second type cell in neighboring cells of the cell; a PRB utilization rate of the cell; a historical scheduling priority of the cell; and a scheduling rate, RB allocation, a quantity of buffered data, a waiting delay, a QCI type, a modulation and coding scheme MCS, and RSRP of each user in the cell.).
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the disclosure of Rahman et al. in view of Centonza et al. and to implement with the feature as taught by Qian et al. where the load information is based on quality information of the cell of the second access network device.
The motivation would be to improve transmission reliability.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 9 is objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Examiner's Note
The Applicant is welcome to request a telephonic interview if the Applicant has any questions or requires any additional information that would further or expedite the prosecution of the application.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Grube et al. (Pub No.: 2011/0126060) discloses a method begins with a processing module identifying data for storage and sending a subscription request message regarding the data for storage. The method continues with the processing module receiving a subscription response message. The method continues with the processing module obtaining error coding dispersal storage function parameters when a dispersal method of the subscription response message indicates direct dispersal. The method continues with the processing module encoding at least a portion of the data in accordance with the error coding dispersal storage function parameters to produce a set of encoded data slices. The method continues with the processing module determining a plurality of storage locations and performing a dispersed storage write function to store the set of encoded data slices in the plurality of storage locations.
Jin et al. (Pub No.: 2020/0374947) discloses communications methods, devices, and chips. In an implementation, a method comprises: sending, by a centralized unit user plane (CU-UP) of an access network to a centralized unit control plane (CU-CP) of the access network, an interface setup request message to request to setup an E1 interface, the interface setup request message comprises an identity of a public land mobile network (PLMN) served by the CU-UP and a network slice identifier corresponding to the public land mobile network, wherein the network slice identifier identifies single network slice selection assistance information (S-NSSAI) or an S-NSSAI list; and sending, by the CU-CP, an interface setup response message to the CU-UP after receiving the interface setup request message.
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 KAN YUEN whose telephone number is (571)270-1413. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 10:30am-7pm.
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/KAN YUEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2464