Prosecution Insights
Last updated: July 17, 2026
Application No. 18/506,412

NETWORK NODE ENERGY USAGE REPORTING

Non-Final OA §103
Filed
Nov 10, 2023
Examiner
DINH, JOSEPH NGHIA
Art Unit
2641
Tech Center
2600 — Communications
Assignee
Qualcomm Incorporated
OA Round
2 (Non-Final)
Grant Probability
Favorable
2-3
OA Rounds

Examiner Intelligence

Grants only 0% of cases
0%
Career Allowance Rate
0 granted / 0 resolved
-62.0% vs TC avg
Minimal +0% lift
Without
With
+0.0%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
Avg Prosecution
13 currently pending
Career history
14
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§103
97.0%
+57.0% vs TC avg
§102
3.0%
-37.0% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 0 resolved cases

Office Action

§103
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 filed March 17, 2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. Regarding the rejection of the claims under 35 U.S.C. 103, applicant argues that Ang in view of Liu fails to disclose “receive an energy usage monitoring configuration associated with service of a user equipment (UE)…. and transmit, based at least in part on the one or more transmissions, an energy usage report associated with the energy usage monitoring configuration” and during the interview held on February 26, 2026, it was agreed that this argument appears to overcome the prior art of record. After further consideration, the Examiner respectfully disagrees. In the same embodiment of Ang as used in the prior office action, the energy metric as disclosed is used to configure the base station for energy usage monitoring (Par. [0117] “The energy metric may be associated with an amount of energy consumed by the mobile device for processing transmissions according to various configurations” and Par. [0119] “At 520, the method 500 includes configuring a transmission between the base station and the mobile device based at least in part on the energy metric. Configuring the transmission may include determining a first energy consumption for the transmission between the base station and the mobile device based at least in part on the energy metric”). Ang discloses that the energy metric may be associated with the amount of energy consumed by the mobile device, and then discloses the energy metric is used to configure the transmission between the base station and mobile device in part by determining a first energy consumption. Ang and Liu do not disclose an “energy usage monitoring configuration” by name, but it has been shown that the energy metric of Ang performs the function of an “energy monitoring usage configuration,” as recited in Claim 1. In view of the above the rejections are maintained as repeated below. This action is made FINAL. Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103 The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action. Claims 1, 8-9, 12, 14, 16, 18, 21-23, 25, and 27-29 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ang et al. (US 2015/150334653) in view of Liu et al. (US 2025/0016678). Regarding Claim 1, Ang discloses, a network node for wireless communication comprising one or more memories; and one or more processors, coupled to the one or more memories, which are configured, individually or in any combination, (Par. [0059] Fig. 3, “The processor 340 and/or other processors and modules at the eNodeB 110” and Par. [0074], Fig. 4, “The memory 414 may include a cache memory…or a combination of different types of memory”) to: receive an energy usage monitoring configuration associated with service of a user equipment (UE); (Par. [0117], Fig. 5, “At 510, the method 500 includes identifying an energy metric associated with a mobile device. In an aspect, the method 500 includes, at 512, retrieving the energy metric from a database… The energy metric may be associated with an amount of energy consumed by the mobile device for processing transmissions according to various configurations” and Par. [0119] “At 520, the method 500 includes configuring a transmission between the base station and the mobile device based at least in part on the energy metric. Configuring the transmission may include determining a first energy consumption for the transmission between the base station and the mobile device based at least in part on the energy metric”) transmit to the UE, or receive from the UE, one or more transmissions; (Par. [0046], Fig. 1, “In FIG. 1, a solid line with double arrows indicates desired transmissions between a UE and a serving eNodeB”) Ang however, does not teach the function to transmit, based at least in part on the one or more transmissions, an energy usage report associated with the energy usage monitoring configuration. Liu teaches this element of Claim 1 with a network node sending feedback data, (Par. [0105] ”the feedback data as described above comprises one or more of load measurement data, virtual storage usage data, energy consumption and quality of user service (QoS) of the at least one network node. For example, the feedback data as shown in FIG. 5 may include bandwidth usage, virtual storage usage, energy consumption, and user QoS (e.g., packet drop rate, latency, average rate, quantity of data transfer, etc.) of gNB1 and gNB2”). It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Ang’s network node receiving an energy usage monitoring configuration associated with the service of a UE, with Liu’s network node that sends feedback data comprising energy consumption in order to produce an expected result of efficiency in reporting energy usage. Regarding Claim 8, Ang, combined with Liu, teaches all aspects of Claim 1 above, where Liu further teaches the function to transmit, by a central unit (CU) of the network node to a distributed unit (DU) of the network node, downstream information based at least in part on the energy usage monitoring configuration; and (Fig. 2, Par. [0085], “FIG. 2 illustrates a schematic diagram of an example of a deployment architecture 200 for an energy consumption management model in a network energy consumption management system, in accordance with an embodiment of the principles of the present disclosure” and Par. [0087], “As shown in FIG. 2, the training unit and the prediction unit are deployed simultaneously in an administrative unit (OAM or SMO). The main function of the E1 interface is to provide the interconnection between the CU-CP and the CU-UP of the gNB-CU of the NG-RAN. The F1 interface supports signaling exchange and data transmission between gNB-CU and gNB-DU, separation of radio network layer and transport network layer, exchange of user terminal related information or non-user terminal related information. In addition, the functions of the F1 interface are divided into F1-C (control plane) functions and F1-U (user plane) functions, providing interconnection between DU and CU-CP, DU and CU-UP, respectively”) receive, by the CU from the DU, upstream information associated with the energy usage report (Fig. 2, Par. [0085], “FIG. 2 illustrates a schematic diagram of an example of a deployment architecture 200 for an energy consumption management model in a network energy consumption management system, in accordance with an embodiment of the principles of the present disclosure” and Par. [0087], “As shown in FIG. 2, the training unit and the prediction unit are deployed simultaneously in an administrative unit (OAM or SMO). The main function of the E1 interface is to provide the interconnection between the CU-CP and the CU-UP of the gNB-CU of the NG-RAN. The F1 interface supports signaling exchange and data transmission between gNB-CU and gNB-DU, separation of radio network layer and transport network layer, exchange of user terminal related information or non-user terminal related information. In addition, the functions of the F1 interface are divided into F1-C (control plane) functions and F1-U (user plane) functions, providing interconnection between DU and CU-CP, DU and CU-UP, respectively”). It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Ang’s network node receiving an energy usage monitoring configuration associated with the service of a UE, with Liu’s network node that sends energy usage data utilizing a CU and DU in order to produce an expected result of efficiency in reporting energy usage. Regarding Claim 9, Ang, combined with Liu, teaches all aspects of Claim 1 above, where Ang teaches the network node is a master node (MN), and wherein the one or more processors are further configured, individually or in any combination, to: transmit, to a secondary node (SN), downstream information based at least in part on the energy usage monitoring configuration; ([Par. 0109], Fig. 3, Fig. 6, “ In the case where the energy consumption management model in the network energy consumption management system has deployment architecture 300, an example flow diagram of the energy consumption management process is shown in FIG. 6. In the example shown in FIG. 6, it is also assumed that gNB2 is the target node to be power-saved, and gNB1 is its neighboring node. It should be understood that only one neighboring node gNB 1 is shown in FIG. 6 for convenience of description and not limitation, in an actual situation, the number of neighboring nodes of the target node is not limited to one and the type is also not limited to gNB. In addition, the training data and the input data may also be obtained from the user equipment served by the target node and the neighboring nodes, which has been described in detail above and will not be repeated here”). and receive, from the SN, upstream information associated with the energy usage report ([Par. 0109], Fig. 3, Fig. 6, “In the case where the energy consumption management model in the network energy consumption management system has deployment architecture 300, an example flow diagram of the energy consumption management process is shown in FIG. 6. In the example shown in FIG. 6, it is also assumed that gNB2 is the target node to be power-saved, and gNB1 is its neighboring node. It should be understood that only one neighboring node gNB 1 is shown in FIG. 6 for convenience of description and not limitation, in an actual situation, the number of neighboring nodes of the target node is not limited to one and the type is also not limited to gNB. In addition, the training data and the input data may also be obtained from the user equipment served by the target node and the neighboring nodes, which has been described in detail above and will not be repeated here”). Regarding Claim 12, Ang, combined with Liu, teaches all aspects of Claim 1 above, where Liu teaches the energy usage report indicates a quantity of bits, associated with a mode of service, transmitted to or from the UE over a time window (Par. [0105], “In some embodiments, the feedback data as described above comprises one or more of load measurement data, virtual storage usage data, energy consumption and quality of user service (QoS) of the at least one network node. For example, the feedback data as shown in FIG. 5 may include bandwidth usage, virtual storage usage, energy consumption, and user QoS (e.g., packet drop rate, latency, average rate, quantity of data transfer, etc.) of gNB1 and gNB2”). It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Ang’s network node receiving an energy usage monitoring configuration associated with the service of a UE, with Liu’s network node that sends feedback data relating to energy usage and including bandwidth usage in order to produce an expected result of efficiency in reporting energy usage. Regarding Claim 14, Ang, combined with Liu, teaches all aspects of Claim 1 above, where Liu teaches the energy usage report based at least in part on one or more of a start of a mode of service, or an energy usage associated with the UE satisfying an energy usage threshold (Par. [0100], “In the present disclosure, the strategy data may include energy saving strategy data at the network level, such as turning on or off the base station device, bringing the base station device into a sleeping status, and the like, and may also include energy saving strategy data at the station level, such as turning off or adjusting at the symbol/channel/carrier level, and the like. The output strategy data may also comprise handover strategy data, e.g. cells for load transferring after recommending candidate nodes to take over the services of the target energy saving node. In addition, the strategy data may also include a recommended time period for the sleeping mode, a start-up time for the energy saving strategy, a duration, and the like”). It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Ang’s network node receiving an energy usage monitoring configuration associated with the service of a UE, with Liu’s network node that sends strategy data involving a sleeping mode and start-up time in order to produce an expected result of efficiency in reporting energy usage. Regarding Claim 16, Ang, combined with Liu, teaches all aspects of Claim 1 above, where Ang teaches the ability to receive an energy usage report configuration associated with the energy usage report (Par. [0117], Fig. 5, “At 510, the method 500 includes identifying an energy metric associated with a mobile device. In an aspect, the method 500 includes, at 512, retrieving the energy metric from a database.) Regarding Claim 18, Ang teaches a method of wireless communication performed by a network node, comprising: receiving an energy usage monitoring configuration associated with service of a user equipment (UE); (Par. [0117], Fig. 5, “At 510, the method 500 includes identifying an energy metric associated with a mobile device. In an aspect, the method 500 includes, at 512, retrieving the energy metric from a database.) transmitting to the UE, or receiving from the UE, one or more transmissions; (Par. [0046], Fig. 1, “In FIG. 1, a solid line with double arrows indicates desired transmissions between a UE and a serving eNodeB”) Ang however, does not teach the function to transmit, based at least in part on the one or more transmissions, an energy usage report associated with the energy usage monitoring configuration. Liu teaches this element of Claim 1 with a network node sending feedback data, (Par. [0105],” the feedback data as described above comprises one or more of load measurement data, virtual storage usage data, energy consumption and quality of user service (QoS) of the at least one network node. For example, the feedback data as shown in FIG. 5 may include bandwidth usage, virtual storage usage, energy consumption, and user QoS (e.g., packet drop rate, latency, average rate, quantity of data transfer, etc.) of gNB1 and gNB2.”). It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Ang’s network node receiving an energy usage monitoring configuration associated with the service of a UE, with Liu’s network node that sends feedback data comprising energy consumption in order to produce an expected result of efficiency in reporting energy usage. Regarding Claim 21, Ang, combined with Liu, teaches all aspects of Claim 18 above, where Liu teaches the function of transmitting, by a central unit (CU) of the network node to a distributed unit (DU) of the network node, downstream information based at least in part on the energy usage monitoring configuration; and (Fig. 2, Par. [0085], “FIG. 2 illustrates a schematic diagram of an example of a deployment architecture 200 for an energy consumption management model in a network energy consumption management system, in accordance with an embodiment of the principles of the present disclosure” and Par. [0087], “As shown in FIG. 2, the training unit and the prediction unit are deployed simultaneously in an administrative unit (OAM or SMO). The main function of the E1 interface is to provide the interconnection between the CU-CP and the CU-UP of the gNB-CU of the NG-RAN. The F1 interface supports signaling exchange and data transmission between gNB-CU and gNB-DU, separation of radio network layer and transport network layer, exchange of user terminal related information or non-user terminal related information. In addition, the functions of the F1 interface are divided into F1-C (control plane) functions and F1-U (user plane) functions, providing interconnection between DU and CU-CP, DU and CU-UP, respectively”). receiving, by the CU from the DU, upstream information associated with the energy usage report. (Fig. 2, Par. [0085], “FIG. 2 illustrates a schematic diagram of an example of a deployment architecture 200 for an energy consumption management model in a network energy consumption management system, in accordance with an embodiment of the principles of the present disclosure” and Par. [0087], “As shown in FIG. 2, the training unit and the prediction unit are deployed simultaneously in an administrative unit (OAM or SMO). The main function of the E1 interface is to provide the interconnection between the CU-CP and the CU-UP of the gNB-CU of the NG-RAN. The F1 interface supports signaling exchange and data transmission between gNB-CU and gNB-DU, separation of radio network layer and transport network layer, exchange of user terminal related information or non-user terminal related information. In addition, the functions of the F1 interface are divided into F1-C (control plane) functions and F1-U (user plane) functions, providing interconnection between DU and CU-CP, DU and CU-UP, respectively”). It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Ang’s network node receiving an energy usage monitoring configuration associated with the service of a UE, with Liu’s network node that sends energy usage data utilizing a CU and DU in order to produce an expected result of efficiency in reporting energy usage. Regarding Claim 22, Ang, combined with Liu, teaches all aspects of Claim 18 above, where Ang teaches the method further comprising: transmitting, to a secondary node (SN), downstream information based at least in part on the energy usage monitoring configuration; ([Par. 0109], Fig. 3, Fig. 6, “In the case where the energy consumption management model in the network energy consumption management system has deployment architecture 300, an example flow diagram of the energy consumption management process is shown in FIG. 6. In the example shown in FIG. 6, it is also assumed that gNB2 is the target node to be power-saved, and gNB1 is its neighboring node. It should be understood that only one neighboring node gNB 1 is shown in FIG. 6 for convenience of description and not limitation, in an actual situation, the number of neighboring nodes of the target node is not limited to one and the type is also not limited to gNB. In addition, the training data and the input data may also be obtained from the user equipment served by the target node and the neighboring nodes, which has been described in detail above and will not be repeated here”). and receiving, from the SN, upstream information associated with the energy usage report. ([Par. 0109], Fig. 3, Fig. 6, “In the case where the energy consumption management model in the network energy consumption management system has deployment architecture 300, an example flow diagram of the energy consumption management process is shown in FIG. 6. In the example shown in FIG. 6, it is also assumed that gNB2 is the target node to be power-saved, and gNB1 is its neighboring node. It should be understood that only one neighboring node gNB 1 is shown in FIG. 6 for convenience of description and not limitation, in an actual situation, the number of neighboring nodes of the target node is not limited to one and the type is also not limited to gNB. In addition, the training data and the input data may also be obtained from the user equipment served by the target node and the neighboring nodes, which has been described in detail above and will not be repeated here”). Regarding Claim 23, Ang, combined with Liu, teaches all aspects of Claim 18 above, where Liu teaches transmitting the energy usage report includes transmitting the energy usage report based at least in part on one or more of a start of a mode of service, or an energy usage associated with the UE satisfying an energy usage threshold (Par. [0100], “In the present disclosure, the strategy data may include energy saving strategy data at the network level, such as turning on or off the base station device, bringing the base station device into a sleeping status, and the like, and may also include energy saving strategy data at the station level, such as turning off or adjusting at the symbol/channel/carrier level, and the like. The output strategy data may also comprise handover strategy data, e.g. cells for load transferring after recommending candidate nodes to take over the services of the target energy saving node. In addition, the strategy data may also include a recommended time period for the sleeping mode, a start-up time for the energy saving strategy, a duration, and the like”). It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Ang’s network node receiving an energy usage monitoring configuration associated with the service of a UE, with Liu’s network node that sends strategy data involving a sleeping mode and start-up time in order to produce an expected result of efficiency in reporting energy usage. Regarding Claim 25, Ang teaches a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing a set of instructions for wireless communication, the set of instructions comprising: (Par. [0017], “a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium that may store instructions for managing power consumption at a mobile device for processing transmissions between a base station and the mobile device”), one or more instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of a network node, cause the network node to: receive an energy usage monitoring configuration associated with service of a user equipment (UE); (Par. [0117], Fig. 5, “At 510, the method 500 includes identifying an energy metric associated with a mobile device. In an aspect, the method 500 includes, at 512, retrieving the energy metric from a database… The energy metric may be associated with an amount of energy consumed by the mobile device for processing transmissions according to various configurations” and Par. [0119] “At 520, the method 500 includes configuring a transmission between the base station and the mobile device based at least in part on the energy metric. Configuring the transmission may include determining a first energy consumption for the transmission between the base station and the mobile device based at least in part on the energy metric”), and transmit to the UE, or receive from the UE, one or more transmissions; and (Par. [0046], Fig. 1, “In FIG. 1, a solid line with double arrows indicates desired transmissions between a UE and a serving eNodeB”). Ang however, does not teach the function to transmit, based at least in part on the one or more transmissions, an energy usage report associated with the energy usage monitoring configuration. Liu teaches this element of Claim 1 with a network node sending feedback data, (Par. [0105],” the feedback data as described above comprises one or more of load measurement data, virtual storage usage data, energy consumption and quality of user service (QoS) of the at least one network node. For example, the feedback data as shown in FIG. 5 may include bandwidth usage, virtual storage usage, energy consumption, and user QoS (e.g., packet drop rate, latency, average rate, quantity of data transfer, etc.) of gNB1 and gNB2.”). It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Ang’s network node receiving an energy usage monitoring configuration associated with the service of a UE, with Liu’s network node that sends feedback data comprising energy consumption in order to produce an expected result of efficiency in reporting energy usage. Regarding Claim 27, Ang, combined with Liu, teaches all aspects of Claim 25 above, where Liu teaches the one or more instructions further cause the network node to: transmit, by a central unit (CU) of the network node to a distributed unit (DU) of the network node, downstream information based at least in part on the energy usage monitoring configuration; and (Fig. 2, Par. [0085], “FIG. 2 illustrates a schematic diagram of an example of a deployment architecture 200 for an energy consumption management model in a network energy consumption management system, in accordance with an embodiment of the principles of the present disclosure” and Par. [0087], “As shown in FIG. 2, the training unit and the prediction unit are deployed simultaneously in an administrative unit (OAM or SMO). The main function of the E1 interface is to provide the interconnection between the CU-CP and the CU-UP of the gNB-CU of the NG-RAN. The F1 interface supports signaling exchange and data transmission between gNB-CU and gNB-DU, separation of radio network layer and transport network layer, exchange of user terminal related information or non-user terminal related information. In addition, the functions of the F1 interface are divided into F1-C (control plane) functions and F1-U (user plane) functions, providing interconnection between DU and CU-CP, DU and CU-UP, respectively”) receive, by the CU from the DU, upstream information associated with the energy usage report (Fig. 2, Par. [0085], “FIG. 2 illustrates a schematic diagram of an example of a deployment architecture 200 for an energy consumption management model in a network energy consumption management system, in accordance with an embodiment of the principles of the present disclosure” and Par. [0087], “As shown in FIG. 2, the training unit and the prediction unit are deployed simultaneously in an administrative unit (OAM or SMO). The main function of the E1 interface is to provide the interconnection between the CU-CP and the CU-UP of the gNB-CU of the NG-RAN. The F1 interface supports signaling exchange and data transmission between gNB-CU and gNB-DU, separation of radio network layer and transport network layer, exchange of user terminal related information or non-user terminal related information. In addition, the functions of the F1 interface are divided into F1-C (control plane) functions and F1-U (user plane) functions, providing interconnection between DU and CU-CP, DU and CU-UP, respectively”) It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Ang’s network node receiving an energy usage monitoring configuration associated with the service of a UE, with Liu’s network node that sends energy usage data utilizing a CU and DU in order to produce an expected result of efficiency in reporting energy usage. Regarding Claim 28, Ang, combined with Liu, teaches all aspects of Claim 25 above, where Ang teaches the network node is a master node (MN), and wherein the one or more instructions further cause the network node to: transmit, to a secondary node (SN), downstream information based at least in part on the energy usage monitoring configuration; ([Par. 0109], Fig. 3, Fig. 6, “In the case where the energy consumption management model in the network energy consumption management system has deployment architecture 300, an example flow diagram of the energy consumption management process is shown in FIG. 6. In the example shown in FIG. 6, it is also assumed that gNB2 is the target node to be power-saved, and gNB1 is its neighboring node. It should be understood that only one neighboring node gNB 1 is shown in FIG. 6 for convenience of description and not limitation, in an actual situation, the number of neighboring nodes of the target node is not limited to one and the type is also not limited to gNB. In addition, the training data and the input data may also be obtained from the user equipment served by the target node and the neighboring nodes, which has been described in detail above and will not be repeated here”). and receive, from the SN, upstream information associated with the energy usage report ([Par. 0109], Fig. 3, Fig. 6, “In the case where the energy consumption management model in the network energy consumption management system has deployment architecture 300, an example flow diagram of the energy consumption management process is shown in FIG. 6. In the example shown in FIG. 6, it is also assumed that gNB2 is the target node to be power-saved, and gNB1 is its neighboring node. It should be understood that only one neighboring node gNB 1 is shown in FIG. 6 for convenience of description and not limitation, in an actual situation, the number of neighboring nodes of the target node is not limited to one and the type is also not limited to gNB. In addition, the training data and the input data may also be obtained from the user equipment served by the target node and the neighboring nodes, which has been described in detail above and will not be repeated here”). Regarding Claim 29, Ang teaches an apparatus for wireless communication, comprising: (Par. [0023], “an apparatus for managing power consumption at a mobile device for processing transmissions between a base station and the mobile device”), means for receiving an energy usage monitoring configuration associated with service of a user equipment (UE); (Par. [0117], Fig. 5, “At 510, the method 500 includes identifying an energy metric associated with a mobile device. In an aspect, the method 500 includes, at 512, retrieving the energy metric from a database… The energy metric may be associated with an amount of energy consumed by the mobile device for processing transmissions according to various configurations” and Par. [0119] “At 520, the method 500 includes configuring a transmission between the base station and the mobile device based at least in part on the energy metric. Configuring the transmission may include determining a first energy consumption for the transmission between the base station and the mobile device based at least in part on the energy metric”), means for transmitting to the UE, or means for receiving from the UE, one or more transmissions; and (Par. [0046], Fig. 1, “In FIG. 1, a solid line with double arrows indicates desired transmissions between a UE and a serving eNodeB”). Ang however, does not teach the function to transmit, based at least in part on the one or more transmissions, an energy usage report associated with the energy usage monitoring configuration. Liu teaches this element of Claim 1 with a network node sending feedback data, (Par. [0105],” the feedback data as described above comprises one or more of load measurement data, virtual storage usage data, energy consumption and quality of user service (QoS) of the at least one network node. For example, the feedback data as shown in FIG. 5 may include bandwidth usage, virtual storage usage, energy consumption, and user QoS (e.g., packet drop rate, latency, average rate, quantity of data transfer, etc.) of gNB1 and gNB2.”). It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Ang’s network node receiving an energy usage monitoring configuration associated with the service of a UE, with Liu’s network node that sends feedback data comprising energy consumption in order to produce an expected result of efficiency in reporting energy usage. Claims 2-3, 17, 19, 26, and 30 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ang et al. (US 2015/150334653) in view of Liu et al. (US 2025/0016678) and in further view of Islam (US 2020/0260376). Regarding Claim 2, Ang, combined with Liu, teaches all aspects of Claim 1 above, where Islam teaches the function to receive a threshold indication of an energy usage threshold associated with the energy usage monitoring configuration (Par. [0015] In some examples of the method, apparatuses, and non-transitory computer-readable medium described herein, receiving an indication of power consumption category switching information may include operations, features, means, or instructions for receiving, from the base station, an indication of a threshold for selecting a first power consumption category of the set of power consumption categories”). It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Ang’s network node receiving an energy usage monitoring configuration associated with the service of a UE, with Liu’s network node that sends feedback data comprising energy consumption, as well as Islam’s indication of a threshold for selecting a power consumption category in order to produce an expected improvement in reporting energy usage. Regarding Claim 3, Ang, combined with Liu and Islam, teaches all aspects of Claim 2 above, where Ang teaches the energy usage threshold is specific to the UE (Par. [0109], “The energy metrics information 420 may be constructed for each different mobile device 440 (e.g., per SKU of the mobile device 440). In an aspect, the energy metrics information may be dynamically updated. For example, a software and/or firmware update may be released for the mobile device 440. The update(s) may cause changes in the energy metrics information 420 associated with the mobile device 440. The energy metrics information 420 associated with the mobile device 440 may be updated to reflect the changes caused by the update(s). In an aspect, the energy metrics information 420 may be determined by testing different power consumption rates for different mobile devices using different transmission configurations/parameters, such as during a certification testing of the different mobile devices.”). Regarding Claim 17, Ang, combined with Liu, teaches all aspects of Claim 1 above, where Islam teaches the function to transmit an indication associated with the energy usage monitoring configuration (Par. [0109], “The energy metrics information 420 may be constructed for each different mobile device 440 (e.g., per SKU of the mobile device 440). In an aspect, the energy metrics information may be dynamically updated. For example, a software and/or firmware update may be released for the mobile device 440. The update(s) may cause changes in the energy metrics information 420 associated with the mobile device 440. The energy metrics information 420 associated with the mobile device 440 may be updated to reflect the changes caused by the update(s). In an aspect, the energy metrics information 420 may be determined by testing different power consumption rates for different mobile devices using different transmission configurations/parameters, such as during a certification testing of the different mobile devices.”). It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Ang’s network node receiving an energy usage monitoring configuration associated with the service of a UE, with Liu’s network node that sends feedback data comprising energy consumption, as well as Islam’s indication of a threshold for selecting a power consumption category in order to produce an expected improvement in reporting energy usage. Regarding Claim 19, Ang, combined with Liu, teaches all aspects of Claim 18 above, where Islam teaches receiving a threshold indication of an energy usage threshold associated with the energy usage monitoring configuration (Par. [0015] In some examples of the method, apparatuses, and non-transitory computer-readable medium described herein, receiving an indication of power consumption category switching information may include operations, features, means, or instructions for receiving, from the base station, an indication of a threshold for selecting a first power consumption category of the set of power consumption categories”). It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Ang’s network node receiving an energy usage monitoring configuration associated with the service of a UE, with Liu’s network node that sends feedback data comprising energy consumption, as well as Islam’s indication of a threshold for selecting a power consumption category in order to produce an expected improvement in reporting energy usage. Regarding Claim 26, Ang, combined with Liu, teaches all aspects of Claim 25 above, where Islam teaches the function to receive a threshold indication of an energy usage threshold associated with the energy usage monitoring configuration (Par. [0015] In some examples of the method, apparatuses, and non-transitory computer-readable medium described herein, receiving an indication of power consumption category switching information may include operations, features, means, or instructions for receiving, from the base station, an indication of a threshold for selecting a first power consumption category of the set of power consumption categories”). It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Ang’s network node receiving an energy usage monitoring configuration associated with the service of a UE, with Liu’s network node that sends feedback data comprising energy consumption, as well as Islam’s indication of a threshold for selecting a power consumption category in order to produce an expected improvement in reporting energy usage. Regarding Claim 30, Ang, combined with Liu, teaches all aspects of Claim 29 above, where Islam teaches receiving a threshold indication of an energy usage threshold associated with the energy usage monitoring configuration (Par. [0015] In some examples of the method, apparatuses, and non-transitory computer-readable medium described herein, receiving an indication of power consumption category switching information may include operations, features, means, or instructions for receiving, from the base station, an indication of a threshold for selecting a first power consumption category of the set of power consumption categories”). It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Ang’s network node receiving an energy usage monitoring configuration associated with the service of a UE, with Liu’s network node that sends feedback data comprising energy consumption, as well as Islam’s indication of a threshold for selecting a power consumption category in order to produce an expected improvement in reporting energy usage. Claims 4-6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ang et al. (US 2015/150334653) in view of Liu et al. (US 2025/0016678) in further view of Islam et al. US (2020/0260376) and in further view of Ma et al. (US 2022/0225126). Regarding Claim 4, Ang, combined with Liu and Islam, teaches all aspects of Claim 2 above, where Ma teaches the energy usage threshold is specific to a network slice that is associated with the UE (Par. [0200] “the predicted value of quality of service information of a specific service for a period of time in the future. The service quality information includes but is not limited to at least one of the following information: the average value of QoE report in the specified area, the ratio of UE with similar QoE report to the total number of UEs in the area, and the average value of QoE report in the same network slice”). It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Ang’s network node receiving an energy usage monitoring configuration associated with the service of a UE, with Liu’s network node that sends feedback data comprising energy consumption, as well as Ma’s QoE report being specific to a network slice in order to produce an expected result to improve efficiency and coverage of wireless interfaces (Ma et al. [0007]). Regarding Claim 5, Ang, combined with Liu and Islam, teaches all aspects of Claim 2 above, where Ma teaches the energy usage threshold is specific to a protocol data unit (PDU) session (Par. [0213], “the type of prediction information requested, including but not limited to at least one of the following information: uplink and downlink rate of UE, uplink and downlink rate of PDU session, uplink and downlink rate of network slice, uplink and downlink rate of QoS flow, QoE report, location information, state of access node, quality of service information, abnormal event information and QoS duration information,”). It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Ang’s network node receiving an energy usage monitoring configuration associated with the service of a UE, with Liu’s network node that sends feedback data comprising energy consumption, as well as Ma’s QoE report including the rate of the PDU session in order to produce an expected result to improve efficiency and coverage of wireless interfaces (Ma et al. [0007]). Regarding Claim 6, Ang, combined with Liu and Islam, teaches all aspects of Claim 2 above, where Ma teaches the energy usage threshold is specific to a quality of service (QoS) flow (Par. [0213], “the type of prediction information requested, including but not limited to at least one of the following information: uplink and downlink rate of UE, uplink and downlink rate of PDU session, uplink and downlink rate of network slice, uplink and downlink rate of QoS flow, QoE report, location information, state of access node, quality of service information, abnormal event information and QoS duration information,”). It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Ang’s network node receiving an energy usage monitoring configuration associated with the service of a UE, with Liu’s network node that sends feedback data comprising energy consumption, as well as Ma’s QoE report including the rate of the QoS flow in order to produce an expected result to improve efficiency and coverage of wireless interfaces (Ma et al. [0007]). Claims 7, 10, 11, 13, 15, 20, and 24 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ang et al. (US 2015/150334653) in view of Liu et al. (US 2025/0016678) in further view of Ma et al. (US 2022/0225126). Regarding Claim 7, Ang, combined with Liu, teaches all aspects of Claim 1 above, where Ma teaches the energy usage report indicates one or more of a level of granularity associated with the energy usage report, a time associated with the energy usage report, or a triggering event associated with the energy usage report (Par. [0214], “information of whether to report periodically, if it is a periodic report, it also includes the length of the period”). It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Ang’s network node receiving an energy usage monitoring configuration associated with the service of a UE, with Liu’s network node that sends feedback data comprising energy consumption, as well as Ma’s information including a length of the period in order to produce an expected result to improve efficiency and coverage of wireless interfaces (Ma et al. [0007]). Regarding Claim 10, Ang, combined with Liu, teaches all aspects of Claim 1 above, where Ma teaches the energy usage report indicates an energy usage of the UE over a time window (Par. [0213], “the type of prediction information requested, including but not limited to at least one of the following information: uplink and downlink rate of UE, uplink and downlink rate of PDU session, uplink and downlink rate of network slice, uplink and downlink rate of QoS flow, QoE report, location information, state of access node, quality of service information, abnormal event information and QoS duration information,” and Par. [0214], “information of whether to report periodically, if it is a periodic report, it also includes the length of the period”). It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Ang’s network node receiving an energy usage monitoring configuration associated with the service of a UE, with Liu’s network node that sends feedback data comprising energy consumption, as well as Ma’s information including a length of the period in order to produce an expected result to improve efficiency and coverage of wireless interfaces (Ma et al. [0007]). Regarding Claim 11, Ang, combined with Liu, teaches all aspects of Claim 1 above, where Ma teaches the energy usage report indicates an energy usage, associated with a mode of service, of the UE over a time window (Par. [0213], “the type of prediction information requested, including but not limited to at least one of the following information: uplink and downlink rate of UE, uplink and downlink rate of PDU session, uplink and downlink rate of network slice, uplink and downlink rate of QoS flow, QoE report, location information, state of access node, quality of service information, abnormal event information and QoS duration information,” and Par. [0214], “information of whether to report periodically, if it is a periodic report, it also includes the length of the period”). It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Ang’s network node receiving an energy usage monitoring configuration associated with the service of a UE, with Liu’s network node that sends feedback data comprising energy consumption, as well as Ma’s information including a length of the period in order to produce an expected result to improve efficiency and coverage of wireless interfaces (Ma et al. [0007]). Regarding Claim 13, Ang, combined with Liu, teaches all aspects of Claim 1 above, where Ma teaches the energy usage report indicates an energy usage, associated with a quality of service (QoS) flow, of the UE over a time window (Par. [0213], “the type of prediction information requested, including but not limited to at least one of the following information: uplink and downlink rate of UE, uplink and downlink rate of PDU session, uplink and downlink rate of network slice, uplink and downlink rate of QoS flow, QoE report, location information, state of access node, quality of service information, abnormal event information and QoS duration information,” and Par. [0214], “information of whether to report periodically, if it is a periodic report, it also includes the length of the period”) It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Ang’s network node receiving an energy usage monitoring configuration associated with the service of a UE, with Liu’s network node that sends feedback data comprising energy consumption, as well as Ma’s information including a length of the reporting period and QoS flow in order to produce an expected result to improve efficiency and coverage of wireless interfaces (Ma et al. [0007]). Regarding Claim 15, Ang, combined with Liu, teaches all aspects of Claim 1 above, where Ma teaches the energy usage report is specific to the UE, a network slice associated with the UE, a protocol data unit (PDU) session associated with the UE, or a quality of service (QoS) flow associated with the UE (Par [0213], “the type of prediction information requested, including but not limited to at least one of the following information: uplink and downlink rate of UE, uplink and downlink rate of PDU session, uplink and downlink rate of network slice, uplink and downlink rate of QoS flow, QoE report, location information, state of access node, quality of service information, abnormal event information and QoS duration information,”). It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Ang’s network node receiving an energy usage monitoring configuration associated with the service of a UE, with Liu’s network node that sends feedback data comprising energy consumption, as well as Ma’s information including a network slice, rate of QoS flow, and rate of PDU session, in order to produce an expected result to improve efficiency and coverage of wireless interfaces (Ma et al. [0007]). Regarding Claim 20, Ang, combined with Liu, teaches all aspects of Claim 18 above, where Ma teaches the energy usage report indicates one or more of a level of granularity associated with the energy usage report, a time associated with the energy usage report, or a triggering event associated with the energy usage report (Par. [0214], “information of whether to report periodically, if it is a periodic report, it also includes the length of the period”). It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Ang’s network node receiving an energy usage monitoring configuration associated with the service of a UE, with Liu’s network node that sends feedback data comprising energy consumption, as well as Ma’s information including a length of the period in order to produce an expected result to improve efficiency and coverage of wireless interfaces (Ma et al. [0007]). Regarding Claim 24, Ang, combined with Liu, teaches all aspects of Claim 18 above, where Ma teaches the energy usage report is specific to the UE, (Par. [0030], “In accordance with another aspect of the disclosure, a method for data processing in a wireless communication network is provided. The method includes an entity in a wireless communication system, such as an access node, obtains permission to collect data of a specific UE, and the entity starts collecting the data of the UE after obtaining the permission to collect the data of the specific UE”).and a network slice associated with the UE, a protocol data unit (PDU) session associated with the UE, or a quality of service (QoS) flow associated with the UE (Par. [0213], “the type of prediction information requested, including but not limited to at least one of the following information: uplink and downlink rate of UE, uplink and downlink rate of PDU session, uplink and downlink rate of network slice, uplink and downlink rate of QoS flow, QoE report, location information, state of access node, quality of service information, abnormal event information and QoS duration information,”). It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Ang’s network node receiving an energy usage monitoring configuration associated with the service of a UE, with Liu’s network node that sends feedback data comprising energy consumption, as well as Ma’s QoE report including the network slice, rate of the PDU session, and rate of the QoS flow in order to produce an expected result to improve efficiency and coverage of wireless interfaces (Ma et al. [0007]). Conclusion The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Lee et al. (US 2016/0077539) discloses A profiling-based energy-aware recommendation apparatus for a cloud platform includes: a profiler to collect usage data of a cloud node over predetermined intervals of time and generate and store an energy usage profile for each node by using the collected usage data; a real-time usage feedback receiver to acquire real-time usage data from the cloud node; and a recommendation engine to compare the real-time usage data with the generated energy usage profile so as to calculate a recommendation value (Par. [0012]). Bruhn et al. (WO 2023/151773) discloses A user equipment, UE that is configured to receive a control message including configuration information identifying a first group of one or more UE operations for which first energy usage data is to be collected, the control message being transmitted by a network node. The UE is further configured to, based on the configuration information, collect the first energy usage data, wherein the first energy usage data indicates energy usage of the UE for performing the first group of one or more UE operations. The UE is further configured to generate an energy report data based at least in part on the first energy usage data and transmit towards the network node a feedback message comprising the generated energy report data” (Par. [0020]). Marupaduga et al. (US 2022/0110175) discloses an access node that could receive from the UE a report of the UE's power headroom on the connection between the UE and the access node, and the access node could use that reported power headroom as a basis to determine the MCS to configure for uplink communication from the UE” (Par. [0065]). THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. 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 JOSEPH NGHIA DINH whose telephone number is (571)272-7982. The examiner can normally be reached Mon. - Fri. 7:30AM-5PM. 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, Charles Appiah can be reached at 571-272-7904. 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. /J.N.D./Examiner, Art Unit 2641 /CHARLES N APPIAH/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2641
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Prosecution Timeline

Nov 10, 2023
Application Filed
Dec 29, 2025
Non-Final Rejection mailed — §103
Feb 06, 2026
Interview Requested
Feb 26, 2026
Examiner Interview Summary
Mar 17, 2026
Response Filed
Apr 29, 2026
Final Rejection mailed — §103
May 17, 2026
Interview Requested
Jun 25, 2026
Response after Non-Final Action

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