DETAILED ACTION
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
This office action is a response to an application filed on 11/21/2023, in which claims 1-20 are pending and ready for examination.
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant’s claim for foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119 (a)-(d).
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted was filed before the mailing date of the Office Action on the merits. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
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 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 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.
Claims 1 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Gupta (EP 3869847 A1) in view of D’Oro (US 20240378506 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Gupta discloses a method, comprising (Fig. 11; Para. [0145-146]. A traffic management method of O-RAN architecture is used.):
receiving, from a network node, a first set of radio access network, RAN, statistics (Gupta; Para. [0145-146]. A first set of RAN statistics is received to be processed by a non real-time RIC.);
receiving, from the network node, a second set of RAN statistics (Gupta; Para. [0145-146]. A first set of RAN statistics is received to be processed by a near real-time RIC.);
wherein the first set of RAN statistics comprises non real time statistics from the radio access network comprising the network node (Gupta; Para. [0145-146]. A first set of RAN statistics includes statistics to be processed by a non real-time RIC from RAN of a network node.); and the second set of RAN statistics comprises near real time statistics from a radio access network comprising the network node (Gupta; Para. [0145-146]. A first set of RAN statistics includes statistics to be processed by a near real-time RIC from RAN of a network node.);
providing at least the first set of RAN statistics and a service level agreement to a first radio resource management model as input, wherein the first radio resource management model is a non real time reinforcement learning model (Gupta; Para. [0145-146]. A first set of RAN statistics is used as input to a first radio source management model for a non real-time reinforcement learning model, also see Para. [0107].);
obtaining, as output from the first radio resource management model, resource management policy per slice (Gupta; Para. [0145-146]. A relevant policy/resource management policy for a RAN slice is determined as an output from a first radio resource management model.);
providing at least the second set of RAN statistics, the service level agreement and the resource management policy per slice to a second radio resource management model as input, wherein the second radio resource management model is a near real time reinforcement learning model (Gupta; Para. [0145-146]. A second set of RAN statistics and relevant policy for a RAN slice are used as an input to a second radio resource management model for a near real time reinforcement learning model, also see Para. [0107].);
obtaining, as output from the second radio resource management model, resource allocation per slice (Gupta; Para. [0145-146]. A resource allocated indicated in a relevant policy for a RAN slice is determined as an output from a second radio resource management model.); and
providing the resource allocation per slice to the network node (Gupta; Para. [0145-146]. A resource allocated indicated in a relevant policy for a RAN slice is used for a network node).
But it does not specifically disclose providing a service level agreement to a first radio resource management model as input; providing, the service level agreement to a second radio resource management model as input.
However, D’Oro teaches providing a service level agreement to a first radio resource management model as input; providing, the service level agreement to a second radio resource management model as input (D’Oro; Para. [0132]. A service level agreement is provided to a first radio resource management model and a second radio resource management model as an input.).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person with ordinary skill in the pertinent before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the radio access network management system of Gupta to adapt a concept of a RAN Intelligent Controller approach, by incorporating D’Oro’s teaching wherein service level agreement is provided to be complied with, for the motivation to deploy network intelligence in an Open RAN (D’Oro; Abstract.).
Regarding claim 2, modified Gupta further teaches the first set of RAN statistics comprises at least one of:- transport block size per user equipment; - radio link control queue length per user equipment; - throughput per user equipment; - latency per user equipment; or - resource availability of a network node of the radio access network (Gupta; Para. [0145-146]. A first set of RAN statistics includes at least throughput per UE or latency/resource per UE.).
Regarding claim 3, modified Gupta further teaches the second set of RAN statistics comprises at least one of:- transport block size per user equipment; - radio link control queue length per user equipment; - throughput per user equipment; - latency per user equipment; - resource utilization per slice; or - resource availability of a network node of the radio access network (Gupta; Para. [0145-146]. A second set of RAN statistics includes at least throughput per UE or latency/resource per UE.).
Regarding claim 4, modified Gupta further teaches the resource management policy per slice is indicative of resource allocation of dedicated resources, prioritized resource and/or shared resource per slice (Gupta; Para. [0145-146]. A relevant policy/resource management policy for a RAN slice indicates resource allocated, latency/priority, and/or shared resource for a RAN slice.).
Regarding claim 5, modified Gupta further teaches providing feedback from the second radio resource management model as input to the first radio resource management model (Gupta; Para. [0109]. A feedback is provided to a first radio resource management mode as an input from a second model.).
Regarding claim 6, modified Gupta further teaches the feedback comprises at least one of:- the resource allocation per slice, obtained as output from the second radio resource management model; or - latency SLA violation per slice (Gupta; Para. [0109]. A feedback includes at least resource utilization/allocated for a RAN slice.).
Regarding claim 7, modified Gupta further teaches the feedback is provided to the second radio resource management model over O1-performance measurement interface or A1 interface (Gupta; Para. [0109]. A feedback is provided to a second radio resource management model over O1 interface or A1 interface.).
Regarding claim 8, modified Gupta further teaches the first set of radio access network statistics are received over O1-performance measurement interface (Gupta; Fig. 8, Para. [0145-146]. Data collection of a first set of RAN statistics is received over O1 interface and E2 interface.).
Regarding claim 9, modified Gupta further teaches the second set of radio access network statistics are received over E2 interface (Gupta; Fig. 8, Para. [0145-146]. Data collection of a second set of RAN statistics is received over O1 interface and E2 interface.).
Regarding claim 10, modified Gupta further teaches the resource management policy per slice is provided to the second radio resource management model over O1-configuration management interface or A1 interface (Gupta; Fig. 8, Para. [0145-146]. A relevant policy/resource management for a RAN slice is provided to a second radio resource management model over O1 interface or A1 interface.).
Regarding claim 11, modified Gupta further teaches the resource allocation per slice is provided to the radio access network over E2 interface (Gupta; Fig. 8, Para. [0145-146]. Resource utilization/allocation for a RAN slice is provide to a RAN over E2 interface.).
Claim 12 is directed to a non-transitory computer readable medium comprising instructions that, when executed by an apparatus, cause the apparatus to perform at least a sequence of processing steps corresponding to the same as claimed in claim 1, and is non-patentable over the prior art for the same reason as previously indicated.
Claims 13-20 are directed to an apparatus comprising: at least one processor; and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to perform a sequence of processing steps corresponding to the same as claimed in claims 1-6, 8-9, and are non-patentable over the prior art for the same reason as previously indicated.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Bellamkonda (US Pat. 11012872 B1) teaches a radio access network management system for polymorphic algorithm-based network slice orchestration.
Vankayala (US Pub. 20220353733 A1) teaches a radio access network management system for managing network slice load in wireless network.
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/ALBERT KIR/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2485