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 .
DETAILED ACTION
This office action is a response to amendment filed on 04/13/2026.
Claims 1 – 3, 5 – 6, 11 – 13 and 15 are amended.
Claims 8 – 10 and 17 – 20 are cancelled.
Claims 1 – 7 and 11 – 16 are pending and ready for examination.
In response to applicant’s amendments in independent claims, examiner has withdrawn non-statutory obviousness-type double patenting (ODP) rejection against application no. 18/534,554 (NOA is issued on 5/27/2026).
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments filed 04/13/2026 with respect to claim 1 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on combination of references applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Applicant amended the independent claims 1, 11 and 15. The amendment changes the scope of the claims; therefore, a new ground of rejection has been made in view of previously cited prior arts Giaretta et al. (US 2009/0300207 A1) for claim 15 and in view of Giaretta et al. and Ma (US 7,983,299 B1) for claims 1 and 11.
Applicant argued on page 4: 3rd paragraph of the remark, The Patent Office considers the "flow identification information" of Giaretta as the equivalent to the "first information" of the present application. However, Applicant respectfully disagrees”. According to applicant, "flow identification information" is configured for the transmission control in a granularity of a data flow rather than a granularity of a data set. As known by a person skilled in the art, one data flow comprises thousands of data sets”.
Examiner respectfully disagrees with applicant’s argument. Considering broadest reasonable interpretation (BRI), one data flow could comprise just one data set. Therefore, equating the data flow of Giaretta with data set of the claim is reasonable Accordingly, applicant’s argument is not proper.
Applicant argued on page 4: middle paragraph of the remark, " the "first information" comprises description information of a data set to which a data packet belongs, and the description information of a data set comprises at least one of importance level information of the data set or a sequence number of the data set, which means that the "first information" is configured for the transmission control in a granularity of a data set”. According to applicant, “Giaretta fails to disclose, teach or suggest "description information of a data set to which a data packet belongs in the first information" in terms of transmission control granularity, let alone to disclose, teach or suggest adding the "description information of a data set to which a data packet belongs" to a first header of the data packet”.
Examiner respectfully disagrees with applicant’s comment. As mentioned in the rejection section below, Giaretta discloses in ¶ [0011] – [0012], flow identification information acts as a unique identifier; the flow identification information represented as flow labels to uniquely identify encrypted data flows. Further ¶ [0067] teaches the flow identification information is used to uniquely identify each of the plurality of flows associating the UE. Here, the flow identification identifies/ defines/ describes the data flow/ data set; i.e. it provides information to which a data packet belongs. Giaretta discloses in ¶ [0056] that the flow identification information in the form of flow labels, pointers or flow IDs are included in the outer IP header 358. This allows the PCRF and eventually the BBERF to identify a tunnel flow by inspecting the outer header 358. Here, the outer IP header 358/ first header comprises the description information of the data set to which the data packet belongs.
Examiner agrees that Giaretta does not teach “the description information of a data set comprises at least one of importance level information of the data set or a sequence number of the data set”. The new prior art Ma teaches that priority levels defines traffic classes for the data units (Abstract and Col.1: Line 61-63). Here, the data units are the data set; therefore, the priority level/ importance level information of the data set defines/ describes the traffic class; i.e. it is a description information of the data set. Accordingly the combination of Giaretta and Ma teaches the limitation in question. Therefore, applicant’s argument is not appropriate.
Applicant argued on page 4: last paragraph of the remark, " in Giaretta, the corresponding PCC rules can be QoS rules that facilitate transmission of the data packets in the appropriate QoS pipes, which manifests that the QoS rules are performed in a granularity of a data packet; while in the present application, the first information comprises information used to indicate an operation of performing QoS guarantee based on a granularity of a data set.” According to applicant, “Giaretta fails to disclose, teach or suggest "information used to indicate an operation of performing QoS guarantee based on a granularity of data set in the first information."
Examiner respectfully disagrees with applicant’s remark. Applicant agrees that Giaretta teaches “the QoS rules are performed in a granularity of a data packet”. With plain language data set and data packet are the same thing. Therefore, it is obvious to consider that Giaretta teaches in ¶ [0061], [0066] and [0075] “the first information comprises information used to indicate an operation of performing QoS guarantee based on a granularity of a data set” as required by the instant application (please see the rejection section for details).
Applicant argued on page 5: 1st paragraph of the remark, "Giaretta does not concern "information used to indicate an operation of performing an operation of dropping or not sending a data packet, or an operation of performing a collaborative scheduling operation on data packets in the first information."
Examiner respectfully disagrees with applicant’s comment. These limitations are in alternative language; therefore, examiner did not address these limitations.
Applicant argued on page 5: middle paragraph of the remark, "Applicant respectfully submits that claim 1 is not anticipated by Giaretta”
Examiner respectfully agrees with the applicant. The combination of Giaretta and Ma teaches all the limitations of the currently amended claim 1.
Applicant argued on page 5: middle paragraph of the remark, " independent claims 1, 11 and 15 are allowable”.
Examiner respectfully disagrees with applicant’s argument. As mentioned above, the combination of Giaretta and Ma teaches all the limitations of the claim 1. Similar rational applies for claim 11 and 15 as well. Accordingly, claims 1, 11 and 15 are not allowable.
Applicant argued on page 5: last paragraph – page 8: middle paragraph of the remark, regarding secondary prior arts Musa and Vasudevan. According to applicant, Musa and Vasudevan fail to cure the defect of Giaretta.
Examiner respectfully disagrees with applicant’s argument. Since, the all the limitations of the independent claims are rejected in view of Giaretta and Ma; therefore, the argument is moot.
Applicant argued on page 8: 2nd last paragraph of the remark, regarding dependent claims. according to applicant, “Claims 2-7, which depend from claim 1, and claims 12-14 which depend from claim 11, and claims 16 which depends from claim 15 are therefore patentable over Giaretta in view of Musa and in further view of Vasudevan”.
Examiner respectfully disagrees with applicant’s remarks and conclusion. Since, the independent claims are not allowable, therefore, the dependent claims are not patentable by virtue of their dependency from the independent claims.
Examiner respectfully disagrees with all the arguments filed by the applicant. All arguments and remarks are replied in detail in the rejection section below.
Claim Objections
Claims 1, 11, 13 and 14 are objected to because of the following informalities:
Claim 1 recite in line 24, “a first communication device”;
claim 11 recites in line 25, “a second communication device”;
claim 13 recites in line 3, “a first communication device”; and
claim 14 recites in line 2, “a second communication device”.
All these recitation raise an ambiguity issue, as the earlier statement of the claim or the linking claim already recites, “a first communication device” or “a second communication device”. Therefore, later recitation should read as, “the first communication device” or “the second communication device”
Appropriate corrections are required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 15 – 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Giaretta et al. (Giaretta hereinafter referred to Giaretta) (US 2009/0300207 A1).
(Currently Amended) Regarding claim 15, Giaretta teaches (Abstract, Systems and methodologies are described that facilitate tunneling within wireless communication systems) an information transmission method (Fig.4 and [0070], signaling exchanged between various entities of a communication system that facilitates encryption of data), comprising:
performing, by a third communication device (Fig.1 and [0056], Base station 102), a third operation ([0068], The UE receives data flow along with the associated flow identification information from the network on the downlink); wherein
the third operation comprises (Fig.4 and [0070], the PCRF transmits message 410 comprising the Flow ID, HA Address, and associated QoS rules to the BBERF (Bearer Binding and Event Reporting Function) associated with the UE): sending to a first communication device information used to indicate at least one of an operation of performing an operation of dropping or not sending a data packet, an operation of performing a collaborative scheduling operation on data packets, or an operation of performing QoS guarantee based on a granularity of data set ([0061], each of flows has specific rules to be implemented such as, QoS considerations or rules for charging a subscriber for services rendered associated therewith; the QoS considerations depend on the type of data being generated or type of service plan associated with the UE; [0066], particular Flow identification information associated with respective QoS pipes utilized by the UE; [0075], QoS rules facilitates transmission of the data packets in the appropriate QoS pipes. Here, the QoS is performed on the data flow depending on the type of data being generated. Therefore, the QoS guarantee is based on a variety/ granularity of data flow/ data set),
wherein the first communication device comprises a RAN network element (Fig.1 and [0056], access terminal or UE (User Equipment) 104. Here, UE is a first communication device), and the third communication device comprises a core-network network element (Fig.1 and [0056], Base station 102 communicates with one or more access terminals 104; [0057], The base station in turn accesses various resources 106 to the UE; the resources 106 facilitate implementation of charging rules and policies for different service data flows (SDF). Here, the base station is a third communication device comprises a core-network network element).
(Original) Regarding claim 16, Giaretta teaches all the features with respect to claim 15 as outlined above.
Giaretta further teaches
wherein the performing a third operation (Fig.4 and [0070]) comprises:
obtaining third information, wherein the third information comprises at least one of the following (Due to alternative language “at least one of” in the claim examiner addresses one limitation only): first policy information (Fig.4 and [0070], associated QoS rules), validity time information of the first policy information, or fifth information; and
performing the third operation based on the third information (Fig.8 and [0075], flow identification information and associated policy and charging control (PCC) rules are received for implementing with a data flow. At 804, the received rules are implemented for the data flow and the data packets are transmitted in accordance with the rules, e.g., the rules are QoS rules that facilitate transmission of the data packets in the appropriate QoS pipes. Here, the QoS rules are implemented on the data flow; i.e. QoS control operation is performed on data packets based on the third information); wherein
the first policy information comprises at least one of the following (Due to alternative language “at least one of” in the claim examiner addresses one limitation only):
data characteristic information;
target information corresponding to the data characteristic information;
operation information for indicating to add target information to data that matches the data characteristic information;
information for indicating to reorder data packets;
information for indicating to copy second header information of the data packet to the first header of the data packet;
first information corresponding to the data characteristic information; or
a data set mapping rule ([0068], matching between the flow ID and the appropriate flow policies, such as QoS category is facilitated at the UE which includes the flow identification information with the data flow. Here, the flow ID represents the data flow/ data set; therefore, matching between the flow ID and the appropriate flow policies is mapping the data set to a flow policy/ rule); wherein
the fifth information comprises at least one of the following:
data characteristic information of first service data;
occurrence time information of a first service; and first information corresponding to the first service data; or
the target information comprises at least one of the following (Due to alternative language “at least one of” in the claim examiner addresses one limitation only): first information, or index information for indicating a value of the first information (Fig.7 and [0074], at 702 one or more packet flows and related flow identification information such as Flow ID, a Flow label or a pointer associated with the one or more packet flows are received. Here, the flow identification information is a first information).
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 of this title, 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 – 4, 11 and 13 – 14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Giaretta et al. (Giaretta hereinafter referred to Giaretta) (US 2009/0300207 A1) in view of Ma (US 7,983,299 B1).
(Currently Amended) Regarding claim 1, Giaretta teaches (Abstract, Systems and methodologies are described that facilitate tunneling within wireless communication systems) an information transmission method (Fig.8 and [0075], a methodology 800 for facilitating enhancements to policy and charging control (PCC) in order to facilitate tunneling of data), comprising:
receiving, by a first communication device ([0068], The UE receives data flow along with the associated flow identification information), first information (Fig.8 and [0075], flow identification information is received in step 802. Here, the flow identification information is a first information), wherein the first information comprises at least one of (Due to alternative language “at least one of” in the claim examiner addresses one limitation only) the following:
description information of a data set to which a data packet belongs ([0011], flow identification information acts as a unique identifier; [0012], the flow identification information represented as flow labels to uniquely identify encrypted data flows; [0067], the flow identification information is used to uniquely identify each of the plurality of flows associating the UE 304. Here, the flow identification identifies/ defines/ describes the data flow/ data set; i.e. it provides information to which a data packet belongs); or (Even though there is alternative language “or” in the claim, examiner addresses both limitations),
information used to indicate at least one of (Due to alternative language “at least one of” in the claim examiner addresses one limitation only) an operation of performing an operation of dropping or not sending a data packet; an operation of performing a collaborative scheduling operation on data packets; or an operation of performing QoS guarantee based on a granularity of data set ([0061], each of flows has specific rules to be implemented such as, QoS considerations or rules for charging a subscriber for services rendered associated therewith; the QoS considerations depend on the type of data being generated or type of service plan associated with the UE; [0066], particular Flow identification information associated with respective QoS pipes utilized by the UE; [0075], QoS rules facilitates transmission of the data packets in the appropriate QoS pipes. Here, the QoS is performed on the data flow depending on the type of data being generated. Therefore, the QoS guarantee is based on a variety/ granularity of data flow/ data set);
and
performing, by the first communication device, a quality of service (QoS) control operation on the data packet of the data set based on the first information (Fig.8 and [0075], flow identification information and associated policy and charging control (PCC) rules are received for implementing with a data flow. At 804, the received rules are implemented for the data flow and the data packets are transmitted in accordance with the rules, e.g., the rules are QoS rules that facilitate transmission of the data packets in the appropriate QoS pipes. Here, the QoS rules are implemented on the data flow; i.e. QoS control operation is performed on data packets based on the received first information),
wherein the QoS control operation comprises at least one of the following (Due to alternative language “at least one of” in the claim examiner addresses one limitation only):
performing an operation of dropping or not sending the data packet of the data set;
performing a collaborative scheduling operation on data packets of the data set;
performing a reordering operation on data packets of the data set;
sending data packets based on importance levels;
performing QoS guarantee on the data packet of the data set based on a granularity of data set ([0061], each of flows has specific rules to be implemented such as, QoS considerations or rules for charging a subscriber for services rendered associated therewith; the QoS considerations depend on the type of data being generated or type of service plan associated with the UE; [0066], particular Flow identification information associated with respective QoS pipes utilized by the UE; [0075], QoS rules facilitates transmission of the data packets in the appropriate QoS pipes. Here, the QoS is performed on the data flow depending on the type of data being generated. Therefore, the QoS guarantee is based on a variety/ granularity of data flow/ data set);
sending data packets in the data set based on importance levels of the data set; or
prioritizing data with a higher importance level in a same data tunnel,
in a case that the first information comprises the description information of a data set to which the data packet belongs, the receiving, by a first communication device, first information comprises:
receiving the data packet ([0058] the base station 102 facilitates transfer of the data packets. Therefore, the data packet is received by the UE), wherein a first header of the data packet (Fig.3B and [0069], outer IP header 358) comprises the description information of the data set to which the data packet belongs ([0056], the flow identification information in the form of flow labels, pointers or flow IDs are included in the outer IP header 358. This allows the PCRF and eventually the BBERF to identify a tunnel flow by inspecting the outer header 358. AS mentioned above, the flow identification identifies the data flow/ data set; therefore, the outer IP header 358/ first header comprises the description information of the data set to which the data packet belongs),
in a case that the first information comprises the information used to indicate at least one of an operation of performing an operation of dropping or not sending a data packet, an operation of performing a collaborative scheduling operation on data packets, or an operation of performing QoS guarantee based on a granularity of data set, the receiving, by a first communication device, first information comprises one of the following (Due to alternative language “at least one of” in the claim examiner addresses one limitation only):
receiving the data packet, wherein a first header of the data packet comprises the information used to indicate at least one of an operation of performing an operation of dropping or not sending a data packet, an operation of performing a collaborative scheduling operation on data packets, or an operation of performing QoS guarantee based on a granularity of data set added by a second communication device, or
receiving from a third communication device the information ([0068], The UE receives data flow along with the associated flow identification information from the network on the downlink) used to indicate at least one of (Due to alternative language “at least one of” in the claim examiner addresses one limitation only) an operation of performing an operation of dropping or not sending a data packet, an operation of performing a collaborative scheduling operation on data packets, or an operation of performing QoS guarantee based on a granularity of data set (Fig.4 and [0070], the PCRF transmits message 410 comprising the Flow ID, HA Address, and associated QoS rules to the BBERF (Bearer Binding and Event Reporting Function) associated with the UE; [0061], each of flows has specific rules to be implemented such as, QoS considerations or rules for charging a subscriber for services rendered associated therewith; the QoS considerations depend on the type of data being generated or type of service plan associated with the UE; [0075], QoS rules facilitates transmission of the data packets in the appropriate QoS pipes. Here, the QoS is performed on the data flow depending on the type of data being generated. Therefore, the QoS guarantee is based on a variety/ granularity of data flow/ data set).
wherein the first communication device comprises a RAN network element (Fig.1 and [0056], access terminal or UE (User Equipment) 104. Here, UE is a first communication device), and the second communication device or the third communication device comprises a core-network network element (Fig.1 and [0056], Base station 102 communicates with one or more access terminals 104; [0057], The base station in turn accesses various resources 106 to the UE; the resources 106 facilitate implementation of charging rules and policies for different service data flows (SDF). Here, the base station is a second communication device or a third communication device comprises a core-network network element).
Giaretta does not specifically teach
the description information of the data set comprises at least one of the following: importance level information of the data set or a sequence number of the data set;
wherein a first header of the data packet added by a second communication device.
However, Ma teaches (Title, Weight-based Bandwidth Allocation For Network Traffic)
the description information of the data set comprises at least one of the following (Due to alternative language “at least one of” in the claim examiner addresses one limitation only): importance level information of the data set (Abstract and Col.1: Line 61-63, priority levels defining traffic classes for the data units. Here, the data units are the data set; therefore, the priority level/ importance level information of the data set defines/ describes the traffic class; i.e. it is a description information of the data set) or a sequence number of the data set;
wherein a first header of the data packet (Fig.3 and Col.4: Line 18-21, Packet 300 includes a header portion 310) comprises the description information of the data set to which the data packet belongs (Col.1: Line 22-25, In Internet Protocol (IP) packet-based networks, each packet includes a header section, a portion of which is used to indicate the traffic class to which the packet is assigned; Fig.3 and Col.4: line 26-33, Header portion 310 contains a number of different fields, including…, Type of Service (TOS) field 316 that provides an indication of the priority that is to be assigned to the packet. Here, the header comprises information that provides importance level information of the data set and the traffic class to which the packet is assigned; therefore, it is the description information of the data set to which the data packet belongs) added by a second communication device (Abstract and Col.1: Line 61-63, network device includes a filter component configured to assign priority levels to data units).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Giaretta as mentioned above and further incorporate the teaching of Ma. The motivation for doing so would have been to provide a network device that implements packet scheduling with administrator-configurable packet scheduling policies to schedule transmission of the traffic classes based on an assignment of weights to the traffic classes using at least one bandwidth allocation policy, in which more flexible weight-based bandwidth allocation techniques are used (Ma, abstract and [0011]).
(Currently Amended) Regarding claim 2, the combination of Giaretta and Ma teaches all the features with respect to claim 1 as outlined above.
Giaretta further teaches wherein the first information further comprises at least one of the following (Due to alternative language “at least one of” in the claim examiner addresses one limitation only):
index information for indicating the description information of the data set to which the data packet belongs;
information for identifying the data packet ([0011], flow identification information acts as a unique identifier; [0067], the flow identification information is used to uniquely identify each of the plurality of flows associating the UE 304. Here, the flow identification identifies the data flow/ data packet);
type information of the data packet;
importance level of the data packet; or
timestamp information of the data packet.
Ma further teaches
importance level of the data packet (Abstract and Col.1: Line 61-63, priority levels defining traffic classes for the data units. Here, the data units are the data packet; therefore, the priority level/ importance level information of the data packet defines the traffic class).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified combination of Giaretta and Ma as mentioned in claim 1 and further incorporate the teaching of Ma. The motivation for doing so would have been to provide a network device that implements packet scheduling with administrator-configurable packet scheduling policies to schedule transmission of the traffic classes based on an assignment of weights to the traffic classes using at least one bandwidth allocation policy, in which more flexible weight-based bandwidth allocation techniques are used (Ma, abstract and [0011]).
(Currently Amended) Regarding claim 3, the combination of Giaretta and Ma teaches all the features with respect to claim 1 as outlined above.
Giaretta further teaches wherein the data description information of the data set further comprises at least one of the following (Due to alternative language “at least one of” in the claim examiner addresses one limitation only):
information for identifying the data set ([0012], the flow identification information represented as flow labels to uniquely identify encrypted data flows);
type information of the data set; or
label information of the data set.
(Original) Regarding claim 4, the combination of Giaretta and Ma teaches all the features with respect to claim 3 as outlined above.
Giaretta further teaches wherein the information for identifying the data set comprises at least one of the following (Due to alternative language “at least one of” in the claim examiner addresses one limitation only):
index information for indicating the description information of the data set;
importance level information of the data set;
type information of the data set;
label information of the data set ([0012], the flow identification information represented as flow labels to uniquely identify encrypted data flows; [0063], identification information in the form of a label, a pointer or an identifier for the IP flows); or
a sequence number of the data set.
(Currently Amended) Regarding claim 11, Giaretta teaches (Abstract, Systems and methodologies are described that facilitate tunneling within wireless communication systems) an information transmission method (Fig.3A and [0067], diagram 300 of an access network element and a corresponding UE that are used for facilitating tunneling support within communication systems), comprising:
receiving, by a second communication device ([0067], access network element), a data packet (Fig.3A and [0067], The receiving component 310 receives one or more data flows. Here, the data flow is considered as a data packet);
performing, by the second communication device, a second operation on the received data packet (Fig.3A and [0067], Upon receiving such communication, the flow ID generation component 306 associated with the PDN-GW 302 is employed to generate a label/pointer/flow ID for each of the IP flows), wherein the second operation comprises:
adding at least one of the following information (Due to alternative language “at least one of” in the claim examiner addresses one limitation only) to a first header (Fig.3B and [0069], outer IP header 358) of a data packet that matches the data characteristic information ([0065], the flow ID is a 8-bit or 16-bit value within outer IP-header for labeling specific data flows. Here, the flow ID is for labeling specific data flows; i.e. for matching the data characteristic information):
description information of a data set to which a data packet belongs ([0011], flow identification information acts as a unique identifier; [0012], the flow identification information represented as flow labels to uniquely identify encrypted data flows; [0067], the flow identification information is used to uniquely identify each of the plurality of flows associating the UE 304. Here, the flow identification identifies/ defines/ describes the data flow/ data set; i.e. it provides information to which a data packet belongs); or,
information used to indicate at least one of an operation of performing an operation of dropping or not sending a data packet, an operation of performing a collaborative scheduling operation on data packets, or an operation of performing QoS guarantee based on a granularity of data set;
and,
sending, by a second communication device, the data packet to a first communication device ([0068] The UE receives data flow along with the associated flow identification information from the network on the downlink. Here, the UE is a first communication device),
wherein a first header of the data packet (Fig.3B and [0069], outer IP header 358) comprises at least one of (Due to alternative language “at least one of” in the claim examiner addresses one limitation only) the description information of a data set to which a data packet belongs ([0056], the flow identification information in the form of flow labels, pointers or flow IDs are included in the outer IP header 358. This allows the PCRF and eventually the BBERF to identify a tunnel flow by inspecting the outer header 358. AS mentioned above, the flow identification identifies the data flow/ data set; therefore, the outer IP header 358/ first header comprises the description information of the data set to which the data packet belongs); or, the information used to indicate at least one of an operation of performing an operation of dropping or not sending a data packet, an operation of performing a collaborative scheduling operation on data packets, or an operation of performing QoS guarantee based on a granularity of data set,
wherein the first communication device comprises a RAN network element (Fig.1 and [0056], access terminal or UE (User Equipment) 104. Here, UE is a first communication device), and the second communication device comprises a core-network network element (Fig.1 and [0056], Base station 102 communicates with one or more access terminals 104; [0057], The base station in turn accesses various resources 106 to the UE; the resources 106 facilitate implementation of charging rules and policies for different service data flows (SDF). Here, the base station is a third communication device comprises a core-network network element).
Giaretta does not specifically teach
the description information of the data set comprises at least one of the following: importance level information of the data set or a sequence number of the data set.
However, Ma teaches (Title, Weight-based Bandwidth Allocation For Network Traffic)
Adding (Abstract and Col.1: Line 61-63, network device includes a filter component configured to assign priority levels to data units) at least one of the following information (Due to alternative language “at least one of” in the claim examiner addresses one limitation only) to a first header of a data packet (Fig.3 and Col.4: Line 18-21, Packet 300 includes a header portion 310):
description information of a data set to which a data packet belongs (Col.1: Line 22-25, In Internet Protocol (IP) packet-based networks, each packet includes a header section, a portion of which is used to indicate the traffic class to which the packet is assigned; Fig.3 and Col.4: line 26-33, Header portion 310 contains a number of different fields, including…, Type of Service (TOS) field 316 that provides an indication of the priority that is to be assigned to the packet. Here, the header comprises information that provides importance level information of the data set and the traffic class to which the packet is assigned; therefore, it is the description information of the data set to which the data packet belongs), and the description information of the data set comprises at least one of the (Due to alternative language “at least one of” in the claim examiner addresses one limitation only) the importance level information of the data set (Abstract and Col.1: Line 61-63, priority levels defining traffic classes for the data units. Here, the data units are the data set; therefore, the priority level/ importance level information of the data set defines/ describes the traffic class; i.e. it is a description information of the data set) or a sequence number of the data set; or,
information used to indicate at least one of an operation of performing an operation of dropping or not sending a data packet, an operation of performing a collaborative scheduling operation on data packets, or an operation of performing QoS guarantee based on a granularity of data set.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Giaretta as mentioned above and further incorporate the teaching of Ma. The motivation for doing so would have been to provide a network device that implements packet scheduling with administrator-configurable packet scheduling policies to schedule transmission of the traffic classes based on an assignment of weights to the traffic classes using at least one bandwidth allocation policy, in which more flexible weight-based bandwidth allocation techniques are used (Ma, abstract and [0011]).
(Currently Amended) Regarding claim 13, combination of Giaretta and Ma teaches all the features with respect to claim 11 as outlined above.
Giaretta further teaches
wherein the first header indicates a first-protocol header (Fig.3B and [0069], IP header), and the first protocol comprises protocol between a first communication device and the second communication device (Fig.3B and [0069], the flow identification information in the form of flow labels, pointers or flow IDs are included in the outer IP header 358; In IP tunneling, each IP payload 352 is configured with information regarding original source and recipient in the inner IP header 354 while the outer IP header 358 comprises source and destination information identifying the "endpoints" of the tunnel. Here, the internet protocol (IP) header provides source and destination information; therefore, it is obvious that a link/ interface protocol between the first communication device and the second communication device).
(Original) Regarding claim 14, combination of Giaretta and Ma teaches all the features with respect to claim 11 as outlined above.
Giaretta further teaches
wherein the performing, by the second communication device, a second operation on the received data comprises:
obtaining, by the second communication device, a first operating rule (Fig.1 and [0058], the system 100 facilitates data access such that the flow specific rules such as charging rules or QoS rules for different data flows are applied uniformly at various network nodes. Here, the QoS rules is a first operating rule) and/or validity time information of the first operating rule, and performing, by the second communication device, the second operation on the received data according to the first operating rule (Fig.3A and [0067], A transmission component 308 is employed to communicate the generated flow identification information to a policy executing the PCRF that determines the QoS rules to be implemented for the flow associated with the generated flow identification information. The policy server then communicates the flow identification information along with the QoS rules to an access mechanism) and/or the validity time information of the first operating rule; wherein
the first operating rule comprises at least one of the following (Due to alternative language “at least one of” in the claim examiner addresses one limitation only):
data characteristic information;
target information corresponding to the data characteristic information;
operation information for indicating to add target information to data that matches the data characteristic information;
information for indicating to reorder data packets;
information for indicating to copy second header information of the data packet to the first header of the data packet; or
a data set mapping rule ([0068], matching between the flow ID and the appropriate flow policies, such as QoS category is facilitated at the UE which includes the flow identification information with the data flow. Here, the flow ID represents the data flow/ data set; therefore, matching between the flow ID and the appropriate flow policies is mapping the data set to a flow policy/ rule).
Claim 5 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Giaretta in view of Ma and further in view of MUSA (US 2021/0367871 A1).
(Currently Amended) Regarding claim 5, the combination of Giaretta and Ma teaches all the features with respect to claim 1 as outlined above.
Giaretta further teaches
wherein the first information further comprises data set association information ([0013], flow identification information for association of the data flows with appropriate flow specific rules).
Giaretta does not specifically teach
wherein the data set association information comprises at least one of the following:
description information of a data set that data set A depends on;
description information of a data set dependent on data set A;
description information of a data set associated with a data set to which the data packet belongs;
description information of data sets having an association relationship; or
description information of a data set group; wherein
the data set group comprises two or more data sets having an association relationship.
However, MUSA teaches (Title, SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR UTILIZING A NEURAL NETWORK MODEL TO PERFORM PACKET CAPTURE DATA ANALYSIS)
wherein the first information further comprises data set association information and the data set association information comprises at least one of the following (Due to alternative language “at least one of” in the claim examiner addresses one limitation only):
description information of a data set that data set A depends on;
description information of a data set dependent on data set A;
description information of a data set associated with a data set to which the data packet belongs;
description information of data sets having an association relationship ([0024], the packet data sets in a data structure, that includes an indication of packets that are associated with one another, packet data of those packets, classified packet data of those packets, a traffic flow to which those packets belong; [0027], the packet data set is associated with one or more problem packets. Here, description information of the data set provides an association relationship); or
description information of a data set group; wherein
the data set group comprises two or more data sets having an association relationship.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified combination of Giaretta and Ma as mentioned in claim 1 and further incorporate the teaching of MUSA. The motivation for doing so would have been to provide systems and methods for utilizing a neural network model to perform packet capture data analysis, wherein the analysis is used to improve network performance, reduce latency, increase reliability, reduce a quantity of dropped sessions and/or dropped calls, and/or the like (MUSA, Title and [0011]).
Claims 6 – 7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Giaretta in view of Ma and further in view of Teyeb et al. (Teyeb hereinafter referred to Teyeb) (US 2021/0211939 A1).
(Currently Amended) Regarding claim 6, the combination of Giaretta and Ma teaches all the features with respect to claim 1 as outlined above.
Giaretta does not specifically teach
wherein the first information is further used to indicate at least one of the following:
description information of third data and/or description information of fourth data;
description information of a third data set and/or description information of a fourth data set;
description information of a fifth data set;
description information of a first data set group;
first time period; or
information about a timestamp difference range; wherein
the first time period is used to indicate one of the following: operation information being executed within the first time period, or a validity time period of the operation information.
However, Teyeb teaches (Title, Flow Control For Integrated Access Backhaul (IAB) Networks)
wherein the first information ([0182] and [0191], flow-control message) is further used to indicate at least one of the following (Due to alternative language “at least one of” in the claim, examiner addresses one limitation only):
description information of third data and/or description information of fourth data;
description information of a third data set and/or description information of a fourth data set;
description information of a fifth data set;
description information of a first data set group;
first time period ([0182] and [0191], flow-control message also indicates a time period); or
information about a timestamp difference range; wherein
the first time period is used to indicate one of the following: operation information being executed within the first time period ([0182] and [0191], flow-control message also indicates a time period during which a flow-control operation should be performed in relation to data transmitted from the upstream node to the identified nodes), or a validity time period of the operation information.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified combination of Giaretta and Ma as mentioned in claim 1 and further incorporate the teaching of Teyeb. The motivation for doing so would have been to provide flow control for integrated access backhaul (IAB) networks, wherein advantages facilitate more timely design, implementation, and deployment of 5G/NR solutions. Furthermore, such embodiments facilitate flexible and timely control of data session QoS, which leads to improvements in capacity, throughput, latency, etc. that are envisioned by 5G/NR and important for the growth of OTT services (Teyeb, Title and [0261]).
(Original) Regarding claim 7, the combination of Giaretta, Ma and Teyeb teaches all the features with respect to claim 6 as outlined above.
Giaretta further teaches wherein
the description information of the third data and the description information of the fourth data are used to indicate: dropping or skipping sending the fourth data in a case that the third data is lost or fails to be sent;
and/or (Due to alternative language “or” in the claim examiner addresses one limitation only)
the description information of the third data is used to indicate: in a case that the third data is lost or fails to be sent, dropping or skipping sending data that satisfies at least one of the following: other data dependent on the third data in a same data set; other data associated with the third data in the same data set; other data in the same data set; or other data whose importance level is lower than that of the third data in the same data set; wherein the same data set is a data set to which the third data belongs;
and/or
the description information of the fourth data is used to indicate: in a case that data satisfying a first condition is lost or fails to be sent, dropping or skipping sending the fourth data; wherein the data satisfying the first condition comprises at least one of the following: other data dependent on the fourth data in a same data set; other data associated with the fourth data in the same data set; other data in the same data set; or other data whose importance level is higher than that of the fourth data in the same data set; wherein the same data set is a data set to which the fourth data belongs;
and/or
the description information of the third data set and the description information of the fourth data set are used to indicate: dropping or skipping sending data of the fourth data set in a case that the third data set is lost or fails to be sent;
and/or
the description information of the third data set is used to indicate: in a case that the third data set is lost or fails to be sent, dropping or skipping sending data that satisfies at least one of the following: data of a data set dependent on the third data set; data of a data set that has an association relationship with a third data set; or data of a data set whose importance level is lower than that of the third data set;
and/or
the description information of the fourth data set is used to indicate: in a case that a data set satisfying a second condition is lost or fails to be sent, dropping or skipping sending data of the fourth data set; wherein the data set satisfying the second condition comprises at least one of the following: a data set on which the fourth data set depends; a data set associated with the fourth data set; or a data set whose importance level is higher than that of the fourth data set;
and/or
the description information of the fifth data set is used to indicate: a data set to which the operation information is applied;
and/or
the description information of the first data set group ([0061], The rules which comprises description of an IP flow wherein the IP flow is identified by a filter, the source of the flow. Here, description of an IP flow is the description information of the first data set group) is used to indicate: data sets to which the operation information is applied (Fig.8 and [0075], methodology 800 for facilitating enhancements to policy and charging control (PCC) in order to facilitate tunneling of data; At 804, the received rules are implemented for the data flow and the data packets are transmitted in accordance with the rules. Here, implementation of the rules is an operation; therefore, the operation is applied on the data flow/ data set).
Claim 12 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Giaretta in view of Ma and further in view of VASUDEVAN (US 2019/0238460 A1).
(Currently Amended) Regarding claim 12, combination of Giaretta and Ma teaches all the features with respect to claim 11 as outlined above.
Giaretta does not specifically teach
wherein the second operation further comprises:
based on second-protocol header information of the data packet, identifying whether the data packet is data matching the data characteristic information.
However VASUDEVAN teaches (Title, AVAILABILITY OF CONTEXT INFORMATION FOR PACKET PROCESSING)
wherein the second operation further comprises:
based on second-protocol header information of the data packet, identifying whether the data packet is data matching the data characteristic information ([0077], look-up table comprising packet characteristics and associated context pointer; determine if a packet has characteristics matching an entry stored in the look-up-table; [0051], a look-up-table associating packet characteristics with a context pointer; packet characteristics are one or more of: source MAC address, destination MAC address, IPv4 source address, IPv4 destination address, portion of a TCP header. Here, TCP header is a second-protocol header; therefore, based on the second-protocol header information, it is identified whether the data packet is data matching data characteristic information).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified combination of Giaretta and Ma as mentioned in claim 11 and further incorporate the teaching of VASUDEVAN. The motivation for doing so would have been to provide techniques for context availability during packet processing to improve I/O processing performance (VASUDEVAN, [0002] and [0024]).
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 extension fee 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 date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ROWNAK ISLAM whose telephone number is (571)272-8009. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday - Friday 8 am - 5 pm (EST).
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Michael Thier can be reached on 571-272-2832. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/ROWNAK ISLAM/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2474
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