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 .
Claim Objections
Claim 13 is objected to because of the following informalities:
Claim 13 is missing a dot (.) at the end of the claim.
Appropriate correction is required.
Response to amendment
3. This is a Final Office action in response to applicant's remarks and arguments filed on 12/22/2025.
4. Status of the claims:
• Claims 1 and 9 have been amended.
• Claims 11-13 have been added.
• Claims 1-13 are currently pending and have been examined.
5. The provisional nonstatutory double patenting rejection has been withdrawn in response to the filing of a terminal disclaimer.
Response to remarks/arguments
6. Applicant’s remarks and arguments filed on 12/22/2025 with respect to claims 1-13 have been fully considered but are moot in view of the new ground(s) of rejection. Upon further search and consideration, a new ground(s) of rejection is made in view of Zhou et al. (US 2020/0089594 A1).
7. In response to Applicant’s remarks and arguments filed on 12/22/2025 regarding amended independent claims 1 and 9, the Examiner acknowledges that the combination of Matsunaga and Singh et al. does not appear to explicitly teach the newly recited features as argued by Applicant. However, the system of Zhou et al. (US 2020/0089594 A1) cures this deficiency.
Please see the rejection below.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
8. 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.
9. 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.
10. The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
11. This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
12. Claims 1-7, 9-13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Matsunaga (US 2022/0014288 A1) in view of Zhou et al. (US 2020/0089594 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Matsunaga discloses a communication control system (Fig. 1) comprising: a computer including a memory (Fig. 3: Memory 202) and a processor (Fig. 3: Processor CPU 201) configured to:
acquire information regarding a wireless communication device and environment information that affects wireless communication quality (Matsunaga, Fig. 4, para. 20, 21: control device 141 acquires the quality information indicating the correspondence relationship between the position and the communication quality related to the wireless communication and the route information indicating the scheduled moving route of the terminal device in order to enable the wireless communication in the necessary region in a timely manner);
predict future wireless communication quality based on the information regarding the wireless communication device and the environment information (Matsunaga, Fig. 4, para. 20, 21: on the basis of the quality information and the route information, the control device 141 specifies an area including at least a part of the scheduled moving route among areas in which the communication quality is predicted to be lower than the predetermined communication quality);
control, based on the future wireless communication quality, a target device to achieve wireless communication quality depending on a user's purpose, the user using wireless communication (Matsunaga, Fig. 4, para. 20-21, 23, 25: the control device 141 performs control to move the mobile base station to a position where the wireless communication service can be provided in the specified area).
Matsunaga does not appear to explicitly disclose receive a request from another system connected via a network; and execute, in accordance with a scenario corresponding to the request among a plurality of predetermined scenarios, at least one or more of acquisition of the information and the environment information, prediction of the future wireless communication quality, or control of the target device in combination, in an order determined by the scenario corresponding to the request.
In the same field of endeavor, Zhou discloses receive a request from another system connected via a network (Zhou, Fig. 2A, para. [0071]: a video game console client might be configured to request status updates from a server, receive the status updates from the server, and process various graphics to show the status updates. Fig. 2A depicts that the video game request is via network 207); and
execute, in accordance with a scenario corresponding to the request among a plurality of predetermined scenarios (Zhou, Fig. 6, para. [0098][0099]: a scenario model 600 that includes or is linked to sequences of events for the included scenarios implements a “zoomed-out” view of an event model. In some embodiments, one scenario can be associated with a plurality of event sequences, such as a main event sequence and variations of the event sequence. The scenario model 600 can be displayed in a user interface, and the scenarios 601-617 can be interacted with to show the sequence of events associated with a selected scenario), at least one or more of acquisition of the information and the environment information, prediction of the future wireless communication quality, or control of the target device in combination, in an order determined by the scenario corresponding to the request (Zhou, para. [0024][0098][0099]: Server-side software is often designed to be capable of responding to a predicted load of communication from clients. The predicted load on a server may include a quantity (such as tens, hundreds, or more) or rate (such as per second, per minute, per hour, and the like) of communications events (such as login requests, requests for data, requests to write data, requests to execute various API's, and the like) in various sequences. Load tests can be written such that a predicted load and/or variations thereof may be used for testing. Moreover, Fig. 6 depicts that the scenario model 600 can be displayed in a user interface, and the scenarios 601-617 can be interacted with to show the sequence of events associated with a selected scenario).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Matsunaga to include the above features into the system of Matsunaga as taught by Zhou. The motivation for doing so would have been to significantly reduce the workload of the load test team can be significantly, and the software development process can be completed much faster, even without increasing the number of people on the load testing team (Zhou, para. [0030]).
Regarding claim 2, Matsunaga and Zhou disclose all the subject matter of the communication control system according to claim 1, however, Zhou further teaches wherein the processor transmits an execution result of at least one of the acquisition, the prediction, or the control, or a result of execution of a combination of the one or more to another system that is a transmission source of the request or the target device (Zhou, para. [0024]: Server-side software is often designed to be capable of responding to a predicted load of communication from clients. The predicted load on a server may include a quantity (such as tens, hundreds, thousands, millions, billions, or more) or rate (such as per second, per minute, per hour, and the like) of communications events (such as login requests, requests for data, requests to write data, requests to execute various API's, and the like) in various sequences. Load tests can be written such that a predicted load and/or variations thereof may be used for testing).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teaching of Matsunaga with the teaching of Zhou to include the above features such that transmitting an execution result of at least one of the acquisition, the prediction, or the control, or a result of execution of a combination of the one or more to another system that is a transmission source of the request or the target device as taught by Zhou. The motivation for doing so would have been to significantly reduce the workload of the load test team can be significantly, and the software development process can be completed much faster, even without increasing the number of people on the load testing team (Zhou, para. [0030]).
Regarding claim 3, Matsunaga and Zhou disclose all the subject matter of the communication control system according to claim 1, however, Zhou further teaches wherein the processor sequentially executes at least one or more of the acquisition, the prediction, or the control in accordance with a scenario corresponding to the request (Zhou, para. [0024][0098][0099]: server-side software is capable of responding to a predicted load of communication from clients. The predicted load on a server may include a quantity (such as tens, hundreds, or more) or rate (such as per second, per minute, per hour, and the like) of communications events (such as login requests, requests for data, requests to write data, requests to execute various API's, and the like) in various sequences. Load tests can be written such that a predicted load and/or variations thereof may be used for testing. Moreover, Fig. 6 depicts that the scenario model 600 can be displayed in a user interface, and the scenarios 601-617 can be interacted with to show the sequence of events associated with a selected scenario).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teaching of Matsunaga with the teaching of Zhou to include the above features such that sequentially executes at least one or more of the acquisition, the prediction, or the control in accordance with a scenario corresponding to the request as taught by Zhou. The motivation for doing so would have been to significantly reduce the workload of the load test team can be significantly, and the software development process can be completed much faster, even without increasing the number of people on the load testing team (Zhou, para. [0030]).
Regarding claim 4, Matsunaga and Zhou disclose the communication control system according to claim 1, wherein the target device includes at least one of a base station or a terminal (Matsunaga, Fig. 1: mobile base station 142/143), and the processor controls a wireless parameter of at least one of the base station or the terminal (Matsunaga, Fig. 4, para. 20-21, 23, 25: the control device 141 performs control to move the mobile base station to a position where the wireless communication service can be provided in the specified area).
Regarding claim 5, Matsunaga and Zhou disclose the communication control system according to claim 1, wherein the target device includes a reflector, and the processor controls at least one of a radio wave reflection direction (Matsunaga, Fig. 1, para. 23: the control device 141 executes control for moving the mobile base station to a position where the wireless communication service can be provided in the specified area. For example, in the example of FIG. 1, the region 131 and the region 132 are areas in which the communication quality is determined to be lower than a predetermined communication quality, but a part of the scheduled moving route 151 of the terminal device 121 is included in the region 131. Therefore, the control device 141 specifies the region 131 as an area including at least a part of the scheduled moving route of the terminal device indicated by the route information among the areas in which the communication quality is determined to be lower than a predetermined communication quality. Therefore, the control device 141 performs control for moving the mobile base station (the mobile base station 142 or the mobile base station 143) to a position where the wireless communication service can be provided in the region 131) or radio wave reflection power of the reflector.
Regarding claim 6, Matsunaga and Zhou disclose the communication control system according to claim 1, wherein the target device includes a movable base station, and the processor controls a position of the movable base station (Matsunaga, Fig. 1, para. 20-21, 23, 25: the control device 141 performs control to move the mobile base station to a position where the wireless communication service can be provided in the specified area).
Regarding claim 7, Matsunaga and Zhou disclose the communication control system according to claim 1, wherein the environment information includes at least one of video information captured by a camera, sensor information sensed by a sensor, or map information acquired from a map information DB (Matsunaga, Fig. 1, para. 25: the control device 141 can output information indicating a position where the mobile base station is to be moved and provide the information to a network operator or the like that operates the mobile base station. In addition, the control device 141 can execute control to set a position where the mobile base station is to be moved as a destination. Note that the mobile base station may be an automated driving vehicle, a remote driving vehicle, or an automatic flying body that can automatically move, such as a drone. In this case, by executing control to set a destination in the mobile base station, the mobile base station can automatically move to a position where a wireless communication service in a region with insufficient communication quality can be provided).
Regarding claim 9, Matsunaga discloses a communication control method (Method of figure 4) executed by a computer including a memory (Fig.3: Memory 202) and a processor (Fig.3: CPU 201), the method comprising:
acquiring information regarding a wireless communication device and environment information that affects wireless communication quality (Matsunaga, Fig. 4, para. 20, 21: control device 141 acquires the quality information indicating the correspondence relationship between the position and the communication quality related to the wireless communication and the route information indicating the scheduled moving route of the terminal device in order to enable the wireless communication in the necessary region in a timely manner);
predicting future wireless communication quality based on the information regarding the wireless communication device and the environment information (Matsunaga, Fig. 4, para. 20, 21: on the basis of the quality information and the route information, the control device 141 specifies an area including at least a part of the scheduled moving route among areas in which the communication quality is predicted to be lower than the predetermined communication quality);
controlling, based on the future wireless communication quality, a target device to achieve wireless communication quality depending on a user's purpose, the user using wireless communication (Matsunaga, Fig. 4, para. 20-21, 23, 25: the control device 141 performs control to move the mobile base station to a position where the wireless communication service can be provided in the specified area).
Matsunaga does not appear to explicitly disclose receiving a request from another system connected via a network; and executing, in accordance with a scenario corresponding to the request among a plurality of predetermined scenarios, at least one or more of the acquiring, the predicting, or the controlling in combination, in an order determined by the scenario corresponding to the request.
In the same field of endeavor, Zhou discloses receiving a request from another system connected via a network (Zhou, Fig. 2A, para. [0071]: a video game console client might be configured to request status updates from a server, receive the status updates from the server, and process various graphics to show the status updates. Fig. 2A depicts that the video game request is via network 207); and
executing, in accordance with a scenario corresponding to the request among a plurality of predetermined scenarios (Zhou, Fig. 6, para. [0098][0099]: a scenario model 600 that includes or is linked to sequences of events for the included scenarios implements a “zoomed-out” view of an event model. In some embodiments, one scenario can be associated with a plurality of event sequences, such as a main event sequence and variations of the event sequence. The scenario model 600 can be displayed in a user interface, and the scenarios 601-617 can be interacted with to show the sequence of events associated with a selected scenario), at least one or more of the acquiring, the predicting, or the controlling in combination, in an order determined by the scenario corresponding to the request (Zhou, para. [0024][0098][0099]: Server-side software is often designed to be capable of responding to a predicted load of communication from clients. The predicted load on a server may include a quantity (such as tens, hundreds, or more) or rate (such as per second, per minute, per hour, and the like) of communications events (such as login requests, requests for data, requests to write data, requests to execute various API's, and the like) in various sequences. Load tests can be written such that a predicted load and/or variations thereof may be used for testing. Moreover, Fig. 6 depicts that the scenario model 600 can be displayed in a user interface, and the scenarios 601-617 can be interacted with to show the sequence of events associated with a selected scenario).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Matsunaga to include the above features into the system of Matsunaga as taught by Zhou. The motivation for doing so would have been to significantly reduce the workload of the load test team can be significantly, and the software development process can be completed much faster, even without increasing the number of people on the load testing team (Zhou, para. [0030]).
Regarding claim 10, Matsunaga and Zhou disclose a non-transitory computer-readable recording medium having computer-readable instructions stored thereon, which, when executed, cause a computer including a memory and processor to function as the communication control system according to claim 1 (Matsunaga, Fig. 2, Fig. 4, para. 28: figure 2 shows control device includes software stored in memory and executed by a processor to perform the communication control system according to claim 1).
Regarding claim 11, Matsunaga and Zhou disclose the communication control system according to claim 1, Zhou further teaches wherein the processor is further configured to manage the plurality of predetermined scenarios (Zhou, para. [0080][0098]: new events can be added, existing events can be removed, new scenarios can be added, existing scenarios can be removed, the ordering of events or scenarios can change, and the like), each scenario defining combination and execution order of the acquiring, the predicting, and the controlling (Zhou, [0024][0113]: Each scenario in the sequence of FIG. 6 can correspond to one or a plurality of events. For example, load tests can be specified to simulate 100,000 clients that execute the scenario sequence of: new game started, then start multi player, then login, then matchmaking, then victory).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teaching of Matsunaga with the teaching of Zhou to include the above features such that manage the plurality of predetermined scenarios, each scenario defining combination and execution order of the acquiring, the predicting, and the controlling as taught by Zhou. The motivation for doing so would have been to significantly reduce the workload of the load test team can be significantly, and the software development process can be completed much faster, even without increasing the number of people on the load testing team (Zhou, para. [0030]).
Regarding claim 12, Matsunaga and Zhou disclose the communication control system according to claim 1, however, Zhou further teaches wherein the processor is further configured to select, from the plurality of predetermined scenarios (Zhou, para. [0099]: The scenario model 600 can be displayed in a user interface, and the scenarios 601-617 can be interacted with to show the sequence of events associated with a selected scenario.), the scenario corresponding to the request (Zhou, [0089]: The user can also select an event or tagged scenario in the list of events 415, and the video output 417 can update to display the video output that occurred at the time of the selected event or scenario), said scenario defining a specific combination of information to be acquired and a specific prediction logic based on the request (Zhou, [0048]: The event model can also include scenario labels indicating an event that starts the scenario and/or a plurality of events included in the scenario. For example, a first event or a group of events that occur when a user logs in to an account can be tagged as part of a “log in” scenario).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teaching of Matsunaga with the teaching of Zhou to include the above features such that select, from the plurality of predetermined scenarios, the scenario corresponding to the request, said scenario defining a specific combination of information to be acquired and a specific prediction logic based on the request as taught by Zhou. The motivation for doing so would have been to significantly reduce the workload of the load test team can be significantly, and the software development process can be completed much faster, even without increasing the number of people on the load testing team (Zhou, para. [0030]).
Regarding claim 13, Matsunaga and Zhou disclose the communication control system according to claim 12, however, Zhou further teaches wherein the processor is further configured to perform interface (IF) conversion (Zhou, Fig. 4, para. [0084]: user interface 400) including data type conversion of the acquired information to a data type required by the selected scenario (Zhou, Figs. 4, 6, [0089][0099]: The user can also select an event or tagged scenario in the list of events 415, and the video output 417 can update to display the video output that occurred at the time of the selected event or scenario).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teaching of Matsunaga with the teaching of Zhou to include the above features such that performing interface (IF) conversion including data type conversion of the acquired information to a data type required by the selected scenario as taught by Zhou. The motivation for doing so would have been to significantly reduce the workload of the load test team can be significantly, and the software development process can be completed much faster, even without increasing the number of people on the load testing team (Zhou, para. [0030]).
13. Claim 8 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over
Matsunaga (US 20220014288 A1) in view of Zhou et al. (US 2020/0089594 A1) and further in view of Svennebring et al. (US 20230308199 A1).
Regarding claim 8, Matsunaga and Zhou disclose all the subject matter of the communication control system according to claim 1 with the exception wherein the information regarding the wireless communication device includes received power information on the wireless communication device and object information obtained by detecting an object around the wireless communication device by wireless sensing.
In the same field of endeavor, Svennebring teaches wherein the information regarding the wireless communication device includes received power information on the wireless communication device and object information obtained by detecting an object around the wireless communication device by wireless sensing (Svennebring, Fig. 7, para. 74, 106: at time t, the true position of the mobile device 704 is represented as P.sub.UE(t), but due to the signal 703 being reflected by an obstacle 706a, the mobile device 704 is perceived as being at a different spherical grid coordinate 705 represented as f.sub.s(P'(t)). In this scenario, the perceived radial distance of the mobile device 704 can vary depending on various factors, including the absorption coefficient of the reflective surface (assuming the base station 702 relies on a signal strength metric for distance/location calculations)).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the modified system of Matsunaga and Zhou with the teaching of Svennebring to include the above features into the modified system of Matsunaga as taught by Svennebring. The motivation for doing so would have been to proactively adapt to variations in link quality for radio signals before they occur (Svennebring, para. 24).
Conclusion
14. Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
15. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JEAN F VOLTAIRE whose telephone number is (571)272-3953. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9:30-6:30 PM.
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, REBECCA E. SONG can be reached at (571)270-3667. 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.
/JEAN F VOLTAIRE/Examiner, Art Unit 2417
/REBECCA E SONG/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2417
Prosecution Insights