DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 12/26/2025 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. Applicant argues that the applied reference of Kwan does not disclose claim 51. Applicant argues “To summarize, Kwan's central management system - which is external to the RAN and maintains a "system-wide view" - collects measurements from the RAN, analyzes the collected measurements (via the data analysis system), and sends control and/or management commands to the RAN "to effectuate control and/or management of" the radio access points. Kwan is silent about the radio access points communicating with each other and making their own coverage- related decisions.”
The Examiner respectfully disagrees. The claims were given a broad and reasonable interpretation (BRI). Initially, claim 51 is a method for a second node and not by a second node. Secondly, claim 51 is written in the alternative, and requires performing of at least one of the steps of measuring, predicting or sending. The steps do not exclude performing any of said steps by other elements of the network instead of just the second node. Kwan clearly discloses monitoring (i.e. measuring load of a source and target
Kwan in 0050 clearly discloses measurement data is used to predict an estimated load, load change or any other network behavior for one or more potential UE handovers can be referred to as 'current' or 'new' measurement data or 'observation data'. The current measurement data can be associated with load data collected for a source radio access point and a target radio access point (second node), which can be used to predict a load or load change for one or more potential UE handovers through application of the current measurement data to a trained statistical model. Therefore, Kwan clearly discloses measurement, i.e. monitoring. The measured data allows the system to predict load and load changes, thus prediction as claimed in the first clause of monitoring of the claim; see 0051. Thus, all the claimed and argued limitations have been met.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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.
Claim(s) 40-61 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by US 20170026888 A1 herein Kwan.
Claim 40, Kwan discloses A method for a first network node of a wireless network, the method comprising:
receiving, from a second network node of the wireless network, a first message comprising traffic status information for the second network node (0045, “In some cases, traffic flows may not be uniformly distribution within RAN 116. For example, it may be possible that some radio access points are experiencing a low level of loading and thereby under-utilizing resources, while traffic in other radio access points are experiencing a high level of loading and thereby overutilizing resources. In various embodiments, SON functionalities (e.g., which can be provided via SON management system 132) can include load balancing (LB) operations. In some embodiments, load balancing operations can include redistributing radio access point loads such that RAN 116 resources can be utilized more efficiently. On the other hand, if some radio access points are experiencing extremely low level of traffic (e.g., they are lightly loaded with UE), it may be more energy efficient to allow these radio access points to be switched off and the UE connected thereto to be handed over to one or more neighboring radio access points. Thus, in some embodiments, SON functionalities can include energy management operations, which may seek to maximize energy savings within RAN 116 through power control and load balancing among radio access points 114a-114c”); and
performing one or more of the following operations based on the traffic status information:
predicting a change in load and/or interference in a coverage area of the first network node (46, "communication system 100 may provide a framework for a method to automatically predict a change of radio access point load for one or more source radio access point(s) and one or more target radio access point(s) for various potential UE handovers from one or more source radio access point(s) to one or more target radio access points. Stated another way, the framework may, in various embodiments, provide for a method to calculate estimated loads and/ or load changes for potential UE handovers such that the estimated loads and/or load changes may be used as a basis in determining whether or not to initiate handover of one or more UE between one or more source radio access points and one or more target radio access points."); adjusting configurations of one or more cells and/or one or more beams served by the first network node; requesting the second network node to adjust configurations of one or more cells and/or one or more beams served by the second network node; mobility load balancing (MLB) with respect to one or more user equipment (UEs) served by the first network node; and configuring one or more UEs served by the first network node to use communication settings that are more robust to interference.
Claim 41, Kwan discloses The method of claim 40, wherein the traffic status information for the second network node includes the following:
measurements and/or predictions of traffic during one or more time intervals, associated with one or more of the following:
respective UEs served by the second network node, an aggregated plurality of UEs served by the second network node, and one or more coverage areas of the second network node; and indication of predicted traffic migration from the one or more coverage areas of the second network node to one or more coverage areas of the first network node (0115-0122, coverage areas of macro and small cell and handovers within the coverages of the two cells).
Claim 42, Kwan discloses The method of claim 41, wherein :the traffic status information for the second network node comprises respective subsets of traffic status information (0117, number of UEs and level of traffic); and
the respective subsets are related to different ones of any of the following associated with the second network node: cell, beam coverage area, reference signal coverage area, network slice, tracking area, public land mobile network, frequency range, transmission point, and resource type (0115-0122, coverage areas of the macro and small cell).
Claim 43, Kwan discloses The method of claim 41, wherein: the traffic status information for the second network node also includes indications of one or more of the following: accuracy, precision, stability, validity, reliability, precision, and/or uncertainty of the measurements and/or predictions, the one or more time intervals, and locations of one or more UEs for which traffic status information is reported (0025, 0032, location of UEs); and
the traffic status information for the second network node includes one or more of the following traffic metrics: data volume, number of UEs, packet size, bit rate, packet delay, packet delay jitter, packet error rate, number of consecutive failed packets, inter-packet arrival time, service downtime, number of bursts in an application-level message, application-level message size, and end-to-end latency (0115-0122, number of UEs in the macro and small cell).
Claim 44, Kwan discloses The method of claim 43, wherein each traffic metric is represented as one of the following, for each time interval: one or more statistics including average, maximum, minimum, standard deviation, and variance; a total or aggregate amount; and predicted change with respect to current traffic, a previous time interval, or a previously reported measurement or prediction (0115-0122, load change).
Claim 45, Kwan discloses The method of claim 40, wherein: the first message is a handover request for a particular UE served by the second network node (0115-0122, handover of UEs); and the traffic status information includes one or more of the following: measurements of traffic for the particular UE during one or more previous time intervals, and predictions of traffic for the particular UE during one or more future time intervals (0115-0122, traffic of the cell).
Claim 46, Kwan discloses The method of claim 40, further comprising: transmitting, to the second network node, a second message including a request for the second network node to provide the traffic status information in accordance with one or more configuration parameters included in the second message (0047; 0115-0122, collected data; and
receiving one of the following from the second network node in response to the second message: a third message indicating that the second network node can provide some or all of the requested traffic status information and has initiated measurements and/or predictions in accordance with the configuration parameters; or a fourth message indicating that the second network node cannot provide the requested traffic status information and has not initiated measurements and/or predictions in accordance with the configuration parameters (0034; 0050; 0115-0122, collecting traffic data for central management; thus indication).
Claim 47, Kwan discloses The method of claim 46, wherein: the one or more configuration parameters include indications of one or more of the following for which traffic status information is requested: one or more network slices, one or more service types, one or more resource types, one or more coverage areas of the second network node, one or more coverage areas of the first network node, one or more traffic metrics, one or more time intervals, and one or more thresholds for accuracy, precision, stability, validity, reliability, precision, and/or uncertainty of the measurements and/or predictions; and the one or more configuration parameters include indications of one or more of the following: one or more reporting formats, one or more triggering conditions for obtaining the requested traffic status information, and one or more triggering conditions for reporting the requested traffic status information (0115-0122, 0135).
Claim 48, Kwan discloses The method of claim 40, wherein: the traffic status information for the second network node includes a prediction of a change in traffic for one or more UEs in a coverage area of the second network node (0115-0122, traffic change based on handover of UEs);
predicting a change in interference in the coverage area of the first network node comprises:
determining that the one or more UEs served by the first network node are proximate to the coverage area of the second network node (0061, handover to a target radio access point); and predicting a change in interference to the one or more UEs served by the first network node (0061-0065, difference in channel quality for the UE) based on the predicted change in traffic for the one or more UEs in the coverage area of the second network node (0061-0065, handover reducing load, loads of both radio access point); and the one or more UEs served by the first network node are configured to use more robust communication settings based on the predicted change in interference .
Claim 49, Kwan discloses The method of claim 40, wherein adjusting configurations of one or more cells and/or one or more beams based on the traffic status information includes one or more of the following:
adjusting coverage and/or capacity of at least one of the cells; adjusting one or more beam coverage areas within the one or more cells; activating one or more additional cells and/or one or more additional frequency resources in one or more currently activated cells; and assigning one or more UEs served by the first network node to respective network slices (0115-0122, coverage and traffic load of the macro and small cell).
Claim 50, Kwan discloses The method of claim 49, wherein: predicting a change in load in a coverage area of the first network node comprises predicting that one or more UEs served by the second network node are moving to the coverage area of the first network node (0092, movement in and out of coverage); and activating the one or more additional cells and/or the one or more additional frequency resources is responsive to predicting that the one or more UEs served by the second network node are moving to the coverage area of the first network node (0090-0092, 0130-0140, resources utilization for increased load).
Claim 51, Kwan discloses A method for a second network node of a wireless network, the method comprising: performing one or more of the following to determine traffic status information for the second network node:
measuring and/or predicting traffic, during one or more time intervals (0048), that is associated with one or more of the following:
respective user equipment (UEs) served by the second network node, an aggregated plurality of UEs served by the second network node, and one or more coverage areas of the second network node; and predicting traffic migration from one or more coverage areas of the second network node to one or more coverage areas of a first network node of the wireless network; and sending, to the first network node, a first message comprising the determined traffic status information (0050, "measurement data used to predict an estimated load, load change or any other network behavior for one or more potential UE handovers can be referred to as 'current' or 'new' measurement data or 'observation data'. In various embodiments, current measurement data can be associated with load data collected for a source radio access point and a target radio access point, which can be used to predict a load or load change for one or more potential UE handovers through application of the current measurement data to a trained statistical model. Following one or more UE handovers, additional current measurement data can be collected, which may be associated with the actual load or load change following the one or more UE handovers. The combination of current measurement data that can be collected to predict a network behavior (e.g., load or load change) before one or more UE handovers and current measurement data collected following one or more UE handovers (e.g., actual load or load change measured for the RAN) can become historical or past measurement data as current measurement data can be successively collected and stored through time for use in re-training (e.g., updating) a statistical model.").
Claim 52, as analyzed with respect to the limitations as discussed in claim 42.
Claim 53, as analyzed with respect to the limitations as discussed in claim 43.
Claim 54, as analyzed with respect to the limitations as discussed in claim 44.
Claim 55, as analyzed with respect to the limitations as discussed in claim 45.
Claim 56, as analyzed with respect to the limitations as discussed in claim 46.
Claim 57, as analyzed with respect to the limitations as discussed in claim 47.
Claim 58, as analyzed with respect to the limitations as discussed in claim 48.
Claim 59, as analyzed with respect to the limitations as discussed in claim 49.
Claim 60, as analyzed with respect to the limitations as discussed in claim 40.
Claim 61, as analyzed with respect to the limitations as discussed in claim 51. Kwan discloses A second network node configured to operate in a wireless network, the second network node comprising: communication interface circuitry configured to communicate with a first network node in the wireless network and with one or more user equipment, UEs served by the second network node (Fig. 1: 114a-114c); and processing circuitry operatively coupled to the communication interface circuitry, whereby the processing circuitry and the communication interface circuitry are configured to perform the method of claim 51 (see claim 51).
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. US 20150189550 A1 - Embodiments of the present invention include a system and methods by which a central or distributed radio resource controller uses current and past measurements of the occupancy and radio channel utilization of clusters of radio-proximate cells to identify when load balancing is performed for a given cluster. A filter may be applied to the data to identify load balancing opportunities. Once identified, the cluster antenna configuration is iteratively adjusted while monitoring radio network performance metrics to minimize the risk of opening coverage holes.
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Mehmood B. Khan whose telephone number is (571)272-9277. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9:30 am-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, Nishant Divecha can be reached at (571) 270-3125. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/Mehmood B. Khan/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2419
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