DETAILED ACTION
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA . This action is in response to the communication filed on 1/22/2026. Claims 1, 3-20, 22-30 are pending in this application.
Examiner Note
The examiner is here to serve, to assist, and to help applicant to the very best of his ability. The Primary Patent Examiner position is a position of serving and it is an honor to externally serve the applicant and attorney and to internally serve junior examiners and supervisors. The goal of the examiner is to work with and assist applicant to move cases along as efficiently as possible.
Applicant is encouraged to call examiner to schedule an interview if applicant has any questions about this action, wants to discuss any possible paths forward, has proposed amendments to the claims to run by the examiner, or for any other issues that applicant would like to discuss.
Examiner can normally be reached at (571) 270-3863 or michael.keller@uspto.gov, Monday-Friday, from about 6 AM - 10 PM EST and if your call is missed examiner will try to return call quickly, thank you.
Priority
This application claims priority of PCT/CN2021/109192, filed 7/29/2021. The assignee of record is QUALCOMM Incorporated. The listed inventor(s) is/are: ZHANG, Juan; HORN, Gavin Bernard; ZHU, Xipeng; KUMAR, Rajeev; KRISHNAN, Shankar.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments filed 1/22/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. Applicant argues:
a.
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a. Please see TS 23.288 below which provide support for transmitting and receiving data collection request to and from a RAN, thank you.
Please see 6.2.3.1 General The NWDAF may collect relevant management data from the services in the OAM as configured by the PLMN operator. ‐ NG RAN or 5GC performance measurements as defined in TS 28.552 [8].
Please also see screenshot of Table 6.2.4-1 below, thank you:
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Please also see 6.6.2 & Table 6.6.2-1 as well as 6.9.2 & Table 6.9.2-1.
Please see screenshot of Table 6.9.2-1 and surrounding text below, thank you:
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Response to Amendment
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (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 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.
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.
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.
Claim(s) 1, 3-4, 10, 12-16, 20-22, & 27-28 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over 3GPP TS 23.288 (3 GPP TS 23.288 V 16.4.0 (2020-07) “3rd Generation Partnership Project; Technical Specification Group Services and System Aspects; Architecture enhancements for 5G System (5GS) to support network data analytics services (Release 16);” hereinafter TS23.288, document included in the mailing of the first non-final rejection) in view of Han et al. (US 20190356558 A1, published 11/21/2019; hereinafter Han).
For Claim 1, TS23.288 teaches an apparatus for wireless communication at a network data analytics function (NWDAF), configured to:
receive, from a network entity, an analytics request (TS23.288 NWDAF service consumers send requests for analytics, the NWDAF determines if new data collection is needed and responds with analytics information to the NWDAF service consumer.
Please see 6.1.2.1 and please also see 6.2.2.1 Data Collection from NFs is used by NWDAF to subscribe/unsubscribe at any 5GC NF to be notified for data on a set of events.
This data collection service is used directly in order to retrieve behaviour data for individual UEs or groups of UEs (e.g. UE reachability), and also to retrieve global UE information (e.g. Number of UEs present in a geographical area)
Please see screenshot of tables 6.2.2.1-1 and 6.2.2.1-2 below, thank you:
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Please see screenshot of table 6.2.2.1-3 below, thank you:
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);
transmit, to a radio access network (RAN) (TS23.288 6.2.2.1 NWDAF and please see throughout gNB analytics, e.g. Table 6.6.3-1. Examiner notes a gNB is the base station that forms part of a 5G RAN.
Please see TS23.288 6.2.3.1 as well as Table 6.2.4-1 and screenshot below, thank you:
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Please also see 6.6.2 & Table 6.6.2-1 as well as 6.9.2 & Table 6.9.2-1.
Please see screenshot of Table 6.9.2-1 and surrounding text below, thank you:
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)
, a data collection request based at least in part on the analytics request (TS23.288 The NWDAF uses event exposure subscriptions to NFs for data collection from NFs.
Please see 6.2.2.1 NWDAF invokes Nnf_EventExposure_Subscribe services to collect data from the determined NF instance(s), and/or triggers the procedure in clause 6.2.3.2 to subscribe to OAM services to collect the OAM measurement.);
receive, from the RAN, a data collection response based on the data collection request (TS23.288 NWDAF subscribes and then receives data from NFs.
6.2.2.1 When NWDAF receives a request addressed to an Internal Group ID from a consumer, NWDAF may need to initiate data collection from several 5GC NFs); and
transmit, to the network entity, an analytics response based at least in part on the data collection response (TS23.288 NWDAF provides analytics result to consumer NF.
Please see 6.3.1 The NWDAF provides slice load level information to an NF on a Network Slice instance level. The NWDAF is not required to be aware of the current subscribers using the slice. The NWDAF notifies slice specific network status analytics information to the NFs that are subscribed to it).
TS23.288 does not explicitly teach an apparatus comprising a memory; and at least one processor coupled to the memory. While examiner believes TS23.288 strongly implies an apparatus comprising memory and processor, for purposes of compact prosecution examiner is providing a reference to explicitly show a physical apparatus comprising a memory and processor.
However, Han teaches an apparatus comprising a memory; and at least one processor coupled to the memory (Han Claim 9 A network data analytics function (NWDAF) comprising: a transceiver; and at least one processor coupled with the transceiver and configured to receive, by the NWDAF, an analytic information addition request requesting addition of new network-related analytic information, and transmit, from the NWDAF, a response message including information about whether the new network-related analytic information has been added to the NWDAF, in response to the analytic information addition request, wherein the network-related analytic information is obtained by analyzing information collected from at least one entity in a network, and wherein the analytic information addition request includes information about a definition of the new network-related analytic information.
Please see screenshot of Han Fig. 11 below, thank you:
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).
Han and TS23.288 are analogous art because they are both related to NWDAF.
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to use the hardware to include the processor coupled with the transceiver of the NWDAF of Han with the system of TS23.288 to meet the increasing demand for wireless data traffic (Han ¶ 0003) and effectively provide services to consumers (Han ¶ 0007-0008).
For Claim 3, TS23.288-Han teaches the apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first network entity includes at least one of an access and mobility management function (AMF), a session management function (SMF), a policy control function (PCF), a unified data repository (UDR), a network exposure function (NEF), one or more application functions (AFs), an operations, administration and maintenance (OAM) entity, or one or more data repositories (TS23.288 6.2.2.1 The Data Collection from NFs is based on the services of AMF, SMF, UDM, PCF, NRF and AF (possibly via NEF)).
For Claim 4, TS23.288-Han teaches the apparatus of claim 1, wherein the analytics request is associated with at least one of a load balancing, a mobility optimization, or an energy saving (TS23.288 Table 7.1-2 show mobility and load management. Please see screenshot of TS23.288 Table 7.1-2 below, thank you:
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).
For Claim 10, TS23.288-Han teaches the apparatus of claim 1, wherein the data collection request includes one or more parameters associated with the analytics request (TS23.288 please see screenshot of Table 6.4.1-1 below, thank you:
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For Claim 12, TS23.288-Han teaches the apparatus of claim 1, wherein the analytics request includes an event type that is associated with at least one of a registration area, a specific slice, a specific user equipment (UE), or a group of UEs (TS23.288 NWDAF collecting from a list of UEs within an area of interest.
Please see TS23.288 6.2.2.1 Alternatively, if the required data is communication related and for any UE within an Area of interest, the NWDAF can obtain from the AMF instances it has determined a list of UEs located within the Area of Interest. Based on the obtained UE list, for each UE in the list, the NWDAF retrieves the SMF serving the UE and the NWDAF subscribes to data from the relevant SMF per each specific UE.).
For Claim 13, TS23.288-Han teaches the apparatus of claim 12, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: determine the event type corresponds to the RAN (Han ¶ 0097 A NF 1010 requests an NWDAF 1020 for available analytic information by using its own NF type, NF identifier, or an analytic information category as a parameter in step 1001. Upon receiving the request from the NF 1010, the NWDAF 1020 may provide a response including analytic information available to the NF 1010 via an internal method in step 1002.); wherein the data collection request is transmitted based on the event type corresponding to the RAN (Please see screenshot of Han Figs. 9-10 below, thank you:
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For Claim 14, TS23.288-Han teaches the apparatus of claim 13, wherein the event type corresponds to the RAN based on information from a local configuration, a network repository function (NRF), or an operations, administration and maintenance (OAM) entity (TS23.288 6.2.2.1 NF instances discovered based on NRF. Please see screenshot of TS23.288 Table 6.2.2.1-2 below, thank you:
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).
For Claim 15, TS23.288-Han teaches the apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a transceiver coupled to the at least one processor (Han ¶ 0012, 0013 an NWDAF includes a transceiver, and at least one processor coupled with the transceiver).
For Claim(s) 16, the claim(s) is/are substantially similar to claim 1 and therefore is/are rejected for the same reasoning set forth above.
For Claim 20, TS23.288 teaches an apparatus for wireless communication at a radio access network (RAN): configured to:
receive, from a network data analytics function (NWDAF), a data collection request based at least in part on an analytics request (TS23.288 6.1.2.1, 6.2.2.1); and
transmit, to the NWDAF, a data collection response based on the data collection request (TS23.288 6.3.1).
TS23.288 does not explicitly teach an apparatus comprising a memory; and at least one processor coupled to the memory. While examiner believes TS23.288 strongly implies an apparatus comprising memory and processor, for purposes of compact prosecution examiner is providing a reference to explicitly show a physical apparatus comprising a memory and processor.
However, Han teaches an apparatus comprising a memory; and at least one processor coupled to the memory (Han Claim 9, Fig. 11).
Han and TS23.288 are analogous art because they are both related to NWDAF.
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to use the hardware to include the processor coupled with the transceiver of the NWDAF of Han with the system of TS23.288 to meet the increasing demand for wireless data traffic (Han ¶ 0003) and effectively provide services to consumers (Han ¶ 0007-0008).
For Claim 21, TS23.288-Han teaches the apparatus of claim 20, wherein the network entity is a radio access network (RAN) and the core network entity is a network data analytics function (NWDAF) (TS23.288 6.2.2.1, Table 6.6.3-1).
For Claim 22, TS23.288-Han teaches the apparatus of claim 20, wherein the data collection request is associated with at least one of a load balancing, a mobility optimization, or an energy saving (TS23.288 Table 7.1-2).
For Claim 27, TS23.288-Han teaches the apparatus of claim 20, further comprising a transceiver coupled to the at least one processor (Han ¶ 0012, 0013).
For Claim(s) 28, the claim(s) is/are substantially similar to claim 20 and therefore is/are rejected for the same reasoning set forth above.
Claim(s) 5-9, 17-19, 23-25, & 29 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over TS23.288-Han as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Zhang (US 20170078157 A1, published 3/16/2017; hereinafter Zha).
For Claim 5, TS23.288-Han teaches the apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: determine whether the analytics request specifies collecting raw data or coordinate analytics from the RAN (TS23.288 provides an explicit branch between data and analytics, see Nnwdaf_AnalyticsSubscription 6.1.1.2 for collecting analytics and Nnrf_NFManagement 6.2.2.4 for collecting data. Han ¶ 0042 teaches NWDAF receiving and processing raw information);
wherein the data collection request is transmitted based on the analytics request specifying collecting the raw data or the coordinate analytics from the RAN (Han ¶ 0082 The NF 510 requests for available analytic information from the NWDAF 520 by transmitting, as a parameter, an NF type, an NF identifier, or an analytic information category in step 501. Upon receiving the request from the NF 510, the NWDAF 520 provides, as a response, the available analytic information for the NF 510 via an internal method in step 502).
TS23.288-Han does not explicitly teach determine whether the analytics request specifies collecting raw data or coordinate analytics.
However, Zha teaches determine whether the analytics request specifies collecting raw data or coordinate analytics (Zha ¶ 0039 These status reports can be provided to the domain DAM (which can aggregate and provide more comprehensive reports to the requester) or directly to the requester… As an alternative, the local DAM functions may save data to one or more databases, which may be accessed by the domain DAM functions. As well as raw data, a local DAM entity can provide local data analytics information upon request).
Zha and TS23.288-Han are analogous art because they are both related to data analytics.
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to use the data analytics management techniques of Zha with the system of TS23.288-Han because rather than have each AP log data and provide the raw data to a number of different requesters, embodiments provide data analytics management (DAM) systems and methods which can collect and provide data, and in some embodiments analyze the data to satisfy different requests from different parties (Zha ¶ 0026).
For Claim 6, TS23.288-Han-Zha teaches the apparatus of claim 5, wherein the analytics request specifies collecting the raw data, the at least one processor is further configured to: include one or more parameters associated with the analytics request in the data collection request (TS23.288 analytics filter information and filters used by NWDAF.
6.7.5.1-1 The 5GC NF subscribes analytics on abnormal behaviour from a NWDAF based on the UE subscription, network configuration or application layer request
Please see screenshot of TS23.288 Table 6.7.5.1-1 below, thank you:
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For Claim 7, TS23.288-Han-Zha teaches the apparatus of claim 5, wherein the analytics request specifies collecting the coordinate analytics, the at least one processor is further configured to: include at least one of an analytics identifier (ID) or a model ID in the data collection request (TS23.288 6.2.1 Analytics ID, NWDAF is configured with the corresponding NF Type(s) and/or event ID(s) and/or OAM measurement types.
Please see screenshot of TS23.288 Figure 6.4.4.4-1 below, thank you:
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For Claim 8, TS23.288-Han-Zha teaches the apparatus of claim 7, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: receive the at least one of the analytics ID or the model ID from the first network entity (TS23.288 6.1.1.2 consumer NF sends request with Analytics ID).
For Claim 9, TS23.288-Han-Zha teaches the apparatus of claim 7, wherein the analytics request includes the at least one of the analytics ID or the model ID (TS23.288 6.2.1 Analytics ID included).
For Claim(s) 17, the claim(s) is/are substantially similar to claim 5 and therefore is/are rejected for the same reasoning set forth above.
For Claim 18, TS23.288-Han-Zha teaches the method of claim 17, wherein the analytics request includes an event type that is associated with at least one of a registration area, a specific slice, a specific user equipment (UE), or a group of UEs (TS23.288 6.2.2.1).
For Claim 19, TS23.288-Han-Zha teaches the method of claim 18, further comprising: determining the event type corresponds to the RAN (Han ¶ 0097); wherein the data collection request is transmitted based on the event type corresponding to the RAN (Hans Figs. 9-10).
For Claim 23, TS23.288-Han teaches the apparatus of claim 20, TS23.288-Han does not explicitly teach wherein the data collection request indicates whether raw data or coordinate analytics is to be collected from the RAN.
However, Zha teaches wherein the data collection request indicates whether raw data or coordinate analytics is to be collected from the RAN (Zha ¶ 0039).
Zha and TS23.288-Han are analogous art because they are both related to data analytics.
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to use the data analytics management techniques of Zha with the system of TS23.288-Han because rather than have each AP log data and provide the raw data to a number of different requesters, embodiments provide data analytics management (DAM) systems and methods which can collect and provide data, and in some embodiments analyze the data to satisfy different requests from different parties (Zha ¶ 0026).
For Claim 24, TS23.288-Han-Zha teaches the apparatus of claim 23, wherein if the data collection request indicates the raw data is to be collected from the RAN, the data collection request includes one or more parameters associated with the analytics request (TS23.288, Zha ¶ 0039).
For Claim 25, TS23.288-Han-Zha teaches the apparatus of claim 23, wherein if the data collection request indicates the coordinate analytics is to be collected from the RAN, the data collection request includes at least one of an analytics identifier (ID) or a model ID (TS23.288 6.2.1).
For Claim(s) 29, the claim(s) is/are substantially similar to claim 23 and therefore is/are rejected for the same reasoning set forth above.
Claim(s) 11, 26, & 30 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over TS23.288-Han as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Yao et al. (US 20210021494 A1, published 1/21/2021; hereinafter Yao).
For Claim 11, TS23.288-Han teaches the apparatus of claim 1, TS23.288-Han does not explicitly teach wherein the data collection response is received from the RAN based on a RAN level inference.
However, Yao teaches wherein the data collection response is received from the RAN based on a RAN level inference (Yao ¶ 0053 The execution entity executes actions (e.g., by the MDAS consumer) corresponding to the analytics report. The executed actions may be generated by the MDAS consumer based on the analytics report, or may be recommended by the analytics report. The execution report is provided back to MDA so that the MDA can take it into account to fine-tune the analysis result. ¶ 0058 the MDAS producer can analyze the analytics input and generate the analytics report as output data of the analysis to the consumer. Yao ¶ 0062 the MDAF provides analytics reports which SON Function can consume).
Yao and TS23.288-Han are analogous art because they are both related to data analytics.
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to use the data analytic report techniques of Yao with the system of TS23.288-Han to optimize the accuracy of the analysis result (Yao ¶ 0053).
For Claim 26, TS23.288-Han teaches the apparatus of claim 20, TS23.288-Han does not explicitly teach wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: determine whether a RAN level inference is specified based on the data collection request; wherein the data collection response is transmitted based on the RAN level inference being specified.
However, Yao teaches wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: determine whether a RAN level inference is specified based on the data collection request; wherein the data collection response is transmitted based on the RAN level inference being specified (Yao ¶ 0053).
Yao and TS23.288-Han are analogous art because they are both related to data analytics.
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to use the data analytic report techniques of Yao with the system of TS23.288-Han to optimize the accuracy of the analysis result (Yao ¶ 0053).
For Claim(s) 30, the claim(s) is/are substantially similar to claim 26 and therefore is/are rejected for the same reasoning set forth above.
Citation of Pertinent Prior Art
Please see PTO-892 for additional listing of relevant prior art made of record but not relied upon, thank you.
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 communications from the examiner should be directed to Michael Keller at (571)270-3863 or michael.keller@uspto.gov. If attempts to reach the examiner are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Brian Gillis can be reached at 571-272-7952.
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/MICHAEL A KELLER/
Primary Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2446
Prosecution Insights