Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
1. 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
2. This Office Action is in response to application filed on 11/30/2023. Claims 1-14 were previously pending. Claims 1-14 are rejected.
Information Disclosure Statement
3. The information disclosure statement(s) (IDS) submitted on 11/30/2023 is/are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the IDS(s) is/are being considered by the examiner.
Claim Objections
4. Claims 1, 13-14 are objected to because of the following informalities: reciting “of at least one of the first cell” in lines 11, 15, 11 respectively should be --of at least the one of the first cell--.
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 101
5. 35 U.S.C. 101 reads as follows:
Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.
5.1. Claim 14 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to non-statutory subject matter, i.e. software per se. The "computer-program product" is usually interpreted as software, is not tied to a specific, tangible hardware (a "manufacture" or "machine").
Examiner suggests specifying the “computer-program product” is stored on a “non-transitory storage”. This clarifies that the claim is directed to a tangible article of manufacture, not an abstract idea or signal per se.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
6. In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 5103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
6.1. 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.
6.2. 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.
6.3. Claims 1-5, 9-11, 13-14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over by Morad et al., ("Morad", US 2016/0135067 A1) in view of Lee et al., (“Lee”, US 2022/0286369 A1), and further in view of Jia et al., (“Jia”, US 2022/0361066 A1).
Regarding Claim 1, Morad teaches, a computer-implemented method, comprising:
detecting an anomaly associated with at least a first cell of a communication network (Morad,[0092-93]: detecting key performance indicator (KPI) value changes associated with a reduction of call traffic (“anomaly”) of a sector; [0071]: a sector is a directional antenna covering a geographical area. It is obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art that a cell is the geographical area or logical concept of coverage served by that base station, therefore the “sector” here is a “cell”);
determining, based on a (Morad, FIG.2, operational support system (OSS) 122, [0071]: sector and/or site KPI are provided from an OSS 122, the site means a geographical location of a base station, a radio network controller, and the like);
determining, based on the common nominator, a counteraction for the first cell for remedying the anomaly (Morad, FIG.2, network optimization module 105. [0068]: The network optimization module 105 analyzes performance parameters, such as subscriber call handovers and the like, and calculates network configuration changes (“counteraction”) to the cellular radio network component configurations that may improve the performance);
identifying at least one second (Morad, FIG.1, cellular radio network 120, base state 124, Radio Network Controller (RNC) 125, [0071]: base station 124 and RNC 125 relationships, sector frequencies, scrambling codes, adjacent sectors (“2nd cell”) dataset and the like are provided from an OSS 122; [0004]: Multiple antennas are connected to each base station, each directional antenna covering a sector or a geographic cell);
obtaining one or more first performance indicators of at least one of the first cell and the at least one second (Morad, [0085]: KPls are measured for a time period before the antenna tilt change, such as during a one week time period);
causing performance of the counteraction at the (Morad, [0085]: The tilt angles of the selected candidate directional antennas are changed either electronically by the front end interface or manually by a field technician, after the engineer has received a notification on a user interface);
obtaining one or more second performance indicators associated with the at least one of the first cell and the at least one second (Morad, [0085]: The network optimization module 105 waits for a time period, such as a week (“2nd time period”), to collect new CDR data, analyzes the new network performance values, such as CDR-based sector pair usage and subscriber movement scores, after the change, and updates the KPls; [0105]: a low quality call means a low KPI); and
verifying the counteraction based on the one or more first performance indicators and the one or more second performance indicators (Morad, [0085]: Based on the comparison of performance values and KPls before and after the change, the antenna tilt changes are evaluated by the network optimization module 105 to determine the effect of the antenna tilt change on network performance).
Morad does not expressly teaches
determining, based on a channel quality indicator,
Lee teaches wherein the first and second performance indicators comprise values of the channel quality indicator (Lee, [0019-20]: the combination indicators may be KPIs including both Channel Quality Indicator (CQI) and network load indicators; the parameters may be system control parameters and the like).
Prior to the effective filing date of invention, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to implement the “Channel Quality Indicator (CQI)” of Lee into the invention of Morad. The suggestion/motivation would have been enable combination of indicators may be KPIs including both Channel Quality Indicator (CQI) and network load indicators to improve determining anomaly (Lee, [0019-20]). Including the “CQI” of Lee into the invention of Morad was within the ordinary ability of one of ordinary skill in the art based on the teachings of Lee.
Morad-Lee does not teach
Jia teaches (Jia, FIG.5, cell 503, 514, [0060]: A 5G NR cell 503 (“1st cell”) can be configured to add a neighbor 514 (“2nd cell”) when the neighbor 514 antenna direction is at least partially opposite its own antenna direction,)
Prior to the effective filing date of invention, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to implement the “sharing antenna by cells” of Jia into the invention of Morad-Lee. The suggestion/motivation would have been enable the second cell performs dynamic spectrum sharing with the first cel (Jia, [0005]). Including the “sharing antenna” of Jia into the invention of Morad-Lee was within the ordinary ability of one of ordinary skill in the art based on the teachings of Jia.
Regarding Claim 2, Morad-Lee-Jia teaches, the method according to claim 1, further comprising: determining the counteraction based on a scope of the anomaly (Morad, [0068]: The network optimization module 105 analyzes 205 performance parameters, such as subscriber call handovers and the like, and calculates network configuration changes to the cellular radio network component configurations that may improve the performance of the cellular radio network 120, such as the automatic neighbor relationship dataset changes and the like described herein).
Regarding Claim 3, Morad-Lee-Jia teaches, the method according to claim 2, wherein the scope of the anomaly comprises a single cell and the counteraction comprises changing an antenna tilt of the first cell, the scope of the anomaly comprises a plurality of cells sharing an antenna port and the counteraction comprises replacement of at least one antenna element associated with the antenna port, the scope of the anomaly comprises a plurality of cells sharing a radio and the counteraction comprises replacement of the radio, the scope of the anomaly comprises a sector of an access node and the counteraction comprises replacement of components common to cells of the sector, or the scope of the anomaly comprises the access node and the counteraction comprises providing an indication of a need to replan location of the access node (Jia, [0060]: a cell 503 can be configured determine site and/or sector of a neighbor cell, such as cell 514, using geolocation identification techniques; Morad, [0108]: an E1 line may be identified with the low quality calls and the operator is sent a notification to service and/or replace it by the network optimization module 105. It is obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art that replace an identified hardware such as radio or antenna with the low quality calls).
Regarding Claim 4, Morad-Lee-Jia teaches, the method according to claim 1, wherein identifying the at least one second cell is based on determining that the at least one second cell shares an antenna of the first cell or a radio of the first cell (Jia, FIG.5, [0060]: antenna directions associated with cell 503 (“1st cell”) and/or cell 514 (“2nd cell”) can be used to determine whether cell 503 may add cell 514 as a neighbor).
Regarding Claim 5, Morad-Lee-Jia teaches, the method according to claim 4, wherein identifying the at least one second cell is further based on at least one of:
determining that the at least one second cell is within the same sector or beam as the first cell (Jia, [0060]: a cell 503 can be configured determine site and/or sector of a neighbor cell, such as cell 514, using geolocation identification techniques),
Regarding Claim 9, Morad-Lee-Jia teaches, the method according to claim 1, wherein detecting the anomaly is based on at least one key performance indicator of the first cell (Lee, [0019-20]: the combination indicators may be KPIs including both Channel Quality Indicator (CQI) and network load indicators; the parameters may be system control parameters and the like).
Regarding Claim 10, Morad-Lee-Jia teaches, the method according to claim 9, wherein the at least one key performance indicator of the first cell comprises at least one of: a channel quality indicator, a timing advance, or a reference signal received power (Lee, [0019-20]: the combination indicators may be KPIs including both Channel Quality Indicator (CQI) and network load indicators; the parameters may be system control parameters and the like).
Regarding Claim 11, Morad-Lee-Jia teaches, the method according to claim 1, wherein the first and second performance indicators comprise median values of the channel quality indicator (Morad, [0078]: apply median function to derive the median value of the KPIs. Combined Morad, [0078]-Lee, [0019-20] teaches to derive the media value of the CQI).
Regarding Claim 13, Morad teaches, an apparatus comprising:
at least one processor; and at least one memory including computer program code;
the at least one memory and the computer code configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to (Morad, [0029-30]: the memory including program instructions executable by a processor to cause the processor to calculate two or more sector pair usage parameters one for each of the antenna pairs according to an analysis of respective the subscriber calls):
detect an anomaly associated with at least a first cell of a communication network (Morad, [0092-93]: detecting key performance indicator (KPI) value changes (“anomaly”) associated with a reduction of call traffic of a sector; [0071]: a sector is a directional antenna covering a geographical area. It is obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art that a cell is the geographical area or logical concept of coverage served by that base station, therefore the “sector” here is a “cell”);
determine, based on a (Morad, FIG.2, operational support system (OSS) 122, [0071]: sector and/or site KPI are provided from an OSS 122, the site means a geographical location of a base station, a radio network controller, and the like);
determine, based on the common nominator, a counteraction for the first cell for remedying the anomaly (Morad, FIG.2, network optimization module 105. [0068]: The network optimization module 105 analyzes performance parameters, such as subscriber call handovers and the like, and calculates network configuration changes (“counteraction”) to the cellular radio network component configurations that may improve the performance);
identify at least one second (Morad, FIG.1, cellular radio network 120, base state 124, Radio Network Controller (RNC) 125, [0071]: base station 124 and RNC 125 relationships, sector frequencies, scrambling codes, adjacent sectors (“cell”) dataset and the like are provided from an OSS 122; [0004]: Multiple antennas are connected to each base station, each directional antenna covering a sector or a geographic cell);
obtain one or more first performance indicators of at least one of the first cell and the at least one second (Morad, [0085]: KPls are measured for a time period before the antenna tilt change, such as during a one week time period);
cause performance of the counteraction at the first cell or providing an indication of the counteraction for performance of the counteraction at the first cell by a user (Morad, [0085]: The tilt angles of the selected candidate directional antennas are changed either electronically by the front end interface or manually by a field technician, after the engineer has received a notification on a user interface
obtain one or more second performance indicators associated with the at least one of the first cell and the at least one second (Morad, [0085]: The network optimization module 105 waits for a time period, such as a week (“2nd time period”), to collect new CDR data, analyzes the new network performance values, such as CDR-based sector pair usage and subscriber movement scores, after the change, and updates the KPls; [0105]: a low quality call means a low KPI); and
verify the counteraction based on the one or more first performance indicators and the one or more second performance indicators (Morad, [0085]: Based on the comparison of performance values and KPls before and after the change, the antenna tilt changes are evaluated by the network optimization module 105 to determine the effect of the antenna tilt change on network performance).
Morad does not expressly teaches
identify at least one second cell o
.
Lee teaches wherein the first and second performance indicators comprise values of the channel quality indicator (Lee, [0019-20]: the combination indicators may be KPIs including both Channel Quality Indicator (CQI) and network load indicators; the parameters may be system control parameters and the like).
Prior to the effective filing date of invention, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to implement the “Channel Quality Indicator (CQI)” of Lee into the invention of Morad. The suggestion/motivation would have been enable combination of indicators may be KPIs including both Channel Quality Indicator (CQI) and network load indicators to improve determining network anomaly (Lee, [0019-20]). Including the “CQI” of Lee into the invention of Morad was within the ordinary ability of one of ordinary skill in the art based on the teachings of Lee.
Morad-Lee does not teach
Jia teaches (Jia, FIG.5, cell 503, 514, [0060]: A 5G NR cell 503 (“1st cell”) can be configured to add a neighbor 514 (“2nd cell”) when the neighbor 514 antenna direction is at least partially opposite its own antenna direction,)
Prior to the effective filing date of invention, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to implement the “sharing antenna by cells” of Jia into the invention of Morad-Lee. The suggestion/motivation would have been enable the second cell performs dynamic spectrum sharing with the first cel (Jia, [0005]). Including the “sharing antenna” of Jia into the invention of Morad-Lee was within the ordinary ability of one of ordinary skill in the art based on the teachings of Jia.
Regarding Claim 14, Morad teaches, a computer program comprising program code configured to, when executed by a processor, cause an apparatus at least to (Morad, [0030]: a computer program product comprises a computer readable storage medium. The computer readable storage medium has stored thereon first program instructions executable by a processor to cause the processor to receive two or more call detail records from a repository of a cellular radio network):
detect an anomaly associated with at least a first cell of a communication network (Morad, [0092-93]: detecting key performance indicator (KPI) value changes (“anomaly”) associated with a reduction of call traffic of a sector; [0071]: a sector is a directional antenna covering a geographical area. It is obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art that a cell is the geographical area or logical concept of coverage served by that base station, therefore the “sector” here is a “cell”);
determine, based on a (Morad, FIG.2, operational support system (OSS) 122, [0071]: sector and/or site KPI are provided from an OSS 122, the site means a geographical location of a base station, a radio network controller, and the like);
determine, based on the common nominator, a counteraction for the first cell for remedying the anomaly (Morad, FIG.2, network optimization module 105. [0068]: The network optimization module 105 analyzes performance parameters, such as subscriber call handovers and the like, and calculates network configuration changes (“counteraction”) to the cellular radio network component configurations that may improve the performance);
identify at least one second (Morad, FIG.1, cellular radio network 120, base state 124, Radio Network Controller (RNC) 125, [0071]: base station 124 and RNC 125 relationships, sector frequencies, scrambling codes, adjacent sectors (“cell”) dataset and the like are provided from an OSS 122; [0004]: Multiple antennas are connected to each base station, each directional antenna covering a sector or a geographic cell);
obtain one or more first performance indicators of at least one of the first cell and the at least one second (Morad, [0085]: KPls are measured for a time period before the antenna tilt change, such as during a one week time period);
cause performance of the counteraction at the first cell or providing an indication of the counteraction for performance of the counteraction at the first cell by a user (Morad, [0085]: The tilt angles of the selected candidate directional antennas are changed either electronically by the front end interface or manually by a field technician, after the engineer has received a notification on a user interface);
obtain one or more second performance indicators associated with the at least one of the first cell and the at least one second (Morad, [0085]: The network optimization module 105 waits for a time period, such as a week (“2nd time period”), to collect new CDR data, analyzes the new network performance values, such as CDR-based sector pair usage and subscriber movement scores, after the change, and updates the KPls; [0105]: a low quality call means a low KPI); and
verify the counteraction based on the one or more first performance indicators and the one or more second performance indicators (Morad, [0085]: Based on the comparison of performance values and KPls before and after the change, the antenna tilt changes are evaluated by the network optimization module 105 to determine the effect of the antenna tilt change on network performance).
Morad does not expressly teaches
determine, based on a channel quality indicator,
identify at least one second cell ;
Lee teaches
wherein the first and second performance indicators comprise values of the channel quality indicator (Lee, [0019-20]: the combination indicators may be KPIs including both Channel Quality Indicator (CQI) and network load indicators; the parameters may be system control parameters and the like);
Prior to the effective filing date of invention, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to implement the “Channel Quality Indicator (CQI)” of Lee into the invention of Morad. The suggestion/motivation would have been enable combination of indicators may be KPIs including both Channel Quality Indicator (CQI) and network load indicators to improve determining network anomaly (Lee, [0019-20]). Including the “CQI” of Lee into the invention of Morad was within the ordinary ability of one of ordinary skill in the art based on the teachings of Lee.
Morad-Lee does not teach
identify at least one second cell
Jia teaches (Jia, FIG.5, cell 503, 514, [0060]: A 5G NR cell 503 (“1st cell”) can be configured to add a neighbor 514 (“2nd cell”) when the neighbor 514 antenna direction is at least partially opposite its own antenna direction,)
Prior to the effective filing date of invention, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to implement the “sharing antenna by cells” of Jia into the invention of Morad-Lee. The suggestion/motivation would have been enable the second cell performs dynamic spectrum sharing with the first cel (Jia, [0005]). Including the “sharing antenna” of Jia into the invention of Morad-Lee was within the ordinary ability of one of ordinary skill in the art based on the teachings of Jia.
6.4. Claims 6-8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Morad et al., ("Morad", US 2016/0135067 A1) in view of Lee et al., (“Lee”, US 2022/0286369 A1) and Jia et al., (“Jia”, US 2022/0361066 A1), and further in view of Freeman et al., (“Freeman”, US 2022/0237069 A1).
Regarding Claim 6, Morad-Lee-Jia teaches, the method according to claim 1, wherein verifying the counteraction comprises:
calculating a first difference between the one or more first performance indicators and the one or more second performance indicators of the first cell and the at least one second cell (Morad, [0093]: an antenna tilt angle change of the evaluated sector, the KPI value changes for the two subscribers are evaluated. The first subscriber's KPI values are in improved in the 1st circle group (“1st cell”), but the second subscriber is at high risk of service degradation (“2nd cell”); and
providing an indication of improved network performance (Morad, [0093]: When both subscribers' KPIs are improved after an antenna tilt angle change, it implies that the antenna tilt angle change was effective and improved the network performance),
providing an indication of degraded network performance (Morad, [0093]: Following the antenna tilt angle change the second subscriber may be more out of service, may have more repeat calls, may have more call failures).
Morad-Lee-Jia does not expressly teach
Freeman teaches
(Freeman, [0045]: applying the anomaly policies to the collected KPI data and determine if the KPI exceed the defined thresholds. Combined Morad, [0093]-Freeman, [0076, 45] teaches providing the indication in response to determine that the difference is higher or equal to a first threshold),
(Freeman, claim 4, the KPI exceeding a first threshold value but not a second threshold value. Combined Morad, [0093]-Freeman, claim 4 teaches providing the indication in response to determine that the difference is lower or equal to a second threshold).
Prior to the effective filing date of invention, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to implement the abnormal KPI” of Freeman into the invention of Morad-Lee-Jia. The suggestion/motivation would have been enable defining threshold values for the collected KPIs, and applying abnormal policy to detect abnormal performance based on the threshold value (Freeman, abstract). Including the “multiple threshold” of Freeman into the invention of Morad-Lee-Jia was within the ordinary ability of one of ordinary skill in the art based on the teachings of Freeman.
Regarding Claim 7, Morad-Lee-Jia-Freeman teaches, the method according to claim 6, wherein verifying the counteraction further comprises:
providing the indication of improved network performance, in response to determining that the second difference is higher than or equal to a third threshold (Freeman, [0076]: define multiple thresholds to alert users; Combined Morad, [0093]-Freeman, [0076, 45] teaches providing the indication in response to determine the difference is higher than or equal to a third threshold),
providing the indication of degraded network performance, in response to determining the second difference to be lower than or equal to a fourth threshold (Freeman, Combined Morad, [0093]-Freeman, [0076, 45] teaches providing the indication in response to determine the difference is higher than or equal to a fourth threshold).
Regarding Claim 8, Morad-Lee-Jia-Freeman teaches, the method according to claim 6, further comprising: reversing the counteraction, in response to the indication of degraded network performance (Freeman, FIG.13, [0079]: FIG. 13, alerts can be classified as normal, false positive, fixed, and unresolvable. False positive alerts signify that the cause of the alert was investigated by the user and the reason for the asset triggering this alert was acceptable and did not constitute a potential problem. This type of alert can thus be disregarded).
6.5. Claims 12 is ejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Morad et al., ("Morad", US 2016/0135067 A1) in view of Lee et al., (“Lee”, US 2022/0286369 A1) and Jia et al., (“Jia”, US 2022/0361066 A1), and further in view of Pick et al., (“Pick”, US 2023/0188408 A1)
Regarding Claim 12, Morad-Lee-Jia teaches, the method according to claims 1, but not expressly teaches wherein the indication of the counteraction for performance of the counteraction at the first cell by a user comprises an automated service ticket.
Pick teaches (Pick, [0026]: an automation service
Prior to the effective filing date of invention, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to implement the “automated service” of Pick into the invention of Morad-Lee-Jia. The suggestion/motivation would have been enable a networks analytics model to analyze network performance data in an automated fashion, predicting a network problem, identifying the root cause of network problems, identifies remediation options, and recommends and/or implements automatically remediation option (Pick, [0005]). Including the “automated service” of Pick into the invention of Morad-Lee-Jia was within the ordinary ability of one of ordinary skill in the art based on the teachings of Pick.
Conclusion
7. The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant’s disclosure.
Sharma et al. US 2020/0084087 A1, Method for providing intelligent anomaly detection, and root cause analysis in the mobile networking field, has receiving radio access network data, which is generated by set of base stations, and cell identifiers used for anomalous cells.
8. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should
be directed to CHHIAN (AMY) LING whose telephone number is (571)270-1074. The examiner can
normally be reached M-F 9-6 ET.
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BRIAN J GILLIS can be reached on (571) 272-7952. The fax phone number for the organization where
this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/C.L/Examiner, Art Unit 2446
/BRIAN J. GILLIS/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2446