DETAILED ACTION
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 .
Claim 15 has been cancelled.
Status of Claims
2. This Office Action is in response to the application filed on 05/13/2026. Claims 1-14 and 16 through 20 are presently pending and are presented for examination.
3. 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 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.
Response to Arguments
4. Applicant's arguments filed 05/13/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Applicant argued that Ruttik does not teach the nature of the detection and its cause are therefore fundamentally different, Ruttik does not teach unoccupied capacity.
Examiner respectfully disagrees. In response to applicant's argument that the references fail to show certain features of the invention, it is noted that the features upon which applicant relies (i.e.,[unoccupied capacity]) are not recited in the rejected claim(s). Although the claims are interpreted in light of the specification, limitations from the specification are not read into the claims. See In re Van Geuns, 988 F.2d 1181, 26 USPQ2d 1057 (Fed. Cir. 1993).
Applicant argued that Ruttik does not disclose the detection of "an under-utilization of a data rate allocated.
Examiner respectfully disagrees. Ruttik teaches a situation is common for example in city centers where there is a need to safeguard network capacity to serve a huge amount of wireless terminal within the area. On the other, as the wireless terminals are mobile, the traffic of BTSs fluctuates and, as a result, an average
utilization rate of an individual BTS is pretty low, as a result, an average utilization rate of an individual BTS is pretty low. However, even if a single BTS may have unused processing resources, it cannot share them with other BTSs (paragraph 3). Therefore, Ruttik teaches underutilized allocated resource capacity and not being able to share the underutilized of resource- an average utilization rate of an individual BTS is pretty low.
Applicant argued that Abdel teaches that when under-utilization is detected, and faced with unused capacity, Abdel provides an incentive to fill it with more useful data rather than to fill it with padding data.
Examiner respectfully disagrees. In response to applicant's argument that to fill it with more useful data rather than to fill it with padding data, a recitation of the intended use of the claimed invention must result in a structural difference between the claimed invention and the prior art in order to patentably distinguish the claimed invention from the prior art. If the prior art structure is capable of performing the intended use, then it meets the claim. The claim limitation recites “in response to detecting an under-utilization of a data rate allocated over the wireless link to the connection transmitting over the wireless link, padding data stored in a memory accessible within the communication network” illustrates an action (transmitting padding) to be taken, after detection of an under-utilization of a data rate allocated-although it is clear to what destination the padding data are transmitted and how the underutilization being solved.
In fact a couple of lines programming codes can achieve the limitation-a detection of an event and an alternative action. It is also not clear what action is to be taken if the underutilization is not detected.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
5. 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.
Claims 1-3, 5-9, 11-14, and 16-18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ruttik et al. (US 2018/0007736 A1) in view of in view of Abdel Shahid et al. (US 2021/0152278 A1-hereafter Abdel).
For claim 1 Ruttik teaches a method for processing a connection of user equipment (UE) attached to a wireless access network of a communication network via a wireless link, wherein the method is implemented by a processing device (see paragraphs 2, 4 “communication network includes base stations and terminals (UEs)”, paragraph 35 and fig. 2 “adaptation unit 200”) and comprises:
in response to detecting an under-utilization of a data rate allocated over the wireless link to the connection (paragraph 3 “utilization rate of resource capacity is low and unused racecourses cannot be shared”, paragraph 6 “load change and transmission rates change between base station and terminals”, paragraphs 12-13 “in response to a detection that the at least one data packet is missing the communication module is configured to insert padding data to the buffer module”, paragraph14 “The padding data may comprise indication that the originally scheduled data packet is missing”);
transmitting over the wireless link, padding data stored in a memory accessible within the communication network (see paragraph 12 “transmitting insert padding data to the buffer module”, paragraph 13 “the communication module may be configured to access a memory residing in the base station for retrieving padding data stored in the memory in response to the detection that the at least one scheduled data packet is missing”, paragraph 36 “padding data sent over a communication channel… wherein, padding data type is function of frame type that may consists of zeros, symbols, or any other symbol string”, paragraph 18 “inserting, by the communication module, padding data to the buffer module in response to a detection that the at least one data packet is missing”, paragraph 36 “obtain padding data stored in a memory accessible to the adaptation unit 200 and to transmit it to the direction of communication”, and paragraph 38 “the adaptation unit 200 may be configured to operate transmitting the padding data”).
Ruttik does not explicitly teach detecting under-utilized a data rate allocated over the wireless link to the connection.
However, Abdel teaches the RAN can request the user device report in response to determining (detecting) that the current data connection is being under-utilized (i.e., the current data connection is transmitted data to and from the user device at a bandwidth below what the network and the current data connection can support) (see Abdel: paragraph 17). In addition, Abdel teaches the RAN can determine, based on the connection metric, that the data connection is under-utilized or can support additional network services… the RAN can determine that the data connection is under-utilized based on a bandwidth and/or the data transmission rate associated with the data connection. Additionally, if the bandwidth and/or the data transmission rate is less than a data threshold and/or an optimal data transmission rate determined based on the connection metric, the data connection is under-utilized. Accordingly, the RAN can be configured to determine, based on the connection metric, that the data connection can be modified to provide improved network services and/or increased data transmission to the user device (see Abdel: paragraph 42). In addition, Abdel teaches FIG. 4 illustrates an example process for modifying a data connection associated with a user device after a first modification has not remedied a satisfied threshold or an under-utilized data connection (see Abdel: paragraphs 6 and 51).
Thus, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of claimed invention to apply the teachings of Abdel in the under-utilized data rate of Ruttik in order to determine, based on the connection metric, that the data connection can be modified to provide improved network services and/or increased data transmission to the user device (see Abdel: paragraph 42).
For claim 2 Ruttik in view of Abdel teaches the method for processing the connection, wherein the detection of the under-utilization of the data rate comprises detecting a loss of data packets over another link of the access network implemented by the connection and wherein the padding data are obtained then transmitted following (see Ruttik: paragraph 36 “the adaptation unit 200 may be configured to detect missing data (loss of data packets)” and paragraph 38 “the adaptation unit 200 may be configured to operate transmitting the padding data” and Abdel: paragraph 17 “in at least one embodiment, the RAN can request the user device report in response to determining that the current data connection is being under-utilized (i.e., the current data connection is transmitted data to and from the user device at a bandwidth below what the network and the current data connection can support)”) a request for retransmission of lost packets and prior to receipt of (see Ruttik: paragraphs 15 and 47-48 “request for transmission of packets and missing packets”).
For claim 3 Ruttik in view of Abdel teaches the method for processing the connection, wherein the detection of the under-utilization of the data rate comprises detecting an establishment and/or re-establishment of the connection (see Abdel: paragraph 65 “At 508, the user device 102 and the 5G RAN 106 can establish a data connection for transmitting user device data between the user device 102 and the network 506” and wherein the padding data are obtained then transmitted during a period of convergence of a congestion control (see Ruttik: paragraph 3 “traffic fluctuation reduces the utilization rate” and paragraph 13 “retrieving padding data stored in the memory is configurable”, and Abdel: paragraph 17 “in at least one embodiment, the RAN can request the user device report in response to determining that the current data connection is being under-utilized (i.e., the current data connection is transmitted data to and from the user device at a bandwidth below what the network and the current data connection can support)”, paragraph 65, and Fig. 5 “establish data connection 508”).
For claim 5 Ruttik in view of Abdel teaches the method for processing the connection, wherein the padding data are transmitted over a control channel and/or over a user channel of the wireless link, the channel used for the transmission being determined by a type of the padding data (see Ruttik: paragraph 36 “padding data sent over a communication channel… wherein, padding data type is function of frame type that may consists of zeros, symbols, or any other symbol string”).
For claim 6 Ruttik in view of Abdel teaches the method for processing the connection, wherein the padding data are inserted into a data stream of the connection (see Ruttik: paragraph 18 “inserting, by the communication module, padding data to the buffer module in response to a detection that the at least one data packet is missing” and paragraph 36 “the padding data is input in a data flow (stream)”).
For claim 7 Ruttik in view of Abdel teaches a method for controlling a connection of user equipment (UE) attached via a wireless link to a wireless access network of a communication network, wherein the method is implemented by a controlling device (see Abdel: paragraph 65, Fig. 5 “establish data connection 508”, paragraph 73 “establishing an additional data connection with the user device 102”, and as discussed in claim 1) and comprises:
in response to detecting an under-utilization of a data rate allocated over said wireless link to said connection (as discussed in claim 1),
transmitting padding data intended to said connection to a memory accessible within the communication network, for storage (as discussed in claim 1).
For claim 8 Ruttik in view of Abdel teaches the control method, wherein the padding data are transmitted to the memory in at least one data stream of the connection (see Ruttik: paragraph 55 “data stream”, paragraph 36 “padding data transmitted in a data flow to a queue” and as discussed in claim 1).
For claim 9 Ruttik in view of Abdel teaches the control method, wherein the method comprises obtaining information relating to a congestion control of at least one data stream of the connection and the padding data depending at least on the information obtained (Ruttik: paragraph 12 “in response to a detection that the at least one data packet is missing the communication module is configured to insert padding data to the buffer module” and paragraph 13 “communication module may be configured to select the padding data to be retrieved from the memory from at least partly on basis of radio configuration used in communication” and Abdel: paragraphs 37 and 48 “access the stored information via a database (table)”).
For claim 11 Ruttik in view of Abdel teaches the control method, wherein the method furthermore comprises obtaining information, coming from the user equipment, relating to a state of at least one cache memory of the user equipment and selecting padding data adapted to the user equipment depends on the information obtained (see Ruttik: paragraph 12 “buffer module includes padding data”, pargraph 35 “buffer module may comprise different data queues”, and paragraph 36 “be configured to gather data on missing data packets and to deliver the data, or any indication on it, for example to the BBU 115 in order to provide feedback information to be used in a control of processing in the BBU.”).
For claim 12 Ruttik in view of Abdel teaches a processing device for processing a connection of user equipment attached to a wireless access network of a communication network via a wireless link, wherein the processing device comprises:
at least one processor (see Ruttik: paragraph 35 “a computer program code to be executed with at least one processor in cooperation with one or more memories”); and
at least one non-transitory computer readable medium comprising instructions stored thereon which when executed by the at least one processor (see Ruttik: paragraph 35 “a computer program code to be executed with at least one processor in cooperation with one or more memories”) configure the processing device to:
in response to detecting an under-utilization of a data rate allocated over the wireless link to the connection (as discussed in claim 1);
transmit over the wireless link, padding data stored in a memory accessible within the communication network (as discussed in claim 1).
For claim 13 Ruttik in view of Abdel teaches a control device for controlling a connection of user equipment attached to a wireless access network of a communication network (as discussed in claim 1), wherein the control device comprises:
at least one processor (see Ruttik: paragraph 35 “a computer program code to be executed with at least one processor in cooperation with one or more memories”); and
at least one non-transitory computer readable medium comprising instructions stored thereon which when executed by the at least one processor (see Ruttik: paragraph 35 “a computer program code to be executed with at least one processor in cooperation with one or more memories”) configure the control device to:
in response to detecting an under-utilization of a rate allocated over said wireless link to said connection (as discussed in claim 1),
transmit the padding data intended for said at least one connection to a memory accessible within the communication network for storage data (see Ruttik: paragraph 12 “in response to a detection that the at least one data packet is missing the communication module is configured to insert padding data to the buffer module” and paragraph 38 “transmitting the padding data” and as discussed in claim 1)
For claim 14 Ruttik in view of Abdel teaches a satellite of the wireless access network of the communication network, to which the user equipment is attached via the wireless link wherein the satellite comprises the processing device as claimed in claim 12 and the memory which is configured for storing the padding data (as discussed in claim 12 and the satellite is not considered for examination because it is within the preamble).
For claim 16 Ruttik in view of Abdel teaches a ground station of the wireless access network of the communication network to which the user equipment is attached via the wireless link wherein the ground station comprises the control device as claimed in claim 13 and a data table comprising information on congestion and on data losses relating to previous connections (see Ruttik: paragraph 3 “as number of terminals connections increase the utilization rate fluctuate (traffic jam (congestion))”, paragraph 12 “buffer has missing data packets”), paragraphs 48, 51, 57 “statistical information regarding missing packets”, and as discussed in claim 13 and the ground station is not considered for examination as it is within the preamble).
For claim 17 Ruttik in view of Abdel teaches a non-transitory computer readable medium comprising a computer program stored thereon comprising program code instructions for implementing the method as claimed in claim 1, when the instructions are executed by a processor of the processing device (as discussed in claim 1).
For claim 18 Ruttik in view of Abdel teaches a non-transitory computer readable medium comprising a computer program stored thereon comprising program code instructions for implementing the method as claimed in claim 7, when the instructions are executed by a processor of the controlling device (as discussed in claim 7).
6. Claims 4 and 10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ruttik et al. (US 2018/0007736 A1) in view of in view of Abdel Shahid et al. (US 2021/0152278 A1-hereafter Abdel) further in view of Muramoto (US 2011/0243130 A1).
For claim 4 Ruttik in view of in view of Abdel does not explicitly teach the method for processing the connection, wherein the method comprises obtaining information relating to the connection and predicting a quantity of the padding data to be requested, by application of a prediction model to the information obtained.
However, Muramoto teaches the reorder condition analyzing section (prediction model) estimates a predicted normal packet length from the number of reorder and reception bandwidth if reorder occurs (see Muramoto: paragraph 17).
In addition, Muramoto teaches a transmitter terminal of the invention includes a data generating section that generates a packet, a padding request accepting section that receives a padding request packet for making a padding request, the padding request packet being transmitted from a receiver terminal, and a packet padding section that pads (quantity of padding) the packet generated by the data generating section so that a packet length of the packet becomes a specific length (the specific packet length depends on based on the quantity of padding) or more based on the padding request from the padding request accepting section, and transmits the packet to a network (see Muramoto: paragraphs 12-13, claims 1 and claim 5).
In addition, Muramoto teaches a transmitter terminal of the invention includes a data generating section that generates a packet, a reorder predicting section that calculates a packet length of the packet to prevent reorder based on information of a transmission data amount of the packet generated by the data generating section and the number of burst transmission of the packet, and a packet padding section that pads the packet in accordance with the packet length calculated by the reorder predicting section and transmits the packet to a network and also generates information of the number of burst transmission and supplies the information to the reorder predicting section (see Muramoto: paragraph 20 and claims 1 and 4).
Thus, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of claimed invention to apply the teachings of Abdel in the combined under-utilized data rate of Abdel and Ruttik in order to pad the packet in accordance with the packet length calculated by the reorder predicting section and transmits the packet to a network and also generates information of the number of burst transmission and supplies the information to the reorder predicting section (see Muramoto: paragraph 20 and claims 1 and 4).
For claim 10 Ruttik in view of in view of Abdel further in view of Muramoto teaches the control method, as claimed in claim 9, wherein the method comprises obtaining at least one prediction model for padding data using the information contained in the data table and transmitting the model in the wireless access network to a processing device configured for detecting an under-utilization of resources allocated to the connection over a wireless link between the user equipment and the access network, predicting padding data to be used for the connection based on the prediction model and transmitting the predicted padding data over the wireless link (as discussed in claim 4 and claim 16).
Conclusion
7. The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure: Hardacker et al. (US 2010/0226466 A1).
8. 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.
9. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to David M OVEISSI whose telephone number is (571)270-3127. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 8Am-5PM.
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, Jeffrey Rutkowski can be reached at (571) 270 - 1215. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/MANSOUR OVEISSI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2415
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