Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Claim 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 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.
Claim(s) 1,3-9,11-15 and 17-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Smith (US 20250007783 A1) in view of Mehdi (US 20190356549 A1).
Regarding claim(s) 1,9,15 Smith discloses a computer-implemented method for forecasting an effect on a wireless device caused by spectrum refarming of a cell site of a telecommunications network (See Fig(s). 1A a wireless system), the method comprising:
obtaining device information of the wireless device connected to the cell site, wherein the device information includes device capabilities and device usage patterns (See ¶ 310,643, categorizing devices based on their types, capabilities, and roles may include analyzing each device's hardware and software specifications, usage patterns, and functional roles ).;
obtaining spectrum information of the cell site, wherein the spectrum information includes data relating to resources partitioned for different services of the telecommunications network (See ¶ 251, partitioning a single physical network infrastructure into multiple virtual networks. Network slicing may be performed based on the type of device or desired bearer service).
Smith fails to disclose simulating the spectrum refarming of the cell site based on the device information and the spectrum information; estimating an effect on performance of the wireless device or user experience of the wireless device based on the simulation of the spectrum refarming of the cell site, wherein the effect includes a potential disruption to a service of the telecommunications network subscribed to by the wireless device; performing a process to determine whether the wireless device is capable of supporting the service without disruption after the spectrum refarming of the cell site; determining, based on the process, that an upgrade related to the wireless device is required to support the service without disruption after the spectrum refarming of the cell site; and causing an output, on a computing device, of an indication of the effect caused by the spectrum refarming of the cell site or a prompt to perform an action related to the upgrade.
Mehdi discloses simulating the spectrum refarming of the cell site based on the device information and the spectrum information (See Fig(s). 4, step 208, See ¶ 92, 97, based on the simulations, control provides remedial measures such as the following: rearranging (repurposing),
estimating an effect on performance of the wireless device or user experience of the wireless device based on the simulation of the spectrum refarming of the cell site, wherein the effect includes a potential disruption to a service of the telecommunications network subscribed to by the wireless device (See Fig(s). 5, step 262,266, See ¶ 89, 100, At 264, control analyzes the flow patterns using graph theory. At 266, control generates a recommendation including an optimal design for the network based on the analysis. For example, the recommendation may include a modification to the discovered network topology such as upgrading a network component and/or replacing a network component.);
performing a process to determine whether the wireless device is capable of supporting the service without disruption after the spectrum refarming of the cell site (See ¶ 103, The alternate design may exclude one or more of the elements and/or may include a modification to the one or more of the elements, where the modification includes a rearrangement (repurposing) and/or an upgrade of the one or more of the elements.); determining, based on the process, that an upgrade related to the wireless device is required to support the service without disruption after the spectrum refarming of the cell site (See ¶ 104); and causing an output, on a computing device, of an indication of the effect caused by the spectrum refarming of the cell site or a prompt to perform an action related to the upgrade (See Fig(s). 6 steps 292, 294, See ¶ 107, control manages the optimal network by monitoring, planned upgrading, and load-based reconfiguring (e.g., determining and recommending a minimum configuration sufficient to handle the load) of the optimal network.).
Spectrum refarming allows for reallocation of existing frequencies that may have been underutilized or used for older technologies to support the deployment of 5G networks.
Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to incorporate the teachings of Mehdi within Smith, so as to optimize available spectrum resources.
Regarding claim(s) 3,14, Mehdi discloses the process to determine whether the wireless device is capable of supporting the service without disruption after the spectrum refarming of the cell site comprises: determining that the wireless device is capable of complying with the spectrum refarming to support the service (See ¶ 104, 107); and generating a notification indicating that an update to a network setting on the wireless device is needed for the wireless device to support the service after the spectrum refarming of the cell site, wherein the notification includes instructions for updating to the network setting, and wherein the output includes the notification presented on the wireless device to prompt the update of the network setting (See Fig(s). 5,step 270 See ¶ 107,191, At 270, control manages the optimal network by continued monitoring, planned upgrading, and/or load-based reconfiguring (e.g., determining and recommending a minimum configuration sufficient to handle the load) of the optimal network. For example, control may manage the optimal network by repeating the method 250 (e.g., probing the network etc.). Reasons for combining same as claim 1.
Regarding claim(s) 4,11,17, Smith discloses wherein the device information includes location information of the wireless device, the method further comprising: determining a degree to which the spectrum refarming of the cell site affects the wireless device based on the location information of the wireless device, wherein the determination includes a time period when the wireless device is located in a connectivity range of the cell site (See Fig(s). 4, See ¶ 116, ECNs 306 that incorporate a WAP may be installed to work jointly, with each ECN 306 placed at regular intervals based on the effective coverage range of the wireless signal and/or the intended use of the devices.).
Regarding claim(s) 5,12,18, Mehdi discloses modifying the spectrum refarming of the cell site to estimate a reduction in a percentage of wireless devices affected by the spectrum refarming of the cell site, wherein the modified spectrum refarming of the cell site increases the percentage of wireless devices capable of supporting the service without the disruption; and causing the output, on the computing device, that provides an indication that the services remain available to the wireless device and that the modified spectrum refarming of the cell site negates a need for a replacement of the wireless device (See ¶ 51, First, the network optimization system can be used to probe an existing network and provide recommendations for optimizing the existing network by suggesting changes to the network topology being used in the existing network. The changes can include rearrangement and/or elimination of one or more existing network components in use. . Reasons for combining same as claim 1.
Regarding claim(s) 6,13,19, Smith discloses simulating a spectrum refarming of multiple cell sites, wherein the multiple cell sites have an overlapping connectivity range, and wherein the simulation includes a location of the overlapping connectivity range (See ¶ 114); determining a degree to which the spectrum refarming of the multiple cell sites affects the wireless device; and modifying the spectrum refarming of the multiple cell sites to reduce a percentage of wireless devices affected by the spectrum refarming of the cell site including the wireless device (Mehdi discloses refarming See ¶ 51, First, the network optimization system can be used to probe an existing network and provide recommendations for optimizing the existing network by suggesting changes to the network topology being used in the existing network. The changes can include rearrangement and/or elimination of one or more existing network components in use.). Reasons for combining same as claim 1.
Regarding claim(s) 7, Smith discloses prior to simulating the spectrum refarming of the cell site: receiving a request to predict an effect on the wireless device caused by the spectrum refarming of the cell site, wherein the cell site contains a threshold percentage of resources partitioned to a legacy wireless network (See ¶ 3, 251, Edge Cloud Computing (ECC), as promoted by 5G, is meant to offer rich virtualization and multi-tenant capabilities through the partitioning of network capacity among multiple tenants as well as offering dynamic processing capabilities on-demand, which are deployed as close to the end-user as possible.) .
Regarding claim(s) 8, 20,Smith discloses wherein the output includes an indication of one or more risk levels to multiple wireless devices subscribed to the telecommunications network, the one or more risk levels comprising: a high risk level indicating that a first threshold percentage of the multiple wireless devices are unable to comply with the spectrum refarming of the cell site and that a different form of spectrum refarming of the cell site should be enacted; a moderate risk level indicating that a second threshold percentage of the multiple wireless devices are unable to comply with the spectrum refarming of the cell site and that the different form of spectrum refarming of the cell site should be considered; and a low risk level indicating that a third threshold percentage of the multiple wireless devices are unable to comply with the spectrum refarming of the cell site and that the spectrum refarming of the cell site should be enacted (See ¶ 549, initializing the slice controller function in block 2603 may include configuring the slice controller function to deliver network slicing on a network or sub-network basis in a dynamic and real-time manner to support required services. For example, the processing system may set parameters for the slice controller, such as thresholds for resource allocation, policies for prioritizing different types of traffic, and criteria for creating new slices.).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim(s) 2,10,16, are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Raj Jain whose telephone number is (571) 272-3145. The examiner can normally be reached on M-Th ~8 ~6.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Derrick Ferris can be reached on 571-272-3123. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/RAJ JAIN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2411