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 .
Claims 1-20 are pending.
Figure 7 of the application illustrates the claimed invention.
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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)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-4, 7, 9-13, 16, 18-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over WO 2013/074015.
Regarding claims 1, 10, and 19, WO 2013/074015 discloses a device comprising:
a processor configured to:
receive parameters that are associated with a User Equipment device (UE) (“The UE is informed of the determined setting by RRC signaling. [0039]: “Figure 4a illustrates an example scenario in which the scheduling priorities for a given UE, the load information for the cell/RBS, or both, vary over time.”);
select, based on the parameters, a connected-mode discontinuous reception (CDRX) timing parameter ([018]: “a set of candidate DRX settings may be received from a serving network node, and a DRX setting may be selected from the set, based on the scheduling priority associated with the mobile terminal and/or the load level of the cell associated with the mobile terminal.”);
determine a traffic load at the device ([040]:” When an RBS decides to change the DRX setting of a UE based on information on the system load and/or scheduling information of a UE.”); and
when the traffic load at the device is greater than a threshold (Figure 4A, [051]: “Different load levels are defined, and a current load level could be determined by comparing a measured or estimated load with a number of predetermined thresholds),...A number of candidate DRX settings suitable for the different load levels could be recommended. For example, one or two DRX settings per load, a filter may be used. In more detail, the system is considered as having a low load level, e.g., when the load value calculated using equation (1) is below the threshold Lthlow. When having determined that the system load is “low”, a DRX setting adapted for low load will be applied. For example, the DRX setting: “Long_cycle_timer/ow and Short_cycle_timer/ow” could be applied. When the load value calculated using equation (1) exceeds the threshold Lthmedium but is lower than the threshold Lthhigh, the system is considered as having a medium load level. Then, the DRX settings: Long_cycle_timermed/W’ may be used. Correspondingly, if the calculated load level exceeds the threshold Uhhigh, the system is considered as highly loaded. At high load level, it may be beneficial to appy DRX settings adapted for long waiting times, e.g., “Long_cycle_timehigh and Short_cycle_timehigh.”” See figure 4a, send the CDRX timing parameters to the UE (Signal DRX settings to UE, step 606 of Figure 6). See figure 2,3, 4a, 4b and 6. (Connected Mode DRX (cDRX/CDRX) is a form of adaptive discontinuous reception designed to improve efficiency in mobile devices while in an active data session.
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Regarding claims 2, 11 and 20, (WO 2013/074015 A1) teaches wherein the parameter comprise at least one of:
a Quality-of-Service (QoS) ID (“a UE to transfer or receive data is controlled by the RBS. A UE is allowed to start the data transfer or prepare for the data reception only when the UE receives the related scheduling assignments. The scheduler assigns resources to users based on the scheduling priorities, and the available system resources. The scheduling priorities are typically defined based on the QoS Class Identifier (QCI), or the Allocation Retention and Priority (ARP) priority between users.”);
Regarding claims 3 and 12, (WO 2013/074015 A1) teaches wherein when the processor determines the traffic load, the processor is configured to determine the traffic load based on one or more of:
a physical resource block (PRB) utilization rate ([050]: “a scheduler evaluates the system, or cell, load based on the consumption of PRBs. When having a given system bandwidth, the total number of PRBs per cell is specified. The specified total number of PRBs per cell may be denoted e.g., PRBtot. The system load is evaluated according to the equation: Load=PRBused/PRBtot (1)”;
a transmission tie interval (TTI) utilization rate ([056]: “Depending on the scheduling scheme, other inputs could also be used, such as for example, the data rate during the recent TTIs could be used as input when a so-called proportional fair scheduling scheme is applied.’);
Regarding claims 4 and 13, (WO 2013/074015 A1) teaches wherein the CDRX timing parameters include at least one of:
an On-Duration;
an inactivity time interval;
a long CDRX cycle period; or
a CDRX-Start offset time. See para. [048].
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Regarding claims 7 and 16, (WO 2013/074015 A1) teaches wherein the processor is further configured to:
transmit physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) signals to the UE, and wherein the CDRX timing parameters specify timing, at the UE, of CDRX cycles synchronized to the PDCCH signals. (06) The DRX functionality in RRC_CONNECTED state specifies two DRX cycles for each UE, namely: the long DRX cycle and the short DRX cycle. The long DRX cycle is typically used. The short DRX cycle is an optional feature, and is configured for periods during which increased connectivity between the UE and the wireless network is needed. Within each DRX cycle, there is an active period and an inactive period. Within each DRX cycle, a UE is required to only listen to control channels for a number of consecutive PDCCH sub-frames specified by a timer call “On Duration Timer”, and can thus turn off radio-frequency (RF) circuits when this timer expires (and the inactive period begins), until the cycle begins again.”)
Regarding claims 9 and 18, (WO 2013/074015 A1) teaches wherein when the processor sends the CDRX-timing parameter, the processor is configured to:
send the CDRX timing parameters via one or more Radio Resource Control (RRC) message to the UE. ([035]: “The DRX module of figure 3 receives and evaluates the inputs of the scheduling priorities and system load. If the inputs satisfy a given criterion, the DRX module updates the DRX settings. These updated settings are then sent to the UE, e.g., by Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling messages.”).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
6. 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, 10 and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Abedini et al. (US 2023/0354192 A1) in view of Tabet et al. (US 2016/0014716 A1).
Regarding claims 1, 10 and 19, Abedini et al. discloses a device comprising:
a processor configured to:
receive parameters that are associated with a User Equipment device (UE) (”Control Message C-DRX and/or parameters), 440, figure 4.”);
select, based on the parameters, a connected-mode discontinuous reception (CDRX) timing parameter (Select C-DRX Configuration, 450);
determine a traffic load at the device ([0062]: “the CU may select a C-DRX configuration from the candidate C-DRX configurations based on traffic conditions (e.g., traffic load), and may indicate the selected C-DRX configuration to the DU and the UEs.”); and
, send the CDRX timing parameters to the UE (see figure 4, step 450, send the selected C-DRX to UE).
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Abedini et al. fails to teach comparing traffic load to a threshold.
Tabel et al., in the same field of invention, teaches dynamically adjust the CDRX cycle based on the traffic load. ([0123]: “The eNB will toggle the link budget limited UEs between short and long C-DRX cycle depending on the traffic and the network load.”).
In other words, for adaptation associated with C-DRX, a UE can be provided with short C-DRX cycle or long C-DRX cycle depending on the traffic load using configurable thresholds to balance UE power consumption and latency. If traffic volume exceeds a set threshold, the base station may, for example, increase active monitoring to reduce latency, while low traffic allows longer sleep cycles.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to those having ordinary skills in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine Tabel et al. with Abedini et al.
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant disclosure:
Tabet et al. (US 2016/0014716 A1) teaches ([0123]: “in order to avoid the paging performance issue, the UEs that are categorized as link budget limited may always stay in connected mode, and operate using connected state DRX (C-DRX). (Thus, the link-budget-limited UEs do not need to be paged. They will read the PDCCH in the ON duration of the C-DRX.). The C-DRX cycle used may be similar to the idle mode DRX (e.g., 1.28s or 960 ms) in order to save power. The eNB will toggle the link budget limited UEs between short and long C-DRX cycle depending on the traffic and the network load. The network can still use PDCCH to order a RACH command in case the sync with the UE is lost.”)
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 5-6, 8, 14-15 and 17 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.
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant disclosure:
Manepalli et al. (US 2015/0304955 A1) discloses techniques for scheduling radio resource control connections between a wireless device and a network element of a network in advance.
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Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to BRENDA H PHAM whose telephone number is (571)272-3135. The examiner can normally be reached 571-272-3135.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Charles Jiang can be reached at 571-270-7191. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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BRENDA H. PHAM
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2412
/BRENDA H PHAM/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2412