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 .
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1-20 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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, 3-4, 7-12 and 14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Trujillo (US 2023/0336439) in view of Unterbrunner (US 2022/0027379) and Bouchard (US 20230131043).
Regarding claims 1 and 14, Trujillo describes a base station/method for analyzing communication traffic at a base station of a cellular network, comprising:
logging into a router at the base station of the cellular network, wherein the router is connected with a radio unit and a distributed unit (DU), the radio unit, the router, and the distributed unit being located on-site as part of the base station (fig. 5, cell site 302 (base station) comprising a router 506a & a server 508a which implements the virtualized DUs, para. 84 or 88 & fig. 2B. Separately, cell site comprises coupled remote radio units (RRUs) communicating with the DUs for transceiving, fig. 2A & para. 85).
loading, by the router, a container into a container engine being executed by the router (para. 7 in view of para. 131, [virtual] router at cell site downloads & instantiate virtual network functions (VNFs). Such VNF may be implemented as application containers, para. 57. See also para. 39-40 & 55 about containers).
Trujillo describes application containers to run network functions (para. 57, VNFs implemented as application containers), as well as packet data transmitted from a first component of the cellular network to a second component of the cellular network that is part of the base station (fig. 3A & para. 102 describes data transfer between UE 108 & core network 130 via radio access network (RAN) 120, and that within RAN, the transfer is between RRU 202, DUs (lower protocol layers) and CUs (higher protocol layers), fig. 2A & para. 84). However, Trujillo fails to further explicitly describe:
capturing, controlled by the container loaded into the container engine of the router
Unterbrunner also describes containerized applications (para. 21), further describing:
capturing, controlled by the container loaded into the container engine of the router (para. 19, data capture is implemented as the containerized application).
It would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art before the effective date of the claimed invention to specify that application contains to run network function within the components of base station in Trujillo to comprise data capture as in Unterbrunner.
The motivation for combining the teachings is that this ensures the provision of desired information which will not be obscured by the sheer volume of data (Unterbrunner para. 4).
Trujillo and Unterbrunner combined fail to further explicitly describe:
loading, by a router, a container into a container engine being executed by the router; and
capturing, controller by the container loaded into the container engine of the router.
Bouchard also describes communication in containerized environment, further describing:
loading, by a router, a container into a container engine being executed by the router; and capturing, controller by the container loaded into the container engine of the router (para. 11, a host network element (router) connecting with another network element & implement a container for obtaining a packet from external interface & consulting a routing table to identify the interface for the next hop).
It would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art before the effective date of the claimed invention to specify that the locating and capturing steps in Trujillo and Unterbrunner be perform by a router as in Bouchard.
The motivation for combining the teachings is that this yields a desirable, efficient & secured way to implement a containerized environment for communication (Bouchard, para. 3).
Regarding claim 3, Trujillo Unterbrunner and Bouchard combined describe:
wherein the cellular network is a 5G New Radio (NR) cellular network (Trujillo, para. 2)
Regarding claim 4, Trujillo Unterbrunner and Bouchard combined describe:
wherein the 5G New Radio (NR) cellular network comprises a 5G core executed on a cloud-computing platform (Trujillo, fig. 2E, the Core network 130 is of cloud-based services/architecture, para. 6 or para. 46).
Regarding claim 7, Trujillo Unterbrunner and Bouchard combined describe:
wherein the first component is the radio unit, and the second component the distributed unit (Trujillo, para. 4, telecommunication services by deploying RAN 120 components comprising RRUs (radio units) coupled to DUs (distributed units), fig. 2A & para. 85).
Regarding claim 8, Trujillo Unterbrunner and Bouchard combined describe:
wherein the first component is a server executed on a cloud-computing platform, and the second component is the distributed unit (DU) (Trujillo, fig. 2A, RAN 120 (base station) comprises DUs 204 (second component) and other components that is run by a hardware server (first component), para. 99, where RAN functions can be implemented using cloud-based compute & storage infrastructure, para. 57).
Regarding claim 9, Trujillo describes use of containers but fails to further explicitly describe:
wherein the container is a Kubernetes container.
Unterbrunner also describes containerized applications (para. 21), further describing:
wherein the container is a Kubernetes container (para. 19, Kubernetes container as the containerized application).
It would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art before the effective date of the claimed invention to specify that application container in Trujillo to be Kubernetes container as in Unterbrunner.
The motivation for combining the teachings is that this ensures the provision of desired information which will not be obscured by the sheer volume of data (Unterbrunner para. 4).
Regarding claim 10, Trujillo Unterbrunner and Bouchard combined describe:
wherein the container is loaded from a container image located at a server executed on a cloud-computing platform (Trujillo, para. 95, containers are managed & provisioned by virtualized infrastructure manager (server) which run on cloud instances (computing platform), para. 57).
Regarding claim 11, Trujillo Unterbrunner and Bouchard combined describe:
wherein the container is loaded upon a request (Trujillo, para. 95, virtualized infrastructure manager provisions (load) the containers for functional or applications’ use in establishing PDU session upon request, para. 48).
Regarding claim 12, Trujillo Unterbrunner and Bouchard combined describe:
wherein logging into the router is based on credentials (Trujillo para. 77, when UE 108 connects to (logs into) the AMF 134, it authenticates & authorizes (use of credentials) its access requests).
Claim 2, 5-6, 18-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Trujillo Unterbrunner and Bouchard as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Pawar (US 9,674,861).
Regarding claim 2, Trujillo and Unterbrunner combined fails to further explicitly describe:
analyzing the captured packet data between the first component of the cellular network and the second component of the cellular network.
Pawar also describes inspection of data in wireless network (col. 1 lines 31-33), further describing:
analyzing the captured packet data between the first component of the cellular network and the second component of the cellular network (data packet inspection by inspection node 110 is between access node 106 (first component) & communication network 112 components comprising routers, gateways other network elements (second component), the network being cellular (col. 1 line 8)).
It would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art before the effective date of the claimed invention to specify that the analysis of captured packet data in Trujillo and Unterbrunner be between first & second components of the cellular network as in Pawar.
The motivation for combining the teachings is that this enables network to balance load and provide high quality service to users (Pawar, col. 1 lines 21-26).
Regarding claim 5, Trujillo, Unterbrunner and Pawar combined describe:
in response to analyzing the captured packet data, outputting a status of the connectivity between the first component and the second component (Pawar, fig. 3A step 310 & col. 10 line 63 – col. 11 line 11, inspecting the data packets transmission (analyzing the captured packet data) yields traffic distribution & usage pattern (status of the connectivity) of flow between access node 106 (first component) & communication network 112 components comprising routers, gateways other network elements (second component), the network being cellular (col. 1 line 8)).).
Regarding claim 6, Trujillo Unterbrunner , Bouchard and Pawar combined describe:
wherein the analyzing the captured packet data comprises performing a performance analysis (Pawar, fig. 3A step 310 & col. 10 line 63 – col. 11 line 11, inspecting the data packets transmission (analyzing the captured packet data) yields traffic distribution & usage pattern (performance analysis).
Regarding claim 18, Trujillo describes a cellular network implemented using a cloud-computing platform (para. 6, cellular system as cloud-based services), comprising:
a cellular network core (fig. 1B, core network 130);
a centralized unit connected with cellular network core (fig. 1B, CU-UP 216 coupled to Core network 130);
a plurality of base stations (fig. 1B RAN 120 corresponding to 5G base station);
a plurality of radio units connected with the plurality of base stations, respectively (fig. 1B, RRUs 202 in the RAN 120 (base stations));
a plurality of distributed units connected with the plurality of radio units, respectively, and the centralized unit (fig. 1B, DUs 204 coupled to RRU 202);
a plurality of routers connected with one of the plurality of the radio units and one of the plurality of distributed units, wherein at least one of the plurality of routers is configured to: (fig. 5, cell site 302 (base station) comprising a router 506a & a server 508a)
load a container into a container engine being executed by the at least one of the plurality of routers (para. 7 in view of para. 131, [virtual] router at cell site downloads & instantiate virtual network functions (VNFs). Such VNF may be implemented as application containers, para. 57. See also para. 39-40 & 55 about containers).
Trujillo describes application containers to run network functions (para. 57, VNFs implemented as application containers), as well as packet data transmitted from a first component of the cellular network to a second component of the cellular network that is part of the base station (fig. 3A & para. 102 describes data transfer between UE 108 & core network 130 via radio access network (RAN) 120, and that within RAN, the transfer is between RRU 202, DUs (lower protocol layers) and CUs (higher protocol layers), fig. 2A & para. 84). However, Trujillo fails to further explicitly describe:
capturing, controlled by the container loaded into the container engine of the router
Unterbrunner also describes containerized applications (para. 21), further describing:
capturing, controlled by the container loaded into the container engine of the router (para. 19, data capture is implemented as the containerized application).
It would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art before the effective date of the claimed invention to specify that application contain to run network function within the components of base station in Trujillo to comprise data capture as in Unterbrunner.
The motivation for combining the teachings is that this ensures the provision of desired information which will not be obscured by the sheer volume of data (Unterbrunner para. 4).
Trujillo and Unterbrunner combined fail to further explicitly describe:
capture packet data transmitted from a first component of the cellular network to a second component of the cellular network.
Pawar also describes inspection of data in wireless network (col. 1 lines 31-33), further describing:
analyzing the captured packet data between the first component of the cellular network and the second component of the cellular network (data packet inspection by inspection node 110 is between access node 106 (first component) & communication network 112 components comprising routers, gateways other network elements (second component), the network being cellular (col. 1 line 8)).
It would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art before the effective date of the claimed invention to specify that the analysis of captured packet data in Trujillo and Unterbrunner be between first & second components of the cellular network as in Pawar.
The motivation for combining the teachings is that this enables network to balance load and provide high quality service to users (Pawar, col. 1 lines 21-26).
Regarding claim 19, Trujillo, Unterbrunner and Pawar combined describe:
wherein the 5G New Radio (NR) cellular network comprises a 5G core executed on a cloud-computing platform (Trujillo, fig. 2E, the Core network 130 is of cloud-based services/architecture, para. 6 or para. 46).
Regarding claim 20, Trujillo, Unterbrunner and Pawar combined describe:
wherein the at least one of the plurality of routers is further configured to: in response to analyzing the captured packet data, output a status of the connectivity between the first component and the second component component (Pawar, fig. 3A step 310 & col. 10 line 63 – col. 11 line 11, inspecting the data packets transmission (analyzing the captured packet data) yields traffic distribution & usage pattern (status of the connectivity) of flow between access node 106 (first component) & communication network 112 components comprising routers, gateways other network elements (second component), the network being cellular (col. 1 line 8)).).
Claim 13 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Trujillo and Unterbrunner as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Sanghvi (2025/0227039).
Regarding claim 13, Trujillo and Unterbrunner combined fail to further explicitly describe:
wherein the capturing comprises:
obtaining an IP address of the first component;
obtaining an IP address of the second component;
specifying a communication port; and
capturing packet data transmitted over the communication port between the IP address of the first component and the IP address of the second component during a predetermined period.
Sanghvi also describes analyzing (capturing) flow data or packets (para. 35), further describing:
obtaining an IP address of the first component;
obtaining an IP address of the second component;
specifying a communication port; and
capturing packet data transmitted over the communication port between the IP address of the first component and the IP address of the second component during a predetermined period (para. 35, analyzing (capturing) flow data or packets by obtaining source IP (IP address of the first component), destination IP (IP address of the second component), retrieving (specifying) a destination (communication) port for over a period of time).
It would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art before the effective date of the claimed invention to specify that the capturing of packet data in Trujillo and Unterbrunner to include the specific steps above as in Sanghvi.
The motivation for combining the teachings is that these additional parameters obtained improve the efficiency/compactness of policies to be imposed in the network ( Sanghvi para. 56).
Apparatus (base station) claims 15-17 comprises limitations recited in method for base station claims 1-3 and 5 respectfully. Hence, they are rejected under the same rationale.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure: * Kim (US 2024/0380817) describing a signal processing device 170 in the vehicle communication device 800 executing a container engine 1110 on the kernel 1105 + executing the network switch 1122 on the container engine 1110 + receiving the network data based on Ethernet communication (para. 233-234), Luo (US 2024/0244037) describing cross cluster connectivity comprising container engine 136 & virtual switch 148 (para. 134), Miriyala (US 2024/0095158) describing a containerized SDN architecture comprising virtual router 506 & container engine 590 (para. 185-200), and Bosch (US 2024/0015140) describing leaf switches 106 connected to servers 110 each comprising switch 116B (router) and container engine 118 (fig. 1 & para. 20).
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WARNER WONG
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2469
/WARNER WONG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2469
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