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 .
Claim Objections
Claims 3 and 24 objected to because of the following informalities: claims recited acronyms which are not clearly defined in the claims i.e. PDCCH. Appropriate correction is required.
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)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1-13 and 21-24, is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Stawiarski et al. (US Publication No. 20210045007).
As to claims 1, 21, and 23, Stawiarski teaches a method, a non-transitory machine-readable medium, and a device comprising: a processing system including a processor; and a memory that stores executable instructions that, when executed by the processing system, facilitate performance of operations (fig. 3, fig. 4), the operations comprising: determining that a first network node device satisfies an overload threshold related to first network communication devices connected to the first network node device, resulting in a first determination (fig. 3, fig. 5, #504, and pp0058, a first network node (e.g., congested device 302) is overloaded due to number of first network communication devices (e.g., UE devices or mobile handsets) connected to it and the system (e.g., congestion analytics component 402) has determined that total number of UE devices connected to it has exceeded a connection threshold. In some embodiments, the overload condition is identified when the total number connections are using up resources over a threshold (e.g., 70% or more)); identifying a second network node device (third network node device) that satisfies an availability threshold and that is initiating incoming handovers of second network communication devices, different than the first network communication devices, to the first network node device (fig. 3, e.g. #306 or #308, incoming network node, fig. 5, #508, pp0074, identifying, by the device, a third network node device that is transferring second network communication devices to the first network node device to create second connections with the first network node device (e.g., identify neighboring e/gNodeBs, incoming device(s), that are continuing requesting/sending/adding new UE connections to the congested device), and pp0064, identifies a third network node device (e.g., incoming network node device) that is transferring a second group of second network communication devices (e.g., inflow of UE connections), different than the first network communication devices, to the first network node device (e.g., the congested network node device) to create second connections with the first network node device. The PSA can also select one or more incoming neighboring cells which have the highest number of HO incoming to the overloaded cell); assigning one or more first values to one or more respective first relation parameters (fig. 3, fig. 5, #510, pp0074, transmitting a first parameter to the third network node device to facilitate a reduction in the transferring of the second network communication devices to the first network node device and pp0067, new CIO parameter value is changed by 2 dB to make more difficult handovers to the overloaded cell), each first value being associated with control of the incoming handovers of the second network communication devices (fig. 3, fig. 5, #510, pp0074, transmitting a first parameter to the third network node device to facilitate a reduction in the transferring of the second network communication devices to the first network node device and pp0067, new CIO parameter value is changed by 2 dB to make more difficult handovers to the overloaded cell); selecting a third network node device (second network node device) that satisfies an availability threshold, the third network node device being selected to receive outgoing handovers from the first network node device (fig. 3, e.g. #304, fig. 5, #506, pp0048, determine if the outgoing network node device 304 is available to receive additional connection without reaching its own overload connection threshold, and pp0074, available to establish first connections with at least some of the first network communication devices connected to the first network node device (e.g., finding at least one available network node device or e/gNodeB, donor device, for shifting some of the connections from the congested device)); assigning one or more second values to one or more respective second relation parameters (fig. 3, fig. 5, #510, pp0065, second parameter to the second network node device to facilitate increase in establishment of the first connections of the first network communication devices with the second network node device, and pp0067, pp0068), each second value being associated with control of the outgoing handovers to the third network node device (fig. 3, fig. 5, #510, pp0065, second parameter to the second network node device to facilitate increase in establishment of the first connections of the first network communication devices with the second network node device, and pp0067, pp0068, increasing or decreasing CIO value, the offload opportunity for each CIO value we can determine what CIO value provides highest offload opportunity for each neighbor relation), wherein the one or more second values are assigned independently of the one or more first values (fig. 3, fig. 5, pp0074, transmitting first parameter to third network node device to reduce or make it difficult to handover, and pp0067, pp0068, transmitting second parameter to second network node device to increase establishment for offload opportunity); facilitating use of the one or more first values to control the incoming handovers of the second network communication devices (fig. 3, fig. 5, pp0074, transmitting first parameter to third network node device to reduce or make it difficult to handover (i.e. incoming, #350 or #352), and pp0067, pp0068, transmitting second parameter to second network node device to increase establishment for offload opportunity (i.e. outgoing, #354)); and facilitating use of the one or more second values to control the outgoing handovers from the first network node device (fig. 3, fig. 5, pp0074, transmitting first parameter to third network node device to reduce or make it difficult to handover (i.e. incoming, #350 or #352), and pp0067, pp0068, transmitting second parameter to second network node device to increase establishment for offload opportunity (i.e. outgoing, #354)).
As to claim 2, Stawiarski teaches wherein: the device is part of the first network node device (fig. 3, fig. 4, pp0048, all the network node devices are communicatively connected to a core network 320 through the SDN controller); the first network node device comprises a first cell (fig. 3, #302 cell or coverage); the second network node device comprises a second cell (fig. 3, #306 or #308 cell or coverage); the third network node device comprises a third cell (fig. 3, #304 cell or coverage); and each relation parameter comprises a respective cell individual offset (CIO) for Connected mode, a respective qOffset for Idle mode, a respective cell relation parameter, a respective cell parameter, a respective frequency relation parameter, or a respective combination thereof (fig. 3, fig. 5, pp0061, pp0068, Cell_Individual_Offset (CIO), qOffsetCellEUtran).
As to claims 3 and 24, Stawiarski teaches wherein the first network node device satisfying the overload threshold comprises: a PDCCH control channel element (CCE) utilization associated with the first network communication devices connected to the first network node device satisfying a PDCCH CCE threshold (fig. 3, fig. 5, pp0059, detection may be based on cell level performance, but not limited to, indicators measuring PDCCH CCE utilization. (or other selected by user cell load utilization metric). The detection mechanism monitors PDCCH CCE utilization (or other utilization or performance measures) of the cells in the network. As soon as the utilization at any cell reaches level above predefined by user threshold—for example 70%—such cell is classified as the problem cell (cell with overload condition)); a throughput associated with the first network communication devices connected to the first network node device satisfying a throughput threshold; or any combination thereof (fig. 3, fig. 5, pp0063, cell throughput is above defined threshold (e.g., above 1 Mbps) and pp0069).
As to claim 4, Stawiarski teaches wherein: the PDCCH CCE utilization comprises an aggregate PDCCH CCE utilization associated with the first network communication devices (fig. 3, fig. 5, pp0059, indicators measuring PDCCH CCE utilization. (or other selected by user cell load utilization metric). The detection mechanism monitors PDCCH CCE utilization (or other utilization or performance measures) of the cells in the network. As soon as the utilization at any cell reaches level above predefined by user threshold—for example 70%—such cell is classified as the problem cell (cell with overload condition)); and the PDCCH CCE utilization satisfying the PDCCH CCE threshold comprises the CCE utilization exceeding the PDCCH CCE threshold (fig. 3, fig. 5, pp0059, indicators measuring PDCCH CCE utilization. (or other selected by user cell load utilization metric). The detection mechanism monitors PDCCH CCE utilization (or other utilization or performance measures) of the cells in the network. As soon as the utilization at any cell reaches level above predefined by user threshold—for example 70%—such cell is classified as the problem cell (cell with overload condition)).
As to claim 5, Stawiarski teaches wherein: the throughput comprises an aggregate throughput associated with the first network communication devices; and the satisfying the throughput threshold comprises the throughput being below the throughput threshold (fig. 3, fig. 5, pp0030, pp0063, pp0069, throughput degradation based on predicted cell throughput).
As to claims 6 and 22, Stawiarski teaches wherein: the one or more first relation parameters comprise for the second network node device a first cell individual offset (CIO) for Connected mode, a first qOffset for Idle mode, a first cell parameter, a first cell relation parameter, a first frequency relation parameter, or a combination thereof (fig. 3, fig. 5, pp0061, pp0068, Cell_Individual_Offset (CIO), qOffsetCellEUtran); and the one or more second relation parameters comprise for the third network node device a second cell individual offset (CIO) for Connected mode, a second qOffset for Idle mode, a second cell relation parameter, a second frequency relation parameter, or a combination thereof (fig. 3, fig. 5, pp0061, pp0068, Cell_Individual_Offset (CIO), qOffsetCellEUtran).
As to claim 7, Stawiarski teaches wherein the facilitating the use of the one or more first values to control the incoming handovers of the second network communication devices comprises: utilizing the one or more first values by the second network node device (fig. 3, fig. 5, pp0074, transmitting first parameter to third network node device to reduce or make it difficult to handover (i.e. incoming, #350 or #352), and pp0067, pp0068, transmitting second parameter to second network node device to increase establishment for offload opportunity (i.e. outgoing, #354)).
As to claim 8, Stawiarski teaches wherein the facilitating the use of the one or more second values to control the outgoing handovers from the first network node device comprises: utilizing the one or more second values by the first network node device (fig. 3, fig. 5, pp0074, transmitting first parameter to third network node device to reduce or make it difficult to handover (i.e. incoming, #350 or #352), and pp0067, pp0068, transmitting second parameter to second network node device to increase establishment for offload opportunity (i.e. outgoing, #354)).
As to claim 9, Stawiarski teaches wherein each of the first network communication devices and the second network communication devices comprises a respective one of: a smartphone, a cellphone, a mobile communication device, a desktop computer, a laptop computer, a notebook computer, a tablet computer, or any combination thereof (fig. 3, fig. 5, pp0027).
As to claim 10, Stawiarski teaches wherein the outgoing handovers from the first network node device are associated with a subset of the first network communication devices (fig. 3, fig. 5, #506, #510, and pp0032, a number of a first group of first network communication devices).
As to claim 11, Stawiarski teaches wherein each of the first network node device, the second network node device, and the third network node device comprises a respective one of: a base station, a cell site, an eNodeB, a gNodeB, a 4th generation (4G) access point, a 5th generation (5G) access point, a subsequent generation access point, or any combination thereof (fig. 3, pp0026, and pp0048).
As to claim 12, Stawiarski teaches wherein the facilitating the use of the one or more first values to control the incoming handovers of the second network communication devices and the facilitating the use of the one or more second values to control the outgoing handovers from the first network node device are responsive to the first determination being that the first network node device satisfies the overload threshold related to first network communication devices connected to the first network node device (fig. 3, fig. 5, #504, pp0074, transmitting first parameter to third network node device to reduce or make it difficult to handover (i.e. incoming, #350 or #352), and pp0067, pp0068, transmitting second parameter to second network node device to increase establishment for offload opportunity (i.e. outgoing, #354)).
As to claim 13, Stawiarski teaches wherein the operations further comprise determining that the first network node device no longer satisfies the overload threshold, resulting in a second determination (fig. 3, fig. 5, fig. 10, #1012, pp0031, offloading the system can reduce or control incoming traffic from other neighboring network node devices until the congestion at the congested network node is reduced, and pp0048).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 14, 15, and 25, 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 OMONIYI OBAYANJU whose telephone number is (571)270-5885. The examiner can normally be reached M-Thur 10:30-7pm.
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/OMONIYI OBAYANJU/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2645
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