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 .
This is responsive to Application 18/674,540 filed 05/24/2024 in which claims 1-20 are presented for examination.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 19 and 20 are allowed.
Claims 4 and 15-17 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.
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, 5-14 and 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Li et al (US 2020/0029240 A1) in view of Karanam (US 2020/0022002 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Li teaches a method of detecting a wireless network outage at a remote server, the method comprising:
periodically receiving connectivity status information, at the remote server, from a plurality of user equipment (UEs) (Li: Figs. 1 and 6; [0093]-[0095] social network platform server 110 obtains root-cause and QoE metrics from users periodically);
wherein the connectivity status information comprises:
a geographic location of each UE in the plurality of UEs (Li: Figs. 1 and 6; [0094] social network platform server 110 obtains identification of the cell);
a mobile network carrier (MNC) of each UE in the plurality of UEs (Li: Figs. 1 and 6; [0098], mobile network operator that operate the cell); and
one or more of a limited coverage indication from one or more UEs in the plurality of UEs or a no service indication from one or more UEs in the plurality of UEs (Li: Figs. 1 and 6; [0105]-[0107], low QoE cells identified);
processing the periodically received connectivity status information from the plurality of UEs at the remote server to identify a network outage in one or more MNCs when (Li: Figs. 1 and 6; [0093]-[0095] social network platform server 110 obtains root-cause and QoE metrics and process them to identify congestions);
a change in a number of UEs in the plurality of UEs that indicate the limited coverage indication is greater than a threshold level; or
a change in a number of UEs in the plurality of UEs that indicate the no service indication is greater than a threshold level; or
a change in an amount of the periodically received connectivity status information from the plurality of UEs is greater than a threshold level (Li: Figs. 1 and 6; [0026]; [0055]-[0057] comparing metrics to threshold to determine congestions) and
sending network outage information from the server (Li: Figs. 1 and 6; [0082]; [0106], sending alerts).
Li does not explicitly disclose sending the network outage to one or more UEs of the plurality of UEs in the one or more MNCs identified with the network outage.
Karanam teaches sending the network outage to one or more UEs of the plurality of UEs in the one or more MNCs identified with the network outage (Karanam: Fig. 3; [0008], server notifies impacted users of the outages).
It would have been obvious to a person having an ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Li by sending the network outage to one or more UEs of the plurality of UEs in the one or more MNCs identified with the network outage as disclosed by Karanam to provide a system for user call quality improvement (Karanam: Abstract).
Regarding claim 12, Li teaches an apparatus of a user equipment (UE) comprising:
one or more processors, coupled to a memory, configured to:
identify a location of the UE (Li: Figs. 1 and 6; [0094] users in a cell with an identification of the cell);
determine a cellular coverage status of the UE as one of connected or limited coverage or no service; identify a mobile network carrier (MNC) of the UE (Li: Figs. 1 and 6; [0105]-[0107], low QoE cells identified);
attempt to send, for a selected period of time, to a remote server, connectivity status information of the UE comprising the location of the UE, the cellular coverage status of the UE, and the MNC of the UE; wherein the remote server is configured to identify a network outage based on the connectivity status of the UE and a connectivity status of a plurality of UEs located in one or more MNCs and send network outage information to the UE and the plurality of UEs associated with one of the one or more MNCs identified with the network outage (Li: Figs. 1 and 6; [0093]-[0095] social network platform server 110 obtains root-cause and QoE metrics and process them to identify congestions).
Li does not explicitly disclose decode, at the UE, the network outage information received from the remote server when the network outage is identified at the server.
Karanam teaches decode, at the UE, the network outage information received from the remote server when the network outage is identified at the server (Karanam: Fig. 3; [0008], server notifies impacted users of the outages).
It would have been obvious to a person having an ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Li by decoding, at the UE, the network outage information received from the remote server when the network outage is identified at the server as disclosed by Karanam to provide a system for user call quality improvement (Karanam: Abstract).
Regarding claim 2, Li in view of Karanam teaches receiving periodically, at the remote server, a mobile country code (MCC) from the one or more UEs in the plurality of UEs (Li: Figs. 1 and 16; [0034]).
Regarding claim 3, Li in view of Karanam teaches wherein sending network outage information further comprises sending information to the one or more UEs to enable the one or more UEs to map a location of the network outage or graphically illustrate a location of the network outage for the one or more MNCs based on the geographic location of the one or more UEs of the plurality of UEs in the one or more MNCs identified with the network outage (Karanam: Fig. 3; [0008], server notifies impacted users of the outages allowing the users to know the impacted cells).
Regarding claim 5, Li in view of Karanam teaches periodically receiving the connectivity status information from the plurality of UEs at a predefined frequency (Li: Figs. 1 and 6; [0093]-[0095] social network platform server 110 obtains root-cause and QoE metrics from users periodically).
Regarding claim 6, Li in view of Karanam teaches wherein the predefined frequency is one of receiving the connectivity status information, at the remote server, from the plurality of UEs once every 10 minutes, 15 minutes, 20 minutes, 30 minutes, 40 minutes, 45 minutes, 60 minutes, 90 minutes, or 120 minutes (Li: [0025], [0035] data collected per hour).
Regarding claim 7, Li in view of Karanam teaches wherein: the change in the number of UEs in the plurality of UEs that indicate the limited coverage indication is greater than a threshold level is determined based on a change in the connectivity status information at a rate of the predefined frequency; or the change in the number of UEs in the plurality of UEs that indicate the no service indication is greater than a threshold level is determined based on a change in the connectivity status information at a rate of the predefined frequency; or
the change in the amount of the periodically received connectivity status information from the plurality of UEs is determined based on a change in the amount of the periodically received connectivity status information at a rate of the predefined frequency (Li: Figs. 1 and 6; [0026]; [0055]-[0057] periodically comparing metrics to threshold to determine congestions).
Regarding claim 8, Li in view of Karanam teaches wherein: the change in the number of UEs in the plurality of UEs that indicate the limited coverage indication is greater than a threshold level is determined per MNC; or the change in the number of UEs in the plurality of UEs that indicate the no service indication is greater than a threshold level is determined per MNC; or
the change in the amount of periodically received connectivity status information from the plurality of UEs is greater than a threshold level is determined per MNC (Li: Figs. 1 and 6; [0026]; [0055]-[0057] periodically comparing metrics to threshold to determine congestions).
Regarding claim 9, Li in view of Karanam teaches wherein sending the network outage information further comprises sending, via a radio access technology (RAT), the network outage information from the server to the one or more UEs of the plurality of UEs (Li: Figs. 1 and 6; [0060], 2G, 3G, 4G/RATS).
Regarding claim 10, Li in view of Karanam teaches wherein the RAT is one of a third generation partnership project (3GPP) fourth generation (4G) RAT, a 3GPP long term evolution (LTE) RAT, a 3GPP fifth generation (5G) RAT, a Wi-Fi RAT, a Bluetooth RAT, or a Sidelink RAT (Li: Figs. 1 and 6; 4G/RAT).
Regarding claim 11, Li in view of Karanam teaches sending the network outage information to the one or more UEs of the plurality of UEs based on the geographic location of the UE, wherein the network outage information is sent to UEs in the plurality of UEs in a geographic location where the network outage is identified or to UEs that are approaching the geographic location where the network outage is identified (Karanam: Fig. 3; [0008], server notifies impacted users of the outages).
Regarding claim 13, Li in view of Karanam teaches wherein the connectivity status information of the UE further comprises one or more of: a latitude of the UE; a longitude of the UE; a speed of the UE (Li: Figs 1 and 6; [0064], speed); a direction of the UE; a radio access technology (RAT) of the UE used to send the connectivity status information (Li: Figs. 1 and 6; [0060], 2G, 3G, 4G/RATS); or a mobile country code (MCC) of the UE (Li: Figs. 1 and 16; [0034], country).
Regarding claim 14, Li in view of Karanam teaches wherein the RAT is one of a third generation partnership project (3GPP) fourth generation (4G) RAT, a 3GPP long term evolution (LTE) RAT, a 3GPP fifth generation (5G) RAT, a Wi-Fi RAT, a Bluetooth RAT, or a Sidelink RAT (Li: Figs. 1 and 6; 4G/RAT).
Regarding claim 18, Li in view of Karanam teaches wherein the one or more processors are further configured to: monitor for the network outage information from the remote server (Li: Figs. 1 and 6; [0093]-[0095] social network platform server 110 obtains root-cause and QoE metrics and process them to identify congestions); or reduce a scan periodicity of the UE to detect a base station in the MNC of the UE when the network outage information is decoded at the UE; or display an area impacted by the network outage using the network outage information.
Conclusion
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/KODZOVI ACOLATSE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2478
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