DETAILED ACTION
Status of Case
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
This Office Action is in response to the claims filed on 2/8/2024.
Claims 1-30 are pending.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) filed on 2/8/2024 has been considered by Examiner.
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 1-2, 19-20, 29-30 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Xin (CA 3120897 A1).
Consider claims 1 and 29, Xin discloses a method for wireless communications by a wireless node (see paragraph 227, wherein disclosed is said method), and a corresponding wireless node, comprising: a memory; and a processor coupled to the memory (see figures 13 and 14, wherein disclosed is a user apparatus comprising said memory 111 and processor 112), the processor and the memory configured to:
generate at least one data collection report including network slicing information; and transmit the data collection report (see paragraph 227: first data reported (for example, data of minimization of drive tests, MDT) by the terminal; also, see paragraph 9: “A first network element sends a first request including at least one of first indication information and second indication information to a second network element. The first indication information is used to indicate to report first information of at least one network slice to the first network element. The second indication information is used to indicate that a first network slice is a newly established network slice, a network slice on which a drive test is being performed, or a network slice for which no SLA is signed. The first network element receives a first response including the first information of the at least one network slice from the second network element. The first information of the at least one network slice is used to determine a relationship between quality and a quality requirement of the at least one network slice. The first network element controls user access to the first network slice based on the relationship between the quality and the quality requirement of the at least one network slice”).
Consider claims 2 and 20, Xin discloses that the at least one data collection report comprises at least one of a Self-Organizing Network (SON) report or Minimization of Drive Testing (MDT) report (see paragraph 227: data reported is for minimization of drive tests, MDT).
Consider claims 19 and 30, Xin discloses a method for wireless communications (see paragraph 227, wherein disclosed is said method), and a corresponding apparatus, comprising: a memory; and a processor coupled to the memory (see figures 15 and 16, wherein disclosed is a network apparatus comprising said memory 211 and processor 212), the processor and the memory configured to:
receive, from a wireless node, at least one data collection report including network slicing information; and process the data collection report (see paragraph 227: first data reported (for example, data of minimization of drive tests, MDT) by the terminal; also, see paragraph 9: “A first network element sends a first request including at least one of first indication information and second indication information to a second network element. The first indication information is used to indicate to report first information of at least one network slice to the first network element. The second indication information is used to indicate that a first network slice is a newly established network slice, a network slice on which a drive test is being performed, or a network slice for which no SLA is signed. The first network element receives a first response including the first information of the at least one network slice from the second network element. The first information of the at least one network slice is used to determine a relationship between quality and a quality requirement of the at least one network slice. The first network element controls user access to the first network slice based on the relationship between the quality and the quality requirement of the at least one network slice”).
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 3, 6, 21, and 22 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Xin (CA 3120897 A1) in view of Murray (USPAN 2017/0367120).
Consider claims 3 and 21, although Xin discloses that the wireless node comprises a user equipment (UE) and that transmitting the data collection report comprises transmitting the data collection report to a network entity (see above), Xin does not specifically disclose that the data collection report comprises a random access channel (RACH) report; and the method further comprises receiving, from the network entity, configuration information indicating slice-specific RACH resources based on the network slicing information included in the RACH report.
Murray discloses the data collection report comprises a random access channel (RACH) report; and the method further comprises receiving, from the network entity, configuration information indicating slice-specific RACH resources based on the network slicing information included in the RACH report (see paragraph 8: “The apparatus also includes a processor operably coupled to the non-transitory memory and configured to execute the instructions of obtaining configuration parameters for a slice specific physical random access channel (PRACH) resource on the network. The processor is also configured to execute the instructions of randomly selecting a preamble from a slice of the network based upon a device type and a service type. The processor is further configured to execute the instructions of transmitting, to a node, the randomly selected preamble via the slice-specific PRACH resource”).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Xin and combine it with the noted teachings of Murray. The motivation to combine these references is to provide an enhanced random access procedure that supports beamforming for new radio networks (see paragraph 4 of Murray).
Consider claims 6 and 22, although Xin discloses a data collection report (see above), Xin does not specifically disclose a next generation radio access network (NG-RAN).
Murray discloses a next generation radio access network (NG-RAN) (see abstract and paragraph 3: next generation RAN).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Xin and combine it with the noted teachings of Murray. The motivation to combine these references is to provide an enhanced random access procedure that supports beamforming for new radio networks (see paragraph 4 of Murray).
Claims 13, 15, 17, 24, 25, 27, and 28 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Xin (CA 3120897 A1) in view of Bodog (USPAN 2014/0043982).
Consider claims 13 and 25, Xin does not specifically disclose that the data collection report comprises a handover report; and the network slicing information included in the handover report relates to one or more issues that occurred during a successful inter-slice handover.
Bodog discloses that the data collection report comprises a handover report; and the network slicing information included in the handover report relates to one or more issues that occurred during a successful inter-slice handover (see paragraph 28: said handover report)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Xin and combine it with the noted teachings of Bodog. The motivation to combine these references is to provide a method of correlating failure reports with respect to self-organized networks (see paragraph 2 of Bodog).
Consider claims 15 and 27, although Xin discloses that the wireless node comprises a user equipment (UE) and transmitting the data collection report comprises transmitting the data collection report to a network entity (see above), Xin does not specifically disclose that the data collection report comprises a radio link failure (RLF) report.
Bodog discloses that the data collection report comprises a radio link failure (RLF) report (see paragraph 28: the radio failure report includes a radio link failure report).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Xin and combine it with the noted teachings of Bodog. The motivation to combine these references is to provide a method of correlating failure reports with respect to self-organized networks (see paragraph 2 of Bodog).
Consider claims 17 and 28, although Xin discloses that the wireless node comprises a user equipment (UE) and transmitting the data collection report comprises transmitting the data collection report to a network entity (see above), Xin does not specifically disclose that the data collection report comprises a connection establishment failure (CEF) report.
Bodog discloses that the data collection report comprises a connection establishment failure (CEF) report (see paragraph 28: the radio failure report includes a connection establishment failure report).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Xin and combine it with the noted teachings of Bodog. The motivation to combine these references is to provide a method of correlating failure reports with respect to self-organized networks (see paragraph 2 of Bodog).
Consider claim 24, Xin does not specifically disclose that the data collection report comprises a handover report; and the network slicing information included in the handover report relates to a failed inter-slice handover.
Bodog discloses that the data collection report comprises a handover report; and the network slicing information included in the handover report relates to a failed inter-slice handover (see paragraph 28: said handover report).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Xin and combine it with the noted teachings of Bodog. The motivation to combine these references is to provide a method of correlating failure reports with respect to self-organized networks (see paragraph 2 of Bodog).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4-5, 7-12, 14, 16, 18, 23, 26 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 Jamal Javaid whose telephone number is 571-270-5137 and email address is Jamal.Javaid@uspto.gov.
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/JAMAL JAVAID/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2412
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