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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 02/16/2024 and 11/06/2025 have been fully considered by examiner and made of record.
Claim Objections
Claim 46 is objected to because of the following informalities: Line 5 ends in a period even though the claim continues on. Since claims are only a single sentence, this period is assumed to be a typographical error. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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 29, 33-45, and 47-52 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Huawei ("QoE measurement handling at RAN overload", 3GPP TSG RAN Meeting #114-e, R2-2105581, Online, May 19–27, 2021, pp. 1-10.), in view of Rayavarapu et al (US 2017/0245318).
Regarding Claim 29, Huawei teaches a method for a user equipment (UE) configured for application-layer measurements in a radio access network (RAN) (pg. 1, Title, QoE measurement handling at RAN overload), the method comprising:
receiving one or more configurations of application-layer measurements to be performed by the UE while the UE is connected to the RAN (pg. 1, Sec. 1, Introduction, Specify configuration and reporting for multiple simultaneous QoE measurements at a UE, pg. 2, Sec. 2.2, UE is configured with multiple QoE configurations, The UE Inactive AS context includes the UE AS configuration for the QoE, it is not released when the UE goes inactive);
in response to an interruption in the UE's connection to the RAN while the UE is configured to perform the application-layer measurements (pg. 2, Sec. 2.1, Proposal 2: in order to temporarily pause QoE reporting from a UE, e.g. during RAN overload, RAN can send the QoE reporting pause command to the UE in the DL RRC message which indicates QoE configurations for which reporting should be paused, pg. 6, Sec. 3, RAN2 agreed that the UE Inactive AS context includes the UE AS configuration for the QoE and it is not released when the UE goes to Inactive),
receiving from the RAN a command to setup a new connection to the RAN (pg. 7, Sec. 3, the gNB could include the flag in the RRC Resume message telling the UE whether the QoE measurement should be kept or released, Proposal 4: The target node can indicate whether the UE should restore or release its QoE configuration during RRC resume procedure. Pg. 8, Observation 5, for the management based QoE measurement, during UE handover it is up to the target node to decide whether to keep the UE’s current QoE configuration or configure a new one based on target node’s local configuration); and
in response to the command, releasing the received configurations and discarding any stored application-layer measurement reports (pg. 2, Sec. 2.1, Upon release of a certain QoE configuration, all reporting activity related to this configuration should be stopped by the UE and any unsent reports should be therefore discarded by the UE pg. 8, the target eNB can compare whether the QoE measurement configuration information in the UE is the same as the QoE configuration received from the OAM, if they are different the target eNB can release the QoE measurement of the source eNB and configure a new one).
Huawei fails to teach sending one of the following requests to the RAN: a request to resume the UE's connection, or a request to reestablish the UE's connection; in response to the request sent to the RAN, receiving from the RAN a command.
In the same field of endeavor, Rayavarapu teaches sending one of the following requests to the RAN: a request to resume the UE's connection, or a request to reestablish the UE's connection; in response to the request sent to the RAN, receiving from the RAN a command ([0071] receiving at the RAN node a request from the mobile device for re-establishment of a radio resource control (RRC) connection suspended by another RAN node; [0072] the RAN node attempting to retrieve RRC connection data relating to the suspended RRC connection; and [0073] the RAN node doing one of: [0074] if the RRC connection is valid, sending a connection re-establishment command message to the mobile device; and [0075] if the RRC connection is invalid, sending a connection re-establishment reject message to the mobile device)
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the request by the mobile device for resuming or reestablishing connection, as taught in Rayavarapu, in the system of Huawei, in order to more efficiently provide load balancing between nodes by providing connectivity by request to devices suspended by other nodes.
Regarding Claim 33, Huawei, modified by Rayavarapu, teaches the method of claim 29, Huawei further teaches wherein receiving the command implicitly indicates that the UE should release the received configurations and discard any stored application-layer measurement reports (pg. 7, Sec. 3, the gNB could include the flag in the RRC Resume message telling the UE whether the QoE measurement should be kept or released, pg. 2, Sec. 2.1, Upon release of a certain QoE configuration, all reporting activity related to this configuration should be stopped by the UE and any unsent reports should be therefore discarded by the UE).
Regarding Claim 34, Huawei, modified by Rayavarapu, teaches the method of claim 29, Huawei further teaches wherein one of the following applies: the one or more configurations are received from a first RAN node, and the request is sent to and the command is received from a second RAN node; or the one or more configurations are received from, the request is sent to, and the command is received from a single RAN node (pgs. 6-7, Sec. 3, RAN2 agreed that the UE Inactive AS context includes the UE AS configuration for the QoE, i.e. it is not released when UE goes to Inactive, When the connection is resumed in another gNB, the gNB will find out whether the UE is configured with QoE measurements based on the context it fetches from the anchor node. However, the new gNB may want to release the QoE measurement configuration, e.g. due to RAN overload or because some configurations may be invalid in the new gNB. It should then be possible for the new gNB to decide whether to restore or release the QoE measurement configuration during RRC resume procedure using flag in RRC Resume message telling the UE whether the QoE measurements should be kept or released).
Regarding Claim 35, Huawei, modified by Rayavarapu, teaches the method of claim 29, Huawei further teaches wherein the application-layer measurements are quality-of-experience (QoE) measurements (pg. 5, line 3-4, preferred that QoE reports are handled by the application layer).
Regarding Claim 36, Huawei, modified by Rayavarapu, teaches the method of claim 29, Huawei further teaches wherein: the interruption in the UE's connection to the RAN is based on the UE's connection being suspended to an inactive state; and the request is a request to resume the UE's suspended connection (pg. 2, Sec. 2.1, Proposal 2: in order to temporarily pause QoE reporting from a UE, e.g. during RAN overload, RAN can send the QoE reporting pause command to the UE in the DL RRC message which indicates QoE configurations for which reporting should be paused, pg. 6, Sec. 3, RAN2 agreed that the UE Inactive AS context includes the UE AS configuration for the QoE and it is not released when the UE goes to Inactive).
Regarding Claim 37, Huawei teaches a method for a radio access network (RAN) node configured to manage application-layer measurements by user equipment (UEs) (pg. 1, Title, QoE measurement handling at RAN overload), the method comprising:
a UE that was previously provided with one or more configurations of application-layer measurements to be performed by the UE while connected to the RAN (pg. 1, Sec. 1, Introduction, Specify configuration and reporting for multiple simultaneous QoE measurements at a UE, pg. 2, Sec. 2.2, UE is configured with multiple QoE configurations, pg. 2, Sec. 2.1, Proposal 2: in order to temporarily pause QoE reporting from a UE, e.g. during RAN overload, RAN can send the QoE reporting pause command to the UE in the DL RRC message which indicates QoE configurations for which reporting should be paused):
sending the UE a command to setup a new connection to the RAN (pg. 7, Sec. 3, the gNB could include the flag in the RRC Resume message telling the UE whether the QoE measurement should be kept or released, Proposal 4: The target node can indicate whether the UE should restore or release its QoE configuration during RRC resume procedure. Pg. 8, Observation 5, for the management based QoE measurement, during UE handover it is up to the target node to decide whether to keep the UE’s current QoE configuration or configure a new one based on target node’s local configuration),
wherein the command implicitly indicates that the UE should release the one or more configurations previously provided to the UE and discard any stored application-layer measurement reports (pg. 2, Sec. 2.1, Upon release of a certain QoE configuration, all reporting activity related to this configuration should be stopped by the UE and any unsent reports should be therefore discarded by the UE pg. 8, the target eNB can compare whether the QoE measurement configuration information in the UE is the same as the QoE configuration received from the OAM, if they are different the target eNB can release the QoE measurement of the source eNB and configure a new one).
Huawei fails to teach receiving one of the following requests from a UE: a request to resume the UE’s connection to the RAN, or a request to reestablish the UE’s connection to the RAN; and in response to the request from the UE, sending the UE a command.
In the same field of endeavor, Rayavarapu teaches receiving one of the following requests from a UE: a request to resume the UE’s connection to the RAN, or a request to reestablish the UE’s connection to the RAN; and in response to the request from the UE, sending the UE a command ([0071] receiving at the RAN node a request from the mobile device for re-establishment of a radio resource control (RRC) connection suspended by another RAN node; [0072] the RAN node attempting to retrieve RRC connection data relating to the suspended RRC connection; and [0073] the RAN node doing one of: [0074] if the RRC connection is valid, sending a connection re-establishment command message to the mobile device; and [0075] if the RRC connection is invalid, sending a connection re-establishment reject message to the mobile device).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the request by the mobile device for resuming or reestablishing connection, as taught in Rayavarapu, in the system of Huawei, in order to more efficiently provide load balancing between nodes by providing connectivity by request to devices suspended by other nodes.
Regarding Claim 38, Huawei, modified by Rayavarapu, teaches the method of claim 37, Huawei further comprising determining one of the following in response to the request from the UE: a failure occurred during attempted retrieval of a UE context stored in the RAN; or at least a portion of the one or more configurations is undesirable for the RAN node, wherein the command to setup the new connection is sent to the UE in response to the determination (pgs. 6-7, Sec. 3, RAN2 agreed that the UE Inactive AS context includes the UE AS configuration for the QoE, i.e. it is not released when UE goes to Inactive, When the connection is resumed in another gNB, the gNB will find out whether the UE is configured with QoE measurements based on the context it fetches from the anchor node. However, the new gNB may want to release the QoE measurement configuration, e.g. due to RAN overload or because some configurations may be invalid in the new gNB. It should then be possible for the new gNB to decide whether to restore or release the QoE measurement configuration during RRC resume procedure using flag in RRC Resume message telling the UE whether the QoE measurements should be kept or released).
Regarding Claim 39, Huawei, modified by Rayavarapu, teaches the method of claim 38, Huawei further teaches wherein the failure during attempted retrieval of the UE context is one of the following: the UE context is unavailable to be retrieved; or the RAN node is unable to interpret or understand some portion of the retrieved UE context (pgs. 6-7, Sec. 3, RAN2 agreed that the UE Inactive AS context includes the UE AS configuration for the QoE, i.e. it is not released when UE goes to Inactive, When the connection is resumed in another gNB, the gNB will find out whether the UE is configured with QoE measurements based on the context it fetches from the anchor node. However, the new gNB may want to release the QoE measurement configuration, e.g. due to RAN overload or because some configurations may be invalid in the new gNB).
Regarding Claim 40, Huawei, modified by Rayavarapu, teaches the method of claim 38, Huawei further teaches wherein determining that at least a portion of the one or more configurations is undesirable for the RAN node comprises successfully retrieving the UE context stored in the RAN, wherein the retrieved UE context includes the at least a portion of the one or more configurations (pgs. 6-7, Sec. 3, RAN2 agreed that the UE Inactive AS context includes the UE AS configuration for the QoE, i.e. it is not released when UE goes to Inactive, When the connection is resumed in another gNB, the gNB will find out whether the UE is configured with QoE measurements based on the context it fetches from the anchor node. However, the new gNB may want to release the QoE measurement configuration, e.g. due to RAN overload or because some configurations may be invalid in the new gNB. It should then be possible for the new gNB to decide whether to restore or release the QoE measurement configuration during RRC resume procedure using flag in RRC Resume message telling the UE whether the QoE measurements should be kept or released).
Regarding Claim 41, Huawei, modified by Rayavarapu, teaches the method of claim 40, Huawei further teaches wherein determining that at least a portion of the one or more configurations is undesirable for the RAN node further comprises determining one or more of the following based on the retrieved UE context: the RAN node does not support one or more features associated with the at least a portion; the RAN node does not have resources available to support the at least a portion; and an area served by the RAN node is not within a measurement area associated with the at least a portion (pgs. 6-7, the new gNB may want to release the QoE measurement configuration, e.g. due to RAN overload or because some configurations may be invalid in the new gNB, pg. 2, Sec. 2.1, RAN may need to release an existing QoE configuration from the UE to address situation where the load in the network is very high or the UE has moved out of the area of QoE measurement).
Regarding Claim 42, Huawei, modified by Rayavarapu, teaches the method of claim 37, Huawei further teaches wherein: the one or more configurations were provided to the UE by the RAN node (pg. 1, Sec. 1, Introduction, Specify configuration and reporting for multiple simultaneous QoE measurements at a UE, pg. 2, Sec. 2.2, UE is configured with multiple QoE configurations, The UE Inactive AS context includes the UE AS configuration for the QoE, it is not released when the UE goes inactive, pg. 7, Sec. 3, the gNB could include the flag in the RRC Resume message telling the UE whether the QoE measurement should be kept or released, Proposal 4: The target node can indicate whether the UE should restore or release its QoE configuration during RRC resume procedure); and the method further comprises deleting a UE context stored by the RAN node before receiving the request, wherein the stored UE context includes the one or more configurations (pg. 2, Sec. 2.1, Upon release of a certain QoE configuration, all reporting activity related to this configuration should be stopped by the UE and any unsent reports should be therefore discarded by the UE pg. 8, the target eNB can compare whether the QoE measurement configuration information in the UE is the same as the QoE configuration received from the OAM, if they are different the target eNB can release the QoE measurement of the source eNB and configure a new one).
Regarding Claim 43, Huawei, modified by Rayavarapu, teaches the method of claim 37, Huawei further teaches wherein the one or more configurations were provided to the UE by a further RAN node (UE pg. 8, the target eNB can compare whether the QoE measurement configuration information in the UE is the same as the QoE configuration received from the OAM, if they are different the target eNB can release the QoE measurement of the source eNB and configure a new one).
Regarding Claim 44, Huawei, modified by Rayavarapu, teaches the method of claim 37, Huawei further teaches wherein the application-layer measurements are quality-of-experience (QoE) measurements (pg. 5, line 3-4, preferred that QoE reports are handled by the application layer).
Regarding Claim 45, Huawei teaches a user equipment (UE) configured for application-layer measurements in a radio access network (RAN) (pg. 1, Title, QoE measurement handling at RAN overload, Sec. 1, specify configuration and reporting for multiple simultaneous QoE measurements at a UE), the UE comprising:
communication interface circuitry configured to communicate with one or more RAN nodes; and processing circuitry operatively coupled to the communication interface circuitry (pgs. 6-7, Table 1, considerations of reporting and storing of information between devices implicitly discloses the interfaces and processing circuitry well-known to be part of the disclosed devices), whereby the processing circuitry and the communication interface circuitry are configured to:
receive one or more configurations of application-layer measurements to be performed by the UE while the UE is connected to the RAN (pg. 1, Sec. 1, Introduction, Specify configuration and reporting for multiple simultaneous QoE measurements at a UE, pg. 2, Sec. 2.2, UE is configured with multiple QoE configurations, The UE Inactive AS context includes the UE AS configuration for the QoE, it is not released when the UE goes inactive);
in response to an interruption in the UE's connection to the RAN while the UE is configured to perform the application-layer measurements (pg. 2, Sec. 2.1, Proposal 2: in order to temporarily pause QoE reporting from a UE, e.g. during RAN overload, RAN can send the QoE reporting pause command to the UE in the DL RRC message which indicates QoE configurations for which reporting should be paused, pg. 6, Sec. 3, RAN2 agreed that the UE Inactive AS context includes the UE AS configuration for the QoE and it is not released when the UE goes to Inactive),
receive from the RAN a command to setup a new connection to the RAN (pg. 7, Sec. 3, the gNB could include the flag in the RRC Resume message telling the UE whether the QoE measurement should be kept or released, Proposal 4: The target node can indicate whether the UE should restore or release its QoE configuration during RRC resume procedure. Pg. 8, Observation 5, for the management based QoE measurement, during UE handover it is up to the target node to decide whether to keep the UE’s current QoE configuration or configure a new one based on target node’s local configuration); and
in response to the command, release the received configurations and discard any stored application-layer measurement reports (pg. 2, Sec. 2.1, Upon release of a certain QoE configuration, all reporting activity related to this configuration should be stopped by the UE and any unsent reports should be therefore discarded by the UE pg. 8, the target eNB can compare whether the QoE measurement configuration information in the UE is the same as the QoE configuration received from the OAM, if they are different the target eNB can release the QoE measurement of the source eNB and configure a new one).
Huawei fails to teach send one of the following requests to the RAN: a request to resume the UE's connection, or a request to reestablish the UE's connection; in response to the request sent to the RAN, receive from the RAN a command.
In the same field of endeavor, Rayavarapu teaches send one of the following requests to the RAN: a request to resume the UE's connection, or a request to reestablish the UE's connection; in response to the request sent to the RAN, receive from the RAN a command ([0071] receiving at the RAN node a request from the mobile device for re-establishment of a radio resource control (RRC) connection suspended by another RAN node; [0072] the RAN node attempting to retrieve RRC connection data relating to the suspended RRC connection; and [0073] the RAN node doing one of: [0074] if the RRC connection is valid, sending a connection re-establishment command message to the mobile device; and [0075] if the RRC connection is invalid, sending a connection re-establishment reject message to the mobile device).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the request by the mobile device for resuming or reestablishing connection, as taught in Rayavarapu, in the system of Huawei, in order to more efficiently provide load balancing between nodes by providing connectivity by request to devices suspended by other nodes.
Regarding Claim 47, Huawei, modified by Rayavarapu, teaches the method of claim 45, Huawei further teaches wherein reception of the command by the processing circuitry and the communication interface implicitly indicates that the UE should release the received configurations and discard any stored application-layer measurement reports (pg. 7, Sec. 3, the gNB could include the flag in the RRC Resume message telling the UE whether the QoE measurement should be kept or released, pg. 2, Sec. 2.1, Upon release of a certain QoE configuration, all reporting activity related to this configuration should be stopped by the UE and any unsent reports should be therefore discarded by the UE).
Regarding Claim 47, Huawei, modified by Rayavarapu, teaches the method of claim 29, Rayavarapu further teaches non-transitory, computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by processing circuitry of a user equipment (UE) configured for application-layer measurements in a radio access network (RAN), configure the UE to perform operations corresponding to the method of claim 29 ([0220]).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the request by the mobile device for resuming or reestablishing connection, as taught in Rayavarapu, in the system of Huawei, in order to more efficiently provide load balancing between nodes by providing connectivity by request to devices suspended by other nodes.
Regarding Claim 49, Huawei teaches a radio access network (RAN) node configured to manage application-layer measurements by user equipment (UEs) (pg. 1, Title, QoE measurement handling at RAN overload), the RAN node comprising: communication interface circuitry configured to communicate with UEs and with one or more further RAN nodes; and processing circuitry operatively coupled to the communication interface circuitry (pgs. 6-7, Table 1, considerations of reporting and storing of information between devices implicitly discloses the interfaces and processing circuitry well-known to be part of the disclosed devices), whereby the processing circuitry and the communication interface circuitry are configured to:
a UE that was previously provided with one or more configurations of application-layer measurements to be performed by the UE while connected to the RAN (pg. 1, Sec. 1, Introduction, Specify configuration and reporting for multiple simultaneous QoE measurements at a UE, pg. 2, Sec. 2.2, UE is configured with multiple QoE configurations, The UE Inactive AS context includes the UE AS configuration for the QoE, it is not released when the UE goes inactive):
send the UE a command to setup a new connection to the RAN (pg. 7, Sec. 3, the gNB could include the flag in the RRC Resume message telling the UE whether the QoE measurement should be kept or released, Proposal 4: The target node can indicate whether the UE should restore or release its QoE configuration during RRC resume procedure. Pg. 8, Observation 5, for the management based QoE measurement, during UE handover it is up to the target node to decide whether to keep the UE’s current QoE configuration or configure a new one based on target node’s local configuration),
wherein the command implicitly indicates that the UE should release the one or more configurations previously provided to the UE and discard any stored application-layer measurement reports (pg. 2, Sec. 2.1, Upon release of a certain QoE configuration, all reporting activity related to this configuration should be stopped by the UE and any unsent reports should be therefore discarded by the UE pg. 8, the target eNB can compare whether the QoE measurement configuration information in the UE is the same as the QoE configuration received from the OAM, if they are different the target eNB can release the QoE measurement of the source eNB and configure a new one).
Huawei fails to teach receiving one of the following requests from a UE: a request to resume the UE’s connection to the RAN, or a request to reestablish the UE’s connection to the RAN; and in response to the request from the UE, sending the UE a command.
In the same field of endeavor, Rayavarapu teaches receiving one of the following requests from a UE: a request to resume the UE’s connection to the RAN, or a request to reestablish the UE’s connection to the RAN; and in response to the request from the UE, sending the UE a command ([0071] receiving at the RAN node a request from the mobile device for re-establishment of a radio resource control (RRC) connection suspended by another RAN node; [0072] the RAN node attempting to retrieve RRC connection data relating to the suspended RRC connection; and [0073] the RAN node doing one of: [0074] if the RRC connection is valid, sending a connection re-establishment command message to the mobile device; and [0075] if the RRC connection is invalid, sending a connection re-establishment reject message to the mobile device).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the request by the mobile device for resuming or reestablishing connection, as taught in Rayavarapu, in the system of Huawei, in order to more efficiently provide load balancing between nodes by providing connectivity by request to devices suspended by other nodes.
Regarding Claim 50, Huawei, modified by Rayavarapu, teaches the method of claim 49, Huawei further teaches wherein the processing circuitry and the communication interface circuitry are further configured to: determine one of the following in response to the request from the UE: a failure occurred during attempted retrieval of a UE context stored in the RAN; or at least a portion of the one or more configurations is undesirable for the RAN node; and send the command to setup the new connection to the UE in response to the determination (pgs. 6-7, Sec. 3, RAN2 agreed that the UE Inactive AS context includes the UE AS configuration for the QoE, i.e. it is not released when UE goes to Inactive, When the connection is resumed in another gNB, the gNB will find out whether the UE is configured with QoE measurements based on the context it fetches from the anchor node. However, the new gNB may want to release the QoE measurement configuration, e.g. due to RAN overload or because some configurations may be invalid in the new gNB. It should then be possible for the new gNB to decide whether to restore or release the QoE measurement configuration during RRC resume procedure using flag in RRC Resume message telling the UE whether the QoE measurements should be kept or released).
Regarding Claim 51, Huawei, modified by Rayavarapu, teaches the method of claim 49, Huawei further teaches wherein the one or more configurations were provided to the UE by the RAN node (pg. 1, Sec. 1, Introduction, Specify configuration and reporting for multiple simultaneous QoE measurements at a UE, pg. 2, Sec. 2.2, UE is configured with multiple QoE configurations, The UE Inactive AS context includes the UE AS configuration for the QoE, it is not released when the UE goes inactive, pg. 7, Sec. 3, the gNB could include the flag in the RRC Resume message telling the UE whether the QoE measurement should be kept or released, Proposal 4: The target node can indicate whether the UE should restore or release its QoE configuration during RRC resume procedure), and the processing circuitry and the communication interface circuitry are further configured to delete a UE context stored by the RAN node before receiving the request, wherein the stored UE context includes the one or more configurations (pg. 2, Sec. 2.1, Upon release of a certain QoE configuration, all reporting activity related to this configuration should be stopped by the UE and any unsent reports should be therefore discarded by the UE pg. 8, the target eNB can compare whether the QoE measurement configuration information in the UE is the same as the QoE configuration received from the OAM, if they are different the target eNB can release the QoE measurement of the source eNB and configure a new one).
Regarding Claim 52, Huawei, modified by Rayavarapu, teaches the method of claim 37, Rayavarapu further teaches non-transitory, computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by processing circuitry of a radio access network (RAN) node configured to manage application-layer measurements by user equipment (UEs), configure the RAN node to perform operations corresponding to the method of claim 37 ([0220]).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the request by the mobile device for resuming or reestablishing connection, as taught in Rayavarapu, in the system of Huawei, in order to more efficiently provide load balancing between nodes by providing connectivity by request to devices suspended by other nodes.
Claims 30-31 and 46 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Huawei ("QoE measurement handling at RAN overload", 3GPP TSG RAN Meeting #114-e, R2-2105581, Online, May 19–27, 2021, pp. 1-10.), in view of Rayavarapu et al (US 2017/0245318), and further in view of Liu et al (US 2024/0064550).
Regarding Claim 30, Huawei, modified by Rayavarapu, teaches all aspects of the invention according to Claim 29, except for each of the received configurations, initiating a timer associated with the configuration in response to one of the following: receiving the configuration, receiving the command, or sending to the RAN an application-layer measurement report associated with the configuration.
In the same field of endeavor, Liu teaches for each of the received configurations, initiating a timer associated with the configuration in response to one of the following: receiving the configuration, receiving the command, or sending to the RAN an application-layer measurement report associated with the configuration ([0055], According to various aspects described herein, the UE 320 may use a timer for obtaining QoE measurements. The timer may start when a QoE configuration is received or when a start measurement indication is received. In some aspects, the timer may start when a pause indication or a transmission failure indication is received. The timer may also start when a resume measurement indication is received. The timer may also start when a transmission at the AS layer 322 fails or when the UE 320 enters an idle or an inactive state. The timer may be configured with a time duration, and the time duration may be configured per service type, per QoE configuration, and/or per network slice).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the timer controlled actions as taught in Liu, in the system of Huawei and Rayavarapu, in order to conserve resources by preventing build-up and overflow of measurement results until reporting can occur.
Regarding Claim 31, Huawei, modified by Rayavarapu and Liu, teaches the method of claim 30, Liu further comprising after initiating a timer associated with a configuration: maintaining any stored application-layer measurement reports associated with the configuration, until the earlier of the following: expiration of the timer, and connecting to the RAN via a RAN node that supports the configuration; and releasing the configuration and discarding any stored application-layer measurement reports associated with the configuration, after expiration of the timer without connecting to the RAN via a RAN node that supports the configuration ([0056], When the timer expires, the UE 320 may stop obtaining the QoE measurements. The UE 320 may transmit the QoE measurements or hold the QoE measurements for subsequent reporting (e.g., reported with an indication of an age of the QoE measurements). If the timer runs in the AS layer 322, the AS layer 322 may provide an indication to the application layer 324, when the timer expires, to stop obtaining QoE measurements. As a result, the UE 320 does not overflow the QoE storage 350 and conserves processing resources that would otherwise be wasted on QoE measurements that were not stored. The timer may leave storage space for newer QoE measurements in the QoE storage 350 when QoE measurements resume).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the timer controlled actions as taught in Liu, in the system of Huawei and Rayavarapu, in order to conserve resources by preventing build-up and overflow of measurement results until reporting can occur.
Regarding Claim 46, Huawei, modified by Rayavarapu, teaches all aspects of the invention according to Claim 29, except wherein the processing circuitry and the communication interface circuitry are further configured to, for each of the received configurations: initiating a timer associated with the configuration in response to one of the following: receiving the configuration, receiving the command, or sending to the RAN an application-layer measurement report associated with the configuration, maintaining any stored application-layer measurement reports associated with the configuration, until the earlier of the following: expiration of the associated timer, and connecting to the RAN via a RAN node that supports the configuration; and releasing the configuration and discarding any stored application-layer measurement reports associated with the configuration, after expiration of the associated timer without connecting to the RAN via a RAN node that supports the configuration.
In the same field of endeavor, Liu teaches wherein the processing circuitry and the communication interface circuitry are further configured to, for each of the received configurations: initiating a timer associated with the configuration in response to one of the following: receiving the configuration, receiving the command, or sending to the RAN an application-layer measurement report associated with the configuration ([0055], According to various aspects described herein, the UE 320 may use a timer for obtaining QoE measurements. The timer may start when a QoE configuration is received or when a start measurement indication is received. In some aspects, the timer may start when a pause indication or a transmission failure indication is received. The timer may also start when a resume measurement indication is received. The timer may also start when a transmission at the AS layer 322 fails or when the UE 320 enters an idle or an inactive state. The timer may be configured with a time duration, and the time duration may be configured per service type, per QoE configuration, and/or per network slice), maintaining any stored application-layer measurement reports associated with the configuration, until the earlier of the following: expiration of the associated timer, and connecting to the RAN via a RAN node that supports the configuration; and releasing the configuration and discarding any stored application-layer measurement reports associated with the configuration, after expiration of the associated timer without connecting to the RAN via a RAN node that supports the configuration ([0056], When the timer expires, the UE 320 may stop obtaining the QoE measurements. The UE 320 may transmit the QoE measurements or hold the QoE measurements for subsequent reporting (e.g., reported with an indication of an age of the QoE measurements). If the timer runs in the AS layer 322, the AS layer 322 may provide an indication to the application layer 324, when the timer expires, to stop obtaining QoE measurements. As a result, the UE 320 does not overflow the QoE storage 350 and conserves processing resources that would otherwise be wasted on QoE measurements that were not stored. The timer may leave storage space for newer QoE measurements in the QoE storage 350 when QoE measurements resume).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the timer controlled actions as taught in Liu, in the system of Huawei and Rayavarapu, in order to conserve resources by preventing build-up and overflow of measurement results until reporting can occur.
Claim 32 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Huawei ("QoE measurement handling at RAN overload", 3GPP TSG RAN Meeting #114-e, R2-2105581, Online, May 19–27, 2021, pp. 1-10.), in view of Rayavarapu et al (US 2017/0245318), in view of Liu et al (US 2024/0064550), and further in view of Choi et al (US 2024/0137294).
Regarding Claim 32, Huawei, as modified by Rayavarapu and Liu, teaches all aspects of the invention according to claim 31 above, except upon connecting to the RAN via a RAN node that supports the configuration, sending the following to the RAN node: any stored application-layer measurement reports associated with the configuration, and an identifier of an intended recipient measurement collection entity (MCE).
In the same field of endeavor, Choi teaches upon connecting to the RAN via a RAN node that supports the configuration, sending the following to the RAN node: any stored application-layer measurement reports associated with the configuration, and an identifier of an intended recipient measurement collection entity (MCE) ([0114], Fig. 5, here it is assumed that the QoE measurement collection for the configuration #1 is the first to complete, so that UE AL 505 sends the collected QoE measurement results to the UE AS 503, e.g., using AT command (see messaging 525). The collected QoE measurement results for the configuration #1 are referred to as QoE Measurement Report #1. Note that upon completion of the QoE measurement collection for the configuration #0, the UE AL 505 will send the collected QoE measurement results to the UE AS 503 in a subsequent QoE Measurement Report #0, [0115] At Step 7, the UE AS 503 sends the QoE Measurement Report #1 in the MeasReportAppLayer message (e.g., a UL RRC message) to the RAN node 207 (see messaging 527), [0117] At Step 8, the RAN node 207 forwards the received QoE measurement report to a TCE/MCE 507 (see messaging 529)).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate indication of the recipient entity in the measurement reports, as taught in Choi, in the system of Huawei modified by Rayavarapu and Liu, in order to yield the predictable results of ensuring the measurements reach the appropriate and intended recipient.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
Liu et al (US 2022/0417780) teaches for both signaling based QoE measurement and management based QoE measurement, the network can deliver the QoE measurement configuration to UE. This can include an application layer QoE measurement configuration container and requested service type. The UE's application layer can collect and log the experience information based on the configuration and send QoE measurement report to network. The report can include a QoE measurement report container and service type. The network can then deliver UE's QoE report to a collection center ([0066]);
Kumar et al (US 2022/0217560) teaches apparatus may be associated with a UE and configured to obtain, in association with a UE capabilities indication that UE supports QoE measurements while in an RRC idle mode or an RRC inactive mode, one or more QoE measurements associated with a service type; and initiate an RRC connection setup or an RRC connection resume based at least in part on obtaining the one or more QoE measurements ([0011]);
Kim et al (US 11,356,879) teaches a frequency measurement method performed by a user equipment (UE) in a wireless communication system is provided. The frequency measurement method includes: receiving a radio resource control (RRC) release message or system information including first frequency measurement configuration information for frequency measurement in an RRC inactive mode; performing frequency measurement in the RRC inactive mode based on the first frequency measurement configuration information; receiving first RRC resume message including an indicator requesting a measurement report in the RRC inactive mode; and transmitting an RRC resume complete message including the measurement report based on the indicator (Abstract).
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/MARGARET G WEBB/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2641
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