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 .
DETAILED ACTION
a. Claims 1-20 in the present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, are being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
b. This is a first action on the merits based on Applicant’s claims submitted on 02/20/2024.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 02/20/2024, 06/26/2024, and 07/11/2024 are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
Claim 2 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b), as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor, or for pre-AIA the applicant regards as the invention. Claim 2 recites the limitations “the computing device is a primary computing device and the one or more control messages are transmitted to one or more secondary computing device distinct from the primary computing device” (underlined emphasis). It is already established in parent Claim 1 that the computing device is a mobile device (i.e. UE) that receives one or more control messages (as also disclosed in Specification [0074] “A computing device, such as a mobile phone receives a cellular signal. The cellular signal includes one or more control messages. The control messages are formed by a plurality of control channel elements and encoded using an associated cyclic redundancy check and a temporary identifier”).
However, claim 2 recites contradictory limitations “the one or more control messages are transmitted to one or more secondary computing device”. The same one or more control messages cannot be received and transmitted by the same entity (i.e. UE). The Examiner suggests that Claim 2 be modified as such to overcome this 112(b) rejection: “wherein the computing device is a primary computing device and the one or more control messages are transmitted [[to]] by one or more secondary computing device distinct from the primary computing device”. 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)(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 1-5, 7, 9, 12, 15, 18, and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Liu et al. US Pub 2020/0266925 (hereinafter “Liu”).
Regarding claim 1
Liu discloses a computer-implemented method to identify network properties (“A UE may determine the particular CCEs of candidate PDCCHs to attempt decoding DCI from using an appropriate RNTI assigned to the UE (e.g., calculating the starting CCE index using a formula based on RNTI, subframe number, number of CCEs, and the aggregation level).” [0005]), the method comprising:
receiving, at a computing device (i.e. “UE” [0005]), a cellular signal including one or more control messages (e.g. “DCI”) formed by a plurality of control channel elements (“In operation according to embodiments of USII decoder 311, the functions of blocks 605-613 are performed with respect to each of the CCE groups for obtaining RNTI and decoding DCI from any of the possible PDCCHs in the CCE groups.” [0037]), wherein each control message is formed of one or more of the plurality of control channel elements (i.e. “the particular CCEs of candidate PDCCHs” [0005]) and each control message is encoded using a function (“A UE may determine the particular CCEs of candidate PDCCHs to attempt decoding DCI from using an appropriate RNTI assigned to the UE (e.g., calculating the starting CCE index using a formula based on RNTI, subframe number, number of CCEs, and the aggregation level).” [0005]), a respective associated cyclic redundancy check (“decoding according to possible DCI formats may be performed with respect to extracted soft bit data to obtain DCI bits, cyclic redundancy check (CRC) performed on the obtained DCI bits” [0032]), and a respective unknown temporary identifier (“RNTI” [0034-0035]);
for each control message:
identifying the one or more of the plurality of control channel elements forming the control message (“The number of consecutive CCEs transmitting PDCCH is called the aggregation level (AL), wherein the various ALs (e.g., ALs of 1, 2, 4, and 8 CCEs per PDCCH) may he used to provide adequate bandwidth for carrying the information of a particular DCI, to provide redundancy for a noisy channel, etc.” [0003]);
deriving, based upon the identified one or more of the plurality of control channel elements, candidate calculated cyclic redundancy checks (steps 607 and 608 in Fig. 6B and furthermore “In obtaining RNTIs with AL=N for redundancy reduction-based error checking operation according to the illustrated embodiment, at block 607 a first set of check bits (Check 1.sub.AL=N) is obtained directly from the information bits (Data B) previously obtained for AL=N of the CCE group. Thereafter, at block 608, a second set of check bits (Check 2.sub.AL=N) is computed based on the DCI from the information bits (Data B) previously obtained for AL=N of the CCE group.” [0040]);
deriving candidate temporary identifiers (“Thereafter, check bits are obtained from the convolutional decoded data and the unknown RNTI obtained from the check bits (i.e., exclusive or (XOR) operation with respect to two separately determined sets of check bits” [0007]) using the function (i.e. “(XOR) operation”), the candidate calculated cyclic redundancy checks, and the respective associated cyclic redundancy check. (step 609 in Fig. 6B and furthermore “The putative RNTI for AL=N (RNTI.sub.AL=N) is determined at block 609 by comparing the first and second sets of check bits. For example, XOR logic may be used to compare the first and second sets of cheek bits in obtaining the RNTI (e.g., Check 1.sub.AL=N⊕Check 2.sub.AL=N=RNTI.sub.AL=N).” [0040]);
determining the respective unknown temporary identifier from amongst the derived candidate temporary identifiers (step 605 in Fig. 6A and steps 610-613 in Fig. 6B; “; and “Having obtained RNTIs (e.g., RNTI.sub.AL=N and RNTI.sub.AL=N/2) from both data decoded from a CCE group comprising a candidate PDCCH (e.g., CCE group AL=N) that contains redundant data and a portion of that CCE group (e.g., CCE group AL=N/2) that contains redundancy reduced data, error checking is performed according to embodiments of the invention to determine if the decoded DCI and RNTI for the CCE group AL=N are correct.” [0044=0045])
decoding the control message (“downlink control information (DCI) for controlling and coordinating communications between UEs and BSs” [0028]) using the function, the determined respective unknown temporary identifier (i.e. “RNTI”), and the respective associated cyclic redundancy check (see Fig. 6a; “Decoding is performed with all possible AL(s) for each CCE group to obtain decoded information bits at blocks 605 and 606. The decoding is preferably performed for each possible AL, starting with the maximum possible AL (N). In performing decoding according to embodiments, soft bit data (Data A) is extracted from each possible AL of a CCE group by performing channel equalization, demodulation, and descrambling to extract data based on each possible AL (block 605). Thereafter, rate de-matching and convolutional decoding may be performed on the soft bit data to obtain information bits (Data B) from each AL in the CCE group (block 606). In this PDCCH example, the information bits comprise putative DCI and check bits.” [0038]), wherein the decoded control message indicates network properties (“The PDCCH for a particular UE may be designated by a radio network temporary identifier (RNTI) assigned to the UE. Accordingly, a 4G cellular network base station (BS) (i.e. “network properties”) operates to transmit a PDCCH for a particular UE comprising a combination of DCI and corresponding RNTI information in a selected AL of CCEs, as shown in FIG. 4A.” [0028]).
Regarding claim 2
Liu previously discloses the method of claim 1
Liu further discloses wherein the computing device is a primary computing device (e.g. “UE 1”, “UE 2”) and the one or more control messages are transmitted to one or more secondary computing device (i.e. “BS”) distinct from the primary computing device (“In particular, FIG. 5 shows a portion of a 4G cellular network in which a BS is serving UE 1 and UE 2, wherein RNTI 1 is assigned to UE 1 for use with respect to its PDCCHs transmitted by the BS and RNTI 2 is assigned to UE 2 for use with respect to its PDCCHs transmitted by the BS.” [0031]; Fig. 5).
Regarding claim 3
Liu previously discloses the method of claim 1
Liu further discloses wherein each respective unknown temporary identifier is a 16-bit cell radio network temporary identifier (“RNTI”, “the length of check bits=16 bits” [0047]).
Regarding claim 4
Liu previously discloses the method of claim 1
Liu further discloses wherein the function is an exclusive or (XOR) function (“Thereafter, check bits are obtained from the convolutional decoded data and the unknown RNTI obtained from the check bits (i.e., exclusive or (XOR) operation with respect to two separately determined sets of check bits).” [0007]).
Regarding claim 5
Liu previously discloses the method of claim 1
Liu further discloses wherein the plurality of control channel elements are distributed within a control channel (e.g. PDCCH, PCFICH) comprising a section of the cellular signal (“FIG. 6A to identify individual CCEs for PDCCH carrying information bits since CCE is the resource unit of PDCCH… Accordingly, receiver 310 may decode the PCFICH channel to obtain the number of control OFDM symbols for use in determining the CCEs for PDCCH.” [0034]).
Regarding claim 7
Liu previously discloses the method of claim 1
Liu further discloses wherein identifying the one or more of the plurality of control channel elements forming the control message comprises:
measuring respective energy (i.e. power) of each of the plurality of control channel elements (“In operation according to the illustrated embodiment of flow 600, power detection is used at block 601 of FIG. 6A to identify individual CCEs for PDCCH carrying information bits since CCE is the resource unit of PDCCH. For example, logic of USII decoder 311 may analyze subframes in the control region of a received channel signal to detect individual CCEs using power detection techniques. In operation of a 4G cellular network system, as a specific example, all CCEs for PDCCH are within the first 1/2/3/4 orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) symbols of every sub-frame, wherein the number of OFDM symbols containing PDCCH is carried in the physical control format indicator channel (PCFICH).” [0034]); and
determining that a control channel element of the plurality of control channel elements with a measured respective energy below a threshold does not form the control message (“Accordingly, receiver 310 may decode the PCFICH channel to obtain the number of control OFDM symbols for use in determining the CCEs for PDCCH. Irrespective of the particular way in which CCEs for PDCCH are determined, in operation according to embodiments, a CCE for PDCCH may be considered as carrying information bits if the CCE average power meets or exceeds a predetermined threshold value. As a specific example, logic of USII decoder 311 may compute the average power across all the CCEs for PDCCH and denote this as threshold power Th. In operation according to this example, a CCE is considered to carry information if the average power of the CCE under consideration (CCE.sub.AVG(i)) is greater than or equal to the average power across all the CCEs for PDCCH plus some difference factor Δ (i.e., CCE.sub.AVG(i)≥Th+Δ), wherein the difference factor Δ of embodiments is configurable to maximize system flexibility (e.g., the value of difference factor Δ may be determined using analysis of empirical results, simulation, etc.). As a non-limiting example, the value of difference factor Δ may be 0.1*Th in a typical 4G cellular network system configuration. Such operation to identify individual CCEs carrying information bits is illustrated in the upper graph shown in FIG. 7.” [0034]).
Regarding claim 9
Liu previously discloses the method of claim 1
Liu further discloses wherein deriving, based upon the identified one or more of the plurality of control channel elements, the candidate calculated cyclic redundancy checks comprises:
decoding the control message using the identified one or more of the plurality of control channel elements (“In obtaining RNTIs with AL=N for redundancy reduction-based error checking operation according to the illustrated embodiment, at block 607 a first set of check bits (Check 1.sub.AL=N) is obtained directly from the information bits (Data B) previously obtained for AL=N of the CCE group. Thereafter, at block 608, a second set of check bits (Check 2.sub.AL=N) is computed based on the DCI from the information bits (Data B) previously obtained for AL=N of the CCE group. The putative RNTI for AL=N (RNTI.sub.AL=N) is determined at block 609 by comparing the first and second sets of check bits. For example, XOR logic may be used to compare the first and second sets of cheek bits in obtaining the RNTI (e.g., Check 1.sub.AL=N⊕Check 2.sub.AL=N=RNTI.sub.AL=N).” [0040]; Fig. 6B); and
calculating the cyclic redundancy checks using the control message decoded (“Having obtained RNTIs (e.g., RNTI.sub.AL=N and RNTI.sub.AL=N/2) from both data decoded from a CCE group comprising a candidate PDCCH (e.g., CCE group AL=N) that contains redundant data and a portion of that CCE group (e.g., CCE group AL=N/2) that contains redundancy reduced data, error checking is performed according to embodiments of the invention to determine if the decoded DCI and RNTI for the CCE group AL=N are correct. Accordingly, at block 611 of the illustrated embodiment of flow 600 the RNTIs are compared, such as to determine if RNTI.sub.AL=N exactly equals RNTI.sub.AL=N/2 (i.e., RNTI.sub.AL=N==RNTI.sub.AL=N/2).” [0042]).
Regarding claim 12
Liu previously discloses the method of claim 1
Liu further discloses wherein the cellular signal is a Long-Term Evolution (LTE) signal (“In operation of fourth generation (4G) LTE cellular network systems the PDCCH is a physical channel used to carry downlink control information (DCI) for controlling and coordinating communications between UEs and BSs.” [0028]).
Regarding claim 15
Liu discloses a computer based system to identify network properties (“terminal equipment (TE) 300” in Fig. 3; [0024]), the system comprising:
a receiver (“receiver 310” in Fig. 3; [0024]) configured to receive, a cellular signal including one or more control messages formed by a plurality of control channel elements, wherein each control message is formed of one or more of the plurality of control channel elements and each control message is encoded using a function, a respective associated cyclic redundancy check, and a respective unknown temporary identifier;
a processor (“TE controller logic circuits” [0025]); and
a memory with computer code instructions stored thereon (“one or more memories (e.g., random access memory (RAM), read only memory (ROM), flash memory, magnetic memory, optical memory, and/or the like) suitable for storing one or more instruction sets (e.g., application software, firmware, operating system, applets, and/or the like), data (e.g., configuration parameters, operating parameters, collected data, processed data, and/or the like), etc.” [0025]), the processor and the memory, with the computer code instructions being configured to cause the system, for each control message, to:
identify the one or more of the plurality of control channel elements forming the control message;
derive, based upon the identified one or more of the plurality of control channel elements, candidate calculated cyclic redundancy checks;
derive candidate temporary identifiers using the function, the candidate calculated cyclic redundancy checks, and the respective associated cyclic redundancy check;
determine the respective unknown temporary identifier from amongst the derived candidate temporary identifiers; and
decode the control message using the function, the determined respective unknown temporary identifier, and the respective associated cyclic redundancy check, wherein the decoded control message indicates network properties.
The scope and subject matter of apparatus claim 15 is drawn to the apparatus of using the corresponding method claimed in claim 1. Therefore apparatus claim 15 corresponds to method claim 1 and is rejected for the same reasons of anticipation as used in claim 1 rejection above.
Regarding claim 18
The system of claim 15 wherein the cellular signal is a Long-Term Evolution (LTE) signal.
The scope and subject matter of apparatus claim 18 is drawn to the apparatus of using the corresponding method claimed in claim 12. Therefore apparatus claim 18 corresponds to method claim 12 and is rejected for the same reasons of anticipation as used in claim 12 rejection above.
Regarding claim 20
A computer program product for identifying network properties, the computer program product comprising:
one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage devices and program instructions stored on at least one of the one or more storage devices, the program instructions, when loaded and executed by a processor, cause an apparatus associated
with the processor to:
receive a cellular signal including one or more control messages formed by a plurality of control channel elements, wherein each control message is formed of one or more of the plurality of control channel elements and each control message is
encoded using a function, a respective associated cyclic redundancy check, and a respective unknown temporary identifier; for each control message:
identify the one or more of the plurality of control channel elements forming the control message;
derive, based upon the identified one or more of the plurality of control channel elements, candidate calculated cyclic redundancy checks;
derive candidate temporary identifiers using the function, the candidate calculated cyclic redundancy checks, and the respective associated cyclic redundancy check;
determine the respective unknown temporary identifier from amongst the derived candidate temporary identifiers; and
decode the control message using the function, the determined respective unknown temporary identifier, and the respective associated cyclic redundancy check, wherein the decoded control message indicates network properties.
The scope and subject matter of non-transitory computer readable medium claim 20 is drawn to the computer program product of using the corresponding method claimed in claim 1. Therefore computer program product claim 20 corresponds to method claim 1 and is rejected for the same reasons of anticipation as used in claim 1 rejection above.
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 of this title, 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.
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 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.
Claims 6, 11, and 17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Liu et al. US Pub 2020/0266925 (hereinafter “Liu”), and in view of Tan et al. US Pub 2018/0035411 (hereinafter “Tan”).
Regarding claim 6
Liu previously discloses the method of claim 5
Liu does not specifically teach wherein the plurality of control channel elements are two-dimensional subsections of the control channel defined by time and frequency.
In an analogous art, Tan discloses wherein the plurality of control channel elements are two-dimensional subsections of the control channel defined by time and frequency (“Because a plurality of PDCCHs can be contained in the transmission bandwidth of PDCCH, in order to effectively configure the time-frequency resources of PDCCH and other downlink control channels, LTE defines two dedicated control channel resource units: RE Group (REG) and Control Channel Element (CCE).” [0005]).
Before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify Liu’s method for accurate decoding of a received channel signal when station identifier information is unknown, to include Tan’s blind detection method and system for a PDCCH, in order to properly decode DCI to obtain RNTI (Tan [Abstract]). Thus, a person of ordinary skill would have appreciated the ability to incorporate Tan’s blind detection method and system for a PDCCH into Liu’s method for accurate decoding of a received channel signal when station identifier information is unknown since the claimed invention is merely a combination of old elements, and in the combination each element merely would have performed the same function as it did separately, and one of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized that the results of the combination were predictable.
Regarding claim 11
Liu previously discloses the method of claim 1
Liu further discloses wherein the network properties include at least one of: allocated channel bandwidth (“The number of consecutive CCEs transmitting PDCCH is called the aggregation level (AL), wherein the various ALs (e.g., ALs of 1, 2, 4, and 8 CCEs per PDCCH) may he used to provide adequate bandwidth for carrying the information of a particular DCI, to provide redundancy for a noisy channel, etc.” [0003]).
In an analogous art, Tan discloses wherein the network properties include at least one of: channel quality (“The UE Identity useable for scrambling is Random Access Radio Network Temporary (RNTI). After being checked by CRC, Tail Biting convolutional encoding and rate matching are performed to each PDCCH. ENodeB can perform rate matching according to the Channel Quality Indicator (CQI) reported by UE.” [0009]), total used bandwidth (“Because a plurality of PDCCHs can be contained in the transmission bandwidth of PDCCH, in order to effectively configure the time-frequency resources of PDCCH and other downlink control channels, LTE defines two dedicated control channel resource units: RE Group (REG) and Control Channel Element (CCE).” [0005])
Before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify Liu’s method for accurate decoding of a received channel signal when station identifier information is unknown, to include Tan’s blind detection method and system for a PDCCH, in order to properly decode DCI to obtain RNTI (Tan [Abstract]). Thus, a person of ordinary skill would have appreciated the ability to incorporate Tan’s blind detection method and system for a PDCCH into Liu’s method for accurate decoding of a received channel signal when station identifier information is unknown since the claimed invention is merely a combination of old elements, and in the combination each element merely would have performed the same function as it did separately, and one of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized that the results of the combination were predictable.
Regarding claim 17
The system of claim 15 wherein the network properties include at least one of: channel quality, allocated channel bandwidth, number of active mobile users, total used bandwidth, and idle bandwidth.
The scope and subject matter of apparatus claim 17 is drawn to the apparatus of using the corresponding method claimed in claim 11. Therefore apparatus claim 17 corresponds to method claim 11 and is rejected for the same reasons of obviousness as used in claim 11 rejection above.
Claims 8, 10, and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Liu et al. US Pub 2020/0266925 (hereinafter “Liu”), and in view of Wang US Pub 2014/0314040 (hereinafter “Wang”).
Regarding claim 8
Liu previously discloses the method of claim 1
Liu further discloses wherein identifying the one or more of the plurality of control channel elements forming the control message comprises:
Liu does not specifically teach organizing the plurality of control channel elements into a binary tree hierarchy; and determining that one or more control channel elements represented by a child node, of a parent node in the binary tree hierarchy, do not form the control message if one or more control channel elements represented by the parent node do not form the control message.
In an analogous art, Wang discloses organizing the plurality of control channel elements into a binary tree hierarchy (“Tree node: Internal node of binary tree used to search for the affected entities.” [0135-0136]); and
determining that one or more control channel elements represented by a child node, of a parent node in the binary tree hierarchy, do not form the control message if one or more control channel elements represented by the parent node do not form the
control message (“Parent: pointing to parent node. Left child: pointing to left child node. Right child: pointing to right child node [0140] External: pointing to external candidate list. Best candidate: pointing to current chosen best CCE candidate. CCE position: CCE start position referred by current node. Aggr level: aggregation level (CCE-1 to CCE-8) referred by current node” [0137-0143]).
Before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify Liu’s method for accurate decoding of a received channel signal when station identifier information is unknown, to include Wang’s scheme for allocating control channel elements (CCE) to user equipments (UE), in order to perform CCE allocation (Wang [0007]). Thus, a person of ordinary skill would have appreciated the ability to incorporate Wang’s scheme for allocating control channel elements (CCE) to user equipments (UE) into Liu’s method for accurate decoding of a received channel signal when station identifier information is unknown since the claimed invention is merely a combination of old elements, and in the combination each element merely would have performed the same function as it did separately, and one of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized that the results of the combination were predictable.
Regarding claim 10
Liu previously discloses the method of claim 1
Liu further discloses wherein determining the respective unknown temporary identifier from amongst the derived candidate temporary identifiers comprises:
performing at least one of: verifying re-encoded errors (“Redundancy reduction-based error checking implemented according to embodiments of the invention performs error checking between information derived from data decoded from a candidate control channel data block containing redundant data and information derived from data decoded from a portion of that candidate control channel data block containing redundancy reduced data. For example, redundancy reduction-based error checking may operate to perform error checking between station identifier information derived from soft bit data decoded from a number of consecutive CCEs of a first AL (e.g., 8 CCEs of AL=8, 4 CCEs of AL-4, or 2 CCEs of AL=2) comprising a candidate PDCCH and station identifier information derived from soft bit data decoded from one or more consecutive CCEs (e.g., 4 CCEs, 2 CCEs, or 1 CCE) forming a redundancy reduced portion of the candidate PDCCH (e.g., error checking RNTI obtained from AL=N consecutive CCEs and AL=N/2 consecutive CCEs). In operation according to embodiments, the data used in redundancy reduction-based error checking comprises putative radio network temporary identifiers (RNTIs), wherein a putative RNTI obtained from a candidate control channel data block and a putative RNTI obtained from a redundancy reduced portion of the candidate control channel data block are compared to determine if the candidate PDCCH is correctly decoded.” [0010]).
In an analogous art, Wang discloses child-ancestor matching (“If it hasn't reached the input RNTI list end (S1107: No), the next RNTI is got (S1111). If current B+ tree node is not NULL (S1113: Yes), it is judged whether current RNTI is compared with the current B+ node key (S1115), otherwise (S1113: No) the routine is ended with return of its parent B+ node for later insertion operation (S1117). If current RNTI is compared with the current B+ node key (S1115: Yes), then continue to move to its child node (S1123); otherwise (S1115: No), the routine continues to check its brother along the sibling list (S1119, 81121, S1115). [0242] If current RNTI is matched in sibling list (S1115: Yes), then the routine still continues to move to its child node under the brother node (S1123). Until no brother node is found (S1119: No), the routine returns with a previous B+ tree node used for insertion of best CCE pattern returned from the retrospective allocation method later. The above steps are repeated until the entity list end is reached and then the Allocation Pattern structure from the leaf node is returned (S1109).” [0239-0243]).
Before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify Liu’s method for accurate decoding of a received channel signal when station identifier information is unknown, to include Wang’s scheme for allocating control channel elements (CCE) to user equipments (UE), in order to perform CCE allocation (Wang [0007]). Thus, a person of ordinary skill would have appreciated the ability to incorporate Wang’s scheme for allocating control channel elements (CCE) to user equipments (UE) into Liu’s method for accurate decoding of a received channel signal when station identifier information is unknown since the claimed invention is merely a combination of old elements, and in the combination each element merely would have performed the same function as it did separately, and one of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized that the results of the combination were predictable.
Regarding claim 16
The system of claim 15 wherein, in determining the respective unknown temporary identifier from amongst the derived candidate temporary identifiers, the processor and the memory, with the computer code instructions, are further configured to cause the system to:
perform at least one of: child-ancestor matching, temporal user tracking, search space matching, and verifying re-encoded errors.
The scope and subject matter of apparatus claim 16 is drawn to the apparatus of using the corresponding method claimed in claim 10. Therefore apparatus claim 16 corresponds to method claim 10 and is rejected for the same reasons of obviousness as used in claim 10 rejection above.
Claims 13 and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Liu, and in view of Li et al. US Pub 2006/0203801 (hereinafter “Li”).
Regarding claim 13
Liu previously discloses the method of claim 1 further comprising:
Liu does not specifically teach monitoring, using a transport layer of the computing device, the received cellular signal to determine packet statistics of the cellular signal; and combining the determined packet statistics and the network properties to determine congestion of the network.
In an analogous art, Li discloses monitoring, using a transport layer (“RTP and RTCP are transport layer protocols situated below the application layer.” [0011]) of the computing device, the received cellular signal to determine packet statistics of the cellular signal (“According to RTCP, receiver reports and sender reports containing statistics such as the number of packets transmitted, the number of packets lost, an estimation of jitter, the last packet sequence number received, packet time stamp of the last sender report, and delay since the last sender report received are provided.” [0011]); and
combining the determined packet statistics and the network properties (“The RTCP reports are used to obtain measurements of the network condition, and after a sufficient number of measurements have been obtained, the test call may be torn down by the originating switch in step 84.” [0011]) to determine congestion of the network (“Continuing on to step 80, test tones are generated and applied at both switches to provide test call bearer path traffic. In step 82, periodic report packets generated pursuant to RTP Control Protocol (RTCP) at the originating switch and/or the terminating switch are collected and examined to determine path conditions by a RTP/RTCP stack resident in measurement module 64.” [0011]).
Before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify Liu’s method for accurate decoding of a received channel signal when station identifier information is unknown, to include Li’s method of measuring network quality for VoIP calls, in order to mitigate congestion by using information about packet statistics and network conditions (Li [0011]). Thus, a person of ordinary skill would have appreciated the ability to incorporate Li’s method of measuring network quality for VoIP calls into Liu’s method for accurate decoding of a received channel signal when station identifier information is unknown since the claimed invention is merely a combination of old elements, and in the combination each element merely would have performed the same function as it did separately, and one of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized that the results of the combination were predictable.
Regarding claim 19
The system of claim 15 wherein the processor and the memory, with the computer code instructions, are further configured to cause the system to:
monitor, using a transport layer, the received cellular signal to determine packet statistics of the cellular signal; and combine the determined packet statistics and the network properties to determine congestion of the network.
The scope and subject matter of apparatus claim 19 is drawn to the apparatus of using the corresponding method claimed in claim 13. Therefore apparatus claim 19 corresponds to method claim 13 and is rejected for the same reasons of obviousness as used in claim 13 rejection above.
Claim 14 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Liu, in view of Li, and further in view of Nguyen et al. US Pub 2021/0100046 (hereinafter “Nguyen”).
Regarding claim 14
Liu, as modified by Li, previously discloses the method of claim 13 further comprising:
reporting the determined congestion of the network to an application layer of the computing device; and
controlling, by the application layer, use of the network by the computing device based on the reported determined congestion.
In an analogous art, Nguyen discloses reporting the determined congestion of the network to an application layer of the computing device (“Wireless communications system 100 may support efficient techniques for collecting a network congestion index (e.g., a sidelink channel congestion indicator) and reporting the network congestion index to an application layer” [0103]); and
controlling, by the application layer, use of the network by the computing device based on the reported determined congestion (“where the application layer decides to throttle a bit rate and/or reduce a QoS expectation.” [0103] and furthermore “application layer may then adjust one or more sidelink transmission operation parameters (e.g., sidelink operation parameters) based on the aggregated congestion index reports (e.g., increase or decrease a feedback distance/range to decrease or increase a number of retransmission attempts for negative acknowledgement (NACK) feedback messages). For example, the transmitter UEs 115 and/or application layer may adjust threshold values (e.g., Thresh.sub.FB, or adjust a different sidelink transmission operation parameter) to lessen how much feedback is transmitted by the receiver UEs 115 and a number of retransmissions, thereby lessening congestion in the system.” [0103]).
Before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify Liu’s method for accurate decoding of a received channel signal when station identifier information is unknown, as modified by Li, to include Nguyen’s method for reporting a congestion index, in order to efficiently adjust operational parameters based on the reported congestion report (Nguyen [Abstract]). Thus, a person of ordinary skill would have appreciated the ability to incorporate Nguyen’s method for reporting a congestion index into Liu’s method for accurate decoding of a received channel signal when station identifier information is unknown since the claimed invention is merely a combination of old elements, and in the combination each element merely would have performed the same function as it did separately, and one of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized that the results of the combination were predictable.
Conclusion
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/CHUONG M NGUYEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2411