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 March 11, 2024 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Drawings
The drawings were received on March 11, 2024. These drawings are acceptable.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 28-29, 31-32, 34-36, 38-41, and 43-46 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Catovic et al. (hereinafter “Catovic”, US 2010/0173626).
Regarding claims 28 and 40, Catovic discloses an apparatus for handover control in a mobile communication system, and a method for handover control in a mobile communication system, the apparatus comprising at least one processor and at least one memory including a computer program code, the at least one memory and computer program code configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to:
receive handover information reports from user equipment (i.e., an access terminal sends its visited cell history to an access point when the access terminal is handed-over to that access point as described in paragraph 0013. Also, receiving handover failure-related message such as RLF report messages, handover report message, and ping-poinging information messages from access terminal 102 as shown in Fig. 1, and as described in paragraphs 0041-0042),
generate a qualitative handover information report for input to a handover optimizer function (i.e., sending the RLF report message to the access point 204, and inputting to too late detector 212 and handover parameter adapter 214 as shown in Fig. 2, and as described in paragraphs 0052-0056), the generating comprising mapping failure cause information in the received handover information reports to sets of qualified failure types based on the extend of the failure causes (i.e., too early/too late, ping-poinging as described in paragraphs 0050, 0056), and
send the qualitative handover information report comprising information of the generated sets of qualified failure types to the handover optimizer function (i.e., sending the RLF report message to the access point 204, a too late detector 212 determines that the access terminal 202 was not handed-over to the access point 206, and adapting handover parameters by the handover parameter adapter 214 as described in paragraphs 0050, and 0056).
Regarding claims 29, 36 and 41, Catovic discloses all limitations recited within claims as described above. Catovic also discloses wherein the sets of qualified failure types are at least one of:
categorize the failure causes into at least one of:
too late and very too late handover initiations, and/or
too early and very too early handover initiations, and/or
ping-pong and long ping-pong handovers (i.e., early handover as described in paragraphs 0010), or
defined for inter random access network handover types and intra random access network handover types.
Regarding claims 31, 38 and 43, Catovic discloses all limitations recited within claims as described above. Catovic also discloses configured to dynamically change the mapping of failure cause information to sets of qualified failure types over time (i.e., handover failure is configurable (e.g., timer values) as described in paragraph 0134 and Abstract. That is, classification/mapping can change as parameters change over time).
Regarding claims 32, 39 and 44, Catovic discloses all limitations recited within claims as described above. Catovic also discloses configured to use fuzzy membership functions for the mapping, wherein the membership functions are defined by the optimizer function (i.e., a valid set of values, or range of values is used as described in paragraph 0133).
Regarding claims 34 and 45, Catovic discloses all limitations recited within claims as described above. Catovic also discloses wherein at least one of:
root-cause analysis and fuzzification is provided in at least one base station and the qualitative handover information report comprising information of the sets of qualified failure types is signaled from the at least one base station into the handover optimizer function,
root-cause analysis, fuzzification and optimization are provided by the optimizer function (i.e., analyzing the possible root cause of the RLF as described in paragraph 0049); and/or
the optimizer function is hosted in a base station (i.e., the handover parameter adapter 214 is located in the access point 204 as shown in Fig. 2).
Regarding claim 35, Catovic discloses an apparatus for a handover optimizer function in a mobile communication system, the apparatus comprising at least one processor and at least one memory including a computer program code, the at least one memory and computer program code configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to:
receive a qualitative handover information report comprising aggregated information of sets of qualified failure types mapped from handover information reports from user equipment based on the extend of failure causes (i.e., an access terminal sends its visited cell history to an access point when the access terminal is handed-over to that access point as described in paragraph 0013. Also, receiving handover failure-related message such as RLF report messages, handover report message, and ping-poinging information messages from access terminal 102 as shown in Fig. 1, and as described in paragraphs 0041-0042), and
control at least one handover parameter based on the aggregated information of the sets of qualified failure types (i.e., sending the RLF report message to the access point 204, a too late detector 212 determines that the access terminal 202 was not handed-over to the access point 206, and adapting handover parameters by the handover parameter adapter 214 as described in paragraphs 0050, and 0056).
Regarding claim 46, Catovic discloses all limitations recited within claims as described above. Catovic also discloses a base station providing root-cause analysis and fuzzification of the received handover information (i.e., analyzing the possible root cause of the RLF as described in paragraph 0049) and signaling of the qualitative handover information report comprising information of the sets of qualified failure types to the handover optimizer function (i.e., sending the RLF report message to the access point 204, a too late detector 212 determines that the access terminal 202 was not handed-over to the access point 206, and adapting handover parameters by the handover parameter adapter 214 as described in paragraphs 0050, and 0056).
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.
Claim(s) 30, 33, 37, 42, and 47 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Catovic in view of Zhang et al. (hereinafter “Zhang”, EP 3 076 999).
Regarding claims 30, 37 and 42, Catovic discloses all limitations recited within claims as described above. Catovic also discloses wherein the handover information at least one of:
reports further comprise information of successful handovers (i.e., the access terminal send its visited cell history to an access point when the access terminal is handed-over to that access point as described in paragraph 0013).
Catovic, however, does not expressly disclose the remaining features of these claims.
In a similar endeavor, Zhang discloses handover parameter optimization method and device. Zhang also discloses wherein the handover information at least one of:
reports from the user equipment comprise radio link failure reports and successful handover reports; and/or
reports comprise information of key performance indicators (i.e., key performance indicator is reported to a central unit for adapting handover configuration parameters in a centralized manner as described in paragraphs 0006).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skilled in the art to modify the teachings of the cited references, and arrive at the present invention.
The motivation/suggestion for doing so would have been to ensure the quality of service for the users.
Regarding claims 33 and 47, Catovic discloses all limitations recited within claims as described above, but does not expressly disclose features of these claims
In a similar endeavor, Zhang discloses handover parameter optimization method and device. Zhang also discloses wherein the optimizer function at least one of:
provides multiple sets of memberships functions;
is configured to update the memberships functions; and/or
comprises a rule based fuzzy optimizer or a deep reinforcement learning fuzzy optimizer (i.e., fuzzy logic controller that adaptively modifies handover margin as described in paragraph 0006).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skilled in the art to modify the teachings of the cited references, and arrive at the present invention.
The motivation/suggestion for doing so would have been to ensure the quality of service for the users.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to WAYNE CAI whose telephone number is (571)272-7798. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Thursday, 7:00 AM-5:00 PM.
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/Wayne H Cai/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2644