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 .
The claims filed on 06/04/2024 are entered and acknowledge. Claims 1, 7-8, 14 and 20 have been amended. Claims 1-20 are currently pending in the instant application.
Drawings
The drawings filed on 06/04/2024 have been considered.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) was submitted on 06/04/2024. The submission is 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 § 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.
The factual inquiries set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 148 USPQ 459 (1966), that are applied for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claims 1-3, 7, 8-10, 14, 15-17 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yeh et al Pub. No.: (US 2022/0014963 A1) (hereinafter “Yeh”) in view of Hansen et al Pub. No.: (US 2023/0073476 A1) (hereinafter "Hansen”).
With respect to claim 1: Yeh discloses a method comprising:
tracing open radio access network (O-RAN) operations (packet tracing of O-RAN standards [0077], [0304-0305], [0320]), based on a plurality of tracing parameters (data collection techniques based on various parameters [0077], [0442]), by capturing communication with at least one of a plurality of RAN Intelligent Controller (RIC) components controlling the O-RAN operations over a plurality of interfaces (RIC components in an O-RAN architecture with a plurality of interfaces [0300-0303]). Yeh further discloses a method of transferring and management services including faut management, configuration management, performance management, life cycle management of xApps, and logging, tracing and metric collection, which captures, monitors and collect a status of Near RT-RIC internals, to a Service Management and Orchestration. Wherein O-RAN architecture includes Near-RT RIC interfaces, the near-RT RIC is connected to a Non-RT RIC through AI interface, and the Near-RT RIC can be connected to multiple E2 nodes [0300-0303], [0320], [Fig. 22 and Fig. 23]);
generating a report in a format (report in various formats [0034-0040], [tables 2 – tables 6]);
However, Yeh does not explicitly disclose generating a report comprising trace data based on the tracing in a predefined format;
Hansen discloses generating a report comprising trace data based on the tracing in a predefined format (providing trace data in a predefined format or a requested format [0028], [0045]);
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Yeh in view of Hansen in order to generating a report comprising data based on the tracing data in a predefined format;
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated because it would optimize queries for which an administrator or organization wishes to monitor [Hansen: 0028].
With respect to claim 2: Yeh-Hansen discloses the method of claim 1 as set forth above.
Yeh discloses wherein the predefined format comprises a file-based format or a streaming format (The RIC report service style type 1 provides the performance measurement information collected from an E2 node, the report used the RIC action definition IE format 1 [0336]. File format version [0338], [Table 4]).
With respect to claim 3: Yeh-Hansen discloses the method of claim 1 as set forth above, further comprising:
Yeh discloses receiving a trace activation request from a device associated with an entity intended to trace O-RAN operations, wherein the trace activation request comprises the plurality of tracing parameters (The report service RIC action definition IE contains measurement types that Near-RT RIC is requesting to subscribe followed by a list of categories or subcounters to be measured for each measurement type, and a granularity period indicating collection interval of those measurements [0037-0038]); and
transmitting the report to the device associated with the entity, wherein the entity comprises an operator providing services to subscribers (arrivals of RRC measurement report in the E2, the E2 node send a message to the RIC [0363], reports including sender name [0338]).
With respect to claim 7: Yeh-Hansen discloses the method of claim 1 as set forth above, wherein the plurality of tracing parameters comprises at least one of:
a RIC ID comprising a unique identifier of a RIC controlling the O-RAN operations;
an E2 Node ID comprising a unique identifier of an E2 node associated with the RIC;
a Near-RT RIC Trace ID comprising a unique identifier of a Near-RT RIC associated with the RIC;
a Trace Depth comprising a set of trace levels indicating a degree of information to be traced while tracing the O-RAN operations, wherein the set of trace levels comprises a minimum trace, a medium trace, and a maximum trace;
a list of Near-RT RIC interfaces comprising a list of interfaces over which the at least one of the plurality of RIC components communicates; and
Yeh discloses an IP address of a device (the network address in some embodiments refers to a identifier for a node or host in a computer network, and is a unique identifier across a network and/or may be uniquely to a locally administered portion of the network [0575]).
With respect to claims 8-10 and 14, they do not teach or further define over the limitations in claims 1-3 and 7, respectively. Therefore claims 8-10 and 14 are rejected for the same reasons as set forth in claims 1-3 and 7.
With respect to claims 15-17 and 20, they do not teach or further define over the limitations in claims 1-3 and 7, respectively. Therefore claims 15-17 and 20 are rejected for the same reasons as set forth in claims 1-3 and 7.
Claims 4-6, 11-13 and 18-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yeh et al Pub. No.: (US 2022/0014963 A1) (hereinafter “Yeh”) in view of Hansen et al Pub. No.: (US 2023/0073476 A1) (hereinafter "Hansen”) as applied to claims 1-3, 7, 8-10, 14, 15-17 and 20 above, further in view of Song et al Pub. No.: (US 2023/0199867 A1) (hereinafter "Song”).
With respect to claim 4: Yeh-Hansen discloses the method of claim 1 as set forth above, wherein the plurality of RIC components comprises:
Yeh discloses a non-real time RIC (Non-RT RIC) and a near-real time RIC (Near-RT RIC) (non-real time RIC and near real time RIC [0113]);
wherein the communication with the at least one of the plurality of RIC components comprises a communication between the at least one of the plurality of RIC components and an E2 node (Near-RT RIC is placed between the E2 node and the service management & orchestration layer, which host the Non RT-RIC, E2 is the logical interface connecting the Near-RT RIC with the E2 node [0300-0302]);
wherein the plurality of interfaces comprises A1 interface and E2 interface (A1 interface and E2 interface [0300-0302]), wherein the A1 interface facilitates communication between the Non-RT RIC and the Near-RT RIC (Near-RT RIC connected to the Non-RT Ric through the A1 interface [0300]), and wherein the E2 interface facilitates communication between the Near-RT RIC and the E2 node (E2 interface connecting the Near-RT RIC to the E2 node [0300-0302]);
However, Yeh-Hansen does not explicitly disclose wherein the E2 node is used to implement a base station to provide wireless service to a plurality of user equipment using a cell;
Song discloses wherein the E2 node is used to implement a base station to provide wireless service to a plurality of user equipment using a cell (E2 nodes may be a base station, wherein the BS provides service to the UE’s [0092], [0053]);
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Yeh-Hansen in view of Song in order to have the E2 node used to implement a base station to provide wireless service to a plurality of user equipment using a cell;
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated because it would provide higher data rate service to a user through the 5G system [Song: 0004].
With respect to claim 5: Yeh-Hansen-Song discloses the method of claim 4 as set forth above.
Yeh discloses wherein the E2 node comprises at least one of an eNodeB (eNB), an O-RAN Central Unit-Control Plane (O-CU-CP), an O-RAN Central Unit-User Plane (O-CU-UP), an O-RAN Distributed Unit (O-DU), and a Next Generation NodeB (gNB) (E2 node comprises o-CU-OP [Fig. 22]).
With respect to claim 6: Yeh-Hansen-Song discloses the method of claim 4 as set forth above.
Yeh discloses wherein tracing the O-RAN operations further comprises capturing communication between the E2 node and at least one of the plurality of user equipment (xApps may provide UE related information to be stored in the UE-NIB database, the UE-NIB maintains a list of UE’s and associated data. The UE-NIB maintains tracking and correlation of the UE identities associated with the connected E2 nodes [0323]).
With respect to claims 11-13, they do not teach or further define over the limitations in claims 4-6, respectively. Therefore claims 11-13 are rejected for the same reasons as set forth in claims 4-6.
With respect to claims 18 and 19, they do not teach or further define over the limitations in claims 4-6, respectively. Therefore claims 18 and 19 are rejected for the same reasons as set forth in claims 4-6.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant’s disclosure.
Singh et al Pub. No.: (US 2022/0287038 A1). The subject matter disclosed therein is pertinent to that of claims 1-20 (e.g., Separate IO and control threads on one data path POD of a RIC).
Ying et al. Pub. No.: (US 2024/0196178 A1). The subject matter disclosed therein is pertinent to that of claims 1-20 (e.g., Data functions and procedures in the non-real time radio access network intelligent controller).
Sivaraj et al. Pub. No.: (US 2022/0232452 A1). The subject matter disclosed therein is pertinent to that of claims 1-20 (e.g., Method and apparatus for unique identification of individual users in the radio access network (RAN) intelligent controller).
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to THAO DUC DUONG whose telephone number is (571)272-2350. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F 9-5.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Brian Gillis can be reached on (571)272-7952. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/T. D./
Examiner, Art Unit 2446
/BRIAN J. GILLIS/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2446
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