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 .
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 1 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Talebi Fard et al. (Patent No: US 2025/0274810 A1), hereinafter, Talebi Fard, in view of Fang et al. (Patent No: US 2024/0381160 A1), hereinafter Fang, Abi-Nassif et al. (Patent No: US 2006/0126509 A1), hereinafter, Abi-Nassif, Ludwig et al. (Patent No: US 2010/0238805 A1), hereinafter Ludwig, and further in view of Talebi Fard et al. (US 2025/0227548 A1), hereinafter, Talebi Fard2.
Regarding Claim 1, Talebi Fard teaches,
An apparatus, comprising: at least one processor; at least one memory including computer program code; and at least one interface configured for communication with at least another apparatus, the at least one processor, with the at least one memory and the computer program code, being configured to cause the apparatus to perform: -Fig. 13; Paragraph [0184-0192] ([0184] recites, “FIG. 13 illustrates examples of components of the elements in a communications network. FIG. 13 includes a wireless device 1310, a base station 1320, and a physical deployment of one or more network functions 1330 (henceforth “deployment 1330”). Any wireless device described in the present disclosure may have similar components and may be implemented in a similar manner as the wireless device 1310. Any other base station described in the present disclosure (or any portion thereof, depending on the architecture of the base station) may have similar components and may be implemented in a similar manner as the base station 1320. Any physical core network deployment in the present disclosure (or any portion thereof, depending on the architecture of the base station) may have similar components and may be implemented in a similar manner as the deployment 1330.”[0192] recites, “The deployment 1330 may comprise any number of portions of any number of instances of one or more network functions (NFs). The deployment 1330 may comprise a processing system 1331 and a memory 1332. The memory 1332 may comprise one or more computer-readable media, for example, one or more non-transitory computer readable media. The memory 1332 may include instructions 1333. The processing system 1331 may process and/or execute instructions 1333. Processing and/or execution of instructions 1333 may cause the deployment 1330 and/or processing system 1331 to perform one or more functions or activities.”)
detecting congestion indication in a downlink direction from a first network towards a terminal device, reporting said congestion information to a network entity of said first network. -Paragraph [0344, 0374, 0378, 0382] ([0374] recites, “User plane congestion may occur when link capacity is utilized beyond a threshold. User plane congestion may occur when a load condition of the network node such as a UPF, a RAN node, a cell of a base station, and/or the like is exceeded by a threshold. In an example, the user plane congestion may be RAN congestion. In an example, congestion may be load or capacity of a RAN node, or UPF node, and/or the like. In an example, congestion may be a link level congestion, congestion of a path, congestion of link between two network nodes (e.g., N3 interface, Uu interface, and/or the like), congestion as determined by the transport layer, application layer, link layer or physical layer, congestion as identified by an explicit congestion notification (ECN as in IETF), and/or the like.” [0378] recites, “…In existing technologies, the UPF may be configured by the SMF via session level signalling to report congestion of user plane to an AF…” [0382] recites, “In an example, the notification from the NG-RAN to the UPF may be the signaling message as described in an example. In an example embodiment, the signalling message may comprise the tunnel status information element (IE) as described in an example embodiment. In an example, the tunnel status (the tunnel status IE) may comprise a user plane congestion notification, a RAN congestion notification, a GTP tunnel congestion indication, the congestion level information, the congestion start indication, the network slice identifier associated with the congestion, and/or the like. In an example, the signalling message may comprise the notification message to indicate the RAN Congestion Start and RAN congestion level. In an example, the signalling message may comprise the user plane congestion notification, a RAN congestion notification, a GTP tunnel congestion indication, the congestion level information, the congestion start indication, the network slice identifier associated with the congestion, and/or the like. In an example, upon detection of the RAN Congestion Start and RAN congestion level from the UL data, the UPF triggers the Nupf_EventExposure_Notify message to report the RAN Congestion Start and RAN congestion level. In an example, the UPF may transmit the identifier of the network slice to the AF via the NEF (e.g., via the Nupf_EventExposure_Notify message). In an example, the UPF may determine an identifier of a target node (e.g., AF, or AS) based on the identifier of the network slice.” [0344] recites, “… In an example, NG-RAN may employ ECN bits marking for DL and/or UL direction” As recited above, upon detection of RAN congestion (RAN congestion is in the DL towards terminal device), the RAN/UPF reports congestion to network entity AF if configured)
by transmitting uplink outer internet protocol (IP) packets having ECN markings towards a non3GPP interworking function -Fig. 4B; Paragraph [0344, 0096] ([0344] recites, “NG-RAN may employ ECN bits for marking of payload packets as specified in RFC 8311 to support L4S. ECN bits marking may interact with the application layer, wherein the application layer may triggers rate adaptation based on feedback using ECN bits. In an example, NG-RAN may employ ECN bits marking for DL and/or UL direction.” [0096] recites, “FIG. 4B connects to DN 408 via AN 402 and UPF 405. The AN 402 and UPF 405 constitute trusted (e.g., 3GPP) access to the DN 408. By contrast, UE 401 may also access DN 408 using an untrusted access network, AN 403, and a non-3GPP interworking function (N3IWF) 404.” As explained Uplink IP packets with ECN markings are sent towards non-3GPP IWF as shown in Fig. 4B)
Although implicit, Talebi Fard does not explicitly mention,
wherein detecting congestion indication comprises detecting congestion based on explicit congestion notification (ECN) markings in outer IP packets exchanged between the apparatus and the non3GPP interworking function; explicit congestion notification marking of uplink packets towards said network entity of said first network, wherein said uplink packets comprise outer IP packets of a protocol stack structure including at least outer IP packets and inner IP packets contained in said respective outer IP packets; determining a number of ECN markings based on a level of said congestion indication and on a rate of downlink packets from the first network, by calculating a marking percentage based on congestion level and downlink traffic rate for a packet data unit (PDU) session, wherein the ECN marking is performed according to the determined marking percentage; and configuring the PDU session specific outer IP addresses, wherein said first network comprises a 3GPP network, wherein said apparatus is operable as or at an untrusted non-3GPP access entity, wherein the apparatus comprises a WLAN router that is L4Scapable, and wherein separate IPsec tunnels are configured per PDU session and the ECN markings are applied per tunnel.
However, In an analogous invention Fang teaches,
wherein detecting congestion indication comprises detecting congestion based on explicit congestion notification (ECN) markings in outer IP packets exchanged between the apparatus and the non3GPP interworking function; -Fig. 4; Paragraph [0039, 0012] ([0039] recites, “…L4S refers to a technology providing high throughput and low latency for internet protocol (IP) data traffic. L4S aims to reduce queue delay issues in data transfer without loss of IP packets between an L4S application server 404 and a wireless device 402 via a 5G wireless network (e.g., via a wireless connection established between the DN 220, UPF 216, and RAN 204). L4S reduces queue delays by adding or modifying Explicit Congestion Notifications (ECNs) to IP packets upon detection of a risk of a slowdown. ECN allows for end-to-end notifications of network congestion to prevent packet losses. The ECN can include a bit marker in a header of a data packet….” [0012] recites, “The methods combine the use of a data packet throughput management application (e.g., a Low Latency Low Loss Scalable Throughput (L4S) application) in a 5G wireless network combining bandwidth aggregation and network slicing at 5G core network functions (e.g., non-3GPP Interworking Function (N3WIF)).”)
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the “Configuration Of User Plane Congestion Notification” proposed by Talebi Fard to include the concept of “detecting congestion indication comprises detecting congestion based on explicit congestion notification (ECN) markings in outer IP packets exchanged between the apparatus and the non3GPP interworking function;” of Fang. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to improve link efficiency [0023].
Although implicit, Talebi Fard and Fang combination do not explicitly mention,
explicit congestion notification marking of uplink packets towards said network entity of said first network, wherein said uplink packets comprise outer IP packets of a protocol stack structure including at least outer IP packets and inner IP packets contained in said respective outer IP packets; determining a number of ECN markings based on a level of said congestion indication and on a rate of downlink packets from the first network, by calculating a marking percentage based on congestion level and downlink traffic rate for a packet data unit (PDU) session, wherein the ECN marking is performed according to the determined marking percentage; and configuring the PDU session specific outer IP addresses, wherein said first network comprises a 3GPP network, wherein said apparatus is operable as or at an untrusted non-3GPP access entity, wherein the apparatus comprises a WLAN router that is L4Scapable, and wherein separate IPsec tunnels are configured per PDU session and the ECN markings are applied per tunnel.
However, in an analogous invention, Abi-Nassif teaches,
explicit congestion notification marking of uplink packets towards said network entity of said first network, wherein said uplink packets comprise outer IP packets of a protocol stack structure including at least outer IP packets and inner IP packets contained in said respective outer IP packets; -Paragraph [0062] ([0062] recites, “When an EP packet is encapsulated for tunneling by a device within a radio access network, the ECN information in the outer IP packet needs to be transferred to the inner IP packet at the receiving end of the tunnel. For example, IP packets that are to be sent via an air link by the RAN 10 shown in FIG. 1 are encoded by Point-to-Point (PPP)/High-Level Data Link Control (HDLC) and RLP, fragmented, and encapsulated before going through the RNC-to-RN tunnel. Therefore, supporting congestion avoidance in RAN requires propagating the ECN information from the transport IP packets to the user IP packets.”)
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the “Configuration Of User Plane Congestion Notification
” proposed by Talebi Fard to include the concept of “explicit congestion notification marking of uplink packets towards said network entity of said first network, wherein said uplink packets comprise outer IP packets of a protocol stack structure including at least outer IP packets and inner IP packets contained in said respective outer IP packets;” of Abi-Nassif. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to reducing a rate at which the stream of data packets are sent over the network to the radio node in response to the monitoring [0005].
Although implicit, Talebi Fard, Fang and Abi-Nassif combination do not explicitly mention,
determining a number of ECN markings based on a level of said congestion indication and on a rate of downlink packets from the first network, by calculating a marking percentage based on congestion level and downlink traffic rate for a packet data unit (PDU) session, wherein the ECN marking is performed according to the determined marking percentage; and configuring the PDU session specific outer IP addresses, wherein said first network comprises a 3GPP network, wherein said apparatus is operable as or at an untrusted non-3GPP access entity, wherein the apparatus comprises a WLAN router that is L4Scapable, and wherein separate IPsec tunnels are configured per PDU session and the ECN markings are applied per tunnel.
However, in an analogous invention, Ludwig teaches,
determining a number of ECN markings based on a level of said congestion indication and on a rate of downlink packets from the first network, by calculating a marking percentage based on congestion level and downlink traffic rate for a packet data unit (PDU) session, wherein the ECN marking is performed according to the determined marking percentage; -Fig. 4; Paragraph [0051, 0056] ([0051] recites, “In known uses of congestion indication markings, like with ECN, such markings are added if a congestion condition is detected. Such a congestion condition is determined based on the state of congestion at a forwarding point, e.g. at a router. The state of congestion is typically assessed based on the queue state at the forwarding point, e.g. based on the length of the data unit queue waiting to be forwarded. In contrast thereto, the present embodiment of the invention monitors the communication quality at the radio access level and makes a setting of a congestion indication marking dependent on the presence of a radio communication degradation condition.” As explained above, there can be many different conditions (e.g., state of congestion (congestion level), queue state (i.e., downlink traffic rate), presence of radio condition degradation etc.) for marking and therefore, marking percentage is based on congestion level and downlink traffic rate. It is easily understandable to an ordinary person with the skill in the art that ECN marking is performed based on marking percentage calculated from congestion level, downlink traffic rate etc. [0056] recites, “FIG. 4 shows such a method for controlling a receiver such as receiver 17 shown in FIG. 1. The method for controlling the receiver 17 of a data unit communication 18 from the data source 10 comprises determining whether a received data unit contains a congestion indication marking, step S40, and if said congestion indication marking is detected, step S41, sending to said data source 10 a message for adjusting a data transmission rate of said data source 10, said message indicating as an upper bound for said data transmission rate a value corresponding to a value associated with the minimum transmission capacity parameter for the transport service provided to terminal 16 by network 2”)
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the “Configuration Of User Plane Congestion Notification” proposed by Talebi Fard to include the concept of “determining a number of ECN markings based on a level of said congestion indication and on a rate of downlink packets from the first network, by calculating a marking percentage based on congestion level and downlink traffic rate for a packet data unit (PDU) session, wherein the ECN marking is performed according to the determined marking percentage;” of Ludwig. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to have improved control, as the data source not only receives an indication to reduce its sending rate, but furthermore obtains dedicated knowledge of an upper bound [0018].
Although implicit, Talebi Fard, Fang, Abi-Nassif, and Ludwig combination do not explicitly mention,
and configuring the PDU session specific outer IP addresses, wherein said first network comprises a 3GPP network, wherein said apparatus is operable as or at an untrusted non-3GPP access entity, wherein the apparatus comprises a WLAN router that is L4Scapable, and wherein separate IPsec tunnels are configured per PDU session and the ECN markings are applied per tunnel.
However, in an analogous invention Talebi Fard2 teaches,
and configuring the PDU session specific outer IP addresses, wherein said first network comprises a 3GPP network, wherein said apparatus is operable as or at an untrusted non-3GPP access entity, wherein the apparatus comprises a WLAN router that is L4Scapable, and wherein separate IPsec tunnels are configured per PDU session and the ECN markings are applied per tunnel. -Fig. 15, 35; Paragraph [0206-0208, 0471] ([0206-0208] recites, “In an example embodiment as depicted in FIG. 15A, FIG. 15B and FIG. 15C, a UE may access a network via different access types. The UE may access the network via a 3GPP access type as in FIG. 15A. A 3GPP access type may comprise GRAN: GSM radio access network (GRAN), EDGE packet radio services with GRAN (GERAN), UMTS radio access network (UTRAN), E-UTRAN: The Long Term Evolution (LTE) high speed and low latency radio access network, New Radio (NR), 5G NR, and/or the like. In an example, as depicted in FIG. 15B, a non-3GPP (N3GPP) access type may be employed. Examples of N3GPP access type may comprise trusted or untrusted WiFi access, IEEE based access, wireline access, fixed access, WiMAX, and/or the like. In an example, N3IWF—Non-3GPP Interworking Function may be employed for access of a UE to the network via N3GPP access. The N3IWF may be employed for interworking between untrusted non-3GPP networks and the 5G Core. As such, the N3IWF may support both N2 and N3 based connectivity to the core, whilst supporting IPSec connectivity towards the UE.” [0345] recites, “To address service requirements of L4S, ECN bits may be employed for marking of payload packets (as specified in RFC 8311)” [0471] recites, “In an example, the triggering condition may comprise an event, a threshold parameter for reporting the user plane resource congestion, and/or the like. In an example, the event may comprise congestion of a link between the wireless device and the base station, congestion of a link (a tunnel, GTP tunnel, GTP-U tunnel, and/or the like) between the base station and the UPF, access via the base station being unavailable, and/or the like…. The addressing information may comprise an IP address associated with PMF of a first access of a multi-access PDU session wherein the first access is identified by a first access type and a first radio access technology (RAT).”)
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the “Configuration Of User Plane Congestion Notification” proposed by Talebi Fard to include the concept of “configuring the PDU session specific outer IP addresses, wherein said first network comprises a 3GPP network, wherein said apparatus is operable as or at an untrusted non-3GPP access entity, wherein the apparatus comprises a WLAN router that is L4Scapable, and wherein separate IPsec tunnels are configured per PDU session and the ECN markings are applied per tunnel.” of Talebi Fard2. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to improve the feasibility of use cases such as autonomous driving and telesurgery [0106].
Response to Argument(s)
Applicant’s arguments with respect to the claims have been considered but are moot because the arguments do not apply to any of the references being used in the current rejection.
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
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/AHMED SAIFUDDIN/Examiner, Art Unit 2475
/KHALED M KASSIM/supervisory patent examiner, Art Unit 2475
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