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 .
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.
Claims 1-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Han et al. (US 2015/0264636 A1, hereinafter Han) in view of Chen et al. (WO 2021/030520 A1, hereinafter Chen).
Regarding claim 1, Han discloses a method for managing an activation state of a node device, called current node, of a wireless communication network (WN) (¶[0024],¶[0042], wherein the management of activation state is included as an access node (small cell) transitions between dormant partial wake and full wake states depending on conditions and service demand in the network), the wireless communication network (WN) being configured to provide a communication service to a client device (¶[0022],¶[0052], wherein the access node provides communication service to a UE (client) through connectivity to macro eNB and core network )
said wireless communication network (WN) comprising at least one other node device,
called neighbor node (¶[0022],¶[0052], wherein the macro eNB and a small cell access node are network nodes within the WN, corresponding to neighbor node)
said current node comprising a first radio hosting a first access
point to a first wireless communication network, called core (CN) of the current node,
configured to interconnect the current node and said at least one neighbor node (¶[0022],¶[0052]-¶[0054], wherein the interface between the small cell and macro/eNB/core network corresponds to the claimed “first radio”, the macro/core connectivity correspons to “first wireless communication network (CN))
and a second radio hosting a second access point to a second wireless communication
network, called user network (UN) of the current node configured to connect the client
device to said current node and, via the core network (CN), give it access to said
communication service (¶[0052]-¶[0054], wherein the small cell provides wireless access to UEs and supports dual connectivity and partial handover with the macro eNB, the UE facing interface of the small cell corresponds to the second radio providing user network access, the second radio is the UE facing interface)
characterized in that, said current node being configured, upon
expiry of a period of inactivity during which no client device has connected to said user
network (UN), to enter a partially deactivated state, comprising a partial deactivation of
said radios, whereby one of said first and second radios remains active (¶[0024], wherein the small cell enters a dormant state when not serving UEs, ¶[0042], wherein partial wake and full wake states correspond to partial deactivation of radios while maintaining limited functionality),
said method comprises:
upon receipt of a communication request by the current node on one of said first and second radios, reactivation of the other radio of the current node, when said current
node is in the partially deactivated state (¶[0054], wherein determining whether to wake up the small cell is based on received feedback and transmitting a wake-up message , the small cell transitions to full wake upon receiving wake signaling ¶[0055]-¶[0056], which corresponds to reactivation of a radio when the node is in a partially deactivated state) when it has been determined, at least as a function of the received communication request, that reconnection of the current node to the at least one neighbor node is required to process communication request (¶[0054], wherein the determination of whether to activate the small cell is required based on feedback and service demand metric, ¶[0054]-¶[0056], wherein if insufficient coverage is determined the system decides not to fully wake the cell and returns to monitoring) following failure of reconnection of the current node to the at least one neighbor node (The failure of reconnection is that the small cell is not capable of providing sufficient coverage ¶[0054]-¶[0056]).
Han does not disclose and, one neighbor node, triggering reactivation of the at least one neighbor node by the current node sending a discovery request on at least one radio of the at least one neighbor node.
Chen discloses and, one neighbor node, triggering reactivation of the at least one neighbor node by the current node sending a discovery request on at least one radio of the at least one neighbor node (¶[0006], wherein the reactive discovery procedure in which a UE sends discovery requests to UEs within service range and receives discovery responses, which corresponds to sending a discovery request to a neighbor node in order to initiate communication ).
Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the invention to modify Han’s activation state controlled access node to incorporate the reactive discovery request mechanism of Chen to enable neighbor-triggered reactivation when reconnection attempts are unsuccessful.
Regarding claim 2, Han discloses the method of managing an activation state of a node device according to claim 1,
characterized in that it comprises determining that a reconnection of the current node to said at least one neighbor node is required, at least as a function of a type of the communication request, and of a topology of the wireless communication network (¶[0054], wherein topology based decision making is included in Han’s macro-cell architecture where the activation depends on coverage and network structure (¶[0022],¶[0052]).
Regarding claim 3, Han discloses a method of managing an activation state of a node device
according to claim 1, characterized in that, when it has been determined that a connection of said current node to the wireless communication network (WN) is required, the method comprises selecting at least one said neighbor node and the discovery request is sent to
said at least one selected neighbor node (¶[0006], ending discovery requests to UEs within service range includes selecting neighbor node and sending discovery request).
Regarding claim 4, Han discloses the method of managing an activation state of a node device characterized in that, when the communication request comprises a request for discovery of said network of the current node, said at least
one selected neighbor node is located on said connection path from the current node to another of said node devices of the wireless communication network (WN),
called gateway node, configured to provide the communication service (¶[0022], wherein the macro eNB is actng as gateway to core network , the macro node lies on the connection path to the core network gateway).
Regarding claim 5, Han discloses the method of managing an activation state of a node device characterized in that
when the communication request comprises a request for configuration of the communication network, it is determined that a reconnection of the current node to the core network is required to process (¶[0054], wherein receiving feedback information indicating service demand and determining whether to wake up the small access node includes the reconnection, the communication request corresponds to the feedback information indicating that service or configuration of the small cell is required. The act of waking and activating the small cell constitutes the configuration of the current node because the node transitions from dormant to active, it allocates resources to serve UEs and modifies operational state to provide service )
said communication request, said selection comprises the selection of a neighboring
node neighboring the current node to which it is not already connected (¶[0052], wherin the partial handover where the UE connects with the access node while remaining connected with the eNB ).
Han discloses reactivation of said neighboring nodes is triggered by sending a signal (¶[0054]-¶[0056]), dormant nodes are reactivated through signaling). Han does not disclose “all other nodes neighboring the current node or a sending a discovery request.
Chen discloses all other nodes neighboring the current node and sending a discovery request (¶[0006]). Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the invention to make the proposed modification of the discovery request and reactive procedure as disclosed by Chen along with the activation state configuration as disclosed by Han to enable coordinated activation of all eligible neighboring nodes as a predictable integration o f known power control and discovery techniques in wireless systems.
Regarding claim 6, Han discloses the method of managing an activation state of a node device characterized in
that reconnection comprises, following a connection failure to said at least one selected neighbor node (¶[0054]-¶[0056], wherein the system determines whether the small cell is capable of providing sufficient coverage and if not it does not fully activate), verification of an activation state of radios of said at least one selected neighbor node (¶[0024],¶[0042],¶[0054], before sending a wake up message the system evaluates the current operational state of the small cell. The evaluation is the verification of activation state of its radio interface ),
and in that, when it has been ascertained that the first radio of the neighbor
node hosting the first access point to the core network is deactivated (¶[0024], wherein the dormant state is the radio interface deactivated or reduced functionality). Han discloses all subject matter of the claimed invention with the exception of the
discovery request sent comprises an identifier of the user network of the neighbor node.
Chen discloses the discovery request sent comprises an identifier of the user network of the
neighbor node (¶[0006] wherein the discovery messages include identifying information sufficient for subgroup organization and association ,UN identifier discovery request is a 0predictatble implementation of context exchange). Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the invention to make the proposed modification of the discovery request and reactive procedure as disclosed by Chen along with the activation state configuration as disclosed by Han to enable coordinated activation of all eligible neighboring nodes as a predictable integration o f known power control and discovery techniques in wireless systems.
Regarding claim 7, Han discloses the method of managing an activation state of at least one radio of a node device characterized in that the radio which remains activated is the second radio and the
current node is disconnected from said at least one neighbor node (¶[0047]).
Regarding claim 8, Han discloses an apparatus for managing an activation state of a node device, called current node, of a wireless communication network (WN), configured to provide a communication service to a client device (¶[0022],¶[0024],¶[0054], wherein the small cell hardware is configured to perform activation state management),
said wireless communication network (WN) comprising at least one other node
device, called neighbor node, said current node comprising a first radio hosting a first access point to a first wireless communication network, called core network (CN) of the current node, configured to interconnect said (UN) of the current node, configured
to connect the client device to said user network (UN) and, via the core network, give it access to the communication service (¶[0052]-¶[0054], wherein the small cell provides wireless access to UEs and supports dual connectivity and partial handover with the macro eNB, the UE facing interface of the small cell corresponds to the second radio providing user network access, the second radio is the UE facing interface)
, characterized in that, said current node being configured, upon expiry of a
period of inactivity during which no client device has connected to said user
network (UN), to enter into a partially deactivated state, comprising a partial
deactivation of said radios, according to which one of said radios among the first and second radios remains active (¶[0024], wherein the small cell enters a dormant state when not serving UEs, ¶[0042], wherein partial wake and full wake states correspond to partial deactivation of radios while maintaining limited functionality),
said apparatus is configured to implement:
upon receipt of a communication request by the current node on one of said
first and second radios, reactivation of the other radio, when said current node is in the partially deactivated state (¶[0054], wherein determining whether to wake up the small cell is based on received feedback and transmitting a wake-up message , the small cell transitions to full wake upon receiving wake signaling ¶[0055]-¶[0056], which corresponds to reactivation of a radio when the node is in a partially deactivated state) , and
when the deactivated state of the current node comprises a deactivation of the
first radio and when it has been determined, at least as a function of the
received communication request (¶[0054], wherein the determination of whether to activate the small cell is required based on feedback and service demand metric, ¶[0054]-¶[0056], wherein if insufficient coverage is determined the system decides not to fully wake the cell and returns to monitoring), that a connection of the current node to the core network is required to process said communication request (¶[0054], wherein receiving feedback information indicating service demand and determining whether to wake up the small access node includes the reconnection, the communication request corresponds to the feedback information indicating that service or configuration of the small cell is required. The act of waking and activating the small cell constitutes the configuration of the current node because the node transitions from dormant to active, it allocates resources to serve UEs and modifies operational state to provide service )
, and following a connection failure of the current node to said at least one neighbor node (The failure of reconnection is that the small cell is not capable of providing sufficient coverage ¶[0054]-¶[0056]).
Han discloses reactivation of said neighboring nodes is triggered by sending a signal (¶[0054]-¶[0056]), dormant nodes are reactivated through signaling). Han does not disclose “all other nodes neighboring the current node or a sending a discovery request.
Chen discloses all other nodes neighboring the current node and sending a discovery request (¶[0006]). Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the invention to make the proposed modification of the discovery request and reactive procedure as disclosed by Chen along with the activation state configuration as disclosed by Han to enable coordinated activation of all eligible neighboring nodes as a predictable integration o f known power control and discovery techniques in wireless systems.
Regarding claim 9, Han discloses a node device (NG, NEL, NEH), called current node, of a first wireless communication network (WN) (¶[0022], wherein thesmall cell access node with processing and radio circuity includes the node device), comprising at least one other node device,
called neighbor node, said current node comprising a first radio hosting at least a first access point to a first wireless communication network of said current node, called
core network (CN) (¶[0022],¶[0052]-¶[0054], wherein the interface between the small cell and macro/eNB/core network corresponds to the claimed “first radio”, the macro/core connectivity correspons to “first wireless communication network (CN))
, and a second radio hosting at least one second access point to a
second wireless communication network of the current node, called user network
(UN), configured to connect the client device to the current node and, via the core network, give it access to the communication service (¶[0052]-¶[0054], wherein the small cell provides wireless access to UEs and supports dual connectivity and partial handover with the macro eNB, the UE facing interface of the small cell corresponds to the second radio providing user network access, the second radio is the UE facing interface)
,
characterized in that said current node comprises an apparatus for managing an activation state of the node device according to claim 8(¶[0054], wherein topology based decision making is included in Han’s macro-cell architecture where the activation depends on coverage and network structure (¶[0022],¶[0052]).
Regarding claim 10, Han discloses a communication system (S) comprising at least two node devices according to claim 9, of a first wireless communication network, called core network (CN), configured to provide a communication service to a client device, said system
comprising a client device (UT) able to connect to a second wireless communication network (UN), called user network, of at least one of said node devices to access
said communication service (¶[0052]-¶[0054], wherein the small cell provides wireless access to UEs and supports dual connectivity and partial handover with the macro eNB, the UE facing interface of the small cell corresponds to the second radio providing user network access, the second radio is the UE facing interface)
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Ogier et al. (US 2003/0095504 A1) and Calcev et al. (US 2004/0264422 A1).
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ANGEL T BROCKMAN whose telephone number is (571)270-5664. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Thursday 6:00 AM-4:30 PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Charles Jiang can be reached at 571-270-7191. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/ANGEL T BROCKMAN/Examiner, Art Unit 2412