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 .
Response to Amendment
The indicated allowability of claims 2, 4, 6-11, 13, 15, and 17-21 are withdrawn in view of the newly discovered reference(s) to Tarlazzi et al (US Publication 2016/0242147 A1). Rejections based on the cited reference follow.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) 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.
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, 3-5, 7-9, 12, 14-16, and 18-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Tarlazzi et al (US Publication 2016/0242147 A1).
Regarding to claims 1 and 12, Tarlazzi discloses a radio access network RAN system (fig. 1) for providing wirelessly service using an air interface (page 1 paragraph 0023), the RAN system comprising: multiple baseband units BBUs 110, each of which is configured to perform a first portion of physical layer processing for the air interface (page 2 paragraph 0029); multiple remote radio units RRUs 106, each of which is configured to perform a second portion of the physical layer processing for the air interface (page 2 paragraph 0027); wherein the BBUs 110 are communicatively coupled to the RRUs 106 over a fronthaul (page 2 paragraph 0029); wherein the RAN system further comprises an orchestration entity 204 that is separate from the BBUs 110 and the RRUs 106 (page 2 paragraph 0031); wherein the orchestration entity 204 is communicatively coupled to the BBUs 110 and the RRUs 106 (pages 2-3 paragraph 0032); and wherein the orchestration entity 204 is configured to dynamically control how the BBUs 110 and the RRUs 106 provide the wireless service based, at least in part, on data provided from the multiple BBUs 110 and data provided from the multiple RRUs 106 (pages 1-2 paragraphs 0023-0025).
Regarding to claims 3 and 14, Tarlazzi discloses the orchestration entity is configured to dynamically control how the BBUs and the RRUs provide the wireless service on the fly while the BBUs and the RRUs are running (page 2 paragraph 0029).
Regarding to claims 4 and 15, Tarlazzi discloses the orchestration entity is configured to dynamically control how the BBUs and the RRUs provide the wireless service by dynamically associating each of the RRUs with one or more of the BBUs to provide wireless service (page 3 paragraph 0039).
Regarding to claims 5 and 16, Tarlazzi discloses dynamically controlling how the BBUs and the RRUs provide the wireless service using the orchestration entity comprises dynamically controlling how the BBUs and the RRUs provide the wireless service using the orchestration entity based on one or more of the following: resource usage (page 3 paragraph 0039), radio traffic (page 1 paragraph 0023), radio conditions (page 2 paragraph 0023), interference conditions (page 6 paragraph 0068), system load (page 3 paragraph 0039), number of mobile terminals in coverage area (page 2 paragraph 0025), and available computational resources (page 2 paragraph 0039).
Regarding to claims 7 and 18, Tarlazzi discloses the orchestration entity is configured to dynamically control how the BBUs and the RRUs provide the wireless service by dynamically changing how scheduling is performed by one or more of the BBUs (page 5 paragraph 0052).
Regarding to claims 8 and 19, Tarlazzi discloses the BBUs and RRUs are configured to use an adaptive fronthaul protocol to communicate over the fronthaul (pages 1-2 paragraph 0023).
Regarding to claims 9 and 20, Tarlazzi discloses the adaptive fronthaul protocol is configured to use compression to communicate some data over the fronthaul between at least one BBU and at least one RRU (page 6 paragraph 0067).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 6, 10, 11, 17, 21, and 22 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Duc T Duong whose telephone number is (571)272-3122. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri; 9am-6pm.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Hassan Phillips can be reached at (571)272-3940. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/DUC T DUONG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2467
Prosecution Insights