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 .
Status of Claims
Claims 1-4 are pending in the instant application.
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of foreign priority document (JP) 2023126252, however a translation of said application has not been made of record in accordance with 37 CFR 1.55.
Should applicant desire to obtain the benefit of foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119(a)-(d), a certified English translation of the foreign application must be submitted in reply to this action. 37 CFR 41.154(b) and 41.202(e). When an English language translation of a non-English language foreign application is required, the translation must be that of the certified copy (of the foreign application as filed) submitted together with a statement that the translation of the certified copy is accurate. See MPEP §§ 215 and 216.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 07/25/2024 was filed before the mailing of a First Office Action on the Merits. The information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Claim Objections
Claims 1 and 3 are objected to because of the following informalities: Specifically, the limitation reciting "…from an outside," lacks a noun following "outside." The phrase is incomplete. The word "outside" functions as a preposition or adjective but is missing its necessary object or noun. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Interpretation
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(f):
(f) Element in Claim for a Combination. – An element in a claim for a combination may be expressed as a means or step for performing a specified function without the recital of structure, material, or acts in support thereof, and such claim shall be construed to cover the corresponding structure, material, or acts described in the specification and equivalents thereof.
The following is a quotation of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph:
An element in a claim for a combination may be expressed as a means or step for performing a specified function without the recital of structure, material, or acts in support thereof, and such claim shall be construed to cover the corresponding structure, material, or acts described in the specification and equivalents thereof.
The claims in this application are given their broadest reasonable interpretation using the plain meaning of the claim language in light of the specification as it would be understood by one of ordinary skill in the art. The broadest reasonable interpretation of a claim element (also commonly referred to as a claim limitation) is limited by the description in the specification when 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, is invoked.
As explained in MPEP § 2181, subsection I, claim limitations that meet the following three-prong test will be interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph:
(A) the claim limitation uses the term “means” or “step” or a term used as a substitute for “means” that is a generic placeholder (also called a nonce term or a non-structural term having no specific structural meaning) for performing the claimed function;
(B) the term “means” or “step” or the generic placeholder is modified by functional language, typically, but not always linked by the transition word “for” (e.g., “means for”) or another linking word or phrase, such as “configured to” or “so that”; and
(C) the term “means” or “step” or the generic placeholder is not modified by sufficient structure, material, or acts for performing the claimed function.
Use of the word “means” (or “step”) in a claim with functional language creates a rebuttable presumption that the claim limitation is to be treated in accordance with 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph. The presumption that the claim limitation is interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, is rebutted when the claim limitation recites sufficient structure, material, or acts to entirely perform the recited function.
Absence of the word “means” (or “step”) in a claim creates a rebuttable presumption that the claim limitation is not to be treated in accordance with 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph. The presumption that the claim limitation is not interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, is rebutted when the claim limitation recites function without reciting sufficient structure, material or acts to entirely perform the recited function.
Claim limitations in this application that use the word “means” (or “step”) are being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, except as otherwise indicated in an Office action. Conversely, claim limitations in this application that do not use the word “means” (or “step”) are not being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, except as otherwise indicated in an Office action.
This application includes one or more claim limitations that use the word “means” or “step” but are nonetheless not being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph because the claim limitation(s) recite(s) sufficient structure, materials, or acts to entirely perform the recited function. Such claim limitation(s) is/are:
a step of the external device transmitting, to the PTP time control unit, processing delay prospect information
a step of the PTP time control unit referring to a 1PPS signal input from an outside, correcting the time information, as recited in claim 3.
Because this/these claim limitation(s) is/are not being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, it/they is/are not being interpreted to cover only the corresponding structure, material, or acts described in the specification as performing the claimed function, and equivalents thereof.
If applicant intends to have this/these limitation(s) interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, applicant may: (1) amend the claim limitation(s) to remove the structure, materials, or acts that performs the claimed function; or (2) present a sufficient showing that the claim limitation(s) does/do not recite sufficient structure, materials, or acts to perform the claimed function.
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.
The factual inquiries 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 non-obviousness.
Claims 1-4 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jeong et al. US 2021/0144664 A1 (hereinafter referred to as Jeong) in view of Acher US 2021/0099966 A1, and in further view of Guendert et al. US 2020/0259577 A1 (hereinafter referred to as Guendert).
Regarding claim 1, Jeong discloses a measurement system comprising: a measurement device that simulates an O-RAN Distributed Unit (O-DU) of an Open-Radio Access Network (O-RAN) (Jeong: ¶ 0004, structure of O-RAN distributed unit (O-DU) and O-RAN radio unit (O-RU) according to open radio access network (O-RAN)); wherein the measurement device includes a Precision Time Protocol (PTP) time control unit that performs PTP time control unit (Jeong: ¶ 0075, a synchronization operation based on a precision time protocol (PTP) that enables accurate synchronization between networks may be performed. For example, a synchronization operation based on the IEEE 1588 protocol may be performed on the S-plane) with an O-RAN Radio Unit (O-RU) of the O-RAN (Jeong: Fig. 4, ¶ 0070, The O-DU and O-RU structure according to the O-RAN alliance specification may correspond to the CU and DU structure according to the 3GPP specification. ¶ 0075, interfaces between the S-plane 415 of the CU 410 and the S-planes … of the DUs).
Jeong does not explicitly disclose an external device that executes a measurement by controlling the measurement device, a PTP time control unit that performs PTP time control, the external device transmits, to the PTP time control unit, processing delay prospect information which includes a preset processing delay time generated in a case of transmitting information from the external device to the PTP time control unit, and time information which is acquired from a Network Time Protocol (NTP) server, and the PTP time control unit refers to a 1Pulse Per Second (1PPS) signal input from an outside, corrects the time information, which is received from the external device based on the 1PPS signal and the processing delay prospect information, and uses the corrected time information as time information of the PTP.
However, in the same field of endeavor as the claimed invention, Acher teaches processing delay prospect information which includes a preset processing delay time generated in a case of transmitting information from the external device to the PTP time control unit (Acher: ¶ 0072, The TA value (or more precise distance determinations) is subtracted from the received PTP value in at least in some embodiments. A moving receiver may determine other correction values at the OFDM synchronization by means of the Doppler effect, which are also taken into account in some embodiments. There are methods for determining the speed from the channel data (crossing rate, correlation) which may be inserted into embodiments. Therefore, in some embodiments, the correction factor may either be determined during a longer standstill or adjusted via the algorithms for speed determination;
[Examiner Note: Reference teaches processing delay compensation through Timing Advance (TA) values, functionally equivalent to processing delay prospect information transmitted from an external controller device]), and
time information which is acquired from a Network Time Protocol (NTP) server (Acher: ¶ 0030, In some embodiments, time synchronization of the systems or components may be achieved by means of PTP (Precision Time Protocol, IEEE1588) in interaction with the time base. For example, PTP is also used with common standards such as AES67/Ravenna, Dante…¶ 0048, PTP/NTP (Network Time Protocol) can only be used feasibly to a limited extent in a mobile radio scenario;
[Examiner Note: Reference establishes NTP as a recognized time source within PTP synchronization frameworks, analogous to acquiring time from an NTP server]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use these above-mentioned features disclosed by Acher with the system disclosed by Jeong, since doing provides an improved concept for the synchronization of measurements by predictably aligning the baseline clock and improving network synchronization time [Acher: ¶¶ 0003, 08].
Jeong and Acher do not explicitly disclose an external device that executes a measurement by controlling the measurement device, a PTP time control unit that performs PTP time control, the external device transmits, to the PTP time control unit, and the PTP time control unit refers to a 1Pulse Per Second (1PPS) signal input from an outside, corrects the time information, which is received from the external device based on the 1PPS signal and the processing delay prospect information, and uses the corrected time information as time information of the PTP.
However, in the same field of endeavor as the claimed invention, Guendert teaches an external device that executes a measurement by controlling the measurement device (Guendert: ¶ 0043, An STP-console interface is provided which includes commands issued from a console/support element to the STP facility and commands issued from the STP facility to the console/support element. ¶ 0048, Commands issued by the console/support element include, for instance, modify CTN ID, set primary-reference time, modify stratum-1 configuration, set leap-second-offset, set time-zone algorithm, set daylight-savings-time offset, modify TOD-clock, set local clock server, and set PPS information;
[Examiner Note: Reference demonstrates external device control architecture analogous to the measurement control device]),
a PTP time control unit that performs PTP time control, the external device transmits, to the PTP time control unit, and the PTP time control unit refers to a 1Pulse Per Second (1PPS) signal input from an outside (Guendert: ¶ 0077, the servers can be provided with external time reference (ETR) ports which can be utilized in a pulse-per-second mode. When PPS attachment facility is installed, each ETR port can operate in a PPS-attachment mode. When an ETR port is in a PPS-attachment mode, and a pulse-per-second (PPS) signal generator is connected to the port, the PPS signal causes the current value of the physical TOD-clock to be stored;
[Examiner Note: Reference teaches specific 1PPS signal input from an external source for timing synchronization]),
corrects the time information (Guendert: ¶ 0077, When the CTN is in PPS mode, the active stratum-1 server uses the TSE to determine the PRT-offset of the system-TOD-clock. This offset is used to perform PRT correction;
[Examiner Note: Reference teaches coordinated timing network (CTN) operating in PPS mode in order to determine primary reference time offset, enabling time information correction]),
which is received from the external device based on the 1PPS signal and the processing delay prospect information, and uses the corrected time information as time information of the PTP (Guendert: ¶ 0077, the servers can be provided with external time reference (ETR) ports which can be utilized in a pulse-per-second mode. When PPS attachment facility is installed, each ETR port can operate in a PPS-attachment mode…the PPS signal causes the current value of the physical TOD-clock to be stored in an ETR register, and is referred to as a timestamp event (TSE)…the active stratum-1 server uses the TSE to determine the PRT-offset of the system-TOD-clock. This offset is used to perform PRT correction [Examiner’s Note: Reference reiterates utilization of incoming one-pulse-per-second (1PPS) signaling to capture clock timestamp in order to measure and correct time drift, ensuring system clock accuracy for precision time protocol (PTP)]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use these above-mentioned features disclosed by Guendert with the system disclosed by Jeong, since doing so would have achieved the desirable result of compensating for processing delays by incorporating 1PPS reference signaling, yielding predictable synchronization improvements for network timing applications.
Regarding claim 2, modified Jeong discloses the measurement system according to Claim 1, further comprising: a System Frame Number (SFN) calculation unit that calculates an SFN based on the time information of the PTP (Acher: Fig. 2, ¶ 0055, Once LTE synchronization has happened at the beginning of the slot, it may be determined in embodiments through deterministic DSP algorithms at which (local) time instant this slot actually began. ¶¶ 0057-0058, After synchronization and decoding of the slot header (control information) has occurred, the SFN of the slot is also known… Thus, the local time of the beginning of a certain SFN slot can also be determined (from 1+2) then), wherein the calculated SFN is stored as an information element in a communication packet with the O-RU (Acher: ¶ 0058, The control module 14 may then be configured to adapt the counter based on the absolute time stamp or to store it first. The control module 14 may be configured to store the local time determinable from 1) respectively for one or more specific (e.g. future, cf. 4b) or one or more arbitrary (e.g. already past, cf. 4a) SFN slots and to make them available later as association with the SFN to a local time.)). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use these above-mentioned features disclosed by Acher with the system disclosed by Jeong, since doing provides an improved concept for the synchronization of measurements by predictably aligning the baseline clock and improving network synchronization time [Acher: ¶¶ 0003, 08].
Features of claims 3-4 correspond to features of claims 1-2, respectively, and are therefore rejected using the same rationale(s) and same prior art(s) applied to claims 1-2, above.
Conclusion
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/T.O.F./Examiner, Art Unit 2414
/SITHU KO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2414
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