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 .
1. This office action, in response to the amendment and remarks received 3/18/2026, is a final office action.
Response to Amendments and Arguments
2. The amendment to figure 2 as overcome the previous objection to the drawings. The previous objection to the drawings is withdrawn.
3. Applicant states that Dugan in view of Chari does not teach claim 1 and applicant does not believe Dugan is applicable to downstream channels on pages 7-8 of the remarks. The examiner disagrees. Dugan discloses the deployment of a PMA system for both DOCSIS 3.0 upstream (US-SCQAM) and DOCSIS 3.1 downstream (OFDM) bandwidth was expedited, while work on DOCSIS 3.1 (OFDMA) upstream is currently in development in the introduction section on page 50. Dugan further discloses Analytics engine: set of machine leaning pipelines that use the data to construct D3.1 OFDM, D3.1 OFDMA or D3.0 Physical Layer configuration profiles suitable for use by the devices in the network-given spectral conditions measured over certain time window in the overview of the PMA system section on page 51. The D3.1 OFDM refers to the DOCSIS 3.1 downstream (OFDM) of the PMA system as explained in the introduction section on page 50. Since Dugan discloses an analytics engine uses the data to construct D3.1 OFDM (DOCSIS 3.1 downstream (OFDM)) configuration profiles suitable for use by the devices in the network-given spectral conditions measured over certain time window, Dugan discloses dynamically determining PMA profile application times for each downstream channel based on at least the data. It is dynamic since the determination is based on the data.
For these reasons and the reasons stated in the previous rejection of the claims, the rejections of the claims are maintained.
Drawings
4. The drawings were received on 3/18/2026. These drawings are acceptable.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 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.
5. Claims 1-7, 9 and 13-17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Dugan et al., “A Reinforcement Learning Framework for Optimizing Throughput in a DOCSIS Networks”, The 39th ACM International Conference on Design of Comm, New York, NY, USA, pp 50-55, 23 Aug. 2021, DOI: 10.1145/3472735.3473389 in view of Chari et al (US 2022/0407789).
Regarding claim 1, Dugan discloses a method for automated optimization of profile management application (PMA) processing for downstream channels in a service provider network (Abstract: In cable broadband networks, which operate under DOCSIS protocol, a Profile Management Application (PMA) system uses telemetry collected from cable modems and a CMTS to dynamically assign DOCSIS profiles.), the method comprising:
obtaining, by a collector in a service provider system from cable modems in a service provider network, data for downstream channels (2. Overview of the PMA system: data collector: responsible for collecting network telemetry, topology and configuration data from CMTS and cable modems.); and
dynamically determining, by the analytics engine, PMA profile application times for each of the downstream channels based on at least the data (2. Overview of the PMA system: Analytics Engine: set of machine learning pipelines that uses the data to construct D3.0 OFDM and D3.1 OFDMA profiles suitable for use by the devices in the network- given spectral conditions measured over certain time window. Configuration Manager: responsible for transacting profiles generated by the AE. 2.1 Upstream DOCSIS 3.0 profile management. Based on these models, using both DOCSIS 3.0 upstream PMA and enabling additional channels that were difficult to activate without PMA, we have increased the upstream service MAC layer data rate capacity. This will dynamically determine the timing of the use of the newly activated channels and the corresponding PMA profiles.).
In Dungan, the upstream 3.0 DOCSIS channels are described in heading 2.1. However, the introduction describes to accommodate this increase, the deployment of a PMA system for both DOCSIS 3.0 upstream (US-SCQAM) and DOCSIS 3.1 downstream (OFDM) bandwidth was expedited. Heading 2.1 discloses Analytics Engine: set of machine learning pipelines that uses the data to construct D3.0 OFDM and D3.1 OFDMA profiles suitable for use by the devices in the network- given spectral conditions measured over certain time window. So the downstream channels corresponding to the DOCSIS 3.0 OFDM is also considered.
Dugan discloses obtaining data for downstream channels. Heading 3.5 Building Policy from Historical Data discloses an initial policy can be built from historical data without the need for exploration. This is done by considering a historical time window processing key telemetry data and PMA configuration to match the form of a state action sequence and calculating the reward for each historical time step. Though Dugan discloses utilizing historical data from the channels, Dugan does not disclose the channels having expired collection timestamps and setting the collection time stamps for each of the downstream channels.
Chari discloses the data communication system shown in figure 1. Chai discloses the data collection may be optimized based on topology information as stated in paragraph 0043. Chari discloses, for example, the topology information of the physical location (street address or latitude/longitude) of the cable modems may be used to increase or decrease the interval between data collection since the interference is typically localized and caused by the proximity to a cell tower (paragraph 0043). Paragraph 0043 further discloses if a cable modem exhibits large changes in modulation error rate values over time, then more frequent data collection is performed for that cable modem and, optionally, a group of cable modems that are geographically close to that cable modem. Chari discloses by changing the time interval between data collection due to the proximity to a known interferer or when error rate values exhibit large changes over time, the problem of collecting too much data collected in a fixed, short time interval from the multiple OFDM or OFDMA channels in the upstream or downstream directions can be overcome (paragraph 0042). For these reasons, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teaching of Chari into the method and system of Dugan.
Regarding claim 2, the combination discloses wherein the setting of the collection timestamps is done on a fixed interval basis (Chari: Paragraph 0042: data is collected at a fixed short interval for all cable modems and devices. Paragraph 0043, if a cable modem exhibits large changes in MER values over time, then more frequent data collection is performed for that CM. When the cable modem does not exhibit large changes in MER values over time, no changes to the data collection would be necessary and the previous data collection intervals can be maintained.).
Regarding claim 3, the combination discloses wherein the setting of the collection timestamps is done on a dynamic timing basis based on at least the data (Chari: Paragraph 0043, if a cable modem exhibits large changes in MER values over time, then more frequent data collection is performed for that CM.).
Regarding claim 4, the combination discloses obtaining, by the collector in the service provider system from cable modem termination system in the service provider network, topology data for downstream channels having expired collection timestamps (Dugan: 2. Overview of the PMA system: data collector: responsible for collecting network telemetry, topology and configuration data from CMTS and cable modems. Chari: Figure 1 shows the communication system including CMTS 32. Paragraph 0043: The data collection may be optimized based on topology information. The topology information of the physical location (street address or latitude/longitude) of the cable modems may be used to increase or decrease the interval between data collection since the interference is typically localized and caused by the proximity to a cell tower.).
Regarding claim 5, the combination discloses wherein the data is telemetry data and wherein the dynamically determining the PMA profile application times for each of the downstream channels is based on at least the telemetry data and the topology data (Dugan: 2. Overview of the PMA system: data collector: responsible for collecting network telemetry, topology and configuration data from CMTS and cable modems. Overview of the PMA system: Analytics Engine: set of machine learning pipelines that uses the data to construct D3.0 OFDM and D3.1 OFDMA profiles suitable for use by the devices in the network- given spectral conditions measured over certain time window. Configuration Manager: responsible for transacting profiles generated by the AE. 2.1 Upstream DOCSIS 3.0 profile management. Based on these models, using both DOCSIS 3.0 upstream PMA and enabling additional channels that were difficult to activate without PMA, we have increased the upstream service MAC layer data rate capacity. This will dynamically determine the timing of the use of the newly activated channels and the corresponding PMA profiles.).
Regarding claim 6, the combination discloses wherein the data is telemetry data and where the setting of the collection timestamps is done on a dynamic timing basis based on at least the telemetry data and the topology data (Chari: Paragraph 0043: The data collection may be optimized based on topology information. The topology information of the physical location (street address or latitude/longitude) of the cable modems may be used to increase or decrease the interval between data collection since the interference is typically localized and caused by the proximity to a cell tower. discloses if a cable modem exhibits large changes in modulation error rate values over time, then more frequent data collection is performed for that cable modem and, optionally, a group of cable modems that are geographically close to that cable modem.).
Regarding claim 7, the combination discloses wherein the data is actual PMA profile data used by the cable modems (Dugan: 2. Overview of the PMA system: data collector: responsible for collecting network telemetry, topology and configuration data from CMTS and cable modems.).
Regarding claim 9, the combination discloses wherein the data is telemetry data (Dugan: 2. Overview of the PMA system: data collector: responsible for collecting network telemetry, topology and configuration data from CMTS and cable modems. Chari: Paragraph 0043, if a cable modem exhibits large changes in MER values over time, then more frequent data collection is performed for that CM.).
Regarding claim 13, Dugan discloses a service provider system (Abstract: In cable broadband networks, which operate under DOCSIS protocol, a Profile Management Application (PMA) system uses telemetry collected from cable modems and a CMTS to dynamically assign DOCSIS profiles.), comprising:
a collector configured to obtain data from premises devices in a service provider network for downstream channels (2. Overview of the PMA system: data collector: responsible for collecting network telemetry, topology and configuration data from CMTS and cable modems.); and
an analytics engine configured to: dynamically determine profile management application (PMA) profile application times for each of the downstream channels based on at least the data (2. Overview of the PMA system: Analytics Engine: set of machine learning pipelines that uses the data to construct D3.0 OFDM and D3.1 OFDMA profiles suitable for use by the devices in the network- given spectral conditions measured over certain time window. Configuration Manager: responsible for transacting profiles generated by the AE. 2.1 Upstream DOCSIS 3.0 profile management. Based on these models, using both DOCSIS 3.0 upstream PMA and enabling additional channels that were difficult to activate without PMA, we have increased the upstream service MAC layer data rate capacity. This will dynamically determine the timing of the use of the newly activated channels and the corresponding PMA profiles.).
In Dungan, the upstream 3.0 DOCSIS channels are described in heading 2.1. However, the introduction describes to accommodate this increase, the deployment of a PMA system for both DOCSIS 3.0 upstream (US-SCQAM) and DOCSIS 3.1 downstream (OFDM) bandwidth was expedited. Heading 2.1 discloses Analytics Engine: set of machine learning pipelines that uses the data to construct D3.0 OFDM and D3.1 OFDMA profiles suitable for use by the devices in the network- given spectral conditions measured over certain time window. So the downstream channels corresponding to the DOCSIS 3.0 OFDM is also considered.
Dugan discloses obtaining data for downstream channels. Heading 3.5 Building Policy from Historical Data discloses an initial policy can be built from historical data without the need for exploration. This is done by considering a historical time window processing key telemetry data and PMA configuration to match the form of a state action sequence and calculating the reward for each historical time step. Though Dugan discloses utilizing historical data from the channels, Dugan does not disclose the channels having expired collection timestamps and setting the timers for each of the downstream channels.
Chari discloses the data communication system shown in figure 1. Chai discloses the data collection may be optimized based on topology information as stated in paragraph 0043. Chari discloses for example, the topology information of the physical location (street address or latitude/longitude) of the cable modems may be used to increase or decrease the interval between data collection since the interference is typically localized and caused by the proximity to a cell tower (paragraph 0043). Paragraph 0043 further discloses if a cable modem exhibits large changes in modulation error rate values over time, then more frequent data collection is performed for that cable modem and, optionally, a group of cable modems that are geographically close to that cable modem. Chari discloses by changing the time interval between data collection due to the proximity to a known interferer or when error rate values exhibit large changes over time, the problem of collecting too much data collected in a fixed, short time interval from the multiple OFDM or OFDMA channels in the upstream or downstream directions can be overcome (paragraph 0042). For these reasons, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teaching of Chari into the method and system of Dugan.
Regarding claim 14, the combination discloses wherein the setting of the timers is done on a fixed interval basis (Chari: Paragraph 0042: data is collected at a fixed short interval for all cable modems and devices. Paragraph 0043, if a cable modem exhibits large changes in MER values over time, then more frequent data collection is performed for that CM. When the cable modem does not exhibit large changes in MER values over time, no changes to the data collection would be necessary and the previous data collection intervals can be maintained.).
Regarding claim 15, the combination discloses wherein the setting of the timers is done on a dynamic timing basis based on at least the data (Chari: Paragraph 0043, if a cable modem exhibits large changes in MER values over time, then more frequent data collection is performed for that CM.).
Regarding claim 16, the combination discloses wherein the analytics engine is further configured to: obtain topology data from cable modem termination system in the service provider network; and dynamically determine the profile management application (PMA) profile application times for each of the downstream channels based on at least the data and the topology data (Dugan: 2. Overview of the PMA system: data collector: responsible for collecting network telemetry, topology and configuration data from CMTS and cable modems. Chari: Figure 1 shows the communication system including CMTS 32. Paragraph 0043: The data collection may be optimized based on topology information. The topology information of the physical location (street address or latitude/longitude) of the cable modems may be used to increase or decrease the interval between data collection since the interference is typically localized and caused by the proximity to a cell tower.).
Regarding claim 17, the combination discloses wherein the data is one of actual PMA profiles used by the premises devices and telemetry data (Dugan: 2. Overview of the PMA system: data collector: responsible for collecting network telemetry, topology and configuration data from CMTS and cable modems. Chari: Paragraph 0043, if a cable modem exhibits large changes in MER values over time, then more frequent data collection is performed for that CM.)
Allowable Subject Matter
6. Claims 8, 10-12 and 18-20 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.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: None of the cited references disclose wherein the analytics engine is further configured to: initiate a PMA profile application process when a percentage of the premises devices using an expected PMA profile versus an actual PMA profile is below a defined threshold as stated in claims 8 and 18 and wherein the analytics engine is further configured to: aggregate the telemetry data for each downstream channel; determine statistical metrics data for the aggregated telemetry data for each downstream channel; determine a variance between the statistical metrics data for the aggregated telemetry data and a statistical metrics data for last generated PMA profiles; and initiate a PMA profile application process when the variance exceeds a defined threshold as stated in claims 10-12 and 19-20.
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.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KEVIN M. BURD whose telephone number is (571)272-3008. The examiner can normally be reached 9:30 - 5:00.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Chieh Fan can be reached at 571-272-3042. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/KEVIN M BURD/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2632 5/18/2026
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