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 .
Claims 1-20 have been examined.
Claim Interpretation
In claims 1, 8-10, 12, 18-20, only those limitations that must be performed are considered in the BRI, so the BRI would not include limitations contingent on meeting a certain condition. Claims 1, 8-10, 12, 18-20 recite limitations contingent on meeting a certain condition, therefore the BRI would not include those limitations of claims 1, 8-10, 12, 18-20.
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 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)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-4, 8-15 and 18-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by KDDI Corporation: “ZSM003 Add feasibility check and reservation”, ETSI Draft; ZSM (19)000502R3 (hereinafter KDDI).
As per claim 1, KDDI teaches the invention as claimed comprises:
receiving, by an execution device, first information sent by a control device, wherein
the first information requests the execution device to perform feasibility evaluation on first network requirement information, and the first information comprises the first network requirement information (fig. 5.1.3.2.1-1, steps 1-3c, e.g., receiving request requirements to perform feasibility check and reservation),
the first information further comprises at least one of first indication information, second indication information, or third indication information (fig. 5.1.3.2.1-1, steps 1-3c, e.g., the request requirements comprises indication to reserve resources),
the first indication information indicates the execution device to reserve a network resource corresponding to the first network requirement information (fig. 5.1.3.2.1-1, steps 1-3c, e.g., indicate to reserve the network resources),
the second indication information indicates the execution device to feedback information about the network resource corresponding to the first network requirement information, and
the third indication information indicates the execution device to feedback information about a modification recommendation of the first network requirement information;
performing, by the execution device, feasibility evaluation on the first network requirement information based on the first information, to determine second information, wherein the second information comprises a feasibility evaluation result (fig. 5.1.3.2.1-1, steps 3a, 3c, e.g., performing feasibility check based on the request requirement to determine if feasible), wherein
in response to the first information comprising the first indication information, the second information comprises a reservation status of the network resource corresponding to the first network requirement information (fig. 5.1.3.2.1-1, steps 3a, 3c, 3f, e.g., in response to reserving a network resource, the reservation result comprises a reservation status of reserved/reservation successful)
in response to the first information comprising the second indication information, the second information comprises the information about the network resource corresponding to the first network requirement information, and
in response to the first information comprising the third indication information, the second information comprises the information about the modification recommendation of the first network requirement information; and
sending, by the execution device, the second information to the control device (fig. 5.1.3.2.1-1, steps 3f, e.g., sending information indicating reservation successful).
As per claim 2, KDDI teaches the invention as claimed in claim 1 above. KDDI further teach wherein the reservation status comprises reserved, unreserved, or released (fig. 5.1.3.2.1-1, steps 3a, 3c, 3f, e.g., in response to reserving a network resource, the reservation result comprises a reservation status of reserved/reservation successful), and the method further comprises, in response to the first information comprising the first indication information:
determining, by the execution device, a first network resource as the network resource corresponding to the first network requirement information (fig. 5.1.3.2.1-1, steps 3a, 3c); and
setting, by the execution device, the reservation status of the first network resource to reserved (fig. 5.1.3.2.1-1, steps 3a, 3c, 3f).
As per claim 3, KDDI teaches the invention as claimed in claim 2 above. KDDI further teach wherein the method further comprises, in response to a network resource reserved for the first network requirement information being occupied (fig. 5.1.3.2.1-1, step 3a):
receiving, by the execution device, third information sent by the control device, wherein the third information indicates the execution device to
release the network resource(fig. 5.1.3.2.1-1, step 3a), and
reserve the released network resource for the first network requirement information (fig. 5.1.3.2.1-1, steps 3a, 3c, 3f, e.g., reserving a resource after the resource was released).
As per claim 4, KDDI teaches the invention as claimed in claim 3 above. KDDI further teach wherein the first indication information further comprises the third information (fig. 5.1.3.2.1-1, step 3c).
As per claims 8-10, these claims recite limitations contingent on meeting a certain condition (e.g., the first information comprising the second indication information or the third indication information), therefore the BRI would not include the limitations of claims 8-10.
As per claim 11, KDDI teaches the invention as claimed in claim 1 above. KDDI further teach wherein the network resource comprises at least one of : a radio resource, a core network resource, or a virtual resource (fig. 5.1.3.2.1-1, e.g., RAN/CU resource).
As per claims 12 and 20, they are rejected for the same reason as set forth in claim 1 above.
As per claim 13, it is rejected for the same reason as set forth in claims 1 and 2 above.
As per claim 14, it is rejected for the same reason as set forth in claim 3 above.
As per claim 15, it is rejected for the same reason as set forth in claim 4 above.
As per claims 18-19, these claims recite limitations contingent on meeting a certain condition (e.g., the first information comprising the second indication information or the third indication information), therefore the BRI would not include the limitations of claims 18-19.
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 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.
Claims 5-6 and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over KDDI in view of Ali-Tolppa et al, WO 2020/207566 (hereinafter Ali-Tolppa).
As per claim 5, KDDI teaches the invention as claimed in claim 1 above. KDDI is silent in regards to first duration in which the network resource is reserved. Ali-Tolppa teaches wherein the first indication information further indicates first duration in which the network resource is reserved for the first network requirement information (page 2, lines 18-34).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Ali-Tolppa’s teaching with KDDI’s system in order to allow KDDI’s system to check whether reservation of network resource for an indicated duration is feasible, thus improving the resource reservation of KDDI’s system.
As per claim 6, KDDI and Ali-Tolppa teach the invention as claimed in claim 5 above. KDDI further teach wherein the method further comprises, in response to the network resource being reserved for the first network requirement information beyond the first duration:
releasing, by the execution device, the network resource reserved for the first network requirement information (fig. 5.1.3.2.1-1, step 3a).
As per claim 16, it is rejected for the same reason as set forth in claim 5 above.
Claims 7 and 17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over KDDI and Ali-Tolppa in view of Qin et al, WO 2020/147573 (hereinafter Qin).
As per claim 7, KDDI and Ali-Tolppa teach the invention as claimed in claim 6 above. Although KDDI teaches fourth information indicates that the reservation status of the network resource reserved for the first network requirement information is updated to released or unreserved (page 2; fig. 5.1.3.2.1-1, step 3a), however KDDI and Ali-Tolppa are silent in regards to sending, by the execution device, fourth information to the control device. Qin teaches sending, by the execution device, fourth information to the control device, wherein the fourth information indicates that the reservation status of the network resource reserved for the first network requirement information is updated to released or unreserved (pg. 16, last paragraph-page 17, 1st paragraph; pg. 25, steps 611, 612; pg. 25, 2nd to last paragraph; pg. 27, step 715; pg.13, 1st and 2nd paragraph; pg. 14, 2nd, 3rd, 8th paragraph; pg. 15, step 101, e.g., VIM sends hardware resource information/VIM capability information indicating that the reservation status of network resource/VIM is updated to available).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Qin’s teaching with KDDI’s and Ali-Tolppa’s system in order to allow KDDI’s and Ali-Tolppa’s system to be notified of the availability of network resources that are available for reservation, thus improving the resource reservation of KDDI’s and Ali-Tolppa’s system.
As per claim 17, it is rejected for the same reason as claims 6 and 7 above.
Conclusion
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/PHILIP C LEE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2454