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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of Group I, claims 1-14, in the reply filed on 7/14/26 is
acknowledged.
Claims 1-14 have been examined and claims 15-20 have been withdrawn from consideration.
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 1-5 and 9-14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Zhang et al, U.S. Patent Application Publication 2021/0014103 (hereinafter Zhang).
As per claim 1, Zhang teaches the invention as claimed comprising:
determining alarm information of N objects, wherein N is an integer greater than or equal to 2 ([144][148][156], e.g., determining a plurality of associated alarms (e.g., alarms A, B, and/or C)); and
determining a root cause failure of the alarm information of the N objects based on an object association relationship, wherein the root cause failure is alarm information of M objects in the N objects, and M is a positive integer less than N ([147][148][156], e.g., determining a root cause alarm based on relationships/rules, wherein alarm A is determined to be the root cause alarm).
As per claim 2, Zhang teaches the invention as claimed in claim 1 above. Zhang further teach wherein the determining a root cause failure of the alarm information of the N objects based on an object association relationship comprises: determining the root cause failure of the alarm information of the N objects based on the object association relationship and generation time of the alarm information of the N objects ([148][127][27]).
As per claim 3, Zhang teaches the invention as claimed in claim 2 above. Zhang further teach wherein the determining a root cause failure of the alarm information of the N objects based on the object association relationship and generation time of the alarm information of the N objects comprises: determining X association relationship sets based on the object association relationship [189]; and for each association relationship set, determining L objects in the association relationship set based on generation time of alarm information of objects included in the association relationship set([191]-[193]), wherein a generation time difference of alarm information of the L objects is less than a threshold ([198][126][133][281]; fig. 2, e.g., difference of timestamps of alarms A0 and A and the time window of 5 minutes is less than 5 minutes); and determining a root cause failure of the alarm information of the L objects, wherein the root cause failure is alarm information of at least one of the L objects, wherein both X and L are positive integers [217].
As per claim 4, Zhang teaches the invention as claimed in claim 2 above. Zhang further teach wherein the determining the root cause failure of the alarm information of the N objects based on the object association relationship and generation time of the alarm information of the N objects comprises: determining P association relationship sets based on the object association relationship [189] and the generation time of the alarm information of the N objects ([191]-[193]); and for each association relationship set, determining a root cause failure of alarm information of Q objects comprised in the association relationship set [189], wherein the root cause failure is alarm information of at least one of the Q objects [217], the Q objects having an association relationship [189], a generation time difference of the alarm information of the Q objects with the association relationship being less than a threshold, wherein both P and Q are positive integers ([198][126][133][281]; fig. 2, e.g., difference of timestamps of alarms A0 and A and the time window of 5 minutes is less than 5 minutes).
As per claim 5, Zhang teaches the invention as claimed in claim 1 above. Zhang further teach wherein the N objects comprise N1 objects and N2 objects, both N1 and N2 are positive integers, a sum of N1 and N2 is equal to N, and the determining alarm information of N objects comprises: detecting alarm information of the N1 objects ([193][285][148]); and receiving alarm information of the N2 objects from a second network element ([193][285][148]).
As per claim 9, Zhang teaches the invention as claimed in claim 5 above. Zhang further teach wherein for the N2 objects, alarm information of each object is first-type alarm information comprising at least one of the following: an identifier of the object, an identifier of the second network element, or an identifier of a network element associated with the second network element [121].
As per claim 10, Zhang teaches the invention as claimed in claim 1 above. Zhang further teach comprising: sending first indication information to a third network element, wherein the first indication information indicates the root cause failure of the alarm information of the N objects ([385], e.g., sending historical information/alarms to module 1801, wherein historical information/alarm indicates root cause of alarm).
As per claim 11, Zhang teaches the invention as claimed in claim 1 above. Zhang further teach comprising: obtaining the object association relationship, wherein the object association relationship is indicated by a configuration file or a configuration message from a third network element ([380][386], e.g., obtain association/rules from module 1801).
As per claim 12, Zhang teaches the invention as claimed in claim 11 above. Zhang further teach wherein the obtaining the object association relationship comprises: receiving a first configuration file or a first configuration message from the third network element, wherein the first configuration file or the first configuration message indicates a first object association relationship ([385]-[387], e.g., receiving association/rule from module 1801); receiving a second configuration file or a second configuration message from the third network element, wherein the second configuration file or the second configuration message indicates a second object association relationship ([385]-[387], e.g., receiving association/rule from module 1801); and determining the object association relationship based on the first object association relationship and the second object association relationship([387]-[388]).
As per claim 13, Zhang teaches the invention as claimed in claim 1 above. Zhang further teach wherein: the N objects comprise N1 objects, N2 objects, and N3 objects, N1, N2, and N3 are all positive integers, a sum of N1, N2 and N3 is equal to N ([148][116]); and the determining alarm information of N objects comprises: receiving alarm information from a first network element, wherein the alarm information comprises alarm information of the N1 objects[148]; receiving alarm information from a second network element, wherein the alarm information comprises alarm information of the N2 objects [148]; and receiving alarm information from a third network element, wherein the alarm information comprises alarm information of the N3 objects ([148][116]).
As per claim 14, Zhang teaches the invention as claimed in claim 13 above. Zhang further teach wherein the alarm information is second-type alarm information comprising at least one of the following: an object identifier, an identifier of a corresponding network element, a failure identifier, or a failure cause [121].
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 6 and 8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhang in view of Han et al, U.S. Patent Application Publication 2020/0322773 (hereinafter Han).
As per claim 6, Zhang teaches the invention as claimed in claim 5 above. Although Zhang teaches wherein a first network element and the second network element are devices of RAN ([285][110][390]), however, Zhang is silent in regards to central unit (CU), distributed unit (DU) and radio unit (RU). Han teaches wherein a first network element is a central unit (CU), the second network element is a distributed unit (DU), the alarm information of the N1 objects comprises alarm information of an object of the CU, and the alarm information of the N2 objects comprises at least one of the following: alarm information of an object of the DU, alarm information of an object of a radio unit (RU), alarm information of an object of a cloud resource corresponding to the RU, or alarm information of an object of a cloud resource corresponding to the DU ([44][45].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Han’s teaching with Zhang’s system in order to allow Zhang’s system to locate root cause alarm on fifth generation mobile communication technology (5G) network, thus reducing the number of alarms associated with an issue.
As per claim 8, Zhang teaches the invention as claimed in claim 5 above. Although Zhang teaches wherein a first network element and the second network element are devices of RAN ([285][110][390]), however, Zhang is silent in regards to central unit (CU), distributed unit (DU) and radio unit (RU). Han teaches wherein a first network element is an RU, a DU, or a CU, the alarm information of the N1 objects comprises alarm information of an object of the first network element, the second network element is a cloud resource corresponding to the first network element, and the alarm information of the N2 objects comprises alarm information of an object of the cloud resource corresponding to the first network element ([44][45]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Han’s teaching with Zhang’s system in order to allow Zhang’s system to locate root cause alarm on fifth generation mobile communication technology (5G) network, thus reducing the number of alarms associated with an issue.
Claim 7 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhang in view of Kachhla U.S. Patent Application Publication 2019/0245740 (hereinafter Kachhla).
As per claim 7, Zhang teaches the invention as claimed in claim 5 above. Although Zhang teaches wherein a first network element and the second network element are devices of RAN ([285][110][390]), however, Zhang is silent in regards to central unit (CU), distributed unit (DU) and radio unit (RU). Kachhla teaches wherein a first network element is a DU [202], the second network element is an RU ([103][195], e.g., RRU reports alarms), the alarm information of the N1 objects comprises alarm information of an object of the DU ([124][202], e.g., DU reports alarms), and the alarm information of the N2 objects comprises at least one of the following: alarm information of an object of the RU, or alarm information of an object of a cloud resource corresponding to the RU ([103]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Kachhla’s teaching with Zhang’s system in order to allow Zhang’s system to locate root cause alarm on fifth generation mobile communication technology (5G) network, thus reducing the number of alarms associated with an issue.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should
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Glenton Burgess can be reached on 571-272-3949. The fax phone number for the organization where this
application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/PHILIP C LEE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2454
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