DETAILED ACTION
This is in response to applicant's communication filed on 10/21/2024 wherein:
Claim 1-20 are pending.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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.
Claim 1-2 and 7-9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Sun et al. (CN 110324853 A).
Regarding claim 1, Sun discloses a handover method, comprising:
sending, by a first communication apparatus, a first handover request message to a second communication apparatus, wherein the first handover request message is useable to request a terminal to be handed over from the first communication apparatus to a target communication apparatus (page 4 – “Preferably, the step S3 comprises: judging whether the source node associated with the edge server of the computing resource satisfies the requirement of user terminal, if so, the calculation load of the user terminal is transferred to the corresponding edge server, otherwise the selecting satisfies the node of the user terminal request and attempt to migrate. Preferably, the process attempts to transfer comprises sends a relocation request to the target node”; page 11-12: “the source eN8 sending a handover request message to the target eNB, comprising information needed when preparing HO target eNB”), and the first handover request message comprises execution information of a computing instance (page 15 – “To the target side into switching preservation resource, the source eNB to the target eNB sends handover request HO information and transmitting the necessary information comprises calculating the resource demand level”);
receiving, by the first communication apparatus, a first handover acknowledgment message, wherein the first handover acknowledgment message is determined based on the execution information of the computing instance (page 4 – “step S4, the destination node according to the migration request judging whether it meets the requirement of present node of said user terminal, if so, then sending an acknowledgement message, or sending a rejection message”); and
sending, by the first communication apparatus, first configuration information to the terminal based on the first handover acknowledgment message (page 4 – “step S5, the source node receives the acknowledgement message, it performs a switching operation, establishing data transmission link with the destination node and the destination node the edge server, the calculation load of the user terminal is transferred to the edge server of the destination node”; Page 16- “In one implementation of the step S5, the source eNB after receiving the switching request confirmation information, realizing switching process by the following steps: S5.1, the source eNB by sending to the UE the RRC connection reconfiguration message (requiring integrity protection and encryption) indicating the UE to perform the handover. after the UE receives the switching instruction executes switch immediately”).
Regarding claim 2, Sun discloses the method according to claim 1, wherein the execution information of the computing instance comprises at least one of: computing resource requirement information of the computing instance (page 15 – “To the target side into switching preservation resource, the source eNB to the target eNB sends handover request HO information and transmitting the necessary information comprises calculating the resource demand level”), cell identity information of the first communication apparatus, identification information of the terminal, execution progress information of the computing instance, input/output communication overhead information of the computing instance or model size information of the computing instance.
Regarding claim 7, Sun discloses a handover method, applied for a second communication apparatus, comprising: receiving, by a second communication apparatus, a first handover request message, wherein the first handover request message is useable to request a terminal to be handed over from a first communication apparatus to a target communication apparatus (page 4 – “Preferably, the step S3 comprises: judging whether the source node associated with the edge server of the computing resource satisfies the requirement of user terminal, if so, the calculation load of the user terminal is transferred to the corresponding edge server, otherwise the selecting satisfies the node of the user terminal request and attempt to migrate. Preferably, the process attempts to transfer comprises sends a relocation request to the target node”; page 11-12: “the source eN8 sending a handover request message to the target eNB, comprising information needed when preparing HO target eNB”) and the first handover request message comprises execution information of a computing instance (page 15 – “To the target side into switching preservation resource, the source eNB to the target eNB sends handover request HO information and transmitting the necessary information comprises calculating the resource demand level”); and
sending, by the second communication apparatus, a first handover acknowledgment message, wherein the first handover acknowledgment message is determined based on the execution information of the computing instance (page 4 – “step S4, the destination node according to the migration request judging whether it meets the requirement of present node of said user terminal, if so, then sending an acknowledgement message, or sending a rejection message”).
Regarding claim 8, Sun discloses the method according to claim 7, wherein the execution information about the computing instance comprises at least one of: computing resource requirement information of the computing instance (page 15 – “To the target side into switching preservation resource, the source eNB to the target eNB sends handover request HO information and transmitting the necessary information comprises calculating the resource demand level”); cell identity information of the first communication apparatus, identification information of the terminal, execution progress information of the computing instance, input/output communication overhead information of the computing instance or model size information of the computing instance.
Regarding claim 9, Sun discloses the method according to claim 8, wherein the first handover acknowledgment message is determined based on the computing resource requirement information of the computing instance and computing power resource information of the target communication apparatus (page 4 – “step S4, the destination node according to the migration request judging whether it meets the requirement of present node of said user terminal, if so, then sending an acknowledgement message, or sending a rejection message”).
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 nonobviousness.
Claim 13, 15-17, and 19-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sun et al. (CN 110324853 A) in view of Young et al. (US 20140018085 A1).
Regarding claim 13, Sun discloses a handover method, comprising:
receiving, by a terminal, first configuration information from a first communication apparatus, wherein the first configuration information is determined based on a first handover acknowledgment message (page 4 – “step S5, the source node receives the acknowledgement message, it performs a switching operation, establishing data transmission link with the destination node and the destination node the edge server, the calculation load of the user terminal is transferred to the edge server of the destination node”; Page 16- “In one implementation of the step S5, the source eNB after receiving the switching request confirmation information, realizing switching process by the following steps: S5.1, the source eNB by sending to the UE the RRC connection reconfiguration message (requiring integrity protection and encryption) indicating the UE to perform the handover. after the UE receives the switching instruction executes switch immediately”), and the first handover acknowledgment message is determined based on execution information of a computing instance (page 4 – “step S4, the destination node according to the migration request judging whether it meets the requirement of present node of said user terminal, if so, then sending an acknowledgement message, or sending a rejection message”);
handing over the terminal from the first communication apparatus to a target communication apparatus based on the first configuration information (Page 16- “In one implementation of the step S5, the source eNB after receiving the switching request confirmation information, realizing switching process by the following steps: S5.1, the source eNB by sending to the UE the RRC connection reconfiguration message (requiring integrity protection and encryption) indicating the UE to perform the handover. after the UE receives the switching instruction executes switch immediately”).
However, the reference is silent on details about sending, by the terminal, configuration complete information to the target communication apparatus.
Young discloses sending, by the terminal, configuration complete information to the target communication apparatus (Fig. 8 and ¶0069 – “In step 814, the UE 820 may send a RRC configuration complete message to the target eNB 831 and begin transferring data to and from the target eNB 831 in step 815, for transmission to the serving gateway 841 via the MME 840”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art, before effective filing date of the claimed the invention, to modify the invention of Sun to incorporate configuration complete message transmission from Young because doing so would make use of known technique to improve similar devices (methods, or products) in the same way (MPEP §2141 -III) to utilize known signaling for providing UE status to target node.
Regarding claim 15, the combined teaching of Sun and Young discloses the method according to claim 13, wherein the first configuration information is useable to indicate a configuration for performing a connection handover; wherein the first configuration information comprises connection configuration information of the terminal (Young – Fig. 8 step 808 and ¶0069 disclose the first configuration for UE performing handover). The combined teaching would be obvious for the same reason indicated in claim 13.
Regarding claim 16, the combined teaching of Sun and Young discloses the method according to claim 13, further comprises: sending handover suggestion information to the first communication apparatus, wherein the first communication apparatus is configured to send a first handover request to a second communication apparatus based on the computing handover suggestion information (Sun - page 12 – “when the terminal computing resource is a sensitive state, such as 15-minute average load is greater than 1.0, and local MEC cannot receive computing task is migrated, the terminal UE may select the calculated load transfer to MEC of other nodes. needs to consider the balance between transmission data and energy consumption, time delay, and the change of the wireless link quality after switching”, page 13-14 – “the UE reporting to the eNB …and the source cell of the target cell must satisfy the following relation, it can be switched… the UE reporting to the eNB reference signal receiving power RSRP and reference signal receiving quality RSRQ. then between RSRP and RSRQ of the RSRP, RSRQ and the source cell of the target cell must satisfy the following relation, it can be switched”).
Regarding claim 17, the scope and content of the claim recites a communication apparatus for performing the method of claim 13, therefore, being addressed as in claim 13. Further details comprising a processor, wherein the processor is coupled to a non-transitory memory configured to store instructions, the processor being configured to execute the instructions are well-known component of UE.
Regarding claim 19, the scope and content of the claim recites a communication apparatus for performing the method of claim 15, therefore, being addressed as in claim 15.
Regarding claim 20, the scope and content of the claim recites a communication apparatus for performing the method of claim 16, therefore, being addressed as in claim 16.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 3-6, 10-12, 14, and 18 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.
Contact Information
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DUNG HONG whose telephone number is (571)270-7928. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Friday from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner's supervisor, JINSONG HU, can be reached on (571) 272-3965. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/DUNG HONG/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2643
Prosecution Insights