DETAILED ACTION
The office action is in response to the application filed received on July 26, 2024.
The Oath was received on July 26, 2024.
Claims 1-20 are pending in this application.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDSs) submitted on July 26, 2024, April 21, 2025, and April 14, 2026 have been considered by the examiner.
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 .
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.
Claims 1-20 are rejected under U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ngoc Dung Dao et. al. (USPub. No.: US 20230276344 A1, hereinafter “Dao”) in a view of Weihua Qiao et. al. (USPub. No: US 20190215730 A1, hereinafter, “Qiao”).
Regarding claim 1, Dao teaches that a session management function (SMF) for wireless communication, comprising: at least one memory; and at least one processor coupled with the at least one memory and configured to cause the SMF to: (Dao, in Fig. 9 and Paragraphs [0349] and [0350], teaches that Fig. 9 is a schematic diagram of an electronic device 900. A network element hosting any of the network functions such as AMF (Application Management Function), SMF, NWDAF (Network Data Analytics Function) is configured as the electronic device 900 that includes a processor 910, memory 920, non-transitory mass storage 930, I/O interface 940, network interface 950, and a transceiver 960, all of which are communicatively coupled via bi-directional bus 1370. ) receive app assistant information from a Next Generation Radio Access Network (NG-RAN) node, wherein the app assistant information includes at least one of predicted uplink (UL) data rate of user equipment (UE) and predicted downlink (DL) data rate of UE; and (Dao, in Fig. 10A and Fig. 10B and in Paragraphs [0363]-[0367], teaches that in Fig. 10A, In operation 1035, the SMF 104 may send to the (R)AN (considered as NG-RAN as shown in Fig. 8) 102 via the AMF 103, an N2 SM QoS Report request. This request message (is considered as app. Assistant information request) may include an identifier to identify the UE 101, an identifier to identify the PDU Session of the UE 101, the RAN measurement configuration data which specifies the QoS parameters to be monitored and reported, how often the QoS parameters are reported (report period), or a combination thereof. The RAN measurement configuration data may contain configuration parameters, which may be the same or may be derived from the measurement configuration data received from the NWDAF (Network Data Analytics Function) 105 in operation 1005. The SMF may use a service of the AMF (Access and Mobility Management Function), such as Namf_Communication_NlN2MessageTransfer service to send the N2 SM QoS Report request (App. Assistant Information request) to the AMF 103. The N2 SM QoS Report request may contain one or more of the following parameters: UE ID (e.g. SUPI, GPSI, PEI), PDU Session ID, QFI (QoS Flow Identifier), measurement periodicity (e.g. how often the report is sent from the (R)AN node 102 to the SMF 104), a report schedule (e.g. when the measurement report is sent by the (R)AN node 102 to SMF 104), events to be monitored (e.g. congestion events, packet delay events, etc.), QoS parameters to be monitored: measured flow bit rate of QoS flows (e.g. UL and/or DL GFBR of GBR QoS flow, UL and/or DL maximum flow bit rate (MFBR) of QoS flow), measured Aggregate Bit Rates (e.g. UL and/or DL per Session Aggregate Maximum Bit Rate (Session-AMER), UL and DL per UE Aggregate Maximum Bit Rate (UEAMBR), measured Packet Loss Rate, measured Data Burst Volume in the UL and/or DL, and measured average or individual packet delay of PDUs in the UL and/or DL. Among QoS parameters, GFBR, Session-AMER, and MFBR represents the UL/DL data rate and as described in Paragraphs [0100]-[0101], based on the type of QoS, they use predicted values, statistical values such as average values, or both. Thus, they indicate the predicted UL/DL data rate as mentioned in the claim. In operation 1040, the AMF 103 forwards the message N2 SM QoS Report Request received from the SMF 104 to the (R)AN 102. The (R)AN 102 receives the measurement configuration data from the SMF 102 and performs QoS monitoring and reporting. In operation 1045, the (R)AN 102 may send to the SMF 104 via the AMF 103 an N2 SM QoS Response message to acknowledge the message received from the SMF 104 in operation 1040. In operation 1050, the AMF 103 forwards the message received in operation 1045 to the SMF 104. The AMF 103 may use the service Nsmf_PDUSession_UpdateSMContext Request to forward the N2 SM message to the SMF 104. Thus, it describes SMF receives the app assistant information (here, QoS information including the predicted UL/DL data rate) from NG-RAN.)
However, Dao does not explicitly teach that transmit the app assistant information to an Application Function (AF).
Qiao teaches that transmit the app assistant information to an Application Function (AF) (Qiao, in Fig. 12, teaches that Fig. 12 clearly shows the QoS information (App Assistant information) received from NG-RAN is provided by SMF to AF.
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to combine Dao and Qiao to include the technique of transmit the app assistant information to an Application Function (AF) of Qiao in the system of Dao to provide the technology of monitoring and reporting service performance and/or QoS including roaming scenarios, to enable implementation of enhanced features and functionalities in 5G system (Qiao, see Paragraph [0025]).
Regarding claim 2, Dao and Qiao teaches the features defined in the claim 1, -refer to the indicated claim for reference(s).
Dao further teaches that wherein, the at least one processor is further configured to cause the SMF to: transmit an app assistant information request to the NG-RAN node (Dao, in Fig. 10A and Fig. 10B and in Paragraphs [0363]-[0367], teaches that in Fig. 10A, In operation 1035, the SMF 104 may send to the (R)AN (considered as NG-RAN as shown in Fig. 8) 102 via the AMF 103, an N2 SM QoS Report request (considered as app assistant information request). In operation 1040, the AMF 103 forwards the message N2 SM QoS Report Request received from the SMF 104 to the (R)AN 102. The (R)AN 102 receives the measurement configuration data from the SMF 102 and performs QoS monitoring and reporting. Thus, the SMF transmits an app assistant information request message to NG-RAN via AMF.)
Regarding claim 3, Dao and Qiao teaches the features defined in the claim 2, -refer to the indicated claim for reference(s).
Qiao further teaches that wherein, the at least one processor is further configured to cause the SMF to: construct the app assistant information request based on an app assistant information request obtained from another network entity (Qiao, in Fig. 12 and in Paragraphs [0096]-[0098], teaches that Fig 12 shows the procedure of app assistant information (QoS information in Fig. 12) request and in Fig. 12, SMF receives the request message via PCF or NEF and it includes service performance/QoS report request (app assistant information), or application/service information provision. In response to the message received from the AF or NEF, the PCF may take one or more actions. The PCF makes the policy decision based on the information received from the AF or NEF and sends to an SMF a message (e.g. service performance/QoS report request) to indicate at least one current service performance/QoS report. The message may comprise the information received from the AF or NEF. The SMF sends this request message constructed based on the received messages to NG-RAN via AMF.
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to combine Dao and Qiao to include the technique of wherein, the at least one processor is further configured to cause the SMF to: construct the app assistant information request based on an app assistant information request obtained from another network entity of Qiao in the system of Dao to provide the technology of monitoring and reporting service performance and/or QoS including roaming scenarios, to enable implementation of enhanced features and functionalities in 5G system (Qiao, see Paragraph [0025]).)
Regarding claim 4, Dao and Qiao teaches the features defined in the claim 2, -refer to the indicated claim for reference(s).
Dao further teaches that wherein, the at least one processor is further configured to cause the SMF to: construct the app assistant information request based on determination that the app assistant information is required for an established Protocol Data Unit (PDU) session or quality of service (QoS) flow (Dao, in Fig. 10A and in Paragraph [0363], teaches that the N2 SM QoS Report request message (considered as app assistant information request) includes an identifier to identify the UE 101, an identifier to identify the PDU Session of the UE 101, the RAN measurement configuration data which specifies the QoS parameters to be monitored and reported, how often the QoS parameters are reported, or a combination thereof, where QoS parameters to be monitored: measured flow bit rate of QoS flows (e.g. UL and/or DL GFBR of GBR QoS flow, UL and/or DL maximum flow bit rate (MFBR) of QoS flow), measured Aggregate Bit Rates (e.g. UL and/or DL per Session Aggregate Maximum Bit Rate (Session-AMER), UL and DL per UE Aggregate Maximum Bit Rate (UE AMBR), measured Packet Loss Rate, measured Data Burst Volume in the UL and/or DL, and measured average or individual packet delay of PDUs in the UL and/or DL.Thus, since the app assistant information request (N2 SM QoS report request) contains the information including UE Identifier, the PDU session ID, QFI, and QoS flow parameters, the request message is constructed based on the required PDU session ID and/or the QoS flow.)
Regarding claim 5, Dao and Qiao teaches the features defined in the claim 2, -refer to the indicated claim for reference(s).
Dao further teaches that wherein, the at least one processor is further configured to cause the SMF to: construct the app assistant information request based on an app assistant information request from the UE (Dao, in Fig. 10A and in Paragraph[0363], teaches as described in the above, since the request message contains an identifier to identify the UE 101 and the PDU session ID of the UE 101, the request message is constructed based on the information requested by the UE identified by the UE identifier.)
Regarding claim 6, Dao and Qiao teaches the features defined in the claim 2, -refer to the indicated claim for reference(s).
Dao further teaches that wherein the app assistant information request includes a request for a UL/DL data rate or a request for data rate monitoring (Dao, in Fig. 10A and in Paragraph [0363], teaches that the N2 SM QoS Report request message (app assistant information request message) includes to specifies the QoS parameters to be monitored and reported, how often the QoS parameters are reported, or a combination thereof. The QoS parameters to be monitored includes measured flow bit rate of QoS flows (e.g. UL and/or DL GFBR of GBR QoS flow, UL and/or DL maximum flow bit rate (MFBR) of QoS flow), measured Aggregate Bit Rates (e.g. UL and/or DL per Session Aggregate Maximum Bit Rate (Session-AMBR), UL and DL per UE Aggregate Maximum Bit Rate (UEAMBR), measured Packet Loss Rate, measured Data Burst Volume in the UL and/or DL, and measured average or individual packet delay of PDUs in the UL and/or DL. Among them, GFBR, session AMBR, UEAMBR, MFBR indicate the UL/DL data rate and it is monitored for QoS parameter monitoring. Thus, the request of QoS parameter monitoring includes the request of the UL/DL data rate or monitoring the UL/DL data rate.)
Regarding claim 7, Dao and Qiao teaches the features defined in the claim 6, -refer to the indicated claim for reference(s).
Dao further teaches that wherein, the request for data rate monitoring includes at least one of: a type of monitoring, reporting levels, a reporting periodicity, a reporting stop timer and the a required UL/DL data rate (Dao, in Paragraphs [0131]-[0139], teaches that in Paragraph [0132], in the QoS profile, the type of QoS flow is included and it indicates GBR, delay critical GBR, or non-GBR. Thus, it is same as indicating the type of the data rate since GBR, delay critical GBR, or non-GBR is types of the data rate. In Paragraph [0139], there are multiple QoS levels in the QoS profile and the RAN QoS Information Response may include probabilities that the QoS may drop below each QoS level. Thus, according to the QoS level, the GFBR (the data rate) is dropped. For example, the GFBR may drop below 2 Mbps with 30% of probability, below 4 Mbps with 50% of probability, below 6 Mbps with 90% of probability. Therefore, since the QoS level determine the level of the data rate, the report includes the level of the data rate as long as QoS level is included in the report. Further, in Paragraph [0363], Dao teaches that since the request message include how often QoS parameters are reported, namely the report periodicity, and the report schedule, the reporting periodicity and the reporting stop timer is included the monitoring. Further, since the request and the report includes UE identifier, PDU session ID of UE, measured flow bit rate of QoS flows (e.g. UL and/or DL GFBR of GBR QoS flow, UL and/or DL maximum flow bit rate (MFBR) of QoS flow), measured Aggregate Bit Rates (e.g. UL and/or DL per Session Aggregate Maximum Bit Rate (Session-AMER), UL and DL per UE Aggregate Maximum Bit Rate (UEAMBR), measured Packet Loss Rate, measured Data Burst Volume in the UL and/or DL, the required UL/DL data rate is included in the data rate monitoring (included in QoS monitoring). )
Regarding claim 8, Dao and Qiao teaches the features defined in the claim 6, -refer to the indicated claim for reference(s).
Qiao further teaches that wherein the app assistant information is exposed directly to the AF or via a Network Exposure Function (NEF) to the AF (Qiao, in Fig. 12 and in Paragraphs [0100], teaches that Fig 12 shows the procedure of app assistant information (QoS information in Fig. 12) request and report. In Fig. 12, in response to the message received from the (R)AN, the AMF sends to the SMF a message (e.g. service performance/QoS measurement report (app assistant information)) comprising the information received from the (R)AN. In response to the message received from the AMF, the SMF sends to the PCF a message (e.g. service performance/QoS measurement report) comprising the information received from the AMF. In response to the message received from the SMF, the PCF sends to the AF or NEF a message (e.g. service performance/QoS measurement report) comprising the information received from the SMF. In case the NEF receives the message (e.g. service performance/QoS measurement report) from the PCF, the NEF may forward the message to the AF. In response to the message received from the PCF or NEF, the AF may adjust the service behavior accordingly in a timely manner based on the information (e.g. measured service performance/QoS value (s)) received from the PCF or NEF.
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to combine Dao and Qiao to include the technique of wherein the app assistant information is exposed directly to the AF or via a Network Exposure Function (NEF) to the AF of Qiao in the system of Dao to provide the technology of monitoring and reporting service performance and/or QoS including roaming scenarios, to enable implementation of enhanced features and functionalities in 5G system (Qiao, see Paragraph [0025]).)
Regarding claim 9, Dao teaches that an application function (AF) for wireless communication, comprising: at least one memory; and at least one processor coupled with the at least one memory and configured to cause the AF to: (Dao, in Fig. 9 and Paragraphs [0349] and [0350], teaches that Fig. 9 is a schematic diagram of an electronic device 900. A network element hosting any of the network functions is configured as the electronic device 900 that includes a processor 910, memory 920, non-transitory mass storage 930, I/O interface 940, network interface 950, and a transceiver 960, all of which are communicatively coupled via bi-directional bus 1370.) wherein the app assistant information includes at least one of a predicted uplink (UL) data rate of user equipment (UE), and a predicted downlink (DL) data rate of UE; (Dao, in Paragraph [0363], teaches that since the app assistant information request (here, N2 SM QoS report request) and its report includes UE identifier, PDU session ID of UE, measured flow bit rate of QoS flows (e.g. UL and/or DL GFBR of GBR QoS flow, UL and/or DL maximum flow bit rate (MFBR) of QoS flow), measured Aggregate Bit Rates (e.g. UL and/or DL per Session Aggregate Maximum Bit Rate (Session-AMER), UL and DL per UE Aggregate Maximum Bit Rate (UEAMBR), measured Packet Loss Rate, measured Data Burst Volume in the UL and/or DL, the required UL/DL data rate is included in the data rate monitoring (included in QoS monitoring). Here, the bit rate is either statistical values or predicted values or both based on the type as described in Paragraphs [0100]-[0101]. Thus, the app assistant information (N2 SM Qos report) includes the predicted UL/DL data rate of UE.)
However, Dao does not explicitly teach that receive app assistant information from a Session Management Function (SMF), and determine operation of a traffic based at least on the received app assistant information.
Qiao further teaches that receive app assistant information from a Session Management Function (SMF), and determine operation of a traffic based at least on the received app assistant information (Qiao, in Fig. 12 and in Paragraphs [0100], teaches that Fig 12 shows the procedure of app assistant information (QoS information in Fig. 12) request and report. In Fig. 12, in response to the message received from the (R)AN, the AMF sends to the SMF a message (e.g. service performance/QoS measurement report (app assistant information)) comprising the information received from the (R)AN. In response to the message received from the AMF, the SMF sends to the PCF a message (e.g. service performance/QoS measurement report) comprising the information received from the AMF. In response to the message received from the SMF, the PCF sends to the AF or NEF a message (e.g. service performance/QoS measurement report) comprising the information received from the SMF. In case the NEF receives the message (e.g. service performance/QoS measurement report) from the PCF, the NEF may forward the message to the AF. In response to the message received from the PCF or NEF, the AF may adjust the service behavior accordingly in a timely manner based on the information (e.g. measured service performance/QoS value (s)) received from the PCF or NEF. Further, as shown in the above, since the QoS report include the QoS flow information and as described in Paragraphs [0064]-[0065], the operation of the traffic is determined by the QoS flow, the operation of traffic is determined by the app assistant information (QoS report information).
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to combine Dao and Qiao to include the technique of receive app assistant information from a Session Management Function (SMF), and determine operation of a traffic based at least on the received app assistant information of Qiao in the system of Dao to provide the technology of monitoring and reporting service performance and/or QoS including roaming scenarios, to enable implementation of enhanced features and functionalities in 5G system (Qiao, see Paragraph [0025]).)
Regarding claim 10, Dao and Qiao teaches the features defined in the claim 9, -refer to the indicated claim for reference(s).
Qiao further teaches that wherein the at least one processor is further configured to cause the AF to: transmit an app assistant information request to the SMF (Qiao, in Fig. 12 and in Paragraphs [0096]-[0097], teaches that an AF sends to a network function (e.g. PCF, or NEF) a message (e.g. service performance/QoS report request (considered as app assistant information request), or application/service information provision) to indicate the PCF or NEF reporting at least one current service performance/QoS for a service data flow, a service/application, a PDU session, and/or a wireless device. If the AF sends to the NEF above message (e.g. service performance/QoS report request, or application/service information provision), the NEF forwards the message to the PCF. In response to the message received from the AF or NEF, the PCF makes the policy decision based on the information received from the AF or NEF and the PCF sends to an SMF a message (e.g. service performance/QoS report request) to indicate at least one current service performance/QoS report. The message comprises the information received from the AF or NEF. Thus, the request message is sent by AF to SMF, via NEF or PCF.
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to combine Dao and Qiao to include the technique of wherein the at least one processor is further configured to cause the AF to: transmit an app assistant information request to the SMF of Qiao in the system of Dao to provide the technology of monitoring and reporting service performance and/or QoS including roaming scenarios, to enable implementation of enhanced features and functionalities in 5G system (Qiao, see Paragraph [0025]).)
Regarding claim 11, Dao and Qiao teaches the features defined in the claim 10, -refer to the indicated claim for reference(s).
Dao further teaches that wherein the app assistant information request includes a request for a UL/DL data rate or a request for data rate monitoring (Dao, in Fig. 10A and in Paragraph [0363], teaches that the N2 SM QoS Report request message (app assistant information request message) includes to specifies the QoS parameters to be monitored and reported, how often the QoS parameters are reported, or a combination thereof. The QoS parameters to be monitored includes measured flow bit rate of QoS flows (e.g. UL and/or DL GFBR of GBR QoS flow, UL and/or DL maximum flow bit rate (MFBR) of QoS flow), measured Aggregate Bit Rates (e.g. UL and/or DL per Session Aggregate Maximum Bit Rate (Session-AMBR), UL and DL per UE Aggregate Maximum Bit Rate (UEAMBR), measured Packet Loss Rate, measured Data Burst Volume in the UL and/or DL, and measured average or individual packet delay of PDUs in the UL and/or DL. Among them, GFBR, session AMBR, UEAMBR, MFBR indicate the UL/DL data rate and it is monitored for QoS parameter monitoring. Thus, the request of QoS parameter monitoring includes the request of the UL/DL data rate or monitoring the UL/DL data rate.)
Regarding claim 12, Dao and Qiao teaches the features defined in the claim 11, -refer to the indicated claim for reference(s).
Dao further teaches that wherein, the request for data rate monitoring includes at least one of a type of monitoring, reporting levels, a reporting periodicity, a reporting stop timer, and a required UL/DL data rate (Dao, in Paragraphs [0131]-[0139], teaches that in Paragraph [0132], in the QoS profile, the type of QoS flow is included and it indicates GBR, delay critical GBR, or non-GBR. Thus, it is same as indicating the type of the data rate since GBR, delay critical GBR, or non-GBR is types of the data rate. In Paragraph [0139], there are multiple QoS levels in the QoS profile and the RAN QoS Information Response may include probabilities that the QoS may drop below each QoS level. Thus, according to the QoS level, the GFBR (the data rate) is dropped. For example, the GFBR may drop below 2 Mbps with 30% of probability, below 4 Mbps with 50% of probability, below 6 Mbps with 90% of probability. Therefore, since the QoS level determine the level of the data rate, the report includes the level of the data rate as long as QoS level is included in the report. Further, in Paragraph [0363], Dao teaches that since the request message include how often QoS parameters are reported, namely the report periodicity, and the report schedule, the reporting periodicity and the reporting stop timer is included the monitoring. Further, since the request and the report includes UE identifier, PDU session ID of UE, measured flow bit rate of QoS flows (e.g. UL and/or DL GFBR of GBR QoS flow, UL and/or DL maximum flow bit rate (MFBR) of QoS flow), measured Aggregate Bit Rates (e.g. UL and/or DL per Session Aggregate Maximum Bit Rate (Session-AMER), UL and DL per UE Aggregate Maximum Bit Rate (UEAMBR), measured Packet Loss Rate, measured Data Burst Volume in the UL and/or DL, the required UL/DL data rate is included in the data rate monitoring (included in QoS monitoring). )
Regarding claim 13, Dao teaches receive an app assistant information request from a Session Management Function (SMF) or user equipment (UE); and transmit app assistant information to the SMF or the UE, wherein the app assistant information includes at least a predicted uplink (UL) data rate of the UE or a predicted downlink (DL) data rate of the UE (Dao, in Fig. 10A and Fig. 10B and in Paragraphs [0363]-[0367] and [0372]-[0373], teaches that in Fig. 10A, In operation 1035, the SMF 104 may send to the (R)AN (considered as NG-RAN as shown in Fig. 8) 102 via the AMF 103, an N2 SM QoS Report request. This request message (is considered as app. Assistant information request) may include an identifier to identify the UE 101, an identifier to identify the PDU Session of the UE 101, the RAN measurement configuration data which specifies the QoS parameters to be monitored and reported, how often the QoS parameters are reported (report period), or a combination thereof. The RAN measurement configuration data may contain configuration parameters, which may be the same or may be derived from the measurement configuration data received from the NWDAF (Network Data Analytics Function) 105 in operation 1005. The SMF may use a service of the AMF (Access and Mobility Management Function), such as Namf_Communication_NlN2MessageTransfer service to send the N2 SM QoS Report request (App. Assistant Information request) to the AMF 103. The N2 SM QoS Report request may contain one or more of the following parameters: UE ID (e.g. SUPI, GPSI, PEI), PDU Session ID, QFI (QoS Flow Identifier), measurement periodicity (e.g. how often the report is sent from the (R)AN node 102 to the SMF 104), a report schedule (e.g. when the measurement report is sent by the (R)AN node 102 to SMF 104), events to be monitored (e.g. congestion events, packet delay events, etc.), QoS parameters to be monitored: measured flow bit rate of QoS flows (e.g. UL and/or DL GFBR of GBR QoS flow, UL and/or DL maximum flow bit rate (MFBR) of QoS flow), measured Aggregate Bit Rates (e.g. UL and/or DL per Session Aggregate Maximum Bit Rate (Session-AMER), UL and DL per UE Aggregate Maximum Bit Rate (UEAMBR), measured Packet Loss Rate, measured Data Burst Volume in the UL and/or DL, and measured average or individual packet delay of PDUs in the UL and/or DL. Among QoS parameters, GFBR, Session-AMER, and MFBR represents the UL/DL data rate and as described in Paragraphs [0100]-[0101], based on the type of QoS, they use predicted values, statistical values such as average values, or both. Thus, they indicate the predicted UL/DL data rate as mentioned in the claim. In operation 1040, the AMF 103 forwards the message N2 SM QoS Report Request received from the SMF 104 to the (R)AN 102. The (R)AN 102 receives the measurement configuration data from the SMF 102 and performs QoS monitoring and reporting. In operation 1075, the (R)AN 102 sends to the SMF 104 via AMF 103 a message N2 SM QoS Report (app assistant information report) to report the QoS parameters and/or events as configured in the RAN measurement configuration data, including a timestamp when the measurement has been taken. In operation 1080, the AMF 103 forwards the N2 SM message that carries QoS Report to the SMF 104. The AMF 103 may use the service Nsmf_PDUSession_UpdateSMContext Request to forward the N2 SM message to the SMF 104. Further, in Fig. 2 and in Paragraphs [0100], [0105], and [0126], teaches that in Fig. 2, after the PDU session establishment procedure is finished, the UE 101, at operation 215, sends a request for the network QoS information (app application information request) to the CN CP (Core Network Control Plane) function. The request is included in the NAS (Non-access stratum) SM message. The CN CP function is the SMF 104. Thus, the request message is sent from the UE 101 to the SMF 104 via the current serving RAN 102 and the AMF 103. The SMF 104, at operation 240, sends network QoS information received from NWDAF (Network Data Analytics Function) 105 to the UE 101 in NAS SM message via the AMF 103 and RAN 102.)
However, Dao does not explicitly teach that a Next Generation Radio Access Network (NG-RAN) node for wireless communication, comprising: at least one memory; and at least one processor coupled with the at least one memory and configured to cause the NG-RAN node to:
Qiao teaches that a Next Generation Radio Access Network (NG-RAN) node for wireless communication, comprising: at least one memory; and at least one processor coupled with the at least one memory and configured to cause the NG-RAN node to: (Qiao, in Fig. 4 and Paragraphs [0027]-[0028], teaches that an access network comprises a NG-RAN 105 and/or non-3GPP AN (Access Network) 165. An example 5G core network may connect to one or more 5G access networks 5G-AN and/or NG-RANs. The system diagram of the NG-RAN can be configured as shown in Fig. 4.
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to combine Dao and Qiao to include the technique of a Next Generation Radio Access Network (NG-RAN) node for wireless communication, comprising: at least one memory; and at least one processor coupled with the at least one memory and configured to cause the NG-RAN node to: of Qiao in the system of Dao to provide the technology of monitoring and reporting service performance and/or QoS including roaming scenarios, to enable implementation of enhanced features and functionalities in 5G system (Qiao, see Paragraph [0025]).)
Regarding claim 14, Dao and Qiao teaches the features defined in the claim 13, -refer to the indicated claim for reference(s).
Dao further teaches that wherein the app assistant information request includes a request for a UL/DL data rate (Dao, in Fig. 10A and in Paragraph [0363], teaches that the N2 SM QoS Report request message (app assistant information request message) includes to specifies the QoS parameters to be monitored and reported, how often the QoS parameters are reported, or a combination thereof. The QoS parameters to be monitored includes measured flow bit rate of QoS flows (e.g. UL and/or DL GFBR of GBR QoS flow, UL and/or DL maximum flow bit rate (MFBR) of QoS flow), measured Aggregate Bit Rates (e.g. UL and/or DL per Session Aggregate Maximum Bit Rate (Session-AMBR), UL and DL per UE Aggregate Maximum Bit Rate (UEAMBR), measured Packet Loss Rate, measured Data Burst Volume in the UL and/or DL, and measured average or individual packet delay of PDUs in the UL and/or DL. Among them, GFBR, session AMBR, UEAMBR, MFBR indicate the UL/DL data rate and it is monitored for QoS parameter monitoring. Thus, the request of QoS parameter monitoring includes the request of the UL/DL data rate or monitoring the UL/DL data rate.)
Regarding claim 15, Dao and Qiao teaches the features defined in the claim 13, -refer to the indicated claim for reference(s).
Dao further teaches that wherein, when the app assistant information request includes a request for data rate monitoring, the at least one processor is further configured to cause the NG-RAN node to: monitor a data rate; and transmit the app assistant information periodically or when the monitored data rate meets a condition (Dao, in Fig. 10A and in Paragraph [0363], teaches that the N2 SM QoS Report request message (app assistant information request message) sent by SMF to RAN includes to specifies the QoS parameters to be monitored and reported, how often the QoS parameters are reported, or a combination thereof (Namely, the app application information is sent when the condition is met or is sent periodically). The QoS parameters to be monitored includes measured flow bit rate of QoS flows (e.g. UL and/or DL GFBR of GBR QoS flow, UL and/or DL maximum flow bit rate (MFBR) of QoS flow), measured Aggregate Bit Rates (e.g. UL and/or DL per Session Aggregate Maximum Bit Rate (Session-AMBR), UL and DL per UE Aggregate Maximum Bit Rate (UEAMBR), measured Packet Loss Rate, measured Data Burst Volume in the UL and/or DL, and measured average or individual packet delay of PDUs in the UL and/or DL. Among them, GFBR, session AMBR, UEAMBR, MFBR indicate the UL/DL data rate and it is monitored for QoS parameter monitoring. Thus, the request of QoS parameter monitoring includes the request of the UL/DL data rate or monitoring the UL/DL data rate.)
Regarding claim 16, Dao teaches that a method performed by a session management function (SMF), the method comprising: receiving app assistant information from a Next Generation Radio Access Network (NG-RAN) node, wherein the app assistant information includes at least one of predicted uplink (UL) data rate of user equipment (UE) and predicted downlink (DL) data rate of UE; and (Dao, in Fig. 10A and Fig. 10B and in Paragraphs [0363]-[0367], teaches that in Fig. 10A, In operation 1035, the SMF 104 may send to the (R)AN (considered as NG-RAN as shown in Fig. 8) 102 via the AMF 103, an N2 SM QoS Report request. This request message (is considered as app. Assistant information request) may include an identifier to identify the UE 101, an identifier to identify the PDU Session of the UE 101, the RAN measurement configuration data which specifies the QoS parameters to be monitored and reported, how often the QoS parameters are reported (report period), or a combination thereof. The RAN measurement configuration data may contain configuration parameters, which may be the same or may be derived from the measurement configuration data received from the NWDAF (Network Data Analytics Function) 105 in operation 1005. The SMF may use a service of the AMF (Access and Mobility Management Function), such as Namf_Communication_NlN2MessageTransfer service to send the N2 SM QoS Report request (App. Assistant Information request) to the AMF 103. The N2 SM QoS Report request may contain one or more of the following parameters: UE ID (e.g. SUPI, GPSI, PEI), PDU Session ID, QFI (QoS Flow Identifier), measurement periodicity (e.g. how often the report is sent from the (R)AN node 102 to the SMF 104), a report schedule (e.g. when the measurement report is sent by the (R)AN node 102 to SMF 104), events to be monitored (e.g. congestion events, packet delay events, etc.), QoS parameters to be monitored: measured flow bit rate of QoS flows (e.g. UL and/or DL GFBR of GBR QoS flow, UL and/or DL maximum flow bit rate (MFBR) of QoS flow), measured Aggregate Bit Rates (e.g. UL and/or DL per Session Aggregate Maximum Bit Rate (Session-AMER), UL and DL per UE Aggregate Maximum Bit Rate (UEAMBR), measured Packet Loss Rate, measured Data Burst Volume in the UL and/or DL, and measured average or individual packet delay of PDUs in the UL and/or DL. Among QoS parameters, GFBR, Session-AMER, and MFBR represents the UL/DL data rate and as described in Paragraphs [0100]-[0101], based on the type of QoS, they use predicted values, statistical values such as average values, or both. Thus, they indicate the predicted UL/DL data rate as mentioned in the claim. In operation 1040, the AMF 103 forwards the message N2 SM QoS Report Request received from the SMF 104 to the (R)AN 102. The (R)AN 102 receives the measurement configuration data from the SMF 102 and performs QoS monitoring and reporting. In operation 1045, the (R)AN 102 may send to the SMF 104 via the AMF 103 an N2 SM QoS Response message to acknowledge the message received from the SMF 104 in operation 1040. In operation 1050, the AMF 103 forwards the message received in operation 1045 to the SMF 104. The AMF 103 may use the service Nsmf_PDUSession_UpdateSMContext Request to forward the N2 SM message to the SMF 104. Thus, it describes SMF receives the app assistant information (here, QoS information including the predicted UL/DL data rate) from NG-RAN.)
However, Dao does not explicitly teach that transmitting the app assistant information to an Application Function (AF).
Qiao teaches that transmitting the app assistant information to an Application Function (AF) (Qiao, in Fig. 12, teaches that Fig. 12 clearly shows the QoS information (App Assistant information) received from NG-RAN is provided by SMF to AF.
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to combine Dao and Qiao to include the technique of transmitting the app assistant information to an Application Function (AF) of Qiao in the system of Dao to provide the technology of monitoring and reporting service performance and/or QoS including roaming scenarios, to enable implementation of enhanced features and functionalities in 5G system (Qiao, see Paragraph [0025]).
Regarding claim 17, Dao and Qiao teaches the features defined in the claim 16, -refer to the indicated claim for reference(s).
Dao further teaches that transmitting an app assistant information request to the NG-RAN node (Dao, in Fig. 10A and Fig. 10B and in Paragraphs [0363]-[0367], teaches that in Fig. 10A, In operation 1035, the SMF 104 may send to the (R)AN (considered as NG-RAN as shown in Fig. 8) 102 via the AMF 103, an N2 SM QoS Report request (considered as app assistant information request). In operation 1040, the AMF 103 forwards the message N2 SM QoS Report Request received from the SMF 104 to the (R)AN 102. The (R)AN 102 receives the measurement configuration data from the SMF 102 and performs QoS monitoring and reporting. Thus, the SMF transmits an app assistant information request message to NG-RAN via AMF.)
Regarding claim 18, Dao and Qiao teaches the features defined in the claim 16, -refer to the indicated claim for reference(s).
Dao further teaches that wherein the app assistant information request includes a request for a UL/DL data rate or a request for data rate monitoring (Dao, in Fig. 10A and in Paragraph [0363], teaches that the N2 SM QoS Report request message (app assistant information request message) includes to specifies the QoS parameters to be monitored and reported, how often the QoS parameters are reported, or a combination thereof. The QoS parameters to be monitored includes measured flow bit rate of QoS flows (e.g. UL and/or DL GFBR of GBR QoS flow, UL and/or DL maximum flow bit rate (MFBR) of QoS flow), measured Aggregate Bit Rates (e.g. UL and/or DL per Session Aggregate Maximum Bit Rate (Session-AMBR), UL and DL per UE Aggregate Maximum Bit Rate (UEAMBR), measured Packet Loss Rate, measured Data Burst Volume in the UL and/or DL, and measured average or individual packet delay of PDUs in the UL and/or DL. Among them, GFBR, session AMBR, UEAMBR, MFBR indicate the UL/DL data rate and it is monitored for QoS parameter monitoring. Thus, the request of QoS parameter monitoring includes the request of the UL/DL data rate or monitoring the UL/DL data rate.)
Regarding claim 19, Dao and Qiao teaches the features defined in the claim 18, -refer to the indicated claim for reference(s).
Dao further teaches that wherein the request for data rate monitoring includes at least one of: a type of monitoring, reporting levels, a reporting periodicity, a reporting stop timer and the a required UL/DL data rate (Dao, in Paragraphs [0131]-[0139], teaches that in Paragraph [0132], in the QoS profile, the type of QoS flow is included and it indicates GBR, delay critical GBR, or non-GBR. Thus, it is same as indicating the type of the data rate since GBR, delay critical GBR, or non-GBR is types of the data rate. In Paragraph [0139], there are multiple QoS levels in the QoS profile and the RAN QoS Information Response may include probabilities that the QoS may drop below each QoS level. Thus, according to the QoS level, the GFBR (the data rate) is dropped. For example, the GFBR may drop below 2 Mbps with 30% of probability, below 4 Mbps with 50% of probability, below 6 Mbps with 90% of probability. Therefore, since the QoS level determine the level of the data rate, the report includes the level of the data rate as long as QoS level is included in the report. Further, in Paragraph [0363], Dao teaches that since the request message include how often QoS parameters are reported, namely the report periodicity, and the report schedule, the reporting periodicity and the reporting stop timer is included the monitoring. Further, since the request and the report includes UE identifier, PDU session ID of UE, measured flow bit rate of QoS flows (e.g. UL and/or DL GFBR of GBR QoS flow, UL and/or DL maximum flow bit rate (MFBR) of QoS flow), measured Aggregate Bit Rates (e.g. UL and/or DL per Session Aggregate Maximum Bit Rate (Session-AMER), UL and DL per UE Aggregate Maximum Bit Rate (UEAMBR), measured Packet Loss Rate, measured Data Burst Volume in the UL and/or DL, the required UL/DL data rate is included in the data rate monitoring (included in QoS monitoring). )
Regarding claim 20, Dao and Qiao teaches the features defined in the claim 6, -refer to the indicated claim for reference(s).
Qiao further teaches that wherein the app assistant information is exposed directly to the AF or via a Network Exposure Function (NEF) to the AF (Qiao, in Fig. 12 and in Paragraphs [0100], teaches that Fig 12 shows the procedure of app assistant information (QoS information in Fig. 12) request and report. In Fig. 12, in response to the message received from the (R)AN, the AMF sends to the SMF a message (e.g. service performance/QoS measurement report (app assistant information)) comprising the information received from the (R)AN. In response to the message received from the AMF, the SMF sends to the PCF a message (e.g. service performance/QoS measurement report) comprising the information received from the AMF. In response to the message received from the SMF, the PCF sends to the AF or NEF a message (e.g. service performance/QoS measurement report) comprising the information received from the SMF. In case the NEF receives the message (e.g. service performance/QoS measurement report) from the PCF, the NEF may forward the message to the AF. In response to the message received from the PCF or NEF, the AF may adjust the service behavior accordingly in a timely manner based on the information (e.g. measured service performance/QoS value (s)) received from the PCF or NEF.
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to combine Dao and Qiao to include the technique of wherein the app assistant information is exposed directly to the AF or via a Network Exposure Function (NEF) to the AF of Qiao in the system of Dao to provide the technology of monitoring and reporting service performance and/or QoS including roaming scenarios, to enable implementation of enhanced features and functionalities in 5G system (Qiao, see Paragraph [0025]).)
Conclusion
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/JAEYOUNG KWAK/Examiner, Art Unit 2472
/KEVIN T BATES/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2472
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