DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
1. The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Status of Claims
2. This Office Action is in response to the application filed on 09/08/2024. Claims 1 and through 20 are presently pending and are presented for examination.
3. 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.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
4. 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 1-6, 8-9, 11-18, and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Monajemi et al. (US 2020/0322960 A1) in view of Jeon et al. (2013/0231125 A1).
For claim 1 Monajemi teaches a method, performed by an interference monitoring node (paragraph 25 “AP (monitoring node) tracks rising interference time (timestamp) and a subsequent lowering interference time (timestamp)”), the method comprising:
obtaining, from at least one network node, an interference parameter associated with at least one coverage enhancing device capable of transmitting a signal in a cell of the at least one network node (paragraph 41 “a machine learning device, interference parameter such as duration of the channel interference… the duration predictor module 210 uses the neural network to process the signal parameters 211 and predict the duration of the channel interference, wherein the interference parameter is indicative of:
a time stamp of transmission of the signal (paraph 41 “predictor 210 predicts the duration (needs at list a beginning of interfering signal timestamp and ending of interfering timestamp) of channel interference” and paragraph 25 “AP (monitoring node) tracks rising interference time (timestamp) and a subsequent lowering interference time (timestamp)”); and
an interference level during transmission of the signal (paraph 41 “predictor 210 predicts the duration (needs at list a beginning of interfering signal timestamp and ending of interfering timestamp) of channel interference” and signal strength and highest level interference”);
determining, based on the interference parameter, a configuration parameter indicative of a change in resource allocation of the cell and/or a change in coverage enhancing device configuration for reducing the interference level of an upcoming signal (paragraph 18 “time of interference change in a coverage area…requires a change in the network system”, paragraphs 45-46 “duration predictor based on signal parameters and ED-RRM (configuration parameter) decision”, paragraph 20 “a machine learning (ML) based ED-RRM module provides analysis of the interference instances/events in order to preserve and optimize the network system resources…an ED-RRM decision on whether to activate the radio resource management (RRM) processes to alter the network transmission (e.g., change a channel at an AP) or block the RRM processes to conserve network system resources.”, and paragraph 47 “an ED-RRM decision to implement an RRM process, such as changing a channel for one or more APs in the network system”); and
providing instructions for the at least one network node to apply the configuration parameter to the upcoming signal transmissions of the at least one coverage enhancing device (paragraph47 “an ED-RRM decision to implement an RRM process, such as changing a channel for one or more APs in the network system”).
Monajemi does not explicitly teach a coverage enhancing device capable of transmitting a signal in a cell of the at least one network node.
However, Jeon teaches in a cellular communication environment were
adjacent cells are operating on the same frequency, cell-edge users may suffer significant interference. Many techniques have been proposed to reduce inter-cell interference and enhance cell edge capacity… The 3rd Generation Partnership
Project (3GPP) Long-Term Evolution (LTE) standard supports Inter-Cell Interference Coordination (ICIC). ICIC is a technique that can effectively reduce inter-cell interference by adjusting the transmit power on the frequency resources in the long-term by taking the traffic and interference to the User Equipment (UE) within the cells. The ICIC technique can be classified into two categories: frequency domain ICIC and
time-domain ICIC (Jeon: paragraph 5).
Thus, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of claimed invention to use the teaching of Jeon in the event-driven radio resource management (ED-RRM) of Monajemi in order to apply ICIC to reduce inter-cell interference by adjusting the transmit power on the frequency resources (Monajemi: paragraph 5).
For claim 2 Monajemi in view of Jeon teaches the method, wherein the interference monitoring node comprises an interference monitoring server in the core network and/or a cloud server (Monajemi: paragraph 65 “cloud computing” and paragraph 25 “interference tracking (monitoring)”), or
For claim 3 Monajemi in view of Jeon teaches the method, wherein the interference level is indicative of one or more of:
network node-to-network node interference , network node-to-user equipment interference, user equipment-to-network node interference, and user equipment-to-user equipment interference (Jeon: paragraph 6 “to mitigate inter-cell interference (network node-to-network node interference” and paragraphs 7-8 “interference form neighbor eNBs…inter-UE or inter-eNB interferences”).
For claim 4 Monajemi in view of Jeon teaches the method, wherein the interference level is indicative (Jeon: paragraph 17 “High Interference Indicator (HII)”) of one or more of cross-link interference, remote interference, inter-cell interference, and intra-cell interference (Jeon: paragraph 5 “High inter-cell interference” and paragraph 6 “mitigate inter-cell interference and mitigate intra-channel interference”).
For claim 5 Monajemi in view of Jeon teaches the method, wherein:
obtaining the interference parameter comprises obtaining, from a plurality of network nodes, interference parameters of a plurality of coverage enhancing devices located in one or more cells of the plurality of network nodes, and determining the configuration parameter is based on the interference parameters from the plurality of network nodes (Monajemi: Fig. 2 “interference parameters 211, 216 determination signal and ED-RRM decision output”).
For claim 6 Monajemi in view of Jeon teaches the method, wherein determining the configuration parameter comprises applying, based on the interference parameter, a statistical model and/or a machine learning model to the interference parameter (Monajemi: Fig. 2 “signal detection history” and Fig. 4 “machine learning at step 406” and Jeon: Fig. 10 “Threshold update USING SRS statistics”).
For claim 8 Monajemi in view of Jeon teaches the method, wherein providing instructions for the at least one network node to apply the configuration parameter comprises providing an updated resource allocation to the at least one network node (Monajemi: Fig. 2 “configuration management” and paragraph 36 “updating ED-RRM”).
For claim 9 Monajemi in view of Jeon teaches the method, wherein providing instructions to apply the configuration parameter comprises providing instructions for the at least one network node to apply an updated configuration to the at least one coverage enhancing device (Monajemi: Fig. 2 “configuration management” and paragraph 36 “updating ED-RRM”).
For claim 11 Monajemi in view of Jeon teaches the method, wherein the interference parameter (Monajemi: Fig. 2 “exemplary interference parameters 211-design dependent”) is indicative of:
a configuration of the at least one coverage enhancing device (Monajemi: Fig. 2 “interference parameters”, paragraphs 18-19 “coverage area” and Jeon: paragraph 20 “coverage enhancing UE”): and
a signal type of the signal (Monajemi: Fig. 2 “interference parameters”).
For claim 12 Monajemi in view of Jeon teaches a system for reducing signal interference, the system comprising:
at least one network node (Monajemi: Fig. 3 “Network Controller”);
at least one coverage enhancing device within a cell of the at least one network node (Jeon: paragraph 3 and 5 “cell edge User Equipment (UE)”); and
an interference monitoring node in communication with the at least one network node (Monajemi: Fig. 3 “Network Controller” paragraph 40 “access point (AP)”), wherein the interference monitoring node is configured to:
obtain, from the at least one network node, an interference parameter associated with the at least one coverage enhancing device capable of transmitting a signal in a cell of the at least one network node (as discussed in claim 1), wherein the interference parameter is indicative of:
a time stamp of transmission of the signal (as discussed in claim 1); and
an interference level during transmission of the signal (as discussed in claim 1);
determine, based on the interference parameter, a configuration parameter indicative of a change in resource allocation of the cell and/or a change in coverage enhancing device configuration for reducing the interference level of an upcoming signal (as discussed in claim 1); and
provide instructions for the at least one network node to apply the configuration parameter to the upcoming signal transmissions of the at least one coverage enhancing device (as discussed in claim 1).
For claim 13 Monajemi in view of Jeon teaches the system, wherein the interference monitoring node comprises an interference monitoring server in the core network and/or a cloud server (as discussed in claim 1).
For claim 14 Monajemi in view of Jeon teaches the system, wherein the interference monitoring node comprises the at least one network node (as discussed in claim 2).
For claim 15 the system, wherein the interference level is indicative of one or more of:
network node-to-network node interference, network node-to-user equipment interference, user equipment-to-network node interference, and user equipment-to-user equipment interference (as discussed in claim 3).
For claim 16 Monajemi in view of Jeon teaches the system, wherein the interference level is indicative of one or more of cross-link interference, remote interference, inter-cell interference, and intracell interference (as discussed in claim 4).
For claim 17 Monajemi in view of Jeon teaches the system, wherein:
to obtain the interference parameter comprises to obtain, from a plurality of network nodes, interference parameters of a plurality of coverage enhancing devices located in one or more cells of the plurality of network nodes, and to determine the configuration parameter is based on the interference parameters from the plurality of network nodes (as discussed in claim 5).
For claim 18 Monajemi in view of Jeon teaches the system, wherein to determine the configuration parameter comprises to apply, based on the interference parameter, a statistical model and/or a machine learning model to the interference parameter (as discussed in claim 6).
For claim 20 Monajemi in view of Jeon teaches the system, wherein to apply the configuration parameter comprises to provide an updated resource allocation to the at least one network node (as discussed in claim 8).
6. Claims 7 and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Monajemi et al. (US 2020/0322960 A1) in view of Jeon et al. (2013/0231125 A1) further in view of Wang Helmersson et al. (US 2012/0315935 A1-hereafter Wang).
For claim 7 Monajemi in view of Jeon does not explicitly teach the method, wherein determining the configuration parameter comprises:
determining, based on the interference parameter, a risk parameter indicative of potential interference risk of the upcoming signal;
wherein the configuration parameter is based on the risk parameter.
However, Wang teaches Initiate RRM procedures (configuration parameter) to coordinate UE1 and mitigate interference risk (interference risk parameter) (Wang: Fig. 15A, claims 4, and 26 “Initiate RRM procedures to coordinate UE1 and mitigate interference risk”)
Thus, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of claimed invention to use the teaching of Wang in the combined event-driven radio resource management (ED-RRM) of Jeon and Monajemi in order to apply ICIC to reduce inter-cell interference by adjusting the transmit power on the frequency resources (Monajemi: paragraph 5).
For claim 19 Monajemi in view of Jeon further in view of Wang teaches the system, wherein to determine the configuration parameter comprises: to determine, based on the interference parameter, a risk parameter indicative of potential interference risk of the upcoming signal; wherein the configuration parameter is based on the risk parameter (as discussed in claim 7).
6. Claim 10 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Monajemi et al. (US 2020/0322960 A1) in view of Jeon et al. (2013/0231125 A1) further in view of Peng (US 2017/0303260 A1).
For claim 10 Monajemi in view of Jeon does not explicitly teach the method, wherein providing instructions to apply the configuration comprises providing instructions for the at least one network node to synchronize time division duplex (TDD) configurations in the cell with a second cell.
However, Peng teaches the first UE is out of synchronization in a first cell where the first UE camps on, and the first UE detects a second cell at the TDD frequency point
authorized for the D2D communication within a predetermined time period and the first UE camps on the second cell (Peng: paragraph 48 and claim 5).
Thus, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of claimed invention to use the teaching of Peng in the combined event-driven radio resource management (ED-RRM) of Jeon and Monajemi in order to authorized for the D2D communication within a predetermined time period and the first UE camps on the second cell (Peng: paragraph 48 and claim 5).
Conclusion
7. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to David M OVEISSI whose telephone number is (571)270-3127. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 8Am-5PM.
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/MANSOUR OVEISSI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2415
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