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 .
DETAILED ACTION
This action is responsive to claims filed on September 16, 2024. Claims 10, 15, 22 and 24-28 have been canceled. Claims 1-9, 11-14, 16-21 and 23 are pending and presented for examination.
Authorization for Internet Communication
To expedite prosecution, filing a written authorization for internet communication is recommended. Doing so permits the USPTO to communicate using email to schedule interviews and/or discuss other aspects of the application. Without a written authorization in place, the USPTO cannot respond to email communications. The preferred method of providing authorization is by filing form PTO/SB/439, available at: https://www.uspto.gov/patent/forms/forms. See MPEP § 502.03.
Abstract
Applicant is reminded of the proper language and format for an abstract of the disclosure.
The abstract should be in narrative form and generally limited to a single paragraph on a separate sheet within the range of 50 to 150 words. It is important that the abstract not exceed 150 words in length since the space provided for the abstract on the computer tape used by the printer is limited. The form and legal phraseology often used in patent claims, such as "means" and "said," should be avoided. The abstract should describe the disclosure sufficiently to assist readers in deciding whether there is a need for consulting the full patent text for details.
The language should be clear and concise and should not repeat information given in the title. It should avoid using phrases which can be implied, such as, "The disclosure concerns," "The disclosure defined by this invention," "The disclosure describes," etc.
Examiner's note: It is recommended to amend the abstract to briefly describe the claimed invention according to the above guidelines.
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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) 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 1-8, 11-14 and 23 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Irvine, US-PGPub. No. 20130100948 in view of Draft Standard for Radio over Ethernet Encapsulations and Mappings, Draft Standard P1914.3/D1.7, IEEE Word Press, Volume 1914, November 2021, IEEE (hereinafter referred to IEEE draft) – provided in the IDS filed on 10/28/2025.
As per claims 1 and 23, Irvine teaches a method a first network node (Fig. 1 - adaptor 32, Paragraph(s) [0056]), comprising:
a processor (Paragraph(s) [0115]); and
a memory coupled to the processor (Paragraph(s) [0115]), said memory containing instructions executable by said processor, whereby said first network node is operative to:
receive a first packet comprising a header of a first frame from a second network node, wherein a header of the first packet comprises a first timestamp and the first frame comprises one or more second frames (Paragraph(s) [0057]; treating the downlink direction in detail, CPRI basic frames 34 egress the REC 12 in transmit order and according to precise CPRI timing. The adaptor 30 synchronously receives the CPRI basic frames 34 and CPRI timing information via the synchronous link 24, which effectively extends the CPRI clock domain of the REC 12 to the adaptor 30. The adaptor 30 encapsulates or otherwise packages the CPRI basic frames 34 into asynchronous downlink packets (e.g., Ethernet packets). for asynchronous transmission to the adaptor 32 over the asynchronous communication link 26. In addition, Irvine teaches each asynchronous downlink packet includes a defined number of CPRI basic frames 34 taken in proper transmit order, along with certain supplemental synchronization information. The supplemental synchronization information is not to be confused with the CPRI clock signal. In a particular example, the supplemental synchronization information placed into each asynchronous downlink packet comprises a CPRI timestamp for a given one of the CPRI basic frames packaged into that asynchronous downlink packet (Paragraph(s) [0058]). For example, the supplemental synchronization information comprises a CPRI timestamp for the "first" CPRI basic frame 34 included in the asynchronous frame, along with the CBFN identifying the CPRI basic frame 34 to which the timestamp corresponds. Further, in at least one embodiment. each asynchronous downlink packet includes the BFN and HFN of the radio frame(s) applicable to the CPRI basic frames 34 that are included in the asynchronous downlink packet. The adaptor 32 receives these asynchronous downlink packets and extracts from them the included CPRI basic frames 34 (Paragraph(s) [0058]); and
determine respective predicted times of the one or more second frames based on the first timestamp and a time length of a second frame (Paragraph(s) [0053], [0059], [0068]; the adaptor 32 receives asynchronous downlink packets and extracts from them the included CPRI basic frames 34),wherein the respective predicted times of the one or more second frames are used to sort the one or more second frames and/or determine a disorder alarm (Paragraph(s) [0059]; the CPRI basic frames 34 are placed in proper order, which in at least one embodiment includes recognizing and adjusting for lost or out-of-order asynchronous downlink packets as recognized by the adaptor 32 from the BFN/HFN information included in the supplemental timing information included in the asynchronous downlink packets. That is, the adaptor 32 recognizes missing or out-of-order asynchronous downlink packets from the BFN/HFN values included in the asynchronous downlink packets. In addition, since the adaptor 32 has its own CPRI clock, which is synchronized to the REC/REC-adaptor timing, it can use the received time for the Ethernet frame and the included CPRI timestamp to determine the transport delay imposed on the Ethernet frame by the asynchronous communication link 26 “being able to predict the timing of the frames” (Paragraph(s) [0020], [0088])).
While Irvine, as explained above, teaches recognizing and adjusting for lost or out-of-order asynchronous downlink packets, However, Irvine fails to explicitly teach but IEEE draft teaches determining a disorder alarm (see section 12.4 - “RoE mapper defect indication and status parameters”, table 31, pages 97-99; stat_ctrl_cpri_lof_alrm - the defect is the assertion of the loss-of-frame (LOF) alarm within the CPRI
signal at the receive CPRI port that is connected to the remote RoE structure-aware RoE mapper. The alarm is indicated by the CPRIL1[4] bit from the RoE mapper status control packet received by the RoE de-mapper).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the applicants' invention to combine the teachings of Irvine and IEEE draft by including the feature of indicating an alarm bit in the CPRIL1, as taught in the IEEE draft, in order to provide proper frames transmission sequence during data/packet transmission between at least two network nodes.
It is further noted that the feature "and/or determine a disorder alarm" is not limiting the claim due to the logical "OR" combination.
As per claim 2, Irvine teaches wherein the first packet further comprises at least one second frame (Paragraph(s) [0056]), the method further comprises:
determining respective time of the at least one second frame comprised in the first packet based on the first timestamp and the time length of the second frame (Paragraph(s) [0053], [0059], [0068]);
filling the at least one second frame comprised in the first packet into at least one corresponding first buffer cell based on the determined respective time of the at least one second frame comprised in the first packet (Paragraph(s) [0046], [0057]); and
when a time indicated by the first timestamp is reached, sending the at least one second frame in the at least one corresponding first buffer cell to a communication device connected to the first network node (Paragraph(s) [0024], [0059]).
As per claim 3, Irvine teaches:
receiving a second packet comprising at least one second frame from the second network node, wherein a header of the second packet comprises a second timestamp (Paragraph(s) [0057-0058]);
determining respective time of the at least one second frame comprised in the second packet based on the second timestamp and the time length of the second frame (Paragraph(s) [0059], [0068]);
comparing the determined respective time of the at least one second frame comprised in the second packet with the respective predicted times of the one or more second frames (Paragraph(s) [0020], [0091]);
filling the at least one second frame comprised in the second packet into at least one corresponding second buffer cell based on a comparison result (Paragraph(s) [0046], [0057]); and
when a time indicated by the second timestamp is reached, sending the at least one second frame in the at least one corresponding second buffer cell to a communication device connected to the first network node (Paragraph(s) [0024], [0059]).
As per claim 4, Irvine teaches wherein the communication device connected to the first network node comprises at least one of a Baseband Unit (BBU), a Remote Radio Unit (RRU), a Radio Equipment Control (REC), or a Radio Equipment (RE) (Paragraph(s) [0002], [0012]).
As per claim 5, Irvine teaches wherein the first frame is a common public radio interface (CPRI) hyper frame and the second frame is a CPRI basic frame; and wherein the first network node is a Radio over Ethernet (RoE) device and the second network node is a RoE device (Paragraph(s) [0007], [0017-0018], [0053).
As per claim 6, Irvine teaches wherein the packet received from the second network node is an Ethernet packet (Paragraph(s) [0018]).
As per claim 7, Irvine teaches determining a percentage of empty buffer cells for a flow identifier when a time is reached to send at least one second frame in at least one buffer cell to a communication device connected to the first network node (Paragraph(s) [0021], [0043]) and when the percentage of empty buffer cells exceeds a threshold, generating a disorder alarm for the flow identifier (Paragraph(s) [0059], [0115], [0125]).
As per claim 8, Irvine teaches sending the disorder alarm to a network management device and/or recording the disorder alarm in the first network node (Paragraph(s) [0059], [0077], [0083]).
As per claim 11, Irvine teaches determining a disorder packet event based on a sequence number of a packet for a flow identifier received from the second network node and enabling a reorder function in the first network node based on the disorder packet event (Paragraph(s) [0059], [0083], [0093]).
As per claim 12, Irvine teaches receiving a message comprising a first indication of enabling a reorder function in the first network node from a network management device and enabling the reorder function in the first network node based on the first indication (Paragraph(s) [0059], [0093]).
As per claim 13, Irvine teaches receiving a message comprising a second indication of enabling a disorder alarm function in the first network node from a network management device and enabling the disorder alarm function in the first network node based on the second indication (Paragraph(s) [0059], [0093]).
As per claim 14, Irvine teaches receiving a message comprising a third indication of a number of buffer cells and configuring buffer cells based on the number of buffer cells (Paragraph(s) [0021], [0043], [0047-0048], [0082]).
Claims 9 and 16-21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Irvine, US-PGPub. No. 20130100948 in view of Wang et al “Wang”, US-PGPub. No. 20190090099 and in further view of Draft Standard for Radio over Ethernet Encapsulations and Mappings, Draft Standard P1914.3/D1.7, IEEE Word Press, Volume 1914, November 2021, IEEE (hereinafter referred to IEEE draft) – provided in the IDS filed on 10/28/2025.
As per claims 9 and 17, Irvine fails to teach but Wang teaches sending a message to a second network node, wherein the message informs the second network node to stop a traffic of the flow identifier and stopping the traffic of the flow identifier(Paragraph(s) [0020], [0030]); wherein the message comprises at least one of a message type indicating that the message is used to inform a peer network node to stop a traffic of the flow identifier (Paragraph(s) [0182], [0185]) and a reason indicating stopping the traffic of the flow identifier (Paragraph(s) [0093], [0103], [0123]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the applicants' invention to combine the teachings of Irvine, Wang and IEEE draft in order to provide a more efficient control over frames/packets transmission between at least two network nodes.
As per claim 16, Irvine teaches method performed by a second network node (Fig. 1 - adaptor 30, Paragraph(s) [0057]), comprising:
sending at least one packet to a first network node, wherein the at least one packet comprises a header of a first frame and one or more second frames, a header of each of the at least one packet comprises a timestamp and the first frame comprises one or more second frames (Paragraph(s) [0057], [0062]; treating the downlink direction in detail, CPRI basic frames 34 egress the REC 12 in transmit order and according to precise CPRI timing. The adaptor 30 synchronously receives the CPRI basic frames 34 and CPRI timing information via the synchronous link 24, which effectively extends the CPRI clock domain of the REC 12 to the adaptor 30. The adaptor 30 encapsulates or otherwise packages the CPRI basic frames 34 into asynchronous downlink packets (e.g., Ethernet packets). for asynchronous transmission to the adaptor 32 over the asynchronous communication link 26. In addition, Irvine teaches each asynchronous downlink packet includes a defined number of CPRI basic frames 34 taken in proper transmit order, along with certain supplemental synchronization information. The supplemental synchronization information is not to be confused with the CPRI clock signal. In a particular example, the supplemental synchronization information placed into each asynchronous downlink packet comprises a CPRI timestamp for a given one of the CPRI basic frames packaged into that asynchronous downlink packet (Paragraph(s) [0058]). For example, the supplemental synchronization information comprises a CPRI timestamp for the "first" CPRI basic frame 34 included in the asynchronous frame, along with the CBFN identifying the CPRI basic frame 34 to which the timestamp corresponds. Further, in at least one embodiment. each asynchronous downlink packet includes the BFN and HFN of the radio frame(s) applicable to the CPRI basic frames 34 that are included in the asynchronous downlink packet. The adaptor 32 receives these asynchronous downlink packets and extracts from them the included CPRI basic frames 34 (Paragraph(s) [0058]);
wherein respective predicted times of the one or more second frames are determined based on a timestamp of a packet comprising the header of the first frame and a time length of a second frame and are used to sort the one or more second frames and/or determine a disorder alarm (Paragraph(s) [0059]; the CPRI basic frames 34 are placed in proper order, which in at least one embodiment includes recognizing and adjusting for lost or out-of-order asynchronous downlink packets as recognized by the adaptor 32 from the BFN/HFN information included in the supplemental timing information included in the asynchronous downlink packets. That is, the adaptor 32 recognizes missing or out-of-order asynchronous downlink packets from the BFN/HFN values included in the asynchronous downlink packets. In addition, since the adaptor 32 has its own CPRI clock, which is synchronized to the REC/REC-adaptor timing, it can use the received time for the Ethernet frame and the included CPRI timestamp to determine the transport delay imposed on the Ethernet frame by the asynchronous communication link 26 “being able to predict the timing of the frames” (Paragraph(s) [0020], [0088])).
Irvine fails to explicitly teach receiving a message from the first network node, wherein the message informs the second network node to stop a traffic of a flow identifier, stopping the traffic of the flow identifier and determining a disorder alarm.
However, Wang teaches receiving a message from the first network node, wherein the message informs the second network node to stop a traffic of a flow identifier, stopping the traffic of the flow identifier (Paragraph(s) [0020]; allocating a unique flow identify (ID) for the V2X message. The transmitting module is configured to add the flow ID to a packet header of a MBMS data packet corresponding to the V2X message, and transmit the MBMS data packet in a downlink direction (Paragraph(s) [0030]). In further details, Wang teaches the service update message informs the BMSC that a certain V2X service is stopped. There are two methods. A first method is to enable the service update message to carry a V2X flow ID of a V2X flow to be stopped. Based on such ID, the BMSC learns that a corresponding V2X service is stopped. A second method is to enable the service update message to carry V2X flow IDs of all the ongoing V2X flows. The BMSC stores V2X flow IDs of all the V2X flows on the eMBMS bearer. For a V2X flow ID not carried by foregoing message in block 901, the BMSC determines that the corresponding V2X flow is stopped (Paragraph(s) [0182], [0185])).
While Irvine, as explained above, teaches recognizing and adjusting for lost or out-of-order asynchronous downlink packets, However, Irvine in view of Wang fail to explicitly teach but IEEE draft teaches determining a disorder alarm (see section 12.4 - “RoE mapper defect indication and status parameters”, table 31, pages 97-99; stat_ctrl_cpri_lof_alrm - the defect is the assertion of the loss-of-frame (LOF) alarm within the CPRI
signal at the receive CPRI port that is connected to the remote RoE structure-aware RoE mapper. The alarm is indicated by the CPRIL1[4] bit from the RoE mapper status control packet received by the RoE de-mapper).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the applicants' invention to combine the teachings of Irvine, Wang and IEEE draft in order to provide a more efficient control over frames/packets transmission between at least two network nodes.
It is further noted that the feature "and/or determine a disorder alarm" is not limiting the claim due to the logical "OR" combination.
As per claim 18, Irvine teaches receiving the header of the first frame and the one or more second frames from a communication device connected to the second network node (Paragraph(s) [0057-0058]) and mapping the header of the first frame and the one or more second frames to the at least one packet (Paragraph(s) [0126]).
As per claim19, Irvine teaches wherein the communication device connected to the first network node comprises at least one of a Baseband Unit (BBU), a Remote Radio Unit (RRU), a Radio Equipment Control (REC), or a Radio Equipment (RE) (Paragraph(s) [0002], [0012]).
As per claim 20, Irvine teaches wherein the first frame is a common public radio interface (CPRI) hyper frame and the second frame is a CPRI basic frame; and wherein the first network node is a Radio over Ethernet (RoE) device and the second network node is a RoE device (Paragraph(s) [0007], [0017-0018], [0053).
As per claim 21, Irvine teaches wherein the packet received from the second network node is an Ethernet packet (Paragraph(s) [0018]).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Please refer to form PTO-892 (Notice of Reference Cited) for a list of relevant prior art.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MOHAMED A WASEL whose telephone number is (571) 272-2669. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri (8:00 am – 4:30 pm).
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, 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.
Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free)? If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative or access to the automated information system, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/MOHAMED A. WASEL/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2454