DETAILED ACTION
This communication is in responsive to Application 18/847507 filed on 9/16/2024. 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:
Claims 1-19 and 22 are presented for examination.
Information Disclosure Statement
3. The Information Disclosure Statement (IDS) complies with 37 CFR 1.97 provisions. Accordingly, the Examiner has considered the IDS.
Claim Objections
Claims 1-19 and 22 are objected to because of the following informalities:
There is no need to include “:” after each time you indicate claim status as (original). Also claim 22 states “…to any of claims 1-11” the claim should clearly recite the dependency according to the MPEP. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claim 8 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
The underlined limitation “…based on the performance information elements associated...” of claim 8 lacks antecedent basis since “performance information” option in claim 1 was not selected.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (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 the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-19 and 22 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102 (a) (1) as being anticipated by Soldati et al. (hereinafter Soldati) US 2025/0081101 A1.
Regarding claim 1, Soldati teaches a communication method (¶0119; a method for two network nodes to coordinate and configure a UE to store and/or report UE related UE-ESAI, which comprises a set of one or more energy metrics (e.g., an energy score, a power score, an energy consumption indicator, an energy efficiency indicator, etc.) for the UE (e.g., energy metrics determined by the UE). An energy metric for the UE may be associated with a specific radio configuration, but this is not a requirement. For instance, the energy metric may be related to sensor information (e.g. temperature, battery level, velocity, orientation), end-user behavior (e.g. which service types are provided by the application layer, identity of the applications)), comprising:
receiving, at a centralized unit (CU) of a network device, energy saving information from a distributed unit (DU) of the network device (¶0003 & ¶0194; the gNB-DU, according to other embodiments, may either configure the at least one UE with the configuration indicated by the gNB-CU, or determine a new or modified configuration to configure the UE for storing and/or reporting UE-ESAI. In the latter case, the gNB-DU may further transmit a first coordination message to the gNB-CU indicating the new or modified configuration determined for the at least one UE.
¶0235-¶0248; the UE-ESAI may comprise measurements and/or predictions and/or estimates of energy metrics of the UE, such as power/energy consumption, power/energy efficiency, etc, in association to one or more network configurations in the group of: [0236] TDD pattern configurations [0237] Spectrum sharing configuration (e.g., between NR and LTE) [0238] Configuration of unlicensed spectrum (e.g., license assisted access for LTE) [0239] Downlink reference signals configuration, such as CRS configuration, SSB beams configurations, discovery reference signal configurations, ect. [0240] Number of configured/available component carriers at a network node [0241] Dual connectivity configuration [0242] Transmission mode configured in one or more radio cells of a network node [0243] MIMO transmission mode [0244] Bandwidth configuration [0245] Downlink transmission power configuration [0246] Cell sleeping mode [0247] Entry and/or exit conditions related to mobility events configured for at least a radio cell and/or a SSB coverage area of a network node, e.g. i) Threshold/offset settings or ii) Time to trigger settings), the energy saving information comprising a set of energy saving configurations (see the list in ¶0235-¶0248. Also see ¶0249-¶0255; the UE-ESAI configuration for a UE may comprise information elements in the group of: [0250] A list of instructions to start, stop, pause, resume or modify the storing and/or reporting of UE-ESAI, such as explicit commands or triggering conditions to be evaluated by the UE; [0251] A list of measurements and/or predictions and/or estimates for one or more types of energy metrics; [0252] A list of information not directly related to any UE-ESAI metric; [0253] A list of instruction for reporting the stored UE-ESAI to the first network node; [0254] A list of instruction for reporting the stored UE-ESAI to the second network node), and an energy saving configuration in the set of energy saving configurations (see the list in ¶0235-¶0248. Also see ¶0127; the method also includes the first network node determining a UE-ESAI configuration for at least one UE. A UE-ESAI configuration is a set of information that comprises configuration information related to configuring the UE(s) to store and/or report UE-ESAI (e.g., the UE-ESAI configuration may contain configuration information specifying the type or types of UE-ESAI that the UE should store and report). In some embodiments, the first network node determines the UE-ESAI configuration based also on the second coordination message) indicating at least one of:
a first information element associated with an identity of the energy saving configuration,
a second information element associated with a percentage of energy saving of the energy saving configuration,
a third information element of at least one cell associated with the energy saving configuration,
at least one application condition of the energy saving configuration (see the list in ¶0235-¶0248. Also see ¶0120-¶0121; At least one of the network nodes may provide to the UE an indication pertaining to operational conditions and/or configurations under which the UE should store UE-ESAI for later reporting (e.g., store UE-ESAI in a log file that its subsequently provided to a network node). ¶0202; the second network node may (re-)configure the UE with a new and/or modified configuration to continue and/or resume the storing and/or reporting UE-ESAI, and/or the UE state changes as compared to the existing state while being served by the first node, i.e., changed traffic patterns, new apps activated, new data radio bearer configured to the UE, etc. In this case, in order for the first network node to be able to use the UE-ESAI collected by the UE while connected to the second network node, the first network node may need to further receive the new and/or modified UE-ESAI configuration used by the UE, and an indication of the UE state corresponding to the report),
or a performance information element of the at least one cell when the energy saving configuration is applied;
and transmitting, to the DU, an indication of an active energy saving configuration from the set energy saving configurations, wherein the active energy saving configuration is to be activated for at least one cell (¶0007; procedure to transmit activation/deactivation for energy savings. ¶0248; the first network node transmits the first UE-ESAI message comprising a UE-ESAI configuration for a UE, where the UE-ESAI configuration was determined by either the first or the second network node. ¶0249-¶0255; the UE-ESAI configuration for a UE may comprise information elements in the group of: [0250] A list of instructions to start, stop, pause, resume or modify the storing and/or reporting of UE-ESAI, such as explicit commands or triggering conditions to be evaluated by the UE; [0251] A list of measurements and/or predictions and/or estimates for one or more types of energy metrics; [0252] A list of information not directly related to any UE-ESAI metric; [0253] A list of instruction for reporting the stored UE-ESAI to the first network node; [0254] A list of instruction for reporting the stored UE-ESAI to the second network node).
Regarding claim 2, Soldati teaches the method of claim 1, wherein the set of energy saving configurations comprises at least one of: a list of energy saving configurations to add, a list of energy saving configurations to modify (see the list in ¶0235-¶0248. Also see Soldati ¶0165 & ¶0194; modify configuration. ¶0249-¶0255; the UE-ESAI configuration for a UE may comprise information elements in the group of: [0250] A list of instructions to start, stop, pause, resume or modify the storing and/or reporting of UE-ESAI, such as explicit commands or triggering conditions to be evaluated by the UE; [0251] A list of measurements and/or predictions and/or estimates for one or more types of energy metrics; [0252] A list of information not directly related to any UE-ESAI metric; [0253] A list of instruction for reporting the stored UE-ESAI to the first network node; [0254] A list of instruction for reporting the stored UE-ESAI to the second network node), or a list of energy saving configurations to delete.
Regarding claim 3, Soldati teaches the method of claim 1, wherein the first information element comprises one of: an energy saving index, an energy saving level, an energy consumption index, or an energy consumption level (not selected in claim 1).
Regarding claim 4, Soldati teaches the method of claim 1, wherein the third information element comprises at least one of: a cell identity of the at least one cell, an identity of the DU associated with the energy saving configuration, frequency information of the at least one cell, bandwidth information of the at least one cell, an antenna configuration of the at least one cell, a time domain resource configuration of the at least one cell, a synchronization signal/physical broadcast channel block (SSB) configuration of the at least one cell, or a physical random access channel (PRACH) configuration of the at least one cell (not selected in claim 1).
Regarding claim 5, Soldati teaches the method of claim 1, wherein the at least one application condition comprises at least one of: a resource condition for applying the energy saving configuration (see the list in ¶0235-¶0248. Also see ¶0341-¶0353; see triggering condition related to power savings/consumption of a resource), a hardware condition for applying the energy saving configuration, a capacity condition for applying the energy saving configuration, or the number of active terminal devices.
Regarding claim 6, Soldati teaches the method of claim 1, further comprising: in accordance with a determination that one or more application conditions of the at least one application condition are satisfied (see the list in ¶0235-¶0248. Also see ¶0341-¶0353; threshold and metrics are used for condition of power savings),
determining a target energy saving configuration associated with the at least one condition as the active energy saving configuration (filters are used to determine targets based on certain conditions. For example, when one or more conditions are satisfied (e.g., not reporting if radio coverage of the UE is below a certain threshold); [0367] indication of the dedicated radio bearer (DRB) or the signaling radio bearer (SRB) to use for transmitting UE-ESAI report; [0368] a least of one or more filtering criteria setting the scope of UE-ESAI collection; [0369] Examples of the filtering criteria include particular RRC states, RATs, network systems, S-NSSAIs, QoS parameters, service types, area scope, and/or carrier frequencies. [0370] an indication indicating to report the stored UE-ESAI to the first network node while the UE is still connected to the first network node; [0371] an indication indicating to report the stored UE-ESAI to a second network node (e.g., after mobility or after completion of (re)configuration of dual connectivity operation); [0372] an indication indicating filtering criteria for filtering the stored data that can be transmitted towards a specific network node; [0373] In one example, all the stored data can be transmitted towards a network node. [0374] The network node can be a RAN node, a CN node, a OAM node, or an SMO node. [0375] In another example, only the stored data for a specific network node or a specific cell is allowed to be reported to the specific network node or to the specific cell. [0376] Reporting to other network nodes or to other cells may be restricted completely or only a portion of the stored UE-ESAI may be reported to other network nodes or to other cells. [0377] In other example, only the data that is stored for a list of network nodes or for a list of cells may be reported to a specific network node or to a specific cell. [0378] Reporting to other network nodes or to other cells may be restricted completely or only a portion of the stored UE-ESAI may be reported to other network nodes or to other cells. [0379] In other example, only the portion of the data that is stored for the network nodes or for the cells that satisfy certain conditions (e.g., a network node used as Serving Node or a network node used as Master Node) may be reported to a specific network node or to a specific cell. See section 5.2 (¶0353-¶0380)).
Regarding claim 7, Soldati teaches the method of claim 1, wherein the performance information element of the at least one cell comprises at least one of: capacity information of the at least one cell, coverage information of the at least one cell, the number of active terminal devices in the at least one cell, service type supported by the energy saving configuration, service type not supported by the energy saving configuration, or a quality of service parameter (not selected in claim 1).
Regarding claim 8, Soldati teaches the method of claim 1, further comprising: determining the active energy saving configuration from the set of energy saving configurations based on the performance information elements associated with the energy saving configurations in the set of energy saving configurations (see claim 6. Also see ¶0448; AI/ML algorithms could be trained to choose among a set of possible configurations providing different types of energy efficiency or energy savings for the user devices. Examples of such radio configuration may comprise discontinuous transmission or reception (DTX and DTX, respectively) periods, an indication to use a certain frequency carrier, and indication to reduce quality of service requirements, etc. In this case, the algorithm could be trained with data samples comprising, for instance, a radio configuration selected for the user device when operating in energy efficiency/savings mode, one or more information elements describing the state of the UE prior to being configured with the selected radio configuration, one or more information elements describing the state of the network prior to configuring the UE with the selected radio configuration, an indication of the network and/or user performance resulting from configuring the UE with the selected configuration).
Regarding claim 9, Soldati teaches the method of claim 1, further comprising: receiving, from the DU, a measurement result of the DU (¶0478; said one or more energy metrics are associated with any one or more the following network configurations: (i) TDD pattern configurations, (ii) spectrum sharing configurations, (iii) configuration of unlicensed spectrum, (iv) downlink or uplink reference signal configuration, (v) number of configured or available component carriers at a network node, (vi) dual connectivity configuration, (vii) transmission mode configured in one or more radio cells of a network node, (viii) MIMO transmission mode, (ix) bandwidth configuration, (x) downlink transmission power configuration, (xi) cell sleeping mode, or (xii) entry and/or exit conditions related to mobility events); and determining the active energy saving configuration in the set of energy saving configurations based on the measurement result (see section 5.3 (¶0380-¶0441) for example, one or more measurements and/or estimates (e.g., predictions) of energy or power related metrics associated to: [0386] one or more functions or operations of the UE when connected to a first network node or camping in a radio cell controlled by the first network node; [0387] one or more functions or operations of the UE when connected to a second network node or camping in a radio cell controlled by a second network node; [0388] one or more Discontinuous Transmission (DTX) configurations; [0389] MIMO transmission mode; [0390] MIMO configuration (e.g., the maximum number of layer); [0391] radio measurements (e.g., RRM measurements configuration); [0392] carrier aggregation configuration; [0393] quality of service (QoS) configuration; [0394] quality of experience (QoE) configuration; [0395] (the amount of) power and/or battery consumption of the UE (measured or estimated (e.g., predicted)) associated with one or more of (i) operations, (ii) functions, or (iii) UE specific radio configurations, which are configured for the UE; [0396] (the amount of) power and/or battery saved by the UE (measured or estimated (e.g., predicted)) associated with one or more of (i) operations, (ii) functions, or (iii) UE specific radio configurations, which are configured for the UE; [0397] power and/or battery efficiency of the of the UE (measured, estimated, or predicted) associated with one or more of (i) operations, (ii) functions, or (iii) UE specific radio configurations, which are configured for the UE; [0398] power and/or batter lifetime increase or decrease (measured, estimated, or predicted) associated with one or more of (i) operations, (ii) functions, or (iii) UE specific radio configurations, which are configured for the UE. [0399] one or more formats for reporting measurements and/or estimates (e.g., predictions) of energy or power related metrics associated to one or more operations and/or functions of the UE, the formats including: [0400] metrics indicated as absolute values (for power consumption, remaining power, energy consumption, energy efficiency)).
Regarding claim 10, Soldati teaches the method of claim 9, further comprising: receiving, from the DU, a feedback message of the indication, the feedback message indicating whether the active energy saving configuration is activated at the DU (¶0137; the method also includes the UE transmitting a fourth UE-ESAI message to the second network node, the fourth UE-ESAI message comprising: i) a positive acknowledgment (ACK) indicating a successful configuration/initialization of UE-ESAI reporting from the UE or ii) a negative acknowledgment (NACK) indicating an unsuccessful or failed configuration/initialization of UE-ESAI reporting from the UE)
Regarding claim 11, Soldati teaches the method of claim 1, further comprising: receiving an energy saving update request from the DU, the energy saving update request indicating at least one candidate energy saving configuration; and transmitting an energy saving update response to the DU (¶0449; When executing an AI/ML algorithm for choosing a energy efficiency/savings configuration for a user device among multiple possible/candidate energy efficiency/savings configurations for the UE, the network node may use one or more one or more information elements describing the current state of the UE, and one or more information elements describing the state of the network. In one example, based on this information, the AI/ML algorithm could determine the optimal energy efficiency/savings configuration for a user among a set of possible radio energy efficiency/savings configurations that can be applied to UE needing or requiring to operate in energy savings mode. In another example, the algorithm could provide a measure/score for each of the available energy efficiency/savings that a certain configuration can achieve when applied to UE, wherein the measure/score indicating how good is each energy efficiency/savings configuration can be. In yet another example, the AI/ML algorithm could return a probability distribution function associated to set of possible energy efficiency/savings configurations that can be applied to UE, wherein the probability distribution function characterizes the probability of each of the available configurations being the best one for the UE).
Claims 12-16 and 22 are substantially similar to the above claims, thus the same rationale applies.
Claim 17 is not selected based on claim 12.
Regarding claim 18, Soldati teaches the method of claim 12, further comprising: transmitting, to the CU, a measurement result of the DU (¶0003 & ¶0194; the gNB-DU, according to other embodiments, may either configure the at least one UE with the configuration indicated by the gNB-CU, or determine a new or modified configuration to configure the UE for storing and/or reporting UE-ESAI. In the latter case, the gNB-DU may further transmit a first coordination message to the gNB-CU indicating the new or modified configuration determined for the at least one UE. ¶0235-¶0248; the UE-ESAI may comprise measurements and/or predictions and/or estimates of energy metrics of the UE…)
Regarding claim 19, Soldati teaches the method of claim 12, further comprising: in accordance with a determination that the active energy saving configuration is different from a current energy saving configuration, activating the active energy saving configuration (see the list in ¶0235-¶0248. Also see Soldati ¶0165 & ¶0194; modify configuration. ¶0249-¶0255; the UE-ESAI configuration for a UE may comprise information elements in the group of: [0250] A list of instructions to start, stop, pause, resume or modify the storing and/or reporting of UE-ESAI, such as explicit commands or triggering conditions to be evaluated by the UE; [0251] A list of measurements and/or predictions and/or estimates for one or more types of energy metrics; [0252] A list of information not directly related to any UE-ESAI metric; [0253] A list of instruction for reporting the stored UE-ESAI to the first network node; [0254] A list of instruction for reporting the stored UE-ESAI to the second network node); or in accordance with a determination that the active energy saving configuration is different from the current energy saving configuration, updating the current energy saving configuration (see claim 6. Also see ¶0448; AI/ML algorithms could be trained to choose among a set of possible configurations providing different types of energy efficiency or energy savings for the user devices. Examples of such radio configuration may comprise discontinuous transmission or reception (DTX and DTX, respectively) periods, an indication to use a certain frequency carrier, and indication to reduce quality of service requirements, etc. In this case, the algorithm could be trained with data samples comprising, for instance, a radio configuration selected for the user device when operating in energy efficiency/savings mode, one or more information elements describing the state of the UE prior to being configured with the selected radio configuration, one or more information elements describing the state of the network prior to configuring the UE with the selected radio configuration, an indication of the network and/or user performance resulting from configuring the UE with the selected configuration).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MAHRAN ABU ROUMI whose telephone number is (469)295-9170. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Thursday 6AM-5PM.
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MAHRAN ABU ROUMI
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2455
/MAHRAN Y ABU ROUMI/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2455
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