DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present U.S. non-provisional application is being examined under the first-inventor-to-file provisions of the AIA . The present U.S. non-provisional application, filed on September 26, 2024, is the U.S. national stage of an international PCT application, filed on March 24, 2023, and claims benefit to a U.S. provisional application, filed on March 30, 2022.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on September 26, 2024 was filed before the mailing date of a first Office action in the present U.S. non-provisional application, in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement has been considered by the examiner.
Response to Amendment
This Office action is responsive to the preliminary amendment under 37 CFR 1.115 on September 26, 2024. Claims 1, 3, 4, 6-9, 11, 12, 14-17, 23 and 28 were amended. Claims 21-22 were canceled. Claims 1-20 and 23-28 are pending in the present U.S. non-provisional application.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2, 4, 5, 7, 8, 10, 12, 13, 15 and 16 would be considered as allowable if rewritten into independent form to include all of the limitations of the respective base claim and any intervening claims, and if made to overcome the claim objections set forth in this Office action. The claimed invention is neither anticipated by the prior art of record, nor considered as obvious in view thereof to a person having ordinary skill in the art.
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 and 9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as unpatentable in view of LENOVO: "Solution for KI#4: Supporting analytics for location accuracy", 3GPP DRAFT; S2-2202441, vol. SA WG2, no. e-meeting; 29 March 2022, XP052133278 and Park et al. (WO 2021/235902 A1).
A document copy of the Written Opinion of the International Searching Authority (ISA/237) is contained in the file record of the present U.S. non-provisional application, and the document copy provides factual findings with reasons that the claimed invention lacks inventive step (MPEP 2143, “Note that the list of rationales provided is not intended to be an all-inclusive list. Other rationales to support a conclusion of obviousness may be relied upon by Office personnel. Any rationale employed must provide a link between the factual findings and the legal conclusion of obviousness.”) In accordance with the factual findings and reasons of lacking inventive step, the claimed invention 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. The factual findings and rationale employed are reproduced as follows:
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Claims 1, 3, 6, 9, 11, 14, 17-20 and 23-28 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as unpatentable over Park et al. (US 2023/0239680 A1) in view of Zhang et al. (US 2024/0380678 A1).
1. A method performed by a service gateway, the method (Park, FIG. 3) comprising:
receiving a request for radio access network (RAN) analytics information from a consumer application (Park, paras. [0057], [0058], “Referring to FIG. 3, each network entity which may be an AMF, an SMF, an OAM, or a RAN included in a core network may operate as a consumer NF 310 requesting analytics information generated as a result of analytics in an NWDAF 305 as in operation 1). The NWDAF 305 may collect data from a source NF 315 such as an NF, an AF, or an OAM and analyze the collected data to generate the analytics information requested by the consumer NF 310 as in operation 2)…”); and
providing the RAN analytics information to the consumer application (Park, paras. [0057], [0058], “…As in operation 3), the NWDAF 305 may transmit the analytics information to the consumer NF 310 that has transmitted the request…” Id.), wherein providing the RAN analytics information to the consumer application comprises:
obtaining data for determining the RAN analytics information from the RAN radio manager (Park, paras. [0057], [0058], “…The NWDAF 305 may collect data from a source NF 315 such as an NF, an AF, or an OAM and analyze the collected data to generate the analytics information requested by the consumer NF 310 as in operation 2)…” Id.);
in response to receiving the request for RAN analytics information from the consumer application, determining the RAN analytics information based on the data received from the RAN radio manager (Park, paras. [0057], [0058], “…The NWDAF 305 may collect data from a source NF 315 such as an NF, an AF, or an OAM and analyze the collected data to generate the analytics information requested by the consumer NF 310 as in operation 2)…” Id.); and
sending the RAN analytics information to the consumer application (Park, paras. [0057], [0058], “…As in operation 3), the NWDAF 305 may transmit the analytics information to the consumer NF 310 that has transmitted the request…” Id.)
Park et al. may not seem to describe the identical claimed invention, however in the same field of endeavor, Zhang et al. provides prior art disclosure for the claimed invention, such as the analytics information as RAN analytics information (Zhang, paras. [0114], [0117], Id.) The prior art disclosure and suggestions of Zhang et al. are for reasons of enabling RAN optimization (Zhang, paras. [0114], [0117], Id.) In view of the prior art of record, the claimed invention 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, for reasons of enabling RAN optimization.
3. The method of claim1, wherein providing the RAN analytics information to the consumer application comprises: in response to receiving the request for the RAN analytics information from the consumer application, sending a second request for the RAN analytics information to the RAN radio manager, the RAN radio manager configured to provide the RAN analytics information to the consumer application (Park, paras. [0057], [0058], Id.)
6. The method of claim1, wherein the request for the RAN analytics information comprises at least one of the following: one or more user equipment (UEs) for which the request is requested; or one or more cells for which the request is requested (Zhang, paras. [0114], [0117], Id.)
9. A service gateway configured to facilitate exposure of radio access network (RAN) analytics information, the service gateway comprising processing circuitry operable (Park, FIG. 3, Id.) to:
receive a request for radio access network (RAN) analytics information from a consumer application (Park, paras. [0057], [0058], Id.); and
provide the RAN analytics information to the consumer application (Park, paras. [0057], [0058], Id.), wherein the processing circuitry is operable to provide the RAN analytics information to the consumer application by:
obtaining data for determining the RAN analytics information from the RAN radio manager (Park, paras. [0057], [0058], Id.);
in response to receiving the request for RAN analytics information from the consumer application, determining the RAN analytics information based on the data received from the RAN radio manager (Park, paras. [0057], [0058], Id.); and
sending the RAN analytics information to the consumer application (Park, paras. [0057], [0058], Id. cf. Claim 1).
Park et al. may not seem to describe the identical claimed invention, however in the same field of endeavor, Zhang et al. provides prior art disclosure for the claimed invention, such as the analytics information as RAN analytics information (Zhang, paras. [0114], [0117], Id.) The prior art disclosure and suggestions of Zhang et al. are for reasons of enabling RAN optimization (Zhang, paras. [0114], [0117], Id.) In view of the prior art of record, the claimed invention 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, for reasons of enabling RAN optimization.
11. The service gateway of claim 9, wherein the processing circuitry is operable to provide the RAN analytics information to the consumer application by: in response to receiving the request for the RAN analytics information from the consumer application, sending a second request for the RAN analytics information to the RAN radio manager, the RAN radio manager configured to provide the RAN analytics information to the consumer application (Park, paras. [0057], [0058], Id. cf. Claim 3).
14. The service gateway of claim 9, wherein the request for the RAN analytics information comprises at least one of the following: one or more user equipment (UEs) for which the request is requested; or one or more cells for which the request is requested (Zhang, paras. [0114], [0117], Id. cf. Claim 6).
17. A method performed by a radio access network (RAN) radio manager, the method (Park, FIG. 3, Id.) comprising:
receiving a request for radio access network (RAN) analytics information from a service gateway or a consumer application (Park, paras. [0057], [0058], “Referring to FIG. 3, each network entity which may be an AMF, an SMF, an OAM, or a RAN included in a core network may operate as a consumer NF 310 requesting analytics information generated as a result of analytics in an NWDAF 305 as in operation 1). The NWDAF 305 may collect data from a source NF 315 such as an NF, an AF, or an OAM and analyze the collected data to generate the analytics information requested by the consumer NF 310 as in operation 2)…”), the request indicating the consumer application to which to send the RAN analytics information (Park, paras. [0057], [0058], “…As in operation 3), the NWDAF 305 may transmit the analytics information to the consumer NF 310 that has transmitted the request…” Id.); and
providing the RAN analytics information directly to the consumer application based on the indication in the received request (Park, paras. [0057], [0058], “…As in operation 3), the NWDAF 305 may transmit the analytics information to the consumer NF 310 that has transmitted the request…” Id.)
Park et al. may not seem to describe the identical claimed invention, however in the same field of endeavor, Zhang et al. provides prior art disclosure for the claimed invention, such as the analytics information as RAN analytics information (Zhang, paras. [0114], [0117], “…For example, data associated with one or more devices or RAN nodes may be collected and analyzed to provide analytics information to a requester of the analytics information. Such analytics operations or processing may be performed with the use of AI or ML, which may provide one or more predictions or decisions for the target of the analytics processing (e.g., the one or more devices or RAN nodes). The devices or RAN nodes may then perform optimization or adjustment (e.g., in various areas or use cases, including load balancing, mobility optimization or adjustment, energy savings, other use cases, or any combination thereof)…”) The prior art disclosure and suggestions of Zhang et al. are for reasons of enabling RAN optimization (Zhang, paras. [0114], [0117], Id.) In view of the prior art of record, the claimed invention 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, for reasons of enabling RAN optimization.
18. The method of claim 17, wherein the request for RAN analytics information is received from the consumer application (Park, paras. [0057], [0058], Id.)
19. The method of claim 17, wherein the request for RAN analytics information is received from the service gateway (Zhang, paras. [0114], [0117], “…In some examples, the NWDAF 220 may transmit the data collection request to a single RAN entity, or may transmit the data collection request to multiple RAN entities. In some examples, a RAN entity that may receive such a request may determine one or more additional RAN entities associated with the request (e.g., that are identified in the request or that may have access to information associated with an identified RAN entity), and may further transmit the request to one or more additional RAN entities…” Id.)
20. The method of claim 17, wherein: the request for RAN analytics information is received from a service gateway (Zhang, paras. [0114], [0117], Id.); and the RAN analytics information is provided indirectly from the RAN radio manager to the consumer application via the service gateway (Zhang, paras. [0114], [0117], “…The NWDAF 220 may (e.g., in response to receiving one or more data collection responses) transmit the collected data or analytics information to the requester of the analytics information.” Id.)
23. A radio access network (RAN) radio manager configured to facilitate exposure of radio access network (RAN) analytics information, the RAN radio manager comprising processing circuitry operable (Park, FIG. 3, Id.) to:
receive a request for radio access network (RAN) analytics information from a service gateway or a consumer application, the request indicating the consumer application to which to send the RAN analytics information (Park, paras. [0057], [0058], Id.); and
provide the RAN analytics information directly to the consumer application based on the indication in the received request (Park, paras. [0057], [0058], Id. cf. Claim 17).
Park et al. may not seem to describe the identical claimed invention, however in the same field of endeavor, Zhang et al. provides prior art disclosure for the claimed invention, such as the analytics information as RAN analytics information (Zhang, paras. [0114], [0117], Id.) The prior art disclosure and suggestions of Zhang et al. are for reasons of enabling RAN optimization (Zhang, paras. [0114], [0117], Id.) In view of the prior art of record, the claimed invention 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, for reasons of enabling RAN optimization.
24. The RAN radio manager of claim 23, wherein the request for RAN analytics information is received from the consumer application (Park, paras. [0057], [0058], Id. cf. Claim 18).
25. The RAN radio manager of claim 23, wherein the request for RAN analytics information is received from the service gateway (Park, paras. [0057], [0058], Id. cf. Claim 19).
26. The RAN radio manager of claim 23, wherein: the request for RAN analytics information is received from a service gateway (Park, paras. [0057], [0058], Id.); and the RAN analytics information is provided indirectly from the RAN radio manager to the consumer application via the service gateway (Park, paras. [0057], [0058], Id. cf. Claim 20).
27. The RAN radio manager of claim 26, wherein the processing circuitry is operable to provide the RAN analytics information to the consumer application indirectly via the service gateway (Park, paras. [0057], [0058], Id.) by:
in response to receiving the request for RAN analytics information from the service gateway, sending the service gateway data for determining the RAN analytics information (Park, paras. [0057], [0058], Id.), the service gateway configured to determine the RAN analytics information based on the data and to provide the RAN analytics information to the consumer application (Park, paras. [0057], [0058], Id.)
28. The RAN radio manager of claim 23, the processing circuitry further operable to: in response to receiving the request for RAN analytics information, determine the RAN analytics information that is responsive to the request (Park, paras. [0057], [0058], Id.)
Claim Objections
Claims 1-16 are objected to because of informalities for the following reasons. Claim 1 recites “obtaining data for determining the RAN analytics information from the RAN radio manager” (ll. 7-8) whereas the RAN radio manager lacks antecedent basis in the claim. Accordingly, the RAN radio manager is merely construed as a RAN radio manager in the claim. Claim 9 contains similar deficiencies. Claims 2-8 and 10-16 are dependent. It is noted that amendments to address the Written Opinion at Sections 2-4 and Item VIII are preferred. It is also noted that cancellation or similar amendments for distinct Claims 17-20 and 23-28 are preferred. Appropriate correction is required.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record (PTO-1449, PTO-892) and not relied upon is considered pertinent to the subject matter of the present U.S. non-provisional application.
Jamadagni et al. (US 2024/0357458 A1) provides prior art disclosure considered as relevant to the subject matter of the claimed invention (Jamadagni, Abstract, “Present disclosure generally relates to wireless telecommunication networks, and more particularly relates to systems and methods for inter radio intelligent controller communication. The system and methods realize an inter Near-RT RIC communication to enable the near real-time control and optimization of E2 Nodes across an entire Heterogeneous Networks (HetNets) irrespective of number of Near-RT RICs deployed. Embodiments herein provides different architectural options to enable Inter Near-RT RIC communications. Embodiments herein provides specific mechanisms of data exchange and the associated procedures.”)
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Timothy J. Weidner whose telephone number is (571) 270-1825. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday, 8:00 AM - 5:00 PM, Eastern Standard Time.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Ayaz R. Sheikh can be reached on (571) 272-3795. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/TIMOTHY J WEIDNER/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2476
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