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 Office Action is in response to CLAIMS entered for patent application 18/871,360 filed on December 3, 2024.
Claims 1-20 are pending.
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, 10 and 11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Törnkvist (Pub. No.: US 2014/0241161).
Regarding claim 1, Törnkvist discloses a transmission policy configuration method, comprising: acquiring a subscription transmission policy of a User Equipment (UE) (paras. [0045]-[0054], [0057] and [0082]); acquiring load prediction information of a target cell, wherein the target cell is a cell where the UE is currently located (paras. [0058], [0071] and [0078]); adjusting the subscription transmission policy to a target transmission policy according to the load prediction information of the target cell (paras. [0061], [0067], [0073] and [0082]); and controlling, according to the target transmission policy, the UE to perform data transmission (paras. [0061], [0080] and [0082]).
Regarding claim 10, Törnkvist discloses a transmission policy configuration system, comprising: a memory, a processor, and a computer program stored in the memory and executable by the processor, wherein the computer program, when executed by the processor, causes the processor to perform a transmission policy configuration method, the transmission policy configuration method comprising: acquiring a subscription transmission policy of a User Equipment (UE) (paras. [0045]-[0054], [0057] and [0082]); acquiring load prediction information of a target cell, wherein the target cell is a cell where the UE is currently located (paras. [0058], [0071] and [0078]); adjusting the subscription transmission policy to a target transmission policy according to the load prediction information of the target cell (paras. [0061], [0067], [0073] and [0082]); and controlling, according to the target transmission policy, the UE to perform data transmission (paras. [0061], [0080] and [0082]).
Regarding claim 11, Törnkvist discloses a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, storing a computer-executable instruction which, when executed by a processor, causes the processor to perform a transmission policy configuration method, the transmission policy configuration method comprising: acquiring a subscription transmission policy of a User Equipment (UE) (paras. [0045]-[0054], [0057] and [0082]); acquiring load prediction information of a target cell, wherein the target cell is a cell where the UE is currently located (paras. [0058], [0071] and [0078]); adjusting the subscription transmission policy to a target transmission policy according to the load prediction information of the target cell (paras. [0061], [0067], [0073] and [0082]); and controlling, according to the target transmission policy, the UE to perform data transmission (paras. [0061], [0080] and [0082]).
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 2-9 and 12-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Törnkvist (Pub. No.: US 2014/0241161) in view of 3GPP TECHNICAL SPECIFICATION GROUP SERVICES AND SYSTEM ASPECTS. "Study on 5G System Support for AI/ML-based Services (Release 18)," 3GPP TR 23.700-80, V. 0.3.0, 2022, pages 1-70 (hereinafter 3GPP).
Regarding claim 2, Törnkvist discloses the method of claim 1, but it could be argued that Törnkvist does not explicitly disclose wherein the method is applied to a Policy Control Function (PCF) in communication connection with a Network Data Analytics Function (NWDAF), and acquiring load prediction information of a target cell comprises: sending a load query request for the target cell to the NWDAF; and acquiring the load prediction information of the target cell fed back by the NWDAF, wherein the load prediction information of the target cell is obtained by the NWDAF in advance through prediction according to a preset time granularity and historical data of the target cell. However, in analogous art, 3GPP discusses NWDAF Analytics support for BDT warning notification (see section 6.10.2.4, pages 62-63) and output analytics, wherein “[t]he NWDAF shall be able to provide both statistics and predictions on Network Performance (see section 6.6.3, pages 58-59, also see Table 6.6.3-2, page 59).” Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Törnkvist to allow for the method to be applied to a Policy Control Function (PCF) in communication connection with a Network Data Analytics Function (NWDAF), and acquiring load prediction information of a target cell to comprise sending a load query request for the target cell to the NWDAF; and acquiring the load prediction information of the target cell fed back by the NWDAF, wherein the load prediction information of the target cell is obtained by the NWDAF in advance through prediction according to a preset time granularity and historical data of the target cell. This would have produced predictable and desirable results, in that it would allow for well-known techniques in the field to be applied in order to improve the performance of the system.
Regarding claim 3, Törnkvist discloses the method of claim 1, but it could be argued that Törnkvist does not explicitly disclose wherein the method is applied to a PCF in communication connection with an NWDAF, and before acquiring load prediction information of a target cell, the method further comprises: determining at least two accessible cells, wherein the accessible cells are cells that the PCF can serve; sending a load query request for the accessible cells to the NWDAF; acquiring load prediction information of the accessible cells fed back by the NWDAF, wherein the load prediction information of the accessible cells is obtained by the NWDAF in advance through prediction according to a preset time granularity and historical data of the accessible cells; and buffering the load prediction information of the accessible cells into a local cell load list. However, in analogous art, 3GPP discusses NWDAF Analytics support for BDT warning notification (see section 6.10.2.4, pages 62-63) and output analytics, wherein “[t]he NWDAF shall be able to provide both statistics and predictions on Network Performance (see section 6.6.3, pages 58-59, also see Table 6.6.3-2 on page 59, with a list of Cell ID within the requested area of interest).” Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Törnkvist to allow for the method to be applied to a PCF in communication connection with an NWDAF, and before acquiring load prediction information of a target cell, the method further comprises determining at least two accessible cells, wherein the accessible cells are cells that the PCF can serve; sending a load query request for the accessible cells to the NWDAF; acquiring load prediction information of the accessible cells fed back by the NWDAF, wherein the load prediction information of the accessible cells is obtained by the NWDAF in advance through prediction according to a preset time granularity and historical data of the accessible cells; and buffering the load prediction information of the accessible cells into a local cell load list. This would have produced predictable and desirable results, in that it would allow for well-known techniques in the field to be applied in order to improve the performance of the system.
Regarding claim 4, the combination of Törnkvist and 3GPP discloses the method of claim 3, and further discloses wherein acquiring load prediction information of a target cell comprises: acquiring the load prediction information of the target cell from the local cell load list; or in response to the load prediction information of the target cell being not recorded in the local cell load list, sending a load query request for the target cell to the NWDAF, and acquiring the load prediction information of the target cell fed back by the NWDAF, wherein the load prediction information of the target cell is obtained by the NWDAF in advance through prediction according to the preset time granularity and historical data of the target cell (3GPP, section 6.10.2.4, pages 62-63, section 6.6.3, pages 58-59, also see Table 6.6.3-2 on page 59, with a list of Cell ID within the requested area of interest. This claim is rejected on the same grounds as claim 3.).
Regarding claim 5, the combination of Törnkvist and 3GPP discloses the method of claim 3, and further discloses wherein after buffering the load prediction information of the at least two of the accessible cells fed back by the NWDAF into a local cell load list, the method further comprises: determining at least two cells to be updated from the at least two accessible cells according to a preset period; sending a load query request for the cells to be updated to the NWDAF; and acquiring load prediction information of the cells to be updated fed back by the NWDAF, and updating the local cell load list according to the load prediction information of the cells to be updated, wherein the load prediction information of the cells to be updated is obtained by the NWDAF in advance through prediction according to the preset time granularity and historical data of the cells to be updated (3GPP, section 6.10.2.4, pages 62-63, section 6.6.3, pages 58-59, also see Table 6.6.3-2 on page 59, with a list of Cell ID within the requested area of interest. This claim is rejected on the same grounds as claim 3.).
Regarding claim 6, the combination of Törnkvist and 3GPP discloses the method of claim 2, and further discloses wherein the PCF is in communication connection with a Session Management Function (SMF), the SMF is in communication connection with a User Plane Function (UPF), and controlling, according to the target transmission policy, the UE to perform data transmission comprises: applying the target transmission policy to the UPF through the SMF, such that the UPF controls, according to the target transmission policy, the UE to perform data transmission (3GPP, section 6.9.2.1, page 55, numbers 5, 6, 8, 11, 12 and 15 from the list. This claim is rejected on the same grounds as claim 2.).
Regarding claim 7, the combination of Törnkvist and 3GPP discloses the method of claim 6, and further discloses wherein after applying the target transmission policy to the UPF through the SMF, the method further comprises: resending a load query request for the target cell to the NWDAF in response to detecting that the UE has been located in the target cell for longer than a preset duration threshold; acquiring new load prediction information of the target cell fed back by the NWDAF, wherein the new load prediction information of the target cell is obtained by the NWDAF in advance through prediction according to the preset time granularity and new historical data of the target cell; updating the target transmission policy according to the new load prediction information of the target cell; and applying the updated target transmission policy to the UPF through the SMF, such that the UPF controls, according to the updated target transmission policy, the UE to perform data transmission (3GPP, section 6.9.2.1, page 55, numbers 5, 6, 8, 11, 12 and 15 from the list; section 6.10.2.4, pages 62-63, section 6.6.3, pages 58-59, also see Table 6.6.3-2 on page 59. This claim is rejected on the same grounds as claim 6.).
Regarding claim 8, the combination of Törnkvist and 3GPP discloses the method of claim 6, and further discloses wherein after applying the target transmission policy to the UPF through the SMF, such that the UPF controls, according to the target transmission policy, the UE to perform data transmission, the method further comprises: in response to detecting a handover of the UE from the cell in which the UE is currently located, acquiring load prediction information of a cell to which the UE is handed over; and updating the target transmission policy according to the load prediction information of the cell to which the UE is handed over; and applying the updated target transmission policy to the UPF through the SMF, such that the UPF controls, according to the updated target transmission policy, the UE to perform data transmission (3GPP, section 6.9.2.1, page 55, numbers 5, 6, 8, 11, 12 and 15 from the list; section 6.10.2.4, pages 62-63, section 6.6.3, pages 58-59, also see Table 6.6.3-2 on page 59; for handover, see numbers 3 and 11 from the list on page 55 wherein UE enters area 1 and then area 2. This claim is rejected on the same grounds as claim 6.).
Regarding claim 9, Törnkvist discloses the method of claim 1, but it could be argued that Törnkvist does not explicitly disclose wherein the method is applied to a PCF in communication connection with a Subscription Data Repository (SDR), and acquiring a subscription transmission policy of a UE comprises: acquiring transmission subscription information of the UE from the SDR; determining a target resource configuration from a plurality of available resource configurations according to the transmission subscription information, wherein the available resource configurations are preset in the PCF, and the available resource configurations correspond to different transmission resources; and determining the subscription transmission policy according to the target resource configuration information. However, in analogous art, 3GPP discloses that “[t]he PCF shall first retrieve all existing BDT policies stored for any ASP from the UDR. The PCF may retrieve analytics on "Network Performance" from NWDAF following the procedure and services described in TS 23.288 [6]. Afterwards, the PCF shall determine, based on the information provided by the AF, the analytics on "Network Performance" if available and other available information (e.g. network policy and existing BDT policies) one or more BDT policies. The PCF may be configured to map the ASP identifier to a target DNN and S-NSSAI if the NEF did not provide the DNN, S-NSSAI to the PCF (page 58, lines 23-28),” wherein the UDR comprises subscription data. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Törnkvist to allow for the method to be applied to a PCF in communication connection with a Subscription Data Repository (SDR), and acquiring a subscription transmission policy of a UE comprises: acquiring transmission subscription information of the UE from the SDR; determining a target resource configuration from a plurality of available resource configurations according to the transmission subscription information, wherein the available resource configurations are preset in the PCF, and the available resource configurations correspond to different transmission resources; and determining the subscription transmission policy according to the target resource configuration information. This would have produced predictable and desirable results, in that it would allow for well-known techniques in the field to be applied in order to improve the performance of the system.
Regarding claim 12, the combination of Törnkvist and 3GPP discloses the method of claim 3, and further discloses wherein the PCF is in communication connection with a Session Management Function (SMF), the SMF is in communication connection with a User Plane Function (UPF), and controlling, according to the target transmission policy, the UE to perform data transmission comprises: applying the target transmission policy to the UPF through the SMF, such that the UPF controls, according to the target transmission policy, the UE to perform data transmission (3GPP, section 6.9.2.1, page 55, numbers 5, 6, 8, 11, 12 and 15 from the list. This claim is rejected on the same grounds as claim 2.).
Regarding claim 13, the combination of Törnkvist and 3GPP discloses the method of claim 3, and further discloses wherein the PCF is in communication connection with a Session Management Function (SMF), the SMF is in communication connection with a User Plane Function (UPF), and controlling, according to the target transmission policy, the UE to perform data transmission comprises: applying the target transmission policy to the UPF through the SMF, such that the UPF controls, according to the target transmission policy, the UE to perform data transmission (3GPP, section 6.9.2.1, page 55, numbers 5, 6, 8, 11, 12 and 15 from the list. This claim is rejected on the same grounds as claim 2.).
Regarding claim 14, the combination of Törnkvist and 3GPP discloses the method of claim 5, and further discloses wherein the PCF is in communication connection with a Session Management Function (SMF), the SMF is in communication connection with a User Plane Function (UPF), and controlling, according to the target transmission policy, the UE to perform data transmission comprises: applying the target transmission policy to the UPF through the SMF, such that the UPF controls, according to the target transmission policy, the UE to perform data transmission (3GPP, section 6.9.2.1, page 55, numbers 5, 6, 8, 11, 12 and 15 from the list. This claim is rejected on the same grounds as claim 2.).
Regarding claim 15, the combination of Törnkvist and 3GPP discloses the method of claim 12, and further discloses wherein after applying the target transmission policy to the UPF through the SMF, the method further comprises: resending a load query request for the target cell to the NWDAF in response to detecting that the UE has been located in the target cell for longer than a preset duration threshold; acquiring new load prediction information of the target cell fed back by the NWDAF, wherein the new load prediction information of the target cell is obtained by the NWDAF in advance through prediction according to the preset time granularity and new historical data of the target cell; updating the target transmission policy according to the new load prediction information of the target cell; and applying the updated target transmission policy to the UPF through the SMF, such that the UPF controls, according to the updated target transmission policy, the UE to perform data transmission (3GPP, section 6.9.2.1, page 55, numbers 5, 6, 8, 11, 12 and 15 from the list; section 6.10.2.4, pages 62-63, section 6.6.3, pages 58-59, also see Table 6.6.3-2 on page 59. This claim is rejected on the same grounds as claim 6.).
Regarding claim 16, the combination of Törnkvist and 3GPP discloses the method of claim 13, and further discloses wherein after applying the target transmission policy to the UPF through the SMF, the method further comprises: resending a load query request for the target cell to the NWDAF in response to detecting that the UE has been located in the target cell for longer than a preset duration threshold; acquiring new load prediction information of the target cell fed back by the NWDAF, wherein the new load prediction information of the target cell is obtained by the NWDAF in advance through prediction according to the preset time granularity and new historical data of the target cell; updating the target transmission policy according to the new load prediction information of the target cell; and applying the updated target transmission policy to the UPF through the SMF, such that the UPF controls, according to the updated target transmission policy, the UE to perform data transmission (3GPP, section 6.9.2.1, page 55, numbers 5, 6, 8, 11, 12 and 15 from the list; section 6.10.2.4, pages 62-63, section 6.6.3, pages 58-59, also see Table 6.6.3-2 on page 59. This claim is rejected on the same grounds as claim 6.).
Regarding claim 17, the combination of Törnkvist and 3GPP discloses the method of claim 14, and further discloses wherein after applying the target transmission policy to the UPF through the SMF, the method further comprises: resending a load query request for the target cell to the NWDAF in response to detecting that the UE has been located in the target cell for longer than a preset duration threshold; acquiring new load prediction information of the target cell fed back by the NWDAF, wherein the new load prediction information of the target cell is obtained by the NWDAF in advance through prediction according to the preset time granularity and new historical data of the target cell; updating the target transmission policy according to the new load prediction information of the target cell; and applying the updated target transmission policy to the UPF through the SMF, such that the UPF controls, according to the updated target transmission policy, the UE to perform data transmission (3GPP, section 6.9.2.1, page 55, numbers 5, 6, 8, 11, 12 and 15 from the list; section 6.10.2.4, pages 62-63, section 6.6.3, pages 58-59, also see Table 6.6.3-2 on page 59. This claim is rejected on the same grounds as claim 6.).
Regarding claim 18, the combination of Törnkvist and 3GPP discloses the method of claim 12, and further discloses wherein after applying the target transmission policy to the UPF through the SMF, such that the UPF controls, according to the target transmission policy, the UE to perform data transmission, the method further comprises: in response to detecting a handover of the UE from the cell in which the UE is currently located, acquiring load prediction information of a cell to which the UE is handed over; and updating the target transmission policy according to the load prediction information of the cell to which the UE is handed over; and applying the updated target transmission policy to the UPF through the SMF, such that the UPF controls, according to the updated target transmission policy, the UE to perform data transmission (3GPP, section 6.9.2.1, page 55, numbers 5, 6, 8, 11, 12 and 15 from the list; section 6.10.2.4, pages 62-63, section 6.6.3, pages 58-59, also see Table 6.6.3-2 on page 59; for handover, see numbers 3 and 11 from the list on page 55 wherein UE enters area 1 and then area 2. This claim is rejected on the same grounds as claim 6.).
Regarding claim 19, the combination of Törnkvist and 3GPP discloses the method of claim 13, and further discloses wherein after applying the target transmission policy to the UPF through the SMF, such that the UPF controls, according to the target transmission policy, the UE to perform data transmission, the method further comprises: in response to detecting a handover of the UE from the cell in which the UE is currently located, acquiring load prediction information of a cell to which the UE is handed over; and updating the target transmission policy according to the load prediction information of the cell to which the UE is handed over; and applying the updated target transmission policy to the UPF through the SMF, such that the UPF controls, according to the updated target transmission policy, the UE to perform data transmission (3GPP, section 6.9.2.1, page 55, numbers 5, 6, 8, 11, 12 and 15 from the list; section 6.10.2.4, pages 62-63, section 6.6.3, pages 58-59, also see Table 6.6.3-2 on page 59; for handover, see numbers 3 and 11 from the list on page 55 wherein UE enters area 1 and then area 2. This claim is rejected on the same grounds as claim 6.).
Regarding claim 20, the combination of Törnkvist and 3GPP discloses the method of claim 14, and further discloses wherein after applying the target transmission policy to the UPF through the SMF, such that the UPF controls, according to the target transmission policy, the UE to perform data transmission, the method further comprises: in response to detecting a handover of the UE from the cell in which the UE is currently located, acquiring load prediction information of a cell to which the UE is handed over; and updating the target transmission policy according to the load prediction information of the cell to which the UE is handed over; and applying the updated target transmission policy to the UPF through the SMF, such that the UPF controls, according to the updated target transmission policy, the UE to perform data transmission (3GPP, section 6.9.2.1, page 55, numbers 5, 6, 8, 11, 12 and 15 from the list; section 6.10.2.4, pages 62-63, section 6.6.3, pages 58-59, also see Table 6.6.3-2 on page 59; for handover, see numbers 3 and 11 from the list on page 55 wherein UE enters area 1 and then area 2. This claim is rejected on the same grounds as claim 6.).
Conclusion
Claims 1-20 are rejected.
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/Joshua D Taylor/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2426 June 18, 2026
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