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 .
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claims 1-2, 12-13, and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Stapleton US 20170013585 A1 in view of Hanson US 20200382966 A1.
Regarding claim 1, Stapleton teaches
A system comprising: a distributed antenna system (DAS network) comprising at least one processor, wherein executable code directs the at least one processor to [extract KPI data from control channels provided with uplink and downlink signals] messages (control channels) from and to user equipment in communication with the distributed antenna system (DAS network);
(“The system comprises a server computer comprising a processor and memory storing instructions, executable by the processor, the instructions comprising the steps of the methods described herein.”[0006] “FIG. 9 illustrates an example of a process for obtaining KPIs for users on a DAS network. The illustrated steps may be executed by a dedicated component in the DAS network”[0079] ”The User KPI Data and Position unit 120 may extract KPI data for each user associated with the DAUs 102, 108, 111 and DRUs. This data may be extracted from control channels provided with uplink and downlink signals.”[0045] “A block of KPI data may further include, for example, a transmission timestamp, whether it is uplink or downlink data, a number of resource blocks, a bitmap of the resource blocks, a modulation scheme, an acknowledgment, a User Equipment (UE) channel, a Base Station (BS) channel, a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), and/or a signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR).”[0083])
and a database, wherein the at least one processor stores parameters identified in [control channels associated with user traffic data] in the database;
(“the server may extract KPIs—that is, information about the user traffic data—from control channels associated with signals from the various network operators on the DAS network. At step 930, the KPIs collected at step 910 may be transmitted to a User KPI Data Storage 960 to be stored.”[0081] “Control channels may provide information such as for example transmission time, power level, user physical layer identifiers, a number of allocated resource blocks, a bitmap of resource blocks, a modulation and coding scheme, acknowledgements, a user channel, a base station channel, SNR, and/or SINR.”[0046]” KPI data 1010 that may be collected and stored for each user, as well as an example of the organization of that data 1010.”[0083])
wherein performance of the distributed antenna system (status of the DAS network) is adjusted (optimizing the network) based on the stored parameters.
(“the KPIs collected at step 910 may be transmitted to a User KPI Data Storage 960 to be stored.”[0081] “KPI metrics of individual mobile devices may also be used for monitoring the status of the DAS network, as well as optimizing the network in the event of failures.”[0028] “the user's stored information may be updated with the most recent KPI data collected at step 110.” [0085])
Stapleton fails to teach decode messages. However Hanson teaches a distributed antenna system (integrated relay distributed antenna system 400A, 400B) [comprising baseband processing circuitry configured] to decode messages from and to user equipment in communication with the distributed antenna system and [the distributed antenna system recovers] the decoded messages [as decoded control plane and user plane data]
(“the access interface circuitry 418 (for examples, a receiver baseband processing circuit) of the master unit 403 is further configured to demodulate, decode, and otherwise process the resulting uplink baseband data in order to recover the control-plane and user-plane data communicated from each UE 407 to the integrated relay distributed antenna system 400A, 400B over the access interface.”[0066] “the backhaul interface circuitry 416 (for example, a receiver baseband processing circuit) of the relay node 402 is further configured to demodulate, decode, and otherwise process the resulting downlink baseband data in order to recover the control-plane and user-plane data communicated from the donor base station 406 to the integrated relay distributed antenna system 400A, 400B”[0062] “the control-plane and/or user-plane data that is scheduled to be communicated to each served UE 407 over the wireless access interface.”[0064])
Accordingly, it would have been obvious to a person having of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to incorporate Hanson’s control plane and users plane decoding technique with Stapleton’s DAS KPI monitoring system which extracts and stores KPI parameters from control channel information, For the benefit of recovering decoded UE communication data from which the KPI parameters can be identified, stored, and used to optimize DAS performance.
Regarding claim 2, limitations of parent claim 1 have been discussed above. Hanson teaches wherein the messages comprise C-plane data and U-plane data (the control-plane and user-plane data communicated).
( “the baseband processing circuit 212 demodulates, decodes, and otherwise processes the resulting downlink baseband data output by the receiver radio processing circuit 210 in order to recover the control-plane and user-plane data communicated from the donor base station 106 to the distributed relay 100A, 100B over the wireless backhaul interface.”[0029]“the receiver baseband processing circuit 230 demodulates, decodes, and otherwise processes the resulting uplink baseband data output by the receiver radio processing circuit 228 in order to recover the control-plane and user-plane data communicated from each UE 107 to the distributed relay 100A, 100B over the wireless access interface.”[0033])
Regarding claim 12, Stapleton teaches A method comprising: receiving messages sent to and from user equipment by at least one processor in a distributed antenna system; extract KPI data from control channels provided with uplink and downlink signals] the received messages (control channels); identifying parameters in the [control channels associated with user traffic data] ; storing the parameters in a database (User KPI Data Storage 960); and adjusting operation of the distributed antenna system (status of the DAS network) based on the stored parameters.
(“The system comprises a server computer comprising a processor and memory storing instructions, executable by the processor, the instructions comprising the steps of the methods described herein.”[0006] “FIG. 9 illustrates an example of a process for obtaining KPIs for users on a DAS network. The illustrated steps may be executed by a dedicated component in the DAS network”[0079] ”The User KPI Data and Position unit 120 may extract KPI data for each user associated with the DAUs 102, 108, 111 and DRUs. This data may be extracted from control channels provided with uplink and downlink signals.”[0045] “A block of KPI data may further include, for example, a transmission timestamp, whether it is uplink or downlink data, a number of resource blocks, a bitmap of the resource blocks, a modulation scheme, an acknowledgment, a User Equipment (UE) channel, a Base Station (BS) channel, a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), and/or a signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR).”[0083] “the server may extract KPIs—that is, information about the user traffic data—from control channels associated with signals from the various network operators on the DAS network. At step 930, the KPIs collected at step 910 may be transmitted to a User KPI Data Storage 960 to be stored.”[0081] “Control channels may provide information such as for example transmission time, power level, user physical layer identifiers, a number of allocated resource blocks, a bitmap of resource blocks, a modulation and coding scheme, acknowledgements, a user channel, a base station channel, SNR, and/or SINR.”[0046]” KPI data 1010 that may be collected and stored for each user, as well as an example of the organization of that data 1010.”[0083] “KPI metrics of individual mobile devices may also be used for monitoring the status of the DAS network, as well as optimizing the network in the event of failures.”[0028] “the user's stored information may be updated with the most recent KPI data collected at step 110.” [0085])
Stapleton fails to teach decode messages. However Hanson teaches receiving messages sent to and from user equipment by at least one processor in a distributed antenna system (integrated relay distributed antenna system 400A, 400B); decoding the received messages; identifying parameters in the decoded received messages [as decoded control plane and user plane data].
(“the access interface circuitry 418 (for examples, a receiver baseband processing circuit) of the master unit 403 is further configured to demodulate, decode, and otherwise process the resulting uplink baseband data in order to recover the control-plane and user-plane data communicated from each UE 407 to the integrated relay distributed antenna system 400A, 400B over the access interface.”[0066] “the backhaul interface circuitry 416 (for example, a receiver baseband processing circuit) of the relay node 402 is further configured to demodulate, decode, and otherwise process the resulting downlink baseband data in order to recover the control-plane and user-plane data communicated from the donor base station 406 to the integrated relay distributed antenna system 400A, 400B”[0062] “the control-plane and/or user-plane data that is scheduled to be communicated to each served UE 407 over the wireless access interface.”[0064])
Accordingly, it would have been obvious to a person having of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to incorporate Hanson’s control plane and users plane decoding technique with Stapleton’s DAS KPI monitoring system which extracts and stores KPI parameters from control channel information, For the benefit of recovering decoded UE communication data from which the KPI parameters can be identified, stored, and used to optimize DAS performance.
Regarding claim 13, Limitations of parent claim 12 have been discussed above. Claim 13 reflects a method for implementing system in claim 2 and is rejected along the same rationale.
Regarding claim 20, Stapleton teaches
A system comprising: a distributed antenna system (DAS network) in communication with user equipment, wherein the distributed antenna system comprises at least one processor, wherein executable code directs the at least one processor to [extract KPI data from control channels associated with] messages (control channels) communicated from and to the user equipment;
(“The User KPI Data and Position unit 120 may extract KPI data for each user associated with the DAUs 102, 108, 111 and DRUs. This data may be extracted from control channels provided with uplink and downlink signals.”[0045] “a process for obtaining KPIs for users on a DAS network. The illustrated steps may be executed by a dedicated component in the DAS network, such as the KPI monitor unit described above. The KPI monitor unit may comprise a server computer. Alternatively or additionally, the steps may be executed individually by the DAUs and/or DRUs in the DAS network. Alternatively or additionally, the steps may be executed by one DAU or DRU that collects data from the other DAUs and/or DRUs. Alternatively or additionally, multiple DAUs and DRUs may operate cooperatively to collect and collate the KPI data.”[0079] “the DAS network architecture of FIG. 3 may achieve more efficient usage of base station resources. Routing functionality in the DAUs may be configured to redirect uplink and downlink signals associated with unique data streams to and from any of the base station 300, 350 sectors to and from any of the DRUs.”[0061] ” Time-synchronized snapshots of the traffic at the various DRUs and/or DAUs 102, 108, 111 may be collected and stored in a server for post processing…The User KPI Data and Position unit 120 may extract KPI data for each user associated with the DAUs 102, 108, 111 and DRUs. This data may be extracted from control channels provided with uplink and downlink signals.”[0045])
and a database;
(“the user's KPI data that is stored in the User KPI Data Storage 960”[0082])
wherein the at least one processor stores parameters identified in the [control channels associated with user traffic data] in the database;
(“the server may extract KPIs—that is, information about the user traffic data—from control channels associated with signals from the various network operators on the DAS network. At step 930, the KPIs collected at step 910 may be transmitted to a User KPI Data Storage 960 to be stored.”[0081])
wherein data is read from the database for adjusting performance of the distributed antenna system based on the stored parameters.
(“the server may extract KPIs—that is, information about the user traffic data—from control channels associated with signals from the various network operators on the DAS network. At step 930, the KPIs collected at step 910 may be transmitted to a User KPI Data Storage 960 to be stored.”[0081] “The User KPI Data Storage 960 may be connected to the Internet 970, such that the user's KPI data and/or location may be available”[0082] “KPI metrics of individual mobile devices may also be used for monitoring the status of the DAS network, as well as optimizing the network in the event of failures.”[0028] “the user's stored information may be updated with the most recent KPI data collected at step 110.”[0085])
Stapleton fails to teach decode C-plane data and U-plane data. However Hanson teaches a distributed antenna system in communication with user equipment [comprises baseband processing circuitry configured to] decode C-plane data and U-plane data in messages communicated from and to the user equipment… [the distributed antenna system recovers control-plane and user-plane data as ]the decoded messages
(“the access interface circuitry 418 (for examples, a receiver baseband processing circuit) of the master unit 403 is further configured to demodulate, decode, and otherwise process the resulting uplink baseband data in order to recover the control-plane and user-plane data communicated from each UE 407 to the integrated relay distributed antenna system 400A, 400B over the access interface.”[0066] “the backhaul interface circuitry 416 (for example, a receiver baseband processing circuit) of the relay node 402 is further configured to demodulate, decode, and otherwise process the resulting downlink baseband data in order to recover the control-plane and user-plane data communicated from the donor base station 406 to the integrated relay distributed antenna system 400A, 400B”[0062] “the control-plane and/or user-plane data that is scheduled to be communicated to each served UE 407 over the wireless access interface.”[0064])
Accordingly, it would have been obvious to a person having of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to incorporate Hanson’s control plane and users plane decoding technique with Stapleton’s DAS KPI monitoring system which extracts and stores KPI parameters from control channel information, For the benefit of recovering decoded UE communication data from which the KPI parameters can be identified, stored, and used to optimize DAS performance.
Claims 3-4 and 14-15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Stapleton in view of Hanson in further view of Gorain et al. WO 2022005709 A1 (hereinafter Gorain)
Regarding claim 3, limitations of parent claim 2 have been discussed above. Gorain teaches
wherein the executable code directs the at least one processor to determine whether the C-plane data (C-plane message) is at least one of downlink C-plane data and uplink C-plane data.
(“FIG. 10 is a diagram 1000 illustrating an example of the C-plane message from the DU to the RU including a transport header 1002 (e.g., an enhanced Common Public Radio Interface (eCPRI) transport header) and an application header 1004 The application header 1004 may include necessary fields for the control and the synchronization. For example, the application header 1004 may comprise various fields such as the data direction, payload version, filter index, frame ID, subframe ID, slot ID, start symbol ID, section ID, number of section, section type, user plane compression header (udCompHdr) headers, etc. The data direction field may be used for indicating whether the message is for the downlink or the uplink data.”[page 13])
Accordingly, it would have been obvious to a person having of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to incorporate Gorain’s C-plane direction indication framework with Stapleton and Hanson’s C-plane and U-plane processing framework, For the benefit of determining whether C-plane information corresponds to downlink or uplink data so that the associated communication data can be processed according to its indicated transmission direction.
Regarding claim 4, limitations of parent claim 3 have been discussed above. Gorain teaches
when the at least one processor determines that the C-plane data (C-plane message) is the downlink C-plane data, the executable code directs the at least one processor to: [carry]downlink U-plane data (DL Frequency Domain IQ Data) from the U-plane data (U-plane message);
(“When the data is flowing from the DU (e.g., O-DU 602, 702, 802) to the RU (e.g., O-RU 604, 704, 804), the data may flow through a user plane (U-plane), a control plane (C- plane) and a synchronization plane (S-plane). The U-plane may be responsible for transmitting the data from the DU to the RU. For example, the U-plane message may carry a DL Frequency Domain IQ Data, e.g., downlink user data (PDSCH), control channel data (PDCCH)…FIG. 10 is a diagram 1000 illustrating an example of the C-plane message from the DU to the RU including a transport header 1002 (e.g., an enhanced Common Public Radio Interface (eCPRI) transport header) and an application header 1004 The application header 1004 may include necessary fields for the control and the synchronization. For example, the application header 1004 may comprise various fields such as the data direction, payload version, filter index, frame ID, subframe ID, slot ID, start symbol ID, section ID, number of section, section type, user plane compression header (udCompHdr) headers, etc. The data direction field may be used for indicating whether the message is for the downlink or the uplink data.”[page 13])
process] downlink correction information (DCI) in the downlink U-plane data (DL Frequency Domain IQ Data);
(“FIG. 2B illustrates an example of various DL channels within a subframe of a frame. The physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) carries DCI within one or more control channel elements (CCEs)”[page 10]“When the data is flowing from the DU (e.g., O-DU 602, 702, 802) to the RU (e.g., O-RU 604, 704, 804), the data may flow through a user plane (U-plane), a control plane (C- plane) and a synchronization plane (S-plane). The U-plane may be responsible for transmitting the data from the DU to the RU. For example, the U-plane message may carry a DL Frequency Domain IQ Data, e.g., downlink user data (PDSCH), control channel data (PDCCH)”[page 13])
and identify the parameters in the DCI.
(“UEs are configured with the slot format (dynamically through DL control information (DCI), or semi-statically/statically through radio resource control (RRC) signaling) through a received slot format indicator (SFI).”[page 9])
Gorain fails to expressly disclose the decoding operation recited in this claim. However Hanson teaches [a receiver baseband processing circuit configured to] decode downlink U-plane data from the U-plane data [by decoding downlink baseband data to recover user plane data]
(“the backhaul interface circuitry 416 (for example, a receiver baseband processing circuit) of the relay node 402 is further configured to demodulate, decode, and otherwise process the resulting downlink baseband data in order to recover the control-plane and user-plane data communicated from the donor base station 406 to the integrated relay distributed antenna system 400A, 400B over the wireless backhaul interface. The recovered downlink control-plane and user-plane data is provided to the access interface circuitry 418.”[0062])
Accordingly, it would have been obvious to a person having of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to incorporate the downlink baseband decoding technique of Hanson and Stapleton into Gorain’s U-plane processing framework, for the benefit of recovering the control plane and user plane information contained in the downlink communication data, with the predictable result of enabling the downlink U-plane data to be decoded for further processing.
Regarding claim 14, Limitations of parent claim 13 have been discussed above. Claim 14 reflects a method for implementing system in claim 3 and is rejected along the same rationale.
Regarding claim 15, Limitations of parent claim 14 have been discussed above. Claim 15 reflects a method for implementing system in claim 4 and is rejected along the same rationale.
Claims 5 and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Stapleton in view of Hanson in view of Gorain in further view of Nammi et al. US 20200367205 A1 (Hereinafter Nammi)
Regarding claim 5 , limitations of parent claim 4 have been discussed above. Nammi teaches method wherein the parameters identified in the DCI comprise at least one of: DCI format; modulation and coding scheme (MCS); redundancy version (RV); new data indicators (NDI); hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) ID; and Time-frequency resources (frequency domain resource assignment and time domain resource assignment,).
(“the following information is transmitted by means of the DCI format: carrier indicator, identifier for dci formats, bandwidth part indicator, frequency domain resource assignment, time domain resource assignment, virtual resource block (VRB) to physical resource block (PRB) mapping flag, PRB bundling size indicator, rate matching indicator, zero-punctuation (ZP) CSI-RS trigger, modulation and coding scheme for each transport block (TB), new data indicator for each TB, redundancy version for each TB, HARQ process number, downlink assignment index, transaction processing benchmark (TPC) command for uplink control channel, physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) resource indicator, physical downlink scheduling channel to HARQ feedback timing indicator, antenna port(s), transmission configuration indication, system requirement specification (SRS) request, cbg transmission information, cbg flushing out information, and/or dmrs sequence initialization.”[0034])
Accordingly, it would have been obvious to a person having of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to incorporate DCI parameter field framework of Nammi with Stapleton, Hanson, and Gorain’s U-plane processing framework, for the benefit of improving the identification and processing of downlink control information.
Regarding claim 16, Limitations of parent claim 15 have been discussed above. For purposes of examination, “download correction information format” is interpreted as “DCI format”, which is consistent with claim 5. Claim 16 reflects a method for implementing system in claim 5 and is rejected along the same rationale.
Claims 6 and 17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Stapleton in view of Hanson in view of Gorain in further view of Vijayan et al US 20210306039 A1 (Hereinafter Vijayan)
Regarding claim 6, limitations of parent claim 3 have been discussed above. Gorain teaches when the at least one processor determines that the C-plane data (C-plane message) is the uplink C-plane data, the executable code directs the at least one processor to
(“FIG. 10 is a diagram 1000 illustrating an example of the C-plane message from the DU to the RU including a transport header 1002 (e.g., an enhanced Common Public Radio Interface (eCPRI) transport header) and an application header 1004 The application header 1004 may include necessary fields for the control and the synchronization. For example, the application header 1004 may comprise various fields such as the data direction, payload version, filter index, frame ID, subframe ID, slot ID, start symbol ID, section ID, number of section, section type, user plane compression header (udCompHdr) headers, etc. The data direction field may be used for indicating whether the message is for the downlink or the uplink data… The user data compression header field in the C-plane message may be used for the uplink… the application header 1004 is the section ID portion, which may include a section ID field that may be used for assigning an ID to a frequency and time resource (e.g., resources for transporting data in the U-plane message). There may be more than one section ID defined in the section ID portion, and there may be additional parameters and configuration associating with each section ID. The section ID configured in the C- plane message may be used by the DU or the RU to associate the U-plane message with its corresponding C-plane message. For example, after a section ID and its associated parameters are defined in a C-plane message, the same section ID may be assigned to the U-plane message. Thus, the U-plane message may use the section ID to relate to the C- plane message, and may apply the parameters and configurations associated with the section ID to its transmitting data (e.g., IQ data). ”[page 13])
Gorain fails to teach estimate the parameters from the U-plane data. However Vijayan teaches estimate the parameters from the U-plane data (PUSCH) [by estimating a channel value using the received PUSCH]
(“A channel estimate is an estimate of a channel value, i.e., air medium, determined at a receiver. For example, module 158 estimates a channel using received PUSCH and module 170 estimates a channel using the received SRS. A physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) is a channel that is used to convey information via information symbols between a UE and a BS. In LTE for example, one SF of PUSCH in an uplink has 2 slots, and each slot has 7 OFDM symbols, of which 6 OFDM symbols convey information, i.e., data, and the middle OFDM symbol is a DMRS, where a known symbol, also called as pilot symbol, is transmitted. The pilot symbol helps in learning the channel, i.e., air medium, also called a channel estimate.”[0045]-[0046]).
Accordingly, it would have been obvious to a person having of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to incorporate the uplink channel estimation technique of Vijayan with Stapleton, Hanson, and Gorain’s C-plane and U-plane processing framework, for the benefit of obtaining channel information from received uplink data, with the predictable result of estimating uplink parameters for further processing.
Regarding claim 17, Limitations of parent claim 14 have been discussed above. Claim 17 reflects a method for implementing system in claim 6 and is rejected along the same rationale.
Claims 7 and 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Stapleton in view of Hanson in view of Gorain in view of Vijayan in further view of Abdelmonem US 20190052381 A1.
Regarding claim 7, limitations of parent claim 6 have been discussed above. Gorain teaches wherein the parameters estimated from the U-plane data comprise at least one of: [parameters and configurations associated with the section ID applied to IQ data];
(“The U-plane may be responsible for transmitting the data from the DU to the RU. For example, the U-plane message may carry a DL Frequency Domain IQ Data, e.g., downlink user data (PDSCH), control channel data (PDCCH), etc., and/or a UL Frequency Domain IQ Data, e.g., uplink user data (PUSCH), control channel data (PUCCH)…after a section ID and its associated parameters are defined in a C-plane message, the same section ID may be assigned to the U-plane message. Thus, the U-plane message may use the section ID to relate to the C- plane message, and may apply the parameters and configurations associated with the section ID to its transmitting data (e.g., IQ data).”[page 13])
Gorain does not expressly disclose received signal strength indicator (RSSI). However Abdelmonem teaches [extracting at least one of] received signal strength indicator (RSSI); signal to interference and noise ratio (SINR); noise; interference; and signal quality.
(“System 1200 analyzes I/Q data and extracts information that gives insight to the base station performance. The extracted information can include LTE signal quality, SINR, PRB utilization, intercell interference (ICI), any abnormalities, including PIM, interference, leakage interference and component problems. System 1200 also determines an LTE quality indicator, for example, an increase in RSSI above a historical acceptable level without an increase in traffic… ICI noise can be detected from header information included in the noise signal… Leakage noise can include uplink interference at a base station of interest caused by another base station”[0297-0299])
Accordingly, it would have been obvious to a person having of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to incorporate Abdelmonem’s I/Q data analysis technique into Stapleton, Hanson, Gorain and Vijayan’s uplink U-plane IQ data system, for the benefit of monitoring wireless signal and base station performance.
Regarding claim 18, Limitations of parent claim 17 have been discussed above. Claim 18 reflects a method for implementing system in claim 7 and is rejected along the same rationale.
Claim 8 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Stapleton in view of Hanson and in further view of Manolakos WO 2020146837 (hereinafter Manolakos).
Regarding claim 8, limitations of parent claim 1 have been discussed above. Stapleton teaches wherein the parameters (KPI data) are stored in the database (User KPI Data Storage 960) [in User KPI Data storage for post processing];
(“KPI data from various remotes units and host units may be stored in a server for post processing.”[0032] “At step 920, the server may extract KPIs—that is, information about the user traffic data—from control channels associated with signals from the various network operators on the DAS network. At step 930, the KPIs collected at step 910 may be transmitted to a User KPI Data Storage 960 to be stored.” [0081])
Stapleton does not teach according to at least one of: system frame number (SFN); system frame (SF); and slot. However Manolakos teaches [associating wireless measurements] according to at least one of: system frame number (SFN); system frame (SF); and slot
(“the measurement report includes: a time-stamp; and one or more UE round trip time (RTT) related measurements, each UE RTT related measurement representing a duration between the UE receiving the DL RS from the transmitting TRP and the UE transmitting the UL RS in this frame, and where the time-stamp is one of a system frame number (SFN), subframe ID, slot ID, or any combination thereof.”[page 2] “each UE RTT related measurement may be reported as a tuple comprising a slot / subframe ID of the reception of the DL RS and a slot / subframe ID of the transmission of the corresponding UL RS”[page 21])
Accordingly, it would have been obvious to a person having of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to incorporate Manolakos’s SFN, subframe, and slot based measurement association into Stapleton and Hanson’s stored KPI data system, for the benefit of identifying stored performance measurements according to their corresponding wireless transmission time.
Claims 9 and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Stapleton in view of Hanson and in further view of Xu et al. US 10638400 B1 (hereinafter Xu).
Regarding claim 9, limitations of parent claim 1 have been discussed above. Xu teaches wherein the stored parameters are read by a device (analyzer application) from the database (KPI metrics database) in response to at least one of: an end to a period [5 - 60 minute intervals]; a trigger event (connection event); and a specific condition.
(“The results are then stored in the KPI metrics database.”[col 3, lines 20-21] “The probe receives from the second network peer an echo-response and within the the KPI metrics database is stored at least one performance value for the second network path. An analyzer application communicatively coupled to the cellular network and KPI metrics database is provided. The analyzer contains logic to identify the optimal end-to-end network pathways. Responsive to a connection event, the KPI metrics database is queried for an optimal network path based at least in part on the performance values for the first and second network paths. The query results are returned to the analyzer whereby the optimal end-to-end network pathway is identified by the analyzer.”[col 4, lines 56-67] – [col 5, line 1] “Responsive to a connection event which may be a new connection request by user equipment or a change in the KPI metrics database, the KPI metrics database is queried for an optimal network path based at least in part on the performance values for the first and second network paths”[col 3, lines 24-28]” In yet another embodiment of the invention, the system monitors the KPI metrics database for changes in optimal network pathways and responsive to such changes, invokes the enforcer to generate signaling messages directed to the user equipment device to reestablish its data connection to the newly identified optimal network path. The KPI metrics database may be polled at various intervals such between 5 and 60 minutes for changes in optimal network pathways.”[col 5, lines 20-27])
Accordingly, it would have been obvious to a person having of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to incorporate Xu’s interval, event, and condition responsive KPI database querying into Stapleton and Hanson’s DAS performance data storage system, for the benefit of retrieving stored performance information when needed for network monitoring and optimization.
Regarding claim 19, Limitations of parent claim 12 have been discussed above. Claim 19 reflects a method for implementing system in claim 9 and is rejected along the same rationale.
Claims 10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Stapletonin view of Hanson in view of Xu and in further view of Jadunandan et al. US 9432865 B1 (hereinafter Jadunandan).
Regarding claim 10, limitations of parent claim 9 have been discussed above. Jadunandan teaches where the device reads the stored parameters that were received over a recent time period.
(“The metrics data store 104 may receive data and/or metrics updates, for example count updates, and associate a date and/or a time with the received data and/or metrics updates. The date and/or the time may comprise the date and/or time that the data and/or metrics were recorded at the cell site(s) and/or the date and/or time that the data and/or metrics were received by the metrics data store 104.”[col 9, lines 19 - 26] “the metrics data store 104 may discard/delete data and/or metrics after a discard period of time and/or after the metric data store 104 reaches a predetermined storage capacity. For example, the metrics data store 104 may receive data and/or metrics updates at a periodic interval and for example, in near real time.” [col 9, lines 27-32] “The rate based performance metrics may be determined or calculated periodically over the most recent time window.”[col 10, lines 32-34])
Accordingly, it would have been obvious to a person having of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to incorporate Jadunandan’s retrieval of recently received performance metrics into Stapleton, Hanson, and Xu’s KPI database system, for the benefit of analyzing current network performance information.
Claims 11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Stapletonin view of Hansonin view of Xu and in further view of Rosenschildet al. US 20210153034 A1 (hereinafter Rosenschild).
Regarding claim 11, limitations of parent claim 9 have been discussed above. Rosenschild teaches wherein the device (DAS system controller 121) is at least one of: the at least one processor;
(“the DAS system controller 121 may be implemented by circuitry and/or a processor and memory configured to execute the functions described herein as being performed by either the CAN 120 or DAS system controller 121.”[0015])
a base station (base stations 105) coupled to the distributed antenna system (DAS 100.);
(“The WIN 115 and CAN 120 operate in conjunction with each other to implement a distributed master unit (MU) 110 function for DAS 100 that establishes communications with one or more base stations 105. In some embodiments, the WIN 115 resides in a C-RAN hub and carries baseband signals to a campus distribution hub. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the WIN 115 is coupled to one or more base stations 105.”[0010])
an operator (network operators) for the distributed antenna system (DAS 100);
(“network operators by accessing the DAS management system 122 can send control commands to the CAN 120 to manage and obtain status information about the DAS 100.”[0015] “a network operator will access the functions of the CAN 120 via a DAS management virtualization system 124 that allow the network operator to operate his portion of the DAS 100”[0016] “an input from an operator of the first virtual system via the first virtualized DAS operator interface, is configured to define one or more signal sets for the first virtual system and assign the one or more signal sets to one or more of the remote antenna units assigned to the first virtual system.”[0055])
and an external system coupled to the distributed antenna system.
(“the CAN 120 may be configured to communicate with a DAS management system 122… the DAS management system 122 can be implemented as a component of the DAS 100 itself, while in other embodiments, it may be implemented by components outside of the DAS 100. In some embodiments, using a DAS Management virtualization system 124 on the external DAS management system 122”[0015])
Accordingly, it would have been obvious to a person having of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to incorporate Rosenschild’s retrieval of recently received performance metrics into Stapleton, Hanson, and Xu’s KPI database system, for the benefit of analyzing current network performance information.
References Cited But Not Relied Upon
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Elliott et al (US 20130150065 A1 paragraphs [0021 - 0024] [0042] ) is pertinent for teaching monitoring and management of a distributed antenna system, including collecting and storage of DAS test data.
Chou et al (US 20210022061 A1 paragraph [0079]) is pertinent for teaching storage and access of wireless network information and event and timer based network procedures.
Conclusion
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/F.O.M./Examiner, Art Unit 2646
/JEANETTE J PARKER/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2646
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