DETAILED ACTION
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Claims 1-12 are pending in Instant Application.
Priority
Examiner acknowledges Applicant’s claim to priority benefits: This application is a 371 of PCT/JP2023/010490 filed 03/07/2023.
Claim Objections
Claims 1-12 are objected to because of the following informalities:
Claims 1 and 11 includes “-“ (dashes) and “o”(bullets), it is recommended to delete all the “-“ and “o”. For clarification it is recommended to change/amend the claim. Please amend claim 1 to:
Proposed amended claim 1: A method for clustering data flows established through a wireless bridge that is formed by a wireless communication system and integrated within a time-sensitive network, comprising:
the wireless bridge configured to handle a plurality of user terminals,
the time-sensitive network comprising: a core network-side end station,
the time-sensitive network further comprising: a plurality of device-side end stations, a device-side end station being attached to a user terminal,
at least two data flows being established in the time-sensitive network and forwarded by the wireless bridge, with one data flow being established between the core network-side end station and a single device-side end station,
the method comprising:
obtaining, at a node of a core network component of the wireless bridge, for each data flow of the at least two data flows, an indicator of a sequential communication performance of said data flow, corresponding to when the at least two data flows are established sequentially,
obtaining, for each data flow of the at least two data flows, an indicator of a concurrent communication performance of said data flow, corresponding to when the at least two data flows are established concurrently,
clustering the at least two data flows into clusters of dependent data flows based on the obtained indicators, such that: two given data flows are independent if the difference between the sequential communication performance and the concurrent communication performance is lower than a predetermined threshold, and are otherwise dependent, any two data flows belonging to two different clusters are independent, and any two data flows of the same cluster are dependent.
Please amend claim 11 to:
Proposed amended claim 11: A communication system of a time-sensitive network, the communication system comprising:
a wireless bridge configured to handle a plurality of user terminals,
the time-sensitive network comprising: a core network-side end station,
the time-sensitive network further comprising: a plurality of device-side end stations, a device-side end station being attached to a user terminal, at least two data flows being established in the time-sensitive network, with one data flow being established between the core network-side end station and a single device-side end station, the communication system being configured for:
at a node of a core network component of the wireless bridge, obtaining, for each data flow of the at least two data flows, an indicator of a sequential communication performance of said data flow corresponding to when the at least two data flows are established sequentially, and obtaining, for each data flow of the at least two data flows, an indicator of a concurrent communication performance of said data flow, corresponding to when the at least two data flows are established concurrently,
clustering the at least two data flows into clusters of dependent data flows based on the obtained indicators, such that:
two given data flows are independent if the difference between the sequential communication performance and the concurrent communication performance is lower than a predetermined threshold, and are otherwise dependent,
any two data flows belonging to two different clusters are independent, and
any two data flows of the same cluster are dependent.
Please amend claim 12 to: A non-transitory computer program comprising instructions stored in a memory which, when the program is executed by a processor of a computer, cause the computer to carry out the method of claim 1.
It is recommended to add the limitations of claim 1 into claim 12.
Claim 3 recites, “… wherein the first value and/or the second value are related to …”, in line 1.
For clarity it is suggested to replace the operator "/" with words (e.g., instead of “A and/or B ”, preferred language is “at least one of A or B ”).
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.
Claim 3 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 term “a best-effort” in claim 3 is a relative term which renders the claim indefinite. The term “wherein the first value and/or the second value are related to a best-effort communication between the end stations” is not defined by the claim, the specification does not provide a standard for ascertaining the requisite degree, and one of ordinary skill in the art would not be reasonably apprised of the scope of the invention.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim(s) 1-12 are allowed.
The following is an examiner’s statement of reasons for allowance:
Claims 1-12 are allowable over prior art since the prior art taken individually or in combination fails to particularly disclose, fairly suggests, or render obvious the following italic limitations:
In claims 1, and 11 … obtaining, at a node of a core network component of the wireless bridge, for each data flow of the at least two data flows, an indicator of a sequential communication performance of said data flow, corresponding to when the at least two data flows are established sequentially, obtaining, for each data flow of the at least two data flows, an indicator of a concurrent communication performance of said data flow, corresponding to when the at least two data flows are established concurrently, clustering the at least two data flows into clusters of dependent data flows based on the obtained indicators, such that: two given data flows are independent if the difference between the sequential communication performance and the concurrent communication performance is lower than a predetermined threshold, and are otherwise dependent, any two data flows belonging to two different clusters are independent, and any two data flows of the same cluster are dependent … and in combination with other limitations recited as specified in claims 1, and 11.
Regarding claims 1, 3-5, 8-11, and 13:
Note that the first closest prior art of record identified was Talebi (US Pub. No.: 2022/046731) discloses (see para. 0267-0270, “as depicted in FIG. 18 and FIG. 19, 5GS may be employed as a TSN bridge. The 5GS may receive TSN related reservation requests using a 5G QoS framework. The 5GS may employ 5G internal signaling to satisfy TSN reservation requests. When the 5GS is deployed as a TSN bridge (e.g., logical TSN bridge), the TSN bridge may comprise an adaptation function to translate the 5GS protocols and information objects to TSN protocols and information objects and vice versa. The 5GS bridge may provide TSN ingress and egress ports via a TSN Translator (Device) on the UE side and via the “TSN Translator” (CP and UP) on the CN side towards the DN. The 5GS bridge may support different TSN configuration models. In an example, one or more TSN compliant interfaces may be employed by the TSN bridge with the respective protocols towards TSN end stations, TSN bridges, CNC, CUC, and/or the like on the control plane and/or user plane. The TSN bridge self-management and the functions required to interact with CNC may be located at the network translator”. See also para. 0272, “the
TSN bridge managing the object attributes independentDelayMin/MAx and dependentDelayMin/MAx for a 3GPP bridge”).
However Talebi fails to disclose or render obvious the above italic limitations as claimed.
Note that the second closest prior art of record identified was Miao (WO2022/159400A1) discloses, see page 8, lines 17-31, “a monitoring system for QoS monitoring in integrated cellular time sensitive bridged networks. A device establishes a communication with a centralized network configuration (CNC) of a 5G system (5GS), wherein the communication is associated with a TSN bridged network. The device decodes a subscriber QoS monitoring request received from the CNC. The device may establish a QoS monitoring procedure at a service enabler architectural layer (SEAL) of a 5GS. The device causes to send a QoS monitoring response to the CNC, and detect a QoS monitoring event, wherein the QoS monitoring event returns a QoS notification associated with QoS parameters (Abstract) and obtaining indication of communication performance for individual flows (i.e. latency)”).
However Miao fails to disclose or render obvious the above italic limitations as claimed.
Note that the third closest prior art of record identified was Bhattacharjee (Network Slicing for TSN-Based Transport Networks", IEEE ACCESS, IEEE, USA, 2021-04-21) discloses, see Section III. IEEE TSN for mobile networks; page 62793 - page 62796 , Section IV. A. Proposed Architecture; page 62797 - page 62799, Section IV. B. Role of Analytics; page 62799, “methods and mechanisms for interconnecting a network slice control and management system of mobile networks with a time sensitive network (TSN) control plane. In particular, teaches traffic management in distributed and centralized TSN approaches, including the optimization of the flow scheduling based on stochastic modeling of the traffic flows entering the network. A modeling SON-based network configuration for the TSN using a Principal Component Analysis (PCA, i.e. statistic method)”).
However Bhattacharjee fails to disclose or render obvious the above italic limitations as claimed.
Thus, Talebi, Miao and Bhattacharjee taken individually or in-combination fails to particularly disclose, fairly suggests, or render obvious the above italic limitations as claimed.
Claims 2-10 and 12 are also allowable since their respective independent Claims 1 and 11 are allowable.
As allowable subject matter has been indicated, applicant's reply must either comply with all formal requirements or specifically traverse each requirement not complied with. See 37 CFR 1.111(b) and MPEP § 707.07(a).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant’s disclosure.
Talebi (US Pub. No.: 2022/046731) discloses a session management function (SMF) receives, from an access and mobility management function (AMF), a request for a time sensitive network (TSN) bridge. The SMF sends, to a user plane function (UPF) that supports TSN functionality, a message comprising configuration parameters of the TSN bridge. The configuration parameters comprise an identifier of the TSN bridge. The configuration parameters comprise an identifier of a port associated with TSN packet transmission.
Miao (WO2022/159400A1) discloses systems, methods, and devices related to quality of service (QoS) monitoring in integrated cellular time sensitive bridged network. A device may establish a communication with a centralized network configuration (CNC), wherein the communication may be associated with a 5G time-sensitive networking (TSN) bridged network. The device may decode a subscribe QoS monitoring request received from the CNC. The device may establish a QoS monitoring procedure at a service enabler architectural layer (SEAL) of a 5G system. The device may cause to send a subscribe QoS monitoring response to the CNC confirming the subscribe request. The device may detect a QoS monitoring event, wherein the QoS monitoring event returns a QoS notification associated with QoS parameters.
Bhattacharjee (Network Slicing for TSN-Based Transport Networks", IEEE ACCESS, IEEE, USA, 2021-04-21) discloses, see page 62796-62799, methods and mechanisms for interconnecting a network slice control and management system of mobile networks with a time sensitive network (TSN) control plane. In particular, teaches traffic management in distributed and centralized TSN approaches, including the optimization of the flow scheduling based on stochastic modeling of the traffic flows entering the network. A modeling SON-based network configuration for the TSN using a Principal Component Analysis (PCA, i.e. statistic method).
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to LAKERAM JANGBAHADUR whose telephone number is (571)272-1335. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F 7 am - 4 pm.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Ian Moore can be reached on 571-272-3085. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/LAKERAM JANGBAHADUR/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2469
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