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 .
Priority
Applicant has claimed domestic priority under 35 USC 119 of U.S. Provisional Application 63/583,006 filed on September 15th, 2023.
Specification
The disclosure is objected to because of the following informalities: Specification paragraph [0021] discloses group-based policy, but it was spelled GPB. Please amend to GBP for group-based policy, as outlined in the claim, unless it was meant to say Google Protocol Buffers.
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Objections
Claim 4 objected to because of the following informalities: “Group-based Policy” acronym is GBP. Claim currently uses GPB. Appropriate correction is required.
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 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over SHETE et al. Pub. No. US 2024/0276188 A1 (hereafter Shete) in view YING et al. WO 2022/261028 A1 (hereafter Ying).
Regarding claim 1, Shete teaches “A method of information encoding for Radio Access Network Operations, Administration, and Maintenance (RAN OAM) related data via a computer comprising the steps of: providing semantics of RAN OAM data (RAN semantics) comprising RAN OAM-related data to be used while exchanging information over standardized interfaces for inter-operability ([0024-0029] teaches a method for a non-real-time radio access network intelligence controller that includes receiving requests for retrieving a configuration schema of a network element in the O-RAN, and sending via an R1 interface, a response to the requested configuration schema comprising a data model identifying the network element. [0099-0108] teaches a R1-O1 data model identifying a network element and CM attribute, wherein requests such as GET CM DATA REQUEST/RESPONSE and WRITE CM REQUEST require constructing an R1 message according to the defined data model containing defined fields and nested structures representing the CM information such that it is encoding the data); providing a generic information encoding model for encoding the RAN OAM-related data, the generic information encoding model using common message structures to encode OAM-related RAN parameters nested in RAN structures for exchanging Application Programming Interface (API) messages ([0107-0112] teaches of a data model including at least one of a plurality of parameters, and [0113-0119] may show nested parameters) between R1 data producers and R1 data consumers ([0079]), wherein the… model using Information Elements (IE) and/or IE structures leverage the RAN semantics ([0108-0112] teaches of network element items (IE), which are similar or the same to that of information elements);”
Shete does mention of discovery on the NRT-RIC framework in [0074-0077], Shete may have not explicitly taught R1 consumer discovery capabilities of a R1 data producer.
Ying teaches data consumer discovery such that it teaches “enabling an R1 data consumer via a data customer computer to discover data capabilities of an R1 data producer that produces the RAN OAM-related data over an Open-RAN (O-RAN) standardized R1 interface between rApps and Non-RT RIC/ service management and orchestration (SMO) platform functions ([Pg 3, line 10 – Pg. 7, line 24] teaches data functions within a Non-RT RIC framework, including data discovery. When the data consumer rApps subscribe/request data from the framework, they communicate information about the data which may be summarized as a delivery policy; data consumer rApp may send a discovery request to data management function through R1 termination, and the data producer may also register with the data management function through R1 termination such that it may push data to a data storage, and that the data storage function may push the data to the data consumer rApp)”.
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective
filing date to have applied the teachings of Ying to the invention of Shete to enable an R1 data consumer to discover data capabilities of an R1 data producer. A person having
ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this combination in order to identify available data types and determine an appropriate data source before requesting and subscribing to data, thereby avoiding requests for unavailable data and facilitating interoperability between data consumers and producers.
Regarding claim 5, the combination teaches “The method of claim 1, wherein the RAN OAM-related data includes Configuration Management (CM) data, and each CM data type supports one or more of the following data generation/reporting triggers: a) event-driven, and b) periodic (Shete [0007] teaches of recommending a configuration management (CM) action over the O1 interface, such that it is data related to CM. Ying [Pg. 3, lines 18 – 30] teach if data delivered is periodic or triggered by an event)”.
Regarding claim 7, the combination teaches “The method of claim 5, wherein when the CM data type supports periodic data generation/reporting triggers, a list of events related to the CM data type at a designated interval is reported (Ying [Pg. 3, lines 18 – 26] teaches of periodic data delivery at time intervals, such that CM data may be delivered at designated time intervals)”.
Regarding claim 8, wherein the combination, Shete teaches “The method of claim 5, wherein rApps are enabled to retrieve configuration schemes, read configuration data, and write configuration changes ([0040-0045])”.
Claim 6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Shete and Ying as applied in claim 1 above, and in further view of Akman et al. Pub. No. US 2024/0163649 A1 (hereafter Akman).
Regarding claim 6, wherein the combination, Ying [Pg. 16, lines 25 – 28] teaches that the UDM may access and subscribe to notifications of relevant data changes, however may not explicitly teach of CM data changes.
Akman teaches of configuration management services including to create, modify, and delete managed object instances (MOI) such that it teaches the limitation “The method of claim 5, wherein the CM data type supports event-driven data generation/reporting triggers, when an instance of the CM data type is created in an O-RAN NF, or when an instance of the CM data type is modified in an O-RAN NF, or when an instance of the CM data type is deleted in an O-RAN NF ([0042] teaches configuration management services including to create, modify, or delete MOIs, such that when one of these MOIs are changed in said ways, it may trigger the event-driven communication as taught in Ying [Pg. 4, lines 5 – 9], wherein rApps communicate information about the creation and configuration of the data).”
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective
filing date to have applied the teachings of Akman to the combination of Shete and Ying to enable event triggers upon CM data modification, creation, or deletion. A person having
ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this combination in order to allow for consumers to monitor the status or availability of services of RAN nodes (Akman [0042]).
Claims 2 and 3 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Shete and Ying as applied in claim 1 above, and in further view of Vanjare et al. Pub. No. US 2024/0205808 A1 (hereafter Vanjare).
Regarding claim 2, wherein the combination, Shete ([0040-0045]) teaches HTTPS requests for a configuration schema, however does not explicitly mention using a JSON format such that it may be using a JSON transport protocol.
Vanjare teaches of using REST APIs and JSON formatted configurations such that it teaches the limitation “The method of claim 1, further comprising using a transport protocol that is Representational State Transfer/JavaScript Object Notation (REST/JSON)) ([0004] teaches JSON formatted configurations for applications. [0262-0263] teaches of using REST APIs for communication)”.
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective
filing date to have applied the teachings of Vanjare to the combination of Shete and Ying to show that the transport protocol used within the framework may be of REST/JSON. A person having ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this combination as JSON is easy to operate and understand for users of various skill levels (Vanjare [0004]). Since the teachings were analogous art known at the filing time of the invention, one of ordinary skill could have applied said teachings to achieve expected results.
Regarding claim 3, the combination teaches “The method of claim 1, wherein the encoding model and IE structure is based on JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) (Shete [0108] teaches the CM data model including parameters consisting of the listed elements. Vanjare [0004] teaches that the configuration may be of JSON format, such that it would be obvious to format the parameters of the CM data model using JSON)”.
Claim 4 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Shete and Ying as applied in claim 1 above, and in further view of Mestery et al. Pub. No. US 2025/0039133 A1 (hereafter Mestery).
Regarding claim 4, the combination may not explicitly teach a gRPC/GPB transport/encoding model.
Mestery teaches a YANG model using GPB format and gRPC protocol such that it teaches the limitation “The method of claim 1, wherein the encoding model and IE structure is based on an open source Remote Procedure Call/Group-Based Policy (gRPC/GPB) ([0003])”.
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective
filing date to have applied the teachings of Mestery to the combination of Shete and Ying to show that the transport protocol used within the framework may be of gRPC/GPB. A person having ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this combination as it may improve data collection efficiency and facilitates intelligent interconnection (Mestery [0003]). Since the teachings were analogous art known at the filing time of the invention, one of ordinary skill could have applied said teachings to achieve expected results.
Claims 9, 11, 14 and 15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Shete and Ying as applied in claim 1 above, and in further view of SHETE et al. Pub. No. US 2024/0276187 A1 (hereafter Shete-2).
Regarding claim 9, the combination may touch on performance management in Shete [0074], however may not explicitly teach of performance management data.
Shete-2 teaches of performance management information such that it teaches the limitation “The method of claim 1, wherein the RAN OAM-related data includes Performance Management (PM) data, and each PM data type supports one or more of the following data generation/reporting triggers: a) event-driven, and b) periodic (Shete-2 [0017] teaches an O-1 performance management (PM) service for accessing performance information collected wherein when combined with Ying [Pg. 3, lines 18 – 30], teaches that data delivered is periodic or triggered by an event)”.
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective
filing date to have applied the teachings of Shete-2 to the combination of Shete and Ying to show that RAN OAM-related data includes performance management data. A person having ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this combination as it provides consumers with performance data needed to assess the current network conditions and make informed optimization/control decisions. Since the teachings were analogous art known at the filing time of the invention, one of ordinary skill could have applied said teachings to achieve expected results.
Regarding claim 11, the combination teaches “The method of claim 9, wherein rApps are enabled to query performance information ([Shete-2 [0106])”.
Regarding claim 14, the combination teaches “The method of claim 1, wherein the RAN OAM-related data includes Fault Management (FM) data (Shete-2 [0043, 0095, 0107] teaches fault management services to allow consumers to obtain information about alarms as well as request for FM data)”.
Regarding claim 15, the combination teaches “The method of claim 14, wherein RAN OAM-related functions register services produced with Service Management and Exposure (SME) Function for discovery by the rApps (Shete-2 [0086-0090] teach of R1-service management & exposure services)”.
Claim 10 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Shete and Ying as applied in claim 1 above, and Shete-2 as applied in claim 9 above, and in further view of SONG et al. Pub. No. US 2023/0362731 A1 (hereafter Song).
Regarding claim 10, the combination may teach of triggers, however may not explicitly teach of a list of measurement IEs and supporting triggers.
Song teaches a table with performance measurements and reporting triggers such that it teaches the limitation “The method of claim 9, wherein when the PM data type supports periodic data generation/reporting triggers, a list of measurement IEs and supporting periodic triggers related to the PM data type at a designated interval is reported (Song [0114]] teaches in table 7 of IE performance measurements along with when it is reported in the semantics description column)”.
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective
filing date to have applied the teachings of Song to the combination of Shete, Ying, and Shete-2 to show performance measurement data may include supporting reporting triggers for IE performance measurements. A person having ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this combination as it provides consumers with performance data needed to assess the current network conditions and make informed optimization/control decisions. Since the teachings were analogous art known at the filing time of the invention, one of ordinary skill could have applied said teachings to achieve expected results.
Claim 12 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Shete and Ying as applied in claim 1 above, and in further view of Vanjare et al. Pub. No. US 2024/0205808 A1 (hereafter Vanjare).
Regarding claim 12, the combination may not explicitly teach of trace management data.
Vanjare teaches trace management such that it teaches the limitation “The method of claim 1, wherein the RAN OAM-related data includes Trace Management (TM) data, and each TM data type supports one or more of the following data generation/reporting triggers: a) event-driven, and b) periodic ([0355] teaches that services provided by the O1 interface includes trace management. [0165] teaches that a service pod may provide trace data collected from xApps and/or RIC components such that it may be delivered to consumers when combined with the teachings of Ying [Pg. 3, lines 18 – 30])”.
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective
filing date to have applied the teachings of Vanjare to the combination of Shete and Ying in order to provide trace management data to consumers. A person having ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this combination as it allows consumers to make informed decisions regarding troubleshooting, fault diagnosis, performance analysis, and optimization of RAN operations. Since the teachings were analogous art known at the filing time of the invention, one of ordinary skill could have applied said teachings to achieve expected results.
Claim 13 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Shete and Ying as applied in claim 1 above, and Vanjare as applied in claim 12 above, and in further view of SHETE et al. Pub. No. US 2024/0276187 A1 (hereafter Shete-2).
Regarding claim 13, the combination may not explicitly teach of querying alarm information.
Shete-2 teaches querying alarm information such that it teaches the limitation “The method of claim 12, wherein rApps are enabled to query alarm information, and change an alarm acknowledgement state ([0096] teaches rApps obtaining information about alarms related to O1 telemetry parameters, and to change O1 telemetry parameters and their acknowledgement statuses)”.
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective
filing date to have applied the teachings of Shete-2 to the combination of Shete, Ying, and Vanjare in order to enable R1 service consumers (rApps) to access alarm information. A person having ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this combination as it facilitates consumers to monitor/remediate active network faults that require attention. Since the teachings were analogous art known at the filing time of the invention, one of ordinary skill could have applied said teachings to achieve expected results.
Conclusion
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/BRANDON NGUYEN/Examiner, Art Unit 2195
/Aimee Li/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2195
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