DETAILED ACTION
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 text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
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.
Claim(s) 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US-12490060-B2 to Nisckisch et al., from hereon Nickisch in view of US-20240284497-A1 to Zhu.
Regarding claim 1 Nickisch teaches…one or more processors configured to execute instructions that cause a user equipment (UE) to perform operations comprising: offloading a task to a first network node (Col. 23, Lns. 7-23 discloses…FIG. 12 is a flowchart of a method 1000 to method to offload paging to active user equipment of the group of user equipment of FIG. 4, according to embodiments of the present disclosure. Any suitable device (e.g., a controller) that may control components of the network 102, the base stations 104, the application server 202, the group of user equipment (UE) 206, the active UEs 208, and/or the passive UEs 210, such as one or more respective processors 12 of these devices, may perform the method 1000. In some embodiments, the method 1000 may be implemented by executing instructions stored in a tangible, non-transitory, computer-readable medium, such as the one or more respective memories 14 or storages 16 of these devices, using the processors 12. For example, the method 1000 may be performed at least in part by one or more software components, such as one or more respective operating systems of the network 102, the base stations 104 ); but does not teach…determining a computation requirement forecast, wherein the computation requirement forecast indicates a computation requirement of the task at an upcoming time (P. ); transmitting the computation requirement forecast to the first network node; and performing a handover procedure from the first network node to a second network node.
Zhu teaches… determining a computation requirement forecast, wherein the computation requirement forecast indicates a computation requirement of the task at an upcoming time (P. 137 discloses… FIG. 3, performing an swap matching specifically includes: [0138] S3.1. recording the current matching as a pre-swap matching, and starting a round of swap matching; [0139] S3.2. performing detection of a swap closed pair on all base station-channel pairs in a certain order for the current matched users; [0140] S3.3. if any two users satisfy the swap closed pair, swapping the base station-channel pair matched by the two users; [0141] S3.4. updating the current matching; [0142] S3.5. completing one round of swap matching when all users have completed detection, and recording the current matching as an after-swap matching); transmitting the computation requirement forecast to the first network node; and performing a handover procedure from the first network node to a second network node (P.143-144 discloses… the detection method of swap closed pair in step S3.2 includes: [0146] under the current matching, setting two users swap the matched base station-channel pairs, while other users maintain the current matched base station-channel pairs; [0147] if after the two users swap the matched base station-channel pairs, both of the preference values of the user to the base station-channel pair and the preference values of base station-channel pair to the user increase, then these two users satisfy the current matched swap closed pair.).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the combination of Nickisch by incorporating the teachings of Zhu because the method and device allow for offloading decision and resource allocation based on integration of communication, sensing and computing, including obtaining a location, a channel status, a tasks for current and future slot, (Zhu, Lns. 42-44). The motivation is that by applying a well-known standard or protocol or machine to a system provides the system with significantly improved industrial applicability.
Regarding claim 2 Nickisch and Zhu teach the one or more processors of claim 1, Zhu teaches…wherein offloading the task to the first network node comprises: transmitting, to the first network node, a request to offload the task to the first network node (P. claim 2); Nickisch teaches…and receiving, from the first network node, a configuration for the UE to report the computation requirement according to at least one of: a reporting periodicity (Col 9, Lns. 30-40 ), or an event that triggers reporting.
Regarding claim 3 Nickisch and Zhu teach the one or more processors of claim 1, Nickisch teaches…wherein the upcoming time corresponds to at least one of a granularity configured by the first network node or by a network entity, or a time when one or more conditions that trigger the handover procedure are satisfied (Col. 9, Lns. 60-67).
Regarding claim 4 Nickisch and Zhu teach the one or more processors of claim 1, Nickisch teaches…the operations further comprising transmitting a measurement report via radio resource control (RRC) signaling to the first network node (Col. 17, LNs. 18-34 disclose….(Col. 23, Lns. 7-23 discloses…FIG. 12 is a flowchart of a method 1000 to method to offload paging to active user equipment of the group of user equipment of FIG. 4, according to embodiments of the present disclosure. Any suitable device (e.g., a controller) that may control components of the network 102, the base stations 104, the application server 202, the group of user equipment (UE) 206, the active UEs 208, and/or the passive UEs 210, such as one or more respective processors 12 of these devices, may perform the method 1000. In some embodiments, the method 1000 may be implemented by executing instructions stored in a tangible, non-transitory, computer-readable medium, such as the one or more respective memories 14 or storages 16 of these devices, using the processors 12. For example, the method 1000 may be performed at least in part by one or more software components, such as one or more respective operating systems of the network 102, the base stations 104 );. ).
Regarding claim 5 Nickisch and Zhu teach the one or more processors of claim 4, Nickisch teaches…wherein the measurement report comprises the computation requirement forecast (Col. 24, Lns. 35-45…(81) Handover occurs when user equipment leave a coverage area of a first base station 104A and enter a coverage area of a second base station 104B. The primary user equipment performs cell measurements for the first base station 104A and the second base station 104B and determines whether the cell measurements satisfy a set of criteria. At block 1102, one or more active UEs 208, such as first active UE 208A, may transmit a measurement report to the first base station 104A to trigger handover. The first base station 104A may receive (block 1104) the measurement report and may transmit (block 1106) a handover command based on the measurement report. ).
Regarding claim 6 Nickisch and Zhu teach the one or more processors of claim 1,Zhu teaches… the operations further comprising: determining a priority between the computation requirement forecast and a communication continuity; and indicating the priority to the first network node (P.15-17).
Regarding claim 7 Nickisch and Zhu teach the one or more processors of claim 1, Zhu teaches…wherein performing the handover procedure comprises: receiving computation capacity information of a plurality of candidate target network nodes (claim 4, discloses receiving information from candidates); and selecting the second network node from the plurality of candidate target network nodes based on the computation capacity information (claim 1).
Regarding claim 8 Nickisch and Zhu teach the one or more processors of claim 1, Zhu teaches…wherein the second network node satisfies the computation requirement forecast, and wherein the operations further comprise offloading the task to the second network node after performing the handover procedure (claim 3 ).
Regarding claim 9 Nickisch and Zhu teach the one or more processors of claim 1, Zhu teaches…wherein the second network node does not satisfy the computation requirement forecast, wherein a latency between the first network node and the UE after the handover procedure is below a threshold, and wherein the UE receives data of the task forwarded by the second network node from the first network node via an Xn interface (claim 5).
Regarding claim 10 Nisckisch teaches... one or more processors configured to execute instructions that cause a first network node to perform operations comprising(Col. 23, Lns. 7-23 discloses…FIG. 12 is a flowchart of a method 1000 to method to offload paging to active user equipment of the group of user equipment of FIG. 4, according to embodiments of the present disclosure. Any suitable device (e.g., a controller) that may control components of the network 102, the base stations 104, the application server 202, the group of user equipment (UE) 206, the active UEs 208, and/or the passive UEs 210, such as one or more respective processors 12 of these devices, may perform the method 1000. In some embodiments, the method 1000 may be implemented by executing instructions stored in a tangible, non-transitory, computer-readable medium, such as the one or more respective memories 14 or storages 16 of these devices, using the processors 12. For example, the method 1000 may be performed at least in part by one or more software components, such as one or more respective operating systems of the network 102, the base stations 104 );: but does not teach…performing a task offloaded by a user equipment (UE); receiving, from the UE, a computation requirement forecast, wherein the computation requirement forecast indicates a computation requirement of the task at an upcoming time; and performing a handover procedure with the UE to hand over the UE from the first network node to a second network node.
Zhu teaches… performing a task offloaded by a user equipment (UE); receiving, from the UE, a computation requirement forecast, wherein the computation requirement forecast indicates a computation requirement of the task at an upcoming time; and performing a handover procedure with the UE to hand over the UE from the first network node to a second network node(P.143-144 discloses… the detection method of swap closed pair in step S3.2 includes: [0146] under the current matching, setting two users swap the matched base station-channel pairs, while other users maintain the current matched base station-channel pairs; [0147] if after the two users swap the matched base station-channel pairs, both of the preference values of the user to the base station-channel pair and the preference values of base station-channel pair to the user increase, then these two users satisfy the current matched swap closed pair.).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the combination of Nickisch by incorporating the teachings of Zhu because the method and device allow for offloading decision and resource allocation based on integration of communication, sensing and computing, including obtaining a location, a channel status, a tasks for current and future slot, (Zhu, Lns. 42-44). The motivation is that by applying a well-known standard or protocol or machine to a system provides the system with significantly improved industrial applicability.
Regarding claim 11 Nickisch and Zhu teach the one or more processors of claim 10, Zhu teaches…wherein the upcoming time corresponds to at least one of a granularity configured by the first network node (claim 2 ), or a time when one or more conditions that trigger the handover procedure are satisfied.
Regarding claim 12 Nickisch and Zhu teach the one or more processors of claim 10, Nickisch teaches…the operations further comprising receiving a measurement report via radio resource control (RRC) signaling from the UE(Col. 17, LNs. 18-34 disclose….(Col. 23, Lns. 7-23 discloses…FIG. 12 is a flowchart of a method 1000 to method to offload paging to active user equipment of the group of user equipment of FIG. 4, according to embodiments of the present disclosure. Any suitable device (e.g., a controller) that may control components of the network 102, the base stations 104, the application server 202, the group of user equipment (UE) 206, the active UEs 208, and/or the passive UEs 210, such as one or more respective processors 12 of these devices, may perform the method 1000. In some embodiments, the method 1000 may be implemented by executing instructions stored in a tangible, non-transitory, computer-readable medium, such as the one or more respective memories 14 or storages 16 of these devices, using the processors 12. For example, the method 1000 may be performed at least in part by one or more software components, such as one or more respective operating systems of the network 102, the base stations 104 ).
Regarding claim 13 Nickisch and Zhu teach the one or more processors of claim 12, Nickisch teaches…wherein the measurement report comprises the computation requirement forecast(Col. 24, Lns. 35-45…(81) Handover occurs when user equipment leave a coverage area of a first base station 104A and enter a coverage area of a second base station 104B. The primary user equipment performs cell measurements for the first base station 104A and the second base station 104B and determines whether the cell measurements satisfy a set of criteria. At block 1102, one or more active UEs 208, such as first active UE 208A, may transmit a measurement report to the first base station 104A to trigger handover. The first base station 104A may receive (block 1104) the measurement report and may transmit (block 1106) a handover command based on the measurement report. ).
Regarding claim 14 Nickisch and Zhu teach the one or more processors of claim 10, the operations further comprising Zhu teaches…transmitting a handover request to the second network node, wherein the handover request comprises the computation requirement forecast (P.15-17 ).
Regarding claim 15 Nickisch and Zhu teach the one or more processors of claim 10, the operations further comprising Zhu teaches…transmitting a handover request to a plurality of candidate network nodes, wherein the handover request comprises the computation requirement forecast (claim 1).
Regarding claim 16 Nickisch and Zhu teach the one or more processors of claim 15, Zhu teaches…the operations further comprising : receiving a plurality of handover responses from the plurality of candidate network nodes; and selecting, based on the plurality of handover responses, the second network node from the plurality of candidate network nodes according to at least one of: communication quality between each of the plurality of candidate network nodes and the UE (claim 4 ), or computation capability of each of the plurality of candidate network nodes.
Regarding claim 17 Nickisch and Zhu teach the one or more processors of claim 10, Nickisch teaches…the operations further comprising: transmitting, via radio resource control (RRC) signaling, a handover configuration message to the UE(Col. 17, LNs. 18-34 disclose….(Col. 23, Lns. 7-23 discloses…FIG. 12 is a flowchart of a method 1000 to method to offload paging to active user equipment of the group of user equipment of FIG. 4, according to embodiments of the present disclosure. Any suitable device (e.g., a controller) that may control components of the network 102, the base stations 104, the application server 202, the group of user equipment (UE) 206, the active UEs 208, and/or the passive UEs 210, such as one or more respective processors 12 of these devices, may perform the method 1000. In some embodiments, the method 1000 may be implemented by executing instructions stored in a tangible, non-transitory, computer-readable medium, such as the one or more respective memories 14 or storages 16 of these devices, using the processors 12. For example, the method 1000 may be performed at least in part by one or more software components, such as one or more respective operating systems of the network 102, the base stations 104 ).
Regarding claim 18 Nickisch and Zhu teach the one or more processors of claim 17, Zhu teaches…wherein the handover configuration message comprises a computation event configuration and a computation capability indication (claim 5 ).
Regarding claim 19 Nickisch and Zhu teach the one or more processors of claim 10, Zhu teaches…the operations further comprising: receiving, from the second network node, an indication of whether the second network node satisfies the computation requirement forecast (claim 5 ).
Regarding claim 20 Nickisch a user equipment (UE) comprising one or more processors configured to execute instructions that cause the UE to perform operations comprising(Col. 23, Lns. 7-23 discloses…FIG. 12 is a flowchart of a method 1000 to method to offload paging to active user equipment of the group of user equipment of FIG. 4, according to embodiments of the present disclosure. Any suitable device (e.g., a controller) that may control components of the network 102, the base stations 104, the application server 202, the group of user equipment (UE) 206, the active UEs 208, and/or the passive UEs 210, such as one or more respective processors 12 of these devices, may perform the method 1000. In some embodiments, the method 1000 may be implemented by executing instructions stored in a tangible, non-transitory, computer-readable medium, such as the one or more respective memories 14 or storages 16 of these devices, using the processors 12. For example, the method 1000 may be performed at least in part by one or more software components, such as one or more respective operating systems of the network 102, the base stations 104 ); but does not teach…offloading a task to a first network node; determining a computation requirement forecast, wherein the computation requirement forecast indicates a computation requirement of the task at an upcoming time; transmitting the computation requirement forecast to the first network node; and performing a handover procedure from the first network node to a second network node.
Zhu teaches… offloading a task to a first network node; determining a computation requirement forecast, wherein the computation requirement forecast indicates a computation requirement of the task at an upcoming time; transmitting the computation requirement forecast to the first network node; and performing a handover procedure from the first network node to a second network node(P.143-144 discloses… the detection method of swap closed pair in step S3.2 includes: [0146] under the current matching, setting two users swap the matched base station-channel pairs, while other users maintain the current matched base station-channel pairs; [0147] if after the two users swap the matched base station-channel pairs, both of the preference values of the user to the base station-channel pair and the preference values of base station-channel pair to the user increase, then these two users satisfy the current matched swap closed pair.).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the combination of Nickisch by incorporating the teachings of Zhu because the method and device allow for offloading decision and resource allocation based on integration of communication, sensing and computing, including obtaining a location, a channel status, a tasks for current and future slot, (Zhu, Lns. 42-44). The motivation is that by applying a well-known standard or protocol or machine to a system provides the system with significantly improved industrial applicability.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. See PTO form PTO-892: US-20230308199-A1 to Sevennebring, US-20240196272-A1 to Bruhn, and N. Bui, M. Cesana, S. A. Hosseini, Q. Liao, I. Malanchini and J. Widmer, "A Survey of Anticipatory Mobile Networking: Context-Based Classification, Prediction Methodologies, and Optimization Techniques," in IEEE Communications Surveys & Tutorials, vol. 19, no. 3, pp. 1790-1821, third quarter 2017, (Year: 2017).
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/L.S./Examiner, Art Unit 2476
/AYAZ R SHEIKH/
Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2476
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