DETAILED ACTION
This is in response to applicant's communication filed on 09/26/2024, wherein:
Claim 1-20 are pending.
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.
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 1-2, 5-6, 10-11, 13-15, and 18-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhu et al. (US 20180242204 A1) in view of Yang et al. (US 20200196203 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Zhu discloses an inter-area media service switching method (Fig. 1-3 and Fig. 2), comprising:
acquiring, by a first Mobile-Edge Computing (MEC)-Content Delivery Network (CDN) node (Fig. 1-3 and ¶0229-0230: source MEC platform) , mobile information about a user device from a core network (Fig. 2 step 201 and ¶0229-0230: “The method may be performed by the source MEC platform of the to-be-handed-over UE shown in FIG. 1-3… Step 201: Receive a handover notification sent by a handover notification device, where the handover notification is used to instruct the source MEC platform to perform platform handover for the to-be-handed-over UE, and the handover notification device is a source access network device of the to-be-handed-over UE”); wherein the user device establishes a connection with the first MEC-CDN node, and acquires a media service from the first MEC-CDN node (¶0227 – “If an access network device that is currently accessed by the UE 00 is the source access network device 01, a video-type application A is deployed on the source MEC platform 03 corresponding to the source access network device 01, and the source MEC platform 03 is providing, to the UE, video data that is of an online video and that is buffered in the video-type application A, during movement of the UE 00, when the UE 00 needs to be handed over from a cell covered by the source access network device 01 to a cell covered by the target access network device 02, an MEC platform that provides the video data to the UE 00 also needs to be changed from the source MEC platform 03 to the target MEC platform 04. That is, after the UE is handed over to the target access network device, a video-type application B deployed on the target MEC platform 04 continues to provide video data to the UE 00”);
determining, by the first MEC-CDN node, in response to determining that the user device is pre-moved out of a coverage range of the first MEC-CDN node according to the mobile information, a second MEC-CDN node and/or a second MEC platform to which the second MEC-CDN node is attached, and establishing a connection with the second MEC-CDN node (Fig. 2 step 201-202 and ¶0230-0231 - “Receive a handover notification sent by a handover notification device, where the handover notification is used to instruct the source MEC platform to perform platform handover for the to-be-handed-over UE, and the handover notification device is a source access network device of the to-be-handed-over UE or a target MEC platform of the to-be-handed-over UE”);
migrating, by the first MEC-CDN node, state information about the user device onto the second MEC-CDN node (Fig.2 - step 203-204 and ¶0232-0233, where step 203: Obtain context of the to-be-handed-over UE according to the TEID of the to-behanded-over UE, where the context includes information about a source application that is providing a service to the to-be-handed-over UE and Step 204: Send the context to the target MEC platform); and
establishing, by the second MEC-CDN node, in response to determining that the user device enters a coverage area of the second MEC-CDN node, a connection with the user device, to enable the user device to acquire the media service from the second MEC-CDN node (¶0234 - “after receiving the handover notification sent by the source access network device or the target MEC platform, the source MEC platform may determine the tunnel endpoint identifier (TEID) of the to-be-handed-over UE according to the handover notification, and obtain the context of the to-be-handed-over UE. The context includes the information about the source application that is providing a service to the to-be-handed-over UE. Then, the source MEC platform may send the context to the target MEC platform, so that the target MEC platform obtains application data of the to-be-handed-over UE according to the information about the source application. Therefore, after the to-be-handed-over UE is handed over between the access network devices, the target MEC platform can continue to provide a service to the to-be-handed-over UE according to the obtained application data of the to-be-handed-over UE, thereby ensuring continuity of obtaining application data by the UE from an MEC platform”).
However, the reference is silent on details about wherein before establishing, by the second MEC-CDN node, the connection with the user device, the method further comprises: acquiring, by the second MEC-CDN node, in response to determining that the second MEC-CDN node does not have a same media segment as the first MEC-CDN node according to the state information about the user device, the same media segment from the first MEC-CDN node or a media back source.
Yang discloses wherein before establishing, by the second MEC-CDN node, the connection with the user device, the method further comprises: acquiring, by the second MEC-CDN node, in response to determining that the second MEC-CDN node does not have a same media segment as the first MEC-CDN node according to the state information about the user device, the same media segment from the first MEC-CDN node or a media back source (¶0059 – 0060: “[0059] …For example, migration controller 124 may determine… whether content associated with the application service needs to be obtained, how to manage the content provisioning when the content needs to be obtained… [0060] Referring to FIG. 2F, assume that migration controller 124 determines that the application service is provisioned at MEC network 115-2. Migration controller 124 may determine whether content and/or context information is to be migrated 245 in support of the provisioning of the application service. For example, a video streaming service uses content for which to stream, and may include context information (e.g., the current position of the content that a user may be viewing, etc.). In this regard, migration controller 124 may migrate a movie and context information associated with the movie, from the source MEC network (e.g., MEC network 115-1) or network device 127 to the target MEC network (e.g., MEC network 115-2) as a part of the provisioning of the application service”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art, before effective filing date of the claimed the invention, to modify the invention of Zhu to incorporate migration of content in handover process from Yang because doing so would apply a known technique to a known device (method, or product) ready for improvement to yield predictable results (MPEP §2141 -III) to allow continuous and uninterrupted application service to an end device.
Regarding claim 2, the combined teaching of Zhu and Yang discloses the inter-area media service switching method of claim 1, wherein determining, by the first MEC-CDN node, that the user device is pre-moved out of the coverage range of the first MEC-CDN node according to the mobile information, comprises: determining, by the first MEC-CDN node, that the user device is pre-moved out of the coverage range of the first MEC-CDN node, in response to determining that the user device is at a critical position of a service coverage area of the first MEC-CDN node (¶0227 – “if an access network device that is currently accessed by the UE 00 is the source access network device 01, a video-type application A is deployed on the source MEC platform 03 corresponding to the source access network device 01, and the source MEC platform 03 is providing, to the UE, video data that is of an online video and that is buffered in the video-type application A, during movement of the UE 00, when the UE 00 needs to be handed over from a cell covered by the source access network device 01 to a cell covered by the target access network device 02, an MEC platform that provides the video data to the UE 00 also needs to be changed from the source MEC platform 03 to the target MEC platform 04”) and/or in an overlapped coverage area between the first MEC-CDN node and another node.
Regarding claim 5, the combined teaching of Zhu and Yang discloses the inter-area media service switching method of claim 1, wherein the state information about the user device comprises at least one of: a user identity document, a media description file, or service state information (Zhu - ¶0203-0204 disclose the state information being context information – i.e. service state information).
Regarding claim 6, the combined teaching of Zhu and Yang discloses the inter-area media service switching method of claim 5, before establishing, by the second MEC-CDN node, the connection with the user device, further comprising: establishing, by the second MEC-CDN node, a signaling channel, a media data channel, and/or cached media data according to the state information about the user device (Yang - ¶0059 – 0060: “[0059] …For example, migration controller 124 may determine… whether content associated with the application service needs to be obtained, how to manage the content provisioning when the content needs to be obtained… [0060] Referring to FIG. 2F, assume that migration controller 124 determines that the application service is provisioned at MEC network 115-2. Migration controller 124 may determine whether content and/or context information is to be migrated 245 in support of the provisioning of the application service. For example, a video streaming service uses content for which to stream, and may include context information (e.g., the current position of the content that a user may be viewing, etc.). In this regard, migration controller 124 may migrate a movie and context information associated with the movie, from the source MEC network (e.g., MEC network 115-1) or network device 127 to the target MEC network (e.g., MEC network 115-2) as a part of the provisioning of the application service”, which indicated that a signaling channel or a media data channel was established for obtaining content). The combined teaching would be obvious for the same reason indicated in claim 1.
Regarding claim 10, the scope and content of the claim recites a first MEC-CDN server for performing the method of claim 1. Further details comprising a first processor, a first memory and a first communication bus, wherein: the first communication bus is configured to enable a connection communication between the first processor and the first memory; and the first processor configured to execute one or more first programs stored in the first memory, to implement at least one step performed by the first MEC-CDN node of the inter-area media service switching method are addressed by the combined teaching by Zhu and Yang (Zhu - Fig. 10 and ¶0369-0379 disclose MEC platform comprising processor, memory, and communication bus for performing the method presented in Fig. 2).
Regarding claim 11, the combined teaching of Zhu and Yang discloses the first MEC-CDN server of claim 10, wherein the first processor is configured to execute the one or more first programs stored in the first memory to implement: determining that the user device is pre-moved out of the coverage range of the first MEC-CDN node, in response to determining that the user device is at a critical position of a service coverage area of the first MEC-CDN node (¶0227 – “if an access network device that is currently accessed by the UE 00 is the source access network device 01, a video-type application A is deployed on the source MEC platform 03 corresponding to the source access network device 01, and the source MEC platform 03 is providing, to the UE, video data that is of an online video and that is buffered in the video-type application A, during movement of the UE 00, when the UE 00 needs to be handed over from a cell covered by the source access network device 01 to a cell covered by the target access network device 02, an MEC platform that provides the video data to the UE 00 also needs to be changed from the source MEC platform 03 to the target MEC platform 04”) and/or in an overlapped coverage area between the first MEC-CDN node and another node.
Regarding claim 13, the scope and content of the claim recites a second MEC-CDN server for performing the method of claim 1, therefore, being addressed as in claim 1. Further details of the second MEC-CDN server, comprising a second processor, a second memory and a second communication bus, wherein: the second communication bus is configured to enable a connection communication between the second processor and the second memory; and the second processor is configured to execute one or more second programs stored in the second memory, to implement at least one step performed by the second MEC-CDN node of the inter-area media service switching method (Zhu - Fig. 1-3, Fig. 5-1, Fig. 2, and Fig. 6: target MEC platform/server which is known to have component such as processor and memory for executing program).
Regarding claim 14, the combined teaching of Zhu and Yang discloses the second MEC-CDN server of claim 13, wherein the state information about the user device comprises at least one of: a user identity document, a media description file, or service state information (Zhu - ¶0203-0204 disclose the state information being context information – i.e. service state information).
Regarding claim 15, the combined teaching of Zhu and Yang discloses the second MEC-CDN server of claim 14, wherein the second processor is configured to execute the one or more second programs stored in the second memory to implement: before establishing the connection with the user device, establishing a signaling channel, a media data channel, and/or cached media data according to the state information about the user device (Yang - ¶0059 – 0060: “[0059] …For example, migration controller 124 may determine… whether content associated with the application service needs to be obtained, how to manage the content provisioning when the content needs to be obtained… [0060] Referring to FIG. 2F, assume that migration controller 124 determines that the application service is provisioned at MEC network 115-2. Migration controller 124 may determine whether content and/or context information is to be migrated 245 in support of the provisioning of the application service. For example, a video streaming service uses content for which to stream, and may include context information (e.g., the current position of the content that a user may be viewing, etc.). In this regard, migration controller 124 may migrate a movie and context information associated with the movie, from the source MEC network (e.g., MEC network 115-1) or network device 127 to the target MEC network (e.g., MEC network 115-2) as a part of the provisioning of the application service”, which indicated that a signaling channel or a media data channel was established for obtaining content). The combined teaching would be obvious for the same reason indicated in claim 1.
Regarding claim 18, the scope and content of the claim recites a Content Delivery Network (CDN) system for performing the method of claim 1, therefore, being addressed as in claim 1.
Regarding claim 19, the scope and content of the claim recites a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having one or more programs stored thereon, wherein the one or more programs are capable of being executed by one or more processors to implement at least one step performed by the first MEC-CDN node of the inter-area media service switching method of claim 1, therefore, being addressed as in claim 1.
Regarding claim 20, the scope and content of the claim recites a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having one or more programs stored thereon, wherein the one or more programs are capable of being executed by one or more processors to implement at least one step performed by the second MEC-CDN node of the inter-area media service switching method of claim 1, therefore, being addressed as in claim 1.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 3-4, 7-9, 12, and 16-17 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Contact Information
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DUNG HONG whose telephone number is (571)270-7928. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Friday from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner's supervisor, JINSONG HU, can be reached on (571) 272-3965. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/DUNG HONG/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2643
Prosecution Insights