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.
Claim(s) 1-3,5-10,12-17,19, and 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Rune (US 20240098532) in view of Parichehrehteroujeni (US 20240031832).
Re claim 1:
Rune discloses a method, comprising: receiving, by a first base station from a core network element, (Para.[0160] QoE measurements may be initiated towards the RAN from an OAM node generically for a group of UEs (e.g., all UEs meeting one or more criteria), or they may also be initiated from the CN to the RAN for a specific UE. The configuration of the measurement includes the measurement details, which is encapsulated in a container that is transparent to RAN);
determining, by the first base station, QMC activation for the second base station (Para. [0218] a request to suspend one or a list of the activated RAN visible lightweight QoE measurements);
sending, by the first base station to the second base station, a request including the QMC configuration (Para.[0213] the first RAN node sends to the second RAN node, requests concerning the lightweight QoE measurements…These requests may comprises any one or more of the following: and Para.[0214] requests concerning the configured RAN visible lightweight QoE measurements);
receiving, by the first base station from the second base station, a QoE measurement report associated with the second base station (Para.[2015] a request to send to the first RAN node (or to buffer and subsequently send to the first RAN node) the QoE reports received by the second RAN node); and
transmitting, by the first base station, the QoE measurement report to a multi-cell/multicast coordination entity (MCE) (Para.[0224] An indication, signalled together with a RAN visible (lightweight) QoE report, stating whether the report has been already signalled to the TCE and Para.[0074] The terms “MCE” and “TCE” are used interchangeably and Para.[0010] Application layer measurements made by the UE are encapsulated in a transparent container and sent in an RRC message to the serving RAN node, which forwards the container to a Trace Collector Entity (TCE) or a Measurement Collection Entity (MCE) associated with the core network).
As shown above, Rune shows a first base station and a second base station transmitting a QoE measurement report to a MCE. Rune does not explicitly state the first base station transmits to a MCE a report that is received from a second base station. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention for the first base station to transmit a report received from a second base station because in a dual connectivity system, such as Rune, sending a report through a master first base station and sending a report directly are obvious variants of each other.
Rune does not explicitly disclose receiving, from a core network element, a context message comprising an initial context setup request or a user equipment (UE) context modification, wherein the context message comprises a quality of experience (QoE) measurement collection (QMC) configuration.
Parichehrehteroujeni discloses receiving, from a core network element, a context message comprising an initial context setup request or a user equipment (UE) context modification, wherein the context message comprises a quality of experience (QoE) measurement collection (QMC) configuration (Para. [0130] For this scenario, the first network node 311 is a RAN node, e.g. a gNB or an eNB, and the second network node 312 may be another RAN node, a 5GC node, an OAM, an SMO or an NMS and Para.[0131] The first network node 311 receives from the second network node 312 a list of QoE measurement configurations e.g. in an NGAP INITIAL CONTEXT SETUP REQUEST message or an X2AP SGNB ADDITION REQUEST message or from an OAM node).
Rune and Parichehrehteroujeni are analogous because they both pertain to data communications.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Rune to include a context message with QMC as taught by Parichehrehteroujeni in order to achieve efficient QoE reporting (Parichehrehteroujeni Para.[0216]).
Re claim 2:
Rune discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the QoE measurement report is received at the first base station from the second base station using a radio resource control (RRC) transfer message (Para. [0232] the second RAN node forwards at least part of the RAN visible (lightweight) QoE measurement results to the first RAN node. Forwarding the RAN visible lightweight QoE measurement results can be done via one of the following approaches [0233] Over Xn interface, if there is a direct Xn interface between two RAN nodes; The information may be encapsulated in a container in the form of an inter-node RRC message within the XnAP message).
Re claim 3:
Rune discloses the method of claim 1, further comprising sending the QMC configuration to the wireless device (Fig. 9A ref. RRCConnectionReconfiguration (QoE configuration file) and Para.[0168] As discussed above, the QoE configuration file is an application-layer measurement configuration received by the eNB (e.g., from EPC) encapsulated in a transparent container, which is forwarded to UE in the RRC message).
Re claim 5:
Rune discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the QoE measurement report is generated by the wireless device served by both the first base station and the second base station (Para.[0187] According to various scenarios, this first RAN node is associated with a second RAN node due to operations or signaling procedures involving both the first RAN node and the second RAN node, such as, for example, dual connectivity – Examiner Note: dual connectivity is when a UE is served by two base stations).
Re claim 6:
Rune discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the QMC configuration indicates that the QoE measurement report received by the second base station is to be provided to the MCE (Para.[0224] An indication, signalled together with a RAN visible (lightweight) QoE report, stating whether the report has been already signalled to the TCE and Para.[0074] The terms “MCE” and “TCE” are used interchangeably).
Re claim 7:
As discussed above, Rune in view of Parichehrehteroujeni meets all the limitations of the parent claim.
Rune does not explicitly disclose the method of claim 1 , wherein the context message from the core network element comprises at least one of: an identifier of the wireless device within a mobility management entity (MME); the identifier of the wireless device within an AMF; the identifier of the wireless device within an eNB; or the identifier of the wireless device within a next generation (NG) radio access network (NG-RAN).
Parichehrehteroujeni discloses the method of claim 1 , wherein the context message from the core network element comprises at least one of: an identifier of the wireless device within a mobility management entity (MME); the identifier of the wireless device within an AMF; the identifier of the wireless device within an eNB; or the identifier of the wireless device within a next generation (NG) radio access network (NG-RAN) (Para. [0130] For this scenario, the first network node 311 is a RAN node, e.g. a gNB or an eNB, and the second network node 312 may be another RAN node, a 5GC node, an OAM, an SMO or an NMS and Para.[0131] The first network node 311 receives from the second network node 312 a list of QoE measurement configurations e.g. in an NGAP INITIAL CONTEXT SETUP REQUEST message or an X2AP SGNB ADDITION REQUEST message or from an OAM node. Each QoE measurement configuration comprises one or more of the following: [0136] one identifier or a list of identifiers of one of more specific UEs).
Rune and Parichehrehteroujeni are analogous because they both pertain to data communications.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Rune to include a context message with a UE ID as taught by Parichehrehteroujeni in order to achieve efficient QoE reporting (Parichehrehteroujeni Para.[0216]).
Re claim 8: Claim 8 is rejected on the same grounds of rejection set forth in claim 1. Rune further discloses one or more processors; and memory storing instructions (Fig. 14).
Re claim 9: Claim 9 is rejected on the same grounds of rejection set forth in claim 2.
Re claim 10: Claim 10 is rejected on the same grounds of rejection set forth in claim 3.
Re claim 12: Claim 12 is rejected on the same grounds of rejection set forth in claim 5.
Re claim 13: Claim 13 is rejected on the same grounds of rejection set forth in claim 6.
Re claim 14: Claim 14 is rejected on the same grounds of rejection set forth in claim 7.
Re claim 15: Claim 15 is rejected on the same grounds of rejection set forth in claim 1.
Re claim 16: Claim 16 is rejected on the same grounds of rejection set forth in claim 2.
Re claim 17: Claim 17 is rejected on the same grounds of rejection set forth in claim 3.
Re claim 19: Claim 19 is rejected on the same grounds of rejection set forth in claims 5 and 6.
Re claim 20: Claim 20 is rejected on the same grounds of rejection set forth in claim 7.
Claim(s) 4,11, and 18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Rune (US 20240098532) in view of Parichehrehteroujeni (US 20240031832) as applied to claims 1,8, and 15 above, and further in view of Sanchez Vega (US 20160050124).
Re claim 4:
As discussed above, Rune in view of Parichehrehteroujeni meets all the limitations of the parent claim.
Rune does not explicitly disclose the method of claim 1, wherein the determining of the QMC activation is based on subscription information of the wireless device.
Sanchez Vega discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the determining of the QMC activation is based on subscription information of the wireless device (Para. [0036] A possible procedure is now described in terms of a more detailed embodiment of the present invention. A measurement activation and configuration covers both the activation and the configuration of QoE measurement functionality from PCRF 391. This activation can be triggered when a certain condition is met, such as detecting the presence of specific subscription data, e.g. when a user buys a QoE service bundle or when user is a “premium” user.).
Rune and Sanchez Vega are analogous because they both pertain to data communications.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Rune to include a context message with a UE ID as taught by Sanchez Vega in order to control communication to the user terminal based on obtained information (Sanchez Vega Para.[0008]).
Re claim 11: Claim 11 is rejected on the same grounds of rejection set forth in claim 4.
Re claim 18: Claim 18 is rejected on the same grounds of rejection set forth in claim 4.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Li (US 20230247466) shows QMC configuration in a dual connectivity system.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MOHAMMAD SAJID ADHAMI whose telephone number is (571)272-8615. The examiner can normally be reached 8:30-5:00 PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Sujoy Kundu can be reached at (571) 272-8586. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/MOHAMMAD S ADHAMI/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2471
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