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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Claim Objections
Claim 1 is objected to because of the following informalities: The word “TPS” needs to be accompanied by the full terminology. 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.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claim 1 recites the limitation "the system" in lines 11 and 14 on page 3 of the claim. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 1 recites the limitation "the information" in line 1 on page 4 of the claim. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 1 recites the limitation "the REQUEST_TYPE" in lines 2-3 and 6 on page 4 of the claim. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 1 recites the limitation "the storage structure" in line 13 on page 4 of the claim. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 1 recites the limitation "the status" in line 10-11 on page 5 of the claim. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 1 recites the limitation "the information" in lines 19 and 21 on page 4 of the claim. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 1 recites the limitation "the internal load" in line 1 on page 4 of the claim. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 1 recites the limitation "we have" in line 2 on page 3 and line 4 on page 6 of the claim. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Regarding claim1, the phrase "i.e." renders the claim indefinite because it is unclear whether the limitation(s) following the phrase are part of the claimed invention. See MPEP § 2173.05(d).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 1 is allowable when overcoming the above rejections.
The following is an examiner’s statement of reasons for allowance:
Prior art of Tornkvist teaches a way to reduce overload at an online charging system by not treating all charging requests the same. In a mobile or communication network, charging trigger functions send real-time credit-control requests to an online charging system before a service can continue. When too many requests arrive, the system can become overloaded and slow down or drop traffic. The invention lets the charging system tell network nodes which kinds of requests should be discarded or buffered first. The prioritization can depend on the service involved, the rating group, or the session state of the request. For example, low-priority services may be reduced more aggressively than high-priority services. Initial session requests may be suppressed more than ongoing or closing requests. The charging system can also adjust these settings dynamically as its load changes. The charging trigger function then applies the configured abatement rules locally, reducing traffic before it reaches the overloaded charging system. The approach is intended to preserve.
Prior art of Zevallos teaches keeping a mobile network’s charging system from flooding itself when the charging server is overloaded. In normal operation, a gateway device sends charging requests to a charging entity such as an Online Charging System (OCS). If the OCS reports overload, the gateway stops or delays sending more charging-related requests for a period of time. During that period, the gateway may let existing traffic continue using quota already granted. The system can also store charging requests locally and send them later when the overload period ends. In some versions, the gateway uses the overload period to decide how much quota the charging entity should grant up front. In other versions, the gateway estimates overload even when the charging server does not fully support the overload-control protocol. The application also proposes handling legacy charging servers that only return a “too busy” result. Overall, the goal is to reduce signaling to the congested charging entity while avoiding unnecessary service interruption for subscribers.
However, the prior arts individually or in combination do not teach the claimed invention.
Any comments considered necessary by applicant must be submitted no later than the payment of the issue fee and, to avoid processing delays, should preferably accompany the issue fee. Such submissions should be clearly labeled “Comments on Statement of Reasons for Allowance.”
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JUSTIN YE LEE whose telephone number is (571)272-5258. The examiner can normally be reached 9:30-8:00.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Kathy Wang-Hurst can be reached at 5712705371. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/JUSTIN Y LEE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2644 9/15/26
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