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 .
Claims 1-20 are pending.
IDS is/are considered.
Drawings as filed 10/03/2025 is/are accepted.
Claim Interpretation
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(f):
(f) Element in Claim for a Combination. – An element in a claim for a combination may be expressed as a means or step for performing a specified function without the recital of structure, material, or acts in support thereof, and such claim shall be construed to cover the corresponding structure, material, or acts described in the specification and equivalents thereof.
The following is a quotation of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph:
An element in a claim for a combination may be expressed as a means or step for performing a specified function without the recital of structure, material, or acts in support thereof, and such claim shall be construed to cover the corresponding structure, material, or acts described in the specification and equivalents thereof.
This application includes one or more claim limitations that do not use the word “means,” but are nonetheless being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, because the claim limitation(s) uses a generic placeholder that is coupled with functional language without reciting sufficient structure to perform the recited function and the generic placeholder is not preceded by a structural modifier. Such claim limitation(s) is/are: operational engine, customer optimization module, reasoner, brokerage application, data analysis engine, which appear in many instances across claims 1-20.
Because this/these claim limitation(s) is/are being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, it/they is/are being interpreted to cover the corresponding structure described in the specification as performing the claimed function, and equivalents thereof.
If applicant does not intend to have this/these limitation(s) interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, applicant may: (1) amend the claim limitation(s) to avoid it/them being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph (e.g., by reciting sufficient structure to perform the claimed function); or (2) present a sufficient showing that the claim limitation(s) recite(s) sufficient structure to perform the claimed function so as to avoid it/them being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph.
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 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) 1-8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Stanforth et al. (US 2008/0222021A1) in view of Dzierwa (US 2022/0128612)
As to claim 1:
Stanforth discloses:
A system for spectrum management in an electromagnetic environment (Abstract, [0009, system for brokering spectrum and policing brokered spectrum for wireless communication environment) comprising:
at least one monitoring sensor operable to create measured data for at least one signal from the electromagnetic environment; (…) and a data analysis engine, (…) wherein the at least one monitoring sensor is operable to transmit the measured data to the data analysis engine (¶0021, 0147, 0181, a plurality of deployed sensors for wireless measurements which are sent to analysis ); an operational engine; (Fig. 10, read as Spectrum Holder system, as well as expanded block diagram of the spectrum holder system in Fig. 12)
wherein the operational engine is operable to determine optimization objectives based on the measured data; (See [0181, using measurement data collected by sensors, the objectives for optimization are created, "Spectrum offers and/or spectrum commodity items that are generated by the spectrum analysis engine 172 may be forwarded to the management application 168 for further processing and forwarding to the broker interface application 164. The predictive engine of the spectrum availability algorithms 178 may analyze historical usage data, historical spectrum constraints, historical bandwidth availability, and information about known future spectrum usage, for example, to generate a prediction of spectrum that may be available in the future for use by user systems 102")
wherein the optimization objectives include constraints associated with signal characteristics; (¶0096, 0099, requirements comprises spectral mask (i.e. frequency), power, and protocol as part Application/Control Number: 19/061,431 Page 10 Art Unit: 2645 of decision making process and in the certificate itself. These requirements are constraints related to signal characteristics as they limit intensity, frequency and context of transmission and how the system optimizes. 90071, factors including bandwidth, power, interference and price as part of matching/optimization criteria. 0109, a service request include a list of demands for system such as transmit power, protocol information, frequency)
wherein the system is operable to assign the at least one signal a priority based on at least one customer application associated with the at least one signal; wherein the priority is used in dynamic allocation of spectrum in the electromagnetic environment for the at least one signal; ( Stanforth discloses in 0084, 0100, "the broker 14 also may have an additional capability, which is described as an exception handler to allow a higher priority user to preempt a lower priority user. When a certificate is to be preempted by a higher priority user, such as a public safety user or the spectrum holder, the exception handler of the broker 14 may be configured to rescind the certificate" i.e. users accessing the network are assigned priorities, some are higher than others. The certificate (i.e. assignment of resource allocation) might be dynamically revoked if the user is preempted by a higher priority).)
wherein the operational engine utilizes at least one prediction model to forecast future spectrum usage based on historical data and the measured data; (0181, predictive engine of the spectrum availability algorithm 178 to analyze historical usage data and measurements collected to predict spectrum availability/occupied in future)
wherein the operational engine utilizes the at least one prediction model to perform interference source modeling to forecast at least one future probability of a conflicting event; (¶0011—013, ¶0051, 0155, system to detect potential conflicts by identification of a spectrum user system that exceeds an authorized use of spectrum, the authorized use corresponding to the time window". occupation (i.e. usage) of spectrum are defined in time windows and strictly enforced, i.e. "scheduling" as to assign something a time slot and to enforce its compliance. ¶0051: "each segment of spectrum for which access permission may be transferred may be identified by several components and each component is defined by one or more variables. Exemplary components include a time window, a frequency-based spectral mask, a geography-based emission mask and a transmitted power limit. The time window may be a period of time that has a starting point given by a day and time and an ending point given by a day and time. Alternatively, the time window may be a period of time specified by a starting time and a duration". See also 0155, 0148-0149)
Stanforth is silent on:
wherein the data analysis engine is operable to generate at least one mask based on the measured data, wherein the at least one mask is generated by averaging maximum power values of a spectrum of signals over time; and wherein the data analysis engine is operable to analyze the measured data from the electromagnetic environment using the at least one mask to identify at least one unwanted signal.
Dzierwa, in a related field of RF environment monitoring for interference, discloses a system/method for detecting interference signals, wherein the system is configured for identifying an interference signal that causes an interference alarm. Specifically, a mask is created by averaging signal powers over a period of time (¶0330, 0333). The mask is then used to compare against signals received over a period of time (¶0334-0337). The system will flag any signal that violates the mask’s conditions which causes the alarms, thereby identifying the signals that are unwanted (i.e. in violation of rules).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing time of the invention to incorporate the mask-based interference detection using average signal strengths of Dzierwa to the system of Stanforth. In light of Stanforth’s expressing the desire to determine interference and noises (¶168 of Stanforth), it is beneficial to implement the above feature of Dzierwa as it directly addresses Stanforth’s concern. Furthermore, several improvements of Dzierwa are directly discussed in ¶0301, which include at least better capturing of RF events, time, measurements, interference detection)
As to claim 2:
Stanforth in view of Dzierwa discloses all limitations of claim 1, further comprising a reasoner operable to determine conditional constraints to be used by an optimizer for optimization of the at least one signal based on a policy for use of a resource. (See Stanforth, at least ¶085, condition and constraints based on spectrum governing policies)
As to claim 3:
Stanforth in view of Dzierwa discloses all limitations of claim 2, further comprising a resource brokerage application operable to control the use of the resource. ( Stanforth ¶0103, spectrum broker 14 controlling use of spectrum allocation)
As to claim 4:
Stanforth in view of Dzierwa discloses all limitations of claim 2, wherein the policy for the use of the resource is used for the dynamic allocation of spectrum for at least one frequency band in the electromagnetic environment. ( Stanforth,¶0213, channel/spectrum allocations are dynamic and may be re-allocated as appropriate)
As to claim 5:
Stanforth in view of Dzierwa discloses all limitations of claim 2, wherein the resource includes a portion of at least one frequency band in a spectrum in the electromagnetic environment. (See Stanforth, at least ¶02090-0211, one or more bands of frequency)
As to claim 6:
Stanforth in view of Dzierwa discloses all limitations of claim 1, wherein the data analysis engine is operable to identify an impact of interference on customer goals and/or customer operations. ( Stanforth, ¶0065, 0070, 0112, evaluation of interference and how much it will spread)
As to claim 7:
Stanforth in view of Dzierwa discloses all limitations of claim 1, wherein the operational engine includes a policy manager, wherein the policy manager is operable to create at least one rule and/or at least one policy. ( Stanforth Fig. 12, Spectrum rule function 174)
As to claim 8:
Stanforth in view of Dzierwa discloses all limitations of claim 1, wherein the operational engine is operable to send actionable data for optimization of the at least one signal to at least one semantic engine. ( Stanforth ¶0100-0102, sending spectrum offer/commodity to be accepted or denied)
Claim(s) 9-20 /are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Stanforth et al. (US 2008/0222021A1) in view of Dzierwa (US 2022/0128612) and in further view of Kakirwar et al. (US 2019/0027134)
As to claim 9:
Stanforth discloses:
A system for spectrum management in an electromagnetic environment (Abstract, ¶0009, system for brokering spectrum and policing brokered spectrum for wireless communication environment) comprising:
at least one data analysis engine for analyzing measured data from the electromagnetic environment to provide information about the electromagnetic environment for at least one signal; (¶0021, 0147, analysis of measurements obtained from a plurality of deployed sensors for wireless measurements)
a certification and compliance application (Fig. 4, read as certificate agent 20); and an operational engine; (Fig. 10, read as Spectrum Holder system, as well as expanded block diagram of the spectrum holder system in Fig. 12)
wherein the operational engine is operable to create actionable data based on the information about the electromagnetic environment; (¶0100-0102, sending spectrum offer/commodity to be accepted or denied);
wherein the at least one signal includes a priority based on at least one customer application;
wherein the priority and the actionable data are used in dynamic allocation of spectrum in the electromagnetic environment for the at least one signal; ( Stanforth discloses in ¶0084, 0100, “the broker 14 also may have an additional capability, which is described as an exception handler to allow a higher priority user to preempt a lower priority user. When a certificate is to be preempted by a higher priority user, such as a public safety user or the spectrum holder, the exception handler of the broker 14 may be configured to rescind the certificate” i.e. users accessing the network are assigned priorities, some are higher than others. The certificate (i.e. assignment of resource allocation) might be dynamically revoked if the user is preempted by a higher priority).)
wherein the certification and compliance application is operable to determine if the at least one customer application and/or at least one customer device is behaving according to at least one rule and/or at least one policy; (¶0059, 0079, certificate agent 20 to ensure radios complies with rules/policies, and further to police the spectrum usage to ensure compliance. Spectrum certificate forces radio devices to operate in accordance with spectrum policies/rules under the certificate (rules pertaining time, frequency, power limit))
wherein the operational engine utilizes at least one prediction model to forecast future spectrum usage based on historical data and the measured data; (¶0181, predictive engine of the spectrum availability algorithm 178 to analyze historical usage data and measurements collected to predict spectrum availability/occupied in future);
wherein the operational engine is operable to send the actionable data to at least one semantic engine; ( Stanforth ¶0100-0102, sending spectrum offer/commodity to be accepted or denied)
wherein the at least one semantic engine is operable to establish at least one system rule and/or at least one system policy based on the actionable data ( Stanforth, ¶0177, 0085, rules established by spectrum holder system) and at least one natural language query;
Stanforth is silent on:
wherein the at least one data analysis engine is operable to generate at least one mask based on the measured data from the electromagnetic environment, wherein the at least one mask is generated by averaging maximum power values of a spectrum of signals over time;
and wherein the data analysis engine is operable to analyze the measured data from the electromagnetic environment using the at least one mask to identify at least one unwanted signal.
Dzierwa, in a related field of RF environment monitoring for interference, discloses a system/method for detecting interference signals, wherein the system is configured for identifying an interference signal that causes an interference alarm. Specifically, a mask is created by averaging signal powers over a period of time (¶0330, 0333). The mask is then used to compare against signals received over a period of time (¶0334-0337). The system will flag any signal that violates the mask’s conditions which causes the alarms, thereby identifying the signals that are unwanted (i.e. in violation of rules).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing time of the invention to incorporate the mask-based interference detection using average signal strengths of Dzierwa to the system of Stanforth. In light of Stanforth’s expressing the desire to determine interference and noises (¶168 of Stanforth), it is beneficial to implement the above feature of Dzierwa as it directly addresses Stanforth’s concern. Furthermore, several improvements of Dzierwa are directly discussed in ¶0301, which include at least better capturing of RF events, time, measurements, interference detection)
Neither Stanforth nor Dzierwa discloses the establishing rules/policy can be also by virtue of and at least one natural language query;
Kakirwar, in a related field of natural query analyses for creating policy, discloses in at least Abstract, 0037-0043, a system/method that generate a set of rules and/or policies for any topics based in semantic analysis of user inputs that include natural language command.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing time of the invention that the system of Stanforth and Dzierwa to incorporate the concept of interpreting natural language command to create a system rules/policy. This incorporation advantageously integrate the growing AI field into the existing system, allowing improved ease and productivity for system management, for example skipping manual coding of such rules all together.
As to claim 10:
Stanforth in view of Dzierwa and Kakirwar discloses all limitations of claim 9, further comprising a reasoner operable to determine constraints to be used by an optimizer for optimization of spectrum based on the at least one policy or the at least one rule for usage of a resource. (See Stanforth at least ¶085, condition and constraints based on spectrum governing policies)
As to claim 11:
Stanforth in view of Dzierwa and Kakirwar discloses all limitations of claim 10, further comprising a resource brokerage application operable to control usage of the resource based on the at least one policy or the at least one rule for usage of the resource. ( Stanforth ¶0103, spectrum broker 14 controlling use of spectrum allocation based on rules/policy)
As to claim 12:
Stanforth in view of Dzierwa and Kakirwar discloses all limitations of claim 9, further comprising at least one monitoring sensor operable to create the measured data from the electromagnetic environment. ( Stanforth ¶0021, 0147, a plurality of deployed sensors for wireless measurements)
As to claim 13:
Stanforth in view of Dzierwa and Kakirwar discloses all limitations of claim 9, wherein the operational engine includes a policy manager, wherein the policy manager is operable to create the at least one rule and/or the at least one policy. ( Stanforth, ¶0177, 0085, rules established by spectrum holder system)
As to claim 14:
Stanforth discloses:
A method for spectrum management in an electromagnetic environment (Abstract, ¶0009, system for brokering spectrum and policing brokered spectrum for wireless communication environment) comprising:
an operational engine (Fig. 10, read as Spectrum Holder system, as well as expanded block diagram of the spectrum holder system in Fig. 12) creating optimization objectives and sending the optimization objectives to a customer optimization module;
(See ¶0181, using measurement data collected by sensors, the objectives for optimization are created, “Spectrum offers and/or spectrum commodity items that are generated by the spectrum analysis engine 172 may be forwarded to the management application 168 for further processing and forwarding to the broker interface application 164. . . . The predictive engine of the spectrum availability algorithms 178 may analyze historical usage data, historical spectrum constraints, historical bandwidth availability, and information about known future spectrum usage, for example, to generate a prediction of spectrum that may be available in the future for use by user systems 102”) based on measured data for at least one signal from the electromagnetic environment (¶0021, 0147, a plurality of deployed sensors for wireless measurements)
the customer optimization module creating actionable data based on the optimization objectives; (¶0100-0102, sending spectrum offer/commodity to be accepted or denied, ¶0148-0149, collecting data of spectral occupancy in bands of interest, based on which to optimize spectrum use)
sending the actionable data to a semantic engine; (¶0100-0102, sending spectrum offer/commodity to be accepted or denied);
the semantic engine establishing at least one system rule and/or at least one system policy based on the actionable data (¶0177, 0085, rules established by spectrum holder system)
the operational engine creating and using at least one prediction model to forecast future spectrum usage based on historical data and the measured data; ( Stanforth ¶0181, predictive engine of the spectrum availability algorithm 178 to analyze historical usage data and measurements collected to predict spectrum availability/occupied in future).
Stanforth is silent on:
a data analysis engine generating at least one mask based on the measured data from the electromagnetic environment, wherein the at least one mask is generated by averaging maximum power values of a spectrum of signals over time; and the data analysis engine analyzing the measured data from the electromagnetic environment using the at least one mask to identify at least one unwanted signal.
Dzierwa, in a related field of RF environment monitoring for interference, discloses a system/method for detecting interference signals, wherein the system is configured for identifying an interference signal that causes an interference alarm. Specifically, a mask is created by averaging signal powers over a period of time (¶0330, 0333). The mask is then used to compare against signals received over a period of time (¶0334-0337). The system will flag any signal that violates the mask’s conditions which causes the alarms, thereby identifying the signals that are unwanted (i.e. in violation of rules).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing time of the invention to incorporate the mask-based interference detection using average signal strengths of Dzierwa to the system of Stanforth. In light of Stanforth’s expressing the desire to determine interference and noises (¶168 of Stanforth), it is beneficial to implement the above feature of Dzierwa as it directly addresses Stanforth’s concern. Furthermore, several improvements of Dzierwa are directly discussed in ¶0301, which include at least better capturing of RF events, time, measurements, interference detection)
Neither Stanforth nor Dzierwa discloses the establishing rules/policy can be also by virtue of and at least one natural language query;
Kakirwar, in a related field of natural query analyses for creating policy, discloses in at least Abstract, 0037-0043, a system/method that generate a set of rules and/or policies for any topics based in semantic analysis of user inputs that include natural language command.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing time of the invention that the system of Stanforth and Dzierwa to incorporate the concept of interpreting natural language command to create a system rules/policy. This incorporation advantageously integrate the growing AI field into the existing system, allowing improved ease and productivity for system management, for example skipping manual coding of such rules all together.
As to claim 15:
Stanforth in view of Dzierwa and Kakirwar discloses all limitations of claim 14, further comprising a certification and compliance application determining if at least one customer application and at least one customer device are behaving according to a rule and/or a policy.
(Stanforth ¶0059, 0079, certificate agent 20 to ensure radios complies with rules/policies, and further to police the spectrum usage to ensure compliance. Spectrum certificate forces radio devices to operate in accordance with spectrum policies/rules under the certificate (rules pertaining time, frequency, power limit))
As to claim 16:
Stanforth in view of Dzierwa and Kakirwar discloses all limitations of claim 14, further comprising the data analysis engine analyzing the measured data to provide information associated with the at least one signal and/or the electromagnetic environment. ( Stanforth, ¶0021, 0147, analysis of measurements obtained from a plurality of deployed sensors for wireless measurements);
As to claim 17:
Stanforth in view of Dzierwa and Kakirwar discloses all limitations of claim 14, wherein the at least one signal includes a priority based on at least one customer application( Stanforth discloses in ¶0084, 0100, “the broker 14 also may have an additional capability, which is described as an exception handler to allow a higher priority user to preempt a lower priority user. When a certificate is to be preempted by a higher priority user, such as a public safety user or the spectrum holder, the exception handler of the broker 14 may be configured to rescind the certificate” i.e. users accessing the network are assigned priorities, some are higher than others. The certificate (i.e. assignment of resource allocation) might be dynamically revoked if the user is preempted by a higher priority).)
As to claim 18:
Stanforth in view of Dzierwa and Kakirwar discloses all limitations of claim 17, wherein the priority and/or the actionable data is used in dynamic allocation of spectrum in the electromagnetic environment for the at least one signal. (Stanforth discloses in ¶0084, 0100, “the broker 14 also may have an additional capability, which is described as an exception handler to allow a higher priority user to preempt a lower priority user. When a certificate is to be preempted by a higher priority user, such as a public safety user or the spectrum holder, the exception handler of the broker 14 may be configured to rescind the certificate” i.e. users accessing the network are assigned priorities, some are higher than others. The certificate (i.e. assignment of resource allocation) might be dynamically revoked if the user is preempted by a higher priority).)
As to claim 19:
Stanforth in view of Dzierwa and Kakirwar discloses all limitations of claim 14, further comprising preprocessing the occupancy of the at least one signal and at least one second signal that exist in a frequency band based on interference between the at least one signal and the at least one second signal. ( Stanforth, ¶0065, 0070, 0112, evaluation of interference and how much it will spread)
As to claim 20:
Stanforth in view of Dzierwa and Kakirwar discloses all limitations of claim 14, further comprising a reasoner determining conditional constraints to be used by an optimizer for optimization of the at least one signal based on a policy for use of a resource. (See Stanforth, at least ¶085, condition and constraints based on spectrum governing policies)
Double Patenting
The nonstatutory double patenting rejection is based on a judicially created doctrine grounded in public policy (a policy reflected in the statute) so as to prevent the unjustified or improper timewise extension of the “right to exclude” granted by a patent and to prevent possible harassment by multiple assignees. A nonstatutory double patenting rejection is appropriate where the conflicting claims are not identical, but at least one examined application claim is not patentably distinct from the reference claim(s) because the examined application claim is either anticipated by, or would have been obvious over, the reference claim(s). See, e.g., In re Berg, 140 F.3d 1428, 46 USPQ2d 1226 (Fed. Cir. 1998); In re Goodman, 11 F.3d 1046, 29 USPQ2d 2010 (Fed. Cir. 1993); In re Longi, 759 F.2d 887, 225 USPQ 645 (Fed. Cir. 1985); In re Van Ornum, 686 F.2d 937, 214 USPQ 761 (CCPA 1982); In re Vogel, 422 F.2d 438, 164 USPQ 619 (CCPA 1970); In re Thorington, 418 F.2d 528, 163 USPQ 644 (CCPA 1969).
A timely filed terminal disclaimer in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(c) or 1.321(d) may be used to overcome an actual or provisional rejection based on nonstatutory double patenting provided the reference application or patent either is shown to be commonly owned with the examined application, or claims an invention made as a result of activities undertaken within the scope of a joint research agreement. See MPEP § 717.02 for applications subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA as explained in MPEP § 2159. See MPEP § 2146 et seq. for applications not subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA . A terminal disclaimer must be signed in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(b).
The filing of a terminal disclaimer by itself is not a complete reply to a nonstatutory double patenting (NSDP) rejection. A complete reply requires that the terminal disclaimer be accompanied by a reply requesting reconsideration of the prior Office action. Even where the NSDP rejection is provisional the reply must be complete. See MPEP § 804, subsection I.B.1. For a reply to a non-final Office action, see 37 CFR 1.111(a). For a reply to final Office action, see 37 CFR 1.113(c). A request for reconsideration while not provided for in 37 CFR 1.113(c) may be filed after final for consideration. See MPEP §§ 706.07(e) and 714.13.
The USPTO Internet website contains terminal disclaimer forms which may be used. Please visit www.uspto.gov/patent/patents-forms. The actual filing date of the application in which the form is filed determines what form (e.g., PTO/SB/25, PTO/SB/26, PTO/AIA /25, or PTO/AIA /26) should be used. A web-based eTerminal Disclaimer may be filled out completely online using web-screens. An eTerminal Disclaimer that meets all requirements is auto-processed and approved immediately upon submission. For more information about eTerminal Disclaimers, refer to www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/applying-online/eterminal-disclaimer.
Claim(s) 1-8 is/are rejected as being unpatentable over Patent 12317089 in view of Dzierwa (reference of record).
As to claim 1:
The reference claim 1 of the Patent discloses:
A system for spectrum management in an electromagnetic environment comprising:
at least one monitoring sensor operable to create measured data for at least one signal from the electromagnetic environment; (…) and a data analysis engine, (…) wherein the at least one monitoring sensor is operable to transmit the measured data to the data analysis engine (“A system for spectrum management in an electromagnetic environment comprising: at least one monitoring sensor operable to create measured data for at least one signal from the electromagnetic environment;”, “operational engine utilizes at least one prediction model to forecast future spectrum usage based on historical data and the measured data”, which implies analysis of measured data)
wherein the operational engine is operable to determine optimization objectives based on the measured data; wherein the optimization objectives include constraints associated with signal characteristics; (”wherein the operational engine is operable to determine optimization objectives based on the measured data and send the optimization objectives to the customer optimization module”)
wherein the system is operable to assign the at least one signal a priority based on at least one customer application associated with the at least one signal; wherein the priority is used in dynamic allocation of spectrum in the electromagnetic environment for the at least one signal; (“wherein the system is operable to assign the at least one signal a priority based on at least one customer application associated with the at least one signal, and wherein the priority and at least one rule and/or at least one policy is used in dynamic allocation of spectrum in the electromagnetic environment for the at least one signal;”)
wherein the operational engine utilizes at least one prediction model to forecast future spectrum usage based on historical data and the measured data; (“wherein the operational engine utilizes at least one prediction model to forecast future spectrum usage based on historical data and the measured data;”
wherein the operational engine utilizes the at least one prediction model to perform interference source modeling to forecast at least one future probability of a conflicting event; (“determine an impact on customer goals and customer operations based on the optimization objectives and/or the measured data from the electromagnetic environment”, implying determining an impact on user quality of service, which includes determining a future estimate of how user experiences is/are impacted)
The reference claim is silent on:
wherein the data analysis engine is operable to generate at least one mask based on the measured data, wherein the at least one mask is generated by averaging maximum power values of a spectrum of signals over time; and wherein the data analysis engine is operable to analyze the measured data from the electromagnetic environment using the at least one mask to identify at least one unwanted signal.
Dzierwa, in a related field of RF environment monitoring for interference, discloses a system/method for detecting interference signals, wherein the system is configured for identifying an interference signal that causes an interference alarm. Specifically, a mask is created by averaging signal powers over a period of time (¶0330, 0333). The mask is then used to compare against signals received over a period of time (¶0334-0337). The system will flag any signal that violates the mask’s conditions which causes the alarms, thereby identifying the signals that are unwanted (i.e. in violation of rules).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing time of the invention to incorporate the mask-based interference detection using average signal strengths. It is noted that several improvements of Dzierwa are directly discussed in ¶0301, which include at least better capturing of RF events, time, measurements, interference detection)
As to claim 2:
The Patent’s claims comprising a reasoner operable to determine conditional constraints to be used by an optimizer for optimization of the at least one signal based on a policy for use of a resource. (See reference claim 2, all limitations are closely recited)
As to claim 3:
The Patent’s claims further comprising a resource brokerage application operable to control the use of the resource. (See reference claim 3, all limitations are closely recited)
As to claim 4:
The Patent’s claims comprise the policy for the use of the resource is used for the dynamic allocation of spectrum for at least one frequency band in the electromagnetic environment. (See reference claim 4, all limitations are closely recited)
As to claim 5:
The Patent’s claims comprise wherein the resource includes a portion of at least one frequency band in a spectrum in the electromagnetic environment. (See reference claim 5, all limitations are closely recited)
As to claim 6:
The Patent’s claims comprise wherein the data analysis engine is operable to identify an impact of interference on customer goals and/or customer operations. ((See reference claim 6, all limitations are closely recited)
As to claim 7:
The Patent’s claims comprise wherein the operational engine includes a policy manager, wherein the policy manager is operable to create at least one rule and/or at least one policy. (See reference claim 7, all limitations are closely recited)
As to claim 8:
The Patent’s claims comprise wherein the operational engine is operable to send actionable data for optimization of the at least one signal to at least one semantic engine. (See reference claim 8, all limitations are closely recited)
Claim(s) 9-20 is/are rejected as being unpatentable over Patent 12317089 in view of Dzierwa (reference of record) and Kakirwar. (reference of record)
As to claim 9:
The reference claim 10 discloses:
A system for spectrum management in an electromagnetic environment comprising:
at least one data analysis engine for analyzing measured data from the electromagnetic environment to provide information about the electromagnetic environment for at least one signal;
a certification and compliance application; and an operational engine; (“at least one data analysis engine for analyzing the measured data to provide information about the electromagnetic environment for at least one signal; a customer optimization module; a certification and compliance application; and an operational engine;;”)
wherein the operational engine is operable to create actionable data based on the information about the electromagnetic environment; (“ wherein the operational engine is operable to determine optimization objectives based on the information associated with the electromagnetic environment ”)
wherein the at least one signal includes a priority based on at least one customer application;
wherein the priority and the actionable data are used in dynamic allocation of spectrum in the electromagnetic environment for the at least one signal; (“wherein the at least one signal includes a priority based on at least one customer application, and wherein the priority and the actionable data is used in dynamic allocation of spectrum in the electromagnetic environment for the at least one signal”)
wherein the certification and compliance application is operable to determine if the at least one customer application and/or at least one customer device is behaving according to at least one rule and/or at least one policy; wherein the operational engine utilizes at least one prediction model to forecast future spectrum usage based on historical data and the measured data;
wherein the operational engine is operable to send the actionable data to at least one semantic engine; (“e certification and compliance application is operable to determine if the at least one customer application and/or at least one customer device is behaving according to a rule and/or a policy; and wherein the operational engine utilizes at least one prediction model to forecast future spectrum usage based on historical data and the measured data.”)
The Patent is silent on:
wherein the at least one semantic engine is operable to establish at least one system rule and/or at least one system policy based on the actionable data and at least one natural language query;
wherein the at least one data analysis engine is operable to generate at least one mask based on the measured data from the electromagnetic environment, wherein the at least one mask is generated by averaging maximum power values of a spectrum of signals over time;
and wherein the data analysis engine is operable to analyze the measured data from the electromagnetic environment using the at least one mask to identify at least one unwanted signal.
Dzierwa, in a related field of RF environment monitoring for interference, discloses a system/method for detecting interference signals, wherein the system is configured for identifying an interference signal that causes an interference alarm. Specifically, a mask is created by averaging signal powers over a period of time (¶0330, 0333). The mask is then used to compare against signals received over a period of time (¶0334-0337). The system will flag any signal that violates the mask’s conditions which causes the alarms, thereby identifying the signals that are unwanted (i.e. in violation of rules).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing time of the invention to incorporate the mask-based interference detection using average signal strengths of Dzierwa in view of several improvements of Dzierwa directly discussed in ¶0301, which include at least better capturing of RF events, time, measurements, interference detection)
Neither the Patent nor Dzierwa discloses the establishing rules/policy can be also by virtue of and at least one natural language query;
Kakirwar, in a related field of natural query analyses for creating policy, discloses in at least Abstract, 0037-0043, a system/method that generate a set of rules and/or policies for any topics based in semantic analysis of user inputs that include natural language command.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing time of the invention to incorporate the concept of interpreting natural language command to create a system rules/policy. This incorporation advantageously integrate the growing AI field into the existing system, allowing improved ease and productivity for system management, for example skipping manual coding of such rules all together.
As to claim 10:
The Patent’s claims in combination comprise a reasoner operable to determine constraints to be used by an optimizer for optimization of spectrum based on the at least one policy or the at least one rule for usage of a resource. (See reference claim 11, all limitations are closely recited)
As to claim 11:
The Patent’s claims in combination comprise a resource brokerage application operable to control usage of the resource based on the at least one policy or the at least one rule for usage of the resource. (See reference claim 12, all limitations are closely recited)
As to claim 12:
With regard to: at least one monitoring sensor operable to create the measured data from the electromagnetic environment. (See reference claim 10, “at least one monitoring sensor operable to create measured data from the electromagnetic environment”)
As to claim 13:
With regard to: the operational engine includes a policy manager, wherein the policy manager is operable to create the at least one rule and/or the at least one policy. (See reference claim 12, “control usage of the resource based on the policy or the rule for usage of the resource”)
As to claim 14:
Reference claim 15 discloses:
A method for spectrum management in an electromagnetic environment comprising:
an operational engine creating optimization objectives and sending the optimization objectives to a customer optimization module;
based on measured data for at least one signal from the electromagnetic environment
(“ operational engine creating optimization objectives based on the measured data and sending the optimization objectives to a customer optimization module”)
the customer optimization module creating actionable data based on the optimization objectives;
sending the actionable data to a semantic engine; (“the customer optimization module creating actionable data based on the optimization objectives”)
the operational engine creating and using at least one prediction model to forecast future spectrum usage based on historical data and the measured data; (“forecast future spectrum usage based on historical data and the measured data”)
The Patent is silent on:
the semantic engine establishing at least one system rule and/or at least one system policy based on the actionable data and at least one natural language query
a data analysis engine generating at least one mask based on the measured data from the electromagnetic environment, wherein the at least one mask is generated by averaging maximum power values of a spectrum of signals over time; and the data analysis engine analyzing the measured data from the electromagnetic environment using the at least one mask to identify at least one unwanted signal.
Dzierwa, in a related field of RF environment monitoring for interference, discloses a system/method for detecting interference signals, wherein the system is configured for identifying an interference signal that causes an interference alarm. Specifically, a mask is created by averaging signal powers over a period of time (¶0330, 0333). The mask is then used to compare against signals received over a period of time (¶0334-0337). The system will flag any signal that violates the mask’s conditions which causes the alarms, thereby identifying the signals that are unwanted (i.e. in violation of rules).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing time of the invention to incorporate the mask-based interference detection using average signal strengths of Dzierwa in view of several improvements of Dzierwa directly discussed in ¶0301, which include at least better capturing of RF events, time, measurements, interference detection)
Neither the Patent nor Dzierwa discloses the establishing rules/policy can be also by virtue of and at least one natural language query;
Kakirwar, in a related field of natural query analyses for creating policy, discloses in at least Abstract, 0037-0043, a system/method that generate a set of rules and/or policies for any topics based in semantic analysis of user inputs that include natural language command.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing time of the invention to incorporate the concept of interpreting natural language command to create a system rules/policy. This incorporation advantageously integrate the growing AI field into the existing system, allowing improved ease and productivity for system management, for example skipping manual coding of such rules all together.
As to claim 15:
With regard to: a certification and compliance application determining if at least one customer application and at least one customer device are behaving according to a rule and/or a policy. (See reference claim 15, “compliance application determining if at least one customer application and at least one customer device is behaving according to a rule and/or a policy”)
As to claim 16:
With regard to: the data analysis engine analyzing the measured data to provide information associated with the at least one signal and/or the electromagnetic environment. (See reference claim 17, all limitations are closely recited)
As to claim 17:
With regard to: the at least one signal includes a priority based on at least one customer application (See reference claim 15, “ the at least one signal includes a priority based on at least one customer application, and wherein the priority and the actionable data is used in dynamic allocation of spectrum in the electromagnetic environment for the at least one signal”)
As to claim 18:
With regard to: the priority and/or the actionable data is used in dynamic allocation of spectrum in the electromagnetic environment for the at least one signal. (See reference claim 15, “ the at least one signal includes a priority based on at least one customer application, and wherein the priority and the actionable data is used in dynamic allocation of spectrum in the electromagnetic environment for the at least one signal”)
As to claim 19:
With regard to: comprising preprocessing the occupancy of the at least one signal and at least one second signal that exist in a frequency band based on interference between the at least one signal and the at least one second signal (See reference claim 18, “creating the policy or the policy rule for usage of a resource in the electromagnetic environment based on the optimization objectives”)
As to claim 20:
With regard to: a reasoner determining conditional constraints to be used by an optimizer for optimization of the at least one signal based on a policy for use of a resource. (See reference claim 20, all limitations are closely recited)
Claims 1-20 is/are rejected on the ground of nonstatutory double patenting as being unpatentable over the claims of Patent 12470944.
As to claim 1:
The reference claim 1 of the Patent discloses:
A system for spectrum management in an electromagnetic environment comprising:
at least one monitoring sensor operable to create measured data for at least one signal from the electromagnetic environment; (…) and a data analysis engine, (…) wherein the at least one monitoring sensor is operable to transmit the measured data to the data analysis engine (“A system for spectrum management in an electromagnetic environment comprising: at least one monitoring sensor operable to create measured data for at least one signal from the electromagnetic environment; a certification and compliance application; a survey occupancy application; an operational engine; and a data analysis engine”)
wherein the operational engine is operable to determine optimization objectives based on the measured data; wherein the optimization objectives include constraints associated with signal characteristics; (”wherein the operational engine is operable to determine optimization objectives based on the measured data; wherein the optimization objectives include constraints associated with signal characteristics;”)
wherein the system is operable to assign the at least one signal a priority based on at least one customer application associated with the at least one signal; wherein the priority is used in dynamic allocation of spectrum in the electromagnetic environment for the at least one signal; (“wherein the system is operable to assign the at least one signal a priority based on at least one customer application associated with the at least one signal; wherein the priority and at least one rule and/or at least one policy is used in dynamic allocation of spectrum in the electromagnetic environment for the at least one signal”)
wherein the operational engine utilizes at least one prediction model to forecast future spectrum usage based on historical data and the measured data; (“wherein the operational engine utilizes at least one prediction model to forecast future spectrum usage based on historical data and the measured data;”
wherein the operational engine utilizes the at least one prediction model to perform interference source modeling to forecast at least one future probability of a conflicting event; “wherein the operational engine utilizes the at least one prediction model to perform interference source modeling to forecast at least one future probability of a conflicting event”)
wherein the data analysis engine is operable to generate at least one mask based on the measured data, wherein the at least one mask is generated by averaging maximum power values of a spectrum of signals over time; and wherein the data analysis engine is operable to analyze the measured data from the electromagnetic environment using the at least one mask to identify at least one unwanted signal. (“wherein the data analysis engine is operable to generate at least one mask based on the measured data from the electromagnetic environment, wherein the at least one mask is generated by averaging maximum power values of a spectrum of signals over time; and wherein the data analysis engine is operable to analyze the measured data from the electromagnetic environment using the at least one mask to identify at least one unwanted signal”)
The claim differs from the Patent in that it does not includes the limitations of “herein the certification and compliance application is operable to determine if the at least one customer application and/or at least one customer device is behaving according to the at least one rule and/or the at least one policy; wherein the survey occupancy application is operable to determine occupancy in frequency bands; wherein the survey occupancy application is operable to schedule occupancy in the frequency bands”.
Since the Patent reference claim 1 matches all limitations of the instant claim 1, it anticipates the claim.
As to claim 2:
The Patent’s claims comprising a reasoner operable to determine conditional constraints to be used by an optimizer for optimization of the at least one signal based on a policy for use of a resource. (See reference claim 2, all limitations are closely recited)
As to claim 3:
The Patent’s claims further comprising a resource brokerage application operable to control the use of the resource. (See reference claim 3, all limitations are closely recited)
As to claim 4:
The Patent’s claims comprise the policy for the use of the resource is used for the dynamic allocation of spectrum for at least one frequency band in the electromagnetic environment. (See reference claim 4, all limitations are closely recited)
As to claim 5:
The Patent’s claims comprise wherein the resource includes a portion of at least one frequency band in a spectrum in the electromagnetic environment. (See reference claim 5, all limitations are closely recited)
As to claim 6:
The Patent’s claims comprise wherein the data analysis engine is operable to identify an impact of interference on customer goals and/or customer operations. ((See reference claim 6, all limitations are closely recited)
As to claim 7:
The Patent’s claims comprise wherein the operational engine includes a policy manager, wherein the policy manager is operable to create at least one rule and/or at least one policy. (See reference claim 7, all limitations are closely recited)
As to claim 8:
The Patent’s claims comprise wherein the operational engine is operable to send actionable data for optimization of the at least one signal to at least one semantic engine. (See reference claim 8, all limitations are closely recited)
As to claim 9:
The reference claim 9 discloses:
A system for spectrum management in an electromagnetic environment comprising:
at least one data analysis engine for analyzing measured data from the electromagnetic environment to provide information about the electromagnetic environment for at least one signal;
a certification and compliance application; and an operational engine; (“A system for spectrum management in an electromagnetic environment comprising: at least one data analysis engine for analyzing measured data from the electromagnetic environment to provide information about the electromagnetic environment for at least one signal; a certification and compliance application; an operational engine;”)
wherein the operational engine is operable to create actionable data based on the information about the electromagnetic environment;
wherein the at least one signal includes a priority based on at least one customer application;
wherein the priority and the actionable data are used in dynamic allocation of spectrum in the electromagnetic environment for the at least one signal; (“wherein the operational engine is operable to create actionable data based on the information about the electromagnetic environment; wherein the at least one signal includes a priority based on at least one customer application; wherein the priority and the actionable data is used in dynamic allocation of spectrum in the electromagnetic environment for the at least one signal;”)
wherein the certification and compliance application is operable to determine if the at least one customer application and/or at least one customer device is behaving according to at least one rule and/or at least one policy; (“wherein the certification and compliance application is operable to determine if the at least one customer application and/or at least one customer device is behaving according to at least one rule and/or at least one policy; ”)
wherein the operational engine utilizes at least one prediction model to forecast future spectrum usage based on historical data and the measured data;
wherein the operational engine is operable to send the actionable data to at least one semantic engine;
wherein the at least one semantic engine is operable to establish at least one system rule and/or at least one system policy based on the actionable data and at least one natural language query; (“wherein the operational engine utilizes at least one prediction model to forecast future spectrum usage based on historical data and the measured data; wherein the operational engine is operable to send the actionable data to at least one semantic engine; wherein the at least one semantic engine is operable to establish at least one system rule and/or at least one system policy based on the actionable data and at least one natural language query”)
wherein the at least one data analysis engine is operable to generate at least one mask based on the measured data from the electromagnetic environment, wherein the at least one mask is generated by averaging maximum power values of a spectrum of signals over time;
and wherein the data analysis engine is operable to analyze the measured data from the electromagnetic environment using the at least one mask to identify at least one unwanted signal. (“wherein the at least one data analysis engine is operable to generate at least one mask based on the measured data from the electromagnetic environment, wherein the at least one mask is generated by averaging maximum power values of a spectrum of signals over time; and wherein the data analysis engine is operable to analyze the measured data from the electromagnetic environment using the at least one mask to identify at least one unwanted signal.”)
The instant claim differs from the Patent in that it does not includes the limitations of “herein the certification and compliance application is operable to determine if the at least one customer application and/or at least one customer device is behaving according to the at least one rule and/or the at least one policy; wherein the survey occupancy application is operable to determine occupancy in frequency bands; wherein the survey occupancy application is operable to schedule occupancy in the frequency bands”.
Since the Patent reference claim 9 matches all limitations of the instant claim 9, it anticipates the claim.
As to claim 10:
The Patent’s claims comprise a reasoner operable to determine constraints to be used by an optimizer for optimization of spectrum based on the at least one policy or the at least one rule for usage of a resource. (See reference claim 10, all limitations are closely recited)
As to claim 11:
The Patent’s claims comprise a resource brokerage application operable to control usage of the resource based on the at least one policy or the at least one rule for usage of the resource. (See reference claim 11, all limitations are closely recited)
As to claim 12:
The Patent’s claims comprise at least one monitoring sensor operable to create the measured data from the electromagnetic environment. (See reference claim 12, all limitations are closely recited)
As to claim 13:
The Patent’s claims comprise the operational engine includes a policy manager, wherein the policy manager is operable to create the at least one rule and/or the at least one policy. (See reference claim 9, “the at least one semantic engine is operable to establish at least one system rule and/or at least one system policy”)
As to claim 14:
Reference claim 13 discloses:
A method for spectrum management in an electromagnetic environment comprising:
an operational engine creating optimization objectives and sending the optimization objectives to a customer optimization module;
based on measured data for at least one signal from the electromagnetic environment
(“ an operational engine creating optimization objectives based on the measured data and sending the optimization objectives to a customer optimization module”)
the customer optimization module creating actionable data based on the optimization objectives;
sending the actionable data to a semantic engine; (“the customer optimization module creating actionable data based on the optimization objectives”)
the semantic engine establishing at least one system rule and/or at least one system policy based on the actionable data and at least one natural language query (“ the semantic engine establishing at least one system rule and/or at least one system policy based on the actionable data and at least one natural language query;”)
the operational engine creating and using at least one prediction model to forecast future spectrum usage based on historical data and the measured data; (“the operational engine creating and using at least one prediction model to forecast future spectrum usage based on historical data and the measured data”)
a data analysis engine generating at least one mask based on the measured data from the electromagnetic environment, wherein the at least one mask is generated by averaging maximum power values of a spectrum of signals over time; and the data analysis engine analyzing the measured data from the electromagnetic environment using the at least one mask to identify at least one unwanted signal. (“a data analysis engine generating at least one mask based on the measured data from the electromagnetic environment, wherein the at least one mask is generated by averaging maximum power values of a spectrum of signals over time; and the data analysis engine analyzing the measured data from the electromagnetic environment using the at least one mask to identify at least one unwanted signal.”)
The instant claim differs from the Patent in that it does not includes the limitations of “at least one monitoring sensor creating measured data for at least one signal from the electromagnetic environment”.
Since the Patent reference claim 13 matches all limitations of the instant claim 14, it anticipates the instant claim 14.
As to claim 15:
The Patent discloses all limitations of claim 14, further comprising a certification and compliance application determining if at least one customer application and at least one customer device are behaving according to a rule and/or a policy. (See reference claim 14, all limitations are closely recited)
As to claim 16:
The Patent discloses all limitations of claim 14, further comprising the data analysis engine analyzing the measured data to provide information associated with the at least one signal and/or the electromagnetic environment. (See reference claim 15, all limitations are closely recited)
As to claim 17:
The Patent discloses all limitations of claim 14, wherein the at least one signal includes a priority based on at least one customer application (See reference claim 16, all limitations are closely recited)
As to claim 18:
The Patent discloses all limitations of claim 17, wherein the priority and/or the actionable data is used in dynamic allocation of spectrum in the electromagnetic environment for the at least one signal. (See reference claim 17, all limitations are closely recited)
As to claim 19:
The Patent discloses all limitations of claim 14, further comprising preprocessing the occupancy of the at least one signal and at least one second signal that exist in a frequency band based on interference between the at least one signal and the at least one second signal (See reference claim 18, all limitations are closely recited)
As to claim 20:
The Patent discloses all limitations of claim 14, further comprising a reasoner determining conditional constraints to be used by an optimizer for optimization of the at least one signal based on a policy for use of a resource. (See reference claim 20, all limitations are closely recited).
Claim(s) 1-8 is/are rejected as being unpatentable over Patent 12167246 in view of Dzierwa (reference of record).
As to claim 1:
The reference claim 1 of the Patent discloses:
A system for spectrum management in an electromagnetic environment comprising:
at least one monitoring sensor operable to create measured data for at least one signal from the electromagnetic environment; (…) and a data analysis engine, (…) wherein the at least one monitoring sensor is operable to transmit the measured data to the data analysis engine (“A system for spectrum management in an electromagnetic environment comprising: at least one monitoring sensor operable to create measured data for at least one signal from the electromagnetic environment;”, “wherein the at least one monitoring sensor is in communication with the at least one data analysis engine”)
wherein the operational engine is operable to determine optimization objectives based on the measured data; wherein the optimization objectives include constraints associated with signal characteristics; (”wherein the operational engine is operable to determine optimization objectives based on the information associated with the at least one signal and send the optimization objectives to the customer optimization module”)
wherein the system is operable to assign the at least one signal a priority based on at least one customer application associated with the at least one signal; wherein the priority is used in dynamic allocation of spectrum in the electromagnetic environment for the at least one signal; (“ wherein the at least one signal includes a priority based on at least one customer application, and wherein the priority and at least one rule and/or at least one policy is used in dynamic allocation of spectrum in the electromagnetic environment for the at least one signal;”)
wherein the operational engine utilizes at least one prediction model to forecast future spectrum usage based on historical data and the measured data; (“wherein the operational engine utilizes at least one prediction model to forecast future spectrum usage based on historical data and the measured data;”
wherein the operational engine utilizes the at least one prediction model to perform interference source modeling to forecast at least one future probability of a conflicting event; (“wherein the customer optimization module is operable to determine an impact on customer goals and customer operations based on the optimization objectives and the measured data from the electromagnetic environment”, i.e. predicting events that might impact user experience in the future)
The reference claim is silent on:
wherein the data analysis engine is operable to generate at least one mask based on the measured data, wherein the at least one mask is generated by averaging maximum power values of a spectrum of signals over time; and wherein the data analysis engine is operable to analyze the measured data from the electromagnetic environment using the at least one mask to identify at least one unwanted signal.
Dzierwa, in a related field of RF environment monitoring for interference, discloses a system/method for detecting interference signals, wherein the system is configured for identifying an interference signal that causes an interference alarm. Specifically, a mask is created by averaging signal powers over a period of time (¶0330, 0333). The mask is then used to compare against signals received over a period of time (¶0334-0337). The system will flag any signal that violates the mask’s conditions which causes the alarms, thereby identifying the signals that are unwanted (i.e. in violation of rules).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing time of the invention to incorporate the mask-based interference detection using average signal strengths. It is noted that several improvements of Dzierwa are directly discussed in ¶0301, which include at least better capturing of RF events, time, measurements, interference detection)
As to claim 2:
The Patent’s claims in the combination comprising a reasoner operable to determine conditional constraints to be used by an optimizer for optimization of the at least one signal based on a policy for use of a resource. (See reference claim 2, all limitations are closely recited)
As to claim 3:
The Patent’s claims in the combination further comprising a resource brokerage application operable to control the use of the resource. (See reference claim 3, all limitations are closely recited)
As to claim 4:
The Patent’s claims in the combination comprise the policy for the use of the resource is used for the dynamic allocation of spectrum for at least one frequency band in the electromagnetic environment. (See reference claim 4, all limitations are closely recited)
As to claim 5:
The Patent’s claims in the combination comprise wherein the resource includes a portion of at least one frequency band in a spectrum in the electromagnetic environment. (See reference claim 5, all limitations are closely recited)
As to claim 6:
The Patent’s claims in the combination comprise wherein the data analysis engine is operable to identify an impact of interference on customer goals and/or customer operations. ((See reference claim 6, all limitations are closely recited)
As to claim 7:
The Patent’s claims in the combination comprise wherein the operational engine includes a policy manager, wherein the policy manager is operable to create at least one rule and/or at least one policy. (See reference claim 7, all limitations are closely recited)
As to claim 8:
The Patent’s claims in the combination comprise wherein the operational engine is operable to send actionable data for optimization of the at least one signal to at least one semantic engine. (See reference claim 8, all limitations are closely recited)
Claim(s) 9-13 is/are rejected as being unpatentable over Patent 12167246 in view of Stanforth and in further view of Dzierwa (reference of record) in further view of reference Kakirwar (reference of record).
As to claim 9:
The reference claim 9 discloses:
A system for spectrum management in an electromagnetic environment comprising:
at least one data analysis engine for analyzing measured data from the electromagnetic environment to provide information about the electromagnetic environment for at least one signal; (“at least one data analysis engine for analyzing the measured data to provide information about the electromagnetic environment”)
a certification and compliance application; and an operational engine; (“and an operational engine”)
wherein the operational engine is operable to create actionable data based on the information about the electromagnetic environment; (“ create actionable data based on the optimization objectives, and send the actionable data to the operational engine ”)
wherein the at least one signal includes a priority based on at least one customer application;
wherein the priority and the actionable data are used in dynamic allocation of spectrum in the electromagnetic environment for the at least one signal; (“wherein the at least one signal includes a priority based on at least one customer application, and wherein the priority and at least one rule and/or at least one policy is used in dynamic allocation of spectrum in the electromagnetic environment for the at least one signal”)
wherein the operational engine utilizes at least one prediction model to forecast future spectrum usage based on historical data and the measured data; (“operational engine is operable to determine optimization objectives based on the information associated with the electromagnetic environment”)
wherein the operational engine is operable to send the actionable data to at least one semantic engine; (“create actionable data based on the optimization objectives, and send the actionable data to the operational engine and at least one semantic engine
The Patent claim is silent on:
wherein the certification and compliance application is operable to determine if the at least one customer application and/or at least one customer device is behaving according to at least one rule and/or at least one policy;
Stanforth discloses in ¶0059, 0079, certificate agent 20 to ensure radios complies with rules/policies, and further to police the spectrum usage to ensure compliance. Spectrum certificate forces radio devices to operate in accordance with spectrum policies/rules under the certificate (rules pertaining time, frequency, power limit).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing time of the invention that the system in Patent’s claim to incorporate the audit process of Stanforth. Such implementation ensures integrity of system usage and prevents violation/fraud.
The Patent is silent on:
wherein the at least one semantic engine is operable to establish at least one system rule and/or at least one system policy based on the actionable data and at least one natural language query;
wherein the at least one data analysis engine is operable to generate at least one mask based on the measured data from the electromagnetic environment, wherein the at least one mask is generated by averaging maximum power values of a spectrum of signals over time;
and wherein the data analysis engine is operable to analyze the measured data from the electromagnetic environment using the at least one mask to identify at least one unwanted signal.
Dzierwa, in a related field of RF environment monitoring for interference, discloses a system/method for detecting interference signals, wherein the system is configured for identifying an interference signal that causes an interference alarm. Specifically, a mask is created by averaging signal powers over a period of time (¶0330, 0333). The mask is then used to compare against signals received over a period of time (¶0334-0337). The system will flag any signal that violates the mask’s conditions which causes the alarms, thereby identifying the signals that are unwanted (i.e. in violation of rules).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing time of the invention to incorporate the mask-based interference detection using average signal strengths of Dzierwa in view of several improvements of Dzierwa directly discussed in ¶0301, which include at least better capturing of RF events, time, measurements, interference detection)
Neither the Patent nor Dzierwa discloses the establishing rules/policy can be also by virtue of and at least one natural language query;
Kakirwar, in a related field of natural query analyses for creating policy, discloses in at least Abstract, 0037-0043, a system/method that generate a set of rules and/or policies for any topics based in semantic analysis of user inputs that include natural language command.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing time of the invention to incorporate the concept of interpreting natural language command to create a system rules/policy. This incorporation advantageously integrate the growing AI field into the existing system, allowing improved ease and productivity for system management, for example skipping manual coding of such rules all together.
As to claim 10:
The Patent’s claims in the combination comprise a reasoner operable to determine constraints to be used by an optimizer for optimization of spectrum based on the at least one policy or the at least one rule for usage of a resource. (See reference claim 11, all limitations are closely recited)
As to claim 11:
The Patent’s claims in the combination comprise a resource brokerage application operable to control usage of the resource based on the at least one policy or the at least one rule for usage of the resource. (See reference claim 12, all limitations are closely recited)
As to claim 12:
With regard to: at least one monitoring sensor operable to create the measured data from the electromagnetic environment. (See reference claim 9, “the at least one monitoring sensor is in communication with the at least one data analysis engine”)
As to claim 13:
With regard to: the operational engine includes a policy manager, wherein the policy manager is operable to create the at least one rule and/or the at least one policy. (See reference claim 10, “determine constraints to be used by an optimizer for optimization of spectrum based on a policy or a rule for usage of a resource”, which implies a creation such policy/rule)
Claim(s) 14, 16-20 is/are rejected as being unpatentable over Patent 12167246 in view of Dzierwa (reference of record) in further view of reference Kakirwar (reference of record).
As to claim 14:
Reference claim 13 discloses:
A method for spectrum management in an electromagnetic environment comprising:
an operational engine creating optimization objectives and sending the optimization objectives to a customer optimization module;
based on measured data for at least one signal from the electromagnetic environment
(“ an operational engine creating optimization objectives based on the information associated with the at least one signal and/or the electromagnetic environment and sending the optimization objectives to a customer optimization module”)
the customer optimization module creating actionable data based on the optimization objectives;
sending the actionable data to a semantic engine; (“the customer optimization module creating actionable data based on the optimization objectives; scheduling occupancy in frequency bands based on the actionable data, and sending the actionable data to the operational engine and at least one semantic engine”)
the operational engine creating and using at least one prediction model to forecast future spectrum usage based on historical data and the measured data; (“creating optimization objectives based on the information associated with the at least one signal”, i.e. optimization involves an estimate of future usage)
The Patent is silent on:
the semantic engine establishing at least one system rule and/or at least one system policy based on the actionable data and at least one natural language query
a data analysis engine generating at least one mask based on the measured data from the electromagnetic environment, wherein the at least one mask is generated by averaging maximum power values of a spectrum of signals over time; and the data analysis engine analyzing the measured data from the electromagnetic environment using the at least one mask to identify at least one unwanted signal.
Dzierwa, in a related field of RF environment monitoring for interference, discloses a system/method for detecting interference signals, wherein the system is configured for identifying an interference signal that causes an interference alarm. Specifically, a mask is created by averaging signal powers over a period of time (¶0330, 0333). The mask is then used to compare against signals received over a period of time (¶0334-0337). The system will flag any signal that violates the mask’s conditions which causes the alarms, thereby identifying the signals that are unwanted (i.e. in violation of rules).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing time of the invention to incorporate the mask-based interference detection using average signal strengths of Dzierwa in view of several improvements of Dzierwa directly discussed in ¶0301, which include at least better capturing of RF events, time, measurements, interference detection)
Neither the Patent nor Dzierwa discloses the establishing rules/policy can be also by virtue of and at least one natural language query;
Kakirwar, in a related field of natural query analyses for creating policy, discloses in at least Abstract, 0037-0043, a system/method that generate a set of rules and/or policies for any topics based in semantic analysis of user inputs that include natural language command.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing time of the invention to incorporate the concept of interpreting natural language command to create a system rules/policy. This incorporation advantageously integrate the growing AI field into the existing system, allowing improved ease and productivity for system management, for example skipping manual coding of such rules all together.
As to claim 16:
With regard to: the data analysis engine analyzing the measured data to provide information associated with the at least one signal and/or the electromagnetic environment. (See reference claim 13, “at least one data analysis engine analyzing the measured data to provide information associated with at least one signal”)
As to claim 17:
With regard to: the at least one signal includes a priority based on at least one customer application (See reference claim 15, “ at least one signal includes a priority based on at least one customer application”)
As to claim 18:
With regard to: the priority and/or the actionable data is used in dynamic allocation of spectrum in the electromagnetic environment for the at least one signal. (See reference claim 13, “scheduling occupancy in frequency bands based on the actionable data”)
As to claim 19:
With regard to: comprising preprocessing the occupancy of the at least one signal and at least one second signal that exist in a frequency band based on interference between the at least one signal and the at least one second signal (See reference claim 13, “preprocessing the occupancy of the at least one signal and at least one second signal that exist in a frequency band based on interference between the at least one signal and the at least one second signal”)
As to claim 20:
With regard to: a reasoner determining conditional constraints to be used by an optimizer for optimization of the at least one signal based on a policy for use of a resource. (See reference claim 16, “creating a policy or a rule for usage of a resource in the electromagnetic environment based on the optimization objectives”)
Claim(s) 15 is/are rejected as being unpatentable over Patent 12167246 in view of Dzierwa (reference of record) in further view of reference Kakirwar (reference of record), and in further view of Stanforth (reference of record).
As to claim 15:
With regard to: a certification and compliance application determining if at least one customer application and at least one customer device are behaving according to a rule and/or a policy.
The Patent’s claim is silent on this limitation.
Stanforth discloses in ¶0059, 0079, certificate agent 20 to ensure radios complies with rules/policies, and further to police the spectrum usage to ensure compliance. Spectrum certificate forces radio devices to operate in accordance with spectrum policies/rules under the certificate (rules pertaining time, frequency, power limit).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing time of the invention that the system in Patent’s claim to incorporate the audit process of Stanforth. Such implementation ensures integrity of system usage and prevents violation/fraud.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
US 2014/0086072 - Downlink power levels are assigned in a distributed manner in the absence of any requirement for coordination or cooperation between cells. Distributed assignment allows for more optimal usage of the available transmit power at the base stations and more complete exploitation of the flexibility of frequency domain scheduling. In one embodiment, base stations in a cellular network service mobile user equipment within the respective base station coverage areas, and categorize the user equipment in a plurality of power levels according to certain criteria in accordance with such factors as channel experience and quality. A load-balancing self-adjustment mechanism allows automatic balancing of the load between different power levels.
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/QUAN M HUA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2645