REISSUE OFFICE ACTION
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
This is a reissue office action for US Patent 10,594,827, which included original patent claims 1–36.
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 3/11/2026 has been entered. Applicant’s submission includes an amendment and remarks (“Remarks”). Claims 1–39 are pending.
Declaration and Reason for Reissue
This Reissue has been filed pursuant to the original patent being at least partly inoperative or invalid by reason of “claiming more or less than he had the right”, specifically:
“Applicant seeks a broadening reissue, since Applicant believes the original patent to be partly inoperative or invalid by reason that Applicant claimed less than Applicant had the right to claim in the patent. Applicant seeks to broaden Claim 1, Claim 16, Claim 22 by removing the limitation of requesting cache hints, which is more limiting than Applicant had the right to claim in the patent” (6/21/2022 declaration p. 2).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1–39 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Documentation for Traffic Server Traffic Server 3.2.4 (“Traffic Server”).
The Traffic Server 3.2.4 software was released by The Apache Software Foundation on 1/25/2013. The prior art Documentation describing this software was hosted at http://trafficserver.apache.org more than one year prior to the earliest benefit date of the reissue application (i.e. more than one year prior to 5/13/2014). The cited portions of the applied Documentation include retrieved URLs such as https://web.archive.org/web/20130227194655/http://trafficserver.apache.org:80/docs/trunk/admin/http-proxy-caching/index.en.html which indicates the particular Documentation portion (i.e. “http-proxy-caching”) was a snapshot taken 02/27/2013 (per the 20130227194655 identifier) and archived at web.archive.org. This is referred to as “ATS/../admin/http-proxy-caching”, below for example.
1. A method comprising:
“Web proxy caching enables you to store copies of frequently-accessed web objects (such as documents, images, and articles) and then serve this information to users on demand” (ATS/../admin/http-proxy-caching p. 1).
in response to a request for cache hints, receiving a cache hint response comprising at least one message comprising cache hint information for a plurality of objects associated with a web-content transaction;
“caching and reusing frequently-requested web pages, images, and web service calls” (ATS - index p. 1).
“1. Traffic Server receives a client request for a web object. 2. Using the object address, Traffic Server tries to locate the requested object in its object database (cache). 3. If the object is in the cache, then Traffic Server checks to see if the object is fresh enough to serve. If it is fresh, then Traffic Server serves it to the client as a cache hit (see the figure below)” (ATS/../admin/http-proxy-caching p. 1–2).
A client request presented to the Traffic Server for web content represents a request for cache hints associated with a web-content transaction. The result of the cache database query represents a response message containing hint information. The hint information would be associated with a plurality of objects where the requested webpage included a plurality of images.
Likewise, a revalidation request (described below) can also represent a request for cache hints. The result of the revalidation request represents a response message containing hint information. The hint information would be associated with a plurality of objects where the requested webpage included a plurality of images.
in response to determining, as indicated by the cache hint information, that a version of a first object of the plurality of objects having a stale state in a cache is fresh, updating the first object from the stale state to a fresh state; and obtaining the first object from the cache as a part of the web-content transaction.
“4. If the data in the cache is stale, then Traffic Server connects to the origin server and checks if the object is still fresh (a revalidation). If it is, then Traffic Server immediately sends the cached copy to the client” (ATS/../admin/http-proxy-caching p. 2).
“Revalidating HTIP ObjectsWhen a client requests an HTTP object that is stale in the cache, Traffic Server revalidates the object. A revalidation is a query to the origin server to check if the object is unchanged. The result of a revalidation is one of the following: . . . If the object is still fresh, then Traffic Server resets its freshness limit and serves the object” (ATS/../admin/http-proxy-caching p. 4).
When the result of the revalidation indicates that the object is unchanged, this represents a determination “as indicated by” the (revalidation) cache hint information that a version of an object having a stale state is, in fact, still fresh. Subsequently, “Traffic Server resets its freshness limit and serves the object”.
2. The method of claim 1, further comprising identifying web content associated with the web-content transaction prior to the request for the cache hint information.
“Subsequent requests for the object can be served faster because the object is retrieved directly from cache” (ATS/../admin/http-proxy-caching p. 2).
Web content stored in the cache is necessarily identified and indexed for retrieval prior to a subsequent request for cache hint information.
3. The method of claim 2, further comprising rendering the web content using at least the first object from the cache based at least in part on the cache hint information.
3. If the object is in the cache, then Traffic Server checks to see if the object is fresh enough to serve. If it is fresh, then Traffic Server serves it to the client as a cache hit (see the figure below)” (ATS/../admin/http-proxy-caching p. 2).
Serving the requested content to the requesting browser indicates that the browser subsequently renders the content.
4. The method of claim 3, further comprising transmitting web transaction information, the web transaction information based on the rendering of the web content and comprising cache information indicating a use of the cache hint information in rendering the web content.
“The cache result code; specifies how the cache responded to the request (HIT, MISS, and so on” (ATS/../admin/event-logging-formats p. 3).
5. The method of claim 1, wherein the first object was stored in the cache based on a caching instruction defining a freshness period for the first object.
“For HTTP objects, Traffic Server supports optional author-specified expiration dates. Traffic Server adheres to these expiration dates” (ATS/../admin/http-proxy-caching p. 2).
“Some HTTP objects contain Expires headers or max-age headers that explicitly define how long the object can be cached. Traffic Server compares the current time with the expiration time to determine if the object is still fresh” (ATS/../admin/http-proxy-caching p. 3).
6. The method of claim 5, wherein the cache hint information comprises updated caching instructions, the updated caching instructions defining an updated freshness period for the first object.
“Revalidating HTIP ObjectsWhen a client requests an HTTP object that is stale in the cache, Traffic Server revalidates the object. A revalidation is a query to the origin server to check if the object is unchanged. The result of a revalidation is one of the following: . . . If the object is still fresh, then Traffic Server resets its freshness limit and serves the object” (ATS/../admin/http-proxy-caching p. 4).
7. The method of claim 6, wherein the updated freshness period is based on an observation of the version of the first object by one or more user devices or proxy devices.
“Revalidating HTIP ObjectsWhen a client requests an HTTP object that is stale in the cache, Traffic Server revalidates the object. A revalidation is a query to the origin server to check if the object is unchanged. The result of a revalidation is one of the following: . . . If the object is still fresh, then Traffic Server resets its freshness limit and serves the object” (ATS/../admin/http-proxy-caching p. 4).
8. The method of claim 1, further comprising: identifying a cache hint from the cache hint information for a second object of the plurality of objects, the second object having a stale state in the cache and the cache hint indicating that the second object is stale; and based on the cache hint, requesting an updated version of the second object from a content server to replace the second object in the cache.
“5. If the object is not in the cache (a cache miss) or if the server indicates the cached copy is no longer valid, then Traffic Server obtains the object from the origin server. The object is then simultaneously streamed to the client and the Traffic Server local cache” (ATS/../admin/http-proxy-caching p. 2).
9. The method of claim 1, further comprising intercepting a cache validation request, and wherein the request for the cache hints is responsive to intercepting the cache validation request.
A client request for content from an origin server that is handled and served by the Traffic Server represents an intercepted cache validation request, especially where a content object is stale in the cache.
10. The method of claim 1, wherein the cache hint information comprises a hint for a temporary web object, the temporary web object identified as non- cacheable by a caching instruction and useable for a specified duration, the hint comprising an updated specified duration longer than the specified duration.
“By default, Traffic Server does not cache objects with the following response headers:• Cache-Control: no-store header” (ATS/../admin/http-proxy-caching p. 6).
“If you configure Traffic Server to ignore no-cache headers, then Traffic Server also ignores no-store headers” (ATS/../admin/http-proxy-caching p. 6).
“Some objects do not have Expires headers or do not have both Last-Modified and Date headers. To control how long these objects are considered fresh in the cache, specify an absolute freshness limit” (ATS/../admin/http-proxy-caching p. 3).
11. The method of claim 1, wherein the cache hint information includes an object identifier and hint freshness information for an object corresponding to the object identifier, the hint freshness information based on usage data observed at one or more user devices or one or more proxy devices, and the updating the first object comprising: determining that the object identifier corresponds to the version of the first object; and responsive to determining that the hint freshness information is different from a cached freshness information for the version of the first object, replacing the cached freshness information with the hint freshness information.
“Revalidating HTIP ObjectsWhen a client requests an HTTP object that is stale in the cache, Traffic Server revalidates the object. A revalidation is a query to the origin server to check if the object is unchanged. The result of a revalidation is one of the following: . . . If the object is still fresh, then Traffic Server resets its freshness limit and serves the object” (ATS/../admin/http-proxy-caching p. 4).
12. The method of claim 11, wherein: the cached freshness information comprises a freshness lifetime for the version of the first object; the hint freshness information comprises an extended freshness lifetime greater than the freshness lifetime, and replacing the cached freshness information with the hint freshness information comprises replacing the freshness lifetime with the extended freshness lifetime.
“Revalidating HTIP ObjectsWhen a client requests an HTTP object that is stale in the cache, Traffic Server revalidates the object. A revalidation is a query to the origin server to check if the object is unchanged. The result of a revalidation is one of the following: . . . If the object is still fresh, then Traffic Server resets its freshness limit and serves the object” (ATS/../admin/http-proxy-caching p. 4).
13. The method of claim 1, wherein the cache hint information comprises an age of a last instance of the version of the first object detected by one or more user devices or proxy devices based on usage data observed at one or more of the user devices or one or more proxy devices.
“Some HTIP objects contain Expires headers or max-age headers that explicitly define how long the object can be cached. Traffic Server compares the current time with the expiration time to determine if the object is still fresh” (ATS/../admin/http-proxy-caching p. 3).
“The max-age header, sent by servers, is compared to the object age. If the age is less than max-age, then the object is fresh and can be served” (ATS/../admin/http-proxy-caching p. 3).
14. The method of claim 1, wherein the cache hint information comprises a time since a last instance of the version of the first object was detected by one or more user devices or proxy devices based on usage data observed at one or more of the user devices or proxy devices.
“Some objects do not have Expires headers or do not have both Last-Modified and Date headers. To control how long these objects are considered fresh in the cache, specify an absolute freshness limit” (ATS/../admin/http-proxy-caching p. 3).
“a client might request that a object not be retrieved from a cache, or if it does, then it cannot have been cached for more than 10 minutes” (ATS/../admin/http-proxy-caching p. 3).
15. The method of claim 1, wherein the request for cache hints is by a computing device that comprises one of a client computing device or a proxy device.
“Traffic Server proxy supports explicit proxy caching, in which the user's client software must be configured to send requests directly to the Traffic Server proxy” (ATS/../admin/http-proxy-caching p. 1).
16. A system comprising: a non-transitory computer-readable medium; and a processor in communication with the non-transitory computer-readable medium, the processor configured to execute processor-executable instructions stored in the non-transitory computer-readable medium to:
“Web proxy caching enables you to store copies of frequently-accessed web objects (such as documents, images, and articles) and then serve this information to users on demand” (ATS/../admin/http-proxy-caching p. 1).
in response to a request for cache hints, receive a cache hint response comprising at least one message comprising cache hint information for a plurality of objects associated with a web-content transaction;
“caching and reusing frequently-requested web pages, images, and web service calls” (ATS - index p. 1).
“1. Traffic Server receives a client request for a web object. 2. Using the object address, Traffic Server tries to locate the requested object in its object database (cache). 3. If the object is in the cache, then Traffic Server checks to see if the object is fresh enough to serve. If it is fresh, then Traffic Server serves it to the client as a cache hit (see the figure below)” (ATS/../admin/http-proxy-caching p. 1–2).
A client request presented to the Traffic Server for web content represents a request for cache hints associated with a web-content transaction. The result of the cache database query represents a response message containing hint information. The hint information would be associated with a plurality of objects where the requested webpage included a plurality of images.
Likewise, a revalidation request (described below) can also represent a request for cache hints. The result of the revalidation request represents a response message containing hint information. The hint information would be associated with a plurality of objects where the requested webpage included a plurality of images.
in response to a determination, as indicated by the cache hint information, that a version of a first object of the plurality of objects having a stale state in a cache is fresh, update the first object from a stale state to a fresh state; and obtain the first object from the cache as a part of the web-content transaction.
“4. If the data in the cache is stale, then Traffic Server connects to the origin server and checks if the object is still fresh (a revalidation). If it is, then Traffic Server immediately sends the cached copy to the client” (ATS/../admin/http-proxy-caching p. 2).
“Revalidating HTIP ObjectsWhen a client requests an HTTP object that is stale in the cache, Traffic Server revalidates the object. A revalidation is a query to the origin server to check if the object is unchanged. The result of a revalidation is one of the following: . . . If the object is still fresh, then Traffic Server resets its freshness limit and serves the object” (ATS/../admin/http-proxy-caching p. 4).
When the result of the revalidation indicates that the object is unchanged, this represents a determination “as indicated by” the (revalidation) cache hint information that a version of an object having a stale state is, in fact, still fresh. Subsequently, “Traffic Server resets its freshness limit and serves the object”.
17. The system of claim 16, wherein the first object was stored in the cache based on a caching instruction defining a freshness period for the first object.
“For HTTP objects, Traffic Server supports optional author-specified expiration dates. Traffic Server adheres to these expiration dates” (ATS/../admin/http-proxy-caching p. 2).
“Some HTTP objects contain Expires headers or max-age headers that explicitly define how long the object can be cached. Traffic Server compares the current time with the expiration time to determine if the object is still fresh” (ATS/../admin/http-proxy-caching p. 3).
18. The system of claim 17, wherein the cache hint information comprises updated caching instructions, the updated caching instructions defining an updated freshness period for the first object.
“Revalidating HTIP ObjectsWhen a client requests an HTTP object that is stale in the cache, Traffic Server revalidates the object. A revalidation is a query to the origin server to check if the object is unchanged. The result of a revalidation is one of the following: . . . If the object is still fresh, then Traffic Server resets its freshness limit and serves the object” (ATS/../admin/http-proxy-caching p. 4).
19. The system of claim 18, wherein the updated freshness period is based on an observation of the version of the first object by one or more user devices or proxy devices.
“Revalidating HTIP ObjectsWhen a client requests an HTTP object that is stale in the cache, Traffic Server revalidates the object. A revalidation is a query to the origin server to check if the object is unchanged. The result of a revalidation is one of the following: . . . If the object is still fresh, then Traffic Server resets its freshness limit and serves the object” (ATS/../admin/http-proxy-caching p. 4).
20. The system of claim 16, wherein the cache hint information includes an object identifier and hint freshness information for an object corresponding to the object identifier, the hint freshness information based on usage data observed at one or more user devices or one or more proxy devices, and wherein the processor is further configured to execute processor-executable instructions stored in the non-transitory computer-readable medium to update the version of the first object in the cache by: determining that the object identifier corresponds to the version of the first object; and responsive to a determination that the hint freshness information is different from cached freshness information for the version of the first object, replacing the cached freshness information with the hint freshness information.
“Revalidating HTIP ObjectsWhen a client requests an HTTP object that is stale in the cache, Traffic Server revalidates the object. A revalidation is a query to the origin server to check if the object is unchanged. The result of a revalidation is one of the following: . . . If the object is still fresh, then Traffic Server resets its freshness limit and serves the object” (ATS/../admin/http-proxy-caching p. 4).
21. The system of claim 20, wherein: the cached freshness information comprises a freshness lifetime for the version of the first object; the hint freshness information comprises an extended freshness lifetime greater than the freshness lifetime, and replacing the cached freshness information with the hint freshness information comprises replacing the freshness lifetime with the extended freshness lifetime.
“Revalidating HTIP ObjectsWhen a client requests an HTTP object that is stale in the cache, Traffic Server revalidates the object. A revalidation is a query to the origin server to check if the object is unchanged. The result of a revalidation is one of the following: . . . If the object is still fresh, then Traffic Server resets its freshness limit and serves the object” (ATS/../admin/http-proxy-caching p. 4).
22. A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising processor-executable instructions configured to cause a processor to:
“Web proxy caching enables you to store copies of frequently-accessed web objects (such as documents, images, and articles) and then serve this information to users on demand” (ATS/../admin/http-proxy-caching p. 1).
in response to a request for cache hints, receive a cache hint response comprising at least one message comprising cache hint information for a plurality of objects associated with a web-content transaction; and
“caching and reusing frequently-requested web pages, images, and web service calls” (ATS - index p. 1).
“1. Traffic Server receives a client request for a web object. 2. Using the object address, Traffic Server tries to locate the requested object in its object database (cache). 3. If the object is in the cache, then Traffic Server checks to see if the object is fresh enough to serve. If it is fresh, then Traffic Server serves it to the client as a cache hit (see the figure below)” (ATS/../admin/http-proxy-caching p. 1–2).
A client request presented to the Traffic Server for web content represents a request for cache hints associated with a web-content transaction. The result of the cache database query represents a response message containing hint information. The hint information would be associated with a plurality of objects where the requested webpage included a plurality of images.
Likewise, a revalidation request (described below) can also represent a request for cache hints. The result of the revalidation request represents a response message containing hint information. The hint information would be associated with a plurality of objects where the requested webpage included a plurality of images.
in response to a determination, as indicated by the cache hint information that a version of a first object of the plurality of objects has a stale state in a cache, prefetch the first object.
“4. If the data in the cache is stale, then Traffic Server connects to the origin server and checks if the object is still fresh (a revalidation). If it is, then Traffic Server immediately sends the cached copy to the client” (ATS/../admin/http-proxy-caching p. 2).
“Revalidating HTIP ObjectsWhen a client requests an HTTP object that is stale in the cache, Traffic Server revalidates the object. A revalidation is a query to the origin server to check if the object is unchanged. The result of a revalidation is one of the following: . . . If the object is still fresh, then Traffic Server resets its freshness limit and serves the object” (ATS/../admin/http-proxy-caching p. 4).
When the result of the revalidation indicates that the object is unchanged, this represents a determination “as indicated by” the (revalidation) cache hint information that a version of an object having a stale state is, in fact, still fresh. Subsequently, “Traffic Server resets its freshness limit and serves the object”.
23. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 22, wherein the processor-executable instructions are further configured to cause the processor to: identify the web-content transaction for web content prior to requesting the cache hints; and wherein the cache hint information is associated with the web- content transaction.
“Subsequent requests for the object can be served faster because the object is retrieved directly from cache” (ATS/../admin/http-proxy-caching p. 2).
Web content stored in the cache is necessarily identified and indexed for retrieval prior to a subsequent request for cache hint information.
24. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 22, wherein the processor-executable instructions are further configured to cause the processor to: render web content using at least the first object from a cache based at least in part on the cache hint information.
3. If the object is in the cache, then Traffic Server checks to see if the object is fresh enough to serve. If it is fresh, then Traffic Server serves it to the client as a cache hit (see the figure below)” (ATS/../admin/http-proxy-caching p. 2).
Serving the requested content to the requesting browser indicates that the browser subsequently renders the content.
25. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 24, wherein the processor-executable instructions are further configured to cause the processor to: identify the web-content transaction for web content prior to requesting the cache hints; wherein the cache hint information is associated with the web-content transaction.
“Subsequent requests for the object can be served faster because the object is retrieved directly from cache” (ATS/../admin/http-proxy-caching p. 2).
Web content stored in the cache is necessarily identified and indexed for retrieval prior to a subsequent request for cache hint information.
26. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 25, wherein the processor-executable instructions are further configured to cause the processor to transmit web transaction information to a cache hinting system, the web transaction information based on the rendering of the web content and comprising cache information indicating a use of the cache hint information in rendering the web content.
“The cache result code; specifies how the cache responded to the request (HIT, MISS, and so on” (ATS/../admin/event-logging-formats p. 3).
27. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 22, wherein the first object was stored in the cache based on a caching instruction defining a freshness period for the first object.
“For HTTP objects, Traffic Server supports optional author-specified expiration dates. Traffic Server adheres to these expiration dates” (ATS/../admin/http-proxy-caching p. 2).
“Some HTTP objects contain Expires headers or max-age headers that explicitly define how long the object can be cached. Traffic Server compares the current time with the expiration time to determine if the object is still fresh” (ATS/../admin/http-proxy-caching p. 3).
28. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 27, wherein the cache hint information comprises updated caching instructions, the updated caching instructions defining an updated freshness period for the first object.
“Revalidating HTIP ObjectsWhen a client requests an HTTP object that is stale in the cache, Traffic Server revalidates the object. A revalidation is a query to the origin server to check if the object is unchanged. The result of a revalidation is one of the following: . . . If the object is still fresh, then Traffic Server resets its freshness limit and serves the object” (ATS/../admin/http-proxy-caching p. 4).
29. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 28, wherein the updated freshness period is based on an observation of the version of the first object by one or more user devices or proxy devices.
“Revalidating HTIP ObjectsWhen a client requests an HTTP object that is stale in the cache, Traffic Server revalidates the object. A revalidation is a query to the origin server to check if the object is unchanged. The result of a revalidation is one of the following: . . . If the object is still fresh, then Traffic Server resets its freshness limit and serves the object” (ATS/../admin/http-proxy-caching p. 4).
30. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 22, wherein the processor-executable instructions are further configured to cause the processor to: identify a cache hint from the cache hint information for a second object of the plurality of objects, the second object having a stale state in the cache and the cache hint indicating that the second object is stale; and based on the cache hint, request an updated version of the second object from a content server to replace the second object in the cache.
“5. If the object is not in the cache (a cache miss) or if the server indicates the cached copy is no longer valid, then Traffic Server obtains the object from the origin server. The object is then simultaneously streamed to the client and the Traffic Server local cache” (ATS/../admin/http-proxy-caching p. 2).
31. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 22, wherein the processor-executable instructions are further configured to cause the processor to intercept a cache validation request, and wherein the request for the cache hints is responsive to intercepting the cache validation request.
A client request for content from an origin server that is handled and served by the Traffic Server represents an intercepted cache validation request, especially where a content object is stale in the cache.
32. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 22, wherein the cache hint information comprises a hint for a temporary web object, the temporary web object identified as non-cacheable by a caching instruction and useable for a specified duration, the hint comprising an updated specified duration longer than the specified duration.
“By default, Traffic Server does not cache objects with the following response headers:• Cache-Control: no-store header” (ATS/../admin/http-proxy-caching p. 6).
“If you configure Traffic Server to ignore no-cache headers, then Traffic Server also ignores no-store headers” (ATS/../admin/http-proxy-caching p. 6).
“Some objects do not have Expires headers or do not have both Last-Modified and Date headers. To control how long these objects are considered fresh in the cache, specify an absolute freshness limit” (ATS/../admin/http-proxy-caching p. 3).
33. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 22, wherein the cache hint information includes an object identifier and hint freshness information for an object corresponding to the object identifier, the hint freshness information based on usage data observed at one or more user devices or one or more proxy devices, and wherein the processor-executable instructions are further configured to cause the processor to update the version of the first object in the cache by: determining that the object identifier corresponds to the version of the first object; and responsive to a determination that the hint freshness information is different from cached freshness information for the version of the first object, replacing the cached freshness information with the hint freshness information.
“Revalidating HTIP ObjectsWhen a client requests an HTTP object that is stale in the cache, Traffic Server revalidates the object. A revalidation is a query to the origin server to check if the object is unchanged. The result of a revalidation is one of the following: . . . If the object is still fresh, then Traffic Server resets its freshness limit and serves the object” (ATS/../admin/http-proxy-caching p. 4).
34. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 33, wherein: the cached freshness information comprises a freshness lifetime for the version of the first object; the hint freshness information comprises an extended freshness lifetime greater than the freshness lifetime, and replacing the cached freshness information with the hint freshness information comprises replacing the freshness lifetime with the extended freshness lifetime.
“Revalidating HTIP ObjectsWhen a client requests an HTTP object that is stale in the cache, Traffic Server revalidates the object. A revalidation is a query to the origin server to check if the object is unchanged. The result of a revalidation is one of the following: . . . If the object is still fresh, then Traffic Server resets its freshness limit and serves the object” (ATS/../admin/http-proxy-caching p. 4).
35. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 22, wherein the cache hint information comprises an age of a last instance of the version of the first object detected by one or more user devices or proxy devices based on usage data observed at one or more of the user devices or one or more proxy devices.
“Some HTIP objects contain Expires headers or max-age headers that explicitly define how long the object can be cached. Traffic Server compares the current time with the expiration time to determine if the object is still fresh” (ATS/../admin/http-proxy-caching p. 3).
“The max-age header, sent by servers, is compared to the object age. If the age is less than max-age, then the object is fresh and can be served” (ATS/../admin/http-proxy-caching p. 3).
36. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 22, wherein the cache hint information comprises a time since a last instance of the version of the first object was detected by one or more user devices or proxy devices based on usage data observed at one or more of the user devices or one or more proxy devices.
“Some objects do not have Expires headers or do not have both Last-Modified and Date headers. To control how long these objects are considered fresh in the cache, specify an absolute freshness limit” (ATS/../admin/http-proxy-caching p. 3).
“a client might request that a object not be retrieved from a cache, or if it does, then it cannot have been cached for more than 10 minutes” (ATS/../admin/http-proxy-caching p. 3).
37. The method of claim 1, wherein hint freshness information included in the cache hint information indicates that a version of a first object of the plurality of objects having a stale state in a cache is fresh.
When the result of the revalidation indicates that the object is unchanged, this represents a determination “as indicated by” the (revalidation) cache hint information that a version of an object having a stale state is, in fact, still fresh. The (revalidation) cache hint information includes “hint freshness information” to that effect.
38. The system of claim 16, wherein hint freshness information included in the cache hint information indicates that a version of a first object of the plurality of objects having a stale state in a cache is fresh.
When the result of the revalidation indicates that the object is unchanged, this represents a determination “as indicated by” the (revalidation) cache hint information that a version of an object having a stale state is, in fact, still fresh. The (revalidation) cache hint information includes “hint freshness information” to that effect.
39. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 22, wherein hint freshness information included in the cache hint information indicates that a version of a first object of the plurality of objects having a stale state in a cache is fresh.
When the result of the revalidation indicates that the object is unchanged, this represents a determination “as indicated by” the (revalidation) cache hint information that a version of an object having a stale state is, in fact, still fresh. The (revalidation) cache hint information includes “hint freshness information” to that effect.
Response to Arguments
35 USC § 102 – Traffic Server
Applicant states:
“The Office previously reasoned that, because the claims are open-ended ("comprising"), the determination could be made "from" both the cache database query and the revalidation step (Final Office Action, pp. 18-20). The amendment to "as indicated by" makes clear that the claim does not merely require cache hint information to be present somewhere in the overall process; rather, it requires that the cache hint information provide the indication of freshness for the stale-cached object version. Traffic Server does not disclose this because Traffic Server's mechanism for treating a stale-cached object as fresh depends on revalidation with the origin server, and not on any cache-hint information that itself indicates freshness” (3/11/2026 Remarks, p. 10).
Examiner disagrees. As stated in the previous action, “a revalidation request also produces “cache hint information”. This cache hint information is used to make the claimed “determination”, where the determination is performed based on or “from” cache hint information.”
This reasoning also applies to the amended claim language wherein the (revalidation) cache hint information “indicates” that an object with a stale state is, in fact, fresh.
Notification of Proceedings and Material Information
Applicant is reminded of the continuing obligation under 37 CFR 1.178(b), to timely apprise the Office of any prior or concurrent proceeding in which this patent is or was involved. These proceedings would include any trial before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board, interferences, reissues, reexaminations, supplemental examinations, and litigation.
Applicant is further reminded of the continuing obligation under 37 CFR 1.56, to timely apprise the Office of any information which is material to patentability of the claims under consideration in this reissue application.
These obligations rest with each individual associated with the filing and prosecution of this application for reissue. See also MPEP §§ 1404, 1442.01 and 1442.04.
Conclusion
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/JEFFREY D CARLSON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3992
Conferees:
/C. Michelle Tarae/Reexamination Specialist, Art Unit 3992
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