DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Claims 1-28 are pending and rejected.
Priority
The applicant’s claim for priority as a National Stage of Internation Application No. PCT/US2022/029566, filed May 17, 2022, is acknowledged.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDS) submitted on 12/08/2022 and 06/27/2025 are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statements are being considered by the examiner.
Drawings
The drawings are objected to as failing to comply with 37 CFR 1.84(p)(4) because reference character “770” has been used to designate both "Assigning Component" and "Updating Component" in Fig. 7. Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
Specification
The disclosure is objected to because of the following informalities:
in par. [0140] of the specification, “a reporting component 630” should read “a reporting component 730” for consistency with Fig. 7.
Appropriate correction is required.
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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claims 1-2, 5-6, 8-9, 11-12, 15-16, 18-19, 21, 23-25, and 27-28 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Peng et al. (US 2022/0321453), hereinafter “Peng”, in view of Zheng et al. (US 2024/0007399), hereinafter “Zheng”, and further in view of Xin et al. (US 2021/0282053), hereinafter “Xin”.
Regarding claims 1, 11, Peng teaches:
A method of monitoring performance of network slices in a transport network by a network controller or an apparatus for monitoring performance of network slices in a transport network, comprising:
a memory storage storing computer-executable instructions (see Peng, pars. [0235-0236]: the above modules may be implemented by software or hardware. For hardware, the implementing manner includes, but is not limited to, the above modules all located in the same processor; or the above modules each located in different processors in any combination. The present disclosure further provides a storage medium having a computer program stored thereon. The computer program is configured to, when executed, cause the operations of the path computation method described with reference to FIG. 2 to be implemented); and
a processor communicatively coupled to the memory storage, wherein the processor is configured to execute the computer-executable instructions (see Peng, pars. [0235-0236]: the above modules may be implemented by software or hardware. For hardware, the implementing manner includes, but is not limited to, the above modules all located in the same processor; or the above modules each located in different processors in any combination. The present disclosure further provides a storage medium having a computer program stored thereon. The computer program is configured to, when executed, cause the operations of the path computation method described with reference to FIG. 2 to be implemented) and cause the apparatus to:
transmit, to a network device of the transport network using a path computation element communication protocol (PCEP), a PCEP configuration message requesting rendering of a transport network path assigned to a transport network slice (see Peng, Fig. 1, pars. [0033-0034]: The PCC 102 is configured to send a path computation request (PCEP Request, PCReq) message to the PCE 104. The PCReq message carries a constraint condition identification (ID) including at least one of a protocol ID, a multi-topology ID, a network slice ID, an application ID, or a TE target ID. The PCE 104 is configured to compute a TE path according to the constraint condition ID, and return a path computation reply (PCEP Reply, PCRep) message to the PCC 102. The PCRep message carries the TE path; in this case, the PCEP Request message corresponds to a PCEP configuration message), the PCEP configuration message comprising a transport network slice identifier corresponding to the transport network slice (see Peng, Fig. 1, pars. [0033-0034]: The PCC 102 is configured to send a path computation request (PCEP Request, PCReq) message to the PCE 104. The PCReq message carries a constraint condition identification (ID) including at least one of a protocol ID, a multi-topology ID, a network slice ID, an application ID, or a TE target ID. The PCE 104 is configured to compute a TE path according to the constraint condition ID, and return a path computation reply (PCEP Reply, PCRep) message to the PCC 102. The PCRep message carries the TE path);
However, Peng does not teach:
the PCEP configuration message comprising a slice status request requesting that the network device provide a status update of the transport network slice;
receive, from the network device, a first PCEP report message comprising first slice status information indicating whether the transport network slice is in an up state, whether a service-level agreement (SLA) of the transport network slice is met, and whether the transport network slice is in a down state; and
report, to a performance monitoring system (PMS), the first slice status information of the transport network slice.
Zheng, in the same field of endeavor, teaches:
receive, from the network device, a first PCEP report message comprising first slice status information indicating whether the transport network slice is in an up state, and whether the transport network slice is in a down state (see Zheng, Fig. 7, par. [0176]: The head node router includes an identifier of a network slice in a sub-TLV of an SR policy candidate path descriptor TLV of the BGP-LS, and reports the SR policy candidate path descriptor TLV including the identifier of the network slice to the controller, and see par. [0179]: Optionally, the content reported by the head node router is the same as the content delivered by the controller in the slice deployment procedure. Optionally, the content reported by the head node router further includes a status of the SID list, for example, UP or down);
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the method or apparatus of Peng with receiving a first PCEP report message of Zheng with a reasonable expectation of success. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification for the benefit of improving path control performance (see Zheng, par. [0099]).
However, the combination of Peng in view of Zheng does not teach:
the PCEP configuration message comprising a slice status request requesting that the network device provide a status update of the transport network slice;
receiving a first PCEP report message comprising first slice status information indicating whether a service-level agreement (SLA) of the transport network slice is met, and
report, to a performance monitoring system (PMS), the first slice status information of the transport network slice.
Xin, in the same field of endeavor, teaches:
the PCEP configuration message comprising a slice status request requesting that the network device provide a status update of the transport network slice (see Xin, Fig. 8, par. [0292]: Step 106: The policy control network element sends a first request to the slice management and control network element, where the first request is used to request the first information, and see par. [0244]: the first information includes the load information of the network in the first time interval. Alternatively, the first information includes the load information of the network in the first time interval and the load information of the at least one network slice in the first time interval. Alternatively, the first information includes the load information of the at least one network slice in the first time interval, and see par. [0246]: the load information of the network in the first time interval is used to reflect a network status of the network in the first time interval. For example, the load information of the network may be at least one of a load level, a congestion level, or performance of the network; in this case, the request for first information including load information (i.e. a network status) of a network slice corresponds to a configuration message requesting that the network device provide a status update of the transport network slice);
receiving a first PCEP report message comprising first slice status information indicating whether a service-level agreement (SLA) of the transport network slice is met (see Xin, Fig. 6, pars. [0240-0241]: Step 101: A slice management and control network element determines first information of a network in a first network area. The first information includes load information of the network in a first time interval and/or load information of at least one network slice in the first time interval, and see par. [0249]: load information of a network slice may be at least one of a congestion level of the network slice, a load level of the network slice (Slice Load Level), a relationship between quality of the network slice and a quality requirement of the network slice, or performance of the network slice, and see par. [0254]: the relationship between the quality of the network slice and the quality requirement of the network slice includes: The quality of the network slice is higher than quality required by the quality requirement of the network slice. For example, the slice SLA fulfilment information is 120%. That is, a current network can satisfy the quality requirement of the slice by 120%. It may also be understood that running quality of the network slice in the network is good. Alternatively, the quality of the network slice is lower than the quality required by the quality requirement of the network slice. For example, the slice SLA fulfilment information is 80%. That is, the current network can satisfy the quality requirement of the slice only by 80%, and see par. [0261]: Step 102: The slice management and control network element sends the first information of the network in the first network area to the policy control network element; in this case, load information may be received including information regarding a relationship between quality of the network slice and a quality requirement. This information indicates if a slice SLA requirement is met), and
report, to a performance monitoring system (PMS), the first slice status information of the transport network slice (see Xin, Fig. 6, pars. [0266-0267]: the policy control network element may determine, by receiving the load information of the network in the first time interval from the slice management and control network element, whether the network is in an idle state or a non-idle state in the first time interval. For example, if the load level or congestion level of the network in the first time interval is less than or equal to a first threshold, it indicates that load of the network in the first time interval is less than a first threshold, the network is not congested in the first time interval, or the network is in an idle state in the first time interval. In this case, the policy control network element may determine to transfer service data (for example, background data) of the terminal in the first time interval. If the load level or congestion level of the network in the first time interval is greater than the first threshold, it indicates that the network is overloaded or congested in the first time interval, or the network is in a non-idle state in the first time interval, and see par. [0241]: The first information includes load information of the network in a first time interval and/or load information of at least one network slice in the first time interval, and see par. [0249]: load information of a network slice may be at least one of a congestion level of the network slice, a load level of the network slice (Slice Load Level), a relationship between quality of the network slice and a quality requirement of the network slice, or performance of the network slice; in this case, the policy control network element internally using first information including network slice status to determine idle or non-idle state corresponds to reporting the slice information to a performance monitoring system).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the method or apparatus of the combination of Peng in view of Zheng with the SLA and reporting slice status information of Xin with a reasonable expectation of success. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification for the benefit of avoiding affecting running quality of at least one network slice (see Xin, par. [0445]).
Regarding claims 2, 12, the combination of Peng in view of Zheng, and further in view of Xin, teaches the method or apparatus. Peng further teaches:
wherein the PCEP configuration message comprises at least one of a PCEP initialization message and a PCEP update message (see Peng, Fig. 10, pars. [0146-0147]: The PCE 402 is configured to acquire a preset constraint condition ID, and compute a TE path according to the constraint condition ID, and the constraint condition ID including at least one of a protocol ID, a multi-topology ID, a network slice ID, an application ID, or a TE target ID. The PCE 402 is further configured to send a path computation initiation (PCEP Initiate, PCInitiate) message or a path computation update (PCEP Update, PCUpd) message to the PCC 404. The PCInitiate or PCUpd message carries a TE path).
Regarding claims 5, 15, the combination of Peng in view of Zheng, and further in view of Xin, teaches the method or apparatus. Peng further teaches:
wherein the computer-executable instructions further cause the apparatus to:
update, based on one or more network topology changes, the transport network path to obtain an updated transport network path (see Peng, Fig. 12, par. [0187]: At the operation S602, a path computation initiation (PCInitiate) message or a path computation update (PCUpd) message sent from a PCE is received. The PCInitiate or PCUpd message carries a TE path that is computed by the PCE according to acquired preset constraint condition ID. The constraint condition ID includes at least one of a protocol ID, a multi-topology ID, a network slice ID, an application ID, or a TE target ID);
transmit, to the network device, a PCEP update message comprising the updated transport network path (see Peng, Fig. 1, pars. [0033-0034]: The PCC 102 is configured to send a path computation request (PCEP Request, PCReq) message to the PCE 104. The PCReq message carries a constraint condition identification (ID) including at least one of a protocol ID, a multi-topology ID, a network slice ID, an application ID, or a TE target ID. The PCE 104 is configured to compute a TE path according to the constraint condition ID, and return a path computation reply (PCEP Reply, PCRep) message to the PCC 102. The PCRep message carries the TE path);
Peng does not teach, but Zheng teaches:
the PCEP update message comprising another slice status request (see Zheng, pars. [0126-0127]: Step S204: The controller controls a message forwarding path based on the identifier of the network slice and the path information of the one or more paths in the network slice. Because the network device reports the identifier of the network slice to the controller, the controller can control the message forwarding path based on the identifier of the network slice reported by the network device. There is a plurality of implementations of controlling a forwarding path. For example, the controlling a forwarding path includes, but is not limited to, path optimization, transmission resource allocation for the forwarding path, monitoring and recording a status of the forwarding path, presenting a topology view of a network topology to which the forwarding path belongs, and see par. [0135]: after the controller obtains the second path, the controller generates and sends a path switching instruction to the network device. The path switching instruction includes path information of the second path. The path switching instruction indicates the network device to switch the message forwarding path to the second path. The network device receives the path switching instruction sent by the controller, and switches the path bearing traffic from the first path to the second path, and see par. [0117]: the path information in the advertisement message includes status information corresponding to one or more paths. The status information is for describing a status of a corresponding path);
receive, from the network device, a second PCEP report message comprising second slice status information indicating whether the transport network slice is in the up state, and whether the transport network slice is in the down state (see Zheng, Fig. 7, par. [0176]: The head node router includes an identifier of a network slice in a sub-TLV of an SR policy candidate path descriptor TLV of the BGP-LS, and reports the SR policy candidate path descriptor TLV including the identifier of the network slice to the controller, and see par. [0179]: Optionally, the content reported by the head node router is the same as the content delivered by the controller in the slice deployment procedure. Optionally, the content reported by the head node router further includes a status of the SID list, for example, UP or down);
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the method or apparatus of Peng with the slice status request and receiving a second PCEP report message of Zheng with a reasonable expectation of success. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification for the benefit of improving path control performance (see Zheng, par. [0099]).
The combination of Peng in view of Zheng does not teach, but Xin teaches:
receive a second PCEP report message comprising second slice status information indicating whether the SLA of the transport network slice is met (see Xin, Fig. 6, pars. [0240-0241]: Step 101: A slice management and control network element determines first information of a network in a first network area. The first information includes load information of the network in a first time interval and/or load information of at least one network slice in the first time interval, and see par. [0249]: load information of a network slice may be at least one of a congestion level of the network slice, a load level of the network slice (Slice Load Level), a relationship between quality of the network slice and a quality requirement of the network slice, or performance of the network slice, and see par. [0254]: the relationship between the quality of the network slice and the quality requirement of the network slice includes: The quality of the network slice is higher than quality required by the quality requirement of the network slice. For example, the slice SLA fulfilment information is 120%. That is, a current network can satisfy the quality requirement of the slice by 120%. It may also be understood that running quality of the network slice in the network is good. Alternatively, the quality of the network slice is lower than the quality required by the quality requirement of the network slice. For example, the slice SLA fulfilment information is 80%. That is, the current network can satisfy the quality requirement of the slice only by 80%, and see par. [0261]: Step 102: The slice management and control network element sends the first information of the network in the first network area to the policy control network element; in this case, load information may be received including information regarding a relationship between quality of the network slice and a quality requirement. This information indicates if a slice SLA requirement is met), and
report, to the PMS, the second slice status information of the transport network slice (see Xin, Fig. 6, pars. [0266-0267]: the policy control network element may determine, by receiving the load information of the network in the first time interval from the slice management and control network element, whether the network is in an idle state or a non-idle state in the first time interval. For example, if the load level or congestion level of the network in the first time interval is less than or equal to a first threshold, it indicates that load of the network in the first time interval is less than a first threshold, the network is not congested in the first time interval, or the network is in an idle state in the first time interval. In this case, the policy control network element may determine to transfer service data (for example, background data) of the terminal in the first time interval. If the load level or congestion level of the network in the first time interval is greater than the first threshold, it indicates that the network is overloaded or congested in the first time interval, or the network is in a non-idle state in the first time interval, and see par. [0241]: The first information includes load information of the network in a first time interval and/or load information of at least one network slice in the first time interval, and see par. [0249]: load information of a network slice may be at least one of a congestion level of the network slice, a load level of the network slice (Slice Load Level), a relationship between quality of the network slice and a quality requirement of the network slice, or performance of the network slice; in this case, the policy control network element internally using first information including network slice status to determine idle or non-idle state corresponds to reporting the slice information to a performance monitoring system).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the method or apparatus of the combination of Peng in view of Zheng with the SLA and reporting slice status information of Xin with a reasonable expectation of success. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification for the benefit of avoiding affecting running quality of at least one network slice (see Xin, par. [0445]).
Regarding claims 6, 16, the combination of Peng in view of Zheng, and further in view of Xin, teaches the method or apparatus. Peng further teaches:
wherein the computer-executable instructions further cause the apparatus to: receive, via at least one border gateway protocol link state (BGP-LS) message, information indicating the one or more network topology changes (see Peng, par. [0097]: the controller to which the PCE belongs collects the network slice topology information through the BGP-LS. At this time, the controller may collect a link-state database generated by the protocol ISIS level2 with an instance number 1, and the two network slices AII1 and AII2 contained in the link-state database, where AII1 indicates an object to which link1 and link2 are joined, while AII2 indicates an object to which link3 and link4 are joined).
Regarding claims 8, 18, the combination of Peng in view of Zheng, and further in view of Xin, teaches the method or apparatus.
Peng does not teach, but Zheng teaches:
wherein the network device of the transport network is an ingress provider edge (PE) device of the transport network path (see Zheng, par. [0104]: The network device 21 is an ingress node of the network).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the method or apparatus of Peng with the ingress device of Zheng with a reasonable expectation of success. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification for the benefit of improving path control performance (see Zheng, par. [0099]).
Regarding claims 9, 19, the combination of Peng in view of Zheng, and further in view of Xin, teaches the method or apparatus.
The combination of Peng in view of Zheng does not teach, but Xin teaches:
wherein the computer-executable instructions further cause the apparatus to:
report, to a network slice management controller, the first slice status information of the transport network slice (see Xin, Fig. 6, par. [0261]: Step 102: The slice management and control network element sends the first information of the network in the first network area to the policy control network element, and see par. [0241]: The first information includes load information of the network in a first time interval and/or load information of at least one network slice in the first time interval, and see par. [0249]: load information of a network slice may be at least one of a congestion level of the network slice, a load level of the network slice (Slice Load Level), a relationship between quality of the network slice and a quality requirement of the network slice, or performance of the network slice).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the method or apparatus of the combination of Peng in view of Zheng with reporting slice status information of Xin with a reasonable expectation of success. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification for the benefit of avoiding affecting running quality of at least one network slice (see Xin, par. [0445]).
Regarding claims 21, 25, Peng teaches:
A method of monitoring performance of network slices in a transport network by a network device or an apparatus for monitoring performance of network slices in a transport network, comprising:
a memory storage storing computer-executable instructions (see Peng, pars. [0235-0236]: the above modules may be implemented by software or hardware. For hardware, the implementing manner includes, but is not limited to, the above modules all located in the same processor; or the above modules each located in different processors in any combination. The present disclosure further provides a storage medium having a computer program stored thereon. The computer program is configured to, when executed, cause the operations of the path computation method described with reference to FIG. 2 to be implemented); and
a processor communicatively coupled to the memory storage, wherein the processor is configured to execute the computer-executable instructions (see Peng, pars. [0235-0236]: the above modules may be implemented by software or hardware. For hardware, the implementing manner includes, but is not limited to, the above modules all located in the same processor; or the above modules each located in different processors in any combination. The present disclosure further provides a storage medium having a computer program stored thereon. The computer program is configured to, when executed, cause the operations of the path computation method described with reference to FIG. 2 to be implemented) and cause the apparatus to:
receive, from a network controller using a path computation element communication protocol (PCEP), a PCEP configuration message requesting rendering of a transport network path assigned to a transport network slice (see Peng, Fig. 1, pars. [0033-0034]: The PCC 102 is configured to send a path computation request (PCEP Request, PCReq) message to the PCE 104. The PCReq message carries a constraint condition identification (ID) including at least one of a protocol ID, a multi-topology ID, a network slice ID, an application ID, or a TE target ID. The PCE 104 is configured to compute a TE path according to the constraint condition ID, and return a path computation reply (PCEP Reply, PCRep) message to the PCC 102. The PCRep message carries the TE path; in this case, the PCEP Request message corresponds to a PCEP configuration message), the PCEP configuration message comprising a transport network slice identifier corresponding to the transport network slice (see Peng, Fig. 1, pars. [0033-0034]: The PCC 102 is configured to send a path computation request (PCEP Request, PCReq) message to the PCE 104. The PCReq message carries a constraint condition identification (ID) including at least one of a protocol ID, a multi-topology ID, a network slice ID, an application ID, or a TE target ID. The PCE 104 is configured to compute a TE path according to the constraint condition ID, and return a path computation reply (PCEP Reply, PCRep) message to the PCC 102. The PCRep message carries the TE path);
render, using one or more other network devices of the transport network, the transport network path (see Peng, par. [0072]: the PCE can also directly acquire the constraint condition to be considered according to the TE target, or even directly acquire the corresponding TE path when the constraint condition in the PCReq message contains only the TE target, thereby effectively reducing computation operations during the TE path computation);
However, Peng does not teach:
the PCEP configuration message comprising a slice status request requesting that the network device provide a status update of the transport network slice;
obtain, from the one or more other network devices, first slice status information indicating whether the transport network slice is in an up state, whether a service-level agreement (SLA) of the transport network slice is met, and whether the transport network slice is in a down state; and
transmit, to the network controller, a first PCEP report message comprising the first slice status information.
Zheng, in the same field of endeavor, teaches:
obtain, from the one or more other network devices, first slice status information indicating whether the transport network slice is in an up state, and whether the transport network slice is in a down state (see Zheng, Fig. 7, par. [0176]: The head node router includes an identifier of a network slice in a sub-TLV of an SR policy candidate path descriptor TLV of the BGP-LS, and reports the SR policy candidate path descriptor TLV including the identifier of the network slice to the controller, and see par. [0179]: Optionally, the content reported by the head node router is the same as the content delivered by the controller in the slice deployment procedure. Optionally, the content reported by the head node router further includes a status of the SID list, for example, UP or down);
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the method or apparatus of Peng with the slice status request and obtaining slice information message of Zheng with a reasonable expectation of success. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification for the benefit of improving path control performance (see Zheng, par. [0099]).
However, the combination of Peng in view of Zheng does not teach:
the PCEP configuration message comprising a slice status request requesting that the network device provide a status update of the transport network slice;
obtaining the first slice status information indicating whether a service-level agreement (SLA) of the transport network slice is met, and
transmit, to the network controller, a first PCEP report message comprising the first slice status information.
Xin, in the same field of endeavor, teaches:
the PCEP configuration message comprising a slice status request requesting that the network device provide a status update of the transport network slice (see Xin, Fig. 8, par. [0292]: Step 106: The policy control network element sends a first request to the slice management and control network element, where the first request is used to request the first information, and see par. [0244]: the first information includes the load information of the network in the first time interval. Alternatively, the first information includes the load information of the network in the first time interval and the load information of the at least one network slice in the first time interval. Alternatively, the first information includes the load information of the at least one network slice in the first time interval, and see par. [0246]: the load information of the network in the first time interval is used to reflect a network status of the network in the first time interval. For example, the load information of the network may be at least one of a load level, a congestion level, or performance of the network; in this case, the request for first information including load information (i.e. a network status) of a network slice corresponds to a configuration message requesting that the network device provide a status update of the transport network slice);
obtaining the first slice status information indicating whether a service-level agreement (SLA) of the transport network slice is met (see Xin, Fig. 6, pars. [0240-0241]: Step 101: A slice management and control network element determines first information of a network in a first network area. The first information includes load information of the network in a first time interval and/or load information of at least one network slice in the first time interval, and see par. [0249]: load information of a network slice may be at least one of a congestion level of the network slice, a load level of the network slice (Slice Load Level), a relationship between quality of the network slice and a quality requirement of the network slice, or performance of the network slice, and see par. [0254]: the relationship between the quality of the network slice and the quality requirement of the network slice includes: The quality of the network slice is higher than quality required by the quality requirement of the network slice. For example, the slice SLA fulfilment information is 120%. That is, a current network can satisfy the quality requirement of the slice by 120%. It may also be understood that running quality of the network slice in the network is good. Alternatively, the quality of the network slice is lower than the quality required by the quality requirement of the network slice. For example, the slice SLA fulfilment information is 80%. That is, the current network can satisfy the quality requirement of the slice only by 80%; in this case, in this case, load information may be obtained including information regarding a relationship between quality of the network slice and a quality requirement. This information indicates if a slice SLA requirement is met), and
transmit, to the network controller, a first PCEP report message comprising the first slice status information (see Xin, Fig. 6, par. [0261]: Step 102: The slice management and control network element sends the first information of the network in the first network area to the policy control network element, and see par. [0241]: The first information includes load information of the network in a first time interval and/or load information of at least one network slice in the first time interval, and see par. [0249]: load information of a network slice may be at least one of a congestion level of the network slice, a load level of the network slice (Slice Load Level), a relationship between quality of the network slice and a quality requirement of the network slice, or performance of the network slice).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the method or apparatus of the combination of Peng in view of Zheng with the SLA and reporting slice status information of Xin with a reasonable expectation of success. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification for the benefit of avoiding affecting running quality of at least one network slice (see Xin, par. [0445]).
Regarding claims 23, 27, the combination of Peng in view of Zheng, and further in view of Xin, teaches the method or apparatus. Peng further teaches:
wherein the computer-executable instructions further cause the apparatus to:
receive, from the network device, a PCEP update message comprising an updated transport network path (see Peng, Fig. 12, par. [0187]: At the operation S602, a path computation initiation (PCInitiate) message or a path computation update (PCUpd) message sent from a PCE is received. The PCInitiate or PCUpd message carries a TE path that is computed by the PCE according to acquired preset constraint condition ID. The constraint condition ID includes at least one of a protocol ID, a multi-topology ID, a network slice ID, an application ID, or a TE target ID);
reconfigure, based on the updated transport network path, at least one network device of the one or more other network devices (see Peng, Fig. 12, par. [0187]: At the operation S602, a path computation initiation (PCInitiate) message or a path computation update (PCUpd) message sent from a PCE is received. The PCInitiate or PCUpd message carries a TE path that is computed by the PCE according to acquired preset constraint condition ID. The constraint condition ID includes at least one of a protocol ID, a multi-topology ID, a network slice ID, an application ID, or a TE target ID);
Peng does not teach, but Zheng teaches:
obtain, from the one or more other network devices, second slice status information indicating whether the transport network slice is in the up state, whether the SLA of the transport network slice is met, and whether the transport network slice is in the down state (see Zheng, Fig. 7, par. [0176]: The head node router includes an identifier of a network slice in a sub-TLV of an SR policy candidate path descriptor TLV of the BGP-LS, and reports the SR policy candidate path descriptor TLV including the identifier of the network slice to the controller, and see par. [0179]: Optionally, the content reported by the head node router is the same as the content delivered by the controller in the slice deployment procedure. Optionally, the content reported by the head node router further includes a status of the SID list, for example, UP or down);
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the method or apparatus of Peng with the slice status request and second slice information of Zheng with a reasonable expectation of success. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification for the benefit of improving path control performance (see Zheng, par. [0099]).
The combination of Peng in view of Zheng does not teach, but Xin teaches:
receiving a PCEP update message comprising another slice status request (see Xin, Fig. 8, par. [0292]: Step 106: The policy control network element sends a first request to the slice management and control network element, where the first request is used to request the first information, and see par. [0244]: the first information includes the load information of the network in the first time interval. Alternatively, the first information includes the load information of the network in the first time interval and the load information of the at least one network slice in the first time interval. Alternatively, the first information includes the load information of the at least one network slice in the first time interval, and see par. [0246]: the load information of the network in the first time interval is used to reflect a network status of the network in the first time interval. For example, the load information of the network may be at least one of a load level, a congestion level, or performance of the network; in this case, the request for first information including load information (i.e. a network status) of a network slice corresponds to a configuration message requesting that the network device provide a status update of the transport network slice);
obtaining second slice status information indicating whether the SLA of the transport network slice is met (see Xin, Fig. 6, pars. [0240-0241]: Step 101: A slice management and control network element determines first information of a network in a first network area. The first information includes load information of the network in a first time interval and/or load information of at least one network slice in the first time interval, and see par. [0249]: load information of a network slice may be at least one of a congestion level of the network slice, a load level of the network slice (Slice Load Level), a relationship between quality of the network slice and a quality requirement of the network slice, or performance of the network slice, and see par. [0254]: the relationship between the quality of the network slice and the quality requirement of the network slice includes: The quality of the network slice is higher than quality required by the quality requirement of the network slice. For example, the slice SLA fulfilment information is 120%. That is, a current network can satisfy the quality requirement of the slice by 120%. It may also be understood that running quality of the network slice in the network is good. Alternatively, the quality of the network slice is lower than the quality required by the quality requirement of the network slice. For example, the slice SLA fulfilment information is 80%. That is, the current network can satisfy the quality requirement of the slice only by 80%; in this case, in this case, load information may be obtained including information regarding a relationship between quality of the network slice and a quality requirement. This information indicates if a slice SLA requirement is met), and
transmit, to the network controller, a second PCEP report message comprising the second slice status information (see Xin, Fig. 6, par. [0261]: Step 102: The slice management and control network element sends the first information of the network in the first network area to the policy control network element, and see par. [0241]: The first information includes load information of the network in a first time interval and/or load information of at least one network slice in the first time interval, and see par. [0249]: load information of a network slice may be at least one of a congestion level of the network slice, a load level of the network slice (Slice Load Level), a relationship between quality of the network slice and a quality requirement of the network slice, or performance of the network slice).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the method or apparatus of the combination of Peng in view of Zheng with the SLA and reporting slice status information of Xin with a reasonable expectation of success. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification for the benefit of avoiding affecting running quality of at least one network slice (see Xin, par. [0445]).
Regarding claims 24, 28, the combination of Peng in view of Zheng, and further in view of Xin, teaches the method or apparatus.
Peng does not teach, but Zheng teaches:
wherein the apparatus is an ingress provider edge (PE) device of the transport network path (see Zheng, par. [0104]: The network device 21 is an ingress node of the network).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the method or apparatus of Peng with the ingress device of Zheng with a reasonable expectation of success. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification for the benefit of improving path control performance (see Zheng, par. [0099]).
Claims 3 and 13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Peng in view of Zheng, and further in view of Xin, as applied to claims 1-2, 5-6, 8-9, 11-12, 15-16, 18-19, 21, 23-25, and 27-28 above, and further in view of Li (US 2019/0289647), hereinafter “Li ‘647”, and further in view of Li et al. (US 2023/0412508), hereinafter “Li ‘508”.
Regarding claims 3, 13, the combination of Peng in view of Zheng, and further in view of Xin, teaches the method or apparatus.
However, the combination of Peng in view of Zheng, and further in view of Xin, does not teach:
wherein the computer-executable instructions further cause the apparatus to:
receive, from a network slice management controller, a network slice creation request comprising a source address, a destination address, and the SLA;
create, based on the network slice creation request, the transport network slice;
compute the transport network path according to the source address, the destination address, and the SLA; and
assign the transport network path to the transport network slice.
Li ‘647, in the same field of endeavor, teaches:
wherein the computer-executable instructions further cause the apparatus to:
receive, from a network slice management controller, a network slice creation request comprising a source address, a destination address, and the SLA (see Li ‘647, par. [0134]: the control device waits for a network slice installation instruction to translate the mapping result into a network slice creation instruction that can be executed by the forwarding device, and implements the foregoing network slice in a physical network. The instruction includes information such as a target physical device, a network slice identifier, a device slice allocation instruction set, a link allocation instruction, and a basic association configuration, and see Tables 4 and 6: Source point of a link in a network slice, specifically including a node ID and interface information, Destination point of a link in a network slice, specifically including a node ID and interface, Reliability description, where reliability is reflected by using a time length between two failures. Availability description, where availability is described by using a percentage of an available service time such as 99.99% or 99.999%);
create, based on the network slice creation request, the transport network slice (see Li ‘647, par. [0130]: the control device may create a service network slice based on the network slice creation request, the slice resource status of the forwarding device, the physical network topology, and the like);
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the method or apparatus of the combination of Peng in view of Zheng, and further in view of Xin, with the network slice creation request of Li ‘647 with a reasonable expectation of success. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification for the benefit of reducing the processing burden of a control device (see Li ‘647, par. [0007]).
However, the combination of Peng in view of Zheng, and further in view of Xin, and further in view of Li ‘647, does not teach:
compute the transport network path according to the source address, the destination address, and the SLA; and
assign the transport network path to the transport network slice.
Li ‘508, in the same field of endeavor, teaches:
compute the transport network path according to the source address, the destination address, and the SLA (see Li ‘508, par. [0141]: the network device 1, the network device 2, and the network device 5 may use all sub-identifiers (that is, the topology identifier, the algorithm identifier, the level-1 resource identifier, and the level-2 resource identifier) in the slice identifier to forward the packet. Specifically, the network device 1, the network device 2, and the network device 5 may determine the topology and the path computation algorithm of the slice based on the topology identifier and the algorithm identifier, to perform path computation in a specified topology through a corresponding path computation algorithm, to obtain the interface for forwarding the packet, and see par. [0170]: The first slice identifier is effective in the first network domain, and indicates the first network slice in the first network domain. The second slice identifier is effective in the second network domain, and indicates the second network slice in the second network domain. A service-level agreement (SLA) of the first network slice is the same as an SLA of the second network slice. In other words, network quality of the first network slice is the same as network quality of the second network slice. Finally, the first network device forwards the first packet based on the first slice identifier, and see par. [0183]: the first network device adds, based on the network slice to which the third packet belongs, the first slice identifier to the third packet, to obtain the first packet, and see par. [0185]: The first network device may determine, based on information in the third packet and under the policy, the network slice to which the third packet belongs. The information in the third packet includes one or more of the following information: a source address, a destination address, a protocol number, a differentiated services code point (DSCP) field, a traffic class field, a virtual local area network identifier (VLAN ID), and a port number); and
assign the transport network path to the transport network slice (see Li ‘508, par. [0143]: the network device 4, the network device 7, and the network device 8 may determine the topology and the path computation algorithm of the slice based on the topology identifier and the algorithm identifier, to perform path computation in a specified topology through a corresponding path computation algorithm, to obtain the interface for forwarding the packet. Then, the level-1 resource identifier is used to determine the resource allocated to the slice, to finally implement packet forwarding).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the method or apparatus of the combination of Peng in view of Zheng, and further in view of Xin, and further in view of Li ‘647, with the computing a path and assigning the path of Li ‘508 with a reasonable expectation of success. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification for the benefit of ensuring smooth forwarding in different network domains (see Li ‘508, par. [0019]).
Claims 4 and 14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Peng in view of Zheng, and further in view of Xin, and further in view of Li ‘647, and further in view of Li ‘508, as applied to claims 3 and 13 above, and further in view of Shekhar et al. (US 2020/0257579), hereinafter “Shekhar”.
Regarding claims 4, 14, the combination of Peng in view of Zheng, and further in view of Xin, and further in view of Li ‘647, and further in view of Li ‘508, teaches the method or apparatus.
However, the combination of Peng in view of Zheng, and further in view of Xin, and further in view of Li ‘647, and further in view of Li ‘508, does not teach:
wherein the computer-executable instructions to receive the network slice creation request further cause the apparatus to receive the network slice creation request via a representational state transfer application programming interface (REST-API).
Shekhar, in the same field of endeavor, teaches:
wherein the computer-executable instructions to receive the network slice creation request further cause the apparatus to receive the network slice creation request via a representational state transfer application programming interface (REST-API) (see Shekhar, par. [0029]: the AMF may transmit to the SGSRE a request for slice information. In contrast, a typical attach request may otherwise be transmitted from the AMF directly to a network slice selection function (NSSF) as a REST API call including, for example, a “GET” query, in Standard Query Language (SQL) format, for slice information. With a REST call, the NSSF will then need to convert the REST format into an internal format in order to process the call and produce output, which must likewise be converted between the internal format and the REST format).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the network slice creation request of the combination of Peng in view of Zheng, and further in view of Xin, and further in view of Li ‘647, and further in view of Li ‘508, with the REST-API of Shekhar with a reasonable expectation of success. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification for the benefit of increasing efficiency and scalability across the network (see Shekhar, par. [0021]).
Claims 7, 17, 22, and 26 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Peng in view of Zheng, and further in view of Xin, as applied to claims 1-2, 5-6, 8-9, 11-12, 15-16, 18-19, 21, 23-25, and 27-28 above, and further in view of Li ‘647.
Regarding claims 7, 17, the combination of Peng in view of Zheng, and further in view of Xin, teaches the method or apparatus.
However, the combination of Peng in view of Zheng, and further in view of Xin, does not teach:
wherein the first slice status information has been determined according to one or more segment routing performance monitoring (SR-PM) messages received from one or more other network devices rendering the transport network path.
Li ‘647, in the same field of endeavor, teaches:
wherein the first slice status information has been determined according to one or more segment routing performance monitoring (SR-PM) messages received from one or more other network devices rendering the transport network path (see Li ‘647, pars. [0120-0121]: each forwarding device may further run a device slice resource management program to collect a slice resource status, such as a quantity of virtual forwarding devices that can be divided, an available forwarding table capacity, an available port, or a logical port list. In addition, each forwarding device may further send the obtained slice resource status to the control device, so that the control device can store slice resource status of all forwarding devices).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the method or apparatus of the combination of Peng in view of Zheng, and further in view of Xin, with the slice status information determination of Li ‘647 with a reasonable expectation of success. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification for the benefit of reducing the processing burden of a control device (see Li ‘647, par. [0007]).
Regarding claims 22, 26, the combination of Peng in view of Zheng, and further in view of Xin, teaches the method or apparatus.
However, the combination of Peng in view of Zheng, and further in view of Xin, does not teach:
wherein the computer-executable instructions to obtain the first slice status information further cause the apparatus to:
transmit, to the one or more other network devices, one or more segment routing performance monitoring (SR-PM) messages; and
receive, from the one or more other network devices, responses to the one or more SR-PM messages comprising the first slice status information.
Li ‘647, in the same field of endeavor, teaches:
wherein the computer-executable instructions to obtain the first slice status information further cause the apparatus to:
transmit, to the one or more other network devices, one or more segment routing performance monitoring (SR-PM) messages (see Li ‘647, par. [0087]: the control device may send, to all forwarding devices (including the forwarding device #A) in the system, a control packet #A (that is, an example of a first control packet) that carries the identifiers of the T network slices (that is, an example of N network slice identifiers) and the T pieces of control information (that is, an example of the N pieces of control information) including the control information #A); and
receive, from the one or more other network devices, responses to the one or more SR-PM messages comprising the first slice status information (see Li ‘647, pars. [0120-0121]: each forwarding device may further run a device slice resource management program to collect a slice resource status, such as a quantity of virtual forwarding devices that can be divided, an available forwarding table capacity, an available port, or a logical port list. In addition, each forwarding device may further send the obtained slice resource status to the control device, so that the control device can store slice resource status of all forwarding devices).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the method or apparatus of the combination of Peng in view of Zheng, and further in view of Xin, with the slice status information determination of Li ‘647 with a reasonable expectation of success. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification for the benefit of reducing the processing burden of a control device (see Li ‘647, par. [0007]).
Claims 10 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Peng in view of Zheng, and further in view of Xin, as applied to claims 1-2, 5-6, 8-9, 11-12, 15-16, 18-19, 21, 23-25, and 27-28 above, and further in view of Shekhar.
Regarding claims 10, 20, the combination of Peng in view of Zheng, and further in view of Xin, teaches the method or apparatus.
However, the combination of Peng in view of Zheng, and further in view of Xin, does not teach:
wherein
the computer-executable instructions to report, to the PMS, of the first slice status information of the transport network slice further cause the apparatus to report the first slice status information to the PMS via a first representational state transfer application programming interface (REST-API), and
the computer-executable instructions to report, to the network slice management controller, of the first slice status information further cause the apparatus to report the first slice status information to the network slice management controller via a second REST-API.
Shekhar, in the same field of endeavor, teaches:
wherein
the computer-executable instructions to report, to the PMS, of the first slice status information of the transport network slice further cause the apparatus to report the first slice status information to the PMS via a first representational state transfer application programming interface (REST-API) (see Shekhar, par. [0029]: the AMF may transmit to the SGSRE a request for slice information. In contrast, a typical attach request may otherwise be transmitted from the AMF directly to a network slice selection function (NSSF) as a REST API call including, for example, a “GET” query, in Standard Query Language (SQL) format, for slice information. With a REST call, the NSSF will then need to convert the REST format into an internal format in order to process the call and produce output, which must likewise be converted between the internal format and the REST format), and
the computer-executable instructions to report, to the network slice management controller, of the first slice status information further cause the apparatus to report the first slice status information to the network slice management controller via a second REST-API (see Shekhar, par. [0029]: the AMF may transmit to the SGSRE a request for slice information. In contrast, a typical attach request may otherwise be transmitted from the AMF directly to a network slice selection function (NSSF) as a REST API call including, for example, a “GET” query, in Standard Query Language (SQL) format, for slice information. With a REST call, the NSSF will then need to convert the REST format into an internal format in order to process the call and produce output, which must likewise be converted between the internal format and the REST format).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the method or apparatus of the combination of Peng in view of Zheng, and further in view of Xin, with the REST-API of Shekhar with a reasonable expectation of success. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification for the benefit of increasing efficiency and scalability across the network (see Shekhar, par. [0021]).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
Ma et al. (US 2023/0216786) teaches a method for forwarding a service packet, a method for sending an SR policy.
Pareek et al. (US 2023/0308953) teaches techniques for handling network packets in a transport domain based on indicators.
Yu et al. (US 2024/0414082) teaches a network slice information transmission method and apparatus based on a service requirement.
Paschos et al. (WO 2019/210946) teaches a management device for slice management of a communication network is configured to determine path information about one or more network devices for operating a slice.
J. Kaippallimalil et al. ("Traffic Engineered Transport for 5G Networks") teaches a proposal that makes it possible to realize the IP transport demands of a 5G system without significant changes to the 3GPP architecture.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CALEB J BALLOWE whose telephone number is (571)270-0410. The examiner can normally be reached MON-FRI 7:30-5.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Nishant B. Divecha can be reached at (571) 270-3125. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/C.J.B./Examiner, Art Unit 2419
/Nishant Divecha/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2419