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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 4/22/2026 has been entered.
Response to Amendment
The Amendment filed on 4/22/2026 has been entered. Claims 1-20 remain pending in the application.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments on pages 7-9 with respect to claims 1, 11 and 20 have been considered but are moot upon a further consideration and a new ground of rejection made under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Li (US PGPub 2011/0096675).
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)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Li (US PGPub 2011/0096675).
Regarding claims 1, 11 and 20, Li teaches a method (Li, see abstract, Techniques and technologies for routing communications based on Quality of Service (QOS) related information) comprising:
obtaining, by a device, physical link information of a group nodes associated with networking equipment in a network, the physical link information including one or more paths between the group of nodes (Li, see paragraph 0033, communication path might involve multiple servers, network or communication path segments, etc. Thus, as part of determining the performance levels of these various path segments, the QOS service 110 can identify the set of servers, path segments, etc. in the communication path. The QOS service 110 can identify these path segments by either obtaining the information from the transmitting entity 212 or from a network database);
receiving, at the device, quality of experience (QoE) metrics for an online application and from a group of users of the online application (Li, see paragraph 0076, as step 402 at which QOS client applications 216 measure QOS performance levels for various communication paths), the QoE metrics including a first QoE metric for the online application and associated with a first node of the group of nodes and a second QoE metric for the online application and associated with a second node of the group of nodes (Li, see paragraph 0077, the measured QOS performance levels are then associated with the path segments 220, 222, 224, 226, 228, and 230 involved in the communications 106);
selecting, by the device, a path from the one or more paths and associated with the first node or the second node (Li, see paragraph 0079, responsive to a query 306 or for other reasons, the QOS performance levels of path segments 220, 222, 224, 226, 228, and 230 which might be used to assemble communication paths between various entities 212 are identified), wherein selecting the path is based at least in part on the first QoE metric and second QoE metric indicating that the path is optimized for the group of users ; and
causing, by the device, traffic associated with the online application to be sent via the path (Li, see paragraph 0083, One or more communications 106 are then routed according to the communication path assembled in step 412 according to the QOS performance levels (for the path segments 220, 222, 224, 226, 228, and 230) fed back by the QOS-based client/server system 300).
Regarding claims 2 and 12, Li teaches wherein the QoE metrics are indicative of satisfaction ratings provided by users of the online application (Li, see paragraph 0076, as step 402 at which QOS client applications 216 measure QOS performance levels for various communication paths).
Regarding claims 3 and 13, Li teaches wherein the device receives the QoE metrics from the online application via an application programming interface (API) of the online application (Li, see paragraph 0076, as step 402 at which QOS client applications 216 measure QOS performance levels for various communication paths).
Regarding claims 4 and 14, Li teaches wherein the device selects the path by using reinforcement learning with a reward function that seeks to maximize the QoE metrics from the online application (Li, see paragraph 0035, The QOS service 110 then returns, responsive to such a request, determined QOS performance levels pertaining to the possible communication paths between the specified entities 212. In this manner a router 206 (for instance) learns of determined QOS performance levels pertaining to two or more entities 212 and sets up a communication channel there between according to the determined QOS performance levels).
Regarding claims 5 and 15, Li teaches further comprising:
computing an updated path for the traffic associated with the online application in response to a detected trigger (Li, see paragraph 0024, This document discloses techniques and technologies for improving the performance of networks 100 (real-time or otherwise) by routing communications 106A and B based on QOS performance levels determined from measured QOS performance levels (but for communication paths which are disjoint/overlapping with the communication paths for which the QOS performance levels were measured)).
Regarding claims 6 and 16, Li teaches wherein the detected trigger indicates a threshold percentage of traffic in the network having unacceptable QoE metrics (Li, see paragraph 0075, the path assembly component 312 could establish a primary communication path and one or more secondary communication paths. Thus, should the primary communication path fail or become degraded (i.e., some performance level falls below or rises above a threshold), the path assembly component 312 could re-route the communications 106 to the secondary communication path).
Regarding claims 7 and 17, Li teaches wherein the detected trigger indicates a change in a traffic matrix (Li, see paragraph 0077, the measured QOS performance levels are then associated with the path segments 220, 222, 224, 226, 228, and 230 involved in the communications 106. The association can be by way of populating the QOS vector 324 with the QOS related information and by setting the QOS vector 324 equal to the QOS matrix 322 (which contains the to-be-determined QOS performance levels for the path segments 220, 222, 224, 226, 228, and 230)).
Regarding claims 8 and 18, Li teaches wherein the detected trigger indicates a routing topology change reported by a particular one of the networking equipment (Li, see paragraph 0083, One or more communications 106 are then routed according to the communication path assembled in step 412 according to the QOS performance levels (for the path segments 220, 222, 224, 226, 228, and 230) fed back by the QOS-based client/server system 300).
Regarding claims 9 and 19, Li teaches wherein the path is configured in an underlay of a software-defined network (SDN) (Li, see paragraph 0021, the QOS service 110 routes communications 106A and B through (and to/from) the network 100 based on the measured QOS performance levels. It might be worth noting at this juncture that the QOS service 110 can be hosted by a server 112 and/or one or more of the computers 104. Moreover, the QOS service 110 can be operated by or contained within a particular network or can be separate from a particular network. In addition, or in the alternative, the QOS service 110 can be owned, operated, or controlled by an ISP or other organization (for instance, an enterprise)).
Regarding claim 10, Li teaches wherein the networking equipment comprises a plurality of routers (Li, see paragraph 0027, The networked environment 200 includes two mesh networks 202 and 204 and a variety of routing equipment such as routers 206 (which might be positioned in a variety of locations in the networked environment 200) and software which route communications between the various entities within the mesh networks 202 and 204 (and/or in communication therewith)).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CHONG G KIM whose telephone number is (571)270-0619. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri @ 9am - 5pm.
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/CHONG G KIM/Examiner, Art Unit 2443
/NICHOLAS R TAYLOR/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2443
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