DETAILED ACTION
This is in response to the Applicant's arguments and amendments filed on 21 March 2023 in which claims 1-14, 16-21 are currently pending and claim 15 has been cancelled.
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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The references listed in the Information Disclosure Statement, filed on 21 March 2023, 08 June 2023, have been considered by the examiner (see attached PTO-1449 form or PTO/SB/08A and 08B forms).
Claim Objections
Claims 1, 13 are objected to because of the following informalities:
Regarding claims 1, 13, it is unclear whether the first occurrence of the claimed limitation “an access router” is meant to be the same as or different from the second occurrence of “an access router” in claim 1 lines 5 and 7 and similarly in claim 13 lines 8 and 10.
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.
Claims 1-2, 8-9, 11, 13-14, 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yamamoto et al. (PG Pub US 2005/0099976 A1) in view of Zinny et al. (PG Pub US 2019/0103966 A1).
Regarding claims 1, 13, Yamamoto discloses a method and an electronic device.
a network interface; a lightweight Internet Protocol (LwIP) network stack; a tunnel router; a processor; and memory comprising instructions executable by the processor that configure the electronic device to (figs. 1-2):
receive an Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4) address for an access router in a second network segment of a fabric network (“Tunnel broker discovery module 230 determines the IPv4 address of a tunnel broker 135” [0035], “the node 125 uses IPv4 dynamic address configuration module 220 to configure 320 the node's IPv4 connection by dynamically obtaining a new IPv4 address” [0039]);
establish a secure IPv6-over-IPv4 network tunnel with an access router in the second network segment (“Tunnel client module 240 implements a tunnel client so that a dual-stack node can use an IPv6 connect agent 130 (such as an IPv6 tunnel server) to send and receive IPv6 communications over an IPv4-only or mixed network” [0037]);
advertise an IPv6 network route for the fabric network (“a node in the network receives an IPv6 router advertisement. The node can wait to receive an IPv6 router advertisement or it can solicit one by sending an IPv6 router solicitation” [0034]); and
using the advertised IPv6 network route, route Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) messages from the electronic device to one or more devices in the second network segment using the secure IPv6-over-IPv4 network tunnel (“Tunnel client module 240 implements a tunnel client so that a dual-stack node can use an IPv6 connect agent 130 (such as an IPv6 tunnel server) to send and receive IPv6 communications over an IPv4-only or mixed network” [0037], “Once the tunnel has been established, the node 125 uses tunnel client module 240 to communicate with the IPv6 connect agent 130 (such as an IPv6 tunnel server), which enables the node 125 to send and receive IPv6 communications over an IPv4-only or mixed network” [0043]).
However, Yamamoto does not explicitly disclose a lightweight Internet Protocol (LwIP) network stack.
Nevertheless, Zinny discloses ““lightweight IP” protocol stack” [0081].
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have a lightweight Internet Protocol (LwIP) network stack because “Protocol stacks suitable for use as the protocol stack 348 of the LAN controller 326 include those designed for use in embedded systems” [0081].
Regarding claims 2, 16, Yamamoto, Zinny discloses everything claimed as applied above. In addition, Yamamoto discloses receiving an Internet Protocol (IP) packet from a Medium Access Control (MAC) layer; determining that the IP packet is an IPv6 packet; and based on the determining that the IP packet is an IPv6 packet, sending the IP packet to the tunnel router (“an IPv6 tunnel-enabled device, such as a router or server, enables an originating dual-stack node to tunnel packets to the IPv6 next-hop address through the IPv4-only network. In other words, the IPv4-only network is treated as a link layer for IPv6” [0026], “Tunnel client module 240 implements a tunnel client so that a dual-stack node can use an IPv6 connect agent 130 (such as an IPv6 tunnel server) to send and receive IPv6 communications over an IPv4-only or mixed network” [0037]).
Regarding claim 8, Yamamoto, Zinny discloses everything claimed as applied above. In addition, Yamamoto discloses receiving an IPv6 packet from an IPv6 network layer; determining that a destination address included in the received IPv6 packet matches the advertised IPv6 network route for the fabric network; and sending the IPv6 packet to the access router in the second segment of the fabric network using the secure IPv6-over-IPv4 network tunnel, the sending being effective to direct the access router to forward the IPv6 packet to a node at the destination address in the fabric network (“The node 125 uses tunnel broker interface module 235 to communicate with the discovered tunnel broker 135 in order to obtain 350 an MIPv6 care-of address and an IPv6 tunnel to an IPv6 connect agent 130 (such as an IPv6 tunnel server). If the discovered tunnel broker 135 is the same tunnel broker that the node had been using prior to the move, then the node continues to use the same care-of address” [0041], “If the tunnel broker 135 is different, the node uses a new care-of address. In one embodiment, the new tunnel broker 135 provides the new care-of address. The node 125 uses MIPv6 client module 245 to update the node's care-of address by sending MIPv6 binding updates to the node's home agent 140 and corresponding peers” [0042], “Once the tunnel has been established, the node 125 uses tunnel client module 240 to communicate with the IPv6 connect agent 130 (such as an IPv6 tunnel server), which enables the node 125 to send and receive IPv6 communications over an IPv4-only or mixed network” [0043]).
Regarding claim 9, Yamamoto, Zinny discloses everything claimed as applied above. In addition, Yamamoto discloses the first network segment is a Wi-Fi network segment (“Communications network 150 can include multiple processing systems (not shown) and comprises a local area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN; e.g., the Internet), and/or any other interconnected data path across which multiple devices can communicate” [0020], “the node uses a wireless connection” [0032]).
Regarding claim 11, Yamamoto, Zinny discloses everything claimed as applied above. In addition, Yamamoto discloses establishing the secure IPv6-over-IPv4 network tunnel with the access router across an access network that is not included in the fabric network (“A tunnel broker 135 is a node that includes the functionality required to setup an IPv6 tunnel between a mobile dual-stack node 125 residing in the IPv4-only section 105 of a mixed network 100 (or in an IPv4-only network) and an IPv6 connect agent 130. The tunnel enables the node 125 to engage in IPv6 communications across the IPv4-only section 105 of the mixed network 100 (or the IPv4-only network)” [0022]).
Regarding claim 14, Yamamoto, Zinny discloses everything claimed as applied above. In addition, Yamamoto discloses the network interface comprises a Wi-Fi network interface (“Communications network 150 can include multiple processing systems (not shown) and comprises a local area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN; e.g., the Internet), and/or any other interconnected data path across which multiple devices can communicate” [0020], “the node uses a wireless connection” [0032]).
Claim 10 is are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yamamoto, Zinny in view of Buesker eta l. (PG Pub US 2016/0315859 A1).
Regarding claim 10, Yamamoto, Zinny discloses everything claimed as applied above. However, Yamamoto, Zinny does not explicitly disclose the IPv6 network route includes an IPv6 Unique Local Address (ULA) prefix for the fabric network.
Nevertheless, Buesker discloses “the local address prefix 332 is an IPv6 unique local address (ULA) prefix” [0060].
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have the IPv6 network route include an IPv6 Unique Local Address (ULA) prefix for the fabric network because “It would therefore be beneficial for the IPv6 addresses that a device assigns to its data link interfaces to be distinguishable at the subnet level” [0058].
Claim 12 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yamamoto, Zinny further in view of Bao et al. (PG Pub US 2023/0208716 A1).
Regarding claim 12, Yamamoto, Zinny discloses everything claimed as applied above. However, Yamamoto, Zinny does not explicitly disclose the fabric network is a Connected Home over IP (CHIP) network.
Nevertheless, Bao discloses “a Connected Home Over Internet Protocol (CHIP) device” [0007].
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have a Connected Home over IP CHIP) network because “a platform allocates an operation identifier for a CHIP device and establishes an association relationship between the allocated operation identifier and an account to be bound, thereby establishing a binding relationship between the CHIP device and the account, to bind the CHIP device with the account, and to ensure safe communication between the CHIP device and a configuration device which uses the account” [0055].
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3-7, 17-21 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
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/CHRISTINE T DUONG/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2462 09/09/2025