DETAILED ACTION
The following is a final office action in response to the Amendments filed on January 23, 2026.
Claim 1, 8, and 15 have been amended.
Claims 1-20 are pending.
Response to Arguments
35 U.S.C. 102 Rejections
Applicant’s argument regarding the 102-rejection filed on January 23, 2026 have been fully considered but are moot because the arguments do not apply to the combination of references being used in the current rejection. For at least these reasons, applicant’s arguments are considered not persuasive.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 of this title, 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 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over N et al. (US PGPub 2017/0289216) in view of Mudric et al. (US PGPub 2020/0389507).
As per claim 1, N teaches a method, comprising:
determining, by a first network device, a route distinguisher (RD) and a route target (RT) associated with an address prefix that is to be included in a global routing and forwarding table (N, see paragraph [0007], the egress PE router generates a single C-multicast source tree join with a route distinguisher set to zero and with a list of multiple route targets identifying respective ingress PE routers for the multicast stream. A route target for a given ingress PE router may be included in a Route Import Extended Community in a unicast route advertised by the ingress PE router and received by the egress PE router, then added to the C-multicast source tree join.) and
sending, by the first network device, an advertisement that includes the address prefix, the RD, and the RT, (N, see paragraph [0009], the multicast source tree join route having a route distinguisher value of zero and a plurality of route targets to cause each of the first ingress PE router and the second ingress PE router to import the multicast source tree join route when advertised by the egress PE router) wherein the advertisement is a border gateway protocol (BGP) advertisement message or an interior gateway protocol (IGP) advertisement message, (N, see paragraph [0031], BGP Add-Paths procedures ensure that multiple routes (of SAFI 1, 2 or 4) to C-Source are advertised in BGP, including unicast routes that include Route Import Extended Communities) and wherein:
the RT indicates that the address prefix is to be included in a global routing and forwarding table of a receiving network device (N, see paragraph [0043], where the RT list includes the Route Import Extended Community values from multiple upstream PE routers as indicated in unicast routes 22A, 22B. For instance, in FIG. 1, if the global table of PE router 12C includes IP addresses of both of PE routers 12A and 12B that are associated with source 20, then PE router 12C may include both the IP addresses of PE routers 12A and 12B in the RT list of the C-multicast source tree join route. PE router 12C may send the C-multicast source tree join route with the RT list to each of PE routers 12A and 12B.).
N doesn’t explicitly teach wherein the address prefix is a non-virtual private network (non-VPN) address prefix associated with a non-VPN edge network device.
In analogous art Mudric teaches wherein the address prefix is a non-virtual private network (non-VPN) address prefix associated with a non-VPN edge network device (Mudric, see paragraph [0025], stored in the routing table along with the prefix and/or IP address, and used to prioritize the route. Also see paragraph [0081], …and hosts 120 and 130 may be connected to private networks administered by a private enterprise with personalized security rules).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to take the teaching of Mudric and apply them on the teaching of N as doing so would help in prioritizing the network routes. (Mudric, see paragraph [0025]).
As per claim 2, N-Mudric teaches the method of claim 1, wherein sending the advertisement is to permit the receiving network device to store, based on the RT, the address prefix in the global routing and forwarding table of the receiving network device (N, see paragraph [0009], storing, by the egress PE router to a global routing table of the egress PE router, a multicast source tree join route that specifies a customer-multicast flow sourced by the source device, the multicast source tree join route having a route distinguisher value of zero and a plurality of route targets to cause each of the first ingress PE router and the second ingress PE router to import the multicast source tree join route when advertised by the egress PE router).
As per claim 3, N-Mudric teaches the method of claim 1, wherein the advertisement further includes a label (N, see paragraph [0044], PE router 12C may inspect MPLS labels attached to respective packets in the multicast stream and forward the packets to CE router 16B if the MPLS label matches a forwarding rule installed in PE router 12C).
As per claim 4, N-Mudric teaches the method of claim 1, further comprising: sending, to the receiving network device, another advertisement that includes another address prefix, another RD, and another RT, wherein: the other RT indicates that the other address prefix is to be included in a virtual routing and forwarding table of the receiving network device (N, see paragraph [0023], The PE router stores a given customer's multicast routing information in the virtual routing and forwarding table (VRF) for that customer's VPN. BGP is used to distribute certain multicast-related control information among the PE routers that implement a VPN, and BGP may also be used to exchange the customer multicast routing information itself among the PE routers.)
As per claim 5, N-Mudric teaches the method of claim 4, wherein sending the other advertisement is to permit the receiving network device to store, based on the other RT, the other address prefix in the virtual routing and forwarding table of the receiving network device (N, see paragraph [0023], The PE router stores a given customer's multicast routing information in the virtual routing and forwarding table (VRF) for that customer's VPN. BGP is used to distribute certain multicast-related control information among the PE routers that implement a VPN, and BGP may also be used to exchange the customer multicast routing information itself among the PE routers.).
As per claim 6, N-Mudric teaches the method of claim 1, further comprising: sending, to the receiving network device, another advertisement that includes another address prefix, wherein: the other advertisement does not include an RD and does not include an RT. (N, see paragraph [0005], ingress PE routers may advertise multiple routes to a C-Source, including unicast routes that include Route Import Extended Communities, which are imported by egress PE routers. This enables an egress PE router to have multiple paths to the C-Source, and the egress PE router may generate multiple C-multicast source tree joins for respective ingress PE routers in order to receive respective multicast streams sourced by the C-Source from the ingress PE routers.)
As per claim 7, N-Mudric teaches the method of claim 6, wherein sending the other advertisement is to permit the receiving network device to store the other address prefix in the global routing and forwarding table of the receiving network device. (N, see paragraph [0009], storing, by the egress PE router to a global routing table of the egress PE router, a multicast source tree join route that specifies a customer-multicast flow sourced by the source device, the multicast source tree join route having a route distinguisher value of zero and a plurality of route targets to cause each of the first ingress PE router and the second ingress PE router to import the multicast source tree join route when advertised by the egress PE router).
As per claim 8,
[Rejection rational for claim 1 is applicable].
As pe claim 9, N-Mudric teaches the non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8, wherein the one or more instructions further cause the network device to: store, based on determining that the address prefix is to be stored, the address prefix in the global routing and forwarding table of the network device. (N, see paragraph [0009], storing, by the egress PE router to a global routing table of the egress PE router, a multicast source tree join route that specifies a customer-multicast flow sourced by the source device, the multicast source tree join route having a route distinguisher value of zero and a plurality of route targets to cause each of the first ingress PE router and the second ingress PE router to import the multicast source tree join route when advertised by the egress PE router).
As pe claim 10, N-Mudric teaches the non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8, wherein the advertisement further includes a label. (N, see paragraph [0044], PE router 12C may inspect MPLS labels attached to respective packets in the multicast stream and forward the packets to CE router 16B if the MPLS label matches a forwarding rule installed in PE router 12C).
As pe claim 11, N-Mudric teaches the non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8, wherein the one or more instructions further cause the network device to: receive another advertisement that includes another address prefix, another RD, and another RT, wherein: the other RT indicates that the other address prefix is to be included a virtual routing and forwarding table of the network device. (N, see paragraph [0023], The PE router stores a given customer's multicast routing information in the virtual routing and forwarding table (VRF) for that customer's VPN. BGP is used to distribute certain multicast-related control information among the PE routers that implement a VPN, and BGP may also be used to exchange the customer multicast routing information itself among the PE routers.)
As pe claim 12, N-Mudric teaches the non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein the one or more instructions further cause the network device to: store, based on the other RT, the other address prefix in the virtual routing and forwarding table of the network device. (N, see paragraph [0023], The PE router stores a given customer's multicast routing information in the virtual routing and forwarding table (VRF) for that customer's VPN. BGP is used to distribute certain multicast-related control information among the PE routers that implement a VPN, and BGP may also be used to exchange the customer multicast routing information itself among the PE routers.).
As pe claim 13, N-Mudric teaches the non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8, wherein the one or more instructions further cause the network device to: receive another advertisement that includes another address prefix, wherein: the other advertisement does not include an RD and does not include an RT. (N, see paragraph [0005], ingress PE routers may advertise multiple routes to a C-Source, including unicast routes that include Route Import Extended Communities, which are imported by egress PE routers. This enables an egress PE router to have multiple paths to the C-Source, and the egress PE router may generate multiple C-multicast source tree joins for respective ingress PE routers in order to receive respective multicast streams sourced by the C-Source from the ingress PE routers.)
As pe claim 14, N-Mudric teaches the non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 13, wherein the one or more instructions further cause the network device to: store the other address prefix in the global routing and forwarding table of the network device. (N, see paragraph [0009], storing, by the egress PE router to a global routing table of the egress PE router, a multicast source tree join route that specifies a customer-multicast flow sourced by the source device, the multicast source tree join route having a route distinguisher value of zero and a plurality of route targets to cause each of the first ingress PE router and the second ingress PE router to import the multicast source tree join route when advertised by the egress PE router).
As per claim 15,
[Rejection rational for claim 1 is applicable].
As per claim 16, N-Mudric teaches the first network device of claim 15, wherein sending the advertisement is to permit the second network device to store, based on the RT, the address prefix in the global routing and forwarding table of the second network device. (N, see paragraph [0009], storing, by the egress PE router to a global routing table of the egress PE router, a multicast source tree join route that specifies a customer-multicast flow sourced by the source device, the multicast source tree join route having a route distinguisher value of zero and a plurality of route targets to cause each of the first ingress PE router and the second ingress PE router to import the multicast source tree join route when advertised by the egress PE router).
As per claim 17, N-Mudric teaches the first network device of claim 15, wherein the one or more processors are further to: send, to the second network device, another advertisement that includes another RD and another RT, wherein: the other RT indicates that another address prefix of the other advertisement is to be included in a virtual routing and forwarding table of the second network device. (N, see paragraph [0023], The PE router stores a given customer's multicast routing information in the virtual routing and forwarding table (VRF) for that customer's VPN. BGP is used to distribute certain multicast-related control information among the PE routers that implement a VPN, and BGP may also be used to exchange the customer multicast routing information itself among the PE routers.)
As per claim 18, N-Mudric teaches the first network device of claim 17, wherein sending the other advertisement is to permit the second network device to store, based on the other RT, the other address prefix in the virtual routing and forwarding table of the second network device. (N, see paragraph [0023], The PE router stores a given customer's multicast routing information in the virtual routing and forwarding table (VRF) for that customer's VPN. BGP is used to distribute certain multicast-related control information among the PE routers that implement a VPN, and BGP may also be used to exchange the customer multicast routing information itself among the PE routers.).
As per claim 19, N-Mudric teaches the first network device of claim 15, wherein the one or more processors are further to: send another advertisement that does not include an RD and does not include an RT (N, see paragraph [0005], ingress PE routers may advertise multiple routes to a C-Source, including unicast routes that include Route Import Extended Communities, which are imported by egress PE routers. This enables an egress PE router to have multiple paths to the C-Source, and the egress PE router may generate multiple C-multicast source tree joins for respective ingress PE routers in order to receive respective multicast streams sourced by the C-Source from the ingress PE routers.)
As per claim 20, N-Mudric teaches the first network device of claim 19, wherein sending the other advertisement is to permit the second network device to store another address prefix of the other advertisement in the global routing and forwarding table of the second network device. (N, see paragraph [0009], storing, by the egress PE router to a global routing table of the egress PE router, a multicast source tree join route that specifies a customer-multicast flow sourced by the source device, the multicast source tree join route having a route distinguisher value of zero and a plurality of route targets to cause each of the first ingress PE router and the second ingress PE router to import the multicast source tree join route when advertised by the egress PE router).
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to HERMON ASRES whose telephone number is (571)272-4257. The examiner can normally be reached Monday to Friday 9AM to 5PM.
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/HERMON ASRES/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2449