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 1-21 have been presented for examination and are rejected.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDS) submitted on 01/14/2026 and 03/08/2023. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Examiner Note
3. Claim 10 recites " A computer-readable medium comprising instructions stored thereon", but upon review of the specification, paragraph [0073] discloses computer-readable medium may include a non-transitory storage medium to store logic. Therefore, the claim limitation is not interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 101 as being directed to non-statutory subject matter.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 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 the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-9 and 17-21 are rejected Under 35 U.S.C. 102 (a) (2) as being anticipated by Jian et al. (US 20230300671 hereinafter Jian).
With respect to claims 1 and 17, Jian teaches an apparatus comprising:
a network interface device (Jian, see FIG. 1 and paragraph [0053], IAB nodes 104 via signaling over an NR interface to MT of the IAB node 104) comprising:
circuitry to cause transmission of a packet (Jian, see paragraph [0040] the server may transmit packets in response to the acknowledgments (i.e. acknowledgments equivalent to transmit packets) following transmission of one or more data packets to a receiver (Jian, see paragraph [0006] a data receiver includes measuring a set of multiple congestion metrics associated with receiving data packets at the data receiver from a data transmitter via a RAN. Paragraph [0040] the server may transmit packets in response to the acknowledgments, such that the throttled acknowledgment rate may delay packet transmission by the server and reduce packet congestion. Additionally, or alternatively, the UE may indicate an adjusted receiver window size associated with a quantity of data packets the UE may receive within a given time period, …), wherein the packet comprises one or more of:
a count of transmitted data, a timestamp of transmission of the packet (Jian, see paragraph [0148] the UE may receive a subsequent data packet, d(k), and may identify a timestamp echo reply value… . If the value of the current RTT start parameter is the same as or later than the timestamp echo reply in the data packet d(k), the UE may increase a packet counter value by 1 (e.g., counter=counter+1)), and/or an index value to one or more of a count of transmitted data and a timestamp of transmission of the packet;
circuitry to receive, from the receiver, a second packet (Jian, see paragraph [0016] where a transmission control protocol (TCP) header for the first data packet indicates the first time, receiving, from the data transmitter, a second data packet at a second time in response to the first data packet, …) that includes a copy of the count of transmitted data and the timestamp of transmission of the packet or the index from the packet (Jian, see paragraphs [0148-0149] the UE may receive a subsequent data packet, d(k), and may identify a timestamp echo reply value (e.g., TSecr, as described with reference to FIG. 5) in the data packet d(k). If the value of the current RTT start parameter is the same as or later than the timestamp echo reply in the data packet d(k), the UE may increase a packet counter value by 1 (e.g., counter=counter+1). At d(4), the packet counter value may be four as four data packets may be received since d(0). The UE may perform this increment for each data packet); and
circuitry to perform congestion control based on the copy of the count of transmitted data and the timestamp of transmission of the packet (Jian, see paragraphs [0149-0152] if, for a given packet d(k), the current RTT start parameter is before the timestamp echo reply value for the data packet, the UE may set an estimated congestion window 610 for the RTT round, n, to be the same as the current counter value. The UE may estimate the congestion window size based on a quantity of received data packets having a maximum segment size (MSS) within an RTT round. The MSS may correspond to a largest amount of data, in bytes (i.e., count), that a device can receive in a single TCP segment).
With respect to claims 2 and 18, Jian teaches the apparatus, wherein the packet is to follow a path of the one or more data packets through one or more routers to the receiver (Jian, see paragraph [0072] an access and mobility management function (AMF)) and at least one user plane entity that routes packets or interconnects to external networks (e.g., a serving gateway (S-GW), a Packet Data Network (PDN) gateway (P-GW), or a user plane function (UPF))).
With respect to claims 3 and 19, Jian teaches the apparatus, wherein the circuitry to perform congestion control based on the copy of the count of transmitted data and the timestamp of transmission of the packet is to determine an available amount of data to transmit based on a congestion window (Jian, see paragraph [0137] the timestamp value, TSval, may be derived by each end device as a random increasing value within the first subset of bits (e.g., a random 4-byte increasing value i.e., count). Each end device may echo back the received timestamp value via the timestamp echo reply field, TSecr. A device, such as the UE, may receive a TCP data packet and calculate an RTT 505 based on a difference between a current timestamp value and the received timestamp echo reply value in the data packet) and
inflight bytes derived from the copy of the count of transmitted data (Jian, see paragraph [0145] FIGS. 2-5 the UE may estimate one or more server-side congestion control parameters, which may include an estimated RTT 605, an estimated congestion window 610, or both. …The congestion window size 610 may correspond to a quantity of bytes or data packets that are in flight during an RTT 605).
With respect to claim 4, Jian teaches the apparatus, wherein the circuitry to perform congestion control based on the copy of the count of transmitted data and the timestamp of transmission of the packet is to limit packet transmission based on the determined available amount of data to transmit (Jian, see paragraph [0118] The throughput may be improved by reducing packet congestion, which may be related to an amount of data transmitted by the remote server. Thus, the modified connection parameters 335 may be calculated to reduce transmissions by the server to improve capacity of one or more bottleneck buffers in the network and reduce buffer overflow. Paragraph [0137] further discloses the timestamp value, TSval, may be derived by each end device as a random increasing value within the first subset of bits (e.g., a random 4-byte increasing value i.e., count). Each end device may echo back the received timestamp value via the timestamp echo reply field, TSecr. A device, such as the UE, may receive a TCP data packet and calculate an RTT 505 based on a difference between a current timestamp value and the received timestamp echo reply value in the data packet).
With respect to claim 5, Jian teaches the apparatus, wherein the circuitry to perform congestion control based on the copy of the count of transmitted data and the timestamp of transmission of the packet is to determine latency through a path from the network interface device to the receiver (Jian, see paragraph [0095] the UE 115-a may be further operable to calculate modified connection parameters 270 to reduce or mitigate the detected congestion. By utilizing congestion control algorithms at the UE 115-a, the UE 115-a may support reduced latency (e.g., low RTT) under variations in link rate, packet loss, and RTT metrics, which may improve throughput and communication reliability within the network).
With respect to claim 6, Jian teaches the apparatus, wherein the determine latency through a path from the network interface device to the receiver is based on a current timestamp and the copy of the timestamp of transmission of the packet (Jian, see paragraph [0095] the UE 115-a may be further operable to calculate modified connection parameters 270 to reduce or mitigate the detected congestion. By utilizing congestion control algorithms at the UE 115-a, the UE 115-a may support reduced latency (e.g., low RTT) under variations in link rate, packet loss, and RTT metrics, which may improve throughput and communication reliability within the network. Paragraph [0137] further discloses the timestamp value, TSval, may be derived by each end device as a random increasing value within the first subset of bits (e.g., a random 4-byte increasing value i.e., count). Each end device may echo back the received timestamp value via the timestamp echo reply field, TSecr).
With respect to claims 7 and 20, Jian teaches the apparatus, wherein the circuitry to perform congestion control based on the copy of the count of transmitted data and the timestamp of transmission of the packet is to increase a congestion window size based on decreasing latency or decrease the congestion window size based on increasing latency (Jian, see paragraph [0095] the UE 115-a may be further operable to calculate modified connection parameters 270 to reduce or mitigate the detected congestion. By utilizing congestion control algorithms at the UE 115-a, the UE 115-a may support reduced latency (e.g., low RTT) under variations in link rate, packet loss, and RTT metrics, which may improve throughput and communication reliability within the network. Paragraph [0119] further discloses the modified connection parameters 335 may correspond to two or more acknowledgments that may be coalesced into a single data packet, or to an increased or decreased spacing between consecutive acknowledgments, or to an increased or decreased rate at which acknowledgments may be transmitted).
With respect to claim 8, Jian teaches the apparatus, wherein the network interface device comprises one or more of: network interface controller (NIC), SmartNIC, router (Jian, see paragraph [0072] at least one user plane entity that routes packets or interconnects to external networks),
forwarding element (Jian, see paragraph [0089] the IP services 150-a may forward the data packets 230 to the core network 130-a via a backhaul link. The core network 130-a may forward the data packets 230 through a backhaul link to the network entity 105-a (e.g., a CU, a DU, an RU, a base station 140)), infrastructure processing unit (IPU), or data processing unit (DPU).
With respect to claim 9, Jian teaches the apparatus, wherein the copy of the count of transmitted data is adjusted based on bytes received at a receiver during processing of the packet and wherein the timestamp is adjusted based on a time from receipt of the packet to transmission of the second packet by the receiver (Jian, see paragraph [0036] a network connection between a UE and a server via a RAN and a packet-switched network may be established and maintained using transmission control protocol (TCP). The TCP may initiate a congestion control mechanism when an amount of congestion detected at the server is relatively high. The congestion control mechanism may calculate adjusted connection parameters to reduce data packet congestion. The adjusted connection parameters may correspond to, for example, a reduced rate or a quantity of data packet transmissions by the server).
With respect to claim 21, Jian teaches the method, wherein a network interface device performs the transmitting the packet following transmission of one or more data packets to a receiver and performing congestion control based on a received copy of the count of transmitted data and the timestamp of transmission of the packet (Jian, see paragraph [0095] the UE 115-a may be further operable to calculate modified connection parameters 270 to reduce or mitigate the detected congestion. By utilizing congestion control algorithms at the UE 115-a, the UE 115-a may support reduced latency (e.g., low RTT) under variations in link rate, packet loss, and RTT metrics, which may improve throughput and communication reliability within the network. Paragraph [0137] further discloses the timestamp value, TSval, may be derived by each end device as a random increasing value within the first subset of bits (e.g., a random 4-byte increasing value i.e., count). Each end device may echo back the received timestamp value via the timestamp echo reply field, TSecr).
Claim 10 is rejected Under 35 U.S.C. 102 (a) (2) as being anticipated by Subramanian et al. (US 20230305747 hereinafter Subramanian).
With respect to claim 10, Subramanian teaches a computer-readable medium comprising instructions stored thereon, that if executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to:
configure circuitry of a network interface device to (Subramanian, see paragraph [0023] The IO interface 206 can also include a network interface card (NIC)):
perform congestion control by adjustment of a transmit window for both Remote Direct Memory Access (RDMA) read and write operations from a sender (Subramanian, see paragraph [0061] per queue pair congestion control is supported. When congestion is detected, an explicit congestion notification (ECN) bit is set in the current frame. When the IC device 500 detects a frame with ECN, the IC device 500 generates congestion notification packets (CNP) for a queue pair to the source node based on the RDMA congestion control signal 540. A congestion notification frame is forwarded to the corresponding application software. When congestion is detected, the queue pair threshold values (e.g., token count, QP threshold value, min threshold value, and/or NVM subsystem threshold) may be adjusted).
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 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 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 11-16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Subramanian et al. (US 20230305747 hereinafter Subramanian) in view of Jian et al. (US 20230300671 hereinafter Jian).
With respect to claim 11, Subramanian teaches the computer-readable medium, yet fails to explicitly disclose wherein the perform congestion control comprises:
cause transmission of a packet following transmission of one or more data packets to a receiver, wherein the packet comprises a count of transmitted data and/or a timestamp of transmission of the packet and
perform congestion control based on a received copy of the count of transmitted
data and a timestamp of transmission of the packet.
However, Jian discloses wherein the perform congestion control comprises:
cause transmission of a packet following transmission of one or more data packets to a receiver (Jian, see paragraph [0006] a data receiver is described. The method may include measuring a set of multiple congestion metrics associated with receiving data packets at the data receiver from a data transmitter via a RAN),
wherein the packet comprises a count of transmitted data and/or a timestamp of transmission of the packet (Jian, see paragraph [0148] The UE may receive a subsequent data packet, d(k), and may identify a timestamp echo reply value… . If the value of the current RTT start parameter is the same as or later than the timestamp echo reply in the data packet d(k), the UE may increase a packet counter value by 1 (e.g., counter=counter+1)), and
perform congestion control based on a received copy of the count of transmitted
data and a timestamp of transmission of the packet (Jian, see paragraphs [0149-0152] if, for a given packet d(k), the current RTT start parameter is before the timestamp echo reply value for the data packet, the UE may set an estimated congestion window 610 for the RTT round, n, to be the same as the current counter value. The UE may estimate the congestion window size based on a quantity of received data packets having a maximum segment size (MSS) within an RTT round. The MSS may correspond to a largest amount of data, in bytes (i.e., count), that a device can receive in a single TCP segment).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was effectively filed to combine the teaching of Subramanian with the teaching of Jian to provide the congestion control method provides real-time network state monitoring by enabling the sender to calculate precise round-trip times (RTT) and monitor throughput using transmitted data counts, allowing for faster, more accurate adjustments to traffic flow, reduced packet loss, minimized latency, and improved network stability.
With respect to claim 12, Subramanian-Jian teaches the computer-readable medium, wherein the packet is to follow a path of one or more data packets through one or more routers to a receiver Jian, see paragraph [0072] an access and mobility management function (AMF)) and at least one user plane entity that routes packets or interconnects to external networks (e.g., a serving gateway (S-GW), a Packet Data Network (PDN) gateway (P-GW), or a user plane function (UPF))).
With respect to claim 13, Subramanian-Jian teaches the computer-readable medium, wherein to perform congestion control based on the received copy of the count of transmitted data and the timestamp of transmission of the packet comprises determine an available amount of data to transmit based on a congestion window (Jian, see paragraph [0137] the timestamp value, TSval, may be derived by each end device as a random increasing value within the first subset of bits (e.g., a random 4-byte increasing value i.e., count). Each end device may echo back the received timestamp value via the timestamp echo reply field, TSecr. A device, such as the UE, may receive a TCP data packet and calculate an RTT 505 based on a difference between a current timestamp value and the received timestamp echo reply value in the data packet) and
inflight bytes derived from the received copy of the count of transmitted data (Jian, see paragraph [0145] FIGS. 2-5 the UE may estimate one or more server-side congestion control parameters, which may include an estimated RTT 605, an estimated congestion window 610, or both. …The congestion window size 610 may correspond to a quantity of bytes or data packets that are in flight during an RTT 605).
With respect to claim 14, Subramanian-Jian teaches the computer-readable medium, wherein to perform congestion control based on the received copy of the count of transmitted data and the timestamp of transmission of the packet comprises limit packet transmission based on the determined available amount of data to transmit (Jian, see paragraph [0118] The throughput may be improved by reducing packet congestion, which may be related to an amount of data transmitted by the remote server. Thus, the modified connection parameters 335 may be calculated to reduce transmissions by the server to improve capacity of one or more bottleneck buffers in the network and reduce buffer overflow. Paragraph [0137] further discloses the timestamp value, TSval, may be derived by each end device as a random increasing value within the first subset of bits (e.g., a random 4-byte increasing value i.e., count). Each end device may echo back the received timestamp value via the timestamp echo reply field, TSecr. A device, such as the UE, may receive a TCP data packet and calculate an RTT 505 based on a difference between a current timestamp value and the received timestamp echo reply value in the data packet).
With respect to claim 15, Subramanian-Jian teaches the computer-readable medium, wherein to perform congestion control based on the received copy of the count of transmitted data and the timestamp of transmission of the packet comprises determine latency through a path from the network interface device to the receiver (Jian, see paragraph [0095] the UE 115-a may be further operable to calculate modified connection parameters 270 to reduce or mitigate the detected congestion. By utilizing congestion control algorithms at the UE 115-a, the UE 115-a may support reduced latency (e.g., low RTT) under variations in link rate, packet loss, and RTT metrics, which may improve throughput and communication reliability within the network).
With respect to claim 16, Subramanian-Jian teaches the computer-readable medium, wherein to perform congestion control based on the received copy of the count of transmitted data and the timestamp of transmission of the packet comprises increase a congestion window size based on decreasing latency or decrease the congestion window size based on increasing latency (Jian, see paragraph [0095] the UE 115-a may be further operable to calculate modified connection parameters 270 to reduce or mitigate the detected congestion. By utilizing congestion control algorithms at the UE 115-a, the UE 115-a may support reduced latency (e.g., low RTT) under variations in link rate, packet loss, and RTT metrics, which may improve throughput and communication reliability within the network. Paragraph [0119] further discloses the modified connection parameters may correspond to two or more acknowledgments that may be coalesced into a single data packet, or to an increased or decreased spacing between consecutive acknowledgments, or to an increased or decreased rate at which acknowledgments may be transmitted).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. This includes:
PG. Pub. US 20230056734 Method for applying congestion control algorithms on e.g. transmission control protocol connection for handling network traffic between client device and edge server of browser, involves determining congestion control algorithm based on request message.
PG. Pub. US 20230155945 Method for determining congestion of communication link transmitting media stream from sender device to receiving device, involves determining that communication link is congested when packet recovery success rate is below congestion threshold.
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. See PTO-892 Notice of References Cited.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ELIZABETH KASSA whose telephone number is (571)270-0567. The examiner can normally be reached Monday -Friday 9 AM -6 PM.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Ario Etienne can be reached on 517-272-4001. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
02/12/2026
/ELIZABETH KASSA/Examiner, Art Unit 2457
/ARIO ETIENNE/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2457