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 .
DETAILED ACTION
The instant Office action is responsive to the claims received 12/10/2025.
Claims 1-20 have been examined and are pending with this action.
Claims 1, 4-14 & 17-20 are rejected.
Claims 2-3, 7 & 15-16 are objected.
Arguments
Applicant arguments are not persuasive based on the following arguments.
Applicant:
Applicant argues that PA doesn’t disclose wherein the one or more devices of the second multicast domain include one or more network devices
Examiner:
Examiner cites Anchan that discloses the amended limitation,
wherein the one or more devices of the second multicast domain include one or more network devices (Anchan: [0006]: “ an application server determines to transmit a first data stream in a first multicasting area, a second data stream in a second multicasting area..”).
Anchan discloses, an application server determines to transmit a first data stream in a first multicasting area, a second data stream in a second multicasting area and both data streams in a third multicasting area that overlaps with the second multicasting area (e.g., at a border region between the first and second multicasting areas). The multiple multicasting areas have multiple multicasting devices for transmission that includes the network devices.
Based on above explanation arguments made by applicant are 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, 4-6, 9-13, 14, 17-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Belveal et al (US pub # 2019/0123922) in view of Anchan et al (US Pat # 2013/0170450).
Regarding claim 1, Suthar discloses a method for connecting heterogeneous multicast domains (Suthar: [ABS & 0030]: “ a method is performed at a multicast gateway node within an operator network & In some implementations, at least one of the one or more ANs 106 implements heterogeneous access technology via wired or wireless communication to the UE 102 communicatively connected to the operator network 104. ”), the method comprising:
programming, at first and second border gateway devices disposed respectively in first and second multicast domains, static multicast routes associated with a given multicast flow, each static multicast route including information identifying the given multicast flow, an incoming interface, and an outgoing interface (Suthar: [Fig 12, 0020 & 0149 ]: “ The method further includes forwarding the packet of the multicast data stream to the user device via a portion of the one or more egress interfaces & a programming (I/O) interface 1205, a memory 1210, and one or more communication buses 1204 for interconnecting these and various other components,”);
sending join requests from the first border gateway device to at least one other network device (Suthar: [Fig 4 & 5 & 0069 ]: “ the UE 414a sends a transmission 534 (e.g., a registration request) to the access node 410 that is forwarded to the management node 408 & the multicast flow join request indicates that the UE 414a expresses interest in a particular multicast data stream after receiving knowledge of said multicast data stream ”) in the first multicast domain utilizing a multicast protocol of the first multicast domain, in response to the programming of the static multicast route at the first border gateway device (Suthar: [Fig 4 & 5 & 0069 ]: “ the transmission 534 also includes a multicast flow join request (e.g., an internet group management protocol (IGMP) join request) associated with the UE 414a.”);
receiving a multicast stream at the first border gateway device from a source in the first multicast domain, the multicast stream corresponding to the given multicast flow (Suthar: [Fig 4 & 5 & 0074]: “after receiving the registration request associated with the UE, the multicast gateway node 404 sends the multicast identifier to the UE and, optionally, other information such as a session identifier, IP address, and/or the like..”);
forwarding the multicast stream from the first border gateway device to the second border gateway device based on the static multicast route programmed at the first border gateway device (Suthar: [0023]: “the particular multicast data stream is forwarded to some user devices associated with one or more users uninterested in the multicast data stream.”); and
Suthar doesn’t explicitly teaches delivery from second device to another multicast domain.
Anchan however discloses delivering, from the second border gateway device, the multicast stream to one or more devices of the second multicast domain based on the static multicast route programmed at the second border gateway device (Anchan: [ABS]: “ a second data stream in a second multicasting area and both data streams in a third multicasting area that overlaps with the second multicasting area (e.g., at a border region between the first and second multicasting areas). The application server sends the first data stream to a multicast network management node for transmission in the first and third multicasting areas..”).
Therefore it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Suthar in view of Anchan to figure out the delivery from second device to another multicast domain.
One would be motivated to do so because this technique advantageously aids in to transmission of steams in multiple multicasting area (Anchan: [ABS]).
Claim 14 & 18 are rejected based on rationale provided for claim 1.
Regarding claim 4, Suthar/Anchan discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the first and second multicast domains utilize different types of multicast protocols (Suthar: [Fig 4 & 0115]: “the multicast gateway node 404 serves the UE 414a using other multicast forwarding protocols such as passive intermodulation (PIM), pragmatic general multicast (PGM), or the like..”).
Regarding claim 5, Suthar/Anchan discloses the method of claim 4, wherein the first and second multicast domains utilize different types of PIM protocols (Suthar: [Fig 4 & 0130]: “the multicast gateway node 404 serves the UE 414a using other multicast forwarding protocols such as PIM, PGM, or the like..”).
Regarding claim 6, Suthar/Anchan discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the first and second multicast domains utilize different types of PIM protocols (Suthar: [Fig 4 & 0073]: “he multicast gateway node 404 serves the UE 414a using other multicast forwarding protocols such as passive intermodulation (PIM), pragmatic general multicast (PGM), or the like..”).
Regarding claim 9, Suthar/Anchan discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the one or more devices of the second multicast domain include one or more network devices (Anchan: [0006]: “ an application server determines to transmit a first data stream in a first multicasting area, a second data stream in a second multicasting area..”). and the method further comprises forwarding the multicast stream from the one or more network devices of the second multicast domain to one or more additional devices based on a multicasting protocol of the second multicast domain (Anchan: [ABS]: “ a second data stream in a second multicasting area and both data streams in a third multicasting area that overlaps with the second multicasting area (e.g., at a border region between the first and second multicasting areas). The application server sends the first data stream to a multicast network management node for transmission in the first and third multicasting areas..”).
Therefore it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Suthar in view of Anchan to figure out the delivery from second device to another multicast domain.
One would be motivated to do so because this technique advantageously aids in to transmission of steams in multiple multicasting area (Anchan: [ABS]).
Regarding claim 10, Suthar/Anchan discloses the method of claim 1, wherein programming the static multicast routes at the first and second border gateway devices comprises manually configuring the static multicast routes via a user interface (Suthar: [Fig 12, 0020 & 0149 ]: “ The method further includes forwarding the packet of the multicast data stream to the user device via a portion of the one or more egress interfaces & a programming (I/O) interface 1205, a memory 1210, and one or more communication buses 1204 for interconnecting these and various other components,”);
Regarding claim 11, Suthar/Anchan discloses the method of claim 1, wherein programming the static multicast routes at the first and second border gateway devices comprises causing a network controller to program the static multicast routes (Suthar: [Fig 12, 0039 & 0149 ]: “ in some implementations, the PDN-GW 212 is configured to be the point of interconnect between the external IP networks (e.g., the PDN 216) and routes packets of data to and from the PDN 216. a programming (I/O) interface 1205, a memory 1210, and one or more communication buses 1204 for interconnecting these and various other components,”);
Regarding claim 12, Suthar/Anchan discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the information identifying the given multicast flow in the programmed static multicast routes comprises information identifying a source and information identifying a multicast group (Suthar: [Fig 4 & 0063 ]: “ a multicast identifier 514a is associated with the UE 414a. For example, the multicast gateway node 404 assigns the multicast identifier 514a to the UE 414a & the second bit identifies a respective UE within the UE group/domain associated with the respective access node.”);
Regarding claim 13, Suthar/Anchan discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the information identifying the given multicast flow in the programmed static multicast routes comprises information identifying a multicast group and a wildcard for indicating any source (Suthar: [0070 ]: “ the registration request includes a multicast flow capability indicator. For example, the multicast flow capability indicator corresponds to a BIER status flag..”);
Claim 17 &U 19-20 are rejected based on rationale provided for claims 4-6 & 9-13.
Claim 8 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Belveal et al (US pub # 2019/0123922) in view of Anchan et al (US Pat # 2013/0170450) and in further view of Halna et al (US Pat # 2009/0129389).
Regarding claim 8, Suthar/Anchan discloses the method of claim 1 (Suthar: [Fig 12, 0020 & 0149 ]: “ The method further includes forwarding the packet of the multicast data stream to the user device via a portion of the one or more egress interfaces & a programming (I/O) interface 1205, a memory 1210, and one or more communication buses 1204 for interconnecting these and various other components,”),
Modified Suthar doesn’t explicitly discloses LAN tunnel.
wherein the multicast stream is forwarded from the first border gateway device to the second border gateway device through a virtual LAN tunnel (Halna: [0094 ]: “ This query is then transmitted in the form of a multicast message to the other tunnel endpoints present in the network LAN A, for example the tunnel endpoint TEP B..”).
Therefore it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of modified Suthar in view of Halna to figure out LAN tunnel. One would be motivated to do so because this technique advantageously aids in to transmission of multicast streams (Halna: [0093]).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 2-3 & 15-16 or claim 7 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim 8 & 14, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims. Claims 2 and 3 are to be dissolved in all independent claim for potential allowance.
Conclusion
This action is final. The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. This includes:
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/SIBTE H BUKHARI/Examiner, Art Unit 2449