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
Claims 1-4, 6-10 and 12-22 are pending
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 2/18/2026 has been entered.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1-4, 6-10 and 12-21 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on the combination of references applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
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, 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, and 12-21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ben-Haim (US 2018/0184326) and in view of Makineni (US 2006/0104303) and in view of Cornett (US 2020/0204503) and in view of Musumeci (US 2003/0200369).
With respect to claim 1, Ben-Haim discloses a device comprising:
a controller configured to ([0322], controller configured to):
detect a trigger condition for packet coalescing of packet traffic ([0145], [0147], [0149], Rx packet coalescing information may include the one or more packet types of Rx packets to be coalesced. Wireless communication may send packets to hose upon expiration of a timer which is set based on the coalescing threshold or a packet that does not match the one or more packet types);
send, to an endpoint device, a notification to initiate packet coalescing ([0149], wireless communication interface send packets to host 325, upon expiration of a timer, which may be set based on the coalescing threshold, or upon receiving a packet that does not match the one or more packet types.);
observe a status in response to initiating the packet coalescing ([0149],-[0151], packets are received by the Rx coalescing module whether the packet is to be provided to the host based on the coalescing threshold or a packet that does not match the packet type. The host may be in a power save state (status);
send, to the endpoint device, a second notification for updated packet coalescing instructions in response to the observed status ([0155], [0158]-[0160], to avoid unnecessary wake ups of a device from a power save state, reception of Rx packets may be delayed by using the “Tx coalescing filter”. Power state change of device may initiate the offloading of the packet coalescing. Based upon a change in the Rx packet information, device 102 may initiate signaling of packet coalescing information which initiates the offloading of the packet to device 140 defining the packet types of Rx packets to be coalesced for processing).
While Ben-Haim discloses in [0149], wireless communication interface send packets to host 325, upon expiration of a timer, which may be set based on the coalescing threshold, or upon receiving a packet that does not match the one or more packet types, Ben-Haim does not disclose however Makineni discloses storing the notification in a notification register ([0022]-[0023], [0029], the controller includes registers that enable a driver to enable or disable coalescing. The controller signals an interrupt to initiate processing of the coalesced packet by a TCP/IP stack. The process determines whether coalescing is being performed and initialize a table entry and start coalescing for the flow with the current packet). Ben-Haim and Makineni are analogous art because they both disclose packet coalescing.
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the date the current invention was effectively filed to have modified the teachings of Ben-Haim’s packet coalescing by the system of Makineni’s signal to initiate packet coalescing. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to incorporate the teachings with one another in order to configure the number of packets or period of time to coalesce packets.
While Ben-Haim discloses sending a second notification, Ben-Haim and Makineni do not disclose, however, Cornett discloses a second notification for updated packet coalescing instructions for updating a buffering scheme in response to the observed status ([0042], Buffer management module allocates available buffer in the Receive Buffer Queue. Subsequent packets are received by the NIC marked for coalescing. The buffer management module compares remaining space, and if needed, allocates another buffer assigned on the Receive Buffer Queue. For each subsequent packet received, the DMA controller appends the packet data and updates the header for the coalesced packet in the flow context assigned to the receive queue).
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the date the current invention was effectively filed to have modified the teachings of Ben-Haim and Makineni’s packet coalescing by the system of Cornett’s ability to update the Receive Buffer Queue. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to incorporate the teachings with one another in order to update the buffer to receive coalesce packets.
Ben-Haim, Makineni, and Cornett do not disclose, however, Musumeci discloses indicating that an observed idle duration is below a desired idle duration ([0086]-[0087], interrupt coalescing parameter maybe dynamically adjusted based on the proportion of time the processor is idle. As the processor’s idle time increases, the coalescing parameter may be adjusted to reduce the interrupt-processing burden).
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the date the current invention was effectively filed to have modified the teachings of Ben-Haim and Makineni and Cornett’s packet coalescing by the system of Musumeci’s dynamic tuning of the interrupt coalescing behavior of a communication interface. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to incorporate the teachings with one another in order to update parameters to adjust coalesce packets on how many packets the interface may accumulate.
With respect to claim 2, Ben-Haim discloses wherein the trigger condition corresponds to a power management policy ([0155],[0158], coalescing filter allows or reduces unnecessary wake ups of a device from a power save state. Device may initiate the offloading of the packet coalescing as part of a power state change).
With respect to claim 3, Ben-Haim discloses wherein the power management policy corresponds to at least one of a low power mode, a battery power mode, a power consumption based on a current workload, or a low input/output (I/O) activity ([0153]-[0155],[0158], optimizing power consumption, eg. Longer battery life, upon reception and/or processing Rx packets. Device may initiate the offloading of the packet coalescing as part of a power state change).
With respect to claim 4, Ben-Haim discloses wherein the controller is further configured to report, based on the observed status, a packet coalescing performance ([0119] coalescing time threshold).
With respect to claim 6, Ben-Haim discloses wherein the observed idle duration corresponds to an amount of time the endpoint device has stored packets in a buffer of the endpoint device ([0195]-[0196], controlling to process buffered packets for transmission to the wireless station. Tx filter is configured to buffer a plurality of packets during a time period limited by the coalescing time threshold).
With respect to claim 7, Ben-Haim discloses wherein the controller is further configured to report the packet coalescing performance by analyzing whether the observed idle duration achieved a desired idle duration ([0195]-[0196], controlling to process buffered packets for transmission to the wireless station during a time period limited by the coalescing time threshold).
With respect to claim 8, Ben-Haim discloses wherein the controller is further configured to report the packet coalescing performance to the endpoint device to provide feedback on the packet coalescing ([0195]-[0196], Trigger wireless network to process buffered packets for transmission).
With respect to claim 9, Ben-Haim discloses wherein the notification includes a type of packet traffic to coalesce ([0169], a notification including Tx packet coalescing information for packet coalescing at the second wireless station. The Tx packet coalescing information may include packet type information.)
With respect to claim 12, Ben-Haim discloses wherein the endpoint device stores the status in a register ([0251]-[0253], power state indicator set to “0” or “1”) .
With respect to claim 21, Ben-Haim does not specifically disclose, however Makineni discloses wherein the endpoint device is configured to initiate the packet coalescing in response to reading the notification from the notification register ([0022]-[0025], the controller includes the register which enable a driver to enable or disable coalescing. The payloads of the packet in the same flow may generate an interrupt to initiate processing of the coalesced packet). One of ordinary level of skill in the art would have been compelled to incorporate Ben-Haim’s coalescing packet with Makineni for the same reasons identified in the rejection of claim 1.
With respect to claims 13-20, they are of similar claims to 1, 6-8 and therefore are rejected for the same reasons above.
Claim 10 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ben-Haim and in view of Makineni and in view of Cornett and in view of Musumeci and in view of Srinivasan (US 2023/0179497, hereinafter Srinivasan).
With respect to claim 10, Ben-Haim, Makineni, Cornett, and Musumeci does not disclose however Srinivasan discloses wherein the type of packet traffic corresponds to bulk traffic or isochronous traffic ([0034], packet coalescing achieved through bulk transfer). Ben-Haim, Makineni, Cornett, Musumeci and Srinivasan are analogous art because they disclose packet coalescing.
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the date the current invention was effectively filed to have modified the teachings of Ben-Haim Makineni, Cornett and Musumeci’s packet coalescing transmitting by the system of Srinivasan’s packet coalescing transfer through bulk transfer. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to incorporate the teachings with one another in order to send packets in bulk.
Claim 22 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ben-Haim and in view of Makineni and in view of Cornett and in view of Musumeci and in view of Karighattam (US 7,958,255).
With respect to claim 22, Ben-Haim, Makineni, Cornett, and Musumeci does not disclose however Karighattam discloses wherein updating the buffering scheme includes allocating a larger buffer for packet coalescing (col. 3, lines 15-26, present invention analyzes packets and determines whether coalescing of the packets would facilitate processing and can coalesce the packets into larger contiguous buffers that improve throughput). Ben-Haim, Makineni, Cornett, Musumeci and Karighattam are analogous art because they disclose packet coalescing.
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the date the current invention was effectively filed to have modified the teachings of Ben-Haim Makineni, Cornett and Musumeci’s packet coalescing transmitting by the system of Karighattam’s coalescing the packets into larger contiguous buffers. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to incorporate the teachings with one another in order to improve throughput with the larger contiguous buffers.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to HO T SHIU whose telephone number is (571)270-3810. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri (9:00am - 5:00pm).
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/HO T SHIU/Examiner, Art Unit 2443
HO T. SHIU
Examiner
Art Unit 2443
/NICHOLAS R TAYLOR/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2443