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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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.
Claim(s) 1-18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Wen(US 2020/0252150).
Regarding claim 1, Wen discloses a time synchronization method, executed by a time synchronization device(Figure 8, CDC node 800) coupling a plurality of time synchronization domains(Figure 8, Paragraph 68, PTP domains), the time synchronization method comprising: instantiating a plurality of precision time protocol (PTP) instances corresponding to the plurality of time synchronization domains(Paragraph 100, enable respective PTP sessions 812, 822, 832 and 842 with four PTP domains 810, 820, 830 and 840 through corresponding PTP ports 811, 821, 831 and 841. Thus, the CDC node 800 may connect to four clock domains); determining a grandmaster clock and synchronizing, by the plurality of PTP instances, timings of the plurality of time synchronization domains according to the grandmaster clock(Paragraphs 99-100, the CDC node 800 may choose a domain with the best clock quality from the attached clock domains to synchronize its local clock 801. For example, the CDC node 800 may choose the PTP domain 810 to synchronize the local clock 801, and get the corresponding timestamp pairs through the PTP port 811. On the other hand, the synchronized time from the local clock 801 may be provided to the PTP ports 811, 821, 831 and 841. The CDC node can be configured as a GMC node).
Regarding claim 2, Wen discloses time synchronization method of claim 1, wherein the step of determining the grandmaster clock comprises: determining a plurality of local best clocks corresponding to the plurality of PTP instances; and determining the grandmaster clock according to the plurality of local best clocks corresponding to the plurality of PTP instances(Paragraph 57, a root network node with the best clock quality in a timing domain such as a PTP domain can provide a master clock such as GMC for synchronization of other network nodes within the timing domain. A cross domain network node attached to this timing domain and one or more other timing domains may report clock quality of the one or more other timing domains to the root network node providing the master clock. Through clock quality comparison across timing domains, the clock synchronization can be performed across different timing domains).
Regarding claim 3, Wen discloses time synchronization method of claim 2, wherein the step of determine the plurality of local best clocks corresponding to the plurality of PTP instances is determining a best clock of each time synchronization domain of the plurality of time synchronization domain according to a best master clock algorithm (BMCA) so as to determining the plurality of local best clocks corresponding to the plurality of PTP instances(Paragraph 44, By running a distributed algorithm, such as the best master clock algorithm (BMCA), each clock in the network identifies the highest quality clock, such as a clock with the best set of characteristics. The highest quality clock may be called as the grand master clock (GMC), and synchronize all other slave clocks).
Regarding claim 4, Wen discloses time synchronization method of claim 2, wherein the step of determining the grandmaster clock according to the plurality of local best clocks corresponding to the plurality of PTP instances is continuously comparing any two local best clocks among the plurality of local best clocks until one of the local best clocks is the best, and deciding the one of the local best clocks as the grandmaster clock(Paragraph 44, If the GMC is removed from the network, or if its characteristics change in a way such that it is no longer the best quality clock, the BMCA can provide a way for the participating clocks to automatically determine the current best quality clock, which may become the new GMC. The BMCA can provide a fault tolerant and administrative free way of determining the clock used as the timing source for the entire network).
Regarding claim 5, Wen discloses time synchronization method of claim 4, wherein the step of continuously comparing any two local best clocks among the plurality of local best clocks comprises not repetitively comparing any two local best clocks of the plurality of local best clocks(Paragraph 44, If the GMC is removed from the network, or if its characteristics change in a way such that it is no longer the best quality clock, the BMCA can provide a way for the participating clocks to automatically determine the current best quality clock, which may become the new GMC. The BMCA can provide a fault tolerant and administrative free way of determining the clock used as the timing source for the entire network).
Regarding claim 6, Wen discloses time synchronization method of claim 4, wherein the step of continuously comparing any two local best clocks among the plurality of local best clocks is continuously comparing priority vectors of any two local best clocks of the plurality of local best clocks(Paragraph 44, If the GMC is removed from the network, or if its characteristics change in a way such that it is no longer the best quality clock, the BMCA can provide a way for the participating clocks to automatically determine the current best quality clock, which may become the new GMC. The BMCA can provide a fault tolerant and administrative free way of determining the clock used as the timing source for the entire network).
Regarding claim 7, Wen discloses time synchronization method of claim 2, further comprising executing the following steps when a PTP instance of the plurality of PTP instances receives an announce message from a first clock of a corresponding time synchronization domain: comparing the first clock with a local best clock corresponding to the PTP instance; replacing the local best clock corresponding to the PTP instance with the first clock in response to the first clock being better than the local best clock corresponding to the PTP instance; comparing the local best clock updated by the first clock with the grandmaster clock; replacing the grandmaster clock with the local best clock updated by the first clock in response to the local best clock updated by the first clock being better than the grandmaster clock; and notifying the plurality of PTP instances to synchronize the time of the plurality of time synchronization domains according to the updated grandmaster clock(Paragraph 62, For example, if the domain 320 has better clock quality than the local timing source of the GMC 311, then the GMC 311 may ask the CDC 325 attached to the domain 320 to provide timing information comprising at least timestamp information of the GMC 321, for example, by a process of remote timing sensing as illustrated later in FIG. 6(a)-FIG. 7. With the provided timing information of the domain 320, the GMC 311 can tune its clock and distribute synchronization information within the domain 310, without reversing the master slave roles on the timing tree in the domain 310. Correspondingly, the GMC 311 may update its clock quality with the clock quality of the GMC 321, and optionally a hop count between the GMC 311 and the GMC 321)
Regarding claim 8, Wen discloses time synchronization method of claim 1, further comprising executing the following steps when a PTP instance of the plurality of PTP instances receives an announce message from a first clock of a corresponding time synchronization domain: comparing the first clock with the grandmaster clock; replacing the grandmaster clock with the first clock in response to the first clock being better than the grandmaster clock; and notifying the plurality of PTP instances to synchronize the time of the plurality of time synchronization domains according to the updated grandmaster clock(Paragraph 62, For example, if the domain 320 has better clock quality than the local timing source of the GMC 311, then the GMC 311 may ask the CDC 325 attached to the domain 320 to provide timing information comprising at least timestamp information of the GMC 321, for example, by a process of remote timing sensing as illustrated later in FIG. 6(a)-FIG. 7. With the provided timing information of the domain 320, the GMC 311 can tune its clock and distribute synchronization information within the domain 310, without reversing the master slave roles on the timing tree in the domain 310. Correspondingly, the GMC 311 may update its clock quality with the clock quality of the GMC 321, and optionally a hop count between the GMC 311 and the GMC 321)
Regarding claim 9, Wen discloses time synchronization method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of time synchronization domains use different types of PTP profiles(Paragraph 94, In the exemplary embodiment shown in FIGS. 6(a)-(c), a GMC 611 and a BC 612 are located in a PTP domain 610, a GMC 621 and a BC 622 are located in a PTP domain 620, and a CDC 623 is attached to the PTP domains 610 and 620).
Regarding claim 10, Wen discloses time synchronization device(Figure 8, CDC node 800), used for coupling to a plurality of time synchronization domains(Figure 8, Paragraph 68, PTP domains), comprising: a processing unit, configured to execute a program code; and a storage unit, coupled to the processing unit, configured to store the program code to instruct the processing unit to execute a time synchronization method, wherein the time synchronization method comprises: instantiating a plurality of precision time protocol instances (PTP instances) corresponding to the plurality of time synchronization domains(Paragraph 100, enable respective PTP sessions 812, 822, 832 and 842 with four PTP domains 810, 820, 830 and 840 through corresponding PTP ports 811, 821, 831 and 841. Thus, the CDC node 800 may connect to four clock domains); determining a grandmaster clock; and synchronizing, by the plurality of PTP instances, timings of the plurality of time synchronization domains according to the grandmaster clock(Paragraph 100, the CDC node 800 may choose a domain with the best clock quality from the attached clock domains to synchronize its local clock 801. For example, the CDC node 800 may choose the PTP domain 810 to synchronize the local clock 801, and get the corresponding timestamp pairs through the PTP port 811. On the other hand, the synchronized time from the local clock 801 may be provided to the PTP ports 811, 821, 831 and 841).
Regarding claim 11, Wen discloses time synchronization device of claim 10, wherein the step of determining the grandmaster clock comprises: determining a plurality of local best clocks corresponding to the plurality of PTP instances; and determining the grandmaster clock according to the plurality of local best clocks corresponding to the plurality of PTP instances(Paragraphs 57-58 and 61, a root network node with the best clock quality in a timing domain such as a PTP domain can provide a master clock such as GMC for synchronization of other network nodes within the timing domain. A cross domain network node attached to this timing domain and one or more other timing domains may report clock quality of the one or more other timing domains to the root network node providing the master clock. Through clock quality comparison across timing domains, the clock synchronization can be performed across different timing domains. The GMC such as GMC 311 or GMC 321 may be elected in a selection process of the best master clock, and a timing tree may be built for the frequency/time distribution within a timing domain. The GMC 311 may be synchronized to the GMC in the selected adjacent domain).
Regarding claim 12, Wen discloses time synchronization device of claim 11, wherein the step of determine the plurality of local best clocks corresponding to the plurality of PTP instances is determining a best clock of each time synchronization domain of the plurality of time synchronization domain according to a best master clock algorithm (BMCA) so as to determining the plurality of local best clocks corresponding to the plurality of PTP instances(Paragraph 44, By running a distributed algorithm, such as the best master clock algorithm (BMCA), each clock in the network identifies the highest quality clock, such as a clock with the best set of characteristics. The highest quality clock may be called as the grand master clock (GMC), and synchronize all other slave clocks).
Regarding claim 13, Wen discloses time synchronization device of claim 11, wherein the step of determining the grandmaster clock according to the plurality of local best clocks corresponding to the plurality of PTP instances is continuously comparing any two local best clocks among the plurality of local best clocks until one of the local best clocks is the best, and deciding the one of the local best clocks as the grandmaster clock(Paragraph 44, If the GMC is removed from the network, or if its characteristics change in a way such that it is no longer the best quality clock, the BMCA can provide a way for the participating clocks to automatically determine the current best quality clock, which may become the new GMC. The BMCA can provide a fault tolerant and administrative free way of determining the clock used as the timing source for the entire network).
Regarding claim 14, Wen discloses time synchronization device of claim 13, wherein the step of continuously comparing any two local best clocks among the plurality of local best clocks comprises not repetitively comparing any two local best clocks of the plurality of local best clocks(Paragraph 44, If the GMC is removed from the network, or if its characteristics change in a way such that it is no longer the best quality clock, the BMCA can provide a way for the participating clocks to automatically determine the current best quality clock, which may become the new GMC. The BMCA can provide a fault tolerant and administrative free way of determining the clock used as the timing source for the entire network).
Regarding claim 15, Wen discloses time synchronization device of claim 13, wherein the step of continuously comparing any two local best clocks among the plurality of local best clocks is continuously comparing priority vectors of any two local best clocks of the plurality of local best clocks(Paragraph 44, If the GMC is removed from the network, or if its characteristics change in a way such that it is no longer the best quality clock, the BMCA can provide a way for the participating clocks to automatically determine the current best quality clock, which may become the new GMC. The BMCA can provide a fault tolerant and administrative free way of determining the clock used as the timing source for the entire network).
Regarding claim 16, Wen discloses time synchronization device of claim 11, further comprising executing the following steps when a PTP instance of the plurality of PTP instances receives an announce message from a first clock of a corresponding time synchronization domain: comparing the first clock with a local best clock corresponding to the PTP instance; replacing the local best clock corresponding to the PTP instance with the first clock in response to the first clock being better than the local best clock corresponding to the PTP instance; comparing the local best clock updated by the first clock with the grandmaster clock; replacing the grandmaster clock with the local best clock updated by the first clock in response to the local best clock updated by the first clock being better than the grandmaster clock; and notifying the plurality of PTP instances to synchronize the time of the plurality of time synchronization domains according to the updated grandmaster clock(Paragraph 62, For example, if the domain 320 has better clock quality than the local timing source of the GMC 311, then the GMC 311 may ask the CDC 325 attached to the domain 320 to provide timing information comprising at least timestamp information of the GMC 321, for example, by a process of remote timing sensing as illustrated later in FIG. 6(a)-FIG. 7. With the provided timing information of the domain 320, the GMC 311 can tune its clock and distribute synchronization information within the domain 310, without reversing the master slave roles on the timing tree in the domain 310. Correspondingly, the GMC 311 may update its clock quality with the clock quality of the GMC 321, and optionally a hop count between the GMC 311 and the GMC 321)
Regarding claim 17, Wen discloses time synchronization device of claim 10, further comprising executing the following steps when a PTP instance of the plurality of PTP instances receives an announce message from a first clock of a corresponding time synchronization domain: comparing the first clock with the grandmaster clock; replacing the grandmaster clock with the first clock in response to the first clock being better than the grandmaster clock; and notifying the plurality of PTP instances to synchronize the time of the plurality of time synchronization domains according to the updated grandmaster clock(Paragraph 62, For example, if the domain 320 has better clock quality than the local timing source of the GMC 311, then the GMC 311 may ask the CDC 325 attached to the domain 320 to provide timing information comprising at least timestamp information of the GMC 321, for example, by a process of remote timing sensing as illustrated later in FIG. 6(a)-FIG. 7. With the provided timing information of the domain 320, the GMC 311 can tune its clock and distribute synchronization information within the domain 310, without reversing the master slave roles on the timing tree in the domain 310. Correspondingly, the GMC 311 may update its clock quality with the clock quality of the GMC 321, and optionally a hop count between the GMC 311 and the GMC 321)
Regarding claim 18, Wen discloses time synchronization device of claim 10, wherein the plurality of time synchronization domains use different types of PTP profiles(Paragraph 94, In the exemplary embodiment shown in FIGS. 6(a)-(c), a GMC 611 and a BC 612 are located in a PTP domain 610, a GMC 621 and a BC 622 are located in a PTP domain 620, and a CDC 623 is attached to the PTP domains 610 and 620).
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. Applicant argues that Wen does not teach the claim PTP instance. However, under BRI, Wen’s PTP session is considered an instance. Each domain enables respective PTP sessions 812, 822, 832 and 842 with four PTP domains 810, 820, 830 and 840 through corresponding PTP ports 811, 821, 831 and 841. Thus, the CDC node 800 may connect to four clock domains(Paragraph 100). Under BRI, this is considered as PTP instance. It is important to note that Applicant’s arguments point to features that are not claimed, such as each PTP instance includes an independent state machine, a complete dataset, and independent clock properties. The plurality of PTP instances are not limited to operating solely in a slave role. Rather, each PTP instance may function as either a master or a slave and may actively trigger Master/Slave role transitions within its respective domain.
Applicant’ further argues determining a grandmaster clock and synchronizing, by the PTP instances, timings of the plurality of time synchronizations. However, Wen does disclose determining a grandmaster clock and synchronizing, by the plurality of PTP instances, timings of the plurality of time synchronization domains according to the grandmaster clock(Paragraphs 100, the CDC node 800 may choose a domain with the best clock quality from the attached clock domains to synchronize its local clock 801. For example, the CDC node 800 may choose the PTP domain 810 to synchronize the local clock 801, and get the corresponding timestamp pairs through the PTP port 811. On the other hand, the synchronized time from the local clock 801 may be provided to the PTP ports 811, 821, 831 and 841. The CDC node can be configured as a GMC node). Again, Applicant argues features that are not claimed, such as each PTP instance in the instant application includes an independent state machine, a complete dataset, and independent clock properties, and is capable of operating as either a master or a slave. Through these instantiated PTP instances, the claimed time synchronization device actively synchronizes the respective domains according to the determined grandmaster clock and may effect Master/Slave role transitions within those domains.
Thus, Applicant’s arguments are not found persuasive.
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.
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/NIMESH G PATEL/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2187
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