Prosecution Insights
Last updated: May 29, 2026
Application No. 18/256,675

LOAD BALANCING IN A SYSTEM

Final Rejection §103
Filed
Jun 09, 2023
Priority
Dec 14, 2020 — nonprovisional of PCTEP2020086025
Examiner
VINCENT, ROSS MICHAEL
Art Unit
2196
Tech Center
2100 — Computer Architecture & Software
Assignee
Telefonaktiebolaget Lm Ericsson (Publ)
OA Round
2 (Final)
56%
Grant Probability
Moderate
3-4
OA Rounds
5m
Est. Remaining
86%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 56% of resolved cases
56%
Career Allowance Rate
13 granted / 23 resolved
+1.5% vs TC avg
Strong +29% interview lift
Without
With
+29.2%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
3y 5m
Avg Prosecution
17 currently pending
Career history
54
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
1.6%
-38.4% vs TC avg
§103
96.8%
+56.8% vs TC avg
§112
1.6%
-38.4% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 23 resolved cases

Office Action

§103
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 . No claims have been amended. No new claims have been added. No claims have been canceled. Claims 1-20 are currently pending for examination. Response to Arguments As per applicant’s remarks, pgs.2-4, regarding the rejection of the limitation of “A method performed by an entity for load balancing in a system comprising a function-as-a-service (FaaS) system and a container-as-a-service (CaaS) system, wherein the FaaS system runs a plurality of software functions” under Thoemmes in view of Jiang, the examiner has carefully considered these arguments and respectfully disagrees. Although the system of Thoemmes does not explicitly disclose a single entity “containing both a FaaS and CaaS system”, it would have been reasonable to combine the load balancing system of Thoemmes with that of Jiang in order to provide the distributed computing load balancing system with a higher access speed between processes (Jiang, [0037]). This motivation is cited as an advantage of the present invention as well. Thoemmes and Jiang are both lie within the same field of endeavor – load balancing for a distributed computing service – and are pertinent to the applicant’s stated problem of adaptive load balancing between containers and functions. They are both pertinent as they disclose monitoring of resource consumption, altering a container based load balancing configuration, and orchestration of a system comprising functions and containers. While the cited advantage of Jiang’s disclosure may be the increase of access speeds between containers, Jiang explicitly discloses the cooperative use of multiple load balancers (Jiang, [0014]). One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to combine Jiang with Thoemmes in order to provide the system with the ability to coordinate multiple load balancers for containers, or containers containing functions (functions). This rationale is grounded in the references own teachings rather than in Applicant’s claim language, and the resulting system combines known techniques in a predictable manner. Accordingly, it is maintained that Thoemmes in view of Jian discloses a single entity comprising a CaaS and FaaS system which provides load balancing between the systems. Thus, the rejection of the instant application under 35 USC 103 is maintained. 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, 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, 6, 7, and 14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Thoemmes (US 20220027203 A1) in view of Jiang (US20190272205A1). As per claim 1, Thoemmes discloses: A method performed by an entity for load balancing in a system comprising a function-as-a-service, FaaS, (FaaS) system and a container- as-a-service, CaaS, (CaaS) system, wherein the FaaS system runs a plurality of software functions ("The function management module 125 may also be in communication with a load balancer associated with the FaaS system 130. In one example, the function management module 125 may monitor resource consumption of runtime containers executing one of the functions 135A-N on the FaaS system 130. The function management module 125 may determine whether one or more additional function instances can be executed within the runtime container in view of the resource consumption.", 0017) each software container of the plurality of software containers is associated with a respective software function of the plurality of software functions (“the function management module 125 may monitor resource consumption of runtime containers executing one of the functions 135A-N on the FaaS system 130.", 0017 ; see figure 1) Thoemmes discloses the above limitations of claim 1, but does not disclose a CaaS system, or coordinating the first and second load balancing configurations. However, Jiang discloses: a container- as-a-service, CaaS, (CaaS) system…the CaaS system runs a plurality of software containers (“The transceiver 206 is configured to receive a container deployment message, where the container deployment message includes container image information and association information of a container. The processor 202 is configured to: create, based on the container image information, a container for a first service, and a first network namespace and a first interprocess communication IPC namespace that are corresponding to the container for the first service create a first load balancing container corresponding to the container for the first service, and set a running parameter of the first load balancing container to a parameter of the first network namespace, where the running parameter is used by the first load balancing container to share the first network namespace during running; ”, 0046-0048) the method comprises: in response to a change in a first load balancing configuration of the plurality of software containers and/or a second load balancing configuration of the plurality of software functions: coordinating the first load balancing configuration and the second load balancing configuration such that, following the change, each execution instance of one or more of the plurality software functions is subject to the same load balancing configuration as each instance of one or more of the plurality of software containers with which the one or more of the plurality of software functions is associated. ("The network device has created and run a container for a second service and a corresponding second load balancing container, and the container for the second service has a corresponding second network namespace and a second IPC namespace.", 0014 ; "When the network device 200 has created the container for the second service, and determines, based on the received container deployment message, that the container for the first service is associated with the container for the second service, the network device 200 sets the starting parameter of the first load balancing container to the parameter of the second IPC namespace corresponding to the container for the second service, so that when the first load balancing container is started, the first load balancing container may access the container for the second service by using the IPC interface of the second IPC namespace, so as to increase an access speed between containers while ensuring isolation between containers on a same host.", 0051 ; Examiner Note: the second service being created equates to the change which leads to the coordination of the load balancing parameters, or configuration.) Thoemmes discloses an FaaS system (0017), and Jiang discloses the coordination of two load balancing services (0051). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date to combine the teachings of Thoemmes with those of Jiang in order to provide the system with a means for achieving extremely high speeds of access between processes (Jiang, [0037]). As per claim 6, Thoemmes in view of Jiang fully discloses the limitations of claim 1. Furthermore, Jiang discloses: acquiring information indicative of the association of each software container of the plurality of software containers with the respective software function of the plurality of software functions. (“The transceiver 206 is configured to receive a container deployment message, where the container deployment message includes container image information and association information of a container.”, 0046) The combination of Thoemmes in view of Jiang would provide a system which receives/acquires the association information between the respective software containers and software functions. As per claim 7, Thoemmes in view of Jiang fully discloses the limitations of claim 1. Furthermore, Jiang discloses: in response to a change in the first load balancing configuration, coordinating the first load balancing configuration and the second load balancing configuration comprises: generating an updated second load balancing configuration such that, following the change, each execution instance of one or more of the plurality of software functions is subject to the same load balancing configuration as each instance of one or more of the plurality of software containers with which the one or more of the plurality of software functions is associated ("The network device has created and run a container for a second service and a corresponding second load balancing container, and the container for the second service has a corresponding second network namespace and a second IPC namespace.", 0014 ; "When the network device 200 has created the container for the second service, and determines, based on the received container deployment message, that the container for the first service is associated with the container for the second service, the network device 200 sets the starting parameter of the first load balancing container to the parameter of the second IPC namespace corresponding to the container for the second service, so that when the first load balancing container is started, the first load balancing container may access the container for the second service by using the IPC interface of the second IPC namespace, so as to increase an access speed between containers while ensuring isolation between containers on a same host.", 0051 ; Examiner Note: the second service being created equates to the change which leads to the coordination of the load balancing parameters, or configuration. Setting the starting parameter equates to generating an updated load balancing configuration) Furthermore; Thoemmes discloses: " the function management module 125 may monitor resource consumption of runtime containers executing one of the functions 135A-N on the FaaS system 130.", 0017. As per claim 14, Thoemmes in view of Jiang fully discloses the limitations of claim 1. Furthermore, Jiang discloses: in response to a change in the second load balancing configuration, coordinating the first load balancing configuration and the second load balancing configuration comprises: generating an updated first load balancing configuration such that, following the change, each execution instance of one or more of the plurality of software function is subject to the same load balancing configuration as each instance of one or more of the plurality of software containers with which the one or more of the plurality of software functions is associated. ("The network device has created and run a container for a second service and a corresponding second load balancing container, and the container for the second service has a corresponding second network namespace and a second IPC namespace.", 0014 ; "When the network device 200 has created the container for the second service, and determines, based on the received container deployment message, that the container for the first service is associated with the container for the second service, the network device 200 sets the starting parameter of the first load balancing container to the parameter of the second IPC namespace corresponding to the container for the second service, so that when the first load balancing container is started, the first load balancing container may access the container for the second service by using the IPC interface of the second IPC namespace, so as to increase an access speed between containers while ensuring isolation between containers on a same host.", 0051 ; Examiner Note: the second service being created equates to the change which leads to the coordination of the load balancing parameters, or configuration. Setting the starting parameter equates to generating an updated load balancing configuration) Furthermore, Thoemmes discloses: " the function management module 125 may monitor resource consumption of runtime containers executing one of the functions 135A-N on the FaaS system 130.", 0017. Claims 2-4 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Thoemmes (US 20220027203 A1) in view of Jiang (US20190272205A1) in further view of Gero (US 20230161603 A1). As per claim 2, Thoemmes in view of Jiang fully discloses the limitations of claim 1, but does not disclose constraints of software functions and containers. However, Gero discloses: each software container is associated with a respective software function by having one or more common constraints (“Affinity groups have a scope attribute that defines the required proximity of worker nodes that an affinity group states as orchestration constraints. For example, the scope of an affinity group may be a worker node, i.e. the scope of an affinity group may be that all VNFs of the affinity group are initiated on the same worker node (which may be selected by the orchestration system).", 0002 ; "Functions may be (and typically are) deployed as containers via a container orchestration system, which may support affinity groups. As a result, containers that include functions may be co-located with other containers, e.g. in Kubeless.", 0008 ; Examiner Note: a VNF with an orchestration constraint that requires it to be on the same location as a container which is in an affinity group necessitating its co-location with a container running the function equates to a software container sharing a constraint with a software function) It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date, to combine the teachings of Thoemmes and Jiang with those of Gero in order to provide the system with the ability to deploy mixed function and container based software (Gero, [0011]). As per claim 3, Thoemmes in view of Jiang in further view of Gero fully discloses the limitations of claim 2. Furthermore, Gero discloses: the one or more common constraints comprises a constraint that the software container is co-located with the respective software function. ("Affinity groups have a scope attribute that defines the required proximity of worker nodes that an affinity group states as orchestration constraints. For example, the scope of an affinity group may be a worker node, i.e. the scope of an affinity group may be that all VNFs of the affinity group are initiated on the same worker node (which may be selected by the orchestration system).", 0002 ; "Functions may be (and typically are) deployed as containers via a container orchestration system, which may support affinity groups. As a result, containers that include functions may be co-located with other containers, e.g. in Kubeless.", 0008 ; Examiner Note: an orchestration constraint that a VNF must be located on the same node as another VNF which is necessarily running in another container equates to an orchestration constraint that a software container must be co-located with a software container) As per claim 4, Thoemmes in view of Jiang in further view of Gero fully discloses the limitations of claim 3. Furthermore, Gero discloses: the software container and the respective software function are co-located at the same node or site ("Functions may be (and typically are) deployed as containers via a container orchestration system, which may support affinity groups. As a result, containers that include functions may be co-located with other containers, e.g. in Kubeless.", 0008) Claim 5 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Thoemmes (US 20220027203 A1) in view of Jiang (US20190272205A1) in further view of Gero (US 20230161603 A1) in further view of Makhervaks (US 20160072817 A1). As per claim 5, Thoemmes in view of Jiang in further view of Gero fully discloses the limitations of claim 2, but does not disclose the sharing of a database shard between container and function. However, Makhervaks discloses: the one or more common constraints comprises a constraint that the software container uses the same database shard as the respective software function ("Note that multiple VMs may be granted access to the each specific database service, and that a single VM may be granted access to multiple database services. The access granted is completely granular as per the ACL table and can be configured as necessary to isolate VMs associated with particular tenants from database services associated with other tenants or to share particular database services between VMs of different tenants as necessary or desirable for the particular service", 0074; Examiner Note: a first VM of multiple VMs equates to a software container, and software running on a second VM of multiple VMs equates to a software function) The combination of Thoemmes in view of Jiang in further view of Gero in further view of Makhervaks would provide a system which possessed constraints that a software container uses the same database shard as a software function with which it is associated. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date, to combine the teachings of Thoemmes in view of Jiang in further view of Gero with those of Makhervaks in order to provide a security solution that ensures the security of data in a multitenant environment (Makhervaks, [0011]). Claims 8, 9, 15, and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Thoemmes (US 20220027203 A1) in view of Jiang (US20190272205A1) in further view of Foreman (US 20210157655 A1) in further view of Anchi (US 20220179804 A1). As per claim 8, Thoemmes in view of Jiang fully discloses the limitations of claim 7, but does not explicitly disclose the identifiers of containers/functions or the replacing of one with the other. However, Foreman discloses: the first load balancing configuration comprises a plurality of identifiers, each of which identifies a software container of the plurality of software containers (“In accordance with aspects of the invention, the individual nodes 105a-n of the cluster perform load balancing of running containers in the cluster based on the tags of the containers and the capabilities of the nodes", 0077) It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date, to combine the teachings of Thoemmes in view of Jiang with those of Foreman in order to provide the advantages of faster addition or removal from the cluster without a central usage policy; multiple, independent department or host-level ownership and control of specific cluster members; sharing resources among member-owners of the cluster hosts; and, optimizing excess resources available among all of the participating organization's assets; thereby reducing costs; and permitting each member of the cluster to prioritize usage for assets it owns and also reduce wasted provisioning (Foreman, [0019]). Thoemmes in view of Jiang in further view of Foreman discloses the above limitations of claim 8, but does not disclose the replacement of identifiers of containers/functions. However, Anchi discloses: generating the updated second load balancing configuration comprises: for each of the plurality of software containers, replacing the identifier that identifies the software container with an identifier that identifies the software function with which the software container is associated. ("In some embodiments, the first version of the host OS data structure comprises a virtual machine file system (VMFS) header or other type of VMFS data structure that includes the first identifier of the logical storage device and the second version of the host OS data structure comprises the VMFS header or other VMFS data structure updated to replace the first identifier of the logical storage device with the second identifier of the logical storage device.", 0113) The system of Thoemmes in view of Jiang in further view of Foreman in further view of Anchi would be capable of replacing the identifier of a container with the identifier of a function with which it is associated. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date, to combine the teachings of Thoemmes in view of Jiang in further view of Foreman with those of Anchi in order to provide the system with the ability to configure a multi-path layer of one or more host devices to include efficient load balancing functionality (Anchi, [0129]). As per claim 9, Thoemmes in view of Jiang in further view of Foreman in further view of Anchi fully discloses the limitations of claim 8, but does not explicitly disclose the identifiers of containers/functions or the replacing of one with the other. Furthermore, Jiang discloses: generating the updated second load balancing configuration comprises: creating a copy of the first load balancing configuration, ("When the network device 200 has created the container for the second service, and determines, based on the received container deployment message, that the container for the first service is associated with the container for the second service, the network device 200 sets the starting parameter of the first load balancing container to the parameter of the second IPC namespace corresponding to the container for the second service, so that when the first load balancing container is started, the first load balancing container may access the container for the second service by using the IPC interface of the second IPC namespace, so as to increase an access speed between containers while ensuring isolation between containers on a same host.", 0051 ; Examiner Note: setting the same starting parameter equates to creating a copy) Jiang may disclose creating a copy of a load balancing configuration, but does not disclose replacing identifiers of containers/functions. However, Anchi discloses: the identifier that identifies the software container is replaced in the copy of the first load balancing configuration. ("In some embodiments, the first version of the host OS data structure comprises a virtual machine file system (VMFS) header or other type of VMFS data structure that includes the first identifier of the logical storage device and the second version of the host OS data structure comprises the VMFS header or other VMFS data structure updated to replace the first identifier of the logical storage device with the second identifier of the logical storage device.", 0113) As per claim 15, Thoemmes in view of Jiang fully discloses the limitations of claim 14, but does not explicitly disclose the identifiers of containers/functions or the replacing of one with the other. However, Foreman discloses: the second load balancing configuration comprises a plurality of identifiers, each of which identifies a software function of the plurality of software functions (“In accordance with aspects of the invention, the individual nodes 105a-n of the cluster perform load balancing of running containers in the cluster based on the tags of the containers and the capabilities of the nodes", 0077) The system of Thoemmes in view of Jiang in view of Foreman would comprise a second load balancing configuration comprising the identifiers of the virtual functions within containers. Thoemmes in view of Jiang in further view of Foreman discloses the above limitations of claim 15, but does not disclose the replacement of identifiers of containers/functions. However, Anchi discloses: generating the updated first load balancing configuration comprises: for each of the plurality of software functions, replacing the identifier that identifies the software function with an identifier that identifies the software container with which the software function is associated ("In some embodiments, the first version of the host OS data structure comprises a virtual machine file system (VMFS) header or other type of VMFS data structure that includes the first identifier of the logical storage device and the second version of the host OS data structure comprises the VMFS header or other VMFS data structure updated to replace the first identifier of the logical storage device with the second identifier of the logical storage device.", 0113) As per claim 16, Thoemmes in view of Jiang in further view of Foreman in further view of Anchi fully discloses the limitations of claim 15. Furthermore, Jiang discloses: generating the updated first load balancing configuration comprises: creating a copy of the second load balancing configuration, ("When the network device 200 has created the container for the second service, and determines, based on the received container deployment message, that the container for the first service is associated with the container for the second service, the network device 200 sets the starting parameter of the first load balancing container to the parameter of the second IPC namespace corresponding to the container for the second service, so that when the first load balancing container is started, the first load balancing container may access the container for the second service by using the IPC interface of the second IPC namespace, so as to increase an access speed between containers while ensuring isolation between containers on a same host.", 0051 ; Examiner Note: setting the same starting parameter equates to creating a copy) Jiang may disclose creating a copy of a load balancing configuration, but does not disclose replacing identifiers of containers/functions. Furthermore, Anchi discloses: the identifier that identifies the software function is replaced in the copy of the second load balancing configuration. ("In some embodiments, the first version of the host OS data structure comprises a virtual machine file system (VMFS) header or other type of VMFS data structure that includes the first identifier of the logical storage device and the second version of the host OS data structure comprises the VMFS header or other VMFS data structure updated to replace the first identifier of the logical storage device with the second identifier of the logical storage device.", 0113) Claims 10 and 17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Thoemmes (US 20220027203 A1) in view of Jiang (US20190272205A1) in further view of Foreman (US 20210157655 A1) in further view of Anchi (US 20220179804 A1) in further view of Knotwell (US 20210058388 A1). As per claim 10, Thoemmes in view of Jiang in further view of Foreman in further view of Anchi fully discloses the limitations of claim 9, but does not disclose the acquisition of identifiers of software functions. However, Knotwell discloses: for each of the plurality of software functions, acquiring the identifier that identifies the software function ("In one embodiment, the unique identifier of the virtual function allocated to the guest VM that was torn down is retrieved from local storage (for example, by looking up the identifier of the virtual function associated with the identifier of the guest VM that was torn down) by allocation method 1067. ", 0202) It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date, to combine the teachings of Thoemmes in view of Jiang in further view of Foreman in further view of Anchi with those of Knotwell in order to provide a system wherein no prior configuration of the hosts is required other than provision of the certificate and an EAPOL/802.1x supplicant module to pass the certificate, which reduces the possibility for error in configuration of the hosts (Knotwell, [0031]). As per claim 17, Thoemmes in view of Jiang in further view of Foreman in further view of Anchi fully discloses the limitations of claim 16, but does not explicitly disclose the acquisition of identifiers of software containers However, Knotwell discloses: for each of the plurality of software containers, acquiring the identifier that identifies the software container ("In one embodiment, the unique identifier of the virtual function allocated to the guest VM that was torn down is retrieved from local storage (for example, by looking up the identifier of the virtual function associated with the identifier of the guest VM that was torn down) by allocation method 1067. ", 0202; Examiner Note: looking up the identifier of the virtual function and associated guest VM equates to acquiring the ID of a software container) Claims 11, 12, 13, 18, and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Thoemmes (US 20220027203 A1) in view of Jiang (US20190272205A1) in further view of Agarwal (US 20170214738 A1). As per claim 11, Thoemmes in view of Jiang fully discloses the limitations of claim 7, but does not disclose the passing of the load balancing configuration to the FaaS node. However, Agarwal discloses: providing the updated second load balancing configuration to a FaaS node, wherein the FaaS node is a node that is configured to perform load balancing in the FaaS system ("In step 2332, the routine accesses layer-7 load-balancing policies and the local copy of the layout, configuration, and performance data in order to determine to which computational node to forward the service-related message.", 0098 ; Examiner Note: the routine, equating to a node, accessing the load balancing configuration equates to being provided with the load balancing configuration) It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date, to combine the teachings of Thoemmes in view of Jiang with those of Agarwal in order to provide an event-record log which can be easily searched, partitioned, and otherwise processed based on event-message types, which produces a significant computational advantage for downstream event-analysis and event-interpretation systems. (Agarwal, [0062]). As per claim 12, Thoemmes in view of Jiang fully discloses the limitations of claim 7, but does not disclose the acquisition of the load balancing configuration from the CaaS node. However, Agarwal discloses: acquiring the first load balancing configuration from a CaaS node, wherein the CaaS node is a node that is configured to perform load balancing in the CaaS system ("In step 2332, the routine accesses layer-7 load-balancing policies and the local copy of the layout, configuration, and performance data in order to determine to which computational node to forward the service-related message.", 0098) The system of Thoemmes in view of Jiang in further view of Agarwal would be capable of acquiring the first load balancing configuration from a CaaS node (Jiang, [0050]) which is configured to perform load balancing. As per claim 13, Thoemmes in view of Jiang in further view of Agarwal fully discloses the limitations of claim 12. Furthermore, Agarwal discloses: acquiring the first load balancing configuration from the CaaS node comprises: reading the first load balancing configuration from the CaaS node receiving the first load balancing configuration from the CaaS node in response to a request for the first load balancing configuration. (“The layer-7 load-balancing subcomponent of computational node 1806 consults the layer-7 load-balancing policies 1832 and stored information 1834 in order to determine to which of the n−1 other nodes to redistribute all or a subset of the queued messages for processing.", 0085 ; Examiner Note: receiving a message which is queued and must be distributed equates to a request for a load balancing configuration) As per claim 18, Thoemmes in view of Jiang fully discloses the limitations of claim 14, but does not disclose the provision of the updated load balancing configuration to a CaaS node. However, Agarwal discloses: providing the updated first load balancing configuration to a CaaS node, wherein the CaaS node is a node that is configured to perform load balancing in the CaaS system. (“In step 2332, the routine accesses layer-7 load-balancing policies and the local copy of the layout, configuration, and performance data in order to determine to which computational node to forward the service-related message.", 0098”) The system of Thoemmes in view of Jiang in further view of Agarwal would be capable of passing the load balancing policies, or configuration, to a CaaS node (Jiang, [0051]) configured to perform load balancing. As per claim 19, Thoemmes in view of Jiang fully discloses the limitations of claim 14, but does not disclose the acquisition of the updated load balancing configuration from a FaaS node. However, Agarwal discloses: acquiring the second load balancing configuration from a FaaS node, wherein the FaaS node is a node that is configured to perform load balancing in the FaaS system. (“In step 2332, the routine accesses layer-7 load-balancing policies and the local copy of the layout, configuration, and performance data in order to determine to which computational node to forward the service-related message.", 0098) The system of Thoemmes in view of Jiang in further view of Agarwal would be capable of acquiring the load balancing policies, or configuration, from an FaaS node (Thoemmes, [0017]) configured to perform load balancing. Claim 20 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Thoemmes (US 20220027203 A1) in view of Jiang (US20190272205A1) in further view of Agarwal (US 20170214738 A1) in further view of Bai (US 8689021 B1). As per claim 20, Thoemmes in view of Jiang in further view of Agarwal fully discloses the limitations of claim 19. Furthermore, Agarwal discloses: acquiring the second load balancing configuration from the FaaS node comprises: reading the second load balancing configuration from the FaaS node; or receiving the second load balancing configuration from the FaaS node in response to a request for the second load balancing configuration (“The layer-7 load-balancing subcomponent of computational node 1806 consults the layer-7 load-balancing policies 1832 and stored information 1834 in order to determine to which of the n−1 other nodes to redistribute all or a subset of the queued messages for processing.", 0085; Examiner Note: receiving a message which is queued and must be distributed equates to receiving a request for a load balancing configuration)) Thoemmes in view of Jiang in further view of Agarwal fully discloses the above limitations of claim 20 but does not disclose the load balancing configuration information being stored in a look up table. However, Bai discloses: the first load balancing configuration and/or the second load balancing configuration is stored in a look-up table. (“Alternative (e.g., if the load balance scenario does not correspond to any of the candidate configurations), the load balance condition can be added as a candidate configuration in the configuration LUT 32.", 0036) It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date, to combine the teachings of Thoemmes in view of Jiang in further view of Agarwal with those of Bai in order to provide the system for a method for configuring processing cores which facilitates the distribution of workloads among the processing cores such that a power consumption of the computing system is reduced (Bai, [advantage]) Conclusion The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Haghighat (US 20210263779 A1) – discloses a system for providing a FaaS system to users which executes functions in response to events triggered by the users in an execution environment provided by the architectural subsystems. Mallick (US 20210216228 A1) – discloses an apparatus which is configured to control delivery of IO operations from a host device to at least first and second storage systems being arranged in an active-active configuration. 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 ROSS MICHAEL VINCENT whose telephone number is (703)756-1408. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri 8:30AM-5:30PM. 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, April Blair can be reached at (571) 270-1014. 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. /R.M.V./ Examiner, Art Unit 2196 /APRIL Y BLAIR/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2196
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Prosecution Timeline

Jun 09, 2023
Application Filed
Dec 11, 2025
Non-Final Rejection mailed — §103
Mar 10, 2026
Response Filed
May 19, 2026
Final Rejection mailed — §103 (current)

Precedent Cases

Applications granted by this same examiner with similar technology

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CROSS-PLATFORM VIRTUAL MACHINE MIGRATION
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2y 8m to grant Granted May 19, 2026
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TIME-BOUND LIVE MIGRATION WITH MINIMAL STOP-AND-COPY
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TASK ALLOCATION METHOD, APPARATUS, ELECTRONIC DEVICE AND COMPUTER-READABLE STORAGE MEDIUM
3y 3m to grant Granted Dec 30, 2025
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Study what changed to get past this examiner. Based on 5 most recent grants.

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Prosecution Projections

3-4
Expected OA Rounds
56%
Grant Probability
86%
With Interview (+29.2%)
3y 5m (~5m remaining)
Median Time to Grant
Moderate
PTA Risk
Based on 23 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allowance rate.

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