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 .
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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) 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.
DETAILED ACTION
This communication is in response to Application No. 18/371,848 filed on 22 September 2023. This application claims provisional 63/522,238 filed on 21 June 2023. The response filed 6 January 2026 cancels claims 17- 20, adds claims 21-24, and presents arguments is hereby acknowledged. Claims 1-16 and 21-24 are presented for examination.
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 1-3, 5-11, 13-16, and 21-23 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US PGPUB 2020/0296012 A1 to Paruchuri et al and in view of US PGPUB 2023/0231798 A1 to Chunduri et al.
Regarding Claim 1, Paruchuri discloses a method performed at least partially by a first node of a network (FIG. 2, SD-WAN Appliance 38 of SD-WAN 37 network), the method comprising: determining that a Two-Way Active Measurement Protocol (TWAMP) probe is to be sent to a second node along an equal-cost multipath (ECMP) route between the first node and the second node (0032, 0042, and 0055 provides for determining a TWAMP measurement is to be sent to a network device along an ECMP route between the SD-WAN appliance 38 and the network device); generating a packet for sending the TWAMP probe to the second node along the ECMP route (0032, 0042, and 0055 provides for generating a synthetic probe for a TWAMP measurement to be sent to the network device along an ECMP route); sending the packet to the second node along the ECMP route (0032, 0042, and 0055 provides for sending the synthetic probe to the network device along an ECMP route); receiving, from the second node, the packet including telemetry data associated with the second node and a midpoint node of the ECMP route (FIG. 2, 0042, and 0055 provides for receiving, from the network deice, the SLA result of the synthetic probe associated with the application server 58 and SD-WAN appliance 56 midpoint node); and determining, based at least in part on the telemetry data, a metric indicative of a performance measurement associated with the ECMP route (0041-0042 and 0061 provides for determining, based at least on the SLA result, the optimal link based on QoE metrics). Paruchuri doesn’t explicitly disclose the packet including first address information associated with the ECMP route and second address information for the packet to be returned to the first node from the second node. Chunduri, in a similar field of endeavor, discloses the packet including first address information associated with the ECMP route and second address information for the packet to be returned to the first node from the second node (0069 and 0111 provides for TWAMP probe packets include first address chip-level statistics for node 108 and second address chip-level statistics for node 110 using header information). One of ordinary skill in the art before the effectively filed date of the claimed invention would have recognized the ability to utilize the teachings of Chunduri for including device addresses in probing packets. The probing addresses of Chunduri, when implemented with the optimal synthetic probing of the Paruchuri system, will allow one of ordinary skill in the art to organize probing to a specific leg of a network in order to control the accuracy of link performance. Therefore, the examiner concludes it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the application to utilize the probing addresses of Chunduri with the optimal synthetic probing of the Paruchuri system for the desirable purpose of optimizing the probing strategy in a network.
Regarding Claim 2, the Paruchuri/Chunduri system discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the performance measurement comprises at least one of a latency (Paruchuri, 0036 service latency measurements), a loss, or a liveness associated with the ECMP route (Paruchuri, 0042 provides for ECMP links).
Regarding Claim 3, the Paruchuri/Chunduri system discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the telemetry data is included in a hop-by-hop field of the packet (Chunduri, 0095 provides for hop-by-hop options), the telemetry data including a portion of a timestamp (Paruchuri, 0036 provides for timestamp), an interface identifier (Paruchuri, 0050-0051 provides for interface), and an interface load associated with each one of the second node and the midpoint node (Paruchuri, 0050-0051 provides for traffic analysis associated with incoming interface). Same motivation as claim 1.
Regarding Claim 5, the Paruchuri/Chunduri system discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the ECMP route is a first ECMP route and the metric is determined based at least in part on additional telemetry data received from sending a second TWAMP probe along a second ECMP route, the metric indicative of a difference in performance between the first ECMP route and the second ECMP route (Chunduri, 0107 provides for calculating a difference between a primary path and an alternate path). Same motivation as claim 1.
Regarding Claim 6, the Paruchuri/Chunduri system discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the ECMP route is one of multiple ECMP routes through the network between the first node and the second node (Paruchuri, FIG. 2 and 0041-0042 provides for multiple links 40, 42, and 44 of ECMP routes).
Regarding Claim 7, the Paruchuri/Chunduri system discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the telemetry data is associated with a forwarding path of the packet along the ECMP route between the first node and the second node (Paruchuri, 0041-0042 and 0061 provides for the SLA result is associated with a forward path along ECMP route in FIG 2), the second node configured to modify a hop-by-hop option type of the packet to prevent collection of telemetry data associated with a return path from the second node to the first node (Chunduri, 0095 provides for hop-by-hop options). Same motivation as claim 1.
Regarding Claim 8, the Paruchuri/Chunduri system discloses the method of claim 1, wherein a format of the packet is a same format as customer traffic traversing the ECMP route, the packet further including an indicator for the second node to distinguish the packet from the customer traffic (Chunduri, 0094 provides for a BPP packet format). Same motivation as claim 1.
Regarding Claim 9, similar rejection where the method of claim 1 teaches the system of claim 9.
Regarding Claim 10, similar rejection where the method of claim 2 teaches the system of claim 10.
Regarding Claim 11, similar rejection where the method of claim 3 teaches the system of claim 11.
Regarding Claim 13, similar rejection where the method of claim 5 teaches the system of claim 13.
Regarding Claim 14, similar rejection where the method of claim 6 teaches the system of claim 14.
Regarding Claim 15, similar rejection where the method of claim 7 teaches the system of claim 15.
Regarding Claim 16, similar rejection where the method of claim 8 teaches the system of claim 16.
Regarding Claim 21, similar rejection where the method of claim 1 teaches the non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 21.
Regarding Claim 22, similar rejection where the method of claim 2 teaches the non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 22.
Regarding Claim 23, similar rejection where the method of claim 3 teaches the non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 23.
Claims 4, 12, and 24 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over the Paruchuri/Chunduri system as applied to claims 1, 9, and 21 above, and further in view of US PGPUB 2023/0047613 A1 to Frankel et al.
Regarding Claim 4, the Paruchuri/Chunduri system discloses the method of claim 1, further comprising sending the metric to a measurement analytics system associated with the network (Paruchuri, 0060 provides for information stored in a database). The Paruchuri/Chunduri system doesn’t explicitly disclose the metric comprising a histogram indicative of a performance associated with the ECMP route relative to another ECMP route through the network. Frankel, in a similar field of endeavor, discloses the metric comprising a histogram indicative of a performance associated with the ECMP route relative to another ECMP route through the network (FIG. 11 and 0056-0057 provides for a histogram of the distribution across hops when traffic is routed across ECMP). One of ordinary skill in the art before the effectively filed date of the claimed invention would have recognized the ability to utilize the teachings of Frankel for utilizing a histogram. The histogram distribution of Frankel, when implemented with the optimal synthetic probing of the Paruchuri/Chunduri system, will allow one of ordinary skill in the art to display the measured data in order to visually review the accuracy of link performance. Therefore, the examiner concludes it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the application to utilize the histogram distribution of Frankel with the optimal synthetic probing of the Paruchuri/Chunduri system for the desirable purpose of optimizing the probing strategy in a network.
Regarding Claim 12, similar rejection where the method of claim 4 teaches the system of claim 12.
Regarding Claim 24, similar rejection where the method of claim 4 teaches the non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 24.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
US PGPUB 2023/0145097 A1 to Kiran et al discloses autonomous traffic with active learning.
US PGPUB 2020/0084147 A1 to Gandhi et al discloses in-situ performance measurement in a network.
US PGPUB 2017/0324622 A1 to Ubadli et al discloses TWAMP functions.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SCHQUITA GOODWIN whose telephone number is (571)272-5477. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9am - 5pm EST.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Tonia Dollinger can be reached on (571) 272-4170. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/SCHQUITA D GOODWIN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2459