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 .
This office correspondence is in response to the amendment filed on February 2, 2026. Claims 1, 4, 6, 9, 11, 14, 16, and 19 are amended.
Claims 1-20 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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 02/02/2026 has been entered.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 1-20 have been considered but are moot in new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference 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 (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.
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claims 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wang et al. (US Publication 2014/0092740) hereafter Wang, and in view of LI et al. (US Publication 2021/0367895) hereafter LI.
As per claims 1, 6, 11, and 16, Wang discloses a method, a non-transitory computer readable medium, an apparatus, and a network traffic management system for optimizing routing of a message, the method implemented by a network traffic management system comprising one or more network traffic management apparatuses, client devices, or server devices, the method comprising: obtaining a message comprising a header with a parameter indicating one of a plurality of transmission priorities for the message (paragraphs: 28-29); selecting a target network entity for the message from a plurality of candidate network entities based on the identified transmission priority of the message and a transmission success rate of each candidate network entity; and transmitting the message to the selected target network entity (paragraphs: 32-33, and 36-39). Although, Wang clearly discusses about header of the obtained message will determine the priority of the message, he does not specifically mention a value indicating the priority value of the message.
However, in the same field of endeavor, LI discloses the claimed limitation of a message comprising a header with a parameter with a value indicating one of a plurality of transmission priorities for the message; identifying the one of the transmission priorities for the message based on the value in the parameter within the header (paragraphs: 8, 15, and 30).
Accordingly, it would been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the network art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have incorporated LI’s teachings of a message comprising a header with a parameter with a value indicating one of a plurality of transmission priorities for the message; identifying the one of the transmission priorities for the message based on the value in the parameter within the header with the teachings of Wang, for the purpose of effectively routing the message to the appropriate destination port.
As per claim 2, Wang discloses the method, wherein the determining the target network entity for the message based on the identified transmission priority of the message further comprises: determining the target network entity for the message when the identified transmission priority of the message is determined to be higher than a predetermined transmission priority threshold (paragraphs: 33, 35).
As per claim 3, Wang discloses the method in response to the identified transmission priority of the message being determined to be higher than a predetermined transmission priority threshold, the method further comprising, detecting whether the message has a transmission delay; and altering, in response to the detection of the transmission delay, a value of the parameter to indicate a higher transmission priority than the identified transmission priority for the message, wherein a subsequent routing of the message is prioritized based on the higher transmission priority (paragraphs: 40-42).
As per claim 4, Wang discloses the method, wherein the target network entity is selected based on a transmission delay among of the each candidate network entity (paragraphs: 14, and 29).
As per claim 5, Wang discloses the method, the method further comprising: detecting whether the message is transmitted from a first network environment to a second network environment deployed independently from the first network environment; determining, in response to the detection of the message being transmitted from the first network environment to the second network environment, whether different values of the parameter are used to indicate the identified transmission priority of the message in the first network environment and the second network environment (Wang, paragraphs: 30-32); and updating, in response to the determination of different values of the parameter being used to indicate the identified transmission priority of the message, the parameter within the header to a value used to indicate the identified transmission priority of the message in the second network environment (paragraphs: 36-37).
Claims 7-10, 12-15, and 17-20 are listed all the same elements of claims 2-5. Therefore, the supporting rationales of the rejection to claims 2-5 apply equally as well to claims 7-10, 12-15, and 17-20.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
DUAN et al (US Publication 2011/0078783) discusses packet sequence number checking through a VPN tunnel may be performed by assigning sequence numbers on a per-priority class basis to packets traversing the VPN tunnel. In one implementation, a network device may receive a packet that is to be transmitted over a VPN tunnel, the packet including control information that includes at least a QoS priority class of the packet. The network device may extract the priority class of the packet from the control information and generate a sequence value that describes an arrival sequence of the packet relative to other received packets of the same priority class as the packet. The network device may additionally generate an IPsec header for the packet, the IPsec header including the sequence value and the priority class of the packet; attach the IPsec header to the packet; and transmit the packet through the VPN tunnel.
Bonn et al (US Publication 2021/0392103) elaborates that wireless User Equipment (UE) generate a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) message that comprises a SIP header and a user message. The SIP header indicates a priority QoS and the user message indicates a message destination. The wireless UE wirelessly transfers the SIP message to a wireless network and the wireless network transfers the SIP message to a message network. In response to the priority QoS indicated in the SIP header, the message network generates and transfers another SIP message using the priority QoS. The other SIP message comprises another SIP header and the user message.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to FARZANA B HUQ whose telephone number is (571)270-3223. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday: 8:30-5:30 ET.
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, Emmanuel L Moise can be reached at 571-272-3865. 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.
/FARZANA B HUQ/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2455
Prosecution Insights