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 .
Response to Amendment
Claims 1 and 6 are amended. Claims 1-7 are pending in the instant application. Claims 8-10 are withdrawn.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see Remarks, filed on 1/12/2026 have been fully considered.
Claim Rejections under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1)
Claims 1-3 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Webb et al. (US 2022/0272071), hereinafter Webb.
Claim 1 has been amended as follows: “A method of an electronic device, comprising:
an operation of receiving, by a first extended Berkeley Packet Filter (eBPF) module, untracked new traffic from a client;
an operation of adding, by the first eBPF module, an entry corresponding to the new traffic to a ConnTrack map in response to the operation of receiving the new traffic;
an operation of reporting, by the first eBPF module, the addition of the entry to a first synchronization module executed in a user plane;
an operation of monitoring, by the first synchronization module, a first connection corresponding to the new traffic,
wherein the operation of reporting, by the first eBPF module, the addition of the entry to the first synchronization module executed in the user plane is performed without performing packet filtering or blocking in a kernel plane: and
wherein the operation of monitoring, by the first synchronization module, the first connection corresponding to the new traffic is to determine whether the first connection is a long-lived connection to be synchronized with another electronic device for maintaining session continuity in a high-availability cluster.” (Emphasis added)
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1-7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as failing to set forth the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor, or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant regards as the invention.
Regarding claim 1, the claim recites the limitations “wherein the operation of reporting, by the first eBPF module, the addition of the entry to the first synchronization module executed in the user plane is performed without performing packet filtering or blocking in a kernel plane.”
The written description fails to disclose information regarding the first eBPF module reports a connection status without performing packet filtering or blocking in a kernel plane as claimed. For example, the written description discloses the following: “[0067] According to various embodiments, in operation 711, the first eBPF module 411 may attach “kprobe/htab_map_update_elem” and “kprobe/htab_map_delete_elem” in order to search an eBPF map update. According to various embodiments, in operation 721, the first synchronization module 421 may configure an inter-load balancer cluster (health check).
[0068] According to various embodiments, in operation 713, the first eBPF module 411 may update connection information to the CT map when a new packet arrives. For example, the connection information may include information such as SIP, DIP, Sport, Dport, Protocol, a state, etc. For example, the state may include untracked and tracked. For example, untracked may mean that a connection is not yet established, and tracked may mean a state in which the connection is successfully established, that is, a network session is connected.
[0069] According to various embodiments, in operation 715, the first eBPF module 411 may report new connection information which is previously untracked to the first synchronization module 421. According to various embodiments, in operation 723, the first synchronization module 421 may transmit the new connection information which untracked, and periodically monitor the connection information from the first eBPF module 411. For example, the first synchronization module 421 sets a temporal condition to set only conntrack entry connected for a predetermined time or more to be periodically confirmed. For example, the first synchronization module 421 may confirm only a long-lived connection, and process a connection which is ended shortly such as rest as noise, and set only a connection for at least 10 seconds or more to be periodically confirmed.” The cited paragraphs ([0067]-[0069]) describe the first eBPF module updates connection information to a CT map. There is nowhere in the written description that discloses the first eBPF module updates/reports connection information without performing packet filtering or blocking in a kernel plane.
Claim 1 fails to comply with the written description and claims 2-7 are dependent claims of claim 1. The claims inherit the deficiencies of claim 1.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-7 are allowed if the above rejection under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ) is successfully traverse.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Claim 1 recites the limitations “A method of an electronic device, comprising:
an operation of receiving, by a first extended Berkeley Packet Filter (eBPF) module, untracked new traffic from a client;
an operation of adding, by the first eBPF module, an entry corresponding to the new traffic to a ConnTrack map in response to the operation of receiving the new traffic;
an operation of reporting, by the first eBPF module, the addition of the entry to a first synchronization module executed in a user plane;and
an operation of monitoring, by the first synchronization module, a first connection corresponding to the new traffic, wherein the operation of reporting, by the first eBPF module, the addition of the entry to the first synchronization module executed in the user plane is performed without performing packet filtering or blocking in a kernel plane: and
wherein the operation of monitoring, by the first synchronization module, the first connection corresponding to the new traffic is to determine whether the first connection is a long-lived connection to be synchronized with another electronic device for maintaining session continuity in a high-availability cluster.”
Rodriguez Natal et al. (US 2024/0214319) disclose techniques for signaling, to a network controller, a connection state of a proxy for use by the network controller to correlate proxied-connections with application pairs for traffic optimization. A proxy module determines that a proxied flow has been established for longer than a threshold period of time. Based on this determination, the proxy/module then makes a decision to forward the control plane information/connection state information associated with this flow to a network controller. This prevents forwarding proxied-connection state to the network controller for connections that are short lived that the network controller would have no time to optimize before they are gone (see paragraph [0032]). The network controller determines, based on the control plane information, that application traffic is flowing across the proxied flow between a first application and a second application. The network controller analyzes the control plane information, which may be indicative of all of the proxied flows managed by the proxy that are traversing the network, and determines that one of those proxied flows corresponds with an application flow between a pair of applications (see paragraph [0033]). The network controller performs a method which includes determining that a proxied flow is a long-lived flow in which application traffic is flowing between a first application and a second application (see paragraph [0057]). Rodriguez Natal discloses a method performed by a network controller in determining a proxied flow is a long-lived flow between a pair of application and the determination is based on analyzing of control plane information. Rodriguez Natal, however, fails to disclose the determination of whether traffic flow is long-lived to be synchronized with another electronic device for maintaining session continuity in a high-availability cluster as claimed.
As allowable subject matter has been indicated, applicant's reply must either comply with all formal requirements or specifically traverse each requirement not complied with. See 37 CFR 1.111(b) and MPEP § 707.07(a).
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). 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 L. T N. whose telephone number is (571)272-1013. The examiner can normally be reached M & Th 5:30 am - 2:30 pm EST.
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/L. T. N/
Examiner, Art Unit 2459
/TONIA L DOLLINGER/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2459