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 § 101
35 U.S.C. 101 reads as follows:
Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.
Claims 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to an abstract idea without significantly more. The claim(s) recite(s) mental processes – concepts performed in the human mind.
Regarding claim 1, the claim is directed to mental processes.
The limitations ‘determining a consensus status from each node of the at least one node, wherein the consensus status reflects a consensus state of each node of the at least one node; determining a current status of a particular cluster based on the status of each of the at least one node associated with the particular cluster; determining the state of the system based on the current status received from each cluster of the plurality of clusters’ is a mental process – concept performed in the human mind by observation, evaluation, judgment, and/or opinion.
Step 2A: Prong two
This judicial exception is not integrated into a practical application because the additional elements ‘by each cluster; by the control plane; organizing the plurality of nodes into a plurality of clusters, wherein each cluster of the plurality of clusters comprises at least one node’ are directed to generic computer components recited at a high-level of generality such that they amount to nothing more than mere instructions to apply the exception using generic computer components (MPEP 2106.05(f)).
Step 2B
The claim(s) does/do not include additional elements that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception because the additional elements ‘receiving by each cluster of the plurality of clusters a status request; receiving from each node of the at least one node, a status of each of a plurality of conditions associated with each node; reporting the current status of the particular cluster to a control plane of the system; indicating to a user the state of the system‘ are directed to adding insignificant extra-solution activity to the judicial exception (MPEP 2106.05(g)), in this case data gathering and reporting information.
Regarding claim 2, the limitation ‘wherein the at least one node comprises three or more nodes’ are directed to generic computer components recited at a high-level of generality such that they amount to nothing more than mere instructions to apply the exception using generic computer components (MPEP 2106.05(f)).
Regarding claim 3, the limitation ‘wherein the consensus state of each node is determined by determining a state of each of one or more conditions’ is a mental process – concept performed in the human mind by observation, evaluation, judgment, and/or opinion.
Regarding claim 4, the limitation ‘wherein dampening algorithm comprises: periodically obtaining a current state of each of the one or more conditions of each node – is directed to adding insignificant extra-solution activity to the judicial exception (MPEP 2106.05(g)), applying a counter that is incremented each time a state change occurs in a particular condition of the one or more conditions of each node – is a mathematical concept, and setting the state of the particular condition to the current state of the particular condition when the counter is less than a threshold number, after a preset amount of time’ is a mental process – concept performed in the human mind by observation, evaluation, judgment, and/or opinion.
Regarding claim 5, the limitation ‘wherein after the preset amount of time when the counter is greater than or equal to a threshold number, the particular condition is placed in an exponential back-off state for a second preset amount of time’ is directed to adding insignificant extra-solution activity to the judicial exception (MPEP 2106.05(g)).
Regarding claim 6, the limitation ‘wherein the plurality of clusters are organized into at least one workload cluster - is directed to generic computer components recited at a high-level of generality such that they amount to nothing more than mere instructions to apply the exception using generic computer components (MPEP 2106.05(f)), a current status of a particular workload cluster is determined based on the status of each of the clusters associated with the particular workload cluster – is a mathematical concept, and the current status of the particular workload cluster is reported to the control plane instead of the status of each of the associated clusters’ – is directed to adding insignificant extra-solution activity to the judicial exception (MPEP 2106.05(g)).
Regarding claim 7, the limitation ‘wherein each of the plurality of nodes are edge nodes of a distributed computing system’ is directed to generic computer components recited at a high-level of generality such that they amount to nothing more than mere instructions to apply the exception using generic computer components (MPEP 2106.05(f)).
Regarding claim 8, the claim is directed to mental processes.
The limitations ‘determining a consensus status from each node of the at least one node, wherein the consensus status reflects a consensus state of each node of the at least one node; determining a current status of a particular cluster based on the status of each of the at least one node associated with the particular cluster; determining the state of the system based on the current status received from each cluster of the plurality of clusters’ is a mental process – concept performed in the human mind by observation, evaluation, judgment, and/or opinion.
Step 2A: Prong two
This judicial exception is not integrated into a practical application because the additional elements ‘a plurality of nodes; and a server, the server comprising: one or more processors; and one or more computer-readable non-transitory storage media coupled to the one or more processors that stores instructions operable when executed by the one or more processors to cause the system to perform operations; by each cluster; by the control plane; organizing the plurality of nodes into a plurality of clusters, wherein each cluster of the plurality of clusters comprises at least one node’ are directed to generic computer components recited at a high-level of generality such that they amount to nothing more than mere instructions to apply the exception using generic computer components (MPEP 2106.05(f)).
Step 2B
The claim(s) does/do not include additional elements that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception because the additional elements ‘receiving by each cluster of the plurality of clusters a status request; reporting the current status of the particular cluster to a control plane of the system; indicating to a user the state of the system ‘ are directed to adding insignificant extra-solution activity to the judicial exception (MPEP 2106.05(g)), in this case data gathering and reporting information.
Regarding claim 9, the limitation ‘wherein the at least one node comprises three or more nodes’ are directed to generic computer components recited at a high-level of generality such that they amount to nothing more than mere instructions to apply the exception using generic computer components (MPEP 2106.05(f)).
Regarding claim 10, the limitation ‘wherein the consensus state of each node is determined by determining a state of each of one or more conditions of each node’ is a mental process – concept performed in the human mind by observation, evaluation, judgment, and/or opinion and ‘applying a third consensus algorithm to determine a status of each node’ is a mathematical concept.
Regarding claim 11, the limitation ‘periodically obtaining a current state of each of the one or more conditions of each node – is directed to adding insignificant extra-solution activity to the judicial exception (MPEP 2106.05(g)), applying a counter that is incremented each time a state change occurs in a particular condition of the one or more conditions of each node – is a mathematical concept, and setting the state of the particular condition to the current state of the particular condition when the counter is less than a threshold number, after a preset amount of time’ is a mental process – concept performed in the human mind by observation, evaluation, judgment, and/or opinion.
Regarding claim 12, the limitation ‘wherein after the preset amount of time when the counter is greater than or equal to a threshold number, the particular condition is placed in an exponential back-off state for a second preset amount of time’ is directed to adding insignificant extra-solution activity to the judicial exception (MPEP 2106.05(g)).
Regarding claim 13, the limitation ‘wherein the plurality of clusters is organized into at least one workload cluster - is directed to generic computer components recited at a high-level of generality such that they amount to nothing more than mere instructions to apply the exception using generic computer components (MPEP 2106.05(f)), ‘a current status of a particular workload cluster is determined based on the status of each of the clusters associated with the particular workload cluster’ - is a mental process – concept performed in the human mind by observation, evaluation, judgment, and/or opinion, and ‘the current status of the particular workload cluster is reported to the control plane instead of the status of each of the associated clusters’ – is directed to adding insignificant extra-solution activity to the judicial exception (MPEP 2106.05(g)).
Regarding claim 14, the limitation ‘wherein each of the plurality of nodes are edge nodes of a distributed computing system’ is directed to generic computer components recited at a high-level of generality such that they amount to nothing more than mere instructions to apply the exception using generic computer components (MPEP 2106.05(f)).
Regarding claim 15, with the exception of the limitations ‘At least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having stored therein instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors’, the claims is directed to mental processes.
The limitations ‘determine a consensus status from each node of the at least one node, wherein the consensus status reflects a consensus state of each node of the at least one node; determine a current status of a particular cluster based on the status of each of the at least one node associated with the particular cluster; determine the state of the system based on the current status received from each cluster of the plurality of clusters’ is a mental process – concept performed in the human mind by observation, evaluation, judgment, and/or opinion.
Step 2A: Prong two
This judicial exception is not integrated into a practical application because the additional elements ‘At least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having stored therein instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors; by each cluster; by the control plane; organize the plurality of nodes into a plurality of clusters, wherein each cluster of the plurality of clusters comprises at least one node’ are directed to generic computer components recited at a high-level of generality such that they amount to nothing more than mere instructions to apply the exception using generic computer components (MPEP 2106.05(f)).
Step 2B
The claim(s) does/do not include additional elements that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception because the additional elements ‘report the current status of the particular cluster to a control plane of the system; indicating to a user the state of the system ‘ are directed to adding insignificant extra-solution activity to the judicial exception (MPEP 2106.05(g)), in this case data gathering and reporting information.
Regarding claim 16, the limitation ‘wherein the at least one node comprises three or more nodes’ are directed to generic computer components recited at a high-level of generality such that they amount to nothing more than mere instructions to apply the exception using generic computer components (MPEP 2106.05(f)).
Regarding claim 17, the limitation ‘wherein the consensus state of each node is determined by determining a state of each of one or more conditions and applying a third consensus algorithm to determine a status of each node’ is a mental process – concept performed in the human mind by observation, evaluation, judgment, and/or opinion.
Regarding claim 18, the limitation ‘wherein the state of each of the one or more conditions is determined by: periodically obtaining a current state of each of the one or more conditions of each node – is directed to adding insignificant extra-solution activity to the judicial exception (MPEP 2106.05(g)), applying a counter that is incremented each time a state change occurs in a particular condition of the one or more conditions of each node – is a mathematical concept, and setting the state of the particular condition to the current state of the particular condition when the counter is less than a threshold number, after a preset amount of time’ is a mental process – concept performed in the human mind by observation, evaluation, judgment, and/or opinion.
Regarding claim 19, the limitation ‘wherein after the preset amount of time when the counter is greater than or equal to a threshold number, the particular condition is placed in an exponential back-off state for a second preset amount of time’ is directed to adding insignificant extra-solution activity to the judicial exception (MPEP 2106.05(g)).
Regarding claim 20, the limitation ‘wherein the plurality of clusters is organized into at least one workload cluster - is directed to generic computer components recited at a high-level of generality such that they amount to nothing more than mere instructions to apply the exception using generic computer components (MPEP 2106.05(f)), and ‘a current status of a particular workload cluster based on the status of each of the clusters associated with the particular workload cluster’ - is a mental process – concept performed in the human mind by observation, evaluation, judgment, and/or opinion, and the current status of the particular workload cluster is reported to the control plane instead of the status of each of the associated clusters’ – is directed to adding insignificant extra-solution activity to the judicial exception (MPEP 2106.05(g)).
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.
Claim(s) are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Earl (USPN 11283638B1) in view of Chandrachood et al. (USPN 10997538B1).
As per claim 1, (Currently Amended) A method for determining a state of a system comprising a plurality of nodes, the method comprising: organizing the plurality of nodes into a plurality of clusters, wherein each cluster of the plurality of clusters comprises at least one node (column 2, line 25 – The network group includes a plurality of nodes; column 2, lines 45-49 - The computing device may further include an administrative system. The administrative system may be in communication with a plurality of network groups. The computing device may determine a corresponding representative for each network group. – the network groups are the clusters comprising a plurality of nodes);
receiving by each cluster of the plurality of clusters a status request (column 6, lines 19-23 - The status retrieval module 110 may further create and/or maintain a status retrieval directive 126 for instructing an agent 120 or representative node 118 to retrieve and communicate a node status or multiple node statuses of nodes in a corresponding network group 106.);
determining, by each cluster, a consensus status from each node of the at least one node, wherein the consensus status reflects a consensus state of each node of the at least one node (column 6, lines 35-39 - In one example, the status retrieval directive 126 may instruct the representative node 118 to compile and send the node status 124 of each of the nodes on a network group 106 or subgroup.);
determining a current status of a particular cluster based on a status of each of the at least one node associated with the particular cluster (column 6, lines 35-39 - In one example, the status retrieval directive 126 may instruct the representative node 118 to compile and send the node status 124 of each of the nodes on a network group 106 or subgroup.; column 5, lines 8-15 - The network group 106 further includes a node 122 with a node status 124. The node status 124 may be anything to indicate the state of a node 122. For example, the node status 124 may be what a node 122 is currently doing or what is installed on a node 122. A node status may also include presence (ping), AV installed, management agent installed, health, or other proprietary or global information.);
reporting the current status of the particular cluster; determining the state of the system based on the current status received from each cluster of the plurality of clusters (column 7, lines 5-9 - After the representative node 118 has acquired and reported node status data 116 of a node 122 or group of nodes to the computing device 102 pursuant to the instructions of the status retrieval directive 126, the computing device 102 stores the status node data 116 in a database 114.); and
indicating to a user the state of the system (column 3, lines 12-16 - There is often a need to determine the status of a device or node on a network. For example, a user or administrator may want to know the status of an identified, visible node or group of nodes in order to retrieve the status or perform a task.).
Earl fails to explicitly state reporting to a control plane of the system; by the control plane.
Earl does disclose in column 7, lines 5-9 - After the representative node 118 has acquired and reported node status data 116 of a node 122 or group of nodes to the computing device 102 pursuant to the instructions of the status retrieval directive 126, the computing device 102 stores the status node data 116 in a database 114.; column 15, lines 6-7 - An administrative system 802 is connected to a router 886.; column 17, lines 29-32 - Various modifications, changes and variations may be made in the arrangement, operation and details of the systems, methods, and apparatus described herein without departing from the scope of the claims.
Chandrachood et al. discloses reporting to a control plane of the system; by the control plane in column 11, lines 65-68 - In an embodiment, after generating the computer cluster, the cluster control plane 702 monitors the status of each cluster node to confirm proper operation; column 12, lines 54-56 - In an embodiment, the cluster control plane 702 requests the status of the nodes via the master instance controller 712; column 5, lines 28-32 - In an embodiment, each task provides results to the control plane computer system 102, and the results are synthesized into a job status which is provided to the customer computer system 104 after completion of the job.
Accordingly, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include the status of the nodes is requested and reported back to the control plane of Chandrachood in requesting node status and receiving node status by a computing device via a router with various modifications of Earl. A person of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make the modification because the cluster control plane monitors the status of each cluster node to confirm proper operation, as disclosed in column 12, lines 2-3.
As per claim 2, Earl et al. discloses wherein the at least one node comprises three or more nodes (column 2, line 25 – The network group includes a plurality of nodes; column 2, lines 45-49 - The computing device may further include an administrative system. The administrative system may be in communication with a plurality of network groups. The computing device may determine a corresponding representative for each network group. – the network groups are the clusters comprising a plurality of nodes).
As per claim 3, Earl et al. discloses wherein the consensus state of each node is determined by determining a state of each of one or more conditions of each node (column 5, lines 8-15 - The network group 106 further includes a node 122 with a node status 124. The node status 124 may be anything to indicate the state of a node 122. For example, the node status 124 may be what a node 122 is currently doing or what is installed on a node 122. A node status may also include presence (ping), AV installed, management agent installed, health, or other proprietary or global information.).
As per claim 6, Earl et al. discloses wherein: the plurality of clusters is organized into at least one workload cluster, a current status of a particular workload cluster is determined based on the status of each of the clusters associated with the particular workload cluster, and the current status of the particular workload cluster is reported to the control plane instead of the status of each of the associated clusters (column 6, lines 35-39 - In one example, the status retrieval directive 126 may instruct the representative node 118 to compile and send the node status 124 of each of the nodes on a network group 106 or subgroup.).
As per claim 7, Earl et al. discloses wherein each of the plurality of nodes are edge nodes of a distributed computing system (column 2, line 25 – The network group includes a plurality of nodes – nodes is inclusive of edge nodes; column 2, lines 45-49 - The computing device may further include an administrative system. The administrative system may be in communication with a plurality of network groups. The computing device may determine a corresponding representative for each network group.; column 4, lines 32-35 - FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating one configuration of a system 100 where systems and methods for determining the status of a node based on a distributed system may be implemented.).
As per claim 8, Earl et al. discloses a system, comprising: a plurality of nodes (column 2, line 25 – The network group includes a plurality of nodes; column 2, lines 45-49 - The computing device may further include an administrative system. The administrative system may be in communication with a plurality of network groups. The computing device may determine a corresponding representative for each network group. – the network groups are the clusters comprising a plurality of nodes); and a server (column 4, line 36 - Examples of the computing device 102 include servers), the server comprising: one or more processors (column 2, lines 21-22 - The computing device includes a processor); and one or more computer-readable non-transitory storage media coupled to the one or more processors that stores instructions operable when executed by the one or more processors to cause the system to (column 2, lines 21-23 - The computing device includes a processor and instructions stored in memory that is in electronic communication with the processor.) perform a method for determining a state of the system operations comprising:
organizing the plurality of nodes into a plurality of clusters, wherein each cluster of the plurality of clusters comprises at least one node (column 2, line 25 – The network group includes a plurality of nodes; column 2, lines 45-49 - The computing device may further include an administrative system. The administrative system may be in communication with a plurality of network groups. The computing device may determine a corresponding representative for each network group. – the network groups are the clusters comprising a plurality of nodes);
receiving, by each cluster of the plurality of clusters, a status request (column 6, lines 19-23 - The status retrieval module 110 may further create and/or maintain a status retrieval directive 126 for instructing an agent 120 or representative node 118 to retrieve and communicate a node status or multiple node statuses of nodes in a corresponding network group 106.);
determining, by each cluster, a consensus status from each node of the at least one node, wherein the consensus status reflects a consensus state of each node of the at least one node (column 6, lines 35-39 - In one example, the status retrieval directive 126 may instruct the representative node 118 to compile and send the node status 124 of each of the nodes on a network group 106 or subgroup.);
determining a current status of a particular cluster based on a[[the]] status of each of the at least one node associated with the particular cluster (column 6, lines 35-39 - In one example, the status retrieval directive 126 may instruct the representative node 118 to compile and send the node status 124 of each of the nodes on a network group 106 or subgroup.; column 5, lines 8-15 - The network group 106 further includes a node 122 with a node status 124. The node status 124 may be anything to indicate the state of a node 122. For example, the node status 124 may be what a node 122 is currently doing or what is installed on a node 122. A node status may also include presence (ping), AV installed, management agent installed, health, or other proprietary or global information.);
reporting the current status of the particular cluster; determining using the state of the system based on the current status received from each cluster of the plurality of clusters; (column 7, lines 5-9 - After the representative node 118 has acquired and reported node status data 116 of a node 122 or group of nodes to the computing device 102 pursuant to the instructions of the status retrieval directive 126, the computing device 102 stores the status node data 116 in a database 114.);
and indicating to a user the determined state of the system (column 3, lines 12-16 - There is often a need to determine the status of a device or node on a network. For example, a user or administrator may want to know the status of an identified, visible node or group of nodes in order to retrieve the status or perform a task.).
Earl fails to explicitly state reporting to a control plane of the system; by the control plane.
Earl does disclose in column 7, lines 5-9 - After the representative node 118 has acquired and reported node status data 116 of a node 122 or group of nodes to the computing device 102 pursuant to the instructions of the status retrieval directive 126, the computing device 102 stores the status node data 116 in a database 114.; column 15, lines 6-7 - An administrative system 802 is connected to a router 886.; column 17, lines 29-32 - Various modifications, changes and variations may be made in the arrangement, operation and details of the systems, methods, and apparatus described herein without departing from the scope of the claims.
Chandrachood et al. discloses reporting to a control plane of the system; by the control plane in column 11, lines 65-68 - In an embodiment, after generating the computer cluster, the cluster control plane 702 monitors the status of each cluster node to confirm proper operation; column 12, lines 54-56 - In an embodiment, the cluster control plane 702 requests the status of the nodes via the master instance controller 712; column 5, lines 28-32 - In an embodiment, each task provides results to the control plane computer system 102, and the results are synthesized into a job status which is provided to the customer computer system 104 after completion of the job.
Accordingly, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include the status of the nodes is requested and reported back to the control plane of Chandrachood in requesting node status and receiving node status by a computing device via a router with various modifications of Earl. A person of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make the modification because the cluster control plane monitors the status of each cluster node to confirm proper operation, as disclosed in column 12, lines 2-3.
As per claim 9, Earl et al. discloses wherein the at least one node comprises three or more nodes (column 2, line 25 – The network group includes a plurality of nodes; column 2, lines 45-49 - The computing device may further include an administrative system. The administrative system may be in communication with a plurality of network groups. The computing device may determine a corresponding representative for each network group. – the network groups are the clusters comprising a plurality of nodes).
As per claim 10, Earl et al. discloses wherein the consensus state of each node is determined by determining a state of each of one or more conditions of each node (column 5, lines 8-15 - The network group 106 further includes a node 122 with a node status 124. The node status 124 may be anything to indicate the state of a node 122. For example, the node status 124 may be what a node 122 is currently doing or what is installed on a node 122. A node status may also include presence (ping), AV installed, management agent installed, health, or other proprietary or global information.).
As per claim 13, Earl et al. discloses wherein the plurality of clusters is organized into at least one workload cluster, a consensus algorithm is used to determine a current status of a particular workload cluster is determined based on the status of each of the clusters associated with the particular workload cluster, and the current status of the particular workload cluster is reported to the control plane instead of the status of each of the associated clusters (column 6, lines 35-39 - In one example, the status retrieval directive 126 may instruct the representative node 118 to compile and send the node status 124 of each of the nodes on a network group 106 or subgroup.).
As per claim 14, Earl et al. discloses wherein each of the plurality of nodes are edge nodes of a distributed computing system (column 2, line 25 – The network group includes a plurality of nodes – nodes is inclusive of edge nodes; column 2, lines 45-49 - The computing device may further include an administrative system. The administrative system may be in communication with a plurality of network groups. The computing device may determine a corresponding representative for each network group.; column 4, lines 32-35 - FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating one configuration of a system 100 where systems and methods for determining the status of a node based on a distributed system may be implemented.).
As per claim 15, Earl et al. discloses at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having stored therein instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors (column 2, lines 63-67 - A non-transitory tangible computer-readable medium for determining a node status is additionally described. The computer-readable medium includes executable instructions for determining a representative node corresponding to a network group.) to:
organize a plurality of nodes into a plurality of clusters, wherein each cluster of the plurality of clusters comprises at least one node; receive, by each cluster of the plurality of clusters, a status request (column 2, line 25 – The network group includes a plurality of nodes; column 2, lines 45-49 - The computing device may further include an administrative system. The administrative system may be in communication with a plurality of network groups. The computing device may determine a corresponding representative for each network group. – the network groups are the clusters comprising a plurality of nodes);
determine, by each cluster, using the consistent state of each of the plurality of conditions associated with each node, a consensus status from each node of the at least one node, wherein the consensus status reflects a consensus state of each node of the at least one node (column 6, lines 35-39 - In one example, the status retrieval directive 126 may instruct the representative node 118 to compile and send the node status 124 of each of the nodes on a network group 106 or subgroup.);
determine a current status of a particular cluster based on a status of each of the at least one node associated with the particular cluster (column 6, lines 35-39 - In one example, the status retrieval directive 126 may instruct the representative node 118 to compile and send the node status 124 of each of the nodes on a network group 106 or subgroup.; column 5, lines 8-15 - The network group 106 further includes a node 122 with a node status 124. The node status 124 may be anything to indicate the state of a node 122. For example, the node status 124 may be what a node 122 is currently doing or what is installed on a node 122. A node status may also include presence (ping), AV installed, management agent installed, health, or other proprietary or global information.);
report the current status of the particular cluster to; determine use the state of the system based on the current status received from each cluster of the plurality of clusters (column 7, lines 5-9 - After the representative node 118 has acquired and reported node status data 116 of a node 122 or group of nodes to the computing device 102 pursuant to the instructions of the status retrieval directive 126, the computing device 102 stores the status node data 116 in a database 114.); and
indicate to a user the determined state of the system (column 3, lines 12-16 - There is often a need to determine the status of a device or node on a network. For example, a user or administrator may want to know the status of an identified, visible node or group of nodes in order to retrieve the status or perform a task.).
Earl fails to explicitly state report to a control plane of a system; by the control plane.
Earl does disclose in column 7, lines 5-9 - After the representative node 118 has acquired and reported node status data 116 of a node 122 or group of nodes to the computing device 102 pursuant to the instructions of the status retrieval directive 126, the computing device 102 stores the status node data 116 in a database 114.; column 15, lines 6-7 - An administrative system 802 is connected to a router 886.; column 17, lines 29-32 - Various modifications, changes and variations may be made in the arrangement, operation and details of the systems, methods, and apparatus described herein without departing from the scope of the claims.
Chandrachood et al. discloses report to a control plane of the system; by the control plane in column 11, lines 65-68 - In an embodiment, after generating the computer cluster, the cluster control plane 702 monitors the status of each cluster node to confirm proper operation; column 12, lines 54-56 - In an embodiment, the cluster control plane 702 requests the status of the nodes via the master instance controller 712; column 5, lines 28-32 - In an embodiment, each task provides results to the control plane computer system 102, and the results are synthesized into a job status which is provided to the customer computer system 104 after completion of the job.
Accordingly, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include the status of the nodes is requested and reported back to the control plane of Chandrachood in requesting node status and receiving node status by a computing device via a router with various modifications of Earl. A person of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make the modification because the cluster control plane monitors the status of each cluster node to confirm proper operation, as disclosed in column 12, lines 2-3.
As per claim 16, Earl et al. discloses wherein the at least one node comprises three or more nodes (column 2, line 25 – The network group includes a plurality of nodes; column 2, lines 45-49 - The computing device may further include an administrative system. The administrative system may be in communication with a plurality of network groups. The computing device may determine a corresponding representative for each network group. – the network groups are the clusters comprising a plurality of nodes).
As per claim 17, Earl et al. discloses wherein the consensus state of each node is determined by determining a state of each of one or more conditions of each node (column 5, lines 8-15 - The network group 106 further includes a node 122 with a node status 124. The node status 124 may be anything to indicate the state of a node 122. For example, the node status 124 may be what a node 122 is currently doing or what is installed on a node 122. A node status may also include presence (ping), AV installed, management agent installed, health, or other proprietary or global information.).
As per claim 20, Earl et al. discloses wherein: the plurality of clusters is organized into at least one workload cluster, a consensus algorithm is used to determine a current status of a particular workload cluster is determined based on the status of each of the clusters associated with the particular workload cluster, and the current status of the particular workload cluster is reported to the control plane instead of the status of each of the associated clusters (column 6, lines 35-39 - In one example, the status retrieval directive 126 may instruct the representative node 118 to compile and send the node status 124 of each of the nodes on a network group 106 or subgroup.).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4,5,11,12,18,19 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims. Either no prior art could be found or no reason to combine with prior art found.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 05/18/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. The 101 rejection still stands. Concerning the arguments of the 101-abstract idea, adding the control plane is merely adding a generic computing component to perform a task, which is automating a mental process. The arguments to improvement in computer network technology and citing the SRI International, Inc. vs Cisco Systems, Inc., an improvement in computer network technology is seen by the Examiner. There is no improvement as to how the status requests are obtained and determined. They are either mental processes or automating a mental process using generic computer components.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. The closest prior art: USPN 10114713 - (21) - As illustrated in FIG. 1, exemplary system 100 may also include one or more databases, such as database 120. In one example, database 120 may include configuration information 122 for storing configuration information about high-availability clusters (e.g., cluster-membership information) and health statuses 124 for storing information about the health statuses of high-availability clusters and/or nodes of high-availability clusters.----(40) - As used herein, the term “cluster-health message” generally refers to any communication that is broadcast to a node of a high-availability cluster from a health-status server associated with the high-availability cluster and that includes a health status of one of the node's peers that is based on a node-health message sent from the node's peer to the health-status server. Examples of exemplary cluster-health messages are illustrated in FIGS. 9 and 10. In some examples, a cluster-health message may contain a health status for each and every node of a high-availability cluster. In other examples, a cluster-health message may contain a health status for only one node of a high-availability cluster or a subset of nodes within a high-availability cluster.---(42) - As used herein, the phrase “node-health message” generally refers to any communication (e.g., a heartbeat message) sent from a node within a high-availability cluster to a health-status server associated with the high-availability cluster that indicates the health status of the node and that can be used by the health-status server to create cluster-health messages. Examples of exemplary node-health messages are illustrated in FIG. 8. The phrase “health status,” as used herein, generally refers to any indication that a node of a high-availability cluster is sufficiently healthy to perform computing tasks associated with the services performed by the high-availability cluster.;
USPN 20160224277 – abstract - Monitoring health of associated, but separated storage clusters can be done at both a node scope and a cluster scope. Monitoring the storage clusters at the cluster scope includes monitoring the network elements that support the storage clusters and connect the storage clusters. Initially, a fabric monitor in each cluster discovers cluster topology. This cluster topology is communicated and maintained throughout the managing storage elements of the storage clusters. After the storage cluster topologies have been discovered, the fabric monitors of each cluster can periodically determine status of network elements of the storage clusters. This allows the storage clusters to maintain awareness of interconnect status, and react to changes in status. In addition, each managing storage element monitors its own health. This information is aggregated to determine when to trigger corrective actions, alerts, and/or storage features in accordance with rules defined at the managing storage elements.;
USPN 20090113051 – Figure 5.
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/Yolanda L Wilson/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2113
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