Prosecution Insights
Last updated: April 19, 2026
Application No. 18/461,752

LIMITING PEER CONNECTION ATTEMPTS BASED ON FAILURES IN PEER CONNECTION

Non-Final OA §103
Filed
Sep 06, 2023
Examiner
SALAD, ABDULLAHI ELMI
Art Unit
2466
Tech Center
2400 — Computer Networks
Assignee
VMware, Inc.
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
85%
Grant Probability
Favorable
1-2
OA Rounds
3y 2m
To Grant
94%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 85% — above average
85%
Career Allow Rate
820 granted / 967 resolved
+26.8% vs TC avg
Moderate +9% lift
Without
With
+9.4%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
3y 2m
Avg Prosecution
26 currently pending
Career history
993
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
9.1%
-30.9% vs TC avg
§103
48.5%
+8.5% vs TC avg
§102
20.4%
-19.6% vs TC avg
§112
4.0%
-36.0% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 967 resolved cases

Office Action

§103
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 action is in response to the communication dated 9/6/23. Original claims 1-20 are pending. 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. 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. Claims 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Das et al. U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 20230315954[hereinafter Das] in view of Prakash et al. U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2024/0036968 [herein after Prakash]. As per claims 1, 10 and 19 Das discloses method comprising: in a first gateway(174), monitoring failure information associated with a peer connection with a second gateway(176)(see par. 0028); in the first gateway, determining that the failure information satisfies one or more criteria (see par. 0040); in the first gateway and in response to the determining that the failure information satisfies the one or more criteria(see par. 0040 failure mode reaching severity value 137), initiating a remediation period(initiating recovery process associated with a failure mode.)(see par. 0059, the one or more remedies may include one or more of selecting among a first communication link (e.g., one of the communication links L1, L2, L3, L4, L5, L6, and L7) and a second communication link (e.g., another of the communication links L1, L2, L3, L4, L5, L6, and L7) for data transmission, selecting among the first communication link and the second communication link for data reception, selecting among a first device (e.g., any of the one or more cloud devices 164, the first gateway 174, the second gateway 176, or the devices 182, 184, 186, and 188) and a second device (e.g., another of the one or more cloud devices 164, the first gateway 174, the second gateway 176, or the devices 182, 184, 186, and 188) for performance of a first service (e.g., one of the services S1, S2), or selecting from the first service and a second service (e.g., the other of the services S1, S2). Das does not explicitly disclose in the first gateway, preventing attempts to connect with the second gateway during the remediation period; in the first gateway, identifying an expiration of the remediation period; and in the first gateway and in response to identifying the expiration of the remediation period, initiating a connection attempt with the second gateway for the peer connection PRAKASH discloses in the first gateway, preventing attempts to connect with the second gateway during the remediation period(see par. 0028); in the first gateway, identifying an expiration of the remediation period(see par. 0028, where and in the first gateway and in response to identifying the expiration of the remediation period, initiating a connection attempt with the second gateway for the peer connection(see par. 0029-0030, or example, the one or more criteria for the first attempt may comprise an indication that host 110 is available to support service 120. In response to the indication, management service 150 can initiate an attempt to configure service 120 on host 110). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art prior to effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the teachings of PRAKASH into the system of Das, thus enabling to identify a failure associated with the connection and remediate the failure by reconfiguring the various failed services. For example, if a power failure occurs with respect to host 110, management service 150 can identify the power failure and flag host 110 for remediation, wherein the remediation can be used to restore services 120-122 on host 110, wherein remediation may include reconfiguring the service, reconfiguring one or more additional services on the host, or some other action to place the host in a healthy state. As per claim 2. PRAKASH discloses the method of claim 1 further comprising: in the first gateway and when the failure information satisfies the one or more criteria, communicating a notification to the second gateway indicating a failure at the first gateway(see par. 0025). As per claim 3, PRAKASH discloses The method of claim 1 further comprising: in the first gateway and when the failure information satisfies the one or more criteria, communicating a notification to a management service indicating a failure at the first gateway(see par. 0037). As per claim 4 PRAKASH discloses the method of claim 1, wherein stopping the connection attempts for the peer connection with the second gateway during the remediation period comprises stopping transmission control protocol (TCP) connection attempts with the second gateway or stopping a transmission of keepalive packets to the second gateway(see par. 0028, where and in the first gateway and in response to identifying the expiration of the remediation period, initiating a connection attempt with the second gateway for the peer connection(see par. 0029-0030, or example, the one or more criteria for the first attempt may comprise an indication that host 110 is available to support service 120. In response to the indication, management service 150 can initiate an attempt to configure service 120 on host 110). As per claim 5, PRAKASH discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the remediation period comprises a defined time duration sufficient to permit remediation operations associated with the peer connection to complete (see par. 0029-0030, for example, the one or more criteria for the first attempt may comprise an indication that host 110 is available to support service 120. In response to the indication, management service 150 can initiate an attempt to configure service 120 on host 110). As per claim 6, PRAKASH discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the failure information comprises a quantity of failed connections with the second gateway or a rate of failed connections with the second gateway(se par. 0003, 0032 where failure may be associated with multiple services). As per claim 7, PRAKASH discloses the method of claim | further comprising: in the first gateway, initiating one or more remediation operations associated with one or more services at the first gateway(see par. 0031). As per claim 8, PRAKASH discloses The method of claim 7, wherein identifying the expiration of the remediation period comprises identifying when the one or more remediation operations are complete(see par. 0022, checking for status update). As per claim 9, PRAKASH discloses The method of claim 7, wherein initiating the one or more remediation operations comprises restarting one or more services or reconfiguring one or more services(see par.0032). As per dependent claims 11-18 and 20 , the claims are similar with dependent claims 2-9 discussed above and rejected same rational as claims 2-9. Conclusion Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ABDULLAHI ELMI SALAD whose telephone number is (571)272-4009. The examiner can normally be reached 9:30AM-6:PM. 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, Faruk Hamza can be reached at 571-272-7969. 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. /ABDULLAHI E SALAD/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2466
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Prosecution Timeline

Sep 06, 2023
Application Filed
Oct 18, 2025
Non-Final Rejection — §103 (current)

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Study what changed to get past this examiner. Based on 5 most recent grants.

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Prosecution Projections

1-2
Expected OA Rounds
85%
Grant Probability
94%
With Interview (+9.4%)
3y 2m
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 967 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allow rate.

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