DETAILED ACTION
This action is in response to communication on September 28th, 2023.
Claims 1-20 are currently pending. Claims 1-20 are amended via preliminary amendment filed on January 3rd, 2024.
The present application is a continuation of International Application no. PCT/CN2022/085645, filed on April 7th, 2022, which claims priority to the People’s Republic of China application no. CN202110387422.9, filed on April 9th, 2021.
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 § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Matthews et al (U.S. Patent no. 11,057,318, hereinafter Matthews).
With respect to claims 1 and 19, Matthews discloses a method and communication apparatus (column 5, lines 57-67, distributed computing system 100), comprising:
receiving, by a first terminal device (column 30, lines 26-37, “terminal” nodes), at least one second packet from a first network device (column 15, lines 42-51, compute-enabled switches 220), wherein each of the at least second packet comprises information about a first process and information about a network device corresponding to the first process (column 35, lines 53-64, packet processor 550 may generate control information that accompanies the data unit 505), wherein the first process is configured to execute a first task (column 35, lines 31-39, different processing tasks), and the information about the network device corresponding to the first process is information about a network device to which a terminal device deploying the first process belongs (column 38, lines 44-53, destination address, packet type, and so forth);
generating, by the first terminal device, a third packet based on the at least one second packet (column 35, lines 52-58, modify information in a data unit header or payload), wherein the third packet comprises information about one or more target network device (column 39, lines 38-46, resolving the destination of the data unit 505) and information about all first processes that correspond to the one or more target network device and that are configured to execute the first task (column 39, lines 38-46, determining the set of actions/edits to perform on the data unit 505), and wherein the one or more target network device comprises at least one network device corresponding to the first task (column 39, lines 64-67 and column 40, lines 1-4, destination address, a packet type, or any other suitable distinguishing property); and
sending, by the first terminal device, the third packet to the first network device (column 39, lines 4-8, sends the data unit 505 to an egress processor 550).
With respect to claim 2, Matthews discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the target network device is all the network devices that correspond to the first task (column 15, lines 52-60, compute nodes 210 form worker sets), and wherein generating the third packet based on the at least one second packet comprises generating the third packet when a number of the at least one second packet is a target value, and wherein the target value indicates a number of all terminal devices deploying the first process (column 10, lines 24-31, compute node 110 is assigned a rank in an MPI).
With respect to claim 3, Matthews discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the target network device is one of the network devices corresponding to the first task (column 15, lines 52-60, compute nodes 210 form worker sets), and wherein generating the third packet based on the at least one second packet comprises generating the third packet based on a target packet in the at least one second packet when a number of the at least one second packet is a target value wherein the target value indicates a number of all terminal devices deploying the first process (column 10, lines 24-31, compute node 110 is assigned a rank in an MPI), and wherein the target packet belongs to the at least one second packet, and carries information about a same target network device (column 10, lines 39-51, compute instruction may specify complex collective actions comprising multiple sub actions that the compute subsystem 124 should perform on the associated computer data).
With respect to claim 4, Matthews discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the third packet further comprises first information, wherein the first information comprises at least one number value, and the number value is consistent in number with and in a one-to-one correspondence to the one or more target network device (column 7, lines 15-21); and a first number value indicates a number of terminal devices that are in a terminal device set and that are deployed with the first process, and wherein a terminal device in the terminal device set belongs to a target network device corresponding to the first number value (column 10, lines 24-31, compute node 110 is assigned a rank in an MPI).
With respect to claim 5, Matthews discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the third packet further comprises second information, and wherein the second information indicates that the third packet is a notification packet (column 43, lines 57-63).
With respect to claim 6, Matthews discloses the method of claim 5, wherein the second information comprises a first field, and wherein a value of the first field in the third packet is a first preset value (column 10, lines 24-31, compute node 110 is assigned a rank in an MPI).
With respect to claim 7, Matthews discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the second packet further comprises third information, and wherein the third information indicates that the second packet comprises the information about the network device corresponding to the first process (column 35, lines 53-64, packet processor 550 may generate control information that accompanies the data unit 505).
With respect to claim 8, Matthews discloses the method of claim 7, wherein the third information comprises a second field in the second packet, and wherein a value of the second field in the second packet is a second preset value (column 10, lines 24-31, compute node 110 is assigned a rank in an MPI).
With respect to claim 9, Matthews discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the second packet further comprises fourth information, and wherein the fourth information indicates that the second packet is a query packet (column 35, lines 53-64, packet processor 550 may generate control information that accompanies the data unit 505).
With respect to claims 10 and 20, Matthews discloses a collective communication method (column 5, lines 57-67, distributed computing system 100), comprising:
sending, by a fourth terminal device (column 30, lines 26-37, “terminal” nodes), a first packet to a fourth network device (column 15, lines 42-51, compute-enabled switches 220), wherein the first packet comprises at least information about a first process (column 35, lines 53-64, packet processor 550 may generate control information that accompanies the data unit 505), the first process is deployed on the fourth terminal device, and the first process is used to execute a first task (column 35, lines 31-39, different processing tasks); and
receiving, by the fourth terminal device, a third packet from the fourth network device (column 39, lines 4-8, sends the data unit 505 to an egress processor 550),
wherein the third packet comprises at least information about the fourth network device and information about all first processes that correspond to the fourth network device (column 39, lines 38-46, resolving the destination of the data unit 505) and that execute the first task (column 39, lines 64-67 and column 40, lines 1-4, destination address, a packet type, or any other suitable distinguishing property).
With respect to claim 11, Matthews discloses the method of claim 10, wherein the third packet further comprises information about one or more fifth network device and information about all first processes that correspond to the one or more fifth network device and that are configured to execute the first task (column 10, lines 24-31, compute node 110 is assigned a rank in an MPI), and wherein the one or more fifth network devices is all network devices, except the fourth network device, among network devices corresponding to the first task (column 15, lines 52-60, compute nodes 210 form worker sets).
With respect to claim 12, Matthews discloses the method of claim 10, wherein the third packet further comprises first information, the first information comprises at least one number value, wherein the number value is consistent in number with and in a one-to-one correspondence to the network devices corresponding to the first task (column 7, lines 15-21), wherein a first number value indicates a number of terminal devices that are in a terminal device set and that are deployed with the first process (column 7, lines 15-21), wherein the first number value is one of the at least one number value, and wherein a terminal device in the terminal device set belongs to a network device corresponding to the first number value (column 10, lines 24-31, compute node 110 is assigned a rank in an MPI).
With respect to claim 13, Matthews discloses the method of claim 10, wherein the third packet further comprises second information, and wherein the second information indicates that a type of the third packet is a notification packet (column 43, lines 57-63).
With respect to claim 14, Matthews discloses the method of claim 13, wherein the second information comprises a first field in the third packet, and wherein a value of the first field in the third packet is a first preset value (column 10, lines 24-31, compute node 110 is assigned a rank in an MPI).
With respect to claim 15, Matthews discloses the method of claim 10, wherein the first packet comprises fifth information, and wherein the fifth information indicates that the first packet does not carry the information about the fourth network device (column 35, lines 53-64, packet processor 550 may generate control information that accompanies the data unit 505).
With respect to claim 16, Matthews discloses the method of claim 15, wherein the fifth information comprises a second field in the first packet, and wherein a value of the second field in the first packet is a fourth preset value (column 10, lines 24-31, compute node 110 is assigned a rank in an MPI).
With respect to claim 17, Matthews discloses the method of claim 10, wherein the first packet further comprises the information about the fourth network device (column 35, lines 53-64, packet processor 550 may generate control information that accompanies the data unit 505).
With respect to claim 18, Matthews discloses the method of claim 10, wherein the first packet further comprises sixth information, and wherein the sixth information indicates that a type of the first packet is a query packet (column 35, lines 53-64, packet processor 550 may generate control information that accompanies the data unit 505).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Froese Patent no. 11,985,060
Crabtree Pat. Pub. 2026/0046317
Elias Pat. Pub. 2020/0106828
Bloch Pat. Pub. 2017/0063613
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to BLAKE J RUBIN whose telephone number is (571)270-3802. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday - Friday, 9am - 5pm.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Ario Etienne can be reached on 571-272-4001. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative or access to the automated information system, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
2/27/26
/BLAKE J RUBIN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2457