Prosecution Insights
Last updated: April 19, 2026
Application No. 18/497,796

RELIABLE MULTICAST SUPPORT BETWEEN CO-OPERATING SERVICES USING A CLUSTER EVENT MANAGER

Non-Final OA §102
Filed
Oct 30, 2023
Examiner
DO, CHAT C
Art Unit
2193
Tech Center
2100 — Computer Architecture & Software
Assignee
DELL PRODUCTS, L.P.
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
43%
Grant Probability
Moderate
1-2
OA Rounds
4y 11m
To Grant
52%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 43% of resolved cases
43%
Career Allow Rate
76 granted / 178 resolved
-12.3% vs TC avg
Moderate +9% lift
Without
With
+9.1%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
4y 11m
Avg Prosecution
17 currently pending
Career history
195
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
29.0%
-11.0% vs TC avg
§103
30.1%
-9.9% vs TC avg
§102
19.3%
-20.7% vs TC avg
§112
17.5%
-22.5% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 178 resolved cases

Office Action

§102
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 Objections Claim 16 is objected to because of the following informalities: The applicant is requested to amend this claim to depend on claim 13 instead of claim 1 since claim 16 is a computer program product claim. Appropriate correction is required. 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)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention. (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. Claim(s) 1-3, 5-9, 11-15, and 17-18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Karthikeyan et al. (U.S. 2016/0149980). Re claim 1, Karthikeyan et al. disclose in Figures 1-5 a method (e.g. abstract and Figure 1 with multicasting multiple streams to hosts) comprising: receiving a first event sent from a service belonging to a distributed data management application for one or more other services belonging to the application, the service and one or more other services being hosted across nodes of a cluster, and the service being a sending service (e.g. Figures 1 and 5 and paragraph [0026, 0038, and 0057] with multiple same or different streams of the source to the hosts); broadcasting, to each service in the cluster, the first event and a first membership list listing services that are currently members of the cluster (e.g. paragraphs [0057 and 0083] wherein the event and membership are broadcasting from the source to the downstream path to H-DR); receiving a second event indicating that a new service belonging to the application has joined the cluster (e.g. Figures 1 and 5 and paragraph [0050, 0057, and 0071-0072] with multiple same or different streams of the source to the hosts, similarly another stream can be generated); and broadcasting, to each service in the cluster, the second event and a second membership list listing the services that are currently members of the cluster, the second membership list including the new service (e.g. paragraphs [0057 and 0083] wherein the event and membership are broadcasting from the source to the downstream path to H-DR so the H-DR can unicast to the sources as subscribed), wherein the sending service identifies the new service by comparing the first and second membership lists, and determines whether the new service should be sent the first event (e.g. paragraphs [0071 and 0101-0102] wherein the new service can send specific time-staggered steam(s) to the designated hosts). Re claim 2, Karthikeyan et al. disclose in Figures 1-5 receiving a third event indicating that a service belonging to the application has left the cluster (e.g. paragraphs [0056-0059] where the host opts out specific stream); and broadcasting, to each service in the cluster, the third event and a third membership list listing the services that are currently members of the cluster, the third membership list not including the service that has left the cluster (e.g. paragraphs [0046 and 0057]), wherein the sending service identifies the service that has left the cluster by comparing the second and third membership lists, and determines whether a lack of reply to the first event from the service that has left the cluster should be skipped (e.g. paragraph [0054 and 0129]). Re claim 3, Karthikeyan et al. disclose in Figures 1-5 receiving a third event indicating that the sending service has left the cluster (e.g. paragraphs [0056-0059] where the host opts out specific stream); receiving a fourth event indicating that the sending service has rejoined the cluster (e.g. paragraph [0055-0057] with host opts in specific stream); and broadcasting, to each service in the cluster, the fourth event and a third membership list listing the services that are currently members of the cluster (e.g. paragraphs [0046 and 0057]), wherein the sending service compares the third membership list against a membership list persisted before the sending service left the cluster to determine whether there were any membership changes during a time period when the sending service was absent from the cluster (e.g. paragraphs [0101-0102]). Re claim 5, Karthikeyan et al. disclose in Figures 1-5 maintaining a queue comprising events sent from the services belonging to the application and events sent from a container orchestration service of the cluster, the container orchestration service being separate from the services belonging to the application (e.g. Figure 1 with paragraphs [0060-0061] wherein data is maintained for both downstream and upstream). Re claim 6, Karthikeyan et al. disclose in Figures 1-5 the sender service, upon determining that the new service should be sent the first event, reposts the first event for broadcast, and wherein the first event is reposted with a message number that is the same as a message number included with the first event when initially broadcasted (e.g. paragraphs [0050, 0062 and 0071-0072] with multiple streams of contents including news). Re claim 7, it is a system claim having similar limitations as cited in claim 1. Thus, claim 7 is also rejected under the same rationale as cited in the rejection of claim 1 above. Re claim 8, it is a system claim having similar limitations as cited in claim 2. Thus, claim 8 is also rejected under the same rationale as cited in the rejection of claim 2 above. Re claim 9, it is a system claim having similar limitations as cited in claim 3. Thus, claim 9 is also rejected under the same rationale as cited in the rejection of claim 3 above. Re claim 11, it is a system claim having similar limitations as cited in claim 5. Thus, claim 11 is also rejected under the same rationale as cited in the rejection of claim 5 above. Re claim 12, it is a system claim having similar limitations as cited in claim 6. Thus, claim 12 is also rejected under the same rationale as cited in the rejection of claim 6 above. Re claim 13, it is a product claim having similar limitations as cited in claim 1. Thus, claim 13 is also rejected under the same rationale as cited in the rejection of claim 1 above. Re claim 14, it is a product claim having similar limitations as cited in claim 2. Thus, claim 14 is also rejected under the same rationale as cited in the rejection of claim 2 above. Re claim 15, it is a product claim having similar limitations as cited in claim 3. Thus, claim 15 is also rejected under the same rationale as cited in the rejection of claim 3 above. Re claim 17, it is a product claim having similar limitations as cited in claim 5. Thus, claim 17 is also rejected under the same rationale as cited in the rejection of claim 5 above. Re claim 18, it is a product claim having similar limitations as cited in claim 6. Thus, claim 18 is also rejected under the same rationale as cited in the rejection of claim 6 above. Allowable Subject Matter Claims 4, 10, and 16 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. Conclusion The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2023/0231910 discloses embodiments may relate to pruning a distributed database for a peer-to-peer (P2P) network. A node may transmit a first multicast beacon over the P2P network. U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2009/0303902 discloses a method for a node to select a route to join a multicast group in a wireless mesh network, including establishing the route between the node and the multicast group using media access control addresses. U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2002/0114330 discloses a large-scale video-on-demand (VOD) system, the scalability and the provision of truly interactive functions are two difficult problems which have not been resolved satisfactorily. U.S. Patent No. 6,631,420 discloses a technique for reducing reconvergence time by a reconverging device in a PIM-SM domain of a communication system involves sending by the reconverging device to a neighboring device a reconvergence message including a reconvergence indicator, such as a randomly selected Generation Identifier value. U.S. Patent No. 12,532,242 discloses a method and apparatus for multicast and broadcast service in a wireless communication system is provided. A CU-UP of a RAN node receives, from a CU-CP of the RAN node, a first message to join a multicast group for a MB service. U.S. Patent No. 12,530,681 discloses the use of stable value digital assets and/or fiat-backed digital assets as cryptocurrencies that can be linked to other digital assets using blockchain technology. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Chat C Do whose telephone number is (571)272-3721. The examiner can normally be reached {M - Th} 4:30am - 2:30pm. 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, Dede Zecher can be reached at 571-272-0800. 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. /Chat C Do/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2193
Read full office action

Prosecution Timeline

Oct 30, 2023
Application Filed
Feb 04, 2026
Non-Final Rejection — §102 (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
43%
Grant Probability
52%
With Interview (+9.1%)
4y 11m
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 178 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allow rate.

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