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
Acknowledgement is made in that claims 1-19 have been canceled and claims 20-38 have been added in the instant application presented herein.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 20-33, 35 and 37-38 allowed.
4. The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Claim 20 currently recites:
“…responsive to determining whether the configuration request conflicts with the routing of the communications network, transmitting a response to the DetNet controller indicating acceptance or denial of the configuration request...” which is not taught and/or suggested by the prior-art of record.
5. Claims 21-33, 35, and 37-38 depend on Claim 20. Thus, inherit the same reasons for allowance as those highlighted in Claim 20.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 101
6. 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.
7. The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
Claim 36 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to non-statutory subject matter. The claim does not fall within at least one of the four categories of patent eligible subject matter because the claim currently recites “A computer program comprising program code…” because the claimed invention seems to be directed to a "program" as not embodied in
(or tied to) any sort of structural component which is software per se and non-statutory
subject matter. Such that the "program" as claimed and discussed cannot reasonably in
light of the written disclosure be considered/treated as a machine, and hence, does not fall under the eligible patentably category subject matters, i.e. process, machine, manufacturer, composition of matter or material and improvements thereof (see MPEP§ 2106).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
8. 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.
9. 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.
10. Claim 34 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Medagliani et al. (WO 2021/014180 A1) (hereinafter as Medagliani) (Note: cited in IDS dated 11/06/2023 and also included by Applicants).
Regarding Claim 34, Medagliani teaches a method performed by a network node (node which communicated with the control device (DetNet/TSN Network Controller) of a communications network for enabling internet protocol, IP, based deterministic networking, comprising:
receiving a request to establish a deterministic network, DetNet, flow in the communications network from a software-defined network, SDN, controller, the request to establish the DetNet flow including quality of service, QoS, requirements for the DetNet flow (the control device (DetNet/TSN Network Controller) collects traffic statistics from the network, page 22, determination is triggered by the reconfiguration trigger deciding whether configuration is needed and is performed periodically on the basis of statistics or triggered on specific events, a request coming from a node, page 23);
determining whether the communications network is capable of meeting the QoS requirements (determination is triggered by the reconfiguration trigger deciding whether configuration is needed and is performed periodically on the basis of statistics or triggered on specific events, a bandwidth ratio may be determined according to a current and/or future demand for QoS, page 23); and
responsive to determining that the communication network is capable of meeting the QoS requirements, establishing the DetNet flow (the DetNet node receives the new configurations, it adapts the resource distribution, page 22, the new configurations are transmitted to respective nodes, for instance, the control device sends to DetNet/TSN devices (switches and nodes) a series of one or more configurations for resources distribution and corresponding time instants in which they must be applied, page 24).
Conclusion
11. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ANTHONY MEJIA whose telephone number is (571)270-3630. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 10:30 AM-6:30 PM EST.
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/ANTHONY MEJIA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2451