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 preliminary amendment filed on 11/07/2023. Claims 4-5, 8, and 10-12 have been amended, and new claims 13-20 have been added.
Claims 1-20 are presented for examination.
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 11/07/2023 is compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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.
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.
Claims 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over LI et al. (US 2022/0210036 A1), in view of PARK et al. (US 2020/0092184 A1).
As to claims 1 and 3-4, LI discloses the invention as claimed, including a cloud network (Fig. 1), comprising a physical network and a virtual network hosted on the physical network (Fig. 1; ¶0003, “a network formed by a plurality of physical network devices 12 is used as an underlay physical network (underlay network), and an overlay virtual network (overlay network) is constructed above the underlay physical network”; ¶0080, “the cloud network is used more frequently. For example, network layers of the data center network shown in FIG. 1 are classified into an underlay physical network and an overlay virtual network”); the virtual network comprising a multi-tenant network and network element devices (i.e., virtual switches; Fig. 3, 25, 332) responsible for traffic forwarding and interconnection between different end devices (Fig. 3, 23, 24, 33) in the multi-tenant network (¶0003, “a virtual local area network (VLAN) and enable a cloud platform to provide services for more tenants”; ¶0004, “The service packet is transmitted between servers through a virtual switch”; ¶0080, “the virtual network mainly includes virtual devices (virtual switches, virtual routers 11, virtual machines (Virtual Machines, VMs), and the like shown in FIG. 1). To fully use resources, services of tenants all run in the overlay virtual network, and tenant resources are isolated through different virtual networks”; ¶0019, “tenant information, a tunnel encapsulation manner of an underlay physical network of the cloud network, an identifier of an isolation domain to which a tenant belongs”; ¶0080, “To fully use resources, services of tenants all run in the overlay virtual network, and tenant resources are isolated through different virtual networks”; ¶0107); the cloud network further comprising a scheduling device (Fig. 3, 21, 31) and an analysis device (Fig. 3, 22, 32);
the source network element device being configured for generating a measurement request message (i.e., measurement packet; ¶0127) according to the measurement rule (¶0015-¶0016) and forwarding the measurement request message (¶0006, “generate a measurement packet based on the packet header information and the first identifier, and deliver the measurement packet to the first measurement node through the first agent node”; ¶0015, “deliver at least one packet capture rule to the first measurement node through the first agent node. The packet capture rule includes the first identifier, so that the first measurement node captures the measurement packet by using the first identifier”; ¶0113, “Based on this, the first measurement node 43 is configured to capture the measurement packet according to a corresponding packet capture rule”; ¶0120, “different service packets correspond to different packet capture rules”; ¶0127, “when the measurement packet is a request packet, the second measurement node 46 may further construct a response packet corresponding to the request packet, and send the response packet to the first measurement node 43”),
wherein the measurement rule comprises a source end device and a destination end device on a path to be measured, and the source network element device is a network element device on the path to be measured (¶0015, “deliver at least one packet capture rule to the first measurement node through the first agent node. The packet capture rule includes the first identifier, so that the first measurement node captures the measurement packet by using the first identifier”; ¶0016, “a packet capture rule corresponding to a data link layer, a delivery rule corresponding to a network layer, and a delivery rule corresponding to a transport layer”; ¶0075, “at least two servers (including a server 23 used as a first node on a to-be-measured path and a server 24 used as a last node on the to-be-measured path), at least one switch 25 (used as an intermediate node on the to-be-measured path)”; ¶0107, “the to-be-measured path includes at least two measurement nodes, for example, a first node and a last node”; ¶0121, “The first measurement node 43 and the second measurement node 46 are two measurement nodes on a to-be-measured path. Optionally, the first measurement node 43 and the second measurement node 46 may be a first node and an intermediate node on the to-be-measured path, or the first measurement node 43 and the second measurement node 46 may be a first node and a last node on the to-be-measured path”; ¶0127, “when the measurement packet is a request packet, the second measurement node 46 may further construct a response packet corresponding to the request packet, and send the response packet to the first measurement node 43”);
wherein the measurement request message is used for enabling the source network element device and other network element devices on the path to be measured that receive the measurement request message to generate measurement record information (i.e., measurement information) (¶0004, “The server and the switch capture a packet according to the packet capture rule, obtain measurement information of the service packet”; ¶0024, “The first measurement information includes at least one of the following: the measurement packet, a time at which the first measurement node captures the measurement packet, an identifier of the first measurement node, or a quantity of measurement packets delivered in the measurement task. The analysis node is configured to obtain a network measurement result based on the first measurement information”; ¶0107, “the to-be-measured path includes at least two measurement nodes, for example, a first node and a last node. Certainly, the system may alternatively obtain measurement information from a measurement node to perform network measurement”; ¶0160, “The first measurement node sends the measurement packet to the second measurement node; and the second measurement node captures and parses the measurement packet to obtain second measurement information of the measurement packet, and sends the second measurement information to the analysis node”);
the analysis device (Fig. 3, 22, 32) being configured for performing network quality analysis according to the measurement record information generated by the source network element device and the other network element devices (¶0006, “The first measurement node is configured to capture and parse the measurement packet to obtain first measurement information of the measurement packet, and send the first measurement information to the analysis node…The analysis node is configured to obtain a network measurement result based on the first measurement information”; ¶0115, “After obtaining the first measurement information, the analysis node 42 analyzes the first measurement information to obtain a network measurement result…the analysis node 42 may also determine a packet capture duration of the first measurement node based on the time at which the first measurement node captures the measurement packet, and compare the two packet capture durations to determine a packet capture delay of the first measurement node. The packet capture delay is a network measurement result. In addition, a delay, a delay jitter, a measurement node and a port that the measurement packet passes through, a related flow table, a port queue, and the like may also be determined”).
Although LI discloses the scheduling device (Fig. 3, 21, 31) being configured for perceiving a measurement intent of a target tenant (¶0090; ¶0107, “the control node 41 may obtain current network information, and based on the foregoing measurement task, may determine the to-be-measured path or determine the first measurement node and the first agent node”), LI does not specifically disclose generating a measurement rule that complies with the measurement intent and delivering the measurement rule to a source network element device.
However, PARK discloses generating a measurement rule that complies with the measurement intent and delivering the measurement rule to a source network element device (¶0146, “the QoE diagnosis manager 1603 may generate a flow rule regarding the path between measurement targets. The QoE statistics manager 1604 may control such that statistic information regarding multiple pieces of network quality information is encoded, and the encoded message is transmitted to another device”; ¶0164, “The QoE diagnosis manager 1603 of the controller device 720 may generate a flow rule regarding a path, may generate a flow rule for receiving the result of measured network quality from the source target, and may transmit the generated flow rules to the flow rule manager 1611”; ¶0166, “when a flow rule has been generated with regard to a path between the source target and the destination target…the controller device 720 transmits a message regarding the encoded flow rule to at least one NE related to the flow rule. The processor 910 of the controller device 720 may transmit a message regarding the flow rule to at least one NE related to the flow rule”; ¶0184, “control the first virtual switch 1710 so as to receive the processed packet and to transmit the processed packet to the VM (source) 1730 based on the flow rule”). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of LI to include generating a measurement rule that complies with the measurement intent and delivering the measurement rule to a source network element device, as taught by PARK because it would ensure the data collected directly aligns with the specific performance indicators, thereby dynamically controlling the performance and accurately testing the network quality regardless of the performance (PARK; ¶0010; ¶0146; ¶0164; ¶0166).
As to claim 2, LI discloses the cloud network of claim 1, wherein the source network element device is a first network element device on the path to be measured which is directly connected to the source end device; the measurement request message is forwarded, starting from the first network element device to a target network element device, and the target network element device is a second network element device on the path to be measured which is directly connected to the destination end device (¶0006, “generate a measurement packet based on the packet header information and the first identifier, and deliver the measurement packet to the first measurement node through the first agent node”; ¶0015, “deliver at least one packet capture rule to the first measurement node through the first agent node. The packet capture rule includes the first identifier, so that the first measurement node captures the measurement packet by using the first identifier”; ¶0075, “at least two servers (including a server 23 used as a first node on a to-be-measured path and a server 24 used as a last node on the to-be-measured path), at least one switch 25 (used as an intermediate node on the to-be-measured path)”; ¶0107, “the to-be-measured path includes at least two measurement nodes, for example, a first node and a last node”; ¶0121, “The first measurement node 43 and the second measurement node 46 are two measurement nodes on a to-be-measured path. Optionally, the first measurement node 43 and the second measurement node 46 may be a first node and an intermediate node on the to-be-measured path, or the first measurement node 43 and the second measurement node 46 may be a first node and a last node on the to-be-measured path”; ¶0127, “when the measurement packet is a request packet, the second measurement node 46 may further construct a response packet corresponding to the request packet, and send the response packet to the first measurement node 43”).
As to claims 5-6, LI discloses updating measurement rule (¶0112), and wherein generating the measurement rule that complies with the measurement intent comprises: determining the source end device and the destination end device on the path to be measured according to the measurement intent of the target tenant and network configuration information of the target tenant (¶0015, “deliver at least one packet capture rule to the first measurement node through the first agent node. The packet capture rule includes the first identifier, so that the first measurement node captures the measurement packet by using the first identifier”; ¶0016, “a packet capture rule corresponding to a data link layer, a delivery rule corresponding to a network layer, and a delivery rule corresponding to a transport layer”; ¶0075, “at least two servers (including a server 23 used as a first node on a to-be-measured path and a server 24 used as a last node on the to-be-measured path), at least one switch 25 (used as an intermediate node on the to-be-measured path)”; ¶0107, “the to-be-measured path includes at least two measurement nodes, for example, a first node and a last node”; ¶0121, “The first measurement node 43 and the second measurement node 46 are two measurement nodes on a to-be-measured path. Optionally, the first measurement node 43 and the second measurement node 46 may be a first node and an intermediate node on the to-be-measured path, or the first measurement node 43 and the second measurement node 46 may be a first node and a last node on the to-be-measured path”; ¶0127, “when the measurement packet is a request packet, the second measurement node 46 may further construct a response packet corresponding to the request packet, and send the response packet to the first measurement node 43”).
PARK, on the other hand, discloses wherein perceiving the measurement intent of the target tenant in the cloud network comprises: generating network topology change information of the target tenant according to application requirement change information submitted by the target tenant; determining the measurement intent of the target tenant according to the network topology change information (¶0073, “The management device 410 may provide the use with an interface for testing, controlling, and managing network quality. For example, the management device 410 may provide the user with an interface through a QoE diagnosis/topology application. The management device 410 may receive an input for controlling the network from the user through the interface, and may send a request corresponding to the input to the controller device 420”; ¶0117, “The management device 710 may receive information regarding network quality measured with regard to the path, based on the test condition. The information regarding network quality may be measured with regard to a path between the source target and the destination target. In addition, the information regarding network quality may include at least one of the address of each of at least one target, information regarding a path between two targets included in the at least one target, information regarding a change in network quality over time, and statistical information regarding the network quality”; ¶0140, “The QoE statistic result display module 1509 may display an aspect of the change in network quality measured with regard to specific targets over time”; ¶0141, “The topology manager 1510 may control and manage topologies related to the network quality measurements”; ¶0195; ¶0199, “the user may understand how values of respective indices regarding the path 2330 values change over time”); and generating the measurement rule according to the source end device and the destination end device on the path to be measured (¶0146, “the QoE diagnosis manager 1603 may generate a flow rule regarding the path between measurement targets. The QoE statistics manager 1604 may control such that statistic information regarding multiple pieces of network quality information is encoded, and the encoded message is transmitted to another device”; ¶0164, “The QoE diagnosis manager 1603 of the controller device 720 may generate a flow rule regarding a path, may generate a flow rule for receiving the result of measured network quality from the source target, and may transmit the generated flow rules to the flow rule manager 1611”; ¶0166, “the controller device 720 transmits a message regarding the encoded flow rule to at least one NE related to the flow rule. The processor 910 of the controller device 720 may transmit a message regarding the flow rule to at least one NE related to the flow rule”). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of LI to include wherein perceiving the measurement intent of the target tenant in the cloud network comprises: generating network topology change information of the target tenant according to application requirement change information submitted by the target tenant; determining the measurement intent of the target tenant according to the network topology change information and generating the measurement rule according to the source end device and the destination end device on the path to be measured, as taught by PARK because it would improve the quality of service by ensuring the data collected directly aligns with the specific performance indicators (PARK; ¶0010; ¶0146; ¶0164; ¶0166).
As to claim 7, LI discloses the method of claim 6, wherein determining the source end device and the destination end device on the path to be measured according to the measurement intent of the target tenant and the network configuration information of the target tenant comprises: analyzing a source end device to be measured from the measurement intent of the target tenant; obtaining a potential path that has an access relationship with the source end device according to a network topology where the source end device is located, in combination with the network configuration information of the target tenant; determining a destination end device corresponding to the source end device from another end device on the potential path (¶0006, “The first identifier is used to identify that the measurement packet is a packet used for network measurement. The first measurement node is configured to capture and parse the measurement packet to obtain first measurement information of the measurement packet, and send the first measurement information to the analysis node”; ¶0012, “the measurement packet further includes a second identifier. The second identifier is used to identify the measurement task”; ¶0027, “The measurement packet is generated based on packet header information of a service packet and a first identifier, the first identifier is used to identify that the measurement packet is a packet used for network measurement, and the first measurement information includes at least one of the following: the measurement packet, a time at which the first measurement node captures the measurement packet, an identifier of the first measurement node, and a quantity of measurement packets delivered in a measurement task”;
As to claim 8, LI discloses the method of claim 4, wherein delivering the measurement request message into the path to be measured, so that the at least part of network element devices on the path to be measured generate the measurement record information, comprises: sending the measurement request message to a source network element device on the path to be measured, and forwarding the measurement request message, starting from the source network element device to other network element devices on the path to be measured, so that the source network element device and the other network element devices generate the measurement record information (¶0004, “The server and the switch capture a packet according to the packet capture rule, obtain measurement information of the service packet”; ¶0024, “The first measurement information includes at least one of the following: the measurement packet, a time at which the first measurement node captures the measurement packet, an identifier of the first measurement node, or a quantity of measurement packets delivered in the measurement task. The analysis node is configured to obtain a network measurement result based on the first measurement information”; ¶0107, “the to-be-measured path includes at least two measurement nodes, for example, a first node and a last node. Certainly, the system may alternatively obtain measurement information from a measurement node to perform network measurement”; ¶0160, “The first measurement node sends the measurement packet to the second measurement node; and the second measurement node captures and parses the measurement packet to obtain second measurement information of the measurement packet, and sends the second measurement information to the analysis node”).
As to claim 9, LI discloses the method of claim 8, wherein generating the measurement request message according to the measurement rule comprises: generating a protocol header in the measurement request message according to information of the source end device and the destination end device; generating a measurement header in the measurement request message according to an identifier of the target tenant, detailed information of the source network element device, and a first timestamp; generating the measurement request message according to the protocol header and the measurement header, wherein the first timestamp indicates a time point at which the measurement request message is sent (¶0027, “The measurement packet is generated based on packet header information of a service packet and a first identifier, the first identifier is used to identify that the measurement packet is a packet used for network measurement, and the first measurement information includes at least one of the following: the measurement packet, a time at which the first measurement node captures the measurement packet, an identifier of the first measurement node, and a quantity of measurement packets delivered in a measurement task”; ¶0089, “the packet header information includes the L2 information of the service packet, or includes the L2 information and the L3 information of the service packet, or includes the L2 information, the L3 information, and the L4 information of the service packet. The L2 information may include: a source media access control (Media Access Control, MAC) address, a destination MAC address, an EtherType (EtherType) field, Vlan information, and the like. The L3 information may include: a source internet protocol (Internet Protocol, IP) address, a destination IP address, a protocol number, differentiated services…”; ¶0125, “The second measurement information may include at least one of the following: the measurement packet, timestamp information of the measurement packet, an identifier of a node capturing the measurement packet, that is, an identifier of the second measurement node, and a quantity of measurement packets delivered in a measurement task. The timestamp information of the measurement packet is a time at which the second measurement node captures the measurement packet”).
As to claim 10, LI discloses the method of claim 9, wherein generating the measurement record information by the source network element device and the other network element devices, comprises: recording at least one of following information: an identifier of a tenant to which a network element itself belongs, detailed information of a network element itself, a second timestamp of receiving the measurement request message, and a third timestamp of forwarding the measurement request message, to generate path record information, wherein generating the measurement record information by the source network element device further comprises: receiving a measurement reply message sent by the other network element devices, the measurement reply message comprising the first timestamp; generating delay record information according to the first timestamp in the measurement reply message and a fourth timestamp of receiving the measurement reply message; performing the network quality analysis according to the measurement record information generated by the at least part of network element devices correspondingly, comprises: analyzing network delay and packet loss rate from at least one dimension of the path to be measured, the target tenant and the cloud network, according to the delay record information and the path record information (¶0006, “The first measurement node is configured to capture and parse the measurement packet to obtain first measurement information of the measurement packet, and send the first measurement information to the analysis node…The analysis node is configured to obtain a network measurement result based on the first measurement information”; ¶0027, “The measurement packet is generated based on packet header information of a service packet and a first identifier, the first identifier is used to identify that the measurement packet is a packet used for network measurement, and the first measurement information includes at least one of the following: the measurement packet, a time at which the first measurement node captures the measurement packet, an identifier of the first measurement node, and a quantity of measurement packets delivered in a measurement task”;
¶0115, “After obtaining the first measurement information, the analysis node 42 analyzes the first measurement information to obtain a network measurement result…the analysis node 42 may also determine a packet capture duration of the first measurement node based on the time at which the first measurement node captures the measurement packet, and compare the two packet capture durations to determine a packet capture delay of the first measurement node. The packet capture delay is a network measurement result. In addition, a delay, a delay jitter, a measurement node and a port that the measurement packet passes through, a related flow table, a port queue, and the like may also be determined”; ¶0125, “after obtaining the first quantity and the second quantity, if determining that the second quantity is less than the first quantity, the analysis node 42 determines that a packet loss occurs on the second measurement node. The packet loss is a network measurement result”).
As to claim 11, it is rejected for the same reasons set forth in claim 1 above. In addition, LI discloses a cloud computing device, comprising a memory and a processor, wherein the memory stores computer programs, which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to implement operations (Fig. 1; Figs. 17-19; ¶0050-¶0053).
As to claim 12, it is rejected for the same reasons set forth in claim 1 above. In addition, LI discloses a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing computer programs, wherein the computer programs, when executed by a processor, enable the processor to implement operations (Fig. 1; Figs. 17-19; ¶0050-¶0053).
As to claims 13-18, they are rejected for the same reasons set forth in claims 5-10 above, respectively.
As to claims 19-20, they are rejected for the same reasons set forth in claim 8 above.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Guan et al. (US 2016/0134472 A1), Guim Bernat et al. (US 2021/0144517 A1), Wester et al. (US 2020/0381939 A1), Cidon et al. (US 2019/0104051 A1) disclose method and apparatus for configuring a service node, a service node pool registrar. The service node pool registrar receives a service node query request sent by a management configuration device.
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/JUNGWON CHANG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2454 February 1, 2026