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 .
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.
Claims 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Qian (CN 115473855 A) in view of Agerstam (US 20230328547 A1).
For claim 1, Qian discloses a method (FIGs. 1 and 15) comprising:
receiving, by a first network device (FIG. 1 Host1, which is equivalent to FIG. 15, device 1500), a traffic flow from a second network device (FIG. 1 Host3, which is equivalent to FIG. 15, device 1500) via a wireless network (FIG 15 and associated text, such as p4, 2nd para from the bottom “… receiving a first data stream and a detection packet. collects the network congestion information of the first data stream on the transmission path; …” and p34, 2nd para “… access device 1540 may include any type of wired or wireless network interface (e.g., network interface card (NIC)) in one or more, such as IEEE 802.11 wireless local area network (WLAN) wireless interface, global microwave internet access (Wi-MAX) interface, ...”);
analyzing, by the first network device, the traffic flow to identify a network service associated with the traffic flow (p32, 3rd para “… when each data packet reaches, analyzing the corresponding flow type i” and p8, last para “… host 1, host 2, host 3, host through the switch in the data center network for communication. application of various traffic types of different tenants on the host, such as host 1 running application A1, B1, host 2 running the application A2, host 3 running the application A3, B2. ...”; note that each flow type suggests at least one traffic data flow);
examining, by the first network device, a defined network service policy to determine one or more characteristics of the network service (p2, last para, “… the network needs to provide very high data transmission performance, with high bandwidth, low time delay and low CPU load of characteristics”);
detecting, by the first network device, a network congestion within the wireless network (p3, last para, “… switch, configured to measure the network congestion information of the first data stream passing through the switch, writing the network congestion information into the detection packet, sending the detection packet to the next hop of the first data stream, collecting the network congestion information of the first data stream on the transmission path when the detection packet reaches the receiving end; ...”and p34, 2nd para “… access device 1540 may include any type of wired or wireless network interface (e.g., network interface card (NIC)) in one or more, such as IEEE 802.11 wireless local area network (WLAN) wireless interface, global microwave internet access (Wi-MAX) interface, ...”); and
responsive to detecting the network congestion, switching, by the first network device, to a congestion management mode (p3, 1st para “… using the network congestion information, the initial transmission bandwidth weight and the receiving end constraint bandwidth weight re-determines the first data stream on the transmission path of the transmission end constraint bandwidth weight.”), further comprising:
determining, by the first network device, adjustments for a network transmission setting for the traffic flow based on the one characteristic (p3, 1st para “… using the network congestion information, the initial transmission bandwidth weight and the receiving end constraint bandwidth weight re-determines the first data stream on the transmission path of the transmission end constraint bandwidth weight.”), and
communicating, by the first network device, the adjustments to the second network device (p22, 1st para “… the receiving end can use the sending end constraint bandwidth weight to re-calculate the receiving end of the first data stream constraint bandwidth weight, realizing dynamically according to the network congestion condition according to the flow type corresponding to the bandwidth ratio reasonable adjusting the bandwidth according to the network congestion condition, the data stream of different flow types in the network reasonable dynamic contention network resource, while fully using the network resource while avoiding congestion of trigger other.”).
Qian does not specifically state but Agerstam, in the same field of endeavor of wireless communication, discloses determining adjustments more than one network transmission settings for the traffic flow based on more than one characteristics (“[0057] For example, based on the respective priorities across the networks 102a-d, the tuning recommendations 122 may define traffic classes that provide a higher degree of quality of service for certain traffic flows, wireless networks 102a-d, and/or wireless technologies, which may require adjustments to certain settings relating to technology-specific QoS controls.”). OOSA would have been motivated to apply the teaching of Agerstam above setting adjustment of Qian to yield a predictable result of achieving desired QoS.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to OOSA before the effective filing date of the application to combine Qian and Agerstam for the benefit of achieving desired QoS ([0057] of Agerstam).
Claim 12 is rejected because it is a generic computer system (FIGs.1 and 15) that performs the method of claim 1 and has the same subject matter.
Claim 20 is rejected because it is a non-transitory computer-readable media (FIG. 15, memory 1510) containing code for performing the method of claim 1 and has the same subject matter.
As to claims 2 and 13, Qian in view of Agerstam discloses claims 1 and 12, Qian in view of Agerstam further discloses: wherein the first network device comprises an access point (AP) or a wireless controller (WLC) (FIG. 15 and the associated text, such as the AP/WLC included in network 1560 connected to network interface 1540, and p34, 2nd para “… access device 1540 may include any type of wired or wireless network interface (e.g., network interface card (NIC)) in one or more, such as IEEE 802.11 wireless local area network (WLAN) wireless interface, global microwave internet access (Wi-MAX) interface, ...”; note that WLAN has an AP connecting to UE wireless interface 1540).
As to claims 3 and 14, Qian in view of Agerstam discloses claims 1 and 12, Qian further discloses: wherein the second network device comprises a station (STA) associated with the first network device for network connection (FIG. 1, Host 1-3, each is a STA, being equivalent to device 1500 in FIG. 15).
As to claims 4 and 15, Qian in view of Agerstam discloses claims 1 and 12, Agerstam further discloses: wherein the one or more characteristics of the network service comprise at least one of (i) a differentiated service code point (DSCP) value (“[0057] Examples of such QoS controls include, … QoS controls at the converged IPv6/IPv4 layer (e.g., through the differentiated services code point (DSCP) field in the IP header, bandwidth allocation, and queueing policies and priorities)”), (ii) a category of traffic (“[0057] Examples of such QoS controls include, … QoS controls at the converged IPv6/IPv4 layer (e.g., through the differentiated services code point (DSCP) field in the IP header, …), (iii) a traffic criticality level (“[0057] …, and queueing policies and priorities)”), (iv) a latency preference ([0035] … latency …), (v) a reliability preference ( [0033] (ii) general demodulation errors; [0034] (iii) data transmission errors (e.g., bit error rate (BER) before and after applying any forward error correction (FEC) algorithm, block error rate (BLER), packet collisions, packet error rate (PER), checksum errors at the network/transport layers); and [0035] … packet drops, packet loss …), (v) a jitter sensitivity level ([0035] … jitter …), or (vi) a queueing policy, defined for the network service (“[0057] …, and queueing policies and priorities)”).
The motivation of combining Qian in view of Agerstam is the same as stated in the parent claims.
As to claims 5 and 16, Qian in view of Agerstam discloses claims 1 and 12, Agerstam further discloses: wherein the one or more network transmission settings comprise at least one of (i) a packet retry value (Agerstam, “[0036] In general, these QoS metrics may span all the relevant layers of the protocol stack of a particular wireless technology, including the physical layer or layer one (L1) … data link layer … network layer (e.g., internet protocol (IP) checksum errors, packet drops), and transport layer (e.g., transmission control protocol (TCP)/user datagram protocol (UDP) (e.g., transmission control protocol (TCP)/user datagram protocol (UDP) checksum errors, packet loss, retransmission statistics, congestion window size).”; note that it is well known in the art that TCP/IP packet header includes “retry bits”. For example, US 20170181015 A1 discloses it in “[0066] … The packet information can include information such as packet envelopes, packet headers, packet type, packet size, retry bits, …”), (ii) an aggressiveness factor for Modulation and Coding Scheme (MCS) selection (suggested by “[0045] … selecting a different modulation and coding scheme (MCS) index to indirectly change the modulation scheme, coding scheme, …“ or “[0069]… modulation and coding scheme (MCS) indices for various wireless technologies (e.g., MCS indices for Wi-Fi, cellular), …”), or (iii) a down-shifting factor for MCS selection (“[0068] … the processing pipeline 300 receives various types of input or performance data 302 from different sources, such as quality of service (QoS) metrics for wireless networks …, modulation and coding scheme (MCS) indices for various wireless technologies (e.g., MCS indices for Wi-Fi, cellular), and performance objectives (e.g., traffic flow objectives)”).
The motivation of combining Qian in view of Agerstam is the same as stated in the parent claims.
As to claims 6 and 18, Qian in view of Agerstam discloses claims 1 and 12, Qian further discloses:
calculating a priority value for the network service, based on the one or more characteristics of the network service (p3, last para “… switch, configured to measure the network congestion information of the first data stream passing through the switch, writing the network congestion information into the detection packet, sending the detection packet to the next hop of the first data stream, …” and p13,2nd para “the flow type refers to dividing the traffic according to the occupied requirement of the bandwidth of different network services into a plurality of priority or a plurality of services, one flow type corresponding to a basic bandwidth weight, the basic bandwidth weight sum of all traffic types of one network is full bandwidth.”); and
determining, by the first network device, the adjustments for the one or more network transmission settings for the traffic flow based on the priority value (p18, 3rd para “The service queue, can be used for realizing the sending end flow WRR scheduling. WRR scheduling refers to all service queues of weighted cycle (WRR), and the priority is allocated to higher priority queue.”).
As to claims 7 and 18, Qian in view of Agerstam discloses claims 1 and 12, Qian further discloses:
computing a congestion ratio function based on congestion conditions of the network (p3, last para “… switch, configured to measure the network congestion information of the first data stream passing through the switch, writing the network congestion information into the detection packet, sending the detection packet to the next hop of the first data stream, …” and p18, 3rd para “The service queue, can be used for realizing the sending end flow WRR scheduling. WRR scheduling refers to all service queues of weighted cycle (WRR), and the priority is allocated to higher priority queue. The core purpose of traffic WRR scheduling is to ensure that different traffic types can be distributed according to the required proportion as a whole when using the sending end network card resource.…”; note that congestion ratio function is defined as dividing applications/services into high-priority class and low priority class in [0047] of the specification);
determining a priority class of the network service, using the congestion ratio function, based on the one or more characteristics (p18, 3rd para, “The service queue, can be used for realizing the sending end flow WRR scheduling. WRR scheduling refers to all service queues of weighted cycle (WRR), and the priority is allocated to higher priority queue. The core purpose of traffic WRR scheduling is to ensure that different traffic types can be distributed according to the required proportion as a whole when using the sending end network card resource. …”); and
determining, by the first network device, the adjustments for the one or more network transmission settings for the traffic flow based on the priority class (p18, 3rd para, “The service queue, can be used for realizing the sending end flow WRR scheduling. WRR scheduling refers to all service queues of weighted cycle (WRR), and the priority is allocated to higher priority queue. The core purpose of traffic WRR scheduling is to ensure that different traffic types can be distributed according to the required proportion as a whole when using the sending end network card resource. …”)
As to claim 8, Qian in view of Agerstam discloses claim 7, further discloses: wherein the congestion conditions of the network comprises at least one of (i) a number of active connections of the first network device (Qian: p13, 1st para “… the number of paths of the first flow type data stream sent from the sending end, determining the initial transmission bandwidth weight of the first data stream.”); (ii) an amount of data waiting at the first network device (Qian: p14, 3rd para “… the network congestion information may include: passing through the sum of the weight of the data stream of the switch, the sum of the sending rate of the data stream of the switch, the length of the sending queue of the switch, the amount of data sent by the switch and the line speed of the port.”); (iii) an amount of data waiting at the second network device (Qian” p14, 3rd para “… the network congestion information may include: passing through the sum of the weight of the data stream of the switch, the sum of the sending rate of the data stream of the switch, the length of the sending queue of the switch, the amount of data sent by the switch and the line speed of the port.”); or (iv) an amount of retry bits received by the first network device over an interval (Agerstam, “[0036] In general, these QoS metrics may span all the relevant layers of the protocol stack of a particular wireless technology, including the physical layer or layer one (L1) … data link layer … network layer (e.g., internet protocol (IP) checksum errors, packet drops), and transport layer (e.g., transmission control protocol (TCP)/user datagram protocol (UDP) (e.g., transmission control protocol (TCP)/user datagram protocol (UDP) checksum errors, packet loss, retransmission statistics, congestion window size).”; note that it is well known in the art that TCP/IP packet header includes “retry bits”. For example, US 20170181015 A1 discloses it in “[0066] … The packet information can include information such as packet envelopes, packet headers, packet type, packet size, retry bits, …”).
The motivation of combining Qian in view of Agerstam is the same as stated in the parent claims.
As to claim 10, Qian in view of Agerstam discloses claim 7, Agerstam further discloses: wherein the congestion ratio function is a linear function of a traffic criticality level and a jitter sensitivity level, adjusted by one or more coefficients (“[0075] … the important features may be extracted from the input data 302 and the remaining unimportant features may be discarded. In some embodiments, unsupervised learning may be used to identify the correlated attributes for feature selection. For example, if two attributes are highly correlated with each other, then they are linearly dependent on each other … [0077] … the quality of service (QoS) metrics contain discrete performance metrics (e.g., signal strength, signal-to-noise ratio, packet loss, jitter, latency, etc.), each of which can be treated as a single feature. Thus, in some embodiments, a decision tree algorithm may be used to train a model based on the QoS metrics (e.g., as described below in connection with FIG. 5). …”).
The motivation of combining Qian in view of Agerstam is the same as stated in the parent claims.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JIANYE WU whose telephone number is (571)270-1665. The examiner can normally be reached M-TH 8am-6pm.
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, Yemane Mesfin can be reached at (571) 272-3927. 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.
/JIANYE WU/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2462