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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 1/26/2026 and 5/29/2026 are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Amendments to the Specification and the Drawings
Acknowledgment is made to the Amendments to the specification and Figs. 6A, 12, 14B, 15A, 15B, and 15D to correct minor clerical, typographical, and grammatical errors.
Claim Status
Claims 1-25 are pending in the instant application.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments, see Remarks, filed on 03/30/26 have been fully considered. Although there are differences between Applicant’s invention and the cited prior art, the current claims have not successfully captured these differences to render the claims clearly distinguishable from the cited prior art as explained in more detail below.
Rejections under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1)
In response to Applicant’s arguments that Yin fails to teach the limitation “the one or more headers of the publish message including a topic, the topic comprising the destination identifier from the header of the received message or a portion of the destination identifier uniquely identifying a gateway node in the network to which the computing device is connected.”
Applicant refers to paragraphs [0051] and [0053]-[0063] of Yin and concludes that Yin relies on an intermediate mapping mechanism to route message, rather than using a destination identifier itself, or a portion thereof, as the topic. Examiner acknowledged Applicant’s perspective but respectfully disagrees for the following reasons:
First, since claim 1 only recites “the topic comprising the destination identifier from the header of the received message” and does not further recite the specific format of the publish message (e.g. structure, implementation, arrangement etc.,). Thus, the cited limitation broadly covers a relationship between a the topic and the destination identifier.
Second, Applicant has cited various figures and paragraphs from Applicant’s own specification (see pages 14-16 of the Remarks) to support Applicant’s argument. Although the claims are interpreted in light of the specification, limitations from the specification are not read into the claims. In response to applicant's argument that the references fail to show certain features of the invention, it is noted that the features upon which applicant relies (i.e., features from the figure and paragraphs of Applicant’s own specification) are not recited in the rejected claim(s). Although the claims are interpreted in light of the specification, limitations from the specification are not read into the claims. See In re Van Geuns, 988 F.2d 1181, 26 USPQ2d 1057 (Fed. Cir. 1993).
Third, Yin discloses in paragraph [0063] the relationship between a topic and an identifier of a destination (i.e. PfeID). Yin’s mapping mechanism identifies the correspondence between the topic and the PfeID . Yin discloses “After receiving the Ethernet-encapsulated control message, the MQTT broker returns, to the PFE, a packet in which a destination address is localhost. The Ethernet-encapsulated control message enters the PDC module. The PDC module decapsulates the Ethernet-encapsulated control message to obtain the decapsulated control message, extracts the topic in the control message, and searches the mapping table to obtain a corresponding PfeID. The PDC module adds the PLC frame header, adds the PfeID in the PLC frame header, and sends, to the PFE, the control message to which the PLC frame header is added.”
For at least the above reasons, Yin does disclose … “the one or more headers of the publish message including a topic, the topic comprising the destination identifier from the header of the received message.”
In response to Applicant’s arguments that Yin fails to teach a topic that is populated with a destination identifier that uniquely identifies a computing device or a gateway node, nor that such a topic is a subscribed-to topic of the device or gateway (page 14 Remarks). Examiner acknowledged Applicant’s perspective but respectfully disagrees for the following reason:
The limitation is recited after “or” thus, Examiner cited portions of Yin that discloses the portion “the one or more headers of the publish message including a topic, the topic comprising the destination identifier from the header of the received message” and as indicate above, Yin discloses these limitations.
Applicant recites various figures and paragraphs from Applicant’s own specifications to indicate that the pending application implement different techniques, e.g. the identifier is inserted into the topic and used by the broker to match against subscription list (page 15); the topic is populated with the destination identifier itself or a portion of that same identifier, such that the topic reflects a structured addressing value already present in the received message (page 16). These implementation techniques (e.g. inserting, populating the topic to/which the destination identifier) upon which Applicant relies (i.e., features from the figure and paragraphs of Applicant’s own specification) are not recited in the rejected claim(s). Although the claims are interpreted in light of the specification, limitations from the specification are not read into the claims. See In re Van Geuns, 988 F.2d 1181, 26 USPQ2d 1057 (Fed. Cir. 1993).
Applicant argues the topic is populated with information taken from the received message header, rather than being independently generated or assigned (page 16). The examiner respectfully disagrees for the following reasons:
First, it appears that Applicant refers to an implementation i.e. the topic is populated with information taken from the received message header. The claimed limitation does not reflect this implementation technique, the claims instead broadly recites “the topic comprising the destination identifier from the header of the received message.”
Second, Yin discloses this features, for example, paragraphs [0057] and [0058] of Yin disclose the following: “[0057] After the registration is completed, as a subscriber, the PFE initiates the subscription request to the PLC terminal control apparatus, and the subscription request includes the PLC frame header and the MQTT subscription message. Herein, the MQTT subscription message is an MQTT message whose message type (msgtype) is CONNECT, and the MQTT subscription message carries a topic for controlling the PLC terminal, for example, “turn on a light”. As shown in FIG. 3, a topic of a PLC terminal 131 is “turn on a light”, and topics of other PLC terminals 131 are “turn off a light”. The PFE adds the PLC frame header to the MQTT subscription message, adds the PfeID to the PLC frame header to be used as the MQTT subscription request, and sends the MQTT subscription request to the PDC. After receiving the MQTT subscription request, the PDC finds the entry according to the PfeID in the PLC frame header, deletes the PLC frame header in the subscription request to obtain the MQTT subscription message, extracts the topic in the MQTT subscription message, and stores the topic in the entry. Then the PDC performs Ethernet encapsulation on the MQTT subscription message. For example, the PDC performs TCP/IP encapsulation, that is, sending the MQTT subscription message to a TCP/IP protocol stack, and a destination address is localhost:1883. The PDC sends the encapsulated MQTT subscription message to the MQTT broker. Localhost means an IP address of a host, and 1883 is a port number agreed in an MQTT protocol.
[0058] After receiving the Ethernet-encapsulated MQTT subscription message, the MQTT broker returns, to the PFE, a subscription response message that has undergone Ethernet encapsulation in which a destination is localhost:1883. The Ethernet-encapsulated subscription response message includes the topic. Herein, the subscription response message is an MQTT message whose msgtype is CONNACK. A function of localhost:1883 is replaced in the PDC, because the IP address and the port number are used for addressing in the TCP/IP. The PDC decapsulates the Ethernet-encapsulated subscription response message, extracts the MQTT response message, extracts the topic in the MQTT response message, searches the mapping table to obtain the PfeID, and sends, to the peer PFE through the PLC channel, the MQTT response message to which the PLC frame header is added, and the PLC frame header includes the PfeID. Therefore, herein, the PDC terminates an Ethernet bearer, PLC bears an MQTT application instead, and a mapping relationship between the PfeID and the topic are used for addressing.”
Thus, Yin discloses the PLC receives a subscription message from a subscriber (i.e. PFE), the subscription message comprises a topic,and a PLC frame header that includes the destination identifier (i.e. PfeID). After receiving the subscription message, the MQTT broker returns to the PFE, a subscription response message. The PDC decapsulates the subscription response message, extracts the topic in the MQTT response message, searches the mapping table to obtain the PfeID. The PDL then sends the MQTT response message including the PLC frame header with the PfeID. Thus, the PfeID in the message that was sent to the PFE, is the same identifier of the subscriber that was included in the subscription message.
Applicant also argues independent claim 19 recites a system including “a broker server adapted with a publish-subscribe messaging protocol” and “a front-end server of the broker server,” the front-end server is configured to perform steps recited in claim 19. Yin does not disclose such an arrangement. The examiner respectfully disagrees. Attention is directed to Figs. 3 and 6 of Yin. Figure 3 illustrates a PDC that is coupled to a MQTT broker (i.e. MQTT server) (see Yin’s paragraphs [0010], [0039] and [0041]). The PDC functions as a front-end server because it connects to the MQTT server and faces multiple PLC terminal system to receive the subscription request sent by the PFE, the PDC is further configured to receive the subscription response message, add the PLC frame header including the PfeID to the MQTT response message, and send, to the PFE, the MQTT response message (see Fig. 6, steps S201-S206 and S209-S211). The PDC also interacts/communicates with the MQTT broker (see Fig. 6, steps S206-S209). Thus, contrary to Applicant’s conclusion. The PDC interacts with the MQTT broker to prepare and send the subscription response message to the PFE.
Applicant’s arguments are unpersuasive, Yin still teaches the above argued limitations recites in the independent claims 1, 12 and 19. And, Yin also teaches claim 6.
Rejections under 35 U.S.C. 103
Claims 2, 7-8, 13, 17 and 20-21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yin (US 2017/0244792) in view of Zhu et al. (US 2020/0177461), hereinafter Zhu.
In response to Applicant’s argument that the motivation to combine Yin with Zhu to arrive at the recited features of claim 2 “.. a method is performed at a front-end server of a cloud computing service, the cloud computing service including the server adapted with a publish-subscribe messaging protocol.”
Applicant argues Yin does not disclose or suggest consolidating the receiving, preparing, and sending steps at a front end server of a cloud computing device. Zhu likewise does not remedy this deficiency. The Examiner addresses the teaching of Yin regarding the front-end server above. Zhu is cited for teaching the feature the front-end server of a cloud computing service. Zhu discloses in paragraphs [0048] and [0052] a control device (i.e. a server) is deployed in a cloud and communicates with gateways and terminals in a publish and subscribe scheme. Thus, the combination of Yin and Zhu teaches the limitations recited in claim 2. Applicant argues the Office does not provide a sufficient rational for modifying the distributed processing of Yin to arrive at the claimed arrangements. The Examiner recognizes that obviousness may be established by combining or modifying the teachings of the prior art to produce the claimed invention where there is some teaching, suggestion, or motivation to do so found either in the references themselves or in the knowledge generally available to one of ordinary skill in the art. See In re Fine, 837 F.2d 1071, 5 USPQ2d 1596 (Fed. Cir. 1988), In re Jones, 958 F.2d 347, 21 USPQ2d 1941 (Fed. Cir. 1992), and KSR International Co. v. Teleflex, Inc., 550 U.S. 398, 82 USPQ2d 1385 (2007). In this case, as stated previously in the Non-Final Office action, Yin discloses a front-end server is configured to interact with the MQTT broker and the PLC, PFE to transmit a subscription request message to the MQTT broker and transmit a subscription response message to the PLC. Zhu discloses a control device is implemented in a cloud and communicates with various network entities/components in a publish and subscribe scheme. One of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have recognized the ability to utilize the teachings of Zhu for implementing a server deployed in a cloud. The teachings of Zhu, when implemented in the Yin system, will allow one of ordinary skill in the art to manage network access devices and provide service for the network access devices. One of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to utilize the teachings of Zhu in the Yin system in order to improve the efficiency of publishing an application message by a server (i.e. control device) to a massive network access devices. "A person of ordinary skill in the art is also a person of ordinary creativity, not an automaton. "KSR, 550 U.S. at 421, 82 USPQ2d at 1397. "[I]n many cases a person of ordinary skill will be able to fit the teachings of multiple patents together like pieces of a puzzle." Id. at 420, 82 USPQ2d at 1397. Office personnel may also take into account "the inferences and creative steps that a person of ordinary skill in the art would employ." Id. at 418, 82 USPQ2d at 1396.
Note that neither Yin nor Zhu implicitly or explicitly includes statements that indicate there would be no reasonable expectation of success in combining or modifying their disclosures to meet the limitations of the claimed invention. Moreover, the detailed teachings of Yin and Zhu as explained and analyzed above provide a sufficient basis for a reasonable expectation of success.
In addition, Zhu reference must be considered in entirety as a whole, advantages and disadvantages. A given course of action often has simultaneous advantages and disadvantages and this does not necessarily obviate motivation to combine. Thus, even assuming Zhu’s teachings have some disadvantages, this does not necessarily obviate motivation to combine Zhu with Yin.
For at least the above reasons, there is motivation to combine Yi and Zhu and there is a reasonable expectation of success in doing so.
Claims 3, 10, 14, 18, 22 and 23 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yin (US 2017/0244792) in view of Rangasamy et al. (US 10,819,556), hereinafter Rangasamy.
Applicant argues Yin operates on the premise that messages entering the publish-subscribe system include topic information that governs routing behavior. In contrast, Rangasamy is relied upon for an alleged teaching of messages that exclude a topic or are not initially formatted according to a publish-subscribe protocol. Incorporating such messages into Yin would require additional processing to generate or insert a topic into the message before it could be routed using Yin’s publish-subscribe framework. Yin does not disclose or suggest such processing, nor does it provide any indication that messages lacking topics would be accepted or transformed in this manner. The examiner respectfully disagrees. Similar to the response regarding the combined teachings of Yin and Zhu, obviousness may be established by combining or modifying the teachings of the prior art to produce the claimed invention where there is some teaching, suggestion, or motivation to do so found either in the references themselves or in the knowledge generally available to one of ordinary skill in the art. See In re Fine, 837 F.2d 1071, 5 USPQ2d 1596 (Fed. Cir. 1988), In re Jones, 958 F.2d 347, 21 USPQ2d 1941 (Fed. Cir. 1992), and KSR International Co. v. Teleflex, Inc., 550 U.S. 398, 82 USPQ2d 1385 (2007). In this case, Rangasamy discloses a DCMI platform receives the registration request without a topic and the API consumers only subscribe to the topic after receiving response from the DCMI platforms. It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to utilize the teachings of Rangasamy for providing subscription identifiers in registration responses from a platform. The teachings of Rangasamy, when implemented in the Yin system, will allow one of ordinary skill in the art to subscribe to events that are published to topics by a cloud-based publisher. One of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to utilize the teachings of Rangasamy in the Yin system in order to enable consumers to obtain real-time notifications of events.
Applicant further argues the claims recite preparing a publish message from a received message that excludes a topic, including inserting information from the received message (e.g., a destination identifier or a portion thereof) into the topic field and then using that topic for subscription-based routing. This type of message transformation-converting a non-publish-subscribe message into a publish message with a constructed topic-is not taught or suggested by Yin or Rangasamy, either individually or in combination. Rangasamy does not remedy this deficiency, as it does not disclose populating a topic with a destination identifier or using such a topic as a subscribed-to routing key within a publish-subscribe system. Examiner acknowledged Applicant’s perspective but respectfully disagreed because Applicant relies on the specification to support Applicant’s argument. Although the claims are interpreted in light of the specification, limitations from the specification are not read into the claims. See In re Van Geuns, 988 F.2d 1181, 26 USPQ2d 1057 (Fed. Cir. 1993).
Claims 4-5 and 15-16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yin (US 2017/0244792) in view of Rangasamy (US 10,819,556) further in view of Zhu (US 2020/0177461).
Applicant argues claims 4 and 15 recites that preparing the publish message includes “inserting a copy of the destination identifier or the portion thereof into the one or more headers of the publish message as the topic.” This recitation makes explicit that the topic is formed by directly using the destination identifier, or a portion thereof, from the received message, rather than by generating or assigning a separate identifier. Thus, the preparation of the publish message involves incorporating the same identifier (or portion) into the topic field so the that the publish-subscribe system routes the message based on that identifier. Yin does not teach or suggest this feature as recited in dependent claims 4 and 15.
In the Non-final Rejection, claims 4 and 15 were rejected for being unpatentable over Yin in view of Rangasamy further in view of Zhu. Zhu’s paragraphs [0053]-[0054] and [0066] were cited for teaching the limitations recited in the claims. Applicant instead argues that Yin fails to teach these limitations.
Claim 9 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yin (US 2017/0244792) in view of Zhu (US 2020/0177461) further in view of Wakabayashi et al. (US 2024/0089337), hereinafter Wakabayashi.
Applicant argues the claim conditionally based on the arguments presented to claim 1. Applicant’s arguments are unpersuasive for the reasons set forth above. Therefore, the combination of Yin, Zhu and Wakabayashi render obvious claim 9.
Claims 11, 24 and 25 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yin (US 2017/0244792) in view of Zhu (US 2020/0177461) further in view of Rangasamy (US 10,819,556).
Applicant argues the claim conditionally based on the arguments presented to claims 1 and 19. Applicant’s arguments are unpersuasive for the reasons set forth above. Therefore, the combination of Yin, Zhu and Wakabayashi render obvious claims 11, 24 and 25.
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.
Claims 1, 6, 12 and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Yin et al. (US 2017/0244792), hereinafter Yin.
As for claim 1, Yin teaches a method comprising:
receiving a message (paragraph [0051] describe a PDC is configured to receive a subscription request sent by a PFE, the subscription request includes an MQTT subscription message; paragraph [0053] describes the PDC encapsulates the MQTT subscription message and sends the encapsulated MQTT subscription message to an MQTT broker), the received message including a header and a payload (paragraph [0051] describes the subscription request includes a PLC frame header and an MQTT subscription message (i.e. a payload)), the header including a destination identifier in a destination identifier field (paragraph [0051] describes a PfeID is carried in the PLC frame header), the destination identifier uniquely identifying a computing device in a network to receive the message (paragraph [0063] describes after receiving the control message from the MQTT publisher, the MQTT broker returns, to the PFE, a packet in which a destination address is a localhost, the control message enters the PDC module which further processes the control message, adds the PLC frame header, adds the PfeID in the frame header, and sends, to the PFE); and
preparing a publish message at least partially based on the received message (paragraph [0033] and [0035]-[0036] describe a PLC terminal sends a subscription request includes a topic. An MQTT publisher sends a control message to the PLC terminal, the control message includes a control word and a topic), the publish message including one or more headers and a payload (Fig. 4A; paragraphs [0063] and [0065] describe the control word is used as a payload and other fields as headers), the one or more headers of the publish message including a topic (Fig. 4A; paragraph [0065] describes a topic), the topic comprising the destination identifier from the header of the received message or a portion of the destination identifier uniquely identifying a gateway node in the network to which the computing device is connected (paragraph [0063] describes after receiving the control message, the MQTT broker returns, to the PFE, a packet in which a destination address is a localhost. The control message enters the PDC module. The PDC module decapsulates the control message and extracts the topic in the control message, searches the mapping table to obtain a corresponding PfeID), the payload of the publish message including the received message (Fig. 4A; paragraph [0033] and [0065] describe the subscription request includes a topic for controlling the PLC terminal system. After the subscription succeeds, the MQTT publisher is awaited to publish a control message. The control message’s structure include headers and payload e.g. topic); and
sending the publish message including the received message to a server adapted with a publish-subscribe messaging protocol, for communicating the received message from the payload of the publish message to the computing device identified by the destination identifier (paragraphs [0036]-[0037] describe the MQTT publisher sends a control message to the PLC terminal control apparatus. An MQTT subscribe/publish mechanism is used and applied to a PLC scenario; paragraph [0063] describes the MQTT publisher sends the control message to the MQTT broker. After receiving the control message, the MQTT broker returns, to the PFE, a packet in which a destination address is localhost)
wherein the topic comprising the destination identifier or the portion thereof is a subscribed-to topic of the computing device or the gateway node (paragraph [0057] describes the MQTT subscription message carries a topic for controlling the PLC terminal, for example, “turn on a light”. The PDC extracts the topic in the MQTT subscription message, and stores the topic in the entry. The PDC performs TCP/IP encapsulation, i.e. sending the MQTT subscription message to a TCI/IP protocol stack, and a destination address is a localhost:1883. The PDC sends the encapsulated MQTT subscription message to the MQTT broker. Localhost means an IP address of a host, and 1883 is a port number agreed in an MQTT protocol), the subscribed-to topic of the computing device or the gateway node being subscribed-to at the server adapted with the publish-subscribe messaging protocol (paragraph [0057] describes the MQTT subscription message carries a topic for controlling the PLC terminal, for example, “turn on a light”. The PDC extracts the topic in the MQTT subscription message, and stores the topic in the entry. The PDC performs TCP/IP encapsulation, i.e. sending the MQTT subscription message to a TCI/IP protocol stack, and a destination address is a localhost:1883. The PDC sends the encapsulated MQTT subscription message to the MQTT broker. Localhost means an IP address of a host, and 1883 is a port number agreed in an MQTT protocol).
As for claim 6, Yin teaches wherein the topic comprises the destination identifier uniquely identifying the computing device in the network (paragraph [0033] describes the subscription request includes an identifier of a PLC terminal system and a topic for controlling the PLC terminal system).
As for claim 19, Yin teaches a system comprising (Fig. 3):
a broker server adapted with a publish-subscribe messaging protocol (Fig. 3; MQTT broker 121; paragraph [0039] describes an MQTT broker); and
a front-end server of the broker server (Fig. 3; PDC 122; paragraph [0039] describes the PDC connected to the MQTT broker), the front-end server to:
receive a message (paragraph [0051] describe a PDC is configured to receive a subscription request sent by a PFE), the received message including a header and a payload (paragraph [0051] describes the subscription request includes a PLC frame header and an MQTT subscription message (i.e. a payload)), the header including a destination identifier in a destination identifier field (paragraph [0051] describes a PfeID is carried in the PLC frame header), the destination identifier uniquely identifying a computing device in a network (paragraph [0017] describes the MQTT broker sends a subscription response message to the PDC which decapsulates the subscription response message to obtain the MQTT response message, adds the PLC frame header including the PfeID to the MQTT response message, and sending, to the PFE, the MQTT response message to which the PLC frame header is added); and
preparing a publish message based on the received message (paragraph [0033] and [0035]-[0036] describe a PLC terminal sends a subscription request includes a topic. An MQTT publisher sends a control message to the PLC terminal, the control message includes a control word and a topic), the publish message including one or more headers and a payload (Fig. 4A; paragraphs [0063] and [0065] describe the control word is used as a payload and other fields as headers), the one or more headers of the publish message including a topic (Fig. 4A; paragraph [0065] describes a topic), the topic comprising the destination identifier from the header of the received message or a portion of the destination identifier uniquely identifying a gateway node in the network to which the computing device is connected (paragraph [0063] describes after receiving the control message, the MQTT broker returns, to the PFE, a packet in which a destination address is a localhost. The control message enters the PDC module. The PDC module decapsulates the control message and extracts the topic in the control message, searches the mapping table to obtain a corresponding PfeID), the payload of the publish message including the received message (Fig. 4A; paragraph [0033] and [0065] describe the subscription request includes a topic for controlling the PLC terminal system. After the subscription succeeds, the MQTT publisher is awaited to publish a control message. The control message’s structure include headers and payload e.g. topic); and
send the publish message to the broker server adapted with a publish-subscribe messaging protocol, for communicating the received message from the payload of the publish message from the payload of the publish message to the computing device identified by the destination identifier (paragraphs [0036]-[0037] describe the MQTT publisher sends a control message to the PLC terminal control apparatus. An MQTT subscribe/publish mechanism is used and applied to a PLC scenario; paragraph [0063] describes the MQTT publisher sends the control message to the MQTT broker. After receiving the control message, the MQTT broker returns, to the PFE, a packet in which a destination address is localhost),
wherein the topic comprising the destination identifier or the portion thereof is a subscribed-to topic of the computing device or the gateway node (paragraph [0057] describes the MQTT subscription message carries a topic for controlling the PLC terminal, for example, “turn on a light”. The PDC extracts the topic in the MQTT subscription message, and stores the topic in the entry. The PDC performs TCP/IP encapsulation, i.e. sending the MQTT subscription message to a TCI/IP protocol stack, and a destination address is a localhost:1883. The PDC sends the encapsulated MQTT subscription message to the MQTT broker. Localhost means an IP address of a host, and 1883 is a port number agreed in an MQTT protocol), the subscribed-to topic of the computing device or the gateway node being subscribed-to at the server adapted with the publish-subscribe messaging protocol (paragraph [0057] describes the MQTT subscription message carries a topic for controlling the PLC terminal, for example, “turn on a light”. The PDC extracts the topic in the MQTT subscription message, and stores the topic in the entry. The PDC performs TCP/IP encapsulation, i.e. sending the MQTT subscription message to a TCI/IP protocol stack, and a destination address is a localhost:1883. The PDC sends the encapsulated MQTT subscription message to the MQTT broker. Localhost means an IP address of a host, and 1883 is a port number agreed in an MQTT protocol).
As for claims 12, the claim listed all the same elements of claim 1, but in a non-transitory computer readable medium having computer-executable instructions (Yin: paragraph [0111] describes a computer-readable medium that store instructions), the computer-executable instructions to cause one or more processors to perform operations (Yin: paragraph [0111] describes a computer the accesses to program code stored at the storage medium; claim 1 describes a processor coupled to the memory to execute instructions to perform operations). Therefore, the supporting rational of the rejection to claim 1 applies equally as well to claims 12.
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 2, 7-8, 13, 17 and 20-21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yin (US 2017/0244792) in view of Zhu et al. (US 2020/0177461), hereinafter Zhu.
As for claim 2, Yin fails to teach a method is performed at a front-end server of a cloud computing service, the cloud computing service including the server adapted with a publish-subscribe messaging protocol.
Zhu discloses
a method is performed at a front-end server of a cloud computing service, the cloud computing service including the server adapted with a publish-subscribe messaging protocol (paragraphs [0048] and [0052] describe a control device (i.e. a server) is deployed in a cloud and communicates with gateways and terminals in a publish and subscribe scheme; paragraph [0010] describes a subscription/publication mechanism of a MQTT protocol is used between the control device and the terminal).
One of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have recognized the ability to utilize the teachings of Zhu for implementing a server deployed in a cloud. The teachings of Zhu, when implemented in the Yin system, will allow one of ordinary skill in the art to manage network access devices and provide service for the network access devices. One of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to utilize the teachings of Zhu in the Yin system in order to improve the efficiency of publishing an application message by a server (i.e. control device) to a massive network access devices.
As for claim 7, Yin teaches wherein the topic comprises the portion of the destination identifier (paragraph [0033] describes the subscription request includes an identifier of the PLC terminal system and a topic for controlling the PLC terminal system), the computing device is connected to the gateway node (Fig. 2; paragraphs [0030] and [0033] describe the PLC terminal system establishes a PLC connection to the PLC terminal control apparatus and the subscription request includes an identifier of a PLC terminal system and a topic for controlling the PLC terminal system), and sending the publish message including the received message to the server adapted with the publish-subscribe messaging protocol for communicating the received message from the payload of the publish message to the computing device via the gateway node (paragraphs [0033]-[0034] describe after the subscription succeeds, the MQTT publisher is awaited to publish a control message. The PLC terminal control apparatus is configured to receive the control message published by the MQTT publisher; paragraph [0039] describes the PLC terminal control apparatus includes an MQTT broker and a PDC connected to the MQTT broker; paragraphs [0041]-[0042] describes the MQTT broker is an MQTT server. In upstream, the MQTT broker receives an MQTT packet from the PDC. In downstream, the MQTT broker receives an MQTT packet from an MQTT publisher and sends the MQTT packet to the PD. In downstream, the PDC is responsible for receiving an MQTT packet sent by the MQTT broker, adding a PLC frame header, and sending the MQTT packet to a peer PFE module).
Yin fails to teach
wherein a gateway node is identified by a portion of a destination identifier.
Zhu discloses
wherein a gateway node is identified by a portion of a destination identifier (paragraphs [0053]-[0054] describe the identifier of a gateway. The control device groups the terminals connected to each gateway to obtain a plurality of logical groups).
One of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have recognized the ability to utilize the teachings of Zhu for sending a message that includes a gateway identifier. The teachings of Zhu, when implemented in the Yin and Rangasamy system, will allow one of ordinary skill in the art to manage a subscriber request to access a topic. One of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to utilize the teachings of Zhu in the Yin and Rangasamy system in order to provide data associated with a subscribed topic to subscribers via the gateway.
As for claim 8, Yin fails to teach wherein the receiving, the preparing, and the sending is performed at a front-end server of a cloud computing service including the server adapted with the publish-subscribe messaging protocol, the method comprising:
at the server adapted with the publish-subscribe messaging protocol, receiving, from the front-end server, the publish message including the received message;
checking a subscription list associated with the topic; and
responsive to identifying the destination identifier or the portion thereof in the subscription list, forwarding the publish message including the received message to communicate the received message to the computing device.
Zhu discloses
wherein the receiving, the preparing, and the sending is performed at a front-end server of a cloud computing service including the server adapted with the publish-subscribe messaging protocol (paragraphs [0052]-[0053], [0056] and [0060] describe the control device is deployed in cloud, the control device receives a subscription request, parses the subscription request and publishes an application message. When the application message needs to be published to the target logical group, if the identifier of the target group is 1, the control device queries, by using the determined connection relationship between the terminal and the gateway, and then separately sends, to the identified gateways, an MQTT publish packet. The MQTT publish packet and the subscription request are transmitted based on the MQTT protocol), the method comprising:
at the server adapted with the publish-subscribe messaging protocol, receiving, from the front-end server, the publish message including the received message (paragraphs [0056]-[0057] describe the gateway receives the MQTT publish packet);
checking a subscription list associated with the topic (paragraph [0057] describes after receiving the MQTT publish packet, the gateway parses the MQTT publish packet to obtain the identifier of the logical group and at least one application message, determines, based on the grouping mapping table, that the application message needs to be sent to the terminals 2 and 4, and then separately determines, from the application message, the application message that matches the subscription topic for each terminal); and
responsive to identifying the destination identifier or the portion thereof in the subscription list, forwarding the publish message including the received message to communicate the received message to the computing device (paragraph [0057] describes the gateway separately determines, from the at least one application message, the application message that matches the subscription topic for each terminal, and separately sends the determined application messages to the terminal).
One of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have recognized the ability to utilize the teachings of Zhu for implementing a server deployed in a cloud. The teachings of Zhu, when implemented in the Yin system, will allow one of ordinary skill in the art to manage network access devices and provide service for the network access devices. One of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to utilize the teachings of Zhu in the Yin system in order to improve the efficiency of publishing an application message by a server (i.e. control device) to a massive network access devices.
As for claim 20, Yin teaches wherein:
the topic comprises the portion of the destination identifier (paragraph [0033] describes the subscription request includes an identifier of the PLC terminal system and a topic for controlling the PLC terminal system), the computing device is connected to the gateway node (Fig. 2; paragraphs [0030] and [0033] describe the PLC terminal system establishes a PLC connection to the PLC terminal control apparatus and the subscription request includes an identifier of a PLC terminal system and a topic for controlling the PLC terminal system), and sending the publish message including the received message to the broker server is for communicating the received message from the payload of the publish message to the computing device via the gateway node (paragraphs [0033]-[0034] describe after the subscription succeeds, the MQTT publisher is awaited to publish a control message. The PLC terminal control apparatus is configured to receive the control message published by the MQTT publisher; paragraph [0039] describes the PLC terminal control apparatus includes an MQTT broker and a PDC connected to the MQTT broker; paragraphs [0041]-[0042] describes the MQTT broker is an MQTT server. In upstream, the MQTT broker receives an MQTT packet from the PDC. In downstream, the MQTT broker receives an MQTT packet from an MQTT publisher and sends the MQTT packet to the PD. In downstream, the PDC is responsible for receiving an MQTT packet sent by the MQTT broker, adding a PLC frame header, and sending the MQTT packet to a peer PFE module).
Yin fails to teach
wherein a gateway node is identified by a portion of a destination identifier.
Zhu discloses
wherein a gateway node is identified by a portion of a destination identifier (paragraphs [0053]-[0054] describe the identifier of a gateway. The control device groups the terminals connected to each gateway to obtain a plurality of logical groups).
One of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have recognized the ability to utilize the teachings of Zhu for sending a message that includes a gateway identifier. The teachings of Zhu, when implemented in the Yin and Rangasamy system, will allow one of ordinary skill in the art to manage a subscriber request to access a topic. One of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to utilize the teachings of Zhu in the Yin and Rangasamy system in order to provide data associated with a subscribed topic to subscribers via the gateway.
As for claim 21, Yin fails to teach wherein the broker server is to:
receive, from a front-end server, a publish message including a received message;
check a subscription list associated with a topic; and
responsive to identifying a portion thereof in the subscription list,
forward a publish message to communicate the received message to the computing device via a gateway node.
Zhu discloses wherein a broker server is to:
receive, from a front-end server, a publish message including a received message (paragraphs [0056]-[0057] describe the gateway receives the MQTT publish packet);
check a subscription list associated with a topic (paragraph [0057] describes after receiving the MQTT publish packet, the gateway parses the MQTT publish packet to obtain the identifier of the logical group and at least one application message, determines, based on the grouping mapping table, that the application message needs to be sent to the terminals 2 and 4, and then separately determines, from the application message, the application message that matches the subscription topic for each terminal); and
responsive to identifying a portion of a destination identifier in the subscription list,
forward the publish message to communicate the received message to the computing device via the gateway node (paragraph [0057] describes the gateway separately determines, from the at least one application message, the application message that matches the subscription topic for each terminal, and separately sends the determined application messages to the terminal).
One of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have recognized the ability to utilize the teachings of Zhu for implementing a server deployed in a cloud. The teachings of Zhu, when implemented in the Yin system, will allow one of ordinary skill in the art to manage network access devices and provide service for the network access devices. One of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to utilize the teachings of Zhu in the Yin system in order to improve the efficiency of publishing an application message by a server (i.e. control device) to a massive network access devices.
As for claims 13 and 17, these claims listed all the same elements of claims 8 and 7, respectively, but in a non-transitory computer readable medium having computer-executable instructions (Yin: paragraph [0111] describes a computer-readable medium that store instructions), the computer-executable instructions to cause one or more processors to perform operations (Yin: paragraph [0111] describes a computer the accesses to program code stored at the storage medium; claim 1 describes a processor coupled to the memory to execute instructions to perform operations). Therefore, the supporting rational of the rejection to claims 8 and 7 applies equally as well to claims 13 and 17, respectively.
Claims 3, 10, 14, 18, 22 and 23 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yin (US 2017/0244792) in view of Rangasamy et al. (US 10,819,556), hereinafter Rangasamy.
As for claim 3, Yin teaches wherein the received message from the payload of the publish message is communicated to the computing device identified by the destination identifier responsive to the computing device or the gateway node having a subscription to the topic comprising the at least portion of the destination identifier or the portion thereof (paragraphs [0033] and [0036] describe the PLC terminal control apparatus receives a subscription request of any PLC terminal system. The subscription request includes an identifier of a PLC terminal system. The MQTT publisher sends a control message to the PLT terminal control apparatus. The PLC terminal apparatus decapsulates the control message, performs PLC encapsulation on the decapsulated control message according to the correspondence between the topic and the identifier of the PLC terminal system).
Yin fails to teach wherein the received message excludes the topic.
Rangasamy discloses
wherein the received message excludes the topic (col. 38, lines 25-28 describes each cloud-based publication platform offers a publish API by which a DCMI platform registers new topics and publishes messages to the topics for consuming by topic subscribers; col. 38, lines 44-50 describes in response to receiving a registration request conforming to a subscription API, the DCMI platform processes the registration request and sends, to a selected one of cloud-based publication platforms using the corresponding publish API, a topic request to request a new topic for the list of events specified in the registration request and generated by a specified data center; col. 39, lines 51-53 describe the API consumers request subscriptions to the topics by identifying the desired topics using subscription identifiers provided by the DCMI platform. Note: the DCMI platform receives the registration request without a topic and the API consumers only subscribe to the topic after receiving response from the DCMI platforms).
One of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have recognized the ability to utilize the teachings of Rangasamy for providing subscription identifiers in registration responses from a platform. The teachings of Rangasamy, when implemented in the Yin system, will allow one of ordinary skill in the art to subscribe to events that are published to topics by a cloud-based publisher. One of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to utilize the teachings of Rangasamy in the Yin system in order to enable consumers to obtain real-time notifications of events.
As for claim 10, Yin teaches wherein preparing the publish message comprises:
preparing the publish message in accordance with a Message Queuing Telemetry Transport (MQTT) message format at least partially based on the received message according to a message format (paragraphs [0031]-[0037] describe a system that implements a lightweight low overhead MQTT framework that uses MQTT protocol to communicate of a large quantity of remote sensors and control devices. An application program controls the MQTT publisher and the PLC terminal control apparatus is used as a broker in the MQTT mechanism. The PLC terminal control receives a subscription request from any PLC terminal system, the subscription request includes an identifier of a PLC terminal system and a topic for controlling the PLC terminal system. The PLC terminal control apparatus receives the control message published by the MQTT publisher and the PLC terminal control apparatus is configured to send the control message to the PLC terminal system; paragraph [0043]).
Yin fails to teach wherein the received message has a non-MQTT message format.
Rangasamy discloses
a received message has a non-MQTT message format (col. 38, lines 25-28 describes each cloud-based publication platform offers a publish API by which a DCMI platform registers new topics and publishes messages to the topics for consuming by topic subscribers; col. 38, lines 44-50 describes in response to receiving a registration request conforming to a subscription API, the DCMI platform processes the registration request and sends, to a selected one of cloud-based publication platforms using the corresponding publish API, a topic request to request a new topic for the list of events specified in the registration request and generated by a specified data center; col. 39, lines 51-53 describe the API consumers request subscriptions to the topics by identifying the desired topics using subscription identifiers provided by the DCMI platform. Note: the DCMI platform receives the registration request without a topic and the API consumers only subscribe to the topic after receiving response from the DCMI platforms, thus, the message is a non-MQTT message format).
One of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have recognized the ability to utilize the teachings of Rangasamy for providing subscription identifiers in registration responses from a platform. The teachings of Rangasamy, when implemented in the Yin system, will allow one of ordinary skill in the art to subscribe to events that are published to topics by a cloud-based publisher. One of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to utilize the teachings of Rangasamy in the Yin system in order to enable consumers to obtain real-time notifications of events.
As for claim 22, Yin teaches wherein the broker server comprises a Message Queuing Telemetry Transport (MQTT) broker server (paragraph [0039] describes a MQTT broker), the publish message is prepared according to an MQTT message format (paragraphs [0031]-[0037] describe a system that implements a lightweight low overhead MQTT framework that uses MQTT protocol to communicate of a large quantity of remote sensors and control devices. An application program controls the MQTT publisher and the PLC terminal control apparatus is used as a broker in the MQTT mechanism. The PLC terminal control receives a subscription request from any PLC terminal system, the subscription request includes an identifier of a PLC terminal system and a topic for controlling the PLC terminal system. The PLC terminal control apparatus receives the control message published by the MQTT publisher and the PLC terminal control apparatus is configured to send the control message to the PLC terminal system).
Yin fails to teach a received message has a non-MQTT message format that excludes a topic.
Rangasamy discloses
a received message has a non-MQTT message format that excludes a topic (col. 38, lines 25-28 describes each cloud-based publication platform offers a publish API by which a DCMI platform registers new topics and publishes messages to the topics for consuming by topic subscribers; col. 38, lines 44-50 describes in response to receiving a registration request conforming to a subscription API, the DCMI platform processes the registration request and sends, to a selected one of cloud-based publication platforms using the corresponding publish API, a topic request to request a new topic for the list of events specified in the registration request and generated by a specified data center; col. 39, lines 51-53 describe the API consumers request subscriptions to the topics by identifying the desired topics using subscription identifiers provided by the DCMI platform. Note: the DCMI platform receives the registration request without a topic and the API consumers only subscribe to the topic after receiving response from the DCMI platforms).
One of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have recognized the ability to utilize the teachings of Rangasamy for providing subscription identifiers in registration responses from a platform. The teachings of Rangasamy, when implemented in the Yin system, will allow one of ordinary skill in the art to subscribe to events that are published to topics by a cloud-based publisher. One of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to utilize the teachings of Rangasamy in the Yin system in order to enable consumers to obtain real-time notifications of events.
As for claim 23, Yin fails to teach wherein a system comprises a cloud computing service.
Rangasamy discloses
wherein a system comprises a cloud computing service (col. 38, lines 6-12 describe cloud-based publication platforms).
One of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have recognized the ability to utilize the teachings of Rangasamy for implementing a cloud-based cloud server. The teachings of Rangasamy, when implemented in the Yin system, will allow one of ordinary skill in the art to subscribe to events that are published to topics by a publisher. One of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to utilize the teachings of Rangasamy in the Yin system in order to enable consumers to obtain real-time notifications of events.
As for claims 14 and 18, the claims listed all the same elements of claims 3 and 10, respectively, but in a non-transitory computer readable medium having computer-executable instructions (Yin: paragraph [0111] describes a computer-readable medium that store instructions), the computer-executable instructions to cause one or more processors to perform operations (Yin: paragraph [0111] describes a computer the accesses to program code stored at the storage medium; claim 1 describes a processor coupled to the memory to execute instructions to perform operations). Therefore, the supporting rational of the rejection to claims 14 and 18 applies equally as well to claims 3 and 10, respectively.
Claims 4-5 and 15-16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yin (US 2017/0244792) in view of Rangasamy (US 10,819,556) further in view of Zhu (US 2020/0177461).
As for claim 4, the combined system of Yin and Rangasamy fails to teach wherein preparing the publish message comprises:
inserting a copy of the destination identifier into the one or more headers of the publish message as the topic.
Zhu discloses
wherein preparing the publish message comprises:
inserting a copy of the destination identifier into the one or more headers of the publish message as the topic (paragraph [0054] describes the control device groups the terminals connected to each gateway to obtain a plurality of logical groups, and set an identifier for each logical group, and sends, to the gateways , a grouping message that carries the identifier of the logical group and an identifier of the terminal included in each logical group; paragraphs [0053] and [0066] describe the MQTT publish packet that carries an application message and includes a header).
One of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have recognized the ability to utilize the teachings of Zhu for sending a message that includes a target identifier. The teachings of Zhu, when implemented in the Yin and Rangasamy system, will allow one of ordinary skill in the art to manage a subscriber request to access a topic. One of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to utilize the teachings of Zhu in the Yin and Rangasamy system in order to provide a gateway with subscribers’ identifier.
As for claim 5, the combined system of Yin, Rangasamy and Zhu teaches wherein preparing the publish message comprises:
inserting a publish type indicator in the one or more headers as a packet type (Yin: Fig. 4A; paragraphs [0063] and [0065] describe the MQTT publisher sends a control message to the MQTT broker, the control message includes a “MQTT message type”) (paragraph [0056] describes when the application message needs to be published to the target logical group, the control device queries, by using the determined connection relationship between the terminal and the gateway, that the gateways connected to the terminals in the logical group. The control device then sends to the gateways, an MQTT publish packet that carries the identifier of the logical group).
One of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have recognized the ability to utilize the teachings of Zhu for sending a message that includes a target identifier. The teachings of Zhu, when implemented in the Yin and Rangasamy system, will allow one of ordinary skill in the art to manage a subscriber request to access a topic. One of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to utilize the teachings of Zhu in the Yin and Rangasamy system in order to provide a gateway with subscribers’ identifier.
As for claims 15 and 16, these claims listed all the same elements of claims 4 and 5, respectively, but in a non-transitory computer readable medium having computer-executable instructions (Yin: paragraph [0111] describes a computer-readable medium that store instructions), the computer-executable instructions to cause one or more processors to perform operations (Yin: paragraph [0111] describes a computer the accesses to program code stored at the storage medium; claim 1 describes a processor coupled to the memory to execute instructions to perform operations). Therefore, the supporting rational of the rejection to claims 4 and 5 applies equally as well to claims 15 and 16, respectively.
Claim 9 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yin (US 2017/0244792) in view of Zhu (US 2020/0177461) further in view of Wakabayashi et al. (US 2024/0089337), hereinafter Wakabayashi.
As for claim 9, the combined system of Yin and Zhu fails to teach at another server of the cloud computing service, receiving, from the server, the forwarded publish message including the received message; and
forwarding the received message to the computing device identified by the destination identifier.
Wakabayashi discloses
at another server of a cloud computing service, receiving, from a server, a forwarded publish message including the received message (paragraphs [0524]-[0525] describe a broker device receives published data from a publisher device, the published includes data payload and a data identifier indicating the data category of the data payload);
forwarding the received message to the computing device identified by the destination identifier (paragraphs [0526]-[0528] describe the broker transmits, based on the received destination information, the data payload of the received published data to a subscriber device).
One of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have recognized the ability to utilize the teachings of Wakabayashi for implementing broker device. The teachings of Wakabayashi, when implemented in the Yin system, will allow one of ordinary skill in the art to forward a published data from a publisher device to subscriber devices. One of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to utilize the teachings of Wakabayashi in the Yin system in order to facilitate the exchange of message in a publishing and subscribing scheme.
Claims 11, 24 and 25 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yin (US 2017/0244792) in view of Zhu (US 2020/0177461) further in view of Rangasamy (US 10,819,556).
As for claim 11, the combined system of Yin and Zhu teaches and wherein the message comprises a first message (Yin: paragraph [0033] describes the PLC terminal control apparatus receives the subscription request message),
the subscribe message including one or more headers and a payload (Yin: paragraph [0051] describes the subscription request includes a PLC frame header and an MQTT subscription message (i.e. a payload)), the one or more headers of the subscribe message including a topic (paragraph [0074] describes the subscription request message includes a topic), the topic comprising the destination identifier or the portion thereof (paragraph [0074] describes the subscription request includes an identifier of the PLC terminal system and a topic for controlling the PLC terminal system).
The combined system of Yin and Zhu fails to teach
a method comprising:
receiving a second message prior to the first message being received;
preparing a subscribe message based on the received second message, the subscribe message including one or more headers and a payload, the one or more headers of the subscribe message including a topic, the topic comprising the destination identifier or the portion thereof; and
sending the subscribe message to the server, for subscribing to the topic according to the publish-subscribe messaging protocol.
Rangasamy discloses
a method comprising:
receiving a second message prior to the first message being received (col. 26, lines 14-19 describe a DCIM platform receives from API consumers registration requests that each represents a request to register for a topic. The registration requests are construed as the second message; col. 39, lines 43-56 describe the API consumers receive subscription identifiers in registration responses from the DCIM platform. The API consumers request subscriptions to topics by identifying the desired topics using the subscription identifiers provided by the DCIM platform. The subscription request is construed as the first message);
preparing a subscribe message based on the received second message (col. 38, lines 44-50 describe in response to receiving a registration request, the DCIM platform processes the registration request and sends, a topic request to request a new topic for the list of events specified in the registration request), and
sending the subscribe message to the server, for subscribing to the topic according to the publish-subscribe messaging protocol (col. 38, lines 44-48 describe the DCIM platform sends, to a selected one of cloud-based publication platforms, a topic request).
One of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have recognized the ability to utilize the teachings of Rangasamy for providing subscription identifiers in registration responses from a platform. The teachings of Rangasamy, when implemented in the Yin and Zhu system, will allow one of ordinary skill in the art to subscribe to events that are published to topics by a cloud-based publisher. One of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to utilize the teachings of Rangasamy in the Yin and Zhu system in order to enable consumers to obtain real-time notifications of events.
As for claim 24, the combined system of Yin teaches and wherein the message comprises a first message (Yin: paragraph [0033] describes the PLC terminal control apparatus receives the subscription request message),
the subscribe message including one or more headers and a payload (paragraph [0051] describes the subscription request includes a PLC frame header and an MQTT subscription message (i.e. a payload)), the one or more headers of the subscribe message including a topic (paragraph [0074] describes the subscription request message includes a topic).
The combined system of Yin and Zhu fails to teach
a method comprising:
receive a second message from a gateway node prior to the first message being received;
prepare a subscribe message based on the received second message, the subscribe message including one or more headers and a payload, the one or more headers of the subscribe message including a topic, the topic comprising a cluster identifier associated with the gateway node, the cluster identifier comprising the portion of the destination identifier; and
sending the subscribe message to the server, for subscribing to the topic according to the publish-subscribe messaging protocol.
Zhu discloses
the topic comprising a cluster identifier associated with the gateway node (paragraph [0054] describes the control device groups the terminals connected to each gateway to obtain a plurality of logical groups, and set an identifier for each logical group, and sends, to the gateways , a grouping message that carries the identifier of the logical group and an identifier of the terminal included in each logical group; paragraphs [0053] and [0066] describe the MQTT publish packet that carries an application message and includes a header), the cluster identifier comprising the portion of the destination identifier (paragraphs [0056] describes when an application message needs to be published to the target logical group, for example, if the identifier of the target group is 1, the control device queries, by using the foregoing determined connection relationship between the terminal and the gateway, that the gateways connected to the terminals in the first logical group are the first gateway and the second gateway respectively, and then separately sends, to the first and second gateway, an MQTT publish packet that carries the identifier of the logical group).
One of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have recognized the ability to utilize the teachings of Zhu for sending a message that includes a target identifier. The teachings of Zhu, when implemented in the Yin system, will allow one of ordinary skill in the art to manage a subscriber request to access a topic. One of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to utilize the teachings of Zhu in the Yin system in order to provide a gateway with subscribers’ identifier.
The combined system of Yin and Zhu fails to teach
a method comprising:
receive a second message from a gateway node prior to the first message being received;
prepare a subscribe message based on the received second message, the subscribe message including one or more headers and a payload, the one or more headers of the subscribe message including a topic
sending the subscribe message to the server, for subscribing to the topic according to the publish-subscribe messaging protocol.
Rangasamy discloses
a method comprising:
receive a second message prior to the first message being received (col. 26, lines 14-19 describe a DCIM platform receives from API consumers registration requests that each represents a request to register for a topic. The registration requests are construed as the second message; col. 39, lines 43-56 describe the API consumers receive subscription identifiers in registration responses from the DCIM platform. The API consumers request subscriptions to topics by identifying the desired topics using the subscription identifiers provided by the DCIM platform. The subscription request is construed as the first message);
prepare a subscribe message based on the received second message (col. 38, lines 44-50 describe in response to receiving a registration request, the DCIM platform processes the registration request and sends, a topic request to request a new topic for the list of events specified in the registration request), and
send the subscribe message to the server, for subscribing to the topic according to the publish-subscribe messaging protocol (col. 38, lines 44-48 describe the DCIM platform sends, to a selected one of cloud-based publication platforms, a topic request).
One of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have recognized the ability to utilize the teachings of Rangasamy for providing subscription identifiers in registration responses from a platform. The teachings of Rangasamy, when implemented in the Yin and Zhu system, will allow one of ordinary skill in the art to subscribe to events that are published to topics by a cloud-based publisher. One of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to utilize the teachings of Rangasamy in the Yin and Zhu system in order to enable consumers to obtain real-time notifications of events.
As for claim 25, the combined system of Yin, Zhu and Rangasamy teaches wherein the second message comprises an enrollment message (Rangasamy: col. 26, lines 14-19 describe a DCIM platform receives from API consumers registration requests that each represents a request to register for a topic. The registration requests are construed as the second message).
One of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have recognized the ability to utilize the teachings of Rangasamy for receiving registration requests from consumers. The teachings of Rangasamy, when implemented in the Yin and Zhu system, will allow one of ordinary skill in the art to subscribe to events that are published to topics by a publisher. One of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to utilize the teachings of Rangasamy in the Yin and Zhu system in order to enable consumers to obtain real-time notifications of events.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Gomyo et al. (US 2024/0362964) teach an equipment server for communicating with a device server by an MQTT protocol
Richart et al. (US 2021/0167794) teach method for determining a sampling scheme for sensor data
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/L.T.N/Examiner, Art Unit 2459
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