DEATAILED 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 communication is response to claims filed on 08/12/26.
Claims 1-4, 6-12, 14 & 16-20 are presented for examination.
Claims 1, 6, 12, 14 & 19 are amended.
Claims 15, 13 & 15 are canceled.
Response to Arguments
Applicants’ amendment filed on 08/12/26, regarding a claim objection (5, 7, 14, 16 & 19-20) has been considered and is persuasive . Therefore, the objection to the claim is withdrawn.
7. Applicant's arguments and amendment filed on 08/12/26, regarding to a 103 rejection have been fully considered but they are moot with the new ground of rejection necessitated by applicant’s amendment.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
8. In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis 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 of this title, 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.
The factual inquiries set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 148 USPQ 459 (1966), that are applied for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
9. Claims 1-4, 6-12, 14 & 16-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Nguyen et al. (hereinafter referred as Nguyen) US Patent Application Publication No. 2021/0409331 A1, in view of Zhang et al. (hereinafter referred as Zhang) US Patent Application Publication No. 2020/0177442 A1.
Regarding claim 1: Nguyen discloses a network device operable with a remote device, the network device (See Para. 0002-0005; a network device having a physical network interface connected to another network device) and configured to:
determine a link state for a full-duplex link with the remote device by performing link flap damping based on a degree of link flapping exhibited by the full-duplex link, the link state containing an indication of whether or not the full-duplex link is damped (See Para. 0002-0004 & 0013-0016; determining a state of the interface by performing link-flap damping based on repeated UP/DOWN transitions. Para. 0014-0016 discloses the interface into an isolated (damped) state when the accumulated points reach am isolation threshold ); and
Nguyen dos not explicitly disclose a network device comprising: physical layer circuitry; and control circuitry coupled to the physical layer circuitry: control the physical layer circuitry to signal via a transmit path of the full-duplex link based on the indication of whether or not the full-duplex link is damped.
However, Zhang from the same field of endeavor discloses a network device (See FIG. 1; First Ethernet Device) comprising:
physical layer circuitry (See FIG. 1; PMA 1105); and
control circuitry coupled to the physical layer circuitry (See FIG. 1; PMD 1104):
control the physical layer circuitry to signal via a transmit path of the full-duplex link based on the indication of whether or not the full-duplex link is damped (See FIG. 9, 17, Para. 0005-0009 & 0066-0072; first and end Ethernet devices, each including physical layer circuitry comprising PMD, PMA and PCs and IEEE 802.3 link-fault negotiation using local fault and remote fault. Zhang also discloses detection of local fault causes RF to be transmitted in the opposite direction toward the remote Ethernet device).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include a network device comprising: physical layer circuitry; and control circuitry coupled to the physical layer circuitry: control the physical layer circuitry to signal via a transmit path of the full-duplex link based on the indication of whether or not the full-duplex link is damped as taught by Zhang in the system Nguyen to provide a communication to transmit fault information in joint networking (See Para. 0011; 1-2).
Regarding claim 2: The combination of Nguyen and Zhang disclose the network device.
Furthermore, Zhang discloses the network device, wherein the control circuitry is configured to control the physical layer circuitry to transmit an indication of remote fault via the transmit path based on an indication of the full- duplex link being damped (See Para. 0005-0009; transmitting remote fault toward the remote Ethernet device via PCS in response to detecting LF).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include wherein the control circuitry is configured to control the physical layer circuitry to transmit an indication of remote fault via the transmit path based on an indication of the full- duplex link being damped as taught by Zhang in the system Nguyen to provide a communication to transmit fault information in joint networking (See Para. 0011; 1-2).
Regarding claim 3: The combination of Nguyen and Zhang disclose the network device.
Furthermore, Zhang discloses the network device, wherein the transmission of the indication of remote fault, based on the indication that the full-duplex link is damped, causes the remote device to stop transmission of traffic on a receive path of the full-duplex link (See Para. 0007-0009; stop delivering data flow from the upper MAC layer to the PCS).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include wherein the transmission of the indication of remote fault, based on the indication that the full-duplex link is damped, causes the remote device to stop transmission of traffic on a receive path of the full-duplex link as taught by Zhang in the system Nguyen to provide a communication to transmit fault information in joint networking (See Para. 0011; 1-2).
Regarding claim 4: The combination of Nguyen and Zhang disclose the network device.
Furthermore, Zhang discloses the network device, wherein the control circuitry is configured to control the physical layer circuitry to stop transmission of the indication of remote fault via the transmit path (See Para. 0007-0009; stop delivering data flow from the upper MAC layer to the PCS) based on an indication of the full-duplex link being not damped (See Nguyen; Para. 0017-0018 & 0029-0030; transition isolated/damped to normal/undamped).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include an indication of the full-duplex link being not damped as taught by Zhang in the system Nguyen to provide a communication to transmit fault information in joint networking (See Para. 0011; 1-2).
Regarding claim 6: The combination of Nguyen and Zhang disclose the network device.
Furthermore, Nguyen discloses the network device, wherein the control circuitry is configured to maintain a metric indicative of the degree of link flapping and update the link state to contain an indication of the full-duplex link being damped based on the metric exceeding a first threshold (See Para. 0014-0016 & 0021-0028; link flapping + threshold + damped/isolated state).
Regarding claim 7: The combination of Nguyen and Zhang disclose the network device.
Furthermore, Nguyen discloses the network device, wherein the control circuitry is configured to update the link state to contain an indication of the full-duplex link being not damped based on the metric decaying past a second threshold (See Para. 0017-0018& 0029-0030; decrease/decays, reuse threshold and return to normal).
Regarding claim 8: The combination of Nguyen and Zhang disclose the network device.
Furthermore, Zhang discloses the network device, wherein the physical layer circuitry is configured to detect a local fault based on a signal disruption observed on a receive path of the full-duplex link and wherein the control circuitry is configured to maintain the metric by updating the metric based on the detected local fault (See Para. 0005-0009; physical layer detects the link fault and the PMD/PMA/PCS generates LF and sends it upward to the remote).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include wherein the physical layer circuitry is configured to detect a local fault based on a signal disruption observed on a receive path of the full-duplex link and wherein the control circuitry is configured to maintain the metric by updating the metric based on the detected local fault as taught by Zhang in the system Nguyen to provide a communication to transmit fault information in joint networking (See Para. 0011; 1-2).
Regarding claim 9: The combination of Nguyen and Zhang disclose the network device.
Furthermore, Zhang discloses the network device, wherein the physical layer circuitry is configured to receive an indication of remote fault via a receive path of the full-duplex link and wherein the control circuitry is configured to maintain the metric by updating the metric based on the received indication of remote fault (See Para. 0005-0009; physical layer detects the link fault and the PMD/PMA/PCS generates LF and sends it upward to the remote).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include wherein the physical layer circuitry is configured to receive an indication of remote fault via a receive path of the full-duplex link and wherein the control circuitry is configured to maintain the metric by updating the metric based on the received indication of remote fault as taught by Zhang in the system Nguyen to provide a communication to transmit fault information in joint networking (See Para. 0011; 1-2).
Regarding claim 10: The combination of Nguyen and Zhang disclose the network device.
Furthermore, Nguyen discloses the network device, wherein the control circuitry is configured to perform an operation in accordance with a routing protocol based on whether or not the full-duplex link is damped (See Para. 0001-0004 & 0012-0019).
Regarding claim 11: Nguyen discloses a network device comprising:
memory circuitry; and
one or more processors coupled to the memory circuitry and configured to:
obtain transmit path state information for a transmit path of a full-duplex link;
obtain receive path state information for a receive path of the full-duplex link (See Para. 0002-0003; performing link-flap damping on a network interface based on repeated explanations that link flapping occurs when a connection alternates between up and down states); and
maintain a penalty metric for a link flap damping process based on the transmit path state information and based on the receive path state information (See Para. 0012-0017; maintaining a quantitative metric in the form of total points associated with the interface, wherein points increased in response to changes in interface status and are used to determine whether the interface should be isolated. Penalty points are added when the interface changes from an UP state to a DOWN state and the interface enters the isolated state when the total points reach the isolation thresholds).
Nguyen dos not explicitly disclose a network device comprising: memory circuitry; and
one or more processors coupled to the memory circuitry and configured to:
obtain transmit path state information for a transmit path of a full-duplex link; and obtain receive path state information for a receive path of the full-duplex link.
However, Zhang from the same field of endeavor discloses a network device (See FIG. 1; First Ethernet Device) comprising:
memory circuitry; and
one or more processors (See Para. 0023; a communication device (i.e., network node) includes a processor and a memory).
obtain transmit path state information for a transmit path of a full-duplex link (See Para. 0005-0007; teaches an Ethernet link having directional PHY operation and LF/RF link-fault signaling. Transmitting remote faults toward the other ethernet device via PCS/transmit direction. Thus, it provides fault information associated with transmit path);
obtain receive path state information for a receive path of the full-duplex link (See Para. 0006-0008; teaches detection of a fault in the receive direction by the physical layer and generation of local fault by the PMD/PMA/PCS. Thus, LF provides state/fault information associated with the receive path).
maintain a penalty metric for a link flap damping process (See Para. 0012-0016; penalty to total points).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include a network device comprising: memory circuitry; and one or more processors coupled to the memory circuitry and configured to: obtain transmit path state information for a transmit path of a full-duplex link; and obtain receive path state information for a receive path of the full-duplex link as taught by Zhang in the system Nguyen to provide a communication to transmit fault information in joint networking (See Para. 0011; 1-2).
Regarding claim 12: The combination of Nguyen and Zhang disclose the network device.
Furthermore, Zhang discloses the network device, wherein the transmit path state information comprises remote fault information received via the receive path and wherein the one or more processors are configured to maintain the penalty metric by updating the penalty metric when the remote fault information indicates an occurrence of remote fault (See Para. Para. 007-0008 & 0012-0017).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include wherein the transmit path state information comprises remote fault information received via the receive path and wherein the one or more processors are configured to maintain the penalty metric by updating the penalty metric when the remote fault information indicates an occurrence of remote fault as taught by Zhang in the system Nguyen to provide a communication to transmit fault information in joint networking (See Para. 0011; 1-2).
Regarding claim 14: The combination of Nguyen and Zhang disclose the network device.
Furthermore, Zhang discloses the network device, wherein the receive path state information comprises local fault information generated based on the receive path and wherein the one or more processors are configured to maintain the penalty metric by updating the penalty metric when the local fault information indicates an occurrence of local fault (See Para. Para. 007-0008 & 0012-0017).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include wherein the receive path state information comprises local fault information generated based on the receive path and wherein the one or more processors are configured to maintain the penalty metric by updating the penalty metric when the local fault information indicates an occurrence of local fault as taught by Zhang in the system Nguyen to provide a communication to transmit fault information in joint networking (See Para. 0011; 1-2).
Regarding claim 16: The combination of Nguyen and Zhang disclose the network device.
Furthermore, Nguyen discloses the network device, wherein the one or more processors are configured to maintain the penalty metric by increasing the penalty metric in response to one or more occurrences of fault at the transmit path or at the receive path and wherein the one or more processors are configured to associate a damped state with the full-duplex link based on the maintained penalty metric exceeding a threshold (See Para. 0014-0016 & 0021-0028; link flapping + threshold + damped/isolated state).
Regarding claim 17: The combination of Nguyen and Zhang disclose the network device.
Furthermore, Nguyen discloses the network device, wherein the one or more processors are configured to maintain the penalty metric by decreasing the penalty metric over time and wherein the one or more processors are configured to associate an undamped state with the full-duplex link based on the maintained penalty metric exceeding an additional threshold (See Para. 0014-0016 & 0021-0028; link flapping + threshold + damped/isolated state).
Regarding claim 18: The combination of Nguyen and Zhang disclose the network device.
Furthermore, Zhang discloses the network device, wherein the one or more processors are configured to signal, using physical layer circuitry and on the transmit path (See Para. 0005-0009), an indication of remote fault based on the full-duplex link being associated with the damped state (See Nguyen Para. 0012-0017).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include wherein the one or more processors are configured to signal, using physical layer circuitry and on the transmit path as taught by Zhang in the system Nguyen to provide a communication to transmit fault information in joint networking (See Para. 0011; 1-2).
Regarding claim 19: Nguyen discloses a network device a network device comprising:
physical layer circuitry; and
control circuitry coupled to the physical layer circuitry and configured to:
store a link state of a full-duplex link (See Para. 0013-0019; maintains the state of the monitored interface, including normal vs isolated state. Para. 0005 discloses supplying the ethernet/full duplex PHY context);
update the link state of the full-duplex link to a damped state (See Para. 0012-0017; when accumulated total points reach/exceed the isolation threshold, the interface is changed to the isolated state, corresponding to the claimed damped state) based on a metric of link flapping, exhibited by the full-duplex link, exceeding a threshold (See Para. 0002-0003 & 0012-0017; total points constitute a metric of link flapping. Points increase when interface status changes); and
Nguyen dos not explicitly disclose a network device comprising: physical layer circuitry; and control circuitry coupled to the physical layer circuitry:
transmit, using the physical layer circuitry and on a transmit path of the full-duplex link, an indication of the damped state based on the link state being updated to the damped state.
However, Zhang from the same field of endeavor discloses a network device (See FIG. 1; First Ethernet Device) comprising:
physical layer circuitry (See FIG. 1; PMA 1105); and
control circuitry coupled to the physical layer circuitry (See FIG. 1; PMD 1104):
transmit, using the physical layer circuitry and on a transmit path of the full-duplex link, an indication of the damped state based on the link state being updated to the damped state (See FIG. 9, 17, Para. 0005-0009 & 0066-0072; first and end Ethernet devices, each including physical layer circuitry comprising PMD, PMA and PCs and IEEE 802.3 link-fault negotiation using local fault and remote fault. Zhang also discloses detection of local fault causes RF to be transmitted in the opposite direction toward the remote Ethernet device).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include a network device comprising: physical layer circuitry; and control circuitry coupled to the physical layer circuitry: transmit, using the physical layer circuitry and on a transmit path of the full-duplex link, an indication of the damped state based on the link state being updated to the damped state as taught by Zhang in the system Nguyen to provide a communication to transmit fault information in joint networking (See Para. 0011; 1-2).
Regarding claim 20: The combination of Nguyen and Zhang disclose the network device.
Furthermore, Zhang discloses the network device, wherein the transmitted indication of the damped state comprises a transmitted indication of remote fault (See Para. 0006-0007).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include wherein the transmitted indication of the damped state comprises a transmitted indication of remote fault as taught by Zhang in the system Nguyen to provide a communication to transmit fault information in joint networking (See Para. 0011; 1-2).
Regarding claim 21: The combination of Nguyen and Zhang disclose the network device.
Furthermore, Nguyen discloses the network device, wherein the control circuitry is configured to update the link state of the full-duplex link to an undamped state based on the metric of link flapping (See Para. 0018-0019).
Regarding claim 22: The combination of Nguyen and Zhang disclose the network device.
Furthermore, Nguyen discloses the network device, wherein the control circuitry is configured to control the physical layer circuitry to signal a fault based on a metric of the degree of link flapping exceeding a threshold (See Para. 0013-0016).
Regarding claim 23: The combination of Nguyen and Zhang disclose the network device.
Furthermore, Nguyen discloses the network device, wherein the control circuitry is configured to execute the link flap damping process to determine whether a link state of the full- duplex link is a damped state or an undamped state based on the penalty metric (See Para. 0017-0019).
Conclusion
10. Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
11. The prior art of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicants’ disclosure.
A. Palanisamy et al. 2014/0241204 A1 (Title: Transit service in ethernet rings with protection) (See Abstract, Para. 0012 & 0037-0038).
B. Roja-Cessa et al. 2011/0026437 A1 (Title: Disseminating link state information to nodes of a network) (See abstract, Para. 0006 & 00813-0016).
C. Navas et al. 2010/0128638 A1 (Title: Hierarchical shortest path first network routing protocol) (See FIG. 1, Para. 0046, 0050 & 0160).
12. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MEWALE A AMBAYE whose telephone number is (571)270-1076. The examiner can normally be reached on M.F 6a.m.-2p.m..
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Ian Moore can be reached on (571)272-3085. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/MEWALE A AMBAYE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2469
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