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 .
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments filed 07 July 2026 have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground(s) of rejection is made in view of Pomeranz in view of Ganor.
Claim Objections
Claims 18-20 are objected to because of the following informalities: in claim 18, “the plurality of line cards” lacks antecedent basis. Appropriate correction is required.
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.
Claim 18 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Pomeranz et al. (US 12,537,771) in view of Ganor (US 2023/0350833).
Pomeranz discloses a method (fig. 4; col. 14, lines 49-63), comprising: receiving a plurality of data chunks (col. 14, lines 50-56 and 60-63; note: packets); executing a first stage of data reduction on the plurality of data chunks to obtain one or more first reduced outputs (col. 14, lines 50-56 and 60-63; note: partially aggregated packet for switch 430 where aggregation is a reduction operation - col. 14, lines 32-35 and col. 1, lines 25-28); receiving, at a fabric element (item 430), the one or more first reduced outputs (col. 14, lines 56-63); executing a second stage of data reduction on the one or more first reduced outputs to obtain a second reduced output (col 14, lines 56-63); and forwarding the second reduced output (col. 15, lines 8-13).
Pomeranz discloses the fabric element 430 coupled to network devices (items 420/425 and 410x/415x; col. 1, lines 20-28) but fails to disclose the fabric element coupled to a plurality of line cards (or the network device or worker entity having line cards). Ganor discloses this feature (figs. 1A-2 and 4-5, items 104; para. 34; note: server as a network device for generating and handling packets; items 120 and 124x/504x; para. 33, 57 and 64; note: packet handling and data compression and forwarding compressed data to network 108). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have the fabric element coupled to a plurality of line cards in the invention of Pomeranz. The motivation to have the modification and/or well-known benefits of the modification include, but are not limited to, providing a network device for packet generation and handling as is known in the art (Ganor, figs. 1A-2 and 4-5; paras. 33, 57 and 64; MPEP 2143(I)(A)(B)(C)(D) - note: e.g., applying known techniques having predictable results).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-14 and 16-17 are allowed.
Claims 19-20 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
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.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Kevin Harper whose telephone number is 571-272-3166. The examiner can normally be reached weekdays from 11:00 AM to 7:00 PM ET.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner's supervisor, Yemane Mesfin, can be reached at 571-272-3927. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. For non-official communications, the examiner’s e-mail address is kevin.harper@uspto.gov (MPEP 502.03 – A copy of all received emails relating to an application including proposed amendments and excluding scheduling information for interviews will be placed informally into the application file).
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/Kevin C. Harper/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2462
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