DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Claim Objections
Claims 1, 4, 8, and 10-12 are objected to because of the following informalities:
Regarding claims 1, 4, 8, 11-12, the claims recite “GM” for Grand Master. The abbreviated “GM” needs to be defined at least where it is first mentioned.
Regarding claims 1, 11-12, the clams further recite, the abbreviation “Qbv”. The abbreviation needs to be defined at least where it is first mentioned.
Regarding claim 10, the claim recites, the Suffix fields of “Sync”, “Pdelay_Req”, and “Pdelay_Resp”. These abbreviations need to be defined.
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 101
35 U.S.C. 101 reads as follows:
Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.
Claim 11 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to non-statutory subject matter.
The claim recites, “a computer program product, said computer program” in line 1. Under a broadest reasonable interpretation, the said computer program is directed to a computer program. However, as recited, the computer program is reasonably interpreted as entirely software, which amounts to descriptive material per se. (See MPEP § 2106.03).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claim 11 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
The claim recites the limitation "A computer program product, said computer program" in line 1. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim because the “product” is missed in the said phrase.
Appropriate correction is required.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-10 and 12-13 are allowed. The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: the prior arts of record fail to disclose, “said node being configured to operate as a secondary master node in line with the TSN principles in order to advertise its clock as the reference clock to the slave nodes of its subdomain, when the wireless link with the primary subdomain is broken; computing a defer time for each node of one and the same secondary subdomain, the defer time corresponding to a waiting time for each node before applying a corrected Qbv schedule after a lost wireless link is re-established for this subdomain; and after the re-establishment of a wireless link for a secondary subdomain, each node of said secondary subdomain counting down said determined defer time and applying a corrected Qbv schedule, the secondary master node of said secondary subdomain again operating as slave node of the master node GM.”
Sachs et al. (US 2020/0259896 A1) discloses a method for managing performance degradation of a time-sensitive network TSN comprising a plurality of nodes (abstract; paragraph [0720]-[0726]; [0742]; [0746]-[0747]; [0772]-[0777]; and so on), a node being an equipment transmitting and/or receiving data streams or a switch transmitting data streams, the nodes being connected by wired links or wireless links, the TSN network having a node acting as master GM in line with the TSN principles in order to advertise its clock as the reference clock to the slave nodes of the network (paragraph [1096]; [1225]; [1512]; [1527]-[1529]; [1534]-[1550]; [1498]-[1500]; [1517]-[1519]; and etc.), the method being computer-implemented and comprising the following steps: dividing the TSN network into a primary subdomain and a plurality of secondary subdomains, each subdomain grouping together a set of different nodes connected only by wired links, the primary subdomain grouping together at least the master node GM, each secondary subdomain having an ingress node connected wirelessly to another subdomain (paragraph [0743]-[0745]; [0758]; [0764]-[0768]; [0720]; and etc.); operating mode of the TSN network with a predefined Qbv schedule for said TSN network in line with the IEEE 802.1 Qbv standard that enables the TSN switches to carry out scheduling based on quality of service QoS (paragraph [1512]-[1513]; [0743]; [1928]-[1933]; [2340]; and so on).
Sachs doesn’t disclose selecting, in each secondary subdomain, a node to act as master with respect to the other slave nodes of said subdomain, said selected node being configured to operate as a slave node of the master node GM during normal operating mode of the TSN network, and said node being configured to operate as a secondary master node in line with the TSN principles in order to advertise its clock as the reference clock to the slave nodes of its subdomain, when the wireless link with the primary subdomain is broken; computing a defer time for each node of one and the same secondary subdomain, the defer time corresponding to a waiting time for each node before applying a corrected Qbv schedule after a lost wireless link is re-established for this subdomain; and after the re-establishment of a wireless link for a secondary subdomain, each node of said secondary subdomain counting down said determined defer time and applying a corrected Qbv schedule, the secondary master node of said secondary subdomain again operating as slave node of the master node GM.
Chen et al. (US 2019/0173596 A1) teaches selecting, in each secondary subdomain, a node to act as master with respect to the other slave nodes of said subdomain, said selected node being configured to operate as a slave node of the master node GM during normal operating mode of the TSN network (paragraph [0010]-[0013]; and etc.).
Chen doesn’t teach said node being configured to operate as a secondary master node in line with the TSN principles in order to advertise its clock as the reference clock to the slave nodes of its subdomain, when the wireless link with the primary subdomain is broken; computing a defer time for each node of one and the same secondary subdomain, the defer time corresponding to a waiting time for each node before applying a corrected Qbv schedule after a lost wireless link is re-established for this subdomain; and after the re-establishment of a wireless link for a secondary subdomain, each node of said secondary subdomain counting down said determined defer time and applying a corrected Qbv schedule, the secondary master node of said secondary subdomain again operating as slave node of the master node GM.
Conclusion
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/KIBROM T HAILU/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2461