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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted was on 07/10/2024. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
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.
Claims 6-8 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.
Claim 6 recites the limitation "the broadband access network" in line 2. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 6 recites the limitation "the second optical data transmission fiber" in lines 17-18. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 7 recites the limitation "the central office point of delivery" in line 2. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 8 recites the limitation "the central office point of delivery" in line 2. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
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.
Claim(s) 1-2, 8, 10, and 14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Paolucci et al. NPL “Enabling transparent lambda services between metro and core networks” (hereinafter Paolucci).
Regarding Claim 1, Paolucci teaches a method for initiating, via a telecommunications network (see Fig. 3 and pg. 139, 3 The STARGATE access-metro Network and 6. Conclusions), a communication or connectivity service between a first location (LR-ONUs, see Fig. 6, sa) and at least a second location (see Fig. 6, LR-ONU da) based on optical data transmission of a user-defined optical signal (see Fig. 6, REPORT), wherein the telecommunications network comprises a backbone network and/or an aggregation network (See Fig. 3, STARGATE metro Network) as well as an access network (see Fig. 3, PON access network), and the telecommunications network is used to (1) provide end-user communication services and/or IP connectivity to a multitude of end-users connected to the access network (see Fig. 3, ONUs), and (2) connect the first location (see Fig. 3, LR-ONUs and Fig. 6, LR-ONU sa) and the second location (see Fig. 6, LR-ONU da) via at least access network infrastructure and/or aggregation network infrastructure comprising a plurality of optical network nodes (See Fig. 3, STARGATE metro Network, nodes in the ring, AWG and HS-CO), wherein the telecommunications network comprises, at the first location (see Fig. 6, LR-ONU sa), at least one optical data transmission fiber (see Fig. 3, p2mp link) for providing the communication or connectivity service, wherein the method comprises the following steps: in a first step, an optical initialization signal (see Fig. 6, REPORT) is fed or input to the optical data transmission fiber; in a second step, the optical initialization signal is received by an optical safety and policy entity or functionality (see 4. End-to-end connection setup, page 141, right-hand column: "Depending on the used scheme (i.e., OEO-EN or OB-EN), resources availability, and QoT requirements, the end-to-end connection between the two LR-ONUs is fully established in the optical domain or by using a sequence of lightpaths" and Fig. 6, PCE and page 141, right-hand column, in particular: "In particular, the PCE is able to determine whether a computed path is characterized by an acceptable QoT or not") of the telecommunications network (See Fig. 3, STARGATE metro Network), and an identity of the optical initialization signal is determined by the optical safety and policy entity or functionality (see 4. End-to-end connection setup, page 141, right-hand column: "Depending on the used scheme (i.e., OEO-EN or OB-EN), resources availability, and QoT requirements, the end-to-end connection between the two LR-ONUs is fully established in the optical domain or by using a sequence of lightpaths" and Fig. 6, PCE and page 141, right-hand column, in particular: "In particular, the PCE is able to determine whether a computed path is characterized by an acceptable QoT or not"); and in a third step, dependent on the determined identity of the optical initialization signal, the communication or connectivity service between the first location and the second location is activated (see page 142, left-hand column: "Moreover, the paths through the core network are always computed by the PCE upon request of the sc node. In particular, if the PCE finds a path satisfying the QoT constraints without regeneration (i.e., transparent path), then that path is selected. Otherwise, the PCE returns a path requiring regeneration (i.e.. translucent path) and the list of designated regeneration nodes").
Regarding Claim 2, Paolucci teaches the method according to claim 1, wherein the telecommunications network comprises, at the second location, at least one further optical data transmission fiber for providing the communication or connectivity service, wherein, between the first and second location, the telecommunications network comprises a transmission functionality regarding the backbone network and/or aggregation network and/or the access network that is based on optical data transmission (Fig. 3, LR-ONU and p2mp links).
Regarding Claim 8, Paolucci teaches the method according to claim 1, wherein the first location is connected to the central office point of delivery, via the first optical data transmission fiber, using at least one of the following: a passive optical fiber as a point-to-point link, an active optical fiber, or a passive optical network (Fig. 3, LR-ONU and p2mp links).
Regarding Claim 10, claim 10 is drawn to a system for implementing a method the same as recited in claim 1. As such, the limitations of claim 10 correspond to limitations of claim 1 and are therefore rejected for the same reason(s) of anticipation as stated above.
Regarding Claim 14, claim 14 is drawn to a non-transitory computer-readable medium for implementing a method the same as recited in claim 1. As such, the limitations of claim 14 correspond to limitations of claim 1 and are therefore rejected for the same reason(s) of anticipation as stated above.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3-5 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.
Claims 6-7 would be allowable if rewritten to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action and to include all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DAVID W LAMBERT whose telephone number is (571)272-7692. The examiner can normally be reached Monday to Friday, 10-6.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Kenneth Vanderpuye can be reached at (571)272-3078. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/DAVID W LAMBERT/Examiner, Art Unit 2634