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 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 1, 3, 7and 8 are 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.
Claims 1, 7, and 8 claims “…a connection form of a network device…” It is not clear from the claim or the disclosure what “…a connection form of a network device…” entails to as a result making the claim limitation unclear and difficult to determine the limit and bounds of the claim, hence rendering it indefinite.
Claim 3 claims “…the sum of descending order of traffic amounts of flows occupies a predetermined ratio with respect to a total traffic amount”. It is not clear from the claim or the disclosure what the sum of descending order of traffic amounts of flows entails to as a result making the claim limitation unclear and difficult to determine the limit and bounds of the claim, hence rendering it indefinite.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2 and 4 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.
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(s) 1, 3, and 5-8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over (JP 4555769B2), hereinafter 769, further in view of Ryuta (JP 2015012542A).
Regarding claim 1. A traffic engineering device ([0033] The route setting device 1 (traffic engineering device) illustrated in FIG. 2 includes, as functional units, a topology management unit 11, a path management unit 12, a traffic matrix management unit 13, a target link determination unit 14, a target path determination unit 15, and a route calculation unit 16) comprising:
an acquisition unit, comprising one or more processors, configured to acquire information indicating a connection form of a network device and information about flows in traffic ([0040] The topology management unit 11 receives an input of a topology (information indicating a connection form of a network device) and a link utilization rate. The path management unit 12 receives an input of a path traffic volume (information about flows in traffic) and a path of the path. Note that the information received by the topology management unit 11 and the path management unit 12 is collected from a node. Topology management unit 11 and path management unit 12 together corresponds to acquisition unit); and
769 inherently discloses a path calculation unit, comprising one or more processors, configured to calculate a path of each flow so that the number of flows whose paths are to be changed is minimized ([0031] Note that, in order to reduce the number of paths accompanied by a route change, the paths to be changed are, for example, paths accommodated in links having a high link utilization rate and paths having a large traffic volume. Such a path to be changed has a greater effect on averaging the link utilization rate when averaging the link utilization rate in the network, so that the effect of performing the path change is greater than that of the other paths; [0011-0013] discloses [0011] Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to reduce the number of paths that require a route change at the time of recalculation, while achieving efficient use of network resources. [0012] In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, the present invention provides a route setting method for setting a route of a path connecting an edge node and an edge node in the transfer network to which a node accommodating the path is connected. A traffic matrix management procedure in which a computer records the topology and traffic in the transfer network in a storage means as a traffic matrix, and a target link determination procedure for selecting a link having a high link utilization rate in the network based on the traffic matrix. And a target path determination procedure for selecting a path having a large amount of traffic from the paths accommodated in the selected link, performing a path calculation of the selected path, and instructing the node to change the path based on the result. And performing a route calculation procedure. [0013] As a result, it is possible to efficiently use network resources and reduce the number of path settings accompanying a route change in network path setting).
But, 769 does not explicitly discloses: a path calculation unit, comprising one or more processors, configured to calculate a path of each flow so that the number of flows whose paths are to be changed is minimized;
However, in the same field of endeavor, Ryuta discloses a path calculation unit, comprising one or more processors, configured to calculate a path of each flow so that the number of flows whose paths are to be changed is minimized ([0069] by doing this, the flow path change calculation device 1 according to the present embodiment acquires, as input information, flow information of “a flow passing through a link whose link usage rate is equal to or higher than a predetermined threshold value (ratio)”. In other words, by using the flow information 300 of some flows, the processing load is reduced, and the maximum link utilization of the network can be reduced by minimizing the change of the link with the maximum link utilization as much as possible; [0034]… the flow path change calculation device 1 according to the present embodiment inputs flow information (flow information of a part of flows) of “flows passing through links whose link usage rate is equal to or higher than a predetermined threshold (ratio)”. And to extract the flow subject to route change and its change route in order to reduce the maximum link usage rate; [0044], and [0047-0048] discloses [0044] The input unit 10 acquires the topology information 100, the link information 200, and the flow information 300 from the node 2 in the communication network 4 (see FIG. 2), a network management device (not shown), etc. Deliver to the processing unit 21). Here, the topology information 100 is information indicating the connection relationship between the nodes 2…[0047] based on the topology information 100, the link information 200 and the flow information 300 stored in the storage unit 40. The flow to be subjected to route change and the change destination route thereof, the change order for changing the route of the flow, and the maximum link utilization rate as the processing result are calculated. The flow information 300 used by the maximum link usage rate calculation unit 22 for the calculation process is "a flow passing through a link whose link usage rate is equal to or higher than a predetermined threshold (percentage)” from a network management device (not shown) or the like in advance. That is, when the flow information 300 of a part of flows is acquired as input information and stored in the storage unit 40, the flow information 300 of the part of flows is used as it is. In addition, when the flow information 300 of all the flows is stored in the storage unit 40, the maximum link use rate calculation unit 22 determines the link use rate of each link, the maximum bandwidth of the link of the link information 200, and the link traffic Calculated based on the amount, and extracted from the flow information 300 of all the flows stored in the storage unit 40 only the flow information of “a flow passing through a link whose link usage rate is equal to or higher than a predetermined threshold (ratio)” … [0048] After obtaining the flow information 300 of the partial flow described above, the maximum link usage rate calculation unit 22 changes the flow path so as to lower the maximum link usage rate of the network).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention was effectively filed to combine the teaching of 769 with Ryuta. The modification would allow minimum possible path change in a network to avoid excessive change that would not be useful to the overall network efficiency. The modification would allow avoiding path changes that would not optimize the network as a result saving resource usage.
Regarding claim 3. The combination discloses traffic engineering device according to claim 1.
Ryuta discloses wherein in a case where the sum of descending order of traffic amounts of flows occupies a predetermined ratio with respect to a total traffic amount, the path calculation unit is configured to calculate a path of each of the flows ([0037] In FIG. 1A, the maximum bandwidth is 10 Gbps between nodes "A", "B", and "C" in the initial state, and the description of "bps (bits per second)" is omitted below. An example is shown in which only flow information passing through a link whose link usage rate is equal to or higher than a predetermined threshold (for example, 60%) is acquired while the link is set. Here, as shown in FIG. 1A, the link whose link usage rate is 60% or more is the link AB (link between nodes A and B) (link traffic volume: 9 G). The traffic volume of each flow passing through is “4G”, “2G”, “2G”, “1G”. The link usage rate is about link BC (link between Node B and C) (link traffic volume: 2 G) and link AC (link between node A and C) (link traffic volume: 2.5 G) Since it is not 60% or more, the flow information of the flow passing through the link is not acquired. Further, in FIG. 1A, the link having the maximum link usage rate is link AB (link traffic volume: 9 G). [0038] In the initial state shown in FIG. 1 (a), according to the route change according to the prior art (see FIG. 12), as shown in FIG. 1 (b), The 4G flow is selected as the flow for which the maximum link usage rate of the change destination route is the minimum value, and the route (change destination route) passing through the nodes "B" → "C" → "A" is calculated as the shortest route. . Then, link AC (6.5 G) is calculated as the link having the maximum link usage rate in the change destination route. Here, since only the flow information of the 4G flow that has been rerouted exists in the link AC (6.5 G) that is the maximum link usage rate, it is not possible to change the route further, and the maximum link The link used as the usage rate is link AC, and the maximum link usage rate is “6.5 G / 10 G”. In the present embodiment, in order to simplify the description, it is assumed that the maximum bandwidths of all the links are the same (for example, 10 G), and the link is used as an index for comparing the magnitudes of the maximum link usage rates. Use traffic volume. That is, "the maximum link utilization rate is" 6.5 G ". In the following, the size of the maximum link utilization rate is described only by the description of the link traffic volume).
Regarding claim 5. The combination discloses traffic engineering device according to claim 1.
Ryuta, further comprising a preprocessing unit, comprising one or more processors, configured to delete , from the information about the flows in traffic, information about a flow for which path change is not permitted ([0044], and [0047-0048] discloses [0044], and [0047-0048] discloses [0044] The input unit 10 acquires the topology information 100, the link information 200, and the flow information 300 from the node 2 in the communication network 4 (see FIG. 2), a network management device (not shown), etc. Deliver to the processing unit 21). Here, the topology information 100 is information indicating the connection relationship between the nodes 2…[0047] based on the topology information 100, the link information 200 and the flow information 300 stored in the storage unit 40. The flow to be subjected to route change and the change destination route thereof, the change order for changing the route of the flow, and the maximum link utilization rate as the processing result are calculated. The flow information 300 used by the maximum link usage rate calculation unit 22 for the calculation process is "a flow passing through a link whose link usage rate is equal to or higher than a predetermined threshold (percentage)” from a network management device (not shown) or the like in advance. That is, when the flow information 300 of a part of flows is acquired as input information and stored in the storage unit 40, the flow information 300 of the part of flows is used as it is. In addition, when the flow information 300 of all the flows is stored in the storage unit 40, the maximum link use rate calculation unit 22 determines the link use rate of each link, the maximum bandwidth of the link of the link information 200, and the link traffic Calculated based on the amount, and extracted from the flow information 300 of all the flows stored in the storage unit 40 only the flow information of “a flow passing through a link whose link usage rate is equal to or higher than a predetermined threshold (ratio)”. Taking only specific flows from the whole flows to change the flow path and excluding other flows from being selected for flow path change corresponds to deleting flows information from consideration. The system is capable of deleting excluded flows from consideration from storage).
Regarding claim 6. The combination discloses traffic engineering device according to claim 5.
769 discloses, wherein the preprocessing unit is configured to add at least any of an average value, a maximum value, and a minimum value of traffic amounts acquired at different times to the information about the flows in traffic ([0034] The topology management unit 11 aggregates the input topology and link utilization, and records them in the storage unit as the topology of the entire network and the link utilization of all the links in the network. The path management unit 12 aggregates (averages) the traffic amount of the input path and the path of the path, and records the traffic amount and the path of all the paths in the network in the storage unit).
Regarding claim 7. The combination discloses a traffic engineering method that is executed by a traffic engineering device, the method comprising:
All other limitations of claim 7 are similar with the limitations of claim 1 above and are rejected on the analysis of claim 1 above.
Regarding claim 8. The combination discloses a non-transitory computer readable medium storing a program, wherein execution of the program causes a computer to execute:
All other limitations of claim 8 are similar with the limitations of claim a above. Claim 8 is rejected on the analysis of claim 1 above.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MESSERET F. GEBRE whose telephone number is (571)272-8272. The examiner can normally be reached 9:00 am-5:30PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Oscar Louie can be reached at 5712701684. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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MESSERET F. GEBRE
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2445
/MESSERET F GEBRE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2445