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 Status
This office action is in response to the communication(s) filed on 06/04/2024.
Claim(s) 1-20 is/are currently presenting for examination.
Claim(s) 1, 8, and 15 is/are independent claim(s).
Claim(s) 1-2, 4-6, 8-9, 11-13, 15-16, and 18-20 is/are rejected.
Claim(s) 3, 7, 10, 14 and 17 is/are objected to.
This action has been made NON-FINAL.
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.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1-2, 4-6, 8-9, 11-13, 15-16, and 18-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by US_20220329518_A1_Filsfils.
Regarding claim 1, Filsfils teaches a packet probing method, comprising: generating, at an external probing appliance of a network, a probe packet (Filsfils figure 6), the probe packet including a source address (Filsfils paragraphs 44, 66, source node (IPv4/IPv6) address), a destination address (Filsfils paragraphs 37, 54, “the address of the destination node (e.g., sink node)”), and a packet tracing indication in a next header field of the probe packet (Filsfils figure 6, elements 604, 608), the packet tracing indication triggering a proxy source behavior at a source node having the source address and a proxy sink behavior at a sink node having the destination address (Filsfils figure 6, elements 610); sending the probe packet to the source node to trigger a packet tracing mechanism (Filsfils figure 6, element 612); and receive an updated probe packet from the sink node, the updated probe packet including probe data associated with one or more data flows in the network as the one or more data flows traverse the network from the source node to the sink node (Filsfils paragraph 52, “In an embodiment, the sink node 106-3 is configured with an SR policy (with TEF behavior) that encapsulates received probe messages 110 in SRv6 encapsulation 128 and forwards these to a collector 108. The SRv6 encapsulation 128 may comprise an outer IPv6 header, an SR header (SRH) 138, and an SRH Path Tracing Type-Length-Value (SRH PT-TLV) 140. The SRH PT-TLV 140 may be used to carry the sink node information. The MPLS label stack 130 and the path tracing data (e.g., MCD 124 and source path tracing data 118) in the data packet 126 that is to be transmitted to the collector 108 may include similar elements to that of the probe message 110, namely the MPLS stack 114 with PT instruction and the path tracing data of the various nodes along the path 112. In an embodiment, the TEF network programming label is used as a binding SID to trigger the SR policy encapsulation of the probe message 11”).
Regarding claim 2, Filsfils teaches the packet probing method of claim 1, wherein the probe packet is generated with one or more values for equal cost multi-path monitoring (Filsfils paragraph 3, equal-cost multi-path (ECMP) paths).
Regarding claim 4, Filsfils teaches the packet probing method of claim 1, wherein the source node encapsulates the probe packet to reach the sink node by adding IPv6 destination and IPv6 Hop-by-Hop (HBH) headers (Filsfils paragraphs 76, 79, 96, hop-by-hop).
Regarding claim 5, Filsfils teaches the packet probing method of claim 1, wherein an IPv6 Hop-by-Hop header specifies recording of midpoint compressed data (MCD) at each of one or more hops between the source node and the sink node (Filsfils figure 6, element 606).
Regarding claim 6, Filsfils teaches the packet probing method of claim 1, wherein the sink node, upon receiving the probe packet, decapsulates the probe packet to retrieve the probe data (Filsfils paragraph 37, decapsulate).
Regarding claim 8, Filsfils teaches the limitations as set forth in claim 1.
Regarding claim 9, Filsfils teaches the limitations as set forth in claim 2.
Regarding claim 11, Filsfils teaches the limitations as set forth in claim 4.
Regarding claim 12, Filsfils teaches the limitations as set forth in claim 5.
Regarding claim 13, Filsfils teaches the limitations as set forth in claim 6.
Regarding claim 15, Filsfils teaches the limitations as set forth in claim 1.
Regarding claim 16, Filsfils teaches the limitations as set forth in claim 2.
Regarding claim 18, Filsfils teaches the limitations as set forth in claim 4.
Regarding claim 19, Filsfils teaches the limitations as set forth in claim 5.
Regarding claim 20, Filsfils teaches the limitations as set forth in claim 6.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3, 7, 10, 14 and 17 is/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.
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
The reference US_20230096063_A1_Xu, teaches send the probe data packet in the probe data flow at a first sending rate; backhaul the probe data packet each time a probe data packet is received; Each time a backhaul probe data packet is received, send a to-be-transmitted service data packet in a service flow, where the to-be-transmitted service data packet is assigned a second number corresponding to the probe data packet (Xu figure 8).
The reference US_20220224623_A1_Kamath, teaches provide adaptive probing of a service path in a network, wherein the service path includes a plurality of legs. The systems and methods include, for one or more legs of the plurality of legs, sending a number of probes using one of a plurality of protocols; responsive to receiving a response from the number of probes, determining the one of the plurality of protocols is successful and storing this protocol the one or more legs; and, responsive to failure to receive the response, sending a number of probes using another one of the plurality of protocols and continuing until a successful protocol is determined or all of the plurality of protocols fail (Kamath figures 13, 16).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to WEIBIN HUANG whose telephone number is (571)270-3695. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 9:30AM - 6:00PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Sujoy Kundu can be reached at (571)272-8586. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/W.H/Examiner, Art Unit 2471
/SUJOY K KUNDU/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2471
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