DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
This action is responsive to communication filed on 09/02/2026. Claim(s) 1, 8, 10, 15 & 18 have been amended. Claim(s) 7 has been cancelled. Claim(s) 1-6, 8-20 are currently pending examination. The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Response to Amendment
The Applicant filed amendments(s) to claim(s) on 09/02/2026 to remedy the rejection(s).
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see Page(s) 7-8, filed 03/30/2026, with respect to the rejection(s) of claim(s) 1-4, 9-12, 15-17, 18-20 under 35 USC 102 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 Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn.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 OSPFv3 Address Families, hereby referred to as OSPFv3 and further in view of RFC 2328: STD 54: OSPF Version 2, hereby referred to RFC 2328.
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) 1-2, 4, 8, 10-11, 15-16, 18-19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over OSPFv3 Address Families, hereby referred to as OSPFv3 and further in view of RFC 2328: STD 54: OSPF Version 2, hereby referred to RFC 2328.
Re Claim 1, 10, 15 & 18, OSPFv3 teaches a method of route advertisement, comprising:
obtaining, by a first network device, a first route advertisement packet comprising an open shortest path first version 3 (OSPFv3) packet or an intermediate system to intermediate system internet protocol version 6 (IS-ISv6) packet, (OSPFv3; Page(s) 2; The cited pages detail external LSA advertising IPv4 routes redistributed from another IPv4 routing protocol. In addition, generating an OSPFv3 updating carrying such as an LSA that meets the OSPFv3 alternative.)
wherein the first route advertisement packet further comprises first internet protocol version 4 (IPv4) routing information comprising routing information corresponding to a first IPv4 address; and (OSPFv3; Page(s) 2; The cited pages detail external LSA advertising IPv4 routes redistributed from another IPv4 routing protocol. In addition, generating an OSPFv3 updating carrying such as an LSA that meets the OSPFv3 alternative.)
sending, by the first network device, the first route advertisement packet to a second network device, (OSPFv3: Page(s) 2; Transmission of advertisement related packets.)
OSPFv3 does not explicitly teach wherein the first route advertisement packet is used to trigger the second network device to generate a first forwarding entry used to direct the second network device to forward a packet whose destination address is the first IPv4 address; wherein before obtaining the first route advertisement packet, the method further comprises: receiving, by the first network device, a second route advertisement packet sent by a third network device, wherein the second route advertisement packet comprises an open shortest path first version 2 (OSPFv2) packet or an intermediate system to intermediate system internet protocol version 4 (IS-ISv4) packet, and second IPv4 routing information, and the second IPv4 routing information comprises the routing information corresponding to the first IPv4 address; and generating, by the first network device, a second forwarding entry based on the second route advertisement packet, wherein the second forwarding entry is used to direct the first network device to forward the packet whose destination address is the first IPv4 address.
However, in analogous art, RFC 2328 teaches wherein the first route advertisement packet is used to trigger the second network device to generate a first forwarding entry used to direct the second network device to forward a packet whose destination address is the first IPv4 address; (RFC 2328; Section/Subsection/Chapter 11-11.3, 13, A.3.5, A.4.5, Page(s) 107-114, 143, 198-199, 214-215; The embodiment(s) detail destination related matching and next hop selection for forwarding for IP related addresses.)
wherein before obtaining the first route advertisement packet, the method further comprises:
receiving, by the first network device, a second route advertisement packet sent by a third network device, (RFC 2328; Section/Subsection/Chapter 11-11.3, 13, A.3.5, A.4.5, Page(s) 107-114, 143, 198-199, 214-215; The receiving router receives a neighbors link state update packet. The LSA carries and identifies advertised destination through its link state ID, network mask and route metric. It also applies an advertised destination covering the claimed IPv4 address.)
wherein the second route advertisement packet comprises an open shortest path first version 2 (OSPFv2) packet or an intermediate system to intermediate system internet protocol version 4 (IS-ISv4) packet, and second IPv4 routing information, and (RFC 2328; Section/Subsection/Chapter 11-11.3, 13, A.3.5, A.4.5, Page(s) 107-114, 143, 198-199, 214-215; The receiving router receives a neighbors link state update packet. The LSA carries and identifies advertised destination through its link state ID, network mask and route metric. It also applies an advertised destination covering the claimed IPv4 address.)
the second IPv4 routing information comprises the routing information corresponding to the first IPv4 address; and (RFC 2328; Section/Subsection/Chapter 11-11.3, 13, A.3.5, A.4.5, Page(s) 107-114, 143, 198-199, 214-215; The receiving router receives a neighbors link state update packet. The LSA carries and identifies advertised destination through its link state ID, network mask and route metric. It also applies an advertised destination covering the claimed IPv4 address.)
generating, by the first network device, a second forwarding entry based on the second route advertisement packet, wherein the second forwarding entry is used to direct the first network device to forward the packet whose destination address is the first IPv4 address. (RFC 2328; Section/Subsection/Chapter 11, 13, 16.3, Step (5) (d) Page(s) 107-110, 143-145, 170-174; The received LSA enters the database. The router destination N from its address fields and install a route to N with next hop information. The cited Section 11 connects the destination matching entry to actual packet forwarding.)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention (AIA ) to modify OSPFv3 in view of RFC 2328 to generating a forwarding entry for the reasons of creating an improving method of routing network traffic. (RFC 2328 Abstract)
Re Claim 2, 11, 16 & 19, OSPFv3-RFC 2328 discloses the method according to claim 1, wherein the first IPv4 routing information further comprises a prefix of the first IPv4 address. (OSPFv3: Page(s) 2; AF prefixes and intra area/external LSAs. The cited reference detail the advertisement of IPv4 prefixes through OSPFv3 LSAs.)
Re Claim 4, OSPFv3-RFC 2328 discloses the method according to claim 2, wherein the first route advertisement packet further comprises indication information indicating that the first route advertisement packet is used to advertise an IPv4 route. (OSPFv3: Page(s) 2; An IPv4 AF identifier.)
Re Claim 8, OSPFv3-RFC 2328 discloses the method according to claim 1, wherein obtaining the first route advertisement packet comprises:
generating, by the first network device, the first route advertisement packet based on the second route advertisement packet. (RFC 2328; Section/Subsection/Chapter 16.4, Step (3)-(6); Page(s) 173-175; The router derives destination N from the received LSA’s link state ID and mask, then installs the destination route with next hop information.)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention (AIA ) to modify OSPFv3 in view of RFC 2328 to generating a forwarding entry for the reasons of creating an improving method of routing network traffic. (RFC 2328 Abstract)
Claim(s) 3, 9, 12, 17 & 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over OSPFv3 Address Families, hereby referred to as OSPFv3, in view of RFC 2328: STD 54: OSPF Version 2, hereby referred to RFC 2328 and further in view of RFC 5838: Support of Address Families in OSPv4 by A. Lindem, Ed., S. Mirtorabi, A. Roy, M. Barnes & R. Aggarwal, hereby referred to as Lindem.
Re Claim 3, 12, 17 & 20, OSPFv3-RFC 2328 discloses the method according to claim 2 yet does not explicitly suggest wherein the first forwarding entry is an IPv4 forwarding entry and comprises the prefix of the first IPv4 address and first next-hop information that comprises one or more of: an internet protocol version 6 (IPv6) address, a neighbor discovery (ND) index, or a media access control (MAC) address.
However, in analogous art, Lindem teaches wherein the first forwarding entry is an IPv4 forwarding entry and comprises the prefix of the first IPv4 address and first next-hop information that comprises one or more of: (Lindem; Page(s) 4-10; IPv4 route calculation, forwarding address and next-hop computation.)
an internet protocol version 6 (IPv6) address, (Lindem; Page(s) 4-10; IPv6 next-hop information, OSPFv3 neighbors communicate via IPv6.)
a neighbor discovery (ND) index,
or
a media access control (MAC) address.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention (AIA ) to modify OSPFv3-RFC 2328 in view of Lindem to produce next hop information for the reasons of creating a simplified method of IPv6 unicast and multicast operations in network communication. (Lindem Introduction)
Re Claim 9, OSPFv3-RFC 2328 discloses the method according to claim 1 yet does not explicitly suggest, wherein obtaining the first route advertisement packet comprises: receiving, by the first network device, the first route advertisement packet sent by a fourth network device.
However, in analogous art, Lindem teaches receiving, by the first network device, the first route advertisement packet sent by a fourth network device. (Lindem; Page(s) 3-10; The transmitting of route advertisement related packets.)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention (AIA ) to modify OSPFv3-RFC 2328 in view of Lindem to produce next hop information for the reasons of creating a simplified method of IPv6 unicast and multicast operations in network communication. (Lindem Introduction)
Claim(s) 5-6, 13-14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over OSPFv3 Address Families, hereby referred to as OSPFv3, in view of RFC 2328: STD 54: OSPF Version 2, hereby referred to RFC 2328 further in view of HUANG, Zhao-sheng (CN 101222495 A).
Re Claim 5 & 13, OSPFv3-RFC 2328 discloses the method according to claim 1 yet does not explicitly suggest wherein the first IPv4 routing information further comprises a prefix of a first IPv6 address; and the method further comprises: obtaining, by the first network device, a prefix of the first IPv4 address based on second IPv4 routing information; and converting, by the first network device, the prefix of the first IPv4 address into the prefix of the first IPv6 address.
However, in analogous art, HUANG teaches wherein the first IPv4 routing information further comprises a prefix of a first IPv6 address; and (Huang; FIG. 1-3; Page(s) 2-8; IPv4 routing data, prefix of IPv6 address.)
obtaining, by the first network device, a prefix of the first IPv4 address based on second IPv4 routing information; and (Huang; FIG. 1-3; Page(s) 2-8; Prefix, IPv4 address, IPv4 related routing information.)
converting, by the first network device, the prefix of the first IPv4 address into the prefix of the first IPv6 address. (Huang; FIG. 1-3; Page(s) 2-8; Converting, prefix related to IPv4 addresses into IPv6 address.)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention (AIA ) to modify OSPFv3-RFC 2328 in view of HUANG to convert IP related addresses for the reasons of a method of routing data for IPv4 and IPv6 networks. (HUANG Abstract)
Re Claim 6 & 14, OSPFv3-RFC 2328-HUANG discloses the method according to claim 5, wherein the first forwarding entry is an IPv6 forwarding entry and comprises the prefix of the first IPv6 address and first next-hop information that comprises one or more:
an IPv6 address, a (Huang; FIG. 1-3; Page(s) 2-8; IPv6 address.)
neighbor discovery (ND) index,
or
a media access control (MAC) address.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention (AIA ) to modify OSPFv3-RFC 2328 in view of HUANG to convert IP related addresses for the reasons of a method of routing data for IPv4 and IPv6 networks. (HUANG Abstract)
Conclusion
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/CHRISTOPHER B ROBINSON/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2443
