DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
This action is responsive to communication filed on 03/30/2026. Claim(s) 1, 10, 15 & 18 have been amended. Claim(s) 1-20 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 03/30/2026 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 Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn.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 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 detailed in the Office Action listed below.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim(s) 7 & 8 would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all intervening limitations because the prior art of record fails to teach or suggest generating a first route advertisement packets based on a received OSPFv2 or IS-ISv4 route advertisement packet, as recited.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
The prior art of record, cited in the Office Action below, teaches advertising IPv4 routing information using OSPFv3 packets and generating forwarding information based on the advertised IPv4 routing information. Accordingly, Claim 1 is not considered patentably distinct over the prior art of record.
However, the Specification further describes embodiments in which IPv4 services are supported by network devices that need not have IPv4 functionality enabled and need not have IPv4 addresses configured. The Specification additionally describes converting an IPv4 prefix into a corresponding IPv6 prefix and generating forwarding information based on the converted IPv6 prefix such that IPv4 traffic may be carried using IPv6 forwarding infrastructure.
These features are not positively recited in Claim 1 and therefore do not distinguish the presently claimed invention from the cited prior art.
The prior art of record does not teach, suggest or describe converting a prefix of an IPv4 address into a prefix of an IPv6 address and generating an IPv6 forwarding entry based on the converted IPv6 prefix for forwarding traffic associated with the IPv4 route. The prior art further does not teach or suggest supporting IPv4 service forwarding through network devices that do not require IPv4 functionality to be enabled and do not require configured IPv4 addresses while utilizing IPv6 forwarding infrastructure.
Accordingly, claims reciting such limitations may define allowable subject matter.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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)(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) 1-4, 9-12, 15-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102 (a) (2) as being anticipated by 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 1, 10, 15 & 18, Lindem 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, (Lindem; Page(s) 4-10; The RFC 5838 discloses OSFv3, maps addresses, transmits packets and advertises routes.)
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 (Lindem; Page(s) 4-10; The OSPFv3 supports uncast IPv4 and advertise related prefixes from address other than IPv6. In addition, IPv4 prefixes and IPv4 related forwarding address within OSPFv3.)
sending, by the first network device, the first route advertisement packet to a second network device, (Lindem; Page(s) 4-10; OSPFv3 and LSA (route advertisement packet) exchange between routers and devices.)
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. (Lindem; Page(s) 4-10; The standard discloses computations for IPv4, next hop calculations, IPv4 unicast, router advertisement and forwarding. IPv4 next hop calculations and forwarding associated with addresses for advertised destinations. The transmission of data traffic.)
Re Claim 2, 11, 16 & 19, Lindem discloses the method according to claim 1, wherein the first IPv4 routing information further comprises a prefix of the first IPv4 address. (Lindem; Page(s) 4-10; IPv4 prefixes in OSPFv3, such as address families, prefix advertisement and route calculation.)
Re Claim 3, 12, 17 & 20, Lindem discloses the method according to claim 2, 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.
Re Claim 4, Lindem 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. (Lindem; Page(s) 4-10; The AF related identification data indicates information that discloses that the advertisement is an IPv4 route advertisement.)
Re Claim 9, Lindem discloses the method according to claim 1, 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. (Lindem; Page(s) 4-10; The transmitting of route advertisement related packets.)
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) 5-6, 13-14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over 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 and further in view of HUANG, Zhao-sheng (CN 101222495 A).
Re Claim 5 & 13, Lindem 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 Lindem 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, Lindem-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 Lindem 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
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