DETAILED ACTION
This action is responsive to communications filed 23 July 2026.
Claims 1-20 are subject to examination.
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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after allowance or after an Office action under Ex Parte Quayle, 25 USPQ 74, 453 O.G. 213 (Comm'r Pat. 1935). Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, prosecution in this application has been reopened pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 23 July 2026 has been entered.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 23 July 2026 was filed after the mailing date of the Notice of Allowance on 11 June 2026. 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 § 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) 1-5, 8, 13-14 and 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Pfister et al. (US-20200328977-A1) hereinafter Pfister in view of He et al. (US-9338192-B1) hereinafter He.
Regarding claim 1, Pfister discloses:
A method implemented by a network layer proxy ([0054] load balancer (i.e. network layer proxy) performs to function load balancing across the servers), the method comprising:
receiving a request of a client for an endpoint connection establishment to a data source ([0056] load balancer receives a request for a network service from the client … requesting to access a network service … identified by a virtual IP address (VIP; i.e. endpoint connection to the VIP)), the request including an endpoint identifier associated with the data source ([0056] requesting to access a network service … identified by a virtual IP address (VIP; i.e. endpoint identifier associated with the data source));
sending, to an application layer proxy ([0060] first server of the plurality of servers [0061] if a candidate server determines that it cannot provision a requested network service … forward the modified UDP packet to another candidate server (i.e. first server is an application layer proxy to another candidate server)), the endpoint identifier ([0058] load balancer can be configured to advertise the VIP [0059] … insert a SRv6 header containing a list of candidate servers (i.e. VIP points to the servers; endpoint identifier) [0060] send … the modified UDP packet to the first server of the plurality of servers), the endpoint identifier sent using a connection-less protocol ([0060] modified UDP packet);
receiving a network address of an endpoint selected by the application layer proxy based on the endpoint identifier and application layer information ([0061] candidate server (e.g. first server) determines that it cannot provision a requested network service … forward the modified UDP packet to another candidate server (e.g. second server) [0066] in accepting provisioning of the requested network service, the second server can communicate with the load balancer to inform the load balancer that the second server will provision the requested network service to the client … send an acknowledgement … associate a 4-tuple of the UDP prove … with the second server, see [0059] each candidate server can be identified by a unique identifier, e.g. a MAC address or an IP address); and
sending a response to the client such that a connection is established to the endpoint using a connection-based protocol and such that the connection bypasses the application layer proxy ([0067] routing rule can ensure that a “true” forthcoming TCP connection from the client for provisioning the requested network service will be directed towards the second server without having to go through the entire list of candidate servers (i.e. first server is bypassed as direct connection to second server)).
Pfister does not explicitly disclose:
receiving, from the application layer proxy, a network address of an endpoint selected by the application layer proxy;
However, He discloses:
receiving, from the application layer proxy ([11:50-59] proxy server may determine), a network address of an endpoint selected by the application layer proxy ([10:52-60] network device (i.e. network layer proxy) may use UDP as a transportation means for CRTP messages … to a multicast address that identifies multiple proxy servers in a proxy cluster (i.e. application layer proxy) … proxy server that is capable of servicing the client request may transmit a positive acknowledgement that the client request can be serviced, see [8:41-52] CRTP may be implemented as an application layer protocol … may transfer application information from one node to another node, see also [11:50-59] proxy server may determine whether proxy server is able to service the request based on the connection information and/or the application information);
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the pertinent art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Pfister in view of He to have received a network address of an endpoint selected by the application layer proxy from the application layer proxy such as based on the endpoint identifier and application layer information. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to do so to alleviate issues by using a connection request transfer protocol (CRTP) to intercept client device requests that can be serviced by the proxy cluster and to establish a direct connection (e.g. a TCP connection) between a proxy server in the cluster and the client device, (He, [1:49-65]).
Regarding claim 2, Pfister-He disclose:
The method of claim 1, set forth above,
Pfister discloses:
wherein the request corresponds to a step of the connection-based protocol ([FIG. 5] e.g. steps 500-508 to establish traffic to the candidate server via UDP probe as above), and wherein the method further comprises:
completing the step by sending, based on the network address ([0066] in accepting provisioning of the requested network service, the second server can communicate with the load balancer to inform the load balancer that the second server will provision the requested network service to the client … send an acknowledgement … associate a 4-tuple of the UDP prove … with the second server, see [0059] each candidate server can be identified by a unique identifier, e.g. a MAC address or an IP address), the request to the endpoint ([0067] client can open a standard TCP connection towards the VIP using the same 4-tuple as the UDP packet … second server can receive the TCP SYN packet and complete the TCP handshake with the client), wherein the connection is established using the connection-based protocol based on the step being completed ([0067] routing rule can ensure that a “true” forthcoming TCP connection from the client for provisioning the requested network service will be directed towards the second server without having to go through the entire list of candidate servers (i.e. first server is bypassed as direct connection to second server)).
Regarding claim 3, Pfister-He disclose:
The method of claim 1, set forth above,
Pfister discloses:
wherein the endpoint identifier is sent to the application layer proxy by encapsulating the endpoint identifier in a frame ([0057] request for a network service from the client … include a UDP packet requesting access to a network service … identified by a VIP … with the same source/destination UDP ports for the TCP SYN, but before the TCP SYN is sent from the client (i.e. endpoint identifier in UDP packet)), wherein the frame is generated according to the connection-less protocol ([0057] UDP).
Regarding claim 4, Pfister-He disclose:
The method of claim 3, set forth above, further comprising:
Pfister does not explicitly disclose:
receiving, from the application layer proxy, the frame; and
determining, based on the frame being received, an association between the network address and the request.
However, He discloses:
receiving, from the application layer proxy ([11:50-59] proxy server may determine), the frame ([10:52-60] UDP as a transportation means for CRTP messages); and
determining, based on the frame being received ([10:52-60] transmit a positive acknowledgement that the client request can be serviced (i.e. receiving the CRTP message response)), an association between the network address and the request ([10:52-60] network device (i.e. network layer proxy) may use UDP as a transportation means for CRTP messages … to a multicast address that identifies multiple proxy servers in a proxy cluster (i.e. application layer proxy) … proxy server that is capable of servicing the client request may transmit a positive acknowledgement that the client request can be serviced, see [8:41-52] CRTP may be implemented as an application layer protocol … may transfer application information from one node to another node, see also [11:50-59] proxy server may determine whether proxy server is able to service the request based on the connection information and/or the application information).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the pertinent art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Pfister in view of He to have received a network address of an endpoint selected by the application layer proxy from the application layer proxy such as based on the endpoint identifier and application layer information. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to do so to alleviate issues by using a connection request transfer protocol (CRTP) to intercept client device requests that can be serviced by the proxy cluster and to establish a direct connection (e.g. a TCP connection) between a proxy server in the cluster and the client device, (He, [1:49-65]).
Regarding claim 5, Pfister-He disclose:
The method of claim 4, set forth above, further comprising:
Pfister discloses:
sending, based on the association ([0067] routing rule can ensure that a “true” forthcoming TCP connection from the client for provisioning the requested network service will be directed towards the second server without having to go through the entire list of candidate servers (i.e. first server is bypassed as direct connection to second server)), the request to the endpoint by using the network address ([0067] client can open a standard TCP connection towards the VIP using the same 4-tuple as the UDP packet … second server can receive the TCP SYN packet and complete the TCP handshake with the client), wherein the connection is established based on the request being sent to the endpoint ([0067] routing rule can ensure that a “true” forthcoming TCP connection from the client for provisioning the requested network service will be directed towards the second server without having to go through the entire list of candidate servers (i.e. first server is bypassed as direct connection to second server)).
Regarding claims 8 and 13, they do not further define nor teach over the limitations of claim 1, therefore, claims 8 and 13 are rejected for at least the same reasons set forth above as in claim 1.
Regarding claim 14, it does not further define nor teach over the limitations of claim 2, therefore, claim 14 is rejected for at least the same reasons set forth above as in claim 2.
Regarding claim 20, Pfister-He disclose:
The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 13, set forth above, wherein the operations further comprise:
Pfister discloses:
selecting the application layer proxy from a plurality of application layer proxies based on network layer information ([0058] load balancer can be configured to advertise the VIP [0059] … insert a SRv6 header containing a list of candidate servers (i.e. VIP points to the servers; endpoint identifier, a selected list of application layer proxies and from a list the first server) [0060] send … the modified UDP packet to the first server of the plurality of servers).
Claim(s) 6 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Pfister et al. (US-20200328977-A1) hereinafter Pfister in view of He et al. (US-9338192-B1) hereinafter He further in view of Haddad et al. (US-8547835-B2) hereinafter Haddad.
Regarding claim 6, Pfister-He disclose:
The method of claim 1, set forth above,
Pfister discloses:
wherein the network address is a first network address ([0056] requesting to access a network service … identified by a virtual IP address (VIP; i.e. endpoint identifier associated with the data source) see [0059] each candidate server can be identified by a unique identifier, e.g. a MAC address or an IP address), and wherein the method further comprises:
storing information that associates the first network address with a second network address ([0066] in accepting provisioning of the requested network service, the second server can communicate with the load balancer to inform the load balancer that the second server will provision the requested network service to the client … send an acknowledgement … associate a 4-tuple of the UDP prove … with the second serve);
Pfister does not explicitly disclose:
including, in the response, the second network address instead of the first network address;
receiving, from the client, a packet having the second network address as a destination; and
updating the packet by replacing the second network address with the first network address as the destination, wherein the updated packet is sent using the connection to the endpoint.
However, Haddad discloses:
including, in the response, the second network address instead of the first network address ([5:39-52] proxy element can intercept and selectively perform source/destination translation of data packets using the IP addresses to cause the PDN GW to be selectively bypassed [6:4-22] replace the IP2 destination address with the IP1 destination address (i.e. endpoint information) [8:52-64] indicates that the associated application is MPTCP capable (i.e. application layer information));
receiving, from the client ([6:4-22] source node), a packet having the second network address as a destination ([6:4-22] replace the IP2 destination address with the IP1 destination address (i.e. endpoint information); and
updating the packet by replacing the second network address with the first network address as the destination ([6:4-22] replace the IP2 destination address with the IP1 destination address (i.e. endpoint information), wherein the updated packet is sent using the connection to the endpoint ([6:57-7:17] TCP connection to the destination node 140 using the source address IP2 … data packets flowing from the source node to the destination node.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the pertinent art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Pfister in view of Haddad to have stored information associating the first network address with a second network address to be included in the response and received a packet having the second network address as a destination to replace the second network address with the first network address as the destination. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to do so to selectively perform source/destination translation of data packets to cause a gateway to be selectively bypassed (Haddad, [5:39-52]).
Claim(s) 9, 12, 15 and 18-19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Pfister et al. (US-20200328977-A1) hereinafter Pfister in view of He et al. (US-9338192-B1) hereinafter He further in view of Demmer et al. (US-8473620-B2) hereinafter Demmer.
Regarding claim 9, Pfister-He disclose:
The network layer proxy of claim 8, set forth above,
Pfister-He do not explicitly disclose:
wherein the request is received as a synchronize (SYN) packet that includes a non-internet protocol (IP) address identifier associated with a plurality of endpoints.
However, Demmer discloses:
wherein the request is received as a synchronize (SYN) packet that includes a non-internet protocol (IP) address identifier associated with a plurality of endpoints ([19:22-44] HTTP that were explicitly designed to allow a client to connect explicitly to a proxy and have the client include the server’s name in every header of every request message (i.e. request to the database server with the name [16:6-16] in TCP, a connection request is noted by the presence of the “SYN” bit in the flags field (i.e. HTTP runs over TCP, wherein HTTP would have the name)),
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the pertinent art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Pfister-He in view of Demmer to have the endpoint information include a database name associated with a plurality of database instances and include the database name in a SYN packet. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to do so to utilize HTTP that was explicitly designed to allow a client to connect explicitly to a proxy and have the client include the server’s name in every header of every request message (Demmer, [19:22-44]).
Regarding claim 12, Pfister-He-Demmer disclose:
The network layer proxy of claim 9, set forth above,
Pfister discloses:
wherein the execution of the instructions further configures the network layer proxy to:
send, based on a determination that the network address is associated with the SYN packet ([0061] candidate server (e.g. first server) determines that it cannot provision a requested network service … forward the modified UDP packet to another candidate server (e.g. second server) [0066] in accepting provisioning of the requested network service, the second server can communicate with the load balancer to inform the load balancer that the second server will provision the requested network service to the client … send an acknowledgement … associate a 4-tuple of the UDP prove … with the second server, see [0059] each candidate server can be identified by a unique identifier, e.g. a MAC address or an IP address), the SYN packet to the endpoint ([0067] client can open a standard TCP connection towards the VIP using the same 4-tuple as the UDP packet … second server can receive the TCP SYN packet and complete the TCP handshake with the client), wherein the connection is a transmission control protocol (TCP) connection established based on the SYN packet being sent to the endpoint ([0067] routing rule can ensure that a “true” forthcoming TCP connection from the client for provisioning the requested network service will be directed towards the second server without having to go through the entire list of candidate servers (i.e. first server is bypassed as direct connection to second server)).
Regarding claim 15, Pfister-He disclose:
The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 13, set forth above,
Pfister-He do not explicitly disclose:
wherein the endpoint identifier includes a database name, and wherein receiving the request comprises receiving a synchronize (SYN) packet that includes the database name.
However, Demmer discloses:
wherein the endpoint identifier includes a database name ([29:20-32] because SSI 1560 is out-of-path relative to the client and server … request reaches server 1550 without transiting the ASASI … forwards the connection request (or a substitute request) to the SSI without submitting it to the target application or service (e.g. … database server) [33:20-27] table, database or other data structure for mapping between servers’ public and private addresses, see also [19:22-44] HTTP that were explicitly designed to allow a client to connect explicitly to a proxy and have the client include the server’s name in every header of every request message (i.e. request to the database server with the name)), and wherein receiving the request comprises receiving a synchronize (SYN) packet that includes the database name ([19:22-44] HTTP that were explicitly designed to allow a client to connect explicitly to a proxy and have the client include the server’s name in every header of every request message (i.e. request to the database server with the name [16:6-16] in TCP, a connection request is noted by the presence of the “SYN” bit in the flags field (i.e. HTTP runs over TCP, wherein HTTP would have the name)),
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the pertinent art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Pfister-He in view of Demmer to have the endpoint information include a database name associated with a plurality of database instances and include the database name in a SYN packet. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to do so to utilize HTTP that was explicitly designed to allow a client to connect explicitly to a proxy and have the client include the server’s name in every header of every request message (Demmer, [19:22-44]).
Regarding claim 18, Pfister-He-Demmer disclose:
The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 15, set forth above,
Pfister discloses:
wherein the connection-based protocol includes a transmission control protocol (TCP) ([0067] routing rule can ensure that a “true” forthcoming TCP connection from the client for provisioning the requested network service will be directed towards the second server without having to go through the entire list of candidate servers (i.e. first server is bypassed as direct connection to second server))., and wherein the operations further comprise:
sending, by using the TCP, the SYN packet to the endpoint based on the network address ([0067] client can open a standard TCP connection towards the VIP using the same 4-tuple as the UDP packet … second server can receive the TCP SYN packet and complete the TCP handshake with the client); and
receiving a SYN ACK packet from the endpoint in response to the SYN packet ([0067] client can open a standard TCP connection towards the VIP using the same 4-tuple as the UDP packet … second server can receive the TCP SYN packet and complete the TCP handshake with the client (i.e. acknowledging a SYN, e.g. SYN ACK for handshake)).
Regarding claim 19, Pfister-He-Demmer disclose:
The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 18, set forth above,
Pfister discloses:
wherein sending the response comprises sending the SYN ACK packet ([0067] client can open a standard TCP connection towards the VIP using the same 4-tuple as the UDP packet … second server can receive the TCP SYN packet and complete the TCP handshake with the client (i.e. acknowledging a SYN, e.g. SYN ACK for handshake)).
Claim(s) 7, 10-11 and 16 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Pfister et al. (US-20200328977-A1) hereinafter Pfister in view of He et al. (US-9338192-B1) hereinafter He further in view of Demmer et al. (US-8473620-B2) hereinafter Demmer further in view of Skog et al. (US-10630813-B2) hereinafter Skog.
Regarding claim 7, Pfister-He disclose:
The method of claim 1, set forth above,
Pfister discloses:
wherein the connection-based protocol includes a transmission control protocol (TCP) ([0067] routing rule can ensure that a “true” forthcoming TCP connection from the client for provisioning the requested network service will be directed towards the second server without having to go through the entire list of candidate servers (i.e. first server is bypassed as direct connection to second server)).
Pfister does not explicitly disclose:
wherein the endpoint identifier includes a database name associated with a plurality of database instances, wherein receiving the request comprises receiving a synchronize (SYN) packet that includes the database name, wherein sending the request comprising encapsulating the SYN packet in a user datagram protocol (UDP) frame,
However, Demmer discloses:
wherein the endpoint information includes a database name associated with a plurality of database instances ([29:20-32] because SSI 1560 is out-of-path relative to the client and server … request reaches server 1550 without transiting the ASASI … forwards the connection request (or a substitute request) to the SSI without submitting it to the target application or service (e.g. … database server) [33:20-27] table, database or other data structure for mapping between servers’ public and private addresses, see also [19:22-44] HTTP that were explicitly designed to allow a client to connect explicitly to a proxy and have the client include the server’s name in every header of every request message (i.e. request to the database server with the name)), wherein receiving the request comprises receiving a synchronize (SYN) packet that includes the database name ([19:22-44] HTTP that were explicitly designed to allow a client to connect explicitly to a proxy and have the client include the server’s name in every header of every request message (i.e. request to the database server with the name [16:6-16] in TCP, a connection request is noted by the presence of the “SYN” bit in the flags field (i.e. HTTP runs over TCP, wherein HTTP would have the name)),
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the pertinent art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Pfister in view of Demmer to have the endpoint information include a database name associated with a plurality of database instances and include the database name in a SYN packet. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to do so to utilize HTTP that was explicitly designed to allow a client to connect explicitly to a proxy and have the client include the server’s name in every header of every request message (Demmer, [19:22-44]).
Pfister-Demmer do not explicitly disclose:
wherein sending the request comprising encapsulating the SYN packet in a user datagram protocol (UDP) frame,
However, Skog discloses:
wherein sending the request comprising encapsulating the SYN packet in a user datagram protocol (UDP) frame ([9:45-67] UDP packets which are transported as TCP packets … transmitting a TCP SYN packet with MPTCP Option, see also [22:7-35] optionally, the request for establishing an MPTCP connection is a UDP packet received from a UDP client).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the pertinent art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Pfister-Demmer in view of Skog to have sent the request comprising encapsulating the SYN packet in a UDP frame. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to do so to use a simple connectionless transmission model with a minimum of protocol mechanism wherein it is suitable for purposes where error checking and correction is not necessary or performed at a higher level in the protocol stack or for time-sensitive applications (Skog, [1:65-2:22]).
Regarding claim 10, Pfister-He-Demmer disclose:
The network layer proxy of claim 9, set forth above,
Pfister-He-Demmer do not explicitly disclose:
wherein the endpoint identifier is sent by encapsulating the SYN packet and sending the encapsulated SYN packet in a user datagram protocol (UDP) frame.
However, Skog discloses:
wherein the endpoint information is sent by encapsulating the SYN packet and sending the encapsulated SYN packet in a user datagram protocol (UDP) frame ([9:45-67] UDP packets which are transported as TCP packets … transmitting a TCP SYN packet with MPTCP Option, see also [22:7-35] optionally, the request for establishing an MPTCP connection is a UDP packet received from a UDP client).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the pertinent art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Pfister-He-Demmer in view of Skog to have sent the request comprising encapsulating the SYN packet in a UDP frame. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to do so to use a simple connectionless transmission model with a minimum of protocol mechanism wherein it is suitable for purposes where error checking and correction is not necessary or performed at a higher level in the protocol stack or for time-sensitive applications (Skog, [1:65-2:22]).
Regarding claim 11, Pfister-He-Demmer-Skog disclose:
The network layer proxy of claim 10, set forth above,
Pfister does not explicitly disclose:
wherein the execution of the instructions further configures the network layer proxy to:
receive, from the application layer proxy, the UDP frame; and
determine, based on the UDP frame being received, that the network address is associated with the SYN packet.
However, He discloses:
wherein the execution of the instructions further configures the network layer proxy to:
receive, from the application layer proxy ([11:50-59] proxy server may determine), the UDP frame ([10:52-60] UDP as a transportation means for CRTP messages); and
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the pertinent art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Pfister in view of He to have received a network address of an endpoint selected by the application layer proxy from the application layer proxy such as based on the endpoint identifier and application layer information. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to do so to alleviate issues by using a connection request transfer protocol (CRTP) to intercept client device requests that can be serviced by the proxy cluster and to establish a direct connection (e.g. a TCP connection) between a proxy server in the cluster and the client device, (He, [1:49-65]).
Pfister-He do not explicitly disclose:
determine, based on the UDP frame being received, that the network address is associated with the SYN packet.
However, Skog discloses:
determine, based on the UDP frame being received ([9:45-67] UDP packets which are transported as TCP packets over the MPTCP connection between MPTCP proxies), that the network address is associated with the SYN packet ([12:6-19] establishing the MPTCP connection … bind the MPTCP connection, i.e., the specific IP addresses and port numbers used for TCP connections … with the 4 or 5-tuple … of a connection between UDP/TCP client 101 and UDP/TCP server 104, see [9:45-67] UDP packets which are transported as TCP packets … transmitting a TCP SYN packet with MPTCP Option, see also [22:7-35] optionally, the request for establishing an MPTCP connection is a UDP packet received from a UDP client).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the pertinent art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Pfister-He in view of Skog to have received the frame from the application layer proxy to determine an association between the network address and the request. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to do so to bind the MPTCP connection such as to use the binding entry or establish a new MPTCP connection (Skog, [13:30-50]).
Regarding claim 16, Pfister-He-Demmer disclose:
The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 15, set forth above,
Pfister discloses:
wherein the connection-less protocol includes a user datagram protocol (UDP) ([0060] modified UDP packet), and
Pfister does not explicitly disclose:
wherein sending the endpoint identifier comprises sending the SYN packet in a UDP frame.
However, Skog discloses:
wherein sending the endpoint identifier comprises sending the SYN packet in a UDP frame ([9:45-67] UDP packets which are transported as TCP packets … transmitting a TCP SYN packet with MPTCP Option, see also [22:7-35] optionally, the request for establishing an MPTCP connection is a UDP packet received from a UDP client).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the pertinent art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Pfister in view of Skog to have sent the request comprising encapsulating the SYN packet in a UDP frame. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to do so to use a simple connectionless transmission model with a minimum of protocol mechanism wherein it is suitable for purposes where error checking and correction is not necessary or performed at a higher level in the protocol stack or for time-sensitive applications (Skog, [1:65-2:22]).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 17 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.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Szilagyi et al. (US-20150296418-A1) METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR HANDOVER MANAGEMENT OF TRANSFER CONTROL PROTOCOL PROXY COMMUNICATIONS;
Goel (US-11425042-B2) MANAGING DATA THROUGHPUT IN A DISTRIBUTED ENDPOINT NETWORK;
Zihnioglu (US-12368705-B2) PROXY DIRECT CONNECT.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Alex Tran whose telephone number is (571)272-8173. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 10AM-6PM ET.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Kamal Divecha can be reached at (571)272-5863. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/Alex Tran/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2453
Prosecution Insights