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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The IDS filed 7/17/2024 has been considered.
Double Patenting
The nonstatutory double patenting rejection is based on a judicially created doctrine grounded in public policy (a policy reflected in the statute) so as to prevent the unjustified or improper timewise extension of the “right to exclude” granted by a patent and to prevent possible harassment by multiple assignees. A nonstatutory double patenting rejection is appropriate where the conflicting claims are not identical, but at least one examined application claim is not patentably distinct from the reference claim(s) because the examined application claim is either anticipated by, or would have been obvious over, the reference claim(s). See, e.g., In re Berg, 140 F.3d 1428, 46 USPQ2d 1226 (Fed. Cir. 1998); In re Goodman, 11 F.3d 1046, 29 USPQ2d 2010 (Fed. Cir. 1993); In re Longi, 759 F.2d 887, 225 USPQ 645 (Fed. Cir. 1985); In re Van Ornum, 686 F.2d 937, 214 USPQ 761 (CCPA 1982); In re Vogel, 422 F.2d 438, 164 USPQ 619 (CCPA 1970); In re Thorington, 418 F.2d 528, 163 USPQ 644 (CCPA 1969).
A timely filed terminal disclaimer in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(c) or 1.321(d) may be used to overcome an actual or provisional rejection based on nonstatutory double patenting provided the reference application or patent either is shown to be commonly owned with the examined application, or claims an invention made as a result of activities undertaken within the scope of a joint research agreement. See MPEP § 717.02 for applications subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA as explained in MPEP § 2159. See MPEP § 2146 et seq. for applications not subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA . A terminal disclaimer must be signed in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(b).
The filing of a terminal disclaimer by itself is not a complete reply to a nonstatutory double patenting (NSDP) rejection. A complete reply requires that the terminal disclaimer be accompanied by a reply requesting reconsideration of the prior Office action. Even where the NSDP rejection is provisional the reply must be complete. See MPEP § 804, subsection I.B.1. For a reply to a non-final Office action, see 37 CFR 1.111(a). For a reply to final Office action, see 37 CFR 1.113(c). A request for reconsideration while not provided for in 37 CFR 1.113(c) may be filed after final for consideration. See MPEP §§ 706.07(e) and 714.13.
The USPTO Internet website contains terminal disclaimer forms which may be used. Please visit www.uspto.gov/patent/patents-forms. The actual filing date of the application in which the form is filed determines what form (e.g., PTO/SB/25, PTO/SB/26, PTO/AIA /25, or PTO/AIA /26) should be used. A web-based eTerminal Disclaimer may be filled out completely online using web-screens. An eTerminal Disclaimer that meets all requirements is auto-processed and approved immediately upon submission. For more information about eTerminal Disclaimers, refer to www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/applying-online/eterminal-disclaimer.
Claims 1 and 13-18 are rejected on the ground of nonstatutory double patenting as being unpatentable over claims 1-3 of U.S. Patent No. 12,047,296. Please see claim correspondence table below. Although the claims at issue are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other because the claims in the present application are mostly recited in the patent. The only difference is that the present claims further recite the step of communicating quotas to the active VCs. Before the effective filing date of the invention, one of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to communicate quotas to the active VCs so that the active VCs can proactively increase or decrease quotas, thus making quota management more efficient.
Present Application
U.S. Patent No. 12,047,296
1. A method comprising: establishing a set of virtual connections (VCs) where each VC of the set of VCs is associated with a link of a plurality of links of a network between an electronic device of a plurality of electronic devices forming part of the network acting as a transmitter of traffic across the network (transmitter) and another electronic device of the plurality of electronic devices acting as a receiver of traffic across the network (receiver); determining for each receiver within the network a bandwidth of the receiver and establishing a predetermined factor of the bandwidth of the receiver as a quota for that receiver; allocating the quota for each receiver to a subset of the set of virtual connections as a set of quotas where the subset of the set of virtual connections are associated with links of the plurality of links comprising the receiver; establishing a portion of the subset of the set of virtual connections as active VCs and the remainder of the subset of the set of virtual connections as inactive VCs; and communicating the set of quotas to the active VCs.
13. A network comprising: a controller; a plurality of transmitters; and a plurality of receivers; wherein the controller comprises a processor executing a process comprising the steps of: determining a bandwidth of a receiver of the plurality of receivers; establishing a predetermined factor of the bandwidth of the receiver of the plurality of receivers as a quota; establishing a set of virtual connections (VCs), each VC of the set of VCs between a predetermined transmitter of the plurality of transmitters and the receiver of the plurality of receivers; establishing a subset of the set of virtual connections as active VCs; establishing the remainder of the set of virtual connections as inactive VCs; allocating the quota to subset of the set of virtual connections as a set of quotas; establishing in dependence upon the remainder of the set of virtual connections, the difference between the quota and the bandwidth of the receiver of the plurality of receivers and a maximum message transmission unit (MTU) a number N of short messages; communicating the number N to those transmitters of the plurality of transmitters and those receivers of the plurality of receivers associated with the inactive VCs; and communicating the set of quotas to those transmitters of the plurality of transmitters and those receivers of the plurality of receivers associated with the active VCs.
14. The network according to claim 13, wherein each transmitter of the plurality of transmitters associated with an inactive VC can send up to the N short messages to the receiver of the plurality of receivers associated with the active VC without any scheduling.
15. The non-transitory storage medium according to claim 13, wherein each transmitter of the plurality of transmitters associated with an inactive VC can send up to the N short messages to the receiver of the plurality of receivers associated with the active VC without any scheduling; and if the transmitter of the plurality of transmitters associated with an inactive VC has more than N short message for the receiver of the plurality of receivers associated with the inactive VC then another processor of the transmitter of the plurality of transmitters associated with the inactive VC executes a process comprising the steps of: sending the N short messages; indicating to the receiver that it has either more than N messages or that is wishes to become an active VC; waiting for a quota from the receiver; and sending the remainder of the short messages as an active VC.
16. A non-transitory storage medium comprising computer executable instructions for execution by a processor of a controller forming part of a network, the computer executable instructions configuring the processor to execute a process relating to a plurality of transmitters forming part of the network and a plurality of receivers forming another part of the network, the process comprising: determining a bandwidth of a receiver of the plurality of receivers; establishing a predetermined factor of the bandwidth of the receiver of the plurality of receivers as a quota; establishing a set of virtual connections (VCs), each VC of the set of VCs between a predetermined transmitter of the plurality of transmitters and the receiver of the plurality of receivers; establishing a subset of the set of virtual connections as active VCs; establishing the remainder of the set of virtual connections as inactive VCs; allocating the quota to subset of the set of virtual connections as a set of quotas; establishing in dependence upon the remainder of the set of virtual connections, the difference between the quota and the bandwidth of the receiver of the plurality of receivers and a maximum message transmission unit (MTU) a number N of short messages; communicating the number N to those transmitters of the plurality of transmitters and those receivers of the plurality of receivers associated with the inactive VCs; and communicating the set of quotas to those transmitters of the plurality of transmitters and those receivers of the plurality of receivers associated with the active VCs.
17. The non-transitory storage medium according to claim 16, wherein each transmitter of the plurality of transmitters associated with an inactive VC can send up to the N short messages to the receiver of the plurality of receivers associated with the active VC without any scheduling.
18. The non-transitory storage medium according to claim 16, wherein each transmitter of the plurality of transmitters associated with an inactive VC can send up to the N short messages to the receiver of the plurality of receivers associated with the active VC without any scheduling; and if the transmitter of the plurality of transmitters associated with an inactive VC has more than N short message for the receiver of the plurality of receivers associated with the inactive VC then another processor of the transmitter of the plurality of transmitters associated with the inactive VC executes a process comprising the steps of: sending the N short messages; indicating to the receiver that it has either more than N messages or that is wishes to become an active VC; waiting for a quota from the receiver, and sending the remainder of the short messages as an active VC.
1. A method comprising: determining a bandwidth of a receiver within a network; establishing a predetermined factor of the bandwidth of the receiver as a quota; establishing a set of virtual connections (VCs), each VC of the set of VCs between a predetermined transmitter and the receiver; establishing a subset of the set of virtual connections as active VCs; establishing the remainder of the set of virtual connections as inactive VCs; allocating the quota to subset of the set of virtual connections as a set of quotas; establishing in dependence upon the remainder of the set of virtual connections, the difference between the quota and the bandwidth of the receiver and a maximum message transmission unit (MTU) a number N of short messages; communicating the number N of short messages to the
inactive VCs; and communicating the set of quotas to the active VCs.
1. A method comprising: determining a bandwidth of a receiver within a network; establishing a predetermined factor of the bandwidth of the receiver as a quota; establishing a set of virtual connections (VCs), each VC of the set of VCs between a predetermined transmitter and the receiver; establishing a subset of the set of virtual connections as active VCs; establishing the remainder of the set of virtual connections as inactive VCs; allocating the quota to subset of the set of virtual connections as a set of quotas; establishing in dependence upon the remainder of the set of virtual connections, the difference between the quota and the bandwidth of the receiver and a maximum message transmission unit (MTU) a number N of short messages; communicating the number N of short messages to the inactive VCs; and communicating the set of quotas to the active VCs.
2. The method according to claim 1, wherein each inactive VC can send up to the N short messages to the receiver without any scheduling.
3. The method according to claim 1, wherein each inactive VC can send up to the N short messages to the receiver without any scheduling; and if an inactive VC has more than N short message for the receiver it executes a process comprising the steps of: sending the N short messages; indicating to the receiver that it has either more than N messages or that is wishes to become an active VC; waiting for a quota from the receiver; and sending the remainder of the short messages as an active VC.
1. A method comprising: determining a bandwidth of a receiver within a network; establishing a predetermined factor of the bandwidth of the receiver as a quota; establishing a set of virtual connections (VCs), each VC of the set of VCs between a predetermined transmitter and the receiver; establishing a subset of the set of virtual connections as active VCs; establishing the remainder of the set of virtual connections as inactive VCs; allocating the quota to subset of the set of virtual connections as a set of quotas; establishing in dependence upon the remainder of the set of virtual connections, the difference between the quota and the bandwidth of the receiver and a maximum message transmission unit (MTU) a number N of short messages; communicating the number N of short messages to the inactive VCs; and communicating the set of quotas to the active VCs.
2. The method according to claim 1, wherein each inactive VC can send up to the N short messages to the receiver without any scheduling.
3. The method according to claim 1, wherein each inactive VC can send up to the N short messages to the receiver without any scheduling; and if an inactive VC has more than N short message for the receiver it executes a process comprising the steps of: sending the N short messages; indicating to the receiver that it has either more than N messages or that is wishes to become an active VC; waiting for a quota from the receiver; and sending the remainder of the short messages as an active VC.
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.
Claim 1-18 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.
Claim 1 recites in part: “establishing a set of virtual connections (VCs) where each VC of the set of VCs is associated with a link of a plurality of links of a network between an electronic device of a plurality of electronic devices forming part of the network acting as a transmitter of traffic across the network (transmitter) and another electronic device of the plurality of electronic devices acting as a receiver of traffic across the network (receiver);
determining for each receiver within the network a bandwidth of the receiver and establishing a predetermined factor of the bandwidth of the receiver as a quota for that receiver;
allocating the quota for each receiver to a subset of the set of virtual connections as a set of quotas where the subset of the set of virtual connections are associated with links of the plurality of links comprising the receiver;
establishing a portion of the subset of the set of virtual connections as active VCs and the remainder of the subset of the set of virtual connections as inactive VCs; and communicating the set of quotas to the active VCs.”
The claim is unclear for the following reasons:
It is unclear as to whether or not the limitations inside the parenthesis (transmitter and receiver) are part of the claim.
It is unclear as what the factor represents (i.e. a percentage, multiplier, constant, algorithm output, etc.). The term “predetermined factor” renders the claim indefinite because the relationship between the factor and the bandwidth is unclear.
The claim does not define what “active” or “inactive” means and how the state transition occurs.
The claimed “links comprising the receiver” is unclear because it allows multiple meanings, such as links connected to the receiver, links terminating at the receiver, or links including the receiver. The claim is therefore indefinite.
Regarding claims 6 and 8, the claims recite "RDMA layer-4 architecture", "RDMA layer-2 equipment", and "RDMA layer-3 equipment. As known in the art, RDMA is typically defined by transport layer (e.g. RoCE), not as its own OSI layer. The specification does not provide clear definition of RDMA layer-2, 3, or 4. Therefore, it is unclear as to how these ties to conventional OSI concepts.
Claim 13 recites in part: “establishing a predetermined factor of the bandwidth of the receiver of the plurality of receivers as a quota;
establishing a subset of the set of virtual connections as active VCs…
establishing the remainder of the set of virtual connections as inactive VCs…”
The claim is unclear for the following reasons:
It is unclear as what the factor represents (i.e. a percentage, multiplier, constant, algorithm output, etc.). The term “predetermined factor” renders the claim indefinite because the relationship between the factor and the bandwidth is unclear.
The claim does not define what “active” or “inactive” means and how the state transition occurs.
Claim 16 recites in part: “determining a bandwidth of a receiver of the plurality of receivers; establishing a predetermined factor of the bandwidth of the receiver of the plurality of receivers as a quota; establishing a set of virtual connections (VCs), each VC of the set of VCs between a predetermined transmitter of the plurality of transmitters and the receiver of the plurality of receivers; establishing a subset of the set of virtual connections as active VCs; establishing the remainder of the set of virtual connections as inactive VCs…”
The claim is unclear for the following reasons:
It is unclear as what the factor represents (i.e. a percentage, multiplier, constant, algorithm output, etc.). The term “predetermined factor” renders the claim indefinite because the relationship between the factor and the bandwidth is unclear.
The claim does not define what “active” or “inactive” means and how the state transition occurs.
Dependent claims 2-12, 14, 15, and 17-18 do not further define the lack of clarity from their respective independent claims, therefore are rejected for their dependencies.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(d):
(d) REFERENCE IN DEPENDENT FORMS.—Subject to subsection (e), a claim in dependent form shall contain a reference to a claim previously set forth and then specify a further limitation of the subject matter claimed. A claim in dependent form shall be construed to incorporate by reference all the limitations of the claim to which it refers.
The following is a quotation of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, fourth paragraph:
Subject to the following paragraph [i.e., the fifth paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112], a claim in dependent form shall contain a reference to a claim previously set forth and then specify a further limitation of the subject matter claimed. A claim in dependent form shall be construed to incorporate by reference all the limitations of the claim to which it refers.
Claim 15 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(d) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, 4th paragraph, as being of improper dependent form for failing to further limit the subject matter of the claim upon which it depends, or for failing to include all the limitations of the claim upon which it depends. Claim 15 recites the limitation "the non-transitory storage medium according to claim 13.” However, claim 13 is a network claim. The claim therefore lacks proper dependency. Applicant may cancel the claim(s), amend the claim(s) to place the claim(s) in proper dependent form, rewrite the claim(s) in independent form, or present a sufficient showing that the dependent claim(s) complies with the statutory requirements.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 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 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Johnsen et al. (US 20210152494, hereinafter referred to as “Johnsen”) in view of Thakolsri et al. (EP 4068846, hereinafter referred to as “Takolsri”).
Regarding claim 1, Johnsen teaches a method comprising:
establishing a set of virtual connections (VCs) where each VC of the set of VCs is associated with a link of a plurality of links of a network between an electronic device of a plurality of electronic devices forming part of the network acting as a transmitter of traffic across the network (transmitter) and another electronic device of the plurality of electronic devices acting as a receiver of traffic across the network (receiver) ([0142] In accordance with an embodiment, at a switch 1220 in subnetA 1201, a switch port can be connected (i.e., logically connected) to a router port 1211 in a virtual router 1210 via a virtual link 1223. The virtual router 1210 (e.g., a dual-port virtual router), which while shown as being external to the switch 1220 can, in embodiments, be logically contained within the switch 1220, can also comprise a second router port, router port II 1212. In accordance with an embodiment, a physical link 1203, which can have two ends, can connect the subnetA 1201 via first end of the physical link with subnet B 1202 via a second end of the physical link, via router port II 1212 and router port II 1232, contained in virtual router 1230 in subnet B 1202. Virtual router 1230 can additionally comprise router port 1231, which can be connected (i.e., logically connected) to switch port 1241 on switch 1240 via a virtual link 1233.);
determining for each receiver within the network a bandwidth of the receiver and establishing a predetermined factor of the bandwidth of the receiver as a quota for that receiver (abstract - The method can provide, at a host channel adapter, an end node ingress bandwidth quota associated with an end node attached to the host channel adapter. The method can receive, at the end node of the host channel adapter, ingress bandwidth, the ingress bandwidth exceeding the ingress bandwidth quota of the end node.); and
allocating the quota for each receiver to a subset of the set of virtual connections as a set of quotas where the subset of the set of virtual connections are associated with links of the plurality of links comprising the receiver ([0182] In accordance with an embodiment, by defining explicit quotas for how much RDMA read ingress bandwidth a node/VM is allowed to generate independently of any send/egress bandwidth restrictions, it is possible to control the total traffic generation in the system without relying on restricting the use of RDMA read for non-trusted nodes/VMs.).
However, Johnsen does not explicitly teach establishing a portion of the subset of the set of virtual connections as active VCs and the remainder of the subset of the set of virtual connections as inactive VCs; and communicating the set of quotas to the active VCs.
In an analogous art, Thakolsri teaches establishing a portion of the subset of the set of virtual connections as active VCs and the remainder of the subset of the set of virtual connections as inactive VCs (abstract - a communication network arrangement is described comprising a quota monitoring and management component, one or more enforcement components, wherein each enforcement component is configured to send, in response to a request for a communication service, an enquiry to the quota monitoring and management component about whether providing the communication service would violate a quota and a controller configured to decide whether to restrict signalling between the one or more enforcement components and the quota monitoring and management component and configured to suppress the transmission of enquiries from the one or more enforcement components to the quota monitoring and management component if it has decided to restrict signalling between the one or more enforcement components and the quota monitoring and management component.); and
communicating the set of quotas to the active VCs (abstract - each enforcement component is configured to send, in response to a request for a communication service).
Before the effective filing date of the invention, one of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to establish a portion of the virtual connections as active and the remainder as inactive and communicate the quotas to the active VCs in order to extend Johnsen’s RDMA bandwidth restrictions into a general quota-management as taught by Thakolsri, therefore facilitating scalable quota enforcement.
Regarding claim 2, Johnsen teaches the method according to claim 1, wherein each link of the plurality of links comprises one or more connections of a plurality of RDMA processes in addition to the VC associated with the link ([0050] the following description uses a RoCE (RDMA (Remote Direct Memory Access) over Converged Ethernet). RDMA over Converged Ethernet (RoCE) is a standard protocol which enables RDMA's efficient data transfer over Ethernet networks allowing transport offload with hardware RDMA engine implementation, and superior performance. RoCE is a standard protocol defined in the InfiniBand Trade Association (IBTA) standard. RoCE makes use of UDP (user datagram protocol) encapsulation allowing it to transcend Layer 3 networks. RDMA is a key capability natively used by the InfiniBand interconnect technology. Both InfiniBand and Ethernet RoCE share a common user API but have different physical and link layers.).
Regarding claim 3, Johnsen teaches the method according to claim 1, wherein each link of the plurality of links comprises one or more connections of a plurality of RDMA processes in addition to the VC associated with the link ([0050] the following description uses a RoCE (RDMA (Remote Direct Memory Access) over Converged Ethernet). RDMA over Converged Ethernet (RoCE) is a standard protocol which enables RDMA's efficient data transfer over Ethernet networks allowing transport offload with hardware RDMA engine implementation, and superior performance. RoCE is a standard protocol defined in the InfiniBand Trade Association (IBTA) standard. RoCE makes use of UDP (user datagram protocol) encapsulation allowing it to transcend Layer 3 networks. RDMA is a key capability natively used by the InfiniBand interconnect technology. Both InfiniBand and Ethernet RoCE share a common user API but have different physical and link layers.); and each VC of the set of VCs provides an equivalent connection to that provided by end-to-end network interface card queue pair connections ([0093] As shown in FIG. 4, in accordance with an embodiment, different GIDs can be assigned to the virtual functions and the physical function, and the special queue pairs, QP0 and QP1 (i.e., special purpose queue pairs that are used for InfiniBand management packets), are owned by the physical function. These QPs are exposed to the VFs as well, but the VFs are not allowed to use QP0 (all SMPs coming from VFs towards QP0 are discarded), and QP1 can act as a proxy of the actual QP1 owned by the PF.).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 4-12 would be allowable if rewritten to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action and to include all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims, AND if the double patenting rejection as set forth above is overcome.
Regarding claim 4, the prior art of record does not teach the method according to claim 1, further comprising establishing in dependence upon the remainder of the set of virtual connections, the difference between the quota and the bandwidth of the receiver and a maximum message transmission unit (MTU) a number N of short messages; communicating the number N to the inactive VCs; and N is a positive integer.
Regarding claim 5, the prior art of record does not teach the method according to claim 1, wherein each electronic device of the plurality of electronic devices acting as a transmitter of traffic across the network executes a quota algorithm comprising the steps of: creating a queue pair for the VC between the transmitter and the receiver; establishing the queue pair over the VC between the transmitter and the receiver; and dynamically adjusting a quota applied by the transmitter to the RDMA process of the plurality of RDMA processes between the transmitter and the receiver based upon data received from the receiver; and the receiver dynamically adjusts the quota provided to the transmitter.
Regarding claim 6, the prior art of record does not teach the method according to claim 1, wherein each electronic device of the plurality of electronic devices acting as a transmitter of traffic across the network executes a quota algorithm comprising the steps of: creating a queue pair for the VC between the transmitter and the receiver; establishing the queue pair over the VC between the transmitter and the receiver; and dynamically adjusting a quota applied by the transmitter to the RDMA process of the plurality of RDMA processes between the transmitter and the receiver based upon data received from the receiver; the receiver dynamically adjusts the quota provided to the transmitter; and the network operates as a RDMA layer-4 architecture with only a subset of the plurality of electronic devices being items of RDMA layer-2 equipment and a remainder of the plurality of electronic devices being items of RDMA layer-3 equipment.
Regarding claim 7, the prior art of record does not teach the method according to claim 1, wherein each electronic device of the plurality of electronic devices acting as a transmitter of traffic across the network executes a quota algorithm comprising the steps of: creating a queue pair for the VC between the transmitter and the receiver; establishing the queue pair over the VC between the transmitter and the receiver; and dynamically adjusting a quota applied by the transmitter to the RDMA process of the plurality of RDMA processes between the transmitter and the receiver based upon data received from the receiver; and each electronic device of the plurality of electronic devices acting as a receiver of traffic across the network executes another quota algorithm wherein the another quota algorithm comprising the steps of: establishing an initial set of quotas for the electronic device of the plurality of electronic devices acting as the receiver of traffic across the network where each quota of the set of quotas is associated with an electronic device of the plurality of electronic devices providing traffic across the network to the electronic device of the plurality of electronic devices acting as the receiver of traffic across the network; and dynamically adjusting each quota of the set of quotas in dependence upon one or more applications being executed by a system receiving the traffic from the electronic device of the plurality of electronic devices acting as the receiver of traffic across the network.
Claims 13-18 would be allowed if the double patenting rejection, and the rejection under 35 USC 112 as set forth above are overcome.
Regarding claim 8, the prior art of record does not teach the method according to claim 1, wherein each electronic device of the plurality of electronic devices acting as a transmitter of traffic across the network executes a quota algorithm comprising the steps of: creating a queue pair for the VC between the transmitter and the receiver; establishing the queue pair over the VC between the transmitter and the receiver; and dynamically adjusting a quota applied by the transmitter to the RDMA process of the plurality of RDMA processes between the transmitter and the receiver based upon data received from the receiver; each electronic device of the plurality of electronic devices acting as a receiver of traffic across the network executes another quota algorithm wherein the another quota algorithm comprising the steps of: establishing an initial set of quotas for the electronic device of the plurality of electronic devices acting as the receiver of traffic across the network where each quota of the set of quotas is associated with an electronic device of the plurality of electronic devices providing traffic across the network to the electronic device of the plurality of electronic devices acting as the receiver of traffic across the network; and dynamically adjusting each quota of the set of quotas in dependence upon one or more applications being executed by a system receiving the traffic from the electronic device of the plurality of electronic devices acting as the receiver of traffic across the network; and the network operates as an RDMA layer-4 architecture with only a subset of the plurality of electronic devices being items of RDMA layer-2 equipment and a remainder of the plurality of electronic devices being items of RDMA layer-3 equipment.
Regarding claim 9, the prior art of record does not teach the method according to claim 1, wherein each electronic device of the plurality of electronic devices acting as a transmitter of traffic across the network executes a quota algorithm comprising the steps of: creating a queue pair for the VC between the transmitter and the receiver; establishing the queue pair over the VC between the transmitter and the receiver; and dynamically adjusting a quota applied by the transmitter to the RDMA process of the plurality of RDMA processes between the transmitter and the receiver based upon data received from the receiver; each electronic device of the plurality of electronic devices acting as a transmitter of traffic across the network can only increase the quota based upon the data received from the receiver; and the receiver dynamically adjusts the quota provided to the transmitter.
Regarding claim 10, the prior art of record does not teach the method according to claim 1, wherein each electronic device of the plurality of electronic devices acting as a transmitter of traffic across the network executes a quota algorithm comprising the steps of: creating a queue pair for the VC between the transmitter and the receiver; establishing the queue pair over the VC between the transmitter and the receiver; and dynamically adjusting a quota applied by the transmitter to the RDMA process of the plurality of RDMA processes between the transmitter and the receiver based upon data received from the receiver; the receiver dynamically adjusts the quota provided to the transmitter based upon the performance of the queue pair for the VC between the transmitter and the receiver.
Claims 11 and 12 depend on claim 10, therefore are objected to because of their dependencies.
Claim 13 is similar to claim 1, but in a network form. The claim differs in that it further recites: “establishing in dependence upon the remainder of the set of virtual connections, the difference between the quota and the bandwidth of the receiver of the plurality of receivers and a maximum message transmission unit (MTU) a number N of short messages; communicating the number N to those transmitters of the plurality of transmitters and those receivers of the plurality of receivers associated with the inactive VCs.” Neither Johnsen- Thakolsri combination, nor prior art of record teaches this limitation, in combination with other limitations in the claim. Therefore claim 13 is allowable.
Claims 14-15 depend on allowed claim 13, therefore are allowed for their dependencies.
Claims 16-18 are non-transitory storage medium version of claims 13-15, respectively, therefore are allowed for the same reason.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Perlman, US 20160173389 - determining a local traffic quota for a service associated with an overlay network and determining an allocation of the local traffic quota across a set of data sources associated with the overlay network.
Pan et al., US 20210112002 - receive a packet, determine transmit rate-related information for a sender network device based at least on operational and telemetry information accumulated in the received packet, and transmit the transmit rate-related information to the sender network device.
Ganguli et al., US 20190354406 - remote direct memory access (RDMA) queue pair quality of service (QoS) management.
Gandhi et al. US 20180241809 – load balancing in distributed computing system via requesting RDMA.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ALINA N BOUTAH whose telephone number is (571)272-3908. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 7:00 AM - 3:00 PM.
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ALINA BOUTAH
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2458
/ALINA A BOUTAH/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2458