CTNF 18/784,014 CTNF 88384 DETAILED ACTION Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status 07-03-aia AIA 15-10-aia 1. The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA. Priority 2. Acknowledgment is made of applicant’s claim for foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119 (a)-(d). Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112 07-30-02 AIA 3. 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. 07-34-01 4. Claims 20-21, 26-27, 32-33 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. Re claim 20, Claim 19 recites to select a first manner from a plurality of manners wherein the plurality of manners is - (i) a manner of determining a processing process based on load information and (ii) a manner of determining a processing process based on a hash selection mechanism. When the (i) manner of determining a processing process based on load information is the first manner, then the (ii) manner of determining a processing process based on a hash selection mechanism cannot be the first manner . Claim 20 depends upon claim 19 and specifies both the manner as a first manner. Therefore, it is not clear which of the plurality of manners is the first manner. Claim 20 does not specify that a manner selected first is the first manner. If that is the case, both the manners in claim 20 cannot be selected first. If one manner is selected ((i) manner of determining a processing process based on load information), the other manner ((ii) manner of determining a processing process based on a hash selection mechanism) cannot be selected. However, claim 20 recites to select both manner by including an “AND” operator (“in response to the source address in the connection establishment request message being in a specified address list, selecting, as the first manner, the manner of determining the processing process based on the load information of the processing process; and in response to the source address in the connection establishment request message not being in the specified address list, selecting, as the first manner, the manner of determining the processing process based on the hash selection mechanism”). Re claim 21, Claim does not specify that a manner selected first is the first manner. If that is the case, both the manners in claim 21 cannot be selected first. If one manner is selected ((i) manner of determining a processing process based on load information), the other manner ((ii) manner of determining a processing process based on a hash selection mechanism) c annot be selected . However, claim 21 recites to select both the manner as a first manner by including an “AND” operator (“in response to the region number of the second network element being the same as a region number of the first network element, selecting, as the first manner, the manner of determining the processing process based on the load information of the processing process; and in response to the region number of the second network element being different from the region number of the first network element, selecting, as the first manner, the manner of determining the processing process based on the hash selection mechanism”). Claims 26 and 32 do not specify that a manner selected first is the first manner. If that is the case, both the manners in claim 26 and 32 cannot be selected first. If one manner is selected ((i) manner of determining a processing process based on load information), the other manner ((ii) manner of determining a processing process based on a hash selection mechanism) cannot be selected. However, claims 26 and 32 recite to select both manner by including an “AND” operator (“in response to the source address in the connection establishment request message being in a specified address list, selecting, as the first manner, the manner of determining the processing process based on the load information of the processing process; and in response to the source address in the connection establishment request message not being in the specified address list, selecting, as the first manner, the manner of determining the processing process based on the hash selection mechanism”). Claims 27 and 33 do not specify that a manner selected first is the first manner. If that is the case, both the manners in claims 27 and 33 cannot be selected first. If one manner is selected ((i) manner of determining a processing process based on load information), the other manner ((ii) manner of determining a processing process based on a hash selection mechanism) c annot be selected . However, claims 27 and 33 recites to select both the manner as a first manner by including an “AND” operator (“in response to the region number of the second network element being the same as a region number of the first network element, selecting, as the first manner, the manner of determining the processing process based on the load information of the processing process; and in response to the region number of the second network element being different from the region number of the first network element, selecting, as the first manner, the manner of determining the processing process based on the hash selection mechanism”). Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102 07-07-aia AIA 07-07 5. 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 – 07-08-aia AIA (a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention. 07-15 AIA 6. Claim s 19 and 22 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102( a)(1 ) as being anticipated by Yu (CN 107026907, hereinafter referred to as Yu) . Re claim 19, Yu teaches a method applied to a first network element (Fig. 1-4), the method comprising: (i) receiving a connection establishment request message from a second network element (connection request from a client) (CN 107026907_Machine Translation, Fig. 1-4, Pg. 3, Line 58-59, Pg. 4, Line 57-59); (ii) selecting a first manner (identifying and selecting a target server based on the hash value) from a plurality of manners (identifying a target server based on the hash value and selecting that target server when server load is below a threshold; when the target server load is above a threshold, selecting another server having the lowest current load value) based on a source address (client IP address) or a destination address in the connection establishment request message (connection request from a client) (CN 107026907_Machine Translation, Fig. 1-4, Pg. 3, Line 58-62, Pg. 4, Line 1-37, Pg. 4, Line 57-64, Pg. 5, Line 1-10, Pg. 5, Line 41-57, Pg. 6, Line 54-59), wherein (iii) the plurality of manners comprise a manner of determining a processing process based on load information of the processing process (when the target server load is above a threshold, selecting another server having the lowest current load value) and a manner of determining a processing process based on a hash selection mechanism (identifying a target server based on the hash value and selecting that target server when server load is below a threshold) (CN 107026907_Machine Translation, Fig. 1-4, Pg. 3, Line 58-62, Pg. 4, Line 1-37, Pg. 4, Line 57-64, Pg. 5, Line 1-10, Pg. 5, Line 41-57, Pg. 6, Line 54-59); and (iv) determining, in the first manner, a first processing process for processing the connection establishment request (allocating the request to the target server identified by the hash value) (CN 107026907_Machine Translation, Fig. 1-4, Pg. 3, Line 58-62, Pg. 4, Line 1-37, Pg. 4, Line 57-64, Pg. 5, Line 1-10, Pg. 5, Line 41-57, Pg. 6, Line 54-59). Re claim 22, using, as the first manner, a manner corresponding to the destination address in the connection establishment request message, wherein the first network element has a plurality of addresses that identify the first network element, the plurality of addresses of the first network element are in a one-to-one correspondence with the plurality of manners, and the destination address is selected by the second network element from the plurality of addresses of the first network element ( Claim 22 recites to select a manner based on the destination address in the connection establishment request message. Independent claim 19 recites to select a manner based on a source address or a destination address in the connection establishment request message. Under broadest reasonable interpretation (BRI), when a manner is selected based on a source address in the connection establishment request message, a selection of a first manner based on the destination address is not required (selecting a first manner from a plurality of manners based on a source address or a destination address in the connection establishment request message). As the prior art, Yu, discloses to select a first manner based on a source address, it does not require to select the first manner based on the destination address ) . Claim Rejections – 35 USC § 103 07-20-aia AIA 7. 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. 07-21-aia AIA 8. Claim s 25, 28, 31, and 34 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yu (CN 107026907, hereinafter referred to as Yu) in view of Varanasi et al (US 20210136144 A1, hereinafter referred to as Varanasi) . Yu teaches an apparatus (Fig. 1-4), comprising: (i) receiving a connection establishment request message from a second network element (connection request from a client) (CN 107026907_Machine Translation, Fig. 1-4, Pg. 3, Line 58-59, Pg. 4, Line 57-59); (ii) selecting a first manner (identifying and selecting a target server based on the hash value) from a plurality of manners (identifying a target server based on the hash value and selecting that target server when server load is below a threshold; when the target server load is above a threshold, selecting another server having the lowest current load value) based on a source address (client IP address) or a destination address in the connection establishment request message (connection request from a client) (CN 107026907_Machine Translation, Fig. 1-4, Pg. 3, Line 58-62, Pg. 4, Line 1-37, Pg. 4, Line 57-64, Pg. 5, Line 1-10, Pg. 5, Line 41-57, Pg. 6, Line 54-59), wherein (iii) the plurality of manners comprise a manner of determining a processing process based on load information of the processing process (when the target server load is above a threshold, selecting another server having the lowest current load value) and a manner of determining a processing process based on a hash selection mechanism (identifying a target server based on the hash value and selecting that target server when server load is below a threshold) (CN 107026907_Machine Translation, Fig. 1-4, Pg. 3, Line 58-62, Pg. 4, Line 1-37, Pg. 4, Line 57-64, Pg. 5, Line 1-10, Pg. 5, Line 41-57, Pg. 6, Line 54-59); and (iv) determining, in the first manner, a first processing process for processing the connection establishment request (allocating the request to the target server identified by the hash value) (CN 107026907_Machine Translation, Fig. 1-4, Pg. 3, Line 58-62, Pg. 4, Line 1-37, Pg. 4, Line 57-64, Pg. 5, Line 1-10, Pg. 5, Line 41-57, Pg. 6, Line 54-59). Yu does not disclose that the apparatus comprises at least one processor; and one or more memories coupled to the at least one processor and storing programming instructions, wherein the programming instructions, when executed by the at least one processor. Varanasi teaches that the apparatus comprises at least one processor; and one or more memories coupled to the at least one processor and storing programming instructions, wherein the programming instructions, when executed by the at least one processor (Fig. 1, Fig. 4, Par 0011, Par 0031). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Yu by including at least one processor; and one or more memories coupled to the at least one processor and storing programming instructions, wherein the programming instructions, when executed by the at least one processor as taught by Varanasi for the purpose of improving the efficiency of load distribution process, as taught by Varanasi (Par 0002-0003). Claim 31 recites a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a computer program to be executed by a processor to perform the steps recited in claim 25 and thereby, is rejected for the reasons discussed above with respect to claim 25. Re claims 28 and 34, using, as the first manner, a manner corresponding to the destination address in the connection establishment request message, wherein the apparatus has a plurality of addresses that identify the apparatus, the plurality of addresses of the apparatus are in a one-to-one correspondence with the plurality of manners, and the destination address is selected by the second network element from the plurality of addresses of the apparatus ( Claim 28 recites to select a manner based on the destination address in the connection establishment request message. Independent claim 25 recites to select a manner based on a source address or a destination address in the connection establishment request message. Under broadest reasonable interpretation (BRI), when a manner is selected based on a source address in the connection establishment request message, a selection of a first manner based on the destination address is not required (selecting a first manner from a plurality of manners based on a source address or a destination address in the connection establishment request message). As the prior art, Yu, discloses to select a first manner based on a source address, it does not require to select the first manner based on the destination address ) . Allowable Subject Matter 12-151-08 AIA 07-43 12-51-08 Claim s 23-24, 29-30, and 35-36 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims. Conclusion Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to HARUN UR R CHOWDHURY whose telephone number is (571)270-3895. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 9AM-5PM. 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, Kwang B Yao can be reached at 5712723182. 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. 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If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000. /HARUN CHOWDHURY/Examiner, Art Unit 2473 Application/Control Number: 18/784,014 Page 2 Art Unit: 2473 Application/Control Number: 18/784,014 Page 3 Art Unit: 2473 Application/Control Number: 18/784,014 Page 4 Art Unit: 2473 Application/Control Number: 18/784,014 Page 5 Art Unit: 2473 Application/Control Number: 18/784,014 Page 6 Art Unit: 2473 Application/Control Number: 18/784,014 Page 7 Art Unit: 2473 Application/Control Number: 18/784,014 Page 8 Art Unit: 2473 Application/Control Number: 18/784,014 Page 9 Art Unit: 2473 Application/Control Number: 18/784,014 Page 10 Art Unit: 2473
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