DETAILED ACTION
This action is responsive to communications filed 04 September 2024.
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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 28 April 2025. 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) 1-12, 14-16 and 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Liu et al. (US-7961646-B2) hereinafter Liu in view of Rostowfske (US-20040034807-A1).
Regarding claim 7, Liu discloses:
An apparatus ([8:63-9:16] implemented in various forms of hardware, software, firmware, special purpose computers, or a combination thereof (i.e. apparatus)) for discovering a root node ([2:24-48] discovers and establishes the paths/routes among the multicast group member’s … multicast group leader is determined (i.e. root node)), wherein the apparatus is disposed in a first network device in an automatic multicast tunneling (AMT) multicast network ([6:29-7:13] tunnel frame … unicast RA address and a DA for the multicast group G … source node sends the tunnel frame to the next hop towards the multicast group leader … data frame is forwarded on the multicast group shared tree and reaches all the receivers/destinations for this multicast group (i.e. automatic multicast tunnelling by sending a tunnel frame to be reached by the multicast group)), and the apparatus comprises:
a memory storing instructions ([8:63-9:16] random access memory … includes an operating system and microinstruction code); and
a processor coupled to the memory to execute the instructions to cause the apparatus ([8:63-9:16] microinstruction code … executed via the operating system, e.g. machine is implemented on a computer platform having hardware such as one or more central processing units (CPU)) to:
receive a first message from a multicast source ([4:1-46] node wants to send or receive data/traffic destined for a multicast group (i.e. multicast source) … broadcasts a Group Discovery (GDIS) message across the network), wherein the first message is used to discover a root node ([4:1-46] multicast group leader … may respond to GDIS message with a Group Discovery Reply (GDRE) message … contains the multicast group information, including the multicast group leader’s (i.e. root node) IEEE 802.11 MAC address, the optional layer 3 information of the multicast group leader (i.e. discovering root node and information)); and
send a response message for the first message to the multicast source ([4:1-46] multicast group leader … may respond to GDIS message with a Group Discovery Reply (GDRE) message … contains the multicast group information, including the multicast group leader’s (i.e. root node) IEEE 802.11 MAC address, the optional layer 3 information of the multicast group leader (i.e. discovering root node and information)), wherein the response message for the first message comprises address information of the root node ([4:1-46] GDRE message … contains … IEEE 802.11 MAC address, the optional layer 3 information of the multicast group leader (i.e. address information of the root node)), and the root node comprises the first network device and a second network device ([4:1-46] multicast group leader … may respond to GDIS message with a Group Discovery Reply (GDRE) message … contains the multicast group information, including the multicast group leader’s (i.e. root node comprising the first network device) IEEE 802.11 MAC address, the optional layer 3 information of the multicast group leader (i.e. discovering root node and information) [8:6-19] Group Hello message carries the IEEE 802.11 MAC addresses of the backup multicast group leader (i.e. second network device)).
Liu does not explicitly disclose:
receiving a first packet from a source,
send a response packet for the first packet to the source,
However, Rostowfske discloses:
receiving a first packet from a source ([0046] node starts up … sends a discovery packet to each node (i.e. each node receives a first packet from a source, e.g. the node that started up)),
send a response packet for the first packet to the source ([0046] only the node having assumed the responsibilities of a master server through its master server process responds to the discovery packet (i.e. response packet)),
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 Liu in view of Rostowfske to have utilized packets in discovery messages and responses to the discovery messages. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to do so to determine if there is a master server process running (Rostowfske, [0046]).
Regarding claim 8, Liu-Rostowfske disclose:
The apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the processor coupled to the memory to further execute the instructions to cause the apparatus, set forth above, to:
Liu discloses:
obtain a multicast data packet ([3:59-67] packets can be transmitted and forwarded from the source node in a multicast group to multiple destination nodes in the multicast group (i.e. obtain the packet to transmit/forward it)); and
send the multicast data packet to a leaf node ([3:59-67] transmitted and forwarded from the source node in a multicast group to multiple destination nodes in the multicast group (i.e. leaf node), see [6:29-7:13] re-distributes the data frames to the receivers/destinations in this multicast group through the multicast group shared tree (i.e. having leaf nodes)).
Regarding claim 9, Liu-Rostowfske disclose:
The apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the processor coupled to the memory to execute the instructions to cause the apparatus, set forth above, to:
Liu discloses:
receive a multicast data packet from the multicast source ([3:59-67] packets can be transmitted and forwarded from the source node (i.e. multicast source) in a multicast group to multiple destination nodes in the multicast group (i.e. to obtain is to receive the packet to transmit/forward it)).
Regarding claim 10, Liu-Rostowfske disclose:
The apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the processor coupled to the memory to further execute the instructions to cause the apparatus, set forth above, to:
Liu discloses:
send the multicast data packet to the second network device ([3:59-67] transmitted and forwarded from the source node in a multicast group to multiple destination nodes in the multicast group (i.e. leaf node), see [6:29-7:13] re-distributes the data frames to the receivers/destinations in this multicast group through the multicast group shared tree (i.e. having leaf nodes), see [8:6-19] Group Hello message carries the IEEE 802.11 MAC addresses of the backup multicast group leader (i.e. second network device), e.g. neighbor multicast group members (i.e. leaves)).
Regarding claim 11, Liu-Rostowfske disclose:
The apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the processor coupled to the memory to execute the instructions to cause the apparatus, set forth above, to:
Liu discloses:
receive a multicast data packet from the second network device ([3:59-67] packets can be transmitted and forwarded from the source node in a multicast group to multiple destination nodes in the multicast group (i.e. from second network device to first network device and other devices)).
Regarding claim 12, Liu-Rostowfske disclose:
The apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the processor coupled to the memory to further execute the instructions to cause the apparatus, set forth above, to:
Liu discloses:
send a second message to the second network device ([4:1-46] GDIS message across network (i.e. to all nodes as above, e.g. second network device)), wherein the second message comprises address information of the multicast source ([4:1-46] GDIS message includes the originator’s IEEE 802.11 MAC address … optional layer 3 information (e.g., IP address)), and the second message is used to advertise the multicast source ([4:1-46] when a node receives a GDIS message, the receiving node checks its multicast information base (i.e. to advertise the node, e.g. multicast source)).
Liu does not explicitly disclose:
send a second packet to the second network device,
However, Rostowfske discloses:
send a second packet to the second network device ([0046] node starts up … sends a discovery packet to each 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 Liu in view of Rostowfske to have utilized packets in discovery messages such as a second packet to a second network device. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to do so to determine if there is a master server process running (Rostowfske, [0046]).
Regarding claims 1-6, they do not further define nor teach over the limitations of claims 7-12, therefore, claims 1-6 are rejected for at least the same reasons set forth above as in claims 7-12.
Regarding claim 14, Liu discloses:
An apparatus ([8:63-9:16] implemented in various forms of hardware, software, firmware, special purpose computers, or a combination thereof (i.e. apparatus)) for discovering a root node ([2:24-48] discovers and establishes the paths/routes among the multicast group member’s … multicast group leader is determined (i.e. root node)), wherein the apparatus is disposed in a multicast source in an automatic multicast tunneling (AMT) multicast network ([6:29-7:13] tunnel frame … unicast RA address and a DA for the multicast group G … source node sends the tunnel frame to the next hop towards the multicast group leader … data frame is forwarded on the multicast group shared tree and reaches all the receivers/destinations for this multicast group (i.e. automatic multicast tunnelling by sending a tunnel frame to be reached by the multicast group)), and the apparatus comprises:
a memory storing instructions ([8:63-9:16] random access memory … includes an operating system and microinstruction code); and
a processor coupled to the memory to execute the instructions to cause the apparatus ([8:63-9:16] microinstruction code … executed via the operating system, e.g. machine is implemented on a computer platform having hardware such as one or more central processing units (CPU)) to:
send a first message ([4:1-46] node wants to send or receive data/traffic destined for a multicast group (i.e. multicast source) … broadcasts a Group Discovery (GDIS) message across the network), wherein the first message is used to discover a root node ([4:1-46] multicast group leader … may respond to GDIS message with a Group Discovery Reply (GDRE) message … contains the multicast group information, including the multicast group leader’s (i.e. root node) IEEE 802.11 MAC address, the optional layer 3 information of the multicast group leader (i.e. discovering root node and information)); and
receive a response message for the first message from a first network device ([4:1-46] multicast group leader … may respond to GDIS message with a Group Discovery Reply (GDRE) message … contains the multicast group information, including the multicast group leader’s (i.e. root node) IEEE 802.11 MAC address, the optional layer 3 information of the multicast group leader (i.e. discovering root node and information)), wherein the response message for the first message comprises address information of the root node ([4:1-46] GDRE message … contains … IEEE 802.11 MAC address, the optional layer 3 information of the multicast group leader (i.e. address information of the root node)), and the root node comprises the first network device and a second network device ([4:1-46] multicast group leader … may respond to GDIS message with a Group Discovery Reply (GDRE) message … contains the multicast group information, including the multicast group leader’s (i.e. root node comprising the first network device) IEEE 802.11 MAC address, the optional layer 3 information of the multicast group leader (i.e. discovering root node and information) [8:6-19] Group Hello message carries the IEEE 802.11 MAC addresses of the backup multicast group leader (i.e. second network device)).
Liu does not explicitly disclose:
send a first packet,
receive a response packet for the first packet from a first network device,
However, Rostowfske discloses:
send a first packet ([0046] node starts up … sends a discovery packet to each node),
receive a response packet for the first packet from a first network device ([0046] only the node having assumed the responsibilities of a master server through its master server process responds to the discovery packet (i.e. response packet)),
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 Liu in view of Rostowfske to have utilized packets in discovery messages and responses to the discovery messages. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to do so to determine if there is a master server process running (Rostowfske, [0046]).
Regarding claim 15, Liu-Rostowfske disclose:
The apparatus according to claim 14, wherein the processor coupled to the memory to further execute the instructions to cause the apparatus, set forth above, to:
Liu discloses:
send a multicast data packet to the first network device ([3:59-67] packets can be transmitted and forwarded from the source node in a multicast group to multiple destination nodes in the multicast group (i.e. from second network device to first network device and other devices)).
Regarding claim 16, Liu-Rostowfske disclose:
The apparatus according to claim 14, wherein the processor coupled to the memory to further execute the instructions to cause the apparatus, set forth above, to:
Liu discloses:
send a multicast data packet to the second network device ([3:59-67] packets can be transmitted and forwarded from the source node in a multicast group to multiple destination nodes in the multicast group (i.e. from first network device to second network device and other devices)).
Regarding claim 20, Liu-Rostowfske disclose:
The apparatus according to claim 14, set forth above, wherein
Liu discloses:
the first message is a discovery message ([4:1-46] Group Discovery (GDIS) message), and the response message for the first message is an advertisement message ([4:1-46] Group Discovery Reply (GDRE) … new multicast group leader will send out the Group Hello (i.e. advertisement) for this multicast group once it becomes the multicast group leader).
Liu does not explicitly disclose:
the first packet is a discovery packet, and the response packet for the first packet is an advertisement packet.
However, Rostowfske discloses:
the first packet is a discovery packet ([0046] node starts up … sends a discovery packet to each node), and the response packet for the first packet is an advertisement packet ([0046] only the node having assumed the responsibilities of a master server through its master server process responds to the discovery packet (i.e. response packet, e.g. to a discovery packet is an advertisement, i.e. advertising discovery as the master)).
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 Liu in view of Rostowfske to have utilized packets in discovery messages and responses to the discovery messages. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to do so to determine if there is a master server process running (Rostowfske, [0046]).
Claim(s) 13 and 17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Liu et al. (US-7961646-B2) hereinafter Liu in view of Rostowfske (US-20040034807-A1) in view of Agarwal et al. (US-9172636-B2) hereinafter Agarwal.
Regarding claim 13, Liu-Rostowfske disclose:
The apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the processor coupled to the memory to further execute the instructions to cause the apparatus, set forth above, to:
Liu-Rostowfske do not explicitly disclose:
send first indication information to the multicast source when determining that the second network device fails, wherein the first indication information indicates that the second network device fails.
However, Agarwal discloses:
send first indication information to the multicast source when determining that the second network device fails ([11:5-25] detecting the failed link, that intermediate device may alternatively (or in addition) notify the source of the data message (e.g., the root node or any other nodes in the network when using source routing reactive routing such as RPL P2P) that the data message did not reach the receiver device … return a notification … error message, to the source), wherein the first indication information indicates that the second network device fails ([11:5-25] detecting the failed link, that intermediate device may alternatively (or in addition) notify the source of the data message (e.g., the root node or any other nodes in the network when using source routing reactive routing such as RPL P2P) that the data message did not reach the receiver device … return a notification … error message, to the source (i.e. indicates the second network device fails, e.g. root node or any other node did not have a message reach a receiver device; i.e. second network device)).
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 Liu-Rostowfske in view of Agarwal to have sent the first indication information to the multicast source when determining that the second network device fails and indicating that the second network device fails. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to do so to prompt the source to resend data message and encapsulate the data message into a discovery message (Agarwal, [11:5-25]).
Regarding claim 17, Liu-Rostowfske disclose:
The apparatus according to claim 16, wherein the processor coupled to the memory to further execute the instructions to cause the apparatus, set forth above, to:
Liu-Rostowfkse do not explicitly disclose:
receive first indication information from the first network device, wherein the first indication information indicates that the second network device fails; and
determine, based on the first indication information, to stop sending the multicast data packet to the second network device.
However, Agarwal discloses:
receive first indication information from the first network device ([11:5-25] detecting the failed link, that intermediate device may alternatively (or in addition) notify the source of the data message (e.g., the root node or any other nodes in the network when using source routing reactive routing such as RPL P2P) that the data message did not reach the receiver device … return a notification … error message, to the source), wherein the first indication information indicates that the second network device fails ([11:5-25] detecting the failed link, that intermediate device may alternatively (or in addition) notify the source of the data message (e.g., the root node or any other nodes in the network when using source routing reactive routing such as RPL P2P) that the data message did not reach the receiver device … return a notification … error message, to the source (i.e. indicates the second network device fails, e.g. root node or any other node did not have a message reach a receiver device; i.e. second network device)); and
determine, based on the first indication information ([11:5-25] notification … error message), to stop sending the multicast data packet to the second network device ([11:5-25] resend data message and encapsulate the data message into a discovery message (i.e. to discover another node to send to, e.g. not the second network device)).
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 Liu-Rostowfske in view of Agarwal to have sent the first indication information to the multicast source when determining that the second network device fails and indicating that the second network device fails to determine to stop sending the multicast data packet to the second network device. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to do so to prompt the source to resend data message and encapsulate the data message into a discovery message (Agarwal, [11:5-25]).
Claim(s) 18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Liu et al. (US-7961646-B2) hereinafter Liu in view of Rostowfske (US-20040034807-A1) in view of Agarwal et al. (US-9172636-B2) hereinafter Agarwal further in view of Nakagawa et al. (US-9960955-B2) hereinafter Nakagawa.
Regarding claim 18, Liu-Rostowfske-Agarwal disclose:
The apparatus according to claim 17 wherein the processor coupled to the memory to further execute the instructions to cause the apparatus, set forth above, to:
Liu-Rostowfske-Agarwal do not explicitly disclose:
obtain second indication information, wherein the second indication information indicates that the second network device recovers from the failure; and
send the multicast data packet to the second network device based on the second indication information.
However, Nakagawa discloses:
obtain second indication information ([27:47-60] ID-0 to the ACL table), wherein the second indication information indicates that the second network device recovers from the failure ([27:47-60] when the recovery of the uplink (root node side) failure is detected … inputs the detected link failure ID-0 to the ACL table (i.e. recover from failure indication)); and
send the multicast data packet to the second network device based on the second indication information ([27:47-60] returns the path to the state before the link failure occurs (i.e. failure of link, upon recovery, back on the same link before failure, e.g. same device and link)).
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 Liu-Rostowfske-Agarwal in view of Nakagawa to have obtained second indication information indicating that the second network device recovers from failure to send the multicast data packet to the second network device based on the second indication information. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to do so to returned to the state before the path is switched when the uplink failure is recovered (Nakagawa, [27:42-60]).
Claim(s) 19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Liu et al. (US-7961646-B2) hereinafter Liu in view of Rostowfske (US-20040034807-A1) in view of Agarwal et al. (US-9172636-B2) hereinafter Agarwal further in view of Nakagawa et al. (US-9960955-B2) hereinafter Nakagawa further in view of Enomoto et al. (US-7532588-B2) hereinafter Enomoto.
Regarding claim 19, Liu-Rostowfske-Agarwal-Nakagawa disclose:
The apparatus according to claim 18, wherein the processor coupled to the memory to further execute the instructions to cause the apparatus, set forth above, to:
Liu-Rostowfske-Agarwal-Nakagawa do not explicitly disclose:
receive the second indication information from the first network device; or
receive the second indication information from the second network device.
However, Enomoto discloses:
receive the second indication information from the first network device ([25:25-65] since each node keeps transmitting the keep alive frames … when the failure is recovered, the failure detector … of the node … detects the failure recovery of the link … e.g. between node 13 and the node 14. The node 13 is the root node notifies the node 11); or
receive the second indication information from the second network device ([25:25-65] failure detector of the node 14 … detects the failure recovery of the link between the node 13 and the node 14, and notifies the tree manager).
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 Liu-Rostowfske-Agarwal-Nakagawa in view of Enomoto to have received the second indication information from the first network device or the second network device. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to do so to connect the network 1 with the network 2 and the network 1 with the network 3 by the above redundant structure and preventing loop generation, and further to continue data transfer without interruption (Nakagawa, [25:25-26:27]).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Allan et al. (US-9876707-B2) Method And Apparatus For Multicast Implementation In A Network;
Luo et al. (US-9596094-B2) Managing Multicast Distribution Using Multicast Trees;
Vasseur et al. (US-7801137-B2) Receiver-based Construction Of Point-to-multipoint Trees Using Path Computation Elements In A Computer Network
Wijnands et al. (US-8611346-B1) Multicast Sparse-mode Source Redundancy.
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.
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/Alex Tran/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2453