CTNF 18/839,880 CTNF 86039 DETAILED ACTION Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status 07-03-aia AIA 15-10-aia The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA. 07-06 AIA 15-10-15 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. Response to Preliminary Amendment This action is responsive to a preliminary amendment filed 20 August 2024. Claims 1-20 are pending in the application. Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112 07-30-02 AIA 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 Claims 1-8, 11-14, 17-19 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, “after joining a cluster of TOF nodes, querying each TOF node in the cluster for a service data abstract…and in response to that the service data abstract is not queried”. These two features contradict each other and it is unclear how the method can include both “querying…for a service data abstract” and “the service data abstract in not queried.” Independent claim 14 suffers the same lack of clarity and claims 2-8, 11-13 and 17-19 are dependent upon claim 1; accordingly, claims 1-8, 11-14, 17-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA), second paragraph, as being indefinite. It is suggested that applicant file a certified translation of the priority document which discloses more clearly the act of step 102 as related to that which was queried was not “found”; and to amend the specification in accordance with the scope of the disclosure supported by the priority document to overcome this rejection. For the purpose of examination on the merits, the above identified features are interpreted as “querying…for a service data abstract” and “the service data abstract in not found queried .” Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103 07-20-aia AIA 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 Claim (s) 1-4, 6-9 and 11-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhao (CN 106911524 A), see attached machine translation in which citations correspond to the paragraphs above the cited paragraph numbers, in view of Narayanan (US 2014/0036663 A1) . Regarding claim 1, Zhao appears to disclose a service disaster recovery backup method, applied to a first node, comprising: after joining the cluster of nodes, querying each node in the cluster for a service data abstract ( [0036] disclosing “When the target node is initialized and running, it broadcasts a master node probe message” for a node role notification message ), wherein a keyword in the service data abstract is an identifier of the first node ( [0043] disclosing “when the master node receives a master node probe message sent by other nodes, it can broadcast a node role notification message to notify that a master node exists in the HA system, wherein the node role notification message carries the identification information of the master node and the backup node.” ); and in response to that the service data abstract is not queried, undertaking, as an activation node, the service of service data of the first node ( [0036] disclosing “If it does not receive a node role notification message from the master node within a first preset time and does not receive a master node probe message from other nodes, it initializes the target node as a master node.” ), selecting a second TOF node as a backup node in the cluster ( [0051] disclosing “Specifically, the master node in the HA system can configure the identification information (such as MAC address, device name, etc.) of the backup nodes… The node role notification message carries the identification information of the backup nodes, so that the nodes that receive the node role message can determine whether they are backup nodes” ), and publishing the service data abstract with the identifier of the first node as the keyword in the cluster ( [0043] disclosing “when the master node receives a master node probe message sent by other nodes, it can broadcast a node role notification message to notify that a master node exists in the HA system, wherein the node role notification message carries the identification information of the master node and the backup node.”; see also [0055] ), wherein the service data abstract comprises an activation node and a backup node of the service data ( [0043] disclosing “when the master node receives a master node probe message sent by other nodes, it can broadcast a node role notification message to notify that a master node exists in the HA system, wherein the node role notification message carries the identification information of the master node and the backup node.” ), the backup node is configured to synchronize the service data of the first node with the first node ( [0040] disclosing the backup node is used to back up the data that needs to be backed up in the primary node; [0047]-[0048] disclosing upon receipt of the node role notification message indicating the target node is the backup node, the target node becomes the backup node; [0147] disclosing real-time backup comprises synchronizing the configuration information of the master node to the other nodes ), and take over the service of the service data of the first node in response to detecting a failure of the first node ( [0063]-[0066] disclosing when the target node determines the master node to be unavailable, it can be promoted to the master node role ). Zhao does not disclose the following; however, Narayanan suggests a backup traffic offload (TOF) node can be used for disaster recovery in a cluster of TOF nodes comprising an activation node and a backup node which provide local breakout service ( Fig. 1, 120a, 120b, [0007]-[0009] disclosing primary gateway 120b (i.e., activation node) and gateway 120a as the backup for instances when failures occur; [0032] disclosing gateways perform certain tasks locally when a traffic offload condition exists ). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to apply the techniques of Zhao to determine the roles of primary (i.e., activation) nodes and backup nodes in the cluster of TOF nodes because the motivation is provided by the teaching in Zhao that this improves flexibility of node role determination ( [0175] ). Regarding claim 2, Zhao appears to disclose the service disaster recovery backup method of claim 1, further comprising: in response to that the service data abstract is queried, obtaining the activation node of the service data according to the queried service data abstract ( [0043], [0046]-[0048] ); and synchronizing the service data with the obtained activation node ( [0040], [0147] ), and taking over the local breakout service of the service data of the activation node in response to a failure of the activation node ( [0063]-[0066] ). Regarding claim 3, Zhao appears to disclose the service disaster recovery backup method of claim 2, wherein after obtaining the activation node of the service data according to the queried service data abstract, the method further comprises: in response to receiving an instruction instructing to force the first TOF node to be the activation node, undertaking, as the activation node, the local breakout service of the service data, and switching the obtained activation node to the backup node ( [0078]-[0080] ). Regarding claim 4, Zhao appears to disclose the service disaster recovery backup method of claim 1, wherein after publishing the service data abstract with the identifier of the first TOF node as the keyword in the cluster ( [0127] ), the method further comprises: in response to detecting that the backup node exits the cluster, or content of the service data changes, updating the service data abstract, and publishing the updated service data abstract in the cluster ( [0088] ). Regarding claim 6, Zhao appears to disclose the service disaster recovery backup method of claim 1,wherein selecting the second TOF node as the backup node in the cluster comprises: selecting the second TOF node as the backup node according to a logical distance between the first TOF node and each TOF node in the cluster ( [0051], [0064]-[0066] ); after publishing the service data abstract with the identifier of the first TOF node as the keyword in the cluster ( [0127] ), the method further comprises: after detecting that there is a newly added third TOF node in the cluster ( [0051] ), and a logical distance between the third TOF node and the first TOF node is smaller than a logical distance between the second TOF node and the first TOF node, updating the backup node to the third TOF node ( [0051], [0064]-[0066] ); and updating the service data abstract, and publishing the updated service data abstract in the cluster ( [0043], [0051], [0127] ). Regarding claim 7, Zhao appears to disclose the service disaster recovery backup method of any one of claim 1, wherein selecting the second TOF node as the backup node in the cluster comprises: selecting, in the cluster, the second TOF node whose node role is a disaster recovery role as the backup node ( [0051], [0063]-[0066] ). Regarding claim 8, Zhao appears to disclose the service disaster recovery backup method of claim 1, wherein the cluster comprises a distributed hash table (DHT) cluster ( [0051] ); the method further comprising: in response to that the first TOF node is a first node of the cluster, building the DHT cluster in a role of a seed node ( [0051] ); and in response to that the first TOF node is not the first node of the cluster, joining the DHT cluster with the seed node in the DHT cluster as an intermediary ( [0050] ). Regarding claim 9, Zhao appears to disclose a service disaster recovery backup method, applied to a second node, comprising: after joining a cluster of nodes, receiving a service data abstract with an identifier of a first TOF node as a keyword published in the cluster, wherein the service data abstract comprises an activation node and a backup node of service data ( [0051] master node corresponding to the activation node ); in response to detecting that the backup node in the service data abstract is the second TOF node ( [0046]-[0048] ), synchronizing service data of the first TOF node with the first TOF node ( [0040] disclosing the backup node is used to back up the data that needs to be backed up in the primary node; [0047]-[0048] disclosing upon receipt of the node role notification message indicating the target node is the backup node, the target node becomes the backup node; [0147] disclosing real-time backup comprises synchronizing the configuration information of the master node to the other nodes ), and taking over a service of the service data of the first TOF node after detecting a failure of the first TOF node ( [0063]-[0066] disclosing when the target node determines the master node to be unavailable, it can be promoted to the master node role ); and updating the service data abstract, and publishing an updated service data abstract in the cluster ( [0051], [0127] ). Zhao does not disclose the following; however, Narayanan suggests a backup traffic offload (TOF) node can be used for disaster recovery in a cluster of TOF nodes comprising an activation node and a backup node which provide local breakout service ( Fig. 1, 120a, 120b, [0007]-[0009] disclosing primary gateway 120b (i.e., activation node) and gateway 120a as the backup for instances when failures occur; [0032] disclosing gateways perform certain tasks locally when a traffic offload condition exists ). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to apply the techniques of Zhao to determine the roles of primary (i.e., activation) nodes and backup nodes in the cluster of TOF nodes because the motivation is provided by the teaching in Zhao that this improves flexibility of node role determination ( [0175] ). Regarding claim 11, Zhao appears to disclose a service disaster recovery backup system, comprising: at least one first TOF node and at least one second TOF node ( [0051] ); wherein the first TOF node is configured to perform the service disaster recovery backup method of claim 1 ( it is noted that this is a dependent claim and the features of claim 1 are addressed above ), and the second TOF node is configured to perform a service disaster recovery backup method comprising: after joining a cluster of TOF nodes, receiving a service data abstract with an identifier of a first TOF node as a keyword published in the cluster, wherein the service data abstract comprises an activation node and a backup node of service data ( [0051] ); in response to detecting that the backup node in the service data abstract is the second TOF node ( [0046]-[0048] ), synchronizing service data of the first TOF node with the first TOF node ( [0040], [0047]-[0048], [0147] ), and taking over a local breakout service of the service data of the first TOF node after detecting a failure of the first TOF node ( [0063]-[0066] ); and updating the service data abstract, and publishing an updated service data abstract in the cluster ( [0051], [0127] ). Regarding claim 12, Zhao appears to disclose a traffic offload (TOF) node that performs the service disaster recovery backup method of claim 1 ( it is noted that this is a dependent claim and the features of claim 1 are addressed above ). Zhao does not expressly disclose the nodes comprising: at least one processor; and a memory communicated with the at least one processor, wherein an instruction executable by the at least one processor is stored in the memory, and the instruction is executed by the at least one processor to enable the at least one processor to perform the method; however, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to implement the techniques as claimed in order to provide a flexible system that can be easily modified as technologies evolve. Regarding, claim 13, the claim is directed towards a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, wherein a computer program is stored in the non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, and when the computer program is executed by a processor, the service disaster recovery backup method of claim 1. Zhao does not expressly disclose such implementations; however, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to implement the techniques as claimed in order to provide a flexible system that can be easily modified as technologies evolve. Regarding claim 14, Zhao appears to disclose a service disaster recovery backup system in so much as this claim is dependent upon claim 9, comprising: at least one first traffic offload (TOF) node and at least one second TOF node ( [0051] ); wherein the first TOF node is configured to perform a service disaster recovery backup method, comprising: after joining a cluster of TOF nodes, querying each TOF node in the cluster for a service data abstract ( [0036] ), wherein a keyword in the service data abstract is an identifier of the first TOF node ( [0043] ); and in response to that the service data abstract is not queried, undertaking, as an activation node, a local breakout service of service data of the first TOF node ( [0036] ), selecting a second TOF node as a backup node in the cluster ( [0051] ), and publishing the service data abstract with the identifier of the first TOF node as the keyword in the cluster ( [0043], [0055] ), wherein the service data abstract comprises an activation node and a backup node of the service data ( [0043] ), the backup node is configured to synchronize the service data of the first TOF node with the first TOF node ( [0040], [0047]-[0048], [0147] ), and take over the local breakout service of the service data of the first TOF node in response to detecting a failure of the first TOF node ( [0063]-[0066] ), and the second TOF node is configured to perform the service disaster recovery backup method of claim 9 ( it is noted that this is a dependent claim and the features of claim 9 are addressed above ). Regarding claim 15, the claim is directed towards a traffic offload (TOF) node that performs the service disaster recovery backup method of claim 9 ( it is noted that this is a dependent claim and the features of claim 9 are addressed above ). Zhao does not expressly disclose the nodes comprising: at least one processor; and a memory communicated with the at least one processor, wherein an instruction executable by the at least one processor is stored in the memory, and the instruction is executed by the at least one processor to enable the at least one processor to perform the method; however, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to implement the techniques as claimed in order to provide a flexible system that can be easily modified as technologies evolve. Regarding, claim 16, the claim is directed towards a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, wherein a computer program is stored in the non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, and when the computer program is executed by a processor, the service disaster recovery backup method of claim 9 is implemented. Zhao does not expressly disclose such implementations; however, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to implement the techniques as claimed in order to provide a flexible system that can be easily modified as technologies evolve. Regarding claim 17, Zhao appears to disclose the service disaster recovery backup method of claim 1, wherein selecting the second TOF node as the backup node in the cluster comprises: selecting the second TOF node as the backup node according to a logical distance between the first TOF node and each TOF node in the cluster ( [0051], [0064]-[0066] ); after publishing the service data abstract with the identifier of the first TOF node as the keyword in the cluster ( [0127] ), the method further comprises: after detecting that there is a newly added third TOF node in the cluster ( [0051] ), and a logical distance between the third TOF node and the first TOF node is smaller than a logical distance between the second TOF node and the first TOF node, keeping the second TOF node as the backup node unchanged ( [0051], [0064]-[0066] ); and updating the service data abstract, and publishing the updated service data abstract in the cluster ( [0043], [0051], [0127] ). Regarding claim 18, Zhao appears to disclose the service disaster recovery backup method of claim 1, wherein selecting the second TOF node as the backup node in the cluster comprises: selecting the second TOF node as the backup node according to a logical distance between the first TOF node and each TOF node in the cluster ( [0051], [0064]-[0066] ); after publishing the service data abstract with the identifier of the first TOF node as the keyword in the cluster ( [0127] ), the method further comprises: after detecting that there is a newly added third TOF node in the cluster ( [0051] ), and a logical distance between the third TOF node and the first TOF node is smaller than a logical distance between the second TOF node and the first TOF node, configuring the second TOF node and the third TOF node as the backup node of the first TOF node ( [0051], [0064]-[0066] ); and updating the service data abstract, and publishing the updated service data abstract in the cluster ( [0043], [0051], [0127] ). Regarding claim 19, Zhao appears to disclose the service disaster recovery backup method of claim 1, wherein a role of the TOF node in the cluster are divided into a regular role and a disaster recovery role, role information is carried in an identity of the TOF node, the first TOF node carries regular role information, and the second TOF node carries disaster recovery role information ( [0039]-[0040], [0043], [0047]-[0048], [0051], [0063]-[0066], [0147] ). Regarding claim 20, Zhao appears to disclose the service disaster recovery backup method of claim 9, further comprising: after the first node joins the cluster of the TOF nodes, querying each TOF node in the cluster for the service data abstract with the identifier of the first TOF node as the keyword ( [0036], [0043] ), wherein in response to that the service data abstract is queried, the first TOF node serves as the backup node and accesses the TOF node cluster ( [0040], [0047]-[0048], [0147] ). Claim Objections The features of claims 5 and 10 do not appear to be disclosed by the prior art. Claim 10 is 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. Claim 5 lacks clarity based on the dependency on claim 1. If applicant can effectively overcome the lack of clarity rejection set forth above, then claim 5 would stand as 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 Joseph A Bednash whose telephone number is (571)270-7500. The examiner can normally be reached 7 AM - 4:30 PM M-F. 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, Huy Vu can be reached at (571)272-3155. 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. 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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. /JOSEPH A BEDNASH/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2461 Application/Control Number: 18/839,880 Page 2 Art Unit: 2461 Application/Control Number: 18/839,880 Page 3 Art Unit: 2461 Application/Control Number: 18/839,880 Page 4 Art Unit: 2461 Application/Control Number: 18/839,880 Page 5 Art Unit: 2461 Application/Control Number: 18/839,880 Page 6 Art Unit: 2461 Application/Control Number: 18/839,880 Page 7 Art Unit: 2461 Application/Control Number: 18/839,880 Page 8 Art Unit: 2461 Application/Control Number: 18/839,880 Page 9 Art Unit: 2461 Application/Control Number: 18/839,880 Page 10 Art Unit: 2461 Application/Control Number: 18/839,880 Page 11 Art Unit: 2461 Application/Control Number: 18/839,880 Page 12 Art Unit: 2461 Application/Control Number: 18/839,880 Page 13 Art Unit: 2461 Application/Control Number: 18/839,880 Page 14 Art Unit: 2461
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