DETAILED ACTION
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 .
1. Claims 1-20 are presented for examination.
Claim Objections
2. Claims 5-7 and 15-18 are objected to because of the following informalities:
Element “the at least one DEP” in line 1 of claim 5, in line 1 of claim 6, in lines 2-3 of claim 7, in line 1 of claim 15, in line 1 of claim 16, and in line 3 of claim 17 should be the at least one DEPs.
Claim 7 recites the limitation "the OEP-GSN" in line 1 and “the DEP-GSN” in line 2. There are insufficient antecedent basis for those limitations in the claim.
Claim 8 recites the limitation "the second selection" in lines 1-2. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 17 recites the limitation "the OEP-GSN" in line 1 and “the DEP-GSN” in line 2. There are insufficient antecedent basis for those limitations in the claim.
Claim 18 recites the limitation "the second selection" in lines 1-2. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Appropriate correction is required.
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.
3. Claims 1 and 11 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.
Regarding claim 1, it is not clear that the feature “each of OEPs” in line 12 of claim 1 is the same with or different from “each of original encapsulating packets (OEPs)” in line 7 of claim 1. In addition, the feature “determining if a data packet belonging to a new session is received” in line 3 of claim 1 renders the claim indefinite because the metes and bounds of the claimed invention are uncertain. For example, it would raise a question what if a data packet not belonging to a new session is received.
Regarding claim 11, it is not clear that the feature “each of OEPs” in line 18 of claim 11 is the same with or different from “each of original encapsulating packets (OEPs)” in line 13 of claim 11. In addition, the feature “determining if a data packet belonging to a new session is received” in line 9 of claim 11 renders the claim indefinite because the metes and bounds of the claimed invention are uncertain. For example, it would raise a question what if a data packet not belonging to a new session is received.
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.
4. Claim(s) 1-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sung et al. (hereafter, “Sung”, US 2017/0302593 A1, in view of Wang et al. (hereafter, “Wang”), US 2020/0259738 A1.
Regarding claim 1, Sung teaches a method for transmitting data packets at a network device (i.e., a process for transmitting encapsulating packets from communications router, Fig. 6 and page 6 paragraph [0075]), comprising:
b. selecting a first connection according to a first selection policy (i.e., select a first tunnel according to a selection policy, page 1 paragraph [0006] and page 6 paragraph [0077]);
c. selecting at least one second connection according to a second selection policy (i.e., select at least one second tunnel according to the selecting policy, page 1 paragraph [0006] and page 6 paragraph [0077]);
d. transmitting each of original encapsulating packets (OEPs) through the first connection (i.e., select a tunnel among the plurality of tunnels for transmitting original encapsulating packets (OEPs)…selected tunnel may be called a first tunnel, page 6 paragraph [0075]);
e. transmitting each of at least one duplicate encapsulating packets (DEPs) through the at least one second connection (i.e., transmit DEPs through the second channel, page 6 paragraph [0075]) within a specific period of time (i.e., DEP may be transmitted periodically, page 7 paragraph [0090]); and
wherein the data packet is one of the data packets received from a host (i.e., the data packets may be received by communications router through one or more of its network interfaces from a host, page 6 paragraph [0084]).
Sung does not explicitly teach determining if a data packet belonging to a new session is received; and transmitting each of OEPs through a third connection, and no longer transmit the at least one DEPs, wherein the specific period of time is a period of time within the slow start stage.
Wang teaches determining if a data packet belonging to a new session is received (i.e., the data in a slow start stage of the MPTCP connection using the redundant transmission mode, page 3 paragraph [0023]), and transmitting each of OEPs through a third connection, and no longer transmit the at least one DEPs (i.e., Wang, in page [0079], discloses performance in the multipath transmission mode can be better used…switching from the redundant transmission mode to the multipath transmission mode . Wang, in page 1 paragraph [0007], also discloses a multipath transmission mode is a transmission mode in which different data is transmitted on the plurality of paths), wherein the specific period of time is a period of time within the slow start stage (i.e., Wang, in page 10 paragraph [0090], discloses redundant transmission mode is initially used by default, thereby ensuring transmission performance in a slow start stage. Wang, in page 15 claim 6, further discloses the timer for the redundant transmission mode expires).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the teachings of Sung to determine if a data packet belonging to a new session is received; and transmit each of OEPs through a third connection, and no longer transmit the at least one DEPs, wherein the specific period of time is a period of time within the slow start stage, as taught by Wang. One would be motivated to do so to improve transmission performance of a connection, page paragraph [0077]).
Regarding claim 2, Sung teaches the method of claim 1, wherein the OEPs encapsulate the data packets (i.e., encapsulating packets encapsulate data packets, page 6 paragraph [0084]).
Regarding claim 3, Sung teaches the method of claim 1, wherein each of the OEPs has an original encapsulating packet global sequence number (OEP-GSN) (i.e., OPE comprises original encapsulating packet global sequence number (OEP-GSN), Fig. 8A and page 6 paragraph [0086]).
Regarding claim 4, Sung teaches the method of claim 1.
Sung does not explicitly teach wherein the specific period of time is 3 seconds counted from the beginning of the slow start stage.
Wang teaches wherein the specific period of time is 3 seconds counted from the beginning of the slow start stage (i.e., an expiration time of an initialization measurement timer is 3 seconds, page 13 paragraph [0112]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the teachings of Sung to implement the specific period of time 3 seconds, as taught by Wang because it was conventionally employed in the art for rapidly discovering available network bandwidth without overwhelming the router.
Regarding claim 5, Sung teaches the method of claim 1, wherein the at least one DEP encapsulates data packet information based on at least one of the data packets (i.e., DEP 810 comprises encapsulated packet 815, Fig. 8B and page 7 paragraph [0087]).
Regarding claim 6, Sung teach the method of claim 1, wherein each of the at least one DEP has a duplicate encapsulating packet global sequence number (i.e., DEP-GSN) (i.e., DEP 810 comprises duplicate encapsulating packet global sequence number (DEP-GSN), page 7 paragraph [0087]).
Regarding claim 7, Sung teaches the method of claim 1, wherein the OEP-GSN is stored in a header of each of the OEPs and the DEP-GSN is stored in a header of each of the at least one DEP (i.e., Figs 8A-8B).
Regarding claim 8, Sung teaches the method of claim 1, wherein the first selection policy and the second selection are selected from one or more of the following: weight balance, least used, and lowest latency and priority (i.e., a tunnel with best latency is selected, page 6 paragraph [0078]).
Regarding claim 9, Sung teaches the method of claim 1, wherein the third connection is the same as the first connection (i.e., the OEPs are transmitted through the first connection, page 8 paragraph [0098]).
Regarding claim 10, Sung teaches the method of claim 1, wherein the third connection is different from the first connection (i.e., tunnels 103A, 103B and 103 C are established between communications router 106 and communication router 108, Fig. 1 B and page 2 paragraph [0038]).
Regarding claims 11-20, those claims recite a network device for performing method claims 1-10, discussed above, same rationale of rejections is applied.
In addition, Sung teaches a processing unit (CPU 501); at least one storage unit (i.e., RAM 503); more than one network interface (i.e., communications adapter 511); at least one non-transitory computer readable storage medium (i.e., ROM 504); wherein the at least one non-transitory computer readable storage medium for storing program instructions executable by the at least one processing unit (i.e., RAM 503 and ROM 504 hold programs, Fig. 5 and paragraph [0070]- [0071]).
Conclusion
5. The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Emmanual et al., US 2021/0013907 A1, discloses each multipath subflow behaves like a legacy TCP flow except for the congestion control algorithms, with multipath subflow, after the three-way handshake is used to establish connections, each subflow maintains its own congestion window and retransmission scheme during data transfer, and the congestion control window begins with a slow-start phase that doubles the window per round trip time before entering the congestion avoidance phase (i.e., page 7 paragraph [0090]).
Song et al., US 2017/0019338 A1, discloses n a slow start phase, adjust an initial sending window according to the recommended size of the initial congestion window and transmit segmented packets based on the adjusted initial sending window until a congestion avoidance phase is entered (i.e., page 8 paragraph [0140]).
Zhang et al., US 9,178,789 B2, discloses a system and method for a transmission control protocol, comprising adaptively setting a slow-start threshold, and initializing a congestion window (i.e., abstract).
Ponnuswamy, US 2023/0198903 A1, discloses a node identifies a TCP stage of a data packet flow associated with a data packet received by the node, identifies additional characteristics associated with the data packet, such as a duration of the data packet flow to which the data packet belongs, and modifies a transmission strategy of the data packet based on the TCP stage associated with the data packet and one or more additional characteristics of the data packet (i.e., abstract).
Sebire et al., US 2019/0007324 A1, discloses avoid network congestion a TCP sender always maintains a window (congestion window) such that the number of packets in flight do not exceed a receiver's ability to receive the packets, and the TCP flow control has two stages: one is the slow start stage (or the exponential growth stage) and the second is the congestion avoidance stage (or the linear stage) (i.e., paragraph [0034]).
Song et al., US 2017/0019338 A1, discloses transmission control method, apparatus and system, comprising: acquiring link status information about a network; determining recommended values of TCP transmission parameters according to the link status information; and performing TCP transmission according to the determined recommended values of the parameters (abstract).
Ha et al., US 2003/0063564 A1, discloses a network communication system for managing multiple connections between a sender and a recipients by allocating a host-level transmission rate among the multiple connections based on a ratio of a weight associated with each connection and a sum of the weights associated the connections (seen in abstract).
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/OANH DUONG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2441