Prosecution Insights
Last updated: August 16, 2026
Application No. 18/848,948

SRV6 PACKET PROCESSING METHOD, APPARATUS, COMMUNICATION DEVICE AND STORAGE MEDIUM

Non-Final OA §102
Filed
Sep 20, 2024
Priority
Mar 24, 2022 — CN 202210303551.X +1 more
Examiner
ANSARI, NAJEEBUDDIN
Art Unit
Tech Center
Assignee
China Mobile Communications Group Co., Ltd.
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
64%
Grant Probability
Moderate
1-2
OA Rounds
2y 5m
Est. Remaining
99%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 64% of resolved cases
64%
Career Allowance Rate
299 granted / 468 resolved
+3.9% vs TC avg
Strong +58% interview lift
Without
With
+57.6%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
4y 4m
Avg Prosecution
26 currently pending
Career history
501
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
7.7%
-32.3% vs TC avg
§103
53.7%
+13.7% vs TC avg
§102
18.7%
-21.3% vs TC avg
§112
16.1%
-23.9% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 468 resolved cases

Office Action

§102
DETAILED ACTION In response to communications filed 09/20/2024. Claim 10 is canceled. Claims 14-21 are new. Claims 1-9 and 11-21 are pending for 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 . Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102 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 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 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 – (a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention. Claims 1-9 and 11-21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Lu et al. (US 2023/0044321 A1) hereinafter “Lu.” Regarding Claim 1, Lu teaches A method for processing a segment routing over Internet protocol version 6 (SRv6) packet (Lu: paragraph 0006, processing or forwarding an SRv6 packet), comprising: setting, by a user side device (Lu: paragraphs 0079-0081 & Fig. 3c, SRv6 packet sent by R1 node or customer premise equipment device), based on a pre-obtained first segment identifier (SID) for representing an address a source address in an outer header of a first SRv6 packet as the first SID (Lu: paragraph 0085, source address or SID included in the SRv6 packet), and generating a second SRv6 packet (Lu: paragraphs 0081 & 0085, R1 modifies a destination address of the SRv6 packet, thus generating a modified or second SRv6 packet including said destination node address); wherein the first SID is pre-formulated by a network service provider (Lu: paragraph 0072, SIDs are addresses from the trusted domain and SRv6 packets generated only in the trusted domain are forwarded; see also paragraph 0080, trusted domain belongs to an operator network); and sending the second SRv6 packet (Lu: paragraph 0081, said forwarding modified SRv6 packet node R2) to a network device (Lu: paragraphs 0081-0082 & Figs. 3c , said R2 node in trusted domain receiving SRv6 packet). Regarding Claim 2, Lu teaches the respective claim(s) as presented above and further teaches wherein the first SID is received by the user side device from a first control device, and the first SID is configured by the first control device; or the first SID is pre-configured by the user side device (Lu: paragraphs 0081, R1 forwarding the SRv6 packet including address information). Regarding Claim 3, Lu teaches A method for processing a segment routing over Internet protocol version 6 (SRv6) packet (Lu: paragraph 0006, processing or forwarding an SRv6 packet), comprising: receiving, by a network device (Lu: paragraphs 0081-0082 & Figs. 3c , R2 node in trusted domain receiving SRv6 packet), the SRv6 packet sent by a user side device (Lu: paragraphs 0079-0081 & Fig. 3c, SRv6 packet sent by R1 node or customer premise equipment device), and extracting a source address from an outer header of the SRv6 packet (Lu: paragraph 0085, source address included in the SRv6 packet including modified destination address for verification); checking whether routing information corresponding to the source address is comprised in a forwarding table (Lu: paragraph 0085, SID list indicating forwarding path of SRv6 packet between source and destination nodes); wherein the forwarding table comprises routing information corresponding to a plurality of segment identifiers (SIDs) for representing addresses (Lu: paragraphs 0067-0069, & 0085, segment identifier SID list comprising SIDs or addresses of nodes within trusted domain), and the plurality of SIDs are pre-formulated by a network service provider (Lu: paragraph 0072, SIDs are addresses from the trusted domain and SRv6 packets generated only in the trusted domain are forwarded; see also paragraph 0080, trusted domain belongs to an operator network); and forwarding the SRv6 packet (Lu: paragraph 0101 & Fig. 5, forwarding the first packet and/or allowing forwarding of the first packet across the trusted domain) in response to determining that the routing information corresponding to the source address is comprised in the forwarding table (Lu: paragraphs 0081, 0088 0081, verifies the SRv6 packet based on if the address exists in the SID list). Regarding Claim 4, Lu teaches the respective claim(s) as presented above and further teaches discarding the SRv6 packet in response to the network device determining that the routing information corresponding to the source address is not comprised in the forwarding table (Lu: paragraph 0101 & Fig. 5, discarding the first packet when the first packet fails the verification (i.e. attack packet)). Regarding Claim 5, Lu teaches the respective claim(s) as presented above and further teaches checking, by the network device, whether the source address is one of the plurality of SIDs (Lu: paragraph 0085, check if the SID of the node is in the SID list); and discarding the SRv6 packet in response to the source address not being one of the plurality of SIDs (Lu: paragraph 0101 & Fig. 5, discarding the first packet when the first packet fails the verification (i.e. attack packet)). Regarding Claim 6, Lu teaches the respective claim(s) as presented above and further teaches forwarding the SRv6 packet in response to the network device determining that the source address is one of the plurality of SIDs and the routing information corresponding to the source address is comprised in the forwarding table (Lu: paragraphs 0088, 0101 & Fig. 5, forwarding the first packet and/or allowing forwarding of the first packet across the trusted domain after verification of SID). Regarding Claim 7, Lu teaches the respective claim(s) as presented above and further teaches receiving, by the network device, the forwarding table sent by a second control device; or pre-configuring, by the network device, the forwarding table (Lu: paragraph 0139, node R2 may prestore a SID list). Regarding Claim 8, Lu teaches the respective claim(s) as presented above and further teaches receiving, by the network device, the plurality of SIDs sent by a second control device; or pre-configuring, by the network device, the plurality of SIDs (Lu: paragraph 0139, node R2 may prestore a SID list).; or obtaining, by the network device, the plurality of SIDs from the forwarding table. Regarding Claim 9, Lu teaches the respective claim(s) as presented above and further teaches extracting, by the network device, a destination address from the outer header of the SRv6 packet (Lu: paragraph 0081 & Fig. 3c, modified packet including destination address of the SRv6 packet), and checking whether the destination address is an address of the network device (Lu: paragraph 0081, R2 node verifies the SRv6 packet by using the destination address of the SRv6 packet); wherein checking whether the routing information corresponding to the source address is comprised in the forwarding table comprises: checking whether the routing information corresponding to the source address is comprised in the forwarding table in response to determining that the destination address is the address of the network device (Lu: paragraph 0081, verifying the destination address of SRv6 packet is in the list). Regarding Claim 11, Lu teaches A network device (Lu: paragraphs 0081-0082 & Figs. 3c , R2 node in trusted domain receiving SRv6 packet), comprising a memory (Lu: paragraph 0232 & Fig. 13, memory), a processor (Lu: paragraph 0232 & Fig. 13, processor), and a computer program stored in the memory and executable by the processor (Lu: paragraph 0232 & Fig. 13, program code executed by the processor), the processor, when executing the computer program, is configured to: receive a segment routing over Internet protocol version 6 (SRv6) packet sent by a user side device (Lu: paragraphs 0079-0081 & Fig. 3c, SRv6 packet sent by R1 node or customer premise equipment device); extract a source address from an outer header of the SRv6 packet (Lu: paragraph 0081 & Fig. 3c, modified packet including destination address of the SRv6 packet), and check whether routing information corresponding to the source address is comprised in a forwarding table (Lu: paragraph 0085, SID list indicating forwarding path of SRv6 packet between source and destination nodes); wherein the forwarding table comprises routing information corresponding to a plurality of segment identifiers (SIDs) for representing addresses (Lu: paragraphs 0067-0069 & 0085, segment identifier SID list comprising SIDs or addresses of nodes within trusted domain), and the plurality of SIDs are pre-formulated by a network service provider (Lu: paragraph 0072, SIDs are addresses from the trusted domain and SRv6 packets generated only in the trusted domain are forwarded; see also paragraph 0080, trusted domain belongs to an operator network); and to forward the SRv6 packet (Lu: paragraph 0101 & Fig. 5, forwarding the first packet and/or allowing forwarding of the first packet across the trusted domain) in response to determining that the routing information corresponding to the source address is comprised in the forwarding table (Lu: paragraphs 0081, 0088 0081, verifies the SRv6 packet based on if the address exists in the SID list). Regarding Claim 12, Lu teaches the respective claim(s) as presented above and further teaches A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, having stored thereon a computer program, the computer program, when executed by a processor, implementing operations of the method of claim 1 (Lu: paragraphs 0241-0242, computer-readable storage medium implementing method). Regarding Claim 13, Lu teaches A user side device (Lu: paragraphs 0079-0081 & Fig. 3c, SRv6 packet sent by R1 node or customer premise equipment device), comprising a memory (Lu: paragraph 0232 & Fig. 13, memory), a processor (Lu: paragraph 0232 & Fig. 13, processor), and a computer program stored in the memory and executable by the processor (Lu: paragraph 0232 & Fig. 13, program code executed by the processor), the processor, when executing the computer program, implementing the operations of the method of claim 1 (Lu: paragraphs 0241-0242, computer-readable storage medium implementing method). Regarding Claim 14, Lu teaches the respective claim(s) as presented above and further teaches wherein the first SID is received by the user side device from a first control device, and the first SID is configured by the first control device; or the first SID is pre-configured by the user side device (Lu: paragraphs 0081, R1 modifies a destination address of the SRv6 packet). Regarding Claim 15, Lu teaches the respective claim(s) as presented above and further teaches discard the SRv6 packet in response to determining that the routing information corresponding to the source address is not comprised in the forwarding table (Lu: paragraph 0101 & Fig. 5, discarding the first packet when the first packet fails the verification (i.e. attack packet)). Regarding Claim 16, Lu teaches the respective claim(s) as presented above and further teaches check whether the source address is one of the plurality of SIDs (Lu: paragraph 0085, check if the SID of the node is in the SID list); and discard the SRv6 packet in response to the source address not being one of the plurality of SIDs (Lu: paragraph 0101 & Fig. 5, discarding the first packet when the first packet fails the verification (i.e. attack packet)). Regarding Claim 17, Lu teaches the respective claim(s) as presented above and further teaches forward the SRv6 packet in response to the network device determining that the source address is one of the plurality of SIDs and the routing information corresponding to the source address is comprised in the forwarding table (Lu: paragraphs 0088, 0101 & Fig. 5, forwarding the first packet and/or allowing forwarding of the first packet across the trusted domain after verification of SID). Regarding Claim 18, Lu teaches the respective claim(s) as presented above and further teaches receive the forwarding table sent by a second control device; or pre-configure the forwarding table (Lu: paragraph 0139, node R2 may prestore a SID list). Regarding Claim 19, Lu teaches the respective claim(s) as presented above and further teaches receive the plurality of SIDs sent by a second control device; or pre-configure the plurality of SIDs (Lu: paragraph 0139, node R2 may prestore a SID list); or obtain the plurality of SIDs from the forwarding table. Regarding Claim 20, Lu teaches the respective claim(s) as presented above and further teaches extract a destination address from the outer header of the SRv6 packet, and checking whether the destination address is an address of the network device (Lu: paragraph 0081 & Fig. 3c, modified packet including destination address of the SRv6 packet); wherein in checking whether the routing information corresponding to the source address is comprised in the forwarding table, the processor is configured to: check whether the routing information corresponding to the source address is comprised in the forwarding table in response to determining that the destination address is the address of the network device (Lu: paragraph 0081, verifying the destination address of SRv6 packet is in the list). Regarding Claim 21, Lu teaches A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, having stored thereon a computer program, the computer program, when executed by a processor, implementing operations of the method of claim 3 (Lu: paragraphs 0241-0242, computer-readable storage medium implementing method). Conclusion The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Ren et al. (US 2024/0171511 A1) teaches segment routing over internet protocol version 6 (SRv6)-based communication method and a related apparatus (paragraph 0008). Zhang et al. (US 2023/0078123 A1) teaches a method for forwarding a packet in an SRv6 service function chain (paragraph 0010). Lu et al. (US 2023/0102984 A1) teaches a method for verifying an SRv6 packet. If a source address of the SRv6 packet is an address of a node outside the trusted domain, the SRv6 packet is discarded. (paragraph 0089). Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to NAJEEB ANSARI whose telephone number is (571)270-5446. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 10am to 2pm. 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, ASAD NAWAZ can be reached at (571) 272-3988. 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. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000. /NAJEEB ANSARI/ Examiner, Art Unit 2463 /ASAD M NAWAZ/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2463
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Prosecution Timeline

Sep 20, 2024
Application Filed
Jul 17, 2026
Non-Final Rejection mailed — §102 (current)

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Prosecution Projections

1-2
Expected OA Rounds
64%
Grant Probability
99%
With Interview (+57.6%)
4y 4m (~2y 5m remaining)
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 468 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allowance rate.

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