Detailed Action
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
The Office Action is in response to claims filed on 6/9/2026. Claims 1-27 per the Applicant’s Response to Election/Restriction are being examined.
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 4/7/2025 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
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.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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, 16-17, and 24 are rejected under 35 USC 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Gamage (US 20260005950)
Regarding claim 1, Gamage discloses a system, comprising:
a network aware network device in a network, comprising (Gamage; see e.g. [0167] “... network device ...”) :
a first processor (Gamage; see e.g. [0167] “... processor ...”); and
a first non-transitory computer readable medium comprising first instructions for (Gamage; see e.g. [0167] “... a memory 806 (e.g., non-volatile RAM, ROM, etc.) ...”):
determining a number of paths in the network associated with an endpoint network device and a destination in the network (Gamage; Gamage teaches determining the total number of end-to-end ECMP paths between a source node and a destination node. Under the broadest reasonable interpretation, the source node corresponds to the claimed endpoint network device, and the tail-end node corresponds to the claimed destination in the network. The act of discovering and calculating the total number of ECMP paths constitutes determining a number of paths as recited.
see e.g. [0018] “... discover all the ECMP paths between the nodes in a network. In some other examples, a wildcard flow label can carry either the total number of end-to-end ECMPs if already known or record the information from the intermediate nodes to calculate the total number of end-to-end ECMPs on the fly ... tail end node ...”); and
providing network data to the endpoint network device, wherein the network data includes the determined number of paths or a number of entropy values determined based on the determined number of paths (Gamage; Gamage teaches providing network data to the tail end node implicitly includes either (i) the total number of end-to-end paths , or (ii) entropy-based label information used to derive that number. The entropy values are
see e.g. [0018] “... This can allow to discover all the ECMP paths between the nodes in a network. In some other examples, a wildcard flow label can carry either the total number of end-to-end ECMPs if already known or record the information from the intermediate nodes to calculate the total number of end-to-end ECMPs on the fly. ... The tail-end node then consolidates the information in wildcard flow labels of the received packets, performs data plane validation and notifies the headend, accordingly ... ”).
Regarding claim 16, Gamage discloses The system of claim 1, wherein the number of paths comprises a number of local next hops or the number of paths in the entirety of the network( Gamage;
See e.g. [0018]).
Regarding claim 17, Gamage discloses the system of claim 1, wherein the network data is associated with a single path or single next hop (Gamage; Gamage teaches packets carrying a la label (network data) that is forwarded along each respective end-to-end ECMP path; therefore , the label/network data carried by a particular packet is associated with that respective single end-to -end ECMP path; see e.g. [0019\ - [0019]).
Regarding claim 24. Gamage discloses a method, comprising:
determining a destination associated with an endpoint network device on a network (Gamage; Gamage teaches identifying a destination via destination address field that specifies the next destination. Under BRI, this constitutes determining a destination associated with an endpoint network device
see e.g. [0062]
As will be further explained, the list of segments 314 and/or destination address field 308 can include functions or commands (hereinafter “SR functions”) to be implemented by associated nodes or segments. For example, the destination address field 308 can identify application server 110-1 (S1) and include a function to be applied by application server 110-1 (S1), such as a connect function which application server 110-1 (S1) can interpret as a request to connect with an application or node associated with the function. The destination address field 308 can contain the state of the packet 300, including the next destination of the packet, the source or return node, and any commands or functions for such nodes or segments.);
determining a number of paths in the network associated with an endpoint network device and a destination in the network (Gamage; Gamage teaches discovering ECMP paths and calculating the total number of end-to-end paths between nodes;
see e.g. [0018]); and
providing, from a network aware network device, network data to the endpoint network device, wherein the network data includes the determined number of paths or a number of entropy values determined based on the determined number of paths (Gamage; Gamage teaches providing network data to the headend (endpoint network device) in the form o flow labels and notifications. That network data implicitly includes either (i) the total number of end-to-end paths , or (ii) entropy-based label information used to derive that number. The entropy values are
see e.g. [0018] “... In some examples, a special flow label (e.g., a flow label in IPv6, and an entropy label in MPLS) that is referred to as the wildcard flow label (e.g., wild card entropy label in MPLS) may be defined. Each node forwards a received test packet with wildcard flow label to all the ECMP next-hops available for a destination address identified in the packet. This can allow to discover all the ECMP paths between the nodes in a network. In some other examples, a wildcard flow label can carry either the total number of end-to-end ECMPs if already known or record the information from the intermediate nodes to calculate the total number of end-to-end ECMPs on the fly. ... The tail-end node then consolidates the information in wildcard flow labels of the received packets, performs data plane validation and notifies the headend, accordingly ... ”).
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.
Claims 2 -4 are rejected under 35 USC 103 as being unpatentable over Gamage in view of Zeng (US 20170070427)
Regarding claim 2, Gamage discloses the system of claim 1, Gamage does not expressly disclose further comprising registering the endpoint network device in association with the destination and network data in a first multi-path table at the network aware network device.
Zeng discloses:
Mult-path table (Zeng; Zang discloses a multipath table at a controller, wherein the controller generates metadata corresponding to multiple paths and provides an indication to the multipath table;
See e.g. [0052], [0075])
Therefore it would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective foiling date of the claimed invention to incorporate Zeng’s multipath table. The motivation being the combined solution provides for implementing a known technique resulting in increased efficiencies of managing network traffic.
Gamage in view of Zeng disclose:
comprising registering the endpoint network device in association with the destination and network data in a first multi-path table at the network aware network device (The combined solution provides for registering Gamage’s endpoint network device in association with the network and network data in a first multipath table as the network adware device as taught by Zane’s controller-based multipath -table for maintaining metadata corresponding to multiple paths).
Regarding claim 3, Gamage in view of Zeng disclose the system of claim 2, wherein the network data is provided in response to a request specifying the destination received from the endpoint network device (The combined solution provides for the network data being provided in response to a request specifying the destination received from the endpoint network device, because Gamage teaches a destination-specified request and responsive network/path data, while Zeng teaches the controller determining multipath information for a data stream identified by its destination IP address ([0075]).
Therefore it would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective foiling date of the claimed invention to incorporate Zeng’s multipath table. The motivation being the combined solution provides for implementing a known technique resulting in increased efficiencies of managing network traffic.
Regarding claim 4, Gamage in view of Zeng disclose the system of claim 3, wherein the destination comprises an Internet Protocol address (The combined solution per Zhang;
[0075] “... destination IP address ...”).
Therefore it would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective foiling date of the claimed invention to incorporate Zeng’s multipath table. The motivation being the combined solution provides for implementing a known technique resulting in increased efficiencies of managing network traffic.
Claims 5 is rejected under 35 USC 103 as being unpatentable over Gamage in view of Zeng and in further view of Hazard (US 20080247399)
Regarding claim 5, Gamage in view of Zeng disclose The system of claim 4,Gamage does not expressly disclose wherein the network data comprises a subnet associated with the destination.
Hazard discloses:
comprises a subnet associated with the destination (Harzard;
see e.g. [0115] “ ... the IP destination addresses (and associated subnet masks) ...”)
Therefore it would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Hazard’ subnet(s). The motivation being the combined solution provides for implementing a known technique resulting in increased efficiencies of managing network traffic.
Claims 6 and 7 are rejected under 35 USC 103 as being unpatentable over Gamage in view of Zeng and in further view of Ali (US 20240113978)
Regarding claim 6, Gamage in view of Zeng disclose the system of claim 2, Gamage does not expressly disclose wherein the network data is provided in response to a determination, by the network aware network device, that the endpoint network device is associated with the destination
Ali discloses:
wherein the network data is provided in response to a determination, by the network aware network device, that the endpoint network device is associated with the destination (Ali; Ali expressly derives the destination IP address form the analyzed traffic and maps that destination to an endpoint device.;
see e.g. “[0030] Accordingly, the present invention, (i) Captures data traffic across network ports in a computing environment. Capturing data traffic may include collecting, storing, and analyzing network traffic across the various network ports (e.g., switches, optical modules, servers, hosts, etc.) within the network environment ... Determines a destination IP address from the API traffic and map the destination IP address to an end-point device. )
Therefore it would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Ali’s scheme. The motivation being the combined solution provide for implementing a known technique resulting in increased efficiencies of managing network traffic.
Regarding claim 7, Gamage in view of Zeng and in further view of Ali) The system of claim 6, wherein the determination that the endpoint network device is associated with the destination is made based on analysis of traffic at the network aware network device (The combined solution as the determination is based on the analysis of traffic).
Claims 8 and 9 are rejected under 35 USC 103 as being unpatentable over Gamage in view of Frost (US 20150003255)
Regarding claim 8, Gamage( discloses The system of claim 1, Gamage does not expressly disclose wherein the network data includes values for each of the number of entropy values.
Frost discloses:
wherein the network data includes values for each of the number of entropy values (Frost; Frost teaches exercising the network with different entropy values over ECMP paths, including various entropy values in different probe packets, recording the path taken by each prdobe packet, and determining a set of mappings between entropy labels and specific ECMP paths.
see e.g. [0033] – [0034])
Therefore it would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Frost’s scheme. The motivation being the combined solution provides for implementing a known technique resulting in increased efficiencies of managing network traffic.
Regarding claim 9, Gamage in view of Frost disclose the system of claim 8, wherein the values for each of the number of entropy values are determined based on a forwarding algorithm The combined solution per prost; see e.g. [0011] “... ECMP forwarding ...”)
Therefore it would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Frost’s scheme. The motivation being the combined solution provides for implementing a known technique resulting in increased efficiencies of managing network traffic)
Claims 10 - 11 are rejected under 35 USC 103 as being unpatentable over Gamage in view of Frost and in further view of Manoj (US 20110142056)
Regarding claim10, Gamage in view of Frost disclose the system of claim 8, Gamage does not expressly disclose wherein the values for each of the number of entropy values is determined based on a number of next hops or a number of paths associated with a layer of the network associated with that entropy value.
Manoj discloses:
wherein the values for each of the number of entropy values is determined based on a number of next hops or a number of paths associated with a layer of the network associated with that entropy value (Manoj;
[0024] The path entropy for a candidate path is the cumulative sum of PHBs per class along the candidate path between a source device and a destination device. In addition, each of the plurality of candidate paths includes a maximum path entropy and a used path entropy. The maximum path entropy in a particular path is the highest path entropy attainable for that particular path. The used path entropy in a particular path is the currently used entropy for that particular path. Thus, the used path entropy cannot exceed the maximum path entropy for the same path. By way of example, the maximum path entropy may be defined as the maximum capacity of a virtual pipe for a class (path between the source device and the destination device) and the used path entropy is the data flow through the virtual pipe. The maximum path entropy and the used path entropy for a particular path and class may be defined as:
Max Path PE ( ci ) = h = 0 -> n PHB ( ci ) ; and Equation ( 2 ) Used Path PE ( ci ) = h = 0 -> n phb ( ci ) . Equation ( 3 ) ##EQU00001##
[0025] In Equations (2) and (3), the ci represents a particular class and n represents the total number of hops along the path.)
Therefore it would have been prima facie obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Manoj’s scheme. The motivation being the combined solution provides for implementing a known technique resulting in increased efficiencies of managing network traffic.
Regarding claim 11, Gamage in view of Frost and in further view of Manoj disclose The system of claim 10, wherein the first instructions are further for configuring a data plane of the network aware network device to send packets including different values of each of the entropy values on a different path to the destination (The combined solution per Frost ([0033]-[0034]) as Frost teaches the configuring the packet-forwarding functionality of the network node that receives packets, applies the entropy values to select among DMCP paths, and forward the packets over the selected paths. This functionality constitutes a data plane because it performs the actual forwarding of packets through the network , rather than control plane route computation)
Claims 12 and 13 are rejected under 35 USC 103 as being unpatentable over Gamage in view of Frost and in further view of Muntz (US 20230403231)
Regarding claim 12, Gamage in view of Frost disclose The system of claim 8, Gamage does not expressly disclose wherein each of the values comprises one or more sub- fields.
Muntz discloses:
wherein each of the values comprises one or more sub- fields (Muntz;
[0053] The method of FIG. 9 includes generating (954) an entropy value; receiving (986), by a switch (102), a plurality of packets (958), where each packet (958) includes a header (960) with the entropy value (962) and a destination local identifier (‘DLID’) value (966); and routing (968), by the switch (102) in dependence upon the entropy value (962) and the DLID value (966), the packets (958) to a next switch in order. As mentioned above, at a high level, static dispersive routing according to embodiments of the present invention operates generally in dependence upon two fields of the packet header (960): entropy (962) and destination LID (DLID) (966). The entropy value (962) specifies a static route through the fabric (952). In concert with the DLID (966), the entropy value (962) describes the complete route, including use of non-minimal paths and which of K ports to use in multi-port links. Both fields and their values are generated per coordinate in a topology. For each coordinate, the corresponding subfield (967) of the DLID (966) indicates which switch to route to, and the corresponding subfield (963) of entropy (962) specifies how to reach that switch. The coordinates are traversed in fixed order to avoid credit loops also known as a “deadlock.)
Therefore it would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Muntz’s scheme. The motivation being the combined solution provides for implanting a known technique resulting increased efficiencies of managing traffic.
. Regarding claim 13, Gamage in view of Frost and in further view of Muntz disclose The system of claim 12, wherein each of the sub-fields corresponds to a forwarding decision at network devices in the network (The combined solution per Muntz; see.e.g. [0053])
Therefore it would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Muntz’s scheme. The motivation being the combined solution provides for implanting a known technique resulting increased efficiencies of managing traffic.
Claim 14 is rejected under 35 USC 103 as being unpatentable over Gamage in view of Ucci US 20230216746
Regarding claim 14. Gamage discloses the system of claim 1, wherein the network data includes a type of entropy value.
Ucci discloses:
wherein the network data includes a type of entropy value (Ucci;
see e.g. [0029] “... entropy of protocol type, IP destination addresses, source ports, destination ports, and TCP flags ...”)
Therefore it would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Ucci’s scheme. The motivation being the combined solution provides for implanting a known technique resulting in increased efficiencies of managing network traffic.
Claim 15 is rejected under 35 USC 103 as being unpatentable over Gamage in view of Narayan (US 20240323111)
Regarding claim 15, Gamage discloses The system of claim 1, Gamage does not expressly disclose wherein determining the number of paths includes determining that the endpoint network device and the destination are directly connected and the network data includes an indication that the endpoint network device and the destination are directly connected.
Narayan discloses:
determining that the endpoint network device and the destination are directly connected and the network data includes an indication that the endpoint network device and the destination are directly connected (Narayan;
[0043] In one or more embodiments disclosed herein, the path information may include reachability information and path metrics. The path information (130) may be stored in the form of a data structure (e.g., a list, table, etc.). In one or more embodiments, the reachability information may include the paths between each of the network devices of the network discovered through BGP using the route reflector (124). Each of these paths making up the reachability information may be single virtual-hop paths. In the context of this disclosure, a single virtual-hop path constitutes a direct connection (through a service provider of the network) between a first network device to second network device without the need of going through a third network device. Said another way, using a single virtual-hop path, the first network device may send network traffic directly to the second network device without having to route the network traffic through the third network device. An example of a single virtual-hop path is shown below in FIG. 3C (e.g., path P1, FIG. 3C).
Therefore it would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Narayan’s scheme. The motivation being the combined solution provides for implementing a known technique resulting in increased efficiencies of managing traffic.
Claims 18, 20-21, and 25-26 are rejected under 35 USC 103 as being unpatentable over Gamage in view of Zeng and in further view of Frost.
Regarding claim 18, Gamage in view of Zeng disclose the system of claim 2, further comprising:
the endpoint network device in the network, the endpoint network device comprising:
a second processor (Gamage; see e.g. [0167] “... processor ...”), and
a second non-transitory computer readable medium, comprising second instructions for(Gamage; see e.g. [0167] “... a memory 806 (e.g., non-volatile RAM, ROM, etc.) ...”):
receiving the network data associated with the destination at the endpoint network device (Gamage; see e.g. [0018]);
registering the destination and the network data in a second multi-path table at the endpoint network device (The combined solution per Zhang, It would have been obvious to provide the same multi-path table functionality at Gamage’s endpoint network device so that, when the endpoint is an intermediate forwarding endpoint rather than the ultimate destination, the device can locally maintain the destination-associate path information and continue routing packets. Providing the second table is further an obvious duplication of the known multipath-table functionality for the same forwarding purpose; see MPEP 2144.04);
determining a packet to be sent to the destination (Gamage; Gamage expressly teaches determining a packet for transmission to the destination as part of its packet generation and ECMP forwarding operation;
see e.g. [0018]);
accessing the second multi-path table based on the destination to obtain the network data (The combined solution per Zhang; In the combined solution the endpoint accesses its duplicated multipath table using the destination associated with the packet to retrieve the corresponding multipath metadata. Such destination-based access is the ordinary functional use of Zhang’s destination-specific multipath information and permits the endpoint to obtain the path data required to continue forwarding the packet)
Gamage in view of Zeng does not expressly disclose:
determining a first entropy value to include in the packet based on the network data associated with the destination in the second multi-path table.
Frost discloses:
Frost discloses:
determining a first entropy value to include in the packet based on the network data associated with the destination (Frost; Frost teaches exercising the network with different entropy values over ECMP paths, including various entropy values in different probe packets, recording the path taken by each prdobe packet, and determining a set of mappings between entropy labels and specific ECMP paths.
see e.g. [0033] – [0034])
Therefore it would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Frost’s scheme. The motivation being the combined solution provides for implementing a known technique resulting in increased efficiencies of managing network traffic.
Gamage in view of Zeng and in further view of Frost disclose:
determining a first entropy value to include in the packet based on the network data associated with the destination in the second multi-path table (The combined solution per Frost)
Regarding claim 20, Gamage in view of Zeng and in further view of Frost disclose The system of claim 18, wherein the first entropy value is one of a set of entropy values, each of the set of entropy values associated with a layer of the network (The combined solution Frost ([0033]-[0034] as Frost teaches a plurality/set of different entropy value used for ECMP forwarding, such that the first entropy value is one value of that set; the set is necessarily associated with the network layer at which those entropy values are applied to perform the ECMP forwarding decision).
Regarding claim 21. Gamage in view of Zeng and inf further view of Frost disclose The system of claim 19, wherein the set of entropy values is included in a field in the packet (The combined solution per Gamage ([0018]) and Frost ([0033] – [0034])
Regarding claim 25, claim 25 comprise the same and/or similar subject matter as claim 18 and is considered an obvious variation; therefore it is rejected under the same rationale.
Regarding claim 26, Gamage in view of Zeng and in further view of Frost disclose The method of claim 25, wherein the network data is provided from the network aware network device in response to a request received from the endpoint network device (The combined solution per Zeng ([0075]) as Zeng teaches the request/response operation and Zeng’s controller corresponds to the network-aware network device and provides the destination -associated network data in response to the request received from the endpoint device)
Claim 19 is rejected under 35 USC 103 as being unpatentable over Gamage in view of Zeng and in further view of Frost and in further view of Hira (US 20190222481)
Regarding claim 19, Gamage in view of Zeng and in further view of Frost disclose the system of claim 18, Gamage does not expressly disclose wherein determining the first entropy value to include in the packet comprises providing at least a portion of the network data to a transport protocol at the endpoint network device, wherein the transport protocol determines the first entropy value.
Hira discloses:
providing at least a portion of the network data to a Transport protocol at endpoint network device (Hira;
see e.g. [0074] - [0075])
Therefore it would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Hira’s scheme. The motivation being the combined solution provides for implanting a known technique resulting in increased efficiencies of managing network traffic.
Gamage in view of Zeng and in further view of Frost and in further view of Hira disclose wherein determining the first entropy value to include in the packet comprises providing at least a portion of the network data to a transport protocol at the endpoint network device, wherein the transport protocol determines the first entropy value (The combined solution provides for providing the destination-associated network data to the transport protocol at the endpoint network device, with the transport protocol determining the first entropy value for inclusion in the packet, thereby using the transport layer processing to implement the already taught multipath/entropy forwarding decision)
Claim 27 is rejected under 35 USC 103 as being unpatentable over Gamage in view of Zeng and in further view of Ali
Regarding claim 27, Gamage in view of Zeng and in further view of Frost disclose The method of claim 25, Gamage does not expressly disclose wherein the network data is provided in response to an analysis of network traffic at the network aware network device.
Ali discloses:
wherein the network data is provided in response to an analysis of network traffic at the network aware network device ((Ali; Ali expressly derives the destination IP address form the analyzed traffic and maps that destination to an endpoint device.;
see e.g. “[0030] Accordingly, the present invention, (i) Captures data traffic across network ports in a computing environment. Capturing data traffic may include collecting, storing, and analyzing network traffic across the various network ports (e.g., switches, optical modules, servers, hosts, etc.) within the network environment ... Determines a destination IP address from the API traffic and map the destination IP address to an end-point device. )
Therefore it would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Ali’s scheme. The motivation being the combined solution provide for implementing a known technique resulting in increased efficiencies of managing network traffic.
Claims 22 and 23 rejected under 35 USC 103 as being unpatentable over Gamage in view of Zeng and in further view of Frost and in further view of Nagakar (US 20190109780)
Regarding claim 22, Gamage in view of Zeng and in further view of Frost disclose The system of claim 18, Gamage does not expressly disclose wherein the first instructions further comprise instructions for:
accessing the first muti-path table at the network aware network device to determine that the destination is associated with the endpoint network device (The combined solution per Zeng [0052], [0075]);
Gamage does not expressly disclose wherein the first instructions further comprise instructions for:
determining, at the network aware network device, that a path associated with the destination has changed;
device and the destination based on the changed path, where the updated network data includes an updated number of paths or an updated number of entropy values;
sending a notification to the endpoint network device, the notification specifying the destination and including the updated network data; and
registering the updated network data in association with the endpoint network device and destination in the first multi-path table at the network aware network device
Nagakar discloses:
determining, at the network aware network device, that a path associated with the destination has changed (Nagakar;
see e.g. [0061]- [0063]
[0061] At 620 and 630 in FIG. 6, in response to determination that a particular route in external routing information 710 is valid at a first instance of time (denoted as t0), the particular route is stored in working table 720. The determination at block 620 may be performed based on input from a user (e.g., network administrator), such as during network deployment or at any time validation is completed by the user. Additionally or alternatively, the validation may be performed automatically, such as by detecting that the particular route is up and running for a predetermined period of time, etc. This way, valid routes 721-723 may be maintained in routing table 720 for later access.
[0062] At 640 in FIG. 6, validation engine 170 obtains updated external routing information 730 received by PLR-SR 111 in AS1 101 from external router 112 in AS2 102. Compared to external routing information 710, updated routing information 730 specifies at least one updated route, such as route 733 to network 70.1.0.0/16 via next hop 310.0.0.1 instead of 200.0.0.1. Other routes 731-732 in updated routing information 730 are the same as those 711-712 in routing information 710.
[0063] At 650 and 660 in FIG. 6, in response to determination that a particular updated route to a particular network is invalid or bogus at at a second instance of time (denoted as t1>t0), the updated route may be replaced with a valid (previously working) route. In practice, the detection at block 650 may be performed manually by a user (e.g., network administrator) and/or automatically by validation engine 170 based on any suitable criteria. For example, if a particular remote server from a different AS is not reachable, then an organization for its AS may refer to any suitable global routing monitoring systems to check whether the problem is because of rouge route advertisements. The validation may be manual or automated by checking the global routing monitoring systems. Additionally or alternatively, any suitable routing registries may be used to check for rouge route table entries. In practice, PLR-SR 111 may received multiple sets of updated routing information 730 before any invalid route is detected. Once detected, the correct routing information (i.e., valid at t0) may be advertised to other router(s).
)
sending a notification to the endpoint network device, the notification specifying the destination and including the updated network data (Nagakar;
see e.g. [0051], [0052]
[0051] At 480 in FIG. 4, validation engine 170 configures PLR-SR 111 to advertise valid routes 531-535, but exclude invalid routes 536-537 in route advertisement information 550 destined for external router 112. For example, block 480 may involve generating and sending a notification message to inform PLR-SR 111 that routes 531-535 are valid and routes 536-537 are invalid. If validation engine 170 resides on the same host supporting PLR-SR 111, the notification message may be in the form of an internal message or signal. Otherwise, validation engine 170 may send the notification message via physical network 205, or control-plane channels connecting SDN controller 260 and/or SDN manager 250 with a host supporting PLR-SR 111.
[0052] The notification message is to cause PLR-SR 111 to generate and send route advertisement information 550 to external router 112 in AS2 102. Based on valid routes 531-535, route advertisements 551-555 specify next hop=200.0.0.1 (i.e., an IP address associated with PLR-SR 111) for external router 112 to reach networks 30.1.0.0/16 (see 551), 30.2.0.0/16 (see 552), 30.3.0.0/16 (see 553), 30.4.0.0/16 (see 554) and 30.5.0.0.0/16 (see 555). External router 112 in AS2 102 may in turn advertise these routes (and itself as the next hop) to other routers 113-114 in respective AS3 103 and AS4 104. Route advertisements 551-555 may be sent using any suitable protocol, such as BGP, OSPF, IS-IS, etc. In contrast, since routes 536-537 are invalid, they are not advertised to external router 112. This way, PLR-SR 111 in AS1 101 avoids propagating invalid routing information to AS2 102, AS3 103 and AS4 104.
)
Therefore it would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Nagakar’s scheme. The motivation being the combined solution provides for implanting a known technique resulting in increased efficiencies of managing network traffic.
Gamage in view of Zeng and in further view of Frost and in further view of Nagakar disclose:
determining updated network data associated with the endpoint network device and the destination based on the changed path, where the updated network data includes an updated number of paths or an updated number of entropy values (The combined solution per Nagakaar provides for an updating mechanism);
registering the updated network data in association with the endpoint network device and destination in the first multi-path table at the network aware network device values (The combined solution per Nagakar provides for an updating mechanism which provides the impetus for registering the updated network data (Nagakar, Zeng)
Regarding claim 23, Gamage in view of Zeng and in further view of Frost and in further view of Nagakar disclose disclose The system of claim 22, wherein the second instructions further comprises instruction for:
receiving, at the endpoint network device, the notification specifying the destination and including the updated network data(The combined solution provides for the endpoint network device receiving Nagakar’s notification containing the updated destination-associated network data);
registering the updated network data in the second multi-path table at the endpoint device in association with the destination (The combined solution provides for registering the updated destination associated network data in the duplicated second multipath table at the endpoint device, thereby maintain the endpoint’s forwarding information consistent with the updated path information);
determining a second packet is to be sent to the destination ( The combined solution provides for determining a subsequent packet for transmission for to the destination using the updated destination-associated forwarding information);
accessing the second multi-path table based on the destination to obtain the updated network data (The combined solution provides for accessing the second multipath table using the destination to retrieve the corresponding updated network data for forwarding the subsequent packet); and
determining a second entropy value to include in the second packet based on the updated network data associated with the destination in the second multi-path table (The combined solution provides for determining a second entropy value for inclusion in the subsequent packet based on the updated destination associated multipath information retrieved from the second multipath table, thereby selecting the appropriate updated forwarding path).
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the Examiner should be directed to TODD L. BARKER whose telephone number is (571) 270 0257. The Examiner can normally be reached on Monday through Friday, 7:30am to 5:00pm.
If attempts to reach the Examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the Examiner's supervisor Vivek Srivastava can be reached on (571) 272 7304.
/TODD L BARKER/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2449
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