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 .
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)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1-5, 8, 14, 16-17, and 19-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Weeber et al. (US20190356389A1).
Regarding claim 1, Weeber et al. discloses A first optical network device (Fig. 1) comprising:
an optical transceiver (Fig. 1; Fig. 3; the transceiver 350 in ONU 300);
a computing device (Fig. 1; Fig. 3; the processor 360) in communication with the optical transceiver and configured to control transmission and reception at the optical transceiver (Fig. 1; Fig. 3; Fig. 7; Para. 55; FIG. 7 is a flow diagram illustrating another example embodiment of a method including steps that may be performed by an ONU, such as ONU 330. The flow diagram of Fig. 7 shows control of reception and transmission);
a memory (Fig. 1; Fig. 3; the memory 370) storing computer readable media having computer executable code, which when executed by the computing device, causes the first optical network device (Fig. 1; Fig. 3; Para. 27; The memory 370 may store computer readable instructions for operating the ONU 300 and also information to be sent from the ONU 300 or information received from the OLT 200) to:
receive a broadcast message from a second optical network device through an
optical network and via the optical transceiver (Fig. 7; Fig. 6; Para. 56; Para. 50; At S710, the transceiver 350 may receive a pre-equalization delay Pre-Eqdi from the OLT 200. At S610, the processor 230, via the MAC 250, may cause the transceiver 240 and the laser 245 to broadcast the pre-equalization delay);
acquire an estimate of fiber length associated with the optical network based on at
least one of: a physical characteristic of the broadcast message or information carried by the
broadcast message (Fig. 7; Fig. 6; Para. 56; Para. 50; Para. 30; At S710, the transceiver 350 may receive a pre-equalization delay Pre-Eqdi from the OLT 200. At S610, the processor 230, via the MAC 250, may cause the transceiver 240 and the laser 245 to broadcast the pre-equalization delay. The pre-equalization delay represent a guess of how far away one of the unranged ONUs 320 and 330 is from the OLT 200);
determine a timing of a response message to be sent by the first optical network device (Fig. 1; Fig. 3; Fig. 7; Para. 56; At S730, the processor 360 may cause the ONU to wait to respond until after each of the Response time RspTimei, the pre-equalization delay Pre-Eqdi, and the time StartTimei have passed before sending a response) and to be received during a time window at the second optical network device (Fig. 1; Fig. 6; Para. 51; At S640, the processor 230 may determine whether a runt response RR is received at the OLT 200 during the small quiet window based on signals received by the transceiver 240. If the processor 230 determines that no runt response has been received in the small quiet window, at S645, The OLT 200 may change at least one of the response delay TRD and the timing delay Tdelay as disclosed above using the processor 230 and the transceiver 240), wherein the timing of the response message is determined at least in part based upon the estimate of the fiber length (Fig. 1; Fig. 3; Fig. 7; Para. 56; Para. 30; At S730, the processor 360 may cause the ONU to wait to respond until after each of the Response time RspTimei, the pre-equalization delay Pre-Eqdi, and the time StartTimei have passed before sending a response. The pre-equalization delay represent a guess of how far away one of the unranged ONUs 320 and 330 is from the OLT 200); and
transmit the response message via the optical transceiver to the second optical network device according to the timing (Fig. 1; Fig. 3; Fig. 7; Para. 56; At S740, the processor 360, via the MAC 380, cause the transceiver 350 to respond to the first ranging grant by sending a runt response RR at a low power of the laser 355, the low power being lower than normal power for sending data packets).
Regarding claim 2, the present system discloses The first optical network device of claim 1, as described and applied above, wherein the computer readable media further includes computer executable code to cause the first optical network device to:
perform a round-trip ranging operation with the second optical network device subsequent to transmitting the response message (Fig. 7; the second ranging grant is received at S750 after sending runt response RR at S740), wherein the round-trip ranging operation generates a determination of the fiber length having more accuracy than does the estimate of the fiber length (Fig. 7; Para. 60; Para. 23; At S770, the transceiver 350 may receive at least one communication from OLT 200 establishing a ranged state with ONU 330. The at least one communication includes an equalization delay for the ONU 330 to use in further communications with the OLT 200. The flight times depend on the length of fiber optic cable between the OLT 200 and the ONU 310. Thus, ranged ONUs at different distances from the OLT 200 is assigned different equalization delays).
Regarding claim 3, the present system discloses The first optical network device of claim 1, as described and applied above, comprising an optical networking unit (ONU) (Fig. 1; the ONU 310 to 330 are shown).
Regarding claim 4, the present system discloses The first optical network device of claim 3, as described and applied above, wherein the computer executable code to transmit the response message includes computer executable code to cause the first optical network device to transmit the response message to an optical line terminal (OLT) (Fig. 5; the communication occurs between ONUs 320 and 330 and OLT 200).
Regarding claim 5, the present system discloses The first optical network device of claim 4, as described and applied above, wherein the optical network comprises a passive optical network (PON) (Fig. 1; Para. 21; The PON 100 may include at least one Optical Line Terminal (OLT) 200 and at least one Optical Network Unit (ONU)).
Regarding claim 8, the present system discloses The first optical network device of claim 1, wherein the information carried by the broadcast message identifies the estimate of fiber length, and wherein the computer executable code to cause the first optical network device to acquire the estimate of the fiber length comprises code to: parse the broadcast message, including identifying the estimate of the fiber length (Fig. 7; Fig. 6; Para. 56; Para. 50; Para. 30; At S710, the transceiver 350 may receive a pre-equalization delay Pre-Eqdi from the OLT 200. At S610, the processor 230, via the MAC 250, may cause the transceiver 240 and the laser 245 to broadcast the pre-equalization delay. The pre-equalization delay represent a guess of how far away one of the unranged ONUs 320 and 330 is from the OLT 200).
Regarding claim 14, Weeber et al discloses A method performed by a first optical network device within an optical network (Fig. 1), the method comprising:
receiving a broadcast message from a second optical network device, the broadcast message received over the optical network (Fig. 7; Fig. 6; Para. 56; Para. 50; At S710, the transceiver 350 may receive a pre-equalization delay Pre-Eqdi from the OLT 200. At S610, the processor 230, via the MAC 250, may cause the transceiver 240 and the laser 245 to broadcast the pre-equalization delay);
determining a preliminary equalization delay for the first optical network device based on
at least one of: a physical characteristic of the broadcast message or information carried by the
broadcast message (Fig. 7; Fig. 6; Para. 56; Para. 50; Para. 30; At S710, the transceiver 350 may receive a pre-equalization delay Pre-Eqdi from the OLT 200. At S610, the processor 230, via the MAC 250, may cause the transceiver 240 and the laser 245 to broadcast the pre-equalization delay. The pre-equalization delay represent a guess of how far away one of the unranged ONUs 320 and 330 is from the OLT 200); and
transmitting the response message from the first optical network device to the second
optical network device according to the preliminary equalization delay (Fig. 1; Fig. 3; Fig. 7; Para. 56; At S740, the processor 360, via the MAC 380, cause the transceiver 350 to respond to the first ranging grant by sending a runt response RR at a low power of the laser 355, the low power being lower than normal power for sending data packets).
Regarding claim 16, the present system discloses The method of claim 14, as described and applied above, further comprising:
acquiring an estimate of fiber length associated with the optical network based on at least one of: the physical characteristic of the broadcast message or the information carried by the broadcast message (Fig. 7; Fig. 6; Para. 56; Para. 50; Para. 30; At S710, the transceiver 350 may receive a pre-equalization delay Pre-Eqdi from the OLT 200. At S610, the processor 230, via the MAC 250, may cause the transceiver 240 and the laser 245 to broadcast the pre-equalization delay. The pre-equalization delay represent a guess of how far away one of the unranged ONUs 320 and 330 is from the OLT 200).
Regarding claim 17, the present system discloses The method of claim 16, wherein determining the timing of the response message comprises: determining the preliminary equalization distance based on the estimate of fiber length (Fig. 1; Para. 30; The pre-equalization delay represent a guess of how far away one of the unranged ONUs 320 and 330 is from the OLT 200).
Regarding claim 19, the present system discloses The method of claim 14, as described and applied above, wherein the broadcast message is received as part of a discovery process performed by the second optical network device (Fig. 7; Para. 56; At S710, the transceiver 350 may receive a pre-equalization delay Pre-Eqd.sub.i from the OLT 200).
Regarding claim 20, the present system discloses The method of claim 14, as described and applied above, further comprising: applying a randomized delay to the response message based at least in part on information received in the broadcast message (Fig. 1; Fig. 3; Fig. 7; Para. 56; Para. 30; At S730, the processor 360 may cause the ONU to wait to respond until after each of the Response time RspTimei, the pre-equalization delay Pre-Eqdi, and the time StartTimei have passed before sending a response. The pre-equalization delay represent a guess of how far away one of the unranged ONUs 320 and 330 is from the OLT 200).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 10-13 are allowed.
Claims 6-7, 9, 15, 18 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 JAI M LEE whose telephone number is (571)272-5870. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9:5:30 PM.
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JAI M. LEE
Examiner
Art Unit 2634
/JAI M LEE/Examiner, Art Unit 2634
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