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 currently pending in this application.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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.
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.
Claim(s) 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over YERRAPUREDDY et al. (Pre-Grant Publication No. US 2023/0198889 A1), hereinafter Yerra, and further in view of Medved et al. (Pre-Grant Publication No. US 2012/0144066 A1), hereinafter Medved.
2. With respect to claims 1, 8, and 16, Yerra taught a method for providing paths to neighboring nodes in a multi-node network (0122), the method comprising: generating, in a control plane for the multi-area network, one or more Type-Length-Values for one or more networks in the multi-node network connected to a network in the multi-node network (0089, where the control plane can be seen in 0010); sending, from the control plane, the one or more TLVs to one or more nodes in the network (0075); generating, in the one or more nodes, one or more Link State Protocol data units, comprising at least one of the one or more TLVs (0075); flooding, from the one or more nodes, the network with the one or more LSPs (0060); and updating, in the network, a Link State Database for the network based on the one or more LSPs (0060 & 0105).
However, Yerra did not explicitly state that the nodes were area nodes and that the multi-node network was a multi-area network. On the other hand, Medved did teach that the nodes were area nodes and that the multi-node network was a multi-area network (0060). Both of the systems of Yerra and Medved are directed towards managing network traffic and therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art, at the time of the effective filing of the invention, to modify the teachings of Yerra, to utilize managing multi-area networks, as Yerra likely already performs said features but it is not explicitly stated.
3. As for claims 2, 9, and 17, they are rejected on the same basis as claims 1, 8, and 16 (respectively). In addition, Yerra taught advertising, in the LSDB, the one or more networks as accessible to the network (0090 & 0100).
4. As for claims 3, 10, and 18, they are rejected on the same basis as claims 1, 8, and 16 (respectively). In addition, Yerra taught wherein at least one of the one or more nodes comprises a virtual node representing an additional network in the multi-area network to the network (0087).
5. As for claims 4 and 11, they are rejected on the same basis as claims 1 and 8 (respectively). In addition, Medved taught wherein at least one of the one or more nodes comprises a boundary node in the network, wherein the boundary node is on a boundary between the network and an additional network in the multi-area network (0117, where the boundary nodes are across network boundaries in accordance with 0004).
6. As for claims 5 and 19, they are rejected on the same basis as claims 4 and 18 (respectively). In addition, Yerra taught generating, in the boundary node, one or more other LSPs, comprising at least one of the one or more TLVs; flooding, from the boundary node, the additional network in the multi-area network with the one or more other LSPs, wherein the additional network is adjacent to the network; and updating, in the additional network, an additional LSDB for the additional network based on the one or more other LSPs (0075 & 0089, where this is in a node and a node being a boundary node was previously shown by Medved: 0117).
7. As for claims 6, 14, and 20, they are rejected on the same basis as claims 4, 11, and 18 (respectively). In addition, Yerra taught generating, in the boundary node, an additional LSP comprising a TLV for the network; flooding, from the boundary node, the additional network in the multi-area network with the LSP, wherein the additional network is adjacent to the network; and updating, in the additional network, an additional LSDB for the additional network based on the LSP (0075 & 0089, where this is in a node and a node being a boundary node was previously shown by Medved: 0117).
8. As for claims 7 and 15, they are rejected on the same basis as claims 1 and 8 (respectively). In addition, Yerra taught wherein each of the one or more TLVs comprises one or more of a network area identifier for the network, one or more neighbor area IDs of the one or more networks, and one or more metrics for each one of the one or more neighbor area IDs (0114).
9. As for claim 12, it is rejected on the same basis as claim 11. In addition, Yerra taught wherein the boundary node is further configured to: generate one or more other LSPs, comprising at least one of the one or more TLVs (0075); and flood the additional network in the multi-area network with the one or more other LSPs, wherein the additional network is adjacent to the network (0060).
10. As for claim 13, it is rejected on the same basis as claim 12. In addition, Yerra taught further comprising an additional node in the additional network configured to update an additional LSDB for the additional network based on the one or more other LSPs (0104-0105).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
(a) Previdi et al. (Pre-Grant Publication No. US 2015/0003283 A1), 0025, 0029, 0074.
(b) Keesara et al. (Pre-Grant Publication No. US 2019/0222441 A1), 0010, 0031.
(c) Chunduri et al. (Pre-Grant Publication No. US 2019/0097928 A1), 0051, 0066, 0082.
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/JOSEPH L GREENE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2443
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