Detailed Action
1. This Office Action is responsive to the Amendment filed 06/12/2026. Claims 1, 14, 15 and 20 have been amended. Claims 12-13 have been cancelled. Claims 1-11 and 14-20 are pending for examination. The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Claim Objections
2. Claims 1, 15 and 10 are objected to because of the following informalities:
The limitations “the data queue” should be “the at least one data queue”. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
3. 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.
4. Claims 1, 15 and 20 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.
Claims 1, 15 and 20 recite the limitation "by a power management controller" in lines 12, 14 and 8, correspondingly. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
5. The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(d):
(d) REFERENCE IN DEPENDENT FORMS.—Subject to subsection (e), a claim in dependent form shall contain a reference to a claim previously set forth and then specify a further limitation of the subject matter claimed. A claim in dependent form shall be construed to incorporate by reference all the limitations of the claim to which it refers.
6. Claim 14 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(d) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, 4th paragraph, as being of improper dependent form for failing to further limit the subject matter of the claim upon which it depends, or for failing to include all the limitations of the claim upon which it depends.
Claim 14 recites “wherein the modified value is less than the current queue depth of the at least one data queue” is similar to “the modified value, which is less than the current queue depth of the data queue” of independent claim 1, hence, it fails to further limit the subject matter of the claim upon which it depends.
Applicant may cancel the claim(s), amend the claim(s) to place the claim(s) in proper dependent form, rewrite the claim(s) in independent form, or present a sufficient showing that the dependent claim(s) complies with the statutory requirements.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
7. 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.
8. Claims 1-10 and 14-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over KIM (US 2012/0096299 A1), in view of Weiner et al. (US 2024/0364633 A1), and further in view of Wiberg et al. (US 2005/0262266 A1) and JEON et al. (US 2020/0192582 A1), hereinafter “Weiner, Wiberg and JEON”, accordingly.
9. As to claim 1, KIM teaches a network device (Fig. 1, USB dongle 120), comprising:
a processor (Fig. 2, control unit 220);
a network controller configured to provide access to a network (Fig. 2, communication unit 230); and
a memory (Fig. 2, storage unit 240) communicatively coupled to the processor (Fig. 2, [0027]), wherein the memory comprises a power management logic that is configured to:
detect a power surge event associated with the network device ([0029-0031]: the power detection unit 215 detects power consumption of the USB dongle is equal to or greater than the preset maximum power).
KIM does not explicitly teach “mimic a congestion event for the network device that reduces an initial data throughput of the network device at a time of the power surge event to a diminished data throughput”.
In an analogous art, Weiner teaches that controller 80 will send a network congestion notification even no network congestion exists. In this sense, notification can be regarded as a “fake” or “imitated” network congestion notification. The purpose of the fake notification is to cause remote network device 28 to reduce the communication rate of the packet flow, for the sake of reducing memory-access bandwidth in network device 24) (Fig. 1 and [0051]). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of KIM and Weiner to achieve the claimed invention to allow the system to cause the remote source/transmitting device to reduce the communication rate of the packet flow for the sake of reducing memory-access bandwidth in the network device and eliminating the need for modifications in the remote source/transmitting device ([0051]).
KIM-Weiner does not explicitly teach “determine a modified a value for at least one data queue based on a current queue depth of the [at least one] data queue; and reduce a congestion threshold associated with the [at least one] data queue an initial value to a modified value”.
In an analogous art, Wiberg teaches “determine a modified value for at least one data queue based on a current queue depth of the at least one data queue ([0058]: If the queue length is determined to be less than the congestion threshold by a predetermined amount then the threshold adjustment is decreased with a positive constant “delta” unless the [reduced/modified] congestion threshold Th has reached a minimum Active Queue Management threshold ThAQMmin.); and “reduce a congestion threshold associated with at least one data queue of the one or more data queues from an initial value to a modified value” ([0052-0063]: the congestion threshold may be fixed, but preferably it is moveable. It can then be moved according to different primary criteria such as link characteristics, e.g., round trip time of the link and data rate or bit rate of the link. The link characteristics may then be used to calculate link capacity and thereby to set the congestion threshold. It can be said that if the bit rate is high, then it can be permitted to have a longer queue length in the buffer and vice versa to reduce). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of KIM-Weiner and Wiberg to achieve the claimed invention to allow the system to adjust/set the congestion threshold based on the link characteristics to control the link congestion.
KIM-Weiner-Wiberg does not explicitly teach “reset the maximum buffer capacity of the [at least one] data queue to the modified value, which is less than the current queue depth of the [at least one] data queue”.
In an analogous art, JEON discloses “reset the maximum buffer capacity of the [at least one] data queue to the modified value, which is less than the current queue depth of the [at least one] data queue” ([0046-0047]: the buffer adjustment circuit may adjust (i.e., reset) the foreground buffer capacity based on a preset adjustment value. The [preset] threshold value may be less than a minimum value (i.e., can be implemented as less than the current queue depth of the data queue) that may be set as the foreground buffer capacity). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of KIM-Weiner-Wiberg and JEON to achieve the claimed invention to allow the system to adjust/set the buffer capacity in response to the adaptive latency estimate (Roncero, [0007]).
10. As to claim 2, KIM-Weiner-Wiberg-JEON teaches the network device of claim 1, wherein a power consumption of the network device decreases based on the reduction of the initial data throughput to the diminished data throughput (KIM, [0032]: the control unit 220 can sequentially reduce the data throughput until the power consumption is lower than the maximum power, i.e., the power consumption decreases).
11. As to claim 3, KIM-Weiner-Wiberg-JEON teaches the network device of claim 2, wherein based on the decrease in the power consumption, the network device recovers from the power surge event (KIM, [0032]: the control unit 220 can sequentially reduce the data throughput until the power consumption is lower than the maximum power, i.e., recovers from the power surge event).
12. As to claim 4, KIM-Weiner-Wiberg-JEON teaches the network device of claim 1, wherein the power management logic is further configured to regulate power consumption in the network device based on the mimicked congestion event (KIM, [0042-0043]: the power consumption can be regulated at different levels 420a, 420b, and 420c).
13. As to claim 5, KIM-Weiner-Wiberg-JEON teaches the network device of claim 1, wherein to detect the power surge event, the power management logic is further configured to monitor one or more power usage metrics associated with the network device (KIM, [0042-0043]: the power consumption can be lowered from a first power consumption level 420a to a second power consumption level 420b, and to a third power consumption level 420c).
14. As to claim 6, KIM-Weiner-Wiberg-JEON teaches the network device of claim 5, wherein at least one power usage metric of the one or more power usage metrics corresponds to a power consumption by the network device (KIM, [0042-0043]: the power consumption can be lowered from a first power consumption level 420a to a second power consumption level 420b, and to a third power consumption level 420c).
15. As to claim 7, KIM-Weiner-Wiberg-JEON teaches the network device of claim 6, wherein the power management logic is further configured to: compare the at least one power usage metric with a threshold value associated with the network device; and determine, based on a result of the comparison, that the at least one power usage metric is greater than or equal to the threshold value, wherein the power surge event is detected in response to determining that the at least one power usage metric is greater than or equal to the threshold value (KIM, [0036]: The USP dongle detects the power consumption at and after a point of time when the USP dongle is connected to the apparatus to determine whether the detected power consumption is equal to or greater than the preset maximum power).
16. As to claim 8, KIM-Weiner-Wiberg-JEON teaches the network device of claim 5, wherein the one or more power usage metrics comprise one or more of an average data byte size handled by the network device or an instantaneous total bandwidth utilized by the network device (KIM, [0035]: when the data throughput is controlled according to the measured power consumption, the data throughput can be set as 1 Mbps when the power consumption is 700 mA and set as 0.7 Mbps when the power consumption is 600 mA).
17. As to claim 9, KIM-Weiner-Wiberg-JEON teaches the network device of claim 5, wherein the power management logic is further configured to monitor the one or more power usage metrics in real time or near real time (KIM, [0025]: the USB dongle 120 detects the power consumption at and after a point of time when the USB dongle 120 is connected to the apparatus 110, i.e., in real time or near real time).
18. As to claim 10, KIM-Weiner-Wiberg-JEON teaches the network device of claim 5, wherein the power management logic is further configured to monitor the one or more power usage metrics at a plurality of periodic time intervals (KIM, [0042-0043]: it is assumed that the data throughput is at a first stage 410a that requires a first power consumption level 420a. If the first power consumption 420a is maintained at a preset level of power consumption or a higher level for a predetermined threshold time period, the USB dongle switches to the data throughput at a second stage 410b … Next, the USB dongle 120 determines whether the second power consumption 420b is maintained at a present level of power consumption or a higher level for a predetermined threshold time period, the USB dongle lowers the data throughput to a third level 410c).
19. As to claim 14, KIM-Weiner-Wiberg-JEON teaches the network device of claim 1, wherein the modified value is less than the current queue depth of the at least one data queue ([0058]: If the queue length is determined to be less than the congestion threshold by a predetermined amount then the threshold adjustment is decreased with a positive constant “delta” unless the congestion threshold Th has reached a minimum Active Queue Management threshold ThAQMmin. Since the congestion threshold Th is reduced by a threshold adjustment, hence the modified/new value is less than the current queue depth).
20. As to claims 15-20, claims 15-20 are corresponding control device and method claims that recite similar limitations as of network device claims 1, 5, 7, 9-10 and do not contain any additional limitations with respect to novelty and/or inventive steps; therefore, they are rejected under the same rationale.
21. Claim 11 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over KIM-Weiner-Wiberg-JEON, and further in view of Bergeron et al. (US 2023/0179506 A1), hereinafter “Bergeron”.
22. As to claim 11, KIM-Weiner-Wiberg-JEON teaches the network device of claim 1, but does not explicitly teach “mimic the congestion event based on at least one of a congestion management protocol or a flow control protocol enabled on the network device”.
In an analogous art, Bergeron teaches “mimic the congestion event based on at least one of a congestion management protocol or a flow control protocol enabled on the network device” ([0115-0125] and claim 3: the adaptive traffic behaviors includes mimicking or emulating transmission control protocol (TCP) packet streams or mimicking or emulating packets streams that exhibit a congestion control technique or a transmission control technique).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary sill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of KIM-Weiner and Bergeron to achieve the claimed invention to allow a network entity to be configured for maintaining and/or adjusting traffic pressure on a switching fabric to control packet rate adjustment behaviors associated with one or more traffic engines (Bergeron, [0020]).
Response to Arguments
23. Applicant’s arguments filed 06/12/2026 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Conclusion
24. Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
25. The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant’s disclosure:
Sun et al. (US 2006/0045008 A1) (Abstract)
Roncero Izquierdo et al. (US 2017/0063959 A1) (paragraphs [0065-0067]).
26. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to QUANG N. NGUYEN whose telephone number is (571) 272-3886.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s SPE, KAMAL B. DIVECHA, can be reached at (571) 272-5863. The fax phone number for the organization is (571) 273-8300.
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/QUANG N NGUYEN/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2453
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