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 .
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.
This office action is in response to the communication filed on 6/17/2026.
Claims 1-20 are pending.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments regarding the 35 U.S.C. 101 rejection have been considered but found unpersuasive. See the updated office action.
Applicant’s arguments regarding the 35 U.S.C. 102 rejection have been considered but are moot in view of new ground(s) of rejection.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 101
35 U.S.C. 101 reads as follows:
Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.
Claims 1-8, 17-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 as not falling within one of the four statutory categories of invention. The claim(s) does/do not fall within at least one of the four categories of patent eligible subject matter because:
Claims 1-8, 17-20 are drawn to “a system comprising: a plurality of network nodes and network resources”. Given broadest reasonable interpretation, also in view of Specification, par. [0002], “resources” can be bandwidth and/or computing space. “Nodes” can be read as virtual machines or virtual routers as known in the art. The claimed system does not qualify as a machine and does not fall within at least one of the four categories of patent eligible subject matter.
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.
Claim(s) 1, 3-7, 9, 11-15, 17, 19 is/are rejected under AIA 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chen (US 2016/0380888) in view of Stay et al. (US 2022/0050451, herein “Stay”).
As to claim 1, Chen discloses a system (fig. 1) comprising:
a plurality of network nodes and network resources providing communication between a plurality of source end points and a plurality of destination end points (fig. 1, a network of nodes between a source and a destination),
wherein a first source end point transmits data to a first destination end point by:
obtaining a reservation in advance to reserve an end-to-end path for a given time interval by specifying a source of the data, a destination of the data, an amount of the data to be exchanged, and a time at which the data is to be transmitted, wherein the reservation begins at the time at which the data is to be transmitted ([0006], a method implemented by a network element (NE) configured as a TTS controller, comprising computing, via a processor of the NE, a path in a network for a temporal LSP, wherein the path satisfies a network constraint in a time interval comprising a predetermined start time and a predetermined end time, reserving, at a current time prior to the predetermined start time via the processor, a network resource along the path computed for the temporal LSP, wherein the network resource is reserved for the temporal LSP to carry traffic in the time interval, and creating the temporal LSP in the network by sending, via a transmitter of the NE, a route configuration instruction to each node along the path of the temporal LSP. In some embodiments, the disclosure also includes reserving the network resource by reserving a bandwidth on a link along the path in the time interval for the temporal LSP… Reservations are made by users in [0005], [0062]).
Chen does not explicitly disclose the first source end point makes a request for reservation.
Stay discloses a source end point makes a request for reservation (fig. 5-8, [0081], A connection is opened by a connection open service request from a connection originator module to a connection target module through zero or more intermediate modules via messages sent over backplane(s) and/or network(s). An originator is a hardware module generating the connection open service request. A target module is a hardware module receiving the connection open service request… The connection open request message contains parameters defining the connection such as a connection type, data size to transfer in each direction, a duration of a periodic interval at which the message is transmitted, a connection timeout duration, connection path data, defining an end-to-end path from the originator module to the target module through intermediate modules, and the like. These parameters are used to allocate resources (e.g., CPU bandwidth, memory, and network bandwidth) to service the connection at runtime on a module associated with the connection).
It would have been obvious to one skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to apply Stay’s resource reservation origination to Chen’s teachings of end-to-end resource reservation in order to implement specific source origination of reservation request and giving for more functionalities to the source.
As to claim 9, Chen discloses a method comprising:
allowing a first source end point of a plurality of source end points to transmit data to a first destination end point of a plurality of destination end points interconnected by a plurality of network resources of a network by: obtaining a reservation in advance to reserve an end-to-end path for a given time interval by specifying a source of the data, a destination of the data, an amount of the data to be exchanged, and a time at which the data is to be transmitted, wherein the reservation begins at the time at which the data is to be transmitted ([0006], a method implemented by a network element (NE) configured as a TTS controller, comprising computing, via a processor of the NE, a path in a network for a temporal LSP, wherein the path satisfies a network constraint in a time interval comprising a predetermined start time and a predetermined end time, reserving, at a current time prior to the predetermined start time via the processor, a network resource along the path computed for the temporal LSP, wherein the network resource is reserved for the temporal LSP to carry traffic in the time interval, and creating the temporal LSP in the network by sending, via a transmitter of the NE, a route configuration instruction to each node along the path of the temporal LSP. In some embodiments, the disclosure also includes reserving the network resource by reserving a bandwidth on a link along the path in the time interval for the temporal LSP… Reservations are made by users in [0005], [0062]).
Chen does not explicitly disclose the first source end point making a request for reservation.
Stay discloses a source end point makes a request for reservation (fig. 5-8, [0081]).
It would have been obvious to one skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to apply Stay’s resource reservation origination to Chen’s teachings of end-to-end resource reservation in order to implement specific source origination of reservation request and giving for more functionalities to the source.
As to claim 17, Chen discloses a system (fig. 1, 11) comprising:
a plurality of network nodes and network resources providing data transmission between first end points and second end points by: using information about a size ([0060], bandwidth constraint), route, and timing of data exchanges to pre-allocate resources in the system for a predefined time frame in advance to commence data transmission at a time when an allocation time frame begins, wherein the allocation time frame begins at a time at which the data exchanges are to be transmitted (fig. 5-8, [0081], A connection is opened by a connection open service request from a connection originator module to a connection target module through zero or more intermediate modules via messages sent over backplane(s) and/or network(s). An originator is a hardware module generating the connection open service request. A target module is a hardware module receiving the connection open service request… The connection open request message contains parameters defining the connection such as a connection type, data size to transfer in each direction, a duration of a periodic interval at which the message is transmitted, a connection timeout duration, connection path data, defining an end-to-end path from the originator module to the target module through intermediate modules, and the like. These parameters are used to allocate resources (e.g., CPU bandwidth, memory, and network bandwidth) to service the connection at runtime on a module associated with the connection.)
Chen does not disclose using a common time reference among the first end points and the second end points.
Stay discloses using a common time reference among the first end points and the second end points ([0167], common clock at each module for resource allocation)
It would have been obvious to one skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to apply Stay’s resource reservation origination and common clock reference to Chen’s teachings of end-to-end resource reservation in order to implement specific source origination of reservation request and giving for more functionalities to the source and also maintain time consistency among the network nodes.
As to claim 3, in addition to the rationale in claim 1, Chen-Stay discloses the request is sent to an access node that forwards the request to other nodes in the system where each of the other nodes keeps track of an availability status of its own resources or resources of a subset of the system (Stay, [0103]-[0106], per hop connection resource reservation at each node on an end-to-end path from an originator node (source) to a target node (destination), wherein each node allocates resources using a connection control data structure).
As to claim 4, in addition to the rationale in claim 1, Chen-Stay discloses the time is expressed according to a common time reference that all of the plurality of source end points and the plurality of destination end points share (Stay, [0167], common clock at each module on the path).
As to claim 5, in addition to the rationale in claim 1, Chen-Stay discloses when the first source end point makes the request to transmit the data to the first destination end point, a centralized network controller or an access node or other network nodes allocate network resources of the plurality of network resources on one or more paths between the first source end point and the first destination end point (Stay, [0103]-[0106]).
As to claim 6, Chen discloses the reservation has a time validity that starts at a time specified in the request ([0006]).
As to claim 7, Chen discloses the first source end point begins data transmission when the reservation starts ([0006]).
Claims 11-15 recite the same limitations in claims 3-7 respectively and are therefore rejected under the same rationale.
Claim 19 recites the same limitations in claim 2 and is therefore rejected under the same rationale.
Claim(s) 2, 8, 10, 16, 18, 20 is/are rejected under AIA 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chen-Stay in view of Bai et al. (US 2025/0337682).
As to claims 2, 10, 18, Chen-Stay does not disclose the request is sent to a centralized network controller that keeps track of availability status of the plurality of network resources.
Bai discloses the request is sent to a centralized network controller that keeps track of availability status of the plurality of network resources (fig. 2, [0039], [0040], [0068], [0069], a centralized controller for reserving resources for a machine learning job between source and destination GPUs or AI nodes (clusters)).
It would have been obvious to one skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to apply Bai’s centralized controller to Chen-Stay’s teachings of end-to-end resource reservation in order to provide end-to-end resource reservation control and management centrally for example at a service provider.
As to claims 8, 16, 20, Chen-Stay does not disclose the plurality of source end points and the plurality of destination end points include at least artificial intelligence (AI) clusters.
Bai discloses the plurality of source end points and the plurality of destination end points include at least artificial intelligence (AI) clusters ([0022], [0039], [0040], fig. 2, a centralized controller for reserving resources for a machine learning job between source and destination GPUs or AI nodes (clusters)).
It would have been obvious to one skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to apply Bai’s machine learning clusters to Chen-Stay’s teachings of end-to-end resource reservation in order to provide end-to-end resource reservation for a specific scenario of machine learning jobs distributed among ML clusters.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure is included in form PTO 892.
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. 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.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to HIEU T HOANG whose telephone number is (571) 270-1253. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri 9 AM -5 PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Vivek Srivastava can be reached on 571-272-7304. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/HIEU T HOANG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2449
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