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 .
DETAILED ACTION
This action is responsive to the response filed July 28, 2026.
Status of Claims
Applicant's election without traverse of Group I (claims 1-9,16-20) in the reply filed on 6/10/26 is acknowledged.
Accordingly Group II (claims 10-15) are non-elected and were withdrawn.
Claims 1-9,16-20 remain pending examination.
Drawings
The drawings filed on 1/22/25 are acceptable.
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 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.
Claims 1-3,5-9,16-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Watari et al (US Publication 20090262660) in view of Dunbar et al (“BGP NLRI App Meta Data for 5G Edge Computing Service”, March 2021).
In reference to claim 1, Watari teaches a method implemented by an egress router of a cloud data center, the method comprising:
sending a first Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) UPDATE message comprising a site- reference identifier (ID) corresponding to a group of routes within a site of the cloud data center; (see Watari, at least ¶s 36,37,41, which teaches sending a BGP update message comprising site identifiers corresponding to a group of routers along a route path within an AS site)
determining that an operating capacity change affecting the group of routes within the site has occurred; (see Watari, at least ¶s 32-34, which teaches determining operational status affecting the group of routers) and
sending a second BGP UPDATE message comprising the site-reference ID and operating capacity information of the site reflecting the operating capacity change. (see Watari, at least ¶s 52-54, which teaches sending a second BGP update comprising the site identifier and operating status change/update of the site)
From the above limitations, Watari fails to explicitly teach BGP update message comprising the operating capacity information. However, Dunbar teaches sharing BGP path information with egrerss and ingress router devices (see Dunbar, at least pgs 1 & 3), and discloses sending a BGP update message which includes capacity information of the path/site (see Dunbar, at least pg 7 lines 7-13 and pg 10). And Dunbar discloses (see Dunbar, at least). It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify Watari based on the teachings of Dunbar for the purpose of providing relevant site/path information for intelligent data routing.
In reference to claim 2, Watari teaches calculating an active percentage of the operating status of the route (see Watari, at least equation #1 and ¶s 33,35,64). Watari fails to explicitly recite the capacity percentage within the update message. However, Dunbar teaches including capacity information within the Update message (see Dunbar at least pg 9 § 3.1 to pg 12 § 3.4).
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify Watari based on the teachings of Dunbar for the purpose as given in claim 1 above.
In reference to claim 3, Watari teaches the group of routes with the site (see Watari, at least ¶s 41-44).
In reference to claim 5, Dunbar teaches the BGP update message comprising TLV, see Dunbar at least pgs 14-15 § 4. It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify Watari based on the teachings of Dunbar for the purpose as given in claim 1 above.
In reference to claim 6, Dunbar teaches the BGP update message comprising transitive optional attributes, see Dunbar at least pgs 14-15 § 4. It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify Watari based on the teachings of Dunbar for the purpose as given in claim 1 above.
In reference to claim 7, Watari teaches subsequent capacity/status changes and sending multiple BGP update messages with the capacity/status change (see Watari, at least ¶s 52-54,63).
In reference to claim 8, Dunbar teaches including in the BGP update message variable capacity changes which increase or decrease, see Dunbar at least pgs 9-10 § 3.1-3.2. It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify Watari based on the teachings of Dunbar for the purpose as given in claim 1 above.
In reference to claim 9, Dunbar teaches including in the BGP update message variable capacity changes which increase or decrease, see Dunbar at least pgs 9-10 § 3.1-3.2. It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify Watari based on the teachings of Dunbar for the purpose as given in claim 1 above.
Claims 16-20 are slight variations of the rejected claims above, and are therefore rejected based on the same rationale.
Claim 4 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Watari et al (US Publication 20090262660) in view of Dunbar et al (“BGP NLRI App Meta Data for 5G Edge Computing Service”, March 2021) in view of Sangli et al (“RFC 4360: BGP Extended Communities Attribute”, February 2006).
In reference to claim 4, Dundar teaches the BGP update message comprising a protocol extension (see Watari, at least pgs 11-12 § 3.4). Watari/Dundar fails to explicitly teach the BGP update message comprising an Opaque Extended Community attribute. However, Sangli teaches improved labeling information for BGP communications, and discloses the Opaque Extended Community attribute (see Sangli, at least). It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify Watari/Dundar based on the teachings of Sangli for the purpose of utilizing improved labeling techniques for managing BGP communications.
Conclusion
For any subsequent response that contains new/amended claims, Applicant is required to cite its corresponding support in the specification. (See MPEP chapter 2163.03 section (I.) and chapter 2163.04 section (I.) and chapter 2163.06) Applicant may not introduce any new matter to the claims or to the specification.
In formulating a response/amendment, Applicant is encouraged to take into consideration the prior art made of record but not relied upon, as it is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. See attached Form 892.
Contact & Status
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to RAMY M OSMAN whose telephone number is (571)272-4008. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri, 9AM-5PM.
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/Ramy M Osman/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2457
September 18, 2026
