DETAILED ACTION
This is in response to US App. 19/174,443, which is a CON of 17/858,236 (now US 12308952). Claims 1-20 have been examined.
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 (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.
Double Patenting
A rejection based on double patenting of the “same invention” type finds its support in the language of 35 U.S.C. 101 which states that “whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process... may obtain a patent therefor...” (Emphasis added). Thus, the term “same invention,” in this context, means an invention drawn to identical subject matter. See Miller v. Eagle Mfg. Co., 151 U.S. 186 (1894); In re Vogel, 422 F.2d 438, 164 USPQ 619 (CCPA 1970); In re Ockert, 245 F.2d 467, 114 USPQ 330 (CCPA 1957).
A statutory type (35 U.S.C. 101) double patenting rejection can be overcome by canceling or amending the claims that are directed to the same invention so they are no longer coextensive in scope. The filing of a terminal disclaimer cannot overcome a double patenting rejection based upon 35 U.S.C. 101.
Claims 1-23 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 as claiming the same invention as that of claims 1-21 of prior U.S. Patent No. 12308952 (hereafter US PAT ‘952). This is a statutory double patenting rejection. All limitations in in the instant application and those in the US PAT ‘952 are inherently identical (see the table below). The only non-verbatim limitation in independent claims 1, 11, and 19, which recites “determines a context in which the PHC is disciplined” is inherently identical to the limitation in independent claim 1, 10, and 17 of the US PAT’952, which recites “determines, based on the contextual metadata, whether the PHC meets a reliability threshold.” Applicant’s own Specification describes this inherent and inextricable relationship by stating that “the application 148 may determine a reliability of the PHC 120 based on the context in which the PHC 120 is disciplined, based on the analysis of the contextual metadata 152 [para. 0050].” In other words, the contextual metadata provides the context for determining a reliability of the PHC, where not meeting threshold reliability results in the PHC being disciplined. Unreliability of the PHC is inherent to discipling the PHC.
Instant Application
US PAT ‘952
1. A computing device, comprising: an interface that receives time information from a Precision Time Protocol (PTP) Hardware Clock (PHC) of another device along with contextual metadata associated with the time information; a processor; and memory coupled with the processor, wherein the memory comprises at least one application that is executable by the processor and, upon execution by the processor: analyzes the contextual metadata associated with the time information; and determines a context in which the PHC is disciplined.
2. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the at least one application, upon execution by the processor, determines a reliability of the PHC based on the context in which the PHC is disciplined.
3. The computing device of claim 2, wherein the at least one application, upon execution by the processor, discards the time information received from the another device upon determining that the reliability of the PHC fails to meet at least a predetermined reliability threshold.
4. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the contextual metadata describes an operational change of the another device.
5. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the contextual metadata describes an oscillator temperature variation of the another device.
6. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the contextual metadata describes an elapsed time since the PHC of the another device has last been disciplined.
7. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the contextual metadata is received in a packet that also contains the time information.
8. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the contextual metadata is received in a first packet and wherein the time information is received in a second packet.
9. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the at least one application, upon execution by the processor, makes a routing decision based on the time information and based upon the context in which the PHC is disciplined meets at least one contextual criterion.
10. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the time information describes at least one of time, frequency, and phase.
11. A network device, comprising:a Precision Time Protocol (PTP) Hardware Clock (PHC); and an interface that transmits, to another device, time information derived from the PHC along with contextual metadata that enables an application of the another device to determine a context in which the PHC is disciplined.
12. The network device of claim 11, wherein the time information and the contextual metadata are encoded together.
13. The network device of claim 11, wherein the time information and the contextual metadata are transmitted via the interface via a common packet.
14. The network device of claim 11, wherein the time information is transmitted via a first packet and wherein the contextual metadata is transmitted via a second packet.
15. The network device of claim 11, wherein the contextual metadata describes an operational change of the network device.
16. The network device of claim 11, wherein the contextual metadata describes an oscillator temperature variation.
17. The network device of claim 11, wherein the contextual metadata describes an elapsed time since the PHC has last been disciplined.
18. The network device of claim 11, wherein the time information describes at least one of time, frequency, and phase.
1. A computing device, comprising: an interface that receives time information from a Precision Time Protocol (PTP) Hardware Clock (PHC) of a network device along with contextual metadata associated with the time information; a processor; and memory coupled with the processor, wherein the memory comprises at least one application that is executable by the processor and, upon execution by the processor: analyzes the contextual metadata associated with the time information; and determines, based on the contextual metadata, whether the PHC meets a reliability threshold, and wherein the contextual metadata comprises an oscillator temperature variation of the network device.
2. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the at least one application, upon execution by the processor, determines a reliability of the PHC based on a context in which the PHC is disciplined.
3. The computing device of claim 2, wherein the at least one application, upon execution by the processor, discards the time information received from the network device upon determining that the reliability of the PHC fails to meet at least the reliability threshold.
4. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the contextual metadata further describes an operational change of the network device.
5. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the contextual metadata further describes an elapsed time since the PHC of the network device has last been disciplined.
6. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the contextual metadata is received in a packet that also contains the time information.
7. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the contextual metadata is received in a first packet and wherein the time information is received in a second packet.
8. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the at least one application, upon execution by the processor, makes a routing decision based on the time information and based upon a context in which the PHC is disciplined meets at least one contextual criterion.
9. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the time information describes at least one of time, frequency, and phase.
10. A network device, comprising: a Precision Time Protocol (PTP) Hardware Clock (PHC); and an interface that transmits, to a computing device, time information derived from the PHC along with contextual metadata that enables an application of the computing device to determine, based on the contextual metadata, whether the PHC meets a reliability threshold, wherein the contextual metadata comprises an oscillator temperature variation of the network device.
11. The network device of claim 10, wherein the time information and the contextual metadata are encoded together.
12. The network device of claim 10, wherein the time information and the contextual metadata are transmitted via the interface via a common packet.
13. The network device of claim 10, wherein the time information is transmitted via a first packet and wherein the contextual metadata is transmitted via a second packet.
14. The network device of claim 10, wherein the contextual metadata further describes an operational change of the network device.
15. The network device of claim 10, wherein the contextual metadata further describes an elapsed time since the PHC has last been disciplined.
16. The network device of claim 10, wherein the time information describes at least one of time, frequency, and phase.
19. A system, comprising: a Precision Time Protocol (PTP) Hardware Clock (PHC) associated with a first device; and an application associated with a second device that receives time information from the first device along with contextual metadata associated with the time information, analyzes the contextual metadata associated with the time information, and determines a context in which the PHC associated with the first device is disciplined.
20. The system of claim 19, wherein the time information and the contextual metadata are received at the application in a common packet.
21. The system of claim 19, wherein the first device comprises a network device and wherein the second device comprises a computing device that communicates with the network device via a communication network.
22. The system of claim 21, wherein the contextual metadata describes at least one of: an operational change of the network device, an oscillator temperature variation, and an elapsed time since the PHC has last been disciplined.
23. The system of claim 19, wherein the time information describes at least one of time, frequency, and phase.
17. A system, comprising: a Precision Time Protocol (PTP) Hardware Clock (PHC); and an application that receives time information from the PHC along with contextual metadata associated with the time information, analyzes the contextual metadata associated with the time information, and determines, based on the contextual metadata, whether the PHC meets a reliability threshold, wherein the contextual metadata comprises an oscillator temperature variation of a network device.
18. The system of claim 17, wherein the time information and the contextual metadata are received at the application in a common packet.
19. The system of claim 17, wherein the PHC belongs to the network device and wherein the application belongs to a computing device that communicates with the network device via a communication network.
20. The system of claim 19, wherein the contextual metadata further describes at least one of: an operational change of the network device and an elapsed time since the PHC has last been disciplined.
21. The system of claim 17, wherein the time information describes at least one of time, frequency, and phase.
Conclusion
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SAAD A. WAQAS
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2468
/Saad A. Waqas/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2468
Prosecution Insights