DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
Claims 1-19 are pending in this application. The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 4/30/2025, 1/23/2026 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-7, 9, 15 and 17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Mao (US 2024/0214301, hereinafter Mao).
Re Claim 1, Mao discloses a service processing method, applied to a first routing device, wherein the method comprises:
receiving a first data packet, wherein the first data packet carries identification information corresponding to a target service requested by a user (fig. 2, [0115], [0121]-[0125], ACC router receives a first packet from a client request, and then determining the target destination based on the target identification information.);
determining a target service instance corresponding to the target service ([0127], the target destination includes the server or the service instance, the target identification information includes selection information of the server or selection information of the service instance); and
sending a second data packet to a second routing device corresponding to the target service instance, wherein the second data packet is determined based on the first datapacket, and the second data packet carries identification information corresponding to the target service instance (Fig. 2, [0114]-[0116], [0130], ACC router in access layer 201 selects a plurality of MEC sites to forwarded the request data packet to a target destination . The ingress router determine the target routing information of the target destination by identifying the destination selection information (the target identification) carried in the request data packet.).
Re Claim 2, Mao discloses wherein before the determining the target service instance corresponding to the target service, the method further comprises:
receiving computing power and routing information sent by the second routing device, wherein the computing power and routing information is used to indicate a correspondence between the target service and one or more service instances, and the one or more service instances comprise the target service instance (fig. 4a, [0145], [0161]-[0167], Before receiving the first packet sent by the client, receiving a second packet sent by the client, where the second packet includes a traffic identifier, and the traffic identifier includes one or more of the following information: a triplet, a quintuple, a flow label, or a service identifier of the second packet. The target destination is one of the second routing devices which generates a second response packet and sends the second response to the client carrying the target identification information. The client records the target identification information when being notified that the data flow has been established. Fig. 4b, the MEC sites are selected based computing information sent by each MEC site which includes but not limited to CPU, memory, and disk utilization of the current MEC site.).
Re Claim 3, Mao discloses wherein the first routing device is applied to compute first networking, the compute first networking comprises one or more second routing devices, the one or more second routing devices are connected to a plurality of servers, and the plurality of servers are configured to provide the target service (fig. 2, ACC router connected to AGG router. AGG router is connected to ASBR and then connected to other gateways and MEC.); and
the determining the target service instance corresponding to the target service comprises:
determining computing power resource information of the plurality of servers and
network parameter information of the one or more second routing devices ([0109], CFN, a better site can be selected to provide services for the client based on a computing status of each site. The computing status includes but is not limited to current CPU, memory, and disk utilization of a server in the MEC site, an FPGA/GPU heterogeneous computing capability, and the like); and
determining, based on the computing power resource information and the network parameter information, the target service instance corresponding to the target service from a plurality of service instances corresponding to the plurality of servers ([0109], CFN, a better site can be selected to provide services for the client based on a computing status of each site, to shorten time for processing a client request, and improve client experience. A site with low resource utilization or low current load is usually considered as a better site).
Re Claim 4, Mao discloses replacing the identification information corresponding to the target service in the first data packet with the identification information corresponding to the target service instance ([0135] client 1 a request data packet, a destination IP address carried in the request data packet is 1.1.1.1/32, and an identifier of a target MEC site (which corresponds to the target identification information) is “1”. The ingress router receives the request data packet, and identifies that the identifier of the target MEC site in the request data packet is “1”, searches a destination information table for target routing information “GW 1's IP” corresponding to “1”, and forwards the request data packet to “GW 1's IP”).
Re Claim 5, Mao discloses adding, to an Internet Protocol version 6 IPv6 extension header of the first data packet, the identification information corresponding to the target service instance [0154]-[0156], the ingress router determines the target destination, the ingress router may determine destination selection information, and then write the destination selection information into the initial data packet, the ingress router selects, based on computing information in a computing routing table, MEC 1 as a target MEC site, and writes the site identifier “1” into the initial data packet. If the initial data packet does not carry an extension header, the ingress router may add an extension header (through encapsulation or insertion), and write the destination selection information (that is, the target identification information) into the extension header in a location such as TLV. TLV may be carried in IPv6).
Re Claim 6, Mao discloses wherein the IPv6 extension header of the data packet comprises a destination options header, and the destination options header comprises option content carrying the identification information ([0154]-[0156], the ingress router determines the target destination, the ingress router may determine destination selection information, and then write the destination selection information into the initial data packet, the ingress router selects, based on computing information in a computing routing table, MEC 1 as a target MEC site, and writes the site identifier “1” into the initial data packet. If the initial data packet does not carry an extension header, the ingress router may add an extension header (through encapsulation or insertion), and write the destination selection information (that is, the target identification information) into the extension header in a location such as TLV. TLV may be carried in IPv6).
Re Claim 7, Mao discloses wherein the IPv6 extension header of the data packet comprises a segment routing header, the segment routing header comprises a type-length-value TLV, and the TLV comprises the identification information corresponding to the target service instance ([0154]-[0156], the ingress router determines the target destination, the ingress router may determine destination selection information, and then write the destination selection information into the initial data packet, the ingress router selects, based on computing information in a computing routing table, MEC 1 as a target MEC site, and writes the site identifier “1” into the initial data packet. If the initial data packet does not carry an extension header, the ingress router may add an extension header (through encapsulation or insertion), and write the destination selection information (that is, the target identification information) into the extension header in a location such as TLV. TLV may be carried in IPv6)
Re Claim 9, Mao discloses wherein the first data packet comprises data and tunnel information ([0131], routing information in the packet maybe a gateway IP address of a tunnel end of the MEC site, tunnel as SRv6 policy, or an index or and ID of the tunnel).
Re Claim 15, Mao discloses a computer-readable storage medium, wherein the computer-readable storage medium stores a program or instructions, and when the program or instructions are executed by a processor, the steps of the service processing method according to claim 1 are implemented Mao ([0219], computer readable storage medium.
Re Claim 17, Mao discloses An electronic device, comprising a processor and a memory, wherein the memory stores a program or instructions capable of running on the processor, and when the program or instructions are executed by the processor, the steps of the service processing method according to claim 1 are implemented Mao ([0212, processor and a memory configured to store program instructions).
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 8 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Mao and in view of Xu (US 2022/0191125).
Re Claim 8, Mao discloses wherein the IPv6 extension header of the data packet comprises a segment routing header ([0172], if the SYN does not carry a TLV (as shown in FIG. 4D, the TLV may be understood as an extension header recording the target MEC site identifier), the ingress router adds the TLV to the SYN, records “0x3” and “0x6”, and clears D-flag in the TLV, which indicates that the target MEC site is determined).
Mao discloses routing information in the packet maybe a gateway IP address of a tunnel end of the MEC site. Mao does not disclose, however Xu discloses sending, based on the identification information, a third data packet to a server corresponding to the target service instance, wherein the third data packet is determined based on the second data packet ([0012], [0016]-[0017] sending the data packet to the next hop router. Determining by the next hop router when it receives the data packet, the address of the subsequent next hop router.).
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the date the current invention was effectively filed to have modified the teachings of Mao’s network device/router to employ segment routing technique of Xu in order to specify a forwarding path. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to incorporate the teachings with one another in order to provide a predictable way of carrying the destination/selection information through intermediate routing devices.
Claim 10-13, 16, and 18-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Mao and in view of Tamizkar (US 2018/0375769).
Re Claim 10, Mao discloses A service processing method, applied to a second routing device, wherein the method comprises:
receiving a second data packet sent by a first routing device, wherein the second data packet is determined by the first routing device based on a first data packet received by the first routing device, and the second data packet carries identification information corresponding to a target service instance (Fig. 2, [0114]-[0116], [0130], AGG router receives from ACC router (ingress router) the forwarded request data packet as a target destination. The ingress router determine the target routing information of the target destination by identifying the destination selection information (the target identification) carried in the request data packet.).
While Mao shows in fig. 2 the packets flow of the request to be sent from AGG router to other servers including MEC site, Mao does not disclose, however Tamizkar discloses sending, based on the identification information, a third data packet to a server corresponding to the target service instance, wherein the third data packet is determined based on the second data packet ([0012], [0016]-[0017] sending the data packet to the next hop router. Determining by the next hop router when it receives the data packet, the address of the subsequent next hop router.).
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the date the current invention was effectively filed to have modified the teachings of Mao’s network device/router to employ the downstream packet-forwarding technique of Tamizkar in order determine and perform subsequent forwarding toward the selected target destination. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to incorporate the teachings with one another in order to provide a predictable way of carrying the destination/selection information through intermediate routing devices.
Re Claim 11, one of ordinary level of skill in the art would have been compelled to make the proposed modification to Mao for the same reasons identified in the rejection of claim 10. In addition, Tamizkar discloses wherein before the sending the third data packet to the server corresponding to the target service instance, the method further comprises at least one of the following:
parsing a destination options header of the second data packet to obtain option content carried by the destination options header, and determining the identification information based on the option content ([0012], [0016]-[0017] Determining by the next hop router when it receives the data packet, the address of the subsequent next hop router. If the subsequent next hop router is the destination router, removing, by destination router the zone-ID from the received data packet and forwarding the data packet to the destination address of the host belong to the network having the network ID in the zone of the destination router);
parsing a segment routing header of the second data packet to obtain a type-length- value of the segment routing header, and determining the identification information based on the type-length-value; or
parsing a segment routing header of the second data packet to obtain a segment 5 list of the segment routing header, and determining the identification information based on a path indicated by the segment list.
Re Claim 12, Mao discloses wherein before the receiving the second data packet sent by the first routing device, the method further comprises:
sending computing power and routing information to the first routing device,
wherein the computing power and routing information is used to indicate a correspondence between a target service of the second data packet and one or more service instances, and the one or more service instances comprise the target service instance (fig. 4a, [0145], [0161]-[0167], Before receiving the first packet sent by the client, receiving a second packet sent by the client, where the second packet includes a traffic identifier, and the traffic identifier includes one or more of the following information: a triplet, a quintuple, a flow label, or a service identifier of the second packet. The target destination is one of the second routing devices which generates a second response packet and sends the second response to the client carrying the target identification information. The client records the target identification information when being notified that the data flow has been established. Fig. 4b, the MEC sites are selected based computing information sent by each MEC site which includes but not limited to CPU, memory, and disk utilization of the current MEC site.)
Re Claim 13, one of ordinary level of skill in the art would have been compelled to make the proposed modification to Mao for the same reasons identified in the rejection of claim 10. In addition, Tamizkar
Re Claim 16, Mao discloses A computer-readable storage medium, wherein the computer-readable storage medium stores a program or instructions, and when the program or instructions are executed by a processor, the steps of the service processing method according to claim 10 are implemented Mao ([0219], computer readable storage medium).
Re Claim 18, Mao discloses An electronic device, comprising a processor and a memory, wherein the 10 memory stores a program or instructions capable of running on the processor, and when the program or instructions are executed by the processor, the steps of the service processing method according to claim 10 are implemented Mao ([0212, processor and a memory configured to store program instructions).
Re Claim 19, Mao discloses A service processing system, comprising:
a first routing device, configured to receive a first data packet, wherein the first data packet carries identification information corresponding to a target service requested by a user (fig. 2, [0115], [0121]-[0125], ACC router receives a first packet from a client request, and then determining the target destination based on the target identification information.); determine a target service instance corresponding to the target service ([0127], the target destination includes the server or the service instance, the target identification information includes selection information of the server or selection information of the service instance); and send a second data packet to a second routing device corresponding to the target service instance, wherein the second data packet is determined based on the first data packet, and the second data packet carries identification information corresponding to the target service instance (Fig. 2, [0114]-[0116], [0130], ACC router in access layer 201 selects a plurality of MEC sites to forwarded the request data packet to a target destination . The ingress router determine the target routing information of the target destination by identifying the destination selection information (the target identification) carried in the request data packet.); and
the second routing device, configured to receive the second data packet sent by the first routing device (Fig. 2, [0114]-[0116], [0130], AGG router receives from ACC router (ingress router) the forwarded request data packet as a target destination. The ingress router determine the target routing information of the target destination by identifying the destination selection information (the target identification) carried in the request data packet. While Mao shows in fig. 2 the packets flow of the request to be sent from AGG router to other servers including MEC site, Mao does not disclose, however Tamizkar discloses send, based on the identification information corresponding to the target service instance, a third data packet to a server corresponding to the target service instance, wherein the third data packet is determined based on the second data packet
([0012], [0016]-[0017] sending the data packet to the next hop router. Determining by the next hop router when it receives the data packet, the address of the subsequent next hop router.).
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the date the current invention was effectively filed to have modified the teachings of Mao’s network device/router to employ the downstream packet-forwarding technique of Tamizkar in order determine and perform subsequent forwarding toward the selected target destination. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to incorporate the teachings with one another in order to provide a predictable way of carrying the destination/selection information through intermediate routing devices.
Claim 14 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Mao and in view of Tamizkar and in view of Alkhatib (US 2011/0283017).
Re Claim 14, Mao and Tamizkar do not disclose, however Alkhatib discloses
wherein the second data packet comprises tunnel information, and before the sending, based on the identification information, the third data packet to the server corresponding to the target service instance, the method further comprises:
decapsulating the tunnel information in the second data packet; and using the decapsulated packet as the third data packet ([0049]-[0050],an attempt to transmit data packets, performing a resolution process to discover a VM switch. Encapsulating data packets over the network forming a tunnel that carries the data packets directly to receiving the data packets. The receiving switch is responsible for decapsulating the data packets by restoring the headers to their original format. And distributing data packets to the network adapters residing on their individual node).
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the date the current invention was effectively filed to have modified the teachings of Mao and Tamizkar’s network device/router to employ decapsulating tunnel information technique of Alkhatib in order to restore headers to their original format. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to incorporate the teachings with one another in order to provide a distributing data packets to the network adapters by restoring header to the original format.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to HO T SHIU whose telephone number is (571)270-3810. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri (9:00am - 5:00pm).
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Nicholas Taylor can be reached at 571-272-3089. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/HO T SHIU/Examiner, Art Unit 2443
HO T. SHIU
Examiner
Art Unit 2443
/NICHOLAS R TAYLOR/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2443
Prosecution Insights