Detailed Action
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
The Office Action is in response to claims filed on 7/7/2026 where claims 1-3, 5 and 8-10 are amended. Claims 21-23 are newly added. Claims 1-23 are pending and ready for examination.
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.
Applicant's arguments filed 7/7/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
The Examiner has reviewed the Applicant’s arguments submitted on 7/7/2026 in their entirety (Pages 8-10). The Applicant states:
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Under the broadest reasonable interpretation (BRI), amended claim 1 does not require any particular GPU interconnect architecture, GPU-specific network, system-on-chip network, or interconnect activity. The claim merely requires GPUs connected through a network. Nothing in the claim precludes the recited GPU form being employed within a network appliance or service node, as expressly taught by Hooda, which discloses implementing network appliances and services using GPUs ([0103]).
Further, Kavathia already discloses the claimed service chain forwarding architecture , Kavathia teaches service nodes performing ordered service operations along a service path ([0062]), including a source service node performing a computation and forwarding the processed result to a subsequent destination service node through the service chain ([0004], [0151], Fig. 4). Hooda is relied upon for implementing those service processing units as GPUs, not for supplying Kavathia’s forwarding architecture.
Accordingly, Applicant’s arguments mischaracterize Kavitha and improperly attack the references individually while importing unclaimed GPU interconnection requirements into the claims. Kavathia expressly teaches a service chain in which computation results are forwarded from one service processing node to a subsequent service processing node ([0004], [0062], [0151], Fig. 4), thereby providing one of ordinary skill in the art with the claimed distributed processing framework. Applicant’s arguments fail to address these teachings and instead argue limitations that are not recited in the claims. Mischaracterizing or disregarding pertinent evidence nodes not expedite prosecution. Accordingly, the arguments are not persuasive.
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.
Claims 1 and 4-7 are rejected under 35 USC 103 as being unpatentable over Kavathia (US 20230168917) in view of Dastidar (US 20240061796) and in further view of Hooda ( (US 20200177629)
Regarding claim 1, Kavathia discloses a method of forwarding data messages from a source graphics processing unit (GPU) to a plurality of GPUS that are connected to the source GPU through a network, said GPUs performing computations to collectively execute a distributed application, the method comprising:
at the source GPU that performs a first computation that produces a first result that has to be sent to at least one destination GPU that has to perform a second computation based on the first result as part of the collection execution of the distributed application with the other GPUs (Kavathia; Kavathia teaches a source SVU that performs computations (e.g. encryption) resulting in a first result and then forwards the first result to a destination SVU based on a service chain path; Accordingly the service chain path constitutes a distributed application/. Kavathia further teaches that a service node performs a service operation on a data message and outputs a processed data message, which is then forwarded along an egress data path ([0151]. Accordingly, the data message flow comprises a plurality of messages that store a result of the computation as they traverse the service chain (e.g. A computation result based on an encryption service ([0004]).
see e.g. [0004] “... a service node performs a middlebox service operation ... an encryptor ... any type of middlebox service operation in some embodiments.”
See e.g. [0062] In some embodiments, a chain of service operations is referred to as a service chain. A service chain in some embodiments can be implemented with one or more sets of service nodes (e.g., service machines or appliances), with each set of service nodes defining a service path. Hence, in some embodiments, a service chain can be implemented by each of one or more service paths. Each service path in some embodiments includes one or more service nodes for performing the set of one or more services of the service chain and a particular order through these nodes
See e.g. Fig. 4 [0010] illustrating a computation being delivered from a source SVM to a destination SVM via service path.
See e.g. [0151 “... Once the SVM 108 performs its service operation on the data message (e.g., per the process 1300 of FIG. 13), the SVM sends the processed data message along its egress data path”
Kavathia does not expressly disclose that the source and destination processing units are GPUs. However, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to implement Kavathia’s service-processing units with dedicated GPUs in view of the technological and business trend and employing GPUs for distributed and service based processing, thereby increasing processing efficiency and throughput. ):
associating the tag with a data message flow that comprises a plurality of data messages that store the result of the first computation, each data message having (i) a payload that contains a portion of the first result (Kavathia; Fig. 3 illustrates that data messages are forwarded along a service path defined by a service chain, with the SPI carried in the header of each data message, thereby associating the tag with a flow of data messages comprising a plurality of data messages. Kavathia further teaches that a service node performs a service operation on a data message and outputs a processed data message, which is then forwarded along an egress data path ([0151]. Accordingly, the data message flow comprises a plurality of messages that store a result of the computation as they traverse the service chain (e.g. A computation result based on an encryption service ([0004]). ) and (ii) a header, wherein at least one header of at least one data message stores the tag (Kavathia; Fig. 21 shows that each data message includes a header and a payload, where the header includes the Service Path Identifier (SPI),thereby storing the tag in the header);
using the tag to identify an egress port from a plurality of egress ports of a network interface that connects the source GPU to the network (Kavathia; Kavathia teaches the SPI determines the egress path (see e.g. Fig. 16, [0140]; Step 1630), and the egress path comprises ports ([0058]); and
forwarding the data message flow through the identified egress port (Kavathia; Kavathia teaches subsequent to identifying the egress port, the data message is forwarded through the identified egress port to its destination ; see e.g. Fig. 16, [0142]; Step 1635, [0058]) .
Kavathia does not expressly disclose:
using an identity of the destination GPU to select a tag;
However in analogous art Dastidar discloses:
using an identity of the destination GPU to select a tag (Dastidar; Dastidar teaches that attributes including destination are used to identify a tag for the data ([0047]). Dastidar further teaches that data is processed by specific DPEs arranged in a pipeline ([0026[) and that tag policies define how the tagged data is processed by a DPE , i.e., the tag determines processing at particular DPEs ([0027]).Under the broadest reasonable interpretation, the destination attribute corresponds to an identity of a destination processing entity, and identifying a tag based on that destination corresponds to selecting a tag using an identity of the destination endpoints.
Dastidar does not expressly disclose that the source and destination processing units are GPUs. However, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to implement Kavathia’s service-processing units with dedicated GPUs in view of the technological and business treand and employing GPUs for distributed and service based processing, thereby increasing processing efficiency and throughput.)
Therefore it would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to utilize Dastidar’s use of a destination identity to select a tag in Kavathia, the motivation being that the combined invention provides one of ordinary skill in the art to implement a known technique resulting in increased efficiencies of processing data messages in Kavathia’s service chain implementation.
As evidence of the rational above, Hooda discloses:
GPU(s) (Hooda; Hooda teaches that network appliances and services, including service functions, arranged in service graphs, may be implemented using GPUs;
See e.g. [0103] “... These network appliances and services can be implemented in hardware as physical network appliances and/or in software using general-purpose Central Processing Units (CPUs), Graphics Processing Units (GPUs)”)
Therefore it would have been prima facie obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Hooda’s utilization of GPU. The motivation being the combined solution provides for implementing a known technique and provides one of ordinary skill in the art to adapt to the business and technological trend of utilizing GPUs resulting in increased efficiencies of service chaining/distributed applications.
Regarding claim 2, Kavathia in view of Dastidar and in further view of Hooda disclose the method of claim 1 wherein the identity of the destination GPU, which is used to select the tag, is not a network address ((Kavathia; The assigned tags (i.e. SPIs) are service path identifiers and are not an L2/L2 address; see.g.Fig.21,[0168]).
Therefore it would have been prima facie obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Hooda’s utilization of GPU. The motivation being the combined solution provides for implementing a known technique and provides one of ordinary skill in the art to adapt to the business and technological trend of utilizing GPUs resulting in increased efficiencies of service chaining/distributed applications.
Regarding claim 4, Kavathia in view of Dastidar and in further view of Hooda disclose the method of claim 1, wherein each header of each data message in the flow stores the tag (Kavathia; see e.g. [0167], Fig 21).
Therefore it would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to utilize Dastidar’s use of a destination identity to select a tag in Kavathia, the motivation being that the combined invention provides one of ordinary skill in the art to implement a known technique resulting in increased efficiencies of processing data messages in Kavathia’s service chain implementation.
Therefore it would have been prima facie obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Hooda’s utilization of GPU. The motivation being the combined solution provides for implementing a known technique and provides one of ordinary skill in the art to adapt to the business and technological trend of utilizing GPUs resulting in increased efficiencies of service chaining/distributed applications.
Regarding claim 5, Kavathia in view of Dastidar and in further view of Hooda disclose the method of claim 1, wherein the network comprises
a plurality of forwarding elements, each forwarding element comprising a plurality of ports that connect the forwarding element to the network, the method further comprising for each data message flow sent from the source GPU to the destination GPU (Kavathia; Kavathia teaches a GVM (i.e. a forwarding element) that forwards data messages to and from sets of SVMs along a service chain. Because multiple GVM/VM-side forwarding points are used along the chain, the network comprises a plurality of forwarding elements; see e.g. [0058], [0059] Kavathia further teaches the GVM forwarding element as having ports, including a port proxy and switch ports, through which messages are delivered toward service nodes, thereby giving the forwarding element a plurality of ports connecting it to the network ([0082], [0083]):
using the tag at each intervening forwarding element between the source GPU and the destination GPU to identify a port from the plurality of ports of the forwarding element (Kavathia teaches that the SPI tag is used to determine the next hop, and that next-hop determination is carried out at the GVM forwarding element to identify the particular switch port used to reach the next service node; see e.g. [0081] – [0083]; Fig. 16); and
forwarding the data message flow through the identified egress port of the intervening forwarding element (Kavathia teaches that the GVM forwarding element forwards the data message through the selected port toward the next service node, thereby forwarding the data message flow through the identified egress port; see.eg. [0082], [0083]).
Therefore it would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to utilize Dastidar’s use of a destination identity to select a tag in Kavathia, the motivation being that the combined invention provides one of ordinary skill in the art to implement a known technique resulting in increased efficiencies of processing data messages in Kavathia’s service chain implementation.
Therefore it would have been prima facie obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Hooda’s utilization of GPU. The motivation being the combined solution provides for implementing a known technique and provides one of ordinary skill in the art to adapt to the business and technological trend of utilizing GPUs resulting in increased efficiencies of service chaining/distributed applications.
Regarding claim 6, Kavathia in view of Dastidar and in further view of Hooda disclose the method of claim 1, wherein the assigned tags are not layer 2 (L2) or layer 3 (L3) network addresses (Kavathia; The assigned tags (i.e. SPIs) are service path identifiers and are not an L2/L2 address; see.g.Fig.21,[0168]).
Therefore it would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to utilize Dastidar’s use of a destination identity to select a tag in Kavathia, the motivation being that the combined invention provides one of ordinary skill in the art to implement a known technique resulting in increased efficiencies of processing data messages in Kavathia’s service chain implementation.
Therefore it would have been prima facie obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Hooda’s utilization of GPU. The motivation being the combined solution provides for implementing a known technique and provides one of ordinary skill in the art to adapt to the business and technological trend of utilizing GPUs resulting in increased efficiencies of service chaining/distributed applications.
Regarding claim 7, Kavathia in view of Dastidar and in further view of Hooda disclose the method of claim 6, wherein the header does not store L2 or L3 network addresses (Kavathia; The NSH header is shown with service-specific fields (SPI, SI, metadata) and no L2/L3 address fields, i.e. the header format excludes MAC/IP addressing and instead carries service chain identifiers; see e.g.[0167]- [0168], Fig. 21).
Therefore it would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to utilize Dastidar’s use of a destination identity to select a tag in Kavathia, the motivation being that the combined invention provides one of ordinary skill in the art to implement a known technique resulting in increased efficiencies of processing data messages in Kavathia’s service chain implementation.
Therefore it would have been prima facie obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Hooda’s utilization of GPU. The motivation being the combined solution provides for implementing a known technique and provides one of ordinary skill in the art to adapt to the business and technological trend of utilizing GPUs resulting in increased efficiencies of service chaining/distributed applications.
Regarding claim 22, Kavathia in view of Dastidar and in further view of Hooda disclose The method of claim 21, wherein:
the tag is a first tag and the data message flow is a first data message flow (Kavathia; Kavathia teaches a data message flow traversing a service path identified by and SPI carried in the message header. The previously mapped SPI and flow therefore constitute the claimed first tag and first data-message flow; see e.g. [0063], [0081], Fig. 2);
an additional GPU performs a third computation that produces a second result that has to be sent to the destination GPU for the destination GPU to perform the second computation based on the first result and the second result (The combined solution of Kavathia ([0004], [0062], [0151], Figs 4-5 and Hooda {0103]. Kavathia teaches an additional service node performing and additional service operation that produces processed output and forwards that output along the service path to the destination service node, where the destination service node performs the subsequent service operation using the processed outputs received through the service chain. Hooda teaches implementing the service nodes as GPUs. Accordingly, the combination provides an additional GPU performing the third computation, producing the second result sending that second result to the destination GPU, and the destination GPU performing the second computation based on both the first result and the second result) and
the additional GPU (i) uses the identity of the destination GPU to select a second tag that is different from the first tag and (ii) associates the second tag with a second data message flow that comprises a plurality of data messages that store the second result of the third computation, each data message in the second data message flow having (i) a payload that contains a portion of the second result and (ii) a header, wherein at least one header of at least one data message stores the second tag (The combined solution per Kavathia [0063], [0081], [0151], Fig. 21; Dastidar [0026]-[0027],[0047]; Hooda [0103]; Dastidar teaches using the destination identity to select the applicable tag for forwarding, Kavathia teaches associating the selected SPI with the corresponding data-message flow, wherein the flow comprises data messages carrying the processed result, each data message including a payload containing the processed data and a header storing the SPI used to identify the applicable service path, Where the additional GPU produces the second result and transmits that result over a separate service path, the corresponding second SPI is a second tag different from the first SPI associated with the first data-message flow. Hooda teaches implementing the service nodes as GPUs.)
Therefore it would have been prima facie obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Hooda’s utilization of GPU. The motivation being the combined solution provides for implementing a known technique and provides one of ordinary skill in the art to adapt to the business and technological trend of utilizing GPUs resulting in increased efficiencies of service chaining/distributed applications.
Claim 3 is rejected under 35 USC 103 as being unpatentable over Kavathia in view of Dastidar and in further view of Hooda and in further view of Shachar (US 20160124852)
Regarding claim 3, Kavathia in view of Dastidar and in further view of Hooda disclose the method of claim 2 wherein
using the non-network address identifier of the destination GPU to select the tag ((Kavathia; The assigned tags (i.e. SPIs) are service path see e.g. Fig.21,[0168]); and
providing the tag to a network interface of the first GPU to associate the tag with the data message flow, and
then use the tag to identify the egress port and forward the data message flow (Kavathia; Kavathia teaches providing the tag to the network interface forwarding functionality, which uses the tag to identify and egress port and forward the data-message flow through that port; As Kavathia teaches using the SPI to identify an egress port and forwarding the data-message flow through that port. An egress port is necessarily part of the network interface through which the forwarding element connects to the network. Accordingly, providing the SPI for identifying the SPI for the egress port necessarily provides the SPI to the associated network interface for forwarding the data-message flow;
see e.g. [0058] – [0059], [0082] – [0083).
Kavathia in view of Dastidar and in view of Hooda does not expressly disclose
at a driver of the GPU:
However in analogous art Shachar discloses:
At a driver of the GPU (Shachar;
[0036] In general, the software stack contains at least one GPU driver, which communicates with the GPU hardware. The GPU driver can fetch information, such as which of the queues are currently attached to the hardware, as well as information on which CU or CUs are currently running data vectors corresponding to kernels of the current process, etc. The GPU driver may be regarded as part of the execution runtime component.)
Therefore it would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Shachar’s infrastructure. The motivation being the combined solution provides for implementing a known technique resulting in increased efficiencies of distributed computing.
Accordingly the combined invention provides for performing the claimed tag selectin operation at the GPU driver , where the driver uses non-network control information associated with GPU execution rather than requiring a Layer 2 or Layer 3 network address.
Therefore it would have been prima facie obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Hooda’s utilization of GPU. The motivation being the combined solution provides for implementing a known technique and provides one of ordinary skill in the art to adapt to the business and technological trend of utilizing GPUs resulting in increased efficiencies of service chaining/distributed applications.
Claims 8 and 9 are rejected under 35 USC103 as being unpatentable over Kavathia in view of Dastidar and in further view of Hooda and in further view of Rau (US 20120131252)
Regarding claim 8, Kavathia in view of Dastidar and in further view of Hooda disclose the method of claim 1, Kavathia does not expressly disclose wherein using the identity of the destination GPU comprises performing one or more mapping operations to map a transaction identifier (ID) to the tag, said transaction ID associated (i) with the destination GPU (ii) the first result that is computed by the first computation at the source GPU
However in analogous art Rau discloses:
Performing one or more mapping operations to map a transaction identifier (ID) to the tag (Rau; Rau teaches mapping operations in which a transaction identifier is used to assign a tag value; see e.g. [0009] “... ach data unit includes a transaction ID tag field containing information that defines at least one tag value for use in determining a destination address for the data unit. The disclosed systems and methods employ memory mapping approaches in conjunction with the transaction ID tag fields ...”)
Therefore it would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Rau’s mapping, the motivation being the combined invention provides for implementing a known technique, resulting in increased efficiencies of distributed processing among computing devices.
Kavathia in view of Dastidar and in further view of Hooda and in further view of Rau disclose:
wherein using the identity of the destination GPU comprises performing one or more mapping operations to map a transaction identifier (ID) to the tag, said transaction ID associated (i) with the destination GPU (ii) the first result that is computed by the first computation at the source GPU
(The combined solution provides for applying Rau’s mapping within Kavathia’ and Hooda’s GPU based service processing framework)
Therefore it would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Rau’s mapping, the motivation being the combined invention provides for implementing a known technique, resulting in increased efficiencies of distributed processing among computing devices.
Therefore it would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to utilize Dastidar’s use of a destination identity to select a tag in Kavathia, the motivation being that the combined invention provides one of ordinary skill in the art to implement a known technique resulting in increased efficiencies of processing data messages in Kavathia’s service chain implementation.
Regarding claim 9, Kavathia in view of Dastidar and in further view of Hooda and in further view of Rau disclose The method of claim 8, wherein the transaction ID comprises an identifier for the destination GPU, wherein different results computed by the source GPU to be sent to destination GPU are associated with different transaction IDs (The combined invention per Rau’s transaction identifiers;
see e.g. Rau [0005]
“ ... More specifically, the transaction ID field includes a 5-bit tag field (extendible to 8 bits) that contains information defining a tag value for use in identifying the client device ...”)
Therefore it would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Rau’s mapping, the motivation being the combined invention provides for implementing a known technique, resulting in increased efficiencies of distributed processing among computing devices.
Therefore it would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to utilize Dastidar’s use of a destination identity to select a tag in Kavathia, the motivation being that the combined invention provides one of ordinary skill in the art to implement a known technique resulting in increased efficiencies of processing data messages in Kavathia’s service chain implementation.
Claims 10 and 11 are rejected under 35 USC 103 as being unpatentable over Kavathia in view of Dastidar and in further view of Hooda and in further view of Rau and in further view of Hutsch (US 2001003477) and in further view of Matsuda (US 20080059602)
Regarding claim 10, Kavathia in view of Dastidar and in further view of Hooda and in further view of Rau disclose the method of claim 8, Kavathia does not expressly disclose wherein the one or more mapping operations comprises:
a first mapping operation that maps the transaction ID associated with the destination GPU and the first result to a queue ID that is associated with a queue used by the source GPU to transmit the first result; and
a second mapping operation that maps the queue ID to the tag.
However in analogous art Hutsch discloses:
a first mapping operation that maps the transaction ID to a queue ID (Hutsch;
see e.g. [0348] “... a transaction identifier, and parses the header of a transaction envelope (See FIGS. 19A to 19E) to find out what transaction is requested. The thread adds an entry about the transaction into a transaction queue table 1562 in cache 1560 that includes the transaction identifier, ... “)
Therefore it would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective fling date of the claimed invention to incorporate Hutsch’s mapping. The motivation being the combined solution provides for implementing a known technique resulting in increased efficiencies of distributed computing.
Kavathia in view of Dastidar and in further view of Hooda and in further view of Rau and in further view of Hutsch discloses:
a first mapping operation that maps the transaction ID associated with the destination GPU and the first result to a queue ID that is associated with a queue used by the source GPU to transmit the first result (The combined solution per Hutsch’s mapping)
Kavathia in view of Dastidar and in further view of Hooda and in further view of Rau and in further view of Hutsch does not expressly disclose:
a second mapping operation that maps the queue ID to the tag;
The Examiner notes tag is equivalent to the SPI tag taught by Kavathia which is a service path identifier
However in analogous art Matsuda discloses:
a second mapping operation that maps the queue ID to the tag (Matsuda;
[0160] “To be specific, the host computer 10 chooses from the queue size table 121 a record whose path ID 1211 matches the queue ID of the queue 128 chosen in Step S1012. ... “)
Therefore it would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Matsuda’s mapping. The motivation being the combined solution provides for implanting a known technique resulting in increased efficiencies of distributing computing. Furthermore, the combined solution provides for associating Kavathia’s SPI tag with a queue.
Therefore it would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Rau’s mapping, the motivation being the combined invention provides for implementing a known technique, resulting in increased efficiencies of distributed processing among computing devices.
Therefore it would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to utilize Dastidar’s use of a destination identity to select a tag in Kavathia, the motivation being that the combined invention provides one of ordinary skill in the art to implement a known technique resulting in increased efficiencies of processing data messages in Kavathia’s service chain implementation.
Therefore it would have been prima facie obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Hooda’s utilization of GPU. The motivation being the combined solution provides for implementing a known technique and provides one of ordinary skill in the art to adapt to the business and technological trend of utilizing GPUs resulting in increased efficiencies of service chaining/distributed applications.
Regarding claim 11, claim 11 comprises the same and/or similar subject matter as claim 10 and is considered an obvious variation; therefore it is rejected under the same rationale.
Claims 12 and 14-17 are rejected under 35 USC 103 as being unpatentable over Kavathia in view of Dastidar and in further view of Yuan (US 20190123894)
Regarding claim 12, Kavathia discloses a non-transitory machine readable medium storing a program that when executed by a processor at a source graphics processing unit (GPU) forwards data messages to a plurality of other GPUs through a network, said GPUs performing computations to collectively execute a distributed application, the program comprising sets of instructions:
associating the tag with a data message flow that comprises a plurality of data messages that store a result of the computation result (Kavathia; Fig. 3 illustrates that data messages are forwarded along a service path defined by a service chain, with the SPI carried in the header of each data message, thereby associating the tag with a flow of data messages comprising a plurality of data messages. Kavathia further teaches that a service node performs a service operation on a data message and outputs a processed data message, which is then forwarded along an egress data path ([0151]). Accordingly, the data message flow comprises a plurality of messages that store a result of the computation as they traverse the service chain (e.g. A computation result based on an encryption service ([0004]). ), each data message having (i) a payload that contains a portion of the result and (ii) a header, wherein at least one header of at least one data message stores the tag Kavathia; Fig. 21 shows that each data message includes a header and a payload, where the header includes the Service Path Identifier (SPI),thereby storing the tag in the header), said tag identifying an egress port(Kavathia; Kavathia teaches the SPI determines the egress path (see e.g. Fig. 16, [0140]; Step 1630), and the egress path comprises ports ([0058]), for forwarding the data message flow, from a plurality of egress ports of a network interface that connects the source GPU to the network(Kavathia; Kavathia teaches subsequent to identifying the egress port, the data message is forwarded through the identified egress port to its destination ; see e.g. Fig. 16, [0142]; Step 1635, [0058]
The Examiner notes Kavathia does not explicitly refer to a node or server utilizing a GPU, however it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art as Kavathia’s service chain includes an encryption service (see e.g. [0004] One of ordinary skill in the art would be inclined to utilize GPUs to accelerate encryption operations through parallel processing capabilities, thereby improving computational throughput and reducing latency for data encryption tasks compared to traditional CPU-based implementations).
Kavathia does not expressly
using an identity of the destination GPU to select a tag;
Dastidar discloses:
using an identity of the destination to select a tag (Dastidar; Dastidar teaches that attributes including destination are used to identify a tag for the data ([0047]). Dastidar further teaches that data is processed by specific DPEs arranged in a pipeline ([0026[) and that tag policies define how the tagged data is processed by a DPE , i.e., the tag determines processing at particular DPEs ([0027]).Under the broadest reasonable interpretation, the destination attribute corresponds to an identity of a destination processing entity and identifying a tag based on that destination corresponds to selecting a tag using an identity of the destination)
Therefore it would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to utilize Dastidar’s use of a destination identity to select a tag in Kavathia, the motivation being that the combined invention provides one of ordinary skill in the art to implement a known technique resulting in increased efficiencies of processing data messages in Kavathia’s service chain implementation.
Kavathia in view of Dastidar disclose:
using an identity of the destination GPU to select a tag (The combined solution provides for tag selection based on an identity of a destination device (e.g. GPU);
As evidence of the rationale above Yuan discloses:
GPU(s) (Yuan, Yuan within the context of distributed applications and service chaining utilizes GPUs;
See e.g. [0030] “The present disclosure addresses at least these issues, and introduced herein are optimized data encryption and decryption methods on the network application layer using programmable hardware such as FPGA, DSP or GPU, etc. ... “)
Therefore it would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Yuan’s scheme of utilizing GPUs for encryption. The motivation being the combined solution provides for implementing a known technique resulting in increased efficiencies of performing distributed computing operations.
Regarding claim 14, Kavathia in view of Dastidar and in further view of Yuan disclose the non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 12, wherein each header of each data message in the flow stores the tag(Kavathia; see e.g. [0167], Fig 21)
Therefore it would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to utilize Dastidar’s use of a destination identity to select a tag in Kavathia, the motivation being that the combined invention provides one of ordinary skill in the art to implement a known technique resulting in increased efficiencies of processing data messages in Kavathia’s service chain implementation.
Therefore it would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Yuan’s scheme of utilizing GPUs for encryption. The motivation being the combined solution provides for implementing a known technique resulting in increased efficiencies of performing distributed computing operations
Regarding claim 15, Kavathia in view of Dastidar and in further view of Yuan disclose the non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 12, wherein the network comprises a plurality of forwarding elements, each forwarding element comprising a plurality of ports that connect the forwarding element to the network(Kavathia; Kavathia teaches a GVM (i.e. a forwarding element) that forwards data messages to and from sets of SVMs along a service chain. Because multiple GVM/VM-side forwarding points are used along the chain, the network comprises a plurality of forwarding elements; see e.g. [0058], [0059] Kavathia further teaches the GVM forwarding element as having ports, including a port proxy and switch ports, through which messages are delivered toward service nodes, thereby giving the forwarding element a plurality of ports connecting it to the network ([0082], [0083]),
the program further comprising sets of instructions for each data message flow sent from the source GPU to the destination GPU: using the tag at each intervening forwarding element between the source GPU and the destination GPU to identify a port from the plurality of ports of the forwarding element(Kavathia teaches that the SPI tag is used to determine the next hop, and that next-hop determination is carried out at the GVM forwarding element to identify the particular switch port used to reach the next service node; see e.g. [0081] – [0083]; Fig. 16); and
forwarding the data message flow through the identified egress port of the intervening forwarding element(Kavathia teaches that the GVM forwarding element forwards the data message through the selected port toward the next service node, thereby forwarding the data message flow through the identified egress port; see.eg. [0082], [0083]).
Therefore it would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to utilize Dastidar’s use of a destination identity to select a tag in Kavathia, the motivation being that the combined invention provides one of ordinary skill in the art to implement a known technique resulting in increased efficiencies of processing data messages in Kavathia’s service chain implementation.
Therefore it would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Yuan’s scheme of utilizing GPUs for encryption. The motivation being the combined solution provides for implementing a known technique resulting in increased efficiencies of performing distributed computing operations
Regarding claim 16, Kavathia in view of Dastidar and in further view of Yuan disclose the non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 12, wherein the assigned tags are not layer 2 (L2) or layer 3 (L3) network addresses (Kavathia; The assigned tags (i.e. SPIs) are service path identifiers and are not an L2/L2 address; see.g.Fig.21,[0168]).
Therefore it would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to utilize Dastidar’s use of a destination identity to select a tag in Kavathia, the motivation being that the combined invention provides one of ordinary skill in the art to implement a known technique resulting in increased efficiencies of processing data messages in Kavathia’s service chain implementation.
Therefore it would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Yuan’s scheme of utilizing GPUs for encryption. The motivation being the combined solution provides for implementing a known technique resulting in increased efficiencies of performing distributed computing operations
Regarding claim 17, Kavathia in view of Dastidar and in further view of Yuan disclose the non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 16, wherein the header does not store L2 or L3 network addresses(Kavathia; The NSH header is shown with service-specific fields (SPI, SI, metadata) and no L2/L3 address fields, i.e. the header format excludes MAC/IP addressing and instead carries service chain identifiers; see e.g.[0167]- [0168], Fig. 21).
Therefore it would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to utilize Dastidar’s use of a destination identity to select a tag in Kavathia, the motivation being that the combined invention provides one of ordinary skill in the art to implement a known technique resulting in increased efficiencies of processing data messages in Kavathia’s service chain implementation.
Therefore it would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Yuan’s scheme of utilizing GPUs for encryption. The motivation being the combined solution provides for implementing a known technique resulting in increased efficiencies of performing distributed computing operations
Claim 13 is rejected under 35 USC 103 as being unpatentable over Kavathia in view of Dastidar and in further view of Yuan and in further view of Shachar (US 20160124852)
Regarding claim 13, Kavathia in view of Dastidar and in further view of Yuan disclose The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 12, Kavathia does not expressly disclose wherein the program is a driver executed by a control unit of the GPU or a kernel process operating of the GPU.
However in analogous art Shacar discloses:
wherein the program is a driver executed by a control unit of the GPU or a kernel process operating of the GPU (Shacar;
[0036] In general, the software stack contains at least one GPU driver, which communicates with the GPU hardware. The GPU driver can fetch information, such as which of the queues are currently attached to the hardware, as well as information on which CU or CUs are currently running data vectors corresponding to kernels of the current process, etc. The GPU driver may be regarded as part of the execution runtime component.)
Therefore it would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Shacar’s infrastructure. The motivation being the combined solution provides for implementing a known technique resulting in increased efficiencies of distributed computing.
Therefore it would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to utilize Dastidar’s use of a destination identity to select a tag in Kavathia, the motivation being that the combined invention provides one of ordinary skill in the art to implement a known technique resulting in increased efficiencies of processing data messages in Kavathia’s service chain implementation.
Therefore it would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Yuan’s scheme of utilizing GPUs for encryption. The motivation being the combined solution provides for implementing a known technique resulting in increased efficiencies of performing distributed computing operations
Claims 18 and 19 are rejected under 35 USC 103 as being unpatentable over Kavathia in view of Dastidar and in further view of Yuan and in further view of Rau (US 20120131252)
Regarding claim 18, Kavathia in view of Dastidar and in further view of Yuan disclose the non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 12, Kavathia does not expressly disclose wherein using the identity of the destination GPU comprises performing one or more mapping operations to map a transaction identifier (ID) to the tag, said transaction ID associated with the destination GPU.
However in analogous art Rau discloses:
Performing one or more mapping operations to map a transaction identifier (ID) to the tag (Rau; Rau teaches mapping operations in which a transaction identifier is used to assign a tag value; see e.g. [0009] “... ach data unit includes a transaction ID tag field containing information that defines at least one tag value for use in determining a destination address for the data unit. The disclosed systems and methods employ memory mapping approaches in conjunction with the transaction ID tag fields ...”)
Therefore it would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Rau’s mapping, the motivation being the combined invention provides for implementing a known technique, resulting in increased efficiencies of distributed processing among computing devices.
Kavathia in view of Dastidar and in further view of Yuan and in further view of Rau discloses:
wherein using the identity of the destination GPU comprises performing one or more mapping operations to map a transaction identifier (ID) to the tag, said transaction ID associated with the destination GPU (The combined solution provides for applying Rau’s mapping within Kavathia’s service processing framework)
Therefore it would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to utilize Dastidar’s use of a destination identity to select a tag in Kavathia, the motivation being that the combined invention provides one of ordinary skill in the art to implement a known technique resulting in increased efficiencies of processing data messages in Kavathia’s service chain implementation.
Therefore it would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Yuan’s scheme of utilizing GPUs for encryption. The motivation being the combined solution provides for implementing a known technique resulting in increased efficiencies of performing distributed computing operations
Regarding claim 19, Kavathia in view of Dastidar and in further view of Yuan and in further view of Rau discloses The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 18, wherein the transaction ID comprises an identifier for the destination GPU (The combined invention per Rau;
see e.g. Rau [0005]
“ ... More specifically, the transaction ID field includes a 5-bit tag field (extendible to 8 bits) that contains information defining a tag value for use in identifying the client device ...”)
Therefore it would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Rau’s mapping, the motivation being the combined invention provides for implementing a known technique, resulting in increased efficiencies of distributed processing among computing devices.
Therefore it would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to utilize Dastidar’s use of a destination identity to select a tag in Kavathia, the motivation being that the combined invention provides one of ordinary skill in the art to implement a known technique resulting in increased efficiencies of processing data messages in Kavathia’s service chain implementation.
Therefore it would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Yuan’s scheme of utilizing GPUs for encryption. The motivation being the combined solution provides for implementing a known technique resulting in increased efficiencies of performing distributed computing operations
Claim 20 is rejected under 35 USC 103 as being unpatentable over Kavathia in view of Dastidar and in further view of Yuan and in further view of Rau and in further view of Hutsch (US 2001003477) and in further view of Matsuda (US 20080059602)
Regarding claim 20, Kavathia in view of Dastidar and in further view of Yuan and in further view of Rau disclose the non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 18, Kavathia does not expressly disclose wherein the one or more mapping operations comprises:
a first mapping operation that maps the transaction ID to a queue ID; and
a second mapping operation that maps the queue ID to the tag.
However in analogous art Hutsch discloses:
a first mapping operation that maps the transaction ID to a queue ID (Hutsch;
see e.g. [0348] “... a transaction identifier, and parses the header of a transaction envelope (See FIGS. 19A to 19E) to find out what transaction is requested. The thread adds an entry about the transaction into a transaction queue table 1562 in cache 1560 that includes the transaction identifier, ... “)
Therefore it would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective fling date of the claimed invention to incorporate Hutsch’s mapping. The motivation being the combined solution provides for implementing a known technique resulting in increased efficiencies of distributed computing.
Kavathia in view of Dastidar and in further view of Rau and in further view of Hutsch does not expressly disclose:
a second mapping operation that maps the queue ID to the tag;
The Examiner notes tag is equivalent to the SPI tag taught by Kavathia which is a service path identifier
However in analogous art Matsuda discloses:
a second mapping operation that maps the queue ID to the tag (Matsuda;
[0160] “To be specific, the host computer 10 chooses from the queue size table 121 a record whose path ID 1211 matches the queue ID of the queue 128 chosen in Step S1012. ... “)
Therefore it would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Matsuda’s mapping. The motivation being the combined solution provides for implanting a known technique resulting in increased efficiencies of distributing computing. Furthermore, the combined solution provides for associating Kavathia’s SPI tag with a queue.
Therefore it would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Rau’s mapping, the motivation being the combined invention provides for implementing a known technique, resulting in increased efficiencies of distributed processing among computing devices.
Therefore it would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to utilize Dastidar’s use of a destination identity to select a tag in Kavathia, the motivation being that the combined invention provides one of ordinary skill in the art to implement a known technique resulting in increased efficiencies of processing data messages in Kavathia’s service chain implementation.
Therefore it would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Yuan’s scheme of utilizing GPUs for encryption. The motivation being the combined solution provides for implementing a known technique resulting in increased efficiencies of performing distributed computing operations
Claims 12 is rejected under 35 USC 103 as being unpatentable over Kavathia in view Singh (US 20240069978)
Regarding claim 12, Kavathia discloses a non-transitory machine readable medium storing a program that when executed by a processor at a source graphics processing unit (GPU) forwards data messages to a plurality of other GPUs through a network, said GPUs performing computations to collectively execute a distributed application, the program comprising sets of instructions:
associating the tag with a data message flow that comprises a plurality of data messages that store a result of the computation result (Kavathia; Fig. 3 illustrates that data messages are forwarded along a service path defined by a service chain, with the SPI carried in the header of each data message, thereby associating the tag with a flow of data messages comprising a plurality of data messages. Kavathia further teaches that a service node performs a service operation on a data message and outputs a processed data message, which is then forwarded along an egress data path ([0151]). Accordingly, the data message flow comprises a plurality of messages that store a result of the computation as they traverse the service chain (e.g. A computation result based on an encryption service ([0004]). ), each data message having (i) a payload that contains a portion of the result and (ii) a header, wherein at least one header of at least one data message stores the tag Kavathia; Fig. 21 shows that each data message includes a header and a payload, where the header includes the Service Path Identifier (SPI),thereby storing the tag in the header), said tag identifying an egress port(Kavathia; Kavathia teaches the SPI determines the egress path (see e.g. Fig. 16, [0140]; Step 1630), and the egress path comprises ports ([0058]), for forwarding the data message flow, from a plurality of egress ports of a network interface that connects the source GPU to the network(Kavathia; Kavathia teaches subsequent to identifying the egress port, the data message is forwarded through the identified egress port to its destination ; see e.g. Fig. 16, [0142]; Step 1635, [0058]
The Examiner notes Kavathia does not explicitly refer to a node or server utilizing a GPU, however it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art as Kavathia’s service chain includes an encryption service (see e.g. [0004] One of ordinary skill in the art would be inclined to utilize GPUs to accelerate encryption operations through parallel processing capabilities, thereby improving computational throughput and reducing latency for data encryption tasks compared to traditional CPU-based implementations).
Kavathia does not expressly
using an identity of the destination GPU to select a tag;
Singh discloses:
using an identity of the destination to select a tag (Singh; Singh teaches selecting computer systems based, at least in part on one or more tags associated with the available computer systems ([0356]) and further teaches GPU -based systems and clusters of GPUs executing workloads ([0294]). Thus the reference establishes an association between tags and GPU-based computing resources (i.e. destination GPUs withing a GPU system or cluster). It would have been obvious ton one of ordinary skill in the art to use the identity of a destination GPU to select a corresponding tag, as this constitutes a predictable use of a known association between computing resource and tags to facilitate selection, grouping, or task allocation within a GPU computing environment.
[0294] “... GPGPU 3530 can be configured to enable highly-parallel compute operations to be performed by an array of GPUs ...”
[0356] “... two or more computer systems to be selected to perform the two or more portions of the one or more programs in parallel comprises identifying one or more logical partitions grouping one or more available computer systems into at least one homogenous grouping based, at least in part, on one or more tags associated with the one or more available computer systems”)
Therefore it would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to utilize Singh’s GPU tag scheme, the motivation being that the combined invention provides one of ordinary skill in the art to implement a known technique resulting in increased efficiencies of processing data messages in Kavathia’s service chain implementation. Moreover, the combined solution also provides one of ordinary skill in the art to utilize GPU resources for the encryption services taught by Kavathia.
Claim 21 is rejected under 35 USC 103 as being unpatentable over Kavathia in view of Dastidar and in further view of Hooda and in further view of Galvin (US 20250175192)
Regarding claim 21, Kavathia in view of Dastidar and in further view of Hooda disclose The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one destination GPU performs the second computation based on the first result from the source GPU as well as a set of the other GPUs that are connected to the source and destination GPUs through the network (The combined solution, as Kavathia teaches generating service paths through a network of service nodes, where the applicable service path is identified by the assigned service path tag and may include different sequences of service nodes. Thus the service-chain architecture provides additional service nodes connected through the network to the source and destination service nodes and available for inclusion in the tagged service path. Hooda teaches implementing those service nodes as GPUs. Accordingly, the combined system provides the source GPU and destination GPU, as well as a set of other GPUs connected to the source and destination GPUs through the network, with the tag defining the service path through the applicable GPUs
The Examiner further notes that the claimed invention provides no temporal requirement regarding when the set of other GPUs are connected to the source GPU and destination GPU through the network. The claim merely requires that the GPUs are connected through the network and does not require that all such GPUs simultaneously participate in a particular service path).
As evidence of the rationale above Galvin discloses:
GPUs that are connected to the source and destination GPUs through the network (Galvin;
See e.g. [0217] “... multiple GPUs may be connected using NVLink bridges, which provide high-bandwidth, low-latency interconnects between GPUs. NVLink bridges enable faster data transfer between GPUs, allowing for more efficient parallel processing and improved performance in applications such as machine learning, scientific simulations ...”
Therefore it would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Galvin’s interconnect scheme. The motivation being the combined solution provides for implementing a known technique resulting in increased efficiencies of data processing.
Therefore it would have been prima facie obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Hooda’s utilization of GPU. The motivation being the combined solution provides for implementing a known technique and provides one of ordinary skill in the art to adapt to the business and technological trend of utilizing GPUs resulting in increased efficiencies of service chaining/distributed applications.
Claim 23 is rejected under 35 USC 103 as being unpatentable over Kavathia in view of Dastidar and in further view of Hooda and in further view of Liu (US 20220121662)
Regarding claim 23, Kavathia in view of Dastidar and in further view of Hooda disclose the method of claim 1, wherein:
the data message flow is a first data message flow comprising a first plurality of data messages, the tag is a first tag, and the egress port is a first egress port (Kavathia; Kavathia teaches wherein the data-message flow comprising a first plurality of messages, the tag is a first tag, and the egress port is a first egress port, because Kavathia teaches forwarding multiple data messages of a tagged flow through his corresponding egress port ([0081], [0213])
Kavathia in view of Dastidar and in further view of Hooda does not expressly disclose:
the first tag comprises a first segment ID associated with a first segment of the first result, wherein the first plurality of data messages store the first segment of the first result; and
the method further comprises:
selecting a second tag, comprising a second ID associated with a second segment of the first result, that is also associated with the destination GPU;
associating the second tag with a second data message flow that comprises a second plurality of data messages that store the second segment of the first result; using the tag to identify a second egress port of the network interface; and forwarding the second data message flow through the second egress port.
Liu discloses:
Segment id (Liu; Liu within the context of distributed processing teaches results that are segmented and associated with an identifier (ID);
See e.g. [0067] “ ... result files 246 and 248 are temporary files with file names corresponding to dataset portion 232 and their respective assignment unique identifiers ...”)
Therefore it would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Liu’s segment ID scheme. The motivation being the combined solution provides for implementing a known technique resulting in increased efficiencies of distributing processing.
Kavathia in view of Dastidar and in further view of Hooda and in further view of Liu discloses:
the first tag comprises a first segment ID associated with a first segment of the first result, wherein the first plurality of data messages store the first segment of the first result (Kavathia’s tag, as modified by Liu, comprises Liu’segment identifier associated with the corresponding portion of the result and Kavathia teaches the plurality of data messages carrying the data of the flow, while Liu teachs that the carried result data corresponds to the identified portion of the result; see e.g. Kavathia [0151, 213], Liu {0067]); and
the method further comprises:
selecting a second tag, comprising a second ID associated with a second segment of the first result, that is also associated with the destination GPU (The combines solution teaches selecting a tag associated with the destination GPU, while Liu teaches incorporating respective unique identifier associated with the second portion of the result into that tag; Dastidar [0026] – [0027], [0047]; Hooda [0103], Liu [0067]);
associating the second tag with a second data message flow that comprises a second plurality of data messages that store the second segment of the first result; using the tag to identify a second egress port of the network interface; and forwarding the second data message flow through the second egress port (The combined solution per Kavathia ([0081], [0151], [0213], Liu [0067]).
Therefore it would have been prima facie obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Hooda’s utilization of GPU. The motivation being the combined solution provides for implementing a known technique and provides one of ordinary skill in the art to adapt to the business and technological trend of utilizing GPUs resulting in increased efficiencies of service chaining/distributed applications.
Conclusion
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.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the Examiner should be directed to TODD L. BARKER whose telephone number is (571) 270 0257. The Examiner can normally be reached on Monday through Friday, 7:30am to 5:00pm.
If attempts to reach the Examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the Examiner's supervisor Vivek Srivastava can be reached on (571) 272 7304.
/TODD L BARKER/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2449
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