DETAILED ACTION
This action is in response to communication filed on 6/6/2025.
Claims 1-48 are pending.
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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 6/6/2025 and 12/17/2025 are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Double Patenting
The nonstatutory double patenting rejection is based on a judicially created doctrine grounded in public policy (a policy reflected in the statute) so as to prevent the unjustified or improper timewise extension of the “right to exclude” granted by a patent and to prevent possible harassment by multiple assignees. A nonstatutory double patenting rejection is appropriate where the conflicting claims are not identical, but at least one examined application claim is not patentably distinct from the reference claim(s) because the examined application claim is either anticipated by, or would have been obvious over, the reference claim(s). See, e.g., In re Berg, 140 F.3d 1428, 46 USPQ2d 1226 (Fed. Cir. 1998); In re Goodman, 11 F.3d 1046, 29 USPQ2d 2010 (Fed. Cir. 1993); In re Longi, 759 F.2d 887, 225 USPQ 645 (Fed. Cir. 1985); In re Van Ornum, 686 F.2d 937, 214 USPQ 761 (CCPA 1982); In re Vogel, 422 F.2d 438, 164 USPQ 619 (CCPA 1970); In re Thorington, 418 F.2d 528, 163 USPQ 644 (CCPA 1969).
A timely filed terminal disclaimer in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(c) or 1.321(d) may be used to overcome an actual or provisional rejection based on nonstatutory double patenting provided the reference application or patent either is shown to be commonly owned with the examined application, or claims an invention made as a result of activities undertaken within the scope of a joint research agreement. See MPEP § 717.02 for applications subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA as explained in MPEP § 2159. See MPEP § 2146 et seq. for applications not subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA . A terminal disclaimer must be signed in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(b).
The filing of a terminal disclaimer by itself is not a complete reply to a nonstatutory double patenting (NSDP) rejection. A complete reply requires that the terminal disclaimer be accompanied by a reply requesting reconsideration of the prior Office action. Even where the NSDP rejection is provisional the reply must be complete. See MPEP § 804, subsection I.B.1. For a reply to a non-final Office action, see 37 CFR 1.111(a). For a reply to final Office action, see 37 CFR 1.113(c). A request for reconsideration while not provided for in 37 CFR 1.113(c) may be filed after final for consideration. See MPEP §§ 706.07(e) and 714.13.
The USPTO Internet website contains terminal disclaimer forms which may be used. Please visit www.uspto.gov/patent/patents-forms. The actual filing date of the application in which the form is filed determines what form (e.g., PTO/SB/25, PTO/SB/26, PTO/AIA /25, or PTO/AIA /26) should be used. A web-based eTerminal Disclaimer may be filled out completely online using web-screens. An eTerminal Disclaimer that meets all requirements is auto-processed and approved immediately upon submission. For more information about eTerminal Disclaimers, refer to www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/applying-online/eterminal-disclaimer.
Claims 1-48 are provisionally rejected on the ground of nonstatutory double patenting as being unpatentable over claims 1-50 of copending Application No. 19/230,487 (reference application). This is a provisional nonstatutory double patenting rejection because the patentably indistinct claims have not in fact been patented.
The two applications are commonly assigned to Apple Inc., were filed on the same date, claim the benefit of the same provisional applications, and share a common disclosure. Although the claims are not identical, they are not patentably distinct.
Claim 1 of this application recites a method in which a hierarchical manager operated by an instruction processing device receives first data from a system operated by a processing device of a first computing node and/or second data from a system operated by a controller co-located with that node on a first computing device, the controller being coupled to the instruction processing device by a first communication network, and the processing device providing an operation result to a second computing node on a second computing device over a second communication network whose topology includes both nodes; the hierarchical manager creates, based on that data, a network manager operated by the same instruction processing device for the second communication network; and the network manager manages operations of processing devices of computing nodes of that second network.
The claims of Application No. 19/230,487 recite an instruction processing device that manages computing devices of a chassis having boards and cards, each card including a controller and a processing device, a first communication network coupling the instruction processing device to the controller, a second communication network among processing devices on the board, and a hierarchical manager that creates a network manager to manage operations of the board and its computing nodes.
A person of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized the method of claim 1 as the method of operating the system claimed in 19/230,487, and the system of claims 24 and 46 as the same architecture claimed in 19/230,487. The dependent claims of this application add only details (chassis and boards, ring topology, discovery events, node states, event handling, and RPCs) that are either recited in, or obvious variants of, the dependent claims and shared specification of 19/230,487.
This is a provisional double patenting rejection. It may be overcome by filing a timely terminal disclaimer under 37 C.F.R. 1.321(c) or (d), and including the fee set forth in 37 C.F.R. 1.20(d), or by amending the claims so that they are patentably distinct from the claims of Application No. 19/230,487. If Application No. 19/230,487 issues as a patent, this rejection will be converted to a non-provisional double patenting rejection over that patent.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1–48 would be allowable over the prior art of record if the provisional nonstatutory double patenting rejection were overcome. The closest prior art is Stabile et al. (US 2020/0220767 A1) and Stevens et al. (US 2023/0120652 A1). Neither reference, alone or in combination, teaches a hierarchical manager operated by an instruction processing device that, based on first data from a system operated by a processing device of a computing node and/or second data from a system operated by a controller co-located with that node, creates a network manager that is also operated by that same instruction processing device for a second communication network whose topology includes that node and a second node, and that then manages processing devices of computing nodes of that second network.
Conclusion
For the reasons above, claims 1-48 have been rejected and remain pending.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JIMMY H TRAN whose telephone number is (571)270-5638. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 9am-5pm PST.
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JIMMY H TRAN
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2451
/JIMMY H TRAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2451
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