DETAILED ACTION
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 .
1. This is in response to communication filed on 6/11/25 in which claims 1-18 are pending.
Double Patenting
2. 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 1-18 are rejected on the ground of nonstatutory double patenting as being unpatentable over claims 1-21 of U.S. Patent No. 12,413520. Although the claims at issue are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other because they both recite the methods and systems for real-time performance optimization of a packet network by selecting and tuning configurable congestion control schemes.
U.S. Patent No.12,413520
U.S. Application No. 19/234364
1. A system for managing congestion in a computer communication network, comprising:
a plurality of Network Interface Controllers (NICs), to connect multiple hosts to the computer communication network, the NICs supporting a configurable Congestion Control (CC) scheme selected from among multiple CC schemes;
and one or more processors coupled to the computer communication network, to: receive performance indicators generated by the NICs or by the hosts and indicative of congestion states occurring in the computer communication network due to communication of the hosts with one another over the computer communication network, the performance indicators being associated with respective times of occurrence;
graphically display time-series data indicative of one or more performance measures of the computer communication network over time, the one or more performance measures being based at least in part on the received performance indicators indicative of congestion states; receive input indicative of one or more CC schemes to apply to one or more NICs, wherein based on the input different ones of the one or more CC schemes could be applied to different ones of the one or more NICs;
provision the one or more NICS with the one or more CC schemes based on the received input; and receive updated performance indicators generated by the NICs or by the hosts indicative of congestion states occurring in the computer communication network after the provisioning.
1. A system for managing congestion in a computer communication network, comprising:
a plurality of Network Interface Controllers (NICs), to connect multiple hosts to the computer communication network, the NICs supporting a configurable Congestion Control (CC) scheme selected from among multiple CC schemes;
and one or more processors coupled to the computer communication network, the one or more processors configured to :
automatically select, based on time-series data indicative of one or more performance measures of the computer communication network over time, respective CC schemes and/or CC parameters for one or more of the NICs;
provision the one or more NICs with the selected CC schemes and/or CC parameters;
and iteratively repeat the selection and provisioning steps in response to updated performance measures, so as to optimize network performance.
It would have been obvious to one with ordinary sill in the art to omit receive performance indicators generated by the NICs or by the hosts and indicative of congestion states occurring in the computer communication network due to communication of the hosts with one another over the computer communication network, the performance indicators being associated with respective times of occurrence in the claimed language in order to broaden the claimed language.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 101
35 U.S.C. 101 reads as follows:
Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefore, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.
3. Claims 1-18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to an abstract idea without significantly more. The claim recites “automatically select, based on time-series data indicative of one or more performance measures of the computer communication network over time, respective CC schemes and/or CC parameters for one or more of the NICs”, “provision the one or more NICs with the selected CC schemes and/or CC parameters”, “iteratively repeat the selection and provisioning steps in response to updated performance measures, so as to optimize network performance”.
The limitation of “automatically select, based on time-series data indicative of one or more performance measures of the computer communication network over time, respective CC schemes and/or CC parameters for one or more of the NICs” covers performance of the limitation in the mind but for the recitation of generic computer components.
That is other than reciting “by a processor”, nothing in the claim element precludes the step from practically being performed in the mind. For example, but for the “by the processor” language, “automatically select, based on time-series data indicative of one or more performance measures of the computer communication network over time, respective CC schemes and/or CC parameters for one or more of the NICs” in the context of the claim encompasses the user manually/verbally selecting a CC scheme based on measures performance indicator.
Similarly, the limitation of “provision the one or more NICs with the selected CC schemes and/or CC parameters” as drafted, is a process that, under its broadest reasonable interpretation, covers performance of the limitation in the mind but for the recitation of generic computer components. For example, but for the “by the processor “ language, “provision the one or more NICs with the selected CC schemes and/or CC parameters” in the context of this claim encompassed manually assigning a scheme to one or more of the NIC.
The claim is directed to an abstract idea. The claim does not include additional elements that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception. The claim does not include additional elements that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception.
Claims 2-9 do not include additional elements that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception.
Claim 10 is rejected under the same rational as claim 1.
Claims 11-18 do not include additional elements that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
4. 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)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
5. Claims 1-18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by EP 4221141 to Wenhao et al.
a. As per claim 1, Wenhao et al teaches a system for managing congestion in a computer communication network, comprising: a plurality of Network Interface Controllers (NICs), to connect multiple hosts to the computer communication network, the NICs supporting a configurable Congestion Control (CC) scheme selected from among multiple CC schemes (See paragraph [0033 and fig 3); and one or more processors coupled to the computer communication network (See paragraph [0047]), the one or more processors configured to: automatically select, based on time-series data indicative of one or more performance measures of the computer communication network over time, respective CC schemes and/or CC parameters for one or more of the NICs (See paragraph [0013, 0090], A CC algorithm parameter may include one or more of the following: an adjustment amplitude and a time interval for adjusting a sending rate, an initial value and a coefficient in an algorithm calculation process, a frequency of sending a signaling packet, and the like); provision the one or more NICs with the selected CC schemes and/or CC parameters (See paragraph [0012], The intelligent network interface card obtains at least two types of to-be-transmitted traffic; the intelligent network interface card identifies algorithm matching features of the at least two types of traffic; when the intelligent network interface card determines to perform congestion control on any one type of traffic in the at least two types of traffic, the intelligent network interface card determines a congestion control algorithm that matches an algorithm matching feature of the any one type of traffic; and the intelligent network interface card performs congestion control on the any one type of traffic according to the congestion control algorithm that matches the algorithm matching feature of the any one type of traffic); and iteratively repeat the selection and provisioning steps in response to updated performance measures, so as to optimize network performance (See paragraph [0014 and 0037]).
b. As per claim 10, Wenhao et al teaches a method for managing congestion in a computer communication network that includes a plurality of Network Interface Controllers (NICs) that connect multiple hosts to the communication network, the NICs supporting a configurable Congestion Control (CC) scheme selected from among multiple Congestion Control schemes (See paragraph [0033 and fig 3), comprising, by one or more processors (See paragraph [0047]) coupled to the computer communication network: automatically selecting, based on time-series data indicative of one or more performance measures of the computer communication network over time, respective CC schemes and/or CC parameters for one or more of the NICs (See paragraph [0013, 0090], A CC algorithm parameter may include one or more of the following: an adjustment amplitude and a time interval for adjusting a sending rate, an initial value and a coefficient in an algorithm calculation process, a frequency of sending a signaling packet, and the like); provisioning the one or more NICs with the selected CC schemes and/or CC parameters(See paragraph [0012], The intelligent network interface card obtains at least two types of to-be-transmitted traffic; the intelligent network interface card identifies algorithm matching features of the at least two types of traffic; when the intelligent network interface card determines to perform congestion control on any one type of traffic in the at least two types of traffic, the intelligent network interface card determines a congestion control algorithm that matches an algorithm matching feature of the any one type of traffic; and the intelligent network interface card performs congestion control on the any one type of traffic according to the congestion control algorithm that matches the algorithm matching feature of the any one type of traffic) ; and iteratively repeating the selecting and provisioning steps in response to updated performance measures, so as to optimize network performance (See paragraph [0014 and 0037]).
c. As per claims 2 and 11, Wenhao et a l teaches the claimed invention as described above. Furthermore, Wenhao et al teaches wherein the one or more processors are further configured to retrieve, in each iteration, the one or more performance measures from storage in a collection of data (See paragraph [0100]).
d. As per claims 3 and 12, Wenhao et a l teaches the claimed invention as described above. Furthermore, Wenhao et al teaches wherein NICs continually generate performance measures (See paragraph [0100]) while the hosts communicate with one another over the communication network and store the performance measures in a collection of data for retrieval by the one or more processors (See paragraph [0047]).
e. As per claims 4 and 13, Wenhao et a l teaches the claimed invention as described above. Furthermore, Wenhao et al teaches wherein at least some of the multiple CC schemes are tunable via respective CC parameters, and wherein the one or more processors are to tune the CC parameters in respective CC schemes in at least some of the NICs based on performance measures for the at least some of the NICs (See paragraph [0088-0090]).
f. As per claims 5 and 14, Wenhao et a l teaches the claimed invention as described above. Furthermore, Wenhao et al teaches wherein the one or more processors are to select a common CC scheme for the one or more NICs (See paragraph [0048 and 0087]).
g. As per claims 6 and 15, Wenhao et a l teaches the claimed invention as described above. Furthermore, Wenhao et al teaches wherein the one or more processors are to select different CC schemes for at least some of the NICs (See paragraph [0021], The configuration tool sends configuration information to the intelligent network interface card, where the configuration information includes a matching relationship between the algorithm matching features of the at least two types of traffic and at least two congestion control algorithms).
h. As per claims 7 and 16, Wenhao et a l teaches the claimed invention as described above. Furthermore, Wenhao et al teaches wherein at least a selected processor among the one or more processors resides in a management host coupled to a management network that connects to the multiple hosts but is separate from the communication network (See paragraph [0048 and fig. 7).
i. As per claims 8 and 17, The system according to claim 1, wherein a given NIC among the plurality of NICs supports multiple CC schemes internally, including a given selected CC scheme, and wherein the one or more processors are to provision the given selected CC scheme in the given NIC by indicating to the given NIC to choose the given selected CC scheme from among the multiple supported CC schemes (See paragraph [0037], This application provides a network congestion control solution, and the network congestion control solution is a congestion control solution based on hardware matching. When an intelligent network interface card obtains to-be-transmitted traffic, the intelligent network interface card may identify an algorithm matching feature of the traffic, and match a congestion control algorithm based on the algorithm matching feature of the traffic. Different algorithm matching features may different congestion control algorithms. In this way, a hardware-based network congestion control network algorithm may be flexibly used).
j. As per claims 9 and 18, Wenhao et a l teaches the claimed invention as described above. Furthermore, Wenhao et al teaches, wherein the one or more processors are to iteratively repeat the selection and provisioning steps until the network performance meets predefined criteria expressed in terms of at least one of utilization, throughput and latency (See paragraph [0048, 0061 and 0063]).
Conclusion
6. The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
U.S. Publication No. 2023/0379258 to Zacks et al teaches Dynamically Enabling Transport Control Protocol Proxy for Satellite Networks.
U.S. Publication No. 2023/0336490 to Arslan et al teaches Network Congestion Control In Sub-Round Trip Time.
U.S. Publication No. 2013/0135999 to Bloch et al teaches Destination -Based Congestion Control.
7. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DJENANE BAYARD whose telephone number is (571)272-3878. The examiner can normally be reached 9-5.
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, John Follansbee can be reached at (571)272-3964. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/DJENANE M BAYARD/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2444
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