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 .
Detailed Action
Claims 1-20 are presenting for examination.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-16 are allowable in view of the prior art of record.
The prior art of record doesn’t teach a method and a system including the limitations of “determining that a number of buffers are to be reallocated from a first port of a network device to a second port of the network device
determining a first port capability of the first port;
determining a second port capability of a peer port connected to the first port; and selecting a process for reallocating the buffers based at least in part on the first port capability and the second port capability.”
non--statutory double patenting rejection
The non--statutory 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 non-statutory 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 non-statutory 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 non-statutory 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.
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Claims 17-20 are rejected on the ground of non-statutory double patenting as being unpatentable over claims 1-4 of U.S. Patent No. 12,375,431. Although the claims at issue are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other because the patent 431 anticipates the pending claims 17-20 as shown in the table below.
19/248,267
12,375,431
17. A method for moving buffers between ports of a network device while maintaining the ports in an active state, the method comprising:
determining that a number of the buffers allocated to a first port of the network device are to be reallocated to a second port of the network device;
causing a peer port connected to the first port to decrement, by the number, a transmit credit counter associated with the peer port;
based at least in part on determining that the peer port decremented the transmit credit counter, releasing the number of the buffers from a buffer pool associated with the first port; and
causing a reallocation of the number of the buffers to the second port.
1. A method for moving buffers between ports of a Fibre Channel (FC) device while maintaining the ports in an active state, the method comprising: determining that a number of the buffers allocated to a first port of the FC device are to be reallocated to a second port of the FC device; causing a peer port connected to the first port to decrement, by the number, a transmit credit counter associated with the peer port; based at least in part on determining that the peer port decremented the transmit credit counter, releasing the number of the buffers from a buffer pool associated with the first port; and causing a reallocation of the number of the buffers to the second port.
18. The method of claim 17, further comprising: based at least in part on determining that the number of the buffers are to be reallocated from the first port to the second port, refraining from returning available credits to the peer port; and
determining that a total number of the available credits meets or exceeds the number of buffers that are to be reallocated.
2. The method of claim 1, further comprising: based at least in part on determining that the number of the buffers are to be reallocated from the first port to the second port, refraining from returning available credits to the peer port; and determining that a total number of the available credits meets or exceeds the number of buffers that are to be reallocated.
19. The method of claim 18, wherein causing the peer port to decrement the transmit credit counter comprises sending, to the peer port, an indication of the number of the buffers that are to bc reallocated to the second port based at least in part on the total number of the available credits meeting or exceeding the number of the buffers.
20. The method of claim 17, wherein a current value of the transmit credit counter corresponds with a total number of available buffers for a frame transmission between the first port and the peer port.
3. The method of claim 2, wherein causing the peer port to decrement the transmit credit counter comprises sending, to the peer port, an indication of the number of the buffers that are to be reallocated to the second port based at least in part on the total number of the available credits meeting or exceeding the number of the buffers.
4. The method of claim 1, wherein a current value of the transmit credit counter corresponds with a total number of available buffers for an FC frame transmission between the first port and the peer port.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Moustafa M Meky whose telephone number is (571)272-4005. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 9AM-5PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Ario Etienne can be reached at 571-272-4001. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/MOUSTAFA M MEKY/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2457
08/20/2026
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