DETAILED ACTION
1. A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 11/21/2025 has been entered.
2. Claims 2-4, 6-9, 11-16, 18-21 and 23-25 are pending. Claims 2, 8, and 15 are independent and currently amended. Claims 1, 5, 10, 17 and 22 are canceled. Claim 25 is new. Amendments to the claims have been entered.
Response to Arguments
3. Applicant's arguments filed 11/21/2025 have been fully considered; however, they are not persuasive based on new ground(s) of rejection.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
4. 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.
5. Claims 2-4, 6, 7, 23 and 24 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Gooch (US PG Pub. 2009/0006575) in view of Waters (US PG Pub. 2010/0017794).
As regarding claim 2, Gooch discloses A method, comprising:
based on a user device sending, to a third-party website, a device identifier associated with the user device, causing a determination, by the third-party website and based on the device identifier, of a service identifier that indicates a server associated with a service provider that provides network connectivity to the user device [para. 23, 63 and 66-67; based on a client device sending, to a third party vendor supplying remediation functionality, the MAC address of the client to determine the name of the remote remediation server]; and
receiving, by the user device and from the third-party website, the service identifier, wherein the service provider is associated with the user device [para. 62-63; the client receiving address of the remediation server].
Gooch does not explicitly disclose that a service provider that provides network connectivity to the user device and is distinct from the third-party website; however, Waters discloses it [FIG.1 and para. 5-8; a company, e.g. customer 202, is another entity that provides network connectivity to the IT personnel’s device and is different from a third-party service provider].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the effective filing of the invention to modify Gooch’s service provider to further comprise a company that is distinct from the third-party website, as disclosed by Waters,in order to efficiently and securely apply, by the third-party, patches and updates to the company's platform and to save company’s cost [Waters para. 9].
As regarding claim 3, Gooch and Waters further disclose The method of claim 2, wherein the device identifier comprises information indicating one or more of a manufacturer, a model, a type of device, and a class of the user device [Gooch para. 37; first six characters of MAC address identifying the manufacture], the method further comprising causing a determination, by the third-party website and based on a user identifier associated with the user device, the service identifier [Gooch para. 23, 63 and 66-67; based on a client device sending, to a third party vendor supplying remediation functionality, the MAC address of the client, determining IP address of the of the remote remediation server].
As regarding claim 4, Gooch and Waters further disclose The method of claim 2, wherein the service identifier comprises a uniform resource locator of the server associated with the service provider [Gooch para. 62-63; web site names, e.g. http://www.hp.com, master.remediation.hp.com, rs1.remediation.hp.com, etc…].
As regarding claim 6, Gooch and Waters further disclose The method of claim 2, further comprising based on sending the device identifier, causing, based on the device identifier, a determination by the third-party website of an address element associated with the user device, wherein the address element comprises one or more of an internet protocol address, a network address, or an internet address [Gooch para. 23, 63 and 66-67; MAC address].
As regarding claim 7, Gooch and Waters further disclose The method of claim 2, further comprising receiving, based on the service identifier, data directing the user device to a service location [Gooch para. 62-63; the client receiving address of the remediation server].
As regarding claim 23, Gooch and Waters further disclose further disclose The method of claim 2, further comprising accessing, by the user device, the third-party website, wherein accessing the third-party website causes a detection, by the third-party website, of a compromised state of the user device [Gooch para. 31 and 58; identifying the client to be non-compliant].
As regarding claim 24, Gooch and Waters further disclose further disclose The method of claim 2, further comprising causing a determination, by the third-party website and based on the device identifier, of the service provider, wherein the service provider is determined from a plurality of service providers [Gooch para. 23, 63 and 66-67; based on a client device sending, to a third party vendor supplying remediation functionality, the MAC address of the client to determine the name of the remote remediation server].
6. Claims 8, 9, 11-16, 18-21 and 25 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Gooch (US PG Pub. 2009/0006575) in view of Stern (US PG Pub. 2011/0265116) and further in view of Waters (US PG Pub. 2010/0017794).
As regarding claim 8, Gooch discloses A method, comprising:
based on a user device sending, to a third-party website, a [device] identifier associated with the user device, causing a determination, by the third-party website and based on the [device] identifier, of a remediation service identifier that indicates a server associated with a service provider that provides network connectivity to the user device [para. 23, 63 and 66-67; based on a client device sending, to a third party vendor supplying remediation functionality, the MAC address of the client to determine the name of the remote remediation server];
Gooch does not explicitly disclose the device identifier comprising a user identifier; however, Stern discloses it [para. 16].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the effective filing of the invention to modify Gooch’s device identifier to further comprise a user identifier, as disclosed by Stern,as an alternative client identifier that is used for determining network service.
Gooch and Stern further disclose receiving, by the user device and from the third-party website, the remediation service identifier, wherein the service provider is associated with the user device [Gooch para. 62-63; the client receiving address of the remediation server].
Gooch and Stern do not explicitly disclose that a service provider that provides network connectivity to the user device and is distinct from the third-party website; however, Waters discloses it [FIG.1 and para. 5-8; a company, e.g. customer 202, is another entity that provides network connectivity to the IT personnel’s device and is different from a third-party service provider].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the effective filing of the invention to modify Gooch and Stern’s service provider to further comprise a company that is distinct from the third-party website, as disclosed by Waters,in order to efficiently and securely apply, by the third-party, patches and updates to the company's platform and to save company’s cost [Waters para. 9].
As regarding claim 9, Gooch, Stern and Waters further disclose The method of claim 8, wherein the user identifier comprises an internet protocol address [Stern para. 139; the MAC or IP address of the requesting device].
As regarding claim 11, Gooch, Stern and Waters further disclose The method of claim 8, wherein the remediation service identifier comprises a uniform resource locator associated with an online remediation service [Gooch para. 62-63; web site names, e.g. http://www.hp.com, master.remediation.hp.com, rs1.remediation.hp.com, etc…].
As regarding claim 12, Gooch, Stern and Waters further disclose The method of claim 8, wherein the remediation service identifier is stored by a domain name system server [Gooch para. 62; remediation server identifiers, to be resolved to an IP address, are stored by a DNS server].
As regarding claim 13, Gooch, Stern and Waters further disclose The method of claim 8, further comprising based on sending the user identifier, causing, based on the user identifier, a determination by the third-party website of an address element associated with the user device, wherein the address element comprises one or more of an internet protocol address, a network address, or an internet address [Gooch para. 23, 63 and 66-67; MAC address].
As regarding claim 14, Gooch, Stern and Waters further disclose The method of claim 8, further comprising receiving, based on the remediation service identifier, data directing the user device to a remediation service [Gooch para. 23, 63 and 66-67; based on a client device sending, to a third party vendor supplying remediation functionality, the MAC address of the client to determine the name of the remote remediation server].
As regarding claim 15, Gooch discloses An apparatus comprising:
one or more processors [para. 14, 22, 26 and 29]; and
a memory comprising processor-executable instructions [para. 87] that, when executed by the one or more processors [para. 22, 26 and 29], cause the apparatus to:
based on sending a [device] identifier associated with the apparatus to a third-party website, cause a determination, by the third-party website and based on the [device] identifier, of a remediation service identifier that indicates a server associated with a service provider that provides network connectivity to the user device [para. 23, 63 and 66-67; based on a client device sending, to a third party vendor supplying remediation functionality, the MAC address of the client to determine the name of the remote remediation server];
Gooch does not explicitly disclose the device identifier comprising a user identifier; however, Stern discloses it [para. 16].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the effective filing of the invention to modify Gooch’s device identifier to further comprise a user identifier, as disclosed by Stern,as an alternative client identifier that is used for determining network service.
Gooch and Stern further disclose receive, from the third-party website, the remediation service identifier, wherein the service provider is associated with the apparatus [Gooch para. 62-63; the client receiving address of the remediation server].
Gooch and Stern do not explicitly disclose that a service provider that provides network connectivity to the user device and is distinct from the third-party website; however, Waters discloses it [FIG.1 and para. 5-8; a company, e.g. customer 202, is another entity that provides network connectivity to the IT personnel’s device and is different from a third-party service provider].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the effective filing of the invention to modify Gooch and Stern’s service provider to further comprise a company that is distinct from the third-party website, as disclosed by Waters,in order to efficiently and securely apply, by the third-party, patches and updates to the company's platform and to save company’s cost [Waters para. 9].
As regarding claim 16, Gooch, Stern and Waters further disclose The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the user identifier comprises an internet protocol address [Stern para. 139; the MAC or IP address of the requesting device].
As regarding claim 18, Gooch, Stern and Waters further disclose The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the remediation service identifier comprises a uniform resource locator associated with an online remediation service [Gooch para. 62-63; web site names, e.g. http://www.hp.com, master.remediation.hp.com, rs1.remediation.hp.com, etc…].
As regarding claim 19, Gooch, Stern and Waters further disclose The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the remediation service identifier is stored by a domain name system server [Gooch para. 62; remediation server identifiers, to be resolved to an IP address, are stored by a DNS server].
As regarding claim 20, Gooch, Stern and Waters further disclose The apparatus of claim 15, further comprising based on sending the device identifier, causing, based on the device identifier, a determination by the third party website of an address element associated with the apparatus, wherein the address element comprises one or more of an internet protocol address, a network address, or an internet address [Gooch para. 23, 63 and 66-67; MAC address].
As regarding claim 21, Gooch, Stern and Waters further disclose The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the processor-executable instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the apparatus to receive, based on the remediation service identifier, data directing the apparatus to a remediation service [Gooch para. 23, 63 and 66-67; based on a client device sending, to a third party vendor supplying remediation functionality, the MAC address of the client to determine the name of the remote remediation server].
As regarding claim 25, Gooch, Stern and Waters further disclose The method of claim 8, further comprising accessing, by the user device, the third-party website, wherein accessing the third-party website causes a detection, by the third-party website, of a compromised state of the user device [Gooch para. 31 and 58; identifying the client to be non-compliant].
CONCLUSION
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/THONG P TRUONG/
Examiner, Art Unit 2433
/JEFFREY C PWU/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2433
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