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 .
Claims 1, 2, 4-5, 7-9, 11, 12, 14-16, 18-19 have been amended.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claim(s) 1, 3-6, 8, 10-13 , 15, 17-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Elias( US 20080101385) in view of Duda (US20150058470) further in view of Drake (US 20200267078).
Regarding claims 1, 8, 15, Elias teaches A system comprising: a processor; and one or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the processor ([0022] “The instructions 324 may also reside, completely or at least partially, within the main memory 304, the static memory 306, and/or within the processor 302 during execution thereof by the computer system 300”), perform a method comprising:
receiving, from a first provider edge device on a virtual private network (Fig 1 “104 PE Router”, [0011] “The MPLS network 105 provides reachability between the PE routers 104 for exchanging packet traffic between the CE routers 102 belonging to the same Virtual Private Network (VPN)”),
a first route advertisement (Fig. 2 “206”, [0014] “advertise the routing update in step 206 to the RR 110 (see Step C in FIG. 1). The routing update includes among other things an Export Routing Target (RT) and routing attributes that could effect changes to a Virtual Routing and Forwarding (VRF) table of one or more PE routers in the communication system 100 of FIG. 1. Upon receiving the routing update in step 206”),
accessing a datastore to find a record that is associated with the first (([0014] “Upon receiving the routing update in step 206, the RR 110 filters the routing update in step 208 by matching the Export RT to one or more Import RTs stored in the RR. The RR 110 will not re-advertise the routing update to PE routers 104 associated with Import RTs which do not match the Export RT. Thus the RR 110 in step 210 re-advertises the routing update only to PE routers 104 associated with an Import RT that matches the Export RT (see Step D in FIG. 1)”);
in response to finding a record that is associated with the first ([0014] “Upon receiving the routing update in step 206, the RR 110 filters the routing update in step 208 by matching the Export RT to one or more Import RTs stored in the RR. The RR 110 will not re-advertise the routing update to PE routers 104 associated with Import RTs which do not match the Export RT. Thus the RR 110 in step 210 re-advertises the routing update only to PE routers 104 associated with an Import RT that matches the Export RT (see Step D in FIG. 1)”);
Elias does not teach the first route advertisement including a first virtual network identifier that is associated with the virtual private network; virtual network identifier, virtual network identifier, and in response to not finding a record that is associated with the first virtual network identifier: generating a new record in the datastore; associating the new record with the virtual network identifier contained in the first route advertisement; and storing an identifier of the first provider edge device in the new record.
Duda teaches virtual network identifier ([0066] “in the generated VXLAN frame, the source MAC address (312 in FIG. 3) is the source VTEP MAC address, the destination MAC address (314 in FIG. 3) is the MAC address of the next hop, the source VTEP IP address (316 in FIG. 3) is the IP address of the source VTEP, the destination VTEP IP address (318 in FIG. 3) is the VTEP IP address obtained from the entry in the active forwarding table in step 718, and the VNI (320 in FIG. 3) is obtained from the entry in the active forwarding table (in step 718)”),
virtual network identifier ([0066] “in the generated VXLAN frame, the source MAC address (312 in FIG. 3) is the source VTEP MAC address, the destination MAC address (314 in FIG. 3) is the MAC address of the next hop, the source VTEP IP address (316 in FIG. 3) is the IP address of the source VTEP, the destination VTEP IP address (318 in FIG. 3) is the VTEP IP address obtained from the entry in the active forwarding table in step 718, and the VNI (320 in FIG. 3) is obtained from the entry in the active forwarding table (in step 718)”),
and in response to not finding a record that is associated with the first virtual network identifier: generating a new record in the datastore ([0045] “In step 400, values for the fields/components for a new locally learned host entry are obtained (see 204, FIG. 2). The values for the aforementioned fields may be obtained, in part, from a MAC frame issued by the host (i.e., the host to which the new locally learned host entry corresponds). In one embodiment of the invention, the VTEP includes functionality to associate the VNI with the host, where this information is used to populate the new locally learned host entry”);
associating the new record with the virtual network identifier contained in the first route advertisement; and storing an identifier of the first provider edge device in the new record ([0045] “In step 400, values for the fields/components for a new locally learned host entry are obtained (see 204, FIG. 2). The values for the aforementioned fields may be obtained, in part, from a MAC frame issued by the host (i.e., the host to which the new locally learned host entry corresponds). In one embodiment of the invention, the VTEP includes functionality to associate the VNI with the host, where this information is used to populate the new locally learned host entry”, [0060] “For example, consider the scenario in which Host 1 is a virtual machine that is initially “learned” by VTEP 1. Accordingly, VTEP 1 includes a locally learned entry for Host 1, a HSPT entry for Host 1, and an active forwarding table entry for Host 1. Assume at a later point in time Host 1 is migrated to a new server and, for purposes of this example is denoted as Host 1′. Host 1′ is subsequently “learned” by VTEP 2. As a result, VTEP 2 includes a locally learned entry for Host 1”)).
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the combination of Elias to incorporate the teachings of Duda. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to effectively update information.
Duda does not explicitly teach the first route advertisement including a first virtual network identifier that is associated with the virtual private network.
Drake teaches the first route advertisement including a first virtual network identifier that is associated with the virtual private network ([0066] “PE router 16A, as an example, receives the advertisement indicating the subset of resources of underlay network 14 allocated to virtual network 22A in which PE router 16A is participating (144). As previously discussed, in order to receive the advertisement for virtual network 22A, PE router 16A may determine that the advertisement includes the RT that identifies virtual network 22A and import the advertisement. In some examples, PE router 16A may receive the advertisement from a route reflector that uses RT constraints to only send advertisements with RTs that match an import list of PE router 16A”);
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the combination of Elias, Duda to incorporate the teachings of Drake. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to support multiple virtual networks.
Regarding claims 3, 10, 17 Elias teaches wherein the method further comprises: refraining from transmitting the first route advertisement to a third provider edge device that is not included in the record([0014] “Upon receiving the routing update in step 206, the RR 110 filters the routing update in step 208 by matching the Export RT to one or more Import RTs stored in the RR. The RR 110 will not re-advertise the routing update to PE routers 104 associated with Import RTs which do not match the Export RT. Thus the RR 110 in step 210 re-advertises the routing update only to PE routers 104 associated with an Import RT that matches the Export RT (see Step D in FIG. 1).
Regarding claims 4, 11, 18, Elias does not teach wherein the first virtual network identifier comprises a virtual extensible local area network (VXLAN) network identifier.
Duda teaches wherein the first virtual network identifier comprises a virtual extensible local area network (VXLAN) network identifier([0066] “in the generated VXLAN frame, the source MAC address (312 in FIG. 3) is the source VTEP MAC address, the destination MAC address (314 in FIG. 3) is the MAC address of the next hop, the source VTEP IP address (316 in FIG. 3) is the IP address of the source VTEP, the destination VTEP IP address (318 in FIG. 3) is the VTEP IP address obtained from the entry in the active forwarding table in step 718, and the VNI (320 in FIG. 3) is obtained from the entry in the active forwarding table (in step 718)”)
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the combination of Elias to incorporate the teachings of Duda. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to effectively share information to devices.
Regarding claim 5, 12, 19, Elias, does not teach wherein the method further comprises: adding at least one route eligibility entry to a route eligibility table, the at least one route eligibility entry corresponding to the first virtual network identifier.
Duda teaches wherein the method further comprises: adding at least one route eligibility entry to a route eligibility table, the at least one route eligibility entry corresponding to the first virtual network identifier ([0045] “In step 400, values for the fields/components for a new locally learned host entry are obtained (see 204, FIG. 2). The values for the aforementioned fields may be obtained, in part, from a MAC frame issued by the host (i.e., the host to which the new locally learned host entry corresponds). In one embodiment of the invention, the VTEP includes functionality to associate the VNI with the host, where this information is used to populate the new locally learned host entry”).
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the combination of Elias to incorporate the teachings of Duda. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to effectively share information to devices.
Regarding claims 6, 13, 20, Elias and Duda does not teach wherein the method further comprises: adding an identifier at least one of the second provider edge device to the at least one route eligibility entry.
Duda teaches wherein the method further comprises: adding an identifier of the second provider edge device to the at least one route eligibility entry ([0045] “In step 400, values for the fields/components for a new locally learned host entry are obtained (see 204, FIG. 2). The values for the aforementioned fields may be obtained, in part, from a MAC frame issued by the host (i.e., the host to which the new locally learned host entry corresponds). In one embodiment of the invention, the VTEP includes functionality to associate the VNI with the host, where this information is used to populate the new locally learned host entry”).
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the combination of Elias to incorporate the teachings of Duda. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to effectively share information to devices.
Claim(s) 2, 9, 16 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Elias in view of Duda, further in view of Drake, further in view of Gu (US 20130250966).
Regarding claim 2, 9, 16, Elias wherein the method further comprises: identifying a route advertisement using the first identifier ([0014] “Upon receiving the routing update in step 206, the RR 110 filters the routing update in step 208 by matching the Export RT to one or more Import RTs stored in the RR. The RR 110 will not re-advertise the routing update to PE routers 104 associated with Import RTs which do not match the Export RT. Thus the RR 110 in step 210 re-advertises the routing update only to PE routers 104 associated with an Import RT that matches the Export RT (see Step D in FIG. 1)”, the RT is analogous to VNI).
Elias does not explicitly teach second route advertisement using the first virtual network identifier, and transmitting, to the first provider edge device, the second route advertisement.
Duda teaches using the first virtual network identifier ([0066] “in the generated VXLAN frame, the source MAC address (312 in FIG. 3) is the source VTEP MAC address, the destination MAC address (314 in FIG. 3) is the MAC address of the next hop, the source VTEP IP address (316 in FIG. 3) is the IP address of the source VTEP, the destination VTEP IP address (318 in FIG. 3) is the VTEP IP address obtained from the entry in the active forwarding table in step 718, and the VNI (320 in FIG. 3) is obtained from the entry in the active forwarding table (in step 718)”)
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the combination of Elias to incorporate the teachings of Duda. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to effectively share information to devices.
Duda, Drake does not explicitly teach second route advertisement, and transmitting, to the first provider edge device, the second route advertisement
However, Gu teaches second route advertisement (Fig. 3 “RR”, Fig 4 “RR”, [0036] “Preferably, the first device may also transmit the BGP protocol message to the second device”), and transmitting, to the first provider edge device, the second route advertisement (Fig. 3 “RR”, Fig 4 “RR”, [0036] “Preferably, the first device may also transmit the BGP protocol message to the second device. The BGP protocol message carries the service identifier of the first device. The second device establishes a corresponding relationship between the first device and the second device according to the service identifier of the first device and the service identifier of the second device. The second device distributes an MPLS label for the corresponding relationship. Preferably, in this embodiment, the BGP protocol message is a BGP UPDATE message as defined in RFC4271 of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF)”, Note: second device is “first provider edge device”).
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the combination of Elias, Duda, Drake to incorporate the teachings of Gu. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to allow an increase in efficient routing.
Claim(s) 7, 14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Elias in view of Duda, further in view of Drake further in view of Huang (WO2018090872).
Regarding claims 7, 14 Elias, Duda, Drake does not teach wherein the method further comprises: in response to determining that the first route advertisement contains an additional virtual network identifier, repeating the method using the additional virtual network identifier from the first route advertisement.
Huang teaches wherein the method further comprises: in response to determining that the first route advertisement contains an additional virtual network identifier, extracting the additional virtual network identifier from the first route advertisement (page 7 [0002] “the target packet may carry a second network identifier… may be used to identify a virtual local area network”).
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the combination of Elias, Duda, Drake to incorporate the teachings of Huang. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to allow an increase in ease of network deployment (page 3 [0002] of Huang).
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 12/06/2024 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Applicant’s Argument 1
Because Elias' route reflector learns about VPNs and PEs based on receiving import RTs (separate from the export RTs that are actually advertised), there is no motivation to modify Elias using teachings in any reference (let alone Duda) to learn of a new VNI and PE by creating a new record from the export RTs that are advertised.
Examiner’s Response 1
Examiner respectfully disagrees. See updated rejection in regards to Elias in view of Duda further in view of Drake in regards to claim 1. Elias shows the RT is equvalent to an identifier.
Dude shows “in response to not finding a record that is associated with the first virtual network identifier:generating a new record in the datastore; associating the new record with the virtual network identifier contained in the first route advertisement;
The new reference Drake is relied upon to show the first route advertisement including a first virtual network identifier that is associated with the virtual private network ([0066] “PE router 16A, as an example, receives the advertisement indicating the subset of resources of underlay network 14 allocated to virtual network 22A in which PE router 16A is participating (144). As previously discussed, in order to receive the advertisement for virtual network 22A, PE router 16A may determine that the advertisement includes the RT that identifies virtual network 22A and import the advertisement. In some examples, PE router 16A may receive the advertisement from a route reflector that uses RT constraints to only send advertisements with RTs that match an import list of PE router 16A”);
More specifically, the RT comes from the advertisement and is used to identify virtual network.
Conclusion
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/K.T.F./Examiner, Art Unit 2411
/DERRICK W FERRIS/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2411