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 obviousness-type 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); and 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 a nonstatutory double patenting ground provided the conflicting application or patent either is shown to be commonly owned with this application, or claims an invention made as a result of activities undertaken within the scope of a joint research agreement.
Effective January 1, 1994, a registered attorney or agent of record may sign a terminal disclaimer. A terminal disclaimer signed by the assignee must fully comply with 37 CFR 3.73(b).
Claims 1-15,17-20, 22 are rejected on the ground of nonstatutory obviousness-type double patenting as being unpatentable over claims 1-17 of U.S. Patent No. 12,452,671. Although the conflicting claims are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other because the subject matter recited in the claims of the instant application are now broader than the features included in the claims of the ‘671 patent. For example, claim 1 of the instant application recites some of the features in claim 1 of the ‘671 patent, but does not include features which relate to the type of network (SD-PMN) and/or the elements in that type of network. Additionally, the dependent claims of these cases recite similar features. Therefore, as the instant claims are a broader version of the patented claims, these claim sets anticipate each other and are rejected under obviousness-type double patenting.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103(a) which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
(a) A patent may not be obtained though the invention is not identically disclosed or described as set forth in section 102 of this title, if the differences between the subject matter sought to be patented and the prior art are such that the subject matter as a whole would have been obvious at the time the invention was made to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which said subject matter pertains. Patentability shall not be negatived by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claims 1-8 and 11-18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over
Vysotsky et al (US Patent 20230231802, hereinafter Vysotsky) in view of Kotrabasappa et al.
(US 20230396538, hereinafter Kotrabasappa et al.), and Michael et al. (US 20220006726,
hereinafter Michael et al.), and further in view of Nandy et al. (US 20200314003 A1, hereinafter
Nandy).
As to claim 1, Vysotsky teaches, a method for leveraging SD-WAN (software-defined
wide area network) resiliency during failover to provide resiliency for a software-defined private
mobile network (SD-PMN) that is implemented for a particular entity and distributed across a set
of geographic locations, the method comprising: IT 0237, "The tunnel selector 602 can be
configured to establish or generate an additional tunnel 506 or an additional path 507 for the anticipated application traffic. For example, the SD-WAN application 504C can be configured to establish a tunnel 506 for using cellular services as a backup for a tunnel 506 using Wi-Fi services.]
receiving a data message 19 0062, Hardware layer 206 provides the hardware
elements upon which programs and services within kernel space 204 and user space 202 are
executed and allow programs and services within kernel space 204 and user space 202 to
communicate data i.e., receiving a data message both internally and externally with respect
to appliance 200.] destined to a particular IP (Internet protocol) address ['] 0150, The tunnel
selector 602 can be configured to select the respective tunnel based on the application
traffic. The tunnel selector 602 can be configured to route network traffic based on routing
rules outside of network packet parameters (such as the source and destination IP
addresses and ports)] i.e., destined to a particular IP address) that is located external to the
branch location of the particular entity (I 0062, user space 202 to communicate data both
internally and externally with respect to appliance 200] i.e., located external to the branch
location of the particular entity.)
determining that a first SD-WAN tunnel between the SD-WAN edge router and a first
PoP (point of presence) at which the particular IP address is located is down; IT 0247, SD-WAN
systems can provide SD-WAN features on demand. For example, the SD-WAN application
can bring up tunnels when application attempts to establish connectivity are detected, or
enable more costly wireless connectivity when wired connectivity are failing.]
and using a second SD-WAN tunnel IT 0232, configured to establish a first
tunnel 506A and a second tunnel 506B] between the SD-WAN edge router and a second PoP at
which the particular IP address is located in order to forward the data message 0301, For
example, the SD-WAN application 504 can either send application traffic directly to the
resources 1004, 1006 or can forward or offload that traffic routing and additional insight
data to the SD-WAN device 1002] to the particular IP address.
Vysotsky fails to teach at an SD-WAN edge router located at an edge of branch location
of the particular entity. However, Kotrabasappa teaches at an SD-WAN edge router located at an
edge of branch location of the particular entity, [ ] 0028, Also, in some embodiments, other SD-
WAN forwarding elements may be present, including additional edge devices located at
other branch sites of the entity, as well as SD-WAN hub forwarding nodes that can be used
to connect to other edge forwarding nodes of other branch sites (not shown) to each other.]
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the
effective filing date of applicant's claimed invention to combine the method of Vyostsky with the
method of Kotrabasappa. Doing so would address the problem of "uneven resource utilization
across the datacenters (e.g., cloud datacenters of a multicloud), and latency in the service,
and/or service unavailability while other cloud datacenters may be underutilized" [See
Kotrabasappa, [0001].)
Vysotsky and Kotrabasappa fail to teach at an SD-WAN edge router located at a second
PoP at which the particular IP address is located.
However, Michael teaches at an SD-WAN edge router located at a second PoP at which the particular IP address is located, IT 0155, The number of tenants supported with the overlay network is horizontally scalable by increasing a number of VM instances at a POP, and each tenant is configured to access each POP using its own IP addresses.]
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the
effective filing date of applicant's claimed invention to combine the method of Vyostsky with the
method of Michael as described below. "Therefore, many enterprises currently bear the burden
of managing multiple networks, because no single network offers the adequate combination of
reliability, cloud flexibility, and internet affordability. Enterprises therefore need an improved
core network alternative." [See Michael, [0018].
The combined prior art does not disclose "wherein the particular IP address is a same
common IP address which can be reached at any of the first and second PoPs via a control plane
operation of the SD-WAN".
However, in a similar endeavor, Nandy discloses wherein the particular IP address is a
same common IP address which can be reached at any of the first and second PoPs via a control
plane operation of the SD-WAN (see Nandy [0021]-[0023]).
Therefore, it would be obvious to one of ordinary skilled in the art to modify the teachings of the cited references, to have a common IP address to handle failover.
The motivation/suggestion for doing so would have been to provide an enhanced method
to minimize the impact of any failures to ensure continued support and communications between
the device and network.
Regarding the previously added feature of: wherein the same common IP address is deployed at a first control plane component of the first PoP and further deployed at a second control plane component of the second PoP to provide resiliency and enable seamless failover between the first PoP and the second PoP via switching”, this appears to be taught (and/or rendered obvious) in view of section [0021] of Nandy. For example, section [0021] of Nandy teaches “Since both primary network device 106 and secondary network device 108 may share a common IP address, from a control plane perspective, primary network device 106 may use the IP address for generating network packets, in an active-standby configuration.”
As to Claim 2 as applied to Claim 1, Vysotsky teaches, determining that the first SD-
WAN tunnel between the SD-WAN edge router and the first PoP (point of presence) at which the particular IP address is located is down comprises determining that the first SD-WAN tunnel established between the SD- WAN edge router at the branch location and a first SD-WAN gateway at the first PoP is down. IT 0247, SD-WAN systems can provide SD-WAN features on demand. For example, the SD-WAN application can bring up tunnels when application attempts to establish connectivity are detected, or enable more costly wireless connectivity when wired connectivity are failing.]
As to Claim 3 as applied to Claim 2, Vysotsky teaches, using the second SD-WAN tunnel
between the SD-WAN edge router and the second PoP at which the particular IP address is located in order to forward the data message to the particular IP address comprises using the second SD-WAN tunnel between the SD-WAN edge router at the branch location and a second SD-WAN gateway at the second PoP to forward the data message to the particular IP address. IT 301, For example, the SD-WAN application 504 can either send application traffic directly to the resources 1004, 1006 or can forward or offload that traffic routing and additional insight data to the SD-WAN device 1002, which can select channels to use for traffic routing.]
As to Claim 4 as applied to Claim 3, Vysotsky teaches, wherein the particular IP address
is a common IP address associated with a destination located in each of a plurality of PoPs
including the first and second PoPs. IT 0183, The endpoint can include POPs located near, or
collocated with, specific SaaS applications that provide improved connectivity to those applications. The endpoint can include POPs located in public clouds that provide improved connectivity to those specific public clouds. The endpoint can include POPs that provide direct VPN-like connectivity to private networks. For example, the prediction manager 814 can be configured to identify SD-WAN connectivity policies such as provisioned bandwidth values for individual physical network connections, specific IP addresses and ports applicable to appliances, or their local or wide area network connections, etc. [0213] The prediction manager 814 of the SD-WAN application 504C can be configured to receive historic or predictive data 806-812 relating to connectivity or usage of the client 502. The prediction manager 814 can be included in the SD-WAN application 504C executing on the client 502.]
As to Claim 5 as applied to Claim 4, Vysotsky teaches, wherein the first SD-WAN gateway is a primary SD-WAN gateway assigned to the SD-WAN edge router at the branch location for reaching the common IP address and the second SD-WAN gateway is a secondary SD-WAN gateway assigned to the SD-WAN edge router at the branch location for reaching the common IP address. IT 0140, The tunnel selector 602 can be configured to associate a NAT 612 to a specific public IP or IP range assigned to a remote tunnel destination 616.]
As to Claim 6 as applied to Claim 5, Vysotsky teaches, wherein the common IP address belongs to a set of common IP addresses associated with a set of destinations located in each of the plurality of PoPs. [' 0150, The tunnel selector 602 can be configured to select the respective tunnel based on the application traffic. The tunnel selector 602 can be configured to route network traffic based on routing rules outside of network packet parameters (such as the source and destination IP addresses and ports) to provide better network quality of service and better user experience, and/or to address application-specific security requirements. The routing rules can be assigned to applications based on application classification and match application flows with specific remote tunnel destinations 616.] IT 0178, For example, the SD-WAN application can identify an application that reported as less trustworthy, and route its browser content routed through a remote tunnel destination such as a POP with a security service.]
As to Claim 7 as applied to Claim 4, Vysotsky teaches, the common IP address enables
(i) resiliency in the SD PMN and (ii) seamless failover between PoPs. 0237, For example, the SD-WAN application 504C can be configured to establish a tunnel 506 for using cellular services as a backup for a tunnel 506 using Wi-Fi services. The tunnel selector 602 can establish a tunnel 506 to a specific remote tunnel destination 616 (e.g., remote service POP or remote site associated with the communications application). For example, the tunnel selector 602 can change the status of a cellular physical connection
implemented by a NIC 508 and used by a path 507 from "standby" to "active" to reduce the time needed to react to traffic disruption and implement transparent traffic failover from Wi-Fi to cellular (e.g., if the Wi-Fi connection fails, then the switch to cellular is faster because it is on standby).]
As to Claim 8 as applied to Claim 1, Vysotsky teaches, wherein the branch location is one of a plurality of branch locations of the particular entity and spanned by the SD-PMN. IT 0156, In addition to being considerably more secure than the traditional VPN access, this SD-WAN-based ZTNA approach can remove the need to deploy application-specific "connectors" in private resource locations, thus functionally replacing them with a generic SD-WAN connection between the remote tunnel destination 616 and the private resource network location.] IT 0011, Selecting the respective tunnel may be based on a mapping of the network address to the respective tunnel of the plurality of tunnels. In some embodiments, the method includes receiving, by the SD-WAN application, metrics for the application traffic from a monitoring service of the client device.]
As to Claim 11, Vysotsky teaches, A non-transitory machine readable medium storing a
program for execution by a set of processing units, the program for an SD-WAN edge router for
leveraging SD-WAN (software-defined wide area network) resiliency during failover to provide resiliency for a software-defined private mobile network (SD-PMN) IT 0237, For example, the SD-WAN application 504C can be configured to establish a tunnel 506 for using cellular services as a backup for a tunnel 506 using Wi-Fi services.] that is implemented for a particular entity and distributed across a set of geographic locations, [0088, In some implementations, one or more of appliances 200 of cluster 400 may be geographically distributed, with appliances 200 not physically or geographically co-located. In such implementations, geographically remote appliances may be joined by a dedicated network
connection and/or VPN.]
Vysotsky and Michael fail to teach, at an SD-WAN edge router located at an edge of
branch location of the particular entity. However, Kotrabasappa teaches, [' 0028, Also, in some
embodiments, other SD-WAN forwarding elements may be present, including additional
edge devices located at other branch sites of the entity, as well as SD-WAN hub forwarding
nodes that can be used to connect to other edge forwarding nodes of other branch sites (not
shown) to each other.]
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the
effective filing date of applicant's claimed invention to combine the method of Vyostsky and
Michael with the method of Kotrabasappa. Doing so would address the problem of "uneven
resource utilization across the datacenters (e.g., cloud datacenters of a multicloud), and latency
in the service, and/or service unavailability while other cloud datacenters may be underutilized"
[See Kotrabasappa, [0001].)
receiving a data message IT 0062, Hardware layer 206 provides the hardware elements upon which programs and services within kernel space 204 and user space 202 are executed and allow programs and services within kernel space 204 and user space 202 to communicate data i.e., receiving a data message both internally and externally with respect to appliance 200.] destined to a particular IP (Internet protocol) address ['] 0150, The tunnel selector 602 can be configured to select the respective tunnel based on the application traffic. The tunnel selector 602 can be configured to route network traffic based on routing rules outside of network packet parameters (such as the source and destination IP addresses and ports)] i.e., destined to a particular IP address) that is located external to the branch location of the particular entity (T 0062, user space 202 to communicate data both internally and externally with respect to appliance 200] i.e., located external to the branch location of the particular entity.)
determining that a first SD-WAN tunnel between the SD-WAN edge router and a first
PoP (point of presence) at which the particular IP address is located is down. IT 0247, SD-WAN
systems can provide SD-WAN features on demand. For example, the SD-WAN application
can bring up tunnels when application attempts to establish connectivity are detected, or
enable more costly wireless connectivity when wired connectivity are failing.]
and using a second SD-WAN tunnel between the SD-WAN edge router and a second PoP
at which the particular IP address is located in order to forward the data message to the particular
IP address. L'I 0301, For example, the SD-WAN application 504 can either send application
traffic directly to the resources 1004, 1006 or can forward or offload that traffic routing
and additional insight data to the SD-WAN device 1002, which can select channels to use
for traffic routing.]
The combined prior art does not disclose "wherein the particular IP address is a same
common IP address which can be reached at any of the first and second PoPs via a control plane
operation of the SD-WAN".
However, in a similar endeavor, Nandy discloses wherein the particular IP address is a
same common IP address which can be reached at any of the first and second PoPs via a control
plane operation of the SD-WAN (see Nandy [0021]-[0023]).
Therefore, it would be obvious to one of ordinary skilled in the art to modify the
teachings of the cited references, to have a common IP address to handle failover.
The motivation/suggestion for doing so would have been to provide an enhanced method
to minimize the impact of any failures to ensure continued support and communications between
the device and network.
As to Claim 12 as applied to Claim 11, Vysotsky teaches, wherein the set of instructions
for determining that the first SD-WAN tunnel between the SD-WAN edge router and the first
PoP (point of presence) at which the particular IP address is located is down comprises a set of
instructions for determining that the first SD-WAN tunnel established between the SD-WAN
edge router at the branch location and a first SD-WAN gateway at the first PoP is down.
['] 0118, The tunnel selector 602 can be configured to determine a network address for the
application traffic. The SD-WAN tunnel terminations 614 can be associated with NAT 612.
To isolate the os and applications from IP addressing details of multiple tunnels 506, the
SD-WAN application 504B can expose the SD-WAN tunnel termination 614 (e.g., network
connectivity) by using or generating the NAT 612 (e.g., client-local private IP on the OS-
facing side). The SD-WAN application 504B can generate automatic NAT 612 between IP
and remote tunnels destinations 616.]
As to Claim 13 as applied to Claim 12, Vysotsky teaches, wherein the set of instructions
for using the second SD-WAN tunnel between the SD-WAN edge router and the second PoP at
which the particular IP address is located in order to forward the data message to the particular
IP address comprises a set of instructions for using the second SD-WAN tunnel between the SD-
WAN edge router at the branch location and a second SD-WAN gateway at the second PoP to
forward the data message to the particular IP address. 19 0183, The endpoints can be associated
with the tunnel destinations located in a specific geographic areas to provide localized connectivity services with low access latency, or to ensure traffic routing through, or customer data residency in, a specific jurisdiction. The endpoint can include POPs located near, or collocated with, specific SaaS applications that provide improved connectivity to those applications.] [T 0062, Hardware layer 206 provides the hardware elements upon which programs and services within kernel space 204 and user space 202 are executed and allow programs and services within kernel space 204 and user space 202 to communicate data both internally and externally with respect to appliance 200.]
As to Claim 14 as applied to Claim 13, Vysotsky teaches, wherein the particular IP
address is a common IP address associated with a destination located in each of a plurality of
PoPs including the first and second PoPs. 19 0183, The endpoint can include POPs located near, or collocated with, specific SaaS applications that provide improved connectivity to those applications. The endpoint can include POPs located in public clouds that provide improved connectivity to those specific public clouds. The endpoint can include POPs that provide direct VPN-like connectivity to private networks.]
As to Claim 15 as applied to Claim 14, Vysotsky teaches, wherein the first SD-WAN
gateway is a primary SD-WAN gateway assigned to the SD-WAN edge router at the branch
location for reaching the common IP address and the second SD-WAN gateway is a secondary
SD-WAN gateway assigned to the SD-WAN edge router at the branch location for reaching the
common IP address. IT 0062, FIG. 2 shows an example implementation of appliance 200. As
described herein, appliance 200 may be implemented as a server, gateway, router, switch,
bridge or other type of computing or network device.]
As to Claim 16 as applied to Claim 15, Vysotsky teaches, wherein the common IP
address belongs to a set of common IP addresses associated with a set of destinations located in
each of the plurality of PoPs. [ ] 0150, The tunnel selector 602 can be configured to select the
respective tunnel based on the application traffic. The tunnel selector 602 can be configured to route network traffic based on routing rules outside of network packet parameters (such as the source and destination IP addresses and ports) to provide better network quality of service and better user experience, and/or to address application-specific security requirements. The routing rules can be assigned to applications based on application classification and match application flows with specific remote tunnel destinations 616. L'I 0178, For example, the SD-WAN application can identify an
application that reported as less trustworthy, and route its browser content routed through a remote tunnel destination such as a POP with a security service.]
As to Claim 17 as applied to Claim 14, Vysotsky teaches, wherein the common IP address enables (i) resiliency in the SD-PMN and (ii) seamless failover between PoPs. IT 0237, For example, the SD-WAN application 504C can be configured to establish a tunnel 506 for using cellular services as a backup for a tunnel 506 using Wi-Fi services. The tunnel selector 602 can establish a tunnel 506 to a specific remote tunnel destination 616 (e.g., remote service POP or remote site associated with the communications application). For example, the tunnel selector 602 can change the status of a cellular physical connection implemented by a NIC 508 and used by a path 507 from "standby" to "active" to reduce the time needed to react to traffic disruption and implement transparent traffic failover from Wi-Fi to cellular (e.g., if the Wi-Fi connection fails, then the switch to cellular is faster because it is on standby).]
As to Claim 18 as applied to Claim 11, Vysotsky teaches, wherein the branch location is
one of a plurality of branch locations of the particular entity and spanned by the SD-PMN. IT0156, In addition to being considerably more secure than the traditional VPN access, this SD-WAN-based ZTNA approach can remove the need to deploy application-specific "connectors" in private resource locations, thus functionally replacing them with a generic SD-WAN connection between the remote tunnel destination 616 and the private resource network location.] [90011, Selecting the respective tunnel may be based on a mapping of the network address to the respective tunnel of the plurality of tunnels. In some embodiments, the method includes receiving, by the SD-WAN application, metrics for the
application traffic from a monitoring service of the client device.]
Claim 9 and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Vysotsky et
al (US Patent 20230231802, hereinafter Vysotsky) in view of Kotrabasappa et al. (US
20230396538, hereinafter Kotrabasappa et al.), Michael et al. (US 20220006726, hereinafter
Michael et al.), and Whited (US 20230055046, hereinafter Whited).
As to Claim 9 as applied to Claim 1, Vysotsky, Kotrabasappa, and Michael fail to teach,
wherein the particular IP address is associated with a stateless service deployed to a plurality of
PoPs including the first and second PoPs. However, Whited teaches wherein the particular IP
address is associated with a stateless service deployed to a plurality of PoPs including the first
and second PoPs [90243, There may be a path finding service 1708 executing on each POP or a selected subset of POPs in the overlay network. The best end-to-end path may exist over the User Datagram Protocol (UDP), Transmission Control Protocol (TCP), or a mixture of both; the same is true for the Internet Protocol (IP) version.]
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the
effective filing date of applicant's claimed invention to combine the method of Vyostsky,
Kotrabasappa, and Michael with the method of Whited in order to improve the performance of
such diverse online applications include virtual private networks (VPNs), custom application program interfaces (APIs), and content delivery networks (CDNs). [See Whited, [0003]
As to Claim 19 as applied to Claim 11, Vysotsky, Kotrabasappa, and Michael fail to teach, wherein the particular IP address is associated with a stateless service deployed to a plurality of PoPs including the first and second PoPs. However, Whited teaches wherein the particular IP address is associated with a stateless service deployed to a plurality of PoPs including the first and second PoPs, [90243, There may be a path finding service 1708 executing on each POP or a selected subset of POPs in the overlay network. The best end-to-end path may exist over the User Datagram Protocol (UDP), Transmission Control Protocol (TCP), or a mixture of both; the same is true for the Internet Protocol
(IP) version.]
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of applicant's claimed invention to combine the method of Vyostsky, Kotrabasappa, and Michael with the method of Whited in order to improve the performance of such diverse online applications include virtual private networks (VPNs), custom application program interfaces (APIs), and content delivery networks (CDNs). [See Whited, [0003]
Claim 10 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Vysotsky et
al (US Patent 20230231802, hereinafter Vysotsky) in view of Kotrabasappa et al. (US 20230396538, hereinafter Kotrabasappa et al.), and Michael et al. (US 20220006726, hereinafter Michael et al.), and Shaw et al. (US 20230076025, hereinafter Shaw et al.).
As to Claim 10 as applied to Claim 1, Vysotsky, Kotrabasappa, and Michael disclose each active-active instance pair provides resiliency within each PoP of the plurality of PoPs (Michael; 19 0487, The traffic is then routed from the egress POP to the target address over the Internet. Embodiments provide high availability for egress failover by configuring all POPs as egress POPs.]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of applicant's claimed invention to combine the method of Vyostsky, Kotrabasappa with the method of Michael in order to offer the adequate combination of reliability, cloud flexibility, and internet affordability. [See Michael, [0018].)
Vysotsky, Kotrabasappa, and Michael disclose the claimed invention but fail to teach wherein: the particular IP address is a common IP address associated with a core of the SD-PMN and each instance in each pair of instances is reachable at the common IP address. However, Sha teaches wherein: the particular IP addressi is a common IP address associated with a core of the SD-PMN and each instance in each pair of instances is reachable at the common IP address. I'll 0191, The private network 1102 and the Internet in this example may 0 perate as IP Unicast networks, whereas the telecom network 1104 may operate as an IP Anycast network.] IT 0195, The points-of-presence 1212 act as a gateway for the media content traffic between the IP Unicast network 1208 and an IP Anycast network 1214. The IP Anycast network 1214 makes the points-of-presence 1212 appear as a single virtual server with a common IP address to devices communicating over the unicast network 1216. IT 0195, The IP Anycast network 1214 makes the points-of-presence 1212 appear as a single virtual server with common IP address to devices communicating over the unicast network 1216.]
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of applicant's claimed invention to combine the method of Vysotsky, Kotrabasappa, and Michael with the method of Shaw in order to improve the performance of such diverse online applications include virtual private networks (VPNs), custom application program interfaces (APIs), and content delivery networks (CDNs). [See Shaw, ||0003].
Vyostsky and Kotrabasappa disclose the claimed invention but fail to teach a pair of instances of the core is deployed to each PoP of the plurality of PoPs in an active - active deployment and each active-active instance pair provides resiliency within each PoP of the plurality of PoPs. However, Michael teaches a pair of instances of the core is deployed to each PoP of the plurality of PoPs in an active- active deployment and each active-active instance pair provides resiliency within each PoP of the plurality of PoPs. ['] 0457, More specifically, FIG. 47 is a block diagram showing an example high availability configuration involving the data plane of a portion of the MCN, under an embodiment. Redundant VM instances at each POP run in active-active mode to provide high availability for the data plane.] IT 0487], The traffic is then routed from the egress POP to the target address over the Internet. Embodiments provide high availability for egress failover by configuring all POPs as egress POPs.]
As to Claim 20 as applied to Claim 11, Vysotsky, Kotrabasappa, and Michael disclose each active-active instance pair provides resiliency within each PoP of the plurality of PoPs (Michael; 19 0487, The traffic is then routed from the egress POP to the target address over the Internet. Embodiments provide high availability for egress failover by configuring all POPs as egress POPs.]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of applicant's claimed invention to combine the method of Vyostsky, Kotrabasappa with the method of Michael in order to offer the adequate combination of reliability, cloud flexibility, and internet affordability. [See Michael, [0018].)
Vysotsky, Kotrabasappa, and Michael disclose the claimed invention but fail to teach wherein: the particular IP address is a common IP address associated with a core of the SD-PMN and a pair of instances of the core is deployed to each PoP of the plurality of PoPs in an active-active deployment, each instance in each pair of instances is reachable at the common IP address. However, Shaw teaches wherein: the particular IP address is a common IP address associated with a core of the SD-PMN and each instance in each pair of instances is reachable at the common IP address, IT 0191, The private network 1102 and the Internet in this example may operate as IP Unicast networks, whereas the telecom network 1104 may operate as an IP Anycast network.] IT 0195, The points-of-presence 1212 act as a gateway for the media content traffic between the IP Unicast network 1208 and an IP Anycast network 1214. The IP Anycast network 1214 makes the points-of-presence 1212 appear as a single virtual server with a common IP address to devices communicating over the unicast network 1216.
IT 0197, The IP Anycast network 1214 makes the points-of-presence 1212 appear as a single virtual server with common IP address to devices communicating over the unicast network 1216.]]
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the
effective filing date of applicant's claimed invention to combine the method of Vysotsky,
Kotrabasappa, and Michael with the method of Shaw in order to improve the performance of
such diverse online applications include virtual private networks (VPNs), custom application
program interfaces (APIs), and content delivery networks (CDNs). [See Shaw, 0003]
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to STEVEN SHAUN KELLEY whose telephone number is (571)272-5652. The examiner can normally be reached Mondays to Fridays.
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, Jeanette Parker can be reached at (571)270-3647. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/STEVEN S KELLEY/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2646
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