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
This non-final action is in response to RCE filed on 09/22/2025. In this RCE, claim 1 is amended. Claims 1-3 are pending, with claims 1, 2 and 3 being independent.
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 09/22/2025 has been entered.
Drawings
The drawings are objected to under 37 CFR 1.83(a) because they fail to show a DHCP server 115 (Figure 1) as described in paragraph 21 of the specification. Any structural detail that is essential for a proper understanding of the disclosed invention should be shown in the drawing. MPEP § 608.02(d). Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
Claim Objections
Claims 1 and 3 are objected because of the following:
Status of claim 1 should be “Currently Amended”;
Claim 3 is lacking of antecedent basic for “the access controller”.
Appropriate correction is required.
Response to Arguments
Drawing Objections
The objection is maintained in view of amended figure 1. The amended Figure 1 does not address a DHCP server 115 as described in paragraph 21 of the specification.
Applicant indicated that a new replacement sheet has been submitted; however, there was no new drawing provided on 09/22/2025.
Claim Objections
Objections are withdrawn in view of amended claims filed on 02/25/2025 except claim 3 for lacking of antecedent basic for “the access controller”.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
Rejections are withdrawn in view of amended claims.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC§ 103
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
In the response filed on 09/22/2025, applicant argues in substance that:
1. As shown in FIG. 1 of Banerjee below, although 101A, 101B and 101C are separate from local endpoint 142, there is no discussion of local endpoint 142 being used to switch encapsulated packets sent from a first LAN and destined for a second LAN (from remarks pg. 12).
Examiner would like to clarify that Liang reference teaches this feature. For instance, paragraphs 190-191 indicate AC device receives a VXLAN packet that sent from a terminal via a first AP device and based on forwarding information, the packet is re-encapsulated in order to send the packet to AP device in which a destination terminal is located. Moreover, paragraph 187 indicates presence of VLAN network of each terminal that access to AP device. In other words, the citations shows that AC device after receiving a packet from a first terminal device on a first VLAN through a first AP device the performing decapsulation and re-encapsulation to send the packet [switch encapsulated packet] to a second terminal device on a second VLAN through a second AP device. Please see mapping for more details.
2. Additionally, as shown in FIG. 3 of Banerjee below, although two remote network are shown (remote network 1 302 and remote network 2 318), there is no cloud device switching data packets between the two LANs (from remarks pg. 13).
Examiner respectfully disagrees. Applicant’s arguments rely on language solely recited in preamble recitations in claims 1-3. When reading the preamble in the context of the entire claim, the recitation “there is no cloud device switching data packets between the two LANs” is not limiting because the body of the claim describes a complete invention and the language recited solely in the preamble does not provide any distinct definition of any of the claimed invention’s limitations. Thus, the preamble of the claim(s) is not considered a limitation and is of no significance to claim construction. See Pitney Bowes, Inc. v. Hewlett-Packard Co., 182 F.3d 1298, 1305, 51 USPQ2d 1161, 1165 (Fed. Cir. 1999). See MPEP § 2111.02.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 of this title, 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.
Claims 1-3 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Liang et al. (US 2022/0217016, Pub. Date: Jul. 7, 2022), in view of Takagi (US 2021/0112607, Pub. Date: Apr. 15, 2021).
As per claim 1, Liang discloses a computer implemented method in a virtual extensible local access network (VXLAN) tunnel server for switching between VXLAN tunnels connecting to a plurality of remote access points (Liang para. [0191], the AC [server] device receives the first VXLAN packet sent by the AP device, and performs VXLAN decapsulation on the first VXLAN packet, to obtain the IEEE 802.3 ethernet frame obtained through decapsulation; determines forwarding information based on a VNI mapping relationship in a VXLAN tunnel header... re-encapsulates the IEEE 802.3 ethernet frame with the VXLAN tunnel header and sends the re-encapsulated IEEE 802.3 ethernet frame to an AP device in which a destination terminal is located. [AP associated with sender terminal and AP associated with destination terminal belongs to two different networks or locations]), wherein at least two of the remote access points are located on different remote LANs (Liang para. [0191], the AC device receives the first VXLAN packet sent by the AP device, and performs VXLAN decapsulation on the first VXLAN packet, to obtain the IEEE 802.3 ethernet frame... re-encapsulates the IEEE 802.3 ethernet frame with the VXLAN tunnel header and sends the re-encapsulated IEEE 802.3 ethernet frame to an AP device in which a destination terminal is located. [AP associated with sender terminal and AP associated with destination terminal belongs to two different networks or locations]), the method comprising:
receiving a VXLAN profile from each of the plurality of remote access points (Liang fig. 6-7 and para. [0220], an AP 1 device in the AP 1 and an AP 2 interacts with the AC device to implement a tunnel configuration method is used as an example for description; Liang fig. 5, 501: The AP device sends a data tunnel support capability [profile] of the AP device to the AC device, where the data tunnel support capability is used to indicate a type of at least one data tunnel supported by the AP device, and the type of the at least one data tunnel includes a VXLAN. [Implicitly AP1 and AP2 device sends data tunnel support capability to AC to implement a tunnel configuration method]);
configuring a VXLAN tunnel to each of the plurality of remote access points using the VXLAN profile (Liang fig. 6-7 and para. [0220], an AP 1 device in the AP 1 and an AP 2 interacts with the AC device to implement a tunnel configuration method is used as an example for description; Liang para. [0158], The AC device sends configuration information of the VXLAN tunnel to the AP device based on the data tunnel support capability of the AP device. [Implicitly AC device sends configuration information of the VXLAN tunnel to AP1 and AP2 device to implement a tunnel configuration method]), wherein each VXLAN tunnel has a unique VXLAN identifier (ID) (Liang para. [0005], A local end of the VXLAN tunnel is the AP device, and the configuration information of the VXLAN tunnel includes an internet protocol (internet protocol, IP) address of at least one peer device of the VXLAN tunnel and virtual network index (virtual network index, VNI) information of the VXLAN tunnel);
forming tunnel groups between the plurality of remote access points (Liang para. [0022], The AC device sends configuration information of a VXLAN tunnel to the AP device based on the data tunnel support capability of the AP device. A local device of the VXLAN tunnel is the AP device, and the configuration information of the VXLAN tunnel includes an internet protocol IP address of at least one peer device of the VXLAN tunnel and virtual network index VNI information of the VXLAN tunnel. The AC device generates a routing table based on the IP address of the at least one peer device of the VXLAN tunnel; Liang para. [0191], sends the re-encapsulated IEEE 802.3 ethernet frame to an AP device in which a destination terminal is located. [A routing table for specific VXLAN tunnel is generate for each of tunnels between AP device and its peer devices [other AP devices] equivalents to tunnel groups are generated/ formed between AP devices]), wherein each tunnel group defines interconnections between a subset of the plurality of VXLAN tunnels (Liang para. [0029], receiving a downlink packet of a terminal, and searching for a host routing table of the terminal; encapsulating the downlink packet with the VXLAN tunnel header based on found routing table information, to obtain a second VXLAN packet; and sending the second VXLAN packet to an AP device in which a destination terminal is located. [Routing table comprising tunnel information between AP device and its peers [tunnel groups] utilized to define interconnections between subset of the plurality of VXLAN tunnels]);
receiving a data packet in real-time from a first station on a first remote local access network (LAN) through the first remote access point (Liang para. [0190-0191], the AP device receives an IEEE 802.11 data packet of the terminal [first station] … the AC device receives the first VXLAN packet sent by the AP device; Liang para. [0205], The AC device may determine an SSID or a VLAN corresponding to a terminal that accesses the AP 1 device; Liang para. [0187], if the AC device serves as the authentication point of the terminal, the AP device forwards an uplink pre-authentication packet of the terminal to the AC device … the AC device obtains the related information of the terminal when completing authentication of the terminal, for example, MAC/IP information and/or authorized VLAN information of the terminal. [The citation indicates that a packet is sent/received through an AP device from a terminal on remote VLAN]) and destined for a second station (Liang [0191], the AC device receives the first VXLAN packet sent by the AP device, and performs VXLAN decapsulation on the first VXLAN packet, to obtain the IEEE 802.3 ethernet frame... re-encapsulates the IEEE 802.3 ethernet frame with the VXLAN tunnel header and sends the re-encapsulated IEEE 802.3 ethernet frame to an AP device in which a destination terminal [second station] is located) on a second remote LAN through the second remote access point (Liang para. [0187], if the AC device serves as the authentication point of the terminal, the AP device forwards an uplink pre-authentication packet of the terminal to the AC device … the AC device obtains the related information of the terminal when completing authentication of the terminal, for example, MAC/IP information and/or authorized VLAN information of the terminal. [The citation indicates that a packet is sent/received through an AP device from a terminal on remote VLAN]), within one of the tunnel groups (Liang para. [0022], The AC device sends configuration information of a VXLAN tunnel to the AP device based on the data tunnel support capability of the AP device. A local device of the VXLAN tunnel is the AP device, and the configuration information of the VXLAN tunnel includes an internet protocol IP address of at least one peer device of the VXLAN tunnel and virtual network index VNI information of the VXLAN tunnel. The AC device generates a routing table based on the IP address of the at least one peer device of the VXLAN tunnel. [A routing table for specific VXLAN tunnel is generate for each of tunnels between AP device and its peer devices [other AP devices] equivalents to tunnel groups are generated/ formed between AP devices]), the data packet encapsulated by the first remote access point and including a VLAN ID and a VXLAN ID (Liang para. [0190-191], the AP device receives an IEEE 802.11 data packet of the terminal; converts the IEEE 802.11 data packet into an IEEE 802.3 ethernet frame … encapsulates, with a corresponding VXLAN tunnel header based on the route … the AC device receives the first VXLAN packet sent by the AP device, and performs VXLAN decapsulation on the first VXLAN packet, to obtain the IEEE 802.3 ethernet frame obtained through decapsulation; determines forwarding information based on a VNI mapping relationship in a VXLAN tunnel header; Liang para. [0070], the VNI mapping relationship includes at least one of… a mapping relationship between a virtual local area network VLAN and a VNI);
switching, on a second layer, the data packet between a first VXLAN tunnel coupled to the first remote access point on the first LAN and a second VXLAN tunnel coupled to the second remote access point on the second remote LAN, based on a virtual local access network identifier (VLAN ID) VLAN ID stored within the encapsulated data packet (Liang para. [0191], the AC device receives the first VXLAN packet sent by the AP device, and performs VXLAN decapsulation on the first VXLAN packet, to obtain the IEEE 802.3 ethernet frame obtained through decapsulation; determines forwarding information based on a VNI mapping relationship in a VXLAN tunnel header... re-encapsulates the IEEE 802.3 ethernet frame with the VXLAN tunnel header and sends the re-encapsulated IEEE 802.3 ethernet frame to an AP device in which a destination terminal is located; Liang para. [0070], the VNI mapping relationship includes at least one of… a mapping relationship between a virtual local area network VLAN and a VNI. [AP associated with sender terminal and AP associated with destination terminal belongs to two different networks or locations]); and
transmitting the encapsulated data packet to the second station through the second remote access point on the second remote LAN over the second VXLAN tunnel (Liang para. [0191], the AC device receives the first VXLAN packet sent by the AP device, and performs VXLAN decapsulation on the first VXLAN packet, to obtain the IEEE 802.3 ethernet frame... re-encapsulates the IEEE 802.3 ethernet frame with the VXLAN tunnel header and sends the re-encapsulated IEEE 802.3 ethernet frame to an AP device in which a destination terminal is located; Liang para. [0187], if the AC device serves as the authentication point of the terminal, the AP device forwards an uplink pre-authentication packet of the terminal to the AC device … the AC device obtains the related information of the terminal when completing authentication of the terminal, for example, MAC/IP information and/or authorized VLAN information of the terminal. [The citation indicates that a packet is sent/received through an AP device from a terminal on remote LAN]), wherein the second remote access point decapsulates the data packet (Liang para. [0194], The AP device receives a second VXLAN packet sent by the peer device of the VXLAN tunnel, namely, the AC device; performs VXLAN decapsulation on the second VXLAN packet, to obtain the IEEE 802.3 ethernet frame obtained through decapsulation).
Liang discloses a virtual extensible local access network (VXLAN) tunnel server but does not explicitly disclose the server is a cloud-based server (i.e., a cloud-based virtual extensible local access network (VXLAN) tunnel server for switching between tunnels).
Takagi teaches:
a cloud-based local access network tunnel server for switching between tunnels (Takagi fig. 1&4, PGW24-1 Forwards Encapsulated Packet to Cloud LAN Switch at S203 and Cloud LAN Switch Forwards Packet to PGW24-2 at S205; Takagi para. [0090], the PGWs 24-1 and 24-2 are assigned to the mobile terminals 11-1 and 11-2, respectively, as respective access points; Takagi para. [0061], The data transfer path described above is in principle a tunnel forwarding path for user data).
Therefore, it would been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to modify Liang in view of Takagi in order to incorporate the method in virtual extensible local access network (VXLAN) tunnel server for switching between VXLAN tunnels connecting to a plurality of remote access points to the cloud-based tunnel server.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motived because it offers the advantage of providing a communication system that contributes to un-necessitate a LAN system to be prepared by a user (see Takagi para. [0014]).
Per claim 2, it does not teach or further define over the limitations in claim 1. As such, claims 2 is rejected for the same reasons as set forth in claim 1.
Per claim 3, it does not teach or further define over the limitations in claim 1. As such, claims 3 is rejected for the same reasons as set forth in claim 1.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Gross, IV et al. (US 8825900) Method And Apparatus For Stateless Transport Layer Tunneling;
Boutros et al. (US 20220038379) Route Advertisement To Support Distributed Gateway Services Architecture;
Uberoy et al. (US 20190215200) Methods And Apparatus For Enhancing Virtual Switch Capabilities In A Direct-Access Configured Network Interface Card.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to VINH NGUYEN whose telephone number is (571)272-4487. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday: 7:30 AM - 5:30 PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, KAMAL B DIVECHA can be reached at (571)272-5863. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/VINH NGUYEN/Examiner, Art Unit 2453
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