Prosecution Insights
Last updated: April 19, 2026
Application No. 18/226,149

SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR IDENTIFYING NETWORK VULNERABILITY VIA NETWORK COMPONENT FUNCTIONALITY

Final Rejection §103
Filed
Jul 25, 2023
Examiner
BROWN, CHRISTOPHER J
Art Unit
2439
Tech Center
2400 — Computer Networks
Assignee
BANK OF AMERICA CORPORATION
OA Round
2 (Final)
75%
Grant Probability
Favorable
3-4
OA Rounds
3y 6m
To Grant
88%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 75% — above average
75%
Career Allow Rate
533 granted / 707 resolved
+17.4% vs TC avg
Moderate +13% lift
Without
With
+12.6%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
3y 6m
Avg Prosecution
36 currently pending
Career history
743
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
12.7%
-27.3% vs TC avg
§103
54.6%
+14.6% vs TC avg
§102
10.4%
-29.6% vs TC avg
§112
11.1%
-28.9% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 707 resolved cases

Office Action

§103
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 . Response to Arguments Applicant’s arguments, with respect to USC 101 rejection have been fully considered and are persuasive. The USC 101 rejection of claims 1-20 has been withdrawn. Applicant's arguments filed have been fully considered but they are not fully persuasive regarding the USC 103 rejection. Applicant’s arguments, with respect to the rejection(s) of claim(s) Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1-20 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. Examiner incorporates new prior art Gupta US 2024/0007342 to teach standardization of data, and utilizes Horrell US 10,176,032 in the rejection of the independent claims. 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, 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. Claim(s) 1-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sethi US 2025/0023918 in view of Horrell US 10,176,032 in view of Gupta US 2024/0007342 As per claims 1, 8, 15. (Currently Amended) Sethi teaches A system for identifying network vulnerability via network component functionality, wherein the system is structured for proactively detect and resolve network incidents prior to network disruptions, the system comprising: at least one non-transitory storage device containing instructions; and at least one processing device coupled to the at least one non-transitory storage device, wherein the at least one processing device, upon execution of the instructions, is configured to: monitor a plurality of network communications of a network for indications of an incident associated with a disruption to access or operation of a network activity determine one or more incident indicator communications of the plurality of network communications as relating to the incident based on determining that wherein the one or more incident indicator communications comprise information relating to the incident, comprising analyzing the transformed plurality of network communications to determine the one or more incident indicator communications of the plurality of network communications associated with the incident; [0133] [0153] [0178]-[0185] (obtain alert and metric of health of edge device, failure or compromised, monitoring of metrics, including heat, usage rates, network speed/latency, cpu events, analysis of metrics, prediction of further incidents based on metric data and training, alerting users, administrators, taking corrective actions) Sethi teaches based on the one or more incident indicator communications, determine one or more network components relating to the incident, wherein based on at least determining a change in operation of the one or more network components comprising component outage, reduced speed, and increased usage; [0133] [0153] [0178]-[0185] (obtain alert and metric of health of edge device, failure or compromised, monitoring of metrics, including heat, usage rates, network speed/latency, cpu events, analysis of metrics, prediction of further incidents based on metric data and training, alerting users, administrators, taking corrective actions) Sethi teaches monitor one or more metrics relating to operation of the one or more network components relating to the incident, wherein the one or more metrics are selected for monitoring based on determining (i) a type of the one or more network components and (ii) an incident type associated with the incident, wherein the one or more metrics comprise operating heat, operating speed, and/or usage; [0133] [0153] [0178]-[0185] (obtain alert and metric of health of edge device, failure or compromised, monitoring of metrics, including heat, usage analysis of metrics, prediction of further incidents based on metric data and training, alerting users, administrators, taking corrective actions) Horrell teaches determine that a new incident is occurring or expected to occur based on a change in at least one of the one or more metrics that is greater than a predetermined changed value, wherein the new incident has the same incident type as the incident; cause a transmission of a new incident alert, wherein the new incident alert indicates that the new incident is occurring or expected to occur; . (Column 2 lines 19-67; Column 3 lines 16-42; Column 19 lines 25-40; Column 24 lines 12-38; Column 25 lines 1-12) (teaches health metrics, thresholds and that a detected data/measurements is used to predict a new incident within a certain period of time) Horrell teaches and determine an incident resolution action for resolving the new incident. (Column 3 lines 16-42) (teaches health metrics and that a detected incident is used to predict a new incident and taking a resolution action) It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed to use the teaching of Horrell with the prior art because it helps set remediation priorities. Gupta teaches transforming the plurality of network communications from a plurality of sources into a standard format for determining the one or more incident indicator communications [0085]-[0088] (teaches standardizing multiple data formats and telemetry into a standard format) It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed to use the teaching of Gupta with the prior art because a standard format improves data usage efficiency. As per claims 2, 9, 16. (Currently Amended) The system of Claim 1, Sethi teaches wherein analyzing the transformed plurality of network communications further comprises: determining that the plurality of network communications comprise content associated with a plurality of incidents; and identifying the one or more incident indicator communications of the plurality of network communications that are associated with the incident of the plurality of incidents based on at least one or more network users associated with the one or more incident indicator communications. [0133] [0153] [0155]-[0157] [0178]-[0185] (obtain communications and telemetry indicative of future incidents including those based on one or more network users/hackers/compromised users) As per claims 3, 10, 17. (Currently Amended) The system of Claim 1, Sethi teaches wherein the at least one processing device, upon execution of the instructions, is configured to determine at least one of the one or more incident indicator communications from the plurality of network communications based on at least one or more communication types, wherein the one or more communication types comprise at least one of an electronic message, a document repository, an instant message, a virtual meeting, a phone call, or an incident ticket. [0133] [0153] [0155]-[0157] [0178]-[0185] (obtain communications and telemetry indicative of future incidents including those based on electronic communications/message users) As per claims 4, 11, 18. (Currently Amended) The system of Claim 1, Horrell teaches wherein the new incident alert indicates that the new incident is expected to occur within a predetermined amount of time, wherein the at least one processing device, upon execution of the instructions, is configured to: record a prior change in the one or more metrics at the one or more network components at one or more time periods associated with the incident; and determine the predetermined changed value for the new incident based on (i) a predetermined portion of the prior change associated with the incident, and (ii) standard operating parameters of the one or more network components. (teaches machine learning to determine metrics over a period of time are associated with an incident to predict failure based on operating parameters, including rate of change) (Column 16 lines 45-64; Column 17 lines 15-35; Column 18 lines 8-50; Column 19 lines 14-43) As per claims 5, 12, 19. (Currently Amended) The system of Claim 1, Horrell teaches wherein the incident resolution action is an automated action in which the new incident is resolved, wherein the at least one processing device, upon execution of the instructions, is configured to: determine that the incident is associated with a series of prior incidents of the same incident type; and wherein transmission of the new incident alert is in response to determining that (i) the change in at least one of the one or more metrics is greater than the predetermined changed value, and (ii) a time elapsed since the incident is associated with a recurring time period associated with the series of prior incidents. (Column 18 lines 8-40) (Column 19 lines 14-43) (teaches analysis of historical incidents and the data prior to said incidents including likely time period associated with incident, and change in data metrics) As per claims 6, 13, 20. (Currently Amended) The system of Claim 1, Sethi teaches wherein the incident resolution action comprises moving a data process from a first network component to a second network component in an instance in which the new incident is related to the first network component. [0132] (moving the data to a second device in case of an outage, bad performance metric, etc) As per claims 7, 14. (Original) The system of Claim 1, Sethi teaches wherein the at least one processing device, upon execution of the instructions, is configured to train a machine learning model to determine the incident indicator communications relating to an incident. [0153] (employing machine learning models based on healthy and unhealthy metrics/alerts/thresholds to train and predict future states of devices) Conclusion Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a). A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CHRISTOPHER BROWN whose telephone number is (571)272-3833. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8-5. 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, Luu Pham can be reached at (571) 270-5002. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000. /CHRISTOPHER J BROWN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2439
Read full office action

Prosecution Timeline

Jul 25, 2023
Application Filed
Jul 22, 2025
Non-Final Rejection — §103
Oct 24, 2025
Response Filed
Feb 04, 2026
Final Rejection — §103 (current)

Precedent Cases

Applications granted by this same examiner with similar technology

Patent 12603822
SOFTWARE AS A SERVICE (SaaS) USER INTERFACE (UI) FOR DISPLAYING USER ACTIVITIES IN AN ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI)-BASED CYBER THREAT DEFENSE SYSTEM
2y 5m to grant Granted Apr 14, 2026
Patent 12574725
METHODS, APPARATUSES, COMPUTER PROGRAMS AND CARRIERS FOR SECURITY MANAGEMENT BEFORE HANDOVER FROM 5G TO 4G SYSTEM
2y 5m to grant Granted Mar 10, 2026
Patent 12563390
AUTHENTICATING A DEVICE IN A COMMUNICATION NETWORK OF AN AUTOMATION INSTALLATION
2y 5m to grant Granted Feb 24, 2026
Patent 12563056
SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR MONITORING AND MANAGING COMPUTING ENVIRONMENT
2y 5m to grant Granted Feb 24, 2026
Patent 12537828
ON-DEMAND SOFTWARE-DEFINED SECURITY SERVICE ORCHESTRATION FOR A 5G WIRELESS NETWORK
2y 5m to grant Granted Jan 27, 2026
Study what changed to get past this examiner. Based on 5 most recent grants.

AI Strategy Recommendation

Get an AI-powered prosecution strategy using examiner precedents, rejection analysis, and claim mapping.
Powered by AI — typically takes 5-10 seconds

Prosecution Projections

3-4
Expected OA Rounds
75%
Grant Probability
88%
With Interview (+12.6%)
3y 6m
Median Time to Grant
Moderate
PTA Risk
Based on 707 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allow rate.

Sign in with your work email

Enter your email to receive a magic link. No password needed.

Personal email addresses (Gmail, Yahoo, etc.) are not accepted.

Free tier: 3 strategy analyses per month