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 .
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) 1-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Huang CN107800814 herein Huang and Wu et al. CN112165432 herein Wu in view of Atanasov 11349806 herein Atansov.
Per claim 1, Huang discloses: allocating, a network address for a guest virtual machine (VM) of the computing device, wherein the network address is externally accessible from an external network coupled to the computing device; (¶0045-47; The step S110 may include: responding to the virtual creation request information, querying a floating IP address list; and selecting a currently available floating IP address whose use status is unused from the floating IP address list."; see also D4 for a definition of "floating IP address) receiving, from the guest VM, an indication that the guest VM is using the network address, wherein the network address as used by the guest VM matches the network address as exposed by the host operating system on the external network; (¶0078-80; After the binding of the target IP address and the created virtual machine, the use status of the target IP address in the floating IP address is changed to used) receiving, from the external network, a network transmission directed to the network address; and responsive to the indication that the guest VM is using the network address, transferring, by a processing device, the network transmission to the guest VM(¶0078-80; After the binding of the target IP address and the created virtual machine, the use status of the target IP address in the floating IP address is changed to used; the examiner notes that the floating IP address by definition is dynamically allocated between the primary and a guest VM based on availability to ensure continuation of traffic).
Huang does not specifically disclose: allocating, by a host operating system of a computing device.
However, Wu discloses: allocating, by a host operating system of a computing device (¶0002; Generally, if an external PC wants to access the virtual machine created in the OpenStack host, you need to bind a floating IP address (that is, an external IP address) to the virtual machine, so that the external can communicate with the bound floating IP address to access the virtual machine, as shown in Figure 1." The host operating system runs openstack to assign floating IP addresses to the multiple virtual machines).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the effective filing date of the invention to combine the teachings of Huang and Wu’s virtual machine creation to save floating point IP addresses (Abstract).
The combined teachings of Huang and Wu do not specifically disclose: adding the network address to an address tracker store in the host network driver.
However, Atanasov discloses: adding the network address to an address tracker store in the host network driver (claim 19; providing an Internet Protocol (IP) address to a virtual machine (VM) without sending a request for an IP address assignment to a dynamic host configuration protocol (DHCP) server, the system comprising: a data store; a proxy; a virtual machine; and a processor programmed to: during initiation of the VM on a host device, assigning an IP address to the VM and storing the assigned IP address in the data store;).
The combined teachings of Huang, Wu and Atanasov’s assigning of IP addresses in a virtualized environment to easily migrate/instantiate a VM. Atanasov reduces IP broadcast traffic (col. 1 lines 41-45),
Per claim 2, Huang discloses: sending, by the host operating system, a list of a plurality of free addresses to the guest VM, the list of the plurality of free addresses comprising the network address (¶0045-47; The step S110 may include: responding to the virtual creation request information, querying a floating IP address list; and selecting a currently available floating IP address whose use status is unused from the floating IP address list."; see also D4 for a definition of "floating IP address.).
Per claim 3, Huang discloses: receiving an indication that the guest VM is no longer utilizing the network address; receiving, from the external network, a second network transmission directed to the network address; and responsive to the indication that the guest VM is no longer utilizing the network address, discarding, by the processing device, the second network transmission (¶0078;use status field, which is used to indicate whether the corresponding floating IP address is in a used state or an unused state…. ¶0098; The update unit here can also correspond to the processor or processing circuit, and can be used to update the floating IP address list stored in the storage medium in the virtual machine deployment device, so that the correctness of the floating IP address status determined by the virtual).
Per claim 4, Huang discloses: allocating, by the host operating system, a plurality of network addresses to the guest VM, the plurality of network addresses comprising the network address, each of the plurality of network addresses configured to be externally accessible from an external network coupled to the computing device; and sending, by the host operating system, the plurality of network addresses to the guest VM (¶0045-47; The step S110 may include: responding to the virtual creation request information, querying a floating IP address list; and selecting a currently available floating IP address whose use status is unused from the floating IP address list."; see also D4 for a definition of "floating IP address; the examiner notes that the claim merely requires that the plurality of network addresses are allocated to the VM via the floating IP. Therefor at any given time the floating IP is allocated to an address of the plurality of address corresponding to a guest VM.).
Per claim 5, Huang discloses: wherein the plurality of network addresses is a first plurality of network addresses, and wherein the method further comprises: receiving a request from the guest VM for additional network addresses; allocating, by the host operating system, a second plurality of network addresses to the guest VM, each of the second plurality of network addresses configured to be externally accessible from an external network coupled to the computing device; and sending, by the host operating system, the second plurality of network addresses to the guest VM (¶0045-48; The step S110 may include: responding to the virtual creation request information, querying a floating IP address list; and selecting a currently available floating IP address whose use status is unused from the floating IP address list."; see also D4 for a definition of "floating IP address; the examiner notes that the claim merely requires that the plurality of network addresses are allocated to the VM via the floating IP. Therefor at any given time the floating IP is allocated to an address of the plurality of address corresponding to a guest VM.).
Per claim 6, Huang discloses: comparing a number of network addresses allocated to the guest VM to an address threshold, wherein the allocating, by the host operating system, the second plurality of network addresses to the guest VM is performed in response to determining that the number of network addresses allocated to the guest VM does not exceed the address threshold (¶0057-59; selecting the target IP address based on at least one of the network load rate, available transmission rate, the ration of the number of configured virtual machines to the number of configurable virtual machines, and application service attributes. Selecting a currently available floating IP address in the physical network with the lowest load rate as the target IP.).
Per claim 7, Huang discloses: wherein the network address comprises a port number, and wherein the port number as utilized by the guest VM matches the port number as exposed by the host operating system on the external network (¶0045-48; The step S110 may include: responding to the virtual creation request information, querying a floating IP address list; and selecting a currently available floating IP address whose use status is unused from the floating IP address list."; see also D4 for a definition of "floating IP address; the examiner notes that port numbers are known in the .).
Huang does not specifically disclose: a port number for the guest VM.
However, WU discloses: a port number for the guest VM (¶0025; establishing a mapping relationship between the OpenStack host iptables DNAT port and the ports of the multiple OpenStack virtual machines created by the OpenStack host).
Claims 8-14 are the system claims corresponding to the method claims method and are rejected under the same reasons set forth in connection with the rejection of claims 1-7.
Claims 15-20 are the CRM claims corresponding to the method claims method and are rejected under the same reasons set forth in connection with the rejection of claims 1-7.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 5/5/26 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Applicant’s arguments, with respect to the rejection(s) of claim(s) 1 have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground(s) of rejection is made in view of Atanasov.
The applicant argues: With respect to (i), the Office again contended that the claimed "indication that the guest VM is using the network address" is rendered obvious by "Huang's teaching of a virtual creation request, selecting and binding the floating IP address." Office action, 6-7. Without acquiescing to the analysis in the Office action, Applicant has amended the claims such that the "indication" is included in "a message transmitted from the guest VM to a host network driver." Applicant submits that feature (i) now is distinct from Huang at least because Huang is silent with respect to transmitting a message from the guest VM to a host network driver to provide the claimed indication. As the Office did not show how Wu could remedy the defects of Huang, Applicant submits that Huang and Wu fail to teach or suggest feature (i).
The examiner respectfully disagrees and asserts that claim merely requires an indication of use by the guest VM. The indication in the claim is broadly recited and is qualified by binding and use of the address thus transferring transmission to the guest VM. Further, the message is in view of the host sending a list of addresses to select from as shown in fig. 3B. Therefore, Huang’s teaching of a virtual creation request, selecting from a list of floating Ip’s and binding the floating IP address clearly meet the claim requirements set forth by the claim.
Remark
Examiner respectfully requests, in response to this Office action, support be shown for language added to any original claims on amendment and any new claims. That is, indicate support for newly added claim language by specifically pointing to page(s) and line number(s) in the specification and/or drawing figure(s). This will assist Examiner in prosecuting the application.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to BABOUCARR FAAL whose telephone number is (571)270-5073. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8:30-5:30 EST.
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, Tim VO can be reached at 5712723642. 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.
BABOUCARR . FAAL
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2138
/BABOUCARR FAAL/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2138
Prosecution Insights