DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
1. The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Claims 14-18 and 20 have been cancelled based on applicant election decision.
Claims 21-26 have been added.
Status of Claims
2. This Office Action is in response to the application filed on 11/17/2025. Claims 1-13, 19, and 21-26 are presently pending and are presented for examination.
3. 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 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.
Claim Objections
4. Claims 3-13 and 22-26 are objected to because of the following informalities: claims 3-13 and 22-26 recite the abbreviated VRF which is not unabbreviated in the specification. The unabbreviated VRF in the specification and the claim language is required. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
5. The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1 and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Sullenberger et al. (US 2016/0359738 Al).
For claim 1 Sullenberger teaches a packet forwarding method (see paragraph 32 “managing forwarding information”) applied to a network system including a first customer premises equipment (CPE) and a second customer premises equipment (CPE) (see at least Fig. 3A “CE-A (first CPE) and CE-B (second CPE), the method is executed by the first CPE, the method comprising:
receiving, by the first CPE, a first packet, and obtaining an initial destination address of the first packet (see paragraph 32 “CE router 110 located at a customer site (first CPE) receive different traffic-the initial source address and destination address are obtained-well known in the art”);
determining, by the first CPE, a first source address and a first destination address of an inner tunnel corresponding to the initial destination address, and performing an inner tunnel encapsulation on the first packet based on the first source address and the first destination address, the inner tunnel being an end-to-end tunnel between the first CPE and the second CPE (see at least Fig. 3A, Fig. 3B, Figs 4A-4C and paragraphs 38-41 “end-to-end initial inner tunnel 320 between CE-A and CE-B and packet 402”);
determining, by the first CPE, a second source address and a second destination address of an outer tunnel corresponding to the first destination address, and performing, based on the second source address and the second destination address, an outer tunnel encapsulation on the first packet on which the inner tunnel encapsulation is performed (see at least Fig. 3A, Fig. 3B, and paragraphs 38-41 “IPSEC tunnel (outer tunnel) between CE-A and CE-B and packet 402”); and
forwarding, by the first CPE, the first packet (see at least Fig. 3A, Fig. 3B, and paragraphs 38-40 “forward traffic along to the destination of tunnel 320 (e.g., CE-B)”).
For claim 19 Sullenberger teaches a network device (see Fig.2 “device 200”), comprising:
a memory storing instructions (see Fig.2 “memory 240 storing instruction”); and
at least one processor in communication with the memory, the at least one processor configured, upon execution of the instructions (see Fig.2 “device 200”), to perform the following steps:
receive a first packet and obtain an initial destination address of the first packet (as discussed in claim 1);
determine a first source address and a first destination address of an inner tunnel corresponding to the initial destination address, and perform an inner tunnel encapsulation on the first packet based on the first source address and the first destination address, the inner tunnel being an end-to-end tunnel between the first CPE and the second CPE (as discussed in claim 1);
determine a second source address and a second destination address of an outer tunnel corresponding to the first destination address, and perform based on the second source address and the second destination address, an outer tunnel encapsulation on the first packet on which the inner tunnel encapsulation is performed (as discussed in claim 1); and
forward the first packet (as discussed in claim 1).
Allowable Subject Matter
6. Claims 2-13 and 21-26 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
7. The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure: Zheng et al. (US 2013/0230049 A1) (see paragraph 28 “Route reflector (RR)”)-does not teach port setting and Cidon et al. (US 2019/0103990 A1) (see paragraph 147 “virtual routing and forwarding (VRF)”, paragraph 78 “define overlay virtual network”, and paragraph 134 “underlay public cloud networks”)- does not teach receiving an overlay VRF configuration message sent by a controller, and receiving an underlay VRF configuration message sent by the controller, receiving a port association message sent by the controller, associating the second overlay VRF with the port corresponding to the first source address, and associating the first underlay VRF
with the port corresponding to second source address.
8. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to David M OVEISSI whose telephone number is (571)270-3127. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 8Am-5PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Jeffrey Rutkowski can be reached at (571) 270 - 1215. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/MANSOUR OVEISSI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2415