DETAILED ACTION
This action is in response to communications filed February 26th, 2026.
Claims 1-20 are currently pending. Claims 1, 5, 7-10, 16, and 18-20 are currently amended.
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
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.
Claims 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Durrani et al (U.S. Patent no. 11,777,899, hereinafter Durrani) in view of Lochhead et al (U.S. Patent Application Publication no. 2023/0269114, hereinafter Lochhead).
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With respect to claim 1, Durrani discloses a device (column 4, lines 53-57), comprising:
a processing system including a processor (column 4, lines 53-57); and
a memory that stores executable instructions that, when executed by the processing system, facilitate performance of operations (column 4, lines 53-57), the operations comprising:
establishing a Layer 2 multipoint virtual private network (VPN) among a plurality of devices (column 12, lines 55-65, L2VPN) connected via a switched, shared or dedicated ethernet (column 9, lines 17-26, directly connected via a Layer 3 or Layer 2 connection to any other customer network), wherein a group of the plurality of devices belong to a single entity network including a plurality of different sites (column 6, lines 59-67; column 7, lines 1-8, customer may in this way have options to create many-to-many interconnections with only one-time hookup);
connecting one or more participating sites among the plurality of different sites to a cloud service provider over a common backbone network (column 14, lines 26-39, provide IP/MPLS switching and routing of IP packets to form an IP backbone) by:
generating a VLAN (column 12, lines 35-37) that conforms to a Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) (column 12, lines 24-28);
assigning a block of IP addresses to the single entity network (column 7, lines 25-34, using IP addresses allocated from a common prefix for a tenant associated with one or more of the computing devices);
assigning a subnet (column 8, lines 59-64) having IP addresses of both IPv4 and IPV6 address families with respect to the VLAN (column 19, lines 36-42); and
configuring a Layer 3 routing instance on a provider edge router (column 12, lines 14-28, exchange L3 routes over access link 316A) by mapping the IP addresses of both IPv4 and IPV6 address families to routes in a routing table contained in the provider edge router (column 19, lines 36-42, routes received from any of PEs 310, 312 for translation used in end-to-end delivery service), thereby enabling the one or more participating sites to be configured to access the cloud service provider (column 19, lines 47-58, CSP networks 320 receive the cloud exchange point 303 routes drawn from the address pool).
But Durrani does not disclose prompting an operator of the single entity network to select a plurality of network configuration attributes for the connection of the one or more participating sites to the cloud service provider.
However, Lochhead discloses prompting an operator of the single entity network (paragraph [0047], provides a user interface that enables a customer/user to associate a specified network connection) to select a plurality of network configuration attributes for the connection of the one or more participating sites to the cloud service provider (paragraph [0048], lines 1-4; paragraph [0055], lines 1-10), wherein the plurality of network configuration attributes includes: circuit speed (paragraph [0081], manage the bandwidth provisioned), class of service (paragraph [0053]), VLAN tags (paragraph [0055], lines 1-10), and IP address version (paragraphs [0051]-[0053]).
It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to combine the hierarchical distributed dynamic host configuration protocol system of Durrani with the automated cloud on-ramp in data centers of Lochhead. The motivation to combine being to improve the provisioning of network inter-connections. The provisioning of network inter-connections being improved by extending a VLAN to a private network to a remote network connection (abstract: Lochhead).
With respect to claim 2, the combination of Durrani and Lochhead discloses the device of claim 1, Durrani further discloses wherein the operations further comprise determining a number of the one or more participating sites and based on the determined number, assigning two or more subnets (column 28, lines 49-60), wherein IPv4 and IPv6 address mapping with a mBGP connection identifier persists (column 16, lines 4-14).
With respect to claim 3, the combination of Durrani and Lochhead discloses the device of claim 2, Durrani further discloses wherein the operations further comprise: based on comparison that the determined number is greater than a predetermined threshold (N), utilizing (N−2) IP addresses by the one or more participating sites (column 28, lines 49-60).
With respect to claim 4, the combination of Durrani and Lochhead discloses the device of claim 2, Durrani further discloses wherein the operations further comprise establishing concurrent BGP sessions for the two or more subnets (column 16, lines 4-14).
With respect to claim 5, the combination of Durrani and Lochhead discloses the device of claim 1, Durrani further discloses wherein the operations further comprise providing a workflow embedded provisioning and activation application that enables the operator of the single entity network to selectively activate or deactivate the connection of the one or more participating sites to the cloud service provider (column 28, lines 51-60, lease an additional server).
With respect to claim 6, the combination of Durrani and Lochhead discloses the device of claim 5, Durrani further discloses wherein the workflow embedded provisioning and activation application further enables the operator of the single entity network to add, remove or modify the one or more participating sites (column 28, lines 51-60, lease an additional server).
With respect to claim 7, the combination of Durrani and Lochhead discloses the device of claim 5, Durrani further discloses wherein the operations further comprise prompting the operator of the single entity network to select a second plurality of network configuration attributes (column 28, lines 64-66).
With respect to claim 8, the combination of Durrani and Lochhead discloses the device of claim 7, Durrani further discloses wherein the second plurality of network configuration attributes comprises one or more circuits to be connected, bandwidth, a connection location of the single entity network to the cloud service provider, or a combination thereof (column 29, lines 2-9).
With respect to claim 9, the combination of Durrani and Lochhead discloses the device of claim 8, Durrani further discloses wherein the plurality of network configuration attributes comprises one or more circuits to be configured with packet filtering attributes that are unique based on a combination of the Layer 3 routing instance and a unique host identifier (column 17, lines 32-40).
With respect to claim 10, Durrani discloses a non-transitory, machine-readable medium, comprising executable instructions that, when executed by a processing system including a processor, facilitate performance of operations (column 4, lines 53-57), the operations comprising:
establishing a Layer 2 multipoint virtual private network (VPN) among a plurality of sites (column 12, lines 55-65, L2VPN) connected via a switched, shared or dedicated ethernet provided by a service provider (column 9, lines 17-26, directly connected via a Layer 3 or Layer 2 connection to any other customer network), wherein the plurality of sites correspond to multiple locations of a target enterprise (column 6, lines 59-67; column 7, lines 1-8, customer may in this way have options to create many-to-many interconnections with only one-time hookup);
determining a count of the plurality of sites that requires a connection to one or more cloud service providers over a common backbone network of the service provider (column 14, lines 26-39, provide IP/MPLS switching and routing of IP packets to form an IP backbone);
generating a VLAN (column 12, lines 35-37) that conforms to a Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) (column 12, lines 24-28);
assigning a block of IP addresses to a network of the target enterprise (column 7, lines 25-34, using IP addresses allocated from a common prefix for a tenant associated with one or more of the computing devices);
based on the determined count, assigning two or more subnets (column 8, lines 59-64) having IP addresses of both IPv4 and IPV6 address families with respect to the VLAN (column 19, lines 36-42); and
connecting the plurality of sites to the one or more cloud service providers (column 19, lines 47-58, CSP networks 320 receive the cloud exchange point 303 routes drawn from the address pool).
But Durrani does not disclose prompting an operator to selection select a plurality of network configuration attributes for the connection of the one or more participating sites to the cloud service providers.
However, Lochhead discloses prompting an operator to selection select a plurality of network configuration attributes (paragraph [0047], provides a user interface that enables a customer/user to associate a specified network connection) for the connection of the one or more participating sites to the cloud service providers (paragraph [0048], lines 1-4; paragraph [0055], lines 1-10), wherein the plurality of network configuration attributes includes: circuit speed (paragraph [0081], manage the bandwidth provisioned), class of service (paragraph [0053]), VLAN tags (paragraph [0055], lines 1-10), and IP address version (paragraphs [0051]-[0053]).
It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to combine the hierarchical distributed dynamic host configuration protocol system of Durrani with the automated cloud on-ramp in data centers of Lochhead. The motivation to combine being to improve the provisioning of network inter-connections. The provisioning of network inter-connections being improved by extending a VLAN to a private network to a remote network connection (abstract: Lochhead).
With respect to claim 11, the combination of Durrani and Lochhead discloses the non-transitory, machine-readable medium of claim 10, Durrani further discloses wherein the operations further comprise configuring a virtual routing and forwarding instance on a provider edge router of the service provider (column 13, lines 1-9).
With respect to claim 12, the combination of Durrani and Lochhead discloses the non-transitory, machine-readable medium of claim 11, Durrani further discloses wherein the operations further comprise mapping the IP addresses of both IPv4 and IPV6 address families to routes in a routing table contained in the provider edge router, thereby enabling the plurality of sites to be configured to access the one or more cloud service providers (column 19, lines 36-42).
With respect to claim 13, the combination of Durrani and Lochhead discloses the non-transitory, machine-readable medium of claim 10, Durrani further discloses wherein the operations further comprise establishing concurrent BGP sessions for the two or more subnets (column 16, lines 4-14).
With respect to claim 14, the combination of Durrani and Lochhead discloses the non-transitory, machine-readable medium of claim 10, Durrani further discloses wherein the operations further comprise:
adding a new group of sites that requires the connection to the one or more cloud service providers over the common backbone network of the service provider (column 28, lines 51-60, lease an additional server); and
generating a new VLAN that conforms to the BGP and connects the new group of sites (column 19, lines 18-25).
With respect to claim 15, the combination of Durrani and Lochhead discloses the non-transitory, machine-readable medium of claim 10, Durrani further discloses wherein a set of nested workflows coordinates orchestration of a circuit design for and activation of the connection of the plurality of sites to the one or more cloud service providers (column 28, lines 64-66).
With respect to claim 16, Durrani discloses a method, comprising:
connecting, a processing system including a processor, a plurality of subscriber networks (column 12, lines 55-65, L2VPN) via a switched, shared or dedicated Ethernet using a wired network, wherein the plurality of subscriber networks includes a first network and a second network (column 9, lines 17-26, directly connected via a Layer 3 or Layer 2 connection to any other customer network);
providing, by the processing system, an application that enables a user to selectively activate or deactivate a first network connection between the first network and a cloud service provider and a second network connection between the first network and the second network (column 28, lines 64-66);
receiving, by the processing system, a request for activating the first network connection (column 28, lines 51-60, lease an additional server);
determining, by the processing system, a number of sites within the first network that requires a connection to the cloud service provider over a common backbone network of a service provider (column 28, lines 49-60);
generating, by the processing system, a VLAN (column 12, lines 35-37) that conforms to a Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) (column 12, lines 24-28);
assigning, by the processing system, a customer edge wide area network address of IPv6 family to the first network column 19, lines 36-42); and
connecting, by the processing system, the number of sites within the first network to the cloud service provider (column 19, lines 47-58, CSP networks 320 receive the cloud exchange point 303 routes drawn from the address pool).
But Durrani does not disclose prompting, by the processing system, an operator to select a plurality of network configuration attributes for the connection of the number of sites within the first network to the cloud service provider.
However, Lochhead discloses prompting, by the processing system, an operator to select a plurality of network configuration attributes (paragraph [0047], provides a user interface that enables a customer/user to associate a specified network connection) for the connection of the number of sites within the first network to the cloud service provider (paragraph [0048], lines 1-4; paragraph [0055], lines 1-10), wherein the plurality of network configuration attributes includes: circuit speed (paragraph [0081], manage the bandwidth provisioned), class of service (paragraph [0053]), VLAN tags (paragraph [0055], lines 1-10), and IP address version (paragraphs [0051]-[0053]).
It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to combine the hierarchical distributed dynamic host configuration protocol system of Durrani with the automated cloud on-ramp in data centers of Lochhead. The motivation to combine being to improve the provisioning of network inter-connections. The provisioning of network inter-connections being improved by extending a VLAN to a private network to a remote network connection (abstract: Lochhead).
With respect to claim 17, the combination of Durrani and Lochhead discloses the method of claim 16, Durrani further discloses executing, by the processing system, a set of nested workflows which coordinates orchestration of a circuit design for and activation of the first network connection of the number of sites within the first network to the cloud service provider (column 28, lines 64-66).
With respect to claim 18, the combination of Durrani and Lochhead discloses the method of claim 16, Durrani further discloses:
prompting via the application, by the processing system, a second plurality of network configuration attributes for selection by the user as an orderable item to the user (column 28, lines 64-66; column 29, lines 1-9); and
based on the request for activating the first network connection, activating, by the processing system, the first network connection that follows the selected plurality of network configuration attributes (column 28, lines 10-19).
With respect to claim 19, the combination of Durrani and Lochhead discloses the method of claim 18, Durrani further discloses wherein the second plurality of network configuration attributes further comprise: one or more circuits to be connected, bandwidth, a service location of a subscriber to the cloud service provider, or a combination thereof (column 29, lines 2-9).
With respect to claim 20, the combination of Durrani and Lochhead discloses the method of claim 18, Durrani further discloses wherein the second plurality of network configuration attributes further comprise one or more circuits to be configured with packet filtering attributes, wherein the packet filtering attributes are based on a community value string of a router configuration as a combination of a Layer 3 routing instance and a unique host identifier (column 29, lines 2-9).
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 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.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Borkar Pat. Pub. 2020/0162359
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 BLAKE J RUBIN whose telephone number is (571)270-3802. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday - Friday, 9am - 5pm.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Ario Etienne can be reached on 571-272-4001. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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3/21/26
/BLAKE J RUBIN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2457