Response to an Amendment
This office action is a response to a communication made on 07/17/2026.
Claims 1, 9 and 12-19 are currently amended.
Claim 20 is new.
Claims 1-20 are pending for this application.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 07/17/2026 was filed before the mailing date of the final action on 09/10/2026. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see remarks on page 7, filed 07/17/2026, with respect to claims 13-20 have been fully considered and are persuasive. The objection of claims 13-20 has been withdrawn.
Applicant’s arguments, see remarks on page 7, filed 07/17/2026, with respect to claim 20 have been fully considered and are persuasive. The rejection of 112(d) has been withdrawn.
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1, 9 and 15 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.
Applicant’s arguments, see remarks on page 7-8, filed 07/17/2026, with respect to the rejection(s) of claim(s) 1, 9 and 16 under 102(a)(1) have been considered and regarding the amended feature of “ wherein the first physical port is divided into a first logical port connected to the first TOR switch and a second logical port connected to the second TOR switch” are persuasive. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground(s) of rejection is made in view of Power et al. (US 20200186460 A1) in view of Maier et al. (US 2016/0021032 A1).
Double Patenting
The nonstatutory obviousness double patenting rejection is based on a judicially created doctrine grounded in public policy (a policy reflected in the statute) so as to prevent the unjustified or improper timewise extension of the “right to exclude” granted by a patent and to prevent possible harassment by multiple assignees. A nonstatutory double patenting rejection is appropriate where the conflicting claims are not identical, but at least one examined application claim is not patentably distinct from the reference claim(s) because the examined application claim is either anticipated by, or would have been obvious over, the reference claim(s). See, e.g., In re Berg, 140 F.3d 1428, 46 USPQ2d 1226 (Fed. Cir. 1998); In re Goodman, 11 F.3d 1046, 29 USPQ2d 2010 (Fed. Cir. 1993); In re Longi, 759 F.2d 887, 225 USPQ 645 (Fed. Cir. 1985); In re Van Ornum, 686 F.2d 937, 214 USPQ 761 (CCPA 1982); In re Vogel, 422 F.2d 438, 164 USPQ 619 (CCPA 1970); In re Thorington, 418 F.2d 528, 163 USPQ 644 (CCPA 1969).
A timely filed terminal disclaimer in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(c) or 1.321(d) may be used to overcome an actual or provisional rejection based on nonstatutory double patenting provided the reference application or patent either is shown to be commonly owned with the examined application, or claims an invention made as a result of activities undertaken within the scope of a joint research agreement. See MPEP § 717.02 for applications subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA as explained in MPEP § 2159. See MPEP § 2146 et seq. for applications not subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA . A terminal disclaimer must be signed in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(b).
The filing of a terminal disclaimer by itself is not a complete reply to a nonstatutory double patenting (NSDP) rejection. A complete reply requires that the terminal disclaimer be accompanied by a reply requesting reconsideration of the prior Office action. Even where the NSDP rejection is provisional the reply must be complete. See MPEP § 804, subsection I.B.1. For a reply to a non-final Office action, see 37 CFR 1.111(a). For a reply to final Office action, see 37 CFR 1.113(c). A request for reconsideration while not provided for in 37 CFR 1.113(c) may be filed after final for consideration. See MPEP §§ 706.07(e) and 714.13.
The USPTO Internet website contains terminal disclaimer forms which may be used. Please visit www.uspto.gov/patent/patents-forms. The actual filing date of the application in which the form is filed determines what form (e.g., PTO/SB/25, PTO/SB/26, PTO/AIA /25, or PTO/AIA /26) should be used. A web-based eTerminal Disclaimer may be filled out completely online using web-screens. An eTerminal Disclaimer that meets all requirements is auto-processed and approved immediately upon submission. For more information about eTerminal Disclaimers, refer to www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/applying-online/eterminal-disclaimer.
Claims 1, 3-7,9, 11-15, 17-19 rejected on the ground of nonstatutory double patenting as being unpatentable over claim claims1, 3-6, 8-9, 11-14, 16-17 and 19-20 of U.S. Patent No. 12086625 B2 in view of Power et al. (US 20200186460 A1), hereinafter “Power”, and further in view of Maier et al. (US 2016/0021032 A1), hereinafter “Maier”.
Instant Application # 18360680
US Patent 12086625 B2
1, 9 and 15, a method, a computing device and a non-transitory computer readable medium, comprising:
communicatively coupling a first physical port of a network virtualization device (NVD) included in infrastructure deployed by a cloud service provider in a customer datacenter, the infrastructure providing an availability domain comprising a rack including a first of top-of-rack (TOR) switch, a second TOR switch, and a plurality of host machines, to the first TOR switch and the second TOR switch, wherein the first physical port is divided into a first logical port connected to the first TOR switch and a second logical port connected to the second TOR switch;
communicatively coupling a second physical port of the NVD to a network interface card (NIC) associated with a host machine of the plurality of host machines;
receiving, by the NVD, a packet from the host machine via the second physical port of the NVD;
determining, by the NVD, a particular TOR, from a group including the first TOR and the second TOR, for communicating the packet; and
transmitting, by the NVD, the packet to the particular TOR to facilitate communication of the packet to a destination host machine.
1, 9, and 17, a method, a computing device and a non-transitory computer readable medium, comprising:
communicatively coupling a first physical port of a network virtualization device (NVD) included in a datacenter to a first top-of-rack (TOR) switch and a second TOR switch;
communicatively coupling a second physical port of the NVD with a network interface card (NIC) associated with a host machine, the second physical port providing a first logical port and a second logical port for communications between the NVD and the NIC;
receiving, by the NVD, a packet from the host machine via the first logical port or the second logical port;
determining, by the NVD, a particular TOR, from a group including the first TOR and the second TOR, for communicating the packet; and
transmitting, by the NVD, the packet to the particular TOR to facilitate communication of the packet to a destination host machine.
3, 11 and 17, the method and a computing device and a non-transitory computer readable medium of claims 1, 9 and 15, wherein the first physical port of the NVD is associated with a first IP address, a second IP address, a first MAC address, and a second MAC address.
3, 11 and 19, the method, a computing device and a non-transitory computer readable medium of claims 1, 9 and 17, wherein the first physical port of the NVD is associated with a first IP address, a second IP address, a first MAC address, and a second MAC address.
4, 12 and 19, the method and a computing device of claims 1 and 9, wherein the second physical port of the NVD is associated with a first overlay IP address, and a first overlay MAC address.
4, 12 and 20, the method, a computing device and a non-transitory computer readable medium of claims 1, 9 and 17, wherein the second physical port of the NVD is associated with a first overlay IP address, a second overlay IP address, a first overlay MAC address, and a second overlay MAC address.
5 and 13, the method and a computing device of claims 1 and 9, wherein the destination host machine is a remote host machine included in a customer on-premises network.
5 and 13, the method and a computing device of claims 1 and 9, wherein the destination host machine is a remote host machine included in a customer on-premises network.
6, 14 and 18, the method, and a computing device and a non-transitory computer readable medium of claims 1, 9 and 16, wherein the host machine includes a plurality of virtual machines that are executed on the host machine, each of which is associated with a logical interface, and wherein the packet originates from a first virtual machine of the plurality of virtual machines and is transmitted to the NVD via the logical interface associated with the first virtual machine.
6 and 14, the method and a computing device of claims 2 and 10, wherein the host machine includes a plurality of virtual machines, each of which is associated with a logical interface, and wherein the packet originating from the virtual machine is transmitted to the NVD via the logical interface associated with the virtual machine.
7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:
executing by the NVD, a flow hashing operation to select one of the first TOR and the second TOR for communicating the packet to the destination host machine.
8 and 16, the method and the computing device of claims 1 and 9, further comprising: executing by the NVD, a flow hashing operation to select one of the first TOR and the second TOR for communicating the packet to the destination host machine.
However, US Patent 12086625 B2 remain silent on the infrastructure providing an availability domain comprising a rack including a first of top-of-rack (TOR) switch, a second TOR switch, and a plurality of host machines, to the first TOR switch and the second TOR switch.
Power discloses the infrastructure providing an availability domain comprising a rack including a first of top-of-rack (TOR) switch, a second TOR switch, and a plurality of host machines, to the first TOR switch and the second TOR switch (Fig. 2, ¶0002, ¶0007, ¶0022, ¶0034, ¶0047, ¶0069, teaches, each server may host a number of virtual machines and other resources… rearranging the existing traffic flows through the network so that normal network availability (i.e. availability domain) may be quickly restored…8 lane Xpoint as coupling a first physical port and QSFP as NVD…FIG. 1 illustrates a data center 100 that configured to provide computing resources to users 100 a, 100 b, or 100 c (which may be referred herein singularly as “a user 100” or in the plural as “the users 100”… a rack may support a random mix of servers selecting between the alternative and the normal ToR… the two Tier-0s that support a rack of servers may have a mix of active/standby state on a per-server basis. Any server port that is in Active State on one Tier-0 should be in Standby state on the other Tier-0…operation 701 illustrates communicatively coupling a plurality of servers to at least two top of rack (TOR) switches, wherein fig.2 teaches Tier-0 TOR shown on the left as first TOR and Tier-0 TOR on the right side as second TOR).
Therefore, it would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify US Patent 12086625 B2’s system with the infrastructure providing an availability domain comprising a rack including a first of top-of-rack (TOR) switch, a second TOR switch, and a plurality of host machines, to the first TOR switch and the second TOR switch of Power, in order to improve availability, fault tolerance, and network resiliency of the host machines (Power).
However, US Patent 12086625 B2 in view of Power remain silent on wherein the first physical port is divided into a first logical port connected to the first TOR switch and a second logical port connected to the second TOR switch.
Maier discloses wherein the first physical port is divided into a first logical port connected to the first TOR switch and a second logical port connected to the second TOR switch (¶0061-¶0062, teaches Network rack 110 may include edge switches E1 and E2 and end hosts EH1 and EH2, whereas network rack 112 may include edge switches E3 and E4 and end hosts EH3 and EH4. Edge switches E1, E2, E3, and E4 may serve as top-of-rack switches that are coupled via network paths to each end host of the corresponding network rack 112. For example, top-of-rack switch E3 is connected to each of the end hosts of network 112 (e.g., end hosts EH3 and EH4)… Each top-of-rack switch serves as an interface between end hosts of the corresponding network rack and other network devices such as other portions of network 100 or other networks 102. Network traffic to or from end hosts of network rack 110 may be required to traverse at least one of the top-of-rack switches of network rack 110 (e.g., top-of-rack switches E1 and E2), ¶0074, teaches the physical or hypervisor switch port to which the end host is coupled… controller 18 may identify end host EH1 as attached to port P1 of switch E1 (first logical port to the first ToR switch), may identify end hosts EH2 and EH3 by MAC address, and may identify end host EH4 as attached for port P2 of switch E3 (i.e. a second logical port connected to the second TOR switch). As another example, end host EH5 may be identified as attached to logical port P1 of hypervisor switch E5).
Therefore, it would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify US Patent 12086625 B2’s in view of Power’s system with wherein the first physical port is divided into a first logical port connected to the first TOR switch and a second logical port connected to the second TOR switch of Maier, in order to improve network availability and fault tolerance while reducing the number of physical interfaces and associated cabling required to establish connection to multiple ToR switches (Maier).
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) 1-3, 6-7, 9-11 and 14-18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Power et al. (US 20200186460 A1), hereinafter “Power” in view of Maier et al. (US 2016/0021032 A1), hereinafter “Maier”.
With respect to claims 1, 9 and 15, Power discloses a method, a computing device comprising: a processor (¶0022); and a memory including instructions that, when executed with the processor (¶0022), cause the computing device to, at least, a non-transitory computer readable medium storing specific computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a processor (¶0022 and ¶0176), cause a computer system to perform operations comprising:
communicatively coupling a first physical port of a network virtualization device (NVD) included in infrastructure deployed by a cloud service provider in a customer datacenter (¶0170, teaches Networks established by or on behalf of a user to provide one or more services (such as various types of cloud-based computing or storage) accessible via the Internet and/or other networks to a distributed set of clients may be referred to as a service provider. Such a network may include one or more data centers such as data center 100 illustrated in FIG. 1, which are configured to host physical and/or virtualized computer servers, storage devices, networking equipment and the like, that may be used to implement and distribute the infrastructure and services offered by the service provider), the infrastructure providing an availability domain comprising a rack including a first of top-of-rack (TOR) switch, a second TOR switch, and a plurality of host machines, to the first TOR switch and the second TOR switch (Fig. 2, ¶0002, ¶0007, ¶0022, ¶0034, ¶0047, ¶0069, teaches, each server may host a number of virtual machines and other resources… rearranging the existing traffic flows through the network so that normal network availability (i.e. availability domain) may be quickly restored…8 lane Xpoint as coupling a first physical port and QSFP as NVD…FIG. 1 illustrates a data center 100 that configured to provide computing resources to users 100 a, 100 b, or 100 c (which may be referred herein singularly as “a user 100” or in the plural as “the users 100”… a rack may support a random mix of servers selecting between the alternative and the normal ToR… the two Tier-0s that support a rack of servers may have a mix of active/standby state on a per-server basis. Any server port that is in Active State on one Tier-0 should be in Standby state on the other Tier-0…operation 701 illustrates communicatively coupling a plurality of servers to at least two top of rack (TOR) switches, wherein fig.2 teaches Tier-0 TOR shown on the left as first TOR and Tier-0 TOR on the right side as second TOR);
communicatively coupling a second physical port of the NVD to a network interface card (NIC) associated with a host machine of the plurality of host machines (Fig. 2, ¶0002, ¶0055, teaches the link between FPGA and QSFP as second physical port, and FPGA and Ethernet controller as network interface…CPU as host machine… Each server may host a number of virtual machines and other resources… the server may be configured to only send/receive on one of its QSFP's dual physical interfaces at a time);
receiving, by the NVD, a packet from the host machine via the second physical port of the NVD (Fig. 2, ¶0038-¶0039 , teaches the CPU (i.e. host machine), link between FPGA and QSFP (i.e. second physical port) and QSFP (i.e. NVD)… routes to a particular server may be consolidated into a single 2-member equal-cost multi-path (ECMP) group. One ECMP member is a device port that connects to the Normal (active) Tier-0. The other ECMP member is a device port that connects to that server's Protect (backup or passive) Tier-0 …traffic (i.e. packet) redirection mechanism is to create an ECMP group with only one member. This 1-way ECMP serves as a common path for all traffic destined to a particular server);
determining, by the NVD, a particular TOR, from a group including the first TOR and the second TOR, for communicating the packet (¶0018 and ¶0036, teaches this PHY may provide a cross-point switch capability that can rearrange traffic at OSI model Layer 1 (physical layer). These PHY devices may be used in a networking chassis to rearrange traffic around extracted or failing card slots. In an embodiment, the PHY devices can be repurposed to operate inside a server's Quad Small Form-factor Pluggable (QSFP)-based DAC cable to rearrange traffic across two different ToR network elements…The server may initiate a fail-over to the alternate path when the currently-active path link degrades below tolerance. On a per-server basis, the active ToR may initiate a fail-over to divert traffic to the standby ToR port if the signal from the server degrades below a predetermined threshold. If the active ToR determines that a reset or power upset is imminent, then it may switch all servers away to the peer ToR); and
transmitting, by the NVD, the packet to the particular TOR to facilitate communication of the packet to a destination host machine (¶0039, teaches traffic (i.e. packet) redirection mechanism is to create an ECMP group with only one member. This 1-way ECMP serves as a common path for all traffic destined to a particular server).
However, Power remain silent on wherein the first physical port is divided into a first logical port connected to the first TOR switch and a second logical port connected to the second TOR switch.
Maier discloses wherein the first physical port is divided into a first logical port connected to the first TOR switch and a second logical port connected to the second TOR switch (¶0061-¶0062, teaches Network rack 110 may include edge switches E1 and E2 and end hosts EH1 and EH2, whereas network rack 112 may include edge switches E3 and E4 and end hosts EH3 and EH4. Edge switches E1, E2, E3, and E4 may serve as top-of-rack switches that are coupled via network paths to each end host of the corresponding network rack 112. For example, top-of-rack switch E3 is connected to each of the end hosts of network 112 (e.g., end hosts EH3 and EH4)… Each top-of-rack switch serves as an interface between end hosts of the corresponding network rack and other network devices such as other portions of network 100 or other networks 102. Network traffic to or from end hosts of network rack 110 may be required to traverse at least one of the top-of-rack switches of network rack 110 (e.g., top-of-rack switches E1 and E2), ¶0074, teaches the physical or hypervisor switch port to which the end host is coupled… controller 18 may identify end host EH1 as attached to port P1 of switch E1 (first logical port to the first ToR switch), may identify end hosts EH2 and EH3 by MAC address, and may identify end host EH4 as attached for port P2 of switch E3 (i.e. a second logical port connected to the second TOR switch). As another example, end host EH5 may be identified as attached to logical port P1 of hypervisor switch E5).
Therefore, it would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify Power’s system with wherein the first physical port is divided into a first logical port connected to the first TOR switch and a second logical port connected to the second TOR switch of Maier, in order to improve network availability and fault tolerance while reducing the number of physical interfaces and associated cabling required to establish connection to multiple ToR switches (Maier).
With respect to claims 2, 10 and 16, Power in view of Maier discloses the method, the computing device and the non-transitory computer readable medium of claims 1, 9 and 16, wherein the first TOR is different than the second TOR, and wherein the first TOR and the second TOR are included in a rack of the datacenter (Power, Fig. 1 and Fig.2 and ¶0047, teaches a rack may support a random mix of servers selecting between the alternative and the normal ToR…Tier-0 TOR shown on the left as first TOR and Tier-0 TOR on the right side as second TOR…The two Tier-0s that support a rack of servers may have a mix of active/standby state on a per-server basis).
With respect to claims 3, 11 and 17, Power in view of Maier discloses the method, the computing device and the non-transitory computer readable medium of claims 1, 9 and 16, wherein the first physical port of the NVD is associated with a first IP address, a second IP address, a first MAC address, and a second MAC address (Maier, ¶0070, teaches virtual switches are formed from groups of end hosts of the network and may be defined by any desired network attributes of the end hosts (e.g., by MAC addresses or ranges of MAC address of the end hosts, by IP addresses or ranges of IP addresses of the end hosts, etc., ¶0074, teaches the physical or hypervisor switch port to which the end host is coupled… controller 18 may identify end host EH1 as attached to port P1 of switch E1 (first logical port to the first ToR switch), may identify end hosts EH2 and EH3 by MAC address, and may identify end host EH4 as attached for port P2 of switch E3 (i.e. a second logical port connected to the second TOR switch). As another example, end host EH5 may be identified as attached to logical port P1 of hypervisor switch E5) .
With respect to claims 6, 14 and 18, Power in view of Maier discloses the method, the computing device and the non-transitory computer readable medium of claims 1, 9 and 15, wherein the host machine includes a plurality of virtual machines that are executed on the host machine, each of which is associated with a logical interface, and wherein the packet originates from a first virtual machine of the plurality of virtual machines and is transmitted to the NVD via the logical interface associated with the first virtual machine (Power, ¶0002, teaches each server may host a number of virtual machines and other resources, ¶0023, teaches Data center 100 may include servers 116 a, 116 b, and 116 c (which may be referred to herein singularly as “a server 116” or in the plural as “the servers 116”) that provide computing resources available as virtual machines 118 a and 118 b (which may be referred to herein singularly as “a virtual machine 118” or in the plural as “the virtual machines 118”), ¶0055, teaches the server may be configured to only send/receive on one of its QSFP's dual physical interfaces (i.e. logical interface) at a time. Traffic that is shunted to the new path (to work around a failure) may be discarded at the Server/ToR interface until the new interface Links-Up).
With respect to claim 7, Power in view of Maier discloses the method of claim 1, further comprising:
executing by the NVD, a flow hashing operation to select one of the first TOR and the second TOR for communicating the packet to the destination host machine (Power, ¶0034, teaches a rack may support a random mix of servers selecting between the alternative and the normal ToR, ¶0038, teaches routes to a particular server may be consolidated into a single 2-member equal-cost multi-path (ECMP) group. One ECMP member is a device port that connects to the Normal (active) Tier-0. The other ECMP (i.e. flow hashing operation) member is a device port that connects to that server's Protect (backup or passive) Tier-0. The ECMP setup may automatically divert traffic to the Protect Tier-0 if the Normal Tier-0 fails).
Claim(s) 4-5, 8, 12-13 and 19-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Power in view of Maier, and further in view of Brar et al. (US 2021/0377166 A1), hereinafter “Brar”.
With respect to claims 4, 12 and 19, Power in view of Maier discloses the method and the computing device of claims 1 and 9. However, Power in view of Maier remain silent on wherein the second physical port of the NVD is associated with a first overlay IP address, and a first overlay MAC address.
Brar disclose wherein the second physical port of the NVD is associated with a first overlay IP address, and a first overlay MAC address (¶0074, teaches in FIG. 1, a compute instance C1 is part of Subnet-1 via a VNIC associated with the compute instance. Likewise, compute instance C2 is part of Subnet-1 via a VNIC associated with C2. In a similar manner, multiple compute instances, which may be virtual machine instances or bare metal instances, may be part of Subnet-1. Via its associated VNIC, each compute instance is assigned a private overlay IP address and a MAC address. For example, in FIG. 1, compute instance C1 has an overlay IP address of 10.0.0.2 and a MAC address of M1 (i.e. first overlay IP address and first overlay Mac address), while compute instance C2 has an private overlay IP address of 10.0.0.3 and a MAC address of M2. Each compute instance in Subnet-1, ¶0116, teaches an NVD may comprise multiple physical ports that enable it to be connected to one or more host machines and to one or more TOR switches).
Therefore, it would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify Power’s in view of Maier’s system with the second physical port of the NVD is associated with a first overlay IP address, and a first overlay MAC address of Brar, in order to identify and forward overlay traffic that enters or leaves through that port (Brar, ¶0117).
With respect to claims 5 and 13, Power in view of Maier discloses the method and the computing device of claims 1 and 9. However, Power in view of Maier remain silent on wherein the destination host machine is a remote host machine included in a customer on-premises network.
Brar discloses wherein the destination host machine is a remote host machine included in a customer on-premises network (¶0082, teaches a Dynamic Routing Gateway (DRG) 122 may be added to or be associated with customer VCN 104 and provides a path for private network traffic communication between customer VCN 104 and another endpoint, where the another endpoint (i.e. remote host machine) can be the customer's on-premise network 116, a VCN 108 in a different region of CSPI 101, or other remote cloud networks 118 not hosted by CSPI 101. Customer on-premise network 116 may be a customer network or a customer data center built using the customer's resources. Access to customer on-premise network 116 is generally very restricted. For a customer that has both a customer on-premise network 116 and one or more VCNs 104 deployed or hosted in the cloud by CSPI 101, the customer may want their on-premise network 116 and their cloud-based VCN 104 to be able to communicate with each other, see ¶0127 and ¶0129).
Therefore, it would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify Power’s in view of Maier’s system with the destination host machine is a remote host machine included in a customer on-premises network of Brar, in order to forward to a next hop that facilitates communication of the packet to its intended destination endpoint and the destination must be remote to justify the use of the overlay tunnel (Brar, ¶0129).
With respect to claim 8, Power in view of Maier discloses the method of claim 1. However, Power in view of Maier remain silent on wherein the NIC associated with the host machine has a single overlay IP address, and a first packet transmitted by the destination host machine and intended for the NIC associated with the host machine included in the datacenter is reachable via the first TOR and/or the second TOR.
Brar discloses wherein the NIC associated with the host machine has a single overlay IP address, and a first packet transmitted by the destination host machine and intended for the NIC associated with the host machine included in the datacenter is reachable via the first TOR and/or the second TOR (Brar, ¶0061, teaches this private overlay IP address is assigned to the VNIC that is associated with the compute instance when the compute instance is created and used for routing traffic to and from the compute instance, ¶0111, teaches two separate physical network paths to and from physical switch network 318 to host machine 302: a first path traversing TOR switch 314 to NVD 310 to host machine 302, and a second path traversing TOR switch 316 to NVD 312 to host machine 302. The separate paths provide for enhanced availability (referred to as high availability) of host machine 302. If there are problems in one of the paths (e.g., a link in one of the paths goes down) or devices (e.g., a particular NVD is not functioning), then the other path may be used for communications to/from host machine 302, ¶0116, teaches a smartNIC as shown in FIG. 2, an NVD may comprise multiple physical ports that enable it to be connected to one or more host machines and to one or more TOR switches, ¶0182, teaches the first NVD determines that the first frame is to be transmitted via all ports of the network interface card based on the second MAC address).
Therefore, it would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify Power’s in view of Maier’s system with wherein the NIC associated with the host machine has a single overlay IP address, and a first packet transmitted by the destination host machine and intended for the NIC associated with the host machine included in the datacenter is reachable via the first TOR and/or the second TOR of Brar, in order to improve fault tolerance and availability and avoid traffic loss when a TOR or link fails (Brar, ¶0051 and ¶0152).
With respect to claim 20, Power in view of Maier discloses the method of claim 1, however, Power in view of Maier remain silent on wherein the customer datacenter is located at a customer on-premise location.
Brar discloses wherein the customer datacenter is located at a customer on-premise location (¶0055, teaches A compute instance deployed on a VCN can communicate with public accessible endpoints (“public endpoints”) over a public network such as the Internet, with other instances in the same VCN or other VCNs (e.g., the customer's other VCNs, or VCNs not belonging to the customer), with the customer's on-premise data centers or networks, ¶0082,, teaches customer on-premise network 116 may be a customer network or a customer data center built using the customer's resources.).
Therefore, it would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify Power’s in view of Maier’s system with wherein the customer datacenter is located at a customer on-premise location of Brar, in order to enable the customer to maintain greater control over its computing and network infrastructure while reducing latency, and reliance on wide-area network connectivity for communication between local users, hosts, and network resources (Brar).
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 GOLAM MAHMUD whose telephone number is (571)270-0385. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri 8.00-5.00pm.
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, Umar Cheema can be reached at 5712703037. 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.
/G.M/Examiner, Art Unit 2458
/UMAR CHEEMA/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2458
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