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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 4/23/2026 has been entered.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 4/23/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. The applicant’s arguments were addressed in the Advisory Action mailed on 4/29/2026.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1, 5-7, 9-11, and 13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by U.S. Patent Application Publication Number 2020/0409690 by Rouland et al.
As to claim 1, Rouland teaches a method for monitoring a local area network administered by an access point (management system 103) of the local area network (paragraphs 43 and 124, network 109 may be LAN) comprising a plurality of terminals (110A-G), the method being implemented by a monitoring device (controller 115) and comprising: acquiring at least one status parameter, called global parameter, comprising at least one datum representing an operation of the local area network (paragraph 49); detecting a malfunction of the local area network as a function of said at least one global parameter (paragraphs 32 and 49, the security vulnerabilities are considered “malfunctions”), and following detecting the malfunction, identifying a terminal, called the disruptive terminal, at least responsible for the malfunction (paragraphs 32 and 33 and table in Figure 6); and responsive to the detection of the malfunction of the local area network, triggering at least one countermeasure action (paragraphs 33 and 49).
As to claim 5, see paragraphs 33 and 49.
As to claim 6, paragraph 33 shows different counter measures dependent upon detected malfunctions.
As to claim 7, see paragraph 49.
As to claim 9, the final line of paragraph 50 shows “transmitting a notification message” in the broad context claimed.
As to claim 10, see paragraph 33, the disabling of WIFI on device 110G reads on the broad context of “disconnecting the disruptive terminal”.
As to claims 11 and 13, they are rejected for the same reasoning as claim 1.
Claim(s) 1-3, 8, 11, and 13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by U.S. Patent Application Publication Number 2019/0222531 by Lin et al.
As to claim 1, Lin teaches a method for monitoring a local area network administered by an access point of the local area network (paragraph 11) comprising a plurality of terminals (paragraph 39, IoT endpoints), the method being implemented by a monitoring device (paragraph 39-41 describe the monitoring system) and comprising: acquiring at least one status parameter, called global parameter, comprising at least one datum representing an operation of the local area network (Paragraph 21); detecting a malfunction of the local area network as a function of said at least one global parameter (paragraph 22, the exceeding of the threshold is considered a malfunction), and following detecting the malfunction, identifying a terminal (paragraph 32, the IP address or MAC identifies the terminal), called the disruptive terminal, at least responsible for the malfunction (paragraphs 33-37, the normal user’s devices that are using bandwidth, making them responsible for the malfunction of exceeding total bandwidth, are identified as part of the flow control process); and responsive to the detection of the malfunction of the local area network, triggering at least one countermeasure action (paragraph 22, the flow-limit process is triggered).
As to claim 2, paragraph 21 shows throughput.
As to claim 3, see paragraph 22.
As to claim 8, see paragraph 28, flow limit is re-evaluated periodically and flow-limit process can be withdrawn.
As to claims 11 and 13, they are rejected for the same reasoning as claim 1.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DOUGLAS B BLAIR whose telephone number is (571)272-3893. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 9am-5pm.
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/DOUGLAS B BLAIR/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2454
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