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 .
DETAILED ACTION
Claims 1-20 are pending.
Examiner Notes
Examiner cites particular paragraphs and/or columns and lines in the references as applied to Applicant’s claims for the convenience of the Applicant. Although the specified citations are representative of the teachings in the art and are applied to the specific limitations within the individual claim, other passages and figures may apply as well. It is respectfully requested that, in preparing responses, the Applicant fully consider the references in entirety as potentially teaching all or part of the claimed invention, as well as the context of the passage as taught by the prior art or disclosed by the examiner. The prompt development of a clear issue requires that the replies of the Applicant meet the objections to and rejections of the claims. Applicant should also specifically point out the support for any amendments made to the disclosure. See MPEP § 2163.06.
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.
Authorization for Internet Communications in a Patent Application
Applicant is encouraged to file an Authorization for Internet Communications in a Patent Application form (http://www.uspto.gov/sites/default/files/documents/sb0439.pdf) along with the response to this office action to facilitate and expedite future communication between Applicant and the examiner. If the form is submitted then Applicant is requested to provide a contact email address in the signature block at the conclusion of the official reply.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 101
35 U.S.C. 101 reads as follows:
Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.
Claims 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to a judicial exception (an abstract idea) without significantly more.
Step 1: The claim is a process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter:
Claim 1. An apparatus, comprising.
Step 2A Prong One: The claim recites an abstract idea because it includes limitations that can be considered mental processes (concepts performed in the human mind including an observation, evaluation, judgment, and/or opinion). If a claim limitation, under its broadest reasonable interpretation, covers performance of the limitation in the human mind or via pen and paper, then it falls within the “Mental Processes” grouping of abstract ideas. Accordingly, the claim recites an abstract idea:
extrapolate a first tenant profile and a first name-space ID from the first network ID, the first name-space ID indicating a first name-space located in a first containerized service cluster (abstract idea mental process);
determine a first plurality of network access commands based at least in part upon the first tenant profile and the first name-space ID, the first plurality of network access commands being configured to enable access to the first name-space in the first containerized service cluster (abstract idea mental process).
Step 2A Prong Two: The abstract idea is not integrated into a practical application because the abstract idea is recited but for generically recited additional computer elements (i.e. data storage, processor, memory, computer readable medium, etc.) which do not add meaningful limitations to the abstract idea amounting to simply implementing the abstract idea on a generic computer using generic computing hardware and/or software (e.g. generally linking the use of the judicial exception to a particular technological environment or field of use (see MPEP 2106.05(h)). Mere instructions to apply an exception using a generic computer component cannot provide an inventive concept. The generic computing components are recited at a high-level of generality such that they amount to no more than mere instructions to apply the exception using the recited generic computer components. Accordingly, these additional elements do not integrate the abstract idea into a practical application because they do not impose any meaningful limits on practicing the abstract idea:
a memory (generic computing components), comprising:
one or more directories comprising access to a plurality of tenant profiles, each tenant profile of the plurality of tenant profiles being associated with one or more network functions; and
one or more network access commands configured to provide access to one or more entitlements; and
a processor (generic computing components) communicatively coupled to the memory and configured to:
receive a first request to access at least one network function of the one or more network functions, the first request comprising a first network identifier (ID) (generic computing components performing extra-solution activity of receiving data/information);
generate a first report comprising the first plurality of network access commands (generic computing components performing extra-solution activity of generating data/information).
Step 2B: The claim includes limitations which can be considered extra-solution activity (see MPEP 2106.05(g)) insufficient to amount to significantly more than the abstract idea because the additional limitations only perform at least one of collecting, gathering, displaying, generating, modifying, updating, storing, retrieving, sending, and receiving data/information data which are well-understood, routine, conventional computer functions as recognized by the court decisions listed in MPEP § 2106.05(d)II. The claim further includes limitations that do not integrate the judicial exception into a practical application because they merely recite the words "apply it" (or an equivalent) with the judicial exception, or merely including instructions to implement an abstract idea on a computer, or merely using a computer as a tool to perform an abstract idea, as discussed in MPEP § 2106.05(f). Therefore, the claim, and its limitations when considered separately and in combination, is directed to patent ineligible subject matter:
a memory, comprising:
one or more directories comprising access to a plurality of tenant profiles, each tenant profile of the plurality of tenant profiles being associated with one or more network functions; and
one or more network access commands configured to provide access to one or more entitlements; and
a processor communicatively coupled to the memory and configured to:
receive a first request to access at least one network function of the one or more network functions, the first request comprising a first network identifier (ID) (extra-solution activity of receiving data/information);
generate a first report comprising the first plurality of network access commands (extra-solution activity of generating data/information).
Claim 2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein: the first containerized service cluster comprises one or more network components; each network component comprises a network processor configured to perform at least one network function of the one or more network functions; and the first name-space is associated with a corresponding plurality of network components (generic computing components).
Claim 3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein: the first containerized service cluster comprises a plurality of network components; each network component comprises a network processor configured to perform at least one network function of the one or more network functions; and the first name-space is associated with the plurality of network components (generic computing components).
Claim 4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to:
receive a second request to access at least one network function of the one or more network functions, the second request comprising a second network ID (extra-solution activity of receiving data/information);
extrapolate a second tenant profile and a second name-space ID and a first slice-group ID from the second network ID (abstract idea mental process), wherein:
the second name-space ID indicates a second name-space located in a second containerized service cluster (abstract idea mental process);
the first slice-group ID indicates a first slice group located in the second containerized service cluster (abstract idea mental process);
the second containerized service cluster comprises one or more network components comprising a corresponding network processor configured to perform at least one network function of the one or more network functions (generic computing components); and
each network component is associated with a corresponding name-spaces and a corresponding slice group (generic computing components);
determine a second plurality of network access commands based at least in part upon the second tenant profile and the second name-space ID, the second plurality of network access commands being configured to enable access to the second name-space within the first slice group in the second containerized service cluster (abstract idea mental process); and
generate a second report comprising the second plurality of network access commands (extra-solution activity of generating data/information).
Claim 5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to:
receive a second request to access at least one network function of the one or more network functions, the second request comprising a second network ID (extra-solution activity of receiving data/information);
extrapolate a second tenant profile and a second name-space ID from the second network ID, the second name-space ID indicating a second name-space located in a second containerized service cluster and a third containerized service cluster (abstract idea mental process);
determine a second plurality of network access commands based at least in part upon the second tenant profile and the second name-space ID, the second plurality of network access commands being configured to enable access to the second name-space in the second containerized service cluster and the third containerized service cluster (abstract idea mental process); and
generate a second report comprising the second plurality of network access commands (extra-solution activity of generating data/information).
Claim 6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein: the second containerized service cluster comprises a first plurality of network components; the third containerized service cluster comprises a second plurality of network components, each network component of the second plurality of network components and the third plurality of network components comprising a corresponding network processor configured to perform at least one network function of the one or more network functions; and the second name-space is associated with the first plurality of network components and the second plurality of network components (generic computing components).
Claim 7. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein: the second containerized service cluster comprises a first portion of a plurality of network components; the third containerized service cluster comprises a second portion of the plurality of network components; and the second name-space comprises the plurality of network components (generic computing components).
Claim 8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to present the first report to a user equipment associated with the first tenant profile, the user equipment being configured to access the first name-space in the first containerized service cluster based at least in part upon the first plurality of network access commands in the first report (extra-solution activity of displaying/presenting/outputting data/information).
As per claim 9, it has similar limitations as claim 1 and is therefore rejected using the same rationale.
As per claim 10, it has similar limitations as claim 2 and is therefore rejected using the same rationale.
As per claim 11, it has similar limitations as claim 3 and is therefore rejected using the same rationale.
As per claim 12, it has similar limitations as claim 4 and is therefore rejected using the same rationale.
As per claim 13, it has similar limitations as claim 5 and is therefore rejected using the same rationale.
As per claim 14, it has similar limitations as claim 6 and is therefore rejected using the same rationale.
As per claim 15, it has similar limitations as claim 7 and is therefore rejected using the same rationale.
As per claim 16, it has similar limitations as claim 8 and is therefore rejected using the same rationale.
As per claim 17, it has similar limitations as claim 1 and is therefore rejected using the same rationale.
As per claim 18, it has similar limitations as claim 2 and is therefore rejected using the same rationale.
As per claim 19, it has similar limitations as claim 3 and is therefore rejected using the same rationale.
As per claim 20, it has similar limitations as claim 8 and is therefore rejected using the same rationale.
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, 9, and 17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over
Milton et al. (US 2017/0039242) (hereinafter Milton) in view of
Malleni et al. (US 2022/0091868) (hereinafter Malleni) in view of
Khare et al. (US 2022/0337558) (hereinafter Khare) in view of
Moran et al. (US 2008/0151767) (hereinafter Moran) in view of
Wakefield et al. (US 2015/0382177) in view of
Cloutman (US 2009/0296807).
As per claim 1, Milton primarily teaches the invention as claimed including an apparatus, comprising:
a memory (fig. 9, block 1020);
extrapolate a first tenant profile and a first name-space ID from the first network ID ([0075] create/generate user profile from user ID which is based on phone MAC address i.e., network ID and [0113] namespace device identifiers can be based on identifiers for network transmission);
a processor communicatively coupled to the memory (fig. 9, blocks 1010 and 1050);
determine a first plurality of network access commands based at least in part upon the first tenant profile and the first name-space ID (abstract network activity log data i.e., network access commands are associated with computing device profiles; [0115] network activity log data is associated with external namespace device identifiers; [0117] mapping between network activity log data and namespace).
Milton does not explicitly teach:
one or more directories comprising access to a plurality of tenant profiles, each tenant profile of the plurality of tenant profiles being associated with one or more network functions; and
one or more network access commands configured to provide access to one or more entitlements; and
receive a first request to access at least one network function of the one or more network functions, the first request comprising a first network identifier (ID);
the first name-space ID indicating a first name-space located in a first containerized service cluster;
the first plurality of network access commands being configured to enable access to the first name-space in the first containerized service cluster; and
generate a first report comprising the first plurality of network access commands.
However, Malleni teaches:
the first name-space ID indicating a first name-space located in a first containerized service cluster ([0020] containers that perform a unified function may be grouped together in a container cluster that may be deployed together; [0034] code may execute inside container executing compute service and may generate the deploy namespace instructions for creating a new network namespace; and [0046] determine the namespace ID);
the first plurality of network access commands being configured to enable access to the first name-space in the first containerized service cluster ([0014]-[0015] namespaces generated by a compute service and created within a container are nested namespaces which are visible to and accessible by the container namespace).
Malleni and Milton are both concerned with computer networking and are therefore combinable/modifiable. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Milton in view of Malleni because it would provide for dynamic and efficient network configuration to maintain a current and consistent state of the network. This can represent a lightweight, faster approach to flow rule installation latency testing relative to booting a large number of VMs by estimating flow rule installation latency for a given workload (e.g., requiring deployment of a particular number of VMs) without booting any VMs.
Milton in view of Malleni does not explicitly teach:
one or more directories comprising access to a plurality of tenant profiles, each tenant profile of the plurality of tenant profiles being associated with one or more network functions; and
one or more network access commands configured to provide access to one or more entitlements; and
receive a first request to access at least one network function of the one or more network functions, the first request comprising a first network identifier (ID);
generate a first report comprising the first plurality of network access commands.
However, Khare teaches receive a first request to access at least one network function of the one or more network functions ([0005] receive a request for an access token from a network repository function in the first network, the access token to be used by a first network function in the first network to request a service from a second network function in a second network), the first request comprising a first network identifier (ID) ([0058] the token request includes information such as network function instance ID).
Khare and Milton are both concerned with computer networking and are therefore combinable/modifiable. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Milton in view of Malleni in view of Khare because it would provide a way for a first edge protection proxy in a first network to receive a request for an access token from a network repository function in the first network. The access token can be used by a first network function in the first network to request a service from a second network function in a second network. The first edge protection proxy validates the request based on configurations allowed to access services provided by networks different from the first network. If the validation of the request is successful, the first edge protection proxy transmits the request to a second edge protection proxy in the second network. The transmitted request comprises verified information concerning the first network function.
Milton in view of Malleni in view of Khare does not explicitly teach:
one or more directories comprising access to a plurality of tenant profiles, each tenant profile of the plurality of tenant profiles being associated with one or more network functions; and
one or more network access commands configured to provide access to one or more entitlements; and
generate a first report comprising the first plurality of network access commands.
However, Moran teaches generate a first report comprising the first plurality of network access commands ([0032] reports module may enable reports to be generated that are related to activities of users within the network management system. Reports module may enable the generation of other reports that may provide information about, for example, which network elements a particular user accessed, what commands were executed on a particular network element, and/or the like).
Moran and Milton are both concerned with computer networking and are therefore combinable/modifiable. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Milton in view of Malleni in view of Khare in view of Moran because it would provide a reports module and a web portal may which can provide a single interface to manage all activities associated with a network. The web portal can provide a graphical user interface (GUI) that enables a single access point to all network elements within a network such that users may execute commands on a network element, add, delete, or modify network element configurations, troubleshoot and resolve network problems, and/or backup and restore deleted configurations. The Web portal may also provide a graphical user interface (GUI) that allows an administrator, for example, to add, delete or modify user profiles of users and/or user groups of the network management system, track all actions performed by users of the network management system, send messages to users of the network management system, run reports based on information contained within the network management system, and/or create credentials and map users that may be permitted to access a network element.
Milton in view of Malleni in view of Khare in view of Moran does not explicitly teach:
one or more directories comprising access to a plurality of tenant profiles, each tenant profile of the plurality of tenant profiles being associated with one or more network functions; and
one or more network access commands configured to provide access to one or more entitlements.
However, Wakefield teaches one or more directories comprising access to a plurality of tenant profiles, each tenant profile of the plurality of tenant profiles being associated with one or more network functions ([0007]-[0008] subscriber profile data can be used to support network functions. Some network models use a centralized subscriber profile store as a service. The X.500 Directory, together with Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP), provides a framework for a centralized subscriber profile store. The data held within an X.500 directory is structured as a tree of data objects, the Directory Information Tree (DIT). Subscriber profiles can be represented as sub trees within the DIT).
Wakefield and Milton are both concerned with computer networking and are therefore combinable/modifiable. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Milton in view of Malleni in view of Khare in view of Moran in view of Wakefield because it would provide a structure that enables subscriber information to be obtained reliably and efficiently. In order to meet capacity requirements, for certain deployments it is necessary to store information e.g. subscriber information across a plurality of nodes in a distributed manner. Each node is termed a Directory System Agent (DSA), and the DSAs cooperate to collectively provide the Directory service. Data held within the Directory is structured as a tree of data objects, known as a Directory Information Tree (DIT).
Milton in view of Malleni in view of Khare in view of Moran in view of Wakefield does not explicitly teach one or more network access commands configured to provide access to one or more entitlements.
However, Cloutman teaches one or more network access commands configured to provide access to one or more entitlements ([0015] send a corresponding command to allow action to be taken for instance indicating information relating to network access entitlement).
Cloutman and Milton are both concerned with computer networking and are therefore combinable/modifiable. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Milton in view of Malleni in view of Khare in view of Moran in view of Wakefield in view of Cloutman because it would provide for a portion of back porch intervals following trailing edges of a number of horizontal sync pulses to be significantly raised and lowered to improve the playability of the original signal without reducing the effectiveness of the copy protection of the copied signal.
As per claim 9, it has similar limitations as claim 1 and is therefore rejected using the same rationale.
As per claim 17, it has similar limitations as claim 1 and is therefore rejected using the same rationale.
Claims 2-3, 10-11, and 18-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Milton in view of Malleni in view of Khare in view of Moran in view of Wakefield in view of Cloutman in view of Kwapniewski et al. (US 2024/0048449) (hereinafter Kwapniewski).
As per claim 2 Milton further teaches the first name-space is associated with a corresponding plurality of network components ([0120] namespace may be mapped to one or more internal-namespace device identifiers).
Milton in view of Malleni in view of Khare in view of Moran in view of Wakefield in view of Cloutman do not explicitly teach wherein: the first containerized service cluster comprises one or more network components; each network component comprises a network processor configured to perform at least one network function of the one or more network functions.
However, Kwapniewski teaches wherein: the first containerized service cluster comprises one or more network components; each network component comprises a network processor configured to perform at least one network function of the one or more network functions ([0026] network functions may be grouped based on relationships of functions performed by the respective network functions or based on a cloud server device which instantiates the network functions and [0040] plural cloud devices).
Kwapniewski and Milton are both concerned with computer networking and are therefore combinable/modifiable. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Milton in view of Malleni in view of Khare in view of Moran in view of Wakefield in view of Cloutman in view of Kwapniewski because it would provide a way of identifying a set of network functions operative on a core network of a mobile communications system instantiated on a cloud network, identifying functional dependencies among respective network functions of the set of network functions, defining a sequence by which the set of network functions should be made unavailable prior to a maintenance event, wherein the defining the sequence is based on the functional dependencies, and deactivating respective network functions of the set of network functions according to the sequence.
As per claim 3, it has similar limitations as claim 2 and is therefore rejected using the same rationale.
As per claim 10, it has similar limitations as claim 2 and is therefore rejected using the same rationale.
As per claim 11, it has similar limitations as claim 3 and is therefore rejected using the same rationale.
As per claim 18, it has similar limitations as claim 2 and is therefore rejected using the same rationale.
As per claim 19, it has similar limitations as claim 3 and is therefore rejected using the same rationale.
Claims 4 and 12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Milton in view of Malleni in view of Khare in view of Moran in view of Wakefield in view of Cloutman in view of Kwapniewski in view of Robitzsch (US 2024/0080265) in view of Sharma Banjade et al. (US 2022/0116335) (hereinafter Sharma).
As per claim 4, Milton in view of Malleni in view of Khare in view of Moran in view of Wakefield in view of Cloutman in view of Kwapniewski teach wherein the processor is further configured to:
receive a second request to access at least one network function of the one or more network functions (Khare ([0005] receive a request for an access token from a network repository function in the first network, the access token to be used by a first network function in the first network to request a service from a second network function in a second network), the second request comprising a second network ID (Khare [0058] the token request includes information such as network function instance ID);
extrapolate a second tenant profile and a second name-space ID from the second network ID (Milton [0075] create/generate user profile from user ID which is based on phone MAC address i.e., network ID and [0113] namespace device identifiers can be based on identifiers for network transmission), wherein:
the second name-space ID indicates a second name-space located in a second containerized service cluster (Malleni [0020] containers that perform a unified function may be grouped together in a container cluster that may be deployed together; [0034] code may execute inside container executing compute service and may generate the deploy namespace instructions for creating a new network namespace; and [0046] determine the namespace ID);
the second containerized service cluster comprises one or more network components comprising a corresponding network processor configured to perform at least one network function of the one or more network functions (Kwapniewski [0026] network functions may be grouped based on relationships of functions performed by the respective network functions or based on a cloud server device which instantiates the network functions and [0040] plural cloud devices); and
each network component is associated with a corresponding name-spaces (Milton [0120] namespace may be mapped to one or more internal-namespace device identifiers);
determine a second plurality of network access commands based at least in part upon the second tenant profile and the second name-space ID (Milton abstract network activity log data i.e., network access commands are associated with computing device profiles; [0115] network activity log data is associated with external namespace device identifiers; [0117] mapping between network activity log data and namespace); and
generate a second report comprising the second plurality of network access commands (Moran [0032] reports module may enable reports to be generated that are related to activities of users within the network management system. Reports module may enable the generation of other reports that may provide information about, for example, which network elements a particular user accessed, what commands were executed on a particular network element, and/or the like).
Milton in view of Malleni in view of Khare in view of Moran in view of Wakefield in view of Cloutman in view of Kwapniewski do not explicitly teach:
extrapolate a first slice-group ID from the second network ID;
the first slice-group ID indicates a first slice group located in the second containerized service cluster;
each network component is associated with a corresponding slice group;
the second plurality of network access commands being configured to enable access to the second name-space within the first slice group in the second containerized service cluster.
However, Robitzsch teaches:
extrapolate a first slice-group ID from the second network ID ([0085] a namespace may refer to, indicate, identify, label, define, etc., any type of information e.g., a group/collection of information, a database, one or more registers, pointers, binary data, etc. that includes and/or is associated with identifiers and/or indicators for any of services, service chains, client IDs, device IDs, server IDs, slice IDs, network IDs, etc. any of a mapping, a correspondence, an association, a linkage, a pairing, a pointer, a tabulation, etc., between any of the identifiers and/or indicators);
each network component is associated with a corresponding slice group ([0085] a namespace may refer to, indicate, identify, label, define, etc., any type of information e.g., a group/collection of information, a database, one or more registers, pointers, binary data, etc. that includes and/or is associated with identifiers and/or indicators for any of services, service chains, client IDs, device IDs, server IDs, slice IDs, network IDs, etc. any of a mapping, a correspondence, an association, a linkage, a pairing, a pointer, a tabulation, etc., between any of the identifiers and/or indicators).
Robitzsch and Milton are both concerned with computer networking and are therefore combinable/modifiable. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Milton in view of Malleni in view of Khare in view of Moran in view of Wakefield in view of Cloutman in view of Kwapniewski in view of Robitzsch because it would provide for a full duplex radio for which transmission and reception of some or all of the signals e.g., associated with particular subframes for both the transmission and downlink e.g., for reception may be concurrent and/or simultaneous. The full duplex radio may include an interference management unit to reduce and or substantially eliminate self-interference via either hardware or signal processing via a processor.
Milton in view of Malleni in view of Khare in view of Moran in view of Wakefield in view of Cloutman in view of Kwapniewski in view of Robitzsch do not explicitly teach:
the first slice-group ID indicates a first slice group located in the second containerized service cluster;
the second plurality of network access commands being configured to enable access to the second name-space within the first slice group in the second containerized service cluster.
However, Sharma teaches:
the first slice-group ID indicates a first slice group located in the second containerized service cluster ([0175] group context identifier may be used as a way to bundle resource slice identifiers; [0055] containers; and [0254] microservice cluster);
the second plurality of network access commands being configured to enable access to the second name-space within the first slice group in the second containerized service cluster ([0173] define slice context boundaries where a container technology limits the set of accessible operating system resources to a namespace coincident with the slice context).
Sharma and Milton are both concerned with computer networking and are therefore combinable/modifiable. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Milton in view of Malleni in view of Khare in view of Moran in view of Wakefield in view of Cloutman in view of Kwapniewski in view of Robitzsch in view of Sharma because it would provide for security services that are part of slice reconfiguration that adjusts capping of resources allocated to individual slices. Ring-fencing of resources for slice contexts guarantees a minimum level of resource availability so that a slice maintains a baseline level of resources despite a potential for resource exhaustion due to resource sharing underflow or denial of service. Virtual functions operating within a network slice context may be authenticated and verified to prevent insider attacks on the network slice resources that may result in increased robustness and decreased compromise of slice resources/data.
As per claim 12, it has similar limitations as claim 4 and is therefore rejected using the same rationale.
Claims 5 and 13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Milton in view of Malleni in view of Khare in view of Moran in view of Wakefield in view of Cloutman in view of Chen et al. (US 2018/0307537) (hereinafter Chen).
As per claim 5, Milton in view of Malleni in view of Khare in view of Moran in view of Wakefield in view of Cloutman teach wherein the processor is further configured to:
receive a second request to access at least one network function of the one or more network functions (Khare [0005] receive a request for an access token from a network repository function in the first network, the access token to be used by a first network function in the first network to request a service from a second network function in a second network), the second request comprising a second network ID (Khare [0058] the token request includes information such as network function instance ID);
extrapolate a second tenant profile and a second name-space ID from the second network ID (Milton [0075] create/generate user profile from user ID which is based on phone MAC address i.e., network ID and [0113] namespace device identifiers can be based on identifiers for network transmission);
determine a second plurality of network access commands based at least in part upon the second tenant profile and the second name-space ID (Milton abstract network activity log data i.e., network access commands are associated with computing device profiles; [0115] network activity log data is associated with external namespace device identifiers; [0117] mapping between network activity log data and namespace), the second plurality of network access commands being configured to enable access to the second name-space in the second containerized service cluster and the third containerized service cluster (Malleni [0014]-[0015] namespaces generated by a compute service and created within a container are nested namespaces which are visible to and accessible by the container namespace); and
generate a second report comprising the second plurality of network access commands (Moran [0032] reports module may enable reports to be generated that are related to activities of users within the network management system. Reports module may enable the generation of other reports that may provide information about, for example, which network elements a particular user accessed, what commands were executed on a particular network element, and/or the like).
Milton in view of Malleni in view of Khare in view of Moran in view of Wakefield in view of Cloutman do not explicitly teach the second name-space ID indicating a second name-space located in a second containerized service cluster and a third containerized service cluster.
However, Chen teaches the second name-space ID indicating a second name-space located in a second containerized service cluster and a third containerized service cluster ([0046] an entire cluster of containers share a single namespace).
Chen and Milton are both concerned with computer networking and are therefore combinable/modifiable. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Milton in view of Malleni in view of Khare in view of Moran in view of Wakefield in view of Cloutman in view of Chen because it would provide a way of instantiating containers with a unified data volume which may save significant storage space on network storage nodes, while enabling efficient container re-instantiation as well as container and/or persistent storage migration. Additionally having the writable storage of a container or an entire cluster of containers share a single namespace provides significant ease of use and configuration benefits for snapshots and migrations. Network storage nodes may have significantly higher capacity than local storage on container hosts and may therefore be significantly less prone to running out of storage capacity and/or throughput rate due to spikes in usage by upper system layers. By enabling directory specific storage requirement requesting and provisioning within the same persistent volume, the benefits of mounted directories may be realized without the associated latency and snapshot synchronization issues that may manifest where separate external persistent storage volumes are provisioned for each mounted directory. In addition, network storage nodes may have robust backup and disaster recovery features unavailable on local storage. For example, a network storage node may be replicated in real-time across multiple data centers. Therefore the loss of one data center may be alleviated by copying the image files for containers executing in that data center as lower system layers to hosts in another data center and reattaching the persistent storages as upper system layers.
As per claim 13, it has similar limitations as claim 5 and is therefore rejected using the same rationale.
Claims 6-7 and 14-15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Milton in view of Malleni in view of Khare in view of Moran in view of Wakefield in view of Cloutman in view of Chen in view of Kwapniewski.
As per claim 6, Milton further teaches the second name-space is associated with the first plurality of network components and the second plurality of network components ([0120] namespace may be mapped to one or more internal-namespace device identifiers).
Milton in view of Malleni in view of Khare in view of Moran in view of Wakefield in view of Cloutman in view of Chen do not explicitly teach the second containerized service cluster comprises a first plurality of network components; the third containerized service cluster comprises a second plurality of network components, each network component of the second plurality of network components and the third plurality of network components comprising a corresponding network processor configured to perform at least one network function of the one or more network functions.
However, Kwapniewski teaches the second containerized service cluster comprises a first plurality of network components; the third containerized service cluster comprises a second plurality of network components, each network component of the second plurality of network components and the third plurality of network components comprising a corresponding network processor configured to perform at least one network function of the one or more network functions ([0026] network functions may be grouped based on relationships of functions performed by the respective network functions or based on a cloud server device which instantiates the network functions and [0040] plural cloud devices).
Kwapniewski and Milton are both concerned with computer networking and are therefore combinable/modifiable. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Milton in view of Malleni in view of Khare in view of Moran in view of Wakefield in view of Cloutman in view of Chen in view of Kwapniewski because it would provide a way of identifying a set of network functions operative on a core network of a mobile communications system instantiated on a cloud network, identifying functional dependencies among respective network functions of the set of network functions, defining a sequence by which the set of network functions should be made unavailable prior to a maintenance event, wherein the defining the sequence is based on the functional dependencies, and deactivating respective network functions of the set of network functions according to the sequence.
As per claim 7, it has similar limitations as claim 6 and is therefore rejected using the same rationale.
As per claim 14, it has similar limitations as claim 6 and is therefore rejected using the same rationale.
As per claim 15, it has similar limitations as claim 7 and is therefore rejected using the same rationale.
Claims 8, 16, and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Milton in view of Malleni in view of Khare in view of Moran in view of Wakefield in view of Cloutman in view of Stenfelt et al. (US 9,197,714) (hereinafter Stenfelt) in view of Dong et al. (US 2021/0026781) (hereinafter Dong).
As per claim 8, Milton in view of Malleni in view of Khare in view of Moran in view of Wakefield in view of Cloutman do not explicitly teach wherein the processor is further configured to present the first report to a user equipment associated with the first tenant profile, the user equipment being configured to access the first name-space in the first containerized service cluster based at least in part upon the first plurality of network access commands in the first report.
However, Stenfelt teaches wherein the processor is further configured to present the first report to a user equipment associated with the first tenant profile (claim 15 receiving from a user equipment (UE) a request to attach to the wireless communication network and assigning at least one IP address to the UE; reporting information about user statistics; forwarding the information about the user statistics; storing user profile information comprising the user statistics together with user identity information; receiving a request from an application server, the request identifying an IP address and requesting user profile information; providing user profile information deducible from said information about the user statistics information or from user identity information to the application server requesting the user profile information).
Stenfelt and Milton are both concerned with computer networking and are therefore combinable/modifiable. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Milton in view of Malleni in view of Khare in view of Moran in view of Wakefield in view of Cloutman in view of Stenfelt because it would provide a solution for handling customer activity when connecting to a wireless communication network and in particular for statistics of customer activity using the network. This is provided in a number of aspects such as reporting user profile statistics from deep packet inspection of data packets in a packet data network to a policy and charging rules function entity which in turn informs a subscriber usage profile repository that provides access to external application servers to the subscriber usage profile information after access control.
Milton in view of Malleni in view of Khare in view of Moran in view of Wakefield in view of Cloutman in view of Stenfelt do not explicitly teach the user equipment being configured to access the first name-space in the first containerized service cluster based at least in part upon the first plurality of network access commands in the first report.
However, Dong teaches the user equipment being configured to access the first name-space in the first containerized service cluster based at least in part upon the first plurality of network access commands in the first report ([0038] in response to receiving a storage device mapping granularity reporting command, the storage controller in the storage device may operate to retrieve the namespace table that was stored in the storage subsystem storage controller and may then access the namespace identified in the storage device mapping granularity reporting command, retrieve the mapping granularity associated with that namespace, and transmit that mapping granularity to the host engine).
Dong and Milton are both concerned with computer networking and are therefore combinable/modifiable. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Milton in view of Malleni in view of Khare in view of Moran in view of Wakefield in view of Cloutman in view of Stenfelt in view of Dong because it would provide for different namespaces provided by storage systems in storage devices which may be configured with different mapping granularities based on, for example, the data sizes of data that will be stored in those namespaces. As such, the host engine may attempt to optimize the data processing operations of storage controllers in the storage devices, reduce mapping table sizes in the storage devices, and/or provide a variety of other benefits. For example, hosts that process relatively larger sized data may configure a higher percentage of their accessible namespaces with relatively large mapping granularities, while hosts that process relatively smaller sized data may configure a higher percentage of their accessible namespaces with relatively small mapping granularities.
As per claim 16, it has similar limitations as claim 8 and is therefore rejected using the same rationale.
As per claim 20, it has similar limitations as claim 8 and is therefore rejected using the same rationale.
Citation of Relevant Prior Art
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to Applicant's disclosure:
Wells (US 2021/0218750) disclose providing multiple namespaces.
Vohra et al. (US 2023/0229355) disclose immutable nodes in a container system.
Singh et al. (US 9,256,467) disclose managing and scheduling containers.
Shipkovenski et al. (US 2022/0053001) disclose automatic configuration of a containerized computing namespace.
Nair et al. (US 11,736,559) disclose providing a set of application slices within an application environment.
Lei et al. (US 2023/0102604) disclose slice service verification.
Lei et al. (US 2023/0269577) disclose a slice isolation method.
Jiang et al. (US 2019/0272205) disclose a container deployment method.
Guilbeault et al. (US 2019/0140971) disclose network slice management.
Colom Ikuno et al. (US 2023/0292100) disclose providing communication services to a user equipment.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Adam Lee whose telephone number is (571) 270-3369. The examiner can normally be reached on M-TH 8AM-5PM.
If attempts to reach the above noted Examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the Examiner’s supervisor, Pierre Vital, can be reached at the following telephone number: (571) 272-4215. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/Adam Lee/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2198 February 20, 2026