Prosecution Insights
Last updated: April 19, 2026
Application No. 18/488,313

MECHANISM TO ALLOW FOR MONITORING OF DISCONNECTED COMPONENTS IN CONTAINER ORCHESTRATION SYSTEMS

Non-Final OA §103
Filed
Oct 17, 2023
Examiner
CHERY, MARDOCHEE
Art Unit
2133
Tech Center
2100 — Computer Architecture & Software
Assignee
VMware, Inc.
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
88%
Grant Probability
Favorable
1-2
OA Rounds
2y 7m
To Grant
99%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 88% — above average
88%
Career Allow Rate
773 granted / 873 resolved
+33.5% vs TC avg
Moderate +10% lift
Without
With
+10.2%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
2y 7m
Avg Prosecution
13 currently pending
Career history
886
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
4.5%
-35.5% vs TC avg
§103
44.1%
+4.1% vs TC avg
§102
18.2%
-21.8% vs TC avg
§112
13.8%
-26.2% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 873 resolved cases

Office Action

§103
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 . 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. The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows: 1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art. 2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue. 3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art. 4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness. Claim(s) 1-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over DOSHI et al. (EP 3 974 994 to INTEL) and LUNA (WO 2011/037982 to ALIP-COM). Regarding claim 1, DOSHI et al. discloses a method for monitoring a component in a container orchestration system [Abstract: method of application monitoring in virtualized computing system including host cluster of having virtualization layer directly executing on hardware platforms of hosts, the virtualization layer supporting execution of virtual machines (VMs) and integrated with an orchestration control plane includes], the method comprising: obtaining, monitoring data associated with the component while the component is connected to a network [Abstract, par. 34: depending on the type of the request probe pod VM agent will execute a raw process within the application, performs a network requests against applications IP and port, or performs a network open port, check against the applications IP and port], configured to continuously monitor at least the component [Abstract: executing in the pod VM by the pod VM agent at least one probe of an application executing in one or more of the containers and returning from the pod VM agent to the pod VM controller, application health status obtained from the at least one probe]. LUNA on the other hand discloses an abstraction layer, wherein the abstraction layer comprises at least one proxy component acting as a proxy for the component in the container orchestration system [par. 0023-0024: an abstraction layer that intercept access to any API that is presented by wireless or network communications stack, the event or data is passed by the proxy to the device’s API manager]; intercepting, by the abstraction layer, a query intended for the component, wherein the query originated from one or more monitoring agents [par. 0023-0024: an abstraction layer that intercept access to any API that is presented by wireless or network communications stack, the event or data is passed by the proxy to the device’s API manager]; and responding to the query based on the monitoring data obtained by the abstraction layer for the component [par. 0023-0024: an abstraction layer that intercept access to any API that is presented by wireless or network communications stack, the event or data is passed by the proxy to the device’s API manager, an update manager element receiving and installing new or revised rules in the rule base where the new or revised rules may enable new functions , services, or features of the base device, or an external device in communication with the base device]. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to have an abstraction layer, intercepting a query, and responding to the query in order to change or expand the capabilities of a device to enable support for new applications or functions (par. 22). Regarding claim 2, LUNA discloses the method of claim 1, further comprising: intercepting, by the abstraction layer, a query intended for the component, wherein the query originated from a node controller configured to determine a responsiveness of the component [par. 0023-0024: an abstraction layer that intercept access to any API that is presented by wireless or network communications stack, the event or data is passed by the proxy to the device’s API manager]; and responding, by the abstraction layer, to the query on behalf of the component [par. 0023-0024: an update manager element receiving and installing new or revised rules in the rule base where the new or revised rules may enable new functions, services, or features of the base device, or an external device in communication with the base device]. Regarding claim 3, LUNA discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the query intended for the component is intercepted by the abstraction layer when the component is disconnected from the network [par. 0023-0024: an abstraction layer that intercept access to any API that is presented by wireless or network communications stack, the event or data is passed by the proxy to the device’s API manager]. Regarding claim 4, LUNA discloses the method of claim 1, wherein obtaining, by the abstraction layer, the monitoring data associated with the component comprises reading data from application programming interfaces (APIs) published by the component while connected to the network [par. 22: API]. Regarding claim 5, LUNA discloses the method of claim 1, wherein obtaining, by the abstraction layer, the monitoring data associated with the component comprises: monitoring a storage for one or more updates to monitoring data stored in the storage for the component [FIG. 6: update manager]; based on the monitoring, detecting the one or more updates to the monitoring data stored in the storage for the component [FIG. 6], discloses reading the monitoring data updated in the storage for the component [FIG. 6]. Regarding claim 6, DOSHI et al. discloses the method of claim 5, wherein the storage comprises a network-attached storage [FIG. 5B, 7, 12, 14, 16]. Regarding claim 7, LUNA discloses the method of claim 5, wherein the one or more updates to the monitoring data stored in the storage are caused by the component or monitoring agents deployed on the component [FIG. 4, 6]. Regarding claim 8, DOSHI et al. discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the component comprises an edge node [FIG. 17]. Regarding claim 9, LUNA discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the monitoring data associated with the component comprises application logs for one or more applications running on the component [FIG. 4, 6]. Regarding claims 10-18, the rationale in the rejection of claims 1-9, respectively, is herein incorporated. Regarding claim 19, the rationale in the rejection of claim 1 is herein incorporated. Regarding claim 20, the rationale in the rejection of claim 2 is herein incorporated. Conclusion The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Mueller (US 2022/0326994) discloses containers, container management platform, proxy systems; WO 2022/037268 discloses a container management method. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MARDOCHEE CHERY whose telephone number is (571)272-4246. The examiner can normally be reached 900-500. 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, Rocio del Mar Perez-Velez can be reached at (571) 270-5935. 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. /MARDOCHEE CHERY/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2133
Read full office action

Prosecution Timeline

Oct 17, 2023
Application Filed
Feb 02, 2026
Non-Final Rejection — §103 (current)

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Study what changed to get past this examiner. Based on 5 most recent grants.

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Prosecution Projections

1-2
Expected OA Rounds
88%
Grant Probability
99%
With Interview (+10.2%)
2y 7m
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 873 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allow rate.

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