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 .
This office action is in response to Applicant’s communication filed on 04/12/2024. Claims 1-6 have been examined.
Claim Objections
Claim 1-6 are objected to because of the following informalities:
With regards to claim 1, the claim recites the homer server”. Examiner believes this is a typo. Examiner suggests amending the claim to recite “the home server”.
With regards to claims 1,3,4,6, the claim limitations contain the undefined abbreviation and/or acronym “VPN”. Abbreviation /acronym must be defined at least one in the claims.
With regards to claim 2, the claim limitation contains the undefined abbreviation and/or acronym “TAP”. Abbreviation /acronym must be defined at least one in the claims.
With regards to claims 3,4,6, the claim limitations contains the undefined abbreviation and/or acronym “IP”. Abbreviation /acronym must be defined at least one in the claims.
With regards to claim 5, the claim limitation contains the undefined abbreviation and/or acronym “ARP”. Abbreviation /acronym must be defined at least one in the claims.
Appropriate corrections are required.
Double Patenting
The nonstatutory 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 obviousness-type 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); and 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 a nonstatutory double patenting ground provided the conflicting application or patent either is shown to be commonly owned with this application, or claims an invention made as a result of activities undertaken within the scope of a joint research agreement.
Effective January 1, 1994, a registered attorney or agent of record may sign a terminal disclaimer. A terminal disclaimer signed by the assignee must fully comply with 37 CFR 3.73(b).
With regards to Copending application 18610027
Claims 1,3,4,6 are provisionally rejected on the ground of nonstatutory obviousness-type double patenting as being unpatentable over claims 5-8 of Copending app 18610027 in view of Datta
Claim 2 is provisionally rejected on the ground of nonstatutory obviousness-type double patenting as being unpatentable over claims 5-8 of Copending app 18610027 in view of Khan
Claim 5 is provisionally rejected on the ground of nonstatutory obviousness-type double patenting as being unpatentable over claims 5-8 of Copending app 18610027 in view of Goodwin.
Although the conflicting claims are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other because:
See Below for analysis
Claims 1 of Instant application
Claim 1 of Copending app 18610027
Claim 1
A home network system that is applied to an apartment building composed of a plurality of unit spaces and includes a home server connected to a network, a plurality of home network devices installed for the unit spaces, respectively, and
a back bone connecting the homer server and the home network devices,
the home network system comprising: a VPN server additionally installed between the home server and the home network devices on the network; and VPN gateways additionally installed for the home network devices, respectively, between the home network devices and the back bone and each including a first bridge terminal for communication with the home network device and a first intermediate communication terminal for communication with the VPN server,
wherein the VPN server includes a second bridge terminal for communication with the home server, a second intermediate communication terminal for communication with the VPN gateways, and a back bone virtual gateway configured to perform processing in priority to the back bone.
Claim 5
A home network system applied to an apartment building composed of a plurality of unit spaces, the home network system comprising a home server connected to a network, a plurality of home network devices installed for unit spaces, respectively, a VPN server installed between the home server and the home network devices, and VPN gateways individually installed for the home network devices between the home network devices and the VPN server, wherein the VPN gateways each include a first bridge terminal for communication with a corresponding home network device, a first intermediate communication terminal for communication with the VPN server, and an operation mode alteration detector, the first bridge terminal includes a first end communication interface and a TAP interface, the operation mode alteration detector directly connects the first end communication interface and the first intermediate communication terminal of the first bridge terminal until receiving a virtual private network start signal from the VPN server or the home server, and the operation mode alteration detector connects the first TAP interface and the first intermediate communication terminal of the first bridge terminal after receiving a virtual private network start signal from the VPN server or the home server.
Claim 8
wherein the home network system includes a separate back bone for connecting the home server and the home network devices
With regards to claim 1 , the Copending application No. 18610027 does not explicitly teach the VPN server installed between the home network devices and the backbone and wherein the VPN server includes a second bridge terminal for communication with the home server, a second intermediate communication terminal for communication with the VPN gateways, and a back bone virtual gateway configured to perform processing in priority to the back bone. However, Datta teaches the VPN server installed between the home network devices and the backbone and wherein the VPN server includes a second bridge terminal for communication with the home server, a second intermediate communication terminal for communication with the VPN gateways, and a back bone virtual gateway configured to perform processing in priority to the back bone (¶ 0159, ¶ 0169, Fig.3).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the applicants' invention to modify the teachings of Copending application No. 18610027 to include the teachings of Datta. The motivation for doing so is to allow the system to permit continued use of a VPN tunnel security association even when one or more of the interfaces used to transmit or receive packets sent through the tunnel change (Datta – ¶ 0004).
With regards to claim 2, the Copending application No. 18610027 teaches wherein the first bridge terminal includes a first end communication interface and a TAP interface (Claim 5). However, the Copending application No. 18610027 does not explicitly teach the second bridge terminal includes a second end communication interface and a TAP interface. However, Khan teaches the second bridge terminal includes a second end communication interface and a TAP interface (¶ 0028, ¶ 0018).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings of Copending application No. 18610027 to include the teachings of Khan. The motivation for doing so is to allow the system to use the TUN/TAP network modules to enable the WebSocket VPN solution for mobile platforms that do not have native support for VPNs. It also allows as-needed use of scarce resources on mobile devices with the ability to remove VPN applications when not needed. (Khan – ¶ 0029).
With regards to claim 3, the Copending application No. 18610027 teaches wherein the back bone virtual gateway processes information in priority to the back bone in communication with the home network devices (Claim 8). However, the Copending application No. 18610027 doesn’t explicitly teach wherein the back bone virtual gateway processes information about an IP of the back bone in priority to the back bone in communication with the home network devices through the VPN gateways. Datta teaches wherein the back bone virtual gateway processes information about an IP of the back bone in priority to the back bone in communication with the home network devices through the VPN gateways (Abstract, ¶ 0196 – ¶ 0197, Fig.3, ¶ 0159, ¶ 0169).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings of Copending application 18610027 to include the teachings of Datta. The motivation for doing so is to allow the system to permit continued use of a VPN tunnel security association even when one or more of the interfaces used to transmit or receive packets sent through the tunnel change (Datta – ¶ 0004).
With regards to claim 4, Copending application 18610027 does not explicitly teach wherein the VPN server includes a central packet analyzer and automatically combines the back bone IP through packet analysis. However, Datta teaches wherein the VPN server includes a central packet analyzer and automatically combines the back bone IP through packet analysis (¶ 0170 – ¶ 0171),
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings of Copending application 18610027 to include the teachings of Datta. The motivation for doing so is to allow the system to permit continued use of a VPN tunnel security association even when one or more of the interfaces used to transmit or receive packets sent through the tunnel change (Datta – ¶ 0004).
With regards to claim 5, Copending application 18610027 does not explicitly teach wherein the central packet analyzer uses an ARP packet protocol. However, Goodwin teaches wherein the central packet analyzer uses an ARP packet protocol (¶ 0019– ¶ 0008),
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings of Copending application 18610027 to include the teachings of Goodwin. The motivation for doing so is to allow the system to use the ARP by enabling seamless device communication, improving performance through caching, simplifying network management with automatic discovery, and aiding in troubleshooting by identifying misconfigured devices or IP conflicts.
With regards to claim 6, Copending application 18610027 does not explicitly teach wherein the VPN server includes an IP router table configured to store IPs of the home network devices and IPs of the VPN gateways individually connected to the home network devices. However, Datta teaches wherein the VPN server includes an IP router table configured to store IPs of the home network devices and IPs of the VPN gateways individually connected to the home network devices (¶ 0168– ¶ 01708),
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings of Copending application 18610027 to include the teachings of Datta. The motivation for doing so is to allow the system to permit continued use of a VPN tunnel security association even when one or more of the interfaces used to transmit or receive packets sent through the tunnel change (Datta – ¶ 0004).
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.
The claimed invention is directed to non-statutory subject matter.
The claims 1-6 do not fall within at least one of the four categories of patent eligible subject matter because:
Regarding claim 1, Applicant is seeking to patent a home network system comprising a VPN server and VPN gateways . The examiner checked the specification.
The specification does not limit the VPN server and VPN gateways to a hardware. The VPN server and VPN gateways as known in the art can cover software embodiment “See Sharan et al. Publication No. US 2015/03813387 A1 – ¶ 0021- VPN Server software. Herrmann et al. Publication No. US 2003/0055994 A1 - ¶ 00854 – VPN gateway software.
Therefore, the claimed VPN server and VPN gateway may be interpreted as software.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1- 6 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
With regards to claim 1, the claim recites “ a home network system that is applied to an apartment building composed of a plurality of unit spaces and includes a home server connected to a network, a plurality of home network devices installed for the unit spaces, respectively, and a back bone connecting the homer server and the home network devices..”. It is unclear from the language in the preamble if “ a home server connected to a network, a plurality of home network devices installed for the unit spaces, respectively, and a back bone connecting the homer server and the home network devices” are part of the home network system. Therefore, the examiner is unable to determine the metes and bounds of the language.
With regards to claim 1, the claim recites “the home network device” It is unclear what the home network device is referring to because claim 1 recites home network devices. Therefore, the examiner is unable to determine the metes and bounds of the language.
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 1,3,4,6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chung et al. Publication No.KR20200016025A (Chung hereinafter) in view of Datta et al. Publication No. US 2017/0126626 A1 ( Datta hereinafter)
Regarding claim 1,
Chung teaches a home network system that is applied to an apartment building composed of a plurality of unit spaces and includes a home server connected to a network, a plurality of home network devices installed for the unit spaces (Page 2, Page 5), respectively, and a back bone connecting service gateway and the home network devices (Fig.1, Page 2 – common network connecting the service gateway and the user terminals) , the home network system comprising:
a VPN server additionally installed between the home server and the home network devices on the network; VPN gateways additionally installed for the home network devices, respectively, between the home network devices and the back bone ( Abstract - The system according to the embodiment of the present invention is included in or connected to a service gateway, and includes a dynamic VPN management device for providing a dynamic VPN service between the service gateway and the home gateway – Page 3 - a dynamic VPN management system fora public building network including a plurality of home gateways and service gateways, are included or connected to the service gateway, the service gateway and the home It includes a dynamic VPN management device for providing a dynamic VPN service between the gateway, the plurality of home gateways are not directly connectable to each other, only through the dynamic VPN service can be connected to each other. – Page 5 - Referring to FIG. 1, in a dynamic VPN management system for a public building, a service gateway (e g, an SPN switch)may establish a virtual private network (VPN) between a secure private network (SPN) switch and a plurality of home gateways. The established VPN can be managed by a dynamic VPN management device (e g, SPN manager);
However, Chung does not explicitly teach
each including a first bridge terminal for communication with the home network device and a first intermediate communication terminal for communication with the VPN server, wherein the VPN server includes a second bridge terminal for communication with the home server, a second intermediate communication terminal for communication with the VPN gateways, and a back bone virtual gateway configured to perform processing in priority to the back bone.
Datta teaches
VPN Gateway each including a first bridge terminal for communication with the home network device and a first intermediate communication terminal for communication with the VPN server (¶ 0169 - some embodiments set up a VPN between an appliance 1 (also referred to in this example as persistent secure session provider machine 1) at Site A and an appliance 2 in the cloud. Appliance 1 is aware of its two links and establishes connections to communicate with appliance 2 over its two links and one link at appliance When the packet is received at IPFl (an interface on appliance 1 facing the desktop LAN 114; this interface is also denoted in FIG. 3 as PSSP-lC), then it is still an IPA->IPB packet. Appliance 1 changes 746 it, e.g., to IPW2->IPW3 or IPW1->IPW3, where IPW2 is also denoted in the Figure as PSSP-lA, IPW3 is also denoted in the Figure as PSSP-2B, and IPWl is also denoted in the Figure as PSSP-1 B. Appliance 2 changes 804 the addresses back, so the packet is again an IPA->IPB packet – See Fig.3 – show network appliance 108 (PSSP machine 1) located at the site location includes interfaces such as ( PSS interfaces PSSP -1C ( LAN interface – First bridge terminal) for user machine A and interfaces PSSP-1A and PSSP-1B (WAN interface) – first intermediate Terminal) for PSSP machine ( VPN server)
wherein the VPN server includes a second bridge terminal for communication with the home server, a second intermediate communication terminal for communication with the VPN gateways, and (Fig.3 shows PSSP machine 2 ( VPN server) includes interfaces – PSSP-2A - and PSSP -2B (WAN interfaces facing the Gateways – ¶ 0167- In an example 2.2 Appliance B's interface and Appliance C's LAN interface are connected to the same switch or same virtual switch. This is useful, e.g., where Appliance B and Appliance C are connected to the same LAN side PCs or servers – Note: this shows that the two appliance A &C have interfaces that connects to LAN side PCs or servers such PSSP -1C in Appliance B – PSSP machine 1 and PSSP -2C in Appliance C – PSSP – machine 2 which is equivalent to a second bridge terminal for communicating with user machine B or server B – See Also ¶ 180-¶ 0181)
a back bone virtual gateway configured to perform processing in priority to the back bone (Abstract, suitable network appliances intercept and modify packets in order to map between the virtual addresses and actual addresses. The virtual addresses satisfy IPsec or another authentication procedure that checks packets using the security association. The actual addresses are used by transport
layer protocols. This overlay approach permits a session to failover from one network connection to another without requiring restoration of the session in a newly created secure tunnel after one of the network interfaces becomes unavailable, thereby obsoleting the security association based in part on the IP address of the now unavailable interface. This innovative approach also allows the use of parallel paths and the use of one-to-many or many-to-one path topologies,
which would otherwise not be permitted. ¶ 0159 The appliance 108 can be a physical appliance or a virtual appliance. Claim 1 - intercepting an outgoing packet that is directed from a source endpoint of the VPN tunnel toward a destination endpoint of the VPN tunnel; modifying the outgoing packet by replacing an instance of the source virtual IP address in the outgoing packet with an actual address that is the IP address of an outgoing WAN interface at a local site, and modifying the outgoing packet by replacing an instance of the destination virtual IP address in the outgoing packet with an actual address that is the IP address of an incoming WAN interface at a remote site; and then transmitting the modified outgoing packet through the outgoing WAN interface at the local site toward the incoming WAN interface at the remote site - Note: the network appliances (Gateways) create an overlay approach that functions independently of the physical backbone. This approach prioritizes the virtual gateway processing over the physical backbone).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings of Chung to include the teachings of Datta. The motivation for doing so is to allow the system to permit continued use of a VPN tunnel security association even when one or more of the interfaces used to transmit or receive packets sent through the tunnel change (Datta – ¶ 0004).
Regarding claim 3,
Chung does not explicitly teach
wherein the back bone virtual gateway processes information about an IP of the back bone in priority to the back bone in communication with the home network devices through the VPN gateways.
However, Datta teaches
wherein the back bone virtual gateway processes information about an IP of the back bone in priority to the back bone in communication with the home network devices through the VPN gateways (Abstract - suitable network appliances intercept and modify packets in order to map between the virtual addresses and actual addresses. The virtual addresses satisfy IPsec or another authentication procedure that checks packets using the security association. The actual addresses are used by transport layer protocols. This overlay approach permits a session to failover from one network connection to another without requiring restoration of the session in a newly created secure tunnel after one of the network interfaces becomes unavailable, ¶ 0194 - The logical paths technology described herein may be described as an "overlay technology", to the extent it uses MP Sec paths (or other logical paths) to load balance the tunneled traffic – See Also ¶ 0196 – ¶ 0197, Fig.3, ¶ 0159, ¶ 0169).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings of Chung to include the teachings of Datta. The motivation for doing so is to allow the system to permit continued use of a VPN tunnel security association even when one or more of the interfaces used to transmit or receive packets sent through the tunnel change (Datta – ¶ 0004).
Regarding claim 4,
Chung does not explicitly teach
wherein the VPN server includes a central packet analyzer and automatically combines the back bone IP through packet analysis
However, Datta teaches
wherein the VPN server includes a central packet analyzer and automatically combines the back bone IP through packet analysis (¶ 0170 - one embodiment maintains tables 302 of all sites and relates LAN and WAN IPs to maintain relationships. Then it can strip the headers and put in new headers or it can encapsulate. It can fragment, de-fragment and re-order/re-sequence data packets. It can also duplicate and reorder packets to reduce effects of packet loss. An embodiment may also do peer detection to identify peer appliances 108. An embodiment may also do autodetection wherein the remote appliance calls the central appliance to download all its configuration data – ¶ 0171 - identify applications based on IP addresses, port numbers, packet size (unique voice and video have different packet sizes) and protocol – Claim 10 - performing at least one of the following to get an actual address that is an IP address of an outgoing WAN interface at a local site: load balancing, failing over, or another routing optimization; modifying the outgoing packet by replacing an instance of the source virtual IP address in the outgoing packet with the actual address that is the IP address of the outgoing WAN interface at the local site, and modifying the outgoing packet by replacing an instance of the destination virtual IP address in the outgoing packet with an actual address that is the IP address of an incoming WAN interface at a remote site);
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings of Chung to include the teachings of Datta. The motivation for doing so is to allow the system to permit continued use of a VPN tunnel security association even when one or more of the interfaces used to transmit or receive packets sent through the tunnel change (Datta – ¶ 0004).
Regarding claim 6,
Chung does not explicitly teaches
wherein the VPN server includes an IP router table configured to store IPs of the home network devices and IPs of the VPN gateways individually connected to the home network devices.
However, Datta teaches
the VPN server includes an IP router table configured to store IPs of the home network devices and IPs of the VPN gateways individually connected to the home network devices (¶ 0170 - To accomplish these operations, one embodiment maintains tables 302 of all sites and relates LAN and WAN IPs to maintain relationships. Then it can strip the headers and put in new headers or it can encapsulate. It can fragment, de-fragment and re-order/re-sequence data packets. It can also duplicate and reorder packets to reduce effects of packet loss. An embodiment may also do peer detection to identify peer appliances 108. An embodiment may also do autodetection wherein the remote appliance calls the central appliance to download all its configuration data – ¶ 0168 - This does not imply encapsulating IPSec inside MPSec, since these example embodiments do not encapsulate IPSec. They maintain a table 302 that keeps track of source and destination IPs. They strip and replace IPs with MPSec path identifiers. This stripping and replacing of IP addresses is described further in connection with FIG. 3, and also as mappings discussed in FIGS. 7 and 8 – ¶ 0173-¶ 0175).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings of Chung to include the teachings of Datta. The motivation for doing so is to allow the system to permit continued use of a VPN tunnel security association even when one or more of the interfaces used to transmit or receive packets sent through the tunnel change (Datta – ¶ 0004).
Claim 2 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chung in view of Datta further in view of Khan et al. Publication No. US 2014/0237585 A1 (Khan hereinafter)
Regarding claim 2,
Chung in view of Datta teaches
wherein the first bridge terminal includes a first end communication interface and interface and the second bridge terminal includes a second end communication interface and an interface (Datta – Fig.3, ¶ 0167 – show first bridge terminal includes PSSP -C1 and second bridge terminal include PSSP_C2 ( LAN interfaces) – Note: same motivation as in claim 1 ) .
However, Chung in view of Datta does not explicitly teach
wherein the first bridge terminal includes a TAP interface and the second bridge terminal includes a TAP interface
Khan teaches
wherein the first bridge terminal includes a first end communication interface and a TAP interface (¶ 0028 - The TUN virtual network interfaces 122 and 128 function as virtual network ports that enable application programs to write packets as if they were writing to a physical network interface. That is, for the remote network device 102, the TUN virtual network interface 122 acts as a bridge between the VPN client 120 and the WebSocket endpoint 124 – It should be appreciated that the TIJN virtual network interfaces 122 and 128 may also be network tap ("TAP") interfaces that operate similarly to the TUN virtual network interfaces 122 and 128 in order to enable application programs to write packets from VPN modules ( e.g., the VPN client 120 in the remote network device 120 and the gateway router/reverse proxy 130 in the network server device 104) to WebSocket endpoints. ¶ 0018 - the remote network device 102 may be a wireless or mobile network device that is configured to connect with the Internet via a wireless or broadband service and may launch application software 118 (e.g., a mobile phone application or web browser stored in software of the network device 102) to connect a VPN client 120 hosted by the remote network device 102 to the network server device 104 over the Internet ).
the second bridge terminal includes second end communication interface and a TAP interface (¶ 0028 - The TUN virtual network interfaces 122 and 128 function as virtual network ports that enable application programs to write packets as if they were writing to a physical network interface. That is, for the remote network device 102, the TUN virtual network interface 128 acts as a bridge between the gateway router/reverse proxy 130 (which allows access to one or more site nodes in a VPN, as described hereinafter) and the WebSocket endpoint 126- It should be appreciated that the TIJN virtual network interfaces 122 and 128 may also be network tap ("TAP") interfaces that operate similarly to the TUN virtual network interfaces 122 and 128 in order to enable application programs to write packets from VPN modules ( e.g., the VPN client 120 in the remote network device 120 and the gateway router/reverse proxy 130 in the network server device 104) to WebSocket endpoints – ¶ 0016 - The network server device 104 "serves" or manages a plurality of site nodes, shown at reference numerals 110(1 )- 110(n ), via an internal network (e.g., an intranet) at the location of, or remote from, the network server device 104).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings of Chung in view of Datta to include the teachings of Khan. The motivation for doing so is to allow the system to use the TUN/TAP network modules to enable the WebSocket VPN solution for mobile platforms that do not have native support for VPNs. It also allows as-needed use of scarce resources on mobile devices with the ability to remove VPN applications when not needed. (Khan – ¶ 0029).
Claim 5 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chung in view of Datta further in view of Goodwin et al. Publication No. US 2023/0179563 A1 ( Goodwin hereinafter)
Regarding claim 5,
Chung in view of Datta teaches the central packet analyzer (Datta - ¶ 0170 – ¶ 0171, Claim 10).
However, Chung in view of Datta does not explicitly teach central packet analyzer uses an ARP packet protocol.
Goodwin discloses
central packet analyzer uses an ARP packet protocol (¶ 0019 - When virtualized and provisioned into the cloud, these vi1tual BITW devices' network interfaces may be assigned (L3) private IP addresses and (L2) MAC addresses that are associated with the devices' efficient Network Address Mapper (NAM) logic and the cloud's routing tables to effect desired L3 proxy functions and L3/L2 routing and forwarding functions – ¶ 0008 - . the network devices' network interfaces may have L3/network-layer (e.g., IPv4) and L2/link-layer (e.g., MAC) addresses associated with them. In such examples, the interfaces and devices are described as being non-transparent. Non-transparent devices may have interfaces that may be addressed directly and may participate in determining (L3) routing policy and configurations via routing protocols ( e.g., OSPF) and (L2) switching & forwarding and link-layer discovery protocols (e.g. , ARP, NDP) -See Also - ¶ 0045, ¶ 0021) .
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings of Chung in view of Datta to include the teachings of Goodwin. The motivation for doing so is to allow the system to use the ARP by enabling seamless device communication, improving performance through caching, simplifying network management with automatic discovery, and aiding in troubleshooting by identifying misconfigured devices or IP conflicts.
Conclusion
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/YOUNES NAJI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2445