Detailed Action
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Claims 1-30 are pending in the application.
Claims 13-30 are withdrawn from consideration.
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election of s Invention I, claims 1-12, in the reply filed on January 16, 2026 is acknowledged. Because applicant did not distinctly and specifically point out the supposed errors in the restriction requirement, the election has been treated as an election without traverse (MPEP § 818.01(a)).
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on April 10, 2025 and May 21, 2025 are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97, and accordingly, the IDS have been considered by the examiner.
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 1-13 are 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.
Regarding claim 1, the meaning of the language “atomic forwarding unit” is not known, and as such, the claim scope cannot be determined. Applicant’s disclosure repeats use of the language in the specification but does not provide a definition of the language. The language “atomic forwarding unit” is not a term that is recognized in the art. Therefore, it is not clear what invention is being claimed by an “atomic forwarding unit in a container orchestration platform.” Claims 5 and 9 also comprise the language “atomic forwarding unit” and are rejected for the same reasons as claim 1.
Regarding claim 1, the meaning of the language “port index identifier” is not known, and as such, the claim scope cannot be determined. The term “port index identifier” is not recognized in the art. It is not clear whether the language is referring to a port number. Claims 5 and 9 also comprise the language “port index identifier” and are rejected for the same reasons as claim 1.
Regarding claim 9, there is insufficient antecedent basis for “the LEAF switch.”
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claim 1, 5, and 9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Singh et al. US Patent Publication No. 2023/0370422 (“Singh”) in view of Kok et al. US Patent Publication No. 2025/0071063 (“Kok”) and Manoharan et al. US Patent Publication No. 2023/0012406 (“Manoharan”).
Regarding claim 1, Singh teaches a method of signaling the reachability of network addresses combined with port index identifiers, comprising:
receiving, by a processor in a device, a signal indicating network address translation (NAT) reachability, the signal including a network address, and a port index identifier (para. [0017] orchestrator 170, update an IP address binding 106A in the current NAT table 107A by which traffic is routed to firewall A 100 to instead route to firewall B 102. para. [0035] update a forwarding rule… add a port, remove a port);
traversing received attributes to extract relevant NAT information (para. [0017],[0022] update an IP address binding… in the NAT table);
using the extracted NAT information to update internal mapping tables within the device (para. [0022] cloud provider gateway 104 has a NAT table 107A including the firewall A IP address binding 106A that maps a public IP address 192.0.2.0 to private IP address 10.0.0.0 corresponding to firewall A. cloud provider gateway 104… maps the public destination port corresponding to firewall A 100 to the private port for firewall A 100);
receiving incoming data packets (para. [0021] ingress and egress traffic are processed through a cloud provider gateway 104);
using the updated mapping tables to identify a correct atomic forwarding unit (para. [0022] cloud provider gateway 104 has a NAT table 107A including the firewall A IP address binding 106A that maps a public IP address 192.0.2.0 to private IP address 10.0.0.0 corresponding to firewall A 100);
forwarding the data packet to the identified atomic forwarding unit (para. [0017] by which traffic is routed to firewall A 100 to instead route to firewall B 102.); and
dynamically adjusting the routing (para. [0025] orchestrator 170 instructs the cloud provider gateway 104 to update the firewall A IP address binding 106A to a binding that indicates the private IP address of firewall B 102).
Singh does not teach that the device is a LEAF switch; the signal is a BGP signal including BGP attributes; and traversing the received BGP attributes to extract relevant information.
Singh does not teach the atomic forwarding unit in a container orchestration platform.
Singh teaches dynamically adjusting the routing but not expressly in response to determining that the identified atomic forwarding unit has moved to a different node.
Kok discloses a LEAF switch receiving an BGP signal including BGP attributes; traversing the received BGP attributes to extract relevant information (para. [0022] BGP update may include a header, listing of withdrawn routes, route attributes, etc…); and using extracted NAT information to update internal mapping tables within the LEAF switch (para. [0019] leaf switches and spine switches LSN 106, LS1 114, LSN2 114, SS1 202A, SSN 202B capable of exchanging BGP or any other supported protocol's routing information may be referred to herein as peers or BGP peers. para. [0020] routing information may include a complete route to each destination, such as, from a local host to a remote host. While BGP uses the routing information to prepare a routing table 220). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Singh with Kok’s disclosure of implementing a LEAF switch and providing route updates through exchanging BGP signals. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to do so for benefits of adaptive routing and distribution through LEAF switches and the use of BGP would have allowed other peers to be informed about routes, which can allow selection of a best or active route (para. [0020]).
Manoharan discloses an atomic forwarding unit in a container orchestration platform (para. [0084] apply to other examples of contexts, containers) and dynamically adjusting routing in response to determining that an identified atomic forwarding unit has moved to a different node (para. [0018] when the ESG VM moves from an old host implementing an old HNI to a new host implementing a new HNI, the underlay routing table is updated to change the association. para. [0043] ESG VM 116 may also provide other networking services, such as firewalls, network address translation (NAT), dynamic host configuration protocol (DHCP), and load balancing). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Singh and Kok with Manoharan’s disclosure. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to do so because it would have been beneficial to provide a capability to move and start networking services as needed, such as for planned and unplanned scenarios like maintenance (para. [0014]).
Regarding claim 5, Singh teaches a computing device, comprising:
a processor configured to:
receive a signal indicating network address translation (NAT) reachability, the signal including a network address, and a port index identifier (para. [0017] orchestrator 170, update an IP address binding 106A in the current NAT table 107A by which traffic is routed to firewall A 100 to instead route to firewall B 102. para. [0035] update a forwarding rule… add a port, remove a port);
traverse received attributes to extract relevant NAT information (para. [0017],[0022] update an IP address binding… in the NAT table);
use the extracted NAT information to update internal mapping tables within the device (para. [0022] cloud provider gateway 104 has a NAT table 107A including the firewall A IP address binding 106A that maps a public IP address 192.0.2.0 to private IP address 10.0.0.0 corresponding to firewall A. cloud provider gateway 104… maps the public destination port corresponding to firewall A 100 to the private port for firewall A 100);
receive incoming data packets (para. [0021] ingress and egress traffic are processed through a cloud provider gateway 104);
use the updated mapping tables to identify a correct atomic forwarding unit (para. [0022] cloud provider gateway 104 has a NAT table 107A including the firewall A IP address binding 106A that maps a public IP address 192.0.2.0 to private IP address 10.0.0.0 corresponding to firewall A 100);
forward the data packet to the identified atomic forwarding unit (para. [0017] by which traffic is routed to firewall A 100 to instead route to firewall B 102.); and
dynamically adjust the routing in response to determining that the identified atomic forwarding unit has moved to a different node (para. [0025] orchestrator 170 instructs the cloud provider gateway 104 to update the firewall A IP address binding 106A to a binding that indicates the private IP address of firewall B 102).
Singh does not teach that the device is a LEAF switch; the signal is a BGP signal including BGP attributes; and traversing the received BGP attributes to extract relevant information.
Singh does not teach the atomic forwarding unit in a container orchestration platform.
Singh teaches dynamically adjusting the routing but not expressly in response to determining that the identified atomic forwarding unit has moved to a different node.
Kok discloses a LEAF switch receiving an BGP signal including BGP attributes; traversing the received BGP attributes to extract relevant information (para. [0022] BGP update may include a header, listing of withdrawn routes, route attributes, etc…); and using extracted NAT information to update internal mapping tables within the LEAF switch (para. [0019] leaf switches and spine switches LSN 106, LS1 114, LSN2 114, SS1 202A, SSN 202B capable of exchanging BGP or any other supported protocol's routing information may be referred to herein as peers or BGP peers. para. [0020] routing information may include a complete route to each destination, such as, from a local host to a remote host. While BGP uses the routing information to prepare a routing table 220). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Singh with Kok’s disclosure of implementing a LEAF switch and providing route updates through exchanging BGP signals. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to do so for benefits of adaptive routing and distribution through LEAF switches and the use of BGP would have allowed other peers to be informed about routes, which can allow selection of a best or active route (para. [0020]).
Manoharan discloses an atomic forwarding unit in a container orchestration platform (para. [0084] apply to other examples of contexts, containers) and dynamically adjusting routing in response to determining that an identified atomic forwarding unit has moved to a different node (para. [0018] when the ESG VM moves from an old host implementing an old HNI to a new host implementing a new HNI, the underlay routing table is updated to change the association. para. [0043] ESG VM 116 may also provide other networking services, such as firewalls, network address translation (NAT), dynamic host configuration protocol (DHCP), and load balancing). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Singh and Kok with Manoharan’s disclosure. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to do so because it would have been beneficial to provide a capability to move and start networking services as needed, such as for planned and unplanned scenarios like maintenance (para. [0014]).
Regarding claim 9, Singh teaches a non-transitory computer readable storage medium having stored thereon processor-executable software instructions configured to cause a processor to perform operations for signaling the reachability of network addresses combined with port index identifiers, the operations comprising:
receiving a signal indicating network address translation (NAT) reachability, the signal including a network address, and a port index identifier (para. [0017] orchestrator 170, update an IP address binding 106A in the current NAT table 107A by which traffic is routed to firewall A 100 to instead route to firewall B 102. para. [0035] update a forwarding rule… add a port, remove a port);
traversing received attributes to extract relevant NAT information (para. [0017],[0022] update an IP address binding… in the NAT table);
using the extracted NAT information to update internal mapping tables within the device (para. [0022] cloud provider gateway 104 has a NAT table 107A including the firewall A IP address binding 106A that maps a public IP address 192.0.2.0 to private IP address 10.0.0.0 corresponding to firewall A. cloud provider gateway 104… maps the public destination port corresponding to firewall A 100 to the private port for firewall A 100);
receiving incoming data packets (para. [0021] ingress and egress traffic are processed through a cloud provider gateway 104);
using the updated mapping tables to identify a correct atomic forwarding unit (para. [0022] cloud provider gateway 104 has a NAT table 107A including the firewall A IP address binding 106A that maps a public IP address 192.0.2.0 to private IP address 10.0.0.0 corresponding to firewall A 100);
forwarding the data packet to the identified atomic forwarding unit (para. [0017] by which traffic is routed to firewall A 100 to instead route to firewall B 102.); and
dynamically adjusting the routing (para. [0025] orchestrator 170 instructs the cloud provider gateway 104 to update the firewall A IP address binding 106A to a binding that indicates the private IP address of firewall B 102).
Singh does not teach that the device is a LEAF switch and the signal is a BGP signal.
Singh does not teach the atomic forwarding unit in a container orchestration platform.
Singh teaches dynamically adjusting the routing but not in response to determining that the identified atomic forwarding unit has moved to a different node.
Kok discloses a LEAF switch receiving an BGP signal and using extracted NAT information to update internal mapping tables within the LEAF switch (para. [0019] leaf switches and spine switches LSN 106, LS1 114, LSN2 114, SS1 202A, SSN 202B capable of exchanging BGP or any other supported protocol's routing information may be referred to herein as peers or BGP peers. para. [0020] routing information may include a complete route to each destination, such as, from a local host to a remote host. While BGP uses the routing information to prepare a routing table 220). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Singh with Kok’s disclosure of implementing a LEAF switch and providing route updates through exchanging BGP signals. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to do so for benefits of adaptive routing and distribution through LEAF switches and the use of BGP would have allowed other peers to be informed about routes, which can allow selection of a best or active route (para. [0020]).
Manoharan discloses an atomic forwarding unit in a container orchestration platform (para. [0084] apply to other examples of contexts, containers) and dynamically adjusting routing in response to determining that an identified atomic forwarding unit has moved to a different node (para. [0018] when the ESG VM moves from an old host implementing an old HNI to a new host implementing a new HNI, the underlay routing table is updated to change the association. para. [0043] ESG VM 116 may also provide other networking services, such as firewalls, network address translation (NAT), dynamic host configuration protocol (DHCP), and load balancing). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Singh and Kok with Manoharan’s disclosure. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to do so because it would have been beneficial to provide a capability to move and start networking services as needed, such as for planned and unplanned scenarios like maintenance (para. [0014]).
Claims 2, 6, and 10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Singh in view of Kok, Manoharan, and Droux et al. US Patent No. 7,675,920 (“Droux”).
Regarding claim 2, Singh does not teach the method of claim 1, further comprising: monitoring network traffic to detect special cases that are not handled by standard network processing units (NPUs); and activating field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) or other intelligent network data processing units in response to detecting a special case that is not handled by standard NPUs.
Droux discloses monitoring network traffic to detect special cases that are not handled by standard network processing units (NPUs); and activating field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) or other intelligent network data processing units in response to detecting a special case that is not handled by standard NPUs (col. 3, lines 41-46. to allow processing of certain types of packets to be offloaded to network processing units (NPUs). by providing functionality to separate and process packets on a per-protocol (or group of protocols) basis, the CPUs bound to the virtual network stacks may operate more efficiently. col. 11, lines 51-54. upon receiving protocol 1 packets, may either forward the protocol 1 packets directly to the receive ring for protocol 1 (164) or to NPU (164) for processing. col. 12, lines 25-26. any packets that cannot be offloaded to a NPU are subsequently forwarded to the appropriate receive ring). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Singh with Droux’s disclosure. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to do so for a similar benefit of providing offloading, which would enable CPUs to operate more efficiently.
Regarding claim 6, Singh does not teach the LEAF switch computing device of claim 5, wherein the processor is further configured to: monitor network traffic to detect special cases that are not handled by standard network processing units (NPUs); and activate field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) or other intelligent network data processing units in response to detecting a special case that is not handled by standard NPUs.
Droux discloses monitoring network traffic to detect special cases that are not handled by standard network processing units (NPUs); and activating field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) or other intelligent network data processing units in response to detecting a special case that is not handled by standard NPUs (col. 3, lines 41-46. to allow processing of certain types of packets to be offloaded to network processing units (NPUs). by providing functionality to separate and process packets on a per-protocol (or group of protocols) basis, the CPUs bound to the virtual network stacks may operate more efficiently. col. 11, lines 51-54. upon receiving protocol 1 packets, may either forward the protocol 1 packets directly to the receive ring for protocol 1 (164) or to NPU (164) for processing. col. 12, lines 25-26. any packets that cannot be offloaded to a NPU are subsequently forwarded to the appropriate receive ring). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Singh with Droux’s disclosure. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to do so for a similar benefit of providing offloading, which would enable CPUs to operate more efficiently.
Regarding claim 10, Singh does not teach the non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein the stored processor-executable software instructions are configured to cause a processor to perform operations further comprising: monitoring network traffic to detect special cases that are not handled by standard network processing units (NPUs); and activating field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) or other intelligent network data processing units in response to detecting a special case that is not handled by standard NPUs.
Droux discloses monitoring network traffic to detect special cases that are not handled by standard network processing units (NPUs); and activating field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) or other intelligent network data processing units in response to detecting a special case that is not handled by standard NPUs (col. 3, lines 41-46. to allow processing of certain types of packets to be offloaded to network processing units (NPUs). by providing functionality to separate and process packets on a per-protocol (or group of protocols) basis, the CPUs bound to the virtual network stacks may operate more efficiently. col. 11, lines 51-54. upon receiving protocol 1 packets, may either forward the protocol 1 packets directly to the receive ring for protocol 1 (164) or to NPU (164) for processing. col. 12, lines 25-26. any packets that cannot be offloaded to a NPU are subsequently forwarded to the appropriate receive ring). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Singh with Droux’s disclosure. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to do so for a similar benefit of providing offloading, which would enable CPUs to operate more efficiently.
Claims 3-4, 7-8, and 11-12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Singh in view of Kok, Manoharan, Dzerve et al. US Patent Publication No. 2013/0103834 (“Dzerve”) and Mackie et al. US Patent Publication No. 2021/0218672 (“Mackie”).
Regarding claim 3, Singh does not teach the method of claim 1, wherein: receiving the BGP signal indicating NAT reachability comprises receiving a BGP signal indicating source network address translation SNAT reachability; traversing the received BGP attributes to extract relevant NAT information comprises traversing the received BGP attributes to extract relevant SNAT information; and using the extracted NAT information to update internal mapping tables within the LEAF switch comprises using the extracted SNAT information to update internal mapping tables within the LEAF switch
Dzerve teaches receiving a signal indicating NAT reachability comprises receiving a signal indicating source network address translation SNAT reachability; traversing received attributes to extract relevant NAT information comprises traversing received attributes to extract relevant SNAT information; and using the extracted NAT information to update internal mapping tables within a device comprises using the extracted SNAT information to update internal mapping tables within the device (para. [0048] M/A manager 322 can update the NAT mapping table 500 and SNAT mapping table 600 to include the most current information for uniquely identifying users. para. [0096] SNAT 320 utilizes a NAPT mapping table 600 to determine how to translate between proxy addresses and remote host addresses when performing the NAPT process). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Singh with Dzerve’s disclosure. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to do so for similar benefits of applying NAT and NAPT to allow traffic to be more efficiently and accurately tracked by a cloud service (para. [0002]).
Mackie discloses receiving a BGP signal indicating SNAT reachability and traversing received attributes to extract relevant NAT information (para. [0084] Source Network Address Translation (SNAT) may be used to exchange traffic between underlay segment 26A and overlay networks 22 para. [0089] exchange routes with each other via IBGP to ensure that all control nodes 354 have the same network state. control nodes 354 communicate the configuration state information, such as routing instances and forwarding policy, to physical switches 16, 18, e.g., via BGP). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Singh and Dzerve with Mackie’s disclosure. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to utilize BGP for similar benefits of enabling the exchanging of routes to efficiently route traffic.
Regarding claim 4, Singh does not teach the method of claim 3, wherein: receiving the BGP signal indicating SNAT reachability comprises receiving a BGP signal indicating network address port translation (NAPT) reachability; traversing the received BGP attributes to extract relevant SNAT information comprises traversing the received BGP attributes to extract relevant NAPT information; and using the extracted SNAT information to update internal mapping tables within the LEAF switch comprises using the extracted NAPT information to update internal mapping tables within the LEAF switch.
Dzerve discloses receiving a signal indicating SNAT reachability comprises receiving a signal indicating network address port translation (NAPT) reachability; traversing the received attributes to extract relevant SNAT information comprises traversing the received attributes to extract relevant NAPT information; and using the extracted SNAT information to update internal mapping tables within a device comprises using the extracted NAPT information to update internal mapping tables within the device (para. [0048] M/A manager 322 can update the NAT mapping table 500 and SNAT mapping table 600 to include the most current information for uniquely identifying users. para. [0096] SNAT 320 utilizes a NAPT mapping table 600 to determine how to translate between proxy addresses and remote host addresses when performing the NAPT process). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Singh with Dzerve’s disclosure. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to do so for similar benefits of applying NAT and NAPT to allow traffic to be more efficiently and accurately tracked by a cloud service (para. [0002]).
Mackie discloses receiving a BGP signal indicating SNAT reachability and traversing received attributes to extract relevant NAT information (para. [0084] In some examples, Source Network Address Translation (SNAT) may be used to exchange traffic between underlay segment 26A and overlay networks 22 para. [0089] exchange routes with each other via IBGP to ensure that all control nodes 354 have the same network state). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Singh and Dzerve with Mackie’s disclosure of using a BGP signal to indicate SNAT reachability. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to utilize BGP for similar benefits of enabling the exchanging of routes to efficiently route traffic.
Regarding claim 7, Singh does not teach the LEAF switch computing device of claim 5, wherein the processor is configured to: receive the BGP signal indicating NAT reachability by receiving a BGP signal indicating source network address translation SNAT reachability; traverse the received BGP attributes to extract relevant NAT information by traversing the received BGP attributes to extract relevant SNAT information; and use the extracted NAT information to update internal mapping tables within the LEAF switch by using the extracted SNAT information to update internal mapping tables within the LEAF switch.
Dzerve teaches receiving a signal indicating NAT reachability comprises receiving a signal indicating source network address translation SNAT reachability; traversing received attributes to extract relevant NAT information comprises traversing received attributes to extract relevant SNAT information; and using the extracted NAT information to update internal mapping tables within a device comprises using the extracted SNAT information to update internal mapping tables within the device (para. [0048] M/A manager 322 can update the NAT mapping table 500 and SNAT mapping table 600 to include the most current information for uniquely identifying users. para. [0096] SNAT 320 utilizes a NAPT mapping table 600 to determine how to translate between proxy addresses and remote host addresses when performing the NAPT process). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Singh with Dzerve’s disclosure. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to do so for similar benefits of applying NAT and NAPT to allow traffic to be more efficiently and accurately tracked by a cloud service (para. [0002]).
Mackie discloses receiving a BGP signal indicating SNAT reachability and traversing received attributes to extract relevant NAT information (para. [0084] Source Network Address Translation (SNAT) may be used to exchange traffic between underlay segment 26A and overlay networks 22. para. [0089] exchange routes with each other via IBGP to ensure that all control nodes 354 have the same network state. control nodes 354 communicate the configuration state information, such as routing instances and forwarding policy, to physical switches 16, 18, e.g., via BGP). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Singh and Dzerve with Mackie’s disclosure. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to utilize BGP for similar benefits of enabling the exchanging of routes to efficiently route traffic.
Regarding claim 8, Singh does not teach the LEAF switch computing device of claim 7, wherein the processor is configured to: receive the BGP signal indicating SNAT reachability by receiving a BGP signal indicating network address port translation (NAPT) reachability; traverse the received BGP attributes to extract relevant SNAT information by traversing the received BGP attributes to extract relevant NAPT information; and use the extracted SNAT information to update internal mapping tables within the LEAF switch by using the extracted NAPT information to update internal mapping tables within the LEAF switch.
Dzerve discloses receiving a signal indicating SNAT reachability comprises receiving a signal indicating network address port translation (NAPT) reachability; traversing the received attributes to extract relevant SNAT information comprises traversing the received attributes to extract relevant NAPT information; and using the extracted SNAT information to update internal mapping tables within a device comprises using the extracted NAPT information to update internal mapping tables within the device (para. [0048] M/A manager 322 can update the NAT mapping table 500 and SNAT mapping table 600 to include the most current information for uniquely identifying users. para. [0096] SNAT 320 utilizes a NAPT mapping table 600 to determine how to translate between proxy addresses and remote host addresses when performing the NAPT process). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Singh with Dzerve’s disclosure. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to do so for similar benefits of applying NAT and NAPT to allow traffic to be more efficiently and accurately tracked by a cloud service (para. [0002]).
Mackie discloses receiving a BGP signal indicating SNAT reachability and traversing received attributes to extract relevant NAT information (para. [0084] In some examples, Source Network Address Translation (SNAT) may be used to exchange traffic between underlay segment 26A and overlay networks 22 para. [0089] exchange routes with each other via IBGP to ensure that all control nodes 354 have the same network state). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Singh and Dzerve with Mackie’s disclosure of using a BGP signal to indicate SNAT reachability. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to utilize BGP for similar benefits of enabling the exchanging of routes to efficiently route traffic.
Regarding claim 11, Singh does not teach the non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein the stored processor-executable software instructions are configured to cause a processor to perform operations such that: receiving the BGP signal indicating NAT reachability comprises receiving a BGP signal indicating source network address translation SNAT reachability; traversing the received BGP attributes to extract relevant NAT information comprises traversing the received BGP attributes to extract relevant SNAT information; and using the extracted NAT information to update internal mapping tables within the LEAF switch comprises using the extracted SNAT information to update internal mapping tables within the LEAF switch.
Dzerve teaches receiving a signal indicating NAT reachability comprises receiving a signal indicating source network address translation SNAT reachability; traversing received attributes to extract relevant NAT information comprises traversing received attributes to extract relevant SNAT information; and using the extracted NAT information to update internal mapping tables within a device comprises using the extracted SNAT information to update internal mapping tables within the device (para. [0048] M/A manager 322 can update the NAT mapping table 500 and SNAT mapping table 600 to include the most current information for uniquely identifying users. para. [0096] SNAT 320 utilizes a NAPT mapping table 600 to determine how to translate between proxy addresses and remote host addresses when performing the NAPT process). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Singh with Dzerve’s disclosure. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to do so for similar benefits of applying NAT and NAPT to allow traffic to be more efficiently and accurately tracked by a cloud service (para. [0002]).
Mackie discloses receiving a BGP signal indicating SNAT reachability and traversing received attributes to extract relevant NAT information (para. [0084] Source Network Address Translation (SNAT) may be used to exchange traffic between underlay segment 26A and overlay networks 22 para. [0089] exchange routes with each other via IBGP to ensure that all control nodes 354 have the same network state. control nodes 354 communicate the configuration state information, such as routing instances and forwarding policy, to physical switches 16, 18, e.g., via BGP). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Singh and Dzerve with Mackie’s disclosure. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to utilize BGP for similar benefits of enabling the exchanging of routes to efficiently route traffic.
Regarding claim 12, Singh does not teach the non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein the stored processor-executable software instructions are configured to cause a processor to perform operations such that: receiving the BGP signal indicating SNAT reachability comprises receiving a BGP signal indicating network address port translation (NAPT) reachability; traversing the received BGP attributes to extract relevant SNAT information comprises traversing the received BGP attributes to extract relevant NAPT information; and using the extracted SNAT information to update internal mapping tables within the LEAF switch comprises using the extracted NAPT information to update internal mapping tables within the LEAF switch.
Dzerve discloses receiving a signal indicating SNAT reachability comprises receiving a signal indicating network address port translation (NAPT) reachability; traversing the received attributes to extract relevant SNAT information comprises traversing the received attributes to extract relevant NAPT information; and using the extracted SNAT information to update internal mapping tables within a device comprises using the extracted NAPT information to update internal mapping tables within the device (para. [0048] M/A manager 322 can update the NAT mapping table 500 and SNAT mapping table 600 to include the most current information for uniquely identifying users. para. [0096] SNAT 320 utilizes a NAPT mapping table 600 to determine how to translate between proxy addresses and remote host addresses when performing the NAPT process). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Singh with Dzerve’s disclosure. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to do so for similar benefits of applying NAT and NAPT to allow traffic to be more efficiently and accurately tracked by a cloud service (para. [0002]).
Mackie discloses receiving a BGP signal indicating SNAT reachability and traversing received attributes to extract relevant NAT information (para. [0084] In some examples, Source Network Address Translation (SNAT) may be used to exchange traffic between underlay segment 26A and overlay networks 22 para. [0089] exchange routes with each other via IBGP to ensure that all control nodes 354 have the same network state). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Singh and Dzerve with Mackie’s disclosure of using a BGP signal to indicate SNAT reachability. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to utilize BGP for similar benefits of enabling the exchanging of routes to efficiently route traffic.
Examiner’s Note
The following prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant’s disclosure.
Kapela US Patent Publication No. 2025/0330421 (para. [0069] routing table can be populated using at least one of the following methods: 1) entry and/or definition of a “static” route(s); 2) a routing protocol (e.g., OSPF, BGP, etc.). para. [0074] appliance 406 can then perform a lookup of the source IP address associated with the packet in the user equipment NAT table, translate source address to original user equipment source IP address)
Tripathi et al. US Patent Publication No. 2017/0302595 (para. [0097] action corresponds to an action to be performed when a packet satisfying the classification rule is identified. Examples of actions include, but are not limited to, (i) forward packet to the control processor (via a specific internal port or the PCIe switch), (ii) forward packet to an NPU. para. [0098] switch fabric 180 is configured to communicate with the control processor 162 and/or the NPUs 172A-172B)
Duminouco et al. US Patent Publication No. 2015/0365323 (para. [0048] can update the NAT mapping table 500 and SNAT mapping table 600 to include the most current information for uniquely identifying users. para. [0026] “translation state” comprises a mapping between a real (e.g., local/private) address and port before translation to a mapped (e.g., global/public) address and port after translation)
Singh et al. US Patent Publication No. 2025/0274388 (para. [0064] update message may be a BGP update message or an iBGP update message. para. [0065] first leaf switch 112 and the second leaf switch 114 may receive the update message. determine one or more of: the subnet, the subnet IP address, the host IP address, the host route, or the subnet route etc. based on the update message. store one or more routing or forwarding tables indicative of one or more routes, IP addresses, ports, Media Access Control (MAC) addresses or IP prefixes etc. [0068] first leaf switch 212 may receive a data packet 208 from the first host device 202. The data packet 208 may include a destination MAC address, a destination IP address, a source MAC address. Para. [0069] first leaf switch 212 may perform a lookup in a MAC address table. MAC address table may include one or more static entries and/or one or more dynamic entries indicative of the ports of the plurality of network devices
Conclusion
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/JOSHUA JOO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2445