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 .
Response to Amendment
1. This action is in response to the application filed on 05 February 2026.
Claims 1-7, 9-15 and 19-24 are presently pending for examination.
Response to Arguments
2. Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1-7,9-15 and 19-24 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Applicant employs broad language, which includes the use of word, and phrases, which have broad meanings in the art. In addition, Applicant has not argued any narrower interpretation of the claim language, nor amended the claims significantly enough to construe a narrower meaning to the limitations. As the claims breadth allows multiple interpretations and meanings, which are broader than Applicant’s disclosure, the Examiner is forced to interpret the claim limitations as broadly as reasonably possible, in determining patentability of the disclosed invention. Although the claims are interpreted in light of the specification, limitations from the specification are not read into the claims. See In re Van Geuns, 988 F.2d 1181, 26 USPQ2d 1057 (Fed. Cir.1993).
It is the Examiner’s position that the detailed functionality that allows for Applicant’s invention to overcome the prior art used in the rejection, fails to differentiate in detail how these features are unique. It is advised that, in order to further expedite the prosecution of the application in response to this action, Applicant should amend the base claims to describe in more narrow detail the true distinguishing features of Applicant’s claim invention.
Failure for Applicant to significantly narrow definition/scope of the claims and supply arguments commensurate in scope with the claims implies the Applicant intends broad interpretation be given to the claims. The Examiner has interpreted the claims with scope parallel to the Applicant in the response, and reiterates the need for the Applicant to more clearly and distinctly defines the claimed invention.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
3. 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(s) 1-4, 7-15, 19-21 and 24 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chen et al., U. S. Patent Publication No. 2018/0034709 in view of Xu et al., U. S. Patent Publication No. 2020/0014589 and further in view of Xiang, U. S. Patent Publication No. 2016/0105332.
Regarding claim 1, Chen discloses a method of operating a network configured to provide a network function virtualization orchestrator, (“NFVO”), in a virtualization environment, the method comprising: determining that the information associated with the unrecognized resource (see Chen, ¶ [0013]-[0015]; determination of the received asset is made); responsive to determining that the information associated with the unrecognized resource meets the criteria, storing an indication of the unrecognized resource as a recognized resource (see Chen, ¶ [0016]-[0018] and [0150]; upon determination, indication of the asset is created).
Although Chen discloses the invention substantially as claimed, it does not explicitly disclose resource meets criteria associate with a reference definition for the type of recognized resource.
Xu teaches resource meets criteria associate with reference definition for the type of recognized resource (see Xu, ¶ [0111], [0154] and [0185]). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the invention to incorporate the teachings of Xu with that of Chen in order to efficiently identify the virtual asset or resource and store its correspondence accordingly.
Although the combination of Chen-Xu discloses the invention substantially as claimed, they do not explicitly disclose determining that a type of an unrecognized resource matches a type of a reference definition; responsive to determining that the type of the unrecognized resource matches the type of the reference definition, transmitting a request for information associated with the unrecognized resource, the request including an identifier of the unrecognized resource; responsive to transmitting the request, receiving the information.
Xiang teaches determining that a type of an unrecognized resource matches a type of a reference definition; responsive to determining that the type of the unrecognized resource matches the type of the reference definition, transmitting a request for information associated with the unrecognized resource, the request including an identifier of the unrecognized resource; responsive to transmitting the request, receiving the information (see Xiang, ¶ [0033]-[0034] and p0044]-[0045]). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the invention to incorporate the teachings of Xiang with that of Chen-Xu in order to efficiently identify and appropriately classify the unrecognized resources.
Regarding claim 2, Chen-Xu-Xiang teaches wherein the information comprises at least one of: an indication of a name of a generic resource type associated with the unrecognized resource; an indication of a virtualized infrastructure manager, (“VIM”), zone type associated with the unrecognized resource; and an indication of a VIM resource type associated with the unrecognized resource (see Chen, ¶ [0007], [0015] and [0029]).
Regarding claim 3, Chen-Xu-Xiang teaches wherein storing the indication of the unrecognized resource comprises storing the indication of the unrecognized resource as a generic NFVO resource (see Chen, ¶ [0016] and [0150]).
Regarding claim 4, Chen-Xu-Xiang teaches further comprising: determining a relationship between the unrecognized resource and another resource; the relationship including one or more references pointing to another resource and responsive to determining the relationship, storing an indication of the relationship (see Chen, ¶ [0065], [0074] and Xu, ¶ [0154]).
Regarding claim 7, Chen-Xu-Xiang teaches wherein storing the indication of the unrecognized resource comprises storing the indication of the unrecognized resource as a recognized resource in a configuration and resource database (see Chen, ¶ [0013] and [0150]).
Regarding claim 9, Chen-Xu-Xiang teaches wherein transmitting the request comprises transmitting the request to a virtualized infrastructure manager, (“VIM”), the request comprising a VIM object identifier, and wherein receiving the information comprises receiving the information from the VIM (see Chen, ¶ [0024]).
Regarding claim 10, Chen-Xu-Xiang teaches wherein the unrecognized resource comprises an unrecognized virtualized infrastructure manager, (“VIM”), resource (see Chen, ¶ [0029] and [0144]).
Regarding claim 11, Chen-Xu-Xiang teaches wherein the unrecognized resource comprises a first unrecognized resource of a plurality of unrecognized resources in a list of deployed resources (see Chen, ¶ [0002], [0065] and [0096]).
Regarding claim 12, Chen-Xu-Xiang teaches further comprising: transmitting a request for deployment of a plurality of resources; responsive to transmitting the request for deployment of the plurality of resources, receiving an indication of the list of deployed resources; and responsive to receiving the indication of the list of deployed resources, determining a set of resources in the list of deployed resources that the NFVO recognizes; and storing an indication of each resource of the set of resources as a recognized resource (see Chen, ¶ [0119], [0141] and [0150]).
Regarding claim 13, Chen-Xu-Xiang teaches further comprising: determining that information associated with a second unrecognized resource of the plurality of unrecognized resources fails to meet criteria associated with any reference definition for a type of the second unrecognized resource; and responsive to determining that the information associated with the second unrecognized resource fails to meet the criteria, determining at least one of: whether a type of a third unrecognized resource of the plurality of unrecognized resources matches any reference definitions; and whether information associated with the third unrecognized resource meets criteria associated with any reference definitions for the type of the third unrecognized resource (see Chen, ¶ [0013], [0016] and Xu, ¶ [0111], [0185]).
Regarding claim 14, Chen-Xu-Xiang teaches further comprising: determining that a type of a second unrecognized resource of the plurality of unrecognized resources fails to match any reference definitions; and responsive to determining that the type of the second unrecognized resource fails to match any reference definitions, determining whether a type of a third unrecognized resource of the plurality of unrecognized resources matches any reference definitions (see Chen, ¶ [0016]-[0018]).
Claim 15 list all the same elements of claim 1, but in network node form rather than method form. Therefore, the supporting rationale of the rejection to claim 1 applies equally as well to claim 15.
Regarding claim 19, Chen-Xu-Xiang teaches wherein the information comprises at least one of: an indication of a name of a generic resource type associated with the unrecognized resource; an indication of a virtualized infrastructure manager ("VIM") zone type associated with the unrecognized resource; and an indication of a VIM resource type associated with the unrecognized resource (see Chen, ¶ [0007], [0015] and [0029]).
Regarding claim 20, Chen-Xu-Xiang teaches wherein storing the indication of the unrecognized resource comprises storing the indication of the unrecognized resource as a generic NFVO resource (see Chen, ¶ [0016] and [0150]).
Regarding claim 21, Chen-Xu-Xiang teaches the operations further comprising: determining a relationship between the unrecognized resource and another resource, the relationship including one or more references pointing to another resource; and responsive to determining the relationship, storing an indication of the relationship (see Chen, ¶ [0065], [0074] and Xu, ¶ [0154]).
Claim 24 list all the same elements of claim 1, but in non-transitory computer readable medium form rather than method form. Therefore, the supporting rationale of the rejection to claim 1 applies equally as well to claim 24.
4. Claim(s) 5-6 and 22-23 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chen in view of Xu in view of Xiang as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Chou et al., U. S. Patent Publication No. 2017/0257276.
Regarding claim 5, although Chen-Xu-Xiang disclose the invention substantially as claimed, they do not explicitly disclose further comprising: receiving a request to delete an asset; and responsive to receiving the request to delete the asset, determining whether to reject the request to delete the asset based on whether the asset is referred to by any generic resources.
Chou teaches further comprising: receiving a request to delete an asset; and responsive to receiving the request to delete the asset, determining whether to reject the request to delete the asset based on whether the asset is referred to by any generic resources (see Chou, ¶ [0057]-[0058] and [0061]). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the invention to incorporate the teachings of Chou with that Chen-Xu-Xiang in order to efficiently remove no longer needed resources.
Regarding claim 6, Chen-Xu-Xiang-Chou teaches further comprising receiving a request to delete a virtual network function, VNF; and responsive to receiving the request to delete the VNF, determining whether to reject the request to delete the VNF based on whether any asset or generic resource belonging to the VNF is referred to by any generic resources of another VNF (see Chou, ¶ [0057], [0061] and [0123]).
Regarding claim 22, Chen-Xu-Xiang-Chou teaches the operations further comprising: receiving a request to delete an asset; and responsive to receiving the request to delete the asset, determining whether to reject the request to delete the asset based on whether the asset is referred to by any generic resources (see Chou, ¶ [0057]-[0058] and [0061]).
Regarding claim 23, Chen-Xu-Xiang-Chou teaches the operations further comprising receiving a request to delete a virtual network function ("VNF"); and responsive to receiving the request to delete the VNF, determining whether to reject the request to delete the VNF based on whether any asset or generic resource belonging to the VNF is referred to by any generic resources of another VNF (see Chou, ¶ [0057], [0061] and [0123]).
Prior Art of Record
5. The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant’s disclosure. Please refer to form PTO-892 (Notice of Reference Cited) for a list of relevant prior art.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MOHAMED IBRAHIM whose telephone number is (571)270-1132. The examiner can normally be reached Monday through Friday from 9:30AM to 6:00PM.
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/MOHAMED IBRAHIM/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2444
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