DETAILED ACTION
This Office Action is in response to Applicant’s Arguments /Remarks filed on 02/12/2026.
In the instant Amendment, claims 1 and 11 have been amended; and claims 1 and 11 are independent claims. Claims 1-20 have been examined and are pending. This Action is made FINAL.
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 Arguments
Applicant’s arguments in the instant Amendment, filed on 02/12/2026, with respect to limitations listed below, have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Applicant’s arguments: “the claimed invention of the present application were, not later than the effective filing date of the claimed invention (June 18, 2024), owned by Zscaler, Inc. or subject to an obligation of assignment to Zscaler, Inc.”
The Examiner disagrees with the Applicants. The Examiner respectfully submits that the present invention has a priority date May 3, 2024 vs the prior art has a priority date Dec. 18, 2023. Therefore, the subject matter disclosed in Dusgotra that is relied upon in the Office Action is a prior art to the present claims under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2), and the rejection of claims 1-20 under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) should be VALID.
Applicant’s arguments: “Independent claims 1 and 11 have been amended to further clarify the nature of the enrollment process performed when a new component is deployed within the cloud- based system. In particular, amended claims 1 and 11 now expressly recites that enrollment is performed via a multi-tenant, per-cloud enrollment service associated with a specific cloud environment, and that the enrollment service operates as an agent or proxy to a private Certificate Authority (CA), with issuance authority constrained to intermediate Certificate Authorities (iCAs) associated with that same cloud environment.”
The Examiner disagrees with the Applicants. The Examiner respectfully submits that Dusgotra teaches: “enrollment is performed via a multi-tenant, per-cloud enrollment service associated with a specific cloud environment, and that the enrollment service operates as an agent or proxy to a private Certificate Authority (CA), with issuance authority constrained to intermediate Certificate Authorities (iCAs) associated with that same cloud environment.” (Dusgotra: paras. 0066-0068 and fig. 23; para. 0103 and fig. 10; , the private access process 750…PKI CERTIFICATE 720 ENROLLMENT OCCURS; paras. 0159- 0161 and fig. 31, the CA signs the CSR using its private key … ENROLLMENT CERTIFICATE).
Examiner, however, in light of the above submission maintains the previous rejections while considering the amendments to the claims as follows:
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Dusgotra et al. (hereinafter Dusgotra), Pub. No.: US 2025/0193025.
The applied reference has a common assignee with the instant application. Based upon the earlier effectively filed date of the reference, it constitutes prior art under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2). This rejection under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) might be overcome by: (1) a showing under 37 CFR 1.130(a) that the subject matter disclosed in the reference was obtained directly or indirectly from the inventor or a joint inventor of this application and is thus not prior art in accordance with 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(A); (2) a showing under 37 CFR 1.130(b) of a prior public disclosure under 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(B) if the same invention is not being claimed; or (3) a statement pursuant to 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) establishing that, not later than the effective filing date of the claimed invention, the subject matter disclosed in the reference and the claimed invention were either owned by the same person or subject to an obligation of assignment to the same person or subject to a joint research agreement.
Referring to claim 1, Dusgotra teaches a method comprising steps of:
providing security as a service via a cloud-based system for a plurality of tenants, wherein the cloud-based system includes a plurality of components communicatively coupled and adapted to communicate with one another based on mutual Transport Layer Security (mTLS) authentication (para. 0167 and fig. 36, mTLS connection and authentication service; see also paras. 0090 and fig. 8);
responsive to a new component requiring deployment within the cloud-based system, performing an enrollment process for the new component (para. 0068 and fig. 23; app. 35 support enrollment of the user device; para. 0103, PKI certificate 720 enrollment occurs; para. 0160 and fig. 31, enrollment certificate);wherein the enrollment process is performed via an enrollment service comprising a multi-tenant, per-cloud enrollment service associated with a specific cloud environment and operating as an agent/proxy to a private certificate Authority (CA), and wherein enrollment service instances within the specific cloud environment are authorized to issue certificates only for intermediate Certificate Authorities (iCAs) associated with the specific cloud environment (Dusgotra: paras. 0066-0068 and fig. 23; para. 0103 and fig. 10; , the private access process 750…PKI CERTIFICATE 720 ENROLLMENT OCCURS; paras. 0159- 0161 and fig. 31, the CA signs the CSR using its private key … ENROLLMENT CERTIFICATE); and
subsequent to the enrollment process, utilizing the new component within the cloud-based system for providing security as a service (para. 0059-0068, providing cloud-based security; see also paras. 0113-0116 and 0160).
Referring to claim 2, Dusgotra further teaches wherein the new component is any of a cloud node, a connector, a connector application, a Virtual Machine (VM), and a customer hosted component (para. 0058-0059, 0097 and fig. 2 and 6, VM/connector 400).
Referring to claim 3, Dusgotra further teaches wherein the enrollment process includes performing an identity verification of the new component (paras. 0051-0055, 0090-0091 and fig. 8; paras. 0159-0161 and fig. 31, verifies the identity).
Referring to claim 4, Dusgotra further teaches wherein the identity verification comprises steps of: receiving attributes associated with the new component; referencing a database for confirming deployment of the new component based on the attributes; and determining that the new component is in possession of a private key (paras. 00159-0161 and fig. 31, ID verification process).
Referring to claim 5, Dusgotra further teaches wherein the attributes include a Trusted Platform Module (TPM) serial number and a TPM certificate (paras. 00159-0161 and fig. 31, Trusted CA).
Referring to claim 6, Dusgotra further teaches wherein determining that the new component is in possession of a private key includes challenging the new component by encrypting a random value, and wherein the determining is based on the new component providing the random value in decrypted form (paras. 0054-0063, 0098-0103, 0121 and fig. 22; 0152, 0166 and fig. 33-35).
Referring to claim 7, Dusgotra further teaches wherein the enrollment process includes issuing a signed certificate to the new component, wherein the new component is adapted to utilize the signed certificate for mTLS authentication (para. 0167 and fig. 36, mTLS connection and authentication service; see also paras. 0090 and fig. 8).
Referring to claim 8, Dusgotra further teaches wherein issuing the signed certificate further includes sending a Certificate Signing Request (CSR) to a private Certificate Authority (CA) which is adapted to sign the certificate, and providing the signed certificate to the new component (paras. 0158-0161, CSR and CA).
Referring to claim 9, Dusgotra further teaches wherein the signed certificate includes an assurance level, and wherein the assurance level is based on the enrollment process (paras. 0160-0161 and fig. 31, signed digital certificate).
Referring to claim 10, Dusgotra further teaches wherein the enrollment process is performed by an enrollment server associated with a specific cloud environment (para. 0059-0068, providing enrollment; see also paras. 0113-0116 and 0160).
Referring to claim 11, This claim is similar in scope to claim 1, and is therefore rejected under similar rationale.
Referring to claim 12, This claim is similar in scope to claim 2, and is therefore rejected under similar rationale.
Referring to claim 13, This claim is similar in scope to claim 3, and is therefore rejected under similar rationale.
Referring to claim 14, This claim is similar in scope to claim 4, and is therefore rejected under similar rationale.
Referring to claim 15, This claim is similar in scope to claim 5, and is therefore rejected under similar rationale.
Referring to claim 16, This claim is similar in scope to claim 6, and is therefore rejected under similar rationale.
Referring to claim 17, This claim is similar in scope to claim 7, and is therefore rejected under similar rationale.
Referring to claim 18, This claim is similar in scope to claim 8, and is therefore rejected under similar rationale.
Referring to claim 19, This claim is similar in scope to claim 9, and is therefore rejected under similar rationale.
Referring to claim 20, This claim is similar in scope to claim 10, and is therefore rejected under similar rationale.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Please see the attached PTO-892.
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(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 YONAS A BAYOU whose telephone number is (571)272-7610. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 7AM-4PM.
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/YONAS A BAYOU/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2499 04/20/2026