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 .
Detailed Action
This office action is response to the application 18/770,949 filed on 07/12/2024. Claims 1-20 are pending in this communication.
Allowable subject matter
Claims 1-20 are allowable if the applicant overcomes the double patenting rejection.
Double Patenting
The non-statutory obviousness type double patenting (ODP) 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 time wise extension of the “right to exclude” granted by a patent and to prevent possible harassment by multiple assignees. A non-statutory 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 non-statutory double patenting ground provided the reference 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. A terminal disclaimer must be signed in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(b).
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The following table shows anticipated respective claims of the instant application against the claims of US Patent No. US 12,079,347.
Table 1
Instant Application
Patent US 12,079,347
1. A computer-implemented method comprising:
obtaining a network dataset comprising a plurality of entries, wherein each entry
comprises a device identifier, a network identifier, and a timestamp identifier, wherein the plurality of entries are derived from (i) at least one computer network of a plurality of computer networks associated with an entity and (ii) at least one computer network of a plurality of computer networks not associated with the entity and providing access to the at least one computer network of the plurality of computer networks associated with the entity;
obtaining a plurality of Internet Protocol (IP) addresses associated with (i) the entity and
(ii) a plurality of entities unrelated to the entity, wherein the entity and the plurality of entities unrelated to the entity are each associated with a respective unique identifier (UID) of a plurality of UIDs;
filtering, based on the network identifier of each of the plurality of entries, the network
dataset to form a filtered network dataset;
determining, based on the IP addresses associated with the entity and the filtered network dataset, one or more of the plurality of computer networks not associated with the entity and providing access to the at least one computer network of the plurality of computer networks associated with the entity comprises one or more remote office networks associated with the entity; and
assessing a cybersecurity state of the entity based on an evaluation of security
characteristics of the IP addresses associated with the entity and security characteristics of one or more IP addresses attributed to the one or more remote office networks.
1. A computer-implemented method comprising:
obtaining, for at least one computer network of a plurality of computer networks associated with an entity, a first network dataset;
obtaining, for at least one computer network of a plurality of computer networks not associated with the entity and providing access to the at least one computer network
of the plurality of computer networks associated with the entity, a second network dataset;
combining the first and second network datasets to form a combined dataset comprising a plurality of entries, wherein each entry comprises a device identifier, a
network identifier, and a timestamp identifier;
obtaining a plurality of Internet Protocol (IP) addresses associated with the entity;
obtaining a plurality of IP addresses associated with a plurality of entities unrelated to the entity, wherein the entity and the plurality of entities unrelated to the entity are each associated with a unique identifier (UID);
for each of the plurality of entries, if the respective network identifier of the entry corresponds to a thresh old number of associated UIDs, removing the entry
from the combined dataset to form a filtered dataset;
determining, based in part on the IP addresses associated with the entity, whether each of the plurality of computer networks not associated with the entity comprises a remote office network of one or more remote office networks associated with the entity based on the filtered dataset; and
assessing a cybersecurity state of the entity based on an evaluation of security characteristics of the IP addresses associated with the entity and security characteristics
of one or more IP addresses attributed to the
one or more remote office networks.
Independent claims 1 and 19 have been worded different, but same innovation of independent claims 1 and 19, respectively of Patent US 12,079,347.
Claims 1 & 19 are rejected in view of US 12,079,347 and further in view of RASHIDI; Bahman (US 2022/0417261 A1). The motivation is - assessing an entity's cybersecurity state by evaluating the security characteristics of its IP addresses and those of its remote office networks offers several key advantages, primarily centered on achieving comprehensive asset visibility, proactive threat detection, and informed risk management across the entire digital infrastructure.
RASHIDI discloses a technique for query, analysis and classification.
It is well settled that broadening the scope of claims would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art in view of the narrower issued claims. In re Van Ornum, 686 F.2d 937, 214 USPQ 761 (CCPA 1982) and In re Goodman, 11 F.3d 1046, 29 USPQ2d 2010 (Fed. Cir. 1993). Therefore claim 1 of US Patent US 12,079,347 anticipate claims 1 & 19 of the instant application.
Claims 1-20 are provisionally rejected on the ground of nonstatutory obviousness-type double patenting as being unpatentable over claims 1 & 19 of the Patent US 12,079,347 in view of prior art RASHIDI. Although the claims at issue are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other over Patent US 12,079,347 in view of RASHIDI.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the invention of claims 1 & 19 of the US 12,079,347 to include RASHIDI inventions to obtain predictable results. The motivation is - assessing an entity's cybersecurity state by evaluating the security characteristics of its IP addresses and those of its remote office networks offers several key advantages, primarily centered on achieving comprehensive asset visibility, proactive threat detection, and informed risk management across the entire digital infrastructure.
Conclusion
Following prior art has been consulted but not applied:
CASASSA MONT; Marco et al. (US 2018/0375953 A1) – Determining a persistent network identity of a networked device.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to QUAZI FAROOQUI whose telephone number is (571) 270-1034 or Quazi.farooqui@uspto.gov. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Friday 9:00 am to 5:30 pm, EST. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Amir Mehrmanesh can be reached on (571) 270-3351 or amir.mehrmanesh@USPTO.GOV. The fax phone number for Examiner Farooqui assigned is 571-270-2034.
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/QUAZI FAROOQUI/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2491