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
Claims 1-20 are presented for examination.
Notice for all Patent Application as subject to AIA
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claims 1-20 are rejected under AIA 35 U.S.C. 103 as being un-patentable over Jeuk et al (U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2019/0068495 A1) in view of Chesla et al (U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2014/0067377 A1).
As to claim 1, Jeuk et al disclose a network device (figures 6 & 8) comprising: one or more memories configured to store instructions; and one or more processors coupled to the one or more memories and configured to execute the instructions, to cause the network device (figure 8, pars. 0042-0043, network device having a memory and a processor) to obtain a first Internet Protocol (IP) packet comprising a packet header, wherein the packet header comprises a tenant identifier of a tenant corresponding to the first IP packet (figure 1, par. 0025, figure 5, pars. 0032-0033, figure 9, pars. 0044-0045, network device receiving an IP packet having a header including tenant ID and service ID); and send the first IP packet to a service device, for performing, based on the tenant identifier, a service corresponding to the tenant (figure 1, par. 0025, pars. 0032, figure 9, pars. 0046, network device forwarding the IP packet to the service device).
However, Jeuk et al do not explicitly teach that send the first IP packet to a value-added service (VAS) device, for performing, based on the tenant identifier, a value- added service corresponding to the tenant.
Chesla et al teach that send the first IP packet to a value-added service (VAS) server, for performing, based on the tenant identifier, a value- added service corresponding to the tenant (figure 2, pars. 0034-0040, controller sends an IP packet to a VAS server for performing a service based on the client information).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to incorporate the teaching of Chesla et al as stated above with the network device of Jeuk et al for sending an IP packet to a VAS server to providing a VAS service to associated tenant/client because it would have improved efficiency over network traffic and also improved throughput, bottlenecks, and system utilization by mapping tenant with proper service using the assigned identifiers.
As to claim 2, Jeuk et al disclose that the first IP packet is an IP version 6 (IPv6) packet comprising an IP extension header that carries the tenant identifier (figure 5, par. 0033, header has tenant ID).
As to claims 3-5, Jeuk et al disclose that the IP extension header comprises an added length-value (TLV) field that carries the tenant identifier, the IP extension header is a segment routing header (SRH), and the SRH comprises a tag field that carries the tenant identifier (figures 5-6, pars. 0033-0034 & 0039-0040, header has flag and size field, and also has service ID and tenant ID).
As to claim 6, Jeuk et al disclose that the IP extension header is an application-aware networking (APN) extension header (figures 11-12, pars. 0065-0066, header has application ID).
As to claim 7, Jeuk et al disclose that the first IP packet is an IP version 4 (IPv4) packet comprising, and the tenant identifier is carried in an option field of an IP basic header, wherein the IP basic header comprises an option field that carries the tenant identifier (figure 5, par. 0033).
As to claim 8, Jeuk et al disclose that receive a second IP packet; obtain the tenant identifier; and generate the first IP packet based on the second IP packet and the tenant identifier (pars. 0086-0088, mapping many service IDS with a tenant ID to generate the outgoing IP packets).
As to claim 9, Jeuk et al disclose that obtain service data and the tenant identifier; and generate, based on the service data and the tenant identifier, the first IP packet, wherein the first IP packet further comprises the service data (figures 3-5, pars. 0030-0033, IP packet has service data).
As to claim 10, Jeuk et al disclose that receive, from a control management device, the tenant identifier; and store the tenant identifier (figure 6, pars. 0039).
As to claim 11, Jeuk et al disclose that receive, from the control management device, a virtual private network (VPN) instance of the tenant, wherein the VPN instance comprises the tenant identifier; and store the VPN instance (pars. 0022-0023, tenant using VPN for improving network traffic security).
As to claims 12-14, they are also rejected for the same reasons set forth to rejecting claims 1-2, 7, and 10 above, since claims 12-14 do not teach or define any new limitations than above rejected claims 1-2, 7, and 10.
As to claims 15-20, they are also rejected for the same reasons set forth to rejecting claims 1-2 and 7-9 above, since claims 15-20 do not teach or define any new limitations than above rejected claims 1-2 and 7-9.
Additional References
The examiner as of general interest cites the following references.
Hammam et al, U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2016/0226755 A1.
Xu et al, U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2003/00626211 A1.
Content Information
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Bharat Barot whose telephone number is (571)272-3979. The examiner can normally be reached on 7:00AM-3:30PM.
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/BHARAT BAROT/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2453January 07, 2026