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 action is in response to an application filed July 19, 2024. Claims 1-20 are pending in this application.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on August 19, 2024 is acknowledged. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Double Patenting
The nonstatutory obviousness double patenting 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 timewise extension of the “right to exclude” granted by a patent and to prevent possible harassment by multiple assignees. A nonstatutory double patenting rejection is appropriate where the claims at issue 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 nonstatutory 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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Claims 1-20 are rejected on the ground of nonstatutory double patenting as being unpatentable over claims 1-20 of patent document (US 11,929,990 B1). Although the claims at issue are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other because the claims are directed to the same subject matter of predicting or determining potential overloading of a VPN server. A side-by-side analysis of the first independent claim(s) of the instant application and patent document have been included below. The bolded portions are portions which are almost identical to one another. The non-bolded portions are related to subject matter which is obvious, and do not further define over the subject matter of the U.S. patent document. Additionally, the instant application discloses modifying a configuration of an associated DNS server. Claim 4 of the patent document discloses this subject matter. Therefore, the subject matter of both claim sets are not distinct from one another.
Here is the following side-by-side analysis of the first independent claim (and any corresponding dependent claims) in each application:
Instant Application ‘242
1. A virtual private network (VPN) server, comprising:
a memory; and
a processor communicatively coupled to the memory, the memory and the processor being configured to:
utilize, during an established VPN connection between the VPN server and a user device, a first exit internet protocol (IP) address for communication of data associated with the user device;
determine, during the established VPN connection, potential overloading of the VPN server based at least in part on determining a potential breach of a critical threshold associated with the VPN server;
establish, during the established VPN connection and based at least in part on determining the potential breach, a secure connection with a secondary server to enable communication of encrypted information between the VPN server and the secondary server;
modify, based at least in part on determining the potential overloading, a configuration of an associated domain name system (DNS) server such that the DNS server returns communication information associated with the secondary server to enable communication of the data associated with the user device.
Patent Document ‘990
1. A virtual private network (VPN) server, comprising:
a memory; and
a processor communicatively coupled to the memory, the memory and the processor being configured to:
utilize, during an established VPN connection between the VPN server and a user device, a first exit internet protocol (IP) address to transmit a query to a host device for requesting data of interest requested by the user device;
predict, during the established VPN connection, potential overloading of the VPN server based at least in part on predicting a potential breach of a critical threshold associated with the VPN server, the predicting being prior to the potential breach;
establish, during the established VPN connection and based at least in part on predicting the potential breach, a secure connection with a secondary server to enable communication of encrypted information between the VPN server and the secondary server; and
transmit, during the established VPN connection and to the secondary server over the secure connection, an encrypted message identifying the host device and the data of interest to be retrieved from the host device to enable the secondary server to transmit a second query to request the data of interest based at least in part on utilizing a second exit IP address, different from the first exit IP address.
4. The VPN server of claim 1, wherein the memory and the processor are configured to: modify, based at least in part on predicting the potential overloading, a configuration of an associated domain name system (DNS) server such that the DNS server returns communication information associated with the secondary server for at least a portion of data requests being processed.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-20 are allowed over available prior art(s), but are rejected under Double Patenting.
As allowable subject matter has been indicated, applicant's reply must either comply with all formal requirements or specifically traverse each requirement not complied with. See 37 CFR 1.111(b) and MPEP § 707.07(a).
REASONS FOR ALLOWANCE
The following is an examiner’s statement of reasons for allowance: The closest prior art reference(s) found- Pabijanskas (US 11,271,858 B1), discloses the following features:
A virtual private network (VPN) server, comprising:
a memory (Col. 3, lines 24-28, memory); and
a processor communicatively coupled to the memory (Col. 3, lines 24-28, processor coupled to memory), the memory and the processor being configured to:
utilize, during an established VPN connection between the VPN server and a user device, a first exit internet protocol (IP) address for communication of data associated with the user device (Col. 5, lines 36-45, connection request from user to establish VPN connection with VPN server);
determine, during the established VPN connection, potential overloading of the VPN server based at least in part on determining a potential breach of a critical threshold associated with the VPN server (Col. 7, lines 46-60, determining an exit IP address is overloaded and leading to degraded service from VPN server);
establish, during the established VPN connection and based at least in part on determining the potential breach, a secure connection with a secondary server to enable communication of encrypted information between the VPN server and the secondary server (Col. 6, lines 20-38 and Col. 8, lines 16-20, VPN server reallocating user device to another exit IP address for secure communication);
However, the Examiner has not found that the teachings of Pabijanskas nor any reasonable prior art(s) and/or combination of prior art(s) teach the feature to ‘modify, based at least in part on determining the potential overloading, a configuration of an associated domain name system (DNS) server such that the DNS server returns communication information associated with the secondary server to enable communication of the data associated with the user device’.
Any comments considered necessary by applicant must be submitted no later than the payment of the issue fee and, to avoid processing delays, should preferably accompany the issue fee. Such submissions should be clearly labeled “Comments on Statement of Reasons for Allowance.”
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ESTHER B. HENDERSON whose telephone number is (571)270-3807. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 6a-2p ET.
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/ESTHER B. HENDERSON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2458 February 4, 2026