DETAILED ACTION
This Action is in response to Application Number 18825732 received on 9/05/2024.
Claims 1-20 are presented for examination.
This application claims foreign priority to 202341060923, filed 9/11/2023.
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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) 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.
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)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1, 3-6, 8, 10, 12-15, 17, and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Murti et al. (US 20220229738).
Regarding claim 1, Murti disclosed a computing system, comprising:
Memory (Murti, [0023] “memory”); and
one or more programmable processors in communication with the memory (Murti, Fig. 1, [0023], Murti disclosed the invention on a general-purpose computer, [0095], “processor 1010”; see also [0101] ), wherein the one or more programmable processors are configured to:
obtain visual indicator status information of a network device, wherein the visual indicator status information includes information for one or more virtual visual indicators of the network device to indicate a state of the network device or a state of one or more links associated with the network device (Murti, [0080], “Device and configuration information is obtained for each device”; [0081], Murti disclosed “certain per-device information is obtained for each device and represented in a visually distinguishing manner to allow for quick and easy identification of relevant operational characteristics”; Also in [0081] Murti disclosed utilizing colors or patterns to represent different network device status; See also [0082] in which the obtained information also includes “connectivity characteristic” in which “links between devices can be shown with lines of different weights and colors such as thinner or thicker lines to indicate relative transmission speeds or signal quality, and so on”; See Figure 10, showing Information collected);
generate, based on the visual indicator status information of the network device, a graphical user interface that includes a visual representation of the network device and one or more virtual visual indicators indicating the state of the network device or the state of one or more links associated with the network device (Murti, [0081], Murti disclosed “With respect to the GUI mechanisms and display elements, certain per-device information is obtained for each device and represented in a visually distinguishing manner to allow for quick and easy identification of relevant operational characteristics”; Also in [0081] Murti disclosed utilizing colors or patterns to represent different network device status; See also [0082] in which the obtained information also includes “connectivity characteristic” in which “links between devices can be shown with lines of different weights and colors such as thinner or thicker lines to indicate relative transmission speeds or signal quality, and so on”; See Figure 10 showing Use in User Interface); and
output, for display on a display device, the graphical user interface (Murti, [0073] “Embodiments include an efficient visual mapping aspect provided through a GUI to display the topography and backup/protection configuration and status of network devices in a system”).
Claim 10 recites a method with limitations that are substantially similar to the limitations of claim 1. Claim 19 recites, “Non-transitory computer-readable media that includes instructions configured to cause processing circuitry to” perform limitations that are substantially similar to the limitations of claim 1.
As shown by the rejection of claim 1 above, Murti disclosed such limitations. Murti additionally disclosed a non-transitory computer-readable media as claimed (Murti, [0023], “computer-readable storage medium”)
Therefore claims 10 and 19 are rejected under the same rationale applied above.
Regarding claims 3 and 12, Murti disclosed the computing system of claim 1 and method of claim 11, wherein to generate the graphical user interface, the one or more programmable processors are further configured to:
generate a visual representation of a rack of one or more network devices including the network device, wherein each of the one or more network devices of the rack includes one or more virtual visual indicators to indicate a state of a corresponding network device or a state of one or more links associated with the corresponding network device (Murti, [0073]-[0074] Murti disclosed generating an efficient visual mapping aspect provided through a GUI to display the topography and backup/protection configuration and status of network devices in a system, in which devices are organized into a table such that columns indicate longitudinal location and rows indicate latitudinal location. FIG. 8 illustrates an example visual mapping template As shown in a GUI display page a number of latitudes (e.g., 1-3 of n latitudes) is shown along an x-axis (rows) of table 800 and a number of longitudes (e.g., 1-3 of m longitudes) is shown along a y-axis (columns) of table 800. Murti disclosed where the longitude may represent devices in a rack).
Regarding claims 4 and 13, Murti disclosed the computing system of claim 1 and method of claim 11, wherein the visual indicator status information comprises a first visual indicator status information for one or more virtual visual indicators of the network device to indicate a first state of the network device or a first state of one or more links associated with the network device, wherein the graphical user interface comprises a first graphical user interface (Murti, [0073] Embodiments include an efficient visual mapping aspect provided through a GUI to display the topography and backup/protection configuration and status of network devices in a system…FIG. 8 illustrates an example visual mapping template; [0076] One or more configuration display areas is associated with each device to provide further information with respect to device configuration, connectivity, performance, and so on. Such display areas may be provided using certain GUI techniques, such as pop-up windows, floating overlays, coded sub-windows, and so on.), and wherein the one or more programmable processors are further configured to:
obtain second visual indicator status information of the network device for one or more virtual visual indicators of the network device to indicate a second state of the network device or a second state of one or more links associated with the network device (See Fig 10 for the different information collected (Murti, [0076] One or more configuration display areas is associated with each device to provide further information with respect to device configuration, connectivity, performance, and so on. Such display areas may be provided using certain GUI techniques, such as pop-up windows, floating overlays, coded sub-windows, and so on.);
generate, based on the second visual indicator status information, a second graphical user interface that includes the visual representation of the network device and one or more virtual visual indicators indicative of the second state of the network device or the second state of one or more links associated with the network device; and output, for display on the display device, the second graphical user interface (Murti, [0076] One or more configuration display areas is associated with each device to provide further information with respect to device configuration, connectivity, performance, and so on. Such display areas may be provided using certain GUI techniques, such as pop-up windows, floating overlays, coded sub-windows, and so on; That is, Murti disclosed the ability for multiple graphical user interfaces in the form of pop-up windows, floating overlays, coded sub-windows, and so on, in order to display the obtained network device status information).
Regarding claims 5 and 14, Murti disclosed the computing system of claim 1 and method of claim 11, wherein the one or more programmable processors are further configured to: receive, from a user device, a request to view one or more visual indicators of the network device; output, for display on the user device, the graphical user interface (Murti, [0085], Murti disclosed allowing for the clicking on a particular device icon which dynamically reloads the table to show the same view, but for the next level of devices”; Therefore, a user’s clicking amounts to a request to view the clicked device’s particular visual mapping, or next level of devices; It is also noted that in [0085] Murti disclosed the GUI to be web-based implementation and therefore such clicking amounts to browser based requests; Additionally, in [0086] Murti provides the ability to request the information for different points in time).
Regarding claims 6 and 15, Murti disclosed the computing system of claim 1 and method of claim 11, wherein the visual indicator status information comprises a particular color corresponding to a particular status of the network device or a particular status of a corresponding link of the one or more links of the network device (Murti, [0081], Murti disclosed “With respect to the GUI mechanisms and display elements, certain per-device information is obtained for each device and represented in a visually distinguishing manner to allow for quick and easy identification of relevant operational characteristics”; Also in [0081] Murti disclosed utilizing colors or patterns to represent different network device status; See also [0082] in which the obtained information also includes “connectivity characteristic” in which “links between devices can be shown with lines of different weights and colors such as thinner or thicker lines to indicate relative transmission speeds or signal quality, and so on”; See Figure 10 showing Use in User Interface).
Regarding claims 8 and 17, Murti disclosed the computing system of claim 1 and method of claim 11, wherein the visual indicator status information comprises information regarding a status of an interface associated with the network device (Murti, [0082] Connectors from one device to other devices is displayed to reflect the device connectivity characteristic through a visual representation of the connector. This connectivity characteristic can comprise any relevant parameter, such as link speed, maximum transmission unit (MTU) (i.e., the largest packet size that can be sent over the connection), device latency, and device bandwidth).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) 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.
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.
Claims 2, 11, and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Murti et al. (US 20220229738).
Regarding claims 2, 11 and 20, Murti disclosed the computing system of claim 1, method of claim 11, and non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 19, but did not explicitly disclose wherein the network device does not include visual indicators that are physically present on the network device. However, Murti does not require any of the disclosed devices to include visual physical indicators, nor do the teachings of Murti utilize any physical visual indicators. Additionally, Murti does not preclude the use of network devices that do not have physical visual indicators. Therefore, it would have been obvious one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed to apply the teachings of Murti to devices that do not include any physical visual indicators in order to obtain the predictable result of applying the teachings to a larger base of devices, thereby increasing scalability. See also MPEP 2144.04, II, A, which states that it would have been obvious to omit elements where the functional attributed to such elements is not desired or required.
Claims 9 and 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Murti et al. (US 20220229738) in view of Pothier et al. (US 7349960).
Regarding claims 9 and 18. The computing system of claim 1 and method of claim 11, but did not explicitly disclose wherein the visual representation of the network device includes a representation of a first side of the network device and a representation of a second side of the network device, wherein the first side of the network device comprises a front panel of the network device and wherein the second side of the network device comprises a back panel of the network device.
Pothier disclosed wherein the visual representation of the network device includes a representation of a first side of the network device and a representation of a second side of the network device, wherein the first side of the network device comprises a front panel of the network device and wherein the second side of the network device comprises a back panel of the network device (Pothier, col. 20, line 61 through col. 21, line 15, Pothier disclosed the ability for the GUI to display a representation of a network device including both its front and back view).
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to combine the teachings of Murti and Pothier as they both disclosed providing network device status information, and as such they are within similar environments.
Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed to incorporate Pothier’s GUI views of network devices within the taechings of Murti in order to provide administrators of Murti with physical views of the devices being monitored helping them tune the network devices to provide better overall management service (Pothier, col. 12, lines 15-20).
Claims 7 and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Murti et al. (US 20220229738) in view of Gao et al. (US 20230336400).
Regarding claims 7 and 16, Murti disclosed the computing system of claim 1 and method of claim 11, wherein the one or more programmable processors are further configured to: output a textual representation of a state of the one or more virtual visual indicators of the network device (Murti, [0084], Murti disclosed, “Each graphical icon can provide a link to further detailed textual information about the visual coding”).
Murti did not disclose providing such status via a command line interface.
In an analogous art, Gao disclosed the utilization of a Command Line Interface to which network devices provide CLI commands to check the network status or statistics, such as utilizing the “show interface” command in order to shows the interface status, such as input errors (Gao, [0074]).
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to combine the teachings of Murti and Gao as they both relate to obtaining network status for network connected devices, and as such, they are within similar environments.
Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed to incorporate the feature of using command line interface, as disclosed by Gao, within the teachings of Murti in order to provide administrators with additional options for obtaining and viewing network device status information, thereby increasing desirability of use by customers.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JERRY B DENNISON whose telephone number is (571)272-3910. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8:30-5:50.
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/JERRY B DENNISON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2409