DETAILED ACTION
This Action is in response to the Preliminary Amendment for Application Number 18832729 received on 7/24/2024.
Claims 1-20 are presented for examination.
This application is a National Stage entry of PCT/JP2022/004313, International Filing Date: 02/03/2022.
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 Interpretation
The claims in this application are given their broadest reasonable interpretation using the plain meaning of the claim language in light of the specification as it would be understood by one of ordinary skill in the art. The broadest reasonable interpretation of a claim element (also commonly referred to as a claim limitation) is limited by the description in the specification when 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, is invoked.
As explained in MPEP § 2181, subsection I, claim limitations that meet the following three-prong test will be interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph:
(A) the claim limitation uses the term “means” or “step” or a term used as a substitute for “means” that is a generic placeholder (also called a nonce term or a non-structural term having no specific structural meaning) for performing the claimed function;
(B) the term “means” or “step” or the generic placeholder is modified by functional language, typically, but not always linked by the transition word “for” (e.g., “means for”) or another linking word or phrase, such as “configured to” or “so that”; and
(C) the term “means” or “step” or the generic placeholder is not modified by sufficient structure, material, or acts for performing the claimed function.
Use of the word “means” (or “step”) in a claim with functional language creates a rebuttable presumption that the claim limitation is to be treated in accordance with 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph. The presumption that the claim limitation is interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, is rebutted when the claim limitation recites sufficient structure, material, or acts to entirely perform the recited function.
Absence of the word “means” (or “step”) in a claim creates a rebuttable presumption that the claim limitation is not to be treated in accordance with 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph. The presumption that the claim limitation is not interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, is rebutted when the claim limitation recites function without reciting sufficient structure, material or acts to entirely perform the recited function.
Claim limitations in this application that use the word “means” (or “step”) are being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, except as otherwise indicated in an Office action. Conversely, claim limitations in this application that do not use the word “means” (or “step”) are not being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, except as otherwise indicated in an Office action.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112:
The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention.
Claims 5, 12, 16, and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the enablement requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to enable one skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and/or use the invention.
The broadest reasonable interpretation of claim 5 covers a network visualization device that acquires VPN network information including flow information having statistical information regarding communication, associating the flow information with another network’s information and generates flow information, and generating visualization information including the association between flow information and the other network’s information [claim 1], to which the flow information includes VPN communication setting, identification, device setting and operating state information, and generating, based on the statistical information, “earth alternating current information that is the visualization information obtained by visualizing an earth alternating current between predetermined network devices at a predetermined time” [claim 5].
The specification discloses enough information for one of ordinary skill in the art to make a device to collect such information, and to display visualization information.
However, the specification does not provide direction on what "earth alternating current" represents in a networking environment, or how the "earth alternating current" is generated based on statistical information. For example, Applicant's specification recites, at paragraph [0053], “The visualization unit 14 generates the traffic visualization information 221, the path visualization information 222, the geographic visualization information 223, and the earth alternating current visualization information 224 using the associated fine granularity flow 300.” Applicant's specification additionally recites, at paragraph [0074], and similarly paragraph [0061], "the earth alternating current visualization unit 144 collects the destination PE MPLS label, and IP addresses and MAC addresses of a transmission destination and a transmission source of a packet included in the associated fine granularity flow 300 after the filtering, generates and draws earth alternating current information, thereby providing the earth alternating current visualization information 224 for the user (step S21)". While the specification discloses enough information for one of ordinary skill in the art to make a device to collect certain information and display information, the specification does not explain what "earth alternating current" represents in a networking environment, nor does the specification provide direction on how the "earth alternating current" is generated based on statistical information.
At the time of filing, the state of the art was such that “earth alternating current” represented electric currents via Earth’s surface, having no relation to computer networking environments. For example, See Dinwiddie et al. (US 20220069588) reciting a ground terminal disposed below the surface of the earth to induce an alternating current flow from the ground terminal through the transformer (i.e. Dinwiddie, claim 8). Such does not bear a reasonable correlation to the full scope of the claim, or any networking environment. As there is no reasonable correlation, one skilled in the art would not know how to generate earth alternating current visualization information based on collected networking environment statistical information. As such, one skilled in the art cannot readily anticipate how a networking environment statistic has on earth alternating current with respect to the subject matter to which the claimed invention pertains, and therefore there is lack of predictability in the art.
Taking these factors into account, undue experimentation would be required by one of ordinary skill in the art to practice the full scope of claim 5. Claims 12, 16, and 20 are rejected for the same reasons as they are directed to substantially the same subject matter as claim 5.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1-5, 8, 12, 16, and 18-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claims 5, 12, and 16 and 20 recite the limitation of “earth alternating current visualization information that is the visualization information obtained by visualizing an earth alternating current between predetermined network devices at a predetermined time", which is found indefinite as to the meaning of "earth alternating current" in a networking environment. Applicant's specification does not appear to define the meaning of "earth alternating current", but rather, just that it is generated and visualized. For examination purposes, the limitation, “earth alternating current” will be interpreted as general statistics/metrics between the devices.
Claims 17-20 are dependent on the “network information visualization system according to claim 8”. However, claims 17-20 recite a series of step(s). The scope of claims 17-20 are therefore found indefinite because it is unclear which structure of claim 8 is performing these steps.
Claim 18 recites the limitation, “the information acquisition step”. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 18 recites the limitation, “the association step”. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 18 recites the limitation, “the visualization step”. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 19 recites the limitation, “wherein acquiring geographical information including the topology information and location information on the network device”, which is found indefinite, as it appears to be an unfinished run-on sentence without clear indication of the scope, most likely due to grammatical issues.
This application includes one or more claim limitations that do not use the word “means,” but are nonetheless being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, because the claim limitation(s) uses a generic placeholder that is coupled with functional language without reciting sufficient structure to perform the recited function and the generic placeholder is not preceded by a structural modifier. Such claim limitation(s) is/are:
an information acquisition unit that acquires network information regarding a predetermined virtual private network (VPN) network including at least flow information having statistical information regarding communication in the predetermined VPN network (Claim 1);
an association unit that associates the flow information with another network information included in the network information and generates associated flow information (Claim 1); and
a visualization unit that generates visualization information in which the flow information is associated with the other network information based on the associated flow information (Claim 1);
the visualization unit generates traffic visualization information that is the visualization information obtained by visualizing a traffic time series regarding a predetermined VPN or a predetermined communication interface at a predetermined time based on the statistical information (Claim 2);
the information acquisition unit acquires the flow information including identification information regarding a plurality of network devices arranged in the predetermined VPN network, and a topology including the identification information regarding the network devices and topology information indicating a connection relationship between the network devices (Claim 3);
the association unit associates the identification information regarding the network devices with the topology information (Claim 3);
the visualization unit generates path visualization information that is the visualization information obtained by visualizing a path through which predetermined communication has passed at a predetermined time based on the identification information regarding the network devices, the topology information, and the statistical information (Claim 3);
the information acquisition unit acquires geographic information including the topology information and location information on the network devices (Claim 4);
the association unit associates the topology information with the location information (Claim 4);
the visualization unit generates geographic visualization information that is the visualization information obtained by visualizing a geographical distribution of predetermined communication at a predetermined time based on the identification information regarding the network devices, the location information, and the statistical information (Claim 4);
the information acquisition unit acquires the flow information including VPN communication setting information regarding signal transmission and reception in VPNs existing in the predetermined VPN network, VPN information including the VPN communication setting information and VPN identification information for identifying the VPNs, and device information including the VPN identification information, device setting information and operating state information on the network devices (Claim 5);
the association unit associates the VPN communication setting information with the VPN identification information (Claim 5);
the visualization unit generates, based on the statistical information and the device information, earth alternating current visualization information that is the visualization information obtained by visualizing an earth alternating current between predetermined network devices at a predetermined time (Claim 5).
an information acquisition unit that acquires the network information regarding the predetermined VPN network including at least flow information including statistical information regarding communication in the predetermined VPN network (claim 8);
an association unit that associates the flow information with another network information included in the network information and generates associated flow information (claim 8);
a visualization unit that generates visualization information in which the flow information is associated with the other network information based on the associated flow information (claim 8);
the information acquisition step of acquiring the flow information including identification information regarding a plurality of network devices arranged in the predetermined VPN network, and a topology including the identification information regarding the network devices and topology information indicating a connection relationship between the network devices (Claim 18);
the association step of associating the identification information regarding the network devices with the topology information (Claim 18); and
the visualization step of generating path visualization information that is the visualization information obtained by visualizing a path through which predetermined communication has passed at a predetermined time based on the identification information regarding the network devices, the topology information, and the statistical information (Claim 18).
However, the written description fails to disclose the corresponding structure, material, or acts for performing the above claimed functions and to clearly link the structure, material, or acts to the functions. No association between the structure and the functions can be found in the specification. Therefore, claims 1-5, 8, 18, and by virtue of their dependencies to claim 19-20, are indefinite and are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, second paragraph.
Applicant may:
(a) Amend the claim so that the claim limitation will no longer be interpreted as a limitation under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph;
(b) Amend the written description of the specification such that it expressly recites what structure, material, or acts perform the entire claimed function, without introducing any new matter (35 U.S.C. 132(a)); or
(c) Amend the written description of the specification such that it clearly links the structure, material, or acts disclosed therein to the function recited in the claim, without introducing any new matter (35 U.S.C. 132(a)).
If applicant is of the opinion that the written description of the specification already implicitly or inherently discloses the corresponding structure, material, or acts and clearly links them to the function so that one of ordinary skill in the art would recognize what structure, material, or acts perform the claimed function, applicant should clarify the record by either:
(a) Amending the written description of the specification such that it expressly recites the corresponding structure, material, or acts for performing the claimed function and clearly links or associates the structure, material, or acts to the claimed function, without introducing any new matter (35 U.S.C. 132(a)); or
(b) Stating on the record what the corresponding structure, material, or acts, which are implicitly or inherently set forth in the written description of the specification, perform the claimed function. For more information, see 37 CFR 1.75(d) and MPEP §§ 608.01(o) and 2181.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 101
35 U.S.C. 101 reads as follows:
Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.
Claim 7 and 13-16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to non-statutory subject matter. The claim(s) does/do not fall within at least one of the four categories of patent eligible subject matter because claim 7 is directed to a “program” for causing a computer to execute steps, and therefore covers software embodiments, which do not fall within at least one of the four categories of patent eligible subject matter. Claims 13-16 are rejected for the same reasons by virtue of their dependencies to claim 7.
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) 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Burnett et al. (US 20170310638).
Regarding claim 1, Burnett disclosed a network information visualization device comprising:
an information acquisition unit that acquires network information regarding a predetermined virtual private network (VPN) network (Burnett, [0007]-[0008], Burnett disclosed gathering first network information from one or more network sensors in a trusted (Red) network; See [0023] trusted (Red) network amounts to a VPN network)
including at least flow information having statistical information regarding communication in the predetermined VPN network (Burnet, [0032], Burnet disclosed a NetFlow probe supplying the network information which includes flow information; [0035] “The types of network information that may be obtained may be any information concerning operational statistics of the network, including the IP address of the network element, the network element position (e.g., relative position to other network elements and/or physical coordinates of the network element, network element link status, amount of traffic at the network element, link bandwidth between network elements, traffic priority, and the like”);
an association unit that associates the flow information with another network information included in the network information and generates associated flow information (Burnett, [0039], Burnett disclosed the network information gathered from both Red and Black networks may include the IP address of the network elements in each network”, and “network management system 200 in Red network 101 may use the network information stored in NS Master DB 204 to “fuse” together the network information for the various Red and Black networks gathered at that database”; Fusing such information amounts to generating the associated flow information of each network together; See also [0040], “correlating”; See also [0053] “fusing network topologies for data flows”; [0060], “FIG. 5 shows example visualization window 500 that may be displayed by network management system 200 with fused information collected from Black and Red networks (e.g., Red networks 304 and 306, and Black network 310)”); and
a visualization unit that generates visualization information in which the flow information is associated with the other network information based on the associated flow information (Burnett, [0040] Burnett disclosed “correlating network information for both Red and Black networks so that the relative location, traffic information, and other related network information for network elements in both Red and Black networks may be queried, visualized, and managed in a single comprehensive network management and visualization tool”, and “the techniques of this disclosure allow for the simultaneous visualization and management of network elements in both Red and Black networks”; [0060], “FIG. 5 shows example visualization window 500 that may be displayed by network management system 200 with fused information collected from Black and Red networks (e.g., Red networks 304 and 306, and Black network 310)” ).
Claim 6 recites a network information visualization method with limitations that are substantially similar to the limitations of claim 1. Claim 7 recites a program for causing a computer to execute steps that are substantially similar to the limitation of claim 1. Claim 8 recites a network information visualization system comprising a network information visualization device that visualizes a predetermined VPN network and network information in the predetermined VPN network, the device performing limitations that are substantially similar to the limitations of claim 1.
As shown above, Burnett disclosed such steps performed by a device, in which Burnett disclosed such implementations to include a software program as well as a device performing such limitations (Burnett, [0076])
Claims 6-8 are therefore rejected under the same rationale applied above.
Regarding claims 2, 9, 13, and 17, Burnett disclosed the network information visualization device according to claim 1, method of claim 6, program of claim 7, and system of claim 8, wherein the visualization unit generates traffic visualization information that is the visualization information obtained by visualizing a traffic time series regarding a predetermined VPN or a predetermined communication interface at a predetermined time based on the statistical information (Burnett, [0062], “Network management system 200 may be configured to adjust the width of each line to represent a relative amount of data traffic on the link”, and, “Network management system 200 may continuously (e.g., in near real-time) or periodically update the width of the lines depicted in the visualization to indicate changes in the amount of traffic over links, and the link status, or amount of a specific protocol, or other configurable values”; Burnett therefore disclosed the showing of a traffic visualization over a periodic time series regarding the Red VPN network traffic for predetermined times based on the collected network information).
Regarding claims 3, 10, 14, and 18, Burnett disclosed the network information visualization device according to claim 1, method of claim 6, program of claim 7, and system of claim 8, wherein the information acquisition unit acquires the flow information including identification information regarding a plurality of network devices arranged in the predetermined VPN network (Burnett, [0034]-[0035]), and a topology including the identification information regarding the network devices and topology information indicating a connection relationship between the network devices (Burnett, [0045]-[0046]),
the association unit associates the identification information regarding the network devices with the topology information (Burnett, [0045]-[0046]), and
the visualization unit generates path visualization information that is the visualization information obtained by visualizing a path through which predetermined communication has passed at a predetermined time based on the identification information regarding the network devices, the topology information, and the statistical information (Burnett, [0061] Burnett disclosed generating network topology to depict relative locations of network elements, to which, at [0062], “Network management system 200 may be configured to adjust the width of each line to represent a relative amount of data traffic on the link”, and with respect to predetermined times, “Network management system 200 may continuously (e.g., in near real-time) or periodically update the width of the lines depicted in the visualization to indicate changes in the amount of traffic over links, and the link status, or amount of a specific protocol, or other configurable values”).
Regarding claims 4, 11, 15, and 19, Burnett disclosed the network information visualization device according to claim 3, method of claim 6, program of claim 7, and system of claim 8, wherein the information acquisition unit acquires geographic information including the topology information and location information on the network devices, the association unit associates the topology information with the location information (Burnett, [0061], “As can be seen in FIG. 5, network management system 200 generates the network topology to depict the relative locations of network elements A-G, as well as the coordinates (e.g., latitude/longitude coordinates) of the network elements”), and the visualization unit generates geographic visualization information that is the visualization information obtained by visualizing a geographical distribution of predetermined communication at a predetermined time based on the identification information regarding the network devices, the location information, and the statistical information (Burnett, [0061], “As can be seen in FIG. 5, network management system 200 generates the network topology to depict the relative locations of network elements, [0062], “Network management system 200 may continuously (e.g., in near real-time) or periodically update the width of the lines depicted in the visualization to indicate changes in the amount of traffic over links, and the link status, or amount of a specific protocol, or other configurable values.“ ).
Regarding claim 5, 12, 16, and 20, Burnett disclosed the network information visualization device according to claim 3, method of claim 6, program of claim 7, and system of claim 8, wherein the information acquisition unit acquires the flow information including VPN communication setting information regarding signal transmission and reception in VPNs existing in the predetermined VPN network, VPN information including the VPN communication setting information and VPN identification information for identifying the VPNs (Burnett, [0023], Burnett disclosed embodiments with respect to multiple Red network VPNs; and [0028] sensors in each VPN to collect their respective network information; [0031] Burnett disclosed type of network information to include VPN identification information such as IP addresses of network elements for the Red (VPN) Networks, [0032], Burnett disclosed for both Red and Black Networks, the network information available to include VPN communication setting information such as “ source IP address of the data flow, destination IP address of the data flow, IP protocol used, source port for other communication protocols, destination port for other communication protocols, and IP types of service” [0048], “Red-side” addresses, for example), and
device information including the VPN identification information (Burnett, [0032], Burnett disclosed for both Red and Black Networks, the network information available to include VPN communication setting information such as “ source IP address of the data flow, destination IP address of the data flow, IP protocol used, source port for other communication protocols, destination port for other communication protocols, and IP types of service”, IP address; See also [0048], “Red-side” addresses, for example),
device setting information and operating state information on the network devices (Burnett, [0032], operational statistics of the network; [0032], Burnett disclosed for both Red and Black Networks, the network information available to include VPN communication setting information such as “ source IP address of the data flow, destination IP address of the data flow, IP protocol used, source port for other communication protocols, destination port for other communication protocols, and IP types of service”, IP address; [0048], “Red-side” addresses, for example),
the association unit associates the VPN communication setting information with the VPN identification information, and the visualization unit generates, based on the statistical information and the device information, earth alternating current visualization information that is the visualization information obtained by visualizing an earth alternating current between predetermined network devices at a predetermined time (Burnett, [0061], “network management system 200 generates the network topology to depict the relative locations of network elements A-G, as well as the coordinates (e.g., latitude/longitude coordinates) of the network elements within Minnesota. Network elements A, B and C represent Red networks located behind INEs. For example, each of network elements A, B, and C may represent one or more computing devices within a Red network at a particular location (e.g., a command center, building, school, business, etc.). Network elements D, E, F and G represent routers within an untrusted Black network sitting between each of the Red networks”; [0062], “For example, the wider the line the more data is being carried on the link. Network management system 200 may continuously (e.g., in near real-time) or periodically update the width of the lines depicted in the visualization to indicate changes in the amount of traffic over links, and the link status, or amount of a specific protocol, or other configurable values.”).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Roy et al. (US 10547521) disclosed techniques for displaying information about a network, virtualization infrastructure, cluster, or other computing environment.
Prieto et al. (US 20180329794) disclosed visualization of mapping between network overlay and underlay.
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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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Hadi Armouche can be reached on 571-270-3618. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/JERRY B DENNISON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2409