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 .
Double Patenting
The nonstatutory 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 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); 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 nonstatutory double patenting provided the reference application or patent either is shown to be commonly owned with the examined application, or claims an invention made as a result of activities undertaken within the scope of a joint research agreement. See MPEP § 717.02 for applications subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA as explained in MPEP § 2159. See MPEP § 2146 et seq. for applications not subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA . A terminal disclaimer must be signed in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(b).
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Claim 1-20 are rejected on the ground of nonstatutory double patenting as being unpatentable over claims of U.S. Patent No. US 12143304 ‘304. Although the claims at issue are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other.
Regarding claims 1, 10, 17, ‘304 claims a system comprising a storage system and processing circuitry having access to the
storage system, wherein the processing circuitry is configured to:
collect, from a plurality of network devices on a network, flow data including underlay flow data and overlay flow data (claim 7);
receive a request for information about a data flow, wherein the request for information specifies a source virtual address for the data flow and a destination virtual address for the data flow (claim 1);
identify, based on the collected flow data, network devices that have processed at least one packet in the data flow, wherein identifying the network devices includes identifying
network devices that have five-tuple data matching the source virtual address or the destination virtual address (claim 6);
determine, based on the identified network devices, an underlay data path from a source virtual network associated with the source virtual address to a destination virtual network
associated with the destination virtual address (claim 1); and
output information about the underlay data path (claim 1).
Regarding claim 2, (‘304: claim 7).
Regarding claim 3, 11, (‘304: claim 8).
Regarding claim 4, 12 (‘304: claim 9).
Regarding claim 5, 13, (‘304: claim 1).
Regarding claim 6, 14, (‘304: claim 2).
Regarding claim 7, 15, 18, (‘304: claim 12).
Regarding claim 8, 16, 19, (‘304: claim 13).
Regarding claim 9, 10, (‘304: claim 14).
Prior Art of Record
D1 US 2019/058649 A1 (QI XIN [US] ET AL) 21 February 2019 (2019-02-21)
Regarding claim 1, 11, 20 D1 teaches a method comprising:
collecting, by a network analysis system on a network having a plurality of network devices, flow data including underlay flow data and overlay flow data (par.[0023]:"traffic flow monitoring may be configured in virtualized computing environment 100 to collect information about traffic flows associated with virtual machines 131-136. .. in order to configure traffic flow monitoring, some conventional approaches may necessitate users to have knowledge of the underlying physical implementation of virtualized computing environment 100, such as where virtual machines 131-136 and/or logical entities connecting them are physically located.", par.[0025]-[0027]:" traffic flow monitoring may be configured in virtualized computing environment...with the underlying physical implementation of virtualized computing environment", par. [0032]:"the report information may specify a mapping between logical network information (e.g., logical overlay network identifier (ID), VTEP information, logical port information, etc.) and physical network information (e.g., physical NIC or port information, etc.) associated with monitored traffic flows. The Report information may be exported using any suitable protocol, such as NetFlow, Internet Protocol Flow Information Export (IPFIX), etc. For example, the IPFIX standard defines how traffic flow information is formatted and transferred from an exporter (e.g., host) to a collector (e.g., third-party system)" Fig.1,2,6,7);
receiving, by the network analysis system, a request for information about a data flow, wherein the request for information specifies a source virtual address for the data flow and further specifies a destination virtual address for the data flow;
identifying, by the network analysis system and based on the collected flow data, network devices that have processed at least one packet in the data flow (par.[0036]-[0039]:" A user (e.g., network administrator) operating a user device (not shown) may interact with the interface to specify a set of logical entities for which traffic flow monitoring is required and other configuration parameters... SDN manager 180 provides a relatively easy-to-use and easy-to- understand interface for traffic flow monitoring configuration. This way, the user
may specify logical entity or entities for which traffic flow monitoring is required without have to worry about whether they are physically located.", par. [0057]:"host-A 110A generates report information 650, such as in the form of IPFIX records, etc. Report information 650 may specify a mapping between logical network information and physical network information associated with a traffic flow that includes egress packet 630/640. Some examples will be discussed using FIG. 7, which is a schematic diagram illustrating example report information 650/700 associated with an example traffic flow in virtualized computing environment 100. In practice, it should be understood that report information 700 may be generated according to any suitable protocol (e.g., IPFIX) that specifies how the report information should be presented and transferred from an exporter (e.g., virtual switch) to a collector (see 605 in FIG. 6). ", par.[0059]:"report information 710/720 in FIG. 7 may also provide a mapping between logical port information and physical port information. This way, the user may be made aware of traffic flows at a logical network level, in addition to traffic flows at a physical network level ", Fig.6,7)
determining, by the network analysis system and based on the identified network devices, an underlay data path from a source virtual network associated with the source virtual address to a destination virtual network associated with the destination virtual address; and outputting, by the network analysis system, information about the underlay data path (see paragraphs cited above) .
However, none of the prior art of record teaches or fairly suggests all the limitations of the independent claims.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to RONALD B ABELSON whose telephone number is (571)272-3165. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8:00-4:30.
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/RONALD B ABELSON/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2476
