DETAILED ACTION
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).
The filing of a terminal disclaimer by itself is not a complete reply to a nonstatutory double patenting (NSDP) rejection. A complete reply requires that the terminal disclaimer be accompanied by a reply requesting reconsideration of the prior Office action. Even where the NSDP rejection is provisional the reply must be complete. See MPEP § 804, subsection I.B.1. For a reply to a non-final Office action, see 37 CFR 1.111(a). For a reply to final Office action, see 37 CFR 1.113(c). A request for reconsideration while not provided for in 37 CFR 1.113(c) may be filed after final for consideration. See MPEP §§ 706.07(e) and 714.13.
The USPTO Internet website contains terminal disclaimer forms which may be used. Please visit www.uspto.gov/patent/patents-forms. The actual filing date of the application in which the form is filed determines what form (e.g., PTO/SB/25, PTO/SB/26, PTO/AIA /25, or PTO/AIA /26) should be used. A web-based eTerminal Disclaimer may be filled out completely online using web-screens. An eTerminal Disclaimer that meets all requirements is auto-processed and approved immediately upon submission. For more information about eTerminal Disclaimers, refer to www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/applying-online/eterminal-disclaimer.
Claims 1-20 rejected on the ground of no statutory double patenting as being unpatentable over claims 1-35 of U.S. Patent No. 10560331. Although the claims at issue are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other because the patent discloses the limitation of application as following:
Patent Application
1.A broadband network gateway (BNG) controller that manages virtual BNG (vBNG) instances, the BNG controller comprising: a memory; one or more processors in communication with the memory; a network subscriber database (NSDB) configured to store vBNG instance information for one or more subscriber devices, the vBNG instance information specifying a plurality of vBNG instances operable by one or more edge routers, wherein the plurality of vBNG instances are configured to receive requests to access service provider services from the one or more subscriber devices and to selectively authenticate the one or more subscriber devices for network services based on authentication information included in the requests to access services provider services; and one or more core applications operable by the one or more processors, wherein the one or more core applications include a network instance and configuration manager (NICM) configured to: modify the vBNG instance information to include an additional vBNG instance to be added to the plurality of vBNG instances; output, to an edge router of the one or more edge routers, an instruction to generate the additional vBNG instance at the edge router; receive one or more configuration updates; and output a configuration template specifying the one or more configuration updates to update each vBNG instance of the plurality of vBNG instances.
4. The BNG controller of claim 1, wherein the one or more core applications include a network load balancer (NLB) configured to load balance the plurality of vBNG instances based on the vBNG instance information and a network resource manager (NRM) configured to: receive, from each vBNG instance of the plurality of vBNG instances, a respective subscriber count or a respective inflight information count; and modify, for each vBNG instance of the plurality of vBNG instances, a respective entry of the NSDB based on the respective subscriber count or the respective inflight information count to generate modified subscriber information, wherein the NLB is configured to: recompute, for each vBNG instance of the plurality of vBNG instances, a subscriber load balancer credit based on the modified subscriber information; output, to each vBNG instance of the plurality of vBNG instances, a respective subscriber load balancer credit; and output a load balancer credit history to the NRM, the load balancer credit history being generated based on each respective subscriber load balancer credit.
5. The BNG controller of claim 1, wherein the one or more core applications include a network resource manager (NRM) configured to: periodically receive health data of each vBNG instance of the plurality of vBNG instances; and when health data for a particular vBNG instance of the plurality of vBNG instances is not received within a threshold time, output, to the NICM, a request to generate the additional vBNG instance for recovering BNG subscriber sessions of the particular vBNG instance from the NSDB, wherein the NICM is configured to output the instruction to generate the additional vBNG instance in response to the request to generate the additional vBNG instance and to recover the BNG subscriber sessions of the particular vBNG instance from the NSDB.
6. The BNG controller of claim 5, wherein the NRM is configured to: when health data for the particular vBNG instance of the plurality of vBNG instances is not received within the threshold time, output, to the NICM, an instruction to destroy the particular vBNG instance, wherein the NICM is further configured to output an instruction, to edge router of the one or more edge routers that provisioned the particular vBNG instance, to delete the particular vBNG instance in response to receiving the instruction to destroy the particular vBNG instance.
7. The BNG controller of claim 5, wherein the one or more core applications include a network load balancer (NLB) configured to load balance the plurality of vBNG instances based on the vBNG instance information and wherein the NRM is further configured to: modify an entry of the NSDB corresponding to the additional vBNG instance to recover BNG subscriber sessions of the particular vBNG instance; and output, to the NLB, an instruction to recompute load balancing for the additional vBNG instance, wherein the NLB outputs a load balancer credit to the additional vBNG instance in response to the instruction to recompute load balancing for the additional vBNG instance.
8. The BNG controller of claim 1, wherein the NSDB includes subscriber colocation information and BNG specific information.
9. The BNG controller of claim 1, wherein the one or more core applications include subscriber analytics (SA) configured to: receive analytics data from at least one of the plurality of vBNG instances; and generate subscriber behavior data based on the analytics data for operating the plurality of vBNG instances.
10. The BNG controller of claim 1, wherein the one or more core applications include unified network security management (UNSM) configured to: receive network security data from the plurality of vBNG instances; analyze the received network security data to generate one or more alerts; output the one or more alerts; and configure, with the NICM, the plurality of vBNG instances based on the network security data.
11. The BNG controller of claim 1, wherein the one or more core applications include dynamic high availability (DHA) configured to: dynamically spawn an additional vBNG instance to provide high availability to an existing vBNG instance of the plurality of vBNG instances, based on a configuration policy; and dynamically collapse one or more vBNG instances which were providing high availability, based on the configuration policy.
12. The BNG controller of claim 1, wherein the BNG controller that manages the vBNG instances further manages one or more physical BNGs and wherein each physical BNG of the one or more physical BNGs is configured to manage subscriber management centrally.
13. The BNG controller of claim 1, wherein the one or more core applications are executed at a centralized computing device or executed at a plurality of networked computing elements distributed in a cloud configuration.
1, 11 and 20. A broadband network gateway (BNG) controller that manages virtual BNG (vBNG) instances, the BNG controller comprising: one or more processors; and computer readable media comprising instructions that, when executed, cause the one or more processors to: receive, from a vBNG instance, count information indicating one or more of a subscriber count or a respective inflight information count, wherein the vBNG instance is configured to selectively authenticate one or more subscriber devices for network services based on authentication information included in requests to access services provider services; modify vBNG instance information for the vBNG instance based on the count information to generate modified subscriber information; determine, for the vBNG instance, a subscriber load balancer credit based on the modified subscriber information; and output, to the vBNG instance, the subscriber load balancer credit.
2 and 12. The BNG controller of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to: periodically receive health data from the vBNG instance; and when health data for the vBNG instance is not received within a threshold time, generate an additional vBNG instance.
3 and 13. The BNG controller of claim 2, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to, when health data for the vBNG instance is not received within the threshold time, destroy the vBNG instance.
4 and 14. The BNG controller of claim 2, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to: modify an entry of a network subscriber database corresponding to the additional vBNG instance to recover BNG subscriber sessions of the vBNG instance; compute a load balancing credit for the additional vBNG instance; and output the load balancer credit to the additional vBNG instance.
5 and 15. The BNG controller of claim 4, wherein the network subscriber database includes subscriber colocation information and BNG specific information.
6 and 16. The BNG controller of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to: receive analytics data from the vBNG instance; and generate subscriber behavior data based on the analytics data.
7 and 17. The BNG controller of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to: receive network security data from the vBNG instance; analyze the received network security data to generate one or more alerts; output the one or more alerts; and configure the vBNG instance based on the network security data.
8 and 18. The BNG controller of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to: dynamically spawn an additional vBNG instance to provide high availability to the vBNG instance, based on a configuration policy; and dynamically collapse one or more vBNG instances which were providing high availability, based on the configuration policy.
9 and 19. The BNG controller of claim 1, wherein the BNG controller that manages the vBNG instance further manages one or more physical BNGs and wherein each physical BNG of the one or more physical BNGs is configured to manage subscriber management centrally.
10. The BNG controller of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are at a centralized computing device or executed at a plurality of networked computing elements distributed in a cloud configuration.
Since, the applicant just omits some elements and incorporates the dependent claim into independent claim in order to broaden the claims. Therefore, the applicant is attempting to broaden the parent application's claims by eliminating some of the claim elements in the continuation at issue here. If allowed, the application at bar would unjustly extend applicant patent protection beyond the statutory period of the patent while, at the same time, granting broader protection to the application.
Claims 1-20 rejected on the ground of no statutory double patenting as being unpatentable over claims 1-7 of U.S. Patent No. 11159378. Although the claims at issue are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other because the patent discloses the limitation of application as following:
Patent Application
5. A broadband network gateway (BNG) controller that manages virtual BNG (vBNG) instances, the BNG controller comprising: a memory; one or more processors in communication with the memory; a network subscriber database (NSDB) configured to store vBNG instance information for one or more subscriber devices, the vBNG instance information specifying a plurality of vBNG instances operable by one or more edge routers, wherein the plurality of vBNG instances are configured to receive requests to access service provider services from the one or more subscriber devices and to selectively authenticate the one or more subscriber devices for network services based on authentication information included in the requests to access services provider services; and one or more core applications operable by the one or more processors, wherein the one or more core applications include: a network instance and configuration manager (NICM) configured to modify the vBNG instance information to include an additional vBNG instance to be added to the plurality of vBNG instances and to output, to an edge router of the one or more edge routers, an instruction to generate the additional vBNG instance at the edge router; a network load balancer (NLB) configured to load balance the plurality of vBNG instances based on the vBNG instance information; and a network resource manager (NRM) configured to: receive, from each vBNG instance of the plurality of vBNG instances, a respective subscriber count or a respective inflight information count; and modify, for each vBNG instance of the plurality of vBNG instances, a respective entry of the NSDB based on the respective subscriber count or the respective inflight information count to generate modified subscriber information, wherein the NLB is further configured to: recompute, for each vBNG instance of the plurality of vBNG instances, a subscriber load balancer credit based on the modified subscriber information; output, to each vBNG instance of the plurality of vBNG instances, a respective subscriber load balancer credit; and output a load balancer credit history to the NRM, the load balancer credit history being generated based on each respective subscriber load balancer credit.
1, 11 and 20. A broadband network gateway (BNG) controller that manages virtual BNG (vBNG) instances, the BNG controller comprising: one or more processors; and computer readable media comprising instructions that, when executed, cause the one or more processors to: receive, from a vBNG instance, count information indicating one or more of a subscriber count or a respective inflight information count, wherein the vBNG instance is configured to selectively authenticate one or more subscriber devices for network services based on authentication information included in requests to access services provider services; modify vBNG instance information for the vBNG instance based on the count information to generate modified subscriber information; determine, for the vBNG instance, a subscriber load balancer credit based on the modified subscriber information; and output, to the vBNG instance, the subscriber load balancer credit.
Since, the applicant just omits some elements. Therefore, the applicant is attempting to broaden the parent application's claims by eliminating some of the claim elements in the continuation at issue here. If allowed, the application at bar would unjustly extend applicant patent protection beyond the statutory period of the patent while, at the same time, granting broader protection to the application.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Louati [US 2010/0046531] discloses a n autonomic network node system for providing at least one virtual router (VR) for providing on demand virtual routing service, the autonomic network node system includes a plurality of autonomic router components (ARCs) comprising at least one autonomic control component (ACC) and at least one autonomic forwarding component (AFC), physical resources comprising a plurality of logical resource partitions (LRPs), at least one database for storing information relating to the plurality of ARCs and LRPs, and a autonomic framework configured for receiving at least one request of on demand virtual routing service, accessing at the at least one database, allocating at least one LRP to perform at least one ARC to be installed in the autonomic network node system, installing the at least one ARC in the autonomic network node system, allocating the installed ARC and, updating the at least one database.
Guo [US 2019/0007322] discloses The virtual network device is configured to implement a broadband network gateway BNG function, and the virtual network device includes a load balance unit and a first forwarding unit; the load balance unit is configured to: receive a first data packet from a first user terminal, determine the first forwarding unit according to the first data packet and a first correspondence, and send the first data packet to the first forwarding unit, where the first correspondence indicates mapping from the first user terminal to the first forwarding unit; and the first forwarding unit is configured to receive and forward the first data packet. In addition, the embodiments of the present invention further disclose a method for implementing load sharing in a virtual network device.
Killadi [US 2018/0227232] discloses an apparatus may comprise a processing resource that may execute instructions to determine that a first station is authenticated to a first node and authenticate the first station to a second node in response to a load balancing operation being triggered, wherein the second node is layer 2 (L2) connected to the first node. The processing resource may execute instructions to update an index associated with the apparatus in response to the first station being authenticated to the second node.
Zhou [US 2017/0111443] discloses the method includes obtaining, by a processor in a cloud computing platform, identifier information of a virtual machine and identifier information of a domain including virtual machines that are sent by a controller in the cloud computing platform, where a correspondence exists between the identifier information of the virtual machine and the identifier information of the domain including the virtual machines, and after receiving an access request packet, determining, by the processor, the virtual machines in the domain according to the identifier information of the domain in the access request packet, further selecting a virtual machine according to load information of the virtual machines in the domain, and sending the access request packet to the selected virtual machine.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to STEVEN HIEU D NGUYEN whose telephone number is (571)272-3159. The examiner can normally be reached 9-5.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Edan Orgad can be reached at 571-272-7884. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/STEVEN HIEU D NGUYEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2414
Prosecution Insights