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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 11/14/2024 and 1/30/2026. 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 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 1-13 are rejected on the ground of nonstatutory double patenting as being unpatentable over claims 1-20 of patent 12,137,028 and claims 1-20 of patent 11,831,500.
Although the claims at issue are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other because the claims invention of the above patents anticipates the claims invention of the instant application.
Instant Claim 1: A method for managing a communications network, the method comprising: obtaining site information associated with an edge site of the communications network; generating, based on the site information associated with the edge site of the communications network, a configuration process for instantiating a compute service available from the edge site, the configuration process comprising a set of instructions for configuring an operational status of at least one network edge device of the edge site to provide the compute service; and configuring, based on the configuration process, the at least one network edge device to provide the compute service.
Conflicting Claim 1 of patent 12,137,028: A method for managing a communications network, the method comprising: obtaining site information associated with an edge site of the communications network; generating, based on the site information associated with the edge site of the communications network, a configuration process for instantiating a compute service available from the edge site, the configuration process comprising a set of instructions for configuring an operational status of at least one network edge device of the edge site to provide the compute service to a requesting device in communication with the edge site; and configuring, based on the configuration process, the at least one network edge device to provide the compute service.
Conflicting Claim 1 of patent 11,831,500: A method for managing a communications network, the method comprising: obtaining, from a plurality of databases, site information associated with an edge site of the communications network, wherein each of the plurality of databases is associated with a different backbone communications network; generating, based on the site information associated with the edge site of the communications network, a configuration process for instantiating a compute service available from the edge site, the configuration process comprising a set of instructions for configuring an operational status of at least one network edge device of the edge site to provide the compute service to a requesting device in communication with the edge site; and configuring, based on the configuration process, the at least one network edge device to provide the compute service.
Instant claim 2 corresponds to conflicting claims 2 of patent 12,137,028.
Instant claim 3 corresponds to conflicting claims 3 of patent 12,137,028.
Instant claim 4 corresponds to conflicting claims 4 of patent 12,137,028.
Instant claim 5 corresponds to conflicting claims 5 of patent 12,137,028.
Instant claim 6 corresponds to conflicting claims 6 of patent 12,137,028.
Instant claim 7 corresponds to conflicting claims 7 of patent 12,137,028.
Instant claim 8 corresponds to conflicting claims 8 of patent 12,137,028.
Instant claim 9 corresponds to conflicting claims 9 of patent 12,137,028.
Instant claim 10 corresponds to conflicting claims 17 of patent 12,137,028.
Instant claim 11 corresponds to conflicting claims 18 of patent 12,137,028.
Instant claim 12 corresponds to conflicting claims 19 of patent 12,137,028.
Instant claim 13 corresponds to conflicting claims 20 of patent 12,137,028.
Instant claim 2 corresponds to conflicting claims 2 of patent 11,831,500.
Instant claims 3 corresponds to conflicting claims 3 of patent 11,831,500.
Instant claims 4 corresponds to conflicting claims 4 of patent 11,831,500.
Instant claims 5 corresponds to conflicting claims 5 of patent 11,831,500.
Instant claims 6 corresponds to conflicting claims 6 of patent 11,831,500.
Instant claims 7 corresponds to conflicting claims 7 of patent 11,831,500.
Instant claims 8 corresponds to conflicting claims 8 of patent 11,831,500.
Instant claims 9 corresponds to conflicting claims 9 of patent 11,831,500.
Instant claims 10 corresponds to conflicting claims 17 of patent 11,831,500.
Instant claims 11 corresponds to conflicting claims 18 of patent 11,831,500.
Instant claims 12 corresponds to conflicting claims 19 of patent 11,831,500.
Instant claims 13 corresponds to conflicting claims 20 of patent 11,831,500.
The instant claims merely broaden the scope of the conflicting claims. It is well settled that broadening the scope of claims would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art in view of the narrower issued claims. In re Van Ornum, 686 F.2d 937, 214 USPQ 761 (CCPA 1982) and In re Goodman, 11 F.3d 1046, 29 USPQ2d 2010 (Fed. Cir. 1993).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-13 are allowed over the cited prior art.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Jain et al (us 2019/0349404) discloses a method for protecting an enterprise network includes, at a system that is remote from the enterprise network: controlling communications to and from the enterprise network according to a set of security policies; controlling endpoint to endpoint connections within the enterprise network according to the set of security policies; receiving a request for modifications to the set of policies; automatically generating a policy digest formatted according to a predefined format, the policy digest comprising the modifications, and storing the policy digest in the memory; retrieving the policy digest from the memory; generating one or more calls to one or more system components that control the communications to and from the enterprise network and the endpoint to endpoint connections based on the policy digest; and modifying control of the communications and the endpoint to endpoint connections based on the one or more calls.
Groenewald et al (us 11,546,219) discloses a method for enabling users of a cloud provider network to define and use custom “virtual regions” comprised of selected sets of cloud provider network infrastructure locations. A cloud provider network enables users to obtain information about available infrastructure locations and to identify locations that satisfy a set of performance characteristics and other parameters. Once a set of desirable infrastructure locations have been identified, users can request the creation of a virtual region to be associated with their user account, where the request specifies a set of infrastructure locations to comprise the virtual region. Once a virtual region is created, users can cause computing resources to be launched into or otherwise associated with the virtual region in a manner similar to the use of existing regions and availability zones.
Peter et al (us 11,558,363) discloses a device may receive data relating to a site plan and image data relating to a network device. The device may determine a device identifier based on the image data, associate the device identifier with the site plan based on a common attribute between the network device and the site plan, and cause a certificate to be generated based on an authentication request to a network controller. The authentication request may cause the network controller to generate the certificate based on the device identifier and/or the site plan. The device may cause an Internet protocol (IP) address to be assigned to the network device based on the certificate, a location of the network device, and/or another related parameter, cause a node configuration to be generated based on the IP address, the device identifier, and/or the site plan, and provision the network device according to the node configuration.
Cheloff (us 2014/0164580) disclose a method involves receiving a site location for a computing device by a generation module executing on a device management server. An address of the device management server is identified. An optical representation of a configuration is generated corresponding to the site location and the address. The optical representation of the configuration is provided to the computing device by an interface module running on the device management server. The communication corresponding to the configuration is received from the computing device.
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/DUYEN M DOAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2459
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