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 11/15/2024 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-6, 9-16 and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by U.S. Publication No. 2019/0132152 (“Wang et al.”).
Regarding claim 1, Wang et al. discloses a method, comprising:
determining, using a computing system (computer system 800), one or more first network interconnection characteristics associated with a first entity service provider within a call service network operated by a call network service provider ([0042] shared usage of an EVC for traffic associated with multiple VPCs may make more efficient use of bandwidth purchased or otherwise acquired by a customer. For example, in the previous example, the traffic intended for each of VPC-A 204 and VPC-B 206 may both be transmitted through the network 202 over EVC 210); and
based on the determined one or more first network interconnection characteristics associated with the first entity service provider, causing, using the computing system, a network provisioning application layer ("NPAL") to establish one or more network interconnections between a first network associated with the first entity service provider and the call service network, by establishing, using the computing system, shared peering connections between the first network and the call service network, the shared peering connections enabling a plurality of customers of the first entity service provider to establish call service connections that are shared over the shared peering connections ([0038] The network controller 236 may provision or configure network devices to create EVCs 210-214 for each VPC 204-208 associated with the customer communication device 222. EVCs 210-214 are created through the network 202 to connect customer communication device 222 with the VPCs 204-208 of the cloud environment 242 associated with the customer; [0040] an exchange of routing information, such as BGP information, may occur to allow components of the network 202 to transmit and receive packets from the customer communication device 222 and the cloud environment 242 at a Layer 3 communication level. Addition to the Layer 3 connection, components of the network 202 may establish a private Layer 2 connection between the customer communication device 222 and the cloud environment 242. Such Layer 2 connections, sometimes referred to as a Peer-To-Peer (P2P) connections, allow for secure communication of packets between the customer communication device 222 and each VPC 204-208 of the cloud environment 242).
Regarding claim 10, Wang et al. discloses an apparatus (computer system 800), comprising: at least one processor (processor 802, 804 and 806); and a non-transitory computer readable medium communicatively coupled to the at least one processor ([0082] a machine readable medium includes any mechanism for storing or transmitting information in a form readable by a machine), the non-transitory computer readable medium having stored thereon computer software comprising a set of instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, causes the apparatus to perform the method of claim 1. Thus claim 11 is rejected in view of Wang et al. for the same reasons discussed with respect to claim 1 above.
Regarding claim 11, Wang et al. discloses a system (fig. 8, system 800), comprising: a computing system, comprising: at least one first processor (processor 802, 804 and 806); and a first non-transitory computer readable medium communicatively coupled to the at least one first processor ([0082] a machine readable medium includes any mechanism for storing or transmitting information in a form readable by a machine), the first non-transitory computer readable medium having stored thereon computer software comprising a first set of instructions that, when executed by the at least one first processor, causes the computing system to perform the method of claim 1. Thus claim 12 is rejected in view of Wang et al. for the same reasons discussed with respect to claim 1 above.
Regarding claims 2 and 12, Wang et al. discloses wherein the computing system comprises at least one of an orchestrator, a call service provisioning system, a provisioning flow system, a NPAL system, a call controller, a call manager, a media gateway controller, a server, a video call server, an instant messaging server, a network operations center ("NOC"), a centralized provisioning system, or a distributed provisioning system ([0033] Fig. 1, the network environment 100 may further include a network controller 136 in communication with the network 102. The network controller 136 may perform various functions, including modify aspects of the network 102, such modifications may include, without limitation, adding or removing components from the network 102, obtaining data from components of the network 102, configuring components of the network 102, and provisioning services over the network 102).
Regarding claims 3 and 13, Wang et al. discloses wherein the call service connections enable session initiation protocol ("SIP") -based communication, wherein the SIP-based communication comprises at least one of a voice over Internet Protocol ("VoIP") call, an IP-based video call, or an instant message over IP ([0027] VOIP communications).
Regarding claims 4 and 14, Wang et al. discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the call service connections enable a public switch telephone network ("PSTN") -based communication ([0027] PSTN communications).
Regarding claims 5 and 15, Wang et al. discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the call service connections are shared and multiplexed over the shared peering connections for two or more of the plurality of customers ([0060] The cloud environment 342 may then be configured to recognize or determine the CE-VLAN identifiers included in each of the received packets and provide the packets to the intended VPC. In this manner, communications between the customer and multiple VPCs 304-308 are multiplexed into a single stream of packets that can be transmitted on a single EVC 318 or path through the network).
Regarding claims 6 and 16, Wang et al. discloses the method of claim 1, further comprising:
based on the determined one or more first network interconnection characteristics associated with the first entity service provider, performing, using the computing system, at least one of a routing determination or a rating determination, wherein the routing determination comprises determination of routing of call data over at least one of the first network, the call service network, or the shared peering connections, wherein the rating determination comprises determination of costs for establishing call service connections over the at least one of the first network, the call service network, or the shared peering connections ([0061] the customer may be provided with a mechanism or system to dynamically request a connection to the cloud environment 342 or a cloud instance 304 by providing the routing and connectivity information to a network controller 336. The network controller 336 may then automatically configure ports of components of the network 302 to define a communication path through the network 302. The network controller 336 may also execute one or more operations (such as through an API) related to controllable aspects of the cloud environment 342 to create the communication path).
Regarding claims 9 and 19, Wang et al. discloses wherein the one or more first network interconnection characteristics are based on microservice data, wherein the microservice data comprises at least one of: data regarding existence of partner validation between the call network service provider and the first entity service provider; data regarding lack of partner validation between the call network service provider and the first entity service provider; data regarding partner peering model attributes comprising at least one of one or more TN attributes, one or more fully qualified domain name ("FQDN") attributes, one or more trunk group ("TGRP") attributes, one or more X-Header attributes, or one or more user identification ("ID") attributes; data regarding existence of a public switch telephone network ("PSTN") provider route plan; data regarding lack of a PSTN provider route plan; data regarding existence of a first entity service provider route plan; data regarding lack of a first entity service provider route plan; data regarding existence of a PSTN provider rating; data regarding lack of a PSTN provider rating; data regarding existence of a rater of the first entity service provider; data regarding lack of a rater of the entity rater; data regarding telephone number ("TN") attributes comprising at least one of one or more TN digit attributes or one or more TN type attributes; data regarding existence of a redundancy model; data regarding lack of a redundancy model; or data regarding redundancy type attributes comprising at least one of one or more geographical attributes per region or overflow attributes (configuration attributes for a route path [0069] Fig. 6, the dynamic controller 602 may be connected to a network service orchestration (NSO) system 614 and the NSO system 614 may further be in communication with the network resources 630 which retrieves or accesses device configuration attributes that are needed to configure devices for a connection path and makes such configuration attributes available to the NSO system 614. The NSO system 614 may include any configuration system and/or one or more computing and network devices which are operable to provision a network connection by applying or otherwise implementing configurations defined by the device configuration attributes to any one of the network resources 630).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claims 7, 8, 17 and 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over U.S. Publication No. 2019/0132152 (“Wang et al.”) in view of U.S. Publication No. 2007/0147358 (“Mikleton et al.”).
Regarding claims 7 and 17, Wang et al. does not specify does not specify the method further comprising: in response to receiving a service order from a first customer of the first entity service provider for a call service provided over the call service network operated by the call network service provider, receiving, using the computing system, caller ID name ("CNAM") data from the first customer;
retrieving, using the computing system, a first set of telephone numbers ("TNs") from an inventory system; assigning, using the computing system, the first set of TNs to the first customer; and sending, using the computing system, the assigned first set of TNs to the first customer; and provisioning, using the computing system, TN-based peering between the call service network and one or more user devices associated with the first customer within the first network via the shared peering connections.
However, methods of assigning shared TNs to a customer is well-known in the art. For example, Mikleton et al. discloses [0033] a customer obtains a block of TNs and allocates the TNs to its subscribers. Because the owner of host network 102 would be provided with information about the block of telephone numbers (such as NPA-NXX-XXXX identifiers) during the customer's setup process, when host switch 110 receives calls to such numbers, host switch 110 may either route the call based on the LRN field 204 and/or the TN field 206, because such information will have been provisioned into LRN/TN database 122, to permit host switch 110 to identify a remote switch 124 based on such information ([0033]).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to apply the TN allocation method discussed in Mikleton et al. because the method would prevent the need to request allocation of specific TNs from owner of host network 102 for each subscriber and instead allocate TN by entity.
Regarding claims 8 and 18, Wang et al. in view of Mikleton et al. discloses the method of claim 8, wherein receiving the CNAM data comprises receiving, using the computing system, CNAM data from the first customer via an application programming interface ("API"), wherein sending the assigned first set of TNs to the first customer comprises sending, using the computing system, the assigned first set of TNs to the first customer via the API (Regarding use of API, Wang et al. discloses para. [0059] the network controller 336 may call one or more Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) to communicate with and configure aspects of the cloud environment 342. Through the APIs, the network controller 336 may provide a list of CE-VLAN identifiers associated with the VPCs 304-308 utilized by the customer to the cloud environment 342).
Conclusion
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/JIRAPON TULOP/Examiner, Art Unit 2693
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