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 .
Response to Arguments
The communication is responsive to the action filed 6/24/2026, the following claims 2-21 are presented for examination. Claim 1 has been canceled.
The non-statutory double patenting rejection is the only rejection current in the application.
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.
Double Patenting
Claims 2, 9 and 16 are rejected on the ground of non statutory double patenting as being unpatentable over claims 1, 8 and 15 of U.S. Patent No. 11356414. Although the claims at issue are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other because the limitations in each claim set relate to the same concept.
18/972,286
16/813,419
A method comprising:
generating, by a computer system, a set of iterative rules applicable to
communications to determine whether to allow or block communications;
receiving, by the computer system, a first communication;
identifying, by the computer system, a first attribute associated with a first
iteration rule within the set of iterative rules;
parsing, by the computer system, the first communication to determine a
first communication attribute;
comparing, by the computer system, data associated with the first
communication attribute to data associated with the first attribute associated with the first
iteration rule; and
based at least in part on the comparing, at least temporarily blocking the
first communication from being received at a destination.
A method comprising:
generating, by a communications mechanism of a computer system, an
iterative rule list comprising a sequential set of access control rules;
applying, by the communications mechanism, the iterative rules list to a
filtering mechanism of the computer system;
receiving, by the filtering mechanism, a first communication;
determining, by the filtering mechanism, an iteration value identifying a
number of iterations to perform based on the iterative rule list;
identifying, by the filtering mechanism, a first attribute associated with a
first iteration rule within the iterative rule list;
parsing, by the filtering mechanism, the first communication to determine a
first communication attribute;
comparing, by the filtering mechanism, data associated with the first
communication attribute to data associated with the first attribute to determine a first
positive match; and
based at least in part on the first positive match, blocking the first
communication from being received at a destination.
Relevant Prior Art References
The following prior art is cited as being of interest to the claimed invention but has not been applied in any of the current rejections.
Cooper et al. - US Patent 8,713,668: The prior art teaches techniques for redirected firewall discovery in a network environment.
Hwang et al. - US Patent Pub. 2021/0152582: The prior art teaches techniques for dynamic sessional redirection.
Power et al. – US Patent Pub. 2019/0245939: The prior art teaches techniques for failover protection in a telecommunication network.
Cox et el. – US Patent Pub. 2014/0337272: The prior art teaches techniques for generating a rule set to identify data files that have a common characteristic.
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Contact Information
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ANTHONY D BROWN whose telephone number is (571)270-1472. The examiner can normally be reached 730-330pm.
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, Linglan Edwards can be reached at 5712705440. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/ANTHONY D BROWN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2408
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