DETAILED ACTION
This Office Action is in response to Applicant's response to application filed on 30 May 2024. Currently, claims 21-40 are pending. The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Eligibility Subject Matter
The claims are eligibility subject because the abstract idea is integrated into practical implementation because the claims are necessarily rooted in technology and because the ordered combination of the additional elements is significantly more than the abstract idea.
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.
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
Claims 21-24, 26-33, 35-40 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Marcus et al. (US 2014/0068743 A1) in view of Srikanth et al. (US 2012/0198073 A1) (hereinafter Srikanth).
Claims 21, 30 and 39:
Marcus, as shown, discloses the following limitations of claims 21 and 30:
A computer system (and corresponding method and hardware storage device executed by processors – see para [0024]-[0025], showing equivalent computing structure and components) operating in a cloud environment, the computer system configured to host a service catalog that operates as a self-service repository for cloud-computing resources and provides standardized, self-service, and on-demand access to the cloud-computing resources, said computer system comprising: one or more processors) see para [0042]-[0046], showing a system for an on-demand self-service system for provisioning consumer needs based on computing capabilities); and one or more hardware storage devices that store instructions that are executable by the one or more processors to cause the computer system (see para [0024]-[0025], showing equivalent computing structure and components ) to:
provide, to a plurality of computing systems, access to the service catalog, wherein the service catalog is configured to enable the plurality of computing systems to facilitate layered creation of computing services, said layered creation being facilitated by offering a plurality of cloud-computing resources that are made available for selective use and monitoring by the service catalog to the plurality of computing systems (see para [0042]-[0052], showing access to such resources and para [0008], [0067], [0076], showing catalogs for such resources );
receive, from a first computing system, a first-level computing resource, wherein, in response to the first-level computing resource being published in the service catalog, access to the first level computing resource will be offered in a standardized, self-service, and on-demand manner (see para [0042]-[0052] where the provider applications can be considered first level);
receive, from a second computing system, a consumption request for the first- level computing resource (see para [0009], "When a service provider application (SP) needs to redirect a user to a login service, the application accesses the secure database to locate the configuration that corresponds to the website (or, more generally, some protected resource) to which the user is requesting access.");
after granting the consumption request, trigger enforcement of a licensing agreement that exists for the first-level computing resource, the licensing agreement being applicable to all parties associated with the first-level computing resource (see para [0062], "In one example, management layer 304 may provide the functions described below. Resource provisioning provides dynamic procurement of computing resources and other resources that are utilized to perform tasks within the cloud computing environment. Metering and Pricing provide cost tracking as resources are utilized within the cloud computing environment, and billing or invoicing for consumption of these resources. In one example, these resources may comprise application software licenses. Security provides identity verification for cloud consumers and tasks, as well as protection for data and other resources. User portal provides access to the cloud computing environment for consumers and system administrators. Service level management provides cloud computing resource allocation and management such that required service levels are met. Service Level Agreement (SLA) planning and fulfillment provides pre-arrangement for, and procurement of, cloud computing resources for which a future requirement is anticipated in accordance with an SLA."); and
after granting the consumption request, provision the first-level computing resource to the second computing system by deploying an instance of the first-level computing resource for use by the second computing system (see para [0062], "In one example, management layer 304 may provide the functions described below. Resource provisioning provides dynamic procurement of computing resources and other resources that are utilized to perform tasks within the cloud computing environment. Metering and Pricing provide cost tracking as resources are utilized within the cloud computing environment, and billing or invoicing for consumption of these resources. In one example, these resources may comprise application software licenses. Security provides identity verification for cloud consumers and tasks, as well as protection for data and other resources. User portal provides access to the cloud computing environment for consumers and system administrators. Service level management provides cloud computing resource allocation and management such that required service levels are met. Service Level Agreement (SLA) planning and fulfillment provides pre-arrangement for, and procurement of, cloud computing resources for which a future requirement is anticipated in accordance with an SLA.")
Marcus, however, does not specifically disclose publishing the first-level computing resource in the service catalog, wherein publishing the first-level computing resource results in the first-level computing resource being searchable within the service catalog based on metadata associated with the first-level computing resource. In analogous art, Srinkath discloses the following limitations:
publish the first-level computing resource in the service catalog, wherein publishing the first-level computing resource results in the first-level computing resource being searchable within the service catalog based on metadata associated with the first-level computing resource, and wherein publishing the first-level computing resource in the service catalog enables the first-level computing resource to be consumable by the plurality of computing systems (see para [0016], "In some embodiments of the present subject matter, methods and mechanisms are available to facilitate discovery and matching of computing resources that not only enable computing resource providers to find avenues to publish their computing resources in a catalog but also enable computing resource consumers to discover and utilize appropriately matched computing resources. Various embodiments facilitate the monitoring and management of resource utilization in the federated on-demand computing environment of the system 100, thereby providing access to appropriate computing resources for consumers and metrics for predictable capacity planning and management of data centers for computing resource providers." and see para [0018], "The catalog of computing resources represents offerings of resource providers, their metadata, and inferred categories and knowledge of the computing resources, including usage information, realized through the finding and the utilization of these computing resources for particular user tasks and workloads, and information and knowledge derived and maintained about these computing resources and their computing resource providers." and see para [0022], " To recap, on-demand (cloud) computing environments, both public and private, proffer a fixed set of resource types available from a computing resource provider, and applications have to be customized to use computing resources from every additional resource provider. In contrast, various embodiments include methods for discovering computing resources, which vary, and their descriptions from different computing resource providers and mechanisms for publishing and accessing a dynamic inventory of resource types available from different types of resource providers. Current on-demand computing environments are exposed as web services or through web pages for users to access these resources. Consumers of these computing resources use manual methods to discover one or more of these computing resource providers. Various embodiments, in contrast, provide automated methods to facilitate discovery of these computing resources, their providers, and their computing environments. The computing resource catalog of various embodiments enables the consumers to consult its search services to find/discover appropriate computing resources, select, and utilize such resources through computation offers. One or more computational offers are generated by the resource offer generation subsystem 204 to an entity that originates the on-demand computing queries 202, such as software developers 104a, users 104b, or enterprises 104c. User workload analytics subsystem 206 observes the queries, and responses to queries for refining pieces of software executing on the cloud organizing system 102.")
It would have been obvious to one or ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to combine the teachings of Marcus with Srikanth because publishing the resources so that they can be searched enables more dynamic access to the resources for users (see Srikanth, para [0003]).
Moreover, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to include the method for dynamically organizing cloud computing resources to facilitate discovery as taught by Srikanth in the method for secure configuration catalog of trust identity providers of Marcus, since the claimed invention is merely a combination of old elements, and in the combination each element merely would have performed the same function as it did separately, and one of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized that the results of the combination were predictable.
Claim 22:
Further, Marcus discloses the following limitations:
wherein the first-level computing resource is received at the service catalog, and wherein the consumption request is received at the service catalog (see para [0008]-[0009], "This disclosure describes a method and system to provide a secure database which includes a catalog of information about one or more identity providers (IdPs) that are trusted by a service provider (SP) application to authenticate users on behalf of the application. An identity provider specified in the database is a "trusted identity provider." Preferably, the catalog stores securely and discretely one or more configurations (with each configuration sometimes referred to herein as an IdP "trust document"). Preferably, the database is highly-secured, e.g., using access controls, so that only highly-privileged administrators (or other permitted persons or entities) may access and manage the information stored in the database. Preferably, a trust document entry in the database stores given information associated with the trusted IdP including, without limitation, artifacts to identify the IdP, artifacts used by the IdP for cryptographic operations, enablement and deployment information, and a specification of one or more website(s) serviced by the trusted identity provider. When a service provider application (SP) needs to redirect a user to a login service, the application accesses the secure database to locate the configuration that corresponds to the website (or, more generally, some protected resource) to which the user is requesting access. Using the database, the application finds the proper redirect URL for the website and redirects the user so that the user can be authenticated at the IdP. During the subsequent SP-IdP interaction, the IdP (via an end user redirect) presents the SP with identity information, e.g., an SAML assertion, representing the user. The SP application then consults the secure configuration again to determine (i) if the application website is authorized to use this IdP to authenticate users, and (ii) if a binding between an IdP name and one or more IdP artifacts is valid for use by the application to cryptographically verify the user's credentials If both conditions are met, the access is permitted.")
Claims 23-24, 31-33:
Further, Marcus discloses the following limitations:
wherein the first-level computing resource is one of a Software as a Service (SaaS) resource or a Platform as a Service (PaaS) resource (see para [0050]-[0052], [0062], explicitly showing such service models)
wherein the first-level computing resource is an Infrastructure as a Service (laaS) resource (see para [0050]-[0052], [0062], explicitly showing such service model)
Claims 26-27, 35-36:
Further, Marcus discloses the following limitations:
wherein the licensing agreement is a consumption-based licensing agreement (see para [0062], showing service level agreement for license where it is obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art that for cloud computing, a service level is a type of consumption or usage );
wherein the licensing agreement is a usage-based licensing agreement (see para [0062], showing service level agreement for license where it is obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art that for cloud computing, a service level is a type of consumption or usage)
Claims 28-29, 37-38, 40:
Marcus does not specifically disclose wherein the service catalog is structured to enable the first-level computing resource to be previewed, selected, and subscribed. In analogous art, Srinkanth discloses the following limitations:
wherein the service catalog is structured to enable the first-level computing resource to be previewed, selected, and subscribed (see para [0020], "The user tools and backend subsystem 214 cooperates with the semantic database 216 that curates the knowledge base of computing resources along with the catalog of computing resources. A graph-based representation is envisaged that enables efficient indexing and enrichments of the resources, their descriptions, and templates over time. Different sources provide information about the resources and their providers, and represent them in the catalog. The veracity of the catalog and the freshness of its contents, especially the inventory information, are maintained by the user tools and backend subsystem 214. Resource capture, curation, and access capabilities of computing resource catalog, resource knowledge base, and search and provisioning solutions are exposed as application programming interfaces (APIs) that can be accessed through different mechanisms. User tools facilitate the capture, annotation, validation, and enrichment of the catalog and knowledge base for the purpose of managing the lifecycle of the computing resource catalog. User tools include user interfaces to expose search capability as well as present augmented information about resources, workloads, and tasks." where it would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art that viewing descriptions can be considered previewing)
wherein, prior to publication, the first-level computing resource is subjected to a review in which the first-level computing resource is either approved or disapproved, and wherein approval results in the first-level computing resource being published (see para [0018], where veracity of the catalog in the context of publishing the APIs and cloud platforms can be considered to show approving or disapproving the results that are available for publishing is obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to include the method for dynamically organizing cloud computing resources to facilitate discovery as taught by Srikanth in the method for secure configuration catalog of trust identity providers of Marcus, since the claimed invention is merely a combination of old elements, and in the combination each element merely would have performed the same function as it did separately, and one of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized that the results of the combination were predictable.
Claims 25 and 34 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Marcus and Srikanth, as applied above, and further in view of Khanijo et al. (US 20060178864 A1) (hereinafter Khanijo)
Claims 25 and 34:
Although Marcus and Srinkath showing using a computer interface to configure the resources such as Srinkath at para [0025], Marcus and Srikanth do not specifically disclose wherein receiving the first-level computing resource includes providing a builder drop-down menu that provides one or more configuration options for the first-level computing resource. In analogous art, Khanijo discloses the following limitations:
wherein receiving the first-level computing resource includes providing a builder drop-down menu that provides one or more configuration options for the first-level computing resource (see para [0021], "FIG. 4 is a functional block diagram 400 associated with an embodiment of the rack configuration system in the HELP ME BUILD mode of operation. As alluded to previously, customers are guided to answer a series of questions via a number of pull-down menus, such as rack catalog menu, component catalog menu, etc. Typically, the users are queried about the servers they would like to configure as well as the internal hardware selections for each selected server. The rack configuration tool then applies the rules to add appropriate rack and associated parts to the configuration, whereupon a rack layout may be presented to the user. Referring in particular to the block diagram 400, servers are added or modified by selecting server menus 402, 404. Upon validation of a rack configuration, a decision is made whether custom builder options are to be applied (block 406). If so, appropriate information is stored for custom builder use (block 408). From the summary pages 326, configuration XML strings are built and stored in the database 316. As provided in block 412, XML data may be retrieved from the database based on Config ID upon exiting from the HELP ME BUILD mode, whereby a rack layout is rebuilt and displayed on a custom builder catalog page 414. A plurality of configuration tool bar options are available via the catalog page 414 that allow drag and drop functionality in this part of the flow. A "Validate" option 416 provides valuable messages regarding the retrieved rack configuration solution, wherein the message listing includes both informational and functional messages. A "Configure" option 418 configures the selected configurable product. A "Delete" option 420 deletes any component from inside the selected rack solution. A "New" option 422 removes all selected items and starts over at the beginning of the rack building process. A summary of the components is provided by activating a "Summary" option 424. User-specified preferences that can be carried over to new configurations may be applied by activating a "Preferences" option 426. Default preferences may be automatically applied to the configuration by the custom builder. The user can accept the default settings or change them at any time during the configuration process. Those skilled in the art should recognize that these various options may be implemented as graphic icons of a tool bar in the graphic display window of the customer's computer system.")
It would have been obvious to one or ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to combine the teachings of Marcus and Srikanth with Khanijo because including a menu for configuration options enables more efficient selection of components in a product for a user (see Khanijo, para [0001]-[0003]).
Moreover, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to include the system for configuring a rack assembly as taught by Khanijo in the Marcus and Srikanth combination, since the claimed invention is merely a combination of old elements, and in the combination each element merely would have performed the same function as it did separately, and one of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized that the results of the combination were predictable.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Brown et al. (US 2011/0138047 A1), a system for provisioning Cloud services by establishing a Cloud services catalog using a Cloud service bus within a Cloud computing environment where there is a Cloud services catalog manager configured to connect a plurality of Clouds in a Cloud computing environment; maintain a catalog of integrated Cloud services from the plurality of connected Clouds; and display an index of the integrated services on a user interface
Gilder et al. (CA 2836342 A1), a method for distributed computing using automated provisioning of heterogenous computing resources that includes a job scheduler module configured to identify a job request including request requirements and comprising one or more individual jobs
Sahal et al. "A Survey on SLA Management for Cloud Computing and Cloud-Hosted Big Data Analytic Applications", a paper on how cloud computing offers a scalable platform for Big Data Analytic Applications (BDAAs) which can elastically provision resources based on data growth and complexity of analytic application and the importance of Service Level Agreement (SLA)is appeared which clarifies the roles between a customer (i.e., cloud user or Big Data analyst) and a provider for particular service provision comes
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SUJAY KONERU whose telephone number is 571-270-3409. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Friday, 9 am to 5 pm.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Patricia Munson can be reached on 571- 270-5396. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/SUJAY KONERU/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3624